#im sure sunny can take care of herself!!!!!! :)

[namisweatheria]

I absolutely adore art of the strawhats all taking a nap together but they are also a little funny to me because it's like. Well who's watching to make sure the ship doesn't go under in the ocean death vortex.

[slutforsnow]

Chapter 9

FIRST DAY FESTIVAL TIME :3

TW/CW: Possessive/obsessive Coryo murderous thoughts

When the train that weaved its way through the districts arrived at D2, Sunni practically leaped off the train and hugged her friends who were waiting at the station for her. The friend group was quite large, comprising of maybe 6 people.

"Cori, Sej, come here, you guys gotta meet my friends!!" She called, waving to the boys as they gathered their own + Sunni's luggage off the train.

Getting a closer look at Sunni's friend group, Coriolanus realized that she had a very mixed group of friends; black, white, desi, indian, boys, girls, androgynous, plus sized, and skinny friends. He didn't think negatively of that fact, though; he thought it was nice to see her have a large and very close group of friends. Most girls back at the Academy just just stick 1 to 3 people, and there'd be one poc at the most.

"Guys, this is Coriolanus Snow and Sejanus!" She introduced stepping to the side, allowing everyone to shake hands. "Cori, Sej, these are my friends Nero Amadeus; he/him, Maxima Benedictus; he/she/they, Nataila Catullus; any and neos, Viktor Dellis; he/it, Vivian Diamandis; she/her, and the twins Dele, & Demitri Chaconas!"

A chorus of hellos and heys and followed Sunnis friends as the boys shook hands and introduced themselves to Sunni's friends.

"So, Sunshine, how's the Capitol?" Maxima asked as the residents of District 2 led the Plinths + Coryo to the hotel where the Academy students would be staying.

"Uh, shiny," Sunni answered. "And there's more douchebags."

"Ha, fuckin' told you Vik!" Demitri interrupted, reaching over to smack Viktor in the back of the head. He simply ducked, snickering as they instead hit Sunni.

"Hey-!!"

"Sorry, Sun, Vik ducked!"

Nataila laughed to herself as Vivian and Dele shared a look that read "they're so childish".

As the group chatted excitedly about plans for the week and caught up, learning about the Capitol as well, Coryo was glaring daggers at one of the males; Nero Amadeus.

Nero had his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he listened to the chatter, smiling as Sunni. He was happy to see her so excited and to be reunited with her friends but Coryo didn't know why and I was determined to get a straight answer out of the brunette or beat it out of him.

Cracking his knuckles and tossed his suitcase, which was actually Sejanus' that he was borrowing (read as stole), onto his bed once the group reached the hotel; all the Academy children were were on the top two floors and Sunni's group had the highest one.

"I don't trust that Amaedus guy," He huffed out to Sejanus.

"What? Nero? Why?" Sej asked, setting his backup suitcase on his bed.

"I dunno- I just get a bad feeling from him," He replied, tearing his hoodie off as he spoke.

"He seems pretty chill—besides, we just met the guy. It might just be your paranoia since this is your first time in 2," Sejanus offered, taking off his sweater and setting it on his bed.

"No, I don't think it's the paranoia. I'd know if it's the paranoia."

"Jealousy?" Coryo almost laughed. Him? Jealous? Over what? A girl that's not his yet?

"Jealousy, Sej? Really? Im not dating her, so why would i be jealous?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Friends can be jealous. Hell, I thought Sunni would've replaced me after me, dad, and ma moved to the Capitol, buy she still cares just as much after a decade," Sejanus answered, opening the curtains to check our the view.

"That's different, you're family," the blonde snapped, falling back onto his bed. The was comfy; it felt like it was made entirely out of feathers, and it felt way better than his bed at home.

"Yeah, I suppose, but we should trust them. After all, they've been around Sunni longer than either of us, and for the past 10 years, I've only seen her on visits."

Coryo scoffed and rolled his eyes, mumbling whatever. He was going to find out if Nero had a thing for Sunni and if he needed to dispose of him to make sure he didn't get a chance.

But he'd also have to make sure that no one else would find out about how Nero "went missing". He needed Sunni to completely trust him, no matter the cost.

An awkward silence filled the room, only to be disrupted by loud music entering the room. Coryo sat up, glaring at where the music was supposedly coming from; he didn't need a headache before the festival.

"The hell is that?" Sej inquired, coming out of the bathroom, zipping up his fly. Coryo shrugged, and the two left their room, to see what the noise was. Seeing a door was cracked open, they gently pushed the door open and Coryo feel his blood boil.

Nero and Sunni were dancing to some upbeat and chaotic aong, singing along with it as the others were laughing and talking about an itinerary that Sunni made at some point. When did she make an itinerary, Coryo had no idea, but he didn't care right now. All he cared about was separating his girl from some loser nobody.

"So do you guys plan on making everyone else deaf?" Sejanus shouted over the music, grabbing the others' attention.

"Sorry, Sej, this is what we do all the time!" Sunni shouted back, letting go of Nero so he could turn up his hearing aids once the music was off.

"Why?" He yelled back, walking into the room, followed by Coryo, who was glaring daggers at Nero.

"Why not? It's an homage to how we met; loud music," Sunni replied, laughing as Dele turned the music down.

"Yep: we were all at a skate park, testing our skates and boards and we started bonding over some loud music people were playing," Demitri added as Viktor kicked their ass in another round of COD.

"Dude, how do you get so good at Call of Duty?"

"Eh, having divorced parents who always argue make it easy to find time to game," He replied with a shrug.

"So divorced parents equals being a god at Call of Duty?" Nataila teased, grinning.

"I mean, in my case, yeah."

"So then what does having a dead parent equal?" Maxima inquired.

"Art skills," Sunni answered, hopping her happy little butt onto the counter.

Coryo made his way to her as the others gasped and told Sunni she was quote unquote "wrong for that" while trying not to laugh despite Sunni giving them permission to, when Sunni was laughing and laid his head on her shoulder.

She beamed at this sudden "affection," and gently scratched the top of his head.

"Hi, Cori," She whispered to him as the others, including Sejanus, started talking about things they could do for the first day of the festival.

"Hey, Sunshine," He murmured, his breath hot against her neck.

"You okay?" She asked, gently lifting his head to meet his semi-relaxed gaze.

"Just feel better around you," He lied to her. Well, he wasn't really lying, but he couldn't say he was claiming what's his. He couldn't scare her off. He wouldn't scare her off.

"Okay," She replied, smiling and letting him go back to nuzzling her. Fortunately for Coriolanus, Sunni didn't notice the hateful and murderous glare he was sending towards Nero, who was chatting absent-mindly with Maxima.

Late into the afternoon, once all the Academy students were settled, the group had set off to explore District 2 and everything that had been set up.

Games, of course, for the little kids who had rich families or the Academy kids who had younger siblings or students who wanted to relax and feel like a child again, but also dancing, music, and all sorts of different delicacies. It was so wonderful, filling, and fun that they all felt calm. Even with the occasional dead dad or divorced parents jokes, which Coryo learned were coping methods that Sunni and Viktor used to cope with the loss, everyone felt happy.

But Coryo wasn't happy. People were calling to Sunni, getting hugs and having her full attention. Sejanus, at one point, had to restrain Coryo from committing any more crimes again because a guy hugged Sunni for 2 minutes too long.

Sure, Sunni reassured him and said he was "just a friend," but Coryo had countered with "friend's don't have their hands way too low where they shouldn't be." Which eventually led to Sunni nodding but telling him he didn't need to jealous because they guy was 15 and just really tall. At that point, Coryo let it go and gave in but has held her close to him, not wanting anyone to pull her away from him. As the group walked to another restaurant to check out the place, Sejanus shot Coryo a text wearing a shit eating grin.

Sejanus: Not jealous, hm? You haven't let go of Sunni since we found out about the loud music lmfao

Seen

Coryo rolled his eyes, seeing the text. Of course, he wasn't going to let go of Sunni. People could've turned against her after she was transferred to the Capitol, for God's sake! He had to protect his girl, even from her own friends if he had to.

Then Sejanus sent Coryo another text, but it was a photo of Coryo with his arms around Sunni's waist and holding her small hands in his and he had his head on top of hers.

He smiled a little at the picture and saved it to his phone before putting his phone in his pocket.

He'd make that his lockscreen later.

Tags: @etfrin @hearts4court @snows-wife @delusionalbunni @kiraflowersworld @victory-scream0462 @curled-hair-red-lips @morallygrayboys @phoward89 @xoxo-eyeballs @thereeallink @graciouslyc @acidaciruela @wanda-maximoff-enthusiast @firstworldproblemthings @nowitsmissing @poppyflower-22 @kuromismom7 @xjinnix @flw3rrr @plathsotherib @beaphobia @valeskafics @aoi-targaryen @elayasversion

[writterforall]

Gabriella Sunny and JJ Maybank

Warnings: slightly angsty sexual content

After a arguement with JJ, Gabriella has been gone for a while trying to give her and JJ some much needed space. She had returned home to their shared apartment. Making herself thru the home she finds him talking to their dog Sunny about how sorry he is for going off on mama that his such a idiot.

Gabi lets out a breathy chuckle making her presence known, JJ's head snap up his eyes widening "where have you been gabriella? yea we had a screaming match but shit you been gone for hours cant damning reach ya left ya phone here and that cunt Barry back in town" he says rather calmly. Gabi moves over to him and their dog, taking Sunny from him giving her a big cuddle before putting her back on the ground off she goes playing with her toys.

"I didnt mean to scare you just needed to clear my head get some perspective and im sure you needed it too babe" gabi says while sitting down next to JJ. "To chat or fuck?" JJ says while Gabi's eyes widen but soon after lets out a little giggle cause its him being JJ "both" she says with a smirk her voice never sounding more confident

JJ were shamelessly checking out his girl appreciating her body, dick hardening in his pants "Yeah? go ahead lets chat" he says. Gabi softly smiles as she moves closer to him "I know i shouldnt have accused you of cheating Idk but that anger pangs just naturally comes to me youre mine only JJ" Gabi says honestly to JJ who looks at her understandably. "You can claim me 24/7 mama im sorry for overreacting" JJ says with heart eyes he still cant wrap his head around that Gabriella Lucia Santos is his girl

"Soooo how about that claiming?" She says somewhat shyly which JJ notices "Let daddy take care of you yeah?" He says while pulling her even more closer to him their eyes lock with no hint of shyness she grabs him by the neck going in for a heated kiss which he glady responds going at her pace. His wondering hand finding its way to her body. Gabi certainly did not deny herself getting lost in it all, she could feel JJ's big hands on her touching caressing her in all the right places. Her pussy were getting wetter her precious body screaming for more.

JJ smirked into the kiss feeling her responding to his touch, he too wanted more. He broke the kiss stood up, pulling her up with him leading her to their shared bedroom. Pushing her down onto the bed, being JJ he knelt down infront of her pulling her juicy couture pants down, revealing her soaked glistening pussy.

Gabi's heart were racing as JJ tucked into his meal licking her pearl, she let out a load moan her hands gripping the sheets. He slid his fingers inside her, feeling her clench around them, Gabi moaned out a pornographic moan her hips bucking against his hand. JJ could feel Gabi getting closer taking her over the edge he curled his fingers inside her pussy hitting her magic spot over and over

Gabi's orgasm hit her like a wave, her body shook as she came while JJ continued licking and sucking her pearl, drawing out all the bits of her pleasure. As her high subsided, JJ stood up got rid of his clothing. Gabi taking in the view her heart racing again, he is all hers the man of her dreams she couldn't believe he is truelly hers.

JJ got onto the bed positioned himself between her legs, he looked down at her his eyes full of desire "I'm going to make you see stars darlin" he whispered. Gabi could only nod her body craving more, he slid into her filling her up to the brim. Gabi moaned, her hands gripping his strong shoulders.

He started to move, hips thrusting agaisnt hers, she could feel herself nearing another orgams. He prides himself in knowing she is always responding to him, he could feel she was close again and he werent going to last much longer pussy that good. He increased his pace fucking her harder and faster.

Gabi's orgasm hitting her making her squirt her body shaking as she came triggering his own release, she feels him filling her making her moan out his name like a mantra. He continues fucking into her once again drawing oug every bit of her pleasure. When their highs subsided, JJ pulled out collapsing onto of her both of their bodies spent.

Gabriella felt emotional as she caught her breath, looking up at him her eyes filled with love and adoration "I love you" she whispers. JJ looked down at his darlin his eyes a tad bit watery "I love you too" he whispered before kissing her

[queenpiranhadon]

-...pretty much everyone

Welcome to the Hug Duck Sanctuary! My name is Kae, how may I help you today?

Oh you want to meet the ducks? Sure!

🐥❤️

n/a

🐥🧡

Lenard, named by @ch1ckpeapancake

🐥💛

Sunny, named by @lillibethnougatesquirethe3rd

🐥💚

Bruce, named by @pewpewcowboy414

🐥🩵

Arnold, named by @iam1withthepeggy

🐥💙

Dion Finn Chippia, named by @fish-ofishial123

🐥💜

Galaxy, named by @fuzzysoulyt

🐥🩷

Fifi, named by @par4disee

🐥🤍

Firequacker, named by @im-on-crack-send-help

🐥🩶

Rocky, named by @labaguetteisdabest

🐥🖤

n/a

🐥🤎

n/a

🐥💖

Shimmer, named by Anon 🐥💝 Donated by @labaguetteisdabest

If you feel in need of a little emotional support, you can borrow one for safekeeping to lift up your spirits, as long as you take care of them. Oh you want to name one? Yeah,send me an ask, I’ll make sure everyone who stops by knows you named them! If they’re all named by the time you get back, just donate one and they’ll be safe here and you can name that one!

You want to support us some more? That’s great! You can check out our French franchise right here, managed by the lovely Nyota (@labaguetteisdabest) right here - 🐥🇫🇷 There’s also our Indian branch, managed by the lunar lover Aylin (@aylin-hijabi) herself which you can find right here - 🇮🇳🐥 We’ve also got our Greek Branch, run by our favorite bunny girl Kate - 🇬🇷🐥 And our most recent development, our Singapore branch run by our one and only Seph herself - 🇸🇬🐥 Aaand an honorable mention of our favorite KitKat (@someonewhogotanaccount), they discoverer and mother to Hug Ducks worldwide Aww you’re leaving? Okay bye! Leaving a rating if you can, there should be a heart button down there somewhere…

[little-mouse-gardens]

Rottmnt oc headcannons

Part three : Skye

I’m continuing on with my rottmnt oc headcannons, I have so far completed Marcy and Sunny’s headcannons.

Marcy’s —> https://www.tumblr.com/little-mouse-gardens/734298414127382528/rottmnt-oc-head-cannons-so-im-gonna-be-doing-hcs

Sunny’s —> https://www.tumblr.com/little-mouse-gardens/736082157867532288/little-mouse

And now I have completed Skye’s, which should leave me with Angie’s headcanons to finish! Then I can finally start finishing and posting oneshots >:3

- Skye was named after her aunt on her mothers side

- Skye takes incredible care of her skin, because she can be acne prone with certain products. No one will ever know the secrets to her skincare routine, all except for Leonardo who practically begged her to spill the beans.

- can’t stand the smell of nail polish remover, literally had to cover her nose while she paints and removes nail polish because the smell makes her wanna gag

- may or may not have taught leo to paint designs on his nails. Him and her Defiantly match when they can

- tries her best to help leonardo with his insomnia. Tea, music, making him laugh until he’s tried or just cuddling him (his personal favorite) until he gets tired enough to fall asleep

- didn’t even shed a tear when she got her nose and ear piercings. To a point her and her sister’s mother thought something was wrong. Turns out she was just screaming internally-

- Parkour is her specialty. Roof hopping is just an average Tuesday night for her.

