#i dunno i think that's all the big news stories from ya girl that are fit to print

[spectrechosts]

Misc. Short Demon Stories

Untitled stories about demons that weren't written as part of my Vandalize series. Second one probably fits into it though.

"What'cha guys watching?"

"One a them creepy girlchildren found Zep's summoning circle in a book, she's trying to make offerings."

"Oh shit, lemme see."

The three demons stood over a misty scrying pool, and in it's waters watched a young girl chanting in her treehouse, summoning circle etched into the wood, a dead bird in the center.

"Nice. Love getting summoned by weird little girls, they want the best shit."

"Last time I got one she gave me three baby teeth and 15 canadian dollars in exchange for making her good at drawing Inuyasha."

"Did you give her the whole show or just the character?"

The demon shrugged.

"I made her good at drawing in general."

"Softie. You gonna pick up or what, Zep?"

"Nah. I mean, if she had killed the bird it'd be one thing, but she just found it on the sidewalk."

"She's like ten, you want her to kill a bird?"

"I want her to do something. Prick her finger, I dunno. Hang on, I'm getting another call."

The scrying pool shifted to show a man etching the summoning circle into the flesh of a headless corpse.

"Oh, this fucking guy again. Hate getting serial killers."

"Ooh I'm decapitating people and carving occult symbols into their flesh, look at me! Dickheads. Get new material."

"Go back to the kid, this sucks."

The pool shifted back to the treehouse, where the child was dripping blood from the tip of her finger onto the dead bird.

"YEAAHHH!"

"NICE!"

"Okay okay, I'll go see what she wants."

Zep dissipated into smoke, and the two others waited, the scrying pool no longer showing the child now that the summons had been answered. After a few long minutes, she reappeared.

"Well?"

"The pact has been made. Her parents will agree to get her a puppy. And in exchange…"

She took a stack of foil packets out of her sleeve.

"Pokemon cards."

"Siiiiiiiick."

~

"I uh, I think that there's been um, some kind of mistake?" Kaylee said, looking very intently at the ceiling of her room.

"It's okay hun, don't be shy! Lotta people do this, it's no big thing." Said the succubus now lounging in the center of her room, clad only in a-

To call it a slutty nurse outfit was an understatement. This was slutty costume design on a level mortal minds could never dream to achieve.

"No, no there's actually been a mistake." Kaylee said, her face burning. "You're very pretty, but I was looking for uh, actual medical help."

"And you got it, doll! Hell's very own gender affirming care agency, at your service!" The succubus beamed at her. "How can we help you today?"

Kaylee flicked her eyes back to the demon, made sure she was seeing correctly.

"You look like a succubus?"

"What kind of demon do you think should be handlin' your sexy bits? Gettin' you all prettied up? Trust me doll, when it comes to fleshcraft there ain't nobody better! Whaddaya want?"

Kaylee swallowed. She really hadn't expected this to actually work.

"Um. Just, you know. Girl I guess. Make me a girl."

"Gotta give me more to work with than that, hon. What're you having trouble with?" The demoness said, slinking up to her and throwing an arm around her shoulder familiarly. "Tell your pal Vicky how mortal medicine's failed ya, I'll see what I can do."

"I, I dunno, all of it I guess?" Kaylee shrank inward, clutching her own elbows. She had never said any of this out loud to anyone before. "It's just so daunting, you know? Trying to get psychiatrists to put you on waiting lists to get on pills that'll take years to do anything. I want it to be easy."

"Well don't you worry toots, we pride ourselves on being easy."

Kaylee cracked a tiny smile, she had walked right into that one.

"Alright I'm gonna ask you some questions, just answer as honestly as you can."

Vicky poofed to the other side of the room, sitting in Kaylee's computer chair with a clipboard in one hand and a cigarette holder in the other. "So tell me doll, what kinda timeline you looking for here?" She said, taking a drag while she waited for Kaylee's answer.

"Fast, I guess? Faster than it would be otherwise."

"How important is retaining a resemblance to your current appearance, family, etc."

"Um. Depends on the end result I guess?"

"How important is it that people not realize your transition was magically aided?"

"Not very?"

"Would you want people to remember you as always having been a girl?"

"You can do that?"

"Sure can, hon. Expensive though."

"…Depends on the person, I guess?"

"Mm. Okay, you're giving me very noncommittal answers here sugar. Want me to just run through the basic contracts for you?"

"S-Sorry. Sure."

"Okay. Cheap or expensive first?"

"Cheap."

"Ugh, c'mon doll, show some moxie! We're doin' magic here! You deserve more than the bare minimum!"

"Are you just saying that because you want to eat my soul?"

"Ehehe, a lady never tells." Vicky said coyly.

"Cheap, please."

"Fiddlesticks."

[faterpresources]

Sᴘɪᴅᴇʀ-Mᴀɴ : Aᴄʀᴏss ᴛʜᴇ Sᴘɪᴅᴇʀ-Vᴇʀsᴇ (2023) - Pᴀʀᴛ 1

A collection of random lines compiled from the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) Feel free to change the pronouns in order to better suit the parts involved.

❝ Is the song over? ❞

❝ Will you adopt me? ❞

❝ I don't feel grown up. ❞

❝ God, I need a raise. ❞

❝ You hit me with a bagel! ❞

❝ I've hit a lot of different villains with a lot of different food! ❞

❝ Do you speak Italian? ❞

❝ I am basically an adult! ❞

❝ You don't even have a driver's license! ❞

❝ We saved the multiverse! ❞

❝ I'm telling ya, I can feel it. ❞

❝ Okay. Knock yourself out. ❞

❝ I'm going to rob your face! ❞

❝ Just breathe. We got you. ❞

❝ Great. Is this your goose? ❞

❝ I don't know how to fix this. ❞

❝ I'm from another dimension. ❞

❝ Everything's gonna be okay. ❞

❝ You leave... everybody leaves. ❞

❝ I've leveled up my whole thing! ❞

❝ I can hear you being quiet, ___. ❞

❝ Oh, wow. Is this curry powder? ❞

❝ This should be simple enough. ❞

❝ I just saved a bunch of people! ❞

❝ For you, it's just a Tuesday night. ❞

❝ I'm not your guy/girl in the chair. ❞

❝ I think they look great, I dunno. ❞

❝ Sir, please! Just let me rob you! ❞

❝ This job is so dumb sometimes! ❞

❝ Okay, let's do this one last time. ❞

❝ Is this... that... dangerous mask? ❞

❝ Did you order the cake for tonight? ❞

❝ We're talking about it, aren't we? ❞

❝ He/She's really corny. But so hot! ❞

❝ Having a story at all seems gross. ❞

❝ He/She... kicked his/her own butt. ❞

❝ How's the manhunt for me going? ❞

❝ You don't look like a good guy/girl! ❞

❝ Branding was never my strong suit.❞

❝ Let's do things differently this time. ❞

❝ Hey, where'd the goose come from? ❞

❝ Maybe he/she didn't have a choice. ❞

❝ We'll say I'm a scientist. I was. I am! ❞

❝ I'm going to put my head in that hole. ❞

❝ Can't have your cake and eat it, too. ❞

❝ Unless you bake two cakes! ❞

❝ Uh... I don't wanna argue about this. ❞

❝ Alright, no politics at the dinner table. ❞

❝ I didn't wanna hurt him/her. But I did. ❞

❝ Well... why are you saying it like that? ❞

❝ I thought I knew the rest, but...I didn't. ❞

❝ How long have you been lying to me? ❞

❝ I really would've come to see you sooner. ❞

❝ Who laughs in the middle of a fight? ❞

❝ You think you know the rest. You don't. ❞

❝ What? How many of these did you take? ❞

❝ Hey, don't try to wow me with big words. ❞

❝ We're gonna need all the help we can get. ❞

❝ I'm just trying to lighten the mood, y'know...? ❞

❝ So, you want me to handle this one, or...? ❞

❝ I don't think I want this costume anymore. ❞

❝ Yeah, I don't know what any of that means. ❞

❝ Well, screaming their name usually works. ❞

❝ You're just gonna have to shut up and trust- ❞

❝ That's your story! Now, just stick to the script. ❞

❝ Ohh, I'll take the mic. No more mics for you. ❞

❝ Yeah, I'm smiling like it's a joke, but it's true. ❞

❝ What cursed world have you brought me to? ❞

❝ I never really made another friend, after that. ❞

❝ Who are you running around with, anyway? ❞

❝ What'd you call me? You realize I'm right here. ❞

❝ Ohh, this here is why nobody likes us, man. ❞

❝ Why would anyone be scared to talk to me?! ❞

❝ Hey, it's New York. Everyone's got their thing. ❞

❝ Never did come up with a cool name for that... ❞

❝ I joined it so I could hit my feelings with sticks! ❞

❝ I'm just... a really emotionally intelligent guy/girl. ❞

❝ Why wear a mask if you've got nothing to hide? ❞

❝ Nothing is more important than management. ❞

❝ I'm sorry, who exactly are you supposed to be? ❞

❝ Your costume's too tight in the back, by the way! ❞

❝ Oh, yeah. That sounds like a really good fake job. ❞

❝ You're in this to help people, right? Right? So am I! ❞

❝ Bad guy/girl? He/She's barely a villain of the week! ❞

❝ Sounds like he maybe shouldn't practice medicine. ❞

❝ You know, it really is always so great to talk to you. ❞

❝ I didn't join a band so I could talk about my feelings! ❞

❝ What do you mean I don't know that? I do know that. ❞

❝ Take a good look at my great fire from my backpack! ❞

❝ The power of the multiverse in the palm of my hand. ❞

❝ How much longer can I keep lying about who really I am? ❞

❝ Which is it? Hands in the air, or get down on the ground? ❞

❝ Dude/girl, you don't hang out, and you don't wanna talk... ❞

❝ It's really fun cleaning up your shocking mess, by the way. ❞

❝ I mean... how many people can you talk to about this stuff? ❞

❝ I was actually considered handsome, by scientist standards. ❞

❝ It was inconsiderate and super rude! ...And a little cocky... oof! ❞

❝ I wouldn't play with fire, dude/girl, you're kind of made of paper! ❞

❝ Can't you just act like a regular super villain so I can catch you? ❞

❝ Yo, if you don't tell someone what's going on you're gonna snap.  ❞

❝ He/She hasn't always had it easy. And he/she's not the only one. ❞

❝ You're acting like weird stuff like this happens to you all the time. ❞

❝ I lead an elite strike force dedicated to the security of the multiverse. ❞

❝ I always wanted to be in a band. Guess I just never found the right one. ❞

❝ Can we focus on the big fire-breathing threat to time and space, please?! ❞

❝ I've never robbed anybody in my life, please don't make this a bad experience for me! ❞

❝ Can you stop talking about your holes? You're making everyone uncomfortable over here. ❞

❝ I mean, it's more of a meta-commentary on what we call art, but it's... it...it's also...art? ❞

❝ Look, there is a big flying turkey from the renaissance I have to bring to justice, so if you don't mind. ❞

❝ Now I'm stuck putting everybody back where they belong before all of time and space collapses! ❞

❝ You left a hole wide enough for guys/girls like him/her to randomly get shot into the wrong dimension! ❞

[silent-raven13]

Hey Miles! Check this out!

Miles turns to Gwen being surprised by her calling out for him, then he stares at a strange object: What is that?

Gwen holds an artificial baby bump: It's a fake pregnant bum! Turns out for our new mission we need a pregnant woman at the one of the locations! We need to see if this looks good on you!

Miles blinks in surprise: What! No way! I'm tired of dressing like a girl most of our missions! Why don't you or Pav?

Gwen giggles: Come on, Miles. You know the rules! We vote who gets to dress as a woman! Besides, Pav is already trying it out!

He groans: UGH! But it's always me in the end! Pav makes a pretty girl, too! -Pouting like a child-

The blond Spider Ghost laughs as she pulls Miles to one of the mission rooms where they keep disguises. Miles 2023 was there having to breast feed his pups looking so drained and exhausted. Lupe handed juice to him and Miles 2020. Miles 2023 groans seeing his other pup, Jeff crying for his meal: Aye, mi bebé, hold on. I need to finish your sisters! -he had one pup on each of his nipples showing off his chest-

Miles 2020 giggles: I remember those days. It'll be non-stop.

Lupe chuckles in amusement: You guys don't do formula?

Miles 2020 commented: Well, you can but in the Omega-verse, you want to breast fed your pups so they can feel your connection, scent-

Miles 2023: and purring! Each omega and Alpha parents have a certain purring to their pups, so when they are endanger they can call to them in a similar way.

Lupe: Oh wow. How do you two do it? Especially with triplets?

They look at her being exhausted: We survive!

When Gwen and Miles 1610 arrive inside the room, Miles 1610's eyes gleam seeing the babies: Awe, they're here! Awe, why is little man crying! -he pouted a the baby boy being fussy on Miles 2020's lap-

Miles 2023 sighs: I'm trying to finish feeding his sisters, but they look so hungry! Ahh, I dunno if they are full! Being a parent is so hard! -he softly weeps-

Lupe hums: It's all about figuring out.

Miles 2020 nodded: You'll get use to it. Tho, Karla looks about done. -He saw the little girl with golden eyes and freckles pulling away from her daddy's nipple being full.

Karla made a sound like: Beh...

Miles 2020 switch the pups: Time to burp her! Crazy how different our universes are. You have two girls and a boy, while I have two boys and a girl! -He burped the little one seeing how she made sounds- Heh, considered lucky you didn't a Mariana. -he felt exhausted thinking about his feisty little girl, she's one hyper feral pup-

Gwen giggles: She's always hyper. I never see her sleep.

Miles 2020 gave a weak laugh: She takes forever to sleep.

Miles 2023: Riri struggles a bit. -Seeing how his pup finished. He look at Miles 1610- Do you want to burp her?

Miles 1610 nodded: Sure. -He pick up the pup with green eyes- Wow, she smells sweet. -Riri had her big eyes on Miles being confused yet she knows this wasn't her daddy-

Lupe said: Sometimes when Omegas with their pups have this sweet scent that we noticed but not in too much detail. It's faint to us but for Alphas, Betas and Omegas knows an Omega and pup is near by.

Miles 1610 burping Riri: Wow, that's crazy.

Pavtri was already out of the dressing room showing off his female dress with a pregnant baby bum: Look at this! I look pretty good, huh? -he got them look at his disguise-

Lupe claps being pleased: Ohh nice. Your giving Boho Chic?

Pavtri twirls: Ya! I can be the hipster mom trying organic methods for a healthy pregnancy.

Gwen: Wow, you look good pregnant Pav!

Pavtri cup his fake baby bump: You think? You know, I got this whole story for this disguise! Call me, Nyra. A single mother to be and trying to finish college to get my Masters in Business and Marketing. My little one is a girl which gonna be named, Kiara. I'm trying to do it all while dealing with the woes emotions of my pregnancy. -He dramatically place his rest on his forehead as he leans back.-

Gwen said: and who's the baby daddy?

Pavtri: Uhhh, still working on it.

Lupe: Gotta be a rich man that can't marry a working class woman.

Pavtri gasps: That's a good one! I'ma use that! -His eyes gleams at Miles- Miles, are you gonna dress up!

Miles snorted: Now way I-

Everyone around him: Awe, come on, Miles. You would look so cute.

Miles gave in to peer pressure, he handed Riri to Lupe as he went inside the dressing room: Why am I always the girl? -he put on the fake baby bum around his waist, then felt bashful when he saw himself in the mirror. He does look like he's pregnant!-

Gwen tosses him a dress and a wig over the dressing room door: Hey, try these on! We need to see the whole look.

Miles saw the maternity red dress: Alright -his voice sounding grumpy-

Gwen giggles have to text Hobie to come by the disguise sector. The punker in no time came as he read there was the pups of 2023. When the punker arrived, his whole body turned pink when he saw the pups staring at him with their big doe eyes on him assuming they were their dada! They happily made purring sounds wanting him to carry them.

Miles 2023 giggles: They think your their da-da.

Hobie 138b being pink happily holds one of the pups: I would gladly take his place -he saw Riri giggling at him, her chubby hands touching his face being surprised how this man looks so much of her da-da- Yes, luv? Surprise how I look so much of your pa?

Riri made sounds being amazed: Lulululu

Miles 2023 smiles: Awe, she likes you. She's such a da-da's girl. -As he breast fed his son, who's eagerly hungry- Aye, mi bebé, slow down. -Jeff huffs in response to his daddy-

Miles 1610 came out of the dressing room without wearing the wig, but with the red dress on: Guys, I look ridiculous! Really? I got broad shoulders! -He stops himself spotting his boyfriend in the same room-

Hobie's eyes widen his whole body turning bright pink causing Riri's eyes to gleam at her dad's variant sparkling: Ohh!

The rest giggles at the way Hobie felt like an extremely wave moment of joy, his eyes soften: Luv, you look...

Miles 1610 awkwardly answer: Weird?

Hobie: Breathtaking.

That got his Sunflower looking bashful: Bae... your just saying stuff.

Hobie: Never. You look beautiful as a pregnant lad, if I can impregnant you. I would.

Miles 2023 giggles: Careful, Miles. A Hobie will find a way.

Pavtri giggles: For real! Hobie been having baby fever for a while.

Miles 2020: I know when my mate got the first chance to give me pups, he did. -Holding Karla in his arms, who's golden eyes gleaming at the omega-

Riri yank Miles 1610: Ahh!

Miles 1610 took the baby girl in his arms which cause Hobie to hug them: Luv, I want kids! -he love the sight and idea of having his Sunflower pregnant-

Miles 1610: Bae, you and your baby fever. -he gave a little snort-

[cve-th3mvsic]

i should probably have an “intro” post

hi, i’m tobias ^^ toby is cool too

(i based this off of @stanleyvampire14 ‘s intro because i didn’t really know how to do one)

i have a side blog: [ @askblog-cvesocs ] if you wanna check that out ^^ i plan on posting at least once daily, but sometimes i may not get to it.

My pronouns page if you wanna check it out

i’m on an inactive spree at the moment. — i’ll post something from time to time. js to say somethin. but probably not very often.

— i don’t currently have the mental capacity to interact much, but if you would like to interact with me, feel free to<3 i’m very welcoming, i promise

(↑ mostly inactive as of july 30th, 2024)

More about me

• my pronouns: he/him, it/its

• INFJ-A (dunno if this means anything to you, but that’s okay)

• i’m 5’9

• i’m a sagittarius

• i am on the spectrum. i struggle with social cues sometimes. when i talk to people, it’s difficult to tell if they’re annoyed or uninterested when they are. — i use tone tags like (/j), (/nm) (/pos) (/lh) (/neu) and so on. i also separate things often — in text, ya know. like with brackets “[]” and parentheses, because it makes more sense for my brain. i will often ask questions for clarification, so if it may be a “common sense” kind of thing i ask about, i genuinely don’t know.

my brain works a lot differently than others’ do. i may not be able to comprehend things as quickly as others, so please bare with me.

