#i want to put him in a box and shake him around until the masks fall off

[for-those-who-wait]

He got his PS5 taken away, what a loser

[davinawritings]

Burglar Orc Breaks Into Your House and Your Pussy

Pairing: Orc Male x Human Female Reader

Warnings: Smut, Non-Con, Creampie, Squirting, thigh fucking

Note: If you are NOT comfortable with the above warnings: DO NOT READ.

Stepping out of the bathtub, you wrap a white fluffy towel around your dripping body. It is finally the weekend, and you have decided that tonight will be a night for relaxation. You have already had dinner, painted your nails, completed your face mask, and now your bath is complete. The only thing left to do now is to crawl into bed with a nice book and a glass of wine.

Pulling the towel tighter around your body, you open the door separating your bathroom and bedroom, only to freeze in the doorway. Standing in front of your dresser and searching through your jewelry box is a massive orc. He hasn’t seemed to notice you yet, and you instinctively try to make a run for the door. 

The orc catches sight of your movements immediately and blocks the door before you can run through. In a panic, you turn to try to run back to the bathroom, but you don’t make it even halfway before the orc grabs you by the arm and pushes you towards the bed. 

He bends you over it, and you go to scream when a large hand covers your mouth. His voice is rough when he says, “No screaming, little human. I have no interest in killing you”. His words do little to put you at ease, and you begin thrashing back and forth, trying anything to get out from under his hold. He lets out a deep moan as you move against him, thrusting his hips against your barely covered ass.

You freeze once again as the realization dawns on you that you have no way out from under him, and his stiff shaft is rubbing against you. He chuckles lowly and says, “I’ve always wanted to try one of you humans. Never had the chance, but I guess this is the perfect opportunity”.

He quickly pulls the towel off of you and pulls his pants down far enough to free his cock. You try to clamp your thighs shut as tight as possible, but he still manages to shove his dick between them. He thrusts his cock repeatedly, fucking your thighs like a tight cunt. He groans with his thrusts, the tip of his cock hitting your clit with each stroke. 

You want to die of embarrassment at the wetness that begins to gather in between your legs, even more so when the orc starts to laugh. “Such a good human whore, getting wet for me. This little pussy is just begging to be filled by orc cock isn’t it?”.

You try to shake your head, but his hand keeps you from doing so. He pulls back, and on his next thrust, he enters your dripping hole. You scream into his hand at the stretch, never having been so full. 

He leans his body over yours, his muscular torso pressing against your back. He starts pounding away, and all you can feel is him.

He moves his hand from your mouth for only a moment before shoving two thick fingers into your mouth, groaning as your saliva pulls around them, and you instinctively start sucking on them. 

His hips don’t stop as you are brought to the edge of ecstasy. You try to keep yourself from cumming, not wanting to give him the satisfaction, but you quickly realize it is a loosing battle. Each thrust has his tip rubbing against your g-spot, his hips pushing your needy clit into the bed.

You moan and cry out as you start cumming. He pulls his wet fingers from your mouth, wanting to hear you moan and scream for him. He quickly moves his fingers, to your puffy clit, pushing you into another orgasm before the first has even ended.

He doesn’t relent until you squirt all over his cock, dragging his own orgasm from him and he fills you with his cum, grinding you further into the bed, just to draw a few more whimpers from your mouth. 

You wince slightly as he pulls out, feeling the mixture of both your fluids rush out of your gaping pussy now that his cock is no longer there to keep ypu plugged up. 

He gives your ass a firm pat as he says, “I think you might be my new favorite toy, little human. I’ll be back tomorrow; maybe if I’m feeling generous, I’ll even bring a friend”. You say nothing, still trying to catch your breath as you watch him climb out of the large window leading to the fire escape. You know the smart thing to do would be to get up and immediately lock every window, but you can’t help the way your overworked cunt clenches at the thought of tomorrow.

I hope you enjoyed <3 <3 <3

[gloomwitchwrites]

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x Female Reader - Coworker AU

Content & Warnings: Coworker AU, Halloween Store AU, friends with benefits, oral sex (male & female receiving), unprotected piv, creampie, friends to eventual lovers, free use, overstimulation

Word Count: 1.5k

A/N: For Kinktober 2024 (Free Use)

While working at a Halloween store, you make an agreement with your coworker, Kyle Garrick: free use of your body for covering shifts.

ao3 // main masterlist // kinktober 2024 masterlist

"Another shift? I'm starting to think you're only working here for my cock."

"Kyle Garrick," you hiss, smacking his arm.

Laughing, Kyle grabs your wrist, bringing your knuckles to his lips. “The deal still stands.

"I'm fully aware of the deal," you mutter with a smile, removing your hand from his grasp.

"Any place. Any time."

"I know."

Kyle grins and aggressively clicks the end of his pen until you roll your eyes. "Just do it you big idiot," you mutter.

Putting pen to paper, Kyle scratches out your scheduled time and moves the shift elsewhere.

This time, he clicks the end of the pen once. "Behind the changing rooms."

"Now?"

Kyle tilts his head to the side, a sly smirk on his face. Of course, now. He doesn't mean later. He never means later.

Within five minutes, you're leaning over a stack of delivery boxes with Kyle deep inside you.

All around you is the overflow of popular items. Couples have been coming in exclusively to purchase Scream masks, and it seems that every child that walks in with their parents wants to be a superhero. You're surrounded by masks, fake weapons, and numerous packaged costumes for every age.

You bite down on your bottom lip to stifle every rush of air that threatens to escape your lungs. Kyle's muted grunts are slowly turning into groans.

"Fucking hell, love,” he mutters, his thrusts quicken pace. The boxes beneath you shake and shift. They'll topple over, taking you with them if he isn't careful. Kyle exhales, his hips grinding against yours, holding there as his cum floods your pussy.

This is the agreement. The arrangement.

When you need a shift moved or covered, Kyle will happily do it. But he has free use of your body whenever he wants and at any time.

Kyle gently thrusts, pushing his cum deeper into you.

"We need to go back," you groan, attempting to catch your breath. "There's probably an insane line at the register."

Kyle chuckles. "There wasn't a soul in the store when we came back here."

You glance over your shoulder and scowl. "How long have we been gone?"

With a brief squeeze of your ass, Kyle eases his softening cock from your body. His cum follows him.

As you stand to adjust your clothes, Kyle's arms embrace you.

He kisses the top of your head. "Don't worry your pretty little head over it."

You groan and shove at him. "You're insufferable."

"But you like me," he teases as the two of you exit the small storage space, grabbing a box on the way out.

"On your knees."

You turn and almost scream.

Kyle is standing right behind you wearing one of those goddamn Scream masks. It's one of the red ones with horns.

"What are you doing? You scared me."

You're standing behind the counter at the very back of the store. The only customers are near the front, browsing and oblivious to your work in the back. Most don't even realize they can make a purchase back there.

"On your knees."

You blink. "The cameras, Kyle."

"They're off."

You cross your arms over your chest. "How did you—"

"I have my ways." He nods toward the floor. "On your knees."

You promptly fall. The counter is high enough to obscure at a distance but not if someone walks directly up to it. But you made an agreement with Kyle. If he tells you to get on your knees, you do it.

You present your mouth, and Kyle reaches for the front of his jeans. He opens them up, and then you take him into your mouth. With his hand on the back of your head, you suck and tease, swirling your tongue around the head before taking him all the way to the base.

Kyle starts to groan, and then clears his throat, head on a swivel as he watches the store. You keep at it, finding your own pleasure in the task of pleasing him. The mask certainly doesn't harm. You understand why it's so popular now.

One moment you're throating him, and the next you're pressed against the counter, Kyle quickly adjusting to lean forward, blocking any view of you. He pushes the mask up to reveal his face, grinning widely at whoever is standing there.

"How can I help you?" he asks, voice charming and smooth with zero indication that his cock is down your throat.

Inwardly grinning, you continue to suck him off. This is what he wanted after all. Why not give it to him?

"I'm looking for this," comes a woman's voice.

Kyle leans forward a bit like he's peering at a phone. "Those are in stock. Just over there."

"Over where?"

You take him down to the hilt and his hips jerk in response. "Front of the store. Left-hand side. Second row." He chokes on the last two words, barely getting them out.

You hear footsteps moving away, and then Kyle is glancing down at you, shaking his head softly.

"Swallow," he whispers. "Do it."

As he says it, his release hits your tongue. Relaxing your throat, you allow the cum to slide down as much as possible before you swallow the rest. When every drop is down your throat, he pops his cock from your mouth.

His pants are buttoned and back into place in seconds. You start to get up but his hand lands on your head, pushing you back down.

"Ready to check out?"

"Yes."

"I'll meet you up front."

You watch him go from your spot on the floor. You wait a full minute before checking to make sure it's clear.

"I—I can't. Kyle. Please."

The customers are gone. The registers have been counted. The front doors are locked and all the lights are off. Except one. The one on the desk in the back office.

That lamp is on, casting a soft glow over your naked body. Kyle kneels between your spread legs. All you can see are his eyes. His mouth is busy with other things.

A swipe of his tongue and you're gone. Eyes rolling into the back of your head, you moan loudly, fingers clinging to the edge of the desk. You're supposed to be in your car, driving home. Instead, Kyle is giving you your third orgasm.

"One more," he murmurs against your sex. "One more."

You can't do one more. You really can't.

There are a few second reprieve before Kyle returns to his work. Every limb is shaking, overstimulation thudding through you so hard it's bordering on pain. You finish quick and loud, screaming out into the tiny room.

Kyle is standing and sliding into you within a few brief moments. The old desk creaks under the sharp thrusting. Kyle has one hand on your inner thigh, keeping you wide while the other rests firmly next to your shoulder. He leans over you, panting just as hard as you are.

Kyle's eyes are heavy-lidded with lust. "Feel so good," he groans.

Pushing up onto one elbow, you reach out for him, hand grasping the back of his neck. Kyle grins as you tug, closing the distance. His lips meet yours and it is perfect bliss.

"Finish inside me,” you sigh. “I want to feel you."

Your little admission does something to him. Kyle's groan softens to a sound you've never heard from him before. He kisses you again, and there is deep possession in it.

The two of you might have an agreement. It's the same agreement you’ve had with him last year and the year before. In between the stores closure and opening, there are flirty texts and occasional fucks but nothing serious. Nothing that feels like...whatever the fuck this is.

With a loud groan, Kyle grinds his hips forward, sealing your bodies together. His lips part, and you dip your tongue inside to taste him. Together, your connected bodies feel as one. There is no beginning or end here. There is only simple knowledge of pleasure.

Kyle returns your kisses. Each softer than the last. His arms circle to your waist and then lift, bringing you to an upright position. Dragging you to the edge of the desk, Kyle keeps himself firmly inside you, as if unwilling to part just yet.

He goes in for another kiss. This one on your lips. The next, your cheek.

"Need another shift covered?" he asks.

His heat is nice. Comforting. "Not at the moment."

"Pity," he croons, seeking yet another.

This time it deepens, becoming hot and heavy all over again.

"We don't have to do this, Kyle."

