#i have a set of nesting dolls that are cats and that's what i call them.

[rueitae]

I've just come back into the fandom after a few years and I stumbled onto your player teacher au and I am Obsessed and in fact I love everything you've written but teacher player lives in my head rent free. And I just wanted you to know that.. have a good day 💜

Thank you so much. I meant to answer this a long time ago but the family got hit with colds.

From the bottom of my heart thank you. Teacher AU has a place in my heart forever. As a thanks, here’s a teaser for the direction I want to go with it:

“What?”

Twin shrieks in a distinct Boston accent echo through Player’s surround sound, so much so that the hacker winces and presses the hotkey on his keyboard to turn down the volume just a notch or five. Zack sounds utterly confused and Ivy carries the intense rage of a cat denied its morning meal.

Maybe Player should not have started out so bluntly.

“They have no idea who I am,” Player emphasizes to the team on the other end of the video call. Ashamedly, he briefly looks away. “At least, I don’t think they do. Otherwise they never would have let me leave, right?” he finishes with nervous laughter.

Immediately upon arriving home, he’d texted Carmen to organize a team meeting. Urgent. Then spent the next hour combing every square inch of his apartment, looking for bugged mics or cameras. Part of him worries his rudimentary skills in that department might have caused him to miss something. He wishes Carmen were here. In person.

There is a long, long sigh from Shadowsan’s section of the screen. The man closes his eyes tightly as if attempting to will away a headache. “My former colleagues have never been the kind to quit.” He opens his eyes and he looks already ten years older. Tired. “VILE has remained successfully hidden for eight centuries, until now. The Faculty will not be content to be known as the ones who saw its downfall.”

“Which is why this situation is perfect,” Player adds animatedly. He holds his hands in front of him, where they itch to do…something. Anything for those kids. For his team. To take down VILE for good before they can do any more harm. “VILE doesn’t know my face. They don’t even know I exist. I’m literally the perfect spy.”

A light cough takes Player’s attention to the other ACME agents on this call.

“Spies undergo years of intense training for dangerous situations such as this one,” Julia says carefully. She wears her business casual today rather than her ACME uniform. Not on official business, yet, Player supposes. She looks as if she’s at her desk at home.“I did not teach you any of it in your graduate classes.”

“We have enough simply knowing Tigress is there,” Devineaux adds. He attempts to casually lean over Julia’s shoulder. “Should we not just…go get them?” the agent shrugs his arms to the left as if ready to go get the keys and go to the car.

“I’m with Devineaux,” Ivy pipes up. The rage contained within her eyes looks as if a volcano is about to erupt. “VILE’s done enough. Let’s nab ‘em quick. Like you said, Player. They wouldn’t even know we’re coming.”

Player sighs, settling deeper into his chair, feeling defeated already that the team is not on his side. “Because it’s not just the academy students this time around. VILE’s starting them earlier. I’ll be teaching fourteen year olds. If I stay undercover, we can find out for sure who all from VILE is there, lure them into a trap for ACME, all without risking the students getting hurt.”

The call goes silent, then. Player wonders if the others can feel it too, the proverbial elephant in the room. The one person who hasn’t spoken yet is the one person who Player values the opinion of over all else. If Carmen shoots down this idea, then that’s it.

She sits in her mother’s office, Player can tell. The full set of her Russian nesting dolls is on the bookshelf behind her, along with several mother-daughter pictures, and one father-daughter picture. Carmen leans back in the chair, as if deep in thought. There are wrinkles under her eyes as well, looking far too tired. Player’s heart hurts for her. She doesn’t deserve this.

Finally, she looks him in the eye. “I don’t like this, Player.” It isn’t a firm answer, but it's an honest one. Her voice feels more like a plea, one for him not to convince her that this is their best option.

Player can’t oblige. “I don’t like it either, but it really is our best shot, Red. We’ve been given an in. We really can’t ignore it.”

“Jules is right,” Carmen comes back with. “You’re a hacker, Player. This is a whole different kind of spy work.”

“All I have to do is teach geography,” Player states clearly.

“For VILE,” Carmen states just as clearly. But her eyes quickly become overcast, building into a storm. “You’d be teaching for VILE.”

[thewitchunderyourbed]

When the sun goes down

Chapter 2

Pairing: JoyToy!Johnny x V

Warning: language, sexual themes, brief mention of violence and abuse.

Jhonny watched the mercenary speed into the traffic inder the pouring and slightly toxic rain of Night City.

Steam from the underground district heating billowed out of the manholes, making even a neighborhood like Jig-Jig Street gloomy, always teeming with bright lights and people of all kinds.

He didn't give a fuck about the rain but he couldn't stand the cold, his leather pants made good work covering his legs but his torn net shirt left his torso almost naked, he wasn't going to complain anyway, too haughty to even admit he was shivering.

The screeching sound of a black van hitting the brakes caught his attention.

"Looks like someone miss me" he thought sarcastically tossing away the cigarette butt and disappearing into a dark alley.

××××××××××××

V opened the door of her apartment and as soon as she stepped inside, she headed for the kitchen, pulling out a cold beer from the fridge.

She sat on her big sofa, switching the TV on and rubbing her temples as a headache began to make her day worse.

"Shit" she muttered.

Wakako was kind of right, she needed to relax in one way or another.

She opened the bottle and tossed the glossy metal cap on the table.

It catches the lights coming from the screen, reminding her of the cybernetic arm of that JoyToy, shining in the pink and blue neon lights.

Her phone rang making her jump on her seat, huffing, she answered the call, she would have declined if it hadn't been from Evelyn.

"Hello V, I hope I won't disturb you" the soft voice of the woman had always had a soothing effect on the mercenary's psyche. In another life, maybe she would have fallen in love with her.

"You know you can't, even if you wanted to. Tell me everything, Ev" She took a swing from the beer bottle.

"Our caretaker, Woodman, is looking for someone for a gig, one of the Dolls knocked him out the other night, tried to open his safe, and ran away. "

"...and? You called because...?"

"Woodman wanted you for the job but I dissuaded him. He doesn't want the Tiger Claws to know about this, he's pissing his pants, the fat pig" it was clear Evelyn hated the man.

"The doll that escaped, is he your friend?" V asked.

"Yes, he's a great asshole but he's not a bad person, V please, you need to find him before they do... They'll kill him" her friend sobbed.

"Hey hey, sure. I'll find him. What's his name?"

"Robert, but he performs as Johnny"

V stood up from the couch like she was electrocuted "SHIT" she shouted, taking the elevator to her garage.

The sun was already set to rise when she arrived on Jig-Jig Street but of the man, there was no trace.

××××××××××

Johnny rubbed the sleep away from his tired eyes and stretched like a cat.

An old and dirty mattress in an abandoned hotel has been his nest for the night.

He was starving, he didn't eat in almost two days and everything he got was an opened Spunky Monkey and two cigarettes.

His nerves were at their limits, he was a fugitive and he was sure that in one way or another someone would have captured him and dragged him back to Clouds or worse.

The reflection looking back at him from a broken mirror made him realize how miserable he looked, with the bags under his eyes, his ruffled hair, and his unkempt stubble.

Johnny managed to steal some casual clothes, a black tank top too tight for him and a grey zipped hoodie that was too big, and he tied a piece of torn fabric around his neck to cover the doll chip.

He needed money fast and he sure knew how to make them, so he entered the nearest seedy bar he could find.

The Maelstrom girl that kept looking at Johnny from the dark corner of the bar was creeping him out, not enough to be scared but he couldn't tell if she wanted to kill him or fuck him, maybe both and he preferred not to think in which order.

Eventually, she stalked closer and closer until the stool near him was vacant and she sat at his side.

"Hey, can I offer you anything?" she asked him, purring.

Johnny didn't know where to look, part of her face was replaced by cheap chrome and blood-red optics.

"Depends if you can afford me," he smiled seductively.

The hand that slowly rose from his knee and up to his thigh, until it played with his belt, gave him the answer he wanted.

It was quick and dirty, but not bad, he'd never liked to do it slowly and he was pretty sure the girl had left some bruises on him, as he had left them on her, the scrapes caused by the short nails of his right hand would stay on her hips for a while, but the black and blue bruises caused by his cybernetic fingers would have lasted longer.

He found himself with money for food and a taxi but not much more.

××××××××××××

"Have you seen this man?" V asked every Joytoy, pedestrian, and shop owner in the street but it looked like Jhonny vanished into thin air.

She inhaled deeply and entered a ripperdoc shop, he hated that viscid piece of shit will every fiber of her being, but Fingers could have known where Jhonny was directed.

She took the stairs up to the clinic if a room full of glitters, cybernetic body parts, and blood could be called like that.

A group of dolls and JoyToys were in the waiting room, some of them looking nervous or pissed and others in pain with tears in their eyes.

V tried to ask them too, sending a photo of Johnny that Evelyn gave her to their optics.

"I know him, he works at Clouds. Jesus, that man is a true and genuine whore, fucks like nobody" a green-haired doll told her.

"Any idea of where he could be now?" the merc asked hopefully.

"He said he wanted to be free, he was tired of... well, everything. But I swear I don't know where he went-"

The door of Fingers' clinic opened abruptly, and the skinny rat-looking man stood frozen on the doorstep, the fear in his eyes made V laugh, while he scrambled and tried to run to the stairs.

V cached him back inside and closed the door, locking it and turning around with a deadly and hunting gleam in her eyes.

"I-I swear I'm not installing flawed implants anymore, the chrome I sell is-" but he was interrupted by a slap on his face that almost made him lose his balance.

"You better! If I found you altering even half a screw on a chrome I swear to God I'll kill you... But that's not why I'm here. Did you see this man?" V hissed.

Fingers started to nod frantically "Yeah he came here a couple of times or more... Once for a problem with his synthetic liver and another... Ah yes he asked me to remove his doll chip but he couldn't pay so I sent him away"

"Any idea of where he went?" V asked grabbing him by his filthy net shirt and holding her hand in a fist, ready to punch.

"Jig-Jig Street, but I saw a ticket for a bus ride to Little China in Watson in his back pocket, he had such a nice ass-" the man recalled, still shaking, before V's first collided with his face.

This time he fell into the ground, coughing blood and spitting a tooth, while V stormed out.

[sleepy-toasted-bunny]

Missed opportunity to say Catryoshka.

The Matryoshcats! 

Russian nesting cat dolls ;)

https://www.redbubble.com/people/yasminwalji/works/27385496-matryoshcats

[euphoriclove777]

Bloom

Pairings: Fezco X Reader

Rating: pure fluff! Omg I had the best time writing this!

Request by @ateliefloresdaprimavera​ :  Fez has a special place in my heart 😍I'd like to request an imagine where yn is his gf and they have been together since kids. she's a nurse and his rock. she loves Ash like a brother and he feels the same. when Rue and her friends met her from the first time they're amazed by how different she is to Fez, but they complement each other and are just super sweet♥️ what do you think?

The color yellow was always an everlasting treasure between you and your beloved, Fezco. In the first grade when you met him, you had on an adorable yellow dress with white frills and bumblebees scattered across the front and back. And your beautiful luscious hair has been pulled into two pigtail braids with yellow scrunchies securing it at the base. Your mother, Lydia, always had a habit of making you look as sweet as honey for all the others to follow, especially when you were new. You had moved a total of 27 times but this time, like she always says, “We are here to stay for good Y/N! Isn’t it exciting?!” But it was never exciting. It had been all the same of towns with cardboard shape houses and buildings and people being so fragile and stuck together like paper dolls. 

Except for him.

 He had on a red t-shirt which complimented his sea glass blue eyes and his curly ginger hair. He wore horned rim glasses which he took off to wipe the dirt off his lenses to get a crystal clear view of you.

  You were the object of his attention as he played kickball and ran across the field to the farthest base just to look at you from afar. “Mysterious...mysterious angel.” he thought to himself as he watched you giggle while two caterpillars crawled on your dress and you set a leaf for them to eat in your lap. He smiled at your laughter revealing his gapped teeth. Just as you looked up to watch the game, Fez blushed bright red and waved at you shyly. You squinted your eyes to see what exactly it was he was doing and smiled, waving back slowly. Confidence arose inside of him and he smiled all goofy to himself.

“Sweet” you thought to yourself, giggling as well. All was well until the cherry red kickball flew and met Fez’s face, giving his mouth a very unwanted and painful kiss. Everyone laughed as he fell to the grown but you quickly got up, removed the caterpillars from your dress and ran over to him. His glasses made a scar on his nose that was bleeding and his mouth leaked out blood.

Naturally you came and sat down on the grass next to him and removed his glasses gently. Taking a napkin from your dress pocket, you dabbed his mouth, wiping away the blood from his mouth. His beautiful blue eyes snapped open and looked at you. He eased into your touch, wincing as you wiped away at a cut.

“Are you okay?” you asked in a sweet voice. If Fez could replay how your words sounded in his head, he’d listen to it all day if he could. 

“Uh yeah...yeah I’m...I’m fine...McDaniel's has always had it out for me,” he said slowly, sitting up and rubbing his head. You giggled softly at the bruise forming on his face and stood up, holding out your hand.

Gingerly, he took it and you led him to the swing set where you could properly look at his face. 

“Are you feeling dizzy? Sleepy? Confused?” you said while looking into his eyes and wiping his mouth completely free of blood. “Should we go to the nurse?”

He just looked in a daze at you, taking every detail in. The way your smile looked, how your voice had the perfect amounts of care and concern, and especially the way your Y/H/C hair shined in the sun.

“Yes....No...wait I’m okay! I promise! I’m great!” He said, flashing his most dazzling pearly white smile at you. 

Your face dropped immediately with concern. 

“What?” he said, confused and a bit nervous of rejection. “Had some broccoli been left on my teeth from the Alfredo grandma made?” he thought to himself. 

“ Uhhhh...were you missing a tooth before?” you said hesitantly, ogling at his bloody mouth and the freshly formed space from his right tooth. Fez’s heart dropped to his stomach as he felt around in his mouth at the new space in his mouth.  His eyes watered and he panicked. 

“No! Oh no I think I swallowed it!” he said with fear in his voice and he covered his face with both hands, crying softly.

You squatted in front of him and touched his arm, caressing it softly. “Hey...hey it's okay! It's perfectly normal for us to lose teeth, I pinky promise! See look at mine!” You smiled really hard showing that your bottom tooth on the right had been missing.

His watery ocean eyes crinkled as he laughed with you about teeth. You wiped his eyes away. “I’m Y/N....I’m new here,” you said shyly.

He smiled up at you and stood up holding out his hand. “I’m Fezco but people just call me Fez around here,” he said confidently. 

At the end of the day he held your books and walked you home discussing cartoons and homework.At nap time Fez dreamed of being married to you and creating a family...but that would be so long. It was only first grade. 

That sweet little sensitive boy you knew and loved from first sight there on that playground was yours since that day and yours only...except for that one time in sixth grade. It was the spring fling dance. You and Fez danced all night. He loved the way that your blush pink dress complimented the daisies your mother stuck into your bun. His white button down shirt, black bow tie, black slacks, and shining black shoes cost a fortune. His mom had been out of work for some time and hadn’t been home in days. Thank god his grandma was willing to take him to the store and buy him  all that he needed so that he could impress you. 

Much like middle school, the Spring Fling dance had been filled with drama, tears, and laughter. This was the night Fez was going to finally tell you how he felt about you...how he wanted you to be his girlfriend. But some outlying factors seemed to corrupt his plans.

“Gee it's hot in here! I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go to the restroom!” you said to Fez over the loud music. He nodded and smiled at you and went over to the punch bowl, pouring you a cup, instinctively knowing that right after you used the bathroom you wanted to drink something cold or have something cold to hold. He smiled at himself thinking about how excited he would be to finally call you his and get all the other creeps away from you. A tap on his shoulder awoke Fez from his thoughts of you. 

Tammy Martin, the snob and queen bee of sixth grade flashed a smile at him. “Hey Fezzy!” she said with a high pitched tone. He cringed subtly “Hey Tammy...what’s up?” he said slowly. 

“Nothing...just...I really like you Fezco! So I’m gonna...I’m gonna kiss you!!!” she said nervously. “Wait wha-”

Tammy pressed her bubble gum pink lips to Fezcos without warning. His eyes widened in shock and pure horror as he a) had no feelings for Tammy whatsoever and b) saw your smiling face approaching him and the way it dropped shattered his heart into a million pieces.

Fez pulled away quickly with embarrassment and disgust. “Tammy! I’m not interested in you...sorry. I gotta go!”

As you sobbed on the staircase outside of the school, the sunlight set the scene. It was so romantic yet you were so heartbroken. 

“Y/N I am so sorry...she came onto me, I would never-”

“No! It's fine Fez. You want her, take her! It's completely fine! I-”

“Y/N STOP! I do NOT like Tammy.” he visibly shuddered and sat next to you, wiping the tears off of your face.He held both of your hands and looked deep into your eyes. 

“Y/N....I...I’m in love with you. The way you talk...the way you smile...the way you are just here with me through the messed up shit my life is in. I love you and I have loved you since the day I laid my eyes on you.” He said fearful of rejection and wholeheartedly.

Tears threatened to spill out of your eyes at that moment and you kissed him. You kissed him with the passion of a million suns. Fireworks exploded within you and him. He held you close to him and kissed back.

 As you now look outside of the window at the hospital where you work, seeing so many people going by that were once rude or bullies before, you laughed to yourself. none of them could ever say that they had the pleasure of being with their lover since elementary school. 

Tired as always when you made your way back to the quiet and quaint suburban home that you and Fezco now share, you found the tranquility of love and being with Fez.

The boy that once sold so much crack and LSD to highschoolers had saved up his money properly and invested in different things that wouldn’t bring damage to the ones he loves.

You and him finally made a nest in the suburban home that you two envied growing up with the difficult situations. As you opened up the white door to your loving home, the scent of apple pie, your favorite, was wafting through the air. It was suspicious however, seeing as all the lights are off and-

“SURPRISE!!!!” 

Behind the grey curtains was Fez with the sweet goofy smile on his face. He was laughing especially hard due to the reaction of you jumping like a cat in the air. 

“Fez! Stopppp!” you said pouting at him and flopping onto the sofa. He kissed your forehead and pulled off your black crocs from your feet. “You’re home late” he murmured as he gently massaged your foot and kissed your leg. 