- Takes great care of her hair, prefers to keep it short but she will occasionally grow it out long

- she has a few skateboards that she’s collected. Customizes all of them with different themes, paints, stickers

- the one she uses the most is a skateboard that matches in design and color to Leo’s (they have each others names painted on it-)

- frequents a lot of local cafes and pizza restaurants. She Became hueso’s favorite customer because she helped make sure leo didn’t cause too much trouble.

- likes singing, playing guitar, keyboard and drums. Has a secret notebook of songs she wrote

- when she’s older, she gets dozens of butterfly and bat themed tattoos across her back and arms

- Public displays of affection between her and leo and quite common and encouraged by each other. Either constantly holding hands, hugging, giving piggy back rides ect.

- she can speak, English, Spanish and Portuguese. She tries to teach leo Spanish and Portuguese. They also Occasionally talk to one another in Spanish.

- has a spot in her room for leo to come over and hang out, it’s a hammock area over by the window though most of the time he’s cuddling up to her while playing video games, reading comics ect. He likes to brag about it, and she just playfully rolls her eyes.

- loves insects all except for roaches. moths and butterflies are her favorite

- loves bats as well. Has a little miniature butterfly garden-like set up in her window so she could watch the bats come in

- Carries some type of water bottle on her, wether it be for herself, her sisters or the turtles. Has a bunch of stickers on said water bottle.

- banned leo from accessing the mini fridge in her room because he stole all the pizza bites out of it while she was taking a nap (he made up for it with ice cream)

- has her own space in the lair close to Leo’s whenever she comes over. She has a little tent with pillows and a mini tv she brought over to play games. Most of the time you’ll catch her just skateboarding around the lair, or sprawled out on a blanket pile with leo reading comics.

- Second place for queen of the fairy lights (she and so many in her room the electric bills are sobbing-)

- Leo definitely knows her hair routine and yes, he loves to help out. (He loves how soft her curls are) Draws little shapes with the products on her curls (she loves this goober enough not to gently thwack him with a towel for wasting her hair products)

- spraypainting is something she occasionally tries out, usually goes up to a random rooftop or vacant area where no one is gonna care before testing it out.

- leo does the face taps to her a lot. after she figured out what exactly that meant (girl was hella confused as to why he was doing that out of the blue) she started doing it to him back. And now it’s just a random thing they do when they see each other or whenever they want to (this turtle literally becomes a churring smug mess over her it’s embarrassing-)

- most of her clothes probably come from hot topic or small businesses

- always Carries her favorite snacks in her bag, gently bats Leo’s hands away when he tries to steal any of the pizza bites she bought (he tries to snatch them out of her hand when she is literally is about to eat it like boi you tryna die?-)

- Skye has a very small scar on her right eyebrow from when she fell off a horse as a kid. Claims it as her battle scar and feels it makes her look a little badass.

- Skilled in archery, volleyball and surfing. Mainly on the volleyball team and do surfing and archery as hobbies. Used to be on the archery club at her school but she didn’t like the overly competitive and overly strict rules placed on her shoulders so she quit the club

- her favorite two drinks are blueberry boba tea and mango milkshake. Got hooked on blueberry boba tea after Marcy and Angie dragged her to a boba shop to try some of the new drinks

- Has watched law and order enough to know the intro message word by word

- Competes in a local underground skateboarding competition, usually ends up in second place or first place most of the time

- Hangs out at the local roller skating rink or arcade when she’s not hanging out the turtles or her sisters

- Learned to paint her nails from her sister sunny. Mostly paints them green, blue or black in various hues and adds little designs on them to match her clothing

- Collects a lot of funky and unique jewelry (fuzzy worm earrings, cute clay rings, silver skull ear studs, a choker with a dangly atlas moth charm)

- loves to make beaded charm bracelets and rings. She has a whole collection and miniature drawer of bracelets and rings she made. Made her and leo a matching bracelet and ring set (he teases her over the rings being an early proposal before they confessed)

- Her and Angie are adopted (Skye was adopted when she was one year old around the same age as marcy, and Angie was adopted a year after she was) it doesn’t really bother her much nor does she or Angie think about it much

- Her favorite food to make is homemade pastel or homemade pizza (specifically cheese, Hawaiian or St. Louis)

- Hates the smell of broccoli when it’s cooking or steaming. Leo tried to make broccoli casserole as a prank to bring to Skye, and she stepped one foot into the lairs kitchen before immediately turning around and walking away. It physically makes her ill and the smell is one of her weaknesses

- makes the most random out of pocket comments when she’s sleepy. Like “where are penguins knees? Like are they doing squats the whole time” or “you think mothman has access to the internet?” And not forgetting “i wonder if I could ever use your shell as a boogie board leo?” Someone get this girl down for a nap-

- her and Leonardo have random movie nights or game nights either at the lair or at her and her sisters apartment both before they started dating and after they started dating/he confessed

- Her and Leo’s first date was at senor heuso’s pizza restaurant and afterwards they just sat on a rooftop to stargaze and watch some old lou jitsu movies

- Loves stargazing. Sitting on the roof or the fire escape with some blankets and her switch/ds. She’ll curl up in a makeshift hammock and just observe the stars she can see through the city lights. Her favorite place to stargaze is her grandparents farm, since there is little light pollution.

- Fav spot on her grandparents farm is this old house that was built in the 1600s, she made it into a makeshift clubhouse when she was little so it holds a lot of memories for her.

- She’s trying to learn how to cook better and in turn teaching leo how to cook (because this boi needs some guidance because the kitchen equipment cannot be replaced again)

- Trying to control her yokai abilities by training with the turtles. It’s kind of confusing for her since human form but having in human abilities kind of throws the brain for a loop, but she’s slowly getting there.

- After the kraang incident, Skye will just randomly come over to the lair or leo will come over to her and her sister’s apartment so she and him can just be in each others presence. Cuddles, video games, random talks or going on walks around the city. Just to know the other one is there and that they’re okay.

- always has an extra pair of headphones on her. Made different playlists for herself, family and friends

- she also has a whole collection of video games, from her favorites to vintage games she just wanted to collect, on another shelf in her room.

- has played in a few video game competitions here and there, though she’s just tries them out for fun.

- has a whole shelf of books she genuinely likes to read and re-read. Frequents the library more often than most people think

- Her and leo like to practice a lot of skating tricks together. It has become a competition at this point, and yes they both have folders on their phones labeled “top ten leo fails” or “top ten Skye fails” just for giggles

- got a lifetime pass to a spa in the hidden city from her mother (shhhh-don’t question how she got it, it’s a secret)

- Uses humor as a coping mechanism sometimes

- A lot of her and Leo’s dates are mostly just random places they feel like going to that night if they don’t want to have a home date. However they’re still meaningful to them. Just spending time together having fun and being happy matters enough to them

- Fav scent is coconut creamcicle or vanilla sea salt

- the one place she wants to visit is her grandmothers old home in Costa Rica

[pineappleciders]

hi! im not sure if you did this request already but could you do RW mari, aubrey, hero, and kel walking in on the reader doing SH? idk it will make me very happy since they are my comfort characters and i deal with that stuff and all, but its okay if not! dont sweat it!

CONTENT WARNING: self-harm, blood, suicide blades that kind of thing

A/N: hi anon, i've done similar requests with different characters that you can check out in my masterlist if you'd like!! this is also assuming the SH is cutting, i apologize if it's something else! im also sorry if kel or heros part seems rushed or short i was tired

RW MARI, AUBREY, HERO, and KEL walking in on reader s/hing

MARI

"I'm sorry, may I be excused?"

You were having dinner with MARI and her family. They considered you a close family friend, so often times you'd be spending time with MARI and SUNNY at their home.

Something was said at the dinner table that night.

Getting up and pushing your chair in, you rush up the stairs and close the bathroom door behind you.

Sitting on the toilet, you dig around your bag to find the blade you more often than not carried with you. Not like you planned to do this all the time, but it was helpful to have one on hand.

You hiss and exhale as you cut, and you use the rag in your backpack to slow the bleeding. After all, you wouldn't want to stain their towels or waste any paper.

You hear somewhat loud talking downstairs, and you can make out MARI's voice. She seemed upset, but nobody was yelling. You tear up as you realize she was probably upset with her father for the comment he made. You knew she cared too much. You know she sees right through you.

The talking stops, and footsteps come up the stairs and stop at the bathroom.

"Y/N, can I come in?"

In any other situation, this probably would've been strange for her to ask to come into the bathroom with you. But she knows you better than anyone. You cover up and put your things away.

"Yeah, come in.."

MARI creaks open the door, slides it, and locks it shut. She turns to you, and you stand up. "Y/N, are you alright?" She places her hands on your shoulders.

You blink to hold back your tears. "Yeah.. I'm okay." She sighs and hugs you.

"I'm.. I'm really sorry. He didn't mean to say that, he doesn't think before he speaks sometimes.." MARI wanted to be angry at her dad, but she knew it wasn't worth it.

Pushing your face into her shoulder, you sigh. "MARI, can.. can you help me?" Your eyes dart down to your arm. You didn't want to, but it was bleeding and you needed to stop it.

"Oh, dear.." She takes a cloth from the rack and asks you to roll up your sleeve, to which you comply. She presses it onto the wound gently and holds it.

"Here, hold this. Let me grab some sterile strips," she says, worry in her voice. As she rummages through the cabinet, you can't help but let a few tears fall. This is incredibly embarrassing.

You wanted to go home.

The bleeding stopped, and she bandaged your arm and put disinfectant gel on the wounds. After rolling your sleeve back down, she looked at you deeply in the eye.

"Y/N, I know I can't fix everything, but please talk to me next time instead of doing this. I really don't like seeing you sad."

You could tell MARI wanted to cry, but she kept herself strong for your sake. You've always felt you didn't deserve your friends, but right now you especially felt MARI was too good for you. She didn't deserve to witness this.

She hugged you tightly. "I love you a lot, Y/N. I don't want you to hurt yourself. I'll always be here for you, okay?"

You teared up more and nodded, squeezing her back. "Yeah.. thank you. I love you too."

AUBREY

You quickly open the door to the park bathroom, using the intersex/family one as it was often less crowded than the other ones.

Opening one of the blue stalls, you lock it and sit down on the toilet. Public restrooms were always gross, but you didn't really pay any mind to it. At least, not right now. As you reach into your sock, you examine the drawings and writings on the stall wall. Silly things, doodles, words in a language you didn't know, so on and so forth.

Refocused, you take the razor out of your sock. Today was a day you knew something would happen. Something would go wrong. Something always does. As you make the first swipe, the door opens and someone walks in, with light footsteps. You put your feet up on the toilet and hope they don't try your stall.

You don't hear anything in particular after that. You assume they left, or maybe they're distracted in the mirror. You let your feet down.

Thirty seconds later, you hear a voice you very clearly recognize.

"AUBREY! Come check this out!" The voice of KIM, one of AUBREY's hooligan friends, shouts out. At the sound of AUBREY's name, you freeze up. Did she notice you?

A few seconds pass, and you hear talking outside the bathroom door. It opens, and you don't think you could get sweatier.

"Look at this drawing!" KIM snickered, and AUBREY scoffed. You almost sigh in relief that they haven't seen you yet. You assume that the drawing they're looking at is something inappropriate. Classic KIM.

"Heh. Check out this one, it's really good." AUBREY seemed to point out another drawing, earning an 'oooo' from KIM.

"Well, I'm gonna piss. You can wait for me outside with ANGEL." AUBREY walks away, right into the stall besides you. You hear KIM leave the bathroom.

You thought you were nervous before. This is a whole new level.

What do you do? Do you continue? Do you leave? No, AUBREY's friends will most definitely see you. Do you say something? No way! You don't want to talk right now. You decide to wait it out.

Your shoes are still on the floor from your freeze-up earlier, and you consider putting them up, but AUBREY will sense your movement. Stay still, and she won't see you.

"Y/N?"

Fuck! She saw you!

"AUBREY? Hey.." You try your best to keep your voice composed, but you can't keep it up for long.

"Were you here the entire time?" She asks, and you chuckle. "Yeah.. didn't wanna interrupt."

A moment of silence passes.

"You okay?" She questions.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm chill." You play with the blade in your lap.

Another moment of silence.

"Okay, do you wanna come hang out with me and everyone else? We were gonna head to GINO's."

"Oh, no, I'm good. I have stuff to do, so.."

Yet another moment of silence. It breaks when you hear AUBREY flush, and open her stall door, her feet stopping at yours.

"Can I, uh... can I come in?"

You panic. "Uh, I'm, uhh.. shitting.."

"Your pants aren't down." You've been busted.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, you oblige and unlock the door for her. She steps in, her eyes somewhat averted in the case that you actually were pooping or something.

She looks at you, and you forget you're holding a blade, with a cut seeping blood on your arm. "Holy shit! Are you okay?!" AUBREY freaks out a little, getting closer to you.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Uh.." You fail to find an excuse as AUBREY connects the dots and takes hold of your wrist.

Her eyebrows furrow, and for a second you think she might yell at you. But, she doesn't.

"Fuck, okay, I have a band-aid on me- It won't do much but it's all I got, uh, here let's put some toilet paper on that," AUBREY stumbles to form sentences as she rips off a wad of paper and gently presses it to your wound, still having hold on your wrist with the other hand.

You awkwardly look to the side. "Y/N, I-.. You can talk to me, y'know that, right? We're-we're best friends, I've always.." She sighs, giving up on trying to say anything.

You notice that she seems frustrated, and you nearly break down. Why did you always make people take care of you? Can't you fend for yourself?

AUBREY seems to realize she's making you feel bad, so she regains her composure and leans down to hug you, keeping one hand pressing the paper onto your arm. "I'm sorry. I.. I understand. I don't.. understand everything but.. I understand the urge."

Your eyes burn and you can't help but lean in, taking a whiff of her. She smells surprisingly good. Not in a bad way or anything, but, usually delinquents don't smell like conditioner.

She sighs yet again and leans back up, removing the toilet paper and making sure the cut has stopped bleeding, before applying the band-aid vertically, as if it were a steri strip. She takes a moment to form her words before speaking, a habit MARI had taught her as to not fumble while talking.

"Listen. I know it's been so hard.. But, please, this isn't the right thing to do. It seems like it now, but, it'll only make it worse. Can.. can you tell me next time? If- If you need help, or something.. just call me. I'll be here ASAP." She places her hand on your shoulder while talking, a look of worry on her face.

You blink away any tears that formed, and nod. You want to thank her, but nothing comes out. But, she seems to understand. She seems to know what you want to say.

"Do you.. need some time? That, uh... GINO's offer still stands." She puts her hands in her pockets and looks away sheepishly. A light smile adorns your face, and you chuckle. "Hah, yeah, I'll come. Thank you."

You weren't necessarily saying thank you in response, but you think she knows that. She smiles and takes your hand. "Let's go."

HERO

A patterned knock at your bedroom door sounded throughout the room, filling you with panic.

"Hey, Y/N? Can I come in? I made some pancakes." HERO's voice rang and the door creaked open, as he peeked his head in.

HERO and KEL had decided to spend the night at your place, and they slept in your living room, as your room was far too small to house two people. Unbeknownst to them, you had unintentionally stayed up all night.

You weren't sure why, but you had a total breakdown. Maybe due to seeing your friends again, maybe something else. You're not sure, but it happened. And it just so happens that HERO walked into your room as you were taking care of it.

He stops when he sees you bleeding with a boxcutter in your hand. After hesitating, he quickly sets the breakfast tray down and runs to get presumably medical supplies. He comes back quickly, with a towel and a first-aid kit.

