#its so much more fun to just run into someone weird and click with them just as freinds or just whatever like 🙄

[smulnsander]

They way dating apps take try to advantage of pepole with not granting what should be basic features and instead trying to make ppl pay 20$ so you can scroll back to somone you acidentaly swiped away from is so fucking sucks

[bloodykora]

If you’re still doing Buggy headcanons: Sooo I always actually thought big noses on people are INCREDIBLY attractive. Give me men with noses that look just a bit too beaten up, women with noses that are big and wide, give me Roman noses and hawk noses and any unconventionally attractive nose and I am SWOONING.

… I feel the prompt almost writes itself at this point, what would Buggy think of someone who sees his funny looking nose not as a flaw but a mayor charm point and just constantly gives it kisses, traces it affectionately, boops it or comments (in all honesty and absolutely genuinely) how handsome and distinguished it makes him look, how it really suits him etc?

Wanna read about that man bluescreening because he hasn’t even treathened them yet to not make fun of his nose and they are already at the „flattering him to save themself“ stage? What do you MEAN you’re not saying that to safe yourself?!

This fucking anon/ask made me giggle so much, I literally showed it to my friends. I hope I did you and the prompt justice!

Enter the moment in Annie where Ms. Hannigan sees Warbucks’ diamond and goes “Oh my god, is that thing real?!” in shock but also delight. Me at that dude’s honker. (I want to be put on his nose like he has gangrene and I’m a leech who sucks on it to get the blood flow going) Also enter the Doja Cat quote of liking big noses.

- At first, dude is fucking weirded out. People have made comments and jokes about this stupid little red thing on his face and you… you think it’s attractive??? Huh.

- Definitely thinks you’re lying at first (and for the next few months), you’re literally the only person who is able to shut him up.

- Curtain drops, spot light is on, the blue haired clown walks in. Blabbering on about how his entrance should be more enthusiastic, but you got your eyes on your own prize, bright big red nostrils. If he wants an entrance, you’ll give him one by starting to clap loudly, getting so giddy that you start slightly hopping.

- “Oh my goodness, that is just.” Loss for words. “Are you making fun of me?” He approaches you, you hear him but his words don’t really seep into your brain at the moment. “It’s gorgeous, literally the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Your eyes are locked with his eyes and before he can even reply you reach up to brush your fingertip against his nose.

- Wants you dead first, no one has gotten close to touching it in years. And you, a low life nobody insults him like that. You get strung up immediately, your arm stretched so your fingers are out.

- “For that little ploy, I’ll take your fingers first and then your life.” Yes you’re scared but really could you regret it? This was the pirate’s life. “Oh, darn. Well, I’ll at least die happily. My eyes set on the most lovely nose I’ve seen in my years of life.”

- Thinks you’re still making fun of him until a few compliments later it clicks in his head that you mean it, with no hint of sarcasm or mockery. He lets you down, immediately ordering his crew to take care of the others you came with while he returns (runs) to his quarters. He’s a little intrigued by you, willing to die for a graze of his face. He keeps you as well, not that you’re upset by it.

- Crew thinks you’re hilarious, stopping a task to gaze longingly at the captain until either he realizes in which he shoos you back to work or he walks away. You boost his ego a ton though.

- From a distance he can ignore the thoughts he knows you’re thinking but up close, when they’re said in front of the crew, other pirates, hostages. He’s been known to cover your mouth with something so he doesn’t freeze up. When yall get together though, its game over.

- The first time you licked it, he almost saw some form of god. The angel's chorus was in his ears and he couldn’t help but say a little prayer in his head about you.

- Kissing it at least 3 times a day for good luck, rubbing up and down the bridge to soothe him to sleep, nipping at it when you feel playful. Not to mention he now has your voice in his head if he ever insults it going: “That’s not true! It is like one of the top 3 of the things I love about you and if you are mean to it again then I’m gonna cut it off and keep it all day!”

- Laying in his bed just watching him go about the day when you drop a “If my memory was wiped tomorrow I hope I’d get to keep at least the picture of your nose in my head.” before just turning over and going to rest. You hear him physically stop in his tracks and then a thud, he had let go of a boot.

- He doesn’t ever want to ask for praise about his nose on the days where he feels more insecure but you can tell by the way he rubs it on your collarbone and shoulder. You immediately pull out the good old “Have I told you how dashing attractive your nose is today? I seriously would just hop on and ri-” he doesn’t let you finish the sentence, cutting you off with a kiss knowing where it’s going.

- If anyone comments on his nose, you are the first to bite back. Threatening to cut out their tongue and string it up for future people to understand their place. Then squish Buggy while speaking highly of his stunning feature and how lucky they are to see it in the first place.

- You’re kinda crazy but hey, so is Buggy and he loves that you’re insane about him and his nose.

[unsanitarystation]

Aughh I haven't been able to come up with anything good but like. Yes. Baby Prowl getting his first heat

His first heat finally triggers from all the "training" he's been going through. At first he doesn't quite notice since he's never had it before. He feels a little warm. A little jittery. He feels extra cuddly and maybe extra horny. It's weird but it's not that weird

But then the heat starts proper and it hits him like a truck. Suddenly he's fighting his own processor to not immediately go to his favoruite officers whilst ON SHIFT to beg them to take care of him. That would be ridiculous, not to mention heightly irresponsible and unprofessional.

Oh but he needs them so bad. His little valve aches and clenches and keeps leaking more and more slick from behind his panels.

But the one thing that does catch him off guard is the ache in his abdomen. It takes a little while, but he soon realises he just really needs to pee. And again. And again. And again.

Every time he voids it feels good... he pushes his servo into the hot stream and fucks himself on his digits until he overloads there and then. But it always leaves him feeling extra empty. Something is missing.

It's only later when he finally gets to visit Sunny and Sides after their shifts does the whole puzzle click together. Sure he has already known his heat was making him horny for them... but he did not realise that the first urge to truly smack him in the faceplates was going to be that he really really really really wanted to piss all over them. Now.

In fact, Prowl gets so embarrassed that he squeaks, doorwings shooting all the way up, and runs. The twins have to go physically catch him and drag him back

They carry him back in like a kitten by the scruff of its neck, before unceremoniously dropping him on their berth.

Theyve figured out he's on his first heat. They would have so much fun together, they promised. But the problem now is that Priwl has been dumped on the bed and ohhhhh the berth smells so much like his mentors. He pushes his face into the bedding and whines. His panels are still open as he starts grinding against the berth.

The twins think it's cute to just... watch for a bit. Watching their cute little tactician whimper and struggle and writhe for a little while. But then Prowl suddenly starts apologising, solvent pooling in his optics, saying sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry over and over again as he suddenly starts voiding. He keens so loud as he drenches the bedding in his piss, before renewing his array grinding into the bed with renewed satisfaction

Prowl doesn't know what's going on, but the scent makes him feel so good. His mates' belongings... their space... clearly marked by him........

But then he realises he's not done. His frame screams at him to mark his mates. Mark them. As in. Piss all over them.

He could never!! Could... Could he? Defile two high ranking officers?

He whimpers and covers his face in shame (conveniently pressing his faceplates into the bedding that smells so perfectly like his claim). How could he even think of soiling his mentors. His commanding officers. How could he-

Oh but just the thought of soaking them in his waste drives him insane. The mental image of his sitting atop the officers, straddling their powerful frames, as he just lets his waste flow makes him keen and then immediately overload into his every growing mess

yesssss....Prowl is a smart little tactician but since no one has bothered to explain the full reach of a heat cycle to him, he's utterly clueless. His aching valve, leaky tanks, and odd desires are new and shameful to him. He doesn't want to tell someone that he's been overcome with the urge to self-service every time he voids, that would be extremely humiliating.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe have a field day, though. Prowl's first heat, and they're the ones who activated it! He's so adorable. Especially when he's got his hands between his legs and apologizing because he just can't stop peeing <33

It takes a while for the twins to coax the truth out of Prowl. They keep taunting him, asking him what he wants to do, telling him he can ask for anything... they just needed to hear it come out of his mouth. They needed to hear their bratty little charge ask if he could mark them. Please.

Who are Sunny and Sides to deny him :)

Sideswipe would take the brunt of it, I think... Sunstreaker wouldn't want to get his plating too filthy, but Sideswipe doesn't care. Sunny can hold Prowl up from behind and rub his pussy as Prowl starts to release his tank over Sideswipe... seeing his piss splatter against another mech's plating drives him crazy. Prowl's valve sprays uncontrollably and he smears it all over Sideswipe with his hands, trying to coat him in his scent so there's no mistaking who he belongs to...

Sunstreaker doesn't stay clean, though. One thing Prowl has to do to them both is piss on their spikes. Sunny holds the trembling bot in his hands as Prowl wets himself in his lap, valve squeezing his spike... The heat makes Prowl so cuddly and happy <3 For once he's not being a cocky little bastard, and he's kissing and mouthing at their necks and faces and shoulders, hugging them whenever he can...

[borom1r]

2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 18, 20, 22 for lotr from the violence ask meme 😈

OK i have answered 2 already but lets do this thing fuck yea (thank uuuuuuuuuu!!!!!)

3) screenshot or description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

look its not really a "take" but the amount of people who just post variations of "I don't like Boromir, he's the worst" IN THE BOROMIR TAG is genuinely insane to me. like have ur (incorrect) opinion but keep it out of the tag worstie

7) what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

uhhhh no one thank the gods. ive always disliked Denethor Because of canon. but i will say stumbling across the file index of an old LotR fansite + clicking on files w/ no preview only to find graphics thirsting over Denethor did cause massive psychic damage lmao

8) common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

idk 😭 i dont interact w/ the broader fandom really. i do find the way ppl reduce Pippin to Just a joke character in fanon insufferable tho

9) worst part of canon

BOOK!FARAMIR + HIS MIDDLEMEN SHTICK MY WORSTIE.

also ngl i do find the Aragorn/Arwen romance....... Weird. like I'm far from averse to "love at first sight" so long as it comes with the recognition that it's really more infatuation + true love takes work. and there's the fact Aragorn fell head over heels for an image of Lúthien, and Arwen's heart did not turn towards him until Galadriel dressed him up in elven finery. not to mention she was "not yet weary of her days" when Aragorn dies + has to die "whether I will or I nill" like she. wastes away? slowly alone in Lothlórien.

like idk [Aragorn kinnie voice] that's my sister, man but all that aside I do think.. Arwen deserved better? I like that the movies made her more active + I do wish she'd actually been there at Helm's Deep bc it would've been fun to see her and Éowyn bond but yeah. the vibes were off with that whole situation imho

12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

huh. does Théodred count? i feel like he's kind of a blank slate so fandom can just kinda run wild with him but i do genuinely enjoy writing him + find that there are solid implications for at least a friendship between him + Boromir (if not more). i mean, Boromir got a Rohirric shield from someone

14) that one thing you see in fics all the time

ok th implication here bein its sth that bothers me which thankfully i pretty much only read Aramir or Faramir/Éomer fics soooo theres not much??

i think the only things that RLLY get to me + they aren't THAT popular trope-wise (or ive been rlly good at avoiding them lmao) are fics that 1) make Boromir overly aggressive or 2) completely woobify Faramir

+ tbh the Faramir one bothers me more actually. that is a grown ass man and captain of the rangers of Ithilien.....................

18) it’s absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…

HRM. again idk :3 <- blissfully not interacting w the broader fandom + only interacting w/ ppl w correct takes on Boromir + Rohan

(tentatively i need to start following more ppl i see some of yall in my notes + i shld follow. sorry im like a nervous dog u need to coax out from under the porch lol)

20) part of canon you found tedious or boring

side-eyeing my copies of the Histories. i need to finish those. eventually.............

22) your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

ignores?????? nothing i think (thankfully lmao) but i will say there is SO much detail in the films that it makes me INSANE. ik we literally just talked abt this in DMs lmao but i could sit n talk abt LotR costuming for fucking HOURS the films were SO stunning and the clothing alone reveals sooooooo much abt the characters i think its a super underrated vehicle for character analysis :3

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Danger Force Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 1: The Danger Force Awakens

Season 1 Masterlist

*Welcome! If you don't know, I did the entirety of Henry Danger before this series, and whilst this could technically be read as a stand-alone story, reading the older books first would probably help everything make sense!

Click for vibes

Fun fact: I actually designed Miss Danger's new uniform first and then worked backwards to create a simpler version for the older one. So, I've had this design saved for a very long time!

Happy reading :)

~Swellview Academy for the Gifted~

If someone had said to (y/n) (y/l/n) that she'd one day end up as a teacher, she would've laughed in their face. 

Engineer? Sure. It's what she'd always wanted to be. Superheroine? Sure - it wasn't so far-fetched after she met her beloved doofus. But teacher? She didn't think she was the type. 

For years, her nerves made her too anxious in front of a crowd, especially one made up of teenagers, and everyone knows how cruel they can be. She always assumed she'd run a junk shop whilst moonlighting as a crimefighter; there was never time for anything else. 

But things were different now--very different to how they'd been a few weeks prior. One door closed, and another opened, precisely to her and her husband's new venture - SWAG. 

School was in session, and once she got into the swing of things and laid down the law, the kids were surprisingly eager to learn. They didn't jeer or make fun of her like in her nightmares; they just sat there, hanging onto her every word as she began the basics of a superhero's training. 

She was the sensible one - what was new? - giving them genuine advice whilst Ray and Schwoz ran more...eccentric classes. But one thing stood out to Miles, Mila, Chapa, and Bose. They'd been at school for weeks, turning blind eyes to their professors' lovey-dovey hugs, kisses, and God knows what else, but they hadn't learned anything. Not really. 

When Captain Man and Miss Danger said they'd train them to be outstanding heroes, they expected explosions, gun fights, and criminal takedowns, not homework, essays, and pop quizzes. And it wouldn't be so bad if it was helpful like it was at the beginning. It seemed like the adults were running out of things to say, keeping them glued to their desks without giving any practical guidance. 

Theoretical knowledge wouldn't help in the real world, but tell that to Schwoz. 

"Okay...time to practice your lying!" The bizarre man announced to a series of grumbles as he hurried through SWAG's classroom, heading for the lectern where (y/n) was standing. 

Using her PearPad, she flicked the first slide of the slideshow onto the large Smartboard, knowing that this was what her doofus wanted her to teach. It wasn't like they liked this crap, even though telling fibs was a helpful skill. The kids were...amateurs, at best, totally unprepared and unskilled for a world of horror and violence. So, they were breaking them in gently, although they couldn't let them know. 

"Hey, come on! Listen to Schwoz..." the heroine gently scolded the moody children, who slouched in their seats at the thought of another boring lesson. But, they respected Miss Danger, thinking she was kind and considerate, much more than her man-child of a husband, so they paid attention - sort of. 

"My friend is on fire. I must run to pour water on his face!" Schwoz read aloud, following the crappy lie he'd invented on the screen. It was strange and unbelievable, but still, he smiled at the kids and directed them to repeat after him. 

"My friend is on fire, and--I'm really the only one doing this?" Mika frowned, starting off strongly with her usual enthusiasm. Still, she quickly stopped when she realised her brother and friends weren't joining. She was the try-hard of the group, and whilst she could cope with Captain Man's weird lesson plans, the others certainly couldn't. 

Chapa sighed, her face twisting into its signature scowl as she leaned forward on her elbows, directing her fury mainly at the bald weirdo teaching them nonsense. She wasn't mad at Mrs. Manchester since she was sweet and generous and gave them self-defence classes, but Schwoz? Yeah, he was just Ray's yes-man. 

"As fun as it is to practice lying all day, it's not fun at all, and I hate it!" She spat, a momentarily sweet smile turning into a snarl. 

"Hate is a very strong word..." Miles spoke up, straightening himself out after reclining in his chair with his feet on the desk. He looked at his friend across the way with a typically serene expression - he'd always been into all that zen shit, but even he couldn't stand this. 

"And in this case... It's accurate."

"What they're trying to say is that Captain Man and Miss Danger bought this school to teach us how to be superheroes..." Mika explained diplomatically, trying not to tread on her teacher's toes, but she understood her friends' frustration. This shit was boring...

"But if all we do is--"

"Guys, I know that this isn't the most...stimulating of lessons," (y/n) started, holding her hands up in confession, but it was either this or sending them into the fray to get pummelled. And honestly, she couldn't think of how many lies she'd had to tell to keep their operation secret. 

"But lying is a very important of being a superhero! We have to know how to protect our secret identities!"

"You know what, though, (y/n/n)? We didn't ask for these powers!" Chapa argued, sending her tutors into eye-rolls and groans because this story was getting old. They loved to complain about how they didn't choose this life or whatever - like Ray and his sweet girl had a choice about their powers, either

"Oh, here we go..." Schwoz groaned, knowing they were about to launch into a dramatic retelling of how Swellview's favourite heroes - and some new friends - saved the city from a terrible foe. 

"Yeah, Schwoz built the weapon that blew up and gave 'em to us when Captain Man, Miss Danger, and Kid Danger fought Drex!" Miles chuckled as the handyman stood there, hands on his hips, looking unimpressed at their ridicule. 

"Yeah, you were all--ayeeeee, there's a caveman on top of meeee!" Bose joked in a poor imitation of the small man, but still, it made his friends laugh. And (y/n), honestly - she couldn't help but giggle. 

"Why is that funny? (y/n), stop laughing with them! A caveman really was on top of me!" Schwoz exclaimed exasperatedly, losing control over his classroom as his co-teacher smothered her laughter - poorly. 

The more they laughed, the more riled up the kids were, ignoring his tittering to quiet down and resume the lesson; they just wanted to remember how awesome it was to be in the heat of battle when they gained the powers that got them here. Well, not Mika yet, but definitely for the others. 

"And Mika was all..."

"Kid Danger needs help!" The girl exclaimed as she stood up dramatically, hands poised on her hips like any good superhero. God, all she needed was a fan blowing her hair and some epic music...

"And Captain Man and Miss Danger were like..."

"Just shoot us!" Chapa growled, re-enacting how the lovers wrestled to keep their archenemy in front of the Omega Weapon, even though it meant sacrificing their superpowers. Oh, well - they came back eventually. 

"But Kid Danger said..."

"If I blast you, you won't be indestructible anymore! And you won't have your super-regeneration!" Miles exclaimed nobly, channelling every bit of the former sidekick's bravery into his words. It was almost enough to make (y/n) tear up, thinking about her babies and how far away they were...

"Neither will Drex. Now, shoot us, you quitter!" Chapa growled, perfectly imitating Ray and how he still held that grudge for Henry after he quit. He was such a drama queen, but the fight was epic, covering everyone in glory--except for Schwoz. And he was still salty about that - where was his superpower, huh?

"I hit a caveman on the head. I was helping..." he muttered bitterly as (y/n) patted his shoulder, knowing he helped in his own way. 

"And then, Kid Danger was like..."

"Hold onto your hoses!" Mile's body shook as he pretended to fire the Omega Weapon, turning his voice robotic and powerful as the 'blast' hit his friends, making them flail their arms in the air. Too bad they didn't take drama classes...

"Explosion!" Bose shouted in a deep, drawn-out cry like they were all in slow motion. The kids fell into their seats or onto their desks, pretending they were unconscious like they were after the battle, and whilst (y/n) appreciated their reverence - after all, that was the night she gained her second superpower - she still liked to have order amongst her pupils. 

"Yeah, guys. We were there. We know what happened..." she said dryly, folding her arms and waiting for them to sit up. 

"And now, I can..." However, the boy carried on, lifting his head from his desk as he tried to remember his power. Poor guy had a good heart, but brainpower wasn't his strong point, leaving him clueless and helpless more times than (y/n) cared to remember. 

"Wait, what's my superpower again?"

"You can move things with your mind..." Mika reminded him, her tone slow and gentle like she was talking to a toddler. Still, Bose looked confused, looking at his hands and wondering at their ability, which he swore was something else. 

"I thought that was Chapa," he said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to the unamused girl behind him. 

"No, I can shoot lightning bolts from my hands!" She corrected him, having had a few mishaps in the first few weeks. She was getting better at using them - they all were - but kept zapping things unintentionally--like (y/n) 's third-favourite sweater. 

"Sick. Then, what's Miles' power?" Bose asked - as if he hadn't been friends with everyone for a month or so. 

"He can teleport anywhere in the world," (y/n) explained tiredly, feeling the exhaustion seeping into her bones again as she remembered how difficult it was to keep a lid on that power. The poor kid went from Germany to Singapore in one day, and it wasn't easy to get him home...

"Filthy. Then, what's your superpower?" The long-haired boy turned to Mika, whose face fell as she struggled to answer. 

She didn't have one, and she looked to her kind-hearted teacher for guidance because all the others had their powers, but hers hadn't materialised yet. As the weeks passed, she grew increasingly worried, thinking there had to be a mistake, even though (y/n) assured her the Omega Weapon's energy touched her. She advised her to wait and see, but that was easier said than done when your best friends could control lightning and bend physics to their will. 

"She doesn't have one!" Chapa and Miles exclaimed in unison, not in a mean way, but because they were fed up with telling the dimwitted boy. 

"For some reason, my power hasn't shown up--yet!" Mika clarified, making Bose gasp dramatically and clamp his hands over his face. It wasn't that big of a deal, and when she looked her way, (y/n) gave the girl a reassuring smile - she had something in her; she just knew it. 

"If we could just focus your attention on what--" Schwoz tried to say, hoping he could finish his lying lesson, but they were too far gone now. Once you lost Bose's attention, that was it - you didn't get it back. 

"Are you scared you'll never get one?"

"Absolutely not!" Mika scoffed, rolled her eyes, and folded her arms, playing off the kid's question like it didn't bother her. Not even a little bit. She didn't care - who wants a superpower anyway? Ew. 

"See guys? That's bad lying," Miles joked, poking fun at his twin because he knew how obsessive she could be, and not discovering her power was really getting to her. He just knew it--saw how touchy she was at home and how she did everything to try and find it. 

"Actually, dear brother, I'm not scared. (y/n) says she thinks my power needs the right conditions to be activated. And when it does, I'll kick your butt!" his sister replied snappily, giving the boy a deathly stare for trying to knock her confidence. (y/n) was smart and Swellview's greatest superheroine--if anyone knew their science-hero stuff, it was her. 

"Whoa, you guys are related?!" Bose gasped, glancing between the twins with shocked eyes, making everyone facepalm again. It was like he'd been living under a rock, yet everyone knew he hadn't. He was just slow...and very, very unobservant. 

"I know I have a superpower! I'm sure it will show up eventu--" Mika tried to tell them, placing all her confidence in Miss Danger's judgement, but Schwoz had had enough. 

He was tired of the chitchat, feeling like his authority was being undermined, and the worst thing? His wingwoman was joining in, making the handyman elbow her ribs and frown as he raised an air horn in the air and squeezed the button. It made a noise that, remarkably, sounded like someone shouting HEY!, silencing the chattering kids and almost deafening the woman beside him. 

"Thanks, Schwoz. I didn't like this ear that much anyway..." (y/n) winced, laying her palm over her poor ear as it rang and ached. Chapa frowned at the move, her scowl deepening until her face was a red, angry crumple because that was her friend - the one person who didn't judge or push her away in fear. 

"Never Hey!-horn a woman!" She barked, roughly pushing her seat back and standing up, scarlet sparks flying from her fingertips as her temper set her superpower off. 

"Chapa, relax... (y/n) can handle herself," Mika said soothingly. She did not want another incident of someone's butt getting fried because the girl got overwrought, but her advice made it worse. 

Chapa's glowing red eyes snapped to hers, full of rage and anguish as the world tried to dampen her spirit. 

"Never tell me to relax! We've been here three weeks! We should be learning how to be superheroes, but instead, we're practising lies and getting the Hey!-horn!" She yelled, growing angrier and angrier until not even (y/n) could keep her calm. 

She had a point; school had started just under a month ago, and they were still yet to go out on a mission. But, in their defence, Ray and (y/n) knew they weren't ready, preferring to keep them out of sight and danger until they could at least get their powers under control - or hell, even discover them. 

"Hey, I'm already great at lying!" Bose countered, smirking at his friends with some unknown smugness. 

"Watch!... I am so wearing pants right now."

"Bose, are you not wearing pants right now?" Miles asked in a disbelieving voice, trying to catch a glance of his friend under the table. Although, on second thoughts, that didn't sound like a good idea, given how serious he looked. 

"Not important. But what is important is that I'm takin' Schwoz's Hey!-horn!" The boy giggled, brushing off Miles' question, even though it was genuine. 

(y/n) frowned at his words, her amused expression falling when the kid reached out his tensed hand and pressed two fingers to his temple. With extreme concentration, he used his telekinesis to lift the air horn out of Schwoz's hand, far above where the genius could reach. It was a hilarious prank for them, sending the children into laughter when Schwoz tried to grab it, just to come down empty-handed. 

