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nikkento-writes · 5 months ago

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Babysitter - Part 2

Pairing: dad!Toji x babysitter!reader

Rating: Explicit – MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Word Count: ~3.8k

cw: age gap (reader is 21, Toji is in his 30s), explicit language, cheating, pregnancy, smut – PIV sex (doggy style)

Summary: You deal with the aftermath of your summer babysitting job turned adulterous summer scandal.

Author’s Notes: Thanks for all the kind words and support on Part 1 of this! I hope you enjoy part 2, and who knows, maybe I'll write a part 3 one day lol. Thanks for reading! Divider credit to @/fic-dumpster.

Taglist: @scorpiosugar @diegojeanne @f4irygard3n @cvixmei @soniiyi - more tags in the comments

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” You blink away the tears in your eyes, holding the pregnancy test, hoping that somehow, you’ll blink away the second line indicating that you are indeed pregnant.

“No way.” Chiyo waits for you outside the stall, the apprehension in her voice apparent.

“Yes. I’m…” There’s a lump in your throat you have to swallow before you finish your sentence. “Pregnant.”

Your best friend’s silence on the other side only makes you panic more, but you don’t blame her. What can she really say to make any of this better? To stop your world from turning upside down?

She whispers your name quietly, at a complete loss for words. Then, she clears her throat, sounding as if she’s fighting tears herself. “I’m going to buy you a melon pan. Just…wait for me here, okay?” It’s the only consolation she can offer you in this moment, huddled in a public restroom of a convenience store; you appreciate the effort, nonetheless. You wait for her to leave, completely alone now. As soon as she’s gone, you sob into your hands.

It's not that you oppose being a mother. You’ve always imagined handing a positive pregnancy test to the love of your life with the biggest smile on your face, excited to raise a family together. Ideally, this would have happened sometime in the future, once you’ve established yourself as a full-fledged adult. Not like this: twenty-one years-old, less than a year until graduation without the slightest clue what you’re doing with your life. Worst of all, the father isn’t your husband, a boyfriend, even a friend. It’s Toji Fushiguro, the dad of the little boy you babysat over the summer, the husband of the kind woman who hired you. You still haven’t forgiven yourself for your adultery, the guilt eating away at you since the start of that lecherous summer fling. And now, you have this pee-on-a-stick to remind you how incredibly reckless you were to get involved with him in the first place. How undeniably irresponsible you were to have unprotected sex with a married man. Sure, it was the best sex you’ll probably ever have in your life. But was it worth it?

You wrap the pregnancy test in toilet paper, tossing it in the trash bin. Knowing that no good will come out of sulking in the 7-11 bathroom any longer, you finally exit the stall, washing your hands clean at the sink. Your phone vibrates in your back pocket as you stare at your reflection in the mirror, fixated on your belly, wondering what it will look like round and full of life. It buzzes again, snapping you out of your trance. When you check to see who’s messaging, you almost drop your phone out of shock.

Somehow, someway, the universe has it out for you. Because in the most perfectly disastrous timing ever, Mrs. Fushiguro decides to contact you.

~~~

A week later, you’re sitting on the train, heading to the Fushiguro household. Your stomach is in knots, both from anxiety and from the morning sickness. Sweat beads on your forehead, skin sticky against your clothing in this hot weather. The closer you approach your destined stop, the more and more nervous you get, almost convinced to call the whole thing off.

Believe it or not, Mrs. Fushiguro did not contact you to confront you about the dirty deeds you did with her husband. Instead, she messaged you in dire need of a babysitter once again. She spares you the details, asking if you could meet her in person to better explain herself. And for whatever reason, you agree.

You haven’t come up with a solid plan yet on what you want to do about your little predicament. So far, the only people that know are Chiyo and your parents, who, after the initial shock of it all, have been surprisingly supportive. They advised you to take the rest of the term off, which you were able to get arranged quickly through your school. This gives you several weeks to decide what you need to do. With one issue resolved, it leaves you with the next, and the most pressing: whether or not you should tell the father. The last thing you want is to break apart the Fushiguro family. You’re fully prepared to raise this baby as a single mother, which, with the help of your parents and best friend, seems doable. Besides, you’re not even sure if you want Toji to be involved considering his complete lack of interest in his other child, Megumi. Despite that, you believe that as the father, he has the right to know. Can you gather the courage to actually tell him?

Still lost in your train of thought, you hop off to walk to the house. When you arrive, you spot Mrs. Fushiguro already outside, leaning against her car in the driveway with little Megumi in her arms. They both smile upon seeing you, warming your heart. You take a deep breath, bracing yourself for whatever is to come.

“Hello Mrs. Fushiguro,” you greet her, bowing politely, too shy to meet her gaze. “How are you?”

“Doing really well. Thank you for coming on such short notice.” She lets her son down, who steps towards you until he’s hugging your knee, cooing. “I wanted to talk to you in person about my complicated situation.”

“Is everything alright?” you ask, unable to resist kneeling down to meet Megumi at eye level, making funny faces at him.

She giggles. “Oh, everything is great! The divorce finally went through and I’m living with my new boyfriend now, who’s been the absolute best, especially with Megumi.”

You make a shocked expression, mouth agape, exaggerated for the kid’s entertainment, though you’re pretty much stunned yourself. “Divorce…?”

“Yeah! Toji and I have been separated for a long time now. I’m sorry I didn’t mention that over the summer. You’re still so young after all, no need to rope you into adult things.”

You almost bust out laughing at the irony, but you hold your tongue, continuing to listen to her.

She sighs, flipping her long, beautiful hair behind her shoulders. “That being said, I still care about the guy. I mean, he is the father of my child. Without me or Megumi there on a regular basis, the whole house has gone to shit. It seems like he’s actually taking this divorce pretty hard. So, I want to hire you as a babysitter for my ex-husband. Just for a little while until he can get back up on his feet.”

Another shocked face, which makes Megumi laugh while dread sinks into your chest. “Babysitter…?”

“Babysitter, housekeeper, whatever you want to call it. You did such a wonderful job with him over the summer, even while you were taking care of Megumi! I don’t know what you were feeding him. Whatever it was, he was definitely a little bit nicer when you were around.”

Lewd flashbacks replay in your mind of Toji eating you out sloppily, slurping up all your pussy juices in every room of the house. You focus on the ground, too ashamed to look at her. “Mrs. Fushiguro, I don’t know if I can do this.”

She squats to your level, reaching for your hand, holding it gently in hers. “I know this is a lot of ask. You’re the only one I can rely on for this. Please.”

A sense of déjà vu hits you. There’s desperation in her tone and it tugs at your heartstrings the same way it did when you first met her a few months ago. It doesn’t help that Megumi is now squeezing the index finger of your other hand, eyes full of curious wonder, grip surprisingly strong for such a young child. Would she be pleading with you like this if she knew the truth about you, Toji, and the baby? Even though they were separated during this whole ordeal, it doesn’t make what you did any better; you still decided to do it regardless of their marital status.

Maybe you can use this opportunity as a way to atone.

You finally look at her, giving the most convincing smile you can muster, trying your best to ignore the wave of nausea washing over you. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

~~~

Mrs. Fushiguro asks you to start at noon the following day, giving her enough time to notify her ex about your temporary employment. When you use the set of keys she gave you to open the front door, you step inside cautiously, not sure what to expect. You’ve been dreading this impromptu reunion all night, wondering if you could even face him.

It’s a mess inside, heaps of dirty laundry scattered all over the furniture, fast food wrappers and empty ramen bowls littered on the kitchen counter. There’s a stench lingering in the stale air in here and you almost think the worse, but Mrs. Fushiguro had warned you about this. Seeing it in person is more heartbreaking than disgusting. Toji really is taking this divorce hard. It wouldn’t be right to burden him with more life-changing news, right?

You begin by gathering all the trash into garbage bags, flattening any cardboard to recycle. By the looks of it, he’s been living off junk food and protein bars for the past month. The refrigerator is near empty, aside from a questionable take-out container in the very back, which you end up dumping along with everything else. You make it your next task to get groceries after you load the washing machine.

When you return from the store, Toji remains absent. Nerves prevent you from leaning against the bedroom door to listen for any signs of him in there. His ex-wife mentioned that he goes out to gamble at the horse races whenever he’s short on cash, so it’s likely he’s there. Still, you’re anticipating his return, mentally preparing yourself for how you’ll behave around him. Given your current circumstances, you are serious about turning over a new leaf. No more funny business with him. Absolutely not.

It’s near dinnertime now and you’ve miraculously accomplished tidying the house and doing his laundry all within a few hours. You even managed to cook soup for dinner, full of hearty beef and fresh vegetables, something to provide nutrients compared to the processed food he’s been consuming lately. You’re stirring the pot when you hear keys jingle from outside the front door. He comes in, clad in a tight-fitting black shirt that accentuates his muscles and grey sweatpants that don't leave much to the imagination. A plastic bag is slung behind his shoulder, clearly from a convenience store. Despite his concerning diet, his physique is still impressive as ever. Just one glance at him has you fluttering below your belly, replaying the erotic memories you share together. You turn to face him, standing up straight, feigning confidence while you fret internally. He looks at you, brow raised slightly, a small smirk forming on his lips.

“Hello sir,” you greet him, bowing politely. Acting as if he’s a total stranger and not the man who rocked your entire world over the summer, now with evidence to prove it.

He sets the bag on the counter, revealing a couple of ramen packets inside. “What’s with the formalities?” he asks, grinning. “If I remember correctly, you were screaming my name nonstop the last time you were here.”

Heat rushes into your cheeks instantly, not surprised by his vulgarity, though still embarrassed. You clear your throat, trying to stay strong. “I’m here to work. Nothing else.”

He walks towards you, his stature casting a daunting shadow as he steps closer and closer, towering over you. His voice is low, borderline threatening to a point that has you trembling. “So you don’t want me to fuck you anymore?”

You swallow hard, composure wavering. “That’s right.” Even you don’t fully believe it when it comes out of your own mouth, how can you expect him to?

There’s a strange look in his eyes, almost like he’s disappointed by your response. He turns his back to you, mumbling something about taking a shower. You watch him enter his bedroom, hearing him clear as day before he shuts the door with a dull thud. “I guess you don’t want me either.”

~~~

A week into being Toji’s live-in housekeeper, the two of you figure out a routine together that involves minimal interaction. You wake up in the morning to cook breakfast, eating it quickly and leaving the rest for him while you go out. You use this time to go for a walk, meet with Chiyo or your parents, do some grocery shopping, or just sit at the nearby park, enjoying the sun with your baby, who grows little-by-little each day.

Toji is usually gone the whole afternoon, either working out or gambling, so you’re able to do chores back at the house, like cleaning his room. He doesn’t return until dinnertime when tension seems to be at its highest. A big reason for that is because he’s made it a habit to eat right after his shower, shirtless and with his legs crossed on the floor, displaying a perfectly visible outline of his manhood. It’s distracting, to say the least. Chiyo mentioned the other day how you can have an increased libido during the first trimester. That’s definitely proving itself now.

Aside from the half-nakedness, something else surprises you about him. The two of you mostly avoid conversation with each other, eating in silence at the dining table while sneaking furtive glances whenever you get a chance. But he never fails to mutter, “Thank you for the meal,” before washing the dishes at the sink, retreating back into his room when he’s done. It’s the tiniest act of consideration that makes you wonder what’s going on in his head.

Tonight you sit across from each other as usual. You just finished eating the chicken katsu you made for dinner, along with a couple of side dishes you prepped earlier in the week. His abs look especially spectacular today and you find it harder than usual to stop peeking at them.

“You’re gonna burn a hole through me with the way you’re staring,” he says, chewing his last bite.

Shit, caught red-handed. You quickly look down at your empty bowl, mumbling an apology. “Sorry. I just…I can tell your hard work is paying off.”

“Yours too. The house has never been cleaner. And the food has never been better.” He’s looking directly at you, a genuine smile on his face. “Thank you.”

It’s no good. Your hormones are raging, sexual desire courses through you, all from that stupidly handsome grin and a silly little compliment. How did you ever think you could resist him?

You stand up, grabbing everything from the table. “I’ll do the dishes,” you offer, walking them to the sink, trying to calm down.

It’s no use, though. He sees right through you.

He gives you only a minute alone before he follows you, caging you between his big arms, your back to him, his mouth hot on your ear. “Let me help you.”

You let out a frustrated huff, already unraveling from his proximity. The smallest jut of your hips and there it is, his erection pressed to your ass, throbbing and even more massive than you remember it. “Toji, we can’t,” you whine, not making any attempt to separate yourself from him.

He slides his hands around your hips, pulling you in closer, rubbing his rock-hard cock against you. “I know you want it. I know you want me.”

And he’s right. You do. You want him with you, around you, inside of you. In all the ways he’s had you before, in new ways he’s never had but you’ve fantasized about. There’s no denying it anymore. You want him. You want him so fucking bad.

He takes you right there at the kitchen sink, bent over with your grip tight on the edge of the counter, pounding away at your wet, needy cunt. Neither of you bother to remove your clothes completely, Toji’s sweatpants shrugged down his thighs just enough, yours pooled around your ankles, soaked panties at your knees. “Fuck, Toji!” you moan, sticking your ass out to meet his thrusts.

His fingers find your clit, rubbing slippery circles around it. “Say it,” he grunts, increasing the pace.

Drools leaks out from the sides of your lips, too fucked out to process what’s he’s asking you. “What?”

“Say you want me,” he demands, massaging your swollen bud so deep, you feel it all the way down to your fucking toes.

“I want you. I want you, Toji!” you respond breathlessly, squeezing him tight with your orgasm.

“Fuck, I missed you. Missed my good girl.” He continues to fuck you, slowly now, relishing every second of being inside you. “Always so fucking creamy for me, fuck.” He pulls you up to embrace you from behind, fingers still pleasuring you, his other hand at your chin to face you towards him. The two of you kiss passionately, lips smacking, tongues swirling. So sloppy and wanton that it puts you on the verge of another orgasm, completely succumbed to pleasure.

You sleep with him in his bedroom after several more orgasms and a big one of his own, wrapped comfortably in his arms, with his cock and creampie inside you the rest of the night. For the first time in a while, you’re oddly at peace.

