#it’s fine we’re both protectors I can take him | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lilrainbowcloud · 11 months ago

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Pairing: Luke Castellan x Child of Apollo! Reader

Genre: Fluff and angst

Word count: 2.6k || masterlist

Warning: mention of blood

a/n: the pictures used does not potray the reader. the final part, annabeth was never there.

The two times you trusted him, and the one time he betrayed you.

i. Taking his hand to pull you through the protective barrier.

“Wake up, we’re almost there,”

Taking a deep breath as you regained your consciousness from a dreamless sleep, you straighten your back, arms stretching above your head as you readjust your focus to the satyr in front of you.

“What?”

“Camp Half Blood! We’re almost there!” exclaimed your friend, Caelum, excitedly pointing to the window with a wide smile adorning his face. Happy to be able to bring back a demigod safely to camp for a satyr his age. An achievement of his service.

Turning to the window yourself, the view of the forest and blue sky bordered by the sea filled your vision. The more the train moved forward, the longer the scenery in front of you unfold like a painter with a brush painting the environment for you as you go.

A soft gasp escaped your lips.

“How do you know where to go?” curious, you asked your guide as you dodge the protruding branches from scratching your skin, however when you looked in front of you, it was no problem for Caelum to navigate the forest as though he was water flowing through a river. His movement fluid, legs nimble. You watched as his little goat ears twitch as he moved.

“Trust me! I know this forest like the back of my hand!”

Feeling your movement was obstructed on your left foot, gravity pulled you down as you got caught on a root. You yelped as both of your hands braced you from the impact of the fall.

“Cael-“

“Shh!”

“Can you at least he-”

“SHH!”

Confusion and disbelief twisted your face as you looked up at him. How could he told you to shut up when you just fell? And not help you up. Wasn’t he supposed to be your protector? That was what he told you back at your mum’s house when they relayed to you the truth about your life. From wanting closure and understanding of your acentric self, you had accepted the reality of your being wholeheartedly. The least you knew you weren’t the one. It was comforting in a twisted way.

A second of you assessing his demeanor, ears flat on his head, eyes wide searching, you knew better than to make another sound. Instead, slowly you untangle your foot from the root and turned your body to look behind you.

The forest had gone deftly silent. No bird chirping, no leaves rustling. Something was definitely wrong.

A loud flap of wings could be heard, then there was a shadow moved on the ground, passing above you. What animal had that large of a wingspan? Nothing came to your mind but it filled your nerves with icy bites of fear. The hair on the back of your neck stood.

“Y/N, get up right now,” two arms hooking under your armpits, you didn’t hear Caelum ran to you as he hauled you up to your feet. Eyes looking through the trees above you, you nodded hastily and took his hand in yours as he quickly pulled you into a sprint.

“The camp is near! Once we get pass the barrier it can’t get to you!”

Failing to form any words, you only managed to squeeze his hand in confirmation that you understood him. Whatever barrier he meant and whatever was chasing you, you didn’t care. Only your life and safety mattered.

The loud screeching of the fury could be heard to anyone who was near the camp border. That anyone was none other than Luke himself. Momentarily distracted by the form of the winged monster emerging from the forest trees, the wooden sword of his sparring partner hit him on the shoulder causing his opponent to quickly apologize with concern. But it fell on deft ear as Luke held his hand up as an “Its fine” gesture, too focused on the flying monster diving back down into the thick foliage.

Gripping the wooden sword in his hand tighter as tough it was a real sharpened one, he and the other campers nearby halted their activities to stand ready too near the border. Weapons drawn in steady hands, they held their ground for a possible attack of an intruder or welcoming a demigod.

“There!” The sound of a voice shouting could be heard following the rustling of bushes as a satyr and a girl, frightened looking with their hands linked emerged into the few meters of clearing separating the camp and forest.

The winged figure rose again to the sky, Luke noticed its nose about to dive down on them again. Gasps and shouts of horror rose with the crowd.

Instinct took over his body. Turning to his right to a camper from the Apollo cabin, he snatched the bow and arrow off of his hands before running pass the protection of the barrier and into the clearing where he was joined with the pair in the middle.

“Go! Go!” encouraging them to move forward for the last few meters from the border, Luke aimed the bow upwards, landing a clumsy shot with unfocused aim to the fury. Not his best suited weapon but it was enough to direct the fury away from them as the three of them sprinted back to safety.

Sensing the fury closing in on them behind his back by the sound of its screeching loud in his ear, with less than two meters away from the border, Luke pushed his legs to run ahead of them and with a last surge of adrenaline, he pulled the girl’s arm, bodies colliding as he cushioned her fall with his figure.

A loud thud, followed by a screech echoed through the atmosphere. A second later the sound of wing flaps disappearing filled you with a sense of relief as you knew that whatever that creature was chasing you had retreated to the hell hole it came from.

Fear replaced with reality, your flight senses dissipating slowly made you aware of your surrounding again. Made you aware of the hard grip you had on the body of the person who had pulled you through the barrier.

With a jolt of surprise as if you had been shocked by an electric static, you released your grip from him, quickly standing up with an utter of Thank you for saving your life.

Turning back towards the forest, the sight of the monster was no longer there. You were only left with the many pair of eyes looking at you with interest as they welcome a new half-blood into the camp. Another pawn of the gods in their game of life. But you don’t know that yet.

“Welcome to Camp Half Blood.”

Facing the voice of your savior, it was the first time you get to appropriately assess him. His appearance of dark curly hair slightly matted on his forehead, tall stature, and kind smile as he extended his hand to you in greeting. As if what had happened moments ago was that nothing out of the ordinary.

“I’m Luke.”

ii. He taught you to sword fight.

Two summers had passed since your first day arriving at camp.

One bead of the day Apollo claimed you as his daughter a few weeks of your first stay after you had helped saved and healed a child of Demeter from a cut, he received from a river stone during capture the flag. The bright yellow glow of the sun symbol bathed the riverbank of the camp as cheers from your now half siblings roared through the air.

Another bead from your second summer at camp. The summer you had shared your confessions with Luke under the blanket of stars, illuminated by the bonfire as you both sat together with the melodious voice of your half siblings leading the song. It was a shared sentiment with each other as you both vowed to protect and be there by each other’s side through anything. A sanctuary in the form of trust bonding you to him, blinding the absurdity of your fates in the world even only for a while.

“Get up, Y/N,”

Huffing out an annoyed breath, you took his outstretched hand as he pulled you back on your feet. Being the child of Apollo, you had a natural talent with the bow and arrow. The curve of the finger pads, and the slender shape of the arrow knocked on the bow string molded so perfectly into you. It was a natural talent in your blood thanks to your father. But with a sword, it does not resonate with you. Therefore, this was the third summer that Luke, being the best swordsman in the camp offered to teach you.

So, here you are with a wooden sword, surrounded by the dense trees as the audience as the son of Hermes handed your ass to you.

“You know what, I think I’m improving enough for today don’t you think?” truthfully, you were just finding an excuse to stop the training session earlier than usual as you dusted the dead leaves off of your clothes.

“You did improve, and I’m proud of you.” Getting back to his starting stance, he aimed the point of the fake sword at you again, with a playful glint in his eyes.

In a swift movement of a trained warrior, he moved behind you with the tip of the wooden sword softly touching the back of your neck, “What if someone tries to back stab you?”

Even if he’s not in front of you, your mind’s eye can form the face he was making. Proud to have tricked his opponent in a moment of distraction. You slowly turned around, he tipped the sword to your chest.

“If someone stabs you from the back, then they’re a coward.”

Raising your own sword to push his away from your chest, you took a few steps back and continued your battle stance once more.

iii. Defending Percy from Luke.

Colourful sparkles of the fireworks filled the sky. Each boom heard comes with it a bloom of neon flower lighting up the camp’s sky as the camp went into celebration of the return of Percy from his quest. Cheers of the campers made your heart full as you made your way through the woods trying to find Luke to join you near the bonfire for the singalong.

Though the sky was lit, the ground was shrouded by the darkness of the night. The weigh of your quiver on your hip, and the golden bow, a gift from your father on your back gave you comfort as you trudge towards the place where you and Luke meet up for lessons.

After the sun sets, he vanished from your bearings which was odd since he had promised you to help with the preparation of the celebration later in the evening. Knowing him, it was one out of three places he could’ve gone to.

“Luke!” calling out to him, your voice was swallowed by the void, absorbed by nature. You didn’t get any reply back.

Venturing further, his name caught on the tip of your tongue as you heard the metal clash of swords. Stopping in your track for a moment, you heard voices mixing with the clinging.

Luke and Percy.

Worry surged you forward towards the ruckus.

Horror filled your chest as you witness Percy slashing riptide to Luke. A sound of hurt came from Luke meant Percy had hit him.

Anger took over as you danced a move you’ve practiced and even more perfected overtime, your arrow now knocked on the bow, feet sliding at the end of your halt in front of Luke, shielding him from Percy.

“Y/N?” Both of them gasping out of breath from their duel. One in disbelief and the other, confused.

“Percy, what are you doing?”

Never in your lifetime would you had imagined a day you would turn your weapon against someone who you considered as your friend despite the little amount of time you had spent together. But here you are, eyes squinting to see him better in the dark. Fingers ready to release the arrow.

“Are you with him too?” His grip on riptide loosened at his side, looking up at you with a betrayed face.

“What are you talk-”

“Are you working with Kronos too?!” Percy’s accusing tone caught you off guard, causing you to lower your bow. Tilting your head as you let out a confused huh?

“Percy, you’re not making sense here,” Luke’s name died on your lips as you felt the cold tip of backbiter against your exposed neck. Eyes wide, you captured Percy’s eyes with his reflecting the same emotion as you, alarmed.

Déjà vu.

In the same forest, in the same spot, with the same person but with a different weapon.

Coward.

What was he thinking? What was happening first and foremost. Why were they fighting? It did not look like a practice session.

“Luke, tell me what is happening. Right. Now.”

As much as you were frightened, the overwhelming feeling of betrayal weighed heavier.

You were frozen.

“He’s working with Kronos to bring him back. To start a war. He stole Zeus’ master bolt.”

In the last sentence Percy relayed to you, you could feel the shift of the sword. So, it’s true?

Percy would not lie to you. But so would Luke. Right?

“Is that true?” Broken were your voice as you muttered the question to the person you called your lover.

The grip of your bow and the arrow returned. The muscles of your body tensed, ready to resume position.

“Y/N, listen to me, go back-”

The sword tip shifted again.

Taking advantage of this, in one swift movement you positioned yourself in front of Percy, the knocked arrow now pointing towards Luke instead.

What are we now?

The fireworks continued. For the first time tonight, you could see his face, illuminated by the purple and blue hues from the sky.

Hurt was what you saw in his dark eyes. But so was yours.

“You’re trusting him more than me now?” He raised his sword, swinging it to point from you to Percy. Eyes hardened.

“Why would he lie to me?” Why would you lie to me?

A scowl graced his face as you claimed that. The scissors that cut the string from him to you passed through.

Sensing the rising tension, Percy shouted your name as he shoved you to the side.

Luke raised his sword to swing down.

As you hit the ground, your arrow flew from your fingers, grazing Luke’s shoulder.

A hiss of pain and everything paused.

With Percy by your side, you on your back on the ground, supported by your elbows, watched as Luke held his shoulder with force. Red bloomed where your arrow had hurt him, breaking his skin.

You hurt him. But he had hurt you too.

Was this fair?

“I’m sorry,” came out weak to your ear. You didn’t event know if it had reached Luke or not. But he looked at you with much hatred.

Did he betrayed you, or you betrayed him?

“I’m sorry,” lifting yourself up from the ground, “Luke, please,” Percy helped you to stand.

Shaking his head, completely at lost for word, Luke walked back a few steps away from you as though you were the villain.

Of course, you had hurt him after promising to protect each other. But he also raised his weapon at you with the intention to hurt. Or was it to daunt you? To get you to back off?

Without another word to you, Luke turned his back to the both of you and launched himself into the rip of air among the ruined stones.

Your feet didn’t move fast enough. Your instinct wasn’t fast enough to reach him.

He vanished with your voice shouting his name.

Emptiness was what you felt as your knees hit the ground.

Numbness took over when Percy called out your name repeatedly.

Was this really happening?

Will you ever see him again?

#luke castellan x reader #luke castellan #luke castellan angst #luke castellan fluff #pjo #pjo tv show

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winter-soldier-101 · 8 months ago

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What have you done! Part 3

Summary: (Y/N) is set to marry Aemond will this marriage help both families or will it all end in fire and blood?

(Y/N) sat in her room waiting for her handmaidens to help her pack but as (Y/N) opens her door she hears shouting from the great hall and walks down the long staircase and sees Ser Qarl Correy stab her father then push his body in the fire (Y/N) lets out a loud scream as Ser Qarl runs away Rhaenys and Lord Corlys run and see (Y/N) pull her fathers burnt body out of the fire and cry out and Rhaenys runs over and lets out a scream and holds (Y/N) as they both cry over Laenors body as Rhaenyra and Daemon help Laenor and Ser Qarl escape so both can be free.

(Y/N) sits in her room at DragonStone and cries as she loses yet another father.

“Oh my darling, I know it hurts” Rhaenyra tells (Y/N) as she lets out a little cry.

“Mother, why would Ser Qarl want kill father? They cared for each other?” (Y/N) asks Rhaenyra.

“I think Ser Qarl was tired of hiding who he and your father were,” Rhaenyra tells (Y/N).

“Are you really going to marry Daemon so soon after father?” (Y/N) asks Rhaenyra.

“Yes Daemon and I will marry and we will marry today” Rhaenyra tells (Y/N).

“Why so soon? I don’t understand why?” (Y/N) asks Rhaenyra.

“In time you come to understand why and I have other news to share with you, your grandfather and I have talked and we have discussed you and Aemond marrying to keep peace between our family and I have accepted and you will leave for King's Landing in a year.” Rhaenyra tells (Y/N) as she makes why to the door leaving (Y/N) alone in her room.

Kings Landing

(Y/N) flew Baelon to King's Landing and landed and waited for her carriage to take her to the keep.

“Good morning Princess, I am Ser Steffon, your sworn protector.” Ser Steffon says to (Y/N).

(Y/N) enters the Red Keep as Ser Steffon introduces her.

“Princess (Y/N) Velaryon heir to Princess Rhaenyra” Ser Steffon introduces (Y/N) to the masses.

King Viserys walks down and hugs (Y/N).

“I’m so happy to have you home Rhaenyra it’s been so long” Viserys whispers to (Y/N).

“Mother, why do I have to marry her?” Aemond asks Alicent angrily.

“Aemond it is your duty and hers as well and your father wants our families to join and bring peace between us and (Y/N) cares for you. She was by your side that night and she’s been writing to you and you wrote to her and I know you both care for each other.” Alicent says to Aemond.

Aemond leaves his room and makes way to the training yard to meet with Ser Criston Cole as (Y/N) walks by with Ser Steffon and watches Aemond train.

4-5 years later

(Y/N) holds Aemond’s hand as he lays on top of her thrusting into her softly as she moans his name.

“Aemond please faster” (Y/N) begs him and he thrusts a little faster.

“Fuck…. (Y/N) I’m going to put a babe in you… oh fuck take my seed!” Aemond moans into (Y/N)’s ear as they both finish.

(Y/N) holds Aemond’s body and whispers softly into her ear as a knock on the door pulls them away from their sweet bliss.

“My Prince and Princess the Queen would like to have tea with you both” Talya says through the door.

“We will be there in a few minutes Talya can you bring us some hot water for a bath” (Y/N) says as she hears Talya leave.

(Y/N) and Aemond wash up and head to Alicent’s room.

“How are you both doing?” Alicent asks.

“We are fine mothers, we just like to be alone together sometimes” Aemond says.

“I am happy for you both” Alicent says looking at Aemond and (Y/N).

“We’re happy with each other” (Y/N) says holding Aemond’s hand.

Aemond leaves them both alone to train and (Y/N) and Alicent talk and drink tea and eat some lemon cakes as (Y/N) feels a little sick and faint but she rushes to the chamber pot and throws up and apologizes to Alicent.

“Are you alright my dear?” Alicent asks (Y/N).

“Yes… I’m fine, just a little sick I must go see the maester” (Y/N) says as she leaves the room.

“Princess congratulations are in order you are with child” maester Mellos tells (Y/N).

“Are you sure?” (Y/N) asks Maester Mellos.

“Yes Princess I am very sure would you want me to tell the King and Queen for you?” Mellos asks (Y/N).

“No I will tell them tonight at dinner” (Y/N) says as she walks out of the room to her and Aemond’s shared room.

“Aemond I must tell you something” (Y/N) says quietly to Aemond.

“What my love tell me ?” Aemond asks (Y/N).

“I went to see the Maester and he told me I am with child!” (Y/N) tells Aemond.

Aemond gets up and holds (Y/N) close and puts his hands on her belly and gets on his knees and kisses her belly softly.

“I can’t wait to meet our little dragon” Aemond says, getting up and kissing (Y/N) softly and holding her close.

(Y/N) sits next to Aemond as they get up and smile at the King and Queen.

“We have news to share.” (Y/N) says happily.

“(Y/N) is with child!” Aemond says excitedly.

Alicent gets up and hugs (Y/N) and Aemond and kisses (Y/N)’s cheeks as Viserys hugs (Y/N) tight and congratulates her and Aemond.

Taglist: @rosey1981 @hc-geralt-23 @lightdragonrayne @snh96

#aemond targaryen imagines #aemond x alys #aemond targaryen smut #aemond #aemond x you #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond x reader #aemond fanfiction #aemond smut #aemond fic #aemond imagine

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delicatebarness · 6 months ago

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giirl I love ur writing and I read all of it ! so thank you !

I was just thinking, crybaby and bucky - soulmate au....(i´m a sucker for those and angst)

so you know, having a sentence or something tattooed, and for once Bucky is patching up crybaby and he sees the tattoo or says the sentence whatever and FLUFF

cry baby | "we're soulmates,"

Summary: ^^ Requested.

Warnings: Fluff. Soulmates AU

Word Count: 481

Series Masterlist

A/N: I kinda wanted to make this canon. Also, sorry for taking so long to write this! I hope you like it!

A sharp pain shot through your side as you tried to remove your cardigan, causing you to wince. The bruises and cuts were a testament to the rough night. Bucky, the self-appointed protector, insisted on helping you clean up.

“Let me see,” he said, his voice firm but gentle as he carefully peeled the cardigan off your shoulders. A mix of concern and anger flashed across his face as he scanned the damage. “Whoever did this to you is going to pay.”

“I’m fine, Bucky.” You managed a weak smile. “Just a little bruised.”

Shaking his head, his jaw tightened. “No, you’re not fine. Sit down, let me patch you up… for a change.”

You sat at the dining table, your heart pounding as Bucky retrieved the first aid kit from the kitchen.

He knelt beside you, dabbing antiseptic gently against the cut on your arm, his fingers brushing against the edge of your skin. He froze, his eyes catching sight of something. “What’s this?” he asked, his voice hushed.

Following his gaze, you saw the small tattoo that you were born with– half of a black star adorning your left forearm.

Bucky’s breath caught in his throat as he slowly rolled up his sleeve, eye-widening. He revealed the other half of the black star on his own forearm. Realization dawned on both of you simultaneously. Your unspoke connection finally making itself known.

“Buck…” you whispered, your eyes welled as you met his gaze. “I didn’t know…”

Reaching out, he gently traced the outline of your tattoo. “Neither did I,” he said, his expression softening. “I’ve had this mark for as long as I can remember.”