The Fezco that everyone knew was slow speaking, in a daze, and willing to protect what's his- whether it be you, Rue, Ash, and his family. The Fezco before you however was not as furocious and masculine. He softened for you. This was the Fez that came knocking on your window at 2 AM breathing heavily and in tears from his Mother attempting to kill him in an unsettled state from all the heroin she had been taking. This was the Fez who held you so tight at night and with any sudden sound he would awaken and grab his gun willing to do anything to protect you. This was the Fez who surprised you at work with roses and daisies sitting at your counter or would leave a gift wrapped in the prettiest wrapping paper he could find. And this was especially the Fez who would stay at the corner   

This Fezco, your teddy bear, was who you came home to every night and woke up to every morning. He does everything he can to spoil you rotten. Each night before bed you would hear him whisper in your ear “You deserve the world my princess and anything you want, imma give it to you.” Sometimes you would wake up to necklaces around your neck or a cartier bracelet that he made you promise to never take off. A new lavish breakfast everyday before work and a delicious dinner after work. Bubble baths were something you both indulged in doing together. He always knew how to get the water just right so it felt like slipping into a warm bed. He would massage your shoulders and let you vent about how some of the patients were intolerable and how the doctors often treated you with limited respect. And once you two got out, you would lotion him slowly massaging his muscles and letting him discuss whatever affairs had been occuring in his life. 

People honestly were the most confused at the looks of you two together. Rue, being like Fez’s little sister, questioned it once she first met you. But now she truly believes that “Y’all are the only fucking soulmates on the planet”. She comes over often with Jules and Lex and you’ll find your time giving them advice about whatever is going on in their lives. All while watching reality TV and baking cakes. 

And Ashtray, that little rascal. He knew you since the day he was born and imprinted on you easily. He always came to you for advice. Or if Fez broke your heart from something stupid, Ash was the middle man and always made sure that you two made up. 

 As you relaxed into Fezs touch you laughed to yourself. “What you laughing at little mama?” he said slowly, focusing and perfecting his massage. “It's just...we’ve come so far. Since first grade! We’ve been together.” you sat up and stared at him smiling. “Fez I really do love you. Thank you for being here with me and staying with me.” 

He stared at you for a minute and blushed and got up very fidgety and nervous. “Y/N baby...do you...do you want more...more with me?”

You laughed softly and got off of the sofa and onto your tippy toes to kiss his nose gently. “Of course I do silly,” you said smiling and looking into his eyes. “I want you and only you for the rest of my days Fez. Even if it includes your hot ass morning breath burning off my eyebrows every morning!” you giggled throughout the last statement, especially because Fez pulled you in and started to tickle you. 

You laughed as he got down on his knee before you. “Baby, what are you doing?” you said gently and played with his hair. And those pure sea glass eyes looked up at you with every wonder in the world.

He held both of your hands. “Y/N M/N L/N...I can’t describe you using simple adjectives and shit but you are the love of my life. I’d give anything and everything to be here with you and protect you and hold you down when shit gets rough. You’ve had my back for almost 15 years babe. Do you know how much that is? 15 years, 180 months, 5475 days, 131400 hours, and 473040000 seconds of your love and joy. I wanna be with you on the good days and bad days. Y/N you got me out of so much fucked up shit. You’ve been a real big sis to my brother and looking out for him, making sure his grades are straight and shit. You look out for my grandma with me. She told me that if I ever let you go, it would be the worst mistake of my life. And guess what baby? I’m not making that mistake. I refuse to go another second more without asking you to be mine and mine only for the rest of our days.”

Your eyes watered and pooled with tears threatening to spill out. You smiled down at him as a tear fell out.

“Will you marry me?” he said, pulling out a beautiful lotus flower diamond ring. It wasn’t traditional but it was so beautiful. 

“YES! A MILLION TIMES YES!” you yelled and kissed him, almost knocking him over on the floor. He laughed along with you and kissed you back and wiped away your tears. His smile was ear to ear as he slipped the ring on your finger. “I know you’re mad curious about why I chose a flower ring but...a lotus flower grows through the mud. Once it comes out of the mud it is so beautiful and perfect. We have gotten through so much mud in our lives baby and I wanna finally bloom with you and only you.”

“I love you Fez” you said, your eyes slowly dropping out tears one at a time. 

“I love you always and forever Y/N” he said and kissed you once again. 

[cuefog]

tog/khunbam fic rec

this is for @cannottranslate​ because you asked for it and i am grateful for the excuse to make a fic rec post

i expect this will be a long post so i’ll put it under read ↓ 

i’ll be leaving my own thoughts and comments under each fic (im sorry in advance for rambling too much)!! if you want the full summary and other info please click on the link provided lol

!!webtoon spoilers beware!!

♡ = one of my favourites

canon timeline

(these will be the ones that are set in the canon world and follow major plot events, even if there some changes in the details and relationships)

♡ deep sea blue by Feyren ♡

please read everything written by feyren!!!! lovely prose, wonderfully written khunbam emotional tension. khun braiding his beautiful hair accompanied by symbolism and perfectly crafted metaphor. bonus earrings.

♡ hollow moons by NoteInABottle ♡

please also read everything by noteinabottle!! equally lovely prose, wonderfully written khunbam emotional tension. khun wearing earrings and giving them to bam, accompanied by lots of symbolism and perfectly crafted metaphor. you could probably consider this a companion fic to feyren’s deep sea blue. both of these fics gave me a Thing for khun’s earrings (>_<;)``

take my hand (take my whole life too) by RadiantAshe

our dear ashe has written lots of great stuff but i think this is my favourite!! so much khunbam softness, very classic s3 vibes <33

Chestnuts at Nighttime by khunfounded (ongoing)

khun with a cat who loves him very much, and vice versa. that’s all the explanation you need. this fic overloads my heart with cute soft fluffy feelings!!! (bonus khun and bam dolls with little hands made of velcro so they can hold each other’s hands (ʘ‿ʘ✿) please i can’t take any more of this, somebody help my heart is gonna explode)

a thousand paths to you by LiannaAila

set during the time of khun’s coma. bam travels to a parallel universe and meets an alive and awake khun. this fic is exactly what it says it is and it’s so lovely <3

oh no he’s hot (and other earth-shattering revelations) by Bird_of_Dreams

tldr; bam being thirsty over khun

khun aguero agnis and his growing competency kink by chuuyaya

tldr; khun being thirsty over bam

motion by smokeandwaves (rated Explicit)

set during hell train, khunbam focused. this one is really popular in the fandom!! it’s well written, and if you consider smut a genre i would say this is the best one in the tog tag. lots of emotions, and a wonderful flow of feeling!! also it has a few sequel fics in the series, ‘obedience’ in particular being all about sub!khun,, which is,, (*ﾉωﾉ)

sometimes when i look into your eyes i pretend you're mine by agueros (minamis)

residents of the tower ship jue viole grace and khun aguero agnis and write fanfiction about them (i love these types of fics lmao)

From: Khun by AngrySheepProject  and To you who lies with my heart under the sea by Strawbellie666 (ongoing)

khun messaging bam’s pocket when he thought he was dead in s2

canon divergence + future canonverse

(future fics means it’s set in the future of the current canon, which at the nest arc rn)

♡ A World Without You by Breaking_Formation ♡

this one might be my favourite out of all of them. i know it says major character death but it happens in the beginning and there’s a promised happy ending so don’t worry!!! this one is a beautiful 20k word masterpiece.... seriously..... this fic is set after the nest arc, it has lots of Plot and plays around with the world and the lore of the Tower, so it’s already fascinating that way, but the real heart of the story is in the emotions!! if you love witnessing khun’s endless devotion to bam, this is the fic that shows you that devotion reflected right back at khun. it might bring you to tears :’)

♡ Our Hearts Are Made of Stars by Ruinous ♡ (ongoing)

out of the 5 or so other time travel au fics in the tog fandom, this one is definitely my favourite!! time travel aus are all super fun to read, but this one stood out to me especially because it hits all the right spots!! it’s written well and i love the level of foresight, and the emotions detailed into this, it really feels like the friendships and bonds are at the heart of this story and all the fighting stuff will turn out just fine, and everything will be ok :)

♡ enough by Feyren ♡

future fic, set in a cocktail party on the 87th floor. this is so well written!!!!! again, please just read everything written by feyren. the prose is wonderful and everything going on in this fic feels so well-crafted and carefully executed with just the right amount of subtlety in all the emotions. i think it’s gorgeous.

fire and ice by soundscape (ongoing)

set vaguely in the future. still ongoing, and the story feels like it’s just started, but very intriguing plot!! premise is people trying to separate khun from bam + the team trying to deal with shady fug plots

dig down deep by milkywxy (ongoing)

this one is a plotty one!! diverges from canon at the hidden floor arc. bam decides not to let rachel go with them. im super interested to see where this story goes!!

where the current leaves us by macrauchenia (ongoing)

this one is a Plotty one, still in the early stages of plot development but the premise is super interesting!! basically khun takes bam’s place in the bubble with rachel, during the administrator’s test on the 2nd floor. i’m excited to see where this story goes :D

special mentions for “bam climbs the tower” remix concept fics that you might like to check out (this is for you dango, since you said you like togverse canon divergence :D)

Moonlight by Shadow_to_rant (ongoing, khun meets bam in cave instead of rachel)

Timeless Existence by Jazebeth (Barrattiel) (ongoing, time travel au series)

Second Chance by Shadow_to_rant (ongoing, time travel au)

Never Let You Go by eternus (ongoing, time travel au)

Il Principe by euludey (ongoing, bam with different backstory/origins)

Night Never Falls by TripleTurtles (ongoing, au where rachel doesn’t succeed at pushing bam off the bubble on the 2nd floor)

Child of Arlene by MoodleNoodle (ongoing, bam is adopted by jahad before canon timeline)

au

♡ the king and his lionheart by chuuyaya ♡

khunbam royalty au with bam as king, khun as a genius war strategist. bonus pda in front of a whole courtroom. what more could you want?? this was soooo satisfying to read, i enjoyed it a lot :D (please also check out chuuyaya’s other fics if you like khunbam aus!!)

if there's anything in this life ive been waiting for (its you) by trueaguero (ongoing)

fascinating au where everyone is outside the tower and the tower is part of history. perhaps you could call this a “post-tower au” ?

if my heart was a house by The_Winged_Warrior

very cute magical fantasy au!! khun runs a potion shop and bam is an adventurer

aus are pretty self explanatory so i’ll put the rest in a list:

you are the magic in me by silverinerivers (ongoing, hogwarts au)

hope and legacy by chuuyaya (figure skating au)

♡ jump then fall (i'll catch you) by agueros (minamis) ♡ (figure skating au, consider it a prequel to ‘hope and legacy’, this is a beautiful 13k-word love letter to figure skating <3)

of social media and turtles by chuuyaya (celeb au with social media bits)

i am the last olympian by argenteas (percy jackson au)

who else is there to love but you? by khuns (college au, very soft pining!!)

Lucky coin by bothersomepotato (ongoing, college business majors au)

Greedy Turtles by Alien_ships (ongoing, on the surface it seems like just a pet shop au but there’s a lot of care and attention paid to the characters and relationship dynamics :D)

and i will come to you at every first snow by aguerobaam (khun is a magical doll in a toy store)

the heart heist by paused (ongoing, cyberpunk au)

khun special category

(it’s all about khun here)

♡ all the blue in the world won’t do, without you by NoteInABottle ♡ (ongoing)

multichapter fic set on khun eduan’s 111th floor!! if you’re too impatient to wait for the khun family arc, you should just read this fic. it’s still ongoing as of the time i made this post but it’s already looking to have all the elements i want out of a khun family arc. it’s written so so well too!! noteinabottle is one of my favourite tog authors :D

Brothers and sisters, I'm an atomic bomb by gleek_runner (ongoing series)

a wonderfully well written series of fics focusing on interactions between members of the khun family!!!! im just a sucker for the khun kids and im always starving for khun family content

He Wonders if He Still Breathes by Chocolatesandblood

khun and ran interactions!!

putting his resolve to the test. by soundscape

khun and hachuling interactions!!

Autumn Angel by XprincessxofxspadesX

khunbam meets maria and a series of complicated and fascinating interactions occurs. this was very nice to read ;w;

[misiwrites]

Beyblade Week Day 3

for the third @beybladeweek2021​ oneshot set in the 4kingdoms-verse, i have a silly little story from the west. takes place at some random point before the beginning of the main fic.

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

Fashion / Flowers / Autumn

“Underplates… napkins… saucers… and the cup handles to the right.”

Mathilda places each piece of the set with meticulous care. After the cups and cutlery are in place, she arranges the jam and cream dish on the tray, and then, of course, the centrepiece of the table, the golden cake stand for the treats.

“Handmade by Sir Olivier!”

She giddily sets the macarons and finger sandwiches on the stand. Then a freshly brewed pot of black tea from the kitchen, and everything is ready to go. Her butterfly heart flutters with nervous excitement as she carefully lifts the heavy tray and slowly makes her way out of the servants’ quarters. She has to focus on each and every step to avoid making any silly mistakes that could end up in a tea-stained catastrophe.

It’s a lovely day in early Harvestmoon. Pleasant and still, perfect for having tea outside – not something that could be said about most days in the Country of West, usually so drizzly and grey.

Whatever the weather, Mathilda never grows tired of the beauty of the Tiger Maple Palace, and although acting as a maid isn’t exactly part of the royal page’s routine and the tray is so heavy that it leaves her arms sore, it’s an honour to be asked to serve afternoon tea to her favourite guests at the palace, Lady Chen Mao and her handmaid Julia from the mansion on Kuí.

She finds them under a canopy of branches of blazing orange and yellow, hunched over some papers and magazines on the patio floor. Mao’s holy beast companion, Galux, is having a nap on its designated cushion a few feet away.

“But there are so many different types of zan zi… Oh, look, the tea has arrived!”

Mao is stunning as always. The wide sleeves of her blue-and-orange ruqun dress billow along as she jumps to her feet; she wears her rose colour hair on two long braids today, their shape resembles chains of traditional Western paper lanterns, and Mathilda has no doubt that the style is in accordance with the latest trends of high fashion in this kingdom. The handmaid, Julia, is more composed than Mao and rises to her feet with more dignity, politely nodding at Mathilda who approaches them with the tray.

“Good afternoon, Lady Mao, Miss Fernández,” Mathilda greets them, her cheeks slightly flushed. Relief washes over her as she successfully lands the tray on the garden table. No casualties this time, and the tea is still hot.

“Hi, Matty! Is it okay if I call you Matty? It was Julia’s idea.” Like a robin, Mao soars over to the table, then quickly turns to face her handmaid. “Jules, bring the papers here so we can keep planning while eating.”

When Mao is distracted instructing Julia, Mathilda hurries over to pull a chair out for her. “Um, um, feel free to call me as you wish, milady.”

“Aren’t you one considerate sweetheart, Matty! And how lovely the tea looks! Are these macarons by Olivier again? He’s such a weirdo – I’ve never heard of a knight who’s also a cook before, not to mention a damn pastry chef! Sword in one hand, a rolling pin in the other, how reassuring.”

Mathilda says nothing; hearing Mao talk about her master in such a manner always makes her ears burn, but she can’t not admire her audacious nature all the same. That boyish edge in Mao’s behaviour must have rubbed off on her from her older brother, the Duke of Kuí, whom Mathilda has always found nothing short of intimidating.

As Julia joins Mao, Mathilda can see that the papers she has brought along include several volumes of fashion-related magazines and what look like blueprints for a fashion design project of some sort. She tries not to snoop too much, not wanting to cross her boundaries as an outsider, but she hasn’t even finished pouring the two cups full when Mao is already deliberately pulling her into the conversation.

“So about the zan zi – I was thinking I’d want it to follow the flower theme, but I don’t really want there to be too much gold… you know… and a chai would be a bit meh… Matty, what  kind of hair ornaments do you like?”

“Me? Oh…” Mathilda, who always wears her hair short and simple, racks her brain for an answer of any substance. “Well, um… um... Oh, I went to the Tianguan market square earlier this week, and there was a stall with wonderful flower zan zi from the East… made of fabric… The vendor said that they were created to commemorate the Seiryuu-ou’s late mother… They looked very lovely.”

“From the East? That’s an amazing idea!” Mao darts a triumphant look at Julia across the table. “That’s really unique! You should go check them out with Matty.”

“Of course, milady.”

“But tea comes first, obviously.”

Mathilda ends up spending a long while with the other girls in the garden, leafing through the magazines and following along in curious silence as they (mainly Mao, although she clearly holds Julia’s opinions about fashion in high regard) build their design piece by piece, element by element, carefully considering each detail to complement the big picture. Mao is sketching the design on paper herself as they go, and it’s obvious to Mathilda that she’s quite used to doing this kind of thing.

“Lady Mao,” she asks after a while, “are you perhaps planning to launch your own fashion line? A whole catalogue? You are very good at design.”

“Wow, thank you! You know, that’s actually an amazing idea!” Mao claps her hands together in excitement, her golden eyes positively sparkling at Mathilda. “Let’s make a whole line! This lotus daxiushan can be the first one. Oh, oh, Jules, we need to do the hair next!”

“Glad you brought that up, milady, I actually have several styles bookmarked that I thought you might like.” Julia whips out a HoloPad, and soon the mid-air above the tea set is filled with an array of images of the most intricate braidwork that Mathilda has ever seen, so fantastical that it’s hard to believe that these are photos of real people’s hair. (Perhaps they are not.)

“Oh my cats. Jules, you are the best.”

Mathilda chuckles in content and delight, her hands nested in her lap. These two girls are so entertaining and so eccentric, she never knew the nobles could be this fun. She enjoys their company so much – perhaps a bit too much, even, for someone in her position...

But, for now, she decides to simply go with the flow and worry about it later.

 * * *  * * *

 “Mao, what is this?”

“Shhh! Stop talking, you’re ruining the image! Stay totally still. Be like... what was the word again? Esoteric! You need to look esoteric, Rei-nii.”

Rei has no idea how a person is supposed to look esoteric, especially when he’s forced to stand still while posing in whatever unnatural stances Mao keeps coming up with, currently holding what he thinks is some sort of traditional brass instrument but the name of which he has no idea about.

The only reason he even agreed to a fashion photoshoot was that it’s Mao’s birthday and he wanted to please his childhood friend – but he wasn’t aware that in doing so, he agreed to a day-long session of acting as a doll designed by Mao and her handmaid, in a studio that they have somehow managed to build inside one of the pavilions of Tiger Maple, complete with several landscape backdrops.

It’s not that the clothes Mao is making him wear are bad; in fact, this outfit of a burgundy yichang dress and a dark blue daxiushang robe with a serpent-like lotus pattern adorning the broad yet lightweight sleeves feel rather comfortable in comparison to his usual formal robes that have an unnecessary abundance of coating, thanks to whoever in the past decided that the number of layers was a status symbol and therefore imposing a life sentence of drowning in a sea of layered silk upon the Byakko-ou... but the uncomfortably tight lace braids winding around his skull to form an enormous rosette of hair in the back of his head are a bit too much, as are the flower hairpins that nest above his temples and create a drooping curtain of red and white petals to frame his face; and, after several hours have already gone by, his arms and feet are beginning to hurt from standing still while holding whatever prop items the girls are sticking in his hands, from parasols to flutes and swords and whatever this newest addition is. He’s not used to standing around this much in his monotonous everyday life.

