#help i must know the answer before i start making up stupid cannon

[thatflatenedfrogontheroad]

What does 3950 mean???? I must know . . . Its angle numder is to "grow as a person" which works . . . I guess? It does feel right tho u~u

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

The day after the battle with Kusuke and Toritsuka, Kusuo runs into the inevitable consequence of turning back time on yourself. Implied Saiyasu, underage drinking, and owies abound as those stupid guys Kuboyasu and Kaidou refuse to not help their friend.

Ow.

Kusuo paused, taken aback by the automatic thought, and frowned, because it wasn’t one he had very often. It did suit, however. Something was very ow.

Due to how rarely he ever felt something that could be described as such, it took Kusuo some time to pinpoint the location. Ah. His back. The muscles there were sore, heavy. Oh well, as long as that was all it was he could ignore it.

“Oh, I get it now! Thanks, Saiki!” Kaidou beamed and flipped a few pages back in his work book, muttering to himself as he restudied the chapter in a new light.

Kusuo nodded and shifted back to his own homework, wondering how long he should take on it.

“So how many somersaults does Nendo do on average around your floor whenever he’s over?” Kuboyasu asked, his back turned to the activity in question as he concentrated on his notes.

‘Forty five and a half,’ Kusuo answered in his head. 

“How the hell would I know?” Kaidou shook his head with a grumble about how Nendo was making him dizzy. “Don’t worry about it, he’ll stop and fall asleep eventually.”

Kuboyasu frowned at that. “Won’t it make it hard to study when he’s snoring?”

“Yeah that’s usually when Saiki and I leave and head to the library instead,” Kaidou laughed and nudged Kusuo with his elbow.

...Ow?

“Right Saiki?”

Kusuo nodded and resisted the urge to rub the brand new sore spot, puzzled. That was a bit odd. He knew Kaidou was a skinny little guy whose bones, though brittle, made up a fine offense for their sharpness therefore, but getting pummeled by sharp rocks at vaporizing speed had been just enough to start working out Kusuo’s stiff shoulders. Unless Kaidou got some serious speed and strength boosts in the last three seconds, it was highly unlikely Kaidou would be able to avoid shattering his elbow on Kusuo’s bicep if he nudged Kusuo with just a little bit more force. As it was, Kusuo had been forced to instantly heal three hairline fractures before Kaidou could notice them.

Kuboyasu was looking at him weird, his brain the equivalent of a fleshy question mark. Kusuo must have stiffened automatically and punk that he was, the jerk had caught on. Crap. He was going to need to safeguard his reactions all the m-

...Ow.

‘Okay, what the hell is going on?’ 

Tender aches were blooming all over his body. Kusuo forced himself to sit still instead of squirm, shifting to rest his chin in his palm (fortunately not an unusual posture for him) because his head was getting too heavy to hold up anymore.

‘Actually,’ His eyes hooded as he stared at his work, eraser tapping the paper in a monotonous beat. ‘I’m getting really tired too. I guess my turning back time on my body after that fight with Kusuke yesterday has worn off or something.’

Kusuo shut his eyes. 

...Hey wait a minute?!

Kusuo’s eyes popped open. ‘That’s right! Damnit, I totally forgot about that, no wonder I’m getting so sore! That stupid energy cannon of his packed way more of a punch than I thought it-’ His hip ignited in a bruise and Kusuo stifled his wince. 

He remembered that one. That’d been the first hit he’d taken head on to save Toritsuka from losing his head. ‘Stupid Toritsuka.’

His body cringed. He still needed to hit that guy for stripping Kusuo’s body and flaunting it as he had. In front of Kusuke even. Yeah he’d smacked Toritsuka’s body around a bit during that entire affair but that was self defense and therefore didn’t count. Only now he had to be careful about his soul getting ejected from his body if he did...Yeesh. ‘Stupid pervert Toritsuka.’

There were other ways to gain his revenge, it merely required him needing to get creative for once.

Still, back in the present, this was bad. Kusuo could feel his powers exhausting themselves rapidly and knew it would be a while before he’d have enough to rewind time on himself again. Moreover, any minute now he’d start bleeding from the various wounds Kusuke’s repeat shots yesterday had actually managed to inflict.

‘I should just go home,’ Kusuo thought and began to pack his stuff. ‘If I leave right now I can teleport while I still have some energy left and avoid attention by bleeding everywhere.’

“Huh? Saiki, what’s up? You’re leaving?”

He inclined his head in a brief nod and stood. His entire body pulsated, bitching at him in pain, but Kusuo ignored it.

He was very good at ignoring things.

“Oh, where’s pal going?” 

”But Saiki,” Kuboyasu called out, “It’s not even-”

Kusuo didn’t bother even hearing them out.

He just left. 

He had to. 

Kusuo fled down the stairs as slow as he could so as not to draw attention, paused only briefly to stuff his feet into his shoes, and was out the door the very next second. One brief cast about to make sure nobody would see him and Kusuo teleported then and there.

He landed harder than he’d meant to in his house’s entryway and grit his teeth as the jarring vibrations made each pulverized bit of him light up in complaint. But.

Kusuo closed his eyes. He was home.

Just in time, too. Squeezing his throat around the whimper it gave automatically as his arm split open, Kusuo breathed a ragged sigh and carefully shrugged out of his uniform jacket before it could start soaking through with blood. The white linen of his shirt was already a goner, alas. Grimacing, he looked down at his arm, continuing to stifle his whine. Yesterday he’d actually yelped when Kusuke had scored first blood. Fortunately Kusuke hadn’t heard that over the whirr of machinery.

Being made to bleed had been humiliating and terrifying enough.

‘I’ve never bled before,’ Kusuo swallowed and made his way into the bathroom. ‘Geeze, what do I do? What a pain. Seriously, what a pain. This really hurts! Ow, ow, ow, ow!’

Kusuo had been a bit stupid and kept using his arms to block whenever he’d been unable to teleport away fast enough. It’d learned him a valuable lesson, which was that getting shot in the same spot three times by Kusuke’s stupid cat tank meant blood.

He didn’t bother calling out for his mom. She wasn’t home anyway and even if she was, Kusuo didn’t want her anywhere near him when he was-

His ankle rolled on him. Oh yeah. That. Biting deep into his lip, Kusuo lifted off the ground, grateful flight was a very low energy ability, and flew into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Once there, Kusuo dropped to the floor.

Right.

Okay.

He wasn’t an idiot. He could totally do this. 

‘It might be better to just let my body heal naturally,’ Kusuo thought as he pushed himself onto his knees and scooted over to the sink and the drawers and cupboards therein. ‘Totally gonna be a pain but I don’t wanna have to deal with this every day, turning back time is just gonna mean I’m gonna keep running into this problem. My body is tough, I’m sure it’ll heal fast enough. Right? Right.’

If Kusuo didn’t have some sort of latent healing ability he was gonna scream, honestly. ‘But right now I need a. Hell, what are they called? First aid kits? Or something. Something to stop the bleeding. And my body will take it from there.’

Luckily after Kusuo had picked up on that ditty of a fact he’d taken pains to prevent getting hit in the same spot by the cat tank more than once, and had mostly managed too. The injury on his arm was definitely the worst.

Only, without something to take up the entirety of his attention, the adrenaline flooding him wasn’t as potent and Kusuo could only think about how much it fucking hurt.

Kusuo bit deeper into his lip as he routed through drawer after drawer, his motions growing more frantic as each successive search proved fruitless. Shit. Shit. 

‘Don’t tell me,’ Kusuo’s eyes were about popping out of his head as he tore open the cupboard and started tearing through towels. ‘That we don’t even have one?! Do we even have bandaids?’

Nothing.

Shit.

Kusuo snarled and for lack of anything better, ripped off his shirt. The quick jab of fabric against wound, the pull of his bruised muscles, did succeed in pulling a whimper from him.

It was demoralizing.

Or rather, it succeeded in bringing the situation potently, indeed painfully, home.

Kusuo ignored the way his nose was clogging, having long been of the opinion that if he ignored his emotions they couldn’t get to him, and turned his focus to his arm. He forced himself to look at it with clinical detachment, a thumb finding his mouth, his teeth biting down into a nail.

It was a bad habit. He barely noticed it.

From what Kusuo could tell it looked deep, but honestly he had nothing to compare it to. It was definitely deeper than the scrapes he’d healed but then he’d ramped up everyone’s ability to self-heal and now those requests only came in from his dad and mom.

It honestly looked like something had taken a chunk out of his arm, an awful molten fleshy pit that shouldn’t be, the skin around it cracked like black burnt earth, red welling through the breaks.

Stupid Kusuke.

‘I’ll check the kitchen,’ Kusuo decided and wrapped his shirt around his arm, clenching his teeth around the hiss. Shit, that really stung something fierce. If nothing else, he did not fancy the idea of getting blood everywhere. ‘And then the upstairs bathroom, just in case. We gotta have something,’ He floated up, out the door, doing his best to ignore the pulsing burn, the urge to just kinda curl up and cry. Or hit something. ‘They wouldn’t depend on me so much they wouldn’t keep a first aid kit, right?’

That would just be stupid.

‘Junk drawer, junk drawer,’ Clutching his arm to his middle, Kusuo pulled the drawer in question open, rifled through it. ‘Nope.’ 

He moved onto the next drawer and made it three in before his head gave a pound of warning and he was forced to drop to the floor. Sniffling back the annoying wet in his nose, Kusuo shook the dizziness off, ground his teeth as that made the muscles at the base of his neck throb, and continued by hand.

Drawer after cupboard Kusuo demolished the kitchen with increasing haste, his baseless adrenaline driving his panic as each search found nothing. Too frightened to be elegant, uncoordinated in his exhaustion, Kusuo found himself bumping into and breaking more and more things. By the third time he hurt himself on the rough corner of a cabinet, he might have started crying in earnest.

Especially because there was nothing.

Nothing. 

Struggling not to hyperventilate out of sheer whelm, his anxiety juicy, spiky sharp in the clutch of his too thick lungs, Kusuo shot his eyes over the mess he’d wreaked in the kitchen to confirm. Nothing.

There was nothing. There was fucking NOTHING and he was bleeding and it hurt and his clothes were ruined and nobody was here.

He didn’t know what to do. 

There was nobody to help and he didn’t know what to do.

Raggedly panting, Kusuo clenched his teeth. His mind burned, ugly helplessness scratching him, making him shiver, making him shake.

Hiccuping roughly, Kusuo dragged his less beat up right hand over his stupid blurring eyes and gave another look at the mess he’d made. It was pretty extensive. Kusuo didn’t know when his mom would be back from wherever she was, but he was also well aware expending his psychic energy right now seemed like a bad idea, and he was bleeding, and he was hurting, and he was starting to drip.

‘Okay.’ He slowed his breath even as it caught on a hiccup. ‘Okay. Calm down. Panicking never helped anything. Think. What’s my goal? Okay. First things first, stop the bleeding. Or at least the dripping...’

His exhausted ESP was telling him the upstairs bathroom would prove to be as fruitless as the kitchen. No bother trying.

Sniffling, he reached down and grabbed the paper towel from the floor, dropping his shirt for a moment to wrap that around it instead. Picked the shirt back up, wrapped that around his arm too. Found some duck tape in the mess on the floor and used that for good measure.

Okay. Bleeding sort of temporarily a bit handled.

So.

What did he do?

Kusuo bit his lip. Nothing was going to get done if he just stood here and stared.

‘If mom and dad get home and this is what the kitchen looks like,’ The bathroom too, he remembered. ‘Then that’ll only freak them out more. Or worse, make them angry. And I’ll have inconvenienced them too by making a mess.’ 

Well. There was still a chance his body would heal on its own. It was just taking a bit. Definitely longer than he was used to seeing.

‘I’ll try shapeshifting it back together,’ Kusuo decided. He had his arm wrapped in paper towel and his shirt. It would be fine. He would be fine. He just needed to stop being such a baby about this and freaking out over nothing. ‘And while I do that, I’ll put the house back together.’

Mind, it didn’t feel like nothing. It felt like it hurt. A lot. 

Didn’t matter, though. He would heal. Fact was, Kusuo had still made a mess.

It was his responsibility to clean it up.

Kusuo was just finishing in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

He lifted his head. Judging from the thoughts he was hearing (barely), it was Kuboyasu and Kaidou. They’d ditched Nendo and came to check on him, worried about the hasty manner in which he’d ditched them. Kusuo rolled his eyes, partly at them but mostly at himself. Good grief, he’d been so involved in putting the kitchen back together (after he’d accidentally dropped and broken a plate by using his telekinesis, by hand) that he hadn’t even heard them walk up.

He sighed and looked down at his arm, ignoring them. It felt like new bruises had stopped appearing, so that was nice, and the taped on paper towel and shirt seemed to be holding together alright. Hard to tell if his attempts at shapeshifting were coming through (it didn’t feel like it), but it was probably fine.

After all, he was Kusuo Saiki, normal average god-tier psychic. He would be just fine.

‘Totally unfair,’ He sighed and turned carefully, and just as careful not to limp because fuck you, Kusuke, to the mess he’d made in the downstairs bathroom. ‘That everyone else gets to heal super fast because of me but apparently that’s not one I come equipped with.’

Just outside the bathroom, Kusuo paused and looked at the front door. It was easier to hear from here, the knocking at the door, the concerned noise in Kuboyasu and Kaidou’s heads, but Kusuo was not interested in dealing with them right now. He continued to ignore them. They’d get bored and go away sooner than later.

Dismissing them, he stepped into the bathroom and surveyed the mess. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the one he’d made in the kitchen, which was a relief. Just a couple of drawers pulled out and the towels were a touch ruffled. It was nothing to put that back together.

And then he caught sight of himself in the mirror.

It was a mistake.

Kusuo found himself immediately breathless in shock. He leaned in, inordinately baffled, watched his reflection’s brows pucker. Yeah, that ruffled mess in the mirror was him alright. In a moment of morbid curiosity he poked a ring of yellow and blue on his chin, just to make sure that it wasn’t something he’d gotten on himself, and discovered it was not when it hurt.

Yep. Those were bruises.

“Shit…” Kusuo muttered through his mouth.

It was weird to see. He turned his face, counting at least four, then pulled back and lifted his tank top to get a proper look at what his chest and back looked like underneath.

It was worse than his face.

Kusuo scowled. ‘You know what? I should call the cops on him. This is bull. Man, changing for gym is gonna be such a hassle.’ 

A lurch of horror rocked him. No, it wasn’t just gym, there were bruises on his face too. And because everyone healed so fast nowadays, if those stuck around, Kusuo would attract attention when his didn’t.

Oh man.

His breath shivered a touch, the anxiety he’d managed to force back threatening him. What did he do? It wasn’t too abnormal, right? But if someone asked, what did he tell them? Kusuo looked at his arms, his hands. They were there, too. He could just skip school for a week? Surely these had to go away soon, right? 

‘...Looks like my shapeshifting isn’t working, actually.’ Kusuo felt his eye twitch. ‘Or. No. It is. Just not yet.’

As if to taunt him, looking down alerted him to the fact that he’d been dripping red all over the floor. 

He was bleeding through the tape.

Shit.

The doorbell rang and Kusuo flinched, eyes shooting over his shoulder. Good grief, those assholes were still here?

He gave a heavy sigh and looked back at his reflection in the mirror, scowling at it.

The doorbell rang again.

Kusuo screwed his eyes shut, allowing himself a grimace, and strained to think. It could just be because he wasn’t at full strength, or anywhere close to it really, that the shapeshifting wasn’t working.

No. No it was working. Just not as fast as he’d hoped. Right. Okay. SO.

‘The battle itself took about forty minutes,’ Kusuo guessed. ‘And then I took out my second limiter slash ‘expose Kusuo because he hasn’t been exposed enough today’ device and that gave me enough energy to turn back time-’

The doorbell rang again. Good grief, those assholes were feeling persistent today, huh?

Grinding his teeth, Kusuo set his hand on his hip, forcing himself to think harder, his foot tapping out an anxious tune on the floor. ‘Okay. Even if I’m not at full power I’ve got some juice so I’ll just keep try-’

The doorbell rang again.

‘-ing goddamnit you assholes, go away!’ 

“We know you’re in there, Saiki!”

Well then take a hint!

Kusuo scrubbed his hand through his hair, winced and growled when his hand caught a tender knob on the back, spun on his heel with intent to give them a piece of his mind, yelped when he realized too late it was the bad one, and snarled in sudden and blinding rage. 

Fuck this. Fuck all of this. The verve of anger gave him enough energy to teleport to the door instead of walking but the timing was bad because, of course, that’s when Kuboyasu announced that he was going to open the door, and did.

Right into Kusuo.

More specifically, right into his busted arm.

Because of course.

‘Oh those are some fun colours.’

Blinking through the rapid starburst seizing his vision, Kusuo realized he was on the floor, his teeth biting into his shoulder to catch the end of the howl tingling in his throat, with his arm clutched to his chest. The damned limb in question, well, Kusuo was pretty sure that’s what being on fire must feel like for the normies. Or, it should just be the limb, but the entire top side of his body was feeling it now.

Suffice to say, not pleasant. Unclenching his teeth from his shoulder, panting roughly despite himself, Kusuo swung a glare that was definitely not filled with tears up at the idiots who were half way into the front door. Their minds were blank with shock, and their faces looked stupid with it.

Kusuo gave them every single one of his teeth in his best snarl because he was not happy. Kaidou at least had the grace to flinch back.

So out of his mind with ow was he that he just couldn’t be assed to play nice.

“What the fuck,” Kusuo’s telepathy boxed their heads a solid wallop. “Is wrong with you morons, good fucking grief, can’t you take a-” His mouth dared to hiccup and breathing raggedly he continued. ��Take a fucking hint!?”

Kaidou was paler than his hair, an impressive feat, and croaked out, “We-We got worried-”

“Take,” Kusuo said and dragged himself painstakingly upward. “A Fucking. Hint. Leave me alone!”

“Aw hell nah, man,” Kuboyasu breathed and finished pushing his way inside. 

Kusuo found himself manhandled into what was probably the second most embarrassing thing to be done to him this week, swung into Kuboyasu’s arms bridal style. 

Now while it was nice to get off his feet-

Kusuo choked, his face hot, and though he didn’t dare hit the guy it was a very near thing. “What the hell are you doing?! Put me down!”

“Nah,” Kuboyasu repeated himself, toeing off his shoes which was just insulting, honestly, because that should not be that easy when he was carrying someone - namely, Kusuo himself. “Your foot looks jacked, dude, aint no way you’re walking on that. Where the fucks your first aid kit?”

Grinding his teeth, Kusuo squeezed his eyes shut and didn’t even bother with a response. Kuboyasu’s mind, stupid quick which was stupid considering how stupid he was, was taking note of the blood spatter, of the tape, of the disheveled look of the bathroom Kusuo hadn’t even started cleaning, and dared to come to the right conclusion.

“Shun,” Kuboyasu looked over his shoulder. “They should sell them at the convenience store, go grab one would ya?”

“Uh!” The boy, still in the doorway, startled. “Right! Okay! I’ll-I’ll run, I’ll be right back!”

Shun ran away at top speed. 

It wasn’t very fast. 

They watched him go. He was panting by the time he got to the gate.

Kusuo looked at Kuboyasu and Kuboyasu looked back at him. Kuboyasu quirked a rogue grin.

“So that’ll be at least twenty minutes then.”

Kusuo nodded. “Probably, yeah.” 

“Well, maybe we’ll luck out and you’ll be all better by then,” Kuboyasu said as he continued toward the dining room, for whatever reason setting Kusuo down on the table. “In the meantime, shit, bro, you’re a mess.”

Kusuo scowled. “Well someone opened a door in my face-”

“And I’m seriously sorry about that,” Kuboyasu shook his head, walking over to the sink in the kitchen just feet away, dodging blood spatter as he went. “But you can’t tell me that fucked you up that good. Shit dude, it’s only been, like, twenty minutes.”

Kusuo watched as Kuboyasu ransacked the drawers for a couple of minutes before coming up with a soft cloth, and a moment after that, his dad’s vodka. 

“What are you doing?” Kusuo couldn’t help but ask, irritated over the fact that Kuboyasu seemed to be going about automatically with knowledge so ingrained he didn’t even have to think about it.

Kuboyasu paused, and Kusuo had the realization he’d asked a stupid question. 

He gave his glare at the wall instead to hide his humiliation. “Tch. Nevermind.”

The prompt at least had illuminated Kusuo to the logic behind the items, and made him feel even stupider, honestly.

“You are not getting anywhere near me with either of those,” Kusuo threatened, slicing his narrow eyes to glare at Kuboyasu’s back. “In fact, leave. I’ll take care of it myself.”

“Oh yeah, cus you’ve been doing such a good job of it, eh?”

Kusuo hissed. “Shut up! Leave.”

Kuboyasu finished wetting the rag in the sink, rung it out, filled a bowl with yet more water.

“Tell you what,” Kuboyasu said, turning to walk back to where Kusuo was still sitting on the table. “Beat me in an arm wrestling contest and I’ll fuck off.”

Kusuo paused as he took that in. Mind, he could. Even in this condition he’d be able to kick Kuboyasu’s ass no problem, it’d just hurt him to do it.

‘And, well,’ He looked away from Kuboyasu’s stupid smug face. ‘If this ever happens to me again I’m gonna need to know how to take care of myself. He knows what to do and,’ He grimaced deeply. ‘I don’t. If Kusuke’s stupid hair pin really does work I won’t be able to shapeshift myself better, and it doesn’t feel like it’s working. Yet. It’s just slow. It’ll work eventually. But if I don’t have my powers...’

It was a scary thought.

So he didn’t answer. Setting the supplies on the table beside Kusuo, Kuboyasu smirked as he pulled out a pocket knife. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. So. Up to sharing what the hell happened between Shun’s place and yours?”

There were dark visions of Kusuo getting assaulted by evil gangs circulating through Kuboyasu’s brain that were making Kusuo feel a bit ill to watch, and Kuboyasu’s face was shadowed to match despite his crooked smile.

“Do I need to murder somebody?”

Kusuo paused.

Licked his lips.

They tasted like copper with the blood he’d drawn from his shoulder.

‘I was going to tell them,’ He thought, lowering his eyes to his lap. ‘This. This would be a good opportunity, actually, to explain. To explain everything. Especially if my wounds don’t heal tomorrow.’ His brows twisted. ‘I.’ His stomach rolled. 

He swallowed, and it felt like trembling.

‘But I’m afraid.’

“Saiki?”

The violent goings-ons in Kuboyasu’s head tapered off, softening in concern, and Kusuo realized he was accidentally making an expression that, worse, was worried, and had of course caught the attention of the former thug standing in front of him. 

“Saiki,” Kuboyasu’s voice was low in worry that made Kusuo’s stomach roll harder in distaste. “Look, if you’re in trouble or if you’re afraid of someone…”

Kusuo caught himself looking at the camera in the corner of the dining room and tore his eyes away just as quick but Kuboyasu had already noticed, damn his powers of observation, and was turning to look. It took Kuboyasu only a couple of seconds to see the small glint of the lens that haunted Kusuo day in, day out.

It wasn’t as though Kusuke had taken pains to hide them. These ones, anyways. Supposedly they were there for security. Less supposedly, Kusuke was a filthy liar.

‘Shit. Shit. I don’t think Kusuke has audio enabled since he can read lips and cameras can’t pick up my telepathy,’ Kusuo caught his lip in his teeth, grateful Kuboyasu’s face was angled toward what he knew to be a blind spot. ‘But if he takes an interest-but why would he take an interest in Kuboyasu for noticing the cameras? It’s just supposed to be a security camera, it’s natural to notice them, right? So it should be okay, right?’

Kuboyasu began to look around to scout the others but Kusuo shook his head. Still, he had to distract him.

“It’s nothing like that. I just crossed the neighbour’s dog the wrong way on my way home is all. Jerk took a bite out of my arm and then the sidewalk beat me up.”

There, that was an effective lie. Thinking about how bloodthirsty Pochimi was should ensure Kusuo’s face matched too, if anything showed on it at all.

Kuboyasu hummed. “You were in a hurry to leave,” He said, no doubt trying to inject some holes into Kusuo’s story, already unconvinced. “Such a hurry that you freaked us out, even.”

Kusuo rolled his eyes. “I forgot one of the neighbours is supposed to drop something off for mom today after four and I was supposed to be here to receive it.”

Kuboyasu looked him in the eye and Kusuo met his gaze unflinchingly.

Gradually, disappointment started to sink into the other teen’s face.

It was too hard to look at. Kusuo gave another look at the camera instead. The fact that Kusuke had lured Toritsuka in, kidnapped him right out from Kusuo’s nose, weighed on him heavily.

Kuboyasu might not have psychic powers, but that didn’t make him any less of an effective hostage.

Kusuo had let people get too close.

Kusuo squeezed his eyes shut. Shit, what a pain. How did he play this? If he brushed off Kuboyasu’s concerned that would just confirm there was something wrong but if he was honest then-

Then what, honestly? Kusuo doubted Kuboyasu, debatable cop killer and former punk that he was, was about to snitch to the government, to anyone. And if he knew about Kusuke, he’d be able to see Kusuke coming. It’d give him a better chance to protect himself or avoid getting sucked in by his brother’s charm like Toritsuka had.

It was hardly the first time that Kusuke had turned someone against him.

But still.

He was afraid.

Of what, he couldn’t say, but he was afraid.

“I just,” Kusuo finally said. “I don’t wanna talk about it right now.”

At that, Kuboyasu released a thick sigh, and...

Nodded?

“Okay.”

Kusuo looked up at the other teen in surprise. What, that was it? Kuboyasu had listened to him?

“Whenever you’re ready, holmes,” Kuboyasu said. “Those aren’t going away yet so let’s start getting you cleaned up, alright?”

Kusuo decided to be relieved. He nodded, and refused to meet Kuboyasu’s eye to show how much he did not approve of this. “Fine, whatever.”

Funnily enough that brought the smile back onto Kuboyasu’s face, and the fondness that warmed the other boy was almost enough to warm Kusuo’s cheeks, too.

“What?” Kusuo snapped, hoping to tear it right off of Kuboyasu’s face.

Instead, Kuboyasu laughed. “Nothing, nothing. It’s just. I get why you’re so grumpy right now but for whatever reason it just, I dunno.” He dipped the cloth in the bowl of water, apparently now too dry for his tastes, and shrugged. “It’s nice. Kinda feels more you or whatever to hear you swearing and snarling than that meek BS you put on at school. Not that Mr. Nice isn’t a good look on you, this just feels more natural and. I guess it feels like I’m getting to know you better. Sorry if that sounds weird.”

Before Kusuo could respond, Kuboyasu began to wipe at the bite he’d accidentally inflicted on himself and Kusuo jumped, sucking back his yelp and turning to push his mouth into his other shoulder.

“Sorry man, trying to be gentle.”

Well if Kuboyasu liked it when he swore, “Shut the fuck up.”

“So how bad’s the one on your arm?” Kuboyasu asked instead. “Should I wait until Shun gets here with the first aid kit?”

Kusuo considered the chunk missing out of his arm and wondered if a first aid kit would actually do the trick for that. As Kuboyasu tended to the wound in his shoulder, Kusuo decided to put more energy into his shapeshifting before Kuboyasu got to see it. Maybe if he started concentrating on just that wound it’d work faster and he’d be able to avoid a trip to the ER.

Stupid Kusuke.

So Kusuo nodded.

“Alright, I think I got that about as clean as I can get it,” Kuboyasu muttered, squinting then tutted. “Shit, man, why’d you bite yourself?”

Kusuo huffed. “Why’d you hit my busted arm with a door?”

Kuboyasu paused, then shrugged and nodded as he unscrewed the vodka. Kusuo lifted a brow as he watched the other take a swig before offering it to him with a raised eyebrow of his own. The odor was pungent enough to let Kusuo know that the promise of raspberries on the label was a lie, so he shook his head.

“You sure? This is probably gonna sting like a bitch,” Kuboyasu prodded.

Kusuo said, “It smells disgusting, I’m not putting my mouth anywhere near that.”

Kuboyasu grinned, “Fair enough,” took another swig then said, “Alright dude, brace yourself. On the count of three, alright?”

Kusuo pressed his mouth back into his shoulder but Kuboyasu grabbed his chin and yanked it away. Kusuo huffed at him in affront but Kuboyasu merely narrowed his eyes and tapped his nose.

“Don’t bite yourself again.”

Aghast at the gall of this kid, Kusuo bared his teeth. “I’ll bite you.”

“Sure man, whatever.”

Uh, excuse him? That was not an adequate response.

“Alright, one, two-”

Even though Kusuo knew Kuboyasu was going to go early the splash of vodka hitting his shoulder still managed to startle a brief cry out of him because holy shit Kuboyasu had nailed it. That stung like a BITCH. It was almost enough to pull his mind away from the hellfire of his arm that was making him sweat. 

He clamped his mouth shut on the noise, strangled it in his throat with a shudder.

“Y’alright?”

Wincing a touch as Kuboyasu mopped up the excess with the towel, Kusuo ground his teeth and said through his mouth, “I’ll still bite you.”

No more telepathy. He had to put that to his shapeshifting.

Kuboyasu snorted. “Sure thing. Hey. You want a coffee jelly while we wait for Shun to get back?”

Kusuo blinked up in startlement before whispering a light sigh and nodding, lowering his head.

That sounded amazing right now, to be honest.

“Yes, please.”

“Alright, you just stay right there. Grab you some ice for that foot, too…” Kuboyasu muttered as he turned around, making his way back into the kitchen.

Kusuo felt a hot wave of shame stir up his already heaving insides. Kuboyasu was being kind, acting out of concern, helping Kusuo without even needing to be asked and all Kusuo had done so far was bite his head off. 

