#i know its a wolf face but I gotta take time to process how it actually looks and functions as clothes

[lxikoniko]

Trying to figure out the fit

[officer-achilles]

No Control from Spongebob the Musical but Wolf 359 <3

@lukas-broken-bow

I did it. I did the thing I wanted to do. I hope this reads coherently.

Probably best to read it, THEN listen to the song with a more clear order of how it flows but- I'm not in charge. I imagined this as an animatic as you can tell so just imagine that... I suppose...

[This number takes place within the day before the Contact Event - perhaps the night before. Eiffel, Minkowski, Hera, Lovelace, and Hilbert are all preparing for what will come next- the insurrection against SI-5. Keppler, Jacobi, and Maxwell are also preparing for what will come next- the dreaded Contact Event.]

Also I formatted this for Google Docs and putting it in a Tumblr post makes it look a bit funky...

+ + +

EIFFEL, MINKOWSKI, and HERA 

The end is coming!

The end is coming!

The end is coming!

[Keppler’s voice can be heard over the intercoms.]

KEPPLER

This just in:

[We see KEPPLER staring out a window in the Observation Deck, studying Wolf 359 in the distance.]

KEPPLER

The end is in our future…

Evidence has come to light.

[Wolf 359 seems to pulse strangely for a moment. Odd.]

KEPPLER

It’s all deranged.

[Another pulse from the star.]

KEPPLER

No control.

[KEPPLER turns his head from Wolf 359 to look into the corner… he sees DR. HILBERT- though this may just be a visualization and not the real deal.]

KEPPLER (To HILBERT)

Sit tight in your corner…

[KEPPLER now sees EIFFEL and MINKOWSKI hunched over a map of the ship, plotting out their insurrection.]

KEPPLER (To EIFFEL and MINKOWSKI)

No point in making plans.

[KEPPLER sees LOVELACE, also staring out at the star. An odd kinship. KEPPLER knows something nobody else aboard the ship does. It sickens him.]

KEPPLER

It’s all deranged.

[KEPPLER stares straight into the center of Wolf 359 which changes colors between its usual red and the deep blue over and over.]

KEPPLER

No control.

[We see glimpses of JACOBI and MAXWELL preparing for the Contact Event while the echoes of KEPPLER’s words (No control - No control) plays.]

[We see EIFFEL, DR. HILBERT, LOVELACE, and MINKOWSKI in the secret room originally reserved for DR. HILBERT. They appear to be going over their plan again.]

DR. HILBERT

The science is clear, I’m afraid it’s true.

EIFFEL

The end’s really here.

MINKOWSKI

There’s nothing we could do.

LOVELACE And if I read these numbers right…

DR. HILBERT

Our time is up…

EIFFEL, MINKOWSKI, LOVELACE, and DR. HILBERT

Tomorrow night…

[We suddenly cut to KEPPLER who oversees JACOBI and MAXWELL as they complete the last of the preparations for the day. Every line he sings is followed by a shot of JACOBI and MAXWELL. JACOBI has a look of grim determination on his face. MAXWELL looks a bit more apprehensive, as if she may be struggling to process all that they must do to make this work.]

KEPPLER Time runs out tomorrow…

JACOBI and MAXWELL (Backing Vocals)

Time runs out tomorrow…

KEPPLER Terror in their final hours…

JACOBI and MAXWELL (Backing Vocals)

No…

KEPPLER It’s all deranged…

JACOBI and MAXWELL (Backing Vocals)

It’s all deranged.

KEPPLER No control…

JACOBI and MAXWELL (Backing Vocals)

No control…

[We see EIFFEL, MINKOWSKI, LOVELACE, and DR. HILBERT continue their planning.]

EIFFEL

The star will explode… 

And we’ll burn when it does…

MINKOWSKI

Just ashes and smoke…

LOVELACE Where my ship once was…

MINKOWSKI (Looking Warily at Dr. Hilbert)

There’s gotta be a scheme…

LOVELACE (Looking to MINKOWSKI for Guidance)

There’s gotta be a plan…

EIFFEL (Half-Jokingly)

I think we should run while we still can…

ALL (Both USS HEPHAESTUS and SI-5)

No control!

[We see KEPPLER as he looks over to the star from a window. In the reflection of the window we can see MR. CUTTER. MR. CUTTER echoes KEPPLER’s sentiments- a puppet master pulling the strings behind everything KEPPLER does. We also cut to the USS HEPHAESTUS CREW and occasionally JACOBI and MAXWELL looking tense, scared, and nervous as they finish the prep.]

KEPPLER

Stay away from the future…

CUTTER

Stay away from the future…

HEPHAESTUS CREW (Backing Vocals)

The end is coming, the end is coming…

KEPPLER No point in making plans…

JACOBI and MAXWELL (Talking About HEPHAESTUS CREW, Backing Vocals)

No point in making plans…

CUTTER (Speaking First For Once) It’s all deranged.

KEPPLER (Now the Echo to CUTTER)

No control.

ALL

The end is coming, the end is coming… The end. Is. Coming.

[We cut to EIFFEL alone in the Communications Room, he talks to HERA.]

EIFFEL

Everyone’s so scared and sad…

HERA Just one more day, that’s not so bad…

EIFFEL

Until the last of us are gone…

[EIFFEL gives an attempt at a light-hearted chuckle, it sounds almost defeated.]

HERA (Trying to Cheer Him Up)

Let’s all keep calm and carry on?

[EIFFEL does the following high-pitched scream note- seeming to appreciate HERA’s attempt at cheering him up. Maybe this accompanies a fist pump of resolute determination in the air by EIFFEL.]

[We see a variety of shots as the song overlaps. Assume all these shots go along with each new line that is sung.]

ALL

No control…

[A shot of EIFFEL perking up in the Communications Room the first time he heard the radio signals.]

HEPHAESTUS CREW 

I can’t believe I’ve no control…

[A shot of MINKOWSKI slamming her body against the outer airlock of the ship during HILBERT’s mutiny.]

EIFFEL and MINKOWSKI

It’s all deranged…

[A shot of LOVELACE stepping out of her ship holding a gun.]

JACOBI and MAXWELL I can’t believe I’ve no control…

[A shot of Wolf 359 turning blue for the first time. Followed immediately by a shot of EIFFEL screaming as he pounds against the inner walls of LOVELACE’s shuttle as he hurtles away from the USS Hephaestus.]

KEPPLER

It’s all deranged…

[A shot of KEPPLER, JACOBI, and MAXWELL arriving onboard the Hephaestus. KEPPLER looks intimidating. JACOBI looks smug. MAXWELL looks as if she’s studying the crew from the other side of a glass wall.]

JACOBI and MAXWELL

The end- the End. Is. Coming.

HEPHAESTUS CREW

The end is coming…

EIFFEL and MINKOWSKI

Deranged.

JACOBI and MAXWELL

The end- the End. Is. Coming.

HEPHAESTUS CREW

The end is coming…

KEPPLER and MR. CUTTER

Deranged.

[Cut to the following day. The day of the insurrection in time with the screaming.]

AHHHHHHHHHHH

[The first scream shows a shot of KEPPLER grinning smugly as MAXWELL tampers with HERA’s system.]

METRONOME

[The metronome is accompanied by EIFFEL’s shocked and horrified face as he sees LOVELACE fall to the floor bleeding from the head, killed at the hands of KEPPLER.]

AHHHHHHHHHHH

[The second scream shows a shot of Dr. HILBERT walking into the secret room just as JACOBI hits the trigger for the explosives.]

METRONOME

[The second metronome is accompanied by the sound of MINKOWSKI’s gun going off in time, shooting MAXWELL dead.]

AHHHHHHHHHHH

[The final scream shows a shot of LOVELACE’s head wound healing, like a scab in fast motion. Gruesome. She opens her mouth as she comes back to life. She completes this final scream of the song.]

[myclownjunction]

A loyal guard dog! Karl Heisenberg x Reader Part IV

I laid this night a bit restless, trying to understand what in the bloody meaning he said three days he'll be locked away, does he have rabies, no-nonsense! Maybe he works on something more specific and more detailed and needs to be left alone, probably, there were so many things that it could be but what actually he hid...you thought that friends don't hide anything from each other. The time will show...as you drifted to the slumber of sleep still tossing and turning the full moon outside was peering into the factory waiting for the changes to begin.

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

The day went pretty much as usual you patrolling the factory and kicking the ass of the lazy Lycans to guard the factory and not fight for nonsense, it's good that Urias was there to kick some sense too...with his hammer. However you didn't saw nor heard from your owner anything yet, despite the fact that he forbid you to call him owner or master, you still held to your word to call him master, that's how you were trained but when the time came it quickly changed to Heisenberg, he never really told you his real name but you told him yours as he first time met you alas he loves to use any cheesy nicknames while teasing you. You walked to the right-wing of the factory doing your regular patrol as you picked up an unusual scent it made you growl, 'An intruder?!' you thought as you walked toward the scent the closer you got to the darker parts of the factory, the more rooms appeared in front of your eyes the smell now was really strong, as you heard...moaning?! Snarls and curses were let out of the mouth of Heisenberg but like it wasn't him but a beast trying to mimic his voice, you stood there as the smell hit you now differently, it...it was HIS smell!! You gulped as you felt your mouth getting watery, you stepped away as you felt the warmness coil and tight into a knot making your really uneasy, you gotta get out of here...immediately 'Shit, this smell it does something strange to my body!' you thought as you backed away slowly trying to make absolutely no sound in the process but the burning in your abdomen scolded you to go and bathe in this smell to join its owner and have...' NO!' you barked at yourself mentally he was your master you couldn't as you walked to the stairs you heard a rather loud roar making your skin covered in goosebumps but not from fear but from excitement.

You pulled yourself back down the stairs and into the elevator you walked towards the familiar smell of someone important that you NEEDED right the hell now! It was the Duke a humble jolly merchandiser that brought most of the supplies, your first meeting with him was so fascinated, being locked in a cage for ages and being let out for a while you were practically in awe of every single thing happening in this world. The Duke always talked to you respectively as you had chats about this and that, you always thought that the Duke was something much more than jolly merchandise, you stormed from the elevator as if it was on fire and would crush any moment now, the Duke was surprised by your exit too "Ahh, a familiar and sweet face to meet. Good day my dearest, how could I be of any help to you, because as I see you definitely need help in there!" he laughed making his body jiggle as he removed the ashes from his cigar he always smoked, it smelled like cherry and cinnamon, you gulped and asked with the biggest hope in your voice "Duke, please tell me that you have Wolfsbane potion in stock?!!" you looked at him rummaging through his carriage as you crossed every finger you could biting your lower lip and chewing it in as the heat decided to start pooling itself into your core. He turned around looking at you and making a shaking motion with his head "I'm afraid Miss L/N, I don't have the potion in stock the last few were bough by Lord Heisenberg himself, didn't he told you about it?!" he raised his eyebrow his eyes sparkling mischievously at your surprised face as he snickered and took a drag from his cigar "You see Miss L/N, your friend...Lord Heisenberg has a specific condition that is called Werecantrophy, he always comes by to buy the potions for this specific...time!" he smiled as he looked at me with a pity in his eyes "Alas I remember he would bring it to the medkit, maybe you will find it there by chance! He bought 4 flasks with the potion after all!". You smiled and thanked him "Thank you Duke I'll make sure to try to find them! I hope to see you around anytime soon!" you walked into the elevator your body still on fire before the elevator closed its doors he told you rather aloud "I hope you gonna lend a good hand to help Lord Heisenberg, dearest one!" he laughed at your baffled expression, as the elevator took you to the level where your rooms were you barged into the room, looking desperately for the medkit as you found it, you practically slammed the poor box onto the workbench rattling its containment, rummaging through the bottles you found none labeled Wolfsbane Potion, your blood was boiling at this point, you wanted to scream, to tear and to break. You needed somehow to channel your heat somehow...'Think...THINK GOD DARN IT!' you snarled at yourself "SHOWER! I need a cold shower, damn right now!!!" you groaned as you stripped of your clothes running butt-naked towards the shower going into the cold water made you shiver and let out a yelp mixed with a whine as the water hit you like a whip making your skin cool down and your body accept yet another torture, you sighed as te feeling...didn't fade away. You stood there and turned the knob till the water was dripping, drip...drip...drip. You snarled in frustration as you hit the wall of the shower leaving the indentation but the pain didn't turn your attention from the slickness between your legs, you walked outside drying yourself up and huffed as the towel you took smelled of Heisenberg, an electrical charge ran through your body making you moan as if he was right there, his smell, his musk, you dressed up and walked towards the right-wing of the factory. You were determined to get rid of it, you will ask him to give you just one potion, he wouldn't refuse you right?! Right!?? You were walking fast towards the room, after all the smell was still lingering in the air like a damn cake, ready to be bitten, you shook your head what was happening to you, you had no damn idea as you neared the room that you heard the noises coming from it still held it's secret resident inside as you stepped on something it made clacking noise as if made of glass...You looked down to see the four poor bottles drained from their liquid, you stood there like a deer caught in lights, the smell was so much as you were practically panting it was so unusual to be so close, this smell was so well defining an Alpha as you failed to notice the door has opened slowly and the said so man standing there, as the door was open his pheromones hit you like a train, you wobbled to contain your balance you heard a dark and deep chuckle looking up you were met by pair of glowing yellow eyes.

"Ohh, sweetheart it took you quite long to come and pay me a visit!" his voice was so deep and gruff it made you whine, and he growls in response as he licked his lips littered with scars, his chest was heaving with rapid breaths he took as he took one long inhale he smiled showing his fags. "Damn it sugar, you practically smell of pure sex and lust!" he growled and smiled looking at your shaking and trembling from his pheromones was working their wonders on you! "Let's play a game little pup, you run I chase! If you succeed to hide I'll let you take the lead, but if..." he paused smiling and huffing "...I catch you, I'll make the whole damn village to know who you belong to, I'll nail you till the only thing you'll know is my name!" he smiled, his pupils dilated with lust seeing you rub your legs together your smell was maddening him as the veins on his strong arms and neck were pulsing his wolf self calling ut for him to claim you!

To be continued...

[peachyteez]

mint chocolate chip ice cream ≫ DAY ONE, FOUND?

this abandoned, shy bunny hybrid loves hanging around the open field area of the recovery facility. one day, with the help of jungkook, another bunny hybrid, jiyu meets mingi. after days of mingi being too shy and running away from her, a bag of carrots and mint chocolate ice chip cream was all it took to seal the deal.

PART OF THE HEAVEN SERIES.

✧ taglist: @defsoul15, @jaeminpeachy, @joongiebug, @sunsethw4, @t-tbinnie, @chanyeolol, @danibookmarks, @hello-its-ya-boi, @murralyn, @alienmashup, @panini, @moon8894, @koasworld, @taetae123094, @luv3rxcha, @treasure-hwa, @etherealbyeol, @hwaseongzzz, @lovely-sanie, @orbitiiny, @deep-ocean-dweller, @babydolljo, @ms-starlight, @everrrlasting, @bls-luv-me, @atzgiggle

feel free to let me know if you would like to be added to the list!

✧ notes: mingi can be my bestfriend any day :)

next。

“i wonder how mingi’s doing...” yunho mumbled during breakfast. 

hongjoong peered up at him from his cereal. “who?”

yunho’s ears and tails perked up at the thought of his bunny hybrid friend that he usually saw everyday. “mingi. he was a bunny hybrid that i often met up with when i was still a stray. i wonder how he’s doing now...i haven’t seen him since you took me in. he had red hair the last time i saw him”

jiyu felt a wave of guilt crash into her. she didn’t realize that she took yunho away from his friend when she adopted him. stirring her cereal around, she mumbled a quiet sorry to the golden-retriever hybrid. 

yunho’s eyes widened when he realized what he had done. “no, no! don’t worry about it. really! we’ve always talked bout what would happen if one of us were to find a home so i think he’s figured it out by now. plus i went to the park where we usually hung out and i haven't seem him around so...i think he’s doing okay, too. he’s a strong bunny,” he reassured as seonghwa rubbed her back.

“if you say so...” jiyu dejectedly mumbled before shoving the last spoonfuls of her cereal into her mouth. she glanced at the clock. “oops, i need to go,” she said as she put her bowl in the sink. “sorry guys, i promise i’ll do the dishes when i come home!” she shouted as she ran up the stairs to grab her necessities. 

the three hybrids snorted at her child-like declaration. “that’s what she said three days ago and she fell asleep when she came home,” seonghwa chuckled.

“you say that as if you hate cleaning,” hongjoong retorted. “heck, you even told us to leave the dishes so you could clean them yourself.” yunho chuckled at the memory of the wolf hybrid double cleaning the plates, bowls, and utensils. it took him practically triple the time it usually takes to wash dishes. 

“alright guys, i gotta go.” flying down he stairs and quickly putting her shoes on, she opened her arms for the three of them. “come here,” she smiled. three bodies crashed into her smaller frame, making her slightly grunt at the impact. rubbing their heads, she peered at yunho’s face. “if you want, we can go to the park when i come home from work today to see if your friend’s there,” she offered. 

yunho’s eyes sparkled in excitement. “okay!” he grinned, his tail a clear indication of how elated he was at her offer. 

slightly chuckling, she gave a salute to hongjoong. “you know the drill, joong.” she laughed at his dramatic sigh as he glanced at the other two. 

“don’t worry, i’ll make sure they won’t burn the apartment down and that we’re alive by the time you come back,” he joked, a smile threatening to appear. 

jiyu chuckled. “alright, i’m off then.” 

coming into the office, jiyu fell into her seat and stretched her arms above her head as a yawn ripped through her mouth. 

“pretty big yawn there, buddy,” yeonjun commented, his eyes not budging from his monitor as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “did you sleep?”

“yeah, hongjoong’s nightmares have been getting better, so i’ve been getting more sleep.” unfortunately for hongjoong, he still had a tidbit of psychological trauma from his past, so his sleep was often plagued with nightmares about waking up back in the basement cell he was so used to. it was heartbreaking for jiyu, so there were nights she stayed up with hongjoong as they talked about every and anything. luckily, he’s been slowly recovering. 

“that’s good to hear,” yeonjun genuinely commented. “oh yeah,” he stated before turning to face her. “i think there's a stray somewhere in the field.”

jiyu furrowed her eyebrows at his comment. “how do you know?”

“i took one of the hybrids out for their morning outside time and they started acting pretty strange when we reached the bushy part of the field. i thought they were just adjusting to the outside but they kept wary of this one area so i assumed they picked up the scent of another hybrid.”

jiyu hummed in acknowledgement as she stood up with her clipboard to make her morning rounds. “okay, i’ll keep that in mind,” she said as she left the offices and headed towards the hybrids’ ward. 

softly knocking on one of the doors, she heard a small hum from the other side. “hey buddy, it’s me,” she gently called out, knowing how sensitive some of the newer hybrids were, “can i come in?” hearing a small “yes”, she entered the passcode and the door automatically opened. she smiled seeing the bunny hybrid sitting up in the bed as if he was waiting for her. “hey, there,” she greeted with a smile. 

jungkook was a bunny hybrid that had been admitted a while back, but he was still pretty sensitive to his surroundings and people. 

“wanna go outside today? i know you didn’t go yet this week,” she asked. 

jungkook’s bunny ears perked up in interest. “can i really go outside?” he asked, his eyes full of enthusiasm and excitement. 

jiyu nodded, a part of her saddened by his excitement to just go outside. “of course, let’s go.”

leading the bunny hybrid to the elevator, jungkook kept a strong hold on her white coat sleeve as they passed by multiple people. he looked nervous and shy to even look at them. once they made it to the field, however, it was like he discovered a newfound burst of energy as he ran around the area, sniffed the flowers, and even pet a squirrel that had come down from the tree.

suddenly, his ears stood up in full alert as he quickly scanned his surroundings. jiyu looked around as well and realized where they were. the bushy area where yeonjun told her about the potential stray. she glanced at jungkook and found his nose cutely twitching as he focused his gaze at the bushes.

“hey, jungkook,” she whispered, “is there...someone else there?” she pointed to the bush.

jungkook nodded before leaning down to her height and whispered back. “i smell another bunny. and he seems scared, too.”

taking a better look at the bush, she realized that it was moving—as if the unknown hybrid was trembling. a small frown pulled at her lips. who was it? was it a bunny hybrid like jungkook said? why were they scared?

quietly tip-toeing closer to the ever-so-slightly shaking bush, she squatted down a safe distance away from it with jungkook clutching the back of her coat as he followed her actions. “h-hello?” she quietly and gently called out to the bush. “are you okay?”

suddenly, the bush stopped shaking. before jiyu could process, she noticed a pair of white bunny ears peeking up from over the bush. she let out a small gasp. “are you—”

before she could finish her sentence, the hybrid stood up to his full height, making jiyu’s eyes practically bulge out of her head. he's as tall as yunho...if not taller!

unlike his towering height, the look he had on his face made jiyu slightly frown in sadness. he looked terrified as he stared at jiyu and jungkook. despite seeing that jungkook was just like him, he was extremely wary of jiyu. taking a closer look at him, jiyu realized that the bunny hybrid had bright, red hair. she remembered yunho’s words from earlier that morning. 

he had red hair the last time i saw him.