And even worse, Rei has already seen that Mao has an entire catalogue of self-made fashion concepts waiting that she wants to take pictures of him in.

The smallest of sighs escapes Rei’s lips. This doesn’t feel appropriate for his status. Incredible but true, he wishes he was instead having tea with Olivier right now.

“Stay still!” Mao immediately condemns him, “And stop looking so bored! You need to look more dramatic. You’re the king, Rei-nii, act more like it.”

What a long, long day this would end up being.

[arse-crack-thistle]

rwrb winterfest - day 18 - music

@rwrb-fests​ 

in which my dear princess bea needs a little comfort at christmastime (ace rep)

Bea always has a hard time around Christmas. 

Part of it has to do with her father. She seems to find new pieces of him to miss every day. Today, it’s his laugh—the deep chuckle he lets out when David jumps on his lap and licks his face or when he’s had a little too much brandy and Bea says something sarcastic and rude about her grandmother. 

She misses how the family used to gather around a table in one of the sitting rooms in Kensington and play gin rummy at Christmastime. The tree would stand tall in the corner. Their father insisted they decorate it themselves, despite Philip’s disapproval. It looked sloppy covered in tinsel and an assortment of colorful lights and ornaments. The star at the top tilted towards the left, but at least the tree filled the room with a delicate pine scent. The fire burned at a soft glow, and everyone around the table laughed and wore paper crowns from their Christmas crackers. It didn’t matter who they were, they were just a normal family.

Now, the room feels cold, even though the fire cracks across from her. In the corner, the bare tree sags. She hasn’t had the energy to decorate it herself since Henry’s been in New York, and while she and Philip have reconciled their differences, he’s never really liked this part of their family’s traditions. Her mother works a ton since stepping up as the heir apparent, so Bea didn’t want to bother her either. Her cat meows next to her on the couch.

Christ, she wants a hit. She wants something to wipe her memory and just let her be. She just might reach for the brandy on the liquor cart. Why did she convince Henry she could handle it being here? Or that she could handle him leaving?

No, he needs to live his life without her, even if she misses him. The hardest part about being ace is watching her people find their person.

She’s happy for Henry and she loves Alex, but she’s lonely when they’re gone. And with loneliness comes dark thoughts. And the chance she will relapse multiplies. 

Bea should call her sponsor. Or Henry. Or literally anyone. She knows they’ll answer. She knows she’s loved. But the only person she wants to hold her and make Christmas special again can’t.

She really misses her father.

Bea leaves the room. She puts as much space between her and the brandy as she can. When her fingers itch for something, she must fill them, and the best remedy is music.

Her favorite room in this place looks exactly how she left it the day before. The piano sits, awaiting Henry. The mismatch of rugs were her idea—benders with musicians in Galway inspired her, or what she remembered of them did. The cat finds her way to her spot on the brown settee. 

Before picking up a guitar, Bea passes tchotchkes from their travels on an antique side table. Nesting dolls from Russia. A Statue of Liberty figurine from their first trip to the U.S. A toorstag from Henry’s month in Mongolia. A coconut bra from Bea’s drunk cruise in the Caribbean. She’s since become a more sensitive and culturally-minded traveler. 

She sits with the instrument on the floor, her back against the settee. This particular guitar was a gift from her father on her fourteenth birthday. It was handmade for her, and her initials sit just below the artisan’s label under the sound hole. The koa wood has a rich, dark finish; Bea likes to drag her finger across the wood grain when she’s deciding what to play next or when she’s lost in her thoughts in between songs. When her father first gave it to her, the sound was bright and lively, but in the time since, it’s become mellow and warm. Perfect for fingerpicking.

She plays a few chords as she tunes it. Her cat purrs behind her ear. Crystal from the chandelier above her twinkles. She settles in the quiet moment and plays.

But there’s no heart in it.

Bea thought if she changed her scenery, if she gave herself something to do, she’d get out of this riptide. But every song, every passing minute, pulls her further and further out.

If no one’s around to hear her play, is it really music?

Is this her safe space if no one’s here to create its harmony with her?

She’s so lonely.

And the tune is as frozen as she feels.

It’s times like these she wishes she wanted her grandmother’s happily ever after—marry a man, pop out a couple of kids, and be a dutiful royal. But she can’t. The thought of marrying someone, of making and raising children, of being a mindless princess puppet actually nauseates her.

If only she had her own community of people like her, she might be able to rely on Henry less. Her other married friends wouldn’t feel so bad for her. She could just go on ignoring her grandmother and Philip, when he gets to be too much. Her mother wouldn’t worry as much.

And not that she wouldn’t miss her father less, but maybe she wouldn’t feel so empty without him here.

Maybe the soul could find its way back into her music.

So Bea snaps herself out of it just enough to text Pez and ask for his Instagram login. She has a plan that her handler—and her grandmother, for that matter—would definitely disapprove of.

But fuck the crown.

Bea needs to take her life in her own hands and demand more for herself. She needs help to feel better, but she has to be the one to initiate. If Henry could do it, so could she. 

Part of the AA mantra is to have the courage to change the things she can. 

She’s got it, and she can do it.

Pez responds quickly and without question, of course. She sets her guitar to the side and downloads the app. After she logs in, she leans forward and rests the phone against the floor pouf in front of her.

Bea takes a deep breath and starts a livestream, and the viewer count immediately skyrockets. Her grandmother is really going to hate this.

“Um, hello,” she says. “I’m sure you all weren’t expecting to see me, but our friend, Percy, was kind enough to lend me his account for a short while. I hope that’s all right.”

She shifts a little uncomfortably. She never minded the spotlight as long as she could control it, but even now, she feels more venerable than ever. Last year’s Christmas pajamas hang loosely on her. Surely, her reindeer bottoms will go viral, as she sits with her legs crisscrossed in full view of the camera. Her cat mews.

“Yes, thank you for that, darling,” She says to her and then looks to the camera.

“I just wanted to come on here to talk to you all. See, as we’re in the holiday season, it’s all a bit overwhelming, isn’t it? And in all of this hustle and bustle, one finds they get a bit lost along the way.

“I’ve noticed this in myself every year, but this time it’s more frustrating. I’ve just been feeling rather lonely lately, as one can during this chilly time, so I thought maybe you lot have experienced that as well. I wanted to connect with people like me. I don’t mean, like, I want to wallow in my problems—or that I have especially difficult problems—I mean I know I’m very fortunate—I just—um. Let me—let me straighten this out.”

She sighs. This could be a disaster. She could come off entitled and whiny if she doesn’t focus more on her words.

“It seems the people in my life all have a partner, and I am so happy for them, truly. But I don’t want a partner or a relationship of any nature other than friendship. And so during this time of year—and, I suppose, other times as well—I find myself the odd woman out.

“For example, here I am, alone in this place, with only my cat, with whom you’ve already become acquainted. Now, I know I’m very lucky to have this, but it’s empty houses that can lead people down a dark path, isn’t it?”

Bea needs to say the words. She needs to make it very clear. She watches the screen flood with comments and hearts. Hundreds of thousands of people are watching, and tomorrow she’s going to be on every media outlet.

“I’m aromantic and asexual, if that wasn’t clear. I can’t and don’t want to fall in love, and not that it’s anyone’s business, I’m not even faintly interested in sex. And that may be confusing for some of you, but for me, it makes my life, my mind, make sense.”

She’s slowly but surely finding her way back to shore now.

“For years, I thought there was something wrong with me, but there’s not. I thought the only way I could be happy was to be in a relationship, but it’s not. And if you yourself are ace as well, I want you to know you’re not alone.

“This is the real reason why I did all of this. I was lonely and sad tonight, and I wanted you all to know that if you feel that too, it’s okay. I hope I can learn about and grow in the ace community—not to replace my happily coupled friends, but to explore new friendships with people who can understand what I and some of you are going though.

“We’ve been taught that there’s one way to be happy, and I just don’t think that’s true. And I’m willing to prove it if you’ll help me. Starting now.”

Bea reaches for her guitar and places it in her lap. She finds the first chord of “Horchata” by Vampire Weekend. A text notification from Henry pops down.

HOLY SHIT I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

A smile creeps up her cheeks.

“Something I love to do when I’m down is to pick out a little tune. If it’s all right with you, I thought I’d play a round for us. Maybe answer a few questions if you’ve got any.”

Bea picks the first note, and the tone is perfect.

She feels warmth grow in her chest and travel around her arms and down her back.

Like her father hugging her from behind, arms crossed over her shoulders.

Just like he used to do many Christmases ago.

[thiswasinevitableid]

winter prompt fill 5, indruck, nsfw?

5: your car slid into a snowbank and i’m the mechanic that comes to tow you

Two hours.

Two fucking hours, that’s how far this guy is from town. But because he’s three hours from the one to the west, it’s Duck’s company that got the call from AAA for a tow. On night three of what's forecasted as a week-long snowstorm.  And because it’s that kind of job, the call came in at 4:45 pm. At least he’ll get overtime for this. 

Being out of Kepler means the radio has real stations, half of them playing blocks of pop hits and the other half blaring Christmas carols. Duck doesn’t mind either, settles on listening to crooning about sleigh bells and winter wonderlands as he tries to keep the truck from sliding into snow piles. 

He’s all prepared to be aggravated at whoever was clueless enough to get themselves stranded and stick him with the four hour round-trip, but the closer he gets to his destination the more he sympathizes. Because this is a rural two-lane highway and not a major through-road, the maintenance is spotty at best. Couple that with the still-falling snow and he’s just glad the guy was in the kind of accident where he could still make a call after it.

The last half-hour he’s down to thirty miles an hour, lets out a groan of relief when the dead  taillights of a car reflect back at him. Once he positions the truck and hops out, he rolls his eyes; the sedan doesn’t have snow tires or chains on, something even a person with a Nevada license plate should have known to carry north.

Duck wonders if being unprepared is a habit when the driver steps out in far too light a coat for the weather, shuddering and stuttering out an “Th-thank g-goodness.”

“Guessin you’re Mr. Wilde?” 

Pale hair falls over red glasses as the man nods. With his hood up, he looks owlish, guarded. He’s all limbs and edges, and Duck can’t help but think of a stray cat that needs a warm bed and some food. 

“Go ahead and get up into the passenger seat. Heat ain’t runnin, but it’s sure as heck warmer than out here. I’ll get her hitched up and we can get going.”

Another nod, the man hunching forward as he scurries into the truck. This is the easy part, getting the damaged car hooked to the truck and freeing it from the snow. The hard part comes when they turn towards town, two hours of darkness and icy roads ahead of them. 

“I’m so sorry you had to come all this way. I, ah, did not intend to crash, nor to do so this far from help.”

“Hey, it’s what we’re here for. Gonna be slow goin on the way back, since it’ll be real fuckin embarassin to call a tow truck for a tow truck.”

A snicker, “I picture them as growing exponentially larger, like nesting dolls. A tow truck towing a tow truck towing a tow truck towing a car would be the size of a semi.”

Duck chuckles, “Yeah, it’d be a sight. And a fuckin nightmare for anyone who got behind it.”

The cab is warming nicely, so his passenger pulls back his hood. In the darkness he can tell the pale hair is metallic silver, and there’s a hell of a bruise blooming on his forehead. Duck’s never seen anyone quite like him, and if their survival didn’t depend on his concentration, he’d spend the next hour studying him.

“Damn, got banged up in the crash huh.”

“Yes.” The man gingerly touches the bruise, sighs, “It’s my own fault for being careless.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, nearly spun out on the way to get you from the damn black ice.”

“I wish I could say that was the sole cause, but I was also asleep.”

Duck bites back the urge to scold him; he wants him to be comfortable around him and besides, even if Duck is having a crappy night, this guy is having an even worse one.

“Wouldn’t be the first person who thought they could make it one more town before stoppin for the night and was wrong.”

“True. It’s just that, ah, I’ve been driving three days straight without sleep.”

“Jesus Christ, you on the lamb or somethin?”

In his periphery, he swears the taller man flinches. 

“No. Just having bad luck with a chaser of poor choices.”

“Gotcha.” Duck drums on the wheel, “so, uh, Mr. Wilde, what do you do when you ain’t stuck in the snow?”

“I draw. And Indrid is fine…” he peers awkwardly at Duck’s name tag, “Duck.”

“It’s a nickname.”

“Ah. Are you a mechanic as well as a driver?”

“Yep. Do it part-time when I’m not workin at the national forest. Friend of mine, Ned, runs the garage attached to the Cryptonomica.”

“I recall seeing that when I drove through. Quite the Jacks of all trades, you two,”

“Most of Kepler’s got more’n one job. It’s the kind of place that’s always losin fundin or people, just barely stayin afloat.”

“One sympathizes. Do you like your jobs?”

“Trained in forestry, so it’s always what I’ve wanted to do. The mechanic stuff,” Duck shrugs, “nice workin with my hands and beein able to help folks out. And I ain’t half bad at it.”

“I certainly appreciate your efforts. I--wait, hold on, I’m sorry but I need to…” he turns up the radio, playing what Duck assumed was Santa Baby from the melody.

“He is saying ‘buddy.’ What in the world? Why would you change it?”

“Can’t have the fella in the red velvet suit thinkin you’re gay.” Duck jokes. 

“Heaven forbid.” Indrid smiles, and Duck likes the expression so much he decides to see if he can get him to do it again.

“You wanna hear a slightly inappropriate joke?”

“Absolutely.”

“How come Santa don’t have any kids?”

“How come?”

“Because he only comes once a year and it’s down a chimney.”

There’s a beat and then Indrid guffaws, covering his face with his hands as his whole body shakes with amusement, “that was horrible, do you have any more?”

Thank god he’s got a wealth of bad jokes tucked in his brain. When he exhausts those he and Indrid trade brainteasers, stopping now and then to talk about their lives. The taller man asks Duck about his jobs, about the woods, and the town, and offers a few anecdotes in exchange. Duck senses they’re about they’re set in a time in his life that’s further away than Indrid would like. 

Indrid also readily shares the snacks from his small backpack. Duck eats what he can while still safely piloting the car. Then nearly takes them across the yellow line when Indrid unwraps a Starburst with his tongue, and prays the man will stay in Kepler long enough for Duck to take him to dinner.

-------------------------------------

Given he was expecting a painfully awkward trip at best, Duck’s friendliness is a welcome surprise. Now that they’ve been stuck in the car together for close to two hours, Indrid is confident saying this is most fun he’s had talking to someone in a long time, even before things went all to hell. 

It helps that Duck is the picture you’d get if you googled “Indrid Cold’s type”; sturdy, handsome in an unassuming way, undoubtedly pleasant to cuddle, with muscles that Indrid is positive could hold him up against a wall for at least a few minutes. In another life, one that’s so far away he fears he imagined it, he’d wait until they were done with the business portion of this evening, then slip Duck a card with his name in silver letters and his hotel room number on the back. The man is so genuine in his kindness too, Indrid feeling safer in the dark with him than he’s felt in years.

Which makes him feel even worse about what he’s going to do.

“Not too far now.” Duck turns the windshield wipers up a notch, “thank fuck for that.”

Indrid curls forward, holding his stomach, “I, ah, I really hate to say this, but I’m afraid my gas station lunch is coming back up.”

“Shit, okay, lemme pull over.” Duck guides the truck onto the side of the road, “do what you gotta do.”

His hands are on his lap, keys still dangling from the ignition. Indrid lunges over, grabbing them and trying to shove Duck into the door in one go. The mechanic is too fast, yanking the keys to his chest.

“What the fuck man!?”

“I’m so sorry about this!”

“Then fuckin stop!” Duck kicks, misses, and Indrid knees him in the stomach as gently as he can.

“I can’t, I need the truck.”

“Are you fuckin car-jackin me right now?”

“It’s not personal.” He gets the keys away, only for the world to flip ninety degrees as Duck tackles him backwards.

“It sure feels like it is!”

Indrid hoped that his survival instincts would kick in hard enough to make up for the exhaustion and that coupled with the element of surprise would bring him success. Instead, his limbs have no power behind them, and all he can do is curse when the driver flips him onto his stomach, trapping his hands behind his back and pinning him with his body weight. 

“Fuck.” It’s a pathetic noise for a pathetic man.

“Explain. Now.” Duck growls.

“I, I, you were right when asked if I was on the lamb.”

“....fuckin what?”

“It was a set up, and I finally, finally got free, and, and I will not go back, I can’t, but if I’m out a car I need a replacement and-”

“And you almost stole a truck that’s got a goddamn tracker in it.”

“Oh.” He presses his face to the seat in shame.

“Somethin tells me you ain’t a seasoned crook.”

“I’m not a criminal at all! I have no idea what I’m doing. I was just going to drive and drive until I hit the coast, I hadn’t even decided what to do after. I, I’m sorry, I waited until we got close to town so you wouldn’t be too far away to walk home safely. I, ah, I wasn’t prepared for having to do this to someone I like.”

Duck shifts above him, mutters, “what the fuck do I do now” to himself, and tightens his hold on Indrid’s wrists. 

Indrid whimpers, realizing with horror that his body responded to the mechanics of the fight but not it’s context.

Duck freezes at the noise, and when Indrid hazards a peek the mechanic is staring down in disbelief. 

“Are you fuckin hard from this?”

There’s no use in lying, he’s faced worse humiliation than this, “Some. Not on purpose. I, ah, I enjoy rough treatment.”

Duck’s face fills with bitter amusement, “And I like givin it. But not to fellas who nearly steal my truck. Fuckin figures the first guy to flirt with me is doin it for some other reason.”

“That’s not true, my plan involved no flirting.” Indrid huffs, “I was flirting because I think you’re handsome.”

More pressure on his back as Duck leans down to whisper in his ear, grinding against his ass, “Yeah? Were you hopin I’d fuck you in here? Or over the hood when we got back?”

“Maybe.” He manages a smirk.

“Hopin I’ll fuck you now?”

Indrid nods, but Duck doesn’t notice. The mechanic sits all the way back, releasing his hands, “too damn bad, because unlike you, I only take things with permission.”

“C-consider it granted.” 

The hand finds his back again, but instead of shoving or grabbing it strokes up and down, “Indrid, I’m serious. I ain’t doin anythin if the only reason you’re offerin is because you think I’ll hurt you if you don’t.”

“I’m not. I want this, Duck, I want to be with you.” He’s going back to jail one way or another after this, unwilling to consider the thought of hurting Duck to get the keys. He’d rather go back with one happy memory and a few minutes of fun freshly stored in his mind. 

There’s silence, Duck’s hand still as he thinks. Then it comes down hard on Indrid’s ass, “Okay sugar, happy to oblige you. Besides, seems to me you owe me an apology for that sorry excuse for a car theft.” 

Indrid moans loudly when Duck hauls onto his elbows and knees, though it’s the pet name that hits deeper than any of the much-welcome pain. The waistband of his dollar store sweatpants hits his thighs, there’s a pop of something plastic, and then a slick finger is teasing between his asscheeks. 

