#my dad setting aside things so i can take pictures of them to show to him.

[angeltism]

relationship so good every single family member of yours who knows abt ur boyfriend is incredibly supportive of the idea of him coming to visit and meeting them and likes him already from what you've told them about him

[rinachains]

"Mhm, should I shave?"

Toji's question makes you look up from your phone, only to be greeted by the sight of him staring into the mirror, rubbing his hand along the lower part of his face, turning it from side to side.

You level him with a deadpan face.

"You ask this now? After I've already complained to you several times in the past weeks?"

Toji being lazy is nothing new, and while he does take good care of himself (most of the time), there are certain things he tends to put off - things like shaving. Selectively lazy, you called him once, and he just shrugged.

Over the course of a few weeks, he has grown a stubble, and while you don't actually mind the look - in fact, you find that he looks a little too good with it -, it scratches your skin whenever he kisses you, whether it is on your face or on other parts of your body.

Ignoring your remark, he makes his way to the couch you’re lying on, leans over the headrest and throws an arm around your shoulders, his lips coming close to your face; but before they can make contact with you, you put a hand against his face and push him away.

"Nope. You're shaving first."

Your partner exhales unnecessarily loudly and grabs your wrist to remove your hand from his face. He clicks his tongue as he throws his head back into his neck.

"Too tired."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah,” he replies, lazily scratching the subject of your disdain.

You cross your arms over your chest, purse your lips, and narrow your eyes. You set your phone aside as an idea pops into your head.

"Then I'll do it."

And that's how you end up in your shared bathroom, with him sitting down on a small stool – which makes for a ridiculous picture since his bulky frame can barely fit on it and you're afraid it's about to break under his weight - while you stand in front of him, applying some shaving cream to his stubble.

Toji is wearing a loose tank top that shows off the bulging muscles in his big arms and his defined pecs, and a pair of gray sweatpants - a supposedly thoughtless combination that he pulled out of his closet, but he is more than aware of the effect this look has on you.

You stifle a snort as you notice him subtly flexing his muscles, obviously enticing you to admire them.

You instruct him to stay still as you hold a sharp tool against his face - but as predicted, the insufferably touchy man grabs at your waist, massages your thighs, playfully pinches your sides - the asshole that he is, he wants to see you squirm and hear you yelp.

"I'm gonna accidentally cut you if you don't keep your hands to yourself," you grumble, trying to slap his hands away and rolling your eyes when they don't bulge from where they rest. "Seriously. Control yourself."

"Can you blame me?" Toji counters, his grin all smug and mischief glinting in his forest green eyes as he cocks his head, "I like it when you take care of me."

As if to further prove that statement, his arms wrap around the back of your knees, holding onto them in a stone grip. Your mouth falls open to scold him again, but the warmth of his touch makes you close it and go soft. Bastard.

“Y’know, you're not bad at this," he chimes in, raising a brow at you, "you've done this for other men before?"

"Oh yeah, just last week for boyfriend number two."

Toji grunts, mouth pressed into a flat frown.

"Not funny."

"You're the one who asked a stupid question," you sing, nodding in his direction. "Besides, I should ask if I'm the first one to do this for you."

"You are,” he immediately replies, "wouldn't let anyone else get that close to my face with that thing."

You hum, "So you trust me. How sweet."

He grunts, again. You're pretty close to making fun of his dad noises.

"Do you actually not like my stubble?"

"It tickles and burns when you kiss me."

"You'd get over it."

"I'll stop kissing you if you keep it."

"…You don't mean that."

"You know I do."

Once he missed picking up Megumi from daycare because he fell asleep in front of the TV; so you, as petty as you are, decided to deprive him of all hugs and kisses, and walked away the moment he approached you, tried to reach out and pull you into the confines of his strong arms. You managed to last a week before your resolve crumbled. You blame the fact that you were ovulating during that week and the dejected looks he kept giving you.

Averting his eyes to the side, he gestures to you with a wave, "Aren't y'supposed to love me the way I am?"

"Sure, but my love grows even stronger when I can kiss you without any damage."

“So I’m harming you with that? Way to make me feel bad, I liked the look.”

"Grown man," you mumble under your breath, moving his head to the other side with a bit more force than probably needed - but still careful, of course. "Be glad that I'm doing this for you. Otherwise, you'd probably walk around with a full beard."

At that he squints his eyes.

"What's wrong with that?"

"You'd look too much like a man."

His nose scrunches up, the corners of his mouth drop down - that's his grumpy face.

"What's that supposed to mean? I am a man."

"Yeah, my handsome, pretty man who doesn't have a beard that will give me a bad rash.”

A huff leaves him, only emphasizing his grumbling.

"...Whatever."

His head tilts, allowing you to carefully run the razor across the lower part of his face and the underside of his chiselled jaw. He leans into your touch, letting himself be vulnerable despite the supposed simplicity of the task.

You know what it means to be able to do that to him. It's not as insignificant as it might seem at first.

A few seconds of silence go by, but then, "Can I kiss you now?”

So needy.

When you first started seeing each other, Toji was all cocky and nonchalant, but when you finally got together, he started clinging to you, following you around like a lost puppy who refuses to let you out of his sight. It's endearing, you suppose - especially since you (and everyone else) didn't expect him to act this way.

"I'm not done yet."

All of a sudden he leans back to free himself from your grasp and get out of your reach, now holding both your wrists in his calloused palms as he stares directly into your eyes, forcing you into a silent debate. Finally, you let out a tired sigh, though you can't stop a grin from tugging at the corners of your lips.

"Okay, just one quick ki-"

Before you can finish your sentence, the plush of his lips meets yours and you melt into each other, not even noticing the shaving cream on his face transfer to yours. Instead of pushing him away this time, you instinctively deepen the kiss and wrap your arms around his neck, letting him nibble on your lower lip until he slowly pulls away.

His mouth twitches as he opens his eyes and zeroes in on a certain spot. A finger comes up to your face, wipes something away, and then shows the shaving cream on it that came from your face.

"Want me to shave your stubble too?"

The slap you give his broad shoulder doesn't move him a millimeter, but it makes him shake with laughter.

"Shut up."

[violentdelightsandviolentends]

Honey Girl.

Synopsis - The Universe shows you your soulmate when it feels like you need them most. When you least expect it, you're given yours - Bucky Barnes. Your Dad's best friend. You can try to refuse it all you like; but the Universe wants what it wants. There's no denying fate.

Pairing - Dad'sBestFriend!Bucky Barnes x Female Reader - soulmate au

Age Rating - 18+

Word Count - 5.1k

Warnings - cursing. sexual content towards the end. mild alcohol consumption. age gap. smut in next chapter(s).

Author's Note - part one is finally here!! thank you so much to everyone who asked to be tagged, and who liked and reblogged the masterlist. i am SO excited to share this with you. i've built this world in my head and trust me it is gorgeous - salty ocean breezes, sunsoaked sailboats and billowing white linen shirts. i hope you can lose yourself in my little seaside town with bucky for the time it takes you to read this, just as i did while writing it. i can't wait to write more of this series for you x

as always, reblogs, comments and feedback (even anonymous feedback!) are immensely appreciated!! your reblogs are the only way to circulate my fics, which keeps me going <3

Masterlist. Requests. Series Masterlist. The Playlist.

next chapter (two).

Tethering /tɛð(ə)rɪŋ/

An event in which two soulmates are bound together forever. Only occurs when the Universe decides it is time. No sooner, no later.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

The gentle ocean breeze gives you a moment of respite from the scorching sun that's beating down. You're half asleep, laying on the cool tile of your balcony when your phone rings.

"Babe! Babe! Babe!"

"Lacie? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I am freaking out right now, oh my god. I didn't know who to call. You'll never guess what just happened to me!"

You can guess. In fact, you already have.

Lacie's Tethering. It's finally happened.

You're taught, growing up, that your Tethering is the biggest moment of your life. It shapes who you are forever. Sets you on your eternal path. You're presented with your soulmate in a big display of love and affection and metaphorical fireworks. It's supposed to be magical.

You wish people would shut up about it.

The World seems to be split into two categories - the people that have been Tethered, and the people that haven't.

You fall into the latter.

You're repeatedly told it'll happen one day. It'll happen when the time is right. It'll happen when you least expect it.

You're not sure you ever want it to happen.

The idea that the Universe determines the person you're with forever has never sat right with you. What happened to free will? What happened to personal preference? You believe you should at least have a choice in the matter. It's your future, after all.

Not everyone shares the same sentiment.

"Babe, you still there?"

Lacie's excitement filled voice pulls you back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Are you busy? Can you meet me for coffee, like, now?"

You take a deep breath and plaster a fake smile on your face.

"Sure. I'll see you in ten."

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

"Oh my god babe, it was just incredible! You won't even believe it. There's nothing like it, truly."

You remind yourself quickly that Lacie is your best friend, and that you owe it to her to be happy for her. Personal feelings about soulmates aside.

"Tell me all about it, Lace!" you encourage, grabbing a hold of her hand excitedly.

The blonde girl squeals before shuffling closer to you, pressing her knees against yours.

"Okay, so. Picture this. I'm at my gym, doing my usual routine. I'm wearing my super cute pink Lulu Lemon set, you know the one with the flowers?"

She waits for you to nod in affirmation before she continues.

"So, I accidentally drop a weight on the ground, and it makes the biggest noise. I'm super embarrassed, and I'm trying to pick it up, but it's so heavy. And then, the hottest guy I have ever seen appears. Like, seriously gorgeous."

As much as you despise the whole soulmate thing, you can't deny how happy Lacie seems. She's almost vibrating with it, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"He comes over and picks it up for me, sets in back on the rack. And then he introduces himself, and shakes my hand, and it happened."

"What was it like?" you smile, eager for her to carry on.

"Like fucking magic."

You've heard that before. A million times. From literally everyone. Surely it can't be that magical if billions of people have experienced it.

"Magic?" you prompt.

"It is indescribable, babe. It's like... it's like everything just falls into place. Like everything finally makes sense!"

She jumps out of her chair, hugging you tightly. She's practically sat on your lap in the coffee shop, but neither of you really care.

"So, what's his name? What's he like?"

"His name is Cameron. He's new in town, he just moved here for work. He's a personal trainer, so he's like, super fit. And gorgeous. Did I mention gorgeous?"

"Maybe once or twice," you laugh.

"I'm so happy," Lacie whispers, emotion choking her voice. "I can't believe it finally happened. This is the day I've been waiting for since I was a little girl."

You hug her tighter, and ignore the look you get from the barista.

"I love you," she declares, suddenly serious. "You know that me being Tethered now doesn't change that, right?"

"I know," you confirm. "I love you too, Lace. I'm really happy for you."

You genuinely mean it. Lacie has talked about meeting her soulmate every day since you met her in the 3rd grade. You may have never quite shared her enthusiasm, but you admire her passion. And you adore her, more than anyone.

"So, what now? Are you gonna get married tomorrow and run off into the sunset?"

"I'm choosing to ignore your sarcasm because I know you're using it as a coping mechanism," she tells you pointedly. "And I know that there's a tiny part of you that wishes you'd been Tethered already, so you don't have to deal with everyone talking to you about it."

Jackpot. She's read you like a book.

"No, we're not getting married tomorrow," she rolls her eyes before continuing, "but we are going on a real date tonight. We're gonna get dinner and get to know each other. Isn't this crazy? I'm going on a date with the guy I'm gonna be spending the rest of my life with!"

"That is kinda crazy, actually," you laugh. "What are you gonna wear?"

"It doesn't matter - we're going to be together forever anyway!"

You make Lacie promise to send you a picture of her outfit as you're leaving the coffee shop, which she agrees to with glee. On your way home, you pick up some of your Mom's favourite wine, and prepare yourself for another soulmate based conversation that will inevitably happen when you tell your parents the events of the day at dinner tonight.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

"Hi, sweetheart!" your Dad beams as you step through the front door of your childhood home.

"Hey, Dad," you greet, allowing him to pull you in for a hug. "Where's Mom? I brought wine."

"Kitchen," he gestures with a nod of his head. "She's making that mango dessert you like."

Walking into your Mother's kitchen is like dipping your feet into a pool on a scorching hot day. The windows are propped open, curtains billowing softly in the wind. The ocean breeze drifts through the room, ruffling your Mom's dress and floating the hair away from her face. The evening sun beams in, illuminating the space with a golden glow. It smells like fresh fruit, mint, and salt water. It's a haven.

"Hi, Mama."

"Oh, my love! Just in time. I was about to call you to see if you were alright."

She makes her way over to you and kisses you on the head swiftly, before walking to the cabinet to grab wine glasses.

"Sorry I'm a little later than I said. I changed my outfit three times - it's warmer than I thought it was going to be."

"I know! Summer, finally. We've been waiting long enough."

She takes the bottle of wine from your hand and pours it into the glasses.

"You've poured four, Mama."

"Didn't your Dad tell you? Bucky's joining us for dinner."

"Oh. No, he didn't mention anything."

"He's back from his vacation. He promised he'd show us all of the pictures he took!"

She grabs the glasses and floats out of the room, leaving you alone in the kitchen, thoughts of Bucky Barnes swirling around like dust in the sunlight.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky.

Your Dad's best friend.

They met a few years ago, when Bucky moved to town. He said he was looking for something quieter, sick of city living. He wanted to slow down a bit, finally take a breath.

He was out for a run around town, getting his bearings, when he stopped your Dad on the driveway to ask about his car. They bonded over their love for motorcycles and vintage vehicles, and the rest is history.

Bucky's been a regular fixture in your life for so long, you can't remember a time before. All you know, is that it was probably a little more peaceful. His boyish charm is infectious, bringing out the youth in your Dad. They're like teenagers, when they're together. Long lost frat brothers, your Mom jokes.

She's got a soft spot for him. Most people do. It might have something to do with the fact he's devastatingly handsome.

It's no secret that Bucky Barnes is a ladies man. He is without even trying. He's charming, gorgeous, funny in all the right ways. He's mysterious, but not disarming. Tough, but not scary. Rebellious, but not a liability. He's a catch.

A catch, with a taste for beautiful women.

Your Dad always jokes that he's the towns most eligible bachelor. You can't count on two hands the amount of women you know that have dated him - but nothing seems to stick. He isn't Tethered, after all.

Some people choose not to date, if they haven't met their soulmate. They wait and wait, and when the time comes, they're complete. Others take pleasure in dating before it happens. Might as well make the most of the freedom, Bucky said once. You can't help but agree.

Might as well make the most of the freedom.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

"Hey, buddy!" you hear from the hallway. You make your way out of the kitchen to be met with the sight of Bucky, sun-kissed and practically glowing. His hair has a few light streaks from the sun, and the faint freckles on his cheeks are more prominent now. His steel blue eyes meet yours, mischief rife in them.

"Hi, honey," he greets, draping an arm around your shoulders. He kisses you on the cheek, light stubble scratching your skin. You throw an arm around his back and look up at him.

"There's no way this tan is natural," you tease, nudging him slightly.

"It makes me even more gorgeous, doesn't it?" he jokes, winking at you. He squeezes your shoulder before letting go, grabbing a bottle of wine from his bag.

"I brought your favourite, Lori."

"So did I," you echo, laughing.

"Great minds, honey. Great minds!"

"You can never have too much wine," your Mom yells out from the kitchen doorway. "Bring it in here, Buck. I'll put it in the refrigerator."

