#it also sounds like this is super rare (at least in cats) so it wasn’t even on her radar

[l3irdl3rain]

Wait, does that mean instead of an expensive MRI they could have just done a blood test first to see what he had?

Sort of, yes. Duncan has had numerous CBCs and other “normal” blood tests run and they even ran some there. Everything has always come back normal. So, they proceeded with an MRI fully expecting to find something abnormal on it. When there was really nothing strange going on they realized they had to start checking for more abnormal disorders.

Also, she let me know that the test for the storage disease often comes back as a false negative. If we didn’t have the MRI and we tested for a storage disease and it came back negative we might actually think it’s negative. However, now if it comes back negative we know that is almost certainly a false negative.

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Demeter

Have I been using this series to vicariously punish Belphie for the events of Season 1? I cannot confirm nor deny that statement.

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter

Lucifer

Didn't think too much of the "human" when they popped out of the portal. Sure they had a straw hat and a huge basket full of produce but it wasn’t like they were… Wait… No… Were they…?

Oh no. Oh nonononono, this is not good…!!

Demeter is notoriously doting and protective of her children (see her freakout and breakdown after Hades abducted of Persephone as proof) and they've pretty much done the EXACT. SAME. THING. here!!

It was a mad scramble by him and Diavolo to contact and appease their godly Mother Bear before she came roaring down to Devildom herself to turn them all into barley. Thankfully, Zeus must have intervened at some point because though she was indeed PISSED, she didn't threaten to barge in… yet.

She made one thing very clear. Bend so much as a single hair on her precious child's head and there would be WAR…

The MC received a 24 hour security detail after that. Just Mammon wasn't going to cut it, he needed NO chances. It was a full rotation of Mammon, him and Beel for the entirety of their stay (Asmo and Levi both threw hissy fits at the prospect of babysitting, Satan couldn’t be trusted not to kill them just to irritate him, and Belphie was out for… obvious reasons).

In some ways, it wasn’t so bad. The MC was a very mild sort of person, rather even tempered. He’d dare say they were pleasant, mostly content to just tend to their gardens and be out in the moonlight…

But the problem was, he just could not convince them to stay OUT of nature. Including the forests, which were full of hellish beasts fully intent on gnawing their flesh from their bones… and their specialty was plants, not animals, sooo…

Their habit of sneaking out to wander the woods got so bad that he very nearly considered pulling a Belphie 2 and locking them in the basement for their own good. But Devil knows what damage their mother would do if she found out…

At least they make for pleasant company… And Diavolo seems to like them quite a bit himself so the mortal gets a pass from him. Now if they’d only consider their own safety for a change…

Mammon

They make him a KILLING.

Like, no seriously. Their produce is insane!! He’s never tasted food so good, especially stuff that’s come fresh from the ground! It only took a few berries for Mammon to throw on a straw hat himself and start harvesting! He’s a farmer now, baby!!

Weeellll not quite. He’s still absolutely only in it for the money, but anything he brings to a farmer’s market goes so fast that he can hardly care about the labor! He’s never made this much Grimm in his life!! And it’s totally legit for a change!

He bought himself another car, paid off half of his debt, and even got Levi back that 2 or 3 grand he leant him centuries ago. Really, Mammon’s living his best life and it’s all thanks to MC!

It’s a good thing his blatant grifting doesn’t hurt his relationship with them at all, in fact they seem to enjoy having his help regardless. They bring him drinks on hot days or invite him on picnics and stuff, it’s… it’s really sweet. They’re very nice to him and he appreciates it…

But… COULD YA JUST STAY PUT ALREADY???

It drives him INSANE that they won’t stay out of dangerous places!! After he started caring about them for more than just a meal ticket it only got even worse!!

He’s not usually one for monitoring someone’s every move (that kind of control freak behavior is more a Lucifer thing) but he eventually had to set up familiars around the House just to keep them from sneaking out at night...

What was so interesting out there anyway?? There wasn’t any kind of plant that he could bring them himself! They didn’t have any need to be out there!! 

They’d keep telling him they’d be fine but it’s not like he’s going to actually buy that. They were too… nice to be dangerous or anything so why would he believe them?

No more running off, MC! Please, he’s beggin’ ya!!

Leviathan 

Wait, gardening? Like, being outdoors and stuff? Ew. No thanks, he’ll pass.

That was more or less his first reaction when they showed up and it never really got much better than that…

He admits that they’re friendly and it’s not like he dislikes them or anything, but their thing so far from his thing that they just don’t have a lot in common… you know?

For starters, they get So. Antsy. when they’re inside for too long! He tried to invite them to a marathon once, but they could hardly keep still and kept looking around like they were searching for a window… He said, “to jump out of.” They insisted just for some fresh air, but he didn’t buy it...

They’re nice enough to listen to his rants, but they’re barely ever inside for him to do so and like HELL is he going to leave his room and stand around out there for that long. Ranting is at least a one to two hour engagement! What if he gets hot out there? And have you SEEN Devildom bees?? Hell no!!

He has, however, asked them on multiple occasions to reproduce flowers he’s seen in different anime, especially ones that have a very unique look and they’ve done some real wonders with that!

He can now claim to be the only person to ever own a Ruby-Jade Vine plant, straight from the pages of TSL when it was used to brew tea for the Lord of Lechery during his brief illness and-is anyone even still listening anymore?

The point is, it’s a flower so rare it was imaginary but now HE has it!... or had it for about a week until his utter incompetence of all things plant killed it…

He begged the MC for another but they were out of the plants they needed to make it and would have to go back to the human world to find more… He’s still mourning his loss… Poor Henry 4.0…

Satan

Well… He’s called this MC “salt of the Earth” and he does truly mean it. Take of that what you will.

He doesn’t get much in the way of intellectual conversation out of this mortal UNLESS he’s talking about plants, farming, or botany… Interesting topics and complex in their own right to be sure, but that’s pretty much their wheelhouse and they like it there.

That being said, the feats that they can perform are genuinely mind-blowing! They are the ONLY person he has ever met who can cultivate the Devildom’s own ultra-rare Phantom Orchid, a plant only blooms when it reaches a perfect state of undeath (i.e. both taken care of and neglected just enough so that it's only barely alive. The balance is so tricky to master that one hasn’t bloomed down there for centuries!)

There’s also something just genuinely relaxing about watching them work or helping them in the gardens… More so than he’d ever expected from such a simple activity.

He admits that he’s taken quite a few strolls through the flower-filled courtyard of the Demon Lord’s Castle just to admire its beauty... But anything that they can grow just blows all of that out of the water!

They even taught him several magic botanical techniques so now he can grow some pretty mad plants himself. Lucifer never expected to find that giant Venus Flytrap in his closet, but one was there regardless. 😏

Just… out of curiosity one day, he asked the MC if they could make him a new kind of catnip. Not for any nefarious reason! You know… just for research purposes…

The nip they made was so effective that the House grounds were FILLED with nipped-up cats for a whole month! He was in Heaven!! (and Lucifer practically wiped those plants from existence so he couldn’t get any more… asshole...)

That must have inspired them because they apparently made a demons-only version that they told him about WELL after the fact. Had he known, he probably would have burned the stuff on principle... Do you know how dangerous demon-nip could be to them? Experiment responsibly, MC!

Asmodeus 

Ehhhh, gardening SOUNDS like one of those things that should be super Devilgram-able, but then you realize how sweaty and dirty you get in the process and it’s a huge turn off… Sorry MC.

When they first came down to the Devildom, he thought two things: 1) Such a sweet little flower child, as adorable as they were, would never survive; and 2) even if they could, he would never ever see eye-to-eye with them on the “wonders” of getting all up in the dirt.

Well, he was right about 2, but certainly not 1. Personally, he thinks his brothers worry about them too much, they ARE still a demigod.

At one point he saw a pack of hellhounds almost trample one of their vegetable gardens and they lost it. Word to the wise, never try to take on a child of Demeter in their own garden. Those hounds were wrapped up in rose vines before they could even yelp...

Yeah, the MC would be fine.

That being said, while everybody else clamors over their produce, he thinks that their flowers are really where it’s at!

Taking just five minutes in one of their gardens is something else... He’s never seen blossoms as healthy and immaculate in all the Devildom before! Their beauty could (almost) rivals his own! What they do isn’t just a hobby, it’s an art.

He’s taken multiple pictures with their blossoms and they go viral every time. It’s so rare to actually see gorgeous, petal-filled flowers in the Devildom, most of the native plants are of the man-eating variety.

His only complaint about this MC is that they seem to feel much more at home in work clothes and dirt than they do in any sort of party-look he tries to give them… Cute as they are, they can afford to gussy up sometimes can’t they? Mud and grass stains don’t make for a good look, sorry.

Beelzebub 

Beel gardens and the MC gardens as well. Add on that they seem to be able to grow all manner of fruits and veggies and he likes this one. A lot.

They had just finished apple-picking when the portal nabbed them so they had a massive basket of apples at the time. Naturally, Beel more or less stole the thing on sight, but the apples inside were so juicy and good that he almost shook them down for more on the spot!

Imagine his surprise when they, half pleadingly, explained to him that if he got them some seeds they could just grow more… and it wouldn’t even take that long.

To be clear, the formula he saw was this: Get seeds > bring seeds to mortal > mortal grows seeds > mortal makes endless supply of food….

Congratulations MC, you’ve now earned the sixthborn’s eternal loyalty after a grand total of… two minutes. He didn’t even know their name, but he was willing to take a bullet for them (provided he got more of those apples).

The next several months were spent with Beel attached to them to the hip in some way, but honestly? It was just so wholesome anyway…

If he’s helping in the garden, he never complains. He does most of the heavy lifting and actually likes being out there with them (unlike others...)

Many afternoons were spent sitting under fruit trees and talking. Sometimes, they go to the trouble of preparing a picnic or something but it would always inevitably end with Beel plucking the whole tree clean of whatever ripe (or unripe) fruit he can get his hands on with a smile. 

The MC never minded though. That’s just another excuse to grow more, right?

His only problem was when the MC would sneak out to the forest… especially when they get too antsy and just go alone. 

He HATES it when they do that! How is he supposed to keep them safe if they just wander off?? He knows that they have a special connection to nature and all, but it isn’t safe…

He’s flown in and scooped them back up to the House on numerous occasions and his “talking tos” get sterner after every rescue... Please stay put, MC! He’d have so many reasons to be sad if you were eaten… 😔

Belphegor 

Okay, he was looking for a capable, if not gullible, human. Not a shoeless flower hippy!

He honestly wasn't expecting much out of this one... Damn their little heart because they did genuinely believed his lies, it’s just that they weren't… well… They were really good at gardening.

… And it grew kind of hard to keep hating them whenever they'd show up just to give him fresh berries or a bouquet to see him smile… He may claim that his heart is made of nightmares and orphan tears, but who doesn’t enjoy being given a batch of flowers? 

Damn their sweetness too… Right to here.

When it came time to kill them he had a heavier heart than he thought he would, but kind of saw it like putting down the sacrificial lamb. Gotta be done to reach better goals... Stiff upper lip and all that.

Unfortunately for him, they had taken to carrying packets of demon-nip with them as a self-defense measure…

He wasn’t exactly sure what he expected when they shouted “Get nipped!” at him mid-attack, but it wasn’t a face full of some smelly herb! Like, really smelly…! Actually, that smelt kind of good… Hold on.

Turns out murderous rage really doesn’t last long after you get what is effectively ultra-strong catnip thrown in your face. They ended up having to go and tell Lucifer what happened themselves because Belphie was way too blissed out on the floor to do anything... They were legitimately worried they might have fried his brain...

He’s told the effects of the demon-nip lasted three days. He doesn’t know, because he hardly remembers any of it... They described him as like he was high on “weed” and “ecstasy” at the same time but he doesn’t know what either of those are either so it wasn’t helpful…

Truthfully, they were so nice to him while he was recovering that he couldn’t even be mad afterwards so all's well that ends well? Either way, he’s sleeping under their orchard trees from now on. It’s peaceful out there...

They burnt all that nip though. It’s some strong stuff...

[icollectyoursins]

Jotaro Relationship Head Canons SFW

Because I’m a self indulgent little shit and just love to ignore all of the work I have to do, have some Jotaro head canons. I am but a humble simp, and love this man. So much.

Update as of writing this. Somehow, it got very angsty, so... yeah. Sad man vibes. Also rambly. I just kinda kept going.

Wanna know what I’m willing to write? Rules here!

Have a character, but no idea? Prompt list here!

Looking for more? Master post here!

WARNINGS: None, just angst, but nothing too serious.

Word Count: 2,985

Jotaro’s type is... I mean, it depends, like most people. I don’t think he’s super picky over appearances or things like that, it’s more whether or not he gets along with you and how long he can put up with you.  He’s polite (well, as polite as he can be) and courteous, but probably a little more apathetic when you’ve first met. Once you’ve been around for a while he’s more relaxed and almost a little more critical. Mostly because you’re his friend now and he expects more from his friends.

While I was writing this I sort of realized that he could be aromantic. Maybe it’s just my own aro tendencies coming through, but I thought it sort of lined up with his personality. Or at least from my experience with romantic attraction.

Eventually, though, he’ll admit he cares about you a little more than he cares about others. It comes through in little almost compliments. “You did good. Keep it up” or “good job, dealing with this” are common phrases that sound nice on the surface, but it almost feels like he’s trying to pressure you to do more, which is far from the truth.  

If it’s not awkward compliments like that, it’s awkward gifts. Always something you had briefly mentioned wanting or stared at a minute longer than you usually do, wrapped in a paper that’s your favourite colour or pattern. Sometimes, though, it’s something you’ve never mentioned that he somehow guessed would be something you wanted.

At the same time, though, he’s oblivious or at least acts like he is. There may be times when he goes home after you said something exceptionally sweet to him or that just means so much and he’ll just take a moment sitting at his desk to mull over what you said.

    With a grunt, Jotaro rolled back into the armchair with a cup of tea in one hand and today’s newspaper in the other, since he didn’t get to read it this morning. It’s late with the sun almost completely set, giving his room an orange hue. He tries reading the first column, something about a cat being saved from a sewer grate, but after about a minute, he catches himself drifting away, sort of staring blankly at the paper.

    He blinks hard, taking a long sip from his coffee. He must be tired. Another attempt is made at reading, this time the comics. They’re not his favourite thing, but short enough that he can focus on them. Or so he thought.

    He zones out again, face suddenly feeling very hot.

    He was thinking about you. Or, rather what you said.

    It was something so simple, so mundane.

    You had been talking about family together, exchanging drama, if you will, and he had brought up how his father had left his mother when he was very young. It didn’t bother him, he had said, after all, it was years ago and if he was being honest, he didn’t really need a father. Then, you gave him this look. It wasn’t pity or something like that. You put your hand on his knee, staring deep into his eyes.

    “Jotaro,” you said, voice soft and sweet. You struggled to say the next words, opening your mouth, sighing, then finally: “I’m not leaving you.”

    “Why would you be leaving?” He said, confused, taking it literally. Or, he pretended to be confused. It had made his heart warm with affection.

    What Jotaro hadn’t noticed at that moment was that his eyes seemed to gloss over with wet tears while talking about his father. He wasn’t over it, you understood that. How could he be? He was so young then, he probably didn’t understand what was happening or why and now that he’s a father himself, there had to be so much guilt about being the same way. It was only now that he was realizing how much you had an effect on him.

    It didn’t make him sad, by any means but... loved. He’ll say thank you tomorrow with a gift or some flowers. He hadn’t planned on meeting you for the rest of the week because he was busy, but work could wait, right? Yeah. Tomorrow.

God, it would take so long for him to get you to move in together. He’s so used to living on his own that I think he’s a little self-conscious about it. He’s not a slob by any means, but certainly a bachelor. I mean, he lived (assumedly) on his own from probably around or earlier than DiU right up until Stone Free, so it’s been a while and he’s certainly comfortable with his mess of clothes lying on the floor in the corner, but you won’t be. He cleans up before people come over, obviously, but how many times did he actually invite someone in?

When you start staying around more, he starts cleaning more, which makes him a little frustrated both coming to terms with liking someone enough that he’s actively cleaning for them once a week and also discovering that he’s a lot more gross than he thought. You would not believe how stained the counter was from coffee or how gross the filter was on the coffee maker. He takes his coffee very seriously. You begin to notice how clean everything is, well, how consistently clean everything is and it even starts to smell nicer, more floral and fresh. He bought a lavender air freshener. “It’s supposed to be calming,” he’ll say with a hint of annoyance. It’s not a bad smell to him, better than vanilla air fresheners, but it does give him a headache when he first sprays his place. You seem to like it though, so he’s willing to put up with it.

I honestly believe this man can cook, but nervous when cooking for other people. His food when he was a bachelor was good enough for him and I’m sure Holly would have shown him a lot too, but it’s not the best food. He definitely steps up his game when you’re over and even more so when you move in. He’s better with dishes that have pasta or noodles because it’s easy, but he’s not too bad behind the grill either.

When you guys finally live together, he tries to keep the cooking even, with you cooking some days and him doing the rest, but I honestly feel like unless you are a hazard in the kitchen, you would do most of it.

Jotaro would be like that with most things around the house partly because he doesn’t want you to do all the work if you don’t want to but he enjoys having a little more time to himself to either do work or... yeah, it’s just work. There are a few things that he’ll never make you do because it’s either too hard or he’s built up a routine of doing that thing a certain way and he’s convinced no one else will do it right. Like his laundry. He won’t let anyone else clean his clothes. He tried once and nothing dried right, he swears that his jacket is still damp to this day. You can fold his stuff or hang it up, but he’s running the washing machine and dryer. Also picky about how his office is cleaned.

If you asked and gave a legitimate reason for not doing a certain chore, he’ll do it, but be prepared with an excuse as to why you can’t wash the dishes or fold the laundry. He’s especially resistant if he’s working whether that be gathering information for the Speedwagon Foundation or editing his latest Marine Biology book.

Actually, can we just talk about how much this man hates folding laundry? It’s so pointless to him. Why fold it and put it into neat little piles when you’re just gonna rummage through the drawer and mess everything up? Sure, it looks nice, I guess, but not for long. He was for sure a floordrobe kind of guy, especially in his early years. He knows which ones are clean, it’s fine, just leave it. Of course, he would get better the longer you’re at his place, but still. It’s not that he’s lazy, he’s just busy and putting clothes away takes way too fucking long. (which, honestly, agreed.)

Date nights with Jotaro are... rare. I mean, you live with him, why would he want to go out and pay for something when he could do the same thing at home? They’re nice, of course, but it’s more common for him to take you out to dinner while you guys are on vacation or in a location other than home, because he doesn’t feel like cooking and it’s more special when you’re supposed to go out. Eventually, it clicks in that you are supposed to make each other feel special and will surprise you with an expensive dinner or a short cruise. If you suggest the aquarium he’ll think you’re just saying that because he’s into aquatic wildlife, but honestly doesn’t put up much of a fight and will answer any questions you or anyone else has about the fish.

