#look at my STUPID ASK TAG. it sounds like cold medicine apparently

[eleadore]

guys if i were to abandon this name (i wont) and start over (i wont) again (really i wont) but if i was (im not) what would my new name be. cute answers only

[hellothere-generalangsty]

Hello doll, it's Minty! 💚 I saw your requests are open and I simply had to dance into your inbox! I would adore a Bad Batch Western AU fix with Crosshair and the sentence prompt "If that wound doesn't kill you, then I will". I love you friend! 💚💛💚💛💚

Crosshair – Dust and Blood (TBB Western AU)

Summary: Every story need a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the beginning, and it starts with a man who calls himself Crosshair.

From the sentence prompts:

22. “If that wound doesn’t kill you, then I will.”

Word Count: ≈1535 words

CW/ TW: Angst? Idk if you could say it’s angsty - it’s not happy that’s for sure but angsty? Idk anyway; western stuff, wounds/ injuries, (death) threats, pain, scars, blood

Tags: @mintywriteswritings @chaoticvampirejedi @loth-wolffe @m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s (thank you again for the help!) @dusk-dawn-and-stars @tacticalsparkles @imalovernotahater @canwestayinthisdream @wakeupjackthisisntfair @namesmox @badbatch-simp24 @lightning-wolffe @maddieskywalker @for-the-love-of-clones @m-e-w-117 @99squad @equalityforcats

@ladykatakuri @firelordillyria @andiebell2023

Notes: This is so exciting for me you can’t even imagine; thank you Minty for the request! I’m really happy to dive a bit more into the stories of the boys, and Crosshair’s arc is one I’m really happy to explore ^^

Also feel free to check Little One – Highly Suspect (you’ll find out a lot of their songs help me dive into that AU)

Dust.

This is how everything started, and how everything would end. He knew it the moment he jumped down his horse, a grimace of pain twisting his face as the dry coat of blood on his ribs ripped open once again. He tried to take a deep breath but stopped halfway, the pumping in his head becoming too strong to focus on anything else. He almost tripped on his feet, grabbing the beige mane of his companion to keep himself up; which made the horse neigh.

“Sorry, pal.” He barely muttered, unable to do more than loosen up his grip a bit.

Above him, an old sign falling into pieces, and a barely readable inscription on it; bleached by the constant exposure to the sun and the occasional rains.

Marauder Valley.

He walked through the entrance of the abandoned village – if one could call it a village – and wandered next to his horse, looking for shelter and a new shirt. His was tainted with red; dark and dried, smelling like iron and sweat. His wound wasn't bleeding too much anymore, but he could still feel a thin dash dripping against his skin when he was turning around or raising his arm.

It took him a few minutes to find the abandoned saloon, and the sight made him hum in a mixture of disgust and relief. A thick coat of dust was laying on the floor, and most of the bottles and tables were left to be; frozen in the middle of their usual occupations. A deck of cards was spread on one of them, and he came closer to take a better look.

Poker. And it was a good hand. Whoever played it knew what they were doing.

The wooden floor was lightly creaking under his feet as he walked around; and hadn’t it be for the few footsteps he was leaving behind, no one could have guessed he came here. He took a small hallway, leading to a few unsanitary rooms – barely big enough for a bed and a chair for most of them – and looked under the beds for a medical wallet or something he could use to patch himself up. His head was spinning a bit, but the clicking of a gun’s chamber and the cold metal tickling the back of his neck felt more important in the moment.

“If that wound doesn’t kill you, then I will.”

He slowly turned around, hands barely raised to show he intended no harm, and came face to face with a lady; probably in her mid-forties, small and chubby, and visibly determined to fulfil her promise.

“I need a doctor.”

“You won’t find any ‘round here.”

“Then a drink will do.” he shrugged, unimpressed.

“We’re going out and get you a drink then.”

She moved the cannon of her gun toward the main room, letting him open the way. He went in with the hope of getting some rest and medicine, and got back outside empty-handed and under the threat of an armed lady; bathed by the burning sunrays of a hot afternoon, in the middle of nowhere.

Nothing had changed during his little visit in the saloon but his state. He tripped on his feet, unable to focus on the stairs and the figure next to him, and fell on his knees next to his horse. The pain was getting worse; stinging and burning, the sensation of warm blood dripping from his open wound and straining his shirt even more; and the headache, the heat, the shivers-

“Alright, sit down.”

He dropped his weight on his behind, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Stay here. And don’t faint!” the woman warned as she walked away from him, disappearing behind the horse. His head felt too heavy, his veins pumping too hard to let him think straight. He let himself lay back against the dusty wooden floor, closing his eyes under the bright light burning above him.

He woke up when cold water splashed his face, making him jolt and grimace in pain.

“ Told you not to faint.”

“I didn’t.” he groaned, trying to sit again, the coat of blood ripping itself a bit as he did.

“Feel like y’can walk?” she looked down at him with a sort of irritated worry. He nodded, grabbing the guardrail to get up, slowly. “Good. Follow me.”

He stumbled a bit, trying to catch up with the woman. He thought he could handle it; he had gone through a lot to get here, and it couldn’t be worse than what he had left behind.

Or maybe it could be.

The loud thud of a body falling on the ground caught the woman’s attention, and as she turned around, a sigh escaped from between her lips.

“Great… Now I have to get the big guy.”

.

Waking up was painful, sudden. His ribs were on fire, his eye stinging – though the light was filtering through old curtains – and the remaining of his headache was still blurring his vision. He didn’t noticed the comfort of the mattress right away, neither the voices filling the room he was in.

“Ha, coming back to us. Told ya ‘t would work.” A deep voice commented in a smile.

“And that?” the woman’s voice asked, and he guessed she was pointing at his wounded ribs. He brushed the tips of his fingers against his own torso, realizing he was bare skin and wrapped in a bandage.

“Can’t do miracles. ‘Have to rest for a few days, go easy with manual tasks for a while.”

He let out a groan when he heard the recommendation, and tried to move his arms to push himself up and sit in the bed.

“I wouldn’t do that,” the voice advised in a laugh, “Unless ya want to open that wound ‘gain.”

He blinked a few times, and managed to see who was talking to him; a man, tall and visibly strong, dressed with dirty clothes and a squared shirt – probably a farmer. A scar was covering the side of his bald head and reached his left eye. The man was neither scary nor impressive, and seemed friendly enough.

He abandoned the idea of sitting, letting go of the light pressure he had put on his elbows and falling down against the mattress. His head gently buried itself in the pillow, and he let out a long, tired sigh.

“Who’re you?” he muttered in his breath, turning his head their way to look at them.

“’Name’s Cid,” the woman told him, “and he’s the big guy.”

“You know that’s not my name.” the man chuckled, and his voice filled the room with warmth and amusement as he looked at Cid.

“Don’t know your name, and couldn’t care less about it.” she shrugged.

“And you are?” the big guy asked, shifting his attention back to him.

He had expected the question, and he knew the simple answer would be to give his name. But he couldn’t stand the sound of it anymore, and his spite told him to go for that one instead. After all, it was “made for him”.

“Crosshair.”

 “Well then, welcome to Marauder Valley Crosshair.” The man smiled at him.

He didn’t feel like returning the gesture, but nodded nonetheless, out of respect and gratitude for their help. He scanned the room, bringing a hand to his face; a light grimace twisting his mouth as he felt the skin stretching on the side of his body.

His fingers ran against his scar around his eye, trying to sooth the stinging pain. It was still recent, bright red, not quite blending in with his warm skintone.

“Well, ‘gotta leave now,” the big guy smiled, grabbing his hat in hand as he walked toward the door, “but if you need anything, I won’t be far.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cid pushed him out of the room, following his steps, “we know. You,” she pointed to Crosshair, “don’t play stupid, stay in bed.”

And on these words, she dragged the door behind her, slamming it before her heeled steps hit the apparent stairs outside the room. Crosshair stared at the door for a moment, contemplating once again getting up, but he was tired, and the bed was comfortable; and these people didn’t seem to want him any harm.

He didn’t seem to want any harm either, right, “Crosshair”?

He groaned faintly at the thought, and his hand dropped from his face to his chest, barely grabbing the thin blanket above him. He was far from him; from them, and now he just needed to sleep the pain away.

Sleep the pain away. Sleep.

Don’t let them get to you. Because they will get to you.

He will find you, you know he will.

They did this to you. They will do worse.

You know that, don’t you, Crosshair?

He let out a frustrated sigh at the thoughts, and slowly turned his head to look at the window. The sun was shining bright behind the curtains, and he could see the dust floating in the rays of light filtering through. It was peaceful.

For now he was safe, far away in a lost, abandoned town, in the middle of nowhere.

For now.

[excitedlysuffering]

How He Hurts Your Feelings

Here’s some angst for ya :p wait is this even angsty?? Idk it’s the angstiest thing I’ve ever wrote XD

Masterlist Part 2

Naruto~

You sighed as you neared your second home, a ramen shop. You loved ramen, of course, but it was tiring having to cater to your boyfriend’s uncanny obsession with it. For once you wanted to have a choice. He never listened to your ideas anymore, recently he had made your relationship all about him, and it was beginning to eat at you.

You didn’t even necessarily want to eat. You just wanted to spend time with Naruto without having to eat ramen. Was that too much to ask?

“Naruto, we always go to Ichiraku’s for dates… maybe we could do something different?” The blonde turned to you with a pout. “Why? I thought you loved ramen?” You sighed, shaking your head.

“I do, but it’s all we seem to do these days.” His frown deepened. “But, I’m hungry!” You nodded, trying to control your patience. “Me too, but maybe we can go somewhere else to eat? I heard there’s a new BBQ place opening!” He was full-on scowling and his arms were crossed.

“Why are you being so disagreeable? You wanted to go out and here we are.” Your face fell at his hostile demeanor, but you refused to back down.

“I’m not being disagreeable, Naruto. You always pick out our dates without considering my opinion, I’m simply asking if we can do something different.” He rolled his eyes, his cerulean eyes burning with irritation.

“Fine, whatever. Go to your BBQ place. I’m going to get ramen.” Without another glance, he turned around and ducked into Ichiraku’s, leaving you alone on the street. Tears filled your eyes and blurred your vision as you ran back home, suddenly having lost your appetite.

Sasuke~

The Uchiha rarely got sick, but when he did he was more irritable than usual. You knew that when he did it was best to take his words with a grain of salt, as he was just trying to seem tough to make up for his perceived weakness at being sick. However, there was only so much you could take and you were slowly reaching your limit.

With every snide remark, you felt yourself grow a bit more upset. As it was Sasuke had tried to slam the door in your face when you had arrived, given you the silent treatment, complained about every little thing about the soup you made, he even griped about the tomatoes you’d brought him.

However, what was really pushing you over the edge was his ungratefulness. When you were sick, you let him take care of you, why couldn’t you return the favor?! You had been nothing but patient and gracious, and still, he had a problem with everything you did.

“For crying out loud, woman, I don’t want the medicine!” He snapped. At that moment, you snapped too. You threw down the spoon of medicine and a loud clang resounded. “FINE! I’ve done nothing but help you, same as you’ve done for me, but all you’ve done is treat me like some kind of pest! I get that no one is themselves when they’re sick, but I am not you’re personal punching bag, Sasuke!”

He seemed taken aback by your outburst, even to the point of silence. “You’ve made it clear I’m not needed here.” His eyes narrowed as you grabbed your bag. “Because you’re not.” You froze, trying to school your expression. “What?” He scoffed. “I said you’re not needed.”

Refusing to tolerate any more of his verbal abuse, you walked out his door without a word, not caring if he saw your tears.

Neji~

If you were being truthful with yourself, you knew you had been a bit neglectful of Neji lately. In the last two weeks, you had last minute canceled three consecutive dates. In your defense, you were so close to finishing the novel you were working on, and you had completely immersed yourself in it, excited for it to be so close to completion.

You had pushed him to the back of your mind and wrote day and night. You were just pages away from completion when you heard an obnoxious knocking at your door.

You were surprised to see your boyfriend, who looked furious, to say the least. “Oh, hey, Neji, what’s up?” You stepped back letting him in. His lilac eyes met yours and it felt like staring into a typhoon.

“It’s been three weeks since we’ve gone out, and all you can say is ‘what’s up’?” His voice was deadly quiet and you sheepishly avoided his eyes. “I’m sorry, I know I’ve been distant, but I’m so close to finishing my novel, and I just-”

He was in your face before you could blink. “Your novel?! You’ve been avoiding me for that stupid thing?!” Even though his words stung, you knew he had every right to be mad; you hadn’t been very considerate lately.

“I’ve been working on it for so long and I just wanted to finish it, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” You insisted. He sneered. “I can’t believe you’re spending so much time on a pipe dream. I’ve read it, and it will amount to nothing.” You had no idea how to respond, you could feel tears forming. “Get out.” Your voice was quiet but firm. “What?” You looked him directly in the eyes. “Now. I won’t repeat myself.” He stormed away with a scoff, leaving you with new insecurities.

Shikamaru~

Much to your delight, Shikamaru had agreed to go walking in the park with you. He had been away on a mission for a month and had gotten back a few days ago. You had missed him greatly and you were ecstatic to finally have him back.

“What did you do while I was away?” You looked up at the Nara as you walked. “A lot of training, really… not much else besides that. I missed you a lot.” He threw an arm around your shoulder, a small smile on his face. “I missed you too, (Y/N/N). I’m glad to be back.”

You passed a few kids who were playing a game of tag and weaving in and around the area, laughing all the way. You smiled at the sight, leaning your head onto Shikamaru’s shoulder.

“Shika?” He looked down at you letting you know he was listening. “How come you didn’t want to go cloud watching? Not that I’m complaining, it’s just unusual.”

He chuckled, steering you around the rambunctious children as they ran by. “I’ve been gone for a while, I figure it’d be nice to walk around a little bit. Don’t get used to it though, this is special.” You giggled, not surprised in the least.

“At least some things don’t change.” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What things?” You smirked. “You’re still as lazy as can be!” He dramatically rolled his eyes before letting a smug expression settle on his face.

“And you’re still abnormally short!” Shikamaru snickered. You rolled your eyes, punching him in the shoulder. You were about to reply when there was a plume of smoke. Shikamaru was no longer in sight.

You felt your mind blank for a second. A shadow clone. Your own boyfriend had rather send a clone than actually see you after a month of being apart. You felt an ache in your chest as you angrily wiped the tears from your eyes. Had he really not missed you at all?

Kiba~

You screeched indignantly as a bucket full of water rained down on you. Tears of frustration gathered in your eyes, much to your chagrin. This was the third prank today, and you were more than tired of Kiba’s antics.

You were going to your room to grab your jacket and was in too much of a hurry to notice the trap. Now you were in the doorway, soaked to the bone, shaking with anger and cold while Kiba just laughed.

First, it had been replacing the sugar with salt so your morning coffee had been spoiled, then it had been hiding every article of clothing you owned and then having to find each individual piece, one at a time. Now you were wet and miserable and Kiba looked like he was only just beginning your torment.

“You know what, Kiba, this isn’t funny! This is the third prank in as many hours! What is your deal?!” He looked confused as if he didn’t know why you were angry. “They’re just harmless pranks, babe, no reason to get worked up.”

They were harmless pranks, but it was your… not so special week and you didn’t have the energy to deal with it. “Look, I’m tired, okay? So can you please just quit it?”

He rolled his eyes as if he were exasperated. “You’re so boring (Y/N). Why can’t you just loosen up once in a while?” You harshly rubbed your temples, trying to push down your hurt. You knew you weren’t overreacting, you were sore and drained, and he was making it that much worse.

“I’m going back to bed. Please don’t bother me.” You waved a hand towards him and walked away and slammed the door behind you. “God, what did I do to get such a whiny girlfriend?”

Your mouth fell open as you heard his voice. Was that really how he thought of you?

Gaara~

You sighed dejected, as you stared at the empty seat your boyfriend was supposed to be. You knew that as the Kazekage, Gaara was a busy man, but he was the one who planned the date and he had promised to be there.

After thirty minutes of pity filled stares and waiting, you figured he wasn’t going to show up. This was the fourth time this month that he had stood you up and you couldn’t help but find yourself hurriedly heading in the direction of the Kazekage building to confront him.

By the time you had finally reached his office, you had calmed down, but that wasn’t to say you weren’t still angry. You knocked harshly on his door and waited for his response. “Enter.” You stormed your way in, your dress swishing behind you as reached his desk.

“Gaara. I was expecting you forty-five minutes ago.” Seafoam eyes met yours, before sweeping over your outfit. “Oh, god, (Y/N), I’m so sorry, I got caught up-” I scowled at the overused excuse.

“This is the fourth time! For goodness sake, this date was your idea!” He stood up, holding your trembling hand. “I know, and I’m so sorry. I’m going to make it up to you.” Your frown deepened as you turned away.

“Do you know how foolish I looked? Having a reservation for two, and sitting there for thirty minutes?” He sighed, but it didn’t sound remorseful. “I said I’ll make it up to you, okay? I was in the middle of something important.”

Your eyes hardened as they met his. “Important? So more important than me apparently? I know you’re busy, Gaara, I do, but this is getting ridiculous! Not only are you neglecting our relationship, but you’re also neglecting your own health!”

The crimson-haired Kazekage’s eyes left yours as he sat back down. “I’m very busy right now, (Y/N), can we finish this later?” He suggested emotionlessly.

Your fists were clenched. “Don’t bother, I have nothing more to say.” The slamming door had a note of finality to it as your left.

Kakashi~

You hissed as the peroxide touched the wound on your stomach. “You were reckless, (Y/N).” You glowered at the head of silver hair that was hunched over your bruised and bloody form, medical supplies in hand.

“I wasn’t reckless, Kakashi. My team was in shambles and we were outnumbered. I did the best I could with what I had and the mission was a success and everyone is okay.” Even through his mask, you could see his frown. “But at what cost? You should’ve waited for back up!”

I rolled my eyes. “Tsunade-sama was proud, everyone is fine. These injuries are nothing. I’m a shinobi and so are you. You know the cost and this can barely be considered a cost.” He shook his head, frustrated, as he wrapped your bandages.

“I get worried, okay? I know you, and I’m scared of the day you finally go too far and do something stupid-” You shot up, no longer being able to tolerate his attitude.

“Do you doubt my abilities that much? Even though I graduated from the academy, passed the Chuunin exams, and got my Jonin promotion the same as you?!” Kakashi simply crossed his arms.

“Well, I’m having to stitch you up, right?” You swatted his hand away from the cut on your shoulder. “That’s enough! I don’t have to take this! I’ve earned my place here, no matter what you say! The number of times I’ve patched you up and never complained and this is how you treat me?” Your words faded to a whisper hurt shining through your tone.

“That’s different! I can handle it!” Your eyes widened at the words. “Seriously? So what? You’re calling me weak now?”

“That’s not what I said, (Y/N).” You chuckled humorlessly, still in disbelief that you were even having this conversation. “You didn’t have to. It was pretty clear. I think it’s time you left.” The Jonin did just that, without another word or even a glance in your direction.

With tears dripping down your cheeks, you addressed all your minor injuries, trying not to think of Kakashi.

~Akatsuki~

Pein~

In hindsight, you knew it wasn’t the best idea to rip up the forest fighting Hidan. But the Jashinist had run his mouth a little (a lot) too far this time and you dismembered him. It wasn’t that big of a deal, almost everyone had done it at some time so you thought nothing of it. Pein didn’t have the same sentiments, however, and had wasted no time calling you to his office.

“What were you thinking?” He hissed. You simply raised an eyebrow, your lover hadn’t succeeded in intimidating you in a long time. “Hidan went too far and I did what everyone else has done in the past.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling. “That’s not an excuse, (Y/N). You’re being immature, and I will not stand for it.” You snorted. “Look, Kakuzu cuts off Hidan’s head like once a week and you’ve never had a problem, so what’s got you pissed about it this time?” He scowled, his Rinnegan becoming more prominent.

“I recruited you for your smarts and potential, not so you could bounce around doing whatever you wanted! I don’t have time to deal with your childish antics!”

You just snorted, trying not to show how deeply his words were cutting you. Pein was never like this with you, he always treated you like a goddess, and now here he was berating you over a minuscule problem.

“You don’t have to ‘deal’ with me, Pein! I’m not a kid, and if someone offends me, you’d best believe I’m not going to let it slide! Now I’ll ask you one more time. What. Is. Your. Problem?” He shot up, his hands slamming down on his desk causing you to step back, startled.

“My problem is that my girlfriend is being a fool and embarrassing me!” It really did feel like he had stabbed you through the chest this time. But you bit your cheek not to let it show. You wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “So that’s what it is, huh? You think I’m not good enough for the great ‘God’ Pein?” You mocked.

When he didn’t respond you waved a hand, walking towards the door. “I haven’t dismissed you yet, (Y/N).” Pein’s voice rang out. You shook your head as you reached the door.

“I don’t know about that, I feel pretty dismissed right now, actually.” With that, you left, not caring to hear what else he had to say.

Deidara~

You watched as Sasori and Deidara worked on their separate projects, while you yourself worked on your own. A large, half-filled canvas was before you, baring your newest artwork. It was an abstract graffiti painting, creating a 3D letter effect. You were quite proud of it actually.

However, you could feel eyes on you and you turned, giving Sasori a questioning look as you set your paints down. “What?”

His blank brown eyes ran critically over your artwork, before shrugging and going back to his puppets. You rolled your eyes at his typical behavior before walking over to Deidara’s table.

“Hey, Dei. Whatcha working on?” He turned to you, his smile wide as he held up a clay sculpture to you. It was a chibi version of you, causing you to blush. “Do you like it, hm? It’s my best one yet, yeah!” You handled it carefully, laughing a little. “Yeah, it’s adorable!” The blonde puffed up causing you to giggle more.

“And deadly, un! These are advanced, only for special circumstances, yeah.” You were just about to question what kind of special when you noticed the puppet master in front of your canvas, looking unimpressed.

“Um, Sasori?” He didn’t respond, just waved the two of you over. You sighed as you both followed him, slightly nervous about what he was going to say. “Look, brat.” You watched as the artist’s eyes looked over every line and color. “The strokes are uneven, and the shading is off. You call this art, (Y/N)?”

Your mouth fell open at his bluntness. “Okay, one it’s abstract so that’s the point, it’s not supposed to be precise! Second, yeah, I do call this art.” Deidara offered you an apologetic smile. “Sasori no Danna is right, un, it’s a little off…” You blinked twice not comprehending his words for a moment.

“Seriously?! I never speak badly about either of your pieces, so why don’t I get the same respect?!” Sasori just rolled his eyes, sitting back down at his desk. Typical. You turned your glare to your boyfriend. He crossed his arms, not looking at you.

“It’s fine, (Y/N/N), we all have bad days, un, nothing to get worked up about, hm.” You didn’t warrant his statement with a response. You just scoffed in disbelief as you stalked out of the room. Unbelieveable.

Tbh the pic has nothing to do with this but I found it and I thought it was hilarious?

[fireflykaizoku]

Sabo x Reader | College AU | Long Distance Love (?) | Chapter 5

[1] - [2] - [3] - [4]

the next chapter will be the last one omg i'm already sad

ღ

Two weeks have passed, and Ace started dropping subtle hints about you being jealous of Koala. “Don’t you think (Y/N) will get the wrong idea?” or “if I were her, I’d think you were interested in someone else, and not her.” And it worked, Sabo stopped talking about his friend so much. Until one day, when the blonde mentioned a party on Friday, that he was going with his brother, his friends, and of course, Koala.

It hurt a little because it was supposed to be you, not her.

ꟷ Ok. ꟷ Sabo said, while getting ready and Ace was next to him. The dark haired man looked, waiting for what his brother was gonna say. ꟷ I thought about it, and I won’t need you as a wingman.

ꟷ Why’s that? Is it because I told you to name your children after me?

ꟷ I wouldn't name my children after you anyway. But it's because this weekend, when we go visit her, I’ll tell her how I feel. Doesn’t matter if I’m afraid, doesn’t matter if she might reject me… ꟷ Ace interrupted him.

ꟷ She won’t.

ꟷ At least I’ll stop wondering if she’s really into that other guy or... Into me.

You were at home, and you thought that a good medicine for sadness and loneliness was alcohol. So you got a bottle of wine, chose a sad playlist, got a blanket and everything was set for a very uncomfortable night. Even the weather was cloudy and it was probably gonna rain. Perfect.

You just couldn’t help thinking how it was gonna hurt when tells you that he is dating someone else. More specifically, her.

Nami and Robin came home and found you sad, sitting on the couch in the dark, trying to stop crying, and with a half empty bottle of wine.

ꟷ What happened? Is everything ok? ꟷ the peach haired girl asked, turning the lights on, making you hiss.

ꟷ Nah, but I will be fine. Thank you though. ꟷ you dried your tears, tried to adjust your eyes to the light and put a fake smile on.

ꟷ You’re drinking such a cheap wine. This is gonna do no good, you know? ꟷ Robin said, sitting next to you. ꟷ What happened? Is it about Sabo?

You nodded.

ꟷ He is going to a party with the boys and Koala. ꟷ you said, looking down. It was embarrassing to say it out loud. ꟷ I know it sounds stupid, but it hurts. And I hate the fact that I love him so much and I’m not even able to tell him that. I hate the fact that he probably likes her, and will date her sometime soon.

ꟷ Well, you know what? You’re telling him tonight. ꟷ the brunette replied, getting up and patting your shoulder. ꟷ Let’s go.

ꟷ What? Its an hour away from here, and you know I’m afraid to drive when the weather is weird like that. It can wait until tomorrow...

ꟷ Don’t worry, I got my car keys. I’m driving you there. I can’t stand seeing you like this. This doubt is gonna kill you. ꟷ Robin said, while getting her coat and heading to the car. ꟷ You need to find out if he feels the same about you or not.

ꟷ Yes, (Y/N). You’re gonna freak out if you don’t go there and tell him how you feel. If I were you, I’d rather regret showing how I feel instead of thinking “what if” my whole life. ꟷ Nami agreed. ꟷ Get your hoodie, we’re heading to Sabo’s.

Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was destiny finally trying to help, or the fact you hid your feelings for so long, but you got up, wore your hoodie and went to the car with your friends. You didn't know how you were gonna confess yet, but Robin was right, you had to do it.