• i always speak my mind. if i have an opinion on somethin, there’s a big chance that ima say it. — i’ll most likely say the first thought that comes to mind pretty often. just to say it tbh. (i do very often say the first thought that comes to mind, i’ll be like “i almost said ___. that’s crazy”)

___

[more below the cut]

• likes:

[writing] — i have a story that i haven’t written yet. it’s called “shit talker”. if you wanna hear all about it, i can totally yap to you about it. — i’ve actually gotten some writing done lately, which i’m proud of! i’ve been working on it (the new rewrite) since september 5th, and so far i’ve got two (and a half?) scenes written.

—[my most favorite song artists]: [the shins] , [vacations] , [phoenix] , [ellie goulding] , [pastel ghost]

—[top 5 favorite songs (at the moment)]:

•| “When You Sleep” by my bloody valentine (this is my number one most favorite song of all time.)

•| “Girl On the Wing” by The Shins

•| “Sticks & Stones” by Jónsi

•| “Where No One Goes” by Jónsi & John Powell

•| “Don’t Save Us from the Flames” by M83

—[my favorite colors]:

•| green

•| purple

•| yellow

•| brown

(i can’t color the words the way i wanna ☹️)

• dislikes:

—throwing up/mentions of throwing up. i have emetophobia. i do not like the words vomit or throw up. they make me extremely uncomfortable and it even makes me feel sick. (even writing this is making me feel sick)

[i will let you know if i don’t like something or i’m uncomfortable.]

other things:

• i watched fruits basket. (the newer one, not the old one) I LOVE FRUITS BASKET IT MAKES ME SOOO EMOTIONALLL I LOVE ITTTT

• i like to write, or at least think about my story in my head. — i have a shit ton of ocs. i have like 30+ ocs, most of which only have a name and little to no background, but there’s still plenty of ocs that have yet to be cooked up. my brain wants as many as possible.. — i have 14 main ocs. they all have the most background and have lore.

• i love the sturniolo triplets (they’re fun and i love their humor so much)

• i roleplay. i honestly see it as writing with another person. — i haven’t written with other people very much, but i’d like to ^^ if you wanna rp or write with me, lmk!! if you haven’t noticed already, i type a lot. when i rp, i write as if i’m writing a book. i use more than one oc when i roleplay.

___

last updated: (10/16/2024) — october 16th, 2024 — 7:26pm

___

[anneimaginesundertale]

Oh oh oh, I got a cute one! Someday and Sansy, think Sansy would practice his routine with her ^-^

Sansy poked his head into the playroom and grinned. Someday had set up all the stuffed animals in rows and was standing in front of them as if she was on a stage. His niece had put on a big blue jacket and pink fluffy slippers, and she had a beanie on her little skull.

"Thank you," she said to her plush audience. "Telling all my jokes makes me really tired, so I have to go take a big long nap now! Yaaaay!"

Sansy clapped his hands as Someday took a bow. "Sorry I missed the show," he said, walking into the room. "Sounded like you had a real good set there."

"Uncle Sansy!" All show-based weariness forgotten, the little girl rushed into her uncle's arms. She hugged him tightly and beamed up at him. "I'm you!" she said. "I did all your jokes!"

"Oh well now I'm really sorry I missed it," Sansy said, hugging her back. "Would you do it again for me?"

"Maybe later," she said, slumping against him. "I'm tired. But I didn't wanna take a nap with the twins, so Mama said play quiet."

"I see." He scooped her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. At four, she was just starting to get really tall, her long legs so similar to her daddy's. "You think I could do a show for you then?" he asked. "I got some new material I need to test on my best critic."

"Yeah, I guess we can do that," she said, nestling her head against his shoulder. "You put me down in the front row."

"As you wish, cher." He cuddled her for a moment and carefully picked his way across the room to put her in the front row of the plushies, moving a few of them to new seats to accomodate the guest of honor. Someday sat down criss cross and pushed her pink glasses up her nasal bone.

"I'm ready for the show!" she declared.

Sansy took his spot on the "stage". "Hey everybody, it's Sansy!"

"Yaaaay! Hi Sansy!" Someday clapped and Sansy gave a little bow.

"So glad to be here in the Playroom, doin' the naptime show. I heard we got a very special guest in the audience this afternoon -- my oldest niece, Miss Someday Joy Gaster! This little lady is four years old and already a comedian. Her daddy asked me how she got so good and I told him, bro, it's obvious. She inherited your funny bones!"

Someday (and the stuffed audience) cheered and clapped.

Sansy continued. "I'm tellin' ya, folks, this little girl gives me my best material. She is one humerus little lady, and when she's with me, she always wants to practice jokes. She'll tell me knock knock jokes. She goes, Knock knock!" He pretended to knock. "I say, Who's there? I'm expecting somethin' silly and little kiddish, like Poop, but this girl is too good for preschool jokes! She goes, Someday. Now folks, that's her own name. I think, oh, maybe she forgot how these jokes go. Nope. I go, Someday who? And folks, this little girl--my favorite four year old in the whole wide world--she goes, Someday my prince will come! And she sings it! In a beautiful little voice. I ain't even doin' it justice here. And I just fall over laughing."

In the audience, someone had fallen over. Big Mr. Ted, who had been seated next to Someday, was flat on his fluffy face. Sansy watched Someday lay down next to him, on her side so she could still see him. Her sockets were starting to droop.

Sansy kept going. "I got so many Someday stories," he said. "She comes home from pre-k one day and tells me another new joke. She says, Why did the chicken cross the road? I say, I dunno, baby. To get to the other side? She says, No! No, Uncle! He crossed the road to get to his uncle's house to hear him be silly. I say, baby, don't you ever cross the road to get hear me being silly. She looks at me and she goes, Oh, I don't hafta cross the road. You be silly right in my house! All day long. And I'm on the floor laughing again."

Someday's sockets were closed. Big Mr. Ted was doing double duty as a pillow. Sansy lowered his voice. "That's all the time we got today, folks. Somebody's gotta take a big ol' nap. Actually, two somebodies. Thank you. You been a great crowd."

He took a little bow that turned turned into a crouch. Carefully, he scooped up Someday and Mr. Ted. She cuddled against his chest. "All done?" she mumbled.

"All done, sweet girl. You're my best audience." He kissed her little forehead. "You wanna nap in your room?"

"I wan' your bed."

"You got it, sweetheart."

"You nap too?"

"I sure will." He carried her out of the playroom to his bedroom. It was neater than it used to be. Laundry in the hamper, trash in the trashcan. Most of the mess was the kids' toys, which had migrated into his room (and everywhere else in the house). He lay down on the bed with Someday, letting the little girl cuddle against him.

From this position, he could see his wall of sticky notes. In the very center of it was a big poster-sized sticky note (courtesy of Anne's classroom). On it was a crayon masterpiece depicting a lady in purple, a tall skeleton with glasses, a short skeleton in a blue jacket and a beanie, and three little skeletons. Among the hearts and stars drawn around it were two words, written in the shaky hand of a precocious pre-kindergartener. My family. Sansy's soul felt like it was going to explode with happiness as he drifted off to sleep with his little niece in his arms.

[foxingpeculiar]

FF7 R&R:

Alright. I'm now at the point where Cloud is about to leave Aerith's house in the night, after the Rude boss fight. I took a bunch of random notes as I went through, so this is me looking at those:

So there's the whole secret mission with Jessie. It's heartbreaking watching her blame herself for what happened at the #1 Reactor when we know it wasn't her fault. Also, I don't think I knew her last name was Raspberry, but that's kind of fun.

The stuttering Shinra officer during the warehouse raid. He's afraid of us. Just a guy doing a job. This game is doing a lot with that--the way people are responding to Shinra's news reports, the Shinra employees who kind of support the company because it's the way of life they know, but they're sort of ambivalent about it. It's doing a lot to try and hammer home the difficulty and cost of what AVALANCHE is doing. And Tifa kind of embodies that--she's clearly uncomfortable with the bombing mission, despite her commitment to the cause (and membership in what is an apparently extremist splinter cell).

I dunno what Roche's deal is. He's obviously a little unbalanced, but is he just a guy that's gonna show up from time to time, or does he fit into this somehow?

Do we know why Wutai and Midgar were fighting? I remember that being kind of there in the original, but I don't think that game went into it very much. This game seems much more oriented about creating a kind of post-war environment, and especially with Yuffie around somewhere, I wonder if we'll get more into that history there.

It's fun watching Wedge kind of poke at Cloud's defenses. With the three girls (Tifa, Aerith, Jessie), Cloud has a certain... I dunno, way about him. The various different flavors of flirtatiousness there kind of throws him off guard. But with a "bro," we see him trying to be super cool and kind of failing at it. ("Why you gotta be such a hardass all the time, bro?") I like Wedge's character for that, but we don't have much backstory on him, do we? Jessie has a whole thing (her being an actress and her dad with Mako poisoning), and we get a little bit of Biggs when we're at the Leaf House--that he used to be a teacher/founder there. But Wedge is still kind of a mystery--how does a kid like that end up on illegal bombing missions?

I think it's funny that, after they get back from Jessie's whole thing, Tifa has this moment with Cloud where he's actually willing to open up to her and she kind of dodges him, even though she's been the one pushing up to that point. Their relationship is interesting that way, the sort of dance they're doing.

So I remember that the Whispers or whatever are doing something related to like... fate, and guiding the story. And they stop attacking Sector 7 when Jessie gets injured and can't go on the mission anymore, meaning Cloud has to. But how is that connected to Aerith and Sephiroth and the Cetra and shit? I don't remember if we get an explanation of that in Remake, or if that's a lingering mystery going into Rebirth.

lol @ Barrett on the train, "we might stand out as a group." Really? The guy with the sword as big as he is and the giant dude with a gun for an arm might stand out? Ya think?

They make a big deal about what Mako smells like in the #5 Reactor. I wonder what that scent is. I like the hints its dropping when Tifa says "It takes me back."

The Whispers stop Cloud from killing Reno. He has a part to play yet. (Which, obviously... but y'know). Also, it's interesting that Aerith makes a joke about how they go for her because they're going for "the stronger prey," but she is. I can't remember how much about that she knows--who she is and what she's capable of.

Aerith's house is cool.

Rude is also cool. The moment where Cloud cracks his sunglasses and he just pulls out another pair absolutely slayed me.

But not much else has. I died to Shiva in Chadley's little VR thing ("I've done it! I've developed a new materia!" is right up there with "I've discovered a new recipe!" from 15) a couple of times, and Reno got a little touch and go for a second, but mostly it's still not too bad, difficulty-wise.

And, aside from a couple little deviations and coloring in a lot of the area and atmosphere, there's still not too much yet that really affects the story. I'm still curious how that stuff is going to stack up.

[askthestans]

Stan and ford pines do you aware that you had fandon of your own who like making fanart about you and do you aware of fanfiction

Stanley: I dunno, ya might not wanna bring up fanart and Stanfiction in front of Sixer here. Not after the... incident we had a few days ago.

Stanford: I’ve seen many disturbing things in my life, but that horror we witnessed was beyond even what the nightmare realm could conjure. That’s why I destroyed it.

Stanley: You’re tellin’ me that you, Dr. Dorktron 3000, who built a portal because ya wanted ‘girls to start talkin' to you finally’, is offended that folks on the internet drew you in a rather generous light, some of them likely including girls? And not just pictures! They write stuff about you, too. I know we skipped out on nearly forty years together, but the Ford I knew as a kid woulda been overjoyed to get that much attention.

Stanford: Yes, but I want adoration for my mind, Stanley! For my contributions to science. My body is merely a vessel for me that I have to maintain on occasion so that I can continue to pursue this world’s mysteries. What use is attention for something I can’t control? I’d rather I be lauded for what I’ve achiev-

Stanley: There it is.

Stanford: What?

Stanley: *raises voice* Oh internet, don’t make pictures of me! I may be a silver fox and can’t control my studliness, but please notice my big sexy brain instead!

Cut the bull, Ford. Also, you look like me. I don’t mean to brag, but there’s a reason they call me Hunkle Stan. And if the internet can love a chubby old conman like me, well... you’re like the fitter version of that. Put two and two together and it just makes sense.

*Ford opens his mouth to argue, but pauses. His brown eyes widen and his brows raise, as if realizing something for the first time. The expression quickly leaves, though, replaced by a neutral face. Though anyone looking closely would notice that he is fidgeting with his hands, at first behind his back, then brings them forward and rubs one of his sixth fingers.*

Stanford: *sighs* Alright, fine. I won’t bring out any more nuclear weapons if the internet continues to make art of me... for whatever reason. But it better be fanart that emphasizes my dedication to knowledge, my skill with advanced weaponry, and most importantly, my bold sense of adventure into the world’s greatest - and weirdest - unknowns.

Stanley: A badass, then?

Stanford: A smart badass, to be exact. A scientist who’s as willing to investigate the strange as he is to protect those he loves from it. Something along the lines of this:

Stanley: Well, internet, you heard the man. Ford wants pictures and stories about being a sci-fi sideburn badass. No more speedos. Though if some were to just happen to show up in my mailbox...

Stanford: Nukes, Stanley.

Stanley: Hey, ‘til you start pitchin' in towards the electricity bill - which is ridiculous thanks to your nerdamagookery downstairs - I’ll do anything I need to to keep this place running. Just think of all the hunkle art and merch we could sell to hordes of fangirls in the gift shop!

Stanford: Nukes.

Stanley: Pfft, alright, fine! Wet blanket...

---

*That night, Stan walks down the Shack hallway to use the bathroom. However, someone’s inside. Stan is certain it’s Dipper, as he’s the usual culprit when the bathroom is occupied and music is blasting within. However, there’s no BABBA to be heard. Instead, synths and distorted and glitchy sound effects can be heard, as if someone is listening to a science fiction movie soundtrack. A little quieter are the small ‘pew pew’ and explosion noises, obviously made by someone’s mouth.*

Stanley: Hey, Dipper, quit nerdin’ out in there! All that Pitt Cola I drank is kickin’ in and-

*The music stops. Pure silence.*

Dips!?

*The twins peer around the corner.*

Dipper: Grunkle Stan, I’ve been in the living room for hours.

Mabel: Yeah, we’ve been watching this cool new show called Things are Strange! It’s about this little town in Indiana and there are all these mysteries and hot teenage boys and this cute monster called the Demogorgon!

Stanley: What? Then who...?

*Stan narrows his eyes and puts his fists on his hips.*

Ford? Ford, I know it’s you in there!

Stanford: I’m busy!

Stanley: Even with that permanent stick up your rear I know it doesn’t take ya that long to finish. And what’s with the nerd music? Look, Poindexter, you’ve got to the count of three...

Stanford: Stanley, this is my house! I can stay in my own bathroom for as long as-

Stanley: Two... I’m pullin’ out a bobby pin!

*A loud bang sounds as Ford puts himself up against the door. Stan takes out a bobby pin and unlocks the door faster than what seems physically possible.*

Alright, what are you doin’ in...?

*Stan manages to push the door back to reveal Ford in the bathroom, shirtless but wearing the pants, boots, and oversized goggles he wore when he walked out of the portal a year before. His scars and burns and healed wounds from the other dimensions are on full display. The rifle he had carried back from the portal is wrapped in his arms, as are two of his pistols, latched into hip holsters. His turtleneck and trench coat are nowhere to be found. The only tell of what might have just been going on is that the steam in the mirror from an earlier shower has been wiped away.*

What in the absolute- Ford? What the hell were you doin’ in here?

Mabel: Grunkle Stan, don’t be so rude to Grunkle... *Peers in alongside Dipper.* 

Stanford: *Cheeks turn beet red.* There... there was an eldritch beast that wandered in here. I had to make sure I killed it.

Stanley: Why were you playin’ music, then?

Stanford: I... I needed to distract it.

Dipper: Why’s the mirror cleared off?

Mabel: Wait, Grunkle Ford, were you posing in front of it?

Stanford: N-no! I told you, there was an eldritch abomination in here! Now, clear out while I continue to look for it. If it harmed any of you, I don’t know what I’d do.

*Stan, Dipper, and Mabel glance at each other silently. Stan and Mabel burst out laughing, meanwhile Dipper's eyes get nearly sparkly as he glances at Ford’s guns and scars.*

Stanford: I’m telling the truth! *Pushes them out and shuts the door and locks it again.*

Stanley: Oh sure, Ford. Be sure to put the sci-fi doofus track back on before you continue your epic nerd adventure!

Dipper: For what it’s worth, Grunkle Ford, you look cool!

Stanley: Quit kissin’ his butt, Dipper. Yeesh, keep talkin’ like that and I’ll start thinkin’ you write fanfic for Ford like Soos does.

Dipper:

C’mon, you don’t think I’d write fanfiction about my own great uncle, would you? What would I write about, anyway? How cool he looked coming out of that portal? How much I hope I turn out like he does someday, all buff and smart and awesome and battle-scarred?

Stan and Mabel: *Raise a brow.*

*Eventually, all three walk away from the door, Stan grousing about having to use the outhouse this late at night.*

Stanford: *Looks at the CD player by the sink.* Sorry old friend, looks like I’ll have to go without you from now on.

*Ford puts one boot up on the closed toilet, adjusts his goggles around his neck just so, then holds up his rifle with one hand somewhat behind his torso, the other angled so that his bicep is flexing. It’s at least another hour of him going through different poses in front of the mirror, some with the rifle, some with only one pistol, a few times with both pistols out. Through it all, he makes pew-pew and explosion noises.

When he hears that the Shack has become quiet, he finishes, nods at himself in the mirror, then heads out to go back up to his room. But first, he decides to go down to his lab to put the large rifle back.

He walks into the Gift Shop to find someone is there. He lifts his pistol and cocks it at the figure.*

Soos: Dood! Put it down!

Stanford: Soos? *Puts pistol down.* What the hell are you doing here this late at night?

Soos: Well, what are you doing here, in the Gift Shop, late at night, looking so... hunky?

Stanford: ...

Soos: ...

Stanford: Put that down! Wait, hey-

*Soos runs out of the Shack, screaming something about doing it for the internet’s sake. Also, because Stan said he’d pay him for any and all shirtless Ford pictures he could scrounge up.*

[kindahoping4forever]

Feedback // Ashton Irwin

I've been sitting on this fic for a minute so thank you to everyone who's patiently waited for me to post it (shoutout to Sly)! This story was really just me getting inspired and clowning after Ashton's "Down To Earth" IG stream back in April. As always, thanks to @cal-puddies for the invaluable guidance as I tried to pare my writing style down into a pwp format (try being the operative word, 3500 words is still the best we could do lmao).

Warnings: Distracted Boyfriend!Ash, oral sex on a male, moderately rough unprotected sex (on the red leather couch) including mild dirty talk, brief choking and a spank or two.

Word Count: 3535

Masterlist // Ko-Fi and New 2021 Taglist linked above

Let  me  know  what  you  think!

"Baby! I didn't know you were home!"

You turn around to see Ashton in the doorway of the bedroom, voice as cheerful as the yellow beanie covering his head.

"Didn't hear you come in," he comments, walking over to you.

You slide your arms around your boyfriend’s neck with a sigh. "Rushed up here, phone was about two seconds from shutting off," you explain, greeting him with a tender kiss.

