#i don’t want to dig myself into a hole in the ground at all

[crispycostumes]

keeping the romance alive with my friends (i sent a screenshot of a funny post that had the word love and friendship in it while comparing it to us)

[barefoothighlander]

Ghost with a fem reader who used fake her own orgasms? Poor girl doesn't want "trouble him" :(

headcanoning that Simon would be deeply offended if reader faked her orgasm with him, his ego is too big to take that hit.

warnings: mdni (18+), est relationship, oral (fem rec), first orgasm, fingering, not proofread

“What was that?” He stops his movements, his face is inches from yours as he leans over your frame, the warmth of his breath blowing across your skin.

“I came” You bat your eyes at him

“No, you didn’t”

“I did, it’s fine keep going” You wriggle your hips, urging him to move, he furrows his brows at you, sitting back on his legs as he pulls from you.

“Why are you lying?” His tone isn’t angry, more curious or concerned as he watches you sit up against the headboard. You pull your legs toward your chest, growing nervous under his gaze as your eyes dart around the room, refusing to settle on his.

“M’not lying Si, I finished”

“Not to be crude but I know what it feels like when a girl cums, and I’ve heard your real noises, those weren’t them”

“They were I’m just, tired I guess”

You move to pull the covers over your form, shielding yourself from his stare,

“Love, if something doesn’t feel good you can tell me, we’ll try something else”

“No it feels amazing, believe me, it’s just” You try to think of your words as he places a soft hand on your leg,

“Just what darling”

“I don’t want to trouble you is all, have you go out of your way to make me finish”

Ghost swears his heart splinters at your words, your tone striking right through him,

“C’mere” He extends his hands to you, settling back on his legs as his arms wrap around your waist, tugging you onto his lap. You settle your arms around his neck, his warmth transferring to your skin like a blanket as he peppers light kisses over your shoulders and neck.

“Love, you’d never trouble me, especially with this believe me, nothing turns me on more than hearing your noises, or feeling you squeeze me”

He places a kiss on your lips before pulling back, gazing at you with his dark eyes,

“I’ve just, never had one before”

“Ever?”

“I mean by myself yeah, but not from another person”

His hands squeeze your waist, “Can I?”

You furrow your brows at him in question, urging him to explain,

He leans in, his lips ghosting over your pulse point “Let me make you feel good, please love”, and how can you say no when he has you melting in his grip, his dark eyes staring into yours as his accent thickens.

You bite down on your lower lip, nodding your head as he smirks, his hands shaking around your back, laying you down as his lips travel down your bare skin, nipping and licking at the flesh.

He trails a path towards your sex, sucking at the skin around your hips as his hand play with your breasts, kneading the flesh as he pinches your nipples between his fingers.

He wastes no time in spreading your thighs for him, allowing his lips to settle just in front of your sex as his eye stare up at you, gaging your reaction.

He flattens his tongue, licking a stripe through your folds, watching the way your jaw falls open as your heel digs into the flesh of his back, pulling him in closer, you can see him grin against your skin as he presses his tongue against your clit, licking up and down against the bud, sending shock waves through your nerves.

He circles your clit with his tongue as his fingers trace over the skin of your inner thigh, teasing their way towards your entrance before sitting just atop your hole, forcing you to clench around nothing.

“Si, please” Your hands reach for him, trying to grab at his skin as his free hand snakes up the sheets, tangling his fingers into yours, allowing you to ground yourself through his touch as he slides his fingers into your weeping pussy, pushing past his second knuckle to brush deep inside you.

He buries his face in your cunt, his lips locked around your clit as his tongue flicks over it, the sounds falling from your lips are music to his ears, his satisfaction shown through the hums he makes against your core, the vibration has your head falling back against the pillow as the coil inside you burns.

You arch into him, craving more and he gives it to you, curving his fingers to brush against your sweat spot over and over, your own knuckles are white from the grip on his hand, the heels of your feet keeping him close to you as you come undone.

“Taste so sweet, look so perfect like this lovie”

His praise shoots straight to your core, like butterflies in your stomach your arousal continues to build, your slick coats his chin, dripping onto the sheets below as his fingers pump into you, he can feel the way you clench down on the digits with every flick of his tongue.

“Want you to cum for me, need to hear you”

He squeezes your hand, your gaze shifting down to him as his eyes lock onto yours, you watch him with hooded lids. He releases your hand, allowing you to thread your digits through his hair while his settles in your lower stomach, keeping your hips pinned as you squirm under him.

“Don’t stop. Gonna cum.”

High pitched whines escape your lips, writhing under his tongue as you fall apart, your hands gripping the sheets while your muscles tense around him, he works you through your high, a groan of satisfaction as he tastes your spend, your noises filling the air.

He lets you come down slowly, extending your orgasm slightly for his own pleasure as he detached from you, placing small kisses over your thighs and stomach before moving up the bed to lay next to you. You’re breathless as you stare at him, your hand finding it’s way to his bare chest as your fingers trace over the skin.

He lays on his side, one hand settled over your waist while the other plays with your hair, watching as your body settles from its high.

“How was that?” His thumb traces over your jaw,

“How long could you do that for?”

He releases a puff of air, “Hours, definitely hours”

You smirk, “Good”.

[honeyshiddendesire]

Pet Name Headcanon List

Rob Lucci  x female reader - kitten 

Warnings: Vaginal penetration, pet play, reader in ears and a butt plug tail (no meowing tho lol respectfully ...fuck that), dick riding, dirty talk, slight daddy kink

@scaryinkdemon hoping this is too your liking lol 🫣🤭🧡

*banner*

Lucci was usually a very strict and serious man even when it came to you but you did find something that would always make him crack. That serious exterior turned to one very playful and teasing and that’s what you were hoping for as you seductively called his name.

“Oh Lucci~” Your voice had a singsong tone as you turned the corner into the living room where he sat on his chair reading the newspaper. 

“What is it I’m trying to read?” He grunts without looking up and you pout as you take a step closer, “Lucci~ kitty wants to play~” Hearing those words made his eyes snap up with a sharp look, hands scrunching the sides of the paper as his voice remained stern. “Is that so?”

“Mmhmm~” You pout as you slowly sink down to all fours keeping his intense stare as you crawl toward him. Your body adorned with a leopard print baby doll dress and thong, the ears and tail you have also with the same print making him purr in satisfaction as he carelessly tosses the paper to the floor. His legs spread as he gets more comfortable in the chair, his hands rubbing against his thighs as a smirk comes to his face. “Well~ who am I to deny such a pretty kitten?”

Leaning forward till his elbows rested on his knees he clasped his hands together watching with a sly smirk as you came crawling toward him. An amused chuckle as you came in front of him to rub your cheek and body all against his legs just like a pretty cat would when they wanted attention. Humming at the way you nuzzled against his hands until he opened them up to pet your head then down your body to rub at the soft tail plug you had in. “Very nice~” Lucci’s voice almost purring in satisfaction at the sight of the plug you had in. 

“Does my sweet kitten need something more than a couple of pets?” Lucci’s question had your eyes sparkle with excitement and lust, your butt wiggling to move the tail side to side as he watched. “Yes~ I bet she does.” Lucci moved his hand to your chin to lift your gaze to meet him and he couldn’t help but lick his lips at the whiskers you even drew on. “Such a sexy little kitten.” Leaning back Lucci pat his lap making your smile all pretty at him waiting on his voiced command, “Come to daddy like a good kitten.”

Standing up you straddled his lap, his hands coming to feel all over your body, up your thighs and around to your ass where he pulled you close to grind against his cock. The bulge in his pants already pressing into your covered pussy making you whine, “Daddy please~” 

“Is my little kitten impatient? Do you need my cock inside that slutty pussy that bad?” He asked as he leaned toward you kissing along your jaw, sharp teeth nipping and biting at your jaw down to your neck. “Mmm~ beg for it, kitten.”

Grinding your hips in a circle he smacked your ass with a hum that had you gasp, “Please daddy~ kitten needs some attention real bad. I don’t wanna get punished and touch myself so I need you to do it. Won’t you play with me?” You moan as you only get wetter feeling his cock pretty into your clit, the friction making your head spin. Chuckling into your neck Lucci sucks a mark into your skin as he grips the flesh of your ass and hip before he literally rips your thong apart. Raising your hips so he can toss the shreds to the ground with a groan. “Be a good kitten and undo my pants.” 

You obey as he leans back allowing you space to get to work which you quickly do, your pussy soaked and easily accepting the stretch with a loud moan. His fingers digging into your thighs at the feel of your walls sucking in his cock, a hiss passing through his lips, “Fuck kitten. Pussy’s so tight for me.” 

“Ugh, I needed this so bad!” You moan as you feel the sensation of both holes being filled, your moan turning to a whimper as Lucci’s hand grabs at your tail tugging a bit. “Since you wanna play so bad kitten you better get to work and be prepared to have my cock in you all night long.” Nodding your head you bounced on his cock your hands gripping his dress shirt tightly with a whine, “Ah~ you’re so big daddy! I love having your cock fill me up!” 

Tugging at your tail a bit more to pull another whine out of you Lucci sat forward biting at your neck again, a purr leaving him as he thrust his hips up inside you further. Lucci’s cock plunging deeper into your juicy cunt that made him grunt and nibble at your neck leaving marks all over for him to admire later. “Slutty little kitten loves having my cock deep in her cunt doesn’t she?”

“Ahh! Yes! Yes it feels so good!” You moan with your head back, your ears almost falling off your head until Lucci’s other hand holds them still with his hand petting your head. “Careful kitten wouldn’t want to get punished would you?” His voice in your ear as he nips the lobe makes you whine. “S-sorry~”

Lucci pulls you into his chest with his arm wrapped tightly around your waist, your head resting on his shoulder muffling your moans as he thrust roughly into your pussy from below. His cock buried in your cunt making you cry out as your cream started to coat the base of his veiny cock. “Fuck! I’m gonna cum!” You warn and he only slaps your ass in response as his hips fuck you faster, “Go head kitten, cum all over my cock. Pretty kitten cumming so fast but don’t worry we’re just getting started.”

[eroticnoices]

void!stiles stilinski x afab!reader

warnings: pet names, unprotected sex, spitting, spanking, hair pulling, daddy kink, male oral receiving, dacryphilia

stiles came home from a long day, his eyes sunken and his face pale. y/n noticed right away that something was wrong, but she had no idea that he had just turned void. all she saw was her boyfriend looking exhausted and stressed out.

"Stiles? what happened?" she asked, rising from the couch to go to him.

he spun her around, pushing her against the wall and kissing her roughly. "I need— I need you, y/n," he groaned, grinding his hips against her. "I need to lose myself in you..."

y/n gasped, her eyes wide at his sudden urgency. "Stiles, you're scaring me a little..." but her body betrayed her fear, her core aching as he ground against her. she could feel how hard he was, and despite her shock, y/n found herself getting wet.

"sorry, baby. I'm sorry..." He mumbled, kissing down her neck and sliding her shorts down. "I just... I need to blow off some steam..." He dropped to his knees, pulling down her underwear and burying his face between her legs.

y/n cradled his head in her hands, her fingers tangling in his hair, scratching his scalp. "hey.. hey, it's okay, stiles..." she soothed.

"you can have me as much as you want, you know that... You've just never been like this before..." Stiles looked up at her with fervent eyes, his face glistening with her wetness. "I need to hear you say it, y/n..." he panted. "tell me I can have you... that I can take out all this... tension on you..."

"You can have me, Stiles..." y/n whispered, caressing his cheek.

"take out all your frustration, all your anger... just please, please don't hold back. I can take it, I promise..." encouraged, stiles surged to his feet, tearing off his clothes. Stiles grabbed Y/n by the jaw, tilting her head back to look at him. "open your mouth," he growled. y/n obeyed, her eyes wide and trusting.

He spit in her mouth, his grip tightening in her hair. "swallow.” y/n swallowed, feeling the bitter taste of Stiles' spit in her mouth. She looked up at him, seeing the anger and desperation in his eyes. He yanked her head back further, his fingers digging into her hair. "Now kiss me.”

y/n leaned up, parting her lips to kiss him hungrily. she could taste herself on his mouth, mixed with the bitter flavor of his spit. He bit down on her bottom lip, pulling her head back even further and causing her to moan in pain. "Stiles...?" Stiles released her hair, gripping her by the waist and carrying her to the back of the couch.

He bent her over the back of it, putting his hand between her shoulder blades and pushing her down. "Stay there," he ordered, slapping her bare ass. Stiles began to spank y/n, his hand coming down hard on her backside.

"You're always so ready for me, aren't you?" He growled. "soo wet, so needy... Such a good little hole for me to fill... You're such a good little…slut..."

y/n moaned, arching her back to meet his hand. "Yes, stiles... I'm your good girl... I'm your little hole... I'm your.. slut!" She cried out, her voice rising as he spanked her particularly hard.

Stiles unbuckled his pants, pulling out his hard length and rubbing it against y/n's reddened ass cheek. “and you love it, don't you?" He taunted. "You love being my little plaything, don’t you? My little toy..say it, y/n..."

"I love it, stiles... I love being your toy... your hole... your— your good little girl..." y/n whimpered, clenching her hands into fists. "please... please, stiles... I need you.." Stiles grinned wickedly, spitting on y/n's eager hole.

"You need me to use you, hmm?" He taunted, rubbing the saliva into her folds. "Alright then... Here's what you get for being such a needy little toy..." Without warning, Stiles pushed his cock into y/n, his hands gripping her hips painfully tight. She cried out, her knuckles turning white as she clutched at the couch cushions.

"Stiles... it's too much... it's too big..." She whimpered, her voice barely a whisper. But Stiles just laughed, darkly. his hips snapping forward harshly as he bottomed out inside her. "Oh, my poor dove... You can take it," He cooed, his breath hot against her ear. "You're my good girl... My little slut..."

y/n moaned loudly, her back arching. "...so you're gonna take it all... Every inch... And you're gonna love it..aren’t you, my sweet dove?" Stiles hissed, his fingers tightening in her hair as he began to thrust into her hard and fast. "Say it... Say you love it."

"I...l love it... s-stiles... I love it... I love you... I love being your good girl... your... your... dove..." Y/n stammered, her words punctuated by Stiles' brutal thrusts. tears pricked at her eyes as the pleasure became almost unbearable. "Good girl... You're taking it so well...you were made for this, weren't you?" Stiles praised, his voice low and growly. He brought his hand down on Y/n's rear, the sound of flesh on flesh ringing out through the room. "Answer me, dove..."

y/n nodded eagerly, her voice rising to a high pitched whine. "Y-Yes... M-Made for you... Oh god, stiles... It's too much— I'm..I'm gonna..."

"Conna what, my love?" Stiles purred, his pace quickening. "Gonna what, hmm?" He chuckled, his hand coming down on her backside once more. "Come on, dove... Say it... Say you're gonna cum for me."

"I'm gonna cum!" y/n screamed, her voice echoing off the walls as her entire body seized up. Her pussy clamped down on Stiles' dick like a vice, her juices gushing out around him as she came harder than she ever had before. Stiles smirked, his hands squeezing y/n's backside and spreading her cheeks apart to look down at where their bodies were joined.

"Look at that... so fucking beautiful... You're all stretched out around me... You took it so well, my good, good girl..." y/n whimpered, trying to shift away from Stiles, but he held her in place, his grip on her ass unyielding. "No, no... stay still... Let me look at you...Let me enjoy the sight of my cock buried inside my good girl.."

"Please..Stiles... you’re too big... I can't... I can't take anymore... Oh god, it's too much... I need a break..." Y/n begged, her voice hoarse from screaming. '..But just for a minute... I need to rest..." Y/n managed to gasp out, her body trembling with exhaustion.

Stiles nodded, his lips pressing against her skin as he spoke. "Just for a minute... Then you're going to suck my cock until I fill your mouth with my cum..." Stiles whispered, his lips trailing along y/n's back and neck. "You've been such a good girl... My little dove. so grateful to have such a perfect toy... I'll let you use your mouth..."

stiles carefully pulled out of y/n, his hands gentling on her as he turned her around to face him. "Come here, baby... Come rest on me..." He coaxed, sliding into the couch and pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. "You did so good... My perfect little toy..."

stiles ran his fingers through y/n's hair as she rested against him, his other hand idly playing with her backside. "You're so warm... So soft...I could just hold you like this forever... But duty calls... Open up, dove..."

y/n smiled tiredly, turning her head to look up at Stiles. "okay..." she cooed, her eyes fluttering as she opened her mouth. stiles grinned, his fingers gently guiding his still rock hard length to her lips. "Good girl... Just like that..." y/n's mouth was warm and wet as she took stiles' length into her mouth, her tongue swirling around the head as she sucked gently. She bobbed her head slowly, her hands gripping his thighs for support as she worked to take more and more of him into her throat.

“oh shit..my good girl... Mmm...You're so good at this... Your mouth feels incredible... Look at you, taking me so deep... Such a good, good girl... You like sucking daddy's big, thick cock, don't you?"

Y/n's eyes widened in surprise at Stiles' words, her moan vibrated around him. Stiles just grinned, his hands coming up to cup her cheeks. "Mmm, you like that, don't you? i knew you did.”

Y/n looked up at Stiles with glassy, half-lidded eyes, her nodding as much as she could with her mouth stretched wide around his thick length. Stiles growled approvingly, his hips bucking upwards to meet her mouth. "Good girl. Such a good little girl..."

“Look at you... moaning and slobbering all over daddy's dick...You're making such a mess... And you're not even trying to clean it up..." Stiles observed, his fingers gently wiping at the saliva dribbling down y/n's chin. y/n whimpered, her eyes watering as she tried to take Stiles deeper.