It was about an hour drive, but since it started raining, it took a little longer. However, it felt like an eternity. At least, by the time you arrived, no one could notice you were crying before.

Just in time, you caught them apparently leaving to go to the party. Sabo was leaving with Ace, Marco, Thatch and Koala… Ugh, Koala.

ꟷ (Y/N)? ꟷ the blonde saw you sitting in the passenger seat, and asked, surprised and happy. ꟷ What are you doing here? Aren't we supposed to go visit you tomorrow?

You got out of the car before Robin could even park properly. The rain was getting a little heavier. It was cold, but at that point you didn’t even care. You needed to end this torture. It was like a scene from a movie.

ꟷ Sabo, I... I need to tell you something, and it’s so important. I don’t even need you to say anything, but just listen…

ꟷ Ok, but is it something bad? Are you ok? Is your mom ok? ꟷ all this was getting him worried. Meanwhile, Ace just knew what it was about. And I guess the other three friends knew too.

ꟷ I’m ok. I just need to tell you this before I don’t feel as brave anymore. ꟷ you took a deep breath. ꟷ Remember when we were kids and played house or pretending to get married? ꟷ you asked and the boy nodded, confused. What was your point? ꟷ I know they were just a joke, and they became our own little joke while we were growing up… But at some point, and I don’t even remember when, I realized I didn’t want it to be a joke anymore.

ꟷ Wait, what? ꟷ he asked, shocked. That was a little unexpected to him. Not that he was complaining, quite the opposite. He was just surprised.

ꟷ Let me just finish this. ꟷ you interrupted him. ꟷ When we were growing up and I saw you being all protective and caring towards me, I thought “I want a boyfriend just like Sabo someday”, but… I realized I didn’t want a boyfriend like you. I just wanted… You. ꟷ you started to cry, nervous. However, from far no one could notice the tears falling because of the rain. ꟷ If you don’t feel the same, I understand. You don’t have to. But I really hope it doesn’t change our friendship, because I’d rather be friends and hide my feelings, than not having you by my side at all.

No one dared to say a thing. Not only they didn’t want to ruin the moment, but they were paying attention waiting for what the blonde was gonna say, as if it was the last chapter of a dramatic telenovela that everyone was waiting to watch and see what would happen. Would finally the couple end up together after all the odds? Or a sad and heartbreaking end was about to happen?

ꟷ I… ꟷ Sabo finally broke the silence, still a bit confused and thinking of what to say and how to say it. ꟷ I think our friendship will have to change…

ღ

tag list: @flowersgirl02 - @pure-kirarin - @lofi-coffee

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

Holistic Medicine

s3, mulder injured in the hospital | 1k words | general | ao3

Tagging @today-in-fic

Mulder regained consciousness by degrees. First, he heard the beeping of machines and the scuffling of non-slip shoes on linoleum. Then, he felt the scratchiness of a cheap pillowcase beneath his cheek and the prick of an IV needle in his hand, which made him realize he was in the hospital. Mulder’s other hand was in much better shape - there were soft, warm fingers grasping his and if he concentrated on that light touch, the pounding in his head lessened.

When Mulder finally opened his eyes, eyelids batting away the last of the fogginess, his suspicion was confirmed. He was lying in a hospital bed and to his delight the warm fingers encircling his were Scully’s. She had pulled a blue plastic chair all the way to the edge of his bed, close enough that her knees were touching the mattress. However, Scully was fast asleep, which provided Mulder the opportunity to observe her. He was amused at how she had contorted her body so that she could reach across the bed to hold his hand and still stay seated in the chair. Despite the awkward position, Scully looked softer, her hard edges eroded away in sleep. He didn’t want to wake her, but he knew she would need several visits to the chiropractor if she stayed in that position for any length of time. 

Mulder squeezed her hand and said her name, which first came out as a croak until he cleared his throat.

“Scully,” he tried again.

She sat up quickly, as if part of her brain had been on alert. Like any true military daughter and former med student, Scully could fall asleep anywhere - rental cars, airport terminals and apparently even hard hospital chairs - but she roused just as easily. 

“Mulder,” she stated after realizing that he was awake. “How are you feeling?” She pulled her hand back to rub at her eyes before leaning closer to look him over. Even in the low lighting Mulder could see that the sharpness had returned to her face as she pivoted to serious Dr. Scully mode and he was determined to soften those edges once again.

“Like I got hit by a car,” he said with a chuckle.

“Very funny,” she said, trying to sound stern but it didn’t work because she was fighting a small smile. There is it, he thought. 

“How long have I been here?” he asked.

“Only a few hours,” Scully said with a yawn that she tried to hide behind her hand.

Mulder glanced at the clock: it was almost one in the morning. He looked closer at Scully and realized that she was paler than usual and her eyes were bloodshot, clear signs that she was exhausted. Not only was it late, but they had been working round the clock on this latest case. Until now, of course.

“Scully, why don’t you go back to the motel and get some sleep?” Mulder suggested. He felt guilty that she was missing out on sleep while he was in the hospital for doing something stupid again.

She sat up a little straighter in the chair. “No, I’m fine! You can go back to sleep, Mulder, and I’ll just stay here. Maybe I’ll take another nap.”

Mulder knew that Scully didn’t trust some of the small-time hospitals they ended up in on out-of-town cases and she must have insisted to the nurse that she be allowed to stay past visiting hours, probably flashing her badge authoritatively. The image of Scully bossing around hospital staff so that she could tend to her partner warmed Mulder’s heart, the same way that sunlight through the car windshield on an otherwise cold winter day warmed one’s face.

“Well, if you’re going to stay, you can’t sleep in that chair,” he said pointedly.

Scully raised her eyebrows, looking confused, so Mulder patted the bed next to him. 

“There’s plenty of room here. And you’re small enough.”

Scully shook her head, “No, Mulder, you need to rest. Plus it’s against hospital policy. I already had to bully my way to stay in your room and I don’t want to give the staff another reason to kick me out.”

Mulder smiled; he was right about the badge and the bossiness. Even more reason why he had to convince her to take him up on his offer.

“Aw, come on, Scully. I’ll be better able to sleep if I know that you aren’t sitting in that uncomfortable chair all night. You don’t want me to be stressed about your back, right?” he needled.

Scully seemed ready to give in, because she peeked at the door. Not hearing or seeing anyone, she gingerly sat on the bed next to Mulder. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.

“Mulder!” she whispered urgently, keeping her voice low so no one would hear. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” he said. He figured he was allowed certain liberties since he was injured in the hospital. He knew Scully would just blame it on his pain medication, which would allow her to give into his whims without overthinking anything.

She settled slowly into the bed and laid her head gently on his chest. “You’ll tell me if you need me to move?” she asked softly.

“I won’t,” Mulder replied. He was already feeling better because Scully was nice and warm pressed against his side, an analgesic to his sore muscles and bruised limbs. 

“I’ll just stay until you fall back asleep,” she claimed, but Mulder could already feel her breathing slow down and even out, indicating that she herself was falling asleep. He chuckled lightly and brushed his fingers once through her hair. Mulder found her rhythmic respiration to be very soothing. He tried to match his breaths to hers and he felt his own eyes closing, heading back to slumber.

-------

The nurse entered the hospital room of her patient F. Mulder (male, DOB 10/13/61) and realized that the FBI agent who demanded to be allowed to stay past visiting hours was curled up in bed with said patient. She sighed; it wouldn’t be the first time she would have to evict a visitor for impeding a patient’s recovery. But since they were both asleep, she decided it could wait until she finished her duties.

The nurse checked the patient’s chart and then the monitors beside his bed. Then she checked them again. All of his vitals looked surprisingly good. Both his heart rate and blood pressure were the lowest they’d been since he’d arrived, now back in normal range. His oxygen saturation had also improved, so the nasal cannula could be removed once he was awake. 

The nurse glanced back down at the sleeping couple for a moment and then quietly left the room without waking either of them up. She closed the door on the way out, so they wouldn’t be disturbed by anyone else until the morning rounds.

[the-most-slytherin-hufflepuff]

Open your eyes (Chapter 1)

And the madness begins Here you go peeps chapter 1. I’m posting it now because I probably won’t have time during the weekend.  I loved writing this one and I hope you enjoy it. Credit for the characters goes to @lumosinlove​. 

There are mentions of blood and injury in this chapter

@clearsuitcasecookienerd I think you asked me to tag you but i can’t remember so I’m tagging you anyway :)) 

Masterlist

Remus was going to murder Finn. He read over the letter one more time to check if he hadn’t missed anything, he knew he hadn’t. Remus had probably read and reread that letter about a hundred times since Heather had handed it to him three days ago. It’s contents always saying the same thing. Finn was getting married. His best friend had been courting the crown prince of Hufflepuff for a year and now they were getting married, and Remus was just finding out. 

He was happy for Finn, his friend had had his eye out for the blonde prince for years now. That, however, didn’t take away from the fact that Finn had conveniently forgotten to mention he had started courting Leo in any of his letters during the past year. If he thought that would stop Remus from threatening Leo Knut with death if he ever hurt Finn he clearly didn’t know him as well as he should.  

Remus put the letter down and picked up a piece of blank parchment, dipping the tip of his quill pen in the black ink. He thought about how he should respond, if he should respond at all. Maybe he should just go home and congratulate Finn in person, right after strangling him for being a complete idiot. Before he could decide on what to do he heard the door to the physician's chamber open, he didn’t need to see who it was to know Sirius was there. He was the only person stupid enough to come into Minerva’s working space without knocking. 

“Remus, are you here?” There was a pained edge to his otherwise casual tone that made Remus’s eyebrows furrow in worry. 

“One second.” Remus put the quill in the ink pot carefully and stood from his chair. Sirius was sitting in one of the stools when he came out of his room, his left shoulder was bleeding. “Snape needs to calm down”, Remus said in an irritated tone, “that’s the third time he’s injured you this month. And before you say something stupid about how injuries happen, or whatever other nonsense I’m sure is about to come out of your mouth, I want to point out that the injury is on your back and Snape has absolutely no business pointing the sword at your back.” During his rant Remus had gathered what he would need to clean, possibly stitch, and bandage Sirius’s injury. 

Sirius flinched when Remus pressed a wet rag to his bleeding shoulder blade. “How did you know it was Snape?” Remus made a noncommittal sound before answering. “Every time you come in here it’s either because you decided it would be ok to not stay up all night to do work or because Snape got aggressive during training.” He paused for a second assessing the damage now that the blood was gone. “And since you aren’t being carried in here passed out cold in Sir Pascal’s arms my guess is it was the latter.” Remus went silent, concentrating in threading the silk string through the needle. He didn’t like stitching when the person was conscious to feel it, but maybe he could do something to help with the pain. He knew using his magic on Sirius was risky, but he didn’t want to cause the prince any extra discomfort. 

“You need stitches, just so you know.” Sirius groaned, he hated getting stitches. “Just nod when you’re ready.” Sirius took a deep breath, then nodded slowly, bracing himself for the feeling of metal piercing skin. He winced slightly, but was surprised when he noticed it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. 

“How come it doesn’t hurt that much?” Remus stayed silent for a moment, concentrating on the repetitive pattern of knitting Sirius’s skin back together, before answering. 

“I’m not sure. Maybe the pain from the original cut is numbing this one a little.” Sirius hummed, trying to relax as much as he could. He winced every now and then, but barely felt anything. When Remus was done Sirius let out a heavy breath. “Be careful until that’s healed”, Remus ordered in a stern voice. 

“Of course my lord. Anything else.” Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius, he didn’t appreciate the mocking tone. 

“Yes actually. You’re banned from training till further notice.” He took incredible satisfaction in seeing Sirius splutter in indignation. 

“You can’t do that.” 

“I can and I will.” Remus crossed his arms over his chest and met Sirius’s eyes. “No harsh movements with your shoulder means no training. I will strap you to your bed if I have to, you are not training for at least three days.” 

“Fine”, the prince grumbled. 

Remus beamed at him. “Great. Now, you’re not dying and I already took care of you so, please leave. I have matters to attend to.” 

“Trying to get rid of me, huh?” Sirius feigned hurt. “And here I thought you liked me.” 

Remus hummed. “You know I do, But right now I’m trying to stay angry and you being here is not helping.” 

Sirius gave him a confused look. “Angry. Why?” 

“Because.” Remus threw his hands up in frustration. “Finn sent a letter saying that he’s getting married and I didn’t even know he was courting someone. And since I don’t really have an excuse to go to Gryffindor right now I have to make do with screaming at him through a letter.” 

A look of shock crossed Sirius’s features. “Wait. Finn, as in Finn O’Hara. The prince.” 

“Yes. My father is a member of the King’s council.” Now it was Remus’s turn to look confused. “He and I grew up together. I thought you knew that.” 

“You never told me.  How am I supposed to know, I don’t read minds.” 

“Obviously”, Remus’s tone took on a bitter edge. “If you did you wouldn’t be standing here right now.” 

“What do you mean.” 

“Mind reading is magic, Sirius. You would be exiled or worse, dead.” 

Understanding settled over Sirius like a cold blanket. He didn’t get why Remus sounded so bitter, maybe he didn’t agree with his father’s laws, maybe he knew someone with magic. Sirius did not want to think about sweet, intelligent Remus anywhere near magic or it’s influence. He couldn’t stand to see his boyfriend be corrupted. 

“Right. Well.” The silence that followed was uncomfortably tense. Sirius was the first to break it. “Well maybe you could come with the party that’s going to Gryffindor at the end of the week. Minerva has been really occupied with the illness that has taken over the lower town and she won’t be able to go.” Sirius relaxed when he saw the small smile that formed on Remus’s lips. “We need someone that knows their way around medicine.” 

“You do know that Gryffindor has physicians, right?” Remus asked, though the smile on his face told Sirius that he was going to go with them regardless. 

“I know that.” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Father doesn’t want…” he trailed off. Remus got what he wanted to say anyway, the smile slipping from his face. Orion didn’t want the physicians that had magic. The irony almost made Remus snort. 

“Right. Magic.” He made sure to keep the bitterness out of his tone this time. “It’ll be nice to go back home. I haven’t seen Jules in three years.” 

“Who’s Jules?” Sirius was starting to realize how little he knew about Remus’s life before he came to Slytherin. It made his chest ache. 

Remus’s face softened. “My brother. He should be turning sixteen this summer.” His smile turned a little sad. “It’ll be nice seeing him again.” 

Sirius didn’t know what to say, or if he should say anything at all, he didn’t know what not having his brother around was like. “It’s a pity Reg won’t be coming. I’m sure he and your brother would have gotten along.” 

“They would probably tear the kingdom to shreds, Julian is very chaotic.” Remus’s honey colored eyes shone brightly. “Gryffindor already has to deal with the chaos that is Finn, and I.”

“I want to meet all your friends.” 

Remus narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Why?” 

“What? Can’t I want to meet your friends without any ulterior motives?” 

“No”, he responded simply. 

“Ok fine it’s because I want the embarrassing stories.” Remus rolled his eyes. “I need teasing material Re. I have nothing on you.” 

“Maybe I just don’t do anything embarrassing.” 

“That is a big lie and you know it. You trip on air all the time.” Remus glared at him. 

“Must I remind you that I can leave you out of knight training for a month.” 

Sirius’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare.” 

Remus crossed his arms, a mischievous smirk appearing on his face. “Try me, sire.” He somehow made the title sound disrespectful, Sirius still didn’t understand how he did it. 

“Ok ok. I’ll behave”. Sirius raised his arms up in surrender. 

“Good.” Remus grinned at him, leaning on his toes to kiss Sirius, nipping at his lower lip. “Come on.” He grabbed Sirius’s hand and dragged him out into the hallway, dropping it once they could be seen by someone else. They spent the afternoon together. They were joined by Logan at one point. The other knight was excited to go to Gryffindor, apparently he and Finn had become friends during the week leading up to Sirius’s coronation, and had been sending letters back and forth for about a year and a half. 

After night had fallen Remus retreated to his room, the letter a distant memory. He passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow, his soft snores the only sound in the room. 

~*~*~*~*~*

Two days later they were riding toward Remus’s home country. He was nervous, he hadn’t seen Jules and Thomas in years and last time he saw Finn was two years ago, when Sirius got crowned as heir to the throne. The trip passed him by in a blur. They reached the entrance to the citadel a day and half after departing from Slytherin. By then the nerves had worn off, replaced by a burning excitement. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he had to be careful, but that rarely mattered when he saw his brother, clad in knights armor standing besides Finn and Alex. 

He saw Julian’s hand twitch, his caramel colored eyes, darker than Remus’s own, lighting up when he saw him. His face remained stoic, but Remus could tell he was trying to not smile. Besides him Finn studied the crowd, eyes narrowing slightly when he looked at Orion. The King walked down the stone steps to welcome the guests. 

He and Orion exchanged pleasantries and soon enough the Slytherin party had entered the palace. A group of maids and servants took care of guiding the guards and knights to where they would be staying for the week, some of them nodding towards Remus or saying hello. Julian waited for the crowd to thin before rushing to hug his brother. Remus gave a startled yelp, wrapping his arms around Julian and holding him close. There were tears shining in the younger’s eyes when they broke apart. 

“What are you doing here? I thought you were just an apprentice for Minerva.” 

“I am”, Remus answered, “but she couldn’t come. There’s an illness taking over in Slytherin’s lower town.” 

Julian frowned slightly. “That’s awful”, he smiled brightly again, Remus keeping up with Julian’s constantly changing emotions with ease. “I’m glad you’re here though.” He pulled Remus in again, hugging him tightly. 

Remus heard Finn yell behind them. “Jules, don’t be a Remus hog.” 

Julian looked up to where Finn was and yelled back. “He is my brother O’Hara. I will hog him however much I want.” He placed his head just under Remus’s chin, sighing contentedly. 

Remus heard footsteps coming up behind him, Finn appearing on his field of vision. “I would hug you. But I think your hands are full.” Julian glared at Finn, grumbling under his breath before settling into his brother’s arms again. Remus chuckled at his baby brother’s antics. 

He gave Finn a look that promised trouble. “Finn.” The other man visibly paled. “We’re discussing the letter later.” Finn relaxed a little at the small hint of excitement he could hear in Remus’s voice. 

Julian squeezed Remus tighter before letting go, saying he had to get back to training and that he would see his brother at home. Remus looked at Finn who was watching the brothers’ interaction with a fond smile. 

“He looks up to you a lot you know.” Finn said. “The little idiot wanted to use daggers. He got so frustrated when he found out that wasn’t his thing.” 

“What is his thing then?” 

Finn thought about it before answering. “He’s a natural at shooting. Crossbows, knives, bow and arrow.” 

“That’s great”,   Remus said, a proud glint in his eyes. “He spends a lot of time with you I’m guessing.” 

“Yeah. He’s gonna be better than me soon.” Finn sighed. “How do you handle all his energy? I swear even the puppies are less active.”

Remus chuckled. “I don’t handle it. I just let him do his thing until he passes out from exhaustion”, he shrugged, “works like a charm.”

The two of them turned when they heard a squeal. Lily Evans stood near the entrance, her hands covering her mouth. She snapped out of her daze and ran towards Remus. He caught her when she jumped at him, her legs wrapping around his waist. She buried her face on his shoulder, trying to hide the tears that were flowing down her face. 

“What are you doing here? When did you get here? Has Jules seen you yet? How long are you staying?” 

“I’m here because the Slytherin visitors needed a physician and Minerva couldn’t come. I just got here. Yes Jules already tried to strangle me but your giving him great competition.” Lily let her feet drop to the floor soundlessly, but kept her hold on Remus for a little longer. “Probably going to stay for a week.”

“Gods, that’s not nearly enough time.” She looked up at him with shiny green eyes, moving to be at arm's length with him. “I missed you, the castle isn’t as fun without you to help me pull pranks on everyone.” 

Remus laughed, he had missed his friend. “How’s James doing?”  

“Oh you know”, she waved a hand around, “the usual. You just missed him actually.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “He went back to Ravenclaw yesterday.” 

“Maybe that’s for the best. I can’t imagine what would happen if he were to cross paths with Sirius. That’s either going to be a dangerous friendship or they’ll hate each other.” 

She hummed, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the training grounds. “Come on.” He and Finn followed behind her. When they reached the grounds they saw a small group of knights fighting with blunt weapons. Remus noticed that all the sorcerers were conveniently missing from the bunch. 

She guided Remus to the armory. “Go get your things. You owe me a fight after last time.” She had begun strapping leather gauntlets on her wrists. He looked around the armory to where he usually left his personal stuff, everything was where he had left it. Someone, probably Lily, had kept his daggers sharpened and polished. 

After they put on all of their protective gear, Lily and Remus headed out of the armory and went to the sparring square. “Hey Finn”, everyone stopped what they were doing when they heard Lily’s voice, “mediate for us will you?” 

Finn nodded, a grin appearing on his face, and walked to the edge of the square. “You know the rules. One round. First to draw blood wins unless the other yields.” 

The rest of the knights had gathered around to watch the fight. Remus stood at one end completely relaxed, Lily mirrored his stance. They studied each other for a moment, waiting for who would strike first. Tense silence had fallen over the square, everyone held their breath, until finally, Lily moved. 

The only sound in the clearing was the loud clashing of blades. Lily’s steps were near silent, almost like she were floating above the ground. Remus matched her pace perfectly, able to predict her every move like a well practiced dance. Remus punched her in the stomach making her lose balance, falling to the ground with a small thud. He pointed his dagger at her throat. “Yield”. 

Sirius and Logan watched the battle going on in front of them with wide eyes. They had heard the clashing of steel while walking through the castle and went to investigate only to find Remus fighting a red headed girl. His control with the daggers was almost flawless. The girl, who had a knife in her hand and three more strapped to her hips and thighs, battled with deadly precision. She would’ve made a worthy opponent to either of them. She looked at Remus with steely determination, she refused to let him win so easily. If Logan hadn’t been paying such close attention to the battle he would have missed it. Quick as lightning, the red head swiped Remus’s legs from under him, making him fall backwards, his dagger skittering across the ground.

 She stood up, holding two knives now, and lunged at Remus. He got up, stumbling over to where his blade had landed. He felt the brush of Lily’s blade against his back, it was nothing but a feather-light touch, but it was enough to warn him of what would come next. 

He grabbed the small knife that he kept hidden in his boot and turned, quick enough to meet Lily’s blade. There was fire in her gaze, barely suppressed magic burning under her skin. Remus felt the familiar buzz of his own magic trying to get out, but he kept it down with practiced ease. He felt Lily push harder with her blade, saw her other hand move back to slash at his stomach. He jumped out of the way, landing far enough away that the blade didn’t graze him. 

Sirius watched both fighters as they assessed each other with sharp focus, the silence in the grounds was absolute. Remus looked between his dagger laying on the ground and the redhead, he twisted the knife he was holding and smirked. The girl smiled brightly, eyes sharp. Sirius couldn’t figure out who would win, Remus’s usual clumsy self was gone and in its place stood a skilled warrior. 

They met in the middle of the square, the girl’s twin blades blocking Remus’s attack. She pushed back with enough force to make him stumble, before he could get too far she jammed the butt of her knife into Remus’s ribs making him double over in pain. She tripped him, making him fall back again, pinned his hands down at his sides with her knees and put the edge of her blade to the base of his neck. “Yield.” 

Remus’s glare in that moment would have made any man tremble, but the girl seemed unaffected. She put a little more pressure on the blade. “Yield, Remus.” 

He looked at her face for a moment. Whatever he was looking for he must have found, all the fight left him in a gust of air. “I yield.” The crowd erupted into cheers. 

The girl nodded, sheathing her knives and standing up. Remus took her offered hand and stood up, punching her shoulder lightly. She said something to him that made him laugh brightly, the hostile energy between them seemingly gone as fast as it had appeared. 

Remus locked eyes with Sirius from across the field, a teasing smirk pulling at his lips. He tapped the girl on the shoulder and pointed towards him and Logan. She said something to him and he nodded before walking over, the girl and another red headed boy walking behind him. Sirius recognized the other man as Prince Finn O’Hara.                              

“Did you know Remus could do that.” Logan sounded as surprised as Sirius felt. Sirius shook his head, unable to form words. 

“Hey guys.” Remus sounded a little breathless, but seemed otherwise unaffected by the fight. 

“Aren’t you going to introduce us Re?” The girl’s tone was teasing, but her eyes were looking at Sirius like she was trying to figure out his next move. 

“Right. Sorry.” Remus coughed loudly. “This is Lily. Lily this is Prince Sirius Black.” 

The girl extended her hand in greeting. Sirius shook it. “Please, call me Sirius. No titles unless we’re in my father’s presence.” Lily looked at him with an unreadable expression. She nodded and squeezed his hand lightly before letting go. Sirius felt like he had just passed some sort of test. 

“And this”, he pointed to the other red head behind him who was smiling at Logan, “is Prince Finn O’Hara.” He looked at Logan. “I believe the two of you have met before.” Sirius thought he saw a small blush appear on Logan’s cheeks. 

Finn’s nose scrunched up. “It’s so weird to hear you using my title.” 

“That was a great fight”, Logan praised, “why didn’t you tell me you could do things like that. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been wanting a sparring partner.” 

Sirius made an indignant sound. “I’m standing right here Tremblay.” 

“Yeah, but you don’t know how to use daggers. You almost cut your hand off the one time you tried.” 

Remus looked at Sirius with a disbelieving look, while Lily and Finn tried not to laugh. “You did what?” 

“He’s exaggerating.” 

Logan glared at him. “Really? Because the way I recall it you cut your palm open when the grip slipped.”

A few giggles escaped Lily before she could stop them. She took a breath to try and calm down before speaking. “Let me guess, he tried to handle the dagger like he would a sword.” At Logan’s nod she sighed disappointedly. “Typical.” 

“He never bothered learning how to use them properly afterwards.” 

Remus looked at Sirius, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Well, there’s no time like the present.”  

Sirius made a distressed noise. “No. Remus I can’t.” 

“Don’t worry”, Finn interjected, “Remus and Lily are the best. Besides, Jules will probably want Remus to teach him the basics. You can be his sparring partner.” As if on cue, Julian appeared at Finn’s shoulder, startling him. “I’m putting bells on your feet.” 

Julian giggled, “Sorry.” He moved to stand besides Remus and leaned against his brother, eyes shining with excitement. “You’re going to teach me?” Remus nodded, giving Sirius a look that made him cave in. 

