#i think something might be fucked up in my settings? or is it a glitch?

[fairweathermyth]

THE GREEN KNIGHT Dir. David Lowery, 2021 Dev Patel as Sir Gawain

[a-hazbin-reader]

Eeek I love your writing it makes me so 🫶🫶🫶 Can I make a request?

If you do angst to comfort, can you make reader waiting for Alastor to come back (they're married) for seven years? Reader's friends has been pushing them to have a new lover—introducing them to new demons or overlords that the reader might like, but the reader only loves one; which is Alastor. Until Vox made the news that he was back, for months, without looking for the reader. Which makes the reader think Alastor doesn't love them anymore and tries to not be in his attention whenever they meet and pretends to not know him. What will Alastor do? :3 Thank yous!!!

Oh man...that ANGST!!!

Alastor X Reader Headcanons

✅️Romantic

❌️Platonic

TW: Reader is sad, Suggestive

Description: ☝️⬆️

When Alastor first dissappears, you assume he's just busy and will be back by the end of the day

And then you wake up alone...so maybe he'll be back tomorrow. Tomorrow turns into a week, a week turns into a month...

He's just gone, suddenly ripped away from you without warning and you didn't even get a proper goodbye

So you search for him, you ask everyone if they've seen him or heard about his whereabouts

You even ask Vox if he managed to kill your husband, knowing the TV head wouldn't be able to resist bragging about it

Instead, he looks surprised and uncomfortable with your obvious distress, muttering something about keeping an eye out for you

Rosie is worried too and offers her help but turns up nothing, she does her best to keep an eye on you

You never give up on finding him, knowing that he's alive out there

After the first three years your friends start trying to get you to move on, setting you up with available bachelors

Valentino has offered to help you get over your husband multiple times because he's just such a good guy

You don't give any of them a chance, you had already found the one man you wanted to be with for eternity and married him

He's just not here at the moment

The pain in your heart is just as strong as when you first realized Alastor was missing, crying yourself to sleep nearly every night

The only time you get to see him now is in your dreams, clutching one of his jackets with his scent still on it

You just feel so abandoned...

After the sixth year, your friends try to get you to move or throw out some of Alastor's things but you can't bring yourself to do it

He's going to come back to you, you know it, so you keep your wedding ring on and still present yourself as a married woman

Rosie makes sure you take care of yourself on the days when your sadness swallows you whole

"Wipe away those tears now, have you eaten today? No? I have just the thing for you.."

Seven years go by and nothing has changed for you

You're sad and miserable, running errands when you suddenly pass by an electronics store, seeing Vox on the TV

That's nothing new to you, you almost turn away and keep walking until you hear Vox say something about Alastor

You're suddenly frozen, listening to Vox bitch about Alastor's multiple offenses during these last few months

He's been back...for months..? And hasn't come to see his wife?

You're blinking away hot tears, the air in your lungs going sour and your stomach doing flips

Did Alastor really abandon you like that? You need to go see the one person who you know has been digging into Alastor for as long as you have

Vox literally screams like a child when you're suddenly bursting into his office and grabbing him by his suit

"How long has my FUCKING HUSBAND BEEN BACK!? And why didn't you tell me, Vox!? WHY!?"

"FUCK! Who let you in here!?"

"VOX!" You're shaking him now, making his screen glitch out

"A-at least a couple of months for sure! He's doing something with Lucifer's daughter and a hotel or some shit! I thought you would've been the first to know he was back!"

Vox is relieved when you finally let go of him, fixing his suit before suddenly giving you a cruel grin

"Wait wait wait-don't tell me-he hasn't come to see you this whole time!? You wait all these years for him and he's shacking up with Lucifer's daughter, a porn star and who knows who else!?"

He suddenly stops laughing when you slam his screen into his desk, storming out afterward so he doesn't see the angry tears in your eyes

"Don't get mad at me because he started a new life without you!"

Vox knew exactly which ugly worries to pull out of your head and you let him get to you

But you knew he was right, looking at all the evidence presented to you...it does look like Alastor is starting over

A small part of you is telling you that he's replaced you somehow but you have enough pride to doubt it

But that self pity comes back to bite you that same night, crying harder than you ever have before

By the end of the week, you've convinced yourself that he doesn't love you anymore, that he got bored of you

You still haven't taken off your wedding ring yet

Imagine your surprise when on your way home you bump into Charlie Morningstar, the princess of hell herself

She somehow managed to crash into you and knock down everything you were carrying, making you sigh and bend down to pick it up

"Oh my gosh, I'M SO SORRY!!" 🥺

You mumble something forgiving back to her, still picking up your things when you hear a familiar voice that makes your heart ache

"Charlie, my dear! What sort of mischief have you gotten int-Y/N?"

You're still as beautiful as Alastor remembers, if not even more so

You can hear the surprise in his voice, along with notes of panic and guilt

You just ignore him, gathering the rest of your things before walking in the opposite direction of them, you don't dare look at Alastor

You know you would break down if you did

He doesn't follow you, nor does he follow you the next time you run into him, or the time after that

It hurts you a little more each time, wanting to know if your husband ever loved you at this point

He doesn't know what boundaries to push with you anymore, he just misses you like crazy

Alastor knows he has to do something-

He tries cornering you the next time he sees you, standing in your way

"Y/N, please just let me explain-"

"I don't know who you're talking about, I'm not who you think I am."

He grabs your wrist, eyeing your wedding band with a frustrated expression

"You're wearing our wedding ring..."

"This is the ring my husband gave to me, and I haven't seen him in years."

You rip away your arm and walk away from him, crying to yourself over how much it hurts

You don't see how his ears lay low, and how he watches you with a regretful expression

He wishes he could just tell you everything, wants to run after you and hold you

But his deal doesn't allow it, he wanted to go straight to you when he got back-never wanted to leave you in the first place

But he was also too ashamed to face you, scared to find that you moved on or that you no longer loved him

He hates that he's hurting his wife like this and it sours his mood for weeks afterwards

Charlie and Vaggie start to understand that Alastor's sudden angry attitude always happens whenever he sees you

But they don't know who you are and they're way too afraid to ask Alastor because he's still digging his claws into everything out of anger

Niffty is actually the one who tells them that you're his wife but Husk explains to them that you're probably pissed at him for disappearing

Charlie is crying at the thought of Alastor and his wife being separated, Vaggie having to comfort her

So the two women get to work on finding you themselves, showing up on your doorstep one day and inviting you to the hotel

It takes a lot of coaxing and convincing from them to finally get you to go with them

You're a bit surprised to hear that Alastor is helping with a hotel centered around the idea of redemption

But you figure he's got some sort of angle, he always does

Alastor isn't there when you three arrive, Charlie having talked your ear off about everything Alastor has been doing to help

Which is unlike him, you're immediately suspicious

But you recognize Husk and Niffty, the little woman running to you and crawling all over you in excitement

"Y/N! Y/N! You're here! Are you gonna stay? Is your house messy? Do you have roaches for me to kill~?"

"Hey Y/N, you look like you need a drink.."

You almost start crying then and there, not having realized how much you missed them too, hugging Niffty tight as you take a seat at the bar

It almost feels like old times, the three of you talking late into the night until it's just you and Husker...

He takes a shot and seems to be preparing himself for something, uncomfortable suddenly

"Y/N...there's something I gotta tell you...about your husband..."

You're expecting to hear the worst, to hear that Alastor cheated, to hear that he's seeing someone new

But what Husk tells you is far FAR from that...you don't know whether to be thankful or horrified

Your husband's soul...owned by someone else? Just what did that man get himself into?

You don't even realize you're crying until Husk is awkwardly hugging you, patting your back gently as you cling to him

At some point, you must've fallen asleep because you wake up in an unfamiliar bed, your face buried in Alastor's neck

You almost relax and fall back asleep before your eyes suddenly pop open, jolting up and shoving him away

Even with what Husk told you, you're still mad at him, he never came back to see you

Alastor wakes up fast enough to realize he's falling off the bed, climbing back up with downward facing ears

"We need to talk, darling.."

"What is there to talk about? You don't want a wife anymore, is that it? Is that why you never came to see me?"

He looks so guilty and upset, his smile tense as he looks away, you have to resist the urge to rub his ears

You flinch away at first when he takes your hands before reluctantly letting him hold them, missing him too much to fight it

"I was too ashamed to face you...there's so much I can't tell you and I was...scared that you would be with someone new."

"Do you have any idea how much pain I was in? Alastor, it nearly broke me.."

He has tears pricking in the corners of his eyes, looking away to try and save face as he pulls you in for a tight hug

"Just please...forgive me and let me be your husband again. I'll do everything I can to fix this..."

It doesn't make up for all the pain you felt for seven years but it's definitely a start

You've missed him too much to continue being angry with him, so you just cling to him and cry

You cry until you both fall asleep again, eventually waking up tangled in each other's arms

He's kissing all over your face, ghosting his lips over your eyes, your nose, your forehead, eventually getting to your lips

You suddenly feel so full of emotion, like you could burst with happiness at finally having Alastor again

You had nearly given up hope that you would feel him, taste his lips, or smell his raw scent ever again

You dig your nails into him when he tries to pull away, forcing him to kiss you longer as his hands bruise your hips

You both are panting by the time you pull away, bodies pressed as close as possible out of a need for contact

His voice comes out like static, leaning in for another kiss as gazes at you with loving eyes

"I have missed you...so much..."

You could cry if it weren't for the fact that you were sick of crying, instead rolling yourself on top of him and kissing along his jaw

"You better prove it to me."

His pleased growl followed by claws digging into your clothes answered you well enough

You know he still has a lot to make up for but this is a good start

Sorry this one came out so long!! I hope you like it!!

[jyoongim]

Hi there,

OMG I LOVE YOUR WRITING!

If requests are still open I was thinking of an idea. I was kinda inspired by the scene in Hazbin Hotel where Val is squinting at the tv and saying “who the f$&@ is that?”

But my idea is instead it’s Vox seeing Alastor escorting the reader around town, having coffee etc. so Vox sees an opportunity to get to Alastor by abducting the reader and broadcasting it to the hotel that they have her/him. Of course Al gets pissed seeing then hurt the reader and saves them.

Doesn’t have to be romantic, maybe more that Alastor considers then a rare friend and is very protective.

Anyway, let me know what you think.

Thank you!!

warnings: fem!reader kidnapping, attempted SA, Vox being a piece of shit, platonic friendship

“WHO THE FUCK IS THAT?” Vox growled as he stared at his many monitors.

 What had caught his eye was that fucker Alastor.

But oh the red demon wasn’t alone, no, hanging on the arm of the Radio Demon was a pretty doe.

You smiled as you chatted to the demon, eyes sparkling before pouting at whatever he had told you.

You leaned your head on his shoulder happily as the two of you walked down the street. 

Valentino took a puff from his cigar, smirking ”Ooh ooo seems like Alastor got himself a pretty lady while he was gone”

Vox had caught sight of you multiple times. Ever since Alastor came back, you were always by Alastor’s side, not once had he seen you alone.

He watched as Alastor took you to multiple places; cafes, shopping, showing you around Pentagram City.

You must have been something real special if the Radio Demon kept you around.

It would be ashamed if Alastor’s little pet went missing now wouldn’t it……

You groaned as you came to. You blinked,  clearing the haze from your sight as you gathered your senses.

You went to move, but found yourself bound and gagged. 

Your eyes widened how the fuck did this happen?

The last thing you remembered was leaving the hotel to buy a few things and being grabbed from behind.

You shivered. Looking down, you saw that you were dressed in rather provocative clothing. You looked around, there were cameras, monitors, and horny demons in the room all set on you.

You started to hyperventilate as tears welled in your eyes, where were you? 

“Aaahh there she is” a voice purred, a cold hand grabbed your chin,making you come face to face with Vox.

Your tears dried up immediately as your brow quirked at him

”now you might be confused dear but don’t fret, I’m not gonna hurt you too bad. Just need to get my point across. How will Alastor feel seeing his little pet ruined” he chuckled darkly.

You growled at him through the gag. 

He sat on a chair and grinned into the monitor

”This is a message to that old timer prick!” The monitor flashed your bound body, wriggling around as multiple demons started the touch you.

”I’ve got your pretty pet, oh don’t worry Ill send her back to you…but i fear she wont be quite the same” Vox laughed.

Charlie and the gang watched in shocked. Why the hell would Vox take you?

A dark aura filled the room as static buzzed loudly. 

“Well it seems I am needed elsewhere” the red demon grinned, smile tense and menacing.

Alastor disappeared in the depths of his shadows.

You panted as you were surrounded by demons. Your face was bruised and blood dripped from your mouth from being striked.

Your gag had been removed by a demon attempting to use your mouth and you had chomped his dick off, resulting in a harsh slap.

”I say we fuck her til she bleeds or even better dead” a demon growled.

You hissed and before one could make a grab at you, the lights blinked.

Dark misty shadows filled the room and you smiled as a voice growled from them.

”Now thats no way to treat a lady”

Alastor.

The demons tried to rush him, but his tentacles shot out and ripped every single one of them apart.

He stalked towards Vox and you had never seen Alastor so enraged.

He had the monitor glitching as he beat him to a pulp.

He powered him down and made his way over to you.

Taking you into his arms, he cooed to you “Oooh my dear I do apologize for the horrid display, i hope you were too uncomfortable”

He materialized your clothing to be more conservative and walked you out of the Vs’ building. 

“Thank you Al” you whispered burying your face in his chest

He chuckled “Ooh anything for you my dear”

Let’s just say, Alastor accompanied you anywhere you went after that.

[callahanisms]

hey, can you make Miguel O'Hara X gender neutral reader? Where reader (Miguel lover) accidentally get teleport or glitch in the spider verse where they (the Spidey's) were in the middle of chasing miles? Thank you! <3

hi anon. i'm happy to write this for you.

i wrote this in the form of headcanons rather than a fic. i'm still recuperating from finishing dragon age: inquisition, the succession finale (even if it was like a week ago), my adrenaline high from the across the spiderverse, and the other things i have written already.

some creative additions i made: this is a spidey! reader. i think it naturally made more sense to have a spidey! reader rather than a civilian. i would have to jump through a lot of hoops for a civilian reader to make sense and my brain does not have the capacity to jump through those hoops right now.

you deserved a well needed rest. after all the work you had been pulling to keep the multiverse safe, it was the least you deserved. especially a nap.

what you didn't expect when you went home was to just fall asleep on the couch.

you had gone out with your friends, finally caught up with them, and changing into some comfortable lounging clothes. you had plans to watch the newest 3 hour long ego project the director called a movie. and naturally because it was 3 hours long and an ego project filled with nothing, you ended up falling asleep.

what you forgot to take off was your multiversal band. you always kept it on in case of emergencies.

you also had a habit of rolling around in your sleep a bit. and you don't have the best luck with technology.

naturally your band malfunctions and you're thrown into the portal and transported back to hq.

ideally you didn't want to be falling through the space. but you were. and that woke you up.

"fuck! fuck! fuck!"

you had no web shooters. why would you? who sleeps with web shooters anyways? (actually there are some spider people that might)

and the worst part is, no one seemed to notice that you were falling. because they were busy doing something else.

when you squinted your eyes, you saw what was happening: every single spider-person that was at hq was chasing after one singular spider-person.

you didn't know who it was but from the looks of it, it looked like a young spider-person. someone who was only a kid.

if only you weren't just free falling-

"(y/n)! what are you doing here!" a familiar voice exclaims.

he caught you in midair, swinging safely to the nearest platform that wasn't stampeding with spider people and other variations of spider totems to set you down.

you took in his appearance. his hair was disheveled and his fangs were poking out. you also noticed his talons were out too and his breathing was heavy.

"i...i was teleported here on accident." you explain. "what is going on?"

"i can't talk right now. go back home! it's supposed to be your day off!" he gives you a small kiss on your cheek and prepares himself to jump off the platform.

"miguel, who is that?"

"miles morales. he disrupted a canon event and now the multiverse is at stake! and we're trying to prevent him from causing another one."

"okay well did you try talking to him?"

"of course!" he exclaims, turning to look at you. "it's the first thing i did. but he doesn't want to listen. now i have to catch him before he disappears!"

he doesn't even wait for you to respond before jumping off. as much as miguel loved you and loved talking to you and cherished your presence, he had to catch up to miles. he had to stop him.

he had to save the multiverse.

you were left with a sinking pit in your stomach. something told you that today was not the day to take off.

but first you needed to find lyla or margo to help with your watch so you can grab your suit and equipment and come back.

