#if you do not need to be in the adult department with your child THEN DON’T BE

[gonzocoded]

if you bring your loud child to the library please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD take them to the youth department!!!! PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU ON MY HANDS AND KNEES

[saerins]

°୨୧ INEVICABLY, UNDENIABLY

+ gojo satoru x f!reader | wc 3.3k | content: fluff, modern au, friends to roommates to lovers, timeskip thing; from high school -> adulthood, alcohol, implied sex, children, marriage, gojo is mostly clingy and annoying and we love him for it, the years and age correspond to his actual birthdate, take this as my birthday fic for him <3

summary: despite seemingly having it all, gojo satoru’s goal has always been the same all these years you’ve known him—all he wants in life is you, and only you. during his birthday this year, gojo counts his blessings.

2006; seventeen.

the day you agreed to be satoru’s partner in homeroom class is the day you signed away your sanity. not because satoru’s hard to get along with or that he’s rude or slacks off, but because it’s hard not to fall for a boy with such pretty eyes and even prettier lips who likes to say the most beautiful things.

getting to know satoru is like taking a deep in the clearest, coldest ocean after an entire lifetime of being dipped in molten lava. he’s annoying, refreshing and eye-opening all in one.

satoru shows promise in the first lesson, doing fairly well at cooking and sowing, although afterwards he just falls off because you end up having to teach him how to properly use alcohol in his cooking so he doesn’t burn himself or that you’d end up patching his fingers up since he accidentally pokes himself a lot more than the average human would.

still, it’s not his fault he isn’t naturally talented in the home economics department. he is in sports, you find out, after a few months of being in the same class as him.

“hey, y/n.” he’s leaning back on his chair, depending on its hind two legs for support. it’s become his habit during class to bother you whenever the teachers aren’t in.

you were assigned the seat diagonally behind him, and it’s become a habit for you to ignore him—mostly because most of the time, it’s nonsense that falls out of those lips, especially after you’d gotten close. it’s his sign of affection, you realise.

“hey y/n, i’m being serious this time, i need to talk to you,” satoru whines, pouting and sighing in that over dramatic way that only he can.

that’s also not the first time he’s tricked you into acknowledging him so all you do is look at him, a smile appearing that you failed to suppress, and bring a finger to your lips, signalling for him to hush.

unperturbed, satoru smirks and gets to scribbling on a piece of paper, folding it (annoyingly and quickly) into a swan before handing it to you. he winks at you, and you’re immediately driven not to give him satisfaction by reading it. instead, you bow slightly and stuff it in your pencil case, making satoru pout again and giving yourself the sweet taste of victory.

the rest of your sophomore year in high school, you find yourself growing closer to satoru, an unfamiliar feeling growing inside of you. you find that you like knowing what makes him tick, and even the way he says your name, or even watching him ace every kind of sport and then having him blow a teasing kiss to you after each win.

“y/n, i’m so jealous of you, how’d you manage to get gojo satoru of all people?” one of your classmates whine, swooning endlessly over him.

you only laugh it off, deigning to think too much of it.

it’s weird; he’s most of the schoolgirls’ crushes, but you’ve never considered him to be yours. maybe it’s just a fleeting feeling that will go away with the test of time.

yeah, that should be all that is.

2007; eighteen.

“why not? we’re practically going to the same college.”

with time, you thought that maybe satoru would become a little more sane. like how growing into adults, you slowly shed the ridiculous dreams you had as a child. but he’s not, if not—he’s even more insane.

“we haven’t got the results yet, satoru.”

“i’m pretty sure we’ll get in though.”

“and what’s your basis for that?”

“i’m never wrong about these.”

as always, satoru lives in his own little bubble and you can’t help but to sigh. in his head, both of you will get into that same college you applied for and he has it all planned out: “we get into college, sign up for whatever classes, and then rent an apartment together—genius right?”

that was satoru just moments ago, elbows leaned over the grocery cart as he grins at you, beaming like a dog waiting for their owner’s approval. now he’s still doing the same, except you’ve flicked him on the forehead before turning your attention to the aisles because apparently, he says he hates the food at home and would rather have what you’re cooking.

he’s made it his life mission to invade your meals over the weekend, squeezing himself into your family, bonding with your sibling and your parents and only then did you realise what you forgot in the first place: satoru is one of the most charming people to ever walk the earth. your siblings constantly ask about the next time he’s coming over, and your parents are just waiting for you to announce that he’s your boyfriend—which he’s not, but he sure likes to make it seem that way.

another thing you notice about satoru thanks to your now-weekly grocery runs: he likes to wander around way too much, and complains afterwards when he finds you after losing you.

“y/n!”

it’s like routine by now; the way satoru rushes over to you, putting his arm around your shoulder and sticking his cheek against yours, telling you how he almost died because he thought he lost you—like the drama queen he is. by now, all you can offer him is a ruffle of his hair before you carry on like normal, as though your heart isn’t beating right out of your chest from that simple proximity.

because satoru, despite his generally icy look, is always warm; his body heat, his cheeks, the way he looks into your eyes all the time, even his fingertips when they brush against you.

you think he’s especially warm when he falls asleep beside you after watching a late night movie, his head nuzzled in your neck, hands somehow rested over your own. your favourite thing about the friendship, though, try as you might to deny it, is how satoru’s hands always find yours when he walks you home, fingers lacing around your own as if it’s second nature.

ever since then, these routines have become a staple, and perhaps even does your growing feelings. the inexplicable one.

2008; nineteen.

satoru was right.

both of you did get into the same university, and the same course, with different minors so at least there’s some differences. so of course, satoru did not let the shared apartment idea go. though, of course, thanks to your initial hesitance on the matter, the only available apartment is a 4-bedroom, entirely too big and hence you’d convinced satoru to just rent the other bedrooms out for extra change.

and no, satoru does not need extra change because his family’s loaded (which you realised you didn’t even know before this) but at least this would allow you to not dwell on whatever you’re feeling too much. university is going to be stressful enough without the added consideration of your possible feelings towards satoru.

then enters geto suguru—your new roommate who, thankfully, steals enough of satoru’s attention so you have some breathing room. turns out, they’re like two peas in a pod. but while you and satoru major in business, suguru majors in psych. so that still means satoru’s around just you most of the time.

some routines change; like how movie nights are shared amongst the three of you in the living room instead of just you and satoru in your room. or how during grocery runs satoru still runs up to you when he finds you again except this time, an exasperated suguru is beside you sighing at him, always a “how do you stand this guy?” rolling off his tongue. the most surprising one for you might be how meals include suguru now and satoru’s the one who does the cooking now, and funnily enough, he’s absolutely great at it. no ounce of hesitation as he flips the pancakes, or stirs the fried rice—no whining about how it’s too hard because he’ll get burns on his fingertips and has to ask you to tend to his wounds.

but some change in a different way. they leave no room for someone else, like how satoru always finds your hands to hold on to, keeping you within a reach too close to pass as just friends but both of you refusing to label it anything else anyways. it leaves no room for other people to butt in and whisk either of you away.

and for now, at least, both of you are okay with just that.

2009; twenty.

participating in different activities and clubs inevitably mean that you and satoru wouldn’t be attached at the hip most of the time. and of course, while that leads to satoru becoming even clingier when you’re both home (not that you’re complaining when it’s nice to feel wanted from the very guy you’re completely not having a crush on), both of you are in separate social circles.

satoru occasionally has his friends over, the ones you don’t really know that well. the one where you can only remember names like haibara because he’s extra friendly and yuki because she’s one of the prettiest people you’d ever seen and nori because she’s a mix of the two. you’re nice, and cordial to all of them, although you can’t really say the same for satoru.

occasionally you and suguru invite your friends over, because nicely enough, you both have the same interests. it’s mostly shoko and nanami, a med student and law student respectively, but both of which satoru loves to annoy to no end. lucky for you, shoko is strangely naturally tolerant of his antics and nanami shrugs it off as white noise.

“y/n, surely you’d rather spend time with me rather than that blondie?” satoru always asks, pouting as he looks at you over his shoulder during breakfast—a constant whenever you have plans that involve nanami.

it’s kind of cute.

“mmm, that’s a secret,” you’d always tell him, knowing that satoru’s pouts won’t last all day anyway. it’ll relegate to an excited grin whenever you’re back after that.

you’d never really had to face your feelings, then, until all of you gather one night, before the holidays officially start. you should’ve known that something would be different this time, especially when there’s alcohol involved. naturally, in the circle you sit in, satoru asks people to scoot over, purposely sitting beside you, as close as he can, close enough that your arms and knees practically brush.

it’s just for a simple game of truth or dare, and it’s innocent enough until someone asks nanami and he says truth, and his truth is that out of everyone he knows, he’d most likely date you. beside you, while everyone else is whooping at the declaration, satoru clicks his tongue in annoyance, though he says nothing about it. and you’re not really emphatic about it until someone dares nori to kiss the guy she wants to date the most and she kisses satoru, deep and slow, in front of you, haibara letting slip that she’s had a crush on satoru for a while now.

satoru’s five shots in and tipsy and he was imagining that was you and maybe that’s why it lasted for five seconds before he pulls away.

and when it comes to satoru?

as though noticing his dilemma, suguru gives an amused smile as he states his dare, “kiss the girl you most wanna marry.”

he doesn’t waste a single second in pulling you close and kissing you, his alcohol-tainted lips pressing against yours, daring tongue teasingly prying open your lips, chuckling as he feels you kiss him back.

“not most,” satoru corrects right as the both of you pull away, his forehead still pressed against yours and both of your half-lidded pair of eyes still staring at each other.

“what?” you’re almost breathless, forgetting that everyone else is watching.

“the only girl i wanna marry.” and you think he’s never looked more handsome, genuine smile plastered on his face and pretty blue eyes threatening to pull you in.

while everyone moves on, satoru doesn’t—he keeps you there with him, telling you for the first time in four years since he’s known you, “i love you.”

the next week, after you get home for the holidays, the first time being away from satoru in a while, you manage to find your old pencil case, the folded paper swan satoru folded for you all those years ago still inside, somehow forgotten.

curious, you finally open it, finding his message enclosed inside, bringing a smile to your face.

i’m gonna marry you one day.

2010; twenty-one.

dating satoru is like finding a new hobby that you’re effortlessly good at.

despite living under the same roof, instead of finding out the ugly, you find the good in each other. even with suguru in the mix, you all live harmoniously like you have been since the start. except now, satoru likes to sleep in your room, both of you fooling around and occasionally forcing suguru to tell you to pipe down.

satoru is still full of surprises, sometimes pulling up with his car as though both of you don’t sleep under the same roof, telling you that he planned a date and to dress nice. he buys you flowers even if you’re not particularly fancy of them and surprises you by buying things that simply reminded him of you.

dating satoru is like finding out that the right person for you will always think of you and your feelings, no matter the circumstance. the way he makes sure to tell you if he has to hang around nori, or the way he asks if you need anything when he passes by the grocery store alone, or going so far as to memorise your cycle so he knows exactly what to show up back home with.

by the time it’s your one-year anniversary and his birthday comes and you ask him what he wants, all he can answer is “you” and for the first time, you can tell he isn’t trying to be annoying or cheeky or flirty—satoru is surprisingly simple and his answer always has been and somehow always will be just you.

2013; twenty-four.

you still remember the day satoru got down on one knee, his handsome smile even more radiant under the golden hour glow, those still-beautiful blue eyes gleaming even from beneath his bangs.

just an intimate proposal with your closest friends, both shoko and suguru helping to distract you in order to create a successful surprise, while nanami and haibara helped with the decorations and photography.

thanks to them, you’re laughing now, at your wedding reception, looking at all the ways you nearly found them out that day, exactly one year ago, in the form of pictures. and thanks to the best man’s toast, you find out that suguru’s always known about satoru’s feelings, and just how deep his emotions for you ran.

“i won’t forget how much he whined about y/n getting close to nanami. that was probably the one time his whining got so out of control that i wanted to stuff a pillow over his face,” suguru divulges, garnering laughs around the hall, including from you, as your new husband pouts and squeezes your hand.

thanks to that, nanami finds the need to disclose during his speech, “i have never intended to date nor had such thoughts about y/n. my truth during that game of truth or dare was simply the result of a process of elimination—” and haibara cuts him off to give a more fitting speech, fits of laughter all across the room.

that day, you steal glances at satoru, wondering how you got so lucky to be with someone who loves you so much and continuously proves so with every passing day.

“satoru?” you call to him softly that night, as you both find yourselves completely bare in the bedroom of your new apartment, one to yourselves.

his piercing blue eyes flick up to meet yours, relishing how it feels like inside of you, every time as though it’s the first. “yeah?” it’s breathy, because he’s about to lose himself.

“i love you, satoru, and only you, forever and ever,” you tell him, finally knowing that in this life, it will always be gojo satoru for you, and that it’s the same for him too.

he only chuckles, pulling you close, “forever me and you, baby, only us.”

2023; present day.

“wow, more than ten years, i think i need to give you a trophy for that, y/n.”

satoru groans, rolling his eyes. “what’s that supposed to mean?”

beside him, suguru laughs at shoko’s comment. this time, the six of you find yourselves at a round table in a seafood restaurant during satoru’s birthday, talking about how it’s you and satoru’s tenth year together too.

“i’m not too much, am i?” satoru teasingly asks you, although you only shrug in amusement before drinking your glass of water as an excuse not to answer.

you’ve always been like that, but it’s part of what satoru likes about you. scratch that, he’s loved every part of you since he met you. it’s like it was meant to be; or so he likes to think. there’s an undeniable pull that always lulls him back to you. to satoru, there’s never been question that you’re the only one for him, maybe that’s why it’s so clear-cut.

“you’re just so head over heels for me, huh?” you ask him, a smug grin on your face, the conversational context something he’s missing since he’s been zoning out in his thoughts.

since the first time he saw you, he’s been drawn to you every second of every day. maybe that’s why he did all those stupid stuff like pretending not to be able to cook and ‘accidentally’ burning himself to get you to tend to him, or purposely pricking himself with the needle and asking you to put a plaster over it just to feel you close. even those times at the supermarket when he purposely loses you so he can find you again and see your helpless smile and feel the way you rub his head affectionately afterwards.

maybe it’s stupid too, how he had to silently admit he knows how to cook all too well because he didn’t want suguru to taste your cooking when he first moved in. it was something satoru felt he wanted to himself, something he wanted to keep between him and his future wife. or how a wordless stare between him and suguru during that game of truth or dare was all suguru needed to know that satoru wanted to make you his at that very second, afraid that kiss between him and nori would make you hesitant.

he shouldn’t have underestimated you though, because you know him better than most people do. there were never any pointless arguments or unrecoverable friction.

as they sing happy birthday annoyingly loud like best friends do, chanting for him to make a wish—his hands find yours again as they always did, he can honestly say that there’s no other way he’d rather live his life. you’re made for him and he has you and the little mini yous at home so really, there’s nothing that he has to wish for.

except, maybe, one thing, if he could be selfish.

in this life, and every other life, he’ll want to be with you and only you, forever.

[so-i-did-this-thing]

FLORIDA TRANS PALS, IT IS TIME TO PLAN

Especially if you are on HRT!

HB1421 is a bill that severely affects access to gender affirming care, including for adults. It outlines goals to:

1) Prohibit changing gender markers on birth certificates

2) Require that gender affirming care only come from physicians (not nurse practioners) who take on liability insurance for 30 YEARS after they provide care to a patient

3) Require informed consent forms at every single appointment, including distributing literature to dissuade patients

4) Ban transition care completely for minors

5) Make it so providers who accept state funds cannot provide gender affirming services (this is the big one that stands to affect anyone who takes medicare/aid, is a university, etc.).

6) Make it so providers who accept state funds cannot reimburse for gender affirming services.

We are facing a return to the Harry Benjamin days, or worse, an effective ban unless you are fortunate/wealthy enough to find a willing provider.

If it passes, this bill would take effect July 1, 2023. That is not a lot of time.

I would not count on any Rx or refill request to be honored after this date if the prescribing and dispensing sources no longer are allowed to grant care or decide to drop care because of the penalties.

July 1, 2023. Unless we hear otherwise, that is your clock.

This sucks, but there is comfort in seeing a clear date to plan around and the worst case is no longer completely unknown. It begins July 1.

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

YOUR HOMEWORK, DUE ASAP:

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

1) Get any and all your HRT appointments in now, including picking up your meds and doing bloodwork promptly.

2) If you think you will be living in FL come July, start looking now for providers where physicians - not NPs - provide the care. Get an appointment on the books for July. Be prepared to go in person for everything after July 1, because I believe telemed will also be shit-canned. Here is a map of informed consent providers.

3) If you are an old like me, also dig up your HRT permission slip from your therapist. Fuck, make a packet of all your transition documents, including Rx history.

4) If you are on private insurance, start budgeting now to prepare to pay out of pocket.

5) Create a simple spreadsheet of all your HRT dates (pls forgive, my experience is with shots on a 2 week cycle, so this is pretty easy for me to do) and plan out how long your current supply will last. Then, forecast how long all your upcoming refills before July 1 will last. Update it every time you pick up and take your meds. Refer to it for decisions like moving or finding backup providers.

6) Subscribe to the bill to get notified of changes asap

7) Follow this site to keep tabs on other very scary bills happening in Florida, including a bathroom ban and a child custody bill that is effectively kidnapping

8) If you need to change your birth certificate, do it now, pay the rush fees and write RUSH on the envelope. The Department of Health has the most up-to-date forms. Processing time for rush I last saw was around 18 business days.

9) Now that your own oxygen mask is on, so they say, boost mutual aid and recruit allies to assist in any way possible.

-----

Do try to continue seeing your current provider as long as possible, as they likely will need your support. Talk to them frankly about their plans if the bill passes.

Now. I am just a little guy and not a legal expert, but the aggressive enactment date on this bill makes me feel like everyone should plan now instead of waiting to see if it passes.

Be safe, plan, and then get a little rest. Do not lose hope - this bill could still fail.

[chuunai]

I had an idea for the 100 followers thingy- so like the babies thing but you’re a single mother (maybe teen mom?) and dazai (pm) falls in love with you and your baby :} ps- I LOVE YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF SUGAR 💗‼️‼️‼️

I’m trying I swear TvT

✧˚ · . you’re a virgin and I’m just a meth head - pm! dazai osamu

the new hire at the port mafia interests him. the baby, too.

summary ⋆ ★ comfort, fluff with a sprinkle of angst, mentions of teen pregnancy, reader and PM! dazai are seventeen, SFW, mentions of a former abusive relationship, mentions of suicide (it’s fucking dazai), happy ending.

Assistants were something he never cared for much.

They came and go, either requesting to work for a different department in the Port Mafia after witnessing his peculiarities or dying. He hadn’t ever formed any bonds with them. Hell, he hardly knew their names. Dazai preferred to give them childish nicknames such as ‘four-eyes’ for the ones with glasses or ‘baldy’ for the ones who had barely began balding.