“Alright”, Sirius’s shoulders slumped in defeat, “I’ll try the daggers out.” Sirius smiled weakly at Julian, who was beaming at him and bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

Finn grabbed Logan’s wrist and guided him inside to explore the castle, leaving Sirius and Remus with Lily and Julian. Remus chuckled when Lily looped her arm through Sirius’s and dragged him away, he turned back to look at his boyfriend with a pleading expression. Remus shrugged, leaving Sirius to his luck and Lily’s mercy. 

“Is he going to be ok?” Julian asked. 

“Yeah.” Remus answered dismissively, putting his arm around the younger boy’s shoulders. “Let’s go home.” The two brother’s walked away from the training grounds and headed to the citadel, laughing and shoving at each other playfully. They were both gasping when they reached their house. 

They walked in, Julian signaling for Remus to stay quiet and go hide before announcing his presence. “Hi mom.” 

“Hey honey. How was your day?” Came Hope Lupin’s from the general direction of her office followed by the soft sound of footsteps. 

“It was great. You’ll never guess who I found.” 

She came into the room and Remus had to hold himself back from coming out of his hiding spot and running into her arms. “Are you going to tell me who it was or am I going to have to start naming people?” 

A soft gasp escaped her lips when she saw Remus emerging from where he had been hiding. “Surprise”. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, resting his cheek on top of her head. She smiled brightly when they separated, a fond look on her eyes. His father entered the room a few moments later, pulling him into a tight hug. There was bright laughter and teary smiles that left a warm feeling in Remus’s chest. They spent the afternoon catching up, laughing and joking like they used to before Remus left for Slytherin.

Hours later, after Jules had fallen asleep with Calliope curled around his shoulders, Remus went into his old room. Everything was the same, the bed sheets had been cleaned and his mess had been organized, but everything else remained the same. His eyes flashed gold, lighting up the candles and stirring the stale air of the room gently. He sighed tiredly, crawling into bed and burying himself under the soft covers, a content smile on his face. 

He thought about Sirius, he wanted to show him everything. All the places where he had spent hours reading or spending time with Finn, the place where he had met Thomas, where he and Lily used to spend time practicing their magic. He knew Sirius couldn’t know about his abilities, maybe someday he could show him, but for now he wanted to share his home with him. Home was everything Remus loved. 

Home were his friends, his family, his magic. Sirius. 

*~*~*~*~*

Two days later Remus found himself alone with Sirius back at the training grounds. Sirius frowned in frustration, trying to make some sense out of what Remus had told him to fix about his technique. He looked to the side, where his boyfriend was standing, staring at him with an amused glint in his eye. “I don't understand why I can’t just use my sword”, Sirius whined, “I’m already good at that.” 

Remus gave him an exasperated glare, Sirius still caught the amused twitch of his lip. “Because, weapon versatility is one of the most important attributes a warrior could have.” He grabbed Sirius’s hand, a small smirk tugging at his lip, and pulled him close. “And, daggers are better when it comes to close range fights.” 

“Is that so?” Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. “And, do tell, why would I want to use a weapon that requires me to get that close.”

Remus shrugged, using the motion to slip the small blade from the sheath at his thigh and letting his hand hang at his side, the point of the dagger clutched lightly between his fingers. “I guess you’re right, but what if you don’t get to choose your range, m’lord?”  

Before he could answer Remus flicked the blade into the air and knocked Sirius feet from under him in one smooth motion. He straddled his hips, catching the dagger, the leather grip landing on his palm, and pressing its razor sharp edge to the side of Sirius’s throat with barely there pressure.  

“Like say, someone catching you unawares and pointing a very sharp deadly object to a very”, he leaned in to whisper in Sirius ear, making a shiver run down his spine, “very vulnerable part of your body.” He took the dagger away from Sirius’s neck replacing it with his lips in a feather light kiss that made Sirius melt a little under him. He stood up gracefully, offering his hand to Sirius who was still slightly dazed. “Come on”, he pulled him up with a grunt, “let’s get back to work.” 

Sirius stared at him, heat spreading through his neck up to his cheeks. “You expect me to concentrate. After that.” 

Remus looked at him with an innocent expression. “After what, sweetheart.” 

“N-Nothing. Work right. Let’s get back to work.” 

Remus giggled, shaking his head fondly and walking to the other side of the training grounds, ignoring his boyfriend’s questions. He had asked Lily to come help him with Sirius’s training, she had a talent for teaching even the most stubborn students. Ha saw her coming out of the armory with her knives strapped to her legs and a pair of blunt daggers. 

“How’s my student doing?” She asked, walking besides him back to where Sirius was watching them with a weary expression. 

“He’s fine. I was just showing him why he should learn how to hold his own with short range weaponry.” She gave him a skeptical look. He just batted his eyelashes at her in faux innocence, she shoved his face away with her palm making him laugh loudly. 

“What did you do?” They were close enough that Sirius could hear their conversation. 

“I just did the same thing you did to James when he tried to show off. Back when he was a pining mess and trying to win your affection.” 

She hummed. “Good”.

“I learned from the best.” They stopped in front of Sirius. Remus gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked back to the entrance that led to the palace. “He’s all your Lils. I expect him back in one piece.” 

“Yeah yeah”, she waved dismissively, “I won’t kill your man. Now go, you’re distracting him and Jules is waiting for you.” 

Lily turned to look at Sirius, a smirk on her lips. He swallowed nervously, back straightening slightly. “Now the real fun begins.” She tossed the blunt blades at him, he fumbled with them for a moment, looking at her with pleading eyes. “Don’t look at me like that Black, I’m not torturing you.” 

“Remus couldn’t teach me how to do this properly. I’m no good.” 

She grabbed his face between her palms, staring into his eyes with a steady look. “Don’t say that. I’m here because I’m the best at this and because you’re my friend.” 

“But what if that’s not enough?” He sounded defeated, shoulders dropping. 

“I’m the one who taught Remus how to aim a knife properly. And I can assure you he was much worse at that than you are at this.” Her hands dropped to his shoulders, pushing them back gently so he was standing straight. “Chin up, your highness. Everyone has to start somewhere, and there’s no time like the present.” 

*~*~*~*~*

Logan walked to the library with his heart in his throat. Seeing Finn again after so long had been wonderful and painful at the same time. It hurt to know that the man he loved had fallen for someone else, but it was worse, because Logan had also fallen for the man Finn described in his letters. 

Leo had no face for Logan, no body, no voice, no features. And yet he had crawled into Logan’s heart and settled there, at least the idea of him had. The man that Finn described with such love and adoration was someone Logan wanted, he wanted Finn, too. 

He wanted to put a face to the idea and see if he could still love Leo the same. He at least wanted to put a face to the man that had won his affection without uttering a single word. Logan didn’t know Leo, he knew of Leo, but that was enough. Enough for him to fall so deeply so fast, the problem was that there was no one to catch him when he eventually met the ground. 

He opened the doors to the library soundlessly and walked inside, halting when he saw Finn, lying on one of the vibrant red couches, fast asleep, book clutched to his chest. The sight made him melt a little, he wanted to kiss the other boy awake, wanted to wrap him up in a hug, but he knew he couldn’t. So he settled for taking the book from Finn’s grasp, draping one of the blankets that were kept there over him gently, watching him shift to nuzzle the soft fabric with his cheek before settling again.

 He ran his hand through Finn’s auburn curls softly, a small whisper of I love you leaving his lips in a breath, and then he was gone. Leaving the library and part of his heart behind. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

On the third day of their visit to Gryffindor Snape came into the physician’s chamber looking like he had lost a fight with a rabid animal. He had cuts going down his left arm and a bruised collarbone. Remus had seen Snape trying, and failing, to flirt with Lily a few times during their stay at the palace and it appeared she had gotten fed up with his attempts. Remus barely suppressed a laugh and motioned for the night to sit down, turning around to look for the things he would need and so that Snape wouldn’t see him grinning. 

Remus had to fight down a smirk when he heard Snape hiss, the pressure of the wet rag making his arm sting. The cuts from Lily’s knives were still fresh, but no longer bleeding. The knight muttered an insult under his breath that made Remus rub the tender skin none too gently. The man winced, shoulders tense, but remained silent. 

A servant approached them cautiously, eyeing Snape like one would a wild dog. She lifted her gaze to look at Remus, a little of the apprehension leaving her eyes. He finished bandaging Snape’s arms. “I’d suggest you lay off training for today.” The knight rolled his eyes, but nodded anyway, leaving Remus alone with the serving girl. 

Once they were alone she spoke up. “There’s a messenger from Slytherin at the entrance asking for King Orion.” 

A crease of worry appeared between his eyebrows. “Did they say why?” 

The girl shook her head. “He just said that the King needed to head back immediately. I suppose he’ll explain more to his highness than he did to me.” 

“Lord Orion is in the Council chamber discussing some things with the king. Can’t it wait until that’s over?” 

“I don’t think so”, she answered, “he looked worried. I don’t think they would send someone if it wasn’t urgent.” 

“Thank you for telling me.” She bowed her head slightly. “Please tell this messenger to wait for me outside the Council chamber.” She gave another small bow and walked out the door. 

Remus followed behind her, turning to go to the library where he knew Logan and Sirius would be. He tried to think of any reason why the council would send someone to retrieve the king from such an important trip, but he came up with nothing. The only thing he could think was that someone had tried to take over, but that didn’t seem like it was it. 

“If you think any harder your brain is going to melt.” Remus jumped at the voice, he hadn’t heard someone approach him, too lost in thought to sense his surroundings. 

“Hey, Alex. Kasey.” 

The man fell into step besides him, his manservant following a few steps behind them, listening to their conversation in silence. “Something’s worrying you.” Alex looked at him with an unreadable expression. “This has something to do with that messenger right?” 

“How do you even know about that already?” 

Alex shrugged. “I have my ways.” He looked at Kasey with a smile. “So.” He turned back to Remus. “What’s wrong.” 

“I'm not sure”, Remus sighed. “Something happened. Bad enough that the council decided to call the king back knowing he could be about to enter into an alliance with your father.” They reached the entrance to the library. “That’s all I know. I need to get Logan and Sirius to the council chamber, the other knights are probably being notified and should be preparing to leave.”

Remus pushed the doors open, silent chatter feeling his ears. “Sirius”, he walked inside, “are you here.” 

“At the fireplace,” came Sirius’s voice from deeper in the room. “The others are here too” 

He sighed, walking to where his boyfriend was sitting, surrounded by Lily, Finn, and Logan. He looked at them with a weary expression, motioning for his friends to follow him. “We have to go.” 

“Why”, worry seeped into Logan’s tone, “what’s going on.” 

“A messenger arrived earlier today asking for King Orion and his party. He says that they’re needed back in Slytherin.” 

Logan looked at the redhead. “I’m sorry, but who are you and how do you know that?”

“Apologies, my name is Alex. I’m Finn’s brother. And, like I told Remus, I have my ways of knowing things.” 

“Stop smirking like a smug idiot and lead the way,” Finn stood up, the rest following behind. “We have somewhere to be.” 

They all walked down to the Council chamber where a boy was standing, looking at the doors with terrified eyes. He nodded nervously when he saw them, stepping back and vowing deeply. The guards bowed to Finn and Alex and opened the doors, cutting off the conversation going on inside the room. 

“Father”, Alex bowed, “an urgent message was sent to King Orion.” 

“And who has sent this message?” Orion’s voice was ice cold. 

 Alex held the man’s piercing stare. He motioned for the boy to step forward, encouraging him to speak up. “I did, m-m’lord.” The boy bowed. “There’s a s-situation that requires your immediate attention.” 

“And this situation”, the king’s voice remained calm, the boy shivered at the cold tone, “it couldn’t wait?” 

“No, sire”, the boy’s voice shook. “I-It’s prince Regulus.” He took a deep breath. “He’s gone.” 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The ride back to Slytherin was quiet, tense. Orion hadn’t said a word since they had departed and it didn’t seem like he would. Something had changed about him. His face betrayed no emotion, as always, but everyone could tell something was different. 

They reached the Citadel in the evening two days later. The King strode inside the castle and into the Council chamber, leaving his horse behind for some stable boy to take care of.

 Sirius stared after him with an unreadable expression. Remus took his hand in his, making sure no one was looking at them. “Let’s go.” He nodded, squeezing Remus’s hand before letting go and walking through the palace entrance, his boyfriend following close behind. 

The prince fell into Remus’s arm, silent sobs racking his body and making him shake. He held him until Sirius was too exhausted to do anything more than walk to his bed and letting himself drop on the soft mattress, pulling Remus down and hugging him tightly, burying his face in the soft fabric of his boyfriend’s shirt. 

They said nothing. It had been two long days of unsaid words and silent reassurance when they were alone. Sirius stayed in his boyfriend’s arms, trying to ignore the pain in his chest. Trying to ignore the fact that his brother was gone, missing, and no one knew what to do. “What do you think about everything?” He asked softly, words muffled by Remus’s shirt. 

“It was a targeted attack. Someone knew we would be gone.” 

Sirius nodded. “I don’t want to jump into conclusions”, he took a steadying breath, “but is it possible this was done by a sorcerer?” 

Remus wanted to say no. That there had to be another explanation, but he couldn’t find any. Regulus had disappeared without a trace, his room was completely intact, there was no sign of struggle anywhere and no one had seen him going out or anyone coming in. “It’s possible”, was the only answer he could give him. It seemed to be enough for now. They lapsed into silence, night had already fallen. No one came looking for Sirius, there was no reason to disturb the prince when they didn’t know anything. 

Remus ran his hands through his love’s hair, eyes flashing golden. The other man gave a small content humm, falling asleep minutes later, an almost peaceful sleep. A small trick Leo had taught him, if the mind feels safe it’s easier to fall asleep. So he let his magic flow through his fingers, let it envelop Sirius in as much warmth and love as he could muster. It was dangerous, he knew that, but when the love of his life was suffering he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Another flash of his eyes and all the candles went out. Remus almost felt sorry for whoever had dared take his friend, hurting his boyfriend in the process. Almost. 

[yanderecandystore]

Reader is alone in their room throwing a rubber ball against the wall which at one point rolls away but is returned to them. Looking up they see a single eye ball, Buddy is slowly making themselves visible again. Buddy is covered in healed scars and wound. A soft whine and a wag of a tail. Black and Red pop in for the daily check up and see whats going on Remeber self care is best care :o - Cold Anon

Thanks for caring for me Cold, but like- You really do be breaking my heart with these beautiful angst concepts ;^;

TW/Tags: Feels (angst lol) // mentions of animal abuse // d r a m a (also a little different from what you originally thought off-) // cursing // plot twist that was pulled straight out of my ass- (I can't blame y'all if this seem boring or uninteresting lol, but it was the only plot twist that I felt like it was fitting).

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

Broken smile [Yandere!Among Us x Reader - Headcanon]:

Can you imagine your shock at seeing the familiar eyes looking at your own with nothing but relief and sorrow? Can you imagine seeing your little warrior walking inside your room slowly and clumsy due to his wounds.

You jump out of bed and go hug your best friend, despite knowing fully well that he hasn't recovered fully from whatever hell he clearly went through. He was anticipating the impact but it still hurts him despite his best efforts to hold it in-

You haven't come off of your bedroom that day, most of the crew was too busy to notice that you weren't doing your tasks, but of course they would notice before everyone else-

"- Babe, have you seen [Y/N] anywhere? I have a feeling we haven't talked much."

"- That's because we didn't. They haven't gotten out of their room ever since this morning-"

"- What?? Black, you should have told me sooner, come on, we need to see if they're okay- Wait!"

"- W-What is it??"

"- Where…. Black, where is M.Red?"

Instead of going straight to checking how you were they decided to search for their child since Mini Red just suddenly disappeared-

They eventually found him, and scolded the young child for giving both of his parents a heart attack, when asked where he was, M.Red said something quite surprising:

"- I was playing doctor with the doggie!"

You heard loud bagging on your door, you didn't really expect anyone to call you so late, they probably noticed you haven't attend to any of the tasks in the spaceship (although let's be honest, you're more surprised it took them 24 hours to notice that instead of realizing your lack of presence sooner-).

You recognized that friendly family that you have grown to appreciate over the past month, Red and Black has been nothing but sweet with you and M.Red is such a energetic kid-

You didn't want to get out of your room, so instead you welcomed them in, and as soon as their eyes looked at the medicines and the space canine laying on top of it all covered in wounds, they understood what happened.

He came back. The stupid dog came back, yet in their hearts there was nothing like hate or anger at the sight of the severely damaged dog.

No, on the contrary, there was pity inside them mixed with somewhat of a relief.

Well, don't get me wrong, they hate your dog still, he is nothing more than an immense rock in their path yet there is something so, well, "heartwarming" about seeing you reunited.

It's so fun to see their loved one so happy even if it's because of… That dog.

You didn't come out of your room at all that day, you just wanted to be with your friend and take care of him, you took first-aid kits on medbay to take care of his untreated wounds. Buddy came back all patched up yet whoever did it clearly didn't do a good job at it in the first place! You were glad someone at least tried to help, yet there was something very worrying about his condition-

If someone tried to fix him up, it was because he was hurt in the first place. Buddy is a smart boy yet he wouldn't be able to properly recover those wounds on his own.

So when you brought the topic to them, you didn't expect a small hand be raised in such a excited way- M.Red was so proud of his work despite the fact he doesn't know anything about treating a wounded space animal, and honestly he didn't care- He saw it all as a fun game, in his eyes finding the dog in such a small and convenient finding place was nothing but a fun game, he not only found a good hiding spot to play hide and seek with Black, but also the dog, which he only saw as a toy.

To put it promptly, Buddy was waiting to die by the hands of the gremlin child, yet he was delightfully surprised to see the child so excited about helping him get his wounds treated, despite the fact they did it for their own twisted little amusement. At least the kid liked him more than his parents did.

Both of his parents were hesitant in letting you know that their kid had found the dog before you did, since it could be considered kinda weird for their kid to be able to find your dog in a isolated tiny spot of the spaceship that was completely off the cameras view and only accessible by the ventilation system- They lied about their child randomly founding the dog walking around instead of actually founding the filthy thing's hiding place.

No one can go in the vents unless they were small or a shapeshifting monster, and their child just happened to be both at the same time-

Either way, after finally being reunited with your dog, everyone expected things to go back to normal, even Buddy seemed tired of this nonsense, yet things never did go back to the way they were.

It was interesting how much of an impact you had on your crew. People didn't give you that much attention, yet whenever you changed your behavior it seemed to take over the entire mood of the ship. You may be thinking I'm exaggerating, yet it's not hard to believe it, is it?

After all, think about it, your dog just came back hurt from something that has done a great deal of damage to him. Something or someone made him hide away from everyone else so he could catch a break.

Buddy was a brave boy yet he was careful enough to see when a fight wasn't worth fighting. Buddy ran away and managed to hide for so long, he must have seen something or someone that was capable of scaring him from even coming back unprepared.

You mentioned that at your meeting and everyone seemed shocked at your claims, and even more surprised by how you sounded so… Angry. You sounded like someone that was calm now, yet was holding enough anger to fight anyone if not everyone in the cafeteria if they gave you the smallest hints of being the one that has hurted your doggie.

Even though he was kinda weirded out by your demeanor, the poor thing thought that he had caused you so much pain that him coming back wasn't the best thing he should have done. You were the same person as when he ran away, yet you sounded so mad…

And you rightfully were. You have been beating yourself up and feeling depressed thinking your sweet boy has died and when he comes back he is wounded to the point of not being able to walk properly. You have every right to want to beat the shit of whoever did this, even if they weren't human to begin with.

You felt like you had every right to judge every single person sitting in front of you, anyone in this room could have hurted Buddy and you knew it. The arguing was so strong that you had to be calmed down by Red, Black and Buddy at the same time.

One person in particular seemed to be pointing you out as "obviously the killer" that has orchestrated this whole charade as a way to throw everyone off, you almost did slap a bitch that day-

Others seem to understand your condition. You literally just lost your dog and he came back all bloodied and wounded. You were hurt and pissed at whoever the culprit was, even if you weren't sure of who it was.

And there was a strong intuition indicating that maybe the culprit that hurted your dog, was also the monster going around killing your crewmates. But sadly, Buddy has also changed after the incident.

Buddy didn't seem to recognize who.was the culprit, and if he could have blamed Red and Black, he knew that it was neither of them that had attacked him. Someone else has taken him by surprise, and was smart enough to cover their scent and human disguise, so he wouldn't recognize them if he managed to get away. Which he is glad he did, yet he is afraid he won't be of any help this time around.

He could blame Red and Black, since clearly they were going around killing everyone, but he somehow knew that they weren't involved with his case. He felt like it would be unfair to put the blame on them for his case in particular, they should still be thrown off of the spaceship but not for him.

But for all the different people they killed along the way.

And also… Maybe he did feel pity for the child, maybe he just felt like he was in debt with the kid for helping him out- Maybe if the circumstances were different he could have been friends with the little rascal (if the child had also decent parents and a therapist-).

You seemed to have noticed how Buddy hasn't openly barked at anyone, how he hasn't pointed anyone out yet, which was a little disheartening since it meant that this would be a lot harder than expected, yet you hadn't given up yet, you were determined to make justice for your dog, for everyone that had died.

Some of your crew were with you, some weren't, yet you didn't care at all- You would make sure to take care of your boy with more love and affection, you won't let this happen to him ever again.

And while you had found some sort of hope from this situation, Red and Black were concerned if not freaked out at the idea that someone else had started a hunting spree, and apparently with you and your dog as their target.

Red had asked their son if he was the one to hurt the canine, yet he said that he found him like that, hurt and bleeding. Black was feeling anxious as he couldn't smell the scent of someone of his kind hiding in between them, I'd they were also disguising themselves, it meant that they were being extra careful by flooding themselves with extra scents to blend in with everyone else.

This was way more than concerning, it meant they were in danger, you were in danger! And the culprit was being one step ahead from everyone else, since they have probably already found out about Black being an alien that has also invaded the ship, and that Red and M.Red were involved with the killings.

There were apparently three imposters among your crewmates.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

Okay sorry Cold, but now I noticed that although I tried to compile your both asks into one, it feels like I may have not done the best ;-; I'm sorry. I could totally redo it and make the Reader sick and all- If you wish boo

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅��༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

[miraculousmarifan]

Felinette Month - Day 1: Purrito

So this is my first time writing something that wasn’t academic or work documentation in probably at least 5 years and it’s definitely my first fan fic so please bear with the rough writing. And the potential out of character-ness of this. I wasn’t even planning to write for this but after reading a few of the ones by @fandomsilhouette, I felt too inspired not to try!

Fingers crossed that this burst of inspiration last long enough for me to finish the prompts on @felinettenovember!

This is based loosely on a fan fic I read a while back (if I remembered who wrote it, I’d completely tag them here but I don’t even remember the name now)

Chat!Felix and reveal

Around 1500 words and most certainly fluff

Marinette hummed as she put together the tray of cheese pastries and tea for her anticipated visitor. She loved the decision to make a schedule for patrol to clear up some time in her and Chat’s busy schedules. Under this, she had three days every week that she didn’t need to worry about sneaking out and one day that they could meet up from patrol to hang out and work on finding Hawkmoth. Additionally it resulted in a standing visit with her masked friend once a week, with her parents’ approval after the Weredad akuma brought it to their attention under the condition of homework still getting done, of course.

Once upstairs, Marinette worked on tidying up her room a little from her projects, as the scrap pile from her ongoing projects could be a little distracting and she preferred to have those in acceptable condition for smaller projects. Maybe she could make a nice patchwork quilt for Felix as a get-well present, since he seemed to be coming down with something. A cold or maybe the flu? He definitely seemed flushed and less alert than usual, seeming to space out while looking at her throughout the day. 

As she sat down with the pieces, arranging and rearranging to find the most appealing look that Felix may approve of, a thump sounded from the balcony and the clatter of a chair falling. Quickly pushing the fabrics out of sight, Marinette climbed up and opened the door to peer out at Chat. He was still laying on the ground with a bright red face, visibly sweaty skin, and eyes shut.

“Oh! You look terrible Chat! Did something happen on your patrol?” Marinette rushed over to help him up slowly and stopped when she noticed the shiver running through him and the quick breaths. She felt his forehead, pushing his more disheveled than usual hair out of the way. His eyes slowly opened and a weak grin crossed his face.

“Hiya Princess. You look nice today. Is your hair down?” His hand reached up and batted at the closest pigtail. Her hair was definitely still in it’s pigtails, albeit a little longer than they were when these visits first started. That’s not a good sign…

“Let’s get you inside and out of the cold. Are you sick? Why didn’t you go home right away after patrol if you’re sick? Or better yet, why not call Ladybug and ask her to cover this patrol so you could rest up?” He mumbled incoherently and leaned heavily on her as she helped him climb into her room. The moment he was near the chaise, he collapsed heavily on it.

Marinette rushed to grab blankets and a pillow to make him comfortable, chastising him about the importance of taking care of his health and assuring him that Ladybug certainly felt the same way, despite his denials of being sick. With some coaxing, she managed to get him to sit up so she could wrap the biggest blanket she owned around his shoulders. She moved to grab another blanket and pillow and he let himself fall down again, rolling off the chaise onto the floor.

“Oh Chat! Let me help you back up! I’m sure you’d be much cozier than on the floor!” I’m sure my parents are wondering what is happening at this point. Hopefully they help me take care of him when they’re done prepping for tomorrow, at least enough that he can make it home.

“Nnnngh,” and curled up tighter in the blanket, burying his face into the spot where the carpet and the top edge of the blanket met. With a resigned sigh, Marinette went to the bathroom to find a thermometer and to see what kinds of medicine they had. At least if it’s only a cold, she might be able to give him something to help him through the night. Coming back into the room, she chuckled at the sight of him curled up tightly, like a little purrito.

“Chat, you need to get up and take this so you feel better soon. I have some tea that you can take it with, if you’d like,” Marinette cooed, trying to sound as much like her mother as possible, as she walked towards the nearly forgotten tray with medicine in hand.

“I don’t want to! I want to cuddle,” Chat protested and pulled the blanket closer in, somehow curling up even more and acting more like a petulant child throwing a tantrum with each passing minute. Marinette brought the tray over, setting it near the chaise, grabbing another blanket, and knelt down by his side.