[theconstantsidekick]

heyyyy...how are you doing.????

I was just wondering that if you have the idea of writing one shots for static verse , could you.. maybe write something where static takes Bucky as her date to her Harvard reunion...

may be when she was studying , everyone used to be so jealous of her cuz she is basically a sassy smartass...but now in the reunion they are acting so nice because she is a lawyer/avenger.. Definitely faking niceness...

and Jamie boy being too proud of his girl...

The Class of '92 | b.b

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Stark!Reader, Tony Stark x Stark!Reader (siblings)

Genre: Fluffy with a chance of angst.

Summary: Y/n goes to the Harvard Reunion to reap the benefits of the alumni fees she's been giving out for the last three and a half decades.

(This takes place after the events of Static: Get, Set, Glitch. However, it can be read as a stand-alone piece. But it’s fun. I promise.)

Warnings: Swearing, Mentions of Recreational Drug Use, Mentions of Sex, Minors DNI, 18+ Only.

a/n: I think I strayed a little away from the original premise? I'm sorry?

Bucky Barnes, The Boyfriend (other one-shots) | The Falcon, The Winter Soldier and Static | Static: Get, Set, Glitch | Static Verse Masterlist

If she were being completely honest, she never entertained the idea of going to her class reunions. The whole ‘being-half-alien-aging-like-a-nebula-and-looking-the-same-for-years-on-end’ thing kinda took the wind out of her sails whenever she even thought about accepting the invite.

But that was then. 

Now people know who she is, what she is. No more reasons to hide, no Ross on her ass trying to hunt her down for the Accords, no giant purple grape looking alien knocking at the door threatening to burn the world down, no younger brother constantly being confused as her older brother.

Fuck. She’ll never get used to that.

The moment the invitation popped up on her laptop screen, her first reaction was to call Tony.

“You’ve got Tony Stark. I’m probably busy saving the world or curing a hangover. You can leave a message at the beep but I only get back to people if they’re hot. F.R.I.D.A.Y. will delete your message if you’re not. You’ve been warned.” The pre-recorded voice-message cut off with a beep.

Exhaling harshly, she spoke softly, “I was calling to ask you if you wanted to go to my reunion with me. Free booze, snobby assholes, jealous losers who hate me for being smarter, and did I mention the free booze? Totally your scene.” She fidgeted with the folder on her desk, nervous about a voicemail. “But you’re busy… being a dead dick so… So I guess I’ll just skip it this year as well.”

Life had other plans, though.

Well, her beloved boyfriend James Bucky Barnes did.

“I can go with you?” He offered. 

“What?” she asked him, confused.

“To the reunion,” he answered easily, his eyes still fixed on the omelet he was making for her. “I can go with you. Can’t guarantee I’ll be as fun company as your brother, but I can show you a good time. Pull out all the stops, be the trophy husband of a lifetime.” He smiled at her then. “Only if you want to, though.”

And now here they were. 

“This was a bad idea,” she comments, sipping on her drink.

“Why?” Bucky asks her, more confident than her—which don’t get her wrong was hot as fuck, but very unlike them.

“They’re all… they’re all—”

“Old?” Bucky finished with an amused smile. 

She couldn’t help the smile that slipped out.

He looks good, comfortable and sen-fucking-sational. He’s wearing a black tux with a white shirt and black bowtie. She’d been a little too busy trying to decide what to wear to have noticed him changing into the outfit. Eventually, having finalized on a white twill suit and a blood red silk shirt with a matching tie, she stepped out of her room. And he was a fucking vision.

Looking at him might just be her favourite hobby. She could pursue that shit as a vocation.

“That happens sometimes.” Bucky tells her. “People do get old, you know?”

She looks around at the crowd. They’re at the prime location for people watching, standing at the bar, far in the corner of the vast room. The lights are dim, only sprinkles of yellow scattered around the venue, the rest is overshadowed by a sea of ocean blue. So, she takes the moment, the isolation and takes a while to soak in his words. 

‘People do get old.’

“Yeah… yeah. I know,” she responds solemnly.

He takes a moment too, not to look at the crowd. Bucky seldom looks at anything with interest apart from her. He does the same now, he looks at her, studying the expression on her face. With his assessment done, he says, “I’ve never seen you nervous before.”

“I’m not nervous,” Y/n bites back, scolding him with absolutely no heat whatsoever.

“I’ve never seen you anxious before,” he amends.

Rolling her eyes, “I’m not anxious.”

“Scared?”

She has to look at him then. Brows furrowed, she frowns. 

Bucky throws up his hands instantly, admitting his mistake with an adorable smile.

“I used to steal Bruce’s homemade tacos before he learned to control the Hulk,” she smiles too. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

He takes a step closer to her, his words are softer when he speaks but bold enough for her to hear with ease. Gently placing his hand on the small of her back, he asks, “Then what’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“I wasn’t exactly… well, let’s just say there’s a reason I avoided going to class when I was in college,” she answers. Bucky’s face scrunches up at the insinuation.

But before he can enquire about it any further, before she can warn him, a voice cuts in.

“That was because you used to be a facetious little know-it-all,” the man comments. “You didn’t need the classes anyway.” He smiles, and there is no warmth in it.

Bucky must notice because his arm tightens just a little around her.

This was bound to happen sooner or later. She decides to roll with the punches. She knew what she was getting into when she came here.

“Charles Walton,” she greets him with a smile, just as dead as his. “Been a long time.”

“I’d say the same, but you look exactly the same as you did back then—not a hair out of place. I’m not sure time even passed,” he jokes, or well he tries.

“What can I say? It’s the price of being an Avenger,” she bites back.

He laughs, a hollow thing. “Hey, Milkovich!” He yells out over her head. “Guess who showed up!”

Well, fuck.

That one shout is enough to draw the attention of the entire class of 92. Cause almost instantly there’s a crowd gathered around Bucky and her. There’s chuckles and whispers among them—some are bewildered at her presence while others seem itching to make this a battlefield. 

“Ah, the famous Avenger,” a female voice chimes in. “You're famous around these parts, you know?” She takes a couple steps closer to them. Assessing her from head to toe, “Not just for being an Avenger, but being so elusive that you didn’t show up for a single reunion… But at least now we know why.”

“Nice to see you too, Seline,” Y/n tells her, calm and centered.

“Shit, Stark!” Mickey Milkovitch balks. “You look the fucking same!” 

And fine, she can take it from Milkovich. The guy was always crass but never rude. He just lacked a fucking filter.

So the smile that she smiles is open and kind. “Thanks, Mick. I could say the same about you.” She’s not lying. The guy looks pretty good for his age… and for the copious amount of alcohol she remembers him consuming during every party and every lecture.

“Not as good as you, holy shit! You really don’t age, do you?” He asks and it’s genuine so again, he gets a pass.

Nodding, “Not enough. My telomeres don’t work right, I think. Rest of me is human… mostly.”

And Mickey seems to take a lot of pleasure in her answer—smiling, he holds up his glass to cheers. She meets him with her own glass.

“Can’t lie, it’s a surprise to see you here,” another woman speaks up. “We thought we’d seen the last of you at the graduation.” 

“Sorry to disappoint you, Candace. I saw the invite and I just couldn’t help myself,” Y/n bites back.

“Didn’t have time for us before?” Candace Huston asks.

“Ah.” Y/n never really liked these snobby prep school kids. Even after all these years, they’ve somehow managed to not change at all. She doesn’t know why she expected them to. “I was a little caught up.”

“Saving the world?” Archer Bass suggests, mocking.

“Yes,” Bucky cuts in before she can form some modest version of that answer. She can always count on him to stump the opposition while she reloads. “That’s the day job. Doesn’t pay as well as whatever it is you guys have been doing. And oh! Odd hours, really odd. But it’s good work, wouldn’t you say, sweetheart?”

She smiles, finding comfort in the warmth of his gaze. “Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been a Personal Injury Lawyer.” Bucky smiles at that and fuck if that doesn’t just rile her up. “Oh! I almost forgot, this is my boyfriend—”

She’s cut off by Charles ‘Chickenshit’ Walton, “The Winter Soldier. We know who he is.”

“At least he’s a looker,” Seline snickers. “I’ll give you that.”

“The two of you make a great couple—The Winter Soldier and Static, ex assassin and ex assassin,” Candace adds with a snide smile. There’s more catty bullshit like that from the rest of the crowd but she kinda zones out.

And fuck it all to hell.

Her entire college life was avoiding these fools.

All her life she’d watched shows about the shitshow that is high school. She hadn’t attended it, of course but Harvard was supposed to be her first try. It was supposed to be her playing her hand at being utterly and completely normal, one with the crowd. College wasn’t supposed to be as brutal as highschool but not as uncaring as a desk job. It was supposed to be an easy middle between the two. Part of her was excited even. But the reality wasn’t all that movies made it out to be.

They were snobs, the fucking lot of them. Always looking at every tiny little detail, studying it a microscope, planning and scheming to find a chink in her armour just to break her down. She didn’t understand why then. Why they didn’t like her, why she was the outsider. Because despite everything she wasn’t exactly that different from them, not to their knowledge at least. Howie was fucking loaded, ipso facto she was too. None of them knew her past but everytime they looked at her their eyes were always hungry, always searching for some weakness.

She gets it now.

It wasn’t hunger. It wasn’t some twisted version of distrust.

It was straight up jealousy.

They were jealous of her.

They were jealous of her back then and if possible they are even more jealous of her now.

Y/n just laughs. She can’t help it, okay? It’s hilarious.

She really, genuinely believed at one point in her life that these fucking dipshits would figure out her secret, when all they were looking for was a way to top the class. These are some of the smartest individuals she’s come across—graduates of Harvard Law. Fuck! They were just kids fighting for brownie points when she was fighting for her freedom. God fucking damn it, she’s been so damn dumb. 

So she laughs.

Bucky looks at her for a second, raises his brow in concern. She waves her hand at him, letting him know she’s fine. It’s just funny.

“Something funny, Stark?” Archer asks, wearing a smile on his face that contradicts his tone which is just a little too shrill to be considered calm.

She shakes her head but continues chuckling.

“Don’t wanna share it with the rest of the class?” Charles bites. “Guess some things just don’t change.”

Y/n laughs a little harder. “My god, Charlie. You sure I’m the only one not aging here? Cause you sound like a sullen teenager.” She waves off his response before he can even form one. “Anyway, as I was saying, this is my boyfriend, Sergeant James Buchanon Barnes.” She drops a kiss on his cheek. “You can call him Sergeant Barnes… Well, except Milkovich. He’s just Barnes to you, Mick.”

Mickey seems pleased with her words, “Nice to meet you, Barnes.” He extends his hand to Bucky who takes it without hesitation. “Always thought your arm was really cool.” 

That one throws Bucky a little. He looks back at her, eyes big and a sneaky curve of his lip. It screams, ‘Where the fuck did you find this guy?’ But like she said, no filter on that one. 

“Why does Milkovitch get special treatment?” Seline rebukes her.

Y/n just shrugs. “Cause he wasn’t a dick to me in college?” Isn’t it obvious?

“Excuse me?” Candace exclaims like the hit was personal. “We were never anything but generous, which was more than what you deserved considering the shit you pulled.”

“One, that is wildly inaccurate. You were all dicks, all of you. But I don’t think I blame you for it, pompous kids do what pompous kids see. And two, what shit did I pull?” She waves at the bartender asking for a refill.

“You are seriously going to pretend you don’t know?” Archer throws back.

Taking the last sip from her drink she sets the now empty glass down on the nearest table. “Yes, enlighten me.”

“You were sleeping with Professor Keating to get the answers to all the tests,” Charles answers, disdain clear on his face.

“I—” She looks from his face to Bucky's, who feigns shock before breaking into a smile.

Charles cuts her off. “You hid it well enough but everyone knew you spent most of the free time between classes in his office. You scored well in every single one of his tests, which were impossible to crack and he was always so very eager to call on you in class.” He scoffs. “We were never able to find any concrete evidence to pin you down, we’ll give you that. But that doesn’t mean we were naive enough not to see it.”

“I—” She begins laughing again. “Professor Keating.” Fuck.

“What’s so fucking funny, Stark?” Archer pushes her. Well, he tries but before he can grab the collar he was reaching for, Bucky’s metal arm is already pulling him off.

“Easy there, cowboy,” Bucky warns.

“Get your hands off me!” Archer tries to brush Bucky off, pushing him back, trying desperately to get out of his grip, but come on. It’s Bucky. “What do you think you’re doing?!” 

“Saving you the ass beating of a lifetime, buddy boy. Be glad it’s me and not her,” Bucky comments causally as he twists Archer’s arm behind his back.

“It’s fine, Sunshine. Let him go,” she coos at him sweetly.

And because he’s Bucky, he urges Archer to take a few steps away from her and then simply lets him go.

“Are you still mentally unstable?! How dare you touch me? I’m gonna sue your Nazi ass for that!” Archer warns. 

“I mean, you can try. But he’s got a great lawyer,” Y/n tells him, grabbing her new drink from the waiter. She takes a sip. “Got him pardoned for countless assassinations. You think assault is where I lose that battle?” The blood drains from Archer’s face, all the color is gone. “And as for the Professor Keating matter,” she giggles again, before forcing herself to compose. “He was ex-KGB. I used to hang out with him after class to find out if he knew the updated location of HYDRA bases.”

“Ex-KGB?” Seline asks, just as pale as Archer.

“You expect us to buy that bullshit story? His name was Arthur Keating for Christ’s Sake!” Candace shouts.

“Which he changed when he asked for political asylum here. His real name was Boris Levitsky. His family was murdered by HYDRA when he couldn’t free some official high in their ranks. After that he was fairly willing to spill all about them,” Y/n explains.

“To a college student?” Charles question, clearly not buying it.

“To an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. operative,” she corrects.

“You were an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. operative back then?” Bucky asks her, reclaiming his position next to her with a steady arm around her waist.

“No,” she tells him. “But he didn’t know that.”

Bucky’s face breaks into a proud smile. The sprinkles of yellow around the venue seem to be attracted to her sun. They fall softly on his face, lighting up the curve of his cheekbones, the smile lines around his lips. He seems so much more comfortable in his skin than he used to before. And he shines brighter, if that was even possible. She thinks maybe she’ll have to carry sunglasses around from now on.

“How the fuck did you score so well then?” Seline question, furious at the revelation.

“Did you guys ever think maybe she’s just that fucking smart?” Bucky throws out, kissing her forehead. “My sweetheart’s a fucking genius!” He leans in closer. “A lesser man would be very intimidated by that, you know?”

He’s so close, she can taste his scent on the tip of her tongue. The smell of summer in the woods, and remnants of leather. It drives her insane.

“A lesser man, huh?” She teases. “You’re not intimidated by it then?”

“Oh I am,” he tells her. “Just not very intimidated.”

God, he’s so fucking beautiful.

“Hey! Lovebirds! We’re not done here,” Charles jumps in. 

Rolling her eyes and reluctantly turning back to face the asshat, she asks, “What do you want?”

“Winter Soldier here might think you’re all that, but I know better.” He looks like he’s about to spontaneously combust into flames purely out of anger. “You’re not that smart. Unlike you, some of us worked hard to get where we are. We didn’t rely on fake daddy’s money to make something of ourselves.”

Now that’s just stupid. “Charlie… Come on, man. Howard Stark was not my father, he was my best friend, I just needed a cover. And his money got me nowhere. And, and! The fucker went and got killed before I even graduated.” Bucky’s head falls at the mention, but her time at college was too closely knit to his passing for her to not mention it. “But even after all that if you think I got in because he bribed the board—I didn’t fucking graduate Summa Cum Laude by kicking my feet and batting my eyelashes. I barely came to college to even do that with perfect follow through. That was my dropping-acid-and-doing-fireball-shots phase. I’m surprised to be alive, honestly.” She takes a step towards him. “Maybe in retrospect it seems like everything was handed to me on a silver platter now that my life seems so glorious on the outside, but that wasn’t the case, dude. Part of me wanted to be a lawyer so I could fight for my freedom if the time ever came.”

“Freedom from what, Stark?!” He yells out. “Your life is fucking perfect! You’re an Avengers, governments step aside to make way for you. You’ve got a super hot boyfriend who can clearly throw a punch, what more could you possibly want?” 

Tony.

I want my brother back.

The answer is right there, on the tip of her tongue. But they don’t need to know it. They don’t really deserve it. Not their fault—most people don’t. 