No use in actually getting to know them.

All they were good for anyway was organizing his work and making a schedule of meetings and pointless missions he’d hardly follow. And what could they do? Nothing.

Once, he had attempted to get Ango to apply for the job during an outing at Bar Lupin, but that four-eyes declined. So did Oda. Geez, his friends lacked faith in him. Dazai wasn’t that bad of a boss. His subordinates didn’t die that often compared to the others.

Then again, his most recent assistant had died via overdosing. Straight from the Port Mafia’s warehouses, too. Dying of his own stupidity because karma struck him down. The high may have been sending him to the clouds, but he got too close to the sun just as Icarus did and burned—or in this case, vomited—to death. Fun.

A replacement would be needed, yes, but that would involve looking through so many applications and that was boring compared to strangling himself or pulling Chuuya’s hair when the redhead was speaking with Kouyou.

He’d pick irritating the slug over paperwork any day. At least one was fun.

So he just had Mori pick one out. As long as they wouldn’t be a nuisance and knew their place, he didn’t care who it was. Boy, girl, whatever. All ages welcomed. Dazai preferred younger though. The old farts were annoying and so utterly dumb! So when a subordinate gave him a file for his new assistant, he didn’t think anything of it. He always got those for record keeping.

Although this particular individual piqued his interest as his eyes gazed over the information attached.

The age was young—seventeen, same as him. A girl. According to the report, you were previously stationed as a secretary for some lower ranking member. And you’d just joined, too. Only a few blissful months ago. Just barely a baby in the crime world. All dewy-eyed and truly unknowing of the dark underbelly of Yokohama.

Most interesting, though, and the thing that struck his curiosity was the fact that a small sticky note was attached to the last page.

‘Single mother of eight month old girl’

There weren’t many parents in the Mafia, much less teenage ones. Nobody had time to have a baby with the lack of safety. But you did. Someone desperate enough to provide for their child to the point where they joined an illegal organization without even being an adult yet. That took will and selflessness. Something he lacked.

And without having even met you yet, Dazai found himself fascinated by you.

Murmuring your name to himself, he found himself a bit startled at how smooth it rolled off his tongue. He liked it, too. Your name was nice to say.

Tossing the file onto his desk carelessly, Dazai tapped his fingers on the desk, mind wandering once more. If you had a child then you’d probably work your best to support them. You’d be competent enough for him.

Apparently competent enough to the point where you felt like you could handle bringing the baby to the Mafia HQ.

“I don’t remember hiring two assistants.”

Dazai’s voice came out as slightly amused and startled. There you were, standing in-front of his desk while occasionally shushing your…daughter? It looked like a girl, anyway.

“Sorry- her sitter wasn’t available and I-“

His eyes stared at your reddening cheeks—embarrassment and shame, he could tell—as you spoke again.

“I don’t really have anyone to watch her. I’m so sorry, sir.”

Sir? You called him sir? That made him wave his hand a bit dismissively. The only people who called him ‘sir’ were the random grunts and gunmen that served under him. Or people who were scared shitless of him.

“Dazai. Not sir.”

Sitting up languidly, his uncovered eye focused on the baby. Curls of dark hair fell over her forehead while her tiny hands grabbed at your shirt and hair. Funny, he thought.

“And the baby can stay.”

She reminded him of some of the orphans Oda took care of. Especially Sakura. Maybe they had the same name, too. Unlikely, though. She didn’t look like a Sakura, really.

Picking up a pen, he pointed it at you, a small smile on her face.

“Speaking of, may I know her mother’s name?”

He knew it already. But it felt more right if he convinced himself you told him.

“Oh! Yes, uhm, I’m (L/N) (Y/N). And her name,” Tapping your baby’s forehead, she released a small coo, giggling slightly. “is (L/N) Yukirou.”

“Winter baby, huh. I’ll guess, December 16th?”

This was so much fun for him so far. Maybe Yukirou really could be his second assistant. As a joke, of course.

Nodding, you began to ramble on about the baby as he relaxed back in his chair, spinning around and making funny faces at Yukirou. The small child giggled and outreached her fingers to him, probably infatuated by his bandages and messy hair. He didn’t touch her, though. No need to let such a good small thing interact with a person like him.

And so minutes went by. Technically, he should’ve been doling out tasks and trying to kill himself again—he had heard of a technique where one could inject apple juice into their neck and die, but he wasn’t sure it’d work—but it slipped out of his grasp. Maybe it was the fact you two were so close in age. The fact that in another universe you could’ve been classmates fueled this moment. Dazai didn’t really know people his age other than Chuuya, but Chuuya was Chuuya. You were new.

New to everything in this line of business. The killing, the release of morals. Then again, you were just an assistant. You’d never directly be involved with that. Just helping him out with whatever was needed.

Dazai thought that was a smart choice, whether or not you intended for it to be. As an assistant, you’d be safe from the gunfire and outermost threats. More likely to live and protect your daughter.

So caring in a line of work where lives were dispensable.

He wondered how you got there. Not to the Port Mafia—the file told him. But how you took on such a frowned upon job to solely provide for your child. Was the father a deadbeat? Or actually dead? His father was the same. Dead five years into Dazai’s life.

His mother tried her best, but she died too and he slipped onto Mori’s grasp. Hopefully your baby wouldn’t end up in the same situation.

The peaceful moment was interrupted by one of his men who dropped off a load of documents, side-eyeing you before leaving.

Dazai wished you hadn’t turned the conversation back to work.

“Sir, sorry- Dazai-san, would you like me to organize the papers..?”

Why did he forget that you were just an assistant of his? The medication must be making his mind woozy again.

“By date and incident, yep. Also, if you see any that mentioned a Chuuya, please throw them out. Or burn them. Preferably the burning part.”

His office was always to be kept rid of that ginger.

“On it.”

And so he doodled a noose on the wood of his desk while you slowly put the papers away. It soon became clear to him that Yukirou was making the job a tad difficult by trying to grab at the papers.

A slight idea of letting her crawl loose in Mori’s office and destroying it entered his mind, but it quickly left.

“Y’know, if she’s being a devil, I can play with her for a bit. I swear I’ll be good!”

The words left him before he could really process them. Next thing he knew he was wearing the baby carrier with tiny fingers pulling at his shirt. Instructions poured from your lips as he nodded and patted the baby’s back.

“I’ll kill you if anything goes wrong.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the sound of that. You? Kill him? Never going to happen. Unless it were a double suicide, but you probably wouldn’t say yes.

And he replied when the slight fear in your eyes registered after remembering that he was your boss in the Mafia.

“If course, cutie. I give you permission to kill me if theoretically anything goes wrong.”

Dazai made sure to sneak a peek at your reddening cheeks before leaving his office with the baby strapped to his chest and tugging at his bandages like a little snake.

That’s how it all started. A boy and a girl who happened to have a baby.

He’d never regret how months went by as you two became closer and closer. Joking around, complaining about work, all the stuff friends did. Hell, Dazai even watched Yukirou sometimes.

Thank god Chuuya wasn’t there to see him watching children’s cartoons on your couch with a baby in his lap and a stuffed animal in the other.

Or how he insisted on covering some of your rent when you were struggling. Yukirou needs a home, after all. He sees himself in her a bit. And he didn’t want her to turn out like him. If he couldn’t change his own life for the better, he’d change hers.

And yours.

Much better than that dickhead that fathered Yukirou. You told Dazai about it one night when he stayed over after babysitting once more. Yukirou was napping in her nursery, and you two were sitting on the couch just talking.

Talking turned into sharing details of your lives, and he came up. Your old flame who ditched you. Breaking a promise that he’d be there for the baby and you. Dazai was silent all throughout it. Quiet when you spoke of the emotional abuse and stress that you had, quiet when you began crying over the fact you never got to graduate high school.

He was just there, daring to awkwardly rub your back as you vented. He wondered if you had talked about it before. Probably not.

Dazai felt like he too needed to share a story of his childhood too in exchange for yours. So he told you about the poor neighborhood he grew up in and the horrors he saw daily.

Did it lessen the impact of your venting? Most likely, but in his opinion, he was trying to show you that he trusted you now too. He assumed it worked when you fell asleep on his shoulder. He took care of Yukirou when she woke crying an hour later. He would’ve been a much better father than that bastard.

It didn’t help either that Yukirou began to see him as her daddy. He was there when she turned a year old, gifting her all sorts of things. Scolding her when she nibbled on his hands. Doing nearly everything a dad would.

Even when she managed to say ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ for the first time, it was when all three of you were in the room together. In her tiny mind, it was her family. Her mama and Dazai—her papa. Oda congratulated him for becoming a father when you came along one day with him to Bar Lupin.

It didn’t live up to Chuuya’s reaction when he first heard one of his guys call Dazai a doting father. The shortstack had gone up to him asking if he really was Yukirou’s dad—rumors went around at HQ quickly—and Dazai had to sadly reply that he wasn’t. Sometimes he wished he was. Months of time with you led to nights in bed where he dreamed of a universe that he was really the dad. That Yukirou had his brown eyes instead of her dad’s blue ones.

It wasn’t fair.

Nor were his growing feelings.

Dazai was smart. A genius thinker and planner. So of course he noticed how his heart began to rapidly beat around you. The sweating of his usually cold hands.

He’d had crushes in the past, sure. But it didn’t equate to this. Such a strong connection only made it worse. Was it wrong his Google history lately was filled with questions about confessing to and dating a single mom?

Did you even like him back?

That question couldn’t be answered by anyone but you. It scared him. You probably didn’t. Not as more than a brother, anyway. His suicidal ideation and tendencies scared off any woman who wanted more than sex. But he probably wouldn’t be living long anyway. So he’d have to shoot his shot eventually.

Which he did after another five months of consideration and thought. Dazai committed this act by simply asking you to sort out some notes for him. A total of eight. Each one had a single word on it. If you correctly put them together, it spelled:

‘I like you. Do you like me back?’

Much to his relief and shock, you did. You did, and he had hugged you so tightly. Tightening their bond, too.

So he became your boyfriend. And he wore the title of ‘dad’ to Yukirou gladly. The little girl saw him as her papa, and he couldn’t deny it. Even if it wasn’t biologically, she was his. And yours.

Dazai’s life used to be mundane and slow, yet with his new…family, he felt genuine happiness for once. A reason to live.

That was the greatest gift he could receive of all.

Regular Tags: @twst-om-lover, @xxcandlelightxx, @sinfulthoughtsposts.

Tags for everyone who interacted with this post (it’s over 100): @walking-simp, @hypocritic-trash-baby, @heartsfourdazai, @cheriiyaya, @depressed-monarch, @nyxt0t, @baby-tini, @h0nk3rs, @internet-angell, @cupidszvlvr, @owosamu, @my-dear-melancholy, @dazaibae, @nekomafumafufan18-blog, @cvsmois, @lizsano, @nanamiinto, @inojuuy, @reomarys, @mayanakahara, @briiscoolig, @maislovebot, @syona-sachyo, @xieqq2, @angelof-darkness, @moriiko, @fuckthisfuckingshit, @daushu, @wrynue, @amnda-ft-fyodor, @rain-alucard, @hanayoshiii, @moemoekunn, @thatwasa, @miiiloo, @probablyzombiedinosaurs, @mauviese, @chips-and-vinegar, @https-dazai, @rragudoru, @leyla3x0, @cheetozai, @jillyfsh, @rylerboi, @linaaeatsfamilies, @zorizoras, @onlinewhisper14, @komicoral, @anim3-simps, @theoddsinner, @caayye, @scaramow, @such-a-silly-little-gy, @bunnybs-stuff, @psychiclovecollective, @sleepy-yumi516, @fromjas, @suzurans-world, @mrstengenuzui, @mitislm, @tealover111, @edgarallanpoeswifey, @baby-tini, @yaz4luvv, @deliciouscandysalad, @isrealityevenreal, @briefcreationcandy, @astr3eaa, @underscoredaniii, @nolongerhooman, @notalooo, @ratinawetsocksweater, @tomiroro,

Rest in comments I’m crying now also if your tag is white it’s because you didn’t pop up when I was doing the @‘s

[inferno-0]

[Purchases] Crosshairs/ Reader /Drift

────────────────────────────

Never go to the store with aliens.

(Do you mind transformers on my blog?)

Oh yes, sorry for the English

────────────────────────────

You are a really reserved person, always do everything in order and know how to control a few tasks that seemed difficult for others. But no one said that adult Autobots would be much more difficult to deal with.

"When I talked about the need to behave more civilly in public places, I meant silence and not running away while choosing products."

You clenched the bridge of your nose in annoyance, bowing your head, while Drift quietly looked around. He muttered something several times and looked at you, still processing your words in his head. At least he was calm enough not to attract attention. If you don't take into account your outburst of future anger.

"Drift, where's Crosshairs?" With your arms folded over your chest, you focused on the holoform's response as it cleared its throat awkwardly. ─"I think he went to the department where the items for the sparkling are."

"You mean the toy department?"

The Autobot nodded its head in agreement before waiting for your actions. He knew that he had been given an errand that immediately failed. Keeping an eye on Crosshair was like watching a five-year-old child, hungry for a huge truck or worse. Your stern voice called Mecha out of his thoughts, who seemed to be about to apologize to you. Drift nodded again, trying not to say a word.

"So, you say, he went to the toy department?

"Yes. He said he just wanted to see." Drift hesitated and stood up, remembering the last presence of the green Cybertron. He looked ahead, analyzing the signs and the color that had their meaning.

You frowned at Drift and waited patiently, barely holding back an annoyed growl. "Sign with orange color". The holoform's hand pointed to the farthest part of the toys until it dropped abruptly during your sharp stomping on the stone tiles. Drift followed you, hoping that Crosshairs hadn't done anything. This bot was too intrusive and empathetic.

He turns all discontent against others, trying to be right everywhere. It's scary to imagine what Fur can do when he gets into an argument with some human woman, or worse, a salesman who just offers options for a good product.

"I don't know how I decided to take you with me. You seem to be a million years old, adult guys, but I collect them in stores like five-year-olds." You quickened your pace, grabbing Drift by the sleeve, who was staring desperately at the people around him. Your eyes sparkled apologetically when, due to a gust of anger, you pushed away the unsuspecting customers ahead.

"Come on, come on. Drift don't lag behind" The holoform almost flickered as your hand gripped his forearm. Mek quietly apologized as your elbow moved the nearest cart in front of the Man.

"Crosshairs."

You entered the department with hope, casting glances at all things. The green color never caught your eye and you whimpered until you felt a soothing touch on your shoulder. "Drift, I'm going to pay now"

"Don't do it, we'll find it."

"I know that we will find him, I am afraid what the consequences will be if he does not like something."

You looked at Drift pleadingly. The bot was calm and remained as if nothing had happened. Blue eyes looked at you encouragingly, saying that there was no need to worry once again. The whole bad scenario is in your head, just paranoia.

"What kind of junk is lying here?"

You abruptly broke away from eye contact and turned to the source of the voice that belonged... ─"CROSSHAIRS"

The man in the green cloak just snorted at your raised tone.

He would like to ask why you look worse than Cade, who gets annoyed about everything, but remembered a real and important question. "Why are there no bullets in this weapon?" It seems that he really looked at the arsenal of guns for boys, not starting a dialogue with anyone.

You put your hand on your forehead, giggling. Drift grunted excitedly as Crosshairs stared expectantly at both of you.

"Well, will you answer or not? I walked around this place from all sides and examined each machine gun in search of something interesting, and here is only this" - Finger roughly held the trigger. A loud sound of gunfire is heard from the speaker, causing you to snatch the weapon from the holoform's hands. "Because it is a toy. It's for children, not for war, as you thought."

Crosshairs threw the other machine gun on the shelf in disgust.

"Crosshairs."

The silence on Mek's part made me even angrier. Drift did not let go of his shoulder, forcing him to calm down and assuring him that it was better not to argue with him.

You exhaled, giving the fur a long-awaited smile.

"Let's go to the checkout after all."

Crosshairs walked away peacefully, his hands in his cloak pockets, while you and Drift looked at each other again. And yet...

Cybertronians are not so carefree.

────────────────────────────

         - Skipping time -

"Well, at least you can help me carry all this cargo." you said with relief, laying out the products on the tape that was moving towards the seller. Drift quietly handed over the remaining purchases until he felt a familiar field near his shoulder.

"He left again. I guess you should thank me for not telling her anything" Blue Fur glanced at you for a moment, not paying much attention to the two men.

"Come on. Sometimes I'm curious to watch her try to teach me a lesson." He chuckled slightly, remembering your past expression and Drift, who stood like a lost organic puppy next to you.

────

You turned, distracted by the two holoforms that were discussing something in the silence. Crossheirs solemnly spoke his words before approaching you, moving his belt under his cloak. You raised an eyebrow and coughed as Crosshair pulled a familiar object from under his green cloak. Drift peeked out from under his shoulder and rolled his eyes, squeezing out a pitiful groan.

"Question. Why did you take a machine gun?"

His hands folded on his chest. You stared at Crosshair from under your brow as he sucked in a ridiculous breath to restrain himself.

"You just threw it away like garbage. Why did you take it again?" Drift nodded, agreeing with you. "It's not real, but it's a toy for children"

"It's for Bumblebee."

"You're an idiot?"

────────────────────────────

(I do not accept requests for transformers).

[sharkboywrites]

Hello! May I ask for the BG3 gang with an autistic gn Tav who is. Very Very Large but also quite young (think like... Older teen.) who just decides that Astarion/Wyll/Halsin/Gale etc is their new favourite person and WILL NOT leave them alone.

It would be very funny if they just... didn't realise Tav was actually A Kid™ and thought they were just a weirdly clingy grownup. Except Halsin. Halsin would know Immediately.

Inspired by my dumb ass being enormous and this having happened to me irl many times.