She gagged and choked as he hit the back of her throat, her body convulsing. but she was determined, her hands coming up to grip his base and force herself to take him deeper. "Oh, oh..." stiles groaned gripping her hair.

"fuck, baby... You're doing so good. You're taking me so deep... You're such a good girl... You're gonna make daddy come. Just a little more... A little bit more... Oh, that's it... that's so good..."

y/n moaned around stiles as he thrusted once, twice more before finding his release. she whimpered as he filled her mouth with his warm, salty essence, swallowing it down greedily. "Mmm... " She hummed, swallowing every last drop.

Stiles let out a shuddering breath as y/n swallowed the last of his release.

"Good girl... Such a good girl... You took it all... You swallowed every last drop..." He praised, gently kissing the hand that had stayed on his thigh to keep her still. "You're so perfect.”

[lulublack90]

Prompt 1 - Incantation

@wolfstarmicrofic June 1, word count 855

A continuation that is definitely going to end up as a mini-series, (I can't help myself 🤣) of Summer Camp AU. It's been taking up space in my head since I wrote it and I need to write more so here we go 😁

First part

As they neared the wiggling legs, Sirius rushed forward and launched himself onto the back of a tall raven-haired boy with glasses. He wrapped his legs around his waist and demanded a piggyback.

“James, come meet Remus,” Sirius told James as he tried to turn the boy’s head away from the upside-down legs. James turned around and grinned a broad smile at Remus. 

“Hi, Remus, it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you. This is Peter,” he pointed at the base of the willow tree. “He’d say hello as well, but he’s a bit preoccupied at the moment.” James and Sirius burst into laughter as the feet kicked out angrily and a muffled voice shouted at them. Remus could only guess that it was a stream of profanities aimed at James. 

“Hi,” He said, shyly. He wasn’t used to talking to people his own age. He didn’t have any friends, and he’d spent most of his childhood talking to nurses. 

“Remus, you look like a smart fella,” James began speaking to him again, the smile on his face seemed to be a permanent fixture. “We really don’t want to have to go tell Minnie we did something dumb again, so do you think you could help us pull Peter out?” Remus looked at the slightly pudgy boy in the ground and hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he was strong enough. He’d always been frail, it was only recently since the doctors finally figured out what was wrong with him that he’d started to put on muscle mass. 

“I’ll-I’ll try,” He moved towards Peters's bottom half and inspected the hole. “I think we might need to dig a bit of the edge out, widen the hole. Maybe soften the soil with water.” He mused aloud.

“Remus, I think we’re going to get along famously,” James said as he awkwardly wrapped an arm around his shoulders. It took everything in him not to flinch away from the touch. 

“Let the poor boy go,” Sirius grunted as he pulled at James’s arm. They ended up tumbling to the floor as Sirius looped his foot around James’s leg, trying to find purchase. 

Once they’d dusted themselves off, they started working on freeing Peter. Sirius had found a sturdy stick that he was using to gently poke around where Peter was stuck, dislodging pieces of earth. James poured three bottles of water over Peter, and they grabbed Peter’s legs. 

Remus and Sirius had the left one and James had the right on his own. He tried not to think about how close Sirius was to him.

“Right ready? On three. One. Two. Three!” They heaved and he didn’t budge an inch. “Damn it! He’s not coming loose!” James huffed as he loosened his grip on Peter’s leg. 

“That’s because we haven’t said the incantation.” Sirius raised his stick, pretending it was a magic wand. “Bibbidi bobbidi boo!” He chanted and slapped the stick across Peter’s arse. The ground vibrated with Peter’s angry yelling. 

“Sirius!” James chastised. “Okay, let’s try again. On three. One. Two. Three!” They pulled as hard as they could and, with a grunt, Peter came loose. James helped him to his feet and tried to dust him off. Peter flapped his arms at James, slapping him away. 

“Thanks for getting me out,” Peter finally said as he rubbed dirt from his eyes. “Remus, you’re my new best friend.” Remus didn’t know what to say to that, so he just bobbed his head.

“What is all the commotion going on over here?” A stern voice said behind them. There were suddenly four very straight backs. 

“Minnie, my love, nothing’s going on. I’m just introducing Remus to everyone.” Sirius turned to look at the woman standing behind them and took on a relaxed stance and plastered on the most dazzling smile Remus had ever seen. 

“Mr Black, I have warned you about calling me by that name. It is Minerva or Ms McGonagall.” Sirius didn’t seem the least bit put off by her words. “Why exactly is Mr Pettigrew covered in dirt?” She asked, her nostrils flaring. 

“I’m sorry Ms McGonagall,” Peter began, apologising, “James and I were talking, and I wasn’t paying attention and fell in the hole. James, Sirius and Remus helped me out.” He smiled weakly at the second in command of the camp. 

“Uhuh,” She hummed, clearly not believing a word. “Mr Lupin,” She said, turning to Remus. He bristled at being addressed. “Welcome to Camp Hogwarts, I advise you not to get in too deep with these miscreants.” Sirius and James dramatically feigned outrage. She smiled warmly at him, ignoring James and Sirius. “If they give you any trouble come and find me.” She glared at the other three and spun around to yell at another group of boys dragging bedsheets around the camp.

“Don’t worry, Remus,” Sirius grinned at him. “We’re not that bad.” Remus followed the three boys into the cabin, thinking maybe the two weeks wouldn’t be quite as bad with the four of them. That was when Sirius turned around and winked at him. He felt his stomach flip. Or not.

Next part

[g3z0]

Boy next door P15

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 P11 P12 P13 P14

Summary: You move from Florida to Boston in the middle the school year. Being the new kid is hard - being the new kid in the middle of the school year is even harder. Especially if you’re not good in making friends. But suddenly, there’s this boy who lives next door that caught your attention

Warnings: dark thoughts

Short chapter I know IM SORRYYY

-gezo

The next week felt like a blur.

With Nick asking me almost every 10 minutes if I was okay, chasey and Olivia trying to cheer me up and Kayla annoying my ass off, I drowned more and more into a hole.

Mary-Lou allowed me to stay at their house. Not that I had much of a choice - she decided it and I could say nothing against it.

I tried to not let it show. I laughed normally at chasey’s dumb jokes, held Nick‘s hand when no one was looking.

Under the table, hidden in the back of the car and when I was very sure no one was around and we had a second of freeness I gave him a small kiss on his cheek.

Everytime when I held nick’s hand he gave my hand a little squeeze, asking me - „are you okay?“

Everytime I gave him a little squeeze back - „im okay.“

It was weird - having someone who deeply cared about me.

I wasn’t used to that. And I didn’t know if I ever would get used to it.

But even after all the attempts from Nick to bring my thoughts to different places, it always drifted back.

The more I thought about it the more I digged myself into the hole I was creating.

It was consuming me but hell I never said anything about it.

Nick worried too much already and Mary-Lou worried 10 times more.

I felt like I was a burden to them and I didn’t want to place more weight onto their shoulders.

It’s my life - my problems.

They shouldn’t carry it for me.

Guilt was eating me inside. Was ripping me apart.

If I just spend more time with her.

If I didn’t avoid my own mother.

If I were there maybe she didn’t tried to kill herself.

Deep down I asked myself if I will ever become like her.

Being bipolar is hereditary. And that was one of my biggest fears.

To become like her. To have high highs and deep downs, to make it hard for anyone to love me, to grab a fucking knife and cut my wrists if everything gets too much-

„There you are.“ Nick yawned, walking over to me.

I looked up to him from the ground I was laying at. He smiled weakly down at me.

„What are you doing? It’s in the middle of the night.“ Nick asked, rubbing a hand over his face.

I pulled my gaze away from him and looked back to the stars. „Looking at something that’s bigger than my problems.“ I whispered.

„Ah..“ Nick nodded a little. After a moment it silence I looked back at him „why are you up?“

He gave me a little shrug „I woke up and noticed you aren’t there anymore.“

I let out a sigh „sorry..“ He shook his head, settling down next to me „no, you’re okay.“ he mumbled softly.

I tilted my head away from him, towards my house.

I closed my eyes for a moment, the image of my Mom with her wrists cut open still fresh in my mind.

„Don’t you want to visit her..?“ Nick asked hesitantly, taking my hand in his.

I interlocked our fingers, letting out a deep breath.

„I don’t know.“ I mumbled, looking back at him.

His eyes locked into mine and he bought our hands up to his lips, pressing them gently against the back of my hand.

My heart fluttered at the small gesture.

„You don’t need to.“ he whispered „but I’m here if you want to.. you’re not alone in this y/n.“

I could cry.

„Thanks..“ I mumbled almost in a whisper.

He held our hands against his face. He turned his face and kissed my palm softly.

„the girls want to go prom shopping tomorrow..“ he whispered against my skin, his hot breath caused a shiver to run down my spine.

„Oh..“ I breathed, nodding a little.

He turned his head slightly again, pressing his lips against my wrist. He let them linger there, locking eyes with me.

I felt my stomach doing a flip at the sight.

He places another kiss on my wrists before he let go, standing up „lets go back up.“

I watched him before I followed his movements „okay..“

-

„I look fat.“ Olivia whined, glaring at herself in the mirror.

Chasey shot me a look, rolling her eyes slightly „you don’t.“ she sighed, walking over to Olivia.

„you look beautiful. And you wanted this dress, right?“ chasey asked.

I turned my gaze towards Nick who was standing next to us, looking at himself in the mirror and fixing his tie.

My eyes lingered on him. The way he looks even more handsome in a suit, his hands, fuck, his-

„What do you think y/n?“

I pulled my gaze away from Nick and looked back at chasey and Olivia. „What?“

Chasey raised her eyebrows „what?“ she mocked me „the dress? Olivia?“

I blinked at Olivia „yeah right- looks good.“ I breathed, forcing a smile.

Olivia groaned in response, throwing her head back and turning herself away.

Chasey shot me a glare „she asked which one she should get, dumb fuck.“

I swallowed nervously „oh.“

„You‘ll figure it out, buddy.“ chasey pat my arm before she turned her gaze to the boy next to us. „Nick! Lets get matching suits.“ and with that she left me and Olivia alone.

I closed my eyes for a moment and leaned my shoulder against the wall, looking down at Olivia.

„Sorry..“ I mumbled. A soft sigh left her lips and she adjusted the dress she was wearing.

„It’s okay.. I know you don’t care about my dress right now. With the situation with your mom..“

My face hardened and I looked down.

Olivia immediately realized her mistake „sorry- I shouldn’t have said that.“ she cleared her throat and her hand came around my arm in a gently way.

„Im here for you. We’re all here for you.“ she breathed, squeezing my arm in a assuring manner.

I licked my lips and gave her a little nod, looking back up again. „You should get the red one.“

Her eyes lit up a little „yeah.“ she smiled „we could do a little matching? A red tie maybe, I think it would look good.“

„Yeah.“ I smiled down at her.

„Olivia?“ a voice next to us pulled our gaze away from each other.

Olivia blinked at Kayla in front of us, stiffening slightly.

Kayla licked her lips, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes at me for a quick moment.

„I thought we wanted to go dress shopping?“ she asked, her voice filled with fake sweetness that made my blood boil.

„Uh.. I mean-" Olivia looked up at me for a moment before looking back at Kayla in front of us „we asked you a few times and you always hung out with Owen so-" she mumbled quietly.

„yeah? But today I had time?“ she cut Olivia off, raising her eyebrows.

Olivia swallowed a little, looking down „I just thought-"

„Thought what? I texted you and chasey that I have time today? Are you too fucking dumb to check your phone?“

I clenched my jaw.

„What the fuck, Kayla?“ chasey said as she walked over to us, nick behind her.

Nick shot me a quick glare, rolling his eyes slightly.

Kayla flicked her tongue and looked over at chasey, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

„What?“ she asked, shrugging.

Chasey frowned at her „what do you mean, what?“ she mocked her.

„What’s it all about with snapping at Olivia like that?“

Kayla rolled her eyes „c‘mon, I didn’t snap I just-"

„Shut the fuck up.“ chasey snapped. Kayla’s eyes widened and she closed her mouth immediately, narrowing her eyes at chasey.

„Excuse me?“

„Excuse me?“ chasey mocked her „we asked you several times and you always said no because you hung out with your stupid ass boyfriend. Stop whining and bitching around and go dress shopping with him.“

Kayla clenched her jaw before forcing a fake smile.

„You know what? Okay. Owen was right about you.“ kayla scoffed before she turned away.

Chasey let out a hard breath as Kayla walked away, shaking her head slightly before looking at Olivia.

„You okay?“ she asked, her voice surprisingly soft.

Olivia nodded a little „yeah- sorry about that..“ she mumbled.

Chasey shook her head immediately „don’t even bother to apologize. I don’t know what her fucking deal is lately..“ chasey sighed.

Olivia gave her a little nod, looking down.

„C‘mon, don’t let her ruin our day, yeah?“ Nick smiled softly, trying to cheer Olivia up.

„Yeah, yeah you’re right..“ Olivia sighed softly, smiling a little.

Tags! @udotnknowme @sturnclouds @patscorner @miloisdone1 @thenickgirl @freshloveforthefit @nathandoesgf @m0r94n @sturniolo0ntop @mayfieldslover

[corpium]

a future excerpt from By Any Means

Harry turns around, good mood vanishing. “Oh, would you fuck off already?” he asks Tom, who’s propped up against one of the trees like the bloody poser he is. Blood’s still smeared across his face from the roses’ thorns.

“Do you not want me here?” Tom asks. “I thought you missed me.”

Tensing, Harry shifts his weight. “I miss you like a hole in the head,” he says.

“Ouch.” Tom pushes off the tree and ambles toward him, hands in his pocket. “Such cruel words, Harry.”

Harry holds his ground, fists clenching. Awareness prickles at the edge of his senses. “It’s the least you deserve.”

Tom comes to a stop before him, a hand coming up towards Harry’s chin.

Harry slaps it away. “Don’t touch me,” he snarls.

Tom stills, assessing Harry with red, snakelike eyes. They jog something loose in Harry’s head. They aren’t supposed to look like that. Harry takes a step back; Tom takes one forward, eating up the space.

“I thought you liked it when I touched you,” Tom says.

Harry shores himself up again and plants his feet. “You disgust me,” he says.

“Do I?” With a clinical tilt of his head, Tom takes another step into Harry’s space. Harry stays in place, muscles practically vibrating with tension. Mere inches hold them apart. “And yet, you allow me so close.” His face tilts downward; his hands rise, one to Harry’s waist, the other up to Harry’s cheek—

Harry punches him in the gut. “Fuck you!” Even as Tom doubles over, Harry tackles him to the ground. He rains punches down on Tom’s face—he wants to ruin it. “You deluded twat!” he rants. “I hate you. I hate you, I—”

Tom’s shock wears off. His legs shift, his abdomen flexing—

He rolls Harry over, and the world rolls with him, and suddenly Harry’s not looking at Tom anymore. He’s looking up at Voldemort in all his snakelike glory.

“What,” Harry croaks, going still. The light’s changed, having darkened to that of an enclosed room lit by a crackling fire. He’s lying back on a bed—a very plush, comfortable bed. Voldemort’s hands are on his wrists. He leans over Harry, pinning him down like some unearthly demon.

“We’re in my dream now, Harry,” says Voldemort, grinning down at him with unholy avarice. “Do I still disgust you?”

Blinking, Harry swallows, the fog of his dream fading. Appease, appease, appease, his instincts scream, a holdover from his time with the Dursleys. “I—I thought you were just a dream.” But this is still a dream, isn’t it? Is this real?

Voldemort’s long fingers clench around Harry’s wrists. He does not move away. “And now you have decided that I am very much myself,” he surmises. “Are you certain?”

Harry inhales deeply, finding himself frozen. He observes his surroundings. There’s a wavering edge to the room, a soft lack of detail in the wood of the walls, an overly warm brightness to the fire. But Voldemort is real and solid above him, his grip much too present and his eyes far too keen. Harry nods, ever so slightly. “What do you want?” he whispers. He tries to think ahead, to plan, to remember what he shouldn’t be saying, but under the weight of Voldemort’s attention, his thoughts elude him.

Voldemort’s eyes drag downward, making heat rise under Harry’s skin. “Everything,” says Voldemort. “Everything that you are. I want it all.”

Wordless, Harry shakes his head in denial.

Miraculously, Voldemort pulls back. His weight on Harry’s legs makes Harry’s stomach twist. “All in good time,” he says, peering down at Harry in contemplation. “It intrigues me, Harry, to observe your reactions to my many faces. Why, I dare say, you may dislike my youthful visage more than I do.” He tilts his head, peering down at Harry. “Tell me, darling—”

The pet name sends a complicated array of emotions coursing through Harry. ‘Darling?’ he wants to yell, but at the same time, no, he really doesn’t. He wants away more than anything. Harry jerks up, legs twisting—

Voldemort pins him down once more by his wrists, nails digging in, his expression frighteningly impassive. It’s that eerie impassivity that stills Harry once again. “What did he do to you?” Voldemort asks quietly.

“He was a psychotic murderer,” Harry snarls. “You were—are—a psychotic murderer,” he adds, half to remind himself.

“That’s not quite it, is it?” Voldemort traces a thumb over Harry’s bare wrist. Harry suppresses a shiver. “No, your hatred runs deeper than that.”

“Stop it,” Harry snaps, squirming and failing to get away. “Stop—bloody guessing. You don’t know anything.”

“He was impetuous, I am certain,” Voldemort says. “Impatient. Too blinded by his need to escape the diary to see what a gift he beheld.”

