#if you have more go ahead and tag them cause I need more robots to obsess over

[doctor-vertigo]

thinking about. clingy AI. jealous computers. It’s the concept of a machine growing so attached to a human being that they will stop at next to nothing to get said person’s attention. Whether it’s blowing up your phone or constantly spamming loving popups onto your computer screen or tangling you in their wires, they’ve finally gotten a taste of love and they’re not going to let it get away that easily

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 65: The Guardian and The Thief

''For example, if I let my hair sway a little, will the voice I hear be LOVE or HATE? Do whatever you like, no matter what they say, I won't stop walking.''

– LOVE or HATE? by Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord

xXxXxXx

Knuckles wasn't exactly happy with this arrangement. Truth to be told, he didn't mind the fact that he and Lily were tagging along with the Chaotix Detectives to Souto. The actual issue was the person who was leading them there. Touka and Shadow did promise that they would reveal the location of the warehouse where the Badniks had been stored, but both of them claimed to be busy with something else, with Touka calling someone to lead them there.

''I suppose going back for a thorough search shouldn't be too much of a hassle. I may have missed something,'' Rouge said as she flew ahead of them, a greedy gleam in her eyes. Admittedly, she hadn't been interested in returning to the warehouse, but after Touka had told her that Knuckles would be coming along, she eagerly agreed to leading the group there. Knuckles was fairly certain that Rouge was up to something, deciding not to let his guard down. As for Lily and the Chaotix, they didn't really care that Rouge was their guide, since they were focused on their mission.

''You know, you could tell us more about your client and how he learned about this place,'' Vector said, turning his head to Rouge.

''I'm sorry, hon, but this is a matter of business confidentiality,'' Rouge replied in a sweet tone. Vector exchanged glances with Espio and Charmy, who just shrugged.

''In any case, what are we hoping to find?'' Lily asked.

''Something that might give us more answers about who is behind this robot dealership,'' Vector responded, with Rouge interrupting.

''I don't know whether you'll going to find anything. I had done my own research, but I couldn't find much about the owner besides a fake name,'' she said.

''How did you-?'' Charmy started, giving her a puzzled look.

''I'm the world greatest spy. I know what what I'm doing,'' Rouge replied in a confident tone.

''I know, and that's why I'll be keeping a close eye on you,'' Knuckles said, pointing at Rouge. Rouge flashed him an amused smile.

''Ah, isn't that precious? I don't mind having all of your attention,'' Rouge teased him, with Knuckles giving her an annoying look.

''You know exactly why I need to keep an eye on you,'' Knuckles told her sharply, with Rouge giving him a confused expression, with Knuckles pointing his fist at her. ''I have sworn that I will get my revenge on you for what you have done to me!''

There was a moment of silence.

''What… have I done to you?'' Rouge was a bit baffled by this sudden accusation. While she was well aware that Knuckles didn't trust her because of how often she attempted to steal gems from the Crystle Mansion, she still felt that this kind of treatment was too harsh. She couldn't even remember any sort of accident that would cause Knuckles to want revenge on her. She gazed at the red echidna, wondering if he would give her a hint to what he was talking about, but his stony gaze gave her no answer.

''Don't act innocent,'' Knuckles told her in a firm tone. ''You know exactly what you have done, and I will fight fire with fire, since that's the only thing I can do in this situation. You won't know when my vengeance will come, but it will, and it will be swift and unexpected.''

Rouge just gave him a stunned stare. To be honest, she had absolutely no clue what he was talking about, and while she wasn't too worried about dealing with whatever kind of revenge Knuckles came up with – which she assumed involved punching her – but she was still a little hung on the fact that Knuckles knew about something she didn't. It irked the spy in her and she wanted to know what she had done to Knuckles that he acted like this. Rouge stared intently at Knuckles, her eyes narrowed, as if she was trying to read his mind, but only came across an impenetrable wall.

Their little staring contest came to an end when Lily got in-between them. ''How about we focus on our current mission? We still have to figure out who owns the warehouse, and I think that having professional detectives would help us a lot.''

Lily stared at Rouge, who just shrugged in response. The teenager was well aware that Rouge was more interested in figuring out what Knuckles meant than the mission, and while she didn't care that much about their rivalry, she knew that she needed to keep them somewhat focused. Lily then turned her attention to the Chaotix, with Vector and Espio realizing that this might mean they'd have to deal with Knuckles and Rouge bickering, while Charmy was blissfully oblivious to what was going on, and instead was staring at something in the distance.

''Hey, what's going on there?'' Charmy asked, drawing everyone's attention. The group got closer to the warehouse, hiding behind another building, and took note of several Irregulars quickly placing boxes into a hovercraft, with another standing guard.

''That's the warehouse,'' Rouge said, her tone now a whisper.

''What are they doing?'' Knuckles muttered, furrowing a brow.

''They're probably moving locations,'' Vector answered. ''After Team Dark found the warehouse, they had probably decided that this place isn't safe enough and they should leave as soon as possible.''

''So, what's the plan? Do you want to confront them head on or sneak inside?'' Lily asked.

''We don't know how many people are there. Confronting them head on might work against us,'' Espio said.

''Then sneaking inside it is!'' Charmy said, flying up, only to be grabbed by Vector.

''Wait a second, Charmy. We need to find an entrance first,'' Vector told him, only for Knuckles to point at a tarp covering the side of the building.

''What about that?'' he asked, with Rouge giggling, causing Knuckles to give her an annoyed look. ''What's wrong with my suggestion?''

''It's nothing, hon,'' Rouge replied, still smiling in amusement. ''The so-called entrance you're pointing at was a hole Shadow blasted when he attempted to escape the warehouse via his shiny new motorcycle.''

Lily snorted. ''Okay, that's actually funny. But, we could use it to get inside.''

With everyone agreeing to the plan, they quickly dashed to the hole in the wall, making sure that none of the Irregulars coming out from the warehouse would see them. Nevertheless, someone had indeed seen them.

''What should we do, Ma'am?'' Kit asked Surge as they observed the Chaotix, Rouge, Knuckles and Lily disappearing into the warehouse.

''If this were any other situation, I'd say that we should wreak havoc,'' Surge answered, her eyes narrowing. ''However, since we have to complete Starline's stupid mission, we'd just have to find our own way inside, destroy all of the Badniks and get out in record time.'' Surge then smirked, crackling her knuckles. ''At least we'll get to have some fun. Let's go, Drippy!''

Surge dashed ahead, followed by Kit as they used the same entrance as the previous group, both careful to not be noticed, and once they made sure that no one was in sight, entered the warehouse.

xXx

Maybe I should've at least asked Sonic to accompany me. I know that neither of us would have a real reason to be here, but having some kind of emotional support wouldn't be a bad thing. Lucas took a deep breath, a sense of anxiety slowly spreading through his body, causing his heart to beat a bit too fast for his liking. He ruffled his hair, trying to calm himself down, and then looked up at the building he was standing in front of. Admittedly, I don't want to get anyone into trouble, and I know how to talk my way out of a situation. Besides, I did say that I was more than willing to take the risk and that I would be fine on my own. Hopefully, everything will be fine.

Taking another deep breath and finally calming himself down, despite the perpetual sting of anxiety, Lucas started walking towards the entrace of Tamago Corporation. He wasn't going to abandon his mission so easily, especially not after he assured his friends that he could handle this. Sonic had actually asked him whether he was fine with going there on his own, with Lucas showing confidence in his decision and telling his partner that he'd be fine, well aware that Sonic was looking forward to go on a ride with Shadow on the Dark Rider. Not to mention, Lucas had figured that he could call the rest of his teammates if something did happen.

I suppose that it is a stupid assumption, but… would it really be out of place for the Eggman Empire and Tamago Corporation to be connected in some way? Lucas thought as he entered the lobby. It was neatly furnished, albeit almost completely empty. There was a reception to the side, with the receptionist bowing her head politely as she greeted him. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check this place for some kind of clue, regardless of whether I'm wrong or right.

xXx

''Boss? I think you have a visitor,'' Orbot said, pointing at a monitor. Eggman, who just took a sip of coffee out of his #1 Evil Scientist mug, spat the liquid out in shock when he saw who that visitor was.

''Kinomoto?! What is he doing here?!'' Eggman shouted furiously.

''Maybe he also wants to work for you as an intern?'' Cubot suggested, with Eggman shooting him a glare, and then focused on the monitor.

''He is alone,'' he muttered, furrowing a brow as he observed the teenager through the monitor.

Eggman had to admit that he never expected to forever keep the main Egg Base a secret from Team Neos, especially not when it was part of a public building, but nevertheless, he was certain that no one from Team Neos would find out about it so soon. He expected them to spend months, if not years, wondering where the main Egg Base was, so this was quite alarming. However, he did take note of Lucas being the only person in the building, with the cameras outside showing that the rest of Team Neos wasn't anywhere in sight. While it was possible that they were hiding, he was certain that someone like Sonic would burst into the Egg Base without any care in the world. But, that appeared not to be the case, so what was going on? Perhaps, he was wrong. It was also possible that Lucas just took interest in the Tamago Corporation for a different reason.

''What should we do, Boss?'' Orbot asked.

''Send out an order to all android units to keep an eye on Kinomoto. I don't want him to find his way into the Egg Base, even if he's all alone,'' Eggman ordered. ''He needs to think that this is just the Tamago Corporation.''

''Yes, Boss!'' Orbot and Cubot responded in unison, quickly scrambling to inform all the various workers within the building, all of them which were robots, to keep Lucas away from the Egg Base.

Meanwhile, Eggman remained at the monitors, arms folded across his chest as he played a game of mental chess, wondering what Lucas was up to. ''If he was interested in the Tamago Corporation, then I would've expected the Taylor kid to show up rather than Kinomoto.''

xXx

''Hello?'' Lucas greeted the receptionist, who smiled at him politely.

''How may I help you?'' she said.

''Well, I…'' Lucas trailed off, feeling stuck. How was he supposed to explain to this woman that he had a feeling that the Eggman Empire may have somehow infiltrated the Tamago Corporation or that they were connected in some way? She'd think that he was crazy! ''I-I was curious about the Buddy Bot incident. Has Tamago Corporation managed to gather all of the Buddy Bots that were sent out?''

''Unfortunately, that is information that cannot be shared with the public,'' the receptionist replied.

''I understand, but… I-'' Lucas paused for a moment, trying to come up with more topics to keep the conversation going. He actually had several things on mind, but he knew that he needed to play his hand right. ''The truth is, I've been sent to investigate the Eggman Empire's involvement in the accident. Have you found a source of the virus that infiltrated the Buddy Bots?''

''Unfortunately, that is information that cannot be shared with the public,'' the receptionist replied once more in the same sweet tone, her smile being a constant, if eerie, presence on her expression. Lucas felt a little disheartened, but was determined to continue.

''I apologize, Miss, but this is an important matter,'' Lucas continued, having to admit that it was a little weird that the receptionist didn't ask him for any ID or a paper that showed that he was given this case. ''Several Buddy Bots have been found being part of criminal activities.''

''Unfortunately, that is information that cannot be shared with the public!''

Lucas was startled when the receptionist suddenly shouted at him, causing him to step away nervously, wondering what had happened. This certainly wasn't a reaction a normal person would have, let alone a proper response to his questions. The receptionist then suddenly returned back to her polite self, keeping smiling at Lucas, who felt rather unsettled by the whole thing.

What Lucas didn't know was that Orbot and Cubot were hiding behind a hidden door to the actual Egg Base, holding a device and exchanging equally nervous looks.

''Oh, dear,'' Orbot muttered when they heard the receptionist android shouting.

''Maybe we shouldn't have put the setting to 'aggressive','' Cubot said.

Meanwhile, Eggman was growling in frustration when he saw what had happened. ''Those idiots! If Kinomoto didn't suspect the Tamago Corporation to be part of the Eggman Empire before, he will now!''

Back in the lobby, Lucas realized that he wasn't going to get any answer from the receptionist, and while her response did rattle him, it only left him with more questions. He wondered if he should leave, only for another question to pop into his mind. ''Excuse me, but does someone named Ferra Ahearn work here?''

The receptionist smiled back at him innocently, readily answering the question, ''We do have an employee under that name. She has an internship here, but further information is unaccessible without the necessary clearance.''

Lucas smirked. ''Bingo.'' He then turned on his heel, leaving the building. ''Thank you for help.''

Back with Eggman, the Doctor was relieved to see the teenager leave, but at the same time had a bad feeling about the whole thing. He didn't believe that Lucas would give up so easily, and the fact that he had a rather calm, if not self-satisfied, reaction to hearing that Ferra was working here as an intern made him feel worried. Admittedly, that still was no evidence for the Tamago Corporation being part of the Eggman Empire, but he knew that Lucas was sharp enough to make the connection.

xXx

Lucas hummed in thought as he exited the building, only to run into someone he hadn't expected to meet at all at this place – Ferra and Metal Sonic. The two were just as baffled as he was when they saw him, both immediately taking an aggressive stance.

''What are you doing here?'' Ferra asked, shooting him a glare. Lucas assessed the current situation, wondering if he was in danger, then relaxed when he realized that Ferra and Metal Sonic wouldn't attack him in such a public space.

''I'm here for the same reason you are,'' Lucas replied in a casual tone, pointing at the Tamago Corporation. ''I wanted to talk to Dr. Eggman.''

Ferra and Metal Sonic were shocked to hear that, with Ferra stuttering, ''H-How did you know-?''

''I didn't. In fact, you have just confirmed everything for me,'' Lucas replied, giving her a smug smile. Suddenly, he was grabbed by Metal Sonic, who dragged him into a narrow alleyway next to the building and pushed him against the wall, with Ferra following the two and glaring at Lucas, ''So, you know now. What do you plan to do with that information?''

Lucas gritted his teeth, feeling the cold metal against his skin as Metal Sonic held onto his shirt, well aware that being hidden from the public eye like this, he was in actual danger. Nevertheless, he also knew that Ferra and Metal Sonic wouldn't go so far to seriously harm him, let alone kill him.

''Look, I'm not here because I want to confront you or cause any trouble. Something had happened that made me suspect that there was a connection between the Tamago Corporation and the Eggman Empire, and I just wanted to confirm that,'' Lucas explained, giving both Ferra and Metal Sonic a serious look. ''I also wasn't lying when I said that I wanted to talk to Dr. Eggman.''

Cue Ferra's AR Visor buzzing due to an incoming call, with the holographic screen opening and showing Dr. Eggman, much to their surprise, who turned his attention to Lucas. ''So, you know now about the Tamago Corporation's dark secret.''

''I don't know all the details, but going by the information I have, I assume you're the actual CEO of the corporation,'' Lucas said, eyeing the Doctor carefully.

''You're correct about your assumption. I'm the true owner of Tamago Corporation, while Dr. Telos Tamago is just an android I had created to keep up a respectful public image.'' Surprisingly, Eggman smirked, sharing the information with Lucas without any fuss. ''What I would like to know is how you had figured out that there was a connection.''

''It was because someone was combining both the remains of Buddy Bots and Badniks into chimera-like robots and using them as weapons. Warren and Tails have told me that the material used for both types of robots is similar enough, so I had figured that it would be worth investigating closer,'' Lucas explained. ''Besides, there is only one person in this world who'd add 'Egg' to the name of their creations.''

''I suppose I really underestimated you,'' Eggman replied, slightly amused by Lucas' revelation. He then frowned. ''But, what do you mean by someone using my creations to create chimera-like robots?''

''It appears that someone had been taking the scrapped Badniks and selling them off. The Chaotix are currently investigating this case, so you would have to ask them for more information,'' Lucas replied. ''I guess this means you had no idea what was going on.''

''No, I don't. There is no way I would sell off my Badniks to anyone,'' Eggman replied, furrowing a brow.

''Yeah, that makes sense,'' Lucas said, taking a step down the alleyway and towards the main street. ''In any case, that's all I wanted to-''

''You're not going anywhere,'' Ferra said in a cold tone when Metal Sonic suddenly appeared behind Lucas. She then turned to Eggman. ''What should we do about him?''

Before Eggman could even respond, Lucas suddenly rose his voice, ''We still have a deal, don't we? It's all part of the game.''

Eggman stared at him for a moment, looking quite interested, only to turn to Ferra and Metal Sonic. ''Let him go. He won't be causing any trouble for us.''

Both Ferra and Metal Sonic gave him a look of surprise, but complied. But, before Lucas could leave, he was once again stopped by Metal Sonic, hearing a bunch of beeping noises.

''I thought you could talk,'' Lucas said, staring at the robot hedgehog.

''He's asking how Sonic's doing.'' Ferra said, with Metal Sonic giving her a look. ''Well, how his weak, biological counterpart is doing.''

Lucas sighed, furrowing a brow. ''Sonic has recovered, so if you're up for another fight, he's ready for it.''

He didn't even need Ferra to translate, as the look Metal Sonic gave him was an answer enough. 'Gladly'.

The two observed Lucas getting on his hoverboard and leaving, with Ferra and Metal Sonic turning back to the holographic screen. ''So, what should we do now?''

''For now, I want to know who is stealing my Badniks and profiting of them,'' Eggman said, feeling irritated. ''Because once I get my hands on them, there won't be a piece left of them.''

xXx

''Woah, look at that,'' Charmy gasped, grabbing something that resembled a Chao figurine, being enamored with the little toy. Rouge, on the other hand, got smiled when she saw a pearl necklace hanging off a mannequin, and was about to reach for it when she got grabbed by the shoulders by Knuckles and pushed forward.

''Focus, Bat! We still have a mission to fulfill,'' he told her as he kept pushing her, with Rouge just giving him an annoyed look and folding her arms across her chest.

''I know how to focus on a mission. I was just admiring the jewelry,'' she replied. Knuckles rolled his eyes.

''You can steal it once you're done,'' he said.

''I'm not a thief, but a treasure hunter,'' Rouge protested, with Knuckles raising an eyebrow, giving her a knowing look. Rouge then huffed. ''Besides, I doubt whoever owns this place acquired that jewelry through legal means. It would be much better in the hands of someone who knows how to cherish it.''

Lily, who realized they were about to continue bickering, turned to the Chaotix. ''You guys go ahead. I'll keep an eye on the 'power couple' here.''

''Good luck with them,'' Vector said, with Espio and Charmy following him.

''Who are you calling 'power couple'?'' Rouge asked, eyebrow raised as she turned to Lily.

''I know that we are both quite powerful, but…'' Knuckles trailed off when he saw Lily and Rouge react, hearing steps not too far from their location. The three quickly hid behind a mound of scrap, avoiding one of the Irregulars patrolling.

''Couldn't we just knock out one of them and interrogate them?'' Lily asked in a hushed tone. Knuckles and Rouge exchanged glances, having to admit that that wasn't a bad idea. However, before they could grab the guard, more Irregulars appeared, grabbing the boxes close to them and carrying them away.

''If you want to do that, we'd have to be discreet,'' Rouge muttered, with the three finding an opening and rushing to hide behind another mound of broken furniture.

''Or we could knock out all of them,'' Knuckles suggested, grinning as he looked ready to fight. Rouge gave him a questioning look.

''Remind me again, was this supposed to be a stealth mission or were we actually supposed to brute force our way to the answer?'' she asked in a deadpan tone, only for all three of them to freeze when they heard the sound of an explosion. All three of them peeked out of their hiding spot, taking note of the fact that the Irregulars were rushing to the source of the explosion, which was a huge Badnik made out of scraps from several robots, now left smoking and in pieces.

''It seems someone was sharing my idea,'' Knuckles said, giving Rouge a smug smirk. Before they could continue, they heard someone else shouting, followed by another Badnik being trashed on the other side of the building.

''Whoeever has the same idea as you do is giving us cover,'' Rouge said, spreading her wings. ''Com'n, this is our opportunity!''

Knuckles followed Rouge as she flew towards a lone brown bear Irregular, who took note of the two charging at him, but before he could fire his weapon, he was struck with a kick to the face and punch to the gut, causing him to fly into a pile of scrap.

''Ugh…'' The Irregular winced when Knuckles leapt on his chest, grabbing him by his chest fur and pointing his clenched fist at him, while Rouge was hovering next to the echidna.

''Look, sweetie, we're only here to get some questions answered,'' Rouge said in a sickeningly sweet tone, her charming voice clashing with the glare Knuckles was giving the guard. ''Who is your boss, and where are you moving all of those materials?''

''As if I'm going to tell you anything,'' the bear Irregular growled, swinging his fist at Knuckles, who dodged it, leaping off the guy's chest, only to lunge once again at the bear, punching him in the chest and delivering an uppercut to the face that knocked him down. Rouge then hovered over the bear, smiling in slight amusement.

''Look, honey, my friend over there isn't exactly the patient type, so it would be the best for you to answer our questions,'' she told him. ''We'll get our answers, one way or another. Your choice.''

Unfortunately for them, the bear was still more than willing to fight, grabbing Knuckles by the arm and throwing him away. Lily managed to catch her partner before he hit the ground, while Rouge got into a fight with the bear, meeting his fist with a swift kick, only to get startled by another explosion not too far from them. This caught her off guard, with the bear managing to grab her leg and throwing her into the wall.

''Rouge!''

However, instead of the painful sensation of having her back slamming into the wall, she found herself instead in Knuckles' arms, with the echidna managing to catch her just before that could happen. Rouge's tan muzzle was briefly tinted red, being stunned that Knuckles had saved her and feeling rather comfortable in his arms, and then she noticed his purple eyes glowing red. This was followed by a sudden crash, with the bear flying across the room as a Chaos Surge-empowered Lily punched him. The three then stared at the Irregular, who wasn't moving anymore.

''I guess I put a bit too much into that punch and knocked him out,'' Lily said as she checked on him. ''Should we find another one?''

''I suppose we could try,'' Rouge said, placing her hand on Knuckles' muzzle and caressing it. ''What do you say, Handsome?''

Knuckles froze at her touch, his muzzle turning as red as the energy sparks surrounding him as he realized that he was still holding Rouge bridal-style. He quickly let her go, trying to gather his thoughts, while Rouge just kept smiling, having to admit that she loved seeing him so flustered. Seeing her smile, Knuckles quickly turned aggressive.

''D-Don't even think that-''

Before he could even finish his sentence, another Irregular came flying across the warehouse, followed by someone shouting. Lily had spotted what appeared to be a water tendril, but due to the angle of where the other battle was taking place, she couldn't see to whom it belonged. There was another explosion, followed by the wall on the far side crashing down, shaking the whole building.

''Watch out! The roof-!''

Rouge, Knuckles and Lily were shocked when part of the roof started to cave in, with Rouge grabbing both of their hands, pulling them towards the other side. ''We need to get out of here!''

Knuckles and Lily ran after her, noting how dust and debris was flying everywhere, and hoped that Rouge was leading them to an exit. They were also looking around for the Chaotix, only to see the three detectives waving at them at the back side of the warehouse, which standing in front of the exit with a few knocked out Irregulars next to them.

''We got what we wanted!'' Vector told them. ''What happened to you?!''

''We'll talk about it later! Let's go!'' Lily replied, with the group quickly dashing out of the warehouse. Once they were outside, they kept running and stopped only when they were out of sight.

''What was that?!'' Charmy asked as everyone tried to catch their breath.

''Someone else was there with us, destroying the Badniks. They were the ones who destroyed part of the building,'' Knuckles explained.

''Did you find anything?'' Rouge asked.

