#i wasn't even gonna answer this I got this several days ago

[haleigh-sloth]

I wish the LOV were accepted more for who they actually are in Canon which is a group of damaged individuals who have such a deep self-hatred for themselves and that while they care about each other they don't make each other better because they can't because they can't even help themselves let alone each other.

And this is why they need help from outside the league and why each of them are searching for acceptance elsewhere because as much as some lov stans want the league to just have each other this is not what the league wants nor even needs.

A rant I've gone on several times, but I always feel like there are more points I can make to expand on this.

It's the self-hatred piece that's not outright stated in canon by the characters, but is heavily shown through outside forces within the story, but gets overlooked.

I think it's confusing their general acceptance of each other for prioritizing each other, which they don't.

The only League members who did that were Twice, Spinner, and Compress--and look what happened to them, and look at what their sacrifices accomplished.

Twice saved Toga, I'm not taking that away from him by any means. It was a big moment and it was a good way for him to go out. But he prioritized their happiness when there was absolutely 0 chance of their current plan of action actually bringing any of them happiness. He prioritized their happiness when...I'm sorry but none of them prioritized his--they couldn't even prioritize their own. He died thinking he had a happy life because he found the League, and yet he died without that sentiment being returned--because not a single other member of the League feels like they have a happy life, not now and not ever before--even when they had each other.

Compress got locked up, maimed himself in the name of "helping them achieve their dreams"--when none of them have any actual dreams beyond death or self-destruction. He got locked up for the sake of the League that immediately fell to pieces because Tomura getting possessed was an extensive, long-term plan that League unintentionally perpetuated and had absolutely no way of stopping at any point in time, ever. Toga was always miserable, Dabi was always suicidal, and Spinner was on his way to make more bad decisions to come that nobody was going to be able to talk him out of--because as Compress said! They don't ask questions! But man, maybe they should have, haha.

Spinner almost completely lost his mind to quirk overload. Accepted power in the name of helping Tomura. Every time he tries to "help Tomura" it's remeniscent to throwing gasoline on an already blazing fire (the blazing fire being Tomura's detrimental state), and yes I'm implying that ironically, in the name of wanting to help and support him (in so many negative ways because that's what Spin got attached to), Spin made things worse (unintentionally! but he did, sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

I mean, every time the League tries to push further down the destructive path "of their dreams", they just end up hurting themselves more, making themselves more miserable, and brush closer and closer to death (in Touya's case, he's practically dancing with it, hoping it takes him). Any time one of them "prioritizes" the League or someone in the League, it just ends up making things worse and working out in a way that AFO benefits from.

It's almost like the manga is saying "man, these guys are fucked and they just keep fucking themselves over so long as they aren't receiving help from people who don't agree with their self-destructive actions!"

[jezabelle9299]

Make-up Birthday S.R x FEM! Reader

Overture: Spencer didn't just miss your birthday he forgot it. (Happy Ending)

C-Ws: Missed occasions, pushing down feelings for the benefit of another person, Spencer chose Gideon over you

A/N- Baby's first angst, go easy on me. And I've been in a sour mood so I have 2 other angst fics (also birthday themed), that will probably be posted sometime this week. Our regularly scheduled sap will return next week.

You weren’t a very big birthday person. Of course when you were young you had birthday parties with all of your little friends, but as time went on, things got busy. It was pushed to the side for years, until you preferred to just ignore it. Until a few weeks ago, when Spencer asked what you’d like to do to celebrate. You told him nothing was necessary, but he insisted that the two of you at least spend the day together. You let yourself get excited, you made good plans, just takeout and movie night, but that was enough. If it were anyone else you’d remind him, several times, but you knew he wouldn’t forget. He didn’t forget anything.

This morning you woke up to an empty bed, and you knew Spencer had gone to work. He had a few meetings he mentioned having to go to about their latest cases, but you weren't expecting him until this evening. The day passed you by when you got set up, but time slowed down when there was nothing to do but wait. Each second passed a little slower than the last, until you got worried. You haven't heard from Spencer all day. 

You: Hey Spence, everything ok?

Spence: I’m ok, just got caught up at work. I’ll come to your place as soon as I can. 

You: Ok, see you then

You were glad he was ok, and you knew he’d rather be with you, than at work. Something important must’ve come up, he wouldn’t miss this over nothing. But time passed with no more texts, until you resigned yourself to him just not coming. You changed from your date outfit into some comfy pajamas, and laid down in bed. You weren’t upset with Spencer, this job was important to him, and you knew he felt like he had something to prove just being there. You could celebrate another day.

It wasn't until well after nine when Gideon asked Spencer what he was still doing here, he’d mentioned weeks ago that he’d need to leave early. That’s when Spencer realized what he was missing. It wasn’t just movie night, by now he’d missed almost your entire birthday, after he’d pressed you to celebrate it at all. He rushed out as quickly as possible, but by the time he got to your place it was too late. He knocked on the door and as soon as you answered, all the apologies came pouring out. He couldn’t make himself stop until you put your hands on either side of his face making him look you in the eyes. 

“It’s ok Spence, I know how important your job is, and we can celebrate another day.”  

He leaned down to hug you, burying his face in your neck. “I’m so sorry honey, it totally slipped my mind. But I promise to make it up to you.” You pulled away from him at that. 

“Wait, what do you mean?” He just looked at you, like he was replaying what he said to figure out what he did wrong. 

“You–you forgot?” 

“I thought you knew.”

“No, I didn’t. I had this picture in my mind, like when you leave for cases, when you tell me how you wish you could be here.”

“I do wish I was here, baby. You mean the world to me.” You couldn’t keep doing this, his reassurance was breaking you down bit by bit. Sure now he wished he was there, but he didn’t even realize you were missing him. 

“I’m gonna go for a drive I think, we don’t have to celebrate another day, it’s fine.” 

“No please stay– please let me make this up to you.” His phone rang. A shrill tone cutting through, nearly making you wince.

“It’s Gideon, I have to take this. But please stay with me, I want to talk about this. It’ll only take a minute.” 

“It’s fine, I’ll talk to you tomorrow Spence, just remember to lock up when you leave ok?” You picked up your shoes and keys before you walked out, still in your pajamas. You gave him not even half of a smile, and it was breaking his heart. But he couldn’t ignore the call.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ��                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Gideon was like a father to him, and even though he winced when the door shut behind you, quietly, as if you weren’t even upset, he still answered. There wasn’t even a case, Gideon just had a question about some evidence. Nothing would’ve happened if he didn’t answer, no one was dying, and the only one hurt was you. He couldn’t have just ignored the call, and now you were gone. 

Spencer didn’t forget anything, but somehow he forgot this. 

You weren't sure where you’d go. You decided to allow yourself one evening to be upset. To acknowledge that this whole situation sucks and honestly today your usually wonderful boyfriend kind of sucks too. You’ll feel guilty about it tomorrow, but tonight you're going to drive an hour and a half down the highway, just to turn back around so you could avoid the drunk drivers on the road when the bars close. Spencer should be gone by then, you’re sure Gideon was calling to steal your boyfriend away on a case again and you’d call him in the morning to make sure he got there ok and tell him to be safe like you always did. 

What Spencer did was important, and you couldn’t be mad at him for missing something as silly as a birthday for a work problem. But he wasn’t out saving lives like you thought. It may be selfish or overly-presumptuous about your standing in his life, but when you missed him it made you feel better to think he was missing you just as much. How he was at work thinking about how he loved you. And today was the day that illusion shattered.

You could only sob at the thought. 

By the time you got home, it was almost 1am. The redness in your eyes finally started to subside, you got too dehydrated to continue actually crying almost an hour ago, so that’s when you decided that the time for being upset over this was done. Even the puffiness in your face was going down. But when you unlocked the door, Spencer was waiting for you. 

“You’re home.” 

“You’re here. I thought you had a case.” 

“No, Gideon just had a question about some evidence, I wanted to be here when you got back.” 

“That’s sweet of you Spencer, but I just went for a quick drive. I’m kind of tired, so I think I’m just going to head to bed now, ok? But I’ll see you in the morning.” You gave him a resigned kiss on the forehead and his heart broke. He did this. And you called him Spencer, not ‘Spence’, not ‘honey’, not ‘babe’. Spencer. It never sounded so awful. 

He did all he could do, he slept on the couch and let you rest. You would be talking about this in the morning. You couldn’t shut him out forever, he loved you too much.  

The beeping of the coffee machine woke him up, his legs half hanging off your couch. He immediately got up. If the coffee machine was going off, you were awake, and you could talk about last night. 

“Honey?”

“Hi, I didn’t realize you’d stayed here last night, were you too tired to drive?”

“No, but I wanted to be here when you woke up.”

“You could've slept in my bed with me.” You were glad he didn’t. But you wanted to maintain your facade, you wanted to forgive him, and forget about everything.

“You’re upset with me, I wanted to talk to you.”

“I’m not upset.”

“You’re the love of my life and I hurt you. You don’t have to pretend to be ok with it.”

“It was one day, Spencer. It’s fine, you don’t have to sleep on the couch as penance.” You were putting on your coolest presence, but everything you said still came out as more of a mumble than it would’ve. 

“I need you to listen to me, you are the most important person in my life. I love you so much it hurts, and I can’t stand the thought of you thinking I forgot about you.” That broke your barely held together exterior of confidence.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I need you to know that I love you, I can’t just let this go.”

“Ok fine. You made me celebrate my birthday and when you forgot anyway, it hurt my feelings. But I don’t want a makeup birthday, and I wish I could just forget about it, and I don’t understand why you want me to be mad at you.”

“I don’t want you to be mad, but when you are mad, I need you to tell me. I can’t do anything to help if I don’t know what’s going on.”

“But I don’t want you to know when I’m upset. I want to be the cool girlfriend that doesn’t get upset when her boyfriend does something by accident. You are the best boyfriend I’ve ever had and when you make one mistake about something I wouldn’t have even cared about a month ago, I can’t get over it. But I really want to get over it, so could we please just forget about it?” By this point tears were flowing down your face, but you were still wiping your face every few seconds to stop them in their tracks.

“No we can’t just forget, I think you’re the coolest girl I’ve ever met, and it’s not because you ignore your feelings whenever you think they’d be inconvenient. I want to spend the day with you if you’d be ok with it, but if you want some time alone that’s ok too.”

“I want to spend the day with you. But could we leave out the birthday theme?”

“Sure honey, whatever you want, I’m all yours.”

“You know I love you Spence, right?”

“I know, I love you too.” It was an upsetting morning, but he was still overjoyed that you called him ‘Spence’ again. He’d earned his pet name back.

“Do you really think I’m cool?” It was barely spoken into his chest, moreso whined, muffled by the fabric of his sweater vest. At this moment, you were so uncool. Yet he still kissed your forehead as he laughed. 

“The coolest.”

[writeandsurvive]

Author's note: just a little Gibbs idea I've had in mind. Maybe I'll get back to writing for him more... :) maybe it's because I'm binging NCIS from the beginning again. I tried to keep it as gender neutral as possible, hope I did well. Also, it's not proofread and I'm not a native English speaker.

Summary: you're babysitting your brother's twins by yourself and ends up calling for help.

Warnings: age gap, I guess?, talk of near death experience, taking care of babies, reader not wanting kids, siblings banter

Babysitting ~ Leroy Jethro Gibbs

"Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Seriously? It's the fourth time you're asking. We're gonna be just fine!" You reassured your brother, as you're sitting on the play mat your ten months old nephew and niece. If you were completely honest, you were a bit anxious about babysitting the twins all by yourself as it was the first time. But you couldn't let your brother know that, as he was already struggling to leave.

"All you have to do is feed them, change their diapers at some point and put them to bed." He got down to pick up his daughter, finally saying goodbye.

"I promise they will be alive and in one piece when you come back. Hopefully, tomorrow morning." You grinned at him before grabbing your nephew and gentle holding him on his feet. "Now go daddy, have fun." You said with a baby voice, like it was your little dude saying it. After one more kiss to his girl, he put her down and did the same with his son.

"It's just a work thing." He told you for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, but the beautiful single mom from your office will be there."

"She left just a month ago. I'm so not ready to jump into anything." He couldn't bring himself to say the name of his wife and mother of his children. One day, she just decided that being a mom and a wife wasn't for her and she took off. Which is why you were babysitting that night.

"Don't jump into anything, just jump on her."

"On those elegant words, I'm out. Bye babies, I love you!" He sent them kisses as he was walking towards the door. "What are you doing?" He asked when he noticed you were following.

"Going to a party of course!"

"Don't leave them out of your sight! Even for one second!" He scolded.

"They are on their mat, playing!"

"And your niece is starting to crawl!"

"Just leave and bang someone."

"And you wonder why you're still single..."

He finally left but not without holding his shoulder after you punched him.

"Okay babies! We can do this, right?"

Turned out, you couldn't. Or at least, it wasn't going as smoothly as you thought it would. Shortly after your brother left, your niece started to cry her heart out, wondering why daddy wasn't there, for sure. Then, your nephew decided that he wasn't going to eat. The food didn't seem yucky to you but it was to him, and he thought throwing around and at you was funny. So did your niece. By this time, your brother had already texted you twice and you obviously lied. The little boy being covered in soft food, you decided to give them both a bath, hoping it'd tired them a bit. But they both were very much against the baby shower gel, and your niece pooped in the tub. Which made everyone almost throw up.

After a (very) long struggle, they were finally in their PJs, clean and ready for bed. You thought a break was coming, but your niece had a meltdown. Which caused your nephew to have one too. You didn't know what was wrong, you tried everything you could to calm them both but nothing was working. You contemplated calling your brother several times, but it was his first night out since she left and you didn't want to ruin it for him. After over an hour of struggle, you did call someone.

"Gibbs," he answered.

"How much do you love me?" You immediately asked over the crying. You barely heard him chuckle.

"I'm on my way."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I owe you one!"

You didn't know how long it took your team leader to show up at your brother's house. But somehow, as you were trying to soothe the twins on your brother's bed, you felt a presence behind you. "How did you get in? You know what, I don't care. Help me, please, I don't know what to do."

Whether or not the twins noticed that there was someone else in the room, they weren't stopping. Gibbs got closer to you, look down at the twins. "First, you're gonna take a deep breath."

"They are crying bloody murder!" You exclaimed.

"The more frustrated and anxious you get, the more they'll cry." You felt his hand on your shoulder and his gentle squeeze. You closed your eyes, tried to block the noises and took a deep breath.

"Now, are they fed? Changed?"

You wanted to give him a snarky comment as you always do, but didn't have the patience for it. So you just said yes.

He grabbed your niece into his arms, "Grab this little guy and do what I'm doing." You followed his instructions. Holding and bouncing your little man a certain way. After the eventful evening, you almost missed how incredible Gibbs looked with a baby in his arms, how gentle and soft he was. Such a natural. You nearly stopped everything when you heard him starting to sing a lullaby. It was quiet and you could barely hear him above the crying. That's when you realized that only your nephew was still crying. "You stopped." He warned you. "Don't get frustrated, hon. Sing to him."

You took another deep breath and did as told. Slowly, your nephew was calming down. It was magic.

"Lead the way to their bedroom." He whispered.

He put down in the little girl in her crib, and helped you putting down the baby boy, as he noticed you were too scared of waking him up. You stayed there for a moment, silently looking down at them, Gibbs right next to you.

"It's official, I do not want kids."

Gibbs chuckled and slid his hand in the back of your neck, bringing you to him so he could kiss your hair. You took the opportunity to go for a hug and he gently returned it. It suddenly became much easier to breathe.

"Is the baby monitor on?"

You checked, and grabbed the part you were supposed to keep with you.

"I need to change." You said after leaving the bedroom.

"You can take a shower."

"Do I look that bad?"

"You look like you need to relax."

"True. Will you be there when I get out?"

"Yes, give me the monitor." You did and felt shivers all over your body as his long fingers brushed against yours.

"Grab anything you want from the fridge. I'll be quick."

"No rush."

It was one of the most amazing shower you've ever had.

You knew you didn't want to have children most of your adult life, but it just got confirmed. You didn't want this to be your daily life. You loved kids, and you loved the twins more than anything in the world, but you didn't need one of your own.