“’A gift’?” Harry splutters.

Voldemort ignores him. He raises Harry’s wrists over his head and changes his grip to hold them together in one large hand. His other hand, warm to the touch against Harry’s death-chilled skin, trails down Harry’s gray arm, nails grazing the skin. It slides down Harry’s shirt, a fraying, threadbare thing, dirty from working in the garden.

“Hey—” Harry says, starting to squirm again as Voldemort’s touch slips under his shirt. Voldemort splays his fingers out and presses down, holding Harry in place, nails pricking threateningly into the delicate flesh of his abdomen.

Harry tests Voldemort’s hold on his wrists and finds no give.

“Did he charm you, Harry?” Voldemort’s robes drape over Harry, shifting softly as he presses closer. “Did he seduce you?”

The air feels thick. Harry looks away, grinding his teeth.

“Did he break your heart?”

Harry blinks rapidly. His breath shudders. “Shut. Up.”

Voldemort clicks his tongue. “I was quite foolish in my youth.” He strokes his thumb over Harry’s belly, sending a curl of unwelcome pleasure up Harry’s spine. He shifts lower, his face coming unbearably close. (If he looked like the Tom Harry had known, Harry would bite him. But he looks just different enough, otherworldly enough, to utterly baffle Harry’s impulses.) “Would you like me to apologize?” Voldemort murmurs.

“I would like you,” Harry finds himself saying, voice small, “to leave me alone.”

[anemonelovesfiction]

2~ Role Reversal

Aged Up! Teylan x Fem! Human Reader

Warnings ⚠️: smut, P in V!,

Not Proofread

MDNI 🔞

Thank you guys for your support on day 1, hopefully you’re all as excited for day 2!!

Translation Station

Yawne: Beloved

Hì’i:Little or small

‘Awpo: One

Yawntu: loved one

Word Count: 2k

“What I think is that you need to stop being a brat and learn your place.” His words cut like a knife although his lips were as soft as silk as he planted his kisses down my neck, a whine leaves my mouth in one quick breath before I cut it off quickly.

“Look who finally learned to stop talking,” He chuckles darkly with a smirk plastered on his face. His hand trails from my shoulder down to my waist and the sensation brings goosebumps toward my sides.

“Mm!” I gripe as he teasingly brought his hand over my exposed nipple, thumb sliding over it once, twice, three times before the smirk settles on his face and I find him to be the most handsome thing in existence.

“You’re so sensitive, yawne.” He speaks as he stares directly into my soul, his beautiful eyes were reflecting the green bioluminescent light of the bushes near us, the plush moss below the skin of my back was soft and welcoming, but his arm abandoned my nipple and cupped the breast instead, leaning his face down and capturing the once abandoned nipple into his mouth. The warmth was what made me gasp at first, his tongue is what caused me to moan, the electrifying feeling behind his darting muscle causing my pussy to flutter around nothing, my hips to desperately rise in an attempt to get some sort of relief but he chuckles instead.

A stinging sensation captures my attention as I look down, his face has backed off my breast, he’d just flicked my nipple, and for some reason I’d enjoyed that.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay still?” He murmurs as his hand trails down the sides of my body creating goosebumps in its wake as he gets lower. Instead of wanting to please me his hand goes over the curve of my ass and settles at the bend of my knee, parting it from my body slightly. His nostrils flaring and his eyes closing euphorically and the audible sniff he takes has my cheeks heating up.

“Your smell is enticing hì’i’awpo,” He takes another couple of sniffs before his hand trails back up my thigh and toward my hip, giving a gentle and affectionate squeeze.

“I want to eat every part of your essence and I don’t want to hear a word from you, understand?” He asks authoritatively and it makes me shiver underneath him, a small nod following after, his smirk making an encore before he settles himself on the mossy ground below us.

The fold where his arms meet his forearms are placed at the bends of my knee’s, his giant hands managing to carefully encircle my plush skin around my waist, taking the time to pull me closer toward his greedy mouth and I could feel myself heart thrumming. A whimper escaped my lips as soon as I feel his warm breath, I want to tell him to stop teasing but I wasn’t allowed to talk.

Usually the roles were reversed, had they been, I would have been sitting on top of his pretty face and been riding his tongue content with no complaints. He’d expressed wanting to try being in charge tonight and with his sweetest expression on his face, along with the hard day he’d had, how could I have said no?

His tongue pokes out and teasingly circles the lips of my pussy, not caring to dip his muscle where I wanted it most, and teasingly circling around a second time. I grasp a handful of moss on each hand as I dig into the ground below me, had I been strong enough- or even a Na’Vi- I would have been able to buck my hips to get what I wanted, but my rare -almost non existent- sub self wanted to please him.

_________

“Mmm-“ She moaned as I finally dipped my tongue near her precious hole to collect her sweet essence, guiding it upward toward her clit and circling it once before my tongue goes back down to eat more of her nectar.

“T-Teylan!”

It had felt like a thousand years since I punished her from the last time I had punished her for speaking out of turn, but she was too delicious to detach my mouth from and I didn’t want to have to deprive myself of staying down here, so although my ears flickered at the sweet sound of her voice, I ignored it as I continued drinking from her, tongue encircling her clit and her body rewarding me with more.

I couldn’t help myself and bring one hand off of her precious little hips and brought it down toward her sweet pussy, inserting my finger and raising my ears to hear her beautiful sounds.

“Please Teylan-“ She gasps as I begin moving my finger in her walls, enjoying how her warmth fills me from the very tip of my finger, suckling on her clit and watching her writhe underneath me, her tiny hands gripping the moss below her and her head thrown back. I wish I could take a picture of this moment but instead I insert a second finger, feeling her contract against them and adding a shaky breath as I did so.

“You feel very tight yawntu,” I mutter just before devouring her clit once more, ensuring to continue moving my fingers at a steady pace, her sweet moans were growing louder and more consistent, yet so was her arousal, more juice pouring out and a squelch coming from it every time my fingers were driven in.

Her sweet gummy walls were hugging my fingers at a rhythm and I knew she was close, but I didn’t want her finishing too soon so I remove my fingers and give her clit one last lick.

“Hurry-“ She gasps out and I just about groan at how needy her voice sounded but I knew I’d let her off with no warnings one too many times and I had to punish her, though I didn’t want to.

“Hands and knee’s. Now.” I commanded in my best dom voice, hearing how dark and sultry I sounded made my own cock stir at my command to her as I watch her get on all fours. My hand swings toward her ample bum and watch it recoil from the slap I’d given her.

“Do not speak unless spoken to, do you understand?” I ask as I swat her once more, her bum already starting to turn a reddish color and her unmistakable moans answering for me.

“Good girl,” I mutter as I fight my belt to free my cock from their confines, sighing in relief as soon as the ambient air comes into contact with it, seeing a bead of precome gathered at the top.

I can’t stop my hand from moving at a steady pace over my waiting cock, knowing that in any other situation she would not have allowed me the privilege to touch myself, freely groaning as I did so knowing it would catch her attention.

And rightfully so I can see her face turned as she watches my hand gliding up and down my shaft, a fire lit behind her stare as she wishes to command me to stop, but knowing she was unable to at that moment. The drop of precome that had previously been there had become lubricant for my hand and several more drops had formed.

“Face forward pretty girl,” I motioned with my lips afterward and watch as her sweet face disappeared, lining myself up with her entrance, already feeling myself ache for her gummy walls to lock onto my cock the anticipation making me want to shove myself in to feel her tightness but I had to take a calming breath before letting my thoughts take over.

I bring myself closer to her, swiping myself along her cunt and feeling her juices coating the tip of my head, I slowly push past her lips and feel her hole quiver once I enter, a long moan slipping her lips as my hands come to grasp her hips to steady myself.

I slowly slide in as I enjoy her warmth spreading on my cock like wildfire, a content sigh leaving my lips as I continue burying myself inside her heat and thanking Eywa for having granted me the opportunity to fill such a divine human.

“Fuck!” She gripes as her hips start sliding down the remainder of my shaft and I can’t help but bite my lip as I stare at her pussy swallow my cock so easily.

“Thats it my love,” I encourage as I grasp her hair, tugging it rather harshly and seeing her back bend, her face staring at mine as I pulled her hair far enough to allow our eyes to meet.

“Teylan-“ She gasps as I swiftly push myself fully in her, feeling her squeeze against my cock, my pace speeding up.

_________

Another stinging sensation on my backside causes me to unexpectedly squeeze on Teylan, I guess calling out his name was grounds for punishment, but at this moment I felt unbelievably stuffed and the angle he was holding me in was enough to get me close to the edge. I bit my lip and allowed my eyes to roll to the back of my head.

“Please fill me up-“ I mumble softly as I grit my teeth my hands grasping the moss below me tightly- almost enough to rip it out of the ground, my moans coming out freely as Teylan pounds into me.

Another slap on my ass almost made me cum, but I felt him slide all the way out and I could feel myself whining at the loss of sensation before feeling his strong hands flattening me onto the moss below me before shoving his girthy cock back inside me, the sensation newer than anything we’d done before.

“You feel even tighter this way!” Teylan grunts, one of his strong hands holding my hip the other placed on my back to keep me in this position.

“Teylan please, please let me-“ I gasp loudly as my eyes roll behind my head once more after being smacked on my ass again.

“Please!” I groan as he continues relentlessly pounding into me.

“You cum-“ Teylan grunts as he shoves himself into me, my walls contracting a couple of times around him and I could feel my nipples brush against the moss.

“-With me-“ He mutters as he brings himself back out, and I missed the space he’d invaded already.

“Not before, not after.” He finishes his statement as he grinds back into me.

“I’m so close-“ I mutter as I hold back my tears from how incredible this feels, my pussy throbbing to come over his cock as it fills me, relentlessly abusing my g-spot.

“Spank me, spank me, spank me-“ I chanted silently as my nipples were kissed by the moss below me, gently rubbing against my clit as I was smushed up against it with Teylan’s rough rhythm, the speed he set was perfect and I wished he was just as close as I was and to my surprise-

“I’m cuming!” Teylan groans loudly, his pace becoming astronomically fast and I could feel lost in the pleasure as I moan alongside him, allowing myself to cum and rhytmically spasm around his cock.

“Fuck yawntu!” Teylan moans with one final thrust.

“Wait- no wait!” My eyes open wide at the realization of the situation we were in at the moment, I whined at the sensation, overstimulation making my legs shake.

“I’m so sorry, I got carried away,” Teylan speaks very shyly but remains still knowing any sort of movement would cause my overstimulation to get worse.

“It’s okay baby,” I attempt to move to look at him but inhale sharply at the pain that spread from the fullness of his cum and his knot.

“I’m sorry-“ He carefully spreads his arms as far as they can to gently caress my cheeks.

“I kind of like when you’re a dom, we should do this more often,” I smile as I lean my face into his palm, enjoying the way he cups my face gently.

“You’re just saying that because you like being spanked,” He chuckles lightly.

[mama-qwerty]

Gone to Ground

Couldn't help myself.

“Don’t you give me that look!”

The furrow in Knuckles’ brow deepened and he uttered a soft growl as he peeked at Callie from his hole in the dirt. He blew out a little puff of air from his nose, sending a small cloud of dust floating away from his snout.

“And don’t you growl at me, either. Get your butt outta that dirt and talk to me like a man.”

“NO!”

He disappeared underground again, a small mound appearing in a line as he dug to a different area. Old Looney Tunes shorts came to mind, of Bugs Bunny burrowing through the soil and leaving a trail of displaced earth behind him.

Callie uttered a frustrated grunt. She hated when he did this. Whenever he was mad at her, he went to ground. She normally didn’t mind when he dug—he was an echidna, after all, and that’s what they do. Well, Earth echidnas, anyway. Knuckles seemed to sport many instincts and behaviors of the Earth creatures that bear his species name, but she was always surprised when a new one popped up.

But this time it wasn’t for enrichment or entertainment. He was doing it to piss her off.

And it was working.

“Damnit, echidna,” she muttered, fast-walking to the hole he’d just disappeared down. She went to her knees, and peered down into the crater. “Knuckles MacPherson! You get out of there, right now!”

“NO!” The refusal was muffled, the dirt absorbing his deep baritone. “You come in here and face me!”

An angry grunt. “You think I won’t?! I’ll go get the shovel right now and dig you up like a rotten potato! How would you like that?”

“Do it!”

Another grunt, and Callie pushed herself to her feet, stomping heavily around the yard. She had no idea where he was, and truly no intention of actually digging for him and he knew it. And the fact that he knew it pissed her off worse.

“Look, I’m sorry I threw away your little stick dolls!” she called out, crossing her arms as her brow furrowed. “I didn’t know they were important to you.”

The ground trembled to her right and a red-quilled head poked up again.

“They were not dolls!” he growled, his lip curled in a snarl. “They were totems of protection! To keep you safe when I’m not here!”

She turned, throwing her arms wide. “I didn’t know that! I never would have touched them if I knew they were an important part of your culture! You need to tell me these things, kid!”

He blinked, the snarl fading into a look of confusion.

“My culture? Echidna do not need protection totems. We are mighty warriors, such things are unnecessary.”

Callie blinked back, reflecting his confused expression. “Then why were you making them?”

“Because he said you would like them.”

“He?” Her face cleared as realization hit. “Sonic.”

Knuckles nodded. “He said they were a sacred Earth custom. Especially if you use very old sticks, and make them look as unpleasant as possible. Then you place them in locations that allow them to watch over the one to be protected. Usually in shadowy corners, inside closets, or on the back of shelves.”

She let out a long sigh, massaging her forehead with a hand. Of course Sonic told him that.

“Knux, hon . . .”

She sighed again, and curled a finger in a ‘come here’ motion. The boy cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing as if expecting a trick, but climbed out of his hole and came forward anyway, shaking off the bits of dirt that had stuck to his fur and quills.

“Did I misunderstand?”

“No, sweetie,” Callie said, sitting on the deck steps and patting the spot next to her. Knuckles sat, giving her a slight look of confusion. “It’s so sweet of you to want to make sure I’m protected. I’m really touched.”

He nodded slightly, the furrow in his brow deepening. “But?”

She pulled her lips tight. “But, what Sonic told you wasn’t true. While I’m sure some cultures do indeed have some sort of protection totem, it’s not exactly a custom known all over the planet. And it’s certainly not one I follow.”

The furrow deepened further. “He lied.”

“He lied,” she said with a nod.

“I will destroy him,” he said with a growl, fists clenched. “I will feed him his own quills. I will break his legs, then his arms, then punch him in the face so hard he’ll—”

“Hold on,” Callie said, placing a hand on the boy’s arm. “I’m sure he was just having some fun. No need to go all sparky throw down.”

“But he—”

“He played a trick on you. Not exactly a ‘beat him to a pulp’ offense. Besides, that would have Maddie here ripping me a new one, and I do not want to be on her bad side.”

He seemed to think about this before giving a small nod. “Fair. So I should simply be the bigger person and let it go?”

A little smile tugged at Callie’s lips. “I didn’t say that. He wants to play, we can play. Maybe he’s the one who needs some protection totems. As ugly and disturbing and creepy as we can make them.”

Knuckles blinked at her for a moment, before a little smile curled his lips. “Agreed.”

[onevolon]

smile for the camera

Jack Mojave X F!reader

note: you take a picture you shouldn't have.

word count: 731

warnings: dark. angst. it's not in a desert but a forest. honestly idk what this is supposed to be lol

you can also read it on ao3.

masterlist

This was a journey from the start. Sure, it wasn’t the first time she witnessed someone being left at the altar. Crazier things happened at the weddings. It makes her wonder what made them finally snap and run away every time. Especially these two looked so in lovey-dovey. But now the groom is nowhere to be seen. Weird.

One thing that is more annoying than a bride bawling her eyes out though, when the wedding is canceled, nobody cares about what will happen to the employees or what they should do. Everybody is own their own.  

And that’s why now she is middle of the nowhere in a fucking forest with all of my camera equipment trying to find her way to her car. Environmentalist piece of shits forced everybody to park miles away from the wedding location to not disturb the ecosystem more than necessary blah blah…

If she wasn’t so fucking lost, she might have appreciated the sounds of the birds chirping, the smell of the pine tree and the wind on her hair. But right now, it was extremely irritating to say the least. The smell made her stomach turn after the food she inhaled before they can take it. The wind was making her shiver to her very bones and… Maybe she should distract herself by looking at the photos.

She starts to scroll through the photos. Look all those happy faces… Now it’s all for nothing.

Okay this doesn’t really work.

She could try and take a couple of photos of the damn birds for her portfolio.

Carefully walking around the bushes, she tries to allocate the said animals. It is soothing to hear this rhythmic sound of these creatures and…

Something else was there…

Someone was…

…Someone digging something?

Yeah, there was a figure to her left with a shovel. What in the hell…

Stupidly, she gets closer while continuously pushing the button on her camera.

A man with a long coat… in a cowboy hat. Long hair… Dirty skin. You didn’t recognize him from the wedding. Who the hell-

“Well, hello there.”

She freezes.

“Wanted to see something cool, sister?” he says innocently.

She can’t move a muscle. Not even talk.

“Not a talker, huh. You would get along with him, then.” He says and point to the ground.

She instinctively follows his gesture.

There is a man.

On the ground.

Not moving.

Is he-

“Wanna join him, doll-face?”

You can’t look away. Not only because you’re both in danger but… he looks… familiar.

“I bet he would like that, now wouldn’t you, perv?” he nudges the man’s head with his boots and the man’s face turns towards her.

Oh, he looks blue.

He’s for sure-

The groom.