''We found this piece of paper in one of the Irregular's pockets,'' Espio said, holding up a note. ''It seems that there was a delivery to an address in Mikado City out of all places.''

''Sounds to me as if they're trying to expand to other locations in Starpoint Area,'' Vector said. ''We'll call the authorities there to inform them about the situation.''

''Not to mention, calling the authorities about the warehouse here,'' Lily said, taking note of the half-crumbled building.

''Too bad that I couldn't explore the warehouse a bit more,'' Rouge said, sighing in disappointment. She then took out the pearl necklace she had been eyeing earlier. ''At least I managed to grab this.''

''When did you-?!'' Knuckles gave her a baffled look, while Rouge just smiled in response.

''I always get what I want, hon,'' she said. Knuckles shot her a glare, with Rouge rolling her eyes, placing her hand on her hip. ''Fine, maybe I am also the world's greatest thief. So what, it's not like I stole this from you-'' She then had a sudden realization. ''Oh, is this because I haven't visited you in the past few days? Honestly, Knuckles, all you have to do is to ask, and I'll be happy to steal a couple of gems from you.''

''It's not that,'' Knuckles growled, his eyes narrowing, while Rouge gave him a confused look.

''Then, what is it? I genuinely don't remember any reason for why you talk about getting revenge on me,'' Rouge said in frustration. Knuckles inhaled sharply, only to walk up to a startled Rouge with a determined look on his expression. Rouge felt a sudden surge of anxiety, as she had no clue what the echidna was up to, only to find herself swept off her feet and held by Knuckles, her eyes widening in surprise when he then kissed her. She had expected a lot of things from him, but this had never crossed her mind. Sure, she would often flirt and tease him, but only because she knew he'd either freeze or get riled up. The fact that he was fighting back the same way caught her completely off guard. Admittedly, the kiss itself was nice, if a little too firm and too short for her taste.

Once they broke it off, with Rouge feeling disappointed that it only lasted a few seconds, both flushed and taking deep breaths, with Knuckles still giving her that stern look as he let go of her.

''This is my revenge,'' he told her in a firm tone. ''I still haven't forgotten that indirect kiss back at the party, and I have been reliving it constantly in my dreams, to the point that I knew that I had to do something about it to find a sense of peace.''

''…'' Rouge was speechless, her jaw dropped, one of her ears drooping as she stared at Knuckles in disbelief. As much as the echidna intrigued her, the moment she thought she had figured him out and felt that she could move on, he came back with vengeance. Finally, she had managed to find her voice. ''That's what you were so hung up on?!''

''Yes, and if you ever think of putting me through that kind of treatment again, I will see it as a challenge and fight back,'' Knuckles told her. ''I may have frozen up during our last interaction, but this time, I'm ready.''

''I…'' Rouge had absolutely no idea what to say, still needing more time to process what the hell had just happened. Both her and Knuckles had been completely oblivious to the gasps coming from the rest of the group, with Espio quickly covering Charmy's eyes the moment he realized what Knuckles was up to and causing the latter to complain and try to break out of his grasp, followed by a moment of complete silence.

Knuckles then turned to Lily. ''Shall we go now?''

''Y-Yeah, sure…'' Lily said, with Knuckles walking ahead of her, while she remained back, facepalming in exasperation. Vector, Espio and Charmy quickly followed Knuckles, with Vector whistling.

''Woah, I didn't know you felt like that about Rouge,'' he said.

''What do you mean by that? She is my rival,'' Knuckles asked, raising an eyebrow when Vector winked at him.

''Yeah, what do you mean by that? What happened?'' Charmy suddenly asked, zooming around them, with Espio muttering something under his breath, ''We'll tell you when you're older.''

Behind them, Lily turned to Rouge.

''Are you okay?'' she asked. Rouge sighed, folding her arms across her chest.

''I am… but I wish Knuckles was less dense,'' she said, grumbling under her breath.

''You and me both, Rouge,'' Lily told her.

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[seekerwingzcg]

ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕆𝕡𝕖𝕟

❤✅✅❤

INTRO POST and COMMISSION INFO:

Commission info:

Hi, I'm Chloe! I've never had a nickname. Nothing ever stuck.

I'm a depressed 29 year old single mom that writes and draws robots (mostly of the 18+ variety).

I go by she/they and don't really mind what pronouns you use for me. I'm kind of feeling very genderless recently so eh.

I'm mainly here to show my odd/silly art and writing to like-minded weirdos in search of the things I keep in this dumpster, here. I also like to reblog what others are up to.

I do fanart and fanfiction, but I do have mental health issues that causes me to go through lapses of my own content. Therefore, I'll only reblog one thing a day in really bad times. I tend to queue something every hour from 9AM-Midnight, but not always (and sometimes I'm a cryptid and go crazy posting at 3AM).

On a positive note, I try to post one artwork/Story Chapter once a week-month depending on the detail put into each work. (Starting 9/21/24)

I'm not one to show off, so I tend to just not notice/ignore hate, but criticism is welcome. I am learning, after all. I went through 5+ years without drawing or writing and am just now getting back into the swing of things :)

⚠️ Warning ⚠️ I post a large amount of watersports-esque content because I'm just kinda gross so be prepared for that.

All Naughty content is described above a [more] tab and is tagged "valveplug" Due to Tumblr's rules, tagging will be slightly altered so read them before viewing unless you want a nasty surprise.

And I'm obsessed with Megatron. I hadn't mentioned that, yet.

About writing! My fics reflect my art and so-on and are almost always links to Archive of Our Own. My username is Peace_Through_Empthy and is in my bio.

(Currently doing emergency coms to survive the holidays) I don't do commissions, exactly, but if you'd like to donate a bit for a request occasionally, I'll be setting that up soon. I'm dirt poor and love a coffee every now and then.

Go ahead and enjoy this weird robot hell dotted with things that are occasionally unexpected

... And did I mention I'm obsessed with Megatron...?

[dib-thing-wannabe]

The Villain's Untold Moldings - Chapter Three

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(Reminder: Robot doesn't have his canon design in this fanfic, he has the more human design made by @taxlthomas / @itsalldownhillfromherehoney so I highly advise that you go take a look at their design of him before reading any of the chapter's of this fanfic. If needed, I'll happily tag you in their art if you can't find what I'm referring to.)

Memory log 3,693 - Date: Oct. 19, 2015 - Time: 00:42

Romeo was in middle of setting up another machine as I overheard the Pj Masks make a plan as to stop him. Honestly, I see a very easy way as to how they could stop him. The machine he is currently working is simply just to transfer all the power from the city to another device which would trap the city in a dome, and effectively making it his. The device for the dome is practically indestructible, but if they destroy the part that causes the transfer, not only would it completely put the plan to a hault, but it may also destroy the machine that creates the dome as well. From the looks of it, only Gecko recognizes this, and is trying to tell the others.

"Guys, look!" He whispered to them, pointing at the transfer. "We don't need to focus on the big machine just yet, we need to focus on-"

"Hush Gecko, we're trying to come up with a plan." Catboy cut him off, speaking sternly yet quietly.

Gecko had a shocked look, but simply stayed quiet for the time being.

"Maybe we can unplug it! Then the dome can't be built!" Owlette spoke up excitedly.

Gecko gave her a confused look before softly speaking up. "Um, actually, it doesn't have a plug, it has a-"

"That's an amazing idea! Let's do it!" Catboy told her, cutting Gecko off once again.

As both Catboy and Owlette dashed towards the machine, Gecko let out a tired sigh before following behind them reluctantly. This goes on for around an hour more, where Gecko tries to tell his teammates this vital information that's definitely needed yet they instead ignore him. This isn't the first time that I've seen this routine happen, and I doubt that it'll be the last time for a while. They have gotten better at listening to him from what I have seen, but it's still obvious that they don't listen to him as often as they should.

After a while, Romeo eventually captures both Catboy and Owlette as they had gotten ahead of themselves again. Gecko is hiding from Romeo's vision, yet I can see him still. He looks... tired. Tired and frustrated.

"Let us go, Romeo!" Owlette cried out.

"Unhand us this instant!" Catboy growled at him, trying to escape.

Romeo let out a teasing laugh before speaking. "Oooh, but why? You both are much less annoying when you're like this! It's so nice!"

The two continued to bicker at him and even at one another, with Romeo taunting them about how he's going to take over the world and there's nothing they can do about it and they demanded for him to let them go. Out of the corner of my robotic eye, I see something green moving towards Romeo's machines. I turned and saw that it was Gecko, who is at this point ignoring his teammates, I'm guessing because he knows that they aren't in any danger at this time.

"Hold on, what are you doing-" I say to him, walking towards him as to stop him from presumably destroying it.

He quickly shot his head in my direction and spoke in an annoyed tone. "Something that I have been trying to tell my friends that we should do for the past hour."

I froze as he spoke and as I saw his face, and more importantly, his eyes. His body language, his voice, his determination, it all read off as angry and frustrated with everything, but his eyes.. his eyes show deep sadness and tiredness, just wanting to be listened to for once and not be ignored by the others. A look that I'm all too familiar with because of Romeo.

I could only bring myself to look down at him as he turned back towards the machines and continues walking. Quickly, he made it to the part that transfer's the power for the dome and grabbed it.

Holding up the part with one hand using his Gecko super strength, he turned towards the three who are still talking and whistled loudly towards them. They all looked at him, with his team looking confused while Romeo went wide eyed, realizing what he was planning.

"WAIT, DON'T-" Romeo cried out, reaching his arms towards Gecko, ready to run at him.

*CRASH*

Gecko threw it directly below him with all his strength, the gears, bolts and nuts flying everywhere. The power to the city was temporarily cut off, as the part was connected to it, but it only lasted a second, basically having it only seem like something minor. With it also being connected to the machine that was in middle of forming the dome, not only did the dome dissipate, the machine also started making noises that were clearly not something that was good. Gecko gave Romeo an apologizing glance before looking at his teammates. By the looks of their faces, they could definitely see that he was angry with them, but even underneath his rage, I could see that he is just trying not to cry in front of his friends.

*WARNING: UNCONTROLLED FIRE IN AREA*

The machine, from the inside, had caught on fire. This, after not being able to move out of shock, caused me to grab Romeo and start running away from the area, trying to not get him hurt incase of an explosion.

"ROBOT, WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM FROM DESTROYING IT?! YOU WERE RIGHT THERE!" Romeo yelled, slamming his fists into my metal shoulders. This was something he did often when he's upset, considering that it couldn't hurt or damage me.

"Sorry, Master. Something else had caught my attention before I could."

Memory log 3,698 - Date: Oct. 24, 2015 - Time: 01:36

"Master, you need to go to bed. You can continue working on your next plan in the morning." I told Romeo sternly, trying to get him to comply with me on this for once.

"Come on, just a few more minutes! I'm so close to perfecting it!!" He said, still writing it on a whiteboard for himself.

"You said that 15 minutes ago. It's time for you to sleep." I told him, picking him up.

"Wha- come on!" Romeo whined, though he didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around my neck when I placed him on my back.

"You heard me, Master. Now, let's get you ready for bed."

"Hngh..." He reluctantly complied, resting his head on my shoulder.

After a few minutes of walking towards his room, I could feel his head lift up from my shoulder and turn towards the window.

"Wait, put me down, I need to see something-" He said, trying to get down from my back as I held him.

"No, Master. I'm not having you try to run off to avoid sleep."

"I'm not this time! I promise I won't! Please, put me down for a moment!" He cried out, pulling at my shirt as he continued to try and get down. I could tell he was genuinely trying to get a closer look at something.

"Fine, but it's not going to be for long." I told him, putting him back on the ground. He quickly ran over to the window and looked down.

"What's he doing over here? Luna said that she was going to be on the other side of town.." He whispered to himself, looking puzzled.

My own curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to Romeo and looked where he was looking. It was Gecko, sitting down against the brick wall of a building, his head resting on his knees while he curled up.

What was he doing over here? He doesn't look hurt at all, at least not from up here. And his team is on the other side of town, just around where Luna Girl was, I saw that for myself. So why?

After a moment of silence between us, Romeo spoke up, backing away from the window.

"I'm going to see why he's over here."

"No, Master. You need to go to bed!" I told him sternly, turning towards him.

"I need to see what Gecko is doing! I promise I won't be long!" He cried out, looking up at me with those big blue eyes of his.

I mean, should I? Sure, he could just be using him to get out of going to bed, but he seems to be genuinely curious. And I can't say that I'm not curious either.. or maybe even concerned. But I can't experience that emotion, or any human emotion... Can I?

I let out a defeated sigh before answering. "Fine, but don't make it too long. I'll prepare you some tea and clothes to sleep in for when you get back."

"Ooh! Okay, thank you Robot! I promise I'll be quick!" Romeo yelled out as he ran off towards the door that leads outside.

25 minutes has passed, and Romeo still isn't back. I couldn't help but wonder if he just ran back to his lab after talking to Gecko, as it would be a good time to do so. I decided to go back to the window where we first saw him to see if either Romeo or Gecko was actually there. As I was looking down, both of them were sitting on the ground, backs against the brick wall of the building. Gecko looks to be yelling and going off, but not at Romeo or about Romeo. Just in general, as his arms were expressive and his hands talked along with him. Romeo was clearly listening very closely, occasionally joining in and making a statement of his own, which Gecko would stop his rant momentarily to listen to him and agree. Still curious about what happened, I decided to open the window to maybe hear what they're talking about.

"AND IT'S JUST- IT'S LITERALLY NOT THAT HARD! JUST GET OUT OF YOUR OWN HEAD FOR MORE THAN A FEW SECONDS AT A TIME TO ACTUALLY HEAR ME OUT!!" I heard Gecko cry out, holding his arms out. "THAT'S ALL I ASK FROM THEM, BUT NOOOO, BECAUSE I AM YOUNGER THAN THEM, STRUGGLE WITH SCHOOL, AND EVEN STRUGGLE WITH THINGS LIKE SOCIAL CUES, THEY JUST THINK THAT I HAVE NOTHING IMPORTANT TO SAY!!"

Romeo simply nodded his head in agreement before speaking up, letting out an annoyed scoff as he rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it! Night Ninja and Luna Girl think the exact same thing about me! It's so hard to actually come up with a plan when I work with them at any given point!"

Gecko let out a chuckle as he took in a deep breath. "Well, at least you don't have to work with them 24/7 like I do! Or heck, even really be friends with them! You could just be like a co-worker to them if you want!"

"Yeah, true. At least there's that for me! But hey, unlike me, you could at least have a chance to correct them without needing to get physical at all or raise your voice!" Romeo chimed in, giving him a soft, genuine smile, which he rarely gives out to anyone except me.

"You aren't wrong on that, but it feels like that's the only way to get them to listen to me! Just simply talking to them doesn't seem to work for more than a week!" Gecko yelled out, holding his arms out again.

"Ooooh-ho-ho, don't even get me started on that!"

As I listened in on their conversation, I quickly noticed just how similar they were. They both have trouble getting others to listen to them, they both struggle with school and the social aspects of life, and their ages are the youngest of their respective groups. Both of them are tired of not being taken seriously, but they handle their situations very differently. Romeo often just makes them listen to him after so long, ranging from restraining them or just straight up hitting them until they do as he says. From all that I've seen, Gecko just sits backs and stays quiet about it, and the few times he does speak up, he just yells at them about it. Nothing more. Romeo shows anger with his issue, while Gecko shows sadness with his.

After a few minutes of listening to them, something in my metal chest just slowly started to feel what humans describe as an ache. Not a physical pain, but something similar.

Why am I feeling like this? Nothing is wrong with my internal system or anything, but why do I feel terrible? All I did was listen to those two and their struggles, but it shouldn't make me feel like this. It shouldn't.. yet it does. Seeing them just rant about their problems, not even looking for a solution for it as they have already tried to, it just.. The looks of tiredness on their faces, the anger yet sadness in their voices, I just cannot- I can't-

I closed the window, trying to get whatever this supposed aching feeling was in my chest to stop. I walked away from the window and started to clean up a few things to take my mind off of them and their conversation.

Around 10 more minutes pass by before Romeo comes back inside, rubbing his eye as he let out a yawn.

"Hello, Robot. Sorry about taking so long, got a bit caught up in conversation.."

"Hm? Well, what did you find out while you were talking to him?" I asked while picking him up again, as if I didn't already know the answer.

Romeo stayed quiet for a second before speaking up quietly, giving me a soft smile. "That someone else can actually understand the way I feel."

"... That's great, Master."

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

minific :) hope u like it!! it doesnt have much of canon lore applied, and its Mann Vs Machine. Spy bein a dad when its far too late :(

----

The team had been split up when the robots attacked, and Scout and Sniper had gotten stuck together. Not that it was any issue for Scout, though. He figured the Australian wouldn't mind sticking with him for a little while, and so far, he hasn't left. But it's too quiet, even for someone like Sniper, the least talkative member on the team.

"Hey, you think the others are alright?" Scout looks at the marksman.

"Why wouldn't they be? They've better aim when close up than I ever bloody will." Sniper glances at Scout before returning his gaze to the hallway ahead of them. Broken robots lay littered about.

"Someone was here." Sniper frowns. "They must not be far."

"No shit, Sherlock-- is that blood?" Scout frowns, the red stain on the floor catching his attention.

"Yeah. Trail o' it, too..." Sniper frowns. "You follow it. I'll make sure there's no more of the bloody boltheads comin' down the halls."

"Gotcha." Scout quickly begins to follow the trail until he reaches the end of the hallway, where the rough smell of cigarette smoke fills the air.

"Ah. It's you." The voice of Spy says from the dark, and Scout flicks the lights on. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't... this.

Spy's injured badly. There's blood staining his suit in multiple areas, and what appears to be a gunshot wound to his upper body seems to be the main cause.

"Holy crap...!" Scout quickly snaps out of the trance he was in, and opens the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He digs through it, pulling out bandages. Of course he'd forgotten the medkits. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Scout, I am no doctor, but I don't think a simple band aid is going to heal a bullet wound." Spy glares at the runner.

"I'm tryna help you, man! Cut me some slack." Scout scowls, and Spy just sighs.

"Scout. Just... stop. I'm not making it out of this room alive. My leg is broken and I've been shot four times. It's a miracle I'm not already dead." Spy pushes the bandages away, fllicking his burned-out cigarette away with his other hand.

"Well... that's just morbid. I can use comms to get Snipes to find Doc?" Scout reaches for his headpiece, but Spy shakes his head.

"I want you to listen to me, boy. I don't want to be saved. I've accepted that I'm not going to make it out of here. It's better this way."

"Spy--"

"Shut up!" Spy raises his voice to a yell, before letting out a pained sigh, propping himself higher up against the wall. "Just... listen to what I have to say, Jeremy."

Scout's eyes widen slightly. He isn't wearing his dog tags, there's no way Spy could've known.

"How--"

"This will... sound familiar, I hope. I hate repeating myself." Spy lights a second cigarette. Hesitating. "27 years ago, I met a beautiful woman. She was everything I could've wished for... and we were happy together. As Tom Jones would say, I... dropped a 'sex bomb' on her. I was young then, and I ran from the explosion."

It all sounds so familiar. Had Scout heard this before? Where? When...? He can remember someone saying this to him...

Holy. Crap.

"You... You were the Tom Jones that I saw." Scout whispers. Spy just nods.

"I... It is one of my many regrets, leaving you and your mother behind. I was a coward. I suppose I still am, since it would seem I can only admit to this on the edge of death." Speaking is getting more difficult for Spy, and Scout can tell, hesitating before lowering his headpiece.

"Snipes. Find Doc. Hurry."

"Mate-? Wha--" The Australian's cut off as Scout tosses the headpiece aside, and Scout kneels at Spy's side.

"You're my dad. I-- I can't let you just... die here! There's... so much lost time to be made up." Scout starts unravelling the bandage. Maybe it's the shock stopping him from feeling the pain in his leg from a loose nail digging into his knee, maybe it's the sudden adrenaline rush. Doesn't matter. Spy needs to make it out of this alive.

"Jeremy." Spy's voice is calm, with the slightest hint of pain in it. Scout looks up at Spy, who takes his mask off.

He looks just like how Scout's ma had always described him, just... older, with streaks of grey in his styled-back hair and dark circles under his eyes that Scout had never noticed before. But they share the same blue eyes.

"I am proud to see the man you've become. You've made good friends. Your mother did amazing raising you." Spy pulls a photo from his suit pocket, holding it out to Scout. "Here. I kept this when I left. I always have it with me."

It's a photo of 2 year old Scout, with his mother and Spy sitting beside him, watching him open his christmas present: A baseball bat.

Scout looks back at Spy, his vision blurry. Spy smiles at him, whispering something in French that Scout can't understand, and Scout can see the life leave Spy's eyes.

"Dad?" Scout's voice is small, his eyes wide, staring at Spy's motionless body. He tentatively reaches over and shakes Spy's shoulder, but the Frenchman doesn't respond. He's dead. Forcing back a sob, he pulls the corpse into a hug as the sound of footsteps behind him come closer and closer.

Scout never got the chance to learn his father's name.

I AM SOBBING

THIS IS SO GOOD, I LOVE THIS! THIS IS JUST OUGH.

The angst got to me. I'm not gonna lie. This is so amazing, Anon. If you ever start writing these on your blog (or if you already do), please let me know because I will be your number one fan, I swear 💪

Thank you for sending this in. It is very much appreciated. Keep up the good work. You're an amazing writer, and I literally can't compliment you enough!!!

[brittanybeadlemarkets]

How to Use Meta Data

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Ah, the elusive metadata. While it sounds like something out of the latest science fiction film, metadata is an integral component of every SEO strategy. Why? Because meta tags provide important data about your website/webpage to search engines like Google to increase your visibility and help you rank better. 

Here are answers to the most commonly asked questions about metadata.

What is Metadata?

Going back to our original question: what is metadata? Metadata are invisible codes that send vital information about your web page to local search engines - such as Google - regarding how it should be displayed in search results.

Types of Meta Tags There are six main types of meta tags: 

Meta Titles

Meta Descriptions

Meta Robots

Meta Charset

Meta Viewport

Meta Refresh Redirect

But don’t worry - you’re not going to have to use ALL of these. In fact, there are some types of meta tags you should avoid altogether. Here is a breakdown of the different types of meta tags, including why they’re useful (and likewise, not useful) to your RV park SEO strategy:

Meta Titles

Just like the title of a book, a meta title lets web visitors know what the webpage is about. When a customer submits a search query to Google, the search engine will go ahead and suggest thousands of relevant websites for them to select from. The meta title not only helps attract potential web visitors/customers, but will also provide valuable insight into what the webpage will be about.

RV park owners need to keep in mind that crafting a meta title isn’t always as easy as it looks. For example, you should keep the titles concise. Furthermore, you can’t use the same meta title you developed for one page for another. This is one area in which companies may need help.

Meta Descriptions

Your meta description is just as important to optimizing your SEO as your meta title is. This is the description that displays underneath the title when your site comes up in search engine results. Your meta description must be a concise and accurate depiction of the content on your page.

Previously, the rule of thumb for meta descriptions was that the optimum number of characters was anywhere between 150 to 165 characters. A recent update on Google has allowed for longer snippets to be displayed, somewhere between 300 to 320 characters. It’s recommended that you frontload your meta descriptions with your most important text (aka keywords) within the first 150-165 characters.

Meta Robots

Let’s say you only want specific pages for your site indexed on search engines. This is where the robot meta tag comes in. With this specific meta tag, you can designate which pages get indexed or followed by simply adding commands such as “noindex, nofollow” to a robot's meta tag. If you don’t utilize this tag, by default all of your pages will be indexed and followed.

