#i like that i do 8 without thinking about it like i don't try for it it's just That Number

[ckret2]

It's fic time. The Axolotl tries to persuade Bill to face what happened to his dimension while Bill tries to avoid that literally any way possible.

This is part 8 of a 9 part plot about the Axolotl meeting this friendly harmless innocent little triangle in the wake of the Euclidean Massacre and gradually learning he's literally the worst person ever. If you want to read and/or look at the pretty art on the other parts, here's one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.

(WARNING in this one for nonspecific but pretty obvious suicidal ideation)

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The triangle whirled around as a milky white void closed in around him. "Whoa whoa hey! What is this? How'd I get here?"

"Welcome to my office. You're in a time and space outside time and space," the Axolotl said. "Take a seat. I have a very comfortable bean bag chair."

The triangle did not take a seat. He pointed at the Axolotl like an angry arrow. "What did you do! If you don't put me back now—"

"Don't worry. When we leave this space, you will be where and when you were. Think of this like a dream."

Furiously, the triangle burst into a ball of bright blue flame. It reeked of burning hydrogen—the stench of the fabric of reality itself burning away to nothing. But he, himself, didn't burn. What was fueling his flames? "Yeah?! Well, dreams are my business!" A wave of blue flames surged toward the Axolotl.

And dissipated without touching him. The Axolotl's eyes glowed white. "THIS IS MY DREAM, TRIANGLE—NOT YOURS!"

The triangle shrank down. He squeaked, "Got it." He quietly perched one edge on the Axolotl's bean bag chair. He didn't look at the Axolotl. He was staring up around them at the Axolotl's tank.

The Axolotl's eyes dimmed again to black voids. He settled back, trying to look unthreatening now that the triangle wasn't fighting him. "Do you see something?"

The triangle laughed uneasily. "Not aside from a whole lot of white."

"You keep looking up," the Axolotl said.

"Up?" the triangle said, confused; then apparently figured out what the Axolotl meant and snapped his gaze down to meet his again. "I never—haven't been able to see the stars before," he said, trying not to sound self-conscious even as he slowly tinted red again. "I've never seen anything that could block them. Except you."

Except him. The guy who passed the wall every day on his way to work; the eclipse that blocked out the sun once a year. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize." The walls of the tank seemingly dissolved, letting the triangle see the scene beyond: the glittery cotton candy celestial clouds of his home.

"Hey, I wasn't complaining! You're the one who asked." But the triangle had already visibly relaxed. He still wasn't looking at the Axolotl; but now, he was staring around at the unfamiliar new constellations with wonder.

It was the most unguarded the Axolotl had ever seen him. They didn't have much spare time; but the Axolotl couldn't bring himself to interrupt this brief peace.

After a moment, the triangle gestured toward the sky and said, "So, you—call that direction 'up.'"

"Yes?" the Axolotl said. "Is that strange?"

"No! Nooo no no. Just seems like it might be confusing, trying to tell apart north-up from star-up."

How odd. "We don't usually call north 'up'."

"Oh," the triangle said, voice small and sheepish.

"Some planetbound mortals do. But usually only when they're—" Oh. "... looking at maps." The world printed on a paper 2D plane. Like the plane the triangle had come from.

For all his power, his charisma, his bravado—the triangle was still just a lost little refugee from a flat little world. He held a whole universe in his hand, and he didn't even know up from down. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to him.

"Listen to me," the Axolotl said. "You're in a lot of trouble. I'm sure you know that."

The triangle scoffed. "Tell me something new."

"How much of our discussion did you hear?"

"Just something about rebuilding the higher dimensions' foundations. Which is exactly what I told you to do! You mind your business, I'll mind mine!"

He suspected the triangle had heard more than that. "It's not that simple. They can't rebuild the foundation until the fires are out. So, as long as your actions keep setting new ones..."

"A-ha. So that's why you're here," the triangle said. "They sent you to intimidate me into letting 'em condemn my dimension."

"No." It was true enough that they had sent the Axolotl to try to talk the triangle down. And yes, he would if he could—he certainly didn't want to see all of reality destroyed—but he wasn't primarily here to help the other gods. "I'm here to help you."

The Axolotl had watched how this triangle puppeted corpses and terrified the barely-living into dancing along to his tune. He had seen the dying and dead melted together into oversized composite corpses at the triangle's party; and he'd seen how the triangle's unhappy victims tumbled down into his hell. He'd seen how blue flames flared around the triangle in his anger, and how his lines of fire warped, melted, and consumed whole universes, and how he burned mortals down to the soul with his mere gaze. He'd felt how all of Dimension Zero moved when the triangle moved.

This triangle, this poor child, was a monster.

The Axolotl wore many faces. He'd been a psychopomp, a god of death. He'd changed roles so he could help the dead he escorted reach better futures—now he was a god of rebirth, a god of second chances, a god of justice.

And in his capacity as a god of justice, he'd proudly defended the villains that no one else would defend. He did not believe in punishment. It was too late to save the villains' victims, and no amount of punishment would ever change that; but it was not too late to save the villains.

He was god of death, god of rebirth, god of second chances, god of justice—and also a god of monsters. And he'd decided this monster was under his protection.

Dubiously, the triangle said, "So they sent you as my legal counsel."

Oh, for— "No. I'm just trying to give you advice."

"Even better—pro bono legal counsel!" 

"You're not my client," the Axolotl said. "But I'll advise you as a friend. I can tell you your options as I see them. We can discuss them if you'd like. You may ask me one question, and no more."

"What? Why—" The triangle caught himself and struggled to rephrase. "That's a—stupid rule—that I want an explanation for!"

"Because I'm the Axolotl."

"What does that have t— I don't know what that has to do with anything!"

"I'm the only one who gets to ax a lotl questions."

The triangle stared at him. He burst out laughing. "I think I hate you!"

The Axolotl gave him a wide, gummy grin.

"St—stop that! It makes you even more ugly, ugh. I thought you were here to give me advice, not bad jokes." The triangle made a show of leaning back as though getting comfortable, although it was clear he was uneasy touching the bean bag chair. "So advise me, pink stuff."

"I preferred 'frills.'" Gently, the Axolotl said, "I think it's in your best interests to give yourself up to the divine authorities."

The triangle laughed in disbelief. "You're kidding. Hey, I heard your pals talking about how they can't fight me without knocking the multiverse down—"

"And once they've put up a fireproof foundation you can't burn your way through, there will no longer be any risk to the multiverse if they come after you."

"Sounds to me like a good reason to make sure they don't get that foundation in place!"

"For you to do enough damage to ensure they can't construct a foundation, you'd probably knock the multiverse down yourself," the Axolotl said. "And if that's the case, they'll have nothing to lose by trying to stop you anyway, and everything to lose by not trying."

The belligerence leeched out of the triangle's face by the word. "Oh. Yeah. I guess that's... yeah," he said.  "Okay." His expression was faraway for a moment, as he tried to wrap his mind around the magnitude of the situation. "Okay. That's okay, it's fine, it's fine." Could he feel the walls closing in on him? Did he see the stars being blocked out? "I've... got a way out of this."

"What?"

He didn't meet the Axolotl's gaze. He pulled off his hat to worry at it in his hands. "I have a way."

Bluffing. Or wishful thinking. "No. This is trouble you can't get out of. There's no greater crime against reality than the destruction of an entire dimension," the Axolotl said. "Right now, the gods think you're an active, divine threat to all of existence. That's what this is about. They're not after you because you broke a couple of rules—they're afraid of you." (The triangle lit up at that. Not quite the reaction the Axolotl had been going for, but at least he had his attention.) "And that means they won't stop until they're sure you're no longer a threat. As long as they're pursuing you, your best case scenario is getting buried alive beneath the multiverse's foundation where they can forget about you until your dream realm unravels."

"So what g—I don't see what good giving myself up would do! My best move is putting off the inevitable as long as possible! Just let 'em try to bury me!"

"But it's not inevitable," the Axolotl said. "They fear you as a divine threat. If you prove you're neither divine nor a threat—"

"No."

"Mortals can't be charged the same way as gods can. If we convince the court that you didn't have your current powers at the time of the inferno—"

"I don't know why you're so convinced I didn't have powers at the time!"

"I'm not. That doesn't mean I can't convince a judge," the Axolotl said, which surprised the triangle enough that he actually shut up for a moment. "If you're charged as a god, you face eternal imprisonment or oblivion. If you're charged as a mortal, you'll be sentenced to a regular afterlife. If you give up your power—I'm not sure where yours come from, but there are ways it can be done—" (the triangle was already raising a finger to protest) "—and it can be temporary! But if you don't have divine power when you're taken in, it will be that much easier to convince the judge that you didn't have any when your wall burned. On top of that, if you surrender yourself willingly and admit that destroying Dimension 2 Delta was an accident, that alone can knock off half your charges."

"Next you'll ask me to give up my eye! No!" He was clenching his fist around his hat so tightly that it shook; but that was the only sign of anxiety he betrayed. His gaze was as intense as the stare of a sun. "I told you: me, my power, and my people are a package deal. We stay together. We're staying right here. I don't care how much it inconveniences you."

"It's not about how much it inconveniences us," the Axolotl said. "I'm here for you—you and your people."

"They don't need you or any of your stupid 'gods.' I can take care of them!"

"Then take care of them," the Axolotl said. "You understand that, no matter how this ends, your dream realm will be destroyed and you'll have to leave or perish—don't you?"

"No." That stubborn little glitter fleck. "I can patch up this dump and repair the wall by myself. Once the wall's back, you don't have to worry about your stupid multiverse destabilizing, right?! I'll stabilize my realm before you get your stupid impenetrable foundation in place! Maybe I'll put a roof on top of it that you can't get through!"

"You haven't done it yet! What do you think you can do that you haven't already done?"

"You don't need to know," the triangle snarled.

He had to be mad, bluffing, or in denial. But he didn't look it—eye narrowed in determination, flames smoldering around his edges, fist clenched around his hat—

And then it clicked.

He hadn't said he would replace his wall. He said he'd repair it. 

The Time Giant had said there was no way the little speck of matter that the triangle kept in his hat could be all the matter from his universe; no mortal could handle it without its gravity crushing them, nor would they have the energy to move it.