“I tell you what, if you sit up and take your medicine like a good boy, I’ll give you this extra blanket and let you pick which pillow you want to use,” she bribed, hoping that the time babysitting Manon had taught her the right skill for this kind of situation. With this offer on the table, Chat managed to sit up slowly, his eyes looking more glazed over than when he had arrived. Marinette handed him the tea, grown cold by this point, and the correct dosage of cold medicine, to prevent him from accidentally taking too much.

He quickly took both without further protests and then a goofy grin broke out. “I want you to be my pillow!” His arms wrapped around Marinette and tried to curl himself up on her lap. The contact made her blush a bit and she tried to pull back.

“You’re such a flirt! What happened to being in love with Ladybug?” she joked nervously. After readjusting so he was just leaning on her shoulder, instead of across her lap, she used one hand to drape the second blanket over him. At least this way I can tell he isn’t too cold. 

“I only flirt with you and Ladybug. I can’t help that if I didn’t have this curse, you’d be my first choice,” he murmured, seeming to be drifting back to sleep already. Marinette was stunned into silence. Did this mean Chat likes her? How did things change so much just from hanging out? With how out of it he seems, is he going to remember this conversation later? Are things going to be different the next time I see him?

For a few minutes she spiraled, thinking of every possible thing that could change, speculating whether this would affect how she treated him as Ladybug (try as she might to avoid letting these nights slip into her superhero life), and how different this might have been if she didn’t have a crush on Felix. Soon he startled her out of her thoughts with a jolt, as he sat up and started thrashing wildly at the blankets and pulling at his suit.

“Ack! Too hot! Stupid suit! Plagg, claws in!”

A flash of light and silence. Marinette clamped her hands over her eyes as quickly as she could with her brain already running on delay.

“Mmmmmmm. Much better,” he mumbled, before Marinette felt his head resting on her leg, arms wrapping around her waist, and body resting on her lap. She kept her hands over her eyes and freaked out internally. How am I supposed to talk him into transforming back?

“What are you doing kid?! You can’t do that here! Nobody is supposed to know your identity! I hate to say it but you need to transform back so Ladybug doesn’t get upset with you!” Plagg fumed. Marinette felt him try to pull on Chat’s arms

“You’re so warm,” Chat purred out, ignoring Plagg’s badgering, “Why don’t we do this more often, Princess? This would be perfect during movie nights.”

I need to do something. I can’t stay like this forever!

“Chat, why don’t you transform back and just take one of the blankets off? Wouldn’t that be better?” Marinette kept her eyes clamped together, moving her hands slowly down to where she thought his shoulder was and felt for the blankets. Apparently he hadn’t pulled them back up before curling up on her so it was just his shirt. Feeling utterly surreal, she noted that the sleeve’s fabric felt like the high quality fabrics she had to save up to buy for bigger, fancier projects.

“Noooooo. This is what I want. This is too nice to give up!” he protested, twisting his body up first to bury his face into her side, then shake it dramatically. A ticklish jolt ran through her body and she opened her eyes without thinking, pushing him back to stop him.

“Felix?!” Marinette gasped. Felix just smiled and continued trying to cuddle back up to her.

Just then Marinette’s parents knocked on the door downstairs and asked if they could come in. If her brain hadn’t come to a halt, she might’ve had a joke about their impeccable timing.

[melon-kiss]

Cold Tea, Pt. 1

I’m not native English, which seems kind of obvious if you read my posts. I’d like you to keep that in mind. I hope your eyes won’t start bleeding at the end. Or in the middle. Or at any point of reading this fic.

Enjoy! or... whatever.

___________

“Hello, Sherlock.”

She finally answered the call, although she tapped the green button with a heavy heart. She put a lot of effort in trying not to sound sad.

“Is this urgent? Because I’m not having a good day.” Her voice sounded gloomy anyway.

When she woke up this morning, she felt a certain heaviness in everything she was doing. The lab seemed strange, she was working like a robot. She might not have a memory palace, but her body definitely had a muscle memory and was able to work with her brain detached.

“Molly, I just want you to do something very easy for me and not ask why”, Sherlock said fast as usual.

No “hello”, no “how are you doing”. Molly was used to his obnoxious behaviour but that day it only worsened her already bad mood. She wasn’t willing to deal with his craziness and arrogance. Not after all the tears she cried once she got back home from work. Not after realising it was another pathetic day of her lonely life. Another day of loving a person that could not care less about her.

You do count. You’ve always counted and I’ve always trusted you.

What a bunch of lies. She was useful to him in the best case scenario. She could show him bodies that should not be shown or let him use the lab equipment. She was the necessary leverage in his battle with Moriarty, but this was the only reason he wanted to spend an entire day with her - to thank her. On the rest of the days he was just manipulative as always. She didn’t matter to him in any sort of personal meaning of this word.

Usually, she would become his minion one more time, but that day she wasn’t going to play along.

“Oh, God, is this one of your stupid games?”

“It’s not a... game, I need you to help me”. His voice suddenly softened a bit, leading Molly to confusion.

“Well, I’m not at the lab-“

“It’s not about that”, he interrupted in a strangely nervous tone.

The nervousness got to her as well. The tea she intended to drink was starting to get cold and she resumed the making process to keep her hands busy. She felt it must have been something unusual, even for Sherlock Holmes.

“Well... quickly, then”, she replied, half-consciously cleaning up the kitchen counter.

But he remained silent for another couple of seconds. She started losing her patience.

“Sherlock!”, she rushed him. “What is it? What do you want?”

He finally spoke up.

“Molly, please, without asking why, just say these words.”

She thought that maybe this time it wouldn’t be that bad of a game. Maybe he just wanted to solve a funny puzzle and needed to hear it from someone else’s lips?

“What words?”, she asked with a little of a smile on her face.

“I love you.”

The bad mood, which was almost gone, got back immediately. So, after all, it was his another mockery. Another way to make her feel stupid and small in the face of the great, brilliant Sherlock Holmes. Her body started trembling a bit and she lost interest in the conversation right away. She took back the phone from her ear and look at the screen, her finger ready to tap the red icon.

“Leave me alone.”

“No, Molly, please, no, don’t hang up! Do not hang up!”

It was the first time Molly heard Sherlock in such desperate tone. What was it all about? No, never mind that. She stopped caring about his reason for this call. She didn’t want to talk to him. Not like that. Not about that. She was fed up with his ignorance of her presence and feelings. Mocking her was where she drew the line.

“Why are you doing this to me? Why making fun of me?”

“Please, I swear, you just have to listen to me.” He made a short stop. “Molly, this is for a case.” His voice was raised and sounded falsely. “It’s... it’s a sort of experiment.”

Ah, yes. Of course. All the people in the world were “an experiment” for Sherlock. And to think that she was the first one to discover the human in him... She was so stupid. So blind.

But even then, even when she felt so betrayed, it didn’t change her feelings.

“I’m not an experiment... Sherlock”, she replied, her voice lowered and eyes got glossy.

“No, I know you’re not an experiment, you’re my friend. We’re friends”, his response was a little bit more silent and softer again. It was the first time he openly admitted that. But nothing beyond that. “But... please. Just say those words for me.”

“Please, don’t do this”, she whispered.

Why would he do that? He’s changed a bit lately. Molly sensed a touch of John Watson in this metamorphosis of his, so... why would he do that? Did he not consult this with John? Did dr Watson approved this? How could he do this to her, knowing all he knew?

“Just.. just... don’t do it.”

Couldn’t he choose someone else? Many people, especially his dedicated fans, could say those words sincerely, if that’s what it all was about. Why did he choose her? Molly had many thoughts flooding her head with contrary opinions but she mostly felt betrayed by Sherlock. More than ever.

“It’s very important. I can’t say why... but I promise you it is.”

The person he thought didn’t matter at all to me, was the one person who mattered the most.

“I can’t, I can’t say that. I can’t say that... to you.”

Her heart started pumping blood a lot faster and heavier than before. She didn’t understand the sick position she was in, she didn’t understand Sherlock’s agenda and didn’t want to have this conversation at all. Yet, she didn’t hang up like he asked. She knew that humiliation was waiting for her. She initiated it with her last sentence.

“Of course you can, why can’t you?”

She almost felt his nervous smile on the other side of the call.

“You know why”. Her voice hardened with anger.

Why was he playing stupid now? After all those years of living in the need of being the smartest person in the room, he suddenly claims he doesn’t know? He didn’t notice? Bullshit.

“No, I don’t know why”, he replied in a desperate, almost mad tone.

She took a short breath and rubbed her nose, getting more and more anxious.

“Of course you know”, she said with a bitter smile.

Because... how could he not? It was kind of obvious he figured it out a long time ago, during a Christmas drinks with the rest of his friends. He spotted his own present in her bag and started angrily deducing that she was going to meet a “serious boyfriend” that night. And the surprise on his face when he read the tag... Not many people could surprise Sherlock, yet she managed to do this a couple of times. But that Christmas she paid for this astonishment with her own embarrassment. He said sorry, which was unusual for him, but... he must have deduced that back then. And see it in every move she made when he was around.

He was silent for a couple of seconds.

“Please, just say it.”

It seemed so easy when he talked about it, but her body was rejecting those words. She couldn’t. The words were stuck in her throat.

“I can’t. Not to you.” She started losing her voice.

“Why?”

What was with him and all those weird questions? Was he testing her patience or nerves? What was it all about?

“Because... because it’s true”. Her voice started breaking. She realised the last word was inaudible. “Because it’s true, Sherlock! It’s... always been... true...”

Tears filled her eyes and she couldn’t control her voice or breathing. The moment she waited for so many years came unexpectedly and in such horrible way. With Sherlock treating her disrespectfully, like an evidence on a crime scene, like a rat during a vivisection. Experimenting on her heart like a cold surgeon.

There was a dead silence for a couple of seconds on the other side of the call.

When he spoke, his voice was very low and surprisingly warm.

“If it’s true, just say it anyway.”

She laughed shortly, with a bitter face. She sighed, letting a bit of her anxiety go.

“You bastard.”

So he did know. He knew and he thought that this was going to be so easy? If it were, she would have told him a long time ago. Didn’t it occur to him that there must be a reason why it’s so difficult for people to tell someone they love them? No, of course not. Why would it? It’s Sherlock, after all. Emotional context and romantic entanglement are for losers. Losers like her, who would take a bullet for him. Like her who helped him take down the most dangerous criminal there has ever been on the London streets, his archenemy. Who, silently, was always there. Who gave up her bedroom so he could have his space.

“Say it anyway”, he insisted, his voice cold and unpleasant.

It was her turn. Her turn to play a game. To let him taste his own medicine. And... to hear it. At least once.

“You say it”, she demanded with confidence. “Go on. You say it first.”

“What?” He was clearly confused and nervous.

Apparently, he wasn’t that good in games if he wasn’t the game host. In logic games he might have been the best man of Earth, but if there were emotions included... he was lost. Helpless.

“Say it”, she repeated in a cold voice, the same one he used on her couple of seconds ago. “Say it like you mean it.”

For about fifteen seconds he didn’t say a single word. Molly pulled her phone closer to her ear, placed her second hand on the one holding the telephone and closed her eyes with a pain wrinkling her face. She didn’t want to miss a single sound if he was about to speak again.

“I...”, he started hesitatingly. “I love you.”

She felt the pain flooding her chest. It sounded so insincere. She kept imagining that this was real. She was picturing herself in a nice place with him, both of them smiling, his eyes filled with affection. She wanted so badly for those words to be real.

But she couldn’t make a sound.

And then, unexpectedly, he spoke again. Softly, silently.

“I love you.”

The pain couldn’t let go of her. She was rubbing her hand and pressing the phone against her face, trying to imagine the texture of the skin on his palms, the softness of his arms, the warmth of his body. His voice was still ringing in her head, not giving her any sort of relief.

“Molly?”

She took the phone from her ear and brought it closer to her lips. Her heart was beating so fast she could feel her entire body pulsing with it.

“Molly, please!” He sounded very desperate.

Back to the reality. Sherlock was still waiting for her response. She was rubbing her lower lip with her finger, gaining the courage. Now or never, Molly Hooper. Eventually, she took a deep breath.

“I love you.”

All she heard was a sound of a relief sigh. After that, he just unceremoniously hung up.

[gothpanda]

A Little Bit of Attitude Ch.20: Dirty Little Secret

WORD COUNT: 5.1K

A/N:so sorry if the smut sucks. it was my first time 

WARNINGS: SMUT, DRUGS, (slight) abusive power, and language

TAGS: @madamsixx​

Read On Ao3 

Previous/Next

“I’m sorry?” said Sammi. Her jaw almost dropped to the floor as she stared at Sharise. Sammi’s hearing almost felt like she was going deaf, as if she got hit by a bus. Sharise pulled her ear in nervousness, looking at the ground below her.

“Please don’t get angry,” pleaded Sharise, bringing her hands up to her chest.

Sammi ran her hands through her hair, pushing it out of her face. “How-How pregnant are you? When did you sleep with Vince?!”

“I’m going on four months, it happened back in August. I promise you, I didn’t know he had a girlfriend. Every time he came down to my work, Vince and his friends made it seem like they were bachelors,”  said Sharise.

“Well you sure don’t look pregnant,” muttered Sammi, looking down at Sharise’s stomach.

“Thanks… my mom said it happens when you’re pregnant for the first time,” mumbled Sharise.

“So you didn’t know Vince was in a relationship until the party?” asked Sammi. Sharise nodded with fear, playing with her hands. Sammi only dragged a hand down her face, looking out into the distance of the neighborhood.

“Alright. You can come inside. Vince has to be home,” Sammi walked up to the door, picking out her spare key from her chain. As she pushed the door open, Sammi could hear the tv being played far into the distance of the house. The two women stepped into the house slowly, closing the door to make no noise.

“Vince! I’m home! We need to talk!” yelled Sammi, staring down at the floor and leaning on the staircase. She could see Sharise nervously play with her hair, not knowing if she should be nice to her or hate her so fast. “Vince!” shouted Sammi again.

“I’m coming babe! I’m sorry about today-,” said Vince until silenced as he saw Sharise stand in his foyer. “Sharise? Wha-Wha-What are you doing here” stuttered the blonde man. He looked over to Sammi, seeing the clear coldness in her eyes as she looked between both of them.

“Vince we need to talk about what happened back in August,” said Sharise, straightening her shoulders back.

“What are you talking about? What did we do?” asked nervously Vince, hiding his hands in his jean pockets. Sammi rolled her eyes, shaking her head at Vince.

“Vince, I know you two fucked. You might as well spell it out for Vince, Sharise,” said Sammi. In that instance, Sharise dug through her purse to pull out a yellow envelope with nothing on the front of it.

“I need you to go to the clinic on this document for a paternity test next Monday. Because as of right now I know it’s yours but I need proof,” said Sharise. Vince yanked the envelope out of Sharises hand, ripping it open to see a court order in his name.

“What the fuck Sharise? You can’t be fucking serious?” asked Vince, scrunching his eyebrows at the woman.

“Look this is a two way street and the fact you made it seem you were single makes it worse. Be a fucking man and take responsiblity,” spatted Sharise, biting the inside of her cheek. “I really am sorry Sammi,” Sharise said to Sammi right as she walked out the door to leave the couple. They were silent for a minute, Vince looking at Sammi who dared not see his face.

“Sammi I’m sorry,” uttered Vince, stepping closer to Sammi. She put her hand to stop him from coming closer, showing him her glossy eyes.

“Not even a year, and you couldn’t stop yourself from getting your dick in another woman,” said Sammi, letting out a shaky breath. “I fucking knew something was up when I met her that night. Then come to find out she was from that fucking Tropicana place,”

Vince bit his lip, throwing the envelope far away from him. “It didn’t happen! I swear I didn’t have sex with her!”

“Then why is she fucking get a court order to prove your the dad!? Huh?!”

“I don’t know but I didn’t have sex with her, please believe me, Sammi,” said Vince, grabbing Sammi’s hands. Sammi yanked herself away from Vince’s hold, stepping towards the door. “Please Sammi, I love you!”

“Shut up! And answer me this one question, who would you go to Tropicana with?” asked Sammi, biting her lip.

Vince wrinkled his nose and eyebrows together, “What? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just answer the fucking question,” ordered Sammi, tears on the brink of escaping her eyes.

“Some guys from other bands…”

“Then why the fuck should I believe you knowing you went to a bar without my brother and the other guys? Makes you pretty fucking shady if ask me,” said Sammi, pushing Vince away from her. “If you weren’t doing anything, then at least Tommy would’ve gone with you,”

“I love you. You know that,” pleaded Vince,

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t have fucked another woman!” said Sammi right as she shut the door hard in Vince’s face. Sammi stomped to her car, letting tears roll down her face without a care in the world. Once getting into her car, Sammi took a deep breath as she turned on her ignition to tear down the street.

January 17th, 1985

‘5 miss calls and 5 voice messages. New message’ “Sammi please answer. I know to give you your space I need to know everything is okay. I shouldn’t have lied about Sharise. Plea-” * delete*

January 21st, 1985

‘6 miss calls and 3 voice messages. New message’ “I think Tommy is gonna kill me one day. Athena threw her purse at my head when she came to get your stuff. I know I’m gonna be a dad but that doesn’t have to fuck-” * delete*

January 27th, 1985

“Sunny, please talk to me. I fucking miss you. Everything is going to fucking shit with the band and I need you. I need-” * delete*

January 30th, 1985

“Hey Princess it’s Nikki. I know I’ve been a bit M.I.A and kind of a shit head. I just wanted to say I’m sorry about Vince. Trust me I hate his ass too. Call if you need anything. Uh… miss you… ,”

“Hey Sam it’s Mick. Sorry about the Vince shit. Hope to see you soon even if I don’t say it out loud. Later,”

‘No other new messages’

February 2nd, 1985

Shopping bags in one hand and an ice cream cone in another, Sammi and her friends strolled down the busy mall for Emma’s version of therapy. Emma rambled away about her swimming team mates not being a team for once. Sabrina and Sammi laughed along with Emma’s complaining that was purely humorous. Sammi’s attention quickly zoned in on a gossip magazine front and center of a newsstand kiosk right by the girls. She walked right to it, groaned at the sight of a paparazzi photo of her in comparison to Vince and Sharise. Sammi then noticed other magazines with Vince’s face in smaller corners with her right next to him.

“So that’s her face? Was trying to remember what the blonde fucking looked like,” said Emma, walking right next to Sammi and yanked the magazine from the stand for a closer look. Sabrina looked over Emma’s shoulder to read the short headlines to grab readers attention.

“Motley Crue singer leaves girl next door brunette for a busty mud wrestler blonde. What is so different this time around? Read more on page 13,” read Sabrina, frowning in concentration.

“Oh bullshit, I left his ass,” hissed Sammi, throwing her ice cream in the trash before grabbing the magazine for herself.

“Hey! You got to buy those before you read them!” a 20 something year old guy shouted at the girls from his cash register.

“I’m on this stupid magazine, so shut it!” scoffed Sammi, flipping off the sales guy and walking off. Emma withheld a laugh while Sabrina apologized to the man before following Sammi to a bench by the fountain. Sammi flipped through the paper booklet, eyes going wide to see a two page spread on her and Vince. The idea of being around famous guys didn’t hit Sammi until recently. The recent growth in constant rock magazines helped Motley Crue become infamous in the celebrity world. Motley weren’t famous rock stars to Sammi, they were a group of idiots where one of them just so happened to be her brother.

“Well at least you look hot in these photos,” said Emma reading over Sammi’s shoulder.

“Yeah not hot enough to keep Vince around,” mumbled Sammi. Straightening her shoulders, Sammi held the magazine out in front to read out loud. “Singer of heavy metal band Motley Crue apparently isn’t too young to fall in love. Vince Neil was spotted out in Santa Monica with aspiring model Sharise Ruddell. While this may seem like a blossoming romance, is it too soon from his girl next door Samantha Bass? Ew I fucking hate this,” uttered Sammi, handing the magazine to Sabrina to read the rest of it.

“Who the hell told them you were in college for medicine?” asked Sabrina

“Probably rang up a few of our co-workers to get some shit on me,” mumbled Sammi, leaning her head on Emma’s shoulder.

“Well it doesn’t say that Sharise is pregnant if that’s a plus side. It’s basically a comparison of Sharise and you being complete opposites. You’re written as a sweetheart who can do no wrong,” said Sabrina stuffing the magazine in one of her shopping bags.

“Yeah because I have half a brain to not slash all of Vince’s tires. Athena gives enough death stares to him for me,” said Sammi.

“If you want we could stalk him at his favorite hang out spots to throw drinks on him!” cheerful suggested Emma, only getting a stern look from Sabrina and a small chuckle from Sammi.

“No. I think retail therapy is doing its job for right now. I haven’t cried all day so that’s something,” said Sammi, standing up from the bench with a small smile on her face.

“That’s the spirit! Hey since we’re still on the first floor, can we check out Contempo Casuals?” asked Sabrina, wide-eyed like a child asking their mom. Sammi’s face went dead, staying silent at the sound of her old job. Emma curled her lip at Sabrina, thinking of the idea. “Please I need new skirts, I feel like I wear the same ones all the time,”

“That’s because you buy the same ones all time, but that’s okay, S. We still love you,” joked Emma, grabbing Sammi by the hand to bring her to the place she hates the most. “Let’s go!”

*

“Hey Em, that top on the mannequin is totally your style,” pointed out Sabrina as the girls approached the store. Through the windows, Sammi could see Britney in the near front to organize the denim display. She scoffed at the sight of her former friend, not hearing from her for almost a year.

“Hi welcome to Contempo Casuals,” said Britney, smile disappearing at the sight of Sammi, “let me know if you need anything,”

“Yeah, where can I find that yellow top that’s on the mannequin?” asked Emma, hanging her arm around Sammi. Britney didn’t fail to eye Sammi even with Emma and Sabrina around. She studied Sammi’s appearance, seeing how she appeared to be better than the last time Britney saw her. Emma and Sabrina gave each other questioning looks, unaware of the two.

“How’s it going, Sammi?” asked Britney with a smile.

“Great, now can you just answer my friend's question?” demanded Sammi, crossing her arms against her chest, biting the inside of her cheek. “And remember you’re at work so don’t pretended to be Amanda, sweetie,”

Britney inhaled sharply “You can find the blouses on the right in the new arrivals section. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask,” said the blonde as she walked away from them and further into the store.

Sammi gently pushed Emma’s arm off her shoulders, trying to disappear in between the racks of clothes. Emma and Sabrina sandwiched Sammi between them, looking to see if Britney was around.

“Okay spill. Who was that and why did it look like she hated you?” asked Emma, gently placing a hand on her friend's shoulder .

“Long story short, I used to work here and that was one of my former best friends/roommates who sold all my shit after leaving for 5 months on tour,” whispered Sammi, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Both Emma and Sabrina’s eyes went wide, jaws almost dropping to the floor.

“When the hell did this happen?” asked Sabrina with a frown.

“A year ago. It happened right before I met you two and I buried that shit,” muttered Sammi, pouting at the memories.

“How come you never told us you worked here?” asked Emma. Sammi shrugged.

“Is this why you tiptoe around us about hanging out?” asked Sabrina. Sammi nodded with a frown. “Awe Sammi, you shouldn’t have felt like that,” said Sabrina, hugging Sammi with Emma following in her steps.

“Let’s just leave, I can get clothes at another store-”

“Samantha?” announced Britney making Sammi turn around to see the former friend. “Can we talk? Alone?” asked Britney, switching glares at Emma and Sabrina. Sammi gave questioning looks to Emma and Sabrina, getting a nod from Sabrina.

“Fine. You have 2 minutes out in the front,” ordered Sammi. Sammi led the way for Britney, staying cold to her. Emma glared Britney down to her core, making the shorter girl scared of the athlete. Sabrina only forced a smile that had an attitude as Britney walked right out the store.

“What do you want, Britney?” asked Sammi.

 “I just wanted to see how you were. You look great…” said Britney with a hesitant tone. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you…”

“Yeah it has been a while since you and Amanda sold all my shit and kicked me out of the condo that basically belonged to me,” barked Sammi.

Britney dropped her shoulders with a heavy sigh, feeling small from Sammi. “Look I’m sorry I listened to Amanda. I should’ve stopped her from selling your stuff, its just I pissed about you leaving and-,”

“Why were you mad at me in the first place? I don’t get it. For someone who kept encouraging me to be around Tommy and the guys, you definitely flipped a switch,”

“I was jealous. You were getting such a cool new life and I was stuck living in a shadow,” muttered Britney. “I mean the fact you didn’t come back begging for your old job shows something,”

“If you hate living in a shadow then don’t fucking listen to Amanda. She’s not a friend to anyone and only cares about herself. Emma and Sabrina have been better friends to me in a year than you and Amanda,” said Sammi.

“Yeah the tall tan one looks like she was about to hit me. I just wanted to apologize and that’s it. Now we can get back on track to being friends again,” said Britney with a smile.

Sammi curled her lip and raised an eyebrow, “Fuck no. Thanks for the apology but I’m not falling your bullshit,”

“What the fuck? Why not? I would’ve done it if it was the other way around,” said Britney, “We’ve known each other for years!”

“You wouldn’t have to because I’m not a jealous follower like you. This is what happens when you get on my bad side. You fucking stay there. And be a little good employee and tell my friends I’ll be out here waiting for them,” order Sammi, shooing away Britney with her hand.

Britney scoffed at Sammi turning on her heels, “Bitch!” she yelled out.

“Yeah yeah!” shouted Sammi.

*

Thin black heels of leather boots clanked down on the stone driveway of the only gothic mansion in Los Angeles. Sammi ran fingers through her loosely curled hair right as she rang the doorbell.  She swayed her weight from each foot, checking her new black manicure and twisting the rings on her left hand as she waited. Sammi straightened up once hearing the sound of the door unlock. A red lip smile grew on Sammi’s face when seeing Nikki have a surprised look on his face. He smirked at Sammi, but looked past her for anyone else to pop out from behind.

“Surprised to see me?” asked Sammi.

“Only because you came alone. Come on in, Princess. Came to give my jacket back or what?” asked Nikki, stepping aside as Sammi steadily made her way into his room. Sammi took off the jacket on her, aiming straight for the living room. She tossed on a nearby chair, revealing a lowcut halter top. Nikki's eyes trailed to her rear in the tight pants she wore, following like a lost puppy. As Sammi sat on the leather sofa, Nikki poured out two glasses of whiskey, passing her a glass once next to her. “So what brings you to my place?”