"I'm not going to jump for it..." he said meekly, shoving his hands deep in his pockets to dissuade temptation, even as (y/n) stretched to get the can. Bose lifted it higher, meaning the can brushed her fingertips before soaring above her head, and if she couldn't reach it, Schwoz had no chance. 

"I know you want me to jump for it, but I'm a man of science, and I'm not going to--"

"Just jump, Schwoz. We all know you want to..." (y/n) groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as the kids laughed, bating the genius to jump. Temptation won out, and he began leaping, stretching, and grunting, trying in vain to catch the horn, only for it to float higher. Someone had been practising with his superpower...

"Ya' hate to see it..." Miles chuckled, finding that he and his friends loved to mess around with the tiny man, much to (y/n) 's chagrin. This was what they did when they were bored, and ever since Bose mastered moving small, light objects, they'd revelled in it, ignoring any and all discipline. 

"Give me back my Hey!-horn!" Schwoz snapped, stamping his feet and squirming on the spot like an infuriated child, but Bose didn't listen. He was too in love with his newfound powers. 

"Sure. Soon as you let us fight crime," Chapa proposed with an evil smirk, making (y/n) sigh and scrub her face with her open palm. It was getting harder and harder to lie to the kids, and she felt bad that they took their wrath on the poor guy, knowing that he wouldn't do anything, unlike her and Ray. 

"It's not up to me! It's up to Captain Man and Miss Danger!" Schwoz argued, thinking their treatment was unfair too, and all eyes fell on (y/n). 

She didn't break, knowing that children could smell fear, and if she let them walk all over her, all hell would break loose. She didn't let her old babies get away with shit, so her new ones definitely couldn't, even though she knew they wanted more than namby-pamby lectures. 

"(y/n), let us go out and fight crime! Come on, you remember what it was like to be a new sidekick, right?" Chapa pleaded, even as far as to smile slightly before her friends joined in, all clamouring for the woman to help them get out and kick some ass. But she just shook her head and gave them a sympathetic smile, knowing that whilst she had the authority to assign missions, she didn't want to. 

"Sorry, but I'd need to discuss that sort of thing with Captain Man, and he's not here, so..." she shrugged, believing avoidance was her best tactic, and technically, it wasn't a lie. 

She didn't know where her doofus was, although she'd bet he was probably growing needy after being separated from her all morning--and she missed him. It had been too long without his kisses...

"Well, where is he?" Mika asked expectantly, assuming Miss Danger would know where her husband was, given that they'd been practically joined at the hip since they'd come off their honeymoon. It was disgustingly cute despite the kids' groans and vomiting noises. 

"Yeah, Captain Man never spends this much time away from Mis--" Miles' pondering was interrupted as the legendary hero dropped from the ceiling, landing in an epic pose with his knee touching the floor and his hands clenched. 

The man loved a dramatic entrance, especially in his new uniform - a significant improvement on his old Captain Man suit. He looked bulkier and broader and loved encouraging his wife to feel up his muscles as she studied the small changes - a few extra grey and yellow patterns here and there. Bose's concentration snapped, sending the air horn clattering to the floor as everyone marvelled at the hero's intimidating yet impressive aura. 

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" He immediately shouted, dashing around the room like a madman as he yelled at the kids, inspiring panic in them at his frantic tone. He wanted them to get to work, needing their snappy, organised, and coordinated response because panic caused chaos in an emergency. But, of course, their excitement got the better of them. 

"Yes!"

"Let's go!"

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Get up to the Man's Nest! Get your uniforms on! GO, GO, GO!" He shouted, slapping his hands on Bose's desk as he sat there, wide-eyed and frozen, even as his friends scrambled to get ready. The shouting wasn't helping, the pressure making him sweat and his mind blank as Ray turned to the Macklin twins. 

"It's crimefightin' time! For real!" (y/n) stood back with Schwoz, watching the chaotic scene unfold with a mildly amused face. It wasn't good that they panicked so severely, but at least she saw her doofus standing there, looking all handsome, as his gaze flickered from the floundering kids to her. God, that uniform...it was a good change. 

"I finally get to hurt someone!" Chapa shrieked, a red current sparking through her fingers as she thought about electrocuting criminals - perfect for letting off steam. Her unbridled rage brought her joy, but the room turned to pure bedlam as she laughed manically. 

Ray and (y/n) locked eyes, sharing a baffled expression as Bose lost all control and flipped his desk, sending pencils rolling across the floor. He also pushed his chair across the room, shouting in anguish as the couple sighed in despair. This was why they didn't want them to go on missions yet.

"Are you wearing a shirt for pants?!" Mika asked with a frown, staring at the boy's legs as he blindly ran around with a blue hoodie pulled up to his butt. Well, he wasn't lying earlier...

"YES!" He cried before running away, not knowing what to do. Even Miles had lost his chill, wrestling with (y/n) for her PearPad for some unknown reason as Bose shook Ray by the shoulders. Honestly, they'd designed the classroom to make it easier to get upstairs, but they were turning it into a farce. 

"I do not know what to do! I have literally forgotten all of my training!"

"Get up to the Man's Nest! This is not a drill!" Ray barked again, shoving Bose off his chest to go and grab a pan and wooden spoon, banging it for extra effect. He didn't know why the message wasn't getting through to them, with only Mika keeping calm as she jumped into her chair. 

"Hurry up, you guys!" She called to her fellow students, knowing they had to get upstairs to where their gum was stored. She slapped her hand on the armrest's button, zooming through the ceiling tubes to put on her uniform. Meanwhile, the others remained in chaos, mindlessly wandering the room. 

"Don't tell me what to do!" Chapa growled, even though the girl was long gone. Still, it was enough to make her spark - lousy news for Miles and Bose as they charged into her from both sides, ending in a scarlet explosion that sent them to the floor when the electricity jumped to their bodies. 

"Oh, you hate to see it..." Schwoz retorted, silently glad to see the boys groaning in pain since they'd made fun of him and stole his Hey!-horn earlier. 

As (y/n) gave him a scolding stare, Mika dropped down from the ceiling, wearing her silver and black super-suit and mask. Finally, someone was ready to go, but her brother and friends had fallen behind, still panicking as she began to bark orders. 

"Get to the Man's Nest! Hit the chairs--let's go upstairs! Up to The Nest, then make the arrest! Everyone, get seated so bad guys can get yeeted!"

"I'll teleport there," Miles bragged as he slowly rose from the floor, holding his aching stomach after taking Chapa's lightning. At this point, Ray had dashed over to his sweet girl and handyman, welcoming her into his arms as she smiled warmly - her love brightened his mood, lessening the irritation from the disorder. 

"Miles, are you sure that's a good idea? You can't control--" (y/n) tried to stop the boy, recalling the last time he tried to use his power and how difficult it was to get him back. However, she was too late, slumping into Ray's embrace again as the boy disappeared to God knows where in a flash of golden light. 

"Sweet cheese..." the heroine sighed, resting her cheek against her husband's pec as his arms curled around her tighter, understanding her frustration. As he soothingly stroked her back, Chapa and Bose made it into their chairs, pushing the buttons and disappearing into the hideout, leaving Mika with the adults. 

Well, that was an ordeal. 

"This is not a drill!" Ray stomped over and growled at the girl as she retook her seat - a pretty poor move since she was already in her uniform and ready to go on his mission. 

"I was ready first!" She shouted back before zooming upstairs, where the chaos undoubtedly continued in the couple's home. They knew they were inexperienced, but dear God, neither expected it to go that badly, wondering where they went wrong with such a simple routine. 

"Hey, doofus..." Still, the silence was golden, allowing (y/n) to sidle up to her lover as he sighed, utterly exhausted after the brief exercise. 

But he relaxed when she slipped her hands up his chest, pulling him into a much-needed kiss after a couple of hours apart - it was their way of reuniting. He hummed at her honey-like taste, squeezing her hips as she ran her fingers through the cropped hair at the nape of his neck, loving how sexy Captain Man looked in his new suit. 

"Missed you, sweet girl..." Ray whispered, pecking his beautiful wife's lips again as she stroked his smooth cheeks. Two hours apart was too long and had been ever since their honeymoon spoiled them with three weeks alone in paradise. 

Schwoz rolled his eyes, knowing they'd been worse since they returned home, but he couldn't blame them for being utterly in love - he was the one who married them. 

"It's just a drill, isn't it?" (y/n) questioned knowingly, aware that her husband didn't want the kids in danger yet. Still, his sneaky plan made her smile, and when she did, he did, too, grinning from ear to ear as he confessed. 

"Yeah..." he chuckled breathlessly, finding a smidge of fun in making the team panic, but it was also very telling. They weren't even close to being ready for bad guys yet, something the heroine reiterated as she followed her doofus into the back room. As much as she wanted to stand in his arms all day, they had younglings to teach, especially if they ran rampant in the Nest. 

It's where they'd built a new tube pad - a huge one, enough to comfortably send a group of people around the Man's Nest at once. Plus, it gave them a perfect little hidey-hole to kiss and explore without young eyes around to see something scarring, often making Schwoz take the stairs. 

"Doofus, that was a disaster..." (y/n) groaned, pulling the gumballs from her back pocket as she stepped into the tube with her lover, standing unnecessarily close after so many years in the old, narrow ones. 

She popped one into her mouth as Ray sighed, his hands on her hips again as they waited for the suction to send them upwards. He didn't need his pretty girl to tell him that; he knew that the kids weren't ready, but as she'd found, it was getting harder and harder to keep them in SWAG when they were so desperate to see some action. 

"I know, darlin'. And they're still not ready..." he sighed, knowing Chapa and Bose were probably still in their civilian clothes with Mika shouting at them and Miles in some far-off land. His wife offered him a tired but sweet smile as she chewed and blew a bubble, her new uniform materialising on her body in a burst of bright colours. 

In a split-second, before they went upstairs, Ray took a moment to admire her figure, raking his eyes over the new design and how it complimented her so well. She was officially his new senior sidekick and, as such, deserved a new look, complete with an updated two-colour skirt, bodice, and other minor details to compliment his suit. And fuck - she looked hot. 

"Pick your tongue up, doof." A soft voice broke him out of his daydream, and his gaze snapped up to her amused eyes as they crinkled with laughter. Caught red-handed. 

"Can't blame a guy for admiring his wife, sweet girl, especially when she's so freakin' hot--" he grinned cheekily, and (y/n) didn't get a chance to reply when his arms tightened around her body as they blasted off. 

Upstairs, in the Man's Nest, the couple were joined by Schwoz and found another chaotic scene as they'd predicted. Chapa and Bose were on their knees, nails scraping against the floor to try and scoop up millions of gumballs they'd accidentally dropped, even though they'd mixed together. Miles was with his sister, looking particularly grumpy after teleporting into a bird's nest, which left doo-doo and feathers stuck to his clothes and hair.  

"Oh, dear God..." (y/n) groaned, wondering if there was any point in putting on her uniform when they were all in such disarray. She and her doofus shared an irked look with Schwoz as they descended the stairs, knowing they might as well get comfy.  

At least the woman could admire her new home; even after a few weeks of living there, she still wasn't used to it. 

There were a few familiar comforts like the tube and crescent-shaped couch in the centre of the spacious marble floor. Everything glowed and buzzed like in the Man Cave, and the sounds of computers whirring and alarms beeping soothed her longing for the old days, making up for the lack of an auto-snacker and sprocket. 

New features included the chair station where the kids kept their gum and personal belongings, a smaller computer for general hero work, a front that anyone could walk through, and a side door that led to the many rooms in the hideout's bowels. She knew the route to her bedroom and the bathroom, but that was it - the place was a maze of corridors and hidden spaces. 

But the best thing had to be the view. She always complained about living underground, going days without breaching the surface because her work kept her busy - who needed sunlight? 

Ray heard her grumbles and solved them--anything to keep his wife happy--so he purchased the highest home in Swellview - on top of Mount Swellview. She could see the entire city: trees, sky and sun, and it was a welcome change. 

"Miles found more gum!" Bose's shout broke her from the daydream, her gaze landing on the boys as the brunet charged at his friend to wrench the small tin from his hand. They'd explained that everyone's gum was unique, coded to each hero's uniform, but he didn't care - Bose saw what he needed and scrambled. 

"What? No! That's my gum!" Miles screeched, wrestling to keep hold of his gumballs, going as far as to fall to the floor, not that it did him any good. 

The container hit the tiles, sending another million balls across the floor - yellow mixing with red and blue until the three out-of-uniform kids couldn't tell the difference. 

As they argued about whose fault it was, Ray, (y/n), and Schwoz sat on the couch, appreciating its familiar half-moon shape. They quickly got comfy, ignoring the chaos around them as they waited for the tweens to get organised eventually. 

The hero curled an arm around his sweet girl, pulling her into his side as she smiled, her head resting on his shoulder. He even had a tub of nuts to nibble on, fully prepared to relax. 

"When'd you build this place?" The man asked his handyman, fighting a smug smirk as his wife pecked his cheek--just because she enjoyed the feel of his skin on her lips. 

"Last year," Schwoz replied, having had the spare hideout under wraps until needed. He'd built everything the Man Cave lacked in the new building, taking extra care to soundproof some particular rooms and claim his bedroom far away from them. 

As they chatted, Bose brushed past the back of the couch, reaching over to pinch one of Captain Man's nuts as Mika and Chapa chased after him. Still not ready. 

"I was going to give it to you both for your anniversary!"

"Aw, Schwozie. That's so sweet!" (y/n) cooed, her heart melting at the genius' generosity and how he gave it to them early, given that they found themselves unexpectedly married and homeless. She beamed at her husband, leaning up to peck his lips out of pure joy, almost forgetting the screaming children running around her. 

Ten minutes later, and they'd made some progress - Bose was finally dressed. However, as always with the boy, they'd gone one step forward and two steps back, mostly because he was wearing Mika's silver suit. He thought he looked great, ignorant of the brawl between Chapa and Miles as he admired the slim-fit style. 

"How did my gum get mixed in with yours?!" The dark-haired girl asked as the couple on the couch face-palmed. 

"No idea, but it's my costume now! I have the power to do nothing!" Bose exclaimed with his hands on his hips, infuriating Mika. She didn't appreciate the ridicule, chasing after the boy when he fled her fury. 

Still not ready. 

"Hey, can everybody see this place?" Ray asked another fifteen minutes later as he, his beloved wife, and Schwoz stood before the vast window to admire the mountain view. 

After waiting at least half an hour for the children, they'd stood up to stretch their legs, and that's when it hit him - maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have his headquarters plastered on top of a mountain where anyone could see it. That's why they lived underground before.

"Yes..." Schwoz nodded, wondering where he was going with this. He was good, but he couldn't make an entire building invisible. That was far too complicated. 

"Well, what happens if bad guys come?"

"We'll defeat them, doofus. I mean, come on! You're Captain Man!" (y/n) giggled, squeezing his thick bicep for added effect because she knew that her heroic husband could and would take on any asshole who tried to invade their home. She'd help him, of course, but she only inflated his ego, feeling up his arm as he blushed. 

"Aw... You're so sweet, sweet girl..." Ray cooed as she'd done earlier, a burning sense of masculine pride filling him at the knowledge that his sweet girl thought he was big, brave, and strong. 

His fingers pinched her chin as he gave her her reward - a gentle kiss for being so perfect, meaning they didn't see the bouncing children around them. Still not ready. 

Another twenty minutes passed, and the kids finally lined up in front of their tube chairs. Mika waited for her friends to blow their bubbles, eventually corralling them into chewing the correct gum whilst Captain Man and his wife sprawled on the couch. She didn't even want to know where that man had put his hands...

They were in uniform, ready and willing to kick some criminal butt. At last, Chapa was in red, Bose in blue, Miles in yellow, and Mika still in silver, completing the quartet of young sidekicks as they grinned and congratulated themselves. Obviously, they didn't see the unimpressed adults to their right...

"This was just a drill..." Ray told them slowly in a tired voice, fully expecting their shouts and complaints after making them panic. They snarled and glared, shouting about how he wasn't cool, a jerk, how he had some nerve, yadda-yadda-yadda. He didn't care, glancing at his sweet girl's PearPhone as she checked the time. 

"And it took you...an hour and a half!" He told them sharply, pointing at her phone with a mildly disappointed face. Even (y/n) couldn't hide her dissatisfaction, having witnessed some utterly brutish and animalistic behaviour from the kids, and whilst she was fond of them, she wouldn't shy away from a much-needed telling-off. 

"Okay, who burned the couch?! Huh? Fess up! Don't think I won't find out!" She threatened, angrily pointing to her beloved couch table - the one thing that genuinely reminded her of their old home. Well, not now; it was full of goddamn smouldering holes after someone's temper got the better of her.

"...Bose did it," Chapa lied, hiding her sparkling hands behind her back as the vacant boy stood silently. Of course, (y/n) wasn't an idiot, giving her a grave, deathly stare as she folded her arms, clearly seeing the actual culprit, despite being rather fond of the misunderstood girl. 

Maybe she was getting old and broody, but honestly, it wasn't the fact that she'd ruined that couch that bothered her so much but the lies. The seats could be replaced or repaired, but she hated liars, making her shake her head disappointedly at the bashful girl, feeling more and more like a parent every day. 

Good God...she was normal four kids ago, and now she was going grey.

~A while later~

It was fair to say that Ray's exercise was a complete flop. After all that effort, he stood the team down, ignoring the chorus of groans as the kids changed out of their uniforms again. 

They knew he wouldn't let them go out, having grown used to getting their hopes up just to be disallowed from seeking out danger. It sucked, but they had no choice but to follow the boss' orders, gathering on the singed couch on Ray's command whilst he and (y/n) changed back into their regular clothes too. 

The couple were clearly disappointed, sighing and shaking their heads as they prepared to review the drill. Although they hid it particularly well, fawning over each other with kisses, cuddles, and cooing over their matching gold rings, something they still weren't used to seeing.

The kids could puke, but they held in any ridicule since they were amid a telling-off. And Ray wouldn't let them off lightly. 

"Aaaaaand...bam!" Ray laughed as he stood before the group, highly amused by the video he kept playing of Miles and Bose bumping into Chapa, causing her electricity to explode. He found it hilarious, chuckling despite their sad faces, rubbing up against his precious girl as she snacked on his cheese puffs. 

"Again, 'cause it's funny...Bam!" he smiled, replaying the moment of the explosion on the giant holographic screen before laughing heartily - again and again and again. 

"All right, last time, I swear--bam! Just kidding! I lied--bam!"

"I'm sick of watching this film!" Chapa growled, standing on the couch she'd burnt with her teeth bared and fingers zapping, threatening to cause more damage. She wasn't one to be mocked, especially by some hot-shot guy who thought he was better just because he was some superhero...okay, maybe he was a bit better. 

"Captain, can we please go out and fight real crime?" Mika asked politely, trying to use her brightest smile and fluttering eyelashes to appeal to the man's heart. Given the glinting band on his left hand and the soft glances he kept shooting the pretty lady beside him, he had to have one. 

"I know we look bad in here, but out in the real world, we'd be great! I just know it! Please, (y/n/n)? Pretty please?"

"Uh, well..." (y/n) gulped, hating how she had to lie to her face, but it had to be done. They were painfully unprepared for how severe and terrifying evil criminals could be, so she avoided their hopeful eyes, staring at her doofus instead. 

Goddamn, he looked so good in that tight t-shirt, almost making her drool as one muscular arm wrapped around her shoulders, reminding her of their strength. 

"--Well, we'd love to let you guys come along on a crime run, but the truth is...there's a crime drought," Ray said in her stead, quickly smoothing things over with a little white lie. It wasn't a very good one, and the kids didn't look very convinced, but he went with it. 

"There is no such thing as a crime drought," Miles argued, looking at the lovey-dovey couple sceptically as the hero fed his wife a cheese puff, giggling when his cheese-dust-covered fingertip caught her lip. 

"Is too!" (y/n) countered with her mouth full, playing along with her lover's lie for safety reasons. She didn't like it, but at least they'd be safe; what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. 

"Ooh, she's got you there," Bose murmured to his friend, making Miles sigh. He wouldn't even try to reason with the dimwit.

"Look. This town's had some tasty crime waves in the past, but Miss Danger, Kid Danger, and I shredded the gnar and put all the criminals back in prison..." Ray told them, changing the humiliating video to an image of Henry in his old uniform. 

He and (y/n) smiled sadly, their hearts clenching at the sight of their old friend and his bright smile. Dystopia had never felt so far away...

"My baby..."

"Miss ya, kid," they sniffed, blinking back tears as they huddled together, trying to remember the happier times and that the boy was now a young man, doing his own thing. There was no time to dwell on it; having made their peace with his decision, they quickly moved on, leaning on each other for support like always. 

"Anyray," the man cleared his throat, earning a quick glance from his sweet girl because she hated when he did that silly name thing. 

"We're in a crime drought, so...nobody's doing nothing."

"Ray! (y/n)!" A loud shout came behind them, making the couple jump as the children frowned. They never got to do anything fun. Upon turning around, they realised that Schwoz, the annoying weirdo he was, was the one who'd scared the heebie-jeebies out of them after connecting to the screen via video chat, making (y/n) jump into her husband's chest for safety. 

"Sweet cheese, Schwoz!" She whimpered, clutching at her pounding heart, although Ray wasn't complaining. He didn't like to see her spooked, but damn, he didn't mind her rubbing up against him like that...

"I've been texting you both for ten minutes! Face your phones!" The genius instructed them, and when they pulled the cells from their pockets, the spouses realised he was right. (y/n) flicked through an onslaught of furious texts, all from Science Coconut 🥥 🧪, and she realised that Captain Man and Miss Danger were needed. 

"Oopsie-Raysie..." her doofus did the same, hurriedly reading the message about some half-assed emergency that didn't sound too bad, but heroic assistance had been requested. He also had one from Sweet Girl ❤️💍 , telling him to have a good day before classes started. Aw...

"I miss one text on a weekend, and you threaten to fire me, but I guess it's okay for you and your wife to--"

"We gotta go!" Ray announced, ignoring the incessant tirade from the genius on the screen as his pretty girl tucked her phone away and tugged on his huge bicep, urging him to get moving. But they wouldn't get away that easily; as soon as he turned to follow his wife like a puppy, the kids were on their toes, interrogating with suspicious squints. 

"Where are you going?" Mika asked, standing dangerously close to her teachers as Ray bumped against his lover, abs pushing against her back whilst the girl tried to catch a glimpse of his texts. 

"Is it an emergency? Can we come?!" Chapa gasped, her eyes sparkling at the thought of tagging along. She couldn't wait for their first mission, but one look at the speechless heroes and she had a sinking feeling. 

It was undeniably suspicious how Ray peeked over his shoulder, looking at Schwoz for support as he brainstormed a suitable lie, but he wasn't very convincing. (y/n) smiled nervously, feeling her tummy tingling when she heard the genius sigh because he knew what a tangled web they were weaving. 

"Nah, it's not an emergency at all. Right, sweet girl?"

"Nope--no emergencies here. Not even a predicament or other bothersome problem..." she rambled, trying to remain as her doofus squeezed her shoulder, itching to get out from under their scrutinising stares. 

"Then, where are you going?" Miles asked, noticing how they squirmed. They weren't very subtle for people who'd survived with their secrets for so long. 

"Uh...our friend is on fire, and we--"

"--Not that one, Raymond--" (y/n) choked out, hiding her words in a swiftly executed cough as her doofus tried to use Schwoz's teachable lie. She saw their frowns, nerves flaring as their students grew more distrustful, knowing something was up. 

"No? Okay--uh..." the hero recovered, smiling through his little fuck-up and casually pulling his wife closer, even as Mika judged him - very closely. 

"Oh... We gotta take my aunt to the cleaners!" 

"Why?" The girl asked, stepping closer to the nervous couple to try and make them spill, but luckily, Schwoz had their backs, thinking on the spot when they floundered. 

"Because...she's very large."

"Yes!--I mean, yeah, yeah, huge. Very big lady--think human whale. Loves cheese. Very smelly. We need to clean her in a car wash, so...yeah," (y/n) nodded as Ray slowly guided her toward the metal door, knowing they could escape to their bedroom, get ready, and leave from there. The men agreed with her, nodding slightly too vigorously to be believable, but they rolled with it, even as the kids scoffed. 

"What?"

"Yep! My incredibly hot wife is correct. Car wash. Only way my aunt can get a real deep cleaning--and she is due!" Ray chuckled as he backed into the doorway, verging on bolting down the corridor to safety. It had been four entire minutes since he kissed his sweet girl, and she looked so pretty...

"Can we come? We'll call it a practice mission," Mika suggested, thinking that cleaning an immensely fat lady didn't sound too terrifying or perilous, even though the man was clearly spouting BS. 

"Oh, well, we'd love to let you come with us, but she's very shy--really, very, very shy! And the whole process is honestly disgusting, so--byeeeee!" The heroine laughed anxiously, crouching lower and lower with her doofus as the door slowly rolled down. 

She couldn't stop word-vomiting until the children disappeared from view. Finally, the couple could breathe a sigh of relief. That had to be the worst lie in history, and she had no idea how they'd kept it rolling, draining her energy before they'd even stepped out of the door. 