He was being an inconvenience and worse, he was being an ungrateful one.

Kusuo felt his eyes drift shut. His body was weary, the adrenaline fatiguing, the pain not helping. Honestly, going to sleep right here on the table sounded like the dream.

“What time are your parents due back?” Kuboyasu asked, taking hold of Kusuo’s leg and shifting it onto the table.

Bemused, Kusuo watched. The other was trying to help, sure, but Kuboyasu was manhandling him an awful lot today. What was with all this touchy feely shit? A towel wrapped icepack was plunked down onto his foot and then Kuboyasu was pulling up a chair and sitting down, handing over a coffee jelly and a spoon.

He’d taken a pair for himself, too.

Given how much of a hassle Kusuo was currently being for him, he didn’t have the heart to tell him to put it back. It was only fair.

He shrugged in response and as it pulled on his bruised muscles, Kusuo regretted his non-verbalism.

Kuboyasu nodded, peeling open his cup. Kusuo looked down at his own, stretched his pulsating, tingly fingers, winced as a flash of unpleasantness lanced up a tendon. Hm. That didn’t feel good. He could feel Kuboyasu watching him, and likewise too felt something like guilt beginning to move in.

“I’m really sorry about hitting you with the door, Saiki. That couldn’t have helped.”

It hadn’t.

“Are you going to be able to eat? I can get that open for you if-”

No.

Kusuo was not going to be fed like some infant. Hell, even when he’d been an infant he’d insisted on feeding himself, he was not starting now. He cut the other off with a glare, one that was perhaps a mite weak by his standards, and looked down at the cup of coffee jelly.

There was an opportunity looking at him right now in the form of a two handed activity he was not sure he could complete - peeling off the lid. Kusuo could still do as such without needing to use his hands.

He’d just need to use his psychic powers.

Which, granted, he was trying to funnel toward his shapeshifting right now but. You know. Still.

‘Or my teeth,’ Kusuo thought, setting the cup down for the moment and grabbing the now thoroughly ruined cloth to start wiping off the blood on his hand. ‘But that’d look even more ridiculous than telekinesis.’

This sucked, Kusuo decided again, weary.

This really, really sucked.

‘I don’t think,’ He dropped the cloth back into the bowl. ‘That I like pain very much.’

Before he got the chance to make a decision, Kusuo heard Shun’s thoughts slip into his periphery, albeit closer than they ought to have been. 

‘My range must be limited with my energy drained,’ Kusuo thought, lifting his head and looking over at the hallway leading to the front door. He heard the door open a second later, and Shun’s gasping breaths broke into the house.

“I…” Shun wheezed, dragging himself into the kitchen. “Ran as fast as I could! I got a nice big deluxe style one. Should have...everything you nee-is that alcohol?”

“They didn’t have rubbing alcohol,” Kuboyasu explained, his mind promptly declaring the lie since he hadn’t even looked for any. Apparently Kuboyasu was more than happy to partake in a little bit of underage drinking while sterilizing wounds at the same time. He collected the kit from Kaidou and cracked it open with a mutter of, “Let’s see what we have here…Nice, it’s packed! Good job, Shun!”

Kaidou returned Kuboyasu’s thumbs up and dragged his body into a chair, looking over at Kusuo and stiffening, his brain spiking in alarm. ‘He’s still not healed yet...so he’s a slow healer, huh?’

‘I don’t want to hear that coming from you.’ Kusuo twitched. ‘I’m not a slow healer, I’m a normal healer. Just like I’m a normal kid. You lot are just nuts. Well. My fault. ...Still!’

Uhg, he’d known that was gonna come back to bite him eventually. What an inconvenient area to actually be average in.

“I don’t think these scissors are gonna be sharp enough to cut through all that,” Kuboyasu mumbled and squinted at the ‘all that’ Kusuo had wrapped his arm in. He turned back to the kit and started excavating it, pulling out a bunch of nonsense that Kusuo couldn’t identify on sight. 

He picked up what looked like a towlette and read that it was.

‘Huh. So normal people use these for that, too.’ Kusuo paused to think about it as Kuboyasu stole said towlette, cleaned his hands with it. He watched as Kuboyasu grabbed his arm and got to cutting through the tape with his knife. ‘Hey wait a minute-’

!

The pulling of the fabric and tape made it shift against the wound and Kusuo buried his mouth in his hand, his free foot beginning to wiggle. A hand touched his arm and Kusuo flinched back, eyes popping open, and found Kaidou retreating with raised hands.

“Sorry. I. I’m not good with blood,” Kaidou said, and it wasn’t a lie. “Can I hold your hand?”

Well, the intentions were a bit duplicitous because Kaidou also wanted to comfort him, but. That didn’t sound totally like a bad idea. Only problem was, if Kusuo flinched and squeezed Kaidou’s hand, he’d totally rip the kid’s arm off or pulverize it into dust, and then that would be difficult and awkward and nobody needed that today. Kusuo was already being a hassle enough, he didn’t want to hurt someone.

Not on accident anyway.

But, honestly, a little bit of physical comfort was not something Kusuo wanted to say no to.

Well. As long as Kaidou had said it was cus he needed it, not that Kusuo should need it, it should be okay. Blinking back tears, Kusuo looked at the table and reached out. His fingers found Kaidou’s uniform sleeve, twisted in, and held on tight.

Or as tight as he could without ripping the kid’s sleeve off.

Kaidou paused for a second but a moment later his hand was settling over Kusuo’s hand, soft, clammy, and Kusuo screwed his eyes shut.

This was so embarrassing.

But it was also kind of niiiiiiii-

His thoughts trailed off into incoherent babble as Kuboyasu set to gently peeling off Kusuo’s makeshift bandages, fingers carefully picking apart fabric and paper towel in a process that was a touch more arduous than Kusuo had been hoping. He clenched his teeth together, gaze fixed on the wall, focused in on his breathing to keep steady through the stimuli. Finally, Kuboyasu’s careful picking revealed the wet underneath to air, and Kuboyasu hissed.

“Shit, dude…”

Kaidou leaned over to see and promptly regretted it, his stomach gurgling, his mouth saying, “Urp.”

“Yo, if you gotta puke, don’t do it here.” Kuboyasu shook his head with a sharp sigh. “Saiki, that looks really nasty. You might need a hospital, man.”

Yeah, hell no. Kusuo would cauterize it first.

He paused, and squinted at himself.

‘...Hey actually that’s not a bad idea, why didn’t I think of that sooner?’ 

Did he have the power for that right now?

“Also, heads up for the future? Paper towel directly on, or rather IN, a wound? Not a great idea!” Kuboyasu huffed but it almost sounded like a growl as though the former thug had the audacity to be angry at him. “You really had no idea what you were doing, did you?”

Kuboyasu sounded almost awed. That and the accuracy of the statement made it very insulting.

Still, he was a touch curious to see what’d prompted that rude reaction.

Kusuo looked over to see what Kuboyasu meant by that and paused to see bits of what looked like paper towel sticking like a thin layer of extra clumpy skin to the edges of the wound, long bled through. 

Oops. 

What could he say? He’d been panicking.

‘Doesn’t look like my shapeshifting has worked so far then,’ Kusuo sighed. ‘Damn. I’ll just keep trying.’

“I’m gonna need to get this shit off before I can do anything else.” Kuboyasu sighed and turned toward the first aid kit, pulling out a pair of tweezers and biting into the packaging. “You know, I know you were bullshitting me with the dog, but I can see where you got the inspiration.”

“You got bitten by a dog?!” Kaidou screeched. “But-but then we really DO need a hospital, you need to get, like, shots and stuff!”

“He tried to say he was but he was lying. You can tell, too. Look, the edges are cracked,” Kuboyasu said, taking Kusuo’s arm and pulling it to show Kaidou, the tweezers pointing. “Also they’re too clean and the way the wound is shaped is wrong, too. If he was mauled by a dog it’d be more ragged, you’d be able to tell it was scooped out with teeth. Not to mention Saiki would be scratched up, too, from the claws. But if that wasn’t the case, it’s not uncommon to see dogs taking chunks out of people kinda like this.”

Kuboyasu lifted Kusuo’s arm, taking off his glasses to squint at it properly. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. The edges indicate burning but that’s only on the outside, and the bruising around it implies severe impact…”

Kusuo swallowed and resisted the urge to whistle or avert his eyes too obviously. A little close to home, there, Kuboyasu.

“Meanwhile the cleanliness of the meat suggest something more like a bullet, only it’d need to be massive and hella weak to inflict a wound of this size but depth. A high velocity weapon of that caliber should’ve punched his arm straight off. If I had to guess I’d almost wonder if this is what getting hit by some sort of sci-fi energy beam cannon looks like.”

Kusuo felt himself sweat. ‘What is this guy, a forensic pathologist?!’

“Wow, Aren,” Kaidou said, “That’s. Uh. Really in depth.”

Kuboyasu laughed, flushing a touch. “Eheh, yeah, you pick up a lot on the streets.”

‘That much!? What kind of gang wars were you fighting?!’ Kusuo and Kaidou both screamed, but they had tact so it was only inside their heads.

“Either way, I think the best thing to do would be to get the paper towel out, sanitize it, then get you to the hospital. This shit isn’t healing on its own,” Kuboyasu said, tweezing out a small clump that was the physical manifestation of Kusuo’s stupidity. “So you’re probably gonna need a skin graft or something.”

Oh and wouldn’t that be hilarious when they tried to stick a needle in him and it broke off. Kusuo could imagine the carnage that’d ensue in a room full of rebounding medical equipment. It would not be a fun time for anyone except him, who would be cackling and lording his godliness over the so called superiority of the medical establishment and the god-complexes it coaxed to life therein. His was warranted. They were just assholes.

Either way, it was a situation that was best to avoid.

Kusuo hated to say it but he was leaning toward cauterization since his first idea was striking out. 

“I’m not going to the hospital.” Kusuo sighed, watching with morbid fascination as Kuboyasu tweezed another piece of paper towel out of his gaping flesh wound. He couldn’t feel it. It was startling how gentle the punk was capable of being. Having seen Kuboyasu leave trails of bodies in his wake, Kusuo had taken for granted that, should those hands ever come onto him, the transaction would be violent. One sided maybe, but violent all the same.

While Kuboyasu had certainly taken liberties with his body today, he’d.

He’d been really nice. And patient.

Kind. Hard, but.

Soft.

Supportive. Emotionally and physically. The best of Kusuo’s bitching had netted only laughing agreement and eyerolls. What would push away anyone else and had dissuaded Kuboyasu himself in the past wasn’t working now.

Was it because he was hurt?

Was it because they were, well, sort of friends now?

‘It’s because he cares about me.’ Kusuo paid a brief glance at Kaidou, who was still holding his hand. ‘They both do.’

That’s why they’d come to check up on him at all. That’s why Kuboyasu had even barged in to begin with. Picked him up, and carried him. That’s why Kaidou had run to the store in back in record time, paying for a first aid kit out of his own pocket because Kusuo’s parents just took for granted that Kusuo would be there to heal them as needed, and so didn’t bother to stock anything.

It didn’t seem a stretch to say that these two might actually care about him more than his own family did.

Granted, that bar wasn’t exceptionally high. But that they aced it to begin with?

Through the pain, Kusuo felt a warm, funny feeling.

It made up his mind.

“That’s enough, Kuboyasu. Here,” Kusuo said, brushing the other’s hand aside and hovering his fingers over the wound. “Let me.”

Hopefully this worked and he didn’t look too much like an even bigger idiot. Kusuo had embarrassed himself enough today without looking like a chuuni.

“Uh.”

Summoning what dribbles of psychic power he had left, Kusuo narrowed his focus on the paper towel and, as gently and carefully as he could manage, lifted the remains of his self induced nonsense out of his owie, turned his hand and with a flick of his fingers, rolled it up and threw it into the garbage can, which opened to eat it.

Alright. That worked.

Sooooo why hadn’t his shapeshifting? 

Well, back to the situation at hand.

“It might have been an energy beam cannon, yes,” Kusuo said over Kaidou’s gaping squeaks. “I thought I could shapeshift my wounds away but that doesn’t seem to be working.” He hadn’t given that up, no, he’d been trying the whole time and nope. He had a feeling any injuries sustained in his primary body would be sustained in whatever other form he took, too. “However, I think I can cauterize it. Is there anything I should do before I do that?”

Kuboyasu was also staring, but his brain recircuited a bit quicker than Kaidou’s. “Well. If any germs stay in there, can you guarantee they won’t munch on you? If not, we should still sanitize it.”

Hm. That was the question. Kusuo knew his outsides were impervious to germs, but his insides were not. He still got colds, the flu, etcetera. He just raised his temperature to kill them dead with fire. Now, granted, cauterizing the wound itself should perform the same function but Kusuo was going to be inflicting pain on himself. Controlling the fire was going to be difficult.

‘But vodka is an accelerant.’ Kusuo narrowed his eyes on the drink in question, looming ominously in his peripheral vision until now. He tapped his lip. ‘It would be better to be safe than sorry but I don’t want to blow up the house. Good grief.’

It was hard to think. Kusuo sighed and wiggled his arm minutely to signal Kuboyasu to, “Get on with it.”

Did electricity combust? Maybe he could just zap his skin back together. So long as he melted his flesh to close the wound that’d do the trick, right? And that way he wouldn’t blow everyone up. Right?

Right.

“Alright. I’m gonna clean this up a bit then we’ll go ham with some drink. Shun, get up there and hold onto him, he’s gonna need it.”

Kaidou hesitated. “Uh.”

Kusuo also hesitated. If he thrashed, he’d rip Kaidou apart. Kaidou was delicate and broke easily. He’d broken himself on Kusuo just by nudging him with his elbow earlier today. 

If Kusuo so much as twitched, the kid was a goner.

He kinda didn’t want to kill a friend today. It’d been shitty enough of a day without that as a cherry on top.

Kuboyasu also wouldn’t be able to hold Kusuo down but the strength the other would be able to exert could at least be a reminder through the pain, and prevent Kusuo from ruining things. He was also significantly tougher than Kaidou, able to exert some force on Kusuo without breaking. Hell, he’d been able to take an entire fall off a mountain and live, albeit with medical intervention, spending a bit of time in a body cast and then walking it off like it was no big deal. His upbringing had also, no doubt, grown his pain tolerance.

Kaidou was a weenie who’d cried when Kuboyasu had shaken his hand.

Yeah, the choice was clear.

“That’s not a good idea.”

Kusuo floated off the table, his head pounding at the psychic exertion, and plopped himself as you do in Kuboyasu’s lap.

“You do it.”

“UH.”

Kuboyasu’s brain was a speedy little mess that buzzed at Kusuo’s telepathy like an entire hive of flustered bees. Kusuo was glad he was too tired to parse it properly because this was humiliating enough. However, Kuboyasu was already seated, and correct. 

Kusuo was unused to pain, and expected he’d require something, or someone to keep him grounded. Otherwise, even as tired as he was he’d probably destroy the house.

Or Japan.

“Uh,” Kuboyasu stammered again but this time managed something beyond just an ‘Uh’, saying, “Are you sure that’s such a good idea? I mean-”

“I’m a half foot taller than Kaidou, even without the psychic powers I just revealed to you,” Kusuo’s throat was getting sore with all this real talking. Uhg. He gave the other a lidded, skeptical look. “Do you really think he’d be able to hold me down?”

“HEY!?

Kuboyasu paused then said, “Okay, yeah, fair point.”

“HEY!?”

“It’s gonna be kinda awkward with you sitting on me like this. Can you go sidesaddle? Shitty arm facing me.”

This was stupid.

Kusuo sat sidesaddle and tried to forget he was on Kuboyasu’s lap, but it was hard. Hard as Kuboyasu reached around him to grab the vodka. Hard, as Kuboyasu’s hand settled on his hip for balance. Hard, because Kuboyasu was warm, and firm. Very firm. 

Kusuo did his best to ignore it. However, it seemed to be of the same opinion as Kuboyasu and Kaidou at the door earlier.

Just because he was ignoring it didn’t mean it was going away. Sometimes it even barged in and did him a nasty bump.

Like it was doing right now.

‘I,’ Kusuo decided, doing his damndest not to show that he was noticing anything about the body he was presently sitting on, when he was in fact noticing a lot about how nice non-threatening physical contact with another person was. ‘Regret everything.’

This was so embarrassing.

Didn’t help that Kuboyasu, when you got down to it, wasn’t a total waste of space. He could be pretty handy to have around even, like now. Kuboyasu carried his own weight, more often than not, and tried to keep himself out of trouble which was something Kusuo appreciated immensely. When he did get into trouble, he could usually hold his own with minimum help, and even helped others.

He was strong. Loyal. Not a complete asshole. His grades weren’t the best, but he wasn’t dumb - Kuboyasu’s earlier wound analysis would tell that to anybody. Spookily observant, too, which kept Kusuo on his toes.

And.

Well.

They were a bit alike with the whole secret identity bit weren’t they? Kusuo could relate to Kuboyasu’s struggles. Had been. He hadn’t appreciated Kuboyasu’s presence but watching the other guy work through his shit and come out on top was, maybe, a little inspiring.

A little admirable.

‘...’ Kusuo blinked. ‘What the fuck am I thinking.’

A hand took his and Kusuo clamped down on his yelp but wasn’t able to contain his startle, eyes swinging up to Kuboyasu’s face and finding therein a look of concern hidden behind the other’s glasses.

Toys, just like his, they may as well have been for all the good they did for Kuboyasu’s perfect eyesight.

“You okay? You kinda zoned out for a second there. I get you’re probably freaking out about this but I need you to stay with me, okay?”

Kusuo, still doing his best not to notice anything, nodded. Sure, he’d take it. He was just scared.

What was he scared of again…?

Oh yeah. Kuboyasu was about to sterilize the giant gaping hole in his arm that his shapeshifting was still failing to close and then Kusuo was going to melt it shut.

Right.

Kusuo immediately felt himself break out in a cold sweat, his brain lurching on the brakes because maybe not, maybe no thank you, maybe he was changing his mind because that didn’t sound appealing at all actually?!

‘What the fuck was I thinking?!’

“Maybe I will go to the hospital,” Kusuo’s voice might have might have rasped and quavered just a touch. “They’ve got anesthetic and stuff right?”

“They’d need to inject it.” Kuboyasu’s tone, by turn, was quite dry. The bastard. “Do ya think that’d work?”

No.

Kusuo said (squeaked) with a bare tinge of a hopeful smile, “Maybe?”

Kuboyasu raised an eyebrow and squeezed Kusuo’s hand before his attention shifted. Kusuo had a split second of forewarning piecing through Kuboyasu’s brain before he said, “Brace yourself.”

Kusuo didn’t know how to brace himself?! 

His body tensed all the same, his lungs catching on his very breath but Kuboyasu didn’t give him much longer to wait before he was turning Kusuo’s wrist and upending the bottle.

Kusuo’s throat sucked in a sharp, raw breath.

The windows shattered. 

He distantly heard Kaidou scream but Kuboyasu’s arm stayed concrete heavy around his waist, holding him firm. Kusuo barely felt it.

Kusuo had heard people describe pain in a lot of ways.

He couldn’t begin to describe this.

His mind slowly woke from its animal howl and he forced his body, and his ESP, to relax. There was a clatter but it was quiet over the sound of his rapid, heavy breathing. There was a smell in his nose that was grounding. It was the scent of something inexplicably human, somehow, and cloth. His throat convulsed around a noise that might’ve been a sound if it hadn’t died right then, suffocated by the racing of his breath. Noticing it, Kusuo forced himself to stop, sucked his breath all the way down into his chest, forced himself to hold it, coughed as he released it as it caught onto the crying irritation in his throat. 

Eventually Kusuo managed to croak, “That hurt.”

Kuboyasu snorted. “Yeah, I bet.”

He realized he’d managed to get even closer in that moment, had practically curled into Kuboyasu’s body heat. Whoops.

Still, he wasn’t sure how he felt about spending the effort to pull away.

Kusuo was tired. Just tired. Full stop.

His little hissy fit hadn’t helped. Shit. Fatal flaw in his plan. Self-cauterizing kinda required he had the energy to do it. 

He wasn’t sure he did. Well, it was still worth a shot.

“So are your parents gonna freak out about the house, uh, exploding a little?” 

Kaidou was still gibbering something fierce but Kuboyasu was handling the revelation of his powers with an aplomb that made Kusuo wonder if the name of his former gang was a bit more than a coincidence.

Something to think about later, though.

“They might,” Kusuo grumbled, brain cells dying rapidly in the onslaught of. What was a good word for ‘sting’ but about one thousand times worse than he’d ever imagined? Kusuo couldn’t say, he was pretty new to this whole pain thing.

Felt like shit, was all he could say, and winced as Kuboyasu started patting it dry, or, well, dryer. Kusuo was sure the cloth was soft. It still felt about as pleasant as what he imagined being dragged through a rose bush arm first might be except, you know, for a normal person.

The only relief was getting to be cuddled through it, not that Kusuo would ever tell anybody that, even on pain of death. Might help even more that Kuboyasu was bigger than him so it was sort of like being wrapped up in a very firm, solid blanket. Helpful, that Kuboyasu was being such a good sport about this given how much of a jerk Kusuo had been up until now.

“Won’t flip too hard, will they? You can crash at mine until shit blows over if you want,” Kuboyasu offered, giving Kusuo a quick nudge and drawing his eyes up just in time to catch the sidewards glance Kuboyasu barely flicked to the camera.

He had to give it to the punk, Kuboyasu’s situational awareness really could be such a pain. 

‘You’re not letting that go, huh.’ 

Kusuo shut his eyes with a sigh that felt heavier than him and let himself, just this once, rest his aching, pounding head on someone else's shoulder.

Well, Kusuo couldn’t blame the guy for that. Wasn’t as though Kuboyasu was wrong.

He felt obligated to respond.

“Give me a minute. I gotta do the rest now.”

If he had enough juice he’d put the house back together. If not, well.

The house would be fine whenever he got around to it.

“The rest?” Kaidou whimpered.

“Yeah.”

Uncurling from Kuboyasu’s shirtfront and waving the other’s ministrations off, Kusuo took a breath.

Then another breath.

And a third, and like shifting the earth itself mustered up the last dregs of his energy.

The fingers on his good hand curled, uncurled, stretched. Kusuo felt his hair beginning to lift as static energy crawled up his arm, giving way a second later to the crackle of electricity. It twisted around his fingers in ticklish little snakes, wafted his hair, his clothes in an invisible wind. He coalesced the energy into a ball in his palm and lowered it to his arm-

Only to chicken out, let the energy go, and grab the bottle of vodka out of Kuboyasu’s hand. Despite his earlier protests, Kusuo necked it.

Maybe it would help, his panicking hind brain gibbered. Kuboyasu had seemed to think it might’ve earlier so it would right? RIGHT?!

“Whoa!” Kuboyasu yelped then started laughing, unlike Kaidou who was back to his gibbering again. “Easy, dude, don’t drink all of it or your pops will notice!”

Kusuo slammed the bottle on the table and sobbed for breath. “Dad’s an idiot who wouldn’t notice if the sky turned green.”

He wiped at his mouth and looked up at Kuboyasu with an accusing glare. “Also? That tasted awful, I was right.”

‘Awful’ did not describe it. The raspberries on the label were an ugly, awful lie. Kusuo had just drank nail polish remover and he was mad about it, damnit.

The disgusting taste and heat helped wake him up a bit at least. He probably had the energy for this now.

Kuboyasu grinned. “You were right!”

“Shut up, don’t patronize me,” Kusuo grumbled then gave his attention back to his arm.

“Want me to hold you?”

Kuboyasu’s tone was still too playfully glib for Kusuo’s tastes, seeming to imply the smile that Kusuo could see perfectly fine on his face, like a jerk. Kusuo huffed a breath at him, and it burned a bit. The vodka was hot through his system. Kusuo wasn’t a drinker but if Kuboyasu could swig it like it was nothing then surely for someone of his stature it’d be no big deal.

But the idea of being held…

It did sound nice.

“Do whatever you want,” Kusuo grumped, sucking up a breath and blowing out his cheeks as he pressed the energy out of him again, resummoning the crackling ball of lightning into his palm. “But you’re getting three seconds to do it.”

“Oh! Demanding, are we?”

A pair of arms, sturdy and thick, latched onto Kusuo’s waist and he was momentarily baffled by the sensation of Kuboyasu’s chest pushing into his arm. He paused, just holding the glowing orb of energy as he blinked around the feeling, quite thoroughly sort of maybe a little dazzled.

Kaidou cleared his throat. “It’s been three seconds, Saiki.”

Kusuo jolted, blinked, said “Oh yeah,” and before he could wuss out again he jammed the ball of plasma into his wound.

For a second he felt nothing, and it was almost nice.

That second, sadly, lasted as long as seconds do. Which was to say, not long enough.

Kusuo did not howl or scream or anything so lowly as that. Rather the ground did for him, a sharp gale shaking the house in a blaze of crackling hail as the foundations groaned. Kaidou meeped and clutched to his chair, something Kusuo barely saw through the stars blistering his eyes. 

A hand gripped his arm and wrenched it away, something only possible for the weakness shaking Kusuo’s frame, and he felt more than saw Kuboyasu leaning over his shoulder to get a look.

Kuboyasu whistled. “I’d say that’s cauterized alright. Yep. Good job, Saiki.”

The hand remaining on his side gave his belly a firm pat, which surprisingly helped the burning churn therein, and Kusuo mumbled a light wheeze that came out more like a chirp of the creaking springs variety.

“Well, looks like the house has fixed itself during his little spazz so there’s that, but…” Kuboyasu muttered over Kusuo’s senseless head. “Hey Shun, can you go up to Saiki’s room and fix him an overnight bag?”

“Oh! Uh, sure thing, but why?”

“Well his parents are kinda dopes, you know? Wouldn’t trust’em to take care of him right, you know?”

“Oh! Sure, that’s. That’s fair actually. I’ll be right back!”

“Good on ya, Shun, thanks so much for all your help in this!”

“No problem!”

“Oi, Saiki. Saiki, mate, ya hearing me?”

Kusuo creaked again.

“Not totally with it, eh? That’s fair after that. Here, let’s get you packed up, too. Hold steady, homey, I gotchu.”

He registered his body being moved from a distance, and from that same yawning stretch of eons so too did Kuboyasu grumble about him being too light or something, which was silly because of course Kusuo was light.

You couldn’t fly if you were heavy.

“Alright, there we go, aaaannnddd...giddy up homeskillet.”

Kusuo realized he was on Kuboyasu’s back. The other’s words were coming out clenched, and there were bandages on his arm.

Huh.

When had those gotten there?

“Okay! All ready, Aren. Hey, are you okay? He’s not too heavy is he?”

“No, not at all. Light as a feather actually, it’s weird. Almost feels like he’s gonna go floating off on me if I don’t keep a good hold on him.”

“Huh. Maybe it’s a. A side effect of whatever, uh, that was. Hm.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah I’m just thinking I should leave a note. We’re kinda moving on in a hurry and there’s still blood, like, everywhere, sheesh.”

“Yeah, he must’ve been in a panic or something. Anyway, note sounds good. Leave them my phone number too.”

“Sure thing. How’s he doing?”

“Hasn’t said a word since he zapped himself. I’m just glad the leftover vodka fumes didn’t catch and set us all ablaze.”

Kuboyasu laughed, and Kusuo felt the other’s back dance against him.

Strangely, it was much more relaxing than it should have been. Kusuo felt. Warm. And groggy. The pain wasn’t such a big deal anymore - distant, less worrisome despite its prevalence, like Kusuo was being granted permission to focus on other things.

Like sleeping, maybe.

Yeah, sleep sounded really good right about now.

He shut his eyes.

“Maybe we should head to my house first, it’s closer than yours, and you can cab it from there or something? Moms at a PTA meeting so she won’t be back until late.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Like I said, he’s really not heavy.”

“Might be an issue if he starts to get more with it, though. When you picked him up earlier he looked three seconds away from decking you.” Kaidou laughed.

Kuboyasu chortled in agreement. “Fair. Okay. Saiki, oi,” Kusuo was jostled. “You reading me, mars man?”

Kusuo’s brain sloshed once or twice but telepathy was a far reach in his current state, it seemed. Combined with the exhaustion of yesterday and that of today, plus his pushing his limits, it seemed his ESP had decided to go kaputskies. 

The vodka wasn’t helping, probably. As he blinked over Kuboyasu’s shoulder, everything seemed a little. Fuzzy. Blurry? Hard to focus. It wasn’t that he couldn’t see, it was just. Really hard to pay attention to it, as though his brain was lagging three steps behind.

‘I wonder if Kusuke is gonna tattle on me to mom and dad…’ Kusuo trailed off.

“Oi, I said can you read me, homey?”

Oh yeah, Kuboyasu was trying to tell him something. But he was warm. And soft. And his hair smelled surprisingly nice. And everything was kinda bouncy, being carried like this. It took Kusuo a moment to find his throat, his lips again, and when he did they felt gummy. He smacked them to get the feeling of them down through the fuzz.

“Reading ground control,” Kusuo mumbled next to Kuboyasu’s ear, and felt Kuboyasu jump.

“Oh geeze, that…” Kuboyasu cleared his throat. “Anyways, you let me know when you want down, kay?”

Kusuo was wondering what had inspired Kuboyasu to startle. The other’s ear was next to his face. Right next to his mouth, even.

Kusuo narrowed his eyes to see it better. As far as ears went it was pretty normal. 

Dare he?

“Saiki I can hear you thinking and I don’t want anything to do with-” Kusuo dared. “-iIIEEEEHEEHEEDO NOT!” 