“Me too,” you replied, your voice barely above a whisper. “We were meant to find each other, Bucky.”

A silence between you, heavy with shared history and unspoken words. Bucky’s removed his hand from your tattoo and reached up to your cheek. His touch continued to be gentle and comforting. “You mean everything to me,” he said, his voice trembling with emotion. Something, you have never witnessed from him before this moment. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Tears spilled down your cheeks as you leaned into his touch. “And you mean everything to me. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this my whole life.”

Leaning in, his forehead rested against yours. “We’re soulmates,” he whispered, his breath warm against your skin. “I promise I’ll always be here to protect you.”

A sense of peace washed over you. Despite the injuries and the rough night, being with Bucky made everything right. You leaned up, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he murmured, wiping your tears with his thumb. “And then we’ll figure out what this all means.”

You nodded, offering him a smile. “Together.”

He smiled back, a genuine and heartfelt smile. “Together,” he echoed.

---

Series Masterlist

#cry baby series #cry baby #bucky barnes x cry baby #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky x female reader #bucky fanfic #james bucky barnes #bucky fic #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #soulmate au

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petersoftparker · 11 months ago

Text

Medical Assistance needed?

Spider-Man x Civillian!Reader

Warnings: kidnapping, gagging, concussion

The only thing you knew for sure waking up, was that you probably have a concussion. Your eyes weren’t even open yet, but nausea made you gag immediately. “Oh shit, fuck okay” Peter panicked, rolling you onto your side. It took a few minutes of you doing breathing exercises for the feeling that you were about to throw up to pass.

“I’m gonna get us out of this, I promise” You laughed a little in disbelief, but still smiled at Peter reaching out beside you to squeeze his wrist. You didn’t know if it helped him at all, but It gave you some comfort feeling the faint rhythm of his heartbeat. “Don’t be a hero Peter.” You sucked in a breath before continuing “Not your fault we’re in this mess. Who knows maybe they just got the wrong people and they’ll let us go".

Peter sighed, not bothering to contradict you. You both knew that it was unlikely.

He repeated himself, trying to will himself to be as convincing as possible for you “It’s my job, I am going to get you out of here”. The statement making you pause before hesitantly asking “Your job? What are you talking about”.

“I’m your protector.” “Sorry, what?” You didn’t quite know if you heard him correctly, the ringing in your ears hadn’t fully gone away yet. You squinted giving him a quick once-over.

Peter had to take his wrist away, already regretting it as he did it. He occupied himself with ripping the bottom part of his shirt off to use a makeshift tourniquet for his leg while explaining “I was chosen by the Avengers, my duty is to protect you at all costs.”

“Don't wanna be mean but just gotta point out the obvious; you can’t do a pull-up."

He nervously smiled, still staring down at his lap “Surprise! I’m actually a superhero.”

He could tell you were one second away from freaking out about his previous statement, but the door was slammed open before you could. Peter wasn’t caught off guard but you unfortunately didn’t have the same abilities that Peter did. The loud noise and sudden light making you flinch away. Peter shifted his body, trying to give you a chance to adjust to the light and making a barrier between you and the villain.

The Villain cocked his head, smirk on her face. “Cute. Not effective, but cute.” Peter glared silently.

“Look, she doesn’t have anything to do with this. Leave her be and I can give you what you want.”

“And what is it exactly, that you think I want?” The Villain questioned, raising her eyebrow.

Before Peter could answer, someone else walked into the room. Peter noticed that they looked a bit panicked, speaking to the villain in a low tone eyes casted downward.

“Sir, Iron-Man has been seen on the perimeter”

“So deal with it.”

Silence overtook the room as the henchmen made no move to leave, before Villain sighed pinching the bridge of her nose. “Let me guess. You don’t know how.” With a nervous nod from henchmen, Villain snapped “You are incompetent. Fine, I’ll take care of it.”

She stormed out, swinging the door shut behind her. She didn’t notice the web attached to the handle, which allowed Peter to keep the door cracked open secretly.

“Okay, I’m sorry but we really got to get going. Can you stand?” When you didn’t answer right away he looked over at you to check if you were still awake, your dazed eyes meeting his. Dread pitted at the bottom of his stomach. His tone softened calling out your name quietly. He reached out cupping the back of your head, silently assessing for any major wounds. You responded, throwing a thumbs-up in the air quickly before dropping your hand on the ground “Mhmm, course I can stand. We gotta go?”

“Yep, we gotta go. We need to get away from the villains remember? Alright, here we go. Nice and easy.” He kneeled beside you for a moment, to slide one arm under your shoulders and the other under your knees. Once the hold felt stable, he slowly stood up. You gasped, not expecting the sudden movement. You squirmed, pushing a hand weakly at his chest “Let go. ‘m fine.”

He scoffed at your definition of ‘fine’ but offered a simple “Just relax honey, I’ve got you. We’re gonna go home now.” His grip tightened around you when you took his instructions very literally.

He could hear numerous heartbeats in the building, but since Iron-man’s arrived the number has been steadily dropping. He breathed out in relief and got to work. It was interesting to say the least, most of his missions he didn’t have a running commentary as he fought. “I’m so serious Peter. Listen to me. Why would you hide your abs from the world. Y’should fight the evil people without a shirt. Sometimes.” His cheeks flushed muttering under his breath “Oh my god, we need medical assistance right now”.

“Hate the little evil freaks. Not cool… Its like Luke yaknow. Would never do that to you.”

He furrowed his eyebrows looking down at you to ask “You would never do what to me?” He assumed you meant Luke Skywalker, but he was having trouble connecting the dots on where your mind went with the last part of your sentence. He was proven correct about his Star Wars guess when you forcefully grabbed his hand that was around your shoulders. “If I’m ever evil, I’ll let you keep this.” “Oh. Thank you.”

#marvel #peter parker #spider man #spiderman x reader #peter parker x reader #hero x civilian #peter parker fic #injured reader #tom holland #andrew garfield #tobey maguire

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oldwritingm · 5 months ago

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not sure if you need like a scenario or not but if you do can you do like lloyd and an idol reader (male preferable but gn is fine) like facing the very slight minor inconveniences when going on a date (romantic)?

have a lovely day!

Yaay I LOVED this concept!! I may have exaggerated the "inconveniences" a little though hehe ^^"

Word count: 1.1k

Ninjago - The Idol and The Green Ninja (Lloyd) (700 follower event)

“You know, you really didn’t need to do this.”

“Of course I did! Couldn’t have you going out there with your stage makeup.”

“Yeah, but you could’ve just taken it off. You didn't have to put on makeup again."

“Y/n, you’re so handsome. The most handsome. But I make you even more handsome.”

You chuckled, shaking your head at your makeup artist as she paused to tilt your face side to side.

“Besides, you’re going on a date with the Green Ninja. You need to look—”

“Gorgeous, as always,” a smooth, gentle voice interrupted, attracting both of your eyes to the open dressing room door.

There stood your boyfriend Lloyd, looking sharp in a collared shirt and slacks. In a gloved hand he held a bouquet of your favorite flowers, and on his face he wore a polite smile.

Your makeup artist bolted up, murmuring a nervous greeting followed immediately by a farewell as she scurried past him.

You sighed, taking the clothing protector off your chest and making your way over to your boyfriend.

“Thanks, Lloyd. She’s a great makeup artist, but she can be a little… overbearing.”

“Yeah, I know,” Lloyd laughed, squeezing your hand. “You look amazing, though.”

He wasn’t just looking at your face; his eyes wandered up and down your form, admiring every inch of you in the purest amore.

“Oh, stop. Look at you! You’re gonna be turning some heads.”

Now you both laughed—of course you would both be turning heads anyway, being two of Ninjago’s biggest celebrities.

You both loved what you did, but it made something as simple as a date night next to impossible. The moment you left the studio you were already getting looks, and by the time you were in the streets you could see cameras flashing indiscreetly in the dark.

“Paparazzi?” Lloyd murmured.

“Nah. Just people forgetting that the flash turns on automatically when it’s dark,” you snickered, winking at Lloyd.

“Heh. Well, we’re almost to the restaurant, so maybe our luck is—”

“Y/n! Oh my—you’re my idol! And is that Lloyd Garmadon? Wow! Are you guys… together?”

You glanced at each other, then back at the ogling fan in front of you. Lloyd gave a shy nod; the fan flipped out.

“Oh—wow—oh my—ah, can I please get a photo of you guys?”

You had to admit, it was sort of cute when people lost the ability to speak in front of you. Apparently Lloyd was thinking the same thing, because you shared an amused smile before separating to let the fan stand between you.

“Thank you… oh wow. Y/n and the Green Ninja are dating!” The fan scurried off in a fit of giggles.

But they had spoken a little too loud, and now the heads that had turned were flocking towards you two.

“I think you jinxed us,” you teased, poking your elbow into Lloyd’s ribs.

As these things went, it was almost ten more minutes before you could push through the crowd into the restaurant a mere few yards away. Luckily the place had a bouncer, and once inside you were safe. Well, safe enough. Of course the waitress wanted a picture before she took you to your booth, and a couple other restaurant-goers wanted one too. But by the time your food arrived you were quite alone.

“So, how was work?”

You smiled. “You should’ve seen the makeup I was wearing before you came in. I think Jay would’ve liked it.”

“Jay likes anything flamboyant. Or glittery. So which was it?”

“Both, actually. I think I still have glitter in my eye.”

“So that explains the stars in your eyes.”

You blushed, looking down bashfully. “You smooth-talker.”

“Only for you.”

“Pish posh. How was saving the world?”

“The usual. Some kicks here, some punches there… run of the mill stuff.”

“Fair enough.”

The topic might’ve seemed boring, but that was what you liked about discussing it with Lloyd. Anyone else would’ve asked for more details, excited by the notion of being a ninja or a celebrity. But you understood each other; you knew you didn’t want to go into too much detail, because to you it was, as Lloyd put it, “run of the mill stuff.” Nothing worth discussing more.

“Did you see they’re reprinting the Starfarer special edition from three years ago?”

“Are they?!”

“Yeah! I’m totally going to buy it. Well, I can actually get it for free, since I saved the comic book shop that one time. Free comics for life, he said.”

“Oh, I’m so jealous.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get one for you too.”

“You get me,” you grinned, cupping your hand over Lloyd’s on the table. This was what you liked to talk about.

“Actually, on that topic, I heard word floating around that some director was thinking about maybe making a new Starfarer TV series.”

“Really? Oh, they better not mess it up. I’d be so mad.”

“I’d burn the studio down myself.”

“I’d help! I know a guy who’s good with fire,” Lloyd snickered. “Speaking of Kai… the distraction should be in full swing by now. Let’s get the check and book it.”

“Distraction?” You raised an eyebrow.

“I had Nya dock the Bounty outside the restaurant. Kai’s showing off to keep the crowd distracted.”

“Oh, bless him,” you sighed, relieved.

“Movie at my place?”

“Hmm… better go with mine. Can’t risk braving the crowd to get on the Bounty.”

“You’re right; I hadn’t thought of that. Let’s go, then.”

You could see bright bursts of fire shooting into the air when you stepped outside. Not a single head turned as you shimmied discreetly along the building past the crowd, and once you were clear of the masses you began to run, hand in hand, down the dark street.

You could hear your names being called occasionally, and you’d wave, but you didn’t stop running. Not until you reached your place, and by that time you were both a sweating, wheezing mess.

“Why do you look so out of shape? You’re the ninja in the relationship,” you joked, straightening yourself.

“Man, don’t make fun of me,” Lloyd pouted.

“I’m sorry, sugar.” You tilted his chin towards you, planting a kiss on his lips.

He hummed, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you closer. You could feel his heart hammering in his chest; but it wasn’t slowing down as you continued to kiss him.

At last you parted, faces still so close your noses were touching.

“So, uh, movie?”

“Plus cuddling,” Lloyd insisted.

“Not in these clothes. Let’s change into comfies.”

Fortunately Lloyd had a few articles of his own at your place (totally not because he let you “borrow” them and you never gave them back), and so you both donned your pajamas and settled in for a movie.

“Finally alone,” you sighed, leaning against Lloyd.

“Finally,” he agreed.

Honestly, you didn’t remember the movie at all. The only thing you remembered from the rest of that night was the feeling of Lloyd’s breath on your cheek, his arms around you, and the overwhelming comfort of relaxing against each other.

Thank you so much for taking part in the event! And thanks for reading, take care duckies <3

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago x reader #lloyd garmadon #lloyd garmadon x reader #lloyd x reader

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arminsgffr · 9 months ago

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Smoking by the window

Armin x reader

Disclaimer: reader smokes, actually don’t know if vaping is considered smoking, but you get what I mean. modern au, idk

I wanted to portrait how Armin doesn’t want people to kind of idealize him as this pure boy, who is not able to even kill a mosquito. Who doesn’t ever do bad things on purpose. And how he wants to be abke to be the protector and not the protected.

This is my first post. English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance if there’s any misspelling. Hope you enjoy!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

The universe is so big. We’re basically nothing. Little stupid things. Minuscule. It’s kind of a triggering thought, to know you don’t really matter, and that it doesn’t really matter what you do in this world. But then, you can use it as an excuse to do whatever you want, right?

Smoking by the window is a thing now. A thing that I do when I’m overwhelmed, or numb, or bored, or… existing. Even now, that Armin is asleep beside me, I couldn’t help the desire of taking out my vape and use it. It’s two in the morning, the perfect hour. That feeling of nothingness emerged so suddenly, I’m starting to like it at this point. The vapor coming out of my lips is pretty. I look down my side, Armin’s prettier. He looks so peaceful, relaxed. I can’t believe he ended up with someone like me. Someone with a lost future, when he has such a bright one. I inhale, again and again, till getting a little dizzy. I actually have grown really fond of the feeling.

— Honey…? — I hear Armin say, sleepy. He’s trying to open his eyes. — What time is it? —

He sited on the bed, with his beautiful eyes not fully open, tired back, looking at me with a confused face, trying to figure out what was happening. He looked really cute.

— Oh, shit, sorry. Did I wake you up? — I said in a low voice.

— Not exactly… — He made a pause. — What are you doing? —

—Just vaping a little bit, I was about to go back to sleep, anyway. —

He giggled, more awake. — We both know that’s not true. — he said, with that expression he made when he was saying something ‘obvious’. I just smiled at him. — Can I try? —

— What? — I said a little shoked.

He let out a little, soft laugh. — Can I try? — He repeat it, slowly, pointing at the vape in my hands.

— Are you sure? I don’t really want you to, I got to be honest. What if you like it? — I said with a worried tone.

— What if I like it? — He thought there was really nothing totally wrong. Well, maybe he did, I can’t speak for him.

— I don’t want you to like it. —

He didn’t reply, he just left silence. I could tell he was thinking. I get why he would want to try, but no. He can’t go down that path.

— You treat me like I’m a fragile… pure thing. I’m not. I’m a person. — The golden like hair boy said.

— Yeah, and as a person, I don’t want to fuck up yourself. You know I’m not the best influence. —

— Fine. But really, don’t treat me like I don’t do anything wrong, and like you’re gonna spoil me. —

— But, what if I do? — I really resented having such a screwed life.

— Honey…— He got closer to me, taking me in he’s arms. — You won’t, I promise. I love you. —

— I love you more. — I said, looking at him.

We just stayed like that a little longer. I was falling asleep, when he realized and laid my head down, still hugging me. He took the vape from my hands and put it in the nightstand. He was so warm and comfortable to hug. He moved me closer to him, while resting his head, softly, on top of mine. He was holding me like a porcelain doll, with al the caring and welcomeness of the world. Like I was he’s most precious treasure, but still a person to care about.

— You are the one who deserves to be treated like a fragile, not thing. I want to be the one that looks after you and protects you. Please let me. — He said, softly and loving. I just hugged him tighter and, indeed, let him. And for a moment. For that moment, everything stopped feeling so meaningless. Instead of knowing we were all stupid nothings, I genuinely believed that it was just Armin and me in all universe. And that I wasn’t that meaningless either. I was something in Armin’s life, apparently. So I’m gonna make sure I’m a good something for him.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

A really short thingy, but I guess is not that bad for being the first one shot. Anyway, hope you liked it :)

#aot #aot fluff #armin arlert #armin aot #armin x reader #fanfic #fandom #armin fluff #armin x reader fluff #snk #snk armin #snk fluff #one shot #aot oneshots #armin x you #armin imagine #armin x y/n

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chloeriversongwrites · 2 months ago

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[Angst To Fluff] Fenn Rau X Teen Daughter! Reader Father's Care

[Name] lays in her bed while she rests after long training with a trained commando that her father had instructed her to train with, however, the training didn’t go well for the [Hair Length] [Hair Color] girl. “[Name]? Are you in there?” Her father asked as he knocked on the door, making her sit up straight as she felt pain in her shoulder. “Yes Father, you can come in.” She replied to her father.

Fenn Rau came inside his daughter’s room and noticed how clean and neat it was, being reminded of her mother. “Come, dear daughter, I think you're ready to forge your armor.” He knew that she was training and pushing herself to improve herself and that she was ready to take part in being a Protector of Concord Dawn, however, he didn’t want her to be in harm’s way.

It’s been known that he’s becoming a protective father since [Name] is his only daughter, not wanting her to be in danger if her fighter has been shot down or a rival clan has threatened her to get to him. Fenn Rau had lost his wife and the mother of his daughter to a rival clan when she went on a mission and never came back, only her squad had escaped when she held the rival clan back.

[Mother’s Name] made him a happy man when they got married and had their daughter, remembering her [Mother Length Hair] [Mother’s Hair Color] and her [Mother’s Eye Color] eyes staring at him. “Dad? Are you okay?” [Name] asked her father while she stared at him with her [Eye Color] eyes, making him snap out of his thoughts. “Yes, I’m fine.” He replied while rubbing her head.

Both the Daughter and Father headed to the forging area where the Protectors had their armor fixed or forged their own, sometimes the progress takes a long since Mandalorians put symbols of creatures that mean strength or a clan’s symbol on the forehead of the helmet. [Name] had some common sense to have her armor match with other clan members and the clan leader’s armor.

Some of the Protectors had greeted their leader and his daughter when the two crossed their path, making them greet back while the two headed to the forge. “We’re going have to measure you before you start forging your armor.” Fenn Rau knew his daughter was only a teenager but it would be a good measure before forging armor.

Cries had woken up Fenn Rau from his peaceful slumber and looked at the crib where his daughter was sleeping, removing himself from his bed and going to check on his daughter who may be having a teething problem or just hungry for that matter. The young father picks up his wiping daughter and holds her, smoothing while rubbing her back as he goes to get milk.

[Name] calms down when her father gives her a bottle of milk, meaning that she has been hungry after having her peaceful slumber. Her father carried her back into the room to sit down on the rocking chair, having no mother due to a certain clan having shot down her mother’s fighter when she was defending her squad London from enemy fire.

[Name] shook her head at the thought of her childhood and hearing news of her mother’s death when she got older, going through training and learning how to fly a fighter, only doing these things to seek out revenge against the rival clan that killed her mother and other clan members of clan Rau; keeping things a secret from her father and the others.

A Yelp escaped from the young [Skin Tone] teen and looked up to her father who had to put his hand on her shoulder, sighing softly as she felt her heartbeat go back to normal. “Is everyone okay?” Fenn Rau asked his daughter with a curious look but mostly a worried one. “Yeah, just thinking about things.” She replied as her father measured her.