He watches as you kick off your shoes and yank your bra off under your shirt, tossing everything haphazardly in the direction of the closet before flinging yourself on the bed. "Tough day?"

You groan, dragging your hands over your face before extending your arms, encouraging him to join you. “Eh, not great and very long,” you report, giving a satisfied sigh when Ash climbs on the bed and immediately pulls you on top of him, wrapping his arms around you tightly. You do the same and the both of you lay quietly in this prone embrace for several peaceful moments before you break the silence. “How about you, how was your day?”

You feel him shrug under your body. “Can’t complain,” is his simple reply.

“Make anything cool?” You prompt, knowing he’s being low-key because he thinks you need to chill out, not realizing nothing relaxes you more than listening to him talk about his passions.

“Hmm… anything cool...” Ash giggles, hugging you closer. “I dunno, got a good start goin’ on this one track that could be pretty cool, got a nice vibe.”

You raise your head up to look at him and scratch your fingers across his beard, you’re so glad he decided to let it grow again. “Yeah? Tell me more.”

He hums as you continue to rub his face. “Only been at it for a couple hours, ‘s just a track for now, we’ll see what I can do with it,” he breezes, moving your hand from his face to his mouth so he can kiss it.

“Well, whenever you feel like you need a fresh pair of ears, I’d love to hear it,” you enthuse, moving to lay at his side.

He turns to give you a bright grin. “Yeah? A little in-house focus group?” He teases, leaning in for a sweet kiss that starts to get needy the longer it goes on.

You pull off his hat, running your fingers through his long hair as he moves to kiss along your neck. “Don’t know if you know this but I’m a big fan of your work,” you tease back.

He kisses your lips again, biting a bit as he pulls away to quip, “We talking ‘bout my music or something else?”

You giggle, deciding that indulging this frisky mood is exactly how you would like to unwind tonight. You inch closer, pulling him back into a kiss and he responds eagerly, hand coming up to massage at the base of your neck like it always does. For the next few minutes, the only thoughts in your mind revolve around Ashton, how he feels, how he tastes and where you need his mouth or hands on you next.

When you let out a moan at the way his fingers are gripping your skin under your shirt and he doesn’t press himself against you in response, you can tell he’s gotten distracted. You laugh knowingly against his lips, “You’re back to thinking about that song now, aren’t you?”

He looks at you with a sheepish smile. “I was actually still workin’ and came up here just to grab a hoodie when I found you.”

You playfully push him off of you, shaking your head. “Dude, you should’ve told me! You know I’m not one to fuck with The Process,” you admonish, scrunching your nose up at the trail of kisses he pecks over your face as he sits up.

“Nah, my brain needed a break and my girl needed me, it worked out perfectly,” he insists, rubbing your arm affectionately before getting off the bed.

He quickly fishes his desired sweatshirt out of the closet and pulls it on over his t-shirt, mussing his hair even more than you already had. He walks back over, ready to kiss you goodbye when you sit up on your knees to stop him. “I was serious about giving it a listen if ya want,” you say, smoothing his hair down before resting your hands on top of his inside his hoodie pocket. “If you’re not ready that’s fine but just FYI I‘m interested.”

Ash grins at you, squeezing your hands before using them to pull you to your feet. “Aww, you know you’re my fave audience, baby,” he gushes, reaching to grab his hat off the bed. “Let’s go give it a spin.”

“Well. As much as you can ‘spin’ a computer file,” you mutter, trying to annoy him just because it’s fun.

As you head for the door, you hear him snort behind you a split second before he grabs you, sliding his beanie on your head far enough to cover your eyes; you burst into giggles as he playfully bumps into you, passing you in the hallway. “Smart ass,” he grumbles, voice still smiling.

Ash makes it down to the basement first and starts clicking on files and flicking switches, excited to play his work for you. You stop at the foot of the stairs and survey the room with wonder. Multiple guitars - electric, acoustic, bass, 12-string - are strewn across the room, cables run from his computer to the adjacent room where he houses his drums, food delivery containers line the coffee table; he’s clearly been down here since you left this morning.

While he sets up, you make yourself useful, setting the guitars back in their racks, stacking the food trash; when you’re done, you start to drag a chair over to the computer when you notice he’s staring at you like you’ve grown an extra head.

“What are ya mad at me or somethin’?” He scoffs, patting his legs and looking at you expectantly.

You smirk and take a seat in his lap, watching closely as his long fingers fly over the keyboard, hand adeptly working the mouse, making a few final adjustments to the track. You hear a quiet “there we go” under his breath and then he’s settling in, pulling you back against him and rubbing over your thighs as you wait for the song to begin.

It’s a simple demo so far - layered background vocals, drum and bass, some synth, a little guitar line here and there - but he’s right, it’s definitely a vibe. You’re pleased that his reflection is visible in the computer screen, you love seeing him grooving behind you, pursing his lips and nodding his head along to the beat as you feel his fingers tapping along on your waist while he holds you close.

The track is short and before he can even ask your opinion, you tell him to play it again; his face lights up at your request and he proudly complies. When it finishes this time, you shift to look at him and smile. “That’s wild you did that all yourself and in such a short amount of time,” you marvel. “See, I was right, you did do something cool.”

Ashton laughs, kissing the side of your head as he leans forward to reach the keyboard. “You think so? Well, what’s really cool is this…” He starts clicking around again, isolating the different elements and revealing which sounds are electronic and which are live instruments, which section he thinks he’ll write lyrics over tomorrow, where he’s thinking of pasting in more guitar.

You respond when appropriate but mostly you just listen intently, watching fondly as he animatedly details his thought process; this is why you offered to come down here with him, this is the best part about being his “fave audience.” You love his music but more than that, you love how much he loves his music.

He stops mid-explanation of a section to tinker with it, clearly having a brainstorm right in front of you. You curl into his chest, observing quietly as he cycles through effects and begins stacking tracks. He chews his lip, deep in thought as he lets the song play again and you can't help but press a few kisses to his jaw.

Ash continues his work and you continue yours, moving from his jaw to his neck; your kisses eventually become more heated, with you adding tongue and even teeth to the equation. You suck his earlobe into your mouth, wiggling his earring with the tip of your tongue and finally he pulls away, chuckling, "Baby, come on."

You shrug, playing with his hair. "I just love watching you work."

He laughs, "Then goddamn, baby, let me work!" He growls as you nip at his throat and you smile to yourself because you can tell he's already rethinking his request.

"Seems like you shoulda thought about this before you invited a girl down to your basement to listen to some dreamy space pop alien makeout jam," you tease, relishing the feeling of his laughter vibrating his throat under your tongue.

"Can I get you to leave that review when this goes up on iTunes?" He cracks, finally turning his attention to you.

"I might be persuaded," you flirt, humming with victory as he pulls you into a hungry kiss.

Ashton wastes no time returning the affection you showed him, lips devouring yours, hands quickly making their way under your shirt to lazily massage your tits. You’re mid-moan, his fingers just about to make it inside your waistband when suddenly he’s pulling away.

It takes you a beat to realize what’s happened, your body confused by the sudden absence of his touch. You open your eyes to see him busy at the computer again and it’s so absurd to you, you have to laugh.

“Two minutes,” he says half-apologetically, half-distracted, squeezing your thigh but not taking his eyes off the screen.

You smirk to yourself, immediately aware of what your next move is. “Take as long as you need, baby. When genius strikes, you gotta go for it,” you state ominously, not that he notices. Nor does he notice you sliding yourself off his lap and onto the floor between his legs.

You run your hands up and down his thick thighs before letting your touch wander to the front of his jeans, palming over his crotch, happy to find that at least part of him was interested in your makeout session. You can’t decide if you’re more amused or annoyed by his focus but it’s not until your hand is on his cock, freeing him from his pants that he tears himself away from his project.

“Excuse me, ma’am, can I help you with something?”

You lock eyes with him as you stick your tongue out and dramatically lick your hand, coating your palm with saliva before giving his cock a tight squeeze and beginning to stroke him steadily. “I also had a genius idea I was just following through on,” you shrug. “Might take a little longer than two minutes, though, I’m a bit out of practice… my boyfriend’s been pretty busy.”

Ash giggles wildly, both at your joke and your audacity. “You’re crazy, I’m literally about to be done with… fuck…” His retort is interrupted by you, eyes still trained on his, licking long stripes up the sides of his cock, sucking gently at the head before licking your way back down.

“Go ahead and finish your work, baby, I’ll just keep busy until you’re done,” you insist, mischief in your eyes as you look up one last time before taking him into your mouth.

You hear a sharp inhale, a softly chuckled “fuckin’ ridiculous” and then finally, mouse clicks as he attempts to get back to it. You do your best to distract him, bobbing up and down enthusiastically, sucking loudly, humming around him, making sure he knows how much you’re enjoying your task.

It only takes a minute or so for him to get sidetracked by your efforts. “This is a shitty home demo I’ve spent all of 90 minutes on, there’s no way it’s so good you just had to have my cock right here and now,” he insists, struggling to keep his voice steady, not wanting you to hear how affected he is.

You pop off, gingerly playing with his balls as you zing back, “I dunno babe, you guys had plenty of shitty songs on your first album and from what I’ve heard, you did more than alright in the pussy department.”

Ashton’s laughter quickly turns to a strained moan as you slide back down on him, letting him hit the back of your throat. “My bad, didn’t realize I’d shacked up with a groupie,” he jokes. You silently congratulate yourself as you notice him flexing his hand into a fist, knowing he’s trying to keep himself from pressing down on your head.

You pull off him again, making sure to let the spit cascade from your mouth as you smugly reply, “Like I said before: big fan.” Before he can even think about responding, your mouth is back on him.

You’re not surprised he attempts to resume working again; you’re both stubborn, it’s a wonder anything ever gets resolved in your relationship. You can tell he’s trying his best to stay on task but the whispered curses under his breath give him away. As a last resort, he turns the volume on his speaker up a few more notches, hoping the track will drown out the exaggerated choking sounds you’re intent on making.

A few moments later, he reaches down and yanks his beanie off your head. “Fuckin’ bright yellow bouncing over my crotch is hard to ignore,” he grumbles. “All I see is my hat, looks like I’m suckin’ my own dick for all I know.”

You can’t resist continuing to rib him. “How is that not your greatest fantasy? Your favorite person giving you your favorite pleasure?”

He snorts, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, did you want to blow me or roast me?”

You give him your brightest smile and reply, “Unlike you, I’m pretty good at multi-tasking.”

A brief cackle and a clipped “alright” are all you hear before you’re being hoisted up off the ground, thrown over Ash’s shoulder and carried over to the couch across the room. You squeal with surprise and delight as he unceremoniously dumps you on it, briskly strips you both of your clothes and promptly bends you over the red leather.

He nudges your knees further apart, pressing you against the back of the couch. “Of course you’re this fuckin’ wet already,” he teases, breath hot on your neck as he runs himself through your folds. “You think that’s from my cock down your throat or from you winding me up so much?”

Whatever clever comeback you’d thought up dies on the tip of your tongue because suddenly he’s sliding his cock inside you and now that’s all you can care about. You whine as he quickly establishes a vigorous pace, one hand bracing himself against the couch, the other reaching around you, down your torso to reach your clit. “How’s this for multi-tasking?”

A few breathless cries of his name are the best you can manage as he relentlessly plays with you, somehow in perfect rhythm with his rough thrusts, sending your whole body into sensory overload.

“Or how ‘bout this?” He growls, moving his hand from between your legs to your throat, fingers offering just the slightest amount of pressure, knowing it’ll drive you crazy wondering if and when he’ll add more. “Don’t got any more funny jokes for me, baby?”

You moan at his taunting, placing a hand on top of his on your neck, trying to get him to squeeze harder; he refuses and his denial makes you moan even louder. "Jesus, Ash," you pant, pushing back against him to egg him on. “Feels so fucking good.”

You're so caught up that you don't even notice his song is still playing over the speakers until a few moments later when Ashton suddenly pulls out of you, muttering to himself as he grabs the remote from the coffee table and shuts the music off.

Confused, you look back and see him amusedly shaking his head. "Yes, I was still producing that in my head, don’t start," he giggles.

You fall back on the couch, laughing in disbelief. “We’ve gotta get you some hobbies, buddy, that’s insane.”

He snickers, laying you on your back and settling on the couch behind you, pulling your leg over his hip. “I don’t think fucking you counts as a hobby,” he jokes, gripping his cock and slipping it back inside you.

“Not with that attitude,” you quip, a little more breathlessly than you meant to but with how slowly Ash is rocking into you, you can’t help it.

You tilt towards him, angling yourself to pull his mouth down to yours; you’re feeling overwhelmed and you need him close. His tongue traces over your lips, his kiss the familiar reassurance you need in this moment. “Ash…” You whimper quietly, closing your eyes and savoring the feel of his beard grazing your skin.

“I know, baby, me too,” he soothes, cradling you tighter against him. His hips begin to pick up speed and his hand moves to knead your breasts and tug at your nipples before travelling further down.

Ashton rubs slow, tight circles on your clit, stopping to give your thigh a light smack when you start raising your hips a little too eagerly, bucking up in an attempt to get him to move at a speed more to your liking. You moan first at the realization that he’s going to keep teasing you like this and then again, louder, at the sharp slap of his palm that once again comes down on your skin.

“You’ve got a nice tone tonight, baby, I should get you to lay down some vocals for this track,” he jokes, choking back a moan of his own when your surprised laughter causes you to clench around his length.

You chuckle smugly at him, “Not so funny all of a sudden, huh?”

You feel yourself getting closer so you start rolling your hips along with his, murmuring at the feeling of him deep inside you; you grind against his hand playing between your legs and as he finally amps up the pace, your release becomes closer and closer to reality. Your breathing syncs with his in a needy, staccato rhythm that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in his song.

“Is this what you wanted?” He huffs out. Typically when he asks you that while he’s buried in you, there’s a tone of arrogance or punishment behind it but right now as he holds you, your sounds continuing to meld together, it couldn’t feel farther from that.

“Yes, Ash, god yes…” you breathe, reaching to hold onto him as your orgasm overtakes you.

Ashton keeps driving his cock inside you, whining slightly at the feeling of you pulsing around him. You cry out, not realizing how loud or long your moans are until you hear his voice in your ear, gently lulling you back down.

He’s still moving inside you, hips beginning to stutter and when you hear his breath catch, you know he’s there. You tuck yourself into him, cooing, “Come on, Ash... fill me up, babe.” Three strokes later and he’s pumping his cum inside you, gasping your name. He slows his movements, heavy breath underscored by a contented hum as you caress his bearded cheek.

He leans in and kisses you passionately, completely enveloping you, possibly your favorite feeling in the world. He exhales loudly and keeps holding you, kissing over your face tenderly.

You giggle as he indulges for a moment before reluctantly pulling away, reaching for the takeout napkins on the coffee table; he attentively cleans you up and quickly settles back onto the couch, pulling you on top of him.

You lay together, blissed out, while you play with the necklace hanging down on his chest and he strokes over your hair.

“Hey, sorry I gave you such a hard time,” you smile. “Didn’t realize how much I wanted your attention until I didn’t have it anymore.”

He looks at you, amused. “Honestly didn’t notice you acting any differently.”

You jab his side. “Also sorry I talked shit about your first album, I do actually like it quite a bit.”

Ash cackles, tracing designs on your back. “Oh good, I was worried that was going to be what finally drives us apart,” he cracks.

You snicker, nuzzling your head into his chest. You enjoy a few quiet moments together before he begins softly humming an unfamiliar melody and you smile, knowing his creative wheels are turning again.

You lift your head up again to offer one last apology. “I’m sorry I once again disrupted The Process.”

Ashton laughs mischievously, running his hands down your body. “I mean… overall I’d say this was some pretty valuable feedback.”

————-

Thank you to everyone who has signed up for the taglist, both for the support and the lovely (occasionally hilarious) feedback! If you haven’t signed up yet, the form is linked above! (If you signed up and your name is crossed out or not listed, I was unable to tag you, please check your blog settings and either re-sign up or send me a message letting me know you allow mentions now) @notinthesameguey @cxddlyash @2fangirl4u @cashtonasfuck @talkfastromance4 @itjustkindahappenedreally @saywhatnow07 @mymindwide @suchalonelysunflower @pxrxmoore @findingliam-o @fedorable-killjoys @trix-arent-for-kids @olivia-foster-irwin @saphseoul @calmsweetcreature @onthecliffside-mgc @feliznavidaddycal @himbohood @maggiesupertramp @wiiildflowerrr @karajaynetoday @ashtonangst @sunshineeashton @aladyofalbion @youngblood199456 @xsongbirdx @loveroflrh @fairytrice @calumrose @irwindoll @polycashton @in-superbloom

[infinityhype]

Loyalty

I fully blame @miialona for making me think about them and write about them and turn them over in my mind. Sometimes one dude saving another dude from death row so said murderer can help him make a game is valid, actually.

Also there’s something about digging into a new rarepair that makes my little heart happy.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Razor tumbled through the dirt and grass until he finally came to rest at the base of a tree, surrounded by red poppies.

He looked up at his assailant; a short man around his age with black, spiky hair and golden brown eyes.  

“I caught you,” he said with a grin. “Told ya I would.” 

“So you did,” Razor said with a sideways smile. “Didn’t expect you to hit so hard.” 

“It’s what you get for underestimating me,” the man said as he took a seat next to Razor. “Name’s Ging Freecss.” 

Razor righted himself. “Nice to meet you, Ging. Now that you’ve caught me, I’d like to ask a favor.” 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ging said as he plucked a poppy and twirled the stem in his hand. He tucked an arm behind him and leaned back against the trunk.

“Instead of taking me back to prison…would you kill me? I’d rather die out here knowing I was free, even for a little while. They’ll still pay you full price for me.”

“Nope,” Ging answered immediately. “I’m not taking you back.” 

“You’re not after the bounty?” Razor asked, voice dripping with skepticism.  

“I don’t need money. I need you, Razor.” 

Razor wanted to laugh until his throat hurt. No one had ever needed him. Not his no-good, alcoholic dad, not the mom who’d walked out before Razor could even remember her face. 

No one. 

“You don’t believe me?” His brown eyes looked up at Razor with a steady gaze. No trace of doubt or fear. 

I wish I could think of some poem or fancy word to compare his eyes to, Razor thought. Shoulda paid better attention in class. Maybe read a book or something. 

“Course I don’t,” Razor said as he looked up at the drifting clouds. “People like me exist as a warning. You know, don’t cut class or you’ll end up like that guy. Eighteen and on death row.” 

“See, I don’t believe that. I read your story, and I think–” 

You’re criminal scum, worthy of doing my dirty work, Razor finished in his mind. 

“–with some respect, and like…I dunno, something to do that’s not rotting in a cell, you could be a good person.” 

“I must’ve misheard you,” Razor said. “Did you just tell me I could be a good person?” 

“Yup,” Ging replied. 

Razor did laugh this time; long and hearty until his breath came in fits of wheezing. “I…man. I’ve met a lot of weirdos but you…you take the cake!” 

“So you’ll join me?” Ging asked. 