“Vaseline. Great for keepin your skin from cracking in the cold.”

The finger disappears and he whines, pushing his ass back and getting it slapped so hard he yelps. 

“Nice try. But this ain’t for you, it’s for me. Don’t got a condom and only got a tiny bit of this left and it ain’t enough to fuck you full on.”

“It’s alright, I like the pain, you could use spit or-”

“Nope” another slap, “that turns into the bad kinda pain real quick. Now open your fuckin legs.”

Indrid does so, gasps happily when Duck slides his lubed-up cock between his thighs. 

“Close ‘em and keep ‘em closed. Good, ohfuckyeah that’s good.” The thrusts are already fast, Ducks hands holding his hips in place, “fuck, tell you what sugar, you may be a shitty crook but you’re a damn good lay.”

“Yes.” Indrid moans, scrabbling for a hold on the upholstery.

“Shit, you do like it rough. Like it when I talk like that?” One hand comes down, petting Indrid’s head and brushing his hair away from where it’s stuck over his eyes. 

“So much, Duck, please, please, more, I want more AHgod!” Tears slip past his glasses as Duck hits the right side of his ass over and over again. He’s been treated like a criminal mastermind, made miserable because of it, so being nothing more than an eager piece of ass is a welcome change.

“Then I oughta tell you this is what you get for tryin to get one over on me. Think you can throw my ass out in the cold? Gonna turn yours so red you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

He’s so hard it isn’t even funny, and beneath the wonderful cycle of pain-relief-pain-relief his mind chants safesafesafesafe.

“Fuck, Indrid, I’m so fuckin lucky you tried that stunt on me, can’t wait to cum all over that cute little ass, ohyeah, fuck, fuckyeah.” He pulls out, cum spurting onto Indrid’s ass and legs and Indrid hears his own voice saying “thank you” as he does. 

As he’s contemplating what form of begging will earn him an orgasm, he’s flipped onto his back, one calloused hand pressing him down by the shoulder while the other jerks him off. He squeaks and squirms, one palm thwacking into the door as his right leg catches the steering wheel. 

“Sensitive, sugar?”

“Yes.”

“Shoulda thought of that before you bent over for me.”

“TechnicallyAH, you, you’re the one who bent me over.”

Duck jerks him extra hard in reply, grinning. The sight of him is just the right balance of menacing and protective that Indrid only needs two more bucks of his hips before he’s cumming. The mechanic works him through it, squeezing him roughly just to hear him whimper (Indrid’s certain of it).

He sits back and starts putting his clothes in order as Indrid lays there, panting from exertion and the weight of reality on his chest. 

“I don’t suppose you have something I can, ah, wipe off with before you take me to the station?” He asks softly.

“I’m not taking you to the police, Indrid.”

“What? Why?” He bolts up, his mind screaming that he shouldn’t ask too many questions lest it make Duck change his mind. 

“I’m not sure what kinda guy fucks someone and then hands them over to the cops, but I’m damn sure I don’t wanna be one.”

“You’d do that without even knowing the full truth?”

“Wouldn’t mind if you told me.” Duck starts the car, adds “seatbelt” as he pulls back onto the road. 

Indrid gets his pants up and buckles in, huddling in on himself, “As you probably guessed, my name isn’t Wilde. It’s Indrid Cold. Wilde was the man I stole that car from, who also had a very nice AAA plan it seems. I am, or was, an architect. Quite talented, if I do say so myself. And many other people said so, once upon a time. My firm got a contract with a certain large city to design and help build a bridge. I was head of design, and I was certain this would be the project that made my name. It did. Just not how I hoped.”

Duck slows down as they reach the edge of Kepler. 

“Have you ever heard of the Silverlake Bridge?”

“Ain’t that the one that collapsed a few years agooh, oh shit was that your bridge?”

“Yes. Halfway through the project, I became concerned that certain elements of the design would not be as stable as they needed to be and might collapse without warning. The higher ups said it would require a larger budget to do the new, far safer design, but gave me the go ahead to finish my proposal of the securer model. They accepted that design, and I thought that was the end of it. Turns out, they funneled the money needed for the better bridge into their own pockets, both my bosses and the representatives from the city. Unbeknownst to me, they built the weaker bridge. When it collapsed I” he takes a deep breath, the memories surfacing in a tidal wave, “I was shocked, and prepared to accept responsibility, as I could not understand how the design failed. It was only when the investigation revealed how it failed that I understood my warnings had been ignored and I was being set up as a fall guy. Not only for the collapse, but for the missing funds, my bosses swearing up one side and down the other that they’d given the money to me to manage. They’d had this planned for months, and so had built our communication in such a way that I had no proof the money hadn’t come to me. Thus I was blamed, tried, and convicted, and in the minds of many I am responsible for the death of 67 people.”

The engine shuts off and he looks up to see them in an auto garage. Duck is turned to him, face so sad and sympathetic that Indrid could almost believe..

“You think I’m telling the truth.”

“I know you are. Not sure how, but even though I ain’t much of a liar myself, I can usually tell when someone is bullshittin me.”

“I don’t want to go back to prison.” 

“You won’t.”

“Duck I, I can’t ask you to hide me, that could put you in danger of arrest.”

“There’s all of four cops in Kepler, and I’d bet my life no one here could pick you out of a line-up as a ‘disgraced architect Indrid Cold.’ And if we need a cover story, Ned’s got a knack for ‘em.”

“We?”

Duck cups his cheek and Indrid leans into it, “You and me. Indrid, I think fate is a load of bullshit, but I can’t shake the feelin me pickin you up tonight was meant to be. Lemme help you, please.”

Indrid sets his hand on Duck’s own, “Okay. Ah, where do I stay? I have fifty dollars left.”

“Could stay with me if you want. No strings attached.”

“Is that your way of letting me down gently?”

“My way of saying you don’t gotta fuck me to have a place to live. If you wanna fuck me just because, say the word and I’ll rail you into next week.”

“I’d like both those things so very much. Though right now all I want is to sleep.”

Duck leans forward, kissing him so chastely that the following lovebite is all the more thrilling.

“In that case, sugar, let’s get you home.”

[365days365movies]

March 3, 2021: Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) (Part One)

I’ve got a confession: I haven’t seen much Miyazaki.

I’ve seen Howl’s Moving Castle (the fucking scarecrow is the film’s best character, DO NOT FUCKING AT ME), Princess Mononoke (boar Keith David, people, that is my SHIT), My Neighbor Totoro (honestly, that whole movie is great, I can’t choose a favorite-Totoro. It’s Totoro, c’mon), bits and pieces of Ponyo (my favorite character is ham) and...that’s it.

I know.

I know.

I KNOW, OK?

Look, I promise, I’ll be getting around to them, I promise. Hell, I’ll be doing one of these tomorrow. But today...today, I’ve got another prerogative. And I can sum it up in one word.

Witches.

This was one of my Mom’s favorite shows as a kid, and I grew up watching it, too. So, I’ve always had a soft spot for witches. I also loved Sabrina as a kid (and the new series ain’t bad, either, although I need to watch more of it). And before anybody asks, I still have to watch Little Witch Academia. And up until now, my favorite animated witch has been Witch Hazel from Looney Tunes.

But let’s try to change that, huh? I know a lot of people who love this movie, and it’s been on my list for a while, so let’s get into Kiki’s Delivery Service, yeah? SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

It’s a gorgeous day, in a typical Miyazaki landscape. As the radio reports that that night will be nice and clear, a young witch named Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) runs home excitedly to her mother, Okino (Kath Soucie), readying herself to go on a journey.

See, after a witch turns 13, it’s tradition for them to go on a year-long journey on their own. Like Pokémon, but with magic shit. I can dig it. While her parents are a touch reluctant, they allow her to go on the journey with her cat, Jiji (Phil Hartman).

After this very sweet opening, she quite literally takes off on her broomstick with Jiji, heading south towards the ocean. And I’m gonna say right now that this is absolutely adorable, and I’m digging it hardcore, real talk. Maybe this is my mom’s love of Bewitched leaking through to me, but this is already a lovely movie.

Kiki turns on her radio, and flies off over the opening credits. On the way, she meets another witch at the end of her training year, and she’s kind of a snob. The encounter leads Kiki to wonder what her specialty is, magic-wise, before a rainstorm hits them and forces them aground.

That ground, however, happens to be a train car, which takes off in the middle of the night. When she wakes up, the hay she’s sleeping in is being eaten by a group of cows. She gets out with Jiji to see a small hilly port-city, called Koriko. As she and Jiji wonder if there are any witches there, they fly over the bustling city.

I want to go here. I mean, fuck me, man, I wanna go here. It reminds me of the islands, but is also nothing like the islands. I dunno, it just looks lovely. Anyway, there are no witches here, according to a an in a clock tower, cementing Kiki’s decision to stay here. And while the rest of the city people marvel at her flying, she’s clearly not the best at flying, as she nearly causes a massive accident.

The awkward young Kiki tries to talk to some of the frazzled citizens, who quickly leave her be, only for an angry cop to accost her for nearly causing an accident. As he’s about to right her a ticket and contact her parents, he’s suddenly distracted by someone yelling about a thief. As he runs away, he tells her to stay there. She does not stay there. Nice.

The screams of “”thief” came from a young man named Tombo (Matthew Lawrence), who distracted the cop to help Kiki get away. But Kiki’s clearly very shaken by the whole affair, and brushes off the eager and friendly Tombo, flying away as he asks how she’s able to fly. Seems like a nice kid, though.

Still, an upset Kiki isn’t sure where she’ll sleep tonight, and the two consider moving to another town. However, those plans are interrupted by Osono (Tress MacNeille), a pregnant woman and bakery owner. One of her customers left behind her baby’s pacifier, and she is about to bring it back to her. Kiki volunteers to do so in her stead, which Osono greatly appreciates.

After the delivery takes place, she returns to Osono with a message from the mother, noting that her “new delivery girl” is “quite special”. And based on the title of the film, I’m pretty sure I know where this is headed. As Kiki’s about to leave, Osono instead invites her to the back, where the two have hot chocolate.

Osono immediatly takes a like to Kiki, and upon learning that Kiki and Jiji have no place to stay, offers her the attic to stay in. She accepts, and the witch and cat move into the dusty attic. Jiji’s not the biggest fan of the place still, but Kiki decides to stay, hoping to find other nice accepting people like Osono.

The next day, Kiki decides on what to do: she’ll be a delivery witch, bringing goods from place to place throughout town, working for Osono in the process. Osono agrees with this, and the movie’s setting is established. However, Kiki still has some learning to do about city life, from cars to kids.

On the way through town, Kiki laments her “ugly” dress, which honestly isn’t ugly, it’s just plain. Common confluence, those terms. Tombo doesn’t help, as he drives by in a car with his friends, and comments that witches always wear dark dresses. Smooth move, Tombo.

Once she gets back to Osono’s, she finds a delivery job waiting for her. A woman would like a toy cat delivered to her nephew, and Kiki immediately agrees. She flies there, alongside a group of...Canada geese. Huh. Where exactly is this place?

Doesn’t atter, because that wind drove the RIGHT THE FUCK BACK to Canada, and knocks Kiki off her course. She crashes into the forest down below, through the trees and into a nest belonging to what looks like a magpie or rook species. This angers the birds, and causes Kiki to take off in a hurry.

Ther’s a problem, though: Kiki’s lost the doll. Fuck. She tries to go back, but the magpie brought back friends to attack the duo. And lemme tell ya: the eyes don’t work.

Lucky for Kiki, Jiji looks exactly like the doll. And so, they come up with a plan: Jiji will pose as the doll until Kiki can find it in the forest. She delivers “the doll” to the kid, who is...Bobby Hill. Seriously, his name is Ket, but his voice actor is Pamela Segall, who voices Bobby Hill. He takes Jiji, pretending to be a toy, and Jiji...Jiji does a goddamn amazing job pretending to be a toy, lemme tell you.

Kiki finds the toy cat in the shack of an artist, Ursula (Janeane Garofalo), but it’s broken. Ursula agrees to fix it, while Kiki cleans her place in exchange. Ursula also wants to paint Kiki at some point, which makes Kiki quite happy. She returns the toy cat to the mansion she delivered to. Jeff the dog is a fuckin’ GREAT boy, and brings Jiji outside, where he exchanges it with the toy cat, with nobody being the wiser. Good boy, Jeff. Good boy.

Kiki goes home after the tough day, and night becomes day. A bored Kiki is less than pleased when Tombo shows up, offering an invitation to a party with his aviation club. He gives her the invitation as a man comes in with a massive package to deliver, which begins a long day of deliveries.

That is punctuated with a visit to two old women, Barsa (Edie McClurg) and Madame (Debbie Reynolds). As Madame presents the problem, making a herring and pumpkin pot pie for delivery (HURK, oh God, that sounds disHURK), Barsa...

Well, hello there, secret best character of the film, how are you doing today?

That’s so good, that I’m literally stopping on that image. See you in Part 2!

[buckeroonie323]

Alpine?

Alpine?

Prompt: "Is the cat in a onesie?" "Uh, no."

Word count. 1.1k

Paring: Husband!Bucky x Reader

Warning so much fluff headed your way babey.

Finally after training new recruits all day, you get to the house that you share with your husband and one of his best friends. "HONEY I'M HOME!" you raise your voice over the music that is flooding the house.

You manage to get your shoes off before you're half tackled by Sam. "Hey, sugar. So, we were making your favorite dinner because we both love you very much." He has put you out at arms length by this point.

"Right Bucky? We love your wife!!" He yells behind him to the kitchen. "Sammy what is going on? What did you two do?" You start to walk further into the house."Of course I love my wife bird brain. Why do you think I tricked her into marrying me and beating you to it? Keep her out of the kitchen would you?" You hear Bucky say fondly.

With a smile on your face you start to pass the living room, gaming room and towards the kitchen. Just before you get to the kitchen, Sam grabs your arm. The momentum pulling you in and he starts to dance with you. Letting out a peal of laughter you dance with him.

"What are you up to Samuel?" You ask him quietly while swaying with him. "Oh, little ol me? I'm an angel, baby. I am always on the right path." He gives you a twirl while you chuckle at his choice of words. They're kind of ironic. 

"You ready? Watch this." As Sam pulls you back into his arms he dips you. After the shock of it and a little bit of laughter, you spot your cat Alpine hiding under the sofa chair. Sam pulls you up carefully. He gives you a hug. "Okay sweet cheeks I need you to sit in here until dinner is done. Sergeant's orders. Won't be too long now."

After you were given that "order" you sit on the couch with a small smile on your face. "Alpine baby come on out." You coo at your little fur baby. With a tiny mew and a leap Alpine is on your lap with a onesie on? "Hey Buck!" You call to the kitchen. He comes out his apron is covered in flour. He has his hair in a cute bun on the crown of his head. Your first thought is how lucky you are to have him.

"What's up doll?" He comes over behind you. Tipping your head back he puts a soft kiss on your forehead. "How was your day? Was training the fresh meat any more fun than usual? I missed you." While he talks you feel his hands on your shoulders rubbing soothingly.you say with sarcasm dripping from your words.

"Oh, it has never been so exciting." You close your eyes "I missed you too honey. On a good note Riley has been making significant progress. Jace on the other hand is falling behind. I don't know how to help them. I just feel like they don't want to be in this program."

Bucky still rubbing your shoulders asks you. "Do you think something might be bothering them? Maybe they're having troubles with their partner." You hum and nod in agreement. After sitting in comfortable silence for a little while you ask.

"Is the cat in a onesie?" You chuckle while giving Alpine a little bit of a pat on the head. "Uh, no." I only ask because it looks like my baby is wearing a onesie." You hold up Alpine and the most unimpressed look is on that poor cat's face.

The onesie is soft and it's a replica of Steve's Captain America suit. With a hearty chuckle Bucky takes Alpine from you and holds your fur baby to his chest. Comes around to sit on the couch with you.

"Look it also has a little toy shield that comes with it. The Shield has catnip in it so I haven't let Alpine have it yet. Sam hasn't seen it. I also have the rest of the avengers as onesies." You giggle then kiss him.

"So, what were you making in there that caused such a mess baby?" You say wiping a little spot of flour off his cheek. "Uh, we were trying to make the fancy Mac n cheese you like." He says with a soft blush. "Why thank you Bucky. I really appreciate your efforts."

Sam pops his head out of the kitchen. "Hey what am I? Chopped liver?" He walks over and sits on the couch. "Of course not Sammy boy. Your efforts are just as appreciated." You give him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks sugar. Cute onesie Alpine."

There's a measured pause like he's thinking about something really important. "So here's the thing. You know how I've been hanging out with Alex a lot right?" He asks carefully. "Yeah! I love them, you should have invited them to dinner. I miss how cute they are."

You snuggle into Bucky's side resting your legs on Sam's thighs. "Who am I going to talk about star wars with? Not mister geezer over here that agrees with Steve that star trek is better. Which just isn't true." After you and Sam have a good laugh and Bucky tickles you for the offence of calling him a geezer. You all settle down.

"The thing is that I am moving in with them this week. We got an apartment downtown Manhattan. Soon you'll have the house to yourselves." Sam says confidently.

"Oh, so you're finally leaving the nest my baby bird?" You coo at him while grabbing his hand. "I thought you were going to take this a lot harder. Are you okay doll?" Bucky says in your ear but loud enough for Sam to hear.

"Of course I'm okay baby. Sammy I'm glad that you're happy. That's all I want to see. I mean it sure is going to be quiet around here though." They both chuckle and look at you fondly.

"Upside I get to walk around naked again." You say with a devious smile. "What do you mean?! You could have walked around full birthday suit I would not have minded." Sam pipes up. "Only because you bought the house and you should be able to walk naked if you please." He back pedals so hard.

You feel more than hear the grumble in Bucky's chest. "Nice save bird brain." Bucky says while you're stifling a laugh. "Okay dinner should be ready by now sweetheart. Sam, can you handle setting the table?" Bucky mocks him lovingly while standing up. Just guys being dudes. You love these dumb boys. You can't wait for next week. Bye-bye Sammy. Hello nakey time.

The end.

This was for the #sweatersanyficchallenge

@sweater-daddiesdumbdork

[shima-draws]

Shima Shima Shima please tell us all about your Wonderland AU for Tododeku!!!

Oohhh! Ooohh I would love to okay let’s see

Honestly it would probably just be easier for me to explain the original movie’s plot rather than just. Trying to make sense of what you don’t know with Izuku and everybody else’s involvement so.

Note that all of this is purely from memory having seen the movie once like, a couple weeks ago in theaters LMAO so there’s definitely gonna be some things I’m hazy on. But! The movie’s online now so after I watch it again I’ll update this post with a better summary!

Under the cut for MAJOR spoilers and also bc it got really long!

