#late night thoughts with a lizard with insomnia

[lizardsexposed]

Honestly the fshepard garrus romance really feels the most organic and real to me because of how symbiotic it really is. It becomes really apparent they both rely on each other at points. Garrus really goes from needing a morality check to being the morality check over the course of the games.

I also really enjoy the fact that the relationship essentially opens with them going to a ‘friends with benefits’ dynamic and never actually is that. The relationship is always emotional support first and the rest comes very secondarily.

They also have such a pre-existing dynamic that the romance only builds upon that and doesn’t actually change it at its core.

[milkywayhou]

You've Got Email (König x OC: Medical Student!Snow) PART III

Summary: When the Colonel from some Private Military Corporation group accidentally send KorTac's secret file via email to a random civilian girl and now they develop some weird relationship.

or

Snow now overthinking about how fucked up her situation can be

TWs: Slow burn (not really), Implies stalking behavior. I just wrote this for fun.

Words Count: 1.9k (The email contain 1.3+ words while the rest was Snow's 4Chan post)

----

From: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

To: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

05/13/23 at 01:38 am

Subject: A late night conspiracy ramble…

Hey!

Once again it’s a late night and these weary med student brain cells are firing off all kinds of…interesting theories and connections, to say the least.

For example, okay hear me out, but what if Big Pharma is actually run by ancient shape-shifting lizard people from the center of the hollow earth who feed on human adrenal gland fluid harvested during rituals conducted at Bohemian Grove, and they started the pharmaceutical industry just to get us all addicted to medication so we’re docile little cash cows?!

I know, I know, it’s utterly ridiculous…buuuuut it would explain a few things haha! Anyways, somehow my winding thought process led me back to pondering your own doubtless intriguing backstory, oh mysterious Colonel.

You’ve given mysterious snippets here and there, but never a straight history lesson, you sly dog. Care to unravel some of those shadows for this thirsty student? Like how’d you get into this line of work anyway?

Maybe share something to take my mind off lizard people conspiracies before this insomnia kills me. You’ve got me curious now!

Conspiracizing but also bedridden,

Snow

----

From: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

To: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

05/13/23 at 02:01 am

Subject: RE: A late night conspiracy ramble…

You’ve a vivid imagination, to be sure. As for my own history…it’s nothing so fanciful, I’m afraid.

I grew up isolated, with only books as company. Social skills proved…challenging. The bullying was constant. All I wanted was to disappear into the quiet of nature, far from the incessant noise inside my head.

By 17 I was desperate to escape, and the military offered just that. I dreamed of being a sniper – controlling chaos from afar through calm precision. But my frame and restlessness didn’t suit remaining still for long. They saw potential elsewhere. They assigned as an insertion specialist instead. It was difficult, but taught discipline. In time I learned to turn noise into focus, chaos into strategy.

Now I protect others as I wished to be protected then. It brings…solace, of a kind. Purpose, where once was only turmoil.

Get some rest, Snow. Sweet dreams.

König

----

From: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

To: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

05/13/23 at 02:14 am

Subject: RE: RE: A late night conspiracy ramble…

I see.

Thank you for sharing that with me. I can’t imagine how difficult those experiences must have been, but I’m grateful you found your calling in spite of them. It takes real strength of character to turn trauma into purpose like that.

Also, I should say the bullying says far more about their weakness of spirit than anything about you. Their loss, as it brought you to where you’re meant to be – helping people in your own way. I can’t help but smile thinking of a tiny bookworm König dreaming of sniping lizards in the woods! Well, you may not be in the trees anymore but it seems your aim is truer than ever.

Thinking on childhoods, mine wasn’t all sunshine either as an awkward kid. Let’s just say blending in was…challenging, to put it lightly. Between moving a lot after my parents split and living with various relatives, school was an escape into study. Seemed the safest route to gain some footing and make the family proud, at least. Kept me busy avoiding the realities outside books for a while too, I suppose. Somehow I suspect lonely bookworm me and you may have gotten along splendidly if our paths crossed back then!

Anyways, not sure where I’m going with this aside from reflecting our younger selves may have found solace in one another, strange as that sounds now in these roles. At least we’ve come into our own in the end, in our own ways. Small favors and all that.

Just a light note before sleep – rest well, König!

Your friend,

Snow

----

From: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

To: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

05/28/23 at 08:27 pm

Subject: Essay Woes and Cadaver Flashbacks

Ugh,

My apologies for this incoherent word vomit you’re about to endure. I’m approximately 5-7 days into an all-nighter essay crunch and my last two brain cells are DANCING.

This final assignment is killing me dead but at least after it’s over I can finally be done with med school! *insert jubilant celebration emoji* Of course that’s if I don’t starve to death first living off instant ramen. I’m positively wasting away without a decent meal. At this rate they’ll be teaching anatomy lectures using my lifeless body.

Whoever invents a magic food delivery service that beams freshly cooked meals directly to overworked students is getting a freaking Nobel Prize. A girl can dream, right? At this point I’d kill a man for a good pizza. *hideshypotheticalmurderweaponbehindback*

Anyways, in my spiral of delirium my thoughts keep wandering back to that fateful day months ago when I randomly received your classified KorTac email out of nowhere. Still bewildered how you even had my address to begin with…were you watching me, Colonel? *pretends to be frightened but is secretlyflattered*

Getting that file was kinda scary at first, not gonna lie. Reminded me of the first time we received our cadavers – that creepy feeling of being watched even after leaving the lab. Is that what it’s like being you, always paranoid someone has intel on you? :)

Anyways, enough gibbering – just wanted to share my pain and also wonder again how our wacky email friendship began! Stay safe out there in whatever shady places your work takes you. And send help – I mean, good luck with all the classified stuff!

Tired and Hangry,

Snow

----

From: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

To: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

05/28/23 at 08:40 pm

Subject: WHAT DID YOU DO

KÖNIG I SWEAR TO GOD

I LITERALLY JUST GOT A DELIVERY AT MY DOOR. IT WAS PIZZA AND IT WAS ALREADY PAID FOR

DUDE TELL ME YOU DIDN’T HACK INTO MY LOCATION OR SOME SHIT. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE I LIVE??

I’M FREAKING OUT A LITTLE NOT GONNA LIE. I KNOW YOU HAVE ACCESS TO SHADY TECH BUT PLEASE TELL ME YOU DIDN’T TRACK ME DOWN

I was joking in my last email! Sort of! Please say this was all just a coincidence. I don’t need some extra secret stalker on top of everything else ;____;

Explain yourself soldier man!!! My paranoia can only be quelled with answers.

Sending mildly panicked regards,

Snow

----

From: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

To: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

05/28/23 at 09:12 pm

Subject: RE: WHAT DID YOU DO

Snow,

I assure you, any capabilities related to surveillance are reserved strictly for operations.

As for your delivery, consider it a small kindness from one overworked soul to another. Now eat, regain strength, and get back to that essay. You’ve proven quite resourceful in pulling secrets from shadows. But some mysteries deserve to remain.

Worry not and carry on with your studies.

König

----

From: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

To: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

05/28/23 at 09:25 pm

Subject: Spill. Everything. Now.

I appreciate the pizza bailout, don’t get me wrong. But my paranoia has now reached DEFCON 1 levels and it WILL NOT stand down until I get some answers. So spill. Just how much do you actually know about me? Do you have my address on file somewhere? Photos? Socials? Pet peeves? Middle name??

I understand need-to-know for operations, but this is need-to-know for my own peace of mind. Please assuage these frazzled med student nerves and assure me you’re not some mysterious stalker Colonel (unless that’s just part of your charm). I’ll even send new Luna's pics in return! Consider it a debriefing – you give, you get. Otherwise the wheels will keep spinning in my head…

Sincerely (and only mildly obsessively),

Snow

----------

>>Anonymous

05/29/23(Mon)22:37:10 No:132926391

Colonel Stalker Dude is freaking me out

Image: [Confused pepe scratching head.jpg 230kb, 400x400]

>Be me, a totally tired out and broke student

>Remember getting those shady files months ago

>Thought Colonel dude was cool and weird pen pal

>Even started to like him after long talks

>But NOW he knows my address???

>WTF how long has he been watching me

>On one hand it’s creepy AF but kinda flattering a high rank dude cares

>Other hand I don't want a secret stalker or to get disappeared

>Free food is nice but feeling stalked is not cash money

>Used to have bit of crush but now I'm skeeved TBH

>What do? Can't go to cops cuz questions. No close friends/fam

>Too broke to move or change info

>Maybe he’s just lonely but also maybe he climbs in my window ;____;

>What if he takes my organs in the night like some human harvester?!

>Only protection is my cat Luna and she's useless in a fight ;_;

>Try to be positive and asking him how much he know

>Currently waiting for his replied while I was writing this post

>Anons pls help, should I keep talking to possible stalker man?

Don’t want my organs harvested but also don’t wanna waste a free food connection

Very conflicted and slightly paranoid this girl is in DIRE need of advice

Anonymous 05/29/23(Mon)22:45:19 No:132926405: >>132926391(OP)#

Sounds like a thriller romance novel lol! He probs just cares in his own intense way. Keep talking but be safe, maybe feel him out more? Could be nnothing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anonymous 05/29/23(Mon)23:16:08 No:132926439: >>132926405#

IKR it does sound like a book! But what if it’s a prequel to a snuff film?! I’ll try to subtly find out wtf he knows without pissing him off…

Anonymous 05/29/23(Mon)23:37:12 No:132926502: >>132926391(OP)#

LOL girl chill no one climbin in ur windows. He prolly just admires ur spirit. Keep lines of comms open, set boundaries if needed but relax!

Anonymous 05/29/23(Mon)23:45:01 No:13292623: >>132926502#

You’re right, I do overthink! I’ll calm my farm. Thank u stranger, maybe he’s just a bored soldier man and not a psycho (´。＿。｀)

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)00:25:31 No:13292684: >>132926391(OP)#

Change ur info anyway, maybe he won’t go to ur new stuff. And get some locks/alarms jfc. Play it safe.

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)00:42:44 No:13292692: >>13292684#

Can’t change anything, I used my student email! And too broke for moves or upgrades, these loans gotta last :’( but self defense is a must, thanks!

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)01:28:19 No:132922735: >>132926391(OP)#

Send Luna pics. Also tell col u feel weird, set ground rules like no stalking. Maybe he just wants friendship. Be safe!

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)01:46:31 No:132922757: >>132922735#

[sleepy_Luna.jpg 1,3mb 1000x1000] You’re so right, communication is key. I’ll lay it all out clearly and see how it goes. Thx fren <3

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)01:59:36 No:132922805: >>132926391(OP)#

Maybe he liiiiikes you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) whatever happens keep us posted! We’re invested now lol

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)02:08:55 No:132922822: >>132922805#

omggg don't say that!! Now I'll be paranoid AND flustered X_X But I definitely will update y'all, this is quite the melodrama unfolding

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)02:15:36 No:132922811: >>132926391(OP)#

Girlll tell that stalker if he wants a piece he gonna have to pay your tuition first! Then maybe you’ll reconsider the organ harvesting. Gotta respect your worth sis 💅

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)02:23:12 No:132922834: >>132922811#

Omg you genius!!! If he’s really interested he can sponsor my broke ass med student life lol. Alleviate my debt and he gets unlimited Luna pics, win-win!

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)03:01:46 No:132922839: >>132926391(OP)#

Lmao girl you been reading too many thrillers! Military guys have ways of finding people, changing email won’t do shit. Just ask him wtf is up like a normal person

Anonymous 05/30/23(Tue)03:39:44 No:132922926: >>132922839#

Ugh you make a good point, confronting is smarter than hiding. But what if he locks me in a dungeon for being nosy?! I have no one to turn to if I disappear ;-;

------

From: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

To: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

05/30/24 at 03:45am

Subject: RE: Spill. Everything. Now.

Snow,

Let’s just say I know more than you think. But rest assured, your privacy and safety remain my priority here.

As for debriefs, some questions are best left unanswered, even between…friends. Maintaining mystique has its place too, no?

Focus on your studies. I’ll focus on ensuring no more interruptions are needed.

Now get some rest. You’ve an early lab tomorrow if I’m not mistaken.

Sweet dreams.

König

----

From: SnowFarron93@medschool.edu

To: Colonel_König@KorTac.mil

05/30/23 at 03:47am

Subject: DUDE.

HOW.

----

This one was short because I've been busy with other stuff hahah. It sure took some twisted turn hmmM? or maybe poor Snow just over reacted ;)

Also love, comment and reblogged are really appreciate! 💖

[jincherie]

four’s company | rapline [m]

✘ — pairing: boxer!rapline x male!reader ✘ — genre: smut!, boxer au, poly au ✘ — wc: 6.4k ✘ — rating: 18+ ✘ — warnings: minor injuries (occupational hazard kind), smut: mxm, light (accidental) voyeurism, light hand kink, baby boy reader, sub/bottom reader, dom/top members, foursome, anal sex, protected sex (don’t forget to wrap ‘em, lads and ladies!), fellatio ✘ — notes: part of a fic exchange within the ghostie network, i’m sorry it’s late!!!!! please accept my humblest apologies!!! @bangtanloverboys​ here you go!! i hope it’s not too shitty!!!

