#like why am I being tortured rn

[the-winds-of-destiny-xxx]

.

[pleasedontcareaboutme]

It's missing my father hours rn so imma just dump a bunch of pictures here and cry

( sorry i don't know the source of anything I just had them on my phone)

(also dont read the tags i just need to let it out lol)

[widevibratobitch]

.

[fagnumopus]

🍂

[xysidhequeen]

The King And His Red Knight

Part 13

Parts 1-7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11 Part 12

Warning: Frequent and prolific use of curse words. Neither I, Danny or Jason will apologize. Also 

Trigger Warning: Icky gross yucky food and disgusting living conditions as the result of depression. Generally safe after the hearts. 

Mentions of gross food stops at: ‘ Ah, the wonders of ribbing an older sibling, even if they were currently passed out. Fastest way to make any younger sibling smile. ‘ Mentions of cleaning and therefore bad living conditions stops after the hearts. 

"Okay I know I joke about being dead, but I think some of this stuff really might kill me. Again. Permanently." Danny had never been more thankful in his afterlife to not need to breathe if he didn't want to. 

Or for his telekinetic powers.

Currently he was carefully moving an entire stack of pizza boxes that still had what had maybe once upon a time, in a different life, in an alternate universe, been pizza inside of them. Now they had molded and mutated to the point that the pizza boxes had melded together and were sporting a fuzzy coat that Danny would swear he'd seen Mrs.Manson wearing the twin of. 

It was pink. He didn't even know mold could be pink. 

He wasn't sure if it was a Gotham specific breed of mold created from the frequent chemical attacks, or if some friend of Dick's had spray painted it pink and frankly, Danny didn't want to know.

"Dick has always been utter shit at cleaning." Jason had taken Danny's tactic of refusing to breathe as he swiped the floating pizza box monstrosity with a fur coat into a trash bag.

"We passed bad at cleaning a while ago, Jason. I think some of this might be alive enough to be considered pets." Danny shot off an ecto blast at a box of Chinese takeout he'd swear was moving. 

Too many experiences with Fenton food had taught him to shoot first and maybe ask questions later. He just never thought he'd have to deal with animated food again after leaving the name Fenton, and ecto-contaminated feral hotdogs, behind.

"I know." The bag in Jason's hands crinkled as he clenched his fists, eyes roving over the room. Danny felt a pang run through his chest and core.

MyFault/Left/Abandoned/Hurt/Hurt/Brother/Alone Jason's emotions were spilling out of him almost as badly as they had when he'd just risen as a halfa. 

Danny had expected something like this to happen. He knew Jason thought his family wouldn't still care, hadn't even believed they'd cared all that much to begin with. But Jason's low self esteem was something Danny had grown familiar with. And he'd known that there was no way Jason's family wouldn't still mourn his loss. Batman might have replaced Robin, but Danny had never though Dick could so easily replace his brother. 

Danny knew he could never replace one of his sisters. Not Jazz, who was more a parent to him than his own genetic donors had ever been. Not Dani, who was his clone and he hadn't wanted to begin with, but now he'd tear the world apart for her without a moments hesitation. 

Danny could easily doubt the love of a parent. Knew how quickly it could turn from love, to hate. But the love of a sibling? Danny could never doubt that.

Before Danny could send a wave of reassurance to Jason, both their phones went off with the soft chime associated with their group chat. Well used to checking their phones whenever the group chat went off, there was never any guarantee it wasn't an emergency, they both pulled out their devices.

[07:23 PhonePharaoh: So any thoughts on names for the new place?] 

Danny snorted as he crossed his legs midair, devoting most of his attention to the chat as he used his telekinesis to keep moving possibly sentient, furry, once upon a time food stuffs, into a floating trash bag held open also by his telekinesis.

Ghost powers were the best.

Danny scrolled back through the chat quickly to remember all that was said, starting from when he warned Tuck and Sam about their deviation in plans.

[05:11 CaffeinatedKing: Hey-Me and Jay found a lost Bird while we were out. We're making sure he's safe in his nest.]

[05:12 GoingGoth: Really? Really Danny? You two were gone for like FIVE hours]

[05:12 PhonePharaoh: Did you find this one in a cemetery too?]

[05:13 CaffeinatedKing: No, we did see a Bat at the cemetery tho]

[05:14 GoingGoth: Ugh. Did you at least get a shot in for me?]

[05:16 CaffeinatedKing: No, Jay just seemed to want to get out]

[05:49 CaffeinatedKing: Oh. Looks like we'll be here for a bit. The birds nest is a mess and Jay doesn't want to leave it like this]

[05:51 PhonePharaoh: .....do we need to get one of the extra rooms ready?]

[05:52 GoingGoth: We just moved in!]

[05:54 PhonePharaoh: Like you'd complain about Nightwing moving in Sam]

[05:54 PhonePharaoh: Remember the posters?]

[05:54 GoingGoth:Tucker think very carefully about what you plan to say next]

[06:01 PhonePharaoh: I still have pi-JajzbhHahJsishGHaisie]

[06:20 PhonePharaoh: I'm alive!]

That was the last of the conversation. Danny assumed Sam had burst into wherever Tuck was and likely thrashed him for trying to bring up her Nightwing obsession. Danny remembered that phase, and the amount of Nightwing merch that had filled Sam's room. He, however, had the sense to not bring it up. He valued his afterlife too much to risk her wrath, or her deadly mastery with a mace.

Besides. Sam had a point. Nightwing was a very attractive hero. 

Alright. Maybe Danny had had a few of his own posters too. However it was hard to maintain a crush on said vigilante when he was currently deep cleaning the man's apartment of moldy, most definitely alive and moving, food. Definitely killed whatever lingering feelings Danny might have had. Anything not already mercilessly murdered by his not so small crush on Nightwing's little brother, anyway. 

Danny looked up from his phone for a moment, eyes flitting between a passed out Nightwing and Jason, who was distractedly shoving things into trash bags and occasionally straight up burning suspicious looking 'food'. 

Yeah. Danny thought he'd made the right call in crushes. He'd take the tank of a man with killer aim, muscles for days, a nasty right hook and who was a literal magician in the kitchen over... well just about any other hero. If he was honest.

Not that Danny really was judging Dick on his interior decorating. Danny shot off a small ectoblast at a bowl of Thai food trying to make a runner. 

Well. 

Not that much. 

Right after... everything with the Fentons, Danny hadn't been the model of cleanliness either. The only reason his castle hadn't turned into a very fancy landfill was more due to the fact that his castle would straight up eat his trash if it got bad enough. 

So really, Danny had no room to judge. And he even understood, intimately, how when depression sunk its claws into you nothing mattered. And there simply wasn't enough energy left over to maintain a neat living environment when simply getting up from bed was a herculean task that you couldn't always accomplish.

So. He got it. He really, truly got it. 

Didn't make cleaning up what looked like the dumpster of a morally questionable biological lab bent on creating a super mold to take over the planet any more pleasant, however.

Danny shook off memories of days on end spent lying in his bed, Jazz calling him almost hourly while he ignored every attempt to reach out. Fright Knight standing by his door, day in and day out while his king tried his best to waste away. Pandora barging into his room only to be met with wall after wall of ice. Clockwork finally saying enough was enough and grabbing him by the scruff like a kitten and drop kicking him through a portal, with only the instructions to wait atop the grave he'd fallen onto.

It was a dark time, one Danny was never eager to remember.

Danny blinked down at his phone where a new text was waiting.

[07:26 GoingGoth: Crematorium?]

[07:29 CaffeinatedKing: What are we burning people now?]

[07:30 PhonePharaoh: Jay might]

Jason snorted and Danny laughed, both looking up and meeting eyes. Jason grinned and shot off a small ball of fire at yet another squirming bundle of mold.

[07:32 ZombieBitch: You're damn right I will]

[07:32 CaffeinatedKing; Okay no- Crematorium gives supervillain vibes.]

[07:33 GoingGoth: Are we not?]

[07:34 CaffeinatedKing: Sam. No]

"Sam, yes." Jason muttered and Danny rolled his eyes. He rolled them a second time when Sam responded.

[07:35 GoingGoth: Sam. YES]

[07:36 MentallyStable: Lair?]

Predictably the chat went crazy when Jazz appeared. She was very firmly the mom of the group, that designation only got worse after they all left Amity, somehow. 

Apparently with a lack of adults in their lives, despite them all being adults, Jazz had decided they needed someone. An adultier adult, if you would. So. She had stepped up, texting all of them with reminders to eat, and drink water, telling them to sleep. Even setting up doctors appointments for Sam and Tucker when it was clear both would rather die than talk on the phone to a receptionist. 

[07:37 GoingGoth: Jazz!🥰]

[07:37 ZombieBitch: Jazz🩷]

[07:37 PhonePharaoh: Mom's here!]

[07:38 MentallyStable: Shouldn't you all be sleeping?]

[07:38 CaffeinatedKing: Shouldn't you?]

[07:39 MentallyStable: Touche]

[07:40 ZombieBitch: Lair is a No. Bad names and bad puns must be fucking genetic]

[07:40 PhonePharaoh: Mausoleum?]

[07:41 GoingGoth: Mortuary?]

[07:42 ZombieBitch: The Morgue?]

[07:44 CaffeinatedKing: What if we named the normal part and the less normal part different things?]

[07:45 ZombieBitch: I vote we name the supervillain lair the Morgue. Sound badass, and we get to freak people out when we say it

Plus, two dead fuckers will be chilling in it and rising from under the ground regularly]

"Oh very clever Jay," Danny snorted.

"Better than the Ghost Cave or some shit," Jason retorted. 

"Ghost Cave is an amazing name! You clearly have no taste!" Danny pouted, Jason giving him a raised brow, utterly unaffected by Danny's puppy eyes.

[07:48 PhonePharaoh: All in favor of The Morgue?] 

Danny watches as the heart emoji reactions grew under Tucker's message, it was clear everyone was picking that as the name. 

Which. It was a good name, a funny one too. But come on! If Batman got the Batcave a pair of ghost superheroes should get the Ghost Cave!

[07:50 CaffeinatedKing: What's wrong with Ghost Cave?? 😭😢]

[07:50 ZombieBitch: Literally everyfuckingthing Daniel]

 [07:50 CaffeinatedKing: Well alright then Jasonathaniel]

[07:51 ZombieBitch: Did you just invent a longer name for me to try and one up me like a bitch?]

[07:52 CaffeinatedKing: Maybe I did. What are you going to do about it bird boy?]

Danny yelped as he dodged a box of what could have been Thai food, the box integrity so weak it fell apart midair. Danny was forced to summon a shield of energy around himself to avoid getting rotten food all over himself. The moldy, possibly wriggling, food dripped slowly down his shield. Danny canceled the shield just in time to go intangible as something so covered in mold Danny wasn't entirely certain it wasn't actually a dead opossum flew through him.

"That how you want to play this birdy?" Danny asked, eyes flashing as Jason grinned at him. His grin quickly fell when Danny used his telekinesis to tug a piece of stained clothing out of Mt. Doom and threw it as Jason's face. 

"Ancients on a fucking stick Danny, Dick's dirty underwear? Really, fucker?" Jason glared at the boxers as if they had personally insulted his mother, grandmother and sister all at once. 

"I just grabbed something! Besides you threw a fucking dead opossum at me!" Danny gesticulated wildly, his telekinesis picking up said offending dead opossum and waving it around. Jason glanced at it consideringly, head tilting.

"It's either an opossum or it was once a sandwich." Jason deduced as he swiped it into a trash bag, probably because it was getting far too close to his face for anyone's comfort.

"No more throwing shit at me. One of us might get the new ghost plague if this gets on us." Danny grumbled as he nudged more takeout containers losing the battle against the mold invaders with a foot.

"....You know what if it was possible to give a ghost the plague it would come from Dick's fucking apartment." Jason grumbled, lips twitching in a small smile. 

Ah, the wonders of ribbing an older sibling, even if they were currently passed out. Fastest way to make any younger sibling smile.

As they resumed their cleaning they checked the group chat again, Danny moving from food disposal to clothing detail, his telekinesis making the clothes dance like something out of a cartoon as he started organizing them by color. 

Or. 

Well.

He hoped by color. Some were so covered in stains, or dried blood, Danny could only guess at the original colors. He really hoped the detergent Dick had was industrial strength. Batdetergent? Did that exist? A Batwasher? Shit he wouldn't put it past Batman to have specialized detergent and washing machines made just to get stains out of costumes. You couldn't exactly drop off military grade hero suits at the dry cleaners.

[07:56 GoingGoth: Boys stop flirting in group chat]

[08:09 PhonePharaoh: Should we start checking the news for a new murder?]

[08:16 CaffeinatedKing: ....

He threw moldy food at me 😭]

[08:17 ZombieBitch: YOU THREW DICK'S DIRTY UNDERWEAR AT ME CUNTWAFFLE!]

[08:17 CaffeinatedKing: The food had enough mold TO LOOK LIKE A DEAD OPOSSUM]

[08:18 MentallyStable: Jason. Danny. Behave.]

[08:18 PhonePharaoh: Ohhhhh shit Mom is maaddd]

[08:19 CaffeinatedKing: Yes Jazz]

[08:19 ZombieBitch: Yes Jazz]

[08:20 PhonePharaoh: So the Morgue wins for the name of our supervillain lair]

[08:20 CaffeinatedKing: I've been betrayed by my own friends

What a cruel cruel world

Stabbed in the back

Left to bleed out on the cold streets]

[08:21 GoingGoth: So anyways]

[08:22 CaffeinatedKing: Ignored, abandoned, my heart ripped from my chest]

Danny made a face at Jason when he coughed out a surprised laugh. Jason held up his hands in surrender when Danny waved a pair of ripped and stained pants in clear threat. 

Danny had a load of laundry started now and was moving on to clearing the other rooms of accumulated piles of clothing, adding them to the vaguely organized piles he had started. He was glad he didn't have to actually walk on the carpet, which was so stained by now that the original color of it was hidden. 

Jason had gotten through most of the questionably sentient food, eight trash bags filled and waiting by the door. He was cleaning up the kitchen now, dealing with the leaning towers of dirty plates and cups. 

[08:26 GoingGoth: Mortuary or Mausoleum for the part of our house we're allowed to show any potentially normal people we bring over]

[08:37 CaffeinatedKing: HAUNTED. HOUSE. IS RIGHT THERE. RIGHT FUCKING THERE.

OUR HOUSE IS LITERALLY HAUNTED 😡]

[08:37 ZombieBitch: By the afterlife's biggest drama queen]

[08:38 PhonePharaoh: The undead Oscar goes to Danny King Of Drama Nightingale 🎆🎆🏆]

[08:38 ZombieBitch: What would you like to say to your adoring fans, Mr.DramaKing?]

"I'd like to tell you to suck a dick." Danny muttered as he grabbed a mop Jason threw at him and started mopping the ceiling. 

Something he'd never thought he'd do, but somehow Dick had gotten stains on the damn ceiling. And foot prints. Danny had no idea how a normal human had gotten foot prints on the fucking ceiling. The hell did they feed vigilantes in Gotham?

"Take me to dinner first, damn." Jason retorted, Danny nearly falling out of the air in shock. 

Jason chuckled, evidently entirely unaware of the effect he was having on Danny's poor undead heart. He focused back on the chat, it was easier than trying to decode if Jason was actually flirting or just joking around.

[08:40 CaffeinatedKing: I'd like to take this moment to tell the world that Jason Todd is an asshole

Thank you and goodnight.

[08:41 CaffeinatedKing: And that my friends are all fake bitches who stabbed me in the back]

[08:41 PhonePharaoh: F]

[08:41 ZombieBitch: F]

[08:41 GoingGoth: F]

[08:41 MentallyStable: F]

[08:42 CaffeinatedKing: JAZZ?! YOU'VE TURNED ON ME TOO?

This is my villain origin story]

[08:43 GoingGoth: You already have the lair for it]

[08:43 CaffeinatedKing: The old Danny can't come to the phone right now.

Why? Oh cause he's dead]

[08:44 ZombieBitch: Old news🥱]

[08:44 PhonePharaoh: Fake news]

[08:45 CaffeinatedKing: You're all dead to me]

[08:45 ZombieBitch: I'm already dead motherfucker bit late to the party]

[08:45 GoingGoth: I'm dead inside]

[08:46 PhonePharaoh: I'm dead in my heart]

[08:47 MentallyStable: You all need therapy]

[08:47 PhonePharaoh: We love you too Jazz 🥰🥰🖤🖤]

[08:48 GoingGoth: So. Mortuary, Mausoleum or, ugh, Haunted House?]

[08:48 CaffeinatedKing: Sam! I knew I could count on you!☺️😊]

"Ugh, can't believe she gave in." Jason muttered as he shut the dishwasher and started it up. 

The apartment was filling with the noises from cleaning and both halfas froze when Dick rolled over, muttering Jason's name quietly. They traded panicked looks and Danny held out a hand, a dome of green tinted ice covering the couch. 

It wouldn't be too cold, Danny had enough control to decide if his ice radiated cold, and it would block the noises. After a few minutes where Jason and Danny waited with bated breath they relaxed when Dick settled back to sleep.

"He could sleep through a damn earthquake, I swear." Jason murmured, shaking his head as he started washing dishes by hand, rolling up his sleeves and revealing well muscled forearms. 

Danny's eyes followed the movement. Was it possible to have sexy forearms? Cause Jason definitely did.

Danny swung his head around so fast it would've broken a human's neck when Jason looked up, feeling his face flood with heat. Shit. He'd almost gotten caught ogling Jason's criminally hot forearms like some kind of pervert.

"Um. I think his bedroom needs to be... uh. Steam cleaned! Yup! Gonna do that. Right now." Danny stammered out, flying off before Jason could use his far too smart brain to deduce the bi-panic Danny was in the middle of. 

Danny eventually located a steam cleaner, it looked like it had never been used and had a thick coating of dust on it. But it looked high end, with more buttons and attachments than the Fenton OPs center. Someone in Dick's life obviously wanted him to clean. If Danny was a betting man he'd put money on it being from Alfred, based in Jason's stories of the British butler. 

Danny started up the steam cleaner, fairly well used to using one from his time growing up. Fun fact, a good steam cleaner and strong carpet cleaner was the only way to get ectoplasm out of carpet. It was the only way he'd been able to erase the evidence of his ghost status after he returned to his room wounded countless times.

Since the steam cleaner was easier to manage with his hands he used his telekinesis with his phone, glad he'd used it so often he had fine motor control with it now.

[08:50 GoingGoth: My fingers are bleeding from typing that]

[08:52 MentallyStable: Haunted House. It's accurate.]

[08:58 CaffeinatedKing: Jazz! The best big sister in the world!!🥰🥰💚💚💚💚]

[08:59 ZombieBitch: Mausoleum. It has fucking class.]

[09:00 GoingGoth: Says the guy who can't go three minutes without cussing]

[09:01 ZombieBitch: What can I say? I'm a classy bitch.]

[09:02 PhonePharaoh: Mortuary, 4/5 residents haven't actually been put in a coffin]

[09:02 ZombieBitch: I can change that 😈]

[09:03 CaffeinatedKing: Haunted House. It's obviously the best]

[09:04 ZombieBitch: In no world is it the best you deluded fucknugget]

[09:04 GoingGoth: Mausoleum. It feels appropriately gothic]

[09:05 PhonePharaoh: Well damn we're at a tie

I'm not changing my vote. Mortuary FTW!]

[09:06 Dani2.0: Mausoleum 👻]

[09:07 CaffeinatedKing: DANI?!

BETRAYED BY MY OWN CLONE

MY FLESH AND BLOOD AND ECTOPLASM]

[09:07 Dani2.0: Jason is right it's a cool name]

[09:08 ZombieBitch: This is why you're my favorite halfa, little ghoul]

[09:08 PhonePharaoh: Votes are in. We have the Mausoleum and the Morgue]

[09:09 GoingGoth: "Where do you live?" "Oh just in the Mausoleum."

Hehehe can't wait to scare the normies😈]

[09:10 CaffeinatedKing: This is why we can't have normal friends]

[09:10 GoingGoth: Oh? Oh REALLY  Daniel I'm The King Of The Dead Nightingale? Thats the reason?]

[09:11 ZombieBitch: Hah get fucked ghost boy]

[09:11 CaffeinatedKing: Like you have room to talk Jason I Rose From My Own Grave Todd]

[09:12 PhonePharaoh: Ooooo]

[09:12 GoingGoth: Jason I Wanted To Behead Crime Lords Todd]

Danny could hear the loud groan and cursing from Jason even through the sounds of the steam cleaner and the walls. Danny chuckled shaking his head. Jason was as embarrassed over his plans to behead crime lords as Sam was over her Nightwing phase. And all of them loved to bring it up whenever they could, just to remind him of his very detailed plans for revenge and a hostile crime takeover.

[09:15 ZombieBitch: OH MY ANCIENTS

IT. WAS. A. FUCKING. PHASE.

You threaten to behead a drug lord ONE FUCKING TIME and NO ONE let's you forget it]

[09:17: PhonePharaoh: Dude. I think it had more to do with the 10 page plan and slide show you made]

[09:20 ZombieBitch: Ajsjdkaha I hate it here]

Danny finished his work in the bedroom, looking at the now sparkling clean room. The mattress was bare, the bedding added to the piles he'd sorted. Turning off the steam cleaner he floated out of the room to switch the laundry over and start a new load before getting out the vacuum to begin cleaning the living room. Jason had finished the dishes and was cleaning the counters, walls and cabinets of the kitchen. He had a blush high in his cheeks, undoubtedly from the teasing in the chat.

"Hey, if I give you a list, could you pick up some food? All Dickiebird has here is ketchup, expired milk, stale cereal and an egg." Jason piped up, looking firmly at the counter as Danny paused his vacuuming. 

"Will you be fine cleaning on your own?" Danny asked. 

Jason sighed, looking up at Danny and he could see the pain, the desperation in his eyes. Taste it in the air, the emotions floating between them.

Jason was never good at showing his emotions, for all he projected them for any ghost to read. But if one knew him well, they could see his heart on his sleeve. 

Cooking was one of the ways Jason showed his care for others, his love. It was his way of caring for those he loved the most. He didn't do comfort, he wasn't good at handling it when others were suffering. If it wasn't a problem he could punch or shoot, Jason was lost. 

Danny couldn't count the number of times he'd found Jason cooking up a feast in a kitchen when one of them was struggling. It was the only way he knew to help. To feed someone, to fill their stomachs even if he couldn't fill the holes in their hearts.

He could see that Jason was trying to fix the holes he'd left in Dick's heart by giving him food. By caring for him in the only way he knew how. 

"We've cleaned most of it, it's just the clothes, carpets and walls now." Jason waved at the apartment that had slowly begun to resemble a place a person could live in and not worry about being suffocated in the night by sentient mold out to murder its creator. 

It was rather impressive what could be done when you mixed supernatural powers into cleaning. 

"Yeah, alright. I can get some food so Dick here doesn't starve to death." Danny shrugged, a smile breaking out on his face at the pure gratitude that filled Jason's eyes and washed through the air. 

Jason pulled out his phone and started typing, Danny growing concerned when minutes passed with no clear end in sight to the list. Was he planning to make a five course meal??

...

That...was a distinct possibility actually.

Danny lifted his phone when it dinged and he blinked at the long list of ingredients. He wasn't even sure what some of them were! 

"Uh. Will the grocery store have all of this?" Danny asked hesitantly. 

"They should, there's a few shops in the area you can hit if one doesn't have everything." Jason informed him and Danny bit back a sigh.

"And uh. How, pray tell, am I to carry all of this?" Danny asked next, waving a hand around, "we didn't exactly bring a car." 

"Portals dumbass." Jason gave him an unimpressed look and Danny tilted his head back with a groan.

The things he did for love.

"Fine. Your supernatural royal express grocery delivery coming right up." Danny grumbled, rubbing his face as he walked to the door. 

"How gracious of you, your fucking highness." Jason's sarcastic drawl filtered after him.

"You're my knight, you should be doing errands for me!" Danny whined.

"Want a bullet to the knee? Cause that's how you get a bullet to the fucking knee." Jason warned and Danny hastened to open the door.

"I was a hero like you, until I took a bullet to the knee!" Danny called out, scrambling out and slamming the door when he heard a gun cock. 

Jason's aim was nothing to scoff at and Danny didn't want an actual bullet to the knee this morning. 

Danny looked at the list again and sighed. It would be a long morning.

♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡

"Five stores, Jason. Five. Fucking. Stores. And a goddamn market." Danny groaned as he shut the door, dropping his bags, gently, to the ground. He'd spent hours combing Blüdhaven for those groceries, he wasn't going to break them in a fit of petulance and be forced to go back out.

He was exhausted. Opening so many portals to transport the groceries hadn't been easy, especially not in an area with lower ectoplasm. 

Sure Gotham and Blüdhaven had more ectoplasm than your average cities, but it wasn't nearly enough if Danny was using his more draining abilities. And opening portals was always one of his more taxing skills. He'd had to take a short rest in the Zone just to recover.

Plus. He'd had to deal with people. Which was exhausting on its own.

Making a permanent ghost portal was moving up his list of priorities. If only to increase the ambient ectoplasm in the area to better support two halfas in residence. And to give his friends in the Zone an easy way to contact him. 

He was still King and they needed to be able to reach him if something demanded immediate attention. Or because they were worried. They worried about him a lot, even if they all tried to hide it. Danny might have been a C average student but he wasn't entirely oblivious.

Besides he'd love to see some of his rogue gallery face off against the Gotham Rogues. Nocturn might very well give Scarecrow a nasty surprise, and he knew Skulker wanted to have some words with the Joker before Danny dealt with him personally. 

Danny couldn't stand that Jason had to be in the same city as the man who killed him. He was still trying to decide if his own no-kill rule might be open for an exception, if only because Danny wasn't sure he'd be able to control his anger when he saw the Clown Prince Of Crime. 

And if he came back as a ghost? 

Well he better fucking hope he didn't. 

"Here." Jason shoved a cup in Danny's hands, eyes raking over him and lips settling in a frown when he noticed the signs of tiredness on Danny's frame. 

"A...smoothie?" Danny asked hesitantly as he looked at the cup with a curly straw stuck in it. 

He noted the cup had a bisexual flag on it and he mentally filed the information it told him about Dick away. He took a tentative sip of the drink, eyes widening when he tasted the spicy flavor of ectoplasm mixed with mangoes, strawberries and pineapple. So that was what those were for? 

"I keep some ectoplasm on me at all times. Just in case one of us gets hurt and needs the boost." Jason sniffed, snatching the bags away and stalking to the kitchen. There was a light blush on his cheeks, as if the gesture was embarrassing. Like it said something, that he had anticipated Danny's needs and prepared for them.

Danny followed, floating along as he clutched his special smoothie tightly. Jason had been worried about him, and had made this because he thought Danny might have been tired. It was... thoughtful, and made his heart squeeze sweetly.

Danny perched on the island counter, legs crossed, as he looked between his phone at Jason. Jason started putting away the last of the groceries, pulling out what he needed. Danny tore his eyes away to look around the apartment.

The apartment had been completely transformed from what they'd first walked in on. It was unbelievable what they'd managed in the sevenish hours since they'd arrived. The apartment looked show ready now. 

Danny was a bit excited for Dick to wake up and see it... and scared too. He wasn't even sure he belonged here when the reunion happened. It wasn't his place. But... he couldn't just leave Jason. And Jason had relaxed as soon as he'd stepped back in, his shoulders slumping and tension flooding out of him. 

Danny would stay, until Jason asked him to leave. Dick might be confused, but well. That was his problem, Danny's main concern was Jason. 

Danny wasn't going to leave him to face a situation that was guaranteed to be emotional. The memories of Jason running off with no warning after finding out Batman had replaced him were still too fresh. 

If Jason ran off here, in Gotham where Danny didn't know the lay of the land, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to find him. And with how many emotional triggers there were here there was no telling what could happen. Jason could very well end up doing something he would regret, something that couldn't be easily undone.

Luckily at the moment Jason seemed more preoccupied with cooking a five course breakfast than running away. Every available surface was covered in ingredients and materials, and the heavenly scent of food was slowly filling the apartment. It paired nicely with the smell of detergent and floral cleaners, a much better smell than rotting food and dirty laundry. 

Danny snapped a quick picture of Jason cooking, face set in concentration. He was doing that thing with his face that always made Danny's heart skip several beats. His tongue was poking slightly out of his mouth while his brows were furrowed just so. It was utterly adorable and Danny couldn't resist sending it to the group chat, which had been rather active tonight. 

[12:06 CaffeinatedKing: CookingJason.jpeg]

[12:06 PhonePharaoh: MUST BE NICE TO HAVE SOMEONE COOK FOR YOU 😡]

[12:06 GoingGoth: Just rub it in our faces that we don't get a Jason Breakfast today asshole]

[12:08 MentallyStable: Aww he looks so cute Danny🥰]

[12:08 GoingGoth:I'm sure Danny thinks so 😏]

[12:09 CaffeinatedKing: Ajsgag SAM]

[12:09 GoingGoth: How many pics do you have Danny? Hm?]

[12:10 PhonePharaoh: He's got 25

Taken in the last 15 mins]

[12:10 CaffeinatedKing: Tucker GET OUT OF MY PHONE!!!]

[12:11 PhonePharaoh: No. It's nice in here]

[12:11 CaffeinatedKing: I will freeze all of your tech]

[12:12 PhonePharaoh: I'll send Jason your browser history]

[12:12 CaffeinatedKing: ......]

[12:13 PhonePharaoh: 😇]

[12:14 CaffeinatedKing: Delete your messages and never speak of this and I'll save you some food]

[12:14 PhonePharaoh: Done!]

Danny let out a relieved sigh as Jason turned towards his own buzzing phone. Tucker's messages were gone in seconds and Danny could retain some of his dignity. 

He waited for Jason to get caught up again with the chat as he sipped his smoothie noisily. He didn't have much else to do than chat and sneak pictures of Jason cooking. The apartment was clean and even all the laundry had been folded and put away. 

Jason snorted as he picked up his phone and read through the convo, easily juggling texting and cooking at the same time. Danny returned his attention to his phone as Jason entered the chat again.

[12:16 GoingGoth: Ugh. Tucker you cheap whore]

[12:16 PhonePharaoh: Don't act like you wouldn't sell all our souls to the devil for Jason's cooking]

[12:17 GoingGoth: In a heartbeat 

With no hesitation

No regrets]

[12:17 CaffeinatedKing: I-

.....

Yeah alright same]

[12:18 GoingGoth: Is he making crepes?]

[12:19 CaffeinatedKing: Looks like it

TastyBreakfastFood.jpeg]

[12:19 GoingGoth: motherFUCKER]

[12:20 ZombieBitch: Alright what are you chucklefucks talking about

Ah

I'll make you some ultra-recyclo-vegetarian crepes when we get back Sam]

[12:23 GoingGoth: Jason. Marry me🧎‍♀️]

[12:23 CaffeinatedKing: SAM 🤬]

[12:24 GoingGoth: Look if you're too much of a pansy ass bitch to ask I will]

[12:24 ZombieBitch: I'm sorry Sam but I can't marry someone who only wants me for 1 thing

You just want me for my skills in the kitchen 😢

My dad warned me about girls like you] 

"Really, Jason?" Danny asked looking up from his phone to see Jason grinning. 

"Well. He didn't. With words anyways, but you watch Batman and Catwoman fuck around for a couple years and you learn." Jason shrugged as he turned back to the food. 

"You're comparing Sam to Catwoman? Don't tell her that or she'll start her villain era." Danny snickered as he scrolled back through the chat as it went quiet for a bit. 

Sam and Tucker had apparently decided if Jason and Danny weren't sleeping because they had a wounded Bird to take care of, neither would they. 

Danny knew Jason had appreciated the levity and distraction they'd offered through the messages. Tucker, Sam and Jazz had obviously caught on quickly that Jason would need support today, and had all risen to the occasion admirably. None of them would let Jason feel like he was alone in this for even a second. He was part of their spook, and they always protected one another. 

"Wasn't she already in that?" Jason asked with a snort as he slipped the last of the crepes onto a large plate, moving on to focus on the pancakes, eggs and bacon cooking as well. If he and Jason weren't halfas Danny would worry the food was going to go to waste he was making so much.

"Shhh we can't let her become self aware of it, otherwise we'll have an emotionally constipated furry on our doorstep." Danny said in a stage whisper, Jason letting out a surprised bark of laughter, almost missing the pancake he was flipping. 

Danny smiled smugly as he settled down, glad he'd gotten Jason to laugh, and even happier that the Scared/Nervous/Brother?/Rejection?/DoesHeEvenCare?/WillHeHateMe? Had shifted to Amused/Affection/Safe/Warm/Care instead.

Danny watched with mild interest as Jason finished cooking. Danny knew how to cook the very basics. Cereal, toast, scrambled eggs, Ramen, and spaghetti. Enough to make sure he didn't starve to death but nothing that would impress a chef. Jason however was a magician in a kitchen, able to put together meals from reading a recipe once, or simply because he had an idea and managed to make it work. 

He'd tried to describe it to Danny before, how he could remember the flavors of things and could put them together in his mind like puzzle pieces. And in an abstract way, Danny understood. It was a lot like how he put together inventions. But Danny was more likely to make an unholy abomination than an edible meal. Still Danny would never tire of simply watching Jason in his element. Mixing ingredients together to create beautiful creations that tasted even better than they looked. 

Jason was always more calm in the kitchen. In an environment where everything was under his control, and the outcomes were never a surprise. As often as Danny could find Jason working out his feelings in a training room, he could find him in a kitchen. Both could help stabilize the halfa and help him get himself under control. 

When the last slice of bacon was put on a plate and the burners turned off Jason sighed, gripping the counter tightly. The food was ready, and now all that was left to do was to wake the guest of honor. 

Well, was he a guest when they'd invaded his home? Danny wasn't sure.

Luckily. Or unluckily depending on how you looked at it, the choice to wake Dick was taken out of their hands. Jason turned a little too sharply, arm brushing the handle of a pan and sending it clattering to the ground in a loud cacophony of noise that could only ever be achieved when someone was specifically trying to remain quiet. 

Danny and Jason's heads whipped around at a speed that would've broken the necks of a normal human as Dick awoke with a surprised shout, jumping off the couch with a grace that belied how exhausted Danny knew the man was. Danny, startled by both the noise and Dick's sudden movements, let go of gravity. He rose quickly in the air and flipped around until he sat on the ceiling, barely remembering to flip his cup to avoid spilling his smoothie.

"Wha- Who's there?!" Dick shouted, blinking bleary eyes around.

"Where am I? Did you kidnap me?" Dick turned around, visibly confused and not recognizing his own apartment now that it was clean. Danny felt laughter bubbling up in his throat and he tried to drown it under a sip of his smoothie.

"Wait, is this my apartment? What? Alfred? Did you do this? Wally is this a prank?" Dick was still confused as he kept turning around, until his eyes locked on Jason, who was standing frozen in the kitchen like a deer in headlights. 

Dick's face went pale as the blood rushed out of it and he took a stumbling step forward, a hand shooting out to steady him against the wall.

"J-Jason? Is? No, this has to be another hallucination." Dick was speaking so softly Danny wouldn't have heard him if not for his enhanced hearing. 

His sapphire eyes were filling with tears as he stumbled forward, harshly pulling out a barstool and collapsing onto it as if his legs couldn't hold his weight anymore.

"No. No. Not today. This is too cruel. Is it not enough to haunt me at night? Now you have to come in the day too, so you can remind me of how I failed?" Dick's head was hanging low, his hands buried in greasy, tangled hair. 

Danny took in a sharp breath as MyFault/Regret/Shame/Pain/Failure/Hurt/IHurtHim/Hurt/Hurt filled the air, on top of the choking grief oozing out of Dick like a toxic miasma. 

Here/ImHere/It'sOkay/YouNeededTheTime/Comfort/HelpNow/HereNow/Fix Danny pushed the emotions at Jason, trying to get his friend out of his frozen state. It seemed to work, shaking Jason out of his stupor. With almost robotic movements Jason made a plate and shoved it under Dick's face.

"Could a hallucination do that Dickhead?" Jason asked gruffly and Dick's head shot up, Danny wincing when he saw that some hairs had been torn away. 

Dick's eyes were still wet with tears but there was a small flame of hope in them as one hand reached out, shaking like a leaf in a storm, and he tentatively pressed a finger into Jason's cheek. The touch was so gentle the skin didn't even move, as if Dick was afraid his touch would shatter Jason.

"Jason?" Dick asked, his voice sounding small and broken. Jason closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

"Yeah. It's me Big Bird." Jason breathed out. 

Dick let out a choked sob and, in a movement that proved he was a vigilante, vaulted over the island without disturbing the food and tackled Jason in a hug that almost sent the other halfa to the ground.

"Oi! Watch it dumbass! If you ruin the food I spent forever making I'll beat your ass!" Jason shouted but his arms were locking around Dick as if he would never let go and his own eyes were thick with tears. 

Danny watched the entire interaction from above, slurping his smoothie increasingly loudly just to see how long it took for Dick to notice his presence. He could feel emotions choking his own throat from just watching and feeling them in the air around them. He wanted to do something to break the tension before he had two sobbing birds on his hands.

"I'm so sorry Little Wing. So sorry I wasn't here. So sorry I didn't get you away from him before any of this even started. So sorry you didn't think you could come to me. I'm sorry I wasn't a better brother." Dick babbled, words tumbling out as if he'd been holding them in for years and the dam had finally broken. 

"It's not your fault, Dick. It's not your fault. I was never mad at you." Jason comforted, one big hand rubbing at Dick's shaking back as his brother cried between apologies. 

Dick sniffled and pulled back slightly, eyes roving over Jason's face as if committing it to memory, regret pouring from him in waves that had Danny pulling a grimace.

"Jason- how are you? When did you? I don't," Dick couldn't seem to get a full sentence out as he looked at Jason, wrapped around his younger brother like an octopus.

"And who is that," Dick turned to look up at Danny, the halfa freezing for a moment before taking another obnoxious sip of his smoothie, "and why is he on my ceiling?" Dick finished with a suspicious glare. Danny gave a fanged grin, hopefully not too wide, and a small wave.

"How about," Jason cleared his throat when the words came out husky and choked, "we all sit down to eat the food I slaved over a hot stove to make and we can play twenty questions?" Jason finished and Dick shot Danny one last suspicious look before he nodded and reluctantly peeled himself off Jason. 

Danny slowly floated back down, flipping right side up and settling on a barstool. Dick took the normal route around the island this time as Jason made two more plates with shaking hands. 

Dick sat back in his original seat two down from Danny, eyes locked on Jason as if afraid he'd disappear if he looked away for even a moment. Jason made his way around, sitting between Danny and Dick and handing Danny his plate. 

For a few minutes no one talked, only the sounds of forks on ceramic filled the air as the three men ate their food. Danny broke first, unable to take the tension in the air. It was ruining the delicious food!

"Nice pajamas, Nightwing." Danny leaned forward to shoot Dick a shit eating grin as he shoved a slice of bacon in his mouth. 

Dick startled, looking down at himself with wide eyes and realizing he was still in his vigilante costume.

"I- Uh. I'm a really big Nightwing fan. Huge." Duck scrambled to save himself and Danny snickered as Jason sighed, shooting Danny a glare that had too much affection and gratitude in it to really even be called that.

"He already knows Dickiebird." Jason cut off Dick's bad attempts to come up with a plausible cover story, making the vigilante droop before his eyes sharpened with suspicion again.

"I'm part of the masochistic spandex club too Blue Bird, don't worry." Danny waved off some of Dick's obvious and justified concern, glad to see and feel some of the suspicion turning to cautious curiosity.

"Name's Danny, or Phantom if you see me in my nightwear. Since I know your dirty little secret it's only fair." Danny answered the obvious question in Dick's eyes with a wink. 

The tension in the room was rapidly dissolving and Danny could feel Dick's growing amusement, even if there was still a hefty amount of suspicion. Jason was sending waves of gratitude at him and Danny hummed happily as he filled his mouth with pancakes.

"Got a last name, Danny also known as Phantom?" Dick asked and Danny swallowed his pancakes, using telekinesis to summon the pitcher of fresh orange juice and a cup to him, pouring it and taking a sip. 

He didn't miss how Dick's eyes had locked onto the actions, taking on a calculating gleam. He was sure the vigilante was already building a file in his head titled 'Danny aka Phantom' noting down every ability, his personality, behavior, and rating his threat level.

"Nightingale. But it won't do you any good to run a background check. Or to have Oracle look into me either. I'm sure you'll try anyways but sorry to say, our tech master is good at their job." Danny spoke up with a mischievous smirk after he finished his drink. 

He could tell by the way Dick's eyes lit up that as soon as possible Dick would be researching him, and inevitably pulling Oracle in on it. Tucker would be excited to finally pit himself against his idol. Danny couldn't wait to see how frustrated the vigilantes got when they came up against wall after wall. Firewalls with a ghostly touch had a little extra oomph to them.

"Danny, don't tease him like that." Jason chided with the first ghost of a smile Danny had seen since Dick woke up. 

Danny shot him an unrepentant smile and Jason let out a small noise of annoyance and grabbed Danny's face, making the older halfa yelp.

"You can't eat without making a mess for fucks sake." Jason chided as he used a napkin dipped in water to rub at the maple syrup smeared around Danny's mouth. 

Danny hissed like a cat and batted at Jason's hands to no effect as the large man quickly cleaned him off. Turning Danny's face this way and that Jason checked for any more stains and Danny could feel his face turning the same color as a tomato. 

There was something about the ease with which Jason could manhandle him that sent the butterflies in his stomach kamikaze diving at the walls of his insides and made his heart beat so fast it almost reached human levels. Everywhere Jason's skin touched burned like fire, but Danny would gladly let the flames consume him if Jason would just never let go. 

"There. Now you don't look like you were raised by wolves." Jason nodded as he let go and Danny could finally breathe. 

He took in a deep lungful of the unnecessary air as he ducked his head, face burning hotter when Dick let out a polite cough. Danny looked up through his bangs and was sorely tempted to phase through the floor at the amused and knowing glint in Dick's eyes.

Ancients. Danny's crush was obvious even to someone who had only known him for ten minutes. It was a miracle Jason hadn't caught on yet. He might as well be wearing a shirt that read 'Jason Todd's biggest Simp'. 

If one good thing had come of this, it was that Dick's suspicions had nearly entirely melted away. They were still there but almost undetectable under the feelings of curiosity and amusement the older vigilante was radiating so strongly he might as well be shouting them.

"So how did you two meet?" Dick asked around a bite of food as he waved his fork at the two halfas. Jason paused, looking at Danny.

Cautious/Honesty?/TellEverything?/Lie?/Secrets? Brushed against Danny's awareness. Danny felt his embarrassment step aside as he focused on the now. How much should they tell Dick? He and Jason hadn't exactly talked about this beforehand. Absolutely none of this had been part of the plan.

From what Jason had told him, Dick was rarely on good terms with Bruce. And based on what Danny had been able to piece together from following Nightwing and Dick Greyson on the news, that hadn't changed much. 

There was a good chance if they asked Dick to not tell Brice what they told him, he wouldn't. Even if they asked him to hide that Jason was back. Hell they might be able to get Dick in on the plan. Especially if Jason was able to explain his side of things and his reasoning.

Then again, did Danny trust Dick enough to tell him everything? He knew Jason trusted him, loved him. But they hadn't seen each other in years, and a lot could change in that time.

Some/NotAll/GhostsYes/KingandKnight/No/Death/IfYouWant/TrustYourDecision/TrustYou Danny sent back, finally deciding. Dick could know what they were but he didn't need to know who they were. Dick was Jason's brother, but he was also a hero. He didn't need to know that he had access to the King of the Infinite Realms. Not until he'd proven he wasn't going to use that information badly. 

If this had been Bruce Wayne, Danny wouldn't have wanted the man knowing jack shit. He knew from Jason that Batman had contingencies on everyone. And he personally didn't think he'd ever trust the man enough to give him the information he'd need to learn how to kill him. 

All it took was knowing Danny and Jason were ghosts and with enough digging in the right areas he might find out about Blood Blossoms, or ghost weapons. And Danny would raze the Earth before he'd let Batman have those as 'contingencies' in case he needed to 'eliminate' Jason. 

But Danny trusted the love he could feel pouring from Dick. Trusted that Dick would sooner burn every last FentonWorks weapon and blueprint before he let anyone have a weapon that could take his brother away from him a second time. 

Bruce Wayne might be so calculating and devoted to his Mission that he'd sacrifice even his own children, but Danny felt that Dick would pick his family over the world every time. And for that reason alone, for the love he felt in Dick that he'd only felt the match of in Jazz when she looked at him or Jason, he trusted Dick to know their secrets.

"He picked me up in a cemetery." Jason said bluntly, Dick freezing mid bite.

"Actually, I picked him up from his own grave to be exact." Danny corrected, Jason rolling his eyes and nudging Danny with an elbow. 

Dick's face went white again, his eyes widening comically as he looked back and forth between the pair.

"Y-Your own grave?!" Dick choked out.

"Well yeah. Where else would you find someone who came back from the dead? In Walmart down the zombie aisle?" Jason asked as Danny snickered.

"Right next to the Ghost aisle and across from the revenant aisle! And beside the Ouija boards!" Danny threw in with a cackle that had Jason snorting. "He cost me a whole thirty-nine ninety-nine!" Danny got out between laughs and Jason gave up, burying his head in his hands as he laughed. 

"How are you so-so flippant about this?! He died!" Dick snapped at Danny who went from laughing to straight faced with a speed that obviously threw Dick off.

"Yeah? So did I. Try having several millions volts run through you at the same time as a portal to fucking hell is ripped open on top of you at fourteen." Danny shot back coldly, but with no venom. 

Jason settled a warm hand on Danny's shoulder, pulling him close and making the stool screech against the floor as Jason fit Danny against his side. Danny let himself relax into the protective embrace, not oblivious to the way Jason shifted his body so Dick couldn't see Danny at all. 

He was fine talking about his death, had told the story enough times that it didn't affect him. Hell it hadn't even bothered him at the time, he'd gotten cool powers and he couldn't even remember the pain or it happening! 

It was only years later that Jazz sat him down and explained that was a trauma response, that the event had been so traumatic his brain had blacked out the memory of it happening to protect him. Had made him look at it as a joke to help him cope with the fact he'd died, and died in indescribable agony. 

Once he'd gotten through actually handling that with Jazz there to help him through he could talk about it even easier, and joke about it more. But that didn't change the fact he could remember it now. Remember the pain. Or the fact that electricity was now something he both feared, and was almost attracted to. 

If anything talking about his death was more traumatic to Jason, who always seemed to feel guilty he hadn't been there to stop it. Even though they hadn't known each other then. 

Danny pulled slightly away from Jason so he could see Dick again, but didn't miss how Jason kept his hand on his shoulder. As if ready to pull him out of sight at a moments notice.

"I-Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't. I didn't know." Dick deflated, shoulders slumping and looking so much like a kicked puppy Danny wanted to bundle him up and cuddle him. 

"It's fine. I got some cool bonuses out of it, and because of that I was able to find and help Jason when he needed it." Danny gave Dick a warm smile, glad to see the older man smile hesitantly back. 

"You'll find that people like me and Jason, those who have died and those who weren't lucky enough to come part way back, tend to be rather chill," Jason groaned at the pun, "about it. Most of us will even talk your ear off about how we died. So don't ask unless you're ready to hear the gorey details. It's only the ones who died recently that still have a lot of trauma connected to it." Danny elaborated, and he could practically see the questions spawning in Dick's head.

"How did. How did Jason come back?" Dick seemed to settle on one question out of the probably hundreds he had and Danny grabbed his plate, dragging it closer as he took a bite of a crepe, nodding at Jason to talk. Jason frowned at him and sighed.

"We still haven't figured it out. It was six months after I died. I just. Woke up. In my coffin and Danny was there. Apparently I didn't come back enough and he had to do some emergency ghostly first aid bullshit so I didn't croak again." Jason reluctantly spoke up, apparently not enjoying being the one to speak as Dick switched his attention back to him. 

Danny could see Dick thinking, doing the math. Saw and felt when he realized how long Jason had been back. Felt the pain and anger when he realized Jason had stayed away on purpose. Danny knew Jason felt it too by the way his body stiffened and the hand on his shoulder tightened, heating up as if the fire in his core was burning under his skin. 

"You've been alive for two and a half years. And you didn't come back?" Dick finally asked, voice soft and deadly. Jason flinched as if struck, leaning away from his brother. Danny stepped in, the urge to protect roaring to life inside of him.

"That's the thing. He isn't alive. Neither of us are. Not really. We're half dead, Dick. And that comes with a host of things Jason needed time to figure out, in a place with others like him who could teach him and help him. Protect him." Danny snapped, drawing those burning blue eyes onto himself and away from Jason who was wound so tight Danny feared he'd snap. 

"We-We could have helped him." Dick tried weakly and Danny let out a short, cruel laugh.

"Oh really? Do you know anything about what it's like to die, Dick? Do you know how to help someone who is half alive and half dead? Do you even know what abilities we have? Or what to do when the elemental core forms? Or even what we need to consume to stay healthy? No. You don't because there's only two others like us in existence. Your 'help' could very well have done more harm than good." Danny was ruthless as he shot Dick down. 

He knew he was being a bit mean, but he wasn't going to let Dick blame Jason for needing the time he took. He was not going to let Dick, or anyone else, think this could have played out any differently and ended better. 

If anything if they had found Jason instead  it could've ended up so much worse. Without someone as durable as a ghost around to help Jason manage his new abilities and the stronger emotions,  everyone around him would've been in danger. Let alone the damage Jason would've suffered being a new halfa in an area without enough ectoplasm to sustain him. That alone would've driven him half mad from starvation. 

"Besides. Why would he want to come back Dick? When it took Batman what, seven months to replace him? Why would he think any of you even wanted him back?" Danny knew it was a low blow, but it needed to be said. 

Dick rocked back as if Danny had sucker punched him, and Jason's grip on his shoulder turned crushing. Jason didn't speak to reprimand him, and Danny knew it was because he was saying what Jason had been thinking since he'd found out about the new Robin. 

"We still wanted him! I still wanted him! He could've come to me. I mourned him every single day for three years!" Dick slammed his hands on the counter, the plates and glasses shaking from the force. 

"How was he supposed to know that, Dick? Did you ever make him feel like he could come to you? Did you ever make him feel like you were really his brother?" Danny hissed, leaning forward as his lips stretched to reveal rows of pointed teeth. 

"Stop being so selfish. Realize that you fucked up, and stop making this about you. Jason's here now. Don't push him away because you want to throw a tantrum because I guarantee if we don't want you to find us you never fucking will." Danny warned, knowing his eyes were flashing toxic green based on the way Dick flinched back. It was as if Danny had poked a hole in a balloon, the way Dick's anger leaked out of him, deflating him.

"Danny." Jason spoke softly, a warning in his voice. 

Danny took a deep breath, settling back on his chair as he forced his form to revert back to something mostly human rather than almost his ghost form. If there was one thing guaranteed to set him off it was anyone hurting Jason. 

"I'm sorry Dick," Jason turned to his brother as Danny pressed into his side, partially kept there by Jason's restraining hand. Like the other halfa was worried Danny might actually attack his brother. 

"I know I was gone for a long time. And I know that... hurt you. But I couldn't come back. I wasn't ready." Jason forced the words out, and Danny knew it was only because of Jazz's influence that Jason was able to be this honest about his emotions at all. 

Danny would have to tell her about this, she would be so proud and it would make Jason blush to have her praise him for using what she had been teaching him.

"I'm sorry too Little Wing, that I failed you. If I had been a better brother you wouldn't have felt like you didn't have a home here. You've always had a home with me. You always will." Dick was on the verge of crying again as he looked at Jason.

"I accept your apology. We both messed up. But maybe... we can try again?" Jason offered hesitantly. 

A smile like the sun breaking out from behind storm clouds blossomed on Dick's face as he threw his arms around Jason, managing to even entangle Danny in the hug. Seriously, if Danny didn't know better he'd think Dick was a halfa with how far his arms could reach. 

"Yes! Yes! I promise I'll be a better brother! I'll be the best big brother in fact!" Dick promised as he squeezed Jason, and a bemused Danny, tight. It was a good thing neither halfa needed to breathe, because Danny wasn't sure they could. 

"Awesome. We talked about our feelings. Can we finish fucking eating now?" Jason demanded when he had enough of being used as a human teddy bear stress ball. Dick chuckled wetly as he pulled back,  looking at their half eaten food.

"Yeah. But uh can we also discuss the whole half dead thing? And the Ghost shit you keep mentioning?" Dick asked as he picked up a piece of bacon. Danny and Jason traded looks.

"So. What do you know about ghosts Dick?" Danny asked with a smirk.

"I've seen Paranormal Activity?" Dick offered and Jason snorted into his glass.

"Alright, I hope you don't have plans for today because this is going to take a few hours. Welcome to The Undead 101." Danny rubbed his hands together with a grin as Dick looked between them with trepidation. Danny cackling only seemed to make him more wary.

"So. When people die they don't always always stay dead..."

Red Knight Tag Cult

@fisticuffsatapplebees​ @alinmenttreasure​ @angelheartgamer​ @chrysanthemum9484​ @catmaraudersfan​ @insert-penname-here ​ @barbnacle ​ @kitty-page ​ @quirky-gardener ​ @onyxlightdragon ​ @phoenixdemonqueen ​ @wisteriavines ​ @itsparadoxlacuna ​ @mousetrappa   @toodaloo-kangaroo @akikoyuii @ghostdragonace ​ @auroraphantasma ​ @quietlyscared ​ @bun-fish ​ @scaehime ​ @shadowkyne ​  @cheesymarmite @tei-pirate ​ @warriorofbooks ​ @dragongoblet ​ @tired-yet-awaken ​ @shower-man ​ @lady-jeleania ​ @09shell-sea09 ​ @larks-and-katydids ​ @firegirl108 ​ @fire-glass ​ @dragongoblet ​ @imchildish8775 ��� @chaoticchange ​ @errorchildsc ​ @24-7shipping ​ @theonewiththegays ​ @imforeveranoob @ghospectr ​ @ori-has-joined ​ @samgirl98 ​ @zalladane ​ @moonfirearc ​ @trickerdi @rosecinnamonbun ​ @blankliferain @ashenfairytale ​  @britcision ​

The King and his Red Knight

DPxDC crossover fic

Part 1

Really sorry to everyone who suffered through the fact that I didn't know about the existence of readmore. I can't fix the thread now but the individual posts are better? Sorry I have like a very rough idea of how this site works 😭

Check the: The King and his Red Knight tag to find all the parts

"Go here, Danny. Go then, Danny. Go to a random cemetery in the middle of the night for no reason, Danny." A voice grumbled, accompanied by the sound of sneakers rhythmically tapping stone.

Danny Fenton, currently Phantom, sat on a gravestone, his white hair a beacon in the dark night. There were no stars in the sky for him to gaze upon, their light hidden behind swaths of smog and neon lights playing off the gray clouds.

Clockwork had dumped him here, with no explanation for why. Not that he ever really explained much when he sent Danny off on his tasks. He supposed he should be grateful, at least he was in the same when rather than being transported a thousand years into the past.

"Wait here King Phantom. You will understand in time." Danny mimicked his mentor's voice as he let himself float off the grave he'd been dumped on after Clockwork shoved him out of a portal. His body floated higher until he could flip around, his legs crossing. He sat upside down, his chin in his palm as he glared petulantly at the assembled gravestones surrounding him, his toxic green eyes glowing.

"So far all I've seen is a concerning amount of ecotplasm for a city without a ghost portal and some blob ghosts! How long am I supposed to wait here?" Danny asked the air, and the aforementioned blob ghosts who were hanging off his body, soaking in the ambient ecotoplasm he radiated at all times now.

Neither provided him with an answer to his question and Danny let out a frustrated groan as he lowered his still flipped body to look once more on the gravestone he'd been tasked with waiting on.

Jason Todd, the name read. The dates, too close together, made something in Danny squeeze painfully. He'd been young, barely older than Danny when he stepped into the portal. Only for this teenager there had been no ectoplasm to bind to his dying body and repair the damage of death and force him back into a semblance of life.

"Who were you and why did Clockwork send me to you?" Danny asked the gravestone, one clawed finger tracing the words before he pulled back with a sigh when the gravestone gave him no explanation. The dead didn't always speak, not even to their king.

Turning his body Danny looked over the rest of the cemetery. It was empty, as most usually were this time of night, of the living. There were a few shades wandering around, circling closer to him, drawn by his presence. No full ghosts though, but oddly enough there rarely were in cemeteries. This was where the dead came to rest. To remember, if they wanted to. Cemeteries were sacred spaces to the dead, much as a temple or a church would be for the living who were religious. Ghosts who still clung to life, to their obsessions, did not frequent cemeteries, did not dare trespass and disturb those who had already found their peace.

Danny himself was an oddity. He had never shied from cemeteries, enjoying the peace he found in them, the guarantee of safety offered. And perhaps, he mourned that he himself would never have a gravestone for the living to place their flowers and their tears at. Who would make a grave for someone who was both alive and dead? There would never be a body to bury for him. His human half would continue to live on so long as his ghost core remained and could fuel it.

Maybe that was why he found peace in cemeteries, for all his whining that Clockwork had dumped him here. Cemeteries were for the living and the dead, one of the only places both existed in harmony naturally. For someone who was as much dead as he was alive such a place held a certain degree of belonging for him.

Danny straightened out in the air, letting his body lie above the grave as he folded his arms behind his head and looked up at the covered sky. He complained and whined about this task, but he was secretly glad that Clockwork had given him something to do. Even if it was just 'hang out in a random cemetary'.

Ever since he'd graduated high-school, revealed himself to his parents and discovered how deep prejudice and hate could run, and he'd run away to the Infinite Realms for sanctuary while his friends moved forward with their lives, he'd felt unmoored. A ghost with no haunt. Bored was too light a word for the gaping emptiness he felt in his chest, for the loneliness clawing at him. Clockwork, Wulf, Pandora they could help chip at the ache inside of him but not banish it. Not now that his family, his friends, were spread so far apart and so distant from him.

Not that he resented their choices, their distance, in fact he'd fought for them to do just that, to get out of Amity Park, to go to college, to become more than overworked teen superheroes. Still he missed them, even if he could visit them whenever he wanted. It was becoming clear as time moved forward that the world they belonged to and the one he did were two different things.

Danny Fenton couldn't go to college when his parents had declared him dead. Danny Fenton didn't exist as far as the government was concerned. Danny Phantom couldn't return to Amity when those same parents were waiting to capture him and tear him apart 'molecule by molecule'. Danny Phantom couldn't go back when the GIW were crawling over the town like ants.

So neither Danny Fenton or Danny Phantom returned to Amity after that day. And he made sure they couldnt follow him when he ensured the portal that took his life to function never opened again. He didn't need the portal any longer to get in and out of the Infinite Realms, and it was safer for the ghosts, his subjects, if the temptation of the Fenton portal was gone.

The world of the living was not yet ready to accept that the dead didn't always stay dead. And Danny would keep his people safe until they were.

Danny jolted from his lazing state of reverie when a pulse of emotion rocked through him, the strength of it stealing his breath if he had any to take.

Fear/Trapped/Dark/Fear/Help/HELP pounded into him and Danny frantically flipped around, head swiveling, poisonous green eyes wide as he triedf to locate the source. The emotions, the plea for help, burned his core, his Obsession screamed at him.

Help/SomeonePlease/Dark/Trapped/CANTBREATHE/HELP another wave of messages, of emotions pushed themselves at Danny and this time underneath the onslaught he could hear a rhythmic thudding. Danny looked down, horror filling him when he realized the thudding was coming from under the ground. From the grave he'd been hovering over for an hour now.

Danny flew down, sending back a wave of I'mHere/HelpIsComing/I'mComing to the boy trapped in his own coffin, feeling the intense wave of relief and hope sent back before he dived into the earth as if it wasn't there. Danny paused for a moment when he passed the thick wooden coffin, seeing a boy in the dark with wide, panicked blue eyes and fingers tipped with shredded nails and fresh blood.

"Hey, I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" Danny told the boy, keeping his voice gentle, soft. The boy jolted, fixating on the only source of light, Danny's growing green eyes. Danny hoped his smile came off as calming instead of 'freaky AF' as Tucker liked to call it. He grabbed the boy, Jason, as carefully as he could and then let his intangibility wash over the terrified teen as he lifted them both out of the coffin.

When they emerged from the coffin and the ground Danny set the teen down, leaning him against the gravestone, his own gravestone, and pulled back a bit. The boy was gasping in air as if the fetid, polluted air was the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted.

Danny tilted his head as he watched the boy ground himself. Now that the emotions were leveling out and his Obsession was purring in contentment rather than growling in a frenzy, Danny could feel something off about the boy.

Disregarding the fact that he'd just come back from the dead, of course. But that wasn't the oddest thing Danny had seen in his afterlife. No the boy felt... not like a normal, living human. Not even like an Amity Park resident, who all felt more than slightly liminal. No this boy, this Jason Todd, felt closer to liminal than even Jazz, Tucker or Sam, who were three of the most liminal humans Danny had ever been around.

Jason felt almost...like a ghost. But not. Danny could feel the tickle in his throat that proceeded his ghost sense but the tell-tale mist never emerged. It was as if Jason was...like him. But Danny couldn't sense a core either. Even halfas had cores.

"Who are you?" Jason spoke, breaking Danny from his thoughts and examination. Jason was looking at him with a mix of gratitude and suspicion. Which, fair. Danny had just pulled him from his own coffin and there were so many questions that could stem from all of this, disregarding all the weirdness that was just Danny himself.

"I'm Danny, Danny Phantom. Or just Phantom. I go by either. And you're Jason, right?" Danny asked, smiling at the teen and oops, yeah that was definitely his scary smile based on the slight flinch there. It wasn't his fault his teeth were too sharp now and his lips split a bit too wide.

"How did you know that?" Jason asked, blue eyes narrowing. Danny nodded at the gravestone the boy was leaning against with a raised brow. Jason turned and almost toppled over from the movement. Danny frowned as the boy caught himself on his gravestone. His skin was still pale, too pale, and as Danny watched Jason swayed again.

"Shit. You're fading. You didn't form a core and your body isn't stabilizing." Danny cursed, moving towards the boy who scrambled back, only to be stopped by his grave.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jason asked, hands fisting as he tried to rise only to fall back to the ground when his legs refused to hold his weight.

"Saving your life. The dead aren't supposed to come back. There's always a price to pay, a balance that is struck. Currently, as you are, if I don't get enough ectoplasm in you to form your core, you'll fade and turn into a brain-dead husk." Danny told Jason, tone stern and no nonsense as he grabbed him. Jason made an effort to break free, but it was weak, and even at full strength, he wouldn’t have been able to break Danny's hold. Few in this realm could.

If they had the time, Danny would've approached this situation in a far different manner, but this close he could hear Jason's heartbeat, a weak flutter in his chest, skipping beats as it tried to fuel a body that was past saving. Jason didn't have the time for Danny to approach this gently and kindly, to coax trust out of the teen like he would a feral cat.

Jason had minutes left before his ectoplasm starved body consumed itself trying to make a core and failed because while wherever they were had more ambient ectoplasm than most places, it was far from enough to sustain the birth of a halfa. Maybe if Jason had stayed dead for another year, he'd have naturally formed a core and risen as a proper ghost. But that wasn't what happened, somehow he'd gathered enough to fix his body of whatever wounds or illness had put him in that coffin to begin with and come back to 'life' but without a core to sustain his body he'd be dead, again, in minutes. And Danny was not about to watch while a teenager, another teenager, died.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Jason hissed as Danny pushed his arms down and laid his clawed hands on Jason's chest.

"You don't. But you don't have another choice." Danny said with a shrug. "Now are you going to let me save your life or not?" Danny asked, not moving his hands. He'd save Jason either way but this would be easier if Jason worked with him.

"Fine." Jason spat and Danny smirked as his hands began to glow a toxic green that matched his eyes.

Ectoplasm pooled out of his hands and rushed into Jason, filling him until the boy glowed bright enough to rival the neon lights of the city around them. The green light flared around him like an aura, slowly shrinking but getting impossibly brighter as the glow centralized around his chest until a small glowing ball of green, like a trapped star, blazed from his chest.

Jason gasped, back arching as Danny pulled his hands away and the light vanished under Jason's skin. For a moment Jason's blue eyes burned green and his hair flashed snow white before returning to black, with one single lock of unearthly white left above his forehead. Jason collapsed back against his grave, chest heaving. Danny watched, eyes full of a sad understanding.

"What the fuck was that?" Jason panted out.

"Welcome to the world of the half alive, half dead." Danny said with a smile. "Want to get a burger and talk about it?" He asked, standing up and dusting off his hands.

"Make it a chili dog and you've got a deal."

~~~~~

Fixed some typos added some lines

Maybe I'll continue this AU. Maybe not. This scene was in my head for days and I wanted to share

[seonghwaddict]

ateez’s favourite positions — masterlist

requested by anon. genre. hc, smut rating. mature. warnings. sexual content mdni, various sex positions, nicknames n stuff. wc. 768.

[ lilo’s notes . . . ] thank you for requesting~ i had to do research for this and like… why are there so many names for the same positions??? and some of these are such weird obscure names i genuinely stared at my screen so blankly cuz who came up with these- not only that but some of the positions i saw looked SO UNCOMFORTABLE??? anyways, moving on and if you aren’t familiar with these position… i suggest looking them up because i will NOTTTTT be providing any links 😁

hongjoong

face sitting. when he says sit on his face he means sit on it. he likes how his mouths drives you wild and how you have to stop yourself from just grinding on his face—he’d lift you for like two seconds to encourage you to do just that. and you see that couch in his studio? yeah i’m not gonna elaborate.

“baby, sit.”

seonghwa

missionary. when he’s not torturing you with his tongue, he likes to fuck you deep and slow. missionary may sound very plain, but occasionally he’ll throw in a blindfold or some restraints. almost if the time, though, he wants it to be just you and him. he likes this position so he can see your face clearly, watching the way you unravel with each frustratingly slow grind of his hips.

“hm, look at you… so pretty and all for me.”

yunho

backseat driver. he’s not very picky about positions, but he does like having you in his lap while he’s gaming. whether it’s him ending a game badly and needing relief right there or you wanting to tease and distract him, he will always revel in the subtle arch of your back and bounce of your tits, having to keep both you and himself quiet when he’s on a call and playing with his friends.

“keep it down, yeah? we don’t want everyone to hear you like this, now do we?”

yeosang

leap frog. he’s an ass guy idc what ANYONE says. if you’re telling me he won’t stare at the way your ass bounces against pelvis, you’re dead wrong. he likes to reach over and give your clit some attention too. yeosang also leans down to kiss your back sweetly while also fucking you like his life depends on it. guys i am DEEP in yeosang brain rot rn if i continue i fear i won’t be able to stop.

“get your face out of that pillow, pretty girl. let me hear you.”

san

spooning. i think that, yes, occasionally he’d like to be rough, but i will NEVER back down from my soft dom!san agenda. in this position, he’s able to hold you and keep you warm and make you feel good all over. the technicalities(?) of spooning you feels good for the two of you—your thighs pressed together making your walls hug him tighter. this is also a good position for him to gently fuck you to sleep at the end of the day. also: comforting kisses all over your shoulders and the back of your neck… he just wants to make you feel nice and comfortable and keep you safe in his arms :(

“just relax, baby… you know i’ll take care of you.”

mingi

tabletop. if no one’s around, he’ll risk taking you right on the kitchen counter. if that’s not possible, he’ll lick the bedroom door and sweep any items off his desk and take you there. there’s something about seeing you say somewhere and being the one standing between your legs and coaxing orgasm after orgasm out you that makes his insides feel all hot and tingly. this also give the two of you good access to kiss each other all over your torsos.

“i’ve got you, doll, just give me one more, i know you can do it.”

wooyoung

ballet dancer. specifically against a wall, or door, or window, or- you get the point. any vertical surface will do. one hand on your waist or breast or neck and the other hitching your thigh around his hips. sometimes he’ll be fucking you so well, your nails dig into the skin of his shoulders or chest—he really likes that.

“does that feel good, jagi? yeah? i’ll keep doing that then, but make sure i can hear those pretty sounds, hm?”

jongho

cowgirl. don’t be fooled, though you may be on top, he’s still in control. he lets you fuck yourself on his dick for a bit and when you close, he’ll flip you over so quickly you get whiplash. but that’s on days where he’s feeling like a menace. other than that, he does actually love the sight of you on top of him, claiming him as yours. he doesn’t have a preference for sitting or laying down, he’s perfectly happy as long he can see your fucked out and desperate face.

“there you go… you take me so well…”

　　[ networks ... ] @cromernet @wonderlandnet

　　[ perm taglist — open ... ] @ad0rechuu @sankatchu @mlink64 @yeosangsbb @seonghwasbbgirl @likexaxdaydream @dreamingofyeo

[sxtvrns]

Hihi! Could I request a OT6 p1harmony reaction where the reader is on her period and is cramping? 😭

If not it's COMPLETELY ok and ignore this please!!🙌🏼

Thank you bby🩷

end of discussion, period

🎶 now playing: emergency - p1harmony

P: OT6!P1Harmony + Fem!Reader (platonic)

S: Your best friends are unusually well versed in dealing with that time of the month.

G: fluff, hurt/comfort

N: hey yall if you havent seen my other post i would like to let yall know p1harmony is no longer my ult </3 I CAN STILL WRITE FOR THEM JUST PUT IT IN UR REQS but my profile will end up undergoing a transformation!! anyways ik i picked a silly song for this but this is a silly little fic so enjoy and KEEP THOSE REQUESTS COMING I LOVE GETTING UR LITTLE PROMPTS

please interact if you enjoy!

On the outside, you’re keeping a stone cold expression, hyperfocused on the show playing on your TV. The rest of your place is quiet, the only other audible sound being the running air conditioner in the background.

On the inside, you’re fighting demons as your cramps fight wars in your stomach, the pain constant and increasingly tedious. At this point, the pain had become a nuisance and was at the forefront of your mind.

You were desperately trying to get it to go away because you were supposed to meet with your friends later; so far, the pain doesn’t seem like it will subside.

Of course, every sense was heightened because of your period, including the sense that you’d die on your couch and succumb to the torture of your cramps.

Your friends would be pissed at you for cancelling and you know it. The more you try to move, the more the pain moves around in your stomach. You felt gross and unkept, despite having taken a shower a few minutes ago. This couch was your deathbed, and the ceiling would be last thing you saw before you died.

Slowly, you picked up your phone and texted the group chat.

👤: guys

👤: it’s hell rn

🐺: i mean yeah it’s boiling outside

👤: i can’t go

🐺: WHAT

🐿️: Y/N WE’VE BEEN PLANNING THIS FOR MONTHS

🐯: we planned this 2 weeks ago

👤: IK im sorry but im glued to my couch right now and i can’t get up

🐶: lazy ass

🍟: (*´-`)

👤: i am in physical pain and it very much hurts

🐺: did you get stabbed

🐿️: are you okay

🐺: why aren’t you at the hospital

👤: calm down it’s not that serious

🐯: then why can’t you come?

👤: …

👤: cramps

🐶: ohhhh

🐶: sorry

🐶: you’re not lazy

👤: you better be sorry

🍟: (・∀・)

🐿️: those cramps

👤: yes jiung period cramps

👤: they’re hurting really bad this time and it’s hard for me to move

🐺: stay calm don’t panic

👤: what

🐯: keeho is running around the dorm rn

👤: why

👤: you guys??

👤: hello??????

“Assholes…” You muttered, putting down your phone and accepting your fate.

You shut your eyes, trying to find some sort of relief in the void that is the back of your eyelids, and though it helped distract you, it didn’t exactly help get rid of the pain. On top of that, the guilt you felt for canceling last minute was starting to get to you.

Sure, you only planned this outing 2 weeks ago, but everyone was really looking forward to it. You hoped they’d go without you, but knowing them, they’d rather stub their toe on every surface than do something without you. But it would be such a waste if they didn’t–

“Y/N! Open up!”

You hear a voice yell from outside, along with aggressive pounding on your door, and the confusion overtook the pain as you walked to check who it was.

All 6 of your friends were outside your apartment with grocery bags and panicked expressions, except for Soul. He was staring into the camera. Keeho was knocking on your door rather unintentionally hostile; you knew he was just worried about you.

You slowly unlock the door and let out a soft groan, your voice matching the volume. “Hello?”

“Y/N, sit down.” Jiung gently guides you back to your couch, the rest of them flowing inside with the door closing behind them. You sit down, groaning in pain. “Where’s your heating pad? Why don’t you have it?”

“I was too tired to get up and get it–“

Jongseob suddenly drops it onto your lap, plugging it in and turning it on. You grab it and press it against your abdomen. “This is the setting you like, right?”

“How did you–“

“Made you some tea.” Theo put a mug down on the table, the steam telling of its freshness. Though the temperature doesn’t help with the weather, it would certainly help with your pain. It was even the right flavour too.

Soul put your favourite movie on the TV, and you could hear Keeho and Intak conversing in the kitchen.

“That’s too big, cut it smaller!”

“Not my fault the oranges are huge!”

Their bickering is soft, but you’re brought back to the people in front of you, sitting on the floor and watching the movie.

“Did you guys wanna sit?” You speak up. All of them shake their heads and assure you that they’re okay. Soul suddenly gets up and goes to your room.

“How about you lie down, Y/N? On your stomach?” Theo suggests, and you slowly get into said position, feeling comfier.

“Guys… seriously, what are you doing here?”

Jiung joins you in the living room. “Well, we weren’t just gonna go out without you. And besides, it’s super hot out.”

“Usually we’d be able to handle it, but it feels empty without you there. We can go out another time.”

The oranges Keeho and Intak were bickering over were finally placed on the coffee table in front of you, everyone lunging to grab a slice of their own.

“Most of all, we wanted to help you. At least you won’t have to deal with this on your own.” Keeho says. “Hey, save some for Y/N!” He scolds his group members.

You chuckle. “You guys are seeing me while I’m hot shit.”

“You don’t look any different, Y/N.” Intak adds, sitting down and taking an orange slice for himself.

“Do you guys even know what you’re doing?” They all freeze, staring blankly at you.

“You complain about your period sometimes, so we have a general idea of it…” Soul mutters loud enough for you to hear.

“Are you guys sure you’re okay with… chilling here?” You ask, unsure. They all nod and Theo speaks up. “Your air conditioning is saving us right now. You can kick us out at any time if we hoard it too much.” You chuckle. The next thing you know, you doze off.

For a moment, you’re pulled out of sleep and hear faint bickering.

“The congee is burning!”

“Calm down, it’s just the towel– oh my god, the towel is on fire!”

In this heat and with your pain that’s slowly but surely drifting away, you couldn’t care less.

it’s an emergency! 🎧

[drawlody]

My list of Adam ships♡ n my opinion bout them (also fics rec :D)

Adam x Luicfer (Adamsapple/Duitarduck) 10/10

Need i say more:)))??!?! started out as a "haha funny slip-up ship" to "hey they got really good angst potential". The friends/lovers to enemies to lovers is STRONG with this one n i am eating up everything i could found on ao3. Smth bout this macho-ass man finally getting to stay back n not take charge for once feel nice, also princess Adam supermacy wooooo. Whoever came up with the ship name i applaud u cause that's like a 3 layers name(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

It's not an Adamsapple fic without Adam having at least 1 mental breakdown n Lucifer have his guilt eating him alive:)))

Very fucked up torture but i swear it worth the pain:D The dove is so dead it start to rot so plz read the tags properly (plz check out the AngeliaDark other works too they got good shit)

This one have a splits so check out both the fics (beware the author have a skrewed sense of what is considered wholesome:))))

I didnt think a smut scene could be this sad

Adam x Lute (Guitarspear/Guardrock) 10/10

Litteraly my first Hazbin ship, assholes in love is an underrated dynamic we desperately need more off:))) That with a dash of evil dude x loyal subordinate (which i havent seen since the Deathglare days) n opposite attract (look they have one main thing in common is that their extreme bloodthirst, other than that she's stricter than ur mom n he's lazier than the Sloth ring itself but that the beauty of it no? He convince her to chill tf out n not to burst a blood vessel, she keep him on track n make sure Sera dont come on their asses)

They're just being silly enabling each other terrible behaviour n i love that for them (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) Litteral besties i tell ya

Heavy non-con shit involving Val but Lute will revenge our boi i promised u that

Cool idea n they r just made for each other damn

First hazbin fic i read which is a really cool smut:D

Adam x Micheal (we need a ship name people ) (update: it's Songbird/Guitarhero) 10/10

I like how we dont even got a proper comfirmation of Micheal design/personality yet the ship is here already ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ( im using the Nakariiale's design as a base here love their design)

Hit me with that rebound love x "u look like my ex so im using u as a replacement but ill fall for the real u eventually" x co-workers in heaven. I'm thinking smth along the line of "after Lucifer fucked off with Lilith, Micheal became Adam guardian angel n they just hang out" ya feel me here? (✿◕‿◕✿)

Shout out to Bloog_b for dragging me into this ship:DDD also im on the Adam x the archangels ship as a "gotcha" to Lucifer of sort. Like bitch u stole my wives imma steal your brotherS

Look it's Adamsapple endgame but trust me u will be feed well on this ( u know how good u gotta be for people to ditch the main ship?)

I'm giving yall 4 fics here cause i can only found 4 rn(._. )

this one is uhh non-con so beware

Micheal is indeed Adam guardian angel in this one:D

Adam x Eve (Flowertunes) 8/10

I dont care what yall said they love each other throughout Eden n Earth , might have a falling out in heaven but that doesnt change the fact that they were once IN LOVE. Honestly why cant we just have a couple that have the same bright-eyed innocence like one another.I refuse to believe Eve like willingly cheat on Adam with malicious intent n all, simply she was indeed ''tricked'' or just not fully understand the sistuation, n Adam love her way too much to think that she would do that to him like Lilith. Hell the dude was heartbroken after L left , starting the abandonment issues, so he would have cling to Eve, doing everything so that he aint alone again, even if that mean leaving Eden

Honestly it pisses me off that the Adam/Eve tag on ao3 most of the time is just 1 dialouge between them back when Eve bit the apple n thats it no elaboration on the couple whatsoever >:(((

Lots of switcharoos

sinner eve woooo

look its hard trynna find a fic focusing on them ok?

Adam x St. Peter (Guitargreeter (bet ya didnt see that coming:))) 7/10

Base on this fanfic alone Joe my dude u r on the path of becoming THE Adam crack-ship writer n i am here for this:)))) just so u wait this dude gonna whip out a AdamxNifty , AdamxHusk fic later on ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

From within the fic itself the ship its 2 bros in love with homophobia standing in the way >:( also when did we have a name?!?!?!?

I just like Adam x anyone in heaven alright:D like bro famous n he got that ancient rizz, u telling mr he cant bag a hottie or 2-100+ hmm?

Adam x Alastor (Angelicradio) 8/10

I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT ABOUT THEM THAT I SHIP I JUST DO φ(゜▽゜*)♪ i blame YOU honestly rn this ship is either Adam found Al after the fight n they make a deal or they're in heaven n they chillin this ship is confusing:D

They're angels on heaven

Adam gone back into eden n do shit differently

This is both Adam/Eve n Adam/Alastor kinda

Adam x Alastor x Lucifer (Angelicradioapple/ Charlie's dads (only me call them that lol)) 9/10

''Hey Charlie u know how u r sad that your mother left? Wellllllll i got you 2 new dads suprise:DDDD''

Look 3 miserable men who hate each other + hell's greatest dad + my love for Dadam = Messy ass old men yaoi :DDDD n it work perfectly with Alastor Asexuality too!!! Like Adam n Lucifer could fuck each other brains out before Al joining in for the cuddles lol

Chaos ensue

Not exactly a love triangle but a love corner but hey we barely got food here :D

I cant believe how hot this shit is lol

Adam x Eve x Lilith x Lucifer (Eden poly/ applecore?) 8/10

They could have been all married to each other(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ But as much as i go "OooOooo Poly yay'' i just cant vibe with EvexLucifer, like the cheating vibes is wayyyyyyyyy too much i just cant man . I mean with the interpetation that Lucifer came to Eden to hang out with the humans they all know eachother, they're a throuple yes but BUT when Eve came into the picture it was only with Adam n him only so the other 2 is ehhhh. Im fine with EvexLilith cause im seeing it happening later, not hidden from Adam while LuciferxEve got that deception going on .So uhhh in this ship they're more like bestie than lovers to me¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also AdamxLilith is an underrated pairing like everytime i saw this applecore thing going on these 2 r at most tolerate each other like cmonnnnn we already twist this to hell n back, why cant we make it so their arguement was a petty non-malicious one n they still cares for each other hmm???

They're one happy family

IDK what to tell u bittersweet reunion n loving family is the only typa fic u get with this ship

Not that im complaining i need this wholesomeness

Adam x Mammon (Adammon/Madam/Greedyguitar/ 1st chirstmas.... hasnt had an offical name yet) 10/10

They r litteraly same person different font idk what to tell u. More insults thrown around than Guitarspear but they're pretty similar. Adam is just " sinners suck ass but this dude is the worst in the best way". Also they're both big bois (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و�� , they love towering over others

I'm sorry but there r barely BARELY

any fics of them :(

The art side is more plentiful tho :D

Adam x Angel Dust (Holydust/guitardust) 5/10

THEY ARE BESTIES YOUR HONOUR n that the exact reason why i cant see them be together as a couple 100%, like the shit-talking bff vibes r wayyyy too strong XD Angel finally got someone who have the same vulgar humour as him n if Adam got married in hell Angel would 100% be his best bitch of honour (≧∀≦)ゞq(≧▽≦q)

They're best friends who have casual no-string attached sex that is ACTUALLY no-string attached:)))

I came to ship them due to those "What if they're co-workers under Val' scenarios ive been seeing on Tumblr

I got like 1 fic on ao3 i mean if u r looking for just platonic friendship between them then rest asure most Adam's redemption fics have that

I got 1 fic on tumblr

Adam x Charlie (Charadam/Guitarprincess) 5/10

U know this ship give me a pretty bad first impression since a good chunk of the fics r either heavy non-con shit or lean wayyyyy to much into the daddy kink, ya know how Charlie got suppose daddy issues n all that jazz?:))) yeah that... that

But after seeing the art side of this ship im chillin with them now, since the art r pretty wholesome, usually having them decked out in punk-rock clothings hanging out. It's a big "Fuck you" to Lucifer n i live for these mf argueing ╰(*°▽°*)╯

So uhhh stay away from the fics if ya want an actual functional couple instead of wtv messed up shit we got there:))) But here's a fic anyway, the only one where it feel bearable n actual trynna go into said messed up relationship i already warn you

We got cracks like Guitarmaid (AdamxNifty), Valadam (AdamxVal) which i dont have enough materials to decied, Classicalrock (AdamxSera) sound interesting but also havent found anything , Guitarhalo (AdamxEmily) is an unexpected find, find i deem them to be more familial than romantic so we'll see if there's a fic good enough to convince me

Edit:i forgot to add Blitzo like Mammon already there why did i forgot

Adam x Blitzo (i dont think anyone even ship this but me:)) 7/10

I cant find a single fic where they has anything more than a 1 nightstand n 1 interaction where they hit it off , i live off imagination alone (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) but like fr fr they would match so well, like their bloodlust n general jerkiness would make them the 3rd asshole x asshole ship on this list :DDDD

Tho as much as i wanna see them go further i feel like an on-n-off relationship/friends with benefits fit em more ya know ( *^-^)ρ(*╯^╰) If ya have any fic but the 2 here that have them interact lemme know cause a bitch need food :)

This is a lot of tag(._. )

[save-the-villainous-cat]

Selfless hero gets kidnapped and tortured, and the first thought that comes to their mind is “is this punishment for all the things I’ve done..?” even though the worst thing they’ve ever done was something along the lines of beating up a villain for slaughtering dozens of civilians

Then enter their villain love interest who rescues them and showers them with comfort and warmth and hero doesn’t know what to do or how to react since they’ve always been the one to care for others, not being the one being CARED OF by others 💔 (also bc it’s supposed to be their nemesis, so they’re like “why tf are they saving me rn”)

You reap what you sow.

The hero stared at their broken fingers through their blurred vision. Their hands were shaking. Their throat hurt. The rain was cold and uncomfortable as it seeped through their torn clothes.

For the first time, they felt like a child again, getting bullied and beaten up at school. All of it had been so quick. They'd been kidnapped and tortured. They'd been thrown into an alley. But despite the broken bones and the open wounds, the fear was worse. They had slipped back into that terrified kid who couldn't even raise their hand in school.

They knew they deserved it. They deserved all of this. Violence only answered violence and they had beaten up enough people to be a criminal themselves.

When they saw the headlights, the hero closed their eyes laboriously. Would running over by a car be a painless way to die? They could tell bleeding out wasn't their biggest problem. It was the cold.

The driver's door opened and at first, the hero couldn't even tell that it was the villain who was approaching them.

"Shit..." the villain cursed. They didn't look amused.

Although the hero couldn't believe the villain was here to save them, they prayed in secret that it was true.

When the villain was close enough, they kneeled next to them.

"What happened?" Their eyes had dark circles under them and as the rain soaked through the villain's perfect hair, the hero understood that they truly weren't here to kill them.

The villain's hand found the hero's forearm.

"Talk to me, what happened?"

"I don't know, I really don't-" Suddenly, the hero's throat closed and the tears followed promptly. Their nose was running and anew, they were teleported back in time. So many times, they had blamed themselves for the abuse, they had protected their abusers and now, they could feel themselves do the same thing all over again. "I messed up."

"You went missing for two days," the villain said.

"What!? No, that can't be true. I was gone for a few hours, I swear." The hero felt more pain crawl up their throat. How on earth were they going to explain that to their boss? "Shit, what am I doing?! I have to go home."

They tried to pull themselves up and stand but their ankles had been smashed with a pipe. That they could remember. Embarrassingly, the hero struggled and almost fell to the ground again.

"Alright," the villain said calmly and before the hero could say anything, they picked them up as if the hero didn't weigh anything at all. "That's enough."

At first, the hero wanted to protest. But they didn't have the energy to fight nor did they think it would get them anywhere. The villain was warm and gentle, their hands were soft and their voice was calm. The hero knew this was dangerous. They were walking into a trap, into a comfortable and safe trap.

The villain was probably waiting for the right moment to end them.

However, when the villain put them on the backseat, they weren't sure what to expect. Although it was a big car, it was surely not designed to fit two people on top of each other in the back.

"What are you doing?" the hero asked. They were getting tired. "Why are you helping me?"

"Remember that time you pulled me out of the river?"

"Oh."

"Yeah," the villain said. They took off their coat and put the coat on the hero, attempting to cover them. "Now, let's start over. What happened?"

"I told you, I messed up..."

"I don't believe that. Please, in your own time." They held onto the driver's seat and reached for all the buttons in the front. Suddenly, the car got warmer and the hero grabbed the villain's hand. Their broken fingers didn't want to cooperate but at this point, the hero cared little for the pain. The villain turned again and all of their attention seemed to be on the hero.

"I got kidnapped and then tortured; I thought I was going to die there. I was so scared. I froze and I didn't put up a fight. I couldn't..."

"Okay," the villain said. Their eyes didn't leave the hero's face and the hero almost thought they had said something wrong. "Easy..."

The villain gently rubbed the hero's thigh.

"You're safe now, okay?"

The hero nodded.

"It was bound to happen. You reap what you sow. I am not a good person and I was selfish, I-"

"No," the villain said. "Don't do this to yourself. You didn't do anything wrong."

The hero could feel the tears again. God, they were such a mess today. They couldn't hold back anymore.

"Please," the hero whispered. "What are you doing to me?"

"I'm bringing you home," the villain said. The hero's hand was still around theirs.

"No, what are you doing to me? What are you doing to my brain? Why are you so nice? Why do you care?" At this point, they were exhausted. Exhausted from crying, exhausted from the pain. The hero craved a long hot bath but the villain so close to them came pretty close to that.

"Someone has to, don't you think?" Something in their expression told the hero this wasn't the whole truth. "We have to go now, okay? You seriously need some medical attention."

Their gaze lingered on the hero for a little bit longer before they got into the driver's seat.

[inconceptual-nonsense]

I am so sad thinking about John and Arthur rn. Just the fact that John feels like Arthur only wants him there out of necessity, and that's why John is so wary of Arthur making connections and having other friends. Because then Arthur wouldn't need him anymore, and he thinks that Arthur wouldn't want him around otherwise.

Also, the whole situation with John feeling isolated bc Arthur is quite literally the only person he has. I'm so upset thinking about how Noel was the first person they trusted enough for Arthur to tell him about John and that at first John was freaking out about it and then Noel takes it so well and actually asks for John's opinion on things and Arthur is able to literally give John a voice of his own so he can talk to him. And when Noel was hanging off the edge of that railing and John fought Yellow off so that Arthur could pull him back up, and John didn't even know how he was able to project himself like that in the first place, but he did, to save Noel. And the fact that Noel, in the face of being told that John is a fracture of the KIY, the god that tortured Noel in the dreamland for years and killed his friends, Noel is understanding, and he reassures John that he isn't like the King. Noel is the first person outside of Arthur that John has had, and now he's gone.

Losing my shit actually.

[bratbarzal]

On Your Side (NH13) / Chapter Five

Pairing: Nico Hischier x Fem!OC Poppy Jensen*

*I say it's an OC, it's just a name and third person POV. I use minor character descriptions because I don’t get on with writing vague reader inserts/YN for long-form, story heavy fics, but I will generally try to avoid including race and body type or really any physical descriptors. I’m always open to feedback on my writing, or how to be more inclusive.

WC: 17k (holy moly)

Chapter Warnings: I tried to sprinkle some fluffy flashbacks and smutty references later in here just to lighten the mood but this is angsty!! probably cursing I honestly can't remember, and serious warnings rn mentions of hacking/gossip blogs/blackmail/cyber bullying/nudes being leaked, talia is her own warning tbh. I tried not to make a cliched ex comes in between them plot and idk how it comes across but yeah I was trying to toe the line between it being interesting/different and then going too far and not being able to write around it which is why the plot kind of fixes itself quick and is a leeeetle bit bad but there's some unresolved bitterness in that relationship for sure lmao she has a LOT 2 say!! did I mention there's angst in here? insecurity/self-doubt and miscommunication!!! in abundance!!! but!! luke is a cutey patootie in this I wrote his part with a lil smile on my face 💖 also a ridiculous conversation about huffing glue lmao

Series Masterlist

Previous Part (Chapter Four)

A/N: ok so in the grand scheme of things this is both a filler chapter and also like a pivotal point in the story to set something later up, but when I was planning this entire fic out, the only directive I gave myself for this specific chapter was insert angst. you wouldn't believe the amount of times I've written and rewritten and gone back and forth on what's in here. it's the kind of instruction only a complete melon would give themselves and I clearly just hate myself in ways that are spooky and strange to submit myself to this kind of torture.

and I hear your cries of hasn’t this fic just been angst so far??? yes!! you may be correct!! but you don’t get a rainbow without a bit of rain hun!!! grab an umbrella!!! I promise good will come of this lmao

I'm sorry this one took so long, it's the only chapter I didn't have any kind of plan or direction for obviously and I tried to come up with so many different options for the talia plot before I landed on whatever this is, but the next one I do have some scenes written out in my plan so shouldn't be as long in between. my goal has always been a chapter a week but like I said the other day work has been a lot for me the past couple of weeks so I am genuinely sorry for making you wait!!

you guys were very fun and very kind to me after the last chapter so please please please lets keep the good vibes going come chat to me about your thoughts about the fic about the weather about anything!! 💓

Nico

When Nico and Talia had first started dating, there had been an element of excitement to the dynamic. Nico hadn’t properly dated anyone in a while - had casual flings here and there, and for the most part spent his time swallowing down his burgeoning feelings for his best friend - and there was a novelty to starting something with someone new.

He had all the intentions of building something serious with her. She was fun, got on with his friends, had ties close to home that meant he wouldn’t be putting a wedge between the two of them should he want to travel back in his breaks, and sinking his teeth into the challenges of a relationship was something that actually intrigued him.

He liked planning dates, liked buying gifts to see that buzz of joy and gratitude it would elicit, and he liked the companionship - liked having someone there when he came back from a long roadie or a tough string of games. 

He liked it so much he never really opened his eyes to the fact that Talia didn’t. 

She didn’t like the dates he planned - didn’t like the restaurants he chose, the movies he wanted to share with her, the bars him and the guys frequented. She didn’t like America, didn’t like their coffee shops, thought their pastries were packed with too much sugar, their portion sizes were too large for her ever to enjoy going for lunch, always complaining about feeling bloated and sluggish after every meal. She hated Jersey - wanted to spend all her time across the Hudson, looking down on everyone she met and everywhere they went together. She didn’t make much use of the gifts he bought her - let every bouquet of flowers die a quick, careless death, said the watch he bought her didn’t go with enough of her other jewellery and turned her nose up at every effort he made to make his apartment feel more like her home. 

She wasn’t all that comforting when it came to companionship, either. Rolled her eyes when he came home aching and exhausted, went out without him on the days he was coming back from a roadie and returned home when he had long retired to his bed. She would always want to meet up with her girlfriends instead of hanging around the team, and only ever wanted to come to games if she could bring her own entourage - mostly to show off her connections and hardly ever to actually support him.

And so, despite the initial attraction, despite the excitement that first came with their blossoming relationship, Nico can only look at Talia with disinterest and frigidity now.

He barely greets her as he opens the door to his apartment, moving aside to let her in and waiting for her to trudge her small case in behind her before he closes it, leaning against the surface and watching her discard her bag and keys on the counter with familiarity.

When she turns to face him, running a hand through her hair and huffing out a big sigh, he takes in her dishevelled appearance.

Even when travelling, Talia usually takes great pride in her pristine exterior - hair blow-dried, outfit co-ordinated and steam-pressed to perfection, not a crease or stain in sight, and usually a light layer of makeup to cover the slight imperfections like the darkened under eyes and redness around her nose. This isn’t like her.

She looks like she’s been messing with her hair the whole 8 hour flight out and beyond, her eyes are rimmed-red with smudges of brown at the corners, her lips are chapped and swollen like she’s been crying, and her sweatpants don’t match her hoodie. It’s almost like she’d thrown on whatever she could find and caught the first flight out, fresh out of bed.

“What’s going on?” He cuts straight to the chase, losing all formality and courtesy. He should feel bad for his callous greeting, but she had broken up with him over text not even a month ago - she doesn’t exactly deserve outstretched arms and a warm embrace, he thinks.

“Hi Talia, how have you been, Talia? It’s nice to see you Talia.” She mocks, a frown overtaking her features immediately. “I’m absolutely amazing, thanks for caring, Nico!” Sarcasm spews from her tongue like pure venom, and his eyes practically roll into the back of his head.

Nico pushes himself off of the door, heavy footsteps leading him into his kitchen where he can make himself a coffee to get through this. His watch reads 6:05 - far too early for her antics - and rising to her nagging is only going to make things worse.

“Do you want a drink?” He asks, as he busies himself with his coffee press, unable to look at her too long without the pricks of guilt irritating him.  He doesn’t even know what he has to feel guilty about.

“I’ll get it myself,” she scoffs, venturing over to the fridge and pouring out some orange juice - her movements around his space eerily natural. She slams back most of the drink as he works out how to brew his coffee - but she sees right through him. He’s hardly ever used the press before, and he’s just doing so now to avoid her in whatever capacity he can. “I need money.”

Nico’s almost positive he hasn’t heard her right - that there’s some kind of mix up between her standard German and his Swiss - and he slowly turns to properly face her, brows slanting into a deep frown as he assesses her expression.

She has a hand on her hip, her jaw set and her eyes darkened and serious. 

“You have money.”

Talia comes from money - her father is some kind of film producer and her mother an artist, if Nico remembers correctly - and she makes good money, herself. She’s been a print model since she was scouted in some market in Munich since she was 15, has had her face plastered in ads in magazines and catalogues around the world. She’s hardly strapped for cash. She gets things gifted to her by whatever company she can get a hold of. What could she possibly need him to give her money for?

“Not enough.” Her tone is cold, her demeanour the same, and if Nico can still gauge her emotions correctly, there’s an element of blame that she is starting to shift towards him, and his whole body starts to feel tense.

“Not enough for what?”

He can’t quite tell what feeling washes over him - worry, at the thought she’s gotten herself into some kind of trouble, stress, at the thought this could be a recurring thing, and potentially pity, at the way she’s so clearly carrying the weight of something heavy - something she’s lugged all the way across the Atlantic on a long haul flight with her.

“Not enough to pay the guy who’s blackmailing me not to leak the videos that I sent to you.”

“What vide-“ he bites back, and the immediate arch of her brow tells him all he needs to know. “Oh.”

Shit.

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?” She sneers, fury in her gaze and dismay in her tone. “You’ve ruined my life, and all I get is an oh?”

“Whoa, slow down, I’ve ruined your life?”

Nico has never been one to shame any girl for sending explicit pictures - he’d been more than willing to receive them at the time - but he hadn’t ever forced her hand. He hadn’t even asked her for them, in the first place. 

She’d taken it upon herself to spice things up, as she had put it at the time, when the team had gone on the road in early December. It was just after he’d returned from his injury - a time in which he’d spent mentally distanced from her as he’d focused so much on getting back to the game, their relationship consisting mainly of not-so-passionate sex to avoid aggravating his injury and hardly of any kind of meaningful conversation - and she had thought that keeping him on his toes on a roadie would mean he’d come back more interested than ever.

If he’d been looking out for red flags at the time, he might have caught that blaring one; needing to try new things only a few months into a relationship to keep it fun and light.

He’d been in his hotel room in Seattle, freshly showered and ready to throw himself straight into bed when his phone had started to ping. It was suggestive texts at first, are you alone? And I’m thinking about you. Then it had been pictures, hands over lingerie and fingers between glossy, pouted lips.

And then videos, one after the other before he had any chance to respond - her phone set up far enough away that her whole body was in frame, touching herself while laying on his bed and calling out for him.

He had called her instead of sending anything back, and as he realises the severity of the situation, a selfish part of him is glad he did so.

“Talia, I didn’t even save those videos, and I definitely didn’t show them to anyone else.”

Nico could never. Not only for the fact that he was raised to be a decent human being, but he has a sister - if anyone ever did that to Nina, he’d tear them apart, limb from limb. 

“You’re the only person I’ve ever sent anything to.” She seems to have made her mind up, and Nico feels as if his heart plummets through his torso at the realisation. She’s travelled all this way because she genuinely believes he’s the cause of this - that he’s shared intimate videos of her without her consent, to someone who would extort her for them. “And he sent me some pictures as proof, had information about me like the address of this apartment.”

“Talia, I swear on my mother’s life, I wouldn’t do that to you - to anyone, not ever.”

Tears well in her crystalline eyes, and Nico waits with bated breath as she assesses the situation in her head. 

He isn’t a liar - he has never given her a reason to think he is one. In their time together, he had always been honest, always been loyal, and he hopes at the very least - despite her obvious distain for him now, and how little she ended up caring about their relationship in the end to cut it off in the way she did - she thought of him as kind. 

He can do nothing but be patient, let her come to whatever conclusion on her own, and it’s only when he spots the quiver in her bottom lip that he takes an apprehensive step forward, ready to console her if needed.

She practically throws herself into his arms, wrapping her own around his waist and bawling into his chest, and all he can do is hold her and wait. He tries to rub a soothing hand up and down her back, holding the other against her head as her body wracks with sobs. All he can feel is the pounding of his own heartbeat, pulsing throughout his entire body until it’s all he can hear, too.

Nico does his best to comfort her, shushing and cooing and whispering how it’s going to be alright, but it does little to help. She’s beyond relief.

“There’s a guy who said he can track whoever is doing this to me,” she sniffles as she pulls herself away. “He’s in Jersey City Heights, he’s some sort of ethical hacker, whatever that means, I’m going to meet him and he’s gonna go through my phone.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Nico doesn’t even hesitate to ask - if not to protect her, and make sure she isn’t unknowingly getting herself into an even more dangerous situation, then to protect himself too. If someone has Talia’s pictures, and she only sent them to him, there’s a possibility his phone had been hacked, and if this guy is as ethical as he says, maybe he can check Nico’s stuff, too, just to be safe.

She gives him an appreciative smile, eyes still glassy and cheeks flushed. “I’d really appreciate that.”

“I’m gonna shower, then we can go. You can grab whatever to eat while you’re waiting.” He backs away from her completely, only just able to acknowledge the ache in his muscles once the intensity of the situation has settled a little, and he just needs to stand under the steaming spray and clear his mind before he properly immerses himself in her company. 

He has a lot more than this whole mess that he needs to think about, and maybe a shower can bring him a little clarity on how exactly he’s going to explain himself to the beautiful girl whose bed he had abruptly left not even an hour ago. 

“Why are you dressed?”

Nico stops in his tracks.

When he had got back to his apartment, he’d made a little effort for it to seem like he’d been there all night. He’d gone through to his bedroom, mussed up his sheets to make it seem like he had been sleeping in them - and not with the anticipation that Talia was going to be entering his bedroom, but with her, he never knows - trying to retrace the steps of his usual routine before he goes to bed, he had closed all the blinds, had moved his gym bag by the door.

But he hadn’t changed.

Still adorned in his sweatshirt and jeans from the night before, the clothing feels all that much heavier on his body as she brings attention to it, and he quickly racks his brain to come up with a valid excuse that doesn’t rouse further suspicion.

“I fell asleep in these clothes.” As easy as the lie comes out, he doesn’t feel great saying it. Doesn’t feel like erasing the night he had shared with Poppy is for the greater good, even if it is just to Talia, but avoiding another difficult conversation is a must right now - especially when he’d already lied to her on the phone. “Was out late with the guys last night, Timo threw a party for my birthday.”

“Right,” she drags out, and when he turns back around, she casts a scrutinising glance over him, top to bottom. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“No worries,” he shrugs, genuinely not offended. She has no reason to remember his birthday. Not anymore. “Like I said, help yourself to whatever, I’ll try not to be long.” 

When he undresses for his shower, he’s thankful he hadn’t had the foresight to change in anticipation of Talia’s arrival. He probably would have donned a t-shirt and some shorts, oblivious to the visible indents on his thighs where Poppy had dug her nails in as she took him in her mouth.

His chest and torso are littered with scratches, some faint, some a little deeper, and he can’t get the right angle to see his back but he imagines they’re the same - the memory of her clutching at him as both of their climaxes approached is vivid enough for him to picture the marks she left behind.

He groans as the thought of her brings back that swirling feeling in the pit of his stomach, as he notices the blooming arousal pool there, and feels himself harden as he steps under the spray of his shower.

If his phone had been on do not disturb through the night, he could be in the shower with Poppy, instead.

He could have woken up to her in his arms, could have pecked at her sleep-swollen lips until it brought her out of her slumber, and spent his morning making up for lost time just like he had promised her last night. He could have made light work of the pleasure he had given her the night before - could have had her underneath him in her bed, tangled up in the mess of sheets and falling apart before they shared a morning shower, where he’d have held her up against the tiles and would’ve moved into her until they couldn’t tell where he ended and she began. He’d have made her breakfast, something sweet, so that as she sat and watched him atop the kitchen counter he had tasted her on for the first time not even 12 hours before, he’d press his tongue into her mouth after she had eaten and savour the flavour of strawberries that had settled between her lips.

Instead, he’s here, turning the temperature of his water down until any and all excitement in his body is dampened, and all he can focus on is the effect the cold has on all his other aching muscles.

Once he has showered and gotten dressed - and has come to the conclusion that any further thoughts about Poppy need to wait until the Talia problem is resolved and out of his hands, he finds his ex girlfriend sprawled across his couch, music playing from the speaker in the corner, and taking helping herself to a whole new level. 

Her case is opened where she had left it by the door, and she’s set herself a little vanity up on his coffee table, fixing her appearance before they leave.

She’s changed out of her mismatched sweats, has dressed herself in jeans and a sweater, and has found an extension cable long enough for her to plug in whatever hot tool she’s currently running through her hair.

“You take the longest showers in the history of man,” she rolls her eyes, not even casting a glance his way as she focuses on her own reflection in the little mirror she must have brought with her. “I do not want to know what it is you get up to in there.”

“I was barely 30 minutes, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, almost,” she runs the tool through her bangs until they flick out at the edges on either side of her face, and it reminds him of all the times he had watched her while waiting for her to finish getting ready. It makes him feel uneasy how familiar it all is, how she’s so quickly made herself at home again in his space.

He wants to tell her she needs to pack her stuff back up, that she won’t be staying here and needs to give his keys back, but the weight of the situation at hand dawns on him before he can open his mouth.

He’ll wait until they get back later, his decision depending on the outcome of their visit to her hacker friend.

As much as he doesn’t want her around, he isn’t going to kick her out with no place to go if her life is still shrouded in unsafe circumstances. 

Talia unplugs her stuff, wraps the cord around the handle of the brush she was using, and places it on a mat she must have brought with her so it doesn’t burn through the surface of the table. “Kay, let’s go.”

She marches ahead of him, picking up her bag and keys on the way out and leaving him to lock up while she calls for the elevator. They wait together in silence, his heart thudding an anxious rhythm in his chest as he anticipates the arrival of the elevator - and thankfully, it arrives empty.

He tries to distance himself from her as they enter, him standing in one corner, and hoping she takes the other, but she doesn’t quite get the memo, standing obliviously in the centre as she types away to someone on her phone and he presses the button to go to the basement.

Nico watches the numbers go down with bated breath. His floor, the next, the next one after that, and he uses any good will he has left with the universe to hope and pray it skips the floor coming up - but, as is just his luck, the elevator comes to a stop with a soft thud, and the doors open to reveal the very situation he’s been hoping to avoid. 

Jack walks straight in, eyes cast down to the phone in his hands, distractedly typing away and not even noticing the button for the parking level has been pressed before he pushes it, himself.

Luke notices straight away, halting in his movements to enter the space as his gaze flickers between the two people already occupying it. 

He diverts his eyes when they meet Nico’s head dropping as he steps in and stands beside his brother, uttering a quick greeting of, “Hey, Cap.”

Jack’s attention is captured immediately, spinning at an almost dizzying speed to face his captain, phone disregarded into his back pocket. “Schao! I thought you’d be at-,”

He’s thankfully able to tune into his perception before he carries on with his train of thought, a subtle movement in his peripheral diverting his gaze to the figure stood to the side of Nico. 

“Talia. Hi.”

“Hi, Jack.” Nico cringes inwardly at how disinterested she sounds. “Luke.” Talia had never really cared for Nico’s teammates - especially not the younger guys like Jack and Luke. She was quick to pass judgement, making comments on their maturity, or apparent lack-thereof, and wasn’t the biggest fan of how close Nico was with the pair. Didn’t like the time or attention he gave them considering the close quarters they lived in, and had always been resentful. She always claimed her English wasn’t good enough to hold a proper conversation with them, but he’d seen her enough around her American friends to know it wasn’t true.

“We’re just meeting up with some of the guys for breakfast.” Jack says, cautiously, in an attempt to fill the silence. The invitation remains unspoken, but Nico can tell in the way the younger boy cocks his head and meets his eye that he’s gauging his current situation for the morning.

“We have plans.” Talia must be able to tell what he was getting at, too and Nico can see Luke’s eyes narrow as soon as the word resonates in his head. Plans. Pre-meditated. Made before she had sprung all of this on him within the last hour or two. Panic stirs within him, and his throat itches to speak the truth, but it’s just not the right time to do so with Talia stood beside him. If he starts getting defensive, she’ll start asking questions, and the boys will have to bear witness to him skirting around the matter of Poppy. 

It’s not a good look no matter which way he swings it. He’s stuck in a thick, dark, tarry mess of not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings but making all the wrong decisions. A minefield of not knowing how to explain himself without raising a million questions on either side, and hoping one of the brothers might toe the line of the boundaries of their relationship and just straight up ask why Talia is here.

He knows he has fucked up without the way neither of them are looking him in the eye.

He knew it the second Poppy’s door had locked behind him this morning - he doesn’t need Luke refusing to meet his gaze, doesn’t need Jack’s shifting side eye to tell him he’s made a mistake. 

“I’ll text you later.” Nico says, mainly to Jack but still trying to meet his brother’s eyes with no luck. It’s an attempt to say something, without saying anything. A silent beg not to jump to conclusions about what they’ve seen - and, although he knows they wouldn’t, not to tell anyone else. Not whichever of the guys they are meeting up with, not anyone else on the team, and definitely not Poppy.

“Yeah, sure,” Jack mutters in a poor attempt to hide his discomfort, and an even worse attempt at masking his relief when the doors ping open on the parking level.

“Have fun with your plans,” Luke huffs out, his tone like a tight fist clutching at Nico’s chest despite his courteous choice of words.

“We will,” Talia forces a smile. Nico gets the feeling she isn’t as oblivious to the tension as he hopes she is.

The four of them separate into their pairs with mumbled goodbyes, Jack and Luke heading off to Luke’s car on one side of the garage, and Nico and Talia heading to his on the other, and Nico can’t even let out a sigh of pseudo-relief before Talia jumps on him.

“That was weird.”

“We broke up, they weren’t expecting to see us together.” He quickly excuses as he starts the car up, turning on the heat and hoping the soft buzz of the air will fill the silence enough that she doesn’t feel the need to talk. 

“It’s been like 3 weeks, most couples get back together after their first breakup.”

Has it only been 3 weeks? He thinks, shuddering at how little time had actually passed between her sending that text and him restoring balance to his life.

“We’re not most couples,” he shrugs, shutting that train of thought immediately as he starts to make his way out of the parking garage, ascending the ramp where the doors open up to reveal the dull beam of the winter morning sun. “You dumped me over text a week before Christmas, we’re not getting back together.”

“Oh yeah, I bet you were real cut up about it,” she jibes, sarcastically. “Probably landed straight in the bed of some desperate puck bunny more than happy to take your mind off of how awful I was to you.”

His mind immediately goes to Poppy, to last night, to her bed - and despite the complete bullshit Talia has fabricated in her head, despite how much he wants to tell her she has it all wrong, he can’t bear to twist himself even further into knots to skirt around mentioning the girl who did make him better.

“We’re not having this conversation right now.” He decides, tapping at the screen in the console of his car until he brings up the navigation. “Put in the address you need, we’re not too far from The Heights.”

The location she enters into the system is for an unassuming condo in a quiet, suburban area. The neighbourhood itself is picturesque, the buildings colourful, the paths lined with trees that seemed to flourish even in the midst of winter, and when Nico pulls up across the street, he notices the amount of families around - parents walking their kids to school and couples with dogs getting their morning steps in. It’s the last place he imagines some hacker to be shacked up, but maybe that’s the point.

He still doesn’t entirely understand the ethical part.

“It’s the one with the red brick and the balcony,” Talia points to the other side of the road as she unbuckles her seatbelt, and Nico looks over at the building as if he’s going to be able to see all the secrets stored within it.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, number 414.” She shows him the messages she has exchanged with the guy, and sure enough, the address matches up. “C’mon, the sooner we get in there, the sooner we can figure this out.”

He follows her across the street, adjusting the cap he wears atop his head and making sure it conceals his identity from anyone with eyesight good enough to catch it, trying to shrug off the discomfort of the whole situation as he waits for someone to pick up the buzzer Talia relentlessly presses.

He hears a different kind of buzz, lighter, like the manual zoom of a camera, and cranes his neck to assess their surroundings as they wait, before he catches sight of the device in the top corner of the porch, facing directly onto them.

He hears the click of a lock as soon as his eyes make contact with the thing, and cautiously tries the handle on the door until it pushes all the way down, letting them into the building. 

The door to the ground floor condo is open, and stood in the entrance is a guy no older than 20, dressed in all black with dark, beady eyes framed by wire-rimmed glasses. If Nico could find it in him to see the humour in the situation, he’d laugh at how he looks like Luke - a mop of curly brown hair, tall with a slim build and ever so slightly poor posture.

He straightens up as the two of them approach, Nico keeping Talia behind him as he assesses the safety of the situation. If they’re being lured into some kind of trap, he could definitely take this guy - he can’t even maintain direct eye contact, never mind manage to subdue a man of Nico’s stature.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing someone, Talia.”

He’s soft-spoken, his voice ever so nasally, and despite the fact that he’s talking to the girl behind him, his gaze has settled on Nico’s chest.

“My name’s Nico.” He introduces himself, holding out a hand to shake. He thinks he can write him off as a threat, for now, and if making him feel comfortable encourages him to help them, he wants to put him at ease. “

“I know who you are.” He doesn’t shake Nico’s hand. “I’m Myles. Come in.”

Myles doesn’t wait for the two of them, marching back into his place and leaving the door open for Talia and Nico to enter and close behind them. 

Nico isn’t surprised by the space - from his brief encounter with the resident so far, it fits him to a tee; neat, impersonal, furniture that looks fresh out of a catalogue. He follows him over to the corner of his living room, a PC set up with several monitors that he can’t tell are on until they’re standing straight in front of them.

Myles throws himself down into the large swivel chair, spinning until he’s facing the two of them and crossing his arms over his torso with disinterest. “So, nudes?”

Straight to the point. Nico can’t exactly be mad at it.

Talia steps out from behind him, handing her unlocked phone to Myles. “The messages started last week, just after New Years. Straight to my number, not in DMs or anything, but the number doesn’t even come up for me to call it from another phone or anything, just says unknown.”

Myles takes her phone and plugs it into his setup without even looking at whatever she has opened on it, and Nico watches as the screens come alive with mirrors of the device and some other apps that launch as soon as it connects. 

“That’s more helpful than you think, they have to use an app to be able to anonymously text you, makes it easier to identify them.”

The way Myles talks is monotonous and detached, but the way he works is anything but. His fingers move quicker than Nico’s eyes can track on his keyboard, typing away at whatever as different things flash up and leave his screen. It like something straight out of a spy movie.

“So we can find out who it is just from that?” He asks, arms folding over his chest as he watches in almost-awe.

“Not exactly. If it is a hacker, I could identify their signature. Doesn’t mean I could identify them, but we can work around it potentially.”

Talia throws herself down on the couch behind them exasperatedly, sighing loudly and making her displeasure known. “You told me you could track them down, that’s what I’m paying you to do.”

“I told you I could help you, I didn’t say I could specifically track anyone, that’s not how this works.”

“How does it work then?” Nico asks.

Myles wheels his chair to the side to make room for Nico to get closer, and starts walking him through the process, pointing through the different apps he uses and explaining how he uses them. One deciphers which app the person used to message Talia. Once that’s been deduced, he uses another to enter a backdoor into that app’s servers, perusing through them until he finds the account that sent the text, making sure the date, time and then content line up. Once he’s found the account, he can see the other texts sent from it, and a gallery spreads across two screens, with maybe hundreds of pictures, videos, messages and transactions all to or from that same account.

“You’re telling me you have the power to do all this and you don’t use it to like rob banks or something?”

“Ethical hacker, clue’s in the name.” Myles shrugs. Nico looks back to Talia, her jaw set as she picks at her nails out of boredom. It’s probably taken about fifteen minutes for this guy to work an absolute miracle, and she looks like she couldn’t care less. “We use all this information, and the access I have on the server, to shut this dude down and cut his con before he can do it to anyone else.”

“Whoa whoa,” Talia shoots up, “Won’t that make him mad? Make him just post all the photos?”

“I doubt it,” the hacker comments, bringing up a couple of the photos on the screens, some of Talia, some of another girl, making Nico divert his eyes. “They’re not even real.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Excuse me?”

Talia and Nico both question at the same time, leaning in to get a proper look to confirm what is being told to them. The other pictures Myles had brought up, the ones of other girls, are actually kind of the same. The same poses, the same backgrounds, the same outfits, or lack thereof, just different faces and different hair.

“They’re called deep fakes. Photoshop, essentially.” He has that aloof tone to his words again, and Nico can’t quite believe how simple it seems for him to say. “They put a bunch of your pictures into an AI generator and give it instruction, like put this face on a body posed like this or wearing that. I’d assume the video they have is the same.”

“How is that even possible?” Talia gasps, pushing herself forward and snatching the mouse from Myles’ grasp. She clicks into what she assumes is the video, and it starts playing before she can think better of it, thankfully without any sound. 

It’s Talia - that much is obvious from the initial close up of her face - but Nico doesn’t recognise anything else about it. He doesn’t recognise the room she’s in, the bed she’s on, the things she’s doing. He’s never seen this before. It’s definitely not one of the videos she had sent him, and when he looks closer, he realises the little moles on her ribs aren’t even there.

None of it is real.

“You said he sent you the photos? You didn’t realise they weren’t the ones you took?” He can’t conceal the bite in his tone, his brows furrowing as he looks at her in disbelief. She’s flown out here, disrupted his peace, blamed him for blackmailing her, and she can’t even recognise what is or isn’t her own body. 

“They looked real, I-,” Her shock disappears as quickly as it had come about, her mood shifting and a glare all of a sudden being directed at her ex boyfriend. “I wouldn’t have accused you if they didn’t look real, Nico.” She snaps, frowning at him like this is his fault. “You have no idea what it’s like to be threatened like that, I won’t have you blame me for panicking.”

Slivers of guilt seep into his subconscious, and he takes a deep breath, diverting his gaze uneasily and letting out a big sigh.

He knows he should be a little more compassionate, but there’s panicking, and then there’s this.

She had accused him of ruining her life.

“What about the rest of it?” Nico asks, “Like how did he get her number or have my address? You said he had other information?”

“He did,” Talia nods, looking over to Myles.

“The address he probably got when he got your number, and he could have got that from anywhere. Could be something as small as you ordering something online and the store having a data breach, or clicking a link that shared your IP address, and getting your phone information from that.” Myles starts his typing again, keeping a tight grip on his mouse so that it can’t be snatched again. “I could probably find out actually, they’re pretty easy to spot, do you clear your history often?”

“I wouldn’t even know how to do that,”

“Perfect,” Again, his fingertips work at lightening speed, and Nico watches as instagram opens on one of the screens. “Yeah, a DM sent to you from… Devils_tea. You opened a link to a shared drive to upload some pictures, the drive probably had malware and the pictures have location metadata.”

Nico rolls his eyes, that small ebb of pity washing almost completely away, and before Talia can stop him, Myles carries on. “Some of the pictures you sent them are the ones they used for the AI photos, look your face in this one is the exact same as this photo they threatened to leak.”

Nico recognises these photos. The ones that had been plastered all over social media when their relationship had leaked. Pictures of them back in Switzerland, on a weekend trip to Ibiza, selfies of them in his apartment, and even a picture of the two of them with his parents back at his family home in Valais.

He has been far too oblivious to Talia’s games for far too long, he realises. 

Of course she had been the one to leak everything - who else would have had those photos - but he hadn’t even considered it would be her; she had faced the harshest aftermath for it, why would she subject herself to all the subsequent grief that came with people knowing about their relationship?

Thank God for this guy’s lack of social cues, Nico thinks, or he would never have known that for as long as they had been together, she had been violating his revered privacy and trust.

“Nico, that wasn’t-,” Talia’s panic is evident, wide eyes, trembling hands raised in defence, “I must have been hacked,”

“Actually, there’s no-,” Myles begins to interject, fingers working again to fact check, but Nico doesn’t need him to validate what he already knows.

“Shut up,” Talia snarls, with a finger pointed at him, “You don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re done here.” She reaches forward to snatch her phone back, yanking out the wire that connects it to his monitors and throwing it onto the desk. “We’re leaving, and if you think I’m paying you anything, you’re deluded.” 

Talia marches past them and straight out of the condo, slamming every door she possibly can behind her. Nico can only cringe as the sounds of her stomping footsteps echo until they fade out - until she’s probably outside and waiting for him back at his car.

“Doesn’t she want me to shut this thing down?”

“I’ll pay you.” Nico sighs, reaching into his pocket for his phone and trying to push down the feeling that arises when he’s met with a blank lock screen.

Poppy hasn’t messaged him. 

Not that he deserves for her to make it easy, to let him off the hook and pretend he hasn’t royally fucked things up with her.

“If you stop him, does he still have all the photos? He could still release them?”

“Yeah, but they’re pretty easy to validate as fakes, especially when you have the source material. I don’t think this guy is sophisticated enough for a full blown hack into her phone for the real thing. I couldn’t find evidence of any breach of her cloud or her device.”

Nico nods, but the information does little to quell the anxiety that squeezes his chest in a vice-like grip. 

This whole morning has been nothing but a giant waste of his time. From the second his eyes opened, to this moment right now, he’s made nothing but mistakes.

Not putting his phone on sleep mode before he and Poppy went to bed had been a mistake. Taking Talia’s call had been a mistake. Not waking Poppy up had been a mistake. Leaving without a note, without a text, leaving at all - it had all been one error after another, and all he has left to do is face up to the fact.

He can’t do anything to dwindle the panic rousing in every fibre of his being, the scarring marks left by torturous lashings of regret that whip at his skin.

He’s never felt so ashamed of himself, in such disbelief at his own decisions.

Why didn’t he just wake her?

She’s the most level-headed, acceptable person he knows. She would have understood. He hadn’t had a reasonable explanation at the time, and he doesn’t really have one now - but she would have accepted it, whatever he could have told her, she would have listened, waited until he could give her more.

He needs to see her, to explain, before it’s too late.

If he thinks about the feeling settling in his stomach, if he can compare it to anything, it’s like running from a blazing inferno of doubt and insecurity, licks of fire racing to catch up to him, the soles of his feet pressing into the sizzling ground - and Poppy is the cool embrace of safety.

She is light cracking through a window he just needs to break through to make it out.

If he can get to her quick enough, if he runs, and runs, maybe he’ll make it before he’s jiggling at a red hot handle that won’t move, won’t give, won’t budge.

If he can just talk to her, maybe the morning from hell will be outweighed by the days of resilience, weeks of efforts, years of loving her in whatever capacity, and the promise of something better.

He just needs to get rid of Talia.

The car journey back to his apartment is carried out in a deafening silence. She had tried to talk to him when he’d made his way out of Myles’ condo, when he had found her waiting by his Mercedes with crossed arms and a sour look on her face, but he’d told her he didn’t want to hear it, that they’d deal with it in private.

He hardly wanted a showdown with her in the middle of the street.

And so, she sat in his passenger seat, jaw set, glaring out the window and letting out the occasional huff or puff for attention that he wasn’t entertaining.

The elevator ride up to his place had been the same. Silent, filled with the type of tension you could cut with a knife, and all he could do was ignore her continued petulance and take deep breaths to calm himself down. In through his nose, out through his mouth, overlooking the way she tapped her foot in his peripheral vision, and almost audibly rolled her eyes every few seconds. 

“Would it have killed you to defend me in there?” She scoffs as soon as the door closes behind them in his apartment, “You just let him accuse me of all that stuff and completely invade my privacy!”

Nico screws his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose.

He can’t blow up, can’t stoop to her level. He won’t feel good after the fact. He knows how Talia operates, should have known she’d immediately play the victim card, and he isn’t falling into the trap of arguing to the point of being in the wrong.

He’ll say something he regrets and she’ll use it to her advantage, somehow.

“You asked him to go through your phone, Talia.” He sighs, making his way over to the kitchen and getting himself some water. Chugging at it does little to soothe the burning feeling prickling at the back of his mouth, or the itch of his tongue to spit out a scathing retort. “He’s shut down the guy behind it, he can’t message you or anyone else with any more threats, you should be happy.”

“I should be happy?” She follows him wherever he tries to get away, crowding his space and jabbing a pointed finger into his arm. “You have no idea what I’ve been going through this past week. I thought my career was over! How was I supposed to know it was fake?”

“You didn’t even look at the pictures-,”

“Because I was panicking! I was upset, you can’t expect me to be able to recognise what’s been photoshopped when I’m scared like that!”

“But you can fly straight over here and pin the blame on me for ruining your life? You weren’t too upset to point the finger, Talia,”

“Don’t be an asshole, Nico, it doesn’t suit you.” 

“I’m being the asshole? You don’t even care about the trail of destruction you leave behind you, do you? You send private pictures of us, of me, of my family to random people online who you don’t even know, for what, Talia? For money?”

“I don’t need their money-,”

“So it was just for the attention? You get to parade our relationship around like it means nothing more to you than a title, and once you get your fifteen minutes and a few more instagram followers, you just jet back home and dump me over a text?”

“Oh my God,” she cries, flailing her arms dramatically, following him yet again as he makes his way into his living room, picking her stuff up after her that she had discarded here before they left and throwing it into her travel bag. “Stop playing the victim, for Christ’s sake, you’re hardly heartbroken over it. I know for a fact you’ve been hooking up with someone, one of the girls messaged me that they saw you leave a party with her on New Years!”

“So that’s what this is?” Nico snaps, pointing to her, to her stuff, “You think I’m moving on so you fly back out here and spring this bullshit on me, try to make me feel bad?”

“You have some nerve, Nico,” Talia scoffs, folding her arms across her chest and levelling him with a darkened glare.

“I have nerve? You’re the one who broke up with me out of nowhere and think that you can just march back here and make demands, Talia, blaming me for something that was entirely your own doing.” He’s getting sick of walking on egg shells around the topic. If she hadn’t have been messaging people she wasn’t supposed to, this would never have happened - it’s no one’s fault but her own, and as harsh as it may be, he wants to wash his hands of the whole thing. “Calling me in the middle of the night, telling me I ruined your life, saying I need to give you money?”

“Out of nowhere?” Of course she would only pick up on that, he thinks. “My God, you are so self-absorbed.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Do you think that dating you is easy?” She questions with a measured step toward him. “Do you think I want to spend my life waiting around for my boyfriend, only for him to only ever come home grumpy,” another step, “Or whiny,” and another, “Or too tired and achey to do anything? And that’s when you do come home at all and aren’t half way across the country with the communication skills of a candle. It’s a constant uphill battle trying to get even a second of your attention, Nico, so God forbid I tried to gain some kind of advantage from being with you.”

Her words are starting to cut, but he tries not to react, tries not to bite back. He can count several ways in which she gained an advantage being with him, just off the top of the head - a girl like Talia is never shy of attention. Her courting gossip blogs and sending them private information is probably just scraping the barrel of the ploys she made for exposure while she was with him.

“I didn’t break up with you out of nowhere, I put up with you and the whole circus that comes with you for months, but God, is it exhausting being with you.”

“You knew what you were getting into, Talia. You knew my job, knew my life.” They had met initially through mutual friends - hockey friends of his back home, even - and she has other friends who happen to be wives or girlfriends of athletes. She can’t say she came into the relationship completely oblivious to the downsides of dating a professional player.

“Not really,” she shrugs, “All the other guys can find some sort of balance, but not you. All the other girls get a proper boyfriend, someone who spends time doing what they want to do, who sticks up for them when their psycho fans start to turn on them, who doesn’t keep them hidden away like some dirty secret.”

“That isn’t fair, I can’t control that stuff, Talia, it’s not my fault.” He wants to point out that she was the one engaging in their gossip and riling them up, but he can’t keep harping on about something she refuses to acknowledge. He doesn’t have the time, patience or energy for it anymore.

The initial ‘leaking’ of their relationship had caused their first major fight. Fans online had somehow - although Nico can now hazard a guess as to how - found out about the two of them, had dug into Talia, her background, her family, her job, and had found some pretty toxic posts on her social media. They had been old posts, and she had told Nico that wasn’t the kind of person she was anymore - and he had no reason not to believe her, had never seen or heard her act in the ways she had online in what she called her misguided youth - but someone in the PR department at the Devils had cottoned onto the topic, and had warned Nico of speaking out in her defence when the pitchforks started to raise.

He’d told her he supported her, but he couldn’t do so publicly - not without upsetting people within the organisation he had worked so hard to gain the respect of - and she had told him she understood. They hadn’t been together that long, it would have been a little unreasonable for him to put her above his work in the ways she was expecting, but she clearly doesn’t see it that way, now.

“Maybe not, but if I’d have known that being with you meant having my life invaded, my career ruined, I never would have followed you back here, Nico.” She sounds more solemn now - regretful, even - and as deep as her words cut, she says it like a piece of advice, “I just hope whatever poor girl you’ve got tangled up in your mess this time knows what she’s getting herself into.”

“And what’s that?” His throat feels tight as he speaks all of a sudden, his resolve in defending himself fading, and he tries to gulp down whatever lump is forming there but the feeling doesn’t budge.

This is what she’s good at.

Turning the tables. Reducing him to uncertainty of himself, of his actions, of his memory of their time together.

“A one-sided relationship with a guy who will never be able to put her first.”

There’s a point in every game he has ever had the misfortune of losing, as the seconds count down in the final third, where he has to come to terms with the fact that there’s no possible way for him to win. It’s sort of comparable to the way his insides churn when he’s on a plane and it drops into descent, like his body is falling at a different speed to his surroundings, or the feeling he gets in his gut when he’s hiking, and he dares to take a peek over the edge of whatever mountainside he’s trekking up, where his body can predict the fall, and his mind has set on there being nothing he can do about it.

This feels like all those feelings.

“Whoever she is, and I know she exists, she doesn’t deserve that. It’s not fair.”

Nico’s heart pounds in his chest, echoing and thrumming in his ears until all he can hear is the beat reverberating, ricocheting around his skull.

He can put Poppy first.

So many parts of their lives are intertwined, it would be so easy to make it work. They work together, they live close, he speaks to her more than he speaks to anyone else in his circle. They’ve spent more time together as friends than he has with any other girlfriend he’s had.

He’s wanted her for years, of course he can do it.

Except, deep down, he knows he can’t. Being in a committed relationship with someone is an entirely different ball game to a friendship, no matter how close he and Poppy have been over the years.

He knows there’ll come a point soon into the season where he has to knuckle down and focus, can’t let anything or anyone distract him, and he’ll close himself off. It’s what he has always done. He gets in his head, starts to carry too much weight that he can’t shift until that final buzzer blows - and he can only hope that it happens with his team in the playoffs. Winning, thriving, succeeding. And for that to happen, he can’t prioritise anything other than the game he’s already dedicated his life to, his training, and most importantly, his team.

It isn’t about what he wants.

What have you done? He thinks, his chest aching.

Talia is right.

Poppy doesn’t deserve that.

She doesn’t deserve him only being there in the physical sense, if she even gets that at all. Doesn’t deserve him getting snappy and stressed, doesn’t deserve him not being able to give her time, or give her attention or affection like he wants to, or like she’s worthy of.

“I need to go.” He manages to choke out with a shake of his head, shouldering past her to pick up his jacket - needing to be out of this conversation and away from Talia. “Leave the keys, I don’t want you here when I get back.”

He needs to see Poppy.

He never should have left her - he wishes with everything in him that he had soaked up the time he had with her before everything came tumbling down around him. And somewhere deep within him, there is a fragile, wilting piece of hope that clings to the belief he can make things right. He just needs her to hone in on it. If anyone can reach into the deepest cracks of his insecurities, can show him he’s overthinking things and everything is not as hopeless as he has made it out to be, it will be Poppy.

Poppy

The first time Poppy had ever fallen asleep beside Nico was at a movie night in Jack’s old apartment he shared with Ty Smith. Jack had invited more people round than could reasonably fit in their living room, and so everyone was smushed in - each chair and every inch of floor space used to its full capacity. 

Nico had attempted to save Poppy a space, to give him credit. He had scowled at each of his teammates who tried to throw themselves down in the tiny slot beside him - prime space, corner of the comfiest couch, facing the tv directly, a small table to the side where one could keep their drinks and snacks - only, by the time Poppy got there, he had barely gotten away with man-spreading to make room, so the small section of the couch between Nico and the arm rest had become her designated spot.

It was cosy, to put it nicely. He had to swing his arm over the back so that she wasn’t being assaulted by the hard dig of his shoulder with every laugh, and her closest leg was pretty much on top of his for most of the film.

She’d known the guys for almost a year - had been working in media, attending every game, home and away, and had integrated herself into the group pretty closely - and she felt pretty comfortable around everyone.

It wasn’t the kind of dynamic she had anticipated falling into when she first got the job with the Devils. She was supposed to start getting serious about her life - cracking down on mingling with co-workers and throwing herself into new social circles, and focusing on building a career for herself, climbing through the ranks and attaining the kind of success and happiness she could shove in her family’s disapproving faces - but the guys had charmed her.

Jack had been somewhat relentless in his pursuit of Poppy’s friendship. He rarely took no for an answer when it came to inviting her out. He was new to New Jersey - a much younger player in a slightly older team - and his rookie season had been rough, so it came naturally to Poppy to want to provide comfort. She introduced him to some of her friends, showed him her favourite spots close to his apartment, found him a decent barber, picked up extra fruit whenever she went to the farmers market near her parent’s house and took it over to his and Ty’s place when she came back home so she could mother him into having his 5-a-day as if he didn’t have access to the best nutrition coaches in the country. Despite her best efforts, Jack had weaselled his way under her skin in the way only a brother could.

Nico’s charm was entirely different.

Nico’s charm came in the form of convenience at first - in the oh I live that way, I can drive you and I have some time, I can do some media stuff for you type of way. Convenience blended into companionship - I haven’t eaten either, we should go for lunch together and I’ve been wanting to watch that movie, do you want to watch it with me?

It turned into grabbing food together, even on days neither of them were working - breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, even coffee or sometimes drinks if they could meet up with the rest of the team. It turned into him spending time at her place, whether it was helping her paint her apartment, putting up her new wardrobes, or just binging whatever crazy long series Poppy had decided to start over from the beginning - she provided him with a sense of familiarity and calm he couldn’t really find in anyone else he had met in his time in the states. She became his person, his home away from home, away from home.

And he became hers. 

There wasn’t as much she had to escape; her job not as strenuous, the expectations of her not as high, but when things built up for her - when her mother became overbearing, or her latest endeavour into a relationship crashed and burned - Nico was there. He’d make sure she had a distraction, made sure she was looking after herself, and, in turn, would look after her as well. He made sure she got home safe on nights out, or when they returned from a roadie and landed late - he would always make sure to see her off into the comfort of her own home before he went back to his own. 

And that first time she’d fallen asleep beside him, he’d done the same.

He’d wrapped an arm around her to make her as comfortable as possible for as long as he could, and when the movie had finished - when her face was burrowed into the side of his chest, soft snores falling from between her lips - he gently drew her back to consciousness with his hand stroking at her cheek.

She’d been a little startled, hand shooting up to wipe at her chin and thankful she hadn’t been drooling on him - although with the easy smile he was giving her, she had thought he of all people wouldn’t have minded. 

“Movie’s done, do you need a ride home?” His voice had been low and soft as not to worsen her apparent disorientation, and his hand was still lingering by the side of her face.

She had nodded, blinking away her sleepiness, and working her way up from the couch and onto her feet, stretching out her muscles as Nico did the same.

The two of them bid their goodbyes to the rest of the guys, made their way together to Nico’s car, and he had driven her back to her apartment, chatting on the drive about work and training. 

Poppy had been cramming to prepare for her interview for the Foundation at the time - had been getting herself seriously worked up, staying up late, getting up early, barely allowing herself any time for anything fun - and Nico had seen right through her. 

He’d stopped her before she got out of the car, had held her hand, rubbing at her knuckles with his thumb, and had told her that she should get some proper rest, and that she was going to absolutely rock their world in her interview in a few days time. And, knowing she was going to ignore any instruction he gave to make herself some decent dinner and go to bed early, had ordered her favourite Japanese takeout to be delivered a good half an hour after she got inside, with a text that followed telling her to sleep straight after she had finished.

She’d never expected to drift asleep with him on Jack’s couch - had never expected to open her eyes to the sight of his looking so warmly back at her.

And she hadn’t expected the same thing this morning, because, as her eyes drifted open to the intrusive light peaking through the cracks in her curtains, it wasn’t the first time she had woken up.

The first time had been to subdued movements, a slight groan of her bed frame, and the soft pattering of footsteps leading away. It had been to a hushed voice, the creak of her bathroom door, the flush of a toilet and the uttering of a name she had hoped she would never have to worry about again.

Talia.

The rest of his words had been uttered in his own language, but that she could understand.

She had acted purely on fight or flight instinct, laying back and pretending she was asleep - although as soon as she did, she regretted it, her mind racing at the million and one other possibilities she could have gone with. Sitting up, waiting for him to come out and asking him what was going on being the most rational.

But when had she ever gone with the most rational thought?

She tried not to react as she felt his presence, felt the soft press of his lips to her skin, or the placement of her bunny in her arms. Tried not to follow him as soon as he departed her bedroom, beg him to come back and whatever was going on could wait until the proper turn of the morning. Tried not to get up and go after him when the click of the lock to her main door echoed throughout the empty apartment.

And she tried not to cry as she laid in bed, overthinking herself back to sleep, thoughts racing to the point of exhaustion, and hoping when she woke up again it had just been a god-awful dream.

But it hadn’t.

The spot beside her in bed is empty, not even a crease in the pillow to prove he was ever there - only the t-shirt of his she still adorned, the one that when she takes a deep inhale, still smells like him, and the distinct aching between her thighs.

She finds more evidence of their night together in the bathroom, where she undresses herself with sore muscles and glances in the mirror to see the spattering of purple marks forming on her chest and neck. Her fingers trace over them lightly, her fleeting touch bringing vivid images forth of his lips pressing to her skin, practically able to feel the pressure of her flesh being nipped and bitten again.

He had been so attentive to her - so in tune with what she needed and wanted, and so ready to give her whatever that may be. He’d been gentle at some points, and purposeful at others, and every little thing he did, he did it with sweet disposition.

The kind of man who treats a girl like that doesn’t just leave her in the dead of night with no good reason, right?

Her mind races despite her body going into auto-pilot throughout her morning routine. Her shower is over in the flash of an eye, she strips her bed, starts her laundry, makes herself some tea and gets herself dressed - all the while weighing out all the possibilities of what could have taken him away from her, and what she would be able to understand. 

That quickly turns to her imagining the worst, and a tight, constricting feeling starts to consume her chest. 

There isn’t a single part of her apartment she can get away from the thoughts buzzing around her brain - her kitchen marred with the memory of what had happened on the counter, her couch, her bedroom, her bathroom - all carrying distinct memories of Nico that she needs to bench until she knows the truth.

She mistakenly thinks her escape might lie in her phone. There might be a text there waiting, explaining everything and relieving all the anxiety that has welled up in her very core.

Nia’s warnings from the night before don’t ring quick enough in her mind as the screen comes to life, the immediate barrage of notifications flooding in.

2 missed calls from Mom

Mom: Just calling to remind you of proper table etiquette in case it has slipped your mind, I won’t have you embarrass me in front of a Lyon.

Mom: Cutlery going from the outside in, hold your wine glass by the stem and dab with your napkin, don’t swipe!

Mom: Also let the man tuck your chair in and pay the bill, this 21st century woman nonsense is very unbecoming!

Mom: And I don’t want to have to bring this up but for the love of God, Poppy, have some class. I don’t want to hear mutterings of your promiscuity at the next luncheon.

Whoever taught her mom to text deserves a prison sentence, she thinks.

Tucker Lyon standing a girl up and ghosting her attempts to contact him is what’s unbecoming, not her trying to pay her half of the meal.

She can picture her mother as she reads the texts, sipping on her Manhattan on the couch in the great room, her dad already having retreated to bed at that time, and her having nothing better to do than sit and stew on her daughter’s sex life.

If she knew what was really going down last night, her mom would probably have a conniption.

Knowing she’ll no doubt be getting a call later that evening, Poppy swipes away at her text thread with her mom, immediately checking the notifications she hasn’t long received from her best friend.

Nia: hey if you happen to release yourself from Nico’s wandering hands at all today me and Kelsey are grabbing breakfast by my work!!

Nia: if you need refuelling we’ll be at Marco’s at 9 😘 

Perfect. Therein lies her escape. Breakfast with her best friends, where they can hopefully talk her down from the ledge she’s precariously placed herself on.

A catch up with her girls, and then she can distract herself with work.

Poppy: I’ll be there!!

“Hasn’t he text you or anything?” Nia asks, covering her mouth as she chews on her breakfast bagel, the three girls sat around a table inside their favourite cafe close to Nia’s office.

When Poppy and Nia had first moved in together, they rented an apartment in Hoboken, not too far, and their tradition of grabbing breakfast at Marco’s carried on despite Poppy living further down the river and working even further away in Newark. 

Kelsey had lived in Manhattan at that time, but she stayed over so often with the other girls that she practically spent majority of her week there, and so Poppy and Nia’s routine became hers.

Poppy had given the two of them a brief rundown of her night with Nico, a safe-for-work version of events, all leading up to the mysterious early morning phone call and swift departure.

“Nope,” she sighs, swiping to refresh her messages as if she hasn’t put her phone on loud just to be alerted when he does reach out.

“Have you text him?”

“Nope,” she repeats, putting the phone down and leaning back in her chair, running a hand through her already messed up hair. She’s going to have to throw it up if she wants to look any sort of presentable when she gets to work later.

“Is he usually this pathetic at communicating?” Kelsey asks, manicured nails swiping at a bunch of Sweet’n Lows like she’s trying to play Tetris with the packets. 

Kelsey hasn’t met Nico before, not that Poppy can remember.

Despite considering her one of her closest friends, their personal lives have never quite intertwined like that - not like hers and Nia’s.

In college, things were different. They were coming into their own together, figuring out just what they wanted their personal lives to be, and so Kelsey, Poppy and Nia would all share pretty much everything, just to have someone there to validate their feelings.

But that changed once they graduated.

Kelsey moved in with her boyfriend, Liam - who just so happens to be Poppy’s idea of hell-spawn.

The kind of guy her mother would probably love.

Liam worked on Wall Street, couldn’t go five minutes of conversation without talking about stocks or investment funds. His native language was risky money moves and belittling remarks, and he treated Kelsey like an accessory to parade around in public and discard in private.

Poppy had tried a few times to open Kelsey’s eyes to the way that it was, but it soon became apparent that she had to let her friend make her own mistakes, and some parts of their lives didn’t have to cross over.

They broke up around Thanksgiving, and Poppy had tried with all her might not to show her relief, but it has made her somewhat resentful when it comes to other relationships - like no one can be happy if she isn’t.

She knows it isn’t malicious, but she restrains from letting Kelsey all the way in, all the same.

“Not really,” Poppy lies, not wanting to clue her in on the Big Freezewhere he didn’t speak to her for months on end. It doesn’t entirely help her case. “I just don’t get why he’d sneak out to see her of all people, he told me they weren’t ever that solid, that he wasn’t happy with her.”

“Ooh, what if she’s pregnant?” Kelsey is entirely oblivious to the horrific realm of possibility she has just opened Poppy up to, evidenced by the casual chuckle and subsequent sip of her coffee. “Maybe she’s back to baby-trap him.”

Poppy thinks she would have to flee the state.

Nico is a family guy - if Talia is pregnant, he’d force himself to love her again, if he ever even stopped, for the sake of their gorgeous brown eyed, floppy haired baby, and push Poppy to the side just like he had before. And she’ll have to watch him from the sidelines, yearning for what she had just managed to touch the tips of her fingers to before it was violently yanked from her grasp. 

Maybe she’d have to flee the country even - move somewhere remote where she doesn’t even have the chance of being reminded of hockey, let alone of him.

Somewhere with no coffee shops that she’d enter, and the smell of fresh pastries would remind her of all the breakfasts they had together. No railways, where she’d be reminded of his love for model trains every time she came across the tracks. No weird club music that he loves so much, or dorky wizard franchises he chastises her for never having seen.

Maybe Antarctica. They only have penguins there. No real civilisation that she knows of. No brown haired, dark eyed Swiss Gods with deep, honeyed voices that make her knees weak and dimpled smiles that do even worse.

She wouldn’t be able to cope with losing him like that, living her life in an endless mental cycle of what ifs and maybes.

“Kelsey, I beg of you to read the room,” Nia chastises, swatting the girl on her arm before taking Poppy’s hand in her own. “Don’t listen to her, she just wants us all to be single at the same time.”

“Sue me for wanting to have fun! It would be just like college, you and me full-body plunging into the dating pool. Imagine the chaos, Pop, you don’t wanna be tied down to a guy hung up on his ex right now.”

“Dating pool?” Nia scoffs, turning to glare at her, “You’re hardly dry from your last relationship.”

“I’d rather be a grape than a raisin, Ni.” Kelsey chides back, and Poppy can’t help the twitch of her lips at the horrific comparison. 

“You’re really gonna listen to a girl who says that?” Nia asks, unable to mask the glint of humour in her eyes, and Kelsey bites back a smile, too.

Despite the ache in her chest at the thought of any of it - of Nico leaving her this morning, filling her up with empty words and false promises, potentially knocking up an ex girlfriend he is still secretly hung up on even though he told her otherwise - she manages to crack a full smile.

“You are terrible at analogies, Kels,” Poppy tries to hide the grin behind her cup, sipping at her tea and letting the warmth of it soothe the pain in her throat. 

“I’m trying to encourage you to be a strong, independent woman here!”

“She is a strong, independent woman,” Nia defends, “She also happens to be a chronic over-thinker with a deep seated fear of confrontation.”

“I don’t fear confrontation.”

“Then why are we here chit-chatting about hypothetical scenarios when you could just text him and ask what’s up?”

“Maybe ‘cause that’s scary?” Poppy scoffs, only half joking. “What am I supposed to say, hey I just so happened to eavesdrop on your private conversation before you fled my apartment this morning, and despite me not understanding most of it, I definitely heard you mention someone, so could you just let me know if your gorgeous model ex girlfriend is pregnant with your perfect specimen baby?”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, you don’t even need us.”

Poppy rolls her eyes.  

She could text him. Could be casual about it, a good morning or even an are you okay? Those don’t warrant the alarm bells she’s afraid of raising - the ones that blare out with the siren sound of run, this girl is unhealthily attached to you already!

But she doesn’t want to be the pathetic girl chasing after the guy sending her clear messages that he doesn’t want her.

It’s easier said than done not to overthink the whole thing - not to second guess everything he had said, or everything she had done last night.

She feels like she had rushed things. It was so impulsive, so charged, and after spending the majority of her week away from him, she just hadn’t been able to help herself. And that makes her feel like a hypocrite. She had told him that night he had first kissed her that things between them had gotten intense. It had been the whole reason for spending a few days outside of each other’s company, and in the first possible instance, she had thrown herself at him.

It was desperate.

And maybe that scared him.

It sure as hell scares her.

“I don’t know what to do,” She groans, throwing her head into her hands and scrunching her eyes shut to try and drown out the endless doubt. 

She feels two hands rub at either sides of her back, “Listen, Pop,” Nia is the first to attempt to console her, as always, and Poppy holds her breath for the harsh reality check she’s about to throw her way. “You know I am the one person who would usually be trying to convince you to cut your losses and run when it comes to guys who are no good, but this is Nico. I’ve watched the two of you ignore your feelings for far too long to let you get in your own way, now.

“And you’re forgetting I saw him last night, before you got there, there isn’t a chance in Hell he would have left you like that without a good reason. I don’t for a second think he’s still hung up on her.” Nia casts a side eye to Kelsey.

The only problem is that Poppy isn’t sure there’s a reason good enough. Not when it comes to Talia. Not when the memory of those months of radio silence is still so fresh for her.

“I have to go to work in a building where his face is plastered everywhere, Ni, I can hardly forget his entire existence until he deems me worthy of an explanation. Who leaves after a night like that without even a note or a text?”

“An idiot,” Kelsey mutters around her drink, rolling her eyes when Nia sends her another death-glare.

“I’m not asking you to forget, I’m telling you to wait.” Nia frowns, but her tone remains consoling and warm. “You need to stop letting what this thinks,” she flicks at Poppy’s forehead, “Get in the way of what this knows.” She points to her chest on the left side. “You know him. You know how much he likes you.”

She does.

She knows Nico, she trusts him.

She can only judge him based on his actions so far - the ones that tell her that he cares. He leads with his heart, it’s his most attractive attribute. He’s gentle and loving and she needs to focus on those things over anything else.

“Ugh, corny,” Kelsey drags, and despite her repeated efforts to discourage her, Poppy knows she isn’t being entirely serious. “If he has any non-stupid hot athlete friends though, I’m first in line when the two of you kiss and make up for double dates.”

Guilt pricks slightly at Poppy’s chest - for making her recently single friend sit here and listen to her complain about something so monumentally small compared to the breakdown of the long-term relationship Kelsey had just endured. Even if it was perceivably toxic.

“You’d make such a good WAG, Kels.”

It’s a poor attempt to make up for it, but it seems to console her friend all the same, a giant grin breaking out and flashing her perfect pearly whites.

“I know.”

Poppy tries to distract herself with work. Tries to make her way through her inbox of seemingly never ending emails and her list of ever-growing tasks. She types up lengthy responses, puts together a presentation, makes a bunch of phone calls she’s been putting off for God knows how long, sorts all her invoices out - she even sends a fax. In the year 2024. It’s her most productive work day she thinks she’s ever had.

She zeroes in on the ground every time she moves through the building. Ignores the pictures that line the walls of the Rock, pushes down the memories of all the times she’s walked these very halls by Nico’s side, and she thinks she’s done just about enough to clear her mind for the time being.

She hasn’t thought up some heart wrenching scenario in at least an hour by the time she’s wrapping up for the day.

She’s making her way back to her office after dropping some files off for Elaine when she catches sight of a mop of curls over the top of the chair by her desk.

Luke is sat in her chair when she enters, swivelling around and staring at the ceiling.

“You’re gonna make yourself sick doing that, you know.”

“You’re such a mom,” he scoffs, standing up and clearly trying not to sway, “You ever tried having fun? I think I saw a glue stick on a table out there,” he points through the door into the wider office space, where there are a few, less private cubicles and a common area. “We should go sniff them, let loose a little.”

“Is that why you’re here on your day off? To huff glue?”

“Yeah, I don’t get to let loose enough. Being a rookie in the NHL is hard, Poppy,”

“Bummer for you.” She pouts, mockingly, swerving past him as he rounds her desk and sits on the other side, flicking at the bobblehead version of his older brother that stands by her computer. “If you’re chasing a high can you do it with one of the other departments, it’s not a good look for the Youth Foundation.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

When Luke had first joined the Devils, she hadn’t expected that she would warm to him the way she has - but, surprisingly enough, considering the fact they’re brothers, their relationship recently has started to mirror her and Jack’s.

Luke is funny. He’s sarcastic and a little silly, and it can be nice to have him around when work gets a little stressful. He doesn’t let the pressures of his own career outweigh those of hers, and, despite the gap in age, she actually enjoys his company.

But he never seeks her out like this.

Their interactions have always started through other people. Group conversations that dwindle to just the two of them, or he usually accompanies Jack to bug her and carries on when Jack’s ever-so-busy schedule takes him elsewhere.

She can’t think of another time he’s just shown up in her office alone.

Especially on his incredibly rare day off.

“Why are you actually here?” She asks, casting a suspicious but half-playful glare his way as she starts to pack up her things. 

“Came to see if you wanted to join us for dinner.”

“Aw Lukey,” she reaches over her desk to pinch his cheek, “I’m flattered and all but I’m a little too old for you.”

“Ha ha,” he swats her hand away, “Us. Me and Jack. Maybe a couple of the others if they’re free but you can pick where we go if you make a decision quickly, we were thinking a steakhouse.”

She narrows her eyes at him, expecting him to crack a joke about her being old, but he just looks back at her awaiting a response. “Why?” She drags out the question, her movements stopping completely.

“Maybe ‘cause humans need sustenance to live? What do you mean, why?”

“Why would you want me to tag along on your bro date?”

“Don’t call it a bro date,” Luke cringes, “Just remembered you were working today and we were in the area, don’t know why you’re being weird about it.”

“You’re being weird. You guys never let me choose where we eat. Don’t you remember that time we grabbed dinner when you guys drove me home and Jack told me to stop being a pussy about my seafood allergy ‘cause he wanted sushi.”

“Don’t blame me for the crimes of my brother, Poppy, he was obviously joking.”

“I had to eat tofu, Luke, I don’t find that very funny.”

“Are you coming or not?”

“That depends, how do you have your steak?”

“Well done.”

“Oh! Then absolutely not.”

“Remind me never to try to be nice to you again.” He scowls as they make their way out of her office, and she locks up behind the two of them.

“Gladly, it’s creeping me out.” She grabs at his elbow before he can carry on, stopping him in the otherwise empty common area where she knows no one is around to listen in. “Is something going on, seriously?”

Luke rolls his eyes, but she knows him well enough that it’s only done in an attempt to avert from her gaze. 

Bingo. He’s hiding something.

“I just thought you might want some company.” He shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets and twisting his lips to keep from saying much more.

“Why?”

If Poppy wanted to spend her life getting a straight answer out of people for a living, she’d have become an interrogator. What is it with these guys and their inability to answer a simple question?

“Jack said you left the party last night with Nico.”

Poppy’s eyebrows scrunch so close together that she can feel a deep crease form between them. What on earth does that have to do with asking her to dinner? Or being overly nice to her?

Unless-

“You’ve seen him?”

“This morning.”

“Oh.”

All of her efforts from throughout the day seem to have been for nothing - an immediate rush of insecurities flooding her mind.

Where did he see him? What did he say? Was he okay? Was Talia there?

She feels like she can gauge an answer from the way Luke looks. Sheepish, almost, like he doesn’t want to say something he knows will hurt her feelings.

She had to have been with him. He wouldn’t just show up to her office like this if it wasn’t something that would seriously hurt.

She wishes she wasn’t the kind of person who did this - who filled in the gaps of conversations and always came out with the worst possible outcomes - but she can’t help it. She’s been doing it all her life, and there’s rarely ever an instance where her instincts have led her astray.

She knows it’s some weird part of her mind protecting her, but she needs to do something here. Nia’s words from earlier ring like a warning. Don’t let what her brain thinks get in the way of what her heart knows.

Her heart knows Nico wanted her. Knows Nico liked her. Knows Nico wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

She needs to figure things out for herself and stop running, stop letting her mind fill in the gaps of a situation it can’t even comprehend to begin with.

She reaches her arms around Luke’s shoulders, stretching up on her tip toes to pull him into a hug before rubbing her knuckles into his curls, affectionately.

Luke Hughes is sarcastic and silly, and he cares enough about her to not want her to be alone if she’s going through something.

“Thank you for the offer, Luke, but I’ll be alright.”

“Are you sure?”

She nods, a tender smile tugging at the corners of her stubborn lips. It takes over her face, eyes glinting fondly and cheeks warming. 

“Yeah, you can walk me to my car if you’re that worried about me though.” She loops her arm through his elbow as they make their way to the parking lot, and when they get there, he makes sure she’s in her car and has set off before him and Jack leave.

As if her day can’t get any worse, the elevator in her building is cordoned off with tape and a sign when she gets home, and she has never regretted moving up a floor as much as she does when she’s trudging up 6 flights of stairs.

She’s exhausted. Emotionally and physically, and she just wants to throw herself into bed and pretend the last 24 hours were a terrible dream.

Only, as she rounds the final corner to get to her door, any hopes of that go straight down the pan when her eyes land on Nico, standing in front of her door with his hands buried in his jacket pocket.

He looks tired too - hair messed where he’s no doubt been taking his cap on and off for however long he’s been stood here, running a hand through the tresses until they’re all askew. 

His shoulders are slumped, and he doesn’t even greet her with that pretty smile he usually gives her.

His lips do curve up a touch - limp and half-hearted, not even enough for a dimple to form - but it doesn’t provide the comfort she had thought it would.

She feels anxious. A culmination of the day’s emotions washing over in one go. Sad, regretful, nervous, disappointed - all things she shouldn’t be used to feeling when it comes to Nico, but are all too familiar when she takes the last few months into account.

“Hi.” She gives a weak smile of her own.

“Can we talk?”

She wishes he’d have just said hi, back. That might have relieved the tightness in her chest just a little.

Nothing good ever comes of can we talk?

He steps aside as she approaches, maintaining a safe distance as she opens the door and enters her apartment.

The Nico from yesterday might have brushed past her, the graze of an arm or a lingering hand, but this Nico doesn’t. He barely even meets her eye.

He closes the door behind himself, watching as she discards her bag and keys to the console table on the side, and while she’s turned away from him, she tries to let whatever emotions need to come out cross her features where he can’t see them.

She needs to be cool about this, she thinks.

If she doesn’t get her back up, doesn’t get agitated, she won’t scare him off.

“Are you okay?” She asks once she’s turned to face him, not liking how he stands unmoving by the door. He hasn’t made any effort to settle in - his jacket still on and his hands still hidden in the pockets.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

She realises now that she can get a good look at him that the expression he wears is one of shame. Guilt. Apprehension. She needs to be careful and toe the line before he gets consumed by it, she realises.

She steps toward him a little, and he doesn’t back up - not immediately, not obviously - but he hardly welcomes her approach, either.

She doesn’t like feeling this way when it comes to talking to him - feeling uneasy and unsure, but there’s a part of her that’s tired of having to prompt him for answers.

He had been the one to leave this morning. Why can’t he just come out and tell her why?

“I’m alright,” she shrugs, not wanting to scare him off with the truth. “Super tired, though, can we sit?”

She wonders if he thinks about the same things she does as they make their way to the couch. Wonders if he can feel the scratch of her nails on his torso, or the brush of her lips against his, as they sit in the spot where not even 24 hours ago, their bodies had been intertwined.

He doesn’t sit right beside her as he normally would, and she finds herself missing the way his thigh usually brushes against her own.

She doesn’t know where to start or what to ask, and so she basks in the silence for a little - finding comfort in the fact that, despite the mess they’re currently in, they aren’t quite at the end yet.

But a part of her feels it coming.

She’d known it this morning if she lets herself listen to the rational voice in her head. As soon as she’d heard him say her name, as soon as he’d left, a part of her knew that was it, and maybe if she’d let herself believe it at the time - hadn’t talked herself down and convinced herself she was being irrational - she could have protected herself from all the ways this is going to hurt.

“I’m sorry.” He says, and when she looks up, he’s looking down where his large hands are now clasped together in his lap.

“For what?” She manages to choke out.

“Last night, I,” she digs her nails into the palms of her own hands to stop herself filling in the gaps as he figures out what he wants to say, but it’s no use.

He’s sorry for last night.

Last night, he made a mistake.

Last night, he was drunk, he was confused, he was just looking for something or someone to keep him occupied.

“I care about you so much, Poppy.”

That sentence shouldn’t be the one that fills her with dread, but it is.

“You’re my best friend, and I love you,” he does look up as he says this, eye meeting hers in an attempt to convey his honesty, but she sees more of the truth in his glassy gaze than she hears in his words. “This morning, I panicked, and I just needed some time to figure out what I want.”

No, no, no.

She’d rather he tell her what actually happened than do this. Than pretend he left because he doesn’t want her.

“I love you-,”

“You said that, already.” She can’t help the bite in her tone as she prepares herself for the hit. The I love you, but.

“You’re so important to me. Being your friend, it’s like it’s what keeps me sane lately.”

She chews at the inside of her cheek as she feels the tears start to well at her lash line.

“Poppy, I don’t want to mess up what we have,” he shakes his head as his gaze drops, dark eyes darting to focus anywhere but on her own, pleading and watery as she watches him slip away. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You don’t think this is hurting me?” She feels weak as her voice breaks, “You don’t think this is already messy?”

She reaches out to take his hands in hers, digging in to unclasp them, to try thread her fingers through, but he doesn’t make it easy.

“Nico, I love you, too, you know I do, we can figure it out, you don’t have to run away from me.”

It’s a desperate attempt and she knows it is, but she needs to know she tried. When she’s sobbing into her pillow and crying herself to sleep tonight, she needs to know she didn’t just let him go without a fight.

“I can’t give you what you want, I can’t be in a relationship, I’m no good at it.” 

Regardless of what she had told herself earlier, about taking what he says at face value, and trying not to fill in the gaps like she does so often with everyone else, she can’t help herself. When he says, I can’t be in a relationship, he means with her. He can’t be with Poppy. He would be no good with Poppy.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I told you-,”

“No, you said before that you’ve wanted this for as long as you’ve known me, you don’t just wake up and change your mind, not after-,” Poppy starts to feel panic building within her like a flipped over sand timer. Rising and rising until she starts to feel nauseous, getting harder with each second not to jump to conclusions. 

The voice inside her that tells her he got what he wanted and decided it wasn’t for him sounds caustic and bitter, and if she hadn’t wound herself up so much about this whole situation over the course of the day - the past week, even, or the months before - she might have been able to fight off the way it so easily convinces her.

“I have to put the team first, it doesn’t matter what I want, I have to focus on them, on hockey.”

She’s too caught up in her own emotions to notice how weak he sounds - glassy eyes unable to catch the glint in his. All she can hear, all she can see, is the minute hints of a cover-up - that she isn’t getting the whole story, that he’s lying to her, and that the excuse he’s giving is cowardly.

He still hasn’t mentioned the call, hasn’t mentioned Talia, hasn’t explained why he left her, why he didn’t say anything, why he didn’t come back.

“And you didn’t know that before?” She scoffs, pushing herself up off the couch and stepping away from him, “I can’t believe you would do this to me.” She wipes the tears from her cheeks as soon as they fall, but she can’t rid her skin of the feeling that they were there, her flesh damp and sore.

“I know we took things a little too far last night, but that doesn’t mean-,” She almost thinks he notices how bad that hurts her, referencing the night they shared as a mistake - an instance where they got carried away, and not where they followed through on years worth of built up tension and adoration for one another. She doesn’t even have to fill in the gaps, this time. Took things a little too far is clear enough. “We can still be friends. I want to be friends.”

“Friends?” Poppy jeers in disbelief, turning completely away from him now and missing the tears that drop from his own cheeks - missing the way his chest cracks and stretches open in a last ditch demonstration of his vulnerability, his desperation not to lose her completely. “You should go.”

“Poppy,”

“I can’t,” she tries so hard not to cry, knowing she won’t be able to stop, but the words come out in a choked sob, and her voice carries on in the whiney way she always hates. “You told me you wanted more, you said I was yours, and I’m supposed to just act like it never happened? Just accept you didn’t actually mean the things you said?”

“I meant them,” he says, defiantly, so sure of himself that it makes her head spin. “I wouldn’t-,”

“No, you didn’t. You’re a liar. You were either lying then, or you’re lying now. I don’t know which is worse. I can’t be your friend. I can’t pretend like you can that I don’t feel the way I feel.”

“Please, Mohn,” His fingertips just manage to reach out to land on her forearm before she shucks him off, wincing as if his touch has pained her.

“Don’t.” She takes an immediate step back, arms crossing over herself as a defence mechanism, body language screaming at him to go away, and she watches his pleading eyes drop to her arms just as she feels the cold of the metal there - so in tune with her every thought despite his denial of their true connection. Her arms move before her mind can make the decision, before it can remember what even sits on her skin, and her shaking fingers fumble to unclasp the jewellery adorned on her wrist. “You should take this back.”

Nico shakes his head, stepping back and away from the outstretched hand that holds her gemstone bracelet like it’s an actual danger to him. “No, that’s yours, Poppy.”

“I don’t want it.” She knows she’s the one that’s lying now. She wants the bracelet. She wants him. She doesn’t want him to leave. She wants to be his friend over being nothing. 

But she doesn’t want to hurt.

Looking at him hurts.

Remembering last night, remembering their kiss, the things he has said, the things he has done, it all hurts, and she can’t keep hold of a constant reminder of the pain, can’t wear it on her person at all hours of the day just to know deep down that the man who gave it to her will never want her the same way.

“I want you to leave.”

“Please,” he begs again, head tilting as devastation floods his features, brows pushing together, tears welling at the corners of his eyes, “We need to talk about this-,”

“No, you were right, we went too far, it was a mistake.” Her voice breaks as she says things she knows she doesn’t mean, but he’s already put it out there, so she doesn’t see the harm in echoing his own opinions. “There’s nothing more to talk about.”

She can’t look at him anymore, and so she drops her gaze to his hands, stepping and reaching forward and forcing him to take the bracelet from her before she rounds the couch and heads to the door.

If he isn’t going to give her the whole truth, she isn’t going to entertain part of the story, and she needs him gone so she can give in to the way her body wants to fold in on itself.

It takes him a minute to gather himself, but she refuses to look his way, waiting by the open door to her apartment and staring at the floor in front of her until his shoes appear.

“I do love you, Poppy. I’m leaving because I don’t want to upset you any more than I already have, and I’ll give you space if that’s what you need, but I’ll be here when you want to talk about this. I mean it when I say I can’t lose you.”

 She doesn’t say anything. She can’t say anything.

There’s a stabbing pain that’s building and building in the centre of her chest, and she doesn’t even think she can breathe in his presence.

He clasps a hand around her upper arm, and leans into her, his lips pressing a firm kiss into the crown of her head, and he lingers there for a moment before he retreats. 

She manages to push the door closed behind him, the click of the lock louder than ever, and waits a good few minutes in silence before her body is wracked with a silent sob.

The one time she had tried to be brave and fight her own intuition, and this is where it gets her.

So much for Nico wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

Next Chapter

Taglist: @alwaysclassyeagle @bunbunbl0gs @idgaf-if-youre-here @youflowerr-youfeast @thearchersstuff @bellsdi0r @wonderheartz @jjgsunflower @butterflies35 @kenziepickle @josierosie @laheyxlover @mrsmattytkachuk (sorry if your tag hasn't worked btw)

[hoeforhao]

Dolled Up In Cherry Haze || C.S.C Oneshot ||

🍒 pairing: bestfriend!seungcheol × fem!reader

🍒 warnings: smut with absolutely zero plot, minors dni, teasing in a public area, slight breast play, seungcheol is a meany tease here, tell me if i missed anything

🍒 word count: 0.9k

🍒 author's note: am finally back with a smut after ages with my hormones literally jumping out of the roof rn♡

🍓 Masterlist 🍓

IF YOU LIKE MY WORKS, THEN PLEASE REBLOG OR LIKE OR INTERACT IN ANY MANNER! IT REALLY HELPS US WRITERS 🍓

"Can you twirl around a bit for me,doll?" seungcheol pesters; his face plastered with the evilest smirk as he takes in the breathtaking view of his half naked best friend.

"Don't you wanna show your bestie how the red embraces each and every corner of your body! Hmm?" another nasty chuckle leaves his lips as he takes forward his pleasure torture with "so that he can help you be all dolled up to fuck your crush tonight...or..."

You had absolutely no idea 'bout how you ended up in this situation ; being half naked in the trial room, with only a lacey cherry red lingerie barely covering your cherished areas while your bestfriend seungcheol keeps his eyes fixed onto you, leaning onto the mirror of the room all this while.

All you remember was asking cheol to accompany you to your favorite lingerie store while you picked up the steamiest one to put on later at night - for your date with the guy you've been gushing about 24/7 to him.

"Don't make me repeat myself princess or who knows in how many shreds these pieces of sheer lace will end up...on the floor" cheol's voice sounds stern, trying to mask up the hormones rushing through his crotch at your sight.

"B-but you're my b-bestfriend cherry, it's embarrassing for me" what you actually wanted to say was that it was embarrassing for you to stain the brand new panties even before you've paid for them...even before being able to wear them for the actual purpose!!! Instead you were here on the verge of dripping like a fall onto the mall floor. Reason? Seungcheol's eyes glaring on your half bare body.

"Let me make it easy for you then. What would be more embarrassing - twirling around for me like a good lil princess or screaming my name out loud in the midst of a shopping centre, as I tear of every single thread of this lingerie from your skin, with my TEETH?!"

This man will now surely be the death of you. You close you eyes shut as you slowly twirl around, giving the best erotic show to seungcheol....'til your movement gets hauled by a sudden pair of hands.

"Aren't you such a dirty little slut, getting up all dressed in such scandalous pieces, hardly covering your perked up nipples and dripping cunt" by the time cheol was halfway through his sentence, your eyes were shut tight...from embarrassment? No! From the electrifying waves of pleasure traveling down from the tip of your mounds to the void of your womb; caused by none other than seungcheol's wet lips on your exposed neck.

"That too infront of your bestfriend? Such a desperate whore for being touched aren't you!!" cheol's lips vibrate against your neck as his hands gradually move to cup your breasts into his palms. "But i kinda feel bad for that little nerdy date of your tonight tho."

"W-why so?" you can't even form full words without stuttering like a two year old. What has seungcheol's touch even done to your needy body.

"This is why, my love" these are quite literally the last words that leave his mouth as well as the last ones that get to your head, as seungcheol grips your waist tight and in a swirl of a second turns you towards the mirror, while he's standing pressed up to your back.

"Open your eyes dove and witness the art I'm about to chalk out onto your skin." Not even a second of such a leg shaking remark from seungcheol and he's already biting down onto your neck like a wolf who was waiting for ages to devour the flesh of his mate.

"Do you think that silly crush of yours would even stay at the date after seeing how someone has already marked you, hmm?" a ripple of pleasurable pain runs down your back as cheol whispers these exact words into your skin, teeth still beastly grazing against your entire shoulder.

"F-fuck cheol am completely drenched.. p-pls help me" shocked at your own choice of words, you desperately beg for a climax.

"Not so fast princess. Needy whores need some extra care." the last of seungcheol's kisses paints your body as he withdraws his lips from you.

"Put on your clothes quick and come out. I'll be at the counter" he places one last kiss on your boobs while parting aside the curtain to leave the room. "Oh and don't even think about removing that set. I don't think you would want the entire shop to know how wet you're for your bestfriend"

"What have you done to me Choi Seungcheol. Got me all dizzy and heated up just to leave my core throbbing so bad for your touch huh!" these are the only thoughts that kept circling your palldium as you zipped up your dress and made your way out, body now intoxicated by his cherry haze.

"Let's go darling!! Can't wait to get home baby, right?" a strong pair of bulked up sweaty arms wrap around your waist, with three large shopping bags in his hand.

"DID YOU BUY THE ENTIRE STORE OR WOTT CHOI SEUNGCHEOL??"

"Nah love. Just every existing pair of that red lace embracing your sweet soft skin under the innocent flower dress of yours....one for every night" a wink from cheol is what it takes for your insides to start betraying you; AGAIN!

[dollfacefantasy]

i’m replaying re4 rn and the castle section has me in a brainrot of guard!leon x princess! reader. the way he would get so protective and possessive over when princes from other lands come to court her. the way he would remind her everytime after each failed proposal that she belongs to him and no one else 🙈

hi hi hi i am so super sorry this took me 86 years to answer but i've been thinking about this ask periodically since you sent it. the castle in the game is so pretty to me, and i am a whore for princess au/arranged marriage au. my brain isn't working for a full story (yet). i would love to do a one shot for it at one point but i really just wanted to share my thoughts about this 😇

i just think having him be a guard and reader a princess is so good. cause ugh the forbidden aspect of it? top tier. all the stolen kisses and secret glances. so so so cute. but i love the idea of him being her personal guard. like assigned to her specifically. being with her goes against like everything he swore!! but it's you and he just can't help it :(

as you said, he gets all super jealous over her being courted and proposed to. and i just think there's such good potential for angst there. like she knows she doesn't want anyone else but she's gotta do it and he knows he shouldn't be jealous but he sees her with someone else and every part of him just ACHES. he gets so possessive and clingy after and she has to be reassuring.

and finally. this is why i haven't written it but i just so wanna share. this to me would be like a whole series idea which i just don't have the mental capacity to write right now. BUT. imagine. she rejects so many people that her parents are like that's it. boom arranged marriage. THE PAIN. leon's gotta watch as his pretty princess walks down the aisle for someone else and lets another man slide a ring on her finger. has to watch her kiss him and dance with him and smile the whole night (but he knows it's a fake one; he can see the longing in her eyes when she looks at him). then she goes off to live with her new man and whether he stays behind or goes with her, it doesn't really matter. either option is torture when he has to live without his beloved.

so yeah i just love this idea and really wanted to give you an answer for it but writing is hard 😔💔

[weebsinstash]

Ok so tmi (on the tmi blog lol) but the first day of my Cycle I had a dream that I had just given birth and I was holding my baby and I was goddamn euphoric even though the logical part of me was like “???? I am 22 and broke i CANNOT have a baby rn” and I woke up crying and called my friends like I WANNA HAVE A BAAAAAABYYYYY I WANT A BAAAAAAABYYYYYYYY so basically. Imagine. Miguel catches you in a moment of weakness. And he NEVER. FUCKING. FORGETS IT.

Oh wow girlie those period hormones grabbed you by the uterus and absolutely REFUSED to let go

NO BUT FOR REAL don't look at me but I've been thinking of a concerning number of ideas where it's like, "Reader suddenly realizes they may want a baby and is actually putting serious thought into it and Miguel finds out (bet your ass Peter B tells him, i can see him as a "well intentioned" platonic guardian/mentor figure who sells you out to Miguel the second he thinks you're doing something risky or he thinks it's for your own good) and Miguel starts making all these plans and preparations behind your back to have a baby with you" and obviously I like the extra juicy option of "he found out you got extremely depressed and tied your tubes or something because you either see no point in you having a kid/think it's too late, OR, Miguel was the only person you were looking at as a potential father and you either decide it wouldn't work out or he does something to hurt you and you lose trust in him" so like, the double whammy combo of him being hit with the news you basically walled off your fertility that he's kinda fantasizing about AND you blame him for it

You see him chokeslam Miles on the train and having all these serious anger and stress issues and you're like "hmmmm don't like that" and basically make the tubal ligation appointment that week (but, you know, he'll either interfere before you can actually get it or even reverse it later on)

Like. Ugh I'm not sure if I should go super into detail bc I feel like I want to put this scene in the YouTwo fic or in a different idea i have thats more centered around motherhood, but, picture he catches you in his monitor room one day after you've lost your home dimension, you're having a little more than just a small identity crisis, and he catches you having Lyla show you the model for your life, or what the algorithm had predicted your life was supposed to be like before your universe just magically poofed away. You're just staring at these holograms with tears running down your face and he occasionally catches you starting to reach out like you want to touch what you see. He comes to stop you because he already knows all too well where this could lead, you can't become tempted to break canon and go somewhere else, but you beg him to let you watch just a little longer

"I was supposed to get MARRIED! I was supposed to have a BABY! I was supposed to have a family!! It's not fair!!"

And he's in total agreement with you because, who even fucking knows why your universe suddenly destabilized and vanished. He sees you as this person who has so much promise and potential who had their destiny and future literally snatched away from them and now you're lost and confused on what you're supposed to do, like really he totally understands why you feel so aimless. But watching these holograms is like torturing yourself, and he goes to stop you when you just keep crying because this is basically sending you into a critical mental health episode

"Someone was supposed to fall in love with me... we were supposed to have a baby... would I have been a good mom? Would I have had a boy or a girl? Cant you at least let me find out what my daughter's name would have been?"

And it's like NOOOO you can't hit him with the daughter card, don't you see what you've DONE!!! Gets him right in the heart. Now he's got this massive soft spot for you, bigger than it already was anyways, and he can tell over time you're just really starting to, grieve the future you were supposed to have, falling into a depression. Peter B is hanging around with Mayday like he usually does as both men can tell you're really staring at his baby today and he offers to teach you how to hold her. you're standing there misty eyed twirling one of her little curls around your finger as her dad starts volunteering information to you, "you know she's about XYZ months old now, they aren't really talking yet at this age but they're really curious about their surroundings and--"

Miguel watches as you start talking about children and suddenly get this really really tortured expression and just say "it's not meant to happen" and or some combination of "it's too late for me" and gives him his baby back a little too quickly in typical "I am clearly leaving the room to go cry" fashion. Meanwhile Peter B is like 38 wondering why you think you're out of time or it's not supposed to happen

Miguel's working one day and Peter is trying to shove his phone in his face, "you know I think this is one of the BEST photos of Mayday I've ever taken, she's looking so cute here, you just GOTTA see it" and Pete just won't let up and Miguel finally looks just to humor him because the man is being unusually annoying and, it's a photo of Mayday, duh, but being held by you, and you're clearly looking down at her with watering eyes and the smallest little smile that says "I'll die for you" and Peter is just all 😏 as Miguel is 'suddenly' interested in the photo. "That's a really good photo of MAYDAY, right? 😏 I figured you would like it, that photo of MAYDAY 😏" and Miguel is just grumbling and grouchy bc he sees what this guy is tryna do, but he's still like ".... send it to me later, I'm trying to work right now"

It's even worse if you're a member of his strike force because you're constantly around him, Peter B, and Jess. Miguel just, idly wondering where you are and deciding to walk around a little bit and eventually finds that you're having some sort of conversation with Peter B and Jess and he can tell you look really weepy as the other woman invites you to feel her baby kicking, like, you could not more obviously be developing baby fever, and you ARE around that age, and ESPECIALLY if you live in Nueva York because it's like, YEAH you're still a Spider and YEAH you help the Society with stuff but. Your home universe is gone, your canon is gone, you're kind of. Free as a bird really? But you're also scared because, if someone was destined to love you, does that mean it technically isn't meant to be to fall for anyone else? You can't exactly hook up with people at the Spider Society because of canon or them already having relationships, and you don't exactly have identifying documents if you wanted to try and adopt

I think it'd really reach a stressful breaking point if you and the strike force go to another universe to fight an anomaly and Miguel catches you staring out into the crowd of people you just saved and he sees what youre looking at instantly and his heart sinks. Another you, another normal you, never bitten by a Spider, is standing there with her husband and her little sputtering baby, and he has to all but drag you away as you cry "it's not fair, it's not fair, why does SHE get a normal life!!"

Sidebar for a moment, I think that's probably also one thing that would be so INFURIATING about the doppelganger stealing your life story because THEY have a home universe and YOU don't. They take your life, they take literally everything you have left, your friends, your sense of community, your literal purpose. I've already decided on YTs motivations but could you imagine you finding out YouTwo actually has a decent life and maybe even a husband and kid of their own and you're just furious because they're basically abandoning their duties back home not only as a Spider but as a parent/spouse to steal what YOU have? You can't kill them because it would break their canon and kill like countless people but Miguel and the others would def let you beat the shit out of your evil double and get some of your anger out. Like. Jesus could you imagine Miguel kicks you out thinking you're the fake and after you're gone, YouTwo breaks canon and that's what exposes them, or theyre exposed when they eventually take a trip back home and get caught. The Society's regret, the guilt, the anger, just marinate me with the drama

But anyways back to Being Sad and Babycrazy, you go missing one day and Miguel has to decide what to do when he finally tracks your bracelet and you're back in THAT dimension again. He has to physically track you down using your bracelet's signal because you refuse to answer his messages and you're, in the home of the other you while she takes a brief nap, in the nursery, holding her baby. Miguel quietly climbs through the window and you're in a rocking chair and you've got her hugged to your chest and your eyes are closed and you sense him and, obviously cry because you know you have to leave. Unlike with the holograms he doesn't give you any leeway on this, putting his foot down that this has to end here, this cant go on, this is already so dangerous. And, you're good for him and understand, leaving the baby back in its crib as you and Miguel warp away. You're heartbroken but ultimately understanding when he has to disable your watch's ability to visit that specific dimension again, and you're obviously extremely depressed for a while, having multiple Spiders coming to check in on you as word spreads around that you aren't doing well

I can just see Reader becoming kind of desperate because the only options for a baby you really have left is to either 1. get a serious relationship, which you're scared of because you have to trust that person and who can you even pick, you're nervous about breaking canon or something, or 2. Get some random person to impregnate you so you can run off with the baby

Miguel gets a call from Peter B that you went to a bar and you're EXTREMELY wasted as you try to pick someone, ANYONE up and like, you have admirers for sure but there's enough decent people around to keep the creeps in line, clearly you are in a vulnerable state of mind right now, and Miguel gets to tote your drunken ass back home as you drunkenly word vomit all your feelings to him because, unfortunately for you, he has your trust, and you need comfort right now, and you even ask him about what being a parent was like for him. You encouragingly tell him he shouldn't give up if he still wants kids, you trying to be genuinely nice and not trying to imply anything, blubbering about how he deserves to still be happy and he's still got time, and here's Miguel who's practically tracking your cycles at this point, TOTALLY not going to use anything you say to him while you're piss-drunk against you

Especially if you add ABO into the mix and you have a Miguel who's either Alpha/Omega and is already babycrazy af and he sees you literally fucking YEARNING for it, like. You've got a 6'9" Alpha basically looking at you, his poor lil Omega crush, with the big yandere goo goo eyes and how you need all this love and support and stability and how you're in need of a proper husband and of course he's all too willing to volunteer himself for the job. Even if he's too awkward to come right out to you and say it, he'll be thinking in his head and planning behind your back ways to take care of you, keep you away from any drugs/alcohol (no more smoking weed with metro boomin Spiderman, you've gotta detox your body to have a baby! Also, different concept but, Miguel basically keeping you in a bubble to control all your meals and recreational activities and all of that so he can make sure you're perfectly healthy for a baby)

Don't let this man catch you slipping up! Throw you to the Spider Society and you'll come back pregnant 😭 he sees you so depressed and wanting a baby and it's like well, if your life needs new meaning, he can help literally make one for you 😏 he's been feeling protective and nurturing of you anyways, so, it's an extra benefit for him to think of getting to have both you AND a little baby of your very own ❤️

[pinyeti]

EPISODE 6: RETURN OF THE JEDI

Is it just me or have they just not explained the Death Star properly?

I cant take Darthy seriously anymore, he’s just a bag of organs 

Whats quirrel doing here

OMG ELEPHANT SNAKE IS BACK

Isnt this that old caterpillar from Alice n wonfderlad

WOW LUKE REALLY SUITED UP FOR HIS MESSAGE- DID HE JUST SELL???? GOLDENFACE AN R2-oh right Hans in the carbon - way to go to the dark side Luke, triangular droid trade YOU ARE YOUR FATHERS SON LUKE 

So much of Star Wars is just running into the problem with a glowstick and hoping it dies

Wow hansolo has been imprisoned, thrown into garbage, tortured, thrown into carbon, imprisoned AGAIN all cuz he has can’t shut my mouth disease

What even is their relationship with Luke btw, are they his adopted fWOAH WOAH WOAH WHEN DID LUKE TURN INTO A MAN??? Last I saw he was a child who couldn’t get a plane out of a lake AND THEY LEFT THE LAST MOVIE WITH ALL OF THTEM BEING TOGETHER wow the text in the beginning is more important than I thought 

No seriously why is Luke dressed like a pastor whats going on

WOAH GOLD BIKINI LIEA - OKAY STORY TIME I USED TO WATCH PRINCESS RAP BATTLES AS A CHILD AND THE ONE I SAW WITH LEIA IN IT SHE SAID “I wore a gold bikini and the whole world lost its shit” ANF NOW I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS

Ok yoda we get it you’re 900 no ones talking about your wrinkles anyway with pastor Luke in the room, projecting much?

Is yoda suidicdal???

WDYM LUKE IS REaDY???? HE DIDNT DO ANYTHING TO BE READY EXCEPT FLY FACEFIRST INTO A MILITARY BASE HIS TRAINING ARC IS SO SHIT

 Whos the other Skywalker?? lukes not even a Skywalker isnt his name Luke vader where’s skywalkers real son OH darthy’s deadname is skywalker

BABY WONKENOBIII IS BACKCKCKC-OMGWHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WDYM LEIAS LUKES SISTER WDYM HE SUSPECTED THIS AFTER MAKING OUT WITH HER FIFTY BILLION TIMES??? WHAT THE HELL

??? HELLO>>??? WHAT TH EHELL??? WHAT IN THE GAME OF THRONES IS GOING ON??????? How is Leia a princess then?? HahahahaHAHAHA SO YODA KNEW …… ABOUT THEIR LITTLE TRIANGLE

Nice the gang is back together, waiting for chewbakka to be revealed as darthy’s next offspring

YES YES GOLDENFACE GETTING THE RESPECT HE DESEREVEVVES I LOVE GOLDENFACEEE

I cant believe these are the idiots the emperors trying to kill

"yes I could sense you were my brother when my tongue was down your throat"

Oh yes Luke hands himself over- haha darthy sensitive over dead name 

Luke youre so stupid- but since jedis cant die is he gonna go to wherever yoda and obi wan is 

Lando is growing on me, also squid guy

This movie is gonna end with emperor and Luke dead isnt it

Is the emperor a jedi too how else does he have power or something something Sith

Id make a horrible jedi- im made of hatred

Hansolo my pathetic little idiot

I JUST REALIZED WHO LUKE EP6 REMINDS ME OF - TROY BOLTON

IS HE BEGGING DARTHY TO KILL HIM WTF

You’re telling me this big of an empire cant take down 6 idiots lead by a happy go lucky guy, never heard of this before

OHMYGOSSDDHD. LYKE YOU IDIOT NOW HE KNOWS ABOUT LEIA

Hahahah a hand for a HAND- wait what…. Why does he have a robo hand too whats going on 

Luke stop acting like you didnt hear about jedis 5 secs ago

Aw does darthy have a heart among his organs

OHMYGOD DARTHY IS A GOOD GUY????? ????? What A VILLAIN TTURNS GOOD ITS BEEN AGES SINCE I SAW A VILLAIN COME OVER TO THE GOOD SIDE

OMG DARHTY FACE REVEAL

Oh damn hes not as ugly as I thought he’d be

Kinda cute even - bro how did he even get this weak why’s he dying rn 

He has such kind eyes

Yeah ok I am so lost I NEED DARTH VADER BACKSTORY RIGH FUCKIN NOW

Is the empire this easy to penetrate? No but they did it with the power of lOVE and FRIENDSHIP 

Love lando 

YES HAN THATS THE REACTION I HAD AN HOUR AGO ACTUALLY WTF

Yes Luke its so sad your daddy that blew up an entire planet in ONE second without a single thought died IM NOT FORGIVING HIM THIS EASY

No way thats it??? They took down the empire just like that???? What??

Damn no one in this world can dance

OHMYGOD ANAKIN???? HOW CAN HE SEE THEM NOW??? IS IT CUZ HES BETTER AT WEILDING THE FORCE

ok fine anakin is cute

(3/9)

[ravisinghs-wife]

Hii!

Could you please do Aaron Warner x reader dating post? cause I live for that man.



Aaron warner x gn!reader

warnings: ooc!Aaron (?), I changed the timeline and a tiny bit of the plot from unravel me, my poor attempt at writing anything besides headcanon, cringe writing, mention of being drugged, being shot, curse words

word count: 1.6k +

notes to the reader: reader's gift is to make people believe and do everything they say. reader has been at omega point since their childhood and is best friends with kenji. reader wears a dress

other notes to the fic: Juliette and Aaron are just friends (well still kind of enemies, but Aaron's main focus from bringing her to the reestablishment was to help his mom, instead of rescuing her bc he was in love with her), a/n: I am SO sorry that this took so long, I'm currently trying to work on my request before I open them again but I just don't have that much motivation to write rn😭, I hope you still like it:)), my first language isn't English so please respect that, I tried to write something different from what I normally do...

Masterlist

you two met when he was taken by omega point

after he was allowed outside of his room, and castle made sure that Aaron wouldn't destroy any more furniture, he kept seeing you on his daily walks with castle and began asking questions about you

"what's their name" Aaron looked focused, directing his question to the person joining him on his walk. Castle waited a few seconds before answering Aaron's question: "y/n, their gift is to make people believe and do everything they say" Aaron gave you another intense look before turning his attention to castle again and nodding, to signalize that he understood him.

after that he kept noticing you and eventually agreed to eat dinner with the others, just so he could sit at the same table as you and listen to your conversations with Kenji

you had been friends with Kenji for as long as you could remember, so you always sat at the same table, different friends of yours joining you both, be it Ian, Brendan, lily or the brand new members Adam, James or Juliette, with whom Kenji was especially close

but when the new omega point member, the infamous Aaron Warner joins you both you of course notice him

you also didn't miss the glances he kept sending you

so when castle, who also didn't miss the glances, asked you to train him you rushed to say yes because you just couldn't believe that a person could be so pure evil like Adam pointed him out to be

yes, he let someone tortured your best friend (which you still were pretty pissed about) but you believed that there could be something nice in him and assumed that he was under much stress due to his father, who you haven't heard a single nice thing about

his first training session was on an Tuesday afternoon, to which he arrived exactly on time and in perfect clothing, as if he somehow found a way to iron it

you started with some simple tasks to try to find out what exactly his power is and why he is immune to Juliettes touch

around three sessions later you come to then training session in your prettiest dress that you normally safe for special occasions

aaron, he demanded that you call him by his first name, immediately had one of his rare smiles spread out on his face when he saw you in that dress

he kept asking you to do a twirl so he could see the whole dress but you refused at first

it wasn't until he came closer to you, held your hands carefully in his and asked like a little puppy "please to a twirl for me, my beloved" that you made one with a shocked face

when he saw your expression he rushed to stop you and asked panicked if everything was alright

you told him that he just practiced your gift and couldn't do anything but do a twirl

after that both of you quickly figured out that his gift was to practice other peoples powers and copy them

the night after you are me in his room, trying to work on his powers

you do that until you notice him staring at you

"what's wrong Aaron?" you ask, looking concernt at the boy. you notice that he isn't smiling or grinning a bit like he normally does when you say his name. "my beloved, I- I'll have to leave in the morning. My father can't suspect that I'm here or where exactly omega point is, he'll know soon if i stay longer. I can't put you at this risk." You were shocked to say the least. "Aaron you can't- how would you even do that? Do you even know the way out?" "I wasn't really unconscious when I was brought here, you know? And I found a way to navigate myself around here in the last two months." He looks at your shocked face before adding: "But don't worry, I won't tell my dad or someone else about anything here. I'll hope that you'll miss me the same amount that I will miss you. I hope we will see each other soon again"

He doesn't let you protest any further, gives your hand a gentleman-like kiss and leaves

you had absolutely no idea where he went to, it was his room that you spent your time just mere minutes ago in, after all

still in shock you don't even think about following him, the only thought in your head being that he would be gone tomorrow and will probably spent his time with his pathetic excuse of an father

You don't even think about telling castle or someone else at omega point about Aaron leaving, and at the morning of the very next day you find out that he succeeded

days pass until each member from the rescuing mission of Brendan and Winston, who where both kidnapped my Aaron's psycho dad, Anderson, were ready and prepared to start the mission

the mission seemed to go well until you saw the bombs falling from the sky directly on the place where omega point was located

you were in shock and didn't notice the arms grabbing you and dragging you into a tank

you'd been handcuffed and your eyes were covered with a cloth

there was a voice saying something but you didn't catch was it was saying

someone forced a liquid down your throat and you soon passed out after that

the first thing that you noticed was the warm light

you sat in a kitchen chair but soon noticed that a person, who you assumed to be Anderson, Aaron's dad, because of the obvious resembles, joined you

shit

you didn't catch everything he was saying because you were still feeling dizzy from the drug you were forced to consume, something about revenge, the stupidness of his son (who apparently had joined you two), leading and shooting someone

you soon found out that with someone they meant you, when you were shot in the chest

right into your heart

being shot and drugged at the same day wasn't a nice feeling

you were bleeding and if it didn't stop soon you'd be dead in a few minutes

and if that would happen you couldn't exactly tell because you passed out

for the second time today

it was a shock, to say nicely, when you woke up next to Aaron

he immediately asked you if you were okay but you just stared at him

"I- What the fuck happened?" "my father he- he wanted to 'teach me a lesson'. I'm sorry, my beloved. If I never would've asked him to spare your life he wouldn't have tried to kill you or make me try to kill you." he rambled, trying to explain the earlier actions. But one question was still lingering in your head: "why exactly would you have asked him to spare my life?" He could've carered so much more about someone else's life than yours. Juliettes or maybe James. Besides his constant dining you were sure that he cared at least a bit for them. "Because I care for you, my beloved." You don't know what to say after this confession and just look at him and take his hand into yours.

that's how you met&lt;33 sorry, I got carried away

anyway

that man SPOILS you

you see a pretty flower at the market? It's yours. There is a new collectors edition of your favorite book, but it's out of your price range right now? It's on your desk the next day. The limited edition vinyl that just restocked? already ordered, you get the deal

despite everything he says he actually loves dogs and you'll get one when everything with the reestablishment is over

he'll always pick out fancy colars for the dog and style it<3

he definitely has a fashion blog and posts his daily outfits on there

he'll also pick out your outfit everyday and he always tries for you two to match

every time you go shopping with Juliette and/or Kenji he insists on tagging along so you don't chose some ridiculous clothing items that would wash you out or something

he's obsessed with coffee after delalieu introduced him to it

and when you already like coffee you two have this ritual that every Sunday you guys drink a cup coffee on your balcony and just enjoy the early morning

but if you don't like coffee he always tries to get you into it and 'accidentally' places an extra cup on the breakfast table

"i promise my beloved, it's really good you just have to try it for once"

his love languages are words of affirmations and physical touch

he can't go longer than five minutes without touching you

he always has his hand rested on your lower back or holds your hand because your touch comforts and relaxes him<33

also loves to hold your pinkies

he may not look like it but he LOVES cuddling

you can't sleep anymore without you normally grumpy boyfriend squeezing you like his life depended on it

he also loves to rest his head on your belly before sleeping, while you both read something

he's so mesmerized by your presence

he tells you at least ten times a day how gorgeous, smart or lovely you are

you could literally just walk to the kitchen to get a snack and he'd drop everything to tell you how much he loves you

at the beginning of your relationship he was way more open than you expected with his feelings and already told you one month in the relationship that he loved you

I don't know why but I think he'd write you poems frequently