He rushes over to you, and you're still in a state of shock. How do you explain this to him? What if KEL walks in? What if your parents come home? What if he tells-

Your thoughts are interrupted by HERO placing the warm, wet washcloth to your wounds. He had taken the blade away while you were distracted. You're kind of pissed that he asked to come in but came in anyway, despite you not answering. Maybe he thought you were asleep.

The look on his face is sweaty and panicky.

"Hey, u-uh.." He tries to say something, but instead he removes the towel to see the bleeding has stopped, and immediately puts ointment on the wounds and bandages them with gauze.

Nothing can describe how HERO feels right now. This, this was his chance. His chance to help for once.

He.. he had been too late with MARI. But now that he knows you're hurting, maybe, just maybe, he can do better this time.

He sets down the kit and awkwardly sits next to you on the bed. He wants to hug you, but he isn't sure that he should. His eyes keep darting to your wrapped arm.

You avert your gaze, and for a moment an awkward silence fills the air.

When he was patching you up, he had been so hasty, so quickened and anxious. You can only assume why.

He wanted to save you. He wanted to help. You yourself had always blamed yourself for MARI's suicide, but you could only imagine how HERO felt.

"Listen, Y/N.." HERO tries to speak again, but tears prick his eyes. At this point, you feel like you should be comforting him. He takes a few deep breaths and gathers his thoughts.

"Y/N, I.. I know things have been rough these past few years. And, I'm sorry I left for college. I know you and the others have been going through a lot, and.. and I feel like I messed up. It was my responsibility to be there for you all." HERO is playing with his fingers and looking at his lap.

You feel awful. He was always one to blame himself when things went awry.

He sighs. "But.. I'm here now. I care for you and the others a lot.. So please know I'm here for you. Even.. even when I have to go back to school, you can phone me anytime. Or, you could talk to KEL, or-or.. maybe SUNNY. He's a great listener.. They-.. They care for you a lot. Even if they don't show it. We all do."

You feel yourself about to cry. You didn't want to subject anyone to anything that they didn't have to see. They didn't deserve you.

You can't help but reminisce of all the times HERO has been there for you. It wasn't often, but whenever you needed an ear, HERO was there. And you were there for him. He was almost like a big brother.

You wipe your eyes, and he finally pulls you into a hug, patting your head and rubbing it.

"I'm here, OK? We all are."

You cry into his shirt and grip it, and he holds you tight. It had been so long since you've had a HERO hug.

Eventually you pull away and he smiles at you. "You still want pancakes? I can re-heat the food if you'd like." He suggests, eyeing your plate. He was planning to bring you breakfast in bed.

You smile as well. "I'd like that."

KEL

You sit in your chair in your room, a razor blade in hand. You were really going to do this again, weren't you? You couldn't help it. Not under stress.

With each swipe, you hold a towel to ease the bleeding, then continue. You weren't sure how your parents hadn't noticed the blood stains all over your laundry. Maybe they did, but haven't brought it up yet.

Hearing a few voices downstairs, you grow uneasy, and your nervousness grows as you hear footsteps come up the stairs. If that was your father, you wouldn't hear the end of it. Your door was locked, though.

Or at least, you think it is.

A couple loud knocks at your door make you jump, and a sing-songy voice rings your ears.

"Oh, Y/N!! Guess what I have!!!" Your heart drops at the voice of your friend KEL. Oh dear.. now was not the time.

You don't respond. Maybe your best bet was to tell him to leave or say 'not right now', but your brain told you to freeze, and that's what you did.

"Y/N? Are you in there?" He says, his voice growing a but quieter. He tests the door, and you're fucked. A bright looking KEL stands in your doorway.

"There you are! Guess what I...." His voice trails off, and his grip on one of the older CAPT. SPACEBOY comics loosens in his grip. You turn to him and try to cover up.

"KEL? Hey, man.. Uh..." You try to say to come back another time, but he's already seen it.

His face grows with worry. "Are you okay?" He sounds genuinely concerned, and it tugs at your heart strings. You don't know what to say.

He very slowly walks into your room, setting the comic book on your dresser and approaching you in your chair, looking down at you.

His height is almost intimidating from this angle. Almost.

"Do.. do you need help?" KEL was a little unsure how to go about this situation. On one hand, he wanted to help you mentally, to talk it out and get you help. On the other, he wanted to run away. To leave you to your own. But he won't do that.

No, you need help.

You want to cry.

He skips away a bit, and starts running to your bathroom to grab stuff. "I'll be right back!" He shouts.

Returning with a couple Hello Kitty themed band-aids, and anti bacterial ointment, he kneels down.

"Can.. Can I touch you?"

You have to congratulate KEL for maturing. Although it might not seem like it from the outside, KEL's changed a lot. He's more aware of personal space now, you note.

You nod and try to avert your eyes as he applies the ointment and puts the band-aids over your wounds to close them up. He lingers on one knee after he's done, and starts chewing his cheek. You can see the gears turning in his head.

"I, um.. do you wanna talk about it?" KEL really wanted to know how you felt. He wanted to help, he wanted to know what was making you hurt yourself. But he just couldn't ask.

Your bottle bursts and you start to cry. He immediately wraps his arms around you once you fall into his chest, ranting and sobbing.

You really didn't care if he didn't get a word you said. You were so grateful to have someone like him in your life, and you couldn't express it enough.

He lets you talk, and doesn't say a word. Small, simple pats and rubs of your back and knowing he hears you is enough comfort. KEL never liked it when people cried.

You sit up and wipe your face, noticing the snot and tears on KEL's shirt. Oops..

"Hey.. I.. I know we're all struggling. These past few years have been rough, and I know.. I know you have your own problems. So anytime you want to, you can talk to me. Or just hang out. Or, I don't know, we can do.. whatever. But, um, when you wanna do this again, let me know, OK?" He takes a breath.

"I, uh.. I know I don't say it often, but I really care about you. A lot. So, please talk to me." He ends his sentence with a soft smile, and you can see his eyes full of hurt.

You tear up again and hug him. "Yeah, yeah. Okay. Thank you, KEL."

He gives a genuine smile, and you swear he lights up a room with his face. "Of course. Now, about that comic!"

[konohamaru-sensei]

dis one is for me since I like never request anything for myself | Nanami Kento x Kim Mae-Hui | having them give something of importance to them for you, as a gift (ie. "oh this is a necklace my late mum owned.. she always wanted me to gift this to someone i cherish.. have it. :)" )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Q IM SORRY I IGNORED YOUR EXAMPLE AND JUST WENT WITH MY OWN IDEA LOL. Love you lots, thank you for always hanging out and rambling and giving advice and drawing so wonderfully and watching anime and being a A-Class human being.

In an unusual turn of event, Mae-Hui didn’t wake up until the sun was already high up and the morning was turning to midday. That really wasn’t usual for her, as she preferred to rise early, get her store, her plants, her bug friends in order, before she could really start the day. But sometimes, on rare days such as this one was, she forgot all about that and slept in.

Once she realised how late it had gotten she jumped out of bed, grabbing the first dress she could find on the chair next to the bed and buttoning it up as she made her way out of the room. In her hurried state she didn’t even spare a look in the mirror at the back of the room. Her hair was secondary now, she needed to check on her things first.

When she stumbled out of the bedroom into the living room area, feeling like a bear that had just woken up from an especially long hibernation she found Kento on the couch, legs crossed, the Japan Times in his hand. She would have made fun of him for his old man demeanour at the ripe age of 30, but was distracted by the fact that he was shirtless. 

Shirtless man in her living room, not a bad start to a morning. Even if it was late.

“Eh-” she let out, temporarily forgetting how forming words worked among human beings.

Kento let the newspaper sink and looked over to her. He was wearing his reading glasses, which just added to his overall look of an old man though he’d barely reached quater age. “Kin-sei,” he said and looked over the rims of the glasses right at her, “you are finally up.”

Mae-Hui curled her lips a little. Nanami Kento had, ever since she’d known him, been a sweet talker, but lately he’d taken a liking to calling her kinsei specifically. A sort of play on words about her nickname Kin and the word for star. Sure, he most often pronounced it like two separate words pulled together, but sometimes he fluently put them into one. 

Kinsei, in a convenient twist he had probably thought about when he came up with the nickname, was the name for the planet venus. He was essentially calling her a Venus. There were times like right now when that embarrassed Mae-Hui a little, but there were also times like last night where it had embarrassed her in a good way.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she asked and hurried over to her balcony side plants.

Kento folded the newspaper: “You deserve sleep.”

He was so pragmatic it could almost be unnerving. “What about the store? I wasn’t up to open it!” She lifted her watering can only to realise that the plants had already been watered so she put it back down.

“I sent Itadori-kun to take care of it.” Kento stretched a little. “Now that he is soon to be a university student he should learn how to hold a part time job on his own.”

Kin couldn’t help but grin at the image of 19 year old Itadori Yuuji, known and renowned Jujutsu Sorcerer and Grade A sunny boy standing in her jewellery store. But then again it made full sense in some way. Yuuji would probably be so helpful to every customer that her sales would double. Maybe next time she could bring Megumi too then the clientele of female customers would probably double.

She turned on her heels and walked to her terrarium. “You are working that boy so hard,” she stated with a little wink in Kento’s direction so he knew that she only meant it jokingly. Still, she earned herself a classic Nanami deep-sigh in reply.

“I would say the work he does for you is more like a vacation,” he explained. “At least with everything else he sometimes has going on.”

The bug-friends in their terrarium were crowing happily around set out fresh plants that they were happily munching. Mae-Hui watched them move about and wondered how early Kento had gotten up to be able to take care of all of this. That he had gotten up and done all of that for her, just the general thought of that, already filled her with so much warmth that she could have jumped his bones. She kept it together though. For now.

“I thought you hate work,” she said instead, turning around to walk to the kitchen for a cup of tea. “Do you want the boy to get a normal job?” They always talked about Yuuji as if he was Nanami’s own son, when in fact Nanami hadn’t met him until 4 or so years ago and not really been his teacher either.

Kento sighed one more time. “What I want does not matter. Itadori-kun should decide what he wants.” Sometimes he was speaking in such a low voice that it almost left goosebumps on her skin.

In her tiny kitchen she found that a little teacup had been already prepared for her. Kento had filled the tea in a cup with a lid to keep the warmth inside. He had really thought of anything. At this point she wouldn’t even be surprised to find a full set of breakfast in one of the cupboards or the fridge.

“You look very good in this by the way,” he said suddenly. “Fits you better than I would have thought.”

Mae-Hui took a step back, the cup of tea still in her hand. “Eh-thank you,” she replied, wondering why he had phrased it this way. After all, he’d seen her in this dress just last night for dinner.

“The length of it just covers everything that needs covering, but also doesn’t cover everything. It’s nice, kin-sei.” When she turned she found him staring at her figure so much that it almost made her feel embarrassed once again.

What was his issue, she wondered as she walked from the kitchen to the couch. He’d seen all of this yesterday and yet he acted like he had never seen her like this before? She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the fridge door and then realised what he was talking about.

She wasn’t wearing her baby blue dress, the one she had extra chosen for their date last night. No, instead she was wearing a shirt like a dress. His shirt.

Mae-Hui stared at herself, then down to her toes and back to her mirror image. “Ken- I - I didn’t know that I put this on…,” she mumbled trying to make sense of what had happened. She had hurried out of bed and then ended up grabbing the wrong piece of fabric. The two of them often colour matched their outfits as they went out just because they liked colour matching and so a mistake like that was easily made.

“I don’t mind,” he said calmly. “I think it looks better on you than it would ever on me.”

She took the cup and sat down next to him on the couch. Half she had already lifted her hand to the top button of the shirt with the intention of giving it back to him, when she realised that she wasn’t wearing much underneath. That could have been sexy in any other situation than the balcony being wide open.

“I’ll wash it and give it back to you,” she said and leaned back into her couch cushions. “And from now on I’ll be a bit more careful about what I put on. Maybe I could buy a light kimono….”

Kento took a strand of her hair between his fingers like he often did when they sat side by side. He’d done it when they were younger and her hair lounger and he was still doing it now that she kept it shorter. Sometimes she joked that he would still do it even if she had a buzzcut. “You’d find a way,” she’d say.

“Just keep it.” 

Mae-Hui blinked at Kento in confusion: “Keep what? The shirt?”

“The shirt,” he nodded. “Now that I see it on you I realise it should have always been worn by you.”

Again with the sweet talking. In another life in which he wasn’t the kindest man in the world he would have made an excellent fuckboy. “But it’s your lucky shirt”, Kin touched the fabric at her chest.

How she had not recognised the shirt she had put on was beyond her, considering this one was so peculiar and different. It was definitely Kento’s favourite shirt, despite the stains and blemishes on it. He only wore it under a suit jacket when the fixes were not visible and only for work. There used to be a time when he’d change into a different, newer shirt for their dates, but Kin also liked it when he wore it. This was the lucky shirt after all.

A few years, almost like a different lifespan ago, he’d worn this exact shirt when he was called in to help out with the Shibuya commotion. And though he’d faced not one, but two almost impossible to beat opponents, he’d made it back to her. Sure, he’d sacrificed and arm and was now scarred on one side of his face, but he had come back. 

The shirt had been a little ripped, it had burned and lost a bit of colour, but generally it had survived in one piece. As if it was some good luck charm for him, he’d started wearing it on every job afterwards. Mae-Hui could not take it from him like this, it was what gave him confidence.

He sighed and then snailed his one arm around her shoulders. “Four years ago I used up all my luck with it in one night. But for you it might still have luck leftover. And I want you to be very lucky, kin-sei.”

Her lips curled another time. “Fine, I will make sure to wear it for you like this everytime you are around.” 

The declaration made him laugh. “Sure thing.”

They leaned towards each other and shared a kiss like this and Mae-Hui had to think of her earlier inner desire to thank him for being the most wonderful human being by jumping his bones again. 15 mins ago she had told herself she’d hold back, but now she thought it was maybe time to reconsider.

[forlorn-crows]

What about sunshine’s first kiss with another ghoulette of your choice 👀

im screaming and kicking my feet at all of the prompts in my inbox now, and how many of them are about sunny!! i think that's so lovely.

im not sure what mood you had in mind when you sent this to me, anon, but my brain went hurt/comfort sooo i hope thats okay? cumulus/sunshine sweetness under the cut :)

The new summons behaves generally like what she’s named after—a ball of sunshine. Her radiant aura and bubbly character shone through immediately, and so they named her Sunshine. There was talk of ‘Victory’ and ‘Stratus’, too, but nothing stuck like ‘Sunshine’ did.

To see her upset had quickly been deemed a rarity or a total improbability. So, it broke Cumulus’ heart to find her one morning sullen and teary-eyed, curled into the smallest ball possible on the corner of her bed. The first breath of daylight shines through the leaded glass and onto her shaking form, bathing her in somber, cool tones.

Sunshine’s back is to her, and Cumulus isn’t sure she’s heard her in the doorway yet. It feels too intimate, too vulnerable to disturb her in a mood like this, even though every fiber of her being is saying go to her, care for her. Truly, she’s about to step away before a loud sob shakes Sunshine’s entire body, the broken sound of it echoing into the hallway. It cuts Cumulus deeply, a dull sting that she immediately moves to soothe.

“Sunshine?” she asks quietly. The smaller ghoulette’s breath hitches at Cumulus’ voice, but she doesn’t answer.

“Can I come in? I don’t want to intrude, but . . .” She cracks the door open halfway, pausing with her hand on the knob.

“S’okay,” Sunshine breathes, almost imperceptible. Cumulus sighs internally with relief and enters quietly, shutting the door fully behind her.

“It’s Cumulus,” she says gently. “Can I sit on the bed with you?”