So, instead she steps back, clasps her hands into Bucky’s. “Nothing, actually. You’re right. I couldn’t ask for more.” Someone in the back catches her eye then. “Lighten up, Charlie.” She looks around at the rest of them. “You’re supposed to be the brightest minds of the nation, not petty fucking 6th graders. Lighten the fuck up, kids. I assure you there are worse things to be than fucking Harvard graduates.” She pulls Bucky by the hand and this hunk of a man follows along without an ounce of hesitation, as always. She yells out without turning “I’d say it was nice to see you guys, but it really fucking wasn’t.” But then her steps halt. She turns, “All except you, Milkovitch. It really was nice to see you again. Call me sometime, we should catch up.”

“I don’t have your number,” Mickey replies innocently.

She smiles. “Fine then, I’ll call you.”

“You don’t have my number.”

Her smile just turns mischievous.

Mickey picks up instantly. “Of course,” he says, a little embarrassed. “World class spy—I forgot.”

Hugging the man quickly, she turns and grabs Bucky by the hand again and begins walking off.

“This was amazing! Let’s do this again next year,” Bucky yells out, waving at the gaping faces they’ve left behind.

“Shut up, James.” She hushes him without heat.

“Where you taking me, sweetheart?” He asks, but there is no real curiosity in his question.

So she says as much. “You don’t really seem that curious about it.”

“I’m asking for the fuck of it—to hear you talk. I love hearing you talk.”

“Sap.” She’s smiling.

“I’ll follow you anywhere, don’t care where you take me,” he promises. 

They’ve stopped walking, her target is in her eyesight so she’s all too worried. So she takes the moment to drink him in.

“FUCKING SAP,” she chides, pushing him a little.

Bucky (pretends to) stumble. “Only for you. Always for you,” he tells her, honest and true. He covers the distance between them with a few short steps. His hand comes to caress her jaw, gently—always so gently. He leans in. His lips brush against her as he speaks, “Till the end of my days, sweetheart.”

“Till the end of mine,” she corrects him and then closes the gap.

The best thing about kissing Bucky is that it always feels like the first time. No matter however many times she kisses this boy, every time it feels overwhelmingly new. It feels like her mind is melting, like she’s turning to mush under his hands—one flesh, the other metal. He always knows how to give her exactly what he craves, maybe because she mostly just craves him.

With one hand on her cheek, the other on the small of her back, Bucky pulls her in closer. His tongue tastes of whiskey, but his lips are all him. They are delectable enough to eat. It takes everything in her not to bite down too hard. But she can’t resist the urge to pull his lip between her teeth, biting just hard enough to leave them red. He kindly obliges by slipping his tongue into the mix. He’s so hungry for her, he’s always so fucking hungry for her.

Absent-mindedly she thinks maybe he feels it too. The inexplicable newness in the repeated action of kissing each other. Because hunger like that—hunger like his, seems insatiable. She would give away all of herself to it. Let him consume her whole. She will do just that… Just not here, not now.

Reluctantly, with great strength and determination, she pulls herself away. 

Bucky, this fucker, whimpers. “What?” He whines.

She can’t help but chuckle. “I need to one thing then we can just get the fuck out of here and do more of that—a lot more of that.”

He pretends to think for a second but she already knows she’s won him over. “Fine,” he says after a beat. “What do you need?”

“An answer,” she tells him, before fixing herself a bit and walking over to the woman who’d caught her eye before. 

She’s a tall woman, short black hair—a pixie cut that she pulls off flawlessly. She’s standing alone, smoking in the open area of the venue, looking out at the scene ahead of them.

Y/n approaches her cautiously. “Jeri Hogarth,” she calls out, making the woman turn. “You’re a hard woman to reach.”

“Y/f/n Stark.” Jeri doesn’t even turn to look at her. She keeps on staring straight ahead, smoking. “Did you ever consider, maybe I didn’t want to be reached?”

Y/n lets go of Bucky’s hand, but not before giving it a gentle press as a promise to come back soon. She walks up next to Jeri. “I did consider that possibility, but couldn’t bring myself to care about it, unfortunately.”

And then, finally Jeri turns to look at her, “What do you need for me? I mean it must be something big if you decided to show up here.”

Y/n shrugs. “It’s not big, I wouldn't say. I think it’s more that it’s… urgent?” That seems to intrigue Jeri, she cocks her brow in question. And Y/n answers, “I need to speak with Danny Rand.”

That seems to throw Jeri off. “I—I don’t know where he is. Besides, if you want his business—”

“It’s not about Rand Enterprises, Hogarth.” She clicks her tongue in disappointment. Nothing that fucking arbitrary would bring her here. “I want to talk to Danny’s friend. I want to talk to the Iron Fist.”

“I don’t—” Jeri looks like she’s at a loss for words which, yeah, a fairly new look on her. Y/n had very rarely seen Jeryn Hogarth lose her calm in class. They shared a lot of them, and while she wasn’t exactly kind to Y/n, she wasn’t unkind either.

“I know that you know, Jeri. I also know about Jessica Jones and… Kilgrave.” Y/n doesn’t want to be unkind to her either. “I am sorry about what happened…” Jeri just looks away. “I wouldn’t ask you if it was important, and I wouldn't be looking for Danny if it wasn’t urgent. But I need to talk to him.”

“And you think I can help?” Jeri challenges, finally finding her ground.

But Y/n isn’t here for a fight. “I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t know you could.”

“Why should I?”

“I don’t have a very good reason for that. I don’t think I have anything of value to you that I could even barter with? But I’ll owe you one,” Y/n offers.

“You’ll owe me one?” She asks, unconvinced.

Y/n shrugs. “Yes.”

“And that’s supposed to be good enough?”

For the second time tonight, Y/n just wears a mischievous smile with furrowed brows. 

Jeri seems to understand her without any words being spoken. “Yeah. That’s good enough.” She nods. “Okay, I can try to get a message to him, but there is no guarantee that he’ll respond.”

“He’ll respond,” Y/n answers easily.

Jeri eyes her suspiciously. “So, what’s the message?”

“Just tell him we need to talk,” Y/n answers.

“That’s all?”

“What else am I supposed to fucking say? The peacock rests peacefully in the moonlight?! This isn’t Mission Impossible. I’m not Tom Cruise. I just wanna talk to the dude,” Y/n rebukes.

“Fine,” Jeri tries to calm her down half-heartedly, turning back to the view ahead of her.

“Thanks, Hogarth,” Y/n says one last time before heading out.

Jeri takes out a fresh cigarette and lights it. “Just remember you owe me one.”

With that out of the way, Bucky and Y/n leave the reunion of the class of '92, hand in hand. It’s much later when they’re out for ice cream does Bucky ask the question she had been anticipating the entire night.

“Something was off tonight—before the whole sleeping with the teacher thing.” 

She chuckles at his words. “Was there?” She asks.

“Yeah,” he doesn’t let her dodge it. “You wanna talk about it?” He does give her the option to opt out. He’s so considerate, how can she deny him anything?

They are sitting on the curb outside the 24 hour ice cream shop. They are bathed in the harsh light from the streetlight. Bucky, she thinks, somehow manages to still look pretty in that. He has a chocolate ice-cream cone in his hand that’s melting away at a matching speed to the vanilla cone in hers. They’d spent a little too long lost in each other’s mouths to focus on the ice-cream in a timely fashion. Both of them are now trying to furiously make up for that.

It takes her a moment to find the words. “I… It’s hard looking around at the room and seeing so many people who are… who are…”

“Old?” Bucky supplies again.

She shakes her head, laughing and trying to lick the ice cream off the cone—save it from falling. “No, Jamie. Not that.”

“Then?” He prompts, leaning to lick the leftover ice cream off her fingers.

Taking in a long breath, she musters up her courage and begins. “Tony’s the same age as Milkovitch. Or well, Tony would have been.” Bucky’s eyes turn softer in an instant. “It’s weird to see it—people who used to be young, who used to look like me, a crowd that I could have blended into seamlessly become old and gray. I mean, I lived it with Tony but I was there to see it day in and day out. He aged in front of my eyes, so it felt—it felt…”

“Natural?” Bucky offers.

And yeah. Yeah, it did. So, she nods. “Natural,” she agrees. “I remember when I noticed his first gray hair,” she laughs. “I freaked the fuck out but I didn’t want to tell him, cause that seemed fucking shallow, you know? I tried to hide it but man, I don’t think I was doing a good job ‘cause two days later the poor kid had dyed it black—that one single strand.” Bucky laughs too. “I think he figured out why it was freaking me out and that was his way of—I don’t know—calm me down, maybe?” She clicks her tongue at the thought. “The wrinkles were an easy adjustment. It began with smile lines, crinkles around his eyes every time he’d laugh at a joke, so it was…”

“Comforting?” Bucky suggests, once again giving her the words she can’t seem to find.

She rests her head on his shoulder then, “Yes. It was okay after that—especially after Pepper. Watching him age began feeling like a privilege. It felt like he was growing old instead of, you know, dying?”

Bucky nods. “Are you worried about that now? With me?” She punches him in the side. “FUCK! What was that for?”

She pulls back to face him, “I am not thinking about that shit yet!”

“Oh I’m sorry!” Bucky yells out annoyed and animated. “I was just drawing the LOGICAL conclusion to the conversation, but of course, that was stupid.”

“You’re such a little shit, James,” she rebukes him, shoving him and getting back on her feet.

“I’m a shit?! What did I do?!” He gets up as well. “We keep making grand promises about how we’ll love each other to the end of your days because you’ll obviously live longer.”

“BUCKY, DON’T SAY THAT!” She begins walking towards their motorbike parked in the parking lot.

He follows behind, “It’s not breaking news, Y/n! It’s inevitable.”

“Bucky!”

“But I have a plan!”

That makes her halt. She turns to face him, he almost runs into her. “What’s the plan?”

He smiles all cheeky and insolent. “Freeze me for a decade once in a while.” She can’t believe her ears.”Put me in the fridge every ten years or so for a decade and then pull me out. I’m also open to being in the freezer for a year with a two year gap in the middle as well.” She wants to punch him again. “I haven’t done the math on which will make me live longer but both will definitely extend my lifespan significantly.” She is going to punch him again. “I age a little slower anyway, this was I think we could extend this relationship into the next millennium at leas—” She punches him again. “FUCK! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ONE FOR NOW?” 

Turning around, she begins walking off again. “You’re not ice-cream, Jamie. I’m not fucking freezing you!” She cans the ice-cream in her hand, having lost her appetite.

He follows her again. “I have another plan!”

“Shut up, Barnes!”

“What if we ask Banner to make me body like you guys did for Vision?! Put my consciousness in there?” Bucky asks as they reach their motorbike.

She pulls out the keys, handing them off to Bucky. “What made him capable of emotions was the Mind Stone, you got any spare of those lying around?”

Bucky hops on the bike and then thinks for a second, “Steve told me you guys put Zola in a big computer kinda thing.” She gets on behind him. “What if we did that? I know our sex life might suffer but—”

She punches him right under his ribs..

“STOP FUCKING PUNCHING ME! These ideas are golden.”

She punches him again.

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[spenglersglasses]

❤️‍🔥🎙️Hey there fellow SINNERS!!!! 🎙️❤️‍🔥

This is my first and very much-loved endeavor into the Hazbin Hotel fandom!

I know that the canon thought is that Alastor is asexual but in this fic he has a rare change for one person in particular and is NOT aromatic. If this is something that bothers you or if you are not a fan of the Alastor/Charlie ship (Charlastor/RadioBelle) then this is not one for you my fellow smut enjoyers.

If you aren't bothered then be prepared, this will be a wild ride!

This first chapter is a bit shorter, just for the set up!

Also, when Alastor has moments of "glitching" or that infamous radio cracking to his voice, his speech will look like this (Ĝ͎͍͓͌͠l̡̟̩͍̐̐̕͞ì͓̞̗̜̇̿͝ẗ̼c̬̮̹̔̒́h͚͇́̓ ̙͕̮̣̎͑͛̚s̟͇̽͞p̫͉͆̈e̡͇͉͐̑̊e̻͞c͙͇̆̏h̺̗̭̙̑̓̄͝), I will be making a note of what is being said, so those who have a harder time can understand it, but I thought it was an awesome effect lol.

*Special shoutout to @animatedglittergraphics-n-more for the GLITCH dividers!

Now without further ado!

D̢͙̯̦̙͎̎̽̇̔̾͊̿̚͜͟A̜̱̫̭̽̌̔̄R̫̬͊̈̊͜Ļ̮̗̲̤͎̙̅͒̿͒̿͊͡Í̱̮͑́͢͜͠N͔̗̘͈̲̤̳̉̅̉̀͗̔͠͝ͅG̢̻̱͐́̆͜͠ (Hazbin Hotel)

When Alastor made a deal with Charlie Morningstar, he knew it was a chance for him to ascend the ranks. Now that it's been weeks since the events of the extermination battle, Alastor decides it's time to collect…what he didn't expect was to slowly fall for the Princess of Hell. But hey, a deal's, a deal.

Chapter 1: A Deal's, A Deal...

Also available HERE on AO3.

Eventually will be NSFW below the cut!!

FḼ̯̔̅A̛̮̬̗̓͡S͚̬̹͋̌͝Ḧ̡̡͓̬̙̎͑͋͒͗͜B̥̠̭͇͚̠̉̾̔̏̍͠Á͉̙̌CK̡͔͔̱̘̣͆̿̈̐͗͝

“I know something you don’t know—” Alastor gleefully professed. His voice, rich with a smug assuredness that only he could have. It was the moment he had been waiting for. A chance that fortune had afforded him. Since the moment the head rolled out of Velvette’s filthy hands, he knew he could gain the upper hand and now was his chance.

“Huh?” Charlie asked, looking over to him in confusion as he approached her. That spine tingling smile, seething with intention, spread wide across his handsome face.  Though she had been warned numerous times about trusting him, she had to know. She was desperate. Betrayed by Vaggie, getting Heaven’s help was a bust, and the extermination was looming on the horizon—what could he know that could help? 

“Those big scary angels are not quite as indestructible as they seem…” he began.

“What are you talking about?” 

“...just that you and your little band of misfits might stand more of a chance than you think.” Alastor continued, fiddling with the leaves that hung precariously from the plant on Charlie’s bedside table.  

“How? I’ll do anything.” she pleaded. The Radio demon began turning back to face her. Amused with himself for having once again gained the upper hand. Delighted as things began to unfurl in his favor. 

“Anything?” He began his eyes growing large. Like deep pools of contemplation. It was clear from the look on his face Alastor was scheming.  

Oh fuck, What have I done ? Charlie asked herself, her mind spinning with the possibilities of what he might ask in return.

“Then—let’s make a deal.” he said, bending forward and offering up his hand. Charlie looked down at it with fear and apprehension. Her heart, pounding inside her chest as she replied. 

“You want my soul?” she asked him, slowly backing away as he seemed to inch towards her in a fluid, confident motion. 

“Your soul….” he began, his voice deepening. His face, turning sinister and cold before returning to his normal visage. “Heavens no! All I need from you is one itty bitty favor.” he explained, playing with her ponytail as he circled around behind her. Charlie tightening up as she felt the heart from the demon's hot breath against her neck. “What's a favor between friends?” he asked, wrapping his arms over her shoulders. Squeezing her tightly against him. His touch, a little too familiar—too intimate. 

Charlie quickly pulled away. Feeling a flash of fear spike within her. She felt it—his heart had been beating as fast as hers, but why? “I won’t hurt anyone for you.” she told him. Standing her ground as best she could.

Alastor perked up. Looking up through his brows as he responded, “Who's asking? One favor at a time of my choosing where you harm no one.” he promised. Charlie began chewing her bottom lip as she considered his proposal. Finding it harder and harder to look him in the eye. Though his own red, hot eyes were fixed on her. 

“...in return I tell you what I know… do we have a deal?” he continued, spinning his cane and once again reaching out his hand to shake on it. Alastor, knowing full well what he would come to ask in return. Razzle and dazzle growling at him as if they could since his sinister intentions. Charlie swallowed back the knot in her throat. Her people meant everything to her and no matter what he would ask, it would be worth the price of their salvation—wouldn’t it? 

“Deal.” she said, her horn buds began to appear. Budding out beneath her blonde tresses. Eyes glowing red as she took Alastor’s hand. As they shook hands, the power between them began emanating a haunting green light. Alastor’s true form, stitched and ominous, flickering before her. His power sealing their agreement—it was too late to go back now. Once a deal was made with the Radio Demon only the soul’s destruction could undo it. The spirits of hell began howling as they swirled around them. The hotel became shadowed in Alastor’s magic, alerting Hazbin’s inhabitants to what had happened. 