“Well you did leave a message on my answering machine. Something about you missing me?” teased softly Sammi, taking a sip of the strong liquor before placing it on the coffee table.

“That was only to cheer you up, clearly it worked if you’re here dressed for a party,” Nikki said in a flirtatious manner.

“Oh so you don’t miss your best friend? Guess I shouldn’t have come for a visit,” playfully said Sammi, getting up from her seat. She took three steps to get reeled into Nikki’s lap, a giggle erupting in her.

“Okay I missed you. Happy to hear in person, Princess?” asked Nikki, slowly sliding his hands to rest on Sammi’s butt. Sammi moved Nikki’s bangs to get a better look at his hazel eyes, seeing dark circles growing around them. Nikki grew tense under Sammi’s tough, swallowing hard in nervousness.

“Yes. Yes I am. You know I’ve never really seen your place. Your vampire cave in the middle of fancy L.A,” said Sammi, glancing around the living room alone.

“We’re adults Sammi. If you want to see my bedroom you can just say so,” said Nikki with a smirk, kissing Sammi on the neck.

“Yeah… I do wanna go to your bedroom. Maybe that’s where you keep the heroin,” said Sammi, her sultry smile turning to a scowl making Nikki tense up from. Sammi got off Nikki’s lap, standing right in front of him with her arms crossed. “Why the fuck are you doing heroin, huh? And taking it to the fucking studio!?” questioned Sammi with sternness in her voice. Nikki rubbed the sweat from his hands onto the sofa, looking away from Sammi.

“Look I’m sorry I gave your shitty boyfriend smack. I really thought it was coke!” yelled Nikki.

“I don’t care about that right now, I just want to know how the fuck you got into heroin! Was coke not enough?” asked Sammi, crouching down to get Nikki to look her in the eye. Nikki only looked above Sammi, not wanting to see her big eyes that could make him melt.

“It just fell into my lap when I was out with some people. It’s not the worst thing,” mumbled Nikki.

“It is the worst thing when it’s coming between you and your fucking job. Do you know how bad Elektra could drop your ass if they saw what happened two weeks ago?” said Sammi in hopes to snap Nikki out of it.

“We bring in money for Elektra so I doubt they’ll want to drop us,” said Nikki.

“Trust me with all the shit you four pull, you fucking lost Elektra money at some point. You can’t bullshit me, Nik, I’m just here to whip your ass into shape. Because I really don’t want all of you to fall,”

“Even with an asshole singer?” smirked Nikki. Sammi chuckled at Nikki, straightened up as she headed towards the upstairs of the house. Nikki’s sense went into instinct mode, eyes glued to Sammi while following her. Sammi glanced into open bedrooms, seeing some rooms a mess until stopping at the master bedroom doors. Nikki’s room was dark like him, red bed sheets almost like Vince but with a different feel. With only the bedside lamp on, Sammi could see an open wooden box on the nightstand. She could see a needle reflect from the yellow light with the baggies of heroin stuffed inside. “Sammi!” Nikki yelled down the hall, making Sammi close the box as she hid it behind her back. Nikki stormed into the bedroom, wide eyes looking around the place. Sammi extended her arm between them to keep a distance when Nikki marched to her.

“Sammi, I’m going to ask just this one time. Give me the box right now,” demanded Nikki, eyes bulging out with flaring nostrils. Sammi was almost scared of what Nikki could do, but didn’t want to back down.

“Nikki, you don’t need heroin okay? We can go to the drug clinic and help you out. They have stuff for-” utter Sammi, stepping away from the bedside slowly to reach the door. Nikki followed every one of Sammi’s movements, only wanting his drugs. He stepped closer to her, Sammi pressing her hand against his chest. Nikki grabbed Sammi by the wrist with force making her jump. She could feel the pressure, wincing at the feeling.

“If you don’t give me that box right now I’m going to rip it out of your hands,” hissed Nikki through his teeth. Sammi swallowed hard at the sight of Nikki, growing scared of him. “You’re a smart girl. Don’t fuck with a mans drugs,” Nikki squeezed Sammi’s wrist tighter, feeling a real sting of pain. Sammi's heart began beating out of her chest, having no thought of how to fix this. She had never been in a dilemma of a man putting their hands on her. In the cases of Vince getting mad, he’d always keep a distance from Sammi to calm down. Was Nikki always like this with girls or wasn’t because of the heroin?

“Nikki let go of my arm, you’re hurting me. Please,” begged Sammi, eyes watering up as she looked up at the man. “You don’t need this shit, Nik. We can do whatever the fuck you want if you just stop with the heroin before it gets bad,”

Nikki let go Sammi’s wrist slowly, running hands through his hair as he stepped away from the girl. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. I really am sorry,”  Sammi stayed frozen, only following Nikki’s pacing with her eyes. “I’ll-I’ll-I’ll flush it down the toilet. Okay? There’s only a little bit left, I’ll flush it,” stuttered Nikki, rubbing his chin with anxiety.

“If I give it to you, you’re not gonna run?” asked Sammi, stepping towards the bathroom door. Nikki shook his head, reaching out to Sammi for his special box. In one safe swoop, Sammi ran to the bathroom, slamming the door shut with the lock. Nikki banged on the door hard, yelling out profanity to Sammi. Sammi ripped open all the little baggies over the toilet, feeling gross from the residue that stayed on her finger before finally flushing. She didn’t know what to do with the needles, jumping at the sound of Nikki hitting the wooden door harder. They looked dirty and used, afraid of even touching them. Sammi dumping everything from the box onto the floor, seeing the two needles crack. She stepped on the glass carefully to avoid the sharp metal points.

Sammi had a feeling Nikki would put his hands on her again once she opened the door, standing with complete balance as Sammi unlocked it. From all his body weight on the door, Nikki fell flat on his back against the cold bathroom tile, seeing his needles broken and Sammi looking down at him. He felt like shit for his outburst, catching the sadness in Sammi’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” Nikki mumbled under his breath. Sammi crouched down to Nikki, pushing away his hair from his face with a frown.

“Promise me you’re not gonna try to get it again?” begged Sammi with a whisper. Nikki lifted his upper body up, cupping Sammi’s face with his rough hand. Sammi only sank deeper into Nikki’s tough, giving him the look that affected any man. “Please?”

“I’ll try, Princess,” muttered Nikki, pressing his forehead against Sammi’s. Nikki kissed her forehead right before bringing Sammi’s lips to his. Sammi was hesitant with the kiss yet still fell right into Nikki, wanting him. Their lips danced perfectly in sync together, tongues slipping past each other to grow more in passion. Nikki’s hand trailed down Sammi’s chested, feeling her  left breast fit perfectly in his hand. He began slipping his hand under Sammi’s blouse until she pushed him and stood up over Nikki.

“Nope. Nope. I can’t,” said Sammi, walking out into the dimly lit bedroom. She flipped her hair to one side, Nikki quickly jumping up to follow Sammi. “I can’t just jump on you after my shit with Vince,”

Nikki scuffed at Sammi, gliding his hands on Sammi’s waist to pull her closer to him. “I don’t care about Vince. If you need to be under someone to get your mind off it, it’s perfectly fine,” Sammi pushed Nikki away, rolling her eyes at his words. “Oh come on, Princess you’re telling me you wouldn’t want to take your mind off him. Especially with someone who already knows you oh so well?” said Nikki, dropping feather light kisses on Sammi’s neck. Goosebumps rose on Sammi’s skin, trying her hardest to stand against Nikki.

“Can you really know what I like from only one time?” teased Sammi, tilting her head up with a coy smile. Nikki raised an eyebrow to Sammi, matching her attitude. He lifted Sammi up by her rear only to roughly toss her on his bed. Sammi yelped in enthusiasm, a smile coming on her face. Nikki ripped off Sammi’s heels, moving right above to take her smile away with his lips. Sammi buried her hand in Nikki’s hair with a light grip as their kisses turned hungry. The bassist's hands moved down on Sammi, untying knots that held her top together, slipping the fabric off.  

“Getting daring about not wearing bras anymore are we?,” joked Nikki, kissing down Sammi’s neck & chest until he reached her breasts. Sammi sighed in pleasure, shutting her eyes at the feeling of Nikki’s tongue dance on her nipple. While Nikki’s mouth stayed on Sammi, his hands went down, unzipping her pants as he slid them down with Sammi’s thong as well. Sammi pulled Nikki by his hair to bring him to her eyes, smirking at him while he scowled. In his way to gain dominance back, Nikki placed his hand right between Sammi’s legs, forcefully spreading them open. His finger teased Sammi’s clit ever so lightly, smirking at the sound of her gasps. Sammi arched her back off the bed with a moan, holding onto Nikki’s arm as he stayed playing with her slowly. He realized he didn’t like to rush with Sammi, Nikki enjoyed seeing Sammi become hungry for him, almost begging. Nikki also loved leaving lovebites in places only he knew if Sammi was fully clothed. He sank his teeth on the top of her breast as he inserted one finger into Sammi’s pussy, fingering her slowly gaining louder moans as a reward.

Sammi pulled up the hem of Nikki’s t-shirt, running her hand up Nikki’s chest. “I think you’re wearing too many clothes,” suggested Sammi, moaning as she did Nikki’s belt. Quickly Nikki stripped himself down to his boxers, Sammi having the pleasure to slip them off him. Sammi brought Nikki down to her lips as he rested right between her legs, hands feeling his toned back muscles to then squeeze his butt. Nikki chuckled under his breath, teasing Sammi’s slit with his hard dick. He smirked to hear Sammi hold back a moan as Nikki slowly inserted himself into her with complete ease from her wetness.

“Uh god,” gasped Sammi, throwing her head back against the pillow. She wrapped one leg around Nikki’s waist, beginning to take rhythm of their hips. With a tight grip, Nikki held onto Sammi’s leg, picking up his pace on her. He hid his face in the nape of Sammi’s neck, heavily breathing on her skin. “Oh Nikki,” moaned Sammi, scratching down Nikki’s back with her sharp nails. “Like it just like this, Princess?” Nikki uttered into Sammi’s ear making a shiver run down her spine. She nodded with pure ecstasy as Nikki rammed faster into, making her curl her toes from pleasure. Her moans became louder & louder, signalling she was so close to cumming as Nikki was. They were in sync the entire time, never missing a beat of their hips meeting faster and faster.

“Fuck!” gasped Sammi, feeling a relaxing numb run all over her body. A short moment later, Nikki groaned in relief while Sammi gave light kisses on his neck. He pulled out of Sammi, dropping himself right next to on the bed with a heavy chested. Sammi rested her arms above her head, breathing heavily with a dopey smile on her face. Nikki brought Sammi close to his chest, his fingers drawing figure 8’s on her bare forearm. They stayed silent for a good while, Sammi messing with the pendant of Nikki’s necklace. A necklace Sammi randomly bought him for his birthday. “I can’t believe we just did that,” mumbled Sammi on Nikki’s chest, still smiling.

Nikki chuckled, trying his best to stay relaxed right here. “You knew what you were doing coming in here dressed to kill,”

Sammi rested her chin against Nikki’s chested, playfully smirking at him. “I knew it would get your attention talk,”

“I really am sorry about grabbing you like that. I’ll make it up to you,” muttered Nikki, playing with a lock of the brunette's hair.

“Oh the sex wasn’t your way of making it up to me?” jokingly asked Sammi making Nikki smile with her. “It’s okay, just try to keep your promise and maybe you’ll be rewarded,”

“Oh?” asked Nikki, raising an eyebrow with his infamous smirk. “Is this gonna be our dirty little secret then?”

Sammi shuffles up, tenderly kissing Nikki and feeling his hand cup her cheek. She could feel the difference of kissing Vince to Nikki immediately, their personalities coming to light from under Sammi’s touch.

“Just don’t fuck it up, Nik,”

“I’ll try princess,” muttered Nikki, moving them both on their side. Nikki wrapped his arms around Sammi’s waist, spooning her as he hid his face in hair. Sammi kissed Nikki’s hand one last time before drifting off to sleep.

[darks-ink]

Disinterred CH.11

Chapter 11: It's Not What You Believe

“It’s just… This whole time, I’ve been driven by… by anger, by hatred. I told myself that all ghosts are evil, and that they didn’t deserve to exist. Not in Amity Park. And now...” She looked at him, forlorn. “And now I’ve diverted from that, huh?” He sighed too. “I can’t help you with the anger, with your motivation for hunting. But, if you want to keep it up… I can teach you more about ghosts?”

(Tumblr hates links and I want this to appear in the tags so… for author notes/full fic summary/links to the other chapters/mirror links to AO3 and FFnet, click here)

Against all expectations, Danny’s cold had worsened even further overnight. He had woken up on Thursday with his bed frozen solid. He quite honestly wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed until his alarm had woken him up.

His parents decided that with his symptoms worsening it would be safest if he remained home. Danny wasn’t sure if they were thinking about his safety, or his classmates’, but he agreed either way.

Unfortunately, the knowledge that it likely was a new power didn’t make it any easier for them to fix it. They spend all of Thursday trying to find ways for him to actually use the power. They tried everything, every iteration of ice powers they could think of. Tucker had even looked up any comic superheroes with ice powers to see if Danny could mimic them.

It was on Friday that he woke up with the tips of his hair frozen and frost crawling along his walls. It had, thankfully, mostly stuck to his room, so the others hadn’t suffered too much.

At the breakfast table, he had been loudly complaining about the fact that he didn’t know any ghosts with ice powers outside of Klemper, so he couldn’t ask for help.

And then he had remembered the Far Frozen.

After repeatedly slamming his head into the table and complaining about his own stupidity, he had told his parents about Frostbite and his yetis. They hadn’t been thrilled to hear that Danny and his friends had visited the Ghost Zone, multiple times, but they decided to focus on the problem at hand. For now.

Frostbite himself had been more than accommodating, gladly training Danny with his new power. Warned that his new power might be a little… dangerous, at first.

Danny had heeded the warning, and made sure his parents were kept away.

They hadn’t been too pleased, of course, but after Frostbite’s people had led them into a ghostly medical facility… Well, they hadn’t wanted to let the opportunity to learn more about ghosts slip by. Besides, the opportunity to learn more about ghostly medicine could be useful to help Danny, as well.

It took Danny a little while to get better control over his ice powers, but Frostbite’s guidance helped. By the end of the day, Frostbite declared him capable enough to finish training at home.

By the time Monday rolled around, Danny had more or less gotten control over his new ice powers. Well, he had enough control over them not to accidentally freeze himself anymore.

So he was thus declared fit for school. Again.

Unfortunately, his new cryokinesis seemed to have permanently lowered his body temperature. It wasn’t very noticeable, except if people touched him. Or so they said. Danny himself couldn’t tell the difference, honestly.

It wasn’t great, but not the worst, either. Danny thought that it was an improvement over earlier, at least. Now at least he wasn’t as cold as a corpse. Or a full ghost. Just… a little too cold for a living human being. That was fine. He could work with that.

His return to school… wasn’t great. As he had feared, Dash had helped spread along the rumors of his ghostly nature. And his absence of several days hadn’t helped his case either.

So the moment Danny stepped through the doors of Casper High, a heavy silence fell. The crowds just watched, a few quietly whispering to each other. Danny couldn’t tell what they were saying, but he didn’t have to. He was pretty sure he already knew.

Still, with a skill borne from many years of practice, Danny ignored the now-silent crowd. He made his way to his locker, the people around him parting to let him through. Vaguely, Danny wondered why. If they believed him to be a ghost, wouldn’t it make more sense to stand in his way? So he would have to turn intangible to go through them?

Maybe they didn’t want to anger him, then. That made some amount of sense, at least, considering the type of ghosts Amity was familiar with. Maybe Dash had even bolstered the rumors, saying that Danny had attacked him Wednesday. That sounded like something the bully would do, to hide the fact that he hurt himself with his own stupidity.

Not that that helped Danny any, but still. He would take any positives he could find, considering the circumstances.

He calmly unlocked his locker, going through business as usual. Completely ignored the crowd that had formed. Of course, his fellow students didn’t like that.

They all believed the rumors, even before Dash had told them he had seen Danny use his ghostly abilities. So now they wanted to see it with their own eyes. Wanted proof of Danny’s ghostly nature.

Proof that Danny didn’t want to give them.

He finished packing his bag as the warning bell rung. He turned to walk to the classroom.

The crowd didn’t move. A few stragglers went off to their classrooms, but apparently the majority thought that this was more important than class. Were willing to risk detention, just to see if Danny really was a ghost. Or maybe they just thought that Danny would cave before the lessons actually started.

Either way, they had formed themselves into a rather impressive obstacle. Danny internally complained about the fact that neither Sam nor Tucker had their lockers nearby. They would probably notice the crowds and come looking for him, but he wasn’t sure how long that would take.

Not very long, he silently decided as he saw people in the crowd getting shoved aside. So Sam, probably. Even after years of ghost hunting, Tucker wasn’t the most physically impressive person.

A person finally burst out of the crowd, the people along the edge stumbling away from her.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Hey Va-”

She had grabbed his arm before he finished speaking, bodily dragging him through the gathered students.

Once they emerged from the group of teenagers, she released him again. He shot her a thankful smile. “Uh, thanks?”

“Yeah, no problem.” She shrugged, suddenly looking a lot more uncertain than Danny had ever seen Valerie. “I, uh. Figured you needed a hand, after hearing the rumor mill go wild.”

“And my absence hasn’t helped, I imagine.” Danny grimaced, shouldering his backpack properly. “We should… probably head to class.”

Valerie nodded, although Danny wasn’t sure which of a statements it was an answer to. Both, probably. “You know what also hasn’t helped your status? Dash saying that you beat him up using ghost powers.”

Danny snorted. “Beat him up? I didn’t even do anything. He just freaked out, and then tried to punch me, and I did… Well, I did the same thing as during our last conversation, when you tried to punch me.”

“Wait.” Valerie turned to face him again. “You’re saying that you accidentally fed the rumor mill because Dash tried to punch you? Despite the fact that he’s been doing so for years?”

“Oh, no, no.” Danny raised his hands placatingly. “He had already figured it out. I kind of… had trouble with a new ability, which is why I was out the rest of the week.”

“That makes more sense. But still, just a little intangibility wouldn’t have freaked him out so bad, would it?”

“Well,” Danny said, grimacing again. “I think I hurt his pride a little. He sort of… hit the lockers behind me, when he tried to punch me?”

“Yeah, that sounds like Dash alright. Defeated by a non-violent ghost and a row of lockers.” Valerie rolled her eyes but smiled at Danny. “Although I have to say that I am curious about this new power of yours.”

Danny hummed, noncommittally. They had almost reached the classroom. This private conversation had to end soon. “I can tell you all about it during lunch, if you want? About… ghostly stuff in general?” He didn’t think that she would accept, but he wanted to offer anyway. If Valerie eased up on her no-ghosts policy, or if his knowledge could help keep her and Amity safe…

“Yeah,” Valerie agreed, snapping Danny out of his thoughts again. “That sounds good.”

They had reached the door of the classroom, stepping through it as the bell rung. As they made their ways to their seats, Danny mouthed at Valerie, ‘see you at lunch’.

Danny had taken one look at his usual table before he had walked outside. Yes, it was barely spring, but Valerie could bundle up. He had noticed over the past few days that the cold didn’t really bother him anymore, which he assumed to be a side-effect from his new ice powers.

Besides, no one else was stupid enough to sit outside while it was still so cold. They were practically guaranteed privacy.

Valerie apparently hadn’t thought of it that way, based on the way her face was twisted in anger. She sat down with force, practically growling at them. “Why-”

“We kind of needed privacy, Val. And with the rumors being what they are...” Danny shrugged at her. He knew she was smart enough to know what he was trying to say.

She kept up the glare for a little longer before sighing, her shoulders sagging immediately. “Alright, fine. I guess you have a point.” She unzipped her bag, pulling out her lunch. “So… Where are Sam and Tucker?”

“Inside,” Danny said, grabbing his own lunch. “I figured you would be more comfortable if it was just the two of us.”

She stared at him, as if trying to judge his intentions. Then she sighed and nodded. “Fair enough. Anyway, to get back to the point…” She cocked an eyebrow. “You mentioned a new power?”

“Uh, yeah.” He silently wished he hadn’t mentioned it, earlier. If he showed her his ice powers, then Phantom couldn’t be seen suddenly wielding cryokinesis. Valerie would definitely connect the dots, and Danny wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. “It’s…” Think, Fenton, he pushed himself. Come up with a good idea… How do you cover for ice powers? Oh, duh.

“I can’t trigger it on purpose, but it’s a ghost sense. Like a build-in ghost scanner.” He smiled at her, hoping that she would buy it.

“Really?” she asked, leaning forward. “That’s pretty convenient.” She let the silence linger for a little longer as she sat back again. Finally she spoke again. “Do ghosts often spontaneously develop new powers?”

It wasn’t as innocent a question as Valerie was pretending, but Danny didn’t mind. If Valerie knew more about ghosts, actual proper information, it would help her. “Not usually, no. Usually they have a set list of abilities, and developing a new one is coupled with a major shift in power.” He smiled a little sheepishly at her. “We’re… not sure what made me develop a new one so suddenly.”

“Huh.” Valerie frowned, and took a bite of her lunch. Danny did the same, after checking that his lunch hadn’t been ectoplasmically tainted. Sure, the ectoplasm didn’t hurt him anymore, but that didn’t mean it was tasty. And it’s not like he needed the extra ectoplasm, either.

Valerie kept watching him, and Danny was starting to feel a little uneasy under her unwavering stare. He wasn’t sure what to say, however.

Finally, Valerie was the one to break the silence. “Do ghosts… Is it normal for ghosts to eat?” She grimaced, like she realized that the question sounded ruder than she had intended.

“Some do, some don’t.” Danny shrugged, shooting her an easy smile, showing that he didn’t mind her unintentional rudeness. “Pretty sure most ghosts don’t need to, since they can get their energy from the Ghost Zone. But a lot of ghosts that died recently still like to eat.” Then he raised his sandwich in example. “Personally, I kinda need to eat to keep up my energy levels, since I don’t really spend time in the Zone.”

“That… makes sense,” Valerie agreed, nodding. “I can’t imagine just not eating anymore, especially if I’m around other people.” She fingered the bracelet on her wrist, twisting it around a few times. “Do you… Are you uncomfortable talking about… these kind of things?”

“Depends,” Danny said, making a face. “I don’t mind, per se. But some people...” He shivered for show, but then smiled at her. “But I’m fine with, well,” he gestured around vaguely, “this. Talking about it with you.”

“Really?” Valerie raised an eyebrow at him. “Even though I’m a ghost hunter?”

“Val, you’re my friend. Besides, you’ve already told me that you don’t mind, well, me. And you wouldn’t have dragged me out of that crowd this morning if you had changed your mind.”

“True.” She sighed, shoulders sagging down even further. “It’s just… This whole time, I’ve been driven by… by anger, by hatred. I told myself that all ghosts are evil, and that they didn’t deserve to exist. Not in Amity Park. And now...” She looked at him, forlorn.

“And now I’ve diverted from that, huh?” He sighed too. “I can’t help you with the anger, with your motivation for hunting. But, if you want to keep it up… I can teach you more about ghosts?”

“Really?” Valerie leaned forwards, curiosity clear on her face. “You would… do that? For me?”

“Of course.” Danny shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, and twisted around to sit more comfortably. “I’ll tell you more about whatever you want to know, provided that I actually know it.”

“But?” Valerie asked, catching onto the silent hook. She sat back again, crossing her arms.

“But,” Danny pressed, “I want you to hear me out about Phantom. I don’t know what, exactly, you have against him, and I don’t care. I’m not gonna try to change your mind. I just want you to listen to my perspective, as a ghost. Okay?”

Valerie frowned, and they sat in silence for a bit. Then she sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I guess I can do that.” She uncrossed her arms again, laying them on the table between them. “But only because I trust you, Danny.”

He grinned at her. “Appreciate it. So, where should we start?”

Valerie didn’t answer immediately, clearly thinking her answer over. Danny let her. No need to push her, as long as she would allow him to talk about Phantom later. He only hoped that she would listen, would understand.

“How about… Why do ghosts come into Amity Park so often?” Her gaze was calculating, but not in a cold way. Danny could always appreciate how focused Valerie was, even if he was often the target of said focus.

“Well, there’s a number of reasons, really.” He made a face. “For ghosts who just want to visit the human plane, Amity is an easy way out because of the Fenton Portal, and because natural portals open up a lot around here. As for why they would want to leave the Zone...” he trailed off, thinking over his options.

“Well, it’s not exactly a cheery place. I imagine it gets boring pretty quick, if you spend your entire afterlife there. And that’s not even mentioning the ghosts with, y’know, actual plans and stuff.”

“Do you know a lot of them?” Valerie asked. “Ghosts, I mean.”

Danny shrugged. “I know a good number by name and appearance, but then, who doesn’t? If you’re asking for ghostly friends… A couple, but none of them come here. It’s kind of… dangerous.”

“Oh.” Now Valerie looked troubled. “So if they don’t come here… How did you meet them?”

Danny bit his lips, considering his options. “Well, most of them have come here before. Wulf and Dora have both… caused trouble, in the past. But they were forced to. Frostbite I met while exploring the Zone.”

“None of those sound familiar to me. Could you… tell me who they are?” She looked doubtful, but in true Valerie fashion, powered through nonetheless. “So I can… avoid hunting them?”

Danny blinked, somewhat surprised. He hadn’t expected Valerie to change her mind so easily, and about ghosts she hadn’t even met yet. “Uh, sure? Although I doubt that you’ll ever come across any besides maybe Wulf. Dora and Frostbite both run kingdoms in the Zone, so even besides the danger, they can’t really leave. Wulf, though… He just kind of goes wherever. He’s… Well, he’s a giant bipedal wolf, basically.” Danny shot her a smile at her stunned face. “Big, very furry, black with green eyes. Kinda slobbery. Oh,” Danny snapped his fingers. “And he only speaks Esperanto.”

“How did you even… How did you befriend him?” Valerie looked rather stunned.

“Tucker speaks Esperanto, so he could translate for me. As for why, well. Kind of an ‘enemy of my enemy’ kinda deal, at least at first.” He shrugged.