Sunshine nods her head silently. She looks up at her with red-rimmed eyes, watching her as she sits on the opposite corner of the mattress.

“Do you want someone to talk to?” Cumulus resists the urge to gather her up into her arms and coddle—she still isn’t sure where Sunshine’s boundaries lie. She likes Sunshine; she doesn’t want to overstep by imposing her mothering onto her.

Sunshine sniffles and considers for a moment, eyes fixed somewhere on the space between them. “Would you, um . . .” Her eyes slowly drag themselves up to Cumulus’ face. “Could you hold me?” she whispers, voice stifled by a choked-down sob. That lump in her throat bobs, lip quivering as she waits for an answer.

“Oh, Sunshine,” Cumulus says sadly, shifting her body so Sunshine has space to crawl into. “Come here.”

The small ghoulette drags herself into Cumulus’ lap and winds her arms around her middle. She tucks her head into her shoulder with a sigh. Cumulus pulls her in, encircling her with her warm arms. Sunshine feels small, both physically and emotionally, and she’s trying and failing to hold back her tears, shaking with the effort.

“You don’t have to hold it in. I’m here.” The words make the dam break, and Sunshine’s chest heaves with sudden sobs, like they’re being wrenched straight from a broken heart. Cumulus rubs her hands up and down her back, swaying the both of them back and forth like cattails in the wind. Sunshine doesn’t speak, and Cumulus doesn’t prompt her—she just lets her cry into her shoulder, releasing whatever hurt she’s burdened with.

Cumulus’ shirt is soaked with tears and mucous by the time Sunshine’s sobs subside, but she doesn’t care one bit. The sun had further risen, tracking a patch of warm light to their corner of the bed. It seems to have soothed Sunshine in part, along with Cumulus’ gentle rocking.

Sunshine sniffles and raises her head from Cumulus’ shoulder. She blinks wearily, taking in Cumulus’ face like she’s seeing her for the first time. She smiles shyly.

“’M sorry,” she says, voice hoarse and thick with the aftermath of tears.

“Darling, you have nothing to be sorry for.” Cumulus’ clear blue eyes flick between Sunshine’s warm hazel ones, searching.

“I’m just . . . having a hard time. I’m not used to this body, this,” she gestures vaguely, “anything. I feel helpless. Worthless.”

Cumulus frowns. “I’m so sorry you feel that way. You’re not worthless. We’re all really grateful you’re here.”

Sunshine makes a small noise, ducking her head away from Cumulus’ gaze.

“Hey.” Cumulus cradles her face in her hands and smooths her thumbs over her cheeks. “I really mean it. You already mean so much to all of us. To me.”

A rosy blush blooms across the freckles on her nose and reddens the tips of her pointed ears. Sunshine’s eyes dart back to her face, down to her mouth.

“D’you really mean that?” It’s whispered like a confession, hidden meaning hanging on her tongue.

Instead of answering, Cumulus inches closer—carefully, like Sunshine might fly away like a frightened bird. But she doesn’t. Her breath hitches as Cumulus closes the gap between them. Sunshine’s eyes flutter shut as that plush mouth meets hers, light and tender. Sunshine’s hands tighten against Cumulus’ waist, clinging to her as she lets herself be drawn closer. It’s as sweet as a drop of nectar, as soft as the fuzz on a bumblebee. It’s all Cumulus can think of in that moment to show the new summons how much she truly cares.

Cumulus pulls away after a lingering moment, still close enough that she can smell that ripe citrus scent that’s uniquely Sunshine. She bumps her nose affectionately before resting their foreheads together.

“I mean it,” Cumulus says with a smile.

Sunshine huffs a laugh, the end of it catching on a sob. “I like you, ‘Lus. A lot.”

“I like you too, Sunny. We all do.”

[moonchildstyles]

hi moonie ive missed you. every time i come on here to send a concept, it’s late and i end up falling asleep bc im so tired (i work at a daycare full time and it is exhausting and i have ANOTHER cold) but i digress- im being self indulgent with h taking care of pretty girl if she has a migraine!!

like maybe it hits when she’s at school and it’s one of those ones where any light is just unbearable and it’s only her second class of the day but she’s been sitting in her lecture with her hood up and her forehead in her hands and her heels pressed into her eyes and there’s really no place to relax in complete peace and quiet on campus and every time someone talks a bit loud the pain gets worse and she makes it through til the end of the lecture before she’s walking out and finding a spot on a bench near the doors where h knows to pick her up sometimes and she feels terrible to call him when he’s at work but she can’t drive like this and he’s her only option, and ofc he’s so sweet when he answers the phone not expecting her call and “can you come get me?” just mumbling quietly into the receiver about her pain and he’s immediately just lowering his voice to match hers so he’s not being to loud in her ear and he’s promising he’ll be there in fifteen minutes bc he knows how bad her migraines can get sometimes and he reschedules a few things at work before he’s pulling up to her school and it’s a really bright day outside and she’s dreading even stepping into the sunshine but she gets his little text and makes her way outside with her hand trying to block the sun and when she slides into his passenger seat in tears because of how the people inside were being, he’s sliding his sunnies over her eyes without question and telling her to close her eyes and “gonna get you home, pretty girl” and it’s just really soft like she’s just sniffling and curling into herself and he’s rubbing her back and making sure he drives a little slower than normal so the car isn’t as loud and there’s no bumps🥺 and he takes her to his place because he has blackout curtains but she has pretty ones that don’t block a ton of sun and he just tells her to go get comfy, “closets all yours sweetheart,” while he gets some stuff ready for her and she hasn’t even spoken to him since their call but he doesn’t care and when he finally meets her in his room she’s under the covers with the sunglasses still on her face even though the room is completely dark and she’s in his tshirt and her face is buried into a pillow and he’s biting back his smile as he takes the glasses off and guides her to lay on her back so he can put a little compress on her forehead and he gives her a kiss before she’s whispering a quiet thank you and he tells her that he’ll be in his office but he’ll come check on her every half hour or so and the first time he does, she’s fast asleep because of the peppermint oil he added to the compress and he lets her sleep it off as long as she needs until it’s time to eat because she still needs to sleep during the night but while he’s making them dinner, she just pads into the kitchen with his comforter wrapped around her and dragging behind her and resting her forehead on his back and “feeling better?” and he’s turning to her and resting the back of his hand on her forehead and her cheek as she nods and she’s so sleepy but she smelled food and hasn’t eaten since breakfast and she wants to be with him so she just sits at the kitchen table wrapped like a burrito until dinners ready and he’s made a little pillow nest on his sofa that they both curl into to eat and that’s how they spend the rest of the evening 😌 I would just like h to take care of me all the time please - 🍓

bestie omg hi!!!!! im sorry to hear youre sick:((( hopefully you feel better soon:(

but omg:((((((((( very very very obsessed first of all w the idea of him putting his sunnies on her when he realizes he needs everything to be dark for her:( and theres no music on in the car just him holding her hand and squeezing it when he goes over a bump or someone honks or just anything he worries might upset her:(((( and him going back to see her in his bedroom still w his sunnies on :( all comfy in her clothes and hes giving her a tiny kiss making sure everything is as quiet and as dark as can be for her before hes off to his office doing his important little job stuff and declining zoom meetings bc his office is only down the hall from his bedroom so he doesn't want to risk the extra noise just in case she hears him:((((((( and he'd def check in on her making sure the migraine wasn't a sign of anything more happening like sickness wise and making sure her compress isn't bothering her :( and making DINNER:((((((((( and its something nice and comforting like a soup to keep her warm and in their little pillow nest oh my god:((((( hes talking quietly to her asking if shes alright if shes feeling any better and letting her sleep on him when shes done eating :(((((((( holding her even when he his back gets stuff and arm starts to hurt from where shes laying her head on his shoulder:(

[phantasmagoric-acquaintance]

heeeeeyyyyy bestie how about “You see, this is the part where you tell me you’re proud of me" and lucretia :0 pls and thank <3

((it has been. so long and I do not feel very well that I am not up to the task of finding the post this prompt came from im sorry))

It had been a month since the start of the cycle.

One month into a cycle, Lucretia was normally still knee-deep in her journals, taking down every bit of relevant information she could scrounge up. Normally, she’d spend the first two months in the biggest library she could find, taking down every fact she deemed relevant to understanding the new plane— the cultures, the global history, the biology, geology, physics… On planes devoid of intelligent life, she’d spend time examining the land, gleaning what she could from it.

So far this cycle, she’s mainly been sitting on the couch in the commons room of the ship, hugging her knees to her chest.

For that first month, the others gave her space, mostly just checking in to make sure she’s had enough to eat. Merle had, on occasion, put on some old music and tried to convince her to dance, but he was always quickly steered away by an apologetic Davenport.

But a month was evidently all the eggshell-walking Taako could take.

On a sunny afternoon, Taako plops down next to Lucretia on the couch with as much wordless drama as he could muster. He sticks out his index finger and spins it in a small circle: turn around.

Lucretia obliges, and as soon as she has her back to him, she feels him pulling the ties out of her hair, destroying the buns she’d put it in earlier.

It was some sort of ritual the twins had shared since long before they’d departed their home plane— when one twin was upset, the other would braid their hair. They had welcomed Lucretia into this ritual of theirs some 60 cycles ago, when she’d first realized her home, her family, were likely gone, that she’d never see them again. The braiding, it was a show of care, like the grooming behaviors of wild animals. It had a calming effect, one that would usually get the distressed party to open up.

There was nothing new to be said now, though, and so Lucretia simply closes her eyes and tries to let herself be comforted by the motion of Taako’s hands in her hair.

After some time, Taako clears his throat. “Okay, you know I’m not great at vulnerability or whatever, so you’re gonna wanna catch this one, dearest,” he tells Lucretia, an audible gentleness softening the edges of his words. “We’d all be totally boned if you weren’t one resilient fucker. And we appreciate you. And…” Lucretia feels a few definitive tugs before Taako tosses a completed braid over her shoulder, where she can see it. “…we’re all proud of you. For toughin’ it out. Our Lucy, saving the universe.”

“I…” Lucretia takes the braid, twirling the end of it nervously between her fingers. At long last, the tears she’d been struggling to cry finally came. “…thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” Taako squeezes her shoulder. “Let it all out now, and then we’re gonna start getting off this couch and having better days. Think you can do that?”

“Yeah.” She gives him a small smile. “I think I can.”

Beep! The lights on Lucretia’s helmet flash as the tip of her épée hits Taako’s torso.

“Aw, hell!” he protests.

“That makes ten hits for me, and only one for you.” Lucretia says this matter-of-factly, stern and without the smallest hint of gloating. “You’re going to have to—”

“Yeah, whatever.” Taako yanks his helmet off, knocking some flyaway strands of bleach-blonde hair out of his bun in the process. “I don’t really wanna do this anymore today, boss.”

Lucretia sighs, long and low. She doesn’t have time for one of Taako’s fits. They’ve only months until the Hunger arrives now, and the Bureau of Balance has yet to retrieve the Animus Bell because, frankly, Lucretia’s terrified to send her Reclaimers— her friends, mind you, her family— into a hellish trap she’d only barely escaped herself.

She worries about Taako most of all. She remembers from her own trip to Wonderland that healing is impossible, and physically, Taako is far weaker than the others. He’s also severely lacking in melee combat training. What if he runs out of spell slots in Wonderland? What if they take spell slots from him?

“Taako, I understand you’re frustrated, but your melee skills need significant work. How can you expect to survive the pursuit of the remaining relics if—”

“I dunno, Madam, the same way I survived the last five times I put my life in danger for you?” Taako huffs. “Look, I get I’m not the best at swinging swords or throwing punches, and maybe I should work on on that, sure, but its like, I’ve made it this far. Don’t I get any acknowledgement for that? Aren’t you going to say you’re, I dunno, proud of me? Or something?” This comes out fast— he’s speaking his mind now.

The first thing Lucretia thinks is that, even after all this time, it feels weird to hear Taako seeking some sort of emotional comfort from her. Heading the Bureau of Balance certainly did not always come natural to Lucretia, who had never seen herself as much of a leader, but she thought she did pretty well most days.

She never really got used to being in charge of Taako, Magnus, and Merle, though.

Still, she knows Taako better than he could even comprehend, knows how he hides a deep need for validation, knows what he’s missing and how much more he must ache because of it.

“Oh, Taako,” she begins, removing her own helmet, “of course I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you every day, even when I don’t say it.” She steps closer to him, represses the urge to hug him. “I’m sorry I’ve been pushing you too hard lately, and that I haven’t been giving the most constructive feedback. I just… don’t want to lose you. Really.” She looks at him, as though maybe if he looks back he’ll know how earnest she is.

Taako stares at her, wide-eyed, and she knows he isn’t sure how he should react. That’s fine. She takes his épée from him. “We’ll pick this back up tomorrow. Go on, and we’ll try to have better days from now on, alright?”

“Yeah.” He gives her a small smile. “Sure, okay. I can do that.”

[purplehairedwonder]

Chapter 1060: Dream On

So, not every chapter can be a banger like 1059; chapter 1060 some big moments, but it has a few things that drag it down for me.

First off, the color spread. LOVE.

Seeing all ten Straw Hats together is just *chef’s kiss* Love, love, love.

Onto the chapter itself. We open on the Sunny, as the crew learns about Sabo, Cobra, and Vivi. I love seeing Luffy’s loyalty to his people -- both Sabo and Vivi in this case.

Luffy’s certain Sabo wouldn’t do what he’s being accused of (and, of course, he’s right).

And as soon as he realizes Vivi’s in trouble, he’s ready to go help, consequences be damned.

I never get tired of seeing Luffy’s loyalty to his loved ones.

But I also love seeing Zoro, as first mate, being the voice of reason. Not only does he know charging into a dangerous situation with no leads would be a terrible idea, but he also refuses to underestimate Vivi. (It’s also worth noting that he’s not saying that they shouldn’t help Vivi; it’s just that they don’t have anything to go on right now. Until they have that, they should trust Vivi to take care of herself because she is capable.) 

This isn’t the first time Zoro’s been the one to steer the crew to the right path. Something something irony of Zoro, who is constantly lost, being a figurative compass for the crew.

I’m also cackling at this callback to chapter 217 when everyone was missing Vivi post-Alabasta and called Zoro names for not being sympathetic:

Also, I’d just like to appreciate this panel when Zoro reminds him of what he said about Ace:

What. A. Face. The little brother energy here is strong. I love him.

Oh, and Caribou is also on-board the ship. Don’t forget, Luffy promised to give him a ride in chapter 940.

The fact that the barrel he’s in is chained up seems like a good indication the Straw Hats are aware of him.

Meanwhile, Robin’s catching up on the rest of the news that happened while they were isolated in Wano. Luffy doesn’t want to know, but I doooooo. Tease.

(I still want to see Doflamingo’s reaction to Luffy and Law’s success in Wano and the ensuing chaos. Gimme some Doffy, Oda. Pleaaaaase.)

Okay, so the part of the chapter I didn’t love: Luffy’s dream. You know, the thing the entire chapter is named for.

We cut away from Luffy telling his nakama about his dream and then return to their reactions. Whyyyyyyyy? What’s the point of naming the chapter after something that continues to only be hinted about. If we’re just going to continue beating around the bush about it, it feels like wasted panel space when there is so much else going on.

We know Luffy and Roger had the same dream, and it’s something that made Sabo, Ace, and Shanks laugh (though the line about Shanks crying is interesting; he must have realized the parallel, which gives more weight to him sacrificing his arm for Luffy.)

The crew reactions are interesting.

I know the common theory is that Luffy wants to throw the world’s biggest party and bring everyone together, but some of the reactions (like Zoro’s, Usopp’s, and Nami’s) feel off for something like that. 