"Yes ma'am," he obliges, making his way to her with a smile on his face.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

"Guess what happened today," you begin, in between bites of your strawberry salad.

The three of them look at you intently, urging you to continue.

"Lacie got Tethered."

"How exciting!" your Mom squeals.

"That's a long time coming," Bucky chimes in. You look at him and smirk.

"Tell me about it."

"Here we go," your Dad smiles. "Our two anti soulmate protestors."

"Don't make it sound so political," Bucky laughs. "She's the only one that gets it."

"I've said it a thousand times, and I'll say it again. Just. You. Wait," your Mom lectures. "The two of you don't get it."

"Magic, fireworks, eternal love, blah blah blah. Trust me, I get it."

"She gets it," Bucky echoes. "And so do I. The Universe decides our fate, and we get no choice whatsoever. I don't believe in it, is all. I have no faith in the system. I should get to choose."

"But you feel like you are choosing," your Dad defends. "It didn't feel like it was being determined for me. It's hard to explain."

"It's just so... backwards," you justify. "I can't believe we live in a Universe where we have all the choices in the world, but don't get to choose the person we spend the rest of our lives with."

"It's worked out pretty well for us," your Mom smiles.

And it has. The first thing anyone notices when they meet your parents is that they are undeniably in love. You've never met two people more perfect for each other - which should solidify your belief in the Universe, really. But it doesn't. You can't explain where your lack of faith in it came from. It just appeared one day, and you haven't been able to shake it since. You're grateful every day to have two Tethered, happy, smitten parents. You've seen how hard it is for people with Untethered Mothers and Fathers. The judgment, the uncertainty, the hushed whispers. It sounds unbearable.

"Yes it did," your Dad confirms, shaking you from your thoughts. He reaches for your Mom's hand and kisses the back of it tenderly, eyes never once leaving hers. You look to Bucky next to you, who smiles at you gently. Feelings about soulmates aside, the both of you love these two people sat across the table with all your heart.

"Trust me, sweetheart," your Mom begins. "I know you're against the idea now - God knows I was the same at your age. But when it happens, you'll forget about all of your rebellion. You'll just be happy."

You nod in agreement, praying for the conversation to be over. As if he can read your mind, Bucky pipes up.

"Let me show you some pictures from Italy. I did promise I would."

You shoot him a grateful look before picking up your empty wine glass and making your way to the kitchen for a refill.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

The dining room is now lit solely by candlelight, wax dripping onto the white lace tablecloth like condensation on a cold glass. The sun fell asleep hours ago, the four of you enjoying each others company with no regard for time.

"Oh, shit. It's late," your Dad says suddenly.

"You got big late night plans?" you tease.

"We have Clara and Mike's wedding at the weekend, so we're flying out tomorrow. We should probably get some sleep, so we're not exhausted."

Your Mom rises from her chair and kisses you on the head, before grabbing the dessert bowls from the table. Your Dad helps, smiling every time his hand brushes hers accidentally.

"Thanks for coming, kiddo. Your place next week?"

"Of course. I think I'll try that salmon recipe you sent me."

"Can't wait," your Dad assures you, giving you a one sided hug. He squeezes you once before letting you go to grab your shoes.

You can hear your parents saying their goodbyes to Bucky as you tie your laces, smoothing out the skirt of your dress as you stand. They all join you in the hallway, Bucky leaning over to grab his jacket from behind you. Fuck, he smells good.

"Have a great time at the wedding, you guys. Send me pictures, please!" you say as you hug your Mom goodbye.

"We will! Drive home safe, the both of you!"

They shut the door softly, leaving you and Bucky stood on the porch. The evening air chills your bare legs, salt in the breeze sticking to your lips.

"Where's your car?" he asks, looking around.

"Oh, I walked. It was a nice day, and I'm trying to be a little greener. Save the planet, and all," you chuckle.

"You want a ride, then?" he offers, leaning against the side of his truck.

"Uh - maybe," you hesitate, shifting your weight from foot to foot. You feel antsy, for some reason. There's a buzz flowing through your veins, making you a little restless.

"Maybe?" he smirks.

"I just, I'm not sure if I wanna go home yet. It might be that I've had three glasses of wine, but I'm kinda... jittery? Think I need to burn off some energy. Maybe I'll walk home."

"Like hell you will," he grumbles.

You quirk a brow in confusion.

"It's dark, and all those college kids are in town on their break. I don't trust 'em."

You fight to keep the grin off your face. You weirdly like it when Bucky gets protective. He's always so calm, so relaxed - it takes a lot to rile him up. He looks hot with a clenched jaw.

"Why don't we go somewhere?"

"Where?" you ask tentatively.

"I don't know," he thinks for a second. "How about the beach?"

You smile, gazing at him with a twinkle in your eyes.

"I fucking love the beach."

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

The ocean waves break the shore steadily, the repetitive pattern calming you both. You're sat on the sand, grains slipping through your hands where you're pouring it out through your fingers. The light of the moon reflects off the surface of the sea, illuminating the abandoned cove. It's just you, Bucky, and the night sky.

The alcohol in your system has evened you out, warm buzz keeping you sheltered from the chill. Bucky's stretched out next to you, strong arms folded underneath his head. His shirt rides up slightly, exposing a slither of sun kissed skin. You pretend not to notice his Adonis belt, or the little trail of hair that leads down into his waistband.

The silence is easy, comfortable. You don't get to hang out like this often, just the two of you. It's nice.

A notification on your phone breaks through the tranquility. You both flinch.

"Sorry," you mutter, checking the screen. "It's Lacie, telling me about her perfect date."

He chuckles lowly at your tone, sitting up to look at you.

"This is hard for you, isn't it?" he asks. "You hate the whole soulmate thing, but you like seeing her happy."

Bingo. It's like he's read your mind.

"I don't know why I hate it so much" you confess quietly. "It's a part of life. I can't avoid it. I just think - what if... what if I'm like, the exception, or something? What if I never meet my soulmate - or - what if I meet them when I'm like, seventy? That happens, you know! And then I'll be fucking cursed to spend my entire life feeling like this."

"And what is this?"

"Hopeless. That's what this is. I just feel pretty fucking hopeless."

You're not sure why you're baring your soul to Bucky tonight. You could blame the wine, but you know that's not what it is. Maybe it's because he seems to be the only one that understands.

"Me too," he whispers.

You whip your head around to stare at him in shock. He laughs at the look on your face, and continues.

"You're young - you have time. I'm forty in a couple of years. Every single one of my friends is married to their soulmate - except for me."

You bite at your lip nervously, but refuse to tear your eyes away from his steel blue ones. His face is lit by the glow from the moon, and it takes your breath away for a second. He looks almost ethereal.

"You always act so... unbothered. I didn't realise... I guess I just, I didn't -" you try to gather your thoughts before continuing. "This fucking sucks, huh?"

He laughs with his whole chest, and you're convinced the sound is so special, so rare, that you should bottle it. Sell it as medicine. It'd cure anything, you're sure of it.

"Yeah, it does," he agrees with a chuckle. "It's the waiting around that's the worst part. The unknown. It could be minutes, it could be decades. I just don't know."

"At least for now, we have each other," you joke.

"Every cloud has a silver lining, huh?" he teases, nudging you with his shoulder.

You allow your weight to press into his side a little, leaning in. He's warm, and he's familiar, and in this moment, he understands you better than anyone else in the world.

"We'll be okay, honey," he murmurs. "It'll all work out the way it's supposed to."

You close your eyes, and allow his words and the breaking waves to calm your nerves. Bucky wraps an arm around you, and all the tension melts from your muscles.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

You're not sure if it's the honest conversation, or the brisk ocean breeze, but you've sobered up in record time. Your body registers this, and sends a shiver down your spine.

"You cold?" Bucky asks you. "You wanna go home?"

"Not yet," you whisper. "Not yet."

He shrugs off his worn brown leather jacket and slips it over your shoulders. It smells so strongly of him that it makes you dizzy. Bucky settles back down in his original place, returning his arm to where it was draped over you. His rough fingertips rub patterns into the material that now covers your arms, and you wish, for a fleeting moment, that it was your bare skin instead.

"You been working on anything new recently?" he enquires in a hushed tone, careful not to ruin the atmosphere.

"I made a damn good batch of macarons yesterday," you reply, beaming smile etched across your face. "Raspberry and lemon. I'll bring you some, next time I pass the Garage. You're gonna love them."

"You know, I think the only reason I ever get Mechanic of the Month is because you bring by all of your sweet treats."

You laugh melodiously, and the sound makes Bucky's heart stutter in his chest without warning.

"Happy to be of service," you tease. "I take requests, too, if you ever want something specific. Just let me know."

"You're the best, sugar."

You sink into Bucky's hold a little, daring to rest your head on his shoulder. When he doesn't stop you, you exhale, and relax even more.

"Are you working tomorrow?" he asks.

"Nope. You?"

"Nah. I'm going sailing, finally. It's been way too fuckin' long," he grumbles. "Your Dad's usually my right hand man, but he'll be in Ohio. You wanna come?"

The idea of laying on the deck of a boat in the blazing sunshine with a shirtless Bucky Barnes sounds like heaven. Who could say no to an offer like that?

"Yeah, of course. I'll bring a picnic, if you like. It's the least I can do."

"Sounds perfect," he replies, squeezing your shoulder.

Suddenly, he rises to his feet, extending a hand out to you. You grab it, and he pulls you up, the both of you shaking sand off yourselves.

"It's late, and dark, and a little cold. You ready to go?"

You nod your head, and make your way over to his truck, ignoring the heat that blooms over your chest when he opens the passenger door for you before his own.

✵  ✵    ·　 ✵ 　　 *  · ✵

"Thank you, for tonight," you say as he pulls up in front of your apartment building.

"Thank you," he replies, killing the engine. "It's nice to have you back, you know. Wondered if you were gonna finish college and stay out there in California. Thought we might not see you again."

He almost sounds... relieved. The idea that he might have missed you if you didn't return effects you more than it should.

"I liked it there, but... I don't know. My family's here. I'm only twenty three. I've got time to move around the country. I missed this place too much when I was away."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that," he chuckles.

"I know, trust me. They do say absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Yeah, they say a lot of fuckin' things," he jokes.

Bucky swings his door open, hopping down from the drivers seat. He makes his way over to your side, holding out a hand so you can jump out.

"Careful," he warns. "It's higher than it looks."

You grab his hand, and step onto the metal sill. Your foot slips slightly, sending you tumbling down and forward, out of the truck. Luckily, Bucky catches you, one hand in yours, other on your hip.

"Woah, easy. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," you breathe.

He places his hands on your cheeks and cradles your face, searching for any signs of distress. You place your palms over his, silently reassuring him.

And then, it happens.

Warm, golden, molten electricity surges through your veins, lighting up each and every one of your nerve endings. Your surroundings explode into glorious technicolour, everything suddenly brighter and more vibrant. It feels like your heart is being ripped out of your chest, only to be replaced by one that beats in a slightly different rhythm. There's flowers blooming in your ribcage, new life happening inside of you. You catch eyes with Bucky, expecting to see his stormy blue ones looking back at you. Instead, all you see is your future.

Vivid, flashing images of Bucky Barnes fill your mind, each one of them tinted with a warm, rosy hue. You feel like you're being reinvented. Your skin is alive, hyperaware of the way Bucky's palms are still gently cupping your cheeks. Your fingertips tingle with anticipation where they rest on his, itching to touch every inch of him. You feel as if the oxygen has been stolen from your lungs, and replaced with love.

Your knees are the first to buckle, the weight of the moment taking you down. You hit the ground, and so does Bucky, his palms not once leaving your face. You're both kneeling on the warm concrete, ocean waves providing a distant soundtrack. Blood is rushing in your ears, and you wonder for a second if you're about to pass out. You squeeze Bucky's hands so hard, it's a miracle you don't break his fingers. He squeezes back, eyes locked on one another.

After what feels like an eternity, you both break out of your reverie. You lean forward, resting your forehead against Bucky's, both of you panting.

You're trying to catch your breath unsuccessfully. You move one of your hands to rest on Bucky's chest, right on his heart. You swear the steady beat of it spells out your name.

He mirrors you, and moves his own hand to rest above your frantic heart, the other still glued to your cheek. You both breathe, in and out, trying to match each other. When you finally do, it's as if time stops. It's just you and Bucky. One heartbeat. One soul.

You break away from him to look into his eyes again. They look different, you think. He looks different.

He gazes back at you, cheeks flushed and chest heaving. The moonlight dances off your faces, illuminating the moment both your lives changed forever.

"It's you," he breathes in disbelief.

A laugh escapes your chest, surprising you both. He chuckles with you, and before you know it, the both of you are in hysterics, sitting on the sidewalk at three in the morning.

"Of course it's me," you giggle. "The two people that hate soulmates, Tethered together. You couldn't write it."

Bucky grins at you, clutching at his stomach.

You both take a breath, and realise your surroundings. Bucky gets up first, heaving you up by your arms. He towers over you, suddenly close. Not close enough, you decide. Never close enough.

You lunge forward and crash your lips to his. Bucky instinctively wraps one arm around your back, moving his other hand to hold you by the back of your neck. He tastes like salt and spearmint and every kiss for the rest of your life.

Bucky presses himself into you, attempting to tangle your bodies together. He wants to feel every inch of you against his skin, willing you to come closer. He aches to climb into you, sew himself into your ribcage. He'd be content to live there, beating your heart, forever.

You whine, and he takes the opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth, exploring eagerly. You tilt your head back, and fist your hands into his shirt, plastering yourself to his front. He shoves his thigh in between your legs, the rough denim a welcome contrast to your soft skin. You buck your hips forward, and the friction is so delicious it makes you dizzy. You've never been kissed like this. It's almost feral. You're both surrendering to your fates, giving in to the animalistic urges coursing through you.

A seagull caws on a nearby street lamp, and the sound makes you both jump. You suddenly realise your scenario. Your Dad's best friend, who also happens to be your soulmate, has you pressed against his truck in the street, kissing you like he's running out of air and you're his only oxygen source. If it goes any further, you'll both get arrested for public indecency.

"Fuck, sugar," he murmurs against your mouth. "My pretty girl. My honey."

"My soulmate," you whisper.

The reality of it comes crashing down like a tsunami, drenching the both of you.

Bucky kisses you again, gentler this time. The tenderness makes you want to cry.

"What do we do now?" you mumble, fear coating your voice.

He senses your trepidation instantly. He feels it, actually, right in the front of his chest. It's like you suddenly share one body. There's no guessing, anymore. He knows exactly how you feel.

He takes a deep breath, trying to settle his building anxiety. He knows that if he stays calm, you'll stay calm. That's how Tethering works, right? He has to keep it together for the both of you, despite the panic that's rising in him, vibrating in his bones.

"How about... how about we both go to bed, get some sleep - and then we go sailing, later on today, just like we planned? And no matter what, we take everything one step at a time."

"One step at a time," you repeat, attempting to pacify you both.

"We'll figure it out," he reassures. "I know we will."

You find the will to step apart, which proves harder than you thought. It's like Bucky's an anchor - fastening you to peace, to happiness, to serenity. The more distance you put between your bodies, the more unsettled you feel. When you're not touching him, it's as if everything becomes unsteady, more difficult. You feel like you're on a rogue sailboat, battling the waves, threatened to be thrown overboard. Bucky is your lifevest, your lighthouse in the dark night. You're not sure how you're supposed to live your life any more than two feet away from him at all times.