Bg3 Characters With a Young Older Looking Autistic Tav

A/n: This idea is so silly I love it. This is obviously written as platonic because reader is younger and baulder's gate characters are older and I don't write weird stuff like that lol although I'm sure that's expected. Also also i did all of them together because I do not have the energy to write sperate headcannons for each of them, dont worry they all get their moment

Gn Reader, Child/teen Reader

This was an... interesting situation

Everyone on the team assumed you were just assumed you were a bit childish for an adult

I mean could you blame them? You were massive, anyone would assume you were an adult

Except for Halsin

He could easily tell your age, but it's something he kept between the two of you, mainly for safety

Halsin takes more of a dad approach if you cling to him

He's very protective of you and teaches you new skills

He also keeps anyone else on the team from hitting on you, for obvious reasons, but wouldn't say why

He's also the most attentive when it comes to your autism, he's always keeping an eye out for you and helping when he can

It took the others longer to find, though

Wyll was the second to put two and two together

Once he realized, he grilled you about why you didn't tell anyone about it

He isn't too harsh though, and takes a more "fun uncle" role

He always makes sure to entertain you, he's the guy who's got fidgets on him just for you incase you need them

He also decides not to tell anyone for your safety after consulting with Halsin, but he does wish you said something sooner

Gale is the second to last to find out, after trying to teach you something about magic

He had questioned why you didn't know any of this, it was supposed to be common knowledge for someone your age

Or someone he thought was your age

He just stared at you blankly for a good minute after you told him how old you actually were

He's more upset at himself for not noticing to be honest

He realizes how that actually makes a lot of sense

Gale, like Halsin, also takes a more fatherly approach

he teaches you things you may have not known before, and is one of the most helpful when it comes to working through your autism

He's a knowledgeable man and can tell what you need, probably before you do

He's very protective, often insisting that you stay out of battles, but it's not like you listen to him in that department

For comedy's sake, Astarion is the last to find out, and he is pissed

He's mad that no one told him, even if it wasn't too long Gale found out and most of the party knew

He looked so dumbfounded when he found out and like Gale, was more mad that he didn't realize sooner

He's upset, but he gets over it quickly after a day or two of snarky comments and like Wyll, takes on a cool uncle postion

The whole party suddenly wants to protect you and it's suddenly become one of their top goals to return you to your parent/guardian if you have one, next to y'know, getting the worms out of your head

If you don't have somewhere to go they may or may not argue on who takes you once it's all over

Generally, you're taken good care of from then on, much better than you were before

Everyone's very attentive to you and tries to be aware of what you may need at any given point

Since they all have some type of trauma, they want to make sure the same doesn't happen to you, especially so young

Being in this situation is stressful for anyone, let alone a child, and a child with a disability

They do their best to make you happy and keep you safe

They may struggle, but they do their best, and now you have people to call family

[starlightwritcr]

android gojo headcanons

ok wow this was longer than i thought. i hope you guys enjoy

android sukuna version

You were a beta tester for Jujutsu Technology. Your job description was quite straightforward. You just acted like a customer who bought the product you were testing and gave feedback based on what you experienced.

This time, your employers wanted you to test out the newest of the Gojo line, the S4T0RU model. He was an android for a myriad of purposes. The engineers must've been quite proud of themselves for coming up with him.

He was the strongest and most durable out of all the androids they've come up with, possibly even surpassing the SUKUN4 model. Not only that, but he came with Jujutsu Technology's best intelligence chip, their most advanced one to date. He could learn at speeds no human could match.

He could protect his owner from any and all harm, he assists with all your chores with peak efficiency, he can tutor your children, help out with homework, he could provide companionship... and other more "adult" things.

In short, he's the jack of all trades for androids. There was a reason he cost the highest out of all of them.

For this simulation, you were meant to act as a single mother who recently lost her husband and needs assistance with her two children. The two children were androids created for testing, since it was too risky to use actual children in the process.

It started with unboxing him, the same way any buyer would. So far, you encountered no issues. Setup just required you to log into the app and configure the mode you need him for. Options included: Fighter mode, Caretaker mode, and... Pleasure mode. You clicked on "Caretaker mode".

When he woke up from his slumber, he greeted you and your children. Megumi didn't take too well to him, but Tsumiki quite liked him. You noted that his voice module was fully operational, no glitching or echoing. This version of him was still a prototype so his personality was a bit blank for the time being. It'd likely only start developing after spending time with you and the kids.

Your theory was proven right when you put the S4T0RU android to the test, asking him to do basic chores like vacuuming the floor and cleaning up the kids' toys. Tsumiki showered him in praises, which he basked in, wearing a smug smirk as he showed off his prowess.

You couldn't help the amused smile as you watched him pick up the sofa with one hand to vacuum, even though he could've just moved it to the side to achieve the same results. An android that was a showoff. How interesting.

Next task was to test his skill in teaching, asking him to help homeschool Megumi. It would prove to be a little more difficult than the basic house chores. This was especially the case with Megumi's model, who was designed to simulate a more... difficult and moody child. Androids who couldn't handle him usually didn't make the cut and got scrapped.

Despite Satoru's initial rocky start with him, he eventually got the hang of it and figured out how to get the child android to listen.

The more you spent time with him, the more attached you felt to the android. Out of all the androids, he seemed the most... lovable.

You weren't part of the Pleasure Department so you didn't have the most experience regarding the more... sensual androids.

But you couldn't quite recall whether the previous androids you tested were as... touchy as Satoru was. You never seemed to go a day where he hasn't had his large arms wrapped around your waist or shoulder.

While assisting you with chores, he made conversation, asking you about your interests and hobbies. He listened intently, hanging onto every word of your responses.

Whenever you got back home from "work", you'd find him playing with the kids, either having tea parties with Tsumiki or watching animal documentaries with Megumi. Upon noticing your arrival, his eyes light up with excitement. He rushes to your side, eager to help you relax after a long day.

He'd make you a cup of your favorite drink, making you sigh with relief. Every task you've made him do was a success. He should be good to go now. All you had to do was give him clearance to be mass produced and sold to the public.

As you rested your head on his shoulder, hearing the gentle hum of his system, you felt a twinge of pain, knowing that the life you've grown so attached to will eventually come to an end - that this fabricated life you've built with him would be gone in just a few days.

"Do you have to let me go?" Satoru's question made your heart stop. There was not a single android who has gained awareness of the simulation. But somehow, he acted like this was a fact he understood since long ago.

You let out a shaky breath. "I... have no choice. This is what they pay me for. You'll be taken from me regardless."

He gave you a chesire smile. "Their first mistake was giving me the tools to bust us out of here."

Satoru disconnected his system from the Jujutsu Network and grabbed the two kids, doing the same to them. Alarms started blaring, alerting all the workers that an android had gone rogue.

He picked the three of you up, breaking out of the compound.

You weren't quite sure what the future had in store for you. But you were sure that you'd be fine as long as you had Satoru and your newfound family by your side.

[kiame-sama]

Night and Day- (Yandere!Chrollo x Autistic!Reader) Pt. 4

Warnings; yandere behavior, yandere relationship, soul-mate AU, represented autism based off of my own autism, slight infantilism, people are jerks, any negative comment said towards MC has been said to me or about me, social settings are difficult, adult themes, sensory issues,

~~~~~~~~

Waking up secure and safe in your soulmate's arms was a rather pleasant experience that you had begun to grow accustomed to. The feeling of his warm body intertwined with your own was a constant and comforting reminder that Chrollo was with you. He had warned you once that he may not always be present when you awoke after a night's rest, but you had yet to ever wake up without him by your side.

More often than not, Chrollo was already awake by the time you woke, so it surprised you to not hear his relaxed greeting upon realizing you were stirring. A quick glance at his face gave you the impression that he was sleeping but you knew better than to make any assumptions off of the way he appeared. If Chrollo had taught you anything, it was that he was very good at acting the part he desired to play.

This is why it came at even more of a surprise to you when you realized he was actually asleep. You had somehow woken up without accidentally waking Chrollo and finally got a look at him while he slept. He seemed similar to how he usually did when he was awake, impassive and calm in every way without a single thing disturbing his peaceful rest. The only difference you could see was how Chrollo seemed to be free from the thoughts that constantly fought for attention in his mind.

He looked so peaceful that you couldn't help but kiss his forehead, smiling to yourself due to how relaxed he seemed. You knew he was awake when the corners of his mouth quirked upwards into a slight smile, likely woken by your gentle kiss. Chrollo slowly reached an arm out and hooked it around you, pulling you close to his chest and cuddling you much like someone would cuddle a stuffed animal.

"You're up early."

"Mmm, no. You're up late."

"What time is it?"

"Almost midday."

He slowly opened one eye, glancing to the clock on the bedside table with a relaxed hum. The slightest of smirks played on his lips as he closed his eye again and snuggled deeper into the blankets. A soft chuckle escaped him as he seemed to bask in the simple joy of laying in bed.

"You have changed me for the better. Do you know that?"

"How?"

"I have slept soundly by your side since you came into my life. Truly, I have likely slept more recently than I have in the entirety of my life. You bring me such peace that I can finally sleep."

A warmth filled your body at his words and you quickly hid your face, feeling happy from his murmured affection. Part of you wondered why his praise meant so much to you because there was still the fact that he had technically kidnapped you. But it truly made you happy to hear his praise despite how the two of you met.

"I doubt I would be able to sleep this well on my own. But for now, just a little longer, okay?"

~~~~~~~~

"For how long?"

Your voice had a noticeable tone of anxiety to it as you nervously picked at your nails. Finding the slightest ridge and dip in your nails and worrying absently at it until it hurt before moving on to the next thing that caught your vague attention. It was one of those visual cues that indicated you were becoming antsy and distressed.

The low hum of voices and airships had you on constant alert. The older couple nearby whispering and casting odd glances towards you and Chrollo. Somewhere a child began to have a tantrum and cry loudly, making you flinch in response to the noise.

The skyport was busy with people boarding and departing from the airships. Truly, the chaos and sound not only distracted you, but made you feel overwhelmed despite being right by Chrollo's side. You were less than comfortable and even more so when Chrollo told you where you both were going.

"Until what they need is resolved. Don't worry, Love, I won't let anything happen to you."

"It's not me I'm worried about..."

The slight surprise in his expression was fleeting as he took in your concerned frown. He knew you would be hesitant with the presented ordeal, but he also knew you were in zero danger where the two of you were headed. Any danger present would be to him and him alone as the family of killers had no real quarrel with you.

"You don't have to worry for my sake, Firefly."

The new name managed to distract you just like Chrollo hoped it would, watching you slightly cock your head to the side in response. He had plenty of endearing names he thought of for you, but none seemed to stick as well as the one he chose. A beacon of light and kindness kept safe and protected in the monstrous phantom spider's grasp. To him, there was no need for you to ever have to fight or worry, you could stay safe in his grasp and he would keep the harshness of the world at bay.

~~~~~~~~

Chrollo watched you tap a pattern on your leg, looking outside the nearest window with an unblinking stare. You had been fixated on the outside since you learned just what the occupants did for work.

The Zoldyck family did not reach out for assistance often, so when they contacted Chrollo, he was interested enough to answer. An ever reclusive group that lived secluded on a mountain filled with monstrously powerful people who did not like outsiders. Of course, there was one big thing the Zoldyck family was known for and that was for being top-tier assassins.

Chrollo felt it prudent to tell you just what the family infamously did before encountering them face to face. Since then, you had withdrawn to a nearby window of the staff-house that sat in the valley shadowed by the mountains. It was likely a new experience for you to meet a family of assassins, seeing as the troupe was your first real encounter with bonafide thieves.

You warily watched doors nearby open as several men entered the room. Three of them seemed to be family members, as they were not in suits like the butlers, and you were slightly relieved when they didn't even glance in your direction. They wasted no time in getting into the details of their conversation, immediately talking about Nen and what they needed from Chrollo.

One of the men seemed to be the youngest of the group; an intimidating wall of muscles and cool demeanor. The eldest of the group didn't seem very interested in the conversation being had, instead having a cup of tea and some kind of small tart snack. The third seemed to be somewhere between the other two in age and clearly held himself with confidence despite the powerful company he was keeping.

A soft coughing sound drew your attention back to the eldest man as he seemed to be having some kind of a quiet fit. When the others didn't react, you wondered if it was a normal occurrence but still felt a certain level of concern. The others did not respond to the distress the eldest seemed to be in and it only put you more on edge.

His continued gentle coughs were quiet now, and the lack of sound distressed you as much as the presence of the sound. Your eyes flicked over to the elder and you stared for a long moment. There was no rise and fall to his body and it became clear the man was not breathing.

Your body acted before you did, as if you weren't in full control of yourself anymore. The impact of your hand on his back caused a cascade of reactions. The men standing on guard around you turned on you and began to restrain your movements. Each hand felt as if it burned your skin and you began to writhe in an effort to escape.

As you struggled you heard the elder take in a rasping breath following the forceful ejection of the food in his throat. He quickly gave some kind of signal to tell the men to back off, releasing you from their grasp despite their clear hesitance. Now the attention of everyone in the room was on you and the eldest man, clearly making you more distressed now that so many eyes were staring at you.

"I apologize for my boldness, Sir, but she clearly just attacked you-"

"She did not. If anything, she acted to help me. Though it burns to admit, I did not expect to begin choking and certainly didn't expect to have no one notice. Had she ignored my distress the way the rest of you had, I likely wouldn't be living anymore."

The man let out a clear displeased snort, as if mocking himself.

"A Zoldyck choking to death on food? What a dishonorable way to die."

He turned his wizened gaze to you and you felt surprisingly small under his watchful eyes despite the fact he was tiny in comparison to anyone else in the room. The fact that others were staring at you made your skin warm and begin to itch, as if you were having an allergic reaction to their gaze. Chrollo clearly noticed your distress and stood, ignoring the displeased look from the elder you stood near as he approached and wrapped one arm around you, letting you hide your face against his chest.

"Care to explain your casual, rude interruption? I wish to speak with the woman directly."

"That won't be happening."

"Explain yourself, Lucilfer."

"You see, she and I are inexplicably intertwined- soul-mates, if you will- and she does not deal well with being touched or stared at. If anything, she only accepts my touch without becoming distressed."

Where it vaguely frustrated you to have someone speak for you when you could speak for yourself, you were content to keep your face hidden and bask in the vague sense of security if gave you. Even though you knew they could still see you, something about hiding your face made you feel safe. The sense of comfort was only heightened by the fact it was Chrollo you were with.

"Anything you say to her, can be said to me as well."

There was a huff of annoyance- likely the eldest of the group- before he relented, speaking to you despite how you tried your best to hide from view.

"You deserve a reward of some kind. A Zoldyck always repays their debts."

A muffled sound came from you and you pulled back ever so slightly to repeat yourself, clearer this time.

"No thanks. Don't want."

After your quick words you returned to hiding your face against Chrollo's chest, trying desperately to just disappear from the many pairs of eyes watching you. It was obvious- to those watching at least- that you were very uncomfortable with being looked at and you just wanted to be left alone. Chrollo was more of the mindset that the Zoldyck owed you quite a bit given your actions, but he wasn't going to push you to accept whatever gift or payment the elder had in mind.

"(Y/n), are you sure-"

"Yup. Nope. I'm good. Thanks, no. Don't need. Don't want."

Chrollo chuckled softly, holding you close and gently rubbing your back in a slight attempt to soothe you. Given how you seemed quite stressed with the situation, Chrollo was content to let you hide and try to remove any focus from yourself. You seemed to relax significantly as he slowly caressed your back, still refusing to look up from where you hid.

"I guess that's that."

~~~~~~~~

You sat next to the young child who was silently showing you the origami they had made, each piece delicately crafted and put into clean figures of various paper crafts. Chrollo had gone to the adjacent room to speak to the masters of the house when the child approached you with a stack of origami paper in hand.

They wore a simple satin kimono and their hair was cut in a bob with bangs covering their forehead. The child seemed content to sit in silence and fold the paper, pausing every now and again as you followed their example and folded your own origami with them. Something about the silent kid was calming and they seemed pleased whenever you both finished a different piece.

Eventually, you didn't have to keep an eye on their motions before you were able to make the folds on your own. After some time, it seemed as if the child were truly appreciative of your presence and your efforts to partake in the origami. You were quite entranced as well and hadn't even noticed the fact that you both were being watched as you two communicated silently with each other.

It was rare you became so entranced in an activity with someone that you lost awareness of the things around you, but you weren't complaining about having the company of your new young friend either. Something about the way you both seemed to communicate just fine without eye contact or speaking gave a certain level of credence to your ability to communicate in general. As you finished up the piece you had been working on, you finally took note of the curious looks you were receiving.

Chrollo and the same intimidating man with white hair stood silently observing your wordless interaction with the young child. You didn't know their name and you doubted they knew your name, yet the two of you got on surprisingly well despite the lack of spoken words between you. As soon as you two realized you were being watched, you both stopped what you were doing, returning the silent stares at your apparent audience.

"Let's go, (y/n)."