He does enjoy a good relaxing movie (or documentary) night at home, though. It’s so nice to finally be finished work, settle into your super comfy couch and just chill until he gets tired. Even better when you’re lying on top of him with your head just under his chin. There’s something so soothing about smelling your perfume, shampoo, conditioner, cologne, etc. To just smell you so close to him and feel your weight. Aaah. So nice.

    The microwave beeps faintly from the kitchen signalling that popcorn was done. You trailed out soon after, tossing the bowl to mix around the butter. You smile sweetly at him, leaning down to plant a gentle kiss on Jotaro’s lips before settling into his lap, nestling your head just under his while stretching out your legs. His arm instinctively moves from the back of the couch to drape over your back, rubbing circles into it with his thumb.

    He sighs; relaxed, finally. He allows himself to kiss your forehead, closing his eyes for a moment, just basking in your comfort. When he opens his eyes, he pulls you closer to him, feeling your heart beat almost in time with his. It was moments like these that eased his panic of losing you. You were here in his arms, safe and sound and vice versa. He was safe in yours.

Yeah, he’s a little angsty. But, can you blame him? He’s getting better, though. With help, of course. With you being around so often (and being very adamant that you’re not going anywhere) he’s able to let go a little. He’s not perfect, by a long shot and progress is slow, but it’s the little things like these that makes you proud of how far he’s come.

PDA is common, but a little restricted. When you’re out together, Jotaro’ll always have his hand on your back or shoulder. Hand-holding isn’t really a thing for him, but he will make sure you know he’s there. He’ll kiss you in public, but it’s not nearly as intimate or special as when you’re at home. Still, it’s a sweet reminder that he loves you, seeing as words of affection aren’t really his thing.

I mean, he can express himself just fine, but he still gets a little nervous saying things like ‘I love you.’ It’s more along the lines of ‘I care about you.’ Or, well. “of course, I care about you. You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.” Which... thanks. I think.

Kissing him is so nice, so you’re not too mad about him doing that instead of words. When Jotaro kisses you it’s full of a mix of emotions. Mostly caring, but on his rough days, there’s something else there. It could be worry or whatever the emotional equivalent of never letting you go is. You can always tell that he wants it to last a little bit longer. There’s something in the sad look in his eyes when he or you has to pull away. Sometimes he’s overly gentle like he’ll break you somehow, especially if you’re not a stand user or fighting-inclined (whether physical or otherwise). It’s not patronizing, or at least he tries not to be patronizing, he just prefers you safe.

    It started out simple enough. You and Jotaro were just sitting at the table, eating dinner when he got this... sinking sort of feeling. There was something in the silence between you that just sent his mind spiralling. Thoughts of you someday dying too soon for whatever reason or leaving him because he’s not there enough, stand users, car crashes, divorce. They all started to flood into his mind, fabricating that you would somehow be taken away from him.

    “Jotaro? Are you okay?” Your voice rings through; a bright light breaking the storm. He’s been staring at his plate for a while now, his eyes are dry and itchy. He looks at you and tries to say something, but the words don’t come. Is he okay?

    You stand up and walk over to him, cupping his face gently. You rub the dark circles under his eyes while kissing his forehead. Jotaro slowly wraps his arms around you, letting his face fall into your hands. You’re pulled into his lap after a few minutes, running your fingers through his hair next. Finally, he sighs, burying his face in the crook of your neck.

    “Thank you,” he mumbles and though you’re not quite sure why, you still say a quiet you’re welcome, silently soothing him through whatever happened.

If you couldn’t tell, he needs a lot of reassurance. Not so much words, but actions like the snippet above. I mean, he can be as strong as he wants but we all know he’s got some baggage and while he’s able to put it aside, for the most part, I think when you’re at home he’s just a little more vulnerable.

Now, onto happier things! If you like coffee or tea, he will always make you a cup in the morning. Jotaro is a very early riser except on the weekends, so he usually gets that done while reading or watching the news and when you come down, he’ll ask if you want breakfast then make it for you seeing as he’s more awake.

He loves coffee. So much. He might have a caffeine addiction, honestly. At all times of every day, you can see him with a black coffee in hand and a book or phone in the other. He will switch to decaf at some point, but you might have to switch it for him. He’s forgetful when he gets busy.

Sleeping in on the weekends is like heaven for him. The two nights (or more on holidays) that he gets a full nights rest, breakfast in bed and a warm soul to cuddle into. He’s usually big spoon with a hand just resting on your side, but please, for the love of god make him the little spoon once a week. Will never admit it or vocalize wanting it. He just grabs your hand and drapes it over him with a “good night” and then promptly passes out.

He’s a heavy sleeper but doesn’t sleep often. Once he’s out, there is nothing that could wake him up except the fire alarm or something like that. It just takes a while. Not because of trauma, but more just internal clock is delayed.

Not a bath guy, strictly showers ‘cause they’re quicker. Most of the time he’s in and out before you can invite him into yours. When you do he’s “reluctant” but showers with you are a favourite of his. He gets his hair washed for him (if he bends down), he can wash you. It’s great.

I don’t think he would want more kids. He’s getting older, busier and just doesn’t think he has the time to care for a baby, even with help. Plus, if they were anything like Joylne or god forbid him when he was younger, he might start greying sooner than he thought. Joylne is a great kid, but... she’s definitely got some of his defiance in him. One kid is fine.

He doesn’t really like pets either, hates when there’s fur on all the furniture. But, if you came home with a stray cat or two, he’s not gonna put up a fight if you say they’re not going to the pound. “Just as long as you take care of them yourself.”

You got him a betta fish once because Jotaro. Fish. Makes sense. He thought it was a little pointless at first. You can’t pet them or play fetch (not like he does those things anyway). All a fish does is sit there and look pretty. You were a little disappointed, but whatever, you’ll take care of it. Then he comes home one day with a 30-gallon tank, freshwater plants and fancy lighting to help them grow which he quietly sets up in the living room. He spent at least a half-hour deciding on where to put it.

A week later, after he’s pleased with how it looks and the tank has been cycled he puts in an order for more fish then lets your betta acclimate to the tank. “There, he’ll be happier in here. The idea of bettas not enjoying or panicking in larger tanks is a myth. He won’t be alone for long anyway. He also won’t kill everything in the tank.” Well, he hopes he won’t, each fish is different. Thankfully, the small school of tetras get along with your betta just fine. From then on, he’s in there once a week, cleaning everything, trimming the overgrowth. It is officially his tank.

[thatweeboverthereisthirsty]

Can I call you mine?

A commission from the lovely @carlottastudios who I absolutely adore after only having a few conversations with. These were jealousy scenarios with a bit of spice! I went over my word limit on Jamil’s but that’s just cause I love him so much! Please enjoy! And commissions are open still! This one cost $3

Warnings: slight spice, fem!reader, jealousy, protectiveness, possessive behavior, light light LIGHT angst, marking kink (is that a thing? oh well. Basically a love bite that displays their claim.)

   “In the jungle, the botanical jungle, a lion sleeps all the time~!” you sang out teasingly. Leona huffed and his tail thumped against the ground once in irritation. Giggling, you slid closer and poked said tail, which retracted swiftly, prickling in annoyance.

   “Scram herbivore.” Leona’s tone was mildly annoyed but had no bite to it. Truthfully he hoped you would inch just a bit closer so he could grab you and hold you hostage as his pillow. 

   You hummed and stood, much to his displeasure, and grabbed your school stuff. Quietly you packed everything away and threw out your lunch trash before returning to Leona’s spot one more time.

   “I have class now, Leona. I’ll see you later, kay?” he grunted in agreement and watched you walk away, nose twitching as he inhaled your fresh scent one last time before it began to fade. The down side of the botanical garden was that any smell other than flowers was quickly dispersed by the sickeningly sweet perfume of nectar.

   The lion sighed and stared up at one such flower with distaste. How dare they try to outdo his beloved? He would never appreciate their scent more than hers. He rolled his eyes at the ridiculous thoughts and fell back asleep. He hummed as he did so, mimicking the tune you had sang to him. He missed you already.

----------

   5:48 P.M. You were 18 minutes late. 18 minutes had passed since you were supposed to be in Leona’s bed, curled up next to him, petting his ears, and doting on him like the king he was. 18 minutes where Leona gradually became more worried, as well.

   It wasn’t like you to be late. Especially not late to a night with him. It set his instincts off and he was on high alert, tensed, ready to pounce on anything that dared touch his mate. Finally when the clock turned 5:20 he sprang out of bed and strode down the hall with power that sent the message “don’t mess with me”.

   In the Savanaclaw lounge you were seated next to the decorative pool, chatting amidly with a fellow student. Leona glared and growled when he spotted you, far too close to the other man for his liking. He watched in anger, as the student slid even closer to you so that your hips touched briefly.

   Rage flashed in Leona’s eyes and his expression darkened into something dangerous. He stalked over behind you and the student, who seemingly didn’t notice his presence and hastily picked you up before throwing you over his shoulder. 

   “Hey! Put me down!” you cried out and he snarled at you. “Quiet, herbivore!” Recognizing your boyfriend's voice you stilled and relaxed a bit. At least it wasn’t some stranger. 

   He mentally gave you points for fighting back when you didn’t know who it was. “That’s right, only I get to touch you.”

   Looking down at the student who had been sitting with you, he noticed your homework was on his lap and realized he had just been helping you. He growled and turned walking away, a bit upset that he didn’t have a good reason to turn them to dust. Not that he needed one, but he couldn’t imagine upsetting you by harming one of your classmates, no matter how much he wanted to.

   Soon he reached his room and threw you on the bed. You landed with a gasp and looked up at him in confusion and slight annoyance. “Leona! What was that-MPH!”

   He silenced you quickly by shoving you down on the bed and sliding his tongue into your mouth. Immediately your body relaxed underneath him and he smirked when you brought your hands up to weave into his hair. 

   Only he got to touch you like this. Only he got to kiss you. Only he got to say that you were his. His and his alone! 

   You panted when he pulled back and started to ask why but he kissed you again so you couldn’t. “Jealous. Protective. Possessive. Mine” He said between kisses and soon trailed them along your jaw and down to your neck.

   A breathy moan slipped from your lips as he sucked on the sensitive skin near your collar. He kissed up until he was right over the junction between your neck and shoulders. Then he bit down hard, drawing a loud cry from you. 

   The taste of your blood only just barely appeared before he pulled back and began to kiss the wound. He knew that licking it would irritate it further due to his cat-like tongue, but he still attempted to soothe it as much as possible.

   Finally he pulled back completely and gazed down at you with a smirk. Several different bruises and love bites littered your neck, shoulders, and collar. Only one had been deep enough to break the skin. It would scar he was sure and the thought of you always wearing a symbol of his claim made him purr.

   He stopped though when he realized he could have hurt you. “I’m sorry. Princess, I didn’t mean to get so upset, it’s just instincts.” he sighed. 

   You smiled at him and pulled him down for another kiss. “Don’t worry. I find it super sexy when you get possessive.” His eyes widened in surprise and he took in your mild blush. “Hmmm…” he purred with a smirk. “Well in that case you don’t mind if I mark you up a bit more… and while I’m at it you can use that pretty voice of yours to remind the whole dorm that you’re mine and mine alone!”

   Jamil gritted his teeth and turned away from the lounge. He made his way to the kitchen and immediately began to prepare more horderves. Kalim’s party was going wonderfully, of course all due to his hard work. Although he supposed he appreciated a week's notice and Kalim did help magically with some of the decorations.

    He was still stressed, but not quite as much as he could have been, had Kalim not given him a warning. In fact he was looking forward to actually trying to enjoy one of Kalim’s parties for the first time since he was born. 

   It was a very nice party and since everything was going smoothly, Jamil found time to sit down and sip some juice. Alcohol wasn’t allowed on school premises but grape juice mimicked the taste nicely depending on what brand you bought. Kalim was partial to the sweeter stuff, while Jamil preferred it to be more sour.

   However, he found that the sour taste in his mouth wasn’t from the juice at all when he spotted you dancing joyously with some other student. His smile fell into a frown and he watched angrily as the student pulled you close and said something that made you laugh.

   You had a beautiful laugh, it was the kind that made everyone in the room sigh in content when they heard it. Jamil fell in love with it almost as hard as he had fallen in love with you. Especially because you rarely laughed for anyone but him.

   To hear you generously sharing that sound with some nobody sent flashes of anger through him.  He clenched his fists and dug his nails into his palms a bit. Just remembering it made him pissed.

   Shaking his head to clear it, Jamil got to work cutting up some more vegetables at a fast speed that would intimidate anyone who tried to approach him. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone so he glared darkly at the food in front of him in an attempt to send off silent go away signals.

   Kalim, who entered the room to find Jamil after seeing him storm off, caught sight of the frustrated man and paused to observe his body language. Ever since Jamil’s overblot, Kalim had been trying to read his friend's emotions better. Luckily he caught on quickly and left the room.

    Jamil sighed in relief and set the knife down. Why the hell would you wanna hang out with anyone but him! You were his and his alone! The only thing he had claim over, or ownership of. Mentally he berated himself for thinking that way. You weren’t an object, you were a person and you should be allowed to do whatever you want. He would be a hypocrite if he tried to restrict your choices and behaviors.

   “Jamil?” The man spun around and found you standing behind him with a concerned look on your face. “Kalim told me you looked upset, is everything alright?” Your tone was soft and worried. It eased Jamil’s emotions in the way it always had. You always put him first, a habit he both loved and hated. On one hand he adored being pampered for once, on the other he knew what it was like to ignore your own wants and needs for another person.

   He sighed and put on a smile, taking your hands in his own. “Just tired that’s all.” you frowned and glared up at him in the way you always did when he lied.

   “Now, I know that’s not true. I’m not gonna force you to tell me, but I also want you to know that you can be honest with me. That’s why I’m here.” Jamil bit his lip and turned away, a flush rising on his cheeks.

   “The truth…” he hesitated. “The truth is I don’t want you hanging out with that other student!” The sudden exclamation took you aback and you blinked in surprise. “I don’t want to control you or tell you what to do and who to hang out with, but I also want you all to myself. No one else should be able to touch you or whisper in your ears, or dance with you, or make you laugh and smile. That’s my job, because your mine, not theirs!”

   At this point you were blushing as well, but noticed he was beginning to get upset. “And I’m so sorry for saying that like you’re some object, cause you’re not. You’re a person who deserved to make their own choices and decisions, but goddamnit I can’t help wanting you all to myself. You’re- you’re…” he paused and looked at you. “You’re special… to me. I don’t want anyone taking you away from me. I know i’m being a hypocrite but don’t go back out there. Stay here and be mine-”

   Jamil was cut off by you kissing him passionately on the lips. His eyes widened before they fell closed and he snaked his arms around your waist, tugging you flush against him with a growl. 

   His tongue swiped at your lips and you parted them obediently. He smirked and chuckled lowly before slipping it into your mouth. “Good girl.” You moaned through the kiss and felt your knees weaken. He pulled you around and lifted you effortlessly onto the counter. His kisses moved from your lips to your neck where he simultaneously worshipped and abused your skin.

   Love bites and dark bruises displayed his rough treatment, but the sighs that fell from your lips told him that you were enjoying it greatly. Silently he pulled back to observe his handiwork and smirked at the amount of marks he had left behind. Some would be easy to hide, whereas others he had left strategically in places that would be impossible to cover up. He felt a little guilty, knowing that you would be slightly upset later for making it so hard to hide the fact that he had been kissing you, but seeing something almost like a name tag, or a brand, that signified you were his and his alone, stirred something in him and he was tempted to never let you leave his sight without a mark warning people off about advancing on you.

   “Jamil…” you spoke shakily. He looked at you and how wrecked you were just from some kisses and his gaze darkened with lust. His tongue licked his lips subconsciously and he watched you shiver in reaction. “I have something important to tell you…”

   He raised an eyebrow and moved his head to the other side of your neck, placing kisses and marks there as well. It made it very hard to think so you momentarily pushed him away, making him growl in displeasure. “Don’t feel bad about being possessive over me, okay? Because when you are…” you hesitated, “it’s really freaking hot.”

   His eyes widened and an almost evil smile drew up on his lips. “That so… well, then I guess you don’t mind me leaving a few more marks over here,” he licked a stripe up your neck drawing a gasp from you, “to show the whole world that you belong to me!” He snarled it out before biting lightly at your skin and relishing in the way you tilted your head to the side with a moan. Yeah, he could get used to you hanging out with other boys so long as he got to do this to you before and after.

[capricioussun]

More for the blorbo!

Does he have a favorite genre of music or a favorite band? Is he right handed, left handed, ambidextrous, or cross-dominant? Does he play any musical instruments, either underground or topside? Do you HC him with claws or just like really sharp "nails" that can be filed down? How does he deal with those?

And of course, you can always save these for when you have time!

Taking a break from attack work so I will answer these!!

His music taste is…eclectic. The thing is, he’s kind of…weird? About music? It’s super hard to gauge what he will or won’t like because he will determine his opinion on a song with completely unknowable metrics. He might like a song sheerly because of the impressive number of brass instruments. He might hate a song because of the number of times they use a specific chord progression. This song is about lunar cycles? Ugh, tacky. This song accurately references a Greek parable others usually get wrong? 12/10 great song (please note the song could actually sound like virtually almost anything). Though he’s also not really a hater, so he’s pretty relaxed about most music, as long as it isn’t too…uh, extreme? (He’d probably hate stuff like msi) Though he does admittedly have a slight soft spot for classic rock, folk, and proper classic music because of the few cassettes and Walkman he had to fix he found at the dump a long time ago… He would like My Chem if for no other reason than the Aesthetic (he can respect commitment to the bit. He might also even genuinely like a few of their songs)

He is ambidextrous! This is a hc I share with all Papyri! It was simply a matter of needing to be able to use both hands with the same level of efficiency, which actually ties in well with the next question!

It’s also part of why he learned piano! To help with hand eye coordination and dexterity! So Edge can play the piano, but…he doesn’t anymore, or at least very very rarely…

He actually has claws!! And he hates them! /hj but to explain, Edge’s claws are very real and very annoying. Due to the genetic experimentation, they are incredibly sharp, and he actually has very mild regenerative abilities. What this essentially means is that his claws are virtually untrimmable. They grow back almost instantly, he’d have to pretty much declaw himself like a cat (surgically removing the entire last phalanx of each finger) to get rid of them, and that’s way more of an inconvenience than the claws themselves are. However when they first started getting that sharp (around the age of 11), they were a big problem, and it wasn’t long before Sans had to call in a favor with Alphys to help him make Special gloves for Edge that were pretty close to untearable, since they were catching on everything. Edge couldn’t even change his clothes or bathe himself properly without winding up covered in hairline scratches and ruining the fabric.