So! The Wonderland! It’s about a girl named Akane who isn’t terribly self-assured. She has friends and has a good life but she’s sort of…timid, so she doesn’t put herself out there when she should. This causes issues within her group of friends and even with her own mother, who Akane is sort of distanced from.

The day before her birthday, Akane’s mother sends her to meet up with her older friend Chii to receive a birthday gift. Akane does NOT want to go because Chii’s very…overbearing, and excited, and very very outgoing, completely opposite to her. Chii travels all around the world gathering antiques for her shop (mostly light fixtures tho) and is a pro at haggling trades and prices. Akane calls her a witch bc she rips people off sometimes lmao

Akane arrives at the shop and finds a strange slab with an indented handprint. Akane fits her hand into the indent and finds that it fits perfectly!! This causes a reaction which calls upon a resident from Wonderland, an alchemist named Hippocrates, to arrive from Chii’s basement (which is basically just a little storage hole). Chii immediately gets a broom and starts hitting him with it, calling him a creep and an intruder LMAO

Hippocrates explains that Akane is the Goddess of the Green Wind, and that Wonderland needs her help. Next to Akane, on the table, a little doll springs to life, who’s revealed to be a tiny little chibi character named Pipo who works as Hippocrates’ apprentice. (He’d been hiding there all morning, I guess to scope out the person whose hand would fit into the indentation.) Akane’s hand is still stuck in the little slab by the way and she keeps freaking out. She says she absolutely does not want to go to Wonderland to help them, so Hippocrates gifts her with an item called the momentum anchor. Essentially it’s an item that forces a person to keep moving forward and looking ahead when they try to go back. (Basically it’s an item that forces character development which is pretty wild lol) After Akane gets her hand free, the momentum anchor forces her to accompany Hippocrates and Pipo to Wonderland. Chii decides fuck it she’s going on a magical adventure too, and tags along with them!

When they arrive in Wonderland, they end up at the top of a large sort of watchtower/nest for a huge ass bird. Chii befriends the bird, who is protecting her eggs. As they make their way to the nearest town, they run into a man and his mother, whose ride/carriage cart thing was destroyed by an enormous machine that Hippocrates calls the “armored mouse” (because it kinda looks like a mouse). The armored mouse attacks the cart and essentially swallows it, including the sweater that the old lady had made. Inside the armored mouse, the Main Antagonist ™ of Wonderland greets the newcomers. His name is Zan Gu, and he’s intimidating as all hell. He’s not openly cruel, just quiet, and isn’t afraid to assert his villainly dominance. Most of his face is hidden, but he seems to have a skeletal, sort of robotic body. His cohort, a little cat person named Doropo, teases them. Doropo’s basically a mischievous troublemaker who enjoys making fun of others and getting in people’s way.

Zan Gu and Doropo continue on in the machine, and they head straight for the watchtower. The armored mouse starts to tear up the iron staircase, disrupting the tower. Chii rushes over and manages to save one of the bird’s eggs. Hippocrates calls upon the sheep from the nearby town to come help (and they’re HUGE and FLUFFY and adorable). The sheep crowd in on the armored mouse, and Zan Gu is forced to retreat.

The man who they had saved introduces himself as the mayor of the nearest town. The group walks over to the town, surrounded by hundreds of sheep. Hippocrates explains on the way that the land is dying because there’s a lack of water, which is one of the reasons why he brought Akane there. Akane’s like “How the hell am I supposed to help you get your water back”. They pass a gorgeous flower field which slowly gets worse and more dried out.

The villagers are relieved to see Hippocrates there, who is pretty famous in this world bc of his status as an alchemist. They also jump on Akane, super excited that the Green Goddess of the Wind is here to help them! Night falls and Akane freaks out, because she’d obviously wanted to go home like hours ago, and her mother is probably worried. Chii, on the other hand, is super nonchalant about everything that just happened, and is like “Well we’re already here and it’s late so we should stay, it’ll be fine!”

The group has dinner with the mayor while his mother starts to knit a new sweater to replace the one she lost to Zan Gu. Here we get a bit more into Wonderland’s history–the mayor explains that the flowers and sheep are what they use to make these sweaters and other clothing, but they aren’t selling as well as they used to anymore bc of the water crisis. He’d originally been on his way to a place called Sakasatongara Market with his mother to enter her sweater into a contest. Hippocrates takes over and discusses the water crisis in more detail. The original Green Goddess of the Wind had come over 600 years ago, and had saved Wonderland when they were in a similar crisis. Apparently, there’s a ceremony that is performed every year called the drop mist ceremony, which properly distributes water to the whole land. This ceremony is supposed to be performed by the prince, who supposedly has a lot of magical power, coming from a generation of royalty who can control water. According to Hippocrates the prince has been gravely ill over the past year, and this is because his parents had died, leaving him to grieve and become very sick as a result. Hippocrates believes that Akane, being the new Goddess, has the power to heal the prince and allow him to perform the ceremony. Akane again denies that she has any sort of power like that. During all this Chii keeps pointing out contradicitons in Hippocrates’ story and it’s hilarious because it makes him very angry and flustered LMAO and Akane’s like “Chii-chan, you’re being super rude right now”. I can’t remember if it’s here or not, but Akane sees a picture on the wall of the previous Green Goddess, and she looks really familiar…kind of like her mother…?

The next day, the group of four (Hippocrates, Pipo, Akane and Chii) decide they’re going to travel to Sakasatongara Market in order to deliver the mayor’s mother’s sweater to be entered into the contest. The market is on the way to Timeless Rain Castle, where the prince resides. The sweater is placed into Akane’s care, who promises she will deliver it. They’re given a car, which will help greatly with the journey, and then they set off!

Akane and Chii admire the scenery of Wonderland as they travel, but are saddened when they begin to see areas that have a clear lack of water and have died out from neglect. Meanwhile, in a grungy, dark city, Zan Gu approaches a man and brings him more metal. Apparently the armored mouse had been going around collecting metal, which we find out later that it’s so the armored mouse can be upgraded and reinforced even more to wreak more havoc (along with one other essential upgrade, which I’ll get to later). The man says he needs more metal if he wants to make something out of what they have. Zan Gu does his whole “threaten the victim” schtick, and guarantees he’ll bring more, as long as the job gets done. (I might be remembering these sections out of order but it all happens within the same timeframe, more or less.)

Back to Akane and co., they’re driving in the desert and they head right into the biggest fucking dust storm in the world. They take shelter under a large rock, hiding out there until the storm blows over. They were given huge fluffy suits (bascially fursuits) that were made from the sheep. They’re pink and comfy but horribly embarrassing for Hippocrates in particular to wear LMAO but they’re a great shelter for the storm. After the storm subsides, Hippocrates attempts to fix the car, but finds it’s getting late and that they’ll have to wait until the morning to do so. In the middle of the night, Akane wakes up to see Chii standing outside, looking at the stars. It’s absolutely gorgeous and beautiful.

The next morning, Hippocrates fixes the car! Hooray! With that they drive further north and arrive in a very snowy little village. Akane hears more stories about how things were when water was plentiful, and they’re exposed firsthand to how the shortage has caused people to become greedy. Zan Gu shows up while Hippocrates is out refueling and Doropo threatens the inn owner into giving up food and water. Zan Gu has an intense staredown with Akane but doesn’t do anything more before leaving.

Hippocrates sees the armored mouse on the move and follows them. At this point the mouse has been upgraded and looks more terrifying than ever, and can bulldoze and tear things apart much easier. Zan Gu goes to receive new materials, which are revealed to be missiles for a cannon. Hippocrates intervenes, but Doropo uses his magic to turn the alchemist into a fly.

Akane and Chii worry about Hippocrates’ whereabouts, but with some prodding, decide to head to Sakasatongara Market without him since they’re on a bit of a time crunch, seeing as the drop mist ceremony has to be performed the next day. They pass by Hippocrates’ house (but Pipo informs them nobody is there) and Pipo’s childhood home in the trees, where tons of other little chibi sprites hang about. The girls travel through a steep mountain range as Hippocrates tries to guide them–but being a fly, he keeps getting ignored and brushed off, even by Pipo, who can’t tell it’s him. Eventually they have to drive over a rickety wooden bridge, and Chii teases Akane about her nonexistent love life at school in an attempt to keep things lighthearted and distract them from the terrifying ride over the bridge. Akane pokes back and makes fun of Chii for her failed conquests of men. One of the planks breaks and Chii steps on it, and they’re both screaming as they cross the rest of the bridge LOL

At some point during all this we cut to Timeless Rain Castle, where everyone is preparing for the drop mist ceremony. The prince’s closest advisers decide to go up and visit, and it’s revealed that the prince isn’t ill at all–he’s trapped within a little metal doll’s body, a curse placed upon him by Hippocrates’ “rival”. (He’s a good guy tho too, apparently.) This rival has been asleep for a long time, and is nearly impossible to wake because of how hectic his magic is. (We later see a scene in which several guards attempt to rouse him. His house is literally sitting on the edge of a cliff on one corner, the rest of it floating in the air, and he’s sleeping. No wonder they’re cautious about waking him up LMAO) Because this other magical user has been asleep, the prince has been trapped in this form for nearly a year. They scramble to find out a way to revert him to normal before the ceremony the next day.

After that it seems to be easy going for the girls. Pipo warns them nanoseconds before they drive off another bridge–and land in a giant lily pad! They’re on a huge pond now, with koi fish the size of whales. Pipo douses himself with magic dew that lets him breathe underwater and makes sure his clothes don’t get wet. Chii happily jumps in after, and Akane, after hesitating, also joins them. They ride the giant fish, who push the lily pad with their car across the pond. Akane picks up some sea shells at the bottom of the pond and puts them in her pocket to save for later.

Akane, Chii, and Pipo (and Hippocrates, still a fly) finally arrive at Sakasatongara Market!! First they have to go through customs, in which they’re judged by a group of talking cats (which Chii finds HILARIOUS). Akane is declared as a guilty party bc a few days before, she’d pulled her cat’s tail for sitting on her face. Her cat is revealed to be the leader of the group. She’s briefly given a cat tail herself, which is pulled on, so she understands how much it hurts LOL while Chii teases the rest with catnip and treats. They’re allowed entrance into the city. From the distance, they can see the prince arriving as well, presumably in the royal carriage. They have no idea he’s still in doll form.

In the prince’s tent, Hippocrates’ rival finally arrives. (Guess they managed to wake him up lol) The others beg for him to turn the prince back to normal. The wizard points out that the doll they’ve been guarding so carefully all this time is, in fact, not the prince at all. He uses his magic to transform it–revealing that it had just been a stuffed toy, acting as a decoy. Everyone panics, wondering where the actual prince has gone.

Akane and Chii gaze on as Pipo points out the well where the drop mist ceremony takes place. Sitting in the center of the city (which is p much set up like a giant stadium, with steps leading down to the middle), the well is a huge symbol of peace for the land! And it’s a central part of the ceremony, as well. Chii rushes off to bargain and barter while Akane and Pipo go to enter the old lady’s sweater into the contest.

As they’re walking around, they catch sight of Doropo, who just stole goods from a nearby shop. Pipo orders Akane to chase after him, which she does. As they follow him to the outskirts of the city, Pipo realizes that Doropo might be one of his friends from school, another chibi sprite named Ron. Ron had gone on to apprentice with the wizard, and Pipo with Hippocrates, so Ron had always viewed them as rivals.

On the outskirts of the city, Akane and Pipo see that the armored mouse is there. Moved by her own determination, Akane sneaks into the machine to see what Doropo and Zan Gu’s plans are. Hippocrates follows them in.

They catch a conversation between Doropo and Zan Gu. Zan Gu seems to be getting increasingly frustrated and hasty, and Doropo keeps blowing him off. Zan Gu eventually snaps at him, and the truth comes out. Apparently they plan to destroy the well before the ceremony can take place. If this happens, no water will come to Wonderland ever again, essentially dooming everybody. Zan Gu had gathered the missiles and upgraded the machine with a cannon to achieve this. Zan Gu blames Doropo for everything that happened to him, saying that while Doropo is obviously hesitating, he had been the one to transform him into a monster in the first place. Doropo sadly admits that he just didn’t want the prince to hate him…and this is the part that hit me HARD because we realize that Zan Gu has been the prince this whole time!! We get a flashback to when the prince was actually trapped inside the doll. He angrily says to Ron that if he could allow him to speak, he could turn him back, right? Ron makes an attempt, but he’s not that experienced with magic, so it ends up in a total disaster, transforming the prince into a basic corpse.

It’s at this point where things are set into motion. Akane eventually reveals herself. Pipo calls out Doropo on his disguise, and he transforms back into Ron. Zan Gu prepares to bust through the city walls and destroy the well. The wizard releases all of the magic Doropo had caused, making Hippocrates transform back into his regular self. Zan Gu busts into the city, and Hippocrates tries to stop him. Right as he’s lining up to take the shot at the well, Akane grabs onto him and starts her Grand Heroine Speech. She points out that Zan Gu–the prince–was scared, and that’s why he was doing this, because he was trying to run away from his responsibility. The prince explains his story in detail.

The drop mist ceremony, being a very important one among their family for generations, had been successfully performed by his father and grandfather. However, pressure from his parents, peers and all of Wonderland was too much for the prince to handle, so he started to reject any practices of the ceremony. After his parents passed, that pressure became even worse, because he was the only one left able to perform the ceremony properly. He got angry and scared and started to push everyone away and lash out at those who tried to help. Eventually it got so bad that the wizard had to come in and use his magic to transform the prince into the metal doll, essentially trapping him there as punishment and as a way to reflect on his mistakes. This obviously angered the prince, being trapped in a body that couldn’t move or speak, which eventually led to Ron’s involvement and his transformation. The prince wants to destroy it all, either out of revenge or maybe because he just has little to no empathy in this form and is only full of negative emotions, who can say…

Akane goes on to encourage him again despite all this, and tells him he’s not alone, that she promises she’ll be there to help him. She tells him how inspired she’s become traveling through Wonderland, getting to meet all of the wonderful people, and seeing how beautiful it is. She says she wants to save it, and that she wants to help the prince. Her words, and her change, break the curse on the prince, transforming him back into his adorable princely self. The prince agrees to perform the ceremony. Chii meets up with the group and apologizes to Akane for leaving her alone to deal with everything. Akane asks Hippocrates if they can make another momentum anchor for the prince, because the one she has helped her a lot along her journey and pushed her in the right direction, and she feels like that’s what the prince needs, too. Akane promises to return the next morning before the ceremony to be there for the prince.

Hippocrates, Akane, Chii and Pipo travel back to the alchemist’s house. Together they spend the night making a new momentum anchor, which requires a lot of magic. Akane gives it her all to help! They successfully make a new one, and hurry back to Sakasatongara Market. It’s morning now. Akane rushes to greet the prince, and gifts him with the anchor. She says that they match now, both having anchors. (The prince gets all soft and blushy and it’s very cute.) The prince talks with his adviser, who warns him what will happen if the ceremony fails. The prince knows it’s a huge price to pay, but says he’s ready to do it.

Akane is dressed up in Green Goddess robes, similar to the ones her mother wore. She and the prince cross the bridge which hangs over the well, which is so deep that you can’t even see the bottom. With Akane’s encouragement, the prince performs the ceremony. Nothing happens. The prince knows what has to be done–he strides up to the edge and prepares to throw himself in. Akane understandably freaks out and tries to stop him. The prince explains that if the ceremony fails the performer has to offer their body as a sacrifice to make water flow again. Akane’s like I’m NOT letting you do that, and the two of them start to struggle. The prince manages to make it to the edge–and Akane topples over with him. Both of them fall into the well.

Before they hit the bottom and inevitably die, they’re saved by the wizard. He explains that it was basically a sort of test–the prince had to show he was willing enough to make a sacrifice that big. He says that Akane is special, and that the prince should thank her properly for all her help. They’re sent back up to the bridge! The ceremony begins, and the prince rushes to get into position. The well erupts with water, straight up into the sky, an enormous geyser for all the world to see. The prince takes out his sword and starts to slice the water with it, which turns them into water birds. The water birds fly all over Wonderland and rain down on the land, restoring its vitality. He turns to face Akane to see that she is crying in joy, as is Chii.

After the ceremony ends, Akane and Chii go with Hippocrates and Pipo to return to their world. Akane frets over how much time has passed since they left. Hippocrates explains that, while three days have passed in Wonderland, only three hours have passed in their world. Akane and Chii realize that if they were ever to return, everyone they met probably wouldn’t be there anymore. Apparently the original slab with the hand print Akane’s mother had made was repaired–and Akane stumbles right into the wet plaster, printing her hand there for the next generation. She attempts to give the momentum anchor back to Hippocrates, but he tells her that it had vanished a long time ago, and that Akane had been moving forward by her own momentum and decisions. Akane and Chii kiss Pipo goodbye, and they say their farewells. Hippocrates gifts Akane with a little textile with a sword on it. They head back…and emerge from the basement of Chii’s shop. When they look back at it again, it’s just the storage compartment, and nothing else. Their adventure is over.

Chii goes to take a long nap. Akane rushes home to see her mother. By now she’s made the connection that her mother was the original Green Goddess of the Wind, who saved Wonderland over 25 years ago. Her mother notices the textile and compares it to the same one Akane has in her room. Akane thinks that she feels a lot closer to her mother now. And that’s where the movie ends!

Ofc there’s tons of extra stuff that I missed LMAO but that is the basic plot of the whole thing. Now, as for the AU…Izuku is Akane, obviously, but instead of having her reluctance to go on an adventure, he’s willing, but doesn’t think he’s worthy of being a hero to anyone, and is constantly stopped because of his own fear.

Ochako is Chii–she fits perfectly with her personality lol. Iida is Hippocrates, both being super punctual and easy to fluster. Kirishima is Pipo, and Bakugou is Ron/Doropo–good fits with their characters, and also. Kiribaku moments? *eyes emoji* Todoroki is obviously the prince/Zan Gu! In the AU I’m probably going to extend things a bit further, so Izuku and Ochako stay in Wonderland a bit longer, and Todoroki falls in love with Izuku >:’D As for the smaller roles, I haven’t really decided those yet. Toshi is probably going to be the mayor, and Nana as the old lady. I’ve gotta rewatch the movie again to help me decide on the rest :’D

Buuut yeah! I’m gonna take a lot of liberties with the AU and expand on the movie waaay more, and try to fill in all the plot holes. A lot of the narration felt really abrupt so I’m gonna have fun weaving it all together so it flows! And tons of Tododeku moments because uh YEAH

That’s all for now!! If you’ve got more questions hmu, I’m super down to chat about this more!

[spirit-of-the-void]

Hello dear! I have a request from a friend ;) could we get some cuddly, sleepy boys waking up with their s/o on a really cold day? Super fluffy, but the details are up to you. Thanks! 🌸

SOFT AND WONDERFUL

~Dante~

- You got cold super easily, and Dante definitely knew this about you.