“You have… enemies? Wait, does that mean you can fight?” Now she really looked perplexed. Whoops.

“I have… some. Walker is a real big jerk, but luckily he doesn’t leave the Zone very often.” Danny grimaced. “He runs a prison in the Zone, but he makes up his own rules and then arrests you for breaking them. I, uh. May have gotten myself arrested.”

“Danny,” Valerie groaned, laying her head on the table. “How?”

“Well, one of his favorite made-up rules is that apparently ‘real world’ items aren’t allowed in the Zone. And while cleaning the lab I kind of… knocked my parents’ anniversary gift through the Portal, so I went to retrieve it.” Danny scowled, crossing his arms and leaning them on the table. “Walker caught me and arrested me for my troubles.”

“Wow, he is a jerk. Has he ever come into Amity?” Danny recognized the fury burning in Valerie’s eyes, and was rather glad to see it aimed at someone other than him, for once. Besides, Walker deserved it, unlike most of her targets.

“Yeah, once. Him and a bunch of his minions were responsible for the first ghost invasion, overshadowed a bunch of people around the city. Phantom tried to fight him off, but Walker was overshadowing the major, and… Well, you know what happened after that.”

“You mean… when Phantom kidnapped the major?” Valerie was frowning at him, now, thoughtful. “Did- Was he framed? By another ghost?”

“Yup,” Danny said, nodding. “From what I saw, Walker grabbed Phantom and dragged him outside. I could tell that the major was overshadowed, but, well… Not much I could do with that knowledge.”

“No,” Valerie agreed, before groaning. “And I guess that the robberies had an actual reason, too?”

Danny snorted, ignoring the icky feelings he got whenever he thought of that. The feeling of losing control over his own body, over himself, like that… He still wasn’t over it. “Correct. The ringleader of that goth circus thing, he had a staff that could control ghosts. Phantom tried to fight off a few robbing ghosts, got himself dragged into the business as thanks.”

“Oh,” Valerie muttered. “I guess… I guess that I was maybe a little too quick to judge.”

“Maybe so. But, Val, everybody makes mistakes.” He leaned forward with a smile. “That’s just what makes us human, y’know?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She cracked a smile. “Thanks, Danny.”

She opened her mouth to say more, but the bell rung and cut her off. She turned to look at the school, and then sighed. “Guess we better get back to class. But seriously, thanks.” She shouldered her backpack, then shot him another smile. “And, I’m here for you. No matter what. Okay?”

Danny smiled back. “Of course.”

[dangertronic]

Not A Monster Chapter 18

I am stupidly tired so there are probably a lot of errors, woops.

Ao3 Link

Tag list: @sten-bros @agrimny @areyareddie @creamy-brown-eyes @trippy-alexissss @thetrashvoid @deamontesnothere @jakethezombiehunter @soomar-wine

Eighteen

“So like, should we be concerned that Stan and Bill keep vanishing all the time?” Richie asked one lunchtime, entwining his fingers with Eddie’s under the table in the cafeteria.

“I doubt it.” Ben said, uncapping his bottle of water. “They’re probably just studying.”

Jessica snorted, moving some food around her tray with her fork. “Yeah, if what they’re studying is the human anatomy.”

Mike choked, spilling his soda down the front of his jacket. “What?”

“Gee, don’t die on us Mike.” Jessica said, grinning across the table at him. “It was a joke.”

“I’m so proud of our new sister.” Richie said, wiping a non-existent tear from under his eye before slinging his free arm around Jessica. “They grow up so fast.”

“You’re clearly spending way too much time with Richie.” Ben deadpanned.

“Do you even realise that you just implied we’re brothers even though we’re dating?” Eddie asked, looking up at Richie.

“That’s what you picked up?” Mike asked, wiping a napkin down his shirt.

Richie grinned, squeezing Eddie’s hand. “Incest is all the rage, Eds!”

Eddie grimaced. “Gross, Rich.”

Richie heaved a sigh. “You just can’t please some people. But seriously… Bill and Stan keep vanishing and I can’t help but wonder why.”

“Okay, why don’t you take all that wondering about Bill and Stan and just direct it onto loving on Eddie?” Jessica suggested, scooping some food up onto her fork. “That’s where all your attention is supposed to be going.”

“The lady has a point.” Charlie said, placing his fork down. “Why be so bothered about what Stan and Bill are doing when you could be giving Eddie your complete attention?”

“I do like the sound of that better.” Richie mused. “However, I am unable to do that in here with all these people around, so for now I shall ponder the curious behaviour of our friends.”

“Of course you will.” Jessica said.

“Hey, I have to fill up the time I can’t love on Eddie with something.” Richie grumbled.

“Yes but does it have to be that?”

“Are you really going to ask Richie that?” Eddie asked.

“Good point, Eddie.”

“You know what? I bet they’re doing it!” Richie said, slamming his hand onto the table and startling Jessica who dropped her fork with a clatter onto the floor. “Wait no, Stan is too uptight to fuck someone in a school.”

“Christ, did you have to give me a fucking heart attack?” Jessica hissed.

“Richie has this really bad habit of being startlingly loud.” Mike said, returning to his food. “It can be quite troublesome at times.”

“Apparently.”

Stan was two minutes late to his literature class, looking somewhat ruffled as he took his new seat next to Jessica. The teacher didn’t bother to acknowledge Stan’s presence as he took out his books, placing them neatly onto the desk in front of him.

“You should really cover that up.” Jessica said, idly taking notes with occasional glances to her text book. “Someone might notice.”

“What are you talking about?” Stan asked, opening his book.

Jessica stopped writing, lifting her pen and pointing to his neck. “That hickey on your neck. Like damn, button your shirt up the rest of the way or something before a certain trashmouthed annoyance spots that mark.”

“Shit.” Stan hastily fastened up the top two buttons of his shirt, the collar concealing the bruise that Bill had left on his neck. “Thanks Jess.”

Jessica made a humming sound in the back of the throat, returning to her work.

“Hey Jess?” Stan asked about five minutes later, drawing a sigh from the girl next to him.

“What Stan?”

Stan didn’t say anything for a moment, dipping a hand into his pocket to pull out a small mirror which he opened and slid across the desk to her. Jessica blinked at the sudden appearance of her reflection muttering a low curse when she could see what Stan did.

One of her eyes had gone an irritated angry looking red. Jessica grabbed her bag quickly and pulled it onto her lap, hunting out a small case which she set onto the table. Unscrewing the lid of the bottle quickly, she poured some of the clear liquid into the case.

Stan cringed when Jessica placed a finger onto her eye to remove one of her contact lenses, hastily putting it into the case before removing the other. Once the lid was screwed tightly back onto the case, she carefully shoved it into a side pocket of her backpack and hunted out another case, fumbling to open it to retrieve the grey rimmed glasses from inside.

“So, glasses huh?” Stan asked, idly noting something down in his notebook.

“Yup.” Jessica returned the bottle to her backpack which she dropped back onto the floor. “Thanks, by the way. Should I even ask why you carry a mirror?”

“When you wake up with ‘fuck face’ scribbled on your forehead after a party with Richie, you tend to learn that a compact mirror is required on your person at all times.” Stan said, taking the mirror back and snapping it shut. “You know, just case.”

“Oh no, I get it. It makes total sense.” Jessica said, biting back a laugh. “Let me guess, you had it done to you more than once before you invested in a mirror.”

“Five times.”

“Wow.”

“Gee Staniel, you could just try not falling to sleep fir –” Richie paused in mid-sentence as he turned, staring at Jessica. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Jessica said, waving him off. “She wears glasses, wow, big deal.”

“No it’s not that.” Richie said, his own eyes narrowing behind his glasses. “Your eyes are two different colours!”

“Yep.”

“How come we never –”

“Because I wear contacts usually.”

“You’ve literally had sleepovers at my house!”

“Should learn to pay attention to people other than Eddie for once then.”

Richie snorted. “Yeah because that’s gonna happen.”

“Mr Tozier, turn around and focus on your own work and not Mr Uris’!” The teacher snapped from the front of the class, drawing a snort from Eddie.

Richie huffed and turned around, crossing his arms over his chest. “You should stop wearing those contacts, by the way. The glasses look better.”

“He’s right.” Stan said, not looking up from his work. “Shouldn’t hide who you are. We all learned that once.”

“Says the one hiding his hickey.” Jessica teased, keeping her voice low.

“Oh fuck you Jess.”

“Lose the dick and grow a vagina and I might let you.”

“Oh my fucking god.”

Jessica snorted. “For someone who was raised in religion, you sure say that a lot.”

“Gee, with friends like you and Richie, I wonder fucking why.” Stan hissed.

Jessica let out a laugh but otherwise said nothing as she returned to her work, remaining silent for the rest of the double class much to Stan’s delight. His delight was further intensified by the fact Richie did not bother to turn around and try to talk to them again due to a mixture of the teacher still watching him and Eddie hissing at Richie whenever his attention strayed away from his notebook.

“I’m really enjoying this warmer weather thing we have going on.” Richie said, swinging Eddie’s hand between them as they walked home from school, his other hand gripping the strap of his backpack to keep it positioned on his shoulder. “I get to spend extra time with you before I have to hand you over to a dragon.”

Eddie snorted, tightening his grip on Richie’s hand, the other tucked into his pocket. “Me too, Rich. I hate having limited time because of the car rides in the cold between leaving school and my fake dates.”

Richie bent his arm, nudging Eddie’s arm gently with his elbow. “It’s only for now though. Once we graduate we’ll be free to leave this crappy town and its suffocating nature. We’ll be able to be together all the time openly.”

“Yeah.” Eddie said, closing the space between them to lean against Richie. “Mom’s not happy about me moving to L.A.”

Richie chuckled, releasing Eddie’s hand so he could wrap his arm around his shoulder. “I can imagine. Mine are oddly ecstatic but I think it’s because I’ll be learning to be independent and all that good stuff. They want me to learn to survive on my own.”

There was another snort from Eddie. “Except you won’t be independent and on your own. I’ll be there babysitting you the whole time.”

“Yeah, that does kind of stick a wrench into their plan…” Richie mused, ruffling Eddie’s hair idly. “But I’d rather it that way. I’ll have my own personal doctor!”

“As long as you don’t expect me to dress up every time you’re sick –”

“Not even just once?”

Eddie groaned. “Okay, if you’re so sick you actually have to stay in bed for an extended period of time then I’ll dress up for you to make the experience better.”

“You know I’m going to hold you to that, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s okay.”

Richie grinned, now stroking his hand awkwardly through Eddie’s hair. “So what does my little Eddie Spaghetti have planned for when he’s in L.A? You know, other than taking up most of my bed.”

Eddie laughed, nudging Richie playfully towards the edge of the curb. “I’m not really sure. I thought about going into medicine. Damn, I know you’re gonna need patching up a lot with that motor mouth you have.”

“You’d be a great Doctor, Eds!” Richie said, squeezing his arm around Eddie’s shoulders.

“So what about you? What’d you wanna do?”

Richie shrugged, leaning onto Eddie slightly. “Education-wise I’m not really sure, but I definitely want to become a DJ.”

“We’re gonna get out of this place, Rich. You’re gonna be an awesome radio DJ with annoying voices, but everyone’s gonna love it.”

Richie nodded. “Yeah, and you’re gonna become one of the best doctors out there. And more importantly… we’re gonna be together.”

“Yeah. We are. And we’re not gonna hide. We can really be open out there.”

“Just gotta make it through these last few months first and then we’re free of this stupid town once and for all!”

“We got this, Rich.”

“Yeah. We do. Me and you.” Richie came to a stop as they reached the corner of Eddie’s street, releasing his bag strap to wind his other arm around Eddie. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours on your date.”

Eddie punched him in the shoulder with a grin. “Same to you.”

Richie chuckled, bending down to kiss Eddie quickly before they parted ways to head home.

[empressdrega27]

Allergies

 WHATUP MY DUDES?! IT’S TIME FOR ANOTHER ONESHOT! This one was requested by https://awesomea353.tumblr.com/ (it wouldn’t let me tag you :/) 

Prompt: Reader has never been to New York, but is a long time friend of Nicky’s, she’s like his older sister. When she arrives in New York, Nicky’s ecstatic and insists she visit the museum, since she’a a history nerd. She goes to the museum and meets Ahk, but forgets her dust allergy in the excitement.

 Enjoy!

Long plane rides are the worst. You don't think a truer fact has ever been spoken. You had just completed one such plane ride and were thoroughly done with the whole experience. You had taken a flight from your hometown to New York City to visit your long time friend, Nick Daley. You had met him through various video game servers, and had become fast friends.

 Though now, he was more like a little brother than anything. You cared about him deeply, so when he practically begged you to come visit him, you couldn't refuse. And so, you had scheduled a round trip flight to the big apple. You'd just arrived and so far New York was...... big.

 And really loud!

  Did Nicky tell you it'd be this loud? Probably not. Well, it was too late to turn back now! On you went, through the airport to find you cheeky little bro. He and his father had insisted that you stay with them (well Nicky insisted, his father, not so much) to save money. They were easy enough to find, and soon the three of you were on your  way to the Daley residence.

"So, what are we gonna be doing while I'm here?", You asked.

"We're gonna hang out at my dad's job, he works at the Natural History museum."

Your eyes lit up. You loved history, and getting to stay at a museum as long as you wanted? Now that made the stupid plane ride worth it.

"No way! How long can we stay?", You asked, practically vibrating with excitment.

Nicky grinned, "As long as we want! Dad's the night guard, so we'll be there all night."

You could barely contain your excitment. Not only did you get to stay at the museum all night, you'd have it all to yourself, for the most part anyways.

"I can't wait!", you exclaimed.

Nicky smiled at your excitement. You already thought that the museum was cool, but you didn't know just how cool it really was. He couldn't wait to see your face when all the exhibits came to life. And he could think of a certain Pharaoh who would be interested to meet you too.

    Soon it was time to go, and boy were you psyched! The drive to the museum wasn't that long, and you got an excellent view of central park along the way. You'd have to go visit the park later, if you had time that is. As Larry (he cringed when you called him Mr. Daley and told you to call him Larry) pulled into his space near the cargo doors, you couldn't help but stare at the massive building before you. There were museums in your hometown, sure, but nothing like this. 

You wondered vaguely how many of your city halls would fit into this museum. It'd take you at least three days to explore the whole thing, which was perfect because you were here for a week. Larry unlocked the door and you all filed in from the cold New York air. You weren't really bothered by the cold, it was spring and summer that caused you the most trouble.

 You had a lot of allergies, namely to pollen, dander, and dust. It wasn't life threatening, but it did make you sneeze uncontrollably and made your eyes swell shut. Luckily, you'd learned to bring allergy meds with you wherever you went, just in case.

  It was about 5:45 and you were wandering around the entrance hall of the museum. You read about Teddy Roosevelt and how he helped to make the museum what it was today. He had a cool horse too. 

  Larry and Nicky had told you to stay in the entrance hall, so you did. I'd be incredibly rude to disregard their wishes. You looked at your watch and saw that the time was now 5:59, and just as the clock struck six, the floor shook. You heard an odd noise. It sounded like, rattling bones? You looked up and came face to face with a skeletal t-rex.

  Your eyes widened and you sucked in a breath and held it. The massive bony thing seemed to be smelling you, which should be impossible on account of how it had no sinuses. Or lungs. OR FLESH OF ANY KIND.

"Down Rexy!", a voice called. You saw Nicky running towards you with a remote controled car following behind.

The skeleton ("Rexy" apparently), immediately turned to Nicky and started wagging it's massive tail. Like a huge dog. What was happening right now?

"Sorry about that. He didn't know there'd be a visitor", Nicky scratched Rexy's chin.

"It was supposed to be a surprise. For everyone. But it didn't go like we thought it would", he rubbed the back of his neck.

"What, the giant dinosaur that was about to eat me wasn't part of your plan?", you snarked.

Nicky looked away, "We were supposed to be here, with you. It'd be a huge reveal and you'd meet everyone........ *sigh* I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. How about we try it again? Tell me what you would have if everything went as planned."

You hugged him.

"Okay!", he replied.

And so you met the exhibits, and learned about the magic of the museum. It was a lot to take in, but you handled it well.

"There's one more person I want you to meet", Nicky said as he lead you up the stairs to the second floor.

"Hmm, must be someone really special if you saved em' for last", you teased.

Nicky grinned, "Yeah, he is! He's like my big brother, I think you'll like him".

You raised an eyebrow. Big brother huh? Seemed like you had some competition.

You and Nicky rounded the corner and found yourselves in the Egyptian wing. You stopped to look at some of the artifacts, but Nicky kept pulling you away.

"Hey! I was reading that!", you yelled indignantly.

"We don't have time to read, we only have two hours left!", Nicky exclaimed.

"Two hours is plenty of time to read /and/ meet your mystery guy", you argued.

Nicky rolled his eyes. He should've known that the history nerd in you would ruin all the fun.

The two of you neared a large hallway, with large slabs of stone covered in Heiroglyphs. It was really impressive actually.

"HEY AHK!", Nicky shouted, "I HOPE YOU'RE DRESSED CUZ I BROUGHT SOMEONE TO SEE YOU!"

You winced. Nicky was living up to the loud teen sterotype with gusto, apparently. You kept walking forward and heard a voice reply,

"Nicolas, must you use such volume in my exhibit? There is quite an echo in here, I'll have you know."

That must be the mystery guy. Huh. You didn't expect him to have a British accent. As you kept walking, you came to the entrance of a huge alcove. With a sarcophagus at the end, it was obvious that this was a tomb. What was surprising was the man standing in front of said sarcophagus. He had a golden cloak and a golden collar, with a golden crown to top it all off. Even his skin looked golden! You were starting to loose focus. The man then turned around to look at you and Nicky. Now you really lost the plot.

The guy was hot, like supernaturally hot. No man should be that attractive, your mind screamed desperately. And yet he was, he reminded you of that one meme with the lady who saw a man so beautiful she started crying. Didn't that lady give the guy some money? Should you give this guy some money? Probably not, he /is/ covered in gold after all......... Wait are they talking to you?

CRAP. Your inner monologue was cut short by Nicky elbowing you sharply in the ribs.

"Ow! That hurt, jerkface", you muttered.

"Then stop drooling and say something!", Nicky hissed.

You noticed that golden Pharaoh guy (he must be royalty, and it /is/ the Egyptian wing) was watching the two of you with an amused expression. He looked at Nicky and said,

 "If you're finished, I believe you said that you had someone you wanted me to meet."  

He looked at you as he said this and you felt the sudden sensation that someone had stolen your stomach and was using it as a hackey sack.

"Yep! Ahkmenrah, this is my best friend Y/n. Y/n, this is my other best friend, King Ahkmenrah."

Ahkmenrah took your hand and kissed the back of it.

"A pleasure to meet you, Y/n."

WOW, this guy was good. Five minutes in and you were already swooning.

 Unfortunately, before you could also turn on the charm, or even speak at all, you felt the familiar and completely awful tickle in your nose. You had only moments to turn around and avoid sneezing on the Pharaoh. You ended up sneezing on Nicky instead.

"A, aa, ACHOO!"

"EWWW, GROSS", Nicky yelled.

But as you knew, this was only the beginning. In your excitement, you failed to remember that this is a museum, which are by nature, very dusty. Your eyes started watering and you could feel them swelling up. You continued to sneeze, and with each one it became more of a struggle to breathe. By now, both Nicky and Ahk had become very concerned for your well being.

"Y/n?! What's wrong?! What's happening?!", Nicky was panicking, and by the sound of it, Ahk wasn't doing much better.

"Nicky, go get your father, perhaps he'll know what to do."

You could barely see, so you only knew that he left from the sound of pounding footsteps that gradually faded. You were gasping in between each sneeze, and when you weren't sneezing, you were coughing hard enough to hack up a lung. You felt a hand on your back, patting it gently.

"Breathe, Y/n. Take a deep breath", Ahk said.

You tried your best, but it didn't help much. You continued to sneeze and cough. You were so embarrassed.

"Is there any treatment for this?", Ahk asked. His voice had a strained edge to it, you could tell he was worried.

"Ye-yes. *Wheeze* My al-*cough*-allergy medicine. ACHOO! Ugh. It's in my bag....".

"And that medicine will stop your sneezing and coughing?"

"It should. *sniff* I haven't had a reaction like this in a *cough* long time."

"Reaction?", Ahk sounded confused.

"Yeah. I'm, ACHOOO! Agh, I'm allergic to dust", You replied morosely.

You could feel him tense, but before you could ask what was wrong, you heard running footsteps in the distance. It was Nicky and Larry, and they had your medicine.

  Luckily, your parents had told Larry about your allergies, fearing that this would happen. You had been so preoccupied with planning the trip itself that you completely forgot to tell Nicky about your dust allergy. A dangerous mistake that you'd never make again. You took you medicine and waited. Larry said you could rest in the guards office until you felt better.

  A little while later, you woke up from your nap and slowly opened your eyes. They were still a bit blurry, but at least you could see. You looked around the room and your eyes found that you weren't alone. Ahk was sitting beside the couch, looking out the window, a troubled look on his face. You felt sick. After seeing him smile, seeing him look so upset was awful. You made a vow to never let him look so sad again. Apparently he heard you move, because he turned to look at you. He smiled and walked over to sit next to you.

"How are you feeling?", he asked.

You stretched and replied, "A lot better. Just tired, ya know?"

He nodded, and you noticed that he wasn't wearing his crown. His hair was so curly! It was, really cute.

But he still looked so somber. You put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong? You're acting like someone died", You thought about how much of a mess you were, "Did, did I do something?"

He turned to look at you sharply and took your hands in his, "No, no, you didn't do anything. I-", there were tears in his eyes.

"It was my fault that this happened. I almost killed you. I'm no king, I'm a murderer."

You looked at him incredulously.

"How is it your fault?! You didn't do this! It just... happened!", you squeezed his hands, "Ahkmenrah, you are /not/ to blame. Please, don't do this to yourself".

"I'm a mummy! I live in that Ra forsaken tomb, in that disgusting sarcophagus! There's dust everywhere! It's all over me, and you....."

You couldn't help but laugh. Ahk stared at you indignantly.

"What on Earth could possibly be amusing about any of this?"

"Ahk, your exhibit is spotless. And there's no dust on you! Seriously! You didn't do this, okay?"

"Well then, if not from me, then where?"

You thought for a moment.

"Atilla's exhibit was pretty dirty, and Dexter /is/ a monkey.......... plus Lewis and Clark's maps are super old.......", you shrugged.

"It could have been from any of them", Ahk opened his mouth to argue, "Any of them except you."

He considered this for a moment before nodding.

"Alright. I believe you."

"Finally! You're harder to convince than my dad! And that's saying something."

  You both laughed. But then you suddenly remembered that your face is most likely caked in dried snot, your eyes are red and puffy, and your voice sounds like your nose is full of sawdust and silly putty. And you're talking to a literal king. 

Great.

You blushed, "I must look like hell. Sorry you had to see that, it's really gross."

Ahk smiled softly, "Nonsense. You look beautiful. And believe me, I've seen much worse."

"Worse than a storm of snot and sneezing? I doubt it."

Ahk grinned, "Once, Nicky took some of us Trick or Treating. He had a huge bag of candy and ate the whole thing. He then vomited it all up again, on my feet."

You cringed, "Oh nasty! One time, we were on X-Box live playing Injustice and he said he had to go to the bathroom, but he left his mic on and all I heard was the loudest, wettest sounding fart ever! I recorded it and every time he says something stupid, I play it back."

 The two of you kept telling funny stories about Nicky and yourselves, and you laughed harder at each one. You were both crying laughing. After a while, Larry popped in to tell Ahk that there was only 15 minutes until sunrise. He deflated a bit.

"Already? It feels as though no time has passed at all."

"I know right? Well, I guess you have to go, huh?"

Ahk sighed, "Yes. It is time", he looked at you expectantly, "I shall see you tomorrow, yes?"

You beamed, "Definitely! And I'll take my allergy meds before I come. No more snot storm."

You both giggled at that. You decided to walk him back to his exhibit. He was just about to get into the sarcophagus, when you stopped him.

"Ahk wait!"

He stopped and regarded you curiously, "Yes Y/n? What is it?"

You walked over to him and kissed him on his cheek. He blushed.

You smirked, "It was a pleasure to meet you as well, Ahkmenrah~  See you tomorrow!" And with that, you ran out of his exhibit. You couldn't believe you just did that! But, it was totally worth it.

Meanwhile, Ahk was shocked. He rubbed his hand against his cheek, where you'd kissed him. He smiled. He looked forward to seeing you again, and as he closed the lid of the sarcophagus, he felt calm for the first time in centuries.

You and the Daleys left the museum, and you couldn't wait to go back.

"You have a crush on Ahk don't you?", Nicky teased.

You rolled your eyes, "So what if I do?"

"He really likes you, ya know."

Your cheeks flushed a bit, "He does?"

Nicky nodded, "Uh-huh. Maybe you should move here....."

You looked back at the museum, "Maybe I will".

[seladorie]

A Royal Soulmate Side Stories: Scars (Prompto, Pre-A Royal Soulmate)

@smokingcaramels asked earlier: If no one has mentioned it yet, what about when our Lucian trio had the scars appear on their wrists? 

so I didn’t really do that? the ask made me think about how Prompto ended up getting rid of his barcode in the first place, which meant I needed to write how he got out of the labs, so... i’ll address your actual prompt another day, but here’s this thing instead, and also  on AO3

WARNING: this chapter contains descrptions of self-harm

NH-01987 has been active for eight years when he is stolen from his pod in Zegnautus Keep.

The thief is N15-00302, an insubordinate and defective experiment slated for incineration. But she’s stronger than 1987; she breaks open his pod and forcibly drags him out.

1987 does his best to do the Empire proud, struggling and fighting and biting. But 302 punches him, hard. “Will you stop that?” she hisses. “They put defective on your pod, look! They’re planning on killing you anyway!”

That shouldn’t matter, true or not. 1987 should continue fighting for the Empire until he’s decommissioned, no matter when or how that time comes.

But he looks at his broken pod, and sees the bright red tag in the darkness: DEFECTIVE.

He doesn’t help 302 in their escape, but he ceases to fight.

1987 is defective already. Death is the only possible outcome at this point.