When you reached the kitchen, it was sparkling clean. The big mess from dinner was gone. The toys were put away. Gibbs had his back turned to you as he was doing the dishes. "I don't know if I want to scold you or kiss you." You regretted the last words as soon as they got out.

Gibbs looked at you over his shoulder with a smile. "You're welcome."

"Seriously, you didn't have to!"

"No problem! You accepted to babysit twins after the crappy days we've had at work."

"Yeah," you sighed, remembering the awful case the team dealt with and only closed a few hours ago.

"How you feeling?" He asked, turning off the water and drying off his hands.

"How you feeling?" You retorted, earning a shy smirk from Gibbs.

"I'm fine." He reassured you, or at least, tried.

You got closer to him, grabbing the hand towel for him to put it away, and locked eyes with this man you've been in love with for a very long time. "You almost got killed, Gibbs." You said barely above a whisper.

"It comes with the job." He just said.

"Doesn't make it okay when it's such a close call." You could see the scene again. The bullet rushing so close to his head. A few centimeters to the left and Gibbs wouldn't be anymore. That thought hurt. It scared you more than anything else. And you couldn't control the tears forming in your eyes.

"I'm okay." He said one more time, knowing that you needed to hear it. So did he.

You felt his arms slowly wrapping around you, and before you knew it, your face was buried in his neck, as you inhaled his unique scent deeply. You held onto him tightly. "I can't lose you. Not you. Ever."

But you would, one day. Him being older than you, you knew that and Gibbs definitely knew it too. Which is why he never acted on his attraction and feelings for you. He knew you were feeling the same, he knew you were in love with him - even though he couldn't understand why or how. He could easily have given in, and enjoy whatever moments with you. But he refused. He couldn't do that to you, nor to himself. Everyday in this job, he could lose you too. That bullet could've been for you and not miss. Losing Shannon - and Kelly - was the hardest thing he's ever had to go through, and he couldn't bare the idea of losing another partner, especially you.

Which was why he tried to get you to leave NCIS several in the past few years. At first, it was pointing out how this job sucks - he loves it but he's a bit of masochist -, how you'd be better off doing something safe. Then it was introducing you to someone who had move on from this job and never felt better. And lately, it was asking Vance to find you a desk job you would actually enjoy. But nothing worked. You were still there, by his side, in harm's way.

Would it hurt to give in just this once? He wondered as he felt you clutching onto him. You fitted so perfectly in his arms, you smelled so good. You were showing your vulnerability, which you rarely do, with anyone and Gibbs found it very appealing.

He was looking down at you, you were looking up. He could lean in a few inches and his lips would reach yours. He started to, very slowly. But before it happened, your phone went off. You rushed to it, not to answer but mostly to shut it down, after it would wake up the twins, despite them being upstairs.

"Seriously!" You said after picking up.

"Just wanted to check in. Are they safely in bed?" You rolled your eyes.

"Of course not, I told you we were having a party. Can't you hear the music? Do they prefer scotch or bourbon?" You saw Gibbs smiling.

"You suck."

"So do you. Go back, and enjoy your night out, idiot."

"Hey, wait. Are you--sure it's not too soon for me?"

"She left, bro. Screw her. Whether it's a one time thing or more, as long as you're happy with it, just go for it. You deserve some fun."

"Says you, who can't move on from her boss, even though nothing ever happened. I mean, I tried to introduce you to some nice pe--" you hung up before he could finish. You knew Gibbs hear the entire thing.

"I'm, uh, gonna check on the twins."

But he held you back. "They are fine." He whispered.

"You already knew, didn't you?" You could look into his magnificent blue eyes. "That's why you've been trying to get rid of me?"

He sighed and brought you closer. His nose in your hair, his lips against your forehead. "I can't lose you either." He whispered, returning the vulnerability you showed earlier.

Hearing those words, you didn't think twice. You lifted your head up and crashed your lips on his. Gibbs didn't have the strength nor will to fight it. He intensified the kiss quickly, backing you up against the wall, where it happened for the very first time.

First of many.

[unikhroma]

the big acid theory post

(i am sorry for how long this is)

couple weeks ago someone on discord asked if i could dm them my gripes about acid theory, since they hadn't seen any criticisms of it. i was very surprised to hear that so of course i did what any normal deltarune fan would do and wrote an essay (aka complained for several paragraphs). posting for reference sake so i have all my thoughts in one place and never make a post about this topic again

----------

basically my criticisms for acid theory are on all tiers/interpretations of it as an life-changing event where he ends up disfigured. i don't think it makes much sense to happen for multiple reasons

for it to happen from a narrative perspective i don't really buy it. spamton's downfall is already tragic in that he lost his friends, his fame and fortune, and got evicted. in regards to the mansion, the eviction itself is the tragedy, in particular that it's implied that it wasn't only him that got evicted that day. a swatchling says that the mansion used to be for high-class citizens. the rooms that were once for these citizens are now for lightners, so it wasn't just that he had no money, he was gonna get kicked out anyway.

i mention this cause a common interp of acid theory is that the mansion staff threw him in as punishment, and i think there's little evidence for that given the circumstances. a while ago i went on this whole spiel about how mischaracterizing queen and/or swatch to try and support the theory makes it weaker to me but that's additional stuff

and about the acid as a threat, it's hard to take it seriously when the majority of mentions of it are for gags or game design-related. for example, the gold berdly statue being dropped into the acid slowly dips in because if it just sank instantly, you could very easily miss it. the swatchling being stranded on the island is a goof with anticipating a battle the moment you set the bridge out for them.

for spamton falling into the acid as an explanation for whatever caused him to be a physical puppet (this is going off of taking the addisons' word that he was an addison too), it doesn't really line up. it doesn't make a lot of sense from a lore standpoint; there's no evidence to suggest that the addisons look like puppets underneath. i mean it's an interesting hc, but to assume it's canon that that's why spamton looks like a puppet now is kinda just filling in blanks.

that one q&a answer where spamton talks about there being some kind of "spamton method" he used every day and became "big" to me implies that it was some kind of slow transformation into a puppet. it's not much to go off of, but it's a lot more compelling than taking a tumble in acid. there's more mystery there and might even explain why spamton showed up to the mansion less over time

i think at this point it's clear that at some point he did get pushed in by someone, as stated in the spa attire from the sweepstakes and one of his valentine's cards, but to me it seems like it was an example of him being mistreated by the other rich residents in the mansion. before he talks about getting pushed in a pool, he mentions that he's gotten swirlies at the mansion, and to me it seems like he's still really bothered by his treatment there which is why he mopes about it.

queen mentioning that the acid can shrink people is also played for jokes, even susie in the ch3 video saying that they'll die if they drink the acid is played for jokes (also i think it would probably hurt them cause they're lightners and not cyber darkners)

anyway, if acid theory ends up being directly confirmed without any cryptic wording and all that i would still dislike it. i just don't think it fits with spamton or ch2's themes and it's randomly dark in a way that's not appealing to me. i like psychological horror more and the puppetfication thing already fits that. i know it's definitely appealing to others and i don't think people are bad for liking it per se, but it's not my kinda thing at all nor do i think it's canon, so i personally want nothing to do with it

[anna-thesimp]

My Love is Mine All Mine : 1 : New Job

"Wow you actually made it to the interview," a guys deep voice fills the room, he was the new boss for Rody who had been fired not that long ago. This was his 27-28 job now, he wasn't even sure anymore.

"Yeah I thought it be the best," Rody's hair was messy, his clothes were untidy and he didn't even tie his tie. From this, his boss was annoyed and continued on the interview.

"Well from your resumé, you know how to do your job which is good. Now I'm Vincent Charabonneau the owner of this bistro, i'm very strict on who I hired, so be greatful that I am giving you a chance to work here. Now remember take customer orders, get them to the chiefs, they'll cook it and Sever it back to the coustmers. Some coustmers well Expected faster service so they'll leave and might leave you with a dead plate," Vincent looks disgusted when talking about a dead plate.

"Thats good food gone to waste, but they still will have to pay for what they ate. So unless you have a person that has the same order as the dead plate, its gone to waste," Rody understood about 30% of what Vincent Just said but still looked like he got the memo.

"We're opening soon so be prepared, if you need me i'll be in the back," Vincent starts walking into the kitchen when Rody's voice stops him.

"Wait I have a question!" his hand Shot up in the air like he was im preschool.

"What is it?"

"So the coustmers don't exactly choose what they want, If I heard that right?"

"Thats correct our menu changes each day with a strict meal Choice, anymore questions?"

"Nope! I'm good now!" Rody smile brightly while Vincent rolled his eyes and walked away.

For Rody's frist day he did a great job not losing a coustmer and earn a great amount! Thought it was tiring to say the least, after the bistro closed up he biked home and changed into different clothes. His Apartment was messy when he got home..and thats the normal. His apartment messy as 4 of my cousins (no joke). Dishes haven't been done, toliled over flooded, music sheets everywhere, the stove look burnt ans Rody though back when he made cereal, he's not gonna do that again.

He picks up the phone like always and called her she didn't answer. He got bored and looks at his magazine, ended up getting bored after a while and slept on the couch.

Meanwhile Vince's mind was going crazy as he thought about today, this cheerful guy came to take the waiter job and he was good. But that smile was just in his head he couldn't sleep without thinking about his smile.

Vince ended up going to bed early. Rody's smile play in his head like a broken record player and when Vince fell asleep. A smile crawled up his face.

______

Thank you all for choosing this Plot i hope you like this story

[paper-gold-theories]

If its ok by you, may I ask for some domestic fluff headcanons for Goldheart and Flug? I'd love to hear what you think they get up to while living together

HeroFlugAU Draft Fics

Not really Fluff. But here are some draft slice of life fanfic drafts for the HeroFlugAU 😆

1) GoldHeart likes to seduce Flug for morning sex just to make him late for his daily schedules. It resulted in Flug having to add morning sex as part of his schedule so that he won't. Making GoldHeart burst out laughing hysterically. He still purposely makes Flug go 5 mins off just to troll him, much to the former villian's frustrations.

2) GoldHeart is petty jealous of anything that has Flug's attention other than him, like his friends, the Golden Jet he's working on for the team and now more recently that Codigo Guajalote show. So he would often seduce him to make him miss the premier. Much to Flug's frustration and they make it into a competition.

3) GoldHeart and Flug go to Supervillains Supermarket & Deli in there are civilian identities to buy groceries, shenanigans ensue.

GoldHeart: We're note taking this van. It looks like the kind of van you'd kidnapped people in

Flug: Well technically I...

GoldHeart, covering his ears: Lalala its better I don't know.

Flug: Well what vehicle should we take then?

GoldHeart: I haven't drawn this in a while. (Points to one of his solid gold Ferraris)

Flug: That? That car has barely any space in the boot. I bet that can't even fit a single bag of groceries.

GoldHeart: It's fine we can just put the groceries on our lap, if it doesn't.

(It wasn't fine, they ended up only getting half the groceries and would try another day to get the rest. 😂)

(outside supermarket)

GoldHeart, laughs: Why do you villians call everything you own evil. Isn't kind of overcompensatingly. What you guys think are gonna be less evil if you don't.

Flug, teasing: Says the guy with "gold hearts" on his knee caps.

GoldHeart, teasing: Sure "Mr planes everywhere".

Flug, laughs: Alright maybe both sides are overcompensating.

GoldHeart, laughs: I can take that.

4) A petty argument of who ends up more desperate for sex ends up with of them had a competition to see who can go long without having sex with. The loser is the one who makes the first move. Everyone suffers the consequences. Frust ated and horny of them attempt to make the other lose by seducing each other. In the end both of them end up losing at the same time and jumping on each others bones and their boners 👀.

5) GoldHeart drinks Flug's special awake coffee and can't sleep for a week drags Flug along to do crazy things out of sheer petiness so that he won't have to be wake along. Like taking a several hour plane trip across the continent to get Elvis's Fools Gold Sandwiches, going up the mountains abd solving puzzles to get the fourth flavour ice cream or going to Guzmán Muñoz to do a tag team wrestle in leotards which ended up with GoldHeart being posessed by a parasite mask resulting in Flug having to fight him. Flug was armed with a tranquiliser gun and a laser gun to counter GoldHeart's powers which the both agreed to use if GoldHeart got mind control, but Flug didn't want to use it at first and tried to reason with GoldHeart only for him to end up getting tea bagged by GoldHeart, resulting Flug's last string of sanity snapping for not sleeping for days which ended him him shooting him with the laser and shooting tranquiliser multiple times and finally managing to get some sleep.

Flug wonders why he didn't think about that a few days ago...

Bonus Scene

After GoldHeart defeated Mask Macabre

Adelita: That's right. Pedro is my husband!

[Crowd & Flug]: *gasps*

Sleep deprived and cranky GoldHeart: OH MY GOD AN ANSWER TO A QUESTION NOBODY ASKED!!

Adelita: [ignores him and tells about her husband's origin story and how he ended up being posessed by the mask]

(They are technically wanted by P.E.A.C.E, so Flug puts a tracker on them before they managed to escape. Mask Macabre gets sent to Area 52 for vivisection)

___

Bonus Draft

6) Some crazy fan got a hold of GoldHeart's underwear after he accidentally left it in a hotel room and tried to auction off on eBay for a million dollars (Miss Heed was one of the bidders). The Golden Rule Members attempt to hunt the creep down and beat the crap out of them bring them to justice.

[samieree]

Oh hi, I have a request hihi! Could you please write Heimdall and reader in a arranged married to wich she is very nervous in the begining and he acts as if he doesn’t care for her (despite some thoughfull actions) but one day defends her from other people? Perhaps you could add they starting to get along after consumating the marriage, if you feel comfortable. Thank you (:

Ohhh yes!

I've read this during breakfast and just after it I started writing it 😂 I hope you're gonna like it 💗

There is no smut, just light description of what happened ^^

Thanks for request <3 ~

A few days ago you came to Asgard as you were to marry Heimdall. You didn't feel very comfortable in a strange place, especially since you felt a lot of eyes on you. You were just sitting at the table in the mead hall and trying to focus on the book on the table in front of you. You propped your head on your elbow and read the same sentence again, but you understood no more than before.

It was hard to take your mind off what was waiting for you, especially since you didn't even have much time to yourself, when almost every now and then someone would come to you to arrange the last details for the wedding, even to ask you to go and try on the dress again.

“Stupid girl.” You weren't sure if you heard right. You looked up from your book at the man sitting in front of you, sipping a beer.

“Excuse me?”

“Can you even read?” He asked. He probably noticed that you haven't turned a page in your book for several minutes. But he didn't notice how you were trembling almost all over, so stress was eating you up that it wasn't going to let go anytime soon.

“I…”

“Say it again.” Before you could say anything more, explain yourself, that you can't concentrate at all, your fiancé appeared behind the man.

The man immediately became confused when he heard a familiar voice behind him.  He wanted to grab his beer mug and get up, but as soon as he got up, Heimdall put his hands on his shoulders and pushed him back to the bench.

“Now apologise nicely.” He demanded, hands still on his shoulders. The man looked stressed, especially in his hand clenched tightly around the beer mug.

“Forgive me, please…” He finally said without even looking at you. It was obvious that he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

You nodded and only then did the blonde take away his hands and let the man leave.  And he almost ran out of the room...

Heimdall sat in his place, took the book that was in front of you and sat sideways to you, going back to the first pages of the book. It's like you're not here all of a sudden...

“Thank you.” You said looking over at him. You avoided looking into his eyes on a daily basis, you didn't like the way his eyes pierced you. You felt like you were stripped of your clothes, no secrets, nothing to hide. You were stressed by what he might see in your mind. After all, one stupid thought and suddenly he could completely change his attitude towards you…

Even though you didn't know how he felt about you. It's hard to tell if he even tolerates you since he usually doesn't even look at you.

“No need, I wouldn't want my future wife to be a pushover. Especially in the eyes of some peasants. Since I must have her anyway...” He said, still focused on your book.  Great, he took the one thing you wanted to use and de-stress.

You didn't answer. You didn't even know what to say. Your eyes landed on your hands that rested on your thighs. Should you go out? Or maybe sit a little longer?  Maybe someone is about to call you to another dress fitting and save you from this awkward silence?