“Yeah, sure. What the hell, it’s not like I’ve got anything else going on…” 

—

Razor stared into the fire and finished off his beer. He crushed the can flat on a nearby tree stump and tossed it into an ever-growing pile. Pulled another one from the cooler and cracked it open. 

He was nowhere near drunk, but starting to feel a bit tipsy. Thoughts he normally kept to himself lurked beneath the surface. Everyone was in a jovial mood, celebrating the completion of a big part of the game. They were all nice to him, of course, and Razor didn't mind the team, it was just…

"Hey! Why so glum, chum?" Ging laughed a bit at his own joke as he took a seat next to Razor. 

"I'm not," he replied as he took another drink. "Thinking is all." 

Ging sidled up to Razor. "About? A special girl? A special guy?" 

Now's better than never, I suppose. 

"You," Razor said. 

Ging tilted his head and grinned. He looked at the dregs in his red plastic cup and dumped it into the fire. It turned bright blue and settled back into the orange red it had before. 

"Well." Ging said as he stood to his feet and dusted himself off. 

"Well?" Razor raised an eyebrow. 

"You want me, and I want you so…you want to do something about it?" 

"You're–" Razor tried to finish his sentence, but then Ging was on his lap, and Ging's lips tasted of beer and he smelled like smoke and soap. The beer tumbled out of his hand and rolled off into the dirt. 

"You were saying?" 

"Fuck it. I forgot." Razor pulled Ging against him and kissed him again. 

"Get a room!" List shouted, to the cheers and jeers of the rest of the group. 

"You heard 'em—whoa!" 

Razor laughed as he picked Ging up and carried him bridal style. 

"Aw, are you blushing?" Razor teased.

"No! I've just…never had someone pick me up like that. Am I even heavy to you?" 

"Not at all," he replied. "I'll do it anytime you want." 

"I didn't say I liked it," Ging grumbled. 

"But you haven't said you don't like it either…" 

—

"Hey." 

Razor turned to Ging. 

"I hate to ruin the afterglow but…" Ging scrubbed a hand through his hair and leaned back against the headboard. "I can't…I won't…do the thing where I stay with one person forever. I should've explained it before we…you know." 

Razor shrugged. 

"I understand. You mean a lot to me, but I'd never try to tie you down." 

Ging was quiet for a moment. He traced the curve of Razor's bicep with a light touch. "Thanks. You mean a lot to me too."

Razor took a hold of Ging's forearm. He knew he didn't have to be gentle, Ging was the furthest thing from fragile, but…

"No taking it easy on me," Ging said, brown eyes sparkling. 

"Amber," Razor said. 

"Huh?"

"I…how do I explain this without sounding dumb…"

"You just explain it," Ging said plainly. 

"Oh. When we first met, I couldn't think of something to compare your eyes to. But the stuff you showed me on the trees, with the bugs in it? That's the color. Amber." 

Ging snorted and laughed. "If I was anyone else I might take offense. But I choose to accept your compliment for what it is. Sincere and heartfelt. And sappy in more ways than one." 

Something turned in Razor's chest. So this is what it's like for someone to care. For someone to understand. 

He pulled Ging to him with a sigh. "Gonna have to punish you for turning my heartfelt sentiments into another one of your dumb jokes." 

Ging grinned. "Do I get to pick? Can you suffocate me in your pecs? Kiss me until I–augh!" 

They tumbled out of bed in a tangle of sheets and pillows. 

"Oof, I felt that in my tailbone," Ging said. 

Razor chuckled. 

"Stop laughing, I don't have the same amount of cushion as you do!" Ging said as he smacked Razor with a pillow. 

"Cushion? I work very hard to have an ass this nice." 

"I know, I watch you sometimes." The alarm clock had fallen down with them. Ging looked at the time. "Aw hell, we have a meeting in half an hour. Guess we should get ready." 

"Or…" 

"Or?" Ging looked at Razor, head tilted. 

"How much do you actually care about being on time?" 

Ging laughed. "I take it on a case by case basis and in this case…I don't give a shit."  

—

[simpz-art-stash]

Late beginnings

Summary: Mac goes out for a drink, and happens upon some advice he takes into consideration about his skewered relationship with Wukong. Before finally taking some action to mend the long burnt bridge. (Author’s note: I barely did any beta reading for this so if it’s worded strangely that’s just how I write without the normal filter on. I’m country so HOWDY) Next Page ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The night was late, but he didn’t care, he might as well have been nocturnal with the way his whole life revolved around the whole stereotype of shadows and shit. He’d walked into a bar he’d passed through a few times before, donning his human disguise of course beforehand, and walked in without sparing anyone else a glance. Before planting his rear in one of the stools seated at the front bar, ordering a drink to get the night started. “I’m really looking forward to seeing that new Monkey King movie with the trailer they just released. You saw it too right?? The whole style of the film is on par with their most recent game- OH, you think they’re gonna make a game of it?? I bet you they wiiiill!~” Ugh, great, just what he’d come here to avoid.

Mac’s eyes glanced to the blabbermouth boasting about whatever new movie was being made about his ex, to see two girls residing a ways down near the other end of the bar a few seats away from him. Both looking to have had a fair night themselves already if any of the cups and plates hanging around their spot was anything to go by. “Probably. I hope it’s better than last game that came out on the Brick 360, the bugs in that thing were gross to deal with.” Their friend commented back. Before looking down at their phone and claiming that it was getting late and that they had to go. “Yeah I’ll see ya Monday!” The chick waved their friend off a lazy farewell after they’d paid their bill before going back to their drink, now taking less tedious sips as the mood seemed to smooth out from their conversation prior. “I see someone’s a pretty big fan of that ol’ man.” Macaque piped up from where he sat, earning the attention of the stranger he’d directed his comment towards. “The Monkey King yeah?” Sparks danced in the chick’s eyes at the recognition of the name, before the stranger perked up and beamed a smile back at him, “You betcha! I’m a total nerd for that legend.” ‘A legend, hah.’ “S’the whole reason I moved to China in the first place.” She jabbed a thumb at her chest, “All the way from America!” Mac whistled, “That’s a pretty far leap to take, even for a legend. What, you hopin’ you’ll get the chance to see em’ or somethin’?” He sneered, taking his glass and lazily swirling it in his hand. “I wish!” She laughed, “Nah I mostly just moved here for work. If anything though it’s cuz a them for where I am now. I’d never even heard of him till about five years ago!” Mac blinked, lowering his drink from his lips, “You’re joking…”

“Not at all! No one hardly knows the story back home. Only reason I found out was cuz I just started gettin’ into anything monkey-related as a hobby.” She pointed at him, “Don’t laugh either, it’s a wildly popular standpoint to have these days online.” Mac quirked a brow at that, he’d hardly touched the internet these days save for whenever he needed some quick info on something he couldn’t find elsewhere. He held his hands up, “Hey I ain’t judging…” He smirked a little to betray the look that he totally was though. It was kinda funny how ironic it was him being there right then. She squinted at him, “Anyways...Yeah, I’d seen stuff of him online, but I’d never paid much attention to it up until recently.” “What made you change your mind?” Mac boredly probed, taking a sip. She simply shrugged, “I was in a dark headspace, guy made me laugh.” He paused, “Wait, seriously??” “I mean have you HEARD half the crazy shit he’s done??” ‘Babe I’ve LIVED through half the shit he’s done.’ “Like, literally, the guy is HILARIOUS. My favorite story out of them all being one where he literally tricked THREE taoist immortals into drinking his own piss!!” She burst out laughing while Mac choked on his drink a little, not having expected to hear that of all things. Sure he’d heard a few of the shenanigan’s his peaches had gotten up to throughout his journey to the west but he’d never heard that one before. Nor had he the patience to read through all that mess of context that had been published either. “Ahhh man, it still gets me…” The chick sighed with a few leftover laughs as she wiped a tear from her eye. “What about you? What’s your favorite story?” She asked. And suddenly Mac felt like he’d been put on the spot as he stared back at her. “Come ooon, surely there’s one that’s gotten your gut rolling.” She pried. ‘Plenty, but there ain’t no way in hell I’d tell a soul.’ “Bahh...there ain’t the first one that comes to mind that I’d like. Honestly I’m not even much of a fan.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Whaaat?? Aw come on! There’s tons of cool n’ funny stories!” “Heh..can’t imagine what you find so charming about a guy who’s too good for his own friends.” Mac spitefully twacked himself mentally for spewing something so personal like that out. Ugh, and he hadn’t even finished half his drink yet… The chick sitting to his left seemed to tilt her head a little before she squinted at him. Her silence being what brought his attention from his drink to her as he blinked back with a quirked brow. “What?” “Your eyes, they’re like raging storm clouds.” She pointed out. He blinked, not really sure how to feel about that. The only one who’d ever really pointed that out to him before was… “...So?” “Nothing!...” She shrugged, turning back away towards her own drink as if no conversation at all had happened between them. Whatever...he had his fill of shit to drink to either way. The night might’ve been late but he was just getting started. “He makes me laugh though.” She pointed out, earning her a glance. “All his stories n’ stuff. If there was ever a man I’d want, it’d be one who could always make me laugh.” “Hmph, not one for strength?” He took a long sip. Ignoring the bitterness of others fawning over someone he’d come to love before he’d gotten so popular. “Strength is fine n’ all, but it can only take a relationship so far..you gotta have more pieces to put in that crockpot of a relationship if you wanna make it taste good. Stuff like patience, honesty, a little bit of everything to help it all come together to make it juuuuust right.” “Hm…” “It can’t be all just you putting the stuff in there either, it’s gotta be a contribution from both gardens. Otherwise you’ll just barren your lands and be left with nothing to spare yourself or others in your life with.” She glanced at Mac, “Relationships are tricky like that, but they should always be a 50/50 split~” She winked. That...actually sounded like pretty sound advice. Something he’d heard a little here and there before but never so simply laid out. Though it made sense from his standpoint, fairness n’ all that. But he’d been that way with Wukong before and it had never worked out, all the bickering and such, so what had gone wrong? “Can I...ask you something?” Mac inquired. “Shoot.” “What’re your thoughts on..a relationship that seemed fine, but then the other changed so much that everything about it fell apart?” “Mmm...care to sprinkle in a lil more context?” The chick eyed him. Mac’s face scrunched up a little, no idea why he was asking some random mortal for relationship advice of all things. “Hey man. We’re both probably never gonna meet again after tonight, so if you’ve got skeletons in your closet, your best place to let em’ out is here. Bartenders are known for being the most well kept secret keepers in all the world after all~” She winked at the bartender in question who simply looked the other way with a look that might’ve suggested such a fact as truth. “Hm…” Ah screw it, “Alright alright…” He sighed and put his drink down, “There’s..someone. We used to be real close, we were strong together but then uh..shit got real and he had to go deal with it. But when he came back he uh, wasn’t the same as before, an I might’ve sorta assumed he was cheating on me so…so we kinda fell out.” The chick nodded, “Ahh..the classic misunderstanding of change and cheating, a tale as old as time.” She seemed to hum a moment before she turned from where she was seated, if not to hop down off her stool and plop down on the one right up next to him. “Uh-” “Shhh, lemme see those eyes.” She squinted, leaning in and staring deep into his. It’d would’ve been really unnerving if she hadn’t said anything about them before, now he was a lil put off that he might’ve been asking a witch of all things for advice… “Right. Well, at least you feel bad about it. So there’s that.” He blinked and his brows furrowed, “Wh- of course I feel bad about it, it was his fault-” He suddenly had a finger pressed to his lips. “Nope! Nooononono, you do not get to throw all the blame elsewhere like that sweetheart. There ain’t no way in hell you’re gettin’ a second chance with them if you keep that up.” She pulled her hands back. His face scrunched up and he found himself crossing his arms, if he had his tail out it would’ve been irritably swaying behind him right then at just how annoyed he was getting at this weird lady and her words. “Oh yeah? An what do you think’s best then huh?” “I dunno if you’d be up for that kinda challenge…” She idly fiddled with an imaginative piece of lint off her sleeve, which only seemed to irritate Mac further at the thought of him not being able to handle Wukong of all people. Like sure he’d gotten his ass handed to him before but he could still hold his own! “Try me.” The chick glanced back at him with a smirk, which caught him off guard for a second before he shot her a glare back. “Alright, but it’s definitely not gonna be as quick or easygoing of a recovery as you might hope it’ll be. Nor is there even a chance of you recovering it in the first place. But, you at least got that spark enough to try so who am I to deny?” ‘Hmpt, dam right I got a spark.’

“First of all, no more blaming, if you’re gonna tackle this properly, you gotta do yourselves a favor an quit it with the blame placing. Sure it’s easy, but it ain’t gonna get you nowhere but back to square one. It’s all in the past, the now is now. So push forward to fix it and put it behind you two so you can focus on the more important things.” “Easier said than done…” “Hey man, even if they don’t follow the same ruleset at first you could always work things out to make it one later on. I’m just tellin’ ya right now so you won’t just go diggin’ yourself a deeper hole.” Honestly at this point he was pretty much six feet down under, death to him would’ve been a mercy right then. “Fine…” He rolled his eyes. “Next up, apologizing…” -----------~----------- “I thought I told you to stay off my island.” Mac didn’t really glance back from where he stood high up on one of the breathtaking ledges that which Flower Fruit Mountain bolstered. His arms crossed, eyes sternly held against the leftover warmth of the late afternoon sun as it shifted the skies hues from blue to blood red. Hopefully that would be the only tinge of red the Mountain would see after today. “I know.” “What, no witty remark? Give me one good reason-” “I just wanted to talk.” Mac stated plainly. “Why the hell should I give you the chance?” “...” Mac wasn’t sure if he could come up with a good enough reason after the shitshow he’d caused him the last few centuries, most recent being his spat with him between MK. “I’m sorry.” That seemed to catch the king off guard, as he paused in his vicious glare to stare at the other. “Excuse me??” “I’m.Sorry.” Mac turned finally to Wukong, that look of fiery malice having softened immensely upon meeting their eyes. “I was wrong for what I did and I’m sorry.” Wukong’s face looked like it had had a stroke with how frozen in place it was, almost like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Hurting everyone around you just to get back at you, I was wrong for doing that. And I just wanted to apologize.” Mac’s face twisted a little, the words coming out a little rougher than he’d liked, but he’d managed to get three steps in so far… “If you think a few sorry’s are gonna be enough to make up for all that crap then you gotta nother’ thing comin Mac.” Wukong finally shook off the surprise and crossed his arms with a steely gaze. “Nah I know they ain’t worth shit with as long as it's been...which it’s been..a really, really long time come to think of it..nearly 3000 years…” Fucking yikes. “What’s your point?...” Wukong raised a brow at him. “My point is...my point..” What was his point? To make amends and hope they’d get back together? To go back to the way things were? That couldn’t be done with the way things were now. Wukong had a successor, a moral compass, a lotta shit that Mac didn’t. A lotta shit that he wanted but never could figure out how to get his own. His face scrunched up a little and he sighed, “I..just wanted to make things right.” “Oh-hoh? After so long you finally decided to admit you were at fault? Sorry Mac, but it’s waaaay too late for that.” Wukong huffed, “Honestly, this is probably just another one of your stupid tricks if anything. The old Macaque would never throw himself down like that.” “Well maybe I’ve changed!” Mac exclaimed suddenly, his temper flaring a bit as his eyes flashed lightning. “3000 years later? As if…” Wukong rolled his eyes and turned away, “You’ve still got that same look in your eyes you always do whenever we fight. Do me a favor and just keep away from the hot springs this time yeah? The last time you were here you sent a whole dam boulder over there and smashed half the pools.” He waved his hand dismissively. “And I happen to take my once a month bath’s very seriously.” Mac’s nostrils flared a little at just how flamboyant Wukong was acting towards him and his attempt to make amends. How he just saw his attempt as a joke and nothing more, it pissed him off. Wukong had changed and everyone had accepted him, well not everyone, but still, why couldn’t the same be for him? Had he really fooled himself into believing that there was a chance he and Wukong could be together again? His shoulders slumped a little. Of course, who was he kidding. A 3000 year old pit of grudges wasn’t about to just up and disappear at the wave of a white flag. This was Wukong, the same guy who still playfully pestered the gods and demons around him for past conflicts that had happened between them. -----------~----------- “But you can’t just go, ‘ooo I’m so sorry for what I did.’ Nah, you gotta follow the five steps.” The chick claimed. “Yeesh, this a learning course now?” Mac tilted his head to the side. “It is if you wanna make things right.” She claimed matter a factly. “The five steps have never failed me before and have worked wonders for any an all my relationships. Might not quite have the same range of effect you’re going for but it’ll at least be a good start.” “Heh, you got the guts to back up that case?” Mac sneered. “I will if you don’t manage to screw it up.” The chick pointed out. “The five steps go as follows.” - express sorrow (I’m sorry) - own guilt (I was wrong) - name specific wrongs (I did X) - name impact (I hurt you) “And finally...” -----------~----------- “What can I do to prove myself to you?” Macaque asked finally. “What can I do to at least make it to where we can..not fight anymore..and just talk?...” Wukong stood there for a long moment, his features unreadable as their silence was muffled by the wind bellowing between them both from being so high up. “You really are serious about this aren’t you?...” Wukong’s head shifted ever so slightly, but not enough to where Mac could get a reading on his emotions. “I’m tired of fighting and waiting and thinking that if enough time passes things’ll go back to the way they were...when they never will. Trying to hurt you isn’t gonna make the old you come back, no matter how many times you beat me down...It’ll never be the same.” Mac admitted finally. A quiet gust settled down between them, before Wukong seemed to let out a dry chuckle and shook his head. “Can’t believe it took me 3000 years to beat the sense into you.” He turned and looked back at the other, where he no longer held a look of seething hate, but more akin to that of the same tired look just as the one Mac wore. Mac felt a sliver of guilt wriggle its way into one of the cracks of his heart and he glanced away, pulling a hand back and scratching his head. “Yeah well...your kid hit me pretty hard last time, enough to knock it in place.” A small smile crept a little onto his face. “Hm~ He’s gettin’ pretty good at hittin’ stuff with that old stick.” Wukong’s eyes glinted a little at the appeal of how proud he was for MK having taken Mac out the way he did. A little over the top and flashy, just like him.” “He’s got a pretty strong master to thank for that…” Mac found himself yearning a little for that same glint to be reflected on his memory the same way as MK’s. Not that he couldn’t see himself holding the same appeal for MK the way Wukong did, kid was strong, just a lil desperate in some of the cracks that shaped his outline. Something Macaque found that was easy enough to take advantage of, and something Wukong held a blind eye to. “Hm.” Wukong’s reply pushed him out of those thoughts for the moment as they shared a brief look between one another. A glimmer of reconsideration flashing between the two before Wukong finally turned his head away to drink in the sunset before them. “One chance.” Mac felt his heart nearly stop at that answer. “I’ll give you one chance, but if you screw this up, don’t even think about showing your face to me again.” Wukong replied, “I mean it this time…” Mac swallowed a little and nodded. Anything, he’d be willing to do anything to gain back what little trust he could from Wukong. “Good...you can start making up for it by apologizing to MK.” Mac blinked and sputtered a little as Wukong turned away and began to make his way back down the mountain. A smile playing on his lips while Macaque groaned to the heavens about his next trial.