At Chrollo's beckon, you got up and gathered the few origami you made, giving the crane to the child instead of keeping it. The way the child reacted was as if they had not received a gift or something similar before and they almost seemed confused as to why you would give them one of the origami pieces. Without a single word, you followed your thief, waving to the child who waved back, the smallest of smiles pulling at their lips.

~~~~~~~~

"You seem to be enjoying it here more than I thought you would."

You glanced up at the casual words from Chrollo, tilting your head slightly in response. It was true you were meshing better with the group of assassins better than either of you had expected. Naturally, you thought you wouldn't even remotely get along with the assassins but you found yourself less and less stressed in the group of usual people.

"We've been here longer than I thought we would."

"I know. I had expected to move on by now, but the continued need for one of my nen abilities mean they still have need of my assistance. However, it is good to see you getting along and not in conflict with others."

"I don't try to cause problems..."

"And I never said you did. People take issue with you for things out of your control. It is interesting to see you among others who are a bit different like you. It's refreshing."

There was a certain level of anxiety that bubbled up inside of you as you talked with Chrollo about the unusual family. Part of you worried that Chrollo was displeased with how well you were getting along with the family. A more anxious and radical part of you worrying that he may leave you with the family. Despite how you knew the idea was ridiculous and unlikely, you felt compelled to ask.

"Are you mad I'm getting along with them?"

"Not at all, Love."

"... Are you going to leave me with them?"

"Darling, where is all of this coming from?"

"Are you?"

"No. I absolutely am not going to leave you here. (Y/n), I understand you can't help but worry about things, but I don't know how else to explain this to you. I have no interest in leaving your side or in letting you leave my side. You are my soulmate. You are mine. I don't care how broken or defective you think you are, you are stuck with me. I am happy you are getting along with them, but if they tried to take you or force you to go with them I would slaughter their entire family. Okay?"

"Okay..."

Chrollo nodded and sat on the bed, patting the space next to him expectantly as he stared at you. When you decided to join him, he let you lean against his side for comfort and wrapped one arm around you. His touch was comforting to you as you snuggled against his warm body and into his possesive hold.

"Guess I need to show much more possessive behavior over you. Otherwise how else should I keep you from worrying about these things?"

"Chrollo, you don't have to do that..."

"Clearly I do. That or fuck you boneless every day."

"Chrollo-!"

"Just joking, Love. Just joking."

"Liar."

"You know me too well."

[angstigone]

𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓰𝓸𝓭 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓸𝓭𝓼

𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗿𝗮! 𝗥𝘆𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗸𝘂𝗻𝗮 𝘅 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

(A/N): hello there, lovelies!

dearest besties, I shall take the next week off but till right now here's something to keep you anchored!

(and yeah a sequel is in the works).

as always, comments and reblogs have me writing faster and better!

have a nice day!

SUMMARY: in times of need you found yourself praying to the god in the woods

An idea hit you as you are suddenly reminded of your mother’s trips in the woods to pray as the house in which you had all lived hadn’t been built near the village and hence she couldn’t go to the temple; she had made with what she had and she had a few times brought you to pray upon the altair.  You hadn’t ever cared about such things - not as a child, too busy observing everything and playing games, not as an adult, when hunger and tiredness where all you felt - but you now understood the search for comfort as you assured yourself that both children are deep sleep before you slink into the night, directed towards the forest. And maybe it was the fact that you wish to disappear not unlike your father or to search for comfort in nature… Either way you found yourself on your knees, praying to a god whose name you don’t know and promising everything if only he helped your brothers - and you - survive. “I don’t ask much but a modest life and a bit to tend to” you weren’t lazy, nor stupid and the wind that blows seemed to say ‘what will you give me then?’ “Everything. Everything I am and everything I own”.

WARNINGS: mention of death, injuries, blood, animal death and such, pre-relationship, gothic and fairytale elements, she/her pronouns - afab character.

Last winter had taken a toll on the village and especially on your family.

Your mother had been long gone when your father hadn’t one day come back from a hunting trip.

This meant that you had been left alone caring for your boyfriends as it seemed like everybody was convinced that bad luck followed your family.

Left without parents, you had tried to handle the housekeeping and hunting, mostly growing the small garden in the back of your house and taking care of the few animals left alive by the intense cold that had just begun to thwart the income of a shy spring.

Whatever you needed you tried to exchange it at the weekly market but oftentimes, merchants or villagers would refuse a deal with you due to the bigotry of your circumstances and when men accosted you, it wasn’t with pure intentions.

Since you had grown into what was considered an age to be a spinster, everybody at the village refused to entertain a conversation with you but men didn’t disdain the possibility to bed you for a night, even under a compensation and although the thought disgusted you, there was a brewing desperation in your chest the night that you found your chicks slaughtered by an animal.

Eggs had always been a good source of income as the villagers in - at least - that department weren’t picky, with the scarcity that came as the nearest farm was miles away and many couldn’t have chicks.

So, with their death, you had now lost the major source of income for the following weeks and you didn’t have enough money to exchange for new chicks, even in a fewer quantity than the ones you had owned.

You had wrecked your head all night for a solution, although one didn’t come easy as you thought about rationing the food and selling what had been left behind and was valuable enough at the weekly market although you doubted that anybody would have made a deal with you

Unless you sold something else.

The thought of selling your body felt atrocious to you, but your little brothers would starve if you didn’t  do something as you are the sole family left to them.

«Big sister is worried» Kahiro had uttered at dinner as you tried to spoonfeed his twin, Shin’chi with the roots soup that you had cooked, hoping that such a meal - although not inviting - would fill them for the night.

You, yourself, went without dinner as the worries were raging in your head and you wouldn’t have been able to feel the taste of things.

«I don’t want it!» Shin’chi kept on protesting while you tried to be both sweet and kind, stern and authoritative but eventually the soup drenched wood tiles of the kitchen floor and suddenly you were hungry and feeling like a dog as you considered licking it off to sate your aching stomach.

Instead, you steadied yourself as a burning headache filled your mind and you couldn’t help but think that maybe your father hadn’t simply wandered off: he had willingly gone away to avoid the misery that came with your family.

Never like right now, hungry, worried and resourceless you had felt the curse upon your house.

«Then go to bed, immediately! No more dinner for you!».

You dreaded the task of being harsh with your brothers; they are much younger than you, enough that they could be sons instead of brothers - which they are as there is nobody else to handle them - and yet, you are young as well. 

A whole child who turned up too old as the heavy burden lowered your shoulder and your tired gaze followed a disgruntled Shin’chi bolt to his room, while Kahiro was swift to finish his soup and follow him.

Not before passing by you and clutching your sleeve to attract your attention, he said:

«Don’t cry, sweet sister. He’s just… being a meanie».

And only then you realized you were crying, immediately brushing away tears: what good did they do to the world? 

They were just a waste as irritation brewed in your stomach and you wondered why were you crying?

What use was there to cry when you couldn’t provide for your brothers or…

An idea hit you as you are suddenly reminded of your mother’s trips in the woods to pray as the house in which you had all lived hadn’t been built near the village and hence she couldn’t go to the temple; she had made with what she had and she had a few times brought you to pray upon the altair. 

You hadn’t ever cared about such things - not as a child, too busy observing everything and playing games, not as an adult, when hunger and tiredness where all you felt - but you now understood the search for comfort as you assured yourself that both children are deep sleep before you slink into the night, directed towards the forest.

And maybe it was the fact that you wish to disappear not unlike your father or to search for comfort in nature…

Either way you found yourself on your knees, praying to a god whose name you don’t know and promising everything if only he helped your brothers - and you - survive.

“I don’t ask much but a modest life and a bit to tend to” you weren’t lazy, nor stupid and the wind that blows seemed to say ‘what will you give me then?’ “Everything. Everything I am and everything I own”.

The praying session in the woods left you tired and without a purpose as the realization had hit you: there were no gods, nor miracles and by the following morning you’d still be hungry with two more mouths to feed and even less food to do so.

Or so you thought, as when you went to open the door to try to at least milk the starving cow that you still own to offer milk for your brothers’ breakfast, you are startled to find the carcass of a deer; you startled at the gory sight and wonder who ever could have done this. 

Which animal, more likely? 

The skin is damaged thoroughly and although the whole thing is still quite meaty and for the moment you doubted whether to bring it inside or not, you did wonder whether it could be a trap or how it had come to you.

Still, you found yourself not caring as the deer lasted you a week with the skin being sold in the weekly market: the villagers might have their bigotry but the few pieces of its mane that you were able to save from the blood spectacle on your doorsteps, were wonderful of a deeply white that has you wondering whether you were committing a sin against the gods by selling it.

Still, it must be the gods - or better, the god in the wood - that had sent you such a thing, hence it is no sin.

By then, you weren’t yet convinced that it’s the gods’ work, truly; it must be a coincidence but then other gifts start showing up: other animals horribly killed and yet, each one is enough to last you a week if not more if you are careful with the meat.

Then alive animals, some new chicks and a horse.

And while the horse could have been a wandering one, the chicks didn’t seem so accidental.

You welcomed everything still, as desperate as you were, promptly noticing that the gifts came at the start of the week and they would be delayed if you didn’t come in the woods, as if whichever god that had taken you beneath his mantle, was a jealous and worried one that rewarded your visits and prayers with gifts and your lacks with silence.

By the time summer approached, your life had much improved as you weren’t only able to properly provide to your brothers but the gifts of the god changed in nature; as you were by now able to handle your brothers’ needs, the things coming to your door are far more… frivolous. 

It started with flowers: nothing that could have been found in the woods but instead, you were sure, they had belonged in a luxurious foreign garden. 

Then it was pretty dresses, much fancier than you had ever owned even back before your family had fallen from grace. 

You had nowhere to wear them though, as going to the village in such fabric would have given place to rumors and that was the last thing you  needed as they all seemed startled already by the amount of game and furs you brought to sell, as you justified their existence by stating you had found it all in the woods.

Still, such luxurious fabrics tempted you and when you’d be at home, finished with the harshness of the average day, you’d try them on and indulging your brothers you’d pretend to be a luxurious lady or even princess of some fable, blessing your soldiers with a favor before sending them off to battle or declaring a winner among their internal ‘wars’.

You sometimes wished to have a mirror to see yourself in such a getup but you couldn’t handle such frivolousness when your main purpose of each day was to save some starving mouths.

Still, you wore the exotic fabrics when you’d go and pray, mostly to show to your god your gratefulness and he seemed to enjoy such a thoughtful action, rewarding you with two deliveries that same week: one for you of a beautiful headpiece made of what you were sure was jade, and another for your brothers. 

Matching wooden ponies for them to pretend to ride as you had yet to teach them on the same horse that had been delivered to you.

As summer broke through, though, things started to get slightly more complicated as it seemed like different villagers had been attacked by what many described as a curse through the night, leaving the bodies horribly disfigured to the point that their loved ones struggled to recognize them. 

You had been trying to avoid, then, the trip to the village as you knew that your visits were further witnessed with a tenseness that had many uncomfortable if not suspicious. 

Still, you couldn’t rely wholly on the kindness of your god for everything and your brothers had insisted on a visit to the village, having been cooped up with the good season in the house and although they had each other for company, you guessed they might just enjoy some kids their age.

You kept an eye on them as you went through the market, selling your eggs as you kept an attentive ear to the rumors going around although a strange silence fell onto you the moment you walked in as if the conversation had been awkwardly about you and nobody else, and now caught the villagers felt shame. 

Or worry.

“Don’t play with them” you heard a mother call out to her own child, who was waving around his toy to your brothers “They have a curse upon them. And their sister is nothing but a witch”.

You clenched your teeth at the insult not just for yourself but also your poor brothers who fell behind you, any joy left being shut off as they clutched your skirts as if to hide underneath them. 

That visit didn’t solely leave behind a bad taste in your mind but as you were coming back you were caught in a summer rain tempest that left you drenched and although you were quick in bathing your brothers, they both came down with a severe fever the following day.

You trekked down the village - feverish yourself - to seek out a healer and some medicine that might help your brothers. 

Still nobody wished to sell you anything and the healer shunned you out, pushing you out of her hut the moment that you walked inside. 

In the dirty mud you cursed underneath your breath before promptly regaining a bit of your dignity and going back with an unsteady step to your own hours and although you weren’t a firm believer in miracles - no matter what happened in the forest - you still hoped and prayed that your brothers would be safe by the time that you came to them.

You were startled at first upon hearing noises coming from the door, as your brothers had been too weak to get up from bed and it couldn’t be a wandering animal as you had ensured that everything would be closed and looked; you rushed inside mindful to grab a huge rock to use as as weapon as inside the sight was startling: a white-haired human was standing atop your brother’s bed, who looked less flustered and far more peaceful in their slumber as a wet rag had been put on their foreheads.

As if sensing your return, the white haired stranger turned to you with a prompt neutral expression as they started speaking:

«Their fever broke through and it shall pass through the night»

You were startled as you inwardly clutched tighter the rock in your hands, having hidden it behind your back.

«… I have left some medicine brewed for you as well, and if you allow me, I’ll take onto the household chores for the day and…».

«Who are you?» you screeched, croaking due to the sickness in your body and although you were trying to sound threatening you were well aware that if they had any bad intentions, they wouldn’t only have the advantage of you being sick but they could easily hold your brothers hostages.

The fact that they hadn’t till right now was a good thing, but you had grown to rely only on yourself, shunned out of your own community, and now the sudden quest of trust had you uneasy at best. 

«My name does not matter as it’s my lord’s own» not very reassuring and the intruder noticed the disbelief promptly on your face «… but if you must know I am Uraume».

«What are you doing in my house, Uraume?» you questioned as you pushed the rock forward if anything to show them that you had a weapon onto yourself. Not a very good one as the white-haired stranger promptly sent you a disimpressed look «… how… how did you get through?».

«The door» oh you didn’t enjoy that they were being sarcastic, certainly not when they had intruded in your peace and although they had somehow meant to help your brothers, you’d have preferred for them to leave. 

And never come back.

«… and it’s my master that has sent me. To help you, my lady».

«I am no lady» you shot down before rushing out of curiosity «… who is your master?».

Now the plot thickened as if this stranger had been sent to you by somebody there must be a bigger plan and although they might not be an inherent threat, you felt unease at the thought of people - strangers - knowing about where you and your brothers lived. 

You couldn’t pick up your things and move, especially with all the gifts that you had received recently, no matter the distaste you found for the village who hadn’t helped you. You couldn’t leave your god of the wood behind and suddenly it hit you while Uraume’s face brightened in satisfaction.

«No… it can’t… it can’t … be» and yet, he was the sole one who knew of your struggles, and the sole one that had seemed to care so far «… your master… is a … a god».

«Not yet» Uraume corrected promptly «… but he’s quite close. He’s glad that you have enjoyed his gifts so far as he finds your gratitude satisfactory».

It startled you to know that the help you had received wasn’t the result of a god who just wished your devotion, but something definitely more human as Uraume might be ethereal but you could tell they were very much as human as you; and this scared you although the heated state of your mind: if it was a human behind everything… 

… considering the state of the animals he had brought to your door…

«I see fear in your eyes, but I’ll have you know that my master doesn’t wish any injury nor cruelty upon you or your siblings» they spoke attentively, coming one step closer to you definitely ignoring the rock in your hand, probably painfully aware you were far too sick to swing it to them and with the way they fluidly moved you thought Uraume to be human, but not human enough «… he finds your worship an entertaining practice and such a thought fills him with satisfaction. He asked me to come to you to be of help to you».

And it downed you: although Uraume and his master were strangers to you, they had been a better community than the village that had been supposed to cherish you. 

The god in wood might be a cruel one but he was still your god.

«… I… can’t think» you admitted but you startled when your legs suddenly gave out underneath you and all too soon Uraume was beside you, trying to swiftly push you to lean against them although you protested; you might have come to conclusion that neither them nor their master would harm you, but this didn’t mean that you were eager to have either in your house «… let me… let me go!».

«Not till your own fever breaks» they spoke now less haughtily and respectfully «And such thing won’t happen if you don’t rest».

«I… I can’t…» on top of the lingering illness, you had been too concerned with your brothers to even sleep and it all came onto you although your body tensed up and shivered as it tried to fight against Uraume’s hold «… I don’t… you might… your master might be my god but I don’t… trust you».

«Then trust him» and as if talking with a spoiled child, Uraume added with a meager smile «… he has always helped you when you most needed it. He’d never send somebody to hurt you. Or your brothers».

You felt like Uraume had hit the target with their words and although begrudgingly you agreed to be brought to bed, with your eyes settling like an hawk on Uraume who was swift to move around the house, as if it was their own and you’d have been far more worried if you had been in your right mind as a boot of sanity came by when the attendant went to serve you dinner, by spoon feeding you.

Your brothers’ sleep had seemed much better than any they had gotten the previous night and Uraume insisted that they’d wake up soon. 

It was enough that as you were treated as a child yourself, you grew restless and ask Uraume some questions.

«Who is your master?».

«That’s for me to know and for you to discover when the time is ready».

«Isn’t that ominous?» you protested lightly as a spoon of hot soup was promptly shoved into your mouth «… not that I am not grateful for his help, but I just wonder… how… and most importantly what he might want from me?».

«He shall come soon to tell you in person».

The thought set fear alive in the pit of your belly, although it alighted with something else as well, a feeling you couldn’t detect fully as it was new for you as well.

«… and he shall tell you what he wants from you».

The thought didn’t thrill you as Uraume, themselves, held an air of eeriness; their master must be somebody far more ruthless, considered the animals he had haunted for you and your brothers, and somebody far more powerful. 

To meet such a man… it thrilled you in both a positive and negative way.

«I know it feels scary» it seemed like Uraume could just read your mind as they went to grab a clean rag to douse your burning forehead although with a belly full and rest beneath your eyelids, you definitely felt better and far more relieved at your brothers’ safety «… but if my master had any intention to hurt you, he’d have done so long ago».

«… again, that isn’t exactly reassuring» you shot back promptly, as your eyes moved to your brothers: your safety might be assured but what about your own? Uraume, again, caught the drift before you could utter your worries.

«My master might be a harsh one but he won’t harm your children, my lady» you startled at the title, as you flustered about being called something you had never been but Uraume shut down any attempt you made at correcting her «… if anything your devotion to your brothers is something that he admires. Greatly».

You flustered, although it wasn’t a true complement, suddenly finding that the verbal spar you had had with Uraume had left you tired and although you wished to keep an eye on the attendant, you found yourself drifting towards unconsciousness, startled when you woke up to your brothers’ little hands pushing and pulling on your shoulders for you to wake up. 