“At least you have a lookable face.” When you heard that, you looked up and saw Heimdall staring at you, then sighing as he turned back to his book.

Maybe it was supposed to be some kind of twisted compliment, but it hurt you. You knew it from the beginning, but it hurt how he liked to use words like that to emphasise that this wedding, that you, meant nothing to him and that he was only doing what he had to do. And the only thing he's happy about is that at least you're pretty enough and he won't wince every time he looks at you.

 * * *

As you might have guessed, the wedding didn't change much in your relationship.  You even went on sleeping alone because your dear husband had no intention of staying with you any longer than he had to.

It was a terrible experience for you the night after the wedding, when you twisted your fingers to keep from biting your nails, and he didn't even bother to come in for a second and say he wasn't going to touch you.

In fact, not much has changed in your life, you didn't even see him more often. But you can't say that he cared for you the way a husband should care for his wife. Surely, only out of courtesy, he sometimes asked if you needed anything, or gave you some trinket made of his beloved gold.

But what did it matter if he did everything out of duty and you could never tell him about all your worries or insecurities?

Plus you felt lonely.

You just spent time outside. You didn't look where you were going, because you were holding a book in your hands, which you didn't have a chance to finish before the wedding. As you weren’t paying attention to the road in front of you, you suddenly walked straight into someone.

You just didn't know that this person was standing there waiting for you.

“Sorry.” You said, looking up from your book as you realised that you bumped into Valkyrie, and her friend was standing behind her.

 Why are most people here so tall?

“For what?” You have to admit, you were surprised by the question, even very much.  Isn't what you apologised for obvious?

“Because I bumped into you?”

“Just it?” You were getting more and more confused.

You finally closed the book you were holding all the time, seeing that you won't be able to go back to reading anytime soon. Not that you were afraid of two Valkyries, you were a Goddess yourself, but rather everyone would feel a little anxious in your place…

“What would I be apologising for?”

After your question, you saw the woman tighten her hand around the hilt of her weapon, but you didn't move an inch. The atmosphere immediately became thick and tense. And what was even worse was that you had no idea what they wanted from you.

Your gaze slowly focused on the woman's weapon, you wondered if she would answer your question, or maybe she would immediately attack you, along with her sister.

Perfectly, just as she was about to make a move, you felt a hand on your stomach, pushing you back. And at that exact moment, Heimdall came between you.

“Hrist. Mist. Predictable as always… Any problem?” He asked, standing in front of you with his arms folded across his chest.

You were actually glad he was here at the right time, just before the fight broke out.  But at the same time, you were surprised, even though he had taken your side once before and forced an apology from some servant. However, this matter seemed much more serious.

“Yes, there is a problem.”

“I don't count your jealousy as a problem, Hrist.” He replied quickly, unfazed by the two enraged Valkyries. "Lovely, you asked your sister for help. Too bad you haven't brought Gná with you as well. Although... She knows when to shut up.”

“It's not your business.” Hrist replied, looking over Heimdall's shoulder to see you still standing behind him.

“But your ‘problem’ lies with me. If you wanted to take it out on someone for your broken heart, I recommend your sister. If she's so eager to come here with you, she probably has nothing better to do anyway.” Saying this, he tilted his head.

Was it really about him? You had no doubt that he was right because of his abilities… But seriously? Hrist was jealous of you?

“Don't look at me like a sheep at a butcher. Need a lesson in humility? I'll gladly give you one, and next time you'll think not two but three times before stepping out of your place.” He looked at them for a moment more before they finally left, muttering something under their breath. After they left, Heimdall turned and looked at you.  “You can't play around with them, you have to put them in their place right away, like this.”

“She was jealous?” You asked in a tone that made it clear that you wanted some answers.

Heimdall sighed and rolled his eyes, placing a hand on your waist and gently pushing you to start walking.

“There are people who have a soft spot for me, even if all I do with them is throwing them at the training ground.” He shrugged. “Maybe it's some kind of spell, and if I do that to you, you'll suddenly fall in love too?”

He said it in a joking tone which made you smile slightly. And the first response that came to mind was: ‘You can throw me somewhere else.’ and even though the thought didn't leave your lips, you knew perfectly well that he'd found out about it anyway, if only from the way he raised an eyebrow.

“Expand your thought.” You immediately felt yourself blushing and you quickened your pace as if you wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

Strangely, he didn't speed up after you, as if he had already planned something for the future.

You didn't know what it was until you lay peacefully in bed, already tucked up in the duvet, head on the soft pillow and eyes closed, ready for sleep. You didn't even hear the door open, you only realised someone had entered when that person spoke.

“Move over.” Yeah, even though the bed was big, you were used to lying on the whole of it…

Recognizing Heimdall's voice, you made room for him by moving to the other end of the bed, but didn't change your position much. You were surprised when you felt his hand on your waist and how he pulled you against him to lean against his bare chest.

“What have you come for?” You asked as the fact hit you. At first you thought maybe he came to finally consummate your marriage, get over with it, and then go off and do his own thing. But he hugged you.

“I can’t sleep with my wife?” He asked, placing his other hand in your hair. When you didn't answer, he decided to add something else. “It was nice to play a knight in shining armour. You could seek problems every day.”

“What if you're my problem?”

“I?” He said it as if he had just been deeply offended. He removed his hand from your hair and propped himself up on his elbow, studying you better with his shining gaze, but this time you weren't uncomfortable with this. “They say you have to sleep with your problems, and maybe with this one you could.” He looked at his fingernails as if he were examining them like they were the most interesting thing in the nine realms.

“Maybe?” You repeated, resting your head on your elbow as he did.

 Without a word, he moved closer to you and kissed you.

“Maybe.”

You smiled softly and then you were the one who initiated the kiss with a smile on your face. He rolled you onto your back and continued kissing you, his hand running over your body covered only by a thin nightgown.

After a long time, after you had time to untangle his hair and the kisses became more passionate and faster, your nightgown was finally on the floor, as were his pants.

That night you were the happiest since you came to Asgard. You didn't feel lonely for the first time. And who knows, maybe in the near future you will feel loved every day as much as tonight? When you felt the warmth of his body and breath, when you were in his arms all night.

Heimdall has been near you more often since then, putting his arm around you or taking advantage of your height difference and resting his chin on top of your head. He still liked to throw out his typical lines, but that was his charm. You even learned to like it and tease him back.

That first night together brought you very close and it certainly wasn't your last time together.

~

-> general masterlist -> God of War: Ragnarök masterlist

[prinnamon]

Hello! I saw your post about subtitling and fanworks other than fanart and fanfics and you mentioned being a subtitler yourself. If you’re okay with answering this could I ask how you started being a subtitler? (if that’s even how it works lol) I’m guessing it depends on what you’re subtitling but I’ve always super appreciated subtitles and the ppl that make them and think it would be fun to do

hope you have a nice day/night!

this ask sat in my inbox for a while because sadly my PC's power supply unit failed and made it less convenient for me to write lengthy posts. however! i'm back in the swing of things and im too excited to let it sit here any longer.

long post under the cut!

to start off, i wanna make it clear that what i do currently is write english-language subtitles for english-language content on YouTube! there is no translation involved. i'm not confident enough with any other languages to sub any other kind of content. so all the advice i can offer is gonna be related to my specific experience! (i'm learning that maybe i should have used the word "captions" instead of subtitles to eliminate confusion. you can tell i am an amateur and not a professional since i thought the words were largely interchangeable)

i started doing captions for fun several years ago as a fan of The Shrieking Wizard Co! that company/channel had an associated discord server, and there was a section for fans to submit captions for their videos using a service called Crowdscriber. i was not super good at it or familiar with any of the best practices at the time, but i could make out even overlapping voices pretty well and i had a lot of free time!

the SWC is no longer around as a company, but even before that i'd fallen off of doing captions for them since school started to eat up all my free hours again. recently, though, i picked the habit back up and started doing captions for a niche machinima series that a friend got me to watch! the first episode and a half already had captions, so i was dismayed when i realized the rest of the series lacked them. in a sort-of special feature video from a couple years back, the creator mentioned plans to enable community captions so fans could pitch in if they wanted! however, since then, YouTube has removed the community captions feature.* but the creator is still active and the series is still ongoing, and i figured i probably had the tools available to me to caption the episodes on my own. i reached out to ask if he'd like the help, and he said yes! so wahoo!

a lot of creators would probably be happy to accept volunteers to help them with captions. some larger creators may even be open to offering someone a paid job at it. the worst they can do is say no or not respond, so there's really no reason to be afraid of reaching out about subtitling one or more videos that mean a lot to you! sadly, this is not going to be as reliable for older stuff on abandoned channels. you may have the resources you need to subtitle something but no way to reach out to the creator so that your subtitle files can be uploaded and seen.

the first step of my process was to download all the episodes of the series that i wanted to caption! it's also fine to go one at a time if you lack the storage space, of course. i used VLC to download YouTube videos (check out this tutorial! it wasn't what i used at the time, but i think the one i did use is out of date and your odds with this one might be better!), but i know there are other reliable options out there.

YouTube's built-in caption/subtitle editor is pretty ass and not fun to work with! i find it frustratingly limiting. luckily, there are free programs which do it better. i've got decent experience editing videos, so the free version of the program DaVinci Resolve is my subtitle editor of choice since it feels very much the same as editing videos like i'm used to. i'd open it up and take some screenshots to show off the process, but my PC is currently not functioning. i will say that i found it pretty easy to muddle through after a couple basic "how to add subtitles in DaVinci Resolve" tutorials.

i still don't know if i'm the best person to give lessons on best practices for captioning, but here are some very basic guidelines i try to adhere to:

don't let captions take up more than two lines on screen at their standard size! three or more lines of captions cover a lot of what's happening on screen. there are times when it might be absolutely necessary because characters' lines are overlapping while other sounds are also occurring which are crucial to the viewer's understanding of the scene, and that's okay, but 3+ lines of captions should really be a rarity.

generally try to have one sentence on screen at a time! there are plenty of exceptions to this. for example, a character may utter several short sentences in a short amount of time (eg. "Yes. Okay. I understand.") which don't make sense to break up any further because the captions would be flashing on screen for such a short time, impeding readability. moreover, a character might say a sentence that needs to be broken up at a logical midpoint so it doesn't take up three or more lines on the screen.

preserve comedic and dramatic timing. sometimes the above rule must be sacrificed so that the punchline of a joke or the narrative twist of the knife is not revealed before it's supposed to be revealed.

sounds that characters acknowledge and react to, or which impact your understanding of the scene, should be represented with a caption. the audience probably needs to know about [distant gunfire] and [pained scream]. however, in a lot of cases, a sound is implied by what the audience can see or is unnecessary to their understanding of the scene. the audience probably does not need to be told that the door which they can see opening is making the sound that a door makes when it is opened. the audience can probably infer that the character who they can see walking is making audible footsteps. but then there are times when these sounds might be important because the characters comment on or react to them. it's situational. i say use your best judgment.

generally, above all, be courteous and remember that subtitles are a tool, and they're not something silly with. it's really not the place for jokes. it's more clear and useful when a gasp is captioned as [gasp] as opposed to [O_O] or [le terrified gasp]. it's more clear and useful to describe the sound of an airhorn as [airhorn] than to write [HOOONK!!!]. and please don't use captions for extensive easter eggs and inside jokes. like alt text, it's not a place to hide treats for people who click a secret button. it's an accessibility tool. (i'm pretty serious and passionate about this point, and i don't wanna see jokes about it in the reblogs or replies.)

if you can understand and transcribe what's being said, you Must do so accurately. this includes swear words. this includes slurs and disrespectful language and words and subject matters you're uncomfortable with. if you can't bear to type these things out, you're not the person who should be writing captions for this particular piece of media. if a hearing viewer can hear it, it must be captioned. deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers deserve to know exactly what is being said.

this page might be able to help you get started with some more specific professional guidelines! i disagree with some of these; for example, subtitling a foreign language as [speaking French] is really not ideal, because a hearing viewer who speaks French would be able to understand what was said, so you're giving the folks using the captions an incomplete experience. like i said above, if you can understand what's being said, transcribe it accurately.

YouTube accepts at least a few different file formats, including .sbv and .srt (if you're saving as an .srt from DaVinci Resolve, make sure to check ".srt Without Formatting"). proofread your work before sending it out/uploading it to catch surface errors! in fact, i recommend checking the captions in YouTube's subtitle editor by uploading them on a private video to see whether it throws up any errors at you or has any unintended formatting junk that you need to go back and eliminate.

i hope this was somewhat helpful and can maybe inspire you to go for it yourself! this mostly felt like me rambling about my personal experiences and opinions, haha. at the very least, if this didn't make any sense, maybe you can look at it and go "well if she's this incoherent and can still write captions/subtitles then certainly there's hope for me" lol. thanks for inviting me to talk about the thing i'm passionate about. it's a joy whenever someone asks me about this. i hope to get to do it as a job someday (though i'm not looking forward to when i inevitably have to caption somebody as [speaks Spanish] due to professional practices).

*i have heard from one or two folks that YouTube's now inviting viewers to contribute captions in a different way, by "providing corrections" to a video's auto-generated captions! even if this is true, i have to say it doesn't really excite me. in my opinion, trying to work around the automatic first pass is usually a worse experience than starting from scratch. the auto-generated timings tend to be really bad, usually not cutting naturally at the beginnings and ends of sentences, and that's ignoring the fact that auto-generated captions also censor swears and transcribe many things incorrectly. YouTube really should never have removed community captions. i hope they get brought back or replaced in a meaningful way

[mondstaub1]

Solangelo fic idea: Rescue from the museum or don't mess with the guy who can summon the dead

Will had decided he wanted to finish school and one day they make a trip to the museum. While his class is there terrorist take everyone hostage and unsure of how to save everyone he calls for help from his boyfriend. Nico is livid and decides he is gonna send those assholes to his father asap.

Everything had started out fine, the day had been going so well, the trip was nice, the weather was good, the lecture was interesting but then everything had gone to shit. A man had suddenly pulled out a gun and moments later several others also shoot into the air, ordering everyone to raise their hands and get to the ground. They were all brought to a smaller room and guarded there. No doube as hostages till the men got whatever they wanted. Will had tried to comfert the children who were there but promtly got a gun pointed at him and told to shut up or die. He had no idea how to get out of this mess so he did the only thing that came to mind. He thought of Nico and praid, he was not even sure for what. His boyfriend was in camp halfblood many miles away and he had no way to contact him as an IM would hardly work right now. Will just hoped he would not die here, Nico would be so pissed if he got himself murdered.

Nico Di Angelo woke up with a start, the quite mutterings of Will still ringing in his ears. He had seen his lover surrounded by armed men, trying to comfort a crying child, he had heared Will pray, seen the fearful look in his blue eyes and knew it was not just a dream. It was real, Will needed him and by Hades he wasn't gonna let some stupid idot kill his boyfriend. So shadow traveling it was.

It took Will only a few moments to notice that the shadows moved. Bare secunds later Nico Di Angelo appered out of the dark, right behind the man who was guarding him and all the other hostages. "What are you staring at?", were the hilarious last words of the man who had pointed a gun at his face not even an hour ago. Nico had run him through with his sword and the man dropped dead on the spot. "Nico", he wispered relived and the next moment he was hugging his boyfriend, ,,how..what are doing here?" "You praid, I answered", Nico answered confidently before turning to all the other stunnd and terrified people in the room. "You calm them I will take care of the guys outside", Nico mumbled, "How many are there?" "I don't know. I think like half a dutzend or so", Will answered, "you sure you can handle it?". Nico raised an eyebrow before a grin appeared on his face. "Sweetheart, we are in a place full of dead things. Those fuckers will have to deal with way more then just me", the dark haired boy answered. It was that moment that Will knew that those men were already dead and in Tartarus, they just didn't know it yet.

[jate-kara]

Star's Light | On AO3

If he had to hear one more bad joke, he was going to die.

Cayde tugged at his hood, like it could somehow muffle the whole damn mess if he only gave it a little more encouragement. Lush had a knack for a lotta things, but storytelling wasn't one of them - and neither was humor. Every hack at a joke that came out of his mouth was seven different shades of convoluted, and that was when he was sober. Drunk? Forget about trying to make any sense of anything he said.