Kusuo couldn’t help but rumble out a bit of laughter, luckily hidden by Kaidou’s question of, “What did he do?!”

“He blew in my ear, the jerk! Saiki, please don’t tease me when I’m carrying you or I might drop you. You don’t wanna fall, do ya?”

Falling did not sound appealing, no. Kuboyasu’s tone, churlish and pouty, further indicated he was less than pleased with his ear getting blown into, and that made Kusuo feel bad. 

He was already being such an inconvenience and again, he was just making it worse.

It was a wonder anyone put up with him at all.

His eyes hooded, the blur of the world taking on a somewhat more watery tone, and he blinked back the sadness and self pity threatening to make an appearance.

“I’m sorry,” Kusuo said into his arm. To his own ears his voice sounded strange coming out of his mouth instead of his head. Different, somehow. He wasn’t sure he liked it. “I won’t do it again. I didn’t mean to make you angry.”

He’d said more than he’d meant to, shoot. The last thing Kusuo meant to do was weigh his people down further with the weight of his words or thoughts or feelings. On top of the weight of his body. His needs.

His wounds.

“I don’t mean to be such a burden.”

The words fell out of him again without his meaning them too, his voice a slippery eel spilling from his throat now that he’d found it, difficult to grasp and shove it back where it belonged.

It was annoying.

His only relief was that he’d whispered, because talking was hard and his throat kept jumping and clogging, his lips and tongue heavy, clumsy. Over the sound of traffic Kaidou probably hadn’t heard but given Kusuo’s mouth was just an inch away from Kuboyasu’s ear, and the other’s perceptory abilities, it was unlikely he hadn’t.

Now Kuboyasu was thinking. Kusuo could tell from the weight of his silence, hanging heavy like a sea over the other’s head. It buzzed, but Kusuo could only feel how thick the other’s brain was, couldn’t parse the electric hum.

That, also, was annoying.

‘My face feels hot. And my body hurts. And I’m tired. And today sucked so much. And yesterday sucked too. And LIFE sucks. And. And.’

His stomach was hot, too. It felt weird.

“Saiki, have you ever drank before?”

Kusuo blinked. What kind of weird question was that? “Obviously. Water...coffee...juice and milk are yummy...At least ten cups of water a day.”

Kuboyasu’s back tensed in brief startlement. “Ten? Really? That many?”

Kusuo nodded. “Uh huh. Need lots. Water. Food. S’powers. Stupid.”

“Oooh, okay. That makes sense. But anyway that wasn’t what I was asking.”

Kusuo frowned. “It wasn’t?”

Kuboyasu chuckled lightly. “I think that answers my question. No, holmes, I meant if you’d ever drank liquor before.”

Kusuo puzzled over that before muttering an “Oh” of his own. “Right, there is that colloquialism that equates ‘drink’ to alcohol. I’d forgotten.”

“I could tell. Anyway, Saiki, you’re drunk. We’ll talk about that other stuff later.”

Kaidou blinked. “He’s drunk?”

Kusuo also blinked. “I’m drunk?”

“He is. And you are.”

Kusuo turned that idea over in his head. “So. When you guys. Uh. Talk with your mouth. The, uh, the yucky heavy...ness, that’s not normal?”

Kuboyasu seemed to be fighting off a snicker. “Nope.”

“And the, uh. Heat. Thas’ not a pain response?”

“Localized to the wound that’s a sign of infection,” Kaidou pitched in. “But no.”

Kuboyasu couldn’t help but laugh, apparently, because laugh he did. “Feeling all hot and heavy and tingly back there, eh buddy?”

Kusuo frowned. “I don’ppreciate your insinuations.”

“Uh.”

“Apparently,” Kaidou snorted. “That’s drunk Saiki talk for ‘thems fighting words’.”

“Oooohhh.”

Kusuo closed his eyes again.

The swaying was nice. The warmth was nice. Being held like this was especially nice.

Kusuo couldn’t remember the last time he’d been held by anybody.

It was so nice that he was getting sleepy all over again, and might’ve nuzzled the neck in front of his face just a touch to make a good pillow out of it.

“I’ll kick you,” Kusuo grumbled, or thought he did, but he wasn’t really sure because the very next instant he was lulled to sleep by soft, deep laughter.

[writinggarbage007]

The Captain’s Assistant

Chapter 13

Steve Rogers x dark! reader, Avengers x dark! Reader

Summary: After 3 years as Cap's assistant and being treated like nothing, you are captured by Hydra and everything changes.

Warnings: swearing, dark themes, abduction, torture, cannon level violence, theft, bank robbery, manipulating people, pregnancy

Slight AU

You had been in your new home for 5 weeks. You were having a lot of fun living in the woods. It was quiet and you could do whatever you want.

You spent hours everyday practicing the moves Dave from Shield had taught you. You'd do yoga and go on hikes. You'd binge watch shows you'd never had time for before and watch movies all night long if you wanted. You'd found a kitten someone dumped on the side of the road.

He was black and white with little blue eyes. When you found him he was wet and mewling .He followed you around the house and as he gained weight you would call him your chubby Dumpling. The name stuck.

The Avengers made the news a few times and you'd laugh out loud at Steve's resting bitch face and Sam and Wanda always standing between him and Natasha. He must have been pissed. That's awesome, you think to yourself.

At 6 weeks you realize that you haven't had your period. Rather than buy a test in the tiny town you live near you drive to Bristol, Tennessee.

You weren't sure which was most reliable you bought several options. After taking 3 tests in the bathroom of a chain restaurant you almost jump up and down with joy.

Plus sign

Two Pink Lines

Pregnant

The plan you'd made was coming together. The darkness in you seemed to swell with pride when you laughed out loud.

You wanted to call Fury and tell him but that would have to wait till next weekend. You were heading up to Pittsburgh to get some cash and you needed more distance from home before you called. Then you'd have to ditch the phone. You planned it all out in your head as you shopped for baby clothes and bought yourself some loose fitting sweats and a few shirts that would cover your bump.

On the way home you called the handyman and he was willing to start painting the bedroom you had chosen for the baby while you were gone next week. You'd have to find a doctor, and you needed to research what you were going to need.

And you were definitely buying a paddle.

The doctor had confirmed your pregnancy and you had a sonogram picture of a blob on your refrigerator. At 8 weeks you had heard the baby's heartbeat and you were astonished. There was a little person in there. And you loved them.

You put off the call to Fury till you were almost 10 weeks. You had driven to Cleveland and had taken $40,000 from a bank. The call had been traced you were sure a week later when there was news of Tony Stark having been staying at a hotel there in a tabloid at the grocery store check out. You'd put Dumpling's bag of food up on the counter and added the tabloid to see if Steve had been there.

You figured you had about two months before they found you so you stayed content in your little bubble.

For once you were wrong. Apparently you'd over-estimated there skills. You were 30 weeks pregnant when you heard a knock on your door. You had been watching the surveillance cameras as a black SUV pulled up and out stepped Steve, Bucky, Wanda and Sam.

You went to the door with a look of confusion. Pulling it open you stared at them like you didn't know why they were there.

Steve seemed to choke on air when he saw your stomach and Wanda made an awww sound.

Dumpling, not being happy at being ignored by his mom let a yowl and attached himself to Bucky's pants leg. Your eyes widened and you laughed at the look of shock on his face.

It seemed to break the silence and everyone began talking at once.

You hold up your hands and say "Would you like to come in?" And they all look rather sheepish.

As you get them settled in the living room, you offer to make coffee or tea. Wanda immediately jumps up to help and follows you to the kitchen. As you start the coffee she seems to want to say something, so you turn to her and smile.

"I know you might not want to talk about it but why haven't you come home?" She asks

"I am home. I left because there is something inside me that is being twisted and I didn't want to see the look of digust on Steve's face when he saw what I'm turning into." You said turning away again and filling the kettle. You dropped your shoulders, as if you were feeling defeated. Wanda put her hand on your shoulder and squeezed.

"The fact that you are worried about how he sees you says there is a chance for you to do better." Wanda says."And what about the little one? You need support. Natasha feels terrible. Your father isn't something we can help with bit we can give you a family."

You turn to her and give her a shaky smile, as you put the kettle on the stove. "I don't know what to say to him." You say looking towards the doorway.

"Just tell him the truth."she says with a smile, taking your hand.

Like hell are you going to start doing that. You'd rather stick a fork in your eye.

"Ok. I can do this. Can you get Sam and Bucky's coffee. I'm going to show Steve the nursery." You say as you grip her hand tightly.

"No problem. Go get your man."she says.

As you walk to the living room you hear low voices and laugh when you see Bucky on the floor throwing Dumpling's little mouse and the cat chasing it down to attack then bringing it back. Sam is sitting opposite him and Dumpling is studiously ignoring him as Bucky gives him shit for it.

You catch Steve's eye and he stands up crossing the room in 2 strides and wrapped you in a hug. The look of shock is back when the baby chooses that moment to kick, thumping against his abdomen.

"Does that hurt?'' he asks holding you at arms length to look down at your belly.

"Sometimes,"you say and take a good look at his face. He looks tired. His hair is disordered as if he has been running his hands through it. Still sexy as hell. Stupid fucking pregnancy hormones.

"Look Y/N.." he starts, but you cut him off taking his hand and pulling him to the stairs.

"Come with me. I have something I want to show you." You tell him as you start up.

He follows you like a puppy on a leash and you bite back a giggle. When you get to the door of the nursery you turn the doorknob swinging the door open silently.

He looked around in awe at the light blue bedroom. There were little touches of cream and pink. Dark wood floors with cream colored furniture and a light pink rug. There were stuffed animals on shelves along with children's books. When he got to the mobile on the crib he was stunned.

The spinning toy had little Captain America shields. You tell him you had it custom made for the baby and his eyes look damp.

He clears his throat, and turns looking around the room again. He checks the closet and sees the drawers with baby clothes you had installed, little dresses hanging from the rod. The other door leads to a bathroom you had done with cream walls and a blue rug on light pink marble floors. There is a baby bathtub in the larger tub. He looks so lost you almost want to hug him. Almost.

When he turns back to you he says, "It's a girl?" And you grin at his smile of delight.

"She is a girl. I found out at 20 weeks." You answer. At his look of concern you say "what?"

"You've been doing this alone. I would have been there for everything. I don't know what you think but there is nothing you can do that would make me leave. You said in your note that you didn't want the darkness in you to hurt me. Maybe I can help you carry it? If that's what you want." He pulls your note out of his back pocket.

You almost have what you wanted. Just a couple more steps...

@missmidnightxo @mischievouscassie @chris-butt

[heresathreebee]

Bloody Mess

[Ralph Lamont X Female Reader]

AN: ok 1st of all this got Nasty and also I wanted to try a different format

Warning(s): +17 | Hemophilia, unprotected sex (wrap it to tap it), mentions of abuse, dead body (he deserved it), little rough, sub!Ralph Lamont, cum eating, hair pulling. Masterlist

Alright so I was dragging my feet to watch the episode of Blue Bloods with Alex Brightman in it and I'm glad I did because I got some cool ideas. I don't watch cop centric shows anymore but I thought Ralph would be a cool Italian mob type: turns out he's some dickhead twitch gamer who murdered a girl for stupid reasons I can't remember. 

So fuck cannon, he's a 90's mobman now. 

**YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED**

Imagine Ralph Lamont is a one man clean up crew. He's the go-to guy for any jobs gone wrong, gone messy. Body needs disappearing without a trace? Ralphie's your guy. 

Kinda like The Wolf from Pulp Fiction (Tarentino, 1994) 

Hydrochloric acid, latex, bleach, bone saw: all he needs is a few hours and it's like there was never a brutal murder here. (Sometimes this is accomplished with a distraction, a staged robbery or shoot out a few counties over if there were too many witnesses)

So Mr. Clean I mean Mr. Lamont gets a job at your home. 

It's a cute little 3rd floor apartment with a Mr. and Mrs. Andersen living in it. 

Mr. Andersen is– pardon, was– a bookkeeper for Dr. Coolidge (friend of Ralphie's; they both like sterile environments), so it's a favor. Dr. Coolidge mentioned over the phone he expected something "like this" to happen sooner or later. He asked Ralphie to be delicate with you– the late Mrs. Andersen. 

You buzz him in without a word. 

He finds you leaning against the kitchen island, putting out the cherry of your cigarette. You put it out right on Mr. Andersen's ugly yellow tie (or he thinks it used to be yellow)

It's a fucking blood bath in here. Mr. Andersen was a bleeder. Red splashes and streaks cover the counters, the toaster, the oven door, the fridge. There are bloody footprints on the floor and an honest-to-go pool of it dripping off the counter right next to Andersen's final resting place. You left the steak knife in his throat and he must have sat down in that island chair never to get back up again. His eyes are listless and grey. 

Ralphie walks around you, careful to keep you in his peripheral just in case you weren't done "expressing yourself." The linen of your frock is stained, your feet are bare, and your eye is black and swollen. Some of your bruises are old. 

In his sweep, he finds three bloodied knives in the sink: a bread knife, a fillet knife, and a cleaver. 

"Mrs. Andersen," he says as he turns back to you, "if you wouldn't mind moving to the bedroom for me? You've made quite a mess and I'd hate for you to have to see anymore violence." 

"You gonna fight him for my honor? He's already dead." 

Ralphie chuckles. "No ma'am. I'm gonna cut him up into pieces so the gallons of acid I brought with me dissolve his corpse efficiently. I'll need to borrow your bathtub for that, and you don't want to try getting cleaned up after the fact. It's no good for the skin." 

He's circled around the white marble kitchen island to stand before you. He's calm. The smile on his face is easy and it soothes you. You drop your eyes and catch an unexpected sight. 

"Are you…" you wipe at your mouth a accidentally leave a crusted red streak. "Do you get off on this?" 

Mr. Lamont shifts his stance; no doubt you've seen the light tent in his pants. "What can I say except I admire your handiwork, Mrs. Andersen. I imagine you may have wanted him to die slowly and painfully. Was it all that you hoped for?" 

You turn sheepish (incredible, really, surrounded by such admirable evidence of your own rage) and nod. "It was…" 

"Glad to hear," he says softly. "Now, if you wouldn't mind..." 

He places a gentle hand on your shoulder but you step away from the island and change his distant, guiding gesture into an intimate embrace. He looks at you in surprise when he feels you wrap your hands around his back beneath his blazer. 

"I seem to suffer a similar affliction," you tell him and press yourself into his erection. "You wouldn't mind giving a girl a hand, would you?" 

Well it certainly wasn't part of the job, but he was eager to please. 

“As you like it,” he whispered, pulling you into a soft kiss. 

Your blood sings in your veins. You’ve just killed your no good louse of a husband and now you’ve got your tongue down a stranger’s throat. And a handsome one too, so polite (you were still wary of him but if Dr. Coolidge sent him perhaps he couldn’t be all bad)

You tug at his tie as if it would make him any closer to being inside of you. The smell of copper is a never ending assault on your senses, but you also smell wood smoke beneath it on his collar. 

Mr. Lamont’s cheeky hands find your hips and a second later he’s helping you sit up on the kitchen counter. You can see your husband from the corner of your eye, his mouth hanging open in eternal anguish. It just serves to intensify your lust for life. 

You give Mr. Lamont's belt a meaningful tug and slip back down to the floor to turn around

You mean to ask him to help you with your zipper, but instead you feel his lips at your neck just before his hand grips the back of your head and pushes you down, face first into the counter inches away from the pool of blood. 

Your hand slides through the sticky essence and you feel Lamont draw your skirts up and your underthings down. 

You gasp with a shriek as you feel something hot slide up your slit and over your other hole. Did he just lick you??? 

The living man growls in what sounds like pleasure, pulling at his sleek tie just enough to loosen the constriction at his throat and then he’s shucking his pants down. 

You’re not sure if you want him to work you up slowly or take what he wants but you hold your breath and let him lead. You’re far from disappointed when he massages the meat of your rear and leans over your back. 

“You can still change your mind, doll,” he whispers, “not too late to go shower and forget today.” 

You consider it but you don’t want to forget. You want the feeling of Georgie’s life slipping through your fingers to soothe you to sleep every night. You want to carry the pleasure of giving your former husband a reason for his rampant jealous streak and know that for once there was nothing he could do about it. You want this living man to make this strange and terrifying day to end in bliss and solidify everything like lightning striking sand.  

You lift your head and run your dripping red hand through his pristine locks. He locks eyes with you and a shiver runs through him as a droplet lands on his nose. “I don’t want to stop, Mr. Lamont. Now be a good guest and fuck me.” 

“Call me Ralphie please,” he breathes, and he’s all too happy to comply. You feel his cock slip between your folds and as he enters you as he promised, you lick your lips and taste cherry and rust. 

“Ralphie… Ralphie…” He loves the sound of his name on your lips, the squishing sound of your lovely womanhood taking everything he gives it. He puts a single hand on your hip leans back to take it all in: the bloody kitchen, the stiff, the lecherous moans, the sweat making his shirt stick to his back, the misleading cleanliness of the back of your dress…

Mr. Lamont runs his hand through the slime in his hair but that blood is already drying. He splashes it into the pool next to you and leaves a bloody print on your back, holding you down to the counter by your shoulder and driving his hips into you harder. 

He can hear you’re close by the crescendo of your voice. He’s close too, and ever the gentleman, he slips out of you and flips you onto your back, pulling up a dainty leg in your daze so he can re enter your heat like he belonged there. He’s resumed fucking you in mere seconds and he likes this position because now he can see your eyes roll back into your head. 

“Where do you want it,” he grunts out. He’s trying not to come but he doesn’t have the willpower to slow down. He needs your answer, and fast...

For a moment your eyes go hard. Mr. Lamont gulps and worries for a second you’re going to pull the steak knife out of your husband’s throat to slit his, but instead you take a hold of his hair and pull his head back into an awkward but commanding angle. 

He feels your breath ghost over his neck. “My house, my rules. Make me see stars and I’ll tell you when to stop.” 

You sink your teeth into his neck and reach down to circle your pearl. Mr. Lamont does as he’s told, hissing and grunting but he holds off his release to give you exactly what you want. 

He has to stop thrusting when you start those delicious rhythmic tremors. He has to hold you up as you throw your head back and lose your balance, dependent on him to keep you upright. He takes over rubbing your pearl with a similar pressure as the one he watched you give yourself, and eased you back down from heaven into the bloody abyss on earth. 

For a second Ralph fears you’ve got too much control. What will he do if you tell him not to come at all? He’ll do as you command, of course, but how cruel were you going to treat him now that you’ve gotten what you wanted? He’s seen your handiwork all around, remember that. 

But your eyes turn soft and he’s worried you’re about to cry, that is until he watches you slip down to your bruised knees and ease your dress down your shoulders. Now you look positively debauched, breast bared and eyes turned up with a pleading look. 

“Finish on me, Ralphie.” You bit your lip and hope to god he’s still listening. “Right over my heart.” 

Ralph Lamont has never whimpered before. He’s doing it right now. How the fuck did he end up like this? 

He strokes his cooling cock, taking everything in from his position above you and feeling his drumming heartbeat in the throbbing of his member. The only word going through his head is yes

Ralphie gives one of you tits a squeeze, then gets an idea

It's a little awkward trying to get you to understand, but you catch on and there's this eager glow in your eyes

You help him slot his cock between your breasts and continue to jerk him off, using your hands as necessary to assist

He's not far now seeing you-- feeling you like that

Ralphie comes with a groan, a white rope painting your chin and splattering cockeyed down over your neck and onto the tops of your breasts. He has to catch himself on the counter as the next rope dribbles lower, half slipping into your cleavage and the rest staining the neckline of your ruined dress. His hips jerk once, twice. You let him slip from your embrace and twist your hand over the head just to milk whatever he has left into your mouth, and then he collapses into a heap beside you. 

You let him catch his breath for a minute, then grasp his jaw and turn his head towards you. You’re looking down your nose at him again and his vulnerable eyes beg for more. 

“Now look what you’ve done,” you gesture to the milky essence covering your skin in mock annoyance. “Clean it up like a good boy.” 

Eyes half lidded, Ralphie leans towards you in a trance, tongue swiping over every pearlescent trail and stray droplet until you’re ‘clean’ again

Completely spent, the man rests his head against your shoulder. Your hands come up to cradle him, stroking his matted hair as if you've not a care in the world

When he's ready he helps you stand up and straightens his clothes

Instead of helping you back into yours he strips you of them

"These will have to be burned, I'm afraid," he tells you. "Go on now, take a nice long bath and I'll call Kevin to see if he can take you somewhere for the night

You have to clear the tub and run it again to get truly clean. All of that grime builds up thick on your skin while you were having your acts of catharsis. 

You slip into a satin frock in your favorite color and let Kevin whisk you away to a movie for the night

As you fix your earring in the rearview mirror, you catch sight of Ralph Lamont on your balcony. He waves down at you leaning against the ledge and unbothered by the state of his clothes. From this far down, it doesn't look like blood

But you know better, don't you?

@hoodoo12 @escape-your-grape

[slashingdisneypasta]

Slashers / Horror Villains as: Animated (Children’s) Movie Villain Songs

+ A Nightmare Before Christmas 

First of all, its mostly Disney. Second of all, I hope you know that this was a struggle for me. 

Also, note, Bubba will be the only Leatherface in this post and Billy and Stu will be the only Ghostfaces. There is Norma Bates though, so sort of a consolation. 