"No… No!” Vaggie pleaded, racing up the stairs before breaking into Charlie’s room. Horrified to see them hand in hand.

“Right on cue.” Alastor remarked, grinning ear to ear as Vaggie stood dumbfounded in the doorway. Pleased that she was too late to stop it. The deal was done.         

- 3 Months later -

“Yeah, well I think it’s a great plan… after all ole’ scales would appreciate the sentiment.” Angel Dust remarked, leaning back against the red velvet cabriole sofa and crossing his legs. He and husk had been discussing a night out for some time. It was clear that while the imminent threat of extermination was over, it was only a matter of time before something else happened. All of them reveling in the calm before the storm, figured it would be a good time to go out and celebrate. 

The hotel had just finished renovations. Things were going smoothly between residents, and now was as good a time as any to memorialize their friend Sir Pentious. With a round of drinks and debauchery, Husk and Angel would drag the rest of the crew with them. Even Cherri Bomb agreed to come, feeling the need of a good pick me up and some blow. Sorrowful herself at the passing of her admirer though surely, she’d never admit it.

“Nah… I don’t feel like it. You all go without me.” Vaggie huffed. Chiming up from the bar stool as she waited for the feline bartender to pour her another shot. 

Suit yourself.” Hush said, his voice gruff as ever as he handed her the glass. Both he and Angel, rolling their eyes at one another. 

“Oh come on.” Angel sneered. They had all been frustrated with her lately. Vaggie had been a bit of a killjoy for a while. Things between her and Charlie never seemed to recover as she revealed herself to be an angel. While Charlie told her that they would move on and grow from it, she wasn’t too sure. Charlie was preoccupied it seemed and even more consumed with her goals than before. Vaggie was beginning to wonder where she fit in—jealous even at the Hotel for stealing away her girlfriend’s attention. 

“Listen you gotta let loose toots, might help pull that stick you have wedged in your ass—unless you’re into that sorta thing.” Angel shrugged. Vaggie squinting and mocking.

“Well…” Vaggie began, throwing back the shot of whiskey and wiping the remnants from her mouth on her sleeve. “Fine then.” she reluctantly agreed, the room of miscreants cheering her on.

She was thankful the majority of it remained. Holding the gnawed-on scraps close to her chest, before reading. Thankfully it seemed Emily was making progress. Requesting to speak with the counsel of Archangels. 

“Argh, now where did I put that damn thing?” Charlie said, rummaging around her desk. Razzle fluttering around behind her, pieces of paper sticking out of the corners of their mouth. Charlie, turning to face her fluffy royal servant, looking guilty as sin. “Did you? Ah!” Charlie groaned, sending them a stern look, half smiling at their antics before finding the chewed-up letter on the ground. 

The letter was the first of what Charlie hoped to be many correspondences from her Angel friend. Knowing that it was important to both of them that they find out the truth behind the exterminations and find out what exactly would allow her people absolution. Though it had been a while since they talked, things had been looking up. The hotel was even host to a few new residents. 

Sev and Trix, two twin sphinxlike sinners off the streets, with the most potential. Coming to join them in hopes of avoiding the next inevitable extermination. Not quite the reasons Charlie had hoped to attract guests, but reason enough to start since no one had been officially saved as of yet. Charlie, however, was more determined than ever. If Heaven wouldn’t help her, she’d find another way. 

She sat back down at her desk, staring out of her window at Pentagram City. It seemed the Pride Ring never looked as beautiful. Despite the fires and the occasional scream, it was her own little piece of Heaven. Charlie then was startled by the sound of tuning. Alastor was broadcasting something from his tower. The sounds, cracking in and out before finally she could hear him speak.

“Hello my faithful, unsavory auditors!” he crooned. “Don’t touch that dial. You heard right—Alastor your favorite host is back! Stay tuned tomorrow for a Special Broadcast…Ȯ̱͓̻̘̒̃̈́̀͟N͍͂Ĕ̡̼̖̅͞ ̫̺͕̊̌͞Y̞̖̩̜̋̊̀̅͘͜Ō͕͚̭̥͌̋̕Ư̢̧̟̱̪̑̊̀͞ ̫̮͉̀̔̒W̳̖̓̌O̡̫̭͂́̿̉ͅN̦̪̼̬̞̓́͑̚̚'̘͍̈́͋T̻͍́̊ ̗̝͔̀̓͝Ẅ̯A̡̼̮͆̍̄͘ͅN̨͔͌͊T̹̤̪̱̆̈́̑̿ ̭̺̳̃͆̇T̢̥̺̜̂̅̈́̄̊͜Ȏ̩̊͜ ̺͙͒͐̒͢MI̎͢Š̢S͇̠̻̪̈́̓̐̎.” he finished, dropping off air as fast as he came. Leaving the pride ring a buzz with his impending return to form–wondering whose screams would grace the airwaves. 

Charlie found herself deep in thought. Ever since they shook hands things had changed, though she wasn’t quite sure how. She found herself often looking at Alastor. At first not thinking much of it, but realizing as he came close to her, that she couldn’t help but feel flush. Rosey-cheeks, more pinkened at the thought of him. That dapper way he had about him and his charming but menacing smile. 

She felt ashamed—disturbed even for having the thought. Surely Alastor had no such interest in her. Rosie had all but confirmed as much. Somewhere deep down, however, she wished things might be different. 

In quiet moments her mind would drag her down into the abyss. That dark place where her hidden desires to be all consumed by the Radio demon lie. Their flesh melting together as one, with his quick, witty oration tantalizing her ears. His eyes locked on her, and she could almost feel the fabric of his coat beneath her fingertips. 

“Argh… what is wrong with you?” she asked herself, holding her head in her hands. Frustrated with herself as she contemplated what he was up to. Her heartbeat, betraying her. 

In the recesses of his broadcast tower, Alastor sat back in his chair. Fingers, intertwining as his shadow danced along the walls. Alastor deep in thought as it tempted him to speak. Growing as impatient as he. Subconsciously waiting for the right moment to strike.  

“Soon.” Alastor hummed, his shadow smirking back at him. The sounds of crackling and distant radio sounds swirling in the air. Alastor was as powerful as ever and would grow only more so. While he had come close, too close, to perishing at the hands of the Angelic exterminators—the fight wasn’t over yet. 

“If they think I can be undone by some uptight, winged twit, Ţ̰̲͕̓̐̌͟͞͠H̪̯̽̾Ë̩́Y̬̌ ͙̮̳̥͋̑̄̽̅͜Ḩ̭̂̾Ā̭̝̯̗͇̾̇̏͡V̤͇̊͌È͙̠̹̐̿ ̯͉͐͆A̖̗̽̿N͔̣͗́̂͜O̟̣̗̟̅̾͂͞T͔͇̋͊H̪̲̾̄E̮̦̬̹͎͊̉̃̀̈́Ř̝ ̨̺̱͑͆̆TH̛̥̙̙̑̀̋͟IN̛̻̬͕̮͋̎̄G̫͇̯͋̾̕ ̱̳̉̆Č̖̣̣̎̂O̧̡̗̖͆͂̅͡M̛̘̫̞̽̓I̢͈̟͐͡͡N͍̑G.” he hissed. Static filling the room as his shadow beamed. Contorting around him as Alastor’s true form came peeking out from within. Laughing at the foolishness of anyone thinning that he was weak—Alastor knew better. 

It would take more than that to have him running away, tail tucked between his legs. He had much bigger fish to fry. He was however reminded after the close call that the time to call in his favor was close at hand. Deciding to embark on something, dare he say no one had ever imagined. The clock, ticking in his ears, reminding him that he was on borrowed time. The thought of it engulfed him in flames. Interference and static hissing and cracking as his Shadow disappeared. His antlers, growing in size as his blood began boiling—steaming hot. Angry at his forced servitude to HER. 

Suddenly it all went back to normal. Alastor, taking in a deep breath before opening his eyes to the whole of Pentagram City before him.  Returning to his usual form, he stood up. Adjusting his monocle and tapping his cane to adjust his voice. His shadow, reappearing as he set his path back into the hotel. 

“Seems almost too perfect a chance to pass up my dark, looming friend. Our beloved Princess will have no idea what hit her. Though surely, I won't be getting down on one knee.” Alastor chuckled as he disappeared into the darkness.

Great Alastor, the Radio Demon, would become Prince of Hell. Taking Charlie as his bride. 

NOTES:

Ȯ̱͓̻̘̒̃̈́̀͟N͍͂Ĕ̡̼̖̅͞ ̫̺͕̊̌͞Y̞̖̩̜̋̊̀̅͘͜Ō͕͚̭̥͌̋̕Ư̢̧̟̱̪̑̊̀͞ ̫̮͉̀̔̒W̳̖̓̌O̡̫̭͂́̿̉ͅN̦̪̼̬̞̓́͑̚̚'̘͍̈́͋T̻͍́̊ ̗̝͔̀̓͝Ẅ̯A̡̼̮͆̍̄͘ͅN̨͔͌͊T̹̤̪̱̆̈́̑̿ ̭̺̳̃͆̇T̢̥̺̜̂̅̈́̄̊͜Ȏ̩̊͜ ̺͙͒͐̒͢MI̎͢Š̢S͇̠̻̪̈́̓̐̎.- One you won’t want to miss.

Ţ̰̲͕̓̐̌͟͞͠H̪̯̽̾Ë̩́Y̬̌ ͙̮̳̥͋̑̄̽̅͜Ḩ̭̂̾Ā̭̝̯̗͇̾̇̏͡V̤͇̊͌È͙̠̹̐̿ ̯͉͐͆A̖̗̽̿N͔̣͗́̂͜O̟̣̗̟̅̾͂͞T͔͇̋͊H̪̲̾̄E̮̦̬̹͎͊̉̃̀̈́Ř̝ ̨̺̱͑͆̆TH̛̥̙̙̑̀̋͟IN̛̻̬͕̮͋̎̄G̫͇̯͋̾̕ ̱̳̉̆Č̖̣̣̎̂O̧̡̗̖͆͂̅͡M̛̘̫̞̽̓I̢͈̟͐͡͡N͍̑G- They have another thing coming.

[avaelangel]

Parents weekend.

LiMoreau blurb. Really, really want Marie to meet Jordan's parents, but I do think we won't get that in the show.

Warnings: None? I don't think I went angsty enough, but I hope it's still enjoyable. Probably not proofread enough. Might fuck around and write more.

~3093 words.

''What the fuck?''

The light went out half-way to Jordan's room and Marie heard them curse from the end of the hall. She kept going, trying not to crush into anyone beside her now boyfriend, assuming by the voice she heard. Feeling for their slightly increased heartbeat, she reached out a hand to touch theirs.

''It's me,'' she heard a sigh and hands wrapped around her, ''What happened?''

''I'll find that electricity-wileding son of a bitch and kill him,'' the moment Jordan said that, light came back.

The looked at each other for a moment. Marie with casual, but growing tenderness, Jordan with worry that seemed to be easying up. They saw Marie blink out of something. She still was tracking their heartbeat, but also, thought like she stared too much.

''What's wrong?''

''What's up?''

They both huffed in annoyance, then laughed.

''I asked first,'' Marie smiled, her hands tightened around Jordan.

''Fuck,'' Jordan tugged her into their room, letting the door close with a bang. A hug became a bit broken, but Jordan still wanted to save it wrapping their arm around Marie's waist.

''The next weekend is the parents weekend,''

''Oh,'' Marie sort of glitched on that. She was lying to people about her parents, who obviosly would be ''too busy'' to visit. Guardian shit died down, so nobody would think to like...hire actors, right? But she said the other thing.

''Already?'' She pulled away to look at Jordan better, ''We should get you and Emma out of school,'' the conviction in her voice made Jordan smile.

''I have to talk to them, probably,'' Jordan sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. They started tapping their leg on the floor and switched, ''I haven't spoken to my dad since the gala,''

Marie's expertise on parent-child relationship started with what little memories she had of hers and promising to beat up Emma's mom. She didn't really know what to say, so she sat next to Jordan, offering them her hand to take.

''I can be there, if you want,'' Jordan took her hand, intertwining the fingers, ''I can beat you dad, if you want me to,'' Marie leaned in closer, whispering. Jordan snorted with laighter.

''As much as I would want you to try that, no. Not this time. Do you really want to meet them, though? Be a distraction, basically. From the fact that my dad would rather choke then call me at least his child, let alone his daughter,'' Jordan's jaw clenched. They looked at their tapping leg and forcibly stopped it.

''I don't mind being a distraction. I'll even fuck around and agree that we are getting married after graduation,'' Marie smiled at horror in Jordan's eyes, ''In like Norway,'' she shrugged with most grace she could master.

''You really expect me to freeze my ass off for you?'' Jordan's default settings popped back in, but they still laughed, ''I hope it won't get that bad,'' they glanced at Marie, ''I mean, with my parents.''

''It doesn't have to be bad,'' Marie squeezed their hand, ''We'll do what we supposed to do, charm them out prying in your life. Or we can pretend that you are dating Emma and make them talk to her when she's a size of a glass of water.''

''I am the only one who's going to be puking when my parents come,'' Jordan fell back on the bed, but did chuckle.

''I'll hold your hair then,'' she settled in next to them on her side, ''Even if metaphorically, I think both of your haircuts are pretty comfortable for puking,'' she enjoyed Jordan's silent fight against laughter.

''I haven't puked since my graduation, I think,'' Jordan softly knocked on Marie's shoulder with their forehead and let out a heavy sigh.

''How much do you have to drink to puke?'' Marie mused, while Jordan untangled their fingers from hers and pushed for her to end up on her back, almost kicking their girlfriend out of the bed. They quickly pulled her back, putting their head on Marie's shoulder. Jordan chose to ignore her giggles.

''You really don't want to be a witness to that,'' they murmured, clearly trying to hug their worries away, ''And don't ask Andre about things like that,'' Jordan's grasp on Marie's waist became stronger.

''Watch me,'' Marie wasn't going to ask Andre , not really, ''It's going to be okay. Hopefully, we won't have to drink ourselves stupid,'' she brushed Jordan's hair away from their eyes.

''It might be, but don't get your hopes up,'' Jordan huffed, closing their eyes, ''Thank you,'' they said with a sigh.

''Too early to thank me,'' Marie decided to drop the topic for now. There is still a week to prepare.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ***

The week passed rather quickly. On Tuesday Jordan's mom texted, saying that they do plan on visiting, but probably for one evening because of work. Some kind of errands to run in town. Texting with Marie at the same time, Jordan told their parents about having a ''special someone'' and allowed their mother to sugesst meeting that someone herself.

By Thursday a reservation for four was made in a very bougie restaurant. Marie became wary of it and doubted her choice of dress. Jordan assured her that there is no constriction. No need to be bougie back, just as normal as possible. It was getting windier outside.

Friday came. Marie knocked on Jordan's door an hour before they agreed to meet. When they opened the door, Marie made a pose, to show off her black turtleneck dress and a nice bag, courtesy of Emma. Black shiny boots boots with a safe heel were bought with her help too.

''Do I need a jacket?'' When Jordan kept staring, Marie felt the need to break the silence.

''No, we are taking my car,'' they sounded irritated, coming back to the desk with accessories spread out. Closing the door behind her, Marie looked over Jordan's shoulder curiosly.

''It's fucking stupid,'' Jordan mutters, picking a gold and black ring. Their burgundy shirt has a couple of buttons undone, favorite chain missing, ''I'm still trying to impress them,'' they stilled when Marie's hand wrapped around their arm.

''I should be the one to impress them, right?'' She asked in a soft voice, trying to make Jordan look at her. They let out a heavy sigh.

''You shouldn't be doing anything,'' Jordan glances at Marie and back at the desk, their fingers toyed with a two different couples of cufflinks.

''I'm already here and I'm not leaving you to explain to your parents that you for sure did not imagine having a girlfriend,'' Marie didn't see Jordan's soft smile when she picked up both kinds of cufflinks, making them choose between a silver circle with black centre and a small red-ish triangle surrounded by gold. Without words, Jordan chose the latter.

They watched Marie intently. Someone who didn't know them both, might have thought that it was a gaze of a hawk. But Jordan was trying to bottle up the moment in which Marie stepped ready to support them regardless. And how she confidently fumbled with the cufflinks, but still managed to get it right in seconds.

''Do you think I'm ungrateful?'' Jordan asked. After the gala, in the dark of their room and their thoughts, Jordan tried to understand what it was like for Marie before she got here. And how their bitching and moaning about parents being mean might sound to her.