Cayde set his jaw and dug his fingers into his legs. The fire they'd started had long since died down, and he wondered briefly if going to get more wood from the forest just outside camp would be a good enough excuse, or too obviously an escape. Lush had asked them to listen several drinks ago, and Cayde had agreed because everything about the current situation aside, he did genuinely like the guy: he was a good Hunter, and a good friend. Figured he'd burn out after two or three minutes, though. Bad guess. Lush was still going strong. Shiro had somehow found the strength to keep nodding along gamely. Tevis had left the second Lush started talking, off to brood in a tree somewhere, probably. Who knew with that guy. And Andal - had disappeared in the middle of a particularly excruciating tale a while ago. How unlike him to miss a chance to worsen his own terrible sense of humor. He could be taking notes. No, he needed to be taking notes. Right now. Immediately.

"I'm gonna go find Andal," Cayde announced, loud enough for the others to hear him, but apparently not loud enough to derail Lush's one man crusade to destroy Cayde's will to live. Shiro shot him a glance that felt a bit more accusing than he thought was fair. "Uh, don't have too much fun without me."

He darted off before Shiro could eviscerate him with his scowl. Andal had headed into the trees without saying where he was going, but he could hedge a pretty good bet on his whereabouts. Andal went one way when he wanted to get away, and that was up.

He found him exactly where he thought he would: in the clearing, sprawled out on top of his jumpship with his arms folded behind his head. He sat up at Cayde's approach, tracking him as he clambered up the side of the ship and swung himself over to sit beside him.

"Hey, beautiful," Cayde said, tilting his chin up with a single finger. "Come here often?"

Andal laughed. Traveler, Cayde never got tired of hearing it. "Has that line ever actually worked on anyone?"

Cayde opened his mouth to answer, and nothing came out. Not a single syllable. Not even a whisper of one. Andal was breathtaking on any given day, with his warm brown skin and his kind eyes and his long, flowing hair. Cast in starlight and a glowing smile, he was devastating. Cayde's chest ached. The closest thing to a response that he could manage was a punched out exhale, and even that felt like a monumental effort.

"Everything okay?" Andal leaned forward to scrutinize him. This close, Cayde could feel the light puff of his breath against his neck. Could feel the brush of his loose hair against his cheek as he pushed Cayde's hood down. Could see the mischief twinkle in his eyes. "Cayde?"

"You really have no idea what you do to me." Right, those were words. That was what talking felt like: hoarse, and unsteady, and utterly enamored. Real eloquent, gunslinger. Nice work there.

Andal's smile softened. "I have some idea," he murmured, and pulled Cayde in for a gentle kiss. He smelled like leather and evergreen and that fancy flowery soap he always picked up in the City, and when Andal pulled back, Cayde buried his face in his neck and breathed in deep. This night was just like a thousand before it, and hopefully like a thousand more after, but he wanted this moment forever.

Andal shifted slightly, enough to prompt Cayde to tighten his hold. Soft lips pressed to the top of his head. "Someone's clingy today."

"I'm clingy?" Cayde shot back. "Remind me which one of us didn't want to get up this morning."

"That was you, Cayde."

"Oh. Well, yesterday, then."

"Still you." Andal's voice was warm. He tugged insistently at Cayde's cloak until he got the hint and let Andal ease them into lying back, so Cayde was sprawled across his chest. "Not that I'm complaining."

Andal smoothed a hand up his spine, and Cayde gave a contented sigh. "Seriously, though. Why'd you leave? Lush's stories are bad, but they're not 'brood in a tree' bad."

"Is that where Tev went?"

"Maybe. When he doesn't want to be found, he really doesn't want to be found, so I didn't waste my time trying. Sundance worked out a deal with his Ghost, so if he doesn't turn up in a few hours, we'll get a ping from her to let us know he's not dead in the gulch somewhere."

"I'm sure he loves that."

"Shoulda stopped with the literal disappearing act if he didn't want me to take matters into my own hands. I did warn him."

Andal paused, then groaned. "Wait. You left Shiro to deal with Lush alone, didn't you?"

"He'll be fine. They go way back, so if you think about it, he's actually the best guy for the job."

"Uh-huh." Still, despite the skepticism, he made no move to dislodge Cayde. His heart was pounding a rapid pulse beneath Cayde's head, like he was running for his life through the forest, and not trying to relax under the stars, and as flattering as it would be if that racing beat was for him, Cayde knew by the sick twist in his gut that it wasn't. Andal's body was as familiar to him as his own: he'd mapped every tell, whether it was soundless or a scream. He knew every hitch in his breath; he'd felt every twitch, every spasm, and every heaving gasp, sometimes in the safety of a quiet night, and sometimes in the suffocating thick of the Darkness, clutching Andal to his chest to keep pressure on a wound - pressing a kiss to his crown and begging him to hold on. No, this wasn't anticipation. It was fear.

Cayde shifted so he could raise his head and prop it up on one hand, then reach out and press his other palm to Andal's cheek. "Startin' to think I should be the one asking you if you're okay," he murmured, stroking a soothing arc with his thumb. "Something happen?"

Andal leaned into Cayde's touch, though there was a pinch to his brow that hadn't been there before. "No," he muttered. "Not recently, anyway."

Cayde gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment, and waited to see if he would continue. Old history was a touchy thing, especially when it was the painful kind, and Andal had just as much trauma in his past as the rest of them, no matter how hard he tried to convince them that the worst his experiences got was getting rezzed a few times with water in his lungs. He'd had a whole other life before they'd come crashing into one another's orbits, and while Cayde knew a lot more about it than probably anyone else in the pack, there were still plenty of agonies that Andal kept close to the chest. Whatever it was that gave him nightmares so bad he didn't sleep for a week last month was one of them, and whatever had him a million miles away tonight was clearly another.

"You ever think about how we're going to die?" Andal asked at last. "The final time."

Lightless, alone, and in a hell of a lot of pain. They both knew the old Guardian adages. Nobody with this kind of power made merciful enemies, so if push came to shove, fight until you made 'em kill you quick. Of course, not everyone's luck held out that long. Cayde was pretty sure his wouldn't. Not that he could say it. "Who doesn't?" he offered, instead of that. "Job's too dangerous not to."

Andal's eyes took on a faraway look. He didn't say anything else. Cayde stayed there for a few minutes, then slowly scooted up so they were laying side by side with their legs tangled together. "Had a lot of close calls, back before we met," Cayde said. "A few of 'em were with Tevis. Guy's got some nasty enemies, I'll say that. Not just cuz his attitude sucks, either. His Ghost found him right around the last few years of the Dark Age too. Pretty bad time. Glad you never had to see it."

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Your enemies."

"Do you mean people I cheated out of glimmer playing cards, or-"

"Cayde." Andal's voice cracked.

Cayde took one of his hands and laid a whisper of a kiss on his knuckles. "No one we need to worry about. Most of them have dropped off the radar, or already got themselves killed by someone else. I always keep an eye out anyway, just in case."

Andal's answering nod was almost imperceptible. Cayde hesitated. "You? Old ghosts?"

Andal stiffened. A tremor ran through his shoulders. His face twisted into a grimace. "You know me too damn well," he grumbled, but it sounded hollow. Cayde turned his hand over and pressed his mouth to his palm, and let himself linger. Andal's breath hitched; he leaned in to rest his forehead against Cayde's, and stayed there for a long moment. When he moved to pull back, Cayde stopped him with a gentle touch.

"Stay here with me?" Cayde asked, barely a whisper, and that was all it took for Andal to crawl into his arms and curl up against his chest. Once he was settled, Cayde propped his chin on his head and waited. Andal was good with his words, and generally better at dealing with his feelings, but sometimes, that wasn't saying much. Sometimes, he locked down hard, and if you pushed, he'd shut you out completely. With him, it was always a question of patience, and of holding on until he was ready to let go. Fine by Cayde. He'd hold Andal for the rest of eternity if that's what he wanted.

"Back when I was a New Light, I was running my own patrols in the EDZ," Andal started, muffled against Cayde's neck. "Right where we are now, actually. Tallulah had just started out as Vanguard. The City wasn't as fortified then. She didn't have a way to keep track of every damn threat passing through, so I went out there with a pack full of sensor beacons. Spent a lot of time dodging or fighting Fallen to get them placed. I was tired when I finished, and I didn't see the blitz coming."

Andal nudged him, and Cayde loosened his grip so he could move. He didn't go far - only the few inches he needed to be able to meet Cayde's eyes. "At first I thought it was the Fallen again, but the Fallen don't carry handcannons, and they sure as hell don't have the Light."

Cayde set his jaw. Rogue Guardians weren't the anomaly the City leadership wanted to believe they were. They weren't like the Warlords of old, sure, but that distinction didn't make them any better in his book. More often than not, rogues went after other Guardians: for sport, out of some sick curiosity, or because of their devotion to whatever new freak fringe cult had formed. A shudder shook Andal's body, and Cayde slipped a hand into his hair to rub soothing circles into his scalp, until some of the tension strung through him slipped away.

"They hunted me across the EDZ. By the time I circled back here, I'd taken a lot of hits. Lost track of how many, but it wasn't safe for Astraea to help me. It was dark. I'd slid down to the bottom of the gulch and broke my legs. There were a lot of them, and they had me surrounded. I just remember laying there while they closed in, looking up at the stars, and wondering if that was how I was going to die for the last time." Andal let out a breath that was somewhere between a choked laugh and the start of a sob. "It was a long time ago, and it's not even the worst damn thing I've been through. I still can't shake it."

"Hey, a near-miss like that isn't something you can just forget."

"You think it'd fade a little," Andal muttered, and Cayde closed the small distance between them to kiss him - just a brush of the lips, and nothing more. Just to ground him here, in Cayde's arms, safe beneath the open sky, and not back there, lying broken and bleeding and alone and waiting to die.

"You made it out," he reminded quietly, and carded a hand through his hair. Andal chased after the touch, and Cayde rested his palm on his cheek, and let him close his eyes and breathe.

Andal drew strength the same way he drew Void: in a single, intense surge. When he opened them, his eyes had that faraway look again. "Not by myself. There was another Guardian there. Nightstalker, I think. I don't know. I couldn't even see them until they were cutting one of the Warlocks down. Still don't know why the hell they got involved when they were that badly outnumbered."

"You catch their name?"

"Maybe. I just remember them checking on me after, and telling me to get the hell out of there." Andal sighed. "Head was ringing even after Astraea healed me. I couldn't even tell you how I got back to my ship."

Andal found catharsis in talking with him. It was one of their immutable truths, and while Cayde treasured the peace that came with that trust and vulnerability, every pained shudder and strangled breath made his chest ache and his heart scream. If those Guardians weren't already dead, he'd kill them himself for what they'd done to Andal. "You know," he said, burying that feeling deep with all the rest, "we can pack up camp and get moving. No reason we have to stick around here."

"You really wanna manage drunk Lush on a ship?"

"We'll figure it out."

Andal shook his head. "I'll be okay," he said, and rested his forehead against Cayde's chest. "No reason we have to haul ass out of here because of my old ghosts."

If it was anyone else telling Andal they had serious trauma around their current location, he would just say they were going to leave, no question. But since it was Andal who had the trauma, obviously uprooting them was unthinkable. Cayde resisted the urge to sigh. In the entire course of their partnership, he'd never figured out how that equation worked in Andal's head. Probably never would. "All right," he said. "We'll stick around for a while like we planned. But on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Don't go wandering off on your own again. I missed you."

"You missed me suffering with you, you mean."

"Hey, I love Lush, he's a great guy, fantastic Hunter, hell of an Arcstrider. But you or Shiro have got to teach him the difference between a story, and - whatever the hell it is he does when he's trying to be clever."

"He's not that bad."

"He's terrible."

"You can't compare him to Shiro, it's not fair."

"Can. Have. And will. But you know, I gotta say, I am impressed that his jokes manage to be worse than yours."

Andal huffed. "What's wrong with my jokes?"

Cayde kissed the top of his head. "They need work."

Andal shoved at him, though there was no real force behind it. "You're a pain in the ass," he said, but there was a warm note of teasing in his voice that unwound some of the tension wrapped around Cayde's heart.

"You love me."

"Obviously."

Warmth bloomed under Cayde's ribs. He never got tired of hearing that, either. He squeezed Andal tightly, and was rewarded with a contented sigh. "You know what the worst part is?" Andal said. "I lost the knife Tallulah gave me when I first came to the City. She was so disappointed."

Hunted, tormented, and stalked, all alone in the dark with only the stars and his own pounding heart - and he was sad about the knife. Sure. Cayde managed a chuckle. "You are somethin' else," he said. "It's the damn knife you're worried about?"

"It was beautiful," Andal said wistfully.

"Well, yeah, sure. Lulah had great taste in knives."

"Dropped it when I slid down the gulch."

"You want me to go look for it? It's been a long time but you never know. Could still be there."

Andal sobered. Cayde almost had time to regret his words, but not quite. "No," Andal said quietly. "I want you to stay here."

"That's the easiest thing you've ever asked me to do."

Andal nuzzled into his neck and took a deep breath, like he wanted to memorize the moment, too. His heartbeat was steadier now, pulsing a slower pace. Cayde carefully rolled them so he was on his back, and Andal was laying on top of him, and Andal shifted too, pushing himself up and propping his chin on his hands to gaze down at Cayde. His eyes shone in the starlight. Most of the tension in his shoulders was gone. "Nice view?" he asked, and his lips curved into a smile.

Cayde's chest ached again. He tucked a lock of hair behind Andal's ear, and let his touch linger and hold. "Yeah," he said, as he leaned up for a kiss. "The best."

-----

"I'd say I thought I'd find you here, but I never know where the hell to look for you half the time."

Tevis didn't look up at Cayde's approach, or when he invited himself to drop down on the boulder beside him. The gulch was a result of a landslide or an earthquake or some other disaster a long time ago, probably during the Collapse, so it was steep and jagged; the bottom was littered with old pieces of shattered armor - the last vestiges of some really unfortunate souls. Cayde wondered briefly how many Guardians had met their end here, and how many had been just like Andal: new to wielding the Light and just learning what it felt like.

"Did you put another damn tracker on me?" Tevis asked at last, voice tight.

"No, this time I just had a hunch."

In the full light of the sun, Tevis looked less offput and more exhausted. His hood was down for once, and his long dark hair fell loosely around his shoulders in tangled waves. There was Void in his eyes, an amaranthine glow that Cayde had only seen swell around his usual grey when they were about to be in a hell of a fight - never when they were sitting quietly beneath the full sun.

"You look like you're not sleeping," Cayde said, making a show of scrutinizing the dark circles.

"I don't need a damn lecture, Cayde."

"Not gonna give you one. I know you've got the whole 'Void is stronger when you're running on empty' thing you do, but, uh - there's nothing out here. It's just us. You don't need to do that."

Tevis shrugged. The glow didn't dissipate. "What do you want?" he asked, though it was almost a grumble.

"Andal was getting worried since you didn't turn up last night, so I thought I'd come check on you."

"You got the damned ping, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Then why are you here?"

"Maybe I just wanted to piss you off," Cayde returned breezily, and Tevis snapped to meet his gaze. The Void surged in his eyes like a gathering storm before he quelled and quieted it.

"'Andal was getting worried'," Tevis repeated. "Sure."

Cayde leaned back on his hands and kicked his legs idly. Talking to Tevis about something emotionally charged was a bit like navigating a minefield. He'd spent a decent amount of time getting blown up, back when he'd dragged him kicking and screaming into a friendship all those centuries ago. But he'd learned. With Tevis, you had to have trust, and then you had to find a way to push, or you'd watch him break himself apart in his own head. "I'm gonna level with you, Tev," he said. "I think you disappeared cuz you've been on edge since we got here."

"No, I left camp because you're all so fucking annoying."

"Ah, cut the bullshit already. Me? Sure, I drive you up a wall sometimes. That's just part of what makes our dynamic work. But you respect Andal too much to see him the same way, Lush is too scared of you to do anything that might seriously piss you off, and Shiro always reads you like a damn book no matter how many walls you throw at him, so you're never really mad at him. Kinda jealous of that, actually. I wish he'd teach me how he does it."