They’ve thankfully rugged-ed out a little with age, so they’re not still that crazy sharp, but they are still sharp enough he continues wearing the gloves all the time lest he risk nicking himself or destroying clothes. He could alternatively use claw caps to prevent unwanted cutting and tearing, but he also has sensory issues, and his hands especially can be super sensitive, so the gloves are very good for that, too (a headcanon I share for UT Papyrus as well!)

At least they come in handy with looking intimidating! (Pun intended)

[kyotarou]

One bed scenario for izuku, shouto, tamaki and dabi? I really liked the last one

characters: izuku midoriya, shoto todoroki, tamaki amajiki, dabi

plot (deku, shoto, & tamaki): you’re invited to a weekend getaway for a class celebration, but some miscalculations lead to some awkward situations

warnings: mild swearing

a/n: since dabi isn’t part of u.a. the plot for his scenario will be explained below :) also this is a bit long i apologize if it’s a lot to read

part 1

Izuku Midoriya

Class 1-A takes a trip to Kyoto during the spring when the cherry blossoms have bloomed and the city is pink

Everyone is free to do as they please as long as they meet back at the hotel by a certain time or else everyone is going to assume they were kidnapped

Deku’s excited cause he’s never gone on a trip with all his friends like this before

He’s the type of person to have a backpack full of water, snacks, money, and a map with a ton of places marked off

Drags you by the wrist all over the city and manages to cross off all the spots on the map with enough time to squeeze in some extra destinations

At the end of the day, you and Deku head up to the room you decided to share, exhausted and ready to sleep until noon

Upon opening the door, you both do a double-take

“Uh, Izuku, am I seeing things, or is there only one bed?”

“Nope, there’s only one.”

“Um, I guess one of us could take the floor?”

Neither you or Deku actually want to sleep on the floor, but you don’t want to come off as rude, so you play a game of, “No, I will,” until it gets too tiring

“Let’s just share, yeah?”

“Oh, (Y/N), are you sure?”

“Well, we’re not getting anywhere aren’t we?”

He’s trying his best to not seem flustered as you crawl into bed next to him

It’s not as uncomfortable as you thought, but you’re worried about Deku and how he looks like he’s about to have a heart attack

You scoot to the edge of the bed with your back to him, hoping it makes things less awkward, and fall asleep

You wake up to the sound of rustling and try to get up to check the time but something’s holding you back

You look down to see Deku’s arms wrapped around your waist, squeezing you tight, while his lips brush against your neck, murmuring your name in his sleep

Your face heats up and you realize staying like this for the rest of the day isn’t so bad

Shoto Todoroki

You hang out with your friends but grow tired quickly and decide to head back to the hotel early and relax at the spa

You’re surprised to see Shoto in the spa house too, towel draped over his shoulder, no shirt, with shorts on

It makes your heart race and cheeks burn with embarrassment because holy fuck does your crush look good right now

He’s super chill about it and thinks your red face is from the steam of the hot tub or the sauna

“Hello, (Y/N), why aren’t you out with the others?”

“Oh, um, I was getting tired and just wanted to relax.”

“I see. Well, care to join me?” He hangs the towel on a hook and settles into the hot tub

You’re standing there, legs shaking, realizing you’re going to have to strip in front of him

Shoto stares at you expectantly and sees you hesitating

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. I’ll look away.”

After taking off your clothes, swimsuit underneath, you get in beside him

It’s a bit tense at first, but soon you loosen up and have some good, interesting conversations

At bedtime, Iida is listing out the pairs and the room numbers and you hear him say, “(L/N) and Todoroki, room 207.”

“Huh?! Iida, are you sure? I was supposed to be with Denki!”

“Hm, it says Denki’s with Sero on the list. You two must’ve gotten mixed up, I apologize. Will you be okay or do you want to switch?”

“I’m fine with it, how about you (Y/N)?”

You feel like you’re going to collapse because your crush just agreed to be in the same room as you, but you nod a little too excitedly and take the elevator up

As if the day couldn’t get any better worse, there’s only one bed in your room

Even Shoto is a bit taken aback but, being the responsible boy he is, he offers to request a different room, or at least bring a cot up

Without thinking, you blurt out, “What if we shared?” and your whole body stiffens in embarrassment

Surprisingly, Shoto isn’t opposed to it, but he asks if you’re 100% with it first, then gets into bed

His body is cold next to yours and you shiver a little too violently, back turned to him

Shoto takes notice and you feel his breath on the back of your neck. “Sorry, let me warm you up.”

He uses his Quirk and heats up the bed, and although you know it’s an innocent gesture, your mind can’t help but wander elsewhere

“Oh, um, thank you,” you whisper, relaxing in the warmth

“Of course.”

Little did you know, Shoto’s heart was beating a mile a minute, because he too didn’t want to scare his crush—you

Tamaki Amajiki

Tamaki stays in the hotel the entire day

It’s not that he doesn’t want to be with his friends; he’s afraid of getting lost or doing something to mess up the trip for his classmates

You stay with Tamaki in his room, chatting about whatever comes to mind

“Are you sure you want to stay? I don’t want to hold you back.”

“It’s alright, we have two days left anyway. I like being with you, Tamaki!”

He hides the blush growing on his face and you smile because of how cute he looks

Tamaki’s room only has one bed, which isn’t surprising, since it was noted one person would need to be alone due to the odd number of students

Problem was it wasn’t stated who would be alone

As you’re exploring his room, gawking at the view from the window and all the cool little knickknacks, you throw open the closet doors and freeze when you see your stuff

“Huh? Why is this here? Tamaki, did you take my bag on accident?”

“Ah, no! I only brought my stuff up, someone must’ve put it there by mistake.”

You call Nejire and ask about the rooms

“Hmm, it seems like you and Tamaki must’ve been given the same room. Sorry for not checking it over, do you want to be moved?”

“Ah, it’s fine, I guess.”

You and Tamaki try to go back to your conversation but you can tell how nervous he is since night is approaching quickly

Bedtime comes and Tamaki nearly screams when he feels your body pressed against his

Guilt washes over you; “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked. I’ll go down and get a cot.”

As you’re about to slip out from under the covers, Tamaki suddenly grabs your arm and buries his face in his pillow

“Uhm, (Y/N), i-it’s okay. Y-You can stay, uhm, ah-”

He opens one eye and quickly shuts it, pressing himself so far into the pillow you swear he’s going to suffocate

Confused, you look around, but there’s nothing in the room beside you two in the dark

It hits you— “Tamaki, are you… scared of the dark?”

“What, no! I-I-”

He lets out a little squeak when you stroke his hair, face inches from his

“It’s okay, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Dabi

You were a vigilante, an anti-hero who believed in helping others but despised the flashiness and celebrity status of pro heroes

Your Quirk, Feline, which gave you the characteristics of a cat, allowed you to work in the comfort of darkness where it was difficult to catch you

You rarely got injured due to your agility, but this night, your target had a Quirk that allowed them to see in the darkness, and left you stumbling down the street with a gash in your side

“Rough night, little kitty?”

Dabi stands under a streetlamp with a smirk

You and Dabi weren’t friends by any means, but you held a certain level of respect for him; part of it was so he wouldn’t cremate you

“Shut up,” you scowl. “I’m perfectly fine- hrgh.”

You press your hand over the wound, blood slipping past your fingers

Suddenly, Dabi throws you over his shoulder, your head knocking against his back as he carries you to his place

“What the fuck- Put me down!”

He lays you on the bed, uncharacteristically gentle, and cleans your wound with a towel

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’m not gonna let my little kitty walk around like this.”

Dabi covers your wound with a bandage and throws the blanket over you

It’s past midnight and you’re getting sleepy, but you realize you’ve taken up all the space on the bed

Plus, it’d be kind of weird to crash at the place of the man you barely know

“I’ll go then, thanks for the help.” 

He pushes your shoulder and you fall against the pillows

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home?”

“Not like that, kitty.” He circles around to the other side

“Where are you gonna sleep? There’s only one bed.”

“So?” 

Dabi flops onto the mattress and slings one arm around your shoulders, tugging you close— “Go to sleep, kitty.”

Unable to move from the pain and his grip, you have no choice but to snuggle close

Despite his casual demeanor, your heightened sense of hearing amplified the rapid beating of his heart

A smile spreads across your face; this is gonna be great blackmail

[hermannsthumb]

you should totally do something with ksci janitor’s vamp newt it’s so just so good

i sure will! in a vampire mood this weekend. @k-sci-janitor's vampire newt found here. warnings for quick mention of drinking, allusions to sexy stuff, and also the different kind of drinking you'd expect from a vampire fic (tho on the vague side)

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

The circumstances that led Newt down the unwitting path of immortality and general un-dead-ness are, in hindsight, honestly kind of embarrassing. It'd be one thing if he could say it happened in the pursuit of, like, knowledge, like the fierce jellyfish sting scar on his wrist leftover from a research expedition when he was twenty-two or the equally fierce one on his knee received in response to his question (at the age of five) of what would happen if I jumped out of this very tall tree?, or even something unrelated to his extensive biology career, something impressive, y'know, Van Helsing style, something like tracking down some vampire king and barely escaping with his life (un-life?)—not what really happened, which was little more than a bad date. And not even the worst date that Newt's been on, if you can believe it.

Newt was young and stupid then. He still is young and stupid, technically, though the former by appearance only. (Eternally pushing thirty. If he could've picked, he would've done twenty-eight, just before his handful of grey hairs started cropping up. Newt's had almost forty-five years of staring in the mirror at those four fucking grey hairs. He gave up dyeing them around the nineties. Not worth it. Still annoying.) He liked to do what young and stupid people did, like get stupid tattoos, and have a stupid haircut, and get drunk at stupid punk shows and not stumble home until he'd had at least one regrettable hook-up with a stranger and maybe lost his wallet. (The two were often related.) That particular thing was what did him in that night. It was a different time back then, man—if a dude showed even the slightest inkling that he ran in Newt's sort of circle, if you caught his drift, Newt fucking jumped at the chance.

(The band was on their second set of the evening and Newt had already screamed himself hoarse with singing along. He'd ducked outside in a back alleyway for only a second to get some fresh air, the club suddenly too hot and smokey for him to handle, and was just about to go back inside and close out his tab for the night when he realized he wasn't alone. There was someone—he was sure—lurking in the shadows a few feet away. He could hear breathing. He could see—eyes, maybe, in the dim neon light of the bar sign overhead. "Hello?" he'd called.

"Have a light?" the person called back.

They emerged from the shadows, and Newt felt himself relax at once. It was some spooky-looking guy he remembered seeing in the club, leather jacket, boots heavier than Newt's, dark hair and eyeliner. Tall. Newt remembered him, firstly, because he thought he was hot, and secondly, because he swore he caught the guy staring at him at least three times, and to Newt, that was as good as any pick-up line. He was wagging an unlit cigarette at Newt now. He was taller than Newt thought he was back in the bar—much taller, at least a full head on Newt. His eyes were a golden-brown, almost yellow, like a cat's, and Newt found himself unable to tear his own away from them. "L—light?" Newt echoed.

The guy stuck the cigarette in his mouth and arched a perfect eyebrow. Newt didn't smoke, but he did keep a lighter on him for occasions like this. He fumbled through his pockets for it while the guy stepped closer. "I was watching you," he told Newt, while Newt raised the lighter to the cigarette, "in there."

The flame danced and glinted against his eyes. Newt swallowed. "Uh-huh?" he said.

He flicked the lighter shut, leaving them both bathed in nothing but pink neon. A hand slid up against the wall next to Newt's right shoulder. Another plucked at the left lapel of his jacket. Newt was still staring at those eyes. "What's your name?" the guy said, in a puff of cigarette smoke.

"Um." Newt's leather jacket was being pushed off his shoulders. He felt his long hair being tucked to the side of his neck. All at once something seemed in snap in Newt—some reminder of where he was, and what he came here hoping for in the first place. Some hot dude was eyeing Newt up all night long, and now he was actually coming onto Newt, and Newt was about to get laid. He grinned. "Newt," he said. "Just call me that. You were watching me, huh?"

"All night," the guy said.

Newt's jacket hit the ground with a soft thump. A knee was being pushed between his. Newt felt his cheeks heat up a little—he wasn't used to people being this forward with him, and especially not in a semi-public place like this. Usually they at least made a show of offering up their apartment first. "What, um, what for?" he said.

They were kissing. Newt was clinging to the back of his jacket. And then he was kissing Newt's neck, and then he was—

"That kinda hurts," Newt mumbled. "Um, dude, I think your—your fuckin', tongue piercing cut me, or something. It's—"

It was hard to keep his eyes open. His neck felt weird. The guy was into biting, apparently, biting really hard, and yikes, that was going to leave a super embarrassing hickey that Newt would have to explain to his students somehow on Monday, but it also felt really good, like, Newt was maybe getting off kinda good, and Newt thought, dizzily, that he should at least return the favor before he finished up and collapsed in a happy heap on the ground. So he did.

The guy pulled back with a hiss. "Ow. What—?"

Newt tasted something coppery in his mouth, and he panicked and swallowed on instinct. "Oh, shit, dude, I'm sorry," he slurred. His voice sounded like it was a million miles away. "I was trying to be—sexy. Um." There was blood on the guy's chin. He was staring at Newt in something akin to horror. Dark circles were spotting Newt's vision. "I think you cut your lip," he said, and then he passed out.

Newt was alone when he woke up. It was still dark, too. He walked the two miles home, collapsing in bed, fully-clothed, just before dawn, and he didn't wake up again until sunset. He forgot his jacket, but at least he remembered his wallet this time.)

So, anyway, Newt thinks he can be forgiven if he...embellishes stuff a little when, for the first time in his whole long life, he finally spills the details to someone. Also, no way is he admitting the truth to Hermann of all people.

"There were a bunch of murders in the area at the time," he says, while Hermann, angled on his side next to him in bed, watches him raptly. It's kind of weird pillow talk, but their pillow talk rarely isn't weird. Usually Hermann will launch into a critique of Newt's latest pet theory before Newt's even caught his breath. At least he very courteously waited for Newt get a glass of water from the bathroom first this time. "Really brutal ones. Like, throats torn out, blood drained. Really nasty shit. Everyone was saying they were some kinda bizarre wolf pack attacks, but I knew better."

"Of course you did," Hermann says, running his hand down Newt's chest, and Newt can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not. (He has a feeling he is.)

"You bet," Newt says. "It took me months of, um, super hard research. Finally I hunted him down to this—" Newt debates the coolest lair possible of a vampire, and then remembers Lost Boys, which, even though he resents it slightly for totally stealing the vampire vibes he was going for, is still a kick-ass movie. "—this weird cave, where he lived. The king of the vampires. I won, obviously, but he fought back, and he managed to infect me just before I hammered the, um, the wooden stake into his heart."

"So courageous," Hermann says. He reaches up and tucks a piece of Newt's long hair back. Hermann being totally cool with the whole vampire thing, and maybe even possibly into the whole vampire thing, is probably the last thing in the world Newt expected from him. They're no strangers to hooking up during long late nights of science, but Newt swears it's gotten more frequent. "You must've been terrified."

"Nah," Newt says, though he remembers the glint of the flame off those yellow eyes, and he shivers. Hermann notices; his eyes, not yellow, but a warm shade of brown that makes Newt feel like he's being wrapped in a blanket, soften. If Newt could still blush, he would. "I'm—um—I'm pretty brave."

Newt hadn't exactly been planning on telling Hermann about the whole thing, but (last week) he had the very unfortunate timing of beginning a late-night dinner just as an oblivious Hermann strolled back into the lab to pick up his forgotten pair of glasses. To his credit, he only freaked out a little when he saw Newt draining a blood bag like a fucking Capri-Sun, and even then (after what felt like ten years of horrible, horrible silence) all he said was "You're the one who's been stealing those from medical?"

Look. Newt hasn't drank from a human being the entirety of his un-life, and he doesn't plan on it any time soon. He's...a vegetarian. Effectively. It's sort of the reason he picked up a medical degree along the way once he got tired of breaking into blood banks. Even if it's still a little ethically dubious to steal blood like that, at least he's not swooping around on unsuspecting people like that—goth asshole who swooped in on him did. (Newt's never managed to find out who he was—he suspects he was some sort of vampire drifter in town that night just to find a victim. And Newt just had to think with his dick at the worst possible time.)

Hermann tucks another strand of Newt's hair back. Newt also did not expect how fast Hermann became cool with the whole thing, but on the other hand, giant aliens are clawing their way out of the ocean on a bi-monthly basis these days. It's hard to be skeptical about most things. ("Well, it does make logical sense," Hermann had said with an eyeroll. "When you consider some of your rather more bizarre quirks, I mean. I ought to have guessed it ages ago. I suppose that's why you have that awful haircut," and that stung, because yeah, Newt hasn't felt like changing it up since the seventies, and why should he, it kinda rules? but he just laughed it off and said, "You're one to fucking talk, dude!") "Newton," Hermann says now, gently, "what actually happened?"

Newt sighs. Hermann always knows when he's lying about shit. "I was making out with a vampire in an alleyway and then he bit me. And—um—I kinda didn't notice at first, 'cause it felt... good."

"Mm," Hermann says. The corner of his mouth twitches up. "That's more along the lines of what I expected. That, or you were hounding him for details like a proper biologist and he got tired of answering your inane questions."

"Very funny," Newt says. "Ha."

Hermann rolls away from him and stretches his arms above his head. Newt watches his throat work as he yawns, swallowing down a sudden lump in his own, and he feels a surge of something hot and—alien—in the pit of his stomach. "Over forty years," Hermann says. He picks up Newt's discarded sweatshirt from the floor and tugs it down over his head. "You must get terrifically lonely."

Newt half-shrugs. "I guess. I'm kinda used to it by now." His dad (who never brought up how Newt's aging seemed to be at a standstill when they saw each other, not once) is long-gone. Newt's tried dating, but no one's ever seemed to be into it as much as he is—and besides, it's not like he could ever do the actual til death do us part thing unless he went against every ethical bone in his body and made someone like him. When the internet became a thing, he considered making a forum or something to find more of his kind, but the thought everyone just being like the guy who accidentally turned him in the first place terrified him and he killed the page before it even left infancy. So, without any better ideas, Newt forged some paperwork and leaned pretty hard into the world of academia to fill up his sad little hole of a heart, resigned himself to casual flings with anyone who seemed interested, and it mostly worked. Mostly. And then the kaiju came along, and then so did... "You make it a little bit better," he confesses.

Hermann lays back down next to him. "I do?" he says.

Newt thinks he sees something like that hot, hungry feeling he felt in his stomach flash behind Hermann's eyes. He nods.

Hermann suddenly kisses Newt, pulling him down on top of him, and then tugs the collar of Newt's stolen sweatshirt down below his collarbone. He drags Newt's hand up to press against his throat. Newt feels the erratic beat of Hermann's pulse beneath his fingertips, his heart pounding against his ribcage (pressed up against Newt's silent one), and he almost moans. "Have you ever...?" Hermann murmurs, gazing up at Newt through his dark eyelashes.