Forging armor had been a tradition for Mandalorians and their families who became warriors or bounty hunters, finding some armor that fitted her and her helmet as well. [Name] started to use [Favorite Color] and [Second Favorite Color] on the armor that had the symbol of clan Rau on the forehead of the helmet, some colors have meanings to them along with the sigil of each Mandalorian clan.

After putting her armor together and painting it, the young teen tried it on while holding the helmet. “You do have good taste in art.” Fenn Rau looked at his daughter who had her armor on, knowing it was time for her to be part of the Protectors of Concord Dawn, taking a deep breath before speaking to a child. “You’ll be part of the Protectors now.” He kissed her forehead to give her luck.

#Star Wars Rebels Reader Insert #Star Wars Rebels X Reader Insert #Star Wars Rebels X Reader Oneshot #Reader Insert #Fenn Rau X Reader Insert #Fenn Rau And Reader #Daughter Reader #Oneshot #Short Story

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waitingandwishing · 2 months ago

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The Clay Girl - The End of 'Em'

(Cross posted on Wattpad and AO3)

Prev - Next Chapter

“Hey, Grover… Something wrong?” Odyssa asked, placing a hand on Grover’s shoulder. His eyes were watery as he smiled slightly at the statue in front of him.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m alright.” He sniffed and Odyssa gave him a tight hug.

“You’re a good satyr protector, y’know that?” Odyssa asked and Grover nodded. She placed both of her hands on his shoulder, “You’re a good friend too. You’ve been trying to keep this whole thing together while it was falling apart. Annabeth and Percy may not see it but they’ll appreciate it when they realize what you’ve done for them.”

“You’re a good friend too. You’ve been nothing but nice and kind like always.” Grover smiled, “You didn’t have to stay up that late, y’know?”

“I was on patrol. I got about thirty minutes before we woke up. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” She said with a tired smile and Grover shook his head.

“This time, we’re taking turns.” He said and Odyssa nodded.

“What is it?” Annabeth asked, appearing downstairs with Annabeth.

“Uncle Ferdinand.” Grover swallowed.

“Oh, no… Grover, I’m so sorry.” Percy stood beside him.

“This is as far as he got on his quest. We aren’t even to Trenton. But look at him.” Grover chuckled softly, “He’s not like the others, he… He doesn’t look afraid.” The satyr smiled softly before clearing his throat, “You used the, um, you used the head to get rid of Alecto?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. That was the right move. Uh, we probably should get going. It’ll be dark soon.” Grover wiped his eyes and Odyssa patted him on the shoulder.

“Fengári,” Odyssa said and her bow and arrow turned back into a necklace. She laced it around her neck before looking at Percy, who was already staring at her. She smiled and Percy smiled back before almost dropping the head.

“Uh, so, what are we gonna do with the head?” Percy asked, “I just took down a Fury with it, and I wasn’t even trying. We can’t just leave it for someone to find. Leave the hat on and bury it in the basement, that oughta keep it safe.”

It was funny because Percy was named after Perseus, who used Medusa’s head to kill his enemies. History always repeats itself, huh? Odyssa turned to Annabeth and the girl shook her head. She knew how much that cap meant to her, she was willing to sacrifice it for the sake of the mission though.

“Sure.” Annabeth finally said, “Now, can we talk about the bigger issue here?”

“What bigger issue?”

“‘You could have saved your mother.’” Annabeth repeated the Gorgon’s words, “That’s what she said to you like you discussed it already. Is your mother still alive?”

“She’s with Hades. But I appreciate your concern.” Percy sassed and Odyssa sighed, again, when were they going to stop bickering?

“Guys, just please stop.” Grover sighed.

“Oh, I'm concerned. What are you actually doing on this quest? And why did I have to hear about this from Medusa?”

“Okay, while we’re at it, ‘You should have accepted my offer?’” Percy frowned, restating Alecto’s words. “What’s that about do you think? And why did we have to hear it from Alecto?”

“Enough!” Grover yelled.

“The hat was a gift from her mother. It means a lot to Annabeth.” Odyssa crossed her arms, “She may be willing to sacrifice it for the mission but I’m not willing to see her lose the only thing that connects her to her mother.”

“Okay, but how are we gonna make sure this thing is safe?” Percy asked.

“Mail it to Olympus. I mean, it’d be karma. She was going to mail us to Olympus after turning us into stone, y’know.” Odyssa pointed out and Annabeth shook her head with a sigh.

“And you, really? His mom’s alive. Can you imagine how confusing that must be for him? Feeling like he may have to choose between the fate of the world and the fate of the only person who's ever cared about him?” Grover scolded Annabeth.

“Why are you guys talking like this?” Annabeth asked, confused at Grover and Odyssa’s sudden anger.

“Because all day Odyssa and I have been trying to keep this quest on track without upsetting either of you!” Grover huffed, “But maybe things need to get a little upsetting before they move forward.”

Odyssa turned to Percy, “Anna asked you a question back in the woods, yet you never answered. What are you so afraid of?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You heard me.” Odyssa crossed her arms.

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do,” Grover interjected.

“You’ve been fighting with her, you’ve been fighting with me. And soon enough you’re gonna start fighting with Odyssa and she’ll start to fade out again.” Grover defended.

He was right, she’d been starting to fade in and out of her emotions more quickly than usual. Usually, it was when she was stressed or something overwhelming happened but nothing out of the ordinary really happened. She’d just been… Fading out.

“Because the Oracle said one of you would betray me. Okay?!” Percy yelled and Odyssa snapped her head to Percy.

“What?”

“‘You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end.’” Percy repeated the Oracle's words, “That’s the rest of what she said to me.”

Percy pointed to Annabeth, “I chose her because I couldn’t imagine we’d ever be friends.” Percy gestured to Grover, “I chose you because I thought if I can count on anyone to be on my side, no matter what, it was you.”

Percy turned to Odyssa, “I chose you because you were one of the only people who hadn’t shunned me out because I was the son of a stupid father who didn’t have time for his kid. Because you would burn the world for any of us. And now, I'm feeling so alone. I don’t know what to think or who to trust.”

Odyssa swallowed before nodding, he was right. As long as the people she cared about were, the world could go fuck itself. After all, what did the world ever do for her?

Percy looked at Annabeth, who looked down at the ground. “I didn’t mean it that way…”

“Alecto offered to help our quest if I gave you up to her,” Annabeth admitted.

“What did you say?”

Annabeth smiled slightly, “I killed her sister.”

“Medusa offered to help me save my mom if I turned on the two of you,” Percy admitted as well.

“And what'd you say?”

“I cut off her head.” He smiled and Odyssa chuckled softly.

“You didn’t choose to be demigods. We didn’t choose this quest. But we can decide that as long as the four of us are together, none of us are gonna be alone. And if we can’t do that, we might as well just head back to camp right now. 'Cause we won’t make it.” Grover reminded them.

Odyssa turned to Percy and Annabeth before thinking, “Well, like I said earlier, why not give Medusa a taste of her medicine?” She walked over to a desk and took out a box and a roll of tape, “She was going to send us back to Olympus as statues, why not send them her head? Hermes Express could help.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened at the suggestion, “Dessa, you cannot ship Medusa’s head to Olympus.”

“Why not?” Percy asked as he placed Medusa’s invisible head on the table.

“Because the gods won’t like it.”

“At all. 'At all' at all.” Grover added.

“Why? That’s what you do with dangerous stuff. Like batteries, you just send 'em back where they came from.” Percy grinned, looking at Odyssa.

“Personally, it’s more of a tribute,” Odyssa added as she opened a box large enough for Medusa’s head.

“Okay. Look, this is a bad idea. They will see this as impertinent.” Annabeth remembered and Odyssa thought for a moment before shrugging.

“We are impertinent.” Percy grinned before looking at Odyssa, “Right?”

“I wouldn’t say that… I would say more of… Mischievous.” She smiled.

“Yes, but we’re not.” Annabeth gestured to her and Grover.

“Really, very not,” Grover added.

“Look. Medusa tried to derail our quest. She’s got serious beef with your mom.” Percy handed Odyssa Medusa’s head. “When you look at it that way, this seems kinda like tribute or something, doesn’t it?”

Odyssa nodded, looking away as she uncapped the monster's head and quickly closed the boxes, “On the plus side, you can keep your hat.” She handed Annabeth her Yankee’s cap with a smile.

“Thank you.” Annabeth smiled.

“You’re my sister. We look out for each other.” Odyssa reminded her.

“So this isn’t exactly what I meant. By choosing each other.” Grover interjected and Odyssa shrugged. “There are actual dangers involved here that cannot be…”

Percy started to clap as Grover gave him a deadpan stare. “You're gonna sing the song, aren't you?”

Percy started clapping faster, Odyssa clapping as well and Grover rolled his eyes. “♪Oh, golly. The road’s gettin’ bumpy'. Consensus! ♪”

Odyssa laughed at the irony before catching herself, “Alright, well, I heard there was a train we could catch.”

“Where’d you hear that?” Annabeth asked.

“I took a glance at the map on the bus.” Odyssa said, “Anyways, from the train, we could probably get to Los Angeles in about… A few days?”

Percy and Grover looked at each other, “Alright, sounds good to me.” Grover smiled and Percy nodded.

_____________________________________________________

“Hey, you asleep?” Percy asked Annabeth, who was sleeping on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed. He was sleeping next to Odyssa, whose back was turned to him.

“Yes,” Annabeth answered after a long silence.

“You and Thalia were really close, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What was she like?”

“Why?”

“She was the last forbidden kid before me, right? She must've dealt with the same kind of stuff.” Percy said, trying to connect with the forbidden-turned-tree child of Zeus.

“She was tough. I mean, she knew she was a forbidden kid, she just didn't care. When Luke and Thalia found me, Luke cared for me right away. And when we found Odyssa, she was my sister. But Thalia… She made me earn it.” Annabeth explained.

“Is that why you give me a hard time?” Percy asked, “I gotta earn it with you too?”

Annabeth sighed, “Yeah. Maybe.”

“I gotta say, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.”

“What doesn't make sense to you?”

“The way you guys all talk. The way the gods want us to think. Gotta burn an offering to get a parent's attention. Gotta beat up on Clarisse just to get my father to admit he's my father. It isn't supposed to work that way.” Percy rambled, “People who are close to you aren't supposed to treat you that way.”

“You wanna know how I ended up alone on the road in the first place?” Annabeth asked. Percy stayed silent so Annabeth continued, “I started out as a gift to my father. That's how it works with Athena. We're born from a thought in her mind, and then given to a partner she feels connected to.”

“And for a while, I was treated like a gift. My father cared for me. He loved me. I knew it…” Annabeth reminisced, “Then he met a woman. They had their own kids. And to her, I-I wasn't a gift. I was a problem. So I left… I was seven.”

Annabeth swallowed, “It isn't the gods who think that way. It's everybody. But at least with the gods you know the rules. Show them respect and they'll be in your corner, no matter what.”

Percy nodded, turning his head to see Odyssa, “Does she always do that? Sacrifice her health for the mission?” He asked and Annabeth nodded though he couldn’t really see her.

“She’s always been like that. Too selfless for her own good, too focused on others safety that she ends up not caring about her own.” Annabeth explained, “She’s a good hunteress. But sometimes her emotions get in the way or just cease to exist. It makes her reckless.”

“Is the fading in and out thing known for that?”

“Zeus breathed life into her. She’s still perfectly human although sometimes the emotions are like bursts for her. They’re too loud and too strong for her to handle so they fizzle out before she can register them.” Annabeth explained, “At least, that’s what she always says.”

Grover groaned from the top bunk, rubbing his face. “You awake?” Percy asked.

“Well, I am now. Thanks.” The satyr snapped.

“Are you okay?” Percy asked.

“He's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough sleep.” Annabeth smiled fondly.

“‘He's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough…’ Nyeahh!” Grover mocked, still slightly annoyed.

“Wow,” Percy said. He was not expecting a grouchy Grover.

“You've never been on the road with him before. A little different than a froofy boarding school.” Annabeth grinned.

“Who's froofy? You're froofy. What's froofy?” Grover grumbled before sighing, “I think I need to eat…”

“Hey, Odyssa. Come on, we gotta wake up.” Annabeth snapped her fingers, leaning over to wake up Odyssa. The Artemis girl groaned before running her hand through her hair with a groan.

“Hey…” Her voice was soft and slightly raspy as she looked around with a slight smile, “How long was I out for?”

“Long enough to earn back those hours of sleep you lost.” Annabeth pointed out and Percy chuckled.

“Mhm…” She nodded as she stood up, stretching with a groan. “Alright, well, I’m gonna get ready…”

“Yep, see you at breakfast.” Percy smiled and Odyssa nodded, walking away with a stumble.

Annabeth turned to look at Percy, who was still looking at Odyssa walk away, before looking back at Odyssa with a knowing smile.

#pjo #pjo x reader #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #chb #camp half blood #artemis #medusa #athena #fanfic #fanfiction #luke castellan

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triscribeaucollection · 2 years ago

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Last Bastion of Honor

“C’mon, Kid, I promise it’ll be fine.” Len ruffled his hair, and Wally couldn’t help but lean into the gesture, both because it felt nice and he wanted more reassurance. “After a couple of days spent hanging out with the others, you won’t even want to come home by the time we’re finished moving house.”

The teen gave his mentor a flat look at that, making Len chuckle. Even so, they continued heading down the passageway to the zeta tunnel, which had already been adjusted to accept Wally’s entry. Normally, he wasn’t even allowed in this part of the Merry Men’s underground network - they liked to keep their Sprint Kid close and safe, after all. But with Slipstream literally digging out their base of operations, the protectors of Central City were relocating, and figured hiding Wally halfway across the country while they did so would be worth adding him to the teleportation system.

“Recognized, Citizen Cold, Zero-Four. Recognized, Sprint Kid, B-One-Zero.”

“Kid, welcome to Mount Honor.”

Impressed in spite of himself, Wally took a couple of steps forward to better peer around the massive cave. Hologram projectors dotted the walls, along with screens playing news stations, data feeds, assorted tracking stats, and so on. One side of the room had a modified floor with Mister Mirror’s hard-light projectors, probably for training purposes. Through open doorways around the perimeter, Wally could see a lounge, a kitchen, an armory, a robotics lab, a chemical workshop - all good things for an underground superhero base. There were also a couple of hallways leading elsewhere in the mountain, and he nearly set off to check them out before Len’s hand gently grasped his shoulder.

Jumping, Wally turned to glance up at his mentor’s face. “I know you want to explore, kiddo, but at least wait for your tour guide to show up, okay?” Wally nodded... and frowned, when a second glance around proved that there was not, in fact, anyone else present. He raised an eyebrow at Len.

The delay at least didn’t seem to be intentional, as the man frowned as well. Len raised a hand to tap at his earpiece, the other moving instinctively to the ice gun on his hip. “Citizen Cold to Mount Honor, anyone home?”

Wally couldn’t hear anything from the little piece of communications equipment, but judging by the way Len relaxed again, he guessed the man got a reply. A few moments later, he could hear the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.

“Citizen, sir! Kid!” Out from one of the hallways, a dark-skinned teenager with pale dreadlocks appeared, looking apologetic. “I am so sorry, I meant to be waiting when you arrived-”

“S’okay, Kaldur’ahm, no harm no foul,” Len reassured him. The tall boy nodded, but didn’t change his expression. “Alright kiddo, you want me to stick around while you settle in, or shall we make this a drop and run?”

Wally rolled his eyes and made a shoo gesture at his mentor. Snorting, Len ruffled his hair again, said goodbye to Kaldur, and headed back through the zeta tunnel. After a pause to shift the strap of his duffel bag, Wally glanced at the half-Atlantean he’d met twice before, who offered him a smile.

“It is good to see you, Kid,” he said. “Do you want to stow your things before I show you around?”

Considering it, the younger teen shook his head. Unperturbed, Kaldur just nodded.

“Well, as you can see, this is the main hub, where all matters of importance take place. Down this hall are the permanent bedrooms for the people stationed here regularly, and that one is the guest quarters and meditation rooms, and this way,” Kaldur pointed to the opening he’d emerged from, “Are the pool, the hangar bay, the external exits, and the garage. We also have a proper work-out room, a library, an observatory, and my favorite, the Grotto.”

Wally raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

“Come, I’ll show you.”

-Honor-

The Grotto, as it turned out, was insanely cool. Located in the deepest part of the mountain, it had a dry sandy floor dotted with the occasional seashell, glittering walls glowing with aurora-esqe lights, and some kind of sound system piping in soft echoes of the nearby ocean’s waves. There were also private little nooks and side rooms hidden in practically every corner. Seriously, someone could hide a couple dozen people in the Grotto, and unless an invader knew exactly where to look, they’d never be found.

“The whole mountain is shielded and lead-lined, of course,” Kaldur murmured as he and Wally wandered through the winding passageways. “But down here, there’s a concentration of the more delicate tech and passive magic, which makes it next to impossible to run a scan to find anyone. The ultimate hiding place, so to speak, if running isn’t an option.”

Probably a bad sign that Wally found that as comforting as he did.

When they headed back up, Kaldur showed him some of the other rooms he liked, including a viewing hall with magic windows that looked out onto beaches around the world, and finally back to the main hub with its attached kitchen.

“I was in a different timezone with my father before he sent me over to help you settle in,” the older teen explained when he started pulling things out of the cabinets and pantry. “So I feel past ready for dinner - would you like anything?”

A small part of him that was still Wallace Rudolph West wanted to shake his head, to avoid imposing, avoid being a nuisance. Wally firmly squashed it down, though, and nodded.

-Honor-

Kaldur turned out to be a pretty good cook, if his fish filets and grilled veggies were anything to go by. He also, by the end of their meal, somehow managed to get Wally completely at ease, sharing ridiculous stories about the shenanigans he used to get up to as a kid.

“-and of course, by the time my father got back, I’d managed to not only beach the submarine above the high water mark, but also cover it in blue and green paint!” Wally burst out laughing as Kaldur grinned, leaning so far over in his chair he nearly fell out of it. After getting his breath back, the younger teen straightened and wiped away the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes, then pointed at his host.

“Funny guy,” he said in a hoarse whisper. Kaldur’s eyebrows just about flew off his face, and he smiled so widely it had to hurt.

“Helps to have a receptive audience,” he replied. “Which, my father definitely was not.”

Snorting, Wally shook his head with a grin. A moment later he stiffened, when they heard the zeta tunnel power up.

“Recognized, Cheshire Cat, B-Zero-Two, Tigress, B-Zero-Three, Brave Bow, B-Zero-Four.”

“I wondered when they’d be getting back,” Kaldur murmured, getting to his feet. “Have you met the Hunter’s Trio, Kid?”

Wally shook his head, and warily followed the older teen out into the hub. Three newcomers were standing by the zeta tunnel entrance: a blonde girl his age arguing with a dark-haired young woman in a language he didn’t recognize, plus a red-headed dude who looked content to stay out of it.

“You are both terrible at making first impressions,” called Kaldur, striding towards them with Wally on his heels. The girls instantly cut off their argument, braids flying as they whipped their heads around to stare.

“Oh!” The older one exclaimed. “You must be the Sprint Kid - I’m sorry, we didn’t realize you’d already arrived.”

She held out a hand to him, which Wally gingerly grasped to shake, as Kaldur made introductions. “Kid, this is Jade, also known as the biggest mom-friend in the universe; her little sister Artemis, and their, erm, Roy.”

Wally blinked at the guy, who shook his hand after Jade. “Don’t mind Fish Boy, he’s still not sure how to say right off the bat that I’m Jade’s boyfriend and her sister’s brother.” That earned another blink.