There are links to videos on YouTube ^^

~~~

Billy Loomis and Stu Macher / Ghostface: Playing With the Big Boy’s Now (Hotep and Huy, Prince of Egypt) 

Well... they’re part of the ‘big boys’, now! They are part of the Slashers group that, uh, ‘inspired them’. Imagine instead of Egyptian Gods, they’re chanting Slasher names. 

[HUY] Pick up your silly twig, boy [HOTEP & HUY] You're playing with the big boys now! Ha ha ha ha!

[EGYPTIAN PRIESTS] By the power of Ra Mut, Nut, Khnum, Ptah Sobek, Sekhmet, Sokar, Selket Anubis, Anukis Hemsut, Tefnut, Meshkent, Mafdet... 

Chop Top and Nubbins + Bubba Sawyer / Leatherface: Kidnap Mr Sandy Claws (Lock, Shock and Barrel, Nightmare Before Christmas) 

I mean... they aren't Drayton’s minions, but they are like this XD 

I say that we take a cannon, aim it at his door And then knock three times And when he answers Sandy Claws will be no more

Yes you're so stupid, think now If we blow him up to smithereens We may lose some pieces And then Jack will beat us black and green

Kidnap the Sandy Claws Tie him in a bag

Chucky / Charles Lee Ray: In The Dark Of The Night (Rasputin, Anastasia)

Mystical man? Check! ‘Betrayal’ (As far as he sees it)? Check. Made them pay? Check; I think Nica, Sarah and all the other families he destroys throughout the franchise can attest to that. And ‘One little girl got away’? Well Andy isn’t a girl, but yeah. Check. 

I was once the most mystical man in all Russia When the royals betrayed me they mad a mistake My curse made each of them pay But one little girl got away Little Anya, beware Rasputin's awake

Drayton Sawyer: Don’t Fall In Love (Forte, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas) 

Its such a crochety, unessessarily rude way of describing relationships to someone! I mean, I understand completely and resonate deeply with the desire to be alone and not be responsible for anyone else, but- come on! Beast doesn't share your view! Let it go! 

Its just like Drayton’s reaction to Bubba having a crush. Super cool video too! 

As soon as your heart rules your head Your life is not your own It's hell when someone's always there It's bliss to be alone

And love of any kind is bad A dog, a child, a cat They take up so much precious time Now, where's the sense in that?

Freddy Krueger: No More Mr Nice Guy (Rothbart, Swan Princess) 

A man with an uncomfortable relationship with the main female character pretending to be normal and not homicidal for a while before unlocking more power and letting there inner bad guy loose and taking great pleasure in it? Sounds familiar. They also have a similar vocabulary- except of course Rothbart is rated G. 

I'll become that nasty, naughty, dirty, spiteful Wicked, wayward, way-delightful Bad guy I was born to be

Lyin' loathesome, never-tender Indiscreet repeat offender No more Mr Nice Guy That's not me 

Inkubus: The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind (Professor Rattigan, The Greatest Mouse Detective)

‘Inkubus’ is literally a movie about him listing all his crimes over the centuries and messing with the police force because he has a bone to pick with a detective. Sounds pretty similar to me! Listen to the song! ^^

Now comes the real tour de force Tricky and wicked, of course! My earlier crimes were fine for their times But now that I'm at it again An even grimmer plot has been simmering In my great criminal brain! 

Jason Voorhees: Despicable Me (About Gru, Despicable Me) 

I... this is all I could think of!! But the more I listen to it and read the lyrics... it f i t s Jason so well! XD Please just let this slide; I know Gru isn't really a villain but he is at the start!! Let me have this. 

Why ask why? Better yet "Why not?" Why are you marking x on that spot? Why use a blow torch isn't that hot? Why use a chainsaw? Is that all you got? Why do you like seeing people in shock? But my question to you is "Why not?" Why go to the bank and stand in line Just use a freeze gun it saves me time. I'm havin' a bad, bad day It's about time that I get my way Steam rollin' whatever I see, Huh, despicable me I'm havin' a bad, bad day If you take it personal that's okay Watch, this is so fun to see Huh, despicable me

Jennifer Check: Trust In Me (Kaa, The Jungle Book) 

She’s a succubus demon. Tempting boys into a safe-feeling, docile state so she she can strike is her thing. 

Will cease to resist Just relax Be at rest Like a bird In a nest

Trust in me Just in me Shut your eyes And trust in me

Mayor Buckman and Granny Boone: Savages (Governor Ratcliffe and the Colonizer’s parts, Pocahontas) 

Obviously, because of the (Inaccurate) historical relevance of both movies (Different time’s, same terrible prejudice,) and also because there is definitely a very cult-ish feel about both Governor Ratcliffe’s song and Buckman’s leadership. How easily they’re able to gather support from their people for the most horrible reasons. How horrifying it is to audiences and historians. 

They're only good when dead They're vermin, as I said And worse

They're savages! Savages!

Barely even human

Savages! Savages!

Drive them from our shore! They're not like you and me Which means they must be evil We must sound the drums of war!

Michael Myers: The Gospel Truth II (Muses about Hades, Hercules)

In a Disney movie, Michael would have others sing his song about him as he goes about his silent, determined walking XD 

If there's one God you don't want to get steamed up It's Hades 'Cause he had an evil plan He ran the underworld But thought the dead were dull and uncouth He was as mean as he was ruthless And that's the gospel truth He had a plan to shake things up And that's the gospel truth

Midnight Man: Oogie Boogie’s Song (Oogie Boogie, Nightmare Before Christmas)

A song about a “Gamblin’ Boogie Man” is perfect for the Midnight Man! He and Oogie could be pals. 

Woah! The sound of rollin' dice To me is music in the air 'Cause I'm a gamblin' Boogie Man Although I don't play fair It's much more fun, I must confess When lives are on the line Not mine, of course, but yours, old boy Now that'd be just fine

Norma Bates: Mother Knows Best Reprise (Mother Gothel, Tangled)

Norma is soooooo so so so unbelievably manipulative towards Norman (And Dylan. It just works better on Norman) and this song absolutely presents that. She can go from sweet, loving mother to spiteful, heinous bitch in two seconds if Norman or Dylan don't do what or react the way she wants them to. 

Likes you? Please, Rapunzel, that's demented

This is why you never should have left! Dear, this whole romance that you've invented, Just proves you're too naive to be here Why would he like you? Come on now, really! Look at you, you think that he's impressed? Don't be a dummy Come with mummy

Pamela Voorhees: My Lullaby (Zira, The Lion King 2)

In a opposite approach to a villainous mother to Norma, we have Pam, who was heartbroken by the camp councillors letting her son die and vowed to get revenge. She didn't know she was teaching Jason to be the Crystal Lake killer like Zira did, but she did, and the whole song does have her kind of feel to it also. 

Sleep, my little Kovu Let your dreams take wing One day when you're big and strong You will be a kingI've been exiled, persecuted Left alone with no defense When I think of what that brute did I get a little tense But I dream a dream so pretty That I don't feel so depressed 'Cause it soothes my inner kitty And it helps me get some rest

Patrick Bateman: Cruella De Vil (Arthur, 101 Dalmations) 

Never before was there a song that described audiences reaction to watching Patrick living in his daily life and hearing his thoughts better then this one. 

Cruella De Vil Cruella De Vil If she doesn't scare you No evil thing will To see her is to Take a sudden chill Cruella, Cruella De Vil

The curl of her lips The ice in her stare All innocent children Had better beware She's like a spider waiting For the kill Look out for Cruella De Vil

Pennywise (Both): You’re Only Second Rate (Jafar, Return of Jafar)

Mostly for the video and Jafar’s energy in this scene actually XD So many transformations, so many tasteless puns! I was going to give this to Freddy but its the closest thing to Penny I could think of. 

Go ahead and zap me with the big surprise Snap me in a trap, cut me down to size I'll make a great escape It's just a piece of cake You're only second rate You know your hocus-pocus isn't tough enough And your mumbo-jumbo doesn't measure up Let me pontificate upon your sorry state You're only second rate

Sheriff Hoyt / Charlie Hewitt: Hellfire (Judge Claude Frollo, Hunchback of Notre Dame) 

A nasty filthy man who think’s he’s in the right despite being the biggest creep and monster ever? Mhm. 

*Note: I honestly didn't notice the deformed baby, Quasimodo/Thomas link until the day after I wrote this. Don't know how I feel about it. I mean, Hoyt is actually nice, in his way, to Thomas so the connection isn't totally there but onwards:

Beata Maria You know I am a righteous man Of my virtue I am justly proud

Beata Maria You know I'm so much purer than The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd 

End of Post! 🌼

(Bonus’ under the cut) 

I did think of other connections which I obviously didnt landed on but still have merit! Here! 

Billy Loomis and Stu Macher: ‘Gaston’ was considered, but that would have just been a joke XD I don’t think Stu is quite as obsessed with Billy as LeFou is with Gaston. 

Chucky: Friends on the Other Side. Obviously! That link was actually what inspired me to make this post. In The Dark of Night fits to a T though. 

Freddy Krueger: You’re Only Second Rate! Ah, its perfectttt. But No More Mr Nice Guy fits better. If I ever do a Slashers as Disney Villains post, he’ll be Jafar for sure. Or Hades. Or Scar. Or Oogie. Probably Hades. You know what? Without the gore and blood and explicit sexual references, Freddy could be a Disney Villain himself. Its not like Disney hasn't towed the line before with perverted villains. >_> (Jafar and Frollo) 

Jason and Pamela Voorhees: Mother Knows Best! Of course. 

Jennifer Check: Love is For Peasants (Barbie Island Princess) Because Jennifer thinks like this: 

Men? <<< Literally anything else. 

Patrick Bateman: How Can I Refuse? (From Barbie Princess and the Pauper) XD If Patrick were a kids movie villain, he would totally join the ranks of corrupted usurpers pretending to be trustworthy royal advisory staff. Also ‘Let It Die’, that little interruption part of another song that O’Hare sings in the Lorax and ‘How Bad Can I be?’. 

[sisterspooky1013]

Perfect Opposites, chapter two

Rating: General Audiences

Read it on AO3

Tagging @today-in-fic

You all requested a chapter two, so here it is

I couldn’t forget it if I tried. I’ve turned it over in my memory so many times by now that it comes back to me like a well trained muscle repeating a familiar movement. There were a lot of little moments before that, but this one in particular stands out because it was the first one where I realized that he felt the same way I did.

We were an odd pairing from the start; he a pragmatic, analytical planner and me an idealistic, carefree dreamer. He used to call me a “loose cannon” and at first it was truly meant as an insult, said in a moment of frustration, but over time it became a term of endearment. That first day we worked together, I immediately noticed how handsome he was, tall and blonde with a square jaw and slim hips. He was so stoic, and my attempts to get to know him were met with one-word answers and pleas to focus on our assignment. I knew that I wasn’t bad-looking, and in fact I was quite used to men responding to me readily, so it felt like a fun challenge to try and crack his shell. I wasn’t trying to sleep with him; I was smart enough to know what that would do to my reputation. I was one of the first dozen female field agents to serve and I wasn’t about to blow it for all the others by hopping right into bed with my partner. But I was intrigued by his guarded demeanor, and the more he resisted me the more I wanted to know him. He insisted on calling me Rogers, even though I asked him repeatedly to call me Bridget. At first I called him Harry, but then I started calling him Hansen just to make a point and it stuck. It became a dance; I would tease and flirt with him, he would ignore my advances while we worked a case, and every once in a while he would give me a little something. First, it was little jokes, told so dryly that I had to look for the barely-there smirk on his lips to be sure he was intentionally being funny. Getting him to smile was a game in and of itself, but when I got one it was like magic. He was so beautiful when he smiled, and it became a drug I was always seeking. Over time, little by little, he started to trust me, and confide in me. He turned off the AM radio on our long drives and talked to me, not just about work.

One day he turned to me while we were driving, smiling about some stupid program he’d seen on TV the night before, and I realized that I was in love with him. I can’t say now when that happened, exactly, but in that moment I knew it, and that started the years of pushing it down, of going out with other men and pretending that he wasn’t the only one I wanted. It was so hard and heartbreaking, and I thought about asking to be reassigned dozens of times, but I couldn’t give up on the chance to be near him every day. As different as we were, he complimented me so perfectly that he became my equilibrium, the thing that grounded me to the place I was in space and time. I didn’t know how to exist without him. I was faced with an impossible choice; leave the bureau and try to have a happy life without the other half of my heart, or stay and resign to a life of pining for him across the console of our rental car. Of course there really wasn’t a choice. I could no sooner have left him than I could have chosen not to breathe anymore.

I’ve thought about that September night so many times, I can still remember the way his gingham table cloth felt under my fingertips as I nervously traced its pattern, waiting for the news I had been dreading for the last three years. He’d been seeing someone, and I just knew he was going to tell me it was getting serious, that they were getting engaged. I was afraid that I would cry, and he would ask me why, and then he’d know. He was sitting close, closer than most people would to their coworker, but that’s how we were. And he was telling me about this woman, Donna, and I felt so sick.

“I broke it off with her” he had said, and I looked at him, confused. “It just wasn’t right, Rogers. She’s a nice lady, but it just…it didn’t feel right. She’s not the one.”

I was so flooded with relief that I actually did start crying, and of course he was confused. Why would I be crying because he broke up with his girlfriend? He knelt down in front of me, and he held my hands in his, and he was just so sweet. He was always so sweet with me.

“Rogers, what’s wrong? Are you upset about Donna?”

I didn’t know what else to say, or how else to explain it, so I just nodded.

“I know we seemed like a good match, but she’s not the one. She’s the kind of person I always thought I’d end up with, but I’m realizing that I was wrong about what I wanted. About who I wanted.”

I looked at him then, at his crystal blue eyes. It felt like he was looking straight into my soul. He was searching my face like he was looking for an answer, but didn’t know what the question was.

“Bridget, have you ever just realized all of a sudden that everything you thought you knew was wrong?”

He called me by my first name. I nodded, and I thought of that moment in the car. And he was still looking all over my face, and at my mouth, and it felt like we were suspended in space, adrift in a moment that could never go forward or backward. Stuck until we made a choice. We had to make a choice.

He kissed me then, so softly, and we returned to Earth together, having found new ground. Having found each other. Even though we’d worked together and been best friends for 8 years, something entirely new was born that night, and we spent the next 20 years making up for the 8 we had wasted.

I was thinking about this at my retirement party, while the other agents ate grocery store cake and politely looked at photos of my grandchildren. When Agents Mulder and Scully walked in, I couldn’t suppress my smile. Agent Scully walked over to me with a secret smile on her lips, one she always sent my way when we were in the same room together. We had never spoken of our conversation in the bathroom last year, but she always went out of her way to say hi to me.

“Agent Hansen, congratulations” she said warmly, taking my hand in what felt more like a hand-hug than a handshake.

“Thank you, Agent Scully. I look forward to spending more time with my grandchildren.”

Agent Mulder walked up then. He sure was a handsome man, and somehow seemed to get better looking as the years went by.

“Agent Hansen, the time has come!” He said jovially. “I only wish Harry could be here retiring alongside you, he would have loved this little shindig.” There was heavy sarcasm in his tone; he knew Harry would have hated the fuss.

“You knew Harry Hansen?” Agent Scully asked him with genuine surprise.

“Of course, we worked together in VCU. I liked to give him a hard time. He reminded me a lot of you, actually” he said to Agent Scully with a gentle nudge of his elbow to her ribs.

“Sounds like he was a great guy” she joked, then “we have to catch a flight out for a case, Agent Hansen, but I wanted to come by and say goodbye. It’s been such a pleasure working with you.”

Agent Mulder looked at her a little quizzically, but I understood the meaning behind what she was saying. I shook her hand again, and held it in a little squeeze.

“I hope you’ll remember what I said” I told her, and she nodded once before they turned to leave. I was happy to be retiring, but I would miss watching them together and would always wonder if they ever found their way to each other.

A few months later, I was at the 7-11 picking up donuts for my grandsons when I heard a familiar voice in the next aisle. It was Agent Mulder, on his cell phone.

“Hey, sleepy head… It’s after 9, that’s hardly early… Well what were you doing staying up so late last night?” He chuckled, and the innuendo was clear even from the bit of the conversation I could hear. I felt sadness tug at my heart thinking that he was seeing someone, and how Agent Scully must feel. I knew exactly how she’d feel.

“We’ll I’m getting you breakfast now, and coffee, so hopefully that helps…I was thinking we could go to Annapolis tonight, there’s one of those movie in the park things, we could stop by and see your mom first…because no one in Annapolis knows us, so maybe you’ll actually be willing to be seen in public with me…you know what I mean, outside of work”

I couldn’t help but smile from my hiding spot behind the donut case. He was talking to Agent Scully.

“…well, think about and you can decide later….yes, I’ll be back in 15 minutes, go back to sleep if you want…Love you, bye.”

He paid and left, and an idea started cooking in my head. Annapolis wasn’t that far of a drive, and I didn’t exactly have an active social calendar. I just wanted to see them together again, one more time.

My plan had been to get there early so I’d be sure to catch them as they arrived, but through a combination of traffic, my own poor navigation skills (that had always been Harry’s strong suit) and lack of parking, I walked in to a full lawn and the previews already starting. Thankfully, her red hair was easy to spot and I found a place for my blanket just a few feet behind them. It was a little too close, and made the odds they would see and recognize me higher than I would have liked, but soon enough it was clear that it wouldn’t be an issue. They were in their very own universe, bordered by the ugly brown Aztec blanket they sat on. Agent Mulder was reclined against a cooler with Agent Scully between his legs, leaning against his torso like an Adirondack chair, his arms wrapped around her. He whispered in her ear and kissed her neck as she giggled. They looked more like two teenagers on a date than two federal agents and it reminded me of so many nights Harry and I snuck off for dates in some forgettable city after wrapping up a case, freed from the risk that someone from the bureau would see us together and report our relationship. Those were some of the most exciting times in my life, and watching them now…I felt the tears bubbling up in my eyes. They were happy tears, full of memories and love and hope. Full of the promise of a relationship forged in fire and turmoil, sealed by dedication and hard work. I knew I’d have to go visit Harry the next day and tell him all about it, and remember with him how clumsy and awkward we were in the beginning, peeling each other’s armor away slowly until it was just us, unguarded and vulnerable and the most seen we had ever been by another person, or ever would be again.

By the end of the movie, they were spooned together under the stars, the relative darkness allowing for a kind of public intimacy that would normally be out of place. She had fallen asleep, and Agent Mulder was watching her, tracing a finger along the shell of her ear before placing a kiss to her temple. He sighed and I could hear him whisper to no one in particular “my perfect opposite.”

[incorrect-julie-and-the-phantoms]

Fanfic trope! Alex/reggie, alex kiss reggie after he says something kinda dumb but very very sweet? Thks!

Thank you for the prompt! I know this isn’t exactly what you were thinking but this little idea popped up into mind and nagged me until it was written. I hope you enjoy!

Hot Dog Engine, Alex/Reggie

Tags: Fluff, College AU, blink and you miss it angst, some pining

Alex’s problem was all Luke’s fault. 

Not that he had done it intentionally. But ever since Luke and Jullie started dating he had been absent from their hangouts, leaving Alex and Reggie to hang out. Alone. 

At first it had been awkward, both of them not sure how to act with each other outside the usual dynamic of their group, but that soon passed. Overall, it wasn’t that different than when it was the three of them. 

Without Luke there to distract both of them, Alex was paying complete attention to Reggie and noticing things that he would have otherwise missed. Like how Reggie had a habit of eating his skittles in color order, and that he had a habit of bouncing a little when he was really excited about something. How his eyes scrunched and his voice got a little higher pitched when he was being defensive. 

At some point Alex realized that he noticed these because he was staring. Staring at Reggie’s fingers, at his mouth while he ate. Staring over at Reggie whenever they were practicing or looking to him first whenever anybody had good news. Staring as he started another argument with him just so he could see his eyes scrunch that way again.

Didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant.

He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but one second he was just a guy hanging out with one of his best friends and the next he was a guy who was hopelessly crushing on a sweet, oblivious idiot. Alex tried to ignore the part of him that was completely unsurprised.

It wouldn’t have been a problem, but Reggie was everywhere. At some point, Reggie had decided that bothering Alex was his favorite pastime and since then had started seeking out Alex whenever he was bored, always having something he was excited to talk to somebody about. So Alex had to just sit there with his best friend and pretend that he didn’t want to kiss him all the time. It got really hard  That Reggie flirting with every single girl who looked at him didn’t bother him. That it didn’t especially bother him when Reggie flirted with Flynn right in front of him at a party one Friday night.

That it was definitely not the reason he was sulking in the studio, trying to finish the reading assignment that was due Monday.

“Hey Alex,” a voice called out from the other side of the room. Alex glanced up to see Reggie lounging in the doorway. His signature leather jacket must have been too hot for the weather because he was just wearing a pair of slightly baggy jeans and a slightly too small t-shirt with his usual flannel around his waist. 

Alex looked back down at his book without replying, ignoring the way his heart skipped a beat at Reggie’s lazy smile. 

“Aleeeeex,” Reggie whined when he realized Alex wasn’t gonna answer him. “Entertain me I’m bored.” 

Alex chose not to acknowledge him again, turning the page instead. He heard Reggie huff in annoyance at being ignored and Alex repressed a grin of amusement. He was sulking for a reason dammit! He was so distracted with not paying attention to Reggie that he didn’t notice the sound of him walking over until it was too late.

“Oof!” Alex let out a quiet noise of surprise at the sudden weight in his lap. He looked down to see Reggie smiling up at him with an impish grin. 

“Hey,” Reggie winked.

“Can I help you?” Alex asked in mock annoyance.

“Yeah, hang out with me. I’m bored.” 

Alex rolled his eyes and looked back down at his book. “Go bother Luke.” 

“Luke’s with Julie for their six months,” Reggie waved his hand dismissively. 

“How disappointing for you,” Alex said dryly.

“I wanna hang out with you more anyways,” Reggie’s impish smile turned bashful at that. How he managed to look bashful while draped across Alex like a cat was beyond him. 

Even though Reggie had said it many times before, a warm feeling blossomed in Alex’s chest and he couldn’t help the small smile he felt stretch across his face. He hid his face in his book as he felt the warmth spread to his cheeks. Reggie shifted so only his head was in Alex’s lap instead of his whole body. They sat in silence for a moment, Alex pretending to read and that he didn’t notice Reggie’s expectant gaze.

Alex finally broke the silence. “Even if I wanted to hang out, I gotta finish this book by tonight so I have time for practice later.” He hoped that would be enough of an excuse to get Reggie to go away. “I have an exam tomorrow, and I’m not about to give Professor Covington a reason to fail me.”

“His obsession with failing you is kinda weird, huh?” Reggie mused. “Maybe he’s trying to fail cause he wants you to stay with him another year.” Reggie nudged Alex to look at him, eyebrows waggling. “Maybe Professor Covington has a crush on you.”

Alex shuddered and the other boy started shaking with laughter at his own joke. “Please no.”

“If you don’t want to do it you could always drop out and start a company with me.”

“Don’t you think that would be impractical?” Alex replied in a teasing tone. 

Reggie scoffed.  “Course not. I got the whole thing planned out”

“Okay,” Alex laughed, lowering his book, “then what does our company do?”

“Uh…” Reggie reached a hand up to scratch his nose pensively.

“Let me get this straight,” Alex said. He restrained himself from adding ‘which I am not.’ “You want me, a broke college student, to drop out of college with you, another broke college student, to start a company which you have no plan for?”

“Hold on,” Reggie said defensively, sitting up so he and Alex were face to face. “I totally have a plan.” 

Alex’s mouth went dry as Reggie put his face so close to his own, his field of vision narrowing to dark green eyes and lips stretched into a crooked grin. All he would have to do to close the gap would be to lean forward just a couple inches—

“Prove it,” Alex teased, mentally chasing the thoughts from his head as he gently pushed Reggie further away. He had gotten good at ignoring those kinds of thoughts the past couple months.

Reggie stood with exaggerated showmanship. “Well, I am so glad that you asked.” He grabbed the flannel from his waist, tied it around his neck like a really crappy cape, and struck a dramatic pose. “Are you ready for this awesome?” He asked with mock seriousness.

Dork, Alex thought to himself. “By all means Reginald. Blow me away.” Reggie opened his mouth and Alex just knew he was going to hear the biggest load of bullshit ever.

“Well, my slightly taller friend, have you ever been walking down the street and realized that if you didn’t get a hotdog in the next ten minutes you would die?’”

“No.” 

“Have you been looking for an easy way to get meals while on a long car trip that doesn't involve stopping at a restaurant?”

“Still no.”

“Have you ever wondered if you were getting the most out of your vehicle?”

“I don’t have a car Reg,” Alex reminded him. Where was he going with this?

“Well,” Reggie drove forward undeterred, “have I got news for you. Now introducing…” Reggie paused his theatrics to look over at Alex expectantly, “little help?” Alex rolled his eyes and began to give a drumroll with his feet. “Now introducing… the hot dog engine!” 

Alex snorted. “The what?”

“The hot dog engine!” Reggie said excitedly. “On the outside, a regular car. But when you pop open the hood, BAM!” Reggie loudly clapped his hands together, “a hot dog cooker right next to your engine, powered by the same battery!”

Alex started laughing at that. “Reggie, that is so dangerous. You could get oil or battery acid on the hot dogs which would kill you.”

Reggie gasped in offense, “where is your sense of adventure?”

“Must have lost it when I lived past the ripe old age of 18,” Alex said back dryly.

Reggie huffed before readapting his dramatic businessman persona. “Well not to worry, I have plenty more where that came from.”

“Oh goodness please no,” Alex said in mock horror.

“Leashes for fish,” Reggie shot out.

“Useless”

“Crocs that smell like pumpkin spice.”

“Who’s purposely gonna smell them?”

“Pet rocks.”

“Already done.”

“Umbrellas for your shoes,”

“What’s with you and feet?”

Reggie choked on a laugh and stared at him for a moment. Alex was definitely amused by this whole conversation, but if Reggie kept staring at him and saying stupid things that made him laugh they were gonna have a problem. He needed to shut Reggie up somehow.

His friend opened his mouth to suggest his next ridiculous idea, “what about an air cannon that blows out candles for you—hmph!”

The tiny ‘hmph’ of surprise was because Alex had figured how to shut him up, by launching himself across the room and pressing their lips together.

Oh god, Alex thought to himself the moment he realized he was kissing him. He pulled away, stepping back to look at Reggie who was staring at him wide-eyed, frozen in shock. Oh crap, oh god. What did I do? He’s gonna freak out he's gonna hate me he’s gonna—

“Well that just gave me a great idea,” Reggie cut through Alex’s train of thoughts.

“R-Reggie I’m so sorry,” Alex quickly stammered out his apology. 

“Alex—” Reggie tried to speak.

“I shouldn’t have just kissed you like that. I know you and Flynn just started having a thing and that you don’t like me that way—”

“ALEX,” Reggie said more forcefully. Alex stopped his rambling and stared up at his friend anxiously. Reggie took a deep breath, “my idea was that you could just bring your boyfriend to lecture to show Professor Covington you aren’t interested in him.”

That didn’t make sense, “who’s my boyfriend?”

“Well me, if you stop freaking out long enough to kiss me again.” Reggie’s face turned bright red as he processed what he said. “I-I mean if you want to. You don’t gotta um…” 

Alex felt the wide smile on his own face as he processed what Reggie was saying. He reached out and interlocked their fingers together. “Can I kiss you again Reggie?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.”

The second kiss was so much better than the first. The soft press of Reggie’s lips against his own made the butterflies he had been trying to digest for months fly around his chest for free. The hand that wasn’t holding Reggie’s moved up to cup the back of his head.

Eventually, Reggie pulled away, his breath was a little quicker than before and his cheeks were flushed. Alex felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest with anxiety and excitement. 

“I should probably tell you that I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” Reggie laughed.

“Oh,” Alex felt the tips of his ears burn. “Yeah. Uh, yeah. I mean, me too.” 

The answering smile from the boy in front of him was blinding. “Oh nice, does that mean I can be your boyfriend and make Professor Covington jealous?”

“You do know professor Covington just hates me cause he hates everyone right?”

“Alex,” Reggie huffed in annoyance, “you’re ruining the moment.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Yes, you can be my boyfriend.”

Leaning in for their third kiss was Reggie’s response to that statement, and it was even better than the second.

Then the fourth which was better than the third. Then the fifth that was better than the sixth and so on until they both eventually lost count.

[dearboopl]

An essay on why I feel like spn hasn't ended yet and what's the problem with that.

These last few days, after the he who must be not named happend, I have been feeling weird, like spn is still going to air. And no, it is not because I don't want to accept the fact, but because it is one sided goodbye.

I'm just not sure from which side the goodbye was said.

Let's start from me saying that I was okay with it ending. I actually wanted it to wrap up, close all the loose ends and answer the BIG questions.

What we got... well I don't have to remind. It is not only that the ending doesn't make sense and just cancels all the progress, character development, but like many people said it feels out of the blue.

Watching the vampire scene, for a moment I thought, maybe this is not the memory from first seasons, maybe all that was builded leading up to the finale was just a dream. It is wrong. Something is not right.

Even with that, the weirdest thing is the lack of goodbye from everyone. I would guess after 15 years building this show, we would get every member, writer talking on social media how it changed their lives, how sad it was to end. Hell, I waited for videos of them all finishing last scenes and just seeing their adrenaline rush off to realization that it is the end.

What we got? Apart few before the episode aired tweets, Jensens video about last but maybe not the last goodbye, and Misha's sad reaction to the end, nada. Everyone is quiet (afc there were some tweets from other actors, but from mains???) . Only Jensen put a snarky photo with the nail to absolutely let us know that we are not the only ones who feels that it was stupid. So stupid.

What happend?

Well shit will we ever know? I doubt it. But as I feel, as out of character as it was, something big happend.

One of the things that does not sit well with me, (is the absolute humiliation of Dean character) is the after scene where Sam is showed getting old, alone, we never see his wife, we get a hilarious wig scene where Sam looks like his kid asked him to cosplay an old dude, but they didn't have time to prepare, loots of Sam being sad because Dean is dead and he can not live without him. I could go on, but the messages from is that this seems a last minute script change. It wasn't planned, but something happend in the office.

I don't know the mechanics of creating an episode, and doubt if you can change production last minute (few scenes yes), but this just feels like the end wasn't going to be like this.

Few thing why:

1. I mentioned the after scene was hilarious and looked like a parody.

2. We did not see Sam's wife - that just doesn't make sense as we know Seileen is cannon, and they are not gay, so why shy away from showing them together. Maybe because this wasn't planned and they couldn't get the actress on set???

3. Dean's death is also a parody. They dealth with a fucking God, his son is the new God and they want us to believe that a nail is enough to kill Dean Winchester?

4. There is absolutely no happines for Dean in that heaven. His baby? A car? That what it takes? Come back to earth you fucker and drive her like you have been driving for the last 15 years.

5. Dean's feelings. As we saw from the last episode, he doesn't have any feelings. He was happy to die, all his wishes for a trip and vacation to the beach, settling to a steady place were suddenly changed after a cold, CW production and homophobia nail pearced through his insides. Oh Cas said something to him? Opened up? Naaah man, look A fucking CAR.

6. Almost zero mention of Cas.

7. Cas in the onion field was cut???

8. Dean in heaven fucked nothin for 50 years and waited happily for Sam to die? Lol? You could have everything that you want and you won't get Cas. Buddy thay scene in purgatory screamed I love you Cas and not in the brotherly way.

9. They want us to believe that the pies cream was the only white thing on Dean's face that he ever got?

9. For the last point I left Jack the new God. You saying that he, the almighty, didn't want to help Dean, after all they did for Jack. Buddy if not the Winchester and Cas you would be dead. That is what makes me furious, IT DOESN'T MAKES SENSE.

So overall, before this post turned to absolute shit post (because the last episode was). I want to say sorry for everyone who had hopes, myself included.

For myself, I'm not taking this last episode as the end, and surely I'm going to delete it from my mind. We will create our own end. One that will make sense.

This doesn't feel like the end and I cannot wait to learn what the hell happend. This is one sided goodbye from the old writers.

[katt58]

Dream Girl (Momo x Reader x Best Friend?!Sero)

Title: Dream Girl

Pairing: Momo x Reader x Best Friend?!Sero

Prompt: “Rejection.” The character I chose was Sero. [This is from the June prompt of the MHA & Readers discord server created by @/liliesoftherain on Tumblr. (This server has helped me so much with my writer’s block lmao)]

Word Count: 6.7k words (this is the longest one shot I’ve ever written)

Warnings: I don't really know except for maybe implying a homophobic father.

A/N: This one shot was very much influenced by my personal experiences so I’m sorry if it’s not exactly like how everyone else experienced learning about their sexuality. Also KiriBaku’s cannon in this :) Another thing: I listened to BTS for the first time while writing some/most of this one shot. I like their music vibe, I ended up listening to all their albums on Google Music. 

“Y/N!”

A (h/c) haired girl turned to the sound of someone calling her name. The voice was soft and sweet, like homemade caramel. She knew that voice. It belonged to Momo Yaoyorozu, a girl in her grade that just can’t seem to get out of Y/N’s head. A smile spread across her face as Y/N saw Momo running towards her. She expected her to stop a few feet in front of her, but instead, she found herself in Momo’s arms. Y/N was taken aback by the girl’s action, but her smile only grew as she wrapped her own arms around Momo. She had never felt this way before in an embrace. It was nothing like the ones her mom or her best friend, Sero, gave her. It felt… Amazing. Y/N could hear Momo’s heartbeat as her surroundings melted away.

“You did amazing out there,” Momo murmured in her ear. Y/N found herself thanking the girl even though she couldn’t seem to remember what she was getting complimented for. They both fell into a comfortable silence in the embrace before the sound of Momo’s heartbeat suddenly started to become louder and higher pitch until it resembled the sound of an alarm clock. No… It was the sound of am alarm clock. As Y/N slowly opened her eyes, she found she was no longer wrapped in Momo’s arms, but rather the comforter of her bed.

"That was weird," she muttered as she unwrapped herself and got up. Why is it always Momo? She wondered to herself, Why can't I get her out of my head? Her face, her voice, her everything. It's all stuck on repeat. And why does part of me wish that dream was real? Shrugging off her dream for the moment, Y/N began to get ready for school. She was walking down the stairs in her UA uniform when she heard her mom call her name, “Y/N! Breakfast is ready! Better get down here now if you want time to eat it!” Picking up her pace, Y/N reached the kitchen to see a breakfast sandwich along with some bacon on a plate. Sitting at the table, she started to scarf down the bacon. M/N laughed as she watched her daughter eat. 

“Slow down before you choke on your bacon!” she exclaimed.

“But mom,” Y/N jokingly whined, “your bacon is just so good!” M/N laughed before saying, “With how much you love food, you better hope you get a dream boy who can cook! I saw the mess you made last week when you tried to make box mac n’ cheese.” Suddenly, Y/N became uncomfortable with the conversation. It wasn’t because of her mom making fun of her terrible cooking skills that got to her, but rather when her mom mentioned getting a boyfriend. Her mom was always asking when she was going to bring a boy home, and Y/N didn’t know why she felt so weird every time the subject was brought up. She was a girl, she should be excited to get a boyfriend, and yet the thought of having one just didn’t feel right.

Quickly hiding her discomfort with a laugh, she glanced at the clock and used the time as an excuse to get out of there before her mom saw through her act. Grabbing the breakfast sandwich, Y/N shouted a quick ‘I love you’ to her mom before she closed the front door. Once it was shut, she sighed and let her face fall from the smile it had on as she walked to school, occasionally taking bites of the now lukewarm sandwich.

Y/N was only about five minutes from UA when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. Looking to her side, she saw her best friend since childhood. “Hey, Sero,” she laughed, in a better mood now that he was there. “Hey, N/N,” he replied, “How was your morning?” Y/N wrapped her arm around Sero’s waist since she couldn’t reach his shoulder before replying, “It was okay. Ma made a breakfast sandwich and some bacon for breakfast. I had a weird dream, though. How was yours?” Sero was intrigued by her last statement, but decided to answer her question first. “My morning was the same as usual, I woke up late so I had to run to get here in time,” he replied, “Nothing interesting, unlike hearing you had a weird dream. Wanna talk about it?” He could see her thinking about what to say, trying to decide if she should.

“Umm…” she mumbled, “Well, I’m not sure what the dream was about exactly, but it centered around me and Yaoyorozu.” Sero smirked at the mention of Momo, maybe this dream will help Y/N to finally realize her feelings. Sero was already suspicious of how Y/N felt towards Momo, but he didn’t want to call her out on it. He’d much rather let her figure her feelings out on her own than try to intervene and tell her what she felt, that’s just not how it works. No, he wouldn’t talk to her about Yaoyorozu in a romantic setting unless she came to him first… or if she did something stupid.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Sero looked at Y/N as they were walking down the hall to class. “Momo?” he asked, “That sounds interesting. Now I need to know the full story!” Y/N laughed as they reached the door of class 1-A. “I’ll tell you at lunch, dork. I don’t want to be late because I’m telling you a story outside our class,” she said before pulling on the handle and walking into the now much louder classroom. When she stepped in she was greeted by Mina calling her name.

“Hey Y/N! Come over here!” the pink girl called out, waving Y/N down. Behind her were Jiro and Hagakure. Y/N waved and walked to the group of girls, leaving Sero to talk to the Bakusquad on the other side of the room. “Hey, guys!” Y/N greeted Mina and the rest, “What’s up?” Mina grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at Y/N. “So? Sero, huh?” she asked, though it seemed like it was more of a statement.

“W-what? What about Sero?” Y/N stuttered.

“Well, we’ve seen how you two act together, and it looks like you guys are more than best friends,” Hagakure said. Y/N looked at the group, confused. “I’m not sure what you guys are implying here. I mean, I’ve known Sero since I was four if that’s what you mean,” she said. Hagakure started speaking, “No, that’s not exactly-”

“We wanted to know when you’re going to ask Sero out or if you already have,” Jiro cut in, very bluntly.

“What?! No! What are you guys talking about? Sero and I are just friends!” Y/N exclaimed. 

“C’mon Y/N,” Mina teased, “We saw the way you had your arm around Sero’s waist this morning. People who are just friends don’t get that close. And you two have done other things like that, that regular best friends don’t do. Like when Sero carried you bridal style at the beach because you were tired. We saw how you leaned into his chest!”

“What if I’m just comfortable around Sero?” Y/N countered.

“But not that comfortable,” Mina giggled. Y/N was starting to become slightly nervous and annoyed at the girls’ words, this was all too confusing for her. She had never really thought of Sero in a romantic way before, but the girls were saying that her closeness with Sero wasn’t normal for just a friendship. If Y/N wasn’t already confused about her feelings, she really was then, having to both think about how she felt towards Momo, and also rethink her relationship with Sero. Before Y/N could think of what to say back to the girls, the bell rang, indicating everyone that it was time to return to their seats before Aizawa could yell at them. Y/N walked to her seat next to Sero with a now heavy mind, forgetting to say goodbye to the girls.

The classes up to lunch went by relatively quickly, though Y/N wasn’t focusing on them much. All she could think of was what Mina, Jiro, and Hagakure had said. Maybe I’ve just been confused with what different feelings mean. How I feel towards Sero must be love and not friendship, as the girls had said. And it’s probably admiration I feel towards Momo… Yeah! I can’t stop thinking about her because I admire her! I probably get butterflies in my stomach when she looks at or talks to me because I want her approval, she is one of the best students in the class after all. Besides… Dad had always said those feelings were wrong when he was still around... And Mom is always talking about a boyfriend... So maybe if I date Sero, I won’t feel like I’m disappointing her every time she asks if I’ve gotten a boyfriend yet… The only thing is... If what I feel towards Momo is admiration… then why don’t I feel that way around the other top students like Todoroki and Bakugou? Maybe it’s because Momo’s a girl and so I relate to her more… That must be it. It has to be it. Because if it’s not… Y/N’s thoughts were cut off by the ringing of the school bells- it was lunchtime. 

As she was about to enter the cafeteria, Y/N felt an arm pull her to the side. She looked to see a smirking Sero in the now empty hallway. “So,” he said, “are you gonna tell me about that dream you had?” Y/N jokingly rolled her eyes before she sighed and nodded her head. 

After she told him all the details, Y/N began to explain to Sero what she thought it meant, “I think it just means I admire her and want her approval, that’s why she complimented me in the dream.” Sero smiled sadly at Y/N, he could see how hard she was trying to deny what the dream really meant to her. He had a pretty good sense of why she was ignoring her feelings, and he had a plan to show her that what he said wasn’t true and she shouldn’t let what he said define her and her feelings.  But for today, he wouldn’t call her out, so he said, “That could be it. But it could also mean other things. Just know that whatever you decide it means in the end, I support you.”

Y/N blushed in confusion at Sero’s last sentence. “Th-Thanks,” she said, not knowing what else to say. Sero grinned at Y/N before he said, “Well, I’m starving, so I’m gonna head to the Bakusquad table. You gonna come?” Y/N smiled and responded, “Probably, I gotta get in line first, though. I forgot my lunch at home again.” Sero chuckled, “Okay, see you maybe then.” Y/N laughed before they both headed in different directions. 

As Sero approached the Bakusquad, he noticed Mina wasn’t there. Voicing his thoughts, he asked the table where she was. Kaminari pointed his thumb to a table a little ways away behind himself as he explained, “Mina decided she wanted to round up all the girls of 1-A to eat together today. It’s probably about what she, Jiro, and Hagakure were talking with Y/N about this morning.” Sero’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion before he asked, “What were they talking about this morning that made Mina round up the girls?” Kaminari laughed as he answered Sero, “They’re talking about you and Y/N. Mina and Hagakure are convinced you two like each other as more than friends and they’re dragging the other girls into it.” Sero stood there shocked for a moment before his expression morphed into worry as he sat down. “Oh no,” he muttered. Kirishima heard his friend mutter under his breath. “What’s wrong, Sero?” he asked. Sero shook his head. “I’m sure Mina and the girls mean well,” he started, “but I don’t see Y/N in that way, and this’ll just make her even more confused with her feelings she’s been dealing with if they’re trying to force this on her.”

“What feelings are your shitty friend confused about?” Bakuguo spoke up. He would never admit it, but Bakugou was slightly concerned by Sero’s words. Sero sighed, “I actually wanted to ask you guys a favor about this. I think Y/N is having trouble with her sexuality. I’ve known her practically my whole life so I know when something’s up. The way she looks at Momo and gets flustered when talking about her… I think she might have a crush on her. But I don’t want to force anything on her so I’m trying to let her figure out her feelings on her own-”

“But?” Bakugou cut in. 

“Huh?” Sero asked.

“You obviously came to us for a reason. What’s the problem that’s keeping your shitty friend from figuring shit out?” Bakugou responded.

“Cutting right to the chase then,” Sero laughed, “Well, Y/N grew up with someone telling her that being gay is wrong. That people who are gay are broken and bad people. I was wondering if we could eat lunch outside tomorrow and you two could tell her about you…” Kirishima smiled at the plain-looking boy before speaking, “I’m good with that! You trust her to keep the secret until we can tell everyone else, right?” Sero nodded, now beaming. “Of course!” he shouted in excitement, before turning expectantly to Bakugou. “Tsk, fine,” the spiky-haired boy said.

“Thanks, guys!” Sero shouted in excitement, reaching across the table to pull Kirishima and Bakugou into a hug.

“Oi! Let go of me!”

Y/N glanced towards the sound of Bakugou and laughed at the site. Having just gotten out of the lunch line, she started walking towards the table before she was stopped by Mina who begged her to sit with the other girls for the day. Y/N didn’t see why not, so she followed Mina to a table with Hagakure, Jiro, Uraraka, Asui, and Momo. As soon as she saw the last girl, Y/N’s face heated up and she could feel her pulse quicken when she saw Momo was looking back at her. When Mina sat down, Y/N saw that the last seat was directly across from Yaoyorozu. As she sat down, she could feel knots in her stomach from being this close. She forgot about her hunger as all that filled her mind was the girl in front of her. 

“Um, h-hi, L/N,” Momo stuttered and looked away. Is she blushing? Y/N thought, Why do I think it’s cute? What’s this tingling feeling in my chest I get when I look at her? It’s warm… Y/N couldn’t keep herself from blushing. “H-hi, Yaoyorozu,” she responded before she too looked away. Most of the girls at the table didn’t think too much of the exchange; however, Asui saw what the others didn’t. She didn’t see two girls in love with Sero or Todoroki, but rather the person who sat a few feet in front of them. Asui didn’t know why the others hadn’t picked up on it yet, it was rather obvious.

“So now that everyone’s here, we can talk about Y/N!” Mina exclaimed, bringing the table to attention. Y/N looked surprised. “Wh-what about me?” she asked. Mina beamed at her before replying, “Remember what we were talking about this morning? We’re gonna help you come up with a plan to confess to Sero and ask him out!” Both Y/N and Momo seemed to become taken aback by this statement, something that didn’t go unseen by Asui. She decided to speak up about it and said, “I don’t think Y/N sees Sero like that, why would she ask him out?”

“Nonsense!” Hagakure shouted, “You want to ask Sero out, don’t you, Y/N?” Y/N was overwhelmed by her thoughts and all the eyes on her. That is what I want, isn’t it? I was thinking about it earlier, it will be for the best, right? A few seconds went by before Y/N slowly nodded her head. Smiles spread across the table, save for Momo and Asui. The girls all scooted closer to Y/N at the table before they all went over their plan. The first to speak up was surprisingly Uraraka. “So, I’m assuming you want to do this by yourself in private, right? That’s how I would want to,” Uraraka said. Y/N nodded again.

“That means you should do it tomorrow at lunch! Ask Sero if you can eat outside and you can confess there!” Hagakure shouted.

“Right! And once you’re out there you can start off by complimenting him first!” Mina bounced off of Hagakure.

The girls continued going over what Y/N should do for a few minutes before they finished. “Think you got all of that, Y/N?” Jiro asked. Y/N nodded, “I think so, thanks, guys.”

“Now that we’ve got that sorted,” Mina began as she turned to look at Momo, “How’s it going with Todoroki?” Momo was very visibly taken aback by the question, and everyone at the table noticed. “What?” she asked, “We’re not in a relationship.” Now it was Mina’s turn to look surprised. “Really?! I really thought you guys were!” she exclaimed.

“Um, no… Well,” Momo looked at her lap, wringing her hands together before she continued, “I’m- I’m actually not straight… I like girls.” She looked back up to see everyone’s reactions. Most of them looked surprised, but Asui looked like she already knew, and Y/N looked- she looked relieved? Could it be that... No, she likes Sero, Momo thought.

Y/N remained quiet as the other girls excitedly talked to Momo about how they were happy she came out and various other things related to her sexuality. She still couldn’t believe it… but she felt happy and relieved. Why do I feel relieved? Why do I feel happy? She just said that she’s exactly what Father had said was bad… But- But Momo’s perfect. She’s never done anything bad. Maybe I really am broken…

~~~

The rest of the day passed in a blur to Y/N, all she could think about was her planned confession to Sero the next day, and what Momo had revealed at lunch. Her heart and her brain were fighting over which she felt more excited about, but ultimately her brain won with the final blow of “Mom would be more excited for this.” 

The final school bell rang, and Sero quickly found himself by Y/N’s side in the halls. “Man, was that so boring. I thought that class would never end,” he jokingly sighed.

“I honestly stopped paying attention to what he was saying in the first five minutes,” Y/N responded with a shrug.

“I know, right? Hey, you wanna hang out at my house?”

“Sorry, I have to do something later today, and I want to have time to finish my homework,” Y/N said with an apologetic look. That was a lie. She didn’t have to do anything later, she just wanted some alone time to think, and she had a feeling Sero also might ask about what the whole girl-table thing at lunch was about.

Sero could see she didn’t want to hang out, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little hurt. But he understood. “It’s okay, just know I’m free today so you can come over whenever if you feel like it.”

“Thanks, Sero. Sorry again.”

Sero laughed as they approached the corner where their paths home split. “I already said you’re good, it’s no problem. I’ll see you at school tomorrow then?” he asked as they both stopped walking. Y/N smiled at him. “For sure!” she exclaimed.

“See ya tomorrow, Sero!” Y/N waved as she continued walking down the sidewalk and Sero took a turn down another street.

“Bye N/N!”

~~~

Y/N lied in her bed with her eyes closed, thinking. She had just finished her homework and immediately flopped on her bed. I’m so tired of thinking. I feel like all I’ve been doing today is thinking way too much. Y/N rolled on her side and looked at her phone. She decided that listening to music might help her relax, and so she put her earbuds in, started the playlist of her favourite songs she had made, and lost herself in the music.

Before she knew it, her shoulder was being shaken. Y/N rolled over to see her mom smiling at her. She took out her earbuds to hear what she was saying.

“Hey N/N, dinner’s ready.”

Y/N’s eyes widened. Had it really been two hours already? She gave her mom a quick okay before she rolled out of bed and headed down the stairs to the kitchen, which her mom had already reached. She smelt the homemade ramen before she saw it, and Y/N’s mouth instantly began watering. She walked into the kitchen to see two bowls of ramen on an already-set table. As she and her mom sat down, she said, “This looks delicious, ma. Thank you!” M/N beamed at the compliment, saying it was no problem.

“Itadekimasu!” both members of the household said in unison. After a while of eating the delicious dinner, Y/N had finally worked up the courage to ask her mom something she had been meaning to ask for a long time.

“Hey, mom?” she started.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve just been wondering something for a while… Why do you want me to get a boyfriend so much?” Y/N finally asked. Her mom looked surprised for a split second before her expression became warm and she smiled at Y/N.

“I just want you to be happy. A good boyfriend will make you so happy, trust me,” she responded. Y/N nodded, taking her words to heart.

“Thanks, mom.”

“It’s no problem, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

~~~

Y/N was walking to school as she thought of what was to come. Today is the day. I’m going to confess who I love. I’m going to confess to Sero. Her thoughts were interrupted by the boy himself as he saw her further up the sidewalk that merged with the one he was on.

“Hey, Y/N! Wait up!”

Sero caught up with her and they chatted about their mornings and the homework from the day before on the way to UA. When the subject of what they brought for lunch came up, both of them wanted to ask the other if they wanted to eat outside, but Y/N beat him to it.

“Speaking of lunches, do you want to eat lunch outside today? I think it’d be fun.”

“Hey, I was about to ask you the same thing!” Sero laughed at the funny coincidence.

“I guess that works out then,” Y/N laughed back, as they reached the Class 1-A door. She opened the door to reveal the noisy room, as usual.

“Y/N!”

“Sero!”

As soon as they had stepped in the room they each had been called over by someone. Y/N by Mina, and Sero by Kirishima. The two friends waved bye to each other and walked to the person who had called their name.

“Hey, Mina, what’s up?” Y/N greeted.

“I was just wondering if you’ve asked Sero about eating outside yet?”

“I actually just asked him, and he said yes.”

Mina grinned at the news. “That’s awesome!” she exclaimed.

Over on the other side of the room, Sero was having almost the exact same conversation with Kirishima. However, a more interesting exchange was happening between Asui and Momo. Asui had pulled Momo to the side ad had immediately launched into the topic she came for.

“I’m going to get straight to the point. Do you have a crush on Y/N?”

Asui’s question left Momo sputtering, “Wh-what? N-no.” Momo looked to see Asui’s unconvinced face and sighed in defeat. “Was it that obvious?” she asked.

“To me, it was rather obvious that both you and Y/N like each other, but none of the other girls seem to notice.”

“W-wait, you’re saying Y/N- Y/N likes me? But I thought she likes Sero?” Momo stuttered.

“It seems to me that the other girls and even Y/N have forced her to tell herself she likes him, whether they meant to or not,” Asui stated.

“What should we do then?” Momo asked, but Asui shook her head. “We can’t do anything right now. I just wanted to make sure you don’t give up on Y/N,” Asui said.

“Thanks, Asui,” Momo said. Asui shook her head and said, “I told you, call me Tsuyu.”

“Right, sorry. Thank you, Tsuyu.”

Tsuyu only nodded and offered a smile before walking to her seat. The bell rang and soon everyone else was heading to their seat, too.

~~~

Soon it was lunch, and that meant it was almost time for Y/N to confess to Sero. They just had to get outside. Since both of them had remembered their lunches that day, the two had started heading to where they would eat outside as soon as the bell had rung. Sero saw Bakugou and Kirishima were still somehow at the head of the pack still.

“Man, we left quickly and Bakugou and Kirishima are still way ahead of us,” he laughed, “They’re gonna beat us outside by the looks of it.”

“Huh? Are they eating outside with us?” Y/N asked. She was confused by the boy’s words.

“Oh sorry did I forget to ask? I invited Bakugou and Kirishima to eat outside with us, is that okay?”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s fine. I was just surprised, I guess,” Y/N responded. She didn’t want to seem rude to Bakugou and Kirishima by telling them they couldn’t be there. She would just have to deal with an audience of two. 

As the two walked outside, they saw Kirishima and Bakugou a few hundred feet away. Sero started to wave and call their names, but Y/N stopped him.

“Actually, Sero. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about before we go over there,” she said as she grabbed his hands. Sero could tell this was something serious. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Y/N swallowed her throat and attempted to calm her rising nerves before she started to speak. “Sero I- I like you. As- as more than a friend,” she said. Sero looked at his friend with a frown.

“I’m sorry, Y/N, but I don’t see you like that. You’re my best friend,” he said as he watched Y/N start to tear up.

“B-but they said- they said you liked me. They said how we acted was more than friends,” Y/N stuttered out.

Sero squeezed Y/N’s hands and spoke, “Y/N, I need you to look me in the eyes. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you really love me in a romantic way.”

Y/N let her head rise until she was eye to eye with Sero as tears streamed down her face. She had to do it. Everyone wanted her to do it. “I love you!” she shouted as she closed her eyes. Her shout had brought the attention of Kirishima and Bakugou who just now noticed the pair a few hundred feet away.

“You didn’t look me in the eyes, N/N,” Sero said softly.

“You don’t understand,” Y/N started, softly crying, “I love you. I have to love you.”

“No you don’t, Y/N. Why do you think that?” Sero asked.

"Because I can't be broken!” Y/N shouted loudly, her voice cracking, “I don't want to be broken! That's why I love you!"

"You're not broken, Y/N! You'll never be broken!” Sero shouted back, “I love you too, but I love you as my best friend! I know you love me in that way, too! We've been best friends for years, you can tell me how you feel!”

“I can’t tell you! I’m broken! I’m a disappointment! I’m everything he said was bad!” Y/N cried as she sank to her knees.

Sero followed her to the ground as he cried out, “You’re not a disappointment, Y/N! You aren't a bad person for having those feelings! Everything your dad said was wrong! That's why your mom left him, remember? You're an amazing person, who you're attracted to will never change that, you hear? Never!" By the end of his speech, Sero was crying, too. “You can tell me who you really like, N/N. I’ll never hate you for it. I’ll never think you’re a disappointment or are broken for it,” Sero said with a quiet voice.

“But mom-”

“Your mom will never think any of those things either! I know your mom, I see how much she loves you. Who you like won’t stop that. She will always love you, got it? So don’t worry about that.”

“Fine! I- I like- I like,” Y/N sighed and took a deep breath, “I like Momo, okay? I like a girl.”

Instead of seeing a face of disgust like she expected, Sero started grinning and pulled the surprised girl into his arms.

“I’m so proud of you,” he said quietly.

“You’re not… You’re not disgusted with me?”

“That would be pretty fucking hypocritical of him if he was,” a voice cut in. The pair looked over to see Bakugou and Kirishima standing a few feet away. “What do you mean?” Y/N asked the pair. She saw Kirishima grab Bakugou’s hand in his as he responded, “Bakugou and I are dating.” Y/N looked at the pair in shock before she heard Sero speak up.

“So, do you think they’re bad people, Y/N? Well… at least Kirishima?”

“Oi! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Bakugou fumed.

Y/N laughed before responding to Sero, “No… neither of them are bad people.”

Sero nodded, “And I heard Momo came out yesterday. She’s not a bad person either, is she?”

Y/N panicked as she heard Sero ask if Momo was bad. “What?! No! Momo could never be a bad person! She’s perfect…” Y/N drifted off. Sero squeezed her hands again. “Then why would you be a bad person when these people who are the same aren’t?” he asked. Y/N stayed silent as she thought about what Sero was saying.

“I guess…” she slowly started, “I guess I wouldn’t be.”

Sero smiled. “That’s right, you aren’t. Can you let yourself accept that?” he asked. Y/N slowly nodded.

“I’m… I’m not a bad person for liking Momo. And I’m- I’m not broken,” she said, bringing smiles to everyone’s faces. Even Bakugou had a slight smirk.

“Aw man, I’m so excited now! We can finally get Y/N and Momo together!” Sero exclaimed.

“What do you mean ‘finally’? Did you already know I liked her?”

“Oh I’ve known for months,” Sero laughed.

“Sero!!”

“What? I wanted to let you figure it out on your own. But anyway, now that you have, let’s get you your dream girl!” Sero shouted enthusiastically. Y/N blushed when he called Momo her dream girl. She really was, wasn’t she?

~~~

After the bell had rung for the end of lunch, the girls of Class 1-A saw Y/N and Sero walking into the cafeteria along with Bakugou and Kirishima. She was laughing at something Sero had said. Mina and Hagakure were beaming, thinking their plan had worked. Momo felt her heart sink at the sight, until Tsuyu walked up next to her and pointed something out.

“They’re not holding hands, so they might not be together.”

At that moment, Y/N looked over to Momo and gave her a shy smile and a wave from across the room. Momo felt her heart skip a beat as she waved back, a blushing mess.

~~~

The rest of the day passed in a blur as Y/N was once again deep in thoughts. But, this time, her heart and her mind were in agreement, and all that was on her mind was Momo. But this time, she didn’t feel bad about it. She didn’t try to force herself to deny what she felt for the girl. And for the first time in a while, her thoughts felt free and happy. She no longer felt like there was a weight on her shoulders, and she had her best friend to thank.

~~~

As Y/N walked out of the school, she was stopped by Mina, who had rounded up the other girls. “Y/N! You have to tell us how it went! Are you and Sero dating now?” she asked. Y/N awkwardly smiled at the group.

“Umm, actually, we decided we prefer to stay as friends.” she replied.

Mina and a few of the other girls looked surprised. “Really?! I thought you liked him?” Hagakure asked.

“Well… I actually like someone else but I had been too scared to admit it. But Sero helped me to not be scared,” she said.

“Why would you be scared to admit it?” Uraraka asked.

“Because- um, because the person I like is a… a girl.”

Momo’s heart was beating out of her chest. Could it be? Tsuyu was the first to speak up.

“I’m proud of you for telling us, Y/N. I know how hard it is,” she said.

“Yeah!” Mina shouted, “I’m surprised, but I’m happy for you!”

Soon all the other girls joined in and were all being supportive.

“So, who’s the girl?” Hagakure asked. Thankfully, Y/N was saved by Sero catching up with her. “Hey, Y/N. You ready to head home?” he asked. She nodded, grateful for his timing.

“Yeah, bye guys!” she said as she walked away from the group with Sero.

Momo turned to start walking home, her heart still racing, but she was stopped by Tsuyu calling her name. “Hey Momo, can I walk with you?” Tsuyu asked. 

“Sure.”

“So that pretty much confirms Y/N likes you.”

“Do you- do you really think that?” Momo asked, still unconvinced. Tsuyu nodded and said, “I saw the way she was sneaking you glances when she was coming out. I think you should ask her out.”

“Ask her out? But what if she actually doesn’t like me?” Momo asked worriedly. Tsuyu looked at Momo before responding, “Momo, you trust me, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Then trust me when I say, Y/N likes you back. Besides, if you never try, you’ll never succeed, right?”

“I guess... But how should I do it? I’ve never had to confess before,” Momo responded.

“Don’t stress about it too much, just tell her how you feel. You can pull her back in the halls before lunch tomorrow to talk in private.”

“O-okay. I’ll try.” Momo said. Tsuyu let a small smile spread across her normally neutral face and said, “I know you can do it, Momo.”

“Thanks for everything, Tsuyu,” said appreciatively. If it hadn’t been for Tsuyu, she wouldn’t think it was even possible that Y/N could like her. 

~~~

The next day, Y/N was nervous. She was going to go over how she would tell Momo her feelings with the Bakusquad at lunch. She had slept in for the first time in a while, and now she was running to get to school in time. She just barely got in the door as the bell rang, and she rushed to her seat. Sero was already there, and he waved to her from his seat. Y/N waved backed before she turned around to see Momo. Their eyes met, and each of them shyly waved at the other, a blush rising to their cheeks.

Soon, it was lunch, and Y/N was both excited and nervous to go over confessing to Momo with the Bakusquad. What she didn’t know, was that Momo was feeling the same emotions, but she was one step ahead of what Y/N was at. Y/N was about to get out of her seat to go to lunch when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see it was a nervous-looking Momo. “H-hey, Momo.” she greeted.

“Hi, Y/N. I was wondering if you could stay back for a few minutes? I wanted to talk to you in private.”

“S-sure.”

A few people noticed this exchange as students were leaving the class, namely Sero along with Kirishima and Bakugou, and Tsuyu on the other side of the room. All of them had some degree of a smile on their face as they left the room. When the room was empty, Momo started stuttering through her words.

“S-so um Tsuyu convinced me to go through with this s-so uh, I wanted to let you know how you make me feel,” Momo started. As she spoke, Y/N’s heart bast beating out of her chest.

“Y-you, you make me feel amazing every time I think about you. My heart beats out of my chest every time you notice me. I- I really like you, I wanted you to know that. When I heard you like a girl, you would not believe how much I hoped that it was me. I still hope that. But I understand if you don’t return my feelings,” Momo finished. Y/N was silent for a few moments, worrying Momo, but soon a smile spread across her face and tears started falling from her eyes. Momo panicked at the sight of her crying. 

“D-did I do something wrong? Why are you crying?”

“No,” Y/N laughed, “These are happy tears. God, I’m so happy.”

An overwhelming feeling of happiness spread across Momo as she realized that if Y/N was happy, then that must mean she likes her back. “So, does that mean you like me, too?” she asked to confirm. Y/N rapidly nodded her head before she jumped into Momo’s arms to hug her.

“I’ve liked you for so long, I had just finally accepted it yesterday, and now here you are confessing to me. Could this day get any better?” Y/N said as she continued to hug Momo. The embrace was everything she had felt in her dream and more. But most importantly, it was real.

-1 Month Later-

Y/N and Momo walked hand in hand down the sidewalk, school had just gotten out and they were headed to Y/N’s house. She was finally ready to tell her mom about Momo. As they reached the house, Y/N had Momo wait outside. As she walked inside, she called out to her mom. M/N appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. “Yeah?” she asked as she walked toward Y/N.

“S-so, I wanted to tell you that- that I’m dating someone, and I want you to meet them.”

M/N started grinning as she said, “That’s wonderful, sweetie! What’s his name?”

Y/N rubbed the back of her neck as she responded, “Well, actually, her name is Momo. We’ve been dating for a month.”

M/N was very visibly shocked. She had never seen it. Then again, she had never met this Momo either. M/N took a breath before speaking, “I’m not going to pretend I understand liking girls… But I support you. I want to see you happy, and if she makes you happy then I’m okay with that.” M/N’s words brought tears to Y/N’s eyes.

“Thank you so much, Mom!” she cried as she hugged her mom.

“So,” M/N started, “When do I get to meet this Momo?”

Y/N laughed as she moved towards the front door. “She’s actually already here,” she said before she opened the door.

“Mom, meet my dream girl.”

[prongsisabadger]

The Wolf Pack Chapter 15

The elevator doors opened onto the bridge. We had made it to the Abregado system a few minutes ago and Master Plo had requested my presence. The scanners had detected a massive ship orbiting the system, and now the fleet was moving into attack position in preparation for the coming battle. We had found Grievous' mystery weapon, and since the ship had no escort whatsoever and needed to be taken out, Master Plo decided to engage.

"Given the past history of this weapon, i think it wise to report our location before engaging the enemy." Said my master, turning to Wolffe for his opinion.

"General Skywalker is nearest, in the Bith system. I hear he's always ready for a fight." He commented.

"No wonder he got paired up with Ahsoka, they must be made for eachother." I smirked.

"Let's hope they are both in the mood for a little bit of action then." Answered Master Plo before turning on the communications.

"Koh-to-ya, Master Plo. Nice to see you in one piece 'Ari." greeted Ahsoka as soon as the hologram stabilized.

"Koh-to-ya, little 'Soka." returned my Master. "General Skywalker, we are in the Abregado system and have found Grievous' ship. We are in need of reinforcements."

"Well, Master, I will have to speak to the Council about it. I'm under strict orders to keep my position, I'll let yo- ow- s oon-" The communication got cut short.

The enemy was jamming us. Someone reported the enemy ship had moved into position and that a massive mass of energy was building up. Master Plo called for fire, but we were not in range yet. And then, the enemy fired. An ever expanding energy field shot through the entire fleet and took out all power. We were adrift in open space, defenceless and vulnerable. It was then that the enemy opened fire on the first ship, tearing it to pieces in seconds and sending all the leftover debris flying towards us and our third ship. I was shocked, confused, terrified at how quickly everything was happening. I could not believe how easy to break a ship of that size would be when left completely bare. The canon blasts had made it crumble like dry leaves inside a fist. It was a terrible sight.

"I want everyone in the escape pods NOW." Ordered Master Plo.

There was chaos, emergency lights glowed red and troopers everywhere ran towards the escape pods. There were men yelling, cursing, some even panicking. I tried my best to stay calm and ran towards one of the pods. I had been so out of it that I hadn't realized Art had come to find me. It was him who dragged me by the arm and got me inside the nearest pod. Two other troopers got in before someone closed the door and launched us into what was soon to become a graveyard.

Outside, some pods crashed into debris, others crashed into each other, and some even malfunctioned, unable to launch at all. The force was in disarray all around me. There was so much pain, so much fear, so much confusion and anger. It was so overwhelming. But we had made it, we had made it and I would make sure we survived until someone came looking for us. I would, I had to.

"Okay men, let's get to work," I said once the pod had stopped drifting. "We'll make propper introductions later. First we need to do a diagnosis of the pod, what we do and don't have. Next we'll get the communications running and send a distress signal. Hopefully, someone out there will receive it."

No one even tried to protest, we all wanted to survive, so we got to work immediately. Art ran diagnostics while the other two tried to get the power back on and I tried to hardwire the distress call.

"Okay, so here's what we are working with," started Art. "We have no power -as we already know- but I believe that if we rearrange the circuit we may be able to get it back on. We have no life support recharge, so once the oxygen we have is gone, that'll be it. But the communications system seems intact so we can probably get in touch with other pots and figure something out."

Our prospects were not good. Our chances at survival depended on whether someone came looking for us or not. I couldn't risk that, I needed to figure out a way to keep us all alive regardless.

"Are the scanners working, Art?" I asked.

"Yeah bit they are not very powerful." He answered.

"Okay men, I need you to get the power up and running, I may have an idea that could better our chances."

While working, the other two troopers told me their names were Happy and Twitch. This was their very first deployment. Art sighted and muttered something about shinies under his breath, but I ignored him as best as I could. Shinies or not, they were here with us, and they were Pack. After a few minutes and a lot of debate, they managed to get the power back on, and so, we could now turn our communications and scanners on.

"What should I scan for, Commander?" Asked Art as he started setting up.

"Fuel cells."

"Fuel cells? What good would fuel do us in an escape pod? It's not like we can fly this thing to the nearest fleet." Said Twitch.

"No, but undamaged fuel cells are probably still attached to a ship. I'm hoping that -if we can get our hands on a fighter in good enough condition- we can use it's longer range communications system and oxygen tanks." I answered.

It was a long shot, there was nearly no chance a ship had survived that attack, but we had to try regardless.

"Wouldn't it be more effective to scan for life forms and contact another pod?" asked Happy skeptically.

"And do what?, they would have the same problem we do. Our better choice is to improve our own situation and then help others," I said. "As things are right now, if we can't help ourselves, we can't help others either."

It was at that moment that a transmission came in. One of the pods was asking for help. They were under attack, the enemy was attempting to open their pod. They weren't far, in fact, when I use the Force to bring our pod around, we saw it. A separatist ship that looked like a gigant claw manned by four battle droids attached to one of our pods. They were trying to break it open, they wanted no survivors.

"Art, you are staying in here, keep the distress signal alive," I said, grabbing one of their helmets and putting it on. "The two of you are coming with me, we are taking out that ship."

"But Commander they haven't spotted us yet." Protested Happy.

"But they will eventually, and if there are other pods out there, we seed to make sure they don't find them." I said, making sure Art's helmet fitted me and the seal was working properly. "I won't be able to last too long out there, so we need to be quick." I said.

"Well, then you better get going, Commander. They have just spotted us."

The pressure was unbelievable. I had known all along that this would be a risky choice to make, but in all honesty, it had also been the only one I could make. My torso felt like someone had landed a cruiser on top of it, and breathing was difficult. And yet, I had a mission to accomplish. We ambushed the droids from all sides, blasting two of them and making the other two retreat. But they were compromising the pod, and Art's life with it. And I could not have that. At first I had had the intention of using the pod hunter for fuel and a boost in our comms, but when they started putting pressure on the pod I knew it wasn't going to work. I cut two of the claw's metal fingers and force pushed it away, making it collide with the debris from our fleet and explode.

We were compromised, and I was almost out of energy. The pressure of the vacuum of space was getting to me, I wouldn't last much longer. My ribcage would collapse and all of my organs with it. Or so I thought.

"Commander, another pod is signalling us! It's the General!"

But I could barely hear him. I didn't feel Happy grab me and hand me over to my Master. I didn't feel how both pods were towed into a shuttle. What I did feel was the release of all the pressure I'd been under. I felt how my lungs expanded again, how my heart started pumping faster now that the blood vessels were no longer under pressure. I could feel the blood running from my nose, my ears, even my left eye. But I couldn't hear anything. The silhouettes around me were just that. The only thing I felt was the probing of the medical droid and the warmth from a hand holding mine.

…

I woke up tired, cold and with a terrible headache. When I tried to sit, it felt like someone was stabbing me everywhere. So I groaned and gave up trying, it was too painful. Someone inside the infirmary started talking to me, but I was too concentrated in trying not to cry. I felt as if a giant had tried to squeeze the juice out of me like a meilooron.

"-ari. Child. Can you hear me? Kriari." The voice to my right started to register in my head and it took all I had just to turn my head.

Master Plo was there, looking intently at me. Waiting for me to come to my senses and maybe give him a sign I could hear him.

"Hello, Master." I whispered.

Talking took too much energy, it required too many muscles that just didn't feel like working right then.

"You had all of us worried, my Child." He said honestly.

Behind him, Ahsoka looked ready to burst into tears, and Commander Wolffe looked relieved to see me breathe.

"How many survived, Master? Where are my troopers? Art, and Happy and Twitch, are they-"

I winced sharply, as a shock of pain ran from my chest, all the way up my spine and into my head.

"They are okay, Commander. They are in their quarters, resting." Answered Wolffe.

"You are so stupid sometimes, Kriari. You almost died." Whispered Ahsoka. "If you ever do that again I won't forgive you."

I smiled at her fondly. She really had been scared for my life.

"Oh, shut up 'Soka, you would have done the same."

They stayed for a few more minutes, put me up to speed, told me the new plan to engage Grievous' Ion cannon before he attacked a medical station near Naboo. All the while, I listened silently. I wanted to go and help them, but I knew I couldn't, not in the condition I was in. So I stayed silent, listened to what they all had to say. Master Plo said my actions had been brave, but to be careful in the future. A Jedi could not risk their life so readily, they had to live to fight another day, for there were few of us. Then, they all left. All except for Wolffe.

"Anything to scold me about, Commander?" I teased, but he didn't smile.

"You lied to them." He took one look at my confused expression and then clarified. "Your troopers. You told them you could withstand the pressure."

Oh, that. I looked away, not wanting to have that conversation.

"General Plo Koon told me he had been trying to teach you that technique. That as far as he knew, you had never managed to master it." He accused.

"There were lives at ris-"

"That included yours, Kriari."

In the time I'd known Wolffe, or any member of the Pack for that matter, no one had ever addressed me by my name, always my title. He was angry.

"I was trying to protect everyone, Wolffe. I may be a Jedi but my life is not worth more than that of the clones." I said icily.

"It is to the war effort."

"I don't give a shit about the war effort, Commander." I snapped. "I am in this war because I have to be, and so are you, If we are going to fight and die in the process, then the least I can do is save as many of you as I can."

He looked away. If it was out of frustration, anger or shame, I didn't know. He took his helmet from a nearby table and made his way towards the door.

"Then at least let us return the favor."

[hphmmatthewluther]

HPHM April Prompts 2021: Day 3: The Other House

@stupendousbookworm​ (finally figured out how to properly @ someone) ‘s third prompt of #aprilprompts2021 ! It’s another What If, this time looking at the Houses!

Prompt # 3 - In most fans' head cannons, the sorting hat may have had a difficult time placing MC in a house. The choice would be between two houses. In the end, the sorting hat places MC in their current house. If MC was sorted into the other house, how different would everything be?

“Interesting...very interesting...” Matthew Luther was trying very hard not to squirm. He wasn’t exactly used to having a hat on his head that moved on its own. He felt the old leather flutter as if it was breathing. He could feel the Sorting Hat grinning on top of his head. “You, my boy, are an interesting case.” The hat said, its voice coming from inside Matthew’s head. “You have the bravery of a Gryffindor, and the loyalty of a Hufflepuff, but your greatest attributes are your wit...and your ambition.” Matthew wasn’t sure how to react to that, and the hat seemed to pick up on this. “Yes, yes, ambition. There’s an awful lot of things you want, aren’t there?” Of course, Matthew thought, I want my brother back. I want to be happy. I want to be normal… “Normal?” the Sorting Hat repeated, “My boy, you could never be normal. Not in any of the houses. But I would say that you would be most normal if I put you in Ravenclaw, and much, much less normal if you were to go to Slytherin...”

Slytherin?! thought Matthew, trying to mask his expression in front of the school, But I’m a half-blood, they’d hang, draw and quarter me! At this, the Sorting Hat chuckled. “You don’t think a half-blood could survive in Slytherin? My boy, I’d take a look to your right if I were you.” In the corner of his eye, Matthew saw a man in his twenties dressed in all black, with greasy dark hair and a disapproving look. He could take a wild guess as to who that was. That’s Snape, he thought, but how does that… Matthew really had to try to mask his surprise now. “Ironic, isn’t it? And he had a Muggle father, just like you. Though where a Muggle gets the name ‘Snape’ from is a mystery for the ages...” Is this going somewhere? Matthew thought to himself, the word ‘hatstall’ starting to float around his head. “My original point is that you want an awful lot of things. But my question is this: would you be willing to chase these dreams of yours?”

The answer was obvious. No. I’m afraid. I don’t know where I could begin looking for my brother, and it’s not like I can get help from the teachers, and- “Which is exactly my point. While you would be a good fit in Ravenclaw, it is your wit that would be guaranteed to grow, when it is your want that has the potential to grow. If I put you in Ravenclaw, I have doubts that you would be able to find what is needed to find your brother. If you were to go to Slytherin, it would be a guarantee.” But- “Yes, it will be tough. But I think tough is exactly what you need. I do not intend to let you stagnate, my boy, as that would mean I have indeed put you in the wrong house. But I see it now. Your want outweighs your wit. The two in tandem, however, will be the key to your success. You must have faith.” Faith? Do wizards even have a God? Matthew found himself wondering. “That’s a question you can ask your housemates. They’ll be bound to know.” Matthew found himself gazing at Rowan, who was already sitting on Ravenclaw table. “Worry not. Mr Khanna is a kind-hearted soul. He will not abandon you for being in Slytherin.” I know he won’t. And I won’t abandon him. “Well, if that’s all...your journey begins. Good luck, though I doubt you’ll need it.” You clearly don’t know me that well… “On the contrary, dear boy, I know you better than you do. And so, off you go to..”

“SLYTHERIN!” There was an applause, albeit a subdued one. Matthew felt his legs move over to the table on the far right and sat himself down next to someone he vaguely recognised as ‘Lee, Barnaby’. He gazed over at Rowan, who merely smiled and shrugged. Matthew repeated the gesture. No, he wouldn’t be abandoned. And he highly doubted that he’d end up a Dark Wizard, despite what he had heard about this house. Though, he admitted to himself that he wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in a damp dungeon. He supposed he had to trust the Sorting Hat on this one. There was some more applause as ‘Murk, Ismelda’ moved over to the Slytherin table. Matthew tried not to make assumptions about people, but he had had a feeling she would end up on this table. Time passed, and the last person, Charlie Weasley, went to Gryffindor. With that over and done with, and Dumbledore’s speech finished, the feast began. The food looked wonderful, but Matthew’s stomach felt like it was folding in on itself, like it always did when he was nervous. He helped himself to some food, but couldn’t shake the feeling of dozens of pairs of eyes looking at him. Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Barnaby.

“Hello!” he said cheerily. “Oh, um, hello.” Matthew responded, offering a smile. “I’m Barnaby!” he said, “You were on that stool for a long time!” “Y-Yeah, I guess I was...” Matthew pushed the hair out of his face. He wasn’t quite sure where this was going. “Oh, I’m Matthew, by the way.” “Cool!” exclaimed Barnaby, helping himself to more chips. This was decidedly not what Matthew was expecting for his first interaction with a Slytherin. Roll with it, he thought to himself, putting some Yorkshire pudding onto his plate. It was all going well until a girl with bright purple eyes leant over. “You’re Matthew Luther, aren’t you?” she asked, as if she knew the answer already. Matthew nodded, bracing himself mentally for whatever was about to come. “Your brother got expelled for looking for those Cursed Vaults, and then he went missing, didn’t he?” “I’m...more than aware of that.” Matthew said, once again unsure where the conversation was going. One of the nearby girls chuckled at his remark, causing the violet-eyed girl to scowl. “Well, just know that you’re probably as mad as he was.” she declared, “And that I, Merula Snyde, the Most Powerful Witch to ever grace Hogwarts, will find the Cursed Vaults first!”

“You’re the Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts?” asked Barnaby, “Wow! How’d you manage that on day 1?” Merula looked a little confused, but appeared to have the same idea Matthew had: Roll with it. “What can I say, I’m just that good!” “Wow! Can I be your friend?” he asked, finishing off his chips. Merula stared at him for a moment, before silently nodding. “Great! Can I be your friend too, Matt?” he asked eagerly. “...Sure, yeah...” said Matthew, a little shaken by his enthusiasm. At that moment, the leftover food vanished, replaced by piles of dessert. Barnaby’s attention was fully on the confectionary in front of him. Merula turned back to Matthew. “If I were you, I’d give up now.” she hissed, “I’m going to find them first. You’d just bring shame to Slytherin, just like your brother did.” “Funny, I thought Slytherin had enough shame already...” Matthew muttered. He was hoping that most Slytherins would be like Barnaby, but it appeared that he was the exception. Most of them either ignored him at best or insulted him at worst, and Snape was no different. It all culminated in one of the worst two weeks Matthew had ever experienced.

He crashed onto his bed on the second Friday, totally exhausted. He felt a drop of water hit his head. Why did I listen to that stupid hat?! He didn’t really get to see Rowan all that much, and the Slytherins seemed to form an unbreakable wall between him and Barnaby. He was alone. Horribly alone. He gazed up at a nearby portrait of a man in green robes. It looked at him with the same look as the rest of the Slytherins: Disapproval. It looked like he was about to spend all his free afternoons like this, on his bed, trying not to think about the week before. He heard voices from outside his dormitory: “Hey, it’s that Ben Copper!” “Let’s get that little mudblood!” Matthew had seen Ben Copper around, and wanted to do something, but judging by how the past two weeks had gone, it felt like everything he did only made things worse. Matthew sank his head onto his pillow and waited… And waited… And-

There was a noise. Matthew couldn’t identify it. It sounded a little like a Theremin, moving up and down around the Dungeons. Wit and Want overtook him as he found himself needing to know what that noise was. He crept out of his dormitory and found a man standing in the middle of Slytherin Common Room. It was a ghost, with a bald head and chains over some resplendent robes. On closer inspection, said robes were covered in blood. Matthew knew exactly who this was. “I wondered when the right time to speak with you would be.” the Bloody Baron said, turning to face Matthew, “I did not expect it to be so soon, I must admit.” He laughed, brandishing a spectral rapier. “My, how small you are, for such great potential.” “What potential?” He asked by instinct. The Baron frowned. “You have a gift, Matthew Luther. I will not have it go to waste, whether that be by the hands of others, or your own.” he declared, gliding forward. “It has not escaped your attention, that it is not exactly...enjoyable...to be a Slytherin as of late.” Matthew found himself laughing. “You can say that again! We sleep in a Dungeon, everyone’s backstabbing each other, and the other houses think we’re all Dark Wizards!”

The Baron nodded. “Your complaints are...not unfounded. This house, and indeed, the Wizarding World at large, have forgotten that there was a time when sorcerers were all born of Muggles. I remember the time before we went into hiding. We thrived among Muggles, we wanted nothing less than to help them. ” “Your problem, Matthew Luther, much like the other Slytherins, is that you want so much, but have no real way of achieving it. The difference between you and them is that you have the wit to realise this. I am here to tell you the following: It matters not.” Matthew stared at the ghost, trying to digest what he had said. “So…what do I do?” “You must act, Matthew Luther, and act with conviction!” the Baron exclaimed, his chains clanking as he raised his arms. “This is what being a Slytherin is about! The man who is kind can help nobody, the man who is brave cannot fight, and the man who is wise cannot enlighten himself and others, none can do a thing without faith in themselves!”

“Then...” Matthew began, “...then, I shouldn’t have been in Slytherin! I don’t have conviction, do I? I wouldn’t trust myself to do anything!” “Then why listen to your criticisms?!” The Baron crossed his arms, causing the chains to jingle again. “Perhaps this is why you are here. To teach you to have faith. Perhaps, to teach the Slytherins this maxim too...for it is them who you will need to save your brother.” Matthew squirmed under the weight of the argument presented to him. “You’ve...you’ve got it wrong! You must have got it wrong, because the Slytherins are...well, they’re arseholes!” “Then, ask yourself this. Do you want this to change, the state Slytherin is in?” When Matthew nodded, the Baron smiled again. “Then do so, and do so with faith!” With that, there was a cold, howling wind, and that same, warbling note, as the Baron faded away into the darkness, and Matthew was once again alone. Or at least, he thought he was. Slowly, from the corner of the room, a ginger cat strolled towards him. Matthew bent down and looked at its collar. “‘Danny.’ So, your name’s Danny?” Matthew said, moving his hand to stroke the cat’s ear. There was a loud crack, and shouts of “Oi, mudblood!” from a few rooms away. Matthew scowled. I want to help Ben. I’m going to help Ben.

There were a group of students watching Ben struggle on the floor. From what Matthew could see, he had been hit by Flipendo, the Knockback Jinx, and was now on the floor. There was a group of Slytherins doing the spellcasting, Merula among them. The crowd around them was made of all the houses, yet not one of them did a thing. Seems the Baron’s theories were right. Matthew moved towards Rowan. “They just ganged up on him!” Rowan explained, keeping an eye on the action. “Yeah, I imagine they did.” Matthew observed, pushing his way to the front of the crowd. Ben’s bag was on the floor with him, and he was trying to push himself up, but kept being knocked down again by the Slytherin at the front, a boy Matthew recognised as Preston Crawford. Merula was smirking beside him, along with Ismelda. Barnaby was at the very back, looking very upset. Preston moved backwards. “Filthy mudblood. Can’t even handle a simple duel. Flip-” “Expelliarmus!” Preston’s wand flew out of his hand into the crowd. Matthew stepped forward between him and Ben.

“You know, it’s funny. I don’t think you know what the word ‘duel’ means.” Matthew remarked, looking at the horde of Slytherins behind Preston. He quickly turned back to Ben “Run. Quickly, go!” he ordered. The Gryffindor got to his feet and ran. Matthew shook his head at the Slytherins. “You’ve got some nerve, half-blood!” yelled Ismelda, as the crowd began chattering excitedly. Part of Matthew wondered if he could get away with just walking away, but before he could try anything Danny the cat came up to him. Matthew sighed, and picked him up. At this, Barnaby pushed through the crowd of Slytherins. “Cat! That’s a Cat! It’s so cute!” he exclaimed, “Can I give it chinny rubs?” Matthew gave him a kind smile. “I’m sure Danny here would love that.” “His name is Danny! Amazing!” Barnaby yelled before beginning to scratch his chin. The Slytherins looked a little disappointed, and the crowd slowly dispersed. Matthew found himself laughing again. He finally understood why Barnaby was a Slytherin: he wanted to play with the cat, so he had asked to play with the cat. It was so simple, yet so extraordinary to someone like Matthew. His moment of zen was instantly interrupted, however. “Well, I hope you’re happy, Luther,” Merula snarled, “We’ll get you for this. Just you wait.”

A while later, Matthew found himself walking towards the Magical Creatures’ Reserve. As he stared at the bizarre animals that were there, he was approached by Penny Haywood, who even he knew was the most popular girl in his year. “Oh! Hello, Matthew!” she said cheerily. “I just...I heard what you did to help Ben...and I just..” “It was nothing, really.” Matthew said, but Penny shook her head. “No, no! You acted when nobody else did! Nobody else was willing to do it, but you did!” “Well, I mean, um...” Matthew stammered, “I just...I trusted myself...I knew I wanted to help...so I helped, that’s all!” “Well, it doesn’t matter, it was remarkable.” she declared. “You know...for a..” “A Slytherin?” he asked. Penny nodded. Matthew shrugged in return. “I guess I don’t have to worry about being roped in with them anymore.”

“Yeah...Listen … are you by any chance looking for the Cursed Vaults?” she asked. Matthew perked up at this. “I might be...why do you ask?” “Well...it sounds like something I’d be interested in...and after I heard what happened today, I knew that you wouldn’t be looking for it if it wasn’t...well, if it wasn’t for a noble reason!” Penny explained. “Well...I really could use all the help I could get.” Matthew confessed. “I’d be happy to have you help, Penny.” “Great! People always invite me to parties, but never on death-defying adventures!” she said. “Well, see you around, Hero of Hogwarts!” Matthew’s eyes widened at that. “Oh no, don’t tell me that’s what people are calling me now...” Later that night, Matthew was once again on his bed, this time with Danny sleeping near his legs. He still couldn’t quite believe it. He had salvaged his school life, and all it had taken was a simple Disarming spell and a cat. He wasn’t sure Salazar Slytherin would have approved, but not even he could deny he had followed the original ideals of his house to the letter. The portrait of him on the wall no longer looked at Matthew with disapproval, but with begrudging respect. And with Slytherins, Matthew thought, that was as good as you could get.

[scribbling-stiks]

Puppets - XXIII - Returning

Once the sun begins to rise, so do Texas and Louisiana, who poke their heads out of the tent and start packing up their bags. Massachusetts joins them soon after, due to the noise Texas is making if Russia had to guess. Russia douses the fire and packs his remaining belongings into his bag, keeping the tomahawk within arms reach. When he exits the tent, he sees Ute and Canada are also up and about. Canada is helping the states pack their bags, and Ute is beginning to dismantle tepees.

It took only around 30 minutes to deconstruct the camp fully and pack it up. Though, Russia could've sworn there was far more to carry than what Ute has on his back. 'How many Americans have magic?' Russia thinks, baffled. He shook off the train of thought when Ute begins walking, and he hurries to keep up. Russia walks at the back of their group, but the states are trying to include him in their conversations, which he thought was sweet. He also had to admit some of the stories they tell are hilarious.

"Remember when Tex shot a flare in the house and broke a window?" Louisiana says nonchalantly.

"LOUISIANA!" Texas exclaims, his face reddening.

"I remember," Massachusetts comments, "Dad was soo f***ing mad."

"What was it that Alabama and Mississippi did that ended with the wall in pieces?" Canada prompts from in front of the states.

Texas answers, "oh yeah. Montana dared Alabama to make a human cannon. In all honesty, Idaho should've stopped them, but once 'Bama has an idea-"

"No matter how stupid," Massachusetts interjects.

"He'll follow through. He ain't the smartest of us, but he'll be damned if he's called a quitter," Texas finishes, smirking slightly.

"How does anyone do anything in that house?" Russia asks, exasperated.

"I don't know. We usually only get together on holidays. So right now is weird as it is. Even with all that, Dad and New York can get stuff done, most of the time," Massachusetts says, shaking his head fondly.

"Even if no one is purposefully causing chaos, just talking gets to insane volumes," Louisiana says.

"I have heard," Russia says, smiling.

Suddenly, Massachusetts goes pale.

"What's wrong?" Russia asks, concerned.

"New York is going to f***ing kill us," Massachusetts says, running a hand through his hair.

Texas' face falls, "he's probably worried sick. Darn, we shoulda given him more warning."

Canada sighs sympathetically and says, "We should call him as soon as we get service." Russia agrees, and feels a pang of sympathy for New York. 'He probably thinks he lost his siblings and uncle like he lost America,' Russia thinks.

"You should," Ute says, snapping Russia out of his reverie, "according to Utah and Colorado, he's panicking and trying desperately trying to contact you five."

Russia pulls out his phone to see if he has service and stops in his tracks.

"How long were we gone?" he asks, horrified.

"A day if I had to guess," Canada replies.

"According to the date, we've been gone for more than a week," Russia replies shakily, looking up to see the group had stopped.

"WHAT? Lemme see that!" Texas exclaims, rushing over to Russia.

"How?!" Massachusetts demands.

"Oh no," Louisiana mutters quietly.

Canada just stares back, frozen. Texas nearly snatches Russia's phone out of his hands, and slumps over, defeated when Russia's words are verified.

"We should keep moving. The sooner we get back to the road, the sooner you will have signal," Ute says, urging them forward again.

The once happy mood became sullen, and Russia can faintly hear Texas mumbling about "stupid magic" and "a whole week lost." Russia agrees with the sentiment, and can't imagine the chaos that must be the house of the remaining states. His pace becomes quicker, and the others do the same. The image of New York the day America was captured flashes in Russia's mind. Tomahawk in his hand, swinging at his side, he treks forward.

He briefly wonders about how his father is handling his disappearance. 'Probably not well,' Russia muses.

The sun is high in the sky, and his shadow is nearly invisible by the time they approach the road. Russia sees the rails above them, but he doesn't see a way to climb up. "Back up," Ute says, holding a wooden staff that Russia had not seen before, and Canada backs up with the states.

Ute slams the wooden staff into the dirt twice, and the ground shifts. Slabs of dirt and stone rise to create steps. Russia stares up at the stairs, and when he turns back to Ute, the staff he had been holding is gone.

"This is where I must say goodbye," Ute says, "I cannot go any further with you. The monsters here have been significantly more active, and I need to be here to control it."

"Okay, so long, partner! Thanks for the help," Texas says with a wave, ascending the stairs.

"Bye, Ute!" Louisiana says happily.

"Goodbye!" Massachusetts calls.

"Thank you for your help. Wouldn't have made it without you, eh?" Canada says with a grin.

"Thank you for your help. We are very grateful," Russia says with a slight tip of his head. He then turns and climbs the stairs, following the others. He turns around from the road to wave goodbye, only to see the steps no longer existed, and Ute was nowhere to be seen.

His hand lowers, and he turns to follow the others. They walk up the road for 20 minutes until Texas spots the car and takes off into a sprint. Russia runs with him.

Russia pulls out the keys and unlocks the doors. The states hop in, and Texas falls into a seat with an audible sigh. "Yay, a comfortable seat," he says, his eyes closed.