"God, doofus...We're such bad people--lying to children! This is what we're reduced to!" She exclaimed, rubbing her eyes as Ray softly kissed her forehead before tugging her down the hallway. They had to move quickly, but he wanted her safe and happy first - deeming his beloved wife more important than anything or anyone. 

"It's lies or watching them get pulverised. They're not ready..." the man sighed, equally frustrated because he had four mini sidekicks ready. Still, they were dangerous to themselves and others with their touch-and-go powers, so he couldn't introduce the world to Danger Force. 

"I know...I just...don't like the lies, Raymond."

"Let's just get through this mission, precious girl. We'll work it out when we get back..." he soothed her, knowing his wife was too sweet to lie all day and night. 

She could slip out the odd fib to hide her identity, but this was too much. The bigger the lie became, the deeper the hole they dug, and she had no idea how they would get out. 

But he was right, and she focused on the task ahead - something about a goat? Only in Swellview...

~Swellview Zoo ~

Some people had bizarre habits, which (y/n) found out once she and Captain Man arrived on-scene at their latest emergency. 

They immediately spotted the problem: two low lives trying to steal a goat. She wasn't entirely sure what they would do with the poor thing. Still, the couple didn't wait to find out, swiftly apprehending the scumbags before they could commit some heinous goat-related crime.

After checking that the coast was clear, they quickly knocked them down and tied them up, thankful for the cover of night that hid their daring rescue. The animal was fine, munching away on a bush and other foliage, but that's not what the heroes were worried about. 

Ray kept looking over his shoulder, not expecting a horde of knife-wielding maniacs but a stampede of angry children. Namely, Danger Force, who he swore would flip their shit if they knew they were being two-timed. 

They needed to dispose of the goat-nappers and be on their way, hopefully before anyone saw them. One picture of Captain Man and Miss Danger fighting crime online and the secret would be out - that the city still needed heroes, just ones that weren't liabilities. 

"Oh, quit whining. It's not that tight..." (y/n) scoffed at the sour-looking men as she tautened the neon chord she and her doofus lashed them back to back. They kept whinging and complaining about how they couldn't breathe, but she didn't care for goat abductors and ignored their grumbles. 

"Hey, you single, pretty lady?" The dark-haired one in a flat cap asked, suggestively waggling his eyebrows at the heroine, who only wanted to do her job. She noticed how his eyes trailed down her slim-fitting bodice, lingering on her more...feminine features, and it was enough to make Ray curl his fists and grit his teeth. 

"No, she's not," he hissed, pulling the strap tighter, and he didn't care if it dug into their flabby stomachs. Everyone knew that Miss Danger was taken, rumours swirling in the gossip columns that she'd finally tied the knot with Captain Man, so they didn't stand a chance against her beloved doofus. He knew they were just trying to get under his skin - it was working - but he couldn't help but snarl. He hated how they leered at his sweet girl. 

"Why'd you guys steal a goat, anyway?" He asked gruffly, trying to distract their attention from the beauty beside him. 

"This isn't just any old goat," said the ginger, greasy guy behind the flirtier, his sneer running down the hero's back like water. He could snarl all he wanted - the jig was up, and he was going to jail. 

"This goat can say, butt!"

"It's worth millions!" His sweaty, chubby friend added, although the couple couldn't quite believe it. They looked dumb, but really? A talking animal?

"Goats can't say butt."

"Yeah, I smell bullshit, and it's not the goat," Ray and (y/n) argued scornfully, thinking they were stupid, more run-of-the-mill criminals with only one brain cell between them. However, as the hero stuck his nose up in the air and scoffed, something weird happened...

"Butt!" The goat bleated gruffly, and strangely, it sounded like it was talking. (y/n) assumed it was just a fluke--a coincidence--that the animal vaguely baaed like a person. However, she supposed it was a neat trick, perhaps not worth millions, but still kind of cool. And no one was more impressed than Ray, who loved cons like talking animals and making his precious wife facepalm when his scepticism fell flat. 

"Okay, that thing should be president!" He exclaimed, but their captives were tired of all the chitchat. They admitted it; they'd tried to steal the goat - just punish them. 

"Just take us to jail, okay?!" The redhead requested sharply, thinking a punishment was inevitable, but Captain Man had a predicament. Booking people in jail left a record, and he couldn't let anyone know that he and his sweet girl had been out fighting crime. 

"No can do. Gonna have to zap you unconscious and drag your sad, limp bodies into the woods..." Ray sighed, especially when his wife shot him an alarmed look, mainly because that sounded slightly more extreme than she had planned. All this just to not get caught...

"Why? We're not putting up a fight!"

"Eh...been lying to some kids. Told 'em there was a crime drought. If they find out the truth, they're gonna want to come with us to fight crime, and it's gonna be a whole thing--" he shrugged, relaxing against the stone wall and wrapping an arm around his sweet girl. 

She wasn't too sure why he was telling the whole story to their enemies, but she rolled with it. He was nice to lean against - robust and muscular body supporting her frame as she looped her arms around his lithe waist. It showed the scummy men she loved him, making Ray smirk victoriously when he pecked her forehead, and they lowered their gazes. 

It was all going swimmingly, and the duo thought they had everything under control...until someone crept up behind them, swearing that they'd seen the heroes skulking outside the zoo at midnight like some common delinquents.

"Captain Man? Miss Danger?" A man asked confusedly, and the confident smiles fell from the couple's faces. They jumped out of each other's arms and away from the wall, wondering how someone could've snuck up on them. They knew that voice...and it didn't bode well. 

Like something out of their worst nightmares, the entire KLVY news crew stood before them in a flash. From the sound recordists to the cameraman to Trent Overrunder and Mary Gaperman, everyone gathered around to see what the superheroes were doing at such a late hour. Before they knew what was happening, it was an informal, impromptu interview, and they didn't know what to say or how to explain their actions. 

"What are you doing?" Trent asked, smirking slightly at the couple as they stood there like a pair of lemons, pale and perplexed with babbling mouths that made no sounds. (y/n) could see it now...heroes caught lying to children. Scandal. Fire. Explosions. Death. 

"What...what are you doing, Trent? Hmmm?" She fired back, placing her hands on her hips to try and be obstreperous and difficult, avoiding the question at all costs. 

"It's news team trivia night!" Mary replied brightly, giving them her usual beaming yet mindless smile as she poked out from behind her wittier colleague. (y/n) liked Mary, thinking she meant well and was very sweet, much nicer than Trent and his snarky comments, even if she was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. 

"We meet other news teams at a pub and play trivia games against each other," Brian "The Fender" Bender explained in a newsy voice, even though it was self-explanatory. He winked subtly at Miss Danger, having always had a thing for the pretty heroine, yet that moronic partner of hers always stood in his way. 

"I get to colour on the back of my menu!" Mary exclaimed happily with a cheesy grin as (y/n) ignored Brian's advances, thinking he was too polished and slick for her liking. She'd always preferred doofuses...

"Hey, is that the goat that says, butt?!" The reporter suddenly asked, tearing his gaze away from the eye candy to gawp at the mystical animal. Being a highly skilled journalist, he knew a scoop when he saw one, making his teammates gasp and stare. 

"No, no, no, no, no--" Ray tried to say, furiously shaking his head with his sweet girl, but it was in vain. The goat had uncanny timing, seemingly saying its infamous word on cue and right when they wanted it to shut its poxy mouth. 

"Buuuutt!"

"Holy goats, it is! Daner, give me a two-shot! Keep it loose--Hirsch can always blow it up in post!" Trent gasped and swiftly jumped into action, taking his place beside Ray while Brian sidled up to Miss Danger. Like a well-oiled machine, the news team snapped to it, taking their positions in a routine they knew like the back of their hands, ready to show the world what their beloved heroes had rescued. 

As the camera focused, Ray and (y/n) looked at each other with panicked expressions, knowing that once they started rolling, the whole world, including the kids in the Man's Nest, would know what they'd been doing. And then, they'd never hear the end of it, and the large man hated how that schmuck cuddled up to his wife. 

"We're going live, people!"

"Uh, Captain Man, we need to do something!" (y/n) hissed worriedly, squeezing her doofus' bicep whilst trying to lean away from The Fender and his potent aftershave. The guy smelt like one of those trees that hung from a rear-view mirror but a million times stronger. 

What else was Ray meant to do? He had a split-second to think and decided he had no choice but to whip out his laser remote and zap the reporters. They fell like dominoes when the green beam blasted them. He took extreme pleasure in watching Brian hitting the ground after Trent, swiftly followed by the cameraman, killing the live feed before anything could be broadcast across the city. However, the hero didn't stop there. 

She didn't necessarily agree with his methods, but (y/n) knew they were too deep now, so she followed her husband's lead, pulling out her remote to start zapping. Spinning on her heel, she took out the witnesses, lasering the goat thieves into unconsciousness whilst Ray d with the others - perhaps getting a little trigger-happy. 

"My turn!" Mary, poor vacant Mary, squealed excitedly once he'd shot the mic girl and another cameraman. It wasn't the sort of thing anyone else would look forward to, and Ray almost felt sorry for her when the green plasma hit her in the chest. Almost. 

"We are so going to hell..." (y/n) panted once it was all over, feeling like someone from a horror movie as she stood above all the sleeping bodies. They looked peaceful, and she knew that they weren't actually dead or injured, but still. It felt creepy, and she couldn't believe they were going to such lengths to keep a lie alive. 

"It's fine, sweet girl..." Ray soothed her, equally winded after zapping so many people, but he didn't think it was so bad.

"We'll take these guys to the woods or whatever. They'll wake up after we're long gone, and no one will remember we were here. Look around, darlin'! I think we got away with that one."

Famous last words. 

"Apúrense, por fin vamos a ganar a KLVY..."

"Doofus, someone's coming!" (y/n) whispered in horror as she heard the dulcet tones of a Spanish-speaking man approaching. 

They couldn't catch a break, watching in horror as another news team rounded the corner, only this time, it was the people for the Latin channel. After having their asses kicked by KLVY, they were doing the walk of shame home as losers but still tried to think of ideas to win next time. Laughing amongst themselves, the reporters and crew didn't notice the frozen heroes shaking like leaves, surrounded by seemingly corpses, until it was too late to run. 

"Captain Man? Miss Danger?" Hector Managua frowned, tilting his head in confusion as he took in the bizarre sight they made, looking like goddamn serial killers. He was like the Hispanic Trent Overrunder, clutching a microphone as his coworkers stared at their trivia rivals, wondering what the hell had happened. 

"¡Qué onda!" Ray squeaked awkwardly, not knowing what to say other than warmly greeting them. He tried to look innocent, rubbing elbows with his sweet girl since no one would ever suspect her of any wrongdoing, not when she gave them a bright, if watery, smile like that.

"Hey, ¿ese es el chivo que dice, butt?!" Hector asked in shock, pointing his mic at the goat, which he easily recognised, even as it just stood there, chewing away at nothing. 

"¡Por supuesto que no, estúpido! ¡Deja de hacer preguntas tontas! Dios mío..." (y/n) snapped haughtily, fed up with the day's stresses, and even though it wasn't in her nature, she didn't think twice about pointing her laser at the poor guy and firing. He went down like a sack of potatoes, hitting the ground with a thud before he could ask what else they were doing, and Ray quickly copied her. 

Another five bodies fell, leaving the zoo's entrance looking like a silent protest or even something more sinister, but the couple ignored their dubious choices. They needed to get out of there fast, so after breathing a quick sigh of relief, they dashed over to the goat - the last witness to their misdeeds. 

"Not one word about any of this!" Ray ordered the animal sharply before using an orange laser to cut its tether loose. (y/n) smiled at his silliness and patted the goat goodbye, thinking her lover was crazy for talking to the creature like it would say something back. Still, it was endearing, especially when it bleated in response. 

"Buuuuuutt!"

"No buts!" He yelled after it as it walked off, probably searching for something strange to eat. Despite his childishness and madness, his sweet girl laughed and shook her head, knowing she wouldn't change him for the world.  

"Aw...it was kinda cute," she pondered, smiling up at her husband with fluttering eyelashes as he took her hand, intent on fleeing the scene before someone else came along to photograph their crimes. 

"We're not getting a goat, sweet girl..." the man told her gently but firmly, seeing through his wife's loving gaze to see her subtle ulterior motive. He heard the tentativeness in her voice and knew that she was angling for another pet, especially as she oo'ed and aw'ed when she petted the smelly thing. 

He'd do anything to keep her happy but drew the line at goats. That thing would shit out the Man's Nest in two weeks, and he had enough with the rabbit. 

"But Colin gets lonely!"

"I think he'd prefer an animal not fifty times his size..." he replied dryly to her whine, more focused on navigating the sea of bodies than her pleas. As much as Ray wanted to, he knew he couldn't accidentally-on-purpose step on Brian's face. So, he carefully ambled over the reporter's body, zipping through chaos swiftly and silently whilst (y/n)'s brain worked over time. 

Technically, he said that Colin would like another smaller buddy. To her ears, that sounded a lot like permission to get another rabbit--and she'd been asking for one for years. Once she'd cleared Mary's body, she squeezed his arm tightly, practically buzzing as she hung off his body and squealed. 

"Does that mean we can get another bunny?!"

"No!" Oh, well. It was worth a shot. 

~The next day~

Classes resumed the following morning, and Ray and (y/n) swore they'd gotten away with the minor incident at the zoo. 

The kids arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for another fun day of learning, seemingly unsuspecting and definitely not suspicious, and why would they be? Thankfully, nothing untoward aired on the news on all the breakfast shows. Trent and Mary looked worse for wear, but no one mentioned anything. And it gave the couple enough confidence to teach without too many nerves. 

Once everyone sat down, the lecture began. Captain Man and Miss Danger took teaching duties together to show Danger Force some videos of their old fights, which wasn't necessarily the best plan, and (y/n) wasn't sure what the kids could learn from them. Still, it was nice to reflect on their victories. 

Her doofus looked particularly handsome, wearing one of his signature loud shirts that emphasised his biceps and gave him a boyish air. He looked so good that she hung off every word he said, even if it was complete rubbish, rubbing against his elbows as the kids vaguely listened. 

"--And even though we were on top of a moving train, I still saved the day...because I'm Captain Man. The end," Ray grinned, concluding his epic retelling of the time when he and his sidekicks defeated a plethora of supervillains before saving Swellview. 

He was so in awe of himself that he didn't see the many eye rolls from his sweet girl, who knew that his story wasn't entirely true.

That was when they bumped into Phoebe Thunderman in Junk-N-Stuff, and if her memory was correct, (y/n) remembered that she, Henry, and the budding heroine had to save Captain Man before he was killed. It was so long ago before they'd even started dating. However, she recalled her panic after thinking she'd lost her love forever. 

"You were encased in concrete most of the time," Miles commented dryly after watching the video and hearing his glorified narration. He'd found some plot holes in the man's story--like how The Toddler and Doctor Minyak had trapped him in a stone cube, forcing others to come to save him. 

"Mmmm...still saved the day. The end," the man insisted, his ego bolstered by the sweet girl happily squishing his chunky arm. It should've been illegal to look that hot...

"It sounds like Henry, Charlotte, (y/n), and the Thunderman kids did most of the saving," Chapa argued, much to her teacher's annoyance. It was her fault that she was brutally honest, but she had a lot to learn about managing the man-child's ego. 

"It sounds like you don't know what the end means."

"Raymond...Stop being mean," (y/n) told her husband sternly, ceasing fondling his muscles to thwack his arm. Ray pouted and sniffled, giving her those infamous puppy-dog eyes because he didn't like being on her bad side, even though he knew not to sink to the children's level. 

She kept saying he had to be mature - a role model - but it was so damn difficult when the little ones kept sassing him. 

"But sweet girl..."

"No buts!" The woman scolded him, sternly sticking her pointer finger under his nose to show that she meant business. Her glare worked, and he looked remorseful, but it was a mistake to use her left hand - the one that brought her pretty rings into the man's eyesight. Once the diamonds caught his attention, Ray melted, nudging his head forward to kiss her fingertip despite the telling-off. 

How was she supposed to stay mad when he did cute things like that?

"We saved you, doofus. Don't you remember the helicopter ride after? God, I wanted to kiss you so bad..." she sighed dreamily as the pupils - save for Mika - wrinkled their noses. The girl thought their love was rather sweet, and she was a huge shipper, hoping to hear more about how their love came to be if her companions didn't chunk up the walls. 

Ray grinned and nodded, knowing that during that flight, after all the fighting was done, he felt the same way. With his sweet girl strapped to his chest, he remembered wanting to confess everything he'd ever felt and more, stealing chastely affectionate kisses and soft touches where he could. Still, they stayed silent, enjoying the closeness while it lasted. Look at them now...

But the memory didn't last. As the lovers embraced, pressing every point of their bodies together and nuzzling into warm crannies, Ray's phone began to ring, harshly vibrating against (y/n) 's thigh through her doofus' pocket. 

"Wazzzzzup?!" He answered obnoxiously, and instantly, (y/n) knew who'd phoned. It was Schwoz; he and Ray loved doing that stupid, nostalgic greeting, sticking their tongues out and everything just to be authentic. But she knew that if the genius was calling, it had to be crime-related; otherwise, he would've just come downstairs. 

"Someone's trying to drill a hole into Swellview Prison so their grandpa can escape!" Schwoz told his boss as he fiddled with some doohickey invention on the table. He knew it had to be kept secret, lowering his voice as Ray's jovial mood turned serious. 

"On it!" The man nodded, and again, his wife took a moment to admire how effortlessly handsome he was. They'd be heading out again in three seconds. The action would be too fast-paced to admire him truly, so she stared longingly at the shirt, committing every garish pattern and how they hid his abs to memory. 

He quickly hung up and gave her a sneaky glance, darting his eyes toward the door as a hint that they needed to leave. (y/n) didn't need to be told twice; she grabbed his hand and swiftly headed for the door, but they wouldn't get away easily. 

"Who was that?" Mika asked, jumping into their path with surprising speed so she could interrogate them. The adults gulped as Ray backed up into his sweet girl when the girl spooked him, and honestly, it was pretty scary, given the girl's questioning scowl. 

Even though they hadn't let on, the kids were highly suspicious, figuring out the previous night that the couple were lying about the crime drought. She wanted to see them squirm, hear their excuse this time, and scrutinise their every twitch as she wormed the truth out. 

"Uh..." he thought for a second, eyes flickering to the left as he stalled, trying to desperately think of a liar good enough to dupe the smart one. 

"My hairdresser! I'm late for my appointment--at the haircut store..." Ray stuttered, going from disaster to disaster as his words jumbled up to form nonsense. 

What was a haircut store? Did he mean salon? It made (y/n) sigh and rub her face, seeing how Mika scoffed and blocked his way every time the hero tried to side-step her. Yeah, no one bought that...

"You gettin' some frosted tips? Blond highlights are very in right now," Bose said with an adorably innocent smile. However, he should've realised that that was a ridiculously youthful style for a man pushing forty and noticed that the man was lying through his teeth. 

"Yeah, sure. I'm getting frosted tips...Now move." Ray nodded quickly, even though he wasn't entirely sure what they were. Still, he didn't care as long as Mika moved out of the way, throwing a pencil across the room as a distraction. It worked; when the girl's focus followed the flying object, the hero moved, tugging his sweet girl behind him as they dashed for the door. 

"I think you're lying!" Yet they still couldn't escape. Before (y/n) could grasp the gold, gilded doorknob, Miles' voice called after them, accusing them of such a heinous thing--though it was true. He didn't even need to turn his head to know that the couple wouldn't stand for that, pausing in the doorway as he smirked smugly - he had them. 

The heroes turned slowly, wearing expressions, to see the kids staring back, having spun their chairs around to judge them. It was like standing in front of the damn Inquisition, and the heroine gulped, her stomach twisting into knots when she saw their disappointed little faces...

"Beg your pardon?" She asked nervously, wringing her sweaty hands together as she tried to appear normal. It wasn't working. 

"I said, I think you and your husband are lying! Do you normally go with him when he gets a haircut?" Miles repeated, violently standing from his chair before swaggering over to the couple to hear their excuse. His question was fair, and (y/n) didn't blame him for being so harsh - she loved his floppy locks, but Ray wasn't a baby. 

"I value her opinion," her doofus said defensively, putting his arm around her shoulders when he saw how flustered she was. He fiercely protected her, practically snarling at the boy, not that it dissuaded him. 

"I don't think you're going to the haircut store at all. I think you're going to fight crime without us!" Miles snapped, boldly standing up against the man, even as he used his famous Captain Man glare. At least Miss Danger had the decency to look ashamed, staring at her shoes and leaning into his side to try and burrow away. 

"Why would we go and fight crime without you guys? We respect all of your abilities. Equally..." Ray asked quietly, his sarcastic tone aggravating the situation further. 

"That's not helpful!" (y/n) hissed as her doofus tried to leave, yanking the door open as her cheeks burned with humiliation. He wasn't good under pressure, and not when people were picking on him, so he wanted to get out ASAP, not that they'd let him. Still, she didn't see how his snarky comments would help them, not when they deepened their frowns and huddled closer - almost like they were about to attack. 

"Then, I look forward to seeing your blonde highlights when you get back...From the haircut store! He'll look so sweet, right, (y/n/n)?" Chapa smiled sourly, her arms folded tightly across her chest as Ray gulped and looked at his sweet girl for help. 

"Like candy..." The heroine nodded awkwardly, knowing she wouldn't let any stylist near her doofus' floppy locks, not for something as hideous as frosted tips. Yet, they couldn't look like liars, either, cogs turning as they headed to leave again, wondering how they'd dye the man's hair without ruining it. 

"They'll probably be more subtle...like a strawberry blonde," Ray noted, momentarily turning back to poke his head through the door - anything to try and save himself. 

"Yeah. Can't wait."

"--Or a burnt caramel, kind of a tawny colour, something tasteful. You guys probably won't even notice!" He rambled before (y/n) yanked him onto the porch, slamming the door shut behind him. He just made it worse and worse, spiralling further into the lie until he was cringing and crawling around his home like a common thief. 

She didn't want to know what the kids would get up to as they sprinted to their battle stations, hurrying to get to the jailhouse before something awful happened. Something told her that they wouldn't drop the issue, her tummy crying that something would go wrong in one way or another. 

"Can't we just tell them, Raymond? I'm sick of all this lying!" She said as they stumbled into a dense, bushy area, looking for cover while removing their gum tubes. 

"What? You don't think I'd look good with snowy tips?" The hero asked jokingly, running his fingers through his unstyled, quaffed hair, pushing back the silky hair as she admired how handsome he was. He looked good with anything, but that didn't mean he had to change; no, she loved the adorable idiot she fell in love with...

"Frosted tips, doofus, and no, I don't. I like your hair the way it is."

"Aw... Do I look...pretty?" Ray giggled, loving to hear her laugh when he tossed his head back like a model from a shampoo advert, hair flicking every which way. 

"So very pretty," (y/n) nodded, forgetting her job and gum for a moment as she wound her arms around her doofus' neck and pulled him down for a short but sweet kiss. He hummed against her lips, loping his hand around to lay in the small of her back, pressing their bodies together closely as the other tilted her chin further upwards. 

"Nothing compared to you, sweet girl. You're beautiful..." the man whispered when they gently broke apart, satisfied and smiling like idiots. Her cheeks and ears burned at his words, but Ray looked so genuine, looking at his wife like no one else - he never looked so softly at any other woman in all his life. She was so gorgeous it actually hurt. 

"Come on, smooth operator. We need to get going," she cleared her throat, feeling like a goddess under his gaze. Still, unfortunately, that wouldn't stop the criminals from jailbreaking. She remembered they had a job to do and wiggled out of his arms, pecking his cheek one final time before rolling a gumball free. 

But Ray wasn't one to be defeated, blatantly leaning back on his heels to trail his gaze down her body, eyes lingering on the soft, squishy curve of her ass. Looking back at her pretty face, he grinned cheekily, thinking that a runaway criminal wouldn't be too tricky. Once they had locked him up and thrown away the key, they'd quickly return to the Man's Nest. A needy guy like him, a beautiful girl like him...they could make magic together. 

"Hey, how about an early night tonight?"

"Come on, Ray!" At least she didn't say no. 

~Swellview Prison~

Outside the concrete maze that was the city's largest prison, home to all manner of scum, shit was going down. 

From the worst of society to the pettiest of pilferers, Swellview Prison housed every criminal Captain Man and his sidekicks had ever encountered - plus a few extras that the police somehow managed to catch. Still, what could go in could also come out, or at least that was the thinking of a budding young villain - a small, ginger child, who, with his crew, was lasering the thick stone walls to try and get to the other side. 

He thought he was so slick, standing back as his minions used some evil doohickey to chisel chip after chip away from the wall. Soon, they'd make it through to the opposite cell, and their prison break would be complete. That is if two superheroes didn't have something to say about it...