He presses his lips to your exposed shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"We could just...do this. We don't have to do all the other stuff."

"All the other stuff?" he grins.

You punch his shoulder and his smile only widens. "You interested in that, love? In me?" There is a hint of hope in his voice.

"What if I am?" you counter, matching his smile.

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@ash-tarte @enarien @gingergirl06 @certainlygay @greeniegreengreen

[kiss-theggoat]

Okay it’s a sad request but you know the slashers reacting to s/o being hurt? Can you do a slashers reaction to s/o thought to be killed by one of their victims. Only if you are comfortable with it of course!

A/N: Thank you so much for the request! Some of these might be a little out of character, so I apologize, but I hope you like it! 🖤

Slashers if Their S/O Was Badly Injured

Slashers Included: Thomas Hewitt, Billy Loomis, Stu Macher, Asa Emory, Michael Meyers, Sinclair Brothers

TW: VIOLENCE AND DEATH

Thomas Hewitt:

When Hoyt and Thomas brought home a group of teenagers going through Texas, one of the men got free and ran into the kitchen where you and Luda Mae were preparing dinner. He stole a knife from Luda, shoving her to the ground where she hit her head and it left you, held at knifepoint. You tried to lunge at him, but the knife entered your stomach, twisting and gnashing at your skin and muscle.

Hoyt finally came in, shooting the man who held the knife. You collapsed with him, blood pouring from your wound onto the tile and soaking into your clothes.

Thomas shoved Hoyt aside, hands trembling and eyes already welling with tears. His chest felt like a black hole as he watched you grow more pale by the second. With shaking hands he rolled you over, placing your head in his lap. He reached down to put pressure on the wound, unable to stifle his cries as he watched blood gush from between his fingers.

You started to cough and sputter, blood leaking from the side of your lips as he leaned down, unclipping his mask. His pressed gentle kisses to your eyelids as they grew heavier, holding you in his lap as he watched you fade away.

Billy Loomis:

You’d been at Stu’s party, but you weren’t supposed to be part of the plan. Billy walked around the house, making sure that everyone was dealt with before going to find Sydney. He stopped in his tracks when one body looked familiar.

He dropped to his knees, knife clattering away from him as he touched your shoulders gently. He whispered your name, watching as you bled onto the floor. You could barely breathe, slowly taking in wheezy breaths.

“Billy?” You whispered in horror, realizing that he’d been the one involved with your death. Billy’s jaw tensed as he leaned closer to you.

“I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to be here.” He whispered, placing his hand gently on your cheek for a moment before he stood, retrieving his knife.

Stu Macher:

Stu had let you in on his and Billy’s plan, and when Billy agreed to let you help, he was ecstatic.

But on the night of, everything went wrong. It was the time to give each other injuries, and you stood there, holding the knife nervously, hesitant to stab Billy. You moved forward and plunged the knife into him, but at the last second you closed your eyes, accidentally stabbing him too deep. Billy fumed, growling at you to give him the knife.

When it was your turn, you’d wanted Stu to do it, but Billy insisted. He shoved the knife into your stomach, not even trying to hide the fact he has bad intentions.

Stu yelled, shoving Billy away from you and hanging onto you as you fell to the ground. He apologized profusely for getting you involved, crying as he moved your hair gently out of your face, holding you as you closer your eyes even though Billy yelled at him to get up.

Asa Emory:

You’d probably be in the house of traps when someone got free from the red box. They snuck into the room that you occupied, at first thinking you were a victim. You played along until you tried to maneuver them towards another trap, and instead, they shoved you into it.

You fell onto the ground right on top of a two by two foot mat full of nails. They stabbed through your chest, and you screamed in pain, trying to push yourself up off the nails but the pain was too intense.

Asa heard you and immediately knew where you were, maneuvering through his house to get to you. The victim was long gone by now, leaving you and Asa in silence. He was full of rage, eyes twinkling with anger and sadness. There was nothing he could do now, except for take it out on the rest of the victims inside the house.

Michael Meyers:

You hadn’t seen Michael for a while, and it was making you nervous. He usually came by your house daily, but it’d been almost a week. You went by the Meyers house at night, slinking inside to try to find Michael.

A searing pain radiated through your back, and as you slowly turned around you saw Michael’s eyes through his mask, wide and could tell how heavy he was breathing. You looked back and saw his signature knife protruding from your back, warm blood soaking into your jeans. You fell forward, coughing as you felt your chest starting to tighten.

Michael looked down at you before kneeling, a large hand touching the top of your back softly. He didn’t know what to do. He leaned down and looked at you in the eyes, watching them go still. His grip tightened on your shirt. He didn’t know how to process the fact that he’d hurt the only person he’d actually cared about.

Sinclair Brothers:

A stray survivor escaped Bo’s basement, spotting you. They were so on guard they didn’t even bother to talk to you, instead, they grabbed a wrench from Bo’s work bench and hit you across the face, making you fall to the ground immediately.

You had no idea what happened next, but all three Sinclair brothers surrounded you, kneeling. Bo grabbed your face gently, inspecting your wound when Lester said something to him, sounding panicked. Your ears were ringing and your vision was blurry. Bo couldn’t panic. He had to be calm, but Lester started to shake at seeing you bleeding.

Your cheek and upper eye socket was cut open, a sizeable gash leaking blood down your face and neck. Your entire face felt like it was on fire and your vision was shaking, it felt like you couldn’t think straight.

Vincent leaned down closer to your face, inspecting the wound gently, knowing that it was pretty severe. With shaky hands he held your cheeks, wiping some blood away from your eye gently.

“Don’t worry, Darlin…we’ll get you all patched up.” Bo whispered.

[spidermans-l-o-v-e-r]

Smoke Detector

Pairing: Eddie Diaz x Reader

Word Count: 1.3k

Notes: Love love that I still haven't posted Orange Blossoms. And it's such a good chapter too yo I think I'm going THROUGH it secretly and I just don't know it yet

You’re upset, you’re beyond upset. But you can hear Jill, your therapist

“It’s what he loves to do Y/N, he saves people” 

And she wasn’t saying it to convince you that you were crazy or something, she was saying it to remind you that he wasn’t crazy for wanting to do this.

Maybe therapy before work wasn’t the best idea but it was the only time you were free. You’d told her about how scared you were about Eddie getting hurt and you knew it was wrong to want him to stay home but all you wanted to do was ask him anyway. You just wanted him to quit being a stupid firefighter 

Okay, no you didn’t. Not really anyway! But some days were just so much harder than others to deal with, especially when he’d come home exhausted and bruised up, or shaking from something that had scared him. 

The worst nights were when he’d come home and just hold you… he’d go lay straight in bed and you knew by then that something bad had happened… someone had gotten hurt or worse they didn’t save someone. 

It was starting to eat into your mental health, no matter how many times Jill said you should really talk to him, you just couldn’t. You couldn’t make him feel bad for going to work and doing what he loved. So you kept it to yourself, you let it stay all boxed up in a nice little package 

It was convenient the fire had broken out near your job, and you were able to sneak over to where the truck was. It totally wasn’t safe and Bobby hated every time he found you leaning against the truck waiting for Eddie 

So you leaned against the ambulance this time. 

It wasn’t too bad of a fire, you watch as they put it out relatively quickly. Eddie turns around and spots you, he opens his arms as Buck starts bringing in the hose

“Heyyy pretty girl!” You run and jump into his arms and he spins you around, squeezing you tightly 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Where the 118 is, I appear” you joke as he swishes you around a bit and smirks, kissing all over your face

“I’m so glad you’re here baby” He sets you down and keeps his arms around you. He takes off his helmet and sets it on your head “Now I don’t have to wait until tonight to see my pretty girl” 

“If you guys are done being disgusting? Cap wants us to check the south side in a minute he says there’s more smoke coming from there” 

Eddie makes you stand on his toes and walks you two backward to the truck, Buck is gagging and you’re snorting when their radios crackle 

“Be advised we believe there may still be a child inside” 

“Oh god, what if there-“

Before you can even finish your sentence Eddie’s eyes narrow, they light up for a moment and he sets you down 

“I see him, Cap, I’m going in”

You freeze up and reach out for Eddie“No! No no no no-“ 

Buck grabs your waist and holds onto you tightly for a moment so they can talk this through 

“Eddie maybe I sho-“

“We don’t have time for that!” He takes his helmet from you and goes running right back into the smoking building as you scream for him. Buck holds you in his arms as you try to fight him off but he won’t let you go. You don’t stop fighting until you see Eddie dragging the child out, his mask over the little kid's face. Buck lets you go to rush over and help, Bobby takes the child and Buck drags Eddie to the ambulance as he hacks up a lung. Hen attends to him and you come running over 

“Eddie?? Eddie-“ He reaches out for you but Hen gently pushes you to the side 

“Just give me one minute with him honey, it’s okay” She hooks him up with an oxygen max and he gasps raggedly, falling forward from dizziness they catch him and set him back upright. She rubs his back soothingly and holds the mask up to his nose 

“Hey come on breathe slowly, you know better” She jokes as she tries to get him to breathe in the oxygen while Chim takes his pulse. His head lolls forward onto Chimney’s shoulder but he’s improving pretty quickly anyway. 

“See? He’s tot-“ Buck turns to reassure you but you’re gone 

“Y/N??” Buck does a little spin 

Eddie lifts his head slowly and looks around for you, but you’re nowhere in sight. He catches a glimpse of your white hair bow as you make your way through the little crowd 

“I-I have-“ He tries to get up but they hold him down 

“Eddie you need oxygen first, she’s gonna be okay” They struggle to keep him in place but he wriggles free from his jacket and rips the mask off, running after you. He keeps his eyes trained on that bow as he chases you, the closer he gets the more he can hear your sobs. He watches you turn off onto a side street and his legs pump faster afraid he’s going to lose you 

He nearly runs past you at first, but he hears that sharp intake of breath he knows all too well 

“Y/N??” 

He looks around and spots the bottom of your shoe. He scrambles over to you and finds you on the ground, your chest heaving as you curl into the grass, holding yourself tightly. Your body feels numb, you can barely even hear him talking to you, the world is slowly closing in on you the harder you breathe 

Eddie grabs you and pulls you into his arms, your eyes are glossy as you stare at him 

“I’m here baby I’m here, it’s okay” He whispers in your ear, rubbing your back 

“I’m right here Corazón, come on listen to me let’s breathe together” 

He breathes in slowly, trying to get you to copy him “Focus on my hand on your back okay? Focus on my hand” he takes his time, talking slowly and in shorter sentences to get you to focus. 

He starts telling you about some drama going on with Buck, and a super embarrassing story about Chimney getting stuck in the toilet somehow, he feels your body relax against his as your breathing slows down. He kisses the top of your head and hugs you tightly as you finally look at him 

“You okay to tell me what that was all about?” He asks quietly and you nod slowly 

“Y-your job is so dangerous Eddie… w-watching you run b-back into- into that building-“ 

He shushes you by kissing you slowly. His tongue twirls around yours, as he kisses your breath away 

“Let’s not get you worked back up again” he’s panting softly “I think I get the gist…” 

He kisses you again and you blush as you feel his hand slide down your thigh and gently stroke it. He kisses you for a bit, just soft little pecks and lingering promises. 