If accidentally walking in on your three crushes in a heated moment, not once, not twice, but thrice isn’t enough to capture their attention, then you don’t know what is. You’re about to find out that you’ve had their attention for a while, though.

— posted; 02.01.2021 || masterlist

For what is far from the first time tonight, you feel the weight of a certain gaze.

Well, to be more specific, it hasn’t just been one gaze you’ve felt on you tonight. More like… three. 

You know who they belong to, unfortunately. It’s the same three people that you found in an… interesting situation earlier. On that was, no doubt, not meant for outside eyes. 

Well, you say that, but you feel like that’s just because you, yourself, are mortified. To be honest, the three boxers you found locking lips and making out in the locker room didn’t seem to be all that ashamed about it.

In fact, when they caught you in the motion of fleeing, they’d had the audacity to grin about it! 

Utterly humiliating. You haven’t been able to bring your gaze anywhere near them all day. To make matters worse, you couldn’t even flee to the safety of your home or anywhere similar, because there is a match tonight and you’re needed as a qualified first aid officer. 

Which brings you to the current predicament; sitting ringside and attempting to avoid the gazes of the three boxers seated on the side adjacent. Try as you might, it’s actually a struggle to keep your eyes on the current match. It’s a rookie night, and you feel extra bad since one of the people in the ring is actually a close friend. 

Though, perhaps you should demote Jungkook from ‘close friend’ status considering he is the reason you started working here and subsequently, had the opportunity to stumble upon a certain scenario this morning. Were it not for him and his stupid, pleading puppy eyes, you wouldn’t have a particular embarrassing image burned into the back of your eyelids.

You know that despite his rookie status, Jungkook is quite a naturally talented boxer. Perhaps that is part of the reason that your brain thinks it’s okay to let your eyes stray from the match instead of watching attentively as you’re expected to. The subconscious certainty that Jungkook can handle himself seems to be your undoing, because in a moment of inattentiveness your eyes manage to reach the area you’d been trying so hard for them to avoid. 

As you’d both feared and expected, they are in fact already looking at you. Well, one of the three. It is the piercing gaze of the club's current lightweight champion, Min Yoongi, that bores a hole into you right now. The two accomplices to his side aren't joining him in drilling their eyes into you across the room for now, instead leaning into each other as though they're whispering amongst themselves. 

There's something about Yoongi's eyes, dark and piercing, that seem to always root you in place no matter where you are. His expression, as it usually tends to be, is unreadable. It's a certain kind of neutrality that graces his features, thin enough that you can tell there is something behind it but too opaque for you to be able to discern exactly what. 

You don't even realise you're trapped in his gaze until the sounding of the bell snaps you out of the spell that seemed to be cast over you. Your head whips back around and you see the referee signalling the end of the bout, and just beyond him Jungkook is standing slightly bent over as he offers a hand to his opponent on the canvas. To your alarm, it is only now that you notice the blood dribbling down the man’s face. The reasonable crowd that has gathered is still cheering (Jungkook was quick to rise as one of the fan favourites) and it’s a wonder you can hear the referee’s call above the ruckus.

“Medic!”

That’s your cue. 

x – x – x 

 “You look kind of on edge, man. Are you alright?”

You’re almost too busy staring into your coffee in a borderline dissociative state to hear Jungkook as he calls for your attention. It has to be about the thirteenth time in the past half hour, but you can’t find the energy to be ashamed about it. Mostly because all of your shame and embarrassment are focused on other areas right now.

It had happened again. 

Is it just your luck? You don’t know whether to dub it as rotten luck, because you feel it would be a bit of an insult to the boxers you’d once more found in a suggestive situation.  But considering it good luck feels kind of sleazy, because although you’re embarrassed as hell, all things considered what you walked in on wasn’t a bad view—

No, that thought is stopping there. Any further and you’ll only incriminate yourself and you’ll have to dose yourself with another fresh shot of shame. 

Realising that you still haven’t answered the concerned-looking boy sprawled in the chair to your side, you offer him a non-committal grunt. It’s the best you can do while you take another moment to form actual coherent thought. 

“I’ve never been better,” you say, and immediately Jungkook lets loose an abrupt snort.

“You look like shit, so don’t bother trying to lie. Are you having trouble sleeping again or something?”

You survey him for a moment, touched that he remembers the insomnia that had ailed you for a few months a while back. “Actually, I’ve been sleeping pretty good the past few months.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes, making you squint at him in question. “Oh, I’ll bet you have, considering the things you were saying in your sleep last time I stayed over.”

You simply look at him, wondering whether he’s going to be an ass and continue.  You don’t have to wait long for an answer.

“You were all like, ‘nngh, Namjoon,’ and ‘oh, Yoongi’, and then you said something about Hoseok too but I can’t quite remember, probably because it was so x-rated that my poor baby brain banished it from my memory—”

“Jungkook,” you cut him off, gripping the plastic spoon that came with your drink painfully tight. “Shut up.”

This is most definitely not the conversation to be having in the café barely a block away from the boxing gym where the two of you frequent, but Jungkook doesn’t seem to get the hint. Actually, you’re pretty sure he got the hint and he just doesn’t care enough to heed it.

“You really ought to do something about that crush of yours, bro. There’s three of them, so there’s three times the misery if you sit on your ass instead of—”

“Jungkook,” you attempt to warn him again, glaring slightly this time. You’ve scooped some of the whipped cream off of his plate of pancakes and hold the tip of the spoon back, threatening to fling it at him should he keep talking. 

“—doing something, you know? I’ve seen them practically undress you with their eyes enough times by now that I could fill out a diary with all the incidents I’ve witnessed. Plus, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how often they ‘hurt’ themselves as an excuse to see you? I really don’t think you have much to lose, especially with an ass like yours—well, it’s nothing like the cake I’m serving, but still, it deserves some praise—ACK!”

Ah, so he has chosen death.

You discard the now-empty spoon onto a napkin, taking a long sip of your drink. It seems Jungkook has engaged his ape brain more today than usual as instead of wiping the cream off his face like any normal human would, he’s attempting to reach it with his tongue. His chances aren’t good, to be honest; though you reckon your mutual friend Jimin would be able to get it from that distance. Dude has a tongue like a lizard. 

“You have Seven Days,” you tell him, struggling not to let a smile through as the amateur boxer whines, unable to reach the cream.

“You have seven days,” he grumbles sulkily, reaching with a begrudging hand for a napkin. “Do something or I’ll expose your ass.”

You roll your eyes, ninety-nine percent sure that he’s kidding.

… 

That other one percent worries you a bit though.

x – x – x 

You take back what you decided earlier— something is definitely wrong with your luck.

“And how did you hurt your knee again?”

“I tripped on the stairs.”

Jung Hoseok, the club’s current star welterweight boxer, sits before you in your little medical office. There aren’t any matches on today, but you’re on shift because the club members are doing some of the more rigorous training; there is an important few matches coming up for a few members, and they all want to be as prepared as possible. As tends to be the occupational hazard, training can often lead to injuries that need to be immediately attended to. 

You can’t say, though, that this is the type you were expecting when you rocked up today.

Hoseok is beaming at you, all sincerity and sparkles. There’s a slight bit of dark regrowth in his hair that catches your eye as you survey him, the crimson ends sticking to his forehead lightly from sweat. He looks every bit earnest and honest as he sits in front of you, but you can’t help but suspect him just slightly.

Because you’re not sure any of the club members have ever made their way to your office for a graze that wouldn’t even phase a kindergartener.

“Well,” you say, trying to ignore what Jungkook had said barely a day or two ago that floats back into your head now. “The good news is, it’s not fatal.”

Hoseok lets out a great, dramatic huff in relief. “Oh, thank god. I was so scared this might have been the end.”

‘Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how often they ‘hurt’ themselves as an excuse to see you?’

Is that what this is? An excuse to see you? A look spared for the man before you leads you to conclude: probably not. He’s a little too radiant to be seeking out lil’ ol’ you.

“Not this time,” you say, rummaging through your small box of mismatched bandages. Finding what you’re looking for, you turn back around and begin preparing it to place it on Hoseok’s knee. “You live to see another day.”

Hoseok shifts like he’s about to say something in response, but cuts himself off with a surprised laugh when he sees the band-aid you put on him. “Wh—you have Minions band-aids?!”

“I reserve them for special patients,” you say before you can stop yourself, promptly clamping your mouth shut a little too late. Your cheeks… you just hope the heat gathering there isn’t obvious.

Something shifts in Hoseok’s gaze as he surveys you for a moment, before hopping from the bed, testing his knee out like he’d sprained it instead of scratching it. The look is gone before you can fully decipher it and he’s back to grinning brightly once more. 

“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll have to come back often. Wouldn’t want them to go to waste.” Hoseok’s smile adopts a slightly cheeky edge as he makes his way to the door, lifting two fingers to his temple in a lazy salute. “See you later, doc!”

Then he’s gone before you can return the farewell, door closing definitively behind him and leaving the room in silence. 

Are you going crazy, or did Hoseok— one of the three boxers you’ve happened to walk in on twice now—just return your light flirting?

… God, you hope it wasn’t because of the minion band-aid.

x – x – x 

You wish that visit had been an isolated incident, but you had a repeat of it at least twice a week. Each time Hoseok would rock up grinning at your door with some other minor injury, all but demanding a minion band-aid for his troubles. You gave it to him, of course, but you still hope he doesn’t remember you as the minion band-aids guy. 

Surprisingly enough, it isn’t only Hoseok that has been cropping up more often in your day-to-day. You’ve had a few surprise encounters with Yoongi, who lately has taken to giving you a sly, unreadable look before turning away, leaving you in your own confusion. Sometimes you’ll get carried away watching him or one of the other boxers practice, and before you know it he has caught you staring red-handed and you’re forced to flee the room to escape the smug, intrigued look that slips into his eyes. 

It’s after such an occasion that you find yourself in the main locker room, attempting to multitask by looking for a box of first aid supplies hidden in the top shelves and giving your face a chance to cool down. It’s taken you so long to even find the damn box that your embarrassment has all but evaporated by now. By the time your eyes lock onto the scuffed white box peeking over the edge of the highest shelf in the corner of the room, you’re more than ready to snatch it down and escape back to the comfort of your dingy little office. 

Of course, it couldn’t ever be so easy for you. Not given your recent string of poor luck. 

You don’t consider your height to be remarkably anything, and normally you don’t have that much trouble reaching the cookie jar on the top shelf in your apartment but for some reason the shelves in this building are built to cater to giants, and try as you might you simply cannot reach. You’re literally about to abandon the last of your dignity and attempt jumping for it, when there is a light scuff on the floor from behind you and then a firm warmth pressing into your back. 

In all honesty, your brain short-circuits. For a second you think you might have even blacked out, because it takes at least three seconds for you to realise what is happening, and by that time the figure has already retreated back from your form. 

Somewhat dazed, you turn around to see one Kim Namjoon, the clubs leading middleweight champion and the third and final member of those racy scenarios you happened to walk in on oh-so long ago. In his hands is the box you’d been struggling so much to reach, and on his face is a look that somehow blends sheepishness and amusement into one attractive cocktail on his features. 

“Here you go,” he says, and for a shamefully long moment all you can do is stand and soak in the lovely timbre of his voice. By the time you snap out of it, a small smile has begun to curl on his lips. You pointedly avoid looking at the dimples that are beginning to show as a result. 

“Oh, uh, thanks,” you say, trying to make it as natural as possible as you reach and take the box from his hold. “Whoever put it up there seems to have a vendetta against me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he says, and there’s suddenly something a little secretive about the way he’s smiling. It makes you suspicious, and once more the words Jungkook prattled into your ear a week or so ago come rattling back into your brain. 

Is this something similar to what Hoseok had done? Did Namjoon put the box on a higher shelf?

“Are you calling me short?” For some reason, that’s what comes out of your mouth. There is a slight disconnect from what you said and what Namjoon had said previously, but he seems to make the connection. He tilts his head back and a rich laugh tumbles forth. It sounds nicer than you wish to admit to yourself. 

“Never,” he finally answers, grinning. “Though, feel free to come get me next time you lose against a shelf.”

Your mouth drops open in affront, but he makes a departure too quick for you to respond. His laughter echoes down the halls and you’re left reeling in your spot.

This isn’t what you expected to happen after walking in on a few intimate situations. In fact, this is quite the opposite.

What is happening?

x – x – x 

As the weeks go by, there are several big nights and several big matches. Hoseok and Yoongi, among a few others from the gym, emerge victorious. At this point you’re not too ashamed to say that you spent the entirety of their matches watching the way their muscles rippled as they dodged, swung and wove around the ring. If the last shred of dignity still clinging to you had disappeared, then you probably would have drooled like a dog. 

 The nights tend to go by weight classes, and the next upcoming night is to showcase the middleweight boxers. While Jungkook classifies for the class, as one of the newer recruits he isn’t the first choice for the match—much to his dismay.