“Ugh, you’re all ridiculous.” The second girl shouldered her way forward to also grab Wally’s hand, which made him feel inexplicably warm. “We’re all Huntsman and Challenger’s kids, and it’s nice to meet you, Sprint.”

Mustering his courage, as well as bracing for the pain, he coughed and whispered, “Wally.”

Bright gray eyes stared into his own, and then Artemis smiled, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. The warmth turned into a pleasant tingle. “It’s nice to meet you, Wally.”

-Honor-

“First rule of Mount Honor,” Artemis told him when she led Wally over to the lounge, as Kaldur went to clean up the remains of their meal and the other two young adults disappeared towards the guest rooms. “Never, ever set a prank that could be triggered by someone other than your intended target - no one will save you from the wrath of the accidental victim, and Lady Light keeps a running tally of who’s in trouble to pick her sparring partners from.”

Wally couldn’t help but wince automatically. He’d met the terrifying woman once when she came to collect Silver Skater for a girls night with Leopard and Harlequin, and knew she absolutely deserved her reputation as the fiercest hand to hand combatant of the Honor League. Perks of having a mostly-immortal father who’d mastered a bunch of fighting techniques over the centuries, or so he supposed.

“Second rule - prank wars are in fact allowed, but they can’t interfere with the Job, and you have to follow Jester’s code of conduct; the man’s got, like, an actual list he hashed out with Luthor, I’ll make sure you get a copy.”

Nodding, Wally wondered how long such a list must be - even people who didn’t buy into the Crime Syndicate’s propaganda knew the Jester had at least a few screws loose, and that Lex Luthor very rarely if ever managed to reign in the other man’s more... eccentric ideas.

“Oh, and second rule part two: don’t mess with Trick. Don’t prank him, don’t tease him, etcetera, etcetera.” Artemis gave a half shrug in reply to Wally’s questioning glance. “Jester’s orders, he doesn’t want anyone who isn’t him or Harlequin poking at his kid. Which, honestly, would seem reasonable to me, except that it’s coming from the guy who actively encourages us to have fun even at his own expense.”

That just made Wally frown deeper. He didn’t know much about the elusive Trick, who could best be described as Jester’s grim-faced shadow, and the desire to know why pranking him was off-limits piqued the boy’s curiosity.

Artemis distracted him from thinking about it, though, by going on. “Anyway, the third and final official rule is just to respect other people’s space. A lot of the folks who pass through or stay here have had more than their fair share of traumas, and everyone’s expected to be patient with them.” Her eyes glanced briefly to Wally’s neck, hidden by the high collar of his jacket, and softened. “I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with that one.”

Smiling bitterly, Wally shook his head. He blinked when Artemis reached to grab his hand, the warm feeling from earlier quickly returning.

“That means other people have to give you whatever space you need too, Wally,” she said softly. “So if anybody steps out of line, or it all just gets to be too much, let me know, okay? We can go hide in my room or the Grotto or something.”

He offered her a genuine smile at that, and got one back in return. Then the mountain’s electronic voice rang out, causing them to both jump and making Artemis retreat back to her own spot on the couch.

*Recognized, Bioship, C-One, Miss White, B-Zero-Six, Ultraboy, B-Zero-Seven.*

Wally frowned when the zeta tunnel didn’t ignite. Artemis clearly read the question on his face, because she stood and jerked her chin towards one of the hallways.

“Hangar bay,” the girl explained. “You want to go see an alien spaceship?”

Grinning, Wally hopped to his feet. And then, in a moment of daring, he turned and crouched, peering at Artemis over his shoulder to rasp, “Wanna run?”

She tilted her head, puzzled, before understanding dawned, and a delighted expression appeared on her face. Carefully, Artemis moved to hold onto him, her arms curling over Wally’s shoulders and collarbone while her legs wrapped around his waist. She held on perfectly fine as he straightened, but he tucked his hands down to brace her thighs regardless.

“Hold on,” he croaked.

And they were off.

Out of the main hub and down the hallways Wally ran, retracing the path he’d followed Kaldur on earlier. The trip only lasted a handful of moments, ten seconds at the most, but Artemis was laughing by the time they stopped in the hangar. She uncurled and dropped from Wally’s back, hands coming up to pat at her wind-ruffled braid.

“That,” the girl breathed, “Was awesome.”

Wally ducked his head with a grin. His throat started hurting something awful with just a few words, but the combined high of letting loose with his inner lightning and causing Artemis to laugh more than made up for it.

“Well, I don’t think I can top that, but this ought to be okay, huh?” He looked up at her words, and then followed her gaze to the white and red ship sitting on the other side of the room, a ramp just descending from its underside. Wally whistled, walking closer for a better look with Artemis right on his heels.

That forward progress came to a halt when he heard the sounds of an argument emerging from the ship.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Artemis muttered, “Can those two seriously not get along for one morning?” Down the ramp came two teenagers, one walking, one floating, both carrying assorted bags of groceries. The boy looked human, wearing a light blue shirt and black cargo shorts; the girl, decidedly less so, with her chalk-white skin and solid red eyes. Wally shuddered as the volume increased.

Artemis clearly noticed, because she gently squeezed his shoulder, before letting loose a shrill whistle.

The argument stopped mid-sentence, as the boy tripped and nearly fell flat on his face, while the girl shot higher into the air, her red cape flaring out like a cat puffing up its fur. Completely involuntarily, Wally snorted.

He regretted it when both the newcomers focused their attention on him.

“Guys,” Artemis said calmly, “This is Wally, the Sprint Kid. Citizen Cold mentioned he has anxiety issues, remember? So will you kindly shut the heck up.”

“My apologies,” the alien girl muttered, settling with both feet on the ground.

“Same here,” the boy added, shooting her a brief glare before focusing back on Wally and offering him a sheepish smile. “Uh, nice to meet you, Wally. I’m Conner, and this is-”

“M’gann M'orzz of Mars,” she interrupted, chin lifted in what could be called an arrogant manner - but Wally glanced briefly at her cape, wrapped close, and took it to be a defensive gesture instead.

“Hi,” he whispered, before coughing and rubbing at his throat. M’gann frowned, and a moment later, what felt like a cold hand brushed against the front of his brain.

*Is verbal communication painful for you?* The martian said without speaking. *I can establish a mental link, if that would make things easier-*

Wally’s widened eyes were apparently all Conner needed to guess at what M’gann was doing, because he immediately rounded on the girl, arms folded. “What did we say about not invading people’s heads until they’ve given their permission?”

“I’m not invading,” she snapped back, “I’m just asking him a question, you overbearing twit.”

“Oh, I’m the overbearing one? That’s rich coming from you-”

Artemis groaned as they launched into another argument, but shook her head when Wally bumped her shoulder, an apologetic look on his face. “Not your fault, dude, they’re just- like this.” He grimaced, and she let out a harsh bark of laughter, nothing at all like the earlier cheerful sound. “Yeah, I know. C’mon, let’s head back to the main hub, and hopefully these two will have gotten it all out of their systems by the time they follow us.”

Wally nodded, and they carefully tip-toed out of the hangar. He tried to offer to run them back again, but Artemis turned him down, taking hold of his hand instead as they walked back at normal speed. And, honestly, Wally liked that just fine too.

-Honor-

There were two girls hanging out with Kaldur in the kitchen when they got back, and Wally felt relieved to recognize one of them.

Raquel happened to glance up and catch his eye first, and promptly moved from where she was leaning against the countertop to come give him a fist bump. “Hey, little Sprinter! Nice to finally see you away from your entourage of mother hens.”

He grinned, shrugging, and she took a moment to ruffle his hair. Artemis continued past them to snag the other girl and tug her over for introductions. “Wally, meet Annataz; she comes over whenever her mentor’s busy with big magic stuff. Anna, this is Wally, he’s the Sprint Kid from Central City.”

“Hello,” Annataz greeted him, her face almost completely hidden behind a curtain of white hair. Wally smiled back, and nodded at her shawl with a thumbs-up. Besides the woven cloth looking incredibly soft, it changed color constantly, gently shifting through the entire visible spectrum.

“Oh, you think that’s cool,” Raquel beamed, “Just wait ‘til you see Anna’s wardrobe - an actual, literal wardrobe, enchanted to spontaneously produce whatever it is she feels like wearing.”

“It’s not that impressive...”

Artemis promptly reached up a hand to tweak the shorter girl’s ear. “Yes, it is, and you should be proud of making it,” she stated. Annataz just ducked her head further, but Wally managed to briefly spot her smile.

Kaldur ended up heading out after his third yawn, practically chased off by Raquel, who threatened to chuck her combat boot at his head if the boy didn’t go get some sleep. Artemis took the opportunity to throw together a couple plates of apple slices with peanut butter on top, which Wally restrained himself from taking too many of. He and Annataz made for quiet companions as Artemis and Raquel chatted, Jade popping in briefly to snag some sodas from the pantry and steal an apple slice. It... didn’t seem awkward though. Len had been right - Wally couldn’t help but feel comfortable in the relaxed setting.

But then an alarm went off.

Raquel was the first up and off the couch, making a beeline out the open doorway and across the main hall towards the suddenly glowing zeta tunnel. Artemis swiftly followed, and after sharing a wide-eyed glance, Wally and Annataz hurried after.

*Recognized, Trick, B-Zero-One.*

A much smaller figure than Wally would’ve expected came staggering through the tunnel entrance, bent almost double and clutching at his stomach. Raquel got there right as he dropped to his knees, catching the kid’s shoulders to keep him from falling over. “Trick, what happened?”

“Owl,” he coughed, blood dripping from between his fingers. “Owlman f-found the warehouse.”

Raquel swore, worse than Digger on the rare occasion he got into the good alcohol. “How bad did he get you? Where are Jester and Harlequin?”

“Not- not awful- he’s done worse.” A bitter little laugh slipped out as Raquel leaned the kid back to pick him up, her thick arms barely flexing as they slipped around thin shoulders and knobby knees. “I was the- only one at home- set the self- self-destruct, on, my way out-” His stilted words cut off with a pained groan.

“Crap,” Artemis breathed, typing furiously on an old-school flip phone. “That’s another League base gone - those bastards are getting way too good at finding us.” Wally hovered anxiously at her shoulder, uncertain of what he should be doing. Annataz had somehow already gotten to the infirmary station, pulling out a first aid kit for Trick as Raquel carried him over. Jade and Roy appeared, grim-faced and armed with a spear and bow respectively. They quickly checked in on the situation, before moving to take up positions on either side of the zeta tunnel entrance - Conner and M’gann and a no longer yawning Kaldur joined them, when those three showed up as well. Artemis, in the meantime, finished with her phone and moved to access some kind of computer built into the wall.

After a moment’s hesitation, Wally followed her.

“First they torched Leopard’s main safe house in DC,” the girl muttered to herself, “Then there’s a countdown on the Merry Men getting found, and now Jester’s place is gone...” Wally nudged her shoulder, and gestured to the base around them with a concerned expression. Artemis immediately went from furious to reassuring. “No, they won’t find us next. We’re in the middle of nowhere up here, no major cities or industry centers for them to want to dig their fingers into. And if the Syndicate isn’t actively working in an area, they don’t pay much attention to it.”

Even so, Wally nervously drummed his fingers against his thigh, unconsciously tapping into his speed without meaning to. Artemis caught him by surprise when she finished typing and reached to hold his hand with her own.

Maybe a minute later, the computer let out a soft chime, and the screen flickered to display a dude with some severely impressive scars slashed across his face. “Tigress,” the dude greeted, dark eyes flicking between the two teenagers. “And Cold’s young charge, I believe. What is the emergency?”

“Trick showed up about five minutes ago, bleeding and winded. He said Owlman found the Jester’s warehouse in Gotham - kid hit the self-destruct on his way out the zeta, but we don’t know if it successfully went off or not. The others are guarding this side in case any uninvited guests hack their way through.”

The dude’s face shifted from stoic to thunderous. “I shall inform Jester, and ask Luthor to check on the warehouse’s status. What is Trick’s current condition?”

“Stable,” Artemis answered, glancing over towards the infirmary. “Firework and Annataz are fixing him up. It didn’t look too bad, though, and he said he’s gotten worse before.”

“An unfortunately true statement for that child. Very well, then. Expect reinforcements shortly.”

“Thanks, Might.” The screen flickered back off, and Artemis shared a wry smile at Wally’s curious expression. “Valor Might. Guy’s even older than Ra’s al Malak. He used to be one of Superwoman’s prisoners before the League accidentally rescued him a few years back, and now he’s, like, the coolest history professor ever.”

As promised, more Honor League members soon showed up. Red Avalanche rumbled in with mechanical encouragement, followed shortly by Gold Lantern, and then Talia al Malak, the Lady Light, came striding through the zeta tunnel and took charge with brisk efficiency. She and Owlman were personal enemies almost as much as him and Jester - if anyone could manage to prevent the Gotham crime lord from getting inside Mount Honor, it would be her.

As more League members showed up, the kids drifted towards the edges of the room, and then closer to the infirmary. After getting his wounds bandaged, Trick had curled into a ball on the edge of the medical bunk, the slitted eyes of his domino mask giving no sign of where the kid was looking. Raquel kept up her post beside him, one hand on his shoulder, with Annataz tucked against her other side. Wally kept glancing between them and the main action in the center of the hub.

Once, when he looked back again, the smaller boy’s head shifted just enough to indicate he was studying Wally. The redhead offered a small, cautious smile, one hand coming up to tap briefly at the base of his covered throat. Trick apparently knew enough about him to recognize the indication of his hidden scars, the ones picked up when Slipstream nearly murdered Wally two years before, because something in his wary expression softened. They exchanged tiny nods, and went back to observing the League members adding new defensive measures to the mountain’s security.

When the zeta tunnel next activated, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Jester and Harlequin tumbled through without injury. Both Gotham heroes made an immediate beeline for the infirmary, prompting all the teenagers gathered there to back off a bit. Trick partially uncurled from his bunk in order to reach for them, hands shaking even as Jester gathered him up into a hug. Harlequin took a moment to check him over, thanking Raquel for the well-done bandages before she pretty much glomped on to her partner and their kid.

Something inside of Wally ached a little at the sight.

The next adult to approach was Huntsman, dressed in a uniform that looked just like the one Artemis wore, except different colors. His hair was the same light shade of blonde, too, and his eyes swept over the girl and her sister before doing a headcount of the others present.

“Alright, everybody,” the man announced, “It looks like we’re all clear for the moment. Luthor’s satellite confirmed the loss of Jester’s warehouse in Gotham, but there were no casualties, and no breach in security here, either.”

Several shoulders slumped with relief, Wally’s included.

“Considering that, and the fact we’ve been losing bases to the Syndicate at an alarming rate recently, the League wants to keep all of you here for the time being. If those bastards haven’t caught on to Mount Honor yet, it’s safer than anywhere else.”

Artemis took a step forward. “But Dad-”

“Don’t argue with me on this one, baby girl, we don’t know where they’re going to hit next.”

Jade moved to stand next to her sister, arms folded and gaze sharpened into a glare. “And how are we going to stop them?”

Huntsman sighed, pulling off his mask in order to rub at his forehead. “We’re working on it. Luthor’s got- I can’t call it a plan yet, but an idea. We need to steal something from the Syndicate first, and that’s going to take time and patience.”

“Stealing from the biggest crooks in the world,” Raquel hummed. “Sounds good to me. What is it?”

“Nothing you need concern yourself with, Firework.” Gold Lantern floated over to join them, and despite being a literal alien, his tired expression matched any other overworked human on planet Earth.

“Sinestro, come on.”

“No. This endeavor isn’t something we’re going to discuss anywhere but secure briefing rooms, and no one beyond those directly involved will have anything other than the sparsest of details.” His eyes slid oh so briefly towards M’gann. “The Martian Manslayer is no longer isolating himself, apparently fully recovered from the injuries Psidney and Madam Hornet were able to inflict last fall.”

If Wally thought the girl’s tightly wrapped cloak earlier had been an indication of her feeling defensive, it was nothing compared to how tight the fabric pulled at Lantern’s words - it even visibly hardened into an actual shell. Standing behind her and slightly to one side, Conner’s face spasmed, and he started to lift a hand towards her shoulder, only to pause and awkwardly pull it back down before actually touching the girl.

“Stingray’s been contacted,” Huntsman spoke up again. “As soon as repairs to the Atlantean refugee camp are finished he’s going to zeta in and look over the mountain’s underwater entrance for us. Clarion and the Coven are still busy dismantling the Spire of Fate to get rid of that cursed helmet, but once that’s done they’ll come here to rest and check in with you, Annataz.” The girl nodded, appearing relieved, as did Kaldur beside her. Then Wally straightened when Huntsman looked in his direction. “We were only briefly able to get in touch with the Merry Men, enough to let them know the disturbance has been handled, but there’s no telling how soon they’ll be in a position to cut someone loose to come over.”

Wally grimaced, shaking his head. He gestured to himself and gave a thumb’s up, then pointed towards the zeta tunnel entrance and made a slashing motion. Off to one side, Roy snorted. “Pretty sure the Kid thinks he’s fine, old man.”

Huntsman’s lips twitched into a small smirk. “Be that as it may, they are going to send someone eventually.” Wally huffed.

After that, everybody began to slowly disperse. Artemis and Jade both cornered their dad against a wall to speak with him in low tones; M’gann took off for the hangar with Conner watching her go, whereas Kaldur wandered back towards the bedrooms, yawning once again. Raquel activated her space-tech flight suit in order to help Lantern adjust some things inside the ceiling of the main hub, and Roy headed for the armory, a pensive expression on his face as he counted through the arrows in his quiver.

Trick of course stayed put in the infirmary, Harlequin running her fingers through his short hair and Jester laughingly telling a story about some corrupt police officer he pantsed on live tv. Wally didn’t really want to hang around them just by himself, so he ended up following Annataz into the kitchen.

She spent a minute rummaging through some cabinets, before turning around and jumping. “Oh! S-sorry. Didn’t see you. Um.”

Wally just waved off the apology, then pointed to the supplies cradled in her arms. “Want help?” He managed to rasp.

Annataz pulled out a shaky smile. “Um, sure. Thanks. Have you ever made apple pie before...?”

-Honor-

Life, as always, went on.

Various Honor League members came and went from the Mountain, including Jade, which Wally could see bugged Artemis to no end. Roy apparently also had permission to leave, being eighteen, but the most he ever did was make snack runs down to Harpy Harbor for different kinds of junk food. Wally managed to catch the older redhead alone after one such trip, and hesitantly asked him about it.

“...I used to work for the Crimson Archer,” Roy eventually said, standing in the pantry with a jar of peanut butter still in his hands. “I’m not- obviously, it’s not something I’m proud of. But I was living on the street, and he- he seemed like a better option than the low-level gangs or- other things.”

Wally waited as the guy struggled to put his words together.

Finally, the jar went onto a shelf with a thunk, and Roy turned around to fully face him. “It’s not because I’m still afraid of him, okay? When the League needs some extra long distance support, I’m there. But if they don’t ask, then I- I feel like I need to keep an eye on Artemis.” Something in his tense expression softened. “It was her and Jade’s mom who got me out. Challenger. She gave me something to want more than always flinching under Oliver’s thumb.”

Slowly, Wally nodded. “I get it,” he whispered.

Roy studied him for a long moment, before slowly nodding. “Yeah. I guess you would. You, me, Trick, Annataz - we all started out on the wrong side, before someone here managed to bring us back to the light.”