“I'm sorry I put you through wondering if I’ll come home to you. I didn’t- I didn’t realize what it was doing to you”

“I could have t-talked to you about it” 

“Looks like we both need to learn to communicate better” he chuckles, cupping your cheek 

“It’s gonna be okay baby… I’ll always come back to you” He kisses your nose “How else would I marry the love of my life?” He toys with the ring on your finger and you giggle a little and wipe at your eyes 

“Promise me you’ll never die?” You look at him with watery eyes and he nods, putting his forehead against yours 

“I promise you, Corazón” 

Once you both get home, he has you book a couples therapy session for the next day 

[baby--b4t]

Could I request a mini fic of Ghost with a toddler regressor who, when in little headspace, has trouble pronouncing certain letters and sounds and has a lisp? And no matter how hard anyone else in 141 tries, they can’t understand the little one. Ghost, however, can.

ghost actually has a superpower and its understanding the most incoherent speech anyone has ever heard B) hes just that cool /j /silly

anyways i hope this is actually coherent enough to read TuT

There were a million more interesting things to do rather than watching the morning news with Price. You wished you could be watching cartoons or a movie, but Price always watched the news at six am sharp. That was like an unspoken rule in the 141.

Gaz walked out from his room and went towards the small kitchen area. Price and Gaz exchanged their “Mornin’”s and went back to what they were focused on. You, however, watched Gaz as he grabbed one of the yogurts from the mini fridge.

“‘Nack?” You mumbled, glancing at Price. Your stomach was starting to feel a bit empty after thinking about the snacks you could have.

“Hm? Nack? I dont know what that is, bud.” The Captain responded, turning back to face the Tv. You huffed and got up, going to the kitchen to ask Gaz instead.

“‘Nack? P’ease?” You asked once more. Gaz stared at you like you had just spoken to him in some foreign language.

“I dont know if its because its early or youre speaking gibberish, but I cant understand you.” He replied, shaking his head slightly before eating a spoonful of his yogurt. The fact that nobody seemed to understand you was starting to get on your nerves.

“‘Nack!” You said again, pointing angrily at the fridge. Youd think pointing at what you wanted would help them understand, but that was the furthest from the truth. Gaz and Price were still confused about what you wanted.

It was around then that an angel came down the hall, his eyes still as sharp and tired as they normally were. Ghost entered the scene, not really acknowledging anyone as he poured himself some coffee. He didnt pay much mind to you talking to Gaz until he heard you getting irritated.

“Whats the matter?” Ghost asked, turning his body to face you. You repeated your question again and he nodded. “Sure, just no sugary things.”

Gaz and Price just stared at him in awe.

“You understand him?” Price asked from the couch, amusement clear in his tone.

“You cant? He was just sayin’ ‘Snack’. Whats hard to understand about that?” Ghost replied with his normal biting attitude. Gaz had just given up at that point, shaking his head and walking off. He felt like he was still half asleep trying to figure out how somehow Ghost understood you.

Ghost went to turn his attention back to his coffee. He let out a sigh, trying to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes. His head quickly turned back around as he heard you getting into the box of cookies.

“Oi.” Ghost glared at you slightly, warning you. “What did I say? Put ‘em back ‘n find something healthier.” You slowly slid the box back into the cabinet and shuffled over to the bananas in the bowl on top of the mini fridge.

“Is ‘nana?” You asked, holding up one of the bananas to Ghost. The Lieutenant nodded, turning back to stir his coffee. His smile was hidden by his mask.

“Cheeky thing…”

[lovelybucky1]

Neil trying to be cool to get the attention of a client (disinterested in him) being totally cringe and geeky with his movie recommendations

im a filmbro just like neil so i really resonate with this

my inbox is open for requests!

warnings: one mention of sexual content, mild mentions of violence, neil being a geek with zero rizz

masterlist

It’s not often hot people walk into Gumshoe Video. There’s the regulars, the families, the loser film bros who are there at least four times a week, the teens who try to rent pornos, and old people looking for the classics.

When you walked in, Neil almost dropped his fast food cup filled with Dr. Pepper. You’re exactly his type, and he pushed the other employees out of the way so he could be the one to help you.

“Hi, I’m Neil. How can I be of service?” he greets you, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. You look down at his name tag and note that it says owner underneath his name.

“I don’t need any help, thanks,” you smile politely and continue walking. You aren’t trying to be rude, but you had a long day at work and this puppy dog of an employee is only going to get on your nerves.

“Are you looking for anything specific?” he asks, following you down the aisle.

You sigh. “No, just something to watch.”

“We have a huge selection. What’s your favorite genre?”

You resign yourself to the fact that this man is going to be up your ass until you leave the store.

“I don’t know. Action? Comedy?”

“Well, right over here we have Fast and Furious.” You wrinkle your nose. “We also have The Dark Knight.”

“Uh, no thanks. The villains in those movies are always so cheesy.”

Neil hums and scans the shelves, looking at the collection of videos for rent. “If you want a comedy we have Daddy Daycare, Superbad, American Pie…”

“I think I’ll just look around myself-”

“Or if you want something classic, we have Citizen Kane, Casablaca, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now-”

“Look, Neil,” you sigh. “I appreciate the suggestions but I really don’t need any help.”

Feeling rejected but not letting it show, Neil nods and steps away. “If you need anything, I’ll be behind the counter.”

You nod and watch him walk away before turning to browse the movie selection by yourself. It takes you a while to find anything that you were interested in, but you settled on Friday the 13th. It’s not what you’d usually go for, but your life needs a little excitement here and there.

From across the store, you could hear the other employees ridiculing Neil for “striking out”, though you’d have to argue that he never even got up to bat.

When you walk up to the counter to rent the movie, no one is to be found. You look around and find a bell on the counter labeled ring for assistance. You hit the button and the bell rings, and immediately following the chime is a thud and a curse. You peak over the counter to see Neil crouched underneath it, rubbing the top of his head.

He stands up and looks at you, putting on a charming smile like he didn’t just embarrass himself.

“All set?” he asks.

“Yep,” you reply shortly, handing him the box.

“Friday the 13th,” he reads. “That’s a good one. You didn’t tell me you’re into horror.”

“I’m not really. Just wanted a change,” you reply, figuring if you engage in his small talk, he’ll let you off the hook sooner.

“Did you know this was filmed at a real summer camp in New Jersey?” You shake your head. “It’s still operational, actually. The only set piece they had to build was the bathroom; everything else was already there.”

“That’s really interesting,” you smile, lying.

Unfortunately that was the wrong thing to say, because it made him perk up. “If you think that’s interesting, wait until you hear this…” He ducks under the counter again and comes back up with another movie in hand. “Scream was based on a series of real murders in the 90s. Ghostface was based of the Gainesville Ripper who killed five students in Florida. He wore a black ski mask, which was the inspiration for the movie.”

Neil must have noticed your concerned face and stopped.

“Uh, sorry. I guess giving a stranger facts about a serial killer is kind of weird,” he chuckles.

He scans your movie, swipes your card and prints out your receipt. Before he handed it to you, he scribbled something at the bottom.

“Thank you for renting from Gumshoe Video. Have a nice day,” he smiles.

You give him a polite smile back and on the way out of the door, you look down at the paper in your hand. He wrote what looks to be a phone number, but his handwriting is too messy for you to make out the digits.

[gremlinscomics]

~Injury Fic List~

I would love to see you turn either 27 or 30 into a crack fic

A lil challenge for you >:D (evil laughter)

[pushes up glasses] 27 you say? Challenge accepted-

27) "Breathe... breathe. Look at the stars, kid."

When Casey had heard something slam against her living room window, she’d assumed it was a large bird, and was sorely disappointed to discover it wasn’t.

It was just a teenager from the future.

It also isn’t technically ‘her’ living room, it’s the living room of Baron Draxum, who’s guest room she’d annexed after her own home had been demolished in the Krang invasion. But the fact still stands that, her home or not, her off brand, future counterpart should not be face-planting into its glass panes.

She shoves the window open swiftly, sticking her head out to find CJ in his civilian street clothes hunched over against the railing of the fire-escape, clutching his gut, hands stained red. His hockey mask, a helm eerily similar to her own, is skewed on the top of his abhorrent mullet.

“Future boy?”

“Mo- Cassandra!?” He gawks in surprise, “What-”

“Are you injured?”

Wordlessly, and with some unappreciated attitude, he lifts his hand to reveal a puncture in his torso, face deadpan. Nothing too big or deep, but probably still painful.

“We will fix this!” Casey cries as soon as she registers the red sap leaking from his new orifice, already blindly reaching for the first aid kit they keep next to the window.

“Why do you have that right there?” CJ asks, eyeing the red box distrustfully, shoulders shaking.

“Do not ask questions.”

Casey will not admit that Draxum put it there after Casey herself kept coming through the window injured, so as to not stain the carpeting in the front hallway.

She pops the top off and tears open a packet of gauze with her teeth as CJ tries to worm away, muttering something about ‘unhygenic’-ness.

“I don’t need your help!” He argues as Casey wrestles his hoodie up so she can see his stomach properly, “HEY-!”

“Hold still-” She orders, moving quickly, like she is trying to bandage a feral raccoon before it realizes what’s happening. She loops the cotton wrapping around his waist and he yelps in discomfort, “Let me fix your injuries!”

“Please don’t-” She jostles the wound slightly and his words cut off abruptly; leaving him squeezing his eyes shut and leaning his head back with a grimace, “Ow.”

“Breathe... breathe.” Casey does her best to comfort the teen as she tightens the bandages around his stomach. Man, she can’t believe the Foot Clan didn’t want her to be a medic, she’s a natural at this. “Look at the stars, kid." 

“We're almost the same age.” CJ shoots back through gritted teeth, chest rising and falling unevenly. "And what stars?"

“You can’t see the stars?” Her hands falter, “Are you concussed as well? Let me see!”

“You can’t see a concussion-” CJ cringes as Casey grabs his face, wrenching it towards her, “Get- Get off of me!”

“Never-!” She continues, turning it in the faint light of the window, “Does your head hurt? Seeing double? Er-” What are the other side effects of a head injury, “Cramps? Mood swings?”

“Those aren’t concussion symptoms!” He hisses, clawing at Casey's wrists, trying in vain to free himself, “Let me-” He lifts up his boot and plants it square in her chest, “go!”

Casey lands square on her back, impressed by the strength of the scrawny kids' kick, yet furious at the way it sent her flat against the metal grating beneath them.

She blinks up at the sky and her body goes rigid.

“Lesser-Jones!” She shoots back upwards swiftly and seizes CJ by the shoulders, “I also cannot see the stars! I too might be concussed, we should contact April for assistance!”

“How would you be concussed!?” CJ again tries to free himself from her grasp, this time by just weakly thrashing left and right, “You’ve been home all night!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Spirits above-” He places his own hands firmly on Caseys shoulders and shakes her until she loosens her grip, “Neither of us have a concussion!”