You breathe, and smooth down your dress, running your fingers through your hair. You reach out and adjust Bucky's shirt where it's been wrinkled due to your tight grip.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," he murmurs, fingers tangling around your own.

"Goodnight, Buck," you echo.

He leans in to press a chaste kiss to your lips, savouring the taste of your cherry lip balm. He wraps his arms around you, unable to resist. Bucky breathes you in deeply, smiling uncontrollably. Nudging your nose with his, he murmurs gently against your mouth.

"My honey girl."

tag list <3

@lillytracy6996 @securegorgon @roostersforevergirl @povlvr @tilltheendofthelinepal9950 @val-writesstuff @t-t-hello @dreadfulxives18 @1deadpool26 @abbygraceasd @nyutasgirl @mavrellover91 @myloveniall @winterslove1917 @f-this42 @skewedcherries @floralwsloki @noisesinthedark @kandis-mom @black-cat-2 @harrystylesandthegoobs @vladsgirlxx @h0nestly-though @arienotari @nash-dara @alesabisou @wandaneedstherapy @galaxy-dusk @justherefortheficandsmut @pedropascalsleftfoot @cremebruleequeen @ladifreakingda @cjand10 @buggy14 @avengers-fixation @blueberrybambi @beautiful-loserr @evan-peters-wife @llamazarecoolaf @ace-27749 @hinata7346

[quintessenceofdust88]

Congratulations on your followers milestone! ❤️

Prompt-

Clipboard Dad Buck prepares for family vacation

Thank you Hannah! ♥♥ and thank you for this adorableee prompt which allows me to play with two things I love: Clipboard Buck and parents Bucktommy! It got a little (a LOT) away from me haha, cause these kids really wanted their chance to shine, and it became a bit of a study in Bucktommy parenting, so here's more than 1,000 words of my personal headcanons on the matter. Anywayyyy Hannah darling I hope you enjoy it and forgive me for my tardiness with this one! I had a LOT of fun writing it, writing kids always makes me so happy ♥ WARNING: there's a wee bit spoiler of Little Blobs' Verse in this one, just the names of the Little Blobs, cause (gasp) they don't get to keep being called that after they're born! Only when they're being particularly chaotic, then Tommy might call them 'little blobs of terror' (affectionate).

-- "Okay, people, gather round, we need a family meeting!" Buck announces for Tommy, Leonardo and Stella as he enters the living room, his clipboard in hand. Tommy is sat on the couch, one twin in each side of him, and they're all staring at Buck with mild horror.

Even the twins know how intense their dad can get when a clipboard is put in his hands. They remember the Decoration Incident from their eighth birthday party, and how their Papa, uncle Eddie and uncle Chim had groaned after redoing a balloon arch for the sixth time cause the color scheme wasn't perfect.

After that, Tommy had unfortunately on total accident gotten rid of all the clipboards in the house. Apparently, their family trip to Disney World is serious enough to warrant a new one. "Alright. We have twenty-two hours before our flight and lots of things to do, so we need to divide and conquer" Buck says, and Tommy is uncomfortably reminded of his drill sergeant from the Army. Granted, his sergeant was nowhere near as cute as his husband, but still. "Mini Menaces, have you done what Daddy asked and separated the clothes you want me and Papa to pack for you?" "Daddy, if I don't take any clothes, can I use my suitcase to take Flash with us?" Leo asks, and Tommy chuckles. Flash is their one-year-old Newfoundland pup, who's already set to spend their vacation with Maddie and Chim (Jee and Kevin are thrilled; Chim, not so much), but Leo's quite attached to him. "I don't want him to miss us!"

"No, sweetheart" Buck says regretfully. "We talked about this, remember? Dogs are not allowed in Disney World?" Buck reminds him, as if that was the only problem in taking a 100-pound dog on vacation. "That's silly," Stella ponders. "How can they not allow dogs in Disney World if Pluto lives there?"

"And Goofy!" Leo adds helpfully, and wow, this conversation is taking a turn that Buck didn't quite expect.

"And Pongo!" Tommy adds this time, and Buck glares at him. He is so not helping. He seems to notice imminent danger, cause he wisely decides to change the subject. "Flash wouldn't like Disney World anyway, kiddo. He'll have way more fun drooling all over uncle Chim's floor and getting treats from Jee, I promise"

"Papa's right, Leo-bear. So if you didn't choose any clothes on the hopes of sneaking Flash in your bag..." He says, and Leo pouts (and wow, he's already a mini version of Buck, but it becomes even more evident when he does that).

"But... What if he misses us?" He asks, and Buck and Tommy exchange a look. It's always hard, balancing Leo's big heart with more practical things, but they find ways; they never want their son to lose his love for all living things.

"Tell you what, buddy" Buck crouches down to his level, putting the clipboard aside for a minute. "How about we send lots of pictures to Jee? She can show them to Flash, and we can make a video call if you want to"

"Pinky promise, Daddy?" Leo asks, stretching his pinky, and Buck links his own with it.

"Yeah, kiddo. Now go choose your clothes" He says, giving Leo an affectionate pat to get him moving. The boy scramps off with a "Thanks, Daddy!", apparently satisfied with the solution. Buck knows he'll probably have to double check, because in his excitement Leo may choose a band T-shirt with rain boots, but he likes to let the kids develop their independence.

"What about you, Stellina?" Tommy asks their daughter, and Buck has hopes there. Stella is (usually) much more sensible than her brother (she's usually much more sensible than her dads, but they don't like to admit that out loud). "Already decided what looks you wanna parade in Magic Kingdom?" "About that..." She says, puppy eyes in full effect, and Buck's always taken aback when she does that. Normally Stella looks much more similar to Tommy, down to the electric blue eyes and scrunchy smile, but her puppy eyes are full Buckley genes working their magic. "Are you sure I can only take two princess dresses? What if I wanna be three princesses, one for each day?!" And, well, who's Buck to tell his eight year old daughter she can't be three different princesses? Contrary to popular belief, clipboard!Buck is not heartless, he can be flexible (in all honesty, usuall he is heartless when in full planning mode, but never to his kids. He is a total sucker in their hands and they all know it).

"Well, you can add a princess dress, but then you can't take your astronaut outfit to Space Mountain, so you have to choose, baby" He says, because there's truly not enough space in her bag.

He and Tommy are already sharing one so the twins can have extra space for all the things they're buying at Disney World, and they will be buying stuff. They'd been saving their allowances for almost a year, and they got handfuls of money from aunt Hen and Karen, uncle Eddie, aunt Maddie and uncle Chim, nonna Rosa and a ridiculous generous amount from grandpa Bobby and Athena (never grandma Athena, both the twins agreed she's too badass to be called 'grandma', so she's always been just 'Athena' to them). One thing Tommy and Buck agreed on is their absolute refusal to pay extra bagage fees, so it's either the princess dress or the austronaut outfit. "Oh, then astronaut! I promised aunt Karen!" She says, and then pouts. "Daddy, I don't know which one to leave behind! I wanna be Elsa, and I wanna be Belle and I wanna be Mulan!"

He and Tommy exchange another look; Buck knows his own parents (and Tommy's dad) would never take such a dilemma seriously, but that's not the kind of parents they want to be. For an eight-year-old, yeah, having to choose which princess to be is a big deal, and they treat it like so. "I get you, little star" Tommy tells her, his expression absolutely serious. "All three fine choices of princesses. Which one is your most absolute favorite right now?" "Mulan!", she answers, and they're not surprised. It's Hen's favorite Disney movie, and Stella loves her aunts Hen and Karen to death.

"Alright, so Mulan's dress definitely has to go with us" Buck says, taking a note on his clipboard so she'll see he means business. "Now, between Elsa and Belle, who do you prefer?" "I don't know, I love them both!" She huffs, crossing her arms, her frown giving essential Tommy Kinard vibes. "Who do you prefer, Daddy?"

"Ah, well, sweetheart, I do love Belle, but Elsa has the best Disney song, hands down" Buck says, because they amount of times he, Tommy and the kids have belted Let it Go together is embarrassingly high. "And you, Papa?" She asks Tommy, and Buck always finds it sweet how she makes sure both of them weigh in on decisions that are important for her. He never felt this security with his own parents, and it warms his heart that his daughter has it with them. "I gotta agree with Daddy, principessa. If you meet Elsa with your dress, you can tell her all about the time you and your cousin Mara went as Elsa and mini Elsa for Halloween, what do you think?" "Yes, I want to do that! I'll put away my Belle dress! Thank you, Papa!" She says, wrapping her arms around Tommy's neck, and then, on her way to her bedroom, she wraps them around Buck's waist. "Thank you, Daddy!"

"Well, I hope your family meeting was adjourned, because they'll both be pretty busy for a while" Tommy says, hugging him from behind and pressing a small kiss to Buck's nape. And well, Buck would love nothing more than get some fun time with his husband, but the truth is the kids won't be busy for that long and he has a schedule to keep up with. "And so will we, mr. Kinard" He says, wrestling himself away from Tommy's arms (not without some internal battle, because part of Buck will always want to jump Tommy's bones at any given time) and beckoning him to follow Buck to the kitchen. "Next on our list is checking snacks, kids' documents, checking if they packed good shoes for walking around, making sure they're taking their sleeping stuffies..." As Buck trails off, his eyes fixated on the clipboard, he thinks he hears Tommy muttering something about feeding his clipboard to Flash next time.

[jeremiah-fisher]

you and me,

—a the summer i turned pretty fic starring my first and favourite book boyfriend, jeremiah fisher ♡

「moments: proposal, reader insert」

JEREMIAH

— age twenty-five

It comes on so suddenly, this increasingly desperate and raging pain in the middle of my chest. I can’t breathe from it, I can’t form words, and when I sit up in bed as a result, I’m nearly toppling out of it as I try to reach for the glass of water I keep nearby. My hand misses it by an inch and just that inch, that small, miniscule measurement, causes the grief in my heart to smother me whole. 

I want to cry. Cry and cry and cry until there is nothing left inside of me.

Though hesitation bleeds into my skin, I quietly bring my eyes to the right. There, huddled beneath a thick, white blanket is the girl I met when I was ten years old. Back then, she was everything to me–my neighbour, my friend, my crush. And now, she’s more. More of everything I wanted with her from the beginning.

The edges of my lips tug upwards as I think about the dream which pulled me from tonight’s slumber. 

I’m with my mom and we’re in the living room. Mom’s wearing one of her sundresses, the ones Dad says he loves seeing her in. He always talks about Mom like she’s the most beautiful person in the world. And he says it a lot, too. “Your mom’s so pretty, isn’t she, Jere?” and “Susannah Fisher, you are the most gorgeous woman on this earth.” And whenever he says it, my mom blushes the colour of figs and watermelons.

“Mom,” I whine, trying to pull her away from her book. She’s reading something Laurel wrote. It has her name on the cover. Funny thing is, Mom’s reading it backwards. When I jump on the sofa beside her, I find out she’s on her phone. “Mom! What’s that?”

Mom chuckles and puts her book down, and then she pulls me up against her. She shows me her phone. “Do you want to go to Disneyland for Christmas, Jeremiah?” 

“Disneyland?! Really?!”

She ruffles my hair then kisses my forehead. “Yes, Disneyland, my angel. Does that sound fun?”

“Yeah! But…” I think about all the rides and the food when another thought flies in. “Can we take YN? And Belly? And Steven? And Laurel?”

Mom smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Well, we can ask them if they would like to come.” 

Excitedly, I jumped back off the sofa and say, “Can I go to YN’s house and ask, Please, Mom? Pretty please?”

Mom shakes her head. “No. You have to wait until the grown-ups talk about it first. Then you can ask. Okay?” 

I pout. “But…” 

“A little bit of patience is a good thing, Jere. I promise you can ask YN and Belly and Steven when the time comes.” Mom picks up her book again and sets her phone aside. The screen lights up with a picture of me and Conrad as babies in Dad’s arms. “Now go play with the others.” 

I take a seat beside her again and squish myself into her. “I wanna stay with you.”

Mom doesn’t say anything and just pulls me in closer, and then she reads to me about a girl who lost her bicycle. 

We never got to take that trip to Disneyland because by that October, Mom had fainted during a PTA meeting at me and Conrad’s school and Dad asked Aunt Maggie to take care of us whilst Mom was in the hospital being diagnosed with breast cancer. 

As the memories of the past overwhelm my senses, I quietly shift out of bed, my wobbly knees bringing me to my full height. I pad my way across the carpeted room, down the hall and towards the balcony. I don’t know what time it is but if I make a guess off the pinks and oranges in the sky, I would say it’s just about to be sunrise. 

I slide the balcony door open and step out. A hint of spring in the air collides with my nose, and I breathe it in over and over. I can’t believe it’s already the beginning of May. YN and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with our friends just yesterday. At least, that’s what it feels like. To think that summer is just a few weeks away is crazy to me. When I was a kid, summers were all I looked forward to because they meant no school, no homework, Cousins Beach, and seeing my friends again. Now, summers are a perpetual reminder of what I lost. Of what I can’t get back.

With a hefty sigh, I take a seat on the armchair YN picked out for the balcony at IKEA a few months ago. We moved into this apartment after she finished her Masters at Boston University and got a job at a lab in the city. 

Each morning, she leaves for work before the sun rises and then returns just after it has set. My schedule working for my Dad is similar. 

I never thought I’d take him up on the offer to head the main branch of our bank in Boston, but here I am. I wonder what Mom would think if she were here. She always wanted me and Conrad to do our own thing. She never wanted us to rely on the family for everything. Now that I have, several times over, would she be displeased?

When the tears come, I embrace them, the way Mom always taught us to. Mom said tears were a good thing; they meant that we could feel deeply. Without her here, I feel everything so deeply–love, loss, sadness, depression. The doctors would always tell Dad that it was a toss-up with Mom. If the medicine and the treatments worked, we could see her living up to fifty, sixty, or seventy years old. If they didn’t, then…

I hold my head in my hands as the sobs wrack out of me in waves as ferocious as the sea during winters. They rush through my whole body, making me weaker and weaker. Mom used to say that time heals wounds, but this one won’t. It won’t heal or get better. It just seems to get worse. I’ll think about her in my sleep and when I’m awake and when I’m in meetings and I’ll wish and wish for things to be different and they won’t be. They never will. 

A whimper flows from between my lips when a pair of familiar arms wrap themselves around me. And then a head, a head I have known and loved and kissed, sets itself on my back and I let out all the cries I was still holding back. 

“She felt s-so real,” I find myself whispering, breathing in broken puffs of air as my lungs expand alongside the despair within me. I claw at my heart. “I felt her in here. I thought I could hear her laugh. I heard her call my name…”

Her arms tighten their grip on me. She kisses the top of my head, over and over. I can feel her trying not to cry, too, her chest still shaking from the pressure of it. “I know. I know.” 

“It felt so real.” I breathe in again, quieter this time. “All of it.”

YN slips down in front of me, crouching so that we are face to face. One of her arms remains steady and soft on the back of my neck whilst the other finds its way down, and then her hand is touching my face and she is tilting it up so our eyes can meet. 