Oh well. This was the least interesting part of the chapter for me when so much interesting stuff happens once we return to Sabo:

Sabo has fled to Lulusia Kingdom, one of the eight kingdoms in rebellion. It sounds like Im and the Five Elders were already planning to punish the kingdom for its rebellion:

But Sabo hiding out there is just more reason to take drastic measures, especially when he reveals what he saw. 

Two birds, one stone.

And now we likely know what happened to God Valley:

Uh... Is this the power of the ancient weapon Uranus? After all, the Greek god Uranus was the personification of the sky.

The fact that the World Government just wiped out an entire country -- innocent people -- for their own egos is... actually very on brand for them, considering Ohara and Flevance.

As for Sabo, well, he’s a logia now so I’m sure he survived, but he’ll probably be out of commission for some time.

Finally, we return to the Sunny a few days later. Crazy Grand Line weather strikes again...

Somehow there is someone inside it?!

And it’s a familiar face:

Bonney! Another member of the Worst Generation appears, and considering the events we’ve seen her tied to before, I’m excited to see what new narrative revelations her presence will bring.

[akindredskillet]

i ran out of tags so i guess im making a whole addition here.. sorry this is so long lmao <3

first of all THEY CALLED HIM SUNNY!! is that our first namedrop outside of the naming screen? i’m not entirely sure tbh but either way im so excited for extra canon sunny :)

secondly. i AM torn ..

i like the art!! it's well done and it's cool to see some of the scenes you normally only see in pixel art as you know. full scenes with movement and backgrounds. i especially love the panel where you see omori in the knife blade, i think that was my favorite. and the first page of course. i love seeing their expressions and the silly little manga gags and to an extent i think it's fun to see sunny so miserable and tortured. putting your blorbos in a blender is a thing for a reason

BUUUUUT. i think taking away his expressionless-ness does a huge disservice to his character. the whole point is that he's dissociating really badly right. to the point of even seeing headspace characters irl? i love the part in the rw day 1 bathroom scene where basil asks sunny why he looks so scared but then in the mirror he looks the same as always, because it implies they are/were really close, enough for basil to be able to pick up on the tiny changes in his expression. and besides that sunny is just. Like That. idk it's such a major part of his character for me. one of my friends mentioned that it could have been cool for them to still have the exaggerated expressions, so that sunny could be that much more neutral in contrast, and i think that could have worked better !!

on that note, i think adding anime level drama to it all does a disservice to the real world sections. they always had that feeling of mundanity and painful realism that really stuck with me… it's fun to see and it Looks Good but i think it doesn't capture the same feeling

idk if they're planning on aubrey having the same mini redemption arc but idk if that's even possible now that you know. she fully hit him w her nail bat!! personally i believed in the whole 'it was just for intimidation' thing considering she doesn't actually use it in battle. but that's out the window i guess! why? for... drama points?? extra heightened stakes? it admittedly looks cooler but. cmon. people already find her arc rushed when it was just VERBAL bullying (and being a bystander to physical stuff)

i do get that the headspace prologue can be a little tedious but by cutting it out entirely you lose that entire sense of 'somethings wrong but i can't quite place What'. and the reveal from headspace to rw, seeing how much his friends changed! if i was a new fan i wouldn't care that their friend group was split up at this point because i wouldnt have seen their dynamic together yet

i was skeptical to begin with because omori uses its medium as a game So Well… like omocat was going to make it a graphic novel to begin with right. and that would have been easier. but she CHOSE to make it an rpg, even teaching herself coding and stuff, for a reason. one of the first examples i always think of is how mari is tied to the save point and how, not knowing where each save point is on a first playthrough, you’re as relieved to see her as sunny/omori is. it does a really good job of tying the player’s stakes to the characters’ stakes, and that makes you care about her

ofc not all of that can be translated into this format and i fully expected that, but some things could and they just didn’t. like the reversal of being familiar with the headspace characters first like i already mentioned, and being “reintroduced” to them the same time sunny is! pretty much any time the player / audience is made to feel something parallel to the characters

i will be cautiously optimistic, because it’s only the first chapter and i don’t want to be too harsh.. but i can’t see them doing the same story well. maybe if it’s canon divergent? i’ll be happy to see the art either way, and maybe we’ll get some good small crumbs of previously vague details! hints about things like whether his parents knew, generally anything that happened in the time period between the incident & sunny stopping going to school. but then again… i’m not even sure id entirely Want that? i love how vague and speculative it can be, especially a lot of the details in the hiki route that are up to interpretation

i’m really curious about the sunny omori dynamic, since it seems like that will be explored a little differently / possibly in more detail, so i think that’s what i’m most looking forward to at this point

logistically, im also curious as to how they’ll even continue pacing the story since. well our headspace visits are already off by one (unless sunny wakes back up rw day 1 and then the second headspace visit is still that night i guess?). but even besides that. we already cut out like 6 hours of prologue content. not to mention, battles that i imagine wont be illustrated in detail, any grinding, figuring out puzzles like in the sweetheart and humphrey dungeons. how much of it are they actually going to adapt?

i guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Anyone and everyone who sees this post, gimme your honest options on the first manga chapter!

I don’t care if you loved it or hated it, your options are so valid and I want to hear from you!

Dump all your thoughts in the tags, whether that be excited ramblings, angry grumblings, or something in between!

I’m trying to gain as many perspectives on the chapter as possible because I am so torn lol

[taran-chan]

on a Wednesday, in a cafe (chapter 27)

Read on AO3

sunday lunchbox: croquettes, bingsu & fruit tarts

“I told you so,” Gil grins smugly.

“I didn’t think the rain would actually stop,” Thena admits.

“Ye of little faith,” he teases, rubbing his morning stubble against her cheek. Thena pays back by pinching his round cheeks, narrowing her eyes at the three sunny dolls swinging back and forth to the wind on his balcony.

“You dark wizard,” she mutters.

It rained heavily last night and didn’t let up long after they went to bed. Everyone thinks the Sports Event is tanked. In a last desperate effort, Gil tried to make a new sunny doll. Thena took interest in that so she put her book down and joined him. They made two dolls, and Gil brought his old one out as well and hung them all outside. When they wake up in the morning, it’s like the rain never happened.

“Do they only pray for sunny weather? Can they make it rain?”

“Sure, just hang them upside down. Why? You’re planning on praying for rain at some point?”

“Just asking,” she shrugs, locking her eyes with his, “Maybe I’ll use them when I want to share an umbrella with you.”

She bets her face is as red as his right now, but she couldn’t care less because this is the second time in three days that words escape him. It’s usually the other way around. She holds his face with both hands, rewarding herself by kissing him in a way that makes him moan and press her against the balcony, but his caring nature doesn’t forget to squeeze an arm between the railing and her lower back. When they pull back at the same time to catch their breaths, a silver string connects their lips.

After breakfast, Gil uses the shop’s kitchen to make their lunchboxes. Thena sits across from him at the kitchen counter and impatiently waits for her ride. She wants to lend Gil her car so he won’t have to take the crowded bus, and Ajak and Makkari have already gone with Sprite to school since early to support her, so naturally Thena will stick with Sersi, who’s nowhere to be seen.

15 minutes after their scheduled time, she hears a car horn from the backyard and spots Sersi waving at her over the fence.

“Wait, wait,” Gil calls out when she’s about to run outside, “Bring this with you. It’s hot out there.”

He gives her a bottle of iced pomegranate juice.

“When did you make this?” She asks in surprise. How does he find time to make a juice bottle between cooking breakfast AND lunch, she has no idea. He shrugs like it’s nothing.

“I always have time for you, Thena. Now go, I’ll be there before the relay race.”

“This is not fair, I was in the lead this morning,” she grumbles, shoving the bottle into her bag.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she huffs, kissing his cheek goodbye.

★

“Sorry I’m late!” Sersi exclaims and gives Thena a big hug when she comes close enough, “My car is broken so we had to go back to Steven’s house to get his car.”

“Where’s Ikaris? And Kingo?”

“Ikaris went to Kingo’s to try some of his new games, apparently they played all night and now they’re beaten. Just me and Steven.”

From the driver seat, the curly-haired guy nods at Thena shyly.

“That’s fine, let’s get going,” she nods back, “Ajak is nagging in our groupchat.”

Sersi gets into the passenger seat and Thena slides into the back seat. The first thing she notices is a blue hippopotamus plushie sitting next to her. It wears something like a golden tiara. As if Steven sees the way she’s looking at it funny, he starts to explain.

“It’s a present from one of my students.”

Thena just raises an eyebrow, still her fingers subtly playing with the hippo’s ears.

“You’re going to the Sport Events as well?” She asks.

“More like I’m there for the play. Hadestown?”

“He loves everything about history and mythology,” Sersi says, “He’s a history teacher.”

“You would get along with Sprite,” Thena observes.

“Nah, I’ve met her a few times and she has that intimidating aura, I’m afraid I might get bullied by a sophomore student,” Steven’s answer makes the two women chuckle.

He pulls over at the school entrance and Sersi immediately leans out the window to wave at someone. A few seconds later, Makkari runs to their car. She nearly stomps her feet in annoyance as she madly signs at them.

The second half of the game has already started! Do you know what time it is?

“Car problems,” Thena replies while Sersi hugs Makkari to apologize like she did with Thena.

Anyways, glad you guys made it. Let’s go! The competition takes place in the gymnasiums so we’ve got to run.

“I’ll go and park my car, see you in there,” Steven says.

Do you know the way?

“Yeah, no worries,” he signs back, “But save me a seat!” He shouts after Sersi. She’s been dragged away like a kite by Makkari.

“Alright,” Thena replies on behalf of her friends and follows them.

Ajak is sitting on the nearest bench to the floor, anxiously checking her watch and looking over to Sprite, who’s discussing strategies with her teammates. She competes in singles with a senior student and has won the first round, but she’s terribly distracted in the second. She’s losing and Ajak can’t help but think that telling Makkari to wait for the others outside is a mistake. It’s likely that Sprite’s spirit is down because they haven’t shown up yet, so the woman exhales a big sigh in relief when Sersi got dragged into the room by Makkari, and Thena is right behind them. She gets Sprite’s attention and points at the doorway. Her eyes follow the direction of her finger and widen. She practically throws herself at them, thankfully Sersi opens her arms to catch her just in time.

“I thought you weren’t going to come.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Thena snorts, still the blonde woman hugs her hello and rubs her head affectionately, “Sersi’s car is broken and we had to ask Mr. Grant for a ride. And Gilgamesh will be here later for your relay race.”

How’s the game? Makkari asks.

“The senior team is ahead now, 14-10,” she grumbles.

“That doesn’t sound like you,” Thena states.

“Yeah, I wasn’t myself in the last 15 minutes, thanks to some people,” Sprite narrows her eyes at them, and puts her racket on her shoulder, “But keep your eyes open and watch me win.”

That’s our girl! Makkari signs, then gives the girl her fiercest thumbs up, But if you lose, we’re still very proud of you.

“Thanks, but if I lost this round, I’d have to go for a third round. And I’m not going to let that happen.”

“Break a leg,” Sersi high-fives with her, but hastily calls after her as she turns away and runs back to her teammates, “And I didn’t mean breaking bones literally!”

They slide across the bench to where Ajak is sitting. She has saved their seats by spreading Sprite’s stuff and Makkari’s tart basket on the bench. There aren’t that many people watching anyway, most of them are on the football field to see the obstacle race for the freshmen.

The game continues. They nervously observe Sprite swinging her racket time and time again. Ajak shouts her encouragement while Sersi and Makkari are raising a banner they borrowed from Sprite’s classmates. Thena records the game with her phone so she can show Gil later, however Steven comes forward and offers to take over if she wants to join and cheer for Sprite, which of course she does. This time, the girl is able to pull up her scores to a tie. But what decides the final result happens when she’s waiting for her component to serve, Sersi yells louder than everyone else, “Com on, Sprite! If you lose, there will be a third round!”

Right after that, her attack moves become more aggressive and she scores exactly 5 seconds before the timeout bell buzzes. Ajak is so happy she has tears in her eyes, and Steven forgets his recording mission, jumping up and down frantically, his arms (still holding Thena’s phone) waving around in the air.

Sprite is drowned in a group hug from her teammates. She notices Ajak and the others are approaching and detaches herself. Thena smiles when she catches her words, telling her friends, “My family is over there,” and runs towards them.

They have half an hour to rest and get Sprite ready for the relay race, and after that is the 100 meters race for the parents, also the final competition of the event. They move to the football field. There are many students on the field already, wearing sports uniforms and gathering in large groups. The cheerleaders are doing cartwheels on the grass, despite the heat.

Sprite leads them into a temporary tent, which is already occupied by some other parents. There’s a table with water bottles and plastic hand fans with the school’s mascot. She quickly falls into a selfie spree with Makkari at a corner of the tent, while Sersi convinces Steven to stick with the group and join them for lunch.

“Is it really no trouble?” He keeps asking, “Gilgamesh gave us so many coupons, and you guys have been great customers to our family’s restaurant.”

“It’s all a fair trade, Steven,” Ajak smiles softly, “Besides, Gil always cooks a look, if you don’t join us, there will be leftovers.”

Thena listens to their conversation, wondering what Gil is cooking for today’s lunch. Back at the shop, she saw him preparing pork and scallops, with a lot of potatoes but she forgot to ask. She looks over to the football field’s entrance, her eyes scan the crowd and her lips quirk after a few seconds, “Finally.”

Gil is carrying a large icebox on his shoulder, looking up and down the area. She steps out of the shade and raises her arm. She can see his smile when he spots her and speeds up. She’s so busy staring at him that she almost misses Druig, who’s walking behind the chef with a picnic basket similar to Makkari’s, on his back is a black backpack. Druig is frowning all the way under the sun but his scowl fades the moment he reaches the tent, just because Makkari is waving at him.

“Take off your jacket, Druig, you’ll boil yourself with that black leather,” Ajak reminds him but he ignores her. He pulls Makkari into a big, long hug then signs at her.

“How's my beautiful, beautiful Makkari?”

Thena rolls her eyes, turning her attention back to her partner instead. He puts the icebox down and wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. Sprite is sniffing the basket on the table, “This smells good. What’s in here? Some kind of fried food?”

Her hand is about to lift the lid but Gil quickly blocks it.

“Not so fast, you’ll earn it by winning first place,” he says sternly.

“Hey, don’t put pressure on my daughter!” Ajak scolds.

“It’s fine, I’ll show him,” Sprite says confidently, but then her eyes narrow, “By the way, I won first place in the badminton game. Medals and everything.”

“Then you can take a cup,” Gil grins proudly at the girl.

“A cup of what?”

He squats down to open the icebox, and they gasp excitedly. Among blocks of ice are a dozen colourful bingsu cups the size of a large drink. There are at least 3 different flavours. Sprite shoves her arm into the box and grabs a cup with strawberry sauce and big slices of bright red strawberries. Thena picks her beloved chocolate-flavour cup and Gil hands her a plastic spoon. She scoops up a spoon that has everything: shaved ice, chocolate sauce and chocolate chips. The smooth shaved ice turns out isn’t water, it’s iced milk, bringing a light creamy and sweet taste, so cold that several of them got brain freeze. Thick chocolate sauce enhances the sweetness, balancing with the bittersweet chocolate chips. In each of their cups, Gil has put a couple of pirouette cookies on top.

“You made all of this alone?” Thena asks. He’s holding a mango bingsu cup, it has both mango jam and fresh mango. He’s shaking his head, to answer her but also to chase away his brain freeze.

“I got a little help,” he says eventually, nodding at Druig. Makkari is teasing him by pretending to feed him bingsu from her cup, only to turn her spoon around and into her mouth at the last second, smiling smugly.