~~~

Your reckless decision making has led you into another troublesome scenario. Fortunately, you haven’t had any morning sickness the entire first week of your employment at the Fushiguro household. Unfortunately, it decides to come back today. There’s no way you’ll be able to make it to the bathroom near your room, so you have no choice but to hop out of Toji’s bed and run into his, clutching onto the porcelain bowl until it’s all out. You rinse your mouth off at the sink, hoping Toji didn’t hear any of it. But you know all too well by now that luck is never on your side.

He’s sitting up against the headboard, watching you come out of the bathroom. “Did you just puke in there?” There’s a hint of concern in his normally blunt tone.

You nod, bending down to retrieve your underwear and pants off the floor, avoiding his gaze.

“Are you sick?” he asks, the worry even more obvious now.

Shaking your head, you respond, “No, I just…I’m feeling a little nauseous, that’s all.” You walk towards the door, still not willing to look at him. “There should be leftovers in the fridge, so help yourself to breakfast. I’m going to lay down.”

He calls out your name. “Wait – ”

You ignore him, closing the door shut behind you, letting the tears fall down your cheeks as you retreat into your own bedroom, muffling your sobs into a pillow. After your wild romp last night, this bout of morning sickness has swiftly brought you back to reality. You’re still harboring the secret growing in your womb from the man who gave it to you to begin with.

There’s a firm knock on your door, startling you. “Hey, it’s me.”

In this split-second, you decide to stop with the lies and finally tell the truth. You open the door, Toji standing in front of you fully clothed in his usual attire, a serious expression on his face. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

Eyes still puffy from crying, you take a deep breath. “I’m pregnant. And you’re the father.”

His mouth parts the slightest bit, no words coming out of it. The silence seems to linger on forever. You fill it by rambling all the thoughts that have been swimming in your head the last couple of weeks. “Before you start freaking out or anything, I’m telling you so that you know. I don’t expect you to be involved. I’m perfectly willing to raise this child on my own. And besides, I won’t be completely alone. I have my family to help me, my friends too. I’ll be totally fine. This baby is going to be well taken care of, I’ll make sure of it. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just didn’t know how. But I feel better already because this has been stressing me out. It’s all going to work out okay? I think. I hope.”

After the long spiel, he stares down at the floor, jaw tight, mouth opening and closing, unsure how to respond. Eventually, he says, “I have to go.”

