#like did he have that skin before or after the eggs went missing

[moonavem]

[chlorinecake]

— YOU'RE RIGHT, BABY | 𝐂.𝐁𝐂

▹ PAIRING: soft!dom fiancé bangchan x f. reader

▹ SYNOPSIS: Chan gets a little upset upon realizing that you weren’t wearing your engagement ring, but you make it up to him by letting him fuck you in his studio after a long day of work…

▹ WARNINGS: KINKTOBER SPECIAL, swearing, kissing, teasing, dry humping and heavy petting, mentions of food, breeding kink + cream pie (chan’s a possessive freak and in love with the idea of getting you preggers lol), dirty talk, light breath play (f. receiving), pet names (good girl, baby), that’s about it

▹ WORD COUNT: 1.8k — DAY 2

BEING THE AMAZING partner you are, you decided to stop by the studio where your fiancé was working and bring him some dinner, and by dinner, I mean a box full of his favorite takeout foods:

Grilled beef, steamed rice, broccoli teriyaki, and a chicken egg roll…

He was working a few hours overtime that day, and aside from the fact that you wanted him to have something good to eat after expending such efforts, you really just missed his presence…

You missed looking at his gorgeous face and hearing his adorable voice while he did absolutely nothing but vibe with you… you missed having his hands on you and your hands on him as you both got lost in the lusts of your own hearts—

“Chris,” your voice came out gently as you stood behind him, caressing over his tense shoulders while he remained seated in his desk chair, “just rest your little head, baby… you worry too much…”

“I do… you’re right…” he sighs deeply while leaning his head back against the headrest to look at you, the smell of takeout distant in the room.

His eyes are clearly tired as you know he’s been overworked lately, but you hold yourself from bringing it up to him, placing a gentle kiss to the center of his forehead instead.

“Thanks for stopping by, though, princess,” he went on, and you already feel like he’s trying to push you away, despite how you literally just got here, “I have to get back to work now, though—”

“You’re always getting back to work, Channie…” you chuckle slightly, and his eyes flutter shut as your thumbs come across a particularly tight muscle in his left shoulder…

Digging in, you massage the knot gently, but the pressure you apply doesn’t feel so soothing at first—

“Ouch, that hurts!” Chan exclaims with a wince, and you simply smooth over his skin with your touch, massaging a different area instead as you decided to give that spot time to heal on its own.

“Look… your body’s aching as if you’ve been working in a field all day… that’s why I’m here to make you feel better,” you return, and his body is clearly starting to relax the more and more your fingers smooth along the base of his neck and back down his shoulders again, soft hums coming from his throat at the sensation.

“But you don’t have to, love…” he says, voice a little weak as the warmth of your touch reeled him into relaxation, “just having you around is making me feel better already…”

“Aww,” you pout facetiously, even though he can’t see it from where he’s sitting, “You missed me, Channie?… Your very own nagging fiancé?…”

“Nooo,” he corrects, turning in his chair now to get a proper look at you, “I missed my beautiful wife to be, and my adoring partner in crime…”

Reaching out a hand, the veins in his arm appear highlighted under the dim studio lighting as he guides your face into his before giving you a kiss that you both smile into… weakly though, considering how it’s literally 4 in the morning...

Breaking from the contact, you tug at his wrist slightly, not letting go until he finally gets up from the chair, letting you lead him to sit on the couch.

The look on his face now very clearly lets you know what’s on his mind, but you simply decide to sit on his lap in a straddle position, wanting him to make the first move from here…

And he did.

“Can I?” He asks while lifting his hands from the couch cushion, hovering them over your hips and being careful not to touch until you allowed him to.

“Of course, silly,” you chuckle, making him blush slightly at your brief fit of laughter.

“It’s not like anyone’s here to tease us for it,” you went on, thinking back to the countless times that your fiancé’s friends (specifically Minho and Han) would outwardly gag whenever you two publicly display affection—

“You’re right, baby… no one’s around to bother us,” Chris breathes in agreement, finally letting his eager hands rest at your hips before adding a bit of pressure as he caressed up your waist and along your thighs, “The two of us could practically get away with doing anything we want for the next few hours in here…”

You didn't even have to ask to know what he was specifically implying, but you decide to play dumb anyway, just because you absolutely loved hearing his strong Aussie accent come out whenever he was sexually worked up with you…

“Takeout’s still waiting to be opened, Chris,” you whisper, letting your nails gently drag against his scalp as he melts into your touch, his silky curls looping around your fingers, “we shouldn’t keep it out for too long or else it might spoil…”

“Well I’m not in the mood to eat anymore,” he whispers back in a raspy voice, and you let your weight sink further into his lap, your bottom resting right above the spot his true hunger was pulling him most.

“Use your words, baby… tell me what you want,” You press, leaving a kiss along his clenched jawline… and another one on his pretty thick lips… and a third one against his Adam’s Apple that makes him groan out loud…

Or maybe his groan had more to do with the way you were also rocking your hips against his clothed hard on, making his hands slightly grip at the fabric of your jeans for any sort of leverage.

“Why… of all the bottoms that you own, did you close to wear tight, denim jeans at a time like this?” He asks with frustration, making you giggle a bit at the way his chest rises and falls every time you circle in his lap, the rough material tantalizing him…

“Don’t you think they make my ass look good, though?” You tease with a pout, watching as he smirks at your question, only to hiss at your movements again.

“They make your ass look great, babe… but they also make it impossible for me to touch you properly…”

He was doing it again, you thought to yourself… That thing where he gets you to do what he wants without specifically asking.

Yes, Chris was a typically a pretty confident guy, but sometimes, you had a way of bringing out his shy, reluctant side when it came to sexual things, but you still found it cute nonetheless.

“Fine, then… since you’re too shy to ask for it properly, I’ll just do it myself,” you say in a bratty tone while getting up from his lap, and he visibly scoffs at the way you stood before him now, fingers meddling with the buckle of your jeans until he stopped you.

“C’mere,” he huffs, pulling you close to him by the belt loop of your jeans until you fall into the couch beside him with a gentle plop.

His smirks again once he finally unzips the rough fabric just enough to see a leak of what’s beneath, and the expression is so wide that his dimples come through…

At first, you’re not sure why he’s a grinning mess, but you understand once his fingers run over the lace of your black panties, the same pair that he brought you a while back on one of his tours cross-country.

“I’ll take a wild guess and say you wore these for me, huh?” He asks with a husk to his tone now that you’re bumping your knee against his clothed hard-on, and his hips subconsciously chase the friction.

“Mhm,” you hum softly, lifting up on your elbows now to look at him better, “I just didn’t expect you to take so long to get ‘em off me…”

“How cute,” he returns, and your eyes follow the veins trailing his forearm, his flexed fingers hooking at either side of your hips before tugging your jeans the rest of the way down and past your ankles with your panties, tucking them under the couch cushion for his private use later…

“Cute?” You repeat with a raised brow, spreading your legs before him as you both watched each others cores intently, practically itching within yourself for him to finally untie his sweatpants.

“Yup. Love it when you get in your little attitudes,” he says plainly, but his smile is half-hearted now as he leans over you, bracing himself with his hands before kissing your forehead.

You try to follow where his eyes are looking, but his bangs are in the way, and you can’t help but ask him what the matter is…

However, he doesn’t answer immediately, simply taking your hands in his and placing a kiss to l the closed knuckles of your left hand, right before pinning your wrist at either side of your head on the couch.

And that’s when it hits you… the reason behind his sudden change in aura:

You forgot to put your engagement ring on…

You had only taken it off for a second before coming to meet him in the studio because some oil from the takeout bag had spilled on your hands… while washing up in the bathroom, you had put the ring in your purse and simply forgot to put it back on…

Though, you knew at this point it’d be worthless trying to get that story through Chan’s thick skull, as he had already made up in his mind that you were playing games with him…

“Where’s your ring, baby?” Your fiancé asks while shimmying down his boxers and trousers with one hand, and you near choke on air at the sight of his glossy and girthy tip springing out before you, red and angry with need.

“I-it’s in my purse,�� you stammer, almost feeling guilty now that you had even forgot to put it back on in the first place, “I can go and get it—”

“No need,” he interrupts you, lining himself up with your entrance as the depth of his voice equally catches you off guard, “just make sure you put it back on after this, yea?”

You winced at the sudden stretch of his cock filling you up just right, and your hips are already trembling at the delicious fullness.

“Channie… it slipped my mind, baby… please,” you say, and you’re not quite sure what it is that you’re begging for, but you always had a habit of going dumb around his cock, even if it’s just resting inside you.

“I gave you a simple order, love… now, do you understand me, yes or no?” He asks more sternly this time, thrusting into you with a sharp hit of his hips, and you internally cringe at yourself for hiccuping at the force.

“Y-yes, I understand,” is all you manage to say as he continues slamming his hips into you at a painfully slow pace, looking you dead in the eye as you crumble beneath his intense gaze.

“Say it again,” he orders, and you listen, gripping at his biceps and biting your lip as an attempt to keep your moans in, but the little whimpers and whines end up spilling out anyway.

You can feel Chan's cock twitch inside you every time you say yes for him, especially with the way your walls are throbbing around his length as he groans the words “good girl” in the midst of it all.

“So so good for me,” he continues, grinding his hips in a way that makes his pelvis graze your clit rythmically, and you’re sure you’re seeing stars once his hand finds your neck, just resting it there to get your attention.

“Good enough to let me cum in you, huh?” He questions, but it’s more so of a suggestion than anything, and you oblige to it, nodding your head in desperation as your hips start to follow the movements of his.

“Yes, baby… w-want you to fill me up so bad,” you whimper, and he lets a groan out right after you… one that makes your stomach flutter with emotions given how beautiful it sounded.

“Gonna put a baby in your pretty little stomach,” he huffs in between fucking you open with all his strength, “and at that point, who cares if you don’t have your ring on? Everyone will know who you belong to once your tummy’s all swollen because of me… tell me who this pussy belongs to…”

“Y-you, Channie,” you blabber out pathetically, your own mouth filling with saliva at how amazing he’s making you feel right now.

“Louder…”

“It’s all- fuckkk… yours, b-baby,” you cry out, and it’s a weak cry at that given the way his hand is tightening around your throat, but you don’t mind… not one bit when it feels THIS. Fucking. Good…

He finally lets his lips find yours in a needy kiss, and a string of spit keeps y’all together as he break away to let out a moan of his own, but you’re pulling him back into you, wanting him to be as close as possible to you in this moment.

The couch starts to creak to the rhythm of his movements, and you couldn’t be more thankful for the large cushions it was made with, otherwise you’re certain the both of you would’ve been on the floor at this point.

“Feels so fucking good inside you, baby… sooo fucking good,” he grunts, and you know he’s almost close just from the way his eyebrows are screwing into adorable little crinkles, his thrusts becoming sloppier and sloppier by the second.

“F-fuck~” you mewl against his lips, feeling the knot in your own stomach tighten as his cock hit mesmerizing places inside you.

He keeps his hand snug around your neck while looking into your eyes, and his hips can’t bare to piston into your cunt any longer once your walls clench around him, making him feel dizzy in the head.

“Cum in me,” you plead with a soft voice while, lips puffy from how hard you’d been biting them, and Chan finally lets himself go, barely getting any extra thrusts in before painting your walls with his hot release, groaning shamelessly like a porn star.

“Oh my God,” he grunts with a strained voice, using his last bit of strength to prevent himself from collapsing on top of you given how spent he is now.

“Wait, Channie,” you say, thighs still trembling a bit as he pulled out of you, a bit too early though for you to remind him that his cum would only spill out—

“Shit,” he swears under his breath upon realizing, rushing to catch the fluid spilling from your cunt now with his fingers, trying not to get it on the couch, but to no avail.

He instead lets his fingers push the cum back into you, holding his wrist there until he’s able to reach for a napkin off of his desk to help clean you up.

“Stop that, baby,” he says with a mischievous smile, but only because your walls were sucking his digits in, preventing him from taking them out to clean them off, “give me some time to recharge and then we can go again, okay?…”

All you can bring yourself to do is hum at his words, and he in turn offers you another gentle smile.

Applying light pressure to your lower stomach, he finally gets your walls to release his fingers from the confines of your sloppy hole, wiping the residue off with the napkin.

“Didn’t expect you to cum this much,” you say in a sleepy tone while reaching for your jeans to slide them back on.

“Me neither,” he chuckles, readjusting his pants before getting up to toss the soiled napkin in the bin nearby, “but uh... just know that if in three weeks, we find out that our first future child was conceived on this couch, never tell this story to anyone…”

⋆♱✮ Huge thanks to everyone who made it to the end of this fic, concluding DAY 2 of my Kinktober Event !! This was also my first time publishing any written work for Stray Kids (my ult group XD) so feel free to tell me how I did in the comments !! Finally, if you're interested in reading more works like this, check out my main enhypen masterlist or my kinktober masterlist here by clicking one of these links !!

⋆♱✮ PERMANANT TAGLIST:

@squoxle, @nishiimuranights, @ashgonedash

@yourmomscuntis2tighy, @wonbinisbabygurl

@watamotee33, @addictedtohobi, @ot7sevenlvr

⋆♱✮ KINKTOBER TAGLIST:

@pasteltheghost16 @fawnpeaks @melonvrs

@mheretoreadff @skzfelixlove @inishij

@yaorzu-blog @andromedawillburyyou @ramyeonzprincess

@zaihypen @simjaeyunns @gardenwonnies @hynier

@idontknowhowtomakeusernames @enhymeowz @minhosimthings @stormy1408

also, check out THIS fic NEXT if you're interested in more...

[ccazimi]

Nightingale (pt. 2)

Read pt. 1 and pt. 3

CW: stepcest, period sex (oral, fingering), noncon/dubcon, wounding? (fingering with nails), namecalling (princess, pet, slut, etc.), squirting, fem reader, degradation, modern noncurse au, lmk if i missed anything else

WC: 4.5k

as usual, 18+, mdni

Morning sunlight streams into the window as you bite into the toast smothered in anko. Both your parents have already left to go to work, leaving just you finishing your meal and Yuuji scarfing down his next to you. Sukuna still hasn’t shown himself to your relief but you hasten your chewing to disappear into your room before he possibly decides to make an entrance.

You were almost scared to return home after your date last night, but luckily you didn’t run into Sukuna when you got back around 11 and let yourself in.

The date itself was pretty decent, especially for a first one. He’d taken you to a trendy new conveyor belt sushi restaurant, the night filled with laughter and playful banter that almost made you forget about what had happened right before.

Almost.

Unfortunately the awareness of its proof in your panties ruined your first ever kiss at the end of the night, effectively putting a damper on things when they started to heat up and he’d invited you back to his dorm at uni. You had been preparing for this night, for this moment, but suddenly it felt uncomfortable as you became even more conscious of the urge to peel off your undergarments and scrub your skin.

You politely declined, rambling on about how your parents expected you home or something. If he knew it was an excuse, luckily he didn’t mind and the drive to drop you home was still in good spirits.

If you blocked out all memories of Sukuna from yesterday, it was actually a pretty decent night.

You finish up your toast before moving onto the yogurt with chunks of fruit in it, just about to dive in when you hear his footsteps and make out the silhouette of his frame coming down the hallway.

Though your eyes are steadily trained on mixing the yogurt your body still tenses and the hammering in your chest urges you to leave.

“Good morning, Sukuna!” Yuuji greets his older brother with his usual sunny disposition that does nothing to ease the prickling on your skin. You can feel Sukuna’s eyes boring into you.

“What’s left to eat?” Sukuna asks lazily, pulling out a chair in front of you and taking a seat.

His voice was the last straw and you keep your eyes cast downward as you slowly stand up, holding the open container of yogurt.

“Eggs, toast, yogurt, coffee, some fruits. You goin’ to work today?” Yuuji replies through a mouth full of food.

“I am.” To your dismay, Sukuna turns his head in your direction before you can sneak away. “And where are you going?”

You swallowed. “I’m done with my food and I have some homework to catch up on….” You mumbled.

“Its bad manners to get up while we’re still eating.” Sukuna chides you. “Besides aren’t you gonna tell us how your date went last night?”

Just like Sukuna probably intended, Yuuji perked up at the mention and looked curiously at you. “Date? You went on a date? How’d it go?!” He asked excitedly.

You glared at Sukuna and that stupid smug grin on his face as you sat back down. His nerve never ceased to astound you.

“It went fine. We got dinner at that new conveyor belt sushi place.” You spooned some of the yogurt into your mouth.

“No one cares about that.” Sukuna reached over to pluck the yogurt from your hands despite your protests. “So did you fuck or not?”

You turn pink as Yuuji pipes up. “Sukuna, give her yogurt back and stop asking her questions like that.”

The question wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t know as well as Sukuna did that he’d effectively made sure you couldn’t have sex with your date last night even if you wanted to.

“The princess can get a new one.” He finished your yogurt in about two bites before setting the empty container back in front of you. “Yes or no?”

“We didn’t. Can you leave me alone now?” You answered a bit more sharply than you’d intended, causing Sukuna’s eyes to slant as you got up to get another yogurt from the fridge.

“Watch your tone.”

“Let it go, Sukuna. Besides you’re being a jerk anyways, what did you expect?” Yuuji defends you with pure intentions but still you feel a bit embarrassed as you remember what Sukuna said last night about his “white-knighting”.

He probably thought of you as sheltered, soft. Unable to defend yourself.

The thought irritated you more than it should and you promptly dismissed yourself after retrieving the yogurt, making your way past Sukuna and into your room.

The next day your date texts you asking if you want to go out again and while you do, luck just has it that your period starts so you schedule for next week instead. Two days pass by and between schoolwork, classes, and staying holed up in your room in pain, you didn’t see Sukuna all that much.

Three nights later you’re curled up on your bed in fetal position, unable to fall asleep thanks to the constant pinching in your belly. Not even the hot shower you took seemed to help, neither did the 500 mg of ibuprofen. You’re considering if you have it in you to get up and make some hot herbal tea when you hear the motorbike pull up to the house before shutting off and the front door unlocking.

Sukuna must be back from his shift.

You check the time on your phone. Its a bit after 1 am and with the quietness in the house you know both your parents and Yuuji would already be asleep right now, leaving only Sukuna awake and prowling about.

No tea tonight.

You curl up tighter as another especially sharp cramp pierces through your gut and you feel warm blood leak out into your pad, praying sleep will fall over you soon.

A few minutes later your hear footsteps coming up the stairs, your breath involuntarily pausing, waiting for him to walk by your room.

Except he doesn’t.

The doorknob starts to turn and your mind races at what he could possibly want or be doing at this hour. You bury your face into your pillow facing your back towards the door, shutting your eyes as you hear it open.

For a few seconds everything is perfectly still and you think he might have left.

Suddenly a peculiar sensation makes you jump- long fingers on your scalp, stroking through the length of your hair. The sensation makes your stomach curl and you snap your head around to tell him to fuck off.

“What do you want?” You hiss, biting your lip to hold in a wince as another brutal cramp rips through you.

The only light in your room is the pale moonlight streaming in, illuminating only contours of his face, the rest of his figured cloaked in shadows and barely visible where he was standing by your bed.

“I knew you weren’t sleeping.”

“Get out. I don’t want to deal with you right now.” The pain in your abdomen made you more irritable than usual, growling at him as you turn your face back into the covers.

You feel the bed dip under his weight, gasping as your face is grabbed by the chin and twisted back to look at him. “And who do you think you’re talking to? You’re feeling brave tonight, huh?”

Another cramp. You stay silent, hoping he’ll leave if you don’t provoke him further. Instead, he lets go of your face to swat you lightly. “Move.”

You want to deny him but between the pain and your fear of provoking him you do as he says, still facing away as you shift to the other side of the bed. Sukuna crawls in beside you under the sheets, scooting close as he lies down and pulls you in so that he’s spooning you.

Your chest is fluttering at the warmth of his body against yours more than you’d like and you conveniently blame it on the state of your period hormones.

“You know how much I hate that bratty attitude of yours…” He sighs against the back of your neck, rubbing his lips along as the hand on your hip pulls you even tighter.

“How was work?” You ask quietly, shifting tactics and hoping you could loosen the building heat by asking him normal and mundane questions.

“Good. It’s a nice restaurant, the kind you take a girl to for a first date.” He lifts his head a bit while his fingers begin trailing the length of your body, down over the tops of your thighs and back up to skim across your clothed abdomen. “Not a conveyer sushi belt place.”

“I liked it, okay? It was a good date.” You huff a bit defensively. “Besides I don’t think any college student has the money for kaiseki as a first date.”

Sukuna offers no response apart from a slight chuckle, though his fingers are growing bolder in their exploring in a way that has your breathing quickening slightly.

You tense as another cramp seizes your uterus but the pain is quickly overshadowed by the feeling of his hand abruptly slipping under the hem of your top and reaching up to cup your breast.

“What are you doing?” You whisper as your own hand comes up to pull his off while you shoot a worried glance to the door to your room still ajar behind you. “Wh-what if mom or dad…or Yuuji see-”

“So what if they do?” Sukuna nips playfully at the shell of your ear. “I’m just helping my little sister fall asleep…”

You suppress a shiver down your spine, disgust at his disturbing words settling down into unwanted sparks in your gut. Your hand loosens its grip on his and just as soon he squeezes your sore breast, drawing a sharp gasp from you.

“Could you at least close the door? In case someone walks by?” You plead quietly as another one of his arms wrap around to grope your chest with both hands. “Ow, ah-”

“Close the door? Why?” His fingers are kneading the tender tissue of your tits, making you wince. “What do you plan on doing with me?” He teases, pressing his hips up into your ass to make sure you can feel his hardening dick. “Gonna jerk me off with your panties again?”

Heat blooms across your cheek, once again caught between yourself and the repulsion that was slowly morphing into a dark desire that was only encouraged by the pads of his fingers tracing your areolas, nipples hardening under the touch.

Its just your period hormones you repeatedly try to reason with yourself again and almost on cue, your uterus contracts again. The cramps along with the pain from your aching breasts being massaged and the heat infecting your brain was all too much.

“S-stop, Sukuna…it hurts.” You say hoping it’ll convince him to ease up at the very least as you squirm against his hands on your chest.

“You’re so fucking fragile. I’m barely even squeezing them.”

“Well they’re already sore because I’m-” You hesitate for some reason. “..on my period.”

His movements pause and relief washes over you.

“I know.”

And just like that your stomach is up in knots again. “Huh?”

Suddenly the heat of his body against yours dissipates as he gets up from the bed before peeling back the layers of your blanket.

You’re about to protest when you catch a look at his expression, a large grin plastered on his face that was visible even in the faint moonlight.

Before you know it his hands are gripping your ankles, pulling you unceremoniously to the edge of the bed where he kneels by it on the ground.

“Sukuna? Stop it, what are you doing?” You whisper frantically trying to keep your voice quiet despite the growing panic at being unable to do anything but flail about helplessly in the sheets.

“Consider this another gift, princess. I’m gonna show you how a real man eats so that my little sis never settles for anything less from another man.”

“Eats? You can’t possibly mean-”

Oh, but clearly that was exactly what he meant, judging from how he was gripping the waistband of your pajamas to tug them down.

“Sukuna. I’m on my period, please not now, please can’t we do this after or something?” You realize you’re already crying as you desperately try to reason with him. “You won’t like the taste, its gross-”

More tears well in your eyes as you watch his sinister smile grow wider as he drinks in your disheveled state, begging him not to. “You clearly don’t know my tastes then.”

He yanks down your pajamas, dragging the waistband of your panties with it as you twist to stop him from taking them off.

He growls in agitation. “Stop making this difficult or I swear to god I’ll get scissors and cut these clothes off you.”

You still, meeting his eyes that somehow look redder than ever right now almost as if they were glowing.

He smiles as he pulls your clothing all the way down your legs, removing them and tossing your pajamas along with your panties and the pad on it to the side. “There you go. Just lay back and let your big brother make you feel good, okay?”

You shiver at his words, aware he was trying and succeeding at making you as uncomfortable about this as possible.

Cool air brushes over your wet pussy as he spreads your legs to hook them over his shoulders, drawing your awareness to your vulnerable position. Your screw your eyes shut so you don’t have to see his as he drinks in the sight over your bare and bleeding cunt. It was your first time being seen with anyone, the feeling of being so exposed like this making a potent mixture of humiliation and shame burn in you.

And you thought it couldn’t get worse than the last time.

“Open your eyes.”

Your lids flutter open at his voice, unexpectedly soft , though it still held a firm edge.

“There you go.”

You grip your sheets as you watch him lean in, realizing your clit was already throbbing in anticipation at the feel of his tongue.

The flat of his tongue presses against your clit and you gasp.

The feeling was even better than you’d imagined - soft, wet and hot. Not to mention you'd forgotten entirely about that piercing on his tongue- you'd never really noticed it till now and as the cold metal ball catches against your clit you realize the reason he probably got it.

Your fingers twist the sheets into fists as he licks a long stripe up from your sopping hole back up to your clit before latching his open mouth all the way on your pussy.

His eyes are piercing through you as you hold your breath when you feel a tongue slithering into your hole, tasting the mixture of blood and juices. A low groan vibrates from his throat as his lids relax and his tongue slides back out and he pulls away, dark red staining his lips as they curl into a smirk.

“Oh, you taste even better than I expected.” He leans closer, voice dropping with some sinister intent. “So good that I think you deserve to know what your cunt tastes like too.”

Your eyes widen as he bends in over you. “No-”

Wet lips are already crashing onto yours, swallowing your denial as his tongue pries its way through your lips and teeth. The sharp taste of yourself coated your tastebuds all at once - salty, warm, and metallic - making you cringe and try to break the kiss.

Sukuna’s tongue is pervasive, exploring the crevices of your mouth with a domineering harshness before finally pulling away, snapping tiny gossamer threads of saliva between the two of you.

“That was ….disgusting. What is wrong with you?!” You pant, trying to scrape off the taste from your tongue against your teeth.

He giggles, a low sound that makes your hairs stand up. “I’m gonna teach you to love ‘disgusting’.”

You look at him in horror before peeling away your eyes to the door frame, listening closely to make sure the house was still quiet.

You would never be able to recover from being caught in this position.

Sukuna lowers himself, latching his mouth back onto your pussy and staring directly up into your eyes as his tongue begins to lap at your damp folds, dragging through them to collect all the juices and swallow. You stare at him with wide-eyes, completely enraptured by this incredible sensation, wondering how you’d gone without it for so long.

You’re already barely holding yourself together when he starts licking your swollen clit, the hard metal of his piercing rubbing over and over against it, blending deliciously with the warmth of his wet tongue.

You cover your mouth with your hand, trying to hold in the feverish moans that were rising from your chest. He notices, narrowing his eyes and increasing his pace, sucking and caressing the sensitive bundle of nerves till you’re biting down on your palm even though small whimpers still make their way out.

Every small flick of his tongue feels like jolts of lightning from your most sensitive spot and you don’t even realize you’re lifting your hips up higher, pressing your pussy into his mouth for more.

He stops for a second, removing his mouth to eye the wet mess he’d already made of your cunt. The sudden dissolving of pleasure from his tongue was almost painful, eliciting a frustrated noise from you as you looked up at him desperately.

“Feel good?” He asks, obviously taunting you like he didn’t already know the answer and just wanted to hear you say it.

“Fuck, yes, it feels good.” You grit out, impatiently trying to lift your pussy back to his lips. “Keep going.”

“What’s the magic word?”

You clench your jaw, the pure neediness of your cunt straining against the agitation bubbling on your face. "Are you fucking seriou-"

You’re not given a chance to even try and fight back when he parts his lips ever so slightly and breathes out, the tendrils of his breath cool against your wet folds as it almost spelled out how swollen your clit was, coated in slick and saliva.

The feather-light sensation was too much, snapping the last threads of control leaving you thinking only through your agonizingly aroused cunt.

“Oh f-fuck, please Sukuna,” You whined. “Please make me c-cum.”

He chuckles and you sigh in relief at the addicting heat of his lips clamping back around your sex, watching intently as you begin to unravel with every careful move of his tongue. Lewd, sloppy noises fill the room and normally you’d be nervous about someone possibly waking up and hearing him slurping your pussy, but you’re too far gone, squeezing your thighs around his head instead.

You watch him through the tears filling your eyes as you feel your orgasm begin to build up - slowly and heavily. He looks like a monster, hungrily devouring you and the fresh blood leaking out, the sight of his head between your thighs and on your pussy only pushing your orgasm towards you with increasing intensity.

And before you know it you’re falling, drowning in the waves of pleasure rippling through you so strongly that your mouth is open in awe, soft moans burying into the flesh of your palm with tears rolling down your cheeks. Sukuna doesn’t let up, leading you through your orgasm with his mouth and even when you feel yourself start to come down his pace and pressure don’t decrease.

“S-Sukuna, I came.” You try to pull your hips away but he grips you tightly, fingers digging into the flesh of your hips.

Even with his mouth occupied you can see the glint in his eyes, smirking as his tongue continues its relentless assault on your sensitive clit. He changes up the pace and you whimper as he begins sucking on it, overstimulation drawing fresh tears at your lash line.

“Sukuna, ‘s too much - ah - , s-stop,” You try to draw your hips back from discomfort but he tightens his grip with an almost painful pressure, pulling you closer into his mouth till you feel the bolts of pleasure igniting again at your clit.

His tongue goes back to stimulating it with increasing intensity as you feel your second orgasm begin to build.

“Oh god-” You tilt your pelvis up as the heat grows and grows until your fingers find their way into his hair, gripping the messy strands as you lift your hips and pull his head as tightly as you can into your pussy. “Fuck, fuck, oh my fucking-”

Your second orgasm crashes into you abruptly and without warning, leaving you breathless after it dissipates. His tongue slows down into slow languid strokes before stopping entirely and unlatching his mouth while you catch your breath. Sukuna’s face is shining, covered in juices and blood that you can feel running down from your entrance to your ass.

Your hole clenches, the need for your g-spot to be stimulated growing imminent now that you were sufficiently prepped from not one but two clitoral orgasms.

His eyes drag down to the movement and he smirks, licking his lips to clean them off. “Need something, pet?”

You try to close your thighs, only making him spread them wider as your post-nut clarity washes over you like a bucket of icy water being dumped on you.

“No. Let me go before I fucking scream for mom and dad.”

You can take care of yourself with your own fingers after he’s gone.

That smug look on his face doesn’t budge at your threat.

“You’re not gonna do that.” He tells you coolly.

“Fucking let me go-”

You’re about to try and kick him in the face when he slides a finger into your dripping entrance, curling it up to massage that spongy area of tissue that made your mind go blank and all the words melt off of your tongue in favor of an involuntary moan.

You look at him through glazed eyes, mouth parted as he rubs into your flesh, a new type of pleasure blooming and taking hold.

“You’re such a stupid slut.” He sneers, rubbing a finger against your sensitive walls before harshly shoving in another finger. “Don’t ever try those empty threats with me, you dumb little girl.”

“Ahh” You bite down on your lip, ashamed at how you melted into putty under his touch till the point even his demeaning words only fueled the pleasure.

“I bet your fingers never felt as good as mine do, huh?” With the way his fingers are positioned, you can start to feel the edges of his nails scraping against the tender flesh.

“N-no, oh fuck,” You babble mindlessly, all composure falling away with the steady pressure of his fingers against your walls being exacerbated by the stinging of those dark nails inside you. “No they don’t, Sukuna-”

“You like this you sick little slut?” His fingers begin pistoning up into you at a new angle, the sudden change of pace causing fresh moans to spill out of you, the wet sounds of crimson-stained fluids so messy and erratic you already know these sheets will be permanently stained.

“Y-yes, -nhgh- love it, I love it-”

Love it?

You were entirely out of your mind, even Sukuna knew by now if it wasn’t already clear from your watery and dazed eyes, the sweat clinging to your skin, how every muscle in your body was tensed up, the amount of wetness coating his fingers that couldn’t be just blood.

“This is really all it took for you to give in? Fuck, your virgin cunt must’ve been so miserable.” He curves his fingers up even more against your gummy walls now plushy and inflamed from how hard he’s finger fucking you with nails cutting themselves into the flesh. “Say it. Say that you’re pathetic.”

“Ah-” You bite in a yelp, vision blurry and eyes stinging from tears, only able to feel his fingers thrusting aggressively into you, the pleasure threaded with pain and a brand new wave of humiliation at his biting words as if you weren’t already mortified by how much apparently your body loved this. “P-please, Sukuna-”

“Say it.” He spits on your pussy, the wet wad of spit catching on your clit, making you whimper at the visceral sensation. “Say you’re my pathetic little plaything.”

His sadistic gaze burned into you and with the building pressure between your legs you felt like you were being compelled.

“I’m your p-pathetic, -ah- little plaything S-Sukuna,”

“Yeah? Still wanna call Mom and Dad? Have them see you cumming all over your big brother’s fingers like a filthy bitch?”

The words are like a match striking something in you and you moan so loudly that Sukuna leans over to clamp his other palm over your mouth, so close you can see the faint striated pattern in his blazing irises.

“Go on, then. Show me how much you love this.”

With that, hot liquid rushes out of you as you cum, seeping uncontrollably from your walls and gushing around his fingers and splattering out as he continues to drive them into you, juicing every last drop of your orgasm.

You come down, his hand over the lower half of your face lifting when your muffled moans become pants for air. Every muscle in your body is tired from being tensed and you bite your lip from the sharp pain when he pulls his fingers out from your abused cunt. Your walls are tighter than before, inflamed and puffy from the battering of his fingers. There’s a dull soreness, but at least the pain in your womb has subsided for now.

Sukuna lifts his fingers, admiring the mess of smeared blood, fluids, and tiny stringy bits of soft flesh clinging onto his nails. You gulp as he looks at you, scared he’s going to put them in your mouth to make you taste yourself.

“Please, don’t.”

He flashes you a cocky smile, clearly pleased at the apprehension he’d instilled in you before licking his fingers clean. You watch in repulsion, suddenly aware of the mess that was left on your skin and sheets and slide your legs back down to close yourself up from his view.

And of course with it was a growing disgust with what had just happened and how much you’d liked it.

Loved it.

You cringe, unable to be in Sukuna’s presence after humiliating yourself and coming undone like that in front of him, at his hands.

“I n-need to cleanup…” You mutter keeping your eyes trained on the dark ceiling above you, voice breaking as the weight of everything begins to come down on you.

“Good luck with that,” He replies indifferently as he stands. “You’re definitely gonna need new sheets.” Your heart tightens as you feel him moving around the side of the bed to stand beside you and bend down. “Goodnight, sis.” He presses a mockingly chaste kiss on your forehead with the lips that had just been eating out your pussy, leaving your stomach lurching and wanting to gag as he pulls away and walks out the door, once again leaving you in both physical and mental shambles.

[solar-wing]

⚣ Five & One 💪🏻

⚣💪🏻 A/N → This is a re-post and, once again, it was inspired by this post by @gone-batty-fics. I'm leaving the full NSFW version up here since it's not that much, so no need for an extra link. I hope you guys enjoy reading this around a second time and sorry if any of you have been missing it. This was my most popular post on my previous account and I'm sad I gotta start it over, but oh well. WARNINGS: Breathplay/Choking, Implied Size Kink, Jealous and Possessive Behavior, Rough Anal, Violence, etc.

⚣💪🏻 Summary → Five times people thought you needed rescuing from your boyfriend, Jason Todd. And the one time, someone needed rescuing from you.

⚣💪🏻 Words → 7.8k

REBLOGS & replies are greatly appreciated, please! 💛

Also, vote in my Omegaverse/Yandere poll here!

⚣ ENJOY 💪🏻

Okay, you got it.

Your boyfriend was a very intimidating and scary guy when he wanted to be. But, that didn’t mean people had to keep asking you if you needed saving like you were some damsel in distress. You weren’t even a damsel! You were a damsmen. Damsman? A Damson?

Oh, forget it. Point still stands, people needed to stop treating you like you needed rescuing. You were fine! Besides, when he wasn’t out hunting criminals, Jason was literally the least threatening person in the world. It was you bitches should be worried about! And if bitches didn’t believe you, bitches could just find out on their own.

Bitch.

The first time wasn’t bad. You considered it actually sweet and could see how under the circumstances someone was not aware of the dynamic between you and the vigilante.

It was a sunny day in Gotham for once. Everyone was out, enjoying the sunshine while having barbecues in the parks, strolling down the street in sunhats and sandals, and going swimming at the local pools. You were no different, seeing the usual moody and depressing atmosphere absent from the sky and deciding immediately to take advantage of it and drag your boyfriend Jason out, making the whole day a date between you two.

You and Jason decided on simple outfits since the sun was out and the temperatures were warmer than usual. You decided on a regular button-up, leaving the top three buttons down to show some skin, which your boyfriend both loved and hated since he could ogle your chest with no shame, but anyone else could do the same. You paired it with some boat shoes and simple shorts that did an excellent job hugging your ‘boo-twah,’ a nickname Jason gave your ass for its large-hand-friendly size, as he liked to say.

“Instead of like boo-tee, it’s boo-TWAH. It’s just out there.” He explained one morning when you had spent the night at his place. Jason, sitting and ogling at his boyfriend in his well-fitted yoga pants and sleeveless hoodie while you made breakfast.

“You are such a nerd.” You laughed at him.

“Well, this nerd scored big,” He responded before landing a heavy smack on your behind, which you chastised him for since he made you almost fling the eggs you were scrambling out of the pan.

Back to the sunny day, Jason dressed simply too but was more relaxed than you. He went for a comfortable pair of joggers, one of his nicer gym shoes, and a tank top covered by a sleeveless hoodie since he got hot easily.

A few months after you and Jason got together, he told you about his double life and his family’s. It explained why when he would spend the night at your house a few times, you’d play doctor while wondering where he was getting all these bruises and wounds. As you and Jason grew closer and began to explore your ‘interest’ in each other’s bodies, you’d find he was actually shy about his body even though the man was built like a tank.

It wasn’t necessarily his body he was ashamed of. It was his scars he actually didn’t like. All things he saw as painful reminders of his more than rough past, especially the bigger ones he had received from Joker. You were patient with him and reminded him at every possible chance that his scars were nothing to be ashamed of. Instead, they were to be celebrated and seen as trophies. Reminders that in the face of everything thrown at him, he came out on top stronger than ever.

Over time, Jason became more confident and comfortable in his body. He bought more shirts, tank tops, and shorts that showed his arms, chest, and legs. Even going as far as cutting the sleeves off some of his hoodies since you owned many pairs, and he loved how they looked on you. He’d prefer to wear yours, but since you were much smaller than him, he’d end up stretching or ripping them. Now, you were no dainty stick or anything like that. You had some meat on your bones and were taller than the average guy. But again, Jason is built like a tank and very much dwarfed you in size.

You weren’t complaining. 

He also loved the benefit of the sleeveless hoodies as they made him look more intimidating, which helped whenever he noticed other guys and girls at the gym ogling you a little too long for his liking. He didn’t care who it was, Jason would always look out for and protect you.

Yet, others seemed to see it differently as you walked down the street in Gotham, going in and out of the various stores. You were both sipping on some slushies while chatting about whatever, Jason holding your shopping bags in one hand. You tried to snatch the bags from him multiple times since you didn’t want to feel like Jason was your butler or servant. Besides, you worked out too. Look at your arms! You could carry Jason if you wanted to.

Okay, yes, you knew that was a lie but you were allowed to dream. You’d get there…someday.

“Jason, give me my bag. I can carry it myself!” You said, trying to reach for the bag again.

“Sorry, Bugs, you know the rules. You’re not allowed to carry anything in my presence. Well, except my love for you. That’s heavy enough as it is.” Jason said with a cheeky smile.

You rolled your eyes at your boyfriend’s corny behavior and another one of his nicknames for you. You’d made the mistake of bringing Jason around your best friend during a study session for one of your classes. He revealed your childhood obsession with Looney Tunes and how many times when you reacted to a situation, you were a carbon copy of Bugs Bunny with his sarcasm and behavior.

“Get away from me dude,” You said, putting distance between yourself and the brick wall of a man.

“Ah, get back here.”

Jason grabbed you by your waist and pulled you to his side, nuzzling his face into your neck while tickling your sides.

“Jason, stop!” You shouted in laughter, trying to push him away.

“Never! You are now my hostage.” He joked back with you.

You stood there for a few more seconds wrestling with each other on the sidewalk. Someone should really scold you two for acting so cutesy and loving out and public like that. WE GET IT! You’re in love! Stop rubbing it in our faces.

When you broke apart, you found yourselves outside a bookstore. You saw Jason’s eyes light up even if his face didn’t show it. He turned towards you, giving you his best puppy-dog eyes and pout.

“Oh, get in there you dork. But, don’t max out your dad’s credit card!” You said, successfully pushing him off you.

He leaned down to plant a kiss on your lips before shooting into the store like the Flash. “No promises!” He yelled over his shoulder.

While he was in the store living out his childhood fantasy, you decided to let your ankles rest since you had been on them for a few hours. Jason offered to carry you at one point, and though it was tempting, you declined.

You sat on a nearby bench while scrolling on your phone for a bit. Your head shot up when you spotted someone approaching you from the street. It was two girls, both who looked to be in their late 20s to early 30s, carrying concerned looks on their faces.

“Hi!” You spoke with a smile, waving to the women walking up to you.

“Hey, are you okay?” One of them asked when they got to you.

Now, you had a confused expression on yours.

“I’m sorry?” You responded with a puzzled eyebrow raised.

“We were across the street when we saw that guy grabbing you. We can walk with you to the police station if he’s harassing you.” The other woman said.

‘Were these chicks on crack?’ You thought.

“Um, I think there’s been some confusion–” You started but was interrupted by the door swinging open, an excited Jason springing out of the store.

“BABE! THEY’VE GOT A MINT-CONDITIONED PRIDE & PREJUDICE! Can I get it?! Please!!!” Jason shouted while running up to you and grabbing you by your arms.

You could barely keep off the amused smile on your face while looking around your boyfriend’s shoulder to see the two girls looking shocked and embarrassed by your giant for a boyfriend, begging you for a book like a kid.

Jason turned around as well, seeing the two women staring at you two while he just pulled you closer to his body, wrapping his arms around you.

“Who are your friends, Bugs?”

“Just some nice girls being friendly,” You answered before using your hand to turn Jason’s head back toward you. “Don’t you already have three copies at home, Jason? Why do you need another?”

“Okay, but those are all old copies and are falling apart. This one is BRAND NEW! Never been opened. Please!!!”

You could only sigh at his antics before turning back to the girls, “I’m fine, ladies. But, thank you for asking.”

They both nodded with embarrassment before walking off down the street, Jason watching them with a confused expression before looking down at you.

“What was that about?”

“Don’t worry about it.

This one also wasn’t so bad, but it was still annoying.

Your parents were out of town for a month for their anniversary, so you invited Jason over. When he got there and saw how your cupboards and fridge were damn near empty, he was upset at you for not telling him you had no food and your parents for not supplying you with anything.

Truth be told, they literally just forgot to go before they left. Jason always wondered where you got your forgetfulness from. Now, he knew.

So, he dragged you to your local wholesale store once again with his adoptive father’s credit card to stock and load your cabinets so you wouldn’t go hungry. Well, really so, Jason wouldn’t go hungry since he would be spending a lot of time at your place now. Again, the man was like a mountain, so of course, he ate like one.

You had been in the store for about 15 minutes, and already your cart was damn near half-full.

“Jay, don’t you think this is enough? We don’t have to get a bunch of stuff today.” You voiced, eyeing the growing basket with concern.

“Bugs, you can’t stay in your house for a month and not have any food. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you go hungry?” He responded while grabbing four boxes of your favorite cereal brands off the shelf and placing them neatly in the basket.

If it’s one thing that shocked you to learn about Jason was that he was very clean and organized with anything. You expected that trait more out of his brothers like Tim or Damian. But in truth, Tim was more of an organized chaos type of guy, and Damian was very simplistic, so he didn’t really need to organize much, except for his drawings and paintings, which he sometimes left scattered all over his desk.

Dick was a mess that couldn’t be saved. God bless the soul that ended up with that man.

But Jason was the cleanest out of all of them. The man could barely go two days without scrubbing down or re-organizing something. Again, you weren’t complaining. Every time he came over, he’d clean your room without you even asking.

“Okay, but my parents did leave me money to order out. Plus, I don’t want Bruce thinking I’m using you for money, or anything like that, especially since you keep taking his credit card.” You pointed out to which your boyfriend scoffed in response.

“Please, as much as that man has put me through, maxing out his credit card is the last thing he’s worried about me doing. And don’t worry, he and the rest of the family love you. Honestly, if it wasn’t for you dating me and the fact that you have great parents, I wouldn’t be surprised if the old man didn’t try to adopt you, which, if I haven’t mentioned this already, I don’t recommend.” He finished while heading further down the breakfast food aisle and grabbing boxes of Pop-Tarts.

“Fourth time.” You stated. Jason does not hold back regarding his tense relationship with his adoptive parent.

That was something you’d also been watching him work on. 

When Jason met your parents and saw the relationship between your father and you, it opened up an emotional wound he wasn’t prepared for. And though he still had some resentment toward the Billionaire Playboy, aka the Dark Knight, for not sending Joker to the seventh ring of hell after his death, it didn’t mean he didn’t still care for and love the man. He just had mental blocks he needed to work through, and you’d be there to support him.

Jason was about to give you one of his dorky responses until he realized he forgot the credit card in your car.

“Shoot, I forgot the card in the car. Where’re your keys?” He asked.

You handed them to him, and he gave you a quick kiss and a slap on the ass with a warning to not put anything back before rushing towards the entrance/exit of the store. Rolling your eyes, you moved down the aisle scoffing at his warning. Of course, he knew you were going to try and put some of the items back. Just like you knew him better than himself sometimes, it was the same for him with you. He could predict your next move before it popped into your head which you found very cute but extremely annoying at times.

While you stood there for a few moments scrolling on your phone out of boredom, you heard a voice speak up behind you.

“Excuse me.”

You turned around to see two guys around your age standing behind you. You figured they were trying to get to something behind you, so you moved yourself and your cart out of the way.

“Oh, my bad. Here ya go.”

“No, no! Not that. We were just wondering if you needed help getting your car or getting away from that guy. We saw him drag you in here.”

You barely held back the eye roll that was itching in your skull. Yes, Jason did somewhat have to drag you into the store since you insisted that you didn’t need to go grocery shopping. But, what happened to common sense? If Jason truly was holding you hostage or had bad intentions for you, why in the world would he bring you to a grocery store out of all places?!

Seriously, what were they thinking? That he was going to stick a Fruit-Loops box over your head and torture you with your most hated juice flavor?

A small sigh escaped your mouth before you responded to the boys, “Okay, this is not what it looks like. That guy is my boyfriend, and we’re just grocery shopping. I promise I’m fine.” You assured the guys.

“Are you sure? He isn’t forcing you to say any of this, right? I know that guy’s intimidating, but we can call security or the police to help you.”

Before you could respond, you both heard the sounds of quick footsteps approaching from around the corner. You turned to see him holding a plate with two large slices of pepperoni pizza and a large orange soda.

“Babe, I got you two slices of pizza and your favorite soda from the food court. I know you haven’t eaten today, so I figured you could snack on this, and then we can get you some chicken tenders and fries from your favorite restaurant after we leave here.” He offered while handing you the plate, looking at you with the most adoring gaze.

This boy really did have your whole heart. You could only wonder what you did to deserve someone like him.

When Jason took note of the two other guys standing by you looking dumbfounded, his arm instantly found its way around your waist, pulling you into his side while eyeing the two boys suspiciously and on guard. Anyone that wasn’t your parents, best friend, or his family, Jason saw as a potential threat. Even his family sometimes was included in that list a few times, and living in Gotham, you could never be too careful.

And any excuse for Jason to show you as his to anyone else watching was always an appreciated opportunity.

“Can I help you, fellas?” Jason said, a stern tone in his voice while eyeing the two down with every menacing look he could muster in his eyes.

You’ve never seen two guys who looked like they wanted to shit their pants so bad and run in the opposite direction. They started stuttering out a response before you took pity on them.

“They’re fine, Jay. They were just trying to grab some cereal behind me. I was just moving out of their way.” You threw a look toward the boys, who looked at you confused before they caught on to what you were trying to say.

“Y-Yeah m-man. Just ... um gra-grabbing some Frosted flakes.” One of the dudes said, pointing his fingers toward the boxes right behind you.

Jason eyed that finger with malice before he felt your fingers turning his face toward you.

“Hey, stop it. I’m good. Now, are you going to let them get their cereal and let me eat my pizza before it gets cold?”

A small smile crossed his face while he backed you both up moving the cart as well. You ruffled his hair watching the two boys grab a box and run down the aisle with their tails between their legs. He let out his usual whine, using his other arm to fix his hair.

“Shut up, you big baby. You promised me chicken tenders and fries, so get a move on before I get a food attitude.”

Jason smirked at your words before the hand around your waist moved to your butt, palming and squeezing your cheeks under the ‘hoochie’ shorts you were wearing.

“I know something better that’ll fill you up and take care of that attitude for you.” He whispered in your ear before giving a nip.

At least you weren’t in front of the salads when this was happening.

This wasn’t bad. It was actually funny, and you got a friend out of it.

You and Jason were at the gym, getting a workout in. You decided you both liked going in the afternoon when it was less busy. It was leg and glutes day for you (per usual) while Jason was working chest and shoulders. 

Two of your favorite body parts on him, including his arms, but that’s not important.

Now, you both agreed when you went to the gym that you would do your workouts separately but your warm-ups and cardio together. So, at some point, Jason was on the Smith machine doing a shoulder bench press while you were on another bench doing Bulgarian split squats.

Of course, the gym was a place where people met each other all the time. And, in many of those meetings and interactions, people would find others attractive and want to date or hook up with them. You were no exception to these rules. You were approached many times by both girls and guys, but you always politely declined. Well, you tried at least before Jason walked over and made it clear who you were with.

It was no secret to anyone that Jason did not only get easily jealous at the thought of you giving your attention and time away to someone who was not him, but he was also the living definition of anger issues. Match that with his very selfish and possessive attitude towards you, and you had a man ready and WILLING to do just about anything to anyone who dared lay a finger on you in the wrong way.

So, whenever someone deemed themselves stupid brave enough to approach you and flirt a little or leave a teasing touch to one of your arms, you’d try to give them a warning but it was always too late. They’d quickly find a towering shadow looming over them and turned to see a less than pleased Jason staring down at them with his bulging arms crossed over his chest. These being one of the few moments Jason gladly showed off his scars because they communicated his message quickly and effectively.

Back. The. Fuck. Off.

That was usually enough to get them to do just that. Most of the time, at least.

There always ended up being at least one guy or girl who wouldn’t take no for an answer. This time, it was a guy who kept finding himself next to you during your sets. Jason was watching you from afar with hooded and irritated eyes as he also noticed your gym shadow moving around with you. 

The guy decided to play smart and keep his hands off you since he could tell your brute of a boyfriend was watching his every move. The only reason he didn’t do anything was because he knew if he did, the guy could claim Jason as the aggressor, and since this was your favorite gym because your college’s gym was always crowded, he didn’t want to risk you getting in trouble and banned.

So, when Jason went to the bathroom, the creep took advantage of the moment and offered to ‘spot’ you on your set of squats with the smith machine, which you were sure was just an excuse for him to get behind you so he could ogle your ass and ‘accidentally’ grind his dirty crotch into it.

Luckily, a girl working out nearby noticed your uncomfortable stance when the man came over to ‘help’ you while you were setting up and immediately stopped her workout to shoo him away.

“Dude, he’s clearly not interested. So either go and finish your workout or pack up and get out!”

He tried to get defensive and argue with her, but when she revealed her boyfriend was one of the owners and threatened to have him kicked out and banned, he finally backed off. He made sure to point out how you weren’t even all the hot anyway to mask his hurt pride while you threw an appreciative look toward her.

When he left and Jason returned from the bathroom, the girl unleashed her rage on him as well.

“And you too! I’ve seen you harassing and stalking him all over the gym. I’ll kick your ass out too and have you banned if you don’t leave him alone.” She scolded the dark-haired man.

Jason looked confused while you just laughed before grabbing his arm and pulling him to you, “Nah, don’t worry about him. This one’s good.” You said, reaching up to ruffle his hair, even though you had to stretch a little bit.

Jason pouted down at you in childish anger, “I told you don’t do that! Do you know how long it takes to get this in the right floppy position?” He whined while trying to fix his hair.

She looked back and forth between you two before realization dawned upon her.

“Boyfriend who’s a menace to everyone but is a total baby when around you?”

You gasped, “Girl, how’d you know?”

“Mine’s the exact same.”

“Oh, we’re gonna be great friends.” You declared.

Okay, this time, it was lowkey your fault, but still. People should be able to tell the difference between an actual cry for help and a joke.

Jason decided to take you to one of his favorite cafes in Gotham since you were in desperate need of a study break. You picked up some classes over the summer, so the schedule was much more tightly packed since they had to speed up a four-month course into two with the semester being divided into two sections.

Jason was sitting on one of the lounge chairs reading while you were sipping on some apple juice and reading a fanfic story on your phone. Whether or not it was smut was not important and nobody would be able to tell by the look on your face. At least until you read over one particular part that had you gasping out loud which managed to catch your boyfriend’s attention.

“What?”

“Nothing.” You quickly said, liking the fic quickly and closing the browser, knowing Jason was not going to drop it.

“Uh uh, Bugs. What were you looking at?” He asked, setting his book on the table and moving over to your side of the table.

“Nothing Jay! I promise it was nothing.”

“Oh really? So you wouldn’t mind if I looked at your phone then?”

You felt your cheeks heat up while Jason took notice of your tense stance, peering at you and your phone while slowly leaning toward you from his crouched stance.

“Let me see your phone.”

“No.”

“Give me your phone.”

“I said no.”

“Bugs,” Jason said, now mocking a stern look on his face, “Give. Me. Your. Phone.”

He held out his hand for emphasis, and you felt your fingers reflexively tighten around your smart device. You stared back at him with your own dour expression, “No. Means. No.”

You both stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before he suddenly grabbed at your phone, attempting to snatch it from your hand. It became a tug-of-war over the device while you both consciously tried not to be too much of a disturbance to the other patrons of the cafe.

This is where it accidentally was your fault.

“Help! Assault! Violence! Thief!”

You thought you were shouting it quietly, but there was a reason your family always told you to quiet down when you thought you were speaking at a normal volume. You got it from your mother really. Strong voices and all…

“Dude, fucking back off!”

You both heard the deep voice shout before you watched a guy tackle Jason to the ground, feeling hands coming to your side.

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” This random brunette said while checking you over to make sure you weren’t hurt.

You were FINE. However, you were worried as hell now. Not for Jason at all, cause… Well, ya know.

You were scared for the other guy that had tackled Jason. Your boyfriend did NOT do well with physical touch, considering how long it took him to get comfortable with just cuddling with you. Let alone sudden physical touch? And the man is used to fighting criminals at night and having to be on guard 24/7 if he feels something suddenly grab or touch him? Yeah, you were hoping this didn’t end in a trip to the precinct like last time.

Don’t ask.

“I’m fine. But, I do suggest you quickly get your friend off my boyfriend before he has to go to the hospital.” You assured the girl while warning her at the same time.

She looked at you confused, “Boyfriend? Wait, huh? We thought that guy was attacking you and trying to steal your phone. And don’t worry, my boyfriend’s a professional kickboxer. He can handle him.”

‘Yeah. Mine has anger issues and was trained by Batman and can re-load two guns in under twenty seconds with his arms tied behind his back.’

“AH!”

You both turned your heads to see Jason holding the other guy in a chokehold while looking up at you.

“Aww, man! He spilled my coffee over my book.” Jason whined, “Babe, can you get me another one, please?”

“Yes, Jason. Can you do me a favor and let him go before you break his neck?”

Jason rolled his eyes before releasing the guy, who went into a coughing fit on the ground as he caught his breath.

When he sat back at the table as the girl went to help her boyfriend off the floor after giving you both weird looks, he set your phone on the surface, eyeing you with a quizzical look.

“What?” You asked after he stared at you for a few more minutes.

“Really? Yandere?”

Your heart jumped in your chest, and you were ready to bolt for the door.

“So, all those times you swore you weren’t trying to make me jealous just to get a reaction outta me, were you actually just trying to get me to tie you up and lock you in my room?” He said with a dark look in his eyes and a cheeky smirk on his lips.

HOT BOY DOWN! I REPEAT, HOT BOY DOWN!

Now, this was just ridiculous. Of course, it made sense, but you were thoroughly pissed off when it happened.

You and Jason had returned to his apartment after having dinner with his family at Wayne Manor. Bruce decided he wanted to have at least one family dinner a month, and since you were considered an honorary Wayne and everyone loved you, of course, you were invited. Jason, on the other hand, was still hesitant.

Even though he was working on his relationship with Bruce and trying to move past his mental scars, his family still brought up some sensitive subjects for him. Typically, they made his insecurities flare up a lot more. You were Jason’s safe space. So, he wasn’t really keen on mixing the things that made him question himself and the person who made him feel the most loved and secure together.

You didn’t push, still wanting to go at his pace and let him bring you around more when he was ready. The day of the dinner, you figured he either had a change of heart or somebody had talked to Jason and convinced him to bring you along, and you had a great time. Jason was a bit quiet throughout the evening, but you could see a small part of him was happy at seeing how you integrated well into his family dynamic. He took great pleasure in how you humbled Dick a few times as well.

But, something was off, but you couldn’t tell what it was. You knew Jason was usually the quieter one out of the rest of his siblings. When you were around, he showed more of his goofiness and playful side. You barely saw that at all tonight. You knew he was watching you as you made conversation with Bruce, argued back and forth with Damian, repeatedly told Tim he needed to get more sleep, snapped photos with Steph, joked with Duke, and even learned a little sign language from Cass.

He watched as you offered to help Alfred with the dishes, who respectfully declined, but did make his appreciation known to you and the others, especially Tim.

“I offer to help you sometimes, Alfred!” Tim shouted while chasing after the butler offering his help.

Usually, Jason would laugh at any moment that came at the expense of Tim’s sanity.

None of that happened. 

So, when you got back to his place, you asked him what was wrong. He remained silent as he just looked at you, but you could see there was a storm behind his eyes. When you came up to rub his arm and hug him, his hands shot up to your neck, wrapping around it firmly but not tight to where you couldn’t breathe.

Your hands grabbed his wrists as he maneuvered you against the wall that connected the living room to the kitchen. He placed his lips roughly on yours, forcing his tongue into your mouth while never loosening his hold on your neck.

“Mine. Not theirs, mine.” He muttered against your lips before quickly taking his hands off your neck, ripping your clothes off while ridding himself of his.

In less than two minutes, Jason had you pressed back against the wall, your legs wrapped around his waist, and his long and girthy member tucked deep inside your ass, fucking you with hard and menacing thrusts. His large and rough hands were back around your neck, now squeezing around your neck as you moaned breathlessly against him.

Jason took immense pride in your sounds of satisfaction and whining, increasing his already brutal pace in your guts while slowly stealing more of your breath away. Jason’s hard breaths pounded against your face as he stared at your now sweaty and ragged body, limping weakly against him. You placed your arms on his shoulder but were careful to avoid his neck, knowing that along with some other areas on his body were off-limits unless specified otherwise.

This was the dynamic between you two always. Anyone could see how Jason was wrapped around your finger in public and even in private whenever you two were just lounging around and relaxing. In these moments, you were fully under Jason’s authority. You lay completely at his mercy while he dominated your body and controlled where, when, and how you got pleasured. 

The who rarely came into question as though your boyfriend had considered it a few times, you didn’t see a day likely where Jason’s jealousy and possessiveness would let him allow someone else to see you in this manner. No, you were for his eyes only.

And the why, well that was simple. Jason had needs, you had needs. And, no one was better suited to fulfill those needs than your boyfriend. Though with him, anything could spark those needs at any given time. Whether the dark-haired boy was just feeling horny and wanted some ass. You decided to wear a tempting outfit, and he decided he was going to right then and there he would have you, whether in the house, in the car, or in public, it didn’t matter. If he felt you were being a little too friendly with someone else, he’d be happy to remind you about who you belonged to. The why was simple; if Jason wanted you, he would have you. No ifs, and’s, or but’s about it.

“J-Jason... nngh p-please-” You begged, feeling yourself nearing the edge as your dick was crushed between Jason and your hot and sweaty abdomens.

“Say my name again,” He ordered, feeling how he flexed his dick inside you while still pounding your sore hole.

His name fell from your lips in a needy moan as you felt his fingers pressing against your windpipes. You could feel how the wall behind you became slick from your sweat as your body jutted up and down against it with Jason’s increasingly erratic thrusts.

He grunted in approval of your increasingly loud whines as you both approached your climaxes. Jason fully squeezed your neck at this point as he punched your insides with his cock. Your own member was feeling the pressures as well as it repeatedly smashed against Jason’s abs before you reached your end, screaming out in blissful agony.

Jason came to his finish with his own groan as you felt him bury himself with his cum deep inside you. You let out soft little whines feeling his appendage throb against your walls. Even though you knew he didn’t like hands around his neck, he didn’t object to you rubbing a hand down his nape. He gave you a warning glance at first, but when he felt your soft hands rubbing up and down his skin, he visibly relaxed, placing a kiss on your cheek.

The quiet and sweet moment though was abruptly ruined by the sound of Jason’s front door being kicked in and heavy boots rushing into his apartment.

“GOTHAM P.D.!” You heard the intruders shout.

Of all the fucking things…

Well, when the cops came around and found you and your naked boyfriend against the wall, and his hands around your neck, you had to admit it didn’t look good.

You had to quickly explain to the officers it wasn’t what it looked like and that everything was consensual. Against the orders of the cops, Jason did not move one inch off the wall, keeping your body covered with his. He’d sooner dip himself in another Lazarus Pit than let these arrogant blue caps have even the smallest peek at you.

So, with a little charm and finesse, you convinced the cops to walk out and let you and him get dressed. Jason couldn’t decide what he was more upset about. 

The fact that his door was off its hinges, or that one of his neighbors called the cops on him thinking Jason had been abusing you, or that your private moment was intruded upon and some pervy cops basically saw you naked.

Yeah, he was going to be extra brutal on patrol tonight.

After a call was made to Commonionser Gordon at Jason’s request, the cops dropped everything and left you two alone when Gordon made it clear this was a bogus call.  “Jason? Abusing Y/N? That boy is the biggest simp this city’s ever seen. Whoever called that in was obviously misinformed.”

Even if it was true, Jason didn’t appreciate being called a simp. He didn’t deny it, though.

You could barely hold back your laughs to which your boyfriend responded with a harsh smack to your very sore ass. It was a wonder how you were even standing on your legs as they still felt like jelly.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t see him in that manner.”

“No way, he’s way too sweet and innocent to be like that.”

“Dude, have you met your own boyfriend?”

These were all things said to Jason when he would complain to them about how he was tired of everyone thinking he was a threat to you and not seeing the truth. If anything, you were more of a threat to Jason and honestly, should be placed on a national security watch list for some of the things that have come out of your mouth.

The only one who really knew and understood what Jason was talking about was your best friend, who was the first one to warn Jason. The boy didn’t believe him either at first and ended up finding out the hard way.

Well, it looked like Jason’s brothers were also about to find out as they had come to your school’s campus looking for him. You were happy to see the Wayne siblings, as some time had passed since the last dinner. For some reason, seeing how easily you interacted with his brothers drove up Jason’s jealousy to a new level. As soon as they showed up, Jason placed you on his lap, and you could feel his prominent bulge throbbing under you. You knew immediately you were in for it when you both got home.

When you got up to go to the bathroom, Jason was going to follow you, intending to give you a little preview of what to expect in the stalls, but was stopped by Dick, who said they had something important they needed to talk to him about.

Before that could happen, a new presence appeared at your table, and your best friend visibly and audibly groaned at who it was.

“Hi there.” Jason heard a sickly sweet voice say, turning to see another boy he’d heard of.

“Xavion.” Jason heard your best friend mutter under his breath.

He knew that name. He’d heard you curse it and mutter it in irritation and anger plenty of times. He purposefully went out of his way to piss you off and pick with you on multiple occasions. He also thought that because his dads were rich and gave him everything he wanted, he was entitled to anything and everything, including other people’s significant others.

No one knew what started the rivalry between you two, but they knew it got cemented when he had sex with your first college boyfriend while you guys were dating and then went on to sleep with any guy you had the slightest attraction to.

So, Jason would be no different when he placed himself a little too close for the dark-haired boy’s liking, trying to maneuver himself away.

“I’ve seen you around on campus before. Are you a student here?”

“Xavion, don’t you have someone else to harass and stalk?” Your best friend commented with an irritated eye roll.

The boy in question only threw a dirty glance at your comrade before turning back to your boyfriend, taking considerable delight in looking him up and down, “Damn, aren’t you a big boy. You’re Y/N’s boyfriend, right? Gotten bored yet?”

Everyone tensed at that, watching how Xavion only got bolder in his flirting, “I’d understand if you did. Y/N’s just not that interesting, and honestly, a little ran through. I’d be happy to show you other options though,” He voiced with a suggestive tone.

Dick, Tim, and Damian watched with slightly nervous eyes as the promiscuous boy moved his hand that was caressing Jason’s arm and placed it around his neck, waiting for the ball to drop as the second Wayne kid's hands began to twitch on the table.

Before anyone could move to stop it, they saw Xavion get literally yanked off of Jason and onto the ground. Your boyfriend and his siblings along with your best friend who began to cheer your name watched as you dragged the slut onto the ground by the back of his shirt and proceeded to WHALE on him.

No one had noticed you coming back from the bathroom, too busy watching Xavion rub his hands all over your boyfriend. When you got closer and saw what was happening, you immediately saw red and picked up your pace, only to dash into a mad sprint when you saw his hand touch Jason’s neck.

Jason after breaking out of his stunned trance immediately ran over to pull you off the screaming boy who was crying for help. Dick and Tim ran over to pull Xavion out of your grasp, just barely managing to save him from what would have been a devastating kick from your boot to his face.

“Touch my boyfriend again and see what happens bitch!” You shouted out at the boy. Luckily, you were in a secluded part of campus, so no one had seen the fight. But, when Xavion had gotten off the ground looking thoroughly fucked up, he tried to run up on you, seeing Jason holding you back and thinking he had an open shot.

Little did he or Jason expect, you used your smaller stature to slip out of Jason’s hold and rushed the boy before kicking your leg up and landing that hit that was taken from you earlier. You took sick satisfaction hearing and feeling the crunch under your foot as it connected with his nose.

Dick, Tim, and Damian watched in complete shock seeing you beat the shit out of this boy. Now, they could really see why you and Jason were such a good match for each other.

When Jason got you back in his arms, he made sure to hold on a little tighter to you so you couldn’t slip away again. Dick and Tim had to help the sobbing boy cradling his broken nose, saying they would take him to the emergency room.

Jason pulled you both back towards the table, sitting you down on his lap as he held your hands down. He could not help how hard he was under you and didn’t care to hide it. Watching that display had him a different level of horny and he frankly couldn’t wait to take you home.

After a few moments passed and you settled down, everyone looked up to the sound of a throat clearing.

“Todd, I don’t know if I ever told you this before,” Damian started, looking at you both with his usual judgemental stare, “...Good job.” He said with a nod toward you.

You were both surprised, Jason especially, as neither of you had ever heard the youngest Robin give out a compliment.

“If you screw this up somehow, which I have little doubt that you’ll find a way, I will not hesitate to end you.”

There was the Damian you both knew.

“I second that motion,” Your best friend added to which you just laughed.

“Shut it, gremlin.” Jason retorted before squeezing you against his body.

“Don’t worry, Damian. I don’t think Jason will do anything to screw this up. Besides, if he does do something stupid, he’ll have me to worry about.” You said, a mischievous twinkle in your eye.

You heard Jason growl lowly against you before grinding you into his lap, letting you feel his hardness poking you through your shorts. You popped his arm to which he responded with a pinch on your ass, your best friend watching in disgusted amusement.

“You two make me sick.”

“Back at you, ugly.” You responded.

Damian turned his head, looking in the direction where Dick and Tim took Xavion to an ER room, “I despise harlots.”

“OH! Speaking of which, thank you, Damian, for reminding me.” You said before leaning over Jason to grab your bag and pull out your laptop.

“What are you doing?” Your boyfriend asked.

“Insurance. I knew the day would come when that hoe went too far. So just in case he decides to go to the university about this little spat, I’m emailing a detailed description of how everything went down, along with photos and evidence of his affairs with various teachers and staff. To them, it will look like Xavion attacked me out of retaliation because he thought I would snitch on him about his sexual misconduct. Now, tell me, babe, did you feel physically violated?” You asked while making various edits to your already drafted email.

“Huh?” Jason replied confused.

“Just say yes.” Your best friend told him with a smirk.

“Um, yes? I think…”

“Perfect! Putting that down for the record, so, if that slut decides to try to get me in trouble, I can show I had completely justifiable reasons to hand him his ass on a concrete platter.” You stated a little too cheerily to be considered not disturbing.

Your best friend was not surprised by this at all, while Damian and Jason looked at you like you had two heads.

“Isn’t the expression ‘silver platter?’” Damian pointed out.

“Yeah, but I dragged his ass up and down on concrete, so it’s a concrete platter today.”

You looked up to see the two Robins staring at you.

“What? Bitches fucked around, so bitches found out. Don’t blame me.” You said while continuing to type.

“I fucking love you,” Jason said while biting at your ear lobe, making you laugh.

Damian could only scoff as he watched you two.

“And people swear Todd’s the threat.”

☀️ | Jason Todd/Red Hood | ☀️

☀️ | Masterlists | ☀️

[lichenes]

on my hands and knees begging for domestic fluff w joost. cooking together, doing livestreams, playing video games, ANYTHING plz <3

My friend read the ask and suggested the whole plot so it came out like a crack fic near the end but oh well, the sillies :D Hope you like it anon and thank you for the ask!!

CW: cursing, broken washing machines??? wc: 689

•───────•°•❀•°•───────••────────•°•❀•°•────────•

He walked through the door inhaling the familiar scent of your shared home. “You’re home!” You said with excitement, thrilled to see Joost. He talked to you about the latest concert, his eyes sparkling with joy when he described a huge group of people shouting the lyrics to his song alongside him. 

You were happy to finally have him back home as this was the last concert of the tour. He expressed how grateful he was for your support and couldn’t quite stop apologising for - as he called it - abandoning you for so long. You reassured him constantly hoping he would one day realise what made him happy, made you happy.

You both were too tired to do anything more than discuss things on the surface level. “You know I wouldn’t give you up for anything in the world.” He said as you both were laying in your shared bed. You nodded, constantly surprised by the level of affection he sported while extremely tired. 

You woke up well rested, finally not worrying if he was okay, he was next to you after all. “I’m doing laundry, do you need anything washed?” You said no and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for you two. When he was done with the load he got into the kitchen and hugged you from behind inhaling your scent. 

“Missed you.” He mumbled into your neck tickling you with his breath. “Missed you too.” You were standing over the stove with a wooden spoon stirring the scrambled eggs. Joost thought proved to be a severe distraction. “I need to focus on the task at hand, Joost.” He let his gorgeous laugh out. “I knoww~ but I didn’t have much time to spend with you and I need you now.” Your face got warmer at those words. “You’ve got me all to yourself lovely.” You said this time making his fair skin turn a shade of red. 

He stopped hugging you and opted instead to set the table. It was quite small but enough for both of you to dine. He made sure to give you your favourite glass. You served the food up. He commented on how tasty it was despite it being only eggs and salt. “It’s hard to fuck up scrambled eggs.” You said with a slight jest in your voice. He laughed and continued. “But it’s not impossible!” 

You went into the living room of your apartment after he was done with washing the dishes and you were done drying them. Your day was spent laying in bed and watching some stupid series full of cheesy jokes which were just cringey enough to make both your stomachs hurt from the laughter. At some point you stood up and went into the bathroom.

Your socks were met with a wet floor which you didn’t expect. Suddenly you realised what was going on. “Joost!” You shouted, calling him over. “What’s up?” He walked right into the puddle. “The washing machine malfunctioned… grab some cloths.” He nodded and walked up to the closet and pulled out some, handing it to you with a smile on his face to cheer you up before the work you both were going to do soon. 

Unfortunately you didn’t catch the malfunction in time which meant the floor panels lifted due to the moisture they absorbed. Renovations were long overdue and you were planning on changing up the floors anyway you told yourself when you saw the panels literally de-gluing themselves from the floor. 

You decided on a herringbone style of floors this time opting to lay them yourselves, after all how hard could it be? You bought raw planks and let Joost lay his heart out. You loved seeing him work all stuck in his own world. He weatherproofed the planks after cutting them up into size appropriate pieces and made your home look brand new with the shining new floors. 

“You did a great job baby.” You said when he came over excited to show you his work. “We should monitor our washing machine better next time though, we wouldn’t want to ruin these gorgeous floors.” 

•───────•°•❀•°•───────••────────•°•❀•°•────────• masterlist

[hybbart]

Day 2170: Jimmy makes the mistake of searching for their missing goat...

Short story below

It started with a head count of the sheep, when Jimmy realized three were missing. Three sheep and one obnoxious ruddy goat he never seemed able to shake no matter how early in the morning they took off or how distracted it was when they did so. They weren’t his sheep. For all he knew, Bigb had come along and taken them to slaughter (Three at once was far too much for their flock) or for shearing (there weren’t any that needed shearing). But the stupid goat missing even when Jimmy placed himself in prime headbutting position right in front of the manure stall was too strange to ignore. So, he went on a search.

The first thing he should have done was tell Tango. Jimmy wanted to, but it had been over a week since he saw the man before dinner. Besides, there was no way to know if he was somewhere Jimmy could reach. They let Tango have free reign so he could work, but without Bigb’s escort Jimmy’s movement within the so-called kingdom was limited. So, he stupidly wandered off alone after his work, straining his flight muscles to do so. No one told an avian where they could go.

He heard the ear splitting scream first. Distressed bleats, drowned out by the shuffling of feet and groans of the dead. It led him to the edge of Ren’s kingdom, beyond reinforced fences. Stubbornness more than anything flew him over it. The stupid goat screamed again, echoing through the buildings that were growing in height. It was coming from the overpass.

A ruddy face poked over the rail, and then screamed at Jimmy. “You wretched little beast, what are you doing?” He shouted back at it. Jimmy could hear them above, dozens if not hundreds of stumbling steps just out of sight, and the terrified bleats. He sprinted up the walkway. Just grab the stupid goat and run.

Then he tripped. Over what he never saw, something that seemed like it hadn’t been there. But he tripped nonetheless, and he went face first into the pavement. Jimmy had barely pushed up off the ground, ready to yell at the goat standing only a few feet ahead for causing him so much trouble. Then the ground exploded. Instinct pulled him into the air, but he was too caught off-guard to fly and only tossed himself up further. At least he wore his coat, or his arms might not have any skin left from how far he skidded across the pavement.

The world spun. His ears rang. Something snapped its pus and algae-coated jaws right in Jimmy’s face. He stumbled back into the stupid goat. Zombies. A whole pack. They completely surrounded them, held back only by feeble makeshift barriers that were already starting to collapse. The sheep trotted about, searching for an escape that no longer existed. It only riled the zombies further.

Of course this was how he would die. The world ends and he finds paradise with his rancher in the middle of it all for a few years, only to have it burnt out from under him and get torn apart alone in a city street anyways. He hated that stupid goat so much.

A rattle and crack. The first barrier fell. Zombies roared to life, shoving each other so they might get to Jimmy first. He tried to flutter away but the ground was suddenly above him and his wings slapped uselessly against a rail. In the far distance beyond the ring of his bones and blood in his veins he thought he heard his name.

The world went dark, then exploded. Once there was a zombie reaching out for him and then there was blood-splattered ivory. The force with which the spikes locked together created a gust that knocked Jimmy and the surrounding zombies onto their butts. They slowly drew apart, serrated edges grinding away what little flesh had not popped like a rotten egg. In the brief moment the rest of the zombies were stunned an enormous paw slammed down, crushing several zombies beneath.

Jimmy stared up in stunned silence as a form loomed over them. A great beast of a dog, if the dog’s ribs and shoulders had been replaced with human bones and forced into something vaguely reminiscent of a human chest under all the canine musculature. Limbs extended for bipedal motion bent into a quadrupedal position.

Existence look painful, in so many ways. It took it out on unaware zombies. They clawed and bit at its flesh but they were little more than fleas, lacking even the strength to penetrate its thick hide through all its fur. The beast let them, so focused on tearing others apart.

One zombie dragged its half-body all the way up its muzzle, reaching for its eye. Then its head was gone. Tattered remains of its skull splattered across the beast’s cheek while an explosion burnt Jimmy’s ears. A second shot, right through its chest, and the corpse fell away while the beast howled a too-human noise.

“Jimmy!”

“Stop, don’t go up there!”

Jimmy’s ears twitched at the familiar voice of his rancher through the ringing, accompanies by Skizz’s voice. His head swivelled behind him, where the back half of the beast’s body hung off the side of the overpass. A single set of black claws clambered over its back. Jimmy let out a distressed whistle, the most his numb body could do in that moment, when Tango leapt across the gap onto the sidewalk and nearly smacked face first into railing. He recovered quickly in his panicked state, eyes wildly searching until they landed on Jimmy and he bolted towards him. “Jimmy, are you okay?!”

“Are you okay.” He repeated back thoughtlessly, reaching out for his rancher as he collapsed beside the avian. “What-”

There was another roar. The beast moved above them. Both ducked into one another. A paw the size of the abandoned cars swatted at a patch of zombies. Panic began to truly set in. Tango’s terror was palpable and soaked through the shock until Jimmy’s wings beat against the concrete. Fly, far away.

“Hey, you jerks!” Skizz landed on the road behind them, grabbing at the stupid goat before it could ram him. “Stop messing around and let’s get outta here!”

They scrambled to their feet, not needing to be told twice. Jimmy almost asked about the goat before he saw it bounding ahead of them like scaling a giant dog-man was typical. There was no time to relax even on the ground, as Skizz yanked them away towards a door. Bigb was already there, cautiously holding it open and trying to hold Revy back. He barricaded the doorway as soon as they were through. Another bang rang outside which Jimmy could now identify as a gunshot.

Frazzled and on an adrenaline rush, Tango pushed past Revy’s worried whines and went straight for the two men. “What the heck was that!”

“Top, buddy, calm down-”

“Don’t tell me to be calm!” He snapped as his fire prickled down his back. “What. Was that.”

Skizz and Bigb glanced at each other warily. “This isn’t exactly how we wanted to tell you guys.” Bigb scratched the back of his head.

“Well, too bad. We’re not leaving this room until you do. That hing nearly squishificated my rancher!”

“Is that what the sheep are for?” Jimmy’s voice came out airy and high, still gasping for breaths. He could feel his heart pounding in the veins of his neck. Revy practically crawled into his lap, trying to lick away the anxiousness as it bled into the poor pup. “Are you keeping something like that as some sort of zombie killing pet? Are you mad?”

Skizz let out a humourless laugh. “A pet! Don’t let Martyn hear that!”

“Shh.” Bigb chastised before taking a deep breath. “That’s not a pet, it’s Ren.”

“Ren?” Jimmy repeated in disbelief.

“It happens like once a month. He just grows and grows all day until he’s... That.”

“And he doesn’t stop until he gets tired.” Skizz interjected. His arms waved wildly. “So we- it was Martyn’s idea. We distract him with the zombies. That way he doesn’t destroy anything. We’ve cleared out half the city with him! And... And, y’know, it’s a ton of fertilizer for the gardens and stuff. It’s like a win-win.”

It was far from what Jimmy would call a win-win. They’d run into many a strange way of living after the end of the world, but this certainly took the cake. And it was one he had no desire to join in on. “We’re leaving.” He declared bluntly, finally pulling himself up off the floor. Tango gave a firm nod as well, joining his rancher’s side.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

It was Martyn, rifle in hand and pointed directly at the ranchers. They huddled together.

“Martyn, c’mon.” Skizz tried to defuse, but backed off when Martyn nudged his rifle towards him for the briefest moment.

“We had a deal. You get your stuff back and then you help us fix the farms. You owe us.”

Jimmy gaped. “You set us up! Don’t think I don’t know!” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bigb flinch, and that was all Jimmy needed to know he was right on the money. “We aren’t gonna live around that thing!”

But Martyn didn’t back down, glaring daggers into them. “Ren can’t help what he is. You got a problem with us making the best of a bad situation?”

“I have a problem with you not telling us one of you turns into a giant murder dog!”

“You wouldn’t have even known if you didn’t go snooping where you shouldn’t!”

“Well, forgive me for not trusting the people with a huge zombie pit who tricked us into being here in the first place!”

“Okay, let’s calm down.” Skizz finally interjected. He paused, waiting to see if they would comply. Jimmy wanted so badly to continue yelling. If it weren’t for them they’d be out on the road still instead of here. They wouldn’t have burnt through so many supplies trying to look for their animals. Jimmy wouldn’t have nearly suffocated several times between the separation and getting their stuff back. Tango would still have his prosthetic intact instead of struggling through the work they pushed onto him one-handed just to earn some scraps.

Martyn finally lowered his gun, glaring at the wall instead of them now. “This is exactly why we didn’t tell you. What else are we supposed to do? If you’re going to be annoying about it at least blame me, Ren’s been nothing but accommodating. You could at least return the courtesy.”

“Accommodating?” Jimmy squawked, wings flared against the ceiling. “Tango hasn’t had a day off in a week, it’s like you’re intentionally not giving him any time to work on rebuilding his arm!”

“Jim.” Tango murmured, voice wary. Jimmy knew what he would say. We’re outnumbered, they have a gun, I still need an arm, you’re not recovered you need to calm your breathing, there’s still a giant dog tearing everything apart outside. All of the many very valid reasons not to pick a fight here and now. Jimmy didn’t want to hear them out loud. He wanted to scream.

Bigb’s the one to step forward. “Look I think we’ve all just... gotten off on the wrong foot!”

Jimmy bristled. “The wrong-”

“If it’s information you want, I think we can give you that. Right?” Martyn looked ready to protest, but Skizz hurriedly nodded in agreement before he could speak up. There was a crash outside that sent Martyn running to his king’s aid, muttering something aggressive over Bigb’s shoulder before he stormed out. “Right. But maybe we should move this somewhere else while we talk?”

The ranchers shared a look. There was nothing Jimmy would prefer more than to tell them to shove it and run off, but Revenge’s whine reminded him they still had their stuff scattered about the kingdom. Tango gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “... Fine. But anymore threats and we’re out of here!” He snapped between gasps. Breathing was becoming difficult.

Skizz and Bigb agreed, solemn as they navigated the group back to the rec building. The closer they got to the more of Ren’s subjects appeared, going about their day, wilfully oblivious to the groans and roars that still vibrated in Jimmy’s ears.

What mess had they stumbled their way into?

[qu1cks1lversb1tch]

Hi I've just finished reading all of the Lucifer fanfics you had and I love every last one of them he's my absolute favorite and I was hoping if I can make a request something involving Lucifer and a fem reader they're good friends and they share a cute and romantic moment baking!😋🧁 They make all kinds of sweets, baked goods and pastries and then suddenly have a playful food fight that leads to an accidental kiss, and they get super shy awkward and nervous and then start confessing feelings to each other and finally share a long waited passionate kiss. The rest is up to you.

A/N— YES YES YES, NO HESITATION 💖 I hope you have an amazing day. Sorry it took so long <3

Something Sweet | Lucifer

Warnings: Fem!Reader, fluff

Word Count: 769

The counter was covered in a mix of flour, sugar, and quite literally every other ingredient that went into making a cake, two dozen cupcakes with whipped icing, an ungodly amount of apple turnovers, and more cookies than you could count. 

The whole building smelled like sugar and vanilla because of what was in the oven. 

With the counter covered, it served to reason that your outfit had flour handprints from where you had wiped your hands at a moment's notice to handle something that Lucifer couldn't. 

Baking was your hobby turned passion, and being friends with Lucifer, he supported you. . . Partially because he wanted you to succeed. . . Mostly because he was the designated taste tester.

It was rare he baked alongside you, but when he did, it was always interesting. 

This time was no different.

You were debating whether or not you had enough sweets for the small party being held for Angel's birthday, when something hit your chest, exploding into a mess of powdery white down your entire front. 

Your eyes immediately snapped over to Lucifer, who was obviously the culprit, as no one else was in the room. 

He chuckled nervously, wiping his hands off. 

You smirked and flung a glob of pink whipped icing at his face. He attempted to dodge it, but he miscalculated the velocity and it hit him on the cheek, staying for all of a few seconds before falling down his front. 

The snort that came from you wasn't ladylike, but watching the King of Hell stand there with flour and pink icing on his clothes was quite the sight to see. 

Lucifer grabbed what was left of it on his clothes, chucking it at you.

He started a war. 

Flour, icing, chocolate chips, eggs, and powdered sugar were thrown at each other, turning the floor slippery. 

A fact that came to light when you lunged forward and slipped in the odd mixture. In a moment of fear, you grabbed a hold of the closest thing, which just happened to be Lucifer; dragging him down with you. 

Your back hit the floor and Lucifer landed on top of you with a grunt. Laying on the floor with your head to the side, you noticed that the underneath side of the fridge needed to be cleaned. . . Perhaps you'd see if Niffty had the time later. 

You closed your eyes and sighed, dreading cleaning the mess.

Turning your head back, your lips brushed against warm skin and your eyes flew open once more. You hadn't realized Lucifer was on top of you still until that very moment. 

And then you realized that your lips had touched his. You had technically kissed him. 

He stared at you awkwardly and you began apologizing profusely — how many times had he mentioned missing Lilith? 

How many times in the long-time friendship had he come to you asking for guidance when it came to getting Lilith to forgive him when his pride and ego took over and prevented him from being the husband he needed to be in the moment? 

More often than either of you would ever admit. . . Especially because you had always liked him. . . But he was all about the woman who rarely gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

Lucifer said nothing as you continued to rattle off apology after apology, attempting to sit up in the process, and somehow succeeding. 

Lilith's name came up over a dozen times in the short span. 

You only stopped talking when he reached his hand up and his thumb wiped some of the icing and flour off of your cheek. 

He smiled at you sweetly, having listened to your hasty apologies as the blush consistently creeped up your face. 

“Stop apologizing,” he whispered. “She's not here. She left. That was her choice. . . Now it's my choice to tell you how. . . How I feel about you.”

“Luci—”

“Shut up.” He mumbled before placing his lips firmly on yours. It was sweet, yet left no room for argument. You took a moment to return the kiss, but once you did, you didn't regret it. 

His kiss tasted like something sweet — you couldn't quite place it. Icing? Just sugar? Whatever it was, it was addicting and you couldn't get enough. 

You almost whined when he finally pulled away, but didn't. 

He rested his forehead on yours. “That's how I feel.”

You smiled slightly, despite the slight fear of the unknown weighing in the back of your mind, and went in for a quick peck. “And that's how I feel.” 

“Looks like we're on the same page, then.” 

[weird-addiction]

Dragon Factory

Pairing: House of the Dragon x Male!Reader, Platonic!Aemond Targaryen x Male!Reader

Genre: Neutral

Warnings: Descriptions of dragon death, mentions of gore, dismembered dragon, mentions of bones poking out of skin, mentions of illegal things and drugs, dragon organs and bones, Manipulation.

A/n: Based off the song Rainbow Factory

Have you ever wondered where or rather what happens to dragons when they die? Well, no one ever has wondered, the Valyrians were just happy enough to even have dragons. Since the beasts have lived longer for hundreds of years, they have never thought about what happened to them in the afterlife.

Well, let’s just say a dragon’s tale is not as nice as one may make it seem. 

Let’s delve deeper into dragon philosophy, far beyond that of Old Valyrian’s mythology. The people of Westeros very easily judged the Targaryens as being gods and lived comfortably within their homeland. There is a dark story to every fairytale after all.

Within the eastern parts of the unknown world, there is a place so well built that it looks like it fell out of the heavens. Fog, mist that surrounds the area looks like clouds that came from the stars. 

It was said that in those very halls, the dragons are built, made and put into their eggs. This is where the first true dragons made their appearances. 

Within the stories and myths that have been lost to time, the myth originated before the doom happened, and so after, the legend has died out with the new generations of House Targaryen, Velayron and Celtigar. 

The legends that were told for years, it is as it says below. 

‘Once a dragon dies,

It’s collected by their creator.

Taken apart,

The same way it was born.

It shall be renewed, remade, reborn.’

Since the reign and conquest of Aegon the Conqueror, when Meraxes and Queen Rhaenys both were shot down in Dorne, the Dornish reported that when they went to collect and tow the body of the dragon. The corpse was not whole, there were many parts already missing.

They suspected some people wanted a part of the dragon as an artifact, that rumor was believable until they realized and saw the entire wing that was missing from its left side. 

The eyes, the left wing, half of its teeth, scales of different parts, bones that were cut out from under its flesh, were all missing. However, one thing was for sure, the flesh that was torn seemed to be cut with precision. The person that did it, knew what they were doing and have been doing it for a long time. The wing that was torn off left no traces except for the bone that was poking as it was snapped off. 

And since then, that is still one of the biggest mysteries of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. 

The current princess of the realm, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen sat in Godswood under the same maple tree, with one of her friends in court next to her. Y/n L/n of the mysterious house L/n, he stood next to her leaning against the tree. 

The princess has just finished reading a story from the book of mythologies, Rhaenyra then turned towards him with a smile on her face. 

“What about you?” She asked, the book was still in her lap.

“Pardon princess?” Y/n spoke back, with confusion in his tone.

“What do you think happens to dragons after they die?” Her smile did not leave her face, features full of curiosity. 

Y/n thought through it for a moment before speaking again. “I am not the one with dragons princess, I do not know what happens to them.” 

“You must at least have thought of it before. I mean, the great Targaryen’s dragons, what happens to such great beasts after they die and rot away.” Rhaenyra’s words imply that she did indeed want an answer. 

“I am just an assassin that works for the council, I do not know of such things.” Y/n responded, his own smile stretching out on his lips.

“Oh please, you are anything but.” Rhaenyra stood up and licked arms with him. “You are anything but ‘just an assassin’.” 

“Rhaenyra we shouldn’t…link arms.”

“Why’s that?”

“I am not your betrothed.”

“But you are my friend.”

Y/n let out a sigh as they began to walk through the halls, Y/n was just an assassin that Viserys hired to take out anything to shut down anything that didn’t need Viserys to have dragons burn anything down.

No one knew of his origins, his house was a mystery to the court and council, but they wanted him regardless as his skills were very valuable. 

That night, Viserys has told Y/n of something going on in the city, so Y/n went to check it out in case it threatened the crown in any way. When Y/n got to Flea Bottom, finding the source of the problem which was just someone selling illegal artifacts and drugs. Realizing it was such a small problem, Y/n let them go, because if he did get that one man arrested, he might as well have the gold cloaks and arrest everyone that lived in Flea Bottom.

By the time he was walking to return to the Red Keep, he stopped by the dragon pit and checked on the dragons. Making sure no dragon was dying, or any of the eggs were not going to hatch. The dragon keepers had already left, going to the room where most of the eggs were kept in incubators. As soon as he stepped foot in there, he sensed something was wrong.

One of the eggs was not going to hatch, opening the incubator and taking out the egg. The egg was covered in silver colored scales, because it was in the incubator it should have been warm. But the egg was cold, not a sense of warmth as he held it in his hands. 

“Don’t worry. You will not be wasted.” Y/n mumbled to himself, his eyes not leaving the egg. Tucking it into his coat, carrying it back with him as he returned to his rooms through the secret passageways.

The next morning, he went to Viserys to ask for leave for a couple of days. The king agreed, it was not the first time that Y/n had done this.

“Again? Alright. Be safe Y/n.” 

“Of course, Your Grace.” He bowed before leaving the king’s rooms.

The dragon egg tucked into his coat as he walked to the gates, a horse that was already there for him. Mounting his steed with ease as the guards opened the gates. He rode east for days until he finally arrived at the ports to the Narrow Sea. 

This will be the last time he will ever step foot in the Crownlands known as the assassin within the king’s council, the next time he sees the Red Keep would be years from now. 

Once he docked on the easter lands, he managed to buy another horse and ride even more east. He arrived at his destination after months of travel. 

His palace was still as good as new. 

Y/n had managed to keep it hidden for all these years, doing what he was put into this world to do, remaking the dragons. When he saw the egg that went cold, Y/n made a decision; to raise the dragon as his own. In the future, it would be easier to collect parts and make transporting so much easier. 

His palace has been here even before Old Valyria had risen to power, Y/n was immortal just like the dragons that he remade and have been reborn again and again. 

Getting right to work as he got inside, the servants taking care of his horse and other needs. Cracking open the egg as saw the baby dragon that has already died, by the looks of it the wings weren’t even formed right.

Replacing the wings was the first part, taking the bones of bigger wings of others that had collected over the years, crafting them into a new pair of baby wings. Using the fire to merge the bones together. The wings were mended into its back rather than the front legs, as the original dragons had them like that instead. Everything else about the dragon was fine, but it did not have a heartbeat. 

Taking a jar off the shelf, the jar contained hearts of dragons that if anyone ever saw it, they would run and never look back. Pulling out a small one and putting it inside the one that just came out of the egg. 

The procedure was over rather quickly, Y/n’s hands were now covered in blood. 

Now he just had to get it into a new egg and put it into another incubator and wait for it to hatch. 

It only took three months before the dragon finally hatched, forming a bond with Y/n as it saw its creator for the first time. 

For the next ten years he raised the dragon on his own, the dragon he named Vallath. And that is when he returned to Westeros to see if he could collect anything else, while the people within the workshop of his palace will continue to make new dragons for years to come. 

When he was flying west, he flew over Pentos and felt like something was off. Y/n told Vallath to fly lower and settle down a good distance away from the source of the problem.

 Y/n snuck into the fortress and followed his instincts of where he felt the dying dragon, it led him into a room where there was a fireplace and a dragon egg leaned against the metal bars in front of the fire. He could tell the dragon within had not yet died, picking it up with urgency, he quickly left the room and snuck back out unnoticed.

Getting back to Vallath as he urged the beast to fly, Y/n realized his dragon had sensed another, or even multiple more dragons in the same area.

“What is it boy?” The dragon growled back, turning his head to point to where he was staring at earlier. 

A big green dragon flying in the distant skies, Y/n’s eyes narrowed as he knew who that dragon was. 

“Vhagar. Queen Visenya’s dragon, now claimed by the Lady Laena of house Velayron. As I have heard of course. “Worry not, ignore her and let’s go.” Patting his dragon’s neck as he got onto Vallath’s back.

Taking off once again, this time fully back to King’s Landing.

Y/n landed further away from the city to hide Vallath from the smallfolk’s eyes, he landed near the dragon pit to check on the dragons. Just for old times sake. 

When he entered the giant dome of a building, he saw some kids getting taught by the keepers while a dragon walked towards them. The dragon was small, barely able to fly or even carry anyone on their back. 

One of the keepers saw him and came over and talked with, fortunately, he knew High Valyrian well. He was around when the language was first created after all.

Y/n told the dragon keeper to tell Viserys he was back, the king would know who he is. The dragon keeper nodded and left to get the guards outside. Y/n stayed in the shadows and watched as the kids trained with the young dragon, soon their lesson concluded and the keeper left them.

He then saw they brought out a pig, three of the kids left and one was left. And by the looks of it, he was going down into the place where the dragon rested. This could mean a death sentence, so he followed quickly to make sure nothing stupid happened. 

Down into the tunnels, he saw fire lighting up the rocky tunnels up ahead, he walked fast to see what was happening. And there he saw it, the dragon Dreamfyre blowing out fire upwards as a threat. The kid he still did not know the name of, fell over in fear and turned to run. Y/n went over and pushed the kid behind him, while holding out a hand as he calmed Dreamfyre. 

Grabbing the smaller figure and getting out from the underground. The child did not struggle against him, but just went along with him.

“What were you thinking?” Y/n whispered yelled to him.

“I just wanted a dragon.” 

He could barely hear the words, but he did, and Y/n looked at him with confusion. 

“You do not have one? Well, that’s odd. But, not every Targaryen was a dragon rider, you know.” Y/n shrugged his shoulders.

“All my siblings have one! Even my nephews do! I am the only Targaryen with no dragon.” The older paused for a second as he let go of the child.

“What’s your name, boy?” 

“Aemond Targaryen.”

“Your parents?” 

“I am the second son of Viserys Targaryen and Alicent Hightower.” 

Y/n had to process what in the seven rings of hell he just heard. “I’m sorry. What?!” 

Aemond was taken back by this strange man, he had never even seen him in court or anywhere in the council before. 

“Alicent married. Viserys. What in the fuck happened while I was gone.” 

Aemond just looked and stood there confused.

—---------

Y/n went to the familiar rooms of the king, last time he was here was ten years ago. The guard yelled out his name, announcing his arrival to whoever was inside.

“Viserys?” The king before him was too different from how he remembered him last. 

“Y/n? Oh, Y/n. How good it is to have you back.”

Y/n was at a loss for words, Viserys was pretty already dying in front of him. His hairs are already falling out and his face has sunken to show his bones almost.

“Are you going to inform me of what happened when I was away?” 

Viserys nodded and began to explain, at the end he paused before asking the younger of where he went for ten years. “You said you had to leave for a few days. Then, next thing you were gone for ten years.”

“Yes…sorry about that..” Y/n’s voice was quiet, Viserys almost didn’t hear him.

The king wanted to know where he had been, but the other only responded with “Don’t worry about it.” With a smile at the end.

That night, the king threw a feast for having Y/n back at court. Everyone was seated at the long table as Y/n walked in, what caught everyone’s attention was the choice of clothing he wore that night. 

His robes were made of dragon scales and skin, they shimmered in the lighting of the hall. The different colors of the skins, the dark ones and bright ones contrasting each other, made him look like an actual dragon; and not just metaphorically. Around his neck, it sat a silver dragon necklace, an actual dragon that curled around him. 

He got to the table and sat down, he sat next to Alicent who was now a lot older, while on his other side were her children. Soon the feast began, Y/n made small conversation with Alicent. It did not take him long to know that Alicent was trying to get on his good side and have him side with Aegon being the future king.

What she did not know was that Y/n could care less about even being here, he did not care about who was king. As long as there were dragon parts for him to collect as they died, he would stay and do his job.

During the dinner, Aemond kept looking over at him, Y/n noticed this and it was quite obvious that the young prince wanted something. 

“My husband told me you have been away from court for ten years. Why is that?” Alicent asked.

“Oh, it is nothing, Your Grace. The matter was originally small, but turned into something bigger that I could not return for years.” Y/n lied right through his teeth, but the queen believed him regardless.

From across the table, he saw Rhaenyra sitting with her own children and husband; Laenor Velayron. When he was still at court, Rhaenyra had a thing for her own uncle he was sure, considering the fact the inbreeding and incest within the Targaryens don’t surprise him anymore. But another thing he had heard was that Laenor was interested in men instead of women, so how he had children with Rhaenyra was a mystery to him.

The feast went well, nothing happened, during it many people came up and asked him where he got the robes he was wearing. Y/n lied again saying it was just collected from the dragons when he was in King’s Landing, then explaining that the dragon skins were fake and made by seamstresses that he requested from his journey east. After a couple of hours, most of the guests have already started to leave. Y/n returned to his own chambers but he did not prepare to go to bed, but instead he put on his assassin clothing that had changed so no one would recognize him.

Sneaking out with the secret passageways, he made his way into the Dragon Pit again to look for parts. Luckily, there was a dragon that seemed to have died a while ago but no one noticed, it was a young dragon that had died to unknown causes. The dragon was alright in size, certainly big enough to collect the parts from and put them to good use.

Setting the bag he had brought with him to the side, he brought out a tool to start cutting away with the dragon’s parts. First came the inspecting to see if they were still worth something. 

“Eyes. Good enough to be reused, take those. Wings, big enough to develop fully if reborn into another. Horns and spikes…already decaying and too small to be of any use, leave those. Legs, strong and have potential to be fully grown with muscle and tissue. Skin and scales can be harvested for other uses. ” Y/n concluded after the inspection of the outside of the dragon, the organs and bones will have to wait until he cuts into it fully.

Taking out his tool, which was just a more powerful dagger, Y/n began to slice away at the different parts.

First it was the wings. Holding the wing still as he cut into the base of the bone, slicing through the bone like a hot knife through butter. At the end of the cutting it managed to get stuck, so Y/n pulled it off with his own strength, some of the skin came off with it. Then he did the same thing with the other wing, the second wing came off easier than the first one. The wings were in the bag so as to not get them dirty or lost.

Second was the legs, they took a bit more time but it was no problem. The legs came off just as easily, but it took a lot more effort to cut them through the bone as the back leg bones are formed to be stronger by default. Third was the eyes, they needed a bit more precision but nothing that Y/n has not done before. He just needed to be careful of some of the nerves, and then cut around and dismember the right ones and get it out with no other damage. 

Lastly, it was the skin and scales, it was basically skinning the dragon itself. The procedure required a bit more precision. He started at the wing area where the skin was already coming off, putting the dagger flatly under the hard skin and slicing through it making it come off easily. Piece by piece, the skin and scales along with it came off. Soon, the once dragon was now just a body of flesh, some of the bones in the body were now almost visible through the skin. The skull no longer held any resemblance to a dragon, other than the horns, the skull was completely stripped of its scales. The eye sockets hollow with nothing to fill it.

As Y/n cleaned up and put the parts he had cut into the bag he had brought with him, around the corner he heard a noise. Turning to see what had made such sounds, the corner of his eyes had caught a glimpse of silver-blonde hair in the dark. Taking the bag with him and swinging it over his shoulder, he turned the corner and saw a young prince. It was none other than the prince Aemond. 

“What. Are you doing here?” His words held slight venom, as his tone was annoyed that someone had found him doing his work.

“...” The prince did not dare speak, the violet eyes avoided the e/c ones that were narrowed and glaring burning holes into him.

“Speak!” This made Aemond flinch, but finally he managed to find his voice and speak out.

“I-I followed you here…and since it was the Dragon Pit I thought….” He trailed off. This only made Y/n even more annoyed. 

“What? What is it? You think I need protection? Is that it?” His glare did not stop but his voice had turned softer. 

Aemond could only stay quiet again, but really, he had nothing he could say anyway. 

“If that is the case then you have been proven wrong, as I am unharmed in front of your eyes. Now prince, let’s get you back to your chambers before someone finds you gone at this hour.” Y/n began to walk away and the young prince followed behind him.

Going through the same passageways that he came from, Y/n managed to sneak back to his rooms and without being noticed. Aemond however did not leave him alone, instead the young prince followed the older to his chambers instead. Y/n of course noticed this, but no matter how much he tried to get Aemond to go back to his room the younger continued to follow him, so he gave up in the end and let him follow him back. 

Once he got back, the bag was set on the ground as he opened it and reviewed what he gathered. That was when the young Targaryen spoke up about something.

“Why do you collect the parts of dragons?” Y/n’s movements stopped as turned around to look at Aemond. 

“Why do you need to know about that, young prince? And even if I told you, how would you take the information?” Y/n tilted his head in a playful way, as if teasing Aemond to speak again.

“I will not tell anyone of what you have done, what you do with the dragons will not be known.” Aemond said simply. 

The words were simple yes, but they also implied that Aemond might attempt to blackmail him if he did not tell him what he wanted to know. But Y/n knew better, behind the violet eyes that claimed to want nothing but to know what he was doing the dragon parts, there was something else there as well. A small glint of desire. Aemond wanted something from him. 

“Oh. I see. You want something from me.” Y/n paused for a second as he smiled. “And considering the fact that you have been eyeing the bag I have carried with me, you are interested in my work, no? Go ahead, tell me what you want. Then maybe I will not kill you for knowing my work.” Half of that was a lie, Y/n was not going to actually kill Aemond, just hurt him enough to make sure he never spilled.

“I..I want a dragon, I am the only one that is without a dragon…” Aemond’s voice became more soft, as if already becoming afraid; which was fair considering what he had seen that night already. 

Y/n let out a laugh as he heard the request, going back to the bag and looking over what he had collected. A smile made its way onto his face, perhaps this was a good thing for him after all. Maybe, he could be of use to him.

“A dragon you say? What do you think I do, young prince?” Playfulness laced within his voice.

Aemond took a breath before speaking. “I..I have heard the legend of what happens to a dragon when they die, they get collected by their creator and get remade…” He looked down, in his head to himself he sounded ridiculous to even believe such a legend.

“That. That legend is from the tales of Old Valyria, or rather, beyond that. Most Valyrians knew it, but it soon faded with time. You truly believe in this legend, Aemond?” He needed to know, not many believed in Y/n when he told them who actually was.

“Would it be weird if I say I did..?” 

Moving a hand to pet the top of Aemond’s hair, ruffling it slightly. His eyes softened, seeing the younger like this reminded him of himself a bit. “No, it’s not.” Getting down to Aemond’s level, his eyes shining through the darkness of the room. 

“Tell me. What do I get if I give you this dragon?”

Aemond’s eyes snapped up, realizing the older had accepted his request. “I will not tell anyone what you have done! A-and I will help you with collecting the parts…” He sounded unsure of that last one, but in the heat of the moment he said it anyway.

“You have a deal, prince. But, I do have my own conditions that you must agree to as well.” 

“Anything. Anything to have a dragon to myself!” Aemond replied eagerly. 

“I want your loyalty. Not only that, but I also want you to follow my orders. When I choose to leave Westeros, you will follow. I tell you to defy someone at court, your mother, your father, even your grandfather, you do it. If you can not agree to those, forget about the dragon.” Y/n listed his conditions clearly. 

“I…” Thinking it over, Aemond was not sure he had it in him to do such things. He stood by his mother throughout these years, his loyalty to his family was what he held onto. Now, can he really throw it all away just because he wants a dragon? 

“I do not have much time for you to think this over, if you truly want this dragon then I have to get to work immediately. The conditions in Westeros are not the same as back at my home, these dragon parts will begin to rot in three days' time. Seeing that these came from a dragon that died quite recently, which is odd but convenient nonetheless. So, do you agree to my terms or not?” Y/n was getting annoyed and somewhat irritated.

“Yes, I do.” 

Y/n held out his hand for Aemond to shake, and when the prince did, the deal was finally sealed. “Welcome to my family, Prince Aemond.” 

Over the next couple of days, other than his duties to the court, he would disappear to his rooms and work on the dragon. The body was completed first and then the skin and scales, the body was newly made with the parts that he collected. He brought parts with him back from his factory just in case. Using a special thread that had been the routine for hundreds of years, stitching the parts together on the new dragon body. Soon, the dragon itself was fully constructed. 

The second part was the egg, well, it really was no problem. The dragon egg that he got from Pentos, that is the egg he will use.

Cracking the egg open and taking out the dead dragon from within, then putting the new dragon inside. Finally, taking the broken pieces of the egg and sewing it back, the thread worked its magic to make it seem like nothing was ever out of place or broken.

The dragon egg along with the beast inside was finally complete, but now to give it to Aemond, which meant Viserys and Alicent needed to know that he finally got a dragon.

Walking to the king’s chambers and knocking on the doors gently, he was let in by Viserys saying ‘enter’ from the other side. 

“Your grace, I have come bearing a gift for your son.” Y/n stated, standing tall.

Viserys looked over from his model of Old Valyria, confusion and curiosity written all over. “For Aegon?” 

“No your grace, for Aemond.” Viserys nodded as he put down his tools that were sculpting a small model.

“What is a gift that you must come to me first and not give it straight to my son?” The king questioned.

“It is a rather important gift. I have heard that Prince Aemond is the only one without a dragon?” Y/n changed his tone as he acted like he did not know. Viserys nodded sadly, knowing this to be true.

Showing him the dragon egg, Viserys’ eyes widened slightly seeing such a present. “Where did you..get this?” 

“On my way back from my journey, I found one in the sands, buried. I picked it up to see if it would hatch when I brought it back to the Dragon Pit. It had been incubating for a few days, and showed good signs of hatching.” He paused for a second to catch his breath.

“So, I wish to give it to prince Aemond.” 

“This is a most wonderful gift! Thank you Y/n, I shall give it to him.” Viserys spoke with a full smile on his lips. The king took the egg with a smile.

Y/n left the room, as he did he heard Viserys tell one of his guards to go get Aemond. 

As night fell upon King’s Landing, Aemond went to look for Y/n in his chambers. He knocked and when heard the permission to come in he opened the doors, seeing Y/n on his bed and he seemed to be reading. 

“What is it that you need from me at this hour, Aemond? Can it not wait till to-morrow?” Y/n’s eyes did not move away from the text he was reading.

“I just came to thank you, my father gave me the dragon egg today. Even though I already knew it was you, I still could not help but be excited.” 

An unexpected smile came to Y/n’s lips. “As long as you do not go back on what you have promised me, you and your dragon will be safe under my protection.”

Aemond smiled in return.

Peace did not last forever. Another six years went by in the blink of an eye, and Aemond grew up and now has matured more than anyone else. He was taller than all of his siblings, and even just slightly over Y/n as well.

His dragon has also grown with him, the dragon whom he named Stormfury. The dragon had a grey colored body and had darker scales at his head, its wings were bigger and more powerful than the others. So big that he could not be kept in the Dragon Pit, instead it lived on the outskirts of the city.

Rhaenyra had returned to court and yet she left on the same night. Y/n could care less, there were less dragons dying so there was little to no work for him. But soon, things went from bad to worse.

Viserys passed away in his sleep, and the only people that knew were his small council and Alicent. The greens got Aegon on the throne, crowning him in front of the masses. Making sure everyone knew he was the new monarch. During the crowning, Aemond stood next to his sister, standing there and bowing slightly when Aegon looked towards him. 

Y/n watched on from the shadows, eyeing Aemond with a dark glint within his e/c eyes. He knew a war was brewing on the horizon, it was a matter of time the Dance of the Dragons started.

That night he had overheard that Aemond would go to Storm’s End and treat with Lord Baratheon, taking Stormfury and flying off. He did not return till the late morning of the next day. And when Aemond returned, the prince had a horrified look on his face. Something was definitely wrong.

Alicent and Otto were both discussing what he had done, Aemond said that he managed to get Lord Baratheon’s trust with a marriage pact. But then, he also explained something else that he had done.

“I..I killed Lucereys…” 

Both Alicent and Otto were taken back, Alicent turned away and had her hands to her face while Otto took the role of scolding him. 

“You have only lost one eye, how can you be so blind?” Otto scolded. Aemond looked down in shame. 

Y/n was listening in from the shadows in the corner, when he heard Aemond had done such a deed he stormed over to the prince enraged by his words. Grabbing the prince by his collar and pulling him in close, it seemed like Y/n just grew a lot taller. 

“You. Did. What.”

“I killed him…” Y/n could not deny that he was somewhat impressed that he still had the nerve to fully admit what he did to his face, knowing that this might not end well for him as seeing the assassin was already very mad.

“I gave you that dragon as I took pity, along with the very small kindness that I had that I did oblige to your request. And this is what you use it for? Killing your nephew? Are you blinded by your obsession with him that you had to kill him?” Y/n just raged at him, grabbing him by the shoulders and staring at his violet eye.

For the first time in Aemond’s life, the prince felt true terror through those eyes, he hated this feeling and yet he can not escape its gaze as he was forced to look through them. “Stormfury refused to listen to me..he just kept going..” His voice turned quiet and almost sounded ashamed. 

Y/n looked at Alicent and Otto for a second before looking back at Aemond and shaking his head. “The thought that the Targaryens control the dragons is an illusion. They are living breathing beings that have thoughts of their own. Not mindless weapons that you can bend to your will.” 

The two older Hightowers looked over the situation in concern but also in fascination, for they had no idea of what had happened between the two. Y/n turned to walk away and gestured for Aemond to follow, Alicent called for her son to stay but what she did not know was that her son was no longer hers.

“Aemond. You promised me, remember? Unless, you want your dragon gone.” The prince took one last look at his mother and grandfather, before turning away and walking out of sight.

Walking down the halls of the keep, Aemond had no idea where they were headed. “Pack your things. We are going to leave by nightfall.” 

This made Aemond stop in his tracks, he was not sure how he felt about that. To leave court, his family, his siblings. Y/n on the other hand could only laugh.

“Remember we made this deal the night you asked for that dragon, and when I listed my conditions you agreed. You can not go back on such a promise.” Leaning into Aemond’s ear he whispered. “Because you know what will happen if you defy me.”

Pulling away Y/n returned to his own rooms to pack up his belongings. Aemond stood still for a couple seconds before walking a different path, he had no choice but to leave with him.

 Y/n did not pack too much as it is like he would be back anytime soon, taking what he had packed which was just some clothes. By the time night fell he walked out of the Red Keep for most likely the last time. Getting into the wheelhouse he had ordered, and soon he arrived at the dragon pit. 

Vallath was landed somewhere hidden so he needed to go outside of the city walls to find him, but first he wanted to check on Aemond. And right on time, Aemond was already there with Stormfury. But then, Alicent was also there, it seemed that she was trying to get Aemond to rethink his decision of leaving.

“Aemond, let's go.” 

“Aemond! Wait!” Alicent cried out. “Please, rethink this. We need you here. Rhaenyra has gone to madness and will come after us. You will not be safe on your own!” 

“He is not on his own. He is going with me, he had already promised me long ago. Let’s go, Aemond.” Y/n stated sternly, not caring about Alicent’s opinions.

Both of them climbing onto Stormfury’s saddles as they soon took off, flying outside of the city walls, Y/n told Aemond to land just outside of a nearby forest. “Wait here. You will know when to follow again.”

Y/n walked into the masses of trees, nothing was heard but then a roar sounded through the forest as a dragon flew overhead. 

“Let’s go!” Y/n shouted from the back of Vallath. 

They both flew east, for days, maybe even a week before they landed. The clouds and mist parted for a grand building to appear, it looked to be a place that fell from the heavens and the stars themselves. Aemond looked at what was presented in front of him in awe, he was speechless, his mouth hanging open but his words melted away as he took in what he saw.

Their dragons landed in front of the gates, lowering their backs slightly letting their riders slide from their wings. With a flick of Y/n’s hand, the gates opened as the masked servants bowed at his arrival. Turning to look at Aemond, he was smiling with glee. 

“Welcome, to my world Aemond.”

Aemond followed the other male as they walked in, Aemond then saw the reality of how the dragons were really born. 

Broken pieces of shells collected into piles to be remade, different wings of all sizes were set up and held up in trays to be delivered to be made into something. Stacks of dragon skin and boxes of scales, the skin was in piles like fabric while the scales were like beads ready to be sewed on. Different dragon bodies that were just flesh at the moment shipping throughout the building, along with horns and spikes that were also being sent.

Y/n led them to his office, where he already had a pile of parchment he needed to get through. Setting down his bag, telling his servant to take it to his chambers. 

The Targaryen had a thousand questions running through his mind, but he just could not bring himself to ask them as if thinking they were inappropriate for the timing. Y/n beat him to it when speaking.

“You will work here, and stay with me. Unless, I ever choose to return back to Westeros then you can go back with me. Is that understood?” His tone was harsh like from years ago. 

Aemond nodded as he stood tall but his head was hung low. “Will I ever see my family again?” He finally got the courage to ask. 

“You will see them when we go back to Westeros, which I could only hope to find the time for as I have this work now that I have returned. Let us hope they will still be around when you go back, I can feel a storm brewing in Westeros. After you pull the stunt of kinslaying, well, it is not going to be pretty.” Y/n’s words came with a laugh from his throat.

A servant came into the room and bowed to their lord, waiting for orders as they have been called for moments prior. Y/n noticed this of course.

“Get him into work attire, train him, teach him to do every station of work.” Y/n gestured to Aemond. “Once he knows what he is doing, he is my assistant and right hand. Now go.” The former prince went with the masked servant to get to work, leaving the lord of the factory to himself as he sorted the parchment. 

“Welcome to my bloodline, Aemond. This is where the Targaryens think they got their power from.”

[iolypse]

alright! shit went down last night, huh?

I'm gonna run through the events that took place, then break it all down. (this whole thing is 1.4k+— sorry!)

qcellbit, our newest mad theorist, spent some time going around the island asking the members who've been here the longest about their experiences. how they got to the island, if they remember anything from before the island, the dragon, the duck, the messages, the binary code fuckers, cucurucho, the eggs, etc etc.

one particularly interesting bit of info was given to him by qphilza, who explained the existence of the airships and his investigation of a particularly large one. after showing qcellbit some items he looted from said ship, including a netherite pickaxe, enchanted golden apples, and chorus fruit, he talks about how a binary monster chased him all the way back to mainland, trying to kill him the whole time. he mentions that when accidentally right clicking it, a baby certificate popped up just like what happens when you right click the eggs. he then recounts that qfit threw a bomb to kill the entity, which promptly despawned so they couldn't loot its body.

he says that a short amount of time later, the entity appeared again and gave him a book with coordinates on it. said coordinates lead to an odd machine built at qluzu's house.

later on, qcellbit explains all of this to his fellow theory brothers, and with qphil in tow, they go to investigate. it's exactly as qphil said— an odd machine, specifically a few blocks of which are admin placed, and what looks like a screen that could hold code inside? the machine also has an eight on it. maybe tracking the number of eggs?

(the original number, maybe. there are only seven eggs alive right now, ten eggs have existed total. with tallulah and richarlyson as late additions, yeah, that makes eight original eggs.)

qcellbit, qbad, qmaximus, and qfoolish all discuss this. one of them is suddenly given a book with code that translates to say "LEAVE". they debate this for a little while— is it saying to leave the machine, or leave the island? they aren't sure.

I'm not really caught up on qluzu's lore, but apparently there's some alternate version of qluzu called arin, and arin is a machine of some sort. arin may allegedly be part of the machine they look at now?

they then decide that they need to at least see if it would be possible to escape. the portal that the initial trains came through still exists, so they all leave their kids with qphil and go investigate.

qphil, now alone with chayanne, richarlyson, and leonarda, all of which have a single life, sets up a table and decides to ask them about their past. do they remember anything at all from being kidnapped and returned cracked? no. he turns to richarlyson, then— newest egg, the only one left uncracked— and asks about the dragon. was it small like a little lizard, or large, larger than luzu's house? richarlyson specifically says that he thinks— doesn't know, but thinks— that the dragon is very, very large.

it's then that a binary entity with a name translating to "AI" attacks (very briefly, it appears with cucurucho's skin, though I personally believe this to be a simple glitch unrelated to any actual lore, same with the eggs occasionally appearing with normal mc skins), immediately going for chayanne. qphil quickly sends out messages telling the others to come back now, and he and the eggs try their damned best to fight it off. qphil has to pop an enchanted golden apple, and it seems like the eggs' guns aren't really doing anything. the binary entity isn't going down. it flees just before the others return. they never quite reached the portal.

qphil takes chayanne home after this. chayanne tells him that he's missing his gun. did it break? he's not sure. it might've, but it's gone now.

meanwhile, qroier and qbobby are on a boat ride, far from mainland. they make it to shore, and that's when the binary entity— the same one that just attacked qphil and the eggs he was looking after— attacks. it forces them into the water, and bobby drowns while trying to escape it. the entity exclusively attacked bobby the entire time, not once going after qroier. as soon as bobby was confirmed dead, it swam to the surface and flew off.

there's more that happened after this— I haven't watched the full clips, but some include a mob typically only spawned by the binary entities showing up and attacking qbbh while he and tallulah were making a beach house, and cucurucho appearing within the hidden parts of qcellbit's base while he was in the middle of theorizing.

so! onto the actual analysis part of this bullshit.

the binary entities. there's at least six of them, 01101100 "l" (lowercase L) who originally attacked qphil, 101010110101 (has no direct translation, too many numbers) who attacked arin, 1001010 "J" who attacked qcellbit, 100101001 ")" (?????) who attacked leonarda, 01101001 "i" who attacked qmariana, and now 01000001 01001001 "AI" who attacked qphil and qroier separately (not including other binary entities I may have missed).

some of them are very determined to kill the eggs (looking at AI specifically), while others freely attack players (lowercase L), so it's hard to pinpoint if they have a collective motive here.

I've seen some people theorize that they are the interference in the messages players have been receiving— jumbled numbers and letters and morse code hidden within the videos, a voice asking "are you there?". I would have said they're trying to get players to leave the island by making it more dangerous and more unappealing, getting rid of the eggs so they no longer have any reason to stay, but then there's AI, who specifically attacked while the theory brothers were attempting to escape. A distraction, most certainly— I don't buy that this is a mere coincidence.

something I have noticed is that their activity has been more and more frequent the more the theory brothers spread what they've discovered, today revealing to qroier most everything they've been able to decipher, just a few days ago explaining things to qphil and inviting qcellbit to the group.

clearly they don't want people knowing things. they don't want the code deciphered, they don't want the island residents to learn what's happening beneath the surface.

so they're not trying to get them to leave the island, and the code within the video is likely not theirs (it's in a totally different format anyways— morse code and jumbled numbers and letters as opposed to pure binary code). when they received the book telling them to leave, it most likely meant to leave the machine. they're tormenting the eggs to further build emotional attachment and discourage attempts to escape or solve the code.

so whose code is this, if not the binary entities'?

no fucking clue! I do quite doubt it's cucurucho, and it's most certainly not the duck. it may be an outside source knowledgeable to the census bureau's potential crimes, or a possible survivor and escapist from long ago. the island was definitely once inhabited judging by the run down buildings that existed when the first batch of island residents arrived.

one thing I've been thinking about lately is the fact that they had to bring power to the island.

we haven't really seen anything come of that, have we? why would the island need power? there's odd outlets put in the wall, what's their use? why would something need to be linked to the wall?

wasn't the attempt kind of unsuccessful? both groups fucked up the puzzle in the train station, but they were let out anyway?

small little theory of mine is that they somehow drew power from the eggs to bring the brazilians there, cracking them in the process, but I really don't have any proof or anything to back this up. it's just a potential explanation as to why the eggs disappeared and came back cracked on the very same day the brazilians arrived.

I will say that some of the eggs have acted somewhat different since that all happened. while it may just be a response to the trauma they experienced, I feel like chayanne and tallulah have both been wandering a lot more than they used to lately. they always stuck fairly close to their parents, but it seems like they've both been straying a bit.

I'm honestly spitballing at this point, just trying to get a grasp on all this info. at the very least, I'm almost 100% certain the dragon never existed, and something is super fucking wrong with this island!

[fuckkbrunch]

The final recipe! I saved it for new year's eve dinner. The one that isn't even really a recipe, but if I didn't do it, it would have felt unfinished.

In the very back of the book, there's a 3 page fold out poster on how to make the perfect Bourdain approved burger.

I won't lie, I don't own a meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer, and wasn't going to buy one just for this. He suggests grinding your own meat, specifically a combo of rib eye, short rib and hanger steak. I settled for a high quality pre ground beef chuck, and a frozen veal cutlet that I chopped up real small by hand.

He claims that the flavour is best if you salt the meat one hour before cooking. There's also no mention of fillers or binders like egg or breadcrumbs, or any seasoning besides salt. So, that's what I did. Just meat and salt.

Other requirements were a store bought bun that wasn't a brioche or ciabatta (too soft and too hard, respectively). Sesame seeds are optional according to taste. A single slice of a large tomato, like a beefsteak. Specifically shredded iceberg lettuce, so that it doesn't yank out when you bite it and slap you in the face.

American cheese. The thin, individually wrapped kind that melts if you so much as look at it. Melt factor is crucial as other (higher quality) cheeses just get soft and greasy on a burger, even if their flavour profile is more desirable.

Since my meat combo was lacking compared to what Tony suggests, I also baked some bacon until just crisp to turn this into a bacon cheeseburger. Which means - in my opinion - that there also needs to be dill pickle slices and onion rounds. The poster does include a burger with pickles on it, so I felt this fit. Unfortunately and hilariously, my last yellow onion had mold hidden under the dry skin layers, so I chucked it.

You can go thin smash burger style, or thick mid-rare patty style, both are acceptable by Tony's standards. I went smash burger style, since I like the browning aspects more than the juicy wet burger style.

He does specify that if you want more than one patty, it must be smash burger style. I went for a single 3oz patty, and my partner requested two 2oz patties with double cheese.

They honestly tasted just like a good, simple, take out style bacon cheeseburger. It didn't have that sub par homemade burger feel to it, I was actually shocked. We had these for dinner two days in a row.

| Bourdain Perfect Burger |

Taste is a 5 out of 5. Even though my meat cuts weren't the same, this was fantastic.

Difficulty is a 1 out of 5. Maybe a 2 if you really grind your own meat.

Time was a little over an hour, only because I waited the hour after salting my meat.

If I ever do invest in a meat grinder, I'm definitely going to try the meat combo he suggests. Considering this comes together so quickly, and tastes so good, it's really a great bang-for-your-buck recipe. Who doesn't love a good burger?

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

And that's that! We're done! I still can't believe I did it. Some weeks I was doing 4-6 recipes at once just to make sure that if I missed some weeks, I would still keep up. 114 recipes in a year is no joke, that's more than 2 per week! Even during a two month 40+ degree heatwave, I kept it up. I'm damn proud of myself.

So as a gift to myself, I'm going to be getting a Bourdain themed tattoo sometime in the new year. Obviously I'll be posting it here once it's done.

I'm also going to do a final rundown of the cookbook and of my notes I've kept during this whole process and select a top 5-10 recipes. Maybe a top 5 and bottom 5, I'm still undecided. So this won't be my final post.

But I will close this with the final page of the cookbook...

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 21: Psychology in the Field of Aesthetics

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

Prev || Next

Leo saunters into Mikey's traincar sometime in the afternoon. Mikey slept half the day away, missing breakfast and is just about to miss out on lunch. Raph and Casey made some beef ramen with eggs, and Leo has prepared a tray for Mikey in case he was willing to eat, along with some grilled cheese and juice. Mikey will like that...

The lair is kind of quiet today. It reminds Leo of the week when Mikey was gone... it was too quiet. No one wanted to say anything, and everyone was hiding out in their own spaces doing their own thing to try and find a way to help bring him home somehow. Donnie locked himself away in his labs. Raph was training away his anger and fear. Casey, April, and Cass fought over patrol every single night. And Leo... Leo was going out of his mind.

Some nights Leo just went to the buildings across from the TCRI and watched the building. Just... watched it. Like maybe if he stared at it long enough, it would spit out Mikey. He'd perch there for hours until the sun came up, and then he'd hurry home before the others caught him. He knew that they knew, but none of them ever spoke about it. Donnie knew because of the trackers. Raph knew because there was no hiding anything from the oldest sibling. But they were kind enough to not say anything... or maybe, they were too busy stressing and trying to cope in their own ways.

But it was just too quiet in the lair, no matter what they did to cope.

Mikey was always the loudest of the bunch -- very talkative and outgoing, doing his best to brighten the mood whenever someone was feeling down. But when Mikey went missing... so did the sunshine.

Leo knew that there would be a period where Mikey would be quiet when he got home. It was the same for him after the invasion. Leo had only been in the Prison Dimension for a few minutes, but that was enough to keep him silent for days before he finally started talking about menial things. What food he wanted for dinner. Cracking a joke. Laughing at a Jupiter Jim scene. Whether or not his cast itched. It took even longer for him to talk about what he'd been through. And he knew that Mikey would act fine about it all, he'd clam up about what had happened but be some version of himself, until he finally felt comfortable sharing what he'd been through.

But that had been back when he assumed that Mikey would come home in the same state he'd left.

Not mutated and mangled...

And it's still quiet in the lair.

Day by day, Mikey has been getting better and filling the home with his light and laughter. But it's... strained. Stifled. Something is lingering under the surface, something is bothering Mikey. And he won't, or can't explain what it is.

Leo rolls his shoulders as he walks down the hall. They still ache from yesterday. Mikey didn't break the skin, but there are huge bruises and marks from where he had his death-grip on him. Leo chose to wear his hoodie to hide them, which helped. No one's asked about it, so it must be working.

Leo slides the door to Mikey's room open, poking his head inside as he knocks on the doorframe.

"Miguel? You awake?"

He hears Mikey shuffle under the blankets. A head pokes out, and in the darkness Leo sees sleepy eyes open with a startling glow.

"Mhm..." Mikey mumbles.

"Cool. You want some lunch? It's soup and sandwiches," Leo offers.

"Okay..." he yawns, slowly sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Gonna... get down from th'hammock..."

"Good idea. And hey, your vocab is sounding better!" Leo congratulates, as Mikey climbs down and settles on one of the beanbags.

Mikey yawns once more before getting situated, dragging the blanket he had with him off the hammock and wrapping it over his shoulders.

Leo walks over to him, his feet crinkle some paper left on the floor. Uh oh, did he ruin a Mikey original? He'll have to check... In the meantime, he places the tray down on Mikey's lap. Mikey sniffs the bowl and smiles.

"Smells good," he says.

"Raph and Casey did a sweet job, huh?"

"Mhm," Mikey mumbles as he starts to slurp up the noodles and broth.

"Mind if I turn on a light?" Leo asks, walking to the lightswitch.

Mikey nods with a mumble, continuing to much on the eggs.

Leo flicks the lights on. Mikey flinches. Same old, same old.

On the floor is a roll of paper, figures scribbled across it with finger paint and acrylics. Leo kneels down besides the paper and stares at it.

"Mikey," he whispers, "when did you make this?"

Mikey looks up, noodles hanging from his lip and nose. He shrugs before dipping his face back into the bowl.

"Yesterday. Sick. I forgot about that."

Leo traces his finger over the green and yellow doodle of Mikey... he isn't as skilled as he used to be, but the emotion is still conveyed.

There's a drawing of Mikey in a cage, a person in a white coat is kicking the bars and making him cry. Mikey drew anger emanating off of the man, exclamation points and storm clouds showing his fury and how loud the man must've been.

Another sketch shows Mikey being poked with needles, each one filled with random colours -- neon green, blood red, and hot pink with yellow eyes drawn within them.

One drawing shows Mikey turning blue as frost engulfs him from a weird hair-dryer or something.

Leo looks back up at Mikey. He knew there was something lingering under the surface...

"Hey, Mike?"

Mikey looks up at him, holding the bowl up as he downs the broth in large gulps.

"Do you think... we could do some more art like this?" he asks, holding up the paper.

Mikey stares at the drawings. He swallows hard. He slowly lowers the now-empty bowl onto the tray. His tail taps nervously against the floor. His toes curl with growing anxiety.

"Um... m-m-maybe. Mmmmiiiikey... doesn't really like those drawings. I-I... I don't like them. They, uh.... what's word... bring back scared feelings."

Leo nods.

"I understand. But... I think this is important, Mikey. It would help us understand better about how to take care of you. And maybe it'll help you feel better?"

Mikey fidgets, poking the sandwich.

"But I totally get it if you don't think you're ready!" Leo adds. "After the invasion and everything, I didn't want to talk to anyone. Nobody. I wanted to keep it bottled up inside, because I was scared of getting hurt again, or maybe hurting you guys by telling you what I'd been dealing with... because... it was a lot."

Mikey looks up slowly. Leo is still staring down at the drawings, he doesn't see the concern and confusion on Mikey's face. What is Leo talking about? What invasion?

"...But you were the one to help me get it off my chest. Dr. Feelings really knocked some sense into me. And... it did kind of hurt, it was scary, but everyone was there to help me get through it, and we talked it all out -- Donnie's integrating with the ship, Raph's krangification, you with the portal, and me with the Prison Dimension and all the stuff that I was dealing with."

Leo finally looks up at his baby brother.

"So, I just wanna do that for you. I want to be your Dr. Feelings. Do you think... we could do that?"

Mikey shifts his weight as he considers it.

"...Does Mikey -- Do I have to talk about it?"

"I guess not... You can just draw whatever comes to mind. Is that okay?"

Mikey swallows nervously.

"Make Leo happy?"

"This is about making YOU happy," Leo responds. "I just want to help you heal. Maybe... this could be like 'art therapy', if that exists... that exists, right?"

Mikey chuckles. It probably exists now...

"Okay. We can do art therapy."

Leo's eyes brighten.

"Really? You're okay for this?"

"Just let me finish my food," Mikey mumbles, taking the sandwich and biting into it.

"No problemo, my guy," Leo says, pointing finger guns at him. "I'll go see if the guys wanna join in."

Leo runs out of the room, taking Mikey's empty bowl with him.

He doesn't see the nervous expression Mikey makes...

This... this will be good, right? Mikey do good?

.

.

.

Leo has gathered Raph and Casey into the bedroom with him. Donnie declined to participate, saying he had a lot of work to catch up on. He had that 'don't speak to me or I will commit murder' look on his face, so Leo left him be.

Mikey is sitting in the center of the room, Raph on his right side and Casey to his left. Leo cops a squat across from him, dumping a series of crayons and coloured pencils out for them all to use.

"Okay, so here's what's up -- we're all gonna draw along with Mikey to help the creative juices flow. He's gonna try and draw some moments from the past week for us."

Casey nods as he grabs a pencil and starts to scribble. Raph's brow furrows a bit.

"Leo... are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Mikey and I talked it over, and so long as he doesn’t actually have to talk about it yet, he's okay with it," Leo explains, already started on a drawing of his own. "Right, Miguel?"

Mikey nods silently as he dips his tail in a bottle of green paint and starts to draw himself.

Raph sighs and grabs a pen.

"Fine... Mikey does love to draw. But if at any point this becomes too much for him, we stop pushin' him. Got it?"

"Absolutely," Leo agrees. "He can just draw whatever he wants to instead."

Mikey studies the paper with intensity. He doesn't know what to draw. What do they want? What does Leo want? Mikey doesn't like how messy his art is right now, it discourages him. He feels like he should be doing better at this... but his hands shake whenever he picks up a pencil or paintbrush. His tail is the only thing that doesn't sway when he draws, but the end is so big the brushstrokes tend to be huge and fat and sloppy.

Mikey doesn't like his art right now. It makes him upset.

Use that, Instinct whispers. Use it for fuel.

Fuel for what?

Art. They want pain. Give it to them.

Pain... Leo mentioned something about that earlier. He said this would help him hurt less, by sharing his pain.

Well... Mikey trusts Leo.

If he wants pain, Mikey can provide!

Mikey starts drawing with purpose now, concentrating on the posing, finding colours that pop to show terror or the ones that are grey and dull to show despair. The human stick figures are made to be scary, the limbs distorted and disproportionate, their faces empty. They look like monsters.

Mikey draws his shell shattering into pieces like broken glass.

He clenches his jaw.

He draws robots with glowing eyes attacking him.

His shoulders tense up and tighten.

He draws animals strewn apart and ripped to shreds.

He breath fastens, he growls.

He draws his claws red and bloody.

His hands curl into fists.

He draws himself strapped down to a table with knives and electric things coming to change him.

Mikey's eyes blur over with stinging salty tears.

He draws a scary man with a large machine over his head --

"Mikey!"

He stops and looks up in shock.

Leo, Casey, and Raph are staring at him, wide-eyed and terrified.

"...Mikey... you good?"

Mikey nods, confused why they're so concerned until he looks down at his tail.

The spikes are all raised. The quills on his shoulders, too. His shell scutes are in offense mode. He suddenly realizes he's been growling under his breath this whole time. He pauses and takes a look at the paper he's been drawing on. He's been crumpling it up under his fists.

"...o-ohh... um. Oops."

He doesn’t know what else to say. He did what they wanted; he did what Leo wanted, right?

Mikey do good?

Raph reaches over and takes Mikey's artwork.

"Okay, I think that's enough for now. No more art therapy--"

"No!" Mikey yells, reaching back for the papers.

Raph freezes at Mikey's volume.

"I-I --" he stutters, trying to calm himself down.

The ridges on his shell flatten, and his tail smoothes out as he takes a breath and sits in shame for his outburst.

"I wanna draw..." he pouts. "M-maybe not... that stuff anymore, but... I wanna draw..."

He looks up at Raph.

"Don't take away the drawing stuff from me, please?"

Raph's heart breaks, though he maintains a pretty good poker face. How could he say no to him? Especially after everything.

Plus, the way he phrased it makes Raph think that there were things taken from Mikey by the EPF.

"Alrighty then," he replies, setting the art supplies back down. "We can keep drawin'. Art therapy can continue. But now, we're just gonna draw what makes us happy, okay?"

Mikey nods with excitement, dipping his tail in the paint as he tries to draw something new. Pain didn't make them happy, it made them scared of Mikey. Again. So what can he draw now? Happy things, Raph said. Draw things that are happy... that make Mikey happy.

He draws his brothers. He draws Splinter. He draws Casey and April and the human girl that smells like Casey. Mostly he draws foods. Different types of food. Burgers, steaks, BLTs, fried chicken, grilled fish, hot dogs, meats and cold cuts and proteins. Pizzas upon pizzas upon pizzas.

Casey starts taking notes of all the foods he draws so that he can try to make them for him later...

Mikey smiles as he draws.

Leo is drawing himself doing all kinds of cool poses. He isn't very skilled, but he's having fun.

Raph is drawing cute animals and teddy bears and some princess in pink with the word "Peach" scribbled over her.

Casey draws what looks like Leo, but the arm is wrong... it looks like Raph's arm. Casey draws what looks like Donnie, but taller and more buff and almost kinda scary with how serious he is. He draws a third turtle, one that is smaller and wears an orange cape and has hair? Huh. Mikey wonders who that last turtle is.

But they all seem smiley, cheery, happy.

Mikey likes art therapy.

.

.

.

Raph rubs the 'memory sauce' on Mikey's head as he snuggles into bed for the night.

"You all good? All bundled up nice and cozy?"

Mikey purrs.

"All goooooood... thank you for rubs..."

"Hey, that's what Raph is here for," he chuckles.

Mikey exhales with comfort as Raph's hands delicately massage the glowing purple-ish slime into his skin. Despite the size of his hands and the many rough calluses he has, Raph takes care to stay gentle and soothing with his rubbing. Mikey's eyes move under his eyelids as Raph administers the salve, as if he's watching a movie in his brain. Raph wonders what memory he's seeing...

Mikey yawns, his tongue curling and flicking from his mouth as he exhales.

"Nighty-night, Raphie... love you..."

Raph smiles and kisses the one exposed part of his forehead.

"Love you too, big man."

He smiles as Mikey seems to fall asleep. He reaches down to where they've been drawing for most of the day and takes Mikey's therapy drawings.

Leo?

Radio silence.

Leo!

I'm awake! a voice from his head shouts, followed by an Oof! Ow.

Raph tries not to snicker.

Did I wake you?

No, no, I was just lying down on my bed hoping someone would shout with the mind meld and disturb the oh-so-cumbersome peaceful quiet, Leo grumbles back. Why, what's up?

I figured we could look over Mikey's therapy art.

Oh. Right, that. I'll be there in a minute.

True to his word, Leo comes in a second later wearing his hoodie and some unicorn slippers.

"You ready?"

Raph nods and leaves Mikey to his rest. The two boys go to Raph's room. It's further away from Mikey's car than Leo's, so they can have privacy without fear of waking him.

The two boys spread out the crumpled sheets, looking in numb devastation at the depicted scenes.

"So... what now?" Leo asks.

"Whaddya mean, 'what now'? The art therapy was your idea, Leo!"

"Yeah, but... I mean, what comes next? We just look at it?" he asks. "I figured we could have... I dunno, had Mikey here or something. I didn't actually think we'd get this far without him. I mean, what is most of this? I wish he'd labeled a few of these..."

"Well, it's a little tough to decipher exactly what happened to him, but..." Raph peers down at a specific drawing of a needle filled with pink sludge. "I can guess what this is."

Leo looks down at the drawing. He swallows when he sees the familiar shade of sickening pink.

"So, Mikey knows he's mutated with krang?"

"Looks that way."

"Then... why hasn't he said anything? Or acted out about it? If I found out that I had that in my genes, you can bet I'd be hysterical 24/7 over it."

"I would too..." Raph nods weakly.

"So why isn't he?" Leo asks, taking a closer look. "Why is he so... nonchalant about it?"

"After everything we've been through... you think he didn't want us to know?" Raph wonders aloud.

"If he didn't, then he wouldn't have drawn it so plainly," Leo shoots down. "But... maybe he doesn't realize what it is..."

"Huh?" Raph looks up from the drawing to his brother. "What, like, he didn't know it was krang, just knew it was bad?"

"Maybe not even that. He has memory damage, and he didn't even react when he saw the krangified horde... maybe... he doesn't remember what the krang are...?"

"...On the one hand, that's twisted and horrible," Raph mutters, his face pale. "On the other... what I wouldn't give to forget them like he did."

"Ditto," Leo sighs heavily as he moves on to another art piece.

His eyes fall on one where Mikey drew a very gruesome depiction of an animal.

"Euuugh boy," he groans, taking the paper away before Raph can spot it. "Don't look at this one."

"Why?" he asks.

"It would trigger you," Leo sighs. "Let's just say... Mikey won't be getting a pet anytime soon."

Raph's head tilts.

"I don't get it."

"Good. Here's hoping you don't," Leo says as he turns the page upside down. "But Mikey... Mikey did some stuff in that lab, I'm realizing."

"What kind of 'stuff'?" Raph asks nervously.

"I... dunno. But he had to hurt things, I think. Survival of the fittest type of junk, maybe..."

Raph swallows.

"Leo... I dunno if we should be doing this without him..."

"You saw how he was reacting to just drawings of the memories," Leo retorts, grabbing a new sheet. "He's not ready for that... I thought he might be, but he isn't yet. And that's okay, we'll wait till he's ready to talk."

"That's what I mean," Raph says, pulling the sheet away from Leo. "This feels like an invasion of privacy. Mikey should be here to talk us through these, he should be the one explaining what's up rather than us just rifling through his innermost fears and traumas like some --"

Raph pauses when he sees the drawing he stole from Leo.

"...What? Like some what?" Leo asks, waiting for his brother to finish his thought.

He doesn't. Instead he stares at the drawing in his hands.

Leo bunny-hops over the pile of paper and peeks at the artwork...

"...Dude..." Leo whispers, turning to look at Raphael. "...what the heck is that."

"...I don't know," Raph whispers back. "...Do you think... it's... Mikey?"

Prev || Next

[seireiteihellbutterfly]

Unconventional Flowers Event - March Bonus

Dahlias for Holi ft. Nanami

A/N: March bonus prompt for my Unconventional Flowers Event. I honestly was hoping for a very unique holiday and this got my attention in all the right ways. Requested by @sitarawrites. For more information on the Festival of Colors, visit Wikipedia.

Rating: E, fluffy

Pairing: Nanami x reader (Desi reader implied)

Word Count: 971

People had been skeptical of your marriage to Nanami, wondering how you would ever blend your rich, individual backgrounds. For the two of you, it just meant more cultural holidays to celebrate together, and spoiling each other with a wider variety of food and sweets accompanying each one. You knew he’d adapt well, he’s proven that when you were dating, even though Indian festivals tended to be crowded and loud. 

And you loved him for the way he kept up the rules that fell on your festival days. Vegetarian food only, and though he didn’t need to, he sat in the back while you offered your prayers, his hair damp because it was customary to always have your hair washed on festival days. The first piece of prasad which you offered to him with love after all the prayers and poojas were done, broken in half as he feeds it to you as well. It was bliss.

But the one festival Nanami refused to participate in was Holi. He had no qualms against the day in general, but rather, the way it was celebrated, by throwing colored water and powder onto others to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. You’d pouted because Holi also celebrated the love between Lord Krishna and his eternal love Radha, the most well-known romantic story in all of Hindu mythology. Not that he hadn’t given it a fair try. You’d told him to wear something old and casual but the man simply didn’t own anything that fell under those categories. He spluttered along gingerly at the fairgrounds while everyone played, his hair weighed down in his eyes by dyed water in shades of shocking pink, electric yellow, and robin’s egg blue. 

He hated the wetness, the noise, and the fact that the dyes used in the water and powder didn’t rub off for days (seriously, what was in that stuff?). After his first one which had occurred back when you were both initially dating, he’d politely told you he would not be participating in the ones to come as he tried to rub off the darkening pink that had stained his face, neck, and ears. The color had only taken in more on his pale skin, making him look like he had a bad sunburn, something that Gojo and Yuji had been quick to point out while teasing him to no end. 

So it became the rule that he would sit with you during the morning for prayers, and you went with your family and friends to the fairgrounds to celebrate the rest of the day by throwing color at each other. The first Holi after you got married though, you felt a small twinge of sadness that your husband would be absent for this affair but you hid it, pressing a kiss to his cheek before leaving.

When you arrive home, Nanami has laid down a towel trail from the door into the bathroom so that the color wouldn’t drip onto the carpet. You can’t help but appreciate his foresight on this; you loved Holi, but you certainly didn’t want to ruin the carpet. Under the hot spray, you let yourself wash off the colors that stuck to your body, watching them swirl into each other as they went down the drain. Honestly, it was only the pink that actually stuck, the rest of the colors washing off easily.  You step out, clean and fresh, and pad into the bedroom, to find Nanami sitting patiently on the bed with a cotton bag in his hands.

“Hey,” you say softly, tired from all the running around at the fairground and now the heat of the shower.

“Hey yourself.” He pats the space next to him. You oblige and sit next to him, the bed feeling soft and comforting after a long, energetic day.

“Did you have fun?” he gently rubs the top of your ear, now pink like a flamingo.

“Yeah. Missed you though.” You lace your fingers with his. 

“I know. Your face said it all when you left.” He kisses your hair, now washed and dried, smelling fragrant. “I’m sorry it disappoints you so much. But I just can’t find a way to enjoy playing Holi.”

You turn to kiss his jaw. “It’s not like you didn’t try. And you were miserable the whole time. It’s ok. It’s just one festival.”

“True. But. Maybe you and I can play Holi in a different way? One that involves colors but none of the mess?”

You look at him curiously, wondering what he had in mind before he hands you the bag he was holding. You peek into it and see that it’s filled to the brim with dahlias, your favorite flower. 

“Lay back.” You do as instructed, scooting up towards the pillows. Nanami dips his hand into the bag, picking up a pink flower. 

“Pink, to symbolize kindness and beauty.” He begins to lay all the pink flowers from the bag across your body shoulder to shoulder, like a devotee worshiping a goddess, and the act causes a rush of love to zoom through you.  

“Yellow, for cheer.” He places these across your chest and you hold still, not daring to move lest they fall off. 

“Orange, for celebrations and goodness.” These go across your stomach which is now jittery like there are a million butterflies in it. 

“Purple for respect and devotion.” The blooms are placed delicately along your legs and you feel giddy from the romance of it all. 

You lay there, colors all over your body, which was the whole point of Holi in the first place. Nanami carefully makes his way back up to your face, giving you a tender kiss on the lips, his eyes full of love.

“Happy Holi y/n. I hope this makes up for it.” 

All animated lines and banners by @/ cafekitsune

@bleach-your-panties @bleachbrainrotbro @kr0wu @grimmjowssoulmate-blog @j-u-u-z-o @brittscafe @keiva1000 @buttercupbitches @vee33ee @cindyneko-strider @dreaming-about-seireitei @quinnyundertow @naoyagasm @sitarawrites @sehunaeri @kentosgirlie @strawberrymuffinlovin @ickkck-09 @connorsui @arabidp0ssum @teasore @un-aesthetic @jadedjane

[goldenempyrean]

Could you do one where both Wanda and Nat are sick and super clingy to reader and just want to cuddle

Clingy Cuddles And Warm Snuggles

〚 Notes - This req was so cute! I loved writing it! Hopefully you enjoy reading :D 〛

〚 Summary - You come home from a mission to find that the compound’s been swept with a cold, meaning its up to you to take care of your sick girlfriends.〛

〚 Wordcount - 1720 〛

〘 Check Out My Masterlist! 〙

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You sighed a deep exhale of relief as the warm air of the compound met your skin. You’d just spent a long weekend up in the chilly mountains of Canada on a solo-mission so it was safe to say you were more than thankful for the warmth. However, as you made your way inside the compound, you immediately noticed something was off. The place was actually quiet? 

That was something which almost never happened, there was always so form of background noise even if it was just the sounds of a distant conversation or the humming of background music. But no, it was almost silent. You shrugged and being naturally curious person that you were, you headed over the kitchen to both investigate and make yourself a snack. 

Luckily as you approached the kitchen you could hear faint sounds of life. The recognisable sizzle of something frying echoed down the halls. Opening the door, you were met with the sight of Clint as he stood over the cooker, making himself some bacon and eggs. The sound of the door closing announced your entrance and the Archer turned towards you, giving you a small smile. 

“Welcome back Y/N,” He came over and gave you a quick hug before pulling away to muffle a cough into his elbow, “How did everything go?” 

“It went alright, glad to be back though,” You replied as you grabbed yourself rummaged around the snack cupboard before settling on a bag of Doritos, “Where is everyone though? It's so dead in here, usually you can't get a break from the noise.” 

“Y’know I can make you some decent food if you’d like,” He smirked, nodding down towards your choice of snack, “and It’s been like this all weekend, Tony managed to spread around some sort of bug, and it's really knocked people out. This is the first time I’ve been up in a day or so” 

  “Really?” You raised an eyebrow; it definitely wasn’t like Clint to stay in bed. It wasn’t often that anyone at the compound got sick really but when they did, it always seemed to spread like wildfire, especially since you all lived in such close-contact with each other. 

“Yeah, it’s been rough. Even Rodgers is down, we had to explain that cold ‘remedies’ from the 40’s weren’t exactly scientifically accurate after he tried convincing us to ‘take a good ol’ fashioned bit of whiskey’ to feel better.” 

You let yourself chuckle at that, remembering how Steve first reacted to seeing a bottle of DayQuil.  

While you loved catching up with Clint, you couldn’t help but miss the presence of two very special people and you found yourself asking, “Have you seen Nat or Wanda anywhere?” 

Clint thought for a second, “I think they’re still up in their room, last I heard neither of them were feeling too good either so they’re probably still in bed trying to sleep this crap off.” 

“Both of them?” You asked, slightly taken aback. The pair of them never got sick often, Nat had a great immune system and whenever someone was sick Wanda was always the one to go round wiping down surfaces with anti-bacterial wipes, meaning neither of them got sick that often even if there was something going round. 

“Yeah, I don’t think Wanda’s excellent wet-wiping skills were enough to save her this time,” Clint sniffled lightheartly but he must’ve picked up on your anxious expression as he soon came over and gave your shoulder a quick squeeze, “I'm sure they’ll both be okay, go on, go and see them.” 

You nodded, sending him a grateful smile, “Thanks Clint, hope you enjoy your bacon!” You called as you left the kitchen, setting off in the direction of your room. 

It was only a quick walk to your room, as you approached the door you made sure to open it quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone inside. As light floods into the room the sight before you weren’t exactly what you were expecting. 

On one side of the bed is a bundle of blankets, the main duvet and many other blankets are all tightly huddled around a shivering auburn-haired woman, only the top of her head poking out from within. In juxtaposition to this, Natasha was laid next to her on the bare mattress wearing her favourite sports bra and one of your pairs of silk shorts. 

“Y/N?” Natasha mumbled as she lifted her head from the pillow. Her poor voice sounded so unbelievably hoarse. 

“Hi baby, a little birdie told me you weren’t feeling too well.” You sympathised as you let the bags you had been carrying fall to the floor. To your surprise Nat pulled herself up and out of the bed and shakily padded towards you. 

She’d almost reached you before swaying drastically, as she seemed to lose her balance. Luckily, you’d seen this coming and managed to catch her in your arms, wrapping one around her waist to support her closely, “Easy there, let’s get you back in bed sweetie.” 

“Mm thanks,” Natasha whispered, letting you guide her back to the bed, “It’s been a while since I was this sick. My body feels all weak.” 

“That bad, huh?” 

To answer your question, Wanda let out a wet cough and curled herself further into her ball of blankets, the sound of which led you to go back over to your bag and taking one of the water bottles you had stored in there before placing it on the nightstand next to her, “You okay in there sweetheart?” You spoke down into her hair, pressing a small kiss to the exposed part of her forehead. 

"Mmh, my body feels like it's been hit with a truck,” She sniffles as a shiver runs down her spine the feeling of your lips brush against her skin. Wanda tries to smile up at you, but there's so little strength left in her, she has trouble lifting her face from the blankets. 

“Hh’iiitshoo! ‘tschioo!” Hh-Hh’tshiew!” 

You looked over to see Nat sniffling thickly as she rubbed her nose against her wrist and judging from the overflowing trash can and empty tissue box next to her side of the bed, it becomes obvious that she’s going to need some more. 

“Bless Natty, you want me to get you some tissues?” You cooed, as you came to sit on the edge of the bed, brushing your hand down her cheeks to move back the loose strands of hair which had fallen infront of her face, not missing the heat which radiated from her, “You feel abit feverish sweetie, have you taken your temp’ recently? 

Natasha shook her head, “I took Wanda’s earlier, it was 38.6 but I haven't taken mine.”  

“Awh sweetie, that’s so amazing of you to take Wanda’s but just remember that you need to look after yourself too,” You smiled, as you kissed her warm cheek, “Settle back down and I’ll go find the thermometer.” 

“Hh-iishiew!” 

“Bless you! I’ll get you those tissues too.” 

Finding both items was easy, Nat had left the thermometer on the sink in your bathroom and a supply closet a little further down the hallway was always stocked with plenty of tissues. Coming back to the room, you placed the fresh tissue box in Natasha’s lap and shuffled up onto the bed, nesting yourself between the two women. You took Nat’s temperature first, mainly because she was the one clinging to your side and to no-one's surprise, she did have a fever. 

“Wands? I need you to come out of your little blanket bundle for me sweetheart.” You coaxed her, not wanting her brain to melt inside of her head. Even if she felt freezing, you were positively sure that she was running still a fever. 

Your suspicions were proven correct when she eventually wiggled herself free of the blankets to let you check her temp. Wanda coughed again as you helped her sit up, sneaking a hand down her shirt to rub small comforting circling along her back. 

“You should drink some of that water baby, it’ll help.” You soothed, Wanda took your advice and took careful sips of the water. Giving a tired yawn once she’d finished, she took the opportunity to lay herself over you, resting her head on your chest. 

“Comfy?” You smiled to yourself once she’d settled back down but you soon felt Nat cuddle further into your side, shuffling up so her head would rest alongside Wanda’s, the two women contently cuddling into you, craving your touch. 

“I missed you.” Wanda admitted  

"Missed you too, Wands" Your heartbeat quickening as the woman snuggles herself into your body. A small yawn escapes you as the two women lay in your arms. The bed creaked as you gently shifted your body, tucking in Natasha with a light arm around her shoulders, “I missed both of you.” 

Nat went to mumble something only both she and Wanda sneezed simultaneously instead, earning a small noise of amusement from the red-headed spy.

"Hh-hetschioo!"

"Eiiishiew!"

“Oh, bless you, bless you! Aw, my poor sweet girls, how on earth did you both get so sick, hm?” You sighed as Wanda sneezed down in her blankets again, and surprisingly she didn’t make a fuss when you reached across to grab a tissue to wipe her nose with, “I don’t think I’ve seen either of you feel so icky.” 

“Tony can't keep his gross germs to himself.” Natasha sniffled, vowing that once she was better, she’d be going over to his lab to lecture him about proper hygiene. 

“Well Tony should be very afraid then.” You smirked, knowing Natasha fully intended to give the man a piece of her mind once she felt well enough but for now, she was thankful that you were here to hold her 

“How about you two try and get some sleep, I bet that’d help a little.” You smiled, pressing soft kisses to their warm foreheads as they settled down. A comfortable silence settled around the three of them in the dimly lit bedroom. Their chests rise and fall with each breath as they drifted off to sleep.

Sure, you had tons of paperwork and a mission report that you should’ve been doing but that could wait. Being there to cuddle your sick girlfriends was the only true thing that mattered. 

[stormyweaver]

okay so it's like 5am, and idk why I spent over five minutes trying to come up for a title for this when I remembered it's a fucking stand-alone drabble type... thing. i'll catalog it and everything else on my blog later.

ANYWAY!

This idea wouldn't leave me alone (as a few of you already know, you cuties <3 thanks for listening to my rambling LOL) and I finally had the insomnia-induced drive to finish it. I just think Al and Vox deserve some slice-of-life stuff with sneezy shenanigans thrown in every now and then.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~

“I still don’t get why you dragged me to the fucking Recreational Center of all places. And on a Saturday? Seriously, we could be doing literally anything else right now - y’know there’s an early morning special on hammerhead sharks that I’m missing because of you…”

On and on, and on and… well, Alastor wasn’t sure if he could stand much more whining. At the very least the twitch of his left-eye would soon become permanent if he didn’t put a stop to things soon. 

Thankfully he didn’t have to use actual force, for the signage above their heads read that they had arrived at the correct room. 

Though the moment Vox’s gaze caught onto the flyer posted over the door, he immediately went back to griping. “Cooking-- Cooking class? You signed us up for a fucking cooking class?! What the hell, Alastor?! I literally could be at home if I wanted to learn how to cook!”

The skin beneath his eye jumped once before Alastor whipped his gaze to Vox with a speed that seemed to startle his companion. “Why don’t you tell that to the three separate pans I’ve had to replace due to your abysmal cooking attempts, hm?” It was technically three pans, and one very antique dutch oven. In a show of rare generosity, he had given them to Vox after finding no use for them himself. And regretted the decision entirely. Not to mention that he very nearly burned the kitchen down in one instance. Oh sure, it was Vox’s apartment, but so long as he insisted on having Alastor over for meals, he wasn’t going to be taking any more chances. 

As was expected, Vox pouted and crossed both arms across his chest in a huff. “I already told you, those were shitty quality pans, and–”

“One was cast iron, Vox. You nearly melted a cast iron skillet. Do you have even the slightest notion of how horrendously unskilled one would be in order to manage that?”  No response, aside from Vox’s pout deepening. “That’s what I thought. Now come along, we don’t want to be late!”

– Though Alastor had thought it impossible for Vox to act any more petulant, once the class had started his companion seemed to make it his mission to act like an absolute child for the remainder. While Alastor himself didn’t require any new lessons in the kitchen, he did enjoy the act of cooking far more than anyone else present seemed to. Granted, most were here for their inability to cook but unlike Vox, who was slumped onto their small counter and grumbling about whatever inane show he was missing out on, the rest of the class was actually paying attention and at least attempting to make progress. Curious how even in Hell, sinners were still trying to improve themselves. Well, they did have to eat, Alastor supposed. 

The dish they were working on today was effortlessly simple - scrambled eggs. How in the Nine Circles anyone could manage to muck up this dish was beyond him. Though apparently some had already managed to try by whipping the shells into their mixture, just barely caught by their instructor. 

Alastor tutted, then gazed down at the recipe card in his hand and wrinkled his nose.

Ingredients: 

2 eggs

Salt to taste

Just salt? Well, that certainly wouldn’t do. For a halfway decent scrambled egg, one needed to employ at least pepper - not to mention a few other ingredients he personally utilized to give the scramble a bit more kick. Not needing any permission, he began pulling out the various spices and vegetables he required. Prompted by the movement, Vox had finally stopped his sulking and looked to the array of items with a raised brow. “Why do you have so much out? The recipe only has two ingredients, Al.”

“Ah, so you have been paying attention! Certainly could have fooled me,” His grin widened as Vox glowered at him, “If you’re going to learn how to cook, then you must learn how to cook properly. Certain recipes require a personal touch, my good man.”

Vox snorted. “Was this whole thing just an excuse for you to prove how ‘superior’ your cooking skills are to the teacher?”

When Alastor gave a noncommittal hum, Vox tacked on, “I’ll take that as a yes– wait, cayenne? In eggs? I’ve never–”

“Of course you haven’t, which doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. You simply can’t have eggs without spice, it’s unheard of! To those with good taste, obviously,” Alastor plucked the small container as Vox watched, unimpressed and definitely uncertain, “Just a dash is all it takes. It really does bring out th–”

Though he’d only used a single claw to tap the small cylinder, he bristled as the top popped off, the dark-red powder pouring out into a heap onto his otherwise cloud-like scramble. Well, fuck.

Vox didn’t even bother trying to hide his amusement, snickering as he gazed at the mishap. “Just a dash, huh?”

“How irksome…” Alastor sighed, but decided there was no use crying over spoilt eggs. While he began prepping another batch, a tentacle rose and deposited the ruined ones into the trash bin beside Vox - a bit too roughly, if the cloud of spice that rose up from its depths was any indication. 

“Jesus, Alastor– kff! Kff! You couldn’t have warned me?!” 

Alastor rolled his eyes, his smile having grown a bit more tense. “Do you mind? I’m attempting to salvage what’s left of his mediocre class, now hush.”

“God, you’re such an a– KFF! A– hahhsshole…” Vox’s voice trailed off into an unsteady gasp, vents bristling as the clouds of spice enveloped them. He tried to get a hold of his breathing, but it continued to sputter out until, with a sharp inhale, he ducked down against his forearm.

“eh’IZZSCHHH!!!” 

The sneeze would have been enough to startle Alastor, and he did twitch a bit from the volume, but what caught his attention was the lights flickering above their heads. That was… unexpected. “eh’IZZSCHH’ue! heh’IZZSCHH’t!” One of the overhead bulbs cracked before shattering, causing a few sinners to yelp in surprise. Alastor’s gaze flickered back to Vox, who was sniffling and rubbing at the center of his screen with a grimace - and a hint of embarrassment. And the small but detectable haziness that signified he still had to–

“Hehhh’hih!! ih’KZZSSCHH!! Fuck, I-I can’t– ‘TZZSCHH!” This time, a sharp current of electricity shot out from Vox’s frame, Alastor nearly missing getting zapped by side-stepping just in time. He could see the energy still skittering along Vox’s trembling shoulders and, judging by how his little mishap had already caused one bulb to break, Alastor wasn’t planning on being responsible for potentially shutting power to the whole building. 

Huffing, he all but yanked Vox by the wrist, and soon the duo were teleported back out onto the sidewalk. Vox staggered forward, still unused to Alastor’s means of travel and fixed him with a watery-eyed glare. 

“Again - a little warning next t– t’hhh’hehh! t-time– hAHH! AH’IZZSSCHHH’HUE!” Unfortunately, Alastor had still been close enough to Vox, and he flinched as he felt the energy course along his arm, prickling his skin, frizzing his hair– oh, that insolent little–

Apparently Vox had already gotten the hint and took a generous step back, palms up in a sign of submission. “S-sorry, I can’t control it!”

“I’m aware,” Alastor ground out, attempting to smooth out his hair, “Was all that really necessary? If you truly wanted to leave, you could have at any time, you realize? Instead of making a spectacle of yourself?” 

“It’s not my fault! That damn spice got into my vents, and- snf! Ugh, it still is, I think… fuck, it itches.” He continued scrubbing at his screen, the middle now saturated a soft but bright pink in contrast to the typical teal. Despite his irritation, it pained Alastor to admit that the sight of Vox sniveling and embarrassed almost made him feel… eugh, sympathy. Almost. 

That inkling of unusual emotion switched to slight panic when he heard Vox’s breath catch again. 

“F-fuck– ehh’heh! hhEH’--NHH!”

The sudden pressure of Alastor’s finger against his screen was almost enough to startle Vox out of his sneeze, and he blinked a few times before heaving a shaky sigh. “I’m… I’m good, now… thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Ever.” He emphasized the word with a flash of his demonic form, but Vox’s fear gave way to a deadpan as he watched Alastor wipe the hand he’d touched Vox with along his jacket. “Well, I’m a bit put off from eating at the moment. Still, it is a lovely morning. Perhaps a walk in the park would be suitable for clearing your… vents, hm?”

Vox nodded. “Sure. So long as there aren’t any flowers, I’m all–”

“On second thought, I’m leaving. Ta-ta!”

“Oh come on, Al! I was joking!” It wasn’t like there was actually ragweed in Hell… right?

[promisesbutnevertokeep]

Good morning @zer0brainc3lls ! By the time you read this I’ll probably be fast asleep bc time zones. but I made a promise and intend to keep it.

so as I promised earlier, since you’ve slept, you get some bubbles facts!

but before we get to them, I must make sure you have followed the other conditions.

-Have you eaten yet? If no, go eat some damn breakfast. it’s the most important meal of your day. gotta get that brain working. coffee doesn’t count. you need to eat actual food. Have some cereal, toast, eggs, a croissant. I don’t care as long as you eat.

-Have you drank some water? hydrate yourself! It’s important and it’ll help wake you up!

If its a yes to both of them, have some bubbles facts!

Bubbles, when Thomas went into the maze to help Minho and Alby, stayed and watched the doors all. night. long. she sat and stared at them. and even when the others lost hope, in the pouring rain, she stayed. she did get a little downcast when there wasn’t a sign of them for a while. she saw how stressed Newt was and instantly became #1 Emotional support kitten. then obviously they got back and she greeted Thomas and Minho with a bunch of nuzzles and licks.

In the scorch, bubbles was in Frypan’s backpack most of the time so she wouldn’t get burnt by the heat. He kept a chew toy in there, and a couple things for her to eat. On a night, she’d crawl out and go to newt, laying down on his chest so she could feel his heartbeat. It was a little comforting gesture for her so she always knew her friend was safe.

When Minho is taken by WICKED in the midst of all the chaos she takes a CHOMP out of Janson’s hand. I’m talking bones broken, chunk of flesh missing. Newt had never been prouder.

when newt is infected, she’s the first to realise it. And she desperately tries to alert the others. She’d constantly be trying to get attention and help, licking, scratching and pawing his arm.

I strongly believe she tried to fight the disease off. she’d be nipping at his skin and hissing at it in an attempt to scare it away. She didn’t realise it was actually hurting him until Thomas saw it happening and told her not to.

in the last city. bubbles clings to Newt. she refuses to leave his side for a second incase something happened to him and she wasn’t there to take care of him.

When Thomas shoots him, she watches. She never really forgives him for it internally. But she stays with him since he’s all he has of Newt left.

In the safe haven, she wears Newt’s scarf as a collar to carry him with her forever.

SIKE

NEWT DOESN’T DIE REMEMBER?!

newt stops being dramatic and Thomas gives him a snickers and everything is better. they live happily ever after in the safe haven. They make bubbles a cat tree and get her as many treats and toys as she desires. she likes walking on the beach with her two favourite people (much to newt’s dismay as he has to pick the sand out of her paws)

bubbles also on occasion joins Minho and Thomas on runs in the haven as it means she gets daily adoration by all the people in the haven.

[aufucker]

Long as FUCK GOD

Christmas

Jack/BJ

Jack POV

CW: mentions of the desert activities (noncon, kidnapping, murder/torture), brief pun/play on words regarding the t-slur, mentions of drug use, talks about crime scene cleaning (death/decay/maggots, homicides/suicides), loneliness around the holidays

Christ.

You missed the scorch of the desert sun; the sand and gravel raking beneath your boots as you ran for your prey of choice. As the rays of the sun caressed your skin. Instead your face burned from the brutal windchill.

Your stuffy uniform made only bulkier with the heavy winter coat. Your eyes watering from the wind - you swore your tears would fucking freeze. You wanted to take time off, to hide away from the chill. From the business. From all the fucking people. But you already used your time off months ago.

Besides, you didn't even get fucking Christmas off. Not usually. Not technically.

You hated the holidays - they kept you *too* busy. Festivals here, parades there, drunk drivers and out of towners. You felt ragged, eyes exhausted from all the glimmering lights, ears bleeding from the same damn music playing everywhere you went. You felt a bitterness that you understood, but couldn't just quite place.

Was it seeing all of these families? Did you miss your own? Could you ever even bother to face them again? God, just how many years had it been? You'd make excuses every year; too busy, couldn't get time off, flights just too expensive. You didn't call because you didn't want to fucking hear it.

Cards were good enough. When you bothered to remember.

When you tried to remember. Snow blindness, you'd blame. It wasn't like you even had time for a line most days.

Maybe it was the flow of time. All too fast, but all frozen in the moment. Sluggish in the chill. It made you want to just be stationary and squishy somewhere warm, hibernate like an animal until it was time to hunt again.

God. You could barely even think of that. Shit, you could barely get a bead on a pretty face to rub one out to in the car. Passing interest in people scurrying about, hardly any time to watch or to scout. Always too damn difficult to get a lock on. Who was local, who was visiting. Always too damn difficult to tell or care.

Had you not been feeding yourself bump after bump in the seconds you'd have, you swear you'd crumble from the drain.

Maybe it was your greed. Your never ending *want.* You *want* to go home, you *want* to be warm, you *want* to slam someone's skull into the wall and fuck your frustration into them until nothing was left. You want to just sleep. You want a sun that doesn't lie and powder that doesn't sting.

You want things to be quiet. But today, it's too much. Barely a soul on the streets. Barely anyone at all. Life cut without grace.

And instead of at home, you were counting minutes on your shift that ticked down slower than your mileage. Instead of hunting prey for your vacation in the spring, you were just praying for some restaurant to still be fucking open to fill your snapping maw that whined for the taste of flesh and copper.

God. The desert didn't feel this empty.

God. You sure were bitching at Him a lot today, weren't you?

Maybe He heard you. Maybe He got tired of your pissing and moaning. Blessings that came in the form of egg fried rice and a neon open sign.

The growl of your stomach was louder than the chattering of your teeth - the mere thought of spending the seconds in the cold from the barely better-than-nothing warmth of your patrol car made you groan.

But really, could you ever be satisfied this time of year? The heat of the restaurant practically boiled you from the inside out in an instant, and you could hardly peel your thick uniform coat off fast enough before the threat of sweat dared to trickle down your spine.

The bright yellow sign and obnoxious use of neon certainly didn't limit itself to the outside, where the blown-out blue hues of the pictured dishes still lined the old wood panel walls. You could smell the spices and hear the oil crackling and the steam hissing. Christ, you were feeling practically ravenous.

Few people were seated, but still more than you expected. More than you particularly felt comfortable with as you prowled for a quieter place to feast. A little boy waved at you. You gave a half-hearted two finger salute in return. For a moment, you swore it was like he thought he saw fucking God.

Eventually, you found your seat in as much solitude as you could, the old chair groaning and the faded blue pleather flaking under your navy blues. A moment of weird peace against the weeks that came before. An almost gentle solitude.

Almost.

Was familiar the killer of solitude? You hadn't expected it. Hadn't expected her. Your legs suddenly felt like springs wound up as tight as they could go, desperate to leap. Why?

Why this energy? You hadn't had even a bump in days. You were running on fumes, and by the glimpse of her face lit by the glow of the large fish tank beside her, so was she.

But why the fuck was she here?

The spring released and your feet began to move. Why.

You didn't want to talk to anyone. Why were you moving? Her eye was different - not human. A striping stream of golds and browns. Special. You were still moving, hand reaching out for the seat in front of her. You had to be seeing things. Had to.

"Hey." You spewed from your mouth. She looked just as surprised to see you, as much as her tired face could show.

"Hey yourself. Shit, they got you working?"

"Every year." You say, taking the seat. Something tells you she wouldn't mind. You tell yourself you wouldn't care if she did. Would you? "What are you doing here?"

"Only place open near the site I'm on." She tells you.

The idea of maggots feasting on long still blood comes to your mind.

"Fuck, they got you cleaning today?"

"Shit, we been on that detail almost three weeks now. That super fucked murder/suicide on St. Clements? I swear, we've had to do more demo than cleaning with how bad it all seeped into everything."

She spoke more than you expected. Exhaustion in her voice, a slight rawness in her throat. You were staring. The faint remains of make up still stained on her eyes and lips, streaked clean with lines of long gone sweat. You even saw whispers of white feathers still clinging into her hair.

You reached for one, plucking it away.

"Guessing you had a show last night, too?"

Her nose crinkled, despite how hard her lips tried to snuff out her snort.

"Yeah. Got off at two. Changed in the car-"

"And didn't call me?"

"Fuck off," She spat with a stifled grin. You felt the corners of your own lips tingle, too. "Anyway. Changed, drove to the depot, crashed there until it was time to get back on site."

"No shit? Should have called out."

"Can't." You knew that meant "won't". "Besides, not like I have anything going on today. Might as well get paid."

"No family plans?" You asked. Were you trying to live vicariously?

"Nah. Couldn't afford a flight to Alberta this year, and my transmission's pushing it. Can't put that through that sort of drive. What about you?"

Shit. Of course she would ask.

You tried to find interest in the overwhelming menu on the table to keep your mouth shut until your brain could catch up and offer something that didn't sound so fucking pathetic.

"Nah. Busy time of year. Bonus makes it worthwhile, though." Even though she didn't wear that damned grey prosthetic, you could still feel her staring you down through the laminated paper. "... Fuck's the Happy Family?"

You could hear her snort, likely at a joke she chose to not tell you.

"It's like, seafood and pork and chicken and shit. Comes with a brown sauce. I usually just get the beef with mushrooms."

"Well, what the hell is in the brown sauce?" You ask, but you just get a lazy shrug that matches her grin in response.

"No clue. It's good, though. You should try it."

"Did you order yet?" You ask, flipping the menu around. Were you trying to distract yourself? Was it even working?

What the fuck were you doing?

"Nah, not yet."

"Well, pick something. I'm buying. And it better not be any beef and mushrooms. Get something good."

The lazy grin on her face faltered quickly. It made you feel better in a cheap way. Like a mutt earning a cry from its bite.

You really didn't feel like a prowling jackal, did you? Not right now. You felt more like a coyote huddled for warmth under the frigid desert moon, your teeth only nipping for play.

...did that make her your warmth?

"Fuck, D, you don't need to do that--"

"Shut up. I want to."

Did you? Or was this for the control that you found yourself severely lacking lately. Whichever was easier to swallow was your answer to yourself.

Though the look she gave you made it hard to swallow anything. Without the piercing and unmoving cold stare of her usual eye peering into you, all that was left was deep, earth tones that gobbled up any light they could get. Painfully alive and ever silently pleading. A stare into you with purpose. A stare that made your mouth dry and your pants, frankly, uncomfortable.

You'd tell yourself it was just the cheap chair you were in with its crackling pleather.

"So..." you let out, not really thinking about what could follow. "Car trouble? That why I didn't see it parked out?"

Anything to keep the subject moving. Keep the silence away. Keep her staring away.

You felt a little proud seeing her finally looking at the other side of the menu.

"Fuck, yeah." she muttered, almost like she was embarrassed. "Got to do some work on it when I can."

"Blew the tranny, yeah? That what you said?"

"God, just about."

"Thought that was my job--" the swift kick to your shin was deserved, but the red-flushed smile she tried to bite back into her lips made it worth it.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut your fuckin' mouth!" She scolded you quietly through her clinched teeth, swatting the laminated menu against you as punctuation and punishment.

You barely managed to keep your own laughter quiet, and the pathetic warbling of the menu was not helping.

"Sorry, sorry! Easy, sweetheart! You're right, you're right, that was too far..." You apologetically coo. The look on her face was more than familiar with your particular flavor of antics. "...besides, usually I'm blowing your bac--"

Another flurry of feeble, warbling smacks from the abused menu barely made a dent in your gelled hair.

"You're getting me the seafood combo."

"Oh? Not just fuckin' beef and rice?"

"Beef and *mushrooms*, you dick. And you're getting me the crab rangoons, too."

"You know that ain't real crab, right?"

"And you gonna get me real crab?"

"Maybe after Christmas." You said without thinking. You didn't really feel like you *had* to talking with her - everything just came out freely. You'd tell yourself she must had a "natural ability" to pull words out of you.

Because, clearly, it had to be her.

"I'll hold you to that. Until then, I think we'll survive."

Surviving certainly was a way to word it. Surviving the cold. The loud lights and cacophonous melodies. The long shifts. Too much snow and a lack thereof.

The loneliness.

But now, you were warm. The brightest light and loudest sound was the muted bubbling of the fishtank beside you and the clattering of silverware on plates. The shift was basically over. You could go home soon.

Alone.

You picked at your plate of seafood and pork and chicken, all coated with that mysterious brown sauce. You didn't think about what you said, you'd tell yourself.

But you were thinking about it longer than you wanted to admit.

"You doing anything today? When you get off, I mean."

"Nah. Basically, off, anyway. Monty insisted on me going home and getting some sleep since I worked last night."

"And you came here instead of going home, yeah?"

"Isn't that what you did, D? Besides, it's cold as fuck out there and I was starving."

"Got me there." You admitted meekly before letting your mouth run again, "Do you want to come to my place?"

Perplexed was the expression that etched onto her face, with just a glimmer of...

"You don't need to do all that."

"Not doing a thing but asking, sweetheart."

You heard that quiet snort again, a sound that tugged the corners of your mouth just a bit more.

"*Your* place or mine?"

"Got a few good bottles at mine. Could watch something. And better insulation--"

"Hey, fuck you. You're right, but fuck you."

"After drinks, yeah?"

You could see the gears turning in her amused leer, acting like the chewing of her food took more thought than her response to you. The crinkle of her nose told you otherwise.

"Maybe."