…

They don’t die. 302 knows more passcodes than she should, and they get out of the Keep and hide away in the slums. It’s freezing, but they’re both built to be resistant to severe weather conditions. They’re survive.

Even if they’re defective.

302 tells him, “If you’re going to stay, be quiet and don’t alert any of the MTs where we are. If you do, I’m not going to come and save you,” and then she leaves him to go do something.

1987 should turn himself in, but he’s defective. He waits instead for 302, who comes back after a day.

“Oh, good, you’re still here,” she says. “Come on, I found us a warmer place to stay.”

They meet some civilians who give them some bread and a floor to sleep on. It’s harder than his pod, but the walls are farther away, and it’s warm.

He should be ash and forgotten by now, but instead 1987 is warm and fed.  

…

The civilians they’re staying with are members of the Resistance. 1987 doesn’t know what that means, until one of them who calls herself Sophia sits down with him.

“We fight the Empire,” she says. “We don’t like how things are, so we’re trying to change it.”

“The Empire is absolute,” 1987 informs her. “There is no fighting it.”

Sophia’s face, uncovered by an MT mask and still so strange-looking, moves around. “We have to try.”

…

They stay until they can’t anymore, when MTs raid the house and Sophia dies.

Because that’s what it’s called, when a civilian is terminated. When they die.

“They murdered her,” Aranea whispers, furious, water coming out of her eyes. “Come on, we need to—I know some other people.”

The other people are two teenagers named Biggs and Wedge. Civilians and soulmates. Part of the Resistance, and actively wanted by the Empire for hacking.

“We didn’t mean to,” Wedge says, blinking with one eye at 1987. “One thing just led to another.” 1987 doesn’t understand but he’s at low functioning so he doesn’t ask.

They stay inside for days. Biggs and Wedge come and go, but 302 and 1987 can’t leave with MTs actively still searching for them.

“We’re going to make up a fake attack to distract them,” Biggs tells them after several days. “It’ll be easy enough, and it’ll waste their resources.”

“Just be careful,” 302 warns.

If 1987 is defective, 302 is even more so. She already cares about these two.

…

Some months pass. 302 begins to apply her training with the Empire to fight against them, and she’s good at it. She breaks others out of the labs and prisons. She saves a woman named Tinia who spends a week in bed, prone and crying, and then gets up and starts organizing their intel.

She also suggests that 302 and 1987 choose new names.

“What for?” 302 demands. “So they can take that away from us too?”

“You don’t have to do it,” Tinia says. “It’s just an idea. It might help you feel more like a person, and not an experiment.”

302 scoffs, so 1987 also dismisses the idea, but a few days later, she comes back from a mission and says. “Aranea. I want to be called Aranea.”

“I—Aranea?” Tinia asks. 1987 doesn’t understand the hesitance for a moment, and remembers which daemon’s blood 302 was injected with regularly. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Aranea says. “They wanted me to be a weapon, and I am a weapon. And I’m going to kill them all.”

Tinia nods and turns to 1987. “You can also pick a name, if you want.”

1987 knows nothing about names, or what to pick. He likes 1987. It’s comfortable.

…

1987 volunteers, to be of use, but the Resistance refuses.

“He’s only, what, eight years old? Let’s at least give him a couple of years,” one of the older members says. He dies a year later, along with many others, in a raid by the Empire.

There are no funerals, no goodbyes, and the only time to mourn is a candle in their honor.

The others say some words, and repeat the names of the fallen. 1987 listens, and then asks Tinia, “When I die, will you use my designation to remember me, instead of a name?”

Tinia, sad and surprised, tells him, “We will, if you don’t choose any other names.”

1987 mulls that over. “But I don’t know what to name myself. The daemons they used for my injections were more generalized.”

“Sweetheart,” Tinia says. She’s the only one to call him that, and it’s not a name, but an endearment. It means she thinks he’s kind and cute. “You don’t need to pick a name related to anything the Empire did to you. You can distant yourself from them with a new name. Just pick something that you like.”

It doesn’t make any sense, but he remembers those words forever.

…

After the raid that killed so many, they begin to send 1987 out on low-risk missions, mostly sending out messages to other members. Children running around on their own is not unusual a sight in Gralea—lots of them are beggars and orphans.

1987 has to be careful not to be caught in any routine security checks. MTs make a lot of noise, so they’re usually easy to avoid, especially since 1987 knows them.

He’s good at being a deliveries and messages.

“Oh, good, you got here quickly,” says the Resistance member, Fel. “Please tell me you brought the medicine, she’s doing worse than we thought.”

Prompto hands over the antibiotics, and waits while she administers it. “A fever just started setting in, I think it’ll be okay… thank you so much for getting here so fast, Ramuh himself must have been speeding your footsteps.”

“It’s, um, it’s no problem,” 1987 mutters, a bit flushed from the praise and the trip. “I’m just glad Aegra is going to be okay.”

…

When he gets home to Biggs and Wedge, he asks if there are any words that mean things like ‘quick’ or ‘speedy’ that might make a good name.

“In Old Solheim?” Biggs asks, taking out a dictionary of translations and flipping through it. “Uh, let’s see—there’s Velox.” 1987 scrunches up his face. “Okay, not that one. Alacris? Agillis? Celero?” 1987 shakes his head. “Prompto? Acero? Cito? …”

1987 considers them. “Maybe Cito or Prompto?”

“You mean as a name for youself?” Wedge asks. “You want a new name?”

“Yeah, it’s stupid, but—Fel said I was really quick with my mission and I got the medicine to them in time, and—I liked that.”

They both smile. “It’s not stupid at all. You’re thinking between Cito or Prompto?”

“Yeah,” 1987 says. He sounds out both of them. “I think Prompto sounds better? It’s—softer.”

“Prompto’s a great name,” Wedge says. “Let’s celebrate with something nice! I think we have some meat we were going to use for dinner tomorrow night, but why don’t we use it tonight instead?”

…

When Prompto is ten when he discovers he has soulmates, when he writes a note on his arm and gets a response. When he learns that there are others he’s meant to be with, far away on another continent, that he can’t talk to at all anyway.

Despite knowing nothing about them, the thought of them looms over him, even though their only communication is through doodles and drawing games. His soulmates make him a bit of an oddity among other escaped experiments for it, especially since he counts at least three separate others.

But they’re really not important in his life. He has work to do, and people he cares about here.

…

When he’s thirteen, he starts going on real missions. Prompto insisted that they can’t stop him anymore, since Aranea joined and started fighting when she was thirteen. And he’s good with a gun—it’s the only thing that he was good at as a lab specimen, the least he could do is use it against the Empire.

Prompto goes on some sniping jobs, with varying degrees of success, but still successes. He cuts it too close a couple of times, with his location and exit route, but he gets the mission done.

Until he doesn’t.

He’s waiting for Verstael Besithia, the Research Chief of Niflheim. One of the brains who come up with the idea of experimenting on humans to make better soldiers.

Prompto hasn’t been sloppy about this job. He’s got a great location. He has multiple exit routes. He’s not visible unless if someone’s directly behind him and looking up, which they shouldn’t be, except apparently someone thought of that.

His lying on his stomach, waiting for the procession to get far along enough that he can get in his shot, and a cold, hard, metal hand grabs his ankle and pulls him closer.

Prompto yelps and quickly swallows it, and focuses instead on breaking the grip on him.

It’s not easy. MTs are too strong, but there’s always a way to break a grip, especially when you know the weaknesses in their arm. There’s a slot between the face plate and the rest of the armor that would fit a knife, but Prompto has to get closer to do it.

He lets himself get pulled in, and to his horror, the MT grabs his right wrist.

It removes his glove, exposing the barcode on his wrist to the cold, harsh light of day. It says, in its electronic and toneless voice, “Scanning… scanning… Identified, Niflheim Unit Egg Group H, Number 01987. Status: Defective. Defector.” The MT pauses, red eyes glowing brighter, “Defector—”

Prompto doesn’t wait to find out what it’s going to do next. He shoves his knife up through the plating, and the grip releases him enough to flee.

His mission is a failure, but he gets home alive.

He’s alone at home—everyone’s out on their own missions. Prompto walks in, right hand freezing with the loss of his glove, holding his wrist to hide his barcode.

His barcode.

They know he’s alive now. They know he’s in Gralea. He’s put them all at risk.

Because of his stupid barcode.

It’s an ugly block on his skin, betrayal and horror inked into his skin. Prompto needs to warn the others.

Prompto takes out his knife and slashes the edge across the barcode. Seeing the lines of the tattoo broken by the wound lightens the anxiety in his chest, so he does it again. And again. And again.

“Prompto, what are you doing?” Aranea says, roughly pulling the knife out of his hands. His wrist is a bloody mess.

“They found me,” Prompto says, and he’s crying. The teas fall off his face, and he’s shaking. “They found me and identified me.”

Aranea’s shocked and angry face settles into understanding and sympathy. “Oh, Prompto.”

She takes him to the bathroom and wipe away the blood. Prompto’s done a poor job of slicing off the tattoo—it’s incomplete now, but still visible when clean.

“It would probably be easier,” Aranea says slowly. “To burn this off. That’s what I did to mine,” she puts out her own right wrist and pulls up her sleeve, showing a shiny but tattoo-free scar. “It hurts a lot. I’m not going to lie about that. But if you really want to get rid of this, I’ll help you.”

“Please,” Prompto says.

…

A few days later, when Prompto delivers a message to Tinia and stays the night, she asks him about the bandages on his wrist.

“I needed to get rid of my barcode,” he mutters, ashamed even though Tinia would never treat him differently from coming from the labs.

“Oh, did Aranea help you? I know she burned hers off,” Tinia says, pouring some tea and milk.

“Yeah, she did, but I—tried to do it on my own at first.”

Tinia looks up, forgetting about the tea, and some overflows from the cup. “You what?”

“I tried to cut it off,” Prompto says. “It was a bad idea.”

“But you have soulmates,” Tinia says, eyes wide and still.

“Um… yeah?”

“Prompto,” Tinia says, setting down the tea pot. “Hurting yourself shows up on your soulmate’s skin. It’s like with a pen, but it leaves a scar or a mark instead of ink.” With some hesitation, she lifts up her sleeve, and there are words carved into her skin. Things like BITCH and I WILL FIND YOU in ragged lettering.

He thinks of the wound he inflicted on himself, so many cuts, some crisscrossing, making a ragged mess of his flesh, showing up as scars on his soulmates’ skin. “I—I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.” There’s nothing to be done about it now. Prompto’s burn is recovering—it’ll be smooth and blank like Aranea’s in a few days. But his soulmates, they’ll have scars from his self-inflicted cuts decorating their wrists. He’s just as bad as Tinia’s shitty soulmate, and he hates it.

“I know, sweetie. I know,” Tinia says. “It’ll be alright. One way or another. We’ll all get through this.”

Prompto, desperately, lets himself believe her. At least just for the night.

[neen-writes]

Lady in the Garden -- Chapter 4

Series: Fairy Tail/Doctor Who

Characters: Gajeel/Levy

Genre: Adventure/Angst

Summary: She was a falling star; an angel speaking in stardust dialects.  She was madness and wonder, and she asked him to come with her.

Note: This chapter was fun for me, if a little challenging.  I am hoping, really, that everyone enjoys this one!  I had mentioned once before that every Doctor Who companion goes through 2 distinct adventures in the beginning.  The one that solidifies their relationship with the Time Lord, and one that shows them what time really is.  This is one of those two.  Just one, as I have a plan already for the other.  Enjoy!

Ch. 1  Ch. 2 Ch. 3

Gajeel balked when the door opened in front of him and he was able to see the room on the other side.  The very small room, and the large, single bed.  He opened his mouth to speak, but Levy has already chimed in ahead of him, “Cozy!”

“Are ya kiddin’?  Where the hell am I supposed to sleep?” Gajeel protested, his gaze pointedly moving from one corner of the room to the other.  Two oil-burning sconces cast their yellow light from mounted positions on the back wall, framing the corners of the bed.  The smells of the food and mead still wafted in from the main hall, but the smell of wood and must still prevailed.

Infuriatingly, Levy shrugged, “Wherever you want.  There’s room for us both, or you can sleep on the floor.”

The nonchalance of her statement set his cheeks ablaze.  It was clear she had already determined she would sleep nowhere but the bed as she pranced across the room and plopped onto the straw mattress.  “The floor then, hell,” he grumbled.

“Whatever suits you, it’s your back.  We need to be up early; the innkeep agreed to take us to see the last victim.  Apparently she’s still alive.” Levy explained.

“Exciting,” Gajeel mumbled, mirthless. “This is turning out to be real peachy, y’know.”  The displeasure on his tone was tangible.

Levy shrugged again, “I said it would be dangerous, not glamorous.”

He glared at her for the noncommittal answer, but sat heavily on the floor at the foot of the bed.   “I’m still waiting for some aliens or somethin’.  I’m sure you draw them like a damn magnet.”

Levy laughed dryly, leaning her back against the headboard.  “Little bit of both really.  They either seek me or leave the galaxy, there’s little in between.”

Gajeel turned his head, regarding her from the corner of his eye with palpable skepticism, “You’re kiddin’, you want me to believe you can send anything runnin’, let alone some alien?”

The woman huffed, puffing her cheeks pridefully.  Still, for the insult, she deigned him an answer, “Not all alien races are created equal.  Oods love me, for example.  Mutual, really.  Love an Ood,” the perplexed, arched brow from him drew a genuine laugh from her, “Atraxi and Sycorax, on the other hand, not my biggest fans.  Scatter like roaches when I enter the system.  We’ve had bad run-ins way back, so I’ve got a reputation.”

Gajeel leveled a prying look at her, as though waiting for her to start laughing and dismiss it as a joke.  But she merely looked back, waiting for a response for him, face completely serious.  He was halfway inclined to believe her, given what he had seen already.  Still, he felt that doubt was not a wise instinct to abandon just yet.  “That sounds completely made up.  But sure,” he turned away from her, leaning his head back on the mattress.

“Eh, you’ll see soon enough.  Give it time.  I’ll do my best to keep you alive until then,” she teased, rewarded by a visible tensing of his shoulders.  “My my, how easy to provoke you are, beastie.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call me shrimp.”  The responding huff told her that wasn’t going to happen, and she let out a deep sigh.  “Get some sleep, then.  You can torment me more tomorrow.”

After a few quiet moments, Gajeel glanced back again to see her with her eyes closed.  She hadn’t laid down, but rather sat like she was before with her eyes shut and arms crossed over her stomach.  She looked peaceful, but still alert.  He took in that image; he’d seen it before.  Gajeel didn’t always keep the best company, his father had drawn the same ilk when he was younger.  None of them were terrible, by the world’s standards, but in the time he had spent around all of them, more than one slept the way she did when they weren’t in their own homes.  

It was a light sleep, a position that could put them to their feet in moments if they needed to be.  A sleep that only people who let danger, real danger, into their lives.   What the hell am I doing here? He finally thought.  Truly, he couldn’t quite figure out why he had decided to come with her and only settled on curiosity over and over.  Here he was, out of his time, with a woman he didn’t know, trying to figure out what mystery force was killing people.  By all accounts agreeing to come here was a stupid choice.  And yet, he found himself trusting her.  

Levy tried to let Gajeel sleep as long as he had wanted, which as it turns out, was halfway through the morning.  He had fallen over onto his side and sounded like a slumbering bear, with no signs of waking anytime soon.  And there were only so many strolls she could take through her thoughts and so many trinkets in her too-big pockets.  Finally restlessness caught up to her and she bounced to her feet, walking around the foot of the bed and casually dropped her psychic paper on his face with a heavy slap.  

With a choke he sputtered awake, wiping at his face as he shot upright.  Wild eyes flew around the room, before settling on her angelically innocent face.  “You’re awake!” she quipped, smiling brightly enough to match the morning light flooding the room.  

“Fucking…” Gajeel growled deeply, slowly angling his head towards her.  He leveled cold, unwavering eyes at her, before tightly gripping her wallet and tossing it up at her.  She caught it with ease, keeping that smile on him before she sought breakfast out in the main hall.

It was was mid afternoon by the time Trea had found the time to bring them, personally, to the healer’s residence.  She had mentioned the woman, already on edge, wouldn’t see them without her introducing them.

That was as far as Trea was willing to go for them however, leaving promptly after the introduction, and not daring to spare a glance at the motionless woman on the cot.  

Levy broke the silence first.  “How long?”

“She has three days, maybe four,” the nurse replied, taking her attention away from dabbing at the woman’s forehead to regard Levy and her companion.  “It’s the thirst that takes them first.”

“Where did you find her?  How?” Levy pressed, taking her too-serious eyes away from the girl, who could not have been more than seventeen.

“Same as the others,” the tone was tired, with an even apathy cultivated by doing her kind of work for too long.  “Outside, at night.  She had gone out to river for water, judging by the bucket, but she had gone no farther than a few houses, where someone found her, clawing at her neck as if it was aflame before she became, this.” The nurse gestured to girl, turning away from them to dip her rag in the bucket of warm water and wring it out.  “We cannot give them water for fear they’ll drown, and cannot give food for fear they’ll choke.  Medicine is thus equally impossible.  I can clean her, warm her, and moisten her eyes.  And bid her to the other side when it comes.”

Levy was gravely quiet for several seconds, glancing at Gajeel.  His eyes were steeled on the motionless girl, her own blankly staring at the thatched roof, all color gone from them.  She waited until he caught her own gaze, and she angled her head pointedly.  

His brows twitched, but he understood her deliberate quiet.  For whatever reason, she wanted him to speak.  The realization of being tested sat sourly with him, but regardless, Gajeel weighed his words.  “How quickly do people find ‘em?”  

The Time Lady’s face twitched with restrained approval before the nurse answered them, brows knit as though she had never thought of it, “Immediately.  They are still in the fits when they come to me, and the fits always last the same amount of time.”

“Someone different brings them to you each time, I imagine?” Levy probed, and the quick shift in Gajeel’s posture told her that he followed her train of thought.

“Yes.”

Levy didn’t even need her to affirm it, and already had her next question out before the woman had finished, “Who brought this one?”

The nurse turned now, regarding them both with green eyes narrowed, not in ill will, but having been caught off guard by such an inquiry.  It took her a moment to remember, “The herbalist.  Lana.  She lives...in the house with the garden, on the eastern side.  She grows rosemary, along her fence.”

Golden eyes fell on Gajeel quickly, before she inclined her head to the woman in thanks, “We appreciate your time.”  The finality in her tone was clear, and Gajeel followed suit as she turned on her heel to leave. Once the wooden door thudded shut behind her, she glanced sidelong at him.  “Lives are saved by asking the right questions.  Lesson one.”  Gajeel huffed at her haughty tone, but she ignored the indignance.  “What’s your conclusion?”

The man stopped, looking down his slightly crinkled nose at her.  He wanted to fire something back at her, but the question wasn’t a taunt.  It was an opportunity.  It was an indication that he wasn’t a guest, or a tag-along.  If he didn’t know better, he’s think she was offering him the chance to be an asset.  “The key is in whoever finds ‘em.  It’s too convenient that someone gets to ‘em right away each time.  Other’n that, I don’t know.”

Levy’s answering smile was far more satisfying than he had expected it to be and it warmed something that surprised him.  “So what do we do?”

Gajeel curled his lip, “Sounds like we need to find Lana.”  The Time Lady clapped a hand against his bicep with a bright smile, heading down the road due east.  It took him a second before he followed after her.  “If it’s a different person each time, what is doing this to them?”

“Aah, that’s the question isn’t it?  I have a feeling when we find this herbalist we will get a clue,” she replied.  

True enough, thick bushes of rosemary marked the residence, but no one was within.  They tried walking the perimeter, peering into the windows, but the inside was quiet; dark.  Slow, deliberate circling around the house yielded nothing, including anyone returning to the house while they were there.  “Interesting.  That our key player isn’t here.”  Levy mused, glancing back at Gajeel.  His furrowed brow mirrored her sentiment.  What he did not expect, however, was her to stop in front of the door and pull out that screeching silver object she had used several times before.  She pointed it to the handle of her door, followed by a soft screech, and then a click.  Quickly, she pocketed the item, and pushed open the door to stride inside with the baffled man hanging back.

“...How.”  Not a question.  But demanding an answer.

“Sonic pen,” Levy replied, scanning her eyes over the cold room.  The fireplace was cold, dead.  The table wasn’t clean, withering herbs left scattered.  Like someone left in a hurry and hadn’t returned to clean up.  “I have never,” Levy started from the center of the room, “encountered an herbalist, alchemist, or any -ist that would leave their wares out like this to waste.  They are disheveled, chaotically intelligent folk but all their ingredients and goods, while a mess to us, are safely stored as they need to be.  This is the space of someone who left without planning to.  Someone--”

“Who left to go after someone.  Looks like someone hasn’t taken care of place for more than a few days.” Gajeel offered, glancing to her for approval.  And he got it.

“We need to find out who’s seen her last.”  Levy declared, heading outside and closing the door behind them both.  The two returned to the inn, hoping to ask Trea, their center of information,  where the herbalist might be, and who had seen her last.

When they returned there, however, they found another woman behind the counter.  “She’s out  for the afternoon,” was the curt answer.  The glance exchanged between Levy and Gajeel spoke everything that needed to be said, and they were completely on the same page.  

The man started to say something, but Levy cut in first, “We’ll have whatever is fresh for the day, Trea is aware of our bill.”  The pleasantness in her voice was clipped, hiding something that she wasn’t ready to address at that moment. Gajeel held his tongue until they were seated at a table, away from the others. “It knows we’re here,” Levy said, all the light having left her tone.  It was a declaration, and a warning.  One more for awareness than to frighten him away.

Gajeel clasped his hands in front of him on the table, leaning forward onto his forearms.  “So what do we do now?  If we don’t even know what it is?”

Levy ran her hands through her hair, the mirth of discovery having left her features.  “Like I said, we wait until the screaming starts.”

It wasn’t a flair for the dramatic, and it wasn’t something she’d said just to rile him.  Because after the sun had set and patrons started to flock the inn, screaming did start.  It was dull at first, almost quiet enough to be mistaken for something else.  But then it grew louder, and Levy, who had been staring absentmindedly at her food, shot to her feet.  Ready,  

“Everyone stay inside.  By order of the Baron, stay put, and do not come outside,” Levy declared with an authority, a steadiness in her voice that took Gajeel off guard.  And astonishingly, as though word of their arrival had spread to everyone, the hall obeyed.  She shot a glance to Gajeel, looking him over as though sizing him up, making a final choice before she said, “Let’s go.”

He needed nothing else, no other encouragement to follow her outside.  If not for intrigue alone, he was fully committed to following her into the dark outside. 

At first they saw nothing.  The street was empty, and the screaming had stopped.  Are we too late? She thought, eyes scanning the street.  In the doorways lining the dirt road cutting through the settlement, people began to peer their heads out.  However, when they saw the two of them standing outside, they retreated.  Good, saves me having to announce us, she thought with some relief.  

Levy glanced to Gajeel after looking up and down the roadway.  She paused, several thoughts flying across her face before she looked away from him up the road, eastward. “You head that way,” she gestured with her hand opposite where she was looking, “see if you can find a body; anyone wandering.”  The steely tone left little room for him to question her, and he nodded quickly before turning away.  Gajeel took several steps away from her, searching, before something prickled on the back of his neck.

“I didn’t think it would be quite so difficult to catch her more than a few feet from you.” A woman’s voice cut through the night and Gajeel whirled, seeing Trea, the innkeeper, standing behind Levy.  Lantern light glimmered off a metal object at her throat, and it took a moment for him to realize it was a dagger, poised dangerously close to her skin.

A moment, before his eyes narrowed and he took a heavy step back towards them.  “O-oi!  The hell you think you’re doing; let her go!” Gajeel shouted.

“Ah-ah,” the woman cautioned, pushing the blade a little closer to the Time Lady’s neck, stopping Gajeel immediately.  His eyes met Levy’s and to his surprise they were remarkably calm, while he struggled to not rush them both.  He might have almost thought she was trying to comfort him with her gentle stare, not an ounce of worry or fear there.  Gajeel looked back to Trea, gritting his teeth in frustration.  “I have to say, I didn’t expect this.  This town doesn’t have it’s share of surprises.  Well, except for me,” she smiled unnervingly, a cunning lacing her features that hadn’t been there when they first met her, huffing out a small laugh.  “These people might think you’re some envoy from their Baron but they are simple, unimaginative folk.”

“You spotted us as soon as we arrived,” Levy commented, her tone even.  “When we walked past the cemetery.  You were someone else then.”

Gajeel furrowed his brow, shifting his weight from one foot to another uneasily.  He felt completely helpless, and the sight of her with death at her neck was nigh unbearable.  But still, he was distracted briefly by what she had said.  Someone else?

“Aah, perceptive little thing, aren’t you?  So perceptive the mere figure of an angel statue stopped you cold; tell me, how many times have you met them and lived?”

Now a flinch rippled Levy’s features, but only for a moment.  Enough to catch your attention.  

“I thought as much; what a cliche pair you are.  The brains,” Trea slowly moved her sharp, serpentine stare to Gajeel, “and the muscle.  But, it seems I’ve been found out as well.  How exciting!”  Amusement hung heavy on her tone, and she slowly moved the dagger up alone the skin of Levy’s neck.  “Which means I’m sure you know what’s next, but I’d love to hear your take, m’lady.”

Levy laughed bitterly, tilting her chin upwards a little to ease the pressure on her flesh.  “I fear you overestimate me.  I merely noticed what didn’t belong: a pendant of crafting that doesn’t quite fit here.  The woman I saw in as we arrived wore it and,” she turned her head slightly, careful of the blade, and looked at her captor from the corners of her cold, golden eyes, “now you do.  Clearly it’s killing people.”

Trea frowned slightly, but it quickly faded, “Shame.  You’re close but...I expected more.  I’d hoped for a few more moments of entertainment but, it’s time for what I really want.”  She looked back to Gajeel again, whose knuckles had turned white.  “You.” Levy tensed suddenly, looking to him as well with a noticeable loss of her previous calm.  Surprise flickered in her eyes.  “All of these vessels are so, frail, and they expire so quickly.  But you, I can see it in your eyes, there is more to you than the others.  Something far more delectable.” Again Levy’s eyes swept over Gajeel, but this time she searched for something new.