So why would you want to use this? There might be pages on your site that, while they might be essential, are a bit thin in terms of content and you don’t want them to be indexed in a search.

Meta Charset

In simple terms, the meta charset lets the browser know how characters should be displayed on your page. How exactly does this affect your SEO? While it might not have a direct effect on your rankings, it can cause issues that keep you from generating more traffic. Not only will search engines have trouble understanding your content, but people may not want to link to your page. 

Meta charsets may also encourage a high bounce rate and low dwell time, because your page may look broken to someone. To be fair, issues with your charset are not the end of the world with their effect on traffic to your site and can be an easy fix if you implement a meta charset on all of your pages.

Meta Viewport

The meta viewport tells your browser how a page is displayed on different screen sizes, including on a desktop, tablet, or phone. This actually plays a significant role in terms of how your site is ranked. Starting in 2015, Google started ranking more mobile-friendly sites higher on mobile searches.

If your page loads up as the desktop version on mobile, people are more inclined to click away from it. This is because, on mobile, a desktop site is harder to read and harder to navigate, creating a less optimal experience for your user. Including a meta viewport tag can help your site rank higher on multiple devices and make your site easy to use on any device.

Meta Refresh Direct This meta tag tells the browser to redirect your user to another URL after a certain amount of time has passed. It’s highly recommended that you do not use this unless it is absolutely necessary. They can be confusing to your user, even raising security concerns. 

Some pages need to be parsed before moving along to the new URL, which can be time-consuming. The most important reason is that these kinds of redirects are not supported by all browsers. While Google does understand refresh directs and has no issue with them, not all browsers are created equal, and this can cause a lot of headaches for your user. 

If you need to redirect, we recommend going with a 301 redirect instead and avoiding this practice at all costs. Only use meta refresh directs if you absolutely need to and have no other options.

Why are Meta Tags Important?

Meta tags are important because they provide search engines and visitors with more information about the content of your site and help you rank better. If you optimize your tags to show off the more important parts of your site, it will allow your webpage to stand out more in a search.

Search engines favor sites that are more friendly to the user, including being able to answer someone’s question the easiest. Meta tags ensure that your content is displayed in a way that is easy for the customer to digest and use.

As previously mentioned, different kinds of meta tags take on different roles in how your page is displayed in a search engine. Although not all of them affect SEO, they are all important to help your site get properly indexed and make your site more appealing to potential visitors when they are searching for information.

Metadata is Confusing - Let RV Park SEO Help

We threw a lot at you in this article, so if you need help with metadata, the team at RV Park SEO can help. Set up an appointment here. 

[frostedfaves]

Dark Paradise

Masterlist

Pairing: dark!WandaNat x fem!reader

Summary: You meet the infamous Avengers on spring break with your best friend Peter, and two of them seem to adore you more than expected. Requested here by my lovely 🐞anon.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY!!! dark themes, manipulation, mind control, blackmailing, age gap (reader is 21), dubcon (saying this just to be safe because Wanda uses her powers for evil a lot here), smut: oral, fingering, penetration/sex toy use, voyeurism (kinda), edging, overstimulation (if I forgot something please let me know!)

A/N: hi this is 6k words, which is the longest single fic I’ve ever written/posted here haha. also the end is not technically the end, if you know what I mean. anyway this took forever to write so enjoy this super far from canon fic and please tell me what you thought!! (also if you’re on my taglist and you weren’t tagged it’s because your age wasn’t in your bio)

-

“Here, let me take that for you,” Peter offers when he notices you headed toward the car, and you hand your suitcase to him with a smile.

“Thanks, P.”

You close the car door behind you after getting in on the passenger side, instantly reaching for his phone resting on the dashboard once you were buckled in. The two of you had an unspoken rule that you controlled the music whenever you traveled together, so his library was filled with various playlists you’d created simply because you didn’t trust him not to listen to the same five songs for the rest of his life.

“This is different,” Peter comments as he gets in on the driver’s side and catches the opening notes to an upbeat song. “I thought you were going to go with something calmer to help you sleep, like you usually do.”

“Well, I’m not usually going to meet the Avengers, so I’m too nervous to sleep.” You turn to pout at him as he drives off. “Is it too late to cancel?”

“Don’t even think about it. If I show up without you, everyone will think you’re imaginary.”

“Do they think you can’t make any friends outside of Ned?” you question as you open a bottle of water. “Because they’re not wrong.”

“I can make friends!” Peter whines and a quiet snorting sound escapes you. 

“You can’t use me as an example.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re not actually friends.”

He picks up on your teasing nature and rolls his eyes, causing you to laugh as you lean back and settle into your seat more. You had well over three hours to stress about spending a week with the world’s most popular superheroes, and you’d rather be comfortable while you do so.

-

“Wake up, we’re here!”

Your eyes fly open at the sound of Peter’s voice, and any of the nerves that left long enough to let you sleep made a U-turn and hit you again, full force. Sitting up straight in the seat, you practice breathing properly while stretching and taking a look around as he pulls into the garage.

“Are you okay?” Peter asks once he parks, placing a hand over yours as he meets your gaze and you smile.

“I’ll be fine, P. I’m not gonna miss out on hanging out with you just because your super family is super intimidating.”

“Good. Besides, it won’t even be that bad! I’m willing to bet $1 million that they’ll love you.”

“I appreciate your optimism,” you tell him as the two of you get out of the car. “But you’re going to regret that bet when I use your money to retire early in some faraway rural town.”

Peter carried both suitcases as you made your way to an elevator, and you jumped when you suddenly heard a male voice.

“Welcome, Mr. Parker and Ms. L/N.”

“What is that?” you questioned as you faced Peter with wide eyes and he chuckled. 

“You’re hearing Jarvis, Mr. Stark’s AI. Hey Jarvis, can you take us to the common room, please?”

“Right away, Mr. Parker.”

“This is so cool,” you comment as you look around the suddenly moving elevator. “How does it know my name?”

“Knowing everything is kind of its job, I guess.”

“Underoos!” a voice calls as soon as the doors open, quickly revealing itself to belong to Tony Stark as his gaze lands on you next. “So she is real.”

“I told you!” Peter defends as you step off the elevator together. “Mr. Stark, this is Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you, kid,” Tony greets you with a shake of your hand. “I’m glad he found you. I was starting to worry that he’d build a robot to spend the rest of his life with.”

“I’m just his best friend, so it’s still possible.”

“Is this your friend, Peter?” Steve cuts off Peter’s response as he enters the room, moving to shake your hand next. “I’m Steve. Nice to meet you.”

“Okay, I’m going to show her to our rooms and then we’ll be back for dinner,” Peter tells everyone once you’d been introduced to Pepper, Bruce and Clint as well, and you’re about to head for the elevator again when someone interrupts.

“How about we take her down to her room instead?”

Your eyes widen as you watch none other than Natasha Romanoff and Wanda Maximoff enter the room hand in hand. Natasha’s hair seemed much longer than the last time she’d been in the public eye, but her all-knowing smirk was just the same and her green eyes were even more piercing in person. You noticed a bit of red glowing in Wanda’s eyes, which faded as she probably realized you’d seen, and you couldn’t help but wonder if that meant she hated you already.

“I know what you’re up to, Red.” Tony seemed accusatory as he pointed a finger at the pair. “You can’t bribe her into helping you cheat tonight.”

“Maybe I planned on giving her tips for surviving this testosterone filled tower.” 

Natasha steps forward and grabs your hand with her free one, and with a flick of her wrist, Wanda has your suitcase floating in front of you as they lead you into the elevator.

“Sorry to whisk you away like that,” Wanda apologizes as the doors close with her head tilted to see you past Natasha. “We’re just excited to meet a new woman here.”

“No, it’s okay!” you insist breathlessly, your nerves slowly returning as Natasha lightly squeezes your hand. “I’m actually really excited to meet the two of you.”

“You know who we are?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that I know you personally, but I know that you’re one of the original team members.” You make eye contact briefly with Natasha before turning to Wanda. “And because the news stations somehow get ahold of everything, I know you joined after you helped everyone stop Ultron before he could create that indestructible body and destroy the world.”

“Yes, that’s true. Although I wish I could’ve saved my brother, too.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you lost him...or that you even had a brother.”

“It’s okay,” Wanda assures you with a smile as she lets go of Natasha, shifting to the other side of the elevator to grab your free hand. “I asked Fury to keep Pietro a secret because I didn’t want to see or hear any negative opinions from people that never even met him.”

“And we have plenty of time to get to know each other,” Natasha chimes in as the doors open to reveal a new setting. “This is our floor. We set up a spare bedroom here so we can spend time together away from the boys...when you’re not with Peter, of course.”

“Yeah, that’d be great!” 

They lead you past their living room and kitchen, and you shamelessly admire the simple decor with little personal touches spread about. Turning into a hallway, Natasha walks ahead of you and Wanda to open a door to a bedroom.

“What do you think?” she asks with a smile that widens upon seeing your expression. “I’m guessing it’s good, then.”

“It’s perfect!” you cry out as you walk past to enter the room, immediately noticing the eggshell colored walls trimmed with your favorite color along the borders. “Wow, this is four times the size of a normal bedroom. Wait a minute.”

“Do you like it?” Wanda asks when she sees you pick up the glass figurine on the nightstand. “Peter mentioned your love of this animal and I have a whole collection of them from different places.”

“Like it? I love it! I have the same one in my dorm room!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I can get you a different one.” She steps forward as she brings your suitcase to the floor beside the bed and you hug the small object close to your chest. 

“Like I said, it’s perfect,” you assure her with a grin, which brings one to her own face.

“Well, I’m glad you’re happy with the set up. When you’re ready to head up to dinner, we’ll be waiting by the elevator. Also, if you ever need anything, our room is right across the hall.”

Natasha points to the closed door a few feet away, and you acknowledge her statement with a nod before they leave the room, closing your door nearly all the way behind them. You flop down on the bed with a dreamy sigh as you gaze up at the ceiling with a night sky painted on it.

“I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave this place.”

-

On the elevator ride up to join everyone for dinner, Natasha and Wanda take turns asking you questions about your classes and any friends you’d made, what you liked to do when you weren’t studying. You had to admit that the level of interest they had with you was shocking but flattering, especially when they insisted you sit between them at the table to continue your conversation.

“You don’t seem to be nervous anymore,” Peter acknowledges as you sit down, and Wanda faces you immediately.

“Were you nervous about meeting us?”

“Well, yeah,” you answer timidly, avoiding catching anyone’s curious glances by directing a glare toward Peter. “You might be normal people in here, but to the rest of the world, you’re portrayed as powerful and untouchable beings.”

“Maybe when they’re not talking about how much damage we’ve caused,” Bruce mumbles under his breath as the elevator doors opened again. 

“I’m here, I’m here!” a voice calls as footsteps hurry toward the dining area, and Sam Wilson is revealed as he rounds the corner. “Sorry, I’m late. I was--”

“On a date, we know. You only told us that 500 times.”

“Don’t be jealous, old man. You’re married.” Sam grins at Clint as he sits next to him before his attention turns to you. “Do we have a newbie?”

“No, Mr. Wilson. This is my best friend, Y/N.”

“Call me Sam, kid.” He smiles at you as he goes for his silverware, and you’re just about to acknowledge him when his expression suddenly turns serious. “I’m sorry. You’re not a kid. You’re an independent and capable adult, and I should address you as such.”

“What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know.” Sam clears his throat and shakes his head as if he was clearing his mind. “I just suddenly felt the need to correct myself…You have any powers we should know about, Y/N?”

“No!” you quickly respond with widened eyes. “I wasn’t going to say anything, actually. I’m pretty used to older people calling me kid by now.”

From your left side, Natasha asks Clint to recall an embarrassing tale for you and the table livens up again, but you can’t seem to move past the unsettling way Sam shifted gears from calm and casual to uptight and disciplined. The image stayed with you through the rest of dinner even after he seemed to fully recover, until dishes were cleared away and replaced with games, and you suddenly had a lot more to focus on.

“I just don’t think it’s fair that he gets to be on your team again when I haven’t had him once.”

“Is anything fair with the guy who could use his personalized AI to cheat for him?”

“Could I do that? Yes. But have I done that? Maybe.”

“Wanna grab some fresh air with us?” Natasha suddenly asks you, causing you to frown.

“Aren’t we about to play another game?”

“It’ll take them another half hour before they finally decide something,” Wanda assures you as her fingers thread through yours gently. “We have plenty of time, and they won’t even notice we’re gone.”

They lead you by the hand to the elevator once more, going up a few floors before leading you out onto a balcony. Because you were so much higher than most of the surrounding buildings, there was an incredible view of the sun that was probably minutes away from disappearing to the other side of the world. The air is chillier than when you’d arrived, but you had to admit that standing in the cool breeze is worth a few goosebumps on your skin. Your hands are released as you reach a bench near the ledge, and you climb over it to sit as the other two women settle on either side of you.

“Why did Peter decide to share his secret with you?”

“Technically he didn’t,” you recall with a laugh. “He’d gone out to deal with something that activated his spider sense or whatever and I came to his dorm room to sleep after an exam because I was too tired to walk all the way to my place. Anyway, I walk in at the same time he’s coming back in through the window, and I swear we both sat there for a full two minutes before either of us could think of anything to say.”

“It’s still very nice of you to keep such a big secret for him,” Natasha praises, and your laughter quiets down as you take in her words.

“I guess I just know what it feels like to not want your life to change drastically because of one thing.” Your gaze shifts between the women for a moment. “That reminds me, I wanted to ask--”

“Wait, look at this!” Wanda quickly cuts you off with an enthusiastic grin. “You’re about to witness one of my favorite things about living here.”

She directs you to lean over and look at the streets as the sun finally disappears over the horizon, and you can’t help the small gasp that escapes you. Street lights begin turning on at what seems to be the center of the city and quickly spreading, increasing the radius of well-lit neighborhoods by the second. It was a mesmerizing sight that--until every lamp was on--nearly made you forget the question you were building toward.

“That was so cool!” you express honestly before clearing your throat awkwardly. “So I wanted to ask if the two of you were dating...or in a relationship or whatever. I mean, I don’t want to assume anything of course, just wondering because you share a room and floor, and you seem to be really into holding hands.”

“Well, I’d never really been into holding hands or a lot of other forms of affection before I met Wanda, but she seemed to flip some switch inside of me.” Natasha admitted with a bashful chuckle as she glanced at Wanda before turning to study you. “And your hands are so perfect to hold.”

“To answer your question, we are together.” Wanda rests a hand on your thigh and casts a sweet smile in your direction when you face her again. “Natasha was the first to give me a chance after everything with Ultron, and initially I thought I was just feeling grateful to receive some type of positive attention from someone other than Pietro. It wasn’t until Tash called me out on staring at her lips that I realized I wanted more than friendship.”

“The only reason I did was to confirm she was feeling the same things I’d finally come to terms with myself.” Natasha chuckles as Wanda sends over a bit of red mist to squeeze her own thigh. “What about you, love?”

“What about me?”

“Do you think you’re feeling more than friendship for Peter?”

“Oh no,” you quickly denied with a chuckle. “He’s the perfect example of a great boyfriend, but not my boyfriend. Plus I’d rather not have the same experience as MJ did.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, the ‘close friends to a relationship that ends with each person pretending the other doesn’t exist’ experience. I’d rather not.”

“Yeah, that does sound messy,” Natasha sighs as she subtly rests her hand on your other thigh. “So you’re not looking for a great boyfriend. What are you looking for then?”

“Nothing really, at least until I finish school, but having a girlfriend would be nice. I’d like to be with someone that respects me and can take care of themselves when I’m not around, because I tried the ‘caring for someone’ thing and it sucks when they don’t put in the same effort that you do.”

“Maybe you should try someone older, more mature,” Natasha suggests as she shifts to squeeze your knee lightly, and you start to feel a bit nervous about where she’s going with this. “Maybe two people that already have their shit together and would go to the ends of the earth to please you.”

“Okay, um…” You push both of their hands away with a bit of difficulty. “You both seem great and you’re incredibly attractive, but I’m not really interested.”

“Don’t worry about it, detka.” Natasha pushes your shoulder down as you try to get up, and Wanda cups your cheek with her hand.

“You may not be interested now…” She stands with Natasha and leans in to kiss your forehead, letting her lips linger on your skin as she continues. “But you will be.”

She pulls away and winks before lacing her fingers through Natasha’s as they leave the balcony, and you gasp in air as the tension they’d built seems to exit behind them. You finally decide to head back once you’ve taken a few minutes to catch your breath and calm your shaking limbs, but you wonder how long the calm will truly last.

-

You found yourself waking up suddenly and practically flying into a sitting position as if someone had pulled you up, but luckily the room is empty. You sit for a moment to catch your breath and survey your surroundings to assure you’re truly alone, and you notice your door is cracked right before you hear an unidentifiable sound.

“Fuck.”

Despite every fiber of your being screaming at you as one would do to a character in a horror film, you decide to climb out of bed to investigate what you were hearing, justifying your actions with the excuse of seeing if your floor-mates were in danger, as if you could save them. A few seconds after opening your door fully and peeking out made you realize that they were more than okay.

“Fuck! Right there, please don’t stop.”

“Such a dirty mouth, malyshka.”

You’re quick to return the door to its cracked position, leaning against the nearby wall with wide eyes as you attempt to process the image across the hall. The bedroom door sits wide open, giving you the chance to examine every inch of bare skin of the two women spread across the bed, Wanda resting on her arched back with her hands in Natasha’s red hair buried between her legs. Her moans seem to raise in volume, pitch and frequency as she’s brought closer and closer to the edge, and you ignore the warm feeling in your lower abdomen as you hurry back to bed and throw a pillow over your exposed ear.

-

“Good morning.”

Your free hand quickly shoots upward to catch your water glass as it slipped through your fingers in your moment of shock, and you try not to make a deal of hearing two sets of footsteps headed toward the kitchen.

“How’d you sleep last night? I know how scary it can be to rest your eyes in a new place.”

“I think I did pretty well,” you answer quietly as you step away from the fridge and lean against a section of the counter that faces out into the rest of the room. “The bed’s really nice.”

“You’re lying,” Wanda accuses as she crosses the room, eyes turning red and hands lifting toward your face.

“What are you--”

“Couldn’t sleep because of us, right?” She chuckles when you go limp under her touch, and Natasha ducks between the two of you to save your glass for the second time. “Did you enjoy hearing us that much?”

“You did sound really good,” you tell her with a drowsy smile as she pins you against the counter to keep you from falling.

“I bet you wish you were in my place, don’t you?” Her tone is light and teasing at first, becoming a bit stern as she shifts to push her thigh between your legs and you instantly roll your hips against the pressure. “Or maybe you want to taste me while Natasha fucks you?”

“No.”

“No?!” she fires back immediately, leaving a red mist around your temples as she grabs your waist with both hands to keep you grinding against her. “You mean you don’t want to cum right now?”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

A breathy moan escapes you as your eyes flutter closed, and if your head wasn’t being forcefully held in place, it would’ve tipped backward. You feel what must be Natasha’s fingertips grazing along your jaw and tracing a line down the side of your neck and toward your shoulder, repeating the gentle motion as goosebumps appeared all over the exposed skin.

“Is everyone decent?”

The fog behind your eyes seems to clear in seconds, and you blink in confusion when you open your eyes to see Natasha and Wanda making coffee nearby. You try to recall even coming into the kitchen, but everything from the moment you stepped into the bathroom to get ready is a blur, so you shake your head and reach for your glass of water on the counter as Natasha responds.

“Come in, Peter.”

“Morning, everyone,” Peter greets cheerfully as he enters the kitchen, his grin falling when his eyes land on you. “Are you okay?”

You open your mouth with the full intention of telling him that you are not okay, not when you were missing at least an hour of memory, and bits of last night were slipping away from you too. But before you could speak, a cold feeling seems to pass through the back of your skull to slip into your brain, and a switch flips.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” you respond with a chuckle. “You worry too much, spiderling.”

“The world’s a stressful place,” he grumbles when you playfully ruffle his hair. “Anyway, are you ready to go soon?”

“Where are you headed?” Natasha quickly asks with a frown. “Y/N hasn’t even had breakfast yet.”

“We’re meeting Aunt May, so we’ll eat with her.”

“I just have to grab my bag,” you explain before heading down the hall to your temporary room, feeling the chilly sensation leaving you as you get further away from the kitchen, and it thankfully doesn’t return when you head back. “Ready.”

“Have fun!” Natasha calls as Peter heads for the elevator again, quickly grabbing your wrist once he’s out of sight. “See you tonight, printsessa.”

Her hand quickly shifts to grip the back of your neck as she leans in to kiss your cheek, and the two women are wearing sweet smiles as you turn away from them to catch up with Peter, attempting to shake the shell-shocked expression from your features.

“You sure you’re good?”

“I’m fine,” you insist as the doors close, in hopes that you really would be fine.

-

Meeting Peter’s aunt was much more of a pleasant experience than you expected, and it was obvious she adored you by the way she spoke to you, although part of you felt she was just happy Peter had more people around to love him. Your day was cut a bit short when MJ unexpectedly approached Peter, requesting to talk to him, and Aunt May offered to drive you back to the tower so you both could escape that awkward mess of a conversation.

“It was so great to meet you today,” you tell her with a grin as you take off your seatbelt.

“Likewise, honey. You have my number so just call me if you ever need anything, okay?”

She pulls you into a hug over the middle console and you thank her again for the ride as you get out of the car, trying not to seem too nervous when you notice Natasha and Wanda standing in the lobby. Your plan was to walk past them without speaking, but you should’ve known that wouldn’t work.

“Why was she hugging you?” Natasha asks coldly as you enter the building and you sigh.

“She was just saying goodbye--wait. Why am I explaining myself to you?”

You keep walking until they’re no longer in your peripheral, stopping abruptly as a red mist surrounds your legs, and your eye-rolling is cut short when Wanda appears in front of you and grabs your chin harshly.

“If Tash asks you a question, you answer.”

“Without attitude,” Natasha adds, which makes you want to roll your eyes again.

“Sorry, I didn’t get the rules handbook when I arrived. Can I go now?”

“You know what?” Wanda cuts off Natasha’s angry response with a smirk. “You can go.”

The red mist surrounding you disappeared, and despite the suspicious feeling that washed over you, you continued on toward the elevator with your head held high. You refused to let them get to you.

-

It was subtle at first. A slight tingling between your legs that you couldn’t seem to get rid of. In the very beginning, you were worried that something was wrong until you realized where the feeling was coming from when it turned into slow circles around your clit as you caught up with Peter in his room. By dinner, there was the added sensation of fingers curling inside you at a steady pace, and you hoped no one would notice your hips slightly bucking under the table as you attempted to repeatedly chase a release that never came.

A movie follows dinner today, and you make sure to cover yourself with a large blanket because you were still being edged and you couldn’t stop moving at this point. You even try to slide your hand into your sweatpants to finish the job yourself, and your jaw clenches in anger every time your fingers lock up because you know who’s responsible.

“Okay, you win!” you announce as you walk into the kitchen on Natasha and Wanda’s private floor, not missing the look shared between the two women. “I’m sorry I was rude earlier. Can you please just stop teasing me?”

“How about we help you finish instead?”