"All right, ya jerks. Time to kill that drill!" Captain Man barked forcefully as he sauntered up to the rotten crew, Miss Danger by his side with a severe and intimidating expression - or as intimidating as she could get next to the hulking, grouchy man. God, she loved it when he was in hero mode.

However, despite his commands, the criminals didn't even bat an eye, carrying on with their misdeeds without a care in the world. It didn't take much for (y/n) to realise that the whirring of their machine, pummelled concrete, and the noise-cancelling headphones on their heads meant they couldn't hear anything, including them. 

"Uh, doofus...I don't think they can hear us."

"Hang on, darlin'..." Ray sniffed, clearing his throat when he saw that she was right. He wasn't one for false starts, but no matter. He readjusted his stance and pointed a stern finger at the little boy. 

"Put your hands in the air like you just do care--about the law! Brah!"

"Wow, way to tell them, Captain," (y/n) retorted sarcastically, watching as her doofus tried to be all high and mighty, bellowing his orders, just to be ignored. For a man like him to be humiliated and disregarded, especially in front of his sweet girl, was too much, and the hero clenched his fists and growled in frustration. 

"All right, that's it--hey!" he snapped, tired of their ignorance, so he stormed over and waved his hands, shouting, ranting and raving like a madman.

Miss Danger stayed back with her hands on her hips, smiling in satisfaction when she watched her husband spook the trio, their faces contorting in shock and fear because Captain Man was glaring at them. They shrugged the ear mufflers off, staring at the hero and his hot sidekick with baffled faces, mouths open and eyes wide but full of hate. 

"Captain Man?! Miss Danger!" The boy, named Crank, gasped in awe of the heroes as they glared at him, which he quickly returned. He came from a long line of lowlifes and crooks, so thievery and devilry ran in his blood, as did a deep hatred of stupid, interfering do-gooders. 

"Hey, ginger nuts. You look busy over here..." (y/n) said dryly, observing how they'd tunnelled through to get inside, although they weren't exactly subtle about it. 

"Yeah! I'm over here dropping dope rhymes in front of my incredibly hot wife, but none of you poops are even paying attention," Ray hissed, going toe-to-toe with Crank as the kid wrinkled his freckled nose, disgusted by both the man's youthful words and how disgustingly in love he was. 

"Well, sorry, but we were trying to break my grandpa out of jail," Crank explained. He looked strangely sweet and innocent despite his thuggish attire of chain necklaces and a striped t-shirt. The couple almost felt sorry for him, wondering if this was just a misguided child trying to see his beloved relative again - doing evil for the right reasons. 

"Aw...I bet you love him," (y/n) cooed, bending down, hand on her knees, to meet his eye as her doofus placed a warm hand on her back, almost moved by those big, sad eyes. 

"He owes me money! Gonna break his legs..." But their adoration was misplaced. The boy's cute face scrunched into a scowl, his gaze turning as hard and mean as a lifelong hard-nut - similar to the snarls they'd 

It shocked the heroes, leaning away from the little shit and how evil he seemed. He wanted something cold and callous from his dear old grandpa, even threatening him with violence. That was the last time (y/n) would empathise with him, shocked by his coarse behaviour and cruel personality - not childlike. 

"Well, I'm afraid we can't let you do either of those things, carrot top," she said firmly, giving him one of her disapproving, motherly glares, hoping he'd feel some guilt. But that was hard when the miniature villain was egged on by her silly doofus. 

"But...just out of curiosity, how much does he owe you? Because, y'know, for a reasonable collection fee, I could just go in there and--" Ray whispered, clicking his tongue and giving Crank a nudge-nudge, wink-wink side-eye as his sweet girl stared at him in disbelief. 

She couldn't believe her ears, blinking hard three times to ensure she hadn't misheard him. Sometimes, Ray had some questionable ideas, and she hoped he had enough common sense to know she'd kill him if he ever conspired with criminals. A glare from her was enough to make him shrink back, instantly regretting his choices since Miss Danger would never stoop so low, and she certainly didn't expect Captain Man to, either. 

"Captain Man!" She exclaimed, horrified. Ray pouted when she roughly elbowed his ribs, knowing it was stupid to say, but he'd never actually go through with it. Still, he hated the idea of disappointing her, staring at his feet when his angel gave him a stern talking-to. 

"You will keep your butt right there, and if I find out you've been doing favours for criminals, I swear to God, I'll--" She never got to finish her rant. 

Mid-fury, a loud whoosh filled the clearing, interrupting Ray's telling-off because she swore she knew that noise. Her face fell, taken by a pensive, confused expression since that sounded much like when Miles teleported. But that was impossible because the children had been left safely in the Man's Nest. 

Or, at least, the couple thought that until they turned around, expecting to see a noisy squirrel or pigeon, not those meddling kids. 

They made such a racket, landing in the thick bushes, thanks to Miles and his inability to control where he teleported, and the dense branches meant moving around was nigh-on impossible. Shouting and struggling to get free, they complained about his poor aim and how their impromptu appearance wasn't such a good idea - (y/n) could attest to that. 

"Excuse us for a minute," the heroine said to Crank with a fake brilliant smile, holding a finger up as Ray took her hand and swiftly guided her to where Danger Force was making a scene. 

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" The man exclaimed, shouting above their rowdiness, and the quartet fell silent. He couldn't believe it, seeing them in their multicoloured uniforms and knowing they'd deliberately disobeyed orders, even though he hadn't helped with his lies. It was embarrassing to be caught short in front of criminals...

"What are you doing here?!" Mika fired back, trying to mimic Miss Danger's disappointed face since they'd been caught red-handed amid their fib, yet they showed no shame. But honestly, it was no time for arguing, not when they were in a perilous, very delicate situation that the children were hideously unprepared for. 

"Fighting crime!" (y/n) answered bravely, knowing they couldn't lie anymore, but she was angry that they'd followed them to the prison. It was almost cute how they thought crimefighting was glamorous and exciting, ignorant of the horrors and hardship until they were over their heads. 

"That's funny. I thought you and your husband were at the haircut store getting frosted tips!" Chapa spat back, not realising the danger they'd put themselves in, given how woefully inadequate their powers were. 

"Yeah, well, my wife decided it looked fine the way it was. She thinks I look pretty!" 

"Ew..." The boys and Chapa wrinkled their noses, not missing how the couple swapped an adoring look, holding hands even tighter despite their irritation. Their love was sickening, but at least they helped them out of the bushes, pulling back the foliage so each kid could wriggle free. 

"If it's okay with you, I'm gonna go back to breaking my grandpa out of prison," Crank called to the heroes, not wanting to be associated with any of their drama. He wasn't one for insubordination in the ranks. Still, he guessed that if they were busy arguing, he could get the old man out and his money before those idiots knew what was happening. 

"No!" 

"Yeah, no!" Mika shouted, countering the adamant adults as they tried to rein in Crank, hopefully trying to manage both situations before they got out of hand. But, like all preteens, the kids thought they knew better - so much better than Ray and (y/n), who'd been fighting crime for years - and had collectively decided they'd prove them wrong. 

They were superheroes, powers and all. They could fight and win, and then, they'd be laughing at the mighty Captain Man and Miss Danger for ever doubting them. That would be so damn satisfying, even though they didn't see what could go wrong. 

"'Cause we're gonna stop you!

"Uh, we're gonna stop them because we're the superheroes," Ray argued, gesturing to himself and his sweet girl as she folded her arms, utterly unimpressed by their behaviour. She liked the enthusiasm but, like her doofus, preferred to see it in their lessons, not with so much at stake. 

"Yeah, the superheroes who've been lying to us for a week!"

"There hasn't been a crime drought!" The Macklin twins replied harshly, glaring at their teachers like they had no argument to stand on. They didn't understand that they lied with the best intentions, hoping to spare them from defeat and humiliation because their superpowers didn't mean instant glory. They had to be mastered - carefully, slowly, painstakingly so. 

"You've just been telling us that so you two can fight crimes by yourselves!" Chapa growled equally as angry, which only frustrated the couple. It was a mess. 

"Yeah, you bet we've been lying to you! Tell them, sweet girl!" Captain Man snapped back, head snapping to (y/n), who didn't like to lead the argument. 

Still, for once, she was ready to support her doofus fully, not shying away from confrontation because she cared for them. She indeed did, and she'd never forgive herself if she allowed the kids to go into battle willy-nilly just to get themselves hurt, kidnapped, or worse - killed. Sighing, she sniffed and looked at all of them, looking more concerned than irate because they didn't grasp the situation - they didn't have a clue. 

"Sorry, guys, but I agree with Captain Man," she sighed again before looking across the group, flaws and weaknesses popping into her head as she did.

"Miles, Chapa--you guys can't control your powers. Mika, you don't even have one yet! And Bose...well, need I say more? He wears shirts for pants!"

"They're called shants!" Bose said happily, thinking his creation was brilliantly inventive, but it proved the woman's point. The team was either uncoordinated or useless, meaning they'd be a dangerous liability in the field and not something Captain Man wanted loose in the city. So, as much as they didn't like it, they weren't ready, no matter how much enthusiasm they had. 

"Face it...None of you are ready to be superheroes," Ray said gravely, hating to crush their spirit, but it was true. Their faces fell, rage mixing with despair because they thought they could do it and prove him wrong... It was soul-destroying.

"It's true...It's just too dangerous," (y/n) nodded solemnly, but Mika didn't leave it there. Looking up with a defiant glint, she slowly stepped toward the couple, knowing deep down they had more to give. Despite the adults ' counsel, she believed in herself and her friends, thinking the power of friendship and all that bullshit would triumph over evil. 

"You're right. I don't have a superpower--I might not ever get one. But you know what?" she started, staring firmly at the heroine as she stared back, both thinking they were correct. 

"Being a superhero isn't about having a superpower. It's about what's inside of you. It's about what's in here!"

"Our skeletons!" Bose nodded, even though it wasn't particularly helpful. Still, all that mystical shit made the heroes gag, knowing that real life--hero life--didn't work like that. 

"Oh, good God--" (y/n) muttered as she tried not to roll her eyes. Again, she liked her enthusiasm, agreeing that superheroes needed a lot of that mushy stuff - hope, spirit, optimism, bravery - but practical skills were essential, like a basic grasp on power. 

"I know I've got what it takes to be a superhero. And I know they do, too," the girl said wistfully, gesturing to her band of merry friends, who were just as ready to kick some ass, feeling their team's bond even after just a few of working together. 

"We're not saying you don't have what it takes. I don't want to see you all pulverised because you aren't trained!" Miss Danger hissed, rubbing her tired eyes when the girl smiled up at her hopefully, praying her little speech had tugged on her heartstrings. 

However, if anything, her warning made Mika and the others more determined, gritting their teeth when Ray nudged her arm. Looking up, (y/n) gulped when she saw Crank's goons cracking their knuckles and sneering, clearly ready for a fight that the kids weren't prepared for. They could barely throw a punch, making her all the more nervous to see them on the battlefield. 

"Hey, come on, sweet girl..." Ray sighed, to her surprise. He took her hand and guided his wife to the sidelines, moving past the child team so the floor was theirs. It was their move, and despite his better instincts, he knew they'd never learn until they gauged their powers. 

"Okay, show us how ready you are."

"Really?" (y/n) quirked an eyebrow, looking back at her doofus as he frowned and shrugged. He didn't need her to tell him it was a bad idea, but they seemed so happy--grinning after finally gaining his permission. 

"Okay, fine! Come on then, Danger Force! Take it away! Show us the extent of your power--may the power of friendship protect you, rainbows, ponies, whatever..."

"Let's do this..." Mika breathed deeply before looking at her friends, their excited smiles falling into sober countenances, void of everything but concentration. This moment was three weeks in the making, and they wanted it to go perfectly, given that the city's greatest heroes would scrutinise their every move. 

Honestly, they looked pretty cool as they walked toward the villains in a line. Like something from a movie or TV show, time seemingly slowed down as they readied their attacks, clenching fists, storing electricity, squeezing glutes, and stalking toward the snarling crooks, who cockily stepped up to teach them a lesson - one that Captain Man and Miss Danger hadn't quite reached yet. 

Falling back on their little training, Mika and Miles took the flanks, waiting for a physical attack. At the same time, Chapa and Bose waited with their powers on standby, knowing it was wise to wait for a minute to see who would make the first move. Ray and (y/n) looked at each other nervously, the latter's tummy tingle telling her something wasn't right. 

"Doofus, I'm nervous..." she whispered, clutching at his beefy arm as Ray gulped, knowing how she felt. 

"It'll be fine, darlin'. Completely fine..." the hero replied, squeezing her hand as she held a hand over her eyes, peeking through her fingers. She didn't want to watch but had to, worried sick despite his reassuring words. Surely, it can't be that bad, her doofus swore, but he what he didn't know...

"I haven't learned to aim yet..." Chapa whispered to her friends, feeling the electricity surging through her veins, ready to explode, but her aim was terrible. Genuinely awful. It was all right having so much power - arguably the strongest of the four - but if it didn't hit her enemies, what was the point? 

Still, her friends believed in her, muttering words of encouragement ranging from self-belief to learning on the spot, so she went for it. She had no choice, clenching her jaw and firing, sending bolts of scarlet energy across the battlefield...and into Captain Man. Who then tripped into Miss Danger. Who face-planted the floor. And then, he went flying. Straight onto the prison roof. 

This was why they said they weren't ready. 

"Doofus!" (y/n) cried, watching in horror when she came to her senses to see her husband flying through the night sky. He collided with a security gate before falling into the prison courtyard, and she prayed there were no late-night frolickers in there. They'd tear the man who put them inside limb from limb. 

"You guys! You attacked the wrong person!" She shrieked, turning to look at the bashful children with an alarmed face as the goons cackled, loving how they'd taken care of the hero for them. Now, they just needed to take care of Miss Danger, and without her watchdog of a lover around, that would be easy. And the kids? They were laughable, easy pickings. 

"Bose! How could you?!" Chapa gasped falsely, placing all the blame on the oblivious kid as he stood there as vacant as usual. It really didn't help (y/n)'s mood or situation since they were now down their strongest super. 

"I don't care whose fault it was. Someone go and get my husband!" 

"Get in there and bring back Captain Man," Mika said to her brother, seeing the heroine's distress since those two were inseparable - the one thing she'd learned after three weeks in school. And she wasn't dumb enough to think they were better off without him. 

"Copy that--" Miles nodded before throwing his arm into the air, disappearing in a flash of golden light. Whether he'd successfully teleport to the hero and bring him back in one piece was different, but (y/n) was grateful that the boy tried. 

"Get 'em!" Crank bellowed to his lackeys, spooking the three remaining kids, even as Miss Danger immediately adjusted her stance to protectively stand in front of them. 

Those men were huge, hairy, and undoubtedly exceeded her strength. Usually, she relied on her lover to dish out the raw brute force. Simultaneously, she found gaps in the fight to use her agility and swiftness to exploit an enemy's weakness. Still, she hoped that if the kids could distract them - safely - she might be able to subdue them until Miles returned with Ray. 

"Okay, stay behind me. I'll keep you guys safe," (y/n) told the kids, her fists drawn up as she prepared to take the men on, hoping she could keep all three safe while fighting two men. 

However, things didn't play out the way she hoped. The goons charged first, running toward her with their teeth bared and fists ready to pummel her face, and whilst she was prepared to fight, the kids didn't listen. Contrary to her instructions, they released a battle cry before running past her and into the fray - the last line of defence. This could only go wrong...

They met in the middle as (y/n) floundered, baffled by the sudden commotion. Chapa immediately went for a lightning strike, summoning and ejecting her electricity with the hope that she'd hit Crank. Yet, her aim was as terrible as usual. 

Instead of zapping the criminal kid, she shot his device, the one lasering through the prison wall, causing the bolt to rebound and hit her in the chest. She flew backwards at a tremendous speed, hitting Miss Danger and sending them into the dense bushes lining the walkway. Instantly, their limbs were tangled in the branches, rendering them useless as the men grabbed Mika and Bose. 

"Chapa! You really need to work on your aim!"

"Dangit! I know!" The girl hissed, fighting against the woman as they stood back-to-back, wrapped in vines and God knows what else, so they could barely move. Maybe it would've been wise to listen to the heroine and her husband, but it was too late to think like that.

As they clawed to get free, Mika and Bose struggled with the goons, suddenly realising that stuff like superhero qualities, hope, optimism, and all that mushy stuff wouldn't help them against two hulking lugs like them. They were children--no match for them as they twisted their arms around their backs and kicked the backs of their legs, tossing them around like rag dolls. 

It got even better when Miles returned--just not how (y/n) hoped. The boy teleported the hero out of the prison but didn't quite make it outside; instead, they materialised halfway through the wall, creating a large gaping hole with the hero wedged in between the concrete and his protégé - basically useless. 

"Hey! Heyyy!" Ray groaned as he hung from the wall, barely able to lift his head from the awkward position. 

"Captain Man?" (y/n) asked breathlessly, looking up in horror to see her doofus stuck in a wall with Miles pinned behind him. Oh God, it broke her heart to see him like that, above the fight and seeing the kids in danger, yet unable to help. She knew how he felt...

"We're up here, sweet girl!" The hero called out to her, barely able to see that she and Chapa were stuck in the bushes, and it made his heart clench in worry, frustration and anger. He should've just taken out the bad guys when he had the chance - his wife wouldn't be in danger then - but the kids had been so sure - a mistake to believe them now he reflected on it. 

"Bose, what are you doing?" Chapa asked as the boy tried to use his telekinesis to lift Crank's machine - intentionally or not, they couldn't figure out since he was being pulled apart by a thug. 

"Will you guys get down here?" Shockingly, even the ginger kid wanted Captain Man on the scene, thinking things were getting a little out of hand with the man's freaky, uncontrollable sidekicks and how they could make things float. But that was wishful thinking, given how Miles' arms were pinned, rendering his power useless since he couldn't teleport without them. 

"We can't!"

"What happened?" Mika asked frantically, distracted by the lackey wrestling with her to see her brother and boss. 

She, too, was now beginning to realise that her plan wasn't very well thought out after throwing a few punches just to weakly tap the guy's stomach. It made her knuckles ache and her skin bruise, making her wonder how Captain Man and Miss Danger did it so quickly, not knowing that practice took the pain away - something they sorely needed. 

"We got stuck in a wall on the way back!" Miles groaned, feeling highly uncomfortable as every inch of his body pressed against Ray--not something he'd ever wanted. He'd leave that to (y/n). 

"That can happen?!" His sister gasped, knowing he'd been transported to many different countries and biomes, but appearing in a wall was new. She was glad they weren't hurt - half in the wall with their gizzards mushed around wasn't a good look. 

"I have just learned that it can!" The boy replied dryly, not knowing what else she wanted him to say. He'd had his powers for a few weeks; there was much to learn. 

As they were chatting, Bose's concentration increased - not something that happened regularly for the lad. He wasn't used to so much brainpower. He rapidly fatigued as he raised the laser above the man holding him, aiming to bash him on the head or some such attack.

However, the kid wasn't one for strategy; not seeing how a hefty object crashing down so close to him was a bad idea until it was too late. The device crashed into the goon and Bose, sending them both to the ground in an aching, groaning pile. 

"I thought that would work..." he whined, lifting his face from the dirt as the machine lay useless, but the henchman still stayed on top of him. His entire lower half was pinned down, and lifting the heavy tripod had depleted his energy, leaving Bose wishing he'd practised lifting pencils and cotton wool more like Miss Danger had recommended. 

"You see? Not--ready!" Ray growled, thinking he'd thoroughly proved his and (y/n)'s point, even if it was no time for gloating. 

Yet no one could deny it, not when he had a bird's eye view of the battlefield, seeing how Chapa had rendered Miss Danger and herself trapped, Bose had KO'd himself, and Miles had screwed him over, which left just Mika. Poor, sorry old Mika, left with no powers, training, and nowhere to go since one of Crank's henchmen had her subdued. 

"I agree. Face it, kids, this whole thing was a disaster--you aren't ready!" (y/n) agreed, fighting against the vines wrapped tightly around her torso and forearms to no avail. She hated to be a downer, but she saw no way out of this, thinking they were well and truly screwed because they weren't good listeners. 

All that hope and wonder crap didn't happen in the real world, but Mika still believed. Hearing her heroes so disappointed and defeatist angered the resilience in her, and despite how bleak everything was, she still had some fight left. She wasn't sure what fight it was, given her physical prowess was shit, but their lack of trust in her--in the team--made her want to yell--to scream--to shout out. 

"Yes--we--ARE!" She bellowed, feeling a power surge through her, and (y/n) had to blink to ensure her eyes weren't playing tricks. 

A brilliant silver glow surrounded the girl, reminding the heroine of the night when she gained her tummy tingle - the glow of the Omega Weapon's energy. She struggled against her captor, feeling stronger than ever as she roared, her voice louder than a jet engine as her voice box beamed sonic waves toward the prison wall. 

Mika Macklin had found her superpower, breaking down the wall with her almighty scream - so potent it could break through concrete. It was brilliant, making her teachers and friends gawp and gasp, utterly shocked at her ability and its uncanny knack for appearing at such a dismal moment. 

"Holy shit..." (y/n) breathed under her breath, watching rubble fly through the air, making Crank and his goons avoid debris. 

She was in awe of the girl's superpower, knowing that she must've had one deep down, but she'd never have guessed it would be so...loud. Her ears were ringing, but she ignored the slight pain, more focused on the gaping hole the girl had made in a solid three-foot-wide wall of concrete. And it just had to be in the most dangerous building in Swellview. 

"You guys, I have a superpower!" Mika squealed, feeling her throat relax again as a beaming smile grew on her face, her every nerve on fire with delight when she realised she'd done that. That big hole? Mika Macklin did that. 

"It's about time!"

"Time reveals all things."

"You can fly?!" Came the ecstatic congratulations of her friends, although Bose was a little confused. He had the energy, though, as happy for his friend as the others were, and it inspired her with new determination. She was gonna win this fight. 

Referring back to her minimal training, Mika struggled against the goon's grip, trying to free her shoulders, even as his hands tightened painfully on her upper arms. She couldn't regain that vibration no matter how much she growled or barked. With no superpower, it was easy for the henchman to drag her to the bushes, where he wasted no time tangling her in the foliage. 

He wasn't stupid, seeing his chance to secure the scene as someone emerged from the hole. It was a wrinkled, doddery and clumsy old man who carefully stepped out onto the rubble and into the free world, still wearing his garishly orange prison uniform. 

"Pop-pop?" Crank asked hopefully, his voice returning to the same innocent, childlike wonder he'd used to fool Captain Man and Miss Danger. Still, his grandfather didn't see anything wrong. Instead, he seemed happy to see him, opening his arms to invite him into a warm, familiar hug, even if it smelled like cabbage and boiled sweets. 

"Crank, my boy!"

"You owe me money!" The ginge screamed, his face melting into a furious sneer that had his grandpa shaking in his Long Johns. He fled into his cell again, preferring the harshness of serving time to facing the menace that was his own flesh and blood, leaving the heroes stuck outside. 

The goons fled, too, seeing as their boss was well on his way to enacting his revenge, which wasn't too bad. The gang was stuck, but at least they weren't fighting anymore, giving (y/n) and Ray some time to think of a strategy - some way to escape danger before some other tragedy happened. 

"Well, well, well..." Or not. 

"I know those wells..." (y/n) gulped, not needing to be a genius to know that whiny, high-pitched voice. She prayed it was a bad dream, thinking the night couldn't get any worse, but it could. It definitely could. 

Like one of their most sinister terrors, the couple watched with aghast faces as The Toddler poked his ugly mug through the hole after hearing the commotion from his cell down the hall. He knew a jailbreak when he saw one, feeling the need to explore when he saw Gangster Grandpa running away from some ginger kid. 

The heroes froze, especially the kids, sensing they weren't dealing with petty criminals any more - this was the big leagues. 

"What's going on out here?" The villain asked smarmily, stepping through the hole in his orange baby onesie and cap. 

"Toddler! Get back in your crib!" Captain Man ordered, disregarding the pain in his shoulders as he tried to get free, scraping his skin against the broken stone. This was a nightmare of epic proportions; he, Kid Danger, and his sweet girl had spent months - years, even - putting every big name in Swellview behind bars, cleaning up the streets until most of their enemies faced justice. 

But the kids had undone it in one fell swoop. He had to be dreaming.  

"No!" The Toddler snapped, glad to see Captain Man was in a particularly sticky situation and his little wife or whatever was disengaged too. He'd heard about their union or whatever. It made him want to vomit, but nothing was sweeter than knowing the ones who'd put him in jail would watch helplessly as he and all the other prisoners busted out. That would be his wedding gift to them. 

"Come on, everybody! We're free again!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no---" Ray practically sobbed as he watched the man-baby run off into the night, skipping with joy since there were no silly superheroes around to stop him. And it didn't stop there. 

With the alarm raised, every other villain in the prison bolted for freedom, making the couple thump their fists in frustration as the floodgates of scum opened. And all the kids could do was watch in shame, knowing that while they'd come with good intentions, this was ultimately their fault. 

"Oh, sweet cheese--not him!" (y/n) groaned as she saw a familiarly glitzy face poke around the corner, dolled up and preened to look like a bejewelled peacock. The villain who irked her the most - Frankini. 

"Yay!" He cheered, doing some ballet jumps and lunges.

After checking the coast was clear, he dramatically twirled into the courtyard, loving the smell of the open world as he danced in his heels. She wasn't sure if his outfit was classed as prison attire, featuring a goddamn turban, stripy leggings, and plenty of bling, but she didn't care. He still looked like an over-groomed poodle, which made her heart ache to know he would cause more mischief now he was loose. 

"Frankini! Wait for me!" The lumbering nugget Goomer called after him, traipsing like a lost puppy since he didn't have enough brain cells for independent thought. 

"I can't bee-lieve my luck!" Oh, goodie, Ray thought as The Beekeeper appeared, still as creepy as ever as he snuck through the hole in his protective orange suit. Close behind him was Doctor Minyak, his lanky frame barely fitting through the frame. Still, he made it, looking at his surroundings in shock because it had been a while since Captain Man put him in jail. 

"I still have hope for a win!" He shouted boldly in his fancy accent, thinking that this was a sign; it was his chance to finally beat the superheroes after so many years of defeat, and he disappeared into the night before he had his collar felt. 

"Oh, God..." (y/n) sighed when the next prisoner filtered through, and this one genuinely irritated her. She could perhaps deal with the others - they gave a genuine, worthwhile fight - but this guy was a moron. The dumbest criminal in Swellview. The one person she and Ray hated dealing with because he was so simple - mentally and physically. Jeff Bilsky. 

"My life has purpose again! Yeah!" He exclaimed as he plodded into the spotlight, looking as stupid and dirty as ever in his ancient baseball cap and unwashed uniform. The heroes felt their souls break as they watched him flee, knowing they'd get many more calls once he returned to his life of petty crime. 

"Time to go!" The Timejerker giggled as he followed Jeff, but not before he got another ridiculous, time-related pun in. God, those were annoying, even for the children, who tugged against their restraints and growled - it wasn't any easier for them. 

The flow of villains petered off, but that didn't make it any better. All the criminals Ray cared about - The Toddler, Minyak, stupid Jeff - had made their escapes and were probably dozens of blocks away by now, returning to their hideouts and nooks to plot a million more evil ideas for him to sort out. Perhaps a few more would realise the prison was no longer secure. 

Still, they hardly compared to actual supervillains - the real thorns in Captain Man and Miss Danger's sides, so it was a big well done for Danger Force. They'd really blown things out of the water--the first heroic team to bust bad guys out of jail rather than put them in there. Honestly, they deserved a trophy. 

"You happy?" Ray asked tiredly, mainly looking at Mika since she was the ringleader, but he was disappointed in all of them. He didn't even want to think how long it would take to mop up their mess. 

"Yeah! I got a superpower!" But the girl didn't seem bothered. She was more content with her newfound ability than she and her friends had single-handedly caused the worst crime spike in Swellview history, barely even thinking about the consequences of her uncontrollable super-scream. 

"You just let every criminal out of Swellview Prison!" (y/n) told her harshly, not even bothering to hide her irritation because it hurt--physically hurt--to see the girl smile. Well, she was glad someone was happy, but she could be the one to run around after the crooks when they wreaked mayhem. 

"With my superpower, (y/n/n)!"

"Hey, it's Miss Danger when we're in uniform and another thing--the next time you decide to gatecrash a mission, please don't ignore me when I give you a co--oh, God, what the hell is he wearing?"

(y/n) frowned as she paused Mika's scolding, suddenly distracted when a gaudy flash of glitter and garish colours blinded her poor eyes. Everyone looked at the prison hole in confusion as Frankini dashed through it again, no longer in his uniform but in some kind of dance costume. He looked like some kind of tutti-frutti beanstalk, flicking a ribbon through the air as he twirled across the ground - attention-seeking like always. 

"Weeeee!" He squealed before running off again, but it didn't stop there. He marked the start of the second flood, guiding more prisoners toward the exit with his multicoloured leotard and bizarre dance moves. 

"I started out as a good guy!" Jack Frittleman cackled as he darted out, a sick grin on his face as he rubbed his palms together. It had been too long since he'd attempted to kill Captain Man and his sidekicks in that escape room, and he was hungry for revenge; taking off into the night as two familiar faces appeared behind him. 

"So did we!" (y/n) could barely watch from the shame as The Thumb Buddies did their secret handshake, still hideously deformed after their former heroes left them to die from overexposure to solar radiation.

They seemed in good spirits, but behind their happiness, the heroine saw the madness, feeling deeply uncomfortable as the purple and hairy men jumped and ran, also ready to end the superheroes for ruining their lives. She still had nightmares about those two, wondering if she could've done more to help...

"Hey! I just realised--we ended the crime drought!" Bose exclaimed as the criminals lulled again, giving the group a break from humiliation. Still, it didn't help when the boy reminded everyone of the adults' lies--sounding almost happy like the prison escape was a good thing. 

"Now, you have to let us fight crime!" Chapa told Ray and (y/n), knowing they'd need all the help they could get with so many evil people on the streets. Was that slightly sadistic? Maybe, but she didn't care, loving that they'd ultimately gotten their way, albeit with a minor disaster. 

"Yeah, you're gonna need our help to capture all these bad guys," Miles agreed, deliberately talking into Ray's ear as he grunted. And he used to complain about Jasper - the kid was a genius compared to this lot. 

"We'll probably need, like, a hundred hilarious missions to do it--maybe more!"

"Just when I thought we were done..." (y/n) sighed, knowing her doofus was right. One adventure finished, and another began, meaning her married life wouldn't be boring, which was more than some wives could say. 

Was she hoping for a little more relaxation to settle down? Yeah--but what did she expect? Life hadn't been normal since that fateful afternoon in that café. 

A figure pulled her from her thoughts, shocking her brain with their bright and tacky outfit as they leapt from the prison like a pink and silver leopard. On closer inspection, she realised it was Frankini - again - who'd run around the building just to filter through again, eager to show off his fashion sense to Miss Danger and her new little friends. 

"Are you just going back around and running out over and over again?" Chapa asked as the man shimmied, dancing to the music in his head as the girl tried to work out if she was crazy or just having déjà vu. 

"Check--check!" The glamorous villain ignored her, revealing that his outfit came with a microphone--just what he needed since (y/n) couldn't get enough of his stupid voice... He turned to the moody child with a smug smirk, thinking she could use a few fashion tips - probably from his dear friend Miss Danger, whom he couldn't wait to fight and frolic with again. 

"Sweetie...I smuggled seventy-five outfits into this prison, and you're going to see every last one of them!" He announced, throwing his head back and grinning as the group gulped. They couldn't think of anything worse. 

"Kill me...kill me now..." (y/n) muttered, wishing a lightning bolt would strike her down as Frankini began to dance again, spinning around and around enough to make anyone dizzy despite his bright, white smile. 

She meant it, feeling like someone, somewhere, was punishing her for some great misdeed because if the fashion show wasn't enough, watching every other criminal leaving the prison was like a punch to the gut. 

Never send a child to do your job, (y/l/n)--I mean, Manchester, she thought to herself, still not used to the change but wondering how they'd get out of this or if she'd live long enough to see outfit seventy-five. She glanced at her doofus, knowing he was thinking the same thing, sending his love through a few small gazes, which was comfort enough. 

Their old lives were over; a new one had started, and God, if they weren't exhausted already. It would be an adventure full of peril, tears, and laughter, and who knows how long it would last? The team had a lot of work to do, starting with training a unit fit for battle, but that would keep for another day--another mission. 

They didn't know it yet, but it was the beginning of a new family - the family they got to choose. Ray and (y/n) only had to show them the way, and perhaps, they'd find a few changes along the way - their home ever-expanding. 

It was all written before them; they just had to keep reading the next chapters...

The future was now. The Danger Force had awakened.

[skuntank]

Which Kalos gym leader do you think Diantha is most friendly/familiar with and which one do you think she knows about but doesn’t like? Cynthia has some friends among the Sinnoh (and Unova) gym league but I figure Diantha’s celebrity status might limit her non-work socialization a bit more.

OOHH thank u for this ..... lemme think

admittedly i dont have a lot of headcanons for other kalos league members, which is a bit of a shame, but unfortunately no one else interests me much so ive not given much thought to most of them btu this is a good excuse to!

(this got really long oops i do not blame anyone if no one reads it)

viola: outside of league stuff, i feel that they would know each other somewhat due to working together for photoshoots. also, i feel that violas sister alexa has probably interviewed diantha a few times and perhaps viola was there to record it. i think they would get along decently well but their relationship is just professional!

grant: again, another relationship that i see as amicable but just professional. maybe at most, he has helped diantha train for specific roles in terms of helping her get the hang of rock climbing basics and such but other than that i cant think of how they would interact much outside of league stuff.

korrina: so in the manga they do have a decent amoutn of canon interaction, but i dont remember much of it bc i only skimmed the manga to look at diantha lmao. but evidently, if korrina's grandfather was diantha's mentor at one point (i am assuming mentoring her in how to use mega evolution), then i am sure they have known each other for quite a while. i feel that perhaps diantha sees korrina as something of a younger sister, but unfortunately as theyve both gotten a bit older they dont get to spend as much time together as they may have once been able to when they were younger. korrina is probably one of the league members diantha has more of a history and familiarity with.

ramos: oh man is there even much info about ramos to begin with? i hate to just characterize him as "old person who is the grandparent of the league." maybe, as a gardener, i can see him doing some upkeep around the grounds of the different gyms and the league headquarters? maybe he also has a landscaping business? i think it would be fun if he had been the one to design how the grounds around the league headquarters look, helping it look even more regal than the building itself already does. so maybe perhaps she will run into him outside when she has to come to the league, or maybe she's paid him to come do some work at her home idk!

clemont: im ngl ive never been a fan of his and also he is a child so idk what reason would have to interact with him outside of league stuff. she probably is impressed by his ingenuity and understanding of technology and thats about it.

valerie: oh ok theyve gotta have one of the closer friendships i think!!! they undoubtedly met through either the league or through valerie being commissioned by diantha, one of the two, and they just clicked immediately. i think valerie is one of those people that is just Weird herself and is one of the extremely rare people that diantha can be more herself around without judgement. there is a mutual understanding and acceptance for one another of being an eclectic creative. if anything, i feel that when diantha is able to take part in more experimental and weird artsy indie productions, valerie is almost always involved somehow too because its the sort of thing that attracts them both. valerie is probably someone diantha wishes she could spend more recreational time with.

olympia: another person i see diantha getting along well with. i imagine olympia can be sort of ... off-putting in some ways, but more in the "shes just on another plane of existence" sort of way. and i think diantha would find her fascinating, and maybe even a little bit intimidating? not that its a bad thing lol. diantha would potentially like to spend more recreational time with her too but there is something sort of untouchable about olympia even if she is friendly and that makes it even more difficult to connect with her.

wulfric: so just purely in terms of character, i cant see them meshing well. not that i see them being antagonistic towards one another, but more in probably a generational divide way. and then also, wulfric is canonically a big fan of brycen-man .... which, according to my headcanon, makes things a little weird for diantha. having worked with brycen and knowing just what sort of person he is behind the scenes leaves a bad taste in her mouth when confronted by diehard brycen apologists, which i could see wulfric being and also being just sort of a good ol' boy. i think they can work together decently well for league things, but beyond that i feel that they would just be too different in many ways to connect well. also, if wulfric pesters her a lot about what its like to work with brycen, shes gonna get irritated by that pretty quickly.

malva: oof. i really really REALLY need to explore their dynamic more. malva is the prime example of why you shouldnt sleep with your coworkers i think and diantha definitely made that mistake. lmaooo. i see there being a lot of attraction between the two of them right off the bat and there being a lot of flirting and sexual tension but it exploded in their faces pretty quickly and its been Weird ever since. Weird as in like. diantha is jsut trying to remain professional and do her job and malva is an especially vindictive and petty person and is very very VERY good at finding out what gets under other peoples skin and exploiting that. i imagine there arent a lot of people who can make diantha lose her cool quite like malva can and i love it. additionally, all of dianthas "scandals" were first reported on and covered extensively by malva, purely by coincidence : ) in another universe where diantha was team flare boss, i like to imagine theyd have gotten along swimmingly.

siebold: i dont really have a lot of thoughts on him i am sorry. he seems like a cool dude but hes never had that spark that has really drawn me to him! tbh i just read in fanfiction about them being gay besties and i kinda just go with that bc it absolutely makes sense to me lmao

wikstrom: there is a lot of mutual respect and admiration between the two of them, and i see wikstrom being an untintentionally dramatic person (mostly in his speech and bodily movements) and diantha really enjoys that. something about him sort of just encourages the dramatics in her and if they are allowed to spend too much time together, their interactions slowly start to take on something of a shakespearean quality, as if theyre performing a stage play together (wikstrom is entirely unaware of this, diantha is fully aware of it and Very into it lmao its fun)

drasna: i see her as another Unsettling Older Woman, but not in the same way as olympia. im not sure how to describe it. i see diantha being a very astute person in being able to read others and their intentions, and drasna unsettles her but also like. drasna isnt a bad person. idk if im going to elaborate further be i feel like drasna is one of those chars id like to put more thought into.

[shaykai]

12, 18, 19, & 22 for the durge questions!!

12. How does your Dark Urge feel about being a bhaalspawn?

Depends on the day and how honest he’s being. He’s come to really enjoy indulging in the endless cycle of murderous thoughts, and he likes the inherent power that comes with being a bhaalspawn.

That being said, there are definitely days with quiet moments where he likes to imagine himself as a normal person leading an average life, simple but thriving with the little joys that he as a bhaalspawn can’t have (tldr, he’s fine with it/even enjoys it unless he’s thinking about families and how normal people can just have those)

Edit: he also absolutely hates the whole Urge taking over if he ignores it for too long thing- that part he could do without

18. How does your Dark Urge feel about love?

He’s actually kind of a romantic! He loves seeing couples, young and old, existing and doing stupid, sweet things that he’s sure he’s read in books before.

He also has a tendency to kill couples together- the love wasn’t enough to save them, but there’s no reason to separate them

Worth mentioning that as much as he’d like it, he does believe on the most part that he isn’t really allowed to love anyone, be it romantically or platonically.

19. Has your Dark Urge become particularly close to anyone romantically and/or platonically in their journey? If so, who, and what is the relationship like? If no, why not?

Pre-tadpole Vat’il was really close to Gortash. He was the one exception for him since he needed to at least live long enough to see their plan through. Gortash took him by surprise, to put it simply. He didn’t expect him to be much more than an ally to use and inevitably murder once said use ran its course. Instead, Enver was charming and intelligent and something about the compliments he gave him would linger in his thoughts far longer than they’ve any right to. (Vat’il craves affection pretty much constantly and has a tendency to latch onto any that’s offered) Turns out they’re both surprisingly understanding of each other- their personalities just kind of click together. The only reason it took anywhere near as long as it did for them to become legitimate friends/lovers is because Vat’il is weary about creating relationships with other people

(I’m focusing on the more romantic presences in his life, but it’s worth mentioning that he basically views Orin, Sarevok, and Sceleritas as his family. Also kind of Bhaal but the hatred runs a little too deep with him for Vat to count him as a legit member)

Post tadpole Vat’il has an on again off again kind of a relationship with Lae’zel- he was fine with sleeping together, and he does genuinely like her, he’s just a little weird about having a legitimate relationship (even through the amnesia. Something about it just feels weird, like he knows better than to let himself care about someone).

In which case, it depends on if it’s normal Vat’il or the good timeline Vat’il- normal Vat ends up ruining their relationship by act 3 because he’s a god awful person at every turn. It gets to the point that Lae’zel is just there to get rid of her tadpole and that’s it. (Shout out to Gortash for picking their relationship back up. It’s not what it was before, but he’s fine with trying to remind Vat about them.)

Good timeline Vat is still a bit weird about relationships, and I don’t think he’s actually with anyone by the end of the game. Him and Lae’zel are still really close though, and, maybe given some more time and self improvement, they could be a couple.

(Also as far as companions he’s closest to go, it’s Astarion, Minthara, and Lae’zel. Also Karlach if he’s trying to be a good person)

22. What first impression does your Dark Urge give off to strangers?

He’s super standoffish and weird and creepy :>

He’s always been more of an introvert/on the quiet side, which would be fine except he has spooky vibes and a tendency to smile with just a little too much teeth. He also has that fun thing going on where it feels like almost every move his body makes is deliberate, which is unsettling at the best of times (doesn’t help that he also has like. The straightest posture you’ve ever seen)

Good timeline Vat is still unsettling more often than not, but he’s trying to work on being more approachable/not being creepy and murdery when he talks to other people

[the-last-f2p]

Jackpot Sad girl Mafuyu x reader

Blue= You

Purple= Mafuyu

Purple & Blue= Whatever you person is

TW: Horrible parents, please tell me if theres anymore tw I need to put

Song: Jackpot Sad girl

Living in the standard deviation

My life is alright it could be worse.. My parents are alright it could be worse... My grades are alright... Everything is alright. Well actually theres something that isn't alright my friends they're above alright.

A liveless face a rotten soul

Mafuyu quite weird she seems so nice and perfect but when she's with me , Kanade , Mizuiki or Ena she's pretty blunt and sometimes pretty mean. But for some reason I like her a bit..

Hey look when you realize it

I clicked on 'untiltled' it had been about a week since we all found our ture feelings but I still felt uncomplete and more attracted to Mafuyu she just seemed like a fun person to hang around.

The days pass by just like that again

It's been days I think atleast I'm working on a song with Kanade that will make Mafuyu smile I haven't been to school for a while and I think I'm going Hikkiomori but I really wanna see Mafuyu's actuall smile.

Special talents and the desire for expression

"Yes finally lets go K!" I hit my screen to try and give a virtual high-5 to Kanade. My talent is my voice I've always been told that but I've only sung songs I thought would make others happy people here more do it for expression I admire that.

Mean nothing when you live a life without purpose

Mafuyu smiled at the song and I think I've grown closer to her. She told me that she wanted to be a nurse but her parents told her she should be a doctor. Thats sad. But it made me think how much I admire Mafuyu for her kind of knowing what her purpose is I'm just going with the flow hoping I'll be alright.

No way I don't want to

I told a bit about how I feel to my parents and they told me that it doesn't matter because if I'm not a lawyer I'm a dissapointment. I also told them about Mafuyu and said that I should stay away from her and the other band members.

But I don't want to

Regretfully continue living like this

I think I like Mafuyu yes I just realized this but it doesn't matter her mom hates me so a Tsukasa would have to say that he wasn't a star before we went out. It maybe a regret but Mafuyu doesn't like me that way...

Feelings that are difficult to except

I found out today that I like Y/N and I have hunch she may like me back but even if I ask her out what will mom say?? Its difficult to except but are these even my true feelings?

To shove them all in is what we call love

I couldn't focus today because of my 'feelings' for Y/N I even asked Miku and she said it was love its weird a lot of things are considered love even obsession so how can I know that Miku is right?

I'm a JACKPOT SAD GIRL

I should stop denying my feelings at this point its just sad. They put some much effort into everything they do for me and I obviously like them thats the sad part.

Without understanding anything

I got a note from someone to meet me on the roof I don't know if I should go or not what if they want to confess to me I should atleast show up.

I come up from all the stairs and there is the long haired purple girl Mafuyu Ashania she then proceeds to tell me this.

"I like you Y/N but I can't like you. If that makes sense." "Not really." I say

And end roll of dots and lines

"I like you but I can't like you because my mom doesn't like you." Of course Mafuyu's mom doesnt like me makes me wannna fight her.

"I understand I like you aswell Mafuyu. That's what this is for." I then kiss on the cheek on run away blushing I didn't think to look at Mafuyu but I had a feeling she was as well.

Paint my everyday life

She then ran away as I turned as red as Ena's brother's hair did she just do that and now I need pretend that I don't like her. Damn this is gonna be harder than I thought. Its just pretend though you've done it for this long Mafuyu.

There was value in keeping feelings hidden from everyone

I haven't told any of the band members about my crush well if it counts if she already knows I mean whats the point in keeping it a secret if Mafuyu knows I just won't say unless they bring up.

Because the awnser I was looking for

So I told Miku and all she said was

"Seems you've found your true feelings." If these are my true feelings I wonder if they're also Mafuyu's or was she just lying to make me happy. I have to ask her.

Just like the future was in my hand all along

You put a note in Mafuyu's locker telling her to come to the roof and just like you came.

"Mafuyu I have a question." "I had a feeling you put the note in my locker ask away." "Do you actually like me or were you messing with me?" Mafuyu walked up to you and then kissed you on the lips.

"Does that awnser you question?" ".... Yep. Do you wanna be my secret girlfriend Mafuyu?" "Yes." You kissed her once more and then walked down the stairs holding hands I think its safe to say Mafuyu's one more step closer to finding her feelings thanks to you.

Her Secret S/O Y/N L/N

[promisinininining]

hello :3c all questions with the number 3 ( :3c ) in them, my good friend mis! :3c

Admittedlty, I started this. I shall accept my punishment with grace (💖).

Disclaimer here that there will be references to nsfw under the cut because I peddle smut. There's also a brief mention of vomit in a snippet I share.

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic I write on my phone mainly, and I like to be curled up in a nest of some kind and comfy when I open up my Big Doc of Ideas and start typing. if it gets long enough (~1k words) I move it into its own doc. I reread constantly when I write, and often times I just sit and stare at a sentence until my brain clicks on. It also helps to bounce ideas off friends as I'm working, if I feel my steam running low. Otherwise I get into Da Zone and everything else disappear.

13. What’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow? Ah. Hm. I don't actually know many "common" tips. I find a lot of them not very useful, like "write every day" just leads to burnout. I suppose there's this: sometimes, when you write yourself into a corner and don't know how to continue, go back a little bit further and try a new direction. Still Stuck? When I don't want to write a scene I simply don't and move on. Sometimes you never have to go back. It's fine. It wasn't that important anyway.

23. Best writing advice for other writers? ARE THE TIPS NOT GOOD ENOUGH? Okay Fine. Write what you want. Write weird shit, write horny shit, write stuff that disgusts and uncomfortablises people. Write the stuff that interests you rather than what you think other people would like. I made a promise to myself when I stepped back into fandom, and that was that I wouldn't be ashamed of anything that I liked anymore, and it's been an absolute blast. (Coming back up here after a few questions) WAIT- When you don't know what to do, ask yourself, what would be sexiest? and go with that. Never fails.

30. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? I'm happy sharing rough drafts. I tend to edit as I go so the top of my docs always end up pretty polished as opposed to the endings... shhh. I don't tend to share much of rough drafts in public, though, some friends get basically the entire thing through screenshots, lol. I can't resist okay! I'm excited about what I'm writing! I can't keep it all inside!

31. Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing? Characters, definitely. Most of my stories are character-driven, and plot tends to happen around them, even aus are usually 'well what if they were brought up in THIS environment?' and whatever happens to them grows around what the consequences of their actions. I'm not very good at longfic and a lot of my fics are oneshot character studies so :Va Not that I'm saying I'm bad at what I do, plot is just not my priority! I Find characters, their relationships, and their personalities more fun to explore! (<- was raised on the Tales Of games)

32. Name three of your favorite fanfic writers. Fuck, okay. Well it probably doesn't surprise you that I make friends thru fanfic so I have a lot of writer friends and I don't LIKE to pick favs, simply because I don't think of them that way. That would be weird. Additionally, I only really read stuff my friends write nowadays ;w; I'll name the people who I've reached out to over completely losing my shit over their fics instead, in order of meeting them: Elcie/BurningLio, Bee/println0/slothencholy, Mango/MalevolentMango (and here, an honourary mention of Ailem for appearing alongside Mango though I hadn't read any of its fics until after we had become friends).

33. Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer? Sure. I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

34. Do you want to be published some day? (yes I swapped 33 and 34 by accident so sue me) Eeehhhh, as someone who writes mostly erotica I don't reaaaally see any of my stuff being published by any mainstream publishing houses. I certainly WANTED to when I was younger, and it would certainly be cool, but it's not something I am persuing or even have an interest in persuing.

35. What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain?  They gotta be as hot as possible.

36. How do you write kissing scenes? Okay so disclaimer, I've been writing fanfic for a VERY long time. I was on the internet before I should have been. My parents didn't speak english very well, and stuff like google translate didn't even exist (rather, it did, but it wasn't very good). I was ten, and I asked Google sensei how to write kisses, and the first result took me to a yahoo questions page where the answer was something like, describe how they feel instead of the kiss itself. I then deleted my history because I was not a stupid child. I remember that advice to this day.