Her companion, however, was quick to cut in.  “The hell you on about?  I ain’t letting you do a damn thing to me,” Gajeel barked back to her.  Frustratingly, Trea answered with a laugh.  

“Oh my dear brute, you don’t have a choice,” with her free hand, the innkeeper gripped Levy’s shoulder in a claw-like hold, pulling her closer.  “You’re going to waltz on over here and take my pendant, or I bleed her like a lamb.  And judging by your proximity over this last day, I don’t think you’re keen on that happening.”

Gajeel flinched, looking from her to Levy, the woman he had known for two days, give or take.  It was hard to keep up.  Was he really considering letting… whatever this was, take him to save her?  It would have been the right thing to do, regardless who she was.

Before he realized, he had taken a step forward, every muscle tensed.  The hell are you doin’?  You don’t even know what you’re getting into and you’re gonna what, take a chance to help her?  She’s the one that got us into this mess!  And for what?  His sense shouted defiantly in his thoughts, but all he could see was the enthralling blue-haired woman with a knife poised at her throat.  

All of his sense left him, drowned out by one thing.  I can’t let this happen.  If he ever had another independent thought again after this, he might chalk it up to a bleeding heart and an overactive conscience he worked hard to conceal.  But he might never have the chance to defend himself, knowing how the others ended up.  

“Fine,” Gajeel finally responded, prompting a look of shock from the Time Lady.  He entire body locked up.  Gajeel intentionally kept his gaze away from her, which he knew held nothing but protest and disapproval.

“Approach, then.  Slowly.  And remember, try anything, and she pays for it,” Trea, not Trea, warned.

He didn’t need to be told, more than aware of what was at stake.  Gajeel took another step forward, slowly closing the distance.  The Time Lady narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, having not anticipated this outcome.  Interesting.

“A Vimm,” Levy said suddenly, stopping Gajeel for a moment.  She felt the knife ease away from her neck suddenly, and the grip on her shoulder faltered.  “You are a Vimm.  There’s the truth; I know exactly what you are because I have seen you before.  You want a consciousness that will feed you for more than a few days?  You want me.  Not him.”  The grip on her shoulder disappeared, but the knife remained.  Trea was quiet for a few moments, and feeling the hesitation Levy took her chance, “I’m sure you know we’re not from this time.  It’s why you targeted us.  How we know what you are doesn’t matter much, does it?”  Levy made eye contact with the woman, her gaze piercing, “You just know we’re better than the swill you’ve been drinking and must have had a means of getting here.  And now you know I have more to offer than the brute.  So take me.”

Those final three words jolted through Gajeel, shattering the resolve he had dedicated to getting her out of that mess. “O-oi, Shrimp!”  He burst in a mixture of offense and protest, but when she flicked her eyes to him, his throat dried up.  The gold, more brilliant than ever, was fierce.  What he had seen, for that brief moment in the Tardis, was there again.  The centuries, the age, and this time she did not conceal it.

“I see we are past the point of playing coy,” Trea commented, her free hand moving to clasp the ornate pendant.

“Damnit, Shrimp!  You said yourself it kills people!  What the hell am I supposed to do here?  How are ya gonna throw yourself away like that?”  Gajeel took another hard step forward, but the woman merely brandished the dagger in front of Levy, at him.

The sound of a door swinging open now caught their attention, and they looked to a very alarmed Warner, holding his sword unsheathed.  He had burst from a building, ready to face the disturbance, but the sight of Trea had stopped him.  The distraction was all the possessed innkeep needed, and with one quick motion pulled the necklace over her head with her free hand.  Trea dropped the knife, took the necklace in both hands, and dropped it over Levy’s neck.  

“No!”

The second the item left Trea’s grip, she dropped to the ground in a heap, clawing at her throat where the pendant had been.  Levy stumbled and hunched forward, taking in a sharp breath.  Her arms hung forward and she kept her head low, hair concealing her face.  

“Trea!”  Warner shouted, racing to the shaking woman.  He dropped his sword beside her and took her in his arms, but needed to only see her glassy eyes to know what had become of her.  Though he didn’t understand how, he knew it had to have something to do with the strange woman that had entered their town.  The one that was still standing.  Moved by anguish, he reached out for his sword again, eyes fixed on Levy.

Gajeel didn’t miss it, and it broke him out of his stupor.  “Don’t!”  Gajeel barked suddenly and forcefully enough to give Warner pause.  “Don’t.  Touch her.”  The look of distrust on the other man’s face was clear, and Gajeel lifted a hand, “Just wait a damn second.  It’s not her, it’s…” well, he didn’t know what the hell it was.  “Just wait.”

Levy swayed a little, and finally, started to straighten up.  “Oh…”  she exhaled deeply, lifting her head quickly with a big smile on her face, hair flowing around her features.  Eyes wild.  “Oh this is exquisite.  It’s so, different.  There’s so much.  More than I can even reach.  I can’t even see the bottom!”  The frenzied woman let out a quick laugh, gripping both sides of her head and spinning in a single circle on one foot before finally focusing back onto Gajeel.  “You!”  She snapped her fingers at him, trying to break him from the daze he was in.  “Who is she?  What is she?  This is not the mind of a human.”

It took her. Just like that, she looked entirely different.  The sparkle was gone, she looked duller somehow, even if overall she became much more manic. The gold of her irises, if hadn’t known better, had turned to ash.  This wasn’t the same woman he had come here with.  Whatever that necklace was, had stolen her.  Stolen her from him, he realized.  But he wasn’t as disturbed by that as he was by the muffling of her.  He could think of no other way to put it.  “You, took her,”

“That’s not what I asked you,” she snapped.  “But I’ll get to it eventually.  Recent memories to sift through.  A lot of you, really.  Oh, she likes you.”  Levy winked, then continued to speak as though she was flipping through a book, eyes focusing on nothing in particular, “You, you, and oh-ho,” her eyes widened, happening upon a memory that caught her attention, “What a ship.  A ship!  Bigger on the inside?  But no, wait, it’s a time machine?  That explains you two.  Now, there are some possibilities.  I only know of one race that makes one like--”  The possessed woman stopped suddenly, eyes growing wide.  She jolted like a shock ran through her.  “That, no.  She’s not, there aren’t any…!”  Suddenly she was looking straight through him, unfocused, and her mouth moving to try and form words she couldn’t finish. She staggered backwards a step, the air leaving her lungs in horror.

Behind her, Waner held the innkeep closer, inching away from the, and the spectacle that was unfolding before him.  

Finally Gajeel found his composure, closing the distance and taking hold of her upper arms.  “Levy!  You in there?!  Hey, come on!”  He called, shaking her gently, but her expression didn’t change.

“There’s so, I-I can’t.  So much, so many… I see all of it, at once!  I can’t take--all this at once!” Her eyes were searching now, and finally in an instant they focused back onto him like he was an answer to the crisis, a vicious glare on her features.  “I need out--out!  It burns!” she cried out, shaking considerably.  “I can see them.  They’re dying, all of them are...!”  Levy’s hands flew up to take the necklace, which now glowed a faint blue he hadn’t noticed before.  “You.  I need, you, before she--”  She started to lift it, and Gajeel’s grip loosened slightly when he realized what she meant to do.  But he didn’t outright recoil from her.

Then, just as quickly as it had started, she stopped, her face becoming far more calm.  A quiet, punctuated only by both of their hurried breaths, settled back upon them.  The glow of the necklace brightened suddenly, and the woman let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes slowly.  More breaths, settling herself, heaving her shoulders.

“Too much at once?” Her voice was quiet, gentle, but vaguely threatening.  Different from the Vimm’s; far more refined, and primally frightening.  “Vimms are leechers, not gorgers.  And you are not made for a conscience like mine,” she paused, “You are finished here.”  Like a dying flame, the pendant’s glow fizzled, sputtered, and just like that it was gone.  Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked back up to her companion.  The resplendent gold staggered his heart’s rhythm for a split second, and the warm smile almost stopped it. “Hello.”

“You, you’re, are you…?” he stammered, all coherency leaving him.

“Yes me,” she smiled, glancing at his hands.  “You can let me go now.”  Shocked, he dropped his hands and took a quick step back.  Levy took off the necklace nonchalantly, earning a strongly suspicious stare from the man.  “It’s safe now.  Short circuited as it were.  Or, something of the like.  Not quite because it wasn’t electronic but… oh you get it.”

“What… the hell… did you do?” he finally got out, “What was that?”

“Yes,” Warner’s voice cut between them, bringing their attention back to the startled, and still armed man.  One arm held up his sword defensively, the other clutched a motionless Trea to his knelt frame. “What have you done?  And what magic is this?” His voice was sharp, and dangerously accusatory.  Levy already knew how this would go, but she could still hope that an explanation would be the tiniest bit beneficial.  Still, in what she had tried to make look like thoughtful pacing, she separated herself from the two of them before speaking.

“This?”  She gestured with the necklace, before pulling open her coat pocket and dropping it inside.  “Harmless trinket now.”  Levy could see on both their faces that this wasn’t a sufficient answer.  “Vimms--what that was--feed on consciousness, minds, until there is nothing left.  A human can feed a Vimm for a few weeks if they want to make it last, or drain them in hours.”  Levy glanced to Trea, “Leaving nothing left.  She could have done the same to you,” she looked back to Gajeel, “Easily.  And obviously we couldn’t have that, though I appreciate the sentiment.  But if she knew I was Time Lord, she would have never chosen me.  Time Lord consciousness is more than anyone but a Time Lord can take.”  She looked to him now, “You did well, Metal Man.  Even called me by my name.  I’d say that’s progress.”  She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“And where the hell does that leave us?  You’ve done this!  How are you going to undo it?”  Warner demanded, gesturing to the woman in his arms.

Unable to say anything, Gajeel looked to Levy, who had something he couldn’t quite pin on her expression.  She was calm, but there wasn’t the worry of someone who was facing a mistake, or crisis.  It was almost the face of someone who wasn’t surprised; someone who had expected this.  She was the doctor holding bad news that had been expected from the start, ready to break it to the family.  

“There’s nothing that can be done.”  Flat-toned, blunt.  Levy looked directly at Warner, “It can’t be reversed, there is nothing you can do for her but keep her comfortable.  And Lana, the herbalist...she is out here somewhere in the same state.  She is the one that was held before her.”

His knuckles turned white, gripping his weapon.  He trembled, but stayed put.  “You,” his voice was strained, and it cracked slightly, “You said that thing was gone?  Entirely?”

Levy nodded.

“Then leave.  Never return here, or I will meet you with violence.  If not for your darkness, then for impersonating the Baron’s scout,” The guard shifted his blade in his grip to punctuate his threat, but it wasn’t necessary.  

“I am sorry for your loss,” Levy replied gently, turning so quickly to walk away that it stunned Gajeel.  His mouth hung open, feeling as though he should say something, but the piercing glare from Warner urged him after her.  

The walk back to the Tardis was painfully quiet, and it wasn’t until she was standing in front of the doors that she heard him come to a heavy stop.  She turned to face him, knowing he had been stewing on the words he wanted to say to her.  She didn’t need to prompt him, she just waited.  

“That girl’s gonna die,” he said simply.

“Yes,” she replied.  “She’s already dead,” Levy added.  “This is the past.  In your life, she’s centuries past.  She’s dust.”  She clasped her hands behind her back, standing very still.

Each statement seemed loaded, but Gajeel was too frustrated to notice.  “No, nuh-uh.  You can’t say that.  This ain’t the past.  We are here now, and she is alive--dying--now,” he shot back, gradually raising his voice.  “And we were part of it.”

The Time Lady’s eyes looked him over for a moment, taking in the aggravation etched on his features and the heated outrage that radiated off of him.  She deliberately said nothing, waiting for the train of his thoughts to direct itself.

“Aren’t you bothered by that?” he finally demanded.

“Are you?”

Gajeel faltered, stunned that she would ask such a thing.  He sputtered for a moment, tilting his head in disbelief.  “I’m an asshole but I’m not a damn monster.  Of course I care that she’s gonna die.  And for what?  Because you had to show off?  And to so eagerly let it nearly happen to you,” he could see her start to try and disagree, but he cut her off, “I don’t care if you think you got some damn top tier invincible brain that only you can handle or what-the-fuck-ever, I didn’t know that.  You didn’t tell me and so you got me thinking it’s gonna happen to you.  I don’t care how you wanna slice it, it ain’t alright for you to mess with me like that.  You got a damn plan?  Tell me!”

She watched his shoulders heave from the effort, her brow furrowed thoughtfully.  After a quiet moment, she nodded, “Okay.”

His shoulders dropped and he staggered a little.  “What?”

“I said okay.  I’ll tell you next time,” she replied.  “I just needed to know if there would be a next time.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?”

Levy sighed, “Not everyone I meet is of stellar character.  And I only take the best with me.  I needed to know who you were.  And you’ve showed me.  Both just now and when you offered yourself to the Vimm.  I will keep you in the loop for now on.”  Before he could think of a reply, she reached into her coat pocket and produced a small metal object that left Gajeel wondering just how much she could possibly stash away in one garment.  “And yes, I do care.  Deeply.  More than I can express, really.  But I have spent a great deal of time alone; which makes the maintenance of humanity difficult for someone who isn’t human.  I need someone to remind me.”  She held out the object to him, which he could now see was a key on a silver chain, “If you still want to.”

Gajeel released his tension as understanding replaced his anger, and he released a shaky breath. A key to the Tardis.  A solidification of his invitation.

Holding the key in front, her eyes probed him for any answer.  “I told you, at the start, that it would be dangerous.  But it is also...this.  People die, Gajeel.  I try, but I cannot save them all.  Sometimes we get days, those rare days, where everyone lives.  I cling to those.  You will have to as well.  If you choose to come, but say the word and I will take you home, not 5 minutes from your departure, and you can return to your life.”  There was a control, a practiced tone in her words that told him she had done this many times before.  Like everything else he had already seen, and bit by bit he was comprehending her years.

  This woman is a damn trip.  But still…  Slowly, he reached out and took her hand in his, studying her face for a moment, and finally flashed her a toothy smile.  “Sure thing, short stuff.”  Releasing his hold on her after a moment, he took the key and paused before dropping the chain over his head, “This isn’t gonna steal my brain, is it?”

Levy chuckled, opening the doors behind her with a wink, “In a manner of speaking.”

[avengerofyourheart]

Mini Matchmaker Bonus Scene (Steve AU Series)

Characters: reader x Steve, OC Justice Rogers, Sharon (mentioned)

Summary: Having been dating Steve seriously for a few months, the relationship is moving forward rather quickly as another holiday of sorts approaches. 

Warnings: none! Fluff. Illness I guess. Eh. 

Word count: 1816 (yet another failed drabble. heh.)

Tags are at the bottom

A/N: So I lied a little, Part 4 isn’t the end I guess but this popped into my head so I wrote it. Also it was kind of requested by SOMEone for me to write a “birthday holiday” part attached to this fic so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DARLING KATIE!!! ( @rogersxbarnesx ) Technically it was yesterday and I didn’t forget! I just have literally the worst timing ever. :D I really hope you like this, my dear! 

<<< Part 4: Valentine’s Day   //   Bonus Scene: Christmas to Remember>>>

Mini Matchmaker Series Masterlist

______________________________________________________

Children are wonderful. Children are gifts. Children are the future…or whatever. You love kids. But kids are also germ-infested cesspools just waiting to infect unsuspecting souls like you. But that’s what you get for serving others.

Grabbing yet another tissue from your purse, you blew your nose and apologized once again to your cab driver and assured him you hadn’t touched anything. He made a disgusted face, but said nothing. These days, you normally took the train into the city, but to minimize the exposure of germs to strangers, you had taken a cab to and from work today. You had taken the past few days off due to illness, but there were a few things you just had to handle yourself.

After accomplishing the bare minimum and grabbing a few files you could work on at home, you called it a day. Your head was pounding again and the faucet that had become your nose refused to stop dripping. Approaching the house, you used a card to swipe and pay, along with a generous tip, to avoid handing contaminated cash to the poor driver. Using your sleeve, you opened the car door and headed up the steps.

You hadn’t moved into Steve’s place. Not technically. There had been few conversations about it after being together officially for months, and it really just made the most sense. You spent most of your time at his house outside the city anyway. He asked when your lease ended and when you answered that it was in just over a month, he made the suggestions that you shouldn’t renew. He left it up to you, though.

Over time you just started bringing a few of your things each time you came over and now you were mostly moved in. Kind of. Larger furniture that you may end up just getting rid of and other loose ends needed to be tied up, but soon you, Steve, and Justice would officially live under the same roof.

The slower process and making Justice aware of it made things easier. She thought the idea of sleepovers every night was the best thing ever. Steve would probably agree, you thought with a smile and a sniffle. Reaching the front door, you used your key to enter and immediately stepped out of your high heels. Your feet wouldn’t tolerate them a moment longer. Setting down your bags, you followed the sound of voices down the hall toward Justice’s room.

It was playtime, you deduced, as the sounds of action noises and explosions made by Steve became louder as you approached.

Justice let out a giggle, and then sighed. “Daddy…when is mommy gonna be home?”

Your heart leapt in your throat.

“Uh…” Steve stalled a moment. “You mean Y/N?”

“Yeah. Can I call her mommy? She comes to my school like the other mommies and I like it when she’s here all the time,” the little girl reasoned. Her childlike view made sense, you supposed.

After Valentine’s Day, you were at the house more often and attended a lot of Justice’s little school plays and activities. Since Ms. Sharon already knew you and had seen you become a permanent figure in Justice’s life, the teacher asked if you’d volunteer in her preschool class once a month. Humbled and excited, you said yes. Which actually led to your current illness. Too many kids with too many germs. Bless their sweet hearts and unwashed hands.

There was a time in your life when you considered going into teaching, possibly at the elementary age, so it was fun for you to be in the classroom. Life and your career took you in a different direction, but volunteering became an enjoyable outlet.

Steve’s voice broke you from your reverie, “Hmm. Let’s talk about it after dinner, okay?”

It was then that you made your presence known, stepping into the doorway and leaning against the door jamb. “Well, there’s my two favorite people.”

They both turned your way with a smiles on their faces, Justice speaking first. “Yay!! You’re home!”

The curly-haired girl stood, but stayed where she was, then blowing you a kiss, and you returned it. You had explained to her a little about germs and that you didn’t want her sick so blowing kisses was best for now.

“I brought home some tacos, you wanna go wash your hands and help set the table, kiddo?” you asked her.

“Tacos! Yay!!” she rushed past you toward the bathroom. She was enthusiastic about everything and it made you smile.

Steve approached you, less willing to stick to blowing kisses. You craved his touch, too. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close, conceding to no kissing right now. An awful sacrifice to make, unfortunately. He pulled away and met your eyes.

“Feeling any better, doll?” he asked in concern.

You huffed out a sighed, which led to a cough. “Not really. I hope some spicy food can clear up my sinuses some and then I really just need sleep.”

“Okay,” he agreed, pressing a kiss to your temple. He helped Justice set the table while you changed and cleaned up a little.

After dinner, Steve insisted on taking care of dishes as you remained at the table and rested. Justice had rushed to the living room to watch a short tv show before bed. It was then that he breeched the subject.

He cleared his throat, “So, uh…Jimmer called you ‘mommy’ today.”

You smiled, “I know. I overheard.”

“What do you…think about it?” he asked, sitting back down beside you.

Grabbing his hand, you gave it a squeeze. “I’m fine with it. It’s really up to you and her. She has a mom and I certainly wouldn’t dream of trying to replacing her. I understand Justice’s confusion, though. How do you feel about it?”

He threaded your fingers with his, “Like I said, I feel like you’re part of the family already and I have no intention of letting you go. She knows you better than she remembers Peggy. I want my daughter to have that female influence and I’m in this for the long haul, so…”

“So?”

“If you’re good with it, I am,” he grinned, brushing a stray hair off your forehead.

You flushed, “Okay then. We’ll let her bring it up again, though. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect,” he replied, his lips brushing your knuckles before he stood up and resumed dish duty.

Watching Steve putter around the kitchen, putting away leftovers and loading the dishwasher, your heart just felt…content. Ill as you felt, a stupid smile still found its way onto your face.

_______________

The next morning, it was the weekend, thankfully so you awoke without an alarm. And strangely without a 4-year-old tackling you. Checking the clock it was later than you thought, but apparently the spicy food, cold medicine, and sleep had done you good. Your head and nose felt the clearest they had in days and you could actually smell something delicious wafting from the kitchen.

Taking a quick shower and brushing your teeth, you felt almost human again. You dressed in comfortable clothes and descended the stairs. Entering the kitchen you saw Steve at the stovetop pouring pancake batter and simultaneously trying to keep Justice from burning herself. She was insistent on helping, apparently.

“Good morning,” you greeted them, coming to the bearded man’s side.

Steve whirled around, surprised, “Oh no!! I mean, good morning! We were going to bring breakfast to you in bed, but my little assistant here isn’t quite pulling her weight.” He teased his daughter, tickling her sides until she begged for mercy.

“We made pancakes, Y/N! With blueberries!!” she grabbed a plate off the counter with two pancakes on it and walked it over to you. “Happy Birthday!”

A wide smile split your face, accepting the plate of pancakes. “Thank you, sweetie! They look delicious.”

“You’re welcome. I ate my breakfast already, can I watch cartoons?” the spunky girl asked.

Steve just shrugged at you, so you responded, “Sure, honey.”

“Yay!” Justice gripped your legs in a hug, then turning her face up toward you. “Y/N, can I call you mommy?”

Even with the previous discussion, you were a bit stunned. “Um..sure you can, sweetie.”

She buried her face again in your legs, her next words barely audible, “I love you, mommy.”

Heart thoroughly melted, you smiled down at the girl. “I love you, too, princess.”

A head of brown curls then bounced out of the room to watch tv, leaving you in a a bit of shock.

Steve’s arms circled around your waist as you turned to face him. Germs completely forgotten, he pressed a kiss to your lips. Grateful you had taken the time to brush, you exhaled out a minty breath giving his tongue access to your mouth. You deepened the kiss, pulling him flush against you with arms circled around his neck. Finally breaking away, you were both breathless and grinning goofily.

“Being sick sucks,” you admitted, taking a deep breath. “Mostly because I have seriously missed that.”

He chuckled, kissing your lips in agreement. He then pulled away slightly, digging a hand into the pocket of his sweat pants. “I have something for you.”

Seeing a small box in his hand, your heart about stopped, but as he held it up, you breathed a sigh of almost relief. It seemed a little soon for that. This velvet box was rectangular and flat, which made you curious. He must have read your thoughts because he smiled then and shook his head slightly.

“It’s not that kind of velvet box. But to be clear, I do have plans of making it official eventually. I love you, Y/N. And like I said, I have no intention of letting you go. Happy Birthday, my darling.”

He opened the box and inside was a gorgeous white gold necklace with a small star-shaped pendant. Simple and yet stunning, it was just perfect.

“Oh, Steve…I love it. And I love you,” you said, a teary smile upon your face.

Removing the necklace from the box, Steve secured the clasp behind your neck and you felt the pendant rest against the hollow of your throat. Your lips met again, the kisses tender and full of promises spoken and unspoken, until a small  but insistent voice hollered about the “wrong show” being on. With a regrettable smile, Steve left your arms to fix the problem and you stood still for a moment, hand resting on your gorgeous birthday gift.

Smiling as you looked around the messy kitchen and your now-cold pancakes made with love, you were grateful for the house you now called home and the people you loved within it. Thinking of your last birthday, you could never have predicted you’d find yourself here. Life was a mystery. If you found yourself here again in one year…or five… or 20, then you would happy. You had found where you belonged. Happy Birthday indeed.

_____________

Bonus Scene: Christmas to Remember >>>

______________________________________________________

Eeee!! I hope that was kinda cute. :) There’s a small possibility that little snippets of their lives may pop up in the future, but I’m not sure. Please let me know what you think! I love to hear from you. You’re all lovely and I appreciate you!

Permanent tags are CLOSED

Permanent tags: 

@ek823 @you-didnt-see-that-cuming  @yellowtheremarvelfan  @sarcastic15overlord @mirkwood—princess  @stovehairington  @msshadowboxer  @reniescarlett  @wellfuckbuck  @coffeeismylife28  @lilasiannerd  @bunchofandoms   @sarahpanda65 @ria132love @canumoveyourseatup-no  @whatshernamemaria  @crazyliraz  @filthylolita  @tempestinatea-cup  @pixierox101   @jcb2k16 @jaderz-mega-yikes   @gatorgal94 @prettylatxna @abovethesmokestacks @missmotherhen  @snakesgoethe  @feelmyroarrrr  @buckysmetallicstump @dontstopwiththelyin @mytasterpeculiar  @writingruna @imaginingbucky @bovaria  @thisisthelilith @buckyywiththegoodhair @rogersxbarnesx @hellomissmabel  @bionic-buckyb @buckysberrie @marvel-lucy @marvelingatthewonder @you-and-bucky @sebseyesandbuckysthighs @hymnofthevalkyries @kinqshley @beccaanne814-blog @marvel-ash @sebbytrash @serzhantjamesbuchananbarnes @wakandasoldier @officialcaptain-marvel  @themcuhasruinedme @mizzzpink @vaisabu  @winterboobaer  @idontknow-canyou  @mylittlefandomfanfictions  @bemystucky  @hotmessofafangirl  @priettierthanyou  @avengermama  @mrs–healy  @black-eyed-bucky  @supersoldier-wifey  @gold-liess  @thebabewiththepwr  @indominusregina  @lostinspace33  @lillian-paige  @brittanymcsharry  @pixierox101  @dustycelt @tragicalchemist  @palaiasaurus64  @mycapt-ohcapt  @ryverpenrad  @timeladylaurel @with-a-hint-of-pesto-aioli @maybe-mikala  @bellenuit45  @mrshopkirk  @ilovebeingjoyful  @soulful-ofevans @finhabastos  @queen-merc @theawesomeclairfury  @4theluvofall  @seeyainanotherlifebrotha  @jaybird6232 @johnmurphys-sass  @anxuanpham  @anitavalija  @katbird787  @tori-medusa-belongs-to-bucky  @readingtoescape  @lbouvet  @cojootromuelle  

Mini Matchmaker Tags:

@all-around-geek   @gatorgal94 @eralgrey  @malfoy-milkovich-royalty