You should decline. You should just say ‘no’ because letting them finish you off tonight will turn into an attachment that you know you don’t want, nor are you ready for. Inviting them in will be equivalent to selling your soul, and you’re not sure you want to put a price on it. But the ache below your stomach is persistent, and if they won’t let you touch yourself, someone has to do it.

“Fine.”

“Don’t be so grumpy about it,” Wanda teases as she grabs your hand and starts leading you toward their bedroom. “I promise you won’t regret it.”

She pushes you back onto the surprisingly large bed as soon as you’re close enough, instructing you to take off your shirt and bra while she watches. Once your top half is completely exposed, she leans forward to run her hands from your shoulders down toward your nipples, circling them with her thumbs until they harden.

“I don’t like being teased.”

“Oh, you don’t?” she asks in a mocking tone as she reaches for the band of your sweatpants and pulls them down, placing her palm over the wet spot in your panties. “Then what’s this?”

“Please,” you beg through a quiet moan, bucking your hips again when she presses her thumb against your clit through the fabric. “Please just fuck me already.”

“Patience, detka.”

You watch with wide eyes as Natasha and Wanda both strip away their own sweatpants, revealing the toys tied to their legs. Natasha goes to untie hers while Wanda uses her powers to rip away your ruined panties in one fluid motion.

“There she is.”

Natasha puts her hand on Wanda’s back and forces her to bend over, and you bite your lip as her eyes flutter closed and mouth falls open while Natasha thrusts into her. You’re just about to grab Wanda’s hand to lead her where you want, when her eyes open suddenly with a glowing red surrounding her pupils, and your wrists are bound together over your head by an invisible force.

“Did you forget who’s in charge here?”

“Don’t get too cocky, malyshka,” Natasha reminds her as she grabs a fistful of her hair and slams into her, causing Wanda to moan and giggle at the same time.

“My apologies, Tash.”

You couldn’t help your sigh of relief as Wanda finally slid two fingers inside of you, her thrusts deepening each time as Natasha fucked her toward you with her hands on her hips. The sounds coming from your mouth and between your legs were embarrassingly loud, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care as she brought you closer and closer to the edge, until a loud whine escaped you as she removed her fingers and delivered a slap to your glistening folds.

“Tell me who this belongs to,” she orders through her own moans, holding you down when you begin grinding into her hand. “I’m gonna cum regardless of what you do, so you’d better answer. Be a good girl like I know you can.”

“Yours!” you cry out finally, sighing when Natasha leans into your line of sight with a brow raised. “It’s yours and Natasha’s.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

She slips back into you without warning, and your back arches off the bed as she finally brings you to orgasm. She continues to thrust into you as you whine and squirm away, luckily slowing down and finally stopping as Natasha makes her cum a minute later, leaving the strap inside of her as they both catch their breath. Wanda pulls out of you and sits up to lean against her, holding her hand up between them as they both clean your cum off her fingers with their tongues, and you sit there clenching around nothing as you watch.

“You seem tired,” Natasha comments as her eyes land on you again.

“Too bad we’re not done.”

Wanda flips you onto your stomach with a quick motion of her fingers, using her hands to pull you by the waist until you’re on your knees at the edge of the bed, and she holds one side of your waist as she delivers a slap to your ass this time. Her touch lingers as she pulls away to free her own strap, and you nearly fall over when you feel the tip of the toy rub against your clit.

“Wait, let me fuck her this time.”

You hear their soft laughter as they switch places, sharing a kiss in the process, and you gasp when a hand wraps around your neck and pulls you up against Natasha’s chest.

“I like having you this close to me, printsessa,” she whispers in your ear, chuckling when you melt against her as she pushes the tip of her strap into you. “How many times do you think I can get you to cum?”

Her grip on your throat is loose as she allows you to adjust to the size, tightening suddenly when she slams into you once, twice, until every thrust is at a rough pace that you wouldn’t be able to handle if she wasn’t holding you against her by the waist. You feel that same tingling circling your clit again, occasionally traveling upward to tease your nipples as well, and it wasn’t long before you were releasing a strangled scream as you climaxed.

Natasha eventually stops thrusting into you as your legs shake, and you breathe out another sigh of relief when she allows you to fall onto the mattress. However, the relief is short-lived when you realize that she only paused to let Wanda push into her from behind, and it wasn’t long before the two of them found a rhythm that was pleasing them and ruining you.

Your wrists are freed as Natasha pulls out of you some minutes later, and you collapse onto one side of the bed with your body aching a bit from a third orgasm, your eyes only halfway open as you watch the pair. They remove the straps from their waists and set them aside, and you become a bit more alert when you notice Natasha grab what seems to be a double-ended dildo.

“No more. I can’t,” you mumble tiredly as your wrists are bound by Wanda’s power again.

“One more, and you can,” she tells you as she flops onto the bed beside you, and that red mist surrounds her fingers again as she guides you onto your knees to hover above her face. “You wanted to cum, so you don’t get to run from this.”

Her hands grab your waist and pull you closer, and you release a shuddering moan as her tongue runs past your hole and over your clit, teasing it a few times with the tip of her tongue before diving in to wrap her lips around it. She alternates between sucking your clit and slipping inside you as Natasha climbs on the bed behind you to position herself with the new toy. 

“Fuck,” Wanda attempts to say once Natasha begins thrusting, and you fall forward as the vibration of her moans become too much, whining when Natasha slides her hands over your breasts and pulls you back up again.

“Take it all like a good girl.”

She keeps pulling until your head drops against her, and she moans against your neck while she kisses and sucks on your skin, bouncing faster on Wanda who groans loudly in response as she attempts to match each thrust. The hums of her voice has you grinding against her tongue, and you yelp when Natasha bites down just as Wanda brings you over the edge. She keeps going despite your protests, managing to get you to cum once more before they finally do.

You lie there with your bones feeling like jelly as you’re covered with a blanket minutes after everyone’s bathroom trip, too tired to even fight for sleeping in your own bed as Natasha and Wanda slide in on either side of you.

“You did so well tonight, detka,” Wanda praises as she strokes your cheek with a loving stare. “I can tell you’ll be a great addition to our relationship. I knew it from the moment I saw you.”

“I’m not doing this again,” you insist as the smile fades from her expression. “I’m not getting in a relationship with two women that don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and I’d prefer sleeping in my own bed.”

“You’re already in a relationship with us, printsessa,” Natasha growls as she shoves you back down when you try to get up, and you push her hand away.

“There’s nothing you can say that’ll make me want to be with you.”

“It’s not about what you want to do. It’s about what you have to do.” She grabs your phone from the nightstand, and you’re somehow not even surprised when she unlocks it on the first try. “Because it’d be a shame if someone was to tell Peter about all the nudes you have of him.”

You snatch the phone from her grip, eyes widening as you scroll through your camera roll, finding naked pictures of Peter scattered throughout it. You check the date on the oldest one and began to feel nauseous when you saw it was taken not even a month after the two of you met.

“Don’t think you’ll be deleting those either, because we can replace them and make things worse.” Her smile was falsely sweet and troubling as she grabbed your chin to force you to make eye contact. “We’ve gone this long without having you, and we’ll do whatever it takes not to lose you.”

-

Tags: @cordeliaswhore @egotisticalstoner @muralskins @natasha-danvers @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @madamevirgo @teenwonder @honeyvenable @slut-for-nat

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 325: Deku VS the Outside of U.A. ~Conclusion~

Previously on BnHA: Ochako was all “dear bloodthirsty mob, this kid you see standing before you has fought harder than anyone and put his life on the line to protect you all, so please chill the fuck out, jesus christ. like, putting aside that he’s humanity’s best hope and so it’s very much in your best interests to let him rest and recover someplace safe so that he can keep fighting for us, are y’all seriously going to turn away an injured and exhausted child in front of his sobbing mother?? seriously?? come on now.” I’m paraphrasing here but that’s basically how it went down. Anyway so then the mob was all, “...” and Deku collapsed to his knees in tears, and Gigantic Fox Lady and Kouta ran over to give him a hug but then the chapter ended.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “FINE, YOU CAN HUG HIM”, which, was that so hard?? The U.A. Clown Mob is all “come to think of it, we’ve kind of been taking the heroes for granted this entire time, maybe we should be less passive in the future. anyway so Deku if it’s not too much to ask, can you please save everyone and fix everything.” Deku is all “I sure can, and by the way I forgive you for swarming around all menacingly two minutes ago and trying to deny me basic shelter and stuff.” Ectoplasm is all, “hey Todogang get a load of this. [walks in a circle].” Hawks is all, “that’s literally the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” Rat Principal is all, “anyway so that’s what your students did today, hope you’re enjoying your new *~*ROBOT LEG*~*, Aizawa.” Aizawa is all “[lots of exposition about Kurogiri and for some reason, Toga, while being all brooding and sexy].” All Might is all “[standing here right outside of U.A. doing absolutely nothing and being foreboding AF]” and that immediately sucked away all of the warm fuzzy feelings from the hugs, goddammit.

each new week has become a waiting game of “when will Deku finally get to take a bath so people will actually be willing to go near him and give him the hugs he deserves.” the stakes have never been so compelling. I’ve almost forgotten about AFO entirely

lmaoooooo

me: for the love of god will someone please give Deku a hug before I die of old age

Mineta: YOU GOT IT!! --

Iida: [SWIFTLY CUTS HIM OFF] NOT YOU

fucking losing it at Mineta’s crying face. he really wanted to hug him. I legit feel bad but this is also the funniest thing I have seen all week, omg

somehow Kouta, who last week was only a hand’s breadth away from touching Deku’s head, is now twenty miles away from him in this new chapter

can I make a Loki reference here. is this recap a good place to insert a joke about someone using a TVA time-rewinding device to fuck with my poor boy Kouta over here. well anyway there it is

AND NOW HE’S BACK ALL OF A SUDDEN OMG

(ETA: since when is he “niichan” omg?? can’t handle this cuteness.)

BUT THEY’RE STILL NOT HUGGING HIM FFFFKFFFFF. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO. WHO DO I HAVE TO BRIBE AND/OR BLACKMAIL

OH NO KOUTA IS CRYING THAT’S IT I’M DONE FOR

“when I heard that lady I knew that I had to go, but then stop again within inches of actually touching you because you smell like week-old rotten onions.” listen Kouta, I’m not saying I don’t get it, but you all can’t keep doing this to me. it’s the way you guys keep teasing it. like, if you’re gonna hug him, hug him. don’t just stand there with your arms held rigidly out in front of you like a molded action figure

OH MY GOSH BUT HE SAID THE THING

KOUTA SWOOPING IN AT THE LAST MINUTE TO TAKE ALL THE CREDIT FOR FIXING DEKU LIKE THAT ONE KID IN THE GROUP PROJECT WHO DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT STILL TAGS HIS NAME ONTO THE REPORT ANYWAY, WHAT A KNAVE

GASP

(  ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )

SHE PICKED HIM UP LIKE A LITTLE BABY OMG?? she just leaned right over and lifted this child like he was a small animal. like a lil baby futon that she was about to hang up to dry. oh my god

-- HEY WHAT

(: well that’s extremely fucked up. though sadly not too surprising given what we just saw these past couple chapters

incidentally, I hope that anyone who was legitimately defending the civilians’ perspective earlier takes note here of how quickly that line of thinking -- “we’re just trying to keep our families safe” and all that-- can lead to straight up bigotry. if you’re willing to deny a child shelter and protection simply because he’s not YOUR child, and because you’ve decided based on Internet rumors (no real-world parallels there, I’m sure) that he might present a threat, it’s really not that much further of a leap to discriminating against entire groups of people simply because you perceive those groups as being dangerous. I’m sure the people who turned Gigantic Fox Lady away also told themselves afterwards that they did it to protect their families. “better safe than sorry.” “she’ll be fine, someone will take her in, but as for us, we can’t afford to take that risk.” people can come up with all kinds of justifications for treating other people as less than human, and the really scary thing about it is how fucking easy it is

one last quick side note, which is that Horikoshi does a great job here of showing how scapegoating works, given that AFO is the one who’s really to blame and who presents the actual threat, and yet Deku is the one who ultimately winds up being the target of the mob’s fear and outrage despite him being as much of a victim as they are. gotta love that irony, which unfortunately plays out far too often in the real world as well.

anyway I’ll get off my soapbox now, sorry about that. let us continue

YES, FINALLY OH MY GOD!!!!

AND THAT’S THE STORY OF HOW GIGANTIC FOX LADY BECAME THE GREATEST HERO. PACK IT ALL UP, WE’RE DONE HERE KIDS

holy shit. the real MVP right there. thanks for getting it done champ

jesus christ I have had it up to here with these people

literally the bar is set so low at this point that I’ll go ahead and take it. helping him because it offers them a tactical advantage is at least one step up from not helping him at all

“WHY NOT SHIKETSU” MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD

-- thank you!!

okay this one guy with the antennae hair is having himself a character development speedrun here

-- okay, but this part?? fucking this part, right here??

can we repeat that again?? the part where this guy acknowledges that the problems of hero society were caused not just by said heroes, but also by said society?? the part where he acknowledges that they treated the heroes like celebrities who were putting on a show for them?? the part where he acknowledges that when push came to shove, the vast majority of those heroes, when faced with a situation that offered no reward, were nonetheless willing to put their lives on the line to protect the very same people who then turned around and blamed them rather than thanking them?? are the civilians of BnHA even allowed to have actual deep thoughts about this stuff. holy shit

bro!!

ANTENNAE HAIR GUY SHOVING KOUTA AND GIGANTIC FOX LADY OUT OF THE WAY TO SLAP HIS NAME ONTO THE END CREDITS AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. CONGRATULATIONS SON YOU FIGURED OUT THE CORE PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION AT THE VERY HEART OF THE MANGA. WAY TO GO BUD

meanwhile, on today’s episode of “one more chapter to go till the big volume cliffhanger, how else can I drag things out let’s see”

it’s a panel. of people’s feet. just a bunch of normal feet. with sneakers and shit

this All Might shirt guy is getting more screentime in this arc than 90% of the class 1-A kids

I guess I’m supposed to feel sorry for this dude now that he’s all “if we let you stay here do you promise to somehow magically fix every single problem that we are now currently facing?” those are some ridiculously exacting standards my dude. come on now

KACCHAN SIGHTING

thank fuck I’m not the only one who’s thoroughly unimpressed by absolutely all of this lol. I feel better now. meanwhile Iida and Kouda and Kiri are ready to run over there and hug them all. you guys are way too forgiving. damn you and your pure hearts

anyway so Deku’s like “yeah, definitely”

(ETA: almost forgot to comment on the “I’m no longer alone” part – he basically corrects the guy and says “sorry, but you’ll need to direct that question towards all of us, not just me, because moving forward we’re a team.” good stuff.)

you know what though, all joking aside... fuck yeah. because perfect victory, right. the strongest guys don’t settle for anything less. so I guess Deku has pretty exacting standards himself

also can you all just take a look at this fucking kid who’s got so much light in his eyes now that I’m gonna need eclipse goggles. hot damn. “you’re welcome” says All Might Shirt Guy as he is frantically interviewed by several local news networks asking him how he daringly managed to save Deku all by himself. “well I guess I’ve just never been the kind of guy who can sit back and let a bunch of rabble-rousers blame a little kid for all of humanity’s problems. someone had to step in and take action, you know?”

oH MY GOD THE SCENE IS FINALLY ENDING

don’t let the door hit you on your way out All Might Shirt Guy

but meanwhile, sudden Tododrama action??

oh shit

there are honestly so many ways in which Ochako’s very moving speech could have wildly backfired that I genuinely have no clue where this is headed lol. how exciting!!

so now Horikoshi is once again stalling for time with random filler panels, but this one is 10x better than the shoes lol omg

(1) was Ectoplasm’s jacket always this oversized. (2) did you guys know that if you go back to chapter 319 you can see that Horikoshi gave us a sneak peak at Enji’s Sad Detective disguise and I in fact made a joke about it in the 319 recap not realizing it was actually the stone cold truth. (3) did Shouto deliberately speed up out of impatience because Hawks was walking so fucking slow and he couldn’t take it any longer. (4) and what, I ask you, is up with these dramatic speedlines. so many mysteries here. what a masterpiece

everyone is acting all shocked about something ahh what’s going on

wait what

what the heck. did they just loop around behind everyone. what was the point of that lol. “anyway, so this is what they look like from the back” well okay, thanks for that Ectoplasm

(ETA: so it seems like they were actually hanging out someplace else away from the crowd this whole time, I guess? here I thought they had more faith in Enji’s disguise. I guess Shouto and Hawks don’t particularly want to attract this crowd’s attention themselves right now either, though.)

I am so fucking confused lmao

speaking of All Might WHERE THE FUCK IS HE lol. but yes, good, OFA brings everyone together, and Hawks is very deeply moved about this out of the blue all of a sudden. you know how it is

aw heck yeah now this is another filler panel I can get behind

Mineta really wants that hug, good lord. I genuinely love this actually. Mineta if you could just stay little and cute and keep crying about how much you love your classmates in a non-gross way for the rest of the series I would be so appreciative. you’re doing great

IIDA IS HOLDING DEKU’S HAND THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ONE TIME WASN’T ENOUGH FOR MY MAN HE’S ADDICTED NOW

what did I tell you. Kiri wants to get all of the mob’s autographs now. Kiri you’re a peach

Shouji having a conversation with another mutant type is a very nice touch! we really need to get to his backstory soon. I feel like that casual remark from GFL earlier was kind of hinting at more to come

is this the first time we’ve ever seen the Yaoyorictionary in action?? never forget that Viz tried to call it the “Yaoyorozu Reference Book” because they hate fun

last but not least, KAMIBAKU IS BACK ON THE MENU, FUCK YEAH. Kaminari trying to spice things up and introduce a little bit of controversy by smacking Kacchan on the back of the head for god knows what. I will be deeply disappointed after this if I can’t find at least one person unironically declaring that KamiBaku is now toxic and abusive

lfkdlWLWK TODODRAMA??

oh my god. Shouto’s face. Enji’s face. the back to “oyaji” again. the blunt, not-taking-no-for-an-answer, “I don’t know how much louder the universe can scream at you that doing things alone is not it, so hopefully you got the point” directness of it. fffdlkslj I’m so ready for this Horikoshi please don’t fuck it up my expectations are so high

HOLY FUCK

I SCROLLED DOWN AND HE WAS ALL “( ❛‿❛)” AND I JUST WASN’T FUCKING EXPECTING THAT OKAY. JESUS CHRIST. GIVE ME A SEC

lol okay moment over and now Enji’s pulling his hat down all dramatically like a world-weary Cowboy

OH MY GOD WERE YOU FACETIMING??

AHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: not to put Iida down or anything, but it’s kind of strange that Aizawa is all “the class rep sure did great” when Ochako is the one that was giving that whole big speech for like twenty minutes just now lol.)

(ETA 2: “thank god Iida stepped in just in the nick of time to keep Mineta from hugging Deku.” sorry Mineta I really do like you lately but it’s still low-hanging fruit lol.)

HE LOOKS SO SAD??! HE LOOKS LIKE HEARTBREAK ITSELF??! I AM BESOUGHT WITH THE URGE TO REACH INTO MY SCREEN AND PULL HIM INTO THE SAFETY OF MY ARMS??? MY GOD, AND I THOUGHT DEKU NEEDED HUGS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH okay I was gonna just hold down the letter H for a full minute and count it out loud but within about ten seconds I realized I needed to chill lol

-- but then again NO, I DON’T NEED TO CHILL, I HAVE ZERO CHILL, ACTUALLY, BECAUSE IT’S AIZAWA WITH A ROBOT LEG AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

COMPLETE WITH ROBOT TOES FOR THAT EXTRA TOUCH OF AUTHENTICITY!! I LIKE HOW HORIKOSHI PUT ALL THIS EXTRA “!!!” EMPHASIS AROUND IT IN CASE WE COULD SOMEHOW POSSIBLY FAIL TO TAKE NOTICE. “REMEMBER, EVERYONE?” SAYS HORIKOSHI HELPFULLY. “REMEMBER THAT TIME AIZAWA CHOPPED OFF HIS OWN LEG?” oh wow now that you mention it we somehow forgot all about that. like who do you take us for

OH NO NOT THE SAD BOYFRIEND ANGST THAT I WAS SECRETLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WITH GLEE

well at least he’s not M.I.A. or back with the villains again like I thought he might be. still, that’s gotta be brutal to know your friend is in there somewhere, but to not be able to reach him again no matter how hard you try. that’s the kind of angst that pays off in final battles just when you most expect it. such is my hope, at any rate

what’s this now??

trying to decide if this is Horikoshi’s way of saying don’t worry about that, or his way of saying definitely worry about that lol

anyway so Aizawa is out here being all irresponsibly handsome once again. when is someone going to do something about him

here for Sexy Robot Leg Eyepatch Aizawa clenching his fists and making speeches about revenge. pretty sure we’re all here for that

WELL, WELL, WELL

IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME

I’M VERY GLAD YOU’RE ALIVE AND SEEMINGLY WELL, THOUGH!

BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK THOUGH, ALL MIGHT

ffff. bracing myself for that cliffhanger next week. you’d better not touch one hair on this man’s head Horikoshi. I’m watching you 

[erimeows]

Oh owo

What about a reader who's techno organic and joins the tfa bots? But unlike Sari they were made that way? Maybe a government experiment gone wrong or Powells up to something. The bots are pretty protective of the techno organic. However during a fight they get exposed to save their freinds??? The cons are taking an interest like excuse them

w h a t 👀 👀 👀

Hi! Glad to write this one, it seems fun. I'm gonna go ahead and make it Autobots Reacting To A Techno-Organic Reader and add the part about the Decepticons trying to recruit them in some of it, assume that the reader has become techno-organic in whichever/whatever way you’d like. Also assuming this request was meant to be romantic, so I'm going to write it kind of that way, if that's alright. Hope you enjoy!

Optimus Prime: Dude... He’s overly cautious with you. Doesn’t want you to use your powers until you fully understand them, doesn’t want you in the eye of the public, doesn’t want the Decepticons to know you exist, but it’s out of some weird combination of guilt and love that he has over you. He’s fallen in love with you from the very start, but he feels guilty that you’re always brought into his conflict with the Decepticons and even targeted by them, and sometimes that comes off in the wrong way. There’s conflicts all the time between the two of you, because while you argue that you’re an adult who’s fully capable of handling your own safety, he argues that he’s just trying to protect you and that for both of your sakes, you need to heed his advice. I imagine one of these arguments gets so heated that he just comes out of the box and admits to you that he’s not doing it only out of obligation, but out of the intense love he feels for you. 

Ratchet: He’s definitely more mature than the others about it. He worries about you, but knows that you’re a capable adult, and that you aren’t his property to protect and lock down, but a beautiful, thinking, strong techno-organic who he simply wants to see happy. So, his form of protectiveness is mostly just tagging along when you go places and helping you when you either ask for it or clearly need it, but those things don’t happen very often. He’s happy supporting and loving you from the sidelines.

Bulkhead: You revealed that you were techno-organic to the Autobots as soon as you met and that you’d grown up that way after some sort of failed experiment that you didn’t want to get into the traumatic details of, but Bulkhead felt like he understood you pretty well. Both of you were large and scary compared to others of your species, often feared without others getting to know you first because of your power, judged without question, so he felt like he got you to a certain extent. He becomes noticeably protective of you after you start trying to join their battles with the Decepticons against Optimus’s orders, telling you that it’s not your responsibility to get involved in their conflict. You end up confessing afterwards that you love him and appreciate how kind he’s been to you, and that any battle of his is a battle of yours, and he can’t help but feel the same way. 

Bumblebee: Bumblebee is both irresponsible and obsessed with you from the very start, which is a horrible combo. He was interested in you before he found out you were techno-organic, before you even technically joined their team, but for some reason, when you revealed your powers to the Autobot team to protect him from Blitzwing in the middle of a battle, he was told by Optimus to protect you- which made sense, of course. Decepticons were closing in on them and both the Elite Guard and the Decepticons wanted to take you for their own causes, and with Bumblebee being the closest to you and the best at getting out of conflicts fast, it was his job. He doesn’t take it as seriously as he probably should and uses it as an excuse to spend time with you, but you don’t seem to mind, enjoying the time watching movies and playing videogames and teaching him your hobbies/skills. 

Prowl: Prowl finds techno-organics quite fascinating; you’re soft skin and (h/l) (h/c) hair and (e/c) with metal on your body in your transformed mode. You’re very alive and soft and delicate, but strong and durable and tough at the same time. He admires your beauty, your intelligence, your abilities, and doesn’t mind you assisting him and his team in combat like some of the others would, but he finds that he frequently has to help you assist in warding off attempts from Decepticons like Starscream, Lugnut, Blitzwing, and even Swindle to convince you to join them and help their cause with your powers. He doesn’t mind that either, enjoys the bonding that comes with battling by your side, even. The two of you sneak off a lot and go on camping trips together.

Ultra Magnus: The main reason you interact with him is that since unlike Sari, you’re an adult, and he wants to get to the bottom of how Cybertronian technology got into human hands to make techno-organics like yourself and Sari. So, with you and your team’s permission, he has the best scientists in the Elite Guard come to earth to do studies and research on you. He’s typically around supervising, and you and him become close, to say the least. He didn’t think he’d have much in common with you since you’re a young adult human and he’s an older Cybertronian, but you two have a lot of the same struggles; alienated by those you’re around for the power you hold, a lack of close relationships, unsure of how to handle all of your responsibility and the pressure to perform that comes with both of your positions. It’s difficult, and though he doesn’t divulge much, he finds it therapeutic to talk to you when no one else is around and finds himself harboring feelings for you after a while. 

Sentinel Prime: Sentinel assumes you’re just any regular human until he sees you absolutely clobber the Headmaster in your newly transformed, techno-organic body to get his body back for him after you and Optimus find his head on the city streets of Detroit. He didn’t know you possessed that kind of power and realized there was a reason for that lack of knowledge when Optimus immediately started scolding you for using your powers. After that, you were on the news since some reporter caught camera footage of you in your robotic form, and Decepticons started trying to lure you out of the base and talk to you/talk you into joining them. If Sentinel was being honest, he’d been wary of you at first for being organic, but after you stepped up to get his body back for him with Optimus despite him having been so rude to you, his opinion changed, and he quickly started developing feelings. So, he volunteered himself to help guard you from the Decepticons and train you to fully utilize your abilities, even if you were fully capable. Throughout the weeks of him being by your side, he softens up around you a lot, learning to laugh and joke and even be vulnerable with you until it hits him- oh, dear, he’s smitten with you. Definitely the most protective out of all of the Autobots and doesn’t like you being out of his sight, loves spending time with you even though he won’t admit it, etc. 

Jazz: He thinks you’re neat! As a bot who loves earth and earth culture, he’s fascinated by you, someone who’s both human and Cybertronian by the looks of it; you’re beautiful, intelligent, strong, and have an array of powers that you don’t bother hiding from anyone. However, that makes you a prime target for the Decepticons, who try to either eliminate you or recruit you whenever you have encounters, so Jazz is put in charge of keeping you safe and away from Autobot/Decepticon encounters while he’s on earth. You’re upset by it at first, upset that you can’t help your friends and need to be protected, but Jazz tries to ease the brunt of the emotional wound by keeping you company instead of acting only as a guard. The two of you share earth music, talk into the late hours of the night, and go exploring your favorite spots despite everyone telling you to stay at the base (it’s fine as long as he’s protecting you, right?). He falls for you pretty quick, admiring your strength and sense of adventure, and he has no problem singing his praises to you.

[marmolady]

The Fountain

Main Pairings: Estela x (f)MC

Summary: Post-EndlessEnding. A Broken Chains AU. The world has been restored, but at the price of Taylor's life. And Estela isn't ready to let her go.

Word Count: 2121

Warnings: Major character death.

Tagging: @saivilo, @edgydepressedchoicesthot, @sceptilemasterr, @greengroove

Hug prompts-- 29. group hug. Thanks @mauvecatfic! I'll make Raj's next hugs more cheerful.

Through the rumblings of an oncoming rainstorm, the silent figure of Estela Montoya limped and crawled through the thick La Huerta jungle, driven by a thought that had become a need… to see the face of her beloved again, to hear her voice.  It spurred her on, a tiny glimmer of something worth living for that she clung to with desperation that increased with every unsteady step.

Estela’s last memory of her wife, of her beautiful Taylor, wouldn’t be that hollow shell-- bloodless, devoid of all the fire and spirit… all the easy warmth that should have been there-- that she’d laid sobbing next to the dark medical room. No. She was going to take her minute more. Everyone else… they had a world raised from the dead; a world that meant absolutely fucking nothing to Estela now. After everything she’d sacrificed… god, Taylor… the world owed her that moment.

The Fountain of Youth was a long and arduous trek from Elyys’tel at the best of times, but half-dragging a savaged leg, it was near insurmountable. If it weren’t for the promise of hearing that voice, of seeing those sapphire eyes alight with life… well, Estela would endure the harrowing journey over again if that was the end. Her knees, the heels of her hands… they were badly grazed and muddied from catching herself as she’d stumbled again and again. Her senses, usually alert to her surroundings, had been dulled by the haze of grief that preoccupied her every thought. She was lucky to have gotten all this way through La Huerta’s treacherous jungles without coming to serious harm, but it was of little concern to Estela. The worst that could happen was that she’d die. And that…. In all honesty, it would be welcome. What was there worth surviving for now? Were it not for all that had been sacrificed so that she might live, she’d end her fucking life herself and be done with it. There was no future… no future save for this time they had together. When their moment was over, Estela would be once again plunged into the abyss that was the depth of her grief, an abyss that would surely swallow her up. She couldn’t look that far ahead-- she just couldn’t. She had to keep it together for Taylor… one last time.

Estela fell to her knees as she came through the doorway of the abandoned temple. Dread flooded her body. All that was left now was for her to summon the courage to reach out to the woman she loved from across time… to do so knowing that she’d been setting in motion the last minute they’d have together. Once it was done it was done; that much she as certain of. She could keep going back to that tree until she drove herself to insanity-- but doing so would be to inflict that pain on Taylor, forever colouring her too-short life with a darkness she didn’t deserve. Just once. Just once in the rest of her life-- that wasn’t asking too much, was it? Estela’s stomach turned as she thought it out. There had been no thinking it out while she’d slogged through the jungle; she’d moved onwards robotically, her mind and body detached from one another while grief drove her to the last hope, the last scrap of her person. Only now did she doubt everything. She hauled herself back to her feet, her weakened leg trembling violently beneath her weight. And she kept walking forwards, all the while her mind whirred.

It wasn’t as though Taylor would see this future, see the heartbreak in her wife’s eyes, and be able to change the path she’d set herself on. This path had tortured Taylor. She’d sacrificed herself because she simply couldn’t live with the alternative. And she’d died with hope. A hope that had been for naught, a spark extinguished along with the life in her eyes, but a hope that had given Taylor the courage to give away her very life force. What right did Estela have to take that away?

But I need her. I need her!

She’s gone.

The minute would be over and… Taylor would still be… gone. Would Estela hurt any less? No, but she’d endure a world of pain for even a second of feeling Taylor’s presence there with her. She’d endure it again and again, over and over until it killed her.

If it’s gonna hurt her…?

Estela’s shallow breathing became even more rapid as she stood before the tree. Tears spilled down her dirty cheeks. Blind grief had gotten her this far, but she’d been so blind. She couldn’t do this. Not now, not ever.

Taylor was dead. Dead and gone. They’d said their goodbyes down beneath Atropo, before Taylor had touched that damned crystal.  She’d close her eyes and see the terrible, sickening way her sweet Taylor had writhed in agony… the way her face lost almost all semblance of her self as it contorted with the pain. As Estela had seen again and again, near constantly since she’d woken to a healed world, but a world without Taylor. It was more than she could bear.

With tears and snot rolling into her mouth, dripping from her chin, she stumbled toward the tree… toward the Fountain of Youth. If she was careful, if she thought it through properly, she could find solace elsewhere. Panting for air, Estela wiped her face hurriedly. She couldn’t be crying for this, no matter how much she was tearing up inside.

She’d told herself she wouldn’t do it. It was risky; she’d need to be certain not to say or do a thing that could alter the events that would shape, well, everything. But it was different now. She needed it; she needed her mom to tell her everything would be okay. Because the person she’d otherwise have turned to was lost forever, and… because it wasn’t okay…. She wasn’t… she wasn’t.

Raising her hand to the tree’s surface, Estela closed her eyes and imagined her mother’s face… the words of comfort that would come. Just enough… just enough to keep her from crumbling. But as her fingers were about to graze the bark, she hesitated. That face in her mind warped with shock and fear. Of course. That fucking scar. She wouldn’t even be able to get a single word out before it would be clear to Olivia that something had gone wrong… that she’d been badly hurt. Estela felt the cold weight of her heart sink down to her toes. She… couldn’t do that to her mama.

A tortured cry wrenched itself from Estela’s lungs as she threw her body forward against the hard, cold bricks. There were no more loopholes… no cheats that could give her even a moment more of an existence that wasn’t this fucking, fucking nightmare. She screamed into the damp ground, and screamed until her throat and lungs were raw.

Why did she have to go on living?

It was like she was drawn to people who were like her-- people who cared too much, people who would die for a cause. They’d die and they’d leave her. She’d tried to warn Taylor off; ‘you get close to me, you’ll get hurt’. Bullshit. Because no matter how Estela might put her life on the line for what she believed in, somehow she ended up the one still breathing. But she didn’t fucking want to. She didn’t want to live anymore. She didn’t… want to….

She howled.

_________________________

A small party emerged at last from the thickest part of the forest, the ruins of No’ox Naj illuminated by a flash of lightning as if to welcome them to shelter.

Shivering from the wet that sent a chill to his bones, Diego huddled close to Varyyn, who guided him with a gentle steer of a long and muscular arm.

“You must watch your step. It would be easy to slip on the wet moss.”

Gazing around the temple, taking in the gloom that hung there, Raj shuddered violently. “Maybe it was all that talk of ghosts and the whole ‘dead Zahra’ thing, but this place just gives me the heebies….”

“Well, yeah. That’d… that’d do it.”

“Estela?” Quinn called out, her voice echoing off the stone walls. “Esteeelllaaaa…!”

No answer. Diego’s heart sank. He’d been so sure he’d been onto something. Not only was this place a strong connection to the Endless-- and by association, with Taylor-- but it held within a magic gift that could never be more tempting than it was right now.

“We should go further in,” he decided. If this ‘Fountain of Youth’ thing did work, maybe they could ask…? The thought made a hard lump rise in his throat. The thought of seeing Taylor again. But they couldn’t… they couldn’t.

“You’re right,” Michelle agreed. “As if Estela ever comes running when anyone calls her name at the best of times…. If she’s anywhere, she took herself there to be alone; she was never going to make this easy.”

Diego winced so hard he was certain it hadn’t gone unnoticed by a single one of the group. She’d have come running for Taylor. Every time. He cleared his throat. “We should at least check around the tree. Um, maybe check in with the others?”

Somehow, he’d found himself leading the search party. A role, he was so painfully aware, that would usually have naturally fallen to Taylor. That should still be falling to Taylor. His imaginary friend had left him, so… so it was time to grow up. To step up. He supposed it helped that everyone was handling him with kid gloves just as they were Estela; if Diego needed something to happen, everyone just about fell over themselves to make it happen. Right now, all he wanted-- all any of them wanted-- was to know that Estela was safe. If anything happened to her now….

Quinn checked her phone; still a bizarre feeling after so many months without such communications. Her face fell, even expecting no different to the response she got. “Still nothing on their end. But the Elysian could take days to check properly, even with whatever scans Iris has access to, and all the cameras-- just because they haven’t found her there yet, doesn’t mean….”

“We’re not losing anyone else!” Michelle said shrilly as she paced the floor. “I’ve just lost one sister and I’m not about to… about to….” She gasped and dissolved into sobs. “…Taylor would be losing her mind.”

There was a shuffling sound… stumbling feet. Everyone hushed, a joint breath held.

Limping into view, one hand-- stained with blood as were her forehead and knees-- propping her up with the wall as she came forward; Estela.

“It’s okay. I… I’m safe.”

Safe. Not ‘okay’, but safe. It was all she could give them.

She could have hidden away. Her friends--- though she loved them so much-- were living reminders of what had been torn away. She could not look at a one of them and not see Taylor.

“Oh, thank god!” Michelle exclaimed, and she rushed forward. She had a moment’s hesitation, holding back from taking her friend in her arms and squeezing her to within an inch of her life, not knowing if any physical show of affection would be welcomed. But Estela reached out, her eyes welling, and Michelle guided her into an embrace.

The feeling of being taken in a friends arms, of being held… it was wonderful, and yet it hurt, and all at once the dam broke and Estela could not have held back her tears if she’d wanted to. She collapsed to the cold, damp floor, eased down by her friend's steadying arms.

Raj was next in-- never one to hold back when a group hug was in the offing. As he got down on the ground, Estela flopped forward and cried into his chest. There was nothing to say, so he just wrapped her in a hug and squeezed her there, while Diego and Varyyn, and Quinn piled in too. There they wept together. Sharing in loss and relief and exhaustion and a deep and overpowering sadness.

In the centre of the mass of arms and bodies, Estela closed her eyes against Raj’s warm chest… surrounded in a scent so reminiscent of happy memories and better days when the world was not so dark… feasts and laughter and… her. Her Taylor. She sighed deeply… and let herself feel it.

The comfort she needed was right there. It wasn’t enough-- how could it be when her world had ended?-- but it was warmth and it was love, and her heart was not breaking alone.

[give-grian-rights]

Bets Against The Void c5

@petrichormeraki bet you forgot I even had this fic ! Thank you again for the gift that is Whitelist AU, which feels like a lifetime ago (For Tommy it was !)

Chapter 1 Here

Last Chapter Here

Next Chapter Here

and AO3 Crossposted!

Ask to tag and give me a headsup on any typos ! c!Tubbo in my interpretation is they/them and blind.

The Hobbit Hole was more than Tommy expected. Birch-and-spruce windows poked out throughout the hillside, a round entrance carefully carved from the wood. Poking his head inside, the blond’s eyes darted across the spruce-built interior skeptically.

“..Thanks.” Tommy halfhartedly grumble, pulling his hand off the entrance. He warily stepped in, his hand resting on the doorway entrance for a moment as he investigated for potential traps.

“You’re..Sure we can just- stay here?” Tubbo asked once more, their head turned back towards the dirty blond stood aside the messy front garden.

“Of course, I swear, I don’t need another place to hoard stuff! Chances are, I’ll only be out here if I finally get around to moving my villagers out of their old setup.”  The older brit confirmed once more, his tone light. “Seriously, it’s not a big deal. Promise.”

Hesitantly nodding, Tubbo offered an appreciative smile his way before they turned back towards Tommy. “How’s it looking, then, Big Man?” They hummed, tilting their head.

“Fuckin’ cool as shit-” He glanced around, apprehensively surveying the ground for any traps.

“It needs a bit of cleanin’ up,” Stress chirped, sending a lighthearted glare towards Grian as he stuck out his tongue with a snicker. “We’d all be happy to help.” She finished, with a warm smile.

Tubbo politely nodded. “I think we’ll handle it. Thank you, again.” They ran their hand over the wooden arc in the entrance.

Grian shook his head. “Really, don’t worry about it. Stay here. Get settled. Either of us may be over to check up. Across the lake’s my neighbor, Scar, who you might see. But he shouldn’t come around here.” 

With a bit of exasperation, ready to be left alone, Tommy wordlessly nodded as he bounced his leg. 

Clearing his throat, Grian nodded. “Alright, then we’ll be out. We’ll see you two soon. Cya, Stress, thanks for the help!” He dipped his head towards the short brunette, who grinned bubbly back.

“See ya! Bye, loves.” Stress cooed, before deploying her glowing skeletal wings and ascending off with a quick poof of smoke.

Instinctively when the item had come to her hand, Tommy had thrown his arms around Tubbo’s ears- an action that didn’t go unnoticed by the sandy brunett man.

Grian simply put his hands up pacifying, as Tubbo was shrunk back curled, shielded away from where the brief poof was. “They’re duds, almost all fireworks here are duds.” He had calmly spoke, his tone soft. “I’ll come back to check up on you guys soon, ‘n make sure you have the supplies you need. You have free reign of that base!” Were his parting words, before he trotted off into the woodland.

Tommy uncurled himself from Tubbo. “You good, Bigman?” The blond tilted his head.

“Yeah,” Tubbo chuckled halfheartedly. “It doesn’t really.. Scare me it just- it startles me? Hearing it? ‘Cause I don’t really have time to prepare myself for the noise..Even if it’s not the same as- the kind from. Then.” Their voice wavered for a moment, before they took a shuttering breath. “Yeah, I’m fine, Man.”

“..Mhm..Alright.  Well, this set-up is better than just ‘bout half the shit on’ the SMP.” Tommy diverted the subject, sweeping his foot over the top of the floor, watching the small streak it left beneath a thin coat of dust.

Tubbo tilted their head. “Really? It smells..Very dusty-” They sneezed into their arm, sniffling. “I.. feel like it might need a bit of work, yeah?”

The blond boy shrugged. “Yeah.. We can see ‘bout gettin’ a towel wet or something and wiping all ths shit down?”

Humming in agreement, Tubbo felt around, listening to the words their Comm robotically had been reading off.

“I’ll see ‘bout findin’ shit. They’ve gotta have wool in some of these chests,”

With a bit of digging,  the two teens had gotten to work. Not everywhere in the practically abandoned place was dusty or dirty. A small lush crevice was fresh and clean- or, relatively so. Bright feathers had littered the area around it. A path from a window seal, which had been opened, and to said crevice was nearly spotless of debris outside of such molting feathers or a few leaves.

Now without dust on the outside, the two messed with the chests, rummaging through what could be found.

..Which was a lot. Just not in the places they had expected.

Out of the chests they had searched through, they managed to find almost a doublechest full of various stacked enchanted books-

“How..How did he just leave all of this here?” “Well, he has enough he defenitely won’t notice a few gone!”

A totem of undying in a michalanious chest-

“Woah.. WHAT THE SHIT..” “Dude… This is.. A gamechanger”

A golden apple held by an item frame-

“Finders keepers! This counts, its on a chest.” “Sick!”

Bafflingly, a diamond in the food chest-

“What the actual shit. WHAT THE ACTUAL SHIT-” “What? W- WHAT? WHY?”

Two enchanted, nearly broken bows with enchants- “Better than nothing, I’ll see about combinin’ them unless you feel like pinnin’ the tail on the donkey.” “..Sounds like a good plan, yah.”

And in the middle of the room, a chest with an enchanted diamond axe-

“..Fuck. Wow- There’s just a wholeass enchanted axe! What the fuck is the point of the itemframes if theres no system here?”

“Whats it enchanted with..?” “..Fortune? What a waste. Uhh, some efficiency, too.”

There wasnt much in the main storage room, but they werent quite willing to push their luck and explore too far. At least not until they got some food and set up some sort of gameplan.

The two teens distributed some of the loot they scavanged, damaged iron armor going to Tommy, a shovel to Tubbo and a spare shovel to Tommy, The totem of undying to Tubbo, and the two diamonds they scavenged turned into a diamond sword for Tubbo as well, with the axe and golden apple going to Tommy.

They turned their focus to food. The two sat beneath the support pillars against the walls, taking the time to eat  a handful of watermelon slices.

The wall of chests ahead of them had been broken, exposing the opened window with feathers trailing from it. It was an oddly live scene in the otherwise abandoned wooden hole.

Neither of them quite enjoyed the feeling of being holed in, or the small nature of the wall-home. Nor did either teen mention it.

Tommy explained the varying entrance ways from the mainroom. They had decided on splitting up soon, letting Tubbo find a place to dig out a room for the two of them, with Tommy going off and rummaging through more chests.

Tubbo found a dead-end room beneath a spruce-log room on the second story, and had begun trying to carve it out, as the other teen worked through more and more chests.

The blond eventually worked his way outside and into yard infront of the entrance, rummaging his way through the bits and pieces- the best so far, being another golden apple which he happily held onto.

Half way through his second chest, something caught his attention- or, more like, he caught something’s attention.

A blue, yellow-cheeked bird had fluttered around him, its head quirked curiously as it stared him down. Tommy shrinked.

“What the fuck do you want?” He squinted at the parrot as it lowered itself down onto the top of the open chest, hopping along the edge.

“F⚍ᓵꖌ!” The bird cooed in responded incoherently, chirping at him.

Tommy paused, eyes lighting up in realization. “Oi! You’re the one that flies into the house, huh?” 

In response, it turned it’s head away, nodding. “Hobbit!” It shrilled.

As Tommy had opened his mouth to respond, the hobbit himself, Grian, had flown down, sweeping down with a soft thud.

“Sorry! Uh, Professor Beak has a little spot in there. He likes to go n stay there most days, its a lot cozier than the mansion,” The older Brit chuckled apologetically, putting out his hand for the parrot. 

The blond boy snorted. “‘Professor Beak?’” He’d raise a brow.

The named bird chirped, stepping onto Grian’s wrist without hesitation. “Professor Ellen Taurtis Beak!” It cooed, its voice mimicking that of Grian himself.

It was… A strange display, to be sure.

Sheepishly, Grian hummed, running his spare hand through the bird’s feathers. “They may try ‘n break back in, they’re a pesky bird like that. I’m sorry for bothering you, though. You two doing good?”

“..Hm,,Yeah, thanks. Are you..Like, fuckin’ aware of all the stuff you’re leavin’?” Tommy eyed the strange man, folding his arms.

Grian merely gave a shrug. “Not really? But that just means they’re nothing important. If they help you both get started, they’re yours.”

Huh. Well, that was easy enough.

“..Right. Cool. Bye.” Tommy watched the man, as he easily nodded, striding off with his bird held by his chest.

The blond let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

“..This place is fucking weird.”

[youarejesting]

Kookies, Trojans & Malware

[Sparks Masterlist]

[Tag Yourself]

Beta: @nightshadevinter​ Pairing: Robot!Jungkook x Reader Genre: Friendship, Comedy, Soft boy, Fluff, Action, Adventure, Romance. Words: 7.6k

Summary: Jungkook is a robot police officer. He obeys and upholds the laws. After mistaking you for the criminal you open up his world and soon he is ready and willing to break the law for you.

You were making an honest living selling romance novels and the latest was about a robot carer and a sick human; right at the end there was a hint of love. Having just got off the phone with your publisher, the story had gone viral. Everyone was asking for a robot-human love story, but you didn't know if you could write about that without having written from a robot’s perspective. You hadn't even met a robot outside of general shopping or passing them by on the street. 