“That sounds like something someone with a concussion would say-”

“NO.” He snaps in irritation before slumping back against the fire escape, only held up by Caseys grip on the collar of his hoodie, “There’s smog and light pollution from the city blocking the stars. No one’s concussed, the stars are just really hard to see…”

Ah, pollution, Casey might have heard a thing or two about that.

“So you’re fine?”

“I’m not fine I got shanked in the gut-” CJ huffs, quickly backpedaling when Casey reaches for the first aid kit again, “Yes, wait, I’m fine. I was going to ask Miss Carole to help.”

Casey’s chest swells with pride, “But you came to me for aid instead?”

“No-” CJ staggers to his feet with labored breathing, “I landed on the wrong fire escape, she’s the one right below, remember?”

Oh. Casey supposes it is true that April lives just downstairs and that, by extension, CJ and April's mother live there as well, but she still would like to pretend CJ came to her for help because she’s a fellow Jones, not because he got lost.

“I suppose that is logical…” She mumbles under her breath.

“Yeah-” CJ grips the railing and swings one leg over the side, “I’m gonna go now…”

“Fine.” Casey waves him away, “You’re dismissed.”

CJ frowns slightly, “Cool… See you around, Cassandra. I guess…” 

Then he’s gone, dropping down and landing on the platform below them with a distant, metallic ‘thud’.

Casey can hear the window below open and CJ clamber through, she can hear a shocked gasp and distant voices clamoring, and she listens to them until someone finally closes CJ’s makeshift entrance, leaving her alone with the thousands of other noises in New York.

She looks up at the sky with a huff, angered at the fact that all she can see are smudges of gray and black. 

Smog and light pollution, huh? She’ll need to do more research on these things, maybe figure out how to banish them from this realm before more people are deceived into believing they’ve contracted head trauma.

Yeah… Even if she’s not injured on a fire escape, bleeding profusely, it still seems like it’d be peaceful to just go out and see the sky on a clear evening.