[ithehellisbucky]

forget me not

spencer reid x reader

Request: No

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: Kidnapping, torture, drowning, murder, drug mention, etc

Summary: You and Spencer don't realize you love each other until it's almost too late

Author's Note: First thing in like fucking forever, so yeah. This was originally a request and then I was at school and I couldn't look at my request so it was way off script, so I just did my own shit, this also takes place in the 5th season, in the middle just after hayley dies.

~

"The unsub is a white male between the ages of 35-45. His modus operandi is drowning in the great lakes, he's already struck Superior, Michigan, Ontario, and Huron, so we expect Lake Erie to be next." Hotch says, glancing at his phone every minute or so. It's his third case back since Hayley died, and he's picked up a habit of waiting to hear bad news.

"This unsub has recently developed a hallucinative disorder where every face he sees has an emotional connection. There were no discernable connections between his victims which leads us to believe that his mind is filling in the gaps at random." Reid says, gesturing abstractly at nothing at all in particular.

"This disorder was likely triggered by a recent brain injury connected to the Great Lakes so keep a lookout for any recent accident victims. He was very social until the accident, and after it he immediately became anti-social. He was probably in a relationship recently, but then broke it off, he is not married, but possibly has children, which he will not shy away from using in a hostage situation." Morgan exclaims as he leans against a desk.

"His victims are all over the place, so we advise everyone to be on high alert. There is no pattern to the murders, from a 51-year-old single mother of two to a 14-year-old on vacation." You pause and take a breath, looking back down at your notes. "Someone out there knows this man, so we implore you to tell as many people as possible, our Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau will be setting up a press conference, and it is very important to get this out to as many people as possible."

"Won't that just spook him more?" One of the sheriff's deputy says, with a concerned look on his face.

"Yes, but at this point, he will kill again no matter what, it's better to have the public be informed because he will take another victim, whether we find him during or after is up to us."

He nods, and looks down at his notepad, badly masking his disturbed grimace.

"Thank you and let us know if you have any leads," Hotch exclaims, closing the meeting.

You walk up to Spencer "I bet we're their favorite people right about now." You say, sipping on your coffee.

Reid avoids your eyes and continues to fidget with the chess piece that he probably stole from one of the officer's desks. "What's wrong Reid?"

"I dunno, I just have a really bad feeling about this one," He picks up his cane and walks away. When Spencer has enough he needs to walk away, and as long as he wasn't hurt that was fine with you.

"Reid, y/l/n, Garcia's got something." Morgan raps his knuckles on the doorway and calls you into a conference room. "Hey babygirl, what do ya got for us?" He exclaims, shifting the call to speakerphone.

"A luscious blonde mane and an intense yearning to hold you." Emily giggles a little bit and Garcia can probably feel Hotch's glare "oh come on Derek."

"Sorry baby, keep goin'."

"I have a name. One Larry Todd. 3 weeks ago he was in a boat accident in which he had a severe concussion and was unconscious for 3 days. He immediately broke up with his girlfriend Shelby, which she was very angry about, adieu to her Facebook page. His ex-wife reported that he missed his last two visitations with his daughter Amelia." She takes a pause "he owned a bait shop that's been closed since his boat was destroyed in the accident, and it's listed as his last residency.

"Fits our profile to a tee," Emily exclaims.

"Thanks, Garcia," Hotch says, hanging up the phone call. "Emily, JJ is in the conference so run out and let her know. Morgan and Rossi, go to the bait shop with SWAT, and Reid and y/l/n go to the ex-wife's house; Emily and I will stay here and see what else we can dig up."

Everyone goes their separate ways. The sheriff takes the driver's seat, with you in the shotgun seat and Spencer in the back. You can hear the clang his leg makes against his cane and his foot bouncing.

"I'll take the daughter, and you can have the ex-wife."

"Okay," responds Spencer.

The ex-wife Miranda opens the door sobbing when you knock on it. "Excuse me, ma'am, my name is Agent y/n y/l/n and this is my partner Dr. Spencer Reid, do you mind if we ask you and your daughter a few questions about your ex-husband?"

She continues to sob but lets you in. You look back to see the sheriff playing video games on his phone and you scoff.

Spencer sits down with the crying woman and you politely ask if you can speak to her daughter. She tells you yes and that Amelia is around back.

"Bye, Reid." You blow a kiss to Spencer and walk out the door, shaking a sinister nagging feeling itching at the back of your neck.

You walk across the pavement and open the gate to enter your unsub's former backyard. "Hi Amelia, my name is y/n, I'm a friend of your mommies."

Beginning to grow more suspicious, you pull out your gun and triple-check to make sure it's on safety. If Todd is there you know that he would be fine with sacrificing his daughter for his own goals and you wouldn't let that happen "Amelia? Is your daddy here."

"Boo!" A little girl with pigtails holding a stuffed rabbit jumps from behind the recycling bin and you chuckle, putting your gun away in your holster. "Did I scare you?"

"You sure did!" You laugh. "Wow, that's such a pretty bunny, where did you get it?"

"My daddy got it for me." She said, showing off her gap tooth.

"That's so cool! Do you remember what it was like when he gave it to you?" You kneel to be at eye level with the child.

"Yeah, he was super cuddly, now he's a little more pokey, but that's okay." She says, playing with the bunny ears.

"When did he get pokey, Amelia?" You hesitated, something was off "I just want your daddy to be cuddly again."

"A little bit ago. He used to tell me stories till I fell asleep eeeeeverynight, but then he stopped for a week and when he came back he was like a big lion."

You had a growing sense of paranoia budding in your spine, why was she telling you all this so fast? "What type of stories?"

"He used to tell me princess stories, but after he stopped for a week he talked all about ones about the scary lady who tried to take me away, but then he stopped her! And the boy who was being dangerous so he had to make sure that she didn't hurt me." She exclaimed absentmindedly.

You start to pull your phone out of your pocket until Amelia starts talking again "and just now, he was talking about the bad knight who tried to take me away."

Your jaw dropped and you tried to find the best course of action, but by the time your brain started working it was too late. He walked up behind you and whispered into your ear "Nighty-night."

And then everything was black

~~~

"Hey, mommy."

"Yes, sweetheart?" She quickly wiped the tears off of her face to turn to her daughter.

"Can I have ice cream?"

"Of course sweetheart" she gives me a small smile and gets up towards the kitchen. "Where's that nice agent that came here with Dr. Reid?"

"They weren't a nice agent, they were a bad, bad, bad knight, and they were trying to take me away, so daddy took them instead."

No.

Oh no.

No no no no no no no no.

Where were they? Where was y/n?

I pulled out my gun without a second thought and left my cane behind, I ran as fast as I could without it, and by the time I was in the backyard my knee was burning and they were gone.

~~~

You woke up halfway through the drive. The road switched from smooth the bumpy a million times over, and it smelled like bees. Not like honey, not like pollen, like bees. Just bees. It smelled nice, but you don't want to die smelling bees.

You wanted to move. Move your body, move your head, move your eyes, move anything, but you couldn't move. Nothing could move. There was a sweaty tv shirt shoved between your teeth. Your hands were bound with bristled rope and there was metal all around you and you were certain that this was the back of a van. At first, you thought there must be a blindfold over your eyes, and then you realized that they were just too tired to open.

There was an old country song playing over the radio, a love song about a family in a house. The truck stopped shaking and he pulled the ignition. A growing sense of dread filled your stomach as he walked around towards the back of the truck. He opened the door and you saw his face.

That could only mean one thing- you weren't leaving here alive.

~~~

Within minutes crime scene techs were on the scene, but I knew they wouldn't find anything useful. The only thing that was there was the absence of y/n and our distraught profile.

"They were right here, right here, they were- they were right here, right here." Hotch looked at me somberly, and Morgan rubbed my shoulder with sympathy.

"We need to update our profile," Emily said, there was no time to waste, "we know what this guy does to people, and if he would risk abducting an armed federal agent in front of his daughter there's no doubt they in danger."

"We know Emily," Everyone looks at me kind of funny like I've said something wrong, but at this point, I don't care what anyone thinks of me, "His reason for doing this was for his daughter, he took out anyone he saw as a threat, a motherly figure, someone who could be her older brother, anyone who was a threat and wanted to take Amelia away from him.

"His disorder is fairly undocumented, being exactly the opposite of prosopagnosia, where patients disassociate faces from their loved ones, causes him to feel emotions about people he's never seen before, and his subconscious is assigning meaning to them at random, picking up anyone shows the slightest twinge of distaste.

"y/n picked up more than a twinge, they were there to take his daughter away, so he likely believes they're the mastermind." Everyone looks at me and waits for me to say the thing we all know is coming "he's not going to kill them before they suffer."

As we hitched a ride back to the station my leg was bouncing like crazy and my fingers were tapping the numbers of pi into the leather of the car door. Emily put her hand on my shoulder but I couldn't feel her, y/n missing was the only thing I could feel.

"Garcia I need you to check if Larry Todd owns any vehicles large enough to hold a person, trunks, vans, trucks anything," Morgan says into his speakerphone once we get back to the station.

"Oh god it's true, he really has them?" I can hear the distraught coated thick on her voice "do you think they're in pain, do you think he-"

"Garcia we don't have time for this, does he or does he not have any vehicles in his name." I snapped, I could apologize later when y/n was in a hospital bed.

"No, but you know I'm never one to go to bed early, and it turns out his great uncle died a year and a half ago, but his van was pulled over and given a speeding ticket a few months ago, how much do you wanna bet that's our guy and not a psychopath's uncle."

"Thanks, Garcia," Rossi hangs up the phone and turns to one of the sheriff's deputies in the room, "put out an ATB on that van."

"Okay, I'm gonna go through the medical files again, see if there's anything I missed," Hotch catches my arm.

"There isn't, right now all we can do is wait and look." He pauses "we've sent out patrol cars to look for the van, go out with Morgan, and circle around Lake Erie."

"Hotch, what if- what if we don't find them, or we find them and it's too late, or we find-"

"Right now she's alive, you said it yourself, he's not gonna let her die so easy."

As disturbing as it is hearing that someone you love more than anything is being tortured, I found it strangely comforting. They're alive. They are alive. They are prepared. After Tobias took me they brought me to a CIA torture seminar, just on the off chance that anything happened, I wouldn't break again.

I stared out the window of the passenger side of the SUV. Morgan wasn't talking, he knew what I was feeling, because he felt it before, when it happened to me.

"We've got a report of the vehicle going down sunmist lane" the scanner jumps to life.

I had memorized the map the second we landed; "we're five minutes away" and then, quietly under my breath, I whispered, "I'm coming y/n."

~~~

He held your head underwater for the 7th or the fiftieth time. You can't remember. You can't remember. You can't remember anything other than the water under the dock filling my lungs.

"What do you want with my daughter?!" He screamed at you as he pulled you out again, You vomited up all the water that my body could muster. You didn't know he had a daughter.

You forgot everything you learned to do. You forgot to pretend it was affecting me, You forgot how to hold my breath, You forgot. You forgot everything.

Except for Spencer, Spencer's smile, Spencer holding you, Spencer missing you until that was gone too.

Everything went away but the water.

He kicked you back off the dock again, and for a second you gasped for air, and then you sank, nothing even mattered anyways.

The man pulled you out again and kicked you in the ribs; you felt something rip inside of you and you screamed as loud as you could, which was more like a whimper.

"Larry Todd put your hands up!" Two men came behind the man who drowned you, you couldn't remember them, but you could remember the rip in your ribs filling with water.

He shoved you back into the water and you didn't even try to fight this time, you just sank, feet after feet after feet of water. You didn't hold your breath, you didn't care.

A figure appeared above you, and you saw the angel. He had a shimmering brown halo and a beautiful bright face that looked terrified, just like an angel.