- He didn’t notice the cold as much, but the sensation of you shivering lightly in sleep always tipped him off that you needed some more warmth from him.

- As a half demon, he’s warmer by nature than a normal human.

- He always wakes up to you curled against his body, sucking up every bit of heat that you could get.

- Do you like blankets? Well now, there’s several around you, grabbed by Dante in the night.

- He will always tug you closer, his arms around your waist and his thighs pressing to yours. His skin is so deliciously warm, you wake up feeling like you’re sleeping next to a heating pad.

- On these moments he hates getting out of bed the most. There’s something so comfortable about you right against him, safe under a few soft layers of blanket.

- If he does get up, its to slip away and make some hot chocolate for you both for when you wake up.

- Until then he sets the cup on your nightstand and cuddles against you, dozing in and out until you’re awake.

- If the day allows it, he could stay there with you for hours.

- “Good morning, my sunshine.” Is the first thing he says when he sees your eyes open, his voice thick and heavy from dozing and that smile so lazy.

- You can only manage a contented sigh, which makes him chuckle as he presses a kiss to your forehead.

- Neither of you want to move, so you don’t.

- You end up laying there for a while, keeping up quiet, blissful conversations with him until the need for food gets you both up

~Vergil~

- Vergil is the opposite of Dante.

- He finds himself cold very often, maybe a residual effect of trauma or neglect. You weren’t sure.

- The only time he was really content was when you were lying right against him, warm and so soft.

- The first few weeks of your relationship he never slept near you or cuddled you, but you always woke up in the morning to him curled around you, his arms holding you firmly close. Like he unconsciously sought out the warmth and affection.

- Once the colder months started rolling around he gave up and just held you as soon as you went to bed, which you enjoyed heavily.

- This morning was particularly cold, so when you woke up he was practically tangled with you, two or three blankets wrapped around your bodies and his toes pressed to your ankles.

- Your thighs were the softest, warmest part of you. And you knew he loved them. So you wrap one around his hip, settling more comfortably against him and letting out a contented sigh.

- He wakes up to a cocoon of warmth, keeping his eyes closed as an excuse to savor it a little longer.

- Jokes on him, you were more than happy to sit in a bed with him all day.

- It’s at moments like these that Vergil is at his softest, more open to affection than other times during the day. It was at times like these that you saw more of how he was, less of the cold front he wore during the day.

- More of the tired, soft Vergil who just wanted affection. Touch starved, wanting.

- You’re more than happy to oblige, wrapping around his form and enjoying the soft, lazy kisses he presses to your lips.

- “Good morning, Darling.” You mumble against his mouth, the covers bunching around you both as he tugs you ever closer.

- He hums at your words, leaning back a bit and stroking a thumb over your lips. He seems a bit mesmerized by the beauty of your tired expression, your eyes half closed and your lips full and moistened from kissing him.

- His hair is a little unkempt and messy in the mornings. He has a serious case of bedhead, but you always find it incredibly endearing. Like an adorable hedgehog.

- “And so it is, my doll.” His voice is cute when he’s sleepy, rich and heavy as he strokes a hand through your hair.

- If he’s feeling in the mood enough, he might roll you over and making slow love to you for an hour.

- This is when his love making is most gentle, made up of slow kisses and exploring hands. Soft sighs and gentle grinding.

- If not, he’s content to just hold you for a bit, counting your breaths and heartbeats as he finds the will to leave the safety and comfort of your nest of blankets.

- It takes you urging him for food to get him out. He seems disappointed, but the weather called for snow tomorrow. Which meant you could just do it all over again.

~V~

- V, due to how skinny he is, always loves when he can wake up to a warm morning with you.

- Despite having heat in your home, he still found himself cold most nights, even with the blankets over him.

- So when he wakes up to your warmth pressed to his tattooed body, its like a godsend.

- He always woke up earlier than you, always just as the sun was rising over the horizon.

- He couldn’t remember a time feeling more comfortable. You resting against his chest, your breasts soft against his skin and those warm thighs cradling him.

- He sucks in a breath, eyeing you in absolute adoration as he pulls the covers tighter around you both. He might roll you over, spooning you from behind so he can close his eyes and inhale the smell of your hair.

- Plus the feeling of your butt snuggled against him was pretty nice too.

- In these moments he is left to reflect, to relax and doze in and out of sleep. You feel so wonderful and alive against him, and your gentle snores make him smile softly.

- Sometimes he will let Shadow and Griffon out, letting the mighty cat nose its way under the covers to sleep by your feet. Griffon snorts, but he still lies down on the pillows behind your heads to doze a bit too.

- Maximum warmth now, practically a pile now that Shadow was resting in your bed like an overgrown house cat.

- When you finally wake up he strokes your hair, pressing a kiss to your temple as you stretch with a soft, delighted sound of comfort.

- The feeling of V’s arms around you, soft fur warming your feet, and Griffon snoring lightly by your head. It’s max comfort.

- “Do my eyes deceive me,” V murmurs near your ear, his long fingers tracing patterns up your side, “Or does an angel share this bed of mine?”

- You smile tiredly at his low, sleepy tone, opening one eye as you reply, “Who’s poem is that?”

- “Mine,” He chuckles, the sound warming you all over as he tugs you ever closer, “Made specifically for your divine presence.”

- You giggle at that, rolling over so you could kiss him softly. That makes him smile too, a lazy quirk of his lips as his tattooed fingers find a home in your hair.

- You lie there for a bit, both dozing in and out as the minutes tick by. You want to get up and make tea, and cook breakfast. But both of you are so cozy.

- You decide to meet halfway, both of you getting out of bed finally so he could make tea, and you could make something nice for breakfast. You both opt to eat back in bed, setting up little trays with a nice spread and watching something cute on TV while half snuggled under the covers.

Like what you see? Consider buying me a coffee : https://ko-fi.com/E1E7GCMU

[spooky-raccoon]

Years Later (Part 14, Finale)

The finale to Years Later, part 14!

Pennywise X Female Reader

Tag List: @rottenhearts-and-sharpteeth​ @clussysposts​ @originalclodmakergarden​ @yeetingful​ @hauntedpennywise​ @wanna-rock-n-roll-in80s​ @risettochan​ @angeli-fucking-cat​ @breeknighty​ @trig-loves-clowning-around​

         Days melted into weeks and weeks melted into months.  My belly grew and grew as the time passed which only made Pennywise more ecstatic.  The day he felt our baby kick he even did a back flip that was following by his clowny giggles.  Though now it was much harder to walk around though walking was a subjective term.  I waddled more than anything.  Pennywise would constantly be by my side as I went about my day, helping me with various tasks or just doing them himself.  He had been persistent that I dare not lift a finger after a certain stage and I had finally gotten to the point during the end of the third trimester.  Then my water broke.  I had been peacefully asleep and thought I needed to use the rest room just like nights before but instead I found that my water was broke.  Pennywise was awake right away as soon as I shook him just the slightest and all of a sudden in the blink of an eye we were in the cistern.

         It seemed that now and again when he had the chance he had gotten a little area together for me to comfortably give birth.  There were pillows and blankets that made everywhere rather cozy.  It would probably be more comfortable if it wasn’t for the wave after wave of contractions though.  My cries and wails echoed off the walls of the caverns as each one hit me.  Pennywise was circling around me with a never-ending stream of encouraging words.  At a certain point though he helped in the birth which sped up the process.  Finally, my cries died down and changed for the cries of our baby who Pennywise bundled up in a baby blanket he had close by.  He brought the bundle to me, a proud look in his eyes as he stared down at our child.  

       Our little one was pure white all over like him.  There were a few extra limbs that I would need to adjust for in their onesies but that would be just fine.  Several eyes dotted their face along with the usual set.  There was a wisp of black hair that was on the top of their head that moved like it was smoke.  They were more beautiful and lovely than I could have imagined.  Most of their eyes were already open and blinked out of unison as they stared up at me.  Then they grinned and I could feel everything inside me melt as I smiled back.

        Time passed and Pennywise had gotten the mess of the ordeal cleaned up or at least made the blankets vanish off somewhere.  He then curled around the baby and I, his eyes glowing ever so softly as he watched and listened to the baby make its first few noises. I don’t know how long we stayed there but shortly after the baby fell asleep so did I.  When I woke up all three of us were back in the house with the same blankets and pillows now amassed on our bed in a makeshift nest. Though, Pennywise was gone.  When I got up I could hear some shuffling coming down the hall in the nursery.  Quietly, I made my way to the room and saw Pennywise setting up a few more stuffed animals and clown dolls along some shelves we had set up across the crib.  For a moment I just watched him and at that moment, with a cooing baby in my arms, I felt the most at peace and the most knowing in my heart everything would be alright.

         A few days passed and something was starting to go wrong. Something was very wrong with my body as it tried to recover from the birth.  It felt as if my body was shutting down.  The baby was thriving and doing well.  Pennywise was prouder than ever for our child and his hunting had gone better than usual.  My health was rapidly deteriorating though I tried to think that if I focused on the baby and appearing healthy that maybe I would be.  Pennywise first noticed when I was feeding the baby when I was wobbly on my legs.  It looked as if my legs were shaking like one of our babies toy rattles.  I brushed off his worries and concerns as being tired, having stayed up with the baby the night before he believed it.  Though there was still a wary gaze as he watched me from that point on.  At least he was right there the day that I fainted in front of him.  Just as my eyes fluttered before my knees buckled Pennywise was there to catch me in his arms.

        “(Y/N)!  (Y/N)! What’s wrong?  Please wake up.”  His voice sounded distant and there was a panic I had never heard before from him. There were barely any noises coming from me and when I couldn’t respond that’s when he turned to Robert to make the call to 9-1-1.  “Please, be okay.  Please, be alright.”  I could barely just hear him muttering as we rode to the hospital.  At least until I blacked out completely.

        Consciousness faded in and out after that point sporadically.  At first I saw Robert sitting beside me in the chair with a baby seat with a blanket draped over it.  I could hear our sweet little baby cooing as if nothing was wrong in the world, as if something wasn’t wrong with their mother.  After that the doctors were around me, explaining to him that my condition was getting worse and that the likely hood that I wouldn’t make it through the rest of the week.  Everything in me was slowly failing and they were unsure why.  The last thing I remember in the hospital was Robert shouting at one of the doctors. Next time I awoke for some time I felt the coldness of almost smooth stone underneath me.  When I looked around I could see I was in the cavern, the sharp splashed like stone surrounding me along with some blankets.  As I looked up I could see the silverish light that came from the lights that shone high, high above me in the throat like ceiling.

        “Pennywise?”  My voice was raspy and sore from finally speaking in what felt like weeks.  I moved to sit up but I had to use one of the structures beside me so I could lean against it.  “Pennywise, I need to be in the hospital.”

        “No!”  His voice boomed from a rocky corridor.  “Those filthy humans would rather let you die!”  My head turned to see Pennywise coming out of the tunnel, clawed legs emerging one after the other.  He was so much larger, and he reminded me of a spider.  “Those pests saw no worth in doing their damndest to save one of their own. Filth.  Every single one of them!”  His words dripped with anger and annoyance as he got closer to me.  

        “Pennywise, please.  Just take me to a different one.”  I moved to get up even though my legs shook violently under me as if they were made of paper.

        “No!  I will take care of you!”  His eyes were starting to glow which was making me nervous.  It had been twenty-seven years since I had seen the same look on his face.  Though this time he was in control of himself.

        “Pennywise.  Please.” I grabbed onto anything I could as I moved away from him.  “We can find somewhere that can treat me.”  I was trying to get to him but his eyes only glowed brighter, the snarl on his face getting more intense.  I had to try to run.  I had to try.

       The adrenaline that ran through my body finally gave me a small amount of strength to get up and make an attempt to run.  At least for a short distance.  My heart was pounding harder than usual and it felt like the room was spinning so I got disoriented far too quickly.  Everything around me felt like it was slowing down.  Though no amount of running would have stopped Pennywise.  I could hear the sound of his many legs hit the ground as he closed the distance between us.  I could see one of his arms shoot out past me then curled around, hooking me around my middle.  My scream rang off the walls as he pulled me back to him.  I tried to pry his arm off me as hoisted me in the air up to his face, but it was no use.

       “I will fix you.  I will make you better.  Not those filthy humans.  You will be better, stronger.  But first.” He brought me closer to him and another one of his arms wrapped around me like a snake.  I continued to try to kick and cry out.  “You must heal.  Can’t change you like this.  I’d lose you. Never going to lose you.  Baby would lose you.  Can’t lose.  Can’t lose. Not after keeping you alive.  No, no, NO!”  His voice was becoming distorted just before he started to open his mouth wider, his eyes rolling back as his face peeled back.

       He was going to put me in the lights again.  I was going to be put back in them for God knows how long.  I kept trying to fight and look away, but my body was getting exhausted so fast.  Both my fight and flight response was fading as it was getting harder to even look away as the sounds of screams filled my ear.

        “Pennywise!  Please!” I’d miss so much if I went.  I’d miss our child growing up.  I’d miss Pennywise and I growing as a couple.  If he would just listen.  “Pennywise!”  I turned my head to maybe try to get him to hear me out, but it was too late.  Too late for words and for any begging I had thought of in the past few seconds.  His lights were out in full force and I felt my mind slip away into the darkness.  The screaming, oh god the screaming.  The sound of screams and crying and begging rang out inside my skull that sounded like it would never end.  And then I felt weightless.

       And here I was in the coldness of the cold void with its boundless screaming.  My body floating in the cavern high above where Pennywise knew my body would stay safe until it would be time.  And there as my body healed in his lights I suffered for years upon years later.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #284

“mama, we’re all full of lies / mama, we’re meant for the flies”