When he leaves the house, you crawl into your bed, bawling until there are no tears left for you to cry.

~~~

You wake up in the late afternoon to an enticing aroma wafting from the kitchen. It’s been hours since you’ve been in bed, moping about how poorly everything went with Toji. His reaction left you devastated. While you always expected to do this alone, hearing his negative response to it hurts more than you anticipated it to.

Curious, you make your way into the kitchen, shocked to find Toji standing over the stove, stirring a pot, the soothing scent of soup surrounding you. “What’s going on?” you ask, noticing a plethora of fresh vegetables laid out on the counter, along with a big bottle of prenatal vitamins and various snacks.

He turns the heat off, covering the pot with a lid. “I’m cooking,” he answers, facing you with a grin on his face. “Bone broth is a good source of calcium. And you need to keep eating lots of veggies so our baby is strong, like me. No more of this instant ramen shit.”

“I thought you were upset,” you say, stepping closer to him.

“I know. I’m sorry I left like that. I was shocked at first, I’ll admit it. But I started to get excited." He takes your hands in his. "I have a lot of regrets in my life, but being a father isn’t one of them. Being a bad father is. I want to change. I need to change. For Megumi. For our new little one. For you.”

Strangely enough, you believe in his heartfelt declaration. You smile at him, letting him go to stand in front of the stove, taking a whiff of the comforting aroma of the hot soup he made for you, happy tears welling in your eyes. He hugs you gently from behind, nuzzling his nose to you. “I’m going to do it right this time, okay? I know I can do it with you.”

As Toji caresses your belly, kissing you softly along the neck, you feel the weight that’s been heavy on your shoulders ease up. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

#toji fushiguro smut #toji fushiguro x reader #toji smut #toji fushiguro #toji x reader #toji x you #jjk smut #cw pregnancy

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moonlightcycle571 · 2 months ago

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Lantern Corps and a 10 year old Child

In a last post, I said the Lantern Corps would love Captain Marvel because he’s omni-lingual (and there’s so many different species so it makes sense that they would feel comfertable around a guy who can speak their mother tongue, no matter how obscure it is).

And then it came to me in a glorious vision, the Cores would LOVE or absolute HATE Billy Batson, be it as a kid it as Captain Marvel.

First on the Love Captain spectrum:

Red Lantern: that’s the corps that’s the most insistent. Man’s fights littéral Wrath and demons alike on a weekly basis. Man’s go to weekly poker night with Satan and other Wardens of Hell. Why? Because he has his own prison dimension in th Rock of Eternity, who also holds the strongest demons.

Yellow Lanterns: as champion of magic, he holds a lot of weight. Especially for magic users. One flick of a wrist and boom, your magic is gone. The whole concept of ‘The Champion’ is enough for most to fear him. That and one does not play poker with The Devil from The Bible and other figures from various religions, and just have a normal presence. He’s terrifying when he wants to be. In his Cap form, he needs to actively tamp down to appear more family friendly, and not the eldricht horror he knows he could easily look like.

Green Lanterns: Homeless Child Superhero dealing with horrors must adults can’t handle. That takes willpower. Even before Captain, I’m pretty sure off willpower alone he could qualify. But what’s the real ringer is his imagination. The Rock of Eternity has access to magical dimensions that no amount of crack could dream up. Man’s had to learn how to use Looney Toones Logic irl and it works. Man’s got a while Disney Dimension with Ballerina Hippos with their Croc partners. Mans has debates about files with littéral walking talking dinosaurs. Billy is hella creative, and who knows what would be made with a ring.

Blue Lanterns: do I … do I need to explain? There are the lantern corps of Hope, I think the rest is pretty self explanatory. I will say though, he was close to accepting when he found out they got a Corgi. Even closer when Dex Starr, the red lanterns cat got a

Orange Lantern: bro fights the physical manifestations of the Seven Deadly Sins , including Greed on a regular basis. By right of conquest, he really should be wearing the ring rn. They be trying to put a ring on it for ages.

Black Lanterns: he once revived Freddy and or Mary by reconnecting them to the rock, and since then is considered a ‘nécromancer’. Also (similar to the Avatar State) he has memories of past champions, including death, so one can argue he’s in a life and death loop.

White lanterns: same reasons as the Black Lanterns. They’ve been trying to get Billy to also out-do said Black Lanterns (who in turn try to recruit him some more). It’s just one vicious snowball effect now.

Now for the Hate Captain spectrum:

Star Sapphire Corps: The thing about Billy is that he’s AroAce. Very Aro and Very Ace. So those who draw power from love and try to flirt are met with the disgusted face of someone who’s famously nice. It was a devastating blow to the whole corps. At some point Hal decided to hide behind Cap to escape another Star Sapphire who fell inlove with him, and they just, lost their power. No longer had the ability to fly and everything. He’s Ace-ness is crippling. And it did bring memes. The Ace community was winning.

Indigo Tribe: he’s too autistic for them. And while being the warden of multiple dangerous beings fits their MO and all, they ain’t touching the bullshit magical logic with a ten foot pole. That, and the first time a ring was sent to him to recruit him to keep the evil ones in line, he roasted their whole system, their ugly ass uniforms (that particular shade of indigo clashed with his Hero Outfit way to much) and ended with a comparison to them with a guy called ‘King Kid’ and the fucking ‘Easter Bunny King’ that somehow did a much better job at Machiavellic while also being uhly. They never sent a second one. The red lanterns sent more.

Ultraviolet lanterns: again, man’s fights the Seven Sins on the regular, is their warden along with other sick evils, lies to the Justice League on the regular and plays poker with Demons (and wins) despite being one of the most honest people there is. That and he’s so dad shaped, it counters their power of daddy issues.

Bonuse:

It’s not uncommon for various JL members to receive lantern rings. They just don’t want to. So the standard procedure is to find your local lantern, and give them rings. At some point all the Corps made a lantern offers chart (and maybe the JL got a bit competitive).

Problem, that screen was using old alien tech that didn’t have colour. So they knew Cap had the most lantern offers, but they didn’t know which colours. Until it got fixed.

J’le looking at the rainbow that’s Captain Marvels Ring List: …

Batman: Captain, why is there so many red ones?

Billy, sweating: …

Hal, not comfy with the amount of yellow: I… I need to make a few phone calls.

John, the one who’s been receiving all of his rings: Uh, don’t remind me. I’ve been getting cramps with the amount of times I had to input the different colours.

Dinah: I don’t think even I’m qualified for the amount of therapy everyone is going to need.

WonderWoman: How to you have Negative Pink Rings??? You can’t get a negative number in a list

Billy, inputing the Zeta Tube: haha, it’s so weird

John: … do I need to add AroAce as a weakness for the Sapphires???

Bonus points if the results are open to the galactic public, and just wonder who tf are and ‘Billy Batson’ and Captain Marvel and why they are dominating the top ranks. What is in the Terra city Fawcette.

Extra Bonus Point if the JL go: Who tf is Billy Batson, and why is he ranked above Captain Marvel.

I’ve been waiting to do this one for a while. But never got the motivation. Let me know if I missed any, and feel free to write fanfic (please tag me if you do, I wanna reeeeead).

Final note, I want to give a certain someone a comment of appreciation.

@wonderjanga you are my favourite person on this app. You are the reason I decided to get out of my procrastination slump. Thank you for you content, it’s always so creative and I deeply enjoy it.

For those who don’t know them, I recommend checking out their content. It’s genuinely inspiration for me to start writing again. I don’t think I’ll be writing on ao3 soon, but maybe one day.

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eggplantwaffles · 2 months ago

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Since Steph and Kara became friends during Steph’s Batgirl run and post all her critical character development and casually horrifying pre Batgirl life, I imagine Steph accidentally lore dumps crazy shit in conversation:

———

Kara: Holy shit, are you okay?!

Steph (holding her certainty broken arm): Eh- hurts less than giving birth.

Kara: I guess?

Steph: Although, I think my baby had an unusually large head.

Kara: Oh… wait, what?!

———

Steph: You can stay with me few days, just don’t use my shampoo.

Kara: That’s the only rule?

Steph: Yeah, I had to start hiding it when my Dad let Ed Nygma and his goons stay over.

Kara: …The Riddler stole your shampoo?

———

Kara: You have to have hobbies outside of crime fighting.

Steph: I liked gymnastics in high school.

Kara: Okay, that’s something!

Steph: I quit cause I found out my coach was dealing drugs to kids.

Kara: Oh.

Steph: I also played piano as a kid but I quit that too cause after my parents left me with a pervy babysitter for days I didn’t trust any adult men for a while, including my piano teacher.

———

Steph: You’re really nice to me.

Kara: Well, yeah? We’re friends!

Steph: You haven’t even told me to go away once!

Kara: Why would I want you to go away?

Steph: Normally it’s cause Batman thinks I’m no good- but I guess that wouldn’t matter to you?

———

Kara: Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you’d never met Batman?

Steph: I’d be in prison, probably.

Kara: For what?

Steph: I was gonna murder my Dad… actually I think I would have gotten away with it so maybe not prison?

Kara: …Forget I asked.

———

Steph: Ugh! I’m going to kill Bruce!

Kara: What’d he do now?

Steph: He paid off my student loans without telling me!

Kara: That’s… terrible?

Steph: I don’t want his stupid pity presents. He does this every year!

Kara: Pity present?

Steph: Yeah, it’s his yearly “sorry you got murdered” gift. Last year I magically qualified for a WE scholarship I didn’t apply for.

Kara: …I might regret mentioning it but did you say murdered?

Steph: Huh? Oh, yeah, brutally- that’s why I don’t like walking past construction sites. Hold on, I need to call Bruce and yell at him.

#stephanie brown #dc comics #batgirl #batfamily #kara zor el #supergirl

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evilminji · 3 months ago

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You know what? HAVE we tried Yoda's "younglings fix everything" tactic on Skywalker?

New SI-OC Time!

Smol, adorable, has a bug out bag and enough credits stashed for their life on the run! Already learned how to tie the hover prams together in like .001 seconds flat and (SUPER gently) toss the babies into um. Knows where the baby food is. Conveniently, has helped ORGANIZE said baby food. (Some of which was "organized" straight into bug out bags)

The whole works.

But like.....?

Better part of a cure? Is prevention you know? And the Tragedy Of Anikin Skywalker? Is that he WAS a GOOD MAN.

And she's standing there, with her Fully Grown ADULT SOUL, looking at this KID who thinks he's a man... this TEENAGER who's been GROOMED by a Sith Lord, a fully grown adult he TRUSTED in a position of power and authority over him, the FORMER SLAVE, and she just...?

How can she look upon his soul? So brightly burning with light and emotion and a sense of JUSTICE? A young man who CARES so much he can barely function some days. Who's heart's ambition is to Free The Slaves so NO ONE will ever again suffer as he and his mother did? Who looks at his partner like she's the most wonderful person to ever draw breathe?

So bright. So GOOD. Struggling and trying and fighting a battle he doesn't even know he's IN, against a Sith Lord he thinks is his FRIEND?

How can she look upon that young man... and just? Abandon him. Decide he's too much effort to save. To even TRY. That his fate is a forgone conclusion and he is destined to Fall. Such things are a CHOICE. And Anikin Skywalker? Has had precious few of those in his life. Between Duty and his youth, lives on the line and Master's that owned.

This is HIS Soul. HIS future. And Palpatine is trying to chip away at his ability to think clearly. Trying to pressure and rush rush RUSH! So he chooses in fear and desperation, like the bad sell it is. Knowing he'll feel he's "too far gone" to back out. Letting him spiral. Ever tightening that noose.

But? Like... the man DOES want to be a dad. Have a family. The thought HAS to be there.

"I should practice taking care of Force Sensitive younglings..."

You know... in case he in Padme... I mean, he's not SUGGESTING anything! But, I mean? If she WANTED too? And he knows they're young and all... and it would complicate everything... but? But!

They'd be KIDS. His kids. HER kids. THEIR KIDS! A... a family. He can barely imagine it.

A problem though? Is how LOUD he is. He can't help it. No more then one can help their hair or eye color. Reminders to "remember his shields" are a great deal like hearing "your breathing is upsetting people. Kindly stop." Like? What do you want him to DO, exactly? Cease existing?

Yes, he COULD be shielding better. If you met him at WHERE HE IS. Not continued to try and make him conform to a mold he'll forever be too big to fit. He's not an IDIOT. He is AWARE that babies are hypersensitive to the Force, since they are so new and rely off it for basicly everything. He KNOWS he's overwhelming to even ADULTS sometimes.

Obi-Wan can handle him because HIS shields are basicly High Council levels. He could TEACH classes to knights and masters. Everyone else? They feel a bit... projected at. It's RUDE™. Very "getting all up in my personal space and shouting". you know?

Babies can't handle that!

That UPSETS babies! Younglings too, they just don't have the words for it.

Knight Skywalker is just "So Much". It's upsetting and alienating. Force Sensitives are basicly MADE to connect to each other. Are THE most social of their various personality types, races, and various cultures. It's just?? A "ducks trying to raise a swan" scenario.

Anikin has subtly different needs. Is gonna grow to be bigger then them. What works for THEM may very well be wildly unnatural for HIM and that's OKAY. Neither of them is wrong! The PROBLEM here? Is rigidity. Refusal to meet a youngling where they ARE, out of fear of change. Clinging to tradition rather then ADMIT to ignorance... thus? Never treating that ignorance with the healing hands of Knowledge, as is the Jedi WAY.

The Sith have been at work for a long, long time.

But OC does not have to play part in their games. Bow to their rules. To hell with tradition and fear. Paths upon paths that MAY, conceivably, lead to SOMEWHERE. Did you not SAY, Master Yoda? That the Future is always in motion? Attachments may lead to darkness, but they also lead to light. They LEAD to everything. Because they are part of being ALIVE.

OBSESSION and CONTROL are the Darkside. But mere Emotions are the flowing of tides.

She prescribes hugs.

An adorable youngling, herself of course, following Skywalker around the Temple like a duckling and flopping against him every chance she gets. Asking bright eyed youngling questions of her Super Cool Esteemed Knight Elder that he'll have to look up. Or look up WITH her. Sometimes indulgent listen to HER ramble about.

Or? If he's sand blasting the soul of everyone around him? Welp, time to brace for it! Once more into the breach! She is small and squishy. Warm, huggable, and filled with light. Can hum and hug his head. Smell like Baby. Itty bitty lil light and heart beat and body. Not a threat. Cares about him. Fellow Jedi. Safe safe safe.... calm...

Does she feel a bit... rubbed raw? Soul wise, afterwards? Fuck yeah. Ouch, her everything stings. But that's not his fault. AND! He's getting better.

QUICKLY.

Cause there's nothing QUITE like an adorable wittle baby child, whom you BLASTED IN THE SOUL FACE with abrasive anger-sand hard enough to probably scour them to the BONES, wincing but smiling up at you and asking if you feel better now... to make you just a LIL bit "fuck asking Master's, I'm gonna tear the Archives apart until I can solve this on my own" hysterical. Ha ha....

Oh Force he MAIMED A CHILD! (Soul bruised, at BEST. And not intentionally.) (THATS NOT BETTEEEEEER!!! *hysterics in Skywalker*) Padme! Put me down like THE ANIMAL I'VE BECOME! AaaaaaAAAAAAA-!!! (He says, showing up at a senators apartment, holding a youngling she's never met like a teddybear. The MAN SHE MARRIED, everybody! He's so lucky she loves him. Ffs Ani.)

But like?? Shielding? Leads to SO MUCH better emotional regulation and stability? Plus an immediately increase difficulty scale for Certain Sith Lord's.

Especially! If the technique Anikin has to use? Is OLD AS FUCK. Like... Pre-Rebulic old. Considered a wildly overly complex and exhausting way to Shield for most people who just don't have the midi-chlorians count to NEED it.