37. How do you choose where to end a chapter? I uh. Write oneshots. I end it where the story ends. Hope this helps :)

38. Would you ever write commissions? Yes but nothing too long. I've been meaning to open up writing commissions for literal years but I KEEP getting too sick to be able to dedicate the time it deserves to run commissions.

39. Share a snippet from a WIP Huff okay. This should be shiny and new for even you, Mango.

"Akechi-" "I'm fine," Akechi grits, spitting more acid onto the ground before he finally straightens and wipes a sleeve over his face. Akira doesn't even try to hide his expression when Akechi deigns to face them again. He states the fact plainly. "You're not fine." "Don't try to tell me what I am or not," Akechi sneers in return. He's clutching at his stomach despite his nonchalance, and a grimace clings to the edges of his pissed off expression. Akira rolls his eyes. There's no point arguing with Akechi on a good day, never mind when he's defensive and scared of being benched. They don't exactly have a choice to keep Akechi in combat as there are only three of them, and Kasumi is completely new to this kind of palace exploration. He may not be Futaba, but he has the most experience in the Metaverse by far; he's observant, meticulous, and his ability to memorise the attributes of new shadows is impressive. Akechi really had been holding back on them in Sae's Casino, and Akira isn't stupid enough to let that kind of usefulness go to waste.

43. Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person? lmao. do i even need to answer this?

53. How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both? I'm primarily a writer. I used to read a lot but I have a hard time reading anything nowadays. I need to be doing something or else I'll EXPLODE. KABOOM. No more mis. splat like watermelon.

63. Something you hate to see in smut. I hate it when the author takes their time to write 'btw this is pure good non fetishistic sex' through the characters. It's ridiculous. I'm here for a good time not to get lectured on what safe sex is. If the reader needs to be told what consent is, I'd argue that they aren't old enough to be reading it.

73. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works? Brother I do not know. I kind of fly by the seat of my pants. Lich Rally Just Vibin.

[treetownconfessions]

go ahead buddy. thats literally what this page is for

oaky. well. whenever other ppl in the fandom talked about how they first got into htf i always felt stupid about it because of the way i went about things. i, like many others, got into htf when i was a teen (it was more like 12 but close enough) but i hated the gore and the suffering of the characters so so much it was insane . it was a weird interest because htfs whole thing revolves around that stuff but i didnt like when they were hurt. i was a really sensitive(???) kid, and even in regular cartoons just seeing my favorite characters in distress would scare me and i have a lot of crying memories when i was 6-7 because of that (theres this episode of wow wow wubbzy where wubbzy hurts his tail or something and he has to go to the doctor and i have an IMPORTANT memory of running to my mom over it and needing a hug and uhhhh i dont think i ever finished that episode) i liked the htf characters and fanart more than the gore and what i used to do was watch only the first halves (sometimes less) of htf episodes before all the bad stuff happened bc that was when the characters were doing regular cutesy stuff, and right before the disaster struck id just click off to another one and repeat the process. i took a lot of comfort in pretending all these soft animals were living happily and normally and not being brutalized because i was stupidly attached to them. i thknk flippy-based episodes had it the roughest because id click off WAY faster bc a lot of his episodes are about him flipping out and i did not like fliqpy in the slightest because him being there automatically meant someone was gonna get hurt and i was like ":(" i also didnt like nutty because his crazy attitude made it so hard to predict if he was gonna get hurt or not so anytime he was on screen i was always so stressed and on the edge of my seat. and i felt really weird about it becyz nearly everyoen liked htf BECAUSE of the injury and shock but i despised it with a passion

ANYWAY im almost 19 and that was years ago and im fine with gore and my favs being in tough situations now but it was. rough. when i was younger.

oh anon, thats not something to be like- ashamed of or feel strange about! its perfectly natural and understnadable. everyone feels differently about gore, or violence, or difficult things in fiction. the whole point of fiction is that youre able to choose when something is enough and you arent having fun anymore.

youre not silly for feeling this way!

[cheesey-rice]

Ok cool! Yeah I feel like my self study has been very eclectic so I've run into a lot of resources that help with like different areas of the language learning, here's a few:

Chinese Pod (Spotify or YouTube)

For listening/pronounciation. This is a podcast that has different levels of familiarity. At the beginner-intermediate levels they have little conversation dialogues that the hosts explain and repeat. The dialogues are based around the HSK standards of fluency tho, but the thing I like to do is just click on the topics that I find personally interesting (I just played 篮球 and 麻将 on repeat this summer because I like basketball and mahjong so now I know how to talk about them.)

Yellowbridge

FOR EVERYTHING. This is my favorite online Chinese dictionary, you can use it to look up words based on pinyin characters or English and it gives you options to see in a sentence, understand the etymology, and practice the stroke order of characters. On their main website they also have learning materials based around different standardized tests of fluency people might be studying for.

Du Chinese

For reading. This is an app that's great for beginning to read and understand Chinese characters. They have some abridged classics and original stories that can make you feel more competent with understanding of characters and grammar. It lets you click on characters for pinyin and meanings and I think it's more fun to read something than Duo Lingo's weird and stressful leaderboard system. Only problem is many of the stories are behind a like subscription paywall.

Readibu

Also reading. This app lets you access contemporary Chinese webnovels that have been translated and rated into reading levels, but it also lets you put in the urls of your own Chinese language web pages and converts them into its reader mode. It shows you the pinyin for each character and can translate individual words. I've used this app to read a 天官赐福 raw I found on enjing before and really enjoyed it. It makes you pay for like sentence long translations but I don't think any of the paid features are necessary.

Perapera Chinese Popup Dictionary

Reading for computer. This is a browser extension on Firefox and chrome which you can turn on to identify Chinese words and phrases you don't know. Very helpful for identifying idioms and the definitions include measure words for nouns and multiple possible meanings. I like to use this to read baidu and chinese wikipedia pages about things I was already looking up anyway.

Kangxi Radical dictionary

Writing/reading/speaking. I'm interested in what book about radicals you have? I also think that learning radicals is one of the most important parts of starting to understand Chinese because I think that the way most 汉语 curriculum works for English speakers is that they just throw you into full character=meaning but I think it's easier to memorize and understand words when you understand a bit of the etymology, bc English speakers aren't taught that Chinese is picto-phonetic, not just pictographic. Often times there are Chinese words that will contain phonetic indicators or remnants of phonetic indicators or ... I guess maybe this is more helpful if you're learning traditional character than simplified though. Anyway when you learn how to write the radicals it suddenly becomes much easier to copy new words down at a glance and understand the meaning behind them. I'm not much of an expert though these are what I use currently to practice writing radicals: 康熙部首's Wikipedia page, this YouTube video of someone writing all of them with stroke order. Literally sometimes I just turn the video on 2 times speed and just write like however many I have the patience for down in a notebook and double check the wikipedia for meanings.

(Side not about personal experience, feel free to disregard: In general I also think that my learning got faster when I realized that the best way to absorb language was just to do things I enjoyed and wanted to do anyway but just do them in Chinese. Fluency is very relative, I don't think there's much point in learning how to say things you wouldn't ever have to say in real life first... It's best to pick a small goal like I want to read this book or watch this drama or be able to explain this about myself and my interests and accomplish those one at a time. Like little assignments lmao. Improving speaking is very much like, make a little speech and then practice saying that speech until you sound good (Google translate text to voice for putonghua pronunciation isn't bad actually if that's something you want to do). Honestly with speaking I feel like you memorize the sounds first and then understand the meaning afterward. It also helps to think about how you learned english when you were a kid you know like you copied a bunch of writing assignments and wrote little reports, it's like you're doing that but with chinese. For a long time the way chinese writing has been taught has been through copying characters from classics so I feel like to just copy writing/rehearsing what you see in the media you want to interact with is very good.)

oh this is such bullshit

[that-one-weeb-buts-its-the-main]

Heyy, I saw that you wrote for Father figure Frank castle so I just HAD to request something (I don't think yk how long I've been looking for Father frank writers 😫😭) may I request Father figure Frank castle x Witch daughter reader headcanons? (And idk if I need to specify this but like there are some SUPER weird people on this app so, for this request I mean 1000000000000% PLATONIC)

Frank w/ Witch daughter headcanons

reader: female | daughter reader

type: one shots + short/long scenarios

warnings: none?

Note: wasn't super into this and playing Elden RIng at the same time....also this needs a part two so haha it got really long so enjoy

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

Next in line for Supreme Sorcerer who?

You

it's you your next in line, even if you are super young, you have a long way to go- but in your defense, you've been training nonstop

till those mfs kick YOU OUT

Why? Because someone voiced you're turning sides

And after everything you gave up for them

Now you're hiding out in corridors, and in the shadows, feeling like you need validation

Random author note I have the urge to make you have a fake arm like this chick from Elden ring, so you get a cool right arm and left leg now and you can infuse them with magic

Now, all you can do is stalk the streets

You didn't really have much you can do: you didn't fit into the outside world very much, not with your powers and you know super cool magical prosthetics

You beat up criminals mostly, take any money they have on them, and anything valuable,

Robbing the robbers of what they robbed, great

That was until one day while beating up some guy for beating up some girl who had run far away by now, you were surprised when another long time guy you've been trying to catch showed up, just out of the blue, he's sweating bullets, has he been running?

Then another guy shows up ready to kill him, and you're perfectly okay with it.

Knocking out the first guy and with the other guy trying to run, you only grabbed him and threw him down.

It was almost fun, throwing him back and forth threatening him,

God your so fucked up in the head

Kinda how you were trained but oh well.

Frank thinks he could let you go, you actually helped him afterward, but when he gets a good look at you and realizes you just some little girl, well little to him, your like 16-17

He's gonna help you because he's "old fashion"

Well that was till people started to shoot at you and he basically tackled you behind a dumpster for cover.

ayo that fake leg and arm comes in handy for hiding things

"You should get out of here."

its the fact that you told him that rather than him telling you

"Yeah I'm not goin anywhere kid-"

Too late your already running out, and he thinks you have a death wish

Even though you clear them all out with ease and leave after looting he's like "Ayo where you goin"

You don't answer and your leg gets stuck, the metal one, like it needs WD40, there's actually a massive hole in it, and you collapse,

Well now Frank has to help you

He helps you stand up as you hobble on one leg, you don't protest only sigh as he gets you to his hidden van.

Man pulled out a med kit at first just to realize he needed a tool box.

"You've always had these kid?"

"...yeah...I think."

He leaves it at that, and says he'll be able to take the bullet out but he's gonna need more tools.

Off to a strangers house you go- well base, yeah Micro- I mean David's in this one.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! You can't just lead whoever this is in here!?"

"David she needs help,"

They both look at you, sitting in the back of the van, feet planted on the floor, your eating food Frank gave you, and that your oh so grateful for.

"She looks a little, I don't know- Not human with her arm there Frank."

"She's a kid, what did you want me to do? Leave her? Like you left your family"

Low blow, but it works

Frank doesn't exactly know how to work on your leg, and you easily just take it off, clicking it into place so it looks like a leg of armor.

Boy what-

Yeah your a werid one: thats offical

"So are you like an alien, like the New York attack- or-"

"What? No? I'm from New York. Ever heard of Magic"

Micro laughed, "Unlike you I believe in science."

"This where science got you?" You ask gesturing to the run down hide out.

Frank couldnt help but laugh a little at that.

"So your like. A witch."

"Sorcerer." Y/n responded.

"Shes a witch." David spoke looking back at Frank.

"Shes a witch." Frank spoke,

"Sorcerer." Y/n corrected again, "Supreme...In training....well...was trainning..."

God they'd both laugh at that, but seeing you actually saddened causes Frank to elbow David hard.

Now, Davids, all butt hurt

You thank Frank for fixing your leg, and go back to put it on, making sure everything lines up and locks up already

"So...these...wizards..."

"Sorcerers."

"They family?"

Y/n was silent but nodded her expression dropping as she looked down at the metal of her leg, "Can...I drive you somewhere, or do you teleport?"

God, you thought this conversation was so stupid? Do you teleport? What did he think you were? Goku?

He didn't really ask David after you said no you don't have a place to go, and gave you the bed he was sleeping in.

"You can't father every little girl you see," David argued.

"Come on! she's a kid, she'll be out of our hair tomorrow, now stop being dramatic,"

You were thankful for the place to sleep and shower, they even giving you up some food.

after sleeping a bit you over heard talk about some government people.

You got up, being the light sleeper you are you went to go investigate, and in return offered to help, call it paying him back.

Relucantly you get him to agree

And here starts the adventures of a magic user teenager, and a war veteran looking for revenge.

You best be sure he's dragging you behind things while your trying to go head first into things

He got shot? Magic healing a go!

He's freakin out the first time you did it, like super fucking creeped out

Which is reasonable

But damn does healing drain you

You've never told him, and the more and more you do it, the more and more you're about to collapse

You've been able to make yourself more of a soilder instead of a kid in Frank's eyes will every explosion talismen, healing spell, shield and glowing whip

You're both so close to finding this Agent Orange and repaying debt, but here comes Dr.Strange to kick your exhausted ass.

And he did, you're so tired, so beaten, that when Frank runs into the abonded warehouse and you're being dragged off with no ounce of energy left

You bet shit he's getting Flashbacks of those a holes killing his family, those horrible dreams all coming back in one go.

"Y/n!" Frank shouted, gun raised, aiming it at the man.

"Oh come on really, with the guns?" Strange argued, "The men and the guns, it's a total masculinity thing, I should know, i am a-"

"You let her go right now and I don't put a bullet through your head." Frank ordered.

"A doctor." Strange sighed, "Seriously put the gun down tough guy."

"Let her go, now." Frank ordered, "I'm not telling you again."

"Alright, Okay we don't put the gun down."

Frank opened fire without a second thought, they being blocked easily, every bullet in that pistol as Strange sighed, "Men..."

A portal opened up behind Y/n's limp body, two people walking out to grab her.

"Yeah be careful with her." Stephen argued, just to turn his head back to Frank, "Look I-"

He was stopped by a hard punch across the face, knocking the sass right out of him.

And now Franks fighting a wizard.

Wonderful.

Did he beat the shit out the wizard

Yes yes he did

Did the wizard beat the shit out of him?

We dont tall about that (he got his ass beat)

Being nursed back to health but still held captured? Yeah that's you right now

Y/n looked around the room, "not many people are held prisoner with a queen size bed." She protested, sitting up slowly, her body exhausted.

Strange sighed, walking over bowl in hand, sitting on the side of the bed, "You're not held captive, you just can't leave."

Y/n scrunched her eyebrows at him, its the same thing.

He handed her the bowl as she drank it, slowly. Yet her hands locked and she almost dropped the bowl, Strange managing to catch it.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to go looking for your parents."

"Oh...no he's not..." Y/n responded her voice falling soft as she flicked her gaze away for the moment, "What do you want with me anyways?"

"The Ancient One is dead." Strange infromed.

"What?" Y/n questioned, "That's your job! To protect her as she protects you!"

Y/n was in an outrage: the Ancient One was her teacher, personal teacher, and the one that outcasted her with a final decision. But further mother she was like a mother.

"Mordo won that battle," Strange spoke, "But I was able to keep Dormamu away, I have a feeling anyone left on Mordo's side will come after you next."

Well...if she cant protect her mother figure anymore, she could atleast protect Frank then right?

So they just captured you to keep you from actually turning

Great.

And while your in recovery, you better be sure Franks making people spill any information on a wizard and witch

People look at him crazily and he gets upset and kills them, you know basic shit

And he has David/Micro searching for anyone by Stranges description.

It takes him a few days but Micro found him

"Doctor Steven Strange." David spoke, "Had a bad accident resulting in his hands being shot....Oh here camera footage from the lighrs.... he's on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. 177A."

Alright, he's ready to kick ass and get you back.

Frank just knocks on the front door so simple just to knock out some low level Sorcerer

This is where you use to live?

Absolutely fights Wong and wins in brute force

Both you and steven heard it as he was giving you daily medicane.

You both rush out after the sound and Franks coming up the set of stairs with a pistol out a gun strapped across his chest with that bullet proof vest on.

When he sees you behind Strange, he's ready to defend this time.

"Kid come on!" Frank shouted.

Strange moves slightly and Frank shoots at his feet, "Watch it- Y/n come on."

She only moved around Strange and walkes towards Frank who grabs her by the arm and pulls her away from Strange quickly, Frank postioning himself infront of Y/n.

You wonder why he doesnt just try and shoot Strange, you didnt know Frank know's better

But Strange doesnt attack because he knows Frank knows how his own magic works now

So its not worth the risk on either side.

You and Frank rushed out of the Sanctum he rushing you along staying behind you just incase someone tried to take a shot at you

But when your both safe he checks over you as your driving.

"You okay?"

"Why'd you come after me?"

"What do you mean why-" Frank argued, "What the hell? I come and save your ass from a damn wizard and this is your response?"

"You've couldve died."

Frank scoffed, shaking his head, god she was so head strong, perhaps she was picking on his usual attuide, always on the defense, someone else to worry about rather than themselves. That other person just ended up being each other.

"You know he thought you were my dad." Y/n commented looking over at Frank who looked at her.

They both chuckling softly.

Oh he's your dad, especially after all that.

You tell him everything, how this Mordo mf may have his people come after you

He tells you: "ah, we'll be alright. We got a kick ass witch anyways."

So with that you both start training, you showing him how to Essentially dodge magic.

"So you got like a staff?"

"Im not a witch- anyways thats a warlock."

The jokes never gonna end.

You also manage to pick up some magic books after sneaking back into the Sanctum not that you tell Frank

Hell yeah, now your making potions-Wait-

Are you a witch now?- now you're having an existential crisis, was Frank Right along?

Also, you took over one of Davids cabinets for positions and stuff, and ingredients.

Yeah, you're never gonna tell Frank about potion-making.

He walked in on one of your experiments in a back room, because David said "I don't want none of that stuff near me"

Endless to say you're covered in blue dust, coughing as you push him out of the room heaving trying to catch your breath

He helped in cleaning you up, realizing a shard of glass had got you in the face, he'll bandage it all better for you,

The puppy eyes you have on subconsciously as you look at him: how is he not going to want to be fatherly towards you now.

And then when you actually do get all excited you got it right you run to him like a child, to show him, your so happy.

"So I know I said I wasn't a witch and all but that's, not the point! i essentially alchemized fungi to be stretch able and rebuild the skin, so- Easy damage repair!" Y/n smiled, "it's not the prettiest thing to look at, and it doesn't smell nice, but it works! Watch! Stab Micro!"

"Hey!- Frank- Frank back away with that knife!"

When Frank has to go to David's family Y/n isn't allowed to go until she snuck into the van

"What- I told you to stay!"

"Yeah, but then I found this super cool witch hat, wouldn't you like to be right, and for me to be fashionable?"

"I rather you of stayed put."

You only smile at him and he lets you follow.

Sarah wonders who you are, you're a little old to be playing dress-up.

"Adopted her." Frank spoke, "Paperwork just went through recently,"

You're surprised by his words, even if they are a lie, you'd never think he'd even indirectly called you his daughter.

Zach seems interested in your fake limbs, "Are they alien?"

You looked to Frank for guidance, god there was no way you weren't father and daughter already, and he lets you conjure up any story you can about your cool magic arms

"I'm half-alien."

"No your not."

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Haha! I got you!"

Leo also seems to like you, but at the end of the day you end up helping Frank with what needs to be fixed.

Leo wants you to go do something with her, and you ask Frank and you're allowed, so you get dragged off by her

You're not completely clueless about the outside world, but things like malls, and parks you're not really used to, so it was fun hanging out with Leo at Claire's.

She bought you guys friendship necklaces, their little dinosaurs,

Frank asks you about it on the way home, You're pretty happy about it too, he's glad you're so happy about it, you like a little child.

It would actually turn into your totem; you know something you look at to ground yourself back into reality.

So when Frank gets the shit beat out of him you can't even ground yourself by looking at an object,

He's going to die and it's your fault are your only thoughts as you try and heal him to the best of your abilities, luckily with actual medical assistance from Curtis you're able to keep him alive

You don't leave him bedside, you're either sleeping in a chair beside him or sitting on the floor your head next to his hand

So when he wakes up, he can only rub your head: you're sleeping and exhausted by the looks of it.

He lets you rest, but it isn't long before your up, and hug him worriedly.

Any of that "Witchcraft shit" as Frank puts it he refuses to eat or drink, but you get him too and it works, in doses, but it works pretty effectively too

Ayo you threaten the Liberman you threaten Y/n and Frank and Y/n and Frank like killing people

Russo doesn't know much about you so he's surprised to see you standing there with arms crossed, like your the head of the exchange.

They take Frank, but your ready to go get him back with MAGIC

[raggaraddy]

hello if you want you can ignore this of course but I was wondering what would vampire Hoseok do if he found out someone turned oc? Your fics are amazing by the way!

Bitten to death

A/N: Thank you for your request :) It was fun to write. However I took it less as a reaction, and more of a story prompt. So it's not exactly a conclusive answer to your question. I hope you still like it, though ^-^ 💜💜💜

Summary: You thought you knew everything about Vampires but when you wake up one you learn there are some important things you did not know. And it's only going to let worse once you learn why you were turned.

Trigger Warnings: Blood, death, maiming, choking, violence, mind control, abduction, yandere themes.

Vampire! Hoseok

It was like a horror story within your already horrific story. Some man you've never met before broke into Hoseok's house when only you were there. While you screamed and fought and instinctively called for Hoseok, he covered you in bites unlike any other you had felt before. Ones that made you suffer as if fire was coursing through your veins. You wish that you could say you were strong enough that your fight had some kind of impact. But in truth, it was over after only a few seconds. And it was in those few seconds that you felt your chest burning and your breath fill your lungs for the last time.

Waking you're met by the stranger hovering above you. Your head aching and your body throbbing in ways you had never experienced before. With a quick glance, you can see everything around you, and that does mean everything. Every single little detail. And the information is overwhelming.

Your mind feels as if it's breaking from everything you're taking in. For as far as you can see there are pallets and long isles of shelves lined up, the contents on every rack crystal clear. You can hear the sound of his shoes on the concrete and the dirt gritting underneath, and how each peak of sound travels and bounces off the farthest point in the warehouse. Even the smells, there are hundreds of them all hitting you at once. A few you know like the fragrance of the treated wood or the oils stain, but others you couldn't guess at. It's as if all of your senses are on high and you have no way to focus them.

Despite your panic, no matter how much you want to run, you can't. Laying on your back with your arms spread out to either side of you and your legs held together, you're being bound by the thinnest most delicate length of silver chain. Though, it's not tied. It's only draped over you, but still holding you as if it were stronger than any steel. Burning you as if it were touched by the sun.

You may have only seen a few newly made vampires before, but you have still been around them enough and know enough about their existence to recognize how and why your body feels wrong. And absurdly you can't help but feel betrayed. This was not supposed to happen to you. It was the only safety you got from belonging to someone who was called The Immortal King, and The Origin of Cruelty. No one was supposed to be foolish enough to steal from him, and most importantly, no one was supposed to be able to hurt you. But now because Hobi didn't keep you safe, he's now lost his blood supply and you've lost your humanity.

The stranger snaps his fingers, the sound bursting in your eardrums making you groan and wince as he repeats it. "Focus your attention on just this one sound. On just the sight of my hand. Feel the air around it." He coaxes you, snapping again. The noise echos dozens of times, ricocheting off every wall. The dull thud of his fingertips hitting his palm only sounding the once though.

Opening your eyes your concentration goes to the hand held above your face as he said, the space around it blurring. On the back of his pointer finger on an otherwise porcelain complexion, you notice a small patch of dry skin just below his knuckle. Clear blue-black defined veins wrapping the back of his palm. He clicks his fingers again and you catch the sound of friction from the way his finger rubs down his thumb, feeling the most minuscule shift in the air created by his motion.

The pinpointed attention helps for a moment, but then you shift your eyes to his face and the explosion of information overpowers you again. His hold comes around your neck keeping your head from turning. The tight pressure on your throat while stifling your movement, nearly makes you smile. There's no airflow to restrict. Your chest isn't heating, your body isn't convulsing trying to breathe. Even in this tense moment, you can't help but find it humorous, thinking how many times over the years had you wished for this exact thing when Hobi had squeezed the air from you.

"Watch my eyes," on his words your vision becomes immersed in them. They're piercing blue. Made up of streaks of white interlacing with a clear sapphire shade, like thousands of threads made out of the purest tropical ocean. A transparent irregular line encircling his pupil, and beyond that every distinct strand blurs together with the others until it reaches the shadowed grey edge that holds the circular shape. Slowly his jet black pupils dilate, stretching and filling his entire iris till every trace of colour is removed. As if transfixed, you're unable to close your own eyes, a flooding of bright light filling your field of view. The strength of it is so intense that the tendons in your sockets ache and your eyes begin to water. Tears rolling down the sides of your face, cresting in your ears.