“Let’s go somewhere,” she suggests, her voice soft and packed with the remnants of sleep. She was up later than I was last night, finishing up a report for work. She couldn’t have slept more than four hours. “You and me.”

“I don’t…” I start to shake my head, but she smiles and pushes my hair back. I fall into her touch, a reminder of the love I still have. A love that has been by my side since I was a kid. “Okay… where?”

“It’s a secret,” she whispers back, and then she leans in to kiss my lips. “Go put on your shoes and I’ll meet you at the door.”

I don’t bother asking her anything else because I know she will not tell me. YN is the best at keeping secrets. If you tell her something, you will never hear her repeat it to someone else. Not ever. For all those years she thought I didn’t love her, her secret-keeping skills had come in handy. Even now, as I sit in the passenger seat and she loads the trunk with our to-go bags, I know her secret is zipped tight. 

I fall asleep barely five minutes into the drive. When I wake up again, it is to the scent of a McDonald’s breakfast, steaming hot coffee, and the sound of pebbles beneath the tires. I lift my head to find the summer house looking back at me.

“Welcome home, Fishie,” YN says, unbuckling her belt and then mine.

I turn my head to stare at her as she steps out of the car. Her, standing in the doorway of our car, I’m more in love than I thought was possible for my heart. Each moment with her feels like finding love again and again. “I’ll get the bags–”

“No,” she shakes her head and tosses me the keys. “You can go and open the door.” 

I do as she says and step out of the door with the keys to the summer house folded in my right palm. My legs are a bit shaky as I step towards it, this home that meant more than my real one in Boston. We were only ever here for the summers, for a few short months every year since before I was even born, but it’s always been the pinnacle of my happiness. I think it became that way for all of us summer kids.

When I take my first step inside, nostalgia collides with my chest. We don’t come to the summer house as much since Mom passed away, and I don’t remember the last time anyone made plans to do so either. All of us – me, YN, Belly, Steven, Conrad, Laurel, and my dad – we were all so busy all the time. Adulthood was just one thing after the next and even though we promised we would keep coming back, holiday work parties and busy summer schedules kept us from doing so. Regret fills me as I walk around the house, taking in everything just as my mother had left it.

Nothing is out of place, not even from the time Belly stayed here and acted as if she didn’t. We all knew she had. Conrad especially. Sometimes, he would ask me if he should go and “surprise” her there and I would get pissed at him for still not being mature enough to fix things with her.

I walk into the kitchen and pull open the curtains, letting morning sun into the kitchen Mom loved so much. All my life, she cooked and baked here every day for us. Laurel hated cooking, but Mom loved it and so it became an unwritten rule that she would cook and her best friend would clean and gather us kids from around town for dinner. 

A thought occurs to me as I push open the last of the curtains. I go to the drawer beneath the kitchen counter, just opposite the stove, and pull out something Mom adored: her yellow Martha Stewart kitchen timer. It was the first thing she had bought for this house on her own after my grandparents passed it down to her and Dad. 

I set the timer to 3:07. Mom’s birthday.

YN walks into the kitchen a moment later. Her smile takes my breath away. Even within all the sadness and fear, one look at her and I know I still have enough of what matters to make this life worth living.

“I put our bags upstairs,” she says, walking over to take a seat on a breakfast chair. There were so many times when we were little that I would find her sitting in this exact same spot next to Belly as my mom told them a story. She would be sipping her tea and the girls would be listening to each word she said like it was a holy book. “Do you want to sleep some more?”

I shake my head. “I think I wanna go surfing.”

YN’s eyes light up. “I’ll go grab our boards.”

A few minutes later, YN and I are in the water. We don’t say anything to each other and we ride the waves over and over until we are too tired to keep going.

Back on the sand with our boards next to us, YN tilts her head and smiles at me, shy and pretty. “Feeling better?”

For a minute, I stare at her and I just take her in. This girl who I met when I was just a kid; a kid who loved swimming and playing pranks on his friends and listening to his mother read on the couch. This girl and her deep brown eyes and her wavy hair and her skin I’ve kissed so many times. This girl who I love more than anyone else in the world.

“Marry me.”

Those gorgeous brown eyes sparkle, and her smile widens. “What…?”

I move closer so I can take her into my arms. I put them around her and bring her into my lap. YN puts her hands on my face, touching me enough to take all my pain away. I lean up and kiss her mouth. And again, I ask her, “Marry me, YN. I don’t have a ring. I don’t have anything except myself. But, marry me and I promise I’ll make you happy until I die.”

YN’s eyes flood with unshed tears as they roam every inch of my face. And then her fingers are softly brushing over my brows and my eyes and my cheeks and my lips. She brings her mouth to mine and whispers, “You already do. You always have.”

I kiss her, smiling as she smiles on my lips, feeling all the love between us as infinite as the waves we are surrounded by.

[pin-crusher2000]

Earth 66

1) What are the Young Titans and New YJ’s own worst nightmares?

2) Building in Question 1, how do they cope with that night terror and try going back to bed, that’s if they can and have to stay up all night?

3) If Robin!Jake was sick and couldn’t patrol that night but Mar’i was away at Tamaran for that night, would Chris and/or Jon take over as Robin for him?

4) Did Jon’s pet dog Ranger ever go on adventures with his owner/friend the way Krypto does with Conner and Chris?

5) speaking of whom, how does Ranger get along with the rest of Jon’s team?

Good questions @paladin-of-nerd-fandom65 :D

1:

Jake: seeing his family die, bludhaven being destroyed, Robert turning evil.

Mar’i: boyfriend Chris dying, seeing herself & mom getting (ahem) “physical” by others, love one’s dying.

Robert: seeing his dads car on fire, with him & his half-sister coming out of the wreck zombified & buring

Irey: seeing her family get killed by Zoom by being too slow.

Jai: seeing the error screen when playing games XD kidding (sort of ;p) I say being powerless & slow watching his family zoom on by.

Lian: having a building crush on her

Cerdian: hmmm a say a group of whale hunters attacking him with harpoons (🤷🏻‍♂️)

Jon Kent: seeing the county he grew up in destroyed, his favorite tree getting set on fire, family dying, & Damian turning into a evil vampire.

Damian: being told by his family that he is worthless

Hunter: seeing his family die, paradise island being destroyed, seeing his mom hurt & chained up by Ares.

Arthur: being hunted down by a demonic Black Manta (who in my universe is a crazy guy who sees everybody as Aquaman, yes everybody XD)

Connor: being replaced by a taller dark skin version of him (get it? No ok XD) I say getting shot at by hundreds of arrows while stuck on those target “signs”

Hector: seeing his parents die in combat or his dad killing his mom.

2: usually telling themselves it’s ok, it’s not gonna happened just a dream; maybe sneaking into their parents/siblings (if they got any) room to sleep with them.

3: sure hmmmmm I say Jon since him & Jake almost look alike, maybe Chris can use his dark powers to make his hair black. Jon & Chris would take pictures of themselves wearing a Robin outfit acting silly (making silly faces, putting their butts at the camera & doing anime poses) & show Jake to cheer him up for not going on patrol.

4: hmmmm yes & no, a bad guy who kidnaps dogs (not a dog catcher) & turns them into coats. Ranger was sadly one of these dogs who got kidnapped after Jon let ranger out to go to the bathroom, but thankfully Jon, as Superboy, tracked down the “Dog Stealer” & stops him & frees ranger & the other dogs.

5: pretty good, he loves sniffing the teams butts especially Arthur’s cause it smells like fish XD (kidding)

Jokes aside Ranger loves Jon’s team.

Note: in my universe Tamaran is gone like Krypton (cause I’m not really a diehard StarFire fan knowing every lore detail) so Kory & her sister are “The Last Daughters of Tamaran” to make things interesting.

Ranger doesn’t really exist in my universe, his role is replaced by Krypto, who is smart enough to act like a normal dog when Jon is growing up before his powers kicked in. (Not hate for ranger, I feel like he ain’t that important, we only saw him in like two different books)

Thanks for the questions! Let me know if you got more! :D

[codenamehazard]

.:Eyes Open:.

[TRIGGER WARNING FOR BLOOD, GORE, BODY HORROR, ARACHOPHOBIA, CREEPY CRAWLIES, THING-LEVEL HORRORS, MENTIONS OF SQUIDGY BITS, GROSS SOUNDS AND VISUALS, MENTIONS OF GUNFIRE]

Chapter 37: Eyes Open

Hey guys! Long time no speak!

I can't believe that the end of the year is upon us once again and it went by in a hurry. I'd like to thank you all of sticking with me through the year, your support means more to me than you will ever know.

We continue on with @one-n-only-cedar's own Ezra Sims dealing with Cole's hot headed attitude and showing him just what he's talking about. Check out InFAMOUS: Equilibrium and tell Cedar Xeno sent you!

Without further ado, let's jump in!

“Here, take a seat.”

The doctor offers as we step into his office, Erza gesturing to one of the two chairs sitting in front of his desk, I let out an annoyed huff. “I’m fine standing, thanks.” I hiss out as Ezra sighs and walks around and sits at his desk. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut. I can see Ezra shuffling some papers around like he’s about to give some damn lecture. Time to cut that off at the pass.

“Okay Funshine bear, before you go yapping on about whatever the fuck. Tell me, why the hell did you pull me aside to tell me something that I already know and not the results of my damn test?” I snarl out as I put my palms on the desk and glare, sparks popping off. Erza sighs while pinching the bridge of his nose before looking at me with that disappointing dad look.

“I can see you’re not one for beating around the bush.” Ezra mutters as he taps the papers and folders on the desk. “First, let me clarify that I didn’t pull you aside to tell you that you’re dangerous. Anyone who isn’t completely off the grid knows that you’re dangerous, even before you became the Beast.” He takes another breath before continuing. “I called you in here to tell you just how dangerous your powers truly are.”

I can’t help but to scoff and roll my eyes. “Right, and what makes this “how” bullshit more important than the results of my damn test?!” I snap. “All I came here for was a physical and a test, that’s it. Not some fucking lecture from a goodie-goodie two-shoes.”

I can see the muscles in the doctor’s jaw tighten as he lets out a breath through his nose, normally I’d get a bit of joy out of getting under somebody’s skin but right now, I just want my damn results so I can uphold my end of the bargain. Without another word, he pulls out three pictures from one of the folders and places two of them on the table.

First one was labeled with my last and first name; looked like some sort of spectrometer result with some very impressive spiking. The second one was labeled “LaVoie, Thomas”, must be Pangolin’s. Ezra set them next to each other and I grimace a bit, a small pit forming in my stomach. Not a match. Damn. Oh well, I got my answer. I could leave right now, but my curiosity got the better of me. “Aight, I’m not a match… So what’s the third picture about?”

Erza, without saying a word, puts down the third picture. I look it over, it’s a perfect match to mine, but the labeling on it has me narrowing my eyes. “Control.” I mutter out. Ezra puts my results and the control results over each-other to drive the point home how much of a match it was. Point for point. “The control signature was taken from the purified Blast Cores we use for the scanners.” Ezra points out in a stern tone. “MacGrath, you don’t just control RFE, you are RFE.”

I can feel the fire in my chest sputter a bit as I stare, gobsmacked at what I am seeing. I’ve always had a feeling that there was something more to those Beast powers than meets the eye, probably even more than John even knew. With just how seamless the transfer happened and how John died after he shirked his powers onto me. The possibility of that very statement being true always lingered in the back of my head, but seeing it in black and white like that? It hits harder than a pissed off bull. I pull up one of the chairs that was originally offered to me and sit down as I even attempt to process yet another information bomb.

As I sit down, the doctor pulls up a small laptop and places it on the desk before turning it so that the screen faces the both of us. With a couple of clicks, a video begins to play. It looked like the battle of Droptown all over again, throngs of Runners and Shamblers running in a mad frenzy as Conduits fight back to defend the border- Oh god, there are MORE of those tumor gorillas?! I recognized their misshapen forms, as they plow through some of the barricades.

They all shared something in common, they were absolutely feral, more so than expected. I look at Ezra, ready to ask for an explanation, but the doctor spoke before I could.

“This was what was going on while you were rampaging around recklessly with your Beast Powers, trying to catch the Jackalope.” Ezra grunts. I just continue to watch as the madness continues to unfold on screen.

“Do you get it now, Cole?” Ezra states, his voice firm and low. “Your Beast powers draw these bastards like moths to a flame.” I can hear him talking, but I wasn’t paying attention as I can’t tear my eyes from the screen as I watch the video turn to look at a couple of Shambler corpses. 

The thin skin on their backs, it starts to… Writhe. Memories of me and my cousin stumbling upon a rotting raccoon body flicker in my mind, remembering how the skin and fur moved and bulged as the maggots underneath fed on the decaying flesh, but this was different. It’s not just wriggling around, it’s bulging and distending. Like something was trying to get out.

There is no sound, but I didn’t need it as I watch the skin of the zombies split and…

Jesus Christ in a handbasket… What are those… THINGS?!

I don’t even… Words can’t truly do justice to describe what the hell I’m seeing. It’s like something from “The Thing.” The viscera seemed to be coming to life, nerves and blood vessels reaching out and even tearing bone off the bodies to give it a scaffolding. The mess of body bits slowly pulls themselves out and reveals what all of that is attached to. Some sort of sack or gland or something. At first these…I don’t think I can even call these things creatures… Are slow and sluggish. I can practically hear the squelches and other sloppy sounds in my head.

As soon these afronts to anatomy were able to lift their saggy gland bodies off the gr- GOD!! They move like those fucking house centipedes but floppier and they are fast!!

I can’t help but to feel nauseous and from the looks of it, the doc ain’t looking too hot either as the video shows those abominations sloppy scuttle towards the Conduits and lunge at them. The other Conduits panic and start shooting at the things before Erza turns the video off.

We both sit in nauseated silence to allow the both of us to recover from the things that I know for damn sure will haunt my nightmares. A merciful respite before the doctor can speak again.

“And that… All of that, how your Beast powers brought those things in droves. That’s not the part that scares me the most, Cole.” The doctor utters, a heaviness giving his words a weight that’s crushing. “The thing that scares me the most? The reason why I pulled you in here…” He pauses to let those words linger before speaking again. “That test? The results not only told me the nature of those powers, but the fact that you haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of them.”

I put my hands onto my head and my elbows on the desk as I just sit there, my head reeling from the nuclear information bomb that was just dropped into my lap and promptly exploded in my face. I know that I’ve been told about the RFE thing by Kestrel and confirmed by Mako and the others, but to see it right in front of me. Proven beyond the shadow of a doubt. Everything now makes perfect sense. Why the Warped when apeshit trying to get to me when I used my Beast-Powers, how the Summoner healed after being blasted with a juice up Hellfire rocket, even the Sparrow-bitch’s radiation hamster-ball makes sense!

For the first time in a long ass time, I feel like I’m starting to get a small inkling of understanding.

As my mind works to sort through this information, I can feel a hissing in my mind. A hunger start to make itself known. Ezra said that what I have on offer is just the tip of the iceberg. That I wasn’t at my peak, I could get stronger. My mind can’t help but to indulge my dark imagination. “Doc says that I haven’t hit my limit yet. My full potential. What the hell is that gonna look like…

…And how do I get there?”

[yurisorcerer]

This took a while to win me over, but it did, and I'm glad it did, although it leaves me in an odd position going forward.