"He doesn't read me like a book," Tevis huffed. "And spend less time trying to get on my nerves, and maybe I'd be pissed at you less."

"If I didn't get on your nerves so much, we'd never have become friends. Admit it: you like the challenge." Cayde flashed him a grin, and Tevis mumbled something scathing and indecipherable under his breath, but the shove he gave Cayde's shoulder didn't have any weight behind it, and the ghost of a smile curved a corner of his mouth.

"Tell me why I've put up with your shit for so long," he muttered, and leaned back to mirror Cayde.

"Because sometimes a situation calls for a little personality and not an arrow to the face, and I've never seen you talk your way into anywhere."

Tevis rolled his eyes. "That was rhetorical, Cayde."

"I knew that."

"Sure you did."

Cayde hesitated. "You wanna tell me why this place gets to you so bad?"

Tevis locked his jaw, then sat back up and hunched forward with his hands clenched together in his lap. He wasn't exactly slight, but he was a lot smaller than the rest of the pack, and built wiry. Usually, it just meant he was quicker, more agile, and harder for their enemies to hit, so Cayde thought nothing of it. Now, though, curled in on himself as he was, Tevis just looked impossibly vulnerable. A faint shudder ran through his shoulders, like he was in a physical fight and had just taken a hit.

Cayde waited until the shaking subsided, then slowly put a hand on his shoulder. Fifty-fifty shot at success. Odds would be better if it was Andal trying it: everyone had a soft spot for Andal, and he knew it, which was only a problem when he was being a smartass. This time, Cayde got lucky: Tevis didn't rip away from the touch; if anything, he pressed into it.

"Old history," Tevis said at last, and shrugged helplessly.

Cayde hummed a vague acknowledgement. Tevis sat there silently for a minute, then reached into his pack. pulled out a bundle of fabric, and shoved it into Cayde's hands. "Give that to Andal," he said, deliberately avoiding Cayde's gaze as he tugged at the wrappings.

The knife in his hands was beautiful, and had clearly been recently restored: it was shining, all ornate purple and black, with a twist of gold around the bottom of the blade. Cayde turned it over and choked back a laugh. The name Andal Brask was carved in tiny scrawl on the hilt. "Do you think Andal did this?" he asked, shoving the grip toward Tevis so he could see. "Or do you think it was Lulah?"

Tevis pushed the knife away with a sigh. "Don't know. Don't care. Found it out here and figured if it didn't belong to him, he'd probably appreciate it anyway."

"How many Andal Brasks do you think there are in the world?"

"How the hell should I know?"

Cayde tilted his head at him as he set the blade aside. "Okay, I'll narrow it down for ya: how many Andal Brasks did you save from a full-on RTL here?"

Tevis, to his credit, didn't jolt, or start, but he did flinch. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he snapped. His hand curled into a fist at his side, and the Void surged in his eyes.

Cayde gave him a moment - waited for the Void to go from seething tendrils to just mist. "C'mon, Tev," he said quietly. "There aren't a lot of Nightstalkers around, let alone ones who'd jump into that kinda fight without a second thought. And there aren't a lot who'd come out on top, either. You just happen to be this wound up as soon as we get here, you just happen to come to this exact spot, you just happen to find Andal's knife, and you just happen to fix it up and not wanna give it to him yourself? That's too many coincidences."

Tevis shot him a withering glare, but it was a poor mask for the soul-crushing guilt beneath it. "It was my fault," he managed. The words came out strangled. He stopped to heave a labored exhale, and Cayde risked putting a hand back on his shoulder.

"You know that's not what Andal's gonna say."

"Don't tell him."

"The minute I hand him this knife, he's gonna put it together on his own. I won't have to tell him anything."

Tevis dropped his head into his hands. "Yeah," he whispered. "I know."

Cayde scooted a little closer, waited a beat, and swung an arm around him. It earned him an elbow to the side that would have hurt a lot more if he wasn't an Exo, but Tevis didn't shove him away and slip into the Void, so that was progress. "It wasn't your fault," he said, for all the good it would do. "And you saved his life."

"His damn life wouldn't have been at stake if I hadn't gotten him caught in the crossfire," Tevis hissed, snapping upright to stare Cayde straight in the eyes. "It was me they were after. I thought I'd lost them, and it turned out they'd just run across another Nightstalker. They'd have figured it out pretty quick, with how damn new to everything he was. But they kept after him anyway. I don't know if they were trying to draw me out, or if they were just so fucked in the head that they were really gonna tear apart a New Light instead."

Cayde blew out a breath. "You know, I told Andal you had some pretty nasty enemies. What'd this batch want with you?"

Tevis gave a soul-weary sigh. "What do they always want, Cayde?"

Cayde inclined his head in half a shrug. Tevis's connection to the Void was unrivaled, so renowned for its strength that the Speaker himself sometimes put out a general summons to ask Tevis to come to the City, so the scholars could pester him with seventy different questions about it. Tevis never went, of course, but word had long since spread through the Wilds, too, and not everyone out there was as innocuous as a couple of nerds who had their faces perpetually glued to a book. Some groups, mostly left over from the Dark Age, still thought the Void was aligned with the Darkness, and that being so thoroughly submerged in it made Tevis a heretic of the highest order. Others saw him as a saint. And then there were the ones that thought they could replicate the Call if they took him apart enough times.

"Guess being a legend's not all it's cracked up to be," Cayde said, trying for a note of levity.

Tevis snorted. "I liked it better when they all thought I wasn't real."

Cayde forced a chuckle. "Andal said he didn't remember how he got back to his ship. You know anything about that?"

"I carried him there."

That twisted something in Cayde's chest. Tevis was more of a loner than anyone else in the pack: closed off, bottled up, and sometimes a real pain in the ass to get along with. But he was also the kind of man who'd break himself apart to save a New Light he'd never met. There were plenty of other Guardians who would've taken the diversion and run instead of throwing themselves into the Void and an impossible fight - who would've disappeared rather than carry a traumatized comrade back to their ship and see them off to safety. Tevis had a self-loathing streak a mile wide. He'd never call that selfless; he'd just say he was doing what needed to be done. Cayde knew better.

"You're a good guy, Tev," Cayde said, and squeezed him close for the half a second he'd tolerate.

"Don't start that shit again."

"Nah, we've been having this argument for decades now. Gotta keep it going."

"One day, I'm gonna get sick of you."

"That hasn't happened in all the centuries we've known each other, and it's not gonna happen now. That'd be like quitting, and we both know you can't stand to let me win." Cayde pushed himself to his feet and retrieved the blade. "We should get back to camp, though. I wasn't kidding when I said they were starting to get worried."

"You go. I'm staying here."

"Nah, I know that look. No self-loathing spirals today. C'mon." Tevis, surprisingly, didn't resist when Cayde tugged him to stand, and pressed the blade into his hands. "You've gotta get this back to Andal anyway."

Tevis followed him out of the gulch, up an incline so steep it was almost sheer, and through the forest. Cayde heard the camp before he saw it: Shiro and Lush were embroiled in some heated debate about whether arc was best wielded as a staff or when shaped into blades. Tevis shot him a weary look.

"They're never gonna settle that," Cayde confirmed, in answer to the question he hadn't really asked. Shiro and Lush noticed their arrival enough to give them a wave each, and then they were back to their fight. Andal, for his part, was perched on one of the logs they'd turned into the camp's makeshift benches, looking for all the world like he wished he could sink into the ground and disappear. Cayde draped his arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his crown.

"Hey," Andal said, tangling their fingers together and craning his neck back to give him a tired smile. "You found Tev."

Cayde slipped down to sit beside him. "Yeah. How long have those two been at it?"

"I stopped counting."

"Damn, that long?"

"Afraid so."

Cayde sighed, and cast a glance at the edge of the camp. Tevis was frozen, and he stayed that way for an alarming stretch of time. Cayde was just considering stalking over, grabbing his arm, and dragging him into the circle when he jolted, closed the distance in a few stiff strides, and pushed the knife at Andal like it was burning him. "I found that near the gulch," he bit out, like he wouldn't say the words if he didn't force them all out at once.

Andal's face went through an impressive array of emotion impressively quickly: surprise, then confusion, and then old grief, before he settled on dawning realization. He set the knife to the side, snapped to his feet, and pulled Tevis into a tight hug, and Tevis didn't really flail, but he did stand there with his arms raised awkwardly for a second before he realized he was supposed to do something with his hands too. Then he patted Andal lightly on the back twice.

"I don't remember if I said thanks then," Andal said quietly. It sounded loud, though, since Shiro and Lush had finally figured out they should stop.

Tevis pushed at him, like he wasn't sure if they were supposed to hold on that long. Andal didn't move. "You don't owe me any damn thanks. You just wouldn't shut up about the knife on the way back to your ship. Figured it might still be out there somewhere, and we were here anyway."

"Thanks," Andal said, regardless. "For saving me. And for returning the knife."

Tevis blew out an exasperated breath and tried again to shrug off the hug. It worked about as well as it had the first time. "Fine," he grit out. "You're welcome. Let go."

This time, Andal did, though he left one hand on Tevis's shoulder when he pulled away. "Wait, you said 'on the way back to my ship'. Did you carry me there?"

Tevis rolled his eyes. He didn't answer, to confirm or deny it, only pushed Andal's touch away and tugged his cloak closer about his shoulders, as if that would deflect the eyes locked on him. Then he stalked over to sit on the log across from Cayde with his arms folded tightly against his chest.

"What the hell just happened?" Lush asked, glancing around the circle. Even in full daylight, he didn't look hungover at all. Maybe it was an Awoken thing. "What did I miss last night?"

"Nothing," Tevis snapped. Lush jumped and this time, Tevis did flail, but only because Shiro had tugged his hood up and over his head with enough force to send him pitching forward.

"I have no idea what they're talking about either," Shiro said, with a final side-eye at Tevis.

Cayde caught Andal's wrist and tugged him to his side, then hummed contentedly when Andal immediately settled in his lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. "You know," Cayde said, "I can't decide if you look better in sunlight or starlight."

Andal's laugh made his heart clench. "You've got to work on those lines, love."

"Why? You like them."

Andal laughed again, and pulled him down to eye level. "Yeah," he murmured, a soft breath on Cayde's cheek as he leaned in for a kiss. "I do."

----

[lady-wallace]

Whumptober Alt Prompt #7 - "All Safe and Sound" (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Using a @whumptober alt prompt for today. A bit of a different twist on a Giorno scar reveal fic for today with some misunderstandings and protective papa bears Bruno and Abbacchio

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Prompts Used: Alt. #7: Examination Fandoms: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5 Character: Giorno

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Read on Ao3

Read on FF.net

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Abbacchio hurried through the doors of the emergency room with the bundle of blankets and blond teen in his arms.

"Hey!" he called sharply to the nurse working the reception desk. "I'm gonna need some help here. The kid's fever spiked and he's currently unresponsive."

The nurse moved far too calmly for Abbacchio's liking. "Do you know the reason for the fever?"

"He's sick," Abbacchio snapped. "Flu or something—I don't know, I'm not a doctor. He came down with it a few days ago." Even now he could feel Giorno shivering in his arms, soft whimpers escaping every once in a while. Abbacchio readjusted him so that his head wasn't lolling uncomfortably over his arm, but instead tucked against his chest.

"Any other symptoms?"

"Regular coughing and congestion, vomiting—can we please get him some help?"

"Calm down, sir, we'll get him to an examination room shortly."

The nurse picked up the phone and called someone as Abbacchio was practically grinding his teeth, standing there with Giorno still in his arms.

A doctor finally showed up and she beckoned to Abbacchio. "Follow me, I'll see to him."

Abbacchio gratefully followed her down the hall and lowered Giorno onto the exam bed.

"How long has he been like this?" the doctor asked.

"He's only been unresponsive for about an hour, once I saw his fever had gone up near 105, I decided to bring him in. He hasn't been able to keep anything down, not even liquids so he's severely dehydrated."

The doctor was silent as she began unwrapping Giorno from the blanket, giving him a cursory examination.

"You said he had flu symptoms?"

"Yes, as far as we know, it started out like a head cold and then he got the fever and vomiting," Abbacchio replied, folding his arms tightly across his chest as he watched the doctor peel Giorno's eyelids back and look in his ears and nose before taking his temperature.

"Anything in his medical history that I need to know about?"

Abbacchio sighed in exasperation, throwing his hands up. "I don't know."

"I assume you're not his parent," the doctor said, eyeing him up and down.

"No," Abbacchio replied.

"Guardian, then? Or some other family member?"

"I…no, I guess guardian?"

"Sir, I'm going to need a definitive answer on that."

"What the hell does it matter what I am to him? Can't you do your damn job either way? He's a sick kid, help him!"

"What is his name and age?" the doctor asked stiffly as she checked Giorno's temperature.

"Giorno Giovanna, he's sixteen."

The doctor continued silently, putting her stethoscope in her ears and slipping it under Giorno's shirt to listen to his heart. She then rolled him onto his side presumably to listen to his lungs, but as she started to roll his shirt up his back she stopped, freezing slightly before she tugged it back down and turned to Abbacchio with a stony look.

"Sir, I need you to leave the room."

"What? No way, I'm not leaving until I know he's gonna be okay!" Abbacchio protested. "He'll freak out if he wakes up here without anyone he knows."

"I'm afraid I will not allow any argument on this issue," the doctor said and simply marched over, grabbing Abbacchio's arm roughly and pulling him toward the door. "Unless you want me to call security. I'll be out to discuss things with you soon."

Abbacchio was so stunned that he allowed her to shove him out the door and close it behind him. He stood there for a long moment, confusion and worry crashing through him before he finally forced himself to go back to the waiting room, slumping in one of the chairs and bouncing his leg anxiously.

He felt awful, honestly. Bruno had only left for one freaking day and Abbacchio hadn't even been able to watch over a sick kid. Trish and Narancia, who were the only other ones home had been helpful with Giorno's tending but they hadn't known any more than he did. They'd all thought it was just a flu. But then when Giorno's fever spiked so much he turned delirious and now with the doctor's reaction…what if something genuinely serious was wrong with the kid and none of them had noticed? Abbacchio had just thought it was because Giorno had the habit of running himself into the ground so when a bug got to him it hit him really hard—Bruno was the same way. But what if it wasn't something so simple as the yearly flu?

He finally plucked up the courage to call Bruno. He'd promised to call Trish and Narancia too but wanted to wait until he got any news.

"Abbacchio?" Bruno picked up after a couple rings.

"Hey," Abbacchio rubbed a hand over his face. "Giorno…he got worse, so I took him to the emergency room. His fever spiked and I didn't know what else to do."

"God," Bruno murmured. "Okay, no, you did what you should have, Leone. I'm back in the city and I'll make my way over there after dropping the others off. Did they say anything else?"

"No," Abbacchio didn't want to alarm Bruno before he got here in person, especially if he was just reading the situation wrong. "The doctor's still looking at him."

"Okay. Thank you for looking after him, Leone. I'm sure he'll be okay."

Abbacchio wasn't entirely sure, but he ended the call.

He waited a little bit longer, but finally got impatient and stood, heading back toward the room he'd left Giorno in.

He was surprised to see the doctor and a couple nurses standing in the open doorway, talking quietly. Abbacchio could see past them to Giorno lying in the bed, covered in a blanket with an IV drip attached to his arm, hopefully giving him some much needed hydration.

When the doctor spotted him coming their way, she pointed to him with a couple murmured words to the others before stepping up as if to confront him.

"Sir, I asked you to wait in the waiting room."

"All I wanted was an answer as to whether the kid would be okay or not," Abbacchio snapped.

"He's going to be fine," the doctor said shortly. "We're giving him some intravenous fluids right now and some strong medicine to bring the fever down."

"Great," Abbacchio replied, still uneasy. "So can I sit with him, then?"

"We think it's best that you stay away from Giorno until we can ask him a few questions."

Abbacchio frowned, genuinely confused. "Why? He contagious or something? More so than a normal flu?"

"This isn't about him being sick," one of the other doctors spoke up. "This is about your relationship to the young man."