"Apologies, you are only my second." He confuses you with a vague explanation you did not ask for. The black finally receding into its natural size. Your own eyes scrunching as you try to blink away the soreness. The bizarre occurrence leaving you feeling drained of strength, filling you with anxiety caused by the uncertainty, which is only worsened by the glimmer of triumph in his gaze.

Searching past him to the ceiling your brain is again processing the whole image instead of the sum of its parts. The strain in your head slowly fading, your tight held muscles releasing as everything begins to normalize. You don't know what he did, but it seemed to help.

He doesn't back away, continuing to invade your personal space. Although, the way his fingers are trailing along your skin while you're restrained on the floor is still not the worst thing he has done to you. Seeing as he killed you.

"I had almost given up hope that Jung Hoseok would love." His hand daintily caresses along your neck and up your jaw. Your eyes shutting as his fingertips run over your lips. "I began to fear it might not be something possible for him." He divulges, his touch still aimlessly wandering.

The way he speaks you can feel his vailed anger. Despite his soft words, this is not someone who cares about Hoseok's wellbeing, this is someone who hates him deeply.

"However, you restored my lost faith. And for that, I would like to thank you, Inamorata."

He thinks Hoseok loves you? Is he crazy?. He's possessive of you, that is all. Even in moments of deception or weakness when you had told him that you loved him, he's never said it back with any sincerity. And he has never said it of his own accord.

"Sir," your eyes reopen. "I think you've misunderstood. These," you weakly gesture to the silver, each slight movement searing the links deeper into your flesh. "aren't necessary. We are on the same side. I hate Hobi, more than anyone."

"Truly?" He asks tilting his head to the side. His white hair messily hanging across his forehead.

"Yes," you nod trying to insist your point. "He's kept me locked up for years." you chuckle dryly. Finding it nearly risible that all of this is because this man believes in a fantasy.

"Well then, you are free to rise," he nods resolutely. Plucking the chains out of your melted skin as you grit your teeth. The sound of the sizzle on his own skin baffling you as to how he can even lift them.

Sitting up you gently pull your limbs in, inspecting the blistered and bloody marks. The skin on your wrists already starting to intricately knit itself back together.

"Come here." The stranger calls from a rested place on one of the pallets to your right.

Standing, it is a bit hard to walk with your ankles still cut up but you make it to him decently. Looking around you, you can see the sun streaming in from the high windows that line the whole length of the warehouse. It's enough to light up the otherwise dark space, but with the sheer size of this place, the beams of sunlight do not get close to the two of you in the centre. Still in the middle of the day, it means Hobi can't get to you. Not easily at least. So you're on your own for now.

"Kneel." He instructs plainly. And you follow, lowering onto your knees in front of him. Your only thoughts are of escape. You may be in your first minutes as a vampire, but it should be simple to move quickly. It always seemed like something that came easily to them. "Inamorata, you will call me Master." he declares abruptly.

"Yes, Master." You smile confusedly. Inamorata? Why does he keep calling you that? You're unsure if it's a name or a title, but it's weirding you out.

Your face drops, your heart thumping, realizing what you said. The words you just spoke replaying in your head. You hadn't meant to say that.

Why did you say that?

In fact, why had you knelt? Why were you doing what he said at all?

With a gaped mouth you climb back to your feet. "Look, I think-um." You start not knowing what you want to say.

"Kneel." He orders again more forcefully yet with a knowing, jovial smirk. You shake your head hard, staying upright. You're not going to let him order you around. He has to be kidding.

Your brows furrow, your mouth drops open, and your forehead tightens as your knees bend against your wishes. You drop back into your knelt position. Grunting as your jaw clenches, your fingers digging into your legs, doing your best to resist without success.

Your eyes go wide in shock.

"Good. Now stay there," his voice makes your stomach drop. But your muscles relax, your shoulders dropping and your bottom lowering on your calves. Your body resting in this position.

This is nothing you have ever seen before. It's nothing that you knew was possible. It shouldn't be possible. On top of all the horrible advantages they already have, you're sure you would have known if mind control was one of them!

"How?" You gape, shaking your head in disbelief. "Why?"

"Why?" a smile fills his face, "What you have told me is far different than what I had heard." He stands and turns, tapping his foot against the top pallet sending it and its boxed contents flying. He grabs at the bottom slats of wood underneath and drags them closer to you with a horrid screeching on the concrete. Sitting back down he is now much lower and much nearer to you. So much so that his legs spread straight out on either side of you. "See, I had heard stories of the self-proclaimed King of Vampires, who had fallen in love with his human pet. That he kept her close, kept her safe, and drank from her exclusively."

"That's not love." you interrupt with a scoff, "That's imprisonment."

"Well, let us see what the truth is. Tell me honestly, Jung Hoseok's little Inamorata, do you love him?"

"Yes." You're mouth answers before your mind has time to think. "No!" you instantly correct.

The smile grows larger on his face "And what do you feel about him?"

"I'm scared of him. But I care for him." The words are pouring out of you uncontrollably, your face placifying as you speak. "and I miss him when he isn't home."

"And does he love you?"

"I think so, yes." You wish you could make yourself shut up! Your calm tone drops and you bite your jaw trying to take back your own body, growling as you do. "No! He doesn't." you snarl in a rapid shift.

"You think so? Then my last question; Do you want him to love you?" He asks satirically.

"Yes," The word slips out. Being accepted joyously from him. "You can't just make me say anything you want!" you shout. Your body is rigid and stiff as you think to stand with nothing happening.

"I did not," he chuckles, "I made you say what you believe is true."

"No, you didn't! Tha-" his finger raises to his lips shushing you, cutting you off like your voice had disappeared.

That is not how you feel! Hobi may have gotten better as time has gone on, but he is still cruel and malicious and heartless. The only thing this man is doing is speaking to your primal brain. The part of you that gave into its survival instinct and it's the part that you fight every day to repress so that you stay in control. You can't love him, it's not possible.

"Ha, you are far more amenable than my last. I can hardly feel any resistance." He mocks, tapping his temple. "And I recall Jung Hoseok trying to move heaven and earth to break free. Even Mansueto struggled to contain him. But you," he reaches down holding out his hand and you follow his gesture, your body moving independently to accept it. "You are a broken little thing."

You don't understand his ridicule. You're not moving consciously. Your own mind isn't connected to your actions. So you can't fathom how your body is even reacting, let alone how you should be able to fight it.

"Stop." You complain, your voice coming out with far less strength than you had intended. "Look, Hoseok doesn't have my blood anymore, okay. So just leave me out of whatever fucked up feud you have you have going with him."

"No, that is not enough." his tone becomes suddenly harsh. He lifts his hand and you stand as he raises it. "He stole someone precious to me and he must feel the same agony of loss."

"You're wrong." you swallow, working to overcome your nerves, "I'm sorry, but you just are. He doesn't love me. I'm not precious." You try to reason, seeing your pleas falling on an unreceptive man.

"We will see."

The sun has barely set before you hear commotion beyond the metal walls.

You had tried over and over to pry information from this man, to convince him to let you leave. But you were unable to gather so much as a name from him, and clearly, you failed to be let go. After a certain point of ignoring you, he stopped you from speaking altogether. Not allowing you to say a word until he permits it. More than that though, he filled your head with many instructions. Telling you how to behave in anticipation of Hoseok's arrival.

100 meters in front of you the locked doors are ripped off their hinges, a dozen men and women pouring into the warehouse with inhuman speed. But as if time slows down your eyes adjust and you can see them, see their movements with full clarity. Hoseok comes in last and straight down the middle into the open square that you all occupy. And you must admit, you are genuinely happy to see him. Now you just want him to hurry up and get you out of here.

The man steps forward to meet them while you are sat on the stack of pallets behind him. Your only instruction at this time is to sit quietly and wait for him to call you. Hating the feeling of being restrained by your own body.

Watching them all lineup versus a single man, you find it comical how outmatched he is.

Hobi always said that when he got tired of playing with your human body, he was going to turn you. And he was furious if anyone robbed him of even your smallest reactions, so clearly, he was going to be beyond pissed that someone sped up his plan, and took your death away from him.

"That's mine," Hoseok puffs up his chest, looking past the man's shoulder to you. 

The only thing that's confusing you, though, is if this man knows who The Vampire King is, why he didn't expect to be met with hell on earth, and why he didn't prepare better.

"Jung Hoseok, always so impolite. Do you not think you should greet an old friend after so many years?"

"We can talk all you like, Kol," Hoseok snarls, finally giving a name to your killer. "Once I get my property back."

"I think you'll find this is my belonging now." he chuckles in a brief pause. Hoseok's expression darkens, his eyes becoming murderous. The fury around him actually making you shiver. "Do you like the modifications I made? She is much more durable now."

Supposedly, Hobi's already noticed your change, because he doesn't look at you again. Instead, the two men have an intense staredown. All of the vampires on his side looking ready to kill on a word.

"And far more obedient. Come here," Kol calls you, holding his hand out at shoulder height for you to take. Moving automatically, you jump down from the stack of wooden pallets placing your fingers on his palm.

Unable to stand the rage on Hoseok's face you look down, just missing the exact moment he charges. But you see an instant later as he is thrown back like a paper doll into four stories of shelves, his weight bringing the metal, the shelves, and the products down on top of him as the whole structure collapses. His men looking as startled as you to see Hoseok so easily discarded.

Before the toppling construction settles, Kol breaks from your side and an incredible, horrible scene breaks out. His speed is something you can't follow, even now. You only see the trail of destruction when he stops. One after the other, he made his way through half of the vampires, ripping them apart. Literally tearing some in two halves. Decorating the square with blood and innards.

The others are as belated and overwhelmed as you, only just having the sense to react as his blurred image stops. When he advances again, this time he doesn't use his quickness for an advantage and simply ploughs through them. They attack all at once, and still as they grab and strike at him, their forces barely move him. And his response is terrifying.

You can only bear to watch the first one. Kol's fist driving through a woman's chest, the horrid cracking of her ribs as he tears it back out making you want to scream. But his orders have you completely silent. Instead, you close your eyes, sealing your hands over your ears. Trying to block out the violent sickening sounds of his destructive rampage.

There's a last thud before it falls quiet again. Your eyes springing open to see as horrific of a sight as you had imagined. He's dripping in blood. Drenched in it. And Hoseok's people are strewn in every which way. Not a single one having survived.

Sauntering through the sea of dead bodies, he makes his way to the side where Hoseok is unmoved, tossing away the beams and panels as if they were nothing. Grabbing him by the ankle, he drags him from the rubble into the clear space in front of you. The man you once thought of as the most powerful in existence, and his troupe of vampires, was completely demolished in mere seconds of work. And you can only watch on with your body shaking. Your hopes of rescue decimated. Your chest aching with worry, even for Hobi's sake.

"Now that it's a more intimate number of us, should we talk?" Kol releases him, brushing past you as he sits where you had before. His action triggering an instruction he provided earlier, forcing you to follow him and kneel at his feet.

Sitting up, Hoseok rubs the back of his hand against a large gash under his eye. The ferocity not having left his mannerisms. "You disappear for 90 years, and you show up to what, gimmie a blood bath." His laugh falls into a grimace as he stands himself back up.

"I was created in the 13th century and you brought infants to a fight with me. What did you think would happen?" Kol asks scornfully.

"I was hoping they would do a little better," He smirks, shrugging off their deaths. "Okay, that's my bad. But still, that doesn't tell me what you want. Or did you just want to remind me that you're still alive?" He taunts, his sardonic nature returning, "Remind me that you're still pissed and you can kick my ass. Good job. You put on quite a show." he smiles, his tongue running over his fangs as he gestures around at the gruesome display. "But she," he points to you with two fingers, bitterness lacing his next words, "is worth nothing to you."

"Oh, she is worth everything to me," Kol slides forward, his hand brushing down the back of your neck, "because she is worth everything to you."

On those words, you get the most heart-wrenching sight. A pang of insecurity shows up in Hoseok's eyes. Uncertainty and something so close to fear. The smile fading as he looks him up and down.

"I am curious, though, Vampire King, do you think she will detest the Sire bond as greatly as you did?" he punctuates the question, tugging your head back by your hair. "If I treat her as Mansueto treated you, how long do think until she breaks?"

With immense speed, Hoseok splinters one of the wooden crates near him, lunging at Kol, aiming to drive the shard into his heart with a roar. But he's caught before his hand ever plunges forward. Instead, Kol takes the sharp wood and spikes it into Hoseok's stomach. Continuing to dominate him with a solid blow, knocking him off his feet, smacking him into the concrete in front of you. Stepping down, he swings his foot punting Hoseok in the chest hurling him back among the remains of his fallen creations.

You had thought if you ever saw Hobi being handled as roughly as he treated you, that you would enjoy the Karma of it. But seeing him so easily immobilized is making you sick with fear and mostly sadness.

With Kol having stood, you're no longer bound on your knees and you scramble to your feet. You want to run to Hoseok's side but before you have the chance Kol drags you into him, his hand wrapped around your waist, his other crudely brushing the hair from off the side of your face.

"Call out to him. Tell him your every feeling." He hushes the order in your ear.

"Hobi!" you yell, not sure you would have even needed to be compelled to want to shout for him. "Get up, please. I'm scared. I wanna go home!"

"Go to him," Kol releases you and you sprint to his side, hardly able to slow your sudden frantic speed.

Doubled over Hoseok is bleeding profusely. He needs your blood- but you can't do that anymore. And you have no idea what to do. You don't know how to help him or how to get out of here. He's the one that is supposed to keep you safe.

Coming from behind you, Kol bends down shoving you out of the way to lift Hoseok by the throat. "Stop!" you follow their movement, hanging on Kol's arm. "Stop! Please." But you have no effect. Instead, he jerks the wood dagger out making Hobi yell in pain.

"Do you recall what you said as you killed our Sire?" Kol whispers maliciously. "You told me that 'I will get over it'." Releasing him, he lets Hoseok plummet to the floor and you drop with him trying to catch his weight. "In 100 years from now, I'll let you see her again and you can tell me if you were able to take your own advice." he smiles spitefully.

"Hobi," you whine lowly. Brushing his hair from his sweat and blood wet forehead. "I don't want to go with him. Rather the devil you know, right," you softly chuckle, trying to pull his energy back.

Even though you know the both of you have no chance at the moment, you guess you're just looking for an affirmation that he isn't going to let you go and let this other man keep you for the next century.

"Please," you whisper, your waterline filling with tears.

Reaching towards you, Hoseok's hand constricts around your throat, pulling you into him like he has countless times before.

"You're mine," he growls through pained grunts. His anger lessened, distress replacing it. But he gives you the answer he could see you searching for.

"Yes," you nod subtly. Closing your eyes as you lean further into his hold.

"Get up," Kol orders, interrupting you.

Despite his tightening grip, you pull away from Hobi, standing as you were told. The elder vampire taking your arm leads you away through the bodies to the open doorway.

"Say goodbye Jung Hoseok," Kol calls back, leaving him injured and alone, making you wish more than ever that you could pull back. "And do not worry, I'll take very good care of her for you."

[rotshop]

help girl i just woke up and im already thinking abt mag s/o again. anyway please consider ;

[ tw body horror, some brief light gore and violence ]

[ note ; reader is SLIGHTLY described. the only thing mentioned is that they have a noticeable, identifying scar on their face

hank + mag s/o

-he knew you even before the boombox incident. he doesn't even really remember how you two first met, he just remembers that you started talking to him and then just kinda kept coming back. at first he wasn't the biggest fan of you since he was 'doing just fine on his own,' but...he admittedly was already really attached to you. they've never been much of a talker and that's especially noticeable to you at that point in time but ,,, they respond enough with signing, nodding / shaking their head, or the occasional speaking that you're able to carry some conversations pretty well.

-he doesn't really. have. a lot of people in his life. you're really his only real close friend, it's kinda hard for him to fully wrap his head around it so !! they chose not to, instead focusing more-so on whatever it was you were rambling to them about that day.

-not super sure of where to put this lmao but ummm ehe . he's actually surprisingly touchy with you????? like. you've hung out at his house a few times and he just like. you'll start out sitting next to each other and you'll end up either laying with your head on their chest or vice versa . its . a little funny . you tease him about it a little and he just flicks your shoulder. also traces your scar a lot if you'll let them, they're not entirely sure why they do it, they just . like asking you about it occasionally.

-also you have scary dog privileges. they might look like any other grunt at that point but they're still tall as fuck and idk man !! something abt getting a blank stare from someone who towers over u would probably make u shut up and mind ur own damn business.

-again, he's not super good at fully recognizing / acknowledging certain thoughts and feelings of his but . yknow. he can definitely tell he at least worries about you a lot more than he would some other grunt he just met. he can definitely tell there's a reason he doesn't mind you touching him, whether by grabbing his hand to go show him something or just placing a hand on his shoulder or arm (most likely arm, again. hes tall. ). they can definitely tell there's a reason that they find themself genuinely enjoying your interactions.

-after the park thing you don't see them for a long time. everytime you try and call him the lines dead, everytime you try and ask others about him you just get choice words, all in all you're pretty much lost on the entire thing. sure, you know what happened but . it just never sits right with you. it doesn't help whenever people ask questions about them or give you wary looks because of your association, half steps back when you take one forward.

-anyway. yeah nevada goes to shit and you get magnified for the aahw. by now you just. don't really talk about hank. surprisingly, you have a little more of your old memories than the average mag !! congrats. problem is they're all foggy enough that you only really distantly decipher them. lmao. you aren't super high on the ladder but you're a pretty tough mag to beat. you're well known enough that other mags tend to hang around you when there's not much else going on. v2 mags especially think it's fun to mess around with you by jumping on your back or otherwise clinging onto you . idk man u've got like . a little family here .

-at one point or another there's an outing youre on that ends up going wrong. you get split up from the rest of your unit and are forced to hide out in some old abandoned building while you wait for backup. you're a little too injured to try and walk all the way back, a heavy gash on your side preventing you from doing too much in the moment. when you hear heavy steps on concrete you're able to give some sort of noise of relief, turning your head to look over your shoulder at whichever agent in your group had finally found you-

-you're instead met with red goggles and the end of a gun.

-any kind of relief is snatched away, you know damn well who it is by just the bit you can see in the dark alone. even standing in the shade between two windows (one of which you were sitting by, probably how they seen you in the first place- if that's the case though, it's a little weird they hadn't just shot at you through it.) you knew it was him. you're already stumblingly forcing yourself up to as much of your full height as you can manage, taking some kind of defensive position even as one of your hands ghosts over your gash. the throbbing pain of it and the feeling of blood sticking and running down your skin is enough that you can't seem to focus on the fact that he won't stop staring at your face.

-it doesn't take long before your legs seem to fail you, forcing you forward a bit as you kneel in some sort of attempt to keep upright. you're too busy hissing under your breath and screwing your eyes shut in pain as your hand covers your side to notice your company stepping forwards. you're snapped back to attention when there's a hand on your face, fingertips digging into your skin as they yank your head down a little further. you know you should be grabbing him, that you should be digging your claws into his torso and ripping him clean in half, throwing whatevers left aside and leaving. you know thats what you were told to do, what you were told they deserved anyway. yet, you aren't. instead, you're just giving some warning growl as you stare at them. you notice how the end of the gun is pointed away from you, how their touch seems to outline the mark on your face.

-"If you try and hurt me, I'll kill you." That's the only real heads up you get before he's crouching down and shoving your hand out of the way, grabbing something from his pocket to get to work on you. you don't fail to notice how little attention they're paying to you (aside from the focus on your wound, of course), that you could just rush forward and slam them into the ground if you really wanted.

-ok im skippin g ahead bc this is already way too goddamn long for hcs DEJWJCS

-anyway. it's a complicated relationship for a while. the others tend to avoid you a little but he just keeps showing up around you. they keep staring at you and just hanging around in your general area. it's not that much of an irritant if you ignore all the weird emotions and thoughts it keeps bringing to the forefront of your mind, forcing you to once again try and meddle with your memories.

-eventually he just starts walking over to you and sitting down next to you. sometimes he doesn't say anything at all, just sitting there and seeming to wait for one thing another- he never seems to find whatever that is, as he always gets up and leaves without a word at some point or another. then they start talking, its just little things at first, point-blank statements you can't say much on. sometimes they're just saying they and the other three will be gone for a bit othertimes it's some half-demand to let them look at the stitches they did on you (semi-related, he's not good at them. the stitches are pretty rough. at one point or another sanford has to redo them properly lmao)

-but then there's one particular night. they do the normal thing, come over, sit down next to you, not say a word. this time though you note how they're facing you. instead of some reminder or a demand for anything, he's pulling his ask down and asking a simple question. 'What do you remember?'

-it's a long conversation. he's talking more than he normally would by a long shot, occasionally stopping whenever his words seem to especially fail him and get stuck in his throat. you don't even really remember moving around, or even him pulling you in any way, you just know you somehow end up laying next to him with your head on his chest.

-whenever the memories do seem to click into place, it's hard. you have a lot of choice words for them yourself, months of being left alone without a word bubbling up with a vengeance, they listen to them. while some mags (such as yourself) do have the ability to speak, the san and dei don't think they've ever heard one with that much emotion in their voice. they've especially never seen a mag just break down like you do, they're both tensing up a little from their far away spot when hank's walking closer to you. instead of you lashing out or swiping at him though, you just sit there while he wraps his arms around you (as best as he can at least, it's a little difficult but he's able to get them around your neck and reach his other hand behind you well enough). you're eventually doing the same to him, though it's more so just your hands resting on their back.

-it takes a good while for proper trust to be rebuilt along with an honest, proper explanation from hank that only you're privy to. eventually though, there's enough trust that you're able to hang around him again without narrowly avoiding an argument or anything. they don't like being super affectionate or 'vulnerable' in front of the other two, so most times they prefer being in your or their room. also they're still touchy lmao, doesn't help that you're mag sized now and so they just want to hold you . its hard to explain, he's never been super affected by others heights and even when he is it's usually a negative thing for him but . for some reason . he just likes being shorter / smaller than you lol ,,,,,,,, hope you like holding them a lot bc that's what you're gonna be doing

-holy shit these are long so . i think .i am going to stop here.

[caravelmp3]

UNDER THE CANYON MOON

pairing: josh kiszka x female!reader warning(s): mostly fluff, just brief mentions of alcohol and sex  word(s): 2k note: hi hi hi !! this is just a little something i wrote up the last couple of days with the inspiration of light my love, canyon moon by harry styles, and the interview where josh talked about road-tripping the u.s. last summer <3 i don’t write one shots often but let me know what you all think bc i might shuffle some more out soon lol. hope you all enjoy !! :) 

The Los Angeles sun was hot, beating down onto the city basking in its late-summer hues. You parked your car on the street in Silver Lake and carried a bag of food and drink tray to the door of a recording studio, more than prepared to be swarmed by hungry boys who had been cooped up in the studio since five a.m. on the dot that morning. They had a breakthrough the night before with a new song, and after getting home and going to bed for a few hours, the creative juices started flowing again and they were back in the booth. 

A windchime on the door sang as you pulled the door open and walked inside, greeting their manager who was at a table by the door. 

“The boys here?” 

“Down the hall,” he nodded, pointing a finger in the direction of the hallway. “They’re more rowdy than usual so be prepared,” 

You laughed and turned down the hall, walking towards the studio. The walls were decorated with memorabilia of rock and roll greats and record plaques, and among them, you spotted a picture of the four boys with their Grammy award. It seemed like time had passed so quickly. They won the award for the first album and they were already working on their third, shooting them further into stardom. 

“Coffee’s here!” You shouted in a really bad New England accent when you noticed the recording light was flipped off above the door. 

You stepped into the room to a chorus of cheers and “thank god you're here”’s that made you laugh while sitting the food and drinks down on the table and they all rushed over. You handed out the specific orders and pointed to which drinks was theirs when they got handsy and tried to grab everything from her out of both excitement and some desperation for caffeine. 

“Our savior,” Jake said, reaching out and grabbing your shoulders to give them a gentle shake before taking the coffee you were holding out to him, and then you handed Danny’s to him, too. 

“Just the coffee girl here,” 

“Well, you’re a little bit more than that,” Josh said, walking over to the table to grab his full cup. 

You pressed a hand against the table, leaning over to him. “Just a little?” 

“A little bit,” he shot you a wink before swiftly pressing a kiss to your cheek. 

You were more than just a “little more” than the coffee girl, you were typically their designated drunk driver, the one who took all of their candid photos, the mediator in times of need, and well, the girlfriend of the lead singer, too. 

Everyone in the studio took their food and drinks and scattered among the seating area in a break from recording. Instead of one tiny room with all of them cramped together, they had a wide open space with booths for the different instruments and bean bag chairs and big comfy, velvet sofas, and there was dim lighting with deep toned rugs that gave off the vibe of a more relaxed feel rather than the fluorescent-light, tiled-floor feeling that made them feel rushed and confined by rules they didn’t set themselves. 