A case of "the side effect of THIS medicine can actually address THAT crippling symptom!? Huh." So Anikin? Starts? INTENTIONALLY Projecting. Yeah... wild right? After so long trying NOT too! He starts learning to? PROJECT a "bubble" into the Force around him.

So that he'll only sense himself. So he can FOCUS on projecting and politely not project AT people. Kinda like elevator music where normally there is just nature noises. Very clearly artificially made? But not? "Every thought you have shouted at me" intrusive.

Kinda pleasant actually! Especially here on Coruscant. Where everything is so discordant and murky. Suddenly? There's this walking Air Filter/Lovely Ambiant Noise Machine walking around and???

Anikin has NEVER been so popular?? O:

Padme. Padme! The Crechelings FELL ASLEEP ON ME! Just?? Clambered RIGHT on up, dumped themselves in my lap, and fell asleep! Everyone wants to meditate near me! There were ARGUMENTS! Obi-Wan! OBI-WAN feel asleep on me the other day! Just?? Slumped over against my shoulder and started to CUDDLE!!! (/ T^T)/ hold me Padme! Everything is Beautiful and nothing hurts! I should have done this YEARS ago!

Also! Did you know it's Totally Cool for us to get married? We just have to get JEDI married! Wanna help me lie to the council? (Totally, you even got to ask?) O/ \O *highfive!*

Palpatine would HATE it. Fucking LOATH it. But the thing is? You can plan for actors on the stage, plan approximately for players to come, but? NO ONE can plan for a SI-OC. And even then? Any plan accounting for what children will do? Usually discounts how intelligent truely really are.

The Sith Did Not PLAN for "smart baby knows what you are up too and decides to stop you".

Because WHO WOULD PLAN FOR THAT?

Well....? Maybe don't be SUCH a dick? That the Actual Force Itself decides to fuck with your plans by introducing Chaotic elements? Ever thought of THAT??? Anyway... THAT is how the Big MEAN Sith Lord was unveiled targeting an INNOCENT and TOTALLY not provoking him, itty bitty child! Oh no! Anikin! Save meeeee! The scary bad man wants to HURT ME!

A CHILD! Who you gonna pick? Me, the crying lil girl you basicly adopted with your wife, or the man you THOUGHT was you friend... before he ATTACKED A CHILD! With a RED LIGHTSABER! And lightning! Someone's throwing around mention of SLAVE CHIPS and he's suggestinghe can "save you wife"!!!

Real CONVENIENT. Since Anikin's wife is both completely FINE and under the care of Jedi healers, yet he's been having MYSTERIOUS DREAMS about her DYING HORRIBLY. Dreams that Don't Feel Right. Like they DONT come from his head! So? How do YOU know about those dreams, HUH? SHEEV??

*Chosen One INTENSIFIES*

#minji's writing #star wars #star wars oc

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kizzer55555 · 7 months ago

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Ultimate Escape Room

Sam, Danny, and Tucker are bored. Nothing seems to be a challenge anymore. Summer vacation is coming up but they can’t agree on anything . Themepark? What’s a better roller coaster than Jack driving? Scary movie? I’m sorry, nothing beats Fright Knight’s nightmare realm. Bungie jumping? Danny can fly. Then Tucker, who’s been typing on his computer, asks “what about an escape room?”. The others are about to shut the idea down because seriously? Easy. But Tucker just grins and shows them his computer screen.

“Ever heard of Arkham?”

Danny and Sam lean over to read the description and all three turn to each other and grin.

Now, what’s the fastest way to get into Arkham?

…

So the chaos trio do ✨something✨ that gets them locked up in Arkham and then try to escape and they keep. You know, normal stuff for Arkham inmates. Except this trio? Keep. Getting. Out. Of. Their. Cells. So they are just passing by locked up rogues and waving at them as an army of prison guards chase after them. Sure they could get out the easy way (Aka powers) but no, this is a challenge so they have the normal rules of an escape room. Aka, you can’t break anything and an extra rule where if a guard catches you, then you can’t fight back (also, no one can get hurt). (They make fake identities and everything). So they need to go through the whole process. Figure out how to unlock cuffs. Could be learning to pick a lock with a spoon/stick/long nails. Then find the keys. Possibly having to crawl through vents to get in the warden’s office. Or making deals with prison inmates. Like, I’ll get this for you if you give me that (however they extract a promise that the rogue can’t kill anyone with whatever they help them with.) So they are in prison literally doing errands like find freeze’s weapons in exchange for him telling them the passcode to the gate or something. Or getting Waylon some meat from the cafeteria and he’ll break the lock on this movable vault that has materials to make smoke bombs they can use to distract the front guards.

These kids are just going wild and it gets to the point where Arkham has to call the bats (like no Waylon, we won’t escape with you, we have to do it without breaking any walls!) So literally the only reason they are not escaping is because they want to do it ‘right’. But they are also aiding other rogues in their escape (at least certain ones. They aren’t helping joker no matter what he offers)

It’s driving the bats mad. They have vigilantes stationed in each hall, in multiple monitor rooms.

They aren’t even using anything clever to block the cameras. They’re using mirrors. Mirrors! Where did they even get so many handheld mirrors!

They are running circles around the bats. The escaped rogues literally aren’t doing anything yet because they want to see how the three hellions will escape the entire bat clan. They have bets going. So there is a temporary truce.

Just imagine the conversations/interrogations the bats will have with trio, trying to figure out their master plan - because surely there's something more going on than three chaos young adults playing a game, right?

They trio each have a different story. And they are so passionate/convincing actors that no one knows which story is real. At least one of them told a sob story with legitimate tears.

Danny: (all mysterious) You shall never know our master plan….until it is too late. And just casually dropping hints that there is something greater or that the bats are playing right into their hands. Even using ridiculous scenarios like yesss the ketchup explosion in the cafeteria….We are one step further….Mwa ha ha! (Rubs his hands together)

Sam: (absolutely distraught with literal tears running down her face and ruining her mascara.) There is a terrible organization holding their parents hostage. They had been framed and forced to be in Arkham. If they don’t do exactly as they are told, their loved ones are in danger! Should we stay? Should we escape and help them!? No one will believe us and what if we make things worse? We don’t know what to do!

Tucker: (takes a long slurp of a smoothie. Where he got one? No one knows). Yeah we were bored and had nothing better to do than mess with you guys. (Sluuuuurp).

The bats are trying to figure it out. Is the black haired guy telling the truth and the other two are just manipulating them? Is it the girl and the others are only following the plot of the organization? IS THE BARET KID RIGHT AND THEY’RE JUST MESSING WITH US!? WHICH STORY IS IT!?

Under normal circumstances, Sam wouldn’t give a sob story because It’s not really her vibe. But Sam has the opportunity to pull one over on a bat. Do you honestly think she won’t take a chance to mess with them? Also, Dick is the one who is interrogating Sam.

He’s crying too by the end of the story.

Poor guy, Sam will play his heart like a fiddle.

Also, their fake identities are Jordan for Danny. Mortica for Sam (or Macey for short) and Phineas for Tucker. The fact that they are using fake identities is the only thing they all agree on in the interview. But the bats find nothing on them and the identities are so realistic they wonder if they are even fake at all. If the three are faking fake IDs to throw them off their tail from looking deeper. Apparently their ‘parents’ having a missing persons report.

Damian is interrogating Danny. It’s just so easy to rile him up and get under his skin. It’s absolute drama in that interrogation room.

Danny: ah yessss. Master plan.

Damian: you shall never succeed! Justice shall prevail evil scum!

And Duke is interrogating Tucker. He just…has no idea how to respond to this. He wasn’t trained for this response. Hostile, yes. Mysterious, yes. Scared, yes. Civilian, yes. Even Flirtatious! YES! But not…this. What does he do? should he take out his note cards?

Also, I’m adding a mix of home alone elements to this. They have to get past the bats somehow and it can’t be lethal. Poor Jason and Steph who are patrolling the halls fall victim to most of this.

At one point, both of them are tied up together and hanging from the ceiling. While the trio just casually walk by under them.

It’s dental floss. Really strong dental floss.

Then the bats start taking sides.

Jason? once he hears Sam's story, he's immediately willing to help her. He and Dick are searching for that missing person's report almost religiously.

Tim believes Danny's story. part of it is because it makes the most sense, and the other part is that he's slightly biased from becoming an evil megalomaniac in every timeline he's seen so he's subconsciously trying to stop that from happening here.

Cass believes Tucker because come on, it's Cass.

Steph is siding with Tim because her father was cluemaster so same reasons.

Bruce is trying to fact check all of them and is failing desperately.

Sam added some ‘clues’ in her interrogation and basically threw the GIW under the bus as the organization. So the bats do find a shady organization but so far no missing persons so the other bats still don’t know if what Sam is saying is true or not while Dick takes this as absolute proof and Jason feels like it doesn’t matter if she’s telling the truth at this point. It’s a corrupt organization. So he’ll still blow it up.

I think in this AU, the GIW isn’t a threat and more of an annoyance so Sam just plays them up as even worse. Like, she doesn’t say anything untrue just makes it sound worse out of context. Oh yeah, they opened fire on this random kid. (Gregory when they thought he was phantom) Oh yes, they have destroyed Danny’s house at one point. (The prank war with Vlad) Yes, the have an unhealthy obsession with dissecting people. (Even though they are too incompetent to actually catch anyone).

So again, they don’t know if Sam is telling the truth of the organization or they just used this random organization to draw their attention away from the three’s plans (as Danny implied). Possibly an enemy organization or a competitor.

I know everyone makes the GIW a big threat but I decided to change it up. They aren’t a threat but still get obliterated by a pissed off Red Hood and Nightwing.

And that’s another reason why Sam gives the sob story. Danny and Tucker are great but they wouldn’t actually sick a crime lord on the GIW. Sam? Absolutely would. She does not care what happens to them. They tore up her garden one time with a stray shot. She wants revenge. And sure, she didn’t actually know what would happen to them after the bats find out but she still doesn’t care.

And through all of this, the rogues are sitting back and eating popcorn while Joker screams bloody murder from his cell.

#Dpxdc #dcxdp #Kizzer55555 ideas #Sam Danny and Tucker are chaos gremlins. Correction. BORED chaos gremlins. The most frightening of all.#The GIW are not a threat but Sam still decides to mess with them.#Danny is having too much fun messing with Damian. He wants to see how far he can push the baby bat.#At one point he even sets up a scavenger hunt with ‘clues’ that makes Robin run all around Arkham convinced Danny had placed some kind of #Hidden weapon there. It was a whoopy cushion.#Poor Dick is getting played. He’s trying very hard to calm Damian down because that poor Jordan kid is just trying his best!#He has no Choice!#Jordan is now Damian’s life long nemesis.#Duke and Tucker sitting in a room. Slurping slushees…..awkward silence.#They can hear screams of rage from one room and hysterical sobbing in the other. ‘Phineas’ looks at Signal. “Sup”#The trio home alone the entire prison. Then cut the lights. Everyone is convinced they escaped again and start running around and getting #Caught in traps. Meanwhile. Sam and Tucker just broke into Danny’s cell to play Uno. It was game night! They don’t break out on game night!#By morning the entire prison is filled with shaving cream. Glitter bombs. All of the guards are caught in toilet paper like mummies or #Stuck in the vents. Steph and Tim are somehow caught in a life size Chinese finger trap made of pillowcases. Jason is knocked out by the #Ketchup bombs (curtesy of a favor from condiment king). The monitor room looks like an egg apocalypse. Damian is screaming from where #He got trapped in an empty cell. There is an ominous pole in the courtyard with a decapitated teddy bear head impaled on top.#And batman’s suit has been dyed pink.#Technically the trio COULD walk out of here at this point. But they were having game night! They weren’t even trying this time!#It doesn’t count unless they are trying! So they walked back into their cells and close it on themselves. Danny’s cell is right across from #The still locked up Robin who is glaring MURDER at him.#‘Jordan’ winks.

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megalony · 1 year ago

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Strike Me Down

This is a new Evan Buckley imagine that will have a few follow up parts to. I was in such an angsty, lightning mood, I hope you all like it. Feedback is always lovely.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem@sj-thefanthefan@hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@noonenuts@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii @topguncultleader @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyjen

911 Masterlist

Summary: When a lightning strike puts Evan's life in danger, he has to fight to get back to his family. His wife and boys need him to get better.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Go on then, how mad did you make my sister tonight?"

The grin that broke out on Evan's face made his eyes squint at the corners and the way he curved his lips up in a lopsided look made him look sheepish and guilty. Exactly how Eddie knew he would be feeling right now. They had known each other for closer to two decades now, since they were teenagers.

"Let's just say I might be on the sofa tonight." Evan fixed his helmet on his head and looked up at the truck they were about to climb onto.

He would be in trouble when he got home. His parents had come to town and he was at work.

Evan had run off to work, leaving (Y/n), Maddie and all the kids to deal with their parents and that was no easy task. Without him there, it was up to Maddie to keep the peace and she wasn't so good at that nowadays.

Maddie never used to understand how much their parents grated on Evan when he became a dad. She didn't see the way they would pick at every little thing Evan did and try to burst in and overtake or comment on what he and (Y/n) were doing. It didn't help that they had been very young when they had Theo. But now Maddie and Chimney had Jee, she realised how interferring their parents could get and how hard it could be to keep composed around them.

And here Evan was, hiding out with his work family while his sister, wife and boys all put up with his parents. The only relief was that at the end of the night when Evan went home, his parents would be staying with Maddie while they were in town. There was nowhere in Evan's house for them to stay with three boys in the house and a baby on the way; every room was taken.

A low whistle passed Eddie's lips as he secured his own helmet and waited for Evan to start the climb up the truck. "Very unlucky," He commented quietly, following Evan up onto the roof of the truck so they could get the ladder ready.

"It's not my fault I'm on shift, I didn't know my parents were coming down,"

In Evan's defence, he truly didn't know his parents were coming down until Maddie called and said they were almost in town and he couldn't swap or change his shifts around.

Both Evan's parents and (Y/n) and Eddie's parents had been less than thrilled when at sixteen, the pair of them announced (Y/n) was pregnant. (Y/n) and Eddie had moved from Texas with their parents and sisters when their dad got transferred for a year. Evan had been Eddie's friend first before he fell for (Y/n).

Having a baby changed everything. (Y/n) stayed with Evan when the rest of the family moved back to Texas after her dad's placement was over and that was how she wanted it. Away from an overbearing mother, a distant father and sisters who weren't always kind to her. Eddie was the only one she really missed, even when he came down every other month to visit her and Evan.

So when Eddie finally got out of the army and needed a change, he took the offer of moving to LA to be closer to his little sister and work with his brother in law.

"Alright, go get 'em, cowboy."

A jolt ran down Evan's spine when the safety clip was hooked onto the belt around his torso, pulling him forward a foot or two. His eyes landed on the red cable that reached down to the winch at the bottom of the ladder he was on.

"Will do," Evan gave Eddie a nudge, squinting through the downpour before he turned to face the end of the ladder that needed to be moved a few inches closer.

The ladder was close but not quite close enough for him to make a safe jump or climb over onto the balcony. They had to be at least another five inches closer, Evan wasn't doing any theatrics today like jumping onto a balcony, it would be his luck to go through the floor if he tried.