Massachusetts laughs. Russia helps gather bags and throw them into the back of the car and he sits back in the seat. The moment he sits down and starts the car, his phone begins ringing. Turning the phone over, he sees that it's his father. He answers immediately.

"Hello?" Russia answers.

"Russia! You're okay! What happened to you? The states contacted me and told me you were missing for 9 days!" his father yells into his phone.

"I am okay. Everyone is okay. There was some magic time thing that caused it. We thought only a day had passed," Russia says.

Soviet sighs and Russia catches something ding in the background. He hears his father groan into his hands. "You will tell me everything. For now, I am being called into a UN meeting. I will talk with you soon. Goodbye," Soviet says with a tone of finality.

"Goodbye, Papa," Russia replies before hanging up.

Opening his phone, he sees dozens of missed calls and texts from New York, and later his father, demanding to know if they were alright and where he was. He sighs and calls New York, putting the call through the Bluetooth speakers in the car. The call is picked up immediately.

"Hello? This better not be a motherf***ing joke," New York says aggressively.

"Hi, New York!" Massachusetts calls from the backseat, waving sarcastically.

"Massachusetts?! Is everyone there?" New York demands frantically.

"Yes, you can calm down now," Canada replies, trying to pacify New York. Russia winces when he hears New York choke slightly. He hears the state sniffle for a moment before pulling himself together.

"Thank f***," New York mumbles, "I thought you were gone. You're okay."

The relief in his tone is thick, and Russia tries to remedy it. "Yes. We are sorry for the lack of communication," he says.

"It ain't our fault that the cave entrance collapsed," Texas chimes from his seat.

"What?! What happened?" New York asks.

"Well, something tried to trap us in a cave with a spider monster. Then we fell off a cliff," Massachusetts says flippantly.

"There were also cameras everywhere, and some guy was watching us for entertainment," Louisiana says in disgust.

"Jesus Christ. Now I know how Dad feels," New York mumbles and asks, "how did you survive?"

"Colorado's friend Ute saved us. He also helped us find the car," Texas answers.

"I guess that pot-head does have some good ideas," New York mumbles. "Dixie would want to know about this, but he was just pulled into a nations' meeting. And there is a lot of yelling. I may have to go in there and help. I'll be calling you again later, and you betta answer!" New York says before hanging up.

Russia chuckles and sits back in relief. He is certain something else is going on behind the scenes but decides that he'll figure it out another day, probably with the help of the states and his father. For now, he'll focus on driving them to their next hotel.

~

Next

Previous

Table of Contents

[alexlabhont]

I didn’t mean to fall in love with you

Chapter Three.

Book: Queen B - Choices (Universe)

Pairing:  Poppy Min-Sinclair x Trans!Male MC (Beck Hughes)

Genre: Canon re-write (Because I can)

Rating: Anyone can read it, really

I´ll be posting this one over here because Tumblr, for some reason, thinks my secondary blog is a bot...

This is me trying to write by and for the Trans community, specially FTM community, meaning, trans guys, but I actually took the liberty to use They/them pronouns for everyone out there who´s interested (Also, the name Beck was the most neutral one I could find, trying to use the cannon Bea Hughes)

Now, about the PAIRING... I will be using choices style, kinda, because I want to give you choice at some point. If you have any comment, PLEASE BE RESPECTFULL and patient with me. This is also my first english fanfic and english is not my mother language, so... i’m sorry fo the grammar errors

CHAPTERS

The beginning

Chapter one 

Chapter two

ONE-SHOTS

Just a dance (Zoey x MC)

—————————————————————— 

A truce.

That’s what she said she wanted and for a moment, all their fears disappeared.

“I really hate to admit this, but I personally asked for you to be my partner on this project. I'm familiar with your music, and I actually wanted to work with you.”

She also said. Beck didn't know how to feel, really. Poppy Min-Sinclair heard their songs, or, at least, she saw their videos.

And she liked them.

Or not? They never knew with her. She has been acting pretty weird these days. Giving them a “compliment”, smiling at them, asking for Beck to be project partners…

Open up with them.

That was beyond weird.

Beck couldn't stop thinking about what they saw back at the “Alpha-Zeta deluxe cabin” or whatever it’s called. Poppy really looked hurt… sad… like…

Like she has feelings.

“I don’t know, Beck. I don’t think is a good idea letting you guard down.” Zoey said, playing with their hair, both of them resting on the couch, Beck’s head laying on her thighs.

“Yeah, I get it. But…” Beck took a moment, remembering the sadness in her voice, the betrayal in her eyes… Did she really care about Chloe? “I wish you had been there to see it, Zo. It was so real my head exploded… Like... She was really hurt.”

“Babe, I know what you’re trying to say. And I believe you that she was in pain. But you have to remember she's still Poppy. And even if she’s a… uhm… human who feels, it doesn't mean she's not a bitch.”

Beck stood up, sitting properly while scratching their neck.

“Yeah, I know that.” They replied. Zoey had a point they couldn’t forget. From all people, Beck understood what it felt like to be judge by a cover, but as Megamind's Roxanne said once: Checking the content was what matters, and the inside of Poppy´s book was not so good.

The time on the wall clock pointed it was the moment to go, it was Saturday and Poppy and Beck agreed to meet her in front of an Animal Rescue from downtown around noon. He didn't want to be late, after all, Poppy was capable of start the project without them and argue that they didn't show up.

“Anyway, I have to go now. The sooner we end this, the better.” Beck put on their shoes and leather jacket, ready to impress thanks to Zoey fashion sense.

“I want you far~ away from trouble, Beck Hughes. Do you hear me?” The protector side of Zoey appeared and, again, they were confused by it.

Zoey always had that effect on Beck, she could warm their chest, sculpt a smile on their face. Honestly, after all these years in a toxic environment, bullying and harm, having Zoey´s concern on them was something new, something welcomed, something that made them happy.  Laugh a little if Beck thought about it closely.

“I can take care of myself.” They said. After all of those fake friends, after all of the pain they went through, it was still hard to trust completely.  However… Beck looked at Zoey, the only one who Beck felt relaxed with. Their best friend, the first one to treat them as what they were even after knowing the truth. Beck didn’t miss Farmsville at all. “See ya later, beautiful.”

“I´ll be waiting right here”

~~X~~

They won’t ever admit it, but after they heard Poppy saying that the project was in the Downtown Animal Rescue Beck was excited. Puppies, kitty cats, animals! Beck love them greatly, wholeheartedly. They were their weakness; their adoration was so much so Beck considered seriously taking the vet path almost all their life, if having not found music, their story would´ve been completely different right now. That´s why they couldn’t refrain themselves of stopping at each enclosure to coo over the animals, losing all sense of self-respect over them. Especially after a pup ugly, dummy looking like showed up with the most adorable face they ever seen.

“Oh boy, you’re so ugly I luv ya Tushie-face! Who’s a precious ugly-boy? Uhm? Who’s a precious ugly-boy~” The little pug barked happily, enjoying the attention. “You’re perfect! You’re…”

“… nice to see so many new additions.” Beck heard, stopping them at the moment. Beck was sure it was Poppy, but she sounded… “I guess that means a lot of these little guys are being adopted?” … different. Again.

“Yes, Ms. Min-Sinclair.” A young voice answered, without fear, with respect. A good kind of respect. “We have a ten percent higher adoption rate than last year” Uhh, that sounded good. For some random reason, Beck showed the thumbs up to the ugly pug, flashing him a stupid smile at which the pup moved his tail as if he understand what it meant and agreed.

But then… Poppy laughed.

A real laugh. A nice, non-threatening, actually kind of cute laugh. So honest that they felt terrible attracted to it.

“No… Oh, no, no, no… No. Don't you even think about…”

As if their body was its own person, Beck rounded the corner, wanted so badly to see how a laughter so sincere looked like in Poppy´s face, like some weird kind of siren song they had to see with their own eyes. Instead, Beck saw her talking to one of the shelter’s employees, hugging and stroking a bichon frise puppy´s tummy softly, lovingly. Their heart stopped just a second, running wild immediately after.

“God… she’s so…”

“DON´T!” And they slapped their self. Hard. Beck deserved it. They couldn't… they won’t… They refused to…

The sound where so loud it called the attention of both Poppy and the other guy, while Beck felt the stinging and burning on his now red cheek. Ok, maybe~ they didn't have to do that, actually, the expression on Poppy´s face the moment she saw them, a sour, angry one, was the only thing they needed to feel normal again towards her.

“You're late” Why, hello to you too.

“I´m sorry, it's just that I was playing with Tushie face and…”

“Tushie face?” Beck couldn’t tell if she was amused or making fun of how stupid they were. “That´s how you pet-name?” Poppy added, raising an eyebrow. Beck shrugged.

“If you have a tushie face, then you are a tushie face. Simple as that” Based on Poppy's smirk, they should’ve stay quiet.

“Uhm… Alright, tushie face.” Damn it! “Come with me.” She then gave them a wink, smiling as if they both had now a new secret, before walking toward the back of the kennels.

Fuck.

“So… how do you knew about this place?” Beck asked, very willing to replace the topic to literally anything.

“If you must know, my parents bought me this shelter when I was eight.”

“What?”

“Really? Why?”

“I wanted a dog. Mommy and Daddy didn't want pets in the house… Et, voila”

Beck looked around, the place had now a new light after what they just learned. All this place was Poppy's, just because her parents didn’t approve animals at home. Unintentionally, Beck chuckled, feeling Poppy’s gaze on them almost immediately.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, irritated.

“We’re really very different but the same at once” They said. “Ever since I was a kid, my parents taught me to work with every single farm animal. Cleaning them, feed them, love them… I even helped bring life into this world.” Beck told her, twisting their lips. “I had a lot of different pets back at home. So do you right here. You see?”

“You’re forgetting about the fact the whole point of a place like this isn't for the animals to stay forever…” She said, vulnerable. Beck did actually get that, the hollow feeling that comes after something like that.

“Well… at least they’re not dinner”

Surprisingly, that comment made her chuckle just a little and Beck felt so good to be the one to take away that fragile expression in Poppy’s face. She was definitely more beautiful when she was happy. When she was laughing.

“You are right, that's even worse.”

They both looked at each other for a moment, some complicity in their own way, as if they both shared something, a sentiment that almost nobody felt, both understood each other, at least in one little but significant thing: They both learned very young what it's like to love innocently and truly, to have an unconditional companion, just to lose it to the “greater purpose” again and again. Both learned to never get really attached to anyone.

“But whatever, it gets the humanitarians off our back.” Just as if the conversation never happened, Poppy went back to the factory mode. “Which is why we’re really here. I’m fully aware of your popularity in YouTube, especially after your little performance, so hopefully this project we’re doing will get some good press for us to get the adoption rate it to, at least, 20 percent this year.”

“So this is why you wanted to work with me…” Beck didn't know why, but a little part of themselves felt disappointed… what was them expecting anyway?

Soon they both reach the back of the room, and while Poppy walked in as if it was completely routine, Beck had to stop for a second. A whole crew was already set up, cameras, microphones, lights, everything. A lot of cute pups and cats of all ages were also there looking adorable, sure they were the real stars of all this, but Beck couldn't help but feeling intimidated.

However, it was Poppy’s attitude the one thing that took all Beck’s attention though all the day.

She was kind, professional, caring… making sure of one thing above it all: to have the best commercial of all times for an animal shelter. The way she treated the employees, the animals, people around her… it was like a completely different side of her they never seen before. Poppy even, against all odds, treated Beck as what they were: her project partner. Giving them a fair share of lines, taking care of capturing their best angle, how happy they looked between all those cute little animals. Directing Beck to make sure every detail was perfect, being polite and respectful while doing so.

She was acting as a selfless but powerful leader, and Beck couldn’t take her eyes off of her the whole time. She even managed to convince them to adopt that tushi faced puppy, pointed out that they both had choose each other right at the moment they meet.

“Just look at the way he's watching you!” She said playfully. “You two are really connected.”

“Do you really think so?” Beck asked, playing with the pup. They really wanted to take the little guy home, be able to give him a good life, having another friend in their life. One not farm related at least. Beck felt Poppy coming closer, resting her hand on Beck's shoulder while watching little tushi face with a soft smile.

“I know so. But the real question is: what do you think?”

And now, Beck had a dog named Pepes.

~~X~~

Once they knew every detail was taken care of, and the adoption paperwork were all right, Poppy, Beck and little Pepes walked out the shelter. Personally, they felt drained out, because although they were used to cameras, it was always under their own terms and time, their own edition, their own personal rhythm, but after that day, Beck was seriously considering the idea of being backstage musician, unlike Poppy, who actually looked as fresh as a cucumber.

“Damn, Pops. I have to admit it: you were awesome there.” They said, Pepes barking enthusiastic, agreeing.

“Were you expecting something less?” She said, some mischievous sparkle in her eyes Beck couldn't quite place. “Now, take me to lunch.”

“I'm sorry? Why would I do that?”

“Because…” She started to say, sassiness taking over her. “… I acted, arranged, produce and direct a fully perfect commercial to our project while you just played around with puppies and looked cute. The very least you can do is buy me lunch. I'm starving.”

“Oh, so you think I'm cute?” Beck flirted. It was impossible to let it pass by.

“Like it was a secret” Poppy smirked.

“… What?”

“I’m not blind, Hughes. You are actually very good-looking. It´s not a secret.” Beck was shocked, did they really just heard a compliment from the one Poppy Min-Sinclair that wasn’t commercial related? They looked at her, expecting some irony or double meaning, maybe some hint of a trap, but no…  She was being completely sincere. Beck snorted, it was cool they guessed.

“Now, that's a compliment.” Poppy rolled her eyes evidently, pretending to be irked, but that little smile on her lips proved to be the opposite.

“Hello? My lunch?” Beck laughed, how can she be so rude and yet so cute at the same time? Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

Maybe.

“Whatever you want, bossy-ass”

----

Next

[kaypeace21]

Do you have any meta/theory on the significance of the cleric/paladin d&d characters vs wizard/dungeon master. Is maybe one more Will and Mike's relationship and the other their role in the story as a whole? Sorry if you already mentioned this and this is redundant

Yeah, I’ve talked about it before. But why not talk about it again? It’s been a while- and Will’s recently published journal (plus st tweets) added more to this symbolism

The Duffers used Will and Mike’s d&d classes to say they’re soulmates! XD

Will in all 3 seasons identifies as a wizard- he even writes on the mixtape he makes “will the wise- wizard mix” (which is a different class than clerics). Even in s1 Will’s castle byer’s password was “rhadaghast” a lothr wizard.

But in s2 Mike (the paladin) says that Will is a cleric. Meaning this reflects how Mike (alone) actually feels about Will. In d&d, they have similar moral values, powers, and generally need and depend on each other in the lore of d&d.  Mike says Will is a cleric,despite Will still identifying as a wizard in s3, since it shows how deeply Mike actually feels about Will.

It shows he views Will as one of the only people who understands him and views him as a his moral compass 

“ strength of conviction gave many paladins a sense of common fellowship but did not always endear them to others. In many cases, paladins did not get along quite as well with other non-paladin adventurers, with the exception of clerics with similar beliefs.”

“A Paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous Paladin is fallible. Sometimes the heat of emotion causes a Paladin to transgress his or her oath (of honesty, courage, compassion, honor ,and duty). A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order…

“The paladin might spend an all-night vigil in prayer as a sign of penitence, or undertake a fast or similar act of self-denial.”

“After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.”

“Using the ‘lay on hands’ power, paladins can grant their comrades (or themselves) additional resilience with a touch of their hands and a short prayer, though they must give their own strength to do so.”

And Mike calls El a “mage” which wasn’t even a class in D&D (in the 80s)- A line he says to Max about zoomer (who he doesn’t like) …so… how much do you want to bet Mike was the one who made him and Will matching by giving him and Will “lawful good” (since this is writen in his starter kit). And he already ignored the fact Will is a wizard. 

But in Will’s recently published cannon journal he also does this- he keeps Lucas (Ranger) , Dustin (Bard) and his own character (a wizard) …but he changes Mike to a cleric !!!

Because Clerics have the strongest of healing abilities

Mike thinks Will brings out the best in him. And Will thinks Mike as someone who helps him heal. So they both call each other clerics.

D&D also represents their romantic relationship

when they fight in s3 Mike says “I’m not trying to be a jerk. We’re not kids anymore. I mean…what did you think? That we’d never get girlfriends. Play games for the rest of our lives?” And the truth is that’s actually what Mike wants- which is why he was upset about Will trying to give away the d&d game . And why he still has all of Will’s d&d pictures on his basement’s wall (which he’s kept on his wall for years- despite removing the old poster from the wall). And during Hopper’s speech, when it pans to Mike , Hopper says “I miss playing games every night.”

* He also caresses Will’s  d&d drawing- when he thinks he’s dead- and has a binder filled with every d&d drawing Will has ever given him.

 In the first ep - Will  admits he rolls a 7 (since he couldn’t lie to Mike)-  and in the last ep of s1 (they show us Mike smiling at Will right before Will rolls a 14- since they’re 7s together.) Mike even apologizes to EL saying “sorry I sound like a 7 year old.” When talking about how all 3 can play with toys & right after talking about Will visiting to play. and mentions Will’s rolls as a way to convince Lucas to help him look for him.And Mike even mentions Will rolls as a way to convince Lucas to help him look for him in the first ep.

Mike in the last ep in s1 ,writes a d&d story for Will.  in ep one Will tells Mike “it was a 7, the demogorgan it got me.”At the end of the season Mike writes a whole story of him and his friends killing a 7 headed monster, and showing the decapitated head of the monster to king Tristan (Will). Similar to how at the hospital he tells Will to not worry cause “it’s dead now”. This is right after Will rolls a 14 (cause Mike and Will are 7s together). And Mike who is a fan of starwars has King Tristan give them medals after killing the monster. Cause he wants Will/king tristan (instead of Leia -a girl) to present him with medals and be his romantic love interest (and praise him for being a hero)…

In the pilot, they even say Will uses d&d to “escape” his insecurities about his sexuality “like mike” & Mike uses d&d to “escape” his insecurities about not having a gf.  * And no, dustin & Lucas didn’t use d&d to “escape” anything- in the pilot script.

Mike angrily yells “El’s not stupid. It’s not my fault you don’t like girls” to himself- cause Will hit a nerve when saying mileven was ruining their friendship - because a part of Mike is trying to use El to put distance between him and Will . Dustin in s1 foreshadows the fight, saying “all you want to do is spent time with her… and you know it and he knows it. And nobody says anything until you’re yelling at eachother like goblins with intelligence scores of zero.” (Another  d&d ref/ ‘love makes you stupid’ ref.).

And also, maybe a part of him resents how Will is making him feel. So he says this whole speech , in the garage, to himself - to keep his romantic feelings for Will under control ( expecting Will to agree with the heteronormative statement). Which is why he was so shocked when Will (who he assumes is straight) and he expects would agree -  instead says “yeah, I guess I did. I really did.” (about never getting gfs but instead being together for the rest of their lives). 

And the  “crazy together” scene (which is romantic since both Mike & Flo both equate love making you ‘crazy’. Flo says “ only love makes you crazy and that damn stupid”). And the ‘crazy together’ scene also has a zoom-in on Mike’s d&d game.

(x)(x)

Mike and Will both love each other (and El is just confused). He wants to be with Will- but he’s scared. The Hopper dialogue even says “Lately, I feel like you’re pulling away from me or something? I miss playing board games every night.” Mike was upset when Will gives the game up- but Will says “I’ll just play with yours when I come back… if we still want to play?” In other words- the ball is in Mike’s court- if he wants Will, he has to initiate it. Because Will assumes he was “stupid” to think he had a chance. Mike is also acting “stupid” because he’s pushing away Will despite loving him, and hurting him in the process (the opposite of a cleric).

But Mike in s4 will admit his feelings to Will… since after Will says this line, Mike asks

“Yeah, but what happens if you want to join another party? ” (find someone else (‘another’) before that- the other ‘species’, or just someone else: girl, guy or otherwise?”

But Will decides to make himself vulnerable and just be honest,  and shyly admits “Not possible” (much to Mike’s happiness)

so yes- this tweet is about byler

They even answered the question of ‘what makes Mike crazy’ with one’ joke’ response - of Will asking about d&d. And in a separate post made fun of mileven by ending it with “can we just play d&d?”

And when, Mike and Will open up to each other about their mental-health issues,  that’s when they both agree that no matter what they’ll be together- “crazy together”. It’s a double entendre - they’re crazy cause they’re in love- but also “crazy” and will be “together” to help each other through their issues.  This theme is double-downed on in Will’s cannon journal (where it’s established “crazy together” is shown to be Mike & Will’s thing- not mileven’s). As Mike tells Will to tell him when he’s having ptsd episodes since- they're “crazy together”.

*Will draws Mike’s d&d character next to the sticky-note. And we also see throughout Will’s whole journal- Mike’s d&d character is always by Will’s (d&d character’s side). And on the cover of his journal Will ONLY draws his and Mike’s character- cause they’re “crazy together”.

Mike specifically says to get him when he’s having ptsd episodes about the mf (which represent Will’s se*ually abusive father- theory here/ here).

That’s what love is - like Flo said only love makes you “crazy” and “stupid” and this is only applicable to byler.  Mike and Will love and  bring out the best in each other-  heal each other. Being “crazy together” to Mike is about being selfless and wanting the best for you partner’s happiness no matter what- with mileven it was simply a way to excuse his poor behavior to El (under the guise of ‘love’).

 For all the supernatural stuff to stop , Will has to face his trauma and heal. This involves having a strong support  (of friends and family) and Will learning to not hate himself any longer, because of his past abuse and sexuality. And to stop correlating his love (for Mike) with his past abuse/trauma (represented by the monsters. And Mike and Will have to embrace their love for each other. And let go of their shame. When Will ‘dies’ in s1, Mike hugs his mom ,and  Heroes plays, and the lyrics are “and we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame… was on the other side.” In s1 the term “other side” was used to describe the upside down. So it’s saying Will’s shame relating to Lonnie will eventually be on the other side, and so Mike and Will kiss ‘as though nothing could fall’. In Will’s journal he even draws Mike’s d&d character again with the caption “never Kenny Roggers”. This is because Jonathan asks ‘who would you rather  be friends with David bowie or Kenny roggers?”. And Heroes was originally sung by David Bowie- making the byler hint of this being ‘their song’, more apparent. The cannon Will-comic is even titled  the “other side” and Mike is on the opposite end (‘the other side’ waiting for Will who is trapped in the upside down looking up at the imposing figure of the demogorgan). The demorgogan in blue light and mike in opposing red light. The monsters Will created are based on the d&d game and his prior abuse at the hands of lonnie. But byler’s love is also represented by d&d- and thus the only way to stop it.

gif credit: cath-avery 

[chillax-kass-w]

After All | M19

[Reiner Braun/Reader]

Happiness seems impossible for Reiner, but he may get there after all.

Read on AO3

[As a note, the format of this story is as follows: chapters actually titled “Chapter _” are current to the Marley Arc, chapters titled “M_” are Reiner’s memories in succession, and chapters titled “RM_” are the Reader’s memories in succession]

Previous

Sunlight was filtering through the leaves, and he knew. He knew (f/n) would love these trees. She’d scale them up and down and wonder what their story was. She’d write that story; she’d tell it to him. She’d always been curious like that. He could just imagine her smiling at the adventure ahead of them; he could just see the golden sun in her hair, the life in her eyes.

“Hey, Reiner, got any water?”

His imagination halted at Ymir’s question. “Sorry, there’s not a hell of a lot I can do, even if it is a matter of life and death.” Now that she mentioned it, he was parched. He wondered when they’d get back to the Walls for some much needed rest.

“You’re right about that. This whole thing is bullshit.”

“Speaking of which, we’ve been working our asses off. No food, no sleep, no nothing. Ever since those Titans showed up. That was yesterday, right?” He sighed. “Man, we’re lucky the Wall hasn’t been destroyed. Still,” he held his hand to his head, “you’d think that meant they’d give us a break. And don’t even get me started on promotion…”

“Reiner.” He looked to Bertholdt; his eyes were wide.

“What? Aw, come on, I don’t think that’s too much to ask. Do you?” He chuckled. “No, I think we’ve done enough work to deserve consideration. It’s not easy to act in a situation as messed up as this one. As a soldier, I don’t see what’s wrong with being commended and rewarded for that… It’s just nice to be acknowledged.”

“Mister Reiner, what in the hell are you going on about?” Ymir had an incredulous smile on her face. What was that for?

“What do you mean? I’m not saying that I should be immediately promoted to Captain, you know.”

“Uh… That’s not what I mean.”

“Oh, by the way, where did you guys get that cannon from? I owe you one for saving my bacon.” He sighed. “And (f/n) injured her hand saving me too. Needed stitches. I hope she’s alright. She—”

“Hey!” He jumped as Eren stood with a shout, and that’s when he noticed the steam billowing from Eren’s arms. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Is this some kind of joke?”

“What are you mad about, Eren? Was it something I said?” He held up his hands in surrender. He didn’t understand.

“If you want me to kill you, just keep talking!”

“Wait, Eren,” Ymir held out her arm. Why was she missing limbs? “Whatever he’s saying, it’s not normal. Isn’t that right, Bertholdt? If there’s something you know, then quit being quiet and do something about it.” Reiner didn’t understand what she could be implying. He looked to his friend for some sort of answer.

“Reiner…” Bertholdt couldn’t meet his eyes. “Snap out of it. You’re not a soldier. We’re Warriors.”

Warriors.

1,820 years ago, our ancestor Ymir Fritz made a deal with the Devil.

She gained power.

The power of the Titans.

Eldia’s ethnic cleansing lasted for about 1,700 years.

The Great Nation of Marley incited a civil war and brought seven of the nine Titans to its side.

The Great Nation of Marley won.

The Great Nation of Marley is merciful to the Eldians.

I will become a Warrior and live with my mother and father as an Honorary Marleyan.

I will become a Warrior and eradicate the Devils within the Walls.

I will become a Warrior.

I will become a Hero.

Eyes shut, he realized. Everything had come together. When had it come apart?

“Marcel! No!”

“Take the blame and die!”

“Reiner’s dead. If you need Marcel, I’ll be Marcel.”

“This is the only way we can go home.”

His mother was waiting; he wouldn’t let her wait long.

Complications like her ruined everything.

He’d take her down and show her how cruel the world really was to devils like her.

He couldn’t trample a smile like that, even on a devil’s face.

No one would question the aim of a person who selflessly helped others.

Keep telling yourself that.

She was a good person.

Person?

“You deserve it, Reiner.”

Friend?

He’d become a good liar.

“Well, we’ll go see it then.”

Another lie.

“All thanks to you.”

“Who am I really?”

All you cause is pain.

He couldn’t change her future, as much as he wanted to.

“It’s your choice, Rein’.”

“I just want you to be happy.”

Just do what needs to be done, and keep moving forward.

“Wait, why are you in such a rush?! We haven’t even talked this over!”

“Hey, why is Marco being eaten?”

“It’s not your fault, Reiner. Please, please, don’t blame yourself for things out of your control.”

“Please, Reiner.”

He wanted to forget.

He wanted more.

He understood.

“Look at how beautiful it is, Rein’.”

“They remind me of you… respect, chivalry, clarity of thought…”

He couldn’t afford her.

If only he had the power to douse the flames.

If only…

“I fight for you.”  

“I fight for you too.”

“Reiner… I thought I lost you.”

“I thought I lost you, too.”

“Reiner!”

“No!”

No!

No!

Warriors.

We’re Warriors.

“Right… I see…That’s how things are…” He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. All he could do was hold his head in his hands and cry.

It felt as if he’d seen someone else’s memories. He’d always expected to be in this position, but not then, not his own memories. How had he forgotten? Why did he feel so out of control? Had he ever been in control?

“I think I’m starting to see what’s going on here. I thought something was strange. I mean, why would the man who destroyed the Wall risk his life to save Connie? You were taking contradictory actions, but without being aware of it. I don’t know why that happened, but… You were originally a Warrior whose goal was to destroy the Wall, but you pretended to be a soldier for so long, you could no longer tell which was the real you…” Ymir’s words vexed him, or did they pin him? “No, maybe you couldn’t bear the weight of your sins, so, in order to keep your mind in balance, you unconsciously escaped into a fantasy, convincing yourself you were just a soldier who protected the Wall… That caused your mind to split and altered your memories. Judging by Bertholdt’s dumbfounded expression, this isn’t the first time your stories stopped fitting together…” She laughed in the face of his plight. “And not to mention the ultimate irony, you convinced yourself you were worthy of love. Ha! I wonder what (f/n) is thinking right now. She must be—”

“Shut up!” He couldn’t take it, couldn’t face it. “Don’t say her name.” His blood was boiling with regret and determination, duty and the woes of his life.

“My bad, but isn’t it you who shouldn’t be allowed to say her name? Think about it.” She was right, absolutely right. At the thought, he buried his face further into his cold hands. He didn’t want to be seen.

He didn’t want to be there.

“You have to be kidding me. How can you act like a victim?” I don’t know. “What are you even thinking?” I don’t know, Eren.  “Why did you even listen to what we had to say that day? Tell me, Bertholdt. Don’t you remember what I said? I was right in front of you two. I told you about the time my mother was eaten by a Titan, didn’t I? About how she couldn’t escape because a piece of the gate you kicked down landed right on my house. You know about that, right?” Yes. “I told you, didn’t I?” Yes. “What did you think? What… were you thinking that day?”

“Back then… I felt sorry for you.” How could Bertholdt answer? Reiner’s entire being was withering away.

“Oh… I see… You two… You’re not soldiers… You’re not Warriors… You’re just murderers. You massacred people who’d done nothing wrong! You’re mass murderers!”

“I know that!” Reiner couldn’t take it. His sins were agonizing upon his back, in his chest, around his neck. “I don’t need you to tell me!”

“Then stop acting like responsible citizens worried about the state of the world! You two aren’t even human anymore! You’re the ones who turned this world into a living hell! Don’t you see that, you murderers?!”

Yes, he could see. He could see very clearly now.

A l l  y o u  c a u s e  i s  p a i n.

“So what do you want these murderers to do?! Do you want us to repent?! Do you want us to apologize?! Are you really going to preach to a couple of cold blooded murderers about how killing is wrong?! Will that satisfy you?! The Reiner and Bertholdt you know are gone! And if all you want to do is cry about it, then go ahead! Keep crying!”

He wanted to cry. He wanted to go home.

“You’re right.” Eren’s voice was cold. “Who am I? What do I know? Still, all I can do now… is work. Work hard… to make sure that you two die the most excruciating death possible.”

How could Reiner feel fear when he felt so numb?

“You can’t be for real. Eren, I’m begging you, I can’t put my faith in you if you keep talking like some stupid kid.”

“Like what…?”

“I’m saying there’s no way I’m going along with someone worried about petty little things like that.” She paused. “Hey, Reiner. What was that beast?”

His eyes widened. He didn’t want to talk about that.

He didn’t want to talk about anything.

“Beast? What’re you talking about?”

“Huh, you don’t know? Funny, considering that your eyes were beaming like you were kids when you saw it earlier.”

Eren was confused. “What ‘beast’?”

Ymir shook her head. “Just listen. That Beast Titan is the cause of this recent mess. It was what made Titans appear inside the Walls. Maybe it was testing our strength?” How did she know? “You two are trying to get to it, because, if you do, you’ll be able to go back to your home town, right?”

Before he could even piece together a response, Eren shouted again. “Tell me everything you know!”

“Be patient. I’m caught up in circumstances of my own. But listen, Eren. If you think that everything will be settled if you take care of these two… Then, you’re dead wrong.”

“Then who’s our enemy?!”

If only he knew.

“Our enemy? Well, if I had to say, then it’d be—”

“Ymir!” He couldn’t let her tell Eren. He couldn’t let her go. She was the one who’d ruined their mission to begin with. She had to return home with them. If not...  “Do you think this world has a future?” He paused, piecing his argument together. “If you know that much about what’s going on, then think about your plans. Surely you can consider coming over to our side.”

“And trust you? Fat chance! You can’t trust me.”

“No, I can trust you. Your goal is to protect Krista, isn’t it?” Even in his fractured state of mind, he knew how to get to her. That much was obvious, especially with the look in her eyes. “Based on our situation, can you not imagine we can help her in some way? Or… Do you think Eren’s strength is more reliable than ours?”

“What?!”

Despite Eren’s shout, he knew he’d convinced at least some part of Ymir. She was glaring at Eren, presumably sizing him up. “You were thinking of using Eren to escape from here, probably because you thought you had no chance if you let us take you.” She didn’t, but truth was strong in times of negotiation. “To be honest with you, that’s exactly right. And even if you did join us, we wouldn’t be able to guarantee your safety. But, if we’re just talking about Krista… Together, we might be able to make something work. Your tiny little life… or Krista’s future: it’s your choice.”

He was basing this off of his own deduction. Annie had learned much about the aristocratic families, enough to know there was an illegitimate child out in the world. Ymir had told Krista to live for herself, suggesting she had never done so before. And, to top off the theory, Krista had revealed her true name was Historia. That was a noble name if he’d ever heard one.

“Hey, so who’s our real enemy?!”

“Who knows…?” With those words, he knew he’d bought her silence and support.

If only he could buy (f/n)’s safety…

“Reiner,” Bertholdt met him upon his branch, “are we really going to trust Ymir? Her Titan is small, but it was fast. If we don’t restrain her, she could take us out in moments… She… really is the one who ate Marcel, remember?”

How could he forget? That moment was cemented in his mind, his first monumental mistake. He’d let his focus drop for but a moment, and Marcel had saved him. Marcel was devoured by a Titan with long hair and black eyes. There was no second guessing the facts, at least for this memory. There was no disputing the identity of Ymir’s Titan. Her claws and sharp fangs couldn’t belong to any ther than the Jaws.

What if… he’d have been the one devoured that day?

“That’s right. But that’s exactly why her position is clear. She finally became human again. She probably wanted to wander, thinking of only her own survival… That is, until she met Krista. She found someone she valued more than herself, someone so dear that she’d jump into a swarm of Titans for her.”

He’d found that someone too…

“Reiner.” Bertholdt grabbed his shoulder; it brought him back to the moment, but he wouldn’t let it show. “What are you right now?”

No one.

“I’m a Warrior. Don’t worry. I have more reasons for bringing Krista with us than her just being cute. Did you forget? Annie tailed those guys who were loitering around the Training Grounds to see what they were up to. They came to observe Krista from the Church of the Wall, that group that knows what’s inside the Walls. Krista’s an important figure in a Wallist family. In other words, if the Coordinate we’re looking for isn’t Eren, then our mission won’t be over yet. If that happens and we have Krista, it should make the search much easier than it is now.”

“Yeah, let’s put an end to this. Next time we come here, we’ll be able to bring Annie, Krista, and that back to our hometown. And… that will be the last time we ever come here.”

Why did those words hurt so much?

Why couldn’t he use rationale to bring her home?

Why had this happened?

“Yeah, all our duties will be complete.”

His heart wouldn’t be.

But, Bertholdt’s…

He stopped him. “But, Bertholdt, tell Annie how you feel once we get to our hometown.”

If only…

“What?!”

“You stare at her too much! Enough that anyone paying attention would notice.”

“No, I—”

...he could do the same…

“Aw, who cares?” He crossed his arms. “You’re both murderers with little time left, right? Who else but one of us could understand the situation we’re in?”

Could she…?

Then, a sound met his ears. It was so familiar…

He glanced behind him, and there he found something he hadn’t quite factored into their equation.

Green smoke signals…

“Bertholdt.”

“The Survey Corps? Already?”

He readied his triggers. They had to move. “They shouldn’t be able to put together a scouting formation without moving a lot of horses over the Wall. I didn’t think they’d be able to act this quickly… Damn it. Commander Erwin might be with them.” Without a second thought, he shot an anchor above Eren. “We’re up against a tough bunch.”

He should know.

“Huh? What is it, Reiner?! It’s not night yet!”

“Doesn’t matter. We’re heading out now.”

He had to be level-headed. Bertholdt was counting on him. Annie was counting on him. Zeke was counting on him. His mother was counting on him. The entire Nation of Marley was counting on him. What were his emotions in the grand scheme of things? What was he in the grand scheme of things?

A Warrior.

There was a world waiting for his next move. The weight was on his shoulders; he could feel it. And, as he stepped toward Eren, he met his rival head on. “Eren, don’t be stupid and put up a fight.”

Eren laughed; it was forced. “Hey, you don’t need to act so tough. Look at me!” His arms were still healing from being severed, but Reiner knew better than to trust that. “There’s no way I could possibly fight back. Come on...” Reiner knew better.

So why did he let Eren attack him like that?

He was thrown on his back from the force, and Eren was above him, smashing his unformed arms relentlessly into Reiner’s head. He took it for a bit, allowed Eren to tell him to die, even considered it. But then, he found his resolve again. He kicked his former friend to the side, and, when he tried to get back up, he wrapped his forearm around Eren’s throat.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you! I’ll rip you apart!”

Just one squeeze, and he could kill him.

No, he needed him alive.

As he added pressure to Eren’s throat, he wondered just how it’d come to this. Why did the world have to be so cruel? Why had he been born in this position? Why were the Walls filled with people? Why had she been born inside the Walls?

At this point, he just had to accept it.

So, as Eren’s consciousness faded into nothing, he finally allowed his mind to settle on one thing: getting back home. That’d been his mission all along. That was all he’d ever wanted. Why had he forgotten that? Why hadn’t he stayed the course?

This was all his doing. He had to be the one to fix his mistakes.

As Bertholdt tied Eren to his back, Reiner planned his next course of action. The Survey Corps was too close for comfort, as were the Titans. Bertholdt had to carry Ymir on his back as well, so their mobility was limited. The situation just wasn’t in their favor.

Once Ymir was situated, Reiner and Bertholdt shot into the trees, and the Titans below followed. He gritted his teeth. “For now, we need to head somewhere with no Titans. Stay as far away from them as possible. I still haven’t recovered, and my Titan moves slow, so if we get surrounded, I won’t be able to protect both of us.”

“Then why the hell didn’t we wait ‘til night?!” Ymir shouted over the passing wind. “Oh… Signal flares?! So the Survey Corps came to save us?!”

Looking over his shoulder, he groaned. “Damn it, they’re already close. This is all because Eren got violent.” They had to get to the other side of the Titan Forest, and quickly. They were low on gas as it was, but, if they could just outrun the Titans, he could transform. It was open ground from there. They’d have the advantage.

“Reiner! It’s Krista!”

“What?”

“Krista’s with them! Now’s our chance to grab her!”

That wasn’t part of the plan. “You’re full of it! No way you can see that far!”

“I know she’s with them!” Ymir’s voice was desperate, demanding. “That idiot is too kind-hearted for her own good! She came to rescue me!”

That wasn’t part of the plan.

“Even if that’s true, we can’t go now!” He turned forward again, toward the mission. “We’ll get another chance!”

“What?!”

“We can’t grab her the way things are now! There’s no way to bust up that formation! Wait for our chance!”

“‘Wait for our chance’?! When’s that going to be?! After one of your Warrior pals eats me?! No! I can’t trust you!”

“Trust me! I’m not lying when I say we need Krista too!”

Just trust me!

“Prove it then! Prove it to me, right now! I need it to be now ! I want it to be now… At this rate, I’ll never see her again!”

At that, Reiner fell silent. His mission was in his eyes, but his heart…

I’ll never see her again…

“We can’t.” It was Bertholdt who answered, calm and collected. “Right now, we don’t even know if we can escape safely ourselves.”

He had to assure someone that a life would be saved, even if it wasn’t the one he truly wanted.

“I promise you! We’ll save her, I swear it!”

She was silent for a time. Then, as they continued their flight, she shouted, “I’m the strongest one here in this terrain.”

Reiner turned to find her grabbing at Bertholdt’s face, covering his eyes. “Ymir!”

“Ymir, stop!”

“Shut the hell up and think for a second! I’d be able to dominate this terrain, don’t you think?”

Bertholdt’s next anchor barely hit its mark. “Ymir, stop, we’ll fall!”

“That’s fine with me. My Titan might not be as strong as yours, but I can move quickly through the trees. I could grab Eren and rendezvous with the Scouts before you even knew what hit you. Wouldn’t be that hard.” At her threat, Reiner found his footing on the next tree he anchored to and stopped. They couldn’t risk it. “If you don’t take Krista right now, I’ll make a nuisance of myself here.”

Why couldn’t she just go along with the plan?

“Are you completely insane?! We won’t be able to save her that way! All because of your selfishness! I thought that you genuinely cared!”

“I do, in my way. Even if it means robbing her of her future, I want to survive and see her again. As a person, I’m really lower than shit… But she knows that, and she smiles at me anyway. You two don’t know what that’s like, do you?”

He did…

“Damnit!”

“Don’t be mad. I’ve thought this through. If I fight here, it’ll make it easier for you to escape! Or,” she glared at Bertholdt, fire in her eyes, “we could always tear each other apart instead! You think I’m nuts?! Then try me and find out!”

They couldn’t risk fighting here and now. If they did, the Corps would catch up, and they’d be too exhausted to fight them or even run away at that point. Ymir was right; she had the upper hand in this situation.

Damnit…

“Fine! We’ll keep heading to the edge of the forest! You better follow through, Ymir!”

“I will!”

With that, she let go of Bertholdt, falling behind them into a burst of lightning. The plan seemed to fall with her.

Even so, Reiner had to push forward. They still had Eren. He was more than enough, but the Jaw Titan was a priority too. He had to retrieve it. It was his own idiocy that caused them to lose it. It was all him. If he couldn’t bring it back to Marley, he was an absolute failure.

He already felt like one.

The edge of the forest was soaring into view. Their future was somewhere on the other side. As they switched positions in holding Eren, he all but held his breath. If Ymir didn’t come, what was the course of action? If—

“She’s here, Reiner!”

There she was. If she’d returned to them, that meant she’d succeeded in nabbing Krista. Somehow, the plan was working. Somehow, it didn’t seem all for naught.

“Good.”

So, just as he had so many times before, he held a knife in hand, and he jumped from the trees. It was all muscle memory from there. He eyed his hand as the blood trailed into light, and he wondered what the pain really felt like. He’d never felt it. The wound always closed as soon as he transformed.

(f/n) had felt it...

Lightning.

Ymir and Bertholdt latched onto his shoulders, and he ran. He ran, like he had the day they’d come there. He ran like he had, with Bertholdt and Annie on his shoulders. He ran, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Open sky, open land awaited his feet. He was finally free.

Why did it feel as if that wasn’t the case?

Upon his shoulder, he heard a cough. Krista must have woken up.

“Ymir!”

“Krista… No, Historia.” Ymir must have exited her Titan. “I’m sorry I ate you out of nowhere. You must be mad, right?”

Left, right, left, right…

“What is this? What’s going on? We came to rescue you and Ere—”

“You don’t need to rescue me! Things have changed! I’m with Reiner and Bertholdt now. Like it or not, you’re coming with us! There’s no future inside the Walls! Hear me out for a second, okay? Life outside isn’t as bad as you think. Believe me. There’s no one out here saying the world would be a better place if you’d never been born.”

Think again.

“Yeah?! I don’t think Titans would say much either way! They’d be too busy trying to eat me!”

“We all have our shortcomings, right?! They’re not so bad if you look past that! It’s complicated, alright?!”

“Ymir, I don’t know what’s going on in your mind, but you’re not making any sense! It must be… that Reiner and Bertholdt forced you to do this, right? They threatened you!”

From his other shoulder, he heard Bertholdt voice his own thoughts. “It’s the opposite, actually…”

“I’m right, aren’t I?! Let go! Whatever they’ve got on you, I don’t care! We can fight them! Put the past behind you! What matters is right now! I’m here! I will always be your ally!”

If only…

“Ymir!” Bertholdt. “In case you haven’t noticed, the Scouts are closing in. If we’d left earlier, there might’ve been a decent chance of outrunning them. Going back for Krista was your idea. You forced us. Remember that? Ymir, why? What did we do this for?! Have you changed your mind again? Have you decided to stay inside the Walls with Krista? Don’t be a fool! Think!”

A fool…

“Let go! Don’t listen to him!”

Don’t listen…

“I can’t!” Ymir’s voice was shattering upon the wind. “I wish I could. Historia, I know you think I did this for you. But, at the end of the day, I did it for me. A long time ago, I stole the power of the Titans from one of their comrades. Their power is absolute. Inside or outside the Walls, there’s nowhere for me to run. At this rate, I’m going to be killed… But, they said if I cooperate, hand you over, they’ll speak on my behalf to get my crimes pardoned. It’s because you’re so important to the Wallists, who know the secrets of the Walls… When this world started going to hell… I thought that being with you… would be insurance for the near future… I almost died fighting at the tower… And I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was scared of dying. I wanted someone to save me somehow… I lied, and told you I was doing it all for you, but, really… It was all for my own sake. I’m begging you, Historia! Please, please save me!”

Please…

Please, save me…

“Didn’t I just tell you, Ymir? No matter what happens, I’m on your side!”

He was running toward the sun, running toward the blaze, but it didn’t emanate the brilliance he’d always revered. No, that was behind him. She was behind him. He knew. It was inevitable.

Shadows always sail away from the sun, after all.

Then, another familiar sound…

Was that an anchor in his shoulder?

Was that the whir of the 3dmg?

Were they that close already?

Ymir’s scream told him they were.

“Reiner! Protect us!” Bertholdt jumped under his chin, and to shield him, Reiner brought both his hands up to form a cage against his neck. Just in time, for Mikasa slashed at his hardened knuckles only a second too late.

“Mikasa, no! You’re not going to kill Ymir!”

Mikasa was on his head now. “That all depends on her! What’ll it be?! She can step aside or she can die! Her choice!”

“Reiner.”

That voice…

On his right shoulder, next to his ear...

She shouldn’t be here. She’s injured. She shouldn’t be here.

“Reiner, I know you can hear me.”

I can, (f/n).

“Please, tell me this is some sort of misunderstanding. There’s no way…”

It isn’t.

“Tell me, was any of it real? Did you ever truly care about me? Or was it all part of this lie?”

It was real. I care about you. I care about you.

“How many lies did you tell me?”

Too many to count.

“Why…?”

She was crying. Her fists met his cheek; he barely felt them. He barely felt.

If he had it his way, he’d tell her how real it all was. If he had it his way, he’d take her with him. If he had it his way, he’d stay with her until the end of time, until he’d heard everything she knew and everything she didn’t and every wish and every cry a thousand times over. But, it was never fated to go his way. Fate didn’t favor bloodstained hands. He had to accept that. He had to.

He was up to his shoulders in red.

“Why would you do this to me, Reiner?!”

To save the world.

“Why would you hurt so many people?!”

To save the world.

“You’re terrible!”

I am.

“You’re terrible…”

Her voice fell to a whisper. He couldn’t hear anything else. It was only her.

It was always her.

“I guess it’s always been like this. I’ve never gotten any answers from you. You’ve never listened to me. I should’ve known.”

I’ve always listened. I hear you.

“You’re a monster. I cared about you, and you’re a monster.”

You’re right. You’ve always been right.

“None of that matters. Just focus on taking their heads off,” Mikasa’s words reached him. “If you even hesitate for a moment, we’ll never get Eren back. They’re a threat to Humanity. That’s all.”

Thump, thump, thump.

“Do you think that anyone wants to kill people?!” Bertholdt voiced his own thoughts, broken and all alone. “What kind of person would do this for fun?! Who would want to do this?! With what we did, of course you despise us and want to kill us! We can never take any of it back! But, we couldn’t come to terms with our sins… When we were pretending to be soldiers, it was a little bit easier. It’s not a lie, (f/n)! Connie! Jean! It’s true that we deceived you, but it wasn’t all lies! We really did think of you as friends! We really did care! I know… we don’t have the right to apologize. But, someone… Please, someone… I’m begging you, someone find us…”

“Bertholdt… Give Eren back.”

“I can’t do that. Someone has to do this. Someone…has to get blood on their hands.”

Someone...

“Everyone, jump off right now!”

She left a void on his shoulder. She left a void.

And Death was coming. Titans, a horde of Titans, were approaching them from ahead. The Commander was leading them straight toward Reiner. There was nowhere to go. The weight of the World was on his shoulders; the weight of his friends’ pain was there too. There was no escaping his sins. There was no escaping the path he’d set out on. All he could do was run, run and hope they’d make it out on the other side.

Just do what needs to be done, and keep moving forward.

With hands latched firmly to his neck, Reiner dipped his shoulder and ran. Just as he’d destroyed the gate those many years before, he rammed through the horde in his path. They kept coming. He kept charging. Ymir was screaming. They were around his neck, biting his head, holding him down. He had to move. Quickly, quickly, he had to move.

He had to get home.

Where could he go? He was surrounded. There was no way to fight with his hands around Bertholdt. There was no way to protect Bertholdt as he fought. What could he do? How many were there? Ten? Twenty?

It wouldn’t matter if they died.

Hold on, Bertholdt.

Just a little longer.

We’re almost there.

He let Bertholdt go, and he swung at the Titans closest to him. He swung, and he swung, and he prayed for safety. He prayed for home.

The Scouts…

They were upon him now. They were after Bertholdt. He had to choose the greatest enemy. He had to choose. He brought his hand up and around his friend.

“We’ve made it this far! We’re taking Eren with us and going back home!”

“Bertholdt!” Armin, upon his neck. “Are you two sure about this? You’re going to go home and leave your friend behind?”

Annie…

“You’re leaving Annie behind? Right now… Annie’s deep underground in Utopia District, to the far north… where they’re torturing her…”

No, no that couldn’t be true.

“As soon as they heard her screams, they realized… The wounds on her body might heal, but she can’t make the pain go away. They’re being careful not to kill her, of course, but they won’t let her rest. At this very moment, they’re inflicting pain on her in every way they know how—”

No, Annie…

“Children of the Devil!” Bertholdt… “I’ll kill every last one of you!”

At Bertholdt’s scream, Reiner looked down. At the sight of the Commander, he knew it was all over. Eren was falling; Eren was in Mikasa’s arms. They’d lost. He reached out to the retreating Survey Corps in a last attempt at recovering the Coordinate, but there was no moving with the Titans surrounding him, suppressing him.

It was over. He wouldn’t be able to last against so many Titans on his own. Bertholdt’s Titan was useless in a retreat. They needed Annie. They needed Marcel.

This was all his fault.

In an act of hopelessness and indignation, he picked up one of the smaller Titans and hurled it at their formation. He didn’t care who he killed. He didn’t care. He was on the brink. He was in a corner. So, he hauled another onto his shoulders, and he threw. If Eren was eaten, all the better. Perhaps the one to inherit his Titan would be less of a maniac. Perhaps, they’d be like Marcel. Then, they could go home.

Home…

With that on his mind, he could move. With that on his mind, he could push through hordes of Titans to his goal. In the face of Death, in the face of failure, he could do anything if home was the goal.

Lightning…

No, that wasn’t lightning. What was that?

Was that… the Coordinate?

What was that scream?

All of the Titans upon his back, all of the Titans begging for his nape, left him. They all ran past him, away, to devour another Titan. It was a Pure Titan. There was no reason for them to target it.

Unless…

Eren had the Coordinate. He could use it. The situation couldn’t be worse. Eren, of all people…

We have to get it back.

The last person in this world who should have that power is you, Eren.

“Stay back, you bastards! I’ll kill all of you!”

Eren’s voice reverberated in his very soul. That lightning was behind his eyes again, and he knew it was over. There was no escaping the horde Eren directed their way. There was no escaping his sins. Eren had promised an excruciating death; this was it. He would be devoured if he didn’t run. He would be devoured if he ran.

Bertholdt… I can’t keep him safe!

Bertholdt was screaming. There was nothing he could do. There was nothing.

Nothing…

But then, something so inexplicable happened.

Ymir came back.Ymir saved Bertholdt. Ymir fought the Titans along with him. For some reason, she’d chosen them; for some reason, he’d live another day. So, he ran. He ran until he couldn’t run anymore. He ran until his mind was numb. He ran until Ymir had to take over. And she ran until they were atop Wall Maria, the same Wall they’d destroyed those many years ago.

And, as they caught the breath they hadn’t anticipated in their lungs, he found only one question upon his lips.

“Ymir, why did you come back for us?”

“Well… Must be because I’m an idiot.” They didn’t laugh. “I’m here so you’ll have something to hand over. You guys can’t go home empty handed, right?”

He couldn’t believe it. “Do you understand there’s no hope of you being rescued if we go home from here? If you’re going to run… Now’s the time.”

“What’re you talking about, dumbass? I’m tired out. I’ve just had enough. I’m done.” In that moment, he had to agree. He felt done. Done with the hand he’d been dealt; done with the world; done with life.

“Ymir, why did you rescue me?” It seemed Bertholdt didn’t believe it either.

“Maybe because I heard your voice… If you hadn’t come to destroy this Wall, I would’ve been stuck in an endless nightmare. All I did was repay a debt. I’m the only one who knows about your situation, too… I’m the same way… I was hopeless on my own.” She reached toward the sky. The gesture pained him. He’d seen another hand reach for the stars so many times.

“Thank you, Ymir… I’m sorry.” Bertholdt was crying. If Reiner didn’t feel absolutely void, he would be as well.

“It’s fine… Being a goddess doesn’t feel so bad, either.”

He didn’t know about that.

But, something stuck with him. She’d said she would have been in an endless nightmare if they hadn't come to destroy the Wall. As he watched the stars parade across the sky, he had to agree, at least in some respect. If he’d never come there, he never would have experienced life. He never would have experienced friendship. He never would’ve experienced love. Within the Walls, he’d found a love for the World he’d never known. He’d wished for forever. He’d wished for a future. He’d planned a future. He’d found love.

He’d found (f/n).

She was everything he’d wanted. She was everything he’d known. She was everything he was never meant to know.

But, now, he realized that that destruction was a double edged sword. That destruction had led him to his present moment. That destruction had initiated his own endless nightmare, and there was no deliverance.

You deserve it, Reiner.

Next

[everdino]

Okay, i gonna regret it.

Before it start, i have to say, that i AdORE Eve's blitzbee sparklings, and also love to write. But, there's one thing. Up to this point, I wrote something like fics in my native language.  This is my first English text, so there are probably a lot of mistakes.  And, also, I probably couldn’t accurately convey the character’s character, but at least I tried.  Immediately I apologize for all the mistakes, I hope you enjoy it

Helix belong to @eve-of-halloween i don't own any character, only text itself.

Father support

- I must admit, with your ability to absolutely rash and ridiculous actions you have surpassed your own sire - grumbled the ex-con, dragging on his shoulders his reckless sparkling. Despite a frown and a rare growl due to the weight on his body, in his voice were clearly heard excitement and even fear. Young Prime grinned hoarsely:

- May be. But still, if not for this rashness, neither I nor my siblings would even be born.

There was only silence in response, apparently Blitzwing thought too deeply about his words. - Yes. Here I have to agree. - triplechanger finally answered after a while.

It all began so well. He and his little bug came to visit their son and see their grandson either. However, a small, but very annoying bunch of Decepticons, who lost contact with their own kind, had different plans.

Cons attacked suddenly, taking advantage of the confusion of the bots. For Blitzwing, they were just a toys, that didnt represent anything serious. But even so, they managed to knock out Helix at the last moment and take him as prisoner. Unfortunately for them, the former con noticed this. Making sure, that Bumblebee and sparkling retreated safety, he rushed right behind the Decepticons, for his son. And all because Helix thought it vital thoughtlessly attack the enemy, initially not appreciating the situation, and, as a result, damage his leg. Thinking about it made Blitzwing frown harder. Why was this so familiar to him? Oh, yes. Bumblebee.

Long story short, now they unknown where, with the destroyed small ship of the Decepticons, without the Decepticons themselves nearby (which was very suspicious), without communication and with a damaged leg of Helix. Wonderful.

Not a new situation for the triplechanger, but Bumblebee at least had his stingers.

- How badly is your communicator damaged? - Blitzwing asked, moving far enough away from the scene of the accident. He planted Helix on the ground and crouched next to rest for a little. Just because young Prime is small, doesn't mean he's as light.

- Not as bad as other injuries. Probably, I can configure everything in a couple of hours. If someone don’t find us before - answered Helix.

This was encouraging. Blitzwing once again checked the systems, slightly jerked his cannons. His ability to transform was still in the ranks, unlike Helix, who had not fatal, but very unpleasant wounds on his side. Of course, Blitzwing could take his son in his arms and fly up, but he was afraid that he would attract unwanted attention. Not to mention that he had no idea where they were or where to fly. All the attempts of the elder mech to contact anyone (It’s worth noting that, by “anyone” was meant Bumblebee or Hornet) were unsuccessful. With a sigh of exasperation, the triplechanger leaned against the stone, closing the optics to gather his thoughts. Helix was silent, which was unusual for him, as well as for Bee.

- Are you okay? Does it hurt? - the father inquired anxiously, opening the optics and peering at his son. Young Prime twitched when he realized, that Blitzwing were talking to him and looked up. - huh? oh no no I'm fine. Like...it's certainly not my best condition, but it could have been worse, right?

- You're pretty quiet. - Blitzwing noted rather persistently. - What bothers you?

Helix looked away. - I'm just worry. Do you think Stormy and Vantage got out of there safely? And sire? They were pursued?

Taking a deep breath in order to remain in his "cold" consciousness, triplechanger nodded encouragingly to him - I am sure of that. Your mech friend stepped back with Vantage as soon as the cons appeared. And Bumblebee...- he stumbled. But as for his own conjunx, he was no longer sure. You can't underestimate the small bot, Blitzwing was convinced of this more than once on his own armor, but he could still get into trouble, possessing the same reckless character

- I suppose your sire also handled the remaining bunch of these morons. - he concluded. - They'll be fine, Wing....Helix - mech corrected himself. A warm sensation of pride, mixed with light nostalgia, spread over his spark. His little sparkling, part of him and part of his dear Bee, became something more, than just the petty son of a traitor. Traitor...Blitzwing didn’t give a damn about what others thought him to be, but the realization, that his sparklings could be judged for his crimes forced his cannons to heat up.

No one dared blame HIS sparkling

Meanwhile, Helix smiled at him, in gratitude for his support, and looked away again. His wings and shoulders were down, his knees pressed to his stomach, which made him visually smaller than he was. Something was wrong. Blitzwing felt it and it started to make him angry. He was angry that he could not help him, because he did not understand what exactly was the reason. But despite this, he did not let the hothead appear, forcing himself to be cold-blooded.

- So, we are without communication - Before the former con had time to say something, Helix began to speak first. - We are without communication, without energon, I can’t fly. We don’t know where we are and don’t know if others can find us. -

The young prime took a deep breath and spoke again, hiding his trembling voice. Trying at least:

- I don't know how my conjunx is and how my sparkling is. I just very very stupidly fell, injured a fragging leg. Allowed these bastards to capture myself. And now, not only me but you are in danger!

Blitzwing fluttered his wings, revealing his optics in surprise. - Helix ..- he began, but young mech interrupted again:

- Which damned prime of me is if I framed those who are dear to me? I should have made sure everyone retreated safely. I had to think before doing. I should not have allowed myself to be captured. - he growled. - But I didn't! I'm not just bad prime, I'm a shitty carrier, and just a reckless idiot!

- Helix..- Blitzwing said much louder, wanting to stop this stream of unfair judgments about his dear sparkling, especially since these same judgments come from this very sparkling, but Helix didn't stop.

- Sentinel was right about me...-

- NO. HE. WAS. NOT! - The sound of a loud whirr pierced the air as triplechanger face began to spin.The scarlet visor lights up with a bright red light, from the anger overwhelming him.

- This big-chin cretin was never right about you. Like you right now talking wrong bullshit about yourself! - growled Blitzwing, clenching his hands into fists. However, anger quickly waned when fleeting fear swept through Helix's optics. The face spun again, revealing an icy personality, and the former con spoke darkly and sternly:

- Your judgments about yourself are fundamentally wrong. You cannot be good or bad prime. Trite for the reason that you simply did not have experience. You cannot be a bad or good carrier, Vintage is still very young. Although, even here I have to say that you take good care of him, based on how I or Bee took care of you in due time. - he paused for Helix to process the information and continue: - Yes, you acted very thoughtlessly and stupidly. But everyone makes mistakes. Yes, I agree that this mistake could become fatal, for which I am dissatisfied with you, but even this case does not give you the right to say such shit about yourself. Besides, - his optic softened - Recognizing your mistakes is already the path to success. The next step will be to realize how to fix these mistakes. As for my safety, here you definitely can not worry. I have experienced even worse days, the only danger for me now is to allow any harm to you. Because no matter how high in status you are, you are still my sparkling, and for me, as a creator, the main priority is your safety. Mental including. You understand me? -

Helix nodded silently. To Blitzwing's relief, he looked at him with a certain interest.

- Being prime is probably hard. I don’t know and never will, but I know that you will succeed. You have already done a great job, making me and Bumblebee proud. Do not let anyone judge you for your height - suddenly his face spun - I judged and then a couple of very very unpleasant stingers made me regret - he laughed with his crooked scarlet smile, after the face spun once again: - Also, do not let yourself be judged for your origin. You are not me. And I hope you never will. You are better than me, you will make this world a better place. Like your siblings. You all making this world better.

- I..- Helix hesitated, looking a little embarrassed - do you really think so?

- Yes, i am.

- Thank you. Really...- the young prime perked up noticeably. Something deep inside the triplechanger noted, that his gaze resembled that gaze of his own sire, but he decided to drop such thoughts. Not now.

- I'll try...to be better. - finished Helix.

- Of course, you will.

Then was silence, but there was no awkwardness in it. Helix came to his senses, taking off this unusual manner of self-criticism, new forces appeared in him.

- So, - the young prime spoke up. - How about a little while before my leg stops hurting? Then we will try to contact the big-chin cretin again, maybe some exploring.

- Sounds like a good idea for me. - Whirr - And if you call once Sentinel "big-chin-cretin" make sure he knows what I came up with! - giggled black face

- Ya got it - Helix grinned back - Now wanna hear how me and the boys doing stupid things in your absence?

- Yes Yes, tell me, boy! - Blitzwing nodded his head vigorously, his wings trembled merrily. Soon, he realized how much he hated being in silence as soon as Helix spoke. And he was terribly happy that most of his sparkling took this trait from the little bug.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Some time has passed since the moment of their conversation (more precisely, the Blitzwing monologue). Helix moved his leg in different directions trying to find out if it hurts or not, while the former con wandered around, in new attempts to contact the others.

- Its sucks, - Young bot concluded, realizing that he still could not get up. Blitzwing wanted to help him, when he heard a quiet sound, which he regarded as a jet engine.

The cannons at the same moment fell into combat mode starting to charge. - Stay close - he growled, trying to determine where, and most importantly, from whom the sound was coming. By the edge of the optics, he noticed how Helix activates the blade on his hand. The probability that this was a con is clearly higher than that it was a bot, since the bots only have three jets and one helicopter. his monocular began to move trying to detect the sound source. When he noticed an approaching jet, he began to doubt its hostility, but he didn’t want to hurry, so that he would be completely convinced of his guesses.

However, these doubts disappeared when Helix jumped in place: - Stormy!! - he shouted. Blitzwing waited a bit, peering into the jett, then raised his cannons, calming down. The blue-yellow jet transformed in the air and literally rushed towards them. - Helix! Are you okay?!

- Nearly! - answered the happy Prime. Young bots collided with each other, hugging tightly. - My leg hurts a little but I'm fine!

- You have no idea how much we were worried. Bumble bot almost went crazy. And I understand him perfectly! - more excited, than judgmental, Jetstorm said

- Is everything okay with Vantage? - Helix asked worriedly.

- Except that he missed you terribly, then he’s okay - Smiled Stormy

Blitzwing stepped aside so as not to interfere with the two bots in love. There was a faint smile on his face when he heard about the Bumblebot. He will hear a long and extremely emotional lecture on why he should not have done this...alone. Bumblebee will obviously be offended, that he could not join the rescue mission. Little caring bug. He turned and saw Helix's happy smile. That smile, like the smile of Bumblebee, Hornet or the twins, was the reason he was still here. To tear the faces of those who dare to take that smile from their faces.

Whatever it takes.