But she'd also said that gravity was turned off in Dimension Zero. And the triangle had proven he did have the power to move an entire universe—so why should a universe the size of a grain of sand be any more difficult?

And anyway—what did restrictions like that mean in a place where dreams and reality overlap?

"The Time Giant was wrong, wasn't she," the Axolotl said. "You don't have a dark matter problem. You're carrying around the rubble of your universe. All of it. All the matter she sensed but couldn't find."

The triangle gave him a resentful look; but then sighed in defeat. He loosened his fist, reached into his hat, and plucked up the speck of what remained of his universe. The black pinprick of white light. "You're not as dumb as you look," he said wryly. "Yep. The whole thing's right here—all but a city or two. I figured out how to catch it pretty fast."

Catch it? "What... happened to your dimension?"

A faint uneasiness itched at the back of his mind; a sound, right at the edge of his hearing, that he couldn't quite identify but knew shouldn't be here.

"It doesn't matter," the triangle said. "It's about to un-happen."

"You're thinking about setting off a big bang, aren't you?"

The triangle said nothing. He just rolled his universe between his thumb and forefinger contemplatively. 

"You are," the Axolotl said. "You want to replace your universe."

Coolly, the triangle said, "You're sounding kinda scared, frills."

"I am," the Axolotl admitted. "Of all your options, that's the most dangerous thing you could possibly do."

"Hey, the dangerous choices have turned out pretty well for me so far!"

The Axolotl really didn't think they had. "You know you can't get your old universe back, don't you? It will only make a new universe."

The triangle didn't say anything—but he went still, holding the tiny glowing pearl between his fingers rather than rolling it back and forth.

"It will have similar physical properties—it will be 2D, gravity and light will probably work the same way, all the laws of physics will be what you expect... but it will be a new universe. New stars and worlds will form. New species will evolve. Your people will never return."

The triangle squeezed the pearl in his hand. "You don't know that," he said harshly. "Everything that ever existed is right in here." He shook his fist at the Axolotl. He could see the light shining out between the triangle's fingers. "It has to have some sort of memory! There's gotta be traces of it left in there!"

"It can't remember. It doesn't have a soul to remember with."

"I'm a soul!" The triangle pointed at himself with a hundred arms. "Me! I remember! The whole dimension remembers!"

There was the hiss. The ever-present hiss that the Axolotl heard any time he was inside Dimension Zero, the static in the speakers, the last gasp of a dying big bang, the whisper murmur scream battering against the walls. Fear shivered up his spine. How was it audible from within his tank?

He tried to push down his fear. "You're not the whole dimension."

The triangle laughed. It was a chilling sound.

"Just—consider how much more you'd lose if it doesn't work the way you want it to. What will you do if you can't fix your dimension?"

"I can," he said. "If I can't fix it, no one can."

Why did he think he was more capable than gods who'd maintained the multiverse for trillions of years? "What if you're wrong?"

"I will fix it," the triangle said stubbornly.

"TELL ME WHAT YOU'LL DO IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT!"

The triangle literally shrank back, growing smaller as he sank into the Axolotl's beanbag. "Keep doing what I'm doing now! Partying!" He let out a half hysterical giggle. "I'll party til I die!"

"Set off a big bang in an unstable pseudo-dimension, and you will die! The kind of death no one comes back from!"

"Great!"

They both froze. Neither one of them had expected him to say that.

"Kidding," the triangle croaked. "I just—I just—I'm trying to get under your skin, pinky, that's all. Is it working? Don't answer that, that wasn't my question, that was—rhetorical. I'm assuming that stuff you've got is skin, anyway." The prattle was hollow and meaningless. "The point is, I'm the dream realm's eternal party host, and I'm not stopping this party for anything, no matter what you say, and—and that's it. That's all there is to it!"

He must have witnessed so many horrors, in so little time—his universe incinerating, his people dying, Dimension Zero constantly collapsing even as he attempted to prop it up, the dimensions above him twisting and warping as their people fell into his nightmarish realm...

The Axolotl slowly flew closer to the triangle.

"Oh, come on— don't," the triangle whined. "Whatever little speech you're about to make, don't, I don't wanna hear it—"

Gently, the Axolotl said, "I know you've lost your home."

The word "home" struck a note with the triangle. He didn't flinch, his expression didn't change; but he went still. He looked down at the compacted ruin of what used to be his whole universe.

"But it's not too late for you to find a new home," the Axolotl said. "You can still move on and rebuild. There's a future for you. If you come out, I'll help you navigate the afterlife system. If you're stuck in this dimension, we'll find a way to free you."

The triangle's face darkened.

"You can be reincarnated, or resurrected, or—just set free to be an energy being if you want. You can settle down in a neighboring dimension, join a new people—"

"No. I'm not about to be a couch surfer in someone else's universe." He glowered up at the Axolotl. "Those people will join me. Everyone can either join me, or—or get out of my way! I finally made my kingdom, I'm not giving up my crown now!"

"If you keep your crown, you'll kill your kingdom! You know that if you stay here you'll destroy everything, I know you know it!"

"It's the best option I have! Better than your plan, anyway! Surrender to the cops and let my world fall apart?" He laughed harshly. "No way, Buster! I told my people I'd liberate them from our flat, oppressive little world and take them to a party paradise, and that's exactly what I'm gonna make for them!" He held out his little pearl of a universe again, the paradise-to-be.

Before, he'd said that the dream realm was his paradise. He'd also said that he'd remake his destroyed universe exactly as it had been. How could the "oppressive" world they'd left be their paradise? Nevermind the fact that none of "his people" were from his world. Which of the stories he'd invented was the truth? Which did the triangle think was the truth? Did he even know?

"If all of this is for your people—would you risk them? If trying to build a paradise kills the very people you made it for—"

"They'd never know."

The Axolotl's blood ran cold. It took a moment for him to find his voice. "What?"

"I can keep the party going until the end. They'd never find out what's coming. If the dream realm collapses, it'll be too fast for them to tell what's happening," the triangle said. "In their final moments, they'll still remember me as a hero."

The Axolotl hadn't realized until that moment just how cold the triangle's expression was.

His mind flashed to seeing VENDOR earlier that day, hustling the Apocalyptic Threat Task Force to clean up this mess faster because THEY didn't want the journalists to claim THEY had mishandled the situation during an election season.

Was that all the triangle was?

Another politician more concerned with how his constituents saw him than with what he could do for them?

"But," the Axolotl said weakly, "I've watched how you rescue the mortals from the fires. I've seen how you're struggling to keep this dimension from collapsing on them. I've seen how much you're suffering. You're running yourself ragged to protect them. You want so badly for them to be safe."

The triangle seemed to brighten at the Axolotl's words, as though he was soaking in the high praise. "Well, sure! And they love me for it! Would any god do less for his worshipers? Would you?" His voice took on a bitter tone. "But I don't know of any god who'd stick his corner out for a nonbeliever—and that's what they'll be if I don't deliver on the paradise I promised. I take my party hosting seriously. I'll give them their paradise if it kills me. Or them. Or everyone, if that's what it takes."

He was no hero. He never had been. He didn't care about the countless souls he'd collected, only their worship.

He didn't want his people to be safe; he just wanted to be his people's savior.

If I can't fix it, no one can. The triangle hadn't meant no one else was able to. He'd meant no one else was allowed to. He'd rather die than let someone else fix his mistakes.

And he would. This was a mass suicide.

No. Worse than that—it was a mass murder-suicide.

"You already lost your world once," the Axolotl said desperately, "don't you remember what that was like?"

The triangle flinched back like the Axolotl had slapped him. The tank rumbled around them; the hissing whispers grew louder. "That's... none of your business! Stop talking about my world, you don't know the first thing about it—"

"I know how much you must miss it. I know how deeply losing your people must hurt." It must have hurt, why would he have clung to what was left of his world if it didn't, why would he be so determined to rebuild it exactly as it had been?

"My—my people are fine." His voice was choked. He squeezed his eye shut. "They're... all out at the party. Waiting for me. Don't talk about—"

"The people at the party are shapes you kidnapped from other dimensions." He was so stubbornly loyal to his chosen delusions. "Your people are dead. You know they are!"

"No!"

His scream was answered by howls outside the Axolotl's tank. Through the static, the Axolotl could pick up a sound repeated over and over. A word. Murderer, murderer, murderer.

"No! They aren't dead! I saved them!" He curled in on himself, hands pressed to his sides like it could block out the sounds. "I liberated them from their shallow lives! I gave them their freedom—"

"Then give them their freedom now!"

The triangle's breath hitched.

"If you want to die, you can die. There are ways to break a soul. I can help. But do it alone," the Axolotl pled. "I know you care about these people!" He had to believe it, he had to believe it, he had to. In spite of the evidence to the contrary, he had to. "If you won't let us help you, at least let us help them go home. Please. You need to let them go."

He clenched his tiny hands into fists; he looked so pained the Axolotl thought he might shatter.

In another timeline, a better timeline, he whispered, "How?" The word he should have said echoed around them, blending into the static whispers. It would be so easy to say.

But in this timeline, he asked, "You're some kind of lawyer or something, right?"

The Axolotl paused uneasily. "By... way of metaphor," he said. "We have trials and courts, but not the way mortals understand—"

"There are no laws in my kingdom," the king growled. "Get out of here. Now."

"But—"

"I said OUT!"

A force crashed into the time and space between time and space, shattering the Axolotl's tank, the glittery cotton candy nebulas' pinks and blues disrupted by a twisted geyser of colors—raw frothing stuff somewhere between matter and energy—and it flung the Axolotl away from the triangle like a wave flinging a fish from the ocean. The anxious background static whispers grew to a buzzing roar, 1000 decibel white noise. He spun dizzily through the cosmic miasma.

The first time he'd come in here—the first time the triangle had chased him out—he'd felt instinctively that he'd been in danger. He'd felt flames licking at his heels.

He knew now that that had been a mere warning.

"I might be in your dream, but your dream is in MY dream realm!" The triangle seemed to get larger without his size changing. Maybe it was the universe around him that was contracting. "And you've overstayed your welcome, Axolotl!"

The Axolotl had tumbled into the nightmarish eternal dance party. Shrieking overlapping music drowned out the buzzing whispers. Thousands of eyes stared at him in horror and thousands of voices gasped in disgust; and he realized that as many times as he'd seen them, he had never been in their two-dimensional field of view.

For all the thousands that stared at him, millions of corpses never stopped dancing.

One last time, the Axolotl turned to the triangle and pled, "Just give the hostages the option to leave if they want!"

"My people aren't hostages!"

"Then give them a choice!" He could feel dead hands grabbing at his skin and fins. He wasn't sure if they were trying to restrain him for their Magister Mentium, or cling to him for escape. He wasn't even sure whether they were the dead who still had their own souls, or the triangle's corpse puppets. "Anyone who wants to stay with you can!"

"Shut up!" The triangle boomed louder and louder and he grew larger and larger, until his voice and his eye seemed to fill the universe. He was shuddering with rage (with regret?)—it threatened to shake him apart, and the universe with him. "All of this is your fault! I'm—sick because of you!" In another reality he said insane; but the realities where he didn't closed up around the word and crushed it into silence. "You made me like this! You infected me!"

"With what?" He'd only spoken to the triangle once before today. He hadn't even entered his dimension.

"This—idea!" He didn't say what idea, not in this reality; but the words echoed in from another reality where he did. He screamed to drown the echoes out. "I was fine until I met you and you ruined everything!" Regret spilled out of his eye so thick it was almost palpable, energy like a river. It threatened to fill the interdimensional in-between space and drown them all. The Axolotl could taste the idea that had poisoned the triangle: the idea that everyone mattered. That everyone was worthy of a god's attention. And now, everyone was gone.

Bewildered, the Axolotl said, "You're not 'sick' to think that. It's the sanest idea you could have—"

"Get out!" The shriek echoed through infinity. "Get out! The dream realm is my domain and I am its king! I told you last time, I won't let you threaten my people!"

"I would never—"

"GET OUT!" Blue flames exploded out of the triangle; some of his nearest prisoners were incinerated as easily as tissue paper.

The Axolotl tried to shield himself; the flames consumed one of his forelegs and ate away at his dorsal fin.

He tore himself free of the desperate grasping shapes and swam from the triangle as fast as he could.

The triangle chased him; and, to the Axolotl's despair, as the center of Dimension Zero followed the triangle, the edge of reality pulled ever further away.

His flames licked at the Axolotl's tail, consuming the fin; he swam slower and slower.

As the triangle pursued the Axolotl, his attacks further destabilized the volatile dimension; wormholes formed where the fabric of reality folded and bunched in on itself and was pierced through. Light shot through the holes like a million disembodied sunbeams. 

He saw one that led straight to the edge of Dimension Zero. He wriggled through.

"Where did you—?! HEY!" The dimension whirled dizzyingly as the triangle refocused on his evasive prey. "You think you can get away from me in my own realm?" 

"Do you want me to get out or not?!"

"I want you DEAD!"

The Axolotl shouldn't have asked.

With a roar, the triangle clawed at him. A thick, sucking wave of gravity as dense as a black hole tore through the unstable miasma toward him. The triangle laughed sadistically.

With one last surge of energy, he paddled his tail hard enough to outpace the triangle and burst free of the dimension.

The ragged edges of Dimension Zero ripped further under the triangle's attack, but it dissipated in the third dimension.

The Axolotl sighed in relief—then flinched when the triangle crashed into the invisible barrier holding the cosmic foam in the space-between-space where Dimension Zero should have been. Like a piece of glitter sticking to a bubble, if glitter sticking to a bubble were the most violent force in the universe. "Get back here! I'll skin your freakish hide and make a tent outta it—!" He strained toward the Axolotl, threatening to drag the bubble along with him, like a particularly determined sled dog trying to pull a trailer home.

The Axolotl hastily backed out of range as nauseating plumes of color stretched outside their bounds again. Blue fire danced over the thin membrane between dimensions like a burning oil spill on an ocean. The plumes twisted into shapes almost like arms, hundreds of them, reaching toward him—

And froze. The triangle was staring past the Axolotl.

The Axolotl turned to look.

It was the most sublimely awful sight he'd ever seen. An impenetrable wall made up of gods, angels, sentient forces of nature—there were things here so transcendentally powerful that the Axolotl couldn't even see them; he only knew they were present by the perimeters of the space he couldn't bring his eyes to gaze upon and the terrifying awe he felt when he tried.

They were all armed.

All their weapons were pointed at the triangle.

Apparently, the ATTF had called in reinforcements.

A god that looked like a hologram projection, the light of its projector shining down on it from a higher dimension like a halo, thundered, "ADVANCE ANY FURTHER INTO REALITY, AND WE WILL BE FORCED TO SUBDUE YOU."

"You can't afford to!" the triangle crowed. "You'll knock your own universes down!"

"NOT ANYMORE."

The triangle's eye widened. The thousand arms of raw reality seized the jagged edges of the dimensions bordering the hole left when Dimension 2 Delta burned down, trying to crush them—and nothing happened. He slammed Dimension Zero against the bordering dimension, trying to crack open a larger opening, and then trying to simply shove the bordering dimensions aside—and nothing happened. Dimension Zero burned; but the surrounding first and second dimensions remained still. There was no creak and crack of snapping lines and shattering planes as the triangle tried to squeeze his bloated universe free. There was no glowing line of fire on the distant horizon.

The neighboring dimensions burned and blackened under the thousand hands; but they didn't dissolve to ash. The cinders got caught between the layers together as the dimensions splintered into layers, then multiplied—splintered and multiplied—splintered and multiplied—thicker and denser and harder—

Parallel universes. Every time the triangle touched them, they split into more timelines, reinforcing themselves. The Time Giant already reformatted the universes most closely adjacent to Dimension Zero. Not every universe—but just enough to form a cage.

The triangle gave up with a grunt of pain. He laughed in disbelief—and then anger. "You were the distraction?"

"No! I was supposed to talk you into cooperating with building the fireproof foundation! We agreed to only call in reinforcements if I couldn't persuade you!" He looked around for the Time Giant, but couldn't find her—nor any of the other gods he'd spoken to while dealing with this mess. Everyone, apparently, had been cleared out of the vicinity to make way for the god militia.

The only civilian left on the 3D side of the missing wall was the Axolotl—once again, stuck in the middle of a situation he had no business being involved in.

The triangle's eye widened further, further, white hot with fury. "Nothing's ever your fault, is it, frills?! Every time you ruin my life, it's all a big misunderstanding! You just keep talking your way out of trouble!" His eye opened wider and wider still. His eyelid unhinged. His mandibles split open and at the back of his eye socket was an infinitely dark esophagus. Sprouting in a ring around the triangle's eye like the petals of a grisly flower, piercing the membrane between the zeroth dimension and the third, were millions and millions of—

—teeth. Teeth longer than the spaces between stars and sharp enough to split an atom.

The Axolotl only barely managed to paddle back out of their range before they snapped at where he had been. A couple of the higher gods caught him, holding his sides protectively. His skin sizzled with holy electricity.

The god militia drew back from the gnashing fangs, then readied their own weapons: spears, guns, swords, a wider array of divine and holy weaponry than the Axolotl had ever seen. The projection leading the militia called, "DON'T LET HIM MAKE IT PAST THE FIREPROOF BARRIER."

"Afraid I'll start breaking things again?" The fangs snapped tauntingly. "Hey—how fast do you think I can find the load-bearing dimensions?"

The Axolotl shook off the gods and swam back toward Dimension Zero. "Stop!"

"HOLD FIRE!" The projected god commanded, "OUT OF THE WAY, AXOLOTL. THE MULTIVERSE'S SAFETY IS WORTH MORE THAN YOUR LIFE."

He knew it was. The leader of the militia was so powerful that resisting a direct order made the Axolotl dizzy—but he did resist. He shouted at the triangle, "You can't fight off every god in the multiverse! This is suicide!" He realized too late that that probably wasn't as discouraging as he'd intended it to be.

"So what?! There's no way for me to win! Get executed for god crimes or get erased when the dimension collapses—"

"Those aren't your only choices!" The Axolotl could see the fangs slowly, slowly curling up in his peripheral vision, and pretended he didn't. "It's not too late for you to stand down—!"

"I can't!" A wave of fire blazed up the teeth of the Dream Realm. He held up a fist, and it was far too small for any of the gods, so mighty and large, to see what he held; but the Axolotl knew. "If I don't get a happy ending, why shouldn't I burn the rest of you down with me?! At least I'll accomplish one thing before I go!" His hand began glowing as energy began gathering around the tiny seed of a big bang.

"Do you want your worshipers to remember you as a monster in their last moments?!"

"Better a monster than a LOSER!" His laugh was a strained subsonic roar. "Are fame and infamy really that different?! At least they'll be thinking about me at the end!"

"It would make you a terrible party host!"

The Axolotl didn't know what had possessed him to say that. Apparently the triangle didn't know what to make of it either, because he froze, giving the Axolotl a wide-eyed blank stare.

But it worked. He snapped out of his rage. The light gathering around the remains of Dimension 2 Delta went dark. For a moment, he was frozen, giving the Axolotl a wide-eyed blank stare; and then he laughed again, just as strained, much weaker. The borders of Dimension Zero shuddered with his laughter. "Fair enough!" The appendages stretching out into the third dimension lost definition. "Fair enough." He glowered tiredly at the god militia—but raised his hands in surrender. Both his palms were empty.

The trembling fangs dissolved as they retracted. The whole paradoxical mass sagged sluggishly back into the crawlspace underneath reality.

One by one, the god militia slowly lowered their weapons.

The Axolotl's heart was still hammering in his chest; and only then did it register that he'd nearly been eaten by an entire dimension.

Where had his power come from? How had the triangle done all this—made his whole dimension vanish without a trace, shoved an entire plane inside a point, gained complete control over it all...

He really did have complete control over the entire universe that had formed inside Dimension Zero—didn't he?

And to control an entire universe, he needed to have an entire universe's worth of energy.

Dimension 2 Delta had been an entire universe. And now—all of its energy was in Dimension Zero.

With the triangle.

As he watched the triangle wincing in pain as the Dream Realm sank back into place, as though the triangle could feel the way the edges of the neighboring dimensions dug into the frothing chaos, the Axolotl whispered, "Oh, no. What have you done?"

His power had come from his own universe. He had devoured it. He'd made it part of him.

All that energy wasn't stored inside the triangle's body—but the Axolotl had been wrong to think that the triangle was the body in the first place. The triangle was only the face: the eye, the mouth, the mind. The part of the Dream Realm that could speak.

The Dream Realm was the anglerfish—and the triangle was its pretty golden glowing lure. They were all one monster.

The triangle was slumped in defeat, but still he shot the Axolotl a tired glare. The hissing static whispers rose up around him again, spilling out of the Dream Realm. (The whispers, too, were a part of the triangle.) "Who are you to judge," he muttered. "You weren't there."

No, he wasn't. He'd gotten here too late.

Behind the Axolotl, the god projection said curtly, "APPREHEND THE TRIANGLE WHILE HE'S COMPLIANT."

The Axolotl whirled around, eyes glowing with rage. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!" The gods who had started moving toward Dimension Zero froze again.

"HE'S A THREAT TO THE MULTIVERSE!"

"He stood down!" 

"HE'S PROVEN WILLING TO DESTROY REALITY. HE COULD EASILY CHOOSE TO AGAIN." The higher dimensional projector turned to project straight at the Axolotl, dazzling him even through his shut eyes, shining straight into his brain. "STAND. ASIDE."

"No." The Axolotl tensed his muscles against the compulsion to obey. "He was a threat to the multiverse. Once the last walls are closed over the crawlspace, he won't be anymore. If he doesn't make a move between now and then, you have no grounds to pursue him." It was a little easier the second time to resist the higher god's command. "So if you do follow him out of the third dimension to capture him, you're trespassing in a new god's sovereign territory to make an illegal arrest outside your jurisdiction!"

"HE'S MASSACRED TEN DIMENSIONS AND TRIED TO DESTROY MORE. THERE ISN'T A COURT IN REALITY THAT WOULD CONSIDER PURSUING HIM UNJUSTIFIED."

"I know a few."

"YOU'RE DEFENDING A DIVINE MENACE. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

He quietly kissed his career prospects goodbye as he watched himself do the stupidest thing he'd ever done. "I'm the Axolotl," said the Axolotl, "and I'm his lawyer!"

####

(Thanks for reading!! If the art lured you in and this is the first chapter you read, this is part 8 of a 9 part fic about the Axolotl in the immediate aftermath of the Euclidean Massacre. I'll be posting the last chapter next week, Fridays 5pm CST, so stick around if you wanna watch the Axolotl deal with having gotten his heart broken by this sweet little triangle who actually isn't sweet.

It's ALSO chapter 61 Part Eight of an ongoing post-canon post-TBOB very-reluctantly-human Bill fic. So if you wanna read more of me writing Bill, check it out. If you're not sold on the idea of a human Bill fic, I've also got a one-shot about normal triangle Bill escaping the Theraprism if you wanna read that.

If this is NOT your first time here and you already knew all of the above: this was The Big One, gang. And now I expect for the next several months I'm gonna get comments from y'all rereading earlier chapters going HOLD ON WAS THIS LINE FORESHADOWING THAT LITERALLY THE ENTIRE NIGHTMARE REALM IS PART OF BILL? And the answer is: yes. yes it was. Looking forward to hearing y'all's thoughts!! 💕

also this was THE absolute hardest chapter to write, goddamn.)

[jeanjauthor]

*sighhh...* They missed half the Orkney Islands...including the ones with the entry in the Guiness Book of Records.

The one with the purple lable Noup Head Lighthouse is Westray, and the one with Knap of Howan is Papa Westray, and they hold the Guiness Book of Records for the world's official SHORTEST daily commercial airflight route. I think the GBR says it was 2 minutes flat, or maybe a couple seconds over but I personally timed it from wheels off the runway to wheels on the runway, and that day that I watched it, it was 1m 57s. (I think they had a tailwind the day I watched.)

It's a little commuter plane, seats about 8 people, and it takes off and lands a few times in the morning and a few times in the evening, because it's faster and cheaper to take a small plane like that than it is to spend literal hours sailing over the sea.

Westray is also home to Noltland Castle (nolt = cattle, iirc), which has an absurdly high number of cannon loops. Not arrow loops, but cannon loops or portholes. Like, 72 or so...and it's NOT a big castle. It was never fully finished, but it was finished enough to live comfortably (for the time), plus it was highly defensible, and it was expected to become the place of retreat for Mary, Queen of Scots when being pursued by the English. Unfortunately, at the last minute she chose instead to head south for France, and was captured (etc'd) by the English. (The locals are very proud of the fact their ancestors were prepared to house The Queen.)

(Not all of the castle, but you can definitely see some of the cannon loops!)

How do I know all of this, and for that matter, why did I go there? Well, 2014, the World Science Fiction Convention was being held in London, and my mother and I decided we wanted to visit some relatives waaaay up in Scotland. On Westray. So they took us ALL over the place, and that's when I got to see the GBR record being (unofficially) beaten by like 4-5 seconds.

And yes, it is very, very windy. Like, wimdy windy. Literally, no trees grow up in the Orkneys unless they are in protected valleys, hollows, sunken gardens, or enclosed by walls. The tallest "tree" mum & I saw on Westray itself was a row of fuschia bushes that was probably close to 9 feet tall, slightly taller than the fence sheltering it. In fact, most gardens are sunken gardens, by at least a yard or more, specifically so the plants can grow safely, sheltered by the wind.

But it almost never snows in the Orkneys. (Can't speak for the Hebrides.) It rains intermittently, too, so it's almost always green with grass. It is almost always perfect sheep-grazing weather, and some cattle-grazing...but mostly sheep because sheep come with their own woollens for winter, and even Scottish cattle don't get that shaggy. (The reason Noltland Castle was named so, the locals suspect but cannot say for certainty, is that the local lord could afford to own cattle.)

So yes, there were a lot of sheep around the area, and you can bet they'll have their wool being made into Harris Tweed.

I don't know if anyone would want to visit Westray (other than for the awesome castle, lol) without having relatives all the way up there (like we did), but if you can visit the Orkneys, do give it a try! The main isle has the Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brogar (both of which you can actually go up to and touch, unlike Stonehenge!), Skara Brae (the oldest intact Neolithic village in existence, so very cool!!!), and the Italian Chapel, made out of a Quonset Hut during WWII for the Italian prisoners of war.

(Stones of Stenness)

(Part of the Ring of Brodgar, which is huge, too huge to get into my camera view without having walked over a football field away.)

They were building cement buttressed causeways to connect a few of the nearby islands to the main one to try to cut off submarine access to the isles, and being Catholics instead of Anglicans or Protestants, they politely requested the camp commander for a Catholic church and priest. The commander, not being a total dirtbag, got them a Quonset hut, some cans of paint, etc, and told them they could work on building it when their daily work was done.

It's getting on in years, but the grandson of the artist (Italian POW) who originally painted the interior has come round a few times to touch up the paint job. Let me tell you something: You have to touch the walls to make sure they're not actually plaster relief work.

That is a flat, smooth wall.

Flat.

So while the Orkneys are a "piddy bit" (Scottish Orkadian for "little bit") off the beaten path, there are some interesting things you can go see! Plus, sheep. (I don't have any pictures of sheep, though, sorry.)

(Hebrides, you're on your own for Enthusiastic Tourist-ing.)

The answer to "What the h*ck goes on on those islands to the North and West of mainland Scotland?" by Derek Guy @/dieworkwear on twitter [x]

[insidekatmind]

Meet my sister P.8-Jude Bellingham

plot: Federico Valverde wants to introduce his younger sister to Jude, his teammate. He hoped that something romantic would be born between them seeing that their characters were perfect together but things take a different turn

wearning: +18, smut

Jude couldn't get that scene out of his head, and his pride had been wounded. The smile he'd seen on your face as you walked away drove him crazy, but it was also your provocation that left him speechless. He was frustrated, determined to make you pay.

When he saw you walking upstairs, his heart raced faster. His mind was focused on one thing: showing you that you couldn't challenge him without consequences. He reached the room and slammed the door shut behind him. His gaze was more serious than ever, with no hint of irony or amusement.

He watched you turn toward him, and you looked at him with your usual playful attitude, ready to tease him again. But when his eyes locked with yours, there was a hardness in them that you'd never seen before, and you froze. The smile that had been on your face instantly faded, and your body instinctively began to step back, sensing the change in the air.

Jude took a step forward, his face expressionless, but the air around him was thick with tension. "Did you really think I would let you get away with that?" he said in a low, firm voice, his tone laced with anger he wasn't even trying to hide.

You, still staring at him with defiance, couldn't help but feel your heart race. A subtle shiver ran down your spine. You didn’t know what would happen next, but you definitely weren’t planning on giving up.

"Do you really think you can intimidate me, Jude?" you replied, though your voice shook a little more than you'd wanted, betraying the tension you felt.

He didn’t answer right away. He took another step toward you, and you could feel the weight of his presence in the room, his breathing heavier. His body came closer to yours, but not in a sweet or seductive way. It was a direct, deliberate approach, and you couldn't help but back away, feeling the intensity building.

"I'm tired of your games," he continued, getting even closer. "Today, I'm going to show you that things don't always go the way you want."

His proximity made you lose your usual confidence, and a part of you started to fear that he might actually follow through on that promise.

At that moment, all the courage you had tried to keep disappeared. The words you had in mind stuck, and you found yourself silent, with the beat accelerated in your chest. Jude looked at you with a look you couldn’t decipher, but his mischievous smile, devoid of fun, made you feel that something was about to change.

Slowly, he approached you, and his figure trapped you between the desk and his body, forcing you to stay still. There was no escape, and as he looked at you with that expression that faded between challenge and control, you noticed how much the situation had changed. " You’re so quiet, it’s almost funny," he said with an ironic tone, as if he was studying you.

You tried to answer him, but the words could not form on your tongue. There was something about his attitude, his closeness to you, and for a moment it seemed like the room had become too small, too small for both of us. His breath became louder as it came closer, and your head was in confusion.

Then, without warning, Jude kissed you. It was an intense kiss, full of passion and anger, that hit you like a hurricane. An unexpected wave of emotions passed through you, and for a moment you forgot everything else. His kiss was not sweet or slow, but a strong gesture, as if he wanted to mark the ground and show you that he was no longer willing to play.

And you... did not reject him. In fact, unintentionally, you kissed him back. Your hands fell on his back, as you tried to stay anchored to that feeling that was overwhelming you. At that moment, the world seemed to stop, and all that remained was the sound of your breaths and the warmth of his body against yours.

While you continued to kiss, Jude spread your legs as he lifted up your dress and pulled out your thong by throwing it in a corner of the room.

He put a finger in your pussy and you moaned in the kiss as you started pushing your hips on his finger but Jude stopped your movements and lifted his finger off the kiss making you moan with frustration and he smiled sadistically.

"Be a good princess and don’t move otherwise I’ll leave you like this" he said in a serious tone as he lowered herself and began to lick your pussy and groan tasting you.

"This pussy is so good" he whispered without detaching you from your folds and began to lick while you groaned and tried not to move, obeying him.

Jude while he was licking your pussy with pure hunger, looked up to see you as fucked for him and smiled in your pussy, giving you more licks and sucks while you moaned loudly.

"Jude" You moaned screaming and he moaned in reference to how sexy I was moaning like that for him.

You were about to come and he knew it. He put a finger inside you as he started pushing it, and you groaned.

He just took a little bit off your pussy to look at you better. " If you want to come you better beg," he said while adding another finger making you bow your back.

Jude pulled out his fingers and slapped your pussy to make you scream. "Princess, what did I tell you about not moving?" He said to you as he gave you another blow on your pussy and you moaned.

"I’m sorry" you said breathlessly as you tried not to move and Jude smiled.

He added a finger again but was moving it slowly and you were looking at him in despair.

"Jude" you moaned whipped and he smiled.

"use your pretty words princess" jude mocked you while still moving his finger with a slowness that was killing you.

"please Jude" you mumbled he smiled pretending not to listen

"what you said" he said jokingly and you moaned

"Please Jude, I need you." you said with needy voice and he smiled satisfied as he lifted his finger and started licking your pussy with pure hunger and you moaned putting your hands on her hair pulling it and he moans in your pussy and you moaned of reprieve and your pussy vibrated.

He was licking your pussy with pure hunger and you were moaning pushing your hips on his mouth with sheer despair and he smiled as he gave you some suckers that were making you see the stars.

"You’re making me feel so good" you mumbled by now thinking only of his abila tongue in your pussy and he added again a finger while you squirted on his tongue and you moaned loudly giving a strong tug to his hair making him grunting.

Jude before you cut your pussy gave her a kiss and then stood up. You groaned as you looked at him and were trying to catch your breath as you looked at him.

He was a pure divine vision: hair with a blush, cheeks red, eyes full of lust, and in his beard there was some of your cum.

You groaned as you took his hand to draw him back to you in a kiss and while you tasted her mouth and moaned at how good she was at kissing.

When you got away he looked at you carefully as his hand flew on your neck caressing it while you watched him in silence.

"What? now you’re silent?" he said in a teasing tone.

Jude took his thumb and passed it on your lips and then put it in your mouth as he looked at you with lust and anger.

"suck like the bitch you are" he said and you moaned hearing his words and started sucking his thumb while you did not look away and he smiled.

Jude took your finger and looked at you carefully.

"Knees" he said in a firm and authoritative tone, and you immediately listened to him as you looked at him.

"You know what to do" he said and you nodded.

You started to untie his belt and lowered his pants and boxer shorts and then kicked his dick out and moaned seeing how big it was.

"what are you not being difficult now, huh?" he said laughing bitterly selling your reaction.

You started licking his cock while slowly taking it in your mouth and sucking it.

Jude immediately put his hand in your hair as he began to paint his hips while you took his cock choking.

"look how obedient you are now, you just had to be silenced with my cock, yes?" Jude said as he pushed himself more violently into your mouth moaning.

"Shit, this pretty mouth is so perfect around my dick" he moaned as you kept sucking it.

You moaned when he was pushing his cock in his mouth, you were liking it and he knew it.

"Look at you," said Jude, laughing as he moaned as he felt you sucking on his cock. You started playing with his balls while you kept sucking him to get it in your mouth.

"Be a good girl and swallow" he said breathlessly as you obeyed swallowing his cum and were starting to suck his cock again but he stopped you.

"Lie on your desk with your stomach down and get your ass up" he said as he lifted you up and slapped your butt making you moan.

You did what he told you and he started slapping your ass all the time.

"maybe you should apologize for how you behaved" say as he was poking the door with his cock and you moaned trying to push your butt on his cock but he stopped you and slapped you on your ass making you scream.

You were sure that you had the marks of his hands on your ass and this thing was turning you even more

"I'm sorry" you had said with a thread of voice and he smiled slowly inserting his cock inside you not to hurt yourself.

You both moaned while you finally felt it inside of you and started fucking you so hard that you could only groan.

He took a handful of your hair as it pushed into you with more force and marked your neck: sucking and nibbling.

In the room you could only hear your groans and the slaps of your skin that met.

"You’re so tight" he muttered, moaning as he pushed himself more forcefully into you and you groaned wanting more.

You came on his dick squeezing even more by making him moan and sneeze inside while you both moaned.

When you got off, you turned around and sat down while you watched him fix his jeans and he smiled.

He looked at you with a look that seemed to enjoy seeing how silent you had been, as if your reaction was the one that intrigued him most.

You, on the other hand, stood still, trying to regain some clarity, but you couldn’t take your eyes off him. It was as if his words and behavior had taken over you, and that smile he wore on your face only infused in you a feeling of frustration, but also curiosity.

"I didn’t think I could make you stay so... calm," he said, his voice full of irony. He mocked you, but did not seem to be condescending. Rather, there was an implicit challenge in his words, as if he were testing you.

You felt vulnerable, yet there was something inside of you that didn’t want to give in, that didn’t want to show him how much it was upsetting you. But his voice brought you back to reality, and you couldn’t hold back a sarcastic smile.

"You really think you’ve won, huh?" you replied, in a more calm but provocative tone. "But don’t think it’s going to affect me. This game is not over."

Jude looked at you, his expression changing between fun and challenge. He approached you again, shortening the distance between you two, and with a light laugh said: "Does it not work for you? It seemed to me as you were looking for my cock more"

You were about to retort, ready to throw another jab at him, but Jude didn't give you the chance to speak. Without warning, he grabbed your face and kissed you with an intensity that made you lose all control over your words. His kiss, more possessive than before, made you forget everything. It made you stop thinking and just desire to be in that moment, without a care in the world.

When he pulled away, his gaze stayed locked on your eyes, and before you could react, you felt his teeth gently bite your lower lip with such intensity that it made you shiver. A small gesture, but it made your heart race, a mix of excitement and frustration.

"Don't forget," he said with a mischievous smile, "who's in charge here."

Then, without another word, Jude turned and left the room with confident strides. He left you alone, your heart in turmoil, your breath still shallow, as you tried to gather yourself. His words and that gesture had shaken you completely, but you knew this was only the beginning. And that awareness made you feel alive like never before.

It was impossible to stop thinking about him, and you had no idea what would happen next, but one thing was certain: Jude would never leave you alone.

[everlastingdream]

Part 1 - Part 8 - Part 9

Everything after that was a blur. Alex and Winn was talking to Kara and then to J'onn and then even to Lena, who stood there shocked, face wet and finally hopeful.

Kara wasn't thinking, she wanted to bring Lena to the DEO as soon as possible, while there was still life beating underneath pale skin. But Alex managed to made her come to her senses, before she could fly close to the speed of the sound and make more damage than good.

"It's strange to see myself like that", Lena remarked, while they were flying back. She tried to poke her arm, only for her hand to go through.

"I'll take any strangies if it means you're alive", Kara smiled despite her heart trying to beat out of her chest.

"Well, I guess I am alive, but I'm a ghost still, so it's another thing to consider".

"Don't. We'll find the way", Kara retorted sternly, regreting her tone a bit. But she couldn't help it. So many things happened at once. So many emotions was rattling inside her without a way to escape.

"We will", Lena nodded and then spent the rest of the flight contemplating about something.

/ / / / / / / / / /

Medical team was ready as soon as they arrived at the DEO. They took Lena inside for the examination to determine how bad her condition was. It goes without saying that Kara wanted to be there for all of the discussions but she gave up after Alex promised to tell her everything and J'onn was adamant about her not disturbing the doctors.

So Kara passed in front of their screen relaying her report. Every couple of sentences she would freeze to tune to the weak sound of heart on the floor below.

"She is stable but the situation is dire", Alex arrived in the room, looking somber. She raised her hand as soon as Kara opened her mouth. "They had her on medication all this time, but she wasn't properly treated after the car accident. And it seems they gave up a few days ago so Lena is heavily malnourished. They likely just gave her water and some liquid supplements".

Room fell silent. Ghost Lena was standing in the corner with her jaw set stubbornly, clearly not ready to give up yet. But there was still bitterness in that determination.

"So what are we going to do?" Kara went to stand beside her, offering some comfort. She wanted to rub her on the back and even in her disappointment of being unable to do so there sparkled bright hope.

"We will treat her injuries and devise a plan to get her all the missing nutrients back. She should be able to wake up soon if all is well".

"Thank Rao", Kara sighed and exchanged glances with Lena.

Alex smiled at them before going back.

/ / / / / / / / / /

"How are you feeling?" Kara whispered several hours later, sitting beside Lena's bed.

"It's still strange", Lena chuckled quietly from other side of the bed. "But I felt your touch at the base a little, so I think it's a good sign, even if I have no idea why I'm still outside of my body".

"You felt it?"

"I did. Just a faint sensation, but still".

Kara slowly took the hand laying on the bed and brought it to her lips, still looking right into Lena's eyes.

"That is really not fair", Lena groaned, turning away to try and hide her flaming face. "It's not like I can do anything in return".

"It's okay. I'll wait as long as needed. You promised to take me out for dinner".

Lena glared at Kara's smug smile.

"I'll reconsider the offer", she haughtily lifted her chin up, but still smiled tenderly at the end.

They laughed softly, searching each other faces. It was a beautiful moment free of any worry of the past few days. A time of respite, existing only for the purpose of reaffirming that delicate bond between them and finally letting it to take shape.

"Say, Lena. Will you remember me when you wake up?"

"Will I remember you?" Lena's smile was enigmatic and promising. "I won't forget you even if you asked".

/ / / / / / / / / /

The moment Lena's heart missed a beat Kara woke up, violently torn from sleep by the sound she dreaded the most.

By the moment she somehow cleared the fog from the sleep, there was already a nurse in the room with her. Kara caught only "critical" and "emergency" in her talk over the phone.

"No, no no no", she muttered two steps away from the team, who checked up the vitals and did something Kara wasn't able to understand from the sheer terror of what was happening right in front of her eyes.

"What's going on?" Alex was a welcome sight. Her sister was the only person Kara trusted right now. She would know what to do. She would save Lena.

"Agent Danvers, we need the resuscitation kit. The situation is dire".

After that Kara's world went silent. It was something that no headphones on this planet was able to do. But there was only Lena lying on the medical bed, staff frantically moving around and her sister giving out the commands. And all of that deadly quiet.

"I don't want to lose you", she whispered. Her eyes completely dry, as if even her body denied the possibility.

"It's okay", Ghost Lena was suddenly standing in front of her, blocking the view of yet another tradegy Kara witnessed. "It's okay, you saved me. As you promised. So it's okay".

And seeing her so accepting was even more heartbreaking.

"What am I going to say to Sam? Or to Winn? He wanted to meet you so badly", Kara muttered, lost. "What am I- what am I going to do..?"

"You'll live, you'll save people with your words and you powers and you will remember that there was a Lena Luthor who was not a monster".

Lena was standing there, strong and beatiful. And Kara wanted to scream. To ask why won't she just say that everything is going to be alright. Why was she saying the stuff like if it's her last words. Why was she smiling so sadly. Why she was leaving Kara behind.

Beep

Beep

Be-e-e-ep

Steady sound of the heart monitor suddenly stopped. And Lena closed her eyes, swallowing the tears, so that she can seem strong a little longer. But despite medical team running around and doing everything they can, Lena started to fade. So Kara did the only thing she could think about in these last few moments they had.

She surged forward to kiss Lena.

Even if it was futile, even if she was going to fall right through her.

This was for them. The last act of defiance against fate.

/ / / / / / / / / /

"You don't need to do that, Kara", Clark said to her on the way.

"I need to", Kara frowned, even if it was hard to go there.

"I don't want to see you hurt".

"I'm not going to be hurt, I've come to terms with it".

They stopped at the secretary desk.

Almost half a year has passed since Kara last saw Lena. And it still hurt so much that even seeing the logo of Luthor Corp was enough for her mind to wander for the next two days.

And with their recent investigation her resolve was tested more than once.

"You may go inside".

Inside was the same as when they went there the first time. And Lena was still beautiful, sitting in her chair, reading Clark's article.

After waking up and reclaming the company, she looked like a true bussinesswoman. Sharp and strong. Less soft, more predatory.

"Thank you, mister Kent. This is exactly the kind of press my company needs after yesterday's attack".

Lena and Clark exchanged some pleasantaries, more sincere than the first time they met. And something inside Kara preened at her only blood relative's approval.

"What about you, Miss Danvers?" Lena's smile made everything inside Kara flip upside down. "I didn't see your name on the byline".

The way she almost breathed out these words left Kara scrumbling for reply.

"Uh... Well, as I said, I'm not a reporter".

"You could've fooled me".

Perhaps there was a hope yet. Kara couldn't wipe dreamy smile off her face. Seeing Lena alive was a miracle, even if they were suddenly back to being strangers. But seeing Lena so... flirtatious was a ray of hope Kara tried to crush all this time.

"I hope this isn't the last time we talk?"

"I hope not either. I'll wait as long as needed, so please call me when your schedule has an opening".

She and Clark turned to leave. And now there was a possibility. In Lena's smile, in her now racing heartbeat. It didn't matter if she didn't remember. They'll make new memories together.

"Miss Danvers?" Lena called after her. Kara nodded to Clark to go ahead and turned around.

"Yes?"

There was tears streaming down Lena's cheeks, and before Kara could panic and rush to her, she spoke with a tender smile.

"I believe I promised you dinner".

[icewindandboringhorror]

I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently

[manorinthewoods]

((There's an awful lot of isekai ones, huh?))

Look.

I do not care about this Dark Lord.

These demons are Not My Problem. Anybody who summons random people from other dimensions to fix their issues does not deserve to have them fixed. Sure, the ritual isn't repeatable. I fixed that. It is now.

Earth's physics are awfully constrictive compared to this place. Conservation of energy? Not a thing here. I can generate infinite power as long as there's a manual operator involved. The square-cube law? Apparently, there's a spell to turn it off. I don't know how you can bend the laws of mathematics itself, but apparently, you can.

It's been hard to think of things to do with the sheer power of magic. Constraints breed creativity, after all, and it's hard to figure out how to exploit something without limits. So I've set myself to three goals, in particular. First, break the laws of magic to generate an infinite supply without being limited by the supply of mages willing to cast the same spell, constantly, for 8 hours a day. Second, figure out how to make souls that aren't attached to human bodies. Third, improve my own cognition, ideally ad infinitum.

Really, when you think about it, all of these are the same goal - learning how to manipulate souls. This is apparently Black Magic, but so's marketing, so I don't care. Unfortunately, I do care somewhat about my morals, so I can't go around dissecting souls to figure out what's going on with them.

I've been doing this, basically since I arrived. In order to pay for all the livestock I go through, I've needed to spend a lot of effort producing boring normal stuff, such as large towers that transmit mana across long distances. I've been trying to figure out how to reflect the mana across constellations, instead of just shooting it to the next mountain, but that's been tricky and also the last time I tried the Moon God tried to smite me. Got smote himself, though, so I'm not concerned about a repeat attempt.

Unfortunately, I have a more dangerous threat: Heroes. It appears that people are making good use of my Refined Hero-Summoning Ritual. I apparently count as villainous enough for the goddess of heroes to be able to empower people to stop me, despite the fact that I have not actually directly harmed anyone. It's really rather upsetting. I think the gods just don't like the fact that I want to mass-produce deific power.

My efforts to duplicate my own soul have, thus far, been ineffective. All I've succeeded at doing is teaching many other students my secrets. I have started a university, you see. It's an ideal format for study of magic. Also, it means that when the gods siege my capital, I have an army ready to shoot their wings off so I can analyse their material. I'm actually presently trying to provoke the gods into showing up again, because I've almost managed to replicate their wings. Then I'll build a wing factory and everyone will fly. Who needs cars when you have the ability to refute gravity with a stroke of your limbs?

"You're not going to take up the usual tools of combat, like bows or swords, to defeat the Dark Lord?" "No. I was an engineer on Earth, and now I find myself isekai'd to a place where I'm not bound by limitations like the square-cube law or thermodynamics. I'm gonna make some REAL weird shit!"

[jabeur]

can't sleep

[bowsers-sweaty-asshole]

.

[plushri]

My phone broke and I don't feel like reinstalling all my apps on my temporary one while I wait for it to get fixed and maybe,.... I do not need the fitbit app to log my water in and check my daily sleep and steps and active minutes and...

[malcriada]

Help save Bilal's family!

i want to talk about my friend Bilal @bilal-salah0. for over a year now, Bilal has been living in germany, trying to adjust to his new living situation in a foreign country, learning a new language and working full time. 

when the war started, he was far away from home and his family and has been living in daily fear for their lives ever since. 

being forced to work long hours and promoting his family’s fundraiser at the same time, he has taken on more responsibility than anyone ever should. still, he managed to raise money for their evacuation fund and helped take care of his family’s daily needs with the money he was making while working. 

in a cruel twist of fate, all of this got taken away in an instant. he lost his job and his apartment and even his residence permit. which means he is at danger of deportation from germany that could happen as soon as next week!

i have been in daily contact with Bilal for a while now and connected him with some of my friends in germany. together, we are trying our utmost to make sure he can stay in the country. anyone who knows german bureaucracy knows what kind of hell it is. but we won't give up.

without his job, he was forced to dip into the money of his family’s evacuation fund to cover their daily expenses like food and shelter. this meant he had to raise his goal from €70,000 to €100,000. this was not an easy decision for him to make, he even asked for my advice on whether or not to do it, because he did not want anyone to think he was scamming people. 

even in such a desperate situation, Bilal does not want to be seen as someone who would ever take advantage of people's generosity

his family is comprised of 18 members, 10 of them are adults and 8 are children under 16 years old, some of them newborns who were born amidst the chaos of war and displacement.

currently, he is sitting at:

€71,817 / €100,000

donations have been slowing down ever since he reached his original goal. i cannot stress how important it is that they pick back up!

WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME! HE NEEDS TO REACH HIS GOAL BY AUGUST 15TH!

THAT MEANS HE HAS TO RAISE NEARLY 30K IN THE NEXT TEN DAYS. THIS CANT WAIT.

his campaign has been verified and can be found on @/el-shab-hussein’s and @/nabulsi’s list of vetted fundraisers here (#132, line 136) so PLEASE don't hesitate to share and donate.

With such a tight deadline, i cant do this on my own. So i implore you to PLEASE share this wherever you can– on your whatsapp groups, on your discord servers, please share his story on other platforms wherever you have reach! Please share his story wherever you can, so that we can ease this burden from his shoulders.

[ID: a gfm link with a picture of two small children sitting in the sand in front of a cooking pot. they are looking up a the camera, eyes half-closed. the title reads "Donate to Help Evacuate My Family from Gaza to Safety, organized by Bilal salah" End ID]

tagging for reach under the cut, please let me know if you'd like to be removed:

@meaganfoster @briarhips @dirhwangdaseul @mahoushojoe

@schoolhater @pcktknife @sawasawako

@feluka @terroristiraqis @irhabiya @commissions4aid-international @wellwaterhysteria

@deepspaceboytoy @post-brahminism @khanger @kibumkim @neechees

@mangocheesecakes @kyra45-helping-others @7bitter @tortiefrancis

@toiletpotato @fromjannah @vague-humanoid @criptochecca

@aristotels @komsomolka @xinakwans @heritageposts @nibeul

@ot3 @amygdalae @ankle-beez @communistchilchuck @dykesbat

@watermotif @stuckinapril @mavigator @lacecap @yugiohz

@socalgal @chilewithcarnage @ghelgheli @sayruq @northgazaupdates2

@vakarians-babe @wayneradiotv

@psychotic-gerard @mavigator @communistkenobi @socalgal @chilewithcarnage

@ghelgheli @determinate-negation @papasmoke @omegaversereloaded

@xinakwans @givemearmstopraywith @loombreaking @killy @deathlonging

@palms-upturned @blackpearlblast @littlegermanboy @loveaankilaq @sar-soor

@fridgebride @27-moons @tamarrud @familyabolisher @fleshdyk3

@decolonize-solidarity @palipunk @gothhabiba

[halfbit]

i am getting started on productivity for the night but haven't figured out yet if i want to write or art first and there's also the tiny part of my brain that just wants to stare at kabru until it is ok to stop staring at kabru

[ckret2]

So a while ago some friends were talking about fans who claim the Same Coin theory is canon. And I made the mistake of saying:

Do you know who also has tons in common with Bill? Mabel. Yet nobody claims Bill reincarnated as Mabel. …wait now I want a "same coin but it's Mabel" AU. Funniest Bill reincarnation option. The all-seeing arsonist is making macaroni glitter art. The omnipotent tyrant is crying because a unicorn called her a bad person.

And then I overthought it for two months.

So—AU where after death, Bill's soul shoots 13 years into the past and reincarnates as Mabel. I'll call it ✨ Sparkly Coin AU ✨

Don't leave yet. Lemme show you why it works. Behold the eerie amount of parallels in their personalities, dialogue, behavior, mannerisms, tastes...

I could have kept going but my attention span ran out. All right, we all on board now? Convinced we could segue from one personality into the other? Great. Now here's why you should be interested: the juicy post-Weirdmageddon angst potential.

As long as a small fringe of the fandom still thinks Weirdmageddon is Mabel's fault, why not amp that up x100 and have some fun with it?

Is everyone sold now? Great. Let's get into the details. I've got 8 more pieces of art under the read more.

So the AU starts the instant Bill dies. Thanks to invoking his deal with the Axolotl—one way to absolve his crime, a different form, a different time—the Axolotl gives him a new shape and shoots him thirteen years into the past. Apparently, the Axolotl thought it would be very funny to stick Bill in the family that defeated him.

Which probably made for a jarring transition.

(It's fine, she's like 10 minutes old, she probably can't even tell who she's looking at. Not being able to tell who she was looking at is what got her into this situation ayyyy)

When Dipper & Mabel come back from Gravity Falls complaining about this triangular jerk Bill, their parents mention that Dipper's name was nearly Bill. See, after they knew they were going to have a boy, one night their mom dreamed about a visitor—some kind of magic pink salamander??—calling her child "BILL." Then at the next sonogram they found out they were having twins, the girl must've been hidden at a weird angle the first time, and they wanted matching names, so they thought, Bill and Bell. But they didn't really like Bell; but eventually they stumbled on Mabel, so to keep the names matching they switched from Bill to Mason. Isn't that the darnedest thing?

(Of course, Mabel and Dipper assume Bill harassed their parents to try to trick them into naming a kid after him. To be a jerk.)

When Bill meets Mabel, he's unaware that she's his future self—Bill's notably bad at doing things like, say, double-checking to see whether he's going to die anytime soon—but like... he can tell something's up.

Naturally, before visiting Gravity Falls, there were echoes of who Mabel used to be—but nothing anyone would be able to identify without context. All her Bill-ish quirks either smoothed out with time (see: how between second grade and fourth grade Mabel went from being the "freak" to the popular girl in class), or else they were accepted by her family as Mabel-ish quirks.

After they meet (and kill) Bill, they have the context to understand some of Mabel's behaviors... and unfortunately, some of Mabel's latent Bill-ness starts surfacing after she's been directly exposed to her prior incarnation.

The part of the Pines family familiar with Bill thinks the worst case scenario is that maybe Bill's survived and is slowly possessing Mabel; but far more likely, they think this is just some weird way of trying to subconsciously process last summer. Mabel doesn't think she's being weird, you guys are being weird, stop giving her weird looks. They get attacked by one triangle and now she can't wear yellow or pick up macrame as a hobby??

(It's not all red flags and uncomfortable triangle imagery, though. When Stan asks her what she'd like as a gift for some important event, she shyly admits that she thinks she's starting to outgrow her plastic gem jewelry and maybe she's old enough to get her first piece of real gold jewelry, if that's not too expensive? And Stan's never been so proud of her. Thirteen years old and already thinking about buying gold!)

But of course, the real fun starts when Mabel finds out.

That's the face of a girl who's just discovered that she tortured her great uncle. Now imagine running into the brother she possessed.

But I've already spent a million words and thirteen images on this post. If enough folks are interested in the AU maybe I'll expand on it later. Let me know what y'all think.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Ranking the Veilguard companions Hookup Potential based on the kind of bed situation they have going on in the Lighthouse

(im in early act 2 so have no idea what further romance scenes are actually like, this is just jokin time without any romance spoilers. just pics of how their respective rooms in the lighthouse look and some basic characterization we know about them)

Taash: 8/10

In another game or the real world I would only rate this a 5 because they have no pillows or addition blankets. however they do have a real bedframe AND it's big enough for 2 which means the they are doing better than 90% of the rest of the Veilguard so this score gets boosted. And while there's not many blankets, there are plenty of braziers around the room to keep you warm, and Taash is probably their own miniature furnace to cuddle up to. Crucially, they also have a whole wheel of cheese next to the bed, which means you don't even have to leave the covers to get a snack after.

Lucanis: 1/10

Oh no. I'm not even going to comment on the pantry angle because everyone else asks him about that to begin with, so this is just about the bed. Unfortunately the bed is a cot made of uneven wooden planks with some blankets on top of it, and is only wide enough for 1. This is because Lucanis hates sleeping and doesn't want to do it, so the less tempting his bed is, the better for him. Unfortunately this means sleepover potential is dreadful and you will have to find alternate solutions. He does at least have another blanket to go over him and one that's presumably being used as a pillow, so, he gets a 1 instead of a 0, but I am still planning on gifting him coupons for a back massage for Satinalia.

Bellara: 4/10

This setup is perfectly fine for sleeping. It's the lighthouse standard little bed couch thing, has a mattress/cushion, is elevated off the floor, has a pillow, and she's got her blankets folded below. Perfectly serviceable for getting a good night's rest which we know Bellara is not because she forgot to sleep again. However, it's very much a one person sized setup. You might be able to cuddle for a while but if one of you unconsciously tries to roll over you are going right to the floor. Ouch.

Lace Harding: 5/10

You might be wondring "why is sleeping on the floor rated higher than bellara's" and the answer is because this means you are not rolling off the bed onto the floor. it's not going to be comfy but we are not ranking comfort here we're ranking sleepover potential. Harding has managed to make this space look homey and the canopy gives the illusion of being in a tent or canopy bed to help with that illusion. There are rugs down on the floor plus the blankets and pillows--we know Harding is used to sleeping on the ground due to her career as a scout, and I'm sure she can scrounge up more blankets to make the cushioning big enough for the both of you. Your back WILL hurt in the morning but you'll get to have a fun night first.

Neve: 3/10

Girl I know you can do better than this. Which means you're not trying to on purpose, so, live your life I guess. I will say this cot IS bounds nicer than Lucanis's--you can see its a stretched canvas or hide on a frame rather than wooden planks, so it will have a little more give. However they are not THAT much comfier which I know having slept on this modern equivalent many times. Neve also apparently has 0 pillows or blankets so you're out of luck there, as well as the problem of it only being wide enough for 1 again. This woman has too many other things going on to think about romance so your Rook is going to be the one improvising on that matter I think.

Davrin: 10/10

Now here is a man who has his life together. Double or queen size mattress, rustic bed frame he probably lovingly carved and assembled himself by hand, and not only are there sheets AND blankets AND pillows, they are are full on matching set and this knight in shining armor dutifully makes the bed every morning. There's also enough pillows for two! While the remains of a giant corpse is hanging above you all night, the spacing of the ribs still gives you lots of room above to manouver, so just don't worry about that. As a bonus you'll probably even have a baby griffon come to cuddle in the night which is such a cute thought we're going to ignore how much worse getting stepped on by a griffon foot would be than even the biggest fattest housecat trying to stand on your stomach at 4:30am. My one criticism of the setup here is that due to the bed's positioning if the person on the inside needs to get up in the night they'll have to awkwardly crawl over the person on the outside, however everyone else's bed situation is so dismal I'm not even going to subtract a point for that. Great work Davrin.

Emmrich: ???/10

Where... does this man sleep. Peepaw I KNOW you can't be sitting in that armchair all night you need your beauty rest!!! There are 0 beds or cots or floor blankets in this man's room. HOW am I supposed to break his pelvis if he has nowhere for us to lie down??? We can't risk that old man's spine on the cobblestone.

Wait... unless. No, surly not. I mean--jk. Unless...? 😳😳😳

is daddy necromancer gonna fuck me on the sacrifice slab... 😳😳😳🥵🥵🥵

Bonus:

Solas 11/10

does not matter where he actually slept bc once my inquisitor Gets Him again they WILL be fucking on top of the piano in front of the mural in his Yearning Room

[railmerosalie]

I find it so funny when ppl say that Katniss has no personality, she's so cute and funny! Like do you not remember when she...

1. Thought Finnick was making out with Peetas corpse and was like "damn didn't know he was fruity like that"

2. When Gale confessed his love for her and she was STRIAGHT up like "yeah I know" 💀

3. Saw Peeta had been crying after the first reaping and immediately thinks "damn he's good, playing the weak sympathy card". Like girl he thinks he's gonna die! He's gonna die!