"Here we go," Evan muttered to himself as he climbed up the ladder. He could feel the rain trickling down the back of his neck and it made him shiver. The rain was so heavy that he couldn't see the end of the ladder and the downpour made his helmet rattle against his ears and droplets dribbled down his eyes and onto his nose.

His lips were drenched, his lashes were fighting off the rain and every inch of his skin was shaking from the low temperature.

"Fucking weather," He finally reached the end of the ladder and took a quick glance around.

There were three families still stuck inside the burning building who needed evacuating and the 221 team were trying to get inside through the lobby and clear the stairwell. Evan needed to go into the apartment through the balcony and help escort the last few people out to safety.

Eddie's voice came through the radio but Evan couldn't work out what he said, there was too much static and the thunder was starting to roll in.

"What?" He pressed his ear to the radio and gave it a whack, curling his upper lip as he waited again for a clearer instruction.

Evan jolted on the ladder, bending his knees and hunkering down when a horrid clap thundered across the sky. He tilted his head back enough for the rain to pour over his eyes and drip down the side of his face, but all he could see were thousands of white droplets cascading down from the heavens. The sky was a misty blue mixed with swirls of black like a canvas with only a few swirls of clouds to be seen through the rain.

Looking up from this angle made the rain seem like it was being sucked up from the ground rather than falling down from the clouds.

"What the Hell is that?" Evan pursed his lips, morphing his smile into a frown as he watched the sky change colours before his eyes and swirl like a tornado was heading their way.

They all heard it too.

The rippling noise that made them feel like they were deep underwater. The sky looked unforgiving, full of darkness without a single glimmer of light to guide them tonight. It made the building look like a beacon in the sheet of blackness, shining a vibrant burgendy with melted orange flames flickering at the sides. Leaking brown ash clouds up into the night sky.

"Guys I don't thi-"

Lightning. It broke through the clouds, a true act of God right before their eyes and Evan saw a pure cast of light break free from the sky that was so bright and pure it was blinding.

How was that possible?

How could the lightning have struck him like that? No one could have planned something like this in a million years. The strike was so precise it was almost legendary.

Eddie had never seen anything so pure yet so horrifying.

Sparks flew out from the end of the ladder like a firework display and rocketed off of Evan's body as he toppled backwards. His broad shoulders smashed into the very edge of the ladder before his weight shifted and he looked like an acrobat flying through the air. His body did a backwards flip, sending his feet over his head while his upper body tumbled down into the open air.

He plummeted down a few feet in mid air before the red cable attached to his waist saved him from a deathly drop down to the concrete.

The blood-red cable hung like a vein in the sky, straining against the edge of the ladder to hold up Evan's weight and keep him suspended in the air.

The buckle clip was holding steady to the harness around his torso which kept him suspended four stories in the air. His legs and arms dangled down, limp and lifeless and his head snapped so far back it was almost touching his broad shoulder blades.

With his head snapped back and the sudden flip in the air, the helmet perched on his head tumbled through the rain and landed with a sickening crack on the road beneath. Splitting the hardened plastic right down the middle.

"Buck!"

"Hen get a gurney, Chimney release the winch." Bobby spoke into the radio just in case his voice couldn't travel through the storm to his team while he stood directly beneath Evan.

Eddie was already halfway up the ladder when they looked ahead into the sky and he fell down, hanging his upper body over the side of the ladder to grab the rope. He couldn't pull him up. Not if he had all the team up there with him. The rope was caught on the ladder and Evan's weight was reaching towards the floor, dragging him back up wasn't an option.

A guttural scream left Eddie's lips as he waved one hand at Chimney to get him to go faster. He threaded the rope between his gloved fingers, easing down his brother in law as if he were a package being delivered from the Gods down to Earth.

"Come on Buck- agh, stay with me."

Bobby stretched his arms high up into the sky like he was giving an offering to God and he watched Chimney rush to his side when Evan was lowered enough to reach. Hen hurried out of an anbulance she had backed as close as she could to the scene and rushed a gurney out towards them.

When Eddie was down with them, they unclipped Evan and eased him down onto the gurney. Being quick to wrench open his jacket and shirt while Eddie's trembling fingers pressed against Evan's neck to try and feel for a pulse.

"Buck… oh God," His skin was cold and lifeless. There was no colour except a pale chalk grey tinge to his skin and there was no heat bubbling to the surface. Eddie waited with his hand against Evan's neck before he moved down to press his palm against Evan's sternum. "I can't find a pulse and he's not breathing!"

"Get the pack."

Hen placed the medic pack down beside Evan's left thigh and opened it up but she stopped when Chimney shook his head and stopped her from opening the defibrilator.

"He's been electrocuted and he's doused in water, a shock will fry his heart, we can't."

Evan had been drenched in ran before he got on the ladder and now his shirt was open, the heavens had poured down on him. He had been given a large shock which had stopped his heart, another one was going to do permanent damage to his heart and if he was wet, it was only going to secure his death.

"Get him in the fucking ambulance and I'll do compressions. Come on, let's go!" Eddie's voice rang out through the rain and the thunder that was bubbling through the sky like it was following them. He would do compressions in the ambulance and keep Evan's heart going but they had to move now. Any longer and CPR wasn't going to do Evan any good.

"Mayday, mayday. This is Captain Nash, we have a firefighter down. Repeat, firefighter down, struck by lightning. I need a team on standby at the nearest hospital."

Hen and Eddie shoved the stretcher into the back of the ambulance and climbed in. Straight away, Eddie knelt up with one knee on the edge of the stretcher to steady himself before he interlocked his fingers and began compressions on Evan's heart.

"Come on Buck, come back. You can't do this to us… think of (Y/n)."

Oh God, what was Eddie going to say to (Y/n)? How was he going to explain this to his youngest sister, the one he held closest to his heart? He couldn't tell her that Evan had died on the job. Evan had to pull through this, there was no way in Hell that Eddie was having that kind of conversation with (Y/n). She had been with Evan since she was sixteen. They had three kids and another on the way; she couldn't lose Evan now.

Chimney and Bobby climbed in the front and started the journey down to the hospital.

"Call Athena."

"What?" Bobby pressed his elbow against the window and smothered his mouth with his fist to stop himself from either screaming, crying or combusting all at once. Why would he call her now? They weren't even at the hospital yet. He wasn't calling anyone until they got Evan inside the hospital and seen by a team of doctors.

"You've just called in a mayday. The chief will be going down to Buck's house to tell (Y/n) what's happened. She's seven months pregnant, do you really want a stranger having that conversation with her? Get Athena down there when they go."

None of the team would be able to get down to Evan's house to talk to (Y/n), they had to stay with him, update the hospital and then talk to the chief to explain the situation. And Chimney could see that Eddie wasn't leaving Evan anytime soon and this was not a conversation he could have over the phone with his sister.

It was custom that the chief of any fire house would go down to talk to family when someone from the station had passed away or was gravely ill. (Y/n) had three kids at home and another on the way, a stranger coming to her door to tell her that her husband had been injured on duty was going to push her over the edge. They needed someone familiar, someone she thought of as family, to be there to give her the news.

Maddie and her parents were at (Y/n)'s house with her at the moment but that didn't change the fact that (Y/n) needed someone she knew to talk her through this.

Evan had to be okay. He had a family at home waiting for him.

***

(Y/n) smiled as she passed by the living room and caught a glimpse of her family huddled up in there. Evan's parents were knelt down on the floor with Jee and Alfie, helping them to build towers out of Lego which they would eventually knock down.

Maddie was sat in the armchair watching with a grin and Theo was slouched on the sofa, intently focused on a movie on tv.

The only one missing was Tommy but the one year old was already in bed, their busy day had knocked him clean out and Jee wouldn't be far behind.

Dinner hadn't gone as horribly as (Y/n) imagined after Evan left for work at lunchtime. His parents didn't overcomplicate things or push their way in and try to take over. His mother didn't make one comment about the food or the house and his father didn't try to over correct the boys and put them in line as he used to say.

They had been more than civil and (Y/n) wasn't sure whether it was because Maddie and Jee were here, or because they wanted to try and keep the peace.

They had never been very involved with any of the boys until covid hit and the world seemed to change. They tried to video call and take an interest in Evan in a way they never did when he was growing up. Now they were making more and more trips down to see all of them and Evan was trying to make things work too. He had spent too long resenting his parents and he didn't want that atmosphere around his kids.

As she passed behind the sofa, (Y/n) leaned down and ruffled Theo's hair, giving him a peck on the head which caused the teen to tilt his head back and grin up at her before she headed into the hallway towards the front door.

Evan must have left his keys again if he was knocking on the door to be let in. This would be the third time this month he had forgot his keys. (Y/n) was going to have to hang them on a chain around his neck at this rate.

"Did you honestly- oh," (Y/n) cut herself off and tightened her hand around the door when she opened it with a wide grin that faded immediately when she realised it wasn't her husband on the other side.

"Mrs Buckley?"

A shiver rattled down (Y/n)'s spine and fizzled through her blood that seemed to stop coursing round her body. Her fingertips went numb, her arms froze clinging to the door and a horrible stone set deep in the pit of her stomach causing the baby to wriggle. She tried to take in a deep breath but it didn't work, she only ended up taking little, shallow wisps of air as her chest rattled like an empty bird cage while her heart felt like it was going to stop completely.

Red and blue lights flashed on the police car parked in front of the drive. No sirens.

Athena was stood on her doorstep, her usual sunglasses no where to be seen, her smile long since gone and replaced with a solemn, if apprehensive look that (Y/n) had never seen before. She had her hands clasped in front of her waist and her lips were pressed into a very thin line.

Next to her was an elderly man (Y/n) had never come across before. He had his cap tucked beneath his arm and his fingers laced together in front of him. His expression was also an apprehensive, uncertain one but his eyes were like melting chocolate that was turning sour.

It was the logo on his blazer that made (Y/n) shake her head.

The chief of the fire station was on her doorstep, along with a seargent.

"Who is it?" Her voice quivered as tears blurred her vision and caused her lower lip to wobble.

They could only be here for Evan or Eddie. (Y/n) was the emergency contact for both of them since their parents were back in Texas. She was next of kin for Eddie, being his closest family member in LA and she was married to Evan which made her his emergency contact instead of Maddie. He hadn't had his parents as an emergency contact since college.

"Evan's been involved in an accident," Athena was using his given name, not his nickname. She had never done that even in an emergency or a serious situation. Something had to have gone gravely wrong for her to be here, calling him that, along with the chief of the department.

(Y/n) didn't know who she was expecting to be told was in the accident but hearing that it was her husband set off a storm raging inside of her. It wouldn't have been better to hear Eddie's name, in fact, it was almost anticipated to hear Evan's name. He was the one who seemed to be in the line of fire more than the rest of them.

Evan was the one who had a fire truck fall on his leg four years ago when Alfie was only three. He was the one caught up in a tsunami when he wasn't even on shift. Evan was always the one who came home injured or who took more trips to the emergency room than everyone else.

Why was it always Evan and no one else who got hurt?

"No," (Y/n) shook her head and leaned her chest and stomach against the door until the rough edge started to press achingly into her skin and cause a rippling pain to surge through her. "Is… Athena, is h-he," She couldn't say it.

This was the one job that Evan seemed to find his soul in. It was his calling, it was woven into his DNA, it was part of who he was and he could never think of doing anything else. And (Y/n) knew that he always took care of himself and that his team looked after him while he was with them. They kept him safe so he could come home to her. She knew her husband and brother were safe in their team, despite the dangerous job they did.

She had never had to think about a day where they never came home to her. (Y/n) never imagined she would get a call like this and she didn't want this to happen to her.

What was she going to do if they told her Evan had died?

How was she going to live without him? She couldn't look after four kids on her own. One of them wasn't even born yet, Evan couldn't die without meeting his newest edition.

"His heart stopped on route to the hospital, as far as we know, they're still working on him."

"I'm afraid you need to be at the hospital, Mrs Buckley," He looked like he was about to say something else, but whatever crossed his mind disappeared almost immediately.

The world felt like it was crumbling around (Y/n). The floor beneath her feet didn't feel so sturdy and safe anymore. The air in her lungs felt like it was being restricted and taken away. Her stomach churned in knots as bile rose in her throat and she was sure she was going to throw up. Her head filled with air, becoming a balloon that was overfull and ready to explode.

(Y/n) didn't feel her knees give way on her or the harsh landing they got when she hit the floor. She couldn't feel the hands grappling at her arms and Athena's touch felt distant and cold against her burning skin when the older woman grabbed her chin and tilted her head up.

She let her forehead fall against the door that was now digging uncomfortably into her protruding stomach and her nails dug into the wood until she started to feel splinters pressing into her skin.

Evan's heart stopped.

What kind of accident had he been in to cause that? What were they doing to him down at the hospital to make sure he didn't leave (Y/n) for good? Would it be too late by the time she got there? Was her husband going to die- again- before she even got to hold his hand or say goodbye?

Was he really going to leave her and their kids forever?

"(Y/n)? (Y/n), honey deep breaths," Athena scraped (Y/n)'s hands away from the door and held them up to her chest, trying to encourage her to copy her breathing and breathe enough so she didn't pass out. "Stay with me-"

Silent tears streamed down (Y/n)'s face but her eyes were void of any emotion and her face turned horrifyingly placid and blank. There was no hatred, pain or anger in her eyes. Her lips weren't in a frown or screaming in agony. Her lips were in a thin line, her eyes were half-lidded and her head was tilted against the door like she was in a trance.

"Oh my God, what's happened?!"

She didn't feel Maddie kneel down beside her or her hand on her back as Maddie's other hand grabbed her arm. (Y/n) didn't even hear Athena trying to explain the situation to Maddie; her ears were full of static that was sending her head into a frenzy.

"No, oh no, mum!" Maddie pulled (Y/n) off the door and into her chest while she turned her head, begging for her mother to come through.

She needed her mum to watch all four kids so she and (Y/n) could go down to the hospital. They needed to be with Evan and the kids couldn't know what had happened until they were certain what was going on with Evan. They had to leave now before his state deteriorated.

Before Maddie had explained the situation to her mother, (Y/n) suddenly tore out of her arms.