You liked the studio, too, and often took naps on the sofa while listening to them play instruments individually in the recording booths and while they were writing. One night they had found you at two a.m., bundled up with a blanket on the bean bag chair after they spent the night writing in the front room on the piano, but it wasn’t the first time as you often napped in their Nashville recording offices, too. 

“You guys been busy today?” You asked jokingly while lowering onto the sofa armrest, receiving nothing but glares shot in your direction. “Okay, okay, touchy subject,” 

With a mouthful of bread, Sam pointed to Josh, “Josh finished a song, didn’t you?” He was grinning. 

You hummed in joy and surprise, grabbing Josh’s knee as he sat next to you. “Really?” 

It had been a rough few days for all of them as they tried to shuffle out a few more additions to the new album. It felt incomplete with something missing, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on what it was exactly, so they attempted to bring back and revamp old songs, write and record new ones, but nothing seemed to stick, until now. 

“Yeah, wanted to wait and show you later, but someone can’t keep his trap shut.” Josh said, pretending to be serious before cracking a smile and taking a sip of his coffee. “Just wanted it to be a surprise,” 

“Well it can still be a surprise, I’m surprised now,” you said. “Can I hear it? Or read what you got?” 

Josh nodded and stood, grabbing your hand and pulling you with him. There was a little recording room fit with a piano inside, his writing journal placed on the music stand where he had scribbled notes and keys and melodies in pen. He picked it up and handed it to you. 

“Nothing seemed to click until last night, when I started putting it together.” He said. 

“Is that why you wouldn’t tell me what it was when you all got back to the house?” 

Josh shrugged, pinching his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger. “Yeah, yeah, I wanted it to be special when you first heard it.”

You sat the coffee cup down onto the floor while lowering into the small chair in the corner, holding the journal like it was the most delicate piece of art in the world. In silence, while Josh watched on anxiously, you read the words he had splayed across the blank page. 

     Can you light my love?      Flames glowing bright as the sun      Deeper than oceans you run      Watch as our world has begun 

     Your mind is a stream of colors      Extending beyond our sky      A land of infinite wonders      A billion lightyears from here now

You felt your throat tighten, tears tempted your eyes. 

It was a love song. 

“Josh-” 

“Oh god you hate it don’t you, you dread it, despise it,” 

“Oh shut up, I’m in tears right now, you know I love it.” You looked up at him with a smile and a sniffle. 

His words across the page were sloppy, some cursive, written in different pens of different colors, some lines crossed and scribbled out, others underlined. 

“Your mind is something I will never fully understand.” You told him as he sat down on the chair next to you. “How the fuck did you come up with this-” 

“I was thinking about our trip out here, the week we spent driving out and all of the stuff we did… and how I think I fell more in love with you.” His voice softened. 

You reached out, placing your arm on his shoulder, fingers playing with his curls. “I can’t put it into words how much I love it, how much I love you,” you said, “and you make me sound so lovely when in reality I know I was a pain in the ass that entire trip.” 

“Yeah, but my pain in the ass,” he kissed the inside of your arm. 

Two weeks before the boys left Nashville to head to Los Angeles, Josh called you at midnight with an idea in mind – the two of you renting a camper to drive out to L.A., falling into all of the tourist traps along the way and stopping in random small towns to sleep while exploring the in between, which would definitely beat the boring four-hour flight. And you, half asleep and across the country, agreed. 

It would be fun. Right? 

And it was. Every time someone asked how it went, you called it “the most magical week of my life.” 

While the others waited behind for their flights the next week, you and Josh set off from Nashville, heading west with only the destination in mind and a trusty map in hand. Everything else just came to you both. 

The first stop was three hours in the trip, in Memphis. You and Josh roamed Graceland on Elvis Presley Boulevard and had lunch near Sun Studio before taking in the mementos and relics at the Blues Hall of Fame where Josh talked your ear off, rattling off more details about each band and singer than was on the info-cards on the wall. 

Then it was two hours to Little Rock, falling asleep in the back of the camper after a take-out dinner outside of a random supermarket. Sitting in lawn chairs in the middle of a parking lot, you held Josh’s hand under a blanket and watched the pink sunrise over the hills, and then it was back on the road again. 

From Oklahoma City to Amarillo, you fiddled with the map when Josh got lost after a wrong turn in a small town where he insisted on seeing the giant 66-foot LED soda bottle sculpture, and in the middle of northern Texas, he made it up to you by cooking your favorite dinner. You thanked him in a quiet whisper as you crawled into the bed with him that night, sliding under the covers where he greeted you with warm hands and kisses against your neck that made you squeal with the tickle of his mustache and he grinned against your lips. 

Josh got to choose the music all the way through New Mexico – Neil Young and Crazy Horse to John Denver’s Thank God I’m A Country Boy, and you were only able to squeeze in Joan Baez every hour when you stopped to stretch your legs on the side of the road, belting the words to him while he laughed at your voice cracks. 

And after you both pitched the tent in the Petrified Forest in Arizona, Josh hummed the tune to some new song while you two sat under the midnight stars in the canyon with a roaring fire, his arm around you, his sweatshirt draped over your shoulders. When he tried to start telling you a scary story after you heard a weird noise outside the tent, you blindly hit him in the dark and accidentally hit his nose, causing you both to burst into laughter after the initial panic left. He laughed loudly into your shoulder as you held his face in shock, catching the scent of your lavender lotion, and his body relaxed when the laughter died down, feeling so at peace in his life with you there. 

It was the tail end of the trip, but the excitement hadn’t died down yet. After showers in the camper in the middle-of-nowhere-Arizona and five hours west, you and Josh found a bar outside of Las Vegas that resembled Coyote Ugly, so you both had a round of tequila sodas and margaritas before walking around the small town that evening and sleeping off the tipsy-headaches in the air conditioning. On top of the covers, you looked at Josh napping in the sunshine, cheeks flushed red, curls poofy from the wind, and you felt your heart grow in your chest before falling asleep next to him. 

And then came Los Angeles, the final stop, the dreaded one. But you and Josh didn’t tell anyone that either of you were sad to be back with them in L.A. when they asked, and instead, you two smiled and hugged everyone after piling out of the camper in the drive-way of the Silver Lake house. 

Cleaning out the camper, tossing cheesy novelty t-shirts at each other and laughing at how many socks you two managed to lose along the way and how many bug bites were added, watching the developed clips Josh had filmed of scenes in the desert and you asleep in the passenger seat, you both were nostalgic about a trip that just ended. 

It was so easy, so freeing to just be together on the road, with only the destination in mind. It revealed a part of them that the other didn’t see often, like your tendencies to get your lefts and rights mixed up while giving directions, and Josh’s equally awful sense of direction didn’t exactly pair with the fact that he was a maniac while driving in the first place. 

But those parts were just added to the long list of why you and him loved each other in the first place. So you became the designated driver after Amarillo and Josh stuck to telling you “left or right” for the rest of the time. It was a compromise, another reason why you two worked so well together. 

It was a form of love in itself. 

“We’ll have to drive all the way back to Nashville then, so you can write more songs about me.” You teased. 

Josh rolled his eyes but cracked into a grin a second later. “Let’s not get too carried away,” but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t always mentally reliving the night under the canyon moon.

[the-nagakenny-archives]

I'm shy but I tried writing something hope you like it

One last sip of coffee and two stomps to properly secure his boots, and the Gravity Falls Weirdness Expert was out the door.

  It was on a particularly sunny, clear day that found Stanford once again out in the field for a little catch up on his studies. The past week had been uneventful within the confines of his basement, as if the world was allowing him time to compile the numerous foot notes and sketches of his latest findings into a fairly cohesive summary within the first few pages of his second journal. Nights and afternoons were spent humming over words that didn't quite flow, and cross referencing facts he had uncovered with rumors that fell deaf upon all ears but his. Lovely as the quiet had been, seven days was more than enough time to stay cooped up in a research shack when there was plenty more to discover.

  Stanford cupped a hand around his ear and listened. A woodpecker pecked away at its hole in a birch, determined for an early breakfast. Not too far from there, a squirrel skittered along branches, hoping for an acorn meal of its own. A gnome tutted at a rainbow puddle, helping its reflection pick at its latest zit.

  All sounded normal, the scientist regarded with a deep sigh of disappointment. It was uncommon to not have something completely new to marvel over. Were it not for the gnome, one wouldn't know that they were in Gravity Falls at all. It was all so peaceful and Oregonian. Perhaps the world was still holding its breath over more important things to come. Perhaps it didn't quite realize that Stanford was more than ready to jump back into the weird and the wild.

  Four more minutes of strolling and listening, Stanford was just beginning to consider going into town to replenish his supplies when he finally spotted an unusual subject he'd been craving.

  A long, long, long snake tail hung from below the branches of a bright red leafed tree. The tip, maroon and tan in color, swung slowly and rhythmically back and forth, like the tick and tock of a pendulum on a grandfather clock. Stanford's wide eyes traveled up the tail to see the colors recede to darker browns in circled patterns as the mass grew thicker the higher his gaze climbed. Whatever was up there, the leaves could only do so much to completely cover it. It had to be massive.

The first, most obvious thought that came to his head was Python, but he quickly dismissed it. Pythons were not native to Oregon, certainly not one of this length at the very least. Except, this was Gravity Falls, where the only acceptable thing was to accept the unacceptable. Even so, a Python, even one as gigantic as this, seemed too...ordinary for the town's infamy. He'd made it this far by thinking outside the box, so what else could possible have a snake tail of this capacity?

It hit him, and he had to choke back a gasp of delight. "A naga! An actual naga!" The whispered excitement seemed especially piercing in the quiet of the early morning, but he was too elated to care. This was exactly what he had been waiting for to break what had started as a monotonous walk in the woods. Patting at his breast pocket for a pen and paper, he wracked his brain for what little he knew about these creatures. From what he remembered, the bottom half was always a snake, while the top half-

  "Well, hello."

  Stanford yelped and juggled his pen for two seconds before he composed himself enough to acknowledge that he was not alone. Clutching his pen holding hand to his chest to steady his heartbeat, he replied hesitantly, "Hello?"

  A deep, throaty chuckle seemed to echo all across the canopy of trees, a pleasant sound, but not very becoming of his nerves. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. You just looked so excited, I got a little curious."

  It wasn't hard to put two and two together. "I...should've realized that nagas were intelligent enough to understand human speech." Stanford cleared his throat, the thrill at the thought of another research subject spurring him on. "After all, if I'm getting my facts straight, your top halves are-"

Even if he had hypothesized it, he was not at all prepared for the sight that awaiting him. Slowing winding down from the thick branches was the top half of the naga; human in shape, and far more handsome than he could've imagined. Barrel chested with long chestnut hair, soulful brown eyes twinkling with mischief, and a long nose that only seemed to complete his features all the better. The naga's mouth curled into a playful smirk at Stanford's beguiled expression.

  "Impressed? Understandable. Not every day you run into someone like me, am I right?" He twisted his upper half upside down so that his long hair hung down in a wave of brown, barely tickling the grass beneath him.

  Stanford regained just enough sense to formulate a response. "Why, er, no, certainly not...hardly ever!" His excitement renewed, he clicked his pen and resumed reaching for some paper. "You must tell me everything about you!" His grin was all teeth.

  "Well, first thing's first, how about an introduction?" The naga said with no small amount of amusement. "My name's Kenneth. Call me Kenny."

  "Ah, yes, of course." Stanford shook his head and held out a six fingered hand. "Stanford Pines. Resident Researcher of Gravity Falls Phenomena. Pleasure to meet you, Kenny." Much to his delight, the Naga extended the red tip of his tail to shake with. "So fascinating! Your girth alone would take a whole page to describe! But more about that later; I must know all about your culture!" He set his pen to paper, waiting with baited breath and still beaming.

  Kenny returned the smile gleefully. "Well, I'm partial to smooth jazz, but I can't say no to samba. Oh, and don't get me started on-" The naga's rambles were cut short by Stanford's throat clearing.

  "Um, as stimulating as that is, I was hoping to do my research on your species as a whole."

  Kenny quirked an eyebrow. "Gonna need to clear me up on that."

  Stanford nodded patiently. "Well, it could be things like, what your diet consists of. Is English the most common language among your kind? Wouldn't a jungle be more befitting for a body such as yours? What natural abilities do you harbor, if any? How did-"

  "Ep, ep, ep!" Kenny, to Stanford's slight indignation, placed a finger to his lips, interrupting his little question vomit. "I think it'd be better to answer one at a ti-" The naga's eyes seemed to glint for a moment. "What was that last question?"

  Stanford pushed the finger off his lips to answer, "Um, what natural abilities do you harbor?"

  The glint returned, and the scientist knew that he'd seen a look like that many times before. Usually it was on his brother as he was hatching one of his harebrained schemes, one that would more than likely leave the two of them grounded, in body casts, or both.

  Suddenly wary, Stanford stuttered, "Um, actually, perhaps you could tell me about your diet-"

  "No, no, no! This is a question I know I can answer!" Kenny's voice took on a musical lilt, the sound of it somehow easing just a little of Stanford's reluctance. Besides, hadn't he wanted to study more creatures?  This was a rare opportunity, and the naga had offered. Stanford could always put out any potential fire with the extinguisher he'd hidden in one of the nearby trap doors.

  "Well, alright, what are your abilities?"

  Kenny's smirk returned in full force, and Stanford suppressed the urge to cringe. He was doing this for science, he reminded himself. For science.

  "Well, you see, Stanford...can I call you Ford?"

  "Oh, uh, yes."

  "Well, Ford, us nagas all have one very special ability in common." Kenny chuckled, the force of it rippling all across his coils winding around the branches. Stanford watched, mesmerized at the browns and tans that ebbed and flowed like an ocean of coils.

  "Ah, ah, ah. Eyes over here." Kenny's tail tip gently turned Ford's eyes back to his, amusement coloring his tone.

  Ford blinked himself out of his stupor. "Yes. Sorry. You were saying?"

  "Weeell, nagas have a very useful, very fun ability we just love to use." Kenny sang.

  Ford instinctively leaned closer, now more curious than nervous. "And that is?"

  "This."

  A ring of yellow gently emerged and flowed outward from the center of Kenny's eyes. Then came orange. Then green. Then blue. Back to yellow. Orange. Green. Blue. Yellow.

  Ford gasped softly at the display. "Enchanting." He breathed. "How on earth are you doing...that with...with your...y-your eyes...?" Odd. It was getting a little hard to speak the longer he observed them. His brain would form thoughts, but the patterns would compel them to swirl away into a silvery mist. Some thoughts would reach his mouth, but his tongue was becoming heavy and useless, like he'd downed a whole bottle of red mulled wine.

  Kenny smiled softly, nodding with satisfaction at the colors emerging in his volunteer's eyes. "Magic. Although I've been told by a friend that it's slightly more complicated than that. But what matters is, it feels nice, right?"

  "Y-Yes...it does..." Stanford sighed his agreement, the hand holding his pen going slack at his side. It really was the most wonderful feeling, like any care or worry that had ever crossed his mind just didn't matter anymore. The weight of expectations and responsibilities lifted off his shoulders, and in their place was an intense feeling of relaxation and peace, welcoming him to their cozy little world of lovely colors and rippling coils.

  Ford giggled curiously. "Wazzz...wh-what's...happening?" He should have been writing this down and asking more pressing questions, but his brain may as well have been cotton by this point. Everything felt soft and warm and good.

  Kenny giggled back. "Jussst a taste of my abilities, like you wanted." He tilted his head. Ford's own head followed, glued to his eyes. "You're looking a little sleepy. How bout' a little nap?"

  "Nnn...nap...?" Ford blinked sluggishly, the word sparking a flash of recognition to reignite his sleep addled brain."H-Hold on...jus' a..." It took a painful amount of effort and willpower, so much that his eyes watered, but Ford managed to tear his eyes away from the hypnotic spectacle, taking a moment to rub the drowsy out of them.

  "I...what just..?" He was dazed and dizzy. But he knew just enough to figure that he had to keep his eyes covered.

  Kenny blinked away his hypnosis, startled by the rare show of resistance from a subject. There were few who could resist when they were that far under, but Ford just made the very short list. Even so, he wasn't completely out of the park yet, if his sleepy ramblings were any indication.

  "Aww, hey, what's wrong?" Kenny kept his voice gentle, but couldn't suppress some amusement either. "I thought you wanted to know all about the abilities of the nagas?" He tilted his head, feigning hurt.

  "Of...of course I do, but..." Ford turned away from where he heard the voice, having enough sense to cover his eyes with his arms, but not enough to remember how close he was to Kenny's tree. "I...I need to be-OOF!" He smacked right into it, the shock enough to snap him out of the spell completely.

  He shook the swirls and cobwebs from his head, gritting his teeth and focusing on the pain. "You..." He turned back to where he thought Kenny was, eyes shut tight and pointing accusingly. "You tried to hypnotize me!"

  "Wrong way." The voice to his left snorted playfully.

  Red in the face more from embarrassment than anger, Ford turned in the proper direction. "What do you intend to do, use me as some sort of thrall?! Easy slave labor?!"

  Kenny clapped. "Ha! Much more original than any accusations of eating people! But no." Ford heard a rustling of leaves to his right, and he flinched backwards, into a mass of coils that propped around his shoulders like a friendly arm. "You asked me what nagas could do. I was just showing you the works."

  Stanford stubbornly remained angry. "You could've just told me! Or I could've watched you do it on a gnome, or...I don't recall giving you consent to hypnotize me!"

  Kenny held up his hands in a placating gesture(that Stanford could not see). "Easy there, Ford! You're saying you didn't like it?"

  Ford sputtered indignantly. "I...that's besides the point! I'm doing this for science, not for a...a nap! Can you imagine how many hours of precious research time I'll lose if I sleep?!"

  To his surprise, Kenny's voice took on the slightest bit of concern. "Um, when was the last time you slept?"

  Once again caught off guard, Ford had to gather his thoughts and take a deep breath to answer calmly. "I can handle not sleeping for a few days. What I can't handle is how the world moves on with or without me. Every second of every minute of every hour, something is happening. Creatures to catalogue, reports to write, disputes to diverge! I'm going to change the world with this project! I'll sleep when I'm dead!" Ford had forgotten what calm was by the end of his tirade.

  Still with that aggravating concern he'd often heard from his mother, brother, and Fiddleford, Kenny tutted and gave Ford's shoulders a little squeeze with his coils.

  "That's no way to go, buddy. Everyone needs sleep. Even life changers like you."

  "We're getting off subject." Ford gritted his teeth, trying to breathe evenly. "You showed your ability. Thank you. I'll write all about it in my next volume. Now leave me alone." Eyes still shut, Ford ducked under the coils and felt around for the paper he had dropped during his little spell. Kenny's tail curled around his right wrist, as though dejected by the lack of attention. The six fingered scientist yanked his hand away, cursing quietly when he dropped the pen it'd been holding. "I mean it, Kenny. I've had enough." He snapped.

  "Oh, but you really haven't."

  Maybe it was the cockiness with which the naga said it, but Ford couldn't withhold his curiosity. "What do you mean?"

  "I mean, that I'd only just begun, and you'd only barely felt the full effects of a naga's powers. You resisted, and that just sent everything off kilter. Imagine how much info you could write about if you only knew what it's really like to be hypnotized by a real naga?" Kenny studied his own hands smugly, feigning nonchalance and hoping the anticipation didn't show on his face. He needed a new cuddle buddy after all.

  Wait. Ford's eyes were still closed. What did Kenny have to worry about?

  Ford crossed his arms, tapping a finger against his jacket. Kenny was just using promises of scientific discovery as a lure for another hapless victim, that's all this was.

  Regardless, he did have to know something. "Why do you even want to hypnotize me, anyway? It can't just be because you think I need sleep." Ford huffed.

  Kenny shrugged(Ford could STILL not see it). "I just wanted a cuddle. The fact that you need sleep is serendipitous."

  Stanford had lost count of how many times this naga had had him completely flustered. "That's...that's why you...huh?"

  "Of course! It's what I do. And no, it's not really a naga thing. It's just a Kenny thing." The naga laughed.

  Ford found himself letting his guard down a little at the confession. "That's...really all there is to it?"

  "Mm-hm!" Kenny nodded confidently. "Besides, is losing a few hours to the best sleep you'll ever have really that bad? Think of the discoveries you're missing out on!"

  "W-Well, no, but...cuddle with you? I mean, that's just...uh..." Darn it, he was thinking of the discoveries! What could he be missing by resisting such power? Was sleep all that would happen? Could he dream under the effects of naga hypnosis? How long could a human like himself last before he gave in?

  The questions were leaking through the dam of resistance in his brain. It wasn't long before they'd break free. Not only that, but...it's not like anyone would know about this. There was no one around this area but him and Kenny. Losing a bit of dignity for a few hours couldn't be too bad, could it?

  Slowly, Ford allowed his crossed arms to leave his side. He knelt to the ground, feeling around for a good place to sit.

  "I'll take that as a 'Go ahead'?" Kenny couldn't hide his excitement.

  Hands patting a particularly soft mound of earth, Ford grunted and set himself into an upright sitting position, legs splayed. "Don't try anything stupid." He warned, determined to have as much control over this bizarre circumstance as he could.

  "No problem at all." Kenny giggled. "Now, how 'bout you open your eyes, first."

  Reluctantly, Ford slowly pried his eyes open, squinting against the light of mid-morning. Blinded, it took five seconds for his eyes to adjust the many colors of the day.

  But then, he realized, it wasn't the day he was looking at. It was a now familiar sight of oranges and yellows and...he could barely keep track. They were going at a steady rate, but when he thought he could pick out one color, that one would fade into another, and another, and another...

  Ford squinted, still stubbornly wanting to remain in control. Who said he couldn't monitor the scientific intonations in his head, after all? That way he could do research on the naga's hypnosis without losing any time to useless pastimes like sleeping.

  The colors are reaching a familiar pattern. They ebb and flow like tides of the ocean. One disappears, only to appear just when you've forgotten it existed. Incredible. Dazzling. So very...focus! I hear something. A voice...a song...birds? No. Smoother. Kenny? Is it a lullaby? Trying to make it more challenging? Do your worst. I'm not...sleepy...at...all...Beautiful...So pretty...FOCUS!

  Kenny watched, patiently awaiting Ford's lapse into sleep. One second his swirling eyes would droop, the next they would spring back up as he caught himself growing drowsy. Even when Kenny began to hum a gentle, lulling tune, Ford was putting up a good fight. But if the bags under his eyes told him anything, it was that he really needed a siesta.

  Right. Time for a little coiling.

  Noises of the forest are...fading...easier to focus on Kenny's voice...all that matters...wait. No. I was...I can't...sleep now...not yet...Focus on...ability...

  Getting harder...to fight...melatonin trigger perhaps...so sleepy...yes, must be...mela...the stuff that...makes you...sleep...eyes make it...easy...to sleep...using...colors...lovely colors...

  ...?

  Feeling...heavy...around...waist...

  Indeed, a coil was just starting to inch its way around Ford's abdomen, squeezing in especially tense areas and loosening any aches and pains he had been feeling just seconds before. Around and around the tail went, carefully pinning his arms to his sides, just enough to restrain, not enough to alarm or hurt. The tip continued on upward, reaching over his chest, feeling his slow, steady heartbeat. When the tail reached his shoulders, Kenny used his impressive strength to gently tilt Ford backwards, lying him on the ground, and making sure his hypnotic eyes were always in view.

  ...Warm...Blanket...? No...coils...? So...sleepy...Why was...I...fighting...?

  Kenny grinned over the helpless state Ford was in. His mouth hung open, his lids were periodically shutting and opening out of sync over his still swirling eyes, and his upper body was all wrapped up in his coziest coils. Still, even after all that effort, Ford looked like he need just one more little push. A nudge in the right direction.

  Kenny slowly, slowly, slowly pulled him into the air, so that he hung suspended over the ground, legs dangling with the direction he swayed in. Another loop of coils around his body, and Stanford was covered neck to toe in the warm embrace of a naga hug.

  ...Being..held...so...wonderful...

  Eyes lidded so low he could barely see Kenny's, Ford moaned softly at the sensations of his predicament. He couldn't remember why he had bothered fighting. Actually, he couldn't remember anything outside of his euphoric drowsiness and coil cocoon. Even then, Kenny noticed that his eyes hadn't closed just yet. Continuing his hummed lullaby, Kenny gave the coiled mass a little push, giving it a rocking effect.

  ...back...forth...back...forth...sleepy...so...sleepy...

  I'm...

  Falling...

  Falling...

  F...a...l...l...i...n...g...

  Gentle snores emerged from the cocoon, and Kenny sighed with satisfaction. "That wasn't so bad, was it now?" The tip of his tail closed Ford's mouth, where the snores turned into deep breathing. The coils gradually shifted from horizontal to vertical, so that his cheek was comfortably rested against his scaly bonds.

  Kenny ran a hand through Ford's brown hair, smiling with his usual mischief. "You wouldn't mind sharing your results when you wake up, would you?"

---submitted by b120583

OOC: I love this! :'3 Always nice to see a character like Ford in a situation like this <3