4. Katniss and Finnick wearing the green face cream in CF and scaring the fuck outta Peeta on the beach

5. Just her and Haymitch, especially the first book

6. "I decided to go ahead and like Boggs" - thanks for letting us know queen 👑

7. In MJ when they're trying to film the propos, and she's just horrible at it

8. In the first book when she's trying to drain the pus out of Peetas leg and she just so goddmaned grossed out

9. Saw the cupcakes at the Capitol party and immediately thought that Peeta would love the frosting details

10. In MJ when Gale and Peeta are talking about Katniss choosing one of them, she's just like "gonna leave you two bums here, don't need this shit"

11. Everytime she was unaware of people flirting with her or just being nice. She always think there's some hidden motive... like girl they're your family and friends, they just like you as a person

12. "Nobody needs me" "I do, I need you". Katniss finally admitting her love for Peeta and realises that she can't live without him!! It's such an important part of her growth towards Peeta and no one talks about it!! The girl how has survived everything finally needs not just something, but SOMEONE. And it's HIM (I'm so normal about this I swear)

13. Sassying buttercup at every turn

14. She has the same vibe as goop from Meet The Robinsons (especially with Madge). "Hey Katniss, wanna eat lunch together?" "Hey Katniss, wanna go for a walk into town later"

She's there like:

[sttm99]

Part 2

I like to think that Bakugo would like one of those bitchy girls that most people stayed away from.

"Oh her?" His friend would whisper about you as you stood before your locker, frowning as you looked at something on your phone. "Yeah, she's mean, really."

"She's rude, a bitch. Hates everyone."

What drives Bakugo is mainly the fact that he doesn't want to be 'everyone'. He's better. And because he knows what it feels like for people to stay away from you just because of what they've heard.

So he makes his move during one of the UA beach trips, when everyone's out on the sand, taking dips into the ocean. He's walking away from them, scanning the darkening sand in search of you.

He finds you near the far edge of the beach, where the place is darker, with less people, and he swears he sees a crab burrow into the sand.

But he doesn't mind much, walking over to you. You look back at him as he walks forward. You're sat on the sand, watching the waves, then Bakugo.

"What are you doing here?" You say swiftly, unfriendly as you stare him down.

He thinks you're so pretty, body clad in that cute two-piece, and your thighs stained with sand. It's hot, his eyes straining the darkness to see the grains glued to the back of your thighs.

"Last I checked, you don't own the fucking beach." He grumbles, sitting down a few meters away from you.

He succumbs to the urge to say more, to fill the silence, to keep you there with him.

"There's too loud." He says, motioning to where the others are yelling and laughing and dancing and swimming.

"What about the other side?" You raise a brow.

"Two many bitches swapping spit." He retorts, sitting with his legs straightened out, palms behind him to support his weight as he looks at you.

You chuckle at that, and you don't turn away from him, leaning on your hand, keeping your eyes on his.

Your eye contact is hot, he thinks.

"You're funny." You say, sighing softly as you turn back to the sea.

He huffs at that. He wasn't exactly trying to be funny, and he likes that. That he can make you laugh without trying. He thinks it makes you cuter.

He hopes it makes you think he's attractive.

"No one's here, you know." You turn to him, wriggling your brows mischievously.

His stomach tightens. "What?"

You snort. "Stop blushing, idiot. I'm not gonna make out with you." You're laughing. "Let's skinny dip."

And Bakugo's scowling at you for 1) making fun of him, and 2) that suggestion.

"It's fucking freezing." He scolds. "It's like 8 degrees here."

But you're already standing and grinning. "Aren't you a hero? This is endurance shit." You say, like you're challenging him.

And he's grumbling and huffing, but he's standing and running after you as you're sprinting to the water, untying your bikini. Your top goes flying in the wind as you hit the water, and he swiftly catches it before it disappears.

"Fucking idiot," he's yelling after you, pausing momentarily to drag his shorts down. He's trying to hit the water quickly before you catch sight of his dick. "You're gonna walk back fucking naked!"

"Aww, you're so little." You coo at him, laughing.

"Cause it's 8 fucking degrees!"

You were joking anyways. He's big, even in the cold. But you try not to think of that, not when he's so clearly cold, shivering as you beckon him closer.

"Come over here," you say.

"That's too fucking far. There's crabs. You come here."

You shake your head with a sly grin. "The water level here hides my breasts. So you have to come here."

He scowls at your logic, and you stick your tongue out at him.

"My dicks gonna freeze." But he's waddling in the dark water, making his way to you.

You're silent as he nears, taking in how he towers over you, how his body drowns yours, height wise and chest wise.

.

.

.

"What are you looking at?" His voice is raspy from the cold.

You smile coyly up at him.

His heart stops.

"You."

"Dude, where'd you disappear to?" Kirishima calls to Bakugo as he trudges into the room they are sharing.

But Bakugo's silent, repeating a series of numbers in his mind. He instantly goes over to his drawers, grabbing his phone and instantly punching it in, saving your contact in his phone.

"Dude, is that a fucking hickey?" He shrugs Kirishima off him, making his way to the showers, itching to get in and wash off all the sand from his body.

"I'm never fucking banging in the sand again."

[pomefioredove]

Imagine the overbloat gang as fathers or like proud/panicking that their s/o is having a child and they don't know what to do

Imagine the gang trying to give their kids a goid life and getting baby fever like who wouldn't because the kid is literally a mixed of him and you and they gush about how much they love their s/o and children like ???????

Overbload gang as fathers and i will start violently sob

I do have a weakness for familial headcanons :) future au time??

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ as fathers

type of post: headcanons characters: riddle, leona, azul, jamil, vil, idia, malleus additional info: romantic, reader is gender neutral (no mentions of the child's origins), reader is not specified to be yuu, obviously takes place in the future

I think Riddle is one of the most reluctant to have children

for years he was strictly against them. his excuses were always that children are messy, unruly, his career, his relationship with you... but he was mostly just afraid of turning into his mother

as he gets older and forms his own identity, though, he realizes that it takes a lot of intentional effort to fuck up a child like his mom did, and he changes his mind

I can see him with... maybe two kids

he would never want an only child. after all, the bonds he made with his peers are what kept him going

he is a pretty good parent overall. maybe a little to focused on bedtimes and table manners, but the kids don't seem to mind

Trey and Che'nya babysit often (and it's always disastrous)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

talking Leona into the idea of fatherhood is like diffusing a bomb with a blindfold on. the guy won't even JOKE about it

if you do end up with a kid, it's unplanned, whether that be pregnancy or baby left on the doorstep

but he makes a surprisingly(?) good father. defo a girl dad, he would spoil a daughter rotten. lets her beat the daylights out of Neji because that's his little princess :)

parenting is really not as scary as he thought it was going to be

he has "I'm just resting my eyes" *falls asleep for 8 hours on the reclining chair in the living room* dad energy

the hardest part?

pretending to like vegetables in front of the kid to set a good example

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Azul would actually be an awesome dad idc. IDC!

he has a good relationship with his mom and stepdad (who definitely babysit all the time; they insist on it), so he has good role models

he's not even worried about how it'll affect his career! Azul has a "do it all" personality: businessman, entrepreneur, father, aspiring millionaire...

and he is so overprotective

he'd cover that kid in bubble wrap if you'd let him

but he's really more concerned about their feelings. sending them to school is much harder than closing a business deal

he's a little sensitive, but he knows he'll have to trust them eventually

P.S. the tweels are NOT allowed to babysit. bad influences

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Jamil. ohhh Jamil :(

kids were never on the table for him, even after he met you and fell in love, he just... couldn't imagine it

regardless of whether or not he and his family are in a better place. (for the sake of this story, let's pretend they are. I want him to be happy) he just has so much generational trauma that he knows the child will end up with some, anyway

when, if, he's ready, it will still be a tough process. but worth it

he's such a supportive dad. bragging about his child at any chance, definitely the kind of dad to show everyone the baby pictures without being asked

it gets embarrassing for them as they grow, but he doesn't care

he thinks they're the greatest thing ever, and people should know that!

he is so proud

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Vil had always wanted to play a father on screen, but once he hits that age, he starts thinking about real life, too

he's gotten where he wants to be, after all: he's still young, he's in love, and his career, as successful as it is, is starting to wind down. so, why not?

he is the most supportive partner you could ask for. despite his schedule, he's involved in everything (yes, even the messy stuff)

he's got a customized baby bjorn and everything

I can see him with... one. just one is enough for him. he also has girl dad energy. he's already looking forward to playing princesses and letting her do his makeup (terribly, of course)

he knows his child will grow to have their own wants and thoughts and personality, and he's supportive. besides, if he has another Epel on his hands, he'll know how to handle them

just... gentler, this time

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

for you, anon, I will enterain the idea that Idia may someday reproduce. but there's still a 50% chance that kid is a robot

joking (kind of)

I don't think he'd even really want kids. considering his own unhappy childhood and the whole curse of his bloodline thing. but, like the others, he can be convinced!

I think he'd make a pretty good father, tbh. neurotic, sure, but he's not too clingy, nor too distant

whatever kids he has will be smart, and he trusts them. he likes teaching them nerdy stuff, too (finally, someone he can infodump to!!!)

he probably ends up with more than he'd think. 2 or 3

as long as you never bring up how cringe he was in college, he's rather mature and prepared for anything

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

out of the whole lineup, Malleus is the the only one to have thought your future children while at NRC. daydreamed, really

I know, not surprising. look at the guy. he's practically kicking his legs back and forth while coming up with baby names in game

it was just a fantasy at first, then you became closer, graduated, got older, and...

Lilia began teasing him about getting grandkids, and Malleus took him quite seriously

he knows he's still young (though, at his age, Lilia was already general), but he doesn't want to wait forever. you both have many long talks on the matter

and end up with... as many children as you can handle, basically

Malleus is somewhat of an awkward father (having been raised by Lilia will do that to you)

but he cares. and he tries! very hard. plus, there's always Lilia, Silver, and Sebek around to lend a hand