Her hands pressed to the floor, then to Athena's shoulder as she scrambled up on her numb, jelly legs and pushed past the chief. Her body wobbled as she moved down the first two steps and she could see the world tilting at an angle, sending her stumbling to the right until Athena was suddenly at her side. Athena's arms bound around her waist and gripped her arm, hushing her as she steadied her on her feet while a quiet, unsettling sound passed (Y/n)'s lips.

Maddie grabbed her bag and (Y/n)'s and slung them over her shoulder as she tossed hurried exchanges of her shoulder with her mum. She ran out the door and reached for (Y/n)'s other side to stop her from collapsing in the driveway.

"I- I need to see him. I need him."

Suddenly it didn't matter anymore that he had gone on shift and left her alone to defend herself against his parents. It didn't matter that Theo and Alfie were going to panic that she had left them without even saying a word. It didn't matter that they were going to be upset about being left with their grandparents, probably all night long.

All that mattered was (Y/n) getting to her husband before something else happened to him.

She prayed she wasn't going to be too late.

***

"I swear if you tell me to calm down," (Y/n) wrenched her arm away from her brother and turned her back to him.

Her arms cocooned to her chest, resting over her stomach while she brought a hand to her mouth and bit down on her nails that had been all but chewed down during the night. Even the skin around her thumbs was starting to swell and become sore from anxious biting.

"Stop fighting me and sit down before you hurt yourself."

She wanted to shrug off Eddie's touch but she didn't have it in herself to fight him anymore. She let his hands curl around her shoulders and loosened up when he guided her towards the chairs. Her body slumped down into a seat and her head fell down into her hands as Eddie crashed down into the chair next to her like a tidal wave.

"When Maddie gets here I'm taking you home."

"No you're not."

"(Y/n), please don't do this now." Eddie tried in vain to reach across and take her hand but she wouldn't let him. Her hands stayed rubbing over her face until it felt like her skin was going to peel off like a face mask. Her nails scratched into her scalp and her fingers moved to knot through her hair and brush the loose strands out of her face.

"I'm not leaving him Eddie, I can't." How could she go home and leave Evan here? How could she walk away, even for an hour, and know her husband was laid up in a coma? The first twenty four hours were crucial and (Y/n) had to stay here and wait them out because if something changed or happened and she wasn't here, she would never forgive herself.

"You think he's gonna know if you go home and rest for just an hour? That's all I'm asking, an hour to get something to eat and take a break."

"It's not about him knowing if I've gone, it's about waiting in case he gets worse Eddie-"

"And what about you? Buck would lose his shit if he saw you like this and you know it. And the boys? They won't last much longer with his parents, you need to talk to them and explain what's going on. They need to see you."

(Y/n) had spent the night sitting in the chair at Evan's bedside.

Eddie had stayed in the corner of the room while Bobby, Hen and Athena filtered in and out every now and then to check on them. Maddie stayed for most of the night before going home to see the kids and talk to Chimney. No one knew what to do next or how things were going to play out.

(Y/n) didn't want to leave. She knew she needed to go home to the boys, all three of them needed one parent there to explain things and calm them down and make sure they were alright. But it was so hard to think about going home and having the boys all have meltdowns and cry in confusion when (Y/n) knew she would be leaving her heart at the hospital with Evan.

She wanted to spend every second sat at Evan's bedside and go home to the boys when he woke up and she knew he was okay.

"What do I tell them?"

A tidal wave blocked up behind (Y/n)'s eyes and a lump formed in her throat at the thought of going home.

Home wasn't the same when Evan wasn't there but now he would be gone for a different reason and they didn't know if he was ever coming back.

Theo was the only one who would understand. He was fourteen, he was the one (Y/n) would be able to talk to and explain the situation fully and have him understand. But it was going to rock his world and panic him in a way he had never felt before. Alfie was seven, he would understand his dad had been in an accident but they couldn't explain life support or a coma to him. And Tommy was one, he wasn't going to understand anything except his parents weren't with him right now.

"We'll figure that out when we go home," Reaching across, Eddie curved his arm around (Y/n)'s shoulders and reeled her into his chest. His lips pressed to the top of her head and he sighed into her hair, trying not to burst into tears again.

They both had to go home to their kids. Their Abuela had taken Chris over to (Y/n)'s house where Chimney and Evan's parents had watched over the kids for the night until Maddie headed back to see them. Things had to be explained to all the boys and child care needed to be sorted before they came back for another long haul of sitting silently in Evan's room.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

"Mum!"

(Y/n)'s head bolted up from Eddie's chest and she leaned around him, fright filling her eyes when her eldest son's voice hit her ears. She could feel Eddie's hand tightening on her shoulder and he kissed the back of her head before he turned to see his nephew.

Why was he here?

Maddie said she was coming down to sit with Evan so they could swap and (Y/n) and Eddie could go home to the boys. It had taken all Eddie's strength to get his sister to leave Evan's side and come down to the waiting room and he could see it had unsettled her and made her feel worse.

She had been awake for over twenty four hours. (Y/n) had spoken to numerous doctors, pushed past nurses and made her spot next to Evan's beside like a vigil. She hadn't moved all night. She ate nothing, drank nothing, had no sleep and she was running on fumes but felt like she could easily carry on this way for days, weeks, if she had to. She just wanted to be beside Evan.

"Baby," (Y/n)'s voice rattled as she pushed up to unsteady feet and held her arms out for Theo.

The eldest bolted over to her and knocked her back with his force until Eddie grabbed her waist to steady them both. His arms deadlocked around his mum's neck and he buried his face in her chest, holding her so tightly she had to bite her lip to supress a groan.

"Why did you bring him?" Eddie curled a hand into Theo's sandy curls that just made him look the spitting image of Evan as a teen. He kissed his nephew's head but his dark eyes locked with Maddie.

What was she thinking? Why had she brought him down here when they were coming home to see the boys?

"I wanna see dad."

(Y/n)'s shoulders slumped and she pulled back an inch, moving her hands to cup Theo's face and rest their foreheads together. Her lips tried to form a smile but all she could do was quiver and let fresh tears fall as Theo clung to her wrists like he was about to snap them.

"Absolutely not. You're not going in there- they don't let kids in the ICU, you're coming home with us." Eddie's hands clamped down on his hips as his chest tensed and strained against his shirt.

That was not a sight he wanted his nephew to see.

He thought of his dad as his hero. He loved seeing Evan on tv and watching him go out in uniform and see him put others first to look after everyone he could. Theo didn't need that image to change and see his dad laid up with tubes and wires in his skin and see the markings on his body. He shouldn't see his dad fighting for his life, unable to breathe on his own.

"Baby, he's not well and he's asleep. He won't be able to see or talk to you,"

"No, no I need to see him. I want my dad let me see him!"

Theo let go of his mum when she shook her head and turned away. She wasn't up for a debate or an argument and he could see in her eyes that if he pushed, he would win her over. (Y/n) knew her son. Seeing Evan wasn't something he should have to bear witness to, but if he was adamant, (Y/n) knew Theo could handle seeing Evan like that. It might do Evan some good if he could somehow hear his son talk to him.

He turned to his uncle, the only one he had to win over. When Maddie said she was going to the hospital, Theo begged her to take him. He wouldn't take no for an answer and she explained some of the situation in the car. He had to see his dad and make sure he was alive. He had to tell his dad to come back to them and make him see how important it was that he get better.

"He can handle this," Maddie held her bag in her hands that were tightly clasped in front of her.

"I saw dad when he shattered his leg-"

"Yeah, because he wasn't in the ICU he was awake and responsive."

"He's my dad and I wanna see him! Let me see him let me in! I'm not leaving until you take me to him! Dad!"

(Y/n) curved her arms back around her middle like she was trying to give herself a comforting hug but it didn't help when all she wished was that it was Evan holding her in his arms. Her lips rolled together and she tensed beside her brother when Theo started to lash out.

The teen balled his hands up into fists, twitched the end of his nose and curled his upper lip in an expression that mimicked Evan and made (Y/n) shudder. When he started to bash his fists into Eddie's chest, Eddie tilted his head back and sighed through gritted teeth, tensing his body as he tried to remain calm, but it was proving hard.

He let Theo unleash his anger and rage but when he screamed into his chest, Eddie was done.

His large hands enclosed around his nephew's wrists and he yanked his arms roughly until they were pinned up into Eddie's chest, leaving him unable to fight or pull away. Panic rolled through Theo in waves when his uncle leaned over him, standing so close that their breathing patterns started to match, their foreheads were touching and their noses were less than an inch apart.

The look in Eddie's eyes was maddening. Theo had never seen anything like it before.

"Calm. Down."

The unspoken rule suddenly hung in the tense atmosphere around them and seemed to dawn on Theo. When his dad was away or indesposed, his uncle was in charge. When Evan was in the hospital for his operations on his leg, (Y/n) had split her time between being with the kids and being at the hospital with Evan. Eddie stepped in to help with the kids and they all understood that what he said goes when Evan was away.

The same went for Chris when Eddie had been shot on the job or when he wasn't well and Evan was the one to look after him.

"You want to be a grown up? Fine, I'll treat you like one. If you want to go in there, you stop throwing a tantrum at me and your mum right now."

"Y-you'll take me to him?" Theo's chest heaved as he looked between his mum and uncle, unsure if this was a ploy to get him to calm down or if they were being serious. He knew he had won Maddie over in the car and he could see his mum was too fragile to argue with him which meant if he asked, she would say yes. Eddie was the one to please here.

"You clearly think you're grown up enough to handle this situation. So tell me if you can. Tell me you can handle seeing him laid in bed with a tube forced down his throat and a machine breathing for him and controlling his heart."

Eddie's arms folded over his chest as he leaned back and rose one brow, keeping a plain, expressionless face that masked his pain and grief far too well.

"Can you sit there and watch a machine pump his chest and one feed him? Your dad is in a coma, his heart and lungs were shocked. He won't move, he won't twitch or open his eyes and he won't respond to you or touch you or acknowledge you in any way. We don't know if he would be able to hear you. Can you handle that?"

Theo needed to know that this wasn't going to be like last time.

When Evan had his multiple operations on his leg, he had been laid up in bed chatting and laughing. He had his leg in a cast or elevated in a sling at the end of the bed. He was talking, moving, eating and looking awake and alert. Theo had seen the nurses repeatedly come into the room to tell Evan he couldn't get out of bed, not even for the bathroom. He watched them push him back into bed and he saw his mum sternly tell Evan that she was leaving if he played up the doctors and nurses.

This wasn't going to be the same. This time, Evan would be laid down, motionless and unresponsive. He wouldn't speak, he wouldn't blink or open his eyes or move his arm or twitch his hand when Theo went to hold him. He wouldn't talk, he wouldn't be breathing. There would be a large plastic tube taped into his mouth and down his throat that would automatically pump his lungs and cause his chest to rise and fall.

There would be a feeding tube in his stomach, IVs taped into his wrists and hands. Monitors glued to his chest, clips on his fingers to monitor his heartbeat.

No matter what Theo said or did, his dad wasn't going to do anything and there was no guarantee that Evan would hear anything they said to him. If he woke up, he might have no knowledge of Theo visiting him.

It was a lot for an adult to take, let alone someone of Theo's age.

"Can I cry?"

Theo's response sent a shockwave through Eddie and made him take a step forward when all he wanted to do was retreat into a cave and hide away until this was all over.

"What do you think we've been doing?" Eddie motioned to his face that he knew was sore, reddened and puffy from the amount of tears he had shed. When he reached forward and curled his arms around Theo, he felt his nephew's fingers digging bruisingly into his back. "Of course you can cry," He whispered quietly before he kissed the top of Theo's sandy hair.

"I wanna see my dad," His voice was calmer, more stoic and when he looked up at Eddie, he tried to hold his breath and show he was doing his best to be calm.

"It's a good job you don't look your age," Eddie curved his arm around Theo's shoulders, wedging his nephew between him and (Y/n) as Maddie moved to lead the way and make sure no nurses were lurking around. Theo could easily pass for sixteen or eighteen at a push. He was skinny and frail but he was tall and with his dad's bone structure, he gained a few years.

(Y/n) reached down and tangled her fingers with Theo's, pulling his hand up to kiss it as they headed down to the ICU.

They were lucky no nurses were doing their rounds, they got straight down to Evan's room without having to hide Theo or rush him around a bend to stop from getting kicked out. They would start asking questions if they saw Theo down here and at the moment, the staff were leaving them alone. The nurses didn't question the amount of people flocking in and out of Evan's room or the people crying and arguing and storming down the corridors.

(Y/n) kept tight hold of Theo's hand and moved her right hand to rest on his shoulder. She kissed the side of his head, feeling Eddie squeeze him into his side when they walked through the door.

Theo's breathing seemed to stop and the smallest, hushed whimper burned at the back of his throat when he looked over at the bed.

That didn't look like his dad.

He had seen his dad asleep countless times. He saw his dad fall asleep on the sofa, on the edge of his bed with one arm and a leg hanging towards the floor. Once when (Y/n) had been sick and fell asleep on the sofa, in too much pain for Evan to carry her upstairs, Theo woke in the morning to find his dad asleep on the rug beneath the sofa so he could still stay with (Y/n).

This was different. His dad was laid on his back, slightly propped up at an angle, as still as a frozen lake in winter.

There was a horrid, bubbling tube down his throat and pinned in place between his lips, connected to the ventilator, something Theo had never seen before. He didn't like the automatic, uneasy way it pushed his dad's chest to rise and fall in a horridly fluid motion.

His hair was curled up at odd angles, needing to be brushed. His skin was pale without a trace of his usual blush or baby pink patches. Every part of his dad was still when his dad was usually such a hyperactive person. Theo knew his dad would twitch and tap and rattle in his sleep, he couldn't even lie still when he was in bed. Being like this was unnatural for him.

"Come sit down,"

(Y/n) moved to the seat she had been in all night that was still warm from earlier. Her body easily slotted into place in the blue foam chair and she moved to curl both her hands around Evan's right hand. She brought his hand to her lips, kissing around the IV bandaged in place and she traced her fingertips up and down his arm, keeping his hand pressed to her cheek.

While Maddie sat in the seat on the other side of the bed, Eddie held Theo's shoulder and walked with him to stand beside (Y/n). He switched his hand to hold (Y/n)'s shoulder and lean into her while they let Theo decide what he wanted to do and if he wanted to say something.

After a moment of deliberation, Theo moved to sit down on the edge of the bed, taking a closer inspection of his dad.

"What's that?" He didn't know whether touching his dad would make him feel better or worse. Looking at his dad, it was as if he was a wax model and touching him would prove he wasn't real. But when Theo leaned forward and pulled the collar of his dad's gown down, he was surprised to feel warm skin beneath his touch.

"He was on the ladder when the lightning struck… it went down his arm and into his chest. That's why he isn't breathing on his own yet, it shocked his system."

Red streaks had swelled up on his right arm, gone all the way over his shoulder and down over his upper chest towards his sternum.

"How long will he be like this?"