She’d like to be able to look at the stars.

~~~~~~

Thanks for the ask Crow, tons of fun to write our gal! Mayhaps I will do 30 as well, we shall see >:)

[elizabethemerald]

Summon the Cat: Part 7

Master Post

The sky over Gotham rumbled and cracked with thunder and lightning. For once the city wasn’t suffering under a deluge, only an electric storm that made the buildings shake with each wave of thunder. The weather couldn’t be more appropriate, because today was the day of Danny’s funeral. 

Selina had spent a month planning every detail with Danny, Jazz and the Sirens. Danny had started sobbing when he realized that she had been serious about the offer of a grave. At first she thought she had messed up somehow, but it took getting back home to the Chateau (what they had taken to calling the former Drake Manor), and some comforting time with Jazz to realize that she had done exactly the right thing. 

Jazz revealed that she had her own shrine for her dead brother, carefully hidden in her closet. She hadn’t dared to have anything larger when she was still in Amity when doing so could reveal Danny’s truth to the Fentons, and she had kept up the secret once they moved, uncertain how Selina and the Sirens would react to the shrine. 

Danny was a ghost. As much as he was also alive, he had also died in a truly horrific manner. His life and his death deserved to be remembered. Once he was able to speak without sobbing, Danny confessed that he had felt ungrounded after his death until Jazz had found out and made her shrine. Sam and Tucker were great friends, but they just hadn’t been mature enough to realize what he needed, and he didn’t have the words to ask. 

Jazz had a personal theory that while every ghost and spirit in the Realms wanted to be remembered and mourned in some way, it took a significant effort for any of them to actually request it. Sort of like speaking about their own death, speaking about their memorial and was too painful for them. 

Selina had asked if she could see Jazz’s shrine, though she feared that would be too private. Danny however also wanted to see the shrine she had made for him, so Jazz had called her girlfriends over to provide some comfort, then grabbed the shrine and brought it out. The shrine was an old cigar box that still smelled of tobacco. Jazz had painted the outside black, and covered the top in stars. 

Danny immediately pointed out that the star positions weren’t correct, but when Jazz started to huff about completely unreasonable expectations, Danny laughed and grabbed her tight in a hug. 

“The stars are close enough that I can see how hard you tried.” Danny said with a bright smile. Jazz blushed, but smiled and hugged him back. 

When Selina opened the lid of the cigar box a light clicked on and a small star projector started turning like a ballerina in a music box. Danny and Jazz were fully crying now as more stars were projected onto the lid of the box. Inside there was a pair of candles and a small plate for offerings. Surrounding the plate were different things that represented Danny to Jazz. Calipers and a drawing compass to show his skill with engineering, a Stomle Family figurine in a ghost costume for his ghost half, and a couple of astronaut figures for his space obsession. There was even a little handmade thief mask with little cat ears, that showed she was still working on and actively adding things to the shrine. 

Cass and Steph cooed over the shrine and the work and thought Jazz had clearly put into the little box, but they could both see just how much this meant to not just their girlfriend, but also to Danny as he gently picked up each piece and turned it around to look at it, before just as gently returning it to its home. He examined each and every piece with all the care of an archeologist with a newly uncovered ancient civilization. 

Selina had promised to spend just as much time planning Danny’s grave. He deserved to have his grave be perfect for him, and she needed to be the one to provide it for him. She couldn’t have her kids relying only on each other, not when she was there and could help. So she had spent long hours with Danny and Jazz, talking about every conceivable detail he could want. 

After she had come up with a good plan for his grave, surprisingly her first stop was Wayne Manor. She didn’t bother driving over, or breaking in through a window like she would normally do. Instead she marched up to the front gates. Alfred, the gent, of course let her in immediately and had the door open as she approached. Bruce was there almost as quick, his scowl as permanently carved onto his face as a name on a tombstone. 

“You. Me. Your office. Now.” Selina snapped at him before marching past. 

Bruce followed close, like he was afraid she would attack someone. She sneered, she had plenty of access to every one of his birds when they spent nights over at the Chateau. She could already tell that today was going to be an exercise in patience. Or she would end up fighting Bruce in a knock down, drag out brawl. Selina waited for Bruce to follow her into his office, his eyes narrowed as he checked her for any behavior he considered out of the ordinary. 

“Alright, Bruce. Test me for mind control. In fact, go through every test for mind control.” Selina demanded. 

“Selina-” 

“No! You test me right now.” Selina snapped. “Danny is our son. You’re right, he is a paranormal being. He died because of his last guardian’s negligence.” She could see the pain on his face, but he needed the reality check. “But just because he died doesn’t mean he’s manipulating me. What it does mean is that he needs extra care to be happy. Care we can give him as his parents.” 

She could hear some of the birds creeping outside his office door. Probably Tim and Damian. Despite the contentious start to their relationship, those two were similar in so many ways. Including nosiness. 

“Danny died. He died far away from us, far away from any protection we could provide. But he’s still here! He still is able to have a relationship with us. But part of him being half dead is that he needs a grave so his spirit half feels anchored. I’m going to give him the best grave he could ever ask for, and you are going to be there. Our boy has already suffered under one set of neglectful and abusive parents, he doesn’t need another. When we have his funeral he deserves to have his father there for him. Now, let’s head down and you can test me for mind control to prove to your paranoid ass that he can be trusted.” 

Selina turned and marched for the grandfather clock on the wall, but Bruce hesitated to follow. She turned back to face him, and it took all of her self control to keep from diving across the desk to strangle the life out of him. How dare he look guilty now? She could almost see the offer to spare her the checks forming on his lips. 

“No you don��t.” She snapped. “You’ve had months, literally months to pull your head out of your ass. Months to see for yourself just how much our son loves those around him. At any point you could have actually looked at the evidence in front of your eyes and seen that he isn’t some malicious entity. That time has passed. Now you are going to perform every test to check for mind control. And if I feel you are holding back, I’ll call Tim and have him go through the rest of the tests. You lost out on your chance to hold back. Now we do it on my terms.”

She spent the next several hours having 37 tests performed that checked for all manner of mind altering or controlling substances. She was checked for nanobots, hypnotism, possession, if she was clone, if she was on drugs or alcohol, even if she was pregnant, which was for some reason on Bruce’s list. He didn’t even have the guts to perform them all himself. Fortunately Tim and Damian had followed them down to the Batcave and had followed through on the rest, going through the full ungodly battery of tests. 

Each negative on the tests was put up on the big screen of the Bat computer. Tim seemed to share in Selina’s pettiness and ensured that each test was logged in her file, and the results broadcast to the other bats and birds. During the tests, Selina made Bruce’s role explicitly clear. 

“For Danny’s funeral, you will be there in a nice, civilian suit. Talk to Dick if you can’t figure it out, he’s close with Danny and knows how to dress.” Tim’s snort at her words was not unappreciated, but Dick was the best of the birds at talking back to Bruce despite his poor fashion sense. Sometimes a situation needed someone equally as bullheaded. “I swear by all that is holy, if I see even a glimpse of a pointy eared cowl, the entire world will know Bruce Wayne is Batman within the week.” 

Bruce startled, but Selina spoke over him, not allowing him a chance to try and scold her like a child. 

“It’s a contingency plan. Just like you always do for your coworkers. I no longer trust you to act like you should have, so I’m taking things into my own claws. It’s far past time you started acting like a father for at least one of your kids, rather than a paranoid general.” 

She could see just how struck he was by her words. Bruce’s greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses went hand in hand. He was dedicated, driven and never caught flat footed. But that also meant that he was blind to the needs of those around him, absent from their lives and paranoid to the point of pushing people away. Danny deserved better. He would get better even if she had to claw and drag Bruce all the way across the line. 

Once Bruce’s participation and attire were properly established, Selina focused on the other things she would need for Danny’s grave. She and Jazz picked out a coffin even if it would usually sit empty. Harley was invaluable as she helped the whole family talk through the trauma and pain of burying someone they loved. 

Pamela offered the biggest boon for the grave, a place for it to rest. 

Danny wanted his grave to be somewhere that meant something to him, but also somewhere that was safe. If someone tampered with his grave after he connected with it, he could fly into a rage, or lose control of his obsessions. He might have wanted it to be on the grounds of Wayne Manor, but he had no connection to what should have been his home, thanks to Bruce’s pigheadedness. The Chateau was nice and while the former Drake Manor would be his home for the next few years until he graduated, it wasn’t his haunt yet. 

Ivy had offered to have his grave placed within the corner of Robinson park that she had taken over as her Lair. The city and the bats were more than willing to let her have the park for her space as long as it kept her from taking her anger out on the city. None of the other criminals would dare risk her ire by attacking something so deep in her realm, surrounded by her greatest weapons. She offered to protect the grave and keep it safe from anyone Danny didn’t specifically allow to visit it. 

Danny had been so overjoyed that he had picked his Aunty Pamela up and flew around the room with her. Harley wasn’t just going to sit by and watch her girlfriend have all the fun, so she immediately jumped onto Danny’s back, who didn’t even seem to notice the added weight. The three of them completed a few circuits of the room before Selina’s son was able to calm himself enough to return them to the ground. 

So on that stormy day the entire family made their way through the jungle Pamela had grown in the park towards where Danny’s resting place would be. The entire extended Bat family was there, Cass and Steph were arm in arm with Jazz who hadn’t stopped crying all morning. Jason, Dick and Tim, were walking around Bruce, who had worn a new designer suit, rather than his bat suit. Selina was certain the boys were prepared to throw down with Bruce if he tried any of his previous bullshit. Duke and Damian walked as an honor guard on either side of Danny, who also had a new suit. Selina followed right behind them with Pam and Harles there to support her. 

When they arrived at Danny’s resting spot, he gave a small nod to the rest of the family, a tight hug to Jazz, a softer hug to Selina and allowed her to attempt to straighten his hair one more time. Then he laid down in the open coffin. Jason looked like he was about to pass out, but Dick was there to keep an eye on him. 

Jazz stepped up Danny’s coffin and placed one of the figurines from her shrine in his hands. One by one the family stepped up to place some memento of their time together, and Danny’s life in the coffin with him. 

Ivy closed the lid with her vines, and the nearby plants pushed the dirt over the closed coffin. Jazz’s sobs had grown loud, and her girlfriend’s held her as her grief almost seemed to shake her apart. Selina sang softly, joined by Damian’s gentle tenor, and to her surprise, Bruce’s deep bass. It was a song of mourning, a song of joy, a lullaby, a rousing march, everything that Danny had come to represent in her life. 

Bruce had come through on the headstone in a way that only a Wayne could. The stone had hundreds of holes drilled through it at different angles, so each day at noon it would project a constellation onto the ground, a different constellation depending on the season. On it was written the words Jazz and Selina had agreed to. 

Born Alan Thomas Wayne

Died Daniel Jackson Fenton

Buried Danny Thomas Kyle

Brother and Son

Hero and Protector

May the Stars ever watch over where he rests

Selina’s song ended and air itself seemed to grieve, before the jungle around them was filled with numerous ghosts. All of the ghosts that were Danny’s sometimes enemies, sometimes friends, surrounded them. A deep, vibrating wail built up with the combined grief, joy, and respect of the surrounding ghosts. Jazz joined the wail, a heartbreaking cry tearing its way out of her as she threw her head back and gave voice to all of the emotions she had been forced to hide ever since she had found out her brother had died. 

The last of the wail trailed off and the ghosts fell silent, and the family felt a weight settle onto the clearing around Danny’s grave. The sky above lit up with dozens of crackling bolts of lightning and the heavens themselves opened and the rain poured down, immediately soaking everyone but the ghosts. Danny Fenton was dead and buried. 

.

Like a breath of fresh air, Danny rose again through the dirt of his grave, his ghost form shining in the darkened air around them. There was grief on his face, but also joy, and love. The entire clearing resonated with his love and devotion to those around him. 

The family other than Bruce hurried back to the Chateau. Selina didn’t want Bruce spoiling Danny and Jazz’s safe space, and someone needed to go out to protect the city. The rest of the family and the ghosts who had attended the funeral celebrated Danny’s life and everything he had accomplished since his death. 

The party grew increasingly raucous as the night progressed, with some of the older members of the family breaking out drinks, while the younger members enjoyed snacks lovingly provided by Alfred. The ghosts enjoyed sharing stories of their best fight with Phantom, while the bats shared their encounters with Cheshire. Jazz wiped her tears and shared embarrassing stories from when Danny was younger, stories that Selina cherished, knowing that she had missed all these milestones. 

Danny Fenton was dead, and finally after too long of fighting, and years of neglect and abuse at the hands of the people who should have been his guardians, he was buried. But Danny Kyle was still at least half alive. He still had a life to live ahead of him. And to Selina, Jazz and Danny himself. That made all the difference.

[sugafairy]

Naruto Reaction - Seeing Your Natural Hair Pt. 2 (Lee, Choji, Kiba & Neji)

First request in a while! Ngl this was so self-indulgent (hence why its so long jsnsnssk) This is for all my fellow peeps embracing their natural hair!

Link to Pt 1.

Please don’t forget to like/reblog!

Neji