“no way...are you—”

whish

as a little squeak came out os his mouth, the unknown bunny hybrid turned around and quickly ran away from the two. climbing the fence, he deftly landed on the other side and continued running

“h-hey!” she called out after him, but it was no use. the hybrid had no intentions of looking back or stopping.

she frowned. “poor guy, i wonder what happened to him...”

jungkook also frowned at seeing the bunny disappear. “i smelled fear on him...and it was strong...” he mumbled as he looked in the direction the red-haired bunny ran off to. 

jiyu was lost in her thoughts. was that yunho’s friend...? nah, there's a lot of bunny hybrids out there. but he had red hair...is it common for bunny hybrids to have red hair?

“miss jiyu!” being brought back to reality, she looked over and was met with jungkook’s anxious look. “sorry, i didn’t mean to yell, but you weren’t responding so...” he meekly explained. 

jiyu softly chuckled before gently rubbing his downcast head. “don’t worry, bunny. you didn't do anything wrong,” she reassured. “i told you, you’re safe here, right?”

finding comfort in her words, a small smile crossed his lips before he gave a small nod. “okay...”

“now...who’s in the mood for some carrots?” she teasingly asked, laughing when jungkook excitedly raised his arm as he hopped. his ears twitched in happiness and his eyes were filled with sparkles as he chanted “me!”.

after giving jungkook his daily intake of carrots and making sure he was comfy in his room, jiyu trudged back to the offices. she couldn’t take her mind off of the unknown bunny hybrid. could he be yunho’s friend?

as much as she wanted to tell and ask yunho, she didn’t want to get his hopes up on finding his stray friend. if it wasn't him, jiyu could only imagine the sadness yunho would experience. 

maybe he’ll come back tomorrow. she hoped, completely unaware of the pair of eyes on her from outside.

[ckret2]

GVK spoilers below, about conspiracy theories

I’m gonna get around to posting all my GVK reactions but this one got long so I’m putting it in its own post.

The Monsterverse series, in both KOTM and GVK, has some pretty interesting things to say about conspiracy theories and ecofascism; but, unfortunately, it doesn’t REALIZE that it’s saying any of them, so it keeps dropping the ball and missing opportunities to explore them.

Starting with KOTM, “there’s too many humans so we’ve just gotta let some die and that’ll fix pollution 🤷” is like false ecofascist claim #1 but at no point in the movie was it challenged as unfactual, it was just presented as a sad truth that people have to do morally ambiguous things about. Except that it’s just literally mathematically not true!

Emma could be such a GREAT, believable character—especially in this world with, like, frigging QAnon nonsense getting such widespread traction—showing a compelling, realistic tragedy of how this normal, intelligent, well-educated white mom who otherwise is likely left-leaning (pro-environmentalism, pro-nature conservation, got a doctorate and generally more academia correlates with more liberal ideals) got sucked into a far right ecofascist doomsday militia that combines hokey pseudo-environmentalist propaganda with “in balance with nature” semi-religious mysticism, because she was exploited at a time when she was emotionally vulnerable (when her kid had just died) and was lacking healthy emotional support (when her husband turned to alcohol and then ran off).

... Except the movie never says that her “overpopulation” beliefs are WRONG. It says that they’re RIGHT, and she was just forced to choose between two losing scenarios—deliberately kill most of humanity to hopefully save a few, or watch humanity kill itself.

Nobody bothers to mention that the size of the population isn’t the problem, it’s the disproportionate pollution coming out of first world countries. Nobody bothers to mention that when Emma talks about “overpopulation” and shows a screenshot of an overcrowded neighborhood, it ain’t affluent downtown skyscraper condos in Europe or America that she’s highlighting, but large masses of poor people whose neighborhoods look “dirty” to the white woman’s eyes, despite the fact that they’re contributing the least to humanity’s carbon footprint.

Emma’s beliefs are empirically wrong, and if KOTM had ever demonstrated that, it would’ve been brilliant. Instead, it tries to say “she was right, she just went too far,” and in doing so loses an opportunity to make Emma a deeply believable, timely, realistic, well-meaning but wrong villain.

And now we’ve got GVK, which has swerved away from the ecofascism but doubled down on the conspiracy theories. Here, Emma’s daughter, who was raised for five years with what amounts to a survivalist doomsday cult’s beliefs, when faced with the grief of her mother’s death and the struggle of trying to reconnect to her estranged father, turns—again—to conspiracies to make sense of the world around her. Because that’s what Madison’s been raised with, and even though she got disillusioned with the particular “we know something special that the normal people can’t handle” beliefs that she was raised with, that kind of thinking is still what she knows. She’s still doing what her mother raised her to do! She’s still pulling the “hypercompetent highly-trained lone wolf ‘survivor’ saves the world” shtick that Jonah’s gang taught her to do—but it’s never brought up that it was screwed up to raise a child like that and it’s screwed up for her to still be interacting with the world like that.

At least THIS conspiracy theorist isn’t literally advocating for global genocide. Bernie’s focus largely seems to be on “this corporation is trying to screw people over and screw up the environment—” (because in Monsterverse, as in Toho monster movies as a whole, kaiju/titans and the environment are symbolically conflated, so if a corporation is messing with Godzilla then they’re messing with nature as well) “—so I’m gonna find out what they’re up to and be a whistleblower.” Which is great! Solid start! We’ve got a guy taking aim at big business and who says “when the weather Godzilla acts erratic, it’s not random chance, it’s because a big business is doing something it shouldn’t,” so it looks like we’ve got a leftist conspiracy theorist, that’s different, could be interesting to explore.

Except then he starts talking about governments serving a “global elite” and facilities built by “lizard people” and then we’ve swung right back around to the far right by casually dropping in a couple of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Add that in with the whole “hollow earth” thing and damn, we’re namedropping a lot of antisemitic conspiracy theories, aren’t we? Granted, most conspiracy theories ARE antisemitic—but like, they could have dug around for some that aren’t. Have him talk some more about Roswell. Have him bring up things that we’ve actually got documentation happened and theorize that MKUltra research was used in Apex’s development of their pilot’s psychic mind link to Mechagodzilla. Have him bring up tailor-made-for-the-Monsterverse conspiracy theories that don’t exist here, “Monster Zero is actually the secret weapon of a nearby ‘Planet X’ that’s gonna invade,” whatever. Instead, nah, we went with the antisemitic ones.

Now, do I think the writers behind KOTM and GVK intended antisemitism? Do I think they’re closet alt-right trying to dogwhistle the fascists in the audience? No, I think they think they’re making fun of—or playing around with—what they see as harmless, unbelievable, way-out-there conspiracy theories. I think they know just enough about “hollow earth” and “global elites” and “lizard people” to make references to them, but not in a way that promotes the common antisemitic understanding of those theories as true. (Monsterverse’s hollow earth, a weird underground jungle where King Kong lives, sure doesn’t resemble the usual conspiracy theory.) To me, the way they were used suggests the writers didn’t deeply understand (or at least, didn’t deeply think about) what the theories really mean—nor what they imply about the beliefs of the characters who espouse them. Which is the crux of my issue with how the movies deal with conspiracy theories and ecofascists and so forth (beyond the fact that, hey, I just don’t like seeing likable characters casually referencing antisemitic beliefs): the writers didn’t think about the implications.

Because these things do imply a lot! For example, if, say, Josh, total newb to conspiracy theories, had asked about lizard people, I would have grimaced to hear it but I would have believed that he’s a teen boy that picked up the term at school and doesn’t know anything about what’s behind it. But on the other hand, I can’t believe a guy so deep in the conspiracy theory world that he bathes in bleach doesn’t know exactly what those conspiracies mean—or, even if he does somehow staunchly refuse to believe that “lizard people” is a code for “Jewish people,” that whatever circle of conspiracy theorists he runs with doesn’t use it as a code. Bernie didn’t pick up those beliefs in a void. I really doubt that’s what the writers wanted to imply about the goofy likable underdog with a podcast.

And sure, the “global elite” and “lizard people” references are presented like a “haha look how far out his beliefs are” joke—the same as the fluoride reference, which is basically Hollywood code for “bogus nonsense only complete lunatics believe” thanks to Dr. Strangelove—but at the same time, they’re never really disproven. Nothing he believes is challenged. Nor are any of Madison’s beliefs that she’s picked up from him. Everything they both believe is either a “wow that’s wild” throwaway joke, or else they’re presented as totally right, e.g. about Apex being up to dubious crap that’s irritating Godzilla.

Just like Emma, who was presented as in the wrong not because she was incorrect but because she WAS correct but took the wrong actions. And just like Rick in KOTM, who kept bring up the hollow earth theory like a running joke but then the joke was that he was right.

And that’s at the root of the issues with both movies’ portrayals of conspiracy theories. Aside from the jokes that are never explored (and therefore, never disproven), the movies say that, every time it matters, the conspiracy theorists on the fringe are correct, the heroes that need to be believed. Even though all (excluding Rick) are characters who have suffered deep loss, who have been hurt, who you can imagine as passionate but grieving people who turned to dangerously wrong extremism in their search for meaning... the movies don’t portray them as people who have been led astray by their pain, but enlightened by their pain. Which is what they themselves think they are, sure, but that doesn’t line up with reality.

The movies never forces them to grapple with how far they’ve gone astray from reality—and I think they should. I’d like to see them processing the revelation that their beliefs are wrong. Whether it’s as big as somebody trying to convince Emma that killing half the population doesn’t fix the pollution caused by corporations rich enough to weather a global hurricane, or as small as Bernie looking at Apex’s financial records and realizing the company’s money is going to the CEO’s vacation home rather than a reptile government and deciding to rethink those beliefs after they’ve checked out Hong Kong.

“Conspiracy theorist is right about everything” is already a common enough trope that Monsterverse isn’t breaking any new ground with it. And in a franchise like Godzilla, whose movies are rife with messages both allegorical and literal about environmentalism, corporate exploitation, the futility of military action, international politics, war crimes... letting the conspiracy theorists be wrong and showing that they’re wrong and what that wrongness can lead to would mesh far better with the themes of Godzilla.

Think about Jonah and Emma unleashing Ghidorah (who emerged from a destroyed ice cap and immediately caused devastating hurricanes—a perfect metaphor for climate change), and what that could say about how ecofascists who purportedly joined the movement because they support environmentalism are actually far more in bed with the destructive industries really at the root of environmental damage... if the movie acknowledged them as ecofascists.

Think about how Jonah collected Ghidorah’s head at the end of KOTM and by the time of GVK it was in Apex’s hands, and how this exchange demonstrates that “I want to unleash titans to destroy humanity to save the environment” Jonah the ecoterrorist and “I want to beat the titans to protect humanity” Simmons the billionaire CEO actually have far more similar ideals beneath the surface of their opposed goals—ideals that have less to do with the environment or with humanity and more to do with securing personal power and control... if the movie had explained how this exchange took place.

Think about how Madison’s mother died trying to mitigate just a little of the damage she did under the thrall of a doomsday cult’s skewed beliefs, how even though Madison broke free she found herself embroiled in similarly skewed beliefs just three years later, and how powerful it would have been if she recognized that she herself had walked right back into the kind of fringe beliefs her mother had led her into as a child, and if she had then resolved to learn how this kept happening to her and break this pattern... if the movie had ever let her realize that she was making the same mistakes, or even acknowledged them as mistakes.

There’s so much potential there, so many things you can see happening right beneath the surface... but the movies never touch on them. And so it looks like, in Monsterverse, all fringe beliefs are either right or harmless. And we never get the “disillusioned conspiracy theorist” story that could be so brilliant and that, right now, would be so relevant.

[kyoupann]

fic request: hyrule "getting lost" on purpose for some alone time from the group, and bringing someone with him to find a cool spot and just hang out a while! bonus if it turns out he very rarely actually gets lost and just uses it as an excuse xD extra bonus if it's legend 👉👈

Anon, I love you. You're the epitome of big brain.

Have Hyrule and Legend having a wholesome moment. It's not much, but it's honest work. <3

Bold of you to believe Hyrule gets lost easily

Being on an adventure with a party was quite different from what Hyrule had imagined; truth to be told, the thought never crossed his mind. But when it finally became a reality and he found himself surrounded by people 24/7, the closeness, the noise, started to suffocate him.

Don't take him wrong, he loves his new friends. He absolutely does. Ones more than others, but he still loves them all. But he could do with fewer people from time to time. And since some of the others didn't seem to be willing to separate for more than a couple of minutes, unless extremely required, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

The first time was almost accidental. He did go off-trail for a bathroom break, but as he waited for his business to be finished he realised how quiet the woods were; no clinking of armour, no footsteps, no small chat, just birds chirping and treetops rustling gently against each other. Just pure, comfortable quiet. He didn't even notice that he had finished already, so lost contemplating his surrounding and how much he missed this. Soon enough, he snapped out of it, fixed his clothes and started heading back to the main trail. The group was probably far ahead, so he didn't rush to reach them. Instead, he took his time, idly following the trail and admiring the beauty around him: massive trees, so tall they covered the sky, the only source of light slipping through the gaps between the leaves; so lovely and delicate and warm. Without the noise of a full travelling party, he noticed that the small creatures of the forest didn't mind his silent steps,  some hares peeking from their burrows and a couple of squirrels chasing each other down a tree trunk.

He didn't know how long it took him to catch up with the group, but he knows that it must have been a good half an hour or more; their faces showing nothing but annoyance, maybe a bit of worry etched on their youngest companion, but irritation definitely took the lead.

"Where were you?!" was the first thing one of them asked, followed by some concerned queries about his well-being.

He took exactly one second to think and answer "I got lost on my way back."

And from then on, he was never allowed to leave the perimeter without a partner. Which, mind you, fucking sucked. There he was trying not to hurt anybody's feelings, yet his answer ended up backfiring in the worst way possible; not only was it harder to have some quiet, but the group also started to underestimate his sense of direction in a way that felt almost insulting. Did he have to remind them that there are no maps in his Hyrule and yet he knows the land like the back of his hand? But go off, not like he cares, anyway.

He tried to not let it bother him, and not past a couple of days, he found a solution to the very same problem he got himself into. He started to sneak out without anyone noticing, and if they did notice, they were nice enough to not rat him out. To each their own, whatever. It became a habit, whenever he would feel the tingling sensation at the nape of his neck, he would begin to fall behind and leave the group as soon as he saw an opportunity. Often times, it was Wild and his weird wolf who found him pacing around somewhere, the blue-clad hero with a mischievous smile on his face while the wolf sported a frown, not thrilled to be on hunt duty. Other times, Hyrule made his way back to the group a couple of hours later, before anyone started arranging a rescue team for someone who clearly didn't need it. But he appreciated the sentiment; at least he knows that they wouldn't just ditch him anytime.

One day, though, he noted that their veteran was in a sour mood, more than any other day. He had no idea that could be possible, but, hey, you learn new things every day. He felt kindness fill his body more than usual and was willing to let the veteran in on his little secret. He didn't need to worry too much before turning to him as they unpacked their stuff for the night.

"Hey, I'm feeling a bit restless," he said and the other just hummed in response, "do you want to go for a walk with me?"

"No."

For a moment, he thought of dropping it right then; but on the other hand, he was feeling a tad overwhelmed by the noise coming from the guys helping the cook with dinner and the others taking care of their gear. Couldn't they be a bit more... silent? For mostly mute companions, they sure were extremely loud in their tasks sometimes.

"Please, everyone is busy," he pleaded, now moving to be face to face with the veteran, "please, Leg. It won't take long."

He saw the Legend drop his shoulders in surrender before agreeing to a short walk around the area. And as soon as they had their stuff ready, they took off.

Hyrule was excited to have some alone time after what had been entire days without the opportunity to sneak out. He didn't even mind Legend coming with him. In fact, he was delighted to have him around. While Legend often worried about his disappearing habits, he was also the most chill about it. He really liked him. He hoped that this walk would ease his mind of whatever was bothering him; he wasn't going to ask, that was not the point of this. If Legend wanted to talk, they would.

"It sure is nice around here," Legend said, as emotionless as ever, making Hyrule question if he even meant it.

There were no trees blocking the sky, the sea of constellations shining brightly above them as they walked up a hill. Hyrule guessed it was most likely a small mountain if his adventure had taught him anything. The path was becoming too steep for them to trek in a straight line. Just as soon as they got to what seemed to be a dead-end, Legend whistled, catching the traveller's attention.

"It was a great walk," he said, boots already turning around and retracing his steps. "Time to go back."

But Hyrule didn't follow him. Instead, he reached in front of him.

"Last to get to the top is a bald cuccoo," he shouted as he started his climb.

He didn't even look back to check on Legend, he knew he would be following him. They climbed in silence, saving their energy and attention for the slippery rocks that fell from their hands and under the weight of their boots.

About ten minutes later, when the moon was at its highest point, Hyrule reached a small plateau on the side of the mountain. It might not be the destination they had in mind, but he couldn't deny that the view from there was stunning. To their south, he could see the prairie they had passed through early in the day, the light of the moon illuminating every single patch of grass and rock; on the other side of the mountain, to the north, Hyrule could spot the light and smoke coming from their campsite. They weren't that far, after all. Just enough to relax.

"What the fuck? You can't just say shit like that and start climbing, Hyrule!" Legend wheezed as he dragged his body over the edge, completely out of breath and slamming his back against the cold ground.

Hyrule ran to aid him to stand up, extending small apologies as he offered his hand, his shoulders shaking with a stifled chuckle.

"What are you talking about? That was fun!"

He gave Legend the time to look around, hoping that the view would make him forget his irritation. In the end, he guesses he succeeded; a soft smile adorned the other's face.

"I wished we could stay longer, but we gotta head back."

Hyrules ears perked up in interest and a grin that showed nothing but mischief appeared.

"Oh, it would be such a shame if we got lost on our way back and we had to wait until morning to avoid getting even more lost in the dark."

It took Legend 5 seconds before the gears in his mind began to work and process what Hyrule said.

"You little shit," he punched him on his arm playfully, earning him a cackle from the traveller. "You. cheeky. little. shit." He marked each word with a punch, each less hard than the last.

Hyrule rubbed his arm, "so, what do you say?" He looked at Legend expectantly, " If you want to go back to the others, we'll go. I'm not keeping you here, but I think some time off would do us good."

It was then that Legend noticed that Hyrule had brought his bag with him. He sat down and started pulling a variety of items from it, a fabric too thin to be a blanket being one of them.

With a snap of his fingers, a nearby bush lit on fire, and in no time they had their own little impromptu camp set up.

"I have some fish if you want me to make something," he pointed to his bag, but as always, he didn't wait for a response, already elbow-deep into the bag looking for the food, "caught it this morning, it's basically fresh."

Two small fish stabbed through the middle with a stick later, he handed one stick for Legend to grill over the fire.

"So... you get lost... on purpose..."

"Yep."

"Why?"

Hyrule bit the inside of his cheek and flipped his fish over, " for the exact same reason you accepted to come with me, I suppose." He took the fish off the fire and inspected it. "Unlike most of you, I didn't have a companion during my adventures. Having someone to talk to whenever is nice and all but... well, I simply value my privacy. I like being alone."

Legend could only hum in agreement. He rolled his stick, half of his fish almost burnt, "Wow, thanks," he said, his words coated with sarcasm.

"I like being alone with you," he laughed at his own words, a bit unsure of how to fix what he had said, but no less true.

A soft smile pulled at Legend's lips. He sighed in contentment and extended an arm to ruffle Hyrule's hair.

"I like being with you, too."

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Pink Chains

Pt 8. Ending

Kyotani owns a grunge /punk apparel shop after leaving the Sendai Frogs after a incident with the Black Jackals. He designs his own clothes and hires Oikawa & Iwaizumi as his employees. Everything goes smoothly for awhile, till you walk in; pink dress, big smile , and bubbly personality. His whole life stops in that moment. 

Nsfw. Virgin reader. Vanilla

Tags. @galagcica @haikyuu-but-low-iq @kozushiki @mocha-babes @kayisweird @lunebabie @zopzoop @derpeedoo

You were sitting on Kyos lap facing him holding his cheeks kissing him all over his face. Kyo had his hands on your rear trying his best not to tug at your panties and just kiss you . He was still thinking about what happened earlier , and you could tell. His kissing was getting sloppy .

You pulled away to sit on his fingers and lap giving him a shy pouty look. “Kyo…”

“Im sorry sweetie.. its just.”

You kissed him on the lips. “Just nothing. Wanna feel good… wanna feel good with Kyo..”

He sighed kissing you back giving you the ‘ok’. You could feel his fingers along your slit travelign up and down lightly in slow strokes. He chuckled at the little whimpers you made no matter how hard you tried to hide them from him.

“Can i have my hand back sweetie?”

“No..”

He smiled, kissing you again and again while his fingers worked on getting you wet for him. You leaned into him sighing lightly at the feeling, holding his sleeve, kissing it and rubbing against his fingers whining every time they slipped over your clit. Kyo kissed at your neck pulling you closer to him.

“Sweetie.. Lift up for a second”

You held him tight moving up so he could help you out of your panties and sit you on his lap again. You just had his old jersey on now but he quickly got rid of that too, tossing it with the other garments.

“K-kyo.”

“My pretty girl” he pulled you to him, slipping another hand under you again to slip a finger in you just to be stopped short. “Sweetie? Are you a virgin?”

“Yes i uhm..i still want to , just be gentle please..”

Kyotani did not know how to process this for a minute, every girl who threw themselves at him was always some slut. He's never been asked to take it slow before. “Okay sweetie, if at any point you wanna stop, tell me.” he kissed you and slipped another finger in you. The rings hit your flesh creating goosebumps.

You squeezed him tight getting used to the new feeling, eventually he got you to slowly grind against his fingers and helped you reach your first orgasm helping you through it. You pawed at his lap watching his erection get bigger each time.

“ i think.. Im ready”

“Your sure?” he asked , removing his fingers from you to see your juices dripping off of them. He bit his lip and before he could say anything you were taking his erection out and rubbing it.

“Swee!!..-”

You leaned into him giving him big eyes. “Im sure Kyo..”

He kissed you as he gripped your rear lifting you up. “Okay sweetie. Tell me if you want to stop okay?”

“I will Kyo..”

Kyotnai had nails dug into his sleeves while he lowered you down on him. He was hurting you , he stopped a couple times to ask if you were okay and you always nodded between shaking breaths assuring him you were fine and to keep going. It took him a few minutes to sit you back down on his lap. You cried when he broke through. Biting his shoulder drawing blood. He held your body close coaching you through it just like he did for the tattoo. It helped.. It really really helped.

It started out with you on his lap and ended with you on his bed and Kyo on top of you finishing on your stomach. He squeezed you panting hard trying not to put his weight on you too much. You giggled kissing his head and he laughed too. He never wanted to leave you, not ever.

Kyo helped you clean up and asked if he could get you anything to help make you more comfortable. You jokingly asked for a stuffed animal expecting him to not have one but he did in fact have one. A old wolf plush and a Sendai Frogs plush he pulled outta his closet. Kyotani helped you get dressed in his boxers and one of his shirts before putting you to bed. He kissed your head watching you drift off.

“Night sweetie”

“Night kyo..”

Kyotani left to get dressed and to throw your clothes in the wash. He sat on the dryer just listening to the washer for a minute. So much has happened over a few days for him. Multiple times he thought he was going to lose you , he still had no idea how you stayed with him. He was grateful to have you, grateful Yahaba made up with him, grateful his business was working and was hopeful for the future. He returned to you soon after the clothes finished to place them next to the bed, he got in behind you wrapping his arms around you trying to fall asleep. He was not looking forward to the morning,

*

You woke up first because of your alarm and the sound of excited dogs. Your body was sore but you did not mind too much. Kyo squeezed you in his sleep and you giggled kissing his arm all over.

“Kyooo…gotta get up..”

“Skip sweetie..” he nuzzled his face into your neck sighing heavy

“I gotta.. Draw my entry for the Gallery though, and what will i do if i skip?”

“Hang out at my job with me of course. “ he teased nipping your neck.

You sighed turning over and kissed his chest.

“What gallery?”

“My school is participating in this gallery at the local art building in town. My teacher asked if i would join in, im hoping.. I get picked up.”

“Picked up?” he asked you, moving your hair from your face.

“I want to graduate with a job already lined up, im hoping someone will like my designs enough to want to partner with me to sell them on clothes.” you nuzzled into his chest. “But im nervous too cuz.. Business people just see money”

“Where is this gallery again Sweetie?”

“Up the street from Mattsuns shop” you rubbed your eyes and Kyo got a grin on his face.

“Can i come?”

“Of course!” you hugged him tight and he kissed your head.

“Dress code?”

“I think so but.. I dont think its mandatory”

Ho ho ho…

Your phone buzzed again and you whined loud. “Kyoooo let em up…”

He just laid down on top of you . “five more minutes”

*

You played with the dogs for a bit petting each one and giving them kisses on the nose, you even shared your breakfast with them when Iwaizumi was not looking. Kyo had washed your clothes but you wanted to wear his, the pants were too long so you made them into shorts and picked out a random band tee you tied under your chest and found your shoes in the living room. God you were so cute in hi clothes what the fuck.

He couldn't stay long though. Kyotani was greeted with several texts and calls from Yahaba ordering him to get to his place immediately. He gave you a kiss and promised he would be at the show for you and left. Iwaizumi brought you to school and he left for work to see Oikawa had opened with no problems.

Kyotani made it too Yahabas house to be greeted by him in the door, arms folded and foot tapping. Kyotani rolled his eyes, noticing the extra car parked out front. Bokuto was already here. He walked into the house past Yahaba to see Bokuoto sitting at the table trying not to look at Kyotani. He sat down across from him and Yahaba met in the middle between them.

“So explain… what happened.” he said, rubbing the irritation in his face.

“Well., i was out getting somethings and i saw Mad Dog, and i just i dont know. Got upset, all i could think about what the Tourney and the accident.” Bokuto rubbed his eyes and ran hid hands through his hair. “I hit him first Yahaba”

“And you?” Yahaba looked over to Kyo.

“I hit him back” he took in a deep breath sitting back in the chair to rub his sleeve.

Yahaba rubbed between his eyes. “At least no one saw it…”

“y/n was with me”

“.....what?”

“Its true…” Bokuto added

“SO YOU JUST FOUGHT IN FRONT OF HER!”

“I almost punched her Yahab jesus christ, i still feel awful about it”

“She stayed with you?”

“Yes, she did, i dont know how but can we please fix this . i need to go to work and catch y/n’s art show”

“Is she okay Kyotani”

“She is now.” he looked away rubbIng his head. “I fucking hate myself.”

“Kyotani…” Bokuto said. “Im sorry, i let my emotions get the better of me and i should have more control than that. Akaashi gave me one hell of a lecture when i got home. I don't want to fight again.”

“I dont either”

Yahaba was still hung up on you putting yourself between these two and coming out without a scratch. Fuck you really were special.

“So can we agree to move on.” he finally asked them.

“Yes”

“Mhm”

“Good. shake hands and get out of my house.”

The two got up shaking hands and they both felt a wave of relief wash over them. Finally.

*

Back at the college everyone was eyeing your outfit but you did not give one fuck. Yuki and Kii paid you no mind and you spent most of the day in the art room with a towel of crumbled up sketches in a trash bag neck to you. Why was this so hard? You signed in to your arm looking at the empty canvas, lightly tracing over your red panda tattoo.

“Mmm……”You traced some more getting an idea. It was different, new, and stood out. Two opposites.

At The Dog House Kyotani had finally gotten there to see Oikawa running the front and Iwaizumi putting clothes out. He told them everything was fine now and about the gallery show you were in. both men were excited to go and Kyo even texted Mattsun about it.

“Are you gonna wear a suit for once ?” Kawa asked Kyo

“Uhm no, no im not.”

“Why not!!!”

“Because i want to stand out when i tell y/n i want her to partner with me at the shop”

Iwaizumi and Oikawa both got very big smiles and Kyo rolled his eyes, he couldn't help but smile too . he was so ready for tonight, to see your face and your reaction. He was going to tell you he loved you too.

*

It was time for the Gallery and you were already inside setting up your space. You had to change clothes and put on a black dress with boots. Kyotanis clothes neatly tucked away in your bag. You were so happy with the finished sketch you loved it so much, you hoped Kyo did too , you also hoped someone would want to buy it ..

People were starting to come in and you quickly set everything up when your teacher came over.

“y/n, its going to be lovely, this is such a fancy high established place i have no doubt someone will want to pick you up”

“Thank you.. Heh.. i hope soo….”

Things were going good. People loved your piece and you got compliments on it, not many people understood its meaning or how you came to the conclusion to draw these two things together but you loved it. No one made offers though, unfortunately. You just wanted to see Kyo .. where was he?

“You look ridiculous Kawa” Mattsun said.

“The invite said SUITS!” he yelled at them as he parked his car.

“It also said not mandatory” Iwaizumi said getting out with his friends

Kyo got out stretching giving all these fancy people a smirk as they passed, hands on their chest gasping at the sight of him and his friends.

Everyone had regular clothes on, Oikawa was in a suit.

Kyotani was in ripped jeans, black boots and his shops shirt.

Oikawa was in a fancy black suit.

Mattsun was in skater clothes showing off his many tattoos

Iwaizumi was in jeans and a punk rock shirt.

“Ready ?” he asked his friends as he cracked his knuckles.

Everyone said yes and Kyotani could not wait to get inside this fancy place.

You were sitting by your art staring at all the people, everyone had stopped coming over to ask about it. No one was interested. You wanted to leave but you were required to stay till the night was done. You sighed checking your phone when you heard a very loud gasp.

“Oh my god…”

“You must have the wrong place…”

“This place is not for you lot”

“Ouch, im just here to see my girlfriend”

You got the biggest smile jumping out of your seat. “Kyoooo!!!”

People looked back and you waved. Kyotani pushed his way through and Oikawa apologized awkwardly to everyone as him and his friends past through. Kyo picked you up hugging you tight kissing your chest and setting you back down.

“Hows my happy girl”

“Super good now!” you squeezed him and said hello to everyone.

Mattsun checked on his tattoo on you and Iwai and Kawa said hello.

“Sweetie anybody pick you up yet?”

“No.. i .. i dont think people like it”

“Where is it ?”

You took his hand taking him and his friends back over to your space. His heart thumped when he saw it. Holy fuck. It was a very large drawing of a wolf and a happy red panda. The wolf was standing and looking straight on and the red panda was between its front legs with its front paws up looking very happy.

You leaned on Kyo hugging his sleeve waiting for him to say something. Mattsun knew instantly you were inspired by his style, he even saw his name next to yours for credits/ inspiration. Oikawa was speechless for once in his life and Iwaizumi was watching his friend with a big smile. Good for you Mad Dog.

“Sweetie…. “

“Do you like it ? its … it us heh.”

“I fuckin love it”

“Really?!”

“Sweetie” he picked you up again and kissed your lips not caring who was staring. “ i love you y/n. I want you to partner with me in my shop. I want to spend my life with you.”

“KYO!!!” you wiggled in his grip till he put you down. You whined grabbing his face to kiss him all over. “ i love you too!! Yes yes!!!”

“And ill buy this art y/n” Mattsun told you.

You looked over and he smiled taking out his checkbook. “Thank you for putting my name on it, im touched.”

Everything was working out for you, nothing could be better.

The years went on, you agreed to move in with Kyo after you finished up school and used Mattsuns money to start up your designs with Kyo in his shop. He put your name on the brand making it yours as well. You made cute hoodies with ears and dresses along with cute animal bags. Kyotani still made his punk clothes and he still had his friends working with him. Mattsun had your art up in his shop and Bokuto visited regularly to ask how you were and so did Yahaba. Everything was perfect. Well. almost perfect.

Kyo was at his register going over inventory. It was after hours and no one was there but him and you. You skipped over sitting on the register giggling.

“Im almost done sweetie”

“It will only take a second!!!!”

He sighed looking up to see you holding a sketch book with three tiny garments on them, two looked to be boys clothes and the last one a girl.

“So you wanna sell kids clothes?” he asked, taking the book and standing up looking it over.

“Well … i was hoping we could use them for our kids”

“Sweetie we dont ha-........................................” he dropped the sketchbook looking at you,

You giggled, rubbing your stomach. “We do now!!!!”

*

Stick around for the sequel!!! 

Thank you for enjoying this story with me ❤️ i love this fic the very most it has a special place in my heart. Thank you for reading .

[tiny-smallest]

day one - pride

Rating: G Characters: Henry and Bendy Warnings: none Description: Henry reflects on the definition of labels and belonging in certain spaces.

Also on AO3!

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WHO'S READY FOR THE INK DEMONTH 2021 I SURE ONCE AGAIN TOTALLY WAS YEP DEFINITELY NO LAST MINUTE ANYTHING HERE LET'S GO

Doing writing prompts again because this year has been A Lifetime and I just don't possess the ability to draw this time so let's go let's get stupid get weird enjoy the misadventures of a specific au of of Bendy and the Ink Machine where the toons are their own people in a world they still don't entirely understand and the people who love them who try to help them navigate it.

---

Henry was used to a surprising amount of things to interrupt his day first thing in the morning. Easily numbered in the hundreds. His children were toons; there was no end to the amount of crazy nonsense that they could get into when he was asleep, and that was disregarding the fact that Bendy usually slept until noon.

Sure, he was the Troublemaker In Chief. That did not mean the other two were paragons of holiness, no matter how much Alice tried glowing her halo at him while she and her brother gave him the saddest, biggest, shiniest puppy eyes. And that didn't even take into account how much trouble they could find, no mischief intended.

He'd seen smoldering breakfasts, pancakes on the ceiling, saran wrap around the kitchen archway, demonic rubber chicken noises from a saxophone that had a part replaced with the noisemaker from the novelty prank toy...

(He still didn't regret letting Boris chase Bendy for that one without intervening.)

With all that, being immediately accosted by three toons hanging off his legs the second he came down the stairs and all trying to talk to him at the same time did not magically get any easier to withstand.

"Whatever it is, it's a no until I get my coffee," he drawled as he attempted to walk with them hanging off him, the three of them dragged along with him. It was with quite some difficulty that he got to the kitchen counter.

"But Henry!" Bendy whined, "we only got a few hours to get ready if ya say yes! We need every second!"

"For what?" he yawned, pouring a cup from the machine.

"You don't know what day it is?" Alice was surprised enough to actually let go, and she dusted herself off like the lady she was before standing up.

Instantly something cold grabbed Henry's heart and squeezed. "Uh- no I...?"

Had he forgotten someone's birthday? No, it was summertime; Bendy was a winter 'birth' and Boris and Alice were spring and fall. An anniversary of some kind? Quick think what are you forgetting you useless-

"How!?" Bendy gaped at him from down below. "It's been all over the news fer weeks!"

Well okay now he was just thoroughly confused. "I um-"

"The parade, Henry!" Boris's tail was thumping gently against the floor; he was not trying one tiny ounce to hide his eagerness. "The parade that's today!"

"Parade-?" It took just one more nanosecond of thought before it clicked.

"Oh you mean the-!" And they wanted to go to it.

Well, he shouldn't be surprised. This would be the first parade they'd get to see, wouldn't it? And it was nice weather out. And it would be bursting with color, which the toons were darn near obsessed with.

He took a contemplative sip. They weren't human; god even knew if they had any sort of sexuality at all. Could they even feel that stuff? The urge to- do anything like that? Wouldn't that technically make them asexual? That was the word, right?

Well, human or not, that would solidly mean they belonged there. Queer was queer, regardless of species, right? Hell, even if they'd just started asking themselves those questions, or wanted to support the fans of theirs who fell under that giant umbrella, they were valid for being there.

"Sure, I can take you."

Both boys cheered, lifting their arms to do so and releasing his legs. He quickly took a step away from them, but their joy had them leaping to their feet anyway and he watched as they bounced around the kitchen, slowly draining his coffee and trying to curb his smile when he was actively drinking.

It was a hard task.

Their excited chatter melted pleasantly into the background as he took the time to drink and try to shake his brain awake the rest of the way awake like shaking out an old blanket to coax out the wrinkles. Their enthusiasm always made for the perfect background noise.

"What colors do you want?"

"I dunno! There's so many! I don' even know what label I fit in-"

"I saw you checkin' out that guy the other day don't think I didn't!" The wink and nudge from Bendy sent Boris blushing so hard the poor wolf's face turned nearly as black as his fur.

"I was hopin' you hadn't-"

They were all quick to consume breakfast, and Henry retreated upstairs after telling the toons to come get him when they wanted to leave.

He settled comfortably in the limitless, timeless space of art before reality came knocking with Bendy's distinctive tapping at the door, pulling Henry from the space inbetween something and nothing as he set his pen aside. "Come in, kiddo."

When Bendy stepped in with what was unmistakably a rainbow flag on his cheek and extra face paint he knew he was in for a time.

"Oh uh- what's that for-"

"For you!" Bendy said with a giant grin. "Who'd ya think?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah well- I uh-"

Bendy didn't slow down. "Anyway the others are about ready to go but they sent me up here to get your flag on while they finish up- now why they trusted me with the paint I got about as much an idea as you but hey I'm not gonna complain-"

"Aw that's- that's sweet kiddo but I sorta figured I'd just be-" How to say this. "Dropping you off...?"

Immediate confusion. "What? Why?"

"Uh well- I mean-" He fiddled with the pen- when had that ended up back in his hands? "You guys- you have a space there, you know? I'm not sure if I-"

There was now a puckered frown on the little devil's face. "Not sure if you what?"

"Well I mean- I don't exactly- belong, now do I?"

The frown multiplied its intensity by about five. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Aw jeez. He really did not want to discuss this with his kid, as much of an adult as Bendy was. For many reasons. "Uh well- you know-" He gestured, as if hoping that would somehow pluck the answer from the air and implant it in Bendy's brain without having to give voice to it, setting the pen down in the process so he’d stop playing with it. "I'm not exactly- I mean-"

"You like guys." Bendy's voice was so sure that Henry knew making any sort of denial was futile. And also kind of stupid. Why would he deny that to his own son? No of course he wouldn't.

"Well I mean- I married a woman, didn't I?" he finally blurted out.

Unimpressed blinking as he drew closer to stand beside the desk. "Yeah they got a word for that. Several actually. Most popular ones are bi and pan, so which colors is it gonna be?"

"No no I mean-" God he was probably blushing. His face definitely felt way too hot. "I uh- I mean I- I like guys, yes-" great brain thanks a ton totally needed that heart rate spiking why are you acting like that's scary this is our kid- "but I- I married a woman- I like women- more often?"

The blinking was now confused.

"Uh-" How to phrase this. "If- if we split it into a pie chart- it's probably like... thirty-seventy in favor of women?" He ran his fingers through his hair and down the back of his neck again. "I'm- not that I'm any great catch but like, if I was in any way qualified to be in the dating pool again, I'd be way more likely to end up with a lady."

The unimpressed look was back. "And?"

It was Henry's look to be surprised. "And- and that means that, you know- I'm not really-"

"You like guys."

"I- yeah?"

"And you're a guy."

"Kind of a given at this point."

"So you're a guy, and you like guys, and just also happen to like girls too. We got names for that." He gave Henry's shirt an appraising look. "Gotta say the bi colors would complement your clothes best. If you want pan colors I'm gonna have to ask you to change. As your official fashion consultant."

Henry snorted. "My what?"

"Listen Dad I love you but I ain't about to let you walk into that parade wearing like, a pineapple hawaiian shirt or nothin'."

Henry banged a fist lightly on the table and pointed at him. "Liar! You wore the exact same thing just the other day!"

"Yeah but that was to the beach, not a parade."

"Literally when have you ever cared about not being a fashion disaster."

"This time, when Alice'll actually kill me otherwise."

"... Okay you got me there."

Bendy grinned. "So, bi colors or pan colors! Or somethin' else? I think there's other ones too."

He opened his mouth, closed it again and then opened it. What the hell. "... Bi colors, I guess."

"Yesssssss I was hopin' you'd say that." He hopped over onto the table like he'd suddenly become a bunny.

"Oh you were, huh?"

"Listen, the pan folks got pretty colors, but I'm always a sucker for a sunset," he said as he pulled out the pallet he needed. Henry sighed and shook his head, the smile ruining his effort to look exasperated.

"Well. Sunset me then, I guess."

"You got it boss!" Bendy said in maybe the worst mafia minion accent known to mankind.

It was barely five minutes of Bendy painting lines carefully on his cheek before he whipped out a mirror.

"Tah-dah!"

Henry blinked at himself in the mirror. He tilted his head, something shifting inside his heart that he had no name for, no way to voice.

The once proud look on Bendy's face was swiftly dropping. "... I didn't mess it up, did I...?"

"No- no, no." Henry tilted his head. "I uh..."

Bendy's worried browlines screamed anxiety to him.

"... I guess I just look good in a sunset," he said quietly, seeing the little corner of his reflection's mouth turn up as if in some sort of hazy dream.

Better than I thought.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments

So... have I ever told you guys that Louis is my favorite character in TWDG? No? I didn’t have to? You could tell by the everything that is my blog that he’s my favorite? 

Well your deduction skills are great because it’s true-- Louis is, indeed, my favorite character and after all the nonsense going on with last week’s T5F, I wanted to talk about my boy to get that salty taste outta my mouth, y’know? 

I want to talk about some of my favorite Louis moments from The Final Season, and in turn, about why I love him so much.... also this challenge of giving myself only 5 moments was just cruel and I struggled because I love nearly every Louis moment. I had to narrow it down to the favorite moments where I believe his development as a character were at its greatest, because that’s something I love about him-- his growth through the season. 

Wanna give a quick shoutout @pi-creates​ for letting me use some screenshots for this post! I’m also doing a bit of a collab with Pi and a few others for this T5F. I thought it would be fun if they did some lists for other characters! I’ll update this post with links to their Top 5′s as they come out. :D

Pi’s Top 5 Aasim Moments @kaylee-wolf’s Top 5 James Moments @taurusicorn2400′s Top 5 Favorite Things About Violet  @akemi-rose578′s Top 5 Favorite Ruby Moments

5. Appealing to Louis

I won’t spend too much time on this one because I talked about this entire scene in great detail in my Marlon character study, but I do truly love everything about it. 

When you appeal to Louis, he’s pretty insistent about staying out of it... even though you can tell this whole situation is hurting him. With Marlon still having a grip on him, Louis feels like he has to side with Marlon because he’s his best friend, he’s always had his back, he’s gotta trust him... Marlon wouldn’t kill Brody like that, it just doesn’t make sense, right? 

Add that on top of the fact that Louis is already established as “Marlon’s lap dog,” as Aasim puts it, and Marlon himself even implies that Louis is irresponsible and doesn’t ever step up.

So to have Louis instinctively puts his hands up like “Oh no, no, noooo I am not involved! Sorry, I like ya Clem but yeah, you’re on your own.... sorry,” makes sense with how he’s established, and you as Clementine have to sway him to your side by giving him some much needed courage and a chance to break from Marlon’s control to do the right thing, which is executed super well. 

My personal favorite choice is to ask Louis if he’s really going to just let Marlon shoot me just so that he doesn’t want to get involved. You can see from his body language and facial expressions that Clementine’s words struck a nerve... he doesn’t want that to happen, that he doesn’t want Marlon to murder Clementine like this, and that he knows this is all wrong. 

Also, Clementine’s “I thought you were more than that” is just.... so good. When you consider his entire arc... as far as we know, this is the first time someone has said something like that to Louis and it shows.

So he tries to talk to Marlon the first time, and Marlon intimidates and manipulates him to where you believe he’s not going to help you... and I love it. I love the way this is shot where Louis, with his hands up, slips right in front of Clementine and talks Marlon down. He sees that Marlon has a damn gun pointed at him, but he puts himself in danger to protect Clementine [and Marlon, in a way]... someone he doesn’t know that well, and he even walks towards Marlon while the gun is still pointed at him to protect her and those around him. 

There’s also the other bits where Louis tries to be reassuring to Marlon, that they’re gonna help him out, that they’re all they got, that Marlon wasn’t always pathetic.... which that last one prompts the “Yeah I was, you’re just the only one who didn’t see it,” and that’s... a whole thing. 

This is the first glimpse of growth we see with Louis and I love it. 

4. The talk in the dorms

Okay... this scene. 

I love this scene... obviously. One of my favorite’s from Ep2. After AJ is patched up and recovering in the dorms, Louis comes by to bring AJ some new clothes since his got torn up from Abel’s magic shotgun. 

At this point, we already know that Louis is dealing with a lot of shit-- his best friend of 8+ years was murdered right in front of him, he’s traumatized, mourning, and hurting buuuuuut most of the Ericson crew don’t seem to care that he’s going through this. Violet keeps invalidating this pain and calling him a shithead while talking shit about Marlon right in front of him without any care. Mitch acts like Louis should be more aggressive because he was Marlon’s best friend, which results in Louis feeling even shittier. 

He doesn’t know what to do about Clementine and AJ, all he knows is that them being there makes everything feel worse and he’s scared... AND on top of that, he just learned what Marlon was really like, Brody did indeed die because Marlon hit her, the twins might be alive because Marlon traded them away, AND there are asshole raiders coming to kidnap and/or murder them.

AND because he took part in the vote that got Clementine and AJ kicked out and insisted they follow through, AJ ended up getting shot by Abel’s magic shotgun and could’ve died... and Louis feels responsible for that, but he’s conflicted because this kid literally murdered his best friend that’s why they were kicked out in the first place. 

Also, presumably, he’s dealing with all this by himself. 

Honestly, I’m surprised he’s still functioning because that’s a lot. 

Despite all that, he still sticks with Ruby in helping patch AJ up, and is thoughtful enough to bring him new clothes so he’s more comfortable. It says a lot about him, y’know? He’s still hurting, he’s still angry, but he doesn’t hate Clementine and AJ for what happened. He never did, he just didn’t know what to do. He’s still processing what happened and sorting out his feelings. 

Oh and then the talk with Clementine... okay, I love the talk. 

It’s quiet, sincere, and emotional. Clementine kinda begins to pry about whether or not he’s okay with them staying after AJ gets better and the raiders are taken care of, and he avoids giving her a straight answer until she pushes, to which he answers with an honest, “I don’t know, Clementine.” 

Then AJ wakes up, and I love the way Louis responds to AJ asking if they’re friends again. He doesn’t lie to make AJ feel better, but he’s not a jerk about it. 

And finally, we get the final dialogue prompt with him. I usually tell him I really missed him, to which he responds with, “Missed you, too. Goodnight.” and I just... it’s so good. 

Honestly, Louis could’ve turned into a real bitch and not bothered, he could’ve remained angry and took every opportunity to remind Clem and AJ of how terrible they are... I can think of plenty characters that would’ve done that in his situation, but that’s not Louis. He’s not that kind of person... which is interesting when you consider his backstory and what landed him at Ericson in the first place. He’s seen what that kind of resentment, no matter how great, can lead to. 

Overall, one of the best moments in his character development. 

3. Louis opening up to Clementine in the music room

Oh, where to begin?

First off, not gonna gush too much about the clouis because this is a list focusing on Louis, not necessarily his romance with Clementine... I’ll only bring it up when it pertains to his character development, y’know?  Second, not gonna get into the poor lead up to this scene where the writers dropped the ball with the ‘go with Violet to protect the school vs screw around with Louis and probably die’ thing. That’s a topic for another day. Just talking about the scene itself. 

Because this moment is so damn good. Honestly, these last three entries I could probably do entire posts picking them apart and analyzing everything but we don’t wanna be here for hours so I’ll try to condense it the best I can. 

So Louis invites Clementine to the music room because he needs up with a project. Clementine enters to find him playing a song that he wrote, and they have a fun conversation. Right off the bat, we get Clementine mentioning that they haven’t heard any music for a while [implying that Louis hasn’t been playing] and Louis responds with, “Some say you’re not about to hear it now.” which we all know is him trying to make light of people telling him he doesn’t have any music talent and like.... his face. The way it falls as the music goes from cheery to sad. The way Clementine looks at him. 

I talk about Louis having a wall around him a lot. Well, that’s because he does. It’s the irony thing where the happy, loud, funny character is actually putting that on as a façade because they’re hiding behind a wall too scared to let anyone in because it’s either bit them in the ass before or no one has bothered to ever take them seriously anyway or a number of other reasons. 

Louis seems to let that wall down for little bits at a time without realizing it, then when he does, it shoots right back up. A great example of this is in ep1 when he and Clementine talk in the woods. The shift is obvious, and here he’s still doing it. 

He turns around and asks Clementine how they feel about their imminent deaths in a jokey tone. My favorite thing to do is here is remain silent. When you do that, he becomes serious again and in a soft voice, he tells Clementine that he’s here for her. 

I find this whole sections of the scene, including the tuning the piano part, so interesting because it’s him testing the waters with Clementine, if you will. He’s inching the wall down until they’re both sitting comfortably at the piano when he begins to play his song for her. They mark the piano, and I think that seals it for him that they’re here together, that Clementine isn’t like the others who have never taken him seriously or never bother to look below the surface. 

So, he takes a chance and fully brings the wall down, opening himself up to her as he thanks her for being there with him, even after everything. 

Like... Louis is just so aware of people’s perceptions of him. This is a discussion that I’ve had with people before where Louis is very much a people person in the way that he’s not just charismatic, he’s observant, too.

Anyway, you can have Clementine confess she has romantic feelings for him, establishing them as a couple, or you can remain friends but now you’re super best friends. You know me, I go the romance route because clouis. 

I do wanna point out that Louis does have romantic feelings for Clementine no matter what you pick, but if you do wish to remain friends, he’s incredibly respectful of that. There’s no bitterness, there’s no pushing. He’s maybe a little sad for two seconds before he realizes that he has a new [and probably better] best friend and embraces it. He’s just happy to have Clementine at his side.

As for the romance, I will never get over his reaction to Clementine confessing. His face? So good. Then he becomes so giddy talking about how he was hoping Clementine felt that way and “Holy shit, it’s me!” 

Then he names the song he wrote after her and they smooch~!

uhh sorry, said I wasn’t gonna gush about clouis but can’t help it... and hey, in my defense, it does pertain to his development because this relationship influences him greatly. 

What else can I say? It’s fucking great. 

2. Louis finally shares something from his past & plays Don’t Be Afraid

Yeah I’m combining them, they go hand in hand okay. 

Listen.... like I said before, I could write an entire analysis of Louis in this scene, but I’m gonna reel it in. 

We finally get the reason Louis was sent to Ericson in the first place-- he was stupid rich with parents who gave him whatever he wanted except singing lessons, and being the spoiled child he was he didn’t take kindly to that... so he broke into his father’s credit card accounts and faked an affair in order to break up his parents marriage, and then when it was all said and done, he threw his fathers words back in his face.

Like.... I’m pretty fucking sure not a single one of us thought this was going to be the case when it came to Louis giving us his backstory.  

He finally puts it all out there and now Clementine knows what kind of person he was before he arrived at the school, what he was capable of before she met him. That wall is gone.

But this is what I was talking about before. Louis knows first hand what can happen when feelings go unchecked, when resentment is held onto, when you don’t apologize or try to repair mendable relationships, when you’re vindictive and bitter and take it out on others. He’s been there and now he’s here, and he holds a lot of that with him. You can see he does in the way he talks about himself and struggles with confidence in his abilities. 

I also love the line he says when you remain silent about how he doesn’t even know the person he’s talking about, how it’s like the only thing they share is the same name. He then goes on to say that Clementine should know who she’s riding into battle, which I’ve always seen as his way of telling her she should know who he really is, good and bad, before she puts anymore effort, faith, love, etc. into him and their relationship. 

Then there’s the song. 

Tenn asks Louis if he can play Don’t Be Afraid for them, a song that he composed with Minerva back before she was taken by the delta, and it’s my favorite version. 

Just the way he looks at Clementine before he starts and she gives him a small reassurance before he starts, and he fucking dedicates the song to Minnie... who is going to try to kill him later and that’s a whole thing, but it’s still a sweet sentiment. 

Then the song plays and it’s that calm before the storm moment, y’know? Like, everyone is sitting there listening to him play this beautiful song while realizing that shit’s going down soon and this might be the last happy moment they get.... and then as he’s playing, Louis looks over at AJ’s drawing of Violet, Aasim, and Omar and just.... his expression. 

Also, he looks up at the ceiling as he’s playing and given how glossy his eyes look at the end of the song.... you know he was trying to hold it together. And that last look he and Clementine share? ugh.... it hurts my heart. 

I adore this scene.... We finally got something about Louis’ past, which is something he hardly shares up to this point. Anything shared is minor, like how he used to play baseball or he hates cantaloupe.... but nothing major, y’know? So good. 

1. The walk back to Ericson

This is it. 

When it comes to Louis’ development as a character, this is it. Let me tell you about this moment because oh my god.

To start things off, Louis gets back to the school with everyone and then alone decides he’s gonna go look for Clementine, AJ, and Tenn. Which I don’t know if that’s something he would’ve done in ep1, at least he wouldn’t’ve gone alone. This to me says that he got back, made sure everyone was taken care of based on his comment about Violet’s eyes, and then set off on his own to look for them. 

Then we get the cute clouis, Louis celebrates victory a little too early, and they begin their walk about to the school... and it starts off so quiet. He and Clementine steal glances at each other before Louis brings up Dorian. Y’know, the woman he killed. 

We learn that it’s his first human kill ever.... in the 8+ years of the apocalypse, Louis has never had to do that and it’s one of the things he was so scared off. We were supposed to get a bit about that during the party but y’know, it was cut for budget reasons.... which is lame but you can figure it out from his behavior before they snuck onto the boat anyway.

It’s a great talk between them. I usually tell him that it’ll get easier, and he acknowledges that it’s fucked up, but he believes it will get easier and he’s just glad he has it in him at all. He tells Clementine that having a home means protecting it, he shares some things about his past, and then he and Clementine talk about a dream house together. 

And this.... THIS. Okay look. Listen. I know people give Louis shit for how he behaves in ep1. You don’t have to go far before you see people writing him off as lazy, irresponsible, blah blah blah..... and like, I think people forget that character growth is a thing? That a character usually starts out flawed and over the course of a story, they change? for better or worse? 

I’m perfectly okay with Louis being portrayed as irresponsible and carefree and whatnot because from that point he grows. 

Remember what he said in ep1? He says he prefers to think of survival as a day-to-day task, he says that the future doesn’t exist and there’s only today, that the only thing anyone has is this moment. 

Louis didn’t look at the future because he didn’t care, or rather, it wasn’t a priority for him. He slacked off because he turned away from responsibility when Marlon needed him, and while I don’t disagree with his view of appreciating the now, I do believe the future should be considered. 

Now compare that to Louis in ep5. 

That whole conversation is Louis telling Clementine he wants a future with her and the rest of Ericson, and while maybe they can’t build that 914-floor purple mansion, they can still try.... they can still create a home together. I think he still believes his this moment talk, but has a better grasp of what he really wants, y’know? 

His whole journey when you stick with him is just.... so good. It’s not perfect, I mean y’all know that I have my issues with how some things were done, but Louis’ development as a character is one of the greatest accomplishments in TFS. 

Also, Louis lost the 4th grade spelling bee because of “recommend” and he had a pet turtle named Geoff. My patience has been rewarded and I know more about his backstory. 

I don’t even know what else to say? It’s #1 for a reason? Because it’s a great showcase for how far he’s come? and I love him so much? Seriously this scene is so good? 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Louis’ introduction in the music room. It’s a classic fave.  -The walker piñata moment where Louis lets his guard down around Clementine to tell her his view point on survival. -The archery moment where Louis apologizes to Clementine and opens up a bit about Marlon. -The card games. Both of them. He’s great. -Everything in the dorms in ep3. -y’know what? Just everything that isn’t the cell scene okay? 90% of Louis scenes get honorable mentions. 

---

So there we go. There’s all my gushing about Louis. Could do it for much longer, but I don’t think we wanna be here for hours. So, what are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with any of my choices? Or have anything to add? I’m always down to chat about muh boy. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

—

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Reasons Doug Was Pretty Great

[thevalesofanduin]

CAST YOUR EYES ON THE OCEAN (2/2)

There is a Witcher on the beach, and Jaskier knows it’s his fault the man is here.

It’s not Geralt, which might seem a small blessing for Jaskier’s heart but is a curse to all of their lives. For why else is a Witcher at a beach known for its Selkies if not for coin?

When he surfaces, his Selkie coat around his waist, cat-like eyes catch sight of him quickly and easily. The Witcher has a slender face with a single scar running down its right side, short, reddish-brown hair and a slimmer, shorter frame than Geralt.

A Wolf medallion rests against his chest, proud and mocking.

Just his luck, Jaskier thinks with a grimace.

“They pay you for our heads or our coats, Witcher?”

Pairing: Geraskier

Characters: Jaskier, Lambert, Geralt and appearances of some others

Note: The sequel to “Back to the Coast” that I never knew I’d write. There is a lot of Lambert & Jaskier friendship in here and a bit less Geralt than you might anticipate. BUT after this one, I’ll most likely add a third installment to the series as well so you can rest assured that Geralt will make a proper appearance in this fic series eventually!

read part 1 here

PART 2

“He’s sorry.”

Jaskier breaks the surface, his big, black seal eyes watching Lambert.

The Witcher sits on a rock, pants rolled up to his knees and his feet kicking up and down in the water on this lovely late Summers day.

Part of him wants to duck back under the cover of the sea, ignore Lambert and the conversation the other is trying to lure him into. For it might have been one and a half year since his parting with Geralt, some days it feels as if his wounds have hardly healed and his feelings haven't even started to fade. So he really doesn’t want to tear wounds that haven’t even properly scabbed wide open again. But there is something that keeps him from it. Something pleased, something vindictive and, above all, something hopeful.

He easily slides his Selkie coat down to his waist and pulls himself up the rock, until he can rest his upper-body and arms on top so it is easier to look at Lambert. “He said that?” He frowns, hopeful and curious, yes, but also a tad suspicious.

Lambert shrugs. “He looks it.”

Jaskier sighs, because of course his curiosity, getting his hopes up—Geralt—only leads to disappointment.

Nothing new there, but still he never learns does he?

“Hey, it’s not me who he’s gotta say it to.” Lambert leans back onto his hands and gives Jaskier a pointed look. “Besides, Selkie, with you hiding in the sea... how do you expect a man to apologize when for all he knows you’ve disappeared?”

It’s… Jaskier has to begrudgingly admit that Lambert does have a point. It leaves room for him to wonder, though. Would Geralt really look for him to apologize if he were still a traveling bard?

“He doesn’t think you’ve disappeared, by the way,” Lambert continues conversationally.

Jaskier huffs. “Of course he doesn’t, that means he’d care and we can’t have Geralt of Rivia catching feelings.” Something is stuck in his throat, something bitter and miserable and he’ll ignore how petty and pathetic he feels.

Lambert, kindly, does so too. Instead, he says: “he thinks you’ve died.”

The words, spoken casually, almost off-handedly, bring Jaskier to an abrupt halt.

Suddenly, his mind, his heart, the world around him, everything freezes and it’s a particular sense of dread that fills his senses. Lambert’s accusing eyes are a guilty weight on his shoulders as his mind tries to make sense of the thought that Geralt thinks he’s dead.

There are so many implications in that one sentence and Jaskier isn’t sure if his heart could take processing them all at the same time.

Fuck

Then, however, he realizes that Lambert knows Geralt thinks him dead. Lambert, who very well knows that this isn’t the case.

“You didn’t tell him?” he asks Lambert, and now it’s his voice that’s filled with accusation. “You know I’m alive, after all.”

Lambert makes a face. “Your lover’s spat is none of my business.”

Jaskier laughs, sharp and mocking. “If this is what none of your business looks like, I’d hate to see what does deserve that title.”

Lambert surprisingly ignores the jab. Stares over the sea to the horizon and says: “You know, Geralt is an ass. But he doesn’t deserve this kind of heartbreak.”

“He brought it upon himself,” Jaskier mutters, but there’s hardly any heat to it. For he’s torn. The knowledge of Geralt thinking him dead is a heavy weight in his chest, the knowledge at war with the satisfaction of not being the only one hurting in this whole situation.

“It’s not a particular good look on you either, Selkie.”

Jaskier raises an eyebrow. “None of your business, right?”

  ---

  Lambert spends the night camping on the beach, and Jaskier takes pleasure in having a different audience to perform to for once.

Lambert, meanwhile, takes pleasure of having company at all and breaks out the White Gull.

Jaskier ends up getting completely and utterly drunk.

“Remember when we met?” he asks with a slur to his voice when the bottle is all but finished and the stars are blurry in the sky when he looks up at them.

Lambert chuckles. “Getting sentimental?”

Jaskier glares at the Witcher. “You robbed me.”

“I saved your life,” Lambert points out and takes a big swig of the bottle of White Gull.

“You robbed me,” Jaskier insists with a pout and reaches for the bottle.

Lambert pulls the bottle away, commenting that Jaskier’s had quite enough to drink and, at Jaskier’s whine, smirks. “You offered your bribe willingly.”

“And you took more than agreed!” Jaskier lets himself fall onto the sand dramatically. “Robber.”

“Oh come on.”

“Thief.”

“Fine, fine.” Lambert throws his hands in the air as if in surrender. “I’ll fucking put it back, you absolute cretin.”

“Cretin,” Jaskier giggles to himself. “I’m a cretin.”

Lambert sits for a moment, watching Jaskier with amusement in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. “Melitele’s tits, you’re a disaster.”

“No!” Jaskier cries, “I’m a cretin.”

Lambert shakes his head with a laugh. “You and Geralt deserve each other.”

Jaskier is too drunk to complain.

  ---

  Jaskier wakes up with sand in his mouth, a headache that’ll last him until the next week and to an empty beach.

None of those things are a surprise, although he could sincerely do without the headache and nausea.

“Good morning,” a familiar sing-song voice calls.

“Hardly,” Jaskier grumbles and turns to look at the small collection of rocks just a few meters away from the shore.

On top, he expectedly finds his oldest sister Beryl taking in the sun and with great amusement in her eyes, Jaskier. “Your own fault pup,” Beryl laughs and, when Jaskier glares at her for the nickname, laughs even harder.

He’s the youngest out of eight siblings, said to have been such a menace as a pup that his parents had promptly decided to not try again. Of course his mother doesn’t tell him that, says that while he was indeed a hand-full she’d already decided well before only one more would do. But being the youngest in such an extensive family of siblings, family-in-law and nieces and nephews—some older than Jaskier himself—he’s both doted upon and teased endlessly despite his many years.

“Are you just here to tease me?”

Beryl smirks. “Well, you did get spectacularly drunk.”

Jaskier frowns. “You were watching?”

The amusement falls off of Beryl’s face and her chin-length, brown curls bob as she nods. “Someone had to make sure that Witcher didn’t make off with your coat.”

“He… Lambert wouldn’t.” Jaskier shakes his head and takes the few steps forward that allow him to stick his feet in the cold, salty sea-water.

It doesn’t make him feel any better, hung-over as he is, but there is no comfort quite like the sea.

Beryl scowls, eyebrows drawing together and there is venom in her voice as she spats: “the last Witcher you trusted broke your heart.”

Fiercely protective she is, Beryl, and will always wait with open arms should anyone need comfort. For if anyone in their family knows heartbreak and betrayal, it’s her.

Jaskier turns his gaze away, lets it sweep over the calm ocean they are having today and how the waves seem to beckon gently rising up and falling down in an endless melancholic movement.

Ah, he thinks, so that’s how he feels.

Melancholic.

“Apparently he’s sorry.”

“Well,” Beryl snorts, “then sorry better get his ass over here so he can apologize properly.”

“He won’t,” Jaskier says and his voice is soft, as if it lessens the weight of the words he speaks next. “He thinks I’m dead.”

“Huh,” Beryl mumbles, her reaction more mellow than Jaskier expected and the apologetic smile she gives him a surprise. “Maybe it’s for the best.”

“Beryl!”

Beryl merely shrugs at Jaskier’s outburst. “If he treated you like that, does he deserve a second chance?”

A second chance?

Jaskier has to admit that that is not something on his mind. Certainly, there is a part of him—the part that loves Geralt still, flaws and all—that desperately wants to give it to Geralt the moment “I apologize” passes the Witcher’s lips. But the more rational part of him knows he needs to tread carefully, that a mere two word apology isn’t enough.

But even if a second chance depends heavily on Geralt’s apology, his remorse and his guilt, “he doesn’t deserve to believe I’m dead.”

Besides, Lambert was right, wasn’t he?

How can a man apologize if he doesn’t know where to find the person to apologize to.

He supposes he will find the truth in Spring, when he will pick up his lute and become a traveling bard again.

  ---

  There is a Witcher on the beach, and Jaskier is going to murder the bastard.

“I’m going to kill you, you son of a whore!” he strides from the waves, dropping his coat unceremoniously on the beach, seething with anger that’s been building all Winter.

Lambert has the decency to look surprised as Jaskier slams into him and topples them both to the ground. “You took my fucking dagger,” he hisses at the Witcher.

Lambert smirk up at him “Robbed you again,” he taunts.

Jaskier scowls. “Why the dagger?”

“Well,” Lambert drawls and waves a hand above his head, towards the direction of the forest. “Had to show him proof you were alive.”

“What?” Jaskier frowns, his anger falling away in an instant and raises his head to see what Lambert meant.

Horses, another Witcher with deep scars running down his face that must be Eskel, the lion cub of fucking Cintra and Jaskier would wonder what the fuck he's missed if it wasn't for “Geralt.”

The other’s name is a breathless murmur from his lips, his heart constricting and the world falling away at the onslaught of emotions his body is trying to process to all of a sudden.

Lambert pushes Jaskier off of him and Jaskier goes easily, his eyes remaining on Geralt even when his body flops down onto the sand. He can’t believe that Geralt’s here, starting at him like he’s never seen him before and Jaskier doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know what to say, can’t breathe and—

His coat being draped over his head drags him from his panic.

“Put it on,” Beryl says, steady at his side and her voice soft and kind and comforting. “Let’s attempt some decorum at the very least.”

He scrambles up and wraps his coat around his waist. “Beryl,” he whispers, unsure because this wasn’t part of the plan. He didn’t want Geralt to see, not straight away, and now he’s here on their beach and Jaskier feels so hopeful and hurt and lost all at once.

“I know, pup.” Beryl pulls him against her side and lays a kiss against the side of his head. “We’re here.”

Behind them in the ocean, a collection of black eyes is watching the beach.

An ominous sight.

They’re not dangerous, Selkies. Not if you leave them well alone to live their lives as they please. They’re not the kind of creatures one contracts a Witcher for, aren’t monsters to be hunted for their lives—normally, for Jaskier is, as his family says, an outlier and should not be counted.

But hunted they still are. For their coats, as many a noble would pay pretty money for a Selkie coat to hide away and a beautiful, obedient wife to marry.

It usually doesn’t end well. A seal is still a predator, after all.

And this close to the sea, with the soles of her feet still connected to the ocean and her coat draped around her waist like a skirt, Beryl’s eyes are black as coal and her teeth sharp as she looks directly at Geralt and demands with a growl: “why are you here?”

But Geralt isn’t looking at Beryl. Instead, his eyes rest on Jaskier with so much relief in them it’s almost painful.

Part of Jaskier sarcastically wonders if Geralt will turn around and leave now that he’s verified for himself that Jaskier is, in fact, alive.

Geralt doesn’t.

Steps forward instead, the dagger in his hands and regret in his eyes. “To apologize,” he offers Jaskier softly, his voice barely carrying over the waves crashing on the shore, “if I may.”

  ---

  There's a loose thread on his favorite doublet.

The purple one with the gold-threaded paisley pattern embroidered into it.

He'll have to fix that, lest it gets worse. He's got his little sewing kit in his chest, perhaps he can —

“Jaskier,” Geralt’s voice is a soft, insecure whisper.

Right, can’t fix his doublet now. He’s got stuff to take care of. A Witcher to listen to. Apologies to hear, and—

“Should I leave?”

“What?” Jaskier blinks out of his nervous haze. For nervous he is, almost terrified for what he might hear, for what words Geralt will offer him. Will he be blamed for never telling the other he is a Selkie? Will he be reprimanded for hiding? Or will he be offered the apology he’s owed? The acknowledgement of their friendship, at the very least. An acknowledgement of his own feelings for Geralt and how much the other’s hurt them?

He holds his breath but, for once, Geralt doesn’t disappoint.

“I have wronged you enough to not force my presence on you if you don’t want it.”

The words take Jaskier by surprise. They loosen something in his chest, make it just a little easier to breathe. He turns, faces Geralt for the first time since they’re alone and takes a moment to truly look at him.

He looks horrible. Regret and relief battle in his eyes while exhaustion is written in every line of his face. “Is this because you thought I’d died?” Jaskier wonders.

“Not just,” Geralt admits wryly and then he turns his eyes away, to the ocean as he repeats familiar words he has spoken once before: “I’m a Witcher. I need no one.”

“Bullshit,” Jaskier scoffs.

Geralt nods with a self-deprecating smile. “Yes. I’ve been told. Repeatedly.”

“Good.”

“Didn’t know how to recognize a good thing while I had it.” Geralt turns his eyes back to Jaskier. “And then I was a fucking idiot and threw it all away.”

Jaskier can’t help but huff. “Lambert say that?”

Geralt nods. “Said I’d hurt the only friend I ever had.”

Jaskier crosses his arms in front of his chest and defiantly looks Geralt in the eye. “You know you did.”

A flinch is the only recognition his words get, but somehow it’s enough.

For Geralt knows.

Is regretful and using his words to express that and somehow it feels like an out of body experience because this isn’t at all what Jaskier had imagined Geralt’s apology to be like.

Geralt sighs. “I didn’t believe him. I… Fuck, I searched for you. After. To apologize for words I never meant. I asked around, thought it’d be easy to find you. You’re hardly inconspicuous,” Geralt ends with the smallest of smiles thrown at Jaskier.

Jaskier, who can’t help but grin in return. “I am a bard, thank you very much. I take that as a compliment.”

“You would,” Geralt huffs, shakes his head and in an instant the humorous moment disappears. “I didn’t find you,” he continues softly, “no sightings, no word, nothing.”

Jaskier’s heart aches. “You thought I died.”

Geralt nods, his eyes haunted as they fall on Jaskier. “I went back. Searched for a body that wasn’t there.”

“Oh Geralt,” Jaskier gasps, at a loss for words.

Geralt went back to search for his corpse on a mountainside. A bard he might be, but even he doesn’t have the words he needs to describe how that makes him feel. How Geralt must have felt.

“I thought… felt,” Geralt’s hands and words shake, “I’d be the Butcher of Blakiven a hundred times over if it meant having you alive.”

“You don’t have to be,” Jaskier says and reaches out for one of Geralt’s hands, taking it in his because Geralt looks like he needs comfort and Jaskier will offer it. Will offer it because his friend—his love—is suffering and he can’t stand it, can’t see it any longer. “I hid, Geralt I’m… I was gonna travel, this Spring. Lambert, he said you were looking for me. That you were heartbroken,” he ends on a whisper, the words escaping him unbidden.

For surely now Geralt will turn away and scoff. Pull back his hand and tell Jaskier that while yes, he felt guilty, heartbroken was a completely different case and certainly an embellishment on Lambert’s part.

“It was my own fault,” Geralt mutters, squeezing Jaskier’s hand. “But I will fix it,” he says, soft and heartfelt and he raises his eyes to Jaskier’s and they’re full of promise and determination.

Jaskier isn’t sure if it’s a good idea.

Beryl will scold him for sure, tell him to protect his heart better.

But how can he, when his heart isn’t his anyway?

Besides, standing on the beach with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore a familiar lullaby, their heir fingers intertwined, Geralt’s determination gives Jaskier hope.

His heart, he thinks, will be just fine.

-----

And it's finished! I actually have at least another part in this series in mind so that will come. But first, I have to finish the last chapter of Sound of War.

my Witcher masterlist

[amintyworld]

Waterfall - Dream SMP Drabble

SUNSET (Part Two), SECRETS (Part Three), DOUBTS (Part Four)

Wilbur enjoyed campfires - specifically, the calming sensation of the world around him as everything began to sleep for the night. He sat on the round with a sigh as he heard the wind whistle through the trees above and he leaned his back against the tree trunk. Things were peaceful - Techno sat near the fire’s glow, sharpening his sword as Philza cooked their latest kill over the fire. Tommy ran through the field, catching fireflies in a jar, tripping and falling on rocks and roots every now and then, making sounds of triumphant glee when he managed to catch a few safely in the jar. 

Wilbur felt the wind blow through his hair again, and he took off his beanie and let it tangle his brown curls. It was a tiring day, to say the least - they were trying to find some wild pigs and cows to bring home and had gotten lost, hiking for hours on end until they called it quits and made up camp. Wilbur wasn’t worried, though - Philza and Techno both had a good sense of direction.

“Dinner.” Philza called as Wilbur and Tommy both began to walk over and sit closer to the fire as Philza handed them a few bits of meat - warm, but never burning hot. It was moments like this when Wilbur remembered why Philza was the cook. 

“Phil! Look, I got so many!” Tommy proclaimed as he held up his jar proudly, making Philza smile as he looked in the jar at the glimmering light bugs. “I showed my dominance over them, and they raced into the jar!” 

Philza ruffed up Tommy’s golden hair slightly as he smiled warmly. “Good job, Tommy.” Tommy beamed as they both sat down and began to eat. 

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

“I bet I can totally get you, just like the fireflies.”

“Sure, Tommy.”

“I can, I’ll kick your butt, just watch!”

“Nothing gets me off guard. Just practice.”

“Yeah, well... nothing catches me off guard either!”

“I can’t believe there’s fireflies out here - I haven’t seen them much around home.” Philza commented as he washed his hands in the nearby river. He turned to Techno and Tommy, chatting and laughing. “Come on, you two. You gotta wash up!”

“Phil...” The smaller child looked displeased as he walked toward the river with his brother. “I don’t wanna... besides, I’ve already wiped them off- HEY!” Before Philza could say a word in edgewise, the pink-haired child smirked as he pushed Tommy into the water with a splash. The river wasn’t deep, thankfully, but it was safe to say that Tommy’s hands were more than clean. Techno smirked as Wilbur laughed, and Phil couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “Unfair! I wasn’t ready-!”

“You’re not supposed to be ready for a surprise attack, idiot-!” Techno remarked, his arms crossed with a joking expression. 

“Well, you sure washed up, didn’t ya?” Wilbur added with a laugh. 

“Alright, alright,” Philza said between laughs. “Come on, Techno - let’s help him out.” Philza said as Techno held his hand and he reached out the other to Tommy to pull him up. Tommy took Philza’s hand and pulled, hard. 

Then all three of them fell back in the river with a splash. “Gotcha, bitch!” Tommy smirked, pointing at Techno as Wilbur burst out laughing. Philza just picked up his hat and put it on his head, water splashing all over his face as all of them laughed, soaked, splashing at each other  as they tried in vain to get Wilbur as soaked as they were. 

When they finally made it back to the fire, they shivered and shook, looking almost like drowned cats. They dried and soon enough, they were asleep as they always were - Tommy clinging to Philza’s side, Wilbur on their right and Techno on their left, always ready to protect. 

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

Wilbur was usually up pretty early as the sun peaked over the horizon. he liked to go exploring by himself and usually mornings were perfect for that. He stretched as he got up, scanning his surroundings before grabbing his sword and sheathing it over his shoulder. he walked down to the river and smiled at the remains of last night - disturbed rocks and mud, and the footprints leading back to camp. 

That’s when his ears picked up a sound... was that as waterfall?

He marched after it, following the sound and being sure to follow the river as to not get lost. He cut through the brambles and continued his journey when he froze. Someone was singing. It wasn’t perfect by any means, it sounded a bit rough here and there, but it still had its charm. 

Philza always told him to be prepared for anything - looks and especially sounds can be deceiving. He slowly pulled out his sword and peeked over the brambles. 

There stood a girl - well not really a girl, per se - her hair was strawberry blonde, cascading down her hair in a waterfall with a few braids here and there. She shivered slightly and hugged herself close as she snuggled in her magenta sweatshirt, sitting on the edge of a lake, her tail waving a bit in the water and making small waves in the lake. Wilbur did another once over as he tried to process the tail glimmering with a reddish tint, reminding him a bit of a salmon.

She was humming, but it became a bit harder to hear from the waterfall spilling into the lake at the farther end. Without thinking, Wilbur leaned over a bit more to be able to hear. Then, he slipped, falling down into full view of the mysterious woman as she gasped and dove into the water to escape. “Wait, wait I-!” But she was already gone. “I... just wanted to hear you sing.” He sighed, sitting on the edge of the water.

He slowly began trying to wash is hands and face off from the tumble into the dirt, and he struggled to remember what she was singing. He began to hum a bit, what he heard, or what he caught when he listened. Suddenly, he was pinned to the ground as a pinkish wolf jumped out of the water and pounced on him, growling. Wilbur scrambled for his sword. “I will not be lured in, Hunter. I will not let you exterminate me.”

“E-exterminate?!” Wilbur stuttered. “I swear, I don’t want to hurt you-”

“Don’t lie to me. Who sent you?! How’d you find me?!” The wolf looked angry and ready to tear Wilbur apart, as he tried in vain to grab his weapon.

“I...I heard your voice and... I was just following the river!”

Silence fell upon the two before slowly, the wolf’s expression softened. “That’s the truth?”

Wilbur looked to the wolf and he furrowed his brows in worry, he didn’t know what this thing was or what this wolf might do to him, but he stopped trying to reach for his sword. He closed his eyes, and took a breath. “I swear.”

Suddenly, the wolf backed off, and Wilbur opened his eyes to find the girl again, fully human. “If you’re lying to me, you’ll regret it.” She tossed him his sword. “Now get out of here.” 

“Wait, I- How’d you do that?” Wilbur asked. “You were just... then you were...”

“I’m a shapeshifter.” She said, eyeing him with curiosity as she sat on next to the water. “I can change into anything, er, any animal.”

“That’s really cool.”

“It’s whatever.” She brushed off, shrugging. “Don’t you have someplace to be?”

“No, not really.” Wilbur admitted. “Not for a while, anyway. Can you show me how you leaped out of the water like that?”

For the first time since Wilbur saw her, she smiled. “Sure. What’s your name?”

“Wilbur.” He said. “You?”

“Sally.”

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

Philza trudged along the river, Tommy rushing in front and Techno trailing behind. “You sure Wilbur went this way?”

“Yeah.” Techno said. “He leaves a big enough trail for it, that’s for sure.” He pointed down on the footprints. “See?”

“Wonder what’s taking him so long, he usually would have headed back by now.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. Probably just got stuck somewhere.”

“Wilbur, is that a woman?!” Tommy shouted just beyond the trees, and Philza and Techno rushed to catch up. A splash could be heard, and Wilbur began arguing, admittedly very loudly, with the younger brother. Philza just sighed.

“You scared her off! Why do you always have to yell all the time-?!”

“Don’t get on me, if you have some kind of secret girlfriend you’re keeping from us-!”

“What’s going on, guys?” Philza asked, and the two began trying to explain, cutting each other off every chance.

“Well, I was just scouting up ahead and-”

“I was just talking to my new friend, and then he-”

“Enough.” He said, sternly. “Wilbur, what happened?”

“I, well, made a new friend, we were talking and then Tommy scared her away.”

“He met a woman, he has a girlfriend-” Tommy interjected, speaking matter-of-factly.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Wilbur snapped, a bit flustered at the accusation. 

“Where is she now?” Philza asked calmly. 

Wilbur sighed. “She ran away. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

“I thought you didn’t like goodbyes.” Techno pointed out, and Wilbur just sighed.

“Yeah, well, she deserved one.” Wilbur brushed off, 

“Looks like Wil’s on LOOOVVVE-!” Tommy sang, and Wilbur gave him a glare. Then, a stream of water hit Tommy in the back of the head and he turned, rubbing his head where a bruise was sure to form. “HEY-!”

And there, on the side of the lake, was Sally.

[returntobeaconhills]

Moonrise - Chapter Two

Chapter Two - The Hungry Fox 

Walt puts out dishes heaped with eggs and bacon as everyone takes a seat for their post-run breakfast.

"What are your plans for the day?" Talia asks her children, but her eyes are specifically on Derek.

"I don't have class. Thought I'd draw for a while, out at the edge of the preserve." Derek clears his throat and picks at his bacon.

"That sounds like a nice day," Walt says. "You should stop back in for lunch and I'll make you a chicken pesto sandwich. How does that sound?"

Derek smiles. "Yeah, Dad. Thanks."

Cora checks the time. "I've got to head out. I'm supposed to open the coffee shop today."

Laura finishes up and stands. "I can give you a ride."

"Have a good day, girls," Talia says.

"Thanks for breakfast, Dad," Derek says as he finishes his own food.

"Of course. I'll see you at lunch." Walt starts to clear the dishes.

"I look forward to seeing your sketches later," Talia tells Derek with a smile, but her face is still lined with concern.

Derek leans and nuzzles lightly against her shoulder, head bowed.

Talia sighs, comforted by the touch. She pets over his hair. "You never tell me that I worry too much like your sisters do."

"I don't know what's wrong with me," Derek says with a small laugh. "Anytime we're not all together, it's like there's a hook in my chest, pulling me to wherever the others are."

Talia turns her face to look at him. "There is nothing wrong with you! You just feel a strong bond to the pack." She hugs him. "Would you like to stay home with me today?"

Derek shakes his head. "No, I'm okay." He pauses. "That's what makes it so strange, you know? I don't even remember making the decision to break from the pack and chase. I just did it."

Talia's lips go thin. "Do you think something else was controlling you?"

Derek tilts his head and considers. "I don't know. I don't think so, but...felt like instinct. Felt like when I was first learning to control the shift, and I'd turn without even realizing I'd done it."

Talia studies him for a long moment. "Promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise," Derek murmurs. Talia squeezes Derek's hand. "So, tell me, what did this fox look like?"

"It was a little fennec fox. Sort of tan-colored. Great big ears. They're not native to California, but. Immigrants, I guess." Derek licks his lips. "And as a boy, I didn't see him very long, but he was tall and pale and... freckly."

"I see." Talia suppresses a smile. "Maybe you can draw the fox from memory while you're out today."

Derek's eyes light up. "You're right. That's a great idea."

Talia stands and kisses Derek's hair. "Take some snacks and water with you so you don't get hungry."

"Yes, ma'am." Derek gets to his feet, stretches, and waits for his mother's dismissal.

Talia nods. "You may go."

Derek bows his head and goes upstairs to shower and dress.

As soon as Derek steps outside, it feels as if he is being watched. Derek tightens the straps on his backpack, a nervous habit, and starts walking out to the edge of the preserve.

As Derek is making his way through the preserve, his eye catches something unusual. As he approaches, he realizes it's a pile of clothing: a discarded hoodie, a T-shirt, jeans, sneakers, socks, and boxers. He kneels down next to the pile, scenting the air.

Once he catches the scent, the fox comes into view. The fox tilts his head as he watches Derek.

"Hey," Derek says, surprised. "It's you."

The fox lets out a short bark.

Derek flashes his eyes blue. "You never saw me like this. Do you recognize me?"

The fox huffs and nods his head. Still on his knees, Derek holds out a hand, palm up.

The fox approaches slowly. After several long moments, he sniffs Derek's hand. The fox pushes his head against Derek's hand in order to be petted.

“Hey, little guy,” Derek says with a laugh, gently running his fingertips along the fox’s ears.

At the use of 'little guy,' the fox nips lightly at Derek's wrist.

“Ow. Oh--sorry. You’re not just--those are really nice ears,” Derek offers.

The fox preens and ducks his head to offer Derek his ears. Upon closer inspection, Derek can see a small dusting of freckles and moles along the cream-colored fur.

“Wow, you have freckles even in your shifted form.” Derek’s fingertips hover over the freckles, mapping them from a distance like stars. “That’s...I didn’t even know that could happen. That’s amazing.” He gives a self-conscious laugh, looking away as a blush creeps up his neck.

The fox jumps on Derek's arm and climbs up to perch on his shoulder. He noses at Derek's red cheek before moving over Derek's shoulder to paw at his backpack.

“I’ll show you what’s inside, but you gotta jump off first. I don’t want you to fall off when I set it down.”

The fox uses Derek's shoulder as a launch pad to jump from. He settles on the hoodie as he watches with large eyes.

“Okay.” Derek swings the bag off of his shoulder and unzips it, pulling out several bottles of water, a brown paper bag with a bit of a grease stain on the bottom, a box of pencils, and a sketchpad.

The fox immediately pounces on the bag. He tries to tug it with his small teeth, but the sight is mostly comical.

Derek’s brow furrows slightly, even as his lips pull up. “Hey, little g--uh, fox. Are you hungry?” His eyes widen. “D-did I keep you from doing your hunting last night?”

The fox scratches at the bag and looks up at Derek.

“Sorry, yeah, let me...” Derek pulls a plastic container out of the bag, a bit of oil fingerprinting the outside. He opens it to reveal an aromatic Greek-style pasta dish with a bit of cooked lamb tucked into the corner, placing the meal in front of the fox.

The fox dives in, his little paws slipping in the dirt as he moves to eat. The fox eats about half of the food before pulling back. He yawns and curls up on the clothes.

“I’ll leave the rest for you. After your nap.” Derek puts the lid back on the container and picks up his drawing materials.

One of the fox's eyes stays cracked open, curious as to what Derek will do next.

Derek opens one of the water bottles and sets it upright on the ground next to the food. “Thirsty?”

The fox gets up and moves toward the bottle. He uses a paw to knock the bottle over and starts to drink as the water spills out.

“That’s good.” Derek clears his throat as he opens his sketchbook. “We always have plenty of food. More than enough.”

The fox gets his fill of water before settling back on the clothes. He hides his face with a paw as he sleeps.

Only the sound of the pencil moving across paper accentuates the fox’s even breathing. Derek stays perfectly still except to draw.

His phone goes off with a text. The fox stirs and lifts his head to look at Derek with as much annoyance as the small face can muster.

Talia to Derek: Everything okay, sweetheart?

Derek turns his phone to silent.

Derek: Yes.

The fox stretches out and sleeps for another half hour. When he wakes, the fox jumps up on a tree stump to get a view of Derek's drawing.

Derek breaks his pencil in his clumsy rush to try to cover up an extremely detailed sketch of the sleeping fox.

The fox huffs and scowls as Derek moves to hide his work. He jumps down and moves into Derek's backpack. He pokes his head outside, but doesn't make any other movements to leave it.

“Get cold sometimes?” Derek asks, voice a little too high as he closes his sketchbook.

The fox moves its head from side to side to indicate he’s not in the bag because he’s cold.

"That's good." Derek reaches out to pet him.

The fox starts a soft purr under the attention. Derek chuckles, a low, pleased rumble. The fox moves out of the bag and starts jumping around in a circle. He flashes his eyes at Derek.

"What's this?" Derek smiles at the sight, but scents the air to make sure it isn't a warning.

Sensing nothing, Derek looks back to the fox, who noses at the hoodie, then jumps up again before tugging at Derek's pant leg.

"Should I follow you? Want to show me something?"

The fox gives up and sits back. He considers for a moment before he darts off as fast as he can.

A growl escapes Derek before he can help it. He tugs off his clothes and shifts with a groan, running full-speed in pursuit.

The fox swishes his tail, almost taunting. With a short, joyful howl, Derek leaps over him, landing in front of the little fox so that they're facing each other. The fox scents at Derek before rubbing its face against Derek's legs. Derek flips onto his back, paws up by his chest, giving the fox room to play on his belly. The fox jumps up on Derek's stomach and nips at Derek's jaw.

As the fox's nose moves over Derek's throat, he goes perfectly, unnaturally still. The fox sits back on Derek's belly, confused. Derek shivers, nearly dislodging the fox in the process. The fox jumps down and lowers its head. Derek gets back up, shaking his head, taking a moment to recover before licking the fox’s nose in reassurance. The fox nuzzles against Derek. The wolf mouths at the fox’s snout again. The fox pulls back and sneezes, his small head twitching. There’s no mistaking the smile that overtakes Derek’s face, letting his long, wolfish tongue loll to the side. He leans in and licks the top of the fox’s head. The fox playfully slaps at Derek's nose before sprinting off.

They spend hours this way--Derek chasing the fox, constantly tackling or pouncing or nuzzling, and the two of them taking breaks in between to roll around and play in the underbrush.

As it grows dark, Derek hears Talia's howl.

Derek stills, ears pricking up. He howls in return, eyes bright blue, before he makes eye contact with the fox to see if he understands.

The fox licks Derek's nose before running off.

A soft, saddened whine escapes Derek, but he only allows himself a moment before he obeys the call.

Talia is standing in human form at the edge of the yard when Derek returns. Her face is etched with worry. Walt stands at her side.

Derek sucks in a sharp breath. Once he’s within a few feet of them, he lifts his chin up, baring his throat.

Talia relaxes at Derek's appearance but her tone is stern as she says, "You didn't answer your phone."

“I was shifted,” Derek murmurs. “I’m sorry.”

Talia reaches out to cup Derek's cheek. "You're okay?"

“Yeah. I’m good.” Derek leans into the touch, flashing his eyes as a sign of respect.

Talia matches it with her own red eyes.

Walt slaps Derek's shoulder. "See, Tal, no reason to worry. He just lost track of time, right?"

Talia huffs but her lips pull up the smallest bit. "You were just as worried when he didn't come home for lunch."

“I’m sorry,” Derek says again, biting his lip. “Did you howl before you got really worried? I-I tried to get back fast once I heard it--”

"It's okay," Walt assures him.

Talia tilts her head. "Were you with the fox again?"

“Yes, ma’am,” Derek murmurs.

Talia sighs. "I worry about this shifter being a bad influence. Did you get his name?" Derek winces. “No, ma’am. He didn’t shift back this time. But he seems very…sweet.”

Talia pets over his hair. "Go ahead and get washed up for dinner. You must be hungry. Did you finish your pasta?"

“No, ma’am,” Derek says, barely audible.

Talia kisses Derek's temple. "It's okay. You don't have to be upset."

“He seemed hungry,” Derek says quietly.

Walt frowns. "Did he need food? You could have brought him home for dinner."

“I sort of tried to ask about it, but...when he heard the howl, he took off.” Derek shrugs. “Maybe he’s scared.”

"Maybe." Talia leads Derek inside.

After getting washed up, Derek helps Walt finish preparing the meal and sets the table.

Talia keeps casting concerned glances at Derek throughout the meal.

"So, you found him," Laura comments. "Did you ask him out?"

Derek’s face goes splotchy and pink.

"Leave your brother alone," Talia warns her.

"I think it's good you made a friend, Der," Cora says as she helps herself to a second serving of food.

“Yeah. Kinda different for me,” Derek says, genuine. He pushes his food around on his plate.

Walt's brow furrows. "Is there something wrong with the food?"

“No, no.” Derek takes a bite, looking back up at Walt as he swallows it down.

Walt squeezes his shoulder. "I think there will be leftovers if you want to take some for your friend."

"Walt," Talia says. "It's getting late."

“Yes, ma’am. It can wait.”

After dinner, Laura pulls Derek aside into her room. "I can tell you how to sneak out if you want."

“They were pretty worried about me,” Derek says, putting his hands in his pockets.

"But this is so romantic. You need to at least get his name!"

Derek smiles a little despite himself. "You really think I should?"

"Yes!" Laura shakes his shoulders gently. "You almost never make connections with people."

Derek's smile falters.

Laura bites her own lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like a bad thing. It's really not! I just think if you're happy with him, you should pursue that."

"But what if it's..." Derek swallows, looking down at his shoes. "He didn't want to shift back with me there. He only did it the first time 'cause he was scared of me, didn't know what I was gonna do, at first. What if that's all it is, a fox and a wolf in the woods?"

Laura wraps her arms around him. "Did you ask him to change back? Maybe try talking to him instead of just playing."

"Maybe," Derek murmurs.

Laura pulls back. "If you don't want to, I won't push you into it. I just want you to be happy."

Derek nods. "I know."

Laura points to her window. "Go out my window if you want to try. Your room is too close to Mom and Dad's. If their window is open, they might hear you drop down."

Derek huffs a laugh. "Got it."

Laura winks at him. "I'm going to go watch a movie with Cora."

"'Night." Derek goes to his bedroom.

Talia and Walt both check in before they head to bed.

Derek sits cross-legged on his bed, going over sketches in pen.

Around midnight comes a soft tapping on his window.

Goosebumps rise on Derek’s skin. He drops his sketchbook and leans over to open the window, listening for any sign of his parents rousing as the wind moves through his room, sweeping up his papers.

The same young man from the woods tumbles through Derek's window, this time fully dressed in the rumpled clothes from the woods.

“Fox,” Derek blurts out, because he doesn’t know him by any other name.

The boy raises an eyebrow. "Stiles." “ Stiles,” Derek breathes out, slowly, testing the sound of it.

Stiles nods. "I waited. You didn't come back."

“I couldn’t come back.” Derek’s brow furrows in confusion. “My alpha called me.”

"Oh." Stiles shrugs, as if he doesn't quite know the weight of this. "Do you want to play now?"

“Um.” Derek shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Well, are you hungry? I’m a little hungry.”

"I could eat," Stiles admits. "What do you have?"

“Lots of stuff. My dad’s a chef, so we always have plenty.” Derek points to the door. “Want to?”

Stiles hesitates. "What about the others. Four others, right? I caught five scents total."

“That’s my dad, my mom--she’s the alpha--my older sister and my younger sister. But nobody’ll mind,” Derek rushes to add. “Promise.”

Stiles squirms. "They're all wolves?"

Derek’s eyes tighten, a small, nearly unnoticeable flinch, as if Stiles had pulled back to throw a punch. “They’re my family,” he murmurs.

"Okay." Stiles nods. "If you think they won't mind. Most wolves, they don't like foxes, it seems."

“Most people don’t like wolves,” Derek says simply.

Stiles scuffs his shoe along the floor. "They make you leave," he says in a small voice.

“You don’t have...?”

"I have someone," Stiles rushes out. "I have my dad."

“Oh.” Derek relaxes a little. “Is he hungry, too?” His eyes go wide, blood rushing to his face. “I-I mean...would he want to join us, or, or--is he a fox? Not that it matters if he’s--um.”

"He's not," Stiles says. He inches back towards the window. "He's human. And he's fine. I'm fine."

“Okay.” Derek clasps his hands in front of him to keep from trying to cover his blushing face. “Sorry.”

"I should go," Stiles says. He casts a glance at Derek's sketchbook. "You were busy."

Derek bites his lip and drops into a sitting position on his bed. “Okay,” he murmurs.

Stiles hesitates at the window.

“Sorry,” Derek says again, numbly picking up his sketchbook just to have something to do with his hands. He doesn’t actually open it, just turns it over on his lap, ducking his head so that Stiles can’t see his face.

The sound of a sneaker being kicked off draws Derek's attention as Stiles starts to undress. “What are you doing?” Derek squeaks out.

Stiles shifts. Once he's a fox, he jumps up onto Derek's bed.

“O-okay.” Derek lifts his hand, letting it hover over the fox’s head.

The fox pushes against Derek's hand. Derek’s muscles relax a little as he pets over the fox’s soft fur. The fox paws at Derek's legs like a cat settling in.

With a chuckle, Derek focuses on the fox, scratching behind his ears, rubbing his belly, running a thumb over the fine little hairs above his eyes. The fox's eyes grow heavy until he finally nods off, curled up against Derek.

Though he doesn’t remember the moment it happens, Derek falls asleep easily, slumping down to the bed like a puppet with cut strings.

When Derek stirs the next morning, he wakes to a very human, very naked Stiles sleeping against him.

Derek slaps his hand over his own mouth to keep from yelling. Hands shaking, he grabs an extra blanket from the foot of the bed and drapes it delicately over Stiles’s body.

Stiles nuzzles against the pillow.

There's a knock at the door.

Derek catches himself at just the last moment from clapping his hands over Stiles’s ears to keep the noise from rousing him. He swallows thickly, blushing to the tips of his ears.

"Derek, Dad wants you to know breakfast is almost ready!" Cora calls through the door.

“I have a guest,” Derek says, voice comically high-pitched.

The door cracks open enough for Cora to stick her head in. "What?"

Derek looks up at her, expression pleading.

Cora's eyes go wide. "Oh, my God," she mouths. She gestures for Derek to come out into the hallway.

Scowling, Derek gestures to Stiles, still sleeping soundly half-on top of him.

Cora rolls her eyes and closes the door. A moment later Derek's phone vibrates with a text.

He’s careful not to jostle Stiles as he checks it.

Cora to Derek: Omg!!!! Who is it??? I can't see his face! I never thought you had it in you! Scandalous. Derek: WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING. He’s the one I told you guys about. He came in last night and shifted. I was going to get us some food, but he fell asleep, and then I fell asleep, and THAT’S IT. Cora: likely story. 👉👌👬❤️❤️❤️ Derek: 😡 Cora: How am I supposed to cover for you? I can't exactly lie to them. Derek: Tell them the truth. Just leave out the naked part! Please Cora: Okay. I'm going to eat all your pancakes. Derek: Save enough for Stiles Cora: Stiles?? That's who it is??? You know who he is, right? Derek: ...no? Cora: That's the sheriff's son you're in bed with. Naked. Derek: Oh my God. Is he Derek: ! Derek: Please say I'm not committing a crime right now Cora: No crime. He's 18. It's legal.

A pause this time.

Derek: You gave me a heart attack, Cor Cora: Sorry! I just thought you should know.

Stiles snuffles against Derek. "Your pulse started racing. Calm down," he mumbles, still partially asleep.

"Okay," Derek whispers, adjusting the blanket so that it covers more of Stiles's body.

Stiles nudges his face to hide under Derek's arm as he falls back asleep.

Derek stays perfectly still for fear of waking him. His phone goes off with another text.

Talia to Derek: I would like to meet your guest before he leaves. Derek: Yes ma'am

After twenty minutes, Derek starts to hear another vibrating phone and realizes it belongs to Stiles, still tucked away in his pants pocket on the floor.

Derek chews his lip before gently shaking Stiles's shoulder.

Stiles jerks awake. "Wha?"

"Your phone," Derek whispers.

Stiles rubs at his eyes. He falls out of bed and crawls over to grab his phone. He types out a text before standing up and stretching, still nude.

Derek averts his eyes, cheeks blazing red.

"Oh." Stiles looks down. "Sorry. Must have shifted in my sleep." He pulls on his clothes.

"There's breakfast," Derek says in a small voice.

"Cool." Stiles runs a hand through his hair. "You okay?"

Derek gives a jerky nod. "Just--didn't want to, um..."

Stiles looks down. "You've already seen me naked," he says, confused.

"Th-that's not an open invitation. I didn't want to, you know--take advantage. You shifted in your sleep this time. It was an accident, so."

Stiles shrugs. "I'm not embarrassed."

"Okay. Yeah, sorry, I didn't--of course." Derek gets to his feet. "There's pancakes downstairs." He heads to the door.

"Awesome." Stiles follows Derek out.

Derek leads the way down to the dining room.

The family is all sitting at the table still. Cora smirks at Stiles. Laura gives Derek a thumbs up.

Derek clears his throat. "This is Stiles. Stiles, this is my mother and alpha, Talia. My father, Walt. And my sisters, Laura and Cora."

"Hi." Stiles gives a small wave as he sits down.

Talia purses her lips.

Derek takes his own seat, watching his mother nervously.

"When did your friend arrive?" Talia asks Derek.

"Last night. He wanted to go out to the woods again, but we ended up just falling asleep," Derek says. "Just falling asleep."

"I see." Talia clears her throat. "We prefer Derek to only go out shifted at night with the pack, Stiles."

Stiles fidgets in his chair. "Oh."

"I'll get you some food," Derek rushes out, jumping up to go into the kitchen.

Stiles gets up to follow him. "Maybe I should go," he says when he gets into the kitchen. "I don't need breakfast."

Derek stills, eyes on his shoes. "They're protective. The way people are about wolves...there’s so much fear and hatred. We're strong, but that doesn't mean we aren't vulnerable without our pack there to protect us."

Stiles rocks on his heels. "I don't really know anything about packs."

"It's a connection," Derek says softly, hand coming up to rest on his own chest without realizing it. "It's always there. It pulls at you, like the moon pulls the water. That's where we got it from." He lets out a self-conscious laugh. "That's what my grandmother says, anyway."

Stiles gives him a small smile. "That's cute."

Derek leans back against the counter, loosening up the more Stiles does.

Stiles eyes a stack of pancakes.

Laura enters. "Mom wanted to see if you needed additional help," she says with a pointed look.

Derek shakes his head roughly. “Got it.” He stacks pancakes on a plate and hands it to Stiles.

"Thanks." Stiles pours a lake of syrup on the pancakes before he carries the plate back out to the table.

“You guys are freaking him out!” Derek whispers to Laura, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Sorry!" Laura whispers back. "It's weird! Cora came down and said you had a guy in your bed."

“Nothing happened! Nothing at all. Sleeping happened, actual sleeping.”

Laura laughs. "You're so innocent!" She gestures back to the dining room. "We should get back out there before Mom interrogates him."

Derek’s eyes go huge. He nods vigorously and goes back into the dining room empty-handed.

Walt frowns. "Aren't you going to eat?"

“I’m good,” Derek says.

“So, Stiles--tell us about coming in through Derek’s bedroom window last night,” Talia says, pouring honey over her pancakes.

Stiles takes a huge bite of pancake. Talking through the barely chewed food, he says, "I thought he might want to go for a run, and I didn't want to bother anyone else," he says easily.

“We’re pleased to meet you, but there are rules in this house, and I expect them to be followed, even by guests.”

Stiles swallows and puts down his fork. "Like what?"

“You will receive my permission before spending time with Derek after dark or in his bedroom,” Talia says sharply.

Stiles's jaw clenches. He nods. "Got it." He pushes his plate over to Derek. "Have mine. I need to get home. My dad is wondering where I am." He stands. "Thanks for having me," he tells the others.

Derek looks gutted.

Stiles hurries out the door with his hands shoved in his pockets.

Talia sighs. "It wasn't an unreasonable request."

"I know," Derek says quietly, sliding Stiles's plate to the middle of the table. "I'm still tired. May I go back to bed for a little while?"

Talia reaches out a hand for Derek. "Sweetheart, of course I want you to be happy. You know that. I'd like for you to find a nice person that is good for you."

"I know." Derek ducks down under her hand so that it rests lightly on the top of his head.

Talia strokes over Derek's hair. "You may go back to sleep if you wish. Do you have class today?"

“Yes, ma’am,” Derek says. “This afternoon.”

Talia smiles at him. "Good. That will take your mind off everything. Go ahead and rest some more, then you can eat something before you go." “ Yes, ma’am.” Derek flashes his eyes and bows his head before going upstairs.

When Derek reaches his bed, he sees a note scrawled out hastily on a blank sheet of his sketchbook.

It reads: Meet me at 2pm where you first caught me. - S

[blue-and-dog]

The Beast in the Mountains (A Sengoku Basara One-Shot)

Note: This story is centered around my fanon that, post-Sekigahara, Mitsunari and his family fled into the mountains to live in hiding for several years before his death. A wife is mentioned, but for the sake of this story I keep her ambiguous so you readers who have an OC shipped with him can just slap her in there. :D Shiranui’s profile is here.

TW: BLOOD, ANIMAL ATTACK

[[MORE]]

“That’s a good size fire; try and keep it like that for now.”

The group of men sat around the small fire; four dirty, tired, ragged men on the run from proper society, obscured by the darkness of the mountain’s dense forest, barely illuminated by the small fire. Sadanobu continued.

“Any brighter and we risk attracting animals. I’m already worried about smoke flowin’ through the treetops.”

“With how thick these trees are?” Gaku chuckled, “I’m surprised the moonlight even gets through here. We’ll be fine. We just gotta make sure to put it out before we call it a night.”

“You sure no one’ll find us up here?” Naofumi asked, as usual fidgeting with his hands out of anxiety.

“Relax, I did some scoping out of the town not far from these mountains,” Matazaemon shook his head, “They’re superstitious folk. Somethin’ about an old legend saying there’s a guardian spirit that lives on this mountain. People who go too high up the mountain end up in its territory and meet a horrible fate or some shit like that. That’s why I wanted to set up the camp so high up.”

“Besides, we’re not staying long...” Sadanobu pulled out the thick sack from behind him, “We gotta get to my guy in Kyoto and pawn all this off.”

Another successful heist for the unlikely group of criminals; two army deserters, a farmer and a gambler, able to pool their strengths and successfully rob their way across the East. Traveling nobles, temples, inns—nothing was safe. The country was a mess—they were just taking the opportunity to help themselves.

“That last temple was hidin’ some good loot!” Gaku said excitedly, “I still can’t believe how lucky we got! Lemme see again!”

Sadanobu rolled his eyes, but smiled and passed the bag to Gaku, who excitedly opened it, tilting it toward the light of the fire to see the inside; the head of the gold Buddha glittered back at him. “We got enough goodies in here to eat like kings for weeks!”

“Man, I haven’t eaten a decent meal since the Toyotomi...” Sadanobu sighed and leaned back. “It’ll be nice...”

“Hey, yeah, you were a Toyotomi guy!” Matazaemon laughed, “I was Oda! I know your pain.”

“You’re kidding! You don’t strike me as an Oda guy.”

“And you don’t strike me as a Toyotomi!” he cackled back, as the two howled in laugher. Gaku and Naofumi chuckled along.

“You know, you two never talked about your army days,” Naofumi pointed out, “We got time—why not start now?”

“It’s really nothin’ much,” Matazaemon shook his head, digging through another bag to grab a rice ball and start distributing them amongst the group, “I joined up so my old man didn’t have to, wound up havin’ to do a lot of killing and burning and pillaging that I really never wanted to do. Watched all the major generals shining above everyone else, while the foot soldiers were trampled beneath them. Date, Takeda, Uesugi...they were the kind of guys that really made war seem like a fun time.”

“I know what you mean,” Gaku replied, “They made it look like something we should aspire to. I almost joined up with Date myself, but...when folks from the Date came around enlisting able-bodied men, I took off so my mom wouldn’t have to see her only son die for the sake of some egotist who just wanted more land for himself. I wonder how she’s doing...?”

“That’s the thing about these generals and daimyo,” Naofumi shrugged, “They shine brighter by standing on the backs of their soldiers.”

“Oda was a complete monster, though,” Matazaemon grumbled. “All of his inner circle were. Moment I got news Akechi killed him, I took the opportunity to turn tail while everyone was scrambling around. Never looked back.”

“Similar to my story,” Sadanobu nodded, “Hideyoshi was a creep...even standing near him put me on edge. And his supporters weren’t any better.” He leaned forward, looking down into the fire. “I remember one day, when I was training...apparently his general, Ishida, didn’t think I was making enough progress. By some mercy, he kept his sword sheathed, but he beat me with the sheathed weapon in some twisted attempt to strengthen me. All it did was strengthen my resolve to get the hell out of there soon as I could. Glad he’s dead.”

“Is he, though?” Naofumi raised an eyebrow. “I thought it wasn’t confirmed.”

“He and his family were in Osaka castle when some folks raided it after he lost Sekigahara. The whole place went up in flames; there’s no way an impulsive guy like that had any escape plan to get out of there undetected. There were so many burnt corpses in the castle afterward once the fire was under control; he had to be among them. He wouldn’t have run. He never ran.”

Naofumi closed his eyes in thought. “Maybe. There’s always a chance.”

“Don’t even start. I don’t wanna think about the possibility that that asshole’s still out there somewhere. And even if he is...he’d never willingly show his face again.”

The wind seemed to whisper above them. And a rumbling came from the woods around them.

“What was that?” Naofumi looked up, now apprehensive.

“Probably just an animal attracted to the light,” Gaku reached toward the fire, grabbing a burning hunk of wood from it as he stood up. “Wave this around a little bit and they’ll be gone. I’ll do it.”

Gaku turned from the group, heading through the brush, waving the burning wood around to light his path. Big, dramatic steps and stomps to intimidate whatever was near, his companions watching from afar.

Then, his head perked up, as if he spotted something. But before he could speak a word, he let out a choked-off cry, the flame dropping and going out.

“Gaku!” Matazaemon cried out as the group stood up, on high alert. Then, the loud thumps of quick but heavy footsteps, and a vicious bark and snarl, as a large, white blur lunged forward, biting Matazaemon by the arm; the force knocked him to the ground as he felt the arm pop out of place. He howled a mix of pain and fear.

Naofumi stared in shock and horror at the large wolf now viciously yanking Matazaemon to and fro like a rag doll, blood soaking its teeth and maw. But Matazaemon’s screams finally snapped him to attention as he pulled out his knife, plunging it toward the beast’s side in a panic.

He missed the stab, but the blade did slice the wolf’s side, as it let go of his friend and instantly turned on him; its jaw snapped open, going for his throat, and as he fell back, he looked to Sadanobu for help.

But Sadanobu had fled. Even as the wolf snarled and tore into him, Naofumi could hear footsteps approaching, and hear something slice into Matazaemon, silencing his howls of agony.

Sadanobu blindly pushed his way through the brush, his face a mix of fear, of terror, of snot and spit, while he tried to process that he was alone now, on this mountain, at night.

The Beast of the Mountain was real! That was no ordinary wolf! That thing...that thing was a monster! So fast, so strong! He had to leave its territory.

He had to get down the mountain.

He tripped in his panic, falling and rolling a ways, before finally sliding to a stop, staring up at the break in the treetops to see the moon. He began to sit up, but froze.

Footsteps. Two feet.

He began to hyperventilate, wondering if the beast had changed form, to come after *him.*

But the moon began to make his pursuer visible. And he could see those thin, angry eyes glaring down at him.

Those thin, angry eyes from all those years ago.

And he began to wail.

“IT’S YOU—“

SPLURCH!

That one slice caused his insides to burst out of him, as he fell back, gurgling his final sounds, the world around him becoming black.

....

And Ishida Mitsunari flicked the blood off his old sword before sheathing it again. His intuition had been correct; the noise and dim light he saw from his home wasn’t just his imagination playing tricks on him; someone had the audacity, once again, to venture that high up the mountain. And they needed to be dealt with swiftly, before he risked them finding him.

Grabbing the body by the leg, he began to drag it back with him toward the campfire. As he did, he whistled a short whistle, as the snarls and barks from before were replaced by panting; he found the wolfdog standing by the other two bodies, his curled tail twitching in satisfaction. Dropping the first body’s leg, Mitsunari knelt down.

“Come here. Let me see.”

The dog padded forward, allowing Mitsunari to get a closer look. Removing his right glove (revealing a hand scarred from burns), he ran a hand along the wound in the dog’s side; the dog let out a small whimper, but didn’t panic.

“...it’ll scar, but it’s nothing serious,” he muttered, “We’ll treat it when we get back home. Good work, Shiranui.”

His children had named the dog when he brought the pup back to their home two years prior, having found the pup attempting to steal one of the pheasants he had hunted. Now fully grown, it was clear the dog took mostly wolf traits...but, at his core, Shiranui had always been a loyal dog...especially to his master.

Once certain the wound wasn’t serious, Mitsunari turned his attention to the bodies. Retrieving the last one from a ways away, he wasted no time rifling through their pockets and satchels for supplies. Medicine, food, tools...anything usable, he gathered into the largest bag. As he came across the sack containing their ill-gotten gains, he pondered the contents for a bit...before shaking his head. He had no need for any of this. Gold and the like wouldn’t keep them alive. Wouldn’t keep them safe.

One by one, he dragged each body a ways up to the cliffs, before rolling each body over the edge with one smooth motion, watching them get swallowed by the darkness below as he listened to the impact of them striking the cliff side, the stones, the tree branches....and lastly, he tossed the sack of treasures, too. Good fortune to whomever finds them, he supposed. It didn’t matter to him either way. Either way, the Beast of the Mountain had maintained its status as something to be feared.

Returning to the camp and snuffing out the fire, he let his eyes readjust to the darkness, before looking to Shiranui’s bloodied face.

“Let’s wash your face before we go back.” His wife hated when the dog came back from its hunts and meals looking like that.

After stopping by the stream to clean off the dog’s face and wash the wound a bit, they began their quiet trek back home, their loot in hand. Nearly three years of this life...and sometimes, it was still wildly unfamiliar to him.

He should have died at Sekigahara. He should have taken his life when he failed to avenge his lord.

He should have.

But he didn’t.

Now he was a spent match; the fire of battle had long left him, and now he was smoke, drifting about his new life, though sometimes, that little fire would come back. Sometimes, he would remember why he lived.

Off the beaten path, past the troublesome terrain, there stood a small house. His house. It was no Sawayama, it was no Osaka Castle, but it was home. And it was here that he quietly slid open the door, only to flinch slightly, startled by the shape of his wife’s feet in the moonlight shining through the door. In her arms, the smallest of his children, his only daughter, little Tatsuhime, fast asleep and undisturbed.

“...how close were they?” his wife asked in the softest of voices.

“Close enough to be a problem,” he replied. She could tell he was willfully omitting details. Details that would distress or upset her. He clearly didn’t want to elaborate further. Other than, “Shiranui’s hurt. I’ll stay with him tonight.”

She gave a quiet nod, quietly vanishing into the tiny hallway, as she, too, was swallowed by darkness.

Mitsunari retrieved a cloth, taking a seat against the wall and beckoning the dog over; Shiranui obeyed, laying down as Mitsunari pressed the cloth against the wound. The dog rested his head on his master’s lap, while Mitsunari rested his own head against the wall.

He could faintly hear the rustling of his wife setting Tatsuhime down to sleep; undoubtedly between her two older brothers. His wife was then rustling into bed as well.

He didn’t know when he’d sleep.

But until then, he’d remember why he lived.

[twilitty]

Waiting pt.3

Waiting

@twilitty​

part 3/?

word count: 2.2k

warnings: none

read this first! Edward explores what is causing his wife to act so detached.

Edward was paralyzed with fear. It was a similar feeling to when he watched himself nearly drain Bella of her blood after James had bitten her. The feeling when Jasper nearly attacked and killed her. It was the feeling of a broken man who has now broken another person. He was a porcelain doll with cracks along his figure, and the beautiful, fragile doll next to him gets knocked over by some force that he’s caused. 

Bella has been acting differently, more than should be expected after beginning her new life. She’s been unusually distant, taking her vehicle to Port Angeles and not telling him why. She chooses to hunt on her own in the mornings, but Edward knows that she is not only hunting. He can smell her trail when he goes out later in the afternoon, she takes a long route and ends up by the stream bed. No blood along the trail at any point, no scent of an animal she’s killed. 

When Nessie is asleep she hands her off to Edward or Rose. When Nessie wakes up she’ll play momentarily before claiming to have forgotten to do something. It’s as if she shows no interest in her daughter, and why? She had chosen to have this child, chosen the child's life over her own. And now she seems disinterested in every aspect of her life.

This burning, paralyzing fear is what pulled Edward out of his home that evening. Entrusting his daughter to her more than willing aunt and uncle, he went to the treaty line. 

Standing at the edge now his thoughts run circles around his feelings, taunting him and scaring him. Telling him he’s an awful father and husband, that he made a mistake when he chose to pursue a future with Bella. But what about my daughter? Regardless of his feelings towards his wife, he has to agree that his daughter was the best possible outcome. 

All he had wanted was a future with his love, a future where him and Bella could live in peace. And they were given a beautiful daughter, warm brown eyes and red unruly hair. If he had to choose to go back in time and remain away, could he? I can’t imagine a life without her, he thinks mourningly. His daughter is his whole life, he spends every moment he can with her, he enjoys nothing more than being a part of her life. 

When she smiles at something he’s done it’s as though his heart will simply burst. He cannot abandon his daughter, there is no reality where he can imagine ever doing so. His wife may be unhappy now, she may be secretive and reclusive, but that is a worthy price for bringing him his beautiful daughter. 

“What do you want, old man?” It’s Jacob Black, standing on the other side of the treaty line. He’s in what likely used to be jeans but are now sliced along the thighs unevenly creating an unflattering pair of shorts. His chest is bare, as it always seems to be, and his hair is braided in two strips that fall over his shoulders. He had gotten Edwards' text.

After the birth of Nessie, Bella had appointed Jacob as the godfather, which very few found endearing. This sentiment had brought Jacob closer to the Cullens, often he would be found running perimeter around the family home or bringing new toys and clothing to the little girl. He wears a necklace around his neck that she had assisted in making for him.

It’s a pink shoelace with orange, yellow, and red beads laced through it. It was part of an arts and crafts project Jacob had brought over. He wears it constantly. It’s long and hangs down over his stomach so that when he shifts he can still wear it as a wolf. 

Now, Jacob plays with it absently as Edward regards him with pressed lips. “Alright, bloodsucker, let’s spit out your words,” Jacob thinks with little sympathy. It’s a major blow to the vampire's pride to even broach the topic with this man, and knowing that the entire pack will soon hear about it does little to ease his conflicting emotions. 

“I would like to discuss Bella with you,” Edward says formally. Jacobs eyes trail over him lazily, as if looking to pick out his flaws and toss them back in his face. “She better not be pregnant again.” Edward chooses not to respond to this. Of course she isn’t, it isn’t possible.

Finally Jacob responds out loud, “You already married her, what more do you want?” A smirk spreads over his lips, “If you’re looking for a second wife I’ll happily offer up Leah.” 

“I don’t want anything-”

“Right, right, you’re so selfless and holy and better-than-thou,” Jacob snorts which only adds to Edwards mounting anger. “Let’s get this over with, colonizer.” Edwards eyes roll back in his head, arms crossing over his chest. 

“Please, try and take what I am telling you seriously,” he says a little too forcefully. He doesn’t want to argue with Jacob right now, he’s trying to have a civil discussion and instead Jacob is taunting him. Can this boy not take anything seriously? 

“Fine.”

Edward gives him a curt nod, “Thank you.” With an awkward glance around the forest, Edward begins his speech. “I was not present when Bella was going through her troubling… phase,” he says the last word gingerly as if not wanting to awaken it from it’s sleep.

“Depression,” Jacob corrects mentally. Edward cringes at the word but continues as if nothing was thought.

“But I have seen its worst parts through the minds of others. I am worried she may not be as happy as she once was. I’m concerned.” The statement doesn’t phase Jacob physically or mentally, instead his thoughts remain strangely silent and he merely shifts his weight to the other foot. “I’m not sure what to do, she is away today and I thought about following her-”

“Are you an idiot? Did you spend the last three hundred years working towards your doctorate in the school of dumbasses?” Jacobs' tone is cruel, his facts incorrect, and his demeanor more than a little concerning. He’s on the defence, as if something Edwards said has offended him. “Sometimes I wish kicking your ass wouldn’t force your daughter into therapy.” 

If anything his poor daughter will need therapy from the infinite amount of insults her godfather trades with her father.

“So I’m going to assume you don’t think following her to an unknown location is not a good idea?” It’s a rhetorical question and the century old vampire quickly continues on, “Need I remind you that the second she thought her mother was in trouble she offered herself up on a silver platter?” 

What was supposed to be a civil conversation has instead turned into a nasty argument, and Edward isn’t sure what caused the change. “Need I remind you that if there weren’t any vampires that wouldn’t be a problem?” Jacob’s words hit too close to home and he notices this when Edward winces at the statement. “What? You feel guilty now?”

“Yes, yes, I feel guilty because she very clearly is not happy!” Now Edward is yelling, matching Jacobs energy and escalating the situation even more than need be. “Do you not think I wish I could intervene? I have been trying to discuss this with her, bring up speaking to psychologist-”

“She doesn’t need a psychologist, she needs a friend.” Edward wasn’t meant to hear the thought and quickly Jacobs' mind focuses on the necklace between his fingers, trying to avoid that line of thought. “This wood is so smooth…” 

“She has Rose,” Edward sputters uselessly, pale hands coming up as if to grasp his wife’s mentally well-being out of the air. “She has Alice, she has Esme. Her and Emmett get along quite well-”

“And she has me,” Jacob says aloud. His tone is quiet, stating a fact and nothing more. He isn’t looking to antagonize Edward and is no longer defensive. “And I’m the only one her age. The only one who isn’t a vampire. The only one who isn’t part of the family she married into.” It’s like running into a brick wall, the reality of the situation hits Edward in the face and it’s all he can do to not falter backwards a step to try and right himself. 

His fingers begin to twitch at his sides, eyes eerily still as his brain processes the plausibility of what Jacob Black just told him. “She’s lonely?” He says at last, the word breaking as it escapes his lips and crashing to the floor like a porcelain doll. His wife, the woman who told him she wanted to be a vampire, wanted to spend eternity with him, is lonely?

“She’s-” Jacobs cut off as a howl rings through the forest. The noise echoes off the trees around them, Edward reads it through the other man's mind. It’s his turn to run perimeter around the reservation. “I’ve gotta go.” He turns around and sprints off into the shadows of the forest. His steps quicken and then are replaced by the heavy thudding of four paws. The sound of the wolf running quickly escapes Edwards hearing distance and the forest remains silent.

The vampire stands alone in the forest, the canopy of trees above him cutting off the filtered sunlight of the dreary day. How could his wife be lonely? Didn’t she choose this life? 

He feels some piece of information stuck in the back of his mind, just out of reach and he growls in frustration. This was his family, his life, his wife. And of course he didn’t have a clue on how to fix any of it. 

How could he have allowed this to happen?

It’s a split second decision that sends him through the woods, angling towards the nearest city. He’s the fastest of his family, matching miles in seconds and never needing to slow down or catch his breath. He doesn’t even need to breathe. It’s a wondrous escape from the bindings of human life, being able to exercise his supernatural body to the full extent of its abilities. His strides quicken as he pushes them to go faster, his muscles pull and release in perfect harmony and work upon their own accord. 

Bella had experienced this as a human, clutching onto his shoulders as he tore through the forest with her on his back. It was everything he had wanted. Showing the girl he loved most the side of him that no other human got to see. And she had loved him back. Had. Where are her feelings now?

He slows as he reaches the edge of the highway, it’s lanes converging into slower moving traffic as the city opens before him. Brick buildings stand at attention along main street, the exteriors primed for maximum tourist appeal. Old signs hang from stoops over the doorways, restaurants and gift shops alike. Edward already knows the exact route he had taken when Bella had come here as a human, when she was trapped in that alleyway- “But where would she be now?” He asks himself aloud. 

She had driven here, not run as he had. He supposes he could look for her vehicle and then trace her scent to her current whereabouts, but then what? He finds her and approaches her, tells her that he’s been searching her down to confirm that she does in fact still love him? No, he can’t do that, he knows that. Jacob had told him specifically not to do what he is currently doing. Not to follow Bella, don’t act like an idiot.

Yet, here he is. Acting against his and Jacobs better judgement.

He had purposely not spoken to his wife about her trips to Port Angeles because he didn’t want her to feel like she had to ask permission to leave. He wanted her to develop a sense of self as a vampire, not rely on him to sustain her only. He had wanted her to explore her new senses and abilities. He thought everything was going so well. Perhaps Rosalie was right, Bella was better off as a human. 

He steps out of the forest, grateful for the dim sky which clouded his skin. He walked aimlessly towards the main street, allowing his senses to take in all that is around him. He smells the fresh bread of the bakery across the road, the sickly sweet scent of melted ice cream sitting somewhere in a trashcan. He smells everything, but comes up without his wife. He hears the cars and the chattering of people as they go about their mindless, petty tasks, but his wife is not anywhere on this street. 

He eventually finds her vehicle, a black suv with tinted windows. She had parked at the opposite end of the city, under the shade of a large pine and beside a public park. He sniffs the air experimentally, her scent is travelling in every direction, but the north trail into the park is more potent. She’s been here recently. He looks through her passenger side window, a box of tissues sits on the seat alongside an open glasses case. None of them wear glasses, and this discovery startles him a little. 

He follows the trail north.

- let me know if you want to be tagged when i upload!-

@edwardsmate4ever​

[fritae]

the missing piece (dabi)

chapter 15 - black market

gang! au / ceo! au

characters: dabi x f. oc, lov

status: ongoing

read on ao3 here.

Dabi grabs my hand into his as we weave through the crowds.

I feel strange in my new clothes. Dabi made me change out of my work fit and into black jeans and an oversized hoodie. Dressing so casual feels...alien to me. For years, all I've known is how to look perfect and impeccable.

But...

"You'll stick out like a sore thumb," Dabi had warned.

I can't say I'm upset though. My feet are especially relieved. After going week after week in heels, the sneakers are more than welcome.

And they make me look smaller next to Dabi.

I'm excited, though in the back of mind lies the thought of what's to come after this illusive deal. Will I still have time to do what I was planning tonight? If I miss it.... I swallow. I won't get another chance like this again.

Dabi snaps me out of my thoughts. "Lighten up a little," He says without looking back at me. Then with a smile he adds, "I can still replace you with Jin, you know."

I chuckle and hold his hand closer. My heart flutters at this moment I get to enjoy with him, just the two of us like back then. I love the League, of course. But I miss the Dabi that comes out when it's just the two of us.

Like he has a side only I get to see.

Dabi seems much more comfortable with our fingers intertwined than before.

Maybe it's cause he initiated it this time.

But the way he pulls me along with him feels almost...

Protective.

"So how this works is you're safe so long as you're with someone who can make anyone else feel unsafe."

I look up at Dabi and he grins.

"That's me."

"You?"

As we speak, a drunk man pushes into Dabi. Before I have time to process what's happening, Dabi shoves his entire leg deep into the man's gut.

I yelp in surprise.

A resounding squelch is heard as the poor fellow doubles over.

"Watch where you're fucking going," Dabi clucks his tongue nonchalantly before walking away.

I immediately see the crowd make way for him to pass.

"I see," I squeak.

The incident doesn't phase Dabi at all.

We keep sifting through the people, up and down corners and alleys until we reach a particularly loud restaurant. There are skulls strung together with thread at the entrance and a strange smell emanating from its door.

I swallow and look at Dabi in askance.

Of course, that's the place we enter.

"If you're scared you can hold onto me," He says into my ear.

There's a calm smirk on his face, looking way too relaxed for someone in a shop with literal skulls adorning the walls.

Part of me wants to give him a snarky response, but as I see the large, shady individuals that fill the entrance, my hand reaches for his bicep, ensuring people can see that I'm not here alone.

Dabi puts a hand on my lower back as we go down a flight of stairs. Every time someone glances at us, he shoots them a glare that forces their eyes forward.

"Keep your head up," He mutters to me as we make our way downstairs. "No one's gonna touch you, you're with me. Looking at the floor makes you look like a target."

I try to take his advice. I imagine I'm at the Blaze, second in command to Dabi. The thought forces my back straighter, my footsteps firmer in response.

"Atta girl," Dabi holds me tighter.

I can't help feeling we could almost be a couple like this.

A couple?!

Not what I should be thinking about right now.

I hide my cheek against Dabi's arm so he doesn't see me blush.

We continue down the hall, passing various suspect faces, until we reach a wooden, worn down door. There's another drunken old man sitting on the floor outside it, his head bowed down like he was sleeping.

Dabi steps over him and reaches for me. I take his hand, but before I could hop over the man's legs, a long cane comes between me and Dabi.

I blink.

"No newcomers past this point." The man grumbles.

"Why?"

"New rules."

Dabi groans.

I expect him to fight the old man or take me in regardless, but to my surprise, he sighs.

"Can you stay here for a while?"

My brows knit together. "What happened to..."

"I know - my bad. Gotta pick your battles. It's not worth it. Give me a few minutes. Okay?"

I hesitantly look around me, but not wanting him to think I can't stay alone for a few minutes, I nod.

And he disappears behind the door.

I stand awkwardly, shifting my weight from one side to the other as I wait for Dabi to reappear. My legs start to hurt and I almost lean against the wall for support. But seeing the grime that covers it, I think its safer to stay as far from it as possible.

Drunken people walk all around me, and I do my best to ignore them.

After a few minutes with nothing to do, I pull out my phone to make myself look busy.

But in the midst of my scrolling, my blood turns to ice as I feel someone's hand on my ass.

Without thinking, I dig my heel into the foot of whoever stood behind me and hear a resounding 'ooomph!'

Then before they have time to recover, I turn around and slap the figure so hard, the sound of their head slamming into the grimey walls brings people outside out of curiosity.

"Who the fuck gave you permission to touch me?" I spit out.

The man groans in pain.

A wolf whistle behind me makes me turn around.

I look over my shoulder and see Dabi wearing an expression he's never had before.

"That was hot," He claps slowly. I stand up as he walks my way, eyeing the groaning body beneath me. With a chuckle, he kicks the man's legs and grins wider when he hears a scream. "What'd he do?"

I give the man I final dirty glance before stepping away. "Put his hands where he wasn't supposed to."

Dabi leans down beside the man.

"Did you know she was here with me?"

The man sees Dabi and starts sputtering, crawling away from him immediately. "No, no!" He babbles. "I- I swear, if I-"

But Dabi strikes him with his fist, making his head ring against the floor.

"And look where that got you."

Dabi brushes his hands off and gets up.

"Violent one, aren't you?" I ask, looking over his shoulder at the groaning mess.

"Better to be the violent one than stand on the other side of him."

Well, he's not wrong...

Everything was strategic to Dabi.

"Are you done here?"

"Made the deal. They're arguing about it. If they have a single good head in there then..." He grins.

"They should be out shortly."

[minghaocouture]

Fearless: Chapter 10

Pairing: Werewolf!Jeon Wonwoo x Vampire!Reader Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Non-Idol Au Warnings: Language WC: 3.4k+ AU Lore:  Vampire Coven Info/Wolf Pack Info/Lore Info Tag List: @moon-asia @uglychildd @woozisnoots @hwangjangmi @rjsmochii @fluffyhyeju @darkacrimson @skjdln​ @moonchild9499​

Couldn’t Tag: @unbaeknownst, @Angelmingyu

A/N: We’re just gonna pretend it’s not 1am and I didn’t upload this super late lol. I also wanted to leave you guys with a little cliff hanger <3 

Chapter List:  Chapter 1/Chapter 2/Chapter 3/Chapter 4/Chapter 5/Chapter 6/Chapter 7/Chapter 8/Chapter 9/Chapter 10/Chapter 11/Chapter 12/Chapter 13/Chapter 14

It was far too early for it to be this loud in this house. Running on a different internal clock than the other occupants of this house proved to be more of an issue to you than you had originally thought.

Now here you were, head hidden under a pillow as you tried to block out the rummaging and chatter from downstairs. You were trying to get over your previous prejudice of the wolves and their pack, but as of this moment you were finding it really hard not to keep hating them, if only for the noise they were all currently making.

A groan left your lips as you heard another loud crash from downstairs. Rolling over and burying your face into the mattress, as if that would help. Hell it didn’t even block out the small laughter in the room you were currently in. Peeking out from under the pillow, you glanced over to the bed that Wonwoo had slept in the night before. He was now sitting up and staring at you, laughing at your struggle. To add insult to injury he apparently decided that sleeping shirtless was something that was okay, even with you in the room. 

“Oh laugh it up, wolf boy. We’ll see who's laughing when I find a way to wake you up in the middle of the night.”

“I mean, I could always stay over at your place and give you the opportunity?” The suggestion had you quickly exiting your pillow hiding place and sitting up to face him. Eyes wide as you stared at him, confused by his sudden bold words. “Or...you could call me late at night until I wake up. That works too.”

Rolling your eyes at his quick backtracking and letting out a loud yawn, “I mean, the first one is kind of an option, but I’m still not too sure if i’m going to have a ‘place’ after all this is over with.” You retorted, lifting your arms in the air as you stretched. Working the muscles a bit so they would be less tense. You had been trying to not think about that. Becoming a stray wasn’t something you would want to happen, after all it wasn’t like you wanted to be basically alone for the rest of eternity. Which is what would happen if you were cast out, you definitely weren’t going to join a different coven. It’d feel wrong.

“Well, what’s...what’s the deciding factor? I, well none of us really know all that much about how Vampires work, well besides the basics. And...how to kill you.” That was fair, you barely knew about werewolf living. Deciding to lighten the mood a bit, a grin made its way onto your face.

“Alright, I’ll tell you that if you tell me why all of you look about the same age. It’s...actually kinda weird.” You knew that Werewolves weren’t immortal like Vampires, but something about how everyone in this house looked the same age was a bit off putting. It wasn’t huge, but it was strange, you figured that packs would have like older wiser wolves, like your Coven’s with the Venture, not just a bunch of people in their 20s. 

A brief moment of realization hit you, causing your eyes to widen as your thoughts raced. If you were Wonwoo’s mate and he was...only 20. That was, understandably, a bit weird. You were well over a century old, and if he was 20 you were old enough to literally be one of his great great great grandmother. That had to be creepy.

Apparently you had been broadcasting your thought process across your face, cause once again that familiar deep toned laugh spread through the room and causing a rather strange chill to tingle down your spine. It wasn’t a bad chill, just unexpected. Masking that feeling with an irritated scowl, you grabbed your pillow and hurled it at his head. Catching it, he placed it on the bed next to him before speaking up again.

“That actually has to do with our mates. We stop aging when we turn 20 until we find out mate. Well, find and actually uh…’mate’ with the mate.”

“So you won’t age unless we have sex?” You questioned, not bothering to tiptoe around the subject. “Wait...wait a damn minute. You won’t age unless we have sex? How old are you then?”

He paused for a moment, taking a minute as he seemed to be thinking about his own age. Which honestly was something you could relate to. After so many years alive, they kind of just start blurring together.

“I’m going to be 93 this year.” The relief you felt at those words had you letting out an audible sigh. At least you weren’t some creepy old woman compared to him, that would have just been weird if he had actually been 20. Well, to you it would have been. You knew others, mainly Soonyoung, would disagree. Though he definitely wasn’t the best example, considering he still considered himself to be 24 despite being 132.

Realizing that you had once again become lost in your own mind, you turned your attention back to Wonwoo and noticed that he was staring at you. The look in his eyes caught you off guard, it was almost as if you had just hung the stars in front of him with how intent his gaze was. It seemed that now with this mate business out in the open, he didn’t feel the need to hide anything. It didn’t make you uncomfortable, and in fact you wouldn’t mind seeing that look more often. Letting out a small cough to focus yourself once more, you decided to hold up your end of the exchange.

“So, technically all the major decisions in the Coven are made by the Inner Circle. Which includes our Venture, Soonyoung, the Primus, Junhui, as well as two of the other members, Minghao and Chan.” You began, unfortunately Vampire politics was extremely annoying to deal with at times, which is why you weren’t going to go into what a Venture or Primus was unless he asked. Thinking about it, you honestly didn’t know how Minghao put up with it all, he seemed to hate it almost as much as you did.. “I’ve technically got one vote in my favor, and probably one against me, but i’m not too sure how Chan and Soonyoung will react so it’s all up in the air.” 

You were pretty sure that Minghao was still on your side, at least you hoped he was. Despite his neck being on the line too, you knew that he wasn’t the type of person to throw others aside, he was loyal if nothing else. You could say the same for Junhui, but he had been pretty upset though, and if Junhui was upset then Soonyoung would probably listen to him and if that happened then you knew Chan would as well. So basically it all would depend on how Junhui reacted to you...walking out after yelling at him...and basically inviting him to kick you out. 

So you definitely hadn’t done yourself any favors. 

You hadn’t realized that Wonwoo had gotten up until you felt the bed shift a bit as he took a seat next to you, his hand reaching for yours and the instant comfort you felt at that contact was almost ridiculous. A thought passed through your mind, wondering if the feelings that were rushing through your brain were simply from this mate thing between the two of you...or if they were real. That would be a question for another day though. 

“I’m sure everything is gonna turn out fine. You gotta trust them a little, Covens are kind of like families right? Just like our pack. So i’m sure they’re going to look out for you too.” You weren’t sure if he knew how much those words meant, and you certainly weren’t going to tell him. After all, you had to keep at least some of your tough image. Though...around him you could probably drop it...just a little bit.

You felt yourself subconsciously scoot closer to him and without even thinking about it you found your head resting on his bare shoulder. He tensed at the added weight but soon the hand holding yours had adjusted to where it wrapped around your shoulders, pulling you closer. You weren’t sure if the Mate thing had anything to do with how you were feeling, but you weren’t about to move now.

“I’m sure you’re right.” 

You weren’t sure how much time passed, the two of your just sitting there in silence. But it wasn’t long enough.

The door to the room practically slammed open and you felt your body push itself as far away from Wonwoo as you could. Going so far as to even shove him away as well. Eyes snapping to the door you were greeted by Mingyu, who’s grin could only be described as ‘shit-eating’. He really did have a punchable face, and he was only proving it more. 

“Cheol wants you guys to come to breakfast.” He said, obviously holding back laughter as he looked between the two of you. If looks could kill, you were sure that Mingyu would have been dead twice over just from the look Wonwoo was giving him. More than that if you were being counted in the equation. 

You groaned as you watched Mingyu close the door, making over exaggerated kissing noises, followed by the sound of footsteps and him yelling something to the other wolves. Which you could assume was related to what he just walked in on. Meeting him for the first time, you were already wondering how someone like Wonwoo could handle being his roommate. 

“Is he always like this?”

“I love him, and he is my best friend...but yes, yes he is.” 

***

You were pretty sure you were only here so Seungcheol could keep an eye on you. It’s not like you were eating or anything, and the only reason you had a seat was because Sana was still bed ridden. It seemed that some people weren’t taking too kindly to you intruding on their breakfast, and the atmosphere had gotten so tense since you arrived. So it was going about as well as you had expected it to. 

A few of the pack, mainly Wonwoo, Vernon, Jacob and Felix, did try their best to seem welcoming but everyone else present was definitely more on edge with you around. Especially Changbin, and if you were being honest his constant glaring was starting to get a bit annoying. First he complained about having to keep the curtains closed while you were around, then it was he didn’t want to sit across from you at the table, and now it was a completely different story.

“Why does she have to sit in here? It’s not like she’s going to eat anything.” 

You felt your eye twitch ever so slightly, your jaw clenching in irritation. It was harder to fight your more stubborn and temperamental nature, but you were playing nice so attacking him (even verbally) would probably put you on thin ice. Despite knowing this, you weren’t one to sit back and get verbally harassed.

“She’s a guest, we’re not just going to make her hang out around the house alone.” Which was definitely Seungcheol’s code for, ‘she’s technically still an enemy so we don’t want to give her free range of the house’. It didn’t take a lot to read that guy, he was a good leader or Alpha as they called it, but he was an open book. 

Changbin scoffed, shoving another serving of rice into his mouth before he did. To his left Felix let out a small sigh, obviously wishing the other male was in a better mood. The male across from you, the taller stone faced one who you were fairly certain was named Hyunwoo, spoke up.

“Have you heard anything from the human? Or your coven?” 

His question had you shaking your head, but you did pull your phone out to check once more just in case someone had messaged you during, what you were calling, the worst breakfast...ever. You weren’t surprised to find a plethora of messages from Hyunjin, asking where you were and over all just kind of freaking out, there were also several from Siyeon, Kevin and Yuna, and even a few from Gahyeon and Eunbi. None from Minhyuk or any of the inner circle though. Which was what you expected. The inner circle was probably trying to decide what to do with you and well, Minhyuk likes hearing about the drama from a distance.

“Nothing from the Inner Circle, no. I am planning on checking in with Minah around noon, and if she agrees to the plan then I’ll go grab her from the bar and bring her back here.”

“And how are you planning on doing that? It’s not like you can go outside before dark and get her. And your whole plan is useless if the stray sees the two of you together. Or did you not think of that?” Once again Changbin decided to speak up, gracing your nerves with tiny spikes of irritation. “Or is there even really a stray in the first place! I still don’t believe you’re telling us the truth. You were probably just a distraction so one of your other disgusting friends could attack Sana.”

If you cared less about your phone, you probably would have broken it with how hard you were squeezing the device, but thankfully you knew self control. Or at least you pretended like you did. It seemed though, that Changbin was just determined to push your buttons, and you’d had enough.

“You know, I didn’t take this shit from my Coven, and let me tell you, i’m not going to be taking it from you.” You began, trying to cool your expression as you stared at the male at the other end of the table. You heard Wonwoo sigh from next to you, of course since he knew you the best he probably saw this snap coming. “Kiddo, you can hate me all you damn well want, but I want you to remember that I’m here to help you. So I’m gonna need you to back off.”

A loud slam sounded through the room as Changbin’s palms met with the hardwood of the dining table. A low growl slipped from his throat as he glared at you, obviously about to jump across the table to make this more of a physical confrontation. Silence fell over the room as his harsh gaze met your stoic one, sure you were pissed but this wasn’t the place to 100% lose your cool. From your side you heard a small growl leave Wonwoo as well, it was almost sweet that he felt the need to defend you, but you certainly didn’t need it. 

“You think throwing a tantrum like this is gonna make me leave?” You questioned, a brow raised as you stared down the male who you assumed was younger than you. “It’s not gonna work, I am the Queen of tantrums and loud outbursts and let me tell you now, you don’t scare me.” It was definitely stupid to edge him on like that, especially since you were a guest. You’d probably come to regret it later but for now you were going to show that you weren’t someone that just got walked over. He would understand that.

For a moment you wondered when you started sounding like Minghao, maybe his general attitude was affecting you after all this time. It was amusing to think about, if this was how he and the others felt whenever you acted out. You’d have to question them...well if things worked out in your favor that is. 

The air was thick with tension as the sound of a chair scraping against the linoleum cut through the silence.

“Changbin, sit down and finish your breakfast then go and get ready for your classes. ” It wasn’t too surprising to see Seungcheol standing from his seat at the end of the table. He was almost like a father, vaguely you wondered how old he was, it was impossible to tell just by looking at him. His eyes then found themselves looking directly at you. “And you, come with me.” 

Would it be safe to say you were in the doghouse now? 

Sliding your chair back, you felt something grab your wrist. Looking down you noticed it was of course Wonwoo, staring up at you with concern. Concern that you brushed off. Sure you had probably just pissed off the leader of the group that was housing you, and he could easily attack you or resend his invitation to the home which would end up hurling you outside into the unforgiving and burning sun, but that was too negative to think about at the moment even for you.

Despite your attempt at being nonchalant, Wonwoo gently tugged you closer to him so that his lips ended up right next to your ear.

“If you need me, just call.” the words caused you to chuckle slightly.

“You’re sweet, but I’ll be fine.” Was all you said in return, pulling away from him and following Seungcheol out the double doors of the dining room, to the right down the hallway and into what looked like a living room. 

Once inside, you heard a sigh escape from the male as he took a seat onto one the weathered arm chairs. He gestured vaguely for you to join him and sit down. Taking the free chair on the far left of the room, it was a pretty comfortable chair. You definitely weren’t thinking about taking it with you or anything though. Glancing back over at Seungcheol, you watched as he lifted a hand to rub the bridge of his nose. 

“You’re really not making this any easier for any of us.” 

“Excuse me, for not just sitting around and taking shit from someone who is probably half my age. If not younger. ” You retorted, rolling your eyes. You could tell from watching Seungcheol that he was a good leader, probably better than Soonyoung (though with Soonyoung gone all the time, the bar wasn’t super high to begin with) but leadership can definitely take it’s toll. 

“That’s the point. Changbin is only 33. He’s still technically a kid by our standards and he’s a little rough around the edges but…” he trailed off, you could see that he didn’t really want to talk about this. It probably didn’t help that you were a complete stranger. “The point is, even if he attacks first. If you fight back I have to be on his side.”

“That sounds like something a shitty leader would say.” The words slipped from your lips before you could even think of stopping them. You could tell that Seungcheol was taken back by them almost as much as you were. “I mean, should a leader be willing to tell their people when they’re in the wrong? I’m trying to play nice here for the sake of both of our groups, but I’m not just gonna let him talk shit to my face. Fixing things is a two way road, I can’t do this if he’s unwilling to even look at me without the intent to rip my throat out.”

“I understand but-”

“No, I really don’t think you do. I’m sticking my neck out to help you guys. I might lose my place in my Coven, my family, because I’m here. I’m not gonna do that, and get trash talked by a fucking kid.” The anger from the dining room, the fear from your current situation, everything seemed to be finally reaching a head. Your limbs shook lightly as you stared him down, not with an intent to fight, but with all of the emotions you were currently feeling. 

He lifted a hand, stopping you from continuing. The room filled with silence once more as he seemed to contemplate your words. After a moment, he nodded solemnly.

“You’re right. I guess we’re all trying to work on ourselves during this. If we do go through with the mission tonight, Changbin will stay home. I think it’ll be best for everyone that way.” 

Before you could respond, the loud tone of your phone rang through the room, signaling a phone call. Seungcheol gestured for you to answer it, which you were going to do with or without his permission. 

The caller ID was definitely not a name you were expecting to see. 

Soonyoung.