When Theo reached out to touch Evan's arm, (Y/n) gently held Evan's hand out towards her son. He needed the comfort more than her, she had been sat clinging to Evan all night. It was Theo's turn to try and comfort his dad and calm himself down too.

"A few days at least, we're not sure yet."

"And you said he can't hear us?" Theo held his dad's hand and tried to rub his arm, being careful of the wires all around him. He had wires beneath the bedding, taped up his arm, on his chest and towards his throat. He looked more like a robot than a human.

"He might, some people in comas can still hear their surroundings and they say talking helps. You know your dad doesn't like silence," Maddie looked fondly at her brother before she looked back at her nephew. If Evan could hear them, he would need them to chat his ear off. Silence was something he hated.

A sudden wave of fear and nostalgia washed over Theo all at once and before he could stop himself, he moved around. He coiled his legs up onto the bed, brought his knees towards his stomach and laid on his left side with his back up against his dad's side. He curled his hands around his dad's arm that he pressed into his chest and laid his head on his dad's shoulder, feeling like he was a toddler sneaking into his parent's room at night.

"Please wake up soon," Theo whispered the words into his dad's arm before he closed his eyes and nuzzled his face into his arm, trying to pretend they were back at home. That this was just Theo waking from a nightmare and staying the night in their room.

His dad was just asleep. There were no wires or tubes or breathing machines beeping constantly in the background. They were just sleeping.

"I'm trying!"

Evan's hands curled into fists and slammed into the window so hard that if this had been the real world and not his consciousness, the glass would have shattered and his knuckles would have split open.

"Buddy I- I'm trying!" His forehead bashed into the window separating him from his family.

Why was he here? Why was he trapped behind a pane of glass like his life was a tv show he was watching? He didn't want to be in this world. Evan didn't want to be in a world where his parents were oddly affectionate towards him and he didn't meet (Y/n) until their twenties and they didn't have any of the boys. He wanted to be back there with his real family that needed him.

"I'm still here! I'm still. Fucking. Here!"

#buck imagine #buck x reader #maddie buckley #evan buckley #evan buckley imagine #evan buckley x reader #imagine #911 imagine #pregnant! reader #pregnancy #eddie diaz imagine

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a-sad-mage · 3 months ago

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It will never not be upsetting yet hilarious to me that Eli Shane is 15.

I mean, seriously, this kid spends an entire year, just fighting in Slugterra, he's been betrayed on several occasions, like he straight up let's Twist and Tad in his home, calls them his friends and they stab him in the back.

Is either being compared to his dad, or blamed for things his dad did.

Is probably dealing with the dilemma that his father is a murderer, as we still don't know what exactly happened to Tom Por or if Will Shane actually killed him.

Saw his dad tackle Blakk and the Goon into that Terra portal thing, after having him back for probably less than an hour.

Burpy, his best friend, almost died.

Was under the Goons influence and hurt in friends, probably causing some self-loathing.

Eli Shane is a kid, barley a teenager. He is put into an adults world, to be the symbol of hope, and the figure to rally behind.

Eli Shane is a kid, barley a teenager. He should not have to run head first into danger just to inspire others to fight for what's right.

I get having a figure that can be seen as pillar of strength can rally people to do the impossible, but why does that figure have to be Eli?

Why must it be a Shane?

But of the other foot,

This 15 year old kid is doing what should have been done since his father's absence was noticed.

He makes bad puns, intentionally antagonizes people he knows could crush him, and once tricked Nacho into taking a fake map that had a crude picture of Nacho himself on it.

Eli is such a good boi, it's not funny.

He reprimanded a group of slug hunters then they were looking for the Enigmo Slug.

To Sargeant Slugs face, tells him that his(Eli's) Slugs won't be partaking in the 'training' and he's just there for the pool. To freaking freeload. And yeah, Pronto paid the Club Slug fees already, but it has to sting knowing you have a Shane in your establishment, but there only there because they kinda had no choice and for your waterslide. Like imagine the profits that would bring in having a local celebrity using what you advertised.

Pranks is team in Deadweed in the most hilarious way. Before getting them inadvertently trapped like an idiot.

Being a smug little flopper as his Slugs come crashing in on a humongous elephant mecha, effectively convincing everyone his Slugs know how to drive.

Just the last few minutes of Roboslugs

"You thought we were building a robot to beat yours, in forty-five minutes?!"

[Sounds of Breaking Glass]

"How dumb do you think we are? We were just building a can opener!"

[Hops into Quentins mech, hopefully not getting his hands cut on broken glass]

"And you were cocky enough to let me get close enough to do this!"

[Drops a metric crap load of slugs on the guy with molluscophobia]

Eli Shane is many things, but most importantly, he is a 15 year old boy just trying his best. And when his best isn't enough, his friends are there to back him every step of the way.

I also like to think Eli would like Pikmin.

#eli shane #slugterra #bajoterra #slugterra eli #we appreciate eli shane in this house #he is a menace #and as we all know eli is an arsonist #clearly #a rant i guess #a minor rant #a rant

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wixenburr · 8 months ago

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Saw some ppl talking about Reverse Robins and i had thoughts

Talking abt u guys @eldritchdreamss @brucewaynehater101

Why kill Tim when you could kill baby Jason? What I want is for all of them to keep their own backstories and personalities (Developed in line with the story of course) So ofc i had to write a 1,000 word brainrot abt it.

(Also i'll only be going over the main 4 batbros for now i will add more later but these guys are the ones im most passionate about so here we go)

Damian

Let Damian come in, desperate to be of use and be worthy of his father, only for a softer, less jaded bruce (since jason hasnt died yet) to help him open up his heart and let him act as a kid. With no competition for so long, I imagine he and Bruce get along very well while he works with him. Yeah, they need to work on the no killing deal and Damian's... i guess impulse control? But i think it would be easier with very intensely focused reparenting; no distractions of other kids you know? No favoring or anything.

I see Damian growing up as a stoic, jaded adult. He's had a rough life. Maybe he sticks with the vigilante business. but I really love headcanons where he gets out of it, and focuses on something calmer, like his art. (I do appreciate and love the veterinarian Damian AUs, but im going for FULL calmness, you know? And doctor/vet work is Not calm lol)

So yeah, maybe he grows a real passion for heroism, maybe he doesn't? Maybe he goes on to be an artist and that's just what he does. Bro is ready to settle down as a scarred, veteran trophy husband and i adore him for that.

(Sorry lol i just love Damian and i love the idea of him growing out of both of his parent's legacies. Let him live his own life!!! He fights so so hard for at least 15 years. ALL 15 years of his life. He deserves to have some peace.)

Tim

Tim i think would need a much different story to join the Batfam. He still starts out as a stalker who follows batman and. . . . . . . Redimar (meaning Redemption iykyk (I just spend 17min researching names rip)) at night, takes photos, etc... Since Damian doesn't die, maybe he finds Tim? and like, tim is like 11 and Damian is 17 or 18. He's started going out as Redimar less and less, not that B really minds? In fact hes probably happy for his son so...

But then Damian finds Tim, and now he has to keep going out because he can't let this kid get himself killed like this. He would hold himself accountable since hes the only reason Tim keeps going out so much- also i imagine Tim follows Redimar more than Batman.

Cue a classic Tim Joining The Batfam plotline. They get to know each other better, get a grasp on Tim's situation, Damian finally introduces Tim to Bruce... (Probably something like Dami: "Father, this is my new brother. Timothy, say hello to Father," Tim: "Hello, Father," Dami: "Perfect." Bruce: "*falls off the batchair*)

Anyway, so, Tim ends up kinda just merging with the Waynes. They start training him, its all good and nice, and Tim makes his own little hero team unlike Damian, which is actually pretty interesting here; its Tim who made the first young hero team. Damian only ever had Jon (Superboy 1 in this!!) and he finds Young Just Us and becomes a great leader and its all fine and dandy.

Tim and Damian get along well. Damian is the sage older brother whos kinda distant, but only because he has such high emotional walls (but secretly a softy). He is very much like Bruce- nope, nevermind, hes definitely worse than Bruce in this AU, since Bruce is depicted as being much more agreeable before Jason's death, you know? So yeah, Damian is the emotionally constipated bitch in the fam and we love him for that. But hey!! Tim does manage to get through his walls! And Bruce does sometimes too!! (Tho i imagine Bruce and Damian's relationship to be very.. idk let me try to expalain. Dami: "Father." Bruce: "Son :)" Dami: "Tt." Bruce: *nods* "Hrn." Dami: "Hmph." Bruce: "Hm.") DO U PICK UP WHAT IM PUTTING DOWN--- lmfao. They hardly need words.

Tim ends up growing up very very capable. Once his parents die, he gets a little jaded, but hes still Tim. He and Damian become kind of an... ice prince duo? If you get what I mean. But Tim is the one whos actually the ice prince, Damian is secretly a HUGE softie. He is Delicate and Tim protects him lmfao.

Jason

Jason comes along like he does in canon. Has the same backstory. Tries to steal the Batmobile's wheels. Tim is sleeping over at Damian's flat for the night, so its just Bruce. They bond. Shit happens. Jason joins the fam.

I don't imagine them not getting along, but they don't immediately hit it off either. Jason is wary of all of them for a time, but he ends up warming up to Damian pretty fast after realizing what a softie he is. He pokes fun at Damian and Damian just freaking takes it lmao. Hes an adult he cannot be disturbed. Bro has seen too much and he finds Jason adorable. (Dami: "You were never this cute, Timothy." <- he is lying. Tim: *offended* "What the fu- flip!?" Jason: "Lmao Tim just say fuck." Dami: *deadpan stare* Tim: "JASON NO DONT SAY THE FUCK WORD-") ahem.

anywho and then Jason dies rip skill issue ratio.

The whole batfam is heartbroken. Genuinely shattered. Jason was a light in their lives. Not that they were WITHOUT any light, but Jason was the epitome of a sunshine child.

It's been too long since Damian has killed someone. Bro's god oodles and oodles of trauma. He can't bring himself to kill the Joker.

but Tim can.

It's a whole dramatic thing; Damian feels awful that he made his- now only- little brother kill. Bruce is hella upset but feels responsible for not seeing how badly both of his kids were handling the death of their brother. Tim goes a little off the deep end.

Things turn out.... okay. sort of. but not really. Tim changes his hero name to Red Cardinal. He feels pretty lost. Maybe he stumbles into Ra's al Ghul or smthn idk maybe smthn happens there perhaps. Maybe Damian has to put on Redimar again and rescue him? But its less of a rescue and more of a "Stop joining the dark side Tim jesus christ-" (and it does work).

They go home. Tim gets a boyfriend or two. Damian falls into his art. Bruce is throwing himself into work. They're all kind of a mess, but they keep moving.

and then

Dick

(lmao that sounded wrong)

ahem; and then the circus comes to town. The batfam- well, Tim, Damian, and Bruce- all decide to get together to do something fun. Take the opportunities given, yk? So they go to the circus together.

Wham bam rip the falling Flying Graysons.

They see Dick, breaking apart, and they know they have to do something. Bruce is the first to move. Then Tim. Damian is the last.

It's pretty quick getting Dick home, since Bruce is already a foster parent cuz of Tim yk. So Dick doesn't have to suffer in Juvie at all really. But that doesn't change the fact that he is ANGRY.

Dick is SO angry. he wants to kill the person who murdered his parents. He knows what he saw.

The fam of course do their best to investigate. Mostly Tim, who feels unworthy of being around an innocent little kid after his whole.... villain era, i suppose lol. (ofc Dick thinks Tim doesnt like him lol misunderstanding arc GO)

The whole "Dick accepts that justice is better than murder kinda maybe FOR NOW" storyline happens, and Dick becomes the conniving, bright, little Robin we all know and love. (Thinking of the Young Justice Cartoon Robin (but not the characters- just Dick's character) aaaand

Womp womp GUESS WHOS BACK

Jason's Back

but i'll leave that for later.

#my writing #personal #batfam #reverse robins #batman #damian wayne #jason todd #tim drake #bruce wayne #dick grayson #batbros #batkids #batfam fanfic

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midnightjewel · 6 months ago

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BNHA Guys Reacting to Your Kids Cartoons and Movies

Kids shows and movies say some pretty out of pocket things that you usually won’t catch or find funny unless you’re an adult

Characters Included: Bakugo and Kirishima

Part 2

Bakugo

As Bakugo arrived home he couldn’t help but sigh deeply as he stretched out the stress of the hectic work day. As he turned his key in the door, he didn’t hear the usual loud noise coming from inside the house as you struggled to wrangle the kids into bed. He had hoped that you had gotten them to settle with no issue tonight but his hopes were not high. His brats were terribly energetic at night.

As he strides into the house, hanging his keys on the hook by the door to avoid the hassle of looking for them in the morning he hears the faint sound of the tv coming from the family room. The lights were off but as he got closer he saw the flashing lights of the television. The ash blond man peered into the family room and smiled slightly as he saw his two sons sitting at the coffee table munching on chicken nuggets and some french fries. One had ketchup and one had ranch despite them both being exact carbon copies of him and each other he found it kind of funny that they were quite the opposite of each other when it came to the little things like that.

He decided against nagging them for being up so late. At least they weren’t fighting and that’s all he cared about to be completely honest. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with the bickering after the long day he had. He was about to walk to the kitchen to fix something quick to eat when something on the television caught his attention. The boys were watching ratatouille and the scene where Linguine is attempting to explain his little chef to Colette was on.

“I have this tiny… little…” the character attempts to reveal the rat in his hat that is the secret to his cooking success. Bakugo watches as the woman’s eyes advert down with a slightly disgusted look referring to something more suggestive and he can’t help but bust out laughing causing the boys to turn around with confused looks on their faces

“What?” His oldest son whom was only 8 years old questions him as his 6 year old brother has the same confused look on his features as they watch their father laugh at something that they couldn’t understand. “N-Nothing” he wipes a tear from the corner of his eye “Ah that’s great” he shakes his head as he walks into the kitchen while continuing to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” You raise an eyebrow as you close the dishwasher and start it. As he explains the scene to you, you can’t help but lightly laugh and shake your head at his immaturity for dirty jokes

Kirishima

You had been out all day. Despite it being your day off you dropped your son off at school this morning, cleaned the entire house, and ran errands until it was time to pick Renji up from school and even then you still had to take him grocery shopping with you. As you walked into the house, cloth grocery bags on each arm you sighed deeply “I helped you mommy!” Your son smiles widely as he hold one of the bags. “Yes you did honey!” You explain as you both set the bags down in the kitchen yours on the island and his on the floor as he could not reach the island just yet.

“Go watch some TV while mommy gets dinner ready, yeah?” You smile at him and he nods “Okay Mommy!” He skips off to the television room that also doubles as his play room so you knew he’d be able to indulge in some of his toys and television while you worked on dinner

You breathed out in relief as you removed your heels. You hated heels even if they were short, you just had to look your best out in public. You couldn’t bare the idea of the media and tabloids saying anything about your appearance so you had made sure to always look your best. Some other pro hero’s wife’s may not care but you did. Maybe it was a bad thing but it would send you spiraling if there was a bad picture of you in the internet.