Some context: some friends and I are doing a monthly anime groupwatch starting in November, and since it's almost November I figured I'd get a head start on Tamayura, since the tentative plan is to do both this OVA and both seasons of the TV show and maybe the presumably direct-to-bluray movies as well. That's a fair amount of stuff, so I wanted to get an early start.

As for Tamayura itself, it follows the shy schoolgirl Potte and explores her love of photography. Potte, in particular, is interested in the phenomenon of what are often called ghost orbs over here in the states. She associates them with photos of her late father, thus giving her a personal connection to the phenomenon (which is, evidently, called tamayura in Japanese and is thus also the namesake of this series), and thus giving the show some emotional stakes. (The fact that backscatter artifacts as they're more properly known are a well-explained phenomenon doesn't seem to enter into the equation here. I could be a dick and nitpick this, but that seems like not taking the show on its own terms, and I don't like being that person.)

More generally, she is fascinated with the mysterious nature of photography itself, and this is what propels our plot, such as it is, forward. She spends most of these OVA episodes at least tangentially attempting to find the location where she took a picture of her dad several years back. The ephemerality of the tamayura orbs, and thus the ephemerality of things in general, is a factor here as well. The cycle the series focuses on is thus; experiences become memories, memories can be preserved by pictures, and pictures can in turn drive new experiences, such as our main character group venturing to a particularly scenic hill in the last episode of this OVA. It's a simple thesis, and hardly one unique to this series, but it works well enough, and Tamayura plays it pretty effectively.

On a craft level, it's fitting that a show about photography was able to win me over mostly off the strength of its environments. We have a setting on the border of the suburban and rural here, and the townscape and nature alike are rendered with a grounded timbre that nonetheless imparts them with a little bit of sparkle. If you're the kind of person who gets easily bored by shows like this in which "nothing happens" and much of the focus is on the environment, Tamayura is unlikely to win you over and I can imagine such people finding the show dull. Still, for what it's going for, I think it scores high in these areas.

The character art is pretty nice as well. Done in a very straightforward moe` style, with big eyes and round faces, the show often wobbles its characters around in lightly amusing ways when something funny is happening. It's worth mentioning though that the humor is probably Tamayura's weakest point, most of it is not so much bad as it is simply kind of basic, but there are a couple of moments that *really* don't work and veer close enough to ecchi humor to feel wildly out of place with the rest of the work. Characters are a mixed bag too. Thankfully, Potte herself is great, but some of her friends have very one-note personalities (at least here in the OVA), and one in particular, Norie, is just kind of annoying in a way that actively clashes with the rest of the series. (Of course, I also like some characters a lot, including Potte herself as mentioned, Potte's grandma, and Maon, who mostly communicates by whistling. Give me some context for why the heck she does *that.* There's an interesting story there, I'm sure.)

In any case, these criticisms aside, my biggest question about Tamayura on the whole is what exactly they're going to do for stories as I move into watching the TV series. Potte's quest to find the place she took her father's photograph ends with the end of this OVA, and it's a nice enough ending, a real full-circle moment, that I struggle to think of how we're going to wring 24 episodes out of this. I suppose I'll find out in the coming days.

[kitkatt0430]

A question! What would Tommy Merlyn be like as a dad? This isn't a prelude to a fic, it's just something I've been wondering for a while without finding an answer (and I like reading your character analyses anyway :D)

I think before becoming a dad, Tommy would be worried about being a bad dad. Even with setting aside Malcolm's more genocidal tendencies, he wasn't exactly a great dad. He wasn't ever there when Tommy needed him and didn't present as a particularly great role modal. And Tommy's other role modal as a kid was Robert Queen who was also not the greatest - how many affairs did that man have that we have confirmed? - and Moira was better than them but still... questionable in her parenting choices. His mom died when he was pretty young, so... I think he'd be very nervous about becoming a parent himself.

What if he screws it up?

And the second his first baby is put in his arms, he'd fall in love.

He'd be wanting to do all the thing for his kid(s) that his dad never did for him. Taking pictures all over the place of everything his kid did and probably posting them for his friends and family to see on an app like Tinybeans (a great way to share photos without making them public, especially a bonus when he's a rich, minor local celebrity in Star City). He'd be trying to keep his kids out of the papers and away from publicity as best he can.

The first time his has to ground his kid over something, he probably cries. "I'm being too harsh, I'm a mean, terrible parent." Oliver probably listening over the phone and trying not to laugh at him.

He probably gets super invested in the plots of children's programming - he watches Paw Patrol and loves it. (My nephew loves that show and it really is cute.)

I think he'd want to be the stay at home parent, though he'd pick up something to work on after all the kids are in school all day. Probably involved in volunteer work for the re-opened clinic his mom started. Something where it would be easy for him to take off from if his kids were sick or had school events that needed a parental volunteers.

I think he'd be better at setting boundaries with his kids than Robert and Moira, but he'd also make sure his kids knew that if they call him after curfew drunk or whatever and ask him to come get them. He'd rather they come home safe than yell at them for screwing up. And I can see him also making that offer to some of his kids friends who perhaps don't have attentive parents and the like.

He probably does get called up too, though by his kids or their friends? Doesn't really matter, Tommy's there when those kids need him to be. And really, that's the kind of dad Tommy'd be in the end; the kind of dad he wished he had as a kid.

(I think he'd be silly too, teasing his kids about shouting out 'that's my baby' at their recitals and sports games. And he wouldn't really embarrass them or actually do anything like that, but he wants them to know how proud of them he is and how much he pays attention to their achievements. And he'd be as enthusiastically proud about them passing a hard class with a C as he is of them passing an 'easy' class with an A.)

[tinyinvadr]

Here we go, the final chapter of Psychoborrower (I actually finished a fic yay)! It’s kind of short, but just wrapping things up. I might do a few one shots about Flint’s first week at camp, and then next will be Rhombus of Ruin!

Psychoborrower

Epilogue

I was up early the next morning. Or, early compared to Sasha, at least. He was so tired, he didn’t even make it to bed. He just fell asleep right at his workbench. Though, that wasn’t too out of the ordinary for him. Sometimes I think he works too hard.

Raz showed up in the lab shortly after I woke up. He asked if I wanted to hang out around camp before he had to leave, so of course, I took him up on it. After all, there was a good chance I’d never see him or this place ever again.

After we left the lab, he took notice of my change in mood.

“So… have you decided what you’re gonna do?”

I sighed. “Yeah… Sasha said to think it over and weigh all my options, but I’m really not sure what other choice I have. I’m a monster if I don’t go home and tell them what happened, but… I don’t…”

“You don’t wanna go back there.”

I nodded. It felt horrible and selfish to admit it, but my mind was completely at odds with itself. I didn’t want to hurt my family, but I also didn’t want to sacrifice my happiness and sense of self just to please them.

We both went quiet. Raz didn’t have any ideas, so we silently accepted that this was the way things had to be. I hated to bring his mood down, especially since he was looking forward to having one final fun day at camp without any evil plot to get in the way. And I wanted that, too, but it was hard to even think about having fun when I knew it would all be over in a matter of hours.

My train of thought was disrupted by a sudden blinding flash of light.

“Ugh, the faces you guys made look weird! This can’t go in my scrapbook!”

Lili snuck up on us with a Polaroid camera and took our picture. Why she was expecting it to look good when we were both clearly depressed and she caught us off guard with that flash, I have no idea.

Raz sighed. “We’re not really in the mood right now, Lili.”

“Aw, come on, please? Everyone’s gonna be in it, and you guys are basically the heroes of camp!”

She went on to explain how she always made a scrapbook for her dad every year, since he was the Grand Head of the Psychonauts and liked to keep up to date on the progress of the new generation of psychics.

Then, an idea hit me.

“Lili, this might be a lot to ask since you’re already making one, but could you help me make my own scrapbook to send home to my parents? Maybe if they see how happy I am here, they’ll understand why being psychic is so important to me.”

“Sure! I bet you can convince them if we get everyone at camp involved. We’re all rooting for you, Flint.”

Just as she said that, Bobby passed by behind her.

“I’m not!”

“Shut up, Bobby!” We both snapped.

So, the rest of the day was spent snapping pictures with everyone, and then cutting and pasting them together. Probably the only normal summer camp activity to ever occur at Whispering Rock, and arts and crafts wasn’t even on the schedule.

I was hesitant to interact with the other campers at first, but it was… nice. It finally felt like I was a regular kid for once. Of course, I was right about them having a lot of questions, but Raz and Lili were great about moving things along and keeping me from getting too overwhelmed by all the attention.

We were almost finished with the scrapbook when all of the campers were called to the reception area. Coach Oleander wanted to publicly apologize to everyone and thank Raz and I for setting him straight. I had confidence he could turn things around for himself. At the end of the day, he really wasn’t a bad person at heart.

He invited us to join him on the stage, and Ford took over from there.

“I would like to take a moment to recognize the accomplishments of two very promising students here. Against all odds, they were able to put aside their differences, face their fears, and use their powers for the greater good. Here at Whispering Rock, we teach our students to strengthen their minds. But the true marker of a Psychonaut in the making is strength of heart. You both have gone above and beyond these past few days, and it’s for that reason that I’d like to ask you something we don’t normally offer to campers…”

I held my breath. I knew what was coming, but I was still in disbelief. Then, any remaining doubts I had left disappeared when Ford held out two uniforms, one of which was perfectly scaled to fit me.

“Would you like to join the Psychonauts?”

Neither of us could contain our excitement. We were both practically jumping up and down, and it’s a miracle I didn’t end up falling off Raz’s shoulder. Everything I’d been working towards finally paid off, and it felt better than I ever could’ve imagined.

Not only was I finally being recognized as a true Psychonaut, but I felt like I finally found my place in the world. I had friends, a family, even, and they accepted every part of me. The borrower me, the psychic me, and just me in general. I had nothing left to hide, and that feeling is something I will never let myself forget.

“In that case, let’s all welcome the newest members of the Psychonauts, Razputin Aquato and Flint Loveseat!”

All of the campers clapped and cheered for us, but underneath it, I noticed Raz chuckle.

“Loveseat?”

“You’re one to talk, Aquato.”

Later that day, Lili finished up the scrapbook, and left me to look through it with Phoebe. Given the fact that I was born and raised in the walls of her house and I hitched a ride with her to camp, I figured it would make sense for her to bring the book home to my parents.

“Wow… so you’re saying we basically grew up together and I didn’t even know it? That makes you like my little brother!”

“Ah, big brother. I’m older.”

“Yeah, but you’re littler.”

“Fine, fine. Just… I don’t know how my parents are gonna react. When you’re showing them the scrapbook, make sure to keep calm, and take things at their pace, okay?”

“Of course, Flint. I really hope this works out.”

Suddenly, Sasha and Milla levitated over to us.

“Flint, darling, do you have a moment?”

I nodded, climbing onto Milla’s hand. Phoebe waved goodbye, taking the book and running off to the camp bus stop.

Sasha paused, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. I could tell this was serious.

“Grand Head Zanotto has been kidnapped. We’re leaving to locate and rescue him as soon as possible.”

“Oh no… Where do you think he is? Did you tell Lili yet? What should I do while you’re gone? What if-”

“We were going to ask you to come with us. You are a Psychonaut now, after all, and you and Razputin did just save all of our brains.”

“Of course, it’s perfectly alright if you need a break. We just wanted to offer.” Milla added.

This was it. My first official mission. Came up a lot sooner than I thought it would, but I wasn’t one to complain. It was a brand new day, and a brand new adventure was about to begin.

“Count me in!”

So, we met up with Raz and Lili to debrief them, and we all got into the jet to head off on our search for Truman Zanotto. Coach Oleander joined us, too, though Ford had to stay behind. His mobile psitanium supply wore off, causing his mind to revert to its shattered state.

Milla passed me over to Raz as she and Sasha took their seats at the front, and soon, we were ready for takeoff.

“See? I told ya we’d be Psychonauts together.”

I sighed. “You just love being right, don’t you?”

“C’mon, you’re glad I was right!”

If it were any other day, I’d fire a million snarky comments back at him. But not this time.

“Yeah… I really am.”

[corvusalbus93]

How The Bad Batch Might End

So, as I’ve been writing Aftermath, I came up with a few ideas as to how the show might end. And it could be with season 3.

Now, most thought that getting Crosshair out would be the season finale, but now I think the Siege or Assault of Mt. Tantiss is actually going to be the show’s big finale.

Hunter, Echo and Wrecker are just not going to be able to get in on their own, they need help. I could picture season 3 mostly being about them gathering information and allies, aside from a few episodes focused more on what’s happening inside that base.

Also, with all the other clones kept there as test subjects, Rex and his network surely want to get in there as well. That was pretty much the original reason Echo returned in the first place; he was trying to find out where the Empire shipped those prisoners to.

So, I predict a team-up between the Bad Batch and Rex’s clones to get into Tantiss, get everyone out…and along the way they might try to kill Hemlock and destroy his work.

We already have Crosshair and Omega inside, and with a bit of luck…Tech (if he indeed survived and was taken by Hemlock). They might be able to get information out, commit sabotage or cause distractions when the attack commences. And who knows, maybe Emerie Karr and Nala Se will have a part as well, even if it’s just to spite Hemlock and the Empire in Nala Se’s case.

I also like to think that at some point the entire Bad Batch is going to be reunited. Think about it: during the entire run of the show, the Batch was only together in the first episode, splitting up in the end. This is also a reason why I assume Tech is alive, because we’re gonna get everyone together for the final battle of the show or something. Maybe there will be permanent deaths in the main cast, but…we had them together for the beginning, and they should get them together again at least one last time before the end of the show.

I’m almost certain Hemlock will be killed in the very end and at least some of his work will be lost (not all, considering what we see in the Mandalorian, but enough to set the Empire back). I could picture the Empire bombing Mt. Tantiss once they lost control, or try to take it back, but I’m sure some clones like Rex will make it out in the end. The survivors part ways, either going into hiding, continuing the fight, etc.

If some or all of the Bad Batch make it, maybe they can finally settle on Pabu, either to lay low or permanently. Would give Tech and Phee a chance to finally work things out…look I just want one romantic relationship in Star Wars, involving a main character, that doesn’t end in tragedy. Seriously, my reaction to romance in Star Wars shouldn’t be “Oh no. One of them is so dead.”, which it kinda of is at this point. Anyway, getting off topic.

It’s also possible we end with a flashforward, kinda like in Rebels. I could picture a now older/adult Omega going to join the newly formed Rebel Alliance.

She’s seen what the Empire is doing, has been a victim herself and Pabu is a safe haven for refugees, was even before the Empire continued to oppress various planets. And she always wanted to help anyone they crossed paths with throughout the show.

We can have Crosshair join her; he seems like he would have some trouble settling into a peaceful life and he would probably want some payback…also it’s his turn to be space-dad, in season 3 as a whole really. And it would be kinda nice, after she always asked him to come back/join them in the previous seasons and now he’s going with her, even if he’s visibly ageing.

Anyhow, those are just my wild thoughts at this point in time.

[dandelion-wings]

Yet again having a Day, and thus indulging myself again with more baby!Bennett and Kaeya. I continue to struggle with writing children, but it helps to practice, right?

---

ETA: Now available on AO3.

---

Once Kaeya seems to be recovering enough to sit up and talk to his dads, Bennett finally lets some of his other dads take him to check on the changes they've made to his room.