Abbacchio felt like he was about to tear his hair out. "What the hell does that have to do with it?"

"Normally, nothing," the doctor said. "But when a patient shows such clear signs of abuse, it's our job to ask. Especially when they come in with an obviously aggressive 'guardian'." The last word was spoken very pointedly with a cocked eyebrow but Abbacchio was still hooked on 'clear signs of abuse'.

"What do you mean signs of abuse?" he demanded, voice raised quite a bit now.

"Sir, calm down—"

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down!" Abbacchio snapped. "You refuse to give me Giorno's diagnosis, kick me out of the room, and then accuse me of abusing him? Just because I waited an hour to see if his fever would go down by itself instead of taking him here at the first sign of a sniffle?"

"Stop deflecting," the doctor said sternly. "This isn't about him being sick, this about the scars that are literally covering his back."

That information was like a slap to Abbacchio's face. He stood there with his mouth hanging open. "The what?!"

"For you to even enter this room, we're going to need both proof of guardianship and Giorno's express approval—after it has been given in private to one of our staff with the promise of security should he refuse."

"What the fuck kind of bastard do you think I am to beat a kid?" Abbacchio demanded, furious.

"Call security," the doctor told one of the nurses firmly. "Sir, I'll give you one more chance to leave before you're escorted off the premises."

"I'm not leaving the kid here alone!" Abbacchio shouted.

"What exactly is going on here?"

The authoritative voice stopped everyone, and Abbacchio spun in relief to see Bucciarati striding up.

"Bruno, thank god," Abbacchio growled. "The doctor here refuses to let me see Giorno because she's convinced I've abused him."

"Excuse me?" Bruno demanded, eyebrow raised.

The doctor folded her arms over her chest. "Are you Signore Giovanna's guardian?"

"Yes, I am," Bruno replied firmly. "What is the problem here? Why can't Abbacchio sit with him? I assume a badly sick minor is reason enough to forgo usual visiting hours?"

"It's policy that if we expect a patient of being the victim of abuse we cannot allow any potential abusers near them."

"What abuse are we talking about here?" Bruno demanded.

"She says he has scars on his back," Abbacchio said, feeling sick to his stomach at the thought. "Do you know anything about that?"

"What?" Bruno asked incredulously. "Are you accusing Abbacchio of beating him?"

"Well, sir, someone clearly has," the doctor said firmly. "And unless I get some answers out of you two, neither of you are going to be allowed in that room."

"Now see here, Doctor," Bucciarati said, voice low and dangerous. Abbacchio could see his Stand aura wavering around him, Sticky Fingers' hands turning into fists over his own. "Whatever abuse happened to that boy it was not done under my roof, and I resent—"

"Please…stop."

Everyone froze, turning to the open door of the room to see Giorno, propping himself up weakly, looking toward them.

"Giorno," Bruno murmured stepping forward before the doctor held her arm across the door. Abbacchio was sure for a second that Bruno was going to zip it off her body, but Giorno's voice carried weakly to them again.

"They didn't do it. Please let them in," he said.

The doctor didn't relent. "Are you just saying that because you're scared of what they'll do?" she asked kindly. "I promise, no one will hurt you here. We'll have them taken away if that's what you want."

"No!" Giorno pleaded, reaching out and the sight made Abbacchio's heart ache, furious at the doctor. "Don't do that!"

Bruno moved forward. "This has gone far enough, I'm going in to see him."

"Call security!" the doctor snapped, making a move to grab at Bruno's arm, as the other nurses stepped forward.

"Is that you, Bucciarati?" A new voice called as footsteps came down the hall. "What's going on here?"

Abbacchio turned to see a middle-aged man in scrubs and a lab coat walking down the hall, brow pinched in confusion.

Bruno turned and let out a relived sigh. "Ah, Dr. Folliero, I'm so glad you're on duty tonight. One of your doctors seems to have gotten the wrong idea about one of my men."

"What's going on, Marzia?" the doctor asked.

The woman folded her arms. "Doctor, this man brought in a very sick young man with signs of abuse and neither of them have done anything to convince me that one of them was not the one responsible."

"They're not!" Giorno's weak voice came again before he coughed, one of the nurses pushed inside to go see to him.

"This man is with you, Bucciarati?" Dr. Folliero asked, motioning to Abbacchio.

"Yes," both Bruno and Abbacchio said at the same time as the doctor nodded.

"Normally, I would say your dedication is admirable, Marzia," Dr. Folliero said calmly. "However, in this case you're quite mistaken." He reached out to squeeze Bruno's arm fondly. "I've known Bruno Bucciarati since he was little more than a boy coming to visit his ailing father. And since then he has brought me many children off the streets and paid for their treatment out of pocket. He is the last person you should be accusing of abuse to anyone other than the abusers themselves."

"And I assure you that Abbacchio does not beat children either," Bruno said firmly. "He just doesn't take kindly to people keeping information from him when it involves family." Abbacchio flushed, somewhat embarrassed by his conduct, but he would still stand by his principles.

The doctor Marzia looked thoroughly deflated. "I apologize, Signore. I made a mistake."

"This time, yes," Bruno told her. "But do not let that keep you from doing the same in the future. It could save someone's life."

"Well said," Dr. Folliero nodded, giving his protégé a fond look. "I'll see to the boy myself."

Bruno instantly flew into the room with Abbacchio quick to follow.

"How are you doing, kid?" he asked Giorno softly. "Sorry for the trouble."

Bruno took a seat beside him, taking his hand and squeezing in reassurance.

Giorno looked awful, lying there, pale, except for his flushed cheeks, the IV drip leading to a taped needle in the crook of his arm.

"Feel a little better," he murmured.

Dr. Folliero checked him over briefly. "Your fever is down to a manageable 102.5. If you keep this up and are able to keep something in your stomach by tomorrow, then we'll see about getting you out of here."

Giorno nodded tiredly, before his eyes slid shut again, clasping Bruno's hand firmly.

"He'll be all right?" Abbacchio asked the doctor.

The old man smiled at him kindly. "Yes. It's just a bad flu. I would simply recommend he get lots of rest in order to recuperate once you get him back home."

"That's all I wanted to know before," Abbacchio muttered.

Folliero's face sobered them. "I take it from the conversation you didn't know about his scars?"

Bruno's face turned pained as he shook his head. "No, I didn't. Giorno's only been with us for about six months and he hasn't told me much about his past yet."

The doctor nodded. "Well, I'm glad he found you, Bucciarati, wherever he might have been before." He squeezed Bruno's shoulder and shook Abbacchio's hand before he left. "I'll be here all night. Don't hesitate to ask for me if he needs anything."

"Thank you," Bruno said, tiredly.

Abbacchio stood there for a long second before he pulled out his phone. "I'm gonna go call the others real quick. Give them an update."

Bruno nodded, still focused on Giorno.

By the time he got back, someone had brought two hot coffees and Abbacchio gratefully took one as he pulled another chair over to the side of the bed.

"Hey," Abbacchio said, nudging Bruno's knee. "Try not to interrogate him about it. I'm sure he didn't want us to find out like this."

Bruno's look was stricken but he nodded reluctantly, reaching out to push some stray bangs from Giorno's sweaty forehead. "I know. Just…the thought that the bastard who did it might still be out there somewhere…"

"I know," Abbacchio replied darkly. "But ultimately it's up to Giorno."

They sat mostly in silence all night. Abbacchio dozed off, but woke as the shift nurse came in around dawn to check on Giorno.

"He's doing well," she said kindly. "Fever's down to 100 now. We'll let him try eating someone when he wakes up."

Bruno nodded gratefully and the nurse left. Abbacchio stood, stretching with a yawn. "I'll go grab some more coffee."

When he came back, Giorno was awake, and allowing Bruno to prop him up, holding a cup for him to drink from.

"Hey, you're looking a little better," Abbacchio told him, setting Bruno's coffee on the beside table.

"I feel a little better," Giorno admitted. "Just…tired."

"Yes, and you'll be resting up for quite a while," Bruno insisted. Abbacchio wished he could get a recording to play back the next time Bruno got sick.

Giorno looked down at his lap, hands clenched in the blanket. "I…owe you an explanation."

"No, Giorno," Bruno said quietly. "You don't owe us anything, especially not until you're well."

Giorno fidgeted. "if I don't tell you now, I'll just be thinking of it the whole time," he said tiredly, hands clutching the blankets tighter. "The scars…they're from my stepfather. He used to beat me. Usually when he was drunk, but not always. I…I didn't tell you about them before because I just wanted to put that part of my life behind me, but I couldn't let them kick you out, and I couldn't stand to hear them accuse you of doing it because you're…" His eyes filled and his breath hitched. He cringed, knuckles going white as he clenched his fists tighter in the blankets. "You've all been so good to me and I didn't think I'd ever know what it felt like to be part of a family."

"Oh, Giorno," Bruno whispered, looking on the verge of tears himself. He was already standing before he asked. "May I hug you?"

Giorno nodded, choking back a sob, and clung to Bruno as he pulled him into his arms.

"I'm sorry," he sniffled. "I didn't mean to get like this."

"It's the fever talking," Abbacchio said, having mercy on the kid as he sat on the other side of the bed and opened his arms to hug Giorno next. "But you don't need to apologize either. I'm sorry you had shit parents and I promise that all you have to do is say the word and if they're still breathing, they won't be for long."

Giorno squeezed him weakly. "Thanks, Abba," he murmured into his chest.

Abbacchio met Bucciarati's eyes over Giorno's head with a silent nod. They would definitely be looking into information about Giorno's stepfather, keeping tabs on him.

Abbacchio pulled away and Bruno leaned in, pressing a firm kiss to the side of Giorno's head. "Best get some more rest. You should be able to go home by tonight."

Giorno nodded and passed out almost instantly as Bruno pulled the blanket over him again.