It is approximately a week before this big match, in which Namjoon, one of the three men who live in your head rent-free these days, is participating, that you’re woken from your sleep and called into the gym.

It’s your night off, actually, so for you to be called in there must have been a pretty serious injury. You’re proven right when you enter the building and walk into the main room.

Before you can even assess the scene, Yoongi spots you and darts on over. He has a look on his face that you don’t think he’s ever sported before, and it fills you with a feeling of dread. It seems an appropriate feeling, considering what you see when you advance further into the room, towed by the frantic blonde who’d fetched you.

“Holy shit, what the hell happened?!” You dart forward, Yoongi’s grip slipping from your wrist as you move out of his reach. 

Namjoon is seated on the floor in a squat, cradling his left hand to his chest. A grimace twists his features, eyes glistening but face clear of tears. 

To your complete and utter surprise, the familiar tenor of Jungkook’s voice reaches your ears. You didn’t know he had stayed behind to practice tonight.

“We were leaving after practicing a bit later than normal, and some assholes drove past and picked a fight. I think—I think they were members from one of the rival clubs on the other side of the city but it was kind of dark and I didn’t get a good look.”

Your brows shoot up—that’s risky behaviour on their part, if it was actually members of a rival club that did this. Judges of this particular tournament don’t look kindly on foul play.

It would make sense if it’s true, though; a lot of local clubs tend to have boxers in the middleweight range, and Namjoon has emerged from enough matches victorious that he’s actually quite a threat. 

“Let me see,” you say, holding your hands out to Namjoon for him to rest his injured one in your hold. “Jungkook, go get the big tin box with the red cross from my office. Make sure it’s the one with antiseptic and bandages.”

You don’t even need to check he’s listened, because you can hear the frantic, obedient pattering of his feet fading away in the distance as you unwrap the blood-drenched towel from the hand in your hold. Namjoon’s busted up limb takes all of your attention the second you lay eyes on it properly, your stomach filling with an unpleasant, nameless cocktail of sensations. 

“Holy shit,” you say, unable to contain your wince.  “Tell me you didn’t get this from fighting them bare-knuckle.”

Namjoon has enough capacity for humour right now that he lets out a little huff. Yoongi fills you in before Namjoon has a chance. 

“No, though I almost did.” His expression is dark, the heat of his anger reaching you even when it’s not directed your way. “They were probably drinking before coming here, since they had a few bottles they threw into the mix.”

That explains the gashes you’re seeing on Namjoon’s palm— it seems he caught one of the bottles, though you’re not sure whether it was already broken or whether it broke on impact. Thankfully, from what you can see, the gashes and lacerations aren’t too deep and shouldn’t cause lasting damage, but they’ll definitely take a while to heal, and one or two of them look like they will need stitches. 

“Alright,” you begin, sighing softly. “I’ll do what I can to fix this up for now, but you’re going to have to go to the ER, because some of these will need stitches…”

You look up, reading the expressions of everyone in attendance and knowing that they have all reached the same conclusion regarding Namjoon’s immediate fate as a boxer.

“Sorry, Namjoon,” you start, watching his features crumble ever so slightly into a look of resignation. “This isn’t going to heal in time for next week, and you definitely won’t be able to train for a while.”

It’s just as you announce that, that Jungkook returns with your box of first-aid goodies. Hoseok, who has remained surprisingly silent the whole time this conversation has gone on, takes the box from his hold and delivers it next to you. Surprising all of you, Namjoon is quick to look up and pin Jungkook with a grin.

“Well, since I can’t participate—how do you feel about making your Big Boy Boxing Debut, Jungkookie?”

Your friend is rooted to the spot in shock for a solid few moments, before he snaps out of it and an excited if slightly nervous expression filters onto his face. 

“I will defend your honour, Namjoon!” he declares, saluting stupidly. “Count on me!”

Cheesy of him, but you can’t help the smile that tugs your lips. You just hope it’s not too late-notice for him, and that Namjoon’s injuries really aren’t that serious, as you surmise.

x – x – x 

 The week passes quicker than you anticipate, and before you know it, it’s the night of the big match—Jungkook’s first big match, that is. Namjoon had done his best over the days to coach Jungkook on the particular fighting styles of the opponents he normally faces, and to everyone’s pleasant surprise, Jungkook has picked it all up with ease. 

You’re more surprised to say that you’re not even that nervous, as you sit waiting for the match to begin. Jungkook stands in one corner, his opponent from one of the more renowned rival gyms in the other. You prepare to be on standby in case either boxer is injured enough to need aid, but cross your fingers that if anything at least Jungkook will be alright. 

In the blink of an eye, the match begins and the first bout kicks off. Jungkook’s opponent is slightly stockier, likely pushing the upper limits of the weight class, and is the first to make an offensive move. The familiar sound of cushioned gloves making impact rings in the air and you find yourself tensing in your seat as you watch the two interchange blows. 

It’s pretty much neck-and-neck for a majority of the bouts. Some of them go quick, and others seem to consist of the longest three minutes of your life. Still, the match goes on, and the night is filled with the siren song of the crowd and the ring of the bell.

After a night of close-call bouts and baited breath, Jungkook finally emerges victorious. 

Ever the fan favourite, the crowd that has amassed erupt into cheers as the referee declares the end of the final bout and Jungkook is held up as the victor. With the match decided, the club members that had been watching ringside burst up and swarm around the young boxer who brought pride to the gym on his very first big match. The three boxers that usually occupy your thoughts wriggle their way up there too, and it’s Hoseok’s bright tone that pierces the ruckus of the crowd.

“Drinks at ours to celebrate our victor, Jungkookie!” he caws, rubbing Jungkook on the back in something akin to pride. “Members of King Hit Gym, we better see you all there!”

You mightn’t be a technical member, but the way you suddenly feel three sets of eyes on you tells you that you’re still more than invited. 

x – x – x

It’s three hours since the end of the match, and you’re more than a little tipsy.

You can safely say that you haven’t ever been to the house where Namjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi live, but you’re nothing short of impressed. It’s a three-storey townhouse, with three rooms— presumably one for each of them, though from what you’d glimpsed on the way to the bathroom earlier only one of them appears regularly lived in.

It didn’t take you long to ponder exactly why, considering the things you’ve accidentally witnessed in the past month.

Most of your time tonight was spent celebrating with Jungkook as he made the rounds and received congratulations from the rest of the club members. Music thrums through the building, bass vibrating pleasantly through your chest every time you pass the expensive speakers in the living room.

You’ve paced yourself well, all things considered. All you had to do to avoid an early night ending in blackout drunkenness was steer clear of Jungkook whenever he made his way by the kitchen to refill— he’d learnt his mixing skills from Jimin, a verified alcoholic back in the day who spent his time in university trying to throw together his own signature cocktail with the same alcohol percentage as absinthe.

So you’re relatively proud of yourself to only be a little over tipsy at this point in the night. You can’t really say the same for the rest of the club members, though— even Jungkook has reached a point where he is stumbling and giggling. Which, of course, led to the event that splattered drink all over your shirt. 

You’re wandering up the stairs now, mind occupied with everything but what you’re doing as you absentmindedly seek the bathroom to clean your shirt. You haven’t seen any of the homeowners in a while, actually, which is kind of disappointing because you’re really longing for some eye candy right about now. They disappeared about ten minutes ago, and you figured it was just to socialise or maybe grab more snacks but you haven’t paid it much thought since then, and now you’re realising they hadn’t returned to the party yet. 

Reaching the top of the stairs, you pause for a moment to try and recall which room is the bathroom. There’s two of them, you remember being told, one ensuite and a main bathroom. There was also a third one on the first floor, but that was too far for you to attempt reaching it. Unable to remember which door is which, you simply decide to wing it and march on forward towards the first door to enter your line of sight. You’re pretty stable, but your head is kind of fuzzy, so your hand hovers by the wall as you walk just in case you stumble. 

Upon reaching the door in question, it takes you about a second and a half to realise the room you have reached is not the one you want, and another second for the shock to reach you.

Because, for the third time in a month, you have walked in on something you shouldn’t have. 

Except this time, you can’t seem to pull yourself away as fast as you should. 

It’s Hoseok and Namjoon tangled before you this time, in a position much more intimate than the last you’d seen. Their lips are locked, Hoseok straddling one of Namjoon’s thighs with one hand tangled in inky locks and the other rubbing over his crotch, where a prominent bulge makes itself known even to your eyes. Just when you remember that you should really be on your way, their lips break apart and Namjoon’s head tilts back, a sinful, velvet moan climbing from his throat as Hoseok leans to pepper it with kisses. It’s mesmerising, and you forget you’re even there as you watch the red-haired man’s hand climb up Namjoon’s stomach and then slip beneath the waistband of his jeans. 

You come back to yourself when you feel a familiar tightness in your own pants and a throb between your legs— of course, you’re hard. You’re too hazy-brained to even be ashamed of it right now. It does pierce through the fog, though, that you’re intruding on something you’re not meant to see. Like you’re trying to move limbs filled with lead, you start to drag your feet and turn around. 

You barely get a step in before you’re face to face with someone strikingly familiar, and your heart drops in your chest before kicking back into motion at double speed. 

“You always seem to enjoy watching, don’t you?” Yoongi’s question catches you off guard and puts you on the spot— before you can panic, though, his lips curl in a kittenish smile. “It’s alright, we already know you do, baby boy.”

Your heart stutters in your chest, stomach flipping giddily. Your eyes track it with surprising clarity as Yoongi’s hand— strong and sculpted and deliciously vascular, as you’d admired many times before— rises to caress your cheek, and he leans forward until his lips brush the sensitive skin of your earlobe.

“Why don’t you join us, this time?”

You find yourself nodding before you even realise it, but it’s definitely a decision you would make again any other day. 

You feel Yoongi smile against your ear, and then he is pressing a soft kiss to your cheek and pulling back. That same strong hand winds around your wrist and you’re tugged into the room, the door shutting behind you. The two on the bed barely bat an eye at the arrival of their third lover and an extra figure, merely smiling dazedly at the two of you. 

“Baby boy is finally gonna join us?” Hoseok asks, eyes lidded and dark to match the tousled look of his hair and clothes. His words are slightly slurred but the keenness to his gaze tells you he is still very much aware of everything he does. 

Yoongi hums in confirmation, coming up behind you to wind his arms lazily around your waist and rest his chin on your shoulder. “Mhmm. Don’t stop on our account— why don’t you give him a bit of a show to start, hm?”

Hoseok needs no further prompting, a grin all you glimpse before he is diving back to crash his lips into Namjoon’s, hand moving inside his pants and eliciting a deep, throaty groan. It makes your own cock throb in need, and almost as though he reads your mind, Yoongi's voice sounds in your ear once more. 

“You already hard, baby boy? Like what you see?”

Something about the husky quality of the boxer’s voice makes a shudder roll down your spine, a light whine slipping from your throat. Yoongi presses soft kisses to the skin of your neck as you watch the two on the bed undress each other between heated kisses. 

“Want me to touch you, baby boy?”

As though possessed, your head begins nodding before you even think to act on the urge. Yoongi requires no further prompting; he begins to kiss and suckle along the column of your neck while his hands move— one creeps up beneath your shirt to flick a thumb over your nipple, and the other slips down, down, down beneath the waistband of your pants and boxers, until that hand you admire so much is slipping around your cock and squeezing just enough to make you gasp out a moan. 

Pleasure and desire wind together to mix with the tipsy haze in your mind, and you’re more than happy to surrender yourself to the current situation. Slowly, you’re urged over to the bed, eyes still locked on the pair occupied there as Yoongi’s hand works magic on your length. You don’t even bother attempting to stem the gasps and moans tumbling forth because you know at this point it would probably be futile. 

Hoseok has now stripped Namjoon entirely and is making his way down his body with his mouth, pressing a kiss against every inch of golden skin he can reach. Namjoon is quite generously endowed, and you can’t tear your eyes away as Hoseok finally reaches the apex of his thighs and begins to lavish attention to Namjoon’s flushed cock. 

You can feel Yoongi grinding lightly against you as he strokes your own aching member, the two of you observing the show before you with rapt attention. At some point you’re rid of your shirt and the air feels cool against your flushed skin, your upper body leaning back against Yoongi contentedly. The noises spilling from Namjoon’s throat are downright sinful as Hoseok’s mouth sinks down on him with practiced ease.

It’s almost too much for you, really. Almost sensory overload. You’re urged ever so slowly to the bed, and as you sit on the plush mattress you happily oblige as Yoongi begins to undo and remove the jeans that are now uncomfortably tight. Your boxers follow soon after and then you’re joining the other two in their nudity. As though sensing the change in plans, Hoseok pulls off of Namjoon’s cock with a ‘pop’, licking his lips and ignoring the whine in protest that Namjoon lets out. “In a minute, bubs.”

Yoongi leans over to the bedside table to retrieve lube and something else you soon realise to be condoms as he tosses them on the bed between him and Hoseok. 

“Are you alright with this?”

You turn at the sound of Yoongi’s voice, eyes meeting his own— though heady and full of desire, they’re also determined. You don’t doubt that if you say no, he will stop things here.