And then he pulled you up.

~~~

This might be heaven, but it might be hell. You can tell the room is white without opening your eyes. There's a steady beeping sound to your left and it smells like chlorine.

When you finally manage to open your eyes you wished you hadn't. All you see is lethargy around you.

JJ is drooling in her sleep while Emily is asleep on her shoulder, Garcia is snoring in the corner with her knitting in a pile next to her. Morgan and Rossi are nowhere to be seen, but you can't blame them, seeing people they love getting beat up over and over again never gets easier. You can hear the faint sounds of Hotch arguing with someone over the phone in the hallway.

But worst of all is Spencer. He's wide awake and his foot is tapping like crazy on the ground. There are deep and dark eye bags surrounding his eyes and hints at a beard forming on his face. His cane is tossed uncharacteristically on the ground, and he pays it no attention whatever.

You open your mouth to speak, but when you do a stabbing pain shoots through your diaphragm and you gasp. The second Spencer hears you he shoots up and kneels next to the bed, which must be no easy feat.

"Hey, how are you?" He strokes your hair as gently as he can.

You try to speak but no words come out.

"Do you want some water?" You nod, trying to not feel pathetic. The second the glass of water comes into your eye line you knock it out of his hand and it goes shattering onto the floor, waking everyone else in the room up.

You start to cry, feeling guilty and scared about why a glass of water could've terrified you so much. "Hey, hey, it's okay, it's okay, it's just a bunch of sand made into something you can drink out of, it's not a big deal, don't worry." That calms you down a little bit.

You look around to see the rest of the team cradled around you. "How are you feeling honey?" Garcia whispers as if speaking too loudly would mortally wound you.

You reach up and touch your throat, and it burns. There's more confusion, and then JJ is getting her hand cut on the glass she was cleaning, Garcia was whispering too loudly and Emily was touching your arm, and Hotch and Morgan and Rossi were walking in the room and Spencer was pushing a button on your bed and the monitor was beeping and then you were screaming.

Screaming so loudly, screaming in pain, screaming in fear, screaming in confusion, screaming because you were overwhelmed and sad and scared. "Everyone gets out," Spencer says, and everyone quickly does, he knows you best, and right now, everything was too much.

"Wh-what happened" you whisper, throat and lungs still hurting but since you had screamed the worst part was over.

"The unsub kidnapped you, and tried to drown you, your heart stopped in the ambulance, but they brought you back." You remembered "You had been dunked in the water and brought back up at least 15 times, not including when I brought you out.

"You needed 53 stitches and had a punctured lung when we found you." He pauses "You're safe now, we have him in custody and he can never hurt anyone ever again." You let out a breath that you didn't know you had been holding.

"I'm so sorry," You were crying "I forgot you, I'm so sorry. He made everything go away but the water I'm sorry that I forgot you."

"It's okay, it's okay, you didn't do anything wrong, you were trying to stay alive." He stroked your hair and held your hands gently "He tortured you, when Hankel tortured me all I could think about were the drugs and the pain, you didn't do anything wrong, you survived."

"I survived?"

"Yes."

"Can I tell you something?" You chuckled, your tears had stopped but it was still wet on your face.

"Anything."

"I thought you were an angel when you saved, and now I realize that you weren't my angel, it wasn't magic, and it wasn't godly." Spencer looks puzzled, and you paused to take a deep and painful breath "It was the fact that I am so deeply in love with you, that seeing you love me back felt like heaven.

Spencer stares at you, his mouth closed and his mouth on the floor "You don't have to say anything, just know that-"

His lips are on yours before you can finish your sentence. For a moment you forget about the pain in your throat, the burn in your lungs, and the agony all over your body; it was just Spencer.

You pulled away for breath, your breaths dancing with each other.

"I was so scared" he whimpered in fear.

You stroked his hair gently "I was more terrified than I had ever been. I was so horrified that I would wake up tomorrow and my reason for living would be dead. I was more scared than I had been when I thought my dad killed a kid, I was more scared than when Hankel tortured me, I was more scared when I realized that I loved drugs more than my own life.

"You were the person that held my hand when I was hurting so bad I would forget to breathe, and then you weren't here because you were the person in pain and I realized that I loved you because nothing hurt me more than the fear that I could lose the one thing in the world that made me feel okay."

He takes a deep breath and looks at you as deeply in your eyes as you thought could ever be possible. "I love you too, and I promise you I'll never let you go."

His lips meet yours, and through a kiss, you whisper "I'll never forget you again"

And you knew that you had Spencer and everything is going to be okay.

~~

My Masterlist

Requests are open!

~Taglists are open~

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Marvel:

Criminal Minds:

[buckybansre]

my baby | reiner braun

warnings: angst (??) w/ happy ending, sorta fluffy at the end, hurt/comfort, references to alcohol.

pairings: reiner braun x fem!reader

word count: 3.2k

synopsis: reiner finally returns back home and all seems well. but is it actually?

it has been months since you got to see reiner and maybe even years since you got to see him for more than a few days a time, you hadn't realised how much you missed him until you were shuffling through groups of people who waited for their family members, just to get to the front so you could see him as soon as he got off the train.

so much time has passed since he was given the armored titan and sent on a mission across the sea, you guys never really had the chance to have a concrete conversion about what happened on paradis, but it was obvious that reiner avoided the subject so you didn’t push on it too much.

you always got self conscious about if his feelings for you still remained when he’d disappear for weeks at a time, but your high hopes persisted for your relationship regardless as you waited behind the gate for reiner to come through.

with his mother, karina standing next to you, your heart felt like it could pound through your chest at any given second.

i wonder if he’s gotten bigger,

i wonder if he’s grown a beard by now,

i wonder-

“reiner!” you heard his mom yell from your side, which immediately snapped you from your thoughts.

“r...reiner?” you looked at him, he looked different but still the same old reiner nonetheless.

he’d grown so big, and had stubble growing across his cheeks. you never smiled so big when you saw someone.

fuck, you really missed him so much. your mind couldn't help but ponder off to the next time he’d be requested to leave for another mission. it broke your heart. he only had a few years left, and in your head, those years are yours. they belong to you, you both earned this.

is that selfish of me? you thought, chewing on your bottom lip.

no. you reassured yourself. i am not selfish.

“y/n? i missed you so fucking much, god.” he rushed over and wrapped his around your waist, engulfing you into his warmness. his familiar scent of cigarettes (you had zeke to thank for that) and cologne quickly filled your nostrils. you only hugged him tighter which caused him to chuckle.

you’d forgotten that you cut about three inches off of your hair until reiner commented on it.

“did you do something new to your hair?” he whispered, shutting his eyes as he hugged you tighter. “you’re so pretty.”

your cheeks grew with a fiery feeling as he released you from his grasp and laid his hand on your cheek, running his thumb across every feature of your face which caused you to laugh.

reiner greeted the rest of his family, keeping his arm around you the entire time.

“let’s go home,” you said after he finished greeting his family, taking his hand into yours and leading him back home. “you need to rest.”

—

reiner always assured you that when he got back from his big mission, he would come and live with you, and he upheld that deal. you guys were so young, and it seemed like only a silly reality. but now, it had become real.

once reiner initially arrived back from paradis, you two moved rather quickly to pick a home before he had to leave again to aid the warriors in another mission.

the house was perfect for the two of you, and a family as well, if you and reiner ever decided you wanted to take that step.

you, so badly wanted to take that step. but reiner on the other hand never spoke about it, so neither did you.

nevertheless, the house seemed so tiny, even tinier when you were there alone.

you always insisted on decorating the house whenever reiner came back. it was your ultimate goal to make him feel wanted and welcomed.

he needed that reassurance, and you were more than happy to provide it.

“so.. do ya’ like it? i know it’s small and…” you trailed off as you both made your way into the house, seeing a banner and a few balloons spread across the dining room.

“what? no, it’s great, baby. as long as i get to come back to you, everything is great.” he cracked a smile as he shut the door and pressed a quick kiss to your forehead.

“i can’t believe you still like me after all this time, or wanna be with me even. it’s crazy, really,”

the mutual crush between you and reiner began when you both were nine. reiner was training to be a warrior and you, well, you liked to watch.

you’d sneak to their practices and watch reiner do all of the drills and after, he’d confront you on your innocent stalking.

from then, the rest was history. you grew close with the other warriors, always having their favorite baked treats on hand when they had a hard day of training.

bertholdt was the one to make you confess your feelings to reiner once it was for certain that he was inheriting the amour titan and that they’d be traveling to paradis.

you missed bertholdt. so badly.

him, reiner, you and annie were inseparable. always being spotted together.

your heart broke badly when you found out they’d be inheriting titans, because from then, a timer would always be clocking down.

thirteen years.

“i only have a few years left, i don’t know who i’d rather spend it with,”

that.

that made your stomach churn in all different kinds of ways. he only had a few years left before he’d be gone forever.

you wished that he never got the armored titan, even back then you’d pray and pray that porco would get it instead of reiner.

selfishly of course.

“we never talked about this but, um, how were things… in paradis…?” you chewed on your bottom lip, your eyes carrying their gaze from the counter up to his eyes.

“interesting to say the least,” he sighed, shaking his head. “i’m going to go freshen up and then we can go to a bar, okay?”

“uh, yeah, about that, your family wants us over for dinner.” you looked at him and smiled slightly. “your mom made something for you and gabi,”

reiner and gabi’s relationship always made you smile. it’s what stemmed your wanting to have kids with reiner in the first place. he’d do anything for gabi.

“oh yeah, okay,” he nodded with a smile, kissing your head before walking into the bathroom to shower.

what the fuck does he mean by interesting? and what the hell happened on that island?

you brushed it off and walked into your bedroom and begun to brush your hair in order to flatten the stubborn flyaways that came up since you did your hair this morning.

reiner came out of the bathroom within a few minutes and had a towel wrapped around his waist, droplets of water still covering his torso.

your cheeks quickly heated up as you got up quickly, even though you’d been with reiner for years, and even seen him naked multiple times, you still got flustered at the sight of him.

“uh, i’m gonna go uh, help you mom prepare dinner,” you walked out of the room before he replied. “meet me there in ten.”

it always shocked you how it wasn’t awkward between you both and everything just went back to normal so quickly.

you hoped to be married to him soon, have a few children and live in this house with him until his years were over.

you hoped.

you grabbed your jacket and bag and began walking towards the braun house. reiner’s mom made sure that when you two picked a place, that it was close.

you knocked on the door twice before it was opened by a small brown haired girl with gleaming brown eyes.

“gabi!” you grinned and leaned down to hug her. “i heard about what you did, it’s very impressive,” your fingers smoothed her hair back as you looked down at her.

“y/n! thank you!” she giggled before taking your hand and leading you into the house. “where’s reiner?” she peaked behind you before squinting her eyebrows.

“oh he’s just getting dressed, he’s gonna meet me here,” you replied as you step into the dining room of the house. “i wanted to come a bit early and help.”

you started by placing the plates and utensils on the tables for all the guests, then you helped karina make a pitcher of tea and by then dinner was ready.

you all sat at the table as karina and reiner’s aunt placed the few dishes of food onto the table.

“where’s reiner y/n?” reiners uncle asked as he began to cut into his food.

you did the same and began cutting into your food, answering before taking a bite.

“i dunno, he said that we would meet me here,” you took a bite of food and swallowed. “perhaps he fell asleep or something? i’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

everyone at the table nodded and with that, gabi began retelling her story about what happened on the battle field.

she was an impressive warrior candidate, and that’s saying the least. but you didn’t want gabi to inherit the armored titan, because similarly to reiner, you didn’t want her to have a short life.

but gabi seemed so happy, and it sickened you to your stomach. marley is poisoning these kids to want to be tools of war. it made you even sicker how every eldian parent thought this was normal, not even normal, they thought it was a prize of some sort.

it wasn't.

as gabi kept talking, no one realized how much time was passing. by the time she was done telling her story, everyone was finished with their dishes and the pitcher of tea was empty.

“i don’t know why reiner didn’t show,” you said, shaking your head to yourself as you began to help gabi clear the plates off of the table.

it isn’t like him to skip out on family dinner the day he gets back.

“he’s probably just exhausted,” the small girl shrugged as you both headed towards the sink.

“i think you’re right,” you smiled down at her, ruffling her hair as the dishes made a clinking noise in the sink.

you put on your coat and grabbed your bag.

“i’ll let reiner know that you guys missed him,” you said to everyone, earning a mix of goodbyes before walking out of the house and onto the windy street.

your shoes clicked against the sidewalk as you walked the few minutes it took you to get back to your home.

god, these things were killing your feet.

“reiner!” you yelled as soon as got through the front door. “why the hell didn’t you come to dinner?”

you looked well throughout the house and he was nowhere to be found, he wasn’t at home.

well then, where hell was he?

“fuck, reiner.” you sighed and put back on your jacket before heading out of your house once again.

you suspected him to be at the bar since he mentioned it earlier. it was either that or a damn emergency happened and he was with the other warriors.

you hoped it was the second one. because why else would he pass up dinner with his family on his first night back?

it took about fifteen minutes for you to reach the bar nearest to your home. by the time you got there you were shivering and your feet and hands were freezing.

as you walked into the bar you were greeted by the workers, you nodded in their direction and gave them a small smile in reply.

your eyes glazed around the room for the tall blonde, it didn’t take long for you to spot him sitting on one of the stools at the bar, downing another glass of brown liquid before requesting another.

you walked over to him and placed your hand on his shoulder. “reiner,” you say sternly. “i’m glad you’re okay but why didn’t you sho-”

“y/n! my girls here, everyone!” he grinned as his words slurred, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and squeezing tightly.

he’s definitely had one too many.

a few other drunk people cheered and he smiled at you before pressing a wet kiss to your cheek.

gross, reiner. you cringed slightly at the feeling of his wet lips against your cheek.

“reiner,” your voice was soft as you gently moved yourself out of his grip and sat in the stool next to him, frowning slightly at this sight of him. “can i have a water with no ice, please?”

“what?” he asked with a chuckle as he began to pick up his next glass of brown liquid which you quickly took from him and replaced it with the water you asked for.

“you didn’t come to dinner. everyone was so excited to see you.” you sat the glass down on the counter, trailing your finger around the cold rim before you made eye contact with him, sighing softly as you gestured for him to take a sip of water.

“oh fuck me,” he chuckled deeply, pushing the water slightly to the side. “it would’ve just been depressing, all they wanna know is how my time on the island was. i would rather die than think about anything that happened on that island ever again,”

what?

he’s never said anything like that before. but then again, you guys never made time to properly talk about everything.

and now, you felt horrible because of that.

you didn’t know what your boyfriend was feeling, which seemed to be a lot. yet, you were left completely in the dark.

but, that’s your fault for not inquiring sooner.

you shook your head.

no.

but everything that you just thought was completely true.

your eyes widened and you felt like ten pounds of weights were suddenly attached to your heart. it hurt that he would even talk about himself like that.

your eyes grew slightly watery, as you looked at him. in this light, this sight of him looked so different, he looked… unhappy, maybe? you didn’t know.

he was ruff, so jagged with scratches placed across his chin, bags under his eyes, his hair stuck up in different directions and the stubble growing across his cheeks that looked so handsome to you earlier just added to the look.

he looked tired.

but tired of what?

“let’s go home,” you said softly gently taking his hand after placing some money on the counter to pay for whatever reiner had been drinking.

“you asked me about paradis earlier,” he started.

“reiner,”

this isn’t the time or place. why now reiner? god.

“no let me talk, y/n.” his eyes met yours, they were filled with hurt and anger. the water that clouded his eyes could pour out any second but it refused to even trickle slightly.

you let him talk, even if it was in the middle of a halfway busy bar and the pair of you were gaining looks by the minute.

“everything that happened on that island was so shit,” he chuckled sadly. “did you notice how i was when bertholdt didn’t come back? i couldn’t even save annie.”

“reiner, i…”

“bertholdt is dead and who the hell knows what’s happening to annie right now! i failed them y/n! bertholdt died because of me!” he yelled and a tear finally trickled from his eye.

you guys were gaining the attention of people by the second now.

“i doubt that’s true, reiner.” you clenched your jaw.

reiner recognized that as a lie, but you didn't.

“no it is true, i’m a monster, y/n! i killed so many people! i killed my comrades! they didn’t know any better!” he stood up and tears just kept coming from then.

a tear fell down your cheek and you wiped it quickly. “reiner, please just let’s go home we can talk about this there,” you took both of his tense fists into your small hands and your thumbs crossed over his calloused knuckles a few times.

“y’know… even since we were kids, i always thought you were the most beautiful girl i’d ever seen,” he whispered, now cupping your face and looking down at you.

“and that always kept me going but i don’t know if i…” his voice cracked and he finally noticed the immense hurt on your face.

his heart dropped. he thought he lost you. causing a stupid scene in the middle of a bar, what the hell was he thinking?

“please,” your voice still somehow remained soft, your lips even ever so slightly curving up into a smile. “let’s just go home, okay?”

he silently agreed, ushering you both out of the bar as the pair of you gained looks from the others in the bar.

the walk back home was silent, but he still persisted to hold your hand the whole way back home.

you unlocked the door and reiner went straight to the bedroom but you stopped in the kitchen to fill up a glass of water for him.

as you walked into the bedroom you saw reiner sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at his lap.

you sat the glasser on the dress and walked over to him, rubbing his back as he wrapped his arms around your waist. unexpectedly, reiner began to quietly sob into your torso.

“you’re not a monster, okay? you were so young, you didn’t know any better. it’s not your fault.” you said quietly, kissing his head.

he brought you onto his lap and you wiped the last few tears that dropped.

“i’m sorry,” he whispered. “i wish i never inherited that stupid titan, i should’ve been here with you. i should be able to live a long life with the girl i love. i earned that much, right?”

a tear fell down your cheek, now knowing that you both shared the same regret of him inheriting the titan and learning the new information that he would’ve wanted to live a long life with you.

“yes, yes you did.”

you wrapped your arms around him tightly. “none of this is your fault, i promise. no one blames you, you were just a kid.”

he nodded in response, looking down at you.

“if anything it’s marley’s fault for putting such hard expectations on children.” you reassured him once again, pressing a longing kissing his temple.

he leaned down and pressed his lips to yours, his hands on your waist as he kissed you gently.

you kissed him back, draping your arms loosely around his neck. your stomach piled with butterflies as you felt reiner’s hands travel down your back before he pulled you closer.

your heart was heavy once again, but for a different reason.

you were in love. reiner was all that you yearned for, and he was yours. only yours.

you inhaled his scent indirectly, smiling against his lips as you felt so safe and warm within his arms, with his lips pressed to yours.

for once, you were optimistic about the future. because, well, everything felt so bright and perfect in that moment. you wished you could stop time in this moment and just replay this moment over and over again. you’d never get tired of it. and that way, reiner would never have to leave you again.

you sighed happily.

“i love you,” he whispered against your lips.

you rested your forehead against his and your eyes met his gleaming hazel pupils.

“and i love you, always,”

please don’t translate, post (on other platforms) or rewrite my work. requests for one shots are always welcomed, pls send!! <3

love, pey !!

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 21: Joey Takes A Snack at that Cray Sauce

Hey guys! The 17 yo cat with kidney disease I was out of town watching lived to see another week (she was a very good girl). Which means now I can get back to the good stuff. This episode is brought to you by the colors red and orange, and I hope you like this color, and I hope you like this after effects they CGId onto this volcano.

Anyways, they first have to do this familiar ledge fall, because, it’s Yugioh, and if there’s a bunch of lava, Tristan wants

in

that.

And then Joey decides...hey you know what? I’m gonna jet. And...it’s not the first time he’s pulled a wild card and been unpredictable, I mean none of us can really forget that time he decided to get murdered by Mai instead of going in a straight line towards the end boss last season, but this time it was kind of funny how it was hastily composed.

And off he goes, folks.

As he left, Tristan was like “Ya dummy!” and Tea was like “nono, we gotta encourage him--run Joey! You can do it! See? Now he’s gone.” and it’s like...Tea is either trying to kill Joey with her support or honestly thinks that’s good support and I can’t fully tell which she is.

(read more under the cut)

It’s at this point that Grandpa has the gall to say “Did any of you happen to catch the lore? I fell asleep during that part.” Just like my Dad when we watch any movie as a family.

Meanwhile, maybe 100 ft away from them, Joey is in mortal peril but it’s Joey, so he’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.

In fact, this episode seems like it would have been a better arc if it stretched out more episodes because the Joey neglect happens so quickly and out of nowhere that it’s...less organic than your average children’s show. Honestly it’s kind of funny how fast the fall of Joey Wheeler happens this episode. And I think it could have been a fun interesting time if it was handled better but youknow...it’s crammed into one single episode and you’ll se what happens.

As Yugi ruminates a cool thing that would have been really interesting this season--like running into more rando’s from other periods of time than just Alexander--Tea looks across the lava highway and was like “found it.”

Back at the dragon situation, Joey starts opening his heart to this dragon and it’s like...did they originally intend for Seto Kaiba to be here? Because I guess Joey uses Red Eyes a lot, but I also skip a lot of the card games, so when I think “who likes the dragon card?” Joey is not the first one I think of.

That and like he got over his Atlantis dragon card like hella fast, right? Like totally already over that?

And also if you thought Joey would pull out his other dragon to try and communicate or get a hold of this dragon like...nah.

Back at the fort, these guys decided to ditch Joey to get to this sword at the top of a volcano to solve the riddle, and what follows is some weird ass canon.

As I’m pulling up my Google Doc with my deathcount on it, Tristan decides this is the time he won’t freakin die and turn into a robot monkey for 15 episodes.

And he makes a huge ass green dragon. You’d think this MASSIVE dragon would do more in this episode, but nah. Although he pulls out Massive Dragon, it’s like kind of worthless, so he mostly puts it back in his pocket.

And then Tea pulls this elf chick out and it’s freakin hilarious because look at her giant elf.

Like Tea is not a small person! Are Yugioh monsters all 12 ft tall???

Yugi is also all ham about fusing with his dude now. It knocked him out a couple episodes ago, but Yugi is so keen on destroying his body that he’s back in clown town. And like...took his Grandpa for a ride, I guess, although I’m pretty sure Summoned Skull has wings.

Course, Summoned Skulls insides are his outsides...and I dunno if you’d want Summoned Skull to give you a big hug and carry you around. Summoned Skull just seems like he’s sticky.

And, once they make it to the top of the volcano where the plot sword lives, we first have to visit this plot twist of the century.

YEAH.

OUT OF NOWHERE.

THIS EPISODE IS NOT LONG.

Aaaaaaand now Joey is going to try and kill everyone here. I did not skip anything, PS, Joey dipped off-screen.

PS, everyone’s reaction to “I will kill you!” was a whole lot of rolling their eyes at first being like “Joey, stawp.”

So, now that Joey’s randomly possessed by this dragon, we get a peek into what Joey’s brain zone looks like. It’s a whole lot of nothing in between his ears.

Consistent to S1 actually, when we had a bit of a Joey Brain Zone moment. It was a blank void there, too.

So apparently Joey decided, back when he was confessing his love to Red Eyes Black Dragon, that he would jump on it’s back to calm it down--and it just...fused with him. So...now he’s a dragon.

Sure, I guess. I mean...there’s really no limit on what a Duel monster can’t do, so I’ll allow it.

The team tries to just say “ah screw it” and pull up this sword themselves (you can kind of see it in this shot) and the sword just slurps into the dirt even more out of spite. Seeing that there’s a bit of a time limit, Grandpa pulls this one out of his back pocket.

Yo, Grandpa’s not even possessed. Hey, remember that time that Grandpa nearly died giving Arthur Hawkins the last of his water back in Egypt? Remember that?

Like uh, you can definitely tell this was made by a different team that may not have gotten that cue card. It may have been lost in the mail. Either way, kind of a hilarious heel turn on Grandpa’s personality here, although it does make logical sense to save most of the kids from sacrificing one kid. It’s just...that kid is Joey...so...that’s like his adopted Grandson, right?

So Yugi does something very on brand for Yugi and invades a brain.

And like...obviously Yami and Yugi would say no to this. They would never do this. Not after all the dozens and dozens of times they have sacrificed the world and everything for their best friends.

But...maybe just this one time we can kill Joey? As a treat?

So uh...Yami hella vaporizes Joey with his new powers. Luckily, Joey Wheeler has Shaggy Doo energy and just...he survives it for some reason. I don’t know why he isn’t dead, maybe because the dragon made him stronger? Eh, don’t do the math (on any part of this episode).

So Joey gets up and is like “I know the answer to the riddle!” As the sword kinda melts into the volcano and Gramps is like “Well we’re dead, actually, so no one cares!”

And Joey’s like “Look!” and he hops onto the back of the Red Eyes Black dragon and reveals this random thing:

Because it turns out, that the dragon was the real problem and not this volcano with a sword in it.

Which youknow...could have been cool if this episode wasn’t so many insane plot points so quickly. Kind of a lot of episode here. This episode could have been a whole season of a show.

Like how long was Joey Possessed by Marik in S2? Like 5 or 6 episodes? And you can see how much more successful it was at selling the story although it was a lot of the same themes and ideas. Pacing is important.

And then Joey passes out from the suit juice.

Which is when we get one more Alexander cameo, just kinda watching them leave and onto the next arc of their little journey.

They sure did put a lot of eyeliner on Alexander the great, and, being real...he may have actually been wearing a hell ton of dope eyeliner when he was alive, so this could be historically accurate, for all we know. Those old marble statues used to be painted, after all. Maybe they had dope Yugioh eyeliner down to his cheekbones? One can wish.

And like if you ever get the time--seeing what those marble statues looked like with paint on it is so freakin goofy and fun, I love it. I love that for 600 years we thought those marble statues were supposed to be naked and white but it’s like, nah man--this guy’s just wearing a skin tight breast plate and when you paint it, it’s so garish it’s like a freakin clown outfit.

But anyway, that’s all for now! Hope y’all have a good weekend, and as always, here’s a link to read these in chrono order, if you just got here!

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[colormeyondublue]

Chapter 11: Clear The Air

Chapter 10 Here - Chapter 12 Here

Several days go by, and Yondu doesn’t see much of you. What happened with Trenvik really damaged what confidence you had aboard the Eclector. This really took it’s toll on you both mentally and physically. You feel violated. The event could have been worse, but that Chorak still took something away from you. Although you really can’t pin down what that something is, you just feel helpless and weak. Kraglin has been bringing you meals while you work from your cabin. He stops by three times a day, and a few times in between just to check up on you. The two of you have gotten pretty close over the past few days. There is a soft knocking on your door, and Kraglin pokes his head inside after punching in your key on the number pad.

“Hey, I gotcha some tea. I wasn’t sure if ya’d be hungry yet, but I thought at least somethin’ warm might be nice.” He approaches your desk and sets the cup down, steam gently rising from the top.

“Thanks, Kraglin. Tea does sound nice.” You don’t really move or say much else. The silence begins to get tense, and Kraglin taps his thumbs together.

“So…ya think ya might wanna take a walk with me today? We don’t have to go far, and the guys are all off ship, nobody is around – promise.”

“Off ship? Where are we?” You ask, rather surprised.

“Cap’n wanted to take the boys out for a little break. He brought us to our usual place, Contraxia. We usually do that after a big score. That client paid us real well for them jewels ‘n stuff we took from Johpar. We’ll be sittin’ pretty fer a while.” He smiles.

“Contraxia?! Oh, god.” You roll your eyes and bring your palm to your forehead. You know a little about this planet, your boss used to talk about it when you were slow at the pawn shop. All you know is that there’s hookers, and drugs, and tons of booze.

“Ya know this place?” Kraglin asks with one eyebrow raised.

“I’ve never been here, but I know of it. My old boss used to talk about this planet. I’ve heard all I need to know.” You roll your eyes and play with the tag on the tea bag.

“Oh. Well, we don’t have ta leave the ship if ya don’t wanna. I just think it would be good fer ya ta get outta this room. You’ll go nuts in here!”

“Where’s Yondu?”

“I think he’s at a bar down there with Tullk, Oblo and some of the others.”

You sigh and sip your tea. You really don’t like the idea of Yondu being down there. Trust was something that the two of you hadn’t really had a ton of time to work on, but he did save your life the other day, so why wouldn’t you trust him to be faithful? I guess it’s good for morale. The Captain does need to be out with his men.

“How about this - I finish my tea and get dressed, and you can take me down to that disgusting excuse of a planet and show me around a little? But absolutely no brothels! Deal?”

“Deal! Go ahead and get ready and I’ll meet ya down at the docking bay in 20?”

You laugh lightly at his excitement and playfully nudge him. “Sounds good…” Just before he gets to the door you stop him. “Hey, Kraglin? Thank you…for making sure I was okay and checking up on me these past few days. What happened with Trenvik…it really did something to me, ya know?”

“Don’t mention it. Yer one of us. But more than that, ya make the Cap’n real happy. That makes me real happy. Cap and I go back a long ways, and ya mean a lot to us both y/n.” He smiles gently and nods, and disappears out your door.

You get dressed in a clean set of leathers and throw a coat over top with a black scarf. Unless anything has changed, you remember your boss talking about how it snows on Contraxia year-round. You find your mind wondering back to Kraglin again as you lace up your boots. Ya know, Kraglin is such a great guy. If he wasn’t so damn shy, he wouldn’t be single. Poor guy. You smirk at the thought.