"So your bed is left of the window, and Kaeya's will be on the right," one of his dads says, pointing out the changes in the furniture. "And Max is building another set of shelves for Kaeya, but for now, you'll have to share. Which might mean moving some of your toys. I thought we could get rid of some of the older broken ones…?"

"But they're all broken," Bennett protests. "And I want to have them to play with."

"The cart and horse Max made you this summer seemed fine when I was looking at them."

"If you pick it up and tilt it any, the wheels fall off. Which is fine," Bennett adds hastily, because his dad is starting to take on a familiar look of distress. "It's still fun to play with, I just gotta keep it on the ground!"

"How about we take the most-broken ones away for now instead, and Max can fix them? By the time they're fixed, Kaeya will have his own shelves, and they'll fit back on yours."

Bennett considers that. There rarely seems much point in asking for his toys to be fixed; they'll just break again, and then whoever fixed them will feel bad. But he wouldn't mind some of them working better for a little while, even if they are going to break. "That works. Can I pick which ones get fixed?"

"Of course." His dad relaxes, smiling, and crouches down with Bennett to help him pick out the toys he most wants to have work right for a while.

Aside from that, Bennett doesn't have any complaints. He looks around his room and imagines Kaeya in the other bed, listening to one of their dads tell a bedtime story of his adventures, and has to wriggle in anticipation. It's going to be great to have someone around his age--well, closer to his age than his dads--in the Guild. If he's living here, sharing Bennett's room and his dads, he'll have to like Bennett, won't he? He won't push him away the like the other kids in Mondstadt do whenever his bad luck manifests. He'll be family, the way Bennett's dads are, and family cares about him no matter whether his luck is good or bad. His dads promise him that all the time.

When they get back to his dad's room where Kaeya has been staying, a healer from the cathedral is just coming out. She smiles and assures Bennett and his dad that Kaeya is recovering nicely, and is cleared to get out of bed and walk around as long as he keeps it to short distances. Which means, Bennett's dad assures him before Bennett can even open his mouth to ask, that they can go ahead and show Kaeya his new bedroom.

Kaeya is already out of bed, and he only goes stiff and startled for a second when Bennett runs up and hugs him before he relaxes and puts his arms around Bennett. "I was wondering where you'd gotten off to."

"I was checking on my room! Our room," Bennett corrects himself. "My dads got it ready for you! Mostly. Do you want to see?"

"Go along, kiddo," one of his dads says, ruffling Kaeya's hair. "It'll be a good first walk for you."

"Come on!" Bennett grabs Kaeya's hand and drags him towards the door.

As they step into his room, he looks up at Kaeya, suddenly anxious. What if Kaeya thinks his room is too little or too childish, or he gets mad about the patched-up blankets, or the pictures askew on the wall, or all the broken toys on his shelves? They're all great, of course, but Bennett knows sometimes people look at the state of his things and decide that it says something about his dads. Kaeya looks around with his eye narrowed, thoughtful, and Bennett's gut clenches.

Then he looks down and smiles. "I really get to share with you?"

"Of course you do!" Bennett beams back in relief. "This is my bed, and this is yours, and here's the closet. Dad's going to take you shopping, but until then a few of my dads dug up some old clothes, okay? And Dad's building you shelves of your own, but until then, you can use this half of mine! We made space."

"You didn't have to. It's not as if I have anything to put on them," Kaeya says, and then he chuckles, like it's funny, while the bottom drops out of Bennett's stomach all over again. Because of course Kaeya doesn't have anything to put on them--he doesn't have anything at all. So his shelves are going to be uneven and empty until he gets books and toys and mementoes to put on them, and that seems desperately unfair.

Bennett lets go of Kaeya's hand to rush over to the shelves, scanning his half carefully. His mementoes from his dads are special, and he wants to keep them, and he doesn't really want to share his favorite books or toys. But some of them aren't favorites, and it's okay if he doesn't share his favorites and just shares those, right? Kaeya doesn't have any, so even the less-fun ones are better than nothing. Bennett pulls down a couple of the more boring books and picks up a set of cracked and wobbly knights that he's never really played with and moves them over onto Kaeya's empty shelves.

"You can have those," he says, and immmediately feels bad, because the knights are wobbly--one falls over as he watches, no longer propped up amid the other toys--and the books are boring, and it's not really noble to share if he's not sharing his good things, is it?

But Kaeya says, "Oh," in a small, soft voice, and when Bennett looks back, his eye is wide, and he looks wondering, like he's been offered ice cream on a hot day, or a chance to practice with a real sword, instead of some of Bennett's crummiest things. "That's- is that okay? They're your toys."

"It's okay! Here," Bennett says, feeling even guiltier and reaching for the horse and cart. "This one's more fun, so I guess you can have it, too."

Kaeya gives him a long, thoughtful look. "No, you keep that one. If I want to play with it, we can play with it together, right?"

Together, like his dads do when they have the time, not like the other kids who tell him that he can't touch their toys and that they don't want to play with his broken ones. Bennett feels the guilt and unfairness tangled in his chest evaporate into something light, and he grins up at Kaeya. "Yeah! Do you want to play now?"

"Sure. You'll have to show me how, though. I'm not familiar with these sorts of toys."

Which is sad, and Bennett's chest hurts a little--maybe that's why he'd looked so amazed by just the knights--but that feeling is quickly overwhelmed by excitement. Bennett grabs the cart and the horse, careful as he can be with the strings between them, and drops down onto the floor to set them up. "Get your knights, and I'll get my adventurer and my slimes, and we can do a caravan ambush! Dad told me about one he was in, so I know how they go."

"Okay." Kaeya takes his knights and kneels down by the cart while Bennett bounces back up for the slimes.

He nearly steps on the cart as he goes for them, but Kaeya manages to snatch it out of the way, and Bennett feels himself smiling even as he apologizes. Kaeya wants to play with him. Maybe it's just because Bennett gave him the toys, but he does want to, and Bennett gets to show him how. He just has to make it enough fun that Kaeya will want to do it again. Want to play with him again, and want to stay, and want to keep sharing a room, and want to be family, just like his dads. Bennett doesn't mind sharing any of it, his room or his toys or his dads or the Guild, if he can get Kaeya to stay and be family with them.

[fizzingwizard]

personal

My dad's shared a thing on Facebook which is about relationships, and how they aren't all heart eyes and rainbows all the time, and it takes more than just luck to make them last, it takes real commitment and understanding... All good so far.

My problem with it is it lists certain things couples in strong relationships do: compromise, overlook faults, forgive each other, endure problems.

All STILL good with me... if only it took care to mention as well something like "face one's own shortcomings" "divide the load fairly" "make an effort for each other's sake."

I know from watching my parents that just suffering together, because of each other, isn't enough to make a relationship last. Granted, my mom did a lot more of the compromising and overlooking of faults - my dad didn't bend on a lot, and he didn't often have anything to forgive my mom for.

But the thing is, my mom stayed married to him for over 25 years. The last ten, she told me, weren't great. The divorce was coming. However, she never knew it until the last moment - the moment when she finally decided. Before then, she always forgave, always overlooked, and endured endured endured.

When she decided to end it at last, she STILL gave my dad one last chance: she asked him to take her on a date. She wasn't expecting fireworks and the keys to the city. Just to be treated with attention, and made to feel wanted.

Well, my dad showed up for the date... And that's about all he did. There was no effort. It seemed like just another night. So she realized, this is what the future will be like if I stay with him. He's not going to change.

She put up with so much over the years. She wasn't a total pushover - she DID ask for help. My dad would always make an attempt at it... I can't really call it making an effort though. He would do whatever it was up to his standards, which could be pretty low, never to hers, which were NOT unreasonably high.

It's very important to see each other as flawed individuals and love each other in spite of our faults. But if you overlook every fault, out of love, and the other person doesn't take into consideration how their faults hurt you, then you'll just go on hurting indefinitely. That's what I'm saying. People can't change certain things, but other things they can, or at least they can figure out a new system or way to ensure their weak points aren't so crushingly heavy on their partners.

At home, my dad had an office. It was very small. But it was all his. It was covered in his stuff: train sets, Beatles paraphernalia, pictures of his youth. He had a keyboard and a computer and his guitar and he would make music in there, or watch TV, for hours and hours, only coming out to eat dinner. Meanwhile, my mom didn't have any space for herself. Why couldn't she have their bedroom? Well, because my dad insisted on a very large bed. In his defense, he's a big guy. But I'm not kidding when I say that aside from that bed, there was barely enough room for one person to shimmy in and out of the room. It was NOT my mom's space, and she often didn't even sleep in it because of my dad's snoring (OR his white noise machine).

We all knew my mom wanted her own space. She told us. We had a basement that was mostly finished and didn't get used that much, so she decided to make herself a space down there. What my dad should have done was prioritize that. My mom hadn't had any space to herself at all since having kids - we were teens by then and my parents had owned the house for a few years. She worked and took care of us and did the errands and cooked the meals and and and... My dad pretty much just went to work and came home most of the time. (Not to make him sound lazy: he also did the mowing, maintenance work around the house and most of the driving. The thing is the stuff my mom did was daily. His was extras that cropped up only at certain times.) It should have been obvious to my dad that my mom didn't only deserve her own space, she needed it. But he left it to her. Meanwhile, various things going on, house renovations, etc, meant that making my mom's space got pushed back and back and back, and the available space as well got smaller and smaller. In the end all she had was a desk in the wide open basement that anyone could come to any time, whereas my dad's office had its own door.

It's stuff like that which gets me. It would have been an act of love to notice your partner needs something and help them get it. But to my dad, it was no different than my mom saying she wanted a manicure: just for fun, and while of course he supported her in it, it was totally on her to go and get.

We kids followed my dad's example in regards to my mom. When she was upset, he would line us up and make us listen to her yell and cry. This didn't happen often (years later she blamed PMS, and after said migraines - honestly though I think it was just way too much cumulative stress and no support). But when it did, the idea was pretty much just for us to listen to her. And then nothing would change. At first we could say it was because my dad had a full time job and was tired enough himself. But he lost the job and never really had one after that. He was just home. And then it was, well, he's depressed. But it continued even when he got pretty comfortable. My dad is interesting in that he can be very sentimental and reflective at times, but always has a strong enough self-love to power through. (This describes me too. It's an aspect of myself I like and am grateful for. But, as much as I do love my dad, I also really, really struggle with every way I resemble him.) And we are talking many years here, during which time my brother's mental health collapsed too, and my dad didn't help by always getting in fights with him. My mom wound up supporting my dad and my brother pretty much by herself. She did her best to support me too. But I was at college and tried hard to just not need support.

My dad definitely was capable of doing more for my mom the whole time. He just didn't. His life was comfortable and convenient, and he considered it her job to make sure, if she needed something, she would ask for it. But when she did ask, it led to nothing, or only an attempt at it. (I'll never forget the year he got her a snuggie for Christmas and she was like -___- and I gave her jewelry I picked out while considering her style and she liked it so much that he got jealous :P) At that point, in his eyes, it was her job to not only ask for things, but to make sure he knew just how much she wanted it. Like there are degrees to requests from your partner. I mean, sure, "I'm having a heart attack and need to be rushed to the hospital" is definitely more pressing than "I need more help with housework." But that housework request still isn't something you can just ignore until your partner starts nagging (aka having the audacity to ask you again for what you didn't do the first time around), in which case you worm out of it or do as little of it as possible... I mean come on.

I so wish that as a kid I'd had more clarity about my parents' relationship. But they said everything was okay, and I didn't know how any other relationships looked, so I just believed them. My mom of course didn't want to bad mouth my dad to me. But I wish she would have been more honest while I was at least high school age. I loved both my parents and couldn't pick a side, but I could have been more understanding of how difficult it was for my mom on a daily basis. My mom is too nice to have said anything that would make me resent my dad. Not to mention, my dad, although he has many good points, is also perfectly good at making people resent him all by himself.

So yeah. Love is forgiving and enduring and all that. But it's NOT just getting steamrollered by a partner who says "Love is accepting me exactly as I am."

Geez, another memory: My brother was having a bad day during the worst years of his mental health problems. I guess he was 18 or 19 then. I was home from college for Christmas. I had spent every day listening to him and how he talked to us all, especially to my mom, who only ever supported him. I had been reading Captain Awkward religiously, trying to learn how to support my brother, while also supporting my parents, and not be ignorant. I told my mom about a Captain Awkward post that talked about letting your loved one with mental illness know how their treatment of you is affecting you in a loving and understanding manner. It pretty much said, being supportive isn't the same as being a doormat. I mean this stuff lasts years - decades. Getting angry and blaming the person who is going through so much is never the way, but there were some example phrases that could be used to try to meet in the middle and create some peace for a while. Well, I convinced my mom to try it. I heard everything she said to my brother. Her voice was low, gentle, and not accusing. My brother shouted so loudly it made me jump all the way in the other room, and send my mom racing down the hallway in shock. My brother came after roaring about how no one understood him or cared about him. For him, that's where he was at, I guess. He's doing much better now, and we've loved him and have been proud of him the whole time.

But. Please think of my mother. Who was going through that sort of thing constantly, without so much as an apology. She's given her heart, her time, and even her money to take care of her family whenever we were in need, and she really never got anything much back. Even me, although I've been one of the fortunate ones not to have mental illness, and to be able to take of myself for the most part. I used to dream of making some money and sending my mom on the trip to Italy she's always dreamed of. I have no money. I chose to teach pre-K like an idiot. I love it but the salary is peanuts and no one's had a raise in ten years. And I lost so much of my savings just paying off student loans. It'll take a miracle to get me to a point of financial stability where I'm able to do that kind of nice thing for my mom while she's still independent and able to go do it. As a teenager I didn't understand why money was so important, because I had no idea how much of it you need just to get by, let alone have any extras. And I developed a personality that is just the worst possible for selling anything. I can't even sell my school lol. I can't lie at all. If I think something is stupid I can't hide it. In that way I'm my own worst enemy every single day.

I'm making myself upset now :P

[supernaturalkickparty]

Gonna rant

Ok so about 2 or 3 weeks ago we were coming back from Portland and we went to grab some stuff from the store and my mom wanted to walk the pier.

Well someone caught a dogfish and I was gonna take a picture of it and toddler wouldn't give me my phone and I was like meh next time.

Cue to us leaving and my child being exhausted, overstimulated, and just straight up losing his shit.

I had a hard time but I go him in the carseat and we were able to leave. He cried the entire drive home and I asked if he wanted to watch a show on my phone, he was still crying but said yeah. I gave him my phone and it bought me all of 5 minutes before all hell broke loose again.

He threw my phone to the front of the car and it hit the middle gear shift thing and it put the car in neutral while my mom was driving 75 on the highway. Since then she's had issues with the car and I paid for half the part they needed.

She got the car back 2 days ago and needed a new tire because since the incident everything has been mine and toddlers fault.

Mainly my fault- i should have been sitting in the back with him, why did I give him my phone, he's autistic and its my fault for not having a handle on him, its not him it's me because i don't things right and it's been on and on and today the car smells like gas whenever she drives it and that's my fault too and she's been so fucking passive aggressive I'm so tired of it. I'm too old for this shit.