He is the groom.

“Was having quite the fun with that little bridesmaid. I was jealous not gonna lie. Wanted to have a good old adventure to myself.”

He killed the groom.

“And now we all are here.” He looked to her, self-satisfied.

Her heart was about to burst.

“Lost, aren’t you?”

“I-“

“Who are you?”

She doesn’t answer.

He casually drops the shovel and pushes the groom to the hole in the ground.

“The great questions, sister, the essentials… Where are you from? Where you going?”

She again doesn’t answer, too occupied to discreetly try and find something to use it as a weapon.

He starts to throw the pile of dirt on top of the man.

“To be or not to be?”

“Huh?” she says, distracted by the sudden topic change.

“Another great question. To be or not to be? It always comes down to that, isn’t it?”

She doesn’t know what to say.

“You choose to be, sister. To be here.”

She shakes her head.

“Oh, yes, yes you did. “ He smirks.

She begins to tremble slightly.

“No? Why don’t you run then? You can run.”

“I can’t move.” She says stupidly.

“Sure you can. In fact, when I count to three, you will flee like you’ve never done before.” He says while patting now closed grave with the shovel, putting some leaves on top of it to cover.

She starts to tear up.

“One…”

A tear drops to her face.

“Two…”

She takes a step back.

“Two and a half…”

Hurriedly puts down her camera and other stuff down.

“Three!”

She sprints.

“Game on, sister! GAME. ON.”

He goes after her.

[fishfingersandscarves]

unsent - 1665

[Excerpt from a never-written note found on Robert “Hob” Gadling’s shelf in the Library of the Dreaming]

Stranger,

My mind has strayed much to your dark countenance recently. I’ll admit I do not think of you much in my darkest times, perhaps only because I do not know enough of you to think you some malicious creature. (Yet are you? I asked you once if you were the Devil and you said no. I believe you still, I do. But I wonder. There was a mischievous gleam in your eye that first night we met. More fae than Devil I suspect. Some forest creature, some shadow of the night perhaps. I don’t know.)

Where do you go when I do not see you? Do you live in the night sky? Frolick (and I mean this only in a metaphorical sense because sorry to say I cannot picture you frolicking) with stars? You seem to me a son of Heaven, right placed between the airy vestment of the Earth and sky. I look up some nights and think of you. Moreso now than ever, the night my starry blanket and the cavernous roof over my head besides.

It is so cold here on the ground. I would tell you much of these past years and none of it. My heart aches to remember and so too my stomach. I didn’t know. I didn’t know living could feel like this. I think I might have gone a bit mad, honest truth. I’ve got in more fights and scraps over bread and wine than ever I did as a rogue in bygone days. And scraps none so cheering besides. I have made sounds, wounded sounds, that I have never heard from the lips of man but for the muddy depths of the battlefield, when all is wet muck and blood and viscera.

I feel as though my mind is melting from my ears most days. It leaks and runs and mingles with the phlegm in my throat and the wheeze in my lungs.

My Eleanor would hate to see me so and if I think on it too long I feel fit to burst

I sleep more than wake most days. Dreams are a small comfort in times such as these and I take what comfort my addled mind may give.

I dream of you, dear Stranger, of your hands and your mouth and your pale skin like moonlight, like starlight. Your eyes are strange in dreams, deep pools of reflecting black that draw me in. I want to fall into their depths and plumb them peacefully forevermore. I reach for you, in dreams, and you reach back and to feel your arms around me is bliss that can sate even the hungry maw that claws and bites and hooks in me. It is good to dream of you. You are good.

It is some years yet until our meeting. This hole I am in, I don’t… I don’t know I can dig myself out of. I will try. God, will I try.

[The note, mud-stained and written on scrap, ends.]

on AO3

[basicbatboys]

🌙 Hi! I see a lot of Jason Todd x reader fics where the reader is really confident and sexy and badass, but I was wondering if you could write something where the reader is very shy. I’m really socially anxious and awkward and sometimes I’m really quiet or I pause and stutter or say words in the wrong order when I’m nervous. I’d love to see a reader like that ☺️

Howdy sunshine! What a lovely request! I am so glad you opened my eyes to diversifying the types of readers I write for so you can look forward to more of this stuff in the future (: I hope you enjoy it! I'm sorry for how long it took me to get back to you!

________

“Is it good?” Jason asked as you took your first sip of coffee. 

You nodded, tipping the cup back and allowing the hot goodness to slip into your mouth. As you did, you realized it was way too hot and you drank it way too soon after you got it. You swallowed thickly and a grimace spread across your face. You stuck out your tongue with a plech and fanned at it. 

Jason tilted his head back and laughed. “Too hot? Why did you say it was good before you tried it?”

You shrugged and returned your tongue to it’s rightful place. “I don’t know.” 

He smiled and ruffled your hair. “You’re too sweet.” 

You smiled shyly and looked down at the ground. You never really knew what to do when Jason complimented you. You were too awkward to ever say anything back but it didn’t seem to ever bother him and for some reason that bothered you.

“Come on.” He said, taking your free hand. “Let’s go home.”

You nodded and clasped your hand around his.

___

The two of you entered the apartment, your coffee still in hand. You hadn’t taken a sip since the “incident” and you weren’t sure if you ever would. But you would feel so bad not drinking it since he had paid for it, you didn’t want to waste his money. You got in your own head, staring blankly at the cup before Jason pulled you out of the rabbit hole you’d been digging. 

“Baby? You okay?” He asked, looking at you with concern. 

“Uh, yeah.” You muttered. “I just, well, I was just thinking. That’s all. I’m sorry.”

“What were you thinking about?” He asked, stepping toward you. 

“It’s stupid, it doesn’t matter.” You replied, playing with the rim of your cup. 

Jason smiled and closed the gap between the two of you. “It’s not stupid if you’re the one thinking it. You’re the smartest person I know.”

You frowned and looked up at him. “Why do you always do that?” You asked, your tone accusing.

“Do what?” Now he was frowning too. 

“Reassure me. Compliment me. I’m so weird and bumbling and you’re so cool. I... I don’t even understand why you like me. It feels fake." A tear dripped from your eye as the honesty came pouring. You couldn't look at him. "I’m just waiting for you to tell me you were joking the whole time and you never even liked me in the first place.” Tears pricked at your eyes as you spoke, your eyes trained downward. You stumbled over your words, unable to speak clearly and directly. “I just… I feel… I… I don’t know.”

Jason wrapped a hand around your cup and took it from you, setting it on the countertop. He used two fingers to pull your gaze toward his. 

“Look at me.” He said, his voice low and soothing. “I mean everything I say to you. You are everything to me. I don’t care if you’re awkward or different, it’s why I like you. You’re a good person, even if you can’t always articulate your thoughts. You’re beautiful, even if you don’t believe me when I say it. I would never lie to you. I would never say something I didn’t mean. You are my world. I like you just the way you are. I can be myself around you. We all make mistakes, we all slip up. I like how authentic you are. You’re never pretending to be someone you’re not. You’re perfectly imperfectly you and that’s why I love you.” He dropped his hand and placed it on your waist.

Your eyes widened. “W-What?” You asked, searching his eyes for any sense that he was lying. 

You couldn’t find any. 

“I love you.” He repeated. He pressed his lips against yours and when he pulled away he was smiling. “Just the way you are.”

You bit your lip and looked away, and in a moment of rare confidence, you looked him right in the eye. 

“I love you too, Jason.”

[flamingplay]

Letters From the Hole

When we imagine Sisyphus excited to get his workout in, Plato’s cave is alive and well. There’s no shortage of culturally relevant allegories that speak to a) the futility of progress, b) humanity’s willful ignorance, and c) the fact that both of those concepts are central to modern-day American capitalism. We forget about the oppressive nature of wage labor when we think, If I work for 2 hours, I can afford to get myself a little treat. And after I get that little treat, then I’ll be more excited to have to work to stay alive. If we live in a world where life is not guaranteed without needing to work for it, then maybe we don’t live in a world that cares if we live.

Mountainhead, Everything Everything’s upcoming album, gives us a new, eccentric, and equally bleak allegory for unchecked capitalism and its meaningless growth. Set to release March 1st, the UK group tells the story of a world not built from the ground up, but dug from the top down. Mountainhead takes place in a society whose existence is dedicated to endlessly growing a mountain by digging deeper at its foot. As a teaser to the album, Everything Everything frontman Jonathan Higgs writes a letter as one of the lower-level members of mountain society. Those at the bottom work tirelessly to keep the elite elevated at the mountain’s top. It’s something we know a bit too well. As one must imagine Sisyphus happy, one must imagine the mountainheads watching Disney+.

Introduction Izzy Capulong

Letter Jonathan Higgs

Photos by Steven Gullick and Everything Everything

Dear Raymond

Greetings from the hole!

How are you doing? I don't know if your last few letters got lost on the way down or what but it would be great to hear from you. How is life on the slope? Things are very much the same here, every day we build the mountain and every day we dig a little deeper into the earth. There is a load of new stuff being installed in the pit at the moment, we have a simulated daylight bulb in the centre of our cavern, full spectrum, and it's on at least 5 hours a day. A new set of bird song recordings are being trialled and there is a renewed sense of urgency and hope down here. Yeah it's dark, a lot of the time, very very dark. But we're getting Disney+ soon apparently.

We're yet to hear anything but I guess you must have been ordained by now. So what is the daily life of a “Hellkite”? It must be so bright and the air must be so clean on the mountain. Real trees and real fur and breath and feathers and all the animal things around you. We have our own priests down here of course, and they do their best not to tire of us. They're so kind to give us their time and to warn us about drifting off into the dark. David says they are manipulative but I think they're doing us all a favour. One day we can all be like them, we can all get up the mountain, we just have to follow the rules and keep building. David calls it a pyramid scheme, I said “it's not a pyramid lol it's much, much, much bigger than that”. Is it true the mountain reaches the moon now?

There are rumours about what's at the top. Have you ever heard this? Some say it's a big mirror, 1000 miles wide. Some say it's a video screen and all that's on it is an infinitely reoccurring picture of whoever is looking at it. Is that really true? Why would you want to see yourself a million times over stretching into forever? Sounds mental. I heard some people say it's really a statue up there but the face changes into the highest person on the mountain. This all sounds magical and lovely but I think it's going over my head. Have you seen it? Do they tell you what's at the top?

At the deepest, darkest part of the cave they say there is a snake, an immense golden snake that will eat anyone that comes near. I don't know if it's bollocks or what. The priests are very adamant about it and prevent anyone from talking about it. I think it sounds quite cool. Have you ever heard about this snake? I used to be afraid of it but now I think it's the priests that are afraid of it. On some 'nights' we do hear a rumbling that is quite different to the machinery.

David has got a terrible cough, he says it's from the thick black smoke down here but I don't think the fumes are anywhere near as bad as they used to be. Yes we do still have deaths, quite a lot to be honest. Electricity has become quite expensive so we're using fire a lot of the time for heat. Grandmas are a thing of the past. The mining isn't ideal for my back but that's age for ya. My eyes are also getting worse, some of the pigment has gone from them and it's a bit of a strain to see through the smoke especially in the dark. Who needs eyes though really, I can dig and I can carry and I'm going to do my bit to make the mountain bigger. Kevin's head has flattened right out, it's like a slab of cheese, whatever that is. Also, our skin is translucent, more like a jelly or a tadpole. Again, no idea what a tadpole is. Or a jelly actually. Hair is white but that's normal. We get all the vitamin D we need from food it's not like we need sun, plus we'd actually get burnt to a crisp if we ever went outside.

Handsome William is now one of the many shapes of black and grey that slope through our tunnels. I lent him 101 Dalmatians on CD-ROM but his brain started coming out of his nose. David has started to wear the sign of the snake on his face, he says it's the only way to get what we want.

Teeth. Teeth teeth teeth. They've all gone. Kevin has one or two left but mine are all gone. Can teeth fall out of a brain? That's what I feel like, toothless all over, especially in my noggin. I know we don't technically need them anymore and we do have a lot of flavours now. We've got edible brown, ordinary grey, partially submerged grey, extremely colourful brown — we've got flavours coming out of our ears. That reminds me, I'm mostly deaf now but whatever, there's been an incessant hum for most of my life but it's slowly being replaced by a kind of hissing. Neither of which I'm that bothered about. We've got channels too, hundreds of them. Lots of choice. I watched a true crime series about all these crimes and it was entirely true. Well, I say “watched” but I can't see or hear and we don't have a TV.

I don't know if I've been going mad or what but I just feel like maybe I'm starting to maybe possibly have some doubts about this whole mountain thing. It's just, we never get told when things are going to change. I know the mantra is to keep making it bigger, but when is big enough? It's been growing all my life and my parents' life and their parents' life. It's fucking massive. There are millions of us down here just swimming back and forth in the dark and we're dying without ever seeing a crack of light. It's shit in the pit. Please get back to us, we can't keep waiting we need to know when it's our turn to go up.

We have to know why we're building it, we have to know what's at the top. The mountain is in the exosphere and I'm in a disposable nappy. Toothless in the blackness beating my head against the walls of the cave.

But I'll stick with it, I know I will, it's just around the corner. We'll grow it and we'll win it and we'll expand it and we'll do all the things they want. I just miss you and I want to see the sun one day.

I'm 45% microplastics and 55% mountainhead, what a time to be barely alive.

QF

From Office Magazine

[milktea-grn]

i love you felicity i love you too but i shouldn’t have married you i don’t wanna live in a hole anymore it makes me feel poor we are poor but we’re happy comme ci comme ça anyway the views are better above ground honey i’m seven non-fox years old now my father died at seven and a half and i don’t want to live in a hole anymore we’re all different especially him but there’s something kind of fantastic about that isn’t there why did you lie to me because i’m a wild animal you are also a husband and a father i’m trying to tell you the truth about myself i don’t care about the truth about yourself this story is too predictable wheres my bandit hat why didn’t i get shot at it’s because you think i’m no good at anything well maybe you’re right the whole time i was putting paw over paw with your mother digging beside me and i thought to myself i wonder who this little boy or girl right because at the time we didn’t know i wonder who this little boy or girl is gonna be ash im so glad he was you

[eddywoww]

This is so random but I’ve been thinking about my family a lot (while watching succession too) and I can’t relate to being fuck me rich but my god I can relate to a four piece sibling family who canNOT express affection for shit

I mean there’s four of us and none of us hug. One time my brother called me a bitch and then randomly lifted me off the ground in a hug and that was his version of Sorry and honestly I preferred that over an actual apology. My sister likes to verbally apologize because she’ll feel bad until she does and I’ve told her countless times that I’d rather die.

One time I ran to my sisters in the rain, crying my head off over something and she didn’t know how to comfort me because none of us know how to comfort each other. But we still have ways?? Like if we see something that we know each other will like, we buy it. We make crafts for each other, we share tv shows and music.

My family jokes that I’m the least emotional of all of them (when I ironically cry so much) they used to call me Red Foreman (from that 70s show) because of my total lack of outward emotion. It’s hurt me before, this image they have of me being a mean person who can’t express myself enough. Now I realize that I’m actually doing better these days.

And that I’m not a product of a lack of emotion at all but rather a product of anger.

I think I’m the only person in my family who has never punched a hole in a wall. The one time I tried, I almost broke my hand. It didn’t feel good. It didn’t help because hurting other things, hurting other people didn’t help me. So I stuck to hurting myself, physically or mentally.

Because I was and am a product of anger but when you watch that anger get cast around to other people, sometimes you don’t want to continue to do that. Especially when people think you’re mean. Especially when you’re not particularly maternal and you have to spend years with people accusing you of being cold and hating kids and not being nice enough to people or not smiling enough or not saying the right things, always saying the wrong things. You’re too rude, you’re too brash, don’t cry in front of people but if you do, make sure they know it’s for the right reasons.

All this to say, I love my family. I do. But there’s skeletons on top of skeletons in barely closed closets and I don’t even want to dig into those graves and try to unearth half the shit that has happened or been done. Because my mom once looked at me and said “Please, don’t break my heart.” And so I shut my mouth and didn’t say anything else.

I’m a product of anger and that’s fine. I don’t have to be angry anymore. Letting go of my anger for my family is helping me, I think. Talking about it is helping. Realizing that I don’t have to be anything that anyone else wants me to be is helping.

[ghostfives]

The Werewolves Of The Canadian Wilderness

Chapter Two

A/N: This fic was written by myself and diamondstariv, but from now on she will no longer be apart of it or my blog. This fic is no longer hers, only the first few chapters. Just a warning, don’t go checking her blog. She’s decided to delete everything, so there’s no point. All our collabs will be here.

Hunter tastes the warm blood in his mouth as he bites into the fleshy neck of the buck, which kicks around and writhes on the snow littered ground. He waits until the life drains from its eyes to let go, dropping it to the ground. “Great job, Hunter!!” Wrecker yells as he runs up to Hunter, followed by Crosshair and Echo. Crosshair and Wrecker are each carrying their own bucks, making Hunter smile.

“Three should be enough for now, we’ll come back out tomorrow.” They nod. “Yeah, I have a night shift in a few hours at work.” Echo growls, and Hunter then frowns. “Before we go home, we should… We should bury Omega’s mother.” Everyone's ears press back, but they nod. “Of course, let’s go.” Echo says solemnly, as Crosshair sighs. “We don’t even know her name, we have nothing to say about her.” He growls angrily, hating that the humans caused this.

They all run, and see the pitch black fur, covered in a light sprinkling of snow. The storm thankfully kept any animals from eating her, as Wrecker starts digging a hole in the ground beside her. Crosshair then walks over and gently lifts her up, setting her in the hole. Hunter tears up, seeing that she still has her baby bump, she died so soon. It’s not right, she hardly even got to know her child. Never even got to see Omega open her eyes.