~~~

You and Kraglin touch down on Contraxia and you both walk toward the bars and brothels in the snow. The streets are lit with loads of neon lights and signs. You notice there are a few restaurants and tattoo shops too.

“Hey, I think the Cap’n and the guys are at that bar over there.” Kraglin points to a larger metal building with a sign on the side that seems to be in a language you can’t read.

“Uh, Kraglin? Can we just…not go in there?”

“Why? Did ya wanna go somewhere else?” He asks, confused.

“Yeah, that would be great. I just don’t really want to see the Captain yet.”

“Are you two okay?”

“I think so, it’s just…something else happened before you guys went to Knowhere.” You rub your arms from the cold. “Is there somewhere else we can go to talk about it? Somewhere quiet?”

“Uhh, sure. There’s a little coffee place at the end of the road here.”

“Coffee?!”

Kraglin laughs loudly at your reaction. “Yeah, coffee. We do have some Terran things out here, ya know. We don’t have much, but coffee has definitely gained popularity over the years. There’s even some little farms that grow that stuff on Xandar. Just ‘cause ya ain’t seen other races on yer planet, don’t mean we haven’t stopped by ta look around."

“Woah…I had no idea. That’s really cool. A little unnerving, but cool. Remind me to ask you more about that later. I need coffee! Let’s go!” You grab Kraglin’s hand and hurry down the street toward the shop.

The two of you enter the coffee shop, and find a seat near the window. After your drinks arrive, you speak up after taking a few sips.

“Okay, so before you guys left the ship, I kinda said something to the Captain I maybe shouldn’t have...not yet at least.”

“What kinda’ somethin’”?

You hide your face behind your hands and sigh. “I might have accidentally told the Captain that I loved him, among other things. Truthfully, I do – ya know, love him. But he didn’t say much of anything back and I panicked.” You don’t hear a reply for a few seconds. You drop your hands to see what horrific expression Kraglin has on his face. To your surprise, there isn’t any expression, he is just nonchalantly drinking his coffee.

“He told me.”

“What?! He told you?!”

“Yeah, he told me. To be honest, I wasn’t all too surprised. You Terran’s have a thing about love. You’d be surprised how alike Terrans are to us Xandarian’s. We have a thing about love too. That’s something Quill and I always had in common. We understood each other, I guess that’s why we got along so damn well.” He finished with a smile.

“Okaaay, so what else did he say?”

“Look y/n, yer my friend, and I care about ya a lot. That’s why I think you ‘n the Cap’n should talk about it. I will say that he ain’t mad or put off, but he just ain’t used to it. The Cap’n hasn’t had the most fantastic life. Love ain't never really been apart of it neither. Just be patient with him is all.”

After a few minutes of silence pass, Kraglin speaks up again. “Maybe ya should talk to him tonight? Just clear the air and see where things go?”

A light laugh bubbles up to your lips and you look at him, not surprised. “Since when did you get so good at relationship advice?”

Kraglin just shrugs. “Honestly, couldn’t tell ya. Maybe I’m just level headed? Dunno.”

“You really shoudn’t be single, ya know that?” You tease.

“I had a girl a long time ago. But, bein’ a Ravager makes relationships hard. Unless another girl just falls from the stars onto our ship, I don’t see that being in the cards fer me.”

“Yeah, well, if things can turn around for Yondu, I’m sure they can for you too.”

~~~

Back at the bar, Yondu couldn’t really get into the celebration spirit. Your frightened expression from the other day in your office wouldn’t leave his mind. The men were beyond happy with their payday, and super drunk. Sex bots were everywhere, and it was all he could do to keep them off of him. He eventually decides to just leave. He gets up from his stool, and Tullk taps his arm.

“Hey, ya alright Cap’n?”

“Yeah, yeah ‘m fine. Just tired, gonna head out.”

“We’ll see ya later then?”

“Yeah, sure.” He replies as he’s walking out the door.

Yondu heads back to the Warbird so he can call Quill. He’s got to know what to do. Quill is Terran, and he’s…younger. Maybe he’ll have some kind of advice on how to handle this.

He sits down and taps a few buttons on the console. The screen beeps for a few moments and then an image pops up. He sees a large grayish green looking man with bright red tattoos.

“Oh, Hello Yondu. Are you looking for Quill?” Before he can answer, Drax turns and yells behind himself. “QUILL! Your father is on the communicator! He needs to speak with you!”

Yondu leans his face onto his fist and rolls his eyes. These “Guardians” are really somethin’…

From the distance, Yondu can hear Peter yell back, “My Father? What the heck are you talkin’ about Drax?” Peter comes into view and see’s Yondu’s unamused expression on screen. “Oh, hey ol’ man, what’s up?”

“I got somethin’ I need ta talk with ya about, but it seems like yer a little busy.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I was just helpin’ Rocket with some plans for a new blaster that launches explosives! We just left Xandar, we were picking up some supplies. What did you need?” Quill asks.

“This ain’t an easy thing ta talk about…do ya think ya could go to another room er somethin’? I don’t need everybody hearin’ all about it.”

Peter’s expression turns a mixture of concerned and awkward. “Uhh…yeah sure. Is everything okay?” he moves Yondu’s transmission onto a handheld communicator and heads to the back of the ship. He enters his quarters and closes the door. “Okay, shoot.”

Yondu takes a deep breath, and exhales slowly to try and calm his nerves. “Long story short, Krags and I hired a new Terran girl to help with record keeping, transmission logs and mission details and stuff. We’ve gotten close over that time and now, well…she’s ma girl.”

“Woah! Yondu! She’s really Terran?! That’s so awesome man! I always knew you had it in you. What’s her name?”

“Her name’s y/n, and she’s really somethin’. I never met anyone like her. She’s really special ta me, but there’s somethin’ else I need to ask ya.”

“Okay…”

“The other day we made a stop out at Knowhere to sell some stuff, and she said somethin’ ta me. We both kinda panicked, but I think it might’a been my fault. See, she told me she loved me, but she said it so casually and it came out so natural soundin’. I didn’t expect it at all, and I didn’t exactly say anything back. She freaked out and ran off. Now, I don’t know what ta do! Is that normal fer Terrans?”

“Wow, okay. That’s a lot to unpack. So, let me ask you this. Do you love her?”

“Well, see that’s the other thing I need to ask ya. I don’t exactly know what that is. Boy, I ain’t Terran, and I ain’t no good with this love stuff. I figured, with ya bein’ Terran ‘n all, you might know what it means ta love someone and maybe ya’d know if that’s what y/n and I have.” Yondu’s expression turns sheepish, and he rubs the back of his neck as he waits for Peter’s answer.

“Oh, that’s easy! Love is something that happens between two people, and it’s a feeling that is super strong. You feel like you can do anything – unstoppable almost. Some people say it makes you feel like you’re floating, like you could almost fly. There’re loads of movies about love I remember from being a kid. The point is, you’d do anything to see them smile, you want to always make sure they’re happy and cared for. Gamora is in a similar boat with you, but we work on it.” Peter’s smile grows at the mention of Gamora.

“Well shit…” Yondu stares at something on his control council. “Okay, so yeah…I think that about pins it down.”

“So, you love her?” Peter asks.

“Heh, yeah boy, I guess I do.”

“Alright, well there you go! Look man, love is supposed to be easy. That’s not to say that you won’t have any disagreements or the occasional fight. That’s normal, but let go and just try to fall in.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. So, I guess all that’s left ta do is go tell her. Right?”

“Right.” Peter crosses his arms confidently and glances off screen. “Anything else you need? Rocket sounds like he’s getting pissed. I want to make sure he doesn’t blow something up or break anything.”

“Yeah boy, that’s it. But listen, thanks. I was at ma wits end over here.”

“No problem, Yondu. Now go tell her!” Peter laughs.

“Alright, alright. I’m goin’!” Yondu ends the call, and heads off the Warbird to find you.

Yondu starts to make his way back to the bars when he notices you and Kraglin walking to his smaller M-ship. The captain makes his way toward you in the snow, and you stop short.

Kraglin notices you stop. “Ey, it’s okay. You should talk to ‘em. I’ll see ya back on the Eclector?” He says as he reassuringly pats your shoulder.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Comm me if ya need anythin’.”

Kraglin walks past Yondu and nods, and he boards his small craft. You stuff your hands in your pockets and watch Yondu approach you.

“Hey, uh…” he starts. “I was wonderin’ if we could talk? Things have been a little off since the other day. Can I take ya back to the Warbird?”

“Yeah, I think that would be fine. We do need to talk.”

As the two of you walk to the Warbird, Yondu throws his arm over your shoulder to pull you closer. The warmth and weight of his arm makes your heart flutter. The feeling of security and safety brings a quiet smile to your face. Yondu glances at you from the corner of his eye and smiles too. It’s at this point he remembers what he is about to do. Anxiety strikes him in the chest and he can feel his heart begin to race. He swallows, and closes the door to the M-ship after you step inside with him.

You take a seat in the copilot chair and wait for him to speak first.

“Y/n, there’s somethin’ I been thinkin’ about and I really need to get it off ma chest. The other day, in yer office…well…” he looks down at the floor and begins to pace. “What I’m tryin’ ta say is – shit…this is harder than I thought it was gonna be.”

You get a bad nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach. Yondu can’t seem to find the right words and he’s pacing the ship even further. He’s going to break up with me, oh my god, he is about to break up with me. You can feel tears beginning to form, and he turns to face you. Your thoughts have apparently been written all over your face.

“Oh, no. No darlin’ it ain’t like that. I swear on all the stars, it ain’t nothin’ like that. Look, when ya told me ya loved me the other day, I didn’t know what ta do. No one has ever told me they loved me before. I wadn’t sure what love even meant, let alone how ta love somebody else. Love ain’t exactly somethin’ I’m used to. But now, I think I understand – at least a little.” He takes your hands and pulls you to your feet. With deep pull of breath, he finally gets the courage.

“I love ya too sweetheart. I do. No woman has ever made me so damn crazy before. Ya get inside ma head, make my hands all shaky, and when ya look at me ma heart races out of ma chest. I can’t even begin ta tell ya how outta the norm this is fer me. Heh.” His crooked smile shows how unsure he is. But you can tell that he means every word. You don’t have any words for him in return. His confession was more than you expected, so you pull him toward you for a tender kiss. He wraps you in his strong arms and returns your kiss happily. You both get so lost in each other that you almost forget to breathe. You break away from him and gingerly bite your lip.

“So…now what?” He asks.

“Well, now, we just keep doing what we’re doing. Build and grow, one day at a time. Don’t worry, I’ll show you how.” With a smirk, you head toward the dining area of the ship to get some water.

“Y/n, there’s somethin’ else I been thinkin’ about. What do ya say we make another stop? The crew will be well off for a while, and we have some downtime ahead. I have an idea I’ve been sittin’ on fer a while.”

“Sure, what’s your idea?”

He takes a seat next to you and taps on the table a few times. “I was wantin’ ta take ya back ta Terra fer a visit. Maybe we could find yer family. I know how much ya miss ‘em, and it would bring ‘em some closure. I can imagine they’d be thrilled ta know yer safe…and I wouldn’t mind meetin’ ‘em. If ya think it’d be alright?”

“Back to Earth!? Are you serious?! Yondu! Yes, yes! Oh my god, I can’t believe it!!” You jump into his arms and kiss him excitedly. “It’s been so long. I’d love to show you where I grew up and, well, my family might be a bit shocked – but they’ll get over it.”

“Alright, then. It’s a done deal. I’ll let the crew finish up their…merriment, and we’ll get headed that way.”

In the back of his mind, Yondu knows this is a huge risk. There is chance you’ll find your family, and you might want to stay. If he takes you back to your home, he could lose you forever. However, he understands now, that he’d do anything to make you happy. Even it that happiness takes you away from him.

[strawbunniiee]

A Girl and a Ghost Ch. 4: The Truth

S O this one was VERY FUN TO WRITE MY GOD

i really hope you enjoy this aaa

@salamifuposey @monsterbride99 here ya go :D

The deafeningly silent night was ominous, with a pearly white full moon hanging in the sky. Phantom's gramophone showed slightly in the moonlight as he rushed through the forest, as fast as he possibly could.

He knew he had to get to King Boo's manor before anything terrible happened to Peach.

This time, however, he didn't want Jawaii with him. He didn't want her to be harmed, or possibly even killed. But at the same time, he didn't know how she was going to deal with this pain if he was destroyed. After all, she was only so young... How could she deal with the loss of the only friend she had?

But Phantom did not want her dead either. He wanted her to live on and grow to adulthood at least.

His gramophone heart pounding in anxiety, thoughts racing, he hurried through the forest.

He finally arrived. The manor loomed over the forest casting a shadow over it.

Phantom took a deep breath. Then, he entered the mansion, ready to meet his fate.

———

Meanwhile, Jawaii was scurrying through the dark woods, tears filling her eyes.

The Peek-A-Boo was attempting to chase her down to get her to stop. But it was all in vain. Even if she was caught by the Peek-A-Boo she still wouldnt give up. All she wanted was to rescue her friend.

Her only friend.

She knew that after everything Phantom did for her, the happiness he had helped her find, finding out that someone out there wasn't afraid of her and cared for her... she had to return the favor.

She tripped over and fell into the darkness and let out a scream, but she got up, albeit with a scraped knee. The pain hurt badly.

She began to cry a bit from the pain, but she still ran on through the darkness.

Nothing was going to stop her.

After much running, she finally reached the manor.

She stared at it in horror, wondering if Phantom was already confronting the king. Or worse, what if he was already...? ...No, that couldn't be it.

Why am I staring at this place like an idiot. thought Jawaii. I'm such a COWARD! My own best friend could possibly be dying right now, but I can't even come in because I'm too much of a chicken.

Jawaii transformed her hands into swords (a skill she inherited from her father) and slowly walked into the mansion, ready to take King Boo on, prepared to rescue her friend.

If she couldn't rescue him... well, at least Phantom would have company if King Boo decided to hurt him.

The mansion was dark and dusty, and very cold. There were thick cobwebs everywhere, and everything smelled extremely old.

She took slow steps, shivering in fear.

Maybe this was a stupid idea. Jawaii thought. Maybe that Peek-A-Boo was right. But hey... it's too late now.

She walked around, looking for where Phantom could possibly be. She looked under tables, in closets, yet she couldn't find him. She began to break a cold sweat. Where was he.

She went to the second floor and looked there, in each and every room, each nook and cranny. Still, no dice.

However, when she got to the third floor she finally found him, on the floor quietly sobbing.

She turned her hands back to their normal selves and happily ran over to Phantom and gave him a big hug.

Phantom looked horrified at the fact that Jawaii was here, but also slightly pleasantly surprised. He suppressed that feeling as much as he could.

"I'm so happy you're alive..." whispered Jawaii.

"J-Jawaii, first and foremost, I know you had good intentions, but please... you should not have followed me here. I don't want you getting harmed. That's why I came here alone and didn't tell you. I want you to be safe. You have a long life ahead of you and it would be beyond horrible if it was simply just snuffed out before that. Second of all, how did you even know I was here...?" Phantom whispered back, concerned and shaking.

"One of the Peek-A-Boos told me and I knew I had to go help you. I just wanna help you... And make sure that you don't get hurt or worse." Jawaii answered. "I just wanted to help you..."

"Please leave this place, Jawaii. I'm sorry... I can't risk losing you to him." Tears formed in his eyes.

"I'm not leaving this place until we save her." Jawaii insisted. "Besides, my mom always told me, "Teamwork makes the dream work.""

Phantom caved in. "...I suppose I will allow you to help me. But the moment you get hurt, or he attempts to harm you, I am taking you away from this awful mansion. I am doing this because I want you to be unharmed."

Jawaii grinned. "I won't be the one getting hurt. King Boo sure is though."

Phantom slightly chuckled a bit. "Confident, are we now?"

Jawaii turned her hands into swords with an almost maniacal grin. Phantom looked a bit surprised. "Did you ju-"

"Yeah. I can have sword hands. My dad taught me how, but you're a bunny, so I dunno if I could teach you. though..." said Jawaii.

"Anyway enough rambling, let's kick this guy's ASS." Jawaii grinned.

Phantom sat there in shock. Did she just say what he thought she said?

She giggled at Phantoms dumbfoundedness and ran up the stairs. Phantom quickly snapped out of it and rushed to go in front of her, as if to protect her.

They had a small conversation on the way up.

"...I can't help but feel like this place is just so... familiar to me. I've never been in this part of the manor however." Phantom noted.

Jawaii cocked her head. "Whaddya mean by that?"

"Almost as if... I've been to this place many, many years ago. ...Perhaps it's just me."

After ascending up each floor, they finally made it.

There it was.

The attic door, and beyond it was where King Boo resided.

With Peach.

"Well... this is it." whispered Jawaii.

Phantom's heart began to race. "...I'm starting to regret having taken you up here with me. If you get hurt, it will be my fault."

"No it won't. I promise you, I won't get hurt." she promised.

Phantom took a deep breath. He slowly opened the attic door and phased through it.

Jawaii scurried up a ladder.

———

The attic was dimly lit, the dust and cobwebs were even worse than the first floor. It was clear that this place had not been touched in years, decades even.

King Boo hovered over Peach's unconscious body, preparing to turn her into a painting. It appeared he had knocked her out so she wouldn't try to escape.

Phantom gasped in horror, but his fear turned into anger. "Unhand her." he said.

The king turned around. "So I see you came along to save your beloved little princess, Tommy."

"Do not call me that. I said to UNHAND HER." Phantom's once blue eyes faded into a piercing red color.

King Boo scoffed. "What, do you really expect me to just GIVE her to you just because you said so?" He just laughed. "I'm afraid that just isn't how we do things in this manor, Tom."

Jawaii came out from behind Phantom.

"It's me again, ASSHOLE." Jawaii said. She turned her hands into swords again. She menacingly stared King Boo down. For a little girl, she could certainly be intimidating if she wanted to.

King Boo simply laughed in her face. "YOU- YOU THINK THAT'S INTIMIDATING? YOU THINK YOU'RE SCARING ME?"

That just made Jawaii angrier.

"Don't worry, because I have something that'll scare you. A little story. And it's a true one." King Boo had a malicious grin on his face.

"Once upon a time, there was a talentless, ugly, but rich man. He just loooved Princess Peach so much, he just adored her and wanted to be with her for the rest of his days. But there was a also a plumber. The plumber always saved the day, always rescuing the princess from the evil Bowser. Every single time, the rich man always tried to save her, but  was just so talentless and idiotic that the plumber always beat him to the chase. The plumber was always celebrated for his heroic feats, but the rich human's halfhearted attempts had always gone unnoticed. He was spoiled as well, he was rich, had everything he ever wanted but was still unhappy."

"Then one day, I decided to kidnap her for a change. Stir up a bit of trouble, you know? Then, for once the man came first this time. He tried to stop me and save the princess, but I killed him easily. I sealed his soul away in an old gramophone and threw it away deep into Spooky Trails, never to be seen again. Until now, anyways."

King Boo grinned even bigger, his twisted smile stretching across his entire face. Then he got up close to Phantom.

"Does this story sound familiar, Tom? Because this story... is about you."

"You were a human once, Tommy. And I killed you."

Phantom was staring in complete shock, trying to process this new information. He was practically a statue, just stuck there like that, frozen in horror.

Jawaii, however, was full of inconceivable rage.

She leaped at the king and let out a shrill, ear piercing shreak, about to shred him to pieces.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

[calpalirwin]

Painted Pink Room

Summary: Cake adopts a kid.

Word Count: 3.1k

And away, and away we go!

__

It started with Ashton and Michael introducing them to Wyatt. Wyatt was a spunky little guy of two and a half years old with a mop of wild curls and an infectious little laugh that had Luke looking over at Calum with big pleading eyes and a small pout. And all Calum could do was give a small nod. “So, uh,” Calum started, clearing his throat. “Ash, how did you and Mike… you know?”

“Decide to adopt? Why are you and Luke thinking of doing the same?”

“I mean…” Calum shrugged nervously. “There’s a lot to figure out and whatnot. But uh… kinda hard to deny that this,” he gestured out to the yard where Michael was dying a dramatic death for the benefit of his son who, at Luke’s coaxing of “get him Wyatt!” pounced on Michael, “doesn’t look half bad,” Calum concluded.

A shriek filled the air as Michael roared and started tickling the boy, yelling “Ahahahaha! You fell right into my trap! Now the tickle monster got you! Oh no! Say ‘Uncle Luke help!’”

“Help, help!” Wyatt pleaded with more giggles, pulling at Luke’s hand.

Luke immediately jumped into action, whispering something in the boy’s ear that made him light up before hollering “Attack!” and both Luke and Wyatt started tickling Michael back, all three of them gasping for air amid the storm of giggles.

Ashton and Calum shared a laugh, and then Ashton sighed longingly. “Yeah, it’s gonna be a process. And lots of talking before anything gets done. But the end result is pretty fuckin’ great.”

“Yeah. So how did you and Mike decide that this is what you guys wanted?”

“I mean for me it was easy. I always wanted to be a dad. To prove I could do it without making the same mistakes. But I was afraid of those mistakes, too. Still am. Absolutely scared shitless.”

Calum nodded understandingly. Ashton’s parental history was significantly more fucked than his own had been, but he understood more so than Luke and Michael could about not wanting to repeat mistakes their parents had made. “And Mike?”

Ashton giggled, “Mike is like a big kid himself. He’s great with Wyatt. But he wasn’t sure he was ready for the responsibility that comes with all this. Cuz it’s a lot. I won’t sugarcoat that for ya. But, I dunno. It’s hard to explain how despite all the what ifs and worries, you have a kid anyway. It’s like a blind leap of faith. You just do it and hope for the best.”

“Mhm, and uh… sorry for all the questions, but how did you guys know you wanted Wyatt and not like… adopt a newborn, or try a surrogacy so the kid shared DNA with at least one of you?”

“Well, for one, DNA doesn’t make a family. You know that as well as I do. I mean, look at us, we all found family in each other. But we thought it’d be an easier adjustment with a slightly older kid. Like we wanted them relatively little to have all those experiences. But a newborn felt like it would be too much. And then we met Wyatt and everything just clicked.”

“He’s a cute little thing, that’s for damn sure. Has the coolest dads I know, too.”

Ashton grinned and wrapped an arm around Calum’s shoulder for a sideways hug, “Thanks man. And any kid would be lucky to have you and Luke for dads, you know that right? And you’d have mine and Mike’s support the whole way. Plus it’d kinda be cool if you wanted to give Wyatt a cousin.”

Calum laughed. “Alright, alright. It’ll be a serious discussion now. Gotta make sure it’s not just a bad case of baby fever.”

“Oh, for sure. That’s a conversation all on it’s own.” As he unwrapped his arm from Calum, he glanced at his watch. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Nap time. Ready to see if it’s just a case of baby fever? Mike!”

Michael’s head popped up, and Wyatt took the small distraction to tackle Michael again, the man falling on his ass with a small oomph! “Huh?!” he asked as he wrapped up Wyatt to keep the boy from climbing all over him.

“Time to wrap it up.”

Michael nodded once, standing up and taking Wyatt with him. “C’mon you. Nap time.”

At the word “nap” Wyatt let out a piercing wail and started squirming against Michael’s hold on him. The wail had all four men wincing, and Luke shot Calum a quick glance as if to say “Ooof, could you imagine?” “Ow, Wyatt, we don’t hit. It’s not nice,” Michael scolded lightly, simply adjusting his grip to limit the boy’s protests.

“No!” he wailed, big crocodile tears running down his face.

“Hey,” Ashton said softly, stepping in to help, a thumb brushing away the tears on his son’s face. “Take a breath for me,” and when Wyatt let out a blubbering huff of air with only a sniffle, Ashton smiled at him. “That’s my boy. Now, do you want Daddy to read you a story, or Papa?”

Wyatt sniffed again before making grabby hands for Ashton. Michael kissed his hair before passing Ashton Wyatt. “We’ll play more later. You gotta rest first. And so does Daddy. Love you, bug.”

Ashton chuckled softly as he took Wyatt on his hip, the boy’s head snuggling into his neck. Ashton gave Michael a quick kiss before saying he’d be down in a bit and disappeared inside the house.

“How’d you decide who was Daddy and who was Papa?” Luke asked as the other three men filed inside and settled on the couch in the living room.

Michael shrugged. “Not sure really. It kinda just happened. I mean, it doesn’t really mean too much right now.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well we’ve only had Wyatt a month. Ashton and I try to refer to each other as Daddy and Papa for his sake. To make it more commonplace. I mean, that’s what they said to do. Them being the agency, and the support groups, and all that. But, it’s all new to him. Like he knows I’m Daddy and Ashton’s Papa. But he doesn’t say it yet.”

“Oh… Well, he’ll get there, yeah?”

“Oh yeah. I’m not worried about it. I mean we got to spend plenty of time with him while everything was getting finalized, so he feels safe with us which is what really matters. Everything else is just details. So, Cal, what were you and Ash talking about?”

“Yeah, love, what were you guys talking about?” Luke asked with a suggestive eyebrow raise.

“Oh, I was just asking Ash some questions about how you guys came to decide on having Wyatt. Just curious was all.”

“Curious?” both blondes pressed.

Calum shrugged a little shyly, taking Luke’s hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “We’ll talk about it later, yeah Lu?”

Luke broke out in a grin while Michael laughed loudly. “Not so loud,” Ashton hissed as he came down the stairs.

“Shit, my bad,” Michael apologized. “He go down alright?”

“Out like a light. You and Luke really wore him out. So, what I’d miss?” he asked as he plopped down next to Michael

“Oh, nothing much. Just apparently Cal and Luke are thinking of following our footsteps.”

Ashton nodded. “Yeah, and Luke I’ll tell you what I told Cal outside. It’s a lot. But whatever help or support you guys need, if this is what you guys decide you want, Mike and I are behind you a hundred percent.”

“It’s definitely a conversation I want to have if Cal does,” Luke said, his hand resting on Calum’s thigh.

Calum rested his own hand on top of Luke’s squeezing it reassuringly. “Course, Lu. And thanks guys. The support means a lot.”

“Course, mate,” Michael told him. “Plus, Ash wouldn’t it be cool for Wyatt to get a cousin? It’s like a sibling with less stress.”