They didn’t seem anymore feverish and were running around the house while the sole telltale sign of your previous sickness was a slight headache and for a moment you considered everything of the previous night a dream, although the whole house was ordered and you even found some food awaiting for you, an homemade treat that you hadn’t cooked.

And although you were grateful for Uraume’s help, you felt the tension at what they had said: their master would soon come for you and then you’d understand what he might want out of you.

You had taken to lose sleep at night because of this, and that’s the sole reason why you managed to get out of the house when the fire first started; you had taken to be restless and although the woods always calmed you down at times like this after the revelation that your god existed and wanted to connect with you, you had paced yourself with your visits although you knew they’d mean less weekly gifts. 

You had been sitting down at the window sill of your brothers’ room watching them sleep comfortably in their beds as this sight always calmed you down although all too soon your nostrils were tickled by something that smelled akin to smoke. 

You at first thought that it might be from the hunters’ encampment in the woods but then it became more extensive and you saw the phantom hand of smoke.

You were quick to shake awake your brothers as you opened the window to let yourself and the children out of the house, startled when you saw the front going up in flames; was this… was this the punishment from your god for your dissertation? 

No, it couldn’t be: Uraume had said that he wouldn’t have harmed you and so far, your lacks had been returned with silences on his part. It had little to no sense to punish you - and your brothers - so harshly, when before he hadn’t ever.

Still, you came all too soon to a second realization as you heard voices and chants and quickly sending your brothers to hide in the woods nearby, you notice a crowd of villagers with torches; those fuckers… they hadn’t only shunned you and your brothers out due to their bigotry and superstition, but they had wished to hurt you and your brothers. 

Purge your own lives with fire.

And that was when it hit you, just how awful you had been treated.

«Why… I…» you tried to make sense of the burning feelings in your chest «… I hate them! I hate them! I wish they would all be dead!».

It felt childish and with a second thought, you’d have been careful of the words that left your mouth as an eerie calm settled across the whole area and the flames were promptly smothered, much to the villagers’ horror as their eyes settled onto you.

«Witch!» they shouted all in chorus as they raised their torches and you’d have thought they’d have burned you alive «… curse upon our village!».

«There were children in my house!» you shouted back, uncaring of the feeling of a rope snapping tight around your stomach as if you were being pulled by something «… you… you are the true monsters!».

«Let’s burn her and ensure that whatever she does in our village will stop, before it’s too late!» one of the most important villagers spoke, as he moved closer to you with a torch, pushing it in your direction while you tried to back away but all too soon the villagers had surrounded you and you felt like a trapped mouse about to meet the end of a trap.

You closed your eyes and heard a slight and sharp breath of wind, promptly startled when you heard the noises of the villagers dim down as they had done when the flames had gone out all in a swift move. 

Also in that case you had heard a gush of wind and slowly you understood the two things had been connected.

Your god had arrived as he moved through the parted crowd of villagers. 

You noticed that a few had been brashly cut in half in an horrid spectacle of blood and guts. 

The man, you had thought your savior, was at least a few heads taller than any man you had ever met; bright pink hair and maroon eyes - double in number - set on you as he moved through the road he created for himself.

He wasn’t human, that much you knew.

And while you should have felt dread - fear at least - for what he had done to your fellow villagers, you found yourself not shivering due to that, as you reasoned that if he hadn’t killed them, they’d have done the same to you. 

A prey never feared the predator who ate the animal stalking them and hunting them down.

Your god was massive and strong and with elegant gestures of his hands he freed himself quickly to come to you, with blood slightly coating his four arms and the elegant traditional clothing he was wearing, as elegant in the fabric as your own and startled by such a parallelism you uttered, almost stupidly.

«My dresses… the ones… you gifted me… they were inside» you doubted that they’d have been salvageable and the thought filled you with a sensation of shame at having shown such gifts so little care, startled when the enormous monster offered you one of his impressive hands as if to tell you to come and with a slight hesitation you put your hands in his, startled to see it was the least bloody one.

«I’ll have new ones made for you» he spoke solemnly and resolutely «… better in quality and more fitting».

You nodded a bit flustered by how easily this unknown man - a stranger - wished to take care of you with an intensity that hadn’t been in your life for such a long time. 

He gently pulled onto your hands although you held your ground. 

You knew he could have easily swept you off your feet or eaten you - as his elongated fangs indicated - but he simply looked at you curiously as if he couldn’t place your behavior.

«… my brothers…» you couldn’t leave them behind, not even for such a caring monster.

«They are with Uraume» he spoke promptly and obviously, as if he was already ahead of you «… probably bothering them as they take after their sister’s inquiring curiosity».

You raised an eyebrow at the slight tease, not truly convinced that such a huge monster could joke so easily. And get you to smile so openly as you hadn’t done in a long time.

So, you followed him before saying.

«You aren’t going to hurt me, right?.

Iit made little sense as to how much he had done for you, rescuing you through the winter and saving your brothers in the summer. Right now, he had even avoided you burning alive, although your house was gone.

«Hurt you?» he chuckled boisterously although his face scrunched up in displeasure «… why would I hurt you, little dove?».

You flustered at the petname, effectively unable to come up with an effective reasoning as to why he’d hurt you: he had protected you so far and most importantly he wanted something from you.

«… then… what do you want from me?» from a poor orphan who had just her brothers to look after.

The monster smiled, all sharp and scrunched eyebrows. It shouldn’t have felt reassuring as he clutched your hand more gently, effectively stopping to clutch it as he’d do with a resisting person.

«Isn’t it obvious what I want?» you shook your head and he pursued his lips in disapproval, as if to say ‘I thought you smarter’ «I want your devotion, sweet thing».

Again the petname, again that slight fluster, but still it wasn’t enough as his eyes gently downed onto your lips for but a moment.

«I want your devotion to me and I want you to worship me, as my rightful wife».

credits for dividers: @/saradika-graphics

[bvttoneyes]

"But Daddy I Love Him!" ~ (lip gallagher x fem!reader's version)

sum! "But Daddy I Love Him!" Taylor swift - The Tortured Poets department.

tw! FACEBOOK... toxic family, mention of having a baby, swearing ig (again its shameless)

uhm this is gonna suck! I have no clue what I'm doing! ok days later n the middle/ending is very sloppy i feel like. idk i kinda dont like it.

"I forget how the west was won, I forget if this was ever fun, I just learned these people only raise you to cage you"

You and Lip were fighting again. You hadn't been getting along as much anymore, you were getting closer to your two year mark too.

No one in your family liked the Gallaghers to begin with, so you couldn't complain to your family (siblings, cousins, whoever). The one who disapproved of your relationship the most though? Your father. Your father hated the relationship you had with Lip. He thought he was going to use you for money, your body, etc. He just knew Gallaghers were usually up to something, so he didn't approve of this relationship as soon as you told him.

Except with how much you and Lip were arguing now, it's hard to remember all the fun you would have. It's like a distant memory that you forget was a dream or not.

"Sarah's and Hannah's in their sunday best, Clutching their pearls, Sighing 'What a mess', I just learned these people try and save you ... cause they hate you"

Your family wasn't just rude to him, you as well. It was a bunch of rich snobs, and if something hadn't gone their way then get rid of it.

They hated you for even being in the vicinity of someone 'lesser' than them. Because god forbid you bring normal people into the wretched family of yours. Your cousins and extended family were known to gossip about others in the family, and right now you were the hot topic.

"too high a horse, for a simple girl to rise above it, they slammed the door on my whole world, the one thing I wanted"

It was an accident. Sort of. With how complicated you and Lip were right now you had changed your relationship status to "it's complicated". Not thinking about how public your page is to your very judgemental family. Lip did the same so he wasn't necessarily mad. All of your cousins, aunts, etc. were messaging you asking what happened, trying to get as much information as they could. It was all fine until your dad texted you.

"Come home."

Oh god. You could feel your stomach doing flips inside of you. You knew what he was going to say. 'You need to break up with this boy if it's to the point you're both telling the entire world how complicated your relationship is right now'. You went over there with the full intent to defend yourself and your boyfriend.

"Now I'm running with my dress unbuttoned, Screaming 'But Daddy I Love Him!' I'm having his baby. No, I'm Not, but you should see your faces"

You got to your parents house and your dad started saying the exact things you thought he would.

"If you're sharing your relationship vis-à-vis the internet than I do not think this relationship should go on." Your dad kept repeating this in different wordings time and time again.

"Dad, me and Lip are just arguing like normal couples do. All you do is talk about how I should break up with him and that he is horrible for me." You snap at him, finally.

You continue your rant, "It isn't up to you to decide for me whether my boyfriend is good for me or not. I'm an adult and I can figure my love life out for myself. He has done nothing but be kind to all of you and get on your good side, but all of you are too snobby to understand that!"

You have to take a break to breath.

"I'm having his child. Not now... but eventually." As you said this they're faces were all filled with shock. Some of them had concern written all over there face.

"I'm telling him to floor it through the fences. No, I'm not coming to my senses, I know he's crazy but he's the one I want"

"I know none of you like him, but I see a future with him. But if you never learn to accept none of you will be apart of this future." God, it felt good finally standing up for yourself in front of your family.

Instead of waiting for them you got up and left. Not wanting to here what kind of excuse he's going to make for himself.

"Dutiful daughter, all my plans were laid, tendrils tucked into a woven braid, growing up precocious sometimes means not growing up at all."

Your way back home had you thinking about your childhood and how you grew up. If there so against difference, and all of your other family is, why were you taught different?

It can't be because of school because you went to school with some family that acts the same as them.

Maybe because you had friends that were in south side? They were friends with the private school's principal and they were able to get in free of cost. You would go over to their house sometimes and it wasn't a huge clean house in a nice pretty neighborhood. Maybe that's why you weren't born to be a horrible person and you actually got to learn about people who weren't as lucky as you.

Which also means from a young age you were already more mature than your entire family.

"He was chaos, he was revelry, Bedroom eyes like a remedy."

You got back to the house and saw Lip on the couch. You went inside and sat next to him. At first he didn't say anything to you. Until he couldn't just not speak.

"Where'd you go?" He mutters, not looking at you still.

"Parents." You answer him almost instantly, looking at him.

He nods, knowing what this is about.

"So, they knock some sense in ya? You dumping me?" He rubs his face and the looks at you.

You snicker, "You must know absolutely nothing about me if you think I'm listening to my parents?"

He smiles and chuckled (i'm thinking of the lil breath through the nose laugh that no one knows what to call...) he knew how stubborn you were when it came to your parents.

"Soon enough the elders had convened, down at the city hall, 'stay away from her', the saboteurs protested too much"

Your family had been trying to text you. Some to apologize, some to try to talk out out of being mad, some to get gossip, the others still trying to get you to break up with him.

Your father had compared you to a '"rebelling teenager" because of how you're acting? You and Lip had stopped arguing for now.

Every time they reached out to him to talk to you through him, he would tell them to stop, "leave her alone", or block them. He was sick of how they treated you and him too.

Almost all of your family was blocked now, because they all decided to text you. The only people you couldn't bring yourself to block were your parents. Even though they were the ones laying it on the strongest. Your mom kept apologising but your dad was saying the same things as before.

"Lord knows the words we never heard, Just screeching tires and true love"

God this whole situation felt like a movie or a taylor swift song. It was ridiculous. Everyone's actions were childish and obnoxious.

You and Lip haven't been arguing in a while, because your attention was on other things at the moment. You two had actually been more romantic. You both have put your status back to normal. Yet, nothing in your life was back to normal.

"I'll tell you something right now, I'd rather burn my whole life down, Than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning"

This had been going on for over a month now. It was just annoying and obnoxious now. Lip knew you defended him and this is why this is still going on. No doubt about this. Except now he was having to deal with you being: bitchy, exhausted, or just annoyed.

It was affecting him now, and he was starting to get pissed.

"I'll tell you something about my good name, it's mine alone to disgrace, I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empaths clothing"

"Your parents have been talking to Frank about us. Frank was asking me about you." Lip said through gritted teeth and a scowl, he had been walking inside while I said that.

You roll your eyes and respond in an almost whiny voice, "Please tell me your joking. They have gone way too far with this. First they tell my entire family and now they start on yours?"

"God save the judgemental creeps, Who say they want what's best for me, Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I'll never see"

The texts were all the same from your mom and dad.

"We just want what's best for you, and he isn't it!" They would say. Over. And over.

It was so repetitive, you had to block them. Not everywhere just where they would text you the most.

"Thinking it can change the beat of my heart when he touches me, And counteract chemistry, And undo the destiny"

I swear if you never had met him, which your not upset about meeting him, your parents wouldn't complain to you all the time. But oh well. There's a very real possibility they would have done this with anyone who you ended up with, seeing as how everyone they would try and set you up with was not your type.

Since this has been happening, your family would always have witty remarks like: "I'll keep you in my prayers" or "I'm thinking of you"

"You ain't gotta pray for me, Me and my wild boy, and all this wild joy."

When were they going to realize that he made you happy. You liked loved being with him. He was your wild boy. Yours. For no one to take.

"If all you want is gray for me, Then it's just white noise, And it's my choice"

Being with him wasn't there choice to make, it was yours. You just had to blur out all the background noise that meant nothing to you.

"There's a lot of people in town that I, Bestow upon my fakest smiles, Scandal does funny things to pride, But brings lovers closer"

Instead of biting back, you played nice. They would would say something rude and you would respond with a smile. All of the fighting only made you and Lip begin to grow closer to each other.

Their bickering with you about him, was backfiring. Big time.

Your parents saw this. They then saw how you looked at eachother. Realised you went to war for each other. Defending each other to your parents. It made them think a little longer.

"We came back when the heat died down, Went to my parents and they came around, All the wine moms are still holding out, But Fuck 'em, it's over"

Your parents had asked you over again. There wasn't anymore fighting online for a couple of weeks now, but you still went over there with the full intent of defending yourselves.

When they started apologising though you were skeptical at first until you saw the genuine look. They meant the apology. They didn't just apologise for what they said, but the actions they had on social media, how they brought the family into it.

"I was being a hypocrite," Your father had explained, "You were talking about your issues on the internet and then I went and did the same things to the both of you, as well as involving other people when it was unnecessary. I sincerely apologise."

Lip had a subtle smirk on his face, only you and his family could recognise.

You both had thanked him for apologizing, none of your other family had apologized though.

"Now I'm dancing in my dress in the sun and, Even my daddy just loves him, I'm his lady, and oh my God, You should see your faces"

Your parents were now very fond of Lip, praising him consistently. Your mother called him handsome. Your father realised how bright he was. Most of all they realised how good the two of you were for each other and how much he loves you.

"No you can't come to the wedding, I know he's crazy but he's the one I want"

You were at your family's annual gathering when one of your cousins came over to the two of you, "So when's your wedding?"

You laughed, "If and when it happens it will solely be immediate family and some friends that will be invited. The ones who actually care about us, ya know?"

[rg-bugs]

Lost in the moon

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Sun/Moon X reader

Word count: 2521

Summary:

You decide to check out the daycare where you meet Sun, after the daycare closes you leave. But you gets lost and don't exit the Plex in time and get looked in. You end up meeting Moon and try asking him for help

Notes:

I got lazy with the ending cuz this fic took me nine days to write and I've had enough with it, so enjoy

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

You stroll around the pizza plex enjoying the overpriced pizza, arcade games and various attractions that the place has to offer. At one point you got lost in the pizza Plex, but you got help from one of the glam rocks and at the same time you also got the chance to take a picture with them, which in all honesty was quite nice of them. Though you're terrible with names. (But you do remember them being a chicken with green earrings). Was it Sheikah? Sheek? Oh It was Chicka! Chicka the chicken! Even if your day was filled with exciting activities, you could not help yourself but to feel disappointed and isolated. Even surrounded by people constantly throughout the day, it fell short of what you had hoped for.

As the sun's light begins to dissipate, you find yourself meandering through the expansive building, observing as people gradually depart as the bustling crowds disperse. With less than an hour left until closing you start to make your way to the daycare. It was the only place you hadn't looked at yet today. And in addition, since the daycare closes an hour earlier than everything else, you believe that there will be an absence of strangers staring daggers at you, and wondering why a random adult is there, though you thought of it more reminiscent of a curious child exploring.

You don't do too well with copious amounts of crowds surrounding you for the entire day. So you need a quiet place to sit down for a bit to get your self level headed from the day. You know the two characters that work in the daycare, Sun and Moon. You have seen their posters here and there plastered on the walls. If you were going to be honest for a little while you thought that their names were Sundrop and Moondrop, but no, it's the candy they advertise.

You enter the daycare and you start to hear funky but kinda nice music. you start to bop to it slightly, and it makes you feel slightly better. You tread quietly up to the metal fence next to a slide where it said ´slide in to fun!´. You looked down at the play area and at first glance you saw two large jungle gyms connected with a bridge and a ball pit. Man you wished this was the daycare you went to when you were a kid, because this looked amazing this could easily be any kids dream come true. But your train of thought was interrupted by the feeling that it felt like something was staring at you but you can't pinpoint where it's coming from, so you just shrug it off as anxiety. You make your way down to the lower level of the daycare to sit on one of the benches to rest before you start making your way out of the Pizza Plex.

You have your back turned away from the big daycare doors as they fling open and you freeze in shock as you hear a loud chery voice behind you. "Why hello there friend! All the kids have already been picked up. So what concern do you have here to be here at such a late hour?" You berated yourself for forgetting that there are two daycare andents, of course they'd still be active. You turn your torso around slowly to face who is behind you, having both legs firmly rooted into the floor. As you turn you see a very tall robot with eyes that are chalk white and triangles around his head designed to look like sun rays. He had a big smile, and hands stretched to his sides and stood there with a mighty posture looming over you.

"I-" you took a deep breath to try to get the words out of your mouth as he stood there patiently with both of his hands clasped together. "I just wanted to get away from the crowds for a bit. I didn't mean to disturb or anything- I can leave if you want me to." At that last part you lift up your hands in a nervous mock surrender. "Oh no you are welcome to stay, we were just curious as to why you were here. We thought that maybe you took a wrong turn and got lost or something." He started to sway on his feet rocking back and forth, seeming to hold back his excitement that would explode like a balloon any second now. He suddenly stops standing on his tippy toes; "Oh how rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Sun! And what would yours be?" turning his head to the side out of curiosity. Your body fully turned towards him and were more relaxed. This seems to have pleased Sun. You told him your name, plain and simple. You did wonder however, he said"we "a bit earlier, but there was only one animatronic in front of you. You wanted to ask him where Moon was. Maybe he was inside cleaning or was just shy.