“Yes,” you confirm, and you watch as a smile pulls over Yoongi’s face.

“Excellent. Now, lean forward, baby boy. This might be a little cold.”

Without question, you allow him to shift and bend your body as needed, knees digging into the plush bedding. Tilting your head up, you manage to meet the eyes of Namjoon, who is in a similar position to yourself, just in time for you to gasp at the sudden cold sensation at your ass. 

You’d think by now you would be used to the feeling of lube— you’re immediately distracted from that though at the sensation of Yoongi’s finger beginning to toy around your asshole. You allow yourself to relax as much as possible, turning your attention to Namjoon and Hoseok and simply enjoying the sensations Yoongi is eliciting. 

Namjoon’s hand raises, cupping your cheek and dragging down ever so gently. Hoseok catches the movement and lets out a coo, eyes boring into your own. 

“Wanna kiss him, baby boy? Go ahead, he’s good at it.”

You don’t need to be told twice, and neither does Namjoon. You find Hoseok definitely isn’t wrong as Namjoon’s lips meet your own, the kiss quickly turning heated as his mouth moves against your own. He swallows down your moans as Yoongi’s fingers begin to stretch you slowly, one by one.

You lose so much time in the hypnotic motion of bodies against your own that before you know it there is a gentle yet firm hand against your shoulder pulling you back from the man before you. 

“Ready, baby?”

You nod, and soon after hear the familiar tear of foil before the head of Yoongi’s cock is pressing against your hole. You take a deep breath in, allowing your eyes to flutter closed as he begins to press himself in and stretch you open bit by bit. The burn isn’t particularly painful tonight, and to be honest sometimes you’re partial to the sensation. 

By the time Yoongi is fully seated within you, you’re almost panting, soft moans escaping unwittingly. Through the fog of pleasure currently addling your brain, you hear similar noises in front of you and realise Namjoon must be in a similar state. Unconsciously, your hand stretches out, seeking contact, and manages to entwine with the large, warm one you identify as Namjoon’s good hand. 

As soon as Yoongi receives the green light from you, he begins to move. The sensations of him dragging against your walls are enough to almost drive you mad, especially at the slow pace he’s set. It isn’t long before he picks up though, and soon rough the slap of his hips against your ass is one of the many sinful noises echoing in the room, muffled by the loud music still booming beyond the bedroom walls. 

“O-oh, fuck,” you moan, barely coherent enough to respond to Namjoon’s seeking lips. Absently, you hear Yoongi’s soft groans and low murmured praises, and it makes your heart skip a beat. 

“Good boy,” he all but purrs, hand caressing down your spine before finding purchase at your hips. 

Time blurs and you’re wound so tight that it isn’t long before you feel yourself approaching that edge, your hand lowering to begin stroking your own cock again in an effort to reach your high faster. It’s one deep stroke that hits you in all the right places that is your undoing, and with a cry you’re cumming hard, spots appearing behind your eyes. 

The sudden tightness around his cock has Yoongi stilling, a low, drawn out groan sounding from his throat as he joins you in your high, throbbing inside you. Your arms are a little too weak to continue holding you, but he seems to be in tune enough that he notices and his own slip around you, easing you into his embrace as he adjusts on the mattress and hums into your skin. 

Namjoon and Hoseok aren’t far behind you, the two of them reaching their own end not long after. Namjoon flops against the bed, spent and Hoseok hops up to retrieve a bin and some wipes to clean up a bit before he too flops across the mattress, smacking Namjoon’s ass as he does and eliciting a brief whine in protest. 

“Well fuck,” you hum, staring absently at the ceiling. Yoongi snorts, pulling you closer, and like they all share a hive mind you’re very suddenly in the middle of a cuddle pile as the other two join in. 

“Beats just watching, doesn’t it?” One of them queries, probably Hoseok— you’re too tired to really discern it. 

“Mhm,” you respond, basking in content. “Four’s company, I suppose.”

There are a few hums of agreement, and then comfortable silence falls over the room. You find yourself smiling as you sink into the most content sleep you’ve had in a while, in the arms of the three boxers who have nestled their way into your heart one by one 

[dannilea]

New Fic!

Title: Anchor in the Dawn

Fandom: Pacific Rim

Chapter 1/?

Summary: Raleigh Becket has a problem, and frankly, he blames Mako Mori. Five years on the destined to fail Wall doing everything he could to just not think (not about Yancy, or Knifehead, or Jaz, or the future beyond trying to snag another shift) means he is completely unprepared for the end of the Kaiju War. He also, incidentally, is not prepared for Mako, Tendo, and Herc refusing to let him continue avoiding his problems.

or;

Mako Mori has a problem and that problem is a co-pilot with no sense of self-preservation (and a severe underestimation of his ability to move on from a war they won)

@itsonlyforever82 and @3fluffies here’s that monstrer fic ya’ll have been encouraging.

---

Falling, Raleigh knew, was easy. He’d told Mako that anyone can fall, and he wasn’t wrong, and he wasn’t lying. All he had to do after he ejected her (because he couldn’t lose her like he lost Yancy, ripped from his mind panicking and screaming and desperate because even in his last moments all Yancy wanted to do was protect Raleigh) was fall into the breach and let Gipsy (his Jaeger, every bit a part of him as Yancy and Mako) blow and destroy that link between the Anteverse and Earth. It had been the easiest thing he’d done since Knifehead.

What Raleigh didn’t know how to do was stop falling. The only thing keeping him from falling right through the bottom of the chopper and into the ocean (and into and endless void he’ll never be able to forget) was the weight of Mako leaning against him, head on his shoulder, with his hand clasped in hers. Raleigh hadn’t felt this grounded since Yancy died and he didn’t really know what to do with that besides laying his head on top of Mako’s, eyes closed, and just listening to her breathe and reminding himself that she was there, that they were both fine and Mako wasn’t gone (even though he’d felt her fade from the drift, gradual and slow as her oxygen ran out and all part of him could think was painYancy’sgoneRaleighlistentome and ohgodohgodnotagaincan’tdothisagain).

It was, of course, in this moment of pseudo-peace that Raleigh had tricked himself into, that one of medics approaches and roused both him and Mako.

“Alright, Rangers. Heads up, you need to stay awake until we get back to the dome for a full assessment,” the medic said.

Raleigh cracked open his eyes reluctantly but didn’t lift his head. Mako squeezed his fingers a little tighter and he squeezed back. It may have been awhile since he had to deal with post-combat procedures, but he remembered how they went. There hadn’t been time after the double event in Hong Kong for a thorough check-up by the medical staff- just enough to tell which Rangers were fit for combat- and then there was the triple event and Operation Pitfall. Raleigh hadn’t thought he was going to make it out of Gipsy Danger, let alone all the way back to the Shatterdome for a full medical and psych evaluation. He was, honestly, very aware that if it hadn’t been for an imminent apocalypse he would not have been cleared to step into the conn-pod by any psych team on the planet, let alone in the PPDC.

Raleigh was not looking forward to talking to the psychs.

Mako, sensing that her co-pilot was not as settled as he was letting the crew believe, shifted and squeezed his hand again, tucking herself closer to his side. In the ghost-drift, he could feel her reassurance and echoic grief. With a jolt, he remembered that she had lost a father today, and now was not the time to lose himself in his own grief and lingering panic. Mako needed him here in the present, not lost in the past trying to fight a long dead monster.

Maybe Raleigh didn’t know how to anchor himself to the present, but he could anchor Mako.

Raleigh had known medical was going to be a nightmare. Shortly after the copter carrying him and Mako had landed, they were hustled out of their armor and drive suits and dropped into the improvised double bed that usually appeared for pilots dealing with post-combat drifting. Raleigh was positive he and Mako had been poked, prodded, scanned, and tested with everything the doctors had on hand, as well as a few things they probably had Newt come up with.

Mako, able to read him scarily well after only drifting three times, leveled him with a Look that had him swallowing the rather scathing reply he had to the doctor’s latest round of questions. Raleigh knew he was pissing the doctor off by refusing to let go of Mako, but honestly, Raleigh had already had one person die in his head and with the number of times he’d had to relive the memory in the last few days, they were lucky he wasn’t  curled around Mako hissing at anyone that came too close like a demented cat-lizard

(Okay, so the insomnia leads to binge watching some weird shit and maybe his similes and metaphors were little out there).

After someone insisted on trying to separate them again Mako leveled them with the smile – the one Raleigh knew from experience leads to an ass-kicking.

“We stay together,” she told them, the perfect picture of cooperation and calm and absolute steel, “And if you have a problem with it, get the Marshal.”

Raleigh was pretty sure he was in love.

“Keep it up with the heart eyes, Becket Boy, and you’re gonna be making me rich!”

Raleigh grinned and turned to face the door, “Tendo! They finally let you go

Tendo strolled up to the bed, “Yup. What’s left for me to do in the post-combat investigation can wait until we all get some rest,” he said with a pointed look at Raleigh. Raleigh honestly was not very surprised that Tendo already knew about his issues sleeping. Shatterdomes, Raleigh had learned, have better gossip vines than high school. When he couldn’t sleep he resorted to four things, generally: working out, reading, Rosetta Stone, and watching really weird late-night programming. Raleigh had attracted audiences while working on the Wall in Alaska (because apparently it was interesting to watch even washed up Rangers run through Jaeger Bushido drills) and he hadn’t really slept since coming to the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Raleigh had bumped into plenty of the late shift personnel and figured that one or all of them had to be Tendo’s source of information.

“Resting wouldn’t be much of an issue if they’d stop trying to make us separate,” Raleigh grumbled. He was exhausted and wanted to sleep but was, on a rather large level he was trying not to acknowledge, a bit terrified that if he let go of Mako one or the both of them were going to fall away and he was going to feel it again – that burningpanicourmindwasrippedinhalf and yancyyancyyancycan’tfindyouohgod. He knew having Mako’s mind torn from his – not the gradual fade out that happened in the breach when her oxygen ran out, but the full on rippingtearingshredding he felt when Yancy died – would kill him.

Mako turned from the nurse she was talking to and raises an eyebrow at Raleigh. He was aware he sounded a bit like a petulant child, thanks Mako.

“We’ll be resting soon, Tendo,” she said and Raleigh feels a bit guilty. Mako, unlike her co-pilot, does not suffer from insomnia and she looked exhausted. He could feel her desire to sleep through the ghost drift but he also felt her stubborn refusal to sleep and leave him halfway to panicking.

Raleigh was sure there was something to say or do here, but it turned out purposefully isolating yourself as much as possible for five years kind of destroys your people skills.

“You better. I remember how stubborn this one gets when he doesn’t want to do something, so let me know if you need any help, Mako.” Tendo responded

“Hey!” Raleigh objected, mildly offended.

Tendo rolled his eyes, “Raleigh, I’ve known you since the academy. I worked in LOCCENT for all of your engagements, and you can be a stubborn asshole when you want to be.”

Raleigh really couldn’t protest again – he knew Tendo was right and with the way Mako was smirking at him, she knew it too. Raleigh just sighed and leaned into Mako. He was pretty tired too and could probably sleep for once. He did not remember the medical crew being this much of a pain in the ass five years ago. He was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep sprawled across Yancy before and nobody so much as blinked. He had no idea why they were trying to get him and Mako to different beds now. Also, from what he remembered that was against post-combat protocol for Jaeger pilots.

Which even after five years, Raleigh was pretty sure that hasn’t changed.

Probably.

Raleigh frowned at the doctor he, Tendo, and Mako had been ignoring, “Isn’t it against regulation for pilots to be separated after combat?”

The doctor, a man in his 40’s, if Raleigh had to guess, pursed his lips and responded, “Usually, yes, but neither you or Ranger Mori are showing signs of drift shock. Actually, you’re both remarkably...settled for pilots that are barely three hours out of combat.”

Mako gave the doctor her best are-you-an-idiot look, and Raleigh’s face fell into something entirely nonplussed. Tendo regarded the doctor with a look of exasperation and told him that he was possibly the stupidest man he’d ever met.

“You’ve got two generally reserved people who are clinging to each other and are refusing to put so much as an inch in between them. Just because they’re not in hysterics doesn’t mean they’re not dealing with post-combat drift symptoms,” Tendo said, “Where the hell did you get your qualifications for treating Rangers?”

“He hasn’t,” snapped a voice from the door. Mako and Raleigh turned and saw Herc Hansen strolling into the rather heavily equipped room they and had been stashed in. “He was just hired by the PPDC during the move to the Hong Kong Shatterdome; he hasn’t been trained in treating Rangers yet and shouldn’t be the lead physician for you two.”

The Marshal scowled at the doctor, “Well? Get the hell out of here and get McCoy!”

The unnamed doctor (Raleigh was sure he had introduced himself at some point, but honestly, he couldn’t care less at the moment about the idiot’s name) scowled and marched out the door. Raleigh had never been more happy to see a pissed off Marshal in his life.

To be fair that was because before it was always Raleigh pissing off the Marshal, so not being on the receiving end of Herc’s ire is a nice role reversal he could get behind.

Herc turned to Mako, Raleigh and Tendo before rolling his eyes, “Now that that moron is out of here, you three get to quarters and go the fuck to sleep.”

Raleigh frowned, “We aren’t waiting on Doc McCoy?”

Herc leveled Raleigh with a look.

Raleigh and Mako practically sprinted back to her room.

---

By the time Mako was ready for bed, Raleigh had already managed to sprawl along one side of the bed and squeeze himself against the wall, leaving just enough room for Mako to flop down against his side and fling an arm along his back.

From the drift, Mako knew Raleigh had trouble sleeping, and when he did sleep it usually wasn’t for long because he’d eventually end up reliving Knifehead in his dreams and wake, sudden and harsh, as if the water spilling into the conn-pod in his memory was hitting him again in the waking world. She also knew that sometimes these memories and a flashback in his dream were triggered by the photos he kept on his wall.

So, today, after they finally won the war, Mako was determined that her co-pilot was going to get to sleep. Which is why they were in her room and not his (even though, technically, he had more space. She had more personal effects- the toys Sensei and gotten her and the few things she had left of her parents, such as her mother’s tea set and her father’s sword. She also had a desk for work that made her room seem much smaller than it actually was since it took up a good portion of one of her walls). Mako also hoped that the two of them together like this would keep her own personal monsters at bay; after reliving Onibaba just hours ago and then losing Sensei soon after, she knew it was very likely she’d have her own nightmares and flashbacks tonight.

Mako buried her face into Raleigh’s shoulder and slowly drifted to sleep. She dreamed of childhood snowball fights and learning to forge a sword, a mother with the scent of cigarettes clinging to her clothes and another mother teaching her to make her favorite sweet dish. She dreamed of the ground shaking with monstrous footsteps that inched closer much too quickly and far too slowly. Normally, when she dreams of the monster that killed her parents she is alone – small and frightened and clinging to a tiny red shoe. Now she stands tall in Gipsy Danger, Raleigh, and sword at the ready.

This time, she slays the monster in her nightmares.

(And some part of them, that part that is created from their two minds merging, that stays connected outside of the Drift, stepped into Raleigh’s nightmare-memories of claws digging into the conn-pod of Gipsy, and the unending burning in his arm where his own monster and ripped it off, and the  overwhelming pressure on his mind from taking on the entirety of Gipsy’s neural load,  and of the other half of his very being being ripped into the sky and landing in freezing water. Together Mako and Raleigh climb into the cradle and stop the monster before its claws can ever get into Yancy Becket.

Later, when she was awake, Mako wished it was that easy to heal herself and Raleigh. She wished they could just step into each other's minds and slay the monsters that lay there, freeing them from nightmares and should haves. But Mako had learned from Sensei and the child psychologist he insisted she see after he adopted her that healing, the healing she and Raleigh need, takes time.

She also knew that five years of isolation did not help Raleigh at all, and she wouldn’t let him wander away to stab at open wounds that had barely begun to stop bleeding, let alone scab over.

As long as they’re together they can heal).

[coyotescribbles]

Title: Insomnia Chapter: 1 Word Count: 1,099 Rating: E

He'd died a thousand times over in his dreams.

Consumed by the Flood. Executed for heresy. Eaten by Brutes. All of these and more, over and over until it seemed as if wakefulness was more restful than sleep at times.

Now was one of those times.

Instead of laying in his bed and gazing into the darkness - which he knew would only invite worse horrors - Rtas had risen, dressed himself in warm leggings and a loose tunic, and fumbled drowsily about making tea for a few dreadfully long minutes. He'd briefly considered brewing something to induce sleep, but... had thought better of it. The nightmares were unpleasant enough when he could wake from them, he reasoned.

However, although the tea cleared the fog from his thoughts, it did nothing to alleviate the lingering sense of discomfort and unease.

- he could still feel the burn of  'Kusovai's blade buried in his chest, still feel the Flood spores burrowing into his lungs -

Rtas hurriedly downed the last of the tea, setting the cup aside and striding towards the door; he couldn't bring himself to care that he was out of uniform and barefoot, after all, anyone who came across him in this state was liable to be just as muddled and sleep-deprived as he was. That was simply a fact of life aboard ships like his, with strictly-regimented day/night cycles and small crews... the meager night shift would be too busy attending to their duties, while everyone else was supposed to be sleeping.

Supposed to be... he thought sourly.

He prowled the vast, eerily silent corridors uninterrupted for some time, letting his mind wander through topics that weren't death or dying or hideous, faceless nightmare creatures. The coming day's schedule, for example, or what he could remember from the last ship's manifest he'd read over...

"You're out of uniform, Shipmaster. Never thought I'd see the day."

To his credit, Rtas didn't jump at the sudden interruption, though for a moment it did feel as though both of his hearts had stopped for a beat. Fighting back the urge to lash out or leap away, he turned - very carefully - to see who had spoken.

"...Stolt." He disguised his sigh of relief behind an irritable snort. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

The Unggoy just waved him off, as unconcerned as he was unfazed. "We don't need as much sleep as you Sangheili. Though lately it seems like you've been getting even less sleep than I have."

"Is it that obvious?"

"I was able to sneak up and startle you, wasn't I?"

"..." Rtas grumbled something slightly less than complimentary under his breath, but in truth he wasn't angry at his friend, he was angry at himself. Because Stolt's unspoken implication - that he was faltering, losing his edge - was true. He'd been running on the barest minimum he could get by on, and it was wearing on him - how could he continue to command a ship in his condition?

"The crew's concened that you're unwell. Vul has entertained the notion of pulling rank-"

"Has he, now?" Rtas shook his head sharply, and turned to go back the way he'd come. Stolt, ever unwavering, easily kept pace with him. "I am not unwell. I simply... haven't been getting enough sleep. That's all."

"That's usually a sign that something's wrong, you know."

He started to snap back in reply, but caught himself before he could. Again, Stolt was right, however much it vexed him to admit it in this case.

"...something's troubling you, Rtas. What is it?"

Pausing, he took a moment to thoughtfully peer down at the Unggoy, before letting out a long sigh as he resumed his walk. "Many things trouble me, Stolt. It... comes with the territory, to borrow a phrase."

"Hmm." There was a thoughtful hum from somehere below, then ayou long stretch of silence broken only by the sound of their footsteps. "These troubles of yours... is there anything you can do about them? Or are you simply worrying yourself into an early grave over things you don't have any control over?"

"...I... suppose... it would be the latter," he admitted quietly, sheepish, lowering his head a bit in embarrassment. "It is an easy trap to get caught in, when you have as much to worry over as I do."

"I suppose so. But you can't get out of a trap by wallowing around in it."

"I do not wallow."

"Of course not." There was a hint of amusement in Stolt's voice. "You Sangheili are too dignified for that."

Rtas snorted softly, but there was humor there, however dry.

"You're getting yourself caught up in a vicious cycle, Rtas," Stolt continued, suddenly serious; "You worry over things you can do nothing about, and it eats at you. You spend your nights conjuring these things up in that giant lizard brain of yours, then end up fumbling through the day half-functional, and then you go back to your quarters to do it all over again. It's going to kill you if you don't stop it."

"I know. But I-" he shook his head with a growl, frustrated; "...I don't know how."

Another thoughtful hum. Another minute of silence.

"Well, I'm no psychologist-" the term was lost on Rtas, though he caught the implication that that was some kind of doctor, "but maybe I can help. Later, after you've slept. Let Vul helm the Shadow for a day or two; you know you won't lose any standing in the eyes of the crew. You've done well by them so far, they’re loyal, they won't begrudge you a little rest."

He sighed, mulling over the Unggoy's words. "I don't know if I can rest."

"Nonsense. I know you have some of that oblivion-tea, or whatever it was the San'Shyuum called it, stashed away. Make yourself a double dose of that, and when you wake again, make another. You know where to find me afterwards."

Rtas wanted to ask just how Stolt knew what he kept stocked in his own quarters, but they'd already reached his door, and it was clear that he was ending the conversation.

"...very well. Tell 'Soran to take care of my ship, or I'll have his hide for a cloak."

"Gladly." Stolt's beady eyes glinted impishly as he offered a parting salute. "Get some rest, Shipmaster."

"Thank you, Stolt," Rtas nodded in return, "I shall seek out your expertise later."

The Unggoy just cackled quietly, continuing on his way and leaving the Shipmaster to his own devices once more.

He sealed the door behind himself, and went to brew another cup of tea.

[aion-rsa]

The Scariest Star Trek Episodes

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Looking for some space-based thrills and chills to enjoy this Halloween? Have no fear – or have a lot of fear, actually – Star Trek has you covered! We’ve listed 28 of the scariest episodes from across the franchise in order of just how much they freaked us out, so whether your preference is for deep space exploration, war-torn space stations, or the far reaches of the known universe, there’s something here for you.

This list excludes all of the feature films, which tend to be scarier on the whole as they’re aiming to make an impact on a cinema audience (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and Star Trek: First Contact have some especially terrifying sequences). It also excludes The Animated Series and Lower Decks. The Animated Series is seriously under-rated, but it’s bright, colourful style and slightly lighter tone don’t really bring the scares. Lower Decks features lots of blood, guts, gore, zombies and a giant spider to rival Shelob – and that’s just in the first episode! – but it’s basically satire, so none of it really comes across as scary.

This list is also firmly focused on spooky Halloween chills. There are many, many episodes of Star Trek from across the franchise that deal with torture or moral murkiness. We’re not looking for episodes that will make you question whether it’s possible to be a good person in a harsh universe, but for classic horror movie scares – creepy set-ups, scary scenarios, and spooky chills.

28. The Original Series: season 2, episode 7 ‘Catspaw’

This episode isn’t really all that different from the many The Original Series episodes where some implausibly powerful alien being plays dangerous games with the crew that include a hefty dose of fantasy, but the Halloween-style setting gives it a spooky vibe. Captain Kirk tries to use his sexual allure to solve the problem, of course, and completely disrupts an alien relationship through sheer force of his masculinity. But all is well in the end, though the scene where the villain uses sympathetic magic to over-heat the Enterprise as she dangles a model of it over a candle flame is pretty freaky.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Cheesy Halloween set-ups.

27. Voyager: season 5, episode 18 ‘Course Oblivion’

The idea that you might not be who you think you are has a clear existential horror to it, and this isn’t the only episode on this list based on that concept. It’s really more sad than scary as the truth of the situation is discovered about halfway through, and once the entire crew realise they’re not human after all, but recent copies of the original Voyager crew, they’re too concerned with the fact that they’re dying in vast numbers to dwell much on the personal horror of their position. Even knowing they aren’t the original crew, watching these beloved characters die one by one is gut-wrenching, and the final moments are truly the stuff of nightmares – they’re so close to help, but just can’t cry out…

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Disintegration, ship-wide destruction.

26. Enterprise: season 2, episode 4 ‘Dead Stop’

Creepiness doesn’t have to come from old houses, dark streets, and rooms full of shadows. It can also come from bright, white light and empty spaces. Threats don’t have to be immediately obvious – they can come cloaked in what looks like kindness and generosity. With creepy direction from Voyager’s Roxann Dawson, who also voices the mysterious computer, and the always unnerving theme of a computer killing organic lifeforms, this creates an unsettling vibe without the schlocky Halloween staples. Throw in a classic fake order from a convincing-sounding voice, the apparent death of a regular character (not an uncommon occurrence on Star Trek, it has to be said), and Archer’s desperate plea, familiar to all of us who’ve ever called a helpline, of “I need to talk to a person!”, and you’ve got a pleasantly unsettling hour of television.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Automated telephone helplines.

25. Deep Space Nine: season 2, episode 14 ‘Whispers’

This isn’t the only episode on this list about the horror of discovering you aren’t who you thought you were, or about a family member who isn’t their usual self. But it does offer a different, and equally disturbing, take on the idea. For most of this episode, we follow Chief O’Brien as he returns to Deep Space Nine, only to find the behaviour of everyone around him is just a little… off. The ending is tragically moving, but the bulk of the episode is increasingly disconcerting, with O’Brien unable to trust anyone or to work out what could possibly have happened while he was away. It plays into fears deeper than the fear of things that go bump in the night – the fear that your friends and family might drift away from you, or turn on you, or pull apart from you. And that’s one of the scariest things of all.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Being abandoned, your boss and colleagues turning on you.

24. Voyager: season 6, episode 25 ‘The Haunting Of Deck Twelve’

Voyager’s Borg children get a campfire story from Neelix addressing the apparently ‘haunted’ Deck 12. It’s a space alien, of course, but it has its moments providing some good scares and another opportunity for the Voyager crew to nearly abandon ship (something they make more of a habit of than they should considering they’re lost in the Delta Quadrant). The campfire ghost story set-up adds a nice sense of Halloween fun to the tale, there’s some nice character work (Neelix’s frequent fear of darkness and nothingness comes up, and his love/hate relationship with Tuvok) and there are some scary moments – after all, how do you outrun a gas cloud?

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Gas, nebulas.

23. The Next Generation: season 7, episode 19 ‘Genesis’

This one is too terrible an episode to get any higher on the list – we really can’t recommend it as an actually good episode of Star Trek. But it’s here because you can’t deny that as the Enterprise crew slowly de-evolve and regress to earlier phases of evolution from their respective species, the effects are genuinely unnerving, as well as occasionally laughable. Voyager’s ‘Threshold’ (frequently referred to as the worst episode of Star Trek of all time) similarly includes some effective body horror before it descends into ludicrousness and people start turning into lizards and abandoning their lizard babies, but is too silly to include – this one, however, hangs on just long enough to produce some real scares. It helps that the crew are de-evolving, rather than evolving into an apparently higher form.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Spiders, lizards, lemurs, and terrifying human-animal hybrids.

22. The Next Generation: season 4, episode 17 ‘Night Terrors’

One of several ‘waking nightmare’ episodes, this one is let down a bit by the somewhat unconvincing scenes of Troi flying through a weird green skyscape, but there are plenty of properly creepy moments to enjoy. Dr Crusher’s hallucination of a roomful of corpses sitting up is a standout, but Picard thinking the turbolift is shrinking in on him is alarming too, and the scraps of audio revealing what happened to the late crew of the USS Brattain, who murdered each other in the grip of paranoid hallucinations, are chilling. The science behind the idea, that we need REM sleep to be able to function, is solid, which makes the whole thing even more frightening.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Corpses, insomnia.

21. Voyager: season 2, episode 8 ‘Persistence of Vision’

Over the course of seven years, Voyager did so many episodes in which almost the whole crew were knocked out, suffered from hallucinations, put to sleep in a collective dream or otherwise mentally trapped by aliens, that they made a reference to it in season seven’s ‘Shattered’. This one is a good choice for Halloween, though, thanks to some nicely spooky imagery. It featured Janeway’s Victorian Gothic holo-novel and so her hallucinations include a ghostly little girl in Victorian clothes having a tantrum about cucumber sandwiches, which is particularly unsettling. It also features an unusually ‘evil’ and mysterious villain who has no motive other than being a nasty character and vanishes into thin air, and allows Kes to really shine at the climax, showing off her own considerable powers.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Creepy children, massive boils leaking pus.

20. The Next Generation: season 1, episode 25 ‘Conspiracy’

This episode is remembered for one thing and one thing only – the exploding head. And the alien chest-burster incident that comes right after it. Although the ending seems to hint at a wider threat, it was never officially followed up on within the series, possibly partly because this episode was so much gorier than anything seen on Star Trek up to that date. It also experienced some mutations of its own in development. What was originally intended to be a conspiracy within Starfleet was nixed by then-still-alive Gene Roddenberry as not conforming to his utopian vision. Perhaps this is why, to make up for the less psychologically disturbing conspiracy-by-alien-outsider, the production team went all out on the gore at the episode’s climax. It’s certainly memorable!

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Gore, alien chest-bursters.

19. Voyager: season 3, episode 18 ‘Darkling’

Robert Picardo hams it up gloriously in this homage to Jekyll and Hyde. The idea behind the episode, that when the Doctor patches the personalities of famous people into his program he gets their dark sides as well as their good qualities, is a neat concept and an interesting thought. The actual way these dark sides manifest is a bit bland, being focused mostly on general evil gurning and an obsession with Kes that twists the Doctor’s own genuine feelings for her into something more sinister. There was more subtlety to William Shatner’s Evil Kirk in ‘The Enemy Within’. But it does the job of providing some chilling moments, especially when B’Elanna finds herself at the mercy of the Evil Doctor.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Doctors, creepy stalkers.

18. Discovery: season 1, episode 3 ‘Context Is For Kings’

This is only the third episode of Discovery, and the first to be set on the titular ship, so it’s our introduction to much of the crew and to the series in general. At this early point, it looked like Discovery was heading in a very dark and horror-tinged direction indeed. With Gabriel Lorca as Captain, Burnham still a prisoner, and Stamets at his frostiest, the series already promised to be ‘darker’ – and then we find out the grisly fate of Discovery’s sister ship’s crew, turned inside out, their bodies twisted and mangled. The rest of the series so far has gone to plenty of morally and emotionally dark places, but for sheer scares and perhaps a little queasiness, this is the one to watch.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Gore, morally dubious Starfleet captains

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17. The Original Series: season 1, episode 1 ‘The Man Trap’

Star Trek starts as it means to go on – the very first episode to air is one of the creepy ones (and the earlier pilots are both pretty unsettling as well). The main reason it’s remembered as a scary one is the great creature design on the Monster of the Week, the Salt Vampire. The combination of gaping, toothy mouth, drooping eyes and Yeti-like body is impressively inventive. But there’s an emotional core to this episode as well, as Dr McCoy’s ex turns out to have been killed by the creature long ago. Her husband’s willing acceptance of the creature that killed her as a replacement is probably the creepiest thing of all.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Shapeshifters, the Yeti.

16. The Next Generation: season 7, episode 6 ‘Phantasms’

Another nightmare episode, but it’s not originality we’re giving points for here. The plot of this episode is fairly basic and the key concept of seeing nightmares is one we can see plenty of elsewhere – it’s not even the only ‘nightmare episode’ from The Next Generation. But the reason both appear on this list is because, while the concept may not be stunningly original, and the episodes may even be rather cheesy, the bizarre images we see in them are genuinely unnerving. The Troi-cake may be often mocked, but it really is a freaky image, iffy visual effects notwithstanding. Add to that Dr Crusher drinking from Riker’s head and a phone inside Data’s body, and you have a good set of weird images to freak yourself out with this Halloween.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Being eaten, being drunk from.

15. Enterprise: season 3, episode 16 ‘Doctor’s Orders’

One of two episodes on this list directed by Voyager’s Roxann Dawson, who clearly has a good eye for a creepy set-up. The plot has something of a connection to Voyager as well, as it’s essentially a re-tread of the Voyager episode ‘One’; most of the crew are put to sleep for medical protection while one or two, immune, crew-members are left to roam the ship alone. The earlier episode featured a longer period of isolation and a more vulnerable crew-member (former Borg Seven of Nine, who had a terror of being alone), but this one just edged it onto the list thanks to a few details. It has some welcome comedy beats breaking up the repetitive nature of isolation (Phlox wandering around naked is a nice touch) and Phlox consciously refers to the situation as a ‘haunted house’ for a reason, as it deliberately draws on classic tropes like rattling chains, dark shadows, and strange noises. Also this one includes a cute dog. A spooky story can always be enhanced by throwing in a cute dog.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Haunted houses (or spaceships), giant insects.

14. Deep Space Nine: season 3, episode 26 ‘The Adversary’

This was the third season finale, and it opens with Sisko recording “my final Commander’s log” – that’s because he’s been promoted to Captain, but it creates a sense of finality, of the closing of a door, from the start. It makes the subsequent paranoia-inducing hunt for an enemy who could be disguised as any member of the crew – a Changeling – even more tense. Odo says no Changeling would ever harm another, so you know what’s going to happen by the end of the episode, but it’s well made; claustrophobic, with echoes of The Thing and body snatcher themes (without the actual snatching). No one knows who to trust and everyone is getting trigger-happy – foreshadowing the increasing violence that would become a feature of the series as it moved towards a war storyline in the future. And Sisko has barely been Captain five minutes when he gets to play with the auto-destruct, as all Starfleet Captains love to do every now and again.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Sleeper agents, clones.

13. Deep Space Nine: season 5, episode 5 ‘The Assignment’

A lot of the episodes on this list take a classic horror fantasy trope and give it a science-fiction mask – ghosts that are gaseous aliens, witches that are telepathically powerful aliens, vampires that are after salt rather than blood. This one is a science-fiction take on demon possession, as poor Chief O’Brien is told that his wife has been taken over by a malevolent entity, but he can’t tell anyone else without risking her life and his daughter’s. Key to the whole thing is a great performance from Rosalind Chao, whose manner and bearing through the whole thing is definitely that of a new character who is not Keiko.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Demon possession.

12. Enterprise: season 2, episode 10 ‘Vanishing Point’

There are a number of Star Trek episodes where various crew-members think they’re dead and wandering the ship’s passageways as a ghost (and one slightly odd episode of Voyager, ‘Cathexis’, where Chakotay literally does so). Most focus on the impact of the apparent loss on the other crew, contemplations of the afterlife, and so on. In this episode, though, Hoshi first experiences unsettling body horror as birthmarks move and her translation skills fade, then seems to be becoming a ghost slowly, unable to touch things properly and even starting to vanish entirely. It’s far more spooky and freaky than the usual ‘out of phase’ storyline. And here’s an extra dose of horror – all this seemed to happen to Hoshi during the 8.3 seconds she was in the transporter buffer. So what exactly did Scotty go through when he ended up stuck in there for 80 years in The Next Generation’s ‘Relics’?!

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Turning invisible, matter transporters.

11. The Original Series: season 3, episode 4 ‘And The Children Shall Lead’

Before we get to the opening credits of this episode, we’ve already seen a group of children dance around happily singing a strange version of ‘Ring a Ring a Roses’ at the site of a mass adult suicide. Do you need to know more than that?! Later on, they all move round in a circle chanting a call to a ‘friendly angel’ which produces a green, translucent being wanting universal control (as usual) and they set about driving the crew of the Enterprise mad using bizarre hallucinations including premature ageing, planets that aren’t there, and so on. I mean, if that summary doesn’t creep you out, you’re either a sadistic small child or a power-mad translucent green alien yourself. As a bonus, it has a genuinely affecting ending, too, as the full horror of what happened to their parents hits the children.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Creepy children, children in general.

10. Voyager: season 3, episode 15 ‘Coda’

This episode is another “I’m dead!” fakeout, in which a crew-member – in this case Captain Janeway – appears to have died and seems to be watching their friends mourn them as a ghost. This one has a couple of twists though. There’s a time loop element with Janeway experiencing repeated deaths of different kinds in different loops. And then, just to really freak us out, a sinister alien tries to convince Janeway to follow him to the afterlife, even implying that he is waiting at the point of death for her, and everyone else, whenever and wherever she eventually dies. It seems far more likely he’s just a creepy Delta Quadrant alien trying to harvest something, somehow (a soul eater? does he eat life force?) but it’s still a deeply disturbing concept.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Death and dying.

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9. The Next Generation: season 3, episode 26 ‘The Best Of Both Worlds, Pt 1’

The Borg were first introduced in the episode ‘Q Who’, and they were fairly terrifying then. Their total lack of interest in anything they don’t perceive to be a threat ironically makes them so much more frightening than they would be if they attacked others on sight, while their cybernetic implants and collective consciousness give them a ghoulish creepiness. But however terrifying they seemed at first, they became so much scarier again when their main method of conquering was introduced – assimilation. Even in this episode, there’s not a whisper of it for most of the story – until the captured Captain Picard turns to face Beverley (and the camera) to reveal a face full of Borg technology. “He is a Borg!” as Worf exclaims. On first viewing, with no idea it was coming, it was a serious shock, and seriously scary.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Cyborgs, Oxo cubes.

8. Deep Space Nine: season 4, episode 24 ‘The Quickening’

We had to include this one, in which Dr Bashir desperately tries to help people suffering from ‘the Blight’, a fatal illness caused by a biological weapon long before the story starts. It’s not an infectious disease, but it is passed from mother to child through the generations, and society has completely reformed around it, developing a system of ritualised euthanasia as the only method they have for dealing with it. I trust there’s no need to spell out exactly what is so scary about this scenario. It’s also extremely depressing. There’s some hope at the end, for Ekoria’s baby at least, but it’s small comfort after the harrowing grimness of the rest of the episode. To be honest, we’re not sure we’d entirely recommend watching this episode right now, unless you’re in the mood for some serious wallowing. But it is definitely scary. Very, very scary.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Biological weapons, plagues.

7. Enterprise: season 3, episode 5 ‘Impulse’

Often, the scariest or most impactful episodes have the shortest cold opens. This Enterprise episode drops us straight into the action with a screaming T’Pol brought into sickbay, clearly out of control – and cut to credits. Now that is the way to unsettle an audience from the start! Jolene Blalock puts in a great, unhinged performance and the shaky camerawork all adds to the feeling of horror, so by the time we flash back one day to find out what’s happened, we’re prepped for horror. The rest of the episode plays out in classic space horror movie style, all darkness and noises and flashing lights, everyone running around looking filthy and sweaty being chased by Vulcan zombies while poor T’Pol descends further and further into madness. A 45-minute mini horror movie.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Your own strong emotions, zombies.

6. Deep Space Nine: season 5, episode 24 ‘Empok Nor’

This one is another horror movie in miniature. You know things are going to go seriously wrong when a handful of regular characters go on a mission with a collection of character who, if they were in The Original Series, would probably be wearing red shirts. This episode, in which our heroes go scavenging on Deep Space Nine’s abandoned sister station and discover some unhinged Cardassians, has got dark corridors, a diminishing cast, a regular character under the influence of psychotropic drugs becoming dangerous, and the odd jump scare. It gives Andrew Robinson as Garek an always welcome chance to play the more sinister side of the character, and keeps the tension running high throughout.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Dark corridors, slasher movies.

5. The Original Series: season 2, episode 14: ‘Wolf in the Fold’

A number of original series episodes are scary in the wrong way, for the wrong reasons. Despite Star Trek’s overt efforts to combat sexism in its own way, it was still a deeply sexist show made in a sexist time, and could be outright misogynistic on occasion (the very last episode, ‘Turnabout Intruder’, is probably the worst offender). But ‘Wolf In The Fold’ blends the rather less enjoyable creepiness of women being objectified with some properly horrifying chills. It’s implied through much of the story that Scotty might be a serial killer, which is genuinely unsettling, as it plays into the very real fear that anyone around you, someone you feel you know well, could be hiding a dark secret. While the eventual reveal that he has somehow been possessed by Jack the Ripper (who was an alien life form possessing a human, of course) offers some comfort there, the idea that a Victorian serial killer entity has been travelling around killing women for centuries is certainly frightening.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Serial killers, Scotty.

4. The Next Generation: season 6, episode 21 ‘Frame Of Mind’

Poor Riker. He’s just finished performing in a play in which he plays a man kept locked up, drugged, and experiencing a mental breakdown, and he gets abducted by aliens who keep him locked up, drug him, and force him to question what is or isn’t real, provoking a mental breakdown. What were the chances, eh?! Jumping between his usual role on the Enterprise and being a patient in a mental institution who has committed some horrible crime, it becomes increasingly difficult to work out what’s ‘real’, and in the end, just about none of what we saw was real at all – except for Riker’s very real imprisonment by a hostile alien. Jonathan Frakes puts in a wonderfully frazzled performance in an episode that will make your head spin, leaving the audience as confused as Riker is.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Mental institutions, being imprisoned.

3. Voyager: season 4, episode 7 ‘Scientific Method’

This is the one where an alien race who keep themselves invisible use the Voyager crew as test subjects for their lab experiments. The initial mystery is intriguing, but it’s after the reveal that things get really alarming. What was a frustrating and extremely familiar medical problem for Janeway, recurrent headaches, becomes a terrifying visual as we see the aliens surrounding the oblivious Captain, sticking enormous needles into her brain. Then, in one of the more chilling and uncomfortable sequences of television you’re likely to see, Seven of Nine, the only person able to see them, must then ignore them completely while they probe her as she takes the turbolift. Luckily Janeway puts a stop to it by flying right at some binary pulsars, and these aliens are so scary that actually seems like a good idea.

One to avoid of you’re scared of: Scientists, needles.

2. The Next Generation: season 6, episode 5 ‘Schisms’

There’s a recurring theme to a lot of the scariest episodes in this list – body horror. It’s what steps the Borg up to becoming even more terrifying than they already were, it’s what makes ‘Scientific Method’ so incredibly chilling, and it’s a big part of what makes ‘Schisms’ one of Star Trek’s all-time most unsettling episodes. The revelation that Riker has had his limbs amputated and re-attached is simply horrifying. Combine that with a classic alien abduction story and the incredibly unsettling, insect-like clicking noise the abductors make, and you have a properly scary alien abduction horror story to rival The X-Files (one of the biggest shows on television at the time it aired).

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Alien abduction.

1. Voyager: season 2, episode 23 ‘The Thaw’

Ranking these episodes in pure terms of how freaking terrifying they are, this instalment easily comes out at number one. Coming out shortly before The Matrix, this episode features a similar premise, that if the brain is hooked up to a virtual environment, a lethal shock within the virtual world might kill the person. But it’s taken in a very different direction, for the friendly aliens who initially went into the virtual environment to while away a long time in stasis have been taken hostage by a virtual clown and his circus troupe, the manifestation of their fears run amok. So basically, they’re trapped in an unending nightmare, kept in a state of constant, perpetual fear by a garish collection of unnerving characters. The entire episode is one terrifying set-piece after another, with a fantastically energetic performance by Michael McKean as the Clown. It’s all so scary it’s downright uncomfortable. Thank goodness for Janeway’s last minute insight into what Fear really wants – to be conquered.

One to avoid if you’re scared of: Clowns.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

The Original Series: season 3, episode 12 ‘The Empath’

A number of Star Trek episodes deal with torture, and we’ve tended to leave them off this list as they’re really more upsetting, disturbing, or tragic than chill-down-your-spine scary. This one is pretty freaky, though.

The Original Series: season 3, episode 7 ‘The Day Of The Dove’

Much of this episode is a fairly standard early Klingons episode, albeit with a mysterious glow cloud (all hail!) floating around and swords appearing out of thin air. But when Sulu tells Kirk that the dead brother Chekov has been talking about all episode long never existed, we realise something stranger is going on.

Voyager: season 4, episode 25 ‘One’

Pretty similar in concept and execution to both ‘Persistence of Vision’ and ‘Doctor’s Orders’ (and coming right between the two). Still a scary concept, though.

Discovery: season 2, episode 12 ‘Through the Valley of Shadows’

Pike’s willing acceptance of his fate – and the fact we know it’s accurate from The Original Series – is heroic, tragic, and chilling all in one.

Picard: season 1, episode 6 ‘The Impossible Box’

Think about what happens at this episode’s climax from Soji’s point of view, as the person she trusts the most reveals that she’s not even human and then tries to kill her, and recoil in horror.

Lower Decks: season 1, episode 1 ‘Second Contact’

As mentioned above, this episode features plenty of classic horror tropes including blood, guts, gore, vomit, zombies and a giant spider. Watch it for some light relief after you’ve worked your way through the rest of the list!

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(Dis)-honourable mention: The Next Generation: season 7, episode 14 ‘Sub Rosa’, aka The One Where Bev Boinks A Ghost. It’s too ridiculous to be properly scary, but there is a half-decent ghost story buried in there somewhere.

The post The Scariest Star Trek Episodes appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[nandireya]

Where Do We Go From Here? (Free Day)

Kallura Week 2017 Day Seven Where Do We Go From Here?

Everything had gone pretty much according to plan after that. The Natsua had pledged their allegiance to the Princess and to Voltron. They had agreed to help the Natsua if they were ever to come under attack from Zarkon's empire. They could call on the Natsua for any assistance they required, be it in battle or for supplies. Case in point, the pod's tiny cargo bay was groaning with a selection of fresh fruits and nuts, native to Natsu. Neither of them mentioned the almost happening on the dance floor. Coran and the other paladins were waiting for them as Keith performed a perfect landing. "So..." Lance drolled as they disembarked. "How'd it go?" "We have more allies in our fight against Zarkon." Allura confirmed with a smile. Pidge looked from one to the other with scrutinising eyes. "So, nothing untoward happened?" She asked. "Nothing at all?" Keith and Allura exchanged a glance. "Nah." He said. "Everything went swimmingly." She added. "More or less." Pidge didn't look convinced, she could tell by their body language that SOMETHING had happened. Something they didn't want to share. But she decided to let it slide. For now. "Oh." Allura began in afterthought. "We did find out that Zarkon has put a price on all our heads." She pulled a small display device from her bag and brought up the information the Natsua had provided, taken from the bounty hunter they'd encountered, and as yet failed to mention to the group. "Seriously?" Hunk gaped. "We're WANTED men? And women?" He added quickly, glancing at Pidge. "That is so cool!" Lance grinned. "I'm a cowboy!" He began to sing, enthusiastically if somewhat off-key. "In a blue lion I fly! I'm wanted! Wanted! Dead or alive!" "Lance!" Hunk protested. "This is NOT a good thing!" "We're gonna have anybody out for a quick gac after us." Pidge snapped at him, taking the display device from Allura and flicking through the holographic wanted posters. Each entry had a full body display of each paladin, in both armour and regular attire, including Shiro, she noted. They obviously didn't know what had happened after their last battle with Zarkon. Each was colour-coded for convenience. There were also entries for both the Princess and Coran. "Oh, come on." Lance remained unconvinced. He snatched the device from the youngest paladin. "We're outlaws! On the run! We'll be total chick-magnets...or whatever-magnets..." He began flicking through the entries. "Am I really that fat?" Hunk lamented as an image of him was displayed. Pidge punched him comfortingly in the upper arm. "We all know it's pure muscle." "Ow." He protested, rubbing the impact area. For a tiny little girl she could punch really, really hard. Lance's grin faded as he paused on the red entry. "Hey!" He protested. "Why is Keith worth more than me!?" Pidge snatched the device back and pushed her glasses up her nose as she peered at the tiny text. "'Proceed with caution'...'engage at own risk'...'highly dangerous'..." She read, then shrugged. "Looks like the bigger risk brings a bigger reward." She concluded. "Are you saying Keith's more dangerous than me?" Lance suddenly found all eyes on him, expressions ranging from surprise to something akin to 'you're kidding, right?'. "Okay." He conceded. "I guess that's true." With his short-temper, fighting prowess and Galra heritage Keith really was a little bundle of nope. "Shiro and Allura are worth more if it makes you feel any better." Keith said flatly. He looked at the red...black...maybe they should start calling him maroon...paladin, and the lovely lady standing beside him. The thought that she was considered more dangerous than him... "Yeah." He nodded. "It actually does a little." "We'll give you a full mission report once Keith and I freshen up a bit." Allura told them. "It's been a long couple of quintents." She glanced at Keith, saw his eyes flicker towards her for a brief moment before he looked away again. 'Well...maybe not a FULL report...' She thought. ~~~~~~ They met in the lounge for a rather informal discussion of events. They told them about their arrival. The three ships that had been waiting in ambush. Lance laughed a bit at that. "Ha! You crashed the pod!" "It was an emergency landing!" "You crashed. You know it." They talked of the octopus-urchin thing, of Allura's burgeoning magical powers, though they omitted the bit about her almost killing him with them. The group had been a little surprised at the revelation, but, as they had with Keith's own recent discovery, they took it all in stride. They spoke of the lizard bounty hunter and how they'd learned of the prices on their heads. Allura went into great detail about how Keith had taken the much larger being down so easily. "Impressive." Lance admitted. "But you still crashed the pod." Keith sighed. He wasn't about to let that go any time soon. They glossed over their night together in the bunker...hide...small, enclosed space...there really was nothing to tell. They'd taken shelter from a storm and fallen asleep. And the reception, there was nothing there they WANTED to tell. And there really wasn't anything to talk about, right? All the time they were talking Pidge noticed Coran stroking his chin, subtly scrutinising the pair. "You see it too, don't you?" She said as she sidled up to him as the group dispersed. Hunk was heading to the kitchen to cook up something delicious with the fresh produce they'd brought back with them. Lance was going to help him eat it. Keith was going to train, big surprise. Allura was going to go check on the mice. "There's something different.." She waggled a finger between the retreating backs of their new leader and the princess. "The dynamic between them has certainly shifted." Coran nodded his agreement. "But it's to be expected." He continued. "With his rising to lead Voltron they're on more equal footing." He sighed. "Both so young to be forced into a position of so much responsibility." He rose to his feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me, young paladin. I have to see a Slav about a cooling unit." She frowned as she watched him leave. "No..." She shook her head. "That's not it." ~~~~~~ Allura couldn't sleep. She wasn't sure if it was because because her sleep pattern had somehow been altered by the time spent off the ship or because her head was too full of thoughts about...other things. She worked her way up to the bridge and found her...other things...was experiencing his own bout of insomnia. Keith stood at the main view port, lost in the swirling colours of a bright nebula the ship was currently drifting by as it glided through space on automatic pilot. She didn't really want to disturb him but they had avoided things long enough. "So..." She said softly as she walked up to stand beside him. "Do you want to deny it?" She asked, looking at him. His eyes never left the nebula's dancing colours. Reds and blues and silvers. "Pretend what almost happened...didn't almost happen...?" If she was honest with herself, it was what had really been keeping her awake. Wondering just what would have happened if it HAD happened. What it would mean for them. For the team. She heard him sigh deeply. He lowered his head, his eyes closed. "No." He admitted. He turned, met her gaze. He wanted to lose himself in her eyes. Lose himself in her. But he couldn't, so he wouldn't. "But I don't think we have the luxury of exploring it right now." "We need to focus our energies elsewhere." She nodded her agreement. "Defending the universe." "Bringing down Zarkon." "Finding Shiro." They had unconsciously turned to each other. Fingers brushed, yearning to entangle. Eyes closed. Foreheads touched. ~~~~~~ "So THAT'S it!" Pidge grinned. "Equal leadership responsibilities my ass!" The awkward stances in the hanger made sense now, they'd been trying to hide this. She knew it was wrong, bordering on voyeurism, to be watching them. She'd hacked into the Castle's surveillance system a long time ago. She was about to switch off, give them their privacy, her curiosity as to what the hell was going on had been sated, she could sleep now. Then she noticed the anguished look on their faces. They backed away from each other and with one last lingering glance, turned and went their separate ways. "What the quiznak?" She frowned. "You're just gonna..." She blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Not on my watch!" Slamming the laptop closed she scrambled to her feet and bolted out the door. ~~~~~~ Pidge was leaning nonchalantly against the frame of his door, barefoot and out of breath, when Keith reached it. Odd. What was she up to? A mischievous grin split her face. "So...you and Allura, huh?" She teased. "I didn't know this was what you two were planning when I said to have all the moments you wanted." He stiffened, eyes widening, before he relaxed, letting out a resigned sigh. He palmed the panel by the door to open it. "Not even gonna try to deny it?" She arced a brow. "With you?" He snorted as he walked past her and into his room. "What's the point?" "But you're not gonna act on it either, are you?" "It's not a priority right now." "Priority?" She followed him in before he could close the door. He sat down heavily on his bed. "In case you've forgotten, Pidge, we're in the middle of a war here. That kind of takes precedence over, well, everything!" "Jesus, Keith! With all the crap that's been dumped on you lately don't you think you deserve one bright little pinpoint of light in your broody darkness?" She dropped down beside him. "Stop being so damn noble! Live a little." She knocked her shoulder against his. "I've got responsibilities, Pidge." He protested. "More than I want. Probably more than I can handle. We both have." "Yeah, yeah." She waved him off. "You've both got the burden of the whole war on your shoulders. More reason for you to find a little comfort in each other." She leaned closer. "If you want to keep this thing secret I can help you. The others are totally clueless." "Why are you pushing this so hard?" He frowned. "Is it a crime for me to want to see my friends happy?" She asked. "I get the distinct impression that you've never been happy...REALLY happy...in your whole damn life!" She sighed. "But seriously." She said. "Like you said, we're in the middle of a war. People are...lost...during a war. Don't you think you should take the chance while you can?" "Maybe..." He admitted. She rose to her feet. They were deep into the sleep cycle after all. They could both use some rest. "Sleep on it at least." She said. "And if you decide to go for it, my offer still stands." "Thanks, Pidge." He smiled as the door slid shut behind her. He lay back on his bunk, staring up at the ceiling for a while. When he closed his eyes he could see a pair of opalescent ones looking back at him. He smiled. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, taking a chance. He rolled over onto his side and soon fell into a peaceful sleep. ~~~~~~ He awoke some time later, scratching at his arm. It was incredibly itchy. He flicked on the light, flinching away from the sudden illumination. When his eyes had adjusted he looked to see what had been irritating it. His eyes widened, a tight ball of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. It was red raw, he must have been scratching at it in his sleep. But amongst the redness there were splotches. Big, irregular, PURPLE splotches. The ball of dread began to grow, crawling upwards as he slowly turned his eyes to the other arm. Big, irregular, PURPLE splotches! His breath became a series of short, panicked gasps as his eyes flicked from one speckled limb to the other. They weren't so irregular he realised. There was a pattern, graceful arcs of purple splotches circled his arms, the left mirroring the right. The ball of dread became icy as it wrapped itself around his heart and settled in for a lengthy stay. "Oh, shit!" He breathed.