You were spending the night with him. He had insisted. A late night mission led to Konoha 11 checking into a very overbooked hotel. This said mission also left you with a nasty gash on your shoulder, which Sakura had stitched up and promised it wouldn’t scar.

As always, Neji felt responsible for you and wanted to make sure you were okay throughout the night. You were absolutely fine but Neji couldn’t be swayed. He wanted you two to share a room and so you did. It was okay, really. The bed was plush and comfortable and had many pillows that you could sink into.

Neji sat on the edge of the bed looking at you intently and leant forward until he was properly laying down. He propped his head up on his hand, staring at you as you snored softly. Tufts of hair were sticking out of your bun and your edges had fluffed up cutely. He reached out to stroke your head. It was springy and porous and god, you were just beautiful. It was your first night next to him and he wanted to memorise every single coil.

Rock Lee

You were a blooming flower, his blooming flower. He hadn’t seen you in a day and that was a day too long. You typically took a day off for ‘wash day’ - just so you could have enough time for your shampooing, clay mask, conditioner aaand deep conditioner (yes, Lee, those are two different things).

Lee had left Tsunade’s office a little earlier than usual so he thought he’d stop by at your place with some pizza. You opened the door and he blushed. You had a bright pink towel over your shoulders and your wet tresses dangling against it. Your hair was bright blue, your natural colour which complemented your cool, brown skin. “You brought pizza!” You exclaimed, pulling him out of his trance. He chuckled nervously and you grinned up at him and jumped to smooch him on the cheek. He was so smitten.

Choji

You had tasked Choji with helping you take down your braids. To your surprise, he was very excited to help. You sat in between his legs, your back leaning against his knees as his hands hovered above your head working swiftly at each braid. You looked down and chuckled at the pile of braiding hair beside you getting bigger whilst your head began to feel lighter. You sighed, it felt great having someone else take your box braids out for you. Choji’s hands occasionally grazed against your scalp, their warmth almost lulling you to sleep. “Love, your hair is so fluffy!” He gleamed as he bumped the top of your head before twirling a strand around his finger. It bounced back, perfectly in shape. He could feel your shoulders slump and your neck relax before you let out soft snores. He chuckled and nuzzled his face into all of your hair, its floral scent making him sigh.

Kiba

The great Inuzuka (he insists you call him that, nerdy, I know) had promised to teach you how to swim one day and today was indeed, that day. He was wading in the pool, when you eventually strolled out. He was hypnotized by your beauty as you entered the pool. Your corkscrew hair laid delicately against your shoulders. He coughed nervously.

“Right, so we’ll start with getting comfortable with your face being in the water.” You nodded apprehensively.

“Hey, I will be right here with you, okay? Nothing will happen” He said as he put his hand on your shaking shoulder.

You nodded again, took a deep breath and dunked your head down, rather hurriedly. You must’ve panicked, as you spluttered and rushed your head up causing you to stumble against your feet and fall back-first. “Shit!” Kiba exclaimed.

He managed to catch you before you sank backwards. “I’ve got you…” he mumbled, pulling you by your waist, holding you close. He scanned your face. You were no longer breathing heavily and you managed to give him a relaxed smile. Your hair was dripping wet, your curls gently tucked behind your ears. Your hair was much longer when wet, just about under your shoulder blades. He had never seen your natural hair wet before. You looked ethereal. “You look like a mermaid” he breathed out as he cupped the back of your head leaning closer into you.

[yxlnst]

THE CLASS PRESIDENT’S SECRET PART 2

Part 1

🎀 Summary 🎀 : After discovering Joshua's secret stash of information on classmates in a hidden library room, you face mounting threats and surveillance as he seeks to maintain his control and protect his secrets.

🧸 Word count 🧸 : 1.042

Random

🧸 - - - - - - - - - - - - 🎀- - - - - - - - - - - - - 🧸

The threat in Joshua's voice was impossible to ignore. As you walked away from him in the crowded hallway, his words echoed in your head: "We wouldn't want any misunderstandings." It felt as if the walls themselves were conspiring against you. The chatter of your fellow students and the slamming of locker doors only served to amplify the sense of unease. You knew too much, and Joshua knew that you knew.

You kept your head down, trying to blend into the background as you made your way through the school day. You couldn't shake the feeling that eyes were on you, watching, assessing. Every corner you turned, you expected Joshua to be there, his unnerving smile masking the intensity of his scrutiny. It felt like the entire school was his stage, and he was pulling the strings.

At lunch, you sat with Sarah, who seemed to understand the weight of the situation. "Joshua's not someone you mess with," she said, her voice low as she picked at her food. "He's got people everywhere. You never know who's watching or listening."

"I didn't mean to get into this," you replied, trying to keep your voice steady. "I was just curious. But now..." You trailed off, not wanting to say too much in public.

Sarah nodded. "I get it. But if you're not careful, you could end up in a lot of trouble. Joshua doesn't like it when people step out of line."

As you glanced around the cafeteria, you noticed how Joshua seemed to glide from table to table, talking to different groups of students. He was laughing, shaking hands, and exchanging inside jokes. But behind that charming facade, you knew he was keeping track of everyone and everything. It was like he had a mental map of the school and could navigate it effortlessly.

After lunch, you went to your locker, trying to decide your next move. You couldn't just forget what you'd seen in that secret room, but you also couldn't risk drawing more attention to yourself. As you opened your locker, you found a small note tucked inside. It was a simple piece of paper with a single word: "Careful."

Your heart skipped a beat as you looked around. Who had put the note there? Was it a warning from Joshua or someone else? Either way, it was clear that you were being watched. You quickly stuffed the note into your pocket and closed your locker, pretending like nothing had happened.

As the school day came to an end, you decided to return to the library. You needed to understand what Joshua was hiding and why he had those dossiers on his classmates. But you knew you couldn't just walk into the secret room without being seen. You'd have to be smart about it.

You waited until the library was nearly empty, then slipped through the rows of books, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be watching. When you reached the small door leading to the hidden room, you paused, listening for any sounds. It was quiet, too quiet. You pushed the door open just enough to peer inside. The room was dark, but you could make out the outlines of the papers and documents you'd seen before.

Taking a deep breath, you stepped inside, careful not to make any noise. The room felt colder than before, and the dim lighting made it difficult to see clearly. You moved to the table where you'd found the list of names, hoping to find more clues. As you shuffled through the papers, you discovered a hidden compartment in the table. Inside was a small box, locked with a key.

Before you could examine it further, you heard footsteps approaching the library. You quickly closed the compartment and slipped out of the secret room, making your way back into the library's main area. The footsteps grew louder, and you could hear voices—Joshua's voice. He was talking to someone, and you didn't want to be caught in the library after hours.

You moved quickly but quietly, weaving through the rows of books until you reached the exit. As you stepped into the hallway, you glanced back and saw Joshua entering the library. His expression was calm, but his eyes held a hint of suspicion. You knew he was checking to see if anyone had been in the secret room. If he found out you'd been there, it would only escalate the tension.

You hurried out of the school and headed home, your mind racing with questions. What was in the locked box? Why was Joshua keeping secrets? And most importantly, what was he planning to do with all that information? You needed answers, but you also needed to stay under the radar. Joshua was clearly watching, and you didn't want to provoke him.

Over the next few days, you kept a low profile, avoiding Joshua as much as possible. You noticed that his network of loyalists seemed more active, almost as if they were on high alert. They'd watch you in class, in the hallways, even during lunch. It was like they were waiting for you to make a wrong move.

One afternoon, Sarah approached you again, her expression serious. "Joshua's been asking about you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "He's trying to find out what you know. You need to be careful."

"I don't want any trouble," you replied, feeling the weight of the situation. "But I can't just ignore what's going on."

Sarah nodded. "I get it. But you have to be smart about this. Joshua's not someone to mess with. If he thinks you're a threat, he won't hesitate to take you down."

The days that followed were tense, with Joshua's presence looming over you like a dark cloud. You couldn't shake the feeling that he was always one step ahead, always watching. But you knew you couldn't back down. You'd seen too much, and you couldn't just pretend it never happened.

It was time to take action. You needed to find a way to expose Joshua's secrets without getting caught. It would be risky, but it was the only way to break his hold on the school and bring the truth to light. You'd have to be smart, careful, and ready for anything.

The game had begun, and Joshua was the opponent. Would you outsmart him, or would he crush you before you even had a chance to fight back? Only time would tell.

[silverynight]

Affection fever

Tanjirou is glad his new friends are alright; Genya is in another room being patched up along with Kotetsu and other swordsmiths, Kanroji is on her way to her estate and Tanjirou and Tokito are with two kakushi.

"Tokito-san..." The kakushi girl tries, looking a little bit nervous before shaking her head and turning towards the redhead instead: "Tanjirou, could please tell him to..."

"Oh, of course!" Tanjirou gently runs his fingers through Tokito's hair. Not only he's in the same room as Tanjirou, he's wrapped around one of his arms. "Tokito-san, the girl wants to check my arm. Could you move a bit?"

"Okay!" Tokito beams at him before moving to Tanjirou's left side and nuzzling against his cheek. He looks very happy so Tanjirou has decided to let him do as he pleases. Besides, Kotetsu told him the mist hashira had a fever so that's probably the reason why he's so affectionate now.

The kakushi girl starts cleaning Tanjirou's wounds as the kakushi boy touches Tokito's forehead to see if he still has fever. After a couple of seconds he moves his hand away, rolls his eyes and takes a few notes.

"Is he alright?" Tanjirou asks, trying not to chuckle when Tokito gives him a kiss on the cheek before resting his head on the redhead's lap.

"Much better," the kakushi mumbles, rolling his eyes again when Tokito pouts.

"Give me headpats, Tanjirou," Tokito says, rubbing his nose against Tanjirou's middle.

"Sure!" Tanjirou smiles, patting the mist hashira's head gently. Then he turns to the kakushi: "I mean he obviously has fever still because he's a little bit clingy..."

"Nope. Zero fever now."

Tanjirou looks confused, but doesn't complain when Tokito gets closer, purrs and even puts both arms around his waist. He hasn't moved away from him since Nezuko went back into her box and the kakushi appeared to patch them all up.

"Oh... Okay! I'm just glad he's fine now!"

"Tanjirou, give me a kiss."

This time even the kakushi girl rolls her eyes, but doesn't make any comments on it.

Tanjirou leans closer before pressing his lips over Tokito's forehead; the kakushi is right, he doesn't have fever anymore.

Then why is he being so affectionate?

"You're my favorite, Tanjirou," Tokito giggles, cheeks turning slightly pink, prompting the redhead to worry again.

"Are you sure he's not...?"

"That blush is not due to fever."

"Then what's going–"

"Tanjirou!" A young swordsmith cuts him off, rushing into the room. He has his mask over his face, but the redhead can tell he's around his age. "I just wanted to personally thank you for saving us! You were amazing!"

"Oh! Uhh... You're welcome, but it wasn't really that–" Tanjirou stops when the swordsmith takes his hand and kisses it.

"You are really–"

The poor boy with the mask has to take a few steps back because Tokito hisses at him.

"Tokito-san, don't be rude!" Tanjirou says, he doesn't have the heart to actually scold him because he knows he's still weak. Instead he runs his fingers through his hair until he relaxes again.

Although he's still glaring at the swordsmith. Then he sits and gives Tanjirou a couple of kisses on his face before narrowing his eyes at the boy again.

"Sorry!" The swordsmith apologizes. "I didn't know you had someone already!"

"Someone?"

"Nonsense!" Kotetsu walks in the room, huffing at the swordsmith. "I told you about Tokito-san!"

"Kotetsu, hi!" Tanjirou grins. "How's Genya?"

"Better!" He quickly says, looking from Tanjirou to Tokito. "Sorry, we're leaving now!"

Even the two kakushi with them leave after they patch them up, Tanjirou is a little bit confused by everyone's behavior.

"Tanjirou, cuddle me."

Finally, Tanjirou decides to push those thoughts aside and relax for a while. The mist hashira seems determined not to let him go though and Tanjirou ends up falling asleep with him in his arms.

***

It's difficult to say goodbye to everyone, but especially Tokito because he's adamant about getting Tanjirou to go to his estate with him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," he tells him, feeling genuinely bad about it. "I have to go back to the butterfly estate. Although I can pay you a visit after I make sure I don't have a new mission at the moment."

"Okay," Tokito nods, although he's still pouting. "But please come soon!"

He then gives Tanjirou a goodbye kiss on the cheek that makes him wonder why he's still so affectionate if he's not sick anymore.

Well... Maybe Tokito just wants to be his friend now.

***

Patreon

[thewintersoldierdisaster]

happy halloween - have a few, quickly-written little headcanons on the svech babies and their halloween costumes 🎃

evie’s six months old for her first halloween and you go a little nuts buying a bunch of different costumes but she ends up going as a little bunny, complete with a stuffed carrot and everyone freaks out over how cute she is

you and andrei also wear bunny ears to go as a little bunny family

alina’s only three months old for her first halloween and evie’s almost three so you go for a family costume again - this time it’s winnie the pooh characters. andrei is tigger, evie is pooh, you’re eeyore, and alina is piglet. the costumes are so freaking hot so you’re glad it’s actually a cold halloween in raleigh for once

when you zip andrei into the giant onesie, he shakes his head and laughs, “didn’t think i would be so damn happy to dress up in an adult onesie, solnyshka.”

kira is eleven months old at her first halloween and walking, but none of the girls want anything to do with a family costume since they all have their own choices. except then it’s two days before halloween and the bigger girls both decide they hate their costumes and want new ones - daddy to the rescue. disney princess family costumes here you come