From the hints Artemis dropped into their conversations, Wally had learned that Trick used to be ‘Talon’, one of Owlman’s pet assassins. But she hadn’t said a word about- “Anna?”

“Mmhm. Her father’s Giovanni Arataz, Kid; the Witchdoctor.”

Oh. No wonder Annataz stayed so quiet all the time. If he had a parent dedicated to dark magic and blood rituals, Wally probably wouldn’t have spoken up to draw attention to himself even before his throat got cut.

“I guess we could add Conner to the list too,” Roy mused, returning to his bags of groceries. “Ultraman technically was making clones of himself to become new lieutenants, until Luthor sabotaged the whole thing and stole the last one.”

“But it’s not like I ever actually did anything for that sociopath.” Wally jumped in his seat as Conner himself walked into the kitchen, a bemused expression on the tall boy’s face.

“Yeah, okay, fair enough. Want something? We’ve got graham crackers and cinnamon sticks, dried jerky, mixed nuts, I think I grabbed a bag of marshmallows-”

“Oreos?”

Roy’s eyebrows went up, but he nodded towards a bag on the end of the counter. Conner thanked him, took out one of two packages, and walked back out the door. Wally made a questioning noise. “...if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s taking those straight to M’gann. I always get a second thing of Oreos for her, and the other one stays in the pantry for the rest of us.”

Wally thought back to Huntsman’s mention of the Manslayer, when Conner almost but not quite reached for the martian girl’s shoulder, and figured it to be a pretty decent assumption. She’d barely emerged from her bio-ship at all since then, causing Artemis and Raquel to frown with concern every time they passed the hangar.

A single package of cookies might be a small thing, but maybe it would be enough to draw her out some more.

-Honor-

Trick first managed to scare the snot out of him when Wally was in the gym early one morning, stretching out his kinked muscles following a hundred-lap run. “I have a question.”

Wally immediately sucked in a sharp, startled breath, freezing partway through the act of standing up. His heart rate, slowing down after the run, instantly leapt back to full sprinting power, and it took a long moment for him to wrestle down the impulse to bolt out the nearest exit. Once back in full control of his faculties, Wally oh so cautiously tipped his head back, to stare at the figure perched on one of the overhead trapeze swings.

Several questions of his own leapt to mind: how long have you been up there; how are you keeping that swing so perfectly still; how did I completely fail to notice you, like, at ALL-

And yet, he only managed to croak out a very wheezy “What?”

Smooth as a bird taking flight, Trick tipped off his swing to drop towards another, hands outstretched. From that he jumped to the nearby bar set, did a couple of loop-de-loops with his whole body, then flipped off to land silently next to Wally. “The League files say Slipstream has a serum he needs to take every day to maintain his super speed; but you don’t, according to the Merry Men. Why?”

Wally forced himself to gulp a couple of times before answering. “Stole, a sample. Lightning. Coma. Woke up, ran.” That said, his throat immediately erupted into a coughing fit.

Trick hummed, swaying slightly as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, waiting for the coughs to subside. “So the combination of lightning hitting the serum either mutated you, or woke up a dormant metagene. Very asterous. Hey, as long as you’re here, want to spar?” Wally’s eyes dropped from the other boy’s masked eyes to his stomach, and the bandages barely discernible underneath the dark blue tank top. He frowned, and Trick huffed. “It’s fine. I sparred with Jester yesterday!”

A single eyebrow went up, because Wally very much doubted that, or at least doubted how much strength Jester actually put into his hits. He rubbed at his sore throat, glanced at the nearby mats, and lifted one shoulder in a small half-shrug.

Trick promptly grinned, just wide enough to look creepy rather than reassuring. “Thanks! I promise you won’t regret it.”

...fifteen minutes later, Wally very much did regret it, because even while injured Trick managed to kick his butt six ways to Sunday. Seriously, the smaller boy barely seemed to move at all, yet Wally repeatedly found himself with a foot in his face, or two slamming into his chest, or a leg sweeping his own feet out from under him. Possibly the most embarrassing was the final take-down, when Trick did, literally, kick Wally in the butt to knock him over, before jumping onto his back as he fell and curling an arm around the redhead’s throat when they hit the ground.

Wally froze. Trick paused, his limb almost but not quite touching scarred skin. “...if I was who I used to be, this is probably how I’d kill you.”

Yeah. Wally didn’t doubt that. According to what he’d heard about Gotham, one didn’t become a member of Owlman’s Made Men without being trained in the most gut-punching, trauma-filled ways to kill individual targets: someone with a fear of heights, dropped off the side of a building. An alcoholic drowned with their drink of choice, or a hacker electrocuted by their own equipment.

Somebody who survived a debilitating injury, wounded in the exact same place to finish the job.

He took a small, shallow breath. Then, Wally reached up behind his shoulder, pinched at the tip of Trick’s nose, and pulled his hand away with his thumb tucked in between the index and middle fingers.

After a startled beat, Trick snorted. “Did you just steal my nose?”

Wally grinned, tipping his head enough to make sure the smaller boy could see. Trick started to giggle, which escalated into a full blown evil cackle, and he dramatically rolled off Wally’s back to flop onto the mat beside him. “How could you! Such betrayal! I will never recover from this, why, SK?”

Snickering softly, Wally turned onto his side and dramatically held the pilfered ‘nose’ aloft. “Souvenir.”

Trick wheezed, curling up into a ball as he shook with laughter.

-Honor-

Later that same day, Wally almost suffered a second heart attack when Harlequin cornered him in a hallway. The warning Artemis gave about don’t mess with Trick suddenly leapt to mind, and the teen winced, very aware he’d likely overstepped in the gym.

And yet, once she’d double-checked that they were alone, Harlequin beamed at him. “You’re a good kid, ya know that Sprinty? Avalanche showed me the security footage of ya playin’ with my little Trick this mornin’, and- he ain’t laughed like that with anybody ‘sides me and my Jay in a long time.”

...oh. Surprised, Wally could only offer a small shrug. Then he oofed when Harlequin grabbed him in a tight hug that could rival Grodd Gorilla’s for sheer arm strength.

“He’s had a hard time, our Trick,” the woman sniffed, when she stepped back again. “Jester tells everyone not t’ mess with him, ‘cause we don’t want somethin’ happening to make him snap, but- when folks find out he used to be Talon, they get scared, and wary. ‘S good to see somebody else act normal with him, though. So thank you. Anything you need, Sprinty, just let your Aunt Harleen know, okay?”

Wally nodded, and accepted another short hug, before Harlequin left him alone to enter the kitchen.

-Honor-

Three weeks following his arrival at Mount Honor, Wally finally got to see one of the Merry Men again. With their zeta tunnel out of commission for the time being, Digger apparently slipped out of Central City on foot and hitched a ride to El Paso, where Madam Hornet maintained a small base in order to keep in touch with a community of Bialyan refugees located there.

“OY,” the Australian hollered as he came through the teleportation device, duffel bag slung over one shoulder and hat tilted to a jaunty angle, “What’s this I hear about the Kid making a nuisance of himself?”

In the chemical lab, Wally groaned, letting his head drop to thunk against the metal table.

Raquel sniggered at him as she passed on her way to greet the new arrival. “Hi, Major Nuisance. You gonna be staying long?”

“Well, either until the week’s up, or our new digs are finished, whichever comes first. Come on out Wallaby, your favorite uncle needs a hug!” Rather than stand, or even lift his head off the table, Wally stretched a single hand up into the air and flipped the bird. Digger promptly roared with laughter. “Atta boy, Kid, stick it to the old people!”

Eventually Wally did, of course, set aside the formula he’d been tinkering with and come out into the main Hub, so Digger could wrap an arm around his shoulders and ruffle his hair into complete disarray. Raquel led the way to a guest room, where Wally hung around as the man settled his handful of clothes and gear. “All good?”

“Yeah, all good on the homefront,” Digger reassured him. “Hartley’s already working on plans for his next Underground Concert, and Lisa’s takin’ advantage of the move to expand her space for housing runaways. Jesse’s drivin’ Mick and Sam up the wall, same as usual, and would very much like to know when we’re gonna get our Sprint Kid back home safe ‘n sound.”

Wally rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help grinning. “Len? Mark?”

“Our good old Citizen in Chief is down to five hours sleep a night, but aside from that he’s doin’ alright, and I fully expect his dear sister’s gonna sit on him one day this week to make the drongo take a long nap. As for the one and only Storm Sage...” the man’s grin took on a distinctly predatory gleam, “Let’s just say Slipstream’s havin’ a heck of a time trying to crack open our old hideout without homemade lightning nippin’ at his heels.”

That deserved a double thumbs up, which made Digger chuckle.

-Honor-

Two days after the Major’s arrival, Luthor called everyone together in the Hub for an informal briefing.

Wally found himself standing with Digger on one side, Artemis on the other; the man’s hand rested reassuringly on his shoulder, and the girl interlaced their fingers, a gesture that sent electric tingles racing through his body. Several other mentors gathered with their kids and students around the large room, the few murmurs falling silent as Luthor took center stage to activate the hologram projectors.

First, an image of Earth. Followed by a second, which doubled into four, then eight, sixteen, and so on. “To begin: our world is but one of many. This is a simplified illustration of the multiverse - an infinite chain of separate realities. Some are different only in the subtlety of a few details, while others appear utterly unrecognizable. Earths that never developed the human race, or suffered massive extinction events to wipe all life away entirely. Places where technology is far more advanced, and others where magic remains the predominant power behind civilization. There are even worlds, such as on this Earth here-” Luthor selected a single image to highlight, “-with a complete inverse of heroes and villains.”

Wally blinked, not quite sure he understood.

“It’s pure chance our research into other universes turned this one up,” the inventor went on, “And we’ve decided to make the most of an available opportunity. A few of our allies have recently completed work on a device capable of transporting several people between universes, so long as it’s fueled by the correct power source. We’re planning to steal something called the Quantum Trigger, tonight, from the Syndicate. With it, I, Jester, and Lady Light, will travel to this nearby Earth, and request the local Justice League come back with us for a joint assault on the Crime Syndicate.”

...huh.

Alright, then.

---

To be continued...

#young justice #yj season 1 #crisis on infinite earths #earth-3 #dc #fan fiction #wip #tho to be fair this has been a wip for like. six years #it gets a couple pages longer every time I come back around #another six years I might actually have the next chapter written #x'D #hope you enjoy it Bite!

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fangirlwriting-stories · 1 year ago

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Protector

Chapter One

Chapter Forty:

After another day or so of bedrest, Virgil felt well enough to leave his room, though he still wasn’t doing too much. Everyone who wasn’t Remus seemed a little surprised to see him lounging about, but resting during the week after a death was very normal to him. It was dangerous to try and do too much too soon. The only difference was that he wasn’t doing all of the resting in his room behind locked doors.

It made him feel a tad less safe, in all honesty. But he knew logically that he was, and he didn’t want to feel unsafe in the commons, so now he was here.

Patton and Remus both talked with him quite a bit, though Roman seemed to be avoiding him, and Virgil hadn’t seen Janus since he woke up. He was trying not to think about either of those things.

Logan didn’t seem to be avoiding him, since they talked about casual things, such as whether or not Virgil was hungry, or if he needed another blanket or a drink or anything else. Remus was starting to joke that Logan was taking his job as Virgil’s caretaker.

But he and Logan hadn’t talked about it yet. The actual thing that they probably needed to talk about. Virgil honestly couldn’t decide how he felt about it. It was nice to have a break from talking about it, but that didn’t stop him from feeling like a second shoe was dangling over his head. Well, at least this one was a nicer distraction from the third and forth ones that were Roman and Janus dangling right next to it.

You would think he would be less stressed now that he didn’t have to worry about him or Remus getting sent back to dangerous situations anymore. Or maybe you wouldn’t. He was Anxiety for a reason, maybe he should have seen this coming.

But Logan seemed like an easier problem than Roman and Janus, and Virgil liked to put off his largest problems for as long as possible, so Logan it was.

“I mean, do you think I should bring it up first?” he asked, looking over at Remus from his spot leaning on the wall.

“I dunno. He offered to talk with me about it,” Remus said, from his spot hanging upside down from the ceiling. He’d tied a rope to his ankles in order to ‘look at this creative issue from another angle.’ Apparently Roman and him were working on an acceptance video. So Roman wasn’t avoiding Remus, at least. “He said he didn’t think isolating myself was a good idea. I don’t know why he’d change his mind with you.”

“Maybe it’s that we’re not really isolated anymore,” Virgil said with a shrug. “We both hang out with Patton, and I spend time with Logan and you and Roman do stuff together.”

“Maybe,” Remus agreed, chewing on his lip and bouncing slightly on the rope. “He hasn’t really talked to me again though. I wonder if I scared him off with all the snapping. That would be boring. I thought he had more of a spine then that.”

“I’d imagine it’s something closer along the lines of trying to give you space,” Virgil said. “That’s definitely what Roman and Janus are doing with me.”

“Do you want me to light fires under their asses? I can.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I’d rather deal with this first. I’m perfectly capable of lighting fires under their asses myself when the time comes.”

Remus snorted. “They better sleep with one eye open.” He swung his rope around so he was spinning slowly towards Virgil and they could talk face to face. “But I hate to break it to ya Teacher’s Tarantula, if you’re going to deal with this, you’re probably going to have to bring it up to him first.”

Virgil groaned and crossed his arms. “Why? Why can’t my problems solve themselves for me?”

“Because the universe is a cruel and unforgiving place where you get abandoned with sides that kill you and you have to communicate with other sides when you need to talk about something.”

“You would think one of those would be worse than the other,” Virgil grumbled. He sighed and pushed himself off the wall. “Fine, you have a point. I’ll… ugh, bring it up next time I see him.”

“Aww, it’s okay Virgil, I’ll let you repress your feelings and never bring up things that are bothering you,” Remus said, giving him a sympathetic smile that just looked weird from upside down.

“No you won’t.”

“You’re right, I won’t.”

And with that, Remus spun back around to focus on his idea again, and the conversation reached a stopping point.

Meaning Virgil was going to actually have to deal with this now. Goddammit.

…

It was nice that he and Logan had taken up their “sitting in the living room together” routine again. It was both one of the few things Virgil could actually do while recovering, and something that he’d deeply missed. He hadn’t expected the time he and Logan essentially sat around and did their own thing to become so important, but it really had.

Logan wasn’t researching for the next video. It was still very character driven for the time being, at least until Roman and Remus came up with a situation to use that wasn’t what had actually happened. Instead, he was just looking up stuff for fun. Today, Virgil was pretty sure it was deep sea fish.

Virgil had originally been listening to music over in his signature chair, but he’d set his headphones to the side a while ago, and was now trying to work up the courage to actually ask Logan what was on his mind. It hadn’t been working very well so far, and he wasn’t that surprised when Logan noticed.

“Anxiety?” he said, setting his notebook down and turning to face Virgil. “It seems like you want to talk about something.”

“What? Me? No, I was just wondering what you’re reading about,” Virgil said instantly, turning towards Logan’s notebook as if that was his goal.

Logan raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on Virgil’s reaction. “Ah, I see. Well, I was reading about deep sea fish. I did not think you would want to hear about it, as it is the kind of disturbing thing that can tend to distress someone.”

Virgil blinked. “I did grow up with Remus, Lo.”

Logan seemed to pause as he considered this. “Fair enough,” he admitted after a second. “In that case, would you like to see some pictures?”

“Sure,” Virgil said, hopping up to move over to the couch, more grateful for the reprieve than anything else.

The pictures were appropriately creepy, and Virgil made a note to show them to Remus later.

They both dove a little further down the rabbit hole looking at pictures before Virgil turned to Logan with a small smile. “Hey, teach?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for letting me do this again. I… I missed getting to hear about your interests.”

“I—” Logan cleared his throat. “I did not realize they were of such importance to you.”

“I like hearing you excited,” Virgil said quietly. “And I didn’t like how you didn’t think anyone else would want to hear from you.”

“I… see,” Logan said hesitantly. “I… have talked with Patton and Roman about that as of late, and they have been showing me something similar.”

“Good,” Virgil said, meaning it, and turning back to face the pictures they were looking at. “I’m glad you guys are talking.”

There was a moment where Virgil thought Logan was going to go back to scrolling, but then he shut the laptop and turned to Virgil.

“Uh, Lo?”

“Anxiety,” Logan said firmly. “You do not have to do that.”

“What?”

“I would not want you to spend your rest time checking on me, or anyone,” Logan said. “You should be recovering. You have been through… an ordeal.”

Virgil couldn’t help narrowing his eyes slightly. “Oh, have I? I’m surprised you know about it, seeing as you never want to bring it up.”

Logan blinked in surprise. “I… I wanted to give you the freedom to do so,” he said, sitting back. “I apologize. It was not my intention to ignore it.”

Virgil winced, and looked down with a sigh. “No, I’m sorry Lo. I figured that’s what you were doing. I just… didn’t know how to talk about it.”

“That is perfectly alright, Anxiety,” Logan said, sounding gentler. “It is not an easy thing to talk about.”

“I just… wanted to get it over with, really,” Virgil admitted.

Logan was quiet for a minute, to the point that Virgil’s mind started racing. Did Logan think he should be giving this more care? Should he have waited until he was comfortable instead? Oh for Thomas’ sake, Virgil didn’t know how to do this.

“Anxiety, I hate to be the one to break this to you,” Logan said. “But that’s not how this is going to work.”

Virgil looked up at him. “What?”

“This is not something you’re going to be able to move past after talking about it once. It’s going to be an issue for a while.”

“Oh,” Virgil said. “Oh, fuck Lo, that isn’t what I meant,” he said, waving his hands. “I… know that. Sort of, anyway. I just meant… it’s hard to have to wait to talk about it for the first time with everyone. It makes me feel like they’re pissed at me or something.”

Logan’s gaze cleared. “Oh, I understand,” he said. “And if that is the case, I am sorry that I did not approach you. I thought it was more important to give you the control in the situation.”

“Oh, I mean I would definitely not do well if everyone just approached me all the time and I never got to start things,” Virgil said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.”

Logan nodded slightly, looking thoughtful. “Let me clarify, then,” he said. “Anxiety, I did not bring anything up because I wanted to give you the chance to do so yourself. If you would like to discuss it, you need only say so. It will not bother me in the slightest, and you and Remus are both welcome to do so at any time.”

Virgil bit his lip. “Now?”

“Would you like to discuss it now?”

“I’m already here. It’s easier than working up the nerve a second time.”

Logan nodded. “Very well. What would you like to talk about?”

“Uh…” Virgil said, suddenly realizing he wasn’t quite sure where to begin. “I don’t know. I guess I just… well, I do want to say sorry for making you feel used.” He winced. “Even if you kinda were.”

“I don’t think that’s an accurate statement,” Logan said. “You told me just a few minutes ago that you enjoy our time together. Using a small amount of that time to ask for help is not at all using me.”

“I didn’t— I mean I—” Virgil bit his lip.

“You?”

“I started spending time with you because I was trying to get you to like me,” Virgil said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Doesn’t ulterior motives and all that kind of point towards using you?”

“You came to like me too, didn’t you?” Logan asked, with a slight upturn of his lips. “Technically I could then argue that I was using you.”

“What— Logan, that’s ridiculous.”

“I agree,” Logan said, raising an eyebrow. “Besides, you didn’t ask me anything that I didn’t answer after you ducked out as well.”

Virgil considered that for a moment. It was a fair statement. “Still. Sorry all of that started from a not so great place,” he said after a second.

“I do not feel that your apology is necessary, but if it will make you feel better, I forgive you,” Logan said.

Virgil swallowed. “Uh, thanks.”