''No!'' Marie, when she finally got it, exclaimed, ''No, don't even think about it like that,'' she held their arms at the elbow for some reason, ''After what you told me, what I've heard from Emma and Cate, I can say that bad parents can eat a bag of dicks,'' she raised her eyebrows in mock-annoyance, like she said the most obvious thing.

''But I won't say any of this tonight,'' Marie's fury calmed down and she let go of Jordan, who was trying not to smile too much.

''At least tell them your name first,'' they chuckled. A loose curl fell to their face and Marie brushed it back. She debated commenting on how romantic this hair style looked.

''Anything else I shouldn't tell them?'' Marie asked with some doubt.

''If you call me your 'partner', my dad might joke about us role-playing as cowboys,'' those words slipped with such ease, even Jordan's smirk didn't tell Marie anything about how true this statement was.

''What that phrase was? Save a horse, ride a cowboy?''Marie said it with as much feighed innocence as she could muster. Jordan, browsing their accessory spread, stifled a laugh, pursing their lips together.

''I have a cowboy hat,'' they had to take a breath. They chose a golden ring connected with a delecate chain bracelet with another chain. Marie didn't understand at first that Jordan was offering it to her. So she gave them her hand.

In thickened silence, Jordan slowly slid cool metal onto Marie's palm, the ring fitting her perfectly. They wouldn't accept it back later.

''Never took you as a gold person,'' she murmured, glancing down at the desk.

''Oh, right,'' Jordan held her hand, bracelet already on, ''When I met Luke, he got his first brand deal with some mildly luxury jewelry brand. Took away as much as they let him. Gave it to all of us. Since then I've been giving gold a chance,'' their eyes met. Marie felt a sting of guilt, but also was happy to see them remember Luke fondly.

''Come,'' Jordan pulled her a bit so they both could fit in a mirror. Their squinted gaze examined both oufits. They even put their hands in pockets of their trousers. Then Jordan held one hand on Marie's waist and switched.

''We look good,'' Marie broke the silence, ''Very privileged,'' that did bring out a small chuckle out of Jordan. They made a mental note that Marie should never find out how easy it is for her to make them smile. Too much power.

''Yeah,'' now they had to look up a bit at her, ''Would you mind some redder lipstick?''

''I'm so smearing it all over you,'' Marie gave Jordan a chaste kiss and smiled. This is the best threat Jordan Li would ever face.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ***

When they pulled up to the restaurant, Marie got worried and glanced at Jordan, who was nervous the whole way here.

''Relax,'' Jordan sighed.

''You relax!'' Marie's defensiveness quickly faded and they both laughed.

Not a lot of things truly matter here, beside supporting Jordan and trying to have a nice evening. Marie already blended in once, she can to it again. And her and Jordan still can cling to each other, like they could not do yet back then.

Jordan's parents already waited in a far away booth. The restaurant itself was politely chattering. Every single person busy with their plate or partner at the table. Easy and calm. Marie squeezed Jordan's hand harder, mapping out options she could order here, eat and still hold up the conversation withour getting distracted.

The initial meeting went well. A burst of laughter and hands shaking, slightly awkward introducing each other another time. Everybody sat down and enjoyed a pause while the waiter was giving out the menus.

''So, Marie,'' Kayla started, looking at her child and their girlfriend over the menu, ''What was your first impression was of Jordan?''

''Did he try to kiss you too?'' Paul chimed in. It broke the softness of the first question.

''Well,'' Marie glanced at Jordan and smiled, watching them avert their eyes in embarassment, ''Jordan actually rejected me from a the course I wanted to do. And I was a fan,''

''Oh, that's a love story,'' Jordan's mom really seemed delighted by that, ''And let me guess, everything just fell into place?''

''Oh, yeah,'' Marie got a bit too excited for that answer, ''Jordan couldn't hate me for too long!''

''Even though it was very tempting,'' they remarked, allowing everybody at the table to see their smile.

''Did you hit him for that?'' Jordan's dad sounded a bit too giddy for this.

''No, I only hit people who make Jordan upset,'' Marie did her best to sound like she was joking. Her smile was polite despite Jordan trying stifle a laugh in the background.

The conversation moved towards the dishes and drinks. Some lies were spewed by Marie, like the one about drinking. She had enough beers already amongst friends and, apparently, drunk her head off at a party. She also lied about not having allergies, because frankly, she didn't know or remember. So she ordered a seafood pasta and supressed an urge to whisper to Jordan something along the lines of ''If I die, I'm sorry,''.

''We can switch,'' As if they read her mind, Jordan winked at Marie.

''I can certainly see what Jordan likes in you, Marie,'' Kayla said, taking the kids out of intimate haze.

''Yes, your actions speak for themselves,'' it sounded more wrong that it actually was, coming from Paul's mouth.

''There is a lot of us at God U. Next Guardian or Protector, whatever, is right around the corner. I just don't want anybody to get hurt,'' remembering the interview, Marie felt awful, gripping the side of her chair.

''I was fascinated by Marie's powers first, to be honest,'' Jordan straightened out, their fingers touched Marie's, ''Then, I had to come to an understanding that all of Marie is fascinating,'' they even sighed with dismay.

''To your absolute chagrin,'' Marie really hoped she used that random word she manage to remember right. She will get teased about it later.

''Just a little bit of chagrin,'' Jordan will never forget it.

''What do you like in Jordan?'' Paul asked. His and Jordan's whiskey glasses were identical.

''Oh, many things,'' Marie took a sip of her colorful icey-looking coctail. Nobody was sure it wasn't alcoholic, ''There isn't another Jordan, I think. No one can be that strong and resilient, but also loving and...,'' she had to take a breath, ''breathtaking, really. I like all of Jordan. Every single thing,''

There was silence. Kayla did bless Marie with an ''Aww'', but Jordan leaned in, kissing her cheek.

''You just HAD to outdo me on this,''

The food came and conversaiton flowed towards simpler things. Jordan did their best to stir it away from the topic of Marie's past. Marie, in turn, filled every opportunity for a story of Jordan's childhood to be repeated with her own anecdote about shenanigans at Godolkin. She even offered a memory with her sister, the one where her and Annabeth experimented with food as little kids, as a sacrifice to a nice evening. It kind of worked.

It was very hard to fight off offering of desert. Even with Marie's curiosity to try a fancy desert, between her pasta and Jordna's ravioli, they both were super stuffed. Kayla insisted on choosing something for them to take home, maybe eat in the morning and think of her and Paul. That struck a chord with Marie.

She tried to sort out her feelings during the evening. There was something stilted about the conversation, everybody hid some parts of them, but also really wanted to enjoy what they could show. The saddest part of it. Truth will come out behind closed doors, in half-lit rooms and with hushed voices.

''Thank you so much,'' Marie smiled and held Kayla's cold hands in hers, ''I would never thought to go here,'' she never would have known this place existed.

''Thank you, It was so great to meet you,'' The woman leaned in closer, ''I know I'm glad Jordan has someone to support him at God U,''

Marie nodded, still smiling. She glanced back at Jordan, who was talking about something with their dad. Everything seemed somewhat fine. Wishful thinking almost made Marie will Jordan to switch and for the dad to hug them in the form he's refusing to accept. But the boys shook hands and Jordan turned, noticing that Marie was looking.

''You are staring,'' they chuckled, swinging an arm around Marie's shoulders.

Paul's car got brought out first and after many almost hearfelt goodbyes, they left. Marie and Jordan stood in silence for a few minutes, huddling together for warmth.

''You mom has low blood pressure,''

''I'll let her know,''

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ***

The alarm clock showed 2:54 am. Only one lamp was lighting entirety of Jordan's room.

''That's it, I'm done,'' Marie abandonded the spoon next to the pistachio tiramisu and raised her hands. Giggling like a desert gremlin, Jordan took the rest of it for themselves.

''We probably should bring the macarons to Emma. And hide Emma,'' they remarked, taking another bite.

''Yeah. I should pay her at least in sweet stuff for her help. I still mostly use her make up,'' Marie nodded, glancing at the bag from the restaurant on the desk.

''You can use mine, you know,'' Jordan forgot about their tiramisu, the spoon softly touching their lips, ''Whatever suits you, I mean,''

''Let me guess,'' she moves closer and puts her head on their lap. After coming back, her and Jordan found their oldest and biggest hoodies to wear to bed, pants be gone, ''you have a really steady hand when it comes to stuff like eyeliner?''

''I have you know, I have a perfectly steady hand when it comes to everything,'' there wasn't another answer she could have expected from Jordan. They put their head on Marie's shoulder, their curls falling freely.

''Will you be able to sleep after this?'' Marie tapped the side of desert container.

''After knowing my parents are actually happy for me because of something beside of school? Barely,'' their hand found Marie's wrist.

''I meant the sugar and coffe,''

''Oh. there's barely any. I think,'' Jordan sat up straighter, looking at the container, as if it had the ingredient list, ''Lady fingers soaked in coffee, but cream is...''

''It's time to sleep, smartass,'' with a great effort, Marie dragged herself from the bed, took away the container, closed it and turned to Jordan, ready to bully them into cuddling.

But Jordan was already shuffling under the covers. Deciding not to say anything else, she turned off the lamp and climbed into the bed with them.

''I am smart and I do have a good ass,'' Jordan murmured, putting their head on Marie's shoulder. Her silent laugh made them smile too.

Sleep was sweet and sound untill Emma's distress signal came in few hours later.

[emmie-tt]

Hi there,

can I request a Blaise Zabini x reader?

Reader is also a Slytherin who got partnered up with Harry Potter during potions and became fast friends with him. Harry asked for her help to make Ginny jealous but what she didn’t expect is that Blaise would also be jealous and ended up confessing that he’s been in love with her this whole time? (Blaise and reader are close friends).

Thank you!

Glitch

Blaise Zabini x reader Summary: Helping Harry make his crush jealous unknowingly made your best friend jealous as well,I think there's been a glitch Warnings: Cursing , Sexual Innuendos -------------

I was supposed to sweat you out In search of glorious happenings of happenstance on someone else's playground But it's been two thousand one hundred and 90 days of our love blackout The system's breaking down

Y/N POV

Your brows furrow as you look up from your paper that you were busy writing your essay on before Harry sat himself down across from you and proposed a ridiculous idea

"Come on...Please..." He pleads as he stares you down

You stare at him silently before setting your quill down and leaning back in your chair "Let me get this straight, you want me to parade around as your arm candy so you can make your best friends little sister jealous in hopes she will notice you and go on a date with you?" Harry shakes his head as she groans "When you put it like that it sounds bad"

"No shit! That's because it is bad, it's actually horrible. In fact it's so bad I am honestly disgusted-"

He cuts you off with a dramatic roll of his eyes and a scoff "Fine, just forget it."

"Woah, woah, woah glasses. I never said I wouldn't do it."

"But you said-"

"I said it was a bad idea, not that I wouldn't do it." You shrug slightly before sitting up straighter in the chair "I'll do it, only because I know how much it will piss your little friends off that your associating with the enemy."

He rolls his eyes again but nods "Cool...Just- I'll meet you outside the greathall in the morning alright?" "Mhm. Off you go glasses"

With one last scoff he walks out of the library and back to wherever he came from and you just shake your head with a giggle as you watch him walk out the door

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

The next morning you roll out of bed and go about your morning routine. Taking a quick shower, brushing your teeth and hair, doing your skin care and getting dressed into your uniform for the day before making your way down to the common room where Draco, Theodore, Mattheo, Astoria, Daphne, Pansy and Blaise were already stood.

"About time you got down here" Astoria says with a smirk as you walk over to the group and took your spot next to Blaise

"Yeah, yeah, says the one who has to wake up four hours early."

With that we all have a little laugh before starting our walk towards the great hall. With a raised brow Pansy pokes your side and points over to Harry who was stood at the doors of the great hall

"Whats he doing?" she asks, ever the nosey and you giggle softly

"Waiting for me."

Blaise's neck almost broke from how fast he turned it to look at you. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Anyways, I will see you fine people in class" You blow them all a kiss before walking off and over to Harry who instantly laces his fingers with yours and leads you into the great hall

Blaise watches with a glare as you disappear into the great hall, your fingers laced with...Harry fucking Potters...Without meaning to I scoff and suddenly Draco's chuckle pulls me from my head and I look over at him slightly confused

Draco smirks before mockingly wiggling his brows "Watch it Zabini, you might be a Slytherin but green is not your color mate"

Blaise rolls his eyes and ignores the other teasing comments as he makes his way into the great hall and sits down to begin eating breakfast. His gaze travels from his plate and over to the Gryffindor table where you were sat, tucked into Potters side giggling at something he says

He can't be that funny and he sure as hell isn't cute- He pulls himself from his thoughts when you glance over at him and wink.

He rolls his eyes and turns his gaze back back to his plate, an action that shocked you as he always winked back...

Deciding to talk to him about it later you turn your own gaze back to Harry who was now talking to Ginny about godrick knows what. After a moment you fall into a surprisingly friendly conversation with Hermione.

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

Classes drug by. With Blaise seemingly ignoring you, you had no one to talk to or mess around with. The only good thing being that Harry successfully won over Ginny, something you were very surprised about.

Trudging into the common room you groan and immediately threw off your shoes before glancing around the room to see who was around. Seeing Blaise and Theo you smile and walk over taking a seat between both of them, your smile dropping instantly when Blaise stands and walks off up to his dorm.

Glancing over at Theo clearly confused he sighs rolling his eyes "He is so dramatic"

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Yeah."

Theos words shocked you and your eyes widened "Wh-What? What did I do?"

"You sucked Potters dick instead of Zabinins?"

While Theo's original words shocked you the sentence that fell from his mouth left you utterly speechless "E-Excuse me?"

Theo shrugs as if he just said the most normal thing ever. "You heard me."

You scoff shaking your head as you stand from the couch shaking your head "He doesn't look at me like that, you're crazy."

"Right, he totally isn't talking to you because he thinks you're screwing scar head. He is totally fine with it and just absolutely adores the idea because he totally isn't in love with you."

You were once again rendered speechless by his words, there was no possible way that Blaise, your absolute best friend, was in love with you-

Cutting your own thoughts off you dash up to the boys dorms, ignoring the teasing comment of Theodore who yelled "Go get that dick girl!"

After knocking on the door and receiving no answer you take it upon yourself to slam the door open finding Blaise, who now looked startled, laying shirtless on his bed with his phone in his hands

"Are you- What is happening with you? Why are you mad at me?"

He rolls his eyes with a scoff before muttering "Go away Y/N"

Shaking your head and walking into the dorm before closing the door behind you "No. Do you love me?"

His eyes widen slightly, clearly caught off guard by your blunt answer, he looks over at you then back to his phone "Doesn't matter, you're with Potter..."

Rolling your eyes you walk over and plop yourself down on the bed next to him causing him to shoot you a bewildered look "What are you-"

"I am not with Potter, I was merely trying to help him get with Ginny."

His bewilderment quickly turns to confusion as his body slowly relaxes from the tense state it was previously in and it slowly relaxed "Help with Ginny? How was you pretending to be his girlfriend helping him?"

You rolls your eyes "He made her jealous by pretending to date me since she hates me..."

"That..." Blaise mumbles as he lays his head back against the pillow "Is the dumbest thing I've ever heard..."

"I know!" You exclaim before rolling onto your side to face him "Now, tell me the truth. Do you love me or is Theodore lying?"

Blaise raises a brow as he glances over at you "Nott told you?"

With a groan you rather roughly smack his shoulder "Stop avoiding the question!"

He groans "Fine- yes... I do but it doesn't matter because there is no way you like me back-"

Rolling your eyes you cut his rambling off with a soft kiss, your hands gently cupping his cheeks as his hands shoot down to your waist as he instantly melts into the kiss

After a moment you pull away and rest your forehead against his "I do love you...I have for awhile..."

A smirk forms on his face as he pushes you onto your back next to him before climbing on top of you and kissing you again...among other things...

I think there's been a glitch, oh, yeah Five seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch, oh, yeah And I'm not even sorry Nights are so starry, blood moonlit It must be counterfeit I think there's been a glitch, oh, yeah

[schizosupport]

hi glitch! no pressure about answering, but I don't have any other schizospec people I can talk to, and I need some support

recently I got diagnosed with Other Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder/Psychotic Disorder, and I'm starting weekly therapy to get a specific diagnosis and treatment, and I have an evaluation with a psychiatrist to look at meds next week.

the thing is, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this. I've gone through my whole life up to this point trusting my sense of reality, and only had a brief period of time when I self diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (never confirmed).