"N—never," Newt stammers. "I told you."

"Do you want to?" Hermann says. Newt tries not to gape. "Just a bit at a time, whenever you need. You wouldn't have to steal those silly blood bags anymore. And—" He hesitates. "I admit I am curious. About the sensation."

"Um," Newt says. "I—"

He feels something sharp poking his lower lip. Fangs. His fangs. Oh, shit, he's never had that happen before. He forces himself off of Hermann before he does something stupid.

"Maybe, um, maybe later?" he squeaks, while Hermann just smiles at him.

[sevenspecialidiots]

Hi can I request a scenario where the MC shares half of the power of dia's dad ? I would like to see how they react ! ALSO CONGRATS ON YOUR BLOG

❤️❤️❤️❤️

hello my lovely anon!

THANK YOU SO MUCH AKDFHKAS❤️❤️and thank u for sending this in!! ur my first official req and im very excited ♡︎ since this is my first headcannon please bare (bear?) with me, and if there’s anything you think i can improve feel free to send me a message! i’m all about feedback and how i can make things better :D

a/n: I’m only going to do the brothers (+Diavolo) right now while I get a feel for my writing style, although in the future I may add the undateables :3 (newly dateables?? what are they called now? side characters??????)

MC shares half the Demon King’s powers (Brothers + Diavolo react)

~~~~~ Warnings: Minor spoilers for Lesson 16 for Bell pepper Belphegor. M i n o r. (Please let me know if I should add anything)

Word Count: 2473 ~~~~~

The moment you landed in the Devildom, literally everyone knew there was something up with you.

You radiated powerful energy, but since you weren’t supposed to have magic, no one could exactly place why you felt so familiar. It wasn’t until you were sitting in a student council meeting talking about budgets this and politics that when Diavolo had an “Aha!” moment.

“I’ve figured it out! All this time, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but then I did!” Of course, he sounds like a kid on Christmas and he is so excited. “Your power feels like my father's!”

After some digging, Barbatos finds this: When the Demon King went into his deep, eon-long slumber, the curse used to put him under had some unexpected side affects that Barbatos is still struggling to explain (please be patient with him, he’s not used to be oblivious). This caused some of the King’s powers to transmit away from his body. The power needed a host to survive… and that host happened to be you.

But since you’re supposed to be the human who doesn’t have magic, you get mixed reactions.

Lucifer

Obviously, he was ecstatic. Another headache! Yippee!

Okay listen, the Demon King is like the most powerful demon that exists, so the fact that you share his power means that you too have incredible power.

This man mostly feels frustrated, and he mentally kicks himself for not having caught that minor (major) detail that could possibly change the entire course of the rest of the exchange program if not managed correctly.

Did you know about your power? Do you know how to control it? What if you try to use your magic without supervision and end up burning the House of Lamentation down? What if you hurt somebody? Hakljdhflkasd, what if you hurt yourself?

All these questions are racing through detail-oriented first-born’s head and this is one of the rare times he wishes it were a Mammon-money issue instead.

After doing some digging, it is indeed found that you share power with the Demon King.

He won’t leave you alone, especially with his brothers.

No, Mammon, you can’t use MC’s powers to help your next money-making scheme. And no one is allowed to try and use MC’s powers to play a cursed prank on a certain overly-stressed prideful demon bby. I’m looking at you, Satan.

If you chose to ask him to help you control your newfound power, he might try and downplay how excited he is but nonetheless he is elated and his pride has gone through the roof that you chose him.

Training with him will be efficient. Although it will probably be a little grueling, Lucifer swears it’s only because he sees how great you can become once you’ve master your skills. But, uh… you might wanna use that pact of yours after a couple hours because the words “take a break” are not in Lucifer’s vocabulary.

Mammon

Of course his human shares power with the Demon King! He knows this how? B-Because this is MC we’re talking about! Obviously his MC is super powerful and amazing to the ends of the Earth and-

For a split second, he literally sees dollar signs. You now have MAGIC and with a good ol’ fashion magic show comes MONEY. Even before Diavolo and Barbatos look into it for sure, Mammon is formulating plan after plan.

“We could use this to our advantage! Next time I go to the casino, you could charm people into letting me win! You could put on shows and stuff and show off this awesome new stuff ya got. Imagine the millions that’ll roll in! We’ll be richer than Diavolo himself, and all thanks to the Great Mammon!”

*Casually ignoring that you would technically be doing all the work*

If he does end up dragging you into his one of money-making schemes, you’re in for some fun.

You explode a slot machine that Mammon was trying to get you to curse into giving up the moolah. You accidentally charm Mammon into showing his cards in a poker game instead of the dude next to him and now you’re both in debt. (Or in Mammon’s case, more so).

The next thing you know, you’re in Lucifer’s office getting scolded for handing him another bill on a silver platter.

If for some reason you do chose to ask Mammon for help to control your power, he will be incredibly excited (and then be a total tsundere about it). "Y-You actually want my help? Pfft, oF cOuRsE yOu'D wAnT hELp fRoM tHe GrEaT mAmMoN-!"

Despite being everyone’s favourite adorable doofus, Mammon is still the second-born brother and is still crazy powerful himself.

However, you two will make no progress in learning and will spend most of your time laughing and goofing around until you earn yourselves yet another lecture from Lucifer.

But who wants to be responsible when you have your very own cute demon dork, anyway?

Leviathan

HIS HENRY- HE KNEW HIS HENRY WAS AMAZING…!

B-But what if you don’t want to be his friend anymore after this? Why would someone so strong and powerful and amazing still want to be friends with a gross otaku like him…

….Y-You still want to come to his room tonight to watch My Best Friend Was A Simple Human For A Few Months And We Were Totally Cool With It But One Day The Demon Prince RealIzed They Actually Share The Same Power As The Demon King Himself and Now They’re Really Powerful And We’re Conquering The World And Going On Cool Adventures Together with him?!

Wait, this totally reminds him of that one anime My Friend And I Were Chilling Like Normal People But Then They Found Out That They’re Like Super Powerful But They Still Want To Be My Friend!!!

After some reassurance that you are still his Henry and he will always be your Lord of Shadows, Levi starts to feel better.

M-MC, do you think you could use your powers to give Henry 2.0 an endless food supply…?

If he's being entirely honest, it doesn't take long for the excitement to wear off and he retreats back into his comfort zone. Do you wanna play video games with him? He just bought this new one he thinks you’ll like.

If you ask him to help you control your powers, Levi will be so. dang. happy. Happy, and a little bit conflicted. Why would you want a yucky otaku like him to help you with such an important responsibility?!

Just remind him he's doing the whole putting-himself-down thing again and remind him he's beautiful and that you love him always.

S-sorry MC! Of course he’ll help his Henry! What sort of Lord of Shadows would he be if he didn’t aid his companion, his true friend

He will be completely nervous the entire time and will be able to focus better when he is near water, so practicing what he teaches you will most commonly happen in his room or the bathroom.

Satan

He already knew. How did he know? I don’t know. He just did. Satan is a knowledgeable person, so if he wants to know, he will. So he knows. Periodt.

Once Barbatos and Diavolo confirm his theory is correct, Satan is only more curious than before.

This is quite incredible, MC. Were you able to feel the power before this? How do you think they’ll work going forward? Would you like to try them out with him? Hm, you’d like to pull some cursed pranks on Lucifer with them? He thinks that’s quite the idea and he’d be honored. Oh, that’s not what you said? How unfortunate, you’re joining him anyways.

Everything this man does from here on out relating to your power is driven by his curiosity and drive for knowledge. Congratulations! You’re his personal guinea pig.

Despite the few times you do get dragged into one of Satan’s cursed pranks, he is mostly just curious to know the extent of your abilities. He will spend hours on end observing you and scribbling in a little notebook he bought specifically for the occasion.

He will try to help you learn to control your new power whether you ask him or not, but if you ask him before he offers, he will become elated.

His methods of teaching are quite similar to Lucifer’s (but don’t you dare ever say that to his face). He may push you for hours on end, but only because he’s curious to see if your magic effects your endurance.

Despite this, he does allow breaks! Would you like to go to a cat cafe with him in your spare time?

Asmodus

Ah! Just when he doesn’t think his beautiful MC could get any more amazing, they just have to go blow his mind all over again 💖

He is literally ecstatic when he finds out. Just imagine how many views he’ll get on Devilgram with you! His following might even grow bigger than it already is. Hm? Oh, he knows everyone already loves him. He just needs to reach the stubborn people have brains too small to comprehend what they're missing. ♡︎

He will also be another brother who is curious about the extent of your ability. Not in the same depth as Satan, but he will want to scratch the surface and get to know more about his wonderful MC.

Overall, he doesn’t mind all that much, but he is curious to see if your newfound power could speed up his morning skincare routine.

He always gets at least eight hours of sleep, or his perfect complexion would be completely ruined! But imagine if he were able to sleep in in the mornings, MC. He skin would glow! You’ll help him out, won’t you?

*Insert Asmo trying to charm you into doing it*

What’s that, sweetie? You want his help to learn how to control it? He’d be delighted! Where do you even begin? You could start with ways to speed up that skincare routine…

Oh dear, this may be more stressful than he thought. He might have to hand you over to Satan for this one, he would be much better suited to help you, sweetie.

But don’t worry, MC, he’ll be there the entire time support you through whatever hectic journey you’ve started on… from across the room. We can’t have any of that pretty magic of yours accidentally ruining his new outfit now, can we?

Beelzebub

I cannon that Beelzebub is one of those characters that understands more of what happens around him than he lets on.

That being said, Beel heard Lord Diavolo loud and clear, but these sour hellsting tarantula leg fries are starting to run low and he doesn’t have any more food left to get him through the rest of this student council meeting. He’s sure you’ll understand that this is a very big issue and he needs to prioritize it.

Nonetheless, only when the meeting is over and you, Belphie, and he head over to Hell’s Kitchen afterwards (only for Beel to order their entire stock and nearly run them out of business (again)) does Beel pay mind to your newest situation (MC seems to have a lot of those).

Beel has probably the most mellow reaction of all the brothers. There’s nothing Beel could ever want from you other than your endless love and affection (and maybe some food, but who’s counting?), so nothing in your relationship really changes. Of course he’s happy for you, but other than that he doesn’t really care. (He’s just hungry, man, go buy this big beautiful boi some more of those fries he was eating-)

If you ask him to help you learn to control your new abilities, he will actually be confused. a) He rarely uses his own powers, and he hardly ever needs them because he avoids drama and eats all day and b) if he were to teach you, he’d probably get hungry within the first ten minutes and stop for a snack break and you’d be back at square one.

If you persist, Beel will try to pull himself together to help you. As I said, lots of snack breaks, but Beel is very patient and if there’s anything you don’t understand, he will do his best to push past his hunger to sit down and explain it to you.

Bell pepper Belphegor

(im so sorry every time i see his name i think “bell pepper” please forgive me-)

Belphie was asleep during the revelation, but he heard it. He didn’t open his eyes, but he was aware.

For the rest of the meeting, he was no longer listening to anyone else and instead retreated to his own mind.

Could you feel your powers before Diavolo said anything? Would you have told him? Could you control it? Could you have stopped him from hurting you? Did you know how?

When Barbatos confirms that Diavolo is correct and explains the little he knows, Belphie wishes he could fall into NREM sleep so he can block everything out.

Like Beel, Belphie would also have a more mellow reaction. Aside from his guilt, he is mostly thinking about you're doing. How are you taking this? You guys can still nap together, right? He’ll still be able to visit you in your dreams and show you whatever if you want, if it's okay with you.

If you ask Belphie to help you control your powers, he will actually fly through the roof. This demon boi doesn’t even have wings, but he will fly. You actually want his help? Really? Don’t worry, MC, by the time he’s done with you, you’ll be in better control of it than the man those powers came from.

But listen, first you two need to take an eight hour nap. You can’t give it your all and stay completely focused if you’re totally wiped, can you?

Diavolo

When he figures it out, it hits him like a brick in the head and he is impatient to let his friends know of his new discovery. He blurts out, “Your power feels like my fathers!” and then immediately does that super excited, deep, and hearty laugh that he has.

Why, isn’t this fantastic, MC?! Imagine the fun you could have now. Perhaps you’re even related!

Oh… you’re not related? There goes Barbatos again, leveling his fun… Nonetheless! Diavolo is through the roof and is going on and on about all the exciting ways you and he could play with your newfound powers.

Perhaps you could build a stone golem together dripping with molten iron…! Or you can summon Lucifer a unicorn! Or, or - what if you changed the whole color theme of the castle to… purple and green?! (Lucifer and Barbatos beg you, please do not indulge the Young Lord in his childish antics)

If you so chose to “indulge the Young Lord in his childish antics”, expect a grouchy Lucifer and a Barbatos thin on patience until you return the castle back to its normal colors and get rid of that damn unicorn (please, it’s driving Lucifer up a wall).

If you ask Diavolo to help you learn to control your newfound power, he will be more proud than the Avatar of Pride himself (and that speaks blow horns since we all know how Lucifer can be). If anyone knows how the Demon King’s powers would work, it would be his son. Diavolo is honored that you chose him to mentor you.

When you two actually make progress, Diavolo is a good, thorough teacher who hits all the right marks.

However, your sessions will end much like Mammon’s would - you usually end up falling off track and giggling about something one of you saw on Devilgram. With the inconsistency in your progress, you experience lectures from both Barbatos and Lucifer, but the fun you always have with Diavolo is worth it.

~~~~~ Woahhh okay !! That took me like two days but it was so fun to write!! i hadn't meant for it to be so long but i hope it was what u were looking for :3 thank u ❤️❤️❤️❤️anon for sending it in ♡︎ ♡︎ p.s. i think im getting a feel for how i want to write things so im ready for future posts. i have my bag of skittles and some coffee and im prepared for the next one😎

[autumnsart22]

Gaming with Shigaraki

Heyyy! So I know literally nothing about video games except for like, Wizard 101 🥲 I tried my best to write it accurately, but sorry if it ended up like shit. 

Art creds go to @ludosartstuff. Go check them out, they’re super talented!

You had been part of the League of Villains for exactly six months, and yet you barely knew a single thing about your leader--Tomura Shigaraki. You knew he hated to lose, and that he acted like a child much of the time. You knew he could dissolve people with his bare hands. You knew he hated heroes, especially All Might. But that was just about it. 

It’s not like you were particularly interested. Everyone in the League had their secrets, you included. He wasn’t obligated to share. But it felt strange to you that while you knew Dabi’s favorite food was hot soba, and you knew Toga weirdly liked cat plushies, you didn’t know a single personal thing about Shigaraki. He always opted out of the nights when you would all hang out, watching movies or training, and you had rarely had any conversations one on one. 

Which was why you were so surprised when you quite literally slammed into him at 3 in the morning one night, after you had deliriously stumbled to the bathroom to relieve your poor blatter. 

“O-oh!” You stopped in front of him, shaking the sleep from your eyes as you tried to focus. “Sorry.” 

Shigaraki stood in front of you, dressed in grey sweatpants and a black sweatshirt, his blue hair all messed up. He didn’t look the least bit tired, his red eyes bright with annoyance as he glared down at you. 

“What are you doing?” He hissed, and you held up your hands. 

“Um. Peeing?” 

He snorted, and you noticed a glass of water in his hands, one finger carefully lifted to keep it from dissolving. 

“What are you doing still awake? Don’t we have a big mission tomorrow?” You asked. 

“And?” 

“I mean...shouldn’t you sleep?” 

“I’m fine.” He went to push past you, and you realized that you were right next to his bedroom, the door wide open. 

Being an assassin, it was partially your job to be nosy, which was why you didn’t feel too bad as you blatantly poked your head towards the doorway to peek into his room. To your utter astonishment, there was a large screen set up with an advanced looking console placed in front of it, a familiar video game icon blinking from the center. 

“What the-- You play (whatever video game you want lol)?”

Shigaraki whirled around, furious to see you entering his room uninvited, but he paused as he took in the excitement on your face. 

“Yes...do you?” He sounded very skeptical, making you cross your arms. 

“Yes. I haven’t been able to play in ages though.” 

You looked at him sidelong, and Shigaraki glared. “No way. You’re not touching my stuff.” 

“Come on! Just one round.” 

“Weren’t you the one who said we had a big mission tomorrow?” 

“Yeah but…” You pursed your lips, staring at the screen longingly.

Shigaraki looked like he was moments away from murdering you, but for some reason you knew he wasn’t going to turn you to dust. For one thing, you were useful to the team, and for another, you didn’t think he was really that mad. 

“Let me finish this round,” he snapped, and you grinned, seating yourself on the rugged floor next to him. Now that you were fully inside, you could see that the rest of his room was a complete mess, stacked with wrappers and dirty clothes. 

“Ugh, you should clean in here,” you murmured, and Shigaraki glared. 

“You invited yourself to my room, and now you’re telling me to clean it? I should kill you right now.” 

You held up your hands again, fighting a smile. “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t realize it was such a sensitive topic. 

“Tch.” 

You lapsed into silence as he picked up the controller, and you noticed that he wore a pair of gloves that left his thumbs open so he wouldn’t dissolve the console. 

As he clicked resume on the screen, he wiggled the controller expertly in his hands, making his avatar within the screen jump off a large building and shoot someone in the air. 

You watched in wide eyed admiration as he destroyed the game,  mouth falling open during a particularly tense moment when three different gunmen came at him at once. You gasped out loud as you watched his avatar duck and roll, shooting them one after the other in quick succession before sprinting towards the nearest building to get out of view of any snipers. 

You had played this game a while ago, but you had never even been close to this level of good. He must have been playing for years. 

Shigaraki ended up winning with almost three thousand points, which made your jaw drop when you realized the average score. 

“Ok, give it to me,” you said, suddenly impatient, and he handed over the controller a bit reluctantly. 

He showed you what each of the buttons meant, since you had always used a keyboard rather than a console, but as the game started, you continuously slammed into a wall, unable to get your avatar to move around it. 

“What the fuck!!! No no, AHHH--” A shooter came up from behind you and shot you in the head. 

Game Over: 0 points. 

“WHAT,” You practically yelled, outraged. Shigaraki was gaping at you, and you glared back at him. “It was my first try, ok? I haven’t played in a while.” 

You ended up playing three more rounds, all of them ending in under five minutes. The most points you got was 120, but you still bragged about it endlessly, dancing around the room in excitement. 

“A literal child could have done better than you,” Shigaraki snapped, but his lips were twitching. 

“No one asked your opinion.” You stuck out your tongue. 

“Do you want me to show you how it’s done?” He stuck out his hand for the controller, and you took the perfect opportunity. 