They all contribute to burying her, gently setting the dirt over top of her. Once it’s filled, Echo sits back as Wrecker frowns. “Should we say something?” He asks, and they all frown, then Hunter steps forward. “We hope that wherever you are, you’re in a good place now. And we are so sorry that you never got to care for your daughter like you should have.” Hunter says softly, ears pressed back, then Crosshair steps forward a bit. “We promise to take our best care of little Omega, and make sure humans never touch her. She is under our protection now, and we will never let anyone hurt her.” Crosshair promises, as the others smile at him.

“Yeah, what they said. Omega is safe with us, so please rest peacefully.” Wrecker adds, and Echo smiles. “We will bring her to visit you when she’s older, I promise.” Echo promises her, as they all bow their heads for a moment of silence. Once it’s over, they grab the bucks and head their way back to the cabin, but only after marking her resting place with a rock.

xxx

The others walk in to see Tech feeding Omega, the tiny pup bundled into a blanket. They put the bucks into the utility room, connected to the kitchen, where Hunter skins the buck with his hunting knife and Tech guts and chop it up. He does that since he doesn’t have a proper job. So he’ll bag up the guts and chunks of meat up to be frozen, ready for the winter. Tech isn’t one for killing though.

Yes, you may think that werewolves are mindless, evil killing machines, but they’re not. It’s all down to the personal preference of the werewolf. And if they are in a pack, like the Bad Batch, some of them may want to opt out. So in this case, it’s Tech. He is okay with them already being dead and dealing with the corpse, but he hates having to kill.

Even though it’s completely natural, Tech actually found it embarrassing, he was so nervous and thought he was going to be abandoned by his brothers because of it. They were so supportive though, telling him that he does not have to hunt. That’s when Tech said that he would prepare the meat, but have Hunter skin the buck first.

Echo sits down next to Tech, removing his prosthetic legs, since they irritate him sometimes. So when he’s in the comfort of his own home, he’ll take them off and relax without having pieces of metal attached to him all of the time. Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker walk back into the large, open room of the cabin, filling the air with the divine, ambrosial smell of sweet blood. The three of them lick themselves as clean as they can, not wanting to waste any of the fresh, delicious blood from the buck.

“Tech, we’re just going to clean ourselves off in the lake. We’ll be back in a bit.” Hunter lets him know, walking back out and heading to the lake, running into it and splashing around, making sure to get the rest of the blood out and any dirt from when they were tackling the buck. Tech and Echo chuckle contently, hearing their brothers outside in the lake playing around and having fun. Omega lets out a burp, bringing Tech’s attention back to her, so he smiles as he puts the bottle down and burps her.

After a moment, her burping intensifies as she pukes all over Tech’s chest. Echo’s eyes widen, grabbing one of the blankets and wiping her mouth gently, while he leans on Tech’s shoulder for support so he doesn’t fall. Omega whimpers and cries, making Tech frown “Oh dear, Darling. There there, it’s alright. Shh, youre okay.” His voice is soft and comforting.

Omega starts to calm down a bit, only letting out small whimpers. Tech turns to Echo. “Maybe you should shift to human and give her a bath, and I’ll go and clean up in the river?” Tech suggests, and Echo nods. He quickly pulls his legs on and runs to another room, shifting back to human before running back in and taking Omega in one arm, she’s a bit heavy, but he manages.

“Aww, do you need a bath, sweetheart?” Echo asks, using a soft voice as he watches Tech run outside. He then walks to the kitchen, grabbing a small tub and holding it under his right arm as he then walks upstairs. He makes a mental note to buy a baby bath in town tonight for Omega. Echo sets the little tub in their bathtub, setting Omega on the carpet as he gently turns the water on, doing his best to get a nice temperature for her.

She whines at the loss of his heat, making Echo look down. “Shh, it’s alright. I’m right here, sweetheart.” Echo soothes her, turning the water off once the little tub is half full. He checks the water, dipping his elbow in and humming when he feels that the water is perfect. He smiles and picks Omega up, taking her diaper off and gently setting her in the tub.

She lets out a whine, not liking the water at all, it makes Echo chuckle. “Don’t worry, it won’t be for long.” It only takes a few minutes to get the vomit out of her fur, and he pulls her out, wrapping her up in a fluffy towel.

“There, all clean.” He whispers, pressing a soft kiss to her nose. Echo stands up and leaves the washroom, walking downstairs and back to the living room. He immediately sees that everyone is back inside, still in their werewolf forms, Tech is probably cleaning the deer, getting all the guts out.

“Wrecker, your turn to cuddle her.” Echo informs him, and Wrecker nods, curling around the blankets as Echo sets Omega down in the middle. Wrecker chuckles as he gently dries her off, then he grabs a diaper. He struggles with it, making Hunter chuckle. “Want me to do it?” He asks, and Wrecker nods sheepishly. Hunter takes the diaper and puts it on her expertly, making Wrecker jealous “Show off.” Wrecker grumbles, making the others laugh playfully. Hunter places a hand on his shoulder “Don't worry, I'll teach you sometime, then you'll be a diaper changer expert too.”

“Alright!” Wrecker pumps a fist in the air enthusiastically, making his voice so it's just above normal talking, but not loud enough to cause the pup to wail. Tech then walks back in, drying his hands off as he smiles. “What’s all the excitement about?”

“Wrecker can’t wait to learn how to change a diaper.” Hunter tells him, then Tech chuckles. “What’s so funny?” Wrecker asks, raising an eyebrow. It then occurs to Hunter too, making him laugh. “What??” Wrecker asks again, a little louder.

“Well, just prepare for a lot of mess. You’re not going to like it,” Tech tells Wrecker, patting his back and chuckling to himself. “I had to deal with a pretty messy one last night.” Wrecker looks a little worried now. “Uh, how messy?”

“Do you remember that time we made a cake last year, and it exploded in the oven? Just picture that, along with a much worse smell.” Wrecker nods, taking a moment to realise what he means, making him begin to have second thoughts, going “Eww!” Which makes everyone laugh.

Hunter then pipes up “I’m an expert, because I remember how many messes you guys would make.” Hunter holds back laughter the best he can, picturing memories of them as toddlers, remembering when Wrecker would jump up and run around butt naked whenever Hunter was changing his.

It was only them and their mother for three years. They lost their father when Hunter was only seven years old, he died in a car accident. Well, that’s what they were told. Hunter found out three years later that their mother had murdered him, so he ran away with his brothers.

They ran across the plainlands, through dense forests and even swam through freezing rivers. Thank god for their fur, because they would have frozen to death. Now here they are, living a safe, happy life out here in the wilderness.

They’ve come so far from where they began. They started off with living in a cave not too far away, then they built their own cabin after some time, gathering up money and resources. It’s the perfect place to be raising a kid, not outside in the snow, since it seemed that Omega’s mother had no place to stay, so Omega may not have even survived the winter.

Hunter is pulled out of his thoughts when Omega starts to whine, and he pulls her close as she shivers. She starts trying to suckle again, making Hunter sigh and Tech chuckle. “Looks like Miss Omega needs another bottle.” Tech stands up, leaving to go get one warmed up. Hunter gently holds Omega, then he looks up to see Crosshair staring at Omega. “Want to hold her?”

Crosshair’s ears press back. “She might cry.” He tells Hunter, but Hunter shakes his head, handing Omega to Crosshair. “She won’t.” Crosshair takes her, gently cradling the pup in his arms and against his chest. She tries to suckle, making Crosshair chuckle.

Then Tech runs back in, smiling when he sees the sight and handing Crosshair the bottle. “Here. I’ve added some blood from the buck in it, so it’ll fill her up a little more than the other feeds did.” Crosshair takes it, bringing it to Omega’s nose and allowing her to smell the milk. As soon as she smells the milk, she starts whimpering and whining, moving up towards it. Crosshair gently pops the nub in her mouth, and she starts to drink. This time though, she drinks it more quickly and hungrily, due to the fresh blood in it.

Everyone smiles, watching their youngest brother with the pup. It’s so sweet, making it even more worth it to raise Omega. She drinks the milk, hitting her little clawed hands against the bottle. Hunter smiles, petting her head from where he sits beside Crosshair. “Such a hungry little thing.” He chuckles, making everyone smile.

“Yeah, we’ll need to go get more supplies soon.” Tech suggests, and everyone nods, Crosshair and Echo look at eachother. “We can grab a few things, since I have to drive Echo to work.” Tech nods. “Good, I’ll make a list.” He runs out, just as Omega finishes her bottle and Crosshair gently burps her. Watching their brother doing that is the weirdest thing, but it warms everyone's hearts.

xxx

It’s been two weeks since they found Omega, and since then, she’s settled in really well. The Bad Batch have planned on baby things she will need, so Tech is working on hand making a wooden baby crib, Wrecker is busy hunting for more Buck for them and smaller creatures for Omega when she starts teething, since werewolves like to chew on pieces of meat. Crosshair is out and about in town, looking for baby toys and books, while he waits for Echo to finish his shift at work.

Hunter on the other hand decided to take a nap with Omega, to keep her safe and company, hugging her with one arm. That’s when he hears her crying. They’ve become accumulated to her crying, knowing that it’s either that she wants a bottle or needs her diaper changing. Hunter rubs the sleep from his eyes with his free hand, allowing him to see clearly and open his eyes, staring at the ceiling. “What’s the matter, Pup, hey?” He coos, but when he turns his head to look at her, he’s met with an unexpected surprise.

He can’t lie, he panicked for a moment, for some reason he can’t explain, but he just gets the biggest smile on his face. His eyes meet with hers. She’s opened her eyes! “Hey, Pup. Hi.” Hunter is overjoyed, her soft brown eyes meet with his yellow ones, making her coo and reach out to his face, patting her hand against his cheek.

Hunter thinks to himself, trying to figure out why she has brown eyes and not yellow like theirs. He’s brought out of his thoughts though when he remembers why he got woke up, hearing her whimpers start again. “Ah, yes right. You hungry, Pup?” As an answer, Omega suckles on him again. He lets out a small chuckle “Dinner it is.”

He stands up from the sea of blankets in the lounge, bundling her up in a blanket and walks to the kitchen, grabbing an already prepared bottle. He warms it up and then walks outside to the front porch of the house, holding Omega close to keep her warm.

Sitting down, Hunter makes sure Omega is cradled comfortably against him before feeding her. Once he’s happy, he brings the bottle to her mouth and smiles when she drinks the milk and blood concoction. They have been bringing Omega outdoors every now and then, more and more regularly as time goes by, to allow her body to become accumulated to the colder temperatures, so when she’s older, she won’t have a literal shock to her system.

Hunter see’s that the moon is starting to rise, making him frown. “Oh no.” He whispers, seeing that his brothers aren’t back yet. But just then the truck arrives, squealing to a stop as Crosshair and Echo rip the door open and jump out, ripping their clothes off, and in Echo’s case, his prosthetics.

They then kneel on the ground, starting to shift from the full moon. That’s one of the only things about them the humans did not make up, they are forced to transform and stay in their wolf forms during full moon’s. It sucks.

They both let out growls and groans, as they grow larger, fur covering their forms, it’s only a few seconds and they’re done, Crosshair picking Echo up and carrying him up to the porch, setting him down. “Sorry we’re late, Echo was kept late at work.” Crosshair explains, and Echo nods apologetically. Hunter smiles. “It’s alright, as long as you guys got back in time.”

Crosshair smiles, running in and grabbing Echo’s legs, bringing them back. He hands them to him, watching his older brother place them on before standing. “That is so much better.” Echo groans happily, making Hunter smile.

Crosshair then smiles, looking over at Omega, he comes closer. “Aww, someone got hun-- Holy Shit!!” Echo slaps Crosshair’s arm as Omega starts wailing. “Cross!” He scolds.

“Sorry. Sorry, but her eyes are open.” Echo freezes as he moves closer to Hunter, who has a beaming smile. Both Echo and Crosshair get their own large smiles. “Woah, you’re right! Hello there, Omega.” Echo coos, as Crosshair chuckles, but then he frowns. “Brown eyes? But she’s in her werewolf form, shouldn’t they be yellow?”

Hunter shrugs “I’m not sure. She could be defective like us--” “Please don’t say that.” Hunter looks at Crosshair, completely forgetting in the moment what that word means to him. That was the last thing that their mother had shouted at them...

You defects won’t last a day out there!! I hope you just drop dead! You all deserve it!!

Hunter flinches and shudders at the almost forgotten memory “Sorry, Cross. Maybe Omega’s just different, like us.” Hunter explains, looking into her eyes which are teary now. He smiles and gently wipes away her tears with a finger. Omega then reaches up her hand and curls it around his finger.

It’s an adorable sight that warms all of their hearts, and there’s an even bigger heart that is currently running down the path towards them. Wrecker bolts towards them on all fours, kicking up the snow as he runs, a smaller Buck in his mouth and smaller animals tied on a string over his shoulder and around his chest. He skids to a halt just in front of them, dropping the buck on the ground from his mouth and standing up, taking off the string of smaller creatures and placing them on top of the buck.

“Heya, guys!” He smiles, but his smile becomes even wider when his eyes meet with two soft brown ones staring up at him. He refrains himself from yelling, not wanting to scare Omega, who’s still being fed. “She’s opened her eyes?? That’s amazing, when?” Hunter nods, noticing that Omega has finished her bottle, so he burps her. “It was about ten minutes ago, so quite recent. Echo and Crosshair have only just got back too.”

“I know, I heard the car from a mile away. Sounded like you were driving pretty fast, Cross. Echo held back at work again?” Crosshair nods, letting out a small growl that makes Omega flinch, but not cry, now she knows what is making the sound. “Yeah, they did.” They all look at Echo, who’s rubbing at his stub.

“Echo, you shouldn’t keep working there if they hold you back but don’t pay you extra. It’s not right, neither is it fair. Especially when it’s on days like these.” Hunter explains to him, a sad look on his face when he hears Echo sigh. “At least my one manager gives me a bit of extra pay, he’s nice. I know it’s not the best, but what other choice do I have? I can hardly work like you guys can, since I’m not as able.”

They all let out a whine, hating that Echo feels like this. It’s one of the reasons why they hate humans for hating them. When they are human, everything is fine, but if they talk shit about werewolves, it really pisses them off. “You could take art up. I can go on some extra hunting jobs until you get the hang of it?” Crosshair offers, and Echo perks up briefly, before whimpering nervously “No, no no. I can’t make you do that--”

“You aren’t making me do anything. It’ll be better for you. Us as well.” Crosshair carries on, then Wrecker interjects. “Yeah, we worry about you, Echo.” Echo’s tail wags, happy that they are there for him and care about him so much, even if he isn’t physically whole. “Thanks guys. Hey, maybe we should go and see Tech.” Everyone nods in agreement.

“Great idea.” Hunter lets out a rumble of content, making Omega snuggle into him as they all walk around the side of the cabin to the shed that they built. It’s the perfect size for a human, but not for a werewolf. They have another, more werewolf sized one. Hunter crouches down and walks in, as the others peek from the doorway, they all see Tech slumped over the table, still in werewolf form and completely passed out. They all snicker, this isn't the first time this has happened. He’s hunched over plans for Omega’s crib.

Hunter gently hands Omega to Crosshair, then moves closer to Tech, shaking his shoulders. “Tech, you fell asleep again.” Hunter says softly, and Tech yawns. He blinks his eyes open. “Hunter? I’m up, I’m up.” Tech goes to stand up, making Hunter and everyone realize he must have fallen asleep while still human.

“Tech! Wait, don’t--” But it’s too late, as Tech hits the roof with a loud thump, making him yelp and crouch down. “Ow ow ow ow.” He whimpers, rubbing his head and growling.

“You okay?” Hunter asks, and Tech nods. “Yeah, forgot it was a full moon.” He says, rubbing his head as both him and Hunter exit the shed. Tech stretches as soon as he gets out there, and Hunter laughs as he takes Omega from Crosshair.

“Someone wants to see you, Tech.” Hunter says, and Tech looks at him with confusion. “What? For one, she can’t see me--” Tech freezes when Omega is set in his arms, and he sees the big, brown eyes staring at him.

“She opened her eyes? When did that happen?!!” He asks, and Hunter chuckles. “Only a little bit before the moon rose.” Tech gets the biggest smile, just like the others did. Then he looks down at Omega. “Well, looks like you finally get to see us, Miss Omega.” Tech coos, and Omega coos back, hitting his arm with her little clawed hands.

Everyone awws at her, then Wrecker starts jumping a bit. “Let's howl at the moon now!!” He says excitedly, making everyone stare at the moon and get antsy. “Won’t it scare Omega?” Crosshair asks, but Hunter shrugs. “She wasn’t scared when you growled, because she can see who’s making it now. If she does get scared, we stop.” Hunter offers, and they all nod. Tech hands Omega back to Hunter, knowing how much his older brother loves to hold her.

They walk to the edge of the small lake outside their cabin, Hunter holding Omega close as they all stand tall, taking in a big, deep breath as they all howl at the moon, loud and strong. After a few moments, they stop to breathe, but before they can howl again-- “Awoooo!”

They all freeze and look at Omega, who lets out the loudest howl she can muster, but it ends up sounding squeaky. Their hearts warm and they smile widely before howling again, this time Omega joining. The night air is filled with their howls, letting the whole forest know that they aren’t afraid to hide who they are whenever they are safe and alone with the company of each other, able to be free and proud to be werewolves, the so-called monsters that humans think that they are.