AND I've started to look into medication, and the one i'll probably be prescribed is Ablify, which seems to have a ton of scary side effects. I'm still in school, and while I'm almost certain I can get accommodations, I can't be sure, and adolescents can be cruel.

truth be told, I'm just scared. I see posts about the opportunities taken away from schizospec people, and I haven't been living under a rock, I know all the stigma that surrounds what I know now to be my community.

like I said, no pressure to answer, I just want some advice and support from a more experienced member of the community.

Hello there!

It's been a while since you sent this message. I hope you are feeling at least a bit more settled in the situation?

It's always wild to get a diagnosis that you didn't necessarily expect. For me, my initial "psychosis not otherwise specified" diagnosis also completely blindsided me, and so did the later schizophrenia diagnosis.

It's true that there's a lot of stigma and bullshit surrounding the schizo spec disorders, but I also want to highlight that schizo spec people are awesome, and we're strong and we got each other's backs. In my experience the psychotics and schizos are the underdogs of not only the psychiatric community but also the mental health community. But that also means that you get a unique opportunity to learn who's a true ally, and to practice your own understanding and acceptance of other marginalized experiences on the edges of life. In my experience our community is one of the most compassionate and accepting communities around, probably bc we know intimately what it's like to have weird experiences and be judged for it. Try to navigate towards a place in your head where you align yourself with other marginalized people and don't get caught up in bitterness about a uniquely fucked situation, but instead take it as a sign to be kind above all else and to think about who else in society might be in a similar position, to find your allies and take comfort in unity.

In terms of the stigma, I think something to keep in mind as a newly diagnosed person, is that to the extent that it's possible, you are the owner of the information about your mental health. And you don't owe anyone disclosure. I'm not saying to necessarily always try to be vague, there ARE safe places and safe people and there ARE situations where you might genuinely broaden someone's horizons by introducing them to the notion that "we are here. We're one of you". But there are also plenty of situations where you don't wanna share that information. You can let them assume, you can omit, you can even lie.

People frequently assume that I'm autistic, and I don't correct them. Maybe I'll respond with "something like that" if they ask. Especially in professional settings. Unless you want someone to know, it's none of their business what exactly is your deal.

In terms of medication, the important thing to keep in mind is that it helps some people, but it is also not (shouldn't be) mandatory to take meds because you're schizo spec. You can give it a try, but if it isn't doing anything helpful for you, you are not obligated to take it. The psych might act like you have to and like it would be completely irresponsible not to. Try to take it with a grain of salt. Think about your life so far, the symptoms that have led to this diagnosis. Can you live with that? Do the meds help with that? Are there side effects and are thet worth it?

I take a low dose of antipsychotics myself and I've tried without and with higher doses too. For me at this point in life, a low dose of antipsychotics are helpful to me.

I'm happy to hear that you've been offered therapy!! I hope that it's any good, and that it's been helpful. I definitely think that therapy (with a good therapist) can be instrumental in dealing with psychotic symptoms.

In the end I just wanna say.. it's gonna be ok. I know it's a big scary new thing, but it is also actually "just" a word that's descriptive of symptoms that you already had. This doesn't mean that you are bound to get worse. Try not to panic about looking for new symptoms or symptoms you might've missed. This can make you worse, as you start questioning all of your experiences and whether they are psychotic. It can be little things like questioning every little sensory input. Try to remember that hallucinations aren't inherently harmful and sometimes you don't have to know if it's real or not bc it literally doesn't matter.

It can often be tumultuous when you've just gotten this diagnosis, before you get used to the thought and reestablish your sense of identity and reality with this in mind. But there is a point of peace coming up. It does normally get easier, as you settle into this new understanding. And you can help yourself along by reminding yourself that the only thing that changed is that you were given a word to describe your existing experience.

I hope any of this is helpful. Best of luck, anon,, and welcome to (knowingly being a member of) the community!

[waspsarebetterthanbeesanyways]

Only the Dead 8

part 1

previous

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Barbara’s body is already cold when Damian arrives at the Clock Tower.

She’s slumped over her keyboard. Her back is a mess of claw marks, so many that the back of her shirt is little more than shredded rags. There’s dried blood everywhere -- her chair, the floor, between the keys of her keyboard. It’s ruined.

Cass is hunched over the corpse, and her hands clutch at Barbara’s shoulders. She’s sobbing.

It makes sense, Damian thinks through the haze of his shock. It makes sense that ghosts would find the very elderly, young children, and the disabled to be undesirable as overshadowing targets. The Ghost King would obviously find them more useful as potential new subjects.

His face is wet.

Who are these ghosts to decide who has worth or not? Barbara had been brilliant. Their vigilante operations would have been nothing without her. Why did she have to die?

Why did she have to die like this?

The worst part is that they don’t have time to properly mourn. They have civilians to save, hostiles to eliminate, and family members still left to locate.

Damian fetches Barbara’s spare bedsheets and carefully wraps the body before setting it to the side of the room. The indignity of it rankles; Barbara deserves better, but they have no other options. Cass digs out a med kit. In silence, they splint her wrist and bandage his hands. By the time they’re finished, Jason has settled into a tense slumber, so they give him a once over and treat the worst of his wounds.

Then Cass fetches a spare keyboard, and they get to work. Diagnostics show nothing wrong with the hardware, but every attempt they make to contact the Justice League returns only static. They try to access the Internet, but that just causes the screen to glitch to the point where they’re forced to restart Barbara’s systems. They try to contact Bruce, then Alfred, then Signal. They try for almost two hours, but all attempts fail. They’re on their own.

Barbara would have been able to do something, Damian thinks, burying his face in his hands. Cass stares blankly at the bloodstains.

Jason groans, testing his restraints drowsily. His eyes snap open. “Who the fuck--” he snarls hoarsely, but he snaps out of the oncoming rage quickly when he sees Damian and Cass. “Demon Brat?” he asks. “What happened, why am I tied up, and why are we in the Clock Tower?”

_____

@coruscateselene @somecrappyclone @quirky-gardener @undead-essence @gin2212 @the-archer-goddess @learning-to-fly-on-my-own @krzys2000 @thegreawizards @luckykittens198 @violently-lovely @wackyattack @0j-9 @darkhinauniverse @just-for-dpxdc @jotaroslooseeyebrowhair @fisticuffsatapplebees @ saltyladynightmare @all-mights-asscheeks @ icedbluesoul @kgne-k @meira-3919 @vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff @skulld3mort-1fan @thought-u-said-dragon-queen @shadow-otaku20 @vythika96 @kyrianclawraith @amyheart19 @i-always-say-yea @wolfeyedwitch

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[citadelofswords]

i have to write an intro to this somehow. i don't know how to. all i got is that this is caro's fault. i've been thinking about this all day. i have so many more thoughts than made it into this thing and i might write more of it, but this gets across what i want it to. anyway yeah it's an interstitial infinity homestuck au sorry to my non-homestucks in the tag

four teenagers sit around a campfire on the ruined battlefield of a cosmic chessboard. three of them are wearing incredibly comfortable looking pajamas emblazoned with strange, unknowable symbols. the fourth is wearing what looks like a fuchsia tracksuit made of velvet. it looks equally as comfortable, but is notably much uglier than the pajamas are.

“i’m just saying,” says audrey, wearing a teal color that makes her look a little washed out. “it should be fundamentally impossible to lose it. it should be baked into the— the code that makes up the game.”

“maybe it’s a weird glitch?” suggests al, in a black and grey that suits him, but looks out of place on his body, as though he should always be dressed in color. “i know it was successful. i held it in my hands for a moment. it was perfect.”

“and sometime in between then and killing the black king, we lost it,” audrey says. “we lost an entire universe! how does that happen?!”

“you forget to cherish it,” says trish, in dark olive green. despite herself, audrey snorts a laugh.

shigeo, in the ugly fuchsia tracksuit, says, “do we have an idea of how to find it again?”

“no,” audrey says glumly. “i mean. maybe al can mess with paradox space or something?”

“it’s not here anymore,” al says. “it’s its own thing now. its own universe. it’s outside of here.”

“great, so we have nothing.” audrey flops backwards onto the ground and sighs.

“at least we went god tier before the reckoning!” al says brightly, before glancing at shigeo. “oh, right.”

“no, it’s okay,” shigeo says with a sigh. “i don’t know why it didn’t work either.”

“you’re just already too OP. if you went god tier it would just break the whole game,” audrey suggests.

there’s silence for a while, save the crackling of the campfire.

“so this is it,” trish says finally. “this is all there is for the rest of time.”

“it can’t be,” audrey says. “our genesis frog exists. we just have to figure out how to get to it.”

“if we go to the furthest ring, and speak to the horrorterrors maybe?” shigeo offers tentatively. “or i could sleep...”

“prospit’s gone, mob,” audrey reminds him. “and so is your dream self. even though your ascension didn’t take, you still merged. no, if we want to talk to those guys we’ll have to go ourselves.”

trish says, “i could try to reach out to them—,”

“no,” three voices say in unison, cutting her off.

“it’s a good thought!” al says. “but, uh...” he looks behind trish, where a still smoking crater shows the results of trish becoming her aspect. the edges are still dripping, as though the very ground has melted around her.

“yeah?” trish raises an eyebrow. “i have a better sense of how to do it now. it was a learning experience.”

“just stay for a second,” audrey says, tiredly. “give me a moment. i’m sure the pathway to the furthest ring will show itself if we just—,”

“you’re confusing mind with time again,” al mutters.

“sburb did that first!” audrey shouts, with no heat.

—

somewhere, a timer that has been steadily ticking for the last several thousand years finally reaches zero.

—

the conversation on the battlefield is interrupted by a strange fraymotif— gears rotating before being slashed in half. a fifth teenager appears from seemingly nowhere. he, too, is wearing a set of comfortable looking pajamas, but his are dark red, standing out against the grey of his skin. he looks disdainfully at the four humans in front of him.

“my part’s done,” he says. over his shoulder is slung a dark body, which he dumps on the ground in front of himself. “he’s your problem now. have fun.”

with those inexplicably cryptic words, he disappears again.

“what the fuck,” audrey says. shigeo gets up to creep closer to the body. al glances warily at him, but makes no move to stop him.

the figure groans and squints open one eye. it is, strangely-- an anthropomorphic hedgehog. he is unlike any of the beings that any of them have seen before. the eye flickers over al, trish, and audrey before settling on shigeo.

“boy,” he rasps, and shigeo flinches. “have you got any water?”

“i can get you some,” al pipes up, and scrambles to his feet to head for the river. he’s stopped in place by shigeo’s voice.

“you’re him,” he says. he meets the hedgehog’s gaze head-on. “the voice i was hearing in my head. it’s you.”

“what?” audrey says. “but— but i heard one too. and we met her— she was a prospitian.”

“no rules that say they have to be from the moons,” al tries, but trish stands up, her doom powers crackling ominously.

“who the hell are you?” she asks. “what do you want with us?”

“first,” says the hedgehog— the sojourning hellion, if shigeo is to be believed. “i would like some water. please. and then i will tell you what i know.”

it is then that they notice that he is, himself, wearing the pajamas that indicate that he is a god tier player.

—

your name is SHADOW the HEDGEHOG. you are a teenager. you played the game called sburb. it was supposed to be you and your best friend MARIA, but she was killed in the process of entering the incipisphere, and you were left alone. as a result your session became DEAD. it should have been impossible for you to win. you think impossible situations can go fuck themselves. when you reached the FORGE, however, you discovered that someone had already bred the GENESIS FROG before you could get there. being the only living creature left in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE, you have no idea how this could have happened. the only explanation that you have is that SOMEONE (POSSIBLY YOU) CAME BACK FROM THE FUTURE TO DO IT. and so you have set off through paradox space, crawling in and out of the maws of many a BILIOUS SLICK, in order to find the person who would, one day, return to your past and light your forge, thereby granting you access to the ULTIMATE REWARD. what will you do?

[epickiya722]

[NOTE: This is long! This is an actual ask about Mineta and among other things that I thought maybe some of you may be interested in reading, but because the font is in orange (due to Tumblr glitching out on Anon and their autism) I'm posting it like this. I'm not too bothered by the color, but I'm sure there are others who may find it unreadable. Now, you do not have to read it. And if you do read it, you may comment or just send me an ask ONLY if you're polite. Don't attack anyone over this. No matter how you may feel about Mineta, BNHA, Horikoshi, a dog, a cat, ANYTHING or ANYONE... DO NOT BE DISRESPECTFUL. Please keep any of your comments that you know are rude to yourself. And now, you may proceed if you choose to.]

Horikoshi said once in some interview that mineta is essentially a self-insert. Coincidentally, early-mha horikoshi had some pretty pervy tendencies (much like mineta—probably why he thought it would be cool to have such a character never really face consequences). The most famous example of this is probably the girls hero costumes, most notably Yaoyorozu. He mentions in an aside very early on in the story (volume three or something?) that he can’t seem to help himself and her boob window always gets bigger every time he draws it. Then there’s uraraka saying she didn’t want such a tight costume, Hagakure being naked, etc. When the anime started airing there was another interview where he said he really appreciated them making uraraka curvier than in the manga, because he likes curvy women. One could also use midnight and mount lady as examples of this but I’d say it’s more of a way of discussing mature themes surrounding hero society and all of its consequences rather than actual sexualisation. Something that sets him apart, even at this early stage, from other shonen mangakas is that he doesn’t only do this to the women, but the men as well. If Yaoyorozus hero costume is revealing, what about kirishimas (this comparison is my favourite because they both need skin showing for their quirks to function well, so why is one considered bad and the other fine? Because one is a boy and one is a girl? Please keep in mind I am not trying to say that kirishima is sexualized. It’s just food for thought)? If urarakas suit is considered too tight, then look at all might. You could probably see the outline of his dick from fifteen yards away when he wears that costume. Then there’s mineta, who makes certain comments regarding the women in his class. But what about mount lady and how she treats shoto? Or one of the wild wild pussy cats asking the boys in class 1-A how old they are to see how long til she can marry them? Unlike basically every other shonen out there, the sexualisation (at least as far as I can tell) is not based in sexism. It’s across the board, and we only notice it more when it happens to women because we are used to it happening to women.

For a long time, I hated horikoshi for the same reasons I hated mineta (it was a love-hate relationship for obvious reasons). He was openly perverted and seemingly one of *those* guys. You know, the ones I’d be afraid to walk near after dark. Or before dark. But I still loved mha and really appreciated what he was doing within the story. As a side note, he writes the women very well, which is rare in shonen (again—love hate relationship with dear old horikoshi). But if you’ll notice, the farther along in the story you look, the less sexualisation there is. It’s gradual so you hardly notice, but compare volume four or five to volume thirty. The difference is stark. It’s not really that mineta has less lines (although since the war started that has been the case) he still talks, just differently.

I think what happened is, when mha started getting popular, horikoshi started seeing huge pushback to minetas character, which probably all came to a head when the anime made him say something super fucked up to eri. I don’t recall if it was in dub or sub or both, but reading back through the manga it’s a bit different and honestly could’ve been poor translation or my own misinterpretation. But in the anime it was clear what he meant. He can’t wait for eri to be older, for exactly the reason you’re thinking now. The process of horikoshi realizing his mistakes started long before this, though, and gradually you can watch him patch up the holes if you pay attention. The anime does a poor job of this, at least until season six. But around the time that season four ends (and this is present in the manga too) there is a scene of Mina tying mineta to a chair and forcing him to watch something. After that, the sexualisation in the manga is gone for good. I’d like to interpret this as horikoshi finalizing his realization and own personal character development. He is no longer pervy, just like mineta is no longer pervy.

The one exception to this rule is that infamous chapter cover. The one with Hagakure on the front? Yeah, when I saw that, it made me rethink all of this. For about two weeks I was convinced that I’d been wrong about it, and he really is just a pervert after all. But lo and behold, he said in an interview that he was running behind and didn’t have time to draw or pick a chapter cover. He handed a bunch of old concept art to one of the higher ups and told them to pick something. He said he was never expecting that drawing to see the light of day, and he figured they’d choose something a little more suited to the story. (A little fucked up that he drew that? Yes, I think so. But keep in mind, these are *old* drawings. People are allowed to change and, following this metric, I think horikoshi has changed quite a bit.)

All of this is to say, mineta is not really a bad person anymore, and also has incredible writing (whether it was purposeful from the beginning or a last minute change) which just goes to show how talented horikoshi really is.