“However,” Logan said, folding his hands together. “I do want to say that I am sorry you have gone through so much. Both Remus and you.”

“It’s not your fault, Lo,” Virgil muttered.

“I am not blaming myself. I am sorry that it happened. I am also sorry that you did not feel you could come to us. I hope you know now that you can.”

Virgil thought of Logan telling him that it was important for trauma victims to know they could talk with someone, even before he knew what exactly had happened to him. He thought of Logan immediately leaving the kitchen when he saw that he’d freaked Remus out by accidentally hurting Virgil.

He nodded. “I do,” he said quietly.

A tension released from Logan’s shoulders, and Virgil realized he’d been carrying that more than Virgil thought.

“Good,” Logan sighed. “I am relieved.”

“I don’t— I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about most of it yet though. I’m sorry, I know I said I wanted to, but—”

“Anxiety, that is perfectly understandable and alright,” Logan said, reaching out and putting a hand on Virgil’s knee. “I am not going to rush you.”

Virgil took a shaky breath. “Logan?” he said weakly.

“Yes?”

“Did you mean it when you told me it’s okay to need help?”

“Of course I did,” Logan said softly.

Virgil nodded. “Okay,” he whispered.

“I am very sorry it has taken us this long to start helping you.”

“I just— I think I just needed someone to hold me and tell me it was going to be okay,” Virgil managed, pulling his legs up to his chest.

Logan leaned over and wrapped his arms firmly around Virgil. “It’s going to be okay, Anxiety,” he murmured.

Virgil turned his head and buried it in Logan’s shoulder, and Logan reached a hand around to cup the nape of Virgil’s neck. They stayed there for a minute while Virgil took some deep breaths, and then he leaned back against the couch again. He felt… better.

“Thanks,” he said quietly.

“Anytime, Anxiety,” Logan said, and Virgil got the sense that he really meant it.

He might be able to get used to that.

…

Chapter Forty-One

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #platonic dukexiety #platonic analogical #my fic

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quodekash · 2 years ago

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OUR SKYY 2 IS HERE ITS FINALLY HERE THIS IS NOT A DRILL

first lemme make myself an ice tea and then we’ll get into the ridiculous commentary (which will probably be entirely keysmashes but anyway)

fingers crossed for something benchopper

also i find it rly interesting that the series i finished with when going through all the our skyy shows is the one that theyre start with

also also idk anything about the order for our skyy but i do know that there’s no way bad buddy isnt the final one

ICE TEA HAS NOW BEEN ACQUIRED, NOW WE SHALL COMMENCE THE COMMENTARY (that a lot of you seem to like, why do you like my commentary)

literally shaking what the hell

STOP IM GONNA CRY, HE HAS HIM AS HIS LOCK SCREEN????

WE’RE LITERALLY LIKE TEN SECONDS IN AND IM ALREADY FILLED WITH TEARS

IM SORRY, IT’S BEEN THREE FREAKING YEARS??? WHY WERE WE NOT AWARE OF THIS INFORMATION

ok so judging from the intro, it’s nlmg first, and then simm, then THE ECLIPSE MY BOYS AAAAAA, AND THEN VICE VERSA, AND THEN MSP HEGUERIHBGKREJB, im literally vibrating with excitement rn help, and then abaab, AND THEN BAD BUDDY GERJHBGUKREJBKGURBJ, AND THEN 1000STARS

ITS LITERALLY HAPPENING IN FRONT OF MY EYES RN AND I STILL CANT BELIEVE THIS IS REAL

HOLY BAJOOLIES

HE HAPPY

HE;S SO FREAKING EXCITED TO SEE HIM

NO STOP IM GONNA CRY AGAIN

palms hair is so freaking pretty what the hell

i sense a sponsorship

palm is so happy to see him and he’s trying to be sweet but nueng is moody and i guess i get why but also pls just be happy to see him again

okay they are happy now yayyy

yup i was right theyre sponsored by suzuki thats kind of hilarious

damn, two sponsorships within like ten minutes of each other, they really went all out

CRYING AGAIN, THAT’S PERFECT

well that guy was confusing. ‘you guys are soulmates and youre fate but also you cant be together but you will be but you wont’

HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT THEM, NUENG WAS ABOUT TO SAY HE’S DECIDED TO STAY IN BANGKOK AND FINISH HIS STUDIES THERE RATHER THAN OVERSEAS

bRO HAS A SWORD?? I WANT A SWORD

also like oh shoot they might be about to die

but also just imagine walking around every day with a sword

the power

id never like actually hurt anyone with it and id probably rarely take it out of the sheath

but seriously. sword. its so cool.

not cool that theyre probably about to hurt nuengpalm and probably that poor woman

holding hands and running for their lives, absolutely nothing new here

heh i paused it at a funny moment

he’s such a good bodyguard/protector/boyfriend/whatever ghrjgbhr

ill show you what happens to heroes. they wake up in historical clothing.

why are the roles suddenly reversed

and why is palm the only one with knowledge of the present time and the only one without a clue about whats going on in this au version of events

DAM OKAY THAT WAS QUICK

see, at first i was pretty sure he was faking it cos it didnt make sense that only palm was aware of the present, surely it would be both of them, but then he confused me, but its fine cos he remembers him YAY

IM SORRY, LITERALLY ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS THAT ONE TIME IN BBC MERLIN WHERE MERLIN GAVE ARTHUR AN ORDER

ALSO PALM IS LITERALLY JUST DOING WHAT NUENG DID AND ITS SO FUNNY

wait this entire thing is a complete repeat of the series just switched and historical

their first major interaction was being introduced via parent sending child to work for the other child

their second major interaction was at the pool, and in this version its by the lake

their third major interaction is the master making the servant eat with them because ‘theres too much food for me to eat by myself’ when really its just bc he wants to spend time with him

wait please let chopper and ben be in this historical version of life

phum is there

surely its plausible to think that benchopper could be there too

i freaking love these two

IM SORRY????? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT

NOOOOOO I WAS WRONGGGG

NOOOO CONFLICT

its okay tho theyll iron out the conflict, its fine

see, they figured out the conflict

well that was wonderful but it is now 1am so i need to go to sleep

goodnight folks! im gonna spend the next 24 hours Thinking About Them

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ragingbookdragon · 4 years ago

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Friends To Arranged Marriage To...Wait, How Many Kids?

Bruce Wayne x Reader One-Shot

Word Count: 3K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: Y'all ever write a self-indulgent Friends To Lovers fic? 'Cause that's what this is. Enjoy! -Thorne

It wasn’t unusual for her to suddenly appear in his office. She did it most days. Okay, it was more like every day but that’s not important. The fact is, she showed up and he wasn’t at all the least bit surprised when she barged through the office door and slammed it behind her.

“Morning,” he murmured, taking his eyes off the screen but a moment to lock them with hers.

“Good morning, Bruce,” she responded with a polite smile. “We need to talk.”

That wasn’t unusual either. When she came to the office it was because she wanted to either complain about something going on or because she was bored and didn’t have anything to do, so badgering her best friend seemed like the best option. It wasn’t, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.

“What do we need to talk about?” Bruce questioned, clicking at the mouse until his screen loaded.

“Something important. Something especially important.” She replied and with one hand reached behind her and flipped the lock on his door.

Now that was unusual. And Bruce saw this going one of two ways and he hoped it wasn’t the first way that involved her pulling a gun.

“Okay,” he said and watched her out of the corner of his eye as waltzed around his desk and perched herself on the corner. “Am I in trouble, (Y/N)?”

“If you disagree with me, you will be,” she retorted and she started fumbling in her tote.

“You sound serious,” Bruce noted.

(Y/N) harrumphed. “I am quite possibly the most serious I’ve been in years.” She pulled out three manila folders and handed them to him, watching as he opened the first and started reading through it.

He didn’t say anything as he opened the others and read them but frowned when he set them aside and went back to his computer.

“I’ve already planned on a new secretary, (Y/N).”

She watched him with careful eyes and explained, “Those aren’t secretary files, Bruce. They’re marriage candidates.”

At that, his entire body went rigid and ever so slowly he drew his gaze from the screen back to her, staring her straight in the eyes.

“I…beg your pardon?” he asked as if not understanding what she’d just said.

(Y/N) rolled her eyes and picked up the files. “Each of these women are successful elites from either Metropolis, Star, or Central City. You have arranged marriage meetings with them Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to decide which one you want to marry.”

This was happening way too fast, and he still didn’t know what “this” was.

“I’m not opposed to marriage, (Y/N), but why?”

She pointed to the picture on his desk, and he briefly glanced at it. Him, Dick, and Alfred on Christmas morning last year.

“Dick needs a mother.” She was never one to mince her words. “A father can raise a son, but the boy needs a mother’s love too, Bruce.”

“I think you’re a bit out of line here.” He remarked, brows pulling together. “We’re fine at the manor.”

“Bruce…please don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not a soft man. You’re hard edges and firmness, and while that isn’t a bad thing, Dick needs a mother who can be the parent that isn’t firm. He needs a mother’s guiding hand.”

She handed him the files again. “I’ve met each of these women. They’re good women who will make wonderful wives and even better mothers.” She stared at him. “You should know how important it is for a boy to have a mother.”

Bruce was on his feet in an instant, in front of her, eyes narrowed into a glare as he bit out, “(Y/N), now you’re out of line.”

“Really?” she challenged, not at all threatened by his towering figure. “Look my in the eye and tell me which parent you miss more. Thomas…or Martha?”

“I miss both of my parents. Every day.”

“And I don’t doubt that. But I know you miss Martha the most. Isn’t she the one you promised to save Gotham for?” (Y/N) questioned and his mouth snapped shut, jaw clenching tightly as he averted his eyes because he knew she was right.

She reached out and rested a hand on his forearm, forcing his eyes to hers once more; her gaze softened and she murmured, “You miss your mother more than the world, Bruce. How do you think Dick feels every night when he goes to sleep? Fathers are the protectors for their children, but mothers are the comforters—there are going to be things that you can’t help him with, but a woman can.”

(Y/N) gazed at him and pulled her hand away. “At least go and meet them,” she requested and when he didn’t say anything, she sighed and picked up her tote, making her way to the door.

She flipped the lock and paused, glancing over her shoulder to say, “At least think about what I’ve said, Bruce. For Dick…and for you.” He met her eyes and she added, “I think getting married would be good for you too.”

He nodded, and since that was all they could hope for, she left the office and Bruce collapsed into his chair, turning around to stare out the window.

***

His theory that she would show up Friday evening proved true when she waltzed into his office and took a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk, delicately crossing one of her legs over the other.

“How’d the interviews go?” she asked, not even bothering to ask him how his day was or how his week had been.

“My day was great, (Y/N), thanks for asking,” he mocked with a glare and she waved it off.

“Interviews, Bruce. How’d they go.”

He let out a sigh. “They went well. Each of them was polite and kind.”

“And?” (Y/N) gestured for him to continue.

“And nothing. That’s it.”

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Seriously? You just met them for a singular purpose and all you’ve got it, they’re polite and kind?” She glared at him. “What’d you talk about?”

Bruce sighed again and reclined in his office chair. “Humanitarian works, college days, high society—you know, the usual.”

(Y/N) gave him an unamused look. “Did any ask for a second date?”

“All of them in fact.”

“Did you agree?”

“No.”

Her head lolled back, and she glared at the ceiling. “Did you even think about what I talked about a few days ago?”

“I still am.”

“Then why didn’t you agree to see one of them again?”

“Because there wasn’t anything we had in common.”

“Most people who have arranged marriages don’t, Bruce. That’s why you go on dates and get to know them.” Her eyes were still on the ceiling. “What’s the real reason you said no?” She always knew when he’d lied to her.

After a moment, he murmured, “…I didn’t think any of them would be suitable to be Dick’s adoptive mother.”

“I guess that’s…fair,” she agreed and they both fell silent.

A couple minutes later, he said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said though, (Y/N). About finding a wife who would be a good mother for Dick.”

“Uh huh.”

“I think you’re right. I do offer Dick everything a father could. Support, protection, guidance…but he is missing that love only a mother can give a son.”

“And how’s that making you feel?” she questioned softly.

His voice got quiet. “Like how I was when I was growing up without mother. (Y/N), I…I don’t want Dick to feel that way.”

At that, she drew her gaze from the ceiling to his eyes and she reasoned, “Then I think you should call one of the girls back and agree to a second date. You won’t find perfection in one day, even with how intuitive you are.”

Bruce shrugged. “I just want to find someone closer to Gotham. Someone who is familiar with us already.”

(Y/N) grunted. “I purposely moved away from Gotham because no one is.”

“That’s fair,” Bruce chuckled, and they fell into a silence again.

Suddenly, a thought flashed across her mind and she sat up. “Us.” She blurted out and he looked at her.

“What?”

(Y/N) gestured between them. “Us, Bruce. You and me.”

“I don’t follow,” he replied with a confused expression and she huffed, rolling her eyes.

“You’re an idiot,” she griped, then she stood and planted her hands on his desk, leaning over to get in his face. “You and I are the closest to Gotham as you’ll get, and I’m familiar with you and Dick.” She smiled. “Marry me.”

She could count on one hand how many times she’d ever stunned her best friend silent and that was number two because his jaw went slack and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline, steel blue eyes wide.

(Y/N) frowned. “Oh, come on, you can’t tell me the thought didn’t cross your mind at least once.” Silence. “Oh my God, are you serious? You didn’t even think about it at all? Like ever?”

He shook his head, mouth still hanging open.

“Oh, for God’s sakes, close your mouth and wipe that stupid look off your face. It’s not a completely inconceivable idea, you moron.” (Y/N) held a hand up, counting off her fingers, “I’m of acceptable status, I dress well, I’m thoroughly educated, I do humanitarian work all over the world, I love your son, and I’m probably the one woman that doesn’t make you wanna stab yourself in the eye with a fork.”

She grinned at him. “You’re not going to find anyone better than me here in Gotham, Brucie-boy. Besides, I think (Y/N) Wayne has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

Finally, he managed to make himself speak and he blurted out, “I stopped thinking like five minutes ago. I’m not even sure how to do that anymore.”

(Y/N) pulled a face and griped, “You’re an idiot.”

“I am not,” he retorted with a glare. “You can’t just propose to your best friend out of the blue and expect them to function like it’s normal!”

“You’re Batman,” she whispered. “Figure it out.” (Y/N) pointed at him. “There’s another plus on my side! I already know your deepest secrets! See, aren’t I a catch?”

“Was this your plan all along?” Bruce suddenly questioned and she gaped at him for a second before shaking her head.

“…No.”

“(Y/N),” he drawled, and she sighed.

“Alright, it crossed my mind a couple times but that’s why I started with the other women first. I was kinda hoping you’d pick one of them.” (Y/N) looked at him. “I really don’t see anything wrong with us getting married though. We’ve been friends since we were babies, we have a lot of the same interests, and we both care for Dick.”

She shrugged. “I mean we might not be in love, but our marriage doesn’t have to be. We’re stepping up for a greater good. For a young boy who deserves to have two parents.” (Y/N) reached out and held out her hand. “So? What do you say?”

Bruce gazed at her for a long time, longer than she was comfortable with because she knew he was mentally pulling her mind apart. After a few moments he stood and walked around the desk to stand in front of her.

She pulled her hand back in and gave a curious look. “Bruce?” His hands gently took hold of her cheeks and he leaned forward, even as her eyes went wide and she whispered, “Bruce, what—”

He softly brushed his lips against hers and (Y/N) all but melted against him, her hands pressed flat against his chest. They pulled away a moment later and he rested his forehead to hers.

“I think we can make it work, (Y/N).”

She couldn’t fight the giddy smile that came over her face. “Yeah?”

Bruce matched her smile. “Yeah.”

***

“So, you’re tellin’ me,” he started dubiously, looking at him. “That you and Ma only got together because you guys wanted to make sure Golden-boy had two parents instead of just you?”

Bruce didn’t even take his eyes off the screen as he responded absentmindedly, “That pretty much covers it.”

Jason threw his hands in the air. “There’s no way! There’s no way that shit was arranged! You two make googly eyes at one another when you think no one is watching and you kiss Ma before you go to work every day!” he looked at his brothers. “Y’all know what I’m sayin’ right?”

Tim nodded. “Jay’s got a point, dad. For an arranged marriage, the two of you are really in love.”

Dick placed a hand over his heart and smugly admitted, “You’re welcome everyone, for bringing mom and dad together in real love.”

A chorus of “Fuck you’s” echoed from Jason and Tim, and Damian placed his hands on his hips.

“When did you know you loved Umi, Father?”

Finally, he pulled his gaze from the Batcomputer, and even behind his cowl, they could see the love he had in his eyes and in his voice as he said, “Your mother and I dated for a year before we married, but the night of our wedding, we spent it at the manor and Dick crawled into our bed and spent the night wrapped in our arms.”

Bruce smiled. “I woke up early that morning and saw him curled in (Y/N)’s arms and all I could think was that I’d never loved a woman more than that moment then.” His eyes shifted to all of his sons. “And I’ve only fallen deeper in love with her with each of you that’s come into our home. You make us better parents every day and I wouldn’t change what I was given for anything in the world.”

He barely had time to breathe before all four of his sons were crashing into him, squeezing him as tears spilled down their cheeks.

Bruce huffed a quiet laugh and took a moment to brush a hand through each of his sons’ hair. “I love you, boys.”

A chorus of “I love you too’s” came back at him and before anyone could speak, they heard someone coo, “Aww, that’s so sweet!”

They spun around to see (Y/N) with her phone out, a mile-wide smile on her face, eyes shining with tears.

“Ma…what are you doing?” Jason questioned and she clicked something on her phone.

“Oh, nothing, my sweet boy,” she smiled, and all of her sons started pulling away from Bruce.

“Did you just record that?” Tim asked and she took a step back.

“I would never!” and she stared them down for a split second before spinning on her heel and hauling off towards the stairs. Her sons sprinted after her and she let out a squeal as she skipped the steps two at a time to get away from them.

“Ma come back here!” Jason shouted.

“Umi! Our dignity is on that phone!”

“I dunno, I think it’s sweet!”

“It’s not going to be sweet when she sends it to the group chat that every superhero is in, Dick! We have reputations!”

“Oh…that’s a good point, Tim. Mom! Come back here!”

(Y/N) gasped as someone’s arms wrapped around her waist and she came face to face with Bruce—well, Batman, and she yelped when he pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“Bruuuuuuce!” she whined. “Please don’t delete it!” (Y/N) reached for the phone and he held it out of reach. “Darling, my sweet darling, Bruce, please,” she plead. “If you love your wife and mother of your children, you won’t do that.”

His gaze darted to hers and she pouted, sticking her bottom lip out in the way that she knew he’d crack. “Please, my heart. Let me have a reminder of my beautiful boys.”

“You won’t send it to the chats?” he asked, and she crossed a finger over her heart.

“Cross my heart, darling.” He handed her back the phone and she smiled, leaning up to peck the corner of his mouth. “Thank you, Bruce.”

He cupped her cheek with his gloved hand, thumb brushing over her cheekbone and he pulled her into a real kiss, ignoring the exaggerated gags behind him.

“I love you,” he murmured as he pulled away from her lips. “More than you know.”

(Y/N) hummed, her eyes still closed, and she whispered, “You might love me more, but I love you most.” She opened her eyes and gazed at him. “All my boys.”

Suddenly, her phone started dinging like crazy and he stared at her, his Batman voice coming out as he surmised, “You sent it to the chat, didn’t you?”

She gave him an innocent smile and giggled, “I might’ve.”