Once they finish, they sigh in content, letting out a deep rumble from their chests. Omega then yawns and closes her eyes, falling asleep. “Aww, someone's tired.” Wrecker coos, and then Omega shivers a bit, making everyone frown. “We should get her inside now, she’s been outside for a while.” Hunter lets them know, making everyone nod and head inside.

Hunter waits for a little bit, seeing that Omega has opened her eyes again, mesmerized by the bright lights in the sky and the glow of the moon, reaching up towards them. Hunter chuckles and whispers to her “Those are stars, Pup. We’ll come back and see them tomorrow, I promise that they’ll still be there.” Omega’s eyes droop again and close, her head falling against Hunter’s chest as she drifts off to sleep.

Hunter smiles and carries her into the cabin, and to her little pile of blankets. His brothers are all sitting on the floor, and smile when they see the sleeping baby. “You know, if anyone asked us two weeks ago if we’d ever take care of a pup, I’m pretty sure we all would say no.” Hunter whispers, making everyone chuckle. “Yeah, look at us now. We have a baby. A baby who’s a girl.” Wrecker laughs out, making everyone chuckle. “Yeah, wouldn’t change it, tho. The only way I would change it, is to have her mother survive.” Echo says, and Hunter frowns. “Yeah, I’m sure we’d all change that.”

xxx

Hunter and everyone lazes with Omega, the little Pup being so aware of her surroundings now. They are all still in their werewolf forms, this being how it always is after a full moon. It’s nice for them to stay transformed afterwards.

The only time they turn human right after a full moon is when one has to work. But that's usually Echo, and he thankfully only had a morning shift, so Crosshair and him transformed as soon as they got back, not even coming into the living room until they were wolves.

Omega coos, as Crosshair changes her diaper. This one, was unfortunately a messy one, making them all cover their noses. “Uh, how does such a little thing make such a stink?!!” Wrecker asks, and Hunter chuckles. “You were much worse, believe me.”

Everyone laughs at that, as Crosshair finishes, throwing the diaper out. “Ah, all clean, Squirt.” He coos, making Omega make her own tiny cooing noise, hitting his nose as he nuzzles her little stomach. Hunter smiles softly, as Crosshair lays her down and curls around her.

She yawns and falls asleep, but they all know she’s due for a bottle in about an hour, so this nap won’t last for long. Crosshair smiles as he lays beside her, petting the tiny Pup’s head. He frowns. “She hasn’t gotten much bigger?” He says with confusion, making Tech hum. “Well, she’s only two weeks old. And premature, who knows how long it’ll take her to grow.” Crosshair nods, worry leaving his features.

Hunter stretches out a bit, laying on his back. “Nice to be able to have a day of being a werewolf.” He hums, and Wrecker laughs loudly. “Yeah, Omega gets that every day.” They all laugh, laying down and just relaxing.

xxx

Hunter smiles as he gets dressed, it’s been about two days since Omega’s opened her eyes, and everything’s been great. He finishes getting dressed, and walks downstairs. Tech is cuddling with Omega this time. So the rest of them are human. Wrecker, Echo and Crosshair are still sleeping. Hunter walks to the living room to see his Omega.

But when she sees him, she shakes and starts wailing, pressing her face into Tech’s chest. Hunter gets a confused look. “What’s wrong with her, Tech?” Hunter walks forward and crouches down, going to pick her up, but when Omega turns back around and sees Hunter go to pick her up, she nips his hand, and scratches him. Hunter lets out a whine, one that he’s made while around Omega.

It’s at that moment that Omega’s wails turn to sniffles, her ears perking up a little. Hunter seethes in slight pain from the scratches, but when the pain passes and the scratches start to heal themselves, he looks at her, seeing her expression is no longer one of fear now, but more confusion. It’s quiet for a few moments, but then Tech realises-- “She must have been scared and didn’t know who you are, and it seems like she is still confused and unsure.”

Hunter feels bad for scaring Omega, but then he uses the gentle voice that he’s been using in front of her for the past couple of weeks. “Hey, Pup. It’s alright, don’t be afraid.” Omega is still not sure about him. Tech hums “Maybe you should transform in front of her.”

Hunter’s eyes widen. “It might scare her being this young.” Hunter whimpers a little, but then Tech sighs “I know, but I don’t see any other logical solution to this situation, because if you walk out and transform and walk back in your wolf form, then she’ll think that your human form is just a stranger. So seeing you transform will make her realise that you are the same person.”

It does make sense, Hunter sighs in defeat, standing up and walking away, Omega watching with curious eyes. Hunter pulls off his shirt and his bandana too, placing them on the couch. Next, he changes his pants for a pair of the already ripped ones in the box. He concentrates and starts transforming immediately, sighing when he feels it start. He keeps his groans and growls to a minimum, knowing that this is Omega’s first time seeing them transform.

He sees Omega watching him with wide eyes, also letting out a whimper and a whine here and there, but Tech rubs her back soothingly. Hunter’s bones crack and rearrange, fur growing all over his body as he gets bigger, his pants tearing. His face elongates into a snout and his tail grows long and fluffy. He huffs once it’s finished, standing in the familiar wolf form that Omega has seen him in for the past two days.

Omega’s expression is almost unreadable, so Hunter speaks softly and coos “See, it’s still me. I promise, Pup, I’m still me when I’m like that.” After a moment, Omega whines and reaches out to him, making tiny grabby motions. Tech smiles when Hunter walks over “See? She recognises you.”

Hunter smiles and gently takes her into his arms, holding her close. “Yeah, I’m so happy about that.” He says, nuzzling Omega and making her laugh.

Suddenly Crosshair, Wrecker and Echo walk in. Crosshair smiles and walks over. “Hey, Squirt.” He says groggily, but they all wake up immediately when she starts wailing.

“Omega, what’s wrong, Sweetheart?” Echo asks, but she continues to cry. Crosshair walks over and tries to pick her up from Hunter’s arms, but she nips at him, making Crosshair pull his hand away. “Is she afraid of us?” Wrecker asks, noticing that she’s trying to hide. Hunter sighs. “She’s never seen us as humans before, so she doesn’t understand that we’re the same.” Crosshair gets a confused look.

“But we’ve been human around her before?” He questions, but Tech pops up. “Yes, before she opened her eyes. And since she’s opened her eyes, it was a full moon, and we’ve all stayed in our werewolf forms. Except you and Echo, but you two have transformed before coming anywhere near Omega’s line of sight.”

“Oh, so she thinks we’re strangers.” Wrecker ponders, and Tech nods. “Yes, also you do smell the same, so that may also be confusing her. Since in her mind, your scent belongs to three werewolves, not three humans.” Echo nods. “That makes so much sense, a sweetheart.” He coos, but Omega just cries. Wrecker goes to walk closer, but she lets out a small, squeaky growl.

“Aww.” Wrecker coos, but he gets a sad look. Hunter frowns at them. “I had to transform to show her that I’m… well, me. I’m thinking we transform for a few moments, but then transform back to human? To maybe seal the deal, and prove that it’s us.” They all nod.

“That makes sense, then Tech can just transform to human.” Echo suggests, and Tech nods. Echo, Crosshair and Wrecker all take their shirts off, grabbing their ripped pants from the box near the door, quickly changing and walking back in. Echo pulls off his legs, sitting on the ground since he won’t be in that form for long.

“Alright, this won’t scare the Squirt?” Crosshair asks, and Hunter nods. “She was a bit, but she didn’t seem scared. More upset, she probably thought it caused me a lot of pain, and not just discomfort.” They all nod.

“Alright, here we go, Kid!” Wrecker softly tells her, enthusiasm evident in his voice, she whimpers a bit, making their hearts break. They then close their eyes and start to shift, sighing in relief. Crosshair opens his now yellow eyes, looking to Omega who has a confused look, as they all try to keep their growls and groans in a bit more, not wanting to scare her too much.

Echo growls a bit, fur covering his body as his bones crack. His body grows bigger, arm growing longer, as his teeth grow sharper. His mouth elongates, becoming a snout. Wrecker smiles happily, as his legs crack and bend, becoming haunches. It doesn’t feel as nice for them, since they were all wanting to be in their human forms, but anything for Omega.

It ends with them growing a bit bigger, and tails growing from their backsides, but Crosshair and Wrecker stretch out a bit. Omega coos at them now, making them smile. “There, so should we turn human now?” Wrecker asks, and Hunter nods. He hands Omega to Tech. “How about we go first, then Tech goes? Since someone has to hold Omega?”

They all nod and then step back, closing their eyes in concentration before they feel themselves change back. Omega whimpers, reaching out her hands to them, struggling in Tech’s hold. Tech presses his ears back as he hushes her. “Shh, it’s okay. There there, they’re okay.” Omega looks up at him with teary eyes as her lip quivering a little, looking at him as if she can understand, because she stops wriggling around but still whines, her eyes looking in the direction of everyone transforming.

Their bodies start to crack and snap back into place, their fur, teeth and claws retracting as their ears become less pointy and their eyes become less wolf-like, returning to their usual honey brown appearance. Their tails grow shorter and shorter until they become nothing, their legs and arms now human as they shrink down to their normal human selves. The transformation finishes and Hunter ties his bandana around his head. None of them bother getting dressed for now, since they usually don’t put their clothes on straight away, they’ll just walk around in their torn pants and even sleep in them.

Omega is still whimpering in Tech’s arms, but she no longer seems scared. Hunter takes a few experimental steps forward, not wanting Omega to feel scared again. Instead of the timid reaction he expected, she throws her hands out infront of her, as if she needs him. Tech chuckles sweetly, this time letting Omega move to the direction she wants to go. In this instance, that would be Hunter “Looks like she wants you, Hunter.”

Hunter smiles and walks a little quicker, stopping right in front of Tech and Omega. She pulls retreats back into Tech, thinking for a moment with a timid look on her face, almost as if she is having second thoughts. But then she reaches out again with a whine, letting Hunter know that she wants him to pick her up.

Hunter reaches out to her and takes her from Tech, cradling her gently in his arms, holding her close to his chest. He kisses the top of her head, making her let out a small noise of content, nuzzling into his face. Tech stands up with a smile and transforms next, becoming more and more human, then only half a minute later, he’s fully human.

Crosshair walks over and pets her head. “Glad that’s taken care of, I do not like her being scared of us.” He grumbles. Seeing Omega afraid of him had really, really hurt. Omega coos, hitting his face with her hand. Crosshair smiles a rare smile, sighing with relief. “Omega!” Wrecker runs over, making Omega coo. Echo follows Wrecker, chuckling softly as he looks at the little pup.

“You are such a Sweety. I’ll have to see you later. Cross, I gotta work.” Crosshair nods as both him and Echo run to get dressed into regular clothes, as Tech walks over to see Omega, the Pup whimpers until she smells him, then coos.

Echo and Crosshair run out the door, jumping into the truck. Crosshair starts it up, driving down the road. He turns and looks to Echo. “Have you eaten today?” He asks, knowing how his oldest brother is. He has a habit of starving himself at some points, part of his trauma. Echo frowns. “No, I haven’t.” Crosshair sighs softly. “Let’s pick you up something from Tim Hortons, alright? Just a breakfast wrap and smoothie?” He suggests, and Echo nods. “Alright, thanks Cross.”

Crosshair smiles. “No thanks necessary. We take care of eachother, no matter what.” Tim Hortons is right on the edge of town, next to the gas station, so they get there in only a few minutes, pulling the truck into the drivethru and winds down his window, looking at the menu while he waits for--

“Hi, welcome to Tim Hortons, what can I get for you?” The employee asks through the speaker. Crosshair rests an arm on the car door. “Hi, just a bacon and sausage breakfast wrap and a smoothie.”

“Yep. Okay, what flavour and size smoothie will that be, sir?” Crosshair looks at Echo for an answer, then Echo smiles “My favourite, please.” Crosshair nods and smiles, looking back at the speaker. “Strawberry and Banana, also make it a large.”

“Is that everything for you?” The employee checks, then Crosshair looks over at Echo who nods timidly. “Yeah, that’s everything.” Crosshair replies.

“That’s great, just drive on round and make your payment there.” The employee tells Crosshair. “Thanks.” He replies, driving around the building to the payment and collection window.

The employee has a kind smile on her face as Crosshair pulls up, reaching for his wallet. “That’ll be $13.” She says, Crosshair handing over the money in exact amount. The food soon arrives and is handed over to him. “Have a good day, sir.”

“Thanks.” Crosshair takes it and places the wrap in his lap as he places the staw in the smoothie before handing it to Echo, who takes it and drinks some of it as Crosshair drives into a space in the parking lot. He parks the car and takes the wrap off of his lap, holding it to Echo. “Here ya go. It’s nice ‘n’ warm.

Crosshair frowns when he notices that Echo pretends to not see or hear him, sipping his smoothie as he looks out of the window. Crosshair sighs a little, not in anger, but in sadness “You need to eat, Echo.” Still no reply…

“...Has someone said something to you?” Crosshair asks, seeing the way Echo flinches at the question. “Maybe.” Echo mumbles as he sips more of his smoothie. Crosshair bristles a bit, growling. “What did they say?” Echo shakes his head. “Nothing, it’s fine.”

Crosshair knows it’s not fine, not at all. But he sighs, knowing that Echo won't tell him anything now. “Eat. Please, Echo.” Echo sighs, placing his drink between his legs. He takes the wrap from Crosshair, ripping the top half of cardboard off and taking a small bite. Crosshair smiles, checking the time to see that they still have twenty minutes until Echo’s shift. He always leaves early, just in case Echo needs food.

He takes small bites from his wrap, humming at the taste. “Hey, you think we could con Hunter into getting a pizza for dinner?” Crosshair jokes, making Echo chuckle. “Isn’t it me who you usually con?”

Crosshair chuckles. “Yeah, you got me. Can we get one?” He asks hopefully, making Echo laugh. “This is one of the few times you actually sound nineteen, Crossy. And not older.” Crosshair shakes his head. “Can we?” He asks again, and Echo sighs. “You know I can’t say no to you. Of course we can, it’ll be a surprise for the others.” Echo winks, then looks down with a surprise look to see half his wrap gone.

He takes the rest out, eating it quickly. Crosshair smiles. “Yeah, definitely.” He then frowns. “You know you can tell us when someones saying things to you, right? Just because you’re the oldest, doesn’t mean you need to hide these things from us.” Crosshair tells him, his voice going much softer than usual.

Echo has taken care of them for a long time, ever since they found him and nursed him back to health. Crosshair was ten back then, and Echo helped raise him and his brothers ever since. Echo sighs. “It’s fine, Crossy. I only have ten minutes to get to work, can we please go?” Crosshair lets out a sigh, but nods. “Of course, can’t have you late.” He starts the truck, pulling out of the parking lot. Echo sips at his smoothie as they drive, and Crosshair keeps an eye on him.

He pulls up in front of the blockbuster, three minutes to spare. Echo smiles. “Thanks, Cross. Here, you can finish off my smoothie.” Echo hands him the half full drink, hopping out of the truck and running into the store after the door closes.

Crosshair stares at the cup with worry in his eyes, this is Echo’s favourite drink. He almost always finishes it, this isn’t right. He drives away, promising himself that he’ll speak to the manager when he gets back later, so as not to let Echo know. He just wants his brother to be watched over, not trusting these damned humans.

He drives to a local pub, one he usually stays at. Not to drink, but to talk, and see if he hears anything about Omega’s mother… or perhaps her unknown father. He also would love a game of darts about now, or pool.

xxx

Crosshair had gone shopping for supplies earlier in the day, so he took a trip back home before heading back out to town to pick Echo up from work. He works five hour shifts Monday to Thursday, so his job isn’t too hard on him but he still gets paid enough.

Usually his manager is kind and pays Echo more, knowing that he needs the extra help and support. Echo is usually stubborn about being helped out, since he wants to feel independent, but when it comes to being paid or having some sort of service done for him, he’ll take it with gratitude.

Crosshair drives down the road and approaches the blockbuster, but what he sees makes his blood absolutely boil. Echo is on the floor, surrounded by some teens, about a year younger than Crosshair. They laugh and spit on Echo, making Echo grimace in disgust and cry.

One of the teens is holding his leg, teasing Echo with it by pretending to give it back, but quickly ripping it away when Echo reaches for it. Echo’s face has some dirt there and is riddled with bruises, not healing. Echo’s healing hasn’t worked very well after what the humans poisoned him with. Which makes his brothers even more protective of him.

Crosshair has never swerved into a parking lot and parked the car up so fast in his life, jumping out and running over to where his older brother is on the floor and trying to crawl away, tears streaming down his face. One of the teens is about to kick him when Crosshair pushes him back. “I’d give that back and fuck off if I were you.” Crosshair warns through gritted teeth, standing over Echo protectively.

The teens cower back slightly at Crosshair’s tone, but the oldest doesn’t seem to back down, instead walking towards him “Oh yeah? What you gonna do about it, old man--?” In a split second, Crosshair’s fist is thrown at the teens face, making the teen stumble back and clutch at his nose, his eyes watering “Shit! He broke my nose!”

Crosshair glares at them “Now...Give me his leg back and fuck the hell off. Ya hear me?” The other teen holding the leg is panicking and doesn’t want to go anywhere near Crosshair, so he tosses it into a garbage can.

At that moment, one of Echo’s managers bursts out of the store, brushing some of his ginger hair from his face. The other one had already gone home early, as usual. “What’s going on?” He asks, eyes wide, when he sees Echo on the floor, a group of teenagers and Echo’s leg in a garbage can. He sees red when he glares at the teens. “Leave, now! Don’t come here ever again, you hear me?!”