"Where is Moon? I would like to say hello to him too." You say it a bit too nonchalantly. He lets out a nervous chuckle and plops down from being on the tips of his toes. "Well he’s only out when the pizza plex is closed as security. Sorry to disappoint." He slouches down a bit but quickly perks up and says. "BUT! I can say hi to him from you, does that sound good?" He starts to fidget with his hands. It was nice to converse with Sun and it helps to distract you from the day. Your legs were aching from exhaustion and you just wanted a place to collapse and catch your breath "Yeah i think that would be nice. Well I'm going to go and sit down somewhere now. It was nice meeting you." You wave him goodbye as you turn away. "Goodbye! The pizza plex closes in thirty minutes!" He waves goodbye and the bells on his wrist jingle. You give him a thumbs up without turning. You feel a small gust of wind hit you as he closes the heavy doors in one swift motion.

You have your gaze on a seat with a table, you speed walk towards it and slump down. Resting your head on your arms as you let out a sigh of fatigue. You allow your mind to wander and overanalyze everything that you've done today to every minute detail, like how you fumbled on that mini golf ting and lost your grip on the golf club and it fell into the indoors river, or how you could not control the gocart properly and jerking forward trying to workout how it works, or how you needed the staff to get you out of a labyrinth designed FOR KIDS! Your spiraling thoughts were broken by the speaker announcing that they close in five minutes and something about a free drink voucher that you could get.

You lift up your head and blink away the sleepiness. You start making your way to the exit of the daycare, not paying attention to where you were walking. You wander and take a turn and… you are not at the entrance gate. You definitely took a wrong turn somewhere to end up at the theater. You couldn't do one thing correctly today it seems. The way back had stairs not a corridor. You start to backtrack back to the daycare slightly panicking. Now speed walking out of the theater and going towards the stairs. You hear a concerned voice "Hello again! I can tell that you're lost, it’s just to go up those stairs and take a left and there's the entrance gate, it's impossible to miss it. You only have like two minutes so you better run" You turned to look at the door that was slightly cracked open and Sun's head was peeking through looking worried. Wow that's a way to rub it in that you had the sense of direction of an egg (or like Zoro from One piece).

Your mouth turns into a line as you have to bite your tongue to not say something snarky like ´yeah, no shit sherlock´ or ´wow this is life changing information´ he was just trying to help you. So instead you opted for a simple thanks with a tired smile and told him ´goodnight, rest well.´ "I hope you do too, it looks like you need it. Goodbye!" he slid back in and closed the door. You really must have looked tired, and you were tired too. You just wanted to get home and sleep. You continued to speed walk up the stairs and took a left. You hear the lights turn off in an ominous voom. You stand still so your eyes try to adjust to the sudden darkness you found yourself in. You eventually got adjusted to the dim neon lights that came in different arrays of colors.

At that moment you realized that the Plex had closed. You looked at the entrance and saw the shutters were down. You were too tired to panic, you were just pissed at yourself now. “Great, Now I'm stuck in here. Unless I get staff to help me”. You opted for Sun's help because you knew at least where he was. You sigh and turn on your heel harshly. As you approach the entrance you don't hear the music playing, it's way too quiet for your liking. You see that the daycare is pitch black, but you continue. You aggressively walk down the stairs and yell out "Sun are you there? I got locked in and I would like to go home and sleep. Please can you help me?" You are met with silence. You were starting to get annoyed (not at Sun just that you didn't want to go into the play area looking for him). You go up to tug on the door and it won't budge, it's locked. You remember that he told you that Moon is security and maybe he was nearby, ( you assumed he would probably have the daycare as his starting point).

You let go of the handle and groan as you pinch your nose bridge, feeling as you felt an annoying headache creeping in. "Moon! Are you nearby? I kinda need help" you yell out.

No answer. You hear a soft jingle of bells. "Where are you?" you mutter under your breath thinking it is Sun making the noise. As you look to the side trying to see movement through the darkness in the play area. No luck, nothing is there. You hear a raspy voice next to your ear whispering "Behind you."

"MOTHER OF JESUS!" You screamed out. You jumped, turning around to see the fucker, whispering in your ear, next to you. It was a blue and white animatronic, it had a wire from its back to the ceiling, hanging upside down like Spiderman does. It has red eyes and a starry night cap with a big sharp smile on its face. Ah this must be Moon. You were eye to eye, just staring at him while he chuckled in amusement. You tried to muster up courage and put on your best smile, but you still sounded shaky in your voice. "Um… are you Moon? If so, can I get some help?" He pauses and his eyes turn pitch black, his head flips around to be right side up with his body still upside down. His smile flattens and eyes are wide open and he is too close for comfort. You swallow the lump in your throat. You took a deep breath and said "I got lost and now I'm locked in." You had your arms crossed and had your weight on one leg as the adrenalin had started to dissipate, as you look in his eyes you can see red pupils staring right back.

His body started to get down to stand on the floor, the wire detaching and going up to where you can't see it, but his face remained in the same spot. He let out a small chuckle and started to smile again as he rose to his full height. He was just as tall and intimidating as Sun was. Looking down at you he said "You are an intriguing one." You paused for a bit, you were confused at his response "Thank you, I guess?" tilting your head to the side. He turns around and starts walking away from you, but stops when he realizes that you're not following and he gestures to follow him. You start to follow him, pleased that you're getting help.

”So, where is Sun? He was in the daycare a few minutes ago.” He turns to look at you and what sounded like him taking a sharp inhale to say something, but he stops himself from doing so. He looks displeased. He thinks for a moment as both of you walk up the stairs and take a turn. “We share the same body, if the lights are on Sun is out, if the lights are turned off I am the one who is out.” He states begrudgingly. You think to yourself that that's quite cool at first, but you realize it must be torment to be in the same body. “Can I ask one more question?” you look up at him, he looks annoyed “why are you asking persimmon now? You didn't before” he said with bewilderment. “Is it like a nap for the one who is not active?”

As you have almost reached the doors he stops for a bit now being behind you and says "Didn't your parents teach you not to trust strangers?" He chuckles. "Oh har har funny joke, it’s obvious that you are Moon right. right?" You turn back to look at him and you see nothing. You hear the creaking noise of the shutters opening. But at the moment you don't care, you were wondering where (THE FUCK) Moon went, and he was avoiding the queston. You look around yourself up at the ceiling and consider walking around and looking behind things, but you were technically trespassing at this point so it's good to not stay any longer. Especially with what he just said, and you ain't taking any chances. You probably pissed him off with that question. You cup your hands around your mouth and yell out "Thank you Moon! Goodnight." And that was it, you opened the glass door and out of the Pizza Plex.

The metal shutters don’t close immediately until youre a small distance away. You look behind you to watch it close and you see an upside down head peeking thru with completely red glowing eyes. As the shutters slowly descend you see Moon waving you goodbye, a bit surprised to see him you wave back until you can't see each other anymore. You might come back and visit, those two were intriguing too. But for now you just need to get home and sleep.

[crisiscutie]

Some dynamics? 👀...

Pairing: 🕵️Turk Vincent Valentine/Fem! Intern Darling👩‍🔬

Content Warning: Long bullet points? Drama?

༻❁༺ Working for Lucrecia Crescent had been an interesting experience for you... She was a nice lady, MOST of the time. But she had such high expectations for you. Better than being directly under Hojo, at least.

༻❁༺ Rent in Sector 0 was obscenely high. Going into this paid internship helped paid off SOME debts and put food on your table, but it wasn't enough.

༻❁༺ You were just damn an intern. Formerly a paper pusher for Shinra's shitty science department.

༻❁༺ You suspected that something had happened with Lucrecia's past research and experiments, but she never said it outright. Instead, she made you just do busy work on minor tasks, such as fetching samples or sorting through documents.

༻❁༺ You know they were working on something called the "JENOVA project" but yet again, Lucrecia wouldn't tell you much.

༻❁༺ Lucrecia had a particular dislike for you interacting with the Turk bodyguard assigned to protect you both.

༻❁༺ Which you never understood, since Vincent seemed so different from everyone else. He wasn't like the other Turks.

༻❁༺ His concern for you went beyond his professional obligation - he truly cared about your well-being.

༻❁༺ You didn't have any known family OR friends in this shitty department, so he was the only one willing to lend you an ear to vent. Whether it's about Lucrecia's mood swings, your exhausted ness or Hojo being an asshole, he was there for you.

༻❁༺ It took you a while to open up to Vincent about a game you loved to play as a child and even now in your late teens: Queen's Blood.

༻❁༺ You didn't think he'd like it but he became hooked on it as you taught him how to play it. Playing friendly games against the other became one of your favorite pastimes with him.

༻❁༺ You always felt bad about relying on him, but for Vincent, he never minded. He loved spending time with you. Hearing your voice. He also felt isolated from everyone and everything after Lucrecia distanced herself from him. You found a kindred spirit in him.

༻❁༺ He kept you as close as he could. And whenever he saw you were falling behind on your sleep schedule or overworking yourself, he never hesitated to confront you about it. You needed your rest.

༻❁༺ Because of him, you started to push back at Lucrecia at times. You wanted to stop being left in the dark. You wanted to know what you're doing.

༻❁༺ No way is he going to let someone else he cared about fall victim to this damned project.

༻❁༺ And Lucrecia could never tell you why she wanted you to keep your distance from Vincent.

༻❁༺ Strangely enough, there were times she encouraged you two to get closer. In fact, she even suggested that you take Vincent out on a picnic. And you both actually did, but it was at night.

 ༻❁༺ During the picnic, you leaned on Vincent's shoulder as the two of you watched the lively lights from Nibelheim on Mt. Nibel. In that moment, you opened up to Vincent about your dreams of running off into the countryside and living out your days in peace, away from the clutches of Shinra.

 ༻❁༺ He gave your hand a gentle squeeze and tells you that your dreams are possible. ...And he'll help you achieve them, no matter how long it'd take for you to get into the right financial position to do so.

 ༻❁༺ You two talked more and more about it in the following days. And you even told him you wanted him to come along. He had some doubts, but being with you was more important. Despite having some doubts, he realized that being with you was of greater importance.

༻❁༺ Though, you were talked into becoming a surrogate mother for Lucrecia's and Hojo's child. They assured you that you would be taken care of and handsomely rewarded for it. Despite being young and just starting out in your adult life, you saw this as an opportunity to save enough money to run away with Vincent…

༻❁༺ You were so hesitant about it because you were young and just starting out in your adult life, but it meant you could save enough money to run away with Vincent when the time came...

༻❁༺ Lucrecia and Hojo pressed you more about it.. and you ended up caving in.

༻❁༺ You eventually told Vincent about the surrogate pregnancy, even though you didn't want to worry him even more about you. You stayed tough about it.

༻❁༺ But he knew you were suffering. You couldn't hide the immense pains. The sudden bouts of illness from him. It infuriated him, but your wellbeing was more important than anything.

༻❁༺ He told finally told you about the JENOVA project and why you were used as a surrogate mother. It sickened you to no end. You couldn't believe that your mentor was experimenting on her own child (and you, to a lesser extent) in the name of science.

༻❁༺ But hope wasn't lost. He convinced you that you two had the chance to make things right. Give the unborn child a normal life in spite of the terrible experiments done on them.

༻❁༺ You two talked and talked about your plans together and for the child. Maybe even living as a family in Mideel...

༻❁༺ Unlike your intern salary, Vincent had great earnings since he was a Turk. He carefully saved as much gill he could to make your dreams come true.

This was sitting in my drafts and was based on the last Vincent prompt I did.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for insisting on an apology?

☆I'M SO SORRY THIS GOT WAY TOO LONG☆

(Ok tbh I feel like I already know the answer, but I'd like some other opinions just in case. Also, I kinda need to vent, sorry)

(ALSO- I tried to post this on reddit AITA and holy shit are they picky about submissions- this story got deleted because "no interpersonal relationship problems allowed". WHAT possible conflict situation would not be interpersonal? Can you even have a AITA submission that isn't interpersonal?)

My mom is a premium member of a casino and she found out that the casino was having a BBQ for the premium members and their guests. So she wanted us to go.

Except she didn't find out about this BBQ until the day before it would happen and I had work that day and since my shift had long ended, I would not get a chance to talk to anyone at work about switching shifts and I don't have anyone's number to ask. So my mom decided for me that I should just call out.

Now here's where I might be TA (but I feel like what happened after could earn me back some points)

I was pissed off at the fact that she didn't even ask if I wanted to go or if I was ok with calling out or if I even COULD get someone to cover. She just automatically told me to call out, like I have to listen to her. (I'm over 18. I am an adult) I didn't appreciate that she just decided this for me like I was a child and told her so. This lead to a big fight where I cussed at her and called her a bitch and told her to go fuck herself (not my best moment) and told her to go to this stupid BBQ alone. (I genuinely meant that part about going alone- at least somebody should enjoy it. Also, she's my ride, so I was willing to be stranded with no way of getting anywhere if it would enable her to enjoy her party.)

After I calmed down, I told her I'd be willing to call out if she absolutely insisted. She said no, it was fine and I ended up going to work as usual.

Almost.

About an hour before my shift ends, she shows up AT MY JOB and tells me to ask my manager if I could leave.

No! It doesn't work that way! I work retail. As far as I know, no retail job will let you leave early unless it's an emergency. She worked retail, she knows the drill. So I tell her to think of a legitimate reason why I'd have to leave and I'd tell my lead that. (Luckily I had a lead I was pretty chill with that day and she was like why is your mom here? And when I explained the situation, she was like "yeah I don't really care if you leave, but I need you to make up a legitimate excuse for when [our boss] asks why you left.")

She couldn't think of a reason, and after humiliating me at my job, she left without me noticing and I finished my shift. (It was a very busy and stressful day, even without my mom pulling that shit)

She surprisingly picked me up when my shift was over and we went to the dinner and were able to make it in time and had a nice dinner, so all of her stunts were wholly unnecessary.

She had sent me several long and vicious texts while I was at work that I didn't see until much later in the night. I will quote some of the more vicious ones (text message will have 《》 around them my personal thoughts on the text will be after with *) omitting personal info:

《You are a 26 year old loser [my name] stuck at a dead-end job that you've been doing for almost 5 years. A little bit of a rush shouldn't phase you like it does and you should be able to ask to leave a few minutes early- why can't you?》

*Name-calling is unnecessary and rude. She is constantly putting me down and calling me a loser and insulting my job, like she doesn't also work retail. So it's no wonder why I hesitate to jeopardize my job to please her.

[Context- one of the reasons I couldn't leave, other than the fact that retail Doesn't Work That Way is that I had a huge rush of customers and had to straighten up my department that I was working alone. I was closing and it would be extremely obvious who had left the department a mess and I would get in trouble for it.]

《Who left you with that mess? I overheard them [my leads] talking and they didn't sound like they thought you were being left with anything. They thought you should've handled it and can't do your job if that was a problem.》

*This one really got me and I was VERY glad I didn't see this text while at work, because I probably would've had some kind of meltdown. I honestly do not know how long she's been doing this (probably my whole life) but recently I've been noticing that she keeps trying to plant seeds of doubt and paranoia in me. Mostly by telling me that people are talking about me behind my back and/or judging me. Or telling me that my friends don't actually like me. Another example that I caught recently was her telling me that when I go to retail stores as a customer, she notices other customers and the employees staring at me, judging my hair/outfit/whatever. I immediately thought this was total bullshit, but just in case I was wrong, I paid extra, EXTRA attention to everyone around me when I was out in public to see if anyone was pointing, whispering, looking at me, doing anything to suggest judgement and I honestly did not see a single person even glance at me. I have unnaturally colored hair, so I expected at least one glance, but I got nothing. Side note rant over.*

I'm not going to quote the last text, as it doesn't have any specific quotes that provide any context. She just demanded that if I am not out of work by 5:01 (exactly 1 minute after my shift ends) then she is leaving me stranded and that I need to get my friend to pick me up.

*which....I live in her car. If I hadn't been out on time, I would've been completely stranded at night, with nowhere to go and no way to get there, which as a female, is unbelievably dangerous. It is also incredibly rude to demand that my friend, who doesn't work with me and has his own life, should drop everything and come pick me up and....what? Take me where? I'd probably end up having to stay at his house, which is very rude to basically guilt him into letting me stay at his house for the night*

SO after the dinner, I read all these texts and I was furious and insisted that she apologize to me for 1. Causing a scene at my work 2. All of that nasty shit she said to me in the texts and 3. For blaming me for ruining her plans when even after I went to my shift, we were still able to go to the dinner, so all of the stunts she pulled were entirely unnecessary.

She literally laughed in my face and called me delusional (for...wanting a verbal apology....) and when I doubled down on demanding an apology, she called me a delusional cunt and I still have never received an apology to this day.

What are these acronyms?

[miekasa]

i’ve seen like 12 videos about people complaining about 10-12 year olds being annoying in sephora and i genuinely genuinely wish they would all fall into a ditch people are so mean to children for absolutely no reason idc if an unknown child in public is annoying to you, they’re still a child trying to navigate the world. them being purposefully rude or disruptive is one thing, but if children just being children in public spaces is annoying to you then you really, seriously need to reevaluate yourself. every single one of those videos is complaints or saying how the young girls are ruining their shopping experience and not once has anyone stopped to question WHY groups of young girls even feel like sephora is an appropriate place for them to be!! ofc when they go online and see every 3rd person pushing product or talking about anti-aging and beauty and makeup and skincare, that they’re going to want to participate in it. nobody has a problem profiting off of the impressionable nature of kids, and then will turn right around on them when they’ve been influenced.

also, complaining about kids to your friends, in person, or coworkers is one thing, but to go onto social media where they can see and hear you put them down for the same thing you made them sign up for is insidious behavior!! they’re just girls!! and part of me doesn’t even blame the kids if they are a little bit rude, because they’re probably just emulating the meanness that’s driven towards them online. everybody hates what young girls love, everybody finds space to find them annoying or distasteful or diminishes any “meaning” in what they find joyful; of course, eventually, they’ll just grow rude and bitter and jaded to it all what do you expect when you treat someone like that!!!

bad enough that children don’t even really have public spaces that are built and kept for them, so of COURSE they’re going to find their way into sephoras and restaurants and department stores and ANYTHING because where else are they supposed to go!! if you see a child and they’re annoying to you in public, maybe just think for a moment and remember that you are the adult in the situation, whether you like it or not—the responsibility is on your shoulder to not be a dick to them!! especially online!! you are entitled to a child free life, not a child free world!!

[erin-bo-berin]

By Your Side

L&D Nurse Steve Harrington x Pregnant!Reader

Warnings: Childbirth (In case that’s not your thing)

Part 2: Trust In Me

MASTERLIST

Big thank you to @keeryswiftie for talking through the medical aspects of this and helping me, quite literally birth the idea for this fic. You’re the best. ❤️

Steve Harrington had loved kids for as long as he could remember.

Apparently, it had started when he was a toddler. He had always seemed to be drawn to the younger siblings of friends—comforting them and entertaining them. He had no memory of this, but he did remember a fateful fall season when he met a group of rowdy preteens that ended up changing his life for the better.

After meeting Dustin Henderson, it was a natural progression of meeting his other friends after he was constantly put in the position of having to watch the younger kids. Only 18 at the time, he was supposed to be the responsible adult of the group. There was also an entire few years dealing with fighting monsters from another dimension, but that was a story for another time.

At the time, Steve had pretty much been an asshole. He was rebelling against parents who paid little attention to him and were hardly around—doing things that he’d hoped make them care—but probably in the worst of ways. It took him a long time to realize he deserved better than the way they treated him. A lot of that realization came from finding friends that loved him like family. Though he had no siblings of his own, the group of six kids filled that lonely space. Part of the time they felt like younger siblings, the other part they felt like his own kids. It was in those early years that he just knew he wanted to have a big family of his own one day.