[marshemillow]

Heyy Marsh! Sorry about this but I wanted to enquire that I sent an ask once asking you about sonic and idk if you got it? It wasn't urgent or anything, while I was curious and would be glad to have had the question asked I also was just hoping asking you about a media I knew you liked would brighten your day a bit or just be nice. I hope that doesn't sound idk manipulative or anything, earnestly I was just attempting happy small talk about an interest you might share. If you actually did see it but didn't feel like answering that's also very okay! But if there was something you didn't like or appreciate about it I just want to know so I can like, avoid it next time, or if you don't want to receive asks like that at all please let me know, I'll get out of your hair!

There's also the chance it got swallowed up or something, but I don't know if that actually happens on tumblr anymore and I didn't want to come in passive-agressively, completely assuming such if you actually did see it and weren't interested y'know? Ah but this has gotten long. Uh. Just wanted to know which one it was, Tumblr Glitch or Disinterest, really don't mind either way. And if it was a glitch then I'll just summarize my original ask as; What's your favorite thing about the Sonic franchise? And how'd you first get into it? And did you watch the two cartoons that used to air at the same time during the, I think late 90s and 2000s? :3

Have a lovely day! <3

Yeah, sorry about that. Asks do tend to get buried in my inbox, mostly just because I tend to want to stay away from tumblr for long periods of time because I fucking hate social media.

Please don't take it personally if I never answered your ask, I probably just never saw it. My inbox is pretty full these days. No need to apologize, this ask is very polite and I appreciate that. I could stand to recieve a few more gentle reminders over things I've missed honestly.

So yeah, I think your ask is literally just one I missed, because I will take ANY opportunity to ramble about my boy Sonic!!! I love him so much!!!

I actually remember pretty distinctly when I fell in love with the franchise because I didn't exactly "grow up" with it. I played Mario games and random games on the Wii when I was really little (De Blob, anyone?), and before that I played Banjo-Kazooie on the N64. I'm still pretty damn good at Mario Kart Wii, not to brag or anything. I do remember playing Sonic and the Secret Rings when I was around 7, and I was really intrigued by a commercial on TV I saw for Sonic Unleashed, but that's pretty much it. I only had some interest in the franchise by this point.

It wasn't until I was around 12 when my mom got me Sonic Colors on the DS, and I COMPLETELY fell in love with it. The high-speed quick-reflexes gameplay was exhilerating to me, almost lowkey addictive, and I spent a lot of time replaying levels trying to get higher and higher scores.

That was the game that made me a gamer. I wanted to become a collector after that, and now I have a whole shelf full of games and a steam library that borders on cluttered. I learned everything about Sonic lore, I played a bunch of games in the franchise and loved pretty much all of them, and I was really touched by story elements like Sonic being protected from Dark Gaia by his own self assurance and Maria having a rare terminal illness that made her unable to explore the world like she wanted to.

As for my favorite part of the franchise as a whole, it's really difficult to pick just one thing because there's so much I love about it, but if I had to pick one, it's just that it's so unapologetic. The lore is a rabbit hole of details, the gameplay changes often so there isn't really a set "Sonic Formula" (aside from going fast at least sometimes), the characters are so memorable and amazing in their own ways, it's just crazy and it's totally self-aware of how batshit it is and embraces it with total sincerity.

I'm afraid I don't really have an opinion on most of the Sonic cartoons though because...well, because I never watched them. I'm not really much of a movie or show person, it's video games that are my forte.

[huffle-dork]

Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 24: Inverted

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix 

Read Swapboys | Read Inverted | Read The InvertedSwap Crossover | AO3 Link

Prologue | Switch | Stitched | PNPT | Septicheroes | Fantasy Masks | Horror

Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata  

Magnificent falls for a second, and then lands somewhere completely different than where he left. This is the ground floor of a tall office building--an abandoned office building, judging by the broken windows and graffiti everywhere. The front doors are open, probably broken. Outside is an urban area at night. To the left is a set of elevators and an empty doorway leading to a stairwell. To the right and back are hallways leading deeper into the building. The fog from the previous universe is gone.

But, for a nanosecond, while he was falling in the dark place Mag could have sworn he heard a scream. Animistic and angry... and targeted at him. He should probably be sure to avoid that last world.

Magnificent falls into the new world and gasps for a second, panting slightly as he feels the connection with Cait Coill break. He allows himself to shudder for a second and then he pushes himself up, pushing all that fear away. ...never again.

He looks around the space and hums. This doesn't feel like home either. Might as well look around.

But he doesn't get a chance to look around. He only takes a few steps before he hears the fizzle of static to the right.

"Y̡o͢u͞!҉!" A voice gasps. Something flies through the air towards Mag.

A knife buries itself in Mag's right arm, close to the shoulder. When he turns around, he sees a man, glitching and translucent, with a white eye-patch covering his right eye and a green scarf around his neck--oh fuck. Magnificent knows this Anti. And he looks pissed.

Magnificent yells out in surprise and pain and stumbles back, gripping at his shoulder. He goes to snarl at whoever attacked him and then freezes. "...y-you-!" He gasps, stumbling back even more.

Anti growls, another knife appearing in his hand. "You're back?! Why now?! Fuck! I knew I should've killed you, no matter what They said!" He glitches forward and goes for an attack.

"L-Let me explain-!" Magnificent tries to shout, only to get stabbed again. He growls and throws out fire towards Anti and then tries to run.

Anti glitches out of the way of Mag's attack and reappears, blocking the front doors. "There's nothing to explain! You're going to fuck everything up and this is not a good time!" He throws the knife again.

This time, Magnificent just barely catches the knife and he throws it to the ground, "Believe me- if i had a fucking choice I wouldn’t have come here! For once, I actually miss my miserable excuse of a universe!"

"Then can you go back??? I'm sure the museum still has the doorway on display!" Anti laughs. "But even now, you're not going to, are you? That's just who you are." He conjured another knife. If Mag doesn't want to get stabbed again he better think fast.

"Unfortunately I need to find my pathetic cub for that to work!" Mag bites back. He then steps back and eyes the new knife and then glares at Anti before trying to teleport past the doors to get away.

As Mag teleports around him Anti spins around and throws the knife one last time, a last hurrah.

The knife sinks into Mag's back and he falls to the ground, scraping his face. He turns back to snarl at Anti. "Listen- I'm not here to get in your way, Glitch! Let me go, and I'll stay out of your hair!"

Anti laughs again, darkly. "I doubt that. But sure. You get one chance, Magnificent. After the chance I gave you last time, it's more than you deserve. Next time I see you, I will end you." And he fizzles away in a pop of static.

It's probably for the best, anyway. Magnificent implied that Alt was here, since he needed him to hop universes. Anti should find his other self before the magician did.

Magnificent glares at the spot Anti was as he painfully pulls himself up. Fucking shit... 3 new stab wounds and its only been 5 minutes. ... Mag isn't even sure he knows what to look for now- why did they have to come to a universe where he already failed? Best stick to the shadows for now... see what he can find... He slinks into the shadows and turns into his cat form, licking his wounds.

-----------

Alt appears in what looks like a normal living room. It's an open design, with the kitchen and dining room sharing the same space, but Alt appears in the living room area. There's a sofa and a beanbag and a TV and lots of plants. The windows outside show the night sky in a suburban area. And then-- WHAP! Something hits him in the head.

Alt shouts out and glitches backwards, wide eyes looking towards whoever attacked him. "H-Hey!"

He spins around to face a man, wearing a black hoodie with red patches on it. He holds a bo staff in his hands--clearly what he used to hit Alt--and isn't putting it down. Long hair is tied back in a braid, brown with some odd white streaks around the face. A face which is half-covered in what look like burn scars. A patch hides the man's left eye but his other eye narrows.

"Anti, this isn't the time for your bullshit!" he shouts. And then hesitates. He glances Alt over. "Wait. No. You're not--you're that other Anti. From the other universe."

Alt glitches back more, holding up his bandaged hands up towards the man. He freezes as the man says his name and he steps away, looking him over with a slight bit of fear. "I... I'm sorry do I- do I know you...?"

The man laughs, lowering the staff. "I guess I do look pretty different since you last saw me, huh? Fucking Marvin... It's Jackie. You and all your friends showed up in this universe about... a year ago? Ish? I've lost all sense of time. Oh uh... don't worry, I'm not planning on... doing anything. I-I'm trying to be better. And I don't live with the others anymore." He shivers.

Alt's eyes widen and he backs up more when he realizes who this is. "Y-You-!" But, he does relax a bit at hearing he's not with the others. Though, he still looks cautious and keeps his back against the wall. "... i-is that right?" He says, skeptically. But, his face does seem to soften as he takes in Jackie's appearance more. "...shit man... you look like you've been through hell..."

"You're one to talk," Jackie mutters. "What the fuck happened to you? Why are you here, anyway?" He pauses for a moment. "Oh, uh, do you... need anything? I can... make tea or something. I think. He said I could use his food..."

Alt looks down and grips at his arm, feeling the wounds underneath still aching with pain. "Uh... it's a... long long story..." He blinks up and actually laughs a bit, "...god tea sounds... really good actually... who's he, though?"

"Um... the guy whose house this is," Jackie says slowly. "H-he's out right now, I don't know when he gets back but hopefully it's soon. Uh... you sit down, I'll make the tea." He collapses the staff into a short stick and heads to the kitchen, talking as he gets out the tea and kettle.

Alt is hesitant but slowly he makes his way over to the couch, limping slightly. He sinks into it and looks around, taking in the place.

"Anyway. His name is Frederick. He's a magician. And he... saved me." If Alt looks over, he may be able to catch a glimpse of Jackie's face turning red. "Got himself hurt in the process but still lets me stay here... yeah. H-he's a good guy."

Alt blinks at Jackie and sees his red face and smirks slightly. "A magician, huh? ...is he the one helping you want to get... better, you said?"

That just makes Jackie's face get redder. "Partly. I think I also have some renewed... empathy, I guess? But then again, I could've easily got worse. So... yeah. He's a good influence."

Alt can't help but smile, "... he sounds like a great guy. And that's... good to hear, dude. I mean- major relief on my side too so-"

Jackie laughs. "Yeah. I can imagine. I'm glad I'm the one who you popped up next to, which... again, what are you doing here?" The kettle starts whistling so Jackie begins to prepare the tea, ready for Alt to explain.

"Well..." Alt starts, crossing his arms and idly fidgeting with his bandages. "It- started when Mag kidnapped me... made me use a freaky doorway- like the one that brought us here the first time actually. Managed to get me, Bro and him into another universe... again. But, this time it was- another group we've met. But, in their home dimension instead of ours. We found a device there called the TRVLR- made by some group called IRIS. It can help us travel to other dimensions... we just don't know which one is ours... they're all coded with these- numbers and symbols and I still don't really know what they mean." He sighs and feels his pocket to make sure its still there. "... god i've lost track of how many we've been to now... but- yeah... we're literally just trying to get home, but we keep choosing wrong."

By the time Alt is done talking, the tea is done. Jackie brings the cups over, handing one to Alt while keeping the other for himself. "That... fucking sucks, dude," he says, with a dark little laugh. "That really sucks. IRIS, huh...? I think we have that here, too, they make, like cameras and shit. I don't know anything about them and... TRVLR, was it? A dimension-hopping device? Weird... I didn't think we were at that point in our tech, if we were ever gonna get there." He shakes his head. "Sounds insane. I'm guessing you got really roughed up over time, then?"

Alt takes the tea gratefully and takes a sip- god, it felt really good to have just a good cup of tea. It made him miss Dr. J though. Tea was his first solution for everything. It was the pureblood Brit in him.

"It is insane, I'm still having trouble believing it if I'm honest," Alt laughs. But, then Jackie brings up his injuries and Alt goes quiet. He grips his cup a bit tighter and curls up some. "... kinda... but uh... it was mostly... t-the last place we were in..." He shudders.

"Really did a number on you, huh?" Jackie mutters. "Well... I think I get it. Maybe. I-I don't want to make any assumptions, but... I mean, look at my face." He gestures at it. "You think this shit happens by accident? I didn't fall into a barrel of acid." He takes a sip of his own tea.

Alt looks at his reflection in his tea, his voice small. "... I was taken by a... doctor. But, he wasn't human... but ... he was that universe's version of ... of Schneep. He was... a monster." His hands tremble now and his expression looks haunted.

"...oh, you mean that literally," Jackie says, eyes widening. "Literally an inhuman monster. Oh. That's... oh." He shakes his head slowly. "I'm... so sorry. I-I can't imagine... well, I can easily imagine how Schneep would become that. But I can't imagine what it would be like if he was a monster." He sighs. "Maybe you should just stay in this house, then. I don't know what Schneep is doing now, but he's in Mirygale--the, uh, city where you showed up last time where we all lived. Right now you're in a smaller town called Red's End. It's... far away. Like, an hour's drive. So the others won't get to you."

Alt finally looks up at Jackie, his eyebrows furrowing. "... you'd... really let me do that...?" He seems to be contemplating this before he sighs and takes another sip of his tea. "... as tempting as that is... I gotta find my brother... and Mag- before he fucks something up around here... again." Alt's shoulders slump, looking back down at his tea, the exhaustion on his face as heavy as the bags under his eyes.

Jackie pales a little bit. "God, I forgot that guy came with you. Fuck. Shit. We don't need two of them here." He rubs his temple like a headache is forming there, then drinks more tea. "Okay. Yeah. You guys tend to appear near people who are like you in your own world, right? I mean... Anti's not here right now--I think--" He glances around, but no, Anti would've shown himself by now if he was here. "--so maybe it's your counterpart or the counterpart of someone you know. Which... doesn't bode well for the other Chase or Magnificent. Or maybe that cat bitch would come out on top. Who knows? Your brother, though..."

Alt swallows nervously, looking pale himself, "Yeah... i... I gotta find him. But... fuck- if the others are an hour away." He groans, "That's gonna take sooo long! Why did I end up all the way out here!" He then grumpily drinks more of his tea, his shoulder glitching a bit.

"Ohhhh be glad you did end up all the way out here," Jackie says seriously. "Marvin's lost his fucking mind and he's taken Jameson and Schneep down with him. Jack's still with them, they still make him upload for some reason, but I don't know where Chase is and I honestly..." He swallows a lump in his throat, hiding it with more tea. "Anti probably would've been safe for you. But that's still a four out of five chance of running into those guys."

Alt's eyes widen and he looks at Jackie with horror. "oh... oh god-" Alt whispers. " I... o-okay yeah... its probably good im here... but it's not good for Chase!" He drinks the last of his tea and then gets an idea. "... do I still have Anti's number...? Maybe he can help me get back to Mirygale..."

"You have a phone number for him?" Jackie asks, surprised. "Well, by all means, then." He gestures in a 'go ahead' way.

Alt does indeed have the number Anti gives him. When he calls, it only gets through half a ring before the other end picks up. "It's you! Are you here? In my universe? I forgot I gave you a number. I saw Magnificent." Anti's voice fires off rapid statements one after another.

Alt blinks. "Oh shit getting right into it- uh yeah I'm here! I appeared by Jackie- he said we're an hour away... and he caught me up vaguely on what's happening. But, Mag and me aren't the only ones here- my brother is too! And it sounds like he could be running into some serious trouble."

"I'm coming there," Anti says. And Alt's phone starts gently fizzing with static. Green and black pixels shoot out of it, forming a person in the middle of the living room. Anti shivers--not in the way people do, in the way that lagging images on a computer do--and glances around.

Alt jumps and drops his phone, curling up his feet to his chest on the couch and covering himself with his arms for a second.

Anti’s eyes land on Jackie. "Hi."

"Hi." Jackie looks wary but not angry.

Alt blinks at Anti and then looks at the two, a bit confused by their reactions but- also relieved.

Then Anti looks at Alt. "You mean Chase, right? He's here? Yeah. He could probably be in some shit."

Alt lowers his arms and nods, "Y-Yeah... I-I gotta go find him- if Marvin's gone crazy I... I dunno why he'd wanna hurt Chase but... I-I don't want to risk it!" He pushes himself to stand up and winces a bit as he puts too much pressure on his bad leg but keeps standing, meeting Anti's eyes. "and... I dunno... m-maybe I can help? I've... I've gotten a lot better with my magic-"

"He'd want to hurt Chase because he's gone off the fucking deep end," Anti says bluntly. "He's--" Then he stops, noticing Alt's wince. "Are you... okay?" He glances him over, really looking. "No, you're not." His brows furrow. "There's not much in your universe that would do that, is there?"

"He's been hopping between worlds," Jackie explains. "The last one... fucked him up."

Anti nods slowly. He reaches out to Alt. "I might be able to help. I can't heal you, but it can help with the pain. Can I?"