“Yes actually,” You smirked, marching over and plopping yourself directly in his lap. I heard him make a noise of horror and shock, and you looked over your shoulder up at him. “Can you show me how?”

You grinned in satisfaction as you saw his face flushed red, his eyes wide, but after a long moment, he relaxed as his long arms slid around your waist. His hands (which were still in the gloves) were gigantic compared to yours, and easily enveloped your fingers as he held the controller with you. You leaned back against his chest, and you felt him shudder slightly. 

“Um. You just--” he cleared his throat, and you tried not to laugh. 

You ended up winning with significantly less points than his first round, but it was still ten times the amount you had gotten on your own. 

“I think I’m getting the hang of it,” You grinned, leaning your face back to find him only an inch away. 

“Yeah you—you’re improving.” His eyes flickered to your lips, and you felt your heart stutter.

Before you could catch your breath, he jabbed you in the side, making you shriek and fall off his lap. 

“You can’t just tickle a person like that!” You gasped, rubbing where he had poked you, and Shigaraki rolled his eyes. 

“Only weak people are ticklish.” 

“WOAH THERE, you’re talking about like...the whole population.” 

“Not me.” 

“Well, we all knew you were weird.” 

You argued the whole night, passing the controller back and forth between rounds until you fell asleep sitting up, still smiling. 

In the morning, you found yourself slumped on the floor, curled in one of Shigaraki’s blankets. The League of Villains leader himself was also asleep, controller still in his hands. 

“Shigaraki,” you whispered, and he jolted. 

“Huh?” He looked around blearily before his eyes came to rest on you again. “What the fuck are you still doing here?” 

You shrugged. “Who cares. Don’t we have a mission?” 

“Shit.” He scrambled to his feet, and you followed him out his door into the hall...where Toga, Dabi, and Mr. Compress were standing as if about to knock. 

“Uh--” Mr. Compress blinked, while Dabi’s eyes moved between you and Shigaraki slowly. Toga just burst into manic laughter. 

“Damn. Didn’t realize you two were fucking.” Dabi’s voice was slow, and you flushed bright red. 

“W-what? That’s not--”

Shigaraki was already heading away, not even bothering to explain, and you rolled your eyes. 

“Whatever.” 

[weirdnaturalscience]

Well-Known and Obscure Toxins: How They Work

Well this is a morbid subject but HEY it’s almost Halloween baby!! I was super curious about what toxins actually do on a molecular level after reading about cone snails. Obviously toxins can kill you, but how?? I wanted to know the grisly details. This is not an exhaustive list, just some types of poison, venom, and other toxic substances I was curious about, so let’s get to it.

Deadly Nightshade

Where is it found? Atropa belladonna grows in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

How it works: speeds up your heart and generally fucks with your nervous system. Deadly nightshade contains tropane alkaloids atropine, hyoscine (scopolamine), and hyoscyamine which disrupt the nervous system’s ability to regulate activities such as heart rate, breathing and sweating. It can cause narcosis, paralysis and heart failure as a result. Yikes. But an antidote exists that can reverse these affects if administered in time.

Toxicity: the entire plant is toxic, with roots having the highest toxicity but berries posing the greatest threat to humans because of their appearance. 10-20 berries can kill an adult, and 2-4 can kill a child. Symptoms of mild poisoning include dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, loss of balance, confusion, hallucinations (wild) and convulsions. Doesn’t sound like a good time.

Do not eat the shiny attractive berries!!! (Cows and rabbits and other animals can eat it but humans, dogs and cats...NOT SO MUCH) You can also get toxins on your skin just by touching the plant but this will not kill you.

Totally fun and not morbid fact: during the Renaissance, belladonna was used by women in small quantities to dilate pupils and give a seductive appearance, and this is how it gets its name belladonna, or beautiful woman. Atropa comes from the Greek Fate Atropos who cuts the threads of mortal lives with her shears. Snip snip!

Hemlock

Where is it found? Conium maculatum grows naturally in Europe and North Africa, and has spread to North and South America, Australia and Western Asia.

How it works: stops your breathing. The flowers contain an alkaloid called coniine, which directly affects the nervous system and causes paralysis of respiratory muscles, leading to death from oxygen deprivation. Hemlock poisoning is treated by artificial ventilation for 48-72 hours until the effects wear off.

Toxicity: about 100 milligrams of coniine is fatal to an adult. That’s about 6-8 hemlock leaves, or a smaller dose of the seeds or root. Animals can also be poisoned and killed by hemlock, but luckily dangerous substances cannot be passed into the human food chain from milk or fowl. Similar to nightshade, you can get a non-lethal amount of the toxin on your skin simply from touching this plant.

Basically you’re only gonna get poisoned by this if someone puts it in your tea, because I assume you’re not gonna just go around just like...chomping on pretty flowers. Right? Right?? ok good.

Arsenic

Where is it found? arsenic is a metalloid that occurs often with sulfurs and metals. It can be present in volcanic ash and groundwater, and as a result can be found in low (acceptable) levels in plants and seafood. Good news: it is rare to find arsenic occurring at dangerous levels in nature.

How it works: in high levels, arsenic disrupts ATP production and causes organ failure due to necrotic cell death. This process can last between 2 hours to multiple days. It can also be fatal in lower doses administered over a period of time, and as such, was a popular murder weapon when it was readily available during the 1800s in England. Symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea don’t immediately alert someone that there has been an attempted murder unless maybe you’re Sherlock Holmes.

Toxicity: google probably thinks I’m a murderer and won’t tell me just how much arsenic will kill a person. COME ON, google!!! it’s for SCIENCE!

Arsenic is no longer readily available for people to just get in large quantities, so that’s a RELIEF.

Cyanide

Where is it found? cyanide is a chemical compound produced by certain algae, bacteria and fungi. It is also found in plants such as peaches, apples, apricots and bitter almonds. A type of bamboo that grows in Madagascar is so rich in cyanide that it would kill humans, but not the golden bamboo lemur for whom this bamboo is a primary source of food!!! You go girl, eat that cyanide bamboo.

How it works: for everyone who’s not a golden bamboo lemur, cyanide disrupts ATP production, affects the central nervous system and heart, and causes histotoxic hypoxia: the inability of cells to take up oxygen from the bloodstream. Antidotes can work if administered in time for lower doses of cyanide.

Toxicity: 200 milligrams of solid cyanide or a cyanide solution, or exposure to airborne cyanide of 270 parts per million is sufficient to cause death within minutes. Um, YIKES. Really, cyanide was already scary enough as a solid before nature went and made it into a gas that kills upon inhalation. DEEPLY uncool.

Murder mystery writers: slip belladona or arsenic into your literary victim’s tea. Belladonna is sweet, arsenic is tasteless, but cyanide has an acrid and bitter taste.

Fun (well, not fun) fact: if you eat 200 apple seeds (about 40 apple cores) you will receive a fatal dose of cyanide. So like, don’t do that. An apple a day keeps the doctor away and is completely safe, but 40 apples apple cores a day WILL KILL YOU

Vampire Bat Saliva

Where is it found? Vampire bats are found in the Americas.

How it works: a toxic substance called Draculin (I’m serious) in the saliva of vampire bats acts as an anticoagulant by inhibiting an enzyme involved in the coagulation pathway.

Toxicity: vampire bats are indeed venomous and toxic, but they are not at all lethal. It just sorta sucks if you’re being bitten by a vampire bat, but you’ll live. Unless that bat has rabies. Vampire bat saliva also contains an analgesic, meaning the bites are almost completely painless. SO THAT’S SOMETHING

Cobra Venom

“hello do you have a moment to hear about cell death?”

Where is it found? Many species of cobra are found throughout Africa, Southwest and Southeast Asia.

How it works: most cobra venom includes neurotoxins that cause paralysis as well as cytotoxins that cause necrosis and blood coagulation. blood coagulation can happen in minutes.

Toxicity: many types of cobra venom are treatable, but may leave disfigurement from necrosis. If this isn’t scary enough for you, just know that spitting cobras can reach 2.7 m (8.9 ft) in length and like to aim for the eyes.

But you’d still rather be bitten by a cobra than THIS deadly mofo:

Venom of the Inland Taipan

Where is it found? the inland taipan is the most venomous snake in the world and lives, YOU GUESSED IT, in Australia, ie the place where everything is designed to kill you. Evolution decided it can reach 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) with a maximum length of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), which I think everyone can agree is a dick move on evolution’s part. Take it back, TAKE IT BACK!!!!!

How it works: the venom contains neurotoxins, hemotoxins, and myotoxins AND an enzyme to increase absorption of the venom. Basically it causes paralysis, blood coagulation and muscle damage, because one of these things wasn’t enough apparently. Antivenoms against Australian venomous snakes exist but are least effective against the venom of the inland taipan.

Toxicity: the inland taipan’s venom has a murine LD50 value of 0.025m/kg. This means there is a 50% chance that .025 milligrams per kilogram of weight will cause death. It’s bite contains enough venom to kill at least 100 adult humans. But GOOD NEWS! the inland taipan lives in such remote places that it rarely comes in contact with people. Other slightly less venomous snakes are therefore responsible for more deaths. ....So that’s...still terrifying. just don’t go into the woods in Australia FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

What’s deadlier than the deadliest snake in the world, you ask?

Tetrodotoxin

Where is it found? tetrodotoxin is found in several animals such as pufferfish, moon snails and the small but deadly Australian blue ringed octopus (DAMMIT Australia)

How it works: blocks sodium channels. This prevents normal transmission of signals between the body and brain, causing loss of sensation, paralysis and inability to breathe. Fun!!! Don’t pick up the frickin evil little octopus

Toxicity: more powerful than cyanide, that’s for sure, about a thousand times more powerful in fact. the oral median lethal dose (LD50) for mice as 334 micrograms per kilogram. Fatal pufferfish poisoning result in death in about 17 minutes. The blue-ringed octopus, however, carries enough venom to kill 26 adult humans within just a few minutes. There is no anti-venom.

What’s worse than that, you ask? Ah, you shouldn't have asked.

Conotoxin

Where is it found? Cone snails are found in the Indo-Pacific, the Cape of South Africa, the Mediterranean, and even southern California. Smaller species are not that dangerous. Larger species, however...

How it works: paralysis within minutes. cone snails have multiple harpoons to administer venom to prey (or unsuspecting humans). the harpoons deliver a venom that has HUNDREDS of different types of toxins, each targeting different nerve channels or receptors. Some cone snail venom even includes pain-reducing toxins. These pain reducing toxins can be 100 to 1,000 times more powerful than morphine. How THOUGHTFUL.

Toxicity: vastly more potent than tetrodotoxin. the oral median lethal dose (LD50) for mice is is 10 to 100 micrograms/kilogram. So like, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT LOL

Ricin

Where is it found? Ricin is obtained from the beans of the castor oil plant.

How it works: inhibits protein production and results in organ failure, respiratory failure and circulatory shock.

Toxicity: The median lethal dose (LD50) of ricin is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. If that sounds bad just wait till you hear about poison dart frogs 😭

VX

Where is it found? Nowhere in nature. VX is synthetic. It is an oily amber colored liquid in its natural form, was first developed as a pesticide and later for chemical warfare. It is considered a weapon of mass destruction and is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

How it works: causes stimulation and fatigue of muscarinic and nicotinic ACh receptors, resulting in violent contractions followed by paralysis and death by asphyxiation.

Toxicity: 7 micrograms/kilogram. this is one of the most toxic synthetic substances on earth. Humans have got nothing on mother nature though...

Batrachotoxin

(This guy is called phyllobates TERRIBILIS. but is his cute little face terrible? noooo.)

Where is it found? in certain types of beetles, birds and poison dart frogs found in Central and South America.

How it works: similar to conotoxin, batrachotoxin interrupts sodium channels. The resulting migration of Na+ ions causes heart failure and paralysis.

Toxicity: The LD50 is around 2 micrograms per kilogram, meaning that an amount the size of two grains of table salt will kill you, and that this is even worse than a cone snail, Ricin, or VX. Batrachotoxin is one of the deadliest alkaloids known. No antidote exists.

Fun frog fact: this was the poison commonly used by the Embera-Wounaan for poison darts, and that’s where poison dart frogs get their name! How...cute.

Botulinum, most toxic substance in the world

Where is it found? made by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum and related species.

How it works: causes Botulism, which if untreated can result in paralysis and respiratory failure by preventing the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Botulinum is used in very very very VEEEEEEERY small amounts in Botox, in case you ever needed reasons NOT to do Botox lol.

Toxicity: the lethal dose of 1.3–2.1 nanograms per kilogram in humans. of any toxin natural or synthetic, this is the deadliest known. However!! Actual good news this time: treatments involving antitoxin therapy and intubation are very successful and mortality from Botulism is extremely low. Yay! 

More good news: toxins have been instrumental in medicinal breakthroughs throughout history and continue to be vital to modern medicine. A drug for diabetes was recently synthesized from Gila monster venom: it increases the production of insulin when blood sugar levels are high. A painkiller has been developed for chronic pain patients that is derived from a component of the venom of our friend, you guessed it, the cone snail! These are just two examples of toxins being used in medicine, and a lot of research is still being done because face it: we still don’t know a lot about how our bodies work. Paralyzing agents are extremely important to our understanding of the body and the development of non-opiate non-addictive painkillers because of how they disrupt signals between nerves and the brain.

Long story short: don’t eat nightshade and stay OFF AUSTRALIAN BEACHES and you should be just fine. 

Oh and your tea is getting cold ;)

[nessinborderland]

Enemies With Benefits

Pairing: Niragi x Chishiya

Genre: Smut

Word Count: 1770

Summary: Niragi has been wanting to do this for quite some time. Not that he would ever admit it, of course. Lucky for him, Chishiya wants him too.

Warnings: sex, anal sex, rough sex, alcohol

Notes: Inhra on AO3 asked: Hmm it can either be a thing where hatter decides the executives should get along better so he throws a vip party and chishiya and niragi get super high/drunk so they end up hooking up. (Bonus points if they play something like truth or dare). Or they get a fuck or die type of game. OR something much simpler where niragi just barges into chishiyas room, gun in hand and jumps on him. It doesn't have to be dub con, chishiya can be like oh you just had to ask djdjdj And bottom chishiya please. (Also bonus points if niragi is pierced down there and chishiya loves it)

“Your hair looks crusty as fuck, you know that?” Niragi shouts over the loud music, taking his fifth shot of vodka. Or at least he thinks it’s the fifth; after some time he kind of lost count. Not that he cares; he only agreed to come to this shitty party because Aguni told him so. He might as well just get drunk. He will regret it in the morning, but fuck that. “So fucking dry…is it even your hair?” He chuckles, “Are you wearing a wig? Oh my god, you are, aren’t ya!” 

“Fuck you!” was the response from an equally drunk Chishiya, hand around his sixth margarita. “At least I wash my hair. Yours looks like it hasn’t touched water in months.”

“It’s hair gel, you idiot!” is Niragi’s response, before taking yet another sip of alcohol. “You can’t even style yours without breaking it so shut up!”

“What?” Chishiya says, leaning in Niragi’s direction. “I can’t hear you.”

“I said- oh, fuck it,” Niragi grunts as he stands up to sit next to the other man. They’re now closer than they ever were before. It’s probably just the alcohol talking, but Niragi kinda likes it. Also, is that perfume? It smells nice. “Okay, I said- wow-” Chishiya is looking at him with those cat eyes again. Now closer than ever and inebriated, Niragi wonders if his eyes were always that pretty. “You have pretty eyes.” the words are out before he can control himself. He freezes for a moment, before deciding that he doesn’t care what the other man thinks. They’re all drunk anyway. 

Then they’re kissing each other. He has no idea how that came to be, but he’s not complaining. Not when he feels those soft lips on him, kissing and nibbling his lip. He’s soon pushing his tongue inside the other man’s mouth in a rough kiss, wanting to taste him. Chishiya moans as he does it, and he feels himself starting to get hard. God, he has been waiting to do this for so goddamn long. Not that he would ever admit it, but dreams where he fucks Chishiya until the man passes out are getting more and more frequent.

Time to make those dreams a reality.

“Let’s get out of here,” Niragi says. Chishiya nods, breaking the kiss before standing up and walking away like nothing happened. Niragi stays there for a moment, watching the man walk away in mild confusion, before standing up and following him out of the room.

They walk for a few minutes through the resort’s hallways, in the direction of his room. There are a few meters between them, and Chishiya leads the way like he knows exactly where he sleeps. The wait only makes Niragi more excited, head full of images from his sex dreams. He doesn’t even feel drunk anymore; not from alcohol, at least.

They finally get to their destination, and his hands are on Chishiya before they can even get totally inside the room. They make out against the room’s door for a few minutes, just feeling each other’s bodies. Niragi can’t keep his hands from wandering under the man’s jacket, nails grazing the soft skin right over his shorts. Chishiya is not shy in touching him either, hands curled in his hair as he grinds himself on Niragi’s thigh. Fuck, it feels good. If he knew that the annoying blond freak made him feel like this, he would’ve made a move on him sooner.

“Get on the bed,” he orders him with a lick to his neck. Chishiya moans before obeying, walking to the bed while pulling him by his shirt’s color. Niragi lets himself be guided, hands on his hips and mouth on his earlobe. Fuck, he does smell good. He pushes Chishiya onto the bed when they’re finally close enough, his chest to the man’s back. He immediately latches his lips back on his neck, filling him with hickeys.

Chishiya keeps moaning under him, saying his name from time to time. He never liked hearing him talk more. He unbuckles his pants in a swift movement, finally taking out his hard and sensitive cock. It twitches when he notices Chishiya looking at him over his shoulder, a smirk on his lips as he stares.

Niragi really, really wants to fuck him.

“Of course you have a piercing even there,” Chishiya says after a beat, those eyes staring right into his soul. “So, are you going to fuck me or not?” Oh, he’s going to fuck him, alright.

“Strip.” is all Niragi says before sitting on his bed, dick in his hand as he lightly strokes it. He watches as the man takes his clothes off one by one, agonizingly slow. But he allows it; Chishiya can tease him all he wants; Niragi will still be the one fucking the life out of him. He pulls the man to him when he’s done, wanting him close. He lets Chishiya strip him off his shirt, too occupied making a mess of the man’s chest. How the hell can a man have such soft skin? The feeling of him under his tongue is addicting.

“I want to ride you,” Chishiya says as he kisses his neck. “You can be dumb as fuck, but you do have a pretty cock.”

He would blush at his words if it wasn’t for the fact he was just insulted. Here he is, being annoying again. Niragi moans as Chishiya’s hand slide down to close around his shaft, thumb playing with the piercing on the tip. The man’s cock also brushes against his own, only adding to the pleasure. It makes him instantly forget about the backhanded compliment. He’s so hard it’s starting to hurt.