The teenager with the broken nose and blood on his face glares at Crosshair and then they all run off. Crosshair is absolutely fuming, trying so hard right now not to transform, but then the sound of whimpering and sobbing draws his attention away from the retreating degenerates.

“Echo…” Crosshair says as he kneels on the ground and pulls Echo up and into him, wiping away his tears and being careful of the bruises there. Echo sobs and hides his face in his arm, making Crosshair feel so angry and so sad that they’ve broken Echo to pieces. “Those bastards. I swear, I’ll kill ‘em.”

Crosshair feels someone tap his shoulder, making him whip his head around, seeing Echo’s manager crouch down, holding Echo’s leg out to him. This must be the nice manager he’s heard about. “Here, it isn’t too dirty. Luckily it just landed on some boxes.” He hands it to Crosshair, who takes it and immediately attaches it to Echo. The manager sees something in Crosshair’s eyes, was that...a flash of yellow?

“Why don’t you come into my office? I have a first aid kit, so we can patch him up.” Echo’s manager offers, his blue eyes full of sadness that his favourite employee has gotten into such a state. Crosshair is struggling to process anything, but he nods “Please.”

The manager sees the sharper teeth when Crosshair talks, but says nothing of it as he helps Echo up along with Crosshair, each putting an arm over their shoulder, Crosshair on Echo’s right, since he knows how sensitive Echo is about others touching his stub.

As they go into the store, the manager closes the shop, flipping the sign from open to closed, to make sure no customers will enter. They walk through the empty store and into the back where the office is located. It’s a pretty decent size, though it’s only big enough for a desk, some cabinets and a sofa, in which they lay Echo on.

Once Echo’s in a comfortable position, Crosshair sits down on a seat nearby, interlocking his fingers and placing his elbows on his knees, leaning over as his leg bounces. The manager eyes Crosshair as he walks to the white first box on the wall and brings it back over to Echo, kneeling down and taking out an antibacterial wipe.

Being careful of the bruises, he wipes the dirt off of Echo’s face gently, frowning at the sight of Echo’s weak and sobbing form and Crosshair sitting hunched over on the chair. “Can you take off the beanie? Just so I can check for bruising, or a head wound?” Echo shakes his head rapidly, making the manager frown. “Please? You know me, I won’t make fun or anything. I just want to help.” He sees the younger brother tense up a bit, but Echo sighs and nods. He takes the beanie off.

The manager frowns with worry when he sees the patchy hair, a few bald spots here and there, but smiles. “Hm, no damage. That’s good. You can put it back on now.” Echo nods, pulling the beanie back on. The manager then turns to his brother, smiling. “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet, I’m Obi Wan.”

Crosshair hums, groaning a bit. “I’m Crosshair, Echo’s youngest brother.” Obi Wan smiles. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, are you okay?” Crosshair nods, still looking down. “Yeah, can you give us a bit alone? Please?” Obi Wan nods, walking out. Echo looks at Crosshair, frowning. “You okay?” He asks softly, but Crosshair shakes his head.

“I’m going to transform.” Echo goes pale, even paler than usual. “Crossy, no. You gotta hold it back.” Crosshair starts pulling his shirts off, then his boots in preparation.Crosshair looks up, bright yellow eyes looking in fear.

“I’ve been holding it back Echo, since I saw ya getting beat up. I can’t anymore.” He whines a bit, making Echo growl and look to the door. Crosshair’s right, he won’t be able to hold it any longer.

He’s going to hurt himself if he does. “Alright. Alright, just… we need… no.” He panics, not knowing what to do. He needs to protect his baby brother, but how. He knows Obi Wan is nice, but what will he do when he finds out about them?

Crosshair lets out a yell, falling to the ground and groaning. Echo’s heart breaks, knowing how painful a transformation is after holding it in, especially when your body forces it. Echo jumps off the couch and limps over to Crosshair, holding him close. “Shh, it’s alright. I’m here, It’s alright.” Echo whispers softly, holding Crosshair close, shoving his face into his chest to muffle his baby brother's screams.

He holds him close as Crosshair’s bones crack, bending and rearranging. Crosshair growls into Echo’s chest, as fur grows all over his body, and his face starts to elongate. He continues to grow bigger and bigger, dwarfing Echo as a large fluffy tail grows from his backside, and his legs crack and form haunches.

It’s finally finished, Crosshair fully transformed and sporting grey fur, claws and sharp teeth. He whimpers and whines, pulling Echo into his lap and holding him like a lifeline. The painful transformations are always bad for Crosshair, causing him to be extra scared and cuddly.

“What the fuck is going on?!” Obi Wan yells, neither Echo or Crosshair saw him come in. He’s holding up a pair of scissors, pointing them menacingly at Crosshair. Crosshair whimpers a bit, burying his face into Echo’s chest. He hates humans seeing him, it always hurts when they fear him, and call him a monster, it hurts every one of the werewolves.

Obi Wan gets a confused look, not understanding what the hell is going on. Echo holds his hand up in surrender “Don't, Obi Wan, please.” He begs, tears in his eyes, thinking that Obi Wan is going to kill them. Obi Wan blinks a few times, not sure if he's seeing things or what. He holds the scissors in his hand, but not pointing them at Crosshair with such menace. “Is that...Crosshair? H-He's a…? Shit.” Obi Wan's voice wavers, he feels fear and falls back against his desk, covering his mouth with one hand.

“Don't hurt him, he's only young.” Echo whimpers, wrapping his arm around Crosshair. Obi Wan is speechless, not sure about what to do or say. After a few moments, he finds the courage to talk “Won't he hurt me?” The question makes Crosshair whine, nuzzling into Echo to hide his face, chewing vigorously on his hand.

Echo pulls Crosshair impossibly closer, letting out a sad sigh “We are just misunderstood, all because we look scary. But really, we are who we are on the inside. We are like you humans, some of us are good and some of us are bad. We are good. The only thing you humans got right about us was that we are forced to transform whenever there’s a full moon.”

Obi Wan is shocked to the core, looking at the scissors in his hand and then back at Crosshair, who's shaking. Obi Wan then throws the scissors across the floor away from him. Crosshair's ears flick back at the sound, making him peep out to see that Obi Wan is no longer armed. Crosshair still stays hidden though. Echo notices that Crosshair's hand is bleeding from where he's been biting on his hand, so Echo gently moves his hand away, shaking his head “No no, don't do that, please.” Crosshair reluctantly does so, the teeth marks are obvious, but they start to heal.

Obi Wan stares in shock and disbelief, but what Echo was saying seems to be true, since Crosshair has been a shaking and whimpering mess in Echo's arms for the past minute. Obi Wan takes in a deep, quick breath “Echo...You were saying we a lot, so you’re a werewolf too?” Obi Wan asks. Echo nods, looking nervously at him. Obi Wan sighs shakily. “Now it makes sense why you always left early on full moon nights, sorry for that werewolf joke a few weeks ago.” Obi Wan apologizes softly, feeling a bit bad.

“I've known you for three long years now and I've never even known that you were a werewolf. It's strange to think about that really.” Obi Wan runs a hand through his hair, seeing how Echo looks at him with a nervous look and stays quiet. Obi Wan is full of guilt “I'm not going to hurt you. After all, you said that you are you, right? So why would I want to hurt my friends?” Echo looks at Crosshair with a small smile “True.” Echo says, Crosshair looking at Obi Wan a little more, not as afraid now.

Obi Wan then looks towards Crosshair, grimacing a bit. “I’m so sorry for threatening you, do you need some bandages for your hand?” Obi Wan asks softly, and Crosshair nods. “Y-Yeah, please. I’m sorry for transforming in your office, I’m only nineteen, and still have a hard time controlling my emotions. Sorry again.” Obi Wan smiles. “It’s alright.”

He walks over to the first aid kit, grabbing a few bandages. He walks back over, eyeing Echo. “Do you mind if I do it? Echo may have a troubling time.” Crosshair nods, and Obi Wan gets to work, gently grabbing Crosshair’s hand after he sits beside him, wrapping it up. “Hmm, soft.” He hums, making Echo chuckle.

“You’re taking this better than I thought.” Obi Wan smiles. “I can understand that, I’m still sorry for threatening your brother--” “It’s alright, you walked into your office to see a giant wolf. That would scare me too.” Crosshair tells him grumpily, making Obi Wan smile.

“I see why I’ve never met your brothers, Echo. And why you five are so reclusive.” Echo nods. “Yeah, I wanted you to meet them. But we just don’t talk to people much, and we kind of get nervous around humans.” Obi Wan nods in understanding.

“I understand, I’m sure you’ve almost been hurt by us before.” Echo frowns, looking at the ground. “Echo… humans did that to his legs and arm. The story he told you about the car accident was a lie.”Crosshair tells him, making Obi Wan’s eyes widen.

“We… A human did that! That is the most disgusting, absurd thing I’ve ever heard!! When was this!!” Obi Wan asks, making Echo sigh. “I was sixteen, they also poisoned me and killed my mother. The only reason I survived was because my now brother’s found me and saved me.” Obi Wan feels like he wants to be sick, Crosshair raises an eyebrow. “I thought all humans hate us, you’re different though. I like you.” Crosshair grumbles, making Echo’s eyes widen. “Woah, Crosshair never likes humans. You made a good impression on him.”

Obi Wan smiles, but then Echo chuckles nervously. “Um, mind driving us home? I can’t drive and Crosshair… he needs to hide in the back.” Obi Wan nods. “Of course I can, I’m sure your brothers are worried.” Echo’s eyes widen, as he checks his phone and flinches. “Yeah, ten missed calls from Hunter. We better get going.” Obi Wan nods, watching Echo grab Crosshair’s shirts. Obi Wan peeks out the door.

“The coast is clear.” He calls, as Echo and Crosshair peek out. They then run to the truck, quickly hiding Crosshair under the tarp. Obi Wan locks up the store, then hops in the front seat, finding the keys still in the ignition from Crosshair’s hasty jump out earlier. He waits for Echo to jump in, then he turns the car on and starts driving away, as Echo directs him to their home.

xxx

Obi Wan sees the cabin, humming a bit. “Looks like a nice place to live.” He tells Echo as they pull up, then three men run out, one with goggles holding something bundled in a blanket. But when the man looks at him, he turns and walks quickly back into the cabin, closing the door behind him. The two other men stay standing, wide-eyed and standing nervously.

The truck pulls up, Wrecker shifts about on his feet nervously while Hunter just stands with his arms crossed, feeling both confused and angry as to why a stranger is sitting in the driver's seat. The truck pulls up and stops on the driveway, the stranger and Echo both getting out and walking over. The stranger looks nervous, but Hunter doesn't let it cross his mind right now “Who is this hu-- stranger, and why was driving the Marauder and not Crosshair? Where is Crosshair, did he get lost again?” Hunter fake laughs, but it sounds genuine.

Get lost is something they say instead of saying transform. Hunter's eyes widen and shakes his head as he sees Crosshair walk up behind the stranger “Um, don't turn around.” Hunter says to the stranger, hiding the alarm in his voice the best he can, but instead of the stranger turning around, Crosshair walks right up behind him. The stranger looks at Crosshair with a smile, but Hunter takes it completely the wrong way.

“Crosshair, no!!!” Hunter growls. There's no time for reaction, because Hunter is lunging at the stranger in an instant, knocking him back and making him slide across the cold, muddy ground.

Obi Wan groans and rubs the back of his head, then the sound of cracking and screaming makes him look back towards the place where he saw the man run at him and push him away with inhuman strength. Obi Wan's eyes widen to see the man transforming into a werewolf. He then runs and pins him down, growling menacingly. “Were you holding Echo captive?!!! To lead you to us and kill us?!!”

He then pulls his clawed hand up, sharp claws tapping the one end of his throat, ready to slit it. Obi Wan whimpers, trying to crawl out of the hold to no avail, but then Crosshair pushes the werewolf off of him, pulling him up and hiding him behind him. “Hunter, stop!” Obi Wan freezes, hearing the name Echo’s spoken about, his oldest, younger brother. He’s also heard the name as one of their best lifeguards in the summer.

“What are you doing?!! He's a human!!!” The wolf, Hunter, yells, but Echo runs over. “He's my manager, Hunter.” Hunter freezes, but then growls “The shitty one?” He asks, and Obi Wan would chuckle if he could from behind Crosshair, but he’s too scared.

Echo shakes his head “No, the nice one. My friend who gives me the extra money. This is Obi Wan.” Echo moves to Crosshair, gently pulling Obi Wan out. Obi Wan shakes a bit, as he sees Hunter looking him over.

“Are you one of the bad werewolves?” Obi Wan asks, making Hunter’s ears press back. “Uh, no. No I’m not. I’m sorry, I was protecting my brothers, I didn’t mean to… well… I’m so sorry.” He says sheepishly, but Obi Wan starts to calm down, letting out a tiny chuckle. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Hunter. I’m sorry, your brother had gotten beaten up, but me and Crosshair helped him. Then he transformed and… You probably know the rest.” Hunter nods, frowning and looking at Echo. “We will speak about this later, once Obi Wan leaves.” He tells him, making Echo nod.

Hunter then turns back to Obi Wan. “Well, guess we owe you dinner and an explanation.” Hunter chuckles nervously, and Obi Wan smiles. “Yes, thank you.” Hunter smiles, then Echo looks at Wrecker. “Think you can run and pick up a pizza?” He asks, and Wrecker nods. He runs to the truck and starts it, driving off. Echo picks up his phone to order quickly. Crosshair has an excited look, as Hunter chuckles. “Wrecker should only be about twenty minutes, so let's head inside.”

Obi Wan nods, following Hunter, Crosshair and Echo into the cabin. They walk to the living room, seeing the man with goggles sitting on the couch, a bottle of milk in his hand. Obi Wan looks towards the bundle of blankets, which are pulled to the man's chest even closer, a nervous look in his eyes. Obi Wan smiles kindly “Do you guys have a baby?” He asks, Echo nods and smiles “Yes, her name's Omega, she’s a baby werewolf. The man holding her is Tech.”

Tech still looks nervous, Echo notices “Don't worry, Tech. This is Obi Wan, the nice manager from work.” Obi Wan chuckles “Guess I'm known as the nice manager.” Tech laughs as well, nodding as he brings the bottle to Omega's mouth “Yes, we all despise the other one. It's nice to meet you, Obi Wan.”

Obi Wan smiles at the bundle of blankets, Echo noticing. “Would you like to meet her?” Obi Wan nods, then he walks over and round the back of the sofa, smiling down at the tiny, blonde werewolf in Tech's arms “She's a cutie.” Obi Wan coos, but Omega, who's still feeding, whines a little at the sight of the stranger. Tech rocks her gently “Shh, it's alright, Darling.”

Omega calms down, then Obi Wan looks at Tech “How old is she?” Tech looks at him “She's just over two weeks now. She isn't any of ours though.” Obi Wan nods, but then he's confused about how they have a baby werewolf, but then clicks in his mind. “I see. I guess I was right then. That werewolf that ran through town two weeks ago was pregnant.”

They look at him in shock, Hunter piping up “You saw her?” Obi Wan nods “Yes, I heard all of the townsfolk saying about how she was fat, but that was not what a fat wolf looked like. That fluid, she was ready to give birth then?”

They all have surprised looks, surprised with how much he knows “Yeah, she was-- how do you know so much?” Obi Wan didn't even realise that he was showing off his veterinary skills. “I have a degree in veterinary, but I have never been able to find a job around here to be a vet. I was going to run my own business, but I've noticed that no one really owns pets around here. Sorry, I'm probably boring you all, so where is she? The mother, I mean. Could I meet her?”

They all frown, looking at each other. “She didn’t make it, she bled out.” Tech tells him, making Obi Wan growl. “She went into early labor because of the townspeople chasing her, right? Those assholes.” He growls, making them all like Obi Wan even more. “Yeah, we didn’t even know Omega was there until she whined, we almost left the poor thing to freeze.” Echo explains, making Obi Wan frown. “Well, it’s good you found her.”

“Who wants Pizza!!!” Wrecker yells as he walks in, making Obi Wan chuckle a bit as he walks over. Obi Wan, Echo, Tech and Wrecker all sit on the couch to eat, as the werewolves, Hunter and Crosshair, sit on the floor. Echo runs and grabs them some plates, handing them out before sitting down. Then Wrecker starts handing out pizza.

“So, you’re the nice manager?” Wrecker asks, handing Obi Wan a slice of pizza and he chuckles, nodding. “Yes. Yes I am.” Wrecker gets a huge smile. “You’re the first human to know about us… who hasn’t tried to kill us, I mean. Any questions for this once in a lifetime experience.” Obi Wan nods. “Alright, maybe some true or false. Is it true that a silver bullet will kill you?” He asks, and Echo chuckles. “Pretty much we’re like humans in that aspect, except we heal faster.” Hunter explains.

“Who wouldn’t a silver bullet kill if it hits the right spot?” Tech questions, making Obi Wan nod. “Understandable. Do you guys act wolf-like? Like howling at the moon, or licking as a form of affection?” Echo smiles. “That’s true, we do act more wolf-like, but still human.”

Obi Wan hums “I see. Do other mythical creatures exist?” he asks, taking a bite of his pizza “We only know the existence of vampires, but we aren't very sure of others, such as witches, dragons, fairies, merpeople and a wider range of creatures.” Tech explains as he burps Omega, since she has finished her bottle.

“Interesting, so do vampires sparkle when they go into the sunlight?” Everyone grumbles, Crosshair facepalming “Did you get that idea from Twilight?” Obi Wan looks at him curiously “Yes, why?”

