#i woke up thinking like.. well that was weird but no weirder than normal to be honest

[fingertipsmp3]

Like one of the side effects of my new pills is vivid and strange dreams, but idk how I would tell if I was experiencing that particular effect because my subconscious regularly sends me to the shadow realm anyway

[dira333]

Sleepwalker - Tensei Iida x Reader

Words: 10k (sorry, my hand slipped)

It’s warm, dark and there’s a faint smell of grapefruit and Mint, a combination that should not work as well as it does.

You groan, close your eyes again, and bury yourself in the blankets once more, not yet ready to start the day. What a weird dream you’ve ha-

There’s an arm. There’s an arm next to your arm!

Your heart stops and picks up with twice the speed as you slowly, carefully, pat around to feel what’s attached to said arm

A shoulder, naked. There’s a neck and a chest, muscular and sturdy. 

When your fingertips find what feels like a mouth you hear a grunt. The light flickers on and you blink, staring in silent shock at what is most likely the most attractive guy you’ve seen in weeks, if not longer.

His dark hair is sleep-mussed and his blue eyes squint back at you with an equal mix of confusion and shock.

“Who are you?” He asks just as you realize that you did not, in fact, go drinking last night. Which means-

“You’re a creep!” You bellow, jumping out of bed. You put a tank top and matching panties on last night and you’re glad you did because this way you’re at least wearing a little bit more than he is. 

“Wait, I’m not-”

“Did you do something to me?” You look down at yourself to check, but you don’t feel weird, just exhausted. He’s stuttering out something but you’re too busy freaking out.

“I should call the- the police, I- who are you anyway and-” your eyes flicker to the alarm clock next to his bed. Shit. You’re going to be late for work.

“If this happens again I’ll kill you in your sleep!” You threaten, focus on the pattern of your own bedding, and teleport away, using your Quirk. It’s not legal, but you’re in no way going to wait for a cab at this creep’s place.

This time you half expect it, which sounds weirder than it is. 

But as you wake up and smell that telltale aroma of grapefruit and Mint, you know exactly where you are.

You turn slowly to check the time. It’s around midnight.

You went to bed fully clothed, phone in your back pocket. The stranger seems to have had the same idea, the fabric of his shirt soft against your fingertips

He wakes up as you slip out of bed, waving your phone to start the flashlight app. So much for snooping around to get intel on him.

“Who are you?” He asks, which is totally the wrong question if you’re a creep who kidnaps people.

“I should ask you the same thing. And you should answer first since this is your place.”

“My name’s Iida. Iida Tensei, to be exact.” He rubs his face. “And I didn’t take you here. I went to bed like normal and woke up with you beside me.”

“Oh. Well, I mean. It hasn’t happened in a while, but it could-”

“Your Quirk?” He asks, making sense of your stuttering before you can. “It’s teleporting, right? Does it malfunction sometimes?”

“Well, it used to, as a kid.” You explain, shame flooding you, “I can only teleport to places I know because I have to see them in my mind. But I don’t know you, right?”

“Maybe I saved you?” He offers. You scrunch up your nose.

“I am- I was a hero. Ingenium? Maybe you heard of him?”

“Oh,” you nod slowly before shaking your head, “well, I’ve heard of heroes, because who hasn’t, but not of Ingenium, sorry. Never had to be saved either.”

“Sorry.”

You laugh, short and abrupt, but in all honesty. “Why? I don’t think getting saved is such a nice thing, right? It means you were in danger before.”

“Oh, but it’s an experience for sure. I mean… When I was a kid, I was-” He stops and you’re not sure why you do it, maybe it’s the softness of his features or the sound of his voice, but you urge him to speak.

“I got lost, once, as a kid. I still remember how helpless I felt and how a hero saved me, and took me back to my parents. I haven’t seen him around since, but I still remember his name. Gran Torino. I knew before… that I was going to be a hero, but that cemented it as something I really wanted to be.”

“Wow,” you breathe, a little awkward in the face of something like that. “I just became a mechanic because my Dad’s one too.”

He laughs, but he doesn’t invite you to speak and you realize that you’ve overstayed your welcome anyway. Not that there was ever any welcome to begin with. You stumbled in here on your own, bothering this nice, attractive man.

“I’m… I’m going to get going now,” you stutter, “and I promise it won’t happen again.”

He doesn’t move to get up. Maybe he only put on a shirt but not shorts?

You try not to think about it when you teleport away.

Nothing happens for over a week, long enough that you begin to think of it as an outlier, brought upon you by the return of your period.

Now that that’s over you only have to get checked out for future disasters.

But then you open your eyes to darkness and the smell of Grapefruit and Mint and you know, without a doubt, that you’re back.

“Iida-kun?” You ask, voice soft with shame.

You reach out your hand and touch his face, surprised to find a slight stubble. But it gets his attention and only a second later you blink against the light. 

It’s gone just a second later and as a blanket is thrown over your head you remember that you went to sleep wearing nothing tonight. In your defense, the AC was broken.

“I’m so so sorry,” you point out, voice shaking, “I don’t know… I thought it was my period.”

“It’s okay,” he huffs. You wonder if he’s blushing. 

“I’m leaving, okay,” you tell him, embarrassment flooding you. “Sorry.”

Half an hour later you find yourself pressed into his side once again, though this time better dressed. He’s not, however. 

You teleport away once again, this time without waking him.

But as you open your eyes to the morning sun filtering in through the half-open blinds, there’s an arm slung over your shoulders and a warm, naked chest pressed to your back.

You’re back. Again.

It’s Sunday and you don’t have to be gone right away, so that’s your excuse for letting your eyes wander through the room. 

His bedroom is clean and organized, with books and sports equipment in every corner.

And there are pictures, tons of them.

Right next to the alarm clock is a picture of a little boy. He looks just like Iida-kun and with a pang, you realize it must be his son. What lies on the other side of his bedroom door? How many children does he have?

This bed is barely wide enough to house two people, so you don’t think he’s married, but-

A pained groan interrupts your thoughts. 

Before you can react, though, Iida pulls you closer, his arms now crossed over your stomach.

He’s mumbling something, his voice laced with pain.

“No, don’t, please-” he begs, “help, someone- Help!”

That’s when you feel it, the telltale signs of your Quirk activating. But you’re not teleporting anywhere, not that you could after doing it so much this night already. And you’re not the one who activated it.

For a second you’re floating, disappearing slowly into thin air. That’s not unusual, it happens mostly when the space you want to go is already occupied or too far away.

But when you materialize again, you’re back where you started, right in Iida’s arms.

That’s when it hits you.

You didn’t teleport to him. He teleported you.

But how? And how are you going to explain that to him?

If Iida is weirded out by the fact that you’re a) back in his arms again and b) not making any move to get away from him, he’s not showing it.

Instead he wipes a hand over his face and plants himself back into the pillows.

“I think I need a coffee,” he tells you after a minute.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t say no to that either.”

“Would it be terribly rude to ask you to make it?” He lifts his head again to squint at you. “Or help me out of bed?”

“Help you out of bed? What are you, eighty?”

He smiles shyly. “No, I’m paraplegic.”

Blood rushes to your face as you realize what that means.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“You didn’t know.” A hand rests warmly on your forearm. “But the choice is yours.”

You huff for a second, trying to reel in the shame before getting out of bed and walking around it. There’s the wheelchair you should have noticed earlier. 

“What do you do if you need to pee?” You ask as he leans heavily onto you before swinging himself into the chair.

“Hold it in,” he tells you with an embarrassed smile. “But I’m working on getting into it myself.”

Your nerves bubble in your throat as you approach the door only to release in a soft sigh when no little kid is waiting on the other side.

“Your… uh… son doesn’t live here?” You ask as you follow him into the kitchen, too aware of your messy bedhead and your sleepwear-clad form.

“My son?” Iida turns to squint at you. “I don’t have a son.”

“The picture on your nightstand. I noticed it.”

“Oh,” he laughs softly, “that’s my little brother. We’re fifteen years apart, but I should really get a new picture in there. But he looked so cute back then. Not that he’s not looking cute now, I-”

“I get it,” you nod, “I still have a picture of my cousin in my wallet from when she lost half of her teeth.”

“Quirk coming in?” He asks and you snort. “Yes, actually.”

“How am I calling you here?” Tensei asks. He offered you his first name over that first cup of coffee, called his mother to let her know he wouldn’t need help this morning while you fried eggs for breakfast.

“I don’t know,” you tell him honestly, “that never happened to me before.”

“But you knew it was possible?”

“Actually,” you breathe loudly through your nose, “I only realized that it had to be that because I was in the middle of teleporting this morning when I was already here only to land back where I was. It’s like reloading a page, you know? You just get back to where you were.”

“But we don’t know each other,” Tensei points out, “or do we? What school did you go to?”

You name it, all of them. Nothing seems to ring a bell. 

“When you…” you hesitate but he urges you to go on, “When you reloaded me, so to say, you were… you were calling for help.”

Tensei pales, his lips stretching into a straight line.

“You don’t have to tell me what that was about,” you add on quickly, “I just thought… maybe us teleporter Quirks are like a helpline? And I was just the closest one?”

“You think so?” He asks, voice strained.

You shrug. “What other possibility is there?”

But there is one. One you don’t even want to think about.

What if the Universe with its laughable humor, decided you were right for each other? 

No, that would be too crazy.

-

Just because you know why it happens doesn’t mean, however, that you know how to stop it. And as you start waking up in his bed more often than not, it seems only logical to go with it.

“Morning,” you mumble, knowing where you are without having to open your eyes. The telltale aroma of Grapefruit and Mint gives it away.

“Morning,” Tensei yawns, unmoving.

You can feel yourself slipping back into sleep, the warmth of him, the softness of the bed pulling you back in. Five more minutes won’t hurt.

“What did we say?” You ask groggily, face planted against Tensei’s chest. “You gotta wear a shirt to bed.”

“Sorry,” he rumbles but doesn’t move. “What time is it?”

“Too early.” You close your eyes again. He doesn’t move either.

“Shit, I’m late for work.” Your jump out of bed is thwarted by the blanket around your legs and you fall unceremoniously onto your face.

“I’ve got a spare toothbrush if you want it,” Tensei offers.

“I have no clothes.”

“Bring them next time,” he smiles, grabbing the hand you’re offering and pulling you up.

He blushes seconds later when he realizes how that sounded.

“I mean, only if you want.”

“Sure,” you agree easily because he really is good-looking, “if you make the coffee in the morning?”

“Brother, I wanted to check in before schoo-” 

You make the mistake of shooting up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice.

The guy in the door looks like Tensei’s Doppelganger, mouth wide open as he takes you in.

You wrap your arms around your torso, realizing a little late that your skimpy tank top might be a bit too revealing for a- how old is Tensei’s little brother again?

“Tenya,” Tensei starts blubbering that second, “You’re… I didn’t expect you this early- I’m…”

“This is my cue to leave,” you mutter, but stop when Tensei’s arm presses you back into the pillows.

“Stay,” he breathes out, eyes flickering over your face before he turns back.

“Sit,” he asks his brother, “we can explain.”

In all honesty, you don’t really know why you stay. 

It’s not like Tensei could do anything about you leaving, really. He has no idea where you live, doesn’t even have your number saved or something like that. And he still has no idea how to activate your Quirk on command…

But you stay, blanket pulled up to your chin to spare the youngest Iida’s innocence.

He’s fun to watch, little Tenya, taller than you without trying, yet turning smaller and smaller in his older brother’s presence.

It’s not hard to guess that Tensei’s his hero.

Tensei’s voice is calm and collected as he explains. You don’t even try to help him sort through this mess, instead letting your eyes wander over his features. He’s not wearing a shirt and his back, turned to you, is covered in scars, like a spider web of history. 

Your hand itches to smooth across it, letting the warmth of his skin seep into your fingertips. 

He’s got a few Moles too, sprinkled across his milky white shoulder blades like freckles over sun kissed cheeks. 

“Are you even listening?” Tensei turns his head and you blink a few times to focus.

“Sure,” you lie effortlessly, not missing how his lips quirk into a smile. 

His eyes are warm as they move over your face and you have to force yourself not to hide away. You’ve never seen a face this attractive turn so soft before, at least not when looking at you.

“I’m… I’m leaving then,” Tenya adds, voice a little strained. “I don’t want to be late.”

“Sure,” you nod, just as Tensei asks him not to rush. 

It’s weird. You want to leave and you want to stay longer, want to keep this bubble around the two of you, yet go out and scream from the rooftops that this man might feel things for you.

Work calls, though, and even though you stay as long as you can - helping him out of bed and into the shower, making coffee while he gets ready, thinking about kissing him while he sits on the other side of the table, talking about his plans for the day - you have to leave eventually. 

You hug him awkwardly, trying not to sink into his hold even though you want nothing more.

“See you next time,” you say with a wink, expecting to be back in the evening.

But Tensei does not call for you.

-

One week passes without finding yourself in his bed.

You have no means to contact him other than teleporting into his apartment and you don’t dare to do just that. What if he’s having guests over? 

What if- and the thought is making you nauseous - you end up teleporting into his bedroom only to find him making out with someone else?

Wait. The thought of someone else implies that he made out with you too. He didn’t and it’s not like you can blame him for that, right? 

Looking down at your hands, the skin oil-stained and chapped, you can’t help but feel unworthy of him. Former Heroes do not mingle with basic mechanics. 

You go out drinking the second week, trying to drown your sorrows in cheap beer and awful music.

“What about him?” Rumi, your best friend points toward a guy in the corner, red wings folded behind his back. He’s attractive, but there’s also something unsettling about him, the way he seems to be watching everyone without a care in the world.

“No,” you shake your head. You don’t feel like erasing the memory of Tensei’s touch - as platonic as it had been - from your skin by being with someone else. And even if you did, you wouldn’t pick someone who’s definitely way above your league.

“Oh, come on.” She takes a shot and winks. “I’m going to talk to him if you don’t.”

“Suit yourself,” you say when you notice someone else. 

His hair is jet black, reflecting the bright lights overhead that flicker over his heavily scarred skin. His eyes, a bright turquoise, move over the people with cold carelessness. Something drops in your stomach when his gaze crosses yours.

You grab Rumi’s arm. “We need to leave,” you tell her, and there must be something in your voice that cuts through her haze, because she nods, following you toward the door.

Shivers are running up and down your back as you wait for a Cab, chatting up a few girls who are waiting by the door, convincing them to join you and your friend.

“Oh shit,” Rumi says, moving to get out of the car, “I forgot my jacket inside.”

“I’m getting it,” you tell her, pushing her back, “I’ll see you there, okay?” 

She hesitates, but you’re already out of the car, closing the door with a click.

Inside, the mood has shifted, though not many seem to have noticed, too far gone already in their haste to get drunk. 

Sweat’s running down your back as you move through the crowd, looking for the flimsy black jacket. 

You smell it just as you reach it. Fire. Something’s burning. 

It’s hard to tell from back here and even getting up on a barstool barely helps. That is, until you turn, spotting the guy with the turquoise eyes behind the bar. His hands are filled with flames and his eyes burn the same.

He notices you at the same time, lips curling into a cruel smirk. Not far from him is the fire alarm and you lunge forward to pull it. Something collides with your shoulder, pain curling around it.

You scream just as the alarm goes off, cutting the music like one does a ribbon. The sprinklers go off immediately, but you’re already halfway gone, panic setting off your Quirk.

You have half a mind to think “Somewhere safe” before the room disappears before your eyes.

Grapefruit and Mint.

It cuts through your panic like sunlight through a rain cloud.

“Tensei?” You rasp, trying to make sense of it. “Tensei?!”

The light comes on and you find yourself sitting on the bedroom floor, hair damp, jacket clutched in your hands.

“Are you okay?” He asks, before sucking in a breath. “What happened to your shoulder?”

“I think- I think I just got attacked.”

“Let me see. Can you get up? What happened?”

You dissolve into tears under his gentle care.

Tensei thinks you should talk to the police.

You think everything else would be a better idea. 

“I’m not supposed to use my quirk,” you tell him, again and again, as he pours you a cup of chamomile tea in the morning. “What if they fine me? What if- what if they take it away?”

“They’re not going to take away your Quirk just because it activated by itself. You might get a slap on the hand for using it too much if they knew, but you’re not hurting anyone with it, are you?”

“Can you check the news?” You change the topic, unease swirling in your stomach. “See if there’s something about the bar?”

He dutifully picks up his phone, giving you a second to take him in.

His sight eases your mind. He looks just like he did two weeks ago like he always looks in the morning. Soft and warm and reassuring, like all you need to do is climb into his lap and forget the world.

You want to ask if he missed you, but you don’t dare to.

“Nothing,” he says, putting his phone down. “Would you- would you feel better if I accompanied you to the police?”

“How would we explain that we know each other?”

He blushes. “We could… we could say that we’re… friends?”

The unease in your stomach is getting harder to ignore. Or maybe you’re hungover as well.

“Why didn’t you call for me… uh, the last few weeks? Are you getting over your nightmares?”

Tensei huffs out a tired laugh. “I’m taking sleeping pills. I’m not a fan of them, but they seem to be working. I thought… maybe you left before I woke up or something.”

“No, I thought…” You swallow nervously, looking down at the table before shrugging as if you don’t feel as much as you do. “Maybe you found someone else you could teleport into your bedroom.”

You realize how it sounds just as you say it, but it’s too late to take it back.

His hand moves to cover yours, a warm weight that seems to settle your nerves with the smallest touch. “I’m barely managing to figure out how I got you, I’m not switching things up.”

For a while, you two sit in silence, unmoving. 

Eventually though, Tensei speaks again.

“If you let me, I’d like to accompany you to the police, okay?” 

You’ve only been to the police once before when a car you had been working on turned out to be stolen. Everything, from explaining how you noticed to how you got that client in the first place, had been a terrible, terrible experience.

But walking in with Tensei is like stepping into a different world..

One officer, a mutant with a cat face, comes up to you almost immediately, shaking Tensei’s hand with a smile.

“What brings you here, man? Long time no see.”

“I’m- my friend here,” Tensei points to you, “got attacked in a bar yesterday. Nothing in the news suggests that you know about it, so we wanted to inform you right away.”

“An attack?” Green eyes flicker to you. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you mutter just as Tensei disagrees. “First-degree burn on her shoulder. I did the best I could last night when she came by, but I’m no doctor.”

“I’ll call someone to check in on you. Come in, come in. Do you want coffee? Donuts?”

It clicks by the third person who walks in. They all assume that you’re not just Tensei’s friend, but his girlfriend.

It’s in the way they smile at you, unassuming, chuckling when you name your profession.

“Fits like a glove, doesn’t it?” They say, preening when the words light up a feverish blush on 

Tensei’s cheeks.

He holds your hand when a nurse examines your shoulder and you wish that this was real, that you’ll step out of this building and continue just like this. 

But living in his world for a day, where police officers joke around with you and doors open that you didn’t even know existed, just highlights how far apart your lives truly are.

As it turns out, you seem to have met Dabi, a villain who’s rather new to the scene. You can tell, just by the looks exchanged and awkward silences filling the room, that he’s someone you don’t want to mess with.

“It would probably be better if you didn’t go home for a while,” Detective Tsukauchi announces. “If this is a bar you frequent regularly, it wouldn’t be hard for him to figure out where you live.”

“My friend-” You start just as Tensei says “You can stay with me.”

You tense, just as Detective Tsukauchi smiles and nods.

“An excellent idea. We can escort you home if you need to pack some things first.”

“Oh, no-” You shake your head and wave your hands at the same time. “Getting escorted by the police to my place would just open the door to more trouble. If you could… like… give me a proper written excuse so that I can use my quirk, I can do that in one trip.”

“I’m afraid that I-”

“Tsukauchi, Sir-” Tensei lays it on thick with the charm, “I think in a situation like this you could make an exception, right? Don’t you have Officer Moroi on your team as well? You could still consider it an official escort if she did the teleporting.”

And so, half an hour later, it’s decided.

Officer Moroi’s Quirk is almost the same as yours, although she needs exact coordinates and is able to teleport other people - and stuff - as well.

Saying goodbye to Tensei is an awkward affair. Detective Tsukauchi is going to take him back to his apartment while you pack your things.

You move in for a hug, a handshake too formal for what everyone assumes you are. Tensei moves as well, but you misjudge his intention as wanting to hug you as well. His lips end up on yours for the briefest moment before you pull back, his face as red as-

“Oh,” you cough awkwardly, turning around. “Detective, I… I just remembered. There was another guy at the bar, with wings, he was looking-”

Tsukauchi doesn’t even blink. “No worries. We’re aware of him.”

“You-” Tensei’s hand curls around yours, pulling your attention back to him.

“Stay safe, okay?” He asks, face still flushed. “I’ll see you later.”

-

“I’ll take the Couch,” you offer in the evening, your things awkwardly merged with his. Your clothes stuffed into his drawers, your toothbrush sitting in the same cup. 

Tensei made dinner, told you stories from his past, and checked your injury, warm hands seemingly everywhere at once.

“Are you sure?” He asks, rolling through the living room. “There’s more than enough space in my bed and we’re kinda used to sharing it, don’t you think?”

“Well, yeah, but that was then-” You trail off, not really sure where you’re going with this.

His features stay relaxed as he nods, moving toward his bedroom.

“Do you want some help-”

“I got it,” he sends you a smile you can’t help but question. “I told you I’m getting better at it.”

So you’ve got nothing to do but slip under the covers and stare at the ceiling, trying to blend out the thrumming of pain in your shoulder.

You can hear him breathing, even from this far away, and it calms and upsets you at the same time.

He’s here. But he’s so far away.

Quietly, he calls your name. 

You consider ignoring it for a second, pushing him a little further away. For your safety or his, you’re not sure.

Still, your voice slips out anyway.

“Yes?”

“Are you scared?”

“Of what?” You ask, surprised.

“Being in a relationship.”

You swallow harshly. Has it been this obvious?

“I am, you know,” he admits, “and I was wondering… if you feel the same.”

You blink up at the ceiling, your mind racing ahead. Whatever you do now, it can make or break… whatever this is, between the two of you.

“You know,” you answer, slipping out of bed, “I have called myself a lot of things. I have been called a lot of things, too. But I don’t think I’ve ever believed that I was scared of something.”

You stop in the doorway to his room, your eyes getting used to the darkness. He’s facing you.

“So you’re not scared?” He asks, voice thick.

“Oh no, I’m scared shitless,” you admit, walking the short distance until your knees hit the bed frame, “but that has never stopped me from doing something. What about you? Doesn’t being a hero mean something similar?”

He’s warm as you slip under the covers, your whole body sucking up that familiar aroma of Grapefruit and Mint, your head almost falling into place against his shoulder.

“It’s a different kind of fear, I guess? You can train how to be a hero, from fighting Villains to rescue missions. You can’t train being in love.”

“Mhm, some people definitely try,” you joke, your hands unable to rest, moving across his chest until you can feel his heartbeat pick up beneath your fingertips.

“Tensei?” You ask, basking in his warmth. “Have you been in a relationship before?”

“No,” he admits, one hand a soft pressure on your lower back. “I dated around a little after school, but I was so busy building up the business, spending time with Tenya, I just…”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. You think you’ve got all the time in the world and then you’re thirty, everyone else has already had kids and you wonder where you went wrong.”

“Would you-” He stops, but his heart races, you can feel it.

“Yeah?”

“Would you go on a date with me?”

“Usually,” you tease, because his voice quivered in a way that doesn’t fit his sturdy frame, “I don’t ‘sleep’ with guys before a first date. You kinda messed with my rules here.”

“Sorry,” he rasps, trying to play along.

“It’s fine,” you move a little, pressing your lips against his cheek. “You did wine and dine me today, after all.”

-

You could get used to this.

Tensei’s still asleep, mouth half-open, face mushed against the pillow. You can’t stop your curious hands from traveling, rubbing soft circles into his warm skin, following the spiderweb trails of his scars, pressing a teasing kiss to one of his moles.

He groans softly, hands twitching by his side.

“What time is it?”

“Time to relax,” you tease, pulling one of his arms around you. He snorts.

“I would, but I really have to pee.”

“Oh, what a shame,” you move to sit up, untangling him from the blanket. “But we can slip back into bed after if you want. Although I am craving breakfast.”

Tensei blinks up at you but doesn’t speak. You blame it on him not being a morning person and help him into the bathroom, before moving toward the kitchen, prepping a quick breakfast.

He’s already back in bed when you step into the bedroom. 

Sleeping with, or rather, next to Tensei, has taught you a few things about him so far. He runs hot, he likes to spoon, and he makes the softest little kitten snores when he’s sleeping on his back.

But living with him, just for a day or two, shows you so much more.

He pretends to be a morning person, but it takes a while for his brain to kick in. The smell of him, Grapefruit and Mint, comes partly from his Quirk, the engine jets in his arms being powered by Grapefruit juice, and partly from his absolute obsession with everything Mint scented. Bodywash, Shampoo, Deodorant, he even has Mint scented Candles sitting all over his apartment.

Tensei obviously works out a lot and hasn’t stopped after retiring from being a Pro Hero, the dumbbells in the corner showcasing not a single speck of dust, but he has no trouble lounging on the Couch with you, asking about the book you’re currently reading, or bothering you with the most insane questions about the show you offer to watch.

He’s a family man, too, and you suspect that there is only one reason you’re not absolutely plagued by visiting family members right now.

“Did you tell your parents not to show up?” You ask as you pull on your shoes. Tensei had asked to go out for a little stroll and since the weather was playing along, you had no choice but to agree.

“Uh, yeah, how did you know?”

“I’m a woman, I can tell.”

He sends you a look and you falter. “Okay, fine, there’s a Calendar by the door that has everyone’s name on it. Your parents would have come by today.”

“Oh that,” he nods, face clouding, “I’m trying to become more self-reliant. I know everyone’s just trying to help, but-”

“It’s stifling,” you finish his sentence and he nods, smiling a little.

“You get it?”

“Oh yeah, my Dad is the worst when it comes to this. It doesn’t help that we live in a district that has quite a high crime rate. I’m not dumb, but he’d like to see me somewhere safe.”

“As every parent would, probably. Where do you live?”

“Why, do you wanna know if you went on patrol there?”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t, I would have noticed you.”

There’s a teasing tone to it, letting you know that he’s flirting. He’s not bad at it and since you’ve been doing nothing but cuddling all day, you dare to lean down and kiss him.

-

If Rapunzel was a man, he would look like the guy following you.

He’s dressed as a civilian, his long, blonde hair tied into the prettiest messy bun you’ve ever seen. And the size of it…

Tensei recognized him yesterday at the park. Apparently the Police are really concerned with your safety, sending him over to keep an eye on you.

“He’s nice,” Tensei had declared. “You don’t have to worry about him. His Hero Name is Present Mic, you might know-”

“No,” you shook your head, “Never heard of him.”

“Any Hero that you do know?”

“Well, All Might, of course,” you smiled. “But my favorite Hero is Laundry Hero: Wash.”

Tensei laughs. “I could never have guessed that. Sounds like a story I would like to hear.”

Your phone alarm pulls you out of the memory and you turn it off, blinking yourself a little more awake in anticipation of your stop.

Tensei doesn’t live that far away, but you still need to take three different trains to get to work, now that you can’t just teleport into your apartment and walk the short distance from there.

Goldilocks, err, Rapunzel, follows you out, whistling a tune. You don’t know how he does it, but he manages to fit in with the crowd of blue-collar workers.

 -

“So you got yourself a boyfriend?” Rumi, best friend and also best car-saleswoman you know, is eating her lunch across from you. “Without telling me?”

“It’s not like that,” you argue, well aware of the tall man dressed in jeans that must be Rapunzel’s replacement for the day. “It’s complicated, okay?”

“I know complicated, but that sounds like a whole ‘nother level,” she takes a sip of her diet soda and pins you down with a glare. “If you’re staying over at his place already it’s a big deal.”

“Yeah,” you fiddle with your utensils, “I know, he’s just… he’s so safe, you know?”

“Safe?” Rumi furrows her brows. “Explain.”

“Like, he’s so… funny. And warm. And caring. Last night we were fighting about who gets to cook Dinner, and- What?” You cut yourself off when you notice her wry smile.

“Oh, you’re so far gone, it’s hilarious.” She chuckles into her drink. “Bring him in some time, will you?”

“We’ll see,” you put your stuff away, “My dad would most definitely love him, for sure.”

Your phone rings at that moment and you pick up, heart hammering in your throat at the sight of Tensei’s name on the display.

“Yes?”

“Hey,” you can hear the smile in his voice. “How’s your lunch break? I’m in the store right now and wanted to ask what you want for Dinner tonight.”

“I thought I was going to make Pizza?”

He laughs softly. “Fine, you can make Pizza tonight. Do you want ice cream for dessert?”

“Oh, yes, please. Mint-Chocolate Chip, if possible.”

“Mhm, no, not possible, that box is already reserved for me.”

“Well, you gotta learn how to share one day.”

Rumi’s grinning like a madman when you finally put your phone away.

“What?” You ask, fighting against the warmth bubbling in your chest, the smile that’s threatening to overtake your face.

“Nothing,” she giggles, “nothing at all.”

-

“What’s the verdict, Doc?” You ask as Tensei finishes changing the bandage on your shoulder. 

He huffs with amusement, the sound cut off by the closing of the door.

“Tenya?” Tensei asks, a tone in his voice that can only be worried. You turn.

Tenya’s face is bruised, dark blue hair full of grime. 

“Nii-chan?” His eyes flicker over to you, face closing off the hurt and exhaustion he’d shown seconds before.

“I should leave-” you start, realizing half way that you have nowhere to go. Tensei’s hands are still warm on your shoulder and even though he’s pulling away, his hold on you stays, his eyes flickering between you and his brother.

If he has to decide between the two of you, you’d rather have him pick Tenya.

“Are you hungry?” You ask, getting up. “I’ll make you something to eat, give you boys some privacy.”

Tensei’s apartment is bigger than yours by a mile but not huge.

You can hear them talking, the tone of their voices heavy.

At one point you think you can hear one of them crying, the sound squeezing your heart like one does a lemon. Should you check on them? What if it’s Tensei crying?

The food getting ready decides for you. No one likes burnt Pizza.

“Coming in,” you announce your arrival softly, feeling relieved and a little guilty when you realize Tenya had been the one crying.

“Hey, big guy,” you place the dish in front of him, “hope you like this. If you want, I can disappear again, the choice is yours.”

“I’m fine,” he wipes his eyes on his sleeve, leaving a smear of dirt across his nose before he puts his glasses back on. “You can- You can stay. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“It’s fine. Tensei was your brother first. And I’m warning you, if you let me stay, I’m going to ask you all sorts of questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Well, for starters, I definitely need to know your favorite flavor. Because your big brother here is obsessed with everything Mint flavored and I need to know if it runs in the family.”

“I do like Mint,” Tenya offers, cutting off a first slice of Pizza. 

You know very well that this is just a means of distraction, that talking about what’s bothering him would be a lot better, but still… you need to start somewhere, right?

Tensei’s hand squeezes yours under the table as Tenya rambles on about different flavors he cannot choose between.

“He asked if he could sleep over,” Tensei explains as soon as Tenya disappears into the bathroom. He sighs. “When I-” He stops, gestures to himself, the wheelchair. “When this happened, it hit him hard. I was in a coma for quite some time and he’s never been without me, really. We were always very close. I know that everything changed, but there’s something to him now… something that wasn’t there before. It’s like something turned dark inside him.”

“That does happen sometimes,” you agree. “When you realize too early on that life’s not fair. That people are more vulnerable than you thought they were.”

Tensei takes a shuddering breath and your hands rush to hold him, console him in any way you can.

“Do you want to share the bed with him?” You ask, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head. You’re not usually this touchy with guys you’re interested in, but you usually don’t feel this safe around guys you’re interested in. You’re starting to act all weird and mushy around him and it’s a little unsettling sometimes.

Tensei laughs. “I don’t think we’d fit. But we could keep the door open.”

“I think it would be good for him if you could admit that you’re still having nightmares.” The words slip out before you’ve really thought about them, but you don’t want to take them back. “Not that you have to do it right away,” you ease the sting of them, “but it can help, sometimes, to know that the strongest people are also afraid of something.”

“Maybe,” he offers, and you leave it at that.

-

Toshi nudges your feet, walking by. You roll out from under the car to check what’s going on, surprised to see Tensei in all his glory.

He sits tall in his wheelchair and the shirt he’s wearing is one of your favorites, bringing out the blue in his eyes. 

“Hey,” you greet him, a little self-conscious about your dirty overalls. “What brings you here?”

“I had an appointment not far from here and thought I could check in on you. When’s your lunch break?”

You squint up at the clock in the corner. “Half an hour.”

“I can wait, if that’s okay with you. Is that alright? I can leave too, if you don’t want company.”

You don’t want company, but you want his company. 

“Stay, please,” you say, swallowing the weird feelings that are swirling in your chest. “You can share a cup of coffee with Rumi in the office, if you want. You know how to get there?”

He nods, smiling as he turns his wheelchair and rolls out of the garage.

You can feel all eyes on you, but you’ve never felt less like discussing your personal life with anyone, so you roll back under the car. There, at least, you can ponder why him showing up has made you this nervous.

Tensei knows you’re a mechanic. And he’s obviously not bothered by the fact that this isn’t some fancy-schmancy auto repairs shop. So if he doesn’t think bad of you, why do you do it?

Tensei’s laughing with Rumi and your Dad, of all people, when you walk into the office. You tried your best at cleaning up, but you still feel dirty in comparison to Tensei’s perfectly ironed clothes.

“What are you doing here?” You ask, leaning into your father’s hug. His overalls look worse than yours. 

“Rumi called and asked me to come check out one car. She suspects some foul-play.”

“Ah.” You shoot her a glare, but she smirks, playing innocent.

“And how lucky I came in right away,” Dad adds, “so I could get to know this guy. Did you know that your mother got saved by his father once? I remember it clearly, it was this awful purse-snatcher guy and Ingenium saved the day. He really was a fine lad, you got to tell him I said hi,” your father slaps a heavy hand onto Tensei’s shoulder. You flinch at the ink-stains he leaves in the fabric.

“I will. Father remembers all of his saves, so I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear from you. But I think we should get going, if we want to make use of our time,” Tensei turns to you. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Leave where?” You furrow your brows. 

“There’s a park nearby and I thought we could get a stroll in, what do you think?”

“Eh,” you falter for a second, but Rumi’s less than subtle head movements tell you to go along. “I guess why not?”

“Do you always have to be out in nature?” You ask twenty minutes later when you’ve found a place that’s to Tensei’s liking, a tall tree creating enough shadow for the two of you to sit under.

He blinks. “I guess… I guess I like it a lot, does it bother you?”

“Not that much,” you admit, “It’s just a little surprising, I think. How was your day so far?”

Tensei’s face turns serious, your heart thundering at the sight.

“You know,” he starts, fiddling with a napkin, “I’m supposed to undergo surgery in a week or so.”

“Oh? What kind?” Surely, it’s nothing big, you tell yourself.

Tensei sighs, taking your hand and squeezing it tightly.

“It’s experimentative surgery. I have a twenty percent chance to walk again.”

“And the other eighty?”

He chuckles, but it doesn’t sound amused. “I try not to think about it.”

“And you’re supposed to do it? Or is this just an option you’re thinking about?”

His eyes flicker over your face. “It’s an option. My mother doesn’t want me to take it. Tenya’s all for it, although I haven’t really disclosed the risks to him.”

“Tenya wants you to be the person he knows you as. You’re his hero. No one wants to see their heroes fall.”

Tensei sighs, shoulders slumping. It hurts to see him that way. Before you can stop yourself, you’ve climbed onto his lap, dirt be damned.

“Hey,” you say, cradling his face in your hands. “Talk to me?”

“I just want everything to be how it used to be,” he admits. “I want Tenya to be happy again.”

Behind your ribcage, a flame of hurt starts licking at your heart. You push it aside, focus on what he’s saying.

“He’s becoming a hero, right?” You ask, “Doesn’t that mean… He’ll have to face these things eventually, will he not?”

“Yeah, but- but not like this. Not on his own. I’d be by his side, fighting alongside him.” 

Tensei’s hands dig into your hips now. Your heart stutters with his next words, sensing something beneath them that your mind isn’t ready to process yet.

“If I could turn back time, I would. Even if it meant being a coward that day. I just-” He breaks off, resting his head on your shoulder. You let him cry it out, your food long forgotten.

-

Tensei’s smiling again by the time he leaves, though you can still see the sadness lingering in his eyes. 

Your mind is fogged up as you work and you need twice your usual time for even the most basic tasks.

Rumi’s sending you looks, but you’re not ready to talk about it yet.

It’s on your way to the train station that someone pulls you aside.

You recognize those red wings instantly.

“Yo!” The guy smiles, but it’s not friendly, “Have you heard anything from Dabi?”

You blink, trying to move away, but his grip on your arm is firm.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ah, don’t play it like that.” He smirks. His eyes are a mesmerizing golden color, but they hold no warmth for you. “I know you had intel. What I don’t know is why you came back into the bar?”

“Intel?” You finally manage to rip your hand out of his grip. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I told Tsukauchi about you and he knows you were there. I’m going to let him know you’re not unimportant as he thinks you are.”

You ready yourself to teleport, cursing the time it still takes - it’s not like you had much chance to practice - when he laughs. It transforms him, the cold, harsh lines bleeding from his face.

“Oh, so you really know nothing,” he says, voice easy as if he’s just talking about the weather. He waves at someone, who turns out be Rapunzel, hiding behind a nearby pillar.

“You were right, Mic, she really knows nothing.”

“Excuse me?” You ask, equally horrified and … You’re not sure how to name that other feeling, just that it leaves you feeling weak, like a terrible cold. 

“Ah, I’m glad.” Rapunzel- Present Mic, you remind yourself, grins at you, blonde mustache dancing above his lips. “Just taking care, you know. Can’t be careful enough these days.”

In less than a minute, both of them are gone and so is your train. 

All you want to do is teleport over to Tensei and let him make sense of this interaction. But using your Quirk out in the open is never advisable when you’re not a registered Hero, even in a place like this. 

So you find yourself a secluded space to wait for the next train - or teleport, depending on what’s shorter, your patience or the wait time - and sit down to think. 

Your mind’s still reeling from today’s revelation.

In about a week, Tensei will undergo experimentative surgery. He might be able to walk just fine after that, be who he used to be before it happened, whatever it is. 

You try to think of him, standing up. He’s going to be tall, for sure. Probably leaning in the doorway with that lazy smile he always wears when you get home.

But- if everything turns the way it was before, where will that leave you?

Because before, he didn’t have time for a relationship, nor did he want one. He was busy prepping his agency for when Tenya was ready to join him and there’s still a few years until that can happen. 

And even if he wanted to scale down his work hours, there’s a difference between dating an Ex-Hero and an active Hero. Not just in the risks he takes, but also in his public image.

Dating you, with your job and your origin, your ties to a part of Tokyo that’s less than stellar. You can’t help but think of yourself as a stain on his public imagine, much like the oil stains your father - and you - left on his outfit today.

Your train arrives, but you don’t get on. There’s still too much to think about.

-

“Where were you?” Tensei waits for you in the hallway, brows furrowed. “You didn’t pick up your phone.”

“Thinking,” you say, plant yourself in front of him without taking off your shoes. “We need to talk.”

“Do you want to sit down-”

“If you want things to be how they used to be,” you talk over him, needing to get this out, “I will no longer be here.”

Tensei stops, mouth half open.

“I’m not offering you a chance to turn back time. There might be people with a Quirk like that, but I don’t have it. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking today and I… I don’t want to hold you back. I understand why you want to get back on your feet and I’d never be in the way of that, but I don’t think we could be together if you returned to being a hero.”

“Why not?” His voice is too soft for a man this sturdy. 

You turn your eyes toward the floor.

“Because you are you and I am me and we do not fit together.”

“I think we did pretty well,” Tensei argues and you pull your shoulders up to your ears.

“Yeah, because at the moment you’re broken. I do fit well with broken things, not with those who look new and shiny.” You can’t stop your hand from reaching out, touching the oil stain that’s still on his shoulder.

“I leave stains, Tensei. And you’re a Hero in a white suit.”

“So that’s it?” He asks after a moment of silence. “You’re just going to leave?”

“Staying would just prolong the hurt, wouldn’t it?” You wring your hands. “You don’t even need me anymore. You sleep fine.”

“It’s not about sleeping,” his fingertips dig into the armrests of his wheelchair. “It’s about the time in between. I want to be awake with you.”

“I know,” you swallow the pain, “but that doesn’t make everything alright, does it? I’ll… I’ll get my things, okay? Apparently, I can go back to my place.”

Tensei watches you quietly as you grab your stuff.

A few times you can tell that he’s preparing to say something, but he doesn’t.

“Goodbye,” you tell him, heart heavy, longing for nothing more but to crawl into his arms and stay there, the whole world be damned. “I hope everything turns out alright for you.”

-

Rumi thinks you’re stupid.

You think you’re stupid.

You’re not sure what your Dad thinks, because you haven’t yet told him about the whole affair.

But from the looks he’s sending you over a plate of what you fondly call “Dad’s hodgepodge”, you’ll find out pretty soon.

“So,” he says, taking a sip of his drink. “That guy in the wheelchair.”

“What about him?”

“He’s your mate?”

You fight the flinch, but your face must betray you. Your father chuckles.

“You know, you come right after your mother.”

“I know.”

“Mhm, do you?” He cocks his head to the side to squint at you. “Because I don’t think you do. Did you know that your mother accidentally conjured me up one day?”

You freeze, food halfway to your mouth.

“What?”

“Yeah,” he nods, a wistful smile on her face. “She was so done with dating, she sat down, thinking long and hard about what she wanted in a man, and then wished for it to appear, in one person, thank you very much. A few seconds later I sat in the middle of her room, plenty confused. Didn’t know my Quirk could be turned on me like that.”

You gape at him, mouth open. 

“That’s not what you told me! At all!”

“Well,” he takes another sip. “Didn’t want you to try and recreate it. You’ve always been a curious kid.”

“But-”

“Ah,” he shakes his head at you. “Don’t talk back to me. Your mother would be disappointed.”

“Mom would be disappointed if I didn’t talk back,” you snap and he grins, bright like you know him.

You drop your head in your hands. 

“So what if he teleported me to him?” You ask, face hidden. “That doesn’t mean we will automatically work out.”

“No,” your father agrees, “but I don’t think we raised you to be a quitter. Or to be ashamed of where you came from. You used it as a motivation, became something we could be proud of. But I’ve noticed, lately, that you’ve lost your goal out of sight. Didn’t you want to get out of this part of town? Open a garage in one of the nicer districts and take me with you?”

“So you’re saying I should milk him for what he’s worth?”

Your Dad laughs.

“No. But I think you should at least try to see if you can work things out before you decide it will fail. And before you ask, Rumi didn’t tell me a thing. You’re just bad at hiding stuff.”

“Am not.”

“Am too. Eat your food.”

-

Tensei messages you every day. It’s not much, just a few details of what’s going on, but he’s persistent, even though you don’t respond.

Today’s text has you freezing though.

“Talked to Tenya. He’s as torn about going through with the surgery as I am, now that he knows the risks. Hope you’re doing well.”

The letters are dancing in front of your eyes. 

Tensei’s just as scared of things as you are. But while you were the one to take the first step, slip into bed with him when you could have run away, he’s the one keeping the conversation going.

You pick up your phone and start to type.

But isn’t that cowardly as well, you wonder, staring down at the words. You should tell him in person.

His apartment, however, is empty. 

At first, there’s no hint as to where he could be, until you reach the Calendar in the kitchen, tomorrow marked. Tensei, thorough in everything he does, has written the name of the Clinic next to the appointment.

Not that it’s of any use to you now, when visitation hours are most certainly over.

You pace his living room for a good minute before you realize, a little late, that you don’t have to deal with those anyway. All you have to do is focus on his face, the familiar smell of Grapefruit and Mint and-

Tensei groans, loudly. You’ve landed on top of him.

“Shit, sorry,” you climb off of him as quickly as you can, expecting the telltale smell of Hospital disinfectant and the crinkling of cheap linen.

Instead, your legs land on a mountain of plushies instead of the floor and when he turns on the light, you come face to face with a lifesized poster of a Hero named Gran Torino, the name all but plastered above his head.

“What are you doing here?” Tensei asks, voice groggy, “Am I dreaming?”

“Are you not in the hospital?” You ask back, trying to see more of this strange room. There’s sports equipment in the corner and pictures on the wall. 

Wait, is that Tensei with his front teeth missing? 

“I’m at my parent's place,” he whispers, turning the light off. “What are you doing here? Did I- Did I summon you again?”

“No, I wanted-” The darkness doesn’t make it easier to speak, instead you’re so much more aware of his body and his smell and the warmth he exudes. “I wanted to be there, with you. For the surgery or whatever you decide to do. I didn’t want to send you just a message, though, so I turned to your apartment but there was only a note on the calendar-” Tensei pulls you into his arms without a word.

“Are you going to leave again?” He asks after a while, voice muffled by how his face is pressed into your shoulder.

“Only if you send me away,” you promise, your hands finding the scars on his back, the spiderweb familiar, though not yet burned into your memory. One day they will be, you think, hoping that it’s true.

“Not sending you away,” he says, pulling you down. “And about the surgery-”

“You can do whatever you feel like doing,” you promise, “And I’ll do my best to support you.”

He laughs softly. “Even if means having breakfast with my parents tomorrow? Accompanying me to a different surgeon for a second opinion? Sitting with Tenya and my parents while I’m undergoing surgery that could kill me? Or pushing my wheelchair around until you need your own in case I decide against surgery?”

“Out of all those options, breakfast with your parents sounds the most daunting,” you confess, “but if they don’t bite my head off for sneaking into your room in the middle of the night to turn their innocent son into a Rebel, I can be swayed.”

“What about the rest?”

“You’re not the only one scared of relationships,” you admit. “But I’m not willing to let that fear stop me. You might have to remind me, though, sometimes. I don’t have the best memory.”

“Deal,” he says and you don’t need light to know he’s smiling. You can feel it, the curve of his lips, pressed against your own.

- x -

“Tensei?” Tenya calls from the front door.

“Taking a nap,” you call back, “I’m in the kitchen.”

It surprises you yet again, how Tenya’s still not done growing. He’s blinking in that tired way that tells you that school has been hell, but he still moves to hug you before he descends onto the Couch. 

Your apartment is closer to his school than his parent's house and even if it wasn’t, you’re pretty sure he’d still show up at least once a week.

In a few months, right after graduation, Tenya will start working as Ingenium, the newest member of their family to properly carry the name as a Pro Hero.

Tensei is insanely proud and so are you.

You take one look back at Tenya’s sleeping form when you feel it, the telltale signs of your Quirk activating.

You have just enough time to drop the knife you’d been holding before you dematerialize, only to plop back into existence right next to your Husband.

Tensei’s smiling, eyes open.

“Hey there,” he greets you, pulling you close, smothering you in a cloud of Grapefruit and Mint. “Missed you.”

“I was just in the other room,” you pretend to be mad, but your hands are betraying your words, rubbing circles into his back. 

“Too far away,” he jokes. 

“One day you’ll get in trouble for misusing my Quirk,” you tell him, twirling a strand of hair around your finger.

“But not today,” Tensei quips back. He’s right.

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for Marina; Tucker is having a normal one. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

So yeah, definitely coffee, Tucker decides. Sam'll catch up, again. Which–also again, right now they're probably the ones who need to catch up to her, considering. Her and the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick, specifically. Tucker always misses the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick when it’s not on deck, but he seriously misses it when it’s not on deck in situations like these. 

“So yeah, fyi, while we’re doing the running thing we gotta find my backup, she’s somewhere in the hall out there being a badass,” Tucker informs his hopeful weekend plans, pointing towards the door. “And possibly also our other friend, who she and I were looking for when we found you. So like, it’s very interesting, actually, that they were keeping you where they would’ve kept him, all things considered.” 

Very interesting. And probably concerning? Like, considering? 

. . . also possibly hot, though, Tucker realizes. Like, he’s very into situations like Sam going full anti-creep stick on the GIW and Jazz yelling down murderous ghosts and literally everything Val has ever done in her entire life, so if he’s more bisexual than previously assumed and this dude is, like, some kind of terrifying badass ecto-experiment with weird ghost powers or whatever, statistically speaking, Tucker is probably gonna be into that. And like, given the batshit sedative doses Tucker pulled and how quick the guy woke up and also the whole, like, literal flying thing, “weird ghost powers” seems pretty likely at this point. 

Well, forewarned is forearmed, he guesses. At least if Allegedly-Alive Amor is secretly some kind of dangerous anti-ghost weapon, Tucker’s gonna get to enjoy the experience of watching him get beat down by Danny. Like, as soon as they find Danny, he means. And also–

. . . actually, is it weirder that Tucker kinda wants to see this guy get a little messed up, now that he’s thinking about it? Like just in a minimally violent but definitively rumpled kind of way, maybe, or like, maybe kinda flushed and sweaty and out of breath and–

They should find Ecto-Babe some pants, Tucker decides privately, patting the guy’s chest in an attempt to distract himself and doing the actual exact literal opposite of distracting himself. 

Yeah, pants would be a good idea right now. 

Pants, fortunately–unfortunately, Tucker means–do not actually happen, because what actually happens is the guy takes off and zips out into the hall with Tucker all bridal style/princess carry in his wet, naked arms, and Tucker really needs to have a moment about that but definitely does not have the time to. Another reason to rip the security footage later, though, he figures as he types furiously at his PDA, making sure all his programs are still running in the GIW’s systems and showing the agents all the fake ghosts a Fenton could shake an anti-creep stick at. 

Probably he doesn’t actually need to check that, though, since they don’t make it through thirty yards of this surprisingly comfy high-speed flying experience before they’re coasting quick and easy over the heads of a hallway full of yelling and screaming agents who’re shooting each other more than any of the ghosts said agents think they’re seeing. 

That’s really unfortunate for them, gee. Tucker will have to send ‘em a “get well never, you xenophobic assholes” card. Maybe a fruit basket. One with nothing but cantaloupe in it, because the GIW deserves nothing but cantaloupe. Old cantaloupe, even. Like just old enough they’ll feel like they have to eat it before it spoils outright, but also the texture’ll be weird and–

“Uh, should we be worried about all that back there?” New Ecto-Boo asks, looking skeptically back at the GIW agents they’ve already passed–and also looking really fucking hot, still.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Platonic Yandere duo rouge and Gambit and child that's from the future reader who's their future child

Ooooooo! Thank you, @surpiseadoption ! Okay, now that's a gold nugget! Let's see what I can do:

As members of the X-Men, strange was as normal to them as the sky being blue or Magneto showing up and causing trouble. Still, some things happened to surprise them, just... nothing like this before-

"Mama! Papa! You look younger! Oh! Hi Uncle Wolvie!" shouts a child, no older than six, who waves at them with the brightest smile and bright pink eyes. And suddenly their world became a lot weirder.

It turns out that this child is from the future. Their future. And is their child. It's shocking, not just because Rogue hasn't hasn't able to touch people due to her powers. How... how did she and the swamp rat get together? For Gambit, well... this petit is quite cute, and is a sure sign he and Rogue were made for each other. They both know (in a sixth sense sort of way) that they like each other. That they want to give it a try. But the fact they had a kid...

They didn't exactly think that far yet.

The child is sweet, running up to everyone and hugging their legs, asking to tag along with them (and following following anyways even if they said no), just doing their best to stay by them, talking about the smallest things to the gossip they overheard from the others and pulling them into games when they can... Yet it's kinda weird having a kid who insists they're married and in love-

"Sugah, why are ya tryin' ta give Gambit a kiss?"

"Cause you said if we gave him kisses, he'd turn into a prince, instead of a frog thief."

"... Uh-huh..."

"It's like that frog from the movie!"

"Well, he certainly IS as slimy as one..."

It's kinda cute, having a little tot trailing them. It's less funny when they set their clothes on fire with their powers.

"Petit, how'd ya daw this taw yaself?!"

"I got your splosions! 'M likea fireworwk!"

"Gambit's gonna be likea a dead man if he don't put ya out... Wait, get back here, bébé!"

Some of their teammates find it endearing, having a tyke running around. Wolverine and Storm especially like them, as they keep getting them involved in their schemes. Those schemes being to get the two of them together.

"Why'd ya say ya needed me in the kitchen, honey?"

"Cause I'm hungry, and yous make good food."

"Then why's he here?"

"He makes good food, too!"

"Just make the kid something ta eat, or they'll start to pickpocket everyone until they find something," Logan snorts, but pats Reader on the head before leaving.

"...Ya taught 'em ta pickpocket?"

"Yaw didn't?"

"No, I learned-ed it from Uncle Toawd!"

"...We need ta get ya better friends, sugah..."

"... Gambit agrees..."

They end up keeping Reader with one of them at all times, once they realize they don't have the best control of their power. Making explosions of light and energy isn't good if you're a six-year-old who falls every five minutes. They've lost count of how many times they've had to pick them up from the floor or grab them so so don't fall down the stairs. How did they ever manage to keep their- this child alive?!

Their problem comes when they disappear one day.

They woke up, hoping to find Reader sleeping with one of them, only to find their beds empty, with no giggling child waiting to hug them good morning. Their worry only grew as their friends and team couldn't find the kid, even the Professor using Cerebro and Wolverine using his senses couldn't find the kid... Their kid...

And when did it get to that? That that was THEIR kid? It hurts, that they're gone, likely back to their time...

But they DID do something...

They brought the two of them together.

And in a few years... maybe they'll be able to bring their kid into the world.... And this time... They aren't going to lose them. Their kid brought them together, and once they've gotten their bebe, they're going going be the best parents they can. That's their mon petit bébé, and they'll be d*mned if anything gets in the way of them coming back.

[sun-in-retrograde]

Pluto Eris Square

I woke up from an awful dream in June of two thousand sixteen In a far right fake news fucked up universe And though we sang the Mountain Goats loud enough to bruise our throats Every year that followed still got worse and worse

-Grace Petrie “Fixer Upper”

So 2016 was a weird year, wasn’t it? Brexit, Harambe, Trump, clown attacks, The Orlando Shooting, Syria. Things got weird, and then, in 2017 they got weirder. I think it’s fair to say 2020 was the weirdest of years and things are still pretty weird now, to the extent that normality starts to feel, in itself, weird.

I would never want to blame everything on one astrological aspect, but it has to be noted, the 2016-2025 Pluto-Eris square maps really well onto this period.

Within 1 degree

16 February 2019 - 28 June 2018

27 December 2019 - 13 March 2020

24 April 2020 - 23 July 2020

8 November 2020 - 9 Jan 2021

9 July 2021 - 24 November 2021

Within 3 degrees

31 Jan 2018 - 2 June 2018

2018 15 december - 2019 August 9

22 October 2019 - 24 January 2022

23 June 2022 - 10 December 2022

Within 7 degrees

8 Jan 2016 - 15 May 2016

23 November 2016 - 10 March 2024

10 May 2024 - 11 January 2025

19 July 2025 - 26 July 2025

This year, for the first time in years, the Eris Pluto Square let up a little bit. We’re heading back into it now as Pluto retrogrades back towards Capricorn. But for the first time in a while this particular energy has cleared, leaving us to see what normality looks like without this square active.

What is Pluto-Eris Energy?

People often talk about Pluto and Eris as the Higher Octaves of Mars, but this is inaccurate. It’s useful to say because our society is obsessed with the idea of higher, transcendental truths and astrologers who study new astrological objects are going to want to associate their findings with higher truths because that’s good capitalism. But it would be more accurate to say that Pluto is a lower octave of Mars and Eris is a lower octave still. 

Mars covers all the planets in the zodiac in just 2.1 years. Its time in any one sign is measured in months. Pluto takes 244 years and its time in any one sign is measured in about a generation. Eris has a 557 year cycle and because its orbit is extremely elliptical it’s in Aries from 1922 to 2044 - 122 years, or 21.9% of this entire cycle. 

What this means is that in terms of octaves Pluto and Eris are much lower and slower than Mars. This seems to give them an element of depth. If Mars is attraction, Pluto is obsession. If Mars is violence, Pluto is trauma. If Mars is energised, Pluto triggers the survival drive. I’d argue Eris goes deeper still. It is cutting so deep that what you get to are the things that can’t be removed. 

When Eris and Pluto meet you have irreconcilable differences, major conflicts, things that are foundational to society coming into conflict. This is especially true this cycle. 

This Eris - Pluto cycle began with the conjunction on 17 December 1756 at 18°36 of Sagittarius. Despite this they had their waxing square, waxing trine, opposition, waning trine and waning square while Pluto was in Aries and that’s where Eris will be for their waning sextile. Eris is in 6 signs during this Eris-Pluto cycle but all but two of the key aspects happened with Eris in Aries so has an active, martial energy to it.

If you’re following this, and agree with me that Eris is fundamental planet alongside Pluto, you will be unsurprised to hear the last Pluto-Eris square was 1936-1949 and was at its strongest during World War Two.

What this means for us now

2024 is the last hurrah for the current Eris-Pluto Square. It’s not as strong as it’s been in the past but it’s still an underlying important energy of our time. In 2024 over half the world’s population is having an election and in the UK, USA and India the far-right are leading the conversation. We have ideological conflicts, a moral imperative to engage in anti-fascist work and deep fears for how this period will impact the survival of all of us, but especially the most vulnerable people. 

We know this energy. If you’ve been fighting in this time, you probably have the methods to fight ready to go when the next inevitable crisis comes up. But there’s a bigger problem coming up and that’s normality. What happens when the current square ends and the fight for marginalised people stops being such a fiery spectacle? For years the fight against global fascism has been massive, dramatic, and very visible. What happens when there is no crisis and we’re stuck with the new normal that’s emerged from all this? 

Sadly, it seems unlikely that the end of the Eris-Pluto square will be the end of extreme violence, fascism, and war. What I would expect is these conflicts becoming more a matter of attrition and normalisation - the banality of evil. The genocides continue, but they no longer shock us. 

The promise offered by the astrology of Eris and Pluto is that we come out of the Eris-Pluto Square into a quintile, where the skills and experience we’ve gained harden into a playbook of methods to keep fighting. We have experience and we have knowledge and we keep going.

In natal astrology

The oldest people with an Eris-Pluto square in their birth charts are now eight. That’s still young but this is a generation that’s going to come up and start looking into astrology before you know it. Mars-Pluto squares in a birth chart are often indication of pretty bad trauma. Eris-Pluto Squares in charts will mean an early childhood defined by traumatic experiences. Just the nature of being raised by parents experiencing the pandemic ensures that. The astrology indicates that this generation could replicate some of that trauma throughout their life and astrologers will be seeing that for years to come. 

As most astrologers don’t use Eris, I would argue they’ll be cutting themselves off from a key diagnostic criteria that would really help explain the lives of the 2016-2025 generation. But whatever. There are usually more than one tell for a traumatic experience in a chart. The underlying, fundamental, Eris-level truth of this square that all of us have to face is a generation who will need care and time and understanding beyond what we might expect looking at their lives now. We can do that, that’s what we need to offer younger generations. 

[spiderrmenace]

Sirius had been woken up, begrudgingly, that morning by Remus Lupin. One of his best mates, as everyone in Hogwarts was aware. He, Jamie, Remus, and Pete were quite popular around school; always getting into trouble with Professor McGonagall. (Though, she always let them off fairly easy)

He had woken up and went to breakfast like normal, but it wasn’t quite the normal morning, was it?

The difference between this morning and yesterday morning is that Regulus - or Reggie, as Sirius called him - had not been there. Regulus and him were brothers, you see. They fought, yes, more often than not recently, due to Sirius running away.

Sirius tried to take his baby brother with him to the Potter Manor. Away from the pain, away from their family, and away from the mark. He pushed and pushed, but Regulus had turned it down. No matter how hard he tried, his brother had always been stubborn when it came to rebellion against their family. He was always their mothers ‘little king.’

“I can't leave like you. I have a duty to fulfill.”

There was no denying they fought. Most of the Hogwarts students knew the black brothers weren’t on good terms since his runaway was published. But there was also no denying how much he loved him. His friends knew that, he hoped Regulus did too.

In first year, Sirius could not stop his perpetual talk about how great he was, and how excited he was for the rest of the marauders to meet his dearest family member the next year. Saying he was the best of the blacks, other than him, of course.

So yes, he was confused when he hadn’t noticed Regulus sitting with his group of Slytherin friends. He thought he might’ve gotten some sense and made some new friends. (Yes, he did check next to Snivilous, just to make sure his brother wasn’t mixing with the wrong people.)

Nevertheless, when he couldn’t find him, he thought he just woke up late. Odd, yes, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary, so he just brushed it off and ate breakfast.

What was even weirder is that the professors kept looking his way. Now, that doesn't usually happen.

“Why do you think the professors keep looking over here?” He had asked James. James thought it was weird as well, but thought they were wary of another prank they were planning. He brushed it off again. (Stupid mistake on his part)

What was extremely unusual is that after transfiguration, Professor McGonagall asked him to stay in his seat. She definitely wouldn't have talked to him if it was about a prank.

“We’ll wait for you outside, yeah, mate?”

Sirius nodded at them and stayed seated. They definitely knew something was wrong as well. They gave him a look of worry he hated. He hated when others fussed over him, but this time (since it was them) it was ok. Once in a while, he appreciated Minnie doing it as well.

He glared at her with a tilted head; he wouldn’t dare make a joke right now. Somehow, he knew this was serious. Maybe by the look she gave him, or maybe just by the abnormalness of the day.

“Your brother, Regulus.”

Regulus? Had he gotten into trouble? That might’ve explained why he wasn’t at breakfast, but typically professors don’t serve detentions until the afternoon.

“He-“ her voice cracks before she clears it, and starts again. “Regulus was last night-“

No.

“Found dead.”

He shook his head. No. That was his brother, he wasn’t dead.

“That’s impossible. Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain.” No. He can’t be gone. Has she gone crazy? Sirius loved him. There was no way he could be dead, right?

She gave him that pitiful look again before clenching her heart.

“Sirius, dear,” she went to place a hand on his shoulder. Or, that's what he thought before he slapped her hand away. He didn’t mean to, honestly, but she had just told him that Reggie, his Reggie, was dead.

He was the brightest out of the two brothers, more fast and agile. (Though, Sirius had more physical strength.) There was no way he was dead.

Why couldn’t he breathe? What happened? Why are they saying his little star disappeared?

McGonagall watched as Sirius stood up before immediately falling to the floor. She, of course, rushed to help him, but she was only met with another slap from him. Alright, If he doesn’t wish to be touched, she won’t touch him.

Though, it is not above her to sit on the floor next to him. Death, especially of a loved one, can be very difficult. She should know, she’s been around far too long now.

He frantically shook his head. It’s not real, he couldn’t be dead! When did he end up on the ground? Why is she saying he’s gone? Is she out of her mind?

McGonagall quickly cast a spell to calm him down. This was getting nowhere, and Sirius was only harming himself with a panic attack.

“Sirius, I'm going to tell you that Hagrid found.. your brother. Would that be alright?”

He didn’t care about how pathetic he looked. Merlin knows he would’ve been beaten if mother ever found him on the floor crying. He wiped his tears quickly before nodding. Maybe if she told him, it’ll prove to her that she’s making this all up. A prank! Yes, a prank. A very cruel prank, but a prank it is. They’d even gotten Regulus to indulge with them and skip breakfast. How? He has no idea how, but they prevailed

She told him that Hagrid was out looking for misbehaving little rascals that were skipping curfew by the shore of the lake. How he almost tripped over Regulus. What they saw when Hagrid had swiftly gotten them.

Then, she pulled out a locket. That's when he knew it wasn’t a prank. Regulus would never give his locket to anyone. He wouldn’t even let Sirius hold it, and definitely not for a silly prank. He couldn’t move.

She explained how they found it. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, he wanted to do anything. But he was frozen, stuck in place.

Sirius had gotten Regulus a dingy little locket that he had bought with his own, hard earned muggle coins in a thrift shop. He put a picture of them as young children in it. He spent weeks saving up anything so he could get his very own gift for Reggie's 6th birthday. He never let mother or father touch it, no matter how many beatings Sirius took for his disobedience. He didn’t argue; he never once told Regulus to give it to them. If that was his one thing to have for himself, Sirius would take thousands of curses to protect that right.

That’s when he knew. Not when she told him about his brother's lifeless body, not when she told him about the mediwizard who declared him dead. The locket, the locket he kept so close to his heart. The locket that reminded Sirius that his brother didn’t hate him.

He wanted to do something reckless. He wanted to yell and punch and kick and throw a tantrum like the toddler he could never be. So that’s what he did.

He yelled and screamed at McGonagall. How could she let his star die? Wasn’t Hogwarts the safest place one could be?

That’s when James rushed in; Remus and Peter must’ve gone to their next lesson. Sirius didn’t notice James until he was grabbing on his robes, begging for him to stop screaming.

That's when he really broke down. When James hugged him. He could feel the eyes looking at him through the door James forgot to shut in his scramble. He wanted to yell at them to go away, mind their business. Not their brother, not any of their business.

He wanted to go to his dorm. He didn’t want to see McGonagall, or any one else for that matter, and he told James just that.

His star chapter 1 of 2 by Undead_50

[awfulronpa]

Awfulronpa (Prologue)

When i woke up, i was in a classroom of sorts. Weird..i don’t remember entering a school? On the desk i was sat at, i noticed a small rectangle. I picked it up, and inspected it. It seems like a device. When i turned it on, there it showed my face, name, and..ultimate?

Enigma. The Ultimate Podcaster.

Enigma?? That isn’t my name. My name is…why can’t i remember my name? Great. Well, i might as well get out of this class room and look around.

I exited the room, and took in my surroundings. This was a ginormous school. As i walked, i noticed stairs that led downstairs.

Walking down, i could hear voices. Ah. So more people are here. At the end of the steps, i opened the door, just to be greeted by a wide range of people.

Adults..kids..teens..a weird range of them. I could hear normal conversations, along with two shouting at each other. I looked over to a person with white hair. My..lets say “phone” vibrated, when i checked it, i saw their information.

Melowon. The Ultimate Trickster.

Isn’t that trustworthy. I could hear someone— a girl? "Hey, hey, there’s no need to argue, calm down!"

Another voice. "This dumbass started it!" A younger girl.

"No way, it was toootally you." Another. A guy. I turned to see three brown haired people. A girl with some 80’s shirt inbetween a kid and some guy.

My “phone” vibrated again, all their information on the screen.

DorkyLesbian. The Ultimate Digital Artist.

Ouroboros. The Ultimate Asshole.

Swappy. The Ultimate Fangirl.

Dorky lesbian? And ultimate asshole? These names and ultimates just get weirder each time.

"NO DONT PUNCH EACH OTHER!" I heard from the older one— Dorky, im assuming. I shoot my head up and run over to grab Ouroboros while Dorky grabs Swappy. They’re glaring at each other.

I sigh and shake my head, looking towards Dorky. "What’s happening?"

"I didn’t hear much, but from what im guessing they got into a heated argument about the situation.." she responded with her guess, suddenly the younger one pipes up.

"He was saying the most stupidest shit!" She retorted "Someone needed to shut him up."

He scoffed slightly "It wasn’t even that big of a deal!" I huffed and set him down, and quickly after, Dorky set down Swappy.

Suddenly, another voice. "Well, what seemed to happen here?" A cherry voice, we all look over to a short man. With a dog head band?

All of our “phones” vibrated, and once again, i checked.

Ryuji. The Ultimate Collector.

Why are we all given these fake names?? This doesn’t make sense.. I decide to speak up on that. "Do any of you remember your actual name?" I asked. They all looked at me, then had a face of..i couldn’t tell. Attempting to remember?

A voice behind me speaks. "Seems we cant. Sad." I jumped. I turned around to see it was the one named Melowon. They smirked at me, knowing what they did.

I checked my “phone” once again, to go through everyone in this place.

Marble. The Ultimate Meteorologist.

Louise. The Ultimate Chaos Inducer.

Andi. The Ultimate Vocalist.

Moon. The Ultimate Clown.

George. The Ultimate Skit Maker.

Bobby. The Ultimate Racer.

Ebony. The Ultimate Emo.

Thirteen of us— myself included —in total. We suddenly hear a screech of a mic, then a voice. "HELLLOOOOO, NEW STUDENTS OF HOPES PEAK!"

We all turn to the podium, where out pops…a stuffed bear?! "I am your new principal! Monokuma!" It looks around "Seems i screwed up a bit and got a lot who dont fit the age range. Oh well!"

It claps. "Now, i hope you all are ready for this never ending semester, because this is your new home forever!" We all express our distaste for this..idea.

"What the hell?! Are you fucking crazy?!" Yells one— i think is Louise. We’re all furious.

"Now, now, calm down! There is a loophole to graduate." The bear speaks. We all quiet down to listen. "All y’gotta do a murder someone and dont get caught! Simple!"

Dead silence.

Kill each other? We’re all human beings— some of us are even younger than anyone here! I can already hear crying from someone. One of the younger ones im assuming.

"Oh, dont be all high and mighty now! You’ll get the motivation to kill one way or another!" Monokuma laughs.

"AS IF!" Scoffs..Ebony, i think? "This is all some stupid prank made up by some posers. Like i’d listen to a stuffed bear."

"THAT’S MISTER STUFFED BEAR TO YOU! And this isn’t a prank!" He huffs. "You’ll find yourself with a dead body sooner or later!" He cackles as he descends, assuming he left.

I turn around to see angry, fearful, and anguished students. Swappy clung onto Melowon as she’s sobbing, Ryuji and Dorky trying to compose their nervousness, others? I can’t describe well.

One thing’s for sure.

This isn’t a school worthy to be named Hopes Peak.

[hopelessrromantix]

blood sucker | 2

steve harrington x vampire/demon!m!reader x eddie munson

chapter summary: Steve and Eddie see each other for the first time since Eddie's death. and Eddie does not want to see him... right?

a/n: not much beta, a bit of angst and slight filler before my next one but oop

t/w: stalker-type reader, angst, no beta

And I Said No (Y'know, Like A Liar)

Eddie woke up in a bed much softer than the one he was used to, warm sheets coaxing him further into the mattress.

The room was comfortably warm, much better than the rest of the Upside Down. One of the window's curtains was pulled back, letting a warm, strawberry-pink light filter into the room. The color swarmed against the pane, melding with soft oranges and pastel yellows.

It wasn’t a sunrise, he knew that much. He didn’t know what it was, really. It was different from the Upside Down. The dark, dingy colors were still somewhat frightening. Your realm, wherever the hell it may be, was… warmer. More welcoming.

Or maybe that was just you.

You were more accepting than he thought. Sure, he was a little worried that’d you’d been watching him for so long, but at this point? He’d seen a lot weirder than a stalker with a crush.

There was a loud knock at the door, drawing his attention away from day dreaming.

“C’mon in lover boy,” He said, smirking.

You swung open the door, approaching Eddie’s bed.

He no longer wore his Hellfire shirt, instead donning one of yours. Despite the amount of times he’d scrubbed the shirt, it was still stained with his blood. He kept it in a haphazard pile on his dresser.

His hair was messy when he first woke up, though in fairness, it was always messy.

“Sleep well?” You asked, placing a mug of coffee down on the night table next to him. He snatched it, taking a sip and hissing at the way it burned his tongue.

“About a well as usual,” He shrugged. “So no, not really.”

You sighed at him.

He’d insisted on staying with you. You were more than happy with this information, but it meant he was leaving his friends back home. You’d gone to visit Steve plenty of times. The man acted like a husk of himself, as did Dustin.

Whether Eddie realized it or not, the group needed him. His death left more of an impact than they were willing to admit.

It’d been weeks by now. It’d taken him a long time to get used to everything, not that you blamed him.

Being… whatever you were (Eddie had used ‘vampire’, ‘demon’, and ‘halfling’, whatever that was), it was a different existence from being human.

He slept alone in one of your guest rooms, accepting small cups of blood from you. He didn’t want to ask where you got it from, he knew he wouldn’t like the answer.

At this point, food wasn’t something he thought of anymore. Sure, he missed some of his favorite snacks, but he was never hungry. Not in a normal way, at least.

You said it was part of the curse. That eating… people… was all he could manage now. Blood did just as well though, and meant he didn’t have to kill just to have lunch.

The first week was the hardest.

“You said ‘curse’ right? What kinda curse? Some demon shit, ‘cause all be honest, that’s pretty on brand,” He joked.

He was clearly nervous. He was out of place and trapped somewhere he didn’t want to be. He obviously couldn’t go home though, half the town wanted him dead.

“You’re like me,” You confessed. “Well, as much like me as a human can be. We’re… better built than humans, but we need to eat them to survive.”

His eyes widened as he stared at you, mouth agape. “Eat? Like, full on Hannibal Lector shit?” He questioned, holding his arm and mimicking taking a bite out of it.

“Well, yes,” You lamented. “Blood works just as well though, it does far less damage.”

He paused for a moment. “Really weird vampire… got it.”

He looked off to the side, glancing at a window. He couldn’t see anything out of it, just warm swirling colors.

“Do I just… stay here?” He asked, his tone dropping.

It didn’t take much insight to guess he was thinking about the friends he’d made. Hellfire was everything to him, and in the short time he’d known them, he’d managed to befriend Steve, Nancy, and Robin.

He’d gotten closer to Steve than he’d like to admit. Even with him chasing after Nancy, Eddie didn’t have much control over his sparking crush. Unfortunately he was rather used to falling for straight men. Not many people like him in a middle-of-nowhere town like Hawkins.

“You can,” you explained. “But I’d gladly take you back.”

He nodded.

The rest of that day had been slow. Eddie was quiet, getting used to his new surroundings and a hunger for people that he wasn’t at peace with.

The more time passed, the more he got used to everything. And the more he got used to you.

You never tried to hide your crush on him, if anything it was rather obvious. Though it took a few weeks for him to reciprocate, he eventually did.

Despite you reassuring him that he should feel no obligation to, he stayed with you.

You were thankful. The house was much quieter without him.

You talked now. Long conversations that stretched into the night about your lives. It was the most conversation you’d gotten in a long time. He told you about how he met his friends, his years at Hellfire, and even his Uncle Wayne.

There was a twinge of sadness that seeped into his voice. Like a grieving man talking about the dead.

He never wanted to go back, though. Too afraid to face his friends, confess that he could’ve seen them all this time. That he chose to run once again, hiding himself from confrontation in a place they couldn’t hope to reach him.

“You can go back, you know,” You said, watching him give an over dramatic sigh. He was used to hearing encouragement from you, trying to agree to go see his friends again. After all, they’d fought Vecna and seen giant killer bats, at this point, nothing would shock them.

“And do what, cower in a shack? Yeah, I’d rather not,” he huffed, taking a slower sip of his coffee.

“According to the police you’re innocent,” you reminded. “As far as any laws care, you’re innocent.”

In all honesty, you didn’t know why police didn’t label him innocent the second they saw Chrissy’s body. …not many humans that can completely destroy someone’s eyes without a weapon. And yet, it took the deaths of several others by ‘unknown circumstances’ to convince them.

“Doesn’t mean the good God-fearing townsfolk of Hawkins want anything to do with me,” he argued.

“And what about Steve?” Your question made him stiffened slightly, though he covered it well. Even though he was comfortable with you now, referring to you as his ‘somewhat supernatural boyfriend’ on multiple occasions, he was still uncomfortable talking about Steve.

“What makes you think he wants to see me either?” Eddie asked, placing the coffee cup on his night stand and throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“Even I know he misses you.”

Eddie only laughed. “With him chasing after Nancy? Yeah right. Besides, it’s not like he knew me for long.”

You sighed. “So you don’t want to see him?”

Eddie paused for a moment before shaking his head.

“No.”

Steve Harrington was fine.

He’d told everyone that over and over.

They first day back from the Upside Down he definitely didn’t go out and buy some random ass metallica cassette and play it on loop.

He hadn’t picked up Dustin and been unable to look the kid in the eyes. He’d never go to the small, makeshift grave they made for Eddie and sit there. Just… sit there.

He hadn’t done any of that, and he’d tell that to anyone who asked.

He’d seen Eddie back in school, even mocked him with the rest of his friends. Eddie The Freak Munson was just some weird cult leader, getting the nerds of Hawkins High to play some dumb fantasy game.

But since then, he’d become the babysitter of those same nerds.

Dustin had told him about Eddie, how cool and eccentric the Hellfire leader was. Steve had been more than a little jealous, not that he’d admit it.

But when he actually met Eddie? Like, had a real conversation with him?

Eddie Munson was no Freak. Eddie Munson was just a kid who liked a game and was a little larger than life.

And he hated the fact that Eddie had to die for him to admit that.

After the first few times with Eddie, he’d complained to Robin. Eddie was too loud, too weird, too dramatic and cultish. He’d whined about how Eddie was always in his face, calling him “big boy” and a million other nicknames that made him shift in his seat.

Robin had only laughed, told him to “get laid or get over it” and gone on with her day.

And frankly, Steve was offended.

He didn’t like men, and he certainly didn’t like Eddie Munson.

He didn’t like the guy he’d always talked to at parties either, not that anyone asked.

Steve Harrington was known for getting girls. He had just about every girl at Hawkins High crushing on him, and managed to keep it up, even in his old Scoops Ahoy uniform.

What Steve Harrington was not known for, was getting boys.

He didn’t need to in the first place. Not Eddie Munson. Not the pretty guy at parties. Not anyone.

And he didn’t know why on Earth he didn’t believe himself.

Whether he liked it or not, Eddie was gone now.

He’d planned to invite Eddie to hang out after fighting Vecna. Maybe spend some time with the metalhead, reassure himself that he didn’t like boys (not that spending time with Eddie would help).

But the second he saw Dustin sobbing, he knew it wasn’t happening.

So why, why was he so certain he just saw Eddie fucking Munson in the middle of a shop.

“Listen, Steve, I don’t know what to tell you,” Robin lamented, sighing. Her back was to the counter, leaning back. So far, the store had been completely empty, leaving the both of them time to talk. “You didn’t see him. I’m sorry, but you didn’t.”

Steve groaned, already tired of Robin’s refusal. Yes, he was aware he sounded insane. And yes, he was very aware that Eddie Munson should be dead. But with all the chaos in their lives, he was hoping Robin would take a leap of faith.

“What, an evil alternate dimension is fine but resurrection isn’t?”

She thought for a moment before shrugging. “Pretty much.” She snatched a bag of potato chips originally belonging to Steve, ignoring the man’s protests. Technically they weren’t allowed to eat mid-shift, but neither of them cared. “Besides, you said it like I’m totally cool with ‘evil alternate dimension’. That shit still doesn't make sense.”

She shoved chips in her mouth, chewing loudly.

“I saw him though,” Steve insisted. “He was at that same shop he went to for cassettes. He was with some guy, didn’t know him though.”

Robin raised a brow. “Okay, and did he see you?”

Steve shrugged. “He looked at me for a second, but he left right after.”

He was certain it was Eddie. He had the same wide, doe eyes and the same old leather jacket. Steve wasn’t sure who the man with him was, be he looked familiar.

“So why wouldn’t he go up to you?” She asked. “Why didn’t you go up to him?” She shoved more chips in her mouth, licking her fingers.

Steve’s shoulders sank. “I dunno… I guess it didn’t process.”

“‘Didn’t process’? What you saw him and didn’t think to go up to him?” She questioned. Steve couldn’t really answer. “Probably ‘cause it’s some random metalhead with long hair who was wondering why some guy was staring at him.”

“I wasn’t staring.”

“Sounds like you were staring.” She ate a few more of Steve’s chips. Steve grabbed a nearby stool and sat down, leaning against the store counter.

“I know it was him.” His tone dropped, suddenly more serious than Robin was expecting.

The idea of Eddie Munson being alive was a stretch. She knew Steve wanted him back, she’d seen the way they looked at each other. But he was serious about this. Really serious.

“I don’t know, man. He’s gone. Really gone.” She looked off to the side, remembering the night herself. She wasn’t very close to Eddie, though she sure as hell knew what his handkerchief meant. As annoying as he could be, she understood him.

“I know you want him back, but it’s not gonna happen.”

Every shred of logic knew Robin was right. Eddie was dead, somewhere in the Upside Down.

“I miss him too,” She offered.

“Not like I do.”

His words hung in the air for a moment before the store’s door opened.

They both straightened up, Robin putting aside the chips to look at who entered. Fortunately, it was only Dustin.

He stopped by fairly often now, under the guise of renting out movies. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was checking on Steve… and maybe trying to find his own sort of comfort. Either way, neither of the older teens had ever commented at his appearances.

“What’re you here for now?” Robin questions, her posture relaxing again. Steven did the same, glad he didn’t have to talk to a stranger.

“Maybe some horror, I’ve got a long list of recommendations,” he smirked. Everyone know the recommendations were from Eddie. No one said it, though.

“Try Friday the 13th,” Robin suggested. Eddie had taken it out a few times. She assumed Dustin could guess. It had turned into a small unspoken rule. Dustin and Steve didn’t say his name.

“Yeah, I’m game.” Robin nodded in response, walking away to grab the movie, giving the boys a second to talk.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

Things were different now. They only reminded each other of Eddie. And though Steve fought the temptation, he couldn’t help but tell Dustin the same story he’d told Robin.

“Hey so, you know how I wanted to grab music the other day? Some tapes or something?” He asked, watching as Dustin nodded. “I saw him.”

Dustin paused, staring at Steve in confusion. For the first time in a while, he felt the need to clarify who. “Like… who?” The dozens of possible ‘hims’ ran through Dustin’s head.

“You know who, man.” Steve said, looking away. “He was with some other guy, looking through cassettes. He turned around and saw me, then headed out pretty quick. I didn’t get to say anything.”

Dustin stayed silent for a moment, prompting Steve to look back up. “Uh, Dustin?”

“I’m fine, just rebooting.” The teen said, eyes wide. After a moment he calmed down looking back over to Steve. “That’s not funny man. I miss him, okay? Not ready for dead boyfriend jokes from you yet.”

Steve looked hurt, more hurt than Dustin thought he would. “I wouldn’t joke about that,” He reassured. “Also we weren’t dating.”

Dustin scoffed, putting aside the grim aspect of their conversation. “You look at him the same way you used to look at Nancy. Plus, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Eddie stare at someone’s ass so much.”

Steve chuckled, groaning at the statement.

“I get it. I… I thought I saw him too,” Dustin leveled. “But I didn’t. And… I don’t think I’m up for joking just yet. Give it a year and see how I feel.”

“I’m not joking, Dustin. I mean, maybe those bats did some weird, vampire shit. Like in DnD.”

Dustin’s eyes narrowed. “I appreciate you trying to show interest but there aren’t vampires in DnD.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so no vampires. Or maybe vampire. I don’t know. But I know I saw him.”

Dustin sighed. “Maybe…”

“Found it!” Robin shouted, approaching the counter again. Steve knew damn well she took her time with that movie, but he appreciated the alone time. It gave him a chance to make sure Dustin was okay… relatively speaking.

“Nice,” Dustin grabbed the case, reading over it while Robin checked him out. The two idly talked, catching up with each other. Steve only looked up again when Dustin left, giving him a wave and a goodbye.

“So?” Robin asked, concerned.

“I know what I saw.”

“This is a bad idea.”

Eddie shoved his hands in his pockets, as if it would keep people from recognizing him.

It was a fairly average day, though not many people were around. It made it better for Eddie given that he was so nervous about appearing back in front of people.

“Baby steps,” You reassured. “Your friends miss you, and I know you miss them. We don’t have to see them today, but maybe some time here will help.”

It wasn’t much, but you were proud of him. Sure he was struggling to keep himself from clinging to your hand, but it was progress. He was trying, and that you could respect.

“Yeah, I’m not so sure they’re excited to see the convict once again,” He said, picking up a tape and looking over it. He didn’t exactly have access to his cassettes, and he claimed he was going insane without at least some sort of music.

That and he wasn’t about to explain everything to his uncle. Not yet, at least.

“You aren’t a convict,” You reminded. “They worked hard to clear your name. If you don’t want to go back, at least say goodbye?”

Frankly, you couldn’t handle seeing Steve in mourning. He tried his best to be upbeat, still keeping his babysitter/mom position in front of the kids (regardless of their age). But without Eddie, it was different.

They hadn’t been close for long, but it was enough.

Eddie looked over another cassette before it suddenly dropped from his hand, landing on the tapes below.

“Shitshitshit,” He muttered, looking down quickly, eyes frantic.

“What is it?” You questioned, posture straightening in anticipation of an enemy.

“Steve’s here,” He explained, turning away from the store’s entrance.

Sure enough, Steve was looking at them with wide eyes, studying them carefully. Part of you wanted to walk up, finally introduce yourself and offer to take him on a date.

Well, it might take a bit of time, like it did with Eddie, but you were willing to wait.

And though you were close to letting him approach, you whisked Eddie behind a display case, teleporting you two away just as Steve got close.

You stood in the middle of the forest with a slightly panicking Eddie.

“We’re gone, love,” You said calmly, drawing his attention. “You don’t have to see him today.”

He nodded, planting his face into your chest. It was sweet. You knew well he didn’t have much contact with people and you were willing to offer as much as he wanted.

“Not today?”

“Not today. Never unless you want to, though I’d love it if you did.” You chuckled. “Do you want to see him?”

“...no.”

tags: @mary-jinx @0temp-erance0

[mythiccheroacademia]

The whole time traveling children has me feelin some type of way tbh. Imagine Mirio, Kaminari, and Tamaki walking into their respective rooms and there are just small children vibing. Mirio with his daughter, Kaminari with a daughter and Tamaki with a son. 😭

as i said, parent!bnha is SUPERIOR

A/N: So, instead of making these separate asks, I’m just going to make it one giant post. I thought it would be easier that way. Probably the only post that’ll have more than three characters lol

Warnings: none

Kaminari Denki:

when kaminari walked into his room, he didn't expect to see two children on his bed fighting like wild animals

the younger girl was totally beating the boy’s ass tho

kinda embarrassing bc she’s gotta be like, seven, at most

as if it’s not the weirdest thing he’s seen (bc it’s not) he rushes in to break them apart

he manages to separate them with his arms 

the boy with yellow hair snaps his jaws at his sister’s fingers

“hey! bad! no biting!” he scolds

the little girl blows a raspberry and taunts “yeah! papa says no biting!”

the older sibling just rolls his eyes “rat”

meanwhile, denki is literally malfunctioning

papa?

PAPA? HUH???

the only person’s pants (and heart) he’s been trying to get in to for the past three months was y/n’s and he sure as hell would remember if he did

he didn't have kids

especially one that was his age

“sorry! you two are cute, but i’m not your pops”

thus, they begin to tell denki about how they mayhaps followed him and their mother into a dangerous mission and got hit with a time travel quirk

denki just nods his head

tbh, he’s not that weirded out

weirder things have happened

but, he does have one question

“who’s the lucky woman?”

coincidentally, you bust into his dorm room, wet from a recent prank and head steaming with anger

“Kaminari Denki!”

his son juts a thumb over to you

“the woman that’s about to murder you”

“oh say less”

his life literally couldn't get any better

before you get the chance to throttle him, the little girl jumps in your arms and your anger is immediately quelled 

“hey mommy! i just wanna let you know that it was [son’s name]’s fault that we followed you when you told us not to”

“WHAT!?”

you’re to busy trying to get them from killing each other to comprehend anything that’s going on

kaminari is in a love-struck gaze bc hot damn, he won the jackpot, huh?

if he wasn't in love with you before, he’s in love with you now

you and your feral children

it was nice being God’s favorite

Kirishima Eijirou: 

funny thing was

kirishima woke up from his afternoon nap with his mini-me in his arms!

at first, he was really confused as to why there was an 8 yr old boy with spiky teeth and (your hair texture) black hair on his bed

he thought he was dreaming

then the little boy bit his nose and grinned like he had done the funniest thing in the world 

“WAKE UP DADDY! WE GOTTA GET SWOL TODAY”

did he get hit with some duplication quirk?

and what was that he said...daddy?

as in, father?

kirishima is wide awake now, but before he can ask the kid what’s going on, the boy is up and making use of his punching bag

he decides it wouldn't hurt to get a morning work out in, so he decides to humor the kid

after a mini workout, kirishima is in near tears as the boy tries to flex the little muscles he has 

eventually, he gets the kid to tell him what happened and finds out he was hit with a time travel quirk of some sort

instead of being weirded out, kirishima is ESCTATIC 

he has a family in the future 

he’s so excited and proud that he just has to show his son off to his friends!

the first thing he does is go and bother bakusquad in the common room

he’s bragging like shit to them and his ego swells as they all swoon over how cute and handsome the kid is 

you and bakugo come out of the kitchen to see what all the commotion is about and the little boy excitedly runs to you and jumps into your arms 

“momma! you’re here! you’re so pretty! why’d you marry daddy when he looks so unswol?”

it’s silent before bakugo fucking dies of laughter 

“y-you finally let shitty hair hit it? and got knocked up?? LMAO”

everyone’s dying and kirishima wants to die

he can’t believe this was how his long-term crush on you was getting outted

by an 8 yr old boy

so not manly

you look confused before you put the pieces together

the kid did look like you and kirishima

you want to console kirishima about the crush that you lowkey knew he had on you, but your son was one step ahead of you

with a gracious smile, he hits bakugo’s head

hard

“what the fuck kid!?”

“don’t make fun of daddy, uncle bakugo! at least daddy didn’t faint at his wedding″

Bakugo’s contemplating murder and everyone’s rolling on the floor

“WE BEEN KNEW YOU WERE THE BIGGEST SIMP”

even ten years later, bakugo still holds a grudge against your son

Togata Mirio:

i’m about to kill y’all w this one

since year one, mirio has been feigning over you 

but 1) you were too dumb to notice 2) you both were really busy with, y’know, school and 3) he lowkey gave up bc he thought you deserved better

so imagine his surprise when he sees this four year old girl on his bed

and she looks like you with his features

mirio might not be the brightest crayon in the crayon box

but he’s got eyes

and it wasn't like he’s memorized your features to the T

the tiny girl is swinging her legs absent-mindedly before exploding with happiness when he sees him

she runs to mirio and he catches her with open arms 

“daddy! daddy! i got hit with the coolest quirk at school today!”

proceeds to tell him about her best friend discovered her quirk and it was a teleportation quirk 

mirio can’t help but giggle along with her even tho he knew it was a scary situation for the parents

speaking of which...

he innocently asks her who’s the mom

“mommy is the prettiest mommy in the world! she has e/c eyes, hair like me, and the most beautiful s/c skin! her name is togata y/n!”

if he wasn't geeking before, he’s geeking now

not only did he manage to marry you, but you let him be your baby daddy?

him?

big bet

mirio doesn't even care at this point

he’s parading around UA with the fattest smile as he introduces his daughter to damn near everyone 

everyone’s freaking out bc wtf when did mirio get someone pregnant??

maybe he should've explained himself, but he sees you at your locker and makes a b-line for you

“good morning, y/n!”

he doesn't notice that you slam your locker close and hide the confession letter you wrote to him behind your back

you’re a stuttering mess and he’s too busy basking in the fact that he’s holding y’alls child 

y’all look like a mess

but he’s ready to lay it on thick when the little girl kisses your nose and cheers,

“mommy, i missed you”

he explains the situation 

you cant help but smile, “you know this could potentially ruin the timeline?”

and you feel like melting as he gives you the softest smile 

“there’s no way I’m letting that happen. not when i end up with the woman i’m in love with. we’ll just have to twist fate together”

and twist it you did

Tamaki Amajiki:

tamaki wasn't the bravest person ever 

and he knew his crippling anxiety got in the way of a lot

but he had never been more proud of himself for managing to invite you to his room

it was supposed to be a study date

despite how bold you normally were, he took comfort in how nervous you seemed 

now, you two were leaning in, about to kiss

and then a voice from behind interrupts 

“uh, am i interrupting something?”

you two let out the ugliest squeal and jump 50 feet away from each other 

you’re all over the place, trying to explain the situation

tamaki’s heart is barely beating at this point

it takes the kid, who looks about 16, about thirty minutes to calm you down and revive tamaki

explains that he’s from the future and a descendant of tamaki’s family

decides to leave out that you two are his parents so he doesn't risk possibly erasing himself from the space continuum 

that would be bad

despite how surprised you two were, you two take it rather well 

you three spend the day together bc you and tamaki feel this weird sense of responsibility for the guy even though he’s only two years younger

the boy is trying his hardest not to expose himself, but it’s so hard

you two are asking him everything from his favorite food to if he has any siblings

he’s good at pretending that he’s cool, calm, and collected, but he wants nothing more than to jump into his parents’ arms and cry about how scared he is of messing up

but he won’t 

bc he’s a strong boy

but he slips up

“how far are you down the future?” tamaki asks

“uh, about like 100 years or so--”

“you’re lying”

the kid nearly chokes on his food as his father blinks at him

you try and scold tamaki but he continues

“i don’t mean to be mean, but your nose twitches when you lie. y/n does the same thing”

that’s when the jazz record stops and everyone is staring at one another

“....wait”

this time, you nearly pass out

y’all had a kid together???

THE HELL??

the boy, coincidentally, starts fading and he thinks he fucked up

now he’s full out sobbing into the both of your chests, scared that he’s disappearing

despite the news, you and tamaki calm down, look at each other, and hold your son

“don’t you worry, baby” you coo, kissing his fading hair

“i have a feeling we’ll see you quite soon” tamaki comforts, closing his eyes

Bakugo Katsuki:

bakugo finally understood when his mom said

“the meaner you are to your parents, the nastier your kids will be to you”

he regretted being such a demon bc his kid was literally the spawn of satan

katsuki didn’t need an explanation to know that that...thing was his kid

he looked damn near identical to him with features that he couldn't quite place

but anyways, that wasn't the focus rn

rn, he was trying to figure out a way to keep that animal caged

as soon as katsuki took his eyes off him, the six yr old ran out the door as fast as his little legs could carry him

“catch me if you can, you old bastard!”

yup, it was his kid

“GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE FUCKER”

his son is blasting his way through the halls, skillfully evading Katsuki’s grabbing hands 

he’s wildly laughing as he flips and turns through the doors, watching with glee as his father falls on his face

multiple times

the small boy latches on to a cupboard and smirks

“no wonder mom always beats your ass! you weak!”

katsuki nearly looks like the devil, eyes white, and face red with fury

his pride suffering by the second

he’s about to cuss the kids to hell when you come out of the kitchen, confused

you were about to ask why katsuki looked like a rat with rabies before you caught sight of a basket of fruit teetering on the edge of the cabinet, above the little boy’s head

“look out--”

the basket falls on the kid’s head and he’s on the floor, reeling from the hit

katsuki would've normally laughed his ass off, but he felt kind of...concerned?

he watches you run towards the child who’s trying his hardest not to cry

the boy holds his head, fat tears in his eyes as you pick him up and coddle over him 

“i’m sorry, baby. I'm sorry i didnt get there in time” 

cue the waterworks 

the boy is full-on sobbing into your chest about how his head hurts

you bounce him and kiss his forehead as katsuki checks over the red bump 

“you’ll be okay, brat” he comforts, voice softer than usual

in that moment, katsuki can’t help but notice how much a family y’all look like rn

then the dots start connecting and he goes 

oh shit 

so, maybe, he’s had a tiny crush on you

and it didn’t help that you two were friends with benefits bc yall were horny teenagers

but who knew he’d get the balls to ask you out on a proper date one day

he was such a simp for you gosh it was ugly

“you have to be more careful from now on,”  you say to the boy 

the brat suddenly looks innocent and katsuki wants to throw him

“sorry, mommy. i’ll be gooder”

the look on your face is priceless 

bakugo uses it as a chance to kiss you 

“huh?”

“i guess now’s a good time to tell you that i want to be your dick on demand but with feelings and shit, dumbass”

[0littlestwolf0]

Clever as a fox

Yandere! Stiles Stilinski

Ship: Stiles Stilinski x Reader

Warnings: Stalking, overlooked obsessive behavior.

Requested by: Anonymous

You had almost wondered why he was following you.

I mean, for someone else it would’ve been extremely unsettling to see that same sky-blue Jeep everywhere you went, or the same brown eyes glancing at the distance, but it was Stiles, and everything that involved him was weird.

At least that’s what you kept telling yourself. He probably had an explanation, you thought, maybe he thinks that the newest threat in town is following you, or maybe he thinks you are the newest threat, that made you shiver.

How could you be a threat?

You had been on their side from the beginning, well, your beginning at least, since the first time you discovered you weren’t human it was as if Scott had smelled it immediately, well he literally did, and then came the questions.

What do you want? How long has this been going on? Are you the benefactor?

Soon followed by your newest stalker hitting his best friend on the back of his head “Do you really think she would tell us if she was?” And then you laughed, histerically, it wasn’t even funny, it didn’t even make sense, for fuck’s sake!

But there you were, laughing uncontrollably at the entire weirdness of your actual situation, who would’ve thought that the same girl that had been so worried about failing a class was now equally worried about not getting killed by a werewolf, or the mute, and don’t forget the berserkers!

Stiles, you recognized him from your economy class, was raising a brow at you “I don’t even know who the benefactor is, I’ve been like this-“ you gestured to your newely discovered supernatural self “since last weekend, and no, I can’t control it”

“She’s telling the truth” said the one with a crooked jaw, Scott, you remembered, those two were hard to forget after years getting in trouble with the coach.

And with that Stiles just shook his head, a low, breathed laugh left him “Of course she’d be supernatural” he mumbled ironically, not fully understanding, you tilted your head, and just like that Scott nudged him and with that Stiles’ ears turned pink, he’d said too much, yet too little for you to understand.

After that everything became a rush, you had to be quick to get ready in the mornings for school, make sure to get there on time, be a good student during the day, as soon as the bell rang your priorities shifted and now it was about surviving another day, going with the boys (they usually took you on their little quests before you could ask) or Malia and Lydia to find the big bad and try to keep everyone alive, then you back home and finish your homework.

It was truly tiring.

But also fascinating. You loved this new normal of yours, even if it didn’t leave much time for yourself, but being in the line so constant made you feel alive and you loved it.

Also the friends you’ve made were amazing, each one of them had shown you how ready they were to fight for you and that warmed your heart. Scott always made sure to keep you and everyone else safe, Stiles helped you at all moments, you didn’t even understand how he could be so good to you, somehow he knew your favorite warm drink that he would buy every morning for you before you arrived to the school, then he’d help you with your homework and save you from angry professor glances.

Malia literally had said that she would kill for you, and with that look on her eyes you believed her, Lydia was more quiet about it, but she made sure to keep your social life alive, and if you were in danger she wouldn’t hesitate to help you.

And just like them you were blindly devoted to the pack.

Which brought back the question, why was Stiles following you? Then you decided to make a move, you saw him groan and look everywhere but behind him “Where are you? Where are you?” He’d keep mumbling.

You traced the back of his neck with your index finger trying to scare him and he turned around with a little scream, his eyes widened and you noticed that in all the commotion he had taken a hold of your wrist.

You were at an empty alley, making it even weirder about why would he follow you there. “You scared me!” He whispered/yelled and you giggled, his eyes softened at the sound.

“Care to tell me why you were following me?” You asked and he looked down, his face becoming pink, if you’d known him better you would’ve known that he was always quick with answers, and that didn’t mean they were true “I wanted to give you my notes” it was a quick answer, not a change on his voice.

You tilted your head “But I went to the full day today” you shrugged, believing he might have thought otherwise “Oh! But I tought you could use them for the exam” now he was shrugging, way more confident in his answer than before. You believed the lie, if you’d known him better you would’ve noticed the little details, the way he spoke faster when he was lying than when he said the truth.

It was funny, you realized a bit too late, how he was more confident in his lies than he was in anything true.

But we haven’t reached that point of the story yet.

It became a little better after that, he would still do those little things for you that went a long way plus he would appear in your door every evening to study with you, he’d said you both needed to study because you were all falling behind.

You however didn’t notice the angry looks he’d give everyone other than Scott when they approached you, male or female everyone whose eyes lingered a little too long on you was a rival on his eyes.

For you it was almost like puppy love, you didn’t notice the things he did, and it wasn’t naivety, he is probably the most cunning and cleverest person you knew, clever as a fox you had said once and his whole demeanor changed.

That you didn’t fail to notice, but you tried to shrug it off, he’d tell you when he was ready.

Things would’ve never escalated if everything continued like it had been, him always by your side, you might study different things but he had already planned renting an apartment with you, he’d convince you, and then you’d be with him forever.

But no, Theo Reaken had to come to town and ruin everything he had going on.

The first time he knew he’d hate him was the first day of their senior year, when Theo winked at you, Stiles frowned and thought of a thousand ways to kill that freaking werewolf. But you had held his hand and whispered reassuring things on his ears, that calmed him down, and again it could’ve worked like that.

But the doctors wanted you, so Theo took you while you were asleep, he tied you up and set you on a cell before you woke up, pretending to be another victim there, he was a pathological liar who seemed unwilling to risk his facade, even as the doctors experimented on your blood.

Not seeing you that morning at school started to make his anxiety override, but he breathed and tried to convince himself that maybe you’d gotten a cold, or something, but you weren’t answering his calls either.

He missed first period running to Roscoe and then getting to your house, then the day became a blur on his eyes, your entire house was empty, but your car was still outside, your kitchen clean and the house seemed undisturbed, but as soon as he set foot in your room his stomach dropped.

Your bed was a mess, as if you’d tried sleeping but then woken up in a hurry, your shoes were still on the floor, but it was the window that convinced him that everything was wrong, your window was open.

You heated leaving any door or window open, you were too proud to admit it but you were scared of what could get in or out.

He called Scott and in a matter of minutes he was there, he said that he smelt a second scent in your room but he couldn’t place it, whoever did it was good at hiding their tracks.

They searched for you for a week, when they got a big clue, they knew to go in the sewers, they found the lab but retreated to make a plan (that didn’t include Stiles) and for once he didn’t fight it, because he had his own plan.

He knew it would be dangerous, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get you back like he was. The idea scared him, but the thought of losing you killed him. So he stole the wooden box.

It would be different this time, he convinced himself. Because this time he wouldn’t fight it.

With a shaky breath he placed it inside his backpack, he’d try getting you back on his own first, and if it didn’t work...

It had to work.

But he didn’t get too far when he started hearing you screaming in pain, his legs began to shake, and his eyes watered as he ran towards the sound, every scream was a knife settling in his heart, and he doubted he’d ever be free of the sound.

And then he saw you, lying there in a metal bed as three very scary figures loomed over you, injecting things in your arms and legs, whatever it was was hurting you. He didn’t have to consider it twice, those figures would kill him if they saw him.

He tried swallow the lump in his throat as he opened the intricate box, the irony of it being him who seeks that power would overwhelm him in any other situation. But the fly didn’t waste time as it flew directly and entered his ear, Stiles groaned, trying to stay quiet as he felt almost as if his brain was being ripped in pieces.

Let me in. I can save her. He heard in his own voice, but he doubted, the Nogitsune had killed Allison-

Your heartbreaking scream followed by sobs made him choose. He let it in.

[chatxkilluaxnoir]

There is No Turning Back Anymore, Ch4/15:

Meant to post this way earlier than I did, but hey!, at least I am still in the weekly or every two week range (even more so if you consider that I had said "give or take" too when I mentioned my "schedule" for this anyway) with this post.

Anyways, here is that new chapter! A bit of a longer one this time around too.

….................

Once again, I have posted this chapter and updated this fic on AO3 as well.  To see/read this fic on AO3, just go here.

….................

Breakfast with the Zilvers Chapter Summary:

The Zilver family all have a 'nice and lovely' family breakfast together.

The chapter itself is after the cut.

It was Sunday.  Dipper slept in till 11:30 am, then he woke up, got out of bed and got dressed.

He put on his blue pants, white shirt with magic sigils and symbols on it, red leather jacket (he grew to really like leather, because of his father), his favorite blue and white hat with a pine tree on it that he almost always wore (despite it being his favorite, he could never remember where he originally got it though.  Or when), and his black gloves (he had fingerless ones too, that his father gave him, and he did like those.  But he always preferred the more formal, non-fingerless gloves.  The kind of gloves rich or really old-fashioned people might wear.  Which made his sister tease him to no end.  Saying he was an “old man” and all that.  His father also sometimes teased him too about it.  His mother, in contrast, would say he had good taste in gloves; way better than his father.  She would say the latter usually, when she caught her husband teasing Dipper about it).

Once he was done with that, he went to the bathroom to brush his brown, streaked with blue and yellow highlights (once again, his father and mother were major influences on him and his sense of style.  Though his mom’s hair didn’t actually have any highlights right now, she still did like to have them from time to time) hair.  While brushing his hair, he decided he would make sure his bangs were covering his birthmark today.

(Which his parents thought were super cool, so didn’t get why he hid it.  Especially since it was why his sister and them called him Dipper.  And he didn’t really know why either.  It was almost like covering it was an old habit or something.  “Or something”, because even though he felt strangely like that it was an “old habit”, he felt like he didn’t always cover it.  Which was partly why he didn’t always cover it himself.  Those feelings didn’t really make sense though, like some of his other “feelings”, so all he could really say to them in answer, was that it was just something he felt like doing sometimes). 

Once he did that, he also brushed his teeth, and headed right down to have a late breakfast.  

 —--

 Luckily his parents knew their kids liked to sleep in on the weekends, so when they had the time, they would make late breakfasts for him and his sister (though, upsettingly, sometimes just for him).  

When he got there, his sister was already up, and was sitting at the table already, giving him the same forced smile she had been wearing a lot that week.

…His sister had been really acting weird this week.  Well.  Even weirder than she normally was.  He had tried to ask her about it, but she would just brush it off.  Usually by talking about other stuff, like boy bands, and make-up guns she made that would actually kill someone instead of applying make-up, or asking how he was doing and how was school and did he make any new friends (Dipper had no idea why his sister kept asking him this question, because on the rare occasion Dipper actually did make a new friend, his sister would act happy, but really, to Dipper, that happiness appeared to be fake more often than not, and sometimes she would even…,no let’s not think about that Dipper, best not to dwell on that.  Dwelling on that never ends well.  So we're going to stop doing that for now.  Yep.), or maybe just tackling him to the bed and roughhousing with him or tickling him, or etc.  It was all very normal things she would do and ask with him, but there was more nervousness to them, it seemed more forced, more like she was just deflecting.  

She had gotten pretty good at hiding how she was actually feeling and stuff over the years, but Dipper had just enough practice seeing through that.  So he could tell that something was wrong.  Could tell something was weird.  

Like that goddamn forced, fake smile that she had been sporting almost this whole week, which was starting to drive him kind of nuts at this point, he wasn’t going to lie.  He really wished she would just cut it out already.

 —--

 Dipper after saying a “Good morning” back to his hugely-smiling mother, Angelica Zilver.  Who was as glamorous as always.  Even on a day like this with no special occasions.  Her platinum blonde hair pulled in a long, pretty ponytail.  With gracefully put-on make-up.  Like red eyeshadow and pink lipstick.  And all decked out in a dark purple, classy business suit.  You could really tell she was a businesswoman and the head of her own fashion line, even just by looking at her.  

And to his more stern-faced (who was actually pretty chill, his face was just kinda..like that most of the time) father, Aaron Zilver; though one corner of his mouth was also crooked upward in a slight smile as well if you paid enough attention.  His father, who dressed less glamorously (thought, not by a lot) than his mother, but still looked cool with a black shirt with a skull on it, black leather jacket, black pants, some black mascara and eyeliner, and had brown, slicked-back hair that was streaked with purple and red (his red highlights looked more natural than the purple though.  And for all Dipper knew, maybe they actually were; it could be hard to tell with his Dad.  Especially since his Dad liked to joke and mess around about stuff;...well, sometimes he did.  Like, he always loved to joke about his highlights.  Saying they were real in one instance and saying they were fake in another.  And it could be so hard to tell which one was the truth, because he just sounded so damn convincing either way) highlights.  Truly, still a punk-rock drummer at heart, despite being mostly retired now.  He wanted to be more ready and available for his newly-adopted kids. 

Went to go sit at his already set-up place across from his sister at the table.  Where he would sit down, and narrow his eyes at his sister.  

His sister, who was wearing her usual kind of outfit.  Today of which being a pink and orange tank top, with a kitten on fire on it, surrounded by a rainbow (just looking at it kind of gave Dipper a headache), red shorts, and her long, past her butt, red hair, that she had pulled up in an intricate braid.  

And that very same sister was also still showing him that same ol’ fake grin that he was slowly growing to despise.

 —--

 “Good morning to you too, Scar.”  Dipper said the nickname he usually called his sister - a term of endearment between them - with more bite than he usually would, “I see that you are in a good mood once again this morning, just like you have been since Monday.”, Dipper finished off with thinly-veiled sarcasm, a fake smile of his own, and fake joy.

What, Dipper never said he couldn’t be a petty person.  And he had tried to give her time to say what was wrong on her own, but it had been almost a week since she started acting like this, and Dipper was growing annoyed (and increasingly worried).

Scar kept her fake smile on, and only replied with a “Good morning of her own” and an eye roll she tried really hard to suppress, but failed to.

Scar then proceeded to stare at her empty plate, sometimes drinking some orange juice out of her glass, all the while saying nothing more.

Dipper just stared at her, waiting for her to say anything at all, while also sometimes taking drinks out of his cup to drink his chocolate milk that his parents had placed next to his empty plate at the table.

 ………………………………………………….

 ………………………….

 ……………

 ……..

 …

 When Dipper finally couldn’t take the unbearable silence anymore, he finally leaned over whispered loudly, in an irritated, but also sympathetic tone, at his sister, 

“Scar, seriously, what is wrong, you have been acting weird all week, and I am starting to get worr–”,

he was cut off by his parents yelling breakfast was ready and asking their kids to come help set up the food on the table, so they could all eat.

Taking this opportunity to dodge Dipper’s questions, Scar got up quickly, chair almost falling over with how abrupt she was.

“Coming!”, she shouted.

Dipper was taken by surprise with Scar’s sudden leave.  “Huh?  ..Wh-wait–Scar?”, he stuttered, until he realized what Scar had done, slammed his hands on the table, causing his dishes and glass to shake, spilling some of his chocolate milk, and then shouted after her, “Scar, where do you think you are going?!  Can we please just talk about this already?!?, Dipper said without trying to hide it from his parents anymore in the slightest.  Too mad to hold himself back.

“Young man, don’t yell and make a mess!  Where are you manners?”, his mother berated.

And his father just looked over at him with his signature “I-am-not-happy with you” Look, sighed, and then shook his head, before saying,

“Listen to your mother.  On this rare occasion, you should actually be following your sister’s example.  Look, she is already setting the syrup, butter, and chocolate chip pancakes on the table, while you were making a scene.”

“What, but–”

“No buts, Leo,” (oh man, he must be mad, to be purposely using Dipper’s real name instead of the nickname he usually went by), “now, go finish off setting up the table, so we can eat breakfast-well technically brunch, but whatever, it is breakfast to us.”  His father cut him off.

“Fine.”  Dipper begrudgingly muttered.

 —--

 Dipper went over to the kitchen, and got the scrambled eggs and bacon and set those on the table.  His parents brought over a cartoon of chocolate milk and orange juice.  His mom topped his class of chocolate milk, and poured her and her dad some orange juice.  They didn’t top Scar’s glass.

*Cough* “Hey, Mom, I think you forgot to top Scar’s glass.”

His mom looked confused for a second, and then realization dawned, “Ah, of course, yes, your sister’s glass, of course.”  She stuttered like a robot.

His mother walked over to pour some orange juice in Scar’s glass, but was stopped by Scar, who raised her hand in front of her in a halting sign.

“That is fine, Ang - Mother”.  Scarlet purposely almost calling her Mother by her real name in her disdain for her, before changing it, though she said both the “slip-up” and “mother” with a peculiar edge to them.  “I don’t need any more orange juice, but thank you anyway.”  Neither her words or tone sounded sincere whatsoever, not helped by her previous “slip-up” and the small glare she was giving her mother, though she did try to quickly conceal all of that before her mother could really notice, but well, Dipper still noticed.

And Angelica of course noticed too, “Oh.  Giving me lip now, Scarlet Zilver?  You really think I will take that from you?”, she asked with a calm coldness.

“Yeah, yeah, I am sorry ‘mother’.  I will try to keep my mouth in check.”  Scar said in a better tone this time, but not much better if anyone was being honest about it.  

*Sigh*  And with both a look and voice that sounded tired, ”That is the best I am going to get from you today isn’t it, Scarlet?”

Scarlet didn’t say anything in reply.

“Okay then, let’s just eat I guess.”

“That sounds nice, let’s just do that, instead of talking.” Scar replied this time, even though their mother hadn’t really been directing that at JUST her.  Her voice was still all fake cheer and happiness when she replied this time too.  Similar to the one Dipper used on Scarlet, but it seemed it was for different reasons than why he used it.  Well, besides the irritation.  Both him and Scar were definitely both irritated when they used that tone.

Like mother, like daughter, the mother also loved giving eye rolls.  And she certainly gave a huge one at her daughter; not even trying to hide it, before going on to eat her breakfast.

Dipper, having seen both mother and daughter give eye rolls (or barely suppressed ones), both thought they were being childish with each other, so he just “hmphed”, and ate his own breakfast while trying to ignore them.

Throughout this whole exchange, the father just watched, and once the whole thing had blown over, and they knew the argument wouldn’t get bad enough that he would need to step in (arguments between the mother and daughter weren’t really uncommon in their household), finally got started on his own meal.

 —---

 The Zilver family spent the rest of their breakfast in uncomfortable silence.  None of them talked even while cleaning up after their meal, or once they started to go their separate ways; all, for the most part, doing different things on that now Sunday afternoon.

Before they had left each other, you think they would have said something to each other.  Said anything.  You would think the silence would have gotten unbearable enough where someone would talk, but when everyone in the Zilver family (from the 4 of them, that is) were all stubborn as all hell (some, way more than the other(s) though), well, whoever talked first, lost, and no one wanted to lose.

 .....

 They were all childish, just like Dipper had accused his mom and sister of being.

But it wasn’t just them that were childish, but the whole family was, including his father, including Dipper himself.  Even IF he would vehemently disagree with that.  He was the same too.

The whole Silver family was childish.  Stubborn.  Competitive.  Hated losing.  The works.

Wasn’t that just ‘great’.

[stuff-from-the-void-matron]

Laurel Wreaths & Animal Teeth (2)

(c!Technoblade x fem!Reader)

(a/n: a handful of people seemed to like this story so here’s part two! same as with the first chapter, if this one gets some interest then i’ll do part 3.)

~~~~~~~~~

Like every night of sleep here you woke up after what felt like no time at all. But at least you felt rested instead of tired still. Either way, it was time to get up and have some food before fixing up this village. Which was in dire need of it from what you saw the day before.

After eating some bread you got to work scoping out the village, jotting down in a book (with a damn QUILL) what problems needed to be fixed first and which could come later. Once that was done you started evening out the land so it wasn’t one hill after another with a ton of dark spots. 

Figuring out how to just make blocks and items disappear was weird. And seeing it happen in real life time was even weirder. You just put your hand on a block or anything not alive and with a twitch of your fingers the item just… ceased to be. All you got was a quick breaking sound followed by a particle effect that lasted a half a second, then nothing. 

You got used to it. You’d have to, that’s just what humans do. Adapt.

“Hmm.”

You’d been so focused on terraforming that you’d gotten a little spooked when you suddenly heard a voice behind you. After turning around you saw some villagers watching you. You blinked and after a couple seconds of silence you said,

“Hello.”

They just watched you and gave murmurs that didn’t sound like anything negative, and you didn’t wanna make things awkward so you just went back to doing what you were before. You chalked it up to them being curious about the new person in their village changing stuff. So you gave them a smile before getting back to work. 

They stayed and watched you for a bit longer before one by one leaving to do whatever it was they’d been doing before coming to scope out what you were up to.  You figured they were just checking to see if you were dangerous or not. Which was understandable so you paid them little mind.

You got lost in the zone after that, just working diligently to smooth out the land and fill in parts of the river so it wasn’t bisecting the village and making it hard to get from one side to the other. Hours passed without you realizing, you didn’t have a hunger bar so no growling stomach to snap you back into focus either.

In the back of your mind you noticed the sun had set because you had to pull out some torches to make seeing easier. But aside from that you were oblivious to the world around you. At least you had been until the sound of pained grunts made you look up from what you were doing for the first time in nearly 10 solid hours.

Your eyes widened when you saw a villager cornered between some hay bales and the side of a house, getting attacked by a zombie. Like in the game his whole body sorta flashed a red tint to show he was taking damage. You didn’t even really think before you reacted, you just saw someone getting hurt so you yelled loudly,

“HEY!”

To your surprise the zombie halted and turned to look at you. But then seemed to disregard you and started to turn back to its violent task, intent to ignore your call and you felt just enough outrage to start rushing over, yelling at the undead as you did. This caught both zombie and villager’s attention. 

The villager edged back as you came over and started smacking the zombie back, making him grunt and stumble slowly backwards. After you dealt him a couple hearts damage he turned and shuffled away from you both. With you hurling colorful commentary at him as he slowly feld. Once he was gone you turned to the blinking villager and put your hands on your hips and scolded him,

“What are you doing?? It’s night time! Get inside and go to bed!”

The villager looked alarmed as he rushed to hop up the short steps to the house he’d previously been wedged against, hurrying inside and slamming the door closed behind him. You sighed, a little annoyed with how hard your heart was beating from the adrenaline of having to essentially break up an attack. 

With one last huff you turned and headed back to your previous task. But half way there you stopped and glanced around the village before sighing again and deciding it wouldn’t hurt to check to make sure all the other villagers were safe inside right now. 

This would become a routine for you, making sure the villagers were safe indoors after sunset.

-0-

Days turned into weeks and before you knew it you’d terraformed the land the village was on into a much more manageable and easy to navigate space. You’d even started upgrading the villager’s houses and stuff. You did this mostly because all their houses were like 3x3 inside and looked beyond cramped. 

Also you disliked cobblestone when used in the construction of Minecraft houses. It just looked ugly in your opinion and stone looks way better. So you used that and different colored terracotta and pretty lamps instead of plain torches in some spots. It all gave the village a more cozy vibe you think. But either way your construction drew the villagers’ attention once more.

The villager whose house you started with hadn’t sounded happy when you built up and began to break the roof. He’d grunted and walked around watching you but stepped back when you called down and told him you were fixing the house and making it stronger and bigger for him. He hadn’t seemed fully convinced but he didn’t sound as upset so you continued.

It was when you were putting on the roof that you discovered that you didn’t take fall damage…

You’d stepped back to put the top point of the roof in place and miscalculated how much roof was left to stand on behind you and ended up slipping off. You barely had time to register what was happening, much less scream, before you were just… standing on the ground. You looked up and saw the unfinished underside of the roof’s edge…. a good 15 feet up in the air above you…

You looked down and mentally checked yourself over and you were fine? Not a scratch or ache anywhere in your legs. Which should be the bare minimum someone should have after falling off of a nearly 2 story roof. But you were perfectly okay, and honestly… sorta curious. And at this point you were more curious than cautious so you actually went back to the edge of the roof and just.. jumped off. You were incredibly lucky the first safe fall hadn’t been a fluke..

You landed nice and soft again this time. Only now you were able to watch what happened as you fell since you were looking down and not up (or having your brain lag in fear). You fell normally at first but once you got about 3 feet from the ground you slowed before landing about as hard as if you’d taken one step downward. The wind rushed past you and fluttered your clothes but aside from that you were unaffected by the high fall.

“Well…. I suppose that’s one less thing to worry about?” you sort of stated with a questioning tone because honestly you’re just trying to roll with the punches at this point.

-0-

You noticed there were only TWO profession blocks in the whole village, a farmer compositor and the weaponsmith’s grindstone. Which wasn’t great village wise you were sure. So you started to just… add professions to pre-existing houses. Like one house you converted into a two story with a balcony and added a library and lectern to it before bringing a villager over and showing them. 

Honestly you weren’t totally sure they would be interested but to your delight their clothes changed after they were surrounded by some green sparkles, signaling they’d taken up the role of ‘Librarian’! You clapped happily and said this was great, to which the villager responded with a happy sound. You left them to their studies and went to add more job site blocks!

-0-

You’re not sure how much time passed since you’d found this village. But you can say it definitely looked different these days, in a good way. You’d renovated (or outright remodeled) all the homes and now each villager had a job. Well, except for one who, for whatever reason, didn’t want any of the jobs. You’d tried showing him each option and he just gave unhappy grunts for each one. 

Finally you’d asked if he wanted a job and he gave a negative ‘hrm’. So you’d figured it was his choice at the end of the day so you shrugged and got rid of the career blocks and told him that was okay. You told him his job could be to Not have a job! And he seemed perfectly content with that so you just left his home a regular one and went about your day. So really, a happy ending for everyone.

And once the village was all set looking nice and prosperous you finally stopped and realized… you’d never made yourself a house? Though to be fair you’d sort of hyper focused on building up the village and all the villager’s professional skills so you’d not had much time to think about yourself. And now that you think about it.. you’re not sure when the last time you ate or slept was.. Like, at all! Which would be concerning if you were starving or about to pass out but you mostly felt normal? You could eat or go for a nap but you could also just.. not? And you’d be okay you think.

“This is all super weird.. I need to go to sleep I think…” you sort of mumbled to yourself.

You looked around and noted the time of day, which meant no sleep yet. Then you surveyed the large village and noticed a nice hill one of the four main crossroad paths in the village was leading towards. It was too far away for any more villager houses so you’d left it alone in your building spree. But now that you were walking around it you saw it would be a great spot for a place of your own! All you had to do was remove a couple trees, widen the top layer of dirt and move the path a little to the left and you’d be golden.

But you were pretty much sick of looking at oak logs, grey stone bricks, and terracotta so you decided to forgo using them in whatever design you settled on for your house. Instead you open your ‘expanded’ inventory of all the building blocks and began looking through them idly, searching for something nice looking that wasn’t too bland or contrary too flashy. Like sure a diamond block house SOUNDS cool and also very pretty but actually making a house out of diamond blocks seems like it’s just asking for trouble.

You couldn’t help the chuckle you let out at the thought of someone actually building a house of diamond then going mining or whatever and coming back to their whole house being gone save for their bed. But you pushed those silly thoughts away and finally ended up choosing some quartz stone for now. It was a good looking stone, nice and smooth. As you looked through the other blocks you thought about what your house should look like. You didn’t want to build any more of the standard villager houses at this point, you were sorta burnt out on that. 

Vaguely you recalled a handful of house and building tutorials you’d watched on youtube. But honestly it's been such a long time since you watched them that you really only remembered the final products. Although you reason that that shouldn’t stop you from trying anyways! Because what’s the worst that will happen? It’ll look ugly? Then you can just take it down and try try again! You’d start building slow and see what you liked and what looked cool. 

So with that decided you grabbed one of the quartz blocks and some stairs to match then got to work on your new house.

@salinesoot​ @lady-bee-fechin​ @kacchasu​ @putridjoy​ @lunawritesstories​ @galaxypankitty3030​ @paradigmax​ @zachariethememerie​ @killmewithafanfic​

[is-nini]

Zhongli x childe x reader x diluc x albedo

Their reaction to you being a cat

WARNING!

Poly relationship, you being spoiled.

"(Y/N)?!?!?!".

Sucrose shout, panic is very present on her voice. The cause of her panic? Well you turn into a cat and this is what happen.

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

"Albebe???".

You called out. Looking for Albedo because today is the day where you, Albedo, Zhongli, and Childe hang out togather. Albedo is usually getting carried away with experimenting so you decided to call him earlier so that when you both arrived no one will be late, well that's what you thought.

When you went inside there is no one there but seeing the beautiful coloured drink on the table you are suddenly drawn by it. You put your hand on the table and when you bend your hand you accidentally knock over a bottle.

Your instincts suddenly kick in and you quickly catch the bottle because the bottle is so close to you. A little drop of the potion falls to your hand, as you put the potion back to it's place you feel something weird on your head and butt as a sudden urge to fall asleep drowns you.

"(Y/N)?!".

you heard someone shouted your name, as you look up you saw sucrose, wide eye and shock across her face as you felt your head being put on her thighs as you wipe your eye.

"Hmm...what..happen?".

You asked, noticing that you're sleeping on the floor. Sucrose slowly helps you wake up.

"Y-you have-!".

Sucrose was about to finish her sentence when the lab door suddenly slam opened revealing Albedo.

"W-what happe-".

Albedo stop mid sentence when he look at you on sucrose arm, you look like you just woke up and from the position you and sucrose are in, it's not hard to confirm that you just slept on the floor. His eyes trails from your ear to your tail.

Once you saw albedo you just have the sudden urge to cuddle him... So you did!

"Albeddooooo~".

You say, almost slurring and then latch on to albedo, you started to rub your head on his chest, albedo is confused but... You are just so cute he can feel himself getting red at your action and so he pat your head since you seem to have a cat instinct. You purr which confirms Albedo's theory, he look at sucrose confusion is written on his face.

"What.... happened?".

Albedo asked her, she shake her head and then shake her hand in front of her.

"I-I don't k-know.. s-she was just sleeping on the floor with a cat ear and tail when i went inside the lab".

Sucrose respond scared but curiousity lacing her voice. Albedo put his hand to his chin to think when suddenly you tak his hand and look at him with your big doe eye. Albedo giggle and put a hand on to your cheek and gave you a warm smile.

"What do you want hmm? What happened here love?".

Albedo asked you, you just stood there looking at him dumbly for a while until you point out the potion that you had last save. Albedo look at that potion, everything is calculating in his head, but he quickly thinks back to you.

You seem to be doing fine... Your body doesn't show any scar or bruise or burned you look like you were having the time of your life, nuzzling interested Albedo's chest, purring and occasional meaowing, you're..so cute, Albedo look at your form as he try to hide his red face but.. it's hard when you're holding one of his hand while hugging the other.

Sucrose watch both of your interaction and smile warmly at it, she search the notes about the potion that you touched and present it on the table. Albedo smile at sucrose greatful that he has such a helpful student and proceed to try and read the notes, but it is proven to be hard because of your constant cute whining, mewling, and nuzzling, and so Albedo pick you up princess style, you nuzzle to his neck as he cooed and mutter under his breath "so cute".

He proceed to bring you to Childe, Zhongli, and Diluc to see what they thought is.

When he arrived at the meeting place, he already heard some muffles coming from inside.

"Where are they?! I wanna see my cute (y/n)~".

"Shut it fatui".

"Now now, let's not fight and wait patiently for them".

Albedo sigh he was about to open the door when suddenly you jump out of his hand, yes you jump. He quickly catch your hand and look at you in the eye.

"Don't be bad girl okay".

Albedo look at you with sharp eye while you stare at him dumbly, he admit it is cut, you are cute but you need to listen to him and the boys and you need to understand that. 'maybe they can help'. Albedo sigh and gave you a warm smile, he started to lead you inside, on the way to the room you keep mewling and making whining noises and that's what caught the boys attention.

"ZHONGLI! DIWUC! CHAILD!".

You shout out, your pronunciation is getting weirder and weirder but again Albedo cannot deny the fact that it is indeed cute.

When you stepped in everyone goes quiet, you.. turned into a half cat..? The thing that makes them quite is the fact that you look so cute, your tail is swishing around, your ear is twitching a little bit and you seem more... childish than usual.. not that they mind they love taking care of you.. it's just that their heart is throbbing around so badly.

"Pardon me but... What happen to our dearest (n/n)?".

Zhongli asked confuse and shocked as to what happened. There's only 1 explanation as to what happened and this must've have some involvement with science, and so everyone turn to Albedo.

Albedo pinch his head and sigh.

"I did not do anything and she is the one who touched the potion on the table".

Albedo try to explain gis theory and what you did to end up like this but proven to be hard since you keep on mewling, suddenly childe jump towards you, pick you up and hug you.

"AAAAAA OH MY GOODD YOU'RE SO CUTE THIS IS NOT FAIRRR".

You're squished between childe's strong hand, you mewl around and try to get out of his tight deathly hug. Zhongli sweat drop and seeing you mewling and trashing around Diluc went to childe and hit his head. Hard.

"Let her go fatui, you're crushing her".

Diluc say, when you are out of childe's grip Diluc pick you up gently and shush you, treating you like a baby- but you're not so instead of calming down you nuzzle and hug Diluc instead.

"So.. she turned into half cat.. the transformation itself must've taken a lot of energy right?".

Zhongli thought and voicing his opinion out, he looks at you and look at the table filled with food and picked up a rice, fish and (f/f), he then walked towards you and feel the food to you.

"She seems to eat normally... That's good at least We don't need to buy her cat food".

Zhongli says while everyone sweat drop at him.

"You're being weird Zhongli. You hang around the fatui too much".

"HEYY WHAT'S THATTT SUPPOSE TO MEANNNN".

Hearing to Diluc's insult, childe whine while rubbing his head that Diluc hit, Albedo sigh and walk towards the table as well as the others.

Diluc put you on the empty seat you stay for 3 second and then you walk towards Zhongli and climb up his lap.

"Hmm? What do you want dear?".

Zhongli asked as he blink slowly, confused as to what you want, he picks you up and put you on his lap, your front facing the table and the boys.

"I have been trying to decipher what she need but..she doesn't really voice out her opinion".

Albedo explain, sighing once again, Diluc looks at you and rub your head, your face lights up and seemingly to enjoy that very much, Childe took this opportunity to try and make you talk.

"Are you okay (y/n)? What happen? How can you turn onto a cat".

Childe asked, his voice is softer than before, because of the comfort that you're presented with you decided to open your mouth.

"I was looking for Albedo and then i saw a beautiful potion and then i accidentally knock one of the other potion out.. and then..".

You explain everything to them.

"And then i forgot! Next thing i know i was on the floor with Sucrose beside me!".

You explain more like ranting cutely but they don't mind, childe smile at you and pich your cheek.

"Aaaahhhhh so cute".

You whine and try to tear his hand away, Zhongli giggle and hold Childe's and help you tear it away, Zhongli rubs your red cheek and kiss it.

"You're hurting her damn fatui".

Diluc said, dark aura is surrounding him, Albedo laugh a little and pick up the food to everyone's plate. He then take a smaller plate that's pink coloured and gave it to you, you send him a huge smile that makes Albedo's heart melt.

Zhongli picked up the spoon and tap it against your mouth. Diluc looks at you and smile slightly.

"Open your mouth dear".

Diluc said while Childe is trying to hold his rant about how cute you are. You open your mouth just like you asked and started to chew the food with a blissful look.

All in all today was such a interesting day but no one is complaining. Everyone loved you because of your cute, childish and bubbly nature and as long as you don't change that, they won't either. What surprise will happen tomorrow? It shall be interesting indeed ;).

[twilight-love-nochu]

BTS Reaction to neglecting your family while away (Maknae Line)

JIMIN (Park Jimin)

*im going to name the kids here because it’s more understandable than saying Y/S/N as there are two sons in this reaction*

“Okay, everyone in the car!” You shouted while struggling to get every school bag, lunch box as well as your own things that you’d need for work and holding your youngest daughter in your arms. You ushered your 3 kids out of the house and into the car as fast as possible to get them at school on time. You put the things into the trunk while your sons got into the car on their own. You were so thankful they were quite independent already when it came to certain things at 7 and 5 since you also had to take care of your 3 year old. As a Semi-single parent that was very helpful and you couldn’t help but thank God for that.

You hurriedly closed the trunk and went to the backseat of the car to put your daughter in her car seat and checked if your sons put their seatbelts on right. When you were sure they did, you carefully closed the car door and slipped into the driver's seat.

“Done!” You thought while closing your eyes and letting out a sigh. A grin stretched out on your face when you then realized what always followed the hectic morning.

“You know what time it is?” You turned to look at your children in the backseat still grinning and you could see the same thing happening on your children’s faces.

“CARPOOL KARAOKE!!” You heard the voices of your eldest son Adam and your daughter booming inside the small space you were in, even though you weren't entirely that the little one even really knew what was happening. Your 5 year old, Yeonwoo, didn’t say a thing and simply looked through the window. You found that weird because usually he was the one who was most excited about the karaoke session you had almost daily. You shrugged it off and blamed it on him not getting a good night of sleep last night after having a nightmare.

Your husband and you started to do those carpool karaokes ever since your eldest son started kindergarten. One day, your husband and you just put on some music in the car on the way there and sang your hearts out and you saw how excited your son was on the backseat, which surprised you because he would usually be in a bad mood and pouting before going to kindergarten. Seeing that it put your kids in a good mood and woke them up, made them actually excited to go to school and was a great bonding time for your family, Jimin and you decided to make it a tradition.

You were singing songs that were playing on the aux at the top of your lungs with your son and your daughter was also trying her best to sing the songs right but the only voice you didn’t hear was the one from your middle child. So when you arrived to a red light, you turned to him and said: “where missing your beautiful vocals, babe”

“Yeah you need to sing with us to practice for our band, Yeonwoo” Adam added to his brother, which made you chuckle. Yeonwoo was not laughing though. In fact he didn’t react to anything you said and kept looking out of the window. He started to worry you. Usually, even if he was tired, the karaoke would help him wake up and excite him. You sighed but couldn’t do anything in the moment as you had to continue driving again.

You dropped Adam off at his primary school and sent him off with a kiss before making your way to the kindergarten to drop off the other two. Without Adam’s singing, the vibe inside of the car became a little weird though, since you were the only one singing, with your daughter's cute rambling, but you didn’t want to stop and make everything even weirder. Plus, you had a little hope that Yeonwoo would soon give into the singing.

To your dismay, he kept silent until you got to your destination. You brought the too inside and helped them take off their shoes.

“Kissy” you turned to your daughter. She gave you a kiss and skipped inside with the educator.

You then turned back to Yeonwoo who was getting up to go inside, too.

“What a second, kiddo.” You knelt down and made him turn to you but he kept his gaze on his jacket. “Are you okay? If you don’t want to go to kindergarten today, you don’t have to, you know? We can go get some ice cream or go home and sleep some more?” You were never a fan of forcing your kids to go to school. If they really didn’t want to go, there would be a good reason for that.

“I’m okay, mommy. I need to go inside now. See you later.” He said without a lot of enthusiasm in his voice but he nevertheless gave you a kiss and went inside.

You watched him worriedly until he was out of sight and got up with a sigh to make your way to your job.

The whole day long, you couldn’t get your son out of your head. What was wrong with him, today? He was usually so cheerful. Was it maybe his nightmare? That was the only reason he could have for being so down, so that must be it. When he came into your room hiccuping, you asked him if he wanted to talk about it but when he shook his head vigorously, you let it be. Now you wished you had insisted more so that you would know how to help him now.

When you picked your kids back up from school and Yeonwoo was still not his old self, you decided you had to talk to him. So you sat him down with you after dinner and started asking him.

“Kiddo, what has been up with you all day? You look so sad it makes mommy sad too” you told him slightly pouting to lighten the mood a little.

“I already told you this morning that I’m fine, mommy. There’s no need for you to be sad” he stood his ground. You looked at him and decided to change your tactic and ask directly. You sat him down on your lap and asked: “Does it maybe have anything to do with the bad dream you had yesterday?” You felt him tense a little and look look down but he stayed silent.

“Mommy?” He shyly looked back up at you.

“Yes baby?”

“Does…. does daddy hate me?”

What?

To say you were in shock was an understatement. Why would he say that?

“No he doesn’t baby, don’t be silly. Why do you think that?” You asked full of concern. So that’s what his dream was about? No wonder he was that upset.

“Daddy's never here, doesn’t call and when he does, it’s only for a short amount of time. Is it because of me? Does he not like me?” His voice wavered and his eyes filled with tears making you almost cry with him.

“No, honey, no. Daddy loves you very much. He loves us all, so don’t you ever think otherwise. Daddy is just a very busy person, you know? It’s true he’s away a lot but trust me if he could be with us everyday he would.” You could tell he was having a hard time believing you so you did the only thing that would make him believe. You pulled out your cell phone and FaceTimed the man in question.

“ You know what? Let’s call daddy and you’ll see” you felt your son getting anxious on your lap but you were set on sorting this out as soon as possible.

“Hey babe!“ the familiar voice of your husband boomed through your phone.“ I know I haven’t called much lately, I am so sorry. I swear I am trying but I can’t seem to find the time, I’m so sorry“ Jimin started to ramble as soon as he answered. You chuckled. You knew he was trying his best so you didn’t put it against him.

“It’s OK babe, that’s not why I am calling. I’m calling because this little guy here” you pointed the camera at said little guy who now had his head hidden in your shirt ”put the silly idea into his mind that you don’t love him. I tried to tell him that that was not true but I can’t convince him, so maybe you can.” as soon as you said the words you saw your husband‘s face fall.

“Yeonie? Hey look at me kiddo.”You could literally hear the heartbreak in his voice. Your son slowly turned to look at his father on your phone. “Why would you think that?”

“You said that in my dream. You said that you didn’t love me and that was why you 're always away.” He fidgeted with your shirt tears starting to fall from his eyes.

“Yeonie, listen to me. That was just a dream. That was not reality. Trust a bad dream. OK? I love you more than anything else in the world. You along with your siblings and your mother. You are everything to me. Me being away so much has nothing to do with any of you. Because of my job People from everywhere in the world want to see me. And if I wasn’t doing this job I wouldn’t be able to bring back all these awesome toys, would I?” Jimin added playfully. When you heard Yeonwoo giggle for the first time today, you couldn’t help the relieved sigh that left your lips.

“By the way, you won’t believe what awesome toy I found for you this time!” At this point it looked like Yeonwoo had completely forgotten about his nightmare and the tears on his cheeks.

“What is it? What is it?” He bounced up and down on my lap in excitement.

“That’s a surprise” your husband laughed. “You’ll see we’ll have sooo much fun with it.”

“Okay, come home soon daddy!” Your son said slightly disappointed that he had to wait to know what his toy was.

“I will. I miss you very much Bub. And I love you, and you too Y/N.”

“Love and miss you too” your son and you said in unison and ended the call.

“Feel better babe?” You asked the child.

“Yeah. But I want to know what my toy is.” He pouted which made you burst out laughing relieved that your son was back to normal.

V (Kim Taehyung)

Taehyung’s biggest dream next to becoming an idol was to found a family. Have a beautiful wife and have a lot of children with her. Everyone knew that, it was pretty clear when you saw the way he acted with children. Each time he would see people with their children in the streets or when he played with his younger relatives his desire to finally achieve that dream would get bigger and he would get more and more impatient to get there.

He would most likely make a great father too. He always had his father as an example and wanted to be just like him: an amazing father to his kids, who didn’t miss a step of them growing up, who was always there when they needed it and did his best to give them the world.

When he met you, he knew instantly that he was a step closer to his dream. He made it his mission to make you fall in love with him -which happens pretty quickly considering his outstanding looks and charming personality. Fast forward 3 long years later he popped out the question and you two got married. Taehyung was the happiest person alive at this point. Not only did he achieve half of his dream but he was married to the most wonderful person he had ever met. But something was missing for him to be completely satisfied.

So he didn’t waste any time and you two started trying for a baby. And after 3 even longer months of trying and desperation you finally saw the two bars on your pregnancy test. You stayed frozen on the toilet trying to process the information. You were pregnant. You were going to be a mother. Happiness and relief washed over you.

But your reaction was nothing against your husband‘s reaction.

You got out of the bathroom and into your bedroom where Taehyung was pacing back and forth from one end to the other obviously anxious over the results of the test. He was so caught up in his thought that he didn’t even realize you were standing in the room until you called out his name. As soon as he saw you he rushed to where you stood and asked what the results were. You didn’t trust your voice so you settled with just showing him the test in your hand. He looked at it and after a few seconds he looked back up at you in disbelief. “Does...does it mean you’re...you’re…” he was choking up and couldn’t form a correct sentence in fear that he understood it wrong and it was yet again a failed attempt. That was until you nodded your head with a soft smile and tears starting to brim your eyes.

In the next moment Taehyung fell to his knees in front of you and sobs ripped through the quiet room. He was so happy. Pure happiness. After so many years he finally did it. He had gotten everything he had ever wanted in his life. And that was the moment he realized it.

“You’re going to be a dad, Tae.” You said softly to him as he hugged your belly while he whispered sweet promises of a good life to his chilled growing in your belly.

Over the next 9 months Tae was extra protective of you, he was not going to let anything happen to you or your child. He’d scold you every time he saw you do some kind of effort - potentially dangerous or not -, he’d do most of the chores that you usually did even though you assured him over and over again that you could do it, he’d accept every moody attitude that you had and buy everything you needed for your cravings and even try the weird dishes with you, although that was just because for his curiosity. He even renovated one of your spare rooms into a newborn room with the other bang tan boys without you knowing. You were kind of upset about the fact that he didn’t let you help but at the same time you were quite happy with the result. The room looked dreamy.

Taehyung even assisted to the birth of your beautiful baby girl and was the first one to hold the new main character of your life. Later that night he held her tight and watched her sleep and you also asleep in the bed next to him and realized that this was the start of the most beautiful moments in his life.

And that’s how it was for the first few months. While balancing his work life and his private life he tried to spend every moment he had with her and you and he did a great job at it as he did not miss one of her firsts.

That was until the impossible happened.

A world Tour.

Over the past few months Tae had almost forgotten that he was not only Kim Taehyung but also BTS’s V and that V also had responsibilities.

Now Taehyung obviously loved tour. He did. He loved it at any other moment that now. Of all the other times it could have happened, it had to happen during the most important time of parenting. He knew he was going to miss a lot which visibly broke his heart. You saw that and tried lifting up his mood by reassuring him that you were going to call each other as much as possible.

But that promise was harder to keep that you had thought. Of course you two tried to talk everyday but a lot of factors were playing against it. Schedules, time difference, exhaustion, flights… it just wasn’t working.

Your daughter’s first birthday was coming up soon and Tae was still on tour. You knew that he would never forgive himself if he missed such an important day with her and you were worried that you two would not be able to call each other again on that day. So you came up with a solution.

You were going to go to wherever he was on that day. You planned everything and made arrangements with his manager to see if it would be alright, which luckily it was.

That‘s how you found yourself 5 days later in the airport on your way to Germany to surprise your man with your daughter.

Your phone was going off for the third time this morning and it was Taehyung again. He was trying to reach you to talk to your daughter since today was her birthday and you felt bad for not answering but you knew you had a bigger surprise to make up for it.

And you were a little relieved when you went into the plane and had to turn your phone off for the flight as you didn’t have to go through the temptation to answer your husband’s calls.

The plane took off and you looked anxiously at the 1 year old on your lap waiting for her to start crying but to your surprise she was fast asleep. You sighed in relief and decided to take an example on your girl and took a nap, too.

Several hours and only one tantrum from your daughter later you arrived in Berlin and found the boys‘ manager who was here to pick you up.

„Did you have a good flight, Y/N“ Sejin said while hugging you and then pinching the cheek of the sleeping girl in your arms.

„Long but okay, thank you.” You replied. Sejin was like an older brother to you by now so it was nice to see him again.

He took your luggage and led you to the car to take you to the rehearsal place the boys were currently at. You had to say that you were kind of nervous after not answering his calls but you were more excited to see his reaction and to see him. You arrived in the blink of an eye and you got out of the car.

“They’re practicing right now, let me take you there.” Sejin told you as you got out of the car.

You ran a hand through your hand and took a deep breath before following the tall man into the practice room, your daughter in your arms just starting to wake up.

The familiar sound of ‘Black Swan’ got louder and louder in your ears and soon enough you saw your husband and his 6 brothers dancing their hearts out with their backs to you.

Your heart was pounding in excitement but you tried to contain it and not run up to the love of your life right then as you didn’t want to disturb their dance practice.

The music came to an end and all the boys fell to the floor in exhaustion and you couldn’t help but worry about if they were getting enough sleep. Tour was tiring as it was so pair that with the boy’s perfectionism, your worries were definitely not for nothing.

You were caught up in your thoughts when your daughter started babbling incomprehensible words and when you lifted your gaze back up to look at the boys seven pairs of eyes were looking back at you in pure surprise. ‘Way to ruin the surprise’ you thought to yourself

“Surprise!” You said sheepishly with a grin on your face.

Taehyung was the first to stand to his feet. “Is this real or is the exhaustion making me hallucinate?” You giggled as you saw him Blick in disbelief.

“No hallucination, babe. I couldn’t let you miss Y/D/N’s first birthday.” You reassured him and in the next moment he was sprinting over to you two.

“Y/D/N!!! My princess Daddy missed you so so much!” But as he reached to take her in his arms, she did the unthinkable. She flinched away and hid in the crook of your neck.

Oh no.

You could see the exact moment Taehyung’s heart broke. He dropped his arms slowly and his smile did the same thing “ She-“ he gulped “ Does she not remember me?”

“She’s just sleepy” you laughed nervously “she just woke up. You know how she is when she wakes up.” You tried to calm him down but you both now that was not the reason for her behavior. Let’s face it. She just turned one and her father had been away for a few months. You honestly couldn’t expect her to remember him. At least not right away.

By now the rest of the boys were also beside you watching the scene unfold in front of them. Tae took a deep breath and tried reaching for her again. “ Princess it’s me, your Appa.” He said softly, partly to not scare her away but also because he was sure he would break down if he spoke any louder. But the tears came anyway when she shook her arms out of his gentle grip and started to cry.

You didn’t know what to do. How do you make your child remember their father? You racked your brain for something while the boy tried to comfort your husband. Screw it, you told yourself as you resolved to just talking to her.

“Baby, will you look at mommy” you cooed. When she looked at you hiccuping you were relieved at the small win. “ Look over there! It’s your Appa” you said overly enthusiastically but she wouldn’t look. “Princess you love Appa, don’t you remember?” She looked up at you again at your words a little confused but interested and you could see Tae’s desperate look from the corner of your eyes. “Yes! You don’t remember talking to him on the phone? He always sings to you.” And that’s when it hit you. “Tae! Sing!” The confused look on his face mirror the one your daughter made earlier but when he saw your encouraging smile he started to sing.