I've tried to save to get us out of here and she makes it so fucking difficult, we've paid for part of my sister's wedding, we've paid for my mom to get stuff for herself for thewedding, we've helped her catch up on the house bill and we pay rent too but anytime i have something set aside she gives me a sob story of them not being able to pay for this or that and then she has her nails done and her nails ain't cheap. She pays like almost 70 for her nails.

This environment is so fucking toxic its driving me to the point I want to end my life and I'm so fucking tired of her thinking she can be a better parent to my child.

I need an out and I'm desperate to see if next time we save money if we can try talking to them at government housing and I can see if they'll move me up on the spot or what I'm so tired of walking on eggshells

My bio dad was physically abusive and she's emotionally and mentally abusive and don't fucking see what a narcissistic person she is.

[itisannak]

Car Sex (Luke Hemmings Smut)

Summary: Luke and (Y/N), both college students, living with their parents, have to get creative to find some alone time. (Smut / Unprotected Sex /  Penetrative Sex / Public Sex / Creampie) (Words: 5.4k) (Request)

"Be back by 11:30." My dad shouts as I run down the stairs, heading to the door. "The movie ends at 12." I remind him, sighing over how strict he becomes when he knows I am going out with Luke. "12 it is then." He replies, peeking at me from his armchair. "I don't have classes tomorrow... And teleportation had yet to be invented last time I checked." I point out, crossing my arms before my chest. "Smarty-pants. If he brings you home a minute after 12:30, you are grounded." My dad tries to sound tough, but he is a big softie. I rush to him, leaving a peck on his cheek before strutting out of the door.

Luke has been waiting long enough in the car, longer than I would have the patience to wait for someone without pressing my hand on the horn. I did not expect to see him inside the parked pick-up park, but here I am, opening the passenger door to join him inside. "Wow, that is a first..." I comment, pressing my lips together to stop my laughter as soon as I am in. I just picture him as a hillibilly, chewing on a hay straw, and the mental image is enough to make me double over in laughter. "Shut up. My brother lent me it for the night." He explains, pulling out of the driveway. "Why does your brother have a truck?" I ask, pulling the seatbelt to fasten myself. "He works in constructions." He replies, turning his head for a quick peck on my forehead. "Right." I mumble. "What time does your curfew start?" He asks me, shifting the gears. "I have to be home at 12.30, not a minute later. It still fucks me up that I still have a curfew at 19 and you don't." I groan, crossing my arms. Luke shrugs, having a charming little smirk decorating his lips. "My parents had enough of setting rules for disobeying teenagers with my brothers, so I guess I had it easy, they never bothered placing one." He comments as I prop my elbow against the window's frame, supporting my head as I look at him. "There is no way your mother is that elastic with you. I had chills every time I walked into her class in high school." I really do exasperate, earning a laugh from Luke. I love it when he laughs; his face brightens up, and his dimples make him really irresistible, along with the crinkles around his eyes. I reach over, stroking a messy curl with my fingers, before pushing it off his forehead. "She is much chiller when you get to know her." He replies, resting his hand on my thigh. "I guess you are right." I sigh, feeling jittery at the way he touches me. "Pity I will have to take you home straight after the movie. I was hoping for some more time with you." He says in a low voice, almost like he fears getting heard. "It has been too long since the last time we had more time together." I reply. It would be a lie if I said I am not actively craving him. I still dream of his touch, the way he kissed me last time, the way he moved against me. "To be clear, I am talking about having sex." He explains and I chuckle, throwing my head back. "I am talking about having sex too, Luke." I reply, making him hum, pleased by my response. "We gotta do something about the housing situation." He sounds determined, which is just hilarious at this point. "Well, we are broke, college students who can only afford to live with their parents. I don't know if there is much we can do about it at this point." I reply, while his hand squeezes my inner thigh. "I am just... I just need more of you." He groans and I hum, feeling my stomach tighten at his words. "Can we talk about the movie? This is becoming... A little too intense for me." I bite my bottom lip, running my fingers through my hair. "Of course. They are showing the Texas Chainsaw Massacre." He states, letting his touch linger for a little longer before he removes his hand. I press my thighs together, trying to relieve some of the tension between them. It is hard for me to take my mind off Luke being inside me, kissing me, touching me, even with the prospect of watching a movie about cannibalistic psychopaths. "Why do you always pick horror movies for date night?" I groan, nudging his shoulder. "Because you always leave me in charge. And because the gore is the only thing stopping me from fantasizing about you." He replies, taking my hand in his and bringing it to his lips. "You fantasize about me?" I ask, feeling the tingly sensation making its way back. "All the time. My thoughts are just a never-ending movie of things I want to do with you... of things I want to do to you. And I am just trying to find ways to just pause that movie for a while." He admits. "Is the movie playing right now?" I ask, flushing as I wait for him to tell me. "You wanna know?" He asks and I nod at him, knowing my eyes are glistening with excitement. "Right now it shows the scene where it is Sunday morning, and we have just woken up, naked in bed. And I am just taking you in, in all your glory." He replies. "You are definitely giving me the PG-13 version right now." I point out and he shrugs. "I am keeping some of the good stuff for a little later." He winks at me, causing me to bite the inside of my cheek.

We purchase some popcorn and sodas from the drive-through kiosk before Luke finds the spot we are supposed to park. The back of the pick-up truck is facing the screen, which means we will have to get out of the car and climb onto the back. "I really want to see you try to get in the back, wearing that dress." Luke comments, picking up the snacks and getting out of the car. "I know you want to peek under my skirt, but gosh, don't be so obvious about it." I chuckle, hopping off the car. Luke waits for me in the back of the truck, holding his connected palms low, so I can step on them and go up the cargo bed. "You are a true gentleman..." I comment, leaving a peck on his cheek, before I step on his hands and he boosts me up. "Need help?" I ask him once I land just right. "I got it. Lay the blanket I have in there. And move the snacks, I don't want to knock them." He instructs, stepping onto the rim under the taillights. I hold the snacks tight as he steps in, dusting himself off. "This is actually nice." I admit, laying one of the blankets for us. "See? That will teach you not to laugh at me before you see my intentions." He comments, sitting down on the blanket, with his back against the divider. "You should be happy I am laughing. It means you make me happy." I reply and he hums. I take a seat between his thighs, leaning my head back on his shoulder, bringing my lips to his neck for a soft peck. "I promise to hold you tight at the scary parts." I whisper, knowing that I will spend the entirety of this movie with my face buried in his chest. "I will hold you up to that." He chuckles, leaving a peck on my forehead.

The night chill proves I am a fool for wearing a frilly little dress for the night screening. But luckily, Luke has predicted that and has brought a second blanket along, which now is covering our laps. "You look mighty cute in the cinema lights." Luke whispers, stroking my hair softly. "You are supposed to be focusing on the movie, not me." I laugh, trying to keep my voice low so I don't bother the rest of the viewers. "You are far more interesting than any movie." He replies, turning my head to plant a kiss on my lips. I smile against his lips, parting my mouth so he can slip his tongue past my lips. His hand softly grazes my face, and I then decide to turn around and straddle his lap. "You can't do that to me." He groans, throwing his head back. That gives me access to his neck, which I take advantage of and trail with kisses. "Why not?" I ask, pouting at him. "(Y/N), please... This is torturing. It has been too long since we had sex. I am craving you, and this is not helping me." He replies, while my hands move to his hair. "I am craving you too. I need you." I whine, earning a sigh. "I need you too. But we don't have the time nor the place to do that." He replies, and I shake my head. "What about right here, right now?" I ask, making him tilt his head and look at me, with eyes glazed in excitement. "You mean...?" "Who's going to see us? And don't say the movie is more interesting than me..." "Fuck the movie." He groans, bringing his hand to trace my thigh, stopping on the hem of my dress. "I'd rather you fuck me." I reply, earning a smirk from him. "This is risky." He comments and I shrug. "You love it, don't you?" I ask and he hums. He throws the lap blanket aside, laying me with my back on the blanket laid on the floor of the cargo bed. "You will have to be very quiet..." He states, stroking my cheek softly. "You are the one to talk..." I mumble before he leans down to kiss me.

He clumsily fumbles with the lap blanket, covering us for a mock discreteness, even though we both know a blanket will do nothing. He roams his hands from my face to my sides and then retires them on my thigh. I prop my leg up, wrapping it around his waist. "You are so soft." He moans against my mouth, squeezing my thigh softly. My lips curl into a smile, feeling goosebumps crawl onto my skin. "Oh shit." He groans, making me look at him with a furrow on my brow. "What? What happened?" I ask, watching as his face twists in frustration. "Condoms are in the glove compartment. I have to go back in the car." He groans, throwing his head back. "It is ok... We don't need one." I state, feeling my core becoming warm at the thought of him sliding inside me bare. "Are you sure about this?" He asks me and I nod. "It is not a risky day. I need you." I almost beg, causing him to chuckle at me, as his hands work his pants to free his cock. "I will just... Push your panties aside... No one will know what we are doing." He mutters, spreading my legs more, propping them around his waist. Blindly and clumsily, he tries to line up his tip to my entrance. The only lights come from the light poles around the parking space, and of course, the projector playing the movie, so there is almost only darkness surrounding us. Luke finally manages to slip inside me, moving slowly so the car doesn't rattle and bring any suspicion on us. "Shit, you feel good." He whispers by my ear, planting a peck on my earlobe. He buries his face in my neck, nibbling on my skin as he begins rocking his hips on mine. It takes me a moment to get my mind off the catastrophic thought that we are going to get caught, but the moment the first moan slips from his lips, I feel chills crawl down my spine. "Oh, God." I mumble, finally feeling his cock stretching me, with each thrust making me wetter and wetter. "Shh, we have to be quiet, remember?" He playfully reminds me, passing his tongue over the spot he was sucking on a second ago. "Buzzkiller." I whisper, but it soon turns into a gasp as he thrusts his whole cock inside me, making me pulse around him. I have to bring my hand to my mouth as Luke backs out and thrusts in again, this time with more force than before. I bite onto my palm, preventing myself from making a sound as Luke tries to find a rhythm for us. We both know this cannot last as long as the last time did; in contrast to the time we stayed up all night fucking, we will now have to be done in less than 10 minutes. "The way you take my cock is going to be the death of me." He mumbles as I buck my hips up to meet his thrusts, trying to find an angle for his cock to hit my spot. Luke groans softly, placing a hand under the small of my back to support me. "We are fucking under the stars." I giggle softly, squeezing myself around him. "I am going to find us a house, I promise you that." He slams his hips on mine, making the car move a little. "Careful." I groan, but the way he is rocking his hips on mine makes my mind fuzzy around the edges. We have to pray the people around us are too focused on the movie, or else we are putting on a show for them. Luke brings on hand from under my back to my cheek, touching it softly. "You feel so good around me, baby." He says raspily as I move my hips in a soft circle. The top of his cock brushes against my clit and I feel myself tighten around him. I muffle a whimper, closing my eyes tightly to focus on anything else but the way he feels inside me. "I can feel you here." I grab his hand and let it press on my lower stomach, right at the nook where I feel the impact of his thrusts. Luke strokes his thumb over that spot, giving me a slow, deep thrust, looking mesmerized by the way my stomach inflates and falls as he fucks me. His hand travels under my dress, heading straight to my breasts, cupping them and stroking his thumbs over my nipples. I whimper and shudder, bucking my hips against his and taking his cock more inside me. "You are going to fuck yourself on my cock, princess?" He asks cockily, pinching my nipple between his fingers, pulling at it sadistically slow. "Will you fill me up, daddy?" I ask him back; two can play this game. I can see his eyes sparkle at my question, even in the dark night. "Shit, (Y/N)... I am going to cum..." Luke groans by my ear, making me tighten around him in surprise. "Cum, please. I want to feel all of you inside me..." I groan, my mind becoming clouded by my need for him. "But you are not there yet..." Luke protests. "You have a mouth, don't you?" I ask him, heaving for breath. Luke chuckles and looks at me amused, before slamming his hips on mine, pinning me down to ravage me. Luke brings his face to my neck, muffling himself by biting onto my skin. I gasp in shock, the slight sting of pain sending waves of electricity down my body. "I am going to fucking wreck you... I am going to fucking ruin you for everyone else. You are mine... Just mine. " He groans, gluing his hips on mine as he cums, hissing as he reaches his high. It takes him a moment of grunting and breathing funny before he cups my face and kisses me harshly. "I am going to make you feel good, princess. I promise." His voice is still heavy and groggy from his orgasm, and he sounds so chillingly sexy, contrasting the loud chainsaw buzzing that goes off every couple of minutes in the movie.

He parts from my lips and slides down my body, spreading my legs more and fixing himself between my thighs. He traces my slit softly, watching me as I still pulse from the loss of contact. He uses his fingers to part my lips, revealing my entrance and my clit to him. He wastes no time lapping up his tongue on my sex, moaning as he tastes us mixing together. I smile to myself and look up at the night sky, taking in the pretty little stars as Luke curls his tongue on my entrance, gathering the pooling wetness and his cum on the tip of his tongue. He brings the tip to my clit, teasing it in slow, agonizing circles, making me jolt at every single one of them. Once he sees I am teased to a sufficient level for his liking, he wraps his lips around my clit, suckling on it hungrily. My breath gets caught in my lungs and I am baffling between bringing my hand to my mouth to stop any sounds from escaping or tangling my fingers in his hair, pulling at his locks, and guiding his mouth where I need him. "Luke..." I whine, messing my fingers in his hair, contrasting the intensity that courses through my body with the softness of his curls. Luke hums in approval, flicking his tongue against the head of my clit. I press my lips together and roll my hips in the air as my orgasm explodes inside me, spreading on my body. I try my hardest not to make a sound, nor move too much that the car squeaks. Luke moves up from between my thighs after he fixes my panties over my core. He leans in, kissing my lips softly. I realize that I have been smiling since I hit my orgasm, but only after Luke mimics my smirk. "I am going to find us a house." He announces again, tracing his hand softly over my cheek. "Yeah, we need one." I agree, moving my tongue across my bottom lip, tasting us together. "Do you think anyone saw us?" Luke asks, rolling next to me. I fix my head upon his chest, letting myself hear his heartbeat. "As long as we do not end up on a pornsite, I am not that mad if they did." I reply and he chuckles. "Kinky... I like that about you." "You like what about me?" I ask, cocking an eyebrow. "You are always up for testing your limits." He replies and I hum. "I wish we could sleep together tonight." He sighs, pecking at the top of my head. "I think my dad will neuter you if you show up at my house for a sleepover. And your mom will probably bound me in your basement and torture me for seducing her benjamin." I giggle and he scoffs. "My mom is not a monster." Luke protests playfully. "I don't know. Her nickname was Charybdis in high school." I mumble and he punches my arm playfully.

"Will you call me before bed?" Luke asks me as he parks in front of my house. "Do you want me to?" I ask him, undoing my seatbelt. "Since I can't sleep with you tonight, at least I would like us to do it over facetime." He shrugs, tapping the tip of my nose softly. "I will certainly facetime you then. I will see you on Tuesday, won't I?" I ask and he nods. "Ok then. Talk to you in a bit." I bite my lip before I lean in to plant a soft peck on his lips. He waits until I am inside the house to take off, which brings a smile to my face. He cares a lot and he is really protective, without crossing any boundaries. "Did you have fun at the movies?" My dad asks, making me jump at the sound of his voice. He has stayed exactly where I left him, which is a little creepy. "You scared the shit out of me, dad." I gasp, touching my chest and feeling my heart pounding. "We saw the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not really my style, but it was ok." I reply and he hums. "If you wake up screaming in the middle of the night because you had a nightmare, I will know who to blame." He goes back to watching TV. It is not a secret that my dad does not really like Luke; he thinks of him as a devil in the disguise of an angel. "Goodnight dad." I run up the stairs to take off my makeup and get ready for my night call with Luke.