~~~

Later that night, Luke rolled over to his side in bed, propping himself up on his elbow, his chin resting in the palm of his hand. “Were you serious early?”

“Serious about what?”

“Us having a baby.”

“Course I was serious. We both wanna be dads, don’t we?”

In a burst of excitement, Luke pushed himself to sit with his legs crossed facing Calum, who mirrored the position, their knees pressed against the other’s. “You’re dead serious? Cuz I swear if you’re fucking with me I’ll never forgive you.”

Calum chuckled softly. “You think I’d joke about something like this? What do you think I was pestering Ash for?”

Luke shrugged and looked away shyly. “Figured you were asking all the stressful stuff so you could talk me down…”

Calum let out another soft chuckle, reaching out to guide Luke’s face back up to look at him. “I mean, Ash did mention that it’s a process, and a lot of discussions, and decisions to make. Like this doesn’t happen overnight. And that’s the easy part. I mean, we’re talking about the end result being us being responsible for a whole ass human.”

“Whoa… yeah that’s kinda scary putting it that way, huh? But…?”

“But if there’s anyone I’d wanna do this with, it’s you, Lu.”

“Yes!” Luke cheered before kissing Calum deeply. “Okay, so how did Ash and Mike get started? Do we wanna do what they did and adopt like a toddler? Or do we wanna go older or younger? Oh newborns are so cute! But it’s kinda cool when they can talk, and actually play too like Wyatt can. Oh, and imagine if we get a little girl? We can learn to do her hair and we can have salon parties all the time! Wait! Do you think we should look into surrogacy? A little mix of you and me? Is that possible you think?” Luke spewed out all the questions he had in a rapid fire barely taking time to breath between words. He paused to suck down a giant gulp of air, his face flushing. “Fuck, sorry, that was a lot.”

“There good questions, Lu. Definitely things we need to talk about. But maybe we start slower. Talk to Ash and Mike about getting in contact with the adoption agency they went through. See what all our options are and go from there?”

“Yeah that’s probably the smartest way to go about this. Just do what feels right each step of the way. Fuck… but we’re really gonna do this? We’re gonna try to have a baby? You and me?”

“Me and you,” Calum smiled. 

It was quiet for a moment as they settled in for bed, their decision slowly sinking in. Then, just as Calum closed his eyes, Luke whispered out in the dark. “Hey, love?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I be daddy, and you be papa?”

“Sounds perfect, babe.”

~~~

The process, as Ashton had warned them, was a lot. There were interviews, home inspections, background checks, and seemingly endless piles of paperwork. And that was just for Calum and Luke to get cleared. 

Several times they wondered if they should have gone the surrogacy route, but after a few meetings when they were shown some case files, it had been a no-brainer.

They sat side by side as they shifted through file after file, fingers knocking against each other as they pointed out whatever caught their eye. It was the file of a little girl, a baby really at thirteen months old, that had them both gasping at the same time. Brown eyes met blue and there was the briefest of nods. “Um, excuse me, what’s the story on this one? There’s not a lot here,” Luke asked the adoption agency clerk helping them.

“That’s McKenna. She came to us when she was a day old. Safe haven surrender. Sweet little girl. We can arrange a meeting if you’re interested.”

“That would be great, yeah.”

~~~

“So you guys are meeting her today, yeah?” Ashton asked.

“Yeah,” and even though both Calum and Luke were beaming, their voices shook. “Been waiting like what? A month for this?” Calum went on.

“I thought you guys were already four months into this?” Michael questioned.

“Yeah, we are. Shit has it been that long? But since we saw McKenna’s file and now it’s been a month. Longest month of my life…” Luke let out his breath in a small huff, raking his hands through his hair.

“Well, good news is that once you guys get approved to adopt, which you will, the actual adoption process won’t take as long,” Ashton pointed out. “That’s how it was with Wyatt. We got to know him for… what was it Mike? Like a little less than a year while all the processing shit happened. Because they’ll keep scheduling visits so everyone gets comfortable. Makes the transition easier. And then because we had that background established, the adoption process was like… 2 months I wanna say? And that was just waiting for the court date.”

“Something like that yeah. But hey, don’t sweat it if you and the kid don’t click. Like it’s okay. Take your time with it,” Michael jumped in.

“Yeah, definitely. No rush.”

“How did you guys know with Wyatt?” Calum asked.

“You’re just gonna know, mate. I promise. Instinct will take over and you’ll just know.”

Calum understood exactly what his friends meant when two hours later McKenna was set in his arms. Big brown eyes peered up at him full of confused wonder, deciding how she felt about the man holding her and the tall blonde smiling down at her. “Well, hey there, McKenna. I’m Cal, and this is Luke.”

McKenna watched Calum carefully as he spoke, before shifting her attention to Luke who was waving at her. She reached a small hand out towards Luke. Luke held out his index finger for her and her small fist wrapped around it. “Hey, sweetheart,” he cooed softly. “Oh, Cal, she’s beautiful isn’t she?”

“Yeah she’s a beaut, aren’t you, darling? Do you want Luke to hold you?”

Luke held out his arms warmly and McKenna wiggled a bit in Calum’s arms so he started to pass her over, but her free hand bunched itself in Calum’s shirt, not letting go, causing both men to laugh. “Alright, that’s okay. We’ll just hold hands,” Luke told her scrunching up his nose at her and tickling at her ribs, giggling when she giggled.

“This is the quickest I’ve ever seen her warm up to a family before,” one of the workers running the meeting mentioned. “Normally she’s way more shy than this.”

“Does that mean you like us, darling?” Calum asked. “Cuz I really hope it does.”

~~~

Eleven months. Eleven months of having to be content with limited visiting time with the little girl who stole more of their hearts every time they were with her. Eleven of the longest months they’d ever experienced before they got the phone call that everything had been approved and they could finally get in front of a judge to formalize the adoption.

“So, when can we schedule a court date?” Calum choked out over the phone.

“We can get the three of you in front of a judge in three weeks.”

“And that’s when we’ll be able to take her home?”

“Barring any complications, yes.”

“Complications? Um… Sorry, could you explain that?” Calum asked, holding up a finger at Luke who’s eyes went wide with worry.

“Usually it has to do with paperwork that wasn’t processed properly, or waiting the right amount of days, and in some rare cases biological parents popping out of the woodwork.”

“And, do you…” Calum faltered with his question.

“Foresee any complications with your case? No. Everything’s been processed, waiting periods have been waited, and safe haven surrender terminated the biological parents rights.”

Calum let out a small laugh of relief. “Okay. Awesome. That’s great. So three weeks?”

“I’ll forward you the information.”

“Great. Thank you so much.”

“Well?!” Luke demanded as Calum ended the call, chewing on his thumbnail.

“Three more weeks, Lu. Three more weeks and she’s all ours.”

“YES!” Luke whooped, wrapping Calum in a tight hug. “Our daughter’s coming home in three weeks! Three weeks, love! That’s nothing! We can do three weeks, no problem. Plenty of time to get her room set up.”

“Better get to work then.”

~~~

If asked, Calum and Luke couldn’t answer what happened in the courtroom, what with their shaking hands, and pounding heartbeats drowning out any other sound. The words that filtered in were muddled and slow. “Accepted” and “congratulations” before the gavel was pounding and they snapped out of their haze, tears free falling down their faces.

What they did remember in sharp focus was the drive home, with McKenna in the backseat. Luke kept turning in his seat and Calum kept peering through the rearview mirror, each one grinning every time she was still there when they looked, as if they expected each time to find the backseat empty like this had all been a figment of their imagination.

They remembered the way she started yawning and rubbing her eyes as Luke’s voice crooned a soft lullaby at bedtime. The hushed goodnights and I love yous, and the soft glow of the night light. And not sure of what else to do, they turned in for the night themselves.

The alarm clock on Calum’s nightstand said that it was a little after midnight when someone tugged at his hand.

Calum jerked awake, finding McKenna peeking up at him. “What’s the matter, darling?” he rasped.

“I scared.”

“You’re scared? Aw, c’mere, darling.” He peeled back the covers and helped her up into bed beside him. “Everything’s new, huh?”

She nodded, curling her body into him.

“That’s okay. Daddy and I will keep you safe, I promise.”

“Hmm?” Luke mumbled in his sleep. “Love, who are you ta- oh hey sweetheart,” Luke’s eyes blinked open to find Calum cradling McKenna. “Everything okay?”

“Just a little scared is all,” Calum explained.

“Mmm, well don’t worry, sweetheart. You wanna sleep in here with me and Papa?”

McKenna nodded before crawling over Calum to sandwich herself between her dads. “That’s our girl,” Luke smiled, kissing her forehead and drawing the blanket up snug. “All nice and cozy?”

“Mhm,” she nodded with a small yawn.

“G’night, darling. We’ll be right here if you need us,” Calum told her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “We love you.”

“So stinking much,” Luke added.

As they settled back down themselves, Calum and Luke heard the softest, “Night, wuv you too,” from McKenna, causing both men to fall asleep with grins on their faces, their little girl protectively snuggled between them. Perfect.

__

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