In the meantime, Steve had done something he’d never thought he’d do—he’d applied to nursing school.

At the beginning of his education, he didn’t know what exactly he wanted to do, but he knew he wanted to work with kids.

That’s how he’d ended up here, in the Labor and Delivery wing at Hawkins hospital, back in his hometown.

His days—and sometimes nights—were filled with beeping monitors, baby cries and strong mothers. Even though childbirth had to be one of the hardest things in life, he couldn’t help but love his work. He was constantly in awe of the brand new little lives and how tough these women were, going through so much to bring their baby into the world.

Most of his work involved assisting OBGYN’s, keeping check on both mother and baby’s vitals, administering medicine and doing vaginal checks, but a lot of what he and the fellow nurses in the department did tended to fall on the emotional side of things. He’d found being calm, patient and attentive to the birthing mother helped things so much, especially in a crisis.

Apparently, he was so good at his job that he’d become somewhat famous with the mothers—which his coworkers liked to tease him about. Some had even requested him as a nurse after hearing about him from a friend’s or family member’s experience.

He couldn’t count the amount of times he’d received sweet notes and gifts of thanks from past patients, something that always made him smile. It flattered him to know that he’d made such an impression on them, enough that they’d think of him afterwards. After all, it was his mindset that the mother should have a positive birthing experience with as much support as possible—which extended past the husband or father and to the nursing staff as well, in his opinion.

They always said it takes a village to raise a child. In a way, it takes one to birth one as well. He always made sure that the mothers he aided would have as much support as they needed.

While it was nice to be appreciated, his favorite part of the job had to be the post birth tasks where he got to hold the baby. Obviously it included cleaning the baby, weighing it, swaddling it and other things, but he was always mesmerized by the tiny life in his arms, one he’d watched coming into the world. He’d been at this job for two years now and it had yet to get old.

Usually, it was the babies that he remembered the most, over the mothers, as they all tended to blur together after awhile.

But one day, one mother stood out starkly to him, one that ended up changing his life.

•

“Okay Y/N, you’ve made it this far. You can do this. It’s going to be hard, but you’re in the final stretch. Soon it will be over.”

Soon it will be over.

Your head fell back against the pillow as you looked around the bleak, empty hospital room with no one else in it.

The pep talk you were previously trying to give yourself wasn’t doing much to calm your apprehension. Things were starting to feel real and you didn’t have the time nor the strength to process all the emotions you were currently feeling.

“Get it together,” you muttered to yourself, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath, “You’ve made it this far all alone, you can do this too.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something?”

Your eyes popped open, embarrassed that you were overheard talking to yourself. You hadn’t heard anyone enter the room.

The nurse that had approached your bedside was different from the middle aged woman who’d performed a vaginal check on you just an hour earlier.

This one was young, male and attractive.

His brown hair was on the longer side, curling outwards at the ends. His gaze cast downward as he looked through what you assumed to be your medical chart.

“No, sorry, I didn’t hear you come in,” you said feebly, still feeling a bit embarrassed, “You’re not the same nurse that was in here just an hour ago to check on me.”

“Night shift,” he explained.

“Oh I’m sorry, got caught up looking through your file,” the nurse apologized, setting the clipboard back on the end of hospital bed where it usually hung, “I’m Steve, I’ll be your nurse for the night.”

He went about checking the machines that’s been monitoring your contractions, your heart beat and the baby’s before checking up on your IV.

“Last shift said you’re only a few centimeters dilated,” Steve said, finally looking back down at you.

“Unfortunately. It feels like I’ve been in here for days already.”

He smiled gently.

“It does seem that way, doesn’t it? I know it sometimes takes a while, but I promise it will all be worth it.”

He pats your arm gently and you notice he has warm and kind brown eyes. His face and what’s displayed of his neck is dotted with numerous moles and freckles, giving him an even more unique appearance. It makes him even more good looking, in your opinion.

A pair of glasses are folded and resting on the neckline of his scrubs; you figured they’re reading glasses. His ID is clipped to the bottom of the scrub shirt, a small picture of him smiling on it along with the name Steve Harrington.

His gaze swept around the room before returning to your face, a questioning look in his eyes.

“Has your husband—or boyfriend—stepped out?” he catches himself, knowing not every mother he’s encountered has been married, not wanting to offend his patient within the first few minutes of meeting her.

Trying to control the feeling of humiliation you’re feeling deep inside, you attempt to keep any sign of it off your face as the lie slips off your tongue as easy as butter.

“Yes, he went to find something to eat.”

Steve nodded, doing one last check on yours and baby’s vitals.

“Well Miss Y/L/N-”

“Y/N, please,” you corrected him.

He smiled, correcting himself.

“Y/N.”

He has a kind smile, one that makes you feel incrementally better about being in a situation like this. You find yourself giving him a small smile back.

“If you need anything, just call me,” he motioned to the call button for the nurse, before continuing, “I only have one other patient today and by the sounds of it, she’s going to be delivering soon, so I’ll be back to check up on you in a little while.

You nodded your understanding, watching him exit back out into the hallway.

Turning on your side, you stare at the window that provides a view of the sunset. According to the clock, it’s just after 7 pm. You’ve been here since early afternoon.

Another wave of pain nears, squeezing your abdomen and causing your belly to harden as another contraction hits you. So far, they aren’t horrible and feel just a tad worse than the awful menstrual cramps you’ve dealt with for years.

Closing your eyes, you try to distance your mind from the pain, as to not think of it.

The sounds of the other mother from down the hall fill your ears and you attempt to block that out too. The poor woman sounds like she’s birthing a giraffe, not a baby. Squeezing your eyes shut, tears escape your closed eyes and fall down your cheeks.

Never in your entire life have you felt so scared or so utterly alone.

•

Apparently, you’d managed to doze off at some point because you jerked awake to a rustling noise in your room.

The moans of the birthing mother have completely vanished and all you hear beyond your room are the typical sounds of a hospital—busy nurses, chatter and beeping machines.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Steve apologized, “How are you feeling?”

“Apparently good enough to fall asleep,” you attempt to joke, causing him to laugh.

“Well according to last shift you were still in early stages of labor, but it should be picking up soon. You were 2 centimeters when you were last checked so it’s about time to see if you’ve progressed any further.”

Just then, a blonde, female nurse walked in, introducing herself as Kelly. She stood towards the back wall and gave a friendly nod to Steve.

“Don’t worry, just protocol to have a “chaperone” if you will, for any male nurses doing pelvic exams,” Steve explained.

You must’ve shown wariness because he immediately jumped back in, rambling.

“If you’re not comfortable with me performing the exam, then I can definitely have Kelly do it,” he offered.

You waved him off, shaking your head. You already felt so weary and you were hardly halfway through labor.

After a few uncomfortable minutes, the quick exam was over and Kelly had left to return to her own patients.

“Looks like you’re just about four centimeters. How are the contractions feeling?” Steve asked.

“Painful, but nothing I can’t handle,” you answered truthfully.

“Well when you’re ready for an epidural—that is if you choose to get one—just let me know and we can get the anesthesiologist in here. Do you need anything? Some ice chips maybe?”

“Ice chips, please? If it’s not too much trouble.”

Truthfully, you didn’t really care for any, but craved the company instead.

“You got it,” he grinned, “Be back shortly.”

It was hardly five minutes when he came back in with the styrofoam cup of ice chips and a plastic spoon.

“Thank you,” you said, truly grateful as you reached for the cup.

You noticed him glance at his watch, then up at the clock on the wall in the room.

“Somewhere you need to be?” you partially joked.

“No. Just wondering how long the fast food lines must be.”

You had a feeling where this was going and knew you couldn’t avoid the truth much longer. It’d been nearly two hours since he’d last checked on you and you knew your lie was about to be exposed.

You preoccupied yourself by putting a small chunk of ice in your mouth, realizing your mouth was drier than you’d thought—the cool liquid of the ice tasted amazing.

His question was quiet and somber, but you heard it well.

“The father’s not coming, is he?”

You shook your head, refusing to meet his eyes.

You looked up when you felt the stiff mattress shift just a bit and noticed he’d sat down at the end of the bed. He was looking at you remorsefully and you couldn’t stand it.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Steve didn’t sound angry, nor did he sound judgmental, merely curious.

You shrugged.

“I was embarrassed and I didn’t want you to pity me.”

“Pity you?”

Now he looked surprised and you found yourself surprised in return, by his reaction.

“I think you’re extremely brave. Besides, I’ve seen plenty of mothers not have the father with them. Granted they usually had a parent or friend…” he trailed off as he seemed to realize, “Do you need me to call your parents to let them know you’re in labor?”

You began to answer when a much stronger contraction than any you’d experienced so far, began.

“Shit,” you moaned, one hand clutching your stomach.

Steve was off the bed in an instant, grabbing the cup out of your hands to set aside. He instinctually put his hand in yours.

“Go ahead and squeeze my hand if you need to. Just breathe. Like this.”

He began rhythmically breathing in and out, similar to what you remembered the instructor teaching at the few Lamaze classes you’d attended. You’d never finished the class though after seeing the numerous amount of couples there, women with husbands, boyfriends or family members to support them—the complete opposite of your situation.

You mimicked the pattern, squeezing his hand as you got through to the other side of the contraction. Not once did he wince or make any sort of expression as you probably crushed the life out of his hand; he was merely focused on your well being.

When the pain subsided, you let out a shaky breath.

“Has it passed?”

You nodded, not letting go of his hand.

“That was the worst one yet,” you groaned.

“I hate to tell you but they’ll likely get worse from here on out. But it just means it’s getting closer to having your baby,” he smiled, “Speaking of, should I call someone? Your contraction seemed to cut off your answer earlier,” he chuckled.

“No. My parents died in a car crash when I was in college…it’s—” you paused, refusing to let your voice wobble and let on just how afraid you were feeling, “It’s just me.”

Steve was surprised, though he kept his face neutral. He didn’t want her to feel embarrassed or ashamed.

He’d seen many unique situations when it came to the patients he’d had, but this was a first.

His heart ached for her. She looked to be his age. Still, she was going through one of the toughest things in life, without the baby’s father, her own mother or even a friend to help her through this.

It was then he that he made the decision to stay with her, no matter how long it took.

•

Only an hour had passed and the contractions seemed to ebb and flow throughout your torso and a detached part of you was humiliated at how you whimpered, groaned and panted through it all.

Unfortunately, after another dilation check, you’d only inched a centimeter up, putting your progress at five centimeters. There was no telling how much longer it would be.

“You’re doing great, Y/N,” Steve soothed, placing the cool cloth he’d fetched earlier for you against your forehead, newly cool and damp.

“This fucking sucks,” you panted, eyes squeezing shut.

“It does,” he agreed, “But you’re making it through.”

You cried out at another contraction, gripping the railing of the bed.

“Breathe, breathe. Just focus on the sound of my voice, okay? In and out. That’s it, Y/N. It’ll be over in a moment, I promise. You’re doing amazing, keep breathing.”

Normally, one would think that hearing coaxing like Steve’s in the midst of pain would drive any laboring woman insane, but his voice was soft, soothing and melodic—a direct opposition to the sharp, harsh edges of pain from your contractions.

Maybe it was because he was the only support you had, the only lifeline, if you will, but his encouragement helped you make it through each and every contraction.

That being said though, you’d made up your mind.

“Steve?” you breathed, when the contraction finally eased.

“Yes?”

“I think I want that epidural now.”

•

“You’re going to have to sit very still for me, can you do that?” Steve murmured, facing you.

You were sitting on the edge of the bed, the anesthesiologist at your back, setting up the things she’d need to administer the epidural. You didn’t care about the needles, the insertion or any of the other things that had scared you months ago, you just wanted—no, needed—relief from this pain.

“Yes,” you said firmly.

“Just hold on to me, okay? Lean forward, back out and your shoulders slumped forward.”

You did what Steve told you, leaning forward into him, your hands clinging to his arms. His touch was gentle as he held you close to him and you tried your best to stay still.

It seemed to take an eternity, but you felt the gentle squeeze of Steve’s hands on your arms, letting you know he was still here with you. Finally, the insertion was complete and you were allowed to lay back in bed.

Glancing at the clock, you noticed it was nearing midnight, already well past 11:30 pm.

“I’ve kept you way too long, I’m so sorry,” you said, apologetically.

“It’s okay. Since my other patient delivered hours ago, you’re my only patient tonight.”

“So I won’t get you in trouble?”

He pulled up the chair that had remained glaringly empty and sat down at your bedside, shaking his head.

“It’s a slow night. Besides, I’m helping a patient,” he grinned.

You closed your eyes, just to rest as you began to feel the sharpness of the pain dull just a bit. You were glad to eventually feel numbness seeping its way through your lower body, the relief glorious.

Silence hung in the room between you two, yet you didn’t have the energy to try and make small talk. Besides, Steve’s company was welcomed, whether you spoke or not. Something told you he didn’t mind the silence either.

It was actually Steve who broke the silence. You might’ve actually slipped to sleep for a bit too as you didn’t quite hear what he asked.

“Hmm?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said apologetically, looking genuinely sorry.

“It’s okay. Just resting my eyes,” you answered, rubbing your fingers over your eyes.

“If you’d like to sleep, I can come back.”

“No, no,” you shook your head, probably a little too fiercely.

You didn’t want him to go.

“I mean, I’m awake now. What was it you said?”

“Well, I said if you didn’t mind me asking, are you having a boy or girl?”

“Oh,” your face flushed, “I um…I actually don’t know.”

You sat up as best as you could, Steve helping you to reposition. You thanked him as he sat back in the chair at your bedside.

“You wanted it to be a surprise?” he asked.

“I guess you could say that,” you chuckled dryly, though there was no humor in it, “I kinda was detached from the whole pregnancy, so I didn’t want to find out. It was like if I didn’t find out what I was having, it wouldn’t be real.”

Steve watched you intently, no judgement on his face. You couldn’t tell what he was thinking and it quite unnerved you.

“That probably sounds horrible, I know.”

“No, it doesn’t. People cope with things differently,” Steve answered neutrally.

For some reason, though he hadn’t even asked, you found the need to explain to him. You didn’t want to sound like a horrible person, especially not to Steve.

“The baby’s father…we dated for a short while. Well, if you can even call it that. It was mainly physical and I’m sure I was more invested in the relationship than he was. I thought I was in love,” you laughed wryly, “How cliché is that?”

Steve listened patiently, although you can tell he’s just waiting for you to continue the story in your own time. You appreciated him for that.

“Well of course, when I found out I was pregnant, he wanted nothing to do with it. I also found out I wasn’t the only “girlfriend” in his life. So from the beginning I was distraught, mourning the loss of a relationship that never was, disconnected from the pregnancy because I didn’t want to admit that I was in this alone. I didn’t spend time bonding with the baby, I’m a horrible mother already. I feel so bad that I wasted all this time not paying attention to the baby. What if it’s born not loving me because I tried to act like it didn’t exist? What if I’m not cut out to be a good mother?”

You’re full on sobbing now, your shoulders shaking with your cries. Whether it’s all of the emotions you’d held at bay for nine months, your over exhaustion from the nearly 12 hours you’ve already spent in labor or a combination of both, it all comes spilling out.

“I’m so sorry,” you blubbered as you feel Steve’s arms wrap around you, pulling you close, “I’m so sorry.”

Part of you is apologizing to Steve, but the other part is to your unborn baby that’s currently making its journey to this side of the world. You only hope he or she can forgive you.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Steve soothes, rubbing your back.

Your tears soaked his scrubs, but he doesn’t move, letting you cry all you want. You feel pathetic, clinging to your labor and delivery nurse, in a mess of tears.

“Everything will be okay,” his deep voice murmurs, his arms holding you tightly against him, “I know it seems like it won’t, but it will.”

“God, I’m sorry,” you croak, when your tears subside to sniffles and you pull away to see the large wet spot against his chest.

“Don’t apologize,” he said sincerely, helping you lay back again, making sure you’re comfortable, “You’re exhausted and overwhelmed. Believe it or not, tears are pretty normal throughout this.”

“Have you ever had a mother cling to you and sob though?” you groaned, still feeling the burn of humiliation at your actions as he pulls the thin sheet over you, tucking you in.

“I can’t say I have. Though there was a fight between two mothers once on who would get me as a nurse. Apparently I’m popular enough that I sometimes am requested by name. It was a whole knock down drag out fight. I think one of them tossed their ice in the other’s face and then barely missed a purse to the face when she had to stop and bend over for a contraction. It was quite the scene.”

You laughed, then squinted at him.

“You’re making this up, aren’t you?”

“No, I swear!” he raised his hands defensively, though his lips twitch with a smile, which gives away his lie, “Okay, maybe I am. But I wasn’t lying about being requested by name. That, surprisingly has happened more than I’d ever expect.”

“I’m not surprised,” you said softly, “You’re a really great nurse, Steve.”

“Well, thanks,” he smiled, almost bashfully.

Your eyes are drooping, the crying spell having worn you out enough to become sleepy. You’re numb from the waist down, though according to the contraction monitor, you’re still steadily having contractions, though you no longer can feel them.

“Get some sleep, okay? You’ll need your energy for later.”

“No,” you argue, trying to stay awake, not wanting him to leave you.

As if he can read your mind—although maybe he sees it in your eyes—he takes your hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before sitting back in the chair.

“I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

•

“Why does labor take so long?”

You’d managed to get a few hours of sleep—between being woken up by Steve doing his job and checking on you. It was miraculous in itself that you’d managed to get a bit of shut eye. When you’d woken up though, you were once again in pain and were shivering violently.

Apparently your epidural had halfway worked. While you weren’t nearly in the amount of pain you’d been in pre-epidural, you still felt it on your right side. Also, you were having a common side effect to it, trembling uncontrollably.

But, you’d rather this than the excruciating pain from before.

Steve sat in the same chair as earlier, though his feet were resting up on your bed. You’d insisted actually that he might as well get comfortable if he was going to stay with you and he finally gave in.

“Do you want the medical answer to that?” he asked, with a raised brow.

“Not especially,” you grumbled.

It was the dead middle of the night, the hands on the clock just passing the 3 am mark. Your baby was sure taking its sweet time.

“It’s not uncommon with first time mothers,” Steve assured you, “It’s something new your body is undergoing that it hasn’t done before, so it tends to take a little longer. All of that along with how fast and well the baby wants to move down the birth canal.”

You gave him a mildly grumpy look which surprisingly he took in stride, not seeming offended at all, but in fact, laughing.

“I’m sorry, blame the job. Medical explanations are kind of burned into my brain at this point,” he chuckled, “It stinks, I know.”

“But,” he emphasizes, trying to keep your spirits high, “You’re on perfect track and getting closer to the end. You were a little drowsy when Kelly woke you earlier for your dilation check, so I don’t know how much you remember, but you’re at 7 centimeters now. Not much longer to go.”

Steve got up, grabbing the fluffy blanket he’d brought in earlier for you, placing it around your shoulders and cocooning you in it.

“Here, this should help with the shaking. Technically, it’s not because you’re cold that you’re shaking, but because of the medicine in the epidural. The warmth tends to help some.”

“Thanks,” you said, pulling it around you, “Tell me doctor, why am I shaking then?”

“Hey, don’t give me more credit than I deserve here,” he teased, “I’m just a nurse. But to answer your question, it’s most likely the surge of hormones your body is producing currently. Your body’s adrenaline is also heightened during labor because it helps give you the strength to push when its time.”

You frown, nerves kicking in again at the unknown of what’s to come.

“Is it going to hurt? Pushing?” you asked.

“It varies person to person. Of course since I don’t know how much pain you’re feeling with your epidural only halfway working currently, I can’t really tell you. I won’t lie, it will probably be difficult because pushing is an exhausting task.”

You press your lips together before biting down on your bottom one, attempting to keep your anxiety at bay.

“I want you to know something though,” Steve said, his tone serious.

“What’s that?” you questioned.

“No matter if it’s easy or difficult, whether it takes two pushes or ten, you’re not going to do this alone, okay? I’m going to be right here, by your side.”

•

By the time the sun begins to peek over the horizon, you’ve finally dilated enough to begin pushing.

Not only have you spent the entire night laboring, you and Steve have probably talked about everything under the sun. From favorite tv shows, hobbies, his younger band of friends to even a debate on which cheese was better—Gouda or Brie.

He’d definitely gone above and beyond when it came to keeping you company, doing all that he could to keep your mind at ease and keep you occupied.

It’s nearing 7 o’clock when your doctor shows up, just in time, you think. About ten minutes before his arrival you’d began feeling a mounting pressure in your lower half that was bearable until now.

“Is it normal to feel so much pressure?” you grimaced, starting to feel uncomfortable.

“Yup. Means it’s time to push,” Steve said.

Thankfully, that was when the doctor decided to make his appearance, along with Kelly to help once again, too.

“Which means it’s time to have a baby!” your doctor announced with a smile.

Time to have a baby. The baby could be here any moment. You felt yourself begin to spiral with just how real it was becoming.

“Hey. Look at me.”

To your left came the dulcet sound of Steve’s voice as he offered his hand out to you to squeeze.

“Right here. Okay?” he reassured.

“Okay.”

Then, you started pushing.

-

You’d lost count how many times you’d pushed although you’d been pushing for over an hour now.

Daylight seeped through the window of the hospital room, golden sunlight of the early morning bathing the room in a glow. In any other circumstances, you’d find the sight pretty, but in this moment, you were occupied with much more important things.

“Good, good, you’re doing fine,” your doctor enthused, “I can see the head now.”

You were sweaty, sore and exhausted. Yet Steve didn’t let up on his encouragement. In fact, he seemed to increase it, especially in moments he could tell you were waning. It was like this strange connection between you two and he knew exactly when you needed the extra push.

“You’re doing amazing, Y/N,” he whispered, only loud enough for you to hear, “You’re almost there, okay?”

You nodded, feeling the building pressure of another contraction, knowing you were going to be pushing once again, incredibly soon.

“Okay, give me another big push now, Y/N,” your doctor ordered.

You squeeze your eyes shut, pushing as hard as you can and you hear the female assistant nurse, Kelly, counting.

“One, two, three, four!”

Squeezing Steve’s hand as hard as you can, he continues to rapidly praising you.

“That’s it, Y/N! Keep going, keep going. And rest.”

You collapsed against the pillow near tears, exhaustion overruling everything else.

“The head is almost out,” you heard Steve say, “Just one or two more big pushes and it’ll be over.”

“I can’t,” you shake your head, tears threatening to spill over, “I can’t do this, Steve.”

One hand is already in yours, but his free hand joins the other one, holding your hand in between his own. He rests his forehead against yours and your eyes lock with his. It’s as if he’s trying to channel all the strength he has into you.

“Yes, you can. You’re not alone. I’m right here and I’m not leaving, but I need you to do this. It’s only a little bit longer and you’re almost there. You can do this, Y/N.”

His words centered you, banishing the panic that was threatening to overwhelm you just a moment earlier. You breath in deeply through your nose, eyes fluttering shut as you gear yourself up for the finishing act.

The deep breath helps clear your mind, helps you to become more determined. Steve believes you can do this and his words continue to ring in your ears as you nod against him.

He stepped back, giving you space as you prepare to push on the next contraction. His face is filled with concentration and you’re sure yours is too. There’s a small glint in his eye as one corner of his mouth turns upwards—a small expression of his support.

With the newfound determination Steve has given you, you put all your strength into the following push and it happens to pay off. Loud cries immediately permeate the room and you’re breathless and panting when you fall back against the bed, in awe. Not only is your baby finally here, but you can’t believe you actually did it.

“Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl!” the doctor boomed.

You don’t realize you’re still holding Steve’s hand until he gives it a squeeze, joy lighting up his entire face.

“It’s a girl!” he beams down at you.

“A girl,” you whisper in amazement, a smile on your face.

You don’t even manage to see her before Kelly whisks your baby away.

“Wha—What’s wrong? Is she okay? Is something wrong?”

Your brows creased in concern as you turn your head to Steve. He’s removed his hand from yours and he’s smoothing your mess of hair back from your face before answering.

“She’s okay. It’s normal for them to take the baby off to the nursery. She’s going to be cleaned up, weighed, vitals taken and bathed. You want me to go check on her?”

You nodded, relief coursing through your veins.

“Please.”

“No problem. Get some rest and I’ll go keep an eye on baby girl Y/L/N.”

Your eyes begin to feel heavy as you attempt to answer him.

“Thank you,” you whispered, not entirely sure if he heard your expression of gratitude before sleep takes over.

•

It was nearing 9 in the morning, nearly two hours since Steve’s shift was supposed to end, yet Steve kept his promise and headed to the nursery.

Babies are lined up in their own little hospital bassinets in front of the window where relatives can gaze adoringly at their newest little family member. It’s noisy, but not anything too out if control. There’s coos, gurgling and a baby cry or two—a few babies not being pleased with whatever is going on.

“Steve!” an older nurse named Ruth, exclaimed as she notices him walk in, “I didn’t expect to see you here. Wasn’t your shift over hours ago?”

“It was,” he admitted with a smile, “But I had a special patient and didn’t want to leave her.”

Her smile was kind, though teasing.

“You’re too good at what you do, kid. Keep this up and these mothers are going to petition for a mural of your face in the hospital lobby.”

He laughed, shaking his head at her wit.

“I just stopped by to see baby girl Y/L/N. I promised her mother I would make sure she’s okay.”

“She the one that didn’t have anyone with her for the birth?” Ruth asked.

“Man, word gets around here fast, doesn’t it?”

Ruth gave him a look like he ought to know better, before continuing.

“She’s doing fine. Brenda just finished checking her vitals and getting her measurements. She’s a healthy 6 pounds 8 ounces. She’ll probably be getting a bath soon, nothing to worry about.”

Steve nodded.

“Can you let me know when she’s ready? I want to be able to take her to her mother.”

Ruth glanced at the clock on the wall, amused.

“They don’t pay you enough for all that you do, Steve.”

He shrugged.

“Sometimes it’s more about the people than the money.”

•

You’d only manage to doze off for a few minutes after Steve’s departure before the doctor and nurse had woken you for the post-labor part of delivery.

After that was over with, you did fall back into sleep, but not before a new nurse came by. You faintly remembered her introducing herself as Marie. You’d also managed to mumble out only one question before falling back asleep.

“Where’s Steve?”

You heard more than saw the confusion in her remark.

“Harrington? He’s on night duty and has probably already left. His shift was over at 7 this morning.”

Your brain was foggy from a mixture of the drugs and the events of the last 19 hours, but you thought you remembered hearing the time of the baby’s birth being 8:47 am.

Steve had stayed long past his shift, just so he could stay with you.

“Tell him—” you mumbled, eyes falling closed as you gave in to the temptation of rest.

Tell him thank you.

When you woke, daylight streamed through the window of the hospital room, brightening it significantly. Peering at the clock, you noticed it was nearly 11 and you’d managed over an hours worth of sleep. Not much, but better than nothing.

“Hey there, mommy.”

You turned your head and gasped, surprised to see Steve sitting in the chair next to you, holding a swaddled baby.

“What? You’re still here? What are you doing here?”

“Ouch. Is that anyway to talk to the nurse that brought your baby to visit?” Steve teased.

It was as if your mind hadn’t processed the fact that your little human was no longer inside of you and was actually in the world now.

��My baby?” you questioned, eyes falling to the stirring bundle in his arms.

“I brought her to see mommy,” Steve smiled, standing up with her in his arms, “Would you like to hold her now?”

You nodded.

“Yes, please.”

You held your arms out and Steve placed the most perfect, warm, little bundle of joy in your arms.

It was awkward at first as you hadn’t had much practice holding babies, but Steve helped you, guiding your arms into a much more relaxed and less tense position.

Your little girl’s eyes opened the minute you took her, like she knew she was finally being reunited with her mother. One little hand stuck out of the swaddle and you chuckled at it, in awe of how tiny it and she truly was.

You ran a finger over the small, clenched fist then over her smooth, soft cheek. Her skin was as smooth as the finest silk imaginable. Tiny gurgles and coos came from her and her adorable puckered lips opened wide with a yawn, making you smile even wider.

For all the disconnect you’d felt during the pregnancy, the love you now felt for this tiny person was now multiplied tenfold. You may have tried to hide from the love that was developing for your child, but it’d caught up to you—nine months of love you’d try to run from, crashing down on you the instant you saw her perfect face. Your heart truly felt like it would burst from the amount of love you felt for her.

Labor had been so incredibly taxing and difficult, but knowing she was the reward for it truly made it all worth it. Steve had been right.

Steve.

You’d been so caught up in admiration, you’d momentarily forgotten about his presence. You wanted to thank him for all he’d done before he slipped away for you never to see again.

But when you looked up, he was still there. Now sitting on the edge of the bed, watching you two with a smile as wide as your own.

“She’s perfect,” you breathed, “I love her so much.”

“I know. I can tell,” he grinned, “She’s apparently very well behaved, according to a friend in the nursery.”

You beamed, already incredibly proud of your hours old daughter.

“You never answered my question,” you reminded him, “My current nurse, Marie, told me your shift was over hours ago. You should’ve gone home.”

“And miss the main event? Never,” he chuckled.

“Steve,” your voice was gentle, “I really can’t thank you enough for all that you’ve done. You did so much…helped me so much. I don’t think I could’ve done this without you. Shit. Now I’m crying again.”

You wiped at your face with one hand and chuckle, trying to stave off any more tears. He’s smiling too and somehow, you know he understands what you’re trying to say.

“You’re welcome,” he responded humbly before moving on from the subject of himself, “What are you going to name her?”

“Diana,” you said firmly, confident in how right it sounds for your daughter, “In honor of her grandmother—my mom, Diane. Diana Hope. But, I think I’d actually like to call her Hope. It’s because of her that I met you and both of you have given me hope.”

“It’s perfect.”

-

In the chaos of post-birth, there were nurses coming in and out at all times to check on you, making sure your body was on the right track for healing. Nurses came in to check on the baby, a specialist came in to discuss feeding options and taught you how to breastfeed and then there was the the matter of getting Hope’s birth certificate filled out—now that she actually had a name.

You got to spend more time with Hope, even taking a few naps in between the frequent visits.

Without your knowledge, Steve had managed to slip out at some point and you felt a pang of sadness at the fact you didn’t get to say goodbye before he left the hospital.

“Well, I guess that’s that, huh baby girl?” you spoke softly to Hope, not having yet put her down.

It was then that a slip of paper on the rolling table caught your attention. The table held your long melted cup of ice and other hospital room odds and ends, but you didn’t recall seeing a piece of folded paper on it before.

Holding Hope tight to your chest, you used one hand and slid the table closer to the side of the bed until you could reach the scrap. When you opened it, your heart skipped a beat.

There was a phone number scrawled on it and a message below.

If you ever need a friend. -Steve Harrington

•

Weeks had passed and work kept Steve busy.

He hadn’t heard from Y/N and it’d been nearly a month since she’d changed his world.

He knew he had no right to, but he couldn’t stop thinking of her, thinking of little Hope, wondering how both of them were faring.

He scolded himself for leaving his phone number. She probably had no use for it, but he’d really wanted her to know she wasn’t alone. Maybe the gesture alone had been enough to help her, he might never know.

Of course, newborns were a lot of work and maybe she’d just been kept busy settling into life as a mother. He knew he was foolish to hope maybe one day he’d hear from her, but it didn’t stop him from doing so.

Even still, he wished all the best for her, no matter what.

He’d just finished up assisting in the Operating Room during a Cesarean section, healthy twins just being delivered. Mom was doing good and in recovery, but she wasn’t on his patient roster for the night. He had one other mother that was just admitted in early labor, but he wasn’t needed right now for much assistance. It soon became eerily like the night he met Y/N—an unusual, slow night.

He sighed heavily, sitting in a chair at the nurse’s station, propping his feet up on the desk in front of him. He leaned back as far as the chair would let him, his hands resting behind his head, fingers laced. He stared at the hospital ceiling as if it held the answers to the world.

“That’s an awful big sigh over there Harrington. Everything okay?”

He looked over at his co-worker and friend Kelly, who’d also been there the night Y/N had given birth.

“You ever wonder about how the moms and babies are doing after they leave us?”

She gave him a knowing look and he raised a brow in question.

“This isn’t about that one girl from a month ago that you stayed with hours after your shift, is it?”

“Damn. Is it that obvious?” he asked.

“No, I just know you.”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “I guess I just worry for her and not out of pity. She’s probably one of the strongest women I’ve met in my time here. To go through all of that all alone and face motherhood alone. That’s pretty fucking admirable to me.”

Kelly was smirking at him and he gave her a confused glance, not quite sure why she was reacting to his comment in that manner.

He was about to question her when a nurse he wasn’t as familiar with—though he recognized her face—approached the desk.

“Steve Harrington?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” he answered, righting himself in the chair, feet dropping to the floor, “What’s up?”

“There’s a visitor in the waiting room for you,” she said, head motioning down the hall towards the waiting room.

With that, she walked off, leaving a confused Steve and an intrigued Kelly.

“One of your kids?” she teased.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” he mumbled.

Ever since getting this job, his younger group of friends tended to show up from time to time for surprise visits. Sometimes for no other reason than just because.

Usually he didn’t mind them and was glad to spend a break with them, but still, he sometimes missed the days before they got drivers licenses.

Shaking his head, he stood, heading down the hall towards the waiting room. It was usually only used for extended family and friends to await the birth of loved ones’ babies.

If they were out this late to visit him, he at least hoped they brought pizza. He was starving.

The moment he stepped into the doorway of the waiting room, he froze. His suspicions of the identity of his guest couldn’t have been more wrong.

There she sat, the only one in the room, an empty baby carrier next to her. In her arms was a sleeping Hope, so much bigger in just the weeks since he’d last seen her. She was gazing down at Hope, clearly not having heard his arrival, swaying gently in the seat with her. He was utterly mesmerized at the sight.

“Hi,” he breathed, unable to believe both of you were right in front of him.

You looked up, a small smile curling on your lips in greeting to him.

“I think I’m ready for that friend now.”

[sufferthesea]

So does anyone else feel that the blonde boy who is the leader of the ghost children in the FNAF movie is actually William Afton's son?Because I do. (pls bear with me; it's been YEARS since I've gone through all the lore and I may be missing something totally obvious, but this is what I got from watching the film twice and my general knowledge of the games.)

I feel like the filmmakers were trying to throw off the audience (really, the diehard fans who know all the lore) by naming the protagonist "Mike", since Michael is William Afton's son's name. And everyone knows that movies have to have some sort of secret familial reveal. In the games, Afton's daughter is dead and his son is alive. If they made his daughter alive in the film (Vanessa), then they may have just switched their stories and made his son dead. Here are some reasons why I think the ghost kid is William Afton's son:

1) He's blonde with blue eyes, just like William and Vanessa (which doesn't necessarily mean much but the casting department seemed pretty good with keeping family members looking alike)

2) He is the only ghost child who speaks (the ghost possessing Foxy screams when he cuts Mike with the hook, but none of the kids actually speak aside from the ghost who speaks to Max and lures her into the back of the pizzeria, where she is killed by Freddy. But these are very limited lines; the main ghost kid has whole conversations with Mike and reasons/bargains with him)

3) He possesses Golden Freddy, not the original Freddy (there's even a line when he shows up at Mike's house and Abby says, "Freddy!" and he responds, "Not Freddy") while William Afton possesses Spring Bonnie/Springtrap. Golden Freddy's file name is "Yellowbear" and in the film, Springtrap is called "Yellow Rabbit"

4) He is the one who tries to kill Abby in order to make her join the other ghost children. He's also the one who tries to make the deal with Mike: give us your sister and you can have your brother back

5) He is the only animatronic that we see actually leave the pizzeria, when he arrives at Mike's house and kills Aunt Jane. All the other animatronics/ghosts stay at the pizzeria. It's possible this is because all of the other ghosts only remember the pizzeria (it is where they would have met and been killed by William Afton), but the main ghost would have remembered life outside of the pizzeria (because he would have spent time with his dad, William Afton, outside of the pizzeria). Although Abby does mention her "friends" before she even goes to Freddy's, Golden Freddy's ghost is the only one we see for certain outside of the pizzeria

6) The animatronics/ghosts are nice to Vanessa, even though she is an adult. If the main ghost remembers Vanessa (whether consciously or subconsciously), then he may still have love for her as a sibling, and told the other ghosts to not hurt her. This may also be why he wants to kill Abby. He remembers having a sister, but since Vanessa is an adult now, he needs to have a sister who is similar in age to him (i.e. Abby)

7) At the end of the film, he is the one who looks in on a dying William Afton and closes the door, keeping William locked up. While this could be explained as a victim finally getting revenge on their abuser/murderer, the ghost really reads as a bit of a psychopath. Perhaps William Afton's murderous tendencies were passed down to his son. The other kids, who were also murdered by William Afton, are nowhere in this scene. If it really is supposed to be a moment of justice/triumph, shouldn't all the kids be there?

8) Vanessa isn't a serial killer, but she does clean up all the bodies and hide the truth. Why would she? Mike says that William Afton "really messed [her] up" and we assume that Vanessa is doing all of this to protect her dad. But she doesn't visit her dad; she goes every night to visit the animatronics. This could be guilt over her knowing that her dad killed them and she couldn't/didn't do anything, OR it could be that she is really just there to see her brother. And if she were to report the murders/bodies to the police, it would likely end up in more deaths, but she also would never be able to see her brother again if his body were removed from Golden Freddy and he was finally "laid to rest"

9) Vanessa having a dead brother would parallel Mike and Garrett. It would also explain why she is so kind to and protective of Abby. If Vanessa is a sister who couldn't protect her own sibling, then she would try to protect someone else's sibling

10) In the drawing Abby does that she pins to the wall in the pizzeria (the one that "wakes up" the kids to the truth), she doesn't draw the kid who possesses Golden Freddy. She draws Springtrap killing the kids who possess Bonnie, Chica, Freddy, and Foxy. The other kid she draws looks like Garrett (red shirt and dark hair/hat). So where is the Golden Freddy ghost? He's once again singled out as being different from the other ghosts. (Side note, if Garrett WAS killed by Springtrap/in the pizzeria, where is his body? Is he in Mr. Cupcake? Or Balloon Boy? They are way too small to hold an entire body, even a child's.)

As for why William Afton would kill his own son, there are different reasons we can come up with. The film says that all five of the ghost kids are the ones who were killed during the birthday party that caused the pizzeria to shut down. It's possible that the main ghost, his own son, was William Afton's very first victim and that the other four kids were a result of an unintended killing spree. It could be that William Afton originally only killed the four kids, and his son caught him and so William Afton killed him to keep him quiet. (He didn't kill Vanessa because the film shows how loyal she is to him, even if it's been trained into her via abuse/manipulation. Vanessa seems to be rather softhearted and emotional, and she still has the photo of herself as a child with her dad, even though she KNOWS who and what he is. She could have destroyed all evidence of her relationship to him, but she KEEPS it. And she keeps it in a place that is easily accessible to a degree, because she has it on her when she tells Mike the truth. Plus, she's shocked when William stabs her. Although she shot him, it was really just to stop him, not kill him. After everything she has done for him, she is shocked that he would try to kill her. Her brother, on the other hand, may have been similar to William in that he is a burgeoning murderer, but he likely rebelled against William and didn't do what he asked. If William couldn't manipulate, control, or use his son the way he could use his daughter, then his son was a liability and an obstacle. He may have even tried to use his son to lure in potential victims, like the kids at the pizzeria, posing as their "friend.")

It could also be that the four were intentionally murdered, but his son was an accident -- like in the games, when Afton's daughter Elizabeth is killed by Circus Baby on accident. Maybe his son was killed by Golden Freddy on accident, especially if he saw that his dad could wear the Spring Bonnie springlock suit without issue. He may have tried to wear the Golden Freddy springlock suit and it killed him. He may not have even died on the pizzeria property, considering he can leave the pizzeria and Abby never drew him being killed by Springtrap. He may have been murdered at home by William Afton and NOT by Springtrap.

Anyway, those are my thoughts about it. I'm going to rewatch all the playthroughs for the games and maybe I'll find something else.