“You’re going to pay for all the teasing that Hal and Barry are going to give me, (Y/N) Wayne,” he warned, and she scoffed.

“Oh, boo hoo, I’m so scared of what the big bad Bat is go—” a gasp escaped her when he hauled her up against his body and she stared at him with wide eyes.

A siren went off down in the cave and he looked towards the boys. “Go.” They all hurried off, complaining about the various texts they were all getting.

Bruce looked back at her, voice lowering as he growled, “After patrol I’m coming up to the bedroom and you’d better be ready, because I’m not going to stop ravishing you until you’re begging me for release.”

Something hot, tight, and fierce shot through (Y/N)’s gut and she could only flounder like a fish as he pulled her into another searing kiss before he spun on his heel and descended into the cave.

She gathered herself and called out after him, “You can’t just say something like that and then leave! That’s not fair, Bruce! Bruce, are you listening to me!”

Only his laughter echoed from below.

“Bruce!”

2K notes · View notes

lexosaurus · 3 years ago

Text

Phic Phight 2022: Interview with a Ghost (part 2)

Part 2 of my interview fic for @datawyrms and @things-i-cannot-do-in-amitypark and their fantastic prompt!

Characters: Danny, Tucker, Sam WC: 1612 Summary: With an escalating ghost problem in Amity Park along with political unrest, the federal government finally steps in, placing sanctions around the city.

[ao3] [ffn]

[part one]

---

“Alright guys” Dalton, the smaller, lanky host announced over the intro music. “So today we have kind of a surprise.”

“We had to keep this one a secret.” the bearded host, Tony, said. “We can’t get in trouble for this, can we?”

“Nah, it’s probably fine. We checked with our lawyers and they said—”

“Well, hang on,” Tony cut on. “Our lawyers said it was a bad idea, but then if we were going to have this episode, gave us some minor suggestions to keep us out of trouble. But our lawyers think every episode of this podcast is a bad idea, so that’s not new.”

Dalton choked on his drink and sputtered.

“Anyway, while my cohost is dying over there, let me take a second to introduce the glowing guy at the table that you all have probably noticed by now, Danny Phantom!”

Danny blinked, his eyes swiveling between the two cameras out in front of him. After a moment, he picked one and gave a shy wave to it. “Hello.”

“Great to have you here, bud.”

“Thanks for having me.” He hoped his voice didn’t betray the nerves that were still electrifying his senses.

“For anyone who lives under a rock,” Tony continued, his hand gripping a sheet of paper that looked comically small under his thick fingers. “This is the ghost protector of Amity Park, Danny Phantom. Yes, he is a real ghost. No, the glowing is not a special effect. Am I correct in both of these statements?”

A light smile touched his lips, and he felt the tension begin to unravel in his shoulders. “Yes, that’s correct.”

“So Phantom, this is your first-ever public interview, correct?” Dalton asked, having recovered.

“Yeah.”

“And you chose to come on our show, damn,” Dalton said. “I gotta be honest, when we sent that feeler out to you, neither of us ever expected a response.”

“Oh well, surprise?” Danny tried. “Happy to be of service?”

“So what made you change your mind about interviewing? Because up to this point, our impression of you was that you actively avoided the media.”

“Well, let’s not give ourselves too much credit,” Tony said, adjusting his baseball cap. His voice was gruff, reminiscent of someone who had spent his college years partying a little too much. “We’re just two assholes with a microphone and a camera.”

“That’s actually more why I was willing to do this,” Danny said. “I’m not really into publicity, so I figured a podcast was a good middle ground.”

“Well, you know it’s not every day we get a ghost on our show. So we appreciate your appearance.”

Dalton raised his bony hand and cut in, “Also, just wanted to say both to Danny and the audience, that from our understanding, there are ghost laws and customs that are separate from human customs. And we’re obviously human, so if we cross any boundaries, just wanted to apologize in advance.”

“Oh yeah, I don’t know if you’ve seen this show before, but we’re total morons.”

Danny snickered. “It’s fine, I’m still a pretty young ghost, and from hanging around Amity Park so much, I’m very familiar with human customs and whatnot.”

Well, that and he also was human, but he wasn’t about to let them in on that.

He relaxed more into his chair, and he was almost certain that somewhere at home once this episode aired, Jazz was going to have a conniption about his posture. Sam too, maybe, though Tucker would make a good case about increasing Danny’s “relatability” to the audience, and then all would be forgiven.

Because bro code, and whatever.

“But yeah,” he continued. “Ghosts have different customs. Like the obvious ones of not asking about death or—or Obsession. Those are very personal and most ghosts don’t really appreciate people prying. Especially if the ghost is a bit…territorial, I guess? I mean, most ghosts are very chill. You guys in the human world only see an outlier of the more adventurous ones that cross over, but most ghosts in the Zone just like to keep to themselves. We’re more private than humans, I guess is what I’m trying to say.”

“That’s super fucking interesting,” Tony said. And from his expression, he wasn’t putting on an act for the camera. Despite being the kind of dude who looked like he owned a garage full of loud motorcycles, the brightness in his eyes looked reminiscent of a child on Christmas morning.

“So are there cities in the—the Zone you called it?” Dalton asked, his sharp features fixed on Danny's every word.

“Ghost Zone, Zone, GZ, it’s all the same.”

“Right, so are there cities in the Zone like here on Earth? Or do they look different?”

“Yeah, where do all the ghosts live?” Tony asked.

This line of questioning shouldn’t have surprised Danny as much as it did. Maybe Sam’s idea of starting a blog about ‘ghost stuff,’ as she called it, wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“It really depends where in the Zone you are. I won’t get too technical, but the GZ looks pretty different from Earth. It doesn’t have the same physics as Earth does if that makes sense, so the way areas are formed is different than here. Ectoplasm influences a lot of it, I think. But to the question, most ghosts live in pocket dimensions in the Zone that are hidden behind doorways. But some more powerful ghosts have their own islands and societies that other ghosts can live on.”

“So do you have your own island then?” Tony asked.

He thought for a moment, wondering how much detail he wanted to give out. Technically, Amity Park was considered his, but that was something he hadn’t even admitted to Tucker and Sam. Though, at this point, they might have suspected that much. “No, I don’t. But one of my good friends does. I have a cold core—it’s how I control ice—and so does he, so that’s how I met him.”

“Is it a ghost we would know or…?” Dalton asked.

Danny shook his head. “No. He’s come to Earth, but not in the last few hundred years I don’t think. And he and his people are always really careful when they travel to the human world. They mostly stay out of sight I think. Something about disrupting the timestream? Though, I have my suspicions about a few Earth myths I think they’re responsible for.” Danny shrugged. “Anyway, they all live in a giant ice city in the GZ and it’s really cool, I go there a lot.”

“Hang on, an ice city?” Tony asked, his eyes so round they looked ready to spring out of his head. “Do you have any photos?”

“No!” Danny laughed. “Ghosts typically don’t take photos of other people’s territories. But it’s just as cool as it sounds.”

“Damn, that sounds really interesting,” Dalton said. He glanced down at his paper, his narrow eyebrows pinching in. “So, okay. So ghosts and where you guys live are very different than how humans live. And it seems like some ghosts live by themselves in…pocket dimensions you said?”

“Yup.”

Tony shook his head. “I’m not even going to try to understand that one.”

“Right, pocket dimensions. And you don’t have an island, so do you have a pocket dimension as well?”

“Aren’t you considered powerful though?” Tony asked. “Like I don’t know maybe I’m a dumbass human but why don’t you have an island?”

Danny averted his gaze, running his hand through his hair. “I’m still pretty young for a ghost. I don’t really need an island anyway, for how often I’m either in Amity Park or on other ghost’s islands.”

“Wait, young for a ghost? Do you mind us asking…?”

Dalton’s unsaid question hung in the air, and Danny ducked his head in some vague attempt to hide his discomfort. “Uh, not that long, is all I can say.”

“Alright, alright, you don’t have to answer it,” Tony said.

“So, we actually wanted to get into sort of the reason that we’re assuming you agreed to be on our show, which is the rising tensions in Amity Park and the uptick in ghost attacks.” Dalton turned to the camera, his professional demeanor fully engaged. “For those in the audience unaware, the federal government has recently placed sanctions on the city, and there’s a mounting political divide, with the issues of ghosts becoming increasingly bipartisan in the last election cycle. And, as a ghost,” Dalton said, addressing Danny. “I’m sure you have a lot to say.”

“There seems to be a couple camps of people,” Tony took over, though his expression was still far more relaxed. “There’s some people who think you specifically are the reason for the uptick in ghosts, that you’ve claimed territory over Amity and they’re here to fight you. Other people think that this is the ghosts launching war on humans in general, and I think in general there’s just a lot of confusion and fear about what this all means for us.”

Danny sat up a little straighter, his brain running through all the events of the last week. Admittedly, it was a lot. Far more than he could have anticipated. Protests had begun to grow violent, and Danny was sure that if there was even one more case of significant property damage in the downtown area, riots would ensue.

On one hand, there was the camp of people who felt that we needed to negotiate a truce with the ghosts. That humans had a long history of exorcising them and torturing them with ecto-weapons and blood blossoms, and that if the governments started giving them space on Earth, then things would be peaceful again.

On the other end of the spectrum were the people who felt enough was enough, the ghosts had to go. And they had to leave by any means necessary. They had done too much destruction, they didn’t respect humans or their property, and they were flat out too dangerous to be allowed to roam around freely.

Of course, Danny was caught exactly in the middle of this in the worst way possible.

As a human, he was Danny Fenton. The loser idiot who everyone laughed at. As Phantom, he had more of a voice, but that voice didn’t help if the federal government seemed entirely too eager on stripping away even a modicum of leniency they had previously given him to exist. Which that, for all intents and purposes, was almost nothing to begin with.

“I think…” Danny started, trying to be careful with how he worded his response. “I don’t entirely blame people for their reactions. It’s natural to be afraid of what you don’t understand, and it’s entirely reasonable to be afraid of what has been, at least in Amity Park, often destructive. Most ghosts stay in the Ghost Zone, so that doesn’t really give humans a lot of opportunities to interact with the more friendly ones. And the friendly ghosts that do cross over usually just keep to themselves and observe the Earth for a bit before eventually finding an open portal and returning home.”

“So why Amity specifically do the ghosts that aren’t so nice attack? What is it about Amity that makes it a target?” Dalton asked.

Danny steepled his gloves against his chin. “There are a couple of older papers by the Fentons from back before they confirmed that ghosts existed. You know, I think most of their papers touching ghost behavior are wrong, and any ghost would agree with me. But the Fentons are actually usually right on the money when it comes to ectophysics and engineering and that sort of thing.

“So they used to study ambient ectoplasm in the air and the reason that they even moved to Amity Park after college was because based on measurements of air quality and particles found around the US, Amity Park consistently measured highest for ambient ectoplasm. So their theory was that rift between the dimension that the human world and Earth reside in, and the dimension that the Ghost Zone was in, they intersected in Amity.”

“And their theories were true? Is that what you’re saying?” Dalton asked.

“Yeah. They tested this through their ghost portal. If the portal activated, then that meant that there was actually an intersection at Amity Park. If it failed, then the dimensions weren’t close enough. But even if they hadn’t known this, there were already a good number of ghosts in Amity Park at that point, they were just mostly hidden. But there already had been portals and doorways popping in and out of Amity for centuries.”

“Interesting,” Dalton said. “And humans just didn’t know this? So then what changed, was it the portal?”

Danny winced. He didn’t want to throw himself or his parents under the bus, but he also didn’t want to outright lie.

“I’m not really a hundred percent sure,” he settled on. “I wasn’t really ever in the Ghost Zone too much before then so…”

Tony, for all his meathead energy, caught on quickly. “Ah, so you were one of those hidden ghosts in the human world?”

“Something like that.”

Like hell was he providing an exact date to his supposed death.

“But,” he said. “I think that what happened, just based on talking to other ghosts, is the portal did kinda tell the other ghosts that yeah, the atmosphere to Earth is thinnest in this city. And so when it caught on, ghosts realized that if they wanted to go to Earth, they could head over to the section of the Zone that interacted with Earth on that invisible line, and even if it wasn’t the Fenton portal specifically, some other doorway would eventually pop up that would lead them directly to Amity Park. So a lot of ghosts who wanted to blow off some steam without facing consequences or, yeah, had some sort of fulfillment that involved humans in some way, learned how to cross over really easily.”

Tony sat back in his chair, putting his hand over his forehead. “Fuck dude, this is fascinating. I feel like I need another goddamn drink.”

Dalton let out a spontaneous laugh. “Honestly, same.”

“You’re the smart one of us both, so you better be understanding this. Because I gotta say, I feel like I’m getting a solid twenty percent of what’s being said right now.”

“I can re-explain it after the show if you want,” Danny offered.

“I think I got at least most of that,” Dalton said. “Maybe not everything, but most of it.”

“Yeah, it can be kind of strange if you don’t have at least some experience in ectobiology or ectophysics.”

“So do you?” Tony asked. “Sorry if this is too personal, but you seem to know a lot about the physics of it all for someone so young. I mean what are you, fifteen?”

He was sixteen, but Danny was going to ignore that.

“I have a mentor in the GZ who’s literally an ancient deity,” he decided on saying. It wasn’t a complete lie. “He’s taught me a lot.”

“So before we go completely off the rails, I just want to pull back to the main topic and ask, what do you think the US government’s response should be to the ghost problem?” Dalton said.

Danny took a deep breath. He’d been expecting this question, and he was prepared. “I can’t speak for all ghosts. I’m just one of many. I’d say that ghosts have a lot more in common with humans than we have different. While there are some ghosts who more or less view the human world as their personal playground, banning us from being in the human world isn’t going to prevent them from coming over. We’re ghosts, we don’t abide by human laws. We have our own power structure that’s different than yours.

“As much fun as it may look like for me to be playing hero, I honestly am tired. I have…things I want to do with my afterlife. I’m here for Amity because it’s my duty, but I don’t like seeing people hurt, I don’t like seeing buildings fall and walls being smashed, I don’t like seeing people afraid. I want to be there to protect people, not to see everyone get hurt.”

“Do you think peace is the best option?” Dalton said.

“At least a treaty, yes. Ghosts won’t listen to humans. If humans tell ghosts they can’t go somewhere or do something, they’ll just laugh and do it anyway. But ghosts will listen to other ghosts, to a degree. There’s always the rogue ghost who will do whatever they please, but most ghosts do sort of follow the chain of command in their own way.”

“Alright, thank you for your insight.”

“Yeah, dude, this was great,” Tony agreed, popping open the lid to a beer his assistant handed him from off-screen.

“And you know, I think most people are just confused and scared, so having your voice in the mix will hopefully clear up a lot of misconceptions and fears that people have right now.”

“Agreed, man. Like, I’ll admit, I don’t really know fuck all about ghosts. So having you here was really cool. Now that the more serious topics are out of the way, you mind if we get a little personal? I think the viewers would like to know more about you.”

This was the part he had been dreading, but this was the part that both Sam and Tucker had been pushing him on. “Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll answer what I can.”

Tony gave him a thumbs up.

“So we’ve compiled some common questions we got off the Google search engine, and we also mixed in questions of our own. If you don’t want to answer any of these, you don’t have to,” Dalton explained, shuffling his papers on the table.

“Okay.”

“The first question is a really common one. How much do ghosts remember from when they were alive?”

In Danny’s case, it was everything, but he was obviously an anomaly. “It depends, I think, on the ghost. More powerful ghosts remember more, but the most powerful ghosts are typically what we call Zone-born, so they were never human to begin with.”

“Wait a hot fucking second, what?” Tony asked, holding his beer-hand up.

“Yeah, ghosts can be created a couple of ways. Previously being human is the most common, but it’s not the only way to become a ghost.”

“So, forgive me for prying, but are you ‘Zone-born’ or were you a human?” Dalton asked.

“Human,” Danny said.

“Okay, and do you remember a lot from your life?”

“Tony!” Dalton leaned over to smack his cohost on the arm.

“What?”

Danny grinned at the interaction. “No, it’s fine. I know what I’m walking into. And…yeah, I do.”

Dalton shot one last glare at his cohost before rolling his eyes and turning back to the paper. “So where did your outfit come from? And how much do you have the ability to change your clothing? Because from what we know, most ghosts don’t really tend to deviate from their outfits, but there are times where ghosts alter their appearance. Like we know from photos at least, that your logo didn’t pop up till about six months after your first appearance—or, first public appearance I should say—in Amity Park. So what’s the deal with that?”

“Oh yeah, this is a good question,” Danny said. He chewed on the bottom of his lip for a moment. “Yeah, clothing is kind of weird. It’s all made of ectoplasm, so it’s almost like it’s a part of us. I mean, I can remove my clothes, but if it’s not on my body then it will just dissolve, and I can will it back, and it’ll appear the same as usual. My jumpsuit is…eh, I don’t really know if I can get into it. But some ghosts have more control than others of what they look like.”

“How much control do you have?” Dalton asked.

“Not much. The logo was sort of an accident. A friend did it and I didn’t really know what was happening till it was already attached to my jumpsuit.”

“You’re kidding,” Tony guffawed.

“Nope. It’s cool though, we’re best friends so once I realized what had happened, I was just excited. I don’t know if that makes me sound lame,” Danny blushed sheepishly, rubbing his neck with his hand.

“Nah, that’s just cool.”

“So the next question is one of mine,” Tony said, gearing up as if he was about to present a project on ending world hunger.

Dalton just started snickering, bringing his baggy hoodie sleeve up to cover his mouth.

“Okay,” Tony leaned in putting his hands on the table and looking into the main camera with almost too much intensity. “this has been haunting me for months. I need to know. Phantom, do you or do you not eat human food?”

Danny blinked. “Huh?”

“Listen! Okay,” he broke character, grinning. “Wait, where’s the technical producer. Joe! Pull up the images in question.”

“Oh my god, is this an intervention?”

“Yes, this is a fucking intervention!” Tony slammed his hand on the counter. “This has been haunting Reddit for months and I will not rest until this is solved! Okay, Phantom, look at the monitor. Here you see a picture of you in a tree eating fucking fries. And then over on the left, is a picture of you drinking a Red Bull. Not sponsored, by the way. So what the hell, man?”

Danny facepalmed, the last of any tension left in his body melting away at the pure absurdity of this situation. “I’m sorry, this has been haunting Reddit for how long? Do people actually care about this?”

“Oh god, now you’ve set him off.”

Sure enough, when Danny looked up, he saw Tony in a various state between disbelief and sputtering faux-rage. “Do people care? Phantom, this is one of the internet’s greatest mysteries! The magnum opus of conspiracy theorists everywhere!”

“Ancients.”

“Just answer the fucking question! Do you eat human food? Follow up, how do you eat human food?”

Danny looked back at the monitor. “I—”

“Oh wait,” the podcast’s producer called from behind his desk. “Hang on, Rebecca found another one.”

“Rebecca was hiding this from me!” Tony all but screeched. “Rebecca, how could you?”

Danny watched as a third image was added to the monitor, this time of himself lounging in a tree in the park munching on a bag of potato chips.

“Welp,” Danny said, gesturing to the screen. “I think you have your answer. Yes, I can eat human food. I think most ghosts can eat human food. Ghost food tastes better to us though, but what can I say? Fries are really good whether or not they have ectoplasm in them.”

“So what if you took your fries and dipped them in some sort of ectoplasm sauce? Would they taste better?”

“What does ectoplasm even taste like?” Dalton asked.

“It tastes acidic, like lime.” Danny drummed his finger on the table in silence before deciding that yes, he did want to unleash chaos on the internet. “You know, sometimes I like to take my tater tots and just. You know. Heat them up, dip them in a bowl of pure ectoplasm. Ranch two.”

“Fucking hell,” Dalton wheezed.

“What can I say? I’m a growing teenage boy.”

“Alright, alright.” Dalton composed himself. “This next one is one I found in a comment section, and it reads: have you ever gotten stuck while phasing through an object? And if so, did it hurt?”

Tony beamed.“Ooh, that’s a good one.”

“Oh yeah, too many times,” Danny confessed with a concerning amount of ease. “You know how like when you bite down on your finger really hard, your survival instinct prevents you from actually biting through your skin or anything? It’s sort of like that for ghosts. We can get stuck in objects, but whatever part of us is inside the object will remain intangible on instinct, even if the rest of our body turns tangible again. So no, it doesn’t hurt. It’s just really fucking embarrassing.”

“This next one was one of the most searched questions. Well, it’s actually two questions. The first is, hey Phantom, are you single? And if so, is it gay if he’s dead?”

“Wait, what?” Tony said, snatching the paper from Dalton’s hand. “Did you really put that in there?”

“Of course, I put that in there! It was a popular Google question. Tony, this is all about giving the teenagers online what they want.”

“Oh my god.” Tony broke out into a fit of laughter. “Man, Phantom, I—haha, oh my god.”

Danny put his glove over his mouth to hide his grin. “I’m sorry, what the fuck?”

“You heard me.”

Danny buried his face in his hands.

“Wait…” Through Tony’s laughter, Danny heard him lean in close. “Oh no way, Dalton! Look, he blushes green.”

“Aw, that is adorable.”

Danny groaned and smacked his head on the table. Even still, he couldn’t hide the smile that had now completely overtaken his face.

“Look, and his freckles are glowing too.”

“Stop!” Danny protested.

“Danny, come on, you can tell us if you have a secret ghost girlfriend. Oh, is it that rocker chick?” Tony said, poking his shoulder.

“Or ghost boyfriend. We don’t discriminate.”

“All ghost love is equal on our set.”

“I don’t have a secret ghost girlfriend or boyfriend,” Danny said into the table. “I am very single, thank you. Besides, I’m a ghost.” He lifted his head finally and stared into a camera, though he was sure his face was blazing green. “There’s your answer, internet. I hope this was worth your efforts.”

“Very worth it. Now please turn to the monitor,” Tony said. “We have a very important question here today.”

“I’m scared.”

A few pictures of Danny filled the screen, all in various stages of flight. Danny studied the photos for a second, his face screwing in increasing concentration as he tried to figure out what exactly he was supposed to be looking at. Finally, he gave up, turning to look up at Tony. “Sorry, what's wrong with these?”

“Your legs!” Tony exclaimed, pointing to the photos.

Danny quirked a brow, his eyes flickering between the screen and Tony’s vivid expression. “Yes? What about them?”

“Where the fuck did they go, Phantom?”

Danny wracked his brain trying to remember a time when he’d ever mentioned his ghostly tail to the public before and came up blank.

This was probably about due then. “My spectral tail? It’s just imaging of my legs morphed together. It’s like…I don’t know, it just happens when I’m flying a lot. It’s not really something I do on purpose.”

“So what if you need to land? Does your tail just like…I don’t know, re-form legs?”

“I think so?” Danny paused. “Wait, you know what, I’ve never actually thought about this before. Huh…I think it’s just an unconscious thing I do. If I don’t really need my legs for something, then my body replaces them with something better suited to the task?”

Tony shook his head. “If there’s any ectobiologists out here, get on this. I need answers, stat.”

“Sorry.”

“Okay, so this next one is a bit weird, but do you have bones?” Dalton asked.

Danny blinked. “I do, yes.”

“You’re saying that as if other ghosts don’t.”

“Some ghosts don’t. Some do.”

They didn’t need to know that Danny’s bone structure was more detailed than any other ghosts, like Frostbite, who also had bones. They didn’t need to know that Phantom also had tendons, ligaments, muscles, nerves, etc.

No, just the basics.

“Why do you have them when others don’t? Does it have to do with ghosts who were human versus those who weren’t, or is it something else?”

“I actually have no idea why some ghosts have bones and others don’t. Sorry.” That wasn’t even a lie. Possibly the first complete truth he’d told all interview.

“Alright, now I want to get sort of serious for this last one.” Dalton rolled his pastel hoodie sleeves up. “You don’t need to answer it if it’s too much, but I know you have not revealed what your human identity was back before you were a ghost, but do you think you ever would? Or is that one of those things that ghosts keep a secret?”

Well, this wasn’t nearly as offensive of a question as it could have been. And if Danny were being honest, he had half-expected something like this.

Of course, he’d told the production team before they’d even started that on no uncertain terms was he going to show off his powers or talk about his death, but this was just enough removed from that topic to be passable in his eyes.

“There’s sort of two questions in there,” he noted. “To the less personal point, I do know some ghost’s human identities, either on accident or because they told me.” He recalled Sidney’s identity, and Ember’s. “But I think a lot of ghosts, especially older ones, are so far removed from their human identities that there’s really no point in bringing them up. Of course, everyone’s human identity plays a key role in how we end up as a ghost, but after so long as a ghost, sometimes those memories just sorta fade to the back, you know?

“But for me, I don’t know what I’ll do in the future. As of right now, I have no plans on revealing who I was to the world. I really just want my privacy, and I also…well, I want to respect my living relatives too, who more or less doesn’t know I exist…” Danny’s voice trailed off. Before he could think of any reasons to ask the producer to cut that line from the podcast in post-production, he took a deep breath and plowed on.

“But I don’t know, maybe someday I’ll be ready to tell everyone.”

To his surprise, a heavy hand slapped his shoulder, and Danny jumped in the air before realizing that it was just Tony’s hand gripping him in support.

“Well, we support your decision here. Whenever you’re ready is cool with us.”

Warmth settled in his chest, and he felt a shy smile grace his lips. He didn’t expect a stranger’s support to touch him, but oddly enough, Tony was incredibly reassuring.

“Thanks.”

“Alright everyone,” Dalton said, addressing the camera. “We’re going to jump to an ad break to thank today’s sponsors. When we come back, we have some clips from various fights from Phantom back when he first began appearing in Amity Park till now that we’re going to break down and analyze with the man himself. So stick around! We’ll be right back.”

---

Thanks for reading!

[read more of my work]

#danny phantom #phandom #my writing #interview with a ghost #phic phight 2022

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beels-burger-babe · 4 years ago

Text

A Pain You'll Soon Regret - Pt. 2

Poly! MC Summary: MC and the demon lords get in a fight resulting in MC leaving. They planned on going to Purgatory Hall until things cool off, but they never quite make it there. Ft. Poly!MC

TW: Heavy Angst, Violence, I don't know what to tag this, but there is a pretty nasty verbal fight, Gore/Injury Vomit Part 1: HERE, Part 3: HERE, Part 4: HERE

Meanwhile at the House of Lamentation

Your leaving hadn't made the situation at the House any better. Asmodeus threw his hands up in the air and glared at the rest. "Great! Just wonderful! Now they've run off. Happy now?" venom filled his words, but he could feel his heart race in fear that he had just lost the one person who loved him for more than his looks. Satan scoffed, though he glanced at the door through the corner of his eyes. "Don't act like you're better than us. I didn't see you standing up for them." Levi growled and went straight to his room as Satan and Asmodeus began to argue. Beel took a step towards to door you had just marched out of and glance between it and his brothers. "Should we go after them? It's dark and they're drunk."

Lucifer lifted his chin as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Why should we? It's like they said, they don't want to depend on us anymore, fine. Let them see for themself how far they get without our protection," with those words, Lucifer turned on his heel and stormed to his office.

Beel sighed and looked at Belphie, "What do you think? We can go get them together?" Belphie stared at the door for a minute, a guilty look in his eyes, before he shook his head. "Give them space, Beel. They're probably heading for Purgatory Hall. Simeon and the others can take care of them for tonight. Right now we all just need to calm down before facing each other again," he patted his twin's shoulder before heading to their room; regret swirling in his stomach as he thought of how he betrayed you once more.

Mammon stood frozen staring at the door like he still hadn't made up his mind on what he wanted to do. His instincts screamed at him to get you back in his arms and keep you there. You were his human, reckless or not, and he had a duty to protect you both as your assigned protector and as your boyfriend. But for some reason, he couldn't seem to move his feet. His mind replayed the discussion in his head over and over again. He had once told MC that if they couldn't be saved by him, to make sure that they died. That he was the only one allowed to protect them. Tonight, as everyone was fighting, MC needed him to protect them, but instead, he pushed them towards the wolves. He let his greed get the best of him. "Fuck," Mammon cursed to himself as he shook himself out of his thoughts. He glanced over to see Beel restraining Satan from pouncing onto a sneering Asmodeus. He sighed and shook his head. They hadn't fought like this in a long time. You had always been there to put them into their place. Now look at them. Mammon groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Will you guys cut it out? MC is gone, okay? Ain't nothin' we can do about it now," to his surprise, his younger brothers actually stopped and seemed to be listening to him. Mammon huffed and began walking towards the stairs. "It's like Belphie said. We ain't in no place to make things better right now. Fightin' like this is what got us in this position, so quit it. Get some sleep. We'll figure it all in the mornin'." Beel, Satan and Asmodeus blinked at their older brother as he disappeared upstairs. Seeing Mammon mature and take control of the situation like that, was strange, but not unfamiliar. Asmodeus massaged his temples with one hand and fixed his hair with the other. "Ugh, all this fighting is going to be horrid for my skin," he glanced at the door one more time with a defeated look before heading towards his room. Satan clenched and unclenched his hands a couple of times, taking a few deep breaths, before silently nodding at Beel and walking away. All alone, Beel stepped towards the door. He opened it and looked out at the dark vast of the Devildom before him. With a heavy, guilty heart, he closed the door and pressed his forehead against it. He used one hand to lock the door for the evening, while the other pulled out his D.D.D. The others didn't want him going after you, but a message couldn't hurt, right? He opened your contact and wrote out his text, "Hey MC. I'm sorry for how things happened tonight. Things got out of hand, and I'm sorry for not doing anything to stop that. I know you and the others are upset right now, but I was hoping that tomorrow, once we're all calm, you could come back home and we could talk about it?" Beel sat by the door for half an hour waiting for a response, but none ever came. He frowned and glanced up at the locked door handle before shaking his head. "Maybe they left it on silent for a bit," he mumbled to himself before picking up his phone once more. "Text me when you get to Purgatory Hall. You don't need to say anything else. I just want to know you're safe." With that, Beel headed towards the gym. He wasn't tired. He wasn't hungry. He just wanted you home, but he couldn't have that. So in the meantime, he'd stay awake until he at least knew you were safe.

Only the morning came and went, and there was no word from you. The brothers were starting to get concerned. No matter what was said last night, they still loved you. You all needed to talk, yes, and things needed to be worked out, but that didn't change how they felt for you. They would never want to see you hurt. Lucifer had reached out to Simeon, while Asmodeus contacted Solomon and Beel texted Luke. Only Beel received a response. "Never contact me again. If you come anywhere near Purgatory Hall, I will not hesitate to smite you in an instant, you foul fiend?" Satan read out loud as he passed the phone back to a very confused and worried Beel. "What in the world did you do to him?" "Nothing. At least, I don't think," he thought about for a second. "I've stolen his baked goods on occasion, but besides complaining about as I did it, he never seemed to hold a grudge." Lucifer frowned deeply. "This is clearly about MC. Luke has taken to them as though they're his older sibling."

Levi scowled and pressed a few buttons on his game. "Sure they aren't dating him too?" he yelped as Asmodeus smacked him on the back of the head. "Stop it," Asmodeus growled. "I know you're the Avatar of Envy, Levi, but MC was open and honest with us. They told us that they loved us all and that they wanted a relationship with all of us. We all listened to what they offered and agreed. You agreed to this!"

Levi huffed and put down his game. "Because it was better than not having them at all!" he sighed and put an arm over his face. "I know that they love me, and them being with a-all of us doesn't change that, but it's so hard sometimes. I-I-I just-" "Want 'em to yourself?" Mammon provided. Levi blushed and nodded in response. Mammon shrugged and sat down beside him. "We all understand that Levi. This is somethin' new for all of us. When I see MC bein' sweet with you guys I get this urge to just rip 'em off ya and hold 'em tight in my arms where ya guys can never touch 'em again," he sighed and put a hand on Levi's shoulder, "but then I see MC smile at me the same way they smile at Beel or you or Lucifer. I know that when I'm holdin' them, they're thinkin' of me and they're there with me because they treasure our time together. It's hard sometimes, and it hurts to admit, but you guys make MC happy, and I can't take that away from them." He nudged his younger brother gently, "Neither can you." Everyone sat quietly as they thought of Mammon's words. "They always bring me snacks after my workouts," Beel said with a small smile. "They always seem to know when I'm hungry and would just whip out snacks out of nowhere." Satan leaned onto his knees from where he sat on his chair. "They ordered me their favourite books from the human world on Akuzon. They wanted to do a trade. I'd read their favourites and they'd read mine. That way we could learn a bit about each other just by reading something that the other loved and would understand one another a little better." Belphie tiredly rubbed his eyes and leaned against Beel. "They wake me up after all class and before any meals," he chuckled softly at the memory. "No matter how much I snarled or insulted them, they'd just put their hands on their hips and patiently wait for me to wake up so that I wouldn't miss any of my classes or any meals."

Asmodeus giggled and smiled brightly. "That alone proves how much of an angel they are. Your demon side really shows when you're woken up." The others laughed as Belphegor stuck his tongue out at Asmo. "They would always give me their opinion on my outfits. I know it seems impossible, but even I get torn between which outfit I should bless the public with sometimes. MC would always be the voice of reason to help me choose," his eyes softened, "Though they always said at the end that the most beautiful thing about me was my heart, something no one could see but radiated from the outside-in." Lucifer sighed, closing his eyes as he put aside his pride, and spoke. "They check on me in the middle of the night. I swear they have an alarm. They'll come into my office to see if I'm still awake. If I am, so long as the work isn't truly urgent, they'll poke my cheek and play with my hair until I give in and go to bed."

Everyone turned to Levi. The otaku's face was bright red as he avoided everyone's gaze. "Your turn, Levi," Mammon ordered. "Come on. I know that MC's super gentle with ya. Ya have to have somethin' to add." Leviathan pouted before mumbling. "They'll hold my hand when we're in crowds and in public because they know how anxious it makes me. If I start to freak out, they'll just gently squeeze my hand and pull me along until they can find a quiet space where I can calm down a bit," he groans and glares at Mammon. "What's your point?"

"His point," Satan began calmly, "is that MC loves us all equally. They take special care to do the little things to ensure that we all know that we are loved by them." Mammon nodded and pointed and Satan. "Exactly!" Lucifer hummed in thought. "Though this doesn't fix the problem of MC having no regard for their own safety." Everyone winced. There was no denying that. You admitted it yourself. You were reckless, and in a place like the Devildom, that kind of behaviour would get you killed one day. What would happen if you weren't with them one day? Just like you currently weren't. Memories of your storm out swirled in all of their heads, and concern pooled heavily in their stomachs. "Has anyone heard from them yet?" Belphie asked, looking uncharacteristically nervous. But then again, he was always protective of you as he never wanted you to get hurt again, especially since he had been responsible for so much of your pain in the past. Beel opened his mouth to respond when Asmodeus's D.D.D. went off. Everyone eagerly stood, as Asmo pulled out the device and answered it without checking. "MC? Are you alright?" "Put it on speaker!" Levi snapped, crowding as close to his brother as he could. Asmodeus nodded and quickly did as told. The voice that answered wasn't you, as they had all hoped, but rather Solomon. "I'm afraid they're not," the brother's felt their blood freeze at Solomon's words, as time seemed to stand still around them. Solomon's voice was cold and stern, showing his obvious anger at the demons. "I apologize for not contacting you all sooner, but I was spending every last second of my time and energy on trying to keep MC from dying of blood loss. That, and Luke is quite determined to keep the lot of you as far from MC as possible. If it was up to him I wouldn't even be calling you all right now. I, however, figured that you should at least be made aware of their condition." None of them heard a thing after the words "dying from blood loss" reached their ears. Lucifer took the D.D.D. from Asmo's shaking hands. "What happened? The last we saw them they-" "Presumably walked away from a fight with all of you and was trying to come to us. Yes. I'm aware. I read Beelzebub's texts on MC's phone," everyone glanced at Beel. His brows narrowed as he kept his eyes fixed on the D.D.D. "To answer your question, MC didn't make it to Purgatory Hall last night. They were jumped by a group of three demons who seemed to think that human would make a delectable midnight snack. What do you think, Beelzebub? Is that true? Is the taste of human flesh, really so delicious? I think I've heard you comment as much once or twice before you all began your relationship," Solomon spat the words accusingly. Fury danced on his tongue as though he was Wrath himself. Beel winced back and put a hand on his stomach as flipped inside of him. Belphie growled at the mention in his defence. "Stop dancing around the subject and get to the point. What happened? Are they okay?" The demons were surprised to hear a snarl come from the other end. "I already told you, they aren't. Luke had opened a window to air out some of the kitchens after he failed a new recipe he was trying out when he heard their screams. By the time we got there one of them had eaten half of their right leg, while was one biting along their shoulder, and the other was trying to choke them to death. Simeon and I were able to get the heathens off of them and incinerated them on the spot, but MC was already unconscious. While we were fighting the demons, Luke was just barely able to cast enough healing spells to stop the bleeding and stabilize them. Simeon and I have been working ever since on using every spell, charm, and potion that we know to keep them alive and somehow attempt to heal their injuries." At the mention of MC's leg have been mostly eaten, Beel turned and threw up on the ground. No one moved to comfort him, as they were too distracted by their own states of shock. "A-Are-" Mammon began to choke out before clearing his throat. "Are they

alive? Please tell me they're alive." The answer hung just out of their grasp. Waving dangerously above them like a deadly knife held up by a string. No matter what the response would be, all the brothers felt as though they may faint. "They're alive. Simeon had to use all his power to bring their blood count levels up to a healthy level, and their shoulder was dislocated, they most likely have a concussion going off of their head injury, not to mention their right leg was unsalvagable and had to be amputated, but yes. They are, at the very least, alive." Mammon joined Beel. Satan stood still, though he had changed into his demon form and the aura of pure wrath filled every cranny of the room. Asmodeus held a hand over his mouth as tears streamed steadily down his face. Leviathan had stumbled away from the group and was in the beginning stages of a panic attack. Belphie stared at the phone with a bewildered expression, his eyes pricked with tears, as though he couldn't believe the words coming from Solomon's mouth.

Lucifer was doing everything he could not to hurl the phone across the room.

Solomon continued. "Luke is currently watching them and making sure that they remain stable, while Simeon and I rest. As such, you will have no luck if you try to see them right now. I'll text you when I wake up and then you can come to see them," with that, Solomon hung up. Anxiety, grief, and remorse clung to each of the brothers like a new skin. Earlier they were arguing that all of them had your love, and because of that, all of them had nearly lost you. ***Duh duh duh!!! Part three to come. Part three will probably be the final part, but I don't know. Haven't quite figured out how this is going to end yet. Though a heads up, a may fill out another request before pt. 3 is up just to give me a break from the heavy angst. Thank you all so much for supporting me! And thank you to @millenniumofpain for the request!***

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