I tap my fingers nervously as I wait for Luke to pick me up. We are supposed to head for a dinner date, but I am not sure we will go through with it. Luke's car pulls up in front of me, and I rush inside, earning a look of surprise from him. "I was ready to wait for you at least 15 more minutes." Luke chuckles, helping me with my seatbelt. "Can you find a space somewhere a bit private?" I ask him, earning a hum from him. "I will be happy to..." He starts the car, aloof to my jitters.

Luke parks behind an elementary school, which seems abandoned for the day, before he undoes his seatbelt and turns to look at me. "It will do for now, don't you think?" Luke asks, cocking an eyebrow at me. "We need to talk." I state, making his face drop. "Oh. That sounds a little ominous." He replies and I nod my head. "I am late." I just let it out, dropping the bomb on his lap now. "Late for what? Do you have to be somewhere before our date?" He asks. I roll my eyes and rest my head back on my seat. "Luke..." I sigh. "What?" He asks, frustrated over my reaction. "My period is late. I might be pregnant." I explain and he looks at me dumbfounded. "Are you sure?" He manages to utter after a second of just staring. "My tracker says I am a week late. And I am never late, not this long. I am freaking out." I sniffle, my hands bunching up my cardigan. Luke stays silent, starting the car again. I feel awful in this silence but I understand he needs time to process it. It took me two days to swallow this, he deserves at least a couple of minutes to even begin thinking about it. It itches me on the inside to just ask him to say anything, but I decide to control myself. Without a word, he parks the car in front of a pharmacy and exits the car. It would make more sense for him to slam the door on the way out, but he didn't. I cannot find a way to translate his coldness and it pains me to sit here without a clue. He is gone for a little over 10 minutes but it felt a century to me. I don't dare ask him what he bought, so the car sinks in silence again.

The next stop is at a totally strange house to me. Luke helps me undo the seatbelt, still silent, and motions me to follow him. He unlocks the door to an apartment, letting me go in first. "What is this place?" I finally have the courage to ask once we enter the poorly furnished place. "I told you I would find us an apartment. I wanted to tell you at dinner, but I guess..." He replies, handing me the paper bag from the pharmacy. "Is it what I think it is?" I ask and he nods. "Luke, I am scared." I admit and he sighs. He wraps his arms around me, pressing his lips softly on my forehead. "I am too. But we need to face our fear. Or it will catch upon us." He replies, stroking a piece of hair behind my ear. "Come on. I will be right outside." He guides me to the small bathroom, giving me a small smile before I shut the door. It is such a lonely process doing this. I know Luke is waiting for me, I know that he is here for me, right outside the door that divides us, but I feel so alone. It is nerve-wracking, having to wait even a moment for the test that will define the rest of my relationship with Luke. There is a soft knock on the door, Luke's knuckles must barely even touch the wooden furniture. "Did you do it?" He asks nervously, but not demandingly. "I am waiting for the result." I sniffle. "Would you like me to come in and wait with you?" He asks. "No. I will be out in a minute..." I am too upset myself to have Luke's nervousness right now. "Ok, love." He sighs, giving up. I know he is trying to comfort me and this is the best way he can think of doing so, but it is just... I don't know if it is too much or too little.

The timer goes off and I know that I have to face the little plastic stick at last. It is so stupid that I am terrified by a piece of plastic, but I feel a tug at my heartstrings just at the thought of what the result might be. I peek at it, finding the word 'PREGNANT' on the little digital screen. Fuck. "Can I come in?" Luke asks. He must have heard the timer too so he knows the test has shown a result. I am too emotional to answer him, all I want to do is cry. How did that happen? Fuck, why did it happen now? We were always careful and we barely ever had a place to be just the two of us. God, that night at the drive-in... I was stupid enough to tell him it didn't matter going bare. Luke barges into the bathroom after my lack of response, his eyes instantly falling on me. He sighs understandingly, moving closer to me and wrapping his arms around me. "It's ok... It's all ok, love. Please, stop crying." He tries to soothe me, but it will take more than a hug and his soft voice to calm me down. "I've ruined both our futures..." I moan, my voice barely coming off. "No, no, you didn't. It is my fault too. Hey, we are going to be alright. She's gonna be apples, you'll see." He cheers, rubbing the small of my back soothingly.

My obstetrician could only see me 2 days after I took the test. Despite me wanting to rush to the first person with an available appointment, Luke told me that 2 days wouldn't hurt and we should go to the one I trust. And now as I am feeling in the form of family history and reason of the visit, Luke is sitting next to me, almost completely unfazed, as if his life is not about to tumble down. "How can you be so calm?" I ask him, annoyed by how cool he seems. "I am not." He replies, not even turning to look at me. "You are. You are awfully calm and cool for someone who is going to be a father before he finishes college." I whisper the last part, even though it is just us in the waiting room. I have been tiptoeing around admitting my pregnancy, not even daring to say it to myself out loud. "You think I am not panicking? You think I am not about to have a nervous breakdown? But I have to keep calm and be here for you. You are a mess, (Y/N)." He says through gritted teeth. "Well, I am sorry this is too much for me. I will try my hardest not to let my mess affect you." I snap, moving to a chair away from him. "I didn't mean it that way..." He protests and I hum, scribbling on the form fast.

The doctor calls me in her office, finally ready to exam me. Luke follows suit, asking her if it is ok to join us too. "Is it ok with you, (Y/N)?" She turns to me. "I really couldn't care less." I mumble, climbing onto the exam bed. Luke walks in, standing in the corner of the room awkwardly. "I will need you to take your jeans and underwear off for this." She instructs me and I nod. "Your urine sample gave us a positive pregnancy test, so I will have to go transvaginally to see the fetus. We have done this in the past, but you will feel slight discomfort when I enter the prob." She states, prepping the little wand. I feel as if I want to throw up, this ordeal has been stressing me out a lot. "Ok. Are you ready?" She asks as I lay on my back. I nod my head and take a deep breath, boosting myself for the exam. Pushing past the initial discomfort, I turn to look at my doctor as she looks at the screen with a frown. "Do you have any symptoms?" She asks me, looking at the ultrasound carefully. "No, other than my period being late, no." I reply and she hums. "You took a home test?" "Yes, it came back positive. Is everything ok?" I ask her. "Well, you are not pregnant. But you have a positive home test and a urine stip test. So my guess is there is proteinuria and that is why we had 2 false positives. I will order you a lab work for that, just to rule things out, but I think it might be stress-related." She replies. "I am not pregnant?" I ask, my heart skipping in relief. "You are not." She replies. "Are you sure?" Luke asks for the first time since the exam started. "I am very certain you are not expecting. Based on your reactions I will say congratulations, you are not pregnant." She chuckles, handing me a couple of tissues to clean up. "I will leave you to get dressed and go order the lab test. You can pick it up from my receptionist." She smiles at us before she leaves the room.

After the doctor's visit, I was craving ice cream, so Luke drove me to my favorite place for a strawberry soft serve. Since our date night was canceled from my pregnancy scare, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and take a stroll at the park. He holds my hand in his as we both lick our ice cream as if the last couple of days didn't happen. "We are not having sex again without a condom." I lean my head on his shoulder as he hums in agreement. "That is certain." He adds. "I am sorry I was so... messy the last couple of days." I apologize and he shrugs. "It is one of the things I love about you." He brings my hand to his lips, pecking it lightly. "For what is worth, you were an excellent partner and you handled this scare probably the best way possible." I comment and he sighs. "I was scared beyond words. We are too young to become parents." "I agree. We barely have a place to be alone..." I point out. "Well, we do have it, though." He says, making me bite the inside of my cheek. "I really liked the space, from what I remember seeing..." "I am glad you did. Cause I plan on spending a lot of time in it with you." He plants a kiss on my forehead, making me feel my face get hot. "We never learn, do we?" I chuckle and he shrugs. "I think we learned our lesson." He takes a long lick of his dessert.

My Masterlist  /  Chronological Masterlist  /  The "Less than 100 Notes Fics" Masterlist  /  My Ko-Fi

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Hades

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades

Lucifer

Well… this is awkward…

He’s actually met Hades multiple times for business reasons (Underworld-Devildom relations are amiable if not a little odd. Hades was something of an uncle figure to Diavolo as a wee demon lad, which should speak for itself really). He’s a gloomy fellow and not much for chit-chat, but he never thought they’d end up taking one of his kids by accident…

He had to send a formal apology letter to the Lord of the Underworld immediately, but thankfully he didn’t seem very concerned for his offspring - if anything he appeared to think the Devildom would suit them nicely which was… concerning.

And he was not wrong. The darkness, demons, ghouls, and frights of the Devildom hardly seemed to faze the MC, if anything they fit right in. He’d dare say they were thriving if not for one thing…

They were So. Damn. Bleak.

Getting a smile out of this one AT ALL was rare. For once he felt the need to check up on someone constantly just to be sure they were alright... They’d keep assuring the House that they’re not actually as sad as they look but it’s hard not to assume…

He was a little mortified at first when they first met Cerberus cause… well they called him “Cerbi” and the massive demonic guard dog rolled over for them like a Golden Retriever! 

Apparently he and the Cerberus that they knew are from the same litter and they must have smelt familiar... He would have probably limited their interactions just to keep his dog on his side but after seeing the MC smile for once while they played with the big oaf well…

Cerberus got a new playmate and the MC got a massive, three-headed therapy animal. Win-win. 😌

Mammon

Do ya really gotta be such a downer all the time, MC…? 😔

He thinks they’re nice, like really nice. They’re always super concerned when his brothers attack him or when he gets injured, but he’s pretty sure it’s because they’ve seen people die before so…

At first, he had no idea why he had to be saddled with this depressing wisp of mortal but over time he started to understand that they weren’t all that sad. They had… Resting Gloom Face? Is that a thing? 

They also had a different way of seeing things. He could win the lottery and they’d tell him to stay inside so he wouldn’t get hit by lightning or if he pissed off the wrong people, they’d joke about him keeping his fingers and toes. Dark stuff, but not intended to be so… well morbid.

However, what he eventually found out that the REAL advantage to having a Hades kid in the Devildom was that nothing scared them. Literally nothing. Not even the ghosts - which to reiterate, are terrifying!

Cue Mammon getting dragged to horror movies nights with his brothers and pulling the MC along to be his personal security blanket. He’ll hold onto them for dear life as they just pat his head or something, watching and not even flinching at the jumpscares.

The first time the House had an unexpected power outage he clung onto the back of their shirt like a lost child while they calmly looked for the circuit-breaker...

If he could jump into their arms every time something scary happened like Scooby-Doo, he absolutely would. His brothers make fun of him, but after seeing the MC handle Cerberus like a puppy any time something frightens them they hide behind the mortal as well…

Leviathan

In some ways, he totally relates to their moodiness but come on! Who can still look so sad when watching The Magical Ruri Hanai: Demon Girl?? Ruri-chan can make anyone smile! 😠

When he first met the MC, he was a little confused about why they didn't find him intimidating at all. He even reverted to his demon form and showed his fangs but no dice! All they said was, "I've walked along the edge of Tartarus. You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that, buddy…" 

That was probably his first sign that the "human" wasn't normal…

After Mammon told him who their Dad was, things made a lot more sense. A child of Hades in the Devildom? That's ironic enough to be its own anime plot!! They certainly felt like an angsty protagonist at times. 🤷‍♀️

Truth be told, they could relate to each other in a lot of ways. You wouldn't think that an offspring of the Underworld and a demonic shut-in would have much in common but the one thing they share between them is that sense of never really fitting in.

Turns out that Hades kids are black sheep, even among other demigods, and Levi? Well, he's had trouble relating to others since his angel days. He and the mortal were like off-beat kindred spirits!

Which, I mean, you wouldn't get just by looking at them together. Levi being the impassioned super-otaku rambling their ear off while his somber companion would just go along with him quietly, but hey, there's more beneath the surface. Probably. 

Now if he could just get them to cosplay as the Lord of Emptiness with him… They'd be perfect! Perfect he says!!

Satan

Highly considered drugging their food with antidepressants for a while… 

This was before getting to know them better, of course, but for the first couple months he honestly couldn't shake the feeling that the mortal looked miserable! 

Now, he's one to particularly care for the comfort of strangers, but just looking at them like that every day would sour his own mood quite considerably. It was very irritating...

It was only on closer inspection that he realized there was something else at play, though.

The mortal was different - even for a demigod he imagined. They took to the Devildom easily and the realm almost accepted them right back!

The flora looked better in their presence, the hellish beasts that roamed the wilds would roll over for them, and they even seemed to be welcomed in by the never-ending shadows… 

It was fascinating. Like the effects of the Underworld were baked into their DNA and mingled with the environment around them… Two layers of darkness coexisting within one person.

I mean, what other creature - other than Lucifer - could ride Cerberus around like a pony??

Had they not been so kind, they'd probably scare him shit-less... Their potential power was too great to ignore. But after getting used to their gloom, at least they made for pleasant company. 🤷‍♀️

Satan likes them well enough, but even still he has to wonder just what they were capable of… you know?

Asmodeus

Oh. My. WORD. What a buzzkill!!!

Really, the new mortal was no good at parties or pictures for that matter!

Not because they looked bad, or even because he couldn't get them to smile, but because GHOSTS would always photobomb any pictures they were in!! 😫

One time he got a selfie with them on the couch and a creepy ghost child could be seen hiding behind the cushions so NOPE. No more photos with the mortal around!!

Aside from that, he couldn't say the mortal was all bad or anything…They were pretty friendly, despite their general look and feel. 

Though, personally, he thought they wore far too much black... Even in the Devildom, there's normally a pop of color, you know? Was that just the Hades dress code?

And you want to know the weirdest thing? Despite everything about them screaming "Doom and Gloom," they're straaaangely popular among the RAD dating scene…

Like. Not as some heartthrob, "Love'em and Leave'em"-type, but he's found that there's a LOT of his demonic classmates who think they're cute or have a crush on them in some way…

Naturally, he can see the appeal of the mysterious, moody demigod with a dark, troubled past. It's just the demigod in question is completely oblivious to it! 🤷‍♀️

He tried to give them dating tips or play matchmaker from time to time but eventually gave up when it was clear they weren't interested. Alas, students of RAD, this is one forbidden fruit that refuses to be shared…! Such a tragedy… 😔

Beelzebub

They remind him of Belphie… like. A lot.

The similarities were obvious. They had a similar feel, made similar jokes, and even the same somewhat dreary attitude about them...

If he were being honest, at the beginning there were times when he'd open up to them a lot more than he intended because he'd forget that he wasn't actually talking to Belphie…

Thankfully, he knew better than to try and treat them like his replacement or anything. They were two different people after all. But it didn't stop him from feeling extra protective around them for a while.

Besides, there was ONE thing that set them leagues apart from Belphie and that was the fact they were a shit cook. Not quite as bad as Solomon but uh… Actually no, that's a closer call than it has any right to be...

Apparