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biggest-stupidhead · 3 years

Note

Hello! I usually don’t request much so I hope Im doing this right. I absolutely loved the fic where the reader accidentally breaks Levi’s nose and saw that you would be willing to write a 3rd part! So if someone hasn’t already asked, may I request a part where Levi and the reader slowly fall in love. ( Maybe a little flirting along the way from the reader 😗) Eventually one of them confesses and Levi is all flustered and shy ( I heard that he stutters around his crush but I don’t know if that’s confirmed! I just thought that it was adorable🥺)

I found your blog recently and loved your writing so I couldn’t resist requesting! Sorry if this seems a little vague. Feel free to do whatever! Thank you~

yesssss!!! thank u so much for the support anon 🥺 and this was a perfect request thank u for sending it in!

Summary: Late night paper work and early afternoon naps.

Word Count: 3.4K (I got a little carried away 🤭)

In the four years that you had been in the survey corps, this was by far the busiest. You had been working under Sis, until recently when Hange began the tedious process of transferring you onto her squad. Just when she was about finished, the whole Trost situation arose, putting your transfer on pause. And by the end of it, after Eren’s trial you had just kind of...settled into a vague routine of working with Levi and Hange squads. Bouncing between the two of them. But now as you sat in front of Erwin’s desk, Levi leaning casually against the desk, looking over Erwin’s shoulder as he signed off on some last minute details.

“Alright then... that settles it (Y/n)! Levi is under your care now!” He teased, earning a sharp jab in the ribs from Levi.

“I do hope that you are a night owl as well.” Erwin continued to relentlessly tease him, and your hand flew to your mouth to cover the smile and little giggle threatening to spill out.

“I think that we’ll manage just fine Commander.” You said, smirking at Levi who was glaring at the back of Erwin’s blonde head.

“Oh I know you will (Y/n).” Erwin picked up his stack of papers and tapped them against his desk before passing them over to you. You smiled up at him and stretched a hand across to shake, his warm hand closed over your own.

“Thank you sir.” You glanced at Levi who was now practically pouting as he stood impatiently by the door.

“Better get going, Levi isn’t the most patient.” Erwin whispered to you with a sly smirk and a wink. You let that laugh loose now as you stood from your chair and held the papers to your chest.

“I’ll see you around Commander.” You said with a little wave as you joined Levi at the door. He opened the door and basically stormed out into the corridor.

“Anxious to get to work Captain?” You teased as you matched his steps, which were brisk and surprisingly long despite his size.

“Don’t get cocky, I’m still your superior.” Levi reminded you, since this was a new unfamiliar side of you that he was unfamiliar with, he had no clue how to handle you. Maybe he could find a way to ask Hange about this foreign side of you without drawing too much attention to himself? No that was nearly impossible, damn four eyes was too keen on the little details.

“No need to worry Captain, I know how the chain of command works around here.” You said as you paused in front of his office, waiting for him to use his key and let you in. He just rolled his eyes, not sure if he was more interested in having this version around or more annoyed. He shook these thoughts off, it was far too late for him to double back on his request for you to become his assistant now. You settled into the chair across from him and began to flip through the paper work that Erwin had just given to you. Levi returned to writing the condolence letters that he had been working on before Erwin had called for the two of you. It was late afternoon, nearly dinner time. Levi usually only got a small portion of food and brought it back to his office to eat. He hadn’t expected you to do the same. But when he dismissed you for dinner you instead offered to bring his meal to him. A bit bashfully, he accepted your offer, and was even more surprised when you came in with two portions and a tray of tea.

You seemed unbothered with not sitting with your peers, Levi almost tricked himself into believing that you were choosing to spend time with him over the others. But he quickly dismissed those thoughts, knowing that it was most likely the paperwork that was keeping you here. He continued to sneak glances at you through out the evening, waiting for you to ask if you could be dismissed. But you remained silent and focused on the paper work before you. Levi realized that the two of you managed to finish work that usually took him all night to finish, well before midnight. He was unsure of what to do with this free time as he watched you stand and stretch.

“Same thing tomorrow Captain?” You said with a sleepy smile on your face. Levi’s eyes narrowed and he nodded, waving you off.

“See you first thing in the morning then.” You said over your shoulder as you left the office, closing his door softly behind you. Levi blinked dumbly after you, he felt so very...confused. He had never felt this flutter in his chest before, or the tightness in his stomach at seeing you leave. Levi stayed awake late into the night, mulling over the way that he had felt when he watched you leave, the excitement that had sparked inside of him at your promise to see him in the morning.

He even caught himself wondering what it would be like to have you with him all night. Not necessarily in a sexual way, but in a way in which he could see you right before he fell asleep, and again when he first opened his eyes. The thought brought those butterflies back into this stomach, fluttering around in the most annoying way.

The next few days continued in a similar pattern, you kept that same sass, often surprising him with your own crass jokes that rivaled his. It was a particularly sunny Sunday afternoon, the only day that soldiers had off out of the week. He had offered the day off for you but you had refused, and now you were looking like you regretted that decision. Your head was held precariously on the palm of your hand while your other hand flew across the paper as you wrote. Your eyes were closing every now and then, and Levi would pause when they did. Waiting to see if you had finally succumbed to sleep that had been chasing you all day seemingly.

“What?” You mumbled, eyes still closed, pen hanging limply from your fingers.

“Hm?” Levi hummed, eyes snapping back down onto his paper in a desperate attempt at looking innocent.

“Do I have ink on my face or something?” You asked as you set the pen down and rubbed your hands down the sides of your face.

“No... but you’re no help to me if you keep nodding off. Go take a nap and come back when you’re rested.” Levi said, waving you off, despite how badly he wanted you to stay.

“Mkay.” You sighed as you opened your eyes just a crack as you stood and grabbed your jacket off of the chair. Levi paused his work to watch you leave, but he was surprised when you only crossed the room and fell limply onto his love seat. He scoffed as you placed the jacket over your face and curled up into a fetal position. Levi tried in vain to refocus, but the sight of you napping made him surprisingly tired as well. He placed his pen down with a loud sigh and leaned back, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the warm sunlight streaming in from his window.

“Captain, come sit with me.” Your voice was gravely from sleep as you sat up and smiled at him. His heart did a backflip and then ran a mile around his chest at the sight of you in the sun, eyes half open as you looked at him a tad pleadingly.

“Move over.” He simply replied as he stood from the desk and crossed the room. He leaned down and moved your feet, sitting down where they once were. He sighed contently as he rested his arm over the back of the couch and stretched his legs out underneath the coffee table. He jumped when your feet fell onto his lap, his other hand reached instinctively to swat them off and you whimpered when he did so.

“Chill out Levi, it’s off the clock.” You mumbled as you sat up and shot him a playful smirk.

“Go back to sleep idiot.” He said, reaching up and shoving your head back down onto the sofa. You let out a strangled laugh at his actions and he felt his heart do another little flip at the sound. You sat up, hair mussed and eyes still foggy with sleep.

“Careful Levi, you wouldn’t want to get into another fight with me. We both remember how our last one turned out.” You teased, leaning forward and tapping the tip of his nose with your pointer finger. He scoffed in disbelief as you sat up and leaned back into the couch. He became hyper aware of how close you were now, your hand so close to his thigh that he could feel your pinky brushing the fabric of his pants.

“You got lucky. Next time I won’t underestimate you.” He said with another dramatic roll of his eyes.

“Ah so you admit that you would like a rematch?” You asked shuffling closer so your thigh pressed against his. He whipped his head to look away from you and hide his blush.

“E-Eventually.” He tried to cover his mild stutter by clearing his throat, if you had noticed, you didn’t comment on his flustered state.

“Just name the time and place, and I’ll be there.” You chuckled scooting away from him much to his disappointment.

After that afternoon Levi found himself almost desperately seeking your presence. Admittedly, he was hogging you, denying Hange from “borrowing” you for experiments, making up embarrassing excuses for you to stay later into the evenings. If you minded, you didn’t say anything. One particular evening Levi found that he had run out of excuses to keep you, and was about to dismiss you when you surprised him.

“Are you tired?” You asked, rather out of pocket as you leaned back on your heels from scrubbing his floor.

“Not one bit.” Levi said honestly, he knew that you were aware of his bad sleeping habits.

“Good, come with me.” You said, dropping the dirty rag in your hands back into the bucket. Levi was eager to follow you out of his office, which smelled of cleaning chemicals and lemons, as always. You led him through the empty corridors and out into the courtyard. You turned and started walking backwards so you could face him as you spoke.

“Up for a midnight ride?” You asked cheekily, Levi’s brow furrowed but he found the extra alone time with you all too enticing to pass up.

“I suppose...” He was abruptly cut off by your hand closing around his wrist, you dragged him the rest of the way to the stables. Levi went to get his tack, but you simply grabbed the reigns for your horse, you led the palomino out of her stall, Levi looked at you skeptically as he held his saddle and the blanket.

“No time for any of that, if we don’t hurry, we’ll miss it.” You said with a charming smile on your lips. Levi found himself foregoing the saddle like you had and just taking his reigns for his black mare. Once the two of you were ready you both spurred your horses into a light trot. Levi shifted uncomfortably, he had never ridden bareback, yet you looked more than natural in the uncomfortable position. You led the way, heading off into the woods behind HQ, the trail was narrow and a tad tedious, but it was a rather short ride. You stopped along the tree line, a wide field sprawling before you. The tall grass was glowing with fireflies, swaying in the summer breeze. A small creek was between the forest and the rest of the field.

“Shall we cross?” You asked, turning to him to gauge his reaction. He shrugged and shifted once more on his mare’s back.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” You giggled as you kicked your horse to move forward. Your own mare waded fearlessly into the water, crossing the stream in a few steps. Levi’s own mare was undaunted by the creek, Levi was another story, he pulled his feet up in an attempt to keep them dry as his mare splashed through the water. Once on the other side you dropped off of your horse and tied it to a nearby log. Levi followed your lead and tied up his horse as well. Once that was finished you beckoned for him to follow you once more. You led him through the tall grass, to a small clearing where the grass had been pressed down, clearly someone or something had been laying there.

“I come out here to think.” You explained as you fell onto your butt and patted the space beside you. The crickets and tree frogs sang in the background and Levi furrowed his brow but eventually sank down to sit next to you. Pleased with this, you laid the rest of the way back and looked up at the night sky.

“Seems a bit loud to be a thinking place.” Levi quipped as he leaned back on his hands and stretched his legs out.

“Hm maybe. Truthfully I don’t get much thinking done when I’m here. I just....sit.” You shrugged, eyes distant as you looked up at the stars.

“I see.” Levi wasn’t sure how to respond, but his head buzzed with thoughts, when did you come out here? Was it because he was overworking you? Why did you bring him out here? You rolled onto your side and reached out, gripping his wrist lightly, bringing his attention off of the sky and on to you.

“Hm?” He hummed wordlessly as he looked down at you with a raised brow.

“Lay with me?” You smiled a bit sheepishly and Levi felt his cheeks flare up at the sight of you bathed in moonlight, eyes wide and pleading, your mouth curled up into a knowing smile. He huffed, feigning frustration as he slumped the rest of the way into the grass and crossed his arms behind his head. He laid perfectly still, waiting to see what you would do next, he heard the sound of you shuffling closer, so that your head rested just below his arm, your side pressed against his own. It was clumsy and painfully awkward for a moment, as you waited for Levi to shuffle away or welcome you into his embrace. But he remained deathly still, and you knew that you would have to be the one to initiate the affection, not really a surprising discovery. You inhaled deeply as you steeled your nerves before you scooted up and rested your head on Levi’s bicep. You heard him suck in a deep breath as well. But he extended his arm and wrapped it around your shoulders after a tense moment. The frogs seemed to grow louder as you looked up at him, his head was craned down to look at you. His cheeks were flushed an adorable pink color, his brows furrowed still, his mouth was in a flat line as he looked down at you.

“What’s with the face?” you whispered, reaching a free hand up to gently tap his bruised nose.

“What face?” Levi grumbled, grabbing your wrist and holding it tightly in his grasp. You chuckled and opened your hand to rest it on his cheek, thumb grazing the soft skin on his face.

“That one.” You giggled as you shuffled impossibly closer and leaned up so that your breaths mingled. Levi lifted his chin a bit, he had never kissed someone before, something that he was very self conscious about. But you seemed to take this in stride as you propped yourself up on your elbow, his arm that you had been laying on quickly wrapped around your waist as you leaned over him. The stars disappeared behind your face as you smiled down at him, hair curtaining over him as you leaned in once more. This time he remained still, the warmth of your breath on his lips once more, His eyes abandoned yours in favor of looking at your lips, which were opened slightly as you tilted your head to the side. A soft chuckle escaped you as you hovered over his mouth with yours.

“I hope...that I’m not crossing any boundaries.” You were so close to him now that when you spoke, your lips grazed his. Levi had never wanted to kiss someone as badly as he wanted to kiss you in this moment.

“Shut up and-”

“And what captain? Kiss you?” You teased, and he blushed impossibly harder, you could tell he was flustered based off of the way his cheek burned under your open palm.

“Yes...” He mumbled after a moment of silence. You let out another airy laugh before leaning down and planting your lips on his. You gently took his bottom lip between your own and he timidly returned the kiss. You sighed at the feeling of his returned affections and Levi was sure that his heart was going to explode as you relaxed into him once more. After a moment you pulled away and smiled dazzlingly at him, the moonlight did wonders for your complexion, casting you in an ethereal glow. He knew now that he needed to see you in the first rays of light to confirm his theory: That no matter what time of day, you always looked impossibly beautiful.

“What are you thinking about?” You quizzed, leaning down and pecking a kiss to his lips before he could answer.

“I’m thinking-” another kiss, this time to the corner of his mouth.

“that it’s-” this time you placed a kiss just below his earlobe.

“C-Can you stop?” He stuttered as he turned and avoided you planting another kiss behind his ear.

“Mmm fine.” You pouted, but buried your face into his neck, waiting for him to finish his sentence from earlier.

“I said: I’m thinking that it’s almost daybreak.” He finished, pointing up at the sky, which was turning pink along the eastern side of the field. You groaned and nuzzled further into his neck.

“Then let’s ride back and go to sleep. It’s Sunday after all, we can sleep in.” you mumbled, placing an open mouthed kiss to his collar bone. His hand fell back onto your back, he could feel your muscles flex as you rolled the rest of the way on top of him, resting your full weight on his stomach.

“You’ll need to get off of me for that to happen.” He huffed as his other hand left your wrist to push you playfully off of his stomach. You moaned pitifully as you fell back onto the damp grass.

“So tragic.” You said as Levi stood and brushed the grass off of his plain clothes. You finally got to your feet and did the same, eager to ride back and go to bed.

The two of you made it back before sunrise, the sky turning pinker by the minute. After you had put your horses away you both hurried back up to his office, where his private quarters was attached. Levi kicked his boots off and you did as well, not wanting to dirty his floor that you both spent so much time cleaning. He lifted the covers for you and you dove beneath them, Levi laid down next to you and you cuddled up close, looking up with those soft eyes of yours. His nose was still purple and had a small bandage covering his cut. You leaned up and planted a gentle kiss to the tip of it before pulling away.

“Next time I won’t go easy on you.” You teased breath fanning over his lips once more. Levi huffed and angled his head impatiently seeking your mouth. You chuckled and met him halfway, closing your mouth over his with another satisfied sigh.

In the end, Levi got what he wanted. You fell asleep in his bed, bathed in the morning light, curled into his side as he felt sleep overcoming him. This was the first time that you stayed with him the entirety of the night, and Levi was determined to never spend a night alone again.

___

PLEASE. I’M SO VERY SOFT FOR LEVI RN.

I already read the manga and I can’t bring myself to watch the last two episodes, I’m not mentally stable enough for that right now. So this is how I cope. 💁‍♀️

#levi x y/n #levi x reader #levi reader insert #snk levi #levi ackerman #levi aot #levi fanfiction #levi ackerman fanfiction #soft levi #so fluffy #this was so sweet it gave me a cavity #levi fluff #aot #aot fanfiction #aot fandom #reader instert #fanfic #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman x you

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fearfilledvirgil · 6 years

Text

Ivity and Anx: part nineteen

Summary: Virgil and Roman hate each other to the core of their beings, but both become friends with a new stranger via the Sarrahas Project. Virgil takes to Creativity as well as Roman does to Anxiety, but they don’t know the true identity of the ones they’re slowing falling for.

Warnings: Swearing, descriptive panic attack, intrusive thoughts, mentions of abuse

Word Count: 7166

Pairing: Logicality, slowburn Prinxiety

A/N: the skeleton war is over and we lost

masterlist

Taglist: @rileyfirstname @verymuchanidiot @definentlynotjustanotherlemon @silversmith-91 @kanejandkruge @sander-fander-sides @lovecrazyjennybear @the-incedible-sulk @hexdream18243 @crows-with-hats @monikastec @definenormalifyoucan @i-am-absolute-fandom-trash @applecannibal @cats-with-blogs @bubblycricket @witchcraft--and--wizardry @bunnyartie @quietlypondering @elusivefalsehoods @hghrules @royallyanxious @quietwords-loudthoughts @squishynonbinarytwink @sortablue @illogical-anxieties @savingshae @a-fander-named-skittles @thelowlysatsuma @ughthatsprettygay @im-so-infinitesimal @certifiedtrashxx @karmels-stuff @sanders-sides-trash-blog @musicqueen1239 @the-average-loner @nicological1 @oh-star-how-the-mighty-fall @surleytemple @nervous-collection @asapmy @super-magical-wizard @arandompasserby @serenitythepanther @ijustrealizedhowdumbmynamewas

Patton pulled up to the airport, and checked his phone. It was 6:03 a.m. and Logan’s plane landed roughly ten minutes ago, which meant he should be getting his luggage now. Patton was absolutely vibrating with excitement. It had been so long since he saw Logan, or at least it felt like it. They never really got together outside of the Gay Straight Alliance club, but their time there was special to Patton. Logan was special to Patton. Quickly, he sent Logan a text to tell him where he was waiting in his small Kia Soul.

Patton Heart <3: Hey Lolo! I just pulled up to the airport. I’m waiting outside of terminal 23. See you soon! <3

In the process of checking the notifications he had received while driving, Patton realized he had a text from Roman. It was sent roughly at four in the morning the night pior, which made Patton worry slightly. Still, he opened the text.

Prince Roman: Tell Logan how you feel on your way from picking him up. Might be surprised at what you find

Before he could respond or try to decipher the weirdly convoluted message from his best friend, his phone pinged with a message from Logan.

Logos Brain: I just picked up my luggage. I will meet you there in approximately three minutes.

Patton’s heart soared at the message. However, his stomach also twisted itself into knots. He was going to follow Roman’s advice and tell Logan how he felt. The worry that Logan would abandon him weighed heavily on his mind, but he didn’t think Logan would truly leave him. But that didn’t stop the dark thoughts from creeping into his mind every once in a while.

A soft knock on the window startled Patton from his dark train of thought. He smiled widely and got out of the car to greet Logan. “Hey there, kiddo!”

Logan’s heart sped up slightly at the brightness of Patton’s smile. “Salutations, Patton.” He barely had time to put his suitcase down before he got a bear hug from the younger boy. Gently he wrapped his arms around the other.

“I’ve missed you so much, Lo.”

“As have I, Patton. I wish I was returning under better circumstances, but I am very glad to see you.”

Patton couldn’t help but smile wider at that. “I’m glad to see you too! Why don’t we put your stuff in the car and grab a coffee? I haven’t had one yet.”

“That sounds pleasant.”

Logan put his things in the trunk of the car then got into the passenger side. Patton got back in the driver’s side and started to drive off when both were buckled in. He opted to take the back roads so he could drive slower. A long embedded fear of driving reckless after several bad experiences kept him from going quickly. The two talked about how the prior day went and how Logan’s flight was. After that conversation died down, there was a quiet lull in the car.

Come on Patton. You can do it. He isn’t going to hurt you. I know it’s hard to open up but you can do it. “Hey, Lo?” Patton’s heart was beating too fast for it to be normal. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to get the words he needed out of his mouth enough for him to actually confess. He didn’t even know the first place to begin confessing that the feelings that he harborded for Logan were far more than just platonic ones.

“Yes, Patton?”

“Can I tell you something without you getting upset?”

“As long as it isn’t another dad joke, I believe I will be alright.” There was a smile on Logan’s face that released some of the tension Patton felt.

“You’ve made a few yourself, you can’t say much.”

“They were never intentional.”

“Whatever you say,” Patton stayed quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it. Logan remained quiet, but watched his friend intently, curious about what the father figure wanted to ask. “I really like you. And I think it is as more than just a good friend.”

That was not at all what Logan was expecting. He was expecting a question about Virgil or perhaps if he believed that Virgil had feelings towards Roman. But nothing had prepared him for a confession like that. Logan realized he was taking too long to answer when he saw Patton’s face start to change. It looked as if he was trying to hold back tears.

“Patton…”

“If you hate me I understand.” The tone of Patton’s voice broke Logan’s heart. He never wanted to hurt the other boy. He cared deeply for him, more than deeply even. He only just recently had this revelation of his own, abit later than he should have, but it was as good of time as any to put a label to how he was feeling. Now, that label was paying off.

“I could never hate you, dear Patton. Could you pull over for a moment and look at me?”

Patton couldn’t help but sniff. Tears were already threatening to pour down his face. Logan hates me Logan hates me Logan hates me Logan hates me Logan hates me oh my god this was such a stupid idea! How did I ever think this was even close to okay!? “Yeah. Okay.” He pulled over, but still refused to look at Logan.

Logan unbuckled himself and turned slightly so that he was facing Patton. “Patton. Please. Will you look at me?” When he saw Patton shake his head, Logan gently took one of the other’s hands in his. “Patton. I have never been good with emotions. I have been teased for most of my life about not having any, but it isn’t true. And that has never been more apparent to me then now. I-” He swallowed and tried again. “I feel the same about you. And I am not telling you a falsehood.”

Patton looked at Logan, tears still in his eyes. “You do?”

“Yes. I didn’t realize just how deeply I cared about you until… recently, but yes.”

Patton quickly unbuckled and threw himself into Logan’s arms. Logan held him tightly and gently carded his fingers through the ginger’s hair, whispering soothing words. Patton cried in the older’s arms, this time tears of joy. The two stayed in each others arms for several minutes, Patton feeling several different emotions, but love and relief being the major two. He was so relieved that Logan felt the same way. He was relieved more so that Logan didn’t shut him out or make fun of him.

“Patton?”

“Yeah, Lo?”

“Come on.” Logan vaguely stated before peeling away from Patton to get out of the car. Patton scrambled to follow, stopped to grab a blanket he always kept in the back seat in case they wanted to sit down in the meadow they were parked near. At least, Patton thought that was Logan’s idea? The early morning sun shone off the dew that blanketed the meadow, causing it to sparkle green. Logan gently took Patton’s hand and led him into the grass.

“I apologize for causing you so much alarm in the car, Patton. It’s hard for me to express emotions.”

“It’s okay, Logan.”

Logan shook his head. “It isn’t. Not truly,” He took a deep breath. “My parents weren’t the most supportive of my more emotional endeavours. I believe they thought it would get in the way of my learning. They were told I was a ‘gifted’ child, so that took precedence. I remember playing with my friends and laughing at some of the most ridiculous things, but those got pushed aside for my learning,” He paused and Patton squeezed his hand reassuringly. Logan returned the pressure. “I have always loved to read, but it used to be fairy tales or fun books like that. I had a great adoration for Dr. Seuss. I enjoyed how nonsensical they were but they still had a lesson that was taught.

“Once my time shifted to school work I lost the time for those types of stories. I turned to the classics because there was still some small form of escape, even if it wasn’t as large as the escape fanticy used to bring me. And I... I lost a lot of my emotional connections to things. The only fraction was the Saturdays when my babysitter would take me out to a field to read. I got lost in a lot of the emotions of the stories then instead of dealing with my own. Since I was old enough to not need one anymore I haven’t been able to do that. I wasn’t able to feel anything. I didn’t have a teacher or parents or really any adult to help me through how I was supposed to feel. So I can only assume that I dealt with the unknown by shutting them off. I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was normal or not. Then Virgil came into my life.

“He was the first friend I had in probably five years. He was also the first person to help me, well, feel again. Virgil is hard to understand at first but there’s something about him that just...I’m not sure. It almost felt as if he sent a signal that he needed someone. He had been in the library having an attack when I walked in and I was able to help him calm down. We spoke a little then about what happened, and he told me later that the factual way I speak is grounding. He also helped me through some of my own emotions. Worry was the first. In case you didn’t know, it’s something Virgil understands quite well.”

There was a small smile on Logan’s lips. “He was the teacher I didn’t have, at least partially. He also helped teach me to love? He’s the brother I never had, and therefore taught me how to love my own sibling when she came along. But then, he started to shut me out. I understand now it was out of fear of what his father might do, but it hurt. Then I started speaking with you. Patton, you are a well of emotions. You can help others understand emotions better than anyone else I have ever seen. Inadvertently, you helped me understand more of my own just during the times we spoke. You showed me love and kindness and tenderness and so many different emotions. I have to admit that sometimes it was a lot to handle for me. I wasn’t used to it so it was overwhelming, but I wasn’t uncomfortable with them. They were soothing as odd as that seems. And when I left I knew that nothing there could compare with how I felt around you. I had isolated myself again. Then when we spoke last night it all came flooding back. That’s when I realized that the emotions I felt around you were so different from those I felt around Virgil. I love Virgil with all of my being, but it is familial love. He’s my brother. With you it wasn’t the same. Last night is when I realized that I was IN love with you. That realization… it hit me hard. I believe I had tried to suppress those feelings because they were unknown. They were not something I could do research into and get a clear understanding of. But you have always been so kind and loving. You’ve waited for someone to love you with all of their heart and you were waiting to return that love. You deserve that love because of all the love you have given others. I hope that I can give you even a tenth of what you deserve.”

Patton looked at Logan. He never thought that he would hear so much of the other’s story. What he knew was that he was going to teach Logan everything he could about his emotions. No matter how long it took.

He pulled Logan into a hug, carelessly dropping the blanket into the wet grass. “I’m glad that I could help you with your emotions. And I will do everything I can to help you. We’re in this together.”

“Together.”

After the two pulled apart, Patton leaned down and layed out the blanket, then sat down, gently pulling Logan with him. He then snuggled against the one who stole his heart. Logan wrapped his arms around the boy who taught him to love. He took the time to admire how the light hit his auburn curls, showing off more of the red than normal. The young man looked almost angelic against the morning light.

Patton leaned his head up small amount, wanting to kiss Logan, but letting him decide if he was ready. Despite the fear, Logan leaned forward and met Patton’s lips. However, because of that same fear, he didn’t let the kiss linger like some would. Logan moved away from it after a short moment and looked at the other boy fondly, with love clear in his eyes. It was the first emotion that Patton ever could see clearly in the other’s eyes, despite them being windows to the soul. Patton figured that Logan was just unsure on a lot of the romance stuff, but he was glad that Logan had kissed him back.

Logan hated that he wasn’t comfortable with a lot of the romantic gestures, but he wasn’t sure how to explain that to Patton. It was a problem that he would deal with later. Right now he was glad that he was able to express himself enough to make it clear to Patton that he loved him. That he didn’t have to hide his emotions anymore. Patton would help him understand them and work through them at his own pace.

After a long while, Patton’s voice broke through the early morning serenity. “Logan?”

“Yes, Patton?”

“I think that you’ll give me a lot more than a tenth.”

A soft smile pulled on Logan’s lips. “I hope so. You deserve as much love and kindness as you can possibly get.”

“So do you. You’ve done so much with keeping Virgil safe. You have a kind heart, Logan. I think just because you didn’t understand emotions doesn’t mean you didn’t have any. You just showed them differently.” Logan moved one of his hands to be able to card it through Patton’s ginger locks.

“How do you mean?” he questioned, looking at the rising sun peaking out from the tops of trees on the horizon.

“Well,” Patton started, shifting his position so that he could get maximum hair playing. “Your ‘good morning’ texts and our conversations on our sleeping the night prior shows a lot of care. And I’m sure that there’s something that you and Virgil have to say that one of you is hurting. Codes between people are just a way to discreetly say that you care and want to know stuff. But not really Morse Code. I guess in the proper circumstance it could…”

Logan moved his head to smile down at Patton, taking in the view of the lovely boy’s face. Looking down at his love in the morning light, with the rising sun's rays glowing on Patton's face, was the most beautiful thing that Logan had ever experienced. It was more than anything could have imagined as Patton rambled on about how Logan shows he cares, about his theories and sneaky ways of suggesting healthy habits that he himself doesn’t perform as a way to say ‘I love you.’ It was amazing. It was sweet. It was so Patton.

“Logan?” Patton asked after stopping his small speech. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, my apologies,” Logan shook his head with a small smile. “I was just thinking how amazing it is for me to have you here, in this beautiful morning light.”

“You are surprisingly such a sap.” Patton started to giggle, which in turn made Logan let out his own huffs of laugher. After a few seconds, Logan realized that neither of them had asked the main question yet. The big one to start everything off.

“Patton,” Logan stated rather softly, but still with a tone that required to be listened to. Patton stopped giggling and met Logan’s pure ocean gaze. “Would you maybe… like to go on a breakfast date with me?”

At that, Patton squealed. He buried his face into Logan’s sweater, happiness leaking from his eyes in the form of another round of happy tears. Logan had said it first. Patton was absolutely terrified of saying those fateful words, but he wanted to say them. He yearned to say them to Logan since the two started actually talking, but Patton never had the courage. Logan did. Suddenly, Patton realized he didn’t actually give a vocal answer to Logan’s question.

“Yes,” Patton all but cried into his Logan’s chest. “Yes, a million times yes.”

Logan let out the breath that he was holding at the end of that sentence. Patton could feel it, but he just hugged onto Logan tighter. Logan personally didn’t exactly know how to feel about all the white-hot touch that Patton provided, but in the moment he liked it. He wrapped his arms around the shorter in his lap, leaning down to kiss the top of his head.

Logan smiled down at his Heart for the millionth time that morning. His eyes flicked upwards at the rising sun again, peace filling the ever circling cavity inside his chest. The pair needed to get to Roman’s house eventually, but that wasn’t necessary at the moment. Right now, in the early morning air, it was just the two of them existing together with love swirling wildling inside of them for one another.

Roman woke up first. He felt the slight weight on his chest which told him that Virgil was still there. There was nothing he could do about the slight blush that crept along his cheeks. Careful not to move the sleeping boy, Roman grabbed his phone from the table. There was one text from Patton that was sent about an hour prior.

Pappy Padre Patton: Hey kiddo, we’re going to be a little late. Logan and I are going on a breakfast date!

Roman broke out into a smile, happy that the text that he decided to send the night prior worked it’s magic. Thinking for a moment, he would have giggled at the odd position he was in if he could without waking Virgil. His head was turned toward the side so that he could see the phone in his arm that was dangling over the side of the couch. Virgil was still half on top of him, his head on his chest. Not only was his physical position quite odd, but the relationship that he was building with Virgil was entirely amazing, weird, and frustrating all at the same time. Roman found himself wishing that his hand was playing with Virgil’s admittedly greasy looking hair. He wanted to see that soft face that knew so many grimaces to smile, to flush with color, and for his eyes to light up like his words did when he talked about something he loved. Roman wanted Virgil to be happy, comfortable. He wanted Virgil to love.

Putting all of these revelations in the back of his mind as Virgil continued to steadily breath on his chest, Roman typed out an unsteady reply with one hand.

Prince Roman: Its alrigjt we had a late night. I just woke up ans Virgils still alseep.

Almost as soon as he hit send, Virgil began to stir. He groaned and shifted, probably assuming that it would be easier to shift than it actually was. Upon being stopped of turning with the pain in his arm and a body underneath him, Virgil snapped his eyes open. The dark abysses almost immediately caught onto Roman’s soft eyes.

“Good morning, Boy Against Humanity.” Roman’s voice was still gruff with morning sound, and it just went directly to Virgil’s already growing blush.

Virgil pushed himself up with one hand on the couch and the other on Roman’s surprisingly hard chest. He got himself into more of a sitting position, but was still on top of Roman’s legs. Roman, realizing that Virgil probably didn’t want to touch him at the moment, retracted his legs. Honestly, Virgil wondered how the two were able to sleep in a position like that while still in their jeans. Instead of saying anything, Virgil grunted out what Roman assumed was something along the lines of “Gonna get changed.”

Afterwards, with a blush still rising on his face, Virgil walked up the stairs into the bedroom that held his clothes. He grabbed out one of the purple shirts and one of his new black jeans, his mind wandering. He couldn’t figure out why he had blushed so badly at laying on Roman. Was is because of the close contact? Was it because of the night before in the recording studio? A shiver ran down Virgil’s spine at the memory. The fond memory. Virgil eventually got changed and got to the bottom of the stairs when the doorbell rang.

“Virgil, can you get it?” Roman called from the kitchen where Virgil assumed he was making coffee.

Virgil made a grunt of sort to signify his answer, making his way to the door from the stairs with a little too much knowledge. Upon opening it, his heart stopped.

Logan was at the door.

Why the fuck was Logan at the door?

“Logan?” Virgil finally found his voice after several seconds of staring. His grip on the door handle fell in astonishment. Logan was supposed to be in Massachusetts. He wasn’t supposed to be here. “You’re supposed to be at Harvard.”

“And your life was threatened,” Virgil visibly paled. Logan wasn’t supposed to know about that. “You take priority.”

“I don’t--” Virgil stumbled on his words. He lifted his arm to wave it around to prove a point, but the pain that jolted upwards said otherwise. He winced, which made Logan’s concerned face show itself. Virgil hated just how much of that face that he saw.

“Virge?” A soft voice asked behind Logan. Virgil took his eyes off of his button up and sweater clad friend for a moment, just long enough to see Patton behind Logan. “Virgil, honey, can we come in?”

Virgil must have waited a moment too long in not replying, because Logan took a step forward. On instinct in his still shocked state, he took a step backward. Logan took a visible deep breath, all while keeping his eyes on Virgil. The oldest out of the four boys shifted his messenger bag before slowly raising his arms. Logan rose them slower than he took the first step as a way to show Virgil that everything was alright. He took another agonizingly slow step forward to be able to gently place his hands on Virgil’s shoulders.

“The sun has set; the danger’s gone,” Logan started. Virgil visibly relaxed. Logan’s hands on his shoulders held a specific weight. His hands were softer than Roman’s, bigger than both of theirs, and more squared off. They were his, not like anyone else’s. “Je suis là pour t'aider, mon frère. Laisse moi aider.” I'm here to help, brother. Virgil’s mind didn’t need to translate it. The French words were known better than their English counterpart. Let me help.

Patton had no clue what was happening with the two older boys. He didn’t know what Logan just said, as he had taken Spanish instead of French. What he did know, though, was that Virgil was visibly relaxing, and that was a good sign. His shoulders returned to their normal place, non-hunched. Virgil did move his shoulders up and down for a moment, most likely to feel the weight of Logan’s hands again.

After a few more seconds of Logan and Virgil just standing together, breathing, Virgil made a move. He returned his hand to the door, slowly opening it as Logan dropped his hands. Patton could have sworn he hummed something softly. He being Logan.

The three then retreated into the house, Virgil leading the way to where Roman was in the living room. The boy with blackberry hair was hunched over, arms around himself in a self hug, and completely shut off. His facade of being strong and uncaring was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t need it. It was obvious to the boy that the people here already knew about the broken, scared, and scarred boy underneath the grimace he usually wore.

“You told them?” Virgil asked in a weak tone as Roman looked up from his phone. Virgil kept his eyes on the ground. Logan and Patton shared a look as Roman stood from where he was sprawled on the couch.

“You couldn’t yourself, and I know for fact that you wanted to tell Logan.” Roman tried to back himself up and he walked forward to the other three. Upon hearing his name, Logan looked toward Roman and obtained eye contact with him. The two stared at each other for a moment before Logan reached out to shake Roman’s hand. Roman compiled and took the larger hand inside his own.

Virgil watched the odd exchange from the outskirts, slowly shrinking in on himself. Logan would be mad at him that he didn’t tell him the full truth the night of its occurrence. Patton would scorn him for not telling him sooner about all of the shit that had happened. Roman would hate him for putting the pressure of what happened that night onto his shoulders. Hell, he probably already did. They all hated him. The three most important people to Virgil certainly hated him now. There was no way around it, or at least there wasn’t in Virgil’s mind.

While Logan and Roman were caught up in their silent thanks to the other for protecting Virgil, Patton noticed Virgil getting smaller and smaller. Patton considered Virgil’s hunching in on himself something that he did when he felt threatened, or afraid, but that was with the minimal information that he was going on off of him. Patton didn’t know as much as he would like to know, but he still would attempt comfort for his love’s best friend.

“Virgil, it’s okay. None of us are mad at you for what happened, or how we found out.” Patton started, which made Virgil’s head pop up again.

“Indeed,” Logan continued on for Patton, retracting his hand from Roman’s and going to hold Patton’s instead. “Besides, from what I understand, you or Roman could not have said what happened more than once. I don’t blame you for that. It is best that we all knew… just so that we three could be able to be a better support system for you.”

“But-” Virgil choked on his words. Stop being so weak. Stop showing so much weakness. “But now Patton, he… I?”

“You don’t have to worry about protecting me, kiddo.”

“You don’t have to worry about protecting any of us,” Roman said. “You’ve spent so much time taking care of others that you haven’t been able to take care of yourself. We’re in this together. We’ll all protect each other.”

“Indeed,” Logan used the word to agree again. “Virgil, you’ve kept me safe before. I’m going to return the kindness. We are going to do this together.” He directed his voice at Virgil, which was honestly amazing for the younger. He hadn’t heard his voice so clear and so close in too long.

It made Virgil relax slightly, but he still tried to groan in protest. They don’t mean any of the things they’re saying. His darker thoughts started to rage. They’re pretending they care but they don’t. They can’t. They don’t care about you. His vision was becoming blurry. They’ve probably talked with your father and he’s making them give you a false sense of security. Virgil couldn’t see. Tunnel vision was taking over. Or was it that he closed his eyes? You’re going to lose everything you thought you cared about.

“Virgil, Virgil.” Logan’s cold and soft voice swayed into focus.

He could see Logan’s hands, so his eyes were open. Both of them were on his shoulders now. Virgil didn’t know when that happened. He couldn’t hear anything but the mantra in his head. Who are you kidding? They never fucking cared about you. It was all just a fucking joke to them. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t. They don’t. They don’t fucking care. They never fucking did.

Virgil was shaking hard. His breathing was shallow and erratic. He was still hunched in on himself, but Logan’s hands as a weight on his shoulders was preventing him from hunching farther. It was preventing him from his legs becoming weak, or his breathing get to the point to where he couldn’t breath out at all. He still couldn’t see, though. Or could he? He couldn’t tell. The only clear thing was Logan’s hands and the fact that no one cares nobody fucking cares about you.

“Pat-love, can you and Roman please go grab the information we need for the case?” Logan’s voice was clear as day, though everything else was murky. Everything but Logan was twelve miles under the ocean water. Virgil was drowning. He was drowning. He was drowning. Footsteps away, muddled and almost unheard but definitely there. “Virgil, Virgil,” Logan’s crisp voice broke through again. “You’re safe. The sun has set; the danger is gone. He can’t get us here, I promise. I swear on it.”

Logan never swore on anything he didn’t believe in. Never. Virgil’s breathing started to become less erratic.

“The chances of him discovering where you are right now are one in 33.2 thousand. Even so, Roman as a bodyguard on speed dial. We are safe. You are safe,” Logan took a deep breath in, held it, and exhaled. Virgil’s breathing pattern. “We care for you. You are the reason I am breathing fine. You mean so much to me, Virgil. Virgil, Roman cares for you. Patton cares for you. On those two facts I also swear.”

Logan never swore on anything he didn’t believe in. Never. Virgil’s breathing calmed more. It was easier to take in breaths now.

“We just want to help you, Virgil. Virgil, we love you and care about you. I want you to be safe. I don’t want you to be in fear anymore. That’s why I’m going to help you anyway I can,” There was a pause. Logan’s hands held onto Virgil’s shoulders harder. “I want to help you go to the police. It’s scary. It’s frightening, but I will be there. Patton will, and so will Roman. We are here for you. For you. On this I swear.”

Logan never swore on anything he didn't believe in. Never. Virgil’s breathing calmed back to it’s normal pace. He lifted his eyes to look at Logan.

“There you go, Virgil. Virgil, you’ve done so well.” Logan’s calming voice told him. The voice was full of love and kindness. He did not remove his hands from the other’s shoulders. Virgil liked hearing his name over and over like what Logan did. Only he did it, and it only was when he was panicking. It was safe, calming, and something to signify that Logan was there for Virgil. They had a lot of those, Virgil was realizing.

Roman was amazed at how calming Logan was for Virgil. From what he could see from where he was at the kitchen table, Virgil was panicking a tenth of what he was when he was in Roman’s care. He could have to ask Logan for tips on how to calm down their friend. Or, at the very least, talk to Virgil about what helps him recede from panic.

“I’m proud of my kiddos.” Patton said, a genuine smile on his face.

“Wait, so you and Logan didn’t go on a breakfast date?” Roman stopped laying out papers in favor of giving Patton a perplexed look.

“Oh no, we did! Old habit of calling him kiddo.” Patton was unfazed at his friend’s confusion, instead still sorting everything that Logan had brought with him. Roman honestly didn’t know when Patton grabbed Logan’s messenger bag, but apparently it happened at some point.

Virgil didn’t know what to say. His darker thoughts were still screaming at him like they always did, but the confidence in Logan’s voice was pushing them away. He believed Logan. The older strayed away from lying the best he could, and swore to never lie to Virgil. It was comforting that Logan was there, that Roman was just in the other room waiting for them. Patton, the sweet bean who barely even knew Virgil, was there too. He had support. He had people who want to help him. His brain and muscle memory told him that he couldn’t trust them, that they would turn on him when opportunity struck, but he was solid in Logan. Logan wouldn’t let them hurt him. He wasn’t alone.

“Glad I don’ haveta do this alone,” His voice was barely above a whisper, words still slightly slurred with early morning grogginess, “Might take some time to get used to... not being alone.”

“Take as long as you need, Virgil,” Logan reassured him. “Virgil, I believe we all would be more concerned if you changed how you felt quickly. Healing and changing a mindset takes time, but it will be well worth it.”

Virgil didn’t know why, but he slowly opened his arms as an inquiry to hug Logan tightly. He wasn’t sure if it was a hug of thanks or a hug of affection but he didn’t care. Logan was here and ready to help him. Nothing would stand in Logan’s way. Virgil knew that when the oldest boy set his mind to something he would do everything in his power to make it so. That was grounding in a weird way.

Logan wrapped his arms around the lanky boy. Virgil didn’t seek touch often, so when he did, it held a lot of meaning. Usually, Logan would hypothesize why the other wanted the contact, but right now he could care less about that. All that mattered was giving Virgil all the support and love he needed. Logan gently began to card his fingers through the purple hair soothingly. I failed you in keeping you safe sooner, but I will not do so anymore. I will make sure you’re free from harm Virgil. I swear it.

Virgil pulled away a moment later, turning to see that there were others in the room. Roman’s gaze still held a flame that was both terrifying and soothing, his body stock still and raised to his full height. Protective. Patton’s eyes held love and understanding, his arms wrapped around himself with a slight bent in his posture. Comforting.

“What do we do now, Logan?” That sounded like Patton, but Virgil couldn’t tell for sure. He was looking at Logan again, eyes fixed on the star necklace that he gave him hanging from the older’s neck. He wondered when that came out from underneath the older’s shirt.

“I believe we should get the information together that we have. There may be gaps in what Roman and I have collected that Virgil might be able to fill in for us. I know it’s painful to speak about, but it will be beneficial.” Logan’s look held an apology.

Virgil breathed deeply, closed his eyes, and nodded. You can do this. Logan will protect you. Last night with Roman wasn’t a dream. He’s there for you too. He tried to psych himself up for what was to come. He could do this. The positive reinforcement that he was trying to give himself felt oddly foreign in his head, but Virgil still tried his best at it. If he were to truly not have to go back home, he needed to talk about this stuff. Virgil needed help. He didn’t want to go back to that godforsaken apartment. He couldn’t.

The four moved to the dining area once again, the papers on the table sorted into piles based on month. The months with excessive amounts of notes were further sorted into weeks, but those only started after July. Virgil was shocked by the sheer amount of data lying along the space available on the circular table. Logan was impressed by how efficiently the two were able to sort things.

As much as Logan wanted to start at the very first piece of paper, he knew that the most important ones were when his data and Roman’s overlapped. “Roman which pile is the first one containing your information?”

“This one.” Roman picked up the July pile for the previous year. “We split the month apart into just your information and when mine started on the 19th.”

“That was an incredibly smart idea,” Logan took the pile and gave a impressed frown-sort of expression. “Patton, would you be willing to take any additional notes?”

“Sure thing,” Roman handed him a composition notebook. “Thanks, Ro.”

The four got to work. Logan and Roman compared information and gently asked Virgil to elaborate if they felt it was needed. Every once in a while Patton would interject when he felt that Virgil was starting to get worried and curl onto himself. Virgil was glad for Patton in those moments. Being asked to relive those parts of his life were hard, the hardest thing he’s ever done, but knowing that the people around him were understanding and wanting to help made it easier.

With one date, things started to slow.

“March 21,” Logan breathed, which made Virgil suck in a sharp breath. That was the worst date. “This is the worst date, to my knowledge.”

“It was… Actually the 20th, a few weeks after I started to shut R... Princey out,” Virgil switched the names mid thought. He didn’t need this to get personal when Roman was sitting across from him. He pulled away from Patton, who let him. He pulled his sleeves further over his hands, then wrapped them around his middle. “He was mad I was skipping classes,” Virgil shook his head and took a deep breath. “It’s the day my mom died too.”

Logan nodded, writing a few things down with a somber but concentrated look on his face. He had that look on his face for a while now. Roman was staring at Virgil, to which Virgil shifted uncomfortably. He removed his gaze and grabbed another piece of paper. Just like that, things started moving faster again.

The only breaks any of them took was when they had to use the restroom, and when Patton insisted they stop for lunch. Virgil only picked at his sandwich that Logan made, considering his stomach was doing flips, but the others understood. Patton tried his best to soothe the lanky boy with smooth tones and light touch. Roman and Logan also gave him words of encouragement throughout the process, of course. All three of them brought their own way of comfort to Virgil. Patton was warm, soft, and gave physical touch. Roman was solid, protective, and gave both touch and many concrete words. Logan was cool, collected, and gave reassuring words. It was a mixture that Virgil needed to get through this.

Around one in the afternoon, the pace was slowing. Virgil was stressed, basically hanging off of Patton as he closed his eyes and recounted why he came to Logan with bruises on his neck and a cut in his side. Roman was stone faced, something that no one at the table saw regularly, if at all. He was in the middle of a sentence when the unmistakable sound of creaking stairs filled the space.

Immediately, Virgil stopped, Logan stopped writing, and Roman whipped his head around. There was a few more footsteps, and suddenly Roman’s Ma was standing in the entrance to the room.

“Honey?” She asked, confusion entering her features when she saw the four boys surrounding her table.

“Hi, Ma.” Roman said slowly. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Virgil hunch onto himself a little.

“What’s going on, Roman?” She asked, noticing all of the papers.

Virgil kept folding in on himself. If she sees any of these papers she’s going to kick you out. She might even kick Roman out for helping you. You can’t risk Roman losing his home. God, Virgil, you’re such a fucking idiot. Why did you believe this was a good idea? She’s going to find out and hate you too. She’ll probably even call your father. Before he knew it he’d started to pull slightly on his hair.

“Just some papers we all worked on for a summer assignment. We wanted to make sure we had everything.”

Andrea raised her eyebrow, not fully believing the story. “Alright,” She said, figuring there was a reason Roman was keeping something from her. “I’m willing to help in any way-”

Logan cut her off, his voice polite but with a tone that left no room for any argument. “Actually that isn’t necessary. We were just collecting the paperwork we needed. Virgil and I will be out of your hair in just a few moments.” He started to pick the papers up, sending a worried glance at Virgil as he did.

Patton caught onto what Logan was doing as he helped the older boy pack the paperwork up by month. “I’ll drive you guys.”

“Thank you, Patton. That would be helpful,” Logan pulled his messenger bag onto his shoulder and gently pulled Virgil to his feet. “Come on, Virgil.”

Virgil let Logan pull him away from the kitchen to the main room where they paused to pull on their shoes. It took Virgil a few moments longer than normal due to the daze he was still in. Once he got them on and stood the trio heard another set of footsteps coming down the stairs. Patton looked up and saw Cinthia, Roman’s madre, walking down the stairs.

“Patton?” She asked softly. “Everything alright?”

“Sí. We have to run and do something but I’ll be back.” Patton answered a little quicker than he usually spoke as he held the door for the other two boys.

Logan gently took Virgil by the arm and lead him out of the house. Patton waved at Cinthia as he followed and closed the door behind him. Cinthia wore a very confused expression, but heard Roman’s voice in the kitchen. He sounded frustrated, as if he were in denial. In that moment, she decided to see if she could find out what was causing Patton to act so odd.

next part

hello id be lost without @lovecrazyjennybear for several reasons so lets list a few. shes the one who reminds me to post chapters. constantly. i definitely would have forgotten to post this if she didnt remind me. she also lets me rant and ramble to her? like?? thats literally amazing. that has nothing to do with this story but still. she lets me ramble about plot lines and emotions and i listen to her when she rambles and its just amazing and shes just such an amazing friend. and!! recently she posted her first original work and its amazing. its called The Tin Man Has A Heart and its gold and you definitely should go read it after you finish this okay bYE

#fail's writing #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #virgil angst #logan angst #told you id give you logan angst #we get fluff and angst in one chapter #we also see how logan calms virgil down from Major Panic

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gumnut-logic · 6 years

Text

Gentle Rain (Part Nineteen)

Title: Gentle Rain

Warm Rain Series

Author: Gumnut

1 – 4 Mar 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: Sometimes it is so gentle, you don’t realise it is happening.

Word count: 3000

Spoilers & warnings: Virgil/Kayo, Scott/OC, Gordon/Penelope, spoilers for Warm Rain up to this point in the timeline.

Timeline: Six months after ‘The Proposal’, almost a sequel.

Author’s note: For @scribbles97 And here we are, the last chapter. There will be an Epilogue full of important stuff, I’ve started it. Also, those of you who follow me on Tumblr will have already read the first Tale of Gentle Rain – I kinda jumped the gun and didn’t want to officially publish it until I had finished this fic…which is pretty close now. So, there is more to come. Thank you ever so much to @scribbles97 who has helped me through this entire fic. Also thanks to @i-am-chidorixblossom and @the-lady-razorsharp who have also answered my frantic calls at various points in time – this fic was a nerve-wracker and I can be really insecure at times :D I would also like to give a massive thanks to all of you who have cheered me along the way. Your comments and feedback have kept me going. It makes it so much more purposeful to write if I know what I’m writing is being read and super bonus if it is being enjoyed. Thank you so, so much ::hugs you all madly::

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Waking in hospital was not her favourite. She had done it many times in her thirty years and none of those events had been pleasant.

She could smell the hospital around her.

A frown. Vague memories of faces, words, it seemed like dreams, all leading back to that man from International Rescue.

A pair of blue eyes.

Scott Tracy.

She woke with his name on her lips.

And he was the first thing she saw.

“Em?” His voice was soft, tentative, and the hope in his face so strong.

“Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” That smile of his still turned her insides to jelly. “How are you feeling?”

How was she feeling? A quick physical check and she found herself surprisingly good. “Good. I’m good.”

His smile widened.

A snuffled snort echoed through the room. She frowned. “What?”

Scott stepped back and she came eye to eye with Kayo sitting on a couch in the corner. The smirk on her face was amusing, particularly considering the man asleep in her lap. Virgil was snoring softly, curled up rather awkwardly on the too small sofa, still in his uniform. His baldric and toolkit were draped over the back of one of the chairs.

“Is he okay?”

Scott’s smile was reassuring. “He’s fine. Just tired. Stubborn idiot refused to go home.”

“Why?”

He frowned and she realised that he, too, was still in his uniform. “You don’t remember?”

Remember? A blink. “You caught me.”

“Yes, I did. But you were injured.”

Injured? Her brain didn’t seem to be functioning at full capacity. “How?”

His brow furrowed immediately. “You had a laceration on your leg. You lost a lot of blood.”

“I did?” She reached down and peered under the covers. Her left stump was swathed in bandages. Another frown and she forced her mind to think.

Scott speaking to her calmly, but firmly. Strapping her in. She had flown in a Thunderbird. Thunderbird One. Thunder was right. It had roared. So, so fast.

Then the hospital. Perth Hospital. Again.

Scott holding her. Her blood on his hands.

Worried blue eyes.

She shook herself. She must be on something. She was foggy.

“The bridge? The people?”

“We saved as many as we could.”

Virgil snorted again.

She frowned at the man as Kayo stroked his hair. A glance at Scott. “Why are you here?”

His eyes widened and his expression closed suddenly and considering their recent history she realised exactly how that might have sounded.

A blink. “No, you idiot. I’m talking about the broken arm, leg and ribs, not to mention the hole in your side that was stitched up a few weeks before Christmas.”

“Uh.” Now he looked uncomfortable, almost like a young boy who had just discovered he was in trouble.

Her foggy mind still wasn’t registering properly, but it still managed to calculate recovery times. She rubbed her eyes. “And what about Virgil? You know, the man who recently died.” In the corner of her eye she saw Kayo tense.

“It was necessary.” His stance straightened. “Besides, we had backup.”

“I noticed. But that didn’t seem to exclude either of you from the rescue.”

“There wasn’t time-“

“Exactly! You haven’t given either of yourselves enough time!”

Those blue eyes flared. “And what exactly did you expect me to do? Sit back while you fell off a bridge?”

And there it was, the blatant self-sacrifice that was going to kill these men. “You had back up! Let them do their job. Stop risking yourself.”

“I couldn’t leave you there.” It was quiet, but the words were firm.

She stared at him. “Your health is worth the risk, Scott.”

“Yours isn’t.” He glared at her. “I will not risk you.”

“Me? What about the other hundred or so people?”

His lips shut closed and he didn’t answer. Blue simply stared at her.

Her eyes widened. “You didn’t...”

“How could I not?” And suddenly he was so much closer.

“Oh, for goodness sake, kiss her already!” There was a thump and a groan, and they both looked up to see Virgil rolling off the couch. The man was obviously stiff as a board. “Have at it, I’m getting coffee.” And without a glance at them, he stumbled from the room, dragging Kayo with him. Kayo did grin back at both of them, however, her eyes sparkling.

Em frowned. “Are you sure he’s okay?”

Scott smiled. Oh god, that smile. “I thought you’d be familiar with Virgil Sans Coffee by now.” But he was leaning in and that smile touched her lips. As always, he was warm, his energy burning, reaching out and drawing her in. A brush of his tongue on hers and he released her. She didn’t want to let him go.

His smile became hesitant. “I believe I owe you an explanation.”

“Regarding your habit of flashing hot and cold?” God, honestly, she only wanted him to kiss her again. His hot was so hot. Screw it. “I’ve just had a major traumatic incident. I’m injured, and I’m pretty sure I’m high on pain meds. Can we save it for later? I’d really just like to you to kiss me again.”

His grin was as gorgeous as his smile, and god, when he wrapped his arms around her and took her lips with his, all the cares in the world could wait until later.

-o-o-o-

Em was only in the hospital for a few days, but in that time, she managed to have every Tracy march through her door plus Kayo and her uncle.

Uncle Crispin arrived with Sally Tracy along with Alan. Alan was looking a little green around the gills and the description he gave Kayo of what her uncle and his grandmother had been doing on the plane was enough to turn Em a little green in sympathy.

There were some things that you just didn’t want to know about the generations above you.

Uncle Crispin gave her the third degree on what had happened. This was quickly followed by him cornering Scott the moment he walked through her door on the way back from a meeting with the GDF.

“And what are your intentions with my niece, Tracy?”

“Kip!”

“Uncle Crispin!”

It was hard to tell who was more offended, Mrs Tracy or Em.

But Scott didn’t back down. He took a step towards her uncle and looked him in the eye. And he could. Not having seen Scott standing to his full height, Em hadn’t realised he was that tall. Though slimmer in youth, he could match every one of her uncle’s many inches. Wow. “And what are your intentions with my Grandmother?”

“Scott!” Okay, Mrs Tracy was the more offended.

Em glared at the both of them. “If you two gentlemen do not stop alpha strutting in my hospital room, I will ask both of you to leave.”

Scott’s response was immediate, probably feeling like he was already on probation and didn’t want to blow it. He backed down, but she didn’t fail to notice that he stepped immediately to her side. She rolled her eyes at that.

Uncle Crispin glared at him, but also backed off, stepping back beside Mrs Tracy.

“Now, Uncle Crispin, this is my business. While I appreciate your protectiveness, I find it rather ironic that you are attempting to protect me from the grandson of your paramour, and the leader of International Rescue, an organisation you greatly admire. You have a model Thunderbird and figurines, for crying out loud.” She turned to Scott, whose eyes were bugging out a little at her last statement. “And you, give your grandmother a break. Uncle Crispin is a great guy, I can promise you that. Stop snarling at him.”

Neither man commented, merely exchanging wary glances. God, men!

The tableau was interrupted by Virgil waltzing in with a get-well balloon tied to a blue teddy bear. Every face in the room turned to him. He stopped in his tracks and blinked. “Did I interrupt something?”

Em couldn’t help but smile. “No, nothing of importance.”

His eyes darted back and forth between his eldest brother, Uncle Crispin, Em and Kayo. “Okay, good, because Scott bought you a get-well bear.” He strode up and plonked it on the edge of her bed.

“I did?”

Kayo elbowed her brother. “Yes, you did, because that is what good boyfriends do when their girlfriends are in the hospital.”

There was a silence for a moment and Em stared at Virgil. The engineer smiled at her.

“Yes. Yes, I did and I do.” Scott said the words, but looked a little stunned.

Em bit her lip, but couldn’t help grinning at his expression. She picked up the bear. It had blue eyes and a perpetual smile. Reaching out a hand, she snagged Scott’s and pulled him towards her. “Thank you, Scott. It was a very kind thought.” And she was grinning up at him.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome.”

“Can I give you a thank you kiss?”

She couldn’t help but grin at the grin that immediately split his face. He bent down and, oh, oh, thank you. Thank you, indeed.

The bear was dropped to the bed covers and one hand was in his hair, the other on his shoulder feeling the flex of muscle through his shirt.

“My god, I’m surrounded by a bunch of lovebirds. Okay, that’s it, I’m making a point of being somewhere else for some time. Em, get better soon. Enjoy...my brother.”

Scott broke off their kiss just in time for her to see Alan shudder. Mrs Tracy grabbed the youngest before he could escape and said something quietly to him Em couldn’t hear before kissing his cheek. Alan rolled his eyes and stomped out of the room.

Em had a grip on Scott’s shirt and didn’t want to let go. Virgil was grinning ear to ear. Kayo had a smirk on her face. Mrs Tracy was smiling. Uncle Crispin, surprisingly, wasn’t glaring, but was thoughtful instead.

Scott was staring down at her in amazement.

She grinned. “Can I say thank you again?”

Virgil cracked up laughing.

-o-o-o-

Escaping from hospital did not equate to escaping from the Tracys. Kayo, despite being heavily involved into the investigation surrounding the bridge bombing, found the time to accompany her back to her apartment. Virgil had declared her hoverscoot deceased and promptly acquired her a new one. Her protest at the cost was met with a flat-eyed stare, and yeah, billionaires, money no object, yada-yada-yada.

It was a relief to slip back into a hoverscoot. The hoverchair from the hospital was just clunky and cumbersome.

While Virgil packed the car, she took the opportunity to sit down with Kayo for a moment in her own loungeroom. “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I can’t believe...” And she ran out of words.

“Em...” Kayo held up her hand. “Trust me, we are equal on all scores.” Virgil stuck his head in the door and grabbed two more of the small bags she had hastily packed and disappeared again. Kayo smiled just a little, her voice quiet as she stared after him. “We’re equal.”

“If there is ever anything I can do for either of you. Just ask.” She reached out and grabbed the woman’s hand. “Please.” She tried her best to covey how much it all meant to her.

Kayo turned to her and tilted her head a little. “If you do the same.” A small smile. “I hear rumour that is what friends do.”

Em couldn’t help but grin just a little. She felt like a teenager swapping friendship bracelets. The thought was just ridiculous.

But it meant so much more.

“Oh, I’ve got something for you.” Kayo reached into her pocket. “You should keep this on you at all times until Brains can set you up with something a little less conspicuous.” The security officer handed her the IR comm she had worn in New Zealand.

Em stared at it. “Are you sure?”

Kayo arched an eyebrow. “I’m sure.”

Em held it in her hands, the embossed IR logo catching the light. “That is something I’ve been meaning to ask. I left this behind in Wellington. How did you know I was on the bridge?”

“I planted a tracker in your hoverscoot.” There was no apology in Kayo’s expression.

Em stared at her. “What?”

“You became an IR concern. I needed to know where you were.”

“Why?”

“We are primarily a rescue organisation. However, our technologies are advanced and there are people out there who will do anything to get their hands on them. You know this, it has already affected your life drastically.”

“You think they might use me to get to you?”

Kayo shrugged. “Maybe. Possibly. There are a range of vulnerabilities in the equation. The tracker was to protect you and IR. In this case, we knew you were on the bridge and could act accordingly.”

“Is that what happened? Were they after me?” Her heart stuttered at the thought. To be honest, she had already considered some of the dangers involved. It was obvious. She had lost her family to a man who had wanted what the Tracys had.

Something flashed in Kayo’s eyes.

“No, a group has claimed responsibility. Lunatics. Don’t worry. Penelope and I are working on it. We’ll find them.” And Kayo stopped there, obviously unwilling to reveal anymore.

Her apartment door opened again and Virgil walked back in. “Anything else? I think I’ve about covered my rehab for today.”

Em mentally shook herself and smiled.

-o-o-o-

The stop at her apartment was exactly that, just a stop. She needed assistance and the doctors had only released her with the reassurance that she would have company.

So, bags packed and loaded, Kayo flew her back to Tracy Island, and she found herself in the same room she had spent Christmas. Cecil arrived to attend to her every need. The man was a like a clone of Gordon Tracy, though taller and skinnier. A ray of sunshine who never stopped smiling.

Scott bounced back and forth from the island every day, horribly busy, both with the GDF and the Thunderchick squads. Then a tsunami in Japan took every hand IR had available.

All the brothers came back from that pale and dead-eyed.

She caught him before he could escape to his room.

Even though she was prepared for it, it still hurt when he brushed her off. “Em, I’m tired. It’s been a long day. You should be resting.” His natural reflex was to lock it all up and process it alone, the same way he had when Virgil collapsed.

She hadn’t missed Virgil beelining to Kayo. Hadn’t missed her wrapping her arms around him, his head dropping to her shoulder in pure exhaustion. Her leading him away to their quarters.

Scott had glanced at them while removing his baldric and dumping it on the couch before throwing himself down beside it.

She steeled herself. “I’m fine. It is you who needs the rest.”

He looked up at her and the exhaustion and pain in his eyes broke her heart. Reaching out, she ‘scooted forward, dropping the ‘scoot directly onto the couch and took him into her arms, lying his head on her chest.

He resisted at first, his muscles tense, and she was forced to wonder how long it had been since this man had been comforted. She knew a good percentage of his history, had seen the care he doled out to his family, but who cared for the carer? Virgil, most certainly, but he would ever be younger.

Em would ever be older.

She pulled him tighter, running her fingers through his hair, and slowly his arms crept around her and returned the embrace. He didn’t fully relax, no doubt that would take time, but his breathing evened out and he rested his weight on her.

“I love you.” The words came out unbidden. She didn’t mean to say it, but it was said.

His reaction was immediate. He sat up, pulling away a little and staring at her.

Em felt the blood drain from her face. “I’m sorry, I-“

And he was kissing her, his strength pulling her close. His tongue begged entry and she let him in, as he crushed her against him. His cologne was overlaid with sweat and dirt, he desperately needed a shower and a shave, but he was in her arms and loving her in his own way.

She didn’t expect the words, not yet. If there was one thing she had learnt over the last few months, it was that Scott Tracy had a large family, but ultimately, he had been alone for a long time. As alone as she had been.

It was going to take time.

The kiss broke off, his breathing heavy, eyes glistening in the evening light. “Em...”

She reached up and placed a finger across his lips. “You don’t have to say anything.” He kissed her finger, his breath hot on her skin. “I will only ask you for one thing.”

His eyes widened in an expression very similar to the last time she had made such a demand of him.

“Ping me. Come to me. Seek me out.” Her fingers drifted into his hair and she leant forward to kiss his forehead. “I’m here. You are not alone. You don’t have to say anything, I won’t force you to talk, I promise. Just be...with me.”

It was all she could ask.

He stared at her for a moment, words bouncing about his eyes, but none finding his mouth. Eventually he drew her into his embrace, a soft kiss to her jaw, her cheek and her lips. There was no smile, no charm, no Commander of International Rescue, no big brother.

Just Scott Tracy.

He dropped his head to her shoulder, exhaustion in every line of his body. Em stroked his hair and just held on.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #virgil tracy #scott tracy #kayo kyrano #em harris #virgil/kayo #scott/em #scott/oc #warm rain #gentle rain

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pinetwiins · 6 years

Text

A Drabble for Verse!Beta; Yako’s death and Dark!Ford’s Origin story.

Mabel & Stanley & Stanford / Dark Ford - (Me) @pinetwiins

Neuro + Yako @hellsgreatestdetective

Bill Cipher (DAPPER) @joinwithmekid

Please note - there is death in this thing, its long and also includes an old man dying from a heart attack.

Neuro

Yako is thrown onto the sofa but her reflexes seem... off. She does not roll to avoid and hits the sofa hard. Neuro notices and isn't grinning so much. "What Bill chooses to do with the relationship I shall not protest again."

StanfordPines

wait what?? He is also very worried over yako.

DAPPER (Bill)

Bill also notices. “Off day, Foodie?”

Neuro

Neuro waits for Yako to get up. She seems completely still for several moments before she suddenly moves, almost baffled at where she is. It's very not Yako behaviour.

StanfordPines

“hey... sweetheart... are you okay?”

Yako

"I'm sorry. I kind of blacked out there, what happened?" She tries to laugh it off, but she can't even laugh right. What the hell? "Maybe I was more badly hurt than I thought, but the medics had checked for injuries and said I was doing fine."

StanfordPines

he bites his lip and walked over to stand next to the couch. “perhaps... perhaps they overlooked something...?” He is very worried.

Yako

"I can't remember hitting my head at any point. Maybe I'm just tired. I should head to be-" She seems to have forgotten what she was saying.

StanfordPines

he feels his heart rate picking up.... he’s.... he’s scared...

Neuro

Neuro snaps a finger in front of her. She does not react for several moments.

DAPPER (Bill)

Bill’s not shocked or worried at all, he just watches. He’s seen this happen hundreds of times - not exactly like this, but generally speaking. Death means nothing to him. Actually, he just giggles a bit at the fact she forgot what she was saying. “Yep, you should go sleep kid! Actually, sleep here. You’ll forget what you’re doing on the way to bed, don’t want that!”

Yako

"That's- that's a good idea. Thank you Will." She kind of just- shuts down there. She doesn't have the energy to be nervous about her own condition. Neuro looks worried for once.

DAPPER (bill)

“It’s Bill! Try and remember when you wake up!” He fixes his hair. “Don’t worry so much guys, she’s fine for now!”

StanfordPines

“Ya-Yako...? Heh... sweetheart, come on, you should sleep in bed...” he’s really scared, he’s freaking out right now.

Neuro

"...For now, you just said. So you know what's happening."

Yako

Yako is already fast asleep, barely breathing.

DAPPER (Bill)

“Course I do! I’ve seen this more times than there are grains of sand on Earth.” He’s still pretty nonchalant.

StanfordPines

”Bill....” he swallowed hard and kneels down, taking her hand. “Hey, yo-you’ll be okay... you’ll see... we’ll... we’ll go on an adventure, on the stan o war...” his voice cracks as he try’s not to show his panic.

Neuro

"So it's death?" Truthfully, he did not expect it so suddenly and so... lamely. "But why now of all times?"

August 3, 2018

Yako

"Yeah... tomorrow..." She mumbles vaguely to herself, curling into her side. She can feel herself drifting, smiling in her sleep.

DAPPER (Bill)

“Dying but not dying isn’t natural for fragile meatsacks. All that death’s finally catching up to her. She’s still got some time, but this is probably the gentlest path of it happening I foresaw, so you should probably not wake her up. Don’t want Neuri’s human to suffer, do ya?”

Neuro

"Ah... all those instances. The universe is reclaiming it's debt. Shame... she was a good detective." He's not necessarily angry, rather disappointed. Ghosts still existed, no? Perhaps she would return as one. He could be hopeful that god would give him this one mercy. "I suppose it's only right we look for the rest of her family."

StanfordPines

”Stanley.... oh gosh Stanley... Yako was the only one other than the kids keeping him sane and-“ not wanting to kill himself...

Yako

Yako just sighs in her sleep, waking up again. She looks annoyed."Too loud." She announces puffing out her cheeks and getting up. She does not seem to recognise anyone.

DAPPER (Bill)

“Well, so much for the gentle one!” He shrugs, leaning back in his seat.

StanfordPines

to his knowledge he hadn’t been speaking very loudly... he put on a forced watery smile. “So Sorry Yako, do try and sleep again.” He murmured.

Yako

"Dun know 'ow ya know ma name Mister but A ain't sleepin' 'ere." She's just sulking. Strangely seems more energetic than before. "Ya got food?"

StanfordPines

”Um... Yako... I’m your Grandfather... well adopted... tell me... how old are you? You seem to have memory’s missing...”where did this energy come from?

Yako

~"Whaaaaa ya arna grandda 'e's got a mullet and a silly voice. A can copy it!" She clears her voice. "Hey kids and welcome to the MYSTERY SHACK!" She poses dramatically but yelps at her own arm, rubbing it. "Though 'e's been sore recently, 'e 'urt 'is back." She pauses at the question then raises nine fingers, pausing, and adding another. "Ten in three days! We're gonna fix the roof an' 'ave a party!"

StanfordPines

he laughs at the imitation. “I’m his twin brother... Stanley is upstairs he will be down-“ he’s cut off by the creeking of the stairs.

Yako

She gasps really dramatically

StanleyPines

”hey! Pointdexter! I hear someone copying me! Hah! Is that Yako at it again?”He gets to the bottom of the stairs and walks into the room.

Yako

"E 'as a twin!? Awesome! Are ya psychic! Grandda ya never said ya had a twin!"

DAPPER (Bill)

Bill’s just gonna watch this all play out. He’s not messing with time or what’s supposed to happen, he doesn’t care enough to. Actually he would if Neuri wanted him to do something but that’d be difficult to accomplish at this point of the death process.

Neuro

Neuro's going to let Yako spend her last moments with her family. As much as he would like to undo it... even he follows a few of the rules.

StanleyPines

He blinks and looks at her. “Hey Peanut... are you okay? I’m pretty sure I told you about that... the lab under the house?”

Yako

She gasps even louder

StanfordPines

”I’m- im sorry Stan...” he whispers as he stands next to him. “She’s dying...”

Yako

"A LAB!?!?" She is flapping her arms in excitement. "Grandda's so cool! Can A see. A'm gonna see!" She's up like a lightning bolt trying to find the door.

StanleyPines

”the hell you on about?” He hissed back not wanting to believe him. “Hey! Sweetheart! You can look later! Come back in here!”

Yako

~"But A wanna solve the mystery shack mystery!" She's persistent but sulks back when he calls her forward. "When did ya get so grey? Did ya dye ya hair by accident? A thought we were fixin' the roof today?"

StanleyPines

”from what I can see sweetie, is that ya memories are being wonky, going from past to future, but no matter, come sit with me on the couch.””you know how I know? Because you’re not currently 10 years old.”

Yako

"Don' give me science speak secret scientist A shall uncover ya yet!" She announces proudly, marching forward. "Course A'm not ten A'm nine silly." She plops herself onto the couch next to him, kicking her feet back and forth. "But ma legs really 'urt they're cold!"

StanleyPines

“....lie against me sweetie...”his voice is shaking slightly

Yako

"Sure thing!" She does just that and... seems to fall asleep for the longest time. She is icy to the touch. Her breathing is shallow, and she is barely moving at all. Then she seems to jump awake suddenly, rubbing her head. "Just a bad dream..." She looks around "This isn't my office?"

StanleyPines

“....no, it’s the shack sweetheart.... you okay?”

Yako

She seems startled by the man and jumps away from him, blinking in surprise."I'm terribly sorry sir, I do not know how I got here."

StanleyPines

”Peanut? Are you okay?”

Yako

"P-pardon? Do I know you, sir? As far as I'm aware I just bought my office in London yesterday how on earth did I get here?" She gestures vaguely to the entire building.

StanleyPines

“ya memories are being wackie... ya 25 years old Yako, your in the mystery Shack and I’m ya adopted grandpa.”he wonders how many times he’ll have ya repeat that...

Yako

"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but you must be mistaken. I haven't even turned twenty-one and... my grandfather passed away some time ago. Look if you're trying to con me into some sort of vacuuming business I'm not interested I am perfectly capable of cleaning up after myself and how the hell do you know my name?"

StanleyPines

he laughs at that, his signature laugh. “I used ta sell vacuums.... I’m telling the truth Peanut. A car knocked ya over sweetie, I was fine, just a concussion and a back that now won’t stop giving out on me.”

Yako

"Look, sir, I don't like this game your playing." She responds, a warning tone to her voice. "But if Dylan sent you over you can kindly tell him that the next time he bothers he his messenger boy is getting a bullet to the head, understand?" She keeps rubbing at her eyes, as though she's tired and she is, trying not to yawn in front of the threat. "And he can keep his murder sprees the hell away from me." She does end up yawning and hates herself for it.

DAPPER (Bill)

Bill appears to be thoroughly amused by this, a smirk on his face as he watches the death play out. To the untrained (and maybe even the trained) eye, he looks like the heartless dick he’s proclaimed himself to be. Beneath that, though, is something entirely different. His well constructed wall of assholery hides a small, grieving voice. He doesn’t care a lot about Yako. She was just another fleshbag about to die. The most important she’d become to him is his boyfriends human. Even so, there are internal tears behind the laugh of amusement he lets out, tears that no one can see or hear. Why, you ask? Why is he feeling this way? He’d never admit it out loud, but this reminds him of the death of his only friend. The death that originally set him off on the path of rejecting reality, the death that eventually caused him to destroy his dimension out of his own denial. Stan’s reaction to this situation.. well, it reminds him of his own. Absolute denial, down to the very end until it’s too late. He wants to tell Stan to tell her goodbye while he still could, but he says nothing, staying silent for the most part aside from the occasional laugh.

StanleyPines

“who the fuck is Dylan?” He grumbled. He didn’t like this, he wants someone to convince her... plus he hasn’t changed that much....

Yako

"You should know he bloody well runs the city god down mobster bastard almost killed me yesterday I swear his aim's improving." She whines more to herself than others, slumping down on the sofa. "Damn, I'm tired.Talk about a shitty start to a shitty day." She tries to rub away the exhaustion but her hand stops midway through reaching for her face. It then slumps back down. Her mumbling falls silent.

StanleyPines

his heart rate picks up, he’s still denying it but it’s getting really clear something is really wrong.

Yako

"I think I saw my grandda today. I know it must be a hallucation, doctor, I've seen lots of them recently. People that aren't there, people that have died or are not real at all. How am I supposed to deal with it?" She leans into the sofa, then lies down on it. "But I'm certain I saw him. He was older and greyer but he had these two kids with him. Mason and Mabel. Yes... like the Gleefuls, but what am I supposed to do? Do I just pretend I haven't seen it at all?"

StanleyPines

”ya really must be hallucinating if ya think I’m a doctor Peanut.”

Yako

"Oh ha ha, real funny. Just don't tell the Gleefuls, I don't want any more canon fodder for Stanford to creep around like the gremlin he is." She grumbles, scratching at her neck. Her skin appears to be crumbling away. "I'm going to try something, just to be sure it's a hallucination. See it was in a mirror in the manor up in the attic. Nothing special about it, but if I can confirm I can't walk through it I should be fine. But if I can... if I can I get to see my grandda again, right?"

DAPPER (Bill)

Yep, Bill laughs some more. The exact opposite of his internal emotions. “You know, I’m enjoying this one far more than the one you all just prevented!”

StanleyPines

He kneels down next to the sofa and strokes her hair. “Of course ya can sweetheart.... he’d love ya see ya...”

Yako

"Yep. I'm going to give it a shot today!" She grins up at the man. It slowly fades still and her eyes slide shut. The skin is clearly paling and crumbling away, disappearing like ash. When she next opens her eyes she looks exhausted. "Hey grandda what's up?"

StanleyPines

he gives a watery laugh, eyes watering... “ya dying pumpkin... ya skin is ash and I’m loosing ya by the minute...” the tears started to fall.”Ya memory has even been through ya deaths from start to now...”His chest was hurting, burning, but he ignored it.

Yako

"Oh." She begins to chuckle. "Out of all the things that would kill me this does it. Talk about a rip off I want a refund." Part of her arm crackles and disappears. She reaches her spare arm out to ruffle his hair. "Hey there don't look so glum you think death will stop my nagging. I'm like a puppy, you can't be rid of me. I'll find a way." She laughs this time. She's sure this is how Neuro almost died, but she doesn't have a back up plan. She didn't expect this at all. Her legs begin to disintergrate. "You'd think they'd have the decency to leave a body this time"

StanleyPines

“....I also think I’m having a heart attack....” he murmured softly face scrunched up in pain...

Yako

"Well shit we need to call a doctor." She uses the last of her strength to grab the phone but Neuro grabs it before her, dialling in the number for an ambulance.

StanleyPines

he could already feel his limbs growing numb/cold. “Hah... I think it’s too late.” He said with a strained smile, his breathing short.

StanfordPines

“Stanley...?!” Ford finally noticed something wrong.

Yako

"Damn it this is supposed to be my dramatic farewell I'll see you in hell moment don't you ruin it by dying first." Oh great now she's crying you were supposed to be fine. "I'm going ahead you bastard. You get to a hospital and get better so I can haunt your ass."

DAPPER (Bill)

Bill didn’t see the heart attack coming, that’s an update. And a clear example of the fact Bill can’t see everything. Huh, this’ll go well.

Neuro

"Yes we appear to have a man at the Mystery Shack in Gravity Falls having a heart attack literally right now."

StanleyPines

He shakily kisses her forehead. “I have a feeling that the universe won’t survive for long...”

StanfordPines

Ford grabbed his sholder, wishing there was something he could do. “No-no-no-no-NO!” He practically shouted.

Yako

Where he kisses the forehead it begins to crumble. She's trying to stay awake but it's failing to work."Asshole universe."

StanleyPines

”see ya later sweet pea...” he murmured as he felt himself grow weak.

Yako

Her body disintergrates into nothing before them all, leaving behind only the bones of a young child probably eight years old with a cracked skull before that too disappears

DAPPER (Bill)

To keep his mind off feelings he makes a mental note to use this idea in his future disturbing plans.

StanleyPines

“Heh... sorry point dexter... seems my heart can’t take it any more...” He wheezed.

StanfordPines

”Stanley..? Stanley! No!” But it was too late and he was holding his twins body in his arms.... He hugs him close... before a cry of grief rips through him.... he lost two people of his family today... his mind can’t take it....

DAPPER (Bill)

Bills still just watching. He can feel Ford’s sanity ripping away from him- this is also unexpected, but a pleasant form of unexpected for him. He isn’t going to stop it or offer any form of emotional help. This was going to happen eventually anyways.

Neuro

Neuro slowly puts the phone down. He finds himself strongly disliking this universe and joins by Bill's side, offering him a worrisome glance for his reaction earlier.

Dark!Ford

His head shoots up and letting go of his brother he sprints from the room, to the lab door and punches in the code.... he didn’t care for what happened now... he would find Yako.... he would- he would.... HE WAS GOING TO REBUILD THAT PORTAL.

Neuro

"We should leave before he traps us in his destruction."

DAPPER (Bill)

Bill just nods. Yeah, he can see what's gonna happen. "I'm ready when you are, Neuri! Wow, that was a show!"

Neuro

Neuro just grabs Bill by the hand and morphs them out of the danger zone back into the Alpha world.

Dark!Ford

Ford doesn’t stop to take a break. Fiddleford has tried but he ended up throwing a spanner at his head and then breaking down when the man ran away from him. It took him a full week of no sleep or eating to complete the portal once again from scratch and from memory... it was finished. A wild grin with wild eyes looked at the portal... and pulled the leaver.The ground shook and he chuckled slightly... which turned into a laugh and then a blown out cackle as the portal switched fully on.

Dark!Ford

Grabbing his bag, coat and already dressed in his portal clothes, he waited for it to fully open... screw weirdmagedon... he didn’t give a flying fuck anymore.

Dark!Ford

He steps through the portal... First stop, Rick Sanchez... then he would decide from there...

SixerToday at 1:37 AM Time stamp (started at 11:43pm British Summer Time)

-end of Rp- -that universe is dead lol- The Portal destroyed that world, the void ended up consuming it. There was no weirdmagedon as it backfired. Stanford is too far gone to care, but deep in his mind, he is consumed with guilt.

#drabble #discord #hellsgreatestdetective #V: Beta #beta:stanley #beta:stanford #this is what happens when you write at midnight #tw: death #tw: heart attack

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themagiciian · 7 years

Text

Floral Fluster - Ch. 2

Title: Floral Fluster Warnings: Contains mentions of gambling and vague alcohol abuse Chapters: 1/2/? Word count: 4,543 Relationship: Mugman/Cagney Carnation (relationship) Other characters: Cuphead, Elder Kettle, Rumor Honeybottoms (briefly mentioned), Hilda Berg (briefly mentioned).

Summary: Inkwell Festival is in a few weeks time, and Rumor insists that Cagney goes to it. Perhaps insisting he goes with Mugman might be the encouragement he needs to come out of his shell?

Author’s notes: I’m so so sorry this took a while. I really am. University sucks, life sucks, everything sucks. However... I am rather proud of this part. I sifted through and edited out all my mistakes this time.

As mentioned in the first part, if you are new here, Cuphead and Mugman are both, in fact, older. They are at least 17. I suppose this can be read as a one-shot, like the first part, perhaps...? Also, has the name for this ship changed? I’ve seen the tag “tea leaf” being thrown around here and there. I’ll use both, regardless, but ah well.

Also, I do apologise if Cuphead or Elder Kettle seem a little out of character. I wasn’t exactly sure how to write them. I’m so sorry.

But, without further ado... once again, please enjoy!

Mugman gave a heavy sigh as he practically burst through the door, panting a little as he had ran home. “I'm so sorry I'm late, pops!” He exclaimed, Cuphead and Elder Kettle looking up as he walked in. His cheeks were deep blue after having sped home, hurriedly removing his coat and hanging it up. “Sorry, sorry - hope I didn't miss nothin’…”

Cuphead rested his head in the palm of his hand as Mugman sat down opposite from him at the table. “Mugs, you almost missed dinner!” Elder Kettle exclaimed, clearly worried as he turned to the two brothers.

“Well- th’ keyword there is almost, gramps,” Mugman gave a little chuckle. Elder Kettle only tutted and rolled his eyes as his innocent playfulness, giving him a look that said ‘what am I gonna do with you?’. Mugman only smiled back before he glanced at Cuphead who seemed rather bored, playing with his fork idly. He didn't seem in the best of moods. The three went quiet, the only sound between the three were sounds of vegetables boiling, and the little thud of the fork hitting the table.

Mugman cleared his throat quietly to gently break the silence, before he piped up. “Slow day at work, Cups? You don't look too happy.”

“Oh, was it ever,” He began with a groan, shaking his head, “never been so bored in my fuckin’ life.” Cuphead quickly followed that up with a quiet 'sorry’ for the use of vulgar language. Kettle hated it when he swore. “We was jus’ movin’ around a buncha stuff today. Reorganising…” There was a pause for a shrug. “Total bore but, eh, it works. I get money outta it anyway.”

The final statement was followed up by brief smirk on his face, looking away for a split second. In a flash, it was gone. Mugman frowned a bit, suspicions roused, but didn't question. He wouldn’t touch on it at the dinner table- least of all in front of their grandfather.

“...Right,” was Mugman's only response, seeming a little hesitant, but his frown eased a little.

Before another silence could settle in, Cuphead sat up in his seat, looking up at his brother with a smirk. “So, where've you been? Y’ don’t normally go out, Mugs. Nearly fainted when I was told y’ were meetin’ up with somebody,” Cuphead joked, the smirk turning into a grin, “so who’s the lovely lady, 'en? Don't tell me you pulled Cala- you wouldn't break the bro-code.”

“I wouldn’t even dream a’ breakin’ the bro-code. But it ain't a girl,” Mugman answered, instantly blushing when Cuphead let out a loud 'oooooh’, that grin on his face only growing and Mugman couldn't help but giggle a little. “It ain't romantic… He's just a friend.”

Both Elder Kettle and Cuphead raised their brows at that. “What? I'm serious!” Mugman stammered, face still flushed blue.

“Mhmmmm, o’ course,” Cuphead looked like a Cheshire cat with how wide his snarky smile was, “so, who's your 'friend’?”

Mugman smiled a little to himself, looking down at the floor, before meeting Cuphead’s expectant gaze. “...Cagney.”

“Cagney?!” Cuphead suddenly yelled out, causing the other two to jump up as the tone of conversation took a u-turn. “You're hanging around with- with Cagney?!”

“Oh, I remember when that flower was just a little sprout,” Kettle mused adoringly, beginning to plate up their dinners, “he was so sweet. Hilda used to carry 'im around in this little flower pot. It was always so cute to see her runnin’ around with that little flower.”

“Y’ gotta be joshin’ me! Cagney Carnation, of all people? He’s the rudest resident this side of Inkwell! He's horrible!” Cuphead grumbled, very clearly displeased, muttering a 'thanks’ as a plate of food was put infront of him. “I don't like 'im.”

Kettle sat down at the head of the table, hands folded infront of him. Mugman had only rolled his eyes at Cuphead's comment. “He's nice to me, Cups! He's actually kinda charming,” Mugman replied with a little shrug, “and I'm going to meet him tomorrow.”

“I think that's sweet,” Kettle spoke softly, patting Mugman on the shoulder, “don't y’ think, Cuphead? Cagney’s a nice fellow. You should give him a chance.”

“Yuck,” Cuphead scrunched up his nose, clearly he had a distaste for the said flower. He scooped up a mouthful of food, shuffling a bit in his seat. “There is no way that- that dandelion is gettin’ another chance outta me! He was so rude about the whole soul contract thing. That big old weed is just… he's just… grumpy! And he's mean. He hit me with a vine once.”

“Wh- he did?” Mugman instantly became concerned, taken aback, suddenly beginning to have second thoughts. Cagney wouldn't do that, would he? “Why?”

“Well, y’know I was jus' passin’ through,” Cuphead started, “and this little flower kid is following me around so I tell it to buzz off, y’know? But it didn't… So I shot at it.”

“Well there's your answer,” Kettle interjected, shaking his head a little, “you shouldn't attack things like that.”

“It didn't leave me alone though!” Cuphead quickly came to defend himself, his expression turning sour. “I didn't wanna do it, it wasn't even that hurt... It was jus’ one dumb flower.”

“Those are his children, Cups!” Mugman argued, reaching out to poke at Cuphead's hand, to which the older brother grunted. “He's really protective of 'em, y’know? You'd be mad too if you had kids.”

Cuphead glared at that, teeth clenched a little. “Good thing that I don't,” Cuphead growled back, cutting the conversation off there. His now foul mood made the quiet air that fell upon them awkward. It wasn't like Cuphead to get in such a bitter state so quickly. Mugman's previous suspicions were roused again...

Kettle gave a look to Mugman, shaking his head a little, his expression one of concern. Kettle must've had the same thought he had. Thankfully Cuphead didn't notice them both roll their eyes.

Once dinner was over, Cuphead hastily got up with his own plate and cutlery. He dumped it into the sink, before stomping upstairs, his footsteps quickly becoming distant as he sulked off. Mugman flinched a little when he heard the bedroom door slam. He let out a soft sigh, picking up his own plate and Kettle’s, making his way over to the sink and began to clean up.

He paused from washing up when he heard Kettle stand up and begin to head up the stairs. “Wait, p-pops!” Mugman called, quickly running over, “I- I’ll talk to him. Don't worry about it.”

Kettle let out a frustrated huff, but he turned around and came back downstairs. Mugman smiled, relieved, reaching out and taking his grandfather's hand to guide him to his chair in the living room.

“I just don't know what's wrong with him, Mugs,” Kettle spoke softly, leaning back in his seat, “he's been so… grouchy recently…”

“I know, I know,” Mugman pat his shoulder gently, trying his best to be reassuring. Internally, his concern grew for his brother, recalling his earlier conversation with Cagney about Cuphead's gambling habit. He quickly decided not to mention it to Kettle. He didn't want him to worry, feeling guilt weigh down on his chest as he didn't like hiding things from his grandfather. But… He felt like he had a responsibility, to protect Cuphead from getting in trouble…

“It might jus’ be the change of seasons. He always gets grumpy in the cold,” Mugman reasoned, giving a shrug. Kettle seemed to be somewhat satisfied with that response.

Kettle’s arms folded across his chest, shaking his head a little. “I don't know, Mugs. Whatever it is… I'm sure he'll get over it,” He spoke softly, and before Mugman could turn away he caught his hand, “thank you…fer’ everything. You're so selfless and I… I can't thank you enough, Mugsy. Y’ better enjoy yourself out tomorrow with that Carnation. You deserve it.”

Mugman gave a little smile, gently squeezing his hand, his face becoming a bit blue at the mention of Cagney. “I’m sure I will. I’ll go see Cuphead after I clean up… Thanks, pops.”

“You're very welcome, son.”

With that, Mugman rushed back to the kitchen and turned away to finish washing up the dishes. He quietly hummed to himself as he cleaned up. Washing up was always therapeutic to him, and he found himself becoming lost in thought.

His mind slowly wandered back to Cagney as he scrubbed, leaning onto the counter a little as he looked out of the window just above the sink. It provided a view into the beginning of the forest where Cagney resided, though he couldn't really see it as it was so dark (neither did he have his glasses on, so it was difficult to see very far- he cursed himself a bit for forgetting to wear them when he really should).

‘Are we friends?’ Mugman found himself wondering, frowning a bit in thought as he began to scrub the dishes. He frowned a little in thought, staring out of the window at the dark forest right ahead. If he were a little younger, a little more naive, it would've been a definite yes, but now… He couldn't shake the feeling that Cagney might've just been tolerating him because he had to… especially after Cuphead's comments about the flower...

His lips curled down a bit. Cagney was always like that though, right? He just never really enjoyed people being around, and that was that.

Maybe it had just been too long. 'I probably should've been a better friend in the first place and kept in contact with him,’ he thought, 'then I wouldn't have this problem at all.’

'...It sure felt nice when I hugged him, though.’

Mugman's frown twitched into a smile, face flushing a little as he stifled a giggle. Then when he hugged back, even though his arms were really too long to hug properly... And when he put his hand on his shoulder to comfort him… It was sweet. He meant well. He shouldn't doubt Cagney so much.

'I guess it was kinda cute when I surprised him as well,’ Mugman pondered with a smile, 'was he sleeping? Hm… his petals felt nice to touch. I wonder if he liked it… What would that even feel like…?”

His train of thought was interrupted when he heard the door upstairs creak open, the floorboards groaning a little as someone stomped on them. His train of thought was promptly interrupted, hurrying to clean up the last of the dishes and cutlery before putting them aside to dry.

'Cuphead.’

In a hurry he just shook off his wet hands, flicking off the beads of water, before hastily making his way upstairs. As soon as Mugman saw him, Cuphead jolted, quickly shifting so his hands were behind his back. He couldn't look more guilty.

“Cups?” Mugman blinked, and Cuphead only stared back, shifting backwards to put more distance between them. “What are you hiding…?” Mugman quietly asked as he stepped up onto the landing, eyes slowly narrowing as Cuphead glanced about uncomfortably. He looked ready to run away- that was affirmed when Cuphead finally made eye contact and let out a nervous chuckle.

“Oh, nothin’, Mugs,” he answered, clearly trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, swaying playfully as if trying to look natural, “I dunno what yer on about.”

But it wasn't going to fool him. “What's in your hand?”

“I told ya. Nothin',” Cuphead chuckled again, “Dunno why yer even--”

“Prove it,” Mugman demanded, cutting him off. The faux look of innocence was quickly replaced by surprise, then irritation. “I wasn't born yesterday, Cups.”

There was silence, Cuphead glaring at him for a moment, before finally the elder brother spoke. “Fine,” he hissed, bitterness lacing his tone as he held out his hands. Mugman blinked, looking down at the item in his palm. It took him a moment to identify it, but it was undoubtedly a silver flask. Upon further inspection, that was undoubtedly King Dice’s brand etched onto the face of it...

Mugman’s own expression slipped into shock, before falling into disappointment. There was only one place he could've gotten it from... Why had he gone back to Inkwell Hell? What was he doing in that filthy casino again? Hadn't he learned from last time?

His mind swam with thoughts, but all he could utter was; “why?”

“...I… I dunno, Mugsy,” Came the quiet response, scowl fading into shame, “I- I’m sorry.”

“You've said that before, Cuphead,” Mugman exclaimed, “you said sorry but... you didn't do anything…” Much to his own dismay, Mugman’s eyes began to water, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. His throat and chest felt tight, but he forced himself to continue. “And- and you even went back t-there! What were you thinking? Do you even know what they put in that? They coulda’ spiked it, knowing that shady place--”

“I don't know why I went there, okay?! I jus’ wanted to- I thought it’d be fun! But I lost every single fuckin’ round against that stupid Dice anyway,” Cuphead gave a huff, pocketing the flask, “an’ he said he put bourbon in it. I had some, tasted fine. So I'm fine, okay? I'm fine.”

Mugman sniffled a bit, bottom lip quivering lightly. Without a word, Cuphead pulled him into an embrace, nuzzling softly against his shoulder as he heard Mugman begin to sob, clearly overwhelmed by emotion. The younger brother quickly returned the hug, gripping onto the back of Cuphead's t-shirt.

“Look, Mugsy… I'm sorry… I really am.” Cuphead said softly, one hand reaching up to stroke down his back gently. Mugman’s breath hitched, holding onto him tighter. “Please… You don't gotta be so worried 'bout me. I promise I'll be alright.”

“B-But- but what if you aren't, C-Cups…?” Came the meek response, followed by a gentle hiccup. “I j-just don't want to see you get h-hurt… I don't want anything b-bad to happen again…”

Cuphead moved away from the hug, reaching up to wipe away Mugman's tears. “I-Is that why you were so mad tonight? C-Cos’ you lost?” He asked quietly as his brother thumbed away the tears that spilled down his face. His question was answered when Cuphead looked away for a few seconds, before making eye contact again. “H-How much?”

“...All 'f it…” Cuphead hesitantly replied, “I didn't mean to take it out on ya…”

“No… I know,” Mugman gave a little smile, reaching up to brush away the last of the tears that leaked out of his eyes, “it’s… okay... It'll be okay,” he reassured himself, taking a deep breath, before exhaling. “I'm… sorry for gettin’ so upset…”

Cuphead smiled weakly in return, moving to wrap his arm around Mugman's shoulder with a light pat. “That's alright, lil’ brother,” he said, gently clinking his head against his brothers, “look... I'm so… so, so sorry… I wasn't thinkin’… I promise, I'll get better.”

Mugman gave a little nod. “Y-yeah…” He murmured, his own arm wrapping around Cuphead's waist. His crying had made him rather sleepy, leaning against the other a bit. “I… I'm tired. I better go to bed. I gotta get up early.”

He slipped away from his brother, turning to give him one last smile, before disappearing into his room with one last “goodnight”. Cuphead smiled back, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.

Once the door had clicked shut however, Cuphead let out a loud sigh.

'Might as well finish it whilst I can,’ he mused internally, reaching for the flask in his pocket and promptly chugging down the last of its contents.

“Um, sorry I didn't really bring you much, Mister Carnation…” Mugman scratched the side of his porcelain head, stopping just before him, “I don't really know what flowers… um… eat.”

Much to his relief, Cagney wasn't offended or disappointed by this. Instead, he merely shrugged. “We don't really eat, so to speak,” he answered, “it’s hard to explain. I mean, I could probably eat 'normal’ food, but… I've never tried it.”

Cagney quickly patted the ground beside him as an invitation for him to come over and sit beside him, and Mugman quickly obliged. He took extra care to step over any flowers, before quietly sitting down on the grass next to him. He pulled his messenger bag up onto his lap, pulling it open from its buckles. “Well, today's your lucky day,” Mugman chirruped, reaching into his bag. Cagney leant down a little curiously, blinking when he pulled out his lunchbox.

Inside, Mugman felt a little bit embarrassed... He'd had this lunchbox since he was very young. The face of it had tacky stickers plastered all over it, and his name was clumsily written in the corner. The writing, as well as the stickers, had gotten worn away over the years but… he still felt fond of them, which was why he never made the effort to remove them. A bit childish, he knew, and now he was regretting not switching his lunchbox with Cuphead's just this once. He dismissed the thought, however, as he quickly clinked the box open, feeling Cagney’s gaze fixed on him. The thought of Cagney staring at him made his cheeks flush a little… but he soon shook his head, clinking the box open.

Cagney leant in further once it was open, head turning a little to see what was inside. Mugman smiled at the interest he'd taken. “By the look on y’ face, I would've thought you've never seen food before,” he mused aloud, and the flower actually gave a nod in response.

“I have a handful of times, but that was back when I lived with Hilda,” Cagney answered, “it's… kinda weird seeing it up close, actually. I don't know what I expected.”

Mugman actually giggled at him in return, not expecting such a response. This earned him a bit of a frown, but he didn't mind, and instead, he reached out to pat one of his petals playfully. “Well… since it's your first time…” he smirked, “you get first pick.”

The other had only flinched a bit in response to the pat, having not expected the contact, but didn't move away (which Mugman assumed was a good thing, since Cagney seemed a bit weird about touching). There was a hum of thought from him, eyes darting around the box, before hooking a donut on the end of his finger.

“What the heck is this?” He asked bluntly, bringing it to his face to inspect it. He didn't seem to like the feeling of the sugar that fell off as he picked it up, scowling at the residue it left on his finger, before promptly brushing it off.

“That's a donut- well, it's a sugar donut,” he explained, “it's sweet. Really sweet. Try it- y’ might like it.”

There was still a hint of confusion on Cagney’s face, his head tilting a bit. “I just…” he gave a little sigh, pulling it off the end of his finger and into his palm, “it's looks weird. What if I don't like it?”

“Then you don't eat it,” Mugman answered simply, shrugging, “I'm not gonna be mad if y’ don't like 'em... Just a donut, y'know? It's not gourmet.”

There was a second of hesitation, and he looked a little uncertain. Mugman was going to say something, however Cagney had already quickly scoffed it down in one go, swallowing hard without chewing. He cringed a little at the sight, eyes widening a little at the sudden motion, before nervously chuckling. Cagney probably grew up without table manners, after all, so he supposed it made sense that he'd just hawk it down without thinking twice.

“Well, was it alright or not?” Mugman asked quietly after a moment.

“To be honest, Mugman... I didn't really taste anything,” The response was as blunt and as flat as anything, stroking his chin in thought. Mugman brought a hand up to his forehead, laughing at how ridiculous he was. It only brought confusion to Cagney, however. “Wh-what's so funny?”

“You! You’re supposed to chew it first- n-not just wolf it down,” Mugman continued to giggle, much to the others embarrassment, “I've never seen somebody eat wrong before but you’ve managed t’ pull it off…”

Cagney’s arms crossed, looking embarrassed now. “W-Well, I'm sorry that I don't know how to eat properly,” he grumbled, face going red which only prompted another laugh out of Mugman. “Hey… hey! Stop laughing! It's not funny!”

“It is! It’s funny- no, it's hilarious,” Mugman continued to laugh, slapping his leg, face flushed blue from laughter. Cagney let out a snort of frustration, which only made him giggle even harder. “Oh c’mon, lighten up! I'm just messin’ wit’ ya!”

Mugman’s teasing laughter began to fade when Cagney gave a glare, face reddened, before sharply turning and pulling down two of his petals hard in embarrassment. He could hear the frustrated huff that came from him. Mugman soon reached out to take a hold of his hand, trying to stop him from pulling at himself. “W-Wait! Cagney, don't do that- you'll hurt yourself!” He cried, voice gripped with urgency as he tried to pull his hands away.

Cagney tensed up visibly, and Mugman could hear him grumble a bit. His needle-like thorns began to emerge from his body. Obviously, he was very agitated. “Mister Carnation…” Mugman's voice was low now, hoping he hadn't upset him too much, now being careful of those thorns, “I'm sorry. I was kiddin’. I promise… I don't mean it.”

Despite Cagney’s strained form, his hand didn't move from Cagney’s, his thumb gently tracing over his knuckles. He could feel him begin to relax, before he slowly let go of himself. Mugman smiled as he turned his head back to him, hand slipping into his palm and gave a gentle squeeze. Cagney wore a bit of a sheepish look, face still dyed a little red, before clasping his larger hand around his.

“Why d’ya do that?” Mugman asked, voice laced with soft concern, allowing him to hold his hand. He smiled sweetly at him- Cagney seemed a little anxious, after all. He went quiet as his thorns slowly withdrew- that was good thing, at least. “It's okay, Mister Carnation. I'm sorry for makin’ fun of you.”

“Ah, really, Mugman, just Cagney is fine. Sorry for getting so… flustered,” He mumbled in response, “...I, er, um... it's a habit. I used to do it when I was little, when I got scared.”

Mugman frowned in worry. “Have y’ ever pulled out a petal on accident?”

“...Yeah,” he let out a little 'tch’ to himself, “a lot of times, actually, heh. It really hurts when it happens… they don't grow back so quick anymore, either.”

“Golly, what am I gonna do with you?�� Mugman sighed, moving his lunchbox and bag aside so he could scoot closer to him. “What if they don't grow back one day, mister- I mean, Cagney? What will you do?”

“We... nothing. I’ll live with it. I mean, I'll have to,” the answer was flat, and unsatisfying, followed up by a shrug. Mugman frowned a bit, leaning onto his shoulder.

“I think you worry too much,” Cagney commented idly after a moment, “you should relax a little.”

Mugman let out a 'pfft'. “...You sound like my brother.”

“Oh God forbid,” Cagney groaned, the sarcasm in his voice exaggerated, which made Mugman chuckle. Cagney gave a small smile at his laughter. “Oh, hey, did you talk to Cuphead after? ...What's up with him?”

Mugman's face dropped a bit, shaking his head. “He wasted his earnings down Inkwell Hell yesterday…” he began, his unoccupied hand reaching to rub his neck out of nervousness, “and he had a flask with 'im. I- I dunno. He said he'd stop but- but I dunno, Cagney. I don't know if I should believe him… what do you think?”

There was a hum of thought, before Cagney gave a nod. “I think he will. You're worried sick about him. Anyone can see that,” he reassured, “he'd be stupid not to.”

“Well he's been making a lot of stupid decisions recently,” Mugman grunted, letting out a deep huff of frustration. He then shook his head. This wasn't a very good topic for conversation. “I shouldn't… I shouldn't think about it. I shouldn't put my problems on you. Sorry, Cagney…”

“Uh, hey, don't worry about it! It's okay, I promise,” He quickly chimed back. The light response was a pleasant surprise. Finally, Mugman felt himself relax, the tenseness in his shoulders leaving and he slacked a little.

“Thank you,” he breathed, head still resting on his shoulder. In fact, he was talking so much, that he'd forgotten their hands were linked. That brought colour to his face again. He could felt his heart beat a little quicker... Cagney seriously didn't mind this? His chest felt like little flowers were growing and blooming inside of him. 'Th-this is so nice…’

“Mugman? Um… we are friends,” Cagney piped up after a moment, before glancing down at Mugman, “right?”

There was a pause. Mugman was taken aback by the question. But soon, he nodded, smiled up at him, and shifted closer. “Yes- without a doubt, Cagney.”

Cagney had mumbled a 'thanks’, and looked away. He assumed it was to conceal that smile, but he'd caught sight of it before he turned. He really was shy, wasn't he? Mugman stifled a giggle, nuzzling against his arm. That was one thing Rumor was right about… he really was just a big dork...

The silence was peaceful. He felt like he could fall asleep right then and there. Resting against his stem wasn't particularly comfy, but the closeness… it was pleasant. Maybe a bit more than pleasant, actually. He'd never been so close to another like this before. It genuinely felt nice. He felt more at ease than he had in awhile. No gramps to worry about, no Cuphead to worry about, no errands to get to.

He felt his eyes begin to shut, drowsiness growing. Maybe five minutes wouldn't hurt...

He was jolted awake as Cagney’s hand withdrew from his before he slipped into slumber, letting out a mumble of protest as he was pulled away from sleep so suddenly. “Tired?” Cagney asked, and Mugman nodded back. He smirked, “it’s because you stress yourself out, like I said, see? You get tired easily… let me help you into a more comfortable position.”

Cagney summoned a vine with a large leaf attached to it, curling it on the ground beside him. He shooed away some of his brood, making some space for their guest. Gently, Mugman was lifted, his head resting on the leaf. It was a make-shift pillow; though it was much better to rest against rather than Cagney’s shoulder, he found himself missing being at his side. But he feeling too sleepy to argue.

“Th-thank you…” Mugman murmured, eyes fluttering closed again. Another couple of vines popped up, some with leaves and little buds on them, gently wrapping around his body to act as a blanket. Before he drifted to sleep, he felt Cagney’s finger gently stroke his cheek, before he leant down to nuzzle against the rim of his head.

“You're more than welcome, my little bluebell...”

#Cuphead #Cuphead (Game)#Mugman #Cagney Carnation #Mugman x Cagney Carnation #Cagney Carnation x Mugman #Mugney #Flower Tea (Ship)#Tea Leaf (Ship)#Flower Tea #Tea Leaf #Fanfiction #Cuphead fanfiction #Magic Writes

131 notes · View notes

survivingthejungle · 7 years

Text

today my friend invited me to go to a hypnotist show tomorrow and i thought to myself…….. wow. what a sign that i need to fuckin write this shit

im sorry it took me like 3580582343 months im literally the worst i know

also for the life of me, i can’t do rhymes. so im sorry about not including those. im the worst.

________________________________________________

You reminded him of his darling Alice, and that’s the only reason he had interacted with you in the first place.

He came to this city looking for her in the first place. Finding you was not planned, but it was a welcomed surprise.

You were working part time as a barista at a cafe to scrape up enough money to put yourself through school. You met during one of your shifts.

“Jervis?” you called out. He shut the book he was reading and hurried over to pick up the Earl Grey he had ordered. “I like your name,” you mentioned when he was closer. “It’s different.”

He softly smiled before responding. “Thank you. Mother always thought so too, I suppose that’s why she gave me that name in the first place.”

You glanced at the book he was holding in his hand. “Is that ‘To Kill a Mockingbird?’”

“Yes,” he grinned, “It’s one of my favorites. I think I’ve read it about 5,000 times now.”

“I love that book. Have you ever read ‘Fahrenheit 451?’”

He shook his head. “I’ve heard of it, but I have yet to read it.”

“It’s really great. Tell Adam at Border’s on 7th Street that (y/n) sent you, he’ll give you a discount.“

“You know the workers?” he asked.

“Oh my God, I’m down there all the time. I know like everybody who works there. I have a bad habit of blowing copious amounts of my pay on books. I probably need to chill.”

Just like Alice, he mused. Curious, observant, and ever the bookworm. “Nonsense.”

_________________

He was back the next day, hoping that you would be working again. When you weren’t, he showed up every single day until you finally showed up, a week later. “(y/n), oh my God. This dude has been lurking after you like… all week. He wears suits and shit and creeps you out when he talks, but he’s not really ugly… sound familiar?” asked one of your friends when you showed up that morning before your shift started.

“Girl I know exactly who you’re talking about. That’s… kinda weird. We talked a little bit but… he showed up every day? Oh my God. That makes me slightly uncomfortable. Thanks for telling me though.