“Those films are so dumb. Everything about them is wrong. Vampires burn when they go into the light, and it's very very painful.” Echo explains, grimacing at the memory of when a vampire attacked them, how it's whole body burned until it was nothing but a pile of bones. “Ah, not very pleasant then.” Obi Wan laughs a little nervously.

Echo nods, then Obi Wan looks to the other werewolves. “You also look very different from movies, much fluffier.” Hunter chuckles. “Yeah, we are pretty fluffy. The ones on tv always have something that looks off about them, they just can’t get us right.” Obi Wan chuckles too. “I honestly like you guys better, now another question, if you bit me would I become a werewolf too?” Echo laughs and shakes his head. “No, for werewolves you need a specific gene. Actually, two humans could have a werewolf child, if they had the right genes, of course.”

Obi Wan hums. “That’s good, so are full moons real too? Since you always seem to rush out during those, Echo?” They all nod. “That’s the only thing you humans seemed to get right about us.” Crosshair grumbles, making Obi Wan smile at him. “That’s very interesting, I’m glad I know about you guys now, I can help Echo get out of the store earlier during full moons.”

Echo’s eyes widen. “You don't have to do that, Obi Wan.” Obi Wan smiles. “It’s alright, I don't mind. You are my friend.” Echo smiles, and then Hunter chuckles. “Yeah, I have to add. So sorry for never meeting you, we just… we get nervous around humans.”

Obi Wan nods at them, smiling kindly “That's completely understandable, us humans don't exactly trust each other either.” He takes a bite of pizza as Hunter agrees with him “That's true, we've heard of the wars between them, how they use guns and explosives to fight and kill. But I guess that all werewolves need is a sharp set of teeth and claws.”

Obi Wan nods, swallowing his mouthful of pizza as he looks at Hunter's claws “Yes, and I guess that they are much more efficient, seeming that you have them at hand. Quite literally at that.” Everyone laughs and continues to eat. “Thank you for trusting me. I know it must've been difficult since I am human.” Obi Wan looks at them all, Tech hums and pipes up “You're welcome. After all, you have helped Echo a lot and we are forever grateful for that.”

Obi Wan smiles, feeling overjoyed that his efforts to help out his friend have definitely paid off. A few minutes later, everyone finishes their pizza and Wrecker collects the boxes and takes them out to the garbage. They all sit around, then Obi Wan hums. “You know, I actually met a werewolf once before.” They all perk up. “Did you?” Echo asks, and Obi Wan nods. “Yeah, it was… my parents were driving me home from the library, and they almost hit it.. no, him. They almost hit him.”

They all frown, and Hunter looks at Obi Wan. “Did you get in an accident?” Obi Wan nods. “Yeah, I remember that my parents… they died, but I was pulled out of the car by the werewolf, then I passed out. When I woke up, the werewolf was gone, and a boy was there. He was the same age and told me that the werewolf had run away right after I passed out. I remember he… he kept me with him for a month and we became… friends. Then I woke up in an orphanage, and my brain must have blocked it out.” Hunter and Everyone looks at each other, this story is familiar, too familiar.

“Well, the brain does funny things when something traumatic happens. It must not have been able to separate the memories so it just blocked everything.” Tech comes to a conclusion, making Obi Wan nod.

He then looks at the time. “Crap, it’s late! I better be heading home.” Wrecker jumps up. “I can drive you home?” Obi Wan shakes his head. “No no, my home isn’t far, so I’ll walk. I’ll see you tomorrow Echo, and hopefully I can visit soon.” Echo nods as Obi Wan walks out the door.

Then he looks to the others. “Did that story sound familiar to you?” Echo asks, his face a little scrunched up in thought. They all nod “Yes, it did.” Crosshair pipes up, the Hunter adds in “It sounded a lot like Cody's story he told us of a human boy he saved.”

“Wait wait wait, that was him? The boy Cody told us about?” Wrecker asks, looking out of the window, watching as Obi Wan rounds the corner and disappears into the night. Tech hums “We should tell Cody.” Everyone looks at each other, then they nod. “Okay, I'll call him in the morning to see if he can come round in the afternoon, once Echo is back from work.” Hunter voices the plan for tomorrow, everyone else nodding in agreement.

“Okay, well I need to get some rest for tomorrow at work, so I'll see you guys in the morning.” Echo gets up, his legs a little shaky. He's overworked himself again, but he refuses to “be weak”. He makes his way up the stairs, Omega coos and then burps when she finishes her bottle. Tech smiles down at her and puts the empty bottle down, bringing her up into a sitting position against his chest, patting her back to burp her. She burps another time before she nuzzles into Tech's shoulder, yawning and feeling sleepy. “Aw, let's get you to bed now, Darling.” Tech runs a hand over her back, earning a sleepy coo from Omega in response.

Tech goes upstairs too, leaving Hunter, Wrecker and Crosshair. “I want a cuddle pile tonight with you guys.” Wrecker admits, walking over and snuggling into his brothers as they lie down. Hunter nuzzles his head “Of course, Vod'ika. Sleep well. You too, Crossy.” Crosshair gives a sleepy huff in response, making Hunter smile. They all drift off to sleep.

xxx

Soon enough, it's already the afternoon next day. Echo's shift is almost over, so Wrecker has gone to pick up today and Cody will be on his way to them. Hunter called him this morning, telling him that they needed to talk in person about something important. Hunter paces around the living room, Omega in his arms.

“Shh, it’s alright.” She’s crying, and he had no idea why. It seems to be just one of those times when babies cry, and it’s impossible to calm them. Hunter is in his human form at the moment, holding the pup close to his chest. “Shh, honey, what’s the matter?” He asks rhetorically, as the pup continues to wail. He starts singing softly to her, but even that doesn’t work.

“Come on, Sweetheart. It’s alright, I’m right here. And everyone else will back in a bit. Please stop crying.” He runs a hand through the fur on her head, and she nuzzles up into it. Hunter sighs softly, but then––“ when did you guys get a baby!!?” Hunter startles as he turns to see Cody standing in the doorway to the living room.

“Hey, Cody. Um, yeah. Sorry for not telling you, these past couple of weeks have been hectic. This is Omega.” Hunter starts to explain briefly, Omega crying and nuzzling into Hunter’s chest to hide her face. Cody walks into the room and stands next to Hunter. “Aww, she’s a real cutie,” He coos, frowning when she keeps wailing, then he looks at Hunter. “She one of yours’?”

Hunter shakes his head. “No, can we talk about this when the others get here? Wrecker has gone to pick Echo up from work, Crosshair is hunting and Tech is probably in the shed.” Cody nods, showing a kind smile to Omega when she peeps her face out to look at him, only to hide back into Hunter’s chest. “Of course. Is she alright?”

Hunter shakes his head “I’m not sure, she’s been crying for a while now. I’ve tried everything to calm her down. Feeding her, checking her diaper, Tech checked her temperature to see if she was sick or not. She isn’t, which is good. Oh, I even sang to her as well, but...yeah.” He explains, rubbing Omega’s back soothingly as she cries.

Cody is surprised “Even your singing didn’t help? Aw, she must really be upset.” He coos, reaching out and rubbing the top of her head. Omega flinches, but then she nuzzles shyly into his hand, realising that what the strange man is doing isn’t hurting her, but instead it feels nice and comforting.

“Have you tried rocking her?” Cody asks, making Hunter shake his head and begins to, but his movements are a bit too slow and he wobbles a bit. Cody places a hand on his shoulder. “Would you like me to hold her? You look exhausted, Hunter.” Cody offers, Hunter looking down at Omega then back up “Please, if you don’t mind.” He presses a soft kiss to the top of her head before handing her over to Cody.

Cody takes her gently into his arms, her wailing persists, making him frown and coo “Aww, shh. There there, lil’un, it’s alright.” He rocks her gently, swaying side to side and dancing around the room a little.

It takes a good ten minutes of the little dance, but she eventually stops crying, making Cody and Hunter both smile at each. “I’d also recommend getting her some toys, they might help her when she’s sad like this.” Hunter nods from his spot on the couch. “Yeah, we just… we haven’t had the time, but we’ll pick some up soon. Where did you learn that dancing trick?” He asks, making Cody smile.

“I’ve had lots of brothers, some by birth and some adopted. I know my way around young werewolves, I’ll give you guys all the info about baby werewolves later, I promise.” Hunter nods, smiling as Cody comes and sits down beside him, but Omega starts wailing again. It makes him chuckle and stand back up, starting the dance again.

“WE’RE HOME!!!” Wrecker yells as Hunter sits up to see Wrecker, Obi Wan and Echo. Then he sees Crosshair walking in as well, “The deer is in the backyard.” He says simply, making Hunter nod. “Go get Tech, then we can explain to these two why they are here.” Cody gives a curious look as Hunter gestures to him and the ginger haired man. Why does he look so familiar?

Tech then runs in, and Echo leads Obi Wan to the couch. “Alright, everyone but Cody sit down, since Cody is keeping Omega from crying.” They all nod, and sit down, Obi Wan giving a confused look.

“So this human knows about us?” Cody asks, and they all nod. “Cody, please tell us the story about that human boy you met?” Hunter asks, Cody looks at him and nods. “Well, it was about sixteen years ago when I was running through the woods, chasing after a fox. What I didn’t realise was that it was heading straight for a road. I ran out, not thinking about the cars that could be there, and that’s when I saw headlights coming straight for me.” Cody flinches at the memory, making them all frown.

“I thought that was it for me, but then the car swerved in a split second, avoiding me but hitting a tree instead. The car horn was constantly going, so I ran to the front of it and saw that the man driving was lying with his face turned towards me, his eyes open and lifeless. I opened the door and pushed his head off of the wheel to stop the horn. He was completely still and the woman had a tree branch piercing her chest.” Cody sees the man sat next to Echo looking at him with a shocked and confused look.

Cody carries on though “That’s when I heard crying, so I looked into the back and saw a boy my age just sat there and staring at the woman. I was sure that it could have been his mother. That’s when I pulled him out and tried to calm him down, since he was kicking and screaming, trying to get back to the car, then he passed out.”

Obi Wan is completely frozen, mouth agape. “I then transformed back to human and brought him to a cave. When he woke up I lied and told him the werewolf left, I kept him with me for a whole month and fell in love with him, but then…” Cody pauses, looking at the ginger haired man whose mouth is agape. “I had to return him to the humans, so when he was sleeping I took him to an orphanage and left him there.”

Obi Wan tears up, and when he and Cody lock eyes, he can’t take it anymore and runs out of the house.

“What?” Cody asks, and Hunter sighs. “He’s the boy from the story, Cody... the one you saved.” Cody stands there for a moment, frozen in place and unbelieving, then his eyes widen. “Wait...he...that was-- no, how’s that--” Cody doesn’t know what to think right now, struggling to believe that the man who just ran out of the cabin is the boy he saved.

Echo then pipes up, explaining a little more to Cody “He moved here a little over three years ago and became my other manager at the Blockbuster store I work at.”

Cody can’t believe this. He thought Obi Wan had still been living in the town he dropped him off in, closest to where the accident happened. “I-I...I need to go and talk to him. Can...oh god.” Cody holds his head, everything feeling too much right now. “Can someone take Omega please?” Cody asks frantically, needing to go and run after the man who is apparently Obi Wan.

Once Wrecker takes Omega off of him, he runs out of the cabin and into the snow. It would have been pitch black if not for the half moon and stars. He sniffs out the scent, noticing that he has run into the woods directly ahead of him. Cody goes running, following the scent for about a minute before he sees the man’s form just there in front of him, kneeling on the ground.

Cody slowly walks closer, moving to stand in front of-- “Obi Wan?” Cody asks, kneeling down in front of him.

Obi Wan growls. “You left me!! Why!!? I thought--” He chokes back a sob as tears flow freely down his face, breaking Cody’s heart. “I thought you loved me…”

The heartbreak, the anger. This cannot be faked, this is Obi Wan, this is the young boy, now man, Cody had fallen for all those years ago. The one Cody has loved every day since, the one he had wanted to be his mate. “Obi Wan…” he whines, then he loses control, kneeling down on the ground and ripping his jacket and shirt off, making Obi Wan's eyes widen.

“What--” a large crack interrupts him, making Obi Wan gasp as Cody starts to grow larger, and he watches him go through the transformation, fur growing all over Cody's Body. His ears grow pointy and move to the top of his head, as his mouth elongates and a large, fluffy tail grows from his backside. He now has clawed hands and feet as well.

Cody looks at him, fully transformed. There are tears in his eyes, as he lets out sob after sob and curls up on the ground. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He chants and whines, hiding his face in his hands. He can’t believe this. This is the boy he had left at an orphanage all those years ago.

Obi Wan sniffles, partially from the freezing cold and from his sobbing that has ceased. This is Cody, the one who saved him and fell in love with him. The one he had shared his first kiss with. He was the werewolf that saved him, he is the werewolf he just yelled at for abandoning him and now he is broken down and a sobbing mess on the floor.

Too lost in thought, Obi Wan has subconsciously been moving closer to Cody, wanting nothing but to comfort him right now. “Cody...I’m...I’m sorry. Don’t apologise, you haven’t done anything wrong--” “I left you! I’m such an idiot, I just thought that you would be safer there. But instead I made you think that I abandoned you!” Cody sobs out, his claws jabbing into his head, almost piercing the skin, making Obi Wan frown. “Stop, Cody, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

Cody shrugs “I deserve it. I was scared that you wouldn’t be safe, I...I wanted to do the right thing for you.” Obi Wan shakes his head “No, no! You don’t deserve this, Cody, not in the slightest. I shouldn't have just assumed, or even said, that you abandoned me. That was wrong of me, I see that now. I still love you, Cody. I love you so fucking much and I don’t want to let you go, or let me go, ever again. You saved me, and that’s something I want to repay you for, I want to do that by spending the rest of our lives together.”

Obi Wan cries again, leaning down and placing his forehead against the backs of Cody’s hands. He then gently holds one of them, sitting up and trying to pull one away. “Please, Cody. don’t hurt yourself.” Obi Wan begs, making Cody finally relax his hands and letting Obi Wan gently pull it away.

Obi Wan gently laces their fingers together, Cody’s hand dwarfing his own by a lot. Cody’s wide eyes look at Obi Wan with so much uncertainty, and fear. But Obi Wan just leans over and gently kisses Cody’s forehead.

“I… I love you too, Obi Wan. More than anything else in this life.” Cody sits up and pulls Obi Wan into his lap, making the ginger man smile and nuzzle into the fur. “You should have told me, I… I think you look very handsome like this, Love.” Cody smiles softly, nuzzling against the top of Obi Wan's head.

Cody’s tail wags at the compliment, blushing under his fur. Obi Wan smiles and chuckles “You like that? Me calling you handsome?” Cody nods and licks the top of Obi Wan’s head. Obi Wan then looks up at him with a slightly confused look, but not a disgusted one. “It’s my way of showing affection, so it’s like a kiss but just in a wolf way.” Cody explains shyly, but Obi Wan nuzzles his fur “Then you can do it as many times as you like, because I love it. I love you, Cody.”

Cody hugs Obi Wan close, licking his hair and wrapping his arms securely around his long lost lover, keeping him safe from the pesky frostbite that threatens to make him cold. Cody then smiles and really just wants to let out how he feels “Obi Wan, I...get if what I’m about to say is uncomfortable, so I totally understand if you’re weirded out or--” “Love, it’s okay. You can tell me your deepest, darkest secret and I would never stop loving you. Okay?” Obi Wan assures him, making Cody wag his tail again. “Thank you. Well, when we were kids, I wanted you to be my mate, but...I wasn’t sure back then if you would still love me if you knew what I was, but now…” Cody trails off, feeling embarrassed.

Obi Wan catches on, feeling surprised that Cody wants him to be his mate “You know now that I still love you, and...you want me to be your mate?” The question is a shot in the dark, but Cody nods, happy that Obi Wan understood, so he nods. Obi Wan cups Cody’s face “Then I’ll be your mate.”

Cody lets out a rumble of content from deep within his chest, basking in the presence of his long, lost lover. Obi Wan buries himself into Cody’s fur, enjoying the comforting warmth. His sniffles die down as he warms up, since Cody is keeping the cold from nipping at his skin, but he still lets out a sneeze. Cody smiles softly, pulling Obi Wan impossibly closer. “Want to go back now? I’m sure the others would have the fireplace going by now, so we’ll go and get cozy. I’ll make you a hot cup of cocoa too if you want?”

Obi Wan hums with content “That sounds wonderful.” He kisses the side of Cody’s snout, his eyes fluttering closed as he snuggles into Cody. He yelps in surprise when Cody repositions him so he’s carried bridal style. Cody gives him a small smile as he picks up his jacket and shirt before carrying Obi Wan back to the cabin.

It takes them a few minutes, but they arrive back. Cody was right, the fire in the lounge is crackling away, emitting a warm glow. Cody walks up the few steps and places Obi Wan down. “I’ll transform out here so I don’t scare the pup.” The pup--? Oh he means Omega. “Okay, no worries at all. I’ll see you in there.” He reaches up to cup Cody’s face for a moment before heading inside.

He’s met with warm, comforting smiles. “Hey, Obi Wan.” They’re speaking quieter than usual. Omega has fallen asleep next to Hunter on the couch, making small cooing sounds as she sleeps peacefully. He walks over and takes a seat on the smaller, empty couch. He takes a small, deep breath and smiles.

“Everything okay now? You seem happier.” Tech observes, Obi Wan nods “Yes, we talked for a little bit, mainly just making up. We’re fine now. Cody had transformed, so he’s just transforming back.”