“Hey I’m home!” You hear your husband call out as he walks into the parlor of your large house. He put his shoes by the door and hangs his coat on the hook. “How’s my beautiful wife?” He gives you a kiss on your forehead “Did you enjoy your day off?” He inquired and you shook your head no. He looks taken aback by this response “No?” He questioned “But why?”

“Oh Eiji, I’ve just been running around all day doing errands” you sigh “I could really use a few minutes” you say as you complete putting away the groceries together. “Mhm” he nods “Do you need anything from me?” He questions and you nod “Yeah, can you watch Renji? He’s in the family room” you explain “Of course, anything for my lovely lady” he gives you a quick kiss and ushers you to go take a warm shower

“But what about dinner?” You ask as you both stand at the foot of the staircase that leads to the upstairs bedrooms “Don’t you worry about anything baby, I’ve got it all handled” he grins as you nod and start your journey up the stairs to the master bedroom.

As Ejirou walks to the doorway of the family room the movie that his son is watching catches his eye. He has always been a sucker for kids movies even as an adult. Renji was watching Toy Story and there was a scene between Woody and Bow Peep “I wanted to thank you for saving my flock” the porcelain doll speaks to the cowboy doll “Oh hey, it was nothing” he shrugs “What do you say I get someone else to watch the sheep tonight” she speaks in a tone almost too sultry for a kids movie “Oh yeah” he chuckles and the scene can’t help but make Kirishima chuckle a little bit

“What’s so funny dad?” The 7 year old turns with a confused look on his face “Nothing that just reminds me of me and your mom” he laughs to himself before walking to the kitchen to start dinner

#anime #bnha #my hero academia #mha kirishima #mha bakugou #kirishima fluff #eijiro kirishima #kirishima x reader #domestic Kirishima #bakugou imagine #bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugo x reader #bakugou x you #domestic bakugo #mha

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elvishdemigod · 24 days ago

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Okay. Stolas is a complete piece of shit of a father.

Stolas has chosen Blitz over his daughter multiple times.

He hired and flirted with him at the carnival with his daughter. Oh, and before that, said very sexual things in front of her when calling Blitz. His mind, when preparing for protection for a trip with her, went to calling the guy he hooks up with and immediately thinks about sex.

When he went to find her in the mortal realm, he not only had Blitz along, but also preoccupied himself with thirsting over him. And it was Loona that found Octavia. Not him.

Then he was willing to not only get himself killed for Blitz, but on live tv, where his daughter could see

She's told him how she's scared he'll leave her for Blitz. He promised he wouldn't.

Yet he did.

He actually fucking ditched her for the guy he was running around with. Was about to let himself die (as he thought would happen) on live tv, where his daughter could see.

Octavia saw her dad ditch her and sacrifice himself for his side guy.

See, Stella shouldn't have been made a villain. Because this shit is not okay. She could've been shown still loving her daughter, while hating Stolas at the same time. Because we've seen her be less shitty with her daughter than Stolas has. Even if she faked a sad face and open arms probably out of manipulation, she's still done less harmful things to her daughter than Stolas has.

Imagine how low Octavia's self-esteem is that her dad, who she loved, just prepared himself to die for the imp he always forces along while with her, without a single thought to her. So bad, that the side piece is a better dad to his adopted adult daughter than Stolas is to his biological kid daughter. Not sure if it's true, but I heard Viv actually hates Octavia. Which...says a fucking lot about her, tbh. "Teenage girl with parents always fighting, who just wants her dad and terrified of losing him, but has to deal with him choosing casual hookups over her many times" does not sound like a hateable character. If Viv hating Octavia is true, that just makes all this so much worse.

Stolas uses sex as extortion, doesn't give a shit about his daughter outside of empty words, still sees imps as lowers and uses them like objects and somehow expecting Blitz not to see that shit as shitty? I don't care if he's a gay guy forced into his situation, that's no reason to ditch the daughter who you explicitly told you weren't going to ditch.

Yet I'm supposed to believe Stella is the evil one here? So far, all I've seen is she deserves to take Octavia.

#elfdemiposts #anti vivziepop #anti stolitz #anti stolas #vivziepop critical #rant #helluva rant

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flowercrowngods · 1 year ago

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felt like letting mike and steve work through some shit again

cw: descriptions and imagery of them being lost and self-sacrificing, left alone with trauma they have no means to work through, could read as suicidal tendencies or intrusive thoughts

🤍 also on ao3

“What do you want?” Mike asks when Steve sits down beside him, gravel crunching, their feet dangling over the dark and endless abyss that is the quarry at night.

Steve doesn’t answer right away, doesn’t really know what to say now that he’s here, now that he found him. He looks so small, now more than ever, and it reminds Steve so painfully that he’s still just a child. He was always just a child, and children shouldn’t—

It feels like they got their rights at a childhood revoked years ago, and then they were just… supposed to be okay with it. It was expected, it was implied when nobody came to talk to them after.

When all they got was one NDA after another. When none of the professionally trained adults took one look at the children that they were, and asked, Are you okay? What do you need to be okay? I will talk to you once a week and make sure you learn how to be okay again.

Steve feels like a big brother to most of the kids now, sure, but he’s not their shrink, and he sucks when it comes to actually talking about shit. He can be there to drive them anywhere, can provide an evening of distractions and as much of a sanctuary as a house as haunted as his can be.

With everything else, though, he’s helplessly lost. So he says nothing, weighs his words to make sure they come out right — especially for Mike, who’s always just waiting for him to say something wrong and throw it back in his face with the sunny disposition of a feral, rabid cat.

“Hey,” Mike says then, irritated again; but his voice is hoarse, too. Tired. No heat behind it after that stupid fight with Dustin and Lucas earlier tonight that made him snap and leave Steve’s house in a frenzy. “I said, What do you want?”

Steve shrugs, looking ahead into the darkness that feels endless and alluring and deeply terrifying.

I miss my friend! My best friend, Mike!

“Making sure you’re okay.”

You’ve changed, you know that? You’re not the guy who would jump off a cliff for me anymore, I don’t think I even know you anymore!

Dustin’s voice echoes in Steve’s mind as it undoubtedly does in Mike’s, too, and he can only imagine how much that hurts, especially if he’s shivering like that even though the night is warm for early September.

“I’m okay,” Mike says, sounding endlessly annoyed about the fact. Steve almost huffs out a humourless laugh. Yeah, right.

“Sure you are,” Steve says, keeping his tone carefully neutral.

He shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over Mike’s shoulders without a comment, half-expecting him to just throw it into the darkness below. But Mike doesn’t move, is eerily still beside him, pretending not to notice that Steve’s watching him.

“But you know it’s, like,” he starts again and trails off, looking for the right words because this is unfamiliar terrain and the ground beneath his feet is quite literally nonexistent. “It’s fine if you’re not, right? It’s actually really fucking normal to be more than a little fucked up after everything, all that crazy shit. Or just… in general.”

You were twelve, he wants to say. You were twelve and you jumped off from here. You were twelve and you were going to die. And not because of those monsters, not yet. Just because… you were twelve.

Mike doesn’t say anything, but the gravel crunches once more as he reaches for a handful of stones to throw them into the darkness one by one, the void beneath them so enormous that they don’t even hear the noise of impact.

You jumped.

The longer Mike remains silent, the more Steve wants to scream, wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, wants to make him see and understand that Steve knows about the scars a decision like that leaves, especially when you live to deal with the consequences.

He gets seizures to deal with the consequences. His ear is fucky, his eye is twitchy, his head is aching constantly, he gets migraines that knock him out for a day or two, all because he wanted to protect his friends. All because he did protect his friends. It worked. They’re safe.

But they’re also unaware of… of everything. Of the horrible stillness as clarity dawns and all signs point to the one way that always seems to work. The one easy way out, and still the hardest of them all when the plan goes wrong and he makes it out alive. When It’s gotta be me is the only thing to say, but later turns into an angry It never should have been me because the world looks different when it’s smeared with your blood.

And it’s always the lost boys who make decisions like that. Steve wonders, some nights in cold sweat, what happens if he makes these decisions without immediate danger. What happens if he just… decides to jump. Decides to run. To give the world more of his blood. Without saving anyone.

It’s not like he wants to — but he’s terrified that it’s just who he is. Who he’s turned into, terrified that his friends will forever expect him to.

And he’s even more terrified knowing that Mike jumped before he learned about monsters. Before he learned about fighting and surviving.

You were a kid, he wants to say again, but his throat is closing up on him.

“I don’t think that’s okay actually,” Mike says after a while, tearing Steve away from his fears. They’re still both looking ahead rather than at each other, but it’s fine. They’re still here. “Like, people say it is, but it feels so empty when they do, you know? Like, sure, yeah, I’m not fucking okay, but what the hell do we do about that now? Oh, right, I know! Let’s throw it in my face that I’m not good enough for you anymore now that there’s no monsters to kill anymore. Now that I’m just Mike, who’s not even enough to be that anymore, sure. Right. Yeah. Let’s pretend it’s all fine, Steve, let’s pretend it’s okay to hurt all the fucking time!”

Mike is shaking now, violent tremors running through his body, and Steve’s first instinct is to reach out and pull him close, to keep him from that edge and take him to his car; turn on the heating and talk there. But Mike seems to need the darkness, seems to need to be faced with endless depth to give voice to his thoughts.

“What Dustin said was messed up. He shouldn’t have said that.”

Mike shrugs, throwing more pebbles into the darkness, though his motions have lost their vigour. “He’s right, though.”

Steve sighs, though not unkindly. “No, he’s not. Hey, listen to me.” He waits until Mike turns to meet his eyes, and he leans forward. “It’s not okay. It’s not right what he said. You don’t deserve to have that shit thrown in your face just because Dustin is a tactless little douche bag.”

Taking a bullet for someone is not the baseline for friendship, he wants to say, and it occurs to him once again how fucked up their perception and idea of friendship must be, now that they’ve all bonded over the most horrific shit and actual grief they never learned how to work through.

It’s not even Dustin’s fault, not really. They’re all just collateral damage to something Bigger, and all they have is each other, leaving them in a vicious cycle that is so, so fucked up.

“Why’d you jump?” he asks eventually, quiet in case the darkness tries to listen in. “Back then, why did you jump?” And do you wish El had let you? Do you sometimes wish that? When your room is quiet and it’s only you living with all those silent, terrible decisions?

Mike shrugs again, but there’s not much fight left in him, Steve can see that, can feel it in the air between them.

“Will was gone,” he says like it explains everything— and it sort of does. Steve has seen the way these boys look at each other when the other’s not looking, he has seen the hurt and the anger and the gentleness stored there, the words unspoken and the fear that, despite interdimensional monsters, kinda goes unmatched.

Because they have each other. They only have each other. And if someone’s suddenly different than what they thought they knew, if someone’s suddenly different, then… Everything might just fall apart.

And Steve wants to grab him again; wants to pull him close and say, I’m the same. We have the same scars. We have the same!

Slowly, carefully, he does lean over now, weaving an arm around Mike’s shoulders and pulling him into his side.

“I get that.”

Mike swallows heavily and exhales shakily. “I don’t think you do.”

“No. I think I really, really do. But it’s okay, Mike. You won’t be alone with this, okay. I’m on your side, you little shit.”

A pause, a beat, a moment’s respite. Then, “Why?”

“Because,” his heart is racing, his mouth trembling around forming the words for the first time, but he knows it’s the right thing to do. Knows it’s important.

Knows it might just save a life.

“Because I fell harder for Eddie Munson than I ever thought possible, and once i found out what was happening, I kind of wanted to jump off a cliff, too. But I didn’t, because I had someone with the same fears as me, and instead of stupid shit we just… Cried together sometimes. Screamed into our pillows. Laughed with and at each other, calling ourselves hopeless, and— I don’t know. It’s really fucking scary, and that doesn’t go away just because you have someone to talk to. But it‘s… better. It’s so much better.”

He huffs, swallowing around the lump in his throat, smiling into the darkness.

“So I’ve got you, okay? Whatever it is, whatever makes you feel like it’s not fucking okay, I’ve got you. You come to me, yeah? Lucas does, Dustin does, even Max does. This is your official, standing invitation and whatever, okay, dickhead?”

Mike shoves at him lightly, still not parting from the rather awkward side-hug they’ve got going on, and Steve is glad for it.

“Okay, okay, geez,” the little shithead says, rolling his eyes which Steve can see even in the dark, and it feels like the edge has moved away from them, like they have solid ground beneath their feet again.

Steve doesn’t say anything more after that, just waiting for Mike to stir to lead him back to the car, load in his bike and take him wherever he feels like spending the night.

But Mike doesn’t move for another long while, and it makes Steve feel like something big has just happened between them. Like they finally have found the common ground that Steve’s been suspecting they had for months now, even years.

Eventually, as they make their way to the car and Mike goes to grab his bike, he speaks up again, but more subdued now.

“Hey, Steve?”

“Hmm?”

“Does… Does Eddie know?”

“About what?” My tendencies to take a leap off the edge?

“You. Being…”

“Oh!” A smile as he unlocks his car and opens the back door to squeeze Mike’s old bike in there with minimal smears of dirt. “I’d hope so, we’ve been dating for months.”

“You’re dating?! You? Eddie’s dating you?”

“Yeah, listen, do you want me to just leave you here or would you rather be thrown out in the middle of nowhere?”

Mike grumbles something unintelligible as he climbs into the front seat, waiting for Steve to start the engine before he speaks up again.

“It’s just, you’re so… How did you even do that?”

Steve laughs at that, disbelieving and all, because, “Trust me, I have no idea. Must have been the ol’ Harrington charm and all that.”

Mike rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in front of his chest, sinking lower in the seats to pout. “You’re so lame.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over how much I have a boyfriend and you don’t.”

If his heart skips a beat because it still feels like a forbidden truth saying the word out loud despite the playful banter, then he’s ignoring that in favour of revving the engine.

“Asshole.”

“Dickhead.”

“Grow up,” Mike says, but Steve can see the smile he’s not even trying to hide, and he mirrors it with his own as he turns on the radio catching the final tunes of Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark.

They’re not okay, none of them. But the car is warm, the cliff’s edge is behind them, and they’re not listening to the same ten songs anymore.

They’re getting better, step by tiny step.

#stranger things fanfic #steve & mike #steve harrington #mike wheeler #steddie #<- mentioned but established #byler #<- implied & yearning #i am projecting HARD with this one #i’m so so convinced steve and mike are directly juxtaposed in their development with very similar trauma #this probably makes sense to no one but me but alas #let them be fucked up while life continues and let them be unable to handle it #i feel like it’s all over the place but if you’ve ever had a single vulnerable conversation then you’ll know this is how they can go #dio words

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