And, sure enough, later that day, he showed up again. He looked absolutely elated to see you. ”(y/n)! Dear! It’s so good to see you again! I was beginning to worry, you know.“

You gave a polite smile. “Oh, yeah. I was sick for a few days, but I’m all good now. Can I get you anything?” you asked, subtly hinting that to you, your interactions were first and foremost professional. You were friendly by nature, but that by no means meant you were friends with everybody you talked to.

He ordered some variant of chamomile tea before asking you, “When do you get off work? If it’s alright by you, I’d like to see you outside the setting of this cafe.”

You were thrown off, and, justifiably, a little uncomfortable as well. “Uh… look,” you said, “Don’t take this the wrong way but, I’d rather not. I don’t really ‘meet up’ with people I’ve only met twice. You seem like a nice enough guy but… not right now.”

He seemed to take it well enough. “I absolutely understand. I overstepped my boundaries, my apologies,” he smiled.

“No worries.”

Looks like we have to do this the hard way, he thought to himself.

______________

He was waiting for you outside the back door of the cafe that led out into the alley behind the building. You weren’t expecting anyone to be there, waiting, so when you saw him you screamed, jumped back, and put a hand over your chest, gasping for air. “DUDE! YOU SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME! WHAT THE FUCK?” you screamed.

“I know you must be surprised to see me, but I must ask you to calm down.” He held up a stopwatch in his hand. “Let me ask you something: do you hear the watch ticking?”

“Yeah, I-”

You were cut off. “Do you hear the way it’s synchronizing with your heartbeat?” You nodded and mumbled a ‘yeah’, the adrenaline slowly subsiding as you drifted farther into a trance. “I need you to look into my eyes. Not above them, not around them, but deep into their center.” He stepped closer to you. “When I count to three, you will be completely lucid and back to normal. But- when I come back for you, you will answer to the name Alice, and you and I will be together for eternity.” He was at the end of the alley when he counted to three and brought you back to normal.

Understandably, you were frightened beyond belief. He had been there, just a few seconds ago, brought out a stop watch, and then- gone. In the blink of an eye.

You needed a drink.

___________________________

You walked into the closest bar possible, sat down, and ordered 3 shots. It was one of those night. You must’ve been showing how troubled you were, because a girl working behind the bar placed her hand over yours as she asked you, “Are you alright? You seem upset. Do you need to talk to someone?” she offered.

You smiled gratefully. “That… would be really great. Thank you. I’m (y/n), nice to meet you.” You held out your hand for her to shake.

“Alice,” she grinned.

“That sounds… vaguely familiar,” you told her. “I’ve heard that name recently but… I can’t remember where…” you trailed off. “Anyways, my story.” And you continued to tell her all about the strange man who was pestering you at your job, how he had snuck up on you after work, and then disappeared into thin air.Alice was shocked, and a little bit terrified.

“Did… Did you catch his name?” she asked you warily, carefully picking up pieces of a broken glass a bar-goer broke on the counter.

“It was weird, it was like… ‘Jervis’ or something like that.”

She gasped and her hand slipped, cutting it on the glass and getting her blood all over the bar. “Oh no,” she said, “No, no, no… did any blood get on you?” she asked hurriedly.

“No, I’m fine, but… are you? Girl, you’re freaking out.”

She pulled out a lighter, poured a bottle of Jack Daniels over the broken and bloody shards, and lit it on fire. “We need to go. Now!” She rushed to The front door, beckoning you after her.

“What the hell?” But you ran after her anyways. Better to act now, and ask questions later. You both rushed down the street or about 6 blocks before turning the corner to what you assumed was her apartment building, and rushing up to her floor. You stopped and leaned over, rapidly hyperventilating and trying to catch your breath. “What. The hell. Just happened.”

“First thing’s first… the blood thing. I should tell you this right now, it’s… poisonous. If a person comes into contact with it, they… they go crazy. It’s terrifying, and it’s dangerous. That’s why I had to destroy the bar.” She looked up at you after bandaging her hand with a strip of gauze she got from her medicine cabinet. “Then, the other thing… That man you were talking about… I know him.”

“How?” you asked, “Who is he?”

“He’s… my brother. You need to understand this, he’s… a terrible, evil person. And now he’s got you…” she trailed off.

“What do you mean?”

“He pulled his watch on you. Whatever he said… He’ll come back for you. He wouldn’t go out of his way to control your mind otherwise. Trust me, I… I know what it’s like for him to be inside your head like that.” You placed your hand over her uninjured one.

“You know you can… talk to me, right? I know I haven’t known you longer than like three hours, but… I know you now. And I consider you a friend. And I look out for my friends.” She gave a weak smile.

“Thank you, it really… it means a lot. My brother, he… he used that trick on me a lot. Back before I ran away from him, he… he used to control me… It was to keep me with him, until… He used that control for other things, too, things… things a brother should never do. Not to his sister, especially.” Your heart broke for her, cried for her. That vile bastard, you thought. How dare he. She recollected herself. “And now… Now he’s got you, too. That is, if he can find you…” she trailed off, an idea beginning to form. You could see the wheels turning.

“What are you planning?” you asked her.

“You can hide with me. He hasn’t found me yet, and I won’t let him find you either. We’re friends, we’ll look out for each other,” she promised you.

___________________

You stayed at her apartment that night, sleeping in an extremely comfortable recliner chair and about three different blankets. Externally, you seemed to be at peace. But in your dreams, it was a different story. He plagued them that night.

“Dear, sweet (y/n), you know you can’t hide from me forever. You know I’ll find you, somehow. We can be happy,” and you swore you felt something brush your cheek just before you jumped out of your own skin and woke up in a cold sweat, adrenaline rushing. You couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night, terrified he’d walk through Alice’s front door the second you closed your eyes.

_____________________________

god DAMN that took me a long fujckin time to write ho my god im a mess. @gothamandchill girl im so sorry this was for u and i know i hardcore strayed from what you asked and i’m super sorry but i hope u still like it. I’m really bad at writing villains as anything other than villainy, hopefully u can forgive me for that and still enjoy this either way!!

@nellychick i just realized this as well, but i think this is more along the lines of what you were asking for

#jervis tetch #jervis tetch imagine #jervis tetch gotham #gotham #gotham on fox #gotham imagine #gotham x reader #mad hatter #mad hatter gotham #benedict samuel

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unproduciblesmackdown · 7 years

Text

sometimes the wild thing with depression is looking back and trying to figure out when it started and never really being able to draw a line for anything like "this was the earliest age it All Began(tm)," probably because there's not generally such an On-Off Switch type process to it. i know usually circa ten yrs old or later in the teens is usually what people point to but sometimes more of a period of exacerbation rather than origin, and who can say it's not also having the emotional and psychological capabilities and capacities that young children don't that bring a greater sense of perspective and awareness, idk anyways so i'm not sure if i was ever not-depressed or anything....i know i was always uncomfortable outside what was familiar and "shy" and i know that as soon as i was around other kids in a way more socially organized than running around together, namely preschool at 4 yrs old, i was aware of not feeling like i fit in and noticing i couldnt make friends like other people could. ive been good at bs-ing school from the start and happen to pick up things very quickly so even though i probably had the same habits as kids with the worst grades and had no particular ambitions re: academia (beyond avoiding parental wrath and later maintaining the identity that kinda protected me a bit in school) since i got really good grades and was quiet and pretty much just read in a corner when left to myself from kindergarten through middle school, i was probably considered a usually ideal student. i remember a couple of people who i felt i was genuinely friends with, a kid named michael who i think went to a different school after a couple of grades, and a kid named jacqueline in 2nd grade who was like me so quiet in retrospect i'm not sure if she knew much english but we played legos together and stuff but then we got in trouble for not paying attention during not even a lesson but i had to move seats b/c arbitrary Making An Example and since we were both so quiet we just didnt interact much anymore to avoid further attention. i made other friends technically but generally it took a long time to be comfortable with them and we were never close and in the meantime i dont think i ever much liked school. i remember one random sunday evening just getting upset about not wanting to go back the next day just because it was boring and meantime at home of course it sucked but i didnt quite realize it til i was older and it helped of course being young enough to be able to go outside for hours and be perfectly entertained playing in the dirt and trees and stuff. i read a lot at home too i remember having pretty skeptical thoughts about Life from earlyish on but, besides spending a crap ton of time just in my own head (reading, playing in dirt) i think i had ideas that life and the world was pretty amazing. like earlier on of course it was like "is magic real??" but then later its just stuff like reading in books about how kids had good friends and families and got to pursue their interests and do things and work out drama and have nice endings with a lot of hope for the future. for all i could tell the only thing keeping that from being my life was that i wasnt old enough, or probably i hoped that it was just a matter of time. it was less like i was extrapolating from my own limited observations of the worse aspects of life that life must be great and more like i was already noticing that my world was lacking and just hoping that it would grow out of it; not to mention being given the hint that stuff like abuse was my own fault and shortcomings i started getting more aware of being fed up with things / that they weren't inherently going to change around like late elementary school / middle school but it would take another year or two to really get the extent of it, and in the meantime by 14 or 15 at the latest i was consciously suicidal so like, moving fast there. i probably by that point had already caught on to the fact that my world had just been kind of shitty and that it wasnt going to change or seem better after a certain amount of time like i'd thought it would. and then add also having a better understanding of the rest of the world just by being older and getting more experience and realizing that its a lot more chaotic than initially taught to you and that being depressed and having developed few interests and zero ambitions and having antagonistic parents and very few friends doesnt do much to give you as much a cushion from that chaos as it could tangent: honestly i like programs that teach instructors how to recognize things that look like Behavior Issues as maybe more being signs of external issues. i wasnt the best at paying attention and i was often quiet in school whether in class or not and it mightve been a problem if i didnt get good grades but since i did i could just be in the background. i don't particularly resent this or anything because i know how teaching is and i myself didnt really understand i had serious problems at home until much later, but in retrospect i think i always had signs. i remember one particular incident when i was about 8 really shouldve been a bit of a warning sign. i know nobody can really do anything even if they know things are bad but considering i had to learn what abuse looked like by myself and i didnt feel supported by any adult and even when i knew what was going on when i was much older i still just didnt tell anyone in any position of authority because i had learned i had to protect myself by keeping personal things totally confidential and that if i exhibited any signs of struggling i would be blamed and chastised for it. wouldve been nice to at least be informed what was going on at an earlier time and maybe given some sense of confidence or at least a sense it wasn't completely my fault. turns out what gave me any ounce of confidence at all was being like 19 and being so blamed and maligned that it backfired and i started feeling like if i was as awful as i was made out to be then surely i didnt need to feel ashamed and responsible for everything that was being done to me. if i already deserved to be dead then what more could i bring on myself by daring to be so terrible as to feel i shouldnt be treated like i was! checkmate atheists anyhow, i feel like my Good Concepts About The World kind of evolved from "later on everyone has adventures" to "later on everyone goes to middle school / high school and makes friends and bonds with their family and follows their dreams" to something just more vaguely escapist with abstracted ideas about simply feeling comfortable and nice, with maybe general imagery, usually like summer sunsets or just some nice stars or something. i thought about it once and it made a lot of sense, thinking about stuff in terms of the concept of feeling ok and good things existing in the world and being able to sense it despite it also being at a distance or otherwise removed like dont get me wrong just because i wanna be dead i dont have some kind of notion that everyone else's experience of life is the same as mine i.e. that life and/or the world is inherently shit, i know its no more objectively bad than it is objectively good. i still like to think about the good side of all of it. i think its a total mistake to have the idea that if someone is suicidal or even just depressed that it necessarily has anything to do with what they think of the philosophy of the concept of Life, its more personal and immediate than that. honestly i hate all the advice about how you need to write a poem for your suicidal friend to teach them the magic of life or do some otherwise melodramatic bad y.a. novel shit that'll give them a New Perspective on the wonders of life literally overnight. not only is it always disgustingly patronizing and often counterproductively Tough Love-esque but also totally like unrelated to the root of the problem of "what if i'm worried about a friend making a suicide attempt." if you're personally wanting to do something i s2g literally just provide a distraction. talk about random shit or play online scrabble or go over and make midnight snacks, not like set a flower on fire while dropping a porcelain teapot on the floor and lecturing them about how this Doesnt Solve Any Problems or is a permanent solution to a temporary problem like no. just be a distraction jfc and dont insult anyone by generalizing their experience and guessing at what's probably an extremely complex and personal matter and turning it into empty clichés anyways: this was the longest way to get to the idea that isnt it wild when, like how you can Hear a sound in your head and despite recreating it decently its different from actually hearing it externally, you can sometimes remember what it was like to feel nice about the concept of life? i cant really summon earlier things but sometimes i can remember flashes of having those later sad-person-in-their-own-head moments of thinking of distant abstract concepts like seeing the sky as a medium for connection to the infinite experiences of humanity, and i can get like the equivalent of a visual image of a recreated feeling from back when i still had a few lingering overly-optimistic notions that things would be good soon. don't get me wrong, again im still aware of the good things in life and i still have good experiences and still feel good feelings. but i dont harbor expectations that the course of life must and will average itself out or lean towards improvement for any reason, like knowing that good things happening to you out of the blue is the same as how terrible things can happen for exactly the same reason—namely no reason at all. so i just dont have the same feelings i used to about my own personal life, and i dont feel the things i used to when i hoped it still could be Only A Matter Of Time. so its wild when for some reason i mentally stumble on the memory of having those feelings and theyre still recent enough that i get a moment of recreating the feeling like i do when i can picture something in my head, and its totally different and dissonant than what's currently true for me. it wasn't a more accurate perspective to think that life being bad meant it had to improve, but its obviously a nicer feeling. and it sounds like overused to the point of meaningless comparison but its like getting your head above water for a second in terms of the momentary contrast of sensation tldr its wild when you depressioning 24/7 and dead inside and have an instant of remembering What It Was Like To Feel Things

#long post ///////

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zacayas · 7 years

Text

no real regrets

first fic im writing abt olaya since me and ana gave up on zm

maya hooks up with ollie at a frat party and zm ends. apart of the um d&n au bc i can.

honestly this is just a (kinda) drunk!maya fic for ana

word count: 3327

When Maya walked into Delta Nu Gamma - the first frat house she happened upon throwing party - and up the front steps, planning on ignoring the toll person and heading straight inside when a voice caught her off guard. “Maya Hart?” Stopping in her tracks, she looked over only to have to crane her neck up to meet the eyes of some tall mousy haired kid.

Was she supposed to know him? He looked somewhat familiar.

He must’ve caught on to the fact that he wasn’t registering to her because he supplied an answer. “Oliver Grayson.” Oh, now she remembers. AHS pride and joy, the golden boy. He was always the talk of the school, you couldn’t walk into their old high school on a Monday without hearing about his accomplishments during the Friday before. Even people from her old crowd would talk about him, plenty of them thought he was good looking. Something, it seems, that hasn’t changed.

“Ah, yes, The Golden Boy,” he gave her a sheepish smile at the comment.

Unfortunately because Oliver stopped her, Toll Boy noticed her, asking for the $10 entry fee. “Nah, it’s cool Goose, I got it.” Then he moved around ‘Goose’ placing a hand on Maya’s lower back, guiding her to the drinks. “Finally decided to join the party scene?” He raised an eyebrow, pouring her a cup of whatever it was that Delta bought, handing it over to her before getting his own.

“Who says I’m just joining.” He gave her a look which in return just made her shrug.

He’s right, this is her first time in the “party scene” since starting college - something that surprised everyone, Maya Hart going to college - but sometimes you just need to let loose and tonight was one of those nights. Things weren’t exactly paradise at the moment for her, school was as hard as she assumed it’d be (even if she’s only here to study art) and things with her and Zac have hit some sort of wall. She figured it would happen at some point, deep down, but after all the shit they went through in high school she just ignored the possibility of it ever really happening.

It was getting harder recently. She still loved him, he was special to her in a way no one else would be, but she wasn’t sure if she was still in love with him.

Thinking about all that put a weight on her chest she didn’t want to deal with. That’s how she ended up at Delta.

“Didn’t know you went here,” Maya said instead, ignoring her train of thought.

“I can definitely say the same.” That wasn’t surprising, no one expected her to go to college. “I figured you’d stay in New York,” her eyebrows frowned together, “I always thought NYC was like, artist heaven or something.” He continued, bringing his cup to his lips.

“How do you know I’m an artist?” her eyes narrowing, her cup weighing in her hand. Ever since that one fateful high school party where she cheated on Zac, drinking hasn’t really been something she did. And than when she and Zac went public she stopped drinking all together - she was serious about her relationship with him, her stunt at the winter formal wasn’t her only way of proving it. Now that she wanted to let loose, actually have the taste of alcohol burn the back of her throat, she felt awkward about it. It’s only been a couple of years but it’s felt like a lifetime.

“We were in the same art class for four years,” he didn’t even seemed bothered by the fact that she had no idea.

She brought her cup to her lips, taking a giant swig before commenting. It took her a second to regain her baring, the taste feeling foreign. Oliver didn’t make a comment. “Really?”

He nodded, letting out a chuckle, “Yeah. Weirdly enough, it wasn’t hard noticing when you shared a class with Maya Hart or her Band of Misfits.” He smirked at her letting her know exactly what it was that he was implying.

Her response as to roll her eyes.

Maya was surprised that she stuck around Oliver this long, knowing that she didn’t exactly come to this house to socialize with anyone. Though their session of catching up was cut short as someone came up to them, saying they needed people to play some beer game. It didn’t take a lot of convincing for Maya to make her way over to the table, the night quickly becoming a blur after that. She remembers the game, remembers doing shots with Ollie and some randoms, but after that it’s pretty much non-existent until she’s sitting on the couch with Oliver, being forced to drink water and eat bread.

“My buzz is going away,” she would say in between sips and bites.

“That’s sort of the point.” She narrows her eyes at him again but doesn’t say anything.

“What time is it?” Oliver pulls out his phone to tell her it’s just after 3. She watched as he got a couple of text messages that remind her that she probably has texts from Zac. All that makes her want to do is grab the nearest bottle of alcohol and chug it down. Instead she reluctantly just munched down on bread. Another twenty or thirty minutes went by, the alcohol pretty much gone from her system. She and Ollie stayed sitting on the couch, kind of talking kind of not. For someone she's never really talked to, she had no problem sitting with him now. They sort of had the same sense of humor.

Though she always sort of knew that, she vaguely remembers going back and forth when it came to ragging on their old history teacher. Vaguely.

She wasn’t sure how it happened, who leaned forward first, but before she knew it, they were sitting on that couch making out. It’s been awhile since she’s kissed someone that could keep up with her. Don’t get her wrong, she enjoyed kissing Zac, but the boy wasn’t exactly the most experienced. Oliver knew what he was doing, with a lot more than just kissing.

At some point they headed up stairs, clothes got discarded. Maya didn’t really feel the guilt until the next morning when she woke with Oliver’s arm draped around her waist. She moved his arm off her, not really caring about being careful, and started collecting her clothes. “Where you going?” Oliver’s groggily voice asked, making her look up at him as she pulled a leg through her pants.

“Home,” Maya replied. pulling on her shirt. She looked at her phone to check the time and saw her notifications have been blown up by Zac. “Jesus.” His name glaring up at her, making her stomach turn. She knows after this there is no way they were going to last. She fucked this up.

It’s been fucked up for a long time.

Maya was correct about her and Zac not lasting. At first she avoided talking to him for the first two days, not sure what she would say and not really wanting to deal with the matter. By day three she finally answered his FaceTime just to tell him that she fucked up, fucked some guy. Just as blunt as she could make, no point in sugar coating it. At first he was quiet, just staring at her through the phone before he went off. She didn’t blame him. This is the second time this has happened - the first going as far as she did - and she was completely sober when she made the choice to sleep with Oliver.

He yelled at her about how he shouldn’t be surprised that she was sleeping around, that he couldn’t believe he forgave her after the first time. Couldn’t believe he allowed himself to fall in love with her.

It made her cringe, but she took it all. She was aware that after this, there would no long be “Maya and Zac”, hell, there would be no Zac in her life ever again. She didn’t eve care to correct him about the fact that she was sleeping around. Up until she met Oliver, she had been completely faithful to Zac. But she had no energy to or felt any need to say otherwise. Let him hate her, God knows she deserved it.

She didn’t go to another party since than, concentrating on her studies and spending most of her time alone at a coffee shop just off campus. She hadn’t seen Oliver since that night and, though it was a great night, she was thankful for it. Truthfully she wasn’t sure what she’d do if she saw him and what she needed more than anything was to just concentrate on herself. It’s the one thing that she and her mom agreed on after she called her up pending the breakup with Zac.

Dating Zac did help her grow some, got her to want to college and not be as much as a misfit as she once was. But she wasn’t sure who she was by herself and now that she was single that’s what she needed to figure out.

A month or two passed before she ran into Oliver Grayson again. She was at her usual spot in the coffee shop when his voice grabbed her attention. It was a moment of vague remembrance, but when she looked up and saw his mousy brown hair she knew why it sounded familiar. He was standing there with some people who didn’t register at all to her, smiling and chatting it up. It almost made her want to draw him, but she pushed the urge away, returning to writing the essay due in two days time.

Her ears seem to have a mind of their own however, picking up small parts of his conversation.

“Matthews, I’m telling you, no one fucking cares.” The words came from one of his friends, “Ow, what the hell.”

“Don’t talk to Riley that way,” Oliver said, “Unlike us, she’s a pure soul. We must keep it in tack. It’s our only redeeming quality.”

A feminine laugh followed, “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said Ollie.”

“No. I’m sure I’ve said stupider things.” At that moment, Maya looked up again to see Oliver smiling down at a brunette in jeans and a flower blouse. She just got a side view of her face but Maya could tell she was attractive. Definitely Maya’s type, if she was looking for someone to pick up.

Just at that moment however, Oliver looked in her direction and caught her eye. Of course, she thought, letting out a sigh. Without so much as a second thought, he made his way over to her, sitting in the vacant chair across from her.

“I don’t remember inviting you to sit down,” she commented, looking at him over his laptop screen.

He shrugged, “I had a feeling I wasn’t gonna get one.”

“So why did you sit down?”

He shrugged again, “I decided to invite myself,” he reached over and picked up her notebook, scanning over the notes she took. “I always enjoyed the work of Caroline Woolard.”

“You know of Caroline Woolard?” She took her book back, raising an eyebrow.

“Kind of, Mom has a couple of her pieces,” he smiled at her, “Anyways! He got up, scooting the chair in, “there’s gonna be another party at Delta if you want to stop by this weekend, if not...” he took her pen and her notebook back again and wrote down his number. “Put it to good use. I have World studies every Wednesday and the professor is the worst.” He gave her a wink and went back to his group of friends, dropping an arm around the only girl there.

She put the number in her phone, though she wasn’t sure why, but never did text Oliver. Not until a good month later. Midterms were coming up and she was starting to stress out and needed some sort of way to get relief. It’s how at 2 am on a Thursday night that she texted him asking if he was free - her roommate having gone home for the weekend, thank God. It didn’t take long for her to convince him to come over, clothes being discarded almost as soon as he walked through her dorm door.

The booty calls sort of became a routine thing. They never really got personal, he’d show up at her dorm - occasionally she’d show up at the frat house - she’d get the release she’d need and that was it. It worked and Maya didn’t feel like she was going against the whole “finding herself” thing she agreed to do.

That was until another month went by and a lot of the students went home for Thanksgiving break. Somehow during that small four day weekend, instead of the usual hit it and quite it, they ended up actually spending time together. Somehow, well Maya was getting dressed he convinced her to go get pizza with him for some sort of attempt at Thanksgiving. They ended up in some hole in the wall that Oliver swore was the best pizza around.

“I know why I didn’t go home,” (they both sort of knew why) Maya said, pizza in hand, “But why didn’t you?”

“Since the divorce they’re pretty much people you want to avoid,” Oliver took a sip of his Coke, “Don’t get me wrong, love ‘em to death, but I’d rather not have to watch the screaming match of a decade happen well I try to peacefully eat mash potatoes.”

The conversation moved on from the serious topic quickly, Oliver bringing up some stories about high school. He’d mention events that were sort of caused by her old Band of Misfits, laughing at her attempts to defend their antics. They both knew that was a lost cause, there was nothing really that could justified.

“Listen, I had no part in that one okay. Johnson decided to let the fireworks off during the dance all on his own.” The mention of their freshman dance were the gym caught fire bringing a smirk to her face.

“You guys were honestly insane.” She nodded, her smirk growing. “And of course you’re proud of that.” He rolled his eyes.

“What about you? Didn’t you ever do anything ‘crazy’ during high school?”

“Never lite a gym on fire if that’s what you’re asking.” She gave him a look, “I once went with a bunch of people to a cabin and went skinny dipping with a couple of girls?”

“That’s weak.”

He mocked an offended look. “Not all of us can have crazy life styles Maya!” He threw his hands in the air, shaking his head.

She let out a small laugh, but truthfully she wasn’t sure if that’s what she call what she had in high school. It could get crazy she supposed, but the rumors were crazier than anything she ever really did back than. They sat in silence for a couple minutes before Oliver opened his mouth again, “Actually, I was convinced to spend the night in an old abandoned asylum that was said to be haunted. If you ask my buddy Trae, that was the craziest thing I’ve done.”

Maya shook her head, “Why would you spend the night in a haunted asylum.”

“Said to be haunted,” he corrected. She narrowed her eyes. “It was nearing Halloween and my girlfriend at the time suggested it. Everyone but Trae thought it was a splendid idea.”

“Trae seems like the rational one.”

“He was.”

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “So... did the place turn out to be haunted.”

Oliver shrugged, “We thought we saw a figure or two but there was nothing really to prove it. Not sure if I really believe we saw anything or if it was just our minds playing tricks on us.”

“Are you saying you don’t believe in ghosts?”

“Nah, I believe in ghosts, I just don’t think we saw anything that night.” The rest of the night was them talking about possible experiences they’ve had - Maya lived in a shitty part of New York were more than one person has died around her neighborhood, all the kids living their knew a couple of the areas were bound to be haunted. From their they talked about memories in high school, things that are going on in their lives now, almost anything and everything.

It’s been a long while before Maya got this deep with anyone.

She didn’t share much about her personal life, but she was sharing more than she had in a long time.

They were at the coffee shop, Maya actually letting Oliver sit with her as she stuffed, when some randoms came around. “Hey Ollie.” Maya continued to work, but she couldn’t ignore the sweet tone of voice that said his name. She didn’t even have to look up to know Oliver was smiling at whoever spoke.

“Hey Riles.” From her peripheral she could see that he leaned back in his chair. “What’s up?”

“We’re stoppin’ in to get coffee dumbass.” A new voice said. “Ow. Jeez Riley.” Oliver laughed.

“Oh! Okay. Riley, Jones, this Maya.” At this point she looked up, giving the two new comers a forced smile, “Maya. Riley - she went to high school with us - and Jones, her boyfriend.”

Riley sent her a bright smile, one that went from ear to ear and Maya wondered if it hurt, smiling that wide. “Hi! Yeah, I remember you. Didn’t you date Zac?” Maya recoiled at his name. She tried not to give her ex much thought, the guilt of everything that happened still kind of there.

“Um. Yeah.”

Riley’s smile didn’t falter, “I used to date his younger brother,” Maya nodded, looking at Oliver for some sort of social queue on what she was supposed to do. She didn’t do well with small talk and she never really cared to learn how.

“I don’t think she cares Matthews,” Jones said, quietly but enough for everyone to hear.

Oliver let out another laugh, shaking his head. “We still on for Friday?” That caused Maya to raise and eyebrow, curious about what they were going to do Friday.

“Yup!” Again Riley looked over at Maya again before turning attention back to Ollie. “Is Maya coming?”

Oliver opened his mouth, shut it, gave Maya a thoughtful look before shaking his head. “I haven’t asked her yet.” Riley let out a small hum but didn’t say much after that. Soon enough her name got called for her coffee and they were out of their hair.

As if nothing interrupted them, Oliver went back to his work, highlighting things here, jotting down notes there. All Maya did was stare at him with narrowed eyes. About 30 seconds passed before she decided to ask, “What’s going on Friday?”

“A bunch of us are taking a trip up to Universal Studios,” he replied, not even looking up.

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” He turned a page in his book, “I’ve been meaning to ask you but usually I’m preoccupied with other things when we’re together.”

She leaned forward, disregarding her current work, “And how long have you been planning this trip?”

He shrugged, “A couple days? Maybe?” He looked up at her, “Would you be interested in going?” There was something in his voice that caught her off guard, worry maybe. Outside of studying together at the cafe and that one Thanksgiving dinner, they don’t really do anything together outside having sex. Maybe he thinks she wouldn’t want to go.

“Depends.” He raised an eyebrow, “Are you paying for me?” He let out a laugh.

“Yeah.”

“Than I’d be interested.” He smiled at her but didn’t say anything else about it, returning to his work.

#fic #olaya #userana #d&n #mk

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yaminerua · 8 years

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OK so since I remember the general idea of what happened in the dream regarding the ‘spirit takoyaki stand’ im just gonna run with the concept and see what i can come up with for it under here

Mob’s heading home some time after dark one night when he suddenly picks up the smell of delicious food in the air. He thinks it odd because he knows this particular area of town doesn’t have any restaurants or food vendors that would make something that smells like that. But there’s also something a little.. odd.. about it. Something that feels different. And he can’t help but be drawn in.

So out of pure curiosity he follows the scent and comes across a little food stand sitting in a quiet little side street. There’s definitely something odd about it. The edges of its form don’t seem entirely solid and the way the light from the streetlamps hits it doesn’t seem quite right. There’s an overall strange feeling in the air around it. But he approaches anyway to find out more about it.

The scent is super strong by now, and honestly his mouth’s watering a little. Because from the scent alone the food smells good. Too good. Was there really a takoyaki place THIS good in this city?

Awkwardly he walks around to where the little bench is, and that’s when he really realises why things are a little off about this particular food cart.

For one thing, there doesn’t seem to be anyone manning it. The takoyaki is turning itself over as it cooks. It’s as if the food stand runs itself.

But then he notices something else, something he hadn’t spotted at first.

There IS someone there, on the same side of the cart as he is, sitting with their back to him on the bench.

The figure’s form isn’t solid, its edges flow and ripple like water, and coil and fade like smoke. But it’s vaguely humanoid in shape.

Mob has seen spirits before but he’s never approached them. He knows when to recognise one. And what’s sitting before him now, currently unaware of his presence, is definitely a spirit. Though there’s something off about it.. Something different somehow from the spirits he’s seen before, but he can’t quite put his finger on what.

The takoyaki stand finishes making a new batch of takoyaki, the little spheres placing themselves one by one into a little cardboard boat and pushing themselves across the counter but not in the direction of the spirit. No, these pieces of takoyaki are sitting at the vacant space at the counter. Welcoming. Inviting.

Mob glances at them, and then at the spirit and then back at them. They look good. And smell even better. Mob wonders how they might taste.

He steps forward, ready to reach out and pick one up when the spirit on the bench finally appears to notice him and it places an arm out very suddenly, holding it between Mob and the takoyaki like some sort of barrier. Then it scoops a ghostly hand around the takoyaki boat and slides it over to its own side of the table and begins eating.

Mob just watches, curious and maybe a little disappointed, as the spirit proceeds to eat what was meant to be HIS portion. He knew spirits weren’t exactly supposed to be kind to humans but it was still a surprise to see it happen.

When the spirit is finished eating, it pushes the empty cardboard away and sits back, turning its head to stare at Mob. Its face is mostly featureless save for two vacant white circles where the eyes should be. It’s a little disconcerting... but Mob doesn’t sense any malice just yet, so he simply returns the stare. Maybe it’s trying to unnerve him, he thinks. But Mob has seen more fearsome spirits in passing. And he knows he could exorcise it if he had to.

He sits down, undeterred, taking the empty spot beside the spirit and waits patiently and sure enough, more takoyaki eventually appears in front of him. Two boats, one for him and one for the spirit.

He reaches for it again and, sure enough, the spirit tries to snatch it away from him. But Mob instead uses just a little bit of power and makes one of the pieces of takoyaki lift out of the box and into his hand.

This startles the spirit, who clearly hadn’t expected such powers. And as Mob is going to take a bite the spirit reaches out and grabs hold of his wrist to stop him. And finally, it speaks.

Its voice sounds almost as if it’s inside his head. It doesn’t sound threatening or angry. But there is definitely a hint of warning to its tone as it tells him, “Don’t. You’ll regret that.”

Mob hesitates, and then allows his hand to be lowered. Why does this spirit not want him to eat? All he wanted was to see how it tasted. He’d probably have only had just the one bite.

He decides to ask, and the spirit explains that humans aren’t meant to eat the food of spirits. He shouldn’t even be able to see this place...

Mob explains that he has psychic powers and the spirit stuff probably wouldn’t affect him the same way but the spirit still insists that he eat none of what the stand offers. Surely he had family? Friends? People who would wonder what happened to him if he suddenly disappeared without a trace? There are all too many tales of children, spirited away in the middle of the night never to return.

Mob is quiet for several moments, looking the spirit over before he decides to ask “Is that what happened to you?”

Indeed, that appears to be the case. The spirit remembers very little if anything at all of what happened to them when they were human. But they are certain they were spirited away, left with little to no memories of who they were, and now they could only exist in a spirit form. This is the first human interaction they’ve had in all of the 10 or so years they’ve been wandering around as a spirit. It’d suck to watch some clueless kid suffer the same fate and do nothing to try to stop it. So they tell him not to eat the food, and ignore this place if he ever senses its presence again. This is not a place for humans. Spirits gather there, drawn by a longing to relive something from their human days. It’s a dangerous place for a human kid, even one with psychic powers.

The spirit hurries Mob along home, insisting he stay away from matters concerning the spirit world.. but the next time Mob senses that peculiar scent again he follows it right back to the stand. Again and again. The spirit eventually accepts that Mob will probably not listen, and it tries to sound irritated by it... but at the same time it’s impossible to disguise the fact that it does appreciate having pleasant company it can actually talk to. It makes Mob promise that if he’s going to keep coming here then he must not under any circumstances touch the food, no matter how often it is placed in front of him. No matter how tasty or tempting it might look. He must not eat it. That’s the rule.

Mob doesn’t have many friends, and he’s certain those he might consider to be friends don’t see him as one so it’s strangely... nice to have someone he can regularly come to visit. Even if he doesn’t know their name (even if they don’t know their name either).

He learns little things about them anyway. Not so much facts that they tell him, but things about who they are that show through how they act. The only thing they’ve explicitly told him is that not long after they appeared as a spirit they tried desperately to rediscover who they’d been. They’d looked for Missing People notices... any signs of a family trying to find their kid. But none of the names or families rang any bells and none of the notices had been placed recently enough. They’d searched as long as they could until they’d given up ever finding out who they were...

The spirit learns little things about Mob too, stuff to do with his powers or school or other things, and it’s a bizarre sort of friendship. He kind of wishes he could tell someone about it, but he’s certain he would just worry Ritsu if he told him he had a spirit friend and heaven knows his parents would certainly not approve. At some point maybe the spirit realises this, after a while of the same pattern repeating. They wonder why Mob isn’t off hanging out with others his age. It’s no good to become too familiar with those of the spirit world. But Mob is fine with that.

Eventually though.. unexpected developments begin to take place. From hanging around spirits and spiritual places, he’s become more accustomed to sensing their auras. He notices more now than he used to.

Most peculiarly though, is that sometimes he senses spirits that he can’t quite see.

It’ll happen in public every now and then, in the busy part of town. He’ll sense a spirit’s aura somewhere very close by, but be unable to spot it. Sometimes he’d swear it even passes right by him it feels that close. But there’s no spirit to be seen. Only people going about their daily routines.

It’s not until he’s lost in thought one day and walks straight into someone that he realises what might have been happening.

Startled, he mumbles an apology to the person in front of him, a young man in a suit with a charismatic smile that somehow doesn’t fit his face. And a strange aura that definitely doesn’t belong to him. But the most peculiar thing of all is that although he doesn’t know this man... there’s something awfully familiar about him somehow.

And... wow this is getting long isn’t it... but uh....

basically... it turns out that the spirit Mob has befriended at the takoyaki stand is the spirit of one Arataka Reigen, whose soul was forcibly ejected from his body 10 years ago in an encounter with a spirit which has been using his body ever since to pursue its own dreams. And idk... I’d need to think more on it but that’s all I’ve got right now from trying to fill in gaps but yeah. All this from a ‘spirit takoyaki stand’ dream I had last night, huh

#i dont know where i was going with this #all because i had a dream about a takoyaki stand #but im glad i remembered at least the concept

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