His beautiful deep voice filled the room as he sang your daughter’s favorite song and for a moment you just stood there and took in how nice it felt to be back with Tae and be able to here his voice in real life.

And then you looked at your daughter anxiously. Out of a sudden she’d turned her head to look at her father. Did she recognize him?

“Appa?” She said in a small voice and relief washed over you and you could tell the same happened to your husband.

“Yes. Yes Princess, it’s Appa.” He said eyes slightly moist as he took a tentative step toward you.

That’s when your daughter’s face finally broke into a big smile. “Appa!” She shouted, making grabby hands towards him. Sighing in relief Tae took her in his arms and hugged her tight, a few tears now rolling down his cheeks. “I missed you so much my little Princess. Happy birthday.” He whispered to the now excited bundle of happiness in his arms and planted a few kisses across her face, making her giggle.

You reached up and wiped the tears that were resting on Taehyung’s cheeks away and he turned to you. “Hi” he said and you giggled “Hey.”

“Thank you for doing this.” He pulled you in for a family hug.

Suddenly you heard a voice from behind Taehyung. “ I’m not trying to ruin your moment but Y/N did you maybe bring a cake? I haven’t had any sugar in way too long.” Jungkook pouted and everyone in the room bursted into laughter.

Jungkook (Jeon Jeongguk)

“Whatever. I have to go.” He ended the call before you could get another word in.

Were you really being too clingy? It’s not like it was the first time you had to go through this type of situation. You two had been separated for far longer than this time so why were you like this?

“Mom are you okay?” You suddenly heard a voice at your bedroom door. You looked up to see your son watching you with worried eyes.

“Yeah I’m okay.” You mustered up a smile. “Why do you ask.”

“Because you’re crying.” He said his frown getting deeper. Immediately your hand went to your face and sure enough tears were streaming down your face.

“O-oh” you tried to dry them as fast as possible “I’m okay, puppy. Don’t worry.” You replied with a soft smile but he didn’t seem to believe you as he came in, took a seat next to you on the bed and pulled you in for a hug.

Naturally your tears started falling freely when you realized your son’s hug felt almost the same as Jungkook’s which only made you miss him more. He was 16 now and definitely resembled what his father looked at the same age.

“Mom, please tell me what’s wrong.” He asked again. You didn’t want to tell him because you didn’t want him to worry about you but maybe not telling him would only make him worry more you pondered. The sobs ripping through you wouldn’t let you speak even if you wanted to anyway.

“Is it dad?” Y/S/N asked tentatively. Oh fish were you really that obvious? Finally calming down a bit you pulled away and looked at your son.

“You got me.” You chuckled, wiping at your tears. “I’ve just been missing your father a little more than usual lately. It’s silly. Really Y/S/N, don’t mind me.”

He didn’t let up though. “ You have every right to miss him mom. I mean when was the last time he’s even called. Seems like he’s forgotten he has a family here.” The scowl on his face changed from worried to angry at the thought of it. Slight panic settled inside of you. You couldn’t let him be mad at his father because of you.

“Don’t say that, pup. You know your dad loves us more than anything. He is just really busy right now. I’m sure he tries to call as often as he can.” You reasoned partly trying to convince yourself.

“Right but then he argues with you when he does call?” You froze. Had heard you two fight? “Being busy is not a reason for treating you like this, mom. You’ve been nothing but a loving wife and an amazing mother. When he’s not here you take care of us and the house all on your own while he’s having fun all around the world.” You could hear the concern and disappointment in his voice which broke your heart.

A sigh left your mouth. “Y/S/N look at me.” You waited until his eyes met yours before continuing. “I’m fine, okay? Your father and I are fine. Yes we did fight but that doesn’t mean anything. What couple doesn’t fight, hm? But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love us or appreciate me. I probably wouldn’t have been crying if I hadn’t been stressed with work and tired, so it’s not all your dad’s fault.” You forced a smile to convince him. It didn’t seem to work so you added “In fact, I’ll take a nap now and when I wake up all be completely alright again.” You said beaming.

“Alright” he said rolling his eyes but a small bunny smile on his lips “But if dad makes you sad again I won’t forgive him.” He added as he stood up from your bed to make his way outside.

“Look at you, protecting your mother.” You teased “My baby boy is all grown up” you wiped at a fake tear.”

“Whatever.” Your son laughed with a slight blush on his cheeks as he walked out of your room.

“I love you!” You said before he shut the door completely and you heard him shout it back from the hallway.

You could always count on your children to make you feel better, you thought to yourself as you lied back down on your bed. You weren’t lying when you said that you were tired because of work so you decided to actually take a nap.

In his room Y/S/N couldn’t stop thinking about his conversation with you. He knew that you were defending his father because you loved your husband and because you wanted to protect him from any problems between them two but he also knew that his father was in fact neglecting his family - be it on purpose or not - and that it was taking a toll on you. He could let his father get away with that. What kind of son would he be if he did?

So he took out his phone and called the man in question and to his surprise he did actually answer.

“Hey kid. Can I call you back later? I’m in the middle of practice right now” the familiar voice in the end of the line said making him roll his eyes. Typical he thought to himself.

“No, actually. Because I know you are going to forget and not call and this is kind of urgent.” He said before his father could end the call.

“Urgent? Did something happen?” He could hear the slight panic in Jungkook’s voice.

“Yes. Your argument with mom happened.” The worry on his dad’s face quickly changed to disinterest to which his anger grew.

“Y/S/N don’t mind it. This has nothing to do with you. Your mom and I are fine.” Y/S/N could tell that his father was about to end the call.

Wow is he serious? How could he be so insensitive after hurting her like that?

“You might be fine but she is not, dad” at this point he wasn’t even trying to hide the anger in his voice. “Mom does so much and you take her for granted.”

Jungkook could hear how affected his son was and that was definitely not his intention. But he really had to go back to practice right now so he tried to calm him down as fast as possible “ Buddy listen-”

“No you listen to me, Dad” his son’s dedication surprised him “When you’re not here, Mom has to balance work, taking care of the work, taking care of us and she does it without ever complaining. Even when it gets hard and she misses you she keeps to herself to not upset us and to be strong for us because we miss you too. But then when she needs you, just to talk to you, for you to make her feel better and to give her strength to go through all of this you snap at her and make her cry?” At this point your son was getting a little emotional.

It is only when Jungkook heard those words that he forgot all about practice and started to realize what he was doing “W-wait what? She cried?”

He didn’t know? Your son thought to himself. He thought he knew he made you cry and just didn’t care, that’s why he was so mad.

“I thought you knew.” He saw his father frantically shake his head on the screen of his phone.

“I would have never ended that call knowing she was crying, Y/S/N. If I knew I had upset her that much I would have talked it out with her.” Although his anger died down significantly the 16-years-old was still quite mad at his father because no matter if he knew it or not he made you upset. “Is she okay? Is she still crying?” Okay so he does care. Good to know.

“She’s fine now. I comforted her.” Even though that is supposed to be your job. He wanted to add but decided against it because he could see that his father genuinely felt bad. “I think she just misses you a lot, Dad. You’ve been gone for months and when’s the last time you called?”

Jungkook knew he hadn’t been the best husband and father for the past months and the guilt fell on him like a brick. “Let me talk to her.”

“She’s taking a nap right now. She has been overwhelmed with work for the past weeks.” Your son shook his head.

“She has?” Jungkook ran his hand through his locks in frustration for not knowing “Gosh I’m such a fuckup.” He frowned.

“Yes but your lucky Mom loves you. She kept defending your actions earlier even though you’ve obviously been an asshole to her.” Jungkook was so absorbed by the thought of him not deserving you that he didn’t even notice his son insulting him.

“Y/S/N please tell me when your mom wakes up. I need to talk to her as soon as possible but I don’t want to wake her up. She probably really needs the sleep.” He said and his son nodded. Jungkook was set on making things better with you. “Thank you. And I love you. And I love your mom. Please don’t ever doubt that.” Jungkook said with the most serious look on his face. The last thing he wanted was for his son to question his father’s feelings for his mom.

“I know. That’s why I called. I know you will make it better.” He finally smiled at his father and his father mirrored it.

They said their goodbyes and Jungkook was left to find a worthy apology.

Tags: @eviardashian

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Ok, now a slightly weirder question, and if it's too weird you can delete it from your inbox. Now, how do you think it went for the different girls (from SL and Violetta) when they got their first periods?

Again, sorry for a weird question!

Honestly, even if the question is weird, periods are the most normal thing in the world so it's a little sad that the society has told us it's not something we should discuss. And getting your first period? It's everything from super mediocre to the most traumatizing thing ever to just awkward as fuck. But people's stories can also just be the most chaotic thing you ever heard, so you almost have to laugh (one girl I knew, for example, said that she got her first period at a public pool, and instead of doing something about it she chose to ignore it and went back into the pool like nothing).

But i'll still keep it under the cut, not because "periods are gross", but because it's gonna be a pretty long post.

Violetta - Due to her not having many women around other than her tutors, she found it incredibly awkward. She did not want to tell her dad, but he tried to figure out why she was acting odd all week. I imagine she told her tutor at the time, and her tutor just gave her a package of pads and she had to figure it all out on her own. Though, it wasn't much worse than that.

Luna - The girl happened to wear red shorts and didn't notice a thing, until she had left a red stain on a chair she sat on, and she was like "huh, it must be the color from my shorts leaving marks I guess" and her mom just pulled her aside and asked her about it, and when Luna explained it simply must have been the color of her shorts, her mom asked her to go to the bathroom and check. Luna later came back from the bathroom like "Ok so it wasn't the color of my shorts-"

Francesca - It was during a family gathering and she tried to spend an hour trying to talk to her mom in private without anyone else hearing. She also didn't dare to sit down anywhere in case she would leak, and her aunt at one point was like "why are you standing??? Come sit with us <33" and Fran just had a panicked "no thanks 🙂"

Nina - A pretty normal experience, except that her mom got excited for her and immediately went to tell Mora (who was over visiting that day), and Nina found it super embarrassing that "everyone had to know"

Camila - She was one of those girls who told everyone she got her period before she had actually gotten it. She actually like, gave her friends advice on how to deal with theirs when she didn't even have experience herself dkfkfxjldf- Anyway, she got it at school and was like "Well I can always follow my own advice :D" and then realized her advices didn't work, so she just internally panicked. She also had to use toilet paper because she didn't have any other protection, so she walked around looking uncomfortable all day.

Ámbar - I once had a fic with this, but anyway it was not a fun experience. Let's just say she stained a pinafore dress, decided to never tell anyone, Sharon found out anyway and scolded her for "keeping secrets from her"

Ludmila - Literally her mom, from like the moment Ludmila turned 11, was waiting for her to get her period. She basically always prepared for the news. When Ludmila was 13, she still hadn't gotten it yet and Priscila was like... growing impaitient?? And then when Ludmila was like, 13 and 6 months, she finally got it, and Priscila's first reaction was "Oh, why so late, though?" as if Ludmila could've controlled that. Apparently Priscila was an early bloomer and she thought Ludmila would be too, so she was disappointed that she was "avarage age" (??? idk)

Jim - At a sleepover with Yam, she literally woke up in the middle of the nights with stained sheets. She panicked, which woke up Yam, and after both of them sneaked with the sheets to the laundry room in the middle of the night and turning on the washing machine without waking anyone, Yam was like "Jim. You realize you just had your first period, right?" And then they both kind of got excited over it.

Naty - She got it in the morning before school, but she didn't have time to tell her mom, so she walked around anxious the whole day to tell her, and when she did her mom just shrugged and said "Ok."

Yam - It happened in seventh grade at school, and Yam just pulled Jim into the restroom and told her. Jim hadn't gotten hers yet, so the whole experience was pretty exciting but confusing for both of them.

Jazmin - She was the first in their class to get it, but 11 year old Jazmin thought she was one of the last, so she was like "I finally got it!!" and her friends were like "?? we haven't even gotten ours calm down"

Delfi - I imagine that it was pretty normal experience, but she acted like she was a new person. Like the day after she got it, she went around to all of her friends like "Noticing any different about me?"

[bluejayblueskies]

the before, the after, the in-between

Chapter Six: mixed reunions Words: 4.2k

Relationships: Jon & Daisy, Jon/Martin, Daisy & Basira Tags: Post-Canon, Scottish Safehouse, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Mute Jon, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies

Work Summary:

There was no knife, no blood, and Jon was not dead. And when he heard a strangled noise from beside him and looked over to see Martin standing in the doorway of the safehouse, flung open and letting in the frigid bite of near-winter and sunlight, there was sunlight, he felt such a dizzying, intense wave of relief that he could hardly breathe around it.

Then, he opened his mouth to say Martin’s name, and nothing came out, and all of the relief fell away in an instant.

.

Jon wakes up in the safehouse in October of 2018, alive and well but without the Eye and without his voice. In the days that follow, he finds himself confronted with a world that has reset itself in space and in time, a version of himself that is no longer the Archivist, and the fact that death during the end of the world had not been so permanent as it had seemed.

Chapter Summary:

Basira seems happy to see you, Jon writes.

Daisy exhales slowly. “Yeah. She does.”

Jon waits for her to elaborate. When she doesn’t, he sighs, taps his pen on the paper a few times, and writes, And is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Daisy stares at the page a long while. Just when Jon thinks she’s not going to answer him at all, she says, “It’s… good. Just odd. Feels… like she shouldn’t be.”

Read on Ao3 (link in source)

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven

Or read below:

(cw for mentions of gun and knife violence, mentions of death/murder, mentions of blood)

Stars are just beginning to fill the sky when there comes a knock at the door—two crisp taps, unhurried, but with a heavy insistence that has Martin standing from the couch quickly, mumbling, “I’ll get it,” and crossing the room while Daisy and Jon watch from where they’re still sat on the couch.

“Hel—oh, yes, come in,” Martin says as he opens the door and Basira immediately pushes past, her eyes scanning the room in front of her with a firm intensity. “Nice to see you too,” he mutters as Basira’s eyes find Daisy, and a wide-eyed expression crosses her face so quickly Jon can’t pin down what it’s meant to be.

“Daisy,” Basira says, and then she’s across the room and standing in front of Daisy, hand halfway outstretched towards her. “It’s… it’s really you?”

Daisy’s hand twitches where it’s clasped in Jon’s. He gives it a subtle, reassuring squeeze. “It’s really me,” she says quietly.

Basira’s eyes scan Daisy’s face, the outline of her body, as if searching for imperfections. After a moment, her eyes find Daisy’s again and she nods, as if confirming something for herself. “Right,” she says, retracting her hand and dropping it to her side. Next to him, Jon can feel Daisy tense slightly, though her face remains carefully calm. Basira takes in a deep breath, lets it out, then steps forward and wraps her arms around Daisy’s shoulders, bending down at an awkward angle to do so.

Daisy goes rigid for a moment before softening. Her hand slips out of Jon’s as she tentatively returns the hug, her hands ghosting across Basira’s shoulder blades and her fingers tracing the hem of Basira’s hijab. Basira exhales again sharply, gripping Daisy a little tighter as she does so, and says, “I thought you were gone.” Her voice is even, but there’s a layer of desperation underneath it that makes it sound choked at the edges. Jon suddenly feels very out of place, and he tries to subtly shift towards the other end of the couch to give them space.

“I was,” Daisy says, voice muffled by the fabric of Basira’s hijab. “But now I’m not.”

Basira laughs a bit unsteadily. “Right,” she says again. “I… I wondered if you were back. Didn’t want to think about it too hard, though. Just in case.”

Daisy is quiet for a moment. Then, so quietly Jon almost doesn’t hear, she says, “I’m sorry, Basira.”

Basira grips her tightly for a moment more, then pulls back so she can study Daisy’s face. “Don’t be. You didn’t force me to do anything. I made you a promise, and I kept it. That’s just how it was.” She exhales slowly. “Besides, none of that matters now. You’re back, and that’s a good thing. God knows there’s enough that’s wrong in the world right now.”

Daisy sits very still, a strange sort of tension keeping her rigid. “You’re… not angry?”

Basira frowns. “No. It was hard, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t you, Daisy. You were trying to be better, before, but you did what you had to, and so did I. It’s just how it was; no point in being upset about it.”

Daisy looks down at a point just beneath Basira’s eyes. “Yeah. No point,” she echoes. After a moment, she says, “You’ve been… okay, then?”

Basira’s lips purse. “I’ve been managing. Finding my own way. Dealing with…” She waves her hand in the air, an encompassing gesture, and Jon doesn’t miss the way her eyes flick over to him. He’s not particularly fond of it, though he fights back the scowl. “It’s been a mess.”

“You said it’s been bad,” Martin says, coming up behind the couch with four mugs of tea carefully balanced in his hands. He passes the first one to Jon with a thin-lipped smile, then to Daisy and Basira in turn. “What does that mean?”

Basira sighs and blows across the surface of her tea in an attempt to cool it. “Well, after you… reset the world? Which we’re going to have a long conversation about, by the way.” She looks pointedly at Jon, who looks pointedly back and takes a sip of his tea to hide his glower. He’s still a bit irritated about the whole… group decision situation. Maybe more than a bit. “I woke up in the Institute, still sitting at the same bloody desk I’d been working at when everything went to hell. I knew something was off straight away, because that feeling of being watched? It just wasn’t there. Didn’t matter how, didn’t matter why—it just wasn’t. So I assumed that the plan worked and the Fears were gone, but I didn’t know yet that we’d been thrown back in time or whatever. Got up and started looking around, trying to figure out where Georgie and Melanie went. Yeah, it was weird that everything looked the same, but I’d seen weirder.”

Basira takes a long sip of her tea. Out of the corner of his eye, Jon sees Daisy shift, setting her still-full mug on the side table and tapping her fingers on her thigh in a rhythmic pattern. He thinks, for a moment, about reaching out, but instead, he just curls his fingers tighter around his own mug. “The place was pretty empty,” Basira says finally. “Before the change, the blood and stuff was all cleaned up about a week after that last attack on the Institute, and then it was just me and a few others. Rosie, a couple of people from Artefact Storage. The people who’d survived and who weren’t smart enough to just… stay away. Rosie was still at her desk. She looked like she’d seen… well. She looked like she’d seen what the rest of us had seen. And…”

Basira exhales slowly, and for the first time, she looks… hesitant. Like she’s not sure she should continue. After a moment, Martin says, “And what, Basira?”

Basira looks down into her tea, her jaw set. “And him. Elias. Jonah. Whatever. Just… sitting behind his desk when I opened the door to his office. Like nothing had even fucking happened.”

A shock of something simultaneously icy cold and red-hot laces up Jon’s spine, and he nearly drops his mug. He looks at Basira with wide eyes, even as he thinks that it makes sense, of course it makes sense, everyone who died while the world was wrong came back, of course he would too, why would it be any different. He remembers the sensation of the knife tearing its way through Jonah’s throat, the heat of the blood as it had dripped down his hands and wrists, tries to juxtapose the image of Jonah lying dead on the Panopticon floor with the image of him sitting alive and well and breathing behind his desk once again, and feels sick. He doesn’t realize he’s been holding his breath until the exhalation rips its way harshly out of his throat like it’s been punched out of him. He barely feels Daisy’s hand as it wraps around his, barely feels it as she takes the mug of tea from him and settles it on the floor so it won’t spill. He registers the brush of another hand against his arm, and he hears Martin’s voice from beside him, saying with concern, “Jon? Breathe, love. It’s all right, just breathe.” Then, to Basira: “Christ. He’s alive?”

“Was alive,” Basira corrects, and just like that, all of the air crashes back into Jon’s lungs and he takes a deep, rattling breath, his eyes focusing on her face as it twists into something that might be called a smile if one were being generous with the definition. “I… I didn’t really think. Just pulled my gun and pointed it at him. No Eye, no contract. No reason not to kill him. I wasn’t planning to shoot him, not really, but then he started rambling about- about apotheosis and failure and second chances, trying to convince me that there was no need to be hasty, that we could work something out. Called me Detective again. Just the same slimy bullshit, but without all the bravado and without the collateral.” Basira sighs and looks up from her tea, glancing at Jon with something unreadable on her face. “Melanie was pissed that I didn’t let her stab him.”

Jon makes a choked noise that he thinks, after a moment, might be a laugh. It’s devoid of any amusement, though, and might be bordering on hysterical. Beside him, Martin says quietly, “Shit. Well, uh. That’s… that’s good, at least?”

Basira grimaces. “Sure. It’s great that the bastard’s dead—again, I guess, assuming that you did kill him before everything went back to normal—but things are still a disaster back in London. I’ve been trying to keep them from tearing down the whole Institute, though don’t ask me why I even care about the place after all this. People are angry.” Basira taps her fingers on her thigh in thought. “It’s… probably for the best that you guys ended up out here, actually. Things haven’t been good for the people in charge of domains. They got ahold of Simon Fairchild, and it… it wasn’t pretty. There’s been some chatter about leniency towards the less actively malicious former avatars—I think that came up after they found Callum, actually, which… yeah, that’s a whole thing—but…”

Basira shrugs. But people wouldn’t be so forgiving towards the person who ended the world, Jon thinks with a wry, twisting feeling in his stomach. He fiddles with the notebook where it sits on his lap, but he doesn’t open it. After a moment, Basira continues, “So that’s the state of things, basically. Even though everything’s technically fixed, there’s still a lot of damage, and Georgie, Melanie, and I have been handling it as best we can. Though I think Melanie’s of the opinion that we should just let the entire Institute burn. She’s probably right, but…” Basira shrugs. “It’s just a building full of scary stories now. Might be able to make some use out of it.”

“Right,” Martin says with a sigh. “That’s… a lot.”

“Yeah,” Basira says, sounding weary. “It’s… it’s nice to have a break. To just appreciate the fact that everything’s better now, you know?”

Better for us, Jon thinks bitterly, and he can feel the edges of his mouth twitching into a scowl that he forcibly represses. He doesn’t think pointing out that they’ve condemned an infinity of other worlds to suffering for their own peace of mind would be beneficial, given they’ve already driven that argument into the ground and then some. Besides, he thinks as he rubs his thumb over the spine of the notebook, that would require him to open the notebook and writing it down, and Basira doesn’t know about his voice yet. He’s too tired to hear whatever surface-level pity she might be able to conjure up for him.

“I’ve missed you, Daisy,” Basira says, an increased vigor in her voice as she turns to face Daisy. She looks like she wants to reach a hand out towards her, but she doesn’t. “It’s been… hard. Being alone with all of this. I’ve had Melanie and Georgie, but I… I could use my partner.”

Daisy stares at her for a long moment. When she speaks, her voice is slightly more hoarse than usual. “You want me to come back to London with you.”

Basira nods, a slight frown forming on her face. “Do you… not want to?”

Daisy is quiet for a long moment. Her eyes stare down at the floor, focusing on nothing at all. “I don’t know,” she says finally, the words tense and choked, like the honesty of them pains her. “I… I need to think.”

Basira watches her for a few seconds, something stiff and rigid on her face. “All right,” she says at length, a touch of surprise and resignation lacing her voice. “That’s fine. I can’t stay past tomorrow, though—I have to get back and deal with what’s going on back in London. If you don’t want to…” Basira’s mouth flattens into a line. “It’s fine. I’ll understand.”

“It’s not—” Daisy cuts off with a frustrated noise, almost a growl. “I just need to think.”

“All right,” Basira says again, more placating this time. “I… won’t rush you.”

It’s quiet in the room for a long moment. Finally, as if at a loss for anything else to say and falling back on instinct, Martin offers a tentative, “Would… anybody like something to eat? You’ve been traveling all day, Basira, I don’t know if you’re… er, hungry or not.”

Basira stares at Daisy a moment more. Then, she sighs and says, “Sure, why not.”

“Great!” Martin says, sounding relieved. “Let me just… I’ll see what we’ve got that’s quick.”

He stands, and Basira stands in tandem with him. “I’ll help,” she says. “I’ve got some… things I want to talk to you about. And then after we eat, we’re going to discuss…” She gestures in the general vicinity of Jon and Martin. “Everything.”

Jon curls in on himself slightly. Martin just sighs and says, “Come on, then.” They disappear into the kitchen, and then Jon is left with Daisy on the couch, the faint clatter of cupboards opening and dishes rattling settling into the background.

Now that they’re alone, Jon reaches over and bumps his hand against Daisy’s, a silent question. When she turns her hand over, he takes it in his, threading their fingers together and squeezing firmly. With his other hand, he awkwardly flips the notebook open, ignoring Daisy’s sound of amusement as he clumsily takes his pen in hand and balances the notebook at the same time, and writes, Are you okay?

Daisy pauses for a few seconds before responding. “Yeah,” she says simply.

Jon waits for her to elaborate. When it becomes clear that she’s not going to, he writes, Basira seems happy to see you.

Daisy exhales slowly. “Yeah. She does.”

Again, Jon waits for her to elaborate. When she doesn’t, he sighs, taps his pen on the paper a few times, and writes, And is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Daisy stares at the page a long while. Just when Jon thinks she’s not going to answer him at all, she says, “It’s… good. Just odd. Feels… like she shouldn’t be.”

Jon raises an eyebrow and gives her hand another gentle squeeze. After a moment, Daisy continues, “Even after the coffin, there had been this… weight, between us. I knew she was glad I was back, but I could also tell she was disappointed. She tried to hide it but, heh, she’s always been easy to read for me. She wanted the person I was before, and I knew that, deep down, she was frustrated that I wasn’t that person anymore. I was never… angry with her about it. I understood. Basira’s practical, always likes to have the upper hand. And me choosing to ignore the Hunt… it wasn’t practical. Not for her. She was happy to see me, but she also wished it was a different me. It just… feels weird that it’s not the same now. I’m different, and Basira doesn’t like different. She doesn’t like change.”

There’s been a lot of change lately, Jon writes. Then, while Daisy’s reading his words, he continues, She went through a lot after you were gone. With everything that’s happened, the world the way it is, I

Jon pauses, and Daisy waits as he taps the pen on the paper, leaving little half-formed dots of ink where it makes contact. After a moment, he sighs and finishes, I think she’s just glad that you’re back. Whatever version of yourself that may be.

Daisy looks towards the kitchen. There’s the gentle murmur of voices, too quiet to make out any words above the sound of things sizzling in pots and pans. “Maybe. I… don’t know.” There’s a pause, and then she says, quieter, “Maybe she’s just glad that I’m not a monster anymore.”

When Jon goes to write, she squeezes the hand of his she’s still holding tighter, shaking her head. “Don’t. It’s… complicated.” She’s quiet for a long moment, looking away from Jon and focusing on the faint light streaming in from the kitchen. “The parts of me that she valued the most,” she says at length, “the ones that made me a good partner, that made me strong—they were all that was left by the time she found me after the change. They were all Hunt. And I knew when she looked at me, when she pointed her gun at me, that she saw me. Not the Hunt, not some… monster. Me. But I don’t… know if she believes that it was really me.”

Daisy grimaces, like she’s not happy with the words. Carefully, giving Daisy time to stop him if she wants, Jon writes, You don’t know if she accepts that all the worst parts of yourself are still yours.

Daisy is quiet for a moment. “Something like that,” she says finally. “She… she said it wasn’t me. That the person she hunted through the apocalypse wasn’t me. And I don’t know how I’m supposed to tell her that it was. That it is. It feels like…” Daisy blows out a breath. “Basira’s good at compartmentalizing. It makes her a good partner, a good… hunter. But if I go with her to London, and she just… puts everything that happened during the change behind us, I don’t think things are going to last.” Daisy huffs out a laugh. “She’s stubborn. I like that about her. Can also make things… difficult.”

Jon laughs through his nose and writes, Yeah, Martin’s like that too sometimes. He hesitates, then continues, So what do you want to do?

Daisy studies his face for a moment. “What do you want me to do?” At his look of surprise, she continues, “I can see it on your face. You have an opinion, so just… spit it out. Write it down. Whatever.”

Jon scowls. I do not, he begins to write, before his hand stills, leaving the sentence incomplete. He takes a deep breath, exhales, and scratches the words out with a bit more force than is strictly necessary. Next to them, he writes in thick, dark lines, I want you to stay. Then, quickly after: But you should go with Basira.

Daisy reads the words and hums. “Why?”

Because she’s your partner, Jon writes, irritation and a strange sort of sadness mixing in him and twisting his lips into a grimace, and because she needs

“I meant,” Daisy says, bumping her knee against Jon’s to cut him off, “why do you want me to stay?”

Jon blinks at her, surprised. He looks down at the paper, holds the pen tightly for a moment, and then writes in careful, neat letters, Because I like you. Does there have to be another reason?

Daisy hums and, after a moment, shakes her head. “No. I guess not.” She bumps her knee against Jon’s again, a bit firmer this time. “Thanks. But you’re wrong, you know. About Basira.” Daisy looks at the kitchen again, where the sizzling has stopped and there’s the faint clattering of dishes. “She doesn’t need me. She’d be fine without me. Always has been.” She sighs. “And so would you.”

Jon nods and squeezes her hand. I know, he writes.

Daisy sighs again, leans her head back against the couch. “I think,” she says after a moment, “that… I have to do what’s right for me. Not me and Basira, just… just me.”

Jon is about to ask what that entails when Martin’s voice floats over from the kitchen, telling them that the food’s ready. Daisy doesn’t say anything more as she stands, snorting softly as her maintained grip on Jon’s hand pulls him to his feet as well, and together, they head into the kitchen.

The first half of the meal is spent in relative quiet. Basira keeps shooting looks at Martin, who returns her gaze with something firm and unyielding. Jon shifts in his chair and nibbles on his cheese toastie, trying very hard not to grab his pen and start tapping it on the table just to fill the tense, awkward silence between them all. Finally, Basira finishes her sandwich, looks at Martin again, sighs, and says, “Martin filled me in on what happened.” Then, at Martin’s glare: “What? I’m not talking about it. I’m just… acknowledging it.”

“Good,” Martin says, pinching his toastie just a bit too firmly between his fingers. “Because there’s not much to talk about. Which is why we agreed not to talk about it.”

Irritation washes over Jon, and he tries to squash it down. He can’t help the way his knee starts bouncing under the table though, and he takes a sullen bite of his toastie. Not much to talk about. Sure. For a moment, he entertains the thought of dropping the sandwich unceremoniously, grabbing his notebook, and scribbling out, Thanks for asking for my input before telling Basira your version of events and saying that there’s nothing to talk about, but he pushes the thought away and takes another, bigger bite to distract himself. It’s fine. Martin’s… Martin’s right, it’s not the time.

(He’s still upset that he didn’t even get the slightest say in the matter. It’s fine.)

Rationally, Jon knows that Martin is just trying to avoid what would probably turn out to be a long, spiraling, extremely upsetting conversation-turned-argument. Irrationally, he wants to push the words we’ve condemned a thousand realities to hell; are you happy now? into Basira’s face and watch her try to defend herself. Was it worth it? he wants to ask. Was it fucking worth it, just so you can have your happy ending?

He doesn’t ask. He knows what her answer will be, and he doesn’t want to hear it right now.

It’s fine.

“So,” Basira says, not so much breaking through his thoughts as driving a battering ram through them, “the Fears are gone. For good. And they took your voice with them.”

“Basira,” Martin hisses.

“Just making sure I’ve got all of my bases covered,” Basira says defensively.

Jon glares at his plate. He sets his sandwich down, suddenly no longer hungry. He takes a deep breath, looks up at Basira, and nods. His fingers itch towards his notebook; he keeps them still.

“Hm.” Basira taps a single finger on the edge of her plate. “That… that makes sense, I guess. What with Annabelle’s whole… thing.”

Jon’s stomach squeezes. Throat tight, he nods again, looking away. His eyes land on Daisy, who’s sitting beside him and watching Basira with something unreadable on her face. Her toastie is sitting on her plate in front of her, completely untouched. Then, stiffly, as if preparing herself for a difficult truth, Daisy says, “I... know a little bit of BSL. Picked it up back when I was still a PC. It’s not much, but… it’s something.”

Basira looks at Daisy, her finger stilling on the side of her plate. When she speaks again, it’s quiet, and she doesn’t sound surprised. “You’re not coming with me, then.”

“Sorry,” Daisy says roughly. “Just… need a bit of time. Soon, I promise, just…”

“… just not now,” Basira finishes. “It’s… all right. I understand. Honestly, with things the way that they are out there right now, it… it might be for the best. Just until things settle down.”

“Yeah.” Daisy picks at the edge of her toastie. “You’ll… be safe, though?”

Basira takes a deep breath, and when she lets it out, her lips settle into a smile, thin and bordering on humorless but still warm in its own way. “Always am.”

Daisy laughs a little, just an exhalation of air through her nose. “Right.”

It becomes clear that none of them plan to eat more, so Martin and Jon clear the plates and stack them in the sink while Daisy and Basira sit at the table. Basira says some things to Daisy in hushed tones, and Daisy responds under her breath, and Jon takes wet dishes from Martin and wipes them down with a towel and stares out the window into the darkened sky and focuses on the sensation of cloth under his fingertips so he doesn’t lose himself in the inky black swirling thoughts that are threatening to drag him down.

“Hey,” Martin says quietly by his side, letting their fingers brush as he hands him another dish. “You all right?”

No is probably the honest answer. Jon is sure that Martin can see it on his face even as he nods and busies himself drying the plate in his hands. To his eternal gratitude, Martin doesn’t push, even as his mouth flattens and he continues scrubbing the dishes in the sink with careful, methodical motions. Jon is sure that, at some point, something will crack and Martin will push. Push until it all breaks and shatters and crumbles into a million tiny, sharp pieces. But for now, Jon dries dishes and scratches his thoughts into the back pages of his notebook where they’ve begun to pile up into messy tangles of words and emotions and focuses on the fact that, when Basira leaves in the morning, Daisy will still be here.

That, for now, he thinks, will have to be enough.