Alt stiffens slightly and tries to wave it off before Anti calls his bluff. He purses his lips with a slight glare. But, he blinks as Anti offers his hand. ...He was an asshole the first time they met- and he still kinda is. But, now, Alt does trust him. How could he not? "Uh... sure-" He looks at Anti's hand like he's not really sure what to do though- "...how exactly can you do that?"

"I'm electric," Anti says simply. "You are too. More than most people. I can reach your nerves more easily."

Anti gently takes Alt's hand. The moment he does, Alt feels a tingling sensation spread from the point of contact all over his body. It's a little weird, but not painful. And when the feeling fades, nothing hurts--though he is still aware of his injuries.

"There. I don't think I'll be able to convince you to not search for your brother, so at least now it won't suck for you."

The sensation is strange- but also kinda nice. Alt shakes the feeling off and then clenches and unclenches his recently stabbed hand to see if it hurts. It doesn't. Alt grins, "Oh dude that's metal! Thanks!" He then looks back at Anti and nods in determination. "You're damned right, if Chase is in trouble, I'm gonna be there."

"Keep in mind this is temporary." Anti gestures vaguely at Alt. "If you start hurting again let me know."

Alt nods to Anti, "Right."

Then Anti looks at Jackie. "Well? Do you want your redemption?"

Jackie takes a drink of his tea. "Not if you're going to press gang me into it," he mutters.

"So you're going to let someone else possibly go through it, then," Anti says plainly.

Jackie flinches. "You're terrible at this." He rubs his eyes. "Look... you guys can teleport all over. I can't. I won't be much use for the actual search anyway. But... if you find something out, let me know. I can try to help."

Anti nods once. Then he turns to Alt. "How far can you glitch?"

Alt then looks between Anti and Jackie as they talk like he's watching a ping pong match. The younger glitch looks up and flushes slightly, "Uh- probably not too far right now... I'm kinda running close to empty... b-but I can try? To see how far? ...I dunno I don't really measure the kilos when I do it-" He mutters.

Anti nods. "That makes sense. However you got here, it probably used a lot of your energy. Look if absolutely necessary, we can... do you remember Amp?"

"Oh fuck!" Jackie shouts from the sofa. "I do!"

Alt stiffens a bit, "Uh... y-yeah- how could I forget?" He tries not to think about his last weird glitch fusion, but... that was more recent and weighing on his mind.

“Well he’d probably give us both a boost,” Anti says. “Might not be needed, though. Just bringing up the possibilities. I could also take you through a shortcut, but I don’t usually like to do that unless absolutely necessary. You want to try and head out by ourselves first?”

"I'll keep that in mind..." Alt grips at his arm and tries not show his discomfort. Amp would probably be useful... but that would also mean opening up his mind to Anti and- he can't do that right now. "Uh... what's wrong with using a shortcut? Is it dangerous?"

"For you guys," Anti says vaguely. "Come on. Once we're in Mirygale I'll explain the situation to you." He glitches, reappearing towards the door.

"Good luck you guys," Jackie says. "You know where I am. Or, Anti does. The Anti from here. Fuck. Just go, it's not cool anymore."

Alt looks back at Jackie and laughs. “yeah- maybe we’ll see you later. Thanks for the tea.” He glitches to meet Anti by the door then waves at Jackie.

"No problem." Jackie waves back at the two of them.

"Let's go," Anti says, and glitches outside.

Alt braces himself- hoping he has enough energy to keep up with Anti and not pass out on him. He glitches after him, hoping Chase is okay.

-----------

Bro appears in a hotel lobby. The decor and furniture is kind of old-fashioned, but with a modern flair and the colors are muted, mostly shades of blue. There are sofas, armchairs, a low table, a fireplace, and a long desk. A few doors are visible, one obviously leading outside.

Bro steadies himself then looks around at his surroundings. “Hmmm… this could be home- but I feel like I would know about a hotel like this by now.” He sighs and messes with his hair. “Just great alright… please be a kinder universe this time! Thank you!” He starts to look around, see if there’s anything of note around here. Or a sign of any of this universe’s thems-

He doesn't have to wait long. There's movement in the windows, and then the outside doors open. A man steps in, with messy brown hair and cracked glasses, carrying what look like grocery bags in one hand. He stops short when he sees Bro.

"Chase?" he asks. "What are you doing down here? Did something happen?"

Bro’s eyes widen. He recognizes this guy- from the first time they ever universe hopped! That crazy doctor- “Oh uh- hi Schneep?” He laughs nervously.

"Hallo," Schneep says, looking confused. "What are you doing down here?"

Bro looks even more confused, “Uh you know- just… hanging.” Oh shit he thinks he’s this universe’s Chase- shit shit shit. “Uhh what’re you doing?”

"Hanging?" Schneep only looks more confused. "Ah... I went to get groceries. I do not think I told you. Did you get worried? My apologies. Here, let us go upstairs and put them away together." He walks over and grabs Bro's arm, gently but with some force behind it, and starts walking towards one of the doors.

Bro gets grabbed and he tries to pull his arm out. Sounds like the actual chase is here and he does not want to mess with his doppelgänger right now! “Ah actually I was about to go for a walk! I think! L-Lovely day for one isn’t it?”

Schneep stares at him, blinking. "Walk?"

“Uh yeah- you know? The thing you do outside? In f-fresh air?” Bro laughs nervously. “The thing you just did- I’m assuming. For the groceries-“ Why does he feel like he’s just digging himself a really big grave?

"...you want... to go outside. For a walk for fun. At eight thirty at night." Schneep narrowed his eyes slightly. "Chase. Did something happen?"

They're near that long desk that hotels have. Schneep lets go of Bro's arm and walks around to the other side.

Fuck- it’s night. How did he not notice it’s night??

“No no just! You know- been… cooped up all day! Gotta get that blood flowing you know? It should be… fine- I can take care of myself!” He can’t remember what all these guys can do but Alt was scared of them for a long time- he doesn’t wanna expose himself and get into major trouble. All he has to do is convince Schneep to let him go outside and it’ll be fine!

"I know you can, I am not denying that," Schneep says. "It is just a bit unusual. You have not had a problem with the new, ah... what is the word? The new... place to stay... yet. Well, I suppose this is not a problem, but you do not go out much."

“Yeah you know- can only stay in once place for so long!” Chase says through a too big smile. “You should probably get those groceries up there! I’ll be back soon- yeah!” He gives a thumbs up.

"...okay." Schneep nods slowly. "I will do that."

“Sweet I’ll uh- see you in a bit then!” Bro starts to head back towards the doors-

The doors are locked.

“…shit.”

Schneep stares at Bro, something intense in his gaze. Like he's waiting for something.

“Uhhh is there a reason the d-door is locked, Schneep?” Bro turns back to ask nervously.

"We always lock the doors when we come back in," Schneep says in a dead, flat tone. "I do not think we've told you. You do not have a key."

That is not a question. That is a statement.

“Uh yeah- right…” Bro says slowly. “…c-can I have a key?” He tries to smile innocently. “Or can you unlock it?”

"No." Schneep folded his arms on the desk, leaning forward. "Why do you ask? For your walk? Why do you want to go outside, Chase?"

Bro sighs and then stands up straighter, cracking his neck and his eyes glow slightly. “You know I’m not your Chase, huh?”

"Oh!" Schneep jerks upright. "No, I did not, but that makes sense in retrospect." He laughs. "I was getting worried about you. Hmm, did I press the button for no reason, then? No, no, the others will want to see this."

“… double shit.” Chase curses under his breath. He then grins and holds up his hands. “theressss no reason to call the others!! I’m just- you know? Passing through! Don’t want to bother you all so uh- see ya!”

He tries to punch through the door.

Huh, that's weird. It's sturdier than it looks. As he punches the wood, it cracks a little, revealing that it's only a thin wooden cover over a metal door.

Bro cries out and shakes out his hand, stumbling away from the door. “What the fuck?! Ow!”

"It is a bit too late for that," Schneep says. "In fact--do you hear that?"

Footsteps. They're getting louder-- One of the doors bursts open and tendrils of violet-black magic fly towards Bro.

Bro’s stomach drops and he whips around and tries to get into the air before the tendrils grab him and painfully pull him back down. He screams and writhes in the magic, trying to get out of it.

Marvin is standing in the open doorway. This world's Marvin, not Magnificent. Bro recognizes him... but something's different. His eyes. They used to be normal blue, but now they're purple. Even the sclera are tinged a pale violet.

"No you don't, Chase," he says, grinning. That voice--it's different, too. An echoey tone follows the words, a hiss that lingers on the S in his name. "I thought we agreeeeeed you'll be staying. Though... that was a high jump there, wasn't it?"

"He said he is not our Chase," Schneep reports. "Do you remember those visitors from last year?"

Marvin laughs. "Oh yes! Theeeeyyy started this all, in a way. It's so nice to ssssee you again." The tendrils retract, pulling Bro along the floor closer to Marvin.

Bro tries to fight the tendrils- tries to dig his feet into the carpet or grab at something. But it’s too strong. He looks at Marvin with wide scared eyes. “W-well that’s… new-“ He half- whimpers. “W-what did we start e-exactly?”

Marvin crouches down on the ground next to him. The tendrils begin wrapping around Bro's limbs, pinning them together.

Bro shouts as his limbs are pinned together and he squirms in their painful grip.

"You all arrived here from sssssomewhere else," Marvin says. "Somewhere that I got curious about. And somewhere I'd like to go to pay back that other me. So IIIIII started doing some research. Days and days and weeks of research. I didn't find anything about other worlds, but I found so much more. And I realized that some things were holding... us... back." His smile widens. "And getting rid of those things did so much for me. For us. Just recently, actually, IIIII found my potential."

Bro smiles nervously at Marvin. “heyyy that’s- great? Happy for you bro?? T-this sounds like it had nothing to do with me though so m-maybe you can just?? Lemme go? Please??”

"No. Because IIIII just saw yoooouu try to fly away." Marvin flicks the rim of Bro's cap, knocking it off his head. "And I'm curious how you do that. On your own. With no spell. I'm sure Schneep over there is curious too." He looks up at him. "Do you have room for a group project?"

Schneep's expression brightens. It's sickening. "I always do."

"Lovely. I'll take him down to the practice room."

Bro feels his stomach drop and he fights more against the tendrils, trying to break out. “T-There’s nothing to get! I-it’s just super powers! No need for a group project!! Everyone hates group projects!” He tries to joke- but there’s definite panic in his voice.

"'Super powers' don't EXIST here," Marvin says impatiently. "And why not? Why couldn't we have ourselves mmmore powers?" He laughs. "Don't make a fussss about it." He turns and heads back through the door, taking Bro with him, but then stops. "Schneep, can you go check on our Chase, if this isn't ours? Mmmmaybe a doppelganger arrival disrupted something."

"Of course, I will make sure he's okay," Schneep says.

Marvin laughs again, like he's thinking of some private joke. "Yes. Make sure he's 'okay.' And if he's not, tell Jameson." And he resumes, magic tendrils tightening their grip on Bro as he struggles.

“My powers aren’t something you can just take, asshole! Mag’s already tried that!” Bro shouts in anger. He tries as hard as he can to break out as Marvin and Schneep talk, only to yell out in pain as the tendrils tighten. He tries to keep fighting though- always keep fighting…!

"I've heard thaaat before," Marvin says, almost teasingly. "We had someone show up here from nowhere just like you did. They said the same thing, something about light and dark being part of them. But we did it anyway." The hallway door slams shut, separating them from the lobby. "Now shut up or I'll burn out your vocal chords."

As Bro gets dragged down the hallway, the tendrils just tighten further. Marvin is not letting this one get away.

Bro swallows and shuts up like Marvin asks. But he can’t help but shake- fearing what’s coming.

[valeffelees]

📷 🎵 🌸 🎤

📷 What’s set as your phone’s lockscreen?

i think i have it set to this snowbaz fanart, but i dunno for sure. my mobile has been dead for over a week... er, actually. i think it might be coming up on two or three weeks now. i don't even know where it is at the moment. might be in my pillowcase, but sometimes it falls under the bed and just stays there for a while lmfao

🎵 Last song you listened to?

physically incapable of listening to anything but this and ruthlessness at the moment. i have a friend that's really into this musical right now so i said i would listen to it, 'cause what else are friends for if not enthusiastically indulging your interests, and now my brain is glitched

🌸 Best compliment you ever received?

ok, so. when i was in 8th grade i had this awesome teacher. she was new at our school, but she was the teacher you wanted to have, y'kno? and she was insanely supportive of my writing whenever we did creative-type writing assignments, she would always read mine out in front of the class, and there was even one time when i wrote a short story and printed it out for her and she read it in her spare time and told me what she thought about it. and it wasn't like i was fucking busted at writing when i was 13 or something lmao i think she could just see how passionate i was about it and wanted to encourage me but here's the bit: i can't remember anymore if it was 2018 or 2019, but i'm like 18 or 19 years old at this point and haven't seen this woman in years, but i'm the oldest of three, right, and so my sister comes home from school one day and she tells me she ran into my old 8th grade teacher, who recognised my sister and asked her about me. she wanted to know if i was still writing. she told my sister to pass along that i was one of the best young writers she ever taught and that she hoped i was doing well, and i still think about it all the time

🎤 Is there a song you know all the lyrics to?

i know all the lyrics to most songs i really enjoy. i have a shit memory, but lyrics have always come easy for me for some reason, especially musicals

come ask me things!

[crusherthedoctor]

❣️, 💥, 👾, 🤖 (and 💙 :P)

❣️ Favourite Game?

Mania is still #1 for me. To make a long story short, this game is top tier for me in most of the ways that count. Gameplay, visuals, music, attention to detail, references that are actually clever, the whole shebang. The story might be mildly disjointed compared to something like S3&K, but it doesn't bother me too much. I love this game to death, and it steams my hams that fans have took to ignoring its success in order to prop up Frontiers.

Likewise, second place still goes to S3&K for similar reasons. The rest of my favourites include (in chronological order) Sonic 1 and 2, CD, SA1, the Advance trilogy, Rush Adventure, console Colours, and console Generations.

💥 Favourite Boss Fight?

To list which ones come to mind:

The entire Death Egg-Doomsday Zone confrontation. One of the strongest endgames to any Sonic game, and one of Eggman's finest moments. S3&K as a whole did a fantastic job in firmly cementing how dedicated and hands-on the doctor can be when he's portrayed at his best, and it's wonderfully capped off with this crazy bonanza of "For fuck sake, he's STILL not done?" The Great Eggman Robo is also an imposing design with how it looms.

Egg Viper and Perfect Chaos in SA1. The former for being a decent challenge and the epic as hell defeat animation ("Watch out, he's up to something!"), the latter for being possibly the only 3D Super Sonic fight that isn't complete shit, even if it is a little janky.

Sonic VS Shadow on the A.R.K. The atmosphere and music really make it work.

Deep Core is pretty underrated. A fun shoot 'em up boss, and the Egg WIzard has some creative and eye-catching attacks thanks to the Jeweled Scepter.

Egg Dragoon for bringing out the aggression from Sonic and Eggman alike, as well as the sheer intensity of the fight itself. You know it has to be good when even a certified Non-Fan of Unleashed like me fully approves of it.

Egg Reverie for neatly avoiding a certain undesirable event by instead settling on a three way deathmatch. The music's great, the background is hypnotic, and I love how the timer is inflicted with N64 cartridge tilting-style glitching.

The Mega Death Egg Robot in Forces may have been just okay as an actual fight, but I really, really love the sound design that went into it, as seemingly minor as that may be to some. And Eggman being mad enough to have a second mech inside the first one ala Doomsday Zone is peak... him.

Oh, look at that, most of them are Eggman! Guess the other villains need to try a bit harder, huh?

👾 Favourite handheld title?

Advance 2 was my first Sonic game, and I also think it's probably the most well-balanced of the trilogy (Special Stage rings and needing to get the Emeralds as all four characters to unlock Amy aside), so I'll go with that one.

Second place is a tie between Advance 1 and Rush Adventure. Can't decide which won edges out. :P

🤖 Favourite robot?

I struggle to pick an Eggman-made example because that would require listing every robot he has ever made that isn't Belle. If I had to pick one - one that counts as an actual character mind you - then the Hard-Boiled Heavies for being my kind of quirky and fun. <3

For a NON-Eggman example... uh... this narrows it down by quite a lot. Emerl was good, wasn't he?

💙 Favourite IDW character?

...I'll go with Simp Era Starline, and maybe Tangle before the flanderization set in.