evie is sleeping beauty, alina is ariel, kira is cinderella and they’re all very very excited about the twirly dresses

andrei has a wicked look in his eye when he pulls a fourth and fifth costume from the giant box - a yellow ball gown for you and a prince costume for himself - belle and the beast

“my hair’s even long enough,” he grins, having been too busy to get a haircut. he’ll never admit it, but he’s just as into the family costumes as you are

by the time dimitri is born, he’s only two months old and you’re exhausted. andrei handles halloween again - the girls go as different superheros (wonder woman, supergirl, and batgirl) daddy’s wearing a batman mask and a huge goofy grin

dimitri gets a little teddy bear onesie, complete with ears and little tail, so he can be warm and bundled while you push him in the stroller as the girls trick or treat. andrei has a little superman shirt that he puts on over dimitri’s onesie because he “has to match the rest of us, solnyshka”

“i’m not dressed up to match you guys”

“don’t worry about that, i have just the thing”

andrei produces a t-shirt that says “super mom” on it for you and a little matching cape that he hooks around your neck with a kiss to your cheek

maks is just about a month old for his first halloween - he gets dimitri’s bear onesie and one year old dimitri is in a little elmo from sesame street

there’s a period of several halloweens where both boys only want to be daddy for halloween and traipse around the neighborhood in their svechnikov jerseys and helmets, insisting on carrying around sticks until they get bored and you end up carrying the sticks

evie bosses her younger siblings around one year because she wants to be dorothy from wizard of oz, but needs her cast of characters. so. kira and alina end up as the wicked witch and glinda, respectively. you’re the scarecrow, andrei is the tin man, dimitri is the cowardly lion, and poor little maks ends up as toto

the year the kids all decide to do their own different costumes and don’t want to do a coordinated family one is a dark year for andrei - he pouts and complains about the kids growing up, so you promise to do a couples’ costume with him and that’s how you end up dressed in matching pirate costumes with andrei’s hand up your skirt most of the night and a brief pregnancy scare six weeks later

[britt-kageryuu]

The stream is welcome to the sight of a large greenhouse/warehouse with multiple raised garden beds, large pots, multiple metal racks, and a large tank of water, all with multiple fruit bearing plants, bushes, shrubs, a variety of flowers and various produce. The pool has visible reeds, and some water vegetation, but it's not clear what else is in it.

Donnie is wandering around checking the plants, his model dressed in dark overalls with knee pads, combat boots, his mask, and a purple flannel under the overalls. His tail swaying contentedly behind him, visibly longer than the last time the audience saw it. He was also carrying a large basket that he was tossing various plants he picked into.

The audience can hear him muttering and talking to his recording device, about the plants conditions, and calculating when some would be ready to harvest. Donnie obviously wasn't paying attention to the stream even though he set up the stream to basically just watch him tend to his greenhouse, while still wearing a mic.

Donnie does pause every now and then when notifications go off, but otherwise hasn't acknowledged the stream, too absorbed in his data collection.

Some of the audience is happy to see both Shelldon and River going around in the garden helping out. River is carrying a watering can and stopping every now and then to pour a bit of water on some plants. Shelldon in floating around the bee boxes that are scattered around, scanning for possible problems.

"Shelldon can you turn on some music? If I remember correctly, some of the plants loved when I left some playing before." Donnie calls out, while looking over a coffee plant.

Shelldon perks up, "You got it Dude! Some mondo awesome music coming right up!" What sounds like an 80s jam starts playing through speakers around the warehouse.

Now while Donnie was walking about his tail is wagging and flicking to the beat of the music. Then slowly Donnie just starts to dance, and groove about, skillfully dodging around the pots and planters, and gently puts down the basket before outright jumping about dancing to the music.

The chat is now spammed with music or dance based emotes and emojis.

Donnie while still grooving, goes over to the water tank, and checks out the conditions of the plants. Then plunges his head under the water... leaving many confused, until he pulls out and starts excitedly talking about some plants in the tank looking close to a good harvest point. Then he shakes off the water before moving to some monitoring devices on the tank.

Then back to dancing about while check more plants, only to pause at a plant just out of veiw, let out a loud gasps before running to grab his collecting basket to start picking what ever plant he was excited about.

"Shelldon, River, we finally have a new ingredient ready to use in our coffee and tea making! Go prepare the equipment, I want to run trials on this ASAP!" They announced loudly while speed walking towards the stream camera. "Sorry viewers, but I need to put you in the basket while I move the set up to the work station. Then you can watch how I make our tea and coffee!"

The next few minutes were a view of the mix of leaves, berries, and flowers in the basket, before being moved to a shelf close to a modified kitchen/science workstation.

The rest of the stream was mainly just watching Donnie go about the process of preparing the ingredients to turn into the tea and coffee blends.

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

Masterpost

I honestly didn't know where I was going with this, but the inspiration struck, and I ended up writing this.

[ashtronomyys]

Roast Chicken

The entire week had been pretty shit for Simon. A new group of recruits brought all kinds of new trouble, arrogance, and disobedience that higher-ups like him needed to wring out of the soldiers. Then about halfway through the week, Price informed him of some errors with the last round of paperwork. So, late-night tea time was spent huddled over his desk scrounging through stacks of documents till his eyes gave out on him.

And to top thing's off, the mini rec room shared between the squadron had a run-in with an ant infestation. Simon had planned to put a kettle on the stove when he rounded the corner and found Gaz spraying the bug killer along the floor.

"Oh hey! Sorry mate, looks like someone beat us to it this morning." Gaz stops to stomp on a few particularly stubborn ants hiding along the tile. "Woke up this morning to make a pot of coffee and the bastards were in the bloody coffee pot! I think I got most of them, but you might want to be careful, yeah? They were all over the counters earlier."

"Which counters?!" Simon's voice comes out harsher than intended, already fearing the worst. Sure enough, Gaz gestures along the far right counter. Simon nearly rips the handle off the cabinet while he's opening it. One look inside and the last bit of life in Simon's body leaves and shatters on the ground.

His Yorkshire tea. All the boxes he stockpiled. Now swarmed to the top with little black ants making the tea bags their new home.

So yeah, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that this week had been one of the hardest on his psyche in a long while. It was almost a blessing that the snarky little sergeant that was usually at his side was off on leave. He had the tendency to test his limits when it came to Simon. And one wrong joke with the lieutenant this week may wind up being the last one the sergeant makes.

"You sure those are the only reasons why you've been a right pain in the ass this week Simon?" Price had asked. The masked man shot daggers back at his captain.

"What else would I have to be mad about Price?" He handed the daunting stack of papers back to Price. The man chuckled behind his paper mug, hiding a smirk. "Nothing. Nothing... Well anyways, in unrelated news, Soap should be back in tomorrow! I'm sure he'd love to hear all the stories of your woes and misfortunes this week."

"Tch, I'm sure. He's not going to let me hear the end of it." He's going to have material for weeks when Gaz tells him about the yelling and crying he did when he was tossing out his tea.

"Oh lighten up Simon. You /know/, I'd hazard a guess that you actually missed the man more than you're letting yourself believe."

Simon lets out a cut-off laugh at that one. "I'd hazard a guess that you've lost it, old man!"

"Oh alright, I'm not even /that/ older than you!" Price shakes his head at him. "On that note, you're dismissed. Go and get some shut-eye," he stops to give him a once-over. "You need it."

Simon tosses another side-eye at the older man before he leaves. Once his door closes, Price groans to himself. "That boy could not come back soon enough..."

The next day, Simon wakes up with s scowl still on his face. The energy he sends off as he walks through the halls of the base sends chills down everyone's spines. It's as if he's singing the air around him with a black haze of /Do not come near me/.

That is, until the end of the day. As he nears the (now freshly cleaned out) rec room of the 141, a smell draws his attention. He can hear the sizzle of something cooking on the stovetop and the clatter of drawers being pulled. The savory smell drifts from the small kitchen and spills out into the hallway, tempting Simon to investigate further. Like a moth to the flame, he enters the room in a hunger-driven daze, coming to a stop at the entrance.

Oh, of course, that's who was drawing him in. It was honestly pretty comical how domestic the sight Simon walked onto was. Johnny had his back to him while he stirred a pan on the stovetop. A radio played some generic, slow tunes and he swayed his hips to the rhythm while he cooked. He must've just come back, seeing as he was still wearing his civies (a generic grey tee and figure-hugging pair of jeans) and his duffel bag was sitting on the couch.

Here, the sizzle of the skillet was even louder. The aroma of sauteed meat and spices was overpowering now, causing Simon's stomach to rumble. Johnny whipped his head around, his face lighting up when he saw who was by the entrance.

"Heyya Lt! Where've ye been?! I didn't see ya with the welcoming party at the gate." He turned to lower the heat on the stove, letting the food simmer. Turning back to Simon, he crossed his arms and gave the man an accusatory look, jutting the side of his mouth with his tongue as he spoke. "If ah' didn't know any better, ah'd say you didn't even miss me!"

"You wish Johnny," Simon huffed. "Been busy. Training ran late and a few of the soldiers needed a little... we'll say /positive reinforcement/" That positive reinforcement being several laps around the training field for a few too many pointed remarks about the mask.

"Aah, so that's yer excuse," Johnny jabs back. He bounds up to the lieutenant, not backing down despite the heated glare he gets from him. Instead, he comes up and fist bumps his shoulder, a lopsided smirk playing on his face.

"Bah, ah'm sure it's nothin' my ole Lt couldn't handle, aye?" He pats his back, his hand staying there as he transfixes Simon with a more serious stare. "Well anyways, it's good to see ye again, Si."

Simon doesn't know what it is about Johnny, but it's moments like this where the older man questions just how the hell he ended up in a situation like this. The hand on his back almost seems to soothe the embers that have been on fire ever since this week started. It's as if all the stress and tension he's held onto begins to slide off his shoulders the second Johnny blinds him with that wide, toothy smile.

God, he's so fucked.

A louder grumble from his stomach breaks the silence between the two. Johnny jumps excitedly, the thought of his food likely brought back to his mind.

"Oh! Are ya hungry?! Ah' almost forgot, I brought some leftover roast my ma and I made. C'mon, ye've got to try it!" He's already moving to fix a plate up for him before he can even respond.

Fuck it, he could give in to the seargant and pig out after the week he's been having.

With the dish finally in front of him, he has to admit, it looks pretty damn appetizing. Pieces of leftover chicken roast with traces of ground pepper, garlic, thyme, lemon, and other ingredients mixed in with carrots and other vegetables greet him. Johnny makes his own plate, leaving Simon to try it for himself.

He skewers a piece of the chicken, lifting the edge of his mask up and bringing it to his face. The first bite of the savory meat nearly elicits a groan from Simon. Maybe it's the stress he's been under, or maybe it's just that good. Either way, he finds himself getting lost in the dish.

Something about the chicken and the way it was prepared brings back memories of his own childhood. It wasn't often that they'd have the time or energy to indulge in very many different kinds of dishes. He still remembers one of the rare off chances that they did, barely tall enough to see over the counter but still helping his mom labor over the roast. Knocking into his brother Tommy who kept wanting to fight him over who got to do what. Simon watched one of the few fleeting moments of joy from his childhood as if he were watching an old recording. It was like he was living through the experience again, decades of trauma and heartache a distant sting. The taste of freshly roasted chicken on his tongue bringing back memories of the chill in the winter air, the soft glow of fire in the furnace, the soft vibration of his mother's laugh...

"...ye alright Simon?" the sergeant had gently asked. Simon jolted from where he sat, blinking away the wetness from his eyes. Since when the hell had he been crying?

The man cleared his throat, voice coming out more hoarse than he would've liked it to be when he spoke. "Y-yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm uh..." His tone shifted back into the gravely vibrato he usually uses. His heartstrings felt rubbed raw from the vision. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

He stole a brief glance back toward Johnny. The man was sitting across from him at the table (and since when did he get there?). He stared back at him with wide eyes and a slice of chicken hung limply from his fork.

"Ehm... right, emm... no reason." He also cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, no doubt trying to shake off the uneasiness hanging in the air. "So um, h-how do ye like the food?"

The soft smile he gives Simon manages to settle some of his fried nerves. One of the nice things about the seargant is how swiftly he can handle the perturbances that seem to follow him. Either be a shoulder to cry on or give him the space he needs. Simon figures he ought to return the favor, at least try and lighten the mood a little. "Hmm, could've used less garlic."

Johnny actually gawks at him for that response. "Wha- /rude/!" Simon's happy to see the man break into a laugh, throwing his head back and shaking. "Ya fuckin' bawbag!" SImon doesn't hide the smirk that begins to spread across his face.

"Ach well, I was trying to follow my ma's recipe. She popped in to help towards the end but ehm, maybe ah've got a bit of learning to do still." He chuckles, but Simon notices the way his gaze drops back down. How his eyes bore into the chicken, self-doubt emanating off the man. Whether over the chicken or Simon, he can't tell.

"It's perfect Johnny," the lieutenant speaks just above a whisper. "It's my favorite actually, reminds me of home." There's another pause before he continues. "You should make it again sometime."

Their eyes meet again. Brown eyes, typically dark and gloomy and hiding layers of suffering shine brightly in the dying light. And bright blue eyes, who's edges usually give way to tumultuous, rocky waves soften into a rooted, tranquil state.