And so it ends...but with so many questions. Will the scum of the universe come after them for an easy gac? Will Hunk share his new recipes with us? Just what blackmail material does Pidge have on her laptop? Did Allura get that photo for Lance or did she forget everything when she succumbed to the beauty of a pair of violet eyes? Will Keith take that chance even though the universe continues to dump crap on him? Not even I know and it all came out of my head! Thanks for reading ^_^

[almightytrashcan]

either untie me or pull me closer

Shin Soukoku Week Day 6 - the town where the wind blows/crossover

warnings: ...better writing? idk??? disclaimer: bungou stray dogs belongs to kafka asagiri and harukawa35

(shrugs) at this point i don’t even know if im still alive

anyway, here’s some better writing by me

title from i wait by day6

edit: the verses are also used in makoto shinkai’s ‘the garden of words’. forgot to add that...

ao3

[A faint clap of thunder, Clouded skies, Perhaps rain will come. If so, will you stay here with me?]

from Man'yōshū, Book 11, verse 2,513

It’s become a habit of theirs to go on night walks.

Atsushi remembered Akutagawa suggesting to him on one windy night to go out for a quick walk when he couldn’t sleep. It was already as late as 2:56 in the morning that time, and even though Atsushi wasn’t surprised that Akutagawa was still awake thanks to his reoccurring insomnia, he didn’t expect Akutagawa to offer that kind of thing.

Atsushi remembered that they walked for hours, going around the same place countless times, with hands in jacket pockets to prevent them from chilling. Fallen leaves on the sidewalk moved and twirled in the wind, and that was the only noise that Atsushi heard that time. They walked until the sun started rising, and everyone started waking up and getting ready for the day ahead.

(Ironic, since Atsushi and Akutagawa were getting ready to go back to sleep.)

After that, it’s become something that they’ve done every night.

Sometimes, they would take a short route, just walking around the neighborhood, basking in the night chill and the silence, or sometimes they’d walk into the brighter parts of the city, talking, and talking, and talking, and sometimes pausing at any open café and getting some tea or hot chocolate to drink on the way back to the apartment.

Before, Atsushi would never have imagined something like this. He never would have imagined walking side-by-side with an enemy, and just talking about anything and everything under the sun. No bickering (not as much as before), no awkward silences (anymore), no fighting or bloodshed (anymore).

Even until now, Atsushi thinks it’s so surreal. The whole casual-ness of the situation. The words that don’t need to cover up or pretend. Everything.

It’s surreal because it’s the contrary of the life he lived before.

Atsushi constantly fears that one day, it would slip from his fingers, and they’d go back to the way they were before.

.

.

.

“Hey.”

Akutagawa looked up from his book. He adjusted his glasses, and set his book down.

“What?”

Atsushi bit the inside of his lip. He wanted to ask, he wanted to ask, but it was such a tremendous effort, and he didn’t know why.

“What is it, man-tiger?”

Akutagawa tapped a finger on the table impatiently. They were in the café that they frequented, sipping expensive tea and reading whatever book they decided to bring that day (or night, in this case. It was already 2 in the morning, and the café was working on graveyard shift).

Only, this time, Atsushi couldn’t read.

(He wanted to talk.)

“…what do you think?”

Akutagawa raised a thin eyebrow. “What do I think of what?”

“What do you think of…us? Now? What do you think of us now?”

Akutagawa blinked, furrowing his brows. “I don’t seem to understand you, man-tiger.”

Atsushi sighed loudly.

“What do you think—”

“Of us now—”

“As partners.”

Internally, Atsushi smiled. Finally, he said it.

“What I think of our partnership?”

Atsushi nodded.

Akutagawa thought long and hard.

“It’s…It’s…I don’t think I want to let go of this for a while.”

Atsushi tilted his head.

“Why so?”

Akutagawa opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then opened it again.

“In the Port Mafia, I only had subordinates. I had Higuchi. I had the Black Lizard. But they weren’t really considered as partners.”

“What about Gin?” Atsushi asked. Akutagawa shrugged.

“Probably.”

“But,” Akutagawa continued, “she’s my sister, so it’s rather natural for me.”

“Right,” Atsushi muttered.

Silence wafted for some time. Atsushi drained the remaining contents of his teacup. Akutagawa followed suit. They paid for their drinks, and made their way out of the café.

Outside, the wind was chilly. Akutagawa shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat, walked significantly closer to Atsushi, so as to discreetly absorb warmth from the other.

Atsushi didn’t mind. His partner had a sickly constitution—it was best to help him when necessary.

“This partnership of ours took time,” Akutagawa said, but he didn’t seem to be talking to Atsushi, “and effort.”

“Do you think we’ll go back to the way we were before?”

Akutagawa stiffened.

Atsushi wanted to laugh at himself for how stupid his statement sounded. Did he want to go back to a time when Akutagawa shouted insults at him, stabbed him multiple times with Rashomon, when they were just on edge with each other all the time?

“I wouldn’t want that.”

Akutagawa’s answer startled Atsushi.

.

.

.

It was already 3 in the morning by the time they got back to their apartment.

Shiro, the grey kitten Akutagawa received for his birthday, stirred from its place by the door. It blinked blearily at its two masters, yawned, then went back to sleep. Akutagawa reached down to scratch it behind the ears, then proceeded to peel off his coat. He folded it neatly, then set it on the table for easy access.

Atsushi had already gone first to his own futon. He laid on his back, and quietly observed the clock hanging on the wall. With the help of the glow-in-the-dark hands, it read 3:05 in the morning.

“Hey, Akutagawa?”

Akutagawa hummed nonchalantly as he sat down on his futon to show he was listening.

“Can I call you ‘Ryuu’ instead? ‘Akutagawa’ is just too long a name.”

When Akutagawa didn’t respond, Atsushi started to panic internally, thinking that he offended the other (and braced himself for a grey Rashomon flicking him in the forehead).

Instead, Akutagawa chuckled.

“I don’t know, man-tiger. Can you?”

Atsushi groaned, as Akutagawa’s laughter grew a bit louder. He laid down on the futon, pulling the covers up to his nose.

“I can,” Atsushi retorted, sitting up from his futon, “only if you’ll stop calling me ‘man-tiger’ and by my first name instead.”

“Hmm…sounds tough. I’d rather stick to ‘man-tiger’, thank you very much.”

“Akutagawa!”

“Good night, man-tiger.”

They laughed and talked a bit more, until the sun rose, and people started getting up, ready to start their day.

A slight breeze continued blowing throughout the city, and with it, unfiltered thoughts of two people about uncertainty, certainty, and names.

[A faint clap of thunder, Even if rain comes or not, I will stay here, Together with you.]

from Man'yōshū, Book 11, verse 2,514

[crypticblossom]

rando things about me

Rather than having people ask me I’m just going to answer these. I’m tagging anyone who reads this whole thing.

1. Do you want a boyfriend or girlfriend?

Sure, it would be nice. Either. Both. lol

2. When did your last hug take place?

Today.

3. Are you a jealous person?

I can be. Within reason.

4. Are you tired right now?

Not atm, but give it an hour.

5. Do you chew on your straws?

YEA. Esp like juice box straws? Super chewy.

6. Have you ever been called a tease?

Not that I know of??

7. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?

I’ve been awake longer. Thanks insomnia!

8. Do you cry easily?

Boy do I. I just got teary-eyed from watching a video with Steve Irwin.

9. What should you be doing right now?

Probably anything else but this.

10. Are you a heavy sleeper?

Depends? I’m mostly just normal? Not light or heavy.

11. Do you think you can last in a relationship for 6 months?

I have before so, yeah.

12. Are you mad at someone right now?

Nah.

13. Do you believe in love?

I mean, yeah. Not like “true love” full of sparkles n shit, but love is real.

14. What makes you laugh no matter what?

The McElroy’s bring much joy to my life.

15. Who was the last person you talked to?

The nerd known as @poppunkshaneb7

16. Do you get butterflies around the person you like?

I have before.

17. Will you get married?

Probably not LOL

18. When was the last time you smiled?

Today~

19. Does anyone like you?

Idk about ~like~like, but I sure hope at least someone likes me! lol

20. Do you secretly like someone?

Not atm.

21. Who was the first person you talked to today?

Man Child.

22. Who do you feel most comfortable talking to about anything?

My best friends.

23. What are you NOT looking forward to?

Every Wednesday.

24. What ARE you looking forward to?

Reptile expo, visiting my best friend in MA, Hayley Kiyoko concert, E3, Voltron, Maybe going to the Toronto pride parade.

25. Has someone of the opposite sex ever told you they loved you, and meant it?

I suppose.

26. Suppose you see your ex kissing another person what would you do?

?Good for them??

27. Do you plan on moving out within the next year?

Yes! I’m hoping I’ll be able to.

28. Are you a forgiving person?

Yeah, I’d say so. Given time.

29. How many TRUE friends do you have?

Liiiiiike 4 or 5?

30. Do you fall for people easily?

Yeeeaaaa;;;;;

31. Have you ever fallen for your ex’s best friend?

NOPE.

32. What’s the last thing you put in your mouth?

Sushi.

33. Who was the last person you drove with?

My aunt.

34. How late did you stay up last night and why?

I’m not even sure I made it to midnight??

35. If you could move somewhere else, would you?

UH YEAH, get me outta here.

36. Who was the last person you took a picture of?

Person? Myself? I’m more “lets take pictures of dogs”.

37. Can you live a day without TV?

I don’t really watch TV anyway.

38. When was the last time you were extremely disappointed?

About a month or so ago for reasons unexplained.

39. Three names you go by…

Either my name or “hiyo”.

40. Are you currently in a relationship?

nooooooooo

41. What is your all-time favorite romance movie?

Whisper of the heart?? Does that count?

42. Do you believe that everyone has a soul-mate?

Not really, there could be plenty of people you could end up with. It’s about making what you have work.

43. What’s your current problem?

Not having anywhere to put a tank so I can get my lizard.

44. Have you ever had your heart broken?

Mhmmm.

45. Your thoughts of long distance relationships?

Haven’t worked so well.

46. How many kids do you want to have?

NONE. My pets will be my children.

47. Have you ever found it hard to tell someone you like them?

Oh yeah. I usually don’t think anything will come of it sooo it goes unsaid.