When was the last time you changed a lightbulb? About a month or so back I had to change Venus’ heat lamp. Who was the last person you sent an e-mail to? I emailed my older sister the OneDrive link to her holiday pictures I did. When was the last time you visited the dentist? What about the optician? It’s been quite a few months since I went to the dentist for a normal cleaning. I haven’t seen an eye doctor in around a year or so because it’s a less pressing matter, and we can’t afford to buy me new glasses anyway. I desperately need them. Do you sleep on your side, your back or your front? My side, stomach, or like a contortion of both. Would you rather drive or be the passenger? Let me be shotgun controlling the music and I’m set for a long ride. When was the last time you received a handwritten letter? Sara sent me one I think two years ago for my birthday. If you have pets, do you buy them gifts for Christmas or their birthdays? Ha, yes. We don’t know either’s exact birthday though, so we don’t really “celebrate” those. Do you know how to ride a bike? How about ride a skateboard? A bike, yeah. I don’t know how to skateboard, though. Did you get enough sleep last night? How much sleep is enough sleep for you? No. I don’t even know what “enough sleep” is. I’m always tired. What are your favourite condiments? Do you use those often? Ketchup and honey mustard probably top the list, considering they’re the ones I use most. Peanut butter: crunchy or smooth? Do you have a favorite brand? I trust no one who can enjoy crunchy peanut butter. I like Skippy quite a bit. Do you have any life-threatening allergies? No. Have you had to take a COVID test yet? Was it positive or negative? I haven’t needed to take one. Do you think it’s okay to keep cats indoors for their entire lives? They SHOULD be. Cats are very destructive and disruptive predators of once-stable environments. They fuck up the food chain and have done a lot of damage to native populations. This is coming from a person whose house was an absolute NEST for cats to the point they were taken away. They lived outside, and I can only imagine the harm they really caused. Of course, as a kid, I didn’t understand this, but as an educated and experienced adult when it comes to this subject, it’s saddening to look back on. Please, keep your cats inside. AND FIXED. Hence our cat empire lmao. Do you think people should need a license in order to keep animals, just to make sure they knew how to properly take care of them? That would actually be LOVELY. If only. Not that it would entirely prevent illegal ownership, but I like to think most people are law-abiding citizens… Which meal of the day is your favorite? What’s your favorite thing to eat for that meal? BREAKFAST! Cinnamon rolls just gotta top the list. When was the last time you bounced on a trampoline? Would you ever want to go to one of those indoor trampoline parks? It has to have been so, so many years. My knees could NEVER take that now. I’m not interested in that. What’s your favorite thing to put on a baked potato? Butter, American cheese, and bacon bits… yum. Have you ever made money selling stuff online? What was it you were selling? I don’t think so, at least not successfully. Do you have a valid passport? When was the last time you used it? No. What was the last song you sung along to? I’m unsure. I rarely sing along to songs. What was the last piece of fruit you ate? What about the last vegetable? Fruit: apple. Vegetable: ummm I’m actually unsure. Probably broccoli. Have you ever lied to the police or a customs official? Were you ever found out? No. Are you much of a procrastinator, or would you rather get things out of the way so you can relax? I am a HEAVY procrastinator. When was the last time you took an exam of any kind? I don’t know. Probably not since I was in school. What snacks/drinks from your childhood do you wish they still made? Ah man, I know there’s some… just too many to dig through to try and remember. Are you a fan of techno? Yeah, sometimes. Who's your favorite horror movie villain/monster? I don’t particularly like one over the other. What's an 'obsession' of yours that most people would find odd or amusing? Probably how much I love Mark, given that being a “fangirl” is usually seen as juvenile. What's the sweetest thing another person has said or done for you? Probably Colleen letting me live with her while I was homeless for a month or two. Said to me, actually from Colleen’s sister; I was having a crying episode over Jason and she just grabbed my head and told me with such passion that I was so beautiful, strong, and deserved the world. Safe to say I started crying more lmao but at least it wasn’t from sadness. What's the absolute best feeling in the world? Being in love. Does the person you have feelings for know you feel that way? Yeah. Do you like Tim Burton? Um, duh. How do you feel about hypnotism? I don’t believe it works. It’s just the power of suggestion. How do you feel about Pink Floyd? I’m not a big fan, but I like some songs. What’s your preferred way of keeping fit? Is it something you make time to do on a regular basis? You assume I AM fit… but I really am trying to change that with WiiFit again, once the living room is cleaned up. I plan to insert it into my morning routine. Have you ever raised a puppy? Would you want to or would you prefer to adopt an adult rescued dog? Yes, Teddy. Right now I don’t want another dog, but hypothetically, I’d absolutely go for an adult rescue. Who was the last person to come to your house? Were they an expected visitor? My younger sister. Yes. If you work, is your job the same everyday, or does it vary depending on what you have on? N/A Would you ever be interested in owning your own business? Why or why not? Well, I want to be a freelance photographer, so… It’s not off the ground enough for me to *officially* call it a business, but while it’s absolutely so exciting to picture, it’s also very anxiety-inducing, the idea of it (hopefully) getting to that point since I’m dumb as fuck in regards to business stuff. Do you have your driver’s license? If so, did you find it easy or difficult to learn and pass your test? Ugh, I don’t. I need it so badly, I know, but right now, I couldn’t even if I wanted to because my vision is too bad to possibly pass that part, and I can’t afford to see an eye doctor + get a new prescription. If you have pets, how often do you buy them new treats and toys? Venus is a snake, so… yeah, lol. She needs a bigger terrarium, though, but a 40 gallon is expensive. Roman gets a new toy every now and then, but he doesn’t play with them as much anymore. If you had to work a job that required you to do shifts, would you rather work the early, late or night shift? Early. Get it over with. Do you have a favorite type of survey to take? Yeah; I like the ones that make me think or are just questions I definitely haven’t seen before but are also interesting. Some random questions are way too specific to apply to most people. On a typical day, how long do you spend out of the house? Even before the pandemic, usually zero time. Do you live in a close-kit community? Well we’re the new family on the block, so it’s hard to tell quite yet. People were welcoming, though. Do you have a vlog? NOOOOOOOOOO. If not, have you ever considered starting a vlog? No, I would feel WAY too fuckin awkward. Did you go to AM or PM kindergarten? AM. What are your favorite YouTube channels to watch? The whole world knows Markiplier is my true favorite channel, but lately I’ve really been digging pet (particularly reptile or tarantula) channels, Snake Discovery in specific. I’ve been bingeing the fuck outta them. I’ve officially become the “I know more than you” Petco meme lmao. Which relative(s) do you look the most like? Idk. Have you ever watched a live birth video? FUCK no. I never would. That could be so fucking scarring to middle school kids, for Christ’s sake. I’ve never understood why they show them in a lot of health classes. Have you ever given birth? Fuck to the no; never plan to, either. Have you ever wished you were born the opposite gender? Nah. Have you ever worn overalls? Ugh, as a kid. They’re so hideous to me now. If you’re a girl, how old were you when you started your period? I was in the 6th grade, so 11-12. Is your mom mentally stable? I mean she has depression, but otherwise, yeah. What color hair did your first crush have? I can’t really remember who my first crush was with certainty… but I think I might. If I’m right, blond. What was the name of your first crush? ^ in minds, I think Aaron. Did you ever play on Mamamedia.com? Doesn’t ring a bell. Do you remember your first email address? Haha, yeah, it’s still my current one… Did you name your Lego characters? I was more of a Lincoln Logs kid. Do you take medication for anxiety or depression? Both. If so, does it work? Does it help you? Or does it make you feel worse? I’d probably be dead without at least my mood stabilizers. Have you ever had a bag stolen? I don’t believe so. Who was your best friend in high school? Hannia. What book or movie gave you nightmares as a child? Ha, no books or movies, I think, but remember King Ramses from that episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog? Oh, trust me, I HAD NIGHTMARES. What song makes you cry? The most, probably “Eternally Yours” by Motionless In White. I physically cannot listen to it. Does anyone know who your first crush was besides you? Maybe Mom? Idk. How many teachers have you had crushes on? None. Did you make your Barbie dolls get crushes on each other? I actually don’t remember? I don’t think we had any male Barbies, and of course as a little kid raised in the South especially, I didn’t even realize homosexuality was a thing, so we never considered the girls dating. Did your Barbie dolls go on dates? ^ How old were you when you had your first kiss? 16. Do you have scars from self-harm? No, they’re long faded and were thankfully never very severe. Did your hair change at all when you went through puberty? Yep, it gradually turned brown. Are you taller, shorter, or the same height as your mom? We’re the same height. Would you ever consider adopting a child? I don’t want kids, period. The only possible case I see is being a stepmom, but even then I can’t visualize me being one to an actual kid-kid. Just like, maybe a mid-teen and above. Do you trim your own hair? No. What are all the things you remember being for Halloween? I’m very surprised that I don’t remember many at all. I know I was a witch multiple times. What was the name of the first pet that you loved? I adored almost every pet my family has ever had. Our first was a stray cat named Chance we took in. INCREDIBLE animal. What color was your nursery? I have zero clue. Do you exercise regularly? Ugh, no, but I genuinely plan on changing that once the living room is cleaned up and Mom moves into her room. I’m very serious about starting Wii Fit again. I WAS gonna start walking once we moved here, but I found I was too scared to alone. I’m way too paranoid. Do you have a healthy BMI? lol What photo editing software do you use? Lightroom, Photoshop, and very rarely PhotoScape if I’m being lazy with watermarking my photography. Do you live somewhere with lots of livestock or wild animals? Livestock, yeah. You pass cows all the time around here. If you’re in a more wooded area, you’ll find roadkill kinda frequently, sadly. Would you rather live somewhere rural or urban? Rural. It’s the only thing that sucks about our new home – we’re in the suburbs. Is there anything (a hobby, for example) that’s guaranteed to always make you feel better when you���ve had a bad day? Not 100%, really. If the day was truly awful, sometimes nothing helps. If you’re struggling with your mental health, who are you most likely to open up to, or would you bottle it up instead? I vent to my mom the most. What room of your house do you spend the most time in? Is this through choice or necessity? My room, and it’s by choice. The second room that I wanna make my “office” is still LOADED with stuff from moving. If you could design your own garden, what would you have in it? Do you think that dream is ever going to be achievable for you? I don’t want a garden. Does it take you a long time to fall asleep at night? What do you if you’re really struggling to get to sleep? It can take me very, very long. I dread lying down some nights just because I know I’ll be tossing and turning for a good while. If I’ve tried to sleep for a long time to no avail, I do what you shouldn’t do and get back on the laptop. Do you think it’s cruel when people keep exotic animals as pets? Or do you think it’s okay as long as they have the space, time and money to dedicate to them? This depends on the animal and situation. I do believe some rescue cases are justified for the animal’s survival, but as the question mentions, you need to be able to provide adequately for it to be moral imo. I do NOT support exotic pet ownership for the average person. If you eat meat, is there a particular animal you’d never eat? If you don’t eat meat, what’s the reason for it? I could never eat a “pet” animal, nor an animal hunted mostly for sport. Even in survival cases, I’d have a hard time eating a wild animal.

[moonfox281]

How about Jason deals with de-aged Dick? Dick's around 10-13? inside adult or completely as a kid is your decision ;)

I’m so sorry, I set him at 7 sth. But here you go.

When his men called saying Nightwing was compromised, Jason had the worst scenario in his mind. In this line of work, both vigilantism and transgression, “compromised” was a very terrifying term to describe a person’s status.

Yeah, one could say Jason’s imagination had gone quite colorful since marriage and having a stubborn, self-sacrificial hero as a husband. But at all might, Jason did not expect to see a tiny butt naked kid doing a double flip from his desk down to the leather couch in his office once he hit the base. His men stood around, mouths opened and terrified by what they just saw, hands ahead ready to catch the fall if one about to happen.  

“What the hell is going on?” Jason demanded.

“I can explain!” was what everyone in the room said at the same time. “Blue!” They yelled when the kid took a pillow on the couch and threw it at Jason.

“Blue?!” Jason howled, letting the pillow hit him.

After about 10 full minutes of his men rambling explanation, jumping into each others mouths and cursing under their breaths in various languages, Jason finally settled everything down with a nose pinch and a painful headache watching the kid‒no, his husband, his 8 years old version husband now wrapped in his jacket flipping the oversized sleeves around like a bird with a fat smile on his face.

A wizard, they said. An unexpected team up with Constantine, they said. The man just vanished, they said. The next thing Jason knew, he was already dialing for the damn British after demanding his contact from Bruce.

“Whoever the fuck you are, you pick a bloody time.”

“Bring my husband back now before I put a bounty on your head.”

There was a pause. Jason groaned and pulled out a pack of cigarette from the drawer until he saw Dick watching him with giant blue eyes from across the room, arms still flapping the sleeves up and down. He groaned again, and put the pack back to its place.

“Sorry, mate, already got some pretty good pennies for my head.” There was a pause again, this time shorter. “Oh hell, you’re the Red Hood, aren’t you?”

“The one and only. Now I want Nightwing back to normal.”

“Sorry, mate. No can’t do. You’re not the only one who wants the smoking bum back.” Jason growled. He had a feeling the man was fucking smiling on the other side of the line. “Party went all the pot. Your lovely hubby got smashed with a 150 years old spell of age reversal.”

“And you can’t undo it?”

“Give a tosh, will ya? I’ve just said it’s a 150 years old spell, top of the line, a bloody 1990 Chateau Margaux of dark quirk dictionary. I have “Master of dark arts” on the business card, not “Master of breaking dark arts”

Jason was getting tired of this shit. “You’re saying he’s gonna stay like this?”

“What if I’m saying exactly that?”

“Then smoke your last stick while you still can, master of dark arts.”

“Gee, you’re no fun. What that doll saw in you anyway. The spell wears off after two to three days. You can just‒”

Jason hung up. He got what he needed. The more time he spent off with the Brit, the more the headache was killing him. Jason turned on the chair to face with the reality of his current tiny squeezy husband.

Dick didn’t seem to remember shit, along with his body, his brain had come back to the years of his childhood too.

Dick’s private team was taking the tiny version of their Blue like a pack of house cat staring at a cucumber, circling around him on the couch like watching an alien.

“Do you recognize me, Blue?” Hank asked, hands out like trying to tame a wild beast.

“Idiot, he doesn’t know he’s Blue.” Jefferson spat. “Uh… Dick? Richard? Do you… do you want a candy?”

“Should we even give him a candy?”

Yep, everybody was totally freaking out. Despite everyone’s wrecked reaction, Trevor stood behind Jason’s back filming everything.

“You’re enjoying this.”

Trevor kept on his phone. “Do excuse me, Boss. Not every day I get to see Blue like this.”

“He’ll delete all of it, once he turns back to normal.”

“That is, if he finds out.”

Dick had somehow managed to climb up to Hank’s back, sit on the man’s shoulder and pull on his little bun of hair. He frowned tiny fat hands scrambled through the locks of Hank’s burnt orange hair like trying to dig something out of his head.

“Hank,” Jefferson turned. “Cut your hair.”

“The fuck!?”

“He doesn’t like it.”

“But…” Hank turned to Dick on his shoulder, looking with the desperation of a man before a cliff. “I’ve grown this out for years, Blue.”

Dick tilted his head, suddenly giggled out loud and yelled. “Viking!”

Okay, maybe he didn’t hate Hank’s hair in the end.

“Is Viking cool, buddy?”

“Viking cool!” Dick nodded enthusiastically.

Jason could literally see Hank’s chest puffed out a little.

“Hey, I’m cool too.” Bob jumped in front of Hank and grabbed his bear out. “Look, Viking’s beard.”

Dick made a face. Hank immediately pushed his teammate away. “Yo, you’re creeping him out. Cut your fucking beard, you look like a fucking hobo.”

“Oi, watch ya’ fuckin language.”

“Enough, nobody’s cutting their hair.” Jason groaned, turning on his chair. “Dick.” He called, patting his lap just when the toddle reached out to rub on Bob’ bald head. “Come here.”

Dick stared at him, cocked his head aside then suddenly jumped off Hank’s shoulder. Everybody yelped like teenage girls, Jefferson stood right by and caught his fall in time, and Dick seemed to expect it. He buried himself into the man’s neck, hiding from Jason.

Jefferson blushed violently. Jason’s eye twitched.  

“Dick, come on.” He got up from his seat. “Don’t you want to come home?”

That got Dick’s attention.

“Home?”

Goddamn, that squishy voice. It pierced Jason and pretty much everyone in the room right in the heart.

Dick poked his head out from Jefferson’s chest and yearned toward Jason, palms opened and closed. Jason definitely did not yell inside his head.

He got Dick into his arms, squeezing his button up with his tiny little hands. These days Jason occasionally have to wear suit to work and Dick would usually be the one who nagged his head off for staining blood on white shirts or wrinkling perfectly ironed suits. Guess he couldn’t blame Jason this time.

“Shall we go home?” He fastened Dick in his arms. God, he weighted practically nothing. Dick had always sported a lighter bodyweight than the rest of the family to support his flip and jump, but now, Jason could barely felt the little pounds in his hold.

“To the circus?” Dick chipped.

Ah right, the circus.

“No, Dickie. The circus has some business for a couple of days. Your pop and Haly asked me to take care of you until they’re done working. Can you be a good boy until they’re back?”

Dick pouted. Jason could see written clear on his face that Dick didn’t trust him.

Jason decided to switch to France. “Now the white melts away;”

Dick’s eyes glowed up. He jumped up and down in Jason’s arm. “Now the flowers bloom gray;”

“Come dear bird and build your nest,” Jason walked them down the elevator and to the garage.

“For we love our robin best.” Dick smacked a loud kiss onto his cheek and nuzzled Jason’s neck.

God bless his heart if this was how Dick expressed his affection when he was little.

They got down the garage with Dick hanging tight to his neck. Jason couldn’t say he wasn’t enjoying this too much.

“So, little bird. Which car do you want?”

Dick peaked his head out, looking at him with full rounded eyes. “I can choose?”

“Of course, anything you want.” Jason always dropped a “baby” there. Well carved habit couldn’t be shaken off in one night.

He pointed toward the cars parked in the base and smiled down on Dick. “Which one do you like?”

There was a Ford Mustang Mach 1, the one Jason came here with, but he doubted he’d be coming back with it; a white GMC Savana in the corner, about two dozens of cabs, couples of trucks and 5 black Chevrolet Blazer. Couldn’t say the gang’s garage was colorful enough for a kid’s choice, but Jason was amazed when Dick’s little finger pointed toward one of the trucks.

“Really? Why not that one?” Jasone motioned toward the blue semi-truck in the corner. Not the prettiest choice, but Jason thought for a kid, appearance wouldn’t be the problem if the color was right.

“I thought you like blue?”

“No!” Dick chipped, jumped up and down. “I want big one.”

Right, he should have guessed.

“Sorry, we can’t go with that.”

Dick pouted, squeezed Jason’s shirt. He darted his eyes around, seemingly confused.

“Hey, how about this one.” Jason pointed toward the Rover Evoque in the middle of the room. “What do you think? It’s pretty big too.”

Dick stared at the car then back at the truck. It was clear as daylight he still wanted to go with the truck. But a good kid he was, he nodded and clung tight to Jason’s neck when he walked them toward the Rover.

Dick didn’t say anything when Jason fastened the seatbelt for him, just stared at every of his movement. Jason didn’t know to either turn on the news or switch on kid channel for him. Then it hit him, was he always this awkward when around kids?

He had never shut up about having kids before taking John in, and maybe even a few times after taking him in. Not that he rushed Dick, not that he was actually that needy for a toddler in the household. But the idea hit more than just a few times out of the blue, and considered the clumsy way he dealt with the situation right now, maybe Dick was right to never take Jason seriously.

As if sensed the tension on Jason’s shoulder, Dick touched his hand and squeezed the fingers. He stared, and all over again, Jason saw the sky and the sea in the ocean of his eyes.

“You have big hands.”

God, his accent was off, a sign that showed he was still getting used to using multiple languages at a time. This was strange, but Jason held back his hand.

“Is that so?”

Dick nodded his head, up and down until his hair mixed up and fell all over his face. It almost seemed like his head was too big for his tiny little body.

“You have a big inel.”

“Inel?”

Dick looked down and frowned, biting his lips and drowning in his thought. Suddenly, he jointed up. “Ring!” He yelped. “You have a big ring!”

Jason laughed again and motioned at his driving hand. “This one?” Dick nodded, head bobbed up and down again. “You have a bigger one though.”

Dick’s face brightened up. “Reallyyy?”

“Yeah.”

“Vreau sa vad!”

He pulled his lips together when realized what he had said, but his eyes stayed huge and earning they had Jason burst out laughing again. He must be really excited if his tongue slipped back to Romanian like this.

Jason pocketed his pants and pulled out Dick’s ring with the bracelet. Dick never wore it on his finger when out in the suit, he wore it on his neck. Dick received it with both hands and sparkling eyes, just as bright and beautiful as the stone on the ring.

“It’s so pretty!”  

“It’s yours. Always has been, always will be.”

Dick gasped out loud. He bounced in his seat, legs kicking all the way. He waited no time and put the necklace on while making tiny high pitch happy sounds.

Jason had had it coming that Dick probably was an innocent, restless kid back in the days but he had no idea, no idea his husband would be this lively, this energetic. He never stopped doing something, always moving. His body was these waves of the ocean, kept going and never halted in front of anything.

Jason liked it. He loved it. He loved Dick, and that was probably why even the bitty annoying things he found in most people came so endearing when belonged to this certain person.

“Thank you, mista…”

“Jay.” Jason smiled. “You‒ your parents always call me Jay. You can call me Jay too.”

“Thank you, Jay.”

When they got home, Dick flew to every corner of the apartment. Jason took time admiring his husband little body marvel every little thing nested in their house, every little thing that was his and theirs.

Beast came out to greet them, and Dick couldn’t look happier. Most kids by his size seeing a dog by Beast’s size crapped their pants, but not Dick, not the boy who grew up surrounded by felines and befriended a giant elephant. He took no time climbing up Beast’s back and laid his head down the moving mountain of fur. He had the most beautiful smile on his face when looking back at Jason, and it had him breathless.

Dick never smiled like that. Being married for 7 years had taught Jason every shade of Dick’s emotions, from the bluest to the reddest, from the darkest to the brightest. The laugh he rung right now carried the innocence of a child who knew too little of this world, whose weight on the legs was only his body and not the world.

“Well fuck.”

Jason snapped himself out of the wire. John stood by his bedroom door, crossing his arms watching Dick’s riding Beast run around the living room.

“Don’t tell me I’m having a sibling.”

Jason groaned and went pick Dick off Beast’s back. “No, no you’re not.” Because having John was enough to deal with already. “Your dad ran into… stuff. This is how he’s gonna temporary stay like.”

“No shit, that’s pa?”

“Pooper mouth!” Dick suddenly yelled and pointed a finger at John, jostling Jason who just had him up by his chest. “Mama says who curses must clean the animal cells.”

“You’re cute.” John laughed.

Dick flipped his sleeves around and blew his tongue at John. His reaction only entertained their son more.

“Say, how old are you?”

“I’m 7. But Mr. Haly says I’ll be as big as a centaur.”

“Is that so?” John dragged the words out. God, maturing up being the smallest of the family sure as hell broke his childhood dream tremendously.

“You better not say a thing.” Jason threated John.

“I’ll be as big as a centaur!” Dick yelled right into Jason’s ear again, jumping up and down in his arms.

“Alright, alright. As big as a centaur.”

Soon enough, Jason found himself struggling to dress Dick because none of his clothes fit him now. Dick couldn’t wear his jacket to bed, so Jason came up with a solution by dressing only John’s old nightwear top and leaving the bottom out.

By the time they were out of the shower, Jason had Dick sat on the vanity counter and brushing his teeth while looking around in curiosity. He still had his ring around his neck, and that made Jason unconsciously smile more than once.

Jason called in to cancel patrol later in the day. He couldn’t go out with Dick like this, so Jason settled his day by resting his face on his palm watching his 8 years old husband sing and dance after the cartoon show on TV at midnight.

Dick wriggled his butt around, constantly stood on his hands half as much as on his feet. He called for Beast and hugged him until the show ended, making Jason wonder if this was what Mr. and Mrs. Grayson had dealt with every time they called him to bed, their little Robin curled in the tiger cage or nested somewhere among the animals.  

Dick had actually done that. He had told Jason before.

“When will Mr. Haly and my mom and dad be done?” Dick rubbed his eyes. “I miss them.”

Jason didn’t know if he was tired or on emotional edge. It was hard to tell if it was little of both when Dick buried his face into Beast’s fur and yawned loudly.

“You miss them?”

Dick nodded.

“Come here.”

Jason patted on his side of the bed. Dick didn’t hesitate and crawled right over.

He wrapped his little arms around Jason and hugged him without asking. Jason, too used to have his Dick’s arms around him, took a second to get used to the feeling.

Jason lost his word. He didn’t know how to deal with a kid. All of a sudden, he thought of Bruce, thought of how he had deal with the 9 years old version of a broken Dick right after losing his parents.

He didn’t want to be like Bruce.

“I’m missing someone too, someone really important to me.”

Dick curled himself tighter around him. “Really?”

“Yeah, I love them very much. I love them so much, I feel lonely and empty without them by my side.”

Dick blinked and nudged even closer. “Don’t worry, mista. Dick can stay with you until they come back. Tig the Tiger gets lonely too every time Mr. Haly moves him to a different cell when he has a bad leg, but Dick always come sleep with him so he won’t cry.”

“Is that so?”

“Um, Dick will protect you until your partner comes back.”

Jason tried not to laugh. Gosh, why couldn’t he be like this when he was 7? Why couldn’t Damian be like this when he first came to them? It would have been a much less pain in the ass.

That night, they went to sleep with Dick tucked in Jason’s arms, lightly snoring after the story of the legend Nightwing of Krypton.

Jason almost had a heart attack waking up next to a kid until he remembered what just happened last night.

He took his time admiring Dick’s sleeping face, couldn’t help but smile to himself. This was the face of Dick Grayson he never got to see, Jason was going to devour it as much as he could until Dick turned back. And if he had snapped one for two photo with his phone, that was his secret to keep.

One more thing he learned since this incident, was that little Dick ate like a tiger cub. He liked strawberry, a lot.

“Easy would you? We still have more if you like.” Jason nervously laughed as he watched Dick chunked down all the strawberries Jason had pushed into his plate since he finished his in a blink.

Dick’s eyes sparked up as Jason wiped the edge of his mouth. “Really?”

“Yes. But you have to be a good boy to have them.”

Dick giggled. “I can be a good boy. I am a good boy.”

“Should I get you two a room or…”

Jason glared at John, who wriggled his brows all the way to his hairline. He kicked his son under the table, smiled when Dick cocked his head in confuse as John howled.

Wiping Dick’s lips again, watching his little husband playfully picked up another strawberry and played with it like a toy plane, made Jason suddenly thought maybe this whole magic shit wasn’t so bad.

He would still hunt Constantine’s ass down for this, but no one needed to know Jason was enjoying more than he should.

“Jeff knocked on the door today again, you know.” His son laid out on the table and poked at Dick’s nose. “You have to spill something to him. The man is jumping in the dark not knowing anything.”

“He doesn’t need to know anything. By tomorrow, your dad will turn back. That’s all.”

“You can at least tell him, he lives only one stair down. In the end, he loves Pop.”

Jason glared at him.

“What? I have eyes, you know. Have you seen his face?”

“He works for me. You think I’m blind?”

“And you’re okay with him being like that?”

“Emotional relation makes people loyal.”

“Wait, so you made him…”

“No.” Jason shook his head, gave Dick the dish with the rest of the strawberries and shooed him to the living room.

“What do you mean no?”

“That’s not my doing, that’s your dad. That’s his secret power, he makes people falls for him, follow him, listen to him. Your dad is a damn meta in the art of manipulation.”

“Sounds like you have a handful of experience.”

“Oh I did. I did, you have no idea.”

Everybody knew how good Dick was in getting what he wanted. He played with his words, digged through people’s skins and flayed them open to examine. He read their minds, bonded lies and truth together, until everybody fell for it and listened to him like bewitched.

Since knowing Dick until now, Jason had never once broken through this spell he wilfully exposed himself to.

Suddenly, he felt the edge of his shirt being tugged down. Dick, with his impossibly huge eyes, looked up at him with half of a strawberry poked out between his wet lips. He pushed the fat fruit in further with one hand, while the other squeezed on his shirt like begging for something.

“What is it?” Jason picked him up and rested him on his lap despite John’s amused huff.

“Beast wants to go out.” He pointed his little finger toward Beast, who hopped up from where he lied, heaving through his mouth excitedly.

Well, wasn’t that surprising.

“He wants to go out?”

Dick nodded, head bobbed up and down like a doll.

“He told me so.”

“He told you so?”

“Dick can talk to animal, don’t you know?”

Well damn. Jason doesn’t mean anything bad when he reached for his phone and started recording.

“Tell me again, Dickie. You can talk to animal?”

“Um hum, I can talk to lion and tiger too. Big lions and tigers, like the one Mr. Haly keeps.” Dick opened his arm big and wide to emphasize. Half of the strawberry still hung dangling between his lips.

He started jumping on his feet when rambling about all the animals the circus raised, and Zitka. He twirled on his little feet, hands waved around, cheek swollen with what was left of the fruit he was munching on.

Dick would probably hate him for doing this. He would probably even kick Jason out of their bedroom for weeks if Jason showed this to any of his men.

But that was only the close future to care about, right?

“Jason.”

Jason rolled on his stomach, groaned. Too damn early to deal with anything.

“Jason.”

Fuck, he’d shoot the head of whoever was fucking annoying him.

“Wake up before I kick you off the bed.”

Jason snapped his eyes open and shot himself off the mattress. Blinking, he heaved watching Dick stand in the middle of the room, naked, arm crossed with a displeased frown printed on his forehead.

“You took your time.” Dick, grown Dick, Nightwing Dick, his Dick, quirked his brow and uncrossed his arm, picked up the jacket on the floor and threw it at Jason’s face.

“Clean your mess. How many time have I told you to not throw your jacket down the floor right after going home.”

He went straight to the bathroom after that, hips swaying in the way that had half of Gotham heralds went nutshit, leaving Jason dumbfounded on the bed.

Instinctive as he was, he reached for the bedside table and opened his phone, checking the photo library without a single thought. The photos were still there, all of them.

He laughed to himself. It wasn’t a dream.

The shower started running. Dick was singing loudly. Outside, the sun poured through their window, shone on the naked brick walls and the old poster of Haly circus.

He reached for the drawer, picked on dozens of other work phone and typed in Constantine’s number.

“He’s back. You live.

RH.”

Then he threw his phone away, stripped off his clothes, and went straight to the bathroom.

“Honey, did you ever say you liked strawberry when you were little?”

[caracalfeather]

WARNING- Cats and Birds is a mob AU fanfiction of the Arcana game, and is not meant for young audiences and is not meant to offend anyone. Some writing choices were made so characters are out of their canon way of acting and thinking. Please do not be offended by character choices made by the authors and content creators, this story was made for fun and in the way we wanted it to be. The story was not hijacked by any of the authors to make any ships or characters overshadow any other. All content contained in this story has been agreed upon and accepted by all parties in it’s creation.

TW- Cats and Birds contains scenes that may not be suitable with some readers, including themes of violence, smoking/drug use, sex, cursing and various other strong themes. Special warnings for scenes will be posted with chapters. Proceed with caution and Reader’s discretion is advised.

12 part 1

The streets seemed to be crawling with mobsters that hot day, some blended well with random crowds while others were obviously searching for something. Three families were in the raven’s territory, all armed and ready for a fight.

Portia got word first, Julian was out for the entire day. She ran to Bèa and ordered a full scale lockdown of The Nest. 

“Lock everything! I don’t care! No one gets in or out!” She barked. 

Everyone followed orders. No one questioned Portia. She opened the door to her brother’s room. 

The one thing he held dear jumped up startled by the sudden blaring of alarms. 

“Wh-what’s going on?” She asked, Madeve standing up with her. 

“We’re on lockdown, some goons are trying to overrun The Nest. Just stay here, turn off the lights and stay hidden.” Portia said, pulling out her keys, Lyra nodded. 

“Madeve come! You’ll guard outside.” Portia waved to the dog and he followed, giving Lyra a short woof of encouragement. 

As soon as she heard the key turn the lock Lyra followed instructions and hid  in the actual bedroom of the large room. 

Outside, trucks and cars had surrounded the nest, many armed men with gold ram symbols stood around, yelling and throwing bricks at the windows, one fired his gun at the door, sparking rage in the men as they surged forward.

“HOLD THEM BACK!” Bèa shouted. Not noticing the group that was starting to make their way around back. The siege was all a distraction. 

Portia called her brother to tell him the situation. “Ilya! We’re getting raided! You better get your ass down here fast otherwise we’re all gonna die!” 

The front windows shattered as the door was rammed, more firing sounding outside. Some men had started to aim for the higher levels while one revved a truck.

Lyra tried to keep calm, rubbing the sapphire on her collar. 

“Stay calm….” she breathed

“Stay calm.” 

Portia retreated some of the forces inside, deciding they had to pick them off one by one. Portia cocked her pistol and hid behind a wall. Waiting for the trespassers to enter. 

The door was busted down and a surge of men entered, carrying heavy artillery and revolvers. Antonio had made sure they were well stocked with vests and guns. Some immediately surged upstairs as the others opened fire.

“CAN WE COME TO A COMPROMISE?!?!” Portia shouted over the gunfire. “You obviously want something from my brother and he’s not here right now! But why don’t you tell us what you want!” 

Madeve paced  like a lion between the two other guards who stood at the ready. 

The men didn't care about portia or the others. They simply were told to kill and grab the target from her nest. Upstairs a group began to shoot the guards and yell for lyra.

Madeve barked and charged avoiding bullets best he could. The other guards dodged a few but were no match. Portia hasn’t expected them to get that far. 

Lyra heard the muffled gunshots outside, she covered her mouth and gasped into it.

Curling up on the bed in fear. She hoped Julian would arrive soon.

 It wasn’t looking too good for the Raven’s nest. 

Outside, Antonio watched from his seat on a car hood, chuckling to himself “That's it my boys.” Next to him two slender white hounds emerged and ran inside, his hunting dogs were going to fetch a new fur coat for him. He knew they could do it. He smirked “Fetch my babies. While I wait for the main show to come home.”

She could hear the handle. The game was up.

Lyra stood up and ran down the list of all the other places to hide. This was the safest room, the locks were complex but not invincible. If they were here to see Julian he would’ve shown up already. What were they here for? She knew it couldn’t have been her. The Nest was sworn to secrecy. 

Portia called a fast retreat into the basement of The  Nest. Hoping that the locks wouldn’t fail her on any of the doors. She called her brother again, practically screaming into the phone. 

The hounds howled as they got to Madeve and outside, Antonio lounged, loading his gun and mumbling “Any day now raven. Come home to your nest.”

The massive dog growled as the two other hounds met him in the hall. Madeve barked but waited to charge. Blood dropped from his maw as he growled. 

The dogs launched and circled him, snapping at him with sharp fangs and growling as they tried to corner him.

Madeve stood his ground, this wasn’t going to be an easy fight. But it was his job to protect his master, and his master’s mistress.  He barked at the two, trying to see which was weaker. 

Portia sealed the door to the basement. Everyone who was alive, was safe. They just had to hope that Antonio came in for what he was after and left. 

After what seemed like hours, everyone was gone. One of the men had knocked out madeve, while the others had napped the precious jewel of the nest. Lyra’s room was empty, and the cars had disappeared towards Antonio’s base in the deep rich part of the city.

Portia took a headcount and surveyed the damage just as her older brother was pulling up in the driveway. 

“Damn.” He looked around at all the blood and corpses. “Well, Monty was desperate.” 

Portia came outside to greet him. 

“Do you know what he took yet?”  Julian asked his sister. She shook her head.

“We’re still looking. But Madeve was knocked out.”  She sighed. 

Julian frowned and went inside, seeing his beloved dog limp on the floor. With a sharp grunt he lifted the dog. Madeve whined, arousing from his sleep. 

“C’mon let's go see Lyra.” He sighed Madeve scrambling in his arms as his body came around. 

He set down the mutt and he took off barking.

That….wasn’t good. 

Julian’s eyes grew wide and he ran after the dog. He saw what he feared, the door to his room was ajar. He threw open the doors.

“LYRA! Lyr! Are you here!?” He called out in the empty space, he searched his room frantically searching for her. 

“Dearest! If you're hurt please say something!” 

He opened the door to the bedroom, and there sitting on the bed was the symbol of Antonio’s mob. 

Julian shouted in rage and ran down stairs to his men. He held up the ram’s head to his best Men. 

“I know what Antonio stole.” He growled, “he took what is MINE.” 

Lyra was blind folded and tied up. A goon set her on a metal chair. They were in Antonio’s condo, it was bovious from the smell of sex, champenge and the sound of beethoven from the other room. Antonio laughed at the sight of her “This is the raven’s pretty little jewel? Im almost applaud that he was the one who stole the blue blood’s prized possession.” 

She didn’t say anything. If there is anything Julian had taught her than it was to stay silent. The less she talked the more he would stay safe, no matter what happened to her. 

Antonio slapped her with a hiss “Im talking to you little songbird.” he leaned down and ran a hand under her jaw with a smirk “I have some questions for you.”

She had rehearsed this line so many times in her head. “I am The Raven’s plaything. He uses me for pleasure. I have no information to give you.” It was a bold faced lie, but it got her out of some previous situations. 

Antonio smirked and took off her blindfold “We both know that's bullshit.” He held up the photos a goon had taken. Pictures of her and ilya together, one even a little scandalous from a club only taken last week.

Her eyes flashed, they were so careful. “You think he tells me what happens in his work? As I said, I am his possession, that’s what all women are to you. I’m used as pleasure for him.” She nodded at one of the photos. “Clearly.” 

“And that's why he gave you this?” he yanked the sapphire from her neck, examining it “And why you've been at the hospital so much before? Little song bird was trying to have a family with the raven?” He laughed

Lyra narrowed her eyes, “you’re a dead man walking.” She spat at his feet, “you’ll be dead by the end of the night once he knows what you’ve taken.” 

“Oh doll i'm aware of what's going to happen.” he tossed the jewel away and smirked “So for now, you and i are going to have a little chat.” He snapped and a goon brought in a cart of sharp objects and hot metal “And if you don't talk? Well i guess i have a new toy.”

Torture. Lyra’s mind started to race, she wouldn’t survive. She had to compromise, to her there was no option. “You’re trying to get under his skin? Hurting me will anger him.” She swallowed hard, “but if you want him furious….you already have what’s his…” 

“Maybe. But I could take more…” He squeezed her thigh and circled behind her, tracing her skin way too close to some areas “Now… you gonna tell me anything i need to know? Or shall I use you until he gets here?”

Her heart started to pound. Her wrists flinching against the binds. “I. won’t. Talk.” She stammered, she was trying to sound fearless, but on the inside she was trembling. 

Julian had gathered  his men. “Alright listen up. Antonio is expecting us to show up tonight. He has what’s mine and that won’t stand.” He growled. “ we need to get in and get out. We’ll wait until tomorrow, we’ll catch him off guard and his defenses will be low.” 

Portia nodded, “it will give us some time to gather resources.” 

The men were dispersed quickly and Julian sat back in his chair, all he felt was rage. If that bastard laid one finger on her, Julian would Seaver his head off himself. 

Antonio spent the night torturing lyra with minor things like tasers, groping and slapping. He was furious by sunrise, soaking her with ice cold water before going to give his men orders for the day.

Lyra hardly said anything. She refused to talk, she knew Julian would come for her and all would be fine. She couldn’t fail him now, there was no way. Her collar was a reminder of the love she had, and who she wanted to be with. If Lyra had to die tonight  then so be it, Julian was worth dying for and the engraving in the back of her collar was proof of that. Even though now after years of wearing it, Julian’s name was duller and looked a little cheap. 

Julian made sure security was tight before returning and sitting at eye level with Lyra, quiet for a moment before smirking “Bold choice by the way. To try and have kids in this life.” he was trying to mess with her.

“He has to pass down his line to someone.” She averted his gaze,“not that it matters anyway. As you already know, there aren't any children.” 

Everything was ready, it was just a waiting game as Julian sat a few blocks from Antonio’s turf. He was watching the guard looking for inconsistencies. Scouting the easiest way for a rescue. 

“I wonder who’s fault that is.” Antonio smirked and stood “ I mean the raven is a fine specimen. I wonder… did he choose a lame mate?” He laughed “Cant even produce a sire.”

Antonio wasn’t fighting physically, now he was fighting with words. That was something Lyra hadn’t had the crash course in. She tried to shove down the guilt. “I’m loved...despite my ability to have children. We haven’t given up, just you wait.” 

Outside, the guard shift changed. Antonio smiled and grabbed lyra’s chin “But just imagine all the heartbreak and disappointment that you caused. I wonder why he kept you around?” He dropped his grip and sighed “Must just be a useful cocksleeve.”

“I am more than that. We both grieved that day.” She muttered, her eyes threatened tears but she couldn’t let him see that he was winning. “He loves me. Otherwise I wouldn’t be wearing his name with pride everyday.” 

“Right.” Antonio grabbed a sharp cutter and walked behind her “Maybe it’s time we took his name off, Hm? That way you no longer bear his name. Just like your inability to bear his sire.” He was just being cruel now, but he yanked the collar.

She flinched, “You wouldn’t dare.” 

Julian sighed and saw what he was looking for, a pitfall in the system. With a satisfied chuckle, he drove out of his hiding place and returned back home. 

Antonio did dare. He was going to prove a point. That same day, an unmarked package arrived at the nest. Inside was Lyra's torn and cut collar and it’s broken sapphire. This was Antonio’s push at the raven.

Julian punched a nearby wall looking out the window, dusk was starting to arrive.

“THAT'S IT!” He shouted. “IT'S CLOSE ENOUGH, PASHA! Rally up the men!!! We’re GOING.” 

Portia tried to talk some sense into Julian but his mind was made up, he wanted his precious star safe. He wanted her NOW. 

At Antonio’s condo it was already a heated zone. The Pride had shown up to confront Antonio on his stupidity. All he wanted to do was show off his bait.

Julian arrived as darkness was starting to fall, everyone was hiding in the streets waiting for the right moment. Portia had a bad feeling about all of this, but she trusted her brother enough to let him do this. Even if it was reckless love blinding him in the moment.