"Och, of course. Anytime Si." Johnny pushes out from the table. Grabbing dishes to stack in the sink, he pats Simon's shoulder as he passes by. Any lingering stress hanging in him melts away at the touch. "Glad to be back Lt."

He hums in acknowledgement. Simon relaxes into the seat and watches him deftly drown plates and pans into the sink water.

"Glad to have you back Johnny." He's rewarded with a beaming smile thrown back over his shoulder. And a nice view of Johnny swaying his hips to the music in pants that really fit him way too well.

/Fucking Christ/, he's so fucked.

....................

Once again got inspiration after one of Samuel Roukin's live signings. Someone asked what his favorite dish was and he proudly exclaimed "my mom's roast chicken!" So now it's Simon's favorite as well, sorry I don't make the rules.

[only-lonely-stars]

Hair As Gold As Straw (Chapter 4 - Entry to the Mountain)

[Prologue] // [Chapter 3 of 9] // [Chapter 4 of 9 - you are here!] // [Chapter 5 of 9] – (FFN) (AO3)

Part of the @ninjago-fairy-tale-au!

Summary:

Once upon a time, Princess Vania of Shintaro lived in an ivory castle in an ivory city. Her father, King Vangelis, kept her safe in her tower, where no one could hurt her and she could not hurt herself... until the day when she ran away. A Colania Snow White retelling.

Chapter summary:

Who knew that Prince Charming was just... a man? Can he manage a task that others have already failed?

For a time after the three adventurers were sent below the city of Shintaro, there was no news. Their visit was forgotten as monotony set in, cushioned by the luxury of the ivory city. The people lived their lives without ever knowing of the adventurers' fate, Hailmar assumed his poorer role, and the king stewed. He sent no more guards below, instead choosing to wait for the next adventurer to come.

One evening, however, the monotony was broken.

A figure dressed in black and armored with gold entered the city. His face was masked so only his dark eyes were visible, and on his back he carried a shining golden scythe. He moved with purpose, treading the ivory flagstone streets toward the castle, the sun to his back. Every eye turned to him, and he in turn looked at the city's opulence with appreciation.

At last, he came to the castle gates, and he rapped on them loudly.

"Let me speak to the king! I'm here to answer his summons!"

-----

The king welcomed the stranger in his throne room like he had welcomed the previous three.

"Welcome, stranger, to the city of Shintaro. What is your purpose here?"

The black-clad man bowed. "I'm here to save your daughter, your Highness. I heard about your request."

The king nodded. "Very well. Please, take off your hood so I may see your face. Tell me who you are."

The stranger did so, revealing black hair and tan skin, which shone in contrast to his golden armor.

"My name is Cole," he said. He stood tall with an imposing presence.

"Are you seeking a reward?"

"Not really. Getting your daughter back is just the right thing to do," he said with a smile.

The king nodded amenably. "You are the first to come with such noble intentions, but rest assured that you will be rewarded handsomely." He came to stand before Cole and put a hand on his shoulder, almost fatherly. "Tell me, Cole. Are you the sort of man who cannot stay in one place?"

"That depends on what you mean. I haven't stayed anywhere long since I left my father's house."

"Then let me amend my question. Do you believe in the value of having a home?"

"Of course."

"Then I am sure you understand why I am so anxious to have my daughter returned to me." The king stepped away from him. "All others who have tried to rescue my daughter have failed. To aid your journey, I will give you a valuable artifact."

The king reached behind his throne and retrieved a wooden box. He opened it and took out a mirror, putting the box back. He put it in Cole's hands, and its silver frame felt frozen in his hands.

"This mirror will show you my daughter, to guide you around the dangerous pitfalls below. All you must do is ask it to show you. Use it wisely."

Cole accepted it hesitantly. "Thank you." He put it in a pouch on his belt. "I will bring your daughter home, no matter what."

"I am sure you will. When you do, I would like to propose an arrangement."

"What would that be?"

"When you bring my daughter home, you may have her hand. She is intelligent, but unfit to rule, like many royal women tend to be. She will need a strong husband to guide Shintaro– a man of action and of courage."

Cole hesitated. "You want me to marry your daughter?"

"When you bring her back, if you will have her. It is a fitting reward."

Cole stepped back, shaking his head. "No, your highness. It's a flattering offer, but I just want her to be home and safe. That's enough for me."

"Are you certain?" Vangelis asked pointedly.

"Yes. I don't want to be tied down, and she deserves a chance to be independent."

The king hummed noncommittally. "Very well. Regardless, you will be well rewarded. For tonight, rest yourself, so you may make the hard journey."

That night, Cole rested fitfully. He dreamt of his father, of bones, and of captivity. He woke several times, imagining he was locked in his room, but found nothing. Regardless, in the morning he awoke and prepared for his venture below the mountain.

-----

Cole steeled himself against the cold as he entered the mines. Behind him, two of the king's guards re-fastened the gate, blocking any unlikely Shintaran entry and likewise closing him in. He took one look behind before turning to the dark and raising his torch.

The cold and dark of the tunnels enclosed upon Cole, but he walked forward anyway. He did not fear the mountain nor the dark– instead, he forged ahead, feeling in every way like he was coming closer to what he sought. Into the blackness and dark, every guideless step took him deeper, farther from all company.

Eventually, he came across a fork in the path. The tunnels were identical, both stretching into faraway blackness. For a time, he thought about he paths, trying to choose one to take.

After some consideration, he reached into his pouch and brought out the mirror. It felt warmer than it had previously, but it unnerved him. Regardless, he gathered his courage and spoke to it as the king had instructed him.

"Show me the princess."

The mirror glowed a fluorescent green, which faded into an image of Vania, hefting a pickaxe. In bemusement, he watched as she dug, speaking to someone he could not view as she did so. Above her, stalactites glowed and shined with moss and gems. Slowly, the image disappeared, leaving nothing but Cole's reflection behind.

With more questions than answers, he stowed the mirror away, resolving himself to find her once again. He looked between the two identical tunnels, having no more guidance than before he used the mirror. He turned to the tunnel on the right and began to walk again.

While he walked, the knight was engulfed with memories, if only to break the monotony of his trek. He thought of his mother, whom he had lost, and her last words to him. His father, grieving and sinking into his work, had sent Cole away to a faraway school. Cole had left that school as quickly as he came and found a master to teach him his ways, learning all the things his father would never teach him. Then still a boy, he had learned all the ways of chivalry and stealth his master would teach, achieving greater things than those which his father dreamt for him.

Continuing on, Cole thought of the places he had lived and learned since his master's tutelage and of his aimless travels. In his mind's eye, they were as vivid as when he had lived those days, with blazing sun and burning sand. As he was preoccupied with his reminiscence, he did not see how the ground opened up in the middle of a passageway, and stepped in.

Cole stumbled and fell into the hole. He cried out, trowing out his arms to grasp anything that would keep him from falling, but felt nothing. His yells echoed through the tunnels, the sound of air rushing past his ears deafening. Just as he re-oriented himself, he winced as he hit against something elastic which bent and snapped beneath him. He hit another and another, each reaching the same fate, before he finally fell against one that did not snap.

Cole laid on his back, catching his breath. He opened his eyes to see a high stone ceiling riddled with webs in every crevice, blanketing it in enough white to turn it a faint gray. After a few moments, he looked around and was filled with dread, seeing an enormous web beneath him and multiple bodies and skeletons. Some were webbed up, like they were trapped by spiders, while others were simply stuck to the strands and stared off into oblivion.

Cole struggled against the web's stickiness, trying to pull himself free. It clung to him with surprising strength, restricting all movement. Finally, he managed to sit up so he could look around, only to see a spider the size of a large boulder sleeping on edge of the web.

The spider was the largest creature the knight had ever seen. It was hideous, having large mandibles and teeth, as well as many closed eyes. Its legs were long and jointed, tipped with blade-like ends. Its enormous thorax rested against the cave wall, showing off fearsome markings. Beneath its body ran a line that went under Cole, which made him wonder why it did not awake from his fall. However, he disregarded that fact in lieu of the current issue; freeing himself.

Cole slowly pulled himself free of the adhesive, grimacing at the disgusting feeling of it pulling at his clothes and armor. Slowly he pried himself away. He searched for a suitable, non-sticky place to stand, but was unsuccessful. In exasperation, he resolved to slowly walk off the web into a corridor near one side.

The corridor was bedecked in webs, but Cole entered it anyway, feeling braver once he touched solid ground as he always did. He walked carefully, looking for holes and webs, but found none to trip him. An opening came up, and he passed through it to find a smaller, less-webbed cave. Inside this cave was another sleeping spider, but it was much smaller than the other. Its marking were purple to the other's gray-black, its legs were much shorter, and it had strange white markings on its head. It sat in the middle of the web, but that was also different. Cole noted that it lacked the bodies and bones of the previous.

Cole sighed and examined his surroundings, looking for another exit besides the tall ceiling above the spider's nest. He could not turn back, nor could he scale the smooth walls. However, just past the web was another corridor, which was much less webbed than the one he had just come through. It was doubtlessly the best option, if not for the fact that it required passage over the web in order to access it.

The knight pulled his hood over his head, determined to be stealthy. The skills he had learned from his old master served him well as he crept across the web, approaching the spider. Halfway across, however, his foot slipped on a non-sticky thread, and he fell.

The spider started away and looked around frantically, searching for the intruder. Cole laid still as it relaxed and then spotted him. The spider seemed startled, as it jumped away from him and skittered to the edge of the web. Cole pushed himself up as best he could, fighting the stickiness as he reached for his scythe. The spider, to its credit, backed away. It held up its two front legs, as if to show its innocence, before shooting a web upwards and pulling itself away from Cole's reach.

Cole watched it ascend. The spider, for whatever reason, did not want to hurt him. All around him were discarded web wrappings, as if they had once encased creatures which the spider had preyed upon, but there was no evidence of any human death. The thought of safety from the spider eating him was comforting, but he did not stay; instead, he moved as quickly as he could and left the cave, watching his back. He kept moving, trying to find his way back to larger caverns.

-----

Hours after his altercation with the spider, Cole was only marginally successful in finding the princess. Once or twice he had spotted the luminescent moss, living on cave walls or stalactites, but it was never the surroundings he had seen in the mirror. Eventually, he tried the tool again.

"Show me the way to the princess."

The mirror glowed much like before, and gave him a new picture. In it, strange teal creatures fought in a room with a long and low wooden table. It was a banquet table, the size of which he had never seen. The creatures shouted silently and threw things, hitting each other with clubs. A wooden throne was at one end of the room, and a female creature of their kind sat in it, looking bored. She spoke inaudibly to someone next to her, looking bored. Just as she got up to shout at the other creatures, the image faded, and Cole saw his reflection again. He put the mirror away.

The way seemed obvious enough; find the creatures and the moss, and the princess would be there. He resolved once again to find her and bring her home, and set off through the tunnels.

-----

Another hour passed, and Cole found himself once again at the fork in the tunnels that he had reached earlier that day. By all estimation, it was likely afternoon or evening outside the mountain, but he did not stop to rest. Instead, he took the other path at the fork and continued walking.

After only a few minutes, Cole knew that he was on the right track. The moss showed up in little patches and only glowed faintly, but it was still what he had seen. He followed its trail and eventually came upon a door set into the wall. He slipped inside and found a large cavern, filled with mud and stone buildings that lined the walls all the way to the ceiling. Tools and weapons were everywhere, as were bones and dirt, giving the place a feeling of messiness. Cole found it almost comforting as he snuck through it.

Eventually, he found a group of the teal creatures. One was talking to a few others and hefting a pickaxe. It acted as if it was telling them a story, and as he crept closer he caught a few words.

"Then it was urgh, and I did agh, and the rocks fell! Many gems behind."

"Many gems, but Mimble still have more," another said.

"No, Molt does!" a third replied, hitting the second on the head with a club. "Molt have all the gems Munce need today."

Cole's foot hit a bone, and it clattered against the ground. The creatures turned and looked at him.

"Another from above the mountain!" one said. "Like Korgran!"

Cole looked at him warily. "Who are you?"

"I am Murt! Best miner of the Munce." The creature looked proud.

"I'm Cole. Have you seen a girl anywhere? Pale skin, yellow hair?"

The creatures muttered to themselves. "Why ask?"

"I'm looking for her. She needs to come home."

"She is no Munce. She is not here," Murt said.

"You're called Munce?"

"Yes. Better than the nasty Geckles!" Murt cried.

His friend elbowed him. "They are not nasty, Murt. Mimble knows."

"Right," Cole said. "Do you know where she is?"

"We can not tell you," Mimble said. "She does not want to leave."

"Why not?" Cole asked.

Mimble shied away like he had said too much. "No telling. You find no help from Munce."

"You won't tell me where she is?"

"No. Munce no help."

Cole sighed. "All right. That's fine." He turned to leave them behind and spotted a pair of tall doors. "Where do those go?"

Murt put a hand on his shoulder. "We no go there. That is the way to Geckle caverns."

"I'll take my chances." Cole went to them and pushed them open, slipping through and closing them quietly as the three Munce protested. The passageway had many more stalactites covered in moss, and he looked up at them, as if they showed the way. Sure enough, at the end of the tunnel was another pair of doors, which were closing. As he approached he spotted a flash of white, as pale as the princess, in the doorway.

"Princess Vania?" he called. The door shut hastily with a resounding thud.

"Princess Vania, wait!"