“Get on your hands and knees,” Niragi half-moans after another pleasurable pump of Chishiya’s soft hand. The man stops his movements to look at him, brow raised; there it is, that familiar look in his eyes. Oh no, he’s not going to let him guide this fuck session. “Do it, or I’ll just make you suck my dick and leave you with blue balls.” 

“...Do it and I’ll find a way to make your life hell,” is all Chishiya says before obliging. Niragi smirks; he would like to see him try.

When he sees Chishiya like that, submissive to him, ass turned in his direction, waiting; is some different kind of high. One that makes his ego burst with pride; he’s really about to fuck the bastard that has been annoying him since he got here. He couldn’t be happier.

It takes him some time to prep him, but he finally sinks into the other man’s tight hole. It feels so good he has to control himself not to burst right there. Chishiya trembles under him, gasping as he sinks himself further in his ass. Fuck, fuck fuck, he has to move.

“Do you think you can take all of me?” he asks Chishiya with a light slap to his asscheek. The man chuckles before looking over his shoulder at Niragi, a smirk pulling on the corner of his lips.

“Please, you’re not that big,” he says.

Niragi knows he’s lying; but if that’s how he wants it, that’s how he’s going to get it. He thrusts further into him, making Chishiya gasp, jolting forward with a moan. Niragi wastes no time in starting to move at a fast pace, the obscene sounds of sex echoing in the room. It feels so warm and so tight so good. He regrets not fucking him earlier, he really does. 

But he’s balls deep inside his ass right now, and that’s all that matters.

He ignores Chishiya’s cries of pleasure as he fucks him, shoving into him with as much force as he can. He wants it to hurt as much as he wants it to feel good. One of his hands has the man’s waist in a grip tight enough to leave a mark, while the other went under him to stroke his cock. He wasn’t planning on touching him like that, but he wants the control; that dominating feeling of being deep in his ass while having his dick in his hand. He owns Chishiya right now. The man is powerless under him; it’s exhilarating.

He feels Chishiya twitch in his hand, coming with a loud cry as he keeps thrusting into him. Niragi keeps fucking him through his orgasm, not even stopping when the man moans from the overload of sensations. His free hand goes to fist around his pale hair, and he’s surprised to find out that it’s actually softer than it looks. He’s coming not long after, teeth biting down on the man’s shoulder as he finishes inside him.

Niragi lets himself fall on top of Chishiya, not caring if he’s making the other man uncomfortable. He feels good against him, warm and sticky with sweat. He strangely likes it. They both regain their breaths, enjoying the rare moment of human contact.

Niragi finally pulls out after some time, making them both hiss from oversensitivity. He sits on the bed as he gets dressed, not wanting to look at Chishiya, still laying behind him. Now that it’s over and he’s no longer horny, realization starts downing on him. He really just fucked the person he considers his enemy. And he loved it. He wants to do it again.

He’s about to say something when his bedroom door opens. Last Boss stays frozen by the doorway, mouth agape and eyes wide. Their eyes lock and Niragi is sure the man is bright red under his face tattoos.

“Ahh, want to join us?” Chishiya asks in a seductive tone. Last Boss’ eyes get comically wider before he closes his mouth, closing the door with a bang. Niragi glances behind him to see the man laughing, shaking his head. “He’s a shy one, isn’t he?” he says before standing up with a grunt and starting to get dressed. He keeps talking before Niragi as a chance to. “You know, I didn’t think you were gay.”

“I am not.” Niragi says with a huff, “I like women.” Chishiya raises a brow, “I just have a…  very particular taste in men.”

“Men like me?” Chishiya asks with a teasing smirk. Niragi wants to kiss him again.

“Yeah, don’t flatter yourself,” he says with an eye roll, “Now get the fuck out of my room.”

Chishiya huffs out a laugh, “We should do this again sometime.” he says over his shoulder before closing the door behind him, clearly not waiting for an answer.

Yeah, Niragi agrees, they should.

[thenovelartist]

Burned Beginnings, Chapter 10

<<Previous

Six Years Later

28. Napping

When Adrien arrived home that afternoon, he was surprised that the first thing he got was not a greeting from his wife and kids, but a rather tired looking Marinette quickly slapping a hand over his mouth.

“Hi, welcome home,” she whispered with a smile, slowly taking her hand away. “I only just got both the kids down for a nap, so just—” She put a finger over her lips, expression downright begging.

“Okay okay,” he whispered back. He then cupped her cheeks in his hands, pulling her in for a quick kiss. He still wanted his ‘welcome home’ greeting, after all. “That means naptime for us, too. How much time do you think we have?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to jinx it.”

“Good point.” Taking her hand in his, he pulled her towards their bedroom, the two tiptoeing down the halls to keep silent. Quietly as they possibly could, they closed the door and then collapsed onto the bed.

Marinette was quick to snuggle against his side, and Adrien was quick to let her. “Sorry, I smell like bakery,” Adrien commented.

“You smell like home,” she dismissed, settling her head down on his arm and resting her arm over his torso. “It’s fine.”

“Okay,” Adrien said, reassured even though he knew he had to smell like flour and sweat. “You have a rough day, or just exhausted?”

“Just exhausted,” she muttered. “I say we stop at two. Newborns equal ‘no sleep’.”

“You said that after Emilie,” Adrien murmured back, letting his eyes drift shut. “And that was three years ago.”

“I mean it this time.”

“Sure you do, up until you want the next one.”

“Shut up and sleep.”

He smirked. “Will do.”

“And if Hugo cries,” Marinette muttered. “you go change his diaper. I’ve changed it way too many times today.”

Adrien sighed. “Fine. Now shut up and sleep.”

Grinning, she hummed affirmatively. “Will do.”

 29. Cuddles

If Adrien was offering cuddles, she would always take them. Especially since there had become two more people in the world who now also wanted cuddles from Adrien whenever he was offering.

She couldn’t be mad, though, considering they also stole her cuddles away from Adrien. And she did love giving out those cuddles to both her lovely kids.

However, there were times that Adrien and Marinette knew they needed alone time away from the cuddle monsters. Thankfully, they had the most willing pair of babysitters in Paris. And by willing, Marinette actually meant that her parents would come to kidnap the kids if they decided they hadn’t seen them soon enough.

Which was fine because it meant she could actually spend time with her husband.

And catching up on sleep.

Today had been one of those days that the kidnapping babysitters had insisted upon taking the kids, and considering it had been a while since Marinette and Adrien had had a date, they gladly handed the kids over.

With the kids at their grandparents’ house, Marinette and Adrien decided to forgo their plan of going out for the evening in favor of staying in. The most they did was walk to the place serving take-out so they could bring home dinner they didn’t have to make. When they got home, Adrien turned on some new anime for them to watch, and they collapsed on the couch to eat their dinner together.

“You know what this feels like?” Marinette said, glancing up at him from her spot cuddled against his side.

“What does it feel like?”

“The New York trip.”

Adrien paused, food halfway to his mouth. Slowly, his fork fell back down to the container as a nostalgic smile grew across his face. “Kinda does, doesn’t it?” He set his take-out container down on his lap and looked down at her. “Has it really been eight years?”

“Yeah. Can you believe that?”

“Where’d the time go?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

Adrien huffed. “Back then, you wanted to give up fashion.”

“I still don’t regret it,” Marinette said, picking at the pasta in her container with her fork. “Working at the tailor’s shop is enough for me. And being a part-time worker allows me to watch my little rugrats grow up. And as big of a pain in the ass as they are, I wouldn’t want to miss that for the world. Who knows if I’d be able to have that kind of flexibility if I had been working in the fashion world.”

“Likely not,” Adrien said. “At least not too early in your career without you having to make a choice of who you were going to sacrifice.”

“Well, it wasn’t going to be the kids,” Marinette said. “Even if I loved the fashion world, I couldn’t prioritize that over my family.”

“Amazing how much we love those cute little pooping machines,” Adrien quipped.

Marinette huffed a laugh. “Tell me about it.”

“And you want a third?”

Smile not fading, Marinette quirked a brow at her husband. “Um, no. You were the one that wanted a third.”

“Whoa, whoa. When did I say I wanted a third?”

“Like, two nights ago when you were commenting how it seemed like only yesterday Hugo was born and that he needed to stay small.”

“I never said that,” Adrien said, good naturedly. “I was merely commenting on how he’s already eight months old and I was wondering where the time went. You, on the other hand—”

“Oh? What did I say that even suggested I wanted a third?”

“You were talking about Emilie and how she’s going to preschool and how you wanted your little baby girl back—”

“I was just commenting about how much time flies.”

“Yeah, sure, I believe that.”

Marinette scoffed. “Either way, we are not having a third.”

“Okay, we are not having a third,” Adrien agreed.

“Sounds like a plan.” With that, Marinette settled back against Adrien’s side, take-out box in hand.

With a chuckle, Adrien leaned over to kiss the top of her head.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Marinette interrupted. “If you’re giving those, I want a proper one.”

With a grin, Adrien eagerly obliged. “If you’re taking, I’ll keep giving.”

Marinette hummed happily. “Then I’ll gladly keep taking.”

Two anime episodes they didn’t pay attention to later, their dinner was finished and Marinette found herself snuggled against Adrien’s chest in his lap. She relished these moments, just being together with him in the stolen quiet moments of their busy life.

“I don’t want to move,” Adrien commented as the credits of the episode rolled.

“Maybe I can tempt you?” Marinette prompted.

“With sleep?” Adrien asked. “Because we could do that on the couch.”

She scoffed. “Not quite.”

It took a second, but that Cheshire cat grin she’d come to associate with him spread across his face. “Well,” he began. “We could do other things, too.”

“No, no, that is off limits.”

“Look, just because we still can’t find that pair of underwear doesn’t mean we have to ban the couch.”

“I’m terrified Emilie is going to find that,” Marinette grumbled.

“It is a shame because I rather liked that pair on you, anyway.”

Marinette rolled her eyes.

“You started this,” Adrien quipped.

“You’re the one whose head always goes to the gutter,” Marinette quipped right back. It had been nine years since they’d met, and their banter hadn’t slowed. Marinette doubted it ever would.

“Is it wrong to still find my wife super sexy?” Adrien playfully challenged. “And I dare you to tell me you weren’t going to imply something naughty anyway.”

“Well,” she said with a mock pout. “It didn’t have to be naughty.”

He scoffed, easy grin on his face that always made her heart flutter. “Yeah right. When you imply things like that on a date night, they rarely stay innocent.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Adrien’s brow knit together as his lips pursed. “Honestly, I don’t know. I’d say it’s a fifty-fifty split of who starts it.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but froze. “No, you’re right,” she said, grin splitting her face as giggles bubbled up. “I can’t even argue with that.”

Adrien threw his hands in the air like a champion. “And we have a winner.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Marinette conceded, patting his chest while rolling her eyes at his antics. “You’re the winner. Good job.”

Adrien chuckled at her sarcasm. “Now, what not-naughty thing did my wife have planned?”

“Well, on my way home from work yesterday, I stopped by a store that were selling these big, colorful bath bombs—"

“Yes, please, let’s go,” Adrien squeaked.

Marinette giggled. “Thought you might like that.”

“Well, I like you.” Adrien said, smile turning earnest. “And if you’re wanting to spend time together, I will take it. You know that by now. Or at least you should.”

“I most definitely do,” she assured, shifting to straddle him so she could more easily cup his jaw in her hands. He laid his head in them, wrapping his arms around her waist. “And you know I also love spending time with you when I can take it, right?”

“Most definitely,” he assured.

Marinette rewarded him with a kiss, and he used his position to steal another. She was hoping he’d steal a third but he pulled away before she could.

“Now,” Adrien began. “Not that I don’t love this, but you were talking about a bath bomb?”

Her grin didn’t fade as she nodded.

“Perfect.” He patted her hip affectionately. “Why don’t you set that up, and I will pull the snacks that I bought for tonight out of their hiding spot.”

She gasped. “You have snacks?”

“I bought them on my way home from work knowing Sabine was gonna steal the kids tonight.”

Marinette liked the sound of that. “Ohhh, okay.”

Adrien let her go, allowing her to go set up the bath while he went digging in the kitchen.

It wasn’t long before Adrien arrived in the bathroom with a box of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine.

Grinning ear to ear, Marinette looked at the treats before looking back at Adrien. “Tonight isn’t going to end up with baby number three, is it?”

“Um, I want no comments from the woman who suggested a bath together,” Adrien sassed back with a wink.

“I never said things had to take a naughty turn.”

“Oh yeah? Then why’d you buy the bath bomb?”

“To spend time with my husband?”

Adrien scoffed, wide grin on his face and teasing twinkle in his eyes. “If I learned anything from our honeymoon, it’s that it is a rare occasion when we can be naked together in a bathroom and have things stay innocent.”

Marinette felt her cheeks warm as all words died in her throat. He had her there.

“Besides,” Adrien said, leaning back against the bathroom counter. “We’re not even having baby number three, right?”

“Exactly,” Marinette agreed. “And we’re most certainly not having two under two.”

“Exactly. Tonight is just going to be a lovely time with my wife.”

“Okay, glad we’re on the same page.”

“Likewise. Now,” Adrien took out the cork from the wine. “Are we each drinking one glass or sharing?”

“Excuse you, but when was the last time you ever had your own glass of wine during bath time?”

“Stupid question; never mind.”

 30. Stay

“I hate you.”

Adrien froze, eyes locked on Marinette, who’d only just appeared in the bedroom doorway. He studied her expression, realizing that those words weren’t a barb but not completely teasing, either. Exasperated, maybe? But nothing came to mind of what he could have done to set her off. He’d even gotten the kids in bed at a decent time without letting Emilie pull ‘one more story, daddy!’ out of him. “What’d I do?”

Before she answered, she stalked off into the bathroom again.

Adrien’s gut sank. He was in real big trouble; he could feel it.

When she returned, she crawled next to him on the bed and shoved something in his face. It didn’t take him too long to realize what it was. And judging by her comment, he didn’t even need to see the result of that pregnancy test to know that baby number three was on the way.

“We’re having two under two?” he asked, turning back to her.

She wagged the test at him, trying to look fearsome but not fully succeeding. “Your fault.”

“Um, excuse you,” he began, shifting so that he was completely facing her. “Takes two to tango, love.”

“Um, excuse you,” Marinette returned, leaning in closer. “But I didn’t start it that time.”

Reflexively, he leaned forward, too. “You were a willing participant.”

“But we agreed we did not want child three.”

“Exactly. We were definitely on the same page of not wanting child three.”

They stayed like that for a moment longer, having a stare down that didn’t last long. Adrien’s façade broke first, causing Marinette’s to break. He hung his head while she leaned forward, her forehead hitting his shoulder.

“So,” Adrien giggled. “Baby number three, huh?”

“Honestly, part of me kinda wanted to wait,” Marinette said, her tone half-teasing half-sincere. “But it wasn’t like we were trying to wait, either.”

“Guess things are going to change in the house once again.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I was gonna ask you that,” Adrien said. His chest tightened a little bit with a fleeting thought. “Hey, you’re not actually upset about that, are you?”

She paused for only a second, lifting her head off his shoulder to meet his gaze once again. “Nah,” she dismissed. “It will be fine. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully,” Adrien repeated, that tightness his doubt had caused easing its grip on him.

“Besides, I like our little family we’ve made together,” Marinette said with a smile. “And I like the idea of adding one more to it.”

His heart warmed at her words. “I’m glad,” he said, snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her close. She came willingly, and soon enough, they toppled together back onto the bed, Marinette laying on top of Adrien’s chest and smiling down on him.

“Hey, Marinette.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

Her brow knit in confusion. “For what?”

“Giving me a family,” he said, rubbing little circles on her back with his thumb. “And I mean you, your parents, our kids; all of them. You know there’s no way I’m able to have a relationship with my dad, so it really feels like I’m living the dream to have been given a family like this when I’d thought I’d lost it. Thank you.”

Her grin was tender and gentle and warmed him so thoroughly he thought he’d never feel the cold of loneliness again. If things could stay forever like this, he’d do anything to make that happen.

“I love you,” she said. “And I love the family we’ve made together. And I’m really glad you ended up at my parent’s bakery all those years ago.”

“I am, too,” Adrien said before he was hit with an almost painful realization. “Funny how we only ended up here where we are because of all the negatives in our lives.”

Marinette mulled over his words for a moment before humming in acceptance. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “Still sucks that it all had to happen.”

“I wouldn’t change it, though,” Adrien admitted. “Because it makes my blessings that much more precious, and I wouldn’t want to risk losing any of them, either.”

Though the words seemed to caught her off guard, a look of understanding crossed over Marinette’s expression before she laid her head down on Adrien’s chest. “Then I wouldn’t change them, either. If it meant they led me to you. I’m plenty happy for things staying just the way they are.”

That warm feeling that had flooded Adrien was not going to leave any time soon. After all, although his past wasn’t what he ideally would have liked to live through, he was living the dream now, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

[anthropwashere]

Oh my goodness i want to hug your cats

@manfedzku lucky for you 90% of my photos are of my cats so enjoy! In order of oldest/first adopted to youngest/last adopted:

Link aka Buddy Boy, Old Man, Toothless, Hobgoblin

He's the only boy of the lot and full of trauma because his stomatitis (bad mouth time) has been hard on him. :( He is very sweet still and loves to pretend to cuddle on my shoulder, purring loudly in my ear until I fall asleep, then he completely takes over my pillow for himself. His favorite thing to do is find the darkest corner in a room and wait to scare the absolute shit out of me. He meows like he's either surprised he can make noises at all or like he's auditioning to sing at a funeral.

Zelda aka Baby Girl, Beaker, Gooey Baby

She was part of a 2-for-1 special with her sister. I was 100% only joking about getting them but this goober crawled into then-boyfriend's hoodie pocket, promptly fell asleep, and that was that. She's typically got an expression of either unconditional love or no thoughts head empty, but she's definitely the smartest of them all. She will only ever scratch on accident and always looks so very apologetic when it happens. She meows like she's forgotten her mouth can open or like she's being gently squeezed by invisible hands.

Sheik aka My Beautiful Squeakums, Tank

Zelda's sister, who wasn't in the fridge pic because she can't jump that high and also she hates the next cat on the list. She has that perfect length fur where you never want to stop petting her AND she has never gotten a tangle in her life. Her right eye is janky from an eye infection she got as a kitten and both her ears are floppy from allergies/ear infections, which makes her look both goofier and tougher than she really is. She meows like a crime and has the most impressive growl.

Chromie aka Mama, Beepums, Chrrrrrrrromieeee!!!!!

Oldest rescue at time of adoption, she had a litter and nursed at least another before getting fixed and she's such a sweetheart she got a certificate for Best Cat at the vet's once. She's always underfoot and extremely curious to see what's going on and what I'm doing, be it cooking, showering, walking circles around my living room while I brainstorm, etc. She's definitely the bravest of them all too. Her favorite place to be currently is out on my apartment porch snoozing in the afternoon sun. She rarely meows and instead makes these "br-brr?" sounds like she's trying to get me to explain what I'm up to.

Lillian aka You're So Small!, Bitch, Why

The baby! Literally! She's like 7 now but she stopped growing at like 8 months so she still has that silly kitten fur, super round head, and the lamest meow I have ever heard in my life. She is The greediest bastard who will not leave me alone if there's meat or Irish liquor near me (no I do not let her drink that, but she got a taste once and by God does she want more). She loves to be held like a baby, greets me on whatever surface is high enough that she can rest her forepaws on my boobs for maximum scritches, and when she's happy she fluffs her tail like how literally every other cat does when they're scared. She's the one most likely to 180 into Fight Mode to the confusion of everyone else, but they're almost all twice her size so it's honestly more funny than anything. She's got some wires crossed but nobody cuddles as hard as she does

[lokislittlesigyn]

// loki spoilers

This is basically a huge infodump on my thoughts about the first episode, because I doubt y’all want to sift through my trauma-ridden ramblings. I’ll make another post for the rest. This is just everything not related to the IW stuff/my reaction to that. It’s general thoughts, theories, musings.

1. When Loki gets first taken into the TVA. Is that Peggy Carter in the background? Others have suggested it might be. What would that mean??? Will we see the TVA fix the mess the Russos made with Steve/Peggy (not likely) or is it just a lookalike? Who knows..

2. A skrull at the main intake desk! Idk not super relevant just interesting!

3. I’m kind of glad they changed the... uncomfortable scene... with the robot burning his clothes off. He gets more time to react to seeing the machine itself, and he seems more shocked (”Now.. H-hang on just a minute.”) than angry (”Now hang on just a minute!”) i still feel.. horrible for him, i’m glad nobody Saw him and that the machine didn’t grab the clothes off, but still. Ehhh.. uncomfortable.

He is beautiful though, don’t get me wrong - I’d just prefer a shirtless Loki scene where he wants to be shirtless? let him do what he wants with his body?? he’s probably felt so out of control of his body, from being jotun to falling through space that any invasion of privacy like that hits extra deep...

That being said, I recognize the utility of the scene for the narrative - his lack of control, his literally being stripped of what he was before.

4. WHO IS THE MAN WITH THE CAT. What is his name. I love that he has a mug with his cat on it. But I want to know more. Who is he?

4.1 WHY DIDNT YOU LET LOKI PET THE CAT Please,,, I am begging you,,, let loki pet the cat and have something react kindly to him and purr all happily at his scratching behind their ears plea s e

5. The info sheet. Now this is just a little nitpicky tidbit, but in a previous promo they listed Loki’s height as 6′4 ft and weight as 525 lbs. This is taken directly from the comics if I’m not mistaken. However, in the actual show he’s listed as  6′2 (Tom’s height and Loki’s presumed height) but I don’t remember if his weight is the same. Is Loki 6′2? 6′4? please let me know i want to know how smol i am in comparison

6. His little aggressive shaking of the ticket at the guard makes me giggle each time.

7. The fact the turnstile hits so low on him reminds me,, I am short compared to him. Those things hit my stomach/waist. That one hit his legs. I am once again asking Loki to pick me up.

8. The cartoon with Miss Minutes introducing the TVA is wonderful, I love the art style especially. But it raises questions about Variants... I guess Variants can just, pop out of nowhere? Any action could be the wrong one? And then once you commit the wrong action you either get returned or pruned? Yikes??? And THIS ties into another thing later!

9. The trial scene. I have a hunch - a feeling, a suspicion. That one of three things may be true.

A. The Time-Keepers never actually existed. They’re fabricated, and now whoever runs the TVA is actually using the excuse of “The Time-Keepers decree it so!!!” to carry out whatever They think is right. The fact we haven’t seen the Time-Keepers makes me.. suspicious...

B. The Time-Keepers existed, but they have since passed on, however that may have happened. Now someone is doing the same as above, using the excuse of the Time-Keepers apparent dictations to run things.

C. The Time-Keepers do exist, and do run the timeline/TVA, but maybe they’re not infallible? Maybe the TVA info video is lying or incomplete in some way? Idk I just feel like, something about the TVA and how they run things has to be wrong. It has to? Something is off. Again, this will tie into another thought later...

I have no idea if any of these are actually true! But Loki’s questions of “Who’s in charge here? What do they do? What do you do?” punctuated by laughter leads me to believe he’s suspecting something too, or perhaps just trying to figure this mess out.

10. Seiðr/Magic. We see in this scene, Loki’s magic (”powers”) don’t work in the TVA. (and a quick side note, did he have to Flex like that? do you have to make me see Loki’s bare arms Flex like that? be still my heart. anyway please get that collar off of him and let him rest for five minutes) This makes me wonder.. Why isn’t Loki in his Jotun form? His pale skin and blue eyes are decided by magic, are they not? I suppose this is 2012, so perhaps Odin’s magic is keeping Loki looking like that. But if magic doesn’t work in the TVA, why would his spell reach so far? Clearly Loki’s magic isn’t what’s doing it. How is Loki not appearing as a Jotun? Is his Jotun form repressed - is pale skin his default now, rather than something hidden by magic? I need answers!

11. he sounds so scared about being “reset” please dont hurt him,,

12. cALLING LOKI A PUSSYCAT? (lokitty confirmed) I think Mobius was goading him (Mobius strikes me.. As extremely clever. He’s trying to push Loki’s buttons to see who he’s dealing with. At least, I hope so. Because if he really meant that “You were born to cause pain and suffering and death... All so that others can achieve the best versions of themselves.” and that line about killing Frigga??? No no no he is not guilty. He had no way of knowing what would happen. It wasn’t right to send Algrim up to Asgard (i think algrim wouldve found the way up anyway) but there was no intent to hurt Frigga. I really hope you’re trying to goad him, Mobius, because if you believe that I trust you much less. anyway i digress) but wow is he pushing Loki’s buttons a lot. I can’t... Blame him entirely, I understand he’s trying to make sure Loki’s on his side, maybe I’m just too soft for Loki idk. But some of that was very cruel to say. /:

12.1 AND ANOTHER THING ABOUT MOBIUS. That scene with the girl in the church?? Did that little girl kill the men? Is that young Sylvie? Or is she using an illusion to make herself look young and innocent? What’s going on!!!!

13. LOKI SNATCHING THE LITTLE TIME-TWISTER DEVICE AND STOWING IT IN HIS POCKET.... POCKET....... sorry sometimes i get so caught up about loki that i just say random words in between little noises and squeals,,, i am a silly thing

14. CASEY. CASEY??? That whole exchange is funny. Poor Loki, just trying to intimidate this guy so he can escape but - Casey doesn’t know what a fish is. to be fair.... thor doesn’t seem to know what a raccoon is... right?

15. That bit with the infinity stones is kind of funny until you realize

A. Natasha died for a paperweight

B. Tony died from paperweights

C. Loki was tortured for paperweights

D. Oh, and Gamora died for a paperweight too. And Vision. Need I go on?

Then it becomes less of exclusively “haha funny” and now it’s a mix of funny and pain and gosh, is that a good way to sum up being a Marvel/Loki fan sometimes...

16. Loki gazing at the timeline all “Is this the most powerful thing in the universe?” or something, i’m sorry i don’t remember exactly... made me think of a meme and i shall make it presently.

17. I love that Loki got to see examples of how his family loves him but the fact he’s all “I can’t go back.” really just breaks me. It’s like he can finally see they love him after all of this mess, and now he doesn’t have the chance. Please, please let him be happy. Give him some relief. This is the Loki that just came off finding out about being Jotun, falling from the Bifrost, encountering Thanos, attacking Earth, facing defeat, and now he’s being thrashed around in this wild place and has just found out he inadvertently caused Frigga’s death (he did not kill her: his actions, by mistake, lead to her murder, let me be very clear) AND Odin will die AND all the rest... And he wants to be with them.

18. Loki’s reaction to Thor suggesting the hug makes me soft. Please I want to hug this little mischief man so so so bad-

19. Skipping over the iw parts! That’s for another post because this one will be grossly long anyway.

20. “I don’t enjoy hurting people.” and “It's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear. A desperate play for control.” was all so, so validating. I’ve been trying to argue on Loki’s behalf for almost a solid decade. Seeing the show recognize that Loki’s not all just violence and hurting for “fun”, that he’s not unhinged and bloodthirsty.. Is so nice. It’s just so, so comforting. and it gives me hope for future episodes that they won’t go the route of “oh haha loki bullied and mistreated and stabbed thor for years!!! :)” loki cries during basically every fight with Thor and you want me to believe he stabs Thor for fun? absolutely not.

21. Theory.. Just another hunch.. So we know a fugitive variant, aka Loki, is running amok. Refer back to 8 and 9.C. What if the Time-Keepers never actually fixed the timeline into a single timeline? What if there are other timelines, and these different Loki variants have hopped over to the current one? Or, maybe the Time-Keepers did fix the timeline into a single one, and these Lokis are remnants from that huge time-war at the beginning? Time runs differently in relative spaces, they may have Just Left that war from their perspective!

I say Lokis and not Loki because we’re pretty sure there’s Female/Lady Loki, Old Man/King Loki, and possibly Young/Kid Loki. That’s at least three. From the peeks of Asgard and NYC we’ve seen from the trailers, I think we’re also getting an Asgardian King!Loki and Midgardian King/Vote!Loki. (unless our dearest variant is hopping into timelines and situating into them, but I doubt Mobius would let that happen..?) That’s five.

To further support this, keep in mind, I believe recently six (i think 6 regular and 6 rare...) different funko pops were announced for the series? I’m not sure if they’re in addition to the Loki and Mobius already released. If they are, there’s enough room for each Loki and maybe a TVA agent. One of the pops is supposed to have a buddy/companion I think? Maybe they’re making the cat guy into one, or maybe there’s something else (Throg, anyone?).

22. That is totally Lady Loki/Sylvie at the end by the way. Has to be. But why does she want the reset devices? Why did she snatch that TVA Hunter? Again, WHAT’S GOING ON

ANYWAY this was a very long post if you made it this far, I commend you.

[luvskywalker]

tis the damn season- peter parker x reader

word count- 3.6k

warnings- mentions of injury, language, insecurity

a/n: the timeline is kinda weird, peter + reader are about 19, but civil war and endgame never happened, the avengers defeated thanos in infinity war, so there is no blip. it kinda makes sense, i explain it a little, but the main focus is the relationship! i hope you all enjoy this one, it took me a while because i didn’t know just how i wanted to bring peter and the reader together. feel free to request something or leave feedback!!💞

god, you had missed new york. especially the cold that always fogged up your window glass and that forced you into wearing socks to sleep like a heathen, and the wind chill that made you want nothing more than a warm drink and a nice movie.

you had missed upstate the most, the clearer and less crowded air, the serenity that can only be found there, and most importantly your family.

it had been a year since you’d left for los angeles, going on a mission to bring down a branch of HYDRA that had been implanted in the golden state itself. the job wasn’t easy, but no one could keep you away from taking it. you missed your family. it put a heartache in you, and it also gave a certain brunette boy one too.

peter parker had liked you since the day he met you. it was his freshman year, and you were in his study hall. you barely even spoke to him, yet he had swiftly become captivated by the perfume you wore, the way you parted your hair, every single quirk that made you who you were. you’d like his posts on instagram or even text him (though that was quite rare, you’d probably texted him once in the four years he’d known you), and he swore his heart bursted every time you did. when he found out you left for california, he couldn’t help the heartache that followed. he spent each day hoping and wishing to every star for your safety, and they were all answered when you pulled up to the avengers compound on a cold december day.

you swiftly pulled the black audi in front of the cabin that was the closest thing to a home you’d get. it was where tony had raised you since he had adopted you, where you came to be a normal family for.. well... whenever you had the time. he knew you were there, he always seemed to know things before they even happened, claiming he had a “sixth sense” though you were sure it was just friday.

you got out of the car with the brightest grin on

your face, noticing his presence on the porch of the home.

“is that my dad or is that a woodland creature? cant seem to tell the difference!”

you were, in every way but blood, his daughter.

he rolled his eyes but you didn’t miss the small smile as he rushed you into the house, and you could tell he was in his mother hen mode.

“what about my bags?”

“get them later, there’s someone i want you to meet.”

you were now curious, who could have him in this much of a rush?

he lead you into the large living room of the home, just for you to see peter parker sitting quite uncomfortably on the couch.

“peter?” you tilted your head to the side, confused as to how your dad knew peter.

guess i missed a lot, you thought.

“wait” your dad paused, looking between you and peter accusingly “how do you two know eachother?”

you knew what he was assuming and peter just looked confused.

“NO not like that, dad” you started frantically, because no you did not know peter like that.

peter joined the conversation suddenly,

“he’s your dad?” he said quietly at the same time you spoke, surprise and confusion evident.

“so how do you two know eachother?”

your dad ended the chaos of the conversation, and peter explained for you.

“we used to go to school together, until she graduated early.”

you nodded along with his quick explanation and your dad let out a sigh of relief.

you had graduated high school three years early, and though you didn’t have many friends, you kept in touch with peter over the years. it baffled you that he never seemed to put the pieces together, i mean (y/n) starr wasn’t exactly the most incognito cover name, and your face was plastered over at least one magazine a week for both your hero persona inferno and your civilian self.

“for a second i was worried.. nevermind.” tony said, waving his hand at the now ridiculous thought.

you knew what he thought and you laughed at his small outburst.

“so why is peter parker here?”

“he’s spider-man.”

oh.

“what? peter parker is spider-man??”

the boy in question looked at you now, offended that you were acting like him being spider-man was the most ridiculous thing you had ever heard.

tony simply rolled his eyes, used to your theatrics because well, you got them from him.

“just told you he was, kid. you’re going to train him as long as you’re over here, the team figured you’re the best suited because of your age.”

great.

you had said peter parker was your friend, and that much was at least sort of true, but you came to new york for a break. you’ve been working nonstop for the better part of a year. however, you brushed off your disappointment because at least you didn’t have to train with natasha.

“sounds good. want to head over there now peter?”

he glanced up from the carpet he seemed to find very interesting.

“yeah, that sounds fine.” he said, nodding quite eagerly.

“see you kids later. glad you’re home, mini me.”

you gave your father one last hug and a smile before taking the bag by the door that you know has most of your gear in.

peter followed you into the audi, marvelling at the interior that you had customized yourself. you were such a stark, peter noted in his head, unbeknownst to you.

“so what are your powers?”

you could feel him look at you, almost confused as to why you were asking. haven’t you heard of spider-man?

“i like to hear coming from you, rather than just assuming.” you said, glancing away from the road just briefly to offer him a smile.

“no one has ever really asked before, they all seem to know already.” he returned your smile, and you felt for him. you knew what it was like- when you had first displayed your powers everyone seemed to know more about you than you yourself did.

“well i’m asking” you said, smile still present, “what can you do, spider-boy?”

you watched him run his hands down the leg of his jeans nervously.

why was he so nervous?

“um,” he started, still fidgeting with the leg of his jeans, “i have super strength, and i can shoot webs out of my hands?”

that much you knew, but it still piqued your interest.

“have you ever tested how strong the webs are?”

his head tilted slightly and he reminded you of a puppy when it did.

“no, but i think they’re pretty strong, i mean i did the thing with the ferry a couple years ago.”

you almost forgot about that. almost.

“what’s your favorite part about all this? it can be a little overwhelming and weird, but it’s still fun most of the time.”

he nodded at that, agreeing with you.

“i don’t know, really. i started out being a friendly neighborhood spider-man, i refused the avengers offer mr. stark gave me, and then the stuff in space happened and now i’m here.”

you nodded along with his explanation.

“i’m so glad i was in wakanda instead of up there.”

you had been allowed to visit wakanda on both an invite from king t’challa and stark industries business, and during your extended stay you also had to defeat an ugly and angry grape guy.

“wait, you went to wakanda? what was it like?” his nervousness was slowly fading away as you got him to open up a little more.

you spent the rest of the drive to the facility geeking out about wakandan technology and the things shuri has created.

you parked in your personal spot, making a note that steve’s car was parked in his own spot, meaning both he and bucky were here, and nat’s motorcycle was here as well.

“looks like you’ll get to meet some of the team too!” you said, eager to say hi to natasha and america’s favorite duo.

“as long as they’re as nice as you i’ll be fine.” he told you with a smile that you thought shone brighter than the sun and you ignored the way your heart fluttered at the comment.

you lead him into the facility, running into steve and bucky along the way, introducing the three, and after the introduction the fossils adopted the nickname queens for peter.

“they’re so boring.” you spoke, fighting to suppress a smile. you didn’t actually think that, you were really close to steve and bucky, you just liked to make fun of them.

he looked at you questioningly.

“do you not like them?”

he then noticed you trying not to laugh and realized you were only joking.

you showed peter around the facility, as well as showing him everyone’s rooms, stopping outside each door for him to see without invading the privacy of your fellow avengers.

natasha strutted out of her room down the hall, like the drama queen she is.

“hey kid, welcome back sparkles.” she sent you a smirk, and then walked by just as quickly as she came.

you turned to look at peter.

“hi natasha” you said, rolling your eyes at her nickname of choice.

“why did she call you sparkles?” he asked through a small laugh. he didn’t know? it was kind of obvious.

“i’ll show you later, let me show you my room!”

you loved your room in the facility, and you grabbed peter’s hand to eagerly lead him down the hall to your room.

it was then that both you and peter decided you both liked the feeling you got when you had grabbed his hand.

you showed him into your room and he looked around curiously.

“you have a cat?”

the little white cat sat atop a plethora of pillows at the top of your bed and blinked at you.

“no, that’s bucky’s little monster, alpine. she’s not supposed to be in here.”

peter just smiled at the cat, stroking her fur softly.

“i like your room, it’s super ni-“ he cut himself off, “hey is that a star wars poster?”

you could feel yourself flush with the warmth of embarrassment.

“the empire strikes back is my favorite movie!”

you breathed a sigh of relief, he wasn’t going to make fun of you.

“it’s mine too!” you said, a big smile on your face. “the poster is signed!”

you both shared your excitement at your signed empire strikes back poster, and you even offered to get him one.

“i could never accept that, (y/n).” he said, shaking his head.

“good thing i’m not giving you a choice” you replied, smirking at him.

and that was the kickstart of an even closer friendship with you and the brunette hero.

you bounced back from los angeles and new york quite frequently the past eleven months. because of your success with the HYDRA mission given by SHIELD, and wanted you in their west coast division more often. you went away to california at least twice a month.

now, however, you sat in a nice apartment in queens, a popcorn bag popping between the warmth of your hands. you still remember the day peter found out about your powers.

“look.” you had said, and then your finger lit up, just like a candle.

“how did you do that?” he asked you, not even considering the fact that those were your powers.

“i can set things on fire, with my mind and with...” you paused, and then your whole hand started to glow red. “myself.”

“like a super-arsonist?”

“i mean, i guess you could say that.”

“wait! you’re inferno???”

when the popcorn was done popping, you passed it to peter before getting up from the couch quickly. peter grasped your forearm and you thought your heart would bust out of your chest because of the contact.

“what’s up?” he asked with a small head tilt and a furrow of his brow.

“i just have to go get something, pete” you reassured him with a smile, before walking over to his room to get your bag, trying to calm yourself down because he could probably hear your heart pounding.

inside was a tiny little cylindrical package wrapped in paper with your superhero self all over it.

you grabbed the mini item and sized it back up using a disc you’d borrowed from scott. you took a deep breath before walking back to the living area and your movie.

“merry christmas peter!” you said, a huge smile on your face.

“what is this?” he was surprised, you could tell.

“open it!!” you slid back onto the couch next to him and handed him the wrapped box.

when your hand touched his, peter willed himself to relax because you’re his best friend but also you’re so pretty and you smell like literally everything nice ever created in the universe. he snapped himself out of it, blushing a little at his inner monologue before grabbing the gifts from you.

“you know christmas isn’t for two weeks right?” you could hear the nervousness in his voice and you wondered why. why was he so nervous?

“tis the damn season, i say.” you said with an over the top arm swing, he just rolled his eyes at your antics.

“just open it already, before i” you raised your voice now, because may was in her room down the hall, “tell may about the time you-“

“okay i’ll open it!” he rushed out, covering your mouth with his hand before you could finish because he did not need aunt may knowing about that.

your chest heaved a little at the touch, and his hand was pulled away quickly. you noticed his face flush red and his breathing become a little quick, but brushed it off as him being worried you’d tell may.

“i like the wrapping paper by the way.” he commented, giving you a smirk that made your body swarm with butterflies.

when he opened it, an empire strikes back poster was revealed, complete with signatures from all the actors.

you saw his face light up and his mouth part in shock, and you’d give the world to see him that happy every single day.

but you didn’t need to, because for peter, just having you was all he needed.

“no way” he gasped, shaking his head a little with a smile of disbelief on his face.

“(y/n), you didn’t!”

you just smiled. it was then that peter swept you up into his arms, giving you a hug that made both of your hearts race.

but, good moments never last forever.

the next day, you were sent to athens on a mission with natasha and steve, one that might not let you be back for christmas.

you had completed the mission in time, done the day before christmas eve, but that doesn’t mean you finished it well.

it went messy, and both you and natasha sported a few gashes, but steve took the worst of it, always the gentleman. it also took a toll on you, being gone for two weeks was nothing abnormal, but it was what was said over those weeks that bothered you.

“oh little stark, you’ll never be their real family. you aren’t even a real avenger!”

it wasn’t true. you were one of the more original avengers, being taken on the team despite your dads worries, and you were their real family. but it still hurt you, it still stuck with you, replaying over and over in your mind as you tried not to let the words tear you apart.

you flew the quinjet the fastest it’s ever been flown, and debriefed with fury at SHIELD, letting steve and natasha go to the lab for some patching up.

when you got back to the compound, peter was the first person you saw. you walked over to him, and he brought you into his arms. it made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, something you needed after the mission.

peter could see how down you looked and he hated it, so did all he knew how to do.

he held onto you tight, not saying anything to you, just providing the support you needed.

you knew the insecurities you had were a little silly, but you also knew that it was okay to feel like this, because even the strongest avengers have bad days. it made you feel more human, even though it also made you feel a little sad.

peter brought you comfort in this moment, whispering things that made your heart soar even if you knew they were just him being a good friend.

“you’re the best friend i could ever ask for.”

you smiled into his chest, and pulled yourself away, albeit reluctantly, from his hold.

“thanks peter” you said, more soothed now.

“i needed that. you really are an amazing person.”

he put his arm around your shoulders, giving you a little side hug.

“only for you.” he said, giving you a wink, one that you rolled your eyes at.

the day flew by, as it always seems to after a mission. the three of you sent off healed up quickly, just in time for the gift exchange you always forced everyone into on christmas eve.

after the exchange, you took your newly keychain-filled keys (thanks to nat, clint, sam, and bucky) and drove home. peter had left early, hitching a ride from your dad, which was a little odd to you but you brushed it off.

when you got home, all you saw was pepper on the couch with an excited smile on her face and a wave in greeting, and then you heard tony but lost your sight due to a black cloth being wrapped around your eyes.

“mom, what is he doing to me?”

you heard her laugh at your comment.

“just let him lead you, honey.”

you wished she and tony could see you roll your eyes.

he guided you up the stairs, telling you when to step so you wouldn’t fall, and you were quickly ushered into your room.

“why do i need this thing anyway?” you inquired, but the question was dropped when you felt someone new untie the blindfold.

peter.

you blinked your eyes a couple times, adjusting again to the environment of the room.

“is peter supposed to be a surprise? should i act surprised?”

the situation was a little confusing, no one was surprising you with a gift; tony and pep always waited until christmas, and you and peter exchanged gifts at the compound.

so what was going on?

“peter is not the surprise.”

and with that, tony left the room. if your back wasn’t to him you would’ve saw him wink at peter, but you did see peter’s face start to flush.

weird, because tony never left the room for surprises. little did you know, tony has been desperately waiting for one of you to make a move on the other after watching you pine within your friendship, and when peter mentioned giving you a necklace and confessing his feelings he nearly jumped for joy.

“i’m not the surprise, but i have a surprise for you.”

he looked a little nervous, compared to his usual comfort around you, and his hands started to fidget with his pockets.

“what is it?” you questioned, looking up at him and realizing suddenly that he was really close, which made your heart start to beat a little faster.

you saw him reach into his pocket and suck in a breath.

“titanic was the first movie you watched with me, i remember you insisted on it because it was your favorite at the time,”

you were a little confused, so you just nodded, albeit a little dumbly.

“i also remember how you said you’d kill for a necklace like the one rose wore, and you talked about the history of what it was modeled after for a good ten minutes”

you laughed, but you didn’t know what he was leading up to.

“and i knew that you could talk to me about anything, for however long you’d want, and i’d listen, because i got to see that look on your face when you were excited about something”

he was smiling at you as he reached into his pocket.

“peter parker i swear to god if you pull out a replica of that necklace i will kill you. or kiss you. or both.”

he laughed, and held out the palm of his hand, which lie a necklace that looked exactly like the blue hope diamond, and your mouth parted in shock.

“holy shit.”

“i, uh, wanted to give you something special, to show how special you are to me.”

you felt your eyes well up with tears at his words, and you smiled as he clasped the necklace around your neck.

recalling your words from moments ago, you took in a breath for confidence.

“i think i owe you a kiss.” you said, still smiling.

“as long as you don’t kill me after.”

and with that you pressed your lips against his, feeling your body ignite but not like when you were using your powers. this was a warmth in your heart.

peter kissed you and he swore it was the happiest moment of your life.

you kissed him with everything you had, bringing your hands around his neck.

it was like you fit together perfectly, and one would even say two hearts became one in that moment, but for you that was far too cliche.

you separated reluctantly, and you both smiled at each other. the smile you shared was worth a million words.

“tis the damn season, i guess.” you heard tony and pepper giggle like children outside the door that was half open, and the four of you laughed.

—

“peter, how did you even afford that necklace?”

he looked at you with a cheeky grin.

“turns out inferno is celine dion’s favorite superhero.”

your jaw dropped.

“kid, you’ll catch flies.”

“thanks for the warning dad.”

[tallstars-rewrite]

Chapter 34

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Recovery did come, slow as it was. Some days later, Talltail sat by the big glass window. Jake was curled up pressed against his side, snoring loudly. It still felt a bit strange that the kittypet didn’t have even a small qualm about letting a stranger into his home, and treating him as though they were clanmates their whole lives. Talltail certainly didn’t dislike it. It felt safer than sleeping alone, and even if the water the twoleg put down had an unpleasant metallic tang to it, at least he could be sure it wasn’t going to kill him. 

Another oddity he’d found in the den was the twoleg sometimes lit a small fire inside at night, in a little stone cavern in the sitting room, and somehow kept it contained. It was more than a little frightening at first, but also incredibly warm. It was his first sight of real fire. Talltail couldn’t help but be mesmerized at the rare opportunity to closely watch such a dangerous unpredictable thing, feared by all the clans, without having to worry.

 But that was about where the benefits stopped.

In the couple days he’d been there, he had also suffered getting slobbered on by a dog multiple times, and the twoleg constantly trying to stroke his fur. Once it had made the mistake of trying to pick him up, but Talltail had quickly made it clear that was not going to fly. He also had to deal with letting it take on and off the uncomfortable soft wraps and smearing his cuts with a foul smelling goo. The twolegs paws where clumsy and shaky. It made him long for Briarpaw’s much more gentle touch. I will never complain of the smell of herbs again, Talltail thought. Not that he’d get the chance either way. But however unpleasant it felt, he suffered captivity with as much dignity as he could manage. And his wounds did feel a bit better.

The twoleg came up behind them and crouched down, making strange high pitched noises at Talltail, a sound he noticed the twoleg only made at cats. Talltail ignored it, tail lashing when it had the nerve to start touching his back. He turned slowly with a searing glare.

“You are an ugly hairless lumbering fool. You smell of fox-dung. I’d rather sleep in the dirt place than breathe in your stench.”

The twoleg made a pleased crooning sound and went on stroking his fur. 

Talltail continued, “you have a kits’ senses and wouldn’t be able to find your own stupid ugly nose even though it’s attached to your face. You are lower than a worm, and I despise you and everything you stand for. You are too flea-brained to understand a word I’m saying, aren’t you?”

The twoleg meowed back at him. It sounded like garbled nonsense.

Talltail narrowed his eyes. “What is that supposed to mean? Are you mocking me?”

The twoleg meowed again. 

Talltail bit its paw.

Jake snored himself awake while Talltail still held one of its long digits in his jaws. 

“Are you getting along?” he yawned.

Talltail spit out the paw and the twoleg made an amused sound and lumbered away. “We are getting along great,” he said through gritted teeth.

“That’s good. You’ve only bit him five times so far, that’s much better than the last cat he tried to take in,” Jake purred.

“Your twoleg does not take hints very well.” Talltail replied, ears flat in annoyance.

“Well I never claimed he was wise. He’s really very fond of you though.”

“Then he truly isn’t wise at all."

Jake yawned and stretched “How’s your brooding going? Anything go by outside?”

“Nothing more than some birds,” Talltail sighed.

“Oh!” Jake said suddenly. “I forgot to mention...I had an idea about what you can do. My friend Nutmeg has seen lots of strays go through here in the past moons. There’s a chance the cats you're looking for were among them.”

“You forgot to mention that?”

“In my defense, there’s been a lot of other things to think about.”

“In which case,” Talltail stood. “I think I have stayed here long enough. My cuts aren’t bad. I can manage on my own without that terrible goo.

He expected Jake to argue, but instead he nodded. “I’d never expect you to stay in a house like this, even I find it a little cramped sometimes. A promise is a promise. Follow my lead and you can sneak out.”

Jake took a couple paces towards where the twoleg was sitting and let out a very loud yowl.

 “Hey! Time to open the door!”

 Eventually the twoleg grumbled, stood up slowly on creaking limbs, and shambled over to the side door. He looked down at Talltail and tried to nudge him back with his long hind leg. Talltail let out a small hiss. Who does it think it is, pushing me? 

Jake winked at Talltail. “Just be casual. Act like you don’t care.”

Talltail pretended like he was busy grooming his chest fur. As soon as the door was open, Talltail shot out faster than a hare, across the yard, and clammered through a gap in the fence. Jake squeezed after him a heartbeat later. The twoleg made a hooting sound, but Talltail was already out of sight.

He huffed in the fresh air as soon as he set paws on grass. Never had he been so relieved to feel it.

With a contented sigh of relief, he turned to dip his head to Jake. “Thank you for everything. I’ll think of you often for being so kind to me. You’ve more than repaid your debt.” 

Jake blinked at him. “It wasn’t just to repay a debt! And I want to go with you.”

 Talltail stared. “G-go with me? This could be really dangerous. I may not like your home, but you're safe here. Where I’m going isn’t, and who knows how long it will take. Do you even know how to fight?”

Jake puffed out his chest “I’ve been in a fight! I got into a tussle with an old stray once, sort of by accident, but I held my ground! See this scar on my ear?”

He turned his head to show off the very, very small nick in his right ear.

When Talltail didn’t respond, Jake gave a dramatic sigh of defeat. “Well, all right. I can’t make you take me. But be careful of the neighbor dogs. And the alley cats. And the rude twolegs. And the cars. The paths and alleyways can get really confusing if you don’t follow them all correctly, and you can end up turned around and running nose first into all kinds of danger. You know where to watch out for all of that, right?”

He was giving Talltail a very pointed look as he spoke. Talltail flicked his long tail in annoyance, but couldn't help looking out at the town with unease. This place was unfamiliar and completely strange to him, not anything his warrior training had prepared him for. Obviously, because warriors aren’t supposed to come out this far in the first place. 

It was hard to admit to himself after he’d been so determined to do this on his own that weaving through this loud foul smelling town made him nervous, and he didn’t even know where to start.

Jake had an amused glint in his eyes. “I know you’re on a super important mission, but if you want to accept this 'kittypets' help, I'd love to show you around.”

 Talltail eventually had no choice but to accept that maybe he did need a guide. For a little while at least.

Jake perked up immediately. “Great! Then I’ll take you to see my friend Nutmeg. You guys seem like you're a similar breed of paranoid, maybe you’ll get along. You can describe those cats to her, and we’ll decide where to go from there.”

 Talltail still wasn’t sure about this. He felt deep down that he really did want Jake’s company, remembering a time when it felt like such a relief to go see him. And he didn’t realize until after he left WindClan how empty it would feel to be completely alone for so long. But at least unlike back then, he didn’t have to feel guilty about seeing Jake because it was no longer a simple excuse to get away from his clan duties. But still... I came out this far because I needed to do this on my own, didn’t I? Why should another cat be bogged down with it?  

“This could take a while, Jake,” Talltail warned again as they walked. “Are you sure you don’t have anything more important to do?”

Jake’s eyes smiled brightly in the greenleaf sunlight. “I assure you, I have absolutely nothing better to be doing.”

***

Talltail followed Jake, leaping down off the fence into Nutmeg’s yard.

“Wait here, I know how to get her attention,” Jake said, trotting up to a tall glass opening in the nest. He began pawing at the window until a disgruntled looking tortoiseshell poked her head through an opening flap. 

Nutmeg pushed her way into the yard and regarded Jake suspiciously. “I haven’t seen you in a couple days. Is that weirdo still in your house?”

“Actually he’s in your garden.” Jake replied.

Nutmeg’s eyes bulged as she had apparently only just noticed Talltail sitting with his tail wrapped tightly around himself, trying not to look awkward.

“Um. Hi.” Talltail said.

The bristling tortoiseshell flicked her gaze from him back to Jake, not hiding her obvious unease. “Ah. I see.”

“I know, I know, you don’t like strangers in your garden, but I promise we’ll be gone quick. We just wanted to ask about the cats you’ve seen.” Jake looked back at Talltail. “Nutmeg keeps tabs on all the cats in the area, she sees everyone that goes by. Spying is like, her main hobby.”

“I am not spying, it’s a matter of safety. When I see dangerous looking strangers, the cats that go outside ought to know.” Nutmeg’s tail lashed and Talltail knew she was clearly still unhappy about him being there. He remembered suddenly, now that he’d caught her scent, that she was almost certainly one of the kittypets he had frightened not long after arriving.

“Right I'm er...sorry for scaring you before, I suppose.” Talltail muttered. Nutmeg simply flicked her tail in vague acknowledgement.

 Jake nudged her and she sighed. “Fine, I suppose I'm sorry for calling you weird.” She then added, quieter, “but what exactly am I supposed to think when a big stranger shows up covered in blood and talking to himself?”

“Anyway,” Jake interrupted before Talltail could respond, “his name is Talltail and we’re going on a quest to find a group of strays.”

“‘We’?” Nutmeg stared at Jake. "Why are you going?"

“Yes we, because we’re friends and I’m a good guide.” Jake retorted. Nutmeg looked very doubtful, which made Talltail a bit nervous. He hoped Jake wasn’t exaggerating his navigation knowledge, but it was too late to turn him down now.

“Well…” Nutmeg hesitated, “A lot of strays have passed by here. Who exactly are you looking for?”

Talltail did his best to describe the five cats. “The only one I need to find is the smallest of them, dark brown almost black, sort of long messy fur, one ear tip sliced off. His eyes are two different colors. Looks obnoxiously aloof all the time. It would have been a couple moons ago.”

“A couple moons ago, that’s not encouraging.” Nutmeg said. “But surprisingly, I think I know who you mean. They’d passed by here before. Made themselves very known, weird bunch, too friendly for their own good if you ask me. I remember because it was a little before I met Jake. Before him, they were some of the oddest cats I’d ever seen. And before you I guess. They stopped to talk to Quince, I think they mentioned something about staying in the big wooded park in the center of town. It’s supposed to be a big area with no cars, and there’s lots of food, and apparently housefolk will feed you too if you know the right ones to ask. I overheard them saying were going to stop traveling for a bit, I guess they just had a loss or something. Mind you, that was some moons ago, I don’t know if they’re still there, but that’s what they said last I saw them.” 

“Wow you remember all that? You’re positive?” Talltail asked.

Nutmeg sniffed, as if she were offended. “Of course I’m sure! I’m sure of every cat I see, especially weird ones.”

“Alright, alright. Do you know where this park is?” Talltail pressed.

“Um...well no, I have no need to go that far outside my house myself.”

“I think I know!” Jake piped up, “I haven’t been there, but I’ve seen it from a distance. We just have to cut through some alleyways to avoid the cars.”

“If you think it’s safe to do that…” Nutmeg narrowed her eyes, “Not every stray likes you, you know.”

“I’ll be fine. I know exactly where I'm going.” Jake nudged Talltail “See, aren’t you glad you have me?”

“Sure. We should get going though. Thanks for your help. As a reward, I promise never to come into your garden again.”

She snorted. “Actually, as my reward, you can try to keep Jake from doing anything fluff-brained.”

“I never do anything fluff-brained!” Jake purred as he turned with a flick of his tail. “Come on, no time to waste.” 

He scampered back up the fence and beckoned Talltail to join him. Jake was far too excited about the grim mission, and Talltail was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable about not giving him all the details. “You’re only going with me a little ways,” Talltail reminded him quickly. “Just to the park. Then I have to continue on my own.”

“Sure, sure, but let's get going! You’ve never seen a town before, I remember how intense it felt the first time I saw it, I’ve got so much to teach you!”

Talltail allowed himself a small purr of amusement. There was still a distance to go. No need to be a drag the entire way when Jake was being so helpful, right? As long as he didn’t slow down.

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