“What’s in here though?”

“Why? Are you hungry?”

She shrugs, “Just wondering if it’s what I think it is.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“If I remember correctly,” her forefinger draws circles on the back of his hand teasingly, “A few days ago I mentioned that I’d been craving for a fried dish, which you can make with potatoes, meat, and seafood.”

“Something that would make Kingo regret so, so much for not coming here today?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“Exactly,” she laughs.

Just then, the president of the student council announces that the relay race is about to begin. Sprite pushes her half-eaten bingsu into Gil’s hand, “Hold this!” before dashing to her team’s gathering spot. She’s the fourth runner, also the last one.

“The mushroom is the finishing one?” Druig walks up to them, “That’s ought to be fun.”

Don’t underestimate her, she’s been practicing with me every morning, Makkari warns.

“Really? She didn’t work this hard last year,” Gil says, “It’s not that she needs to anyway.”

“She said she had to secure her victory, because Thena would be there to watch her,” Ajak smiles, touching Thena’s arm, “She really admires you.”

“It’s hard to imagine I’m someone’s role model,” she shakes her head, but a smile threatens to bloom on her lips as she looks at Sprite from across the football field. She can’t help it.

“Oh, I beg to differ,” Gil snorts, tucking a few strands behind her ear, “You’re one big important part of us.”

She returns his smile fully and he lowers his head to kiss her on the cheek as if to prove it further. Only seconds before the starting shot rings out and the field erupts in cheers, she catches Druig’s eyes. His expression is almost apologetic and at that moment, her heart sinks. She has a bad feeling about it.

★

Druig is waiting for her when she’s heading out of the restroom. The race is over and Sprite has preserved her championship. The parent’s race will take place at 2 pm, one hour from now, and the play will start at 5 pm. The rest of them are gathering on the ground behind the gymnasiums, where there are a lot of trees and shade to hide from the sun. They’re about to have lunch.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He asks. There it is. There’s that apologetic look again. Uneasy feelings plague her, but she nods nonetheless. They walk to a secluded corner of the equipment storage. Druig opens his backpack and takes out a folder. Its size looks like a bad omen, and he confirms that with his following words.

“I wish there was another way, but I really need your help.”

He passes the folder of the case to her and starts to explain. It takes a few moments before she can understand what he’s saying. The more she stares and those words, the harder it becomes for her to breathe. Same circumstances, same type of victims.

“No!” She almost screams when Druig mentions “consultant” and “go back to the city”.

“Thena, please consider it,” Druig raises his hands up in an effort to calm her, pleading, “You won’t have to stand on court, I’ll take care of that. All you have to do is research and work this case with me.”

“Why me?” She demands, her voice low because of her repressed anger.

“You’re the only one who’s qualified enough for this,” he says, and at her bitter scoff, he adds, “The only one that I trust. Plus, despite what happened after that, you won the last case.”

She feels her panic rise up to her throat, choking her. Goddess of War. Victory after victory. She was too confident, nearly arrogant, and it was her downfall.

“Yes, a pathetic win,” she grits her teeth, “You weren’t there. You don’t know how chaotic that day truly was.”

“That’s why I need you! We can learn from it and work together so that it won’t repeat.”

At her deathly silence, he sighs, rubbing his face and avoiding her eyes.

“You know, I’ve always wondered, what would have happened if I had reached out that time and asked my boss to let us work together on that one,” he confesses, “It could have been different if I had carried some of the burdens for you. I understand that you don’t want to have anything to do with it. But at least consider it for a few days before you answer, okay? As a favor for me?”

Thena closes her eyes, her shoulders slump.

“If you had asked to be my partner at the time, my damn pride would have refused. I don’t blame you, honest. If you did anything differently, I might never be able to come back here and meet him,” her voice softens as she tries to breathe deeply, imagining the sound of Gil’s breathing. What happened cannot be undone. But if she refused, would she regret it later? What if this time will be different?

“How long do you think this is going to take?”

“A few weeks, a few months at most,” Drugs says quickly. He doesn’t dare to hope but is still glad because Thena wants to know more.

“I still have my current job.”

“We’re going to get in touch with your superiors and make arrangements. When the case is over, you can come back and continue to work.”

He tries to reassure her that everything would be exactly the same when she returns, but deep down he knows that’s not the biggest obstacle to overcome. Not even close. He isn’t blind, of course he’s seen how Thena and Gilgamesh are inseparable in the time he knows them, from the day he first found her in his shop, to the day they officially…together, till now. Forcing Thena to part from Gil, maybe for months, feels like stepping over the line, and wrong. He pretends he didn’t see her wipe away a frustrated tear on her face. She’s probably thinking about it too.

“When is the deadline to respond?” She asks.

“The end of next week, at most,” he swallows, “We have some paperwork to deal with so the arraignment will take place in the second week of July.”

She balls her hands into fists. Too soon.

“Look, I’ll sleep on it and get back to you soon,” she puts on her steadiest voice, “I promise. But you can’t say anything to everyone else. Especially Gil. If I decided to go, at least let me tell him.”

Druig nods, “Alright. I won’t tell anyone until you make your decision.”

Thena gives back the folder and they go in search of the others.

★

“There they are!” Sersi exclaims. All of them, including Steven, is standing under a large tree.

Hurry up, you two! We’re starving! Makkari’s exaggerated gestures can be seen from far away.

“Sorry,” Druig calls out as they climb up the small slope, “The school is too big, I was lost and Thena found me.”

“Are you okay?” Gil asks worriedly, his eyes fixed on her, “ You look pale.”

“I’m fine,” she swallows the big lump in her throat, “It’s so hot, I got a bit dizzy.”

“Come here,” Gil steps closer, taking off his cap and putting it over her head, “I’ll get you a drink. Then we should eat the croquettes before they become soggy.”

“Good idea,” she clings to his arm. She doesn’t want to think about Druig’s offer just yet, at least not now.

Thena picks one in more than two dozen croquettes. From the outside, it’s impossible to see which ones have pork and potato filling and which ones are scallops and mushroom, like Gil said there are. All are shaped into thick oval pieces, with a crispy yellow breadcrumbs coat. Only one way to find out. She takes a bite. The potato layer cools down enough but the ground pork stir-fried with caramel onions inside releases steam when it’s revealed. It’s perfectly seasoned and tasty as is without any sauce, but Gil made his famous tartar sauce and brought a bottle of salsa so she can’t say no to them either. The scallop and mushroom croquettes are creamy and melt right on the tip of her tongue. For some reason, it keeps the heat inside better than potatoes, so their mouths are burning up from taking a bite too big. However, Gil has the coleslaw ready. Just shredded cabbages and carrots, with some sweet pickle and corn, all mixed with mayonnaise and some other seasonings, but when served on a hot summer day, it’s addicting.

They have Makkari’s colourful tarts and Gil’s last bingsu cups for dessert. While the others are fighting for berries tarts or mango tarts, Steven just adores the lemon tarts. He looks so happy eating them that everyone gives him all of the sweet-and-sour tarts.

When they’re cleaning up the trash, they hear the announcement of the school’s speaker that the 100 meters race for parents is about to begin in 10 minutes, and the contestants should move to the starting line.

You’re going to win! Makkari is giving Ajak a pep talk, You’ve been running every morning with me and Sprite.

“Come on, you can do this,” Sprite adds, “You even purchased a new pair of shoes for the occasion.”

Ajak still looks pretty nervous, until Gil steps in front of her, patting her shoulders and says, “Just keep calm, no pressure, third place is good enough.”

Ajak pokes a finger at his chest, “I'll shove that 3rd place of yours where the sun don't shine. Let’s go, Sprite, Makkari!”

She leads the group toward the football field, ignoring how Sersi is patting Thena’s back, who’s having a coughing fit because she’s choked on water at Ajak’s reply. Druig only stares at Gil, he looks almost impressed. The chef rubs his hands together, picking up the icebox and the picnic baskets, his shit-eating grin never leaves his face.

“Works like a charm.”

They regroup at the tent. Sprite is pleading with Ajak while the older woman is tying her shoelaces.

“Do me a favor. If you win first place, please don’t embarrass me?”

Ajak straightens and puts her arm around Sprite's shoulders, her daughter is almost taller than she is but she pulls her close and stands on her tiptoes to kiss the top of her head.

“My dear girl, I will definitely embarrass you,” she smiles her warmest smile before taking her position. And embarrass her she does, with a gold medal no less. Well, it’s not like Sprite is expecting something else.

★

After the race, they watch the ending performance by the cheerleaders, and the head of the student council announces which year won the most competitions, then they’re going to release balloons with that year’s colour to the sky. Freshman year has blue balloons, sophomore year: yellow and senior year is red. It’s obvious that Sprite’s medals help the sky above the football field filled with yellow balloons. The whole time, Thena’s like a sleepwalker. Everything around her seems unreal and blurry. It’s not until they all enter the packed hall, sending words of encouragement to Sprite before taking their seats, that she is able to ground herself and everything stills again. That’s when Gilgamesh laces their fingers together in the dark.

She also realizes that she’s been subconsciously reviewing what she has done the last time, and what could be changed. If she has to be honest with herself, she’s already known what her choice will be all along, since Druig gave her that offer; she just doesn’t want to accept the fact that she has to leave her home and go back to where she has picked up what’s left of her and ran away. She thinks about Ajak’s words, how Sprite admires her. That 16-year-old girl, who not only won two sports competitions today, but also standing nervously backstage when her family watches the musical that she directs, what would she think if she found out the person she admires so much refuses to help a friend of theirs because she’s afraid that she might fail?

She squeezes Gil’s hand and he puts his head on her shoulder. His breaths are even, she doesn’t have to look to know that he’s nodding off, despite the loud and upbeat music. His hand is so warm, fitting with hers like two perfect pieces of a puzzle. Something twists in her chest; This is what she has to leave behind? She drops a kiss on his hair, then leans her cheek against his head, feeling all the more broken when it occurs to her that he’s the only one in this room who would see that she’s not okay, even if he just woke up, even when they’re in the dark. How is she going to tell him?

[little-mouse-gardens]

🌸Rottmnt oc head-cannons🌸

Part 1 : Marcy

So I’m gonna be doing hcs for sunny, Marcy, Skye and Angie but I won’t be going in order. This will just be random hcs I have for them as well as their relationships with the turtles.

Right now Im gonna start off with Marcy!

- marcy likes to go thrift shopping for old clothes she can re-vamp, somehow comes home with like a box full of clothes and fabrics. Uses as inspiration for designing new clothes and items in her sketchbook.

- has a space in her room for Donatello to come hang out and relax if he needs a little bit of peace and quiet away from his brothers. Makes sure none of the gadgets he makes over in her room are messed with or damaged.

- her and Donatellos first date took place at an 80s themed pizza restaurant. They gave each other a gift, he made her a upgraded version of a switch and she made him a purple satin jacket with his genius tech trademark and his name on the back.

- one of her favorite snacks is strawberry pop-tarts and mini waffles

- her and Donnie like to learn from one another. They listen to each other info-dump about each others interests and hyper-fixations. The both of them do enjoy and love working together, she may or may not have her own workbench in his lab and a spot in the turtle tank.

- Marcy cannot stand the feeling of cotton balls against her skin. She claims it makes her want to curl up on herself, so she goes out of her way not to to come into too much contact with them.

- marcy and Donnie like to make care packages or get gifts for each other. She personally goes out of her way and buys him a new weighted blanket after he makes her an automatic paint brush cleaner since she told him her hands are cramping.

- Marcy’s theme song would be curses by the crane wives

- Marcy has a pair of glasses Donnie made for her when he confessed to her (he accidentally broke her og ones-he thought the new ones she got were much more durable)

- always has some form of paint splatter or art related mark on her skin even if it seems small

- organizes her art supplies and sewing supplies by color and type.

- has two closets in her room to hold the clothes and items she makes and revamps

- Can’t stand when her pillow is warm. Like it physically makes her angry

- mostly has random art travel supplies and every day items in her messenger bag that she Carrie’s around. (Also an extra pair of glasses just in case they get broken)

- Seasonal allergies are her worst enemy

- good at Digital and traditional art. Loves making stuff into charms, buttons ect. Made matching genius built charms for Donnie and herself

- Enjoys the sights and sounds of thunderstorms until the wind picks up (loud wind? Not the biggest fan)

- takes incredible care of her guppies and goldfish. The koi fish she got has a separate tank from the guppies. Likes to ad natural occurring plants into the tanks and tries to make a self sustaining healthy environment for her fishes.

- Marcy wasn’t diagnosed with autism until she was in elementary school when the girls mother Adrianna, a nurse, was finally able to get a doctor to listen. Is super grateful that her moms understanding and fierce nature, plus she was the first person to teach her how to draw.

- farming and fantasy rpgs are her favorite games

Some hcs for Donnie and Marcy

- Donatello enjoys holding hands with Marcy. Giving them a gentle squeeze. Enjoying the feeling of her hand laced in his. The warmth and softness of them. A silent but affectionate gesture they share with each other.

- Donnie thought she’d be bored by all the rambling about his tech and how it works, but was surprised to see she was actively listening. She remembered a few parts he needed and actually brought them by the next time she and her sisters came over to the lair.

- his favorite thing about Marcy, other than her personality, is the way she smiles. Something about the way the corners of her eyes crinkle and the lopsided sweet smile she can have makes his emotionally unavailable bad boy heart flutter

- always fixing each others goggles and glasses. Both absentmindedly and intentionally. Donnie always keeps a spare on him for just in case hers breaks and she always makes sure to clean his goggles off for him.

- team up against the purple dragons all.the.time, their second date literally was going great and the purple dragons almost ruined it and had to be dealt with

- after several trusting moments, Donnie does allow Marcy to examine his soft shell. She is super careful and constantly asks him if he’s okay or not. Compliments his shell and his mutation, which may or may not have caused him to happy churr and have tail waggles at the same time

- physical contact gets built up over time, but there is no doubt that the both of them are cuddle bugs with each other after they take it slowly. Especially during winter and fall.

- both of them Defiantly pick up on each other when one or the other are having a sensory overload or uncomfortable in a situation. Marcy won’t hesitate to gently pull Donnie to the side somewhere quiet and lend him her noise canceling headphones. Gives him a comfort snack or drink and just tries to be there for him if he needs her.

- the same with Donnie. Keeps a literal notes of what she likes, dislikes ect. What textures, tastes, sights and sounds she is uncomfortable and makes sure to help her avoid them as much as possible.

- hating slimy textures or residue solidarity 🤝

- donnie keeps a bunch of notes and information about Marcy’s likes and dislikes alphabetically

- Marcy is honestly Not afraid to call donnie out for being in the wrong. Even if it’s small. For example in the mystic library, she pointed out the fact that he should have just written the location down. Stating that despite his genius mind, he’s got a bad habit of being a bit too overconfident

- Definitely dance with one another to 80s music. They Work on getting better at dancing all the time.

[pineappleciders]

Hi!! If it's alright with you, this might get a little graphic and dark, but.

Can I request the main gang Aubrey, Mari, Sunny, Basil, Kel, and Hero with an s/o who recently got into an accident which leaves them handicapped, their s/o loses both their eyes, right arm, and their ability to taste food (yikes...).

A/N: hi anon! im sorry it took awhile to get to this request, i was kind of figuring out how to do this as a not physically disabled person or if i should even do it at all; but here it is!! please let me know if i depicted it wrong or said something i shouldn't have!

RW OMORI GANG WITH A HANDICAPPED S/O

includes: SUNNY, AUBREY, KEL, HERO, MARI, and BASIL

WARNINGS: limb loss, wounds, stuff like that

SUNNY

honestly?? he's incredibly scared for you when you're hospitalized, thinking of all the times he could've saved you, and blaming himself

eventually he comes back to his senses and focuses on you when you're out of the hospital, and to be honest he's just glad you're alive

he'll do everything he can to help you, helping you into a wheelchair if you need one, or taking your hand and leading it to braille you need to read

he really does blame himself for the accident (even if it had nothing to do with him at all) and will do everything in his power to make sure you live life to the fullest

sometimes he reaches for your right hand to hold it and when he realizes it isn't there he gets really embarrassed and apologizes over and over

he's sad that you can't see, and he'll try to help you out with getting glass eyes (if you want them)

after all, he lost one of his eyes, so he can only imagine how awful it is to lose both (and your senses!!)

i feel like SUNNY is ambidextrous, so he'll teach you how to write with your left hand (assuming you were right handed)

AUBREY

also blames herself for whatever happened, no matter if she wasn't involved at all

her heart breaks when she realizes you can't taste food anymore. food is something that brings people and culture together, and for you to never be able to taste your favorite foods again makes her feel really bad

but, she tries to not focus on herself and you instead

during the healing process, she'll treat you like royalty. holding your hand everywhere you go, helping you learn braille and read it, and she'll be by your side in an instant if you're having phantom pains

she's concerned about infections, so she'll clean and re-bandage your residuum everyday until it's healed

lots of hugging. she's scared of losing you, so she'll try her best to help you out with day-to-day life where you need it

if she does something embarrassing like point to something and say "look!" and then remembers you're blind she'll feel awful and try to laugh it off when you start laughing

lots of kissing your left hand

KEL

again, he feels like it was somehow his fault

but, he stays in the hospital with you every night, and brings you little trinkets from HOBBEEZ and flowers and your favorite food

he looks so sad when the nurse tells him you've lost the sense of taste. how will you ever taste orange joe again???!

he holds your left hand a lot when you get out of the hospital, and helps you with anything you need help with

need him to hold something?? he'll hold it all!! can't see where you're going? he'll lead the way!! he doesn't really feel a difference in the way everything is, so he doesn't treat it like there's a difference

doesn't pamper you or anything, but he'll help you out if you need it. he knows you're capable of taking care of yourself, but he wants to make your life a little easier. think of it as a 'thanks for putting up with me!'

he'll encourage you to get out with him, like starting out with walks (if you're in a wheelchair, he'll push you around town to get some fresh air) and even sports once you're healed well. but, he always plays nice, and immediately stops if you can't take anymore. his goal is to keep you healthy and promote healing!

HERO

he breaks down. HERO was always one to appreciate his senses, and now that you've lost two and half of one, he makes it his goal to make your life easier

gives u a bunch of massages because of the stress, and rushes to make you feel as comfortable as possible if you're in pain with blankets, tea, pain meds and whatever else you may need

takes you to a braille teacher, and helps you study it

he's so sad that you can't taste his cooking anymore, but he still puts blood sweat and tears into anything he makes for you. even if you can't taste it, it's the love he puts into it that counts

a lot of cuddling and just relaxing. he wants you to be able to heal better, and to put less stress on your mind and body (and his own!)

does little things like pour drinks for you so you don't miss the glass, and reassures you that you're not taxing him in any way. he really does enjoy helping you out

MARI

she's incredibly depressed about the accident, but she doesn't let it show for your sake

the last thing she'd want to do is to tax you even more, so she focuses on helping you recover

once you're okay to leave the hospital, she'll want you to keep hydrated and get plenty of rest to help you heal. she'll take you around town, have a picnic at the lake, or hang out with your friends to cheer up and get some vitamin D

despite your loss of taste, she still bakes with you and makes you healthy food to fuel you. a healthy body is a healthy mind! you two make little heart cookies that you often end up giving to your family or to your friends

cracks jokes or teases others to lighten your mood if you're feeling down. despite her silliness, she treats you with great care and changes your bandages and such every day

goes clothing shopping for you and gets things in your style that she knows you'll like, as it's hard for you to pick out clothes when you can't see them

she'll hold your hand every step of the way, and she wants to try her best to make you feel better

she writes you songs and plays them on her piano for you. you can't really see her love anymore, but you can hear it!

BASIL

BASIL is a total worrywart. he's always fussing over you, and sometimes is a little overbearing, but he believes in you, so if you tell him to calm down he will

he gives you really nice smelling flowers almost everyday

he's kind of sad he can't write you cute little love letters anymore, but he has the idea to buy braille stickers and write to you in that way

takes photos of you when you're in your moment, and has an entire album dedicated to you

he definitely feels awful about the accident, but he'll try his best to move on and focus on the now

he often talks to your guardian about how you're doing, mentally and physically, etc. he wants you to have as much support as possible

lots of picnics and hanging out at BASIL's house to distract you from any negative things like pain or sadness. he doesn't like seeing you upset at all

apologizes over and over if he fucks up

[mrsalwayswrite]

Say You’ll Stay - Chapter 9

Fury/Band of Brothers Crossover Fic

There are a million excuses I could give as to why its taken me so long to update. So I will simply say- writer’s block. Here we are though! 

Tag List: @happyveday​ @alwaysindecemberfeels​ @saritanotserena​

Series Masterlist

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

He did not know what to do. He knew what he wanted to do. He knew what he should do. But when those two options were at odds, that left him in the quandary of what to actually do. 

 Either way, Anna was in trouble and did not even know it yet. 

 "Fuck." He muttered to himself. 

 "Something to add, Sergeant Collier?"

 Don looked over to meet the stern, blue eyes of Captain Winters. "No, sir."

 The redheaded captain stared at the tank commander for a moment before continuing speaking to the other officers in HQ. "This town here is a key point for supplies for the Germans. There is a railroad next to the town that intelligence says is crucial to them. Once we get control of the town, we'll secure it until 1st Battalion can relieve us." Winters said, pointing at a spot on the map laid across the table. 

 Don glanced back out the window, watching Captain Evans walk away from the HQ building. It had been three days since they arrived in Haguenau, and Captain Evans planned on leaving in two more. 

 The dark-haired intelligence officer began speaking next. "Our sources say it's only infantry there. It seems most of the tanks have been recalled back to Germany. Either way, we expect resistance but as to how much, we aren't sure."

 "That's why we are sending the Armored Division with you. Sergeant Collier will lead the four tanks in assistance." Winters said. "They will follow behind. At this point we've been asked to minimize damage to property but I will not trade it for lives. Understand?"

 A chorus of "yes, sir" answered him. 

 "Excellent. Fox Company will lead the assault with some of Dog Company in reserve. Have your men ready, you leave at oh-six hundred tomorrow. Any questions?"

 Don tried to focus on the rest of the discussion. He was leading his platoon for fuck's sake into another fight, but his thoughts kept drifting to Captain Evans leaving and what that meant. 

 Anna would be leaving too. 

 She had been sent to stay with Captain Evans, to be a medic and translator. She was never supposed to come to Haguenau. Don was never supposed to give a fuck about her. Their brief encounters back at that field hospital were supposed to be the extent of their interactions. Yet here he was. Worried for her safety. He and his crew were leaving tomorrow for the next fight. Captain Evans would leave the next day to start pushing into Germany. 

 His mind whirled with questions. Who would protect Anna? Who would make sure she ate and slept? Who would make sure she was looking out for herself just as much as her patients? 

 Don barely heard the dismissal from Captain Winters. The shuffling of feet and low cadence of voices heading towards the door thrust him back into reality from his dark thoughts. Without a word or acknowledging the paratroopers he would be working with, he headed out of the Battalion HQ and walked towards his lodgings. His mind raced with more questions than answers.  

 He knew what he wanted to do. 

 He knew what he should do. 

 Both options made him clench his jaw and want to punch a hole in a wall. 

 He trudged back to the house, throwing open the door, uncaring of the way it slammed into the wall. Stepping towards the common room, he saw Davis, Binkowski, Grady and a few others playing cards on a short table. A few others lounged around in the sunny room. 

 "What's the news, Wardaddy?" Binkowski asked, keeping his eyes on the cards in his hand. 

 "Leaving tomorrow. Oh-six hundred. Make sure your men got their shit together."

 "You alright, Don?" 

 He had not even heard Boyd come around the corner from the kitchen. His sharp gaze landed on his gunner, who was watching him warily. "Yeah, fucking fine." He snapped; his frustration was a writhing mess of snakes in his gut. 

 Christ, he needed some peace and quiet and a cigarette. Don stormed through the common room to head up the stairs, uncaring of the confused looks around him. In his haste to leave, he accidently bumped a flimsy chair someone must have left out. It just caught him at the right angle and dug into his side, nothing painful but just enough to infuriate him even more. He had not even realized how angry he was until the chair caught him, but it was the catalyst that released the pent-up frustration. 

 With a snarl, he grabbed the back of the chair and threw it against the wall. The sounds of wood snapping and breaking filled the now silent room. Without a word, without stopping, because if one person said something to him, he would beat the fucking shit out of them, he stalked up the stairs to his shared room. 

 After throwing the door open, he kicked it shut. The solid boom of the door slammed back only made him want to do it again and again. Instead he moved to drop onto the bed, sitting on the edge and quickly lit a cigarette. He took a long drag, the smoke immediately bringing some relief to him. 

 He was surprised Norman was not in the bedroom. When he left for the meeting, Norman had been curled up in the bed sleeping still. At first, he thought Norman slept so much because he was sick. Now he was beginning to wonder if the kid absorbed sleep like a desert soaking up a rainstorm; the rarity of it making it harder to ignore and easier to overindulge. 

 It could not have been even two minutes later when the bedroom door slowly opened. Don dropped his head in one of his hands, the other still holding the cigarette. 

 "Wanna explain what that was?"

 "Not now, Boyd." Don hissed, not looking up. 

 The gunner rocked back on his heels, the floorboards creaking under the motion. "A'right. Well, I'm just gonna be right here when you ready to talk."

 He chuckled darkly. Five minutes. He could not even get five fucking minutes alone. He tried to ignore Boyd as he stared out the window. 

 "Where's Norman?" He finally asked after taking another hit of his cigarette. 

 "Gordo took 'im to the aid station to see Anna."

 "She's not coming here?"

 "Dunno."

 "Fuck." Don whispered, rubbing a hand over his face. He suddenly felt like he should be in his sixties or seventies, not just recently turned thirty. His mind played over the past three days since they arrived in Haguenau. Besides that first day of their arrival, Anna had been over every day. He knew it was mostly to check in on Norman and make sure his cold did not worsen but she usually ended up staying for some time or if someone could convince or threaten her enough, she would also catch up on some sleep. During that time he had become so used to seeing her around, it felt strange to question if she was coming back or not. In his mind, she was a part of his crew, and he was positive he was not the only one to feel that way. 

 He needed her safe. 

 That was what everything seemed to come back to for him. He cared about her safety, like he would any of his crew. Except he knew, he wanted to be the one to keep her safe. To keep her gentle smile on him. To be the one she turned to. He felt like a moth drawn to her flame. 

 He knew what he needed to do. He doubted she was going to like it. Hell, if they got caught he wondered if he would lose his rank by going behind the backs of his superiors. He had to do something though. He had to keep her safe. Well, as safe as anyone could be while at war. 

 He knew the truth though- he wanted her close….to him. 

 With a groan, he stuck the cigarette between his lips then pushed against his knees to stand up. 

 "Where you goin'?"

 "Stay here."

 Boyd stood up, blocking the door. "What's goin' on, Don?"

 He debated just pushing Boyd out of the way before shaking his head. "Captain Evans leaves in two days."

 "Uh huh. Anna mentioned somethin' about the wounded finally being moved to a field hospital today. Probably why she ain't here."

 "We leave tomorrow." Don flatly stated. 

 Boyd's eyebrows drew together. "I feel like I'm missin' somethin'."

 "Anna is supposed to go with Evans. That was why she was sent."

 He could see the light bulb go off in Boyd's mind when what Don said finally clicked. His eyes widened, a myriad of emotions flickered across his face ranging from horror to frustration and what could be despair.

 "What…." Boyd stopped, looking off to the side and taking a deep breath before turning back to his commander. "What we gonna do?"

 "I'll take care of it."

 "Don…."

 "Stay here, Boyd. Start gettin' ready to leave tomorrow. I won't be gone long." This time he did gently push Boyd out of the way and with a long look, he stalked out of the room, down the stairs and outside. 

 He made his way to the aid station, only having to jump behind a building once to avoid a mortar. This was his first time coming to the aid station in Haguenau, having had no reason prior to come. He was pleased it was in better shape than most of the other buildings and further back from the river and Nazis. 

 Soon as he stepped through, he was hit with the smell of sanitation, coffee, and dried blood. 

 "Where's the nurse?" He growled at a pair of medics who stared at him like he was the grim reaper come to take their souls. One pointed towards the back. Don stormed in that direction, boots pounding on the wood floor. 

 He arrived at what most likely had been someone's study or library prior to the war but had been converted to the aid station. His gaze zeroed in on her folding up some blankets while she chatted with a medic. He stalked towards her. She only turned her head to look up at him as he was within five feet of her. 

 "Don?" The sweet smile on her face immediately faded away as she took in the serious expression he wore. 

 "We need to talk." He stated, moving to stand beside her. 

 "Of course, let me…"

 "No. Now." He grabbed her upper arm and started to pull her from the room. The other medic started to say something but snapped his mouth shut at the icy glare Don sent him. 

 "What's going on?"

 He ignored her question, looking down at her once they were in the hallway. "Where can we speak in private?" 

 "Upstairs." 

 Once she seemed to sense his urgency, he allowed her to lead him up the stairs and into a room that seemed to be used by the medics to store their personal effects. Two cots were pushed against opposite walls, both empty thankfully. Soon as he shut the door behind them, he rounded on her. 

 "You need to hide."

 "Ex....excuse me?" She stuttered, sapphire eyes peering up at him, wide and unblinking.  

 "Captain Evans plans on leaving the day after tomorrow."

 "We heard. One of the lieutenants stopped by after the wounded were taken to inform us. Why does…"

 He cut her off. "My crew and I are being sent out. We leave tomorrow. I don't know how soon we'll be back. So, you need to hide until Captain Evans leaves."

 "I don't.… I don't understand, Don."

 "Fuck!" He moved closer to her, grabbing both of her upper arms, his hands wrapping completely around them. "Listen. I can't protect you if you are in some other goddamn country. You can't leave with the Captain, alright? You stay here. You stay low and you'll get left behind. When we come back, I'll take care of you."

 "But…. I mean, I'll be fine. The men are….um…. It’ll work out. I'm more worried about you and the others. You are going into a fight!"

 "Fuck them and fuck the fight!" He shouted, moving away before he shook her, trying to make her understand. How could she not see what he was trying to do? "I don't trust those bastards to keep their hands off you! And you shouldn't either! Who's going to look out for you? Huh? Who's going to make sure they don't lay a fucking finger on you?! Cause I can promise you, it won't fucking be them!"

 He stood in front of her, chest heaving from the anger rolling through him like a tsunami wave. Only now, after his words spewed out like vitriol did he witness the effect. The tears that welled in her eyes, how one of her hands covered her mouth, the other wrapped around her torso almost in a self-hug. 

 "Anna…" Resentment towards himself flooded through his veins. Slowly he tried to reach out to her, to place a hand on her shoulder with an apology dancing on the tip of his tongue, but froze when she flinched.

 And that hurt worse than being pierced with a bullet. 

 He made no further move towards her, afraid of her reaction. Frustrated at everything but mostly himself in the moment, he ran his hands through his hair. 

 Her gaze had dropped to the floorboards, hunched into herself. Finally after several seconds, she whispered. "What do you want from me, Don?"

 What did he want from her? Hell, if he was still trying to come to terms with that answer himself. In the moment, he chose to honestly answer. 

 "I want you safe."

 His equally soft reply made her head jerk up, eyes meeting his. "Why?"

 "You're a part of my crew...and I swore to make sure they survive this war. I can't do that if you're in another company."

 "Is that the only reason?"

 Did she know how loaded that question was? How this growing tension between the two of them grated on him? Not because he disliked it. No. Because he wanted her closer. But this was war, and no one was guaranteed tomorrow. So he answered with something that tasted like a half-truth. "The only one that matters right now."

 She sniffled, wiping away the moisture from her eyes with her dainty fingers. 

 As if approaching an injured animal, he carefully shifted closer to her. Seeing the tears in her eyes broke what resolve he meagerly held. He hated that he made her cry, made her flinch. It tore at his soul. Something his mind demanded he fix, for both of them.

 Hesitantly, he reached forward and clasped her hands in his. She inhaled sharply, but only tightened her grip on his hands. The air between them felt charged with something unnamed but powerful. The way their gazes locked, hands holding each other, as if they had been put under a spell neither wished to escape. 

 "I need you safe, darling…." He murmured, the words flowing out of him without his conscious approval. Only after did they hang in the air, waiting to stoke the fire between them or shatter everything like glass. 

 "Darling?" The corners of her lips turned up in a barely-there smile. 

 He huffed a short laugh. "That alright?"

 "Yes." She answered with a blush growing on her cheeks. 

 And damn if that sight didn't stir something within him. Following his instincts, he gently tugged her closer, pulling her into a warm embrace, beyond pleased when she practically melted against him. His arms went around her back while her arms wrapped around his waist. Her cheek laid against the middle of his chest and he wondered if she could hear it pounding within him. Not for the first time was he reminded how small and vulnerable she seemed, tucked against his body now. He knew and witnessed how strong she truly was though. Faced with blood and death and distraught, she still persevered. 

 She sighed after some time, neither attempting to end the embrace. "I'll try to hide but I don't know where I could. All the medics know I'm here. Arthur and the others will be expecting me to join them especially after losing…" Her voice trailed off. 

 He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "We'll figure it out. I promise." 

 "I trust you." They continued to stand there, finding solace in one another but also a silent understanding between them. Of affections that were too dangerous to say aloud but still lingered in the air. A few seconds later, her whisper disturbed the peace. "I'm so tired of this war."

 "Me too."

 A knock on the door broke their moment but when Anna tried to step away from Don, he only held her tighter, unwilling to give her up but also wanting to protect her. He watched the door open to reveal a medic, who although his face seemed calm, there was an undercurrent of tension in the way he clenched his jaw and the shifting of his eyes as he immediately took in the scene before him. 

 "Chérie? Everythin' alright? Spina said he 'eard yellin'."

 Only when she turned to face the medic did Don let her go. "Yes. I'm sorry, Gene. It's nothing.... just a misunderstanding."

 "Mmm." The medic glanced back down the hallway then stepped inside the room, closing the door behind him. "Someone wanna tell me what's goin' on?"

 Don immediately recognized the name Gene. She had referenced him multiple times when she had been over taking care of Norman. By the way she spoke about him, Don picked up that she trusted him and they were friendly. Perhaps he had an ally here after all. 

 "Are you able to hide her?" He asked bluntly, knowing his time was running short to figure out a plan. 

 Gene's eyebrows scrunched together. "What?"

 "Don, no... it’s fine," she answered at the same time, placing a hand on his arm, "I'll figure out something."

 "Nah, chérie." Gene looked back over to Don, expression reserved but determined. "What do ya mean?"

 Don quickly explained the situation, impressed by the medic with the thick accent and how he absorbed the information thrown at him without too many questions. 

 Gene nodded once at the end, gaze downward as he ran his tongue over his teeth. Finally, he looked up at the two. "I know somewhere. They got some extra room. Lemme talk to their Sergeant first."

 Anna's gaze bounced between the two men, clearly unable to believe what she was hearing. "We can't do this. We'll get…. I don't want to cause more problems or get people in trouble. What happens when your Captain finds out?"

 Gene shrugged. "Winters is a good man. He might not like it but he'll understand." He paused, tapping a finger on his crossed arms. "I'll go now. Anna, stay here, get ya things gathered. We'll bring ya over tonight."

 She stared at both of them again before Don could visibly see her acceptance when her shoulders sagged. With a roll of her eyes, she gave the medic a cheeky salute. "Yes, sir."

 "Fille effrontée." He grinned. 

 She blew him an air kiss that made him shake his head, a small grin on his lips. The two men nodded at each other once more before the medic slipped back out. 

 Once alone again, she turned back around, placing her hands on his chest, peering up at him earnestly. "Be safe, please...tell the others for me too."

 "I will." 

 This time he leaned down as she rose up on her toes to press a kiss to his jawline. His hands tightened on her waist, where they had landed. Instead of immediately pulling back after she fell back onto her flat feet, he lingered. Hovering over her, he cupped her cheek, guiding her head. She was completely pliant under his touch, allowing him to tilt her face until their noses almost touched. He was spellbound, staring down at her. Her gentle breaths sliding across his mouth tantalizingly. It was the soft adoration and trust in her sapphire eyes that pulled in his chest and stole the breath from his lungs. She was too good, too pure for someone like him. Yet he could not draw away from her, captured in her tender affections, left breathless by her kindness. Turning his face just slightly, he could feel the corner of her mouth against his, her warm breath hitting his cheek. 

 "I should go." He whispered, without moving away. 

 Her hands slid up to the nape of his neck, causing him to suppress a low groan as her chest pressed against his. "Don, please come back." Her words pierced his heart. 

 "I will, I promise." This time he brushed his lips over hers. It was just a moment, the faintest of touches but the spark it ignited in him felt like an inferno awakening. 

 Abruptly he pulled back, turned on his heels and walked out. If he stayed any longer, she would be in his arms, his mouth devouring hers, her back pressed against the nearest wall. He had half a mind to turn back and do that just now. But he kept walking. Why she held any affections for him left him boggled. She deserved better than him. He wanted her though. Christ above, he wanted her. It was becoming a truth he could not ignore. 

 And that barely-there kiss only proved it. 

 *****

 Anna followed behind Gene as they headed to a different building, supposedly where she would stay hidden. She worried all of this would blow up in their faces eventually, that the men would get in trouble because of her, that she would be sent away to a company she did not know. Would the army count this as desertion? Fears and concerns tormented her mind, but it was too late now. Her feet were already planted firmly on the path. Physically and metaphorically. 

 Gene had told her that she would stay with the paratrooper platoon until after Captains Evans and his company left. The Cajun medic had already started a rumor along with Spina, who seemed to be enjoying all this espionage a little too much, that she had been sent to assist a family living just outside of Haguenau where the wife was in labor with her first child. It would explain why she was only gone for a short time and as to why her sudden disappearance. Plus, Gene reasoned it sounded like something she would do. She could not blame him there. It would be. 

 So now, they walked in the late hours of the night, moonlight highlighting the ground beneath their feet. The ill-fitting ODs, the coat from a dead soldier and her medic satchel were the only things she owned. All of her other possessions and clothing had blown up when the medic truck was hit during the surprise attack. She desperately tried not to think about that fact. She was alive and with no injuries. Twenty-two men lost their lives that day. Her few belongings were minimal compared to that. 

 She still missed her book though. 

 Gene did not even knock when they reached the damaged house. Quietly, he opened the door and shifted so she could walk in first. The wooden floorboards creaked beneath her feet, making her freeze for a moment. Only after a word of encouragement from Gene did she continue. As she stepped in, she could hear the murmuring of voices suddenly fall silent. Knowing Gene was at her side and he trusted these men, she took a deep breath before taking another step forward. 

 She rounded the corner from the entryway and towards what must have been a common room before the war. There were three men, two sitting on beat-up looking couches and one standing. The moonlight shining through the window cast everything in deep shadows. Somehow it felt appropriate for all that these men had been through. How they were still waiting for the sun to shine on them again, to beat back the shadows and nightmares and remind them to hope and dream of the future without war hovering over them like a furie.

 It was as she met the gaze of the one standing, staring at her, that she could feel tears well up in her eyes. He looked so world-weary, as if he had not slept in years and all peace had abandoned him. His eyes once so bright with laughter and life were now dull. His once expressive face was now weathered and closed-off. Only his red hair looked the same. It broke her heart. 

 "Donnie…." She softly said. 

 The corners of his lips lifted up at the nickname she bestowed upon him so long ago. "Hi, Anna."

 Without warning or a care for his reaction, she flew across the room. She threw her arms around him, the top of her head just at his chin. A few tears spilled as he seemed to hesitate at her action, as if he had forgotten what a hug was, as if he no longer understood how to be comforted. Then slowly his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer to his chest. 

 "I'm so sorry, Donnie." She mumbled against him, fighting a losing battle against the tears flooding her eyes. "Muck and Penkala…. they were the best of men. I'm so sorry. And for the others too." 

 He stiffened at the names of his deceased best friends. She could feel the shudder that ran through him, the soft sob he forced back. "Not…. not your fault." He finally whispered, a faint quiver in his voice. 

 She pulled back to meet his eyes, uncaring of the tear tracks staining her cheeks. Carefully she moved her hands to cup his face between them, forcing his gaze to stay on hers. "If you need to talk, I'll listen. Or just cry. Or hold your hand. I'll do it, without any questions."

 "Sure."

 "I'm serious."

 "I know. You sound like you've been hanging out with Doc Roe too much." He teased, forcing back the pain in his voice. A slight squeeze of her hand let her know he appreciated her words. 

 She giggled, sliding out of his embrace to glance at Gene, who had moved to sit next to another redhead on one of the couches. "He does start to rub off on you, can't decide if he's a good influence or a bad one."

 Gene scowled at her, making her giggle more. 

 "Who's the dame? Easy taking female paratroopers now?" The other redhead asked, his Philly accent unmistakable. 

 "Nah, this is Anna Cooper, a nurse. She's gonna stay with ya fellas for a couple days." Gene said casually. 

 The redhead's eyebrows were furrowed as his gaze darted from Gene to Anna and back. "Why?"

 "I just missed Donnie here so much." She smiled up at the man, who just gave her an awkward smile, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

 "Uh huh. So, what's the real fucking reason?" The third man asked, twirling a cigarette between his fingers. 

 "Joe, nothing you need to worry about right now." Malarkey answered. 

 Anna wondered if Gene expected the whole platoon to know of her existence there and why or only Donnie and himself. That was probably something she should have asked before their arrival but her mind was too caught up in its tornado of fears. 

 "How do you two know each other?" The other redhead asked, now eyeing her like she was a rare specimen. 

 Roe sighed, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. "She was in Albourne with us medics when we were training before the jump into Normandy."

 "Donnie here also took me on a date." Anna blurted out, a smile on her lips. 

 "What?" The one Malarkey had called 'Joe' stared with his jaw dropped. "A'ight, now I gotta hear this." 

 Malarkey rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked down at her. "Not sure I'd call that a date, Anna."

 "Mmm...it's a date when you kiss the girl after, right?"

 For a beat there was shocked silence before the two on the couches started laughing, Roe just shook his head and muttered something to himself. 

 "Holy shit, Anna…" Malarkey rubbed a hand over his face. If there had been more light, his face most likely would have matched the color of his hair. "I thought we agreed never to mention it ever again?"

 "It wasn't that bad, Donnie."

 "Yes, it was. That damn shovel almost broke my nose. You had to walk me to the aid station instead of me walking you home."

 "I mean.... when you say it like that." Anna teased. 

 "Shit, I really need to hear this now." 

 "Babe, no." Malarkey pointed his finger at the other redhead then moved it to the other man. "Joe, not a word."

 The one, Joe, shrugged, a smirk on his face. "How come I don't remember this?"

 "Cause you was in London chasin' skirts and gettin' in fights that weekend." Gene stated evenly. "It's late, I need to head back to the aid station. Malarkey, where is Anna stayin'?"

 "Right. This way." Malarkey led the way with Anna and Gene following up a set of stairs and down the hallway to a bedroom. "Supposed to be for officers I guess but since we don't have any…. the door locks too."

 "Thank you, Donnie." She smiled up at the man, someone she had thought she would never see again. It was funny how fate had brought Easy Company back into her life. Moving further into the room, she was pleased to find a single bed pressed against the wall and a desk across from it. Otherwise the room was completely bare of any other furniture or decorations. 

 "Ya ok here, chérie?" Gene leaned against the desk, arms crossed over his chest. 

 "Yes."

 "Good, good. One question then." Gene paused, an intensity in his eyes that startled her. "What's ya relationship with that Sergeant?"

 In the middle of slipping the coat off, she froze, having not been expecting that question. Her mind raced with trying to find an adequate answer. Although it felt futile. How could she describe her relationship with Sergeant Don Collier? Not that there was a relationship, per se, even if memories of their last encounter sprung forth in her mind's eye. Even though they had not known each other long, he was someone she found herself trusting wholeheartedly and feeling safe around. The loyalty of his men inspired her. The brutality of war was evident in the way he carried himself, the shifting of his eyes and the perpetual frown on his face when he was thinking. Yet he still cared. He still went out of his way to take care of a nurse who meant nothing to him. How when he was close by, her heart beat a little faster and butterflies danced in her belly. On more than one occasion, as she laid down waiting for sleep to find her, she wondered what his kiss would feel like. 

 Finally, she settled with a glossed over version, hoping Gene would be satisfied with just that. "Um....we don't…. he’s just looking out for me. Him and his crew kind of took me in."

 "Mmm….and when I walked into him holdin' ya in his arms, lookin' ready to kiss ya?"

 "It's....it's not like that."

 Malarkey spoke up, leaning against the doorframe. "Who’s this Sergeant?"

 "In charge of the armored division." Gene answered, dark eyes staring at her as if to sift the secrets out of her words and wide eyes. 

 "Don's just looking out for me…. him and his crew, they've, well, they've protected me several times already from…. others." She finished lamely, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to push the memories away. 

 He must have sensed her discomfort. "Alright, chérie, just be careful."

 She nodded. She appreciated his concern but felt it was misplaced. 

 "Don, huh? Do you call him Donnie too?" Malarkey broke the following silence. 

 She rolled her eyes but smiled at the slight change of subject. "No, only you get that nickname."

 "Lucky me. So, is he a redhead too? You have a thing for the name Don?"

 She covered her face as her cheeks warmed. 

 "Ya two can discuss this tomorrow." Gene pushed off the desk. "I'll come get ya the day after tomorrow. If ya need anythin', send someone to get me."

 She dropped the coat at the end of the bed and moved to give him a quick hug. "Thank you, Cajun angel."

 He rolled his eyes while Malarkey snickered in the back but returned the embrace.

 Next, she walked over to Malarkey and gave him another quick hug. "Thank you too. For doing this for me."

 "I'm in the room across, if you need me. Bathroom is two doors down."

 The two paratroopers then left, closing the door behind them. Taking a deep breath, she surveyed around her as she stood there in the small room under the moonlight shining through the window. The future was always unknown but especially now, she felt tossed about on the waves of uncertainties. She hoped this plan was not completely foolhardy, but she would admit, she felt safer with Gene and Malarkey looking out for her while Don and Boyd were gone. She would never admit how she had cried while hiding away from everyone when she realized she was no longer alone, that she would not be sent with Captain Evans and his company. There were good men looking out for her. 

 She crawled into bed, slipping under the scratchy covers. All the while, her mind sent a fervent prayer that the crew of Fury would be safe. That they would return to her uninjured. That Don would be okay.