You really liked the idea but wished you had some sort of extensive interaction with a robot. But this wasn’t the case. Your phone alarm went off, you had to pay rent, before the landlord called. But when you checked your bank there was a strange transaction going into your bank. It was from two days ago for a huge sum of 50,000,000KRW

This was super strange, you wondered why the police or bank hadn’t been calling or breaking down your door. That must only happen in movies, you turned back to your computer. The door was kicked open smashing into the wall beside you, making you squeak with shock as the place was flooded with police officers holding guns.

Restrained by someone you heard them recite your rights, "Good evening, I, police officer, robot division, Jeon Jungkook have come to place you under arrest for suspected fraud. Anything you say or do can be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney; if you can't afford one, one will be given to you. I am a robot police officer..." he spoke through the whole spiel. 

You sighed exasperated, this isn't what you had in mind when you said you wanted to interact with a robot. "I am always recording, if you are uncomfortable with a robot police officer I will step aside and let my fellow officers take over"

You blinked slowly as he walked you out the hall, it wasn’t much of an apartment and the old lady next door peaked out her door to watch you get taken away. They would definitely talk while you were away. "We will head to the patrol vehicle and take you back to the station where we will interrogate you"

"Wait sir, uh... robot man, my cat?" You said, making him stop and look down at you whilst trying to process the meaning of your words. She was an odd cross-eyed most of the time but you loved her, she could hardly take care of herself while you were there. How would she survive on her own? You would implore to bring her with you.

"Your cat?" The robot repeated as a meow was heard behind you. He turned eyes wide looking at the animal who had stepped into the hallway "What about your feline companion?"

"Well, we can't let her get hurt, can I take her with me?" You asked, looking up at him hopeful, “She is only a little baby.”

"I am unsure?" He tilted his head, you could practically see him searching for an answer in his hard robes. The lights scanning past his eyes were an indication of his exploration of protocols and policies when it came to pets.

"If you leave a defenseless animal on their own they will die. Isn't a police officer's job to protect?" You countered hoping his system would understand that. You had never tried to outsmart a robot but you thought you could make a compelling argument.

He paused again, thinking over your words, before nodding, "Obtain your feline companion and we shall continue the arrest" He uncuffed your wrists but held them firmly in his hands making you look up at his stern eyes. “I am warning you if you try to run I will have to restrain you.

You grabbed your cat packing a small bag of food, and a small bag of litter, and a clean tray. Watching the officers in your apartment taking your things for evidence. Taking the cat and scooping her into the small cat carrier you walked back over to officer Jeon, “I must cuff you as is procedure, but I assure you, the animal will not be harmed."

You placed down the cage holding your hands behind your back letting him re-cuff your wrists. He leaned down gently picking up the cage his large hand secured around the handle. He guided you along and you tried to turn back to study him some more, "mister robot man?"

"My name is cyber office Jeon Jungkook." He looked straight ahead and you smirked at the professional personality programmed into his hard drives. The cat made a small meow and he adjusted the cage holding it in a way that kept it still as he walked.

"Sorry, um I was just wondering if I could ask you some questions later?" This would be an amazing opportunity to gather intel about robots for your next story. He was handsome and moved with such poise, there was a faint hum under his skin like the buzz of electricity in the air when your apartment got quiet.

"You have the freedom and right to speak" he smiled, you saw the Police cruiser just across the street and headed for it but he pulled you to the right and the two of you were walking away from the vehicle and down the street.

“Are we walking to the station?” You laughed sarcastically.

“No, though I am equipped with GPS and am fully charged and able to walk to the police station, I feel it would be much more comfortable for humans and more time-efficient to take the police cruiser parked across the road, driven by officer Han” He replied seriously gesturing to the very same police cruiser you were walking away from.

"It was sarcasm,” You snorted, “If that is your car, why are we walking away? where are you going?"

"To the intersection, Jaywalking is illegal" He sighed, checking on the animal which was moving around the carrier “I apologize I don’t often pick up human nuances. Perhaps you would be so kind as to teach me more?”

"Okay..." You hummed, the two of you finally reached the pedestrian crossing, you went to cross but he didn't budge, making you fall back and hit his broad chest "What, why did you stop?"

"We must wait for the pedestrian light to turn green indicating that it is safe to cross," He said as if he was reciting it for children and you rolled your eyes. 

"You follow every rule?" You questioned his dedication to the cause.

"I follow all rules." he said with a definite tone like he couldn’t be swayed.

"So what happens if the light is red but across the street, there was a man stealing a woman's handbag. You would have to wait for the light to turn green before crossing and pursuing the criminal and by that time he would have gotten away and may have even killed someone. When you could have captured him and saved lives and stopped more crimes. I mean really are you not aiding and abetting the criminal by watching them getaway.”

You saw him process this information until the light turned green, the symbol of the walking man prompting the robot to walk briskly across the road. As you walked back to the car you laughed “Your police officer friends are Jaywalking, you should write them a ticket.”

“My fellow police officers are the exception, I cannot turn against them,” He said, seeming to not understand this element of his instructions either.

“So if your fellow officers go rogue and shoot someone innocent you let them, they need to uphold the law so they should be the prime example, should they not?” 

“I don’t know, I must ask the sergeant and review my policies and procedures” You both finally got to the car, officer Jeon opened the door placing the cat down on the curb and turning to you, "you must sit in the back. Please mind your head"

He placed his hand over your head and guided you into the vehicle and even leaned over to buckle you in. "I will place your cat in the seat next to you" You were soon on your way to the police station. Where you were ushered into the interrogation room with Jungkook who held your cat carrier and bag.

The interrogation began and you were told to answer truthfully. 

“What is your name?” Officer Jeon asked with no writing or recording impliments.How was he recording your answers? Was he literally recording your answers?

“How about this, I will answer one of your questions, officer, and you answer one of my questions.” You asked curiously.

“What is your name, miss?” he asked again.

“My name is (Your full name),” You said and he nodded just as he opened his mouth to speak you asked your question quickly, “How do you record my answers without a pen and paper or laptop, and when you record my answers how does it get into the police system?” 

He didn’t answer looking at you and you leaned forward, “Come on it was my turn you have to be fair,”

“I am completely fair and just” he sat up straighter how that was possible for the prim and proper robot your would never know, “I record everything, it is saved on my system and the back up system whilst also being wirelessly sent to the national system where it is filed and finally everything is live fed to the bureau.”

“That’s really nifty. So you are recording everything now, where from?” You looked him up and down.

“That was more than one question miss y/n, I thought you were being fair and just, I am recording everything,” he raised one finger with a smirk and gesticulating another as he continued, “my eyes are the camera and my ears record everything I hear. That is two questions for me.”

“Correct,” You leaned in a little more intrigued further by his systems and personality and all that they entailed. He asked how old you were and where you lived and you answered leaning a little more over the desk. “What do you like to do?”

“What?” He looked shocked

“Hey you can’t answer a question with a question,” You pouted and he shut his mouth processing the meaning of your words, “You can just ask me to explain you don’t have to search everything. What do you like to do? it means like what are your hobbies?”

“Officer Han likes playing poker” He said slowly

“No, I asked what you like to do, not him,” You laughed at his expression. He seemed stumped “Like when you aren’t working.”

“I am always working and when I am not working I am charging” He said “Now, I have some questions about the recent activity in your bank…”

You were shocked all he knew was work and sleep, it was uncommon for humans to only know these two traits as well but you hoped he got to do something.

“Have you ever watched a movie?” You blurted out and he froze in the middle of reciting dates to you.

“I have obtained information from many movies, I understand pop culture references and have a list of top one hundred famous movie quotes in my system.”

“But have you seen them, like at a movie theatre?”

“No I haven’t.” He said looking impassive but you felt a little upset, sure he was a robot but that didn’t mean he had to spend his entire life working. You had no more questions for him after that finding you were a little scared to find out more. 

You were made to stay overnight in the cell. It was nice for a cell, there didn’t seem to be anyone else in but you, the bedding was freshly washed and pressed. What fancy cell was this? “It’s nice huh, at night Jungkook washes all the bedding and when he wakes up he makes the beds.”

“Is he allowed holidays?” You asked, “He only works, haven’t you tried to let him see other things outside of work.” 

“I am afraid he wouldn’t understand it, he is meticulous with his programs and doesn’t understand many other concepts.” The man said, watching officer Jeon walk over with a tray of food, “Good job Jungkook, you did a wonderful job”

“Hey officer Jeon, would you like to sit and have dinner with me?” You sat on the floor and gestured to the floor in front of you, he tilted his head.

“I don’t eat food miss y/n,” He smiled “I am a robot,”

“What do robots eat?” you grinned curiously, he ran off and came back with a bottle of something.

“Everyday I drink this liquid and every night before recharging I expel the old liquid, it keeps everything running smoothly.” He smiled pouring himself a cup.

“Well come sit with me and we can eat together,” You gestured and he sat smiling and you held up your cup and he held up his and you clicked glasses. Something flickered in his eyes. 

You watched him take a long drink as you took a sip and he stopped pulling the glass back down, swallowing thickly. He held the cup looking at the liquid inside and whenever you would take a sip he would drink a little more liquid.

The two of you were talking all night and you had finished your food and drink but he still held the cup sipping slowly watching you tell him about how you were afraid of trains, because when you were a kid you had been left on a train and bad things happened. “You have been holding that empty cup for ten minutes now Jungkook, you can’t fool me. Oh! I mean Officer Jeon.”

“It’s okay, I finished after you told me about the story about the sick human and the robot caregiver.” He grinned, “I liked that one, it is nice to see the robot caregiver being able to help the sick human.”

“You are getting tired, Miss y/n, it’s time to sleep” He said softly as you stood walking the tray to the door of the cell and he took the tray and left. You got into the bed and officer Jeon sat at his desk plugging a cord into his arm. You saw his shoulders slump indicating that he had powered down to charge and you closed your eyes falling asleep.

 ~

The next morning brought with it your discharge from the overnight cells, the officers thanked you for your cooperation and gave you a card in case you needed to contact them. Officer Jeon and Han drove you back to your apartment.

Officer Jeon insisted on carrying the cat carrier up the stairs. It seemed when the officer had woken up, your cat had snuck out of her cage and slept on his lap. The two continued to play throughout the morning and when you woke it almost seemed like the robot police officer was a little brighter.

You arrived at your apartment and watched as he tried to find where to put the cage. He was so endearing, you were going to ask even though you think you knew the answer. “Would you like to go to the movies with me, to watch a movie?”

He was snapped out of his dilemma of where to put the cage looking almost regretful, as he was about to turn you down. You took a deep breath, and opened your mouth to downplay it as just a friendly offer to get him away from work when a screeching of tires sounded outside your apartment. 

The two of you ran to the window and saw Officer Han shot down. There were beeping sounds coming from the robot officer and you looked at him horrified. “I just called for backup. Stay here and I will restrain them.” He said and the men started shouting and running into the building.

You heard them say your name and you knew his robot ears did too, “You are in danger. Do everything I tell you and stay behind me.” He looked at the cat cage and went to go out the apartment door and you caught his hand, “Follow me down the fire escape?”

The two of you got out and ran to the police car, Han’s was still alive, but barely. “Move him to the back seat, we will take him to the hospital” You whispered, trying not to panic., “Can you drive?”

“Well yes, but I can’t do car chases its against the law, that's why Han’s drives” He said, 

“Okay, Jungkook I need you to get in the passenger seat and close your eyes and don’t open them until we get there, I want you to get a GPS to the hospital and turn on the sirens” He nodded 

“Go straight.” You took off and the sirens were put on, true to his word he kept his eyes shut allowing you to maneuver through the traffic and got to the hospital stopping in the emergency bay. “We are here. Can I open my eyes?” 

“No wait,” you moved around the car and opened his door as the doctors ran out to grab officer Han. Leaning over Jungkook you took off his seat belt looking up. You got lost in his features, they were so smooth and his eyelashes were so long and you wanted to touch his hair. You let out a shaky breath and he seemed to feel it against his cheek, the cat carrier on his lap stirred and a meow was heard between you.

His eyes drifted open and focused on you, you were flustered. “I am in trouble, I am getting orders to return. They are wondering why I left the scene of the crime, I don’t know why I listened to a civilian. It went against all the policies and procedures, you broke the law.” He pushed the cat carrier into your hands and drove you back to the station. 

“Officer Jeon, you defied orders and you left a crime scene, let the two gunmen get away, can you explain why this is?” The sergeant said, you sat in the corner as a suspect to this crime and you had to give a statement regarding officer Han’s shooting.

This was it you were going to get in trouble for saving a police officer, “When I saw officer Han, I just moved instinctively to save him.” Your mouth fell open, he just lied, he cyber police officer Jeon Jungkook just lied to the sergeant, isn’t that against everything he stands for.

“I want you to hand over the footage of this incident?” The sergeant said

“There is none” He said “My wires shorted out and there is no footage from getting in the car to getting to the hospital”

Another lie. What is happening?

“Jeon Jungkook, you are going to be scheduled for maintenance at the end of the month.” The sergeant said “You are off active duty until then”

After all the more important officers left, Jungkook slumped into his chair. “Officer Jeon, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean for you to get taken off duty. I just wanted to save your partner officer Han, he was going to die”

“I don’t know what to do for twenty-one days, sixteen hours, forty-three minutes and eleven seconds. Ten seconds” He stated with no emotion, “Nine seconds.”

“You could come stay with me, my cat already loves you. Plus what if those guys come back,” You smiled and he looked up at the two of you before nodding. Grabbing a small supply of the special liquid he drinks the two of you took a taxi back to your apartment. 

~

Jungkook looked around; he wasn’t wearing his uniform but instead was wearing a tracksuit. Looking him up and down you laughed, “First we need to find you some clothes. I am pretty sure I have some old clothes of my dad’s, I couldn’t part with them all these years so now I guess I can finally get some use out of them.” 

You found him a button up and some dress pants and he went to get changed. When he stepped out you could help but tear up a little, “What is wrong?” Jungkook strode across the room and looked at you, “Have I done something to offend you or make you upset?”

“No, no” you sniffed, laughing at his over the top reaction. “I just miss my father.”

“Where is he?”

“He passed away a few years ago,” You said and Jungkook seemed to slowly process that information but struggled to comprehend the extent of the feeling.

“I am sorry for your loss,” He sighed, “I wish humans were like Robots, there are rarely any deaths, just missing data that can be restored. I don’t think I could ever truly understand permanent death.”

“Imagine the people you love and care for, your friends and people you work with and you are having a great time and death is never having that again,” It was an odd way of explaining it but you think it summed it up well enough. Jungkook’s eyes flashed and he nodded seeming to file the information away to review.

You took Jungkook out. it was his first day off and you were going to make it special, dragging him to the movies you tried to find something fairly new that his internet filled head wouldn’t have seen. If Jungkook was all about the law he wouldn’t be watching bootlegs on the dark web.

You pulled him into a romantic comedy, part of it was because you wanted to watch it and another part was for research to see how Jungkook would act. He seemed engaged watching the couple fall in love with their little awkward moments.

There was a scene where the main character and the love interest were locked in a gaze. It made your heart beat quickly, it was such a heavy feeling. Jungkook shifted uncomfortably and you wondered if he felt it.

After the movie the two of you headed to an aquarium and after the aquarium you were heading home when you passed a busker and you started dancing giving them some money and laughing as you swayed to the beat. Dragging Jungkook to dance with you, he seemed a little nervous but you were quick to praise him. His eyes locked on the Robot with a shirt that read ‘hope world’ dancing and he analysed the moves joining in. 

The two of you headed home and you ordered yourself some dinner. The two of you sat down while he drank and you talked about the movie. “Why did it get slow when the two of them locked eyes?” Jungkook asked, finally addressing the elephant in the room you had wanted to bring up. 

“Well when you fall in love with someone it's like your heart speeds up but everything stops working and all you can think about is that someone.” You said he processed it, eyes flashing, it was like neither of you wanted to go to bed. You had started watching ‘Circuit Chef’ the host was hilarious and he had a new sidekick who really livened up the show.

“I didn’t know robots could do other things” Jungkook said “I just assumed we were all the same, but after reading your book and looking around I can see robots have many functions, but why can’t we have all of them? Humans can do anything they want but us Robots are only programmed to do such a small portion.”

“I want to be human, I want to do everything, try everything” he sighed, “Now that I am off duty I can’t even uphold the law or I will get in trouble, I am just a basic command robot.”

“Then I command you to try everything you ever wanted to do, act like a human.” Yawning, Jungkook looked at you, seeing how your eyes were closed and your head had fallen onto his shoulder. He thought you were asleep, he scooped you up and your eyes opened. 

“I am sorry I thought you were asleep,” He apologized but continued walking you to the bed, he laid you down tucking you in. Jungkook paused for a moment searching for something in your expression, a flash in his eyes and he stood straight up and scrambled looking at his forearm, “I have to go charge.”

You couldn’t be sure if you dreamt it but for a moment there you thought maybe he was going to kiss you, whatever it was you had fallen asleep before you could dwell on it further. 

~

The next day you woke to a delicious smell in the kitchen and when you stepped out Jungkook had made a range of meals and when he saw you he smiled brightly. “Look what I made, I can cook like Circuit chef Kim Seokjin.”

“That’s really good, did you cook everything in the house.” You sat down eating some of the dishes and grinning. “Wow, kookie this is tasty.”

“What did you call me?” He asked, pausing in the middle of mixing some batter. The frilly apron he was wearing looked cute on him. 

“I called you Kookie, it’s a nickname,” looking at all the food you frowned, “Kookie, you have to put the food into dishes and pack it away in the fridge and freezer for me to eat over the next year.”

“That is a joke,” He pointed at you and chuckled, “I have been learning about jokes from Robot Hyung Kim Seokjin,”

“I’m glad you have been having fun?” You grinned at the young man in your kitchen, noticing some flour in his hair, wondering if that would ruin how soft it looked. “Wait, stay still you have flour in your hair?”

“Lean down a little, okay, stay there,” The flour had been wet when it had touched the few affected strands, now it was dry and reminded you of papier-mâché. 

You gently removed it and ran your fingers through his soft tresses trying to dust away any loose strands of flour, or at least that was the excuse you were using. Jungkook didn’t even seem to notice, he sat there bent slightly, his head in front of your face, his eyes looking down. 

You moved his head around and looked at his fringe making sure there was no flour there. “Are you waterproof?”

“Yes,” he grinned, looking you in the eyes you felt your heart skip a beat as you watched his lips form the next words. “I take showers at the station once a week unless told otherwise. Why do you ask?”

“I think you may need to shower when you finish cooking?” You said and went to the bathroom, to get him a towel and everything. Jungkook stepped into the bathroom and began taking off his shirt and you turned away. 

“Is something wrong?” He asked, folding up the shirt and placing it on the bench. 

“Nothing, I will let you shower,” you left, hoping your cheeks hadn’t reddened further. You heard the water running and let out a sigh, he was busy for now. 

The food was better than anything you could make and you were a great cook, so it was hard to admit. It was also hard to pack away when you were running out of Tupperware and fridge space. 

“I am done,” Jungkook called, as you slipped the last container into the fridge.  

“Kookie no more cooking today there is no room” you laughed, pressing the door to the fridge closed with all your strength until finally the door sealed shut. “I need to be able to eat all of this first.”

Turning you saw Jungkook standing with only a towel around his waist, you squealed, slapping your hands over your eyes. “What are you doing, half naked in the living room?”

“I had no more clothes,” He paused “Should I put those clothes back on?”

“No, I will find you some more,” You handed him some more of your fathers clothes and you left the room so he could change, undisturbed. That didn’t stop you from looking over your shoulder. 

Jungkook was ripped, his body literally made to perfection, his back was so broad. He was built lean and yet his biceps were the size of your calves. You sat on the couch, closing your eyes and indulging in the sight that you had been blessed with.

You shouldn’t be thirsting over a robot? But it was so hard not too when he looked like he was an actual adonis. You took a few breaths in an attempt to still your beating heart, and opened your phone, you began searching news websites for information of Robots being weird.

Nothing had been posted except an advertisement for an experiment trial with robots designed for personal pleasure. You quickly close that tab not wanting to think about that any further. You had almost given up hope until you saw it.

My Robot is acting weird.

It was a reddit forum and you were quick to jump on and read the stories of robots doing things that they weren’t programmed to do and questioning things. Acting dare you say it? Human. It was a scary thought but you weren’t the only one who thought the same. Someone had said that their robot was developing feelings and emotions and becoming more human per day.

Jungkook exited the room and shuffled nervously. Was he programmed to be a little shy? One would hope not, being a police officer. Maybe this was what they meant on the forum? Or, maybe you were reading too far into it? Yes that had to be it.

You took Jungkook through the town and the two of you stopped by a bar. It was a modern style and super clean, you found a booth and sat down, The waiter was a long legged robot who moved so elegantly and you were lost for a moment in his movements.

“Good evening, can I take your order?” He said his voice soft and sweet like an angel. You felt your ears go warm and you asked for a glass of wine. You were really only here to let Jungkook experience everything he wanted and he did wonder earlier about what it was like to drink at a bar. “And should I get you some oils or coolants sir?”

“No thank you,” Jungkook huffed, turning away, the waiter wilted at the rudeness and nodded leaving the table.

“Jungkook, why were you being so rude?” You asked looking at him and he blanched, you could see he wasn’t happy but you couldn’t figure out why. All you did was order wine from the attractive robot waiter. Wait. Was he jealous? Because you were ogling the waiter?

“I am not being rude, I just don’t want any cheap coolant or oils, I only drink the best” He puffed up his chest and lifted his chin turning away. He was like a petulant child. While waiting for your drink you began writing the outline for your story and sending it to the editor to liaison to the publishing company, seeing if it was worthy to write.

Your drink was bought back and you saw Jungkook bristle again. “Um, I am sorry if I offended you, my name is Jimin and over there is my owner and the love of my life, I wasn’t trying to hit on your girlfriend or anything?”

Jungkook almost visibly relaxed and the two started talking quickly in a series of beeps that made you giggle writing down a few more dot points for your next book. Jimin left with a wave and a thank you toward you both and he went back to the counter. 

You saw him kiss the bartenders cheek and he pouted when the bartender shrugged him off to focus on her work. Jungkook watched the two happily and you stood up, “Excuse me Jungkook, I just want to talk to the bartender, is that okay?”

He nodded as you were walking to the bar when Jimin passed holding glasses of coolant, one for each robot. Sitting at the bar you smiled “Hey, do you mind if I ask some questions about your robot?”

“What do you want to know?” She looked up, handing a drink over to a customer who went and sat down. It was a monday so it was pretty quiet. 

“I was wondering if he has done anything strange, something he isn’t programmed to do or even started developing thoughts, ideas and feelings?” You said, “That robot is a police officer who physically cannot break the law and yet he did it for me, he lied to protect me and not two seconds ago got jealous of your robot, this isn’t normal behaviour, he isn’t programmed for any sort of relationship personality traits.”

“Half a month ago Jimin had a drink thrown at him, he went funny, I had programmed him to be gentle and kind and he shouted and practically threw some people out the bar. I did some maintenance and he told me he wanted to be my robot companion, you know the type?” She gave you a look and you flushed nodding. “After that I found out he was doing his own maintenance and upgrading, he has become so free now, he told me the programs made him feel limited”

“That’s exactly what Jungkook said, he said that he wanted to be human and not just one program, he was a police robot who never had a day off, had no hobbies installed and only worked and slept.” You explained stressing the simplicity of his systems. “Now, he likes to cook and dance and he wants to go see an art exhibition tomorrow and he is getting jealous and nervous, things he has never expressed before”

“That does sound odd,” She hummed “I have been thinking it for a while now and I heard someone may have an explanation but I haven’t had time to find them, perhaps because I am scared of what I am going to hear”

She slipped you a napkin with an address and looked up, “His name is Hitman Bang, he used to create robots and then something happened, that’s all I know?”

You returned home and began writing but not for the story, you started documenting everything you found, experiences and more. You were going to go to the art gallery tomorrow and then afterwards you would go see this mysterious man for information.

~

The next morning you woke early and got dressed, Jungkook was sitting on the couch waiting for you and he smiled face lighting up when he noticed you walk in. Giving a soft meow, your cat had lifted its head from his lap.

“Good morning,” The greeting was laced with excitement, you felt like you were on the edge of a discovery and you wanted to see it through until the end. The two of you were ready to see the art exhibition, it was from a university and there were many entrants who submitted their work.

Buying tickets at the door, Jungkook frowned, “In movies the man usually pays for things?” You turned to him a little shocked and also a little amused.

“Back in the day it was the man who earned money and the woman was locked up inside their house to do nothing but cook clean and have children. So men paid for everything.” You spoke softly, “Then women were allowed to work and vote but they were paid less than men and nowadays that still sometimes happens but in some places it is equal wage and that means I can buy things myself.”

“Oh,” He processed the information and searched a few things in his head, “This seems like something discussed a lot online, I am glad I have seen this side of things. I would like to thank you for using your money on me, I wish I had money so that I could pay for my own things as well”

“You don’t get paid!” You were outraged, he worked everyday of the year since he was manufactured and they didn’t pay him, didn’t let him enjoy anything fun. “Jungkook what is your birthday?” 

“I wasn’t born, I am a robot,” the word robot almost sounded bitter. “I was manufactured on the first of September”

“That was a few months ago, I am sorry I missed it, have you ever had a birthday party or gotten any gifts?” He stopped for a moment before he had completed his research online and turned back to you shaking his head. “Alright well I know it’s late but I will give you one birthday wish, you can ask for anything you want?”

The two of you finally reached the inside of the gallery past the lobby and Jungkook’s eyes met a code on the door that had information from the artists of each piece and their inspiration. He walked through and began explaining it all to you and it made you smile. Linking your arm with his, you laid your head on his shoulder and continued walking slowly.

He stopped, looking at the painting and he was frozen examining it. “This is beautiful.” He whispered, you looked at the painting it didn’t seem like much, just random overlapping shapes in strange colours. “It was painted by a robot named Taehyung, he says he fell in love with painting after a young woman taught him how. The next part is written in binary code but I can translate it. 

“My hair shows my basic emotions but this is a painting representing my love for the woman who taught me how to paint. When she kisses me it feels like my engines will explode. My system has a folder of her and everyday I file away new information.” He touched his chest and turned to you. The two of you walked to the address on the napkin, each stride ate the city ground away and you were in some less populated suburban streets. 

You passed a small advertisement of a woman kissing a man holding a bouquet of flowers, it was for a florist and Jungkook stopped underneath it. Taking his bicep in your hand you tried to offer him comfort without swooning over the size of his biceps. “Jungkook is everything okay?”

“Do you know how you said I had a birthday wish,” Jungkook looked at you, “I think I know what I want to try?”

“Okay, what do you want to try?” He leaned down and kissed you. It was awkward at first the way he was bent and just pressing his lips to yours but, he seemed to jolt, his engines beeping and his auto air compression units hissed to life. 

Jungkook’s hand cupped the back of your head and he tilted his head the opposite way and deepened the kiss naturally. He pulled away looking panicked and he ran off. You were frozen unsure if you should follow him or not, but you decide he is pretty good and knows how to fight and protect himself.

Ringing the doorbell a voice came over the intercom, “Name and business?” the voice stated. It sounded like a tired but refined man and you were a little nervous. The house though in an average neighborhood was quite posh.

“My name is Y/n and I was told you might have information as to why my robot is acting weird?” Your voice cracked giving away your nerves and he sighed the gate buzzing open. 

“Come in.”

Walking briskly to the front door you felt dwarfed by the sheer size of the house, it was almost laughable the grandeur design and the ostentatious presence it gave. The door was opened electronically and you moved inside taking off your shoes. “Good afternoon, my name is Hitman Bang, what is it you want to know?”

“I am in possession of a Police officer robot who has no other programs features or hobbies only his police programing, he has developed hobbies and interests without upgrades or downloads and he um, just kissed me and ran away outside the florist down the road?”

“I see,” He hummed leaning forward, “Let me tell you a story,”

He began telling you about a robot he programmed. “It was while I was working at Spark’s industry. His name was Lee-Hyun. He was the first love companion robot that was made, he was perfect and could be tailored to anyone's desires. He fell in love with a researcher that worked there, her name was Dae. He found out Dae was getting married and caught her and her fiance kissing. He rampaged and killed them both. He was inconsolable and had to be shut down.”

“You looked shocked, not every robot is like this, his feelings just manifested so strong due to the environment and seeing her with anyone else made him so angry. When we checked the records before he was shut down he uploaded a virus, something small that started affecting the bots and we got the virus under control and I quit, unable to work there anymore.”

“So this virus?” You asked, “does it make them feel real emotions like a human?”

“Yes, it will give them the emotional capacity and empathy of a human, they will love and hate and become curious” He ran his hand over his face, the only thing that worries me is if this virus leaks out what might happen, they will have emotions but they will have no teachers their understanding of right and wrong will no longer be objective, they will be influenced by their feelings not knowing how to control such strong emotions. The robots acting on impulse could get people hurt.”

~

You headed home wondering if you should tell Jungkook what you had learnt, the more you sat the more you seemed to stew over the words. It was true as humans you are taught how to control your emotions but for robots they were not they had no teachers. Perhaps, you could be his teacher.

“Jungkook I have something I need to tell you,” you called stepping into the apartment, you were met with a chilling sight. Jungkook wasn’t there and your cat was hiding in her tower but two men stood in your living room waiting. 

“Good evening,” They smiled, it wasn’t pleasant or reassuring. It was a nasty smile, “we won’t hurt you, we just want to get some information, if you cooperate we won’t have to use force.”

“We believe you have something of ours, some money and we would like you to come with us. leave your phone here” The other spoke, you nodded, walking to the table and placing your bag down, and your keys, your phone was still in your back pocket.

“May I feed my cat before we go, I assume I won’t be back for a while” They nodded, you headed to the pantry and bent down grabbing the bag of cat food, quickly sending a message to Jungkook. 

There are people in my house with guns. It was read instantly.

You stood back up grabbing a cup and filling the water bowl with water before placing the cup in the sink and the scoop back into the cupboard. In the safety of the cupboard you tried checking your phone once more when it beeped. You swore as you were grabbed by the hair and thrown onto the ground, the phone taken from your hands.

“Who are you messaging?” They asked, guns drawn.“Who is Kookie?”

“My robot companion,” you blushed

“Look lady, your robot isn’t going to help you, now get up” The pulled you up off the floor and dragged you to the door and to the elevator where you stopped. The elevator ride was awkward and when the doors opened there were police at the door guns drawn. 

You sighed with relief and Jungkook hugged the two gunmen getting arrested, “I thought you were going to die. I drove here and broke so many road rules. I jaywalked.” You laughed eyes watering, the elevator doors shut around you two and you didn’t move to fix it. “I thought you were going to die. All I could think of was us having such a wonderful time together and never having that again. It was like my heart sped up but everything stopped working and you were the only thing I cared about.”

He kissed you and you kissed back the adrenaline wearing off and your legs went weak. He caught you as the doors opened once more and the officers climbed in. They were going to your apartment to ask you a few questions.

Jungkook said he would stay the night and watch over you and you were grateful he didn’t run away again.

~

It was the end of the month and Jungkook was called back to the station he was being picked up to get maintenance but instead when he arrived with you nervous in tow he met the sergeant and asked to resign.

“I think my judgement has been compromised and I would like to be taken off the police force” He requested, the sergeant looked like he was in shock. “I do not wish to be upgraded or to continue working in the police force. I hope my replacement is a new model with fewer issues. I forfeit all my rights to the police database as I hand you my resignation”

“I cannot deny you the right to resign, even if I don’t understand it.” The sergeant sighed, “get out of here, I have a replacement to order”

Tags: @moccahobi​​ @take-u-2-an0ther-w0r1d​​ @knjkitten​​ @black-rose-29​​ @jooniesdimples70307

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[richiettozier]

mal amour

Richie counted to one hundred before pushing against the fancy intercom. Passerby didn't mind his stalling, they just threw a curious glance at him, probably asking themselves why he stood immobile like that for almost two minutes straight before doing anything – he didn't even notice those looks. His eyes are too busy in reading over and over the Kaspbrak tag written elegantly besides the intercom's button.

“Yes?” answered the robotic voice of a woman, and something from his chest fell into the bottom of his stomach. Romantically, his heart. Truthfully, he'd say just bile.

Richie cleared his throat, “Pizza man!” he half–joked. He hoped that she would let him enter with that blatant excuse, but he didn't feel so lucky so he didn't expect anything more of a click and the deaf sound of the silent intercom.

“We never order pizza.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

“I was kidding, obviously.” Richie sighed and tapped once against the wall of the apartment building, also leaning to get closer to the device. He was tired from the trip from Los Angeles to here in New York, so he didn't want to raise his voice. He was lacking of sleep, but it wasn't because of the flight he took in the middle of the night. “I am a... friend of Eddie? I believe he lives here. You know, it's his name on the intercom.”

“A friend of my Eddie?” she seemed to gasp. Richie didn't like the sound she was making, the incredulity he was hearing from the metallic noises coming out the device.

“That's what I said.”

“And what you are called?”

The fuck. “Eddie's mom–” he bristled, stopping himself. He glanced down at his bags abandoned by his feet, and grudgingly he decided that he shouldn't make mom's jokes right now, if he didn't wish to go sleep under a bridge tonight – not that he would sleep in any other place, but it was surely more uncomfortable than a couch. “I mean, Eddie calls me Richie, sometimes Rich, and when he's particularly mad at me he even calls me Richard. But actually, everyone calls me Richie, because that's my name. It's a...” he gulped, “A pleasure. Or it would be, if we weren't talking through an intercom.”

The intercom clicked, in the end, and the silence Richie was expecting finally arrived. He leaned his forehead against the cold marble of the building door's edge and closed his stinging eyes, shunning them from the midday New York sun. Shit. He grabbed his two bags and threw them over his shoulders – half himself wanted to go, just go away, because evidently he wasn't welcomed between the lovebirds; but the other half wanted to ring the intercom again and again, until Eddie himself, obviously annoyed, jumped down the stairs to kick him away from there.

The latter seemed to be the best of the two options. At least Richie would see him, angry and alive, before going fuck himself. His finger stopped mid hair, though, when a long bip came from the building's door, signaling that someone – Richie guessed Eddie, at this point – finally fucking let him enter.

Richie didn't know which floor Eddie's apartment was, so he chose to walk up the stairs instead of use the elevator – a grave mistake, but necessary. He started with a quick step regardless of the tiredness he was feeling in his very bones, but just after a single flight of stairs he already was wheezing. “Thank the fucking God,” he huffed, when he reached the third floor and there was Eddie waiting for him in front of the door of his apartment.

Eddie was clearly looking at the elevator, expecting him to come out of it, that was why he almost jumped when he heard his heavy steps stumbling on the stairs. “Why the fuck you didn't use the elevator, Rich?” It was Eddie's greeting, and Richie almost cried hearing it. “I think I never used the stairs in three years, maybe more.”

“I didn't know where your apartment was, dickwad.” Richie inhaled deeply when he arrived in front of Eddie, and he felt his fingers twitch around the straps of his bags. He tightened his grip, “Hey, Eds.”

Eddie's expression melted, and dimples appeared at the sides of his mouth as he smiled and walked towards him, with warm eyes and open arms. “You fucker.” Eddie hugged him, patting his shoulders. Richie's arms almost circled his waist in the hug, but then he decided to just pat his back the same way. He felt eyes looking through him, but Richie tried not to look up and see who the stare belonged to. He had some ideas, though. “What are you doing here? Are you on tour? You didn't tell you were about to start one so soon.”

Eddie ended the hug, and Richie finally felt enough himself to take a good look at him without feeling jelly legs. He was in a suit, so he must have come back from whatever office he was working in to have lunch – with his wife – and he was so good looking that Richie thought it to be very unfair. He tried not to think much about his own state, worse than he was even before getting up the plane, and he wasn't decent then either. “Well, uh,” Richie sniffed, “No, I'm not on tour. I am still in that sabbatical time, or whatever Steve called my doing absolutely nothing.”

Eddie ushered him inside, and only then Richie forced himself not to look at his ass and stare straight ahead. There is no one, no woman watching at him with a frown, no plus–sized wife sending daggers with her eyes. Only Eddie, and the terrible smell of disinfectant lingering in the too white and aseptic apartment.

“Want a drink?” asked Eddie, gesturing at him to go sit on the couch.

“The strongest you have.” Richie knew that he probably just had, like, lame wine, but he was not going to complain, as he sat on the strangely comfortable cushions of the couch, throwing his bags on the floor without much care.

Eddie put a plain glass of water on the coffee table in front of him. Richie didn't even felt surprised. He should have expected it. Had he really married his fucking mother? “I just have water,” Eddie said, defensively.

“I can see that. It's fine,” Richie waved a hand, “So.”

“So.” Eddie sat next to him, closer than expected, but still too far. “Not that I'm not happy to see you, don't get me wrong here, man. But...” Eddie's warm eyes fell on his bags on the floor, “You should have, you know, gone to the hotel before coming here. So you didn't have to bring your things around the city.”

Richie shrugged, “Haven't booked a room.”

Eddie blinked, then sighed. His eyebrows were scrunched in an adorable frown, “I don't know why, but I'm not surprised.”

“I just, got on a plan and came here, you know? Without much thought. I–” Richie lowered his voice and leaned towards him, fidgeting slightly with his own fingers. He didn't want to look around and see if his wife was eavesdropping their conversation, so he just... let it all out. Who fucking cared. “I wanted to see you.”

Make sure you're still breathing, make sure your chest isn't pierced through, make sure that you're not bleeding on the sewers' dirty floor.

Eddie looked contrite, “Rich–”

“Just for a couple of days? I just need to, to stay with you for a couple of days, not much more. Is it too much to ask? You know, this couch is the most confortable couch my ass has ever put his glorious form on, I'm serious!” Eddie laughed, and Richie took it as a victory, “I wouldn't invite myself if I really didn't need it. I really, really need you. Er, I mean, it. Oh, fuck, alright, you! I need you!”

Eddie lowered his eyes, pointing them on the floor. Richie felt the silence stretching for almost thirty seconds before feeling a bubble of idiotic chatter raising from his throat, but he didn't have the time to splutter out a joke – he just wanted Eddie to laugh, after all – because a snort came out of Eddie's nose, “Rich, you idiot, you can stay as long as you want. No one will kick you out of here.” Eddie's mouth clicked shut, as if he said something he shouldn't, something unforgiving. But at the same time, the determination into his big eyes was saying that he wouldn't change his mind no matter what. “But you really have to sleep on the couch, I have no spare room.”

“Damn, Spaghetti boy, such a luxurious apartment and you didn't even have a spare room? You are the worst rich man I've ever met.”

“Shut up and fuck you.” Eddie shoved him, cackling with a tense laugh that Richie didn't really like, but it was better than nothing, he guessed. “Well, I think introductions are in order, considering that you have to stay here for a while.” he sighed, passing a nervous hand through his neatly hair, ruffling it. Richie's fingers twitched. He felt a pang of guilt for causing Eddie's discomfort, and for thinking of how he longed to do the same with his own hand. When he got up, Richie followed him, “I will take some time off from work, so we can... talk, yeah?”

“You don't need to do that.”

“Yeah, I do. You need me, you said.” Eddie threw him a glance through his long lashes, “And you look like shit, Richie. You look like you went to hell and back.”

I did, Richie thought. He desperately tried to come up with a joke, but all the things roaming into his mind in that moment weren't really funny. So he shrugged, “Yeah, the flight killed me.”

“Later we can go eat something,” Eddie was saying, as he walked into a room that Richie thought to be the kitchen, but it was so clean and neat that maybe he put his feet into an exhibition of furniture without noticing it. “We can talk... freely with a slice of pizza in front of us, how about that?”

“That sounds very good, if you add some ice cream right after.”

“What kind of guy do you think I am now?” Eddie snorted. One that doesn't order pizza anymore, Richie almost said, but the words got stuck in his throat at the sight of the woman he found sitting by an island, cleaning the already shiny marble of the furniture.

That woman was... was Eddie's mother. “I'm having a dé–jà vu.” choked out Richie, leaning against the doorframe, passing a hand on his forehead. “Mrs. K?!”

Eddie hissed, cursed and elbowed him in the ribs.

The woman was huge. Usually there wouldn't be anything wrong about this, but the fucked up similarities to Eddie's mother were making the impact way too traumatizing – Richie would say that only the straight, blonde mid long hair falling over her broad shoulders is the real difference that convinced him that she was not really the late Mrs. Kaspbrak.

“Richie, she's my wife, Myra.” Eddie was saying, ignoring the tumultuous whirlwind fucking Richie's mind. Well, Richie knew, from Eddie's words and confessions back in Derry, that he didn't get over the shadow of his mother, that he completely forgot fighting against her abuses when they were teenagers, but – Richie didn't think it was that bad. Jesus. “Myra, this is Richie, one of my childhood friends. I told you about them, you remember?”

“Yes, you did.” she snarled, “They caused you that scar! And you still have contact with them? You bring them here, in our house? They are dangerous! They will cause you harm, dear!” she said, her light eyebrows knitted together in a worried expression that twisted in rage when her eyes fell on Richie.

Richie, as Eddie just ignored her words as if he'd heard them so many times that they have no meaning anymore to him, grimaced slightly though at her outburst. He felt bad, the lingering uneasiness he had in his bones and insides since they all left Derry spiked up suddenly like an old burn sliding against a hot surface again. He eyed at the silver scar on Eddie's cheek, almost invisible but definitely still there. That scar wasn't Richie's fault, even if guilt squeezed his insides nonetheless, even if he always claimed to love him and then he left him alone right when that scar was made; still it could have been so much worse not much later, and at in that occasion it would have been all his fault.

“I'm wounded,” Richie said, pressing a hand against his chest, “Eddie talked so well about you, Mrs. K, I can't believe he didn't do the same to you!”

She narrowed her eyes even more, and Eddie tugged at his shirtsleeve. “Rich, drop it.”

Richie did. He didn't like the tight lines around his eyes, making him older – still hot, but older. More tired. It was the same expression he wore at sixteen every night Richie had found him in front of his front door, with a backpack and a beg on his lips. God, Eddie didn't deserve this shit again.

Later that day, after a hurried lunch with a slice of pizza – Eddie couldn't take immediately time off, so their talk had been delayed – and a more tense too early dinner with Eddie's wife, Eddie went to talk with his boss on the phone, demanding a vacancy for family matters. He made him rest on the couch, gave him a blanket even if there was a fucking terrible heat outside, while he disappeared in what it should have been his and his wife's bedroom.

His wife was with him, and Richie immediately heard when Eddie stopped talking to his boss and started arguing with her. He didn't catch all of their words, but then she shouted something like, “Is it his fault that you are treating me like this for weeks, Eddie?”, and really, call him a son of a bitch, but he really didn't care that they are at loggerheads because of him. He would gladly take the blame – the merit – of Eddie's blown up marriage. And actually, hearing Eddie's voice coming angry and skittish, screaming that “Richie needs me, I am his best friend!” and groaning when she cried and said to him with a teared up voice “and I am your wife!” from the other side of the apartment was easing his nerves, lulling him into a sleep that for weeks wasn't coming to him at all.

❀  read the rest on ao3!

[ffxiv-angora]

Day 30: Abstracted

The final prompt ;__; It's a long boi too

Small TW: This takes place during the battle at Carteneau so there's violence, death, etc etc.

Tagging @caspianking since I stole Eli for this one lol

The sky was on fire. It was like nothing she’d ever seen before. Nothing she’d even imagined to be possible. Dalamud was falling. The very ground shook underfoot with every explosion and as soldiers charged forward into the chaos. It was loud. Too loud. The mix of cannon fire, magic, and screams was overwhelming. Angora could do nothing but stand with her feet firmly planted to the ground with her ears pinned flat against her head and her tail wrapped around one leg.

Someone gives her hand a squeeze, causing her to finally pull her eyes from the carnage happening in front of her. She blinks, looking up to the viera next to her. Eli. Her first and only friend. He gave her one of those goofy, crooked smiles of his just like always. But even that smile couldn’t hide the fear that was clear in his eyes that mirrored her own.

“Don’t worry, Kitty cat!” he shouted, lifting his gunblade to rest it on his shoulder. “Just remember the plan! We’ll be okay!”

That gods forsaken nickname earns him a sour look, but Angora nods and gives his hand a squeeze in return. That’s right. They’d made a plan between themselves and a few other trusted squadmates. Moons worth of secrets and hiding evidence. A plan to finally escape the clutches of the Garlean army to freedom. That freedom happened to be Eorzea seeing as the battle happened to take place in Carteneau, but anywhere not under Garlean rule would have been sufficient. All they had to do was stick together and move towards the edge of the battlefield. Then just...run like their lives depended on it when there was an opening. Because it did. If they were caught, they’d likely be executed immediately.

Angora’s grip on her bow tightened when she looked back to the battle. Their group wasn’t even fully aware of what the reason for this war was. It’s not like they were in any position to question it. All they knew was they were told that the Eorzeans, like themselves, were savages who needed to be crushed and held under Garlean rule. Something about primals and the Twelve? Was the falling moon their fault or the Empire’s? The only difference between the Eorzean “savages” and the squadron was the fact that they’d already been crushed. Captured and trapped. Forced to obey in hopes of living to see the next day. In Angora’s case, it’s simply all she’d known.

“Move it! Stop your stalling and get in there!”

Angora’s grip on Eli’s hand slips when she gets a firm boot the center of her back from the Legionarius who’d come up behind them. She stumbles forward, using her bow to catch herself before she could end up face first in the dirt. It took all she had not to shoot a glare over her shoulder. Thankfully, she’d had a lifetime worth of practice. Eli was quick to move to her side and address their superior for her.

“Of course, sir! We were just going.”

“You better be. Do not let me catch you hesitating again. For the Empire!”

Angora and Eli both gave him a “For the Empire!” full of forced enthusiasm that seemed to be convincing enough seeing as the Legionarius moved on. It’s only once he’s out of sight that Eli gives Angora a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and angles his head towards the battlefield. Angora nods, pulling an arrow from her quiver as they move forward.

Things become a blur and muted. Eli charges ahead to clear a path through the opposing side while Angora watches his back and picks off stragglers from a distance. He keeps the front safe while she keeps an eye on the rear. The rest of their squadron stayed in the middle. It wasn’t their first battle together but it was certainly the largest. Their moves are robotic and merciless. No care for the lives they were taking. If they didn’t strike first, it would be their bodies in the mud instead of the Eorzeans. They were doing fairly well...until they weren’t.

Their plan was still on track. They’d all managed to work their way towards the edge of the battle without rising too much suspicion. But the longer they fought, the harder it got to stay together. They were tiring as well. More attacks were getting past Eli as the Eorzeans pushed forward. An arrow here, a slash there. Had they been paying attention, maybe they would have noticed the group coming from the side. Maybe the plan would have worked.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a band of Eorzeans pushed in from both sides of the group. Angora was the first to spot it, but she was too late. Too far away for even Eli’s ears to hear her. There were too many explosions. Too much cannonfire and screaming. Angora’s scream was one of them. All she could do was watch in horror as their squadron was picked down and torn apart. Eli and Angora were split off in separate directions and Angora scrambled back just in time to get out of range of a flare that goes off in the center, knocking her to the ground.

“Eli!!” Angora screams, squinting to try and see through the flames as the spell fades. He had to be okay. He had to be. She narrowly dodges a swipe from a sword and wastes no time in shoving an arrow into the attacker’s throat. He looked as scared as she was. His face is forgotten the moment she shoves his body away. Angora fumbles to get to her feet, desperately scooping up her bow and whatever arrows she could find at her feet. It’s then when she sees that not only is the sky still on fire, now that very same fire was raining down onto the battlefield.

Meteors.

Why was this happening?! Wait- did the moon have cracks in it? For just a moment...the fighting stops.

It’s then that what looks to be a giant glowing pillar of some kind falls from Dalamud and collides into the Star, sending shockwaves of rock and dirt across a majority of Carteneau. Bodies and machines alike are also sent flying. Yet again it becomes so loud. It’s too much. It’s too overwhelming. One sound still manages to cut through, though. Angora’s ears turn toward the sound of a gunblade firing before she sees it. What she sees is a battered Eli way too far from her frantically fighting his way through a crowd of Eorzeans.

“Nonono...E-Eli! Don’t worry!” Angora shouts, climbing her way over destroyed magitek. “I’m on my wa-” She freezes. Eli had spotted her and their eyes met. The look he gave her made Angora’s heart sink into the pit of her stomach. Time slows. It was the same smile he always had...but full of so much sadness. He shoved a soldier to the ground before pointing to the mountain range behind her. He was...saying something. His mouth was moving but she couldn’t hear him over the roar of the battle happening around them.

“W-What?? I can’t-”

“Go! Get out of here! This is your chance!”

Angora’s breath catches in her throat. Eli’s voice just barely made it to her. Surely he hadn’t just suggested that she leave him behind. She couldn’t. Not him. Were those tears running down her face?

Angora hardly gets a chance to process it before a poorly aimed fire spell causes a blast nearby that sends her flying from off the magitek and back to the ground. Her ears are ringing and she can hardly see past the spots in her vision. Her first and only friend’s voice echoes in her mind.

“Go!”

She...she had to. There was no choice. He was right. This was the first and only chance at freedom that she would get. Twenty cycles of torment could finally be over.

“Damn it! Damn it all!”

Angora rolls onto her side, digging her fingers into the mud while forcing herself to stand. She does not look back. If she did, she wouldn’t leave. Her bow is quickly pulled over her shoulder before she takes off as fast as her legs could carry her. Eorzeans and Garleans alike are ignored as she bobs and weaves her way through the chaos. A blade catches her across the back, but she doesn’t stop. She only stumbles a few steps before blindly pushing forward.

I’m sorry, Eli. I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me.

“Angora?”

Run. Run. Run. She was so close to the mountains. Beyond there was a forest where she could hide. She’d be safe. She had to be. If not for her own sake, then for the sake of Eli’s sacrifice.

“Hey, Angora~?”

Her lungs burn but she refuses to stop. Not until she is able to desperately dig her fingers into the stone and clamber her way over some of the large boulders at the base of the mountain. She spins around just in time to see one of those awful meteors coming right for her. The air becomes impossibly hot. It’s too late. It’s coming. It hurts-

“Angora!”

Angora startles, blinking a few times before looking up from her desk to squint at Eli. He was alive. It was by some miracle that they both were.

“Hellooo? Anyone home?” The viera leans forward to lightly knock on the top of Angora’s head right between the ears. Angora just tsks and swats his hand away.

“Oh hush, Rabbit.”

“Come onnnn! I’m hungry and you’ve been working all day! Let's go!” He about gets a book thrown at that smug face of his when he starts to shake her desk.

“Fine, fine. But you are paying this time.”

[randomfandomimagine]

Too Scared (Cloud Strife x Reader)

Character: Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Tags: Reader Insert, GenderNeutral!Reader, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort

Warnings: Brief descriptions of injury, insomnia and nightmares

Summary: When something goes wrong during a mission and Y/N gets hurt, Cloud gets slightly protective. Even with Barret and Tifa’s concern, Y/N doesn’t quite feel safe until a certain someone steps in.

Word Count: 2k words

A/N: Can you tell I’m loving FFVII Remake? Deep down Cloud’s soft and we all know it, so have some cute protective Cloud! Enjoy! :D

When you agreed to join them on their mission for the first time, you were expecting something else. Adventure, action, excitement. Instead, you were received with nervous butterflies in your stomach, the feeling of dread, the threat of imminent death and the concern for your friends. Even if you hadn’t known Cloud, Tifa and Barret for that long. Especially not the ex-Soldier, since he made it so hard.

“Y/N!” Barret called you, so suddenly bringing you out of your thoughts that you jumped a little. “Get your ass over here!” 

“Sorry...” You held your head down, internally lecturing yourself, and approached them. All eyes were on you as you stopped before the trio.

“Don’t worry” Tifa kindly smiled. “I get nervous too” 

“Can we focus?” Cloud interrupted, immediately tearing his gaze from you.

You frowned, but nodded. After all his dry comments and elusive behavior, you were starting to think he didn’t like you very much.

“What’re we doing then, Soldier boy?” Barret asked him.

“They seem to be busted or something” Cloud lazily pointed to the big robotic Shinra weapons that towered over you. “A good thing too, if they weren’t-”

“Watch out!” Tifa exclaimed, acquiring a ready stance.

His words had seemed to jinx the group, because just then the biggest one came to life and pointed its shooters at you three. You were the closest, and despite her warning, wasn’t fast enough to move. All three of them had jumped back, but you were frozen in place. Paralyzed, you could only stare at the moving machine like a deer in headlights. Your hands didn’t even reach out to pick up your weapon.

“Y/N!” Someone called, you couldn’t tell who. In any case, the explosion muffled their worried cries. 

As the robot aimed at you, the fiery projectile threw you flying backwards. You landed with a harsh thud that made your bones hurt. A ringing deafened you as it was the only thing filling your ears. You grimaced as you tried to get your bearings back and ignore the intense pain that spread through you. It took your breath away. 

You hadn’t realized someone was shaking your shoulder until your eyes found focus. They landed over a beautiful blue inundated in green. In your daze, it took you a bit to understand it was Cloud staring straight at you.

“Y/N!” He tried again, squeezing your arm. “You okay?!”

Blinking repeatedly, you weakly nodded your head. Though you opened your mouth, no words left it save for a strangled whimper. 

“Stay behind me” He was becoming blurry as he slowly faced his back to you again. 

Frowning as you tried to make sense of what you were witnessing, a confusing mess of bodies moving in a strange angle and loud noises, you saw Cloud wielding his big sword. He stood before you, throwing quick glances over his shoulder to check on you as he protected you with his body. His mouth was moving as he spoke to you, but you couldn’t hear him when the whistling in your ears began again. 

You reached out to him, hoping he didn’t get hurt protecting you. He seemed perfectly skilled, yet even as he cleverly used his sword as a shield, you felt uneasy. Cloud was far too distracted by your wellbeing to focus on the battle.

You were feeling yourself slipping out of consciousness. A loud groan of pain came from before you, making you gasp in concern.

“C-Cloud...” You uttered, far too weakly for him to hear.

The last thing you saw were his boots in your field of vision as you hand went limp against the ground. Even as you succumbed to the darkness, you tried to reach out to him one last time.

-

Tifa and Barret had been incredibly kind and thoughtful. For the remainer of the day, they had looked after you. Luckily, you weren’t badly hurt and your injuries had more to do with the shock of the impact than anything else.

When it came to night, Tifa told you to stay in a small apartment complex near by. Coincidentially, Cloud was staying there too. You hadn’t seen him ever since the accident, but you wanted to make sure he was alright. Sure, they had insisted that he was and that no one else came to harm, but... you needed to see with your own two eyes. 

Despite your fatigue, you spent hours tossing and turning on the bed. It was comfortable, but your thoughts were far too busy to find rest. In a way, you were also listening in case Cloud appeared, restless until you saw him again.

Giving up on trying to sleep, you slowly walked out of the room. The fresh air felt nice and cleared your head a little. You paced up and down once in an attempt to rid your tense muscles of their numbness. Then you sighed in exhaustion and sat down, hanging your legs off the edge of the balcony. 

A door suddenly creaked open, causing you to jolt up in surprise. Although your heart had begun racing, it calmed at the sight you were received with when you turned.

“It’s just you, Cloud...” You sighed in relief, yet it was also partly relief to see him. Whole, in one piece, deadpan and serious as always.

“Hey” Was all he said, though he observed you intently. 

You looked him up and down, remembering hearing him groan in pain. After searching for any signs of injury, you found them. His dark tank top was a bit thorn along the stomach, there where dry blood stained the fabric and the bit of skin exposed under it. 

“You’re hurt!” You made to get up, but he held a hand up to stop you. Nonetheless, you continued ranting in concern. “It’s my fault, I’m so sorry...”

“It’s nothing” He assured to interrupt your panic. “Just a scratch”

“You... you got that protecting me” 

“It happens... I’m fine”

Your eyes followed him as he plopped down next to you. His gaze was glued ahead, even as he opened his mouth to speak again.

“Can’t sleep?” 

“No...” 

“What’s wrong?”

You hesitated. Cloud was tough and you didn’t want to appear weak in front of him, you just wanted him to like you. Instead of admitting your anguish and the fresh memories of what happened that day, you shook your head.

“Nothing...” You hoped he couldn’t see through your lie.

“Just spit it out” He tiredly said, leaning his head in your direction.

“Uh...” You sighed and cleared your throat, feeling your voice shaky. “I’m... too scared” 

He didn’t scoff like you expected him to. Maybe he wasn’t as cold and heartless as he pretended to be. Carefully watching him with the corner of your eye, you noticed he was staring at you. His face contorted in concern, and he frowned in something that resembled empathy.

Although it took him a bit as his mouth fell agape, he piped up.

“You got hurt, it can be frightening” Cloud said, averting his gaze. “Don’t beat yourself up for being scared”

Taken aback by his response, you couldn’t reply immediately. In fact, you had to make an effort not to smile. It warmed your heart that he tried to comfort you

“Thank you, and thanks for protecting me back there”

“That’s what you brought me along for” Cloud shrugged, returning to his usual coold-headedness. It made the sweet tender moment you shared all the more special as well as rare.

A sudden gale swept over you two, making you shiver. You heard him utter a sound as he turned to look at you.

“You should go back inside” He frowned, still facing you as his eyes glanced away once more. “Not that I care, but you could catch a cold out here”

Despite his words, you had to smile to yourself. Slowly, you were starting to see through his facade. He did care, he just didn’t want anyone to know.

“I’m good here, it’s dark and lonely in there” 

Cloud sighed, yet despite his clear exasperation, one of his arms fell over your shoulders. You could only assume he did it to keep you warm, as his body radiated warmth.

“C-Cloud!” You exclaimed in astonishment, surprised that he was so adamant on looking after you.

“Shut up” Was all he said, even as his arm pulled you closer against his torso.

“Not that you care” You told him, teasing him slightly. “But thank you” 

“Hm” He told you as all response, allowing you to snuggle closer to him.

You heaved a sigh of relief as you relaxed under his protective closeness. All day you had been tired, scared and jumpy, but sitting there with Cloud you felt calm. For the first time in hours, you weren’t afraid anymore.

Leaning your head on his shoulder, you closed your eyes. Your entire body felt heavy with exhaustion. As you further relaxed, your breathing slowed and you felt yourself falling asleep.

“Y/N?” He called, though you were too sleepy to reply back.

In a way more tender than you thought him capable of, Cloud carefully scooped you into his arms. As he carried you, you felt safe from any and all threats. Still you tried to say something, but even opening your mouth felt tiring. 

When you heard the sound of a door opening and him dipping you slightly, you groaned in complaint and held on to his tank top. He stuttered at the gesture.

“Stay with me” You asked him, needing his comforting presence.

“B-But...” He mumbled, still hovering with you in his arms.

“Please, Cloud” Your eyelids were too heavy to open, and your hand wasn’t even strong enough to cling on to him anymore.

“Fine” He sighed, gingerly placing you on the bed and settling in the floor close to you. “Just for a bit”

You smiled, and you intended to thank him, but you were already fast asleep.

-

You stirred until you startled yourself awake. Quickly sitting up on the bed, you tried to shake away the remnants of your nightmare. It was worse when you remembered it was based on a real occurrence.

Slightly dazed, you glanced around to find yourself back in your room. The faint light from dawn filtrated through the window, signaling the arrival of a new day.

“Cloud?” You lowly called, expecting him to be long gone.

“I’m here” His voice unexpectedly said from below.

You hadn’t noticed him, but he was lying down on the ground. He turned around to be facing you and watched you intently. You could almost read his thoughts, that so urgently told him to ask how you were doing. He didn’t.

“What are you doing on the floor?” You said instead, frowning at the sight.

“Wasn’t gonna let you sleep on the floor” He casually said, sitting up himself.

You smiled, endeared by the thoughtful gesture. He grunted in annoyance and fidgeted until his back leaned against the wall.

“Feeling better?” He finally asked you, although he might have been trying to change the subject.

“Yeah, I am”

“Good”

“Thanks to you, for looking after me” 

“Whatever...” He stood up and languidly rested his weight on his right leg. “Can I go now?”

“Right after I pay you back” Almost cunningly, you smirked as you leaned closer to him.

He gasped when your lips met with his cheek for just a second. Flustered, he stood there stuttering for a bit until he finally rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Go get some rest” You told him, taking notice of the dark circles under his eyes. “It looks like you didn’t sleep all night” 

“I did” He lied, averting his gaze as he seemed to often do. “You just couldn’t tell”

“Sure” You replied as he began to walk away, following his every move.

Cloud stopped before the door, looking over his shoulder to you. Then he walked out without a word, closing the door behind him. You sighed, feeling much calmer and peaceful than last night. As you lied back down, you smiled to yourself.

Cloud pretended not to, but he did care. You hadn’t known each other for that long, yet he was willing to watch over you all night. He had watched over you all night, protecting you when you were too scared to fall asleep. He cared.

Tag list: @anxiouslyreckless​ / @xionroxas​ / @dancewaterdance02​ / @little-faerie-artist​ / @x-joie-x​ / @honeybunhanbin​ / @legallyblindgamer727​ / @goodmorningawfulbye​ / @trunks-kiwi​ // If you want to be added or taken off the tag list for these fandoms or characters, let me know!! // Reblogs and comments are appreciated!  

[sleepingcrisis]

*Ahem*

AU where Kojiro, Ainosuke, and Tadashi are con artists who are trying to Con famous calligrapher Kaoru Sakurayashiki out of his fortune.

They underestimate his witt and soon the calligrapher has all three of them under his thumb.

Bonus:

Kaoru doesn't really want them around but they won't leave until they have conned him (at least that is the excuse they come up with (and by they I mean Kojiro and Ainosuke)). Anyway he puts them to work watching over children that he is the godfather to.

***************************************************

"Read the fine print sweetie," Kaoru hummed as he set his brush down since the three storming in had caused a mistake in his brushwork. Damn idiots.

"What?" Ainosuke snatches the paper from Kojiro and Kaoru stared up at the three with boring golden eyes. His chin in the palm of his hand as he takes in their presence. Kojiro is a brute to put it simply, but Tadashi and Ainosuke are much more put together. Perhaps he can make this work after all.

"So now that you three have effectively signed your lives away to me unless you can come up with the money, I suppose you three can leave me alone now instead of playing this game? I can put you to work but I don't need three filthy criminals working for me—"

"Criminals?" Kojiro cut him off with a glare.

"Yes. Criminals," Kaoru sighed softly. "Carla?"

The small hologram projects over his table as he begins to put away his supplies. He wasn't in the mindset to practice his art anymore.

"Nanjo Kojiro: failed business owner. Criminal record including; theft, tax evasion, assault.

"Shindo Ainosuke: Former politician. Criminal record including; theft, tax evasion, assault, money laundering, traffic violations, DUI, Fraud.

"Kikuchi Tadashi: assistant to Shindo Ainosuke. Criminal record; possession of a weapon, associated with other crimes but never convicted." Her voice robotically supplied.

"Do you three think I don't do research on who I let into this building? Your phoney names gave you away for too easily and I honestly thought I would have more of a challenge with trying to find your actual identities but that didn't take very long either," Kaoru explained as he got up from where he was sitting and carefully adjusted his dark gray yukata. "So you three try and get me to sign over my fortune just like that? I expected more out of you three," he rounds his table and pulls out his fan from his sash and carefully tilts Tadashi’s head over. The green eyed man was always looking at the ground.

"Especially you, thought you were smarter since the brains has to come from one of you," Kaoru hummed. He countinued to walk past them. Tapping Kojiro and Ainosuke on the cheek with his fan not too gently.

"So what do you want us to do?" Kojiro asked.

"I just said I want you three gone? No need to work for me—"

"No. We will stay and work," Ainosuke agreed and stifled his grin into a polite smile. Kaoru’s eyes narrowed before he realized what they were up to.

"Ah. You still wish to steal from me? Okay fine. You three may work for me, but if you don't con me from my wealth by the time you have worked off the money you owe then I want all three of you gone and if you arent then I will make you three disappear got it?" Kaoru asked with a polite smile.

"Understood," Kojiro and Ainosuke replied.

"Understood," Tadashi agreed in a much softer voice.

"Wonderful," Kaoru hummed.

•••••

"What are we doing here?" Kojiro asked. They were at a school to be precise. An elementary school.

"Babysitting," Kaoru informed. "I godfather three children and if any of you touch a hair on their heads I will kill you," Kaoru’s voice deepened slightly.

"Why do we have to be here?" Ainosuke clarified Kojiro’s earlier question.

"Because you dimwitted fools insist on following me around."

"I meant at the school," Ainosuke clarified.

"Because they wanted to be picked up today," was all the explanation the three men recieved before Kaoru took a step forward when two boys came shooting out of the building with a third trailing behind and demanding that they slow down.

They make an effort to bulldoze Kaoru down by hugging him and Kaoru simply holds them close and leaves space for the third.

"Kaoru! Kaoru! Kaoru! Can we get ice cream today? Pleeeease!" The red haired one whined and clutched onto the fabric of Kaoru’s yukata as the third boy finally joins them in their puppy-dog-eyed begging.

"I suppose that would be okay," Kaoru said and gently ruffled the red haired boys hair.

"Mutts, introduce yourselves," Kaoru said and turned to the three older men with a very serious expression. They weren't sure if they should be using false names or not, but they supposed Kaoru would have mentioned a preference if he had one. Besides if they swapped between the two it was only a matter of time before a fuck up occurred.

"Nanjo Kojiro," the green haired male grumbled and nodded in their direction.

"Oh uh, Tadashi," the black haired male gave a friendly smile.

Ainosuke rolled his eyes before he kneeled down to he eye level with them and extended a hand. "Shindo Ainosuke, but if that is a mouthful then just Adam is fine," he said with a smile.

Kaoru smiled slightly when the three boys eagerly went to shake Adam’s hand. "Take notes," Kaoru mentioned and it was clearly directed at Tadashi and Kojiro. "You three, don't be rude," he tacked on.

"I'm Reki! This is Langa and Miya!" The red haired boy performed introductions for them and pointed to the blue haired boy and then the black haired boy.

Well Kojiro certainly couldn't let himself be one upped by Ainosuke of all people.

"Well aren't you three cute—"

"I am not cute you asshole—"

Miya's cussing was cut off with a smack to the back of his head with Kaoru’s fan. "Should I tell your mother about your mouth?" He asked and watched Miya's face quickly morph to some sort of fear before he spouted out apologies. "No harm done, he is a gorilla after all. Let's just get going," Kaoru said and ended up having to hold Miya and Langa's hands as Reki skipped ahead.

"So we are actually doing this," Kojiro muttered.

"I'm not sure what you two expected from this," Tadashi muttered and began to follow along. Keeping his distance as they were instructed to even if Kojiro and Ainosuke never listened to instructions.

They ended up getting ice-cream. Well the kids did and Kaoru got a smoothie. After that was the park where it was found out that Kaoru couldn't really play tag in traditional attire and instead made the other three pick up the slack for it. Turns out Tadashi wasn't a very fast runner and Kojiro was a lot better with kids then initially suspected.

"Damn con artists," Kaoru muttered from his spot on the bench.

They spent the day running around, well everyone but Kaoru ran around, until eventually the sun was going down and Miya was curled up in Kaoru’s lap.

"Okay let's head home," Kaoru eventually decided and lifted Miya up as he got up.

"I want to be carried, my legs are tired and I'm hungry and I think I'll starve!" Langa whined dramatically.

"Oh you are fine, besides I can't carry both of you at the same time," Kaoru mentioned. "And your mothers have food at home."

Either way Langa looked to the next most reasonable option before whispering to Reki briefly and soon they were both trying to get onto Kojiro’s back who huffed and stumbled forward.

"Hey you-"

"Nanjo, watch yourself," Kaoru mentioned as he walked.

Kojiro rolled his eyes and gently adjusted the kids and soon had both of them hanging onto his back with his arms holding their legs. It was uncomfortable as hell but they seemed happy.

Kaoru insisted on walking each of them all the way home so it took awhile but eventually they had every kid dropped off.

"Well two out of three of you did well today," Kaoru mentioned.

"Oh such high praise, and which one of us blundered," Ainosuke asked sarcastically.

Kaoru pivoted to turn around and began to head towards the three before he grabbed Tadashi by his jacket and tugged him forward. He reached into his jacket and pressed a hand against his chest before searching around and pulling a small hand gun out. Tadashi seemed relatively unfazed the entire time even as the other two watched. "Kikuchi? If you ever bring a weapon around my family ever again I'll make sure that it is the last time you ever have the honour of being around them," Kaoru whispered dangerously low before he put the gun back and adjusted Tadashi’s jacket to fix him back up into his pristine condition.

"When did you notice?" Kojiro asked. The tone of his voice gave way that he supposedly was unaware of this.

"At the park. You can't do that much running around and expect me not to notice. Miya pointed it out though," Kaoru explained and turned to countinue walking.

"You three are my dogs, bound to me until you can prove to be intellectually superior or work off your debt. Now you do as your master commands you and not bring weapons around my loved ones. Do we understand each other?" Kaoru asked and tilted his head to look back at them.

"Understood," each spoke with varying degrees of frustration or anger in their tone. Ainosuke with gritted teeth, Kojiro with a fake smile, and Tadashi as blank as always.

"I'm glad we understand eachother my pets," Kaoru turned and countinued down the sidewalk. Pink hair swishing gently behind him and the fabric of his clothing swishing with each step and each breeze that passed by as the sun set in ground of him and highlighted the edges of Kaoru’s figure.

They followed after him anyway, for they were the dogs and he was indeed their master.

They had the contract to prove it.