"You know, Leone," Bruno said quietly. "I used to wonder if it was worth it, worth all the blood and pain and filthy deeds this life brings. But being able to have the power to protect the ones who need it—it makes it all worth it in the end, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Abbacchio replied sincerely. "It does."

~~~~~~~

Check out my Whumptober Masterpost HERE for more stories!

If you want to follow me on other social media or ask about fic or art commissions, find my info on My Carrd

[popcornfairy28]

Writing patterns ✨

rules: share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

Tagged by @ligercat, thanks for that! I will also be doing the last line, but a few of these are still ongoing fics so I've just got the current last line lol.

50 Ways to Not Die

First line: Arthur was dead.

Last line *(so far): Well, that went easier than expected. Now just to reveal his magic.

Best Secret Keeper Ever

First line:

(Happy Birthday, Isabella)

Unknown number

hi Stacy, it's me, P the #[ ]"> just thot Id text & see if u had any ?s about what happened

Last line:

Stacy

I guess since Vanessa figured out the accounting error, MM no longer knows the meaning of a budget?

Never Really Fit In

First line: Ealdor was a small, simple farming village nestled along the border of the kingdoms of Camelot and Essetir, where life was interminably consistent. Even when going through tumultuous times, it was predictable.

Last line: They left again after a couple days. The village had well grown accustomed to it. Some people never really fit in, after all.

***This is where I'm skipping over The Crystal of Neahtid because it's first line is from 2020 lol and I'm taking last ten to mean most recent, which this is not I just happened to update it this summer (I say that while being pretty sure that the previous fic's first line was also written in like 2020 😂)***

Perry the Teenage Spy: Extra Scenes

First line: SLAM!

Last line *(so far cuz ho boy this is by no means gonna be the last line lol): Well, Candace better not go into nursing. Limping from the bandage being wrapped so tightly, he hobbled over to the nearest lair entrance and struggled into it. Time to do it properly .

Lightsaber Golf

First line: Perry really should have seen this coming, after he'd started taking Phineas and Ferb to Ben Kenobi's for weekly "Jedi" lessons. He knew they wouldn't quite understand the gravity of the situation, and while they would take it seriously, they were still very young at 7 years of age and utterly innocent. They actually liked living on Tatooine, and nobody liked that! Well, at least nobody that Perry hung around.

Last line: “Oh, yeah, right,” Stacy said sheepishly. They walked back to where their siblings and their friends were waiting and continued playing, but Perry stayed alert. It would only take one slip-up, and Perry wouldn’t be able to make good on his promise should Candace ever return.

The Chesterton Challenge Prompts

First line: It was the anniversary since the old king and queen of Vesulia had both tragically passed, several years ago, and their children Queen Bridgette, Prince Aden, and Princess Sasha had a tradition to remember their parents. It wasn't a sad tradition, as they didn't want to remember their parents only in their grief, but instead it was a light-hearted one.

Last line *(so far): “Not the kind you're supposed to brag about, apparently,” Sasha laughed at her brother. He scowled back at her. 

Playing Dead

First line: "Okay, so what are we doing?" Stacy asked after Candace dragged her to the living room, where Perry looked like he was trying to take a nap. He must have been tired after his mission. It was sort of hard to reconcile that this adorable napping creature was a butt-kicking sentient secret agent.

Last line: There was her answer.

OWCA's Fools

First line: On April 1st, Perry spied his team loitering about in a random center at HQ, so naturally he had to investigate.

Last line: There was a reason he usually stayed away from HQ, especially on April Fools’.

Baby Brother

First line: On February 29, 2000, it was an overcast day in London, England, and nearly 7 year-old Perry Fletcher was waiting anxiously in his Grandpa and Grandma Fletcher’s cottage. His parents had left him there as his mother was in labor with his baby brother, which was exactly why he was waiting anxiously. He was pretty sure that Grandpa and Grandma were also anxious, but perhaps they were better at masking it. 

Last line: “I think we should call him Ferb.”

The Princess and the Pulverized Pea

First line: Once upon a time there was a princess who had been traveling all over the world, searching for a prince who she could love. She'd met plenty of lovely princes, but none that she could truly love. There was always something about them that was not as it should be.

Last line: Over the next few days, the prince and princess grew rather close as they waited for her company to find her. When she left to return to her kingdom, they started writing letters to each other everyday. Always believing she was a real princess, the prince would eventually take her as his wife, and when they became the king and queen, they swore never to place peas in their guests’ beds.

I guess the common link is that most of the time I like to have boringly informative openers 🤣. And by that I mean I don't usually have dialogue in my openers or endings (with the obvious exception of chat-fics). Idk, you tell me what you feel like the common link is.

6 of them are Phineas and Ferb, 2 are BBC Merlin, one's a fairytale retelling, and one is original work (all on AO3!).

Thanks again for tagging me! Actually kinda encouraging to post this lol, reminding me that I have indeed published things this year haha!

Open tags I guess!

[missys-mansion-of-mistakes]

Weekly Wrap-Up

July 22nd, 2024 - July 28, 2024

🌸 This week has been pretty great overall. Let's review what I managed to get done:

Two visits to my parents. One for the car, one for the garage sale.

Submitted 5 scholarship essays

Deposited 5 checks that have been sitting around

Cleaned out my car/fridge. They're very neat now

Went grocery shopping instead of procrastinating it

Ordered two new chargers. One for my office, one for home

Fixed up a chapter of the book I'm writing for NaNoWriMo and posted it in the writing group for folks to workshop today

Researched 10 different programs for my conference presentation

Sent in the BOD application. Even though it was auto-rejected (due to number of applicants) I still finally sent it in

Did my nails for the new job, then took them off (didn't like them)

🏫 School is rapidly approaching. Mid-to-late August. I wanted to apply to 100 scholarships before school starts, but at this rate, it'll be more like 50. I still have around 3 weeks left so... guess we'll see. Gonna increase the rate I work at.

🎧 My pink headphones I've had since... it has to be since 2020 finally gave up the ghost. They underwent some heavy daily use, and spent a short stint of time in a garage when I was between houses, so I'm honestly shocked they lasted 4 years. I just went to lay down while I was wearing them a few days ago, something went CRACK in the left ear, and since then it was a right-ear-only headphone 🤡 Thankfully I had brand-new extras in my closet I ordered because I thought these broke previously but hadn't-- the cord was just loose-- and so I wasn't bothered in the least. Awesome.

🎤 Nervous for the upcoming conference in... a week and a half. I know I'm prepared to write my piece of the deliverables (the powerpoint, the presentation) but I'm not convinced my co-presenters are. Tomorrow, I need to ask them more directly if they're able to answer several questions pertaining to our topic-- because that's what we need to put in the slides. They only have like 3 days left to research enough to rectify that if they aren't. And I understand some people operate on a last-minute based work schedule, but I'm not. It's important we get this DONE.

💼 Work for the upcoming week should be smooth enough. Still settling into my new role and trying to figure out what would be best to change/adapt for the program. I need to brainstorm some more while I'm at work and figure all that out.

Good things ahead, I know it!

[Photos: heart-shaped lipstick I got from a mystery box, unidentified flowers from my family's garden, new pink headphones, bullet journal entry, postcards on my wall (detail), postcards on my wall with ivy.]

[mooodyblue]

Since we're talking about babyspace Austin im gonna leave a request! How about baby Austin being home alone because we had to do some errands and we didn't think he was going to regress. But when we get home we see like a mess because he is covered with icing because we made some cupcakes and is playing with paint. Just baby austin and messy playing.?

baby austin 🤏🏼🤏🏼 ty for the request!

warnings: babyspace

wc: 587

masterlist

austin was mindlessly tapping away on his phone when you walked into the room, bag swung over your shoulder. "are you sure you don't wanna come with me?"

he looked up at you, shaking his head. "i'll be fine. i have some calls i have to make anyway." you nodded and pecked him on the lips, getting a small smile from austin in return. "love you, call me if you need anything, okay?" you said, still slightly hesitant on leaving austin alone.

"baby, i'll be fine! just go!" he chuckled.

"alright, alright! kicking me out of my own house." you joked as you walked out the door.

austin did as he said, he made his calls and answered his emails. now he was stuck with nothing to do until you got back. he put a show on and ended up dozing off on the couch. he was met with disappointment when he woke up to you still not home, calling your name and checking all the rooms in the house.

he started getting nervous. you were supposed to be home an hour ago and you hadn't texted or called while he was asleep. with the fear of of you not coming back, possibly being gone forever, that fuzzy feeling was running through his head as he tried to text you, only coming out as a keyboard smash of incoherent words. "no ma'?" he frowned, staring around his empty house.

austin wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to be doing right now. maybe he should preoccupy himself and get a snack. maybe even make you a pretty picture for when you returned, if you returned.

he stumbled into the kitchen. he couldn't just make himself something to eat, he'd regressed to his much younger headspace and couldn't do much for himself. but he was eyeing the cupcakes you had made a couple days ago. he struggled to get the lid off the cupcake stand without smashing it, thankfully managing to set it aside shakily. taking a cupcake in one hand, he smashed his fingers into it, kicking his feet as he happily made a mess of himself and the frosting.

after attempting at eating three cupcakes, he wandered out into the living room to dig out his coloring supplies, gasping when he found the paint you had secretly stashed away from him in times like these. he twisted the cap off several times before accidentally spilling it on himself and giggling at the sudden dark purple mess he's made on his clothes. he poured a little on the floor before opening the pink paint, mixing it with the purple and swirling it with his hands. "pret'y!" he clapped, causing the paint to flick off his hands and onto him.

when you walked into the living room, you were prepared to meet with an annoyed austin, possibly worried that you were late and hadn't called. "austin, i'm so sorry my phone died and i-" you froze in your tracks at the sight of a frosting-paint-glitter covered austin. "oh my god."

"mm!" he babbled out, holding his hands up to get your attention.

you held back the curses that were begging to come out of your mouth but thanking god you didn't have carpet in the living room. you had to remind yourself that austin couldn't help it, it's all part of his headspace.

looking down at the happy, bubbly austin made it all worth it, sighing. "okay, we need to get you in the bath immediately."

[callsignbaphomet]

More info dumping. Yes, as usual some heavy TWs in this one too. I keep saying it, I know but at least I gotta put that warning somewhere.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

A month after that night an idea got into his head that wouldn't really leave him. He thought about it over and over until he was completely convinced to get it over with. Instead of returning to the bunker after completing a job he made a stop at the Combat Zone which had reopened after the owner closed it down for a while. The Combat Zone was still mostly the same except now everyone that entered had to check their weapons at the front to avoid another massacre from taking place there. Jelani wasn't about to do that. He grabbed his belongings and found a building in the area that was accessible, hid his backpack, and told Dagny to stay and guard the perimeter.

He returned to the Combat Zone and mentally prepared himself as he knew he'd be patted down to check for any hidden weapons. He would use that as a bit of a checkpoint. If he could get through the pat down without freaking out over someone touching him he'd proceed with the plan. When it was his turn he began to panic a little but managed to remain calm even though he felt somewhat dizzy afterwards.

Jelani took in the sights. A few years ago he would've adored this place but at the moment he was focusing on not freaking out and somehow getting rid of the dizziness as well as going through with his decision. He spotted one of the bars and made a beeline for it. At the bar he ordered some beers to start off the day. Several beers and some bourbon later he was beginning to feel the side effects of the alcohol so he slowed down some. He didn't wanna be sober for what he was planning to do but didn't wanna get blackout drunk either. A few minutes later a man sat next to him at the bar and ordered a beer and casually started making conversation with Jelani. He was probably in his 30s, well built and actually looked like he took care of himself. In fact he kind of reminded him of Trevor. At least his hair did, he had a similar color and style to Trevor's. He did have a very strange accent though it didn't bother Jela at all.

After a while the man introduced himself as Radek and started asking Jelani questions. You know, typical questions you ask someone you just met. Jelani was kind of dismissive or outright lied and continued to drink. He'd pretty much lost his nerve about going through with his plan so after paying for the last beer he ordered he stood up and fell. Radek helped him up and sat him back on the stool and that's when Radek asked him if he was there by himself to which Jelani answered truthfully. He started to order water to try and sober up some, the occasional walks to the bathroom helped him and after half an hour his drunkenness had faded and he regained his composure. Or at least most of it.

He paid for his last bottle of water and got up to leave but before leaving he first stopped at the bathroom to pour some water over his face. As he dried himself off he stared at himself in the mirror and focused on the scars on his lips. Every time he looked at those scars he got angry, not only did he have to carry the psychological scars of the assault but the physical ones too. As he made his way to the door he saw Radek enter the bathroom but instead of going towards the sink or the urinals he just stood by the door and stared at Jelani. He began to get very nervous, he'd made up his mind about not going through with the plan so whatever Radek's intentions were he was just gonna shut him down.

Radek simply said that if Jelani didn't want to he'd get out of the way. Tears were already building up in his eyes as the memories of the assault were drowning out most sounds. He meekly said he didn't want to. Radek smiled and moved out of the way. Jelani quickly went for the doorknob but instead of opening the door he froze for a second. After a minute of debating with himself he locked the door. Radek asked him if he was sure about it. Without looking at him Jelani gave him a subtle nod.

Long story short Jela let Radek fuck him. This had been his plan all along. To see if he could actually be intimate with someone without going into a state of panic. Noticing that Jela was very nervous Radek asked him several times if he wanted to stop but Jelani said no. Also noticing his current state Radek asked if that was his first time. Jela lied and said it was. In his head it made better sense to say his current state was due to inexperience than being on the verge of a total breakdown due to surviving an assault. For a raider Radek was gentle, patient and constantly checked in with him but Jelani wasn't in the right mindset. He kept his eyes shut the entire time and as the memories bombarded him he kept telling himself that this time he wanted to over and over. Jelani let Radek do whatever he wanted to him, the only thing he refused was when Radek grabbed one of his hands and slowly guided it so Jelani would touch himself while Radek fucked him. He didn't think he'd be able to handle doing something Christian had forced him to do while he assaulted him. Radek let go of his hand when Jela blurted out a shaky no which surprised Jela but nonetheless the damage was done.

As soon as Radek finished he dropped on Jelani for a second. He was gonna ask if he was okay when he noticed the tears quietly running down his cheeks. Out of actual concern Radek asked if Jelani was okay but he stayed quiet. As soon as Jelani caught his breath he shakily asked Radek to get out of him and once he put his pants back on he unlocked the door and left.

Just as he was opening the door to leave the Combat Zone a group of raiders was going in and among them was Angelus. He recognized Jelani and by the way he was hurriedly walking away he could tell something was wrong. He told the other raiders he'd be in shortly and followed Jelani.

Jelani walked into one of the alleyways and leaned on the wall to balance himself and to catch his breath. A million thoughts were racing through his mind and as they got louder and louder he kept feeling sicker and sicker so he wobbled his way to an old dumpster and threw up. Angelus had stopped around the corner and watched Jelani from a distance, not sure how to approach him to ask him if he was okay.

Once Jela was done he kept walking towards the building where he hid his backpack and Dagny was waiting for him. Once there he grabbed a whiskey bottle he had and swallowed most of it to get the taste and smell of vomit out of his mouth as well as a handgun. He told Dagny to wait as he entered further into the building but due to his current state the little nightstalker began to whine to get his attention.

He walked further into the building where he experienced a full blown panic attack. He looked around and saw a mostly intact mirror. An insurmountable amount of anger within him reached a boiling point when he saw his own reflection and focused on the scars so he repeatedly punched the mirror with his own hand until the mirror shattered. He just let out a lot of that pent up anger and hurt by screaming at the top of his lungs and firing the gun into the wooden floor. When he thought he had one bullet left he pressed the gun against his head and pulled the trigger but it was empty.

In his dazed state he just kept pulling the trigger as the clicking sound was somehow soothing to hear. What he really wanted was to really cry and not just those few tears he often shed. It was the type of crying that gave you a headache afterwards but somehow it felt cleansing and somehow it just wouldn't happen.

Angelus walked in on Jelani with the gun pressed against his head and pulling the trigger repeatedly. He slowly walked towards him and noticed his right hand was bleeding profusely with chunks of glass embedded into some of the cuts and his knuckles.

Angelus gently asked Jelani to give him the gun which he did. He tossed it across the room and sat Jelani down on an old dusty chair. He checked Jela's backpack and found some water so he grabbed the water and a cloth he had, grabbed another chair and sat in front of Jelani.

Dagny, whose ears were pinned back and her tail was stiff against her back legs, curled up around Jelani's legs, occasionally whimpering.

This time Angelus asked if he could touch him, more specifically to touch his hand to clean up some of the blood. Jelani just shrugged as he kept staring straight through the raider.

Angelus asked him outright if something had happened to him in the Combat Zone which Jelani denied. He then asked Jela if he wanted to talk because he thought that talking and getting it out of his system would probably help.

Jela said that if he said it aloud it would make it real and there'd be no returning to his current state and that ignoring it had worked for him. Angelus argued that it wasn't working and pointed to his self-inflicted injury, his tears and the fact that not 10 minutes ago he was pressing a gun to his head and pulling the trigger over and over again.

Jelani kinda started to try to form a sentence but he was also stuttering. He began to hyperventilate as he began to cry a bit more. Angelus handed him some water so he could clear his throat and asked if he was okay with him touching him. Jela gave him a weak yes so Angelus slowly brought his hand up to Jela's face. As soon as Jelani felt Angelus's hand he jumped and let out a loud whimper. Angelus gently shushed him and kept whispering that it was okay and to take his time as he wiped away his tears.

Jelani asked if Angelus remembered the night he stayed over which he confirmed. Jela told him that he did want to but he couldn't. He reassured him that he did like Angelus and that the problem wasn't Angelus, that the problem was him. No matter how much he liked him or even if he wanted to he couldn't bring himself to. Jela fell silent for a minute and sighed deeply as he searched for the courage to say the next words. Angelus saw he was struggling and reassured him that everything would be okay as he hugged him. Jelani stopped breathing for a moment as he convinced himself not to panic. He was actually muttering it out loud so Angelus promised him that he wasn't going to hurt him. Jelani buried his face on Angelus's shoulder as he cried and for the first time since it happened he talked about it. Jelani told him that a little over a year ago he'd been beaten and gang raped. He admitted that he felt he was to blame for it and every time he closed his eyes he relived parts of the rape and that the nightmares were constantly getting far more graphic and longer so in order to avoid it he had to get drunk and high so he could get some sleep. Jela admitted that whenever anyone touched him it triggered his panic attacks and at random times he'd relive the entire assault due to flashbacks. He admitted as well that a week after the assault he tried to kill himself by swallowing an entire bottle of mentats but the caravan doctor had found him in time.

NOTE: Jela was super detailed and graphic about the assault as Angelus told him he didn't have to censor himself and that it was okay to say what he felt.

NOTE 2: What Angelus did for Jelani in this setting is what Jelani did for Angelus in the regular setting. Jelani is the only person that knows all the gruesome details of the abuse Angelus was subjected to.

Jela was visibly shaking as his crying got worse. At one point he clenched his teeth so hard he stopped breathing but Angelus got him to relax and start breathing again. He kept hugging him and encouraged him to keep going to finally let all of that trauma out.

He also spoke about his brother's death for the first time. Jelani broke down again as he continued. Not even a month after he'd been raped he watched his brother die because of a stupid decision he'd made. He blamed himself for that too. Eventually he confessed to Angelus why he was in the Combat Zone and what had happened. Angelus knew who he was talking about and was thankful it was him and not some other Commonwealth asshole raider who wouldn't have been as gentle.

It took a while but eventually Jelani stopped crying and his breathing returned to normal. Angelus asked him if he was okay but all Jelani said was that he felt numb and really needed a cigarette. His hand was still bleeding, not as much as before but it needed some medical attention especially to get the little shards of glass out. They weren't too far from Diamond City so Angelus grabbed Jelani's things, helped him up and both walked to Diamond City.

In DC Angelus took Jelani to Dr. Sun to get his hand looked at. They only waited for a little bit but once the doctor saw Jela's demeanor and his state he asked how the injury happened to which Angelus said it didn't matter how it happened. He noticed Jela barely reacted to the injections or the stitches. He was 100% sure that it was a self-inflicted injury but said nothing. When he wrapped the hand in gauze he lifted Jelani's coat sleeve and both the doctor and Angelus saw hundreds of thin cuts starting at his wrist and going up his arm. Some were old scars, some were very fresh. Some were deeper than others. He kept rolling up the sleeve and saw more and more cuts as well as cigarette burns. The doctor rolled up the other sleeve and it was pretty much the same thing. He didn't say anything though, he just patted Jela on the head, disinfected the new cuts, and wrapped some gauze around them. When they were done Angelus sat Jelani at the noodle stand and went back to pay the doctor. The doctor took the caps and wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Angelus but before letting go he told him, "Your friend is not okay. He needs some serious help." Angelus thanked him and returned to Jelani and Dagny and got some noodles for the three of them. It took some convincing but at least Jelani ate half a bowl and the rest was split between Angelus and Dagny.

After dinner the three of them went back to Jela's place. Angelus said he was gonna stay with him for a few days but said he wanted Jelani to go somewhere with him. He said he didn't think it would be a good idea to leave him by himself. The truth really was that Angelus was falling in love with him. Hard. So he actually cared about what happened to him. Jela kinda argued against it at first but then he agreed after Angelus said it would only be for a few days. Angelus contacted some friends using a ham radio and they agreed for them to stay for a while.

That night when Angelus escorted Jelani to his room Jela actually grabbed Angelus's hand as he was leaving and asked him if he could stay with him. Not to do anything but to just stay with him. It would be the first time in a long time that Jelani was NOT going to sleep drunk and high and he was afraid. Unfortunately he did wake up screaming from a pretty vivid nightmare but Angelus helped him calm down. They fell asleep hugging each other. That sent Angelus over the moon.

Kingsport Lighthouse:

The next day Angelus helped Jelani pack a few things and after some breakfast they headed out. After his breakdown Jelani was really quiet, barely ate and either slept a lot or just didn't at all. The trek was calm tbh, they just walked and Angelus and Dagny acted extra goofy. Angelus loves animals and while he doesn't have a pet of his own he got along with Dagny really well. He quickly learned that she loves tummy rubs, ear scritches, being carried, and playing fetch and hide and seek so during the trek he did all those things with her. The most Jelani had energy for was a smile. It was genuine even if it was a tired smile. He was glad she had someone to play with, he usually spends hours playing with her after some training but in his current state he didn't even have the energy to throw a ball so they could play fetch. Seeing Angelus play with her was calming, for the first time in over a year he felt calm.

One of the times they made camp and after eating (read: Jela just picked at it) Angelus and Dagny spent a while playing hide and seek. Jelani just stared at Angelus the entire time he was playing with Dagny. Yeah, he was totally falling for him as well. He already liked him since he first saw him (when he saved Dagny from drowning) but watching him play with Dagny and as he thought "putting up with his depressive nonsense" he was falling for him little by little. Anyone else would be nervous about whether the other person likes 'em or not but he was nervous about a million different things and it was making him feel worse. Angelus noticed his mood had tanked but he tried his best to cheer him up. That night the nightmares were really bad and when he woke up from them he just kept to himself and cried all night.

Around midday they reached the lighthouse. Knowing he didn't sleep the night before Angelus brought Jelani to his room. Because of Angelus's friendship with Ginger and Abigail he had a room he could use whenever he came over to visit. Ginger and Abigail knew he was a raider but because he had saved them and actually helped around as much as he could it was overlooked. Of course, it was information that was kept between the three of them as they weren't sure how the rest of the settlers would react.

Angelus showed the piece of paper that Dr. Sun had given him to the girls. He can't read so he needed help deciphering what it said. The doctor basically wrote down the name of another doctor, Dr. Fae Kwambai, who dealt with the psychological side of medicine on the side. The girls knew her and knew her route so they told Angelus who decided to go without Jelani as he wasn't sure what this other doctor could do or even IF Jelani wanted to.

Once he was sure Jelani was asleep, Angelus, Ginger and Abigail went to the Coastal Cottage settlement as she was supposed to be there in the afternoon. Who they met up with was actually her daughter, Leah Kwambai, who was her mother's assistant and helped with smaller physical injuries. She informed them that her mother had gone north for a month to help a settlement. She asked what had happened but Angelus just left it at "something really horrible" was done to him. She gave him some advice and ways to help deal with the after effects that were clearly affecting Jelani and then the three of them returned to the lighthouse.

Once they got back Angelus went to check on Jelani and saw he was talking to a traveling merchant who was petting Dagny (insert insta jealousy of someone else touching the dog he wanted to play with here). Basically the lady said she knew someone with a tame male nightstalker and asked Jelani if he would be okay with pairing the two as they wanted to breed and raise tame nightstalkers. Jela actually agreed and she said she'd return with the person and the male nightstalker and said that he would keep half but Jela said he was fine with 2 eggs.

NOTE: Okay so nightstalkers lay eggs...which is odd af because rattlesnakes don't lay eggs and coyotes don't either so not sure where the eggs come from. Whatever. I'm basing the gestation period around coyotes and litter size mostly on rattlesnakes. I also like to imagine nightstalkers have different morphs as well just like regular snakes do.

A week later Dagny was introduced to this other male nightstalker. With how well trained she is, the merchant and her friend were excited about the results of the clutch.

Jelani was still not dealing with finally talking about the rape well. The nightmares are constant, sometimes they were short, sometimes they were long and very detailed to the point where Jela would wake up and feel like he was experiencing the exact same pain again. He had a lot of random flashbacks, was barely eating and had lost weight and started drinking again at night. Sometimes he'd sneak in a shot or a couple of shots of alcohol to help cope with the situation. Angelus, Ginger and Abigail helped as much as they could by distracting him with simple tasks, checking in on him and trying to help him find better ways to deal with/cope with the flashbacks and nightmares.

Unfortunately Jelani just wasn't able to cope with it well enough. He thought that if he talked about what happened it would diminish the memories and the nightmares but he found it was all the same. One night, after a very messy nightmare, Jelani began to drink until he was tipsy enough. He got up and began to walk away from the lighthouse along the shore and Dagny noticed so she followed him. He turned to her, gave her a hug, told her he loved her and then told her to stay. She did though she kept looking in the direction he was walking.

Jelani kept walking along the shoreline until he reached a pier and just sat down while watching the waves gently moving. He didn't wanna waste time so he took the knife he always carried with him and cut open both wrists and just waited to bleed to death. He thought about shooting himself like other times before but he figured it was too fast and that he didn't deserve a quick death. He just sat there looking at the water as he bled out. After a while he lost consciousness.

A few days later he opened his eyes and found himself in Angelus's room. He was dazed, in some pain and had a massive headache that worsened with light. He looked around and tried to sit up but when he put pressure on his arms he found he couldn't as it hurt. When he looked down he saw both wrists wrapped in gauze and he was instantly pissed the fuck off. Like seeing red levels of pissed off.

He forced himself up, got dressed and went to find Angelus who he was sure was the one that brought him back to the lighthouse. He found him outside talking to one of the guards, grabbed him by the jacket, pulled him into the house, dragged him upstairs and locked themselves in the master bedroom.

Jelani argued that Angelus had no right to do what he did. Angelus argued that he couldn't let Jelani kill himself. There was a lot of shouting and screaming and eventually the guards came rushing in as well as Ginger and Abigail. Angelus told them he could handle it but they stayed ready just in case.

Jelani kept screaming at him and shoving him out of anger and frustration but Angelus remained calm. He knew what Jelani was doing so he remained calm. After a while of yelling at each other Angelus called Jelani a selfish, ungrateful brat.

Note: Angelus and the other Nuka World raiders (both in game and gangs I made up) sometimes refer to Jelani as "army brat" cuz at some point it's well known he's the son of an NCR veteran ranger and a high ranking Enclave officer. Also he's only 18-years-old while everyone else is over 21 (Angelus being 25. Yeah, there's a 7 year gap between 'em and I just don't give a fuck) so the brat has a bit of a double intention.

Jelani laughed sarcastically and said he didn't want to be saved, that he had made up his mind and wanted to die and that it was Angelus's problem that he felt he was angry because Jelani wasn't grateful for saving his life.

Angelus retorted with, "No, you're a selfish, ungrateful brat for wanting to kill yourself after your brother died so you could live."

That absolutely took Jelani out. He just stood there scowling at Angelus while trying to fight back tears from shedding.

Ginger and Abigail felt the conversation was getting a little too personal so they ordered everyone back downstairs but were alert in case something happened.

Angelus kept berating Jelani for trying to commit suicide after Loke had sacrificed himself for him. He told him he was basically spitting on Loke's sacrifice every time Jelani cut himself up or pressed a loaded gun to his head. That Loke loved him so much he preferred to die a slow and painful death by drowning than to let his kid brother die.

All Jelani did was lower his head and cry. He knew Angelus was right so he just didn't say anything. Angelus walked over to him and hugged him. Jela jumped at the raider touching him but for the first time he didn't start shaking at the feeling of someone touching him. It didn't leave a burning sensation or felt like needles on his skin. After burying his face on Angelus's shoulder he cried out that Loke should've let him die with him. Angelus sat him down on the bed and knelt in front of him while wiping away his tears. Jela continued and said he was tired of the vivid and random flashbacks, the graphic nightmares, and being utterly terrified every single time someone touched him. He was exhausted of reliving the rape whenever he heard someone cutting off a piece of tape. How tired he was of being extremely hyper-vigilant when close to other people. How tiring it was to have to drink himself to sleep as a way to avoid the nightmares. How he got sick to the point of throwing up whenever someone showed a little interest in him or if he liked someone. Jelani said he felt, that in his head, he'd never be able to get out of that basement and that he was afraid that what the leader of that group said was true. As he finished Christian told Jelani that no matter what he was gonna be inside him for the rest of his life. He hated knowing that his brother died because of a decision he made and there was no one else to blame but himself. Not only did he have to live with the trauma brought on by the rape, but also the trauma of watching his brother, who raised him and was more of a father to him than a brother, fall to his death. He also said that sometimes the nightmares were both traumatic events happening at the same time, those were the worst. That's why Jelani tried to kill himself, he wanted to put an end to all of that.

Angelus didn't say anything. He knew he did the right thing by bringing Jelani back to the lighthouse when he found him thanks to Dagny but he couldn't imagine what living with those kinds of memories was like or how he'd react to the aftermath of it all. He told him that he was sorry that Jelani thought that suicide was the only way out but he remained consistent in the fact that he was right to bring him back to get help for him. Jelani apologized for the way he acted and for yelling, he wanted to thank him but at the same time he still thought that letting him die was for the best. Angelus sat next to him on the bed and Jela noticed he wasn't nervous about that. He stared at the raider as he spoke to him, he wasn't actually listening but just stared at him talk. When Jelani focused on what he was saying he heard Angelus say that he'd give him space if he was still mad at him but he wasn't gonna apologize for saving his life and that if he hadn't he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

Jela asked him why he gave a fuck about damaged goods that could end up killing himself any day now. Honestly Angelus just wanted to blurt out that he was in love with him but he was scared of how Jelani would react knowing his history. So he said that he cared about him. Didn't commit hard enough to the answer to the point of scaring him away but didn't leave it fully casual. He knew Jela was smart enough to pick up on it and sorta left the ball in his court. Yeah, Jelani picked up on it but didn't know how he'd react if he said anything. Jelani just gave him a kiss and went to check in on Dagny and give her a treat as thanks for saving his ass again.

That night Angelus was the one that couldn't sleep. He totally regretted not telling Jelani exactly how he felt. Both were staying in Angelus's room though they brought in an extra bed so neither of them were forced to sleep on the floor. Angelus rolled over and just stared at Jela who was snuggled under the covers. He kept staring at him until Jela opened his eyes a bit and stared back. He woke up due to a headache but other than that he was okay. Angelus got him some painkillers and sat next to Jelani while trying to carefully form his words. Jela told him to just say whatever he wanted to say so Angelus told him he was in love with him. Normally this would've freaked Jelani out, like he said before he'd usually get sick to his stomach if anyone even showed the tiniest bit of interest in him. When he let Radek fuck him the first thing he did was vomit. However, he was calm about it, he didn't feel sick or the need to throw up but he was nervous. Both remained silent for a while but then Angelus told him to forget he said anything. Thing is, Jela wanted to say it back but he just didn't know if he could, he felt like there was a mental block that wouldn't let him say it. So instead of saying anything he kissed him and Angelus kissed him back. They were at it for a while with Jela under Angelus as sort of a way to both prove to himself that it was safe and to show Angelus he felt the same way.

*** It kinda went over Angelus's head. He's a little dense when it comes to certain things. You gotta be direct and clear.

Now, Angelus is a hypersexual slut that's quick to act but given the situation he showed some control though he was surprised Jela was the one initiating it. The raider asked him if he was sure and after positively confirming Angelus fucked him. Sure, some of the memories were triggered when Angelus touched him in certain ways and Jela did cry a little, mostly from fear, but Angelus was sweet, gentle and calmed him to the point where Jelani did feel safe enough to keep going. Jelani's PTSD wasn't just gonna go away even if he was falling in love with Angelus, it doesn't work like that. Both of 'em knew it and Angelus was patient and caring about it.

Two months passed and Dagny had made herself a little nest close to the lighthouse. Jelani would spend the afternoons with her giving her plenty of food and water and reading to Angelus who would cuddle up to him when visiting Dagny at her nest. He then proceeded to stand guard during the night shift. Given that he was well trained and basically the only sniper he volunteered to take that shift.

NOTE: He uses his mom's sniper which was a heavily modified .50 anti-material sniper rifle with a modified scope his mom grabbed from the Enclave before she ran away. It has several zooming options as well as night vision and thermal optics. No matter what it is he's gonna see it long before it sees him and it'll be dead before it even knows what happened. Really don't care if that scope is real or lore friendly.

Jelani also continued his assassination contracts through Varg only this time Angelus tagged along for the ride. Overall Jelani was doing a little better, like I said before the power of love isn't an instant cure for PTSD or erasing trauma but he was in a good place. Whenever something triggered Jelani or he had a nightmare Angelus was right there with him, calming him and talking him through it. Ginger and Abigail also lent a helping hand. They only knew Jelani had been assaulted, they didn't know or ask about the brutality of it but regardless they were supportive. They knew about the flashbacks and the nightmares involving the assault and the death of his brother. Jela was also cutting himself less and less, sure there were some really bad days but his self-harming and drinking had lessened. He was also sleeping better too. Of course it helped that Angelus would snuggle up to him in bed every night. The arrangement was going pretty good so far.

A month after Dagny's eggs hatched she went out for the first time in weeks and went to look for Jelani and dragged him back to the nest to basically show off her babies. She had 11 pups in total. One of them, male and dark colored, was a little runt just like she was. That's one of the ones Jelani decided to keep. A few days later Jela brought Angelus over and asked him if he wanted to keep one. After freaking out over how cute they all were he said he did want one and picked the little one that had an extra rattler on her tail. Of course Jelani didn't separate the pups from Dagny for another 9 weeks. After 9 weeks the merchant had come along and asked if Jela was sure he only wanted to keep 2 which he said he was sure. He kept the male runt which he named Ayo (it means joy in Yoruba :3) and Angelus kept the girl with the two rattlers and named her Alyona.

Training started immediately! Just like Dagny was taught all commands in Norwegian Ayo was also taught in Norwegian. Again, the logic was to shout out commands without anyone knowing what the hell Jelani was telling Dagny or Ayo to do. Angelus asked Jelani for help with training Alyona but in English.

[doloresandfriendsandstuff]

TMI Tuesday! What lead you to Christ?

OOOO! I really like this one! It can be a simple answer and a complicated one depending on how I say it...

I grew up in a mostly Christian household and was witness to some miracles throughout my life. The list of what I've personally experienced can go on (and to be honest, some reading this may find it pretty stupid or illogical), and while I can't possibly list every single thing I've experienced supernaturally or through faith, I can list a few things! Get ready, cuz I'm gonna get into story-mode!

When I was about 4 years old, I lived in a house that was nearby a wooded area, but was separated by a big, dry weed field. It was wildfire season, and the wooded area had caught on fire and was headed to the field and our house. I remember the firefighters coming to take care of it, and my mom rushing me to my bedroom so I wouldn't see all the drama. But as I was headed there, I stopped by the windowsill and peeked my nose over the edge to look outside in the backyard, where the fire was happening a ways off. There, standing in the field, I saw a VERY tall individual dressed in pure white, glowing white, standing straight up, with a large sword in each hand by their side. They had this stern and serious look on their face. They turned their head towards our house, and towards the fire. That was an angel. And he was sent to protect us. And then my mom rushed me into my room, none the wiser of what I saw, until years later when I remembered and told her.

When I was in my early or mid 20s, a few years ago, I got to experience an angel (or the Holy Spirit) hugging me from behind in a church I didn't normally visit, but had made myself build up the courage to go to after not having gone to church at all for years due to severe social anxiety. They had a guest speaker that day, and I don't remember who he was, but he had somehow said something that allowed the Holy Spirit to make Himself known in the building. I was sitting at a pew, by myself. The one behind me was completely empty. As soon as that guest speaker asked the Holy Spirit to come over the church, I felt these two large, strong arms hug me from behind, like they belonged to someone who was very tall and was crouching down to hug me while I sat. It wasn't exactly physical, but it felt physical, but also in a spiritual sense. It's not something I can easily explain. But when I felt that embrace, I cried... It told me that God still saw me as someone worth loving and having a relationship with, no matter my past or present. I just needed to be open to Him... To be hugged by an angel...or perhaps the Holy Spirit... That is something I genuinely want EVERYONE to feel, because it is the most amazing experience.

Then there's my husband. <3 Ever since I was little, I felt it in my soul that I was supposed to marry someday. But, seeing so much divorce and heartache throughout life, as well as a cycle of self-hatred, can make receiving a lifelong best friend/significant other feel next to impossible. This story can be...the LONGEST one I'll EVER share if I go into every single little detail. I SWEAR, if I could write down EXACTLY EVERYTHING that lead to this miracle I now have with my beloved that God so graciously gave to me, I would probably be able to fill up a novel or more. The important thing to know is...there is absolutely NO WAY I would be living the life I do now, with the man that I love, had he and I not leaned on the Lord the whole way through. GOD made this marriage possible when we believed it to be impossible and, quite frankly, couldn't even begin to comprehend it. @fractiouslemonofficial, my husband, is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. And I love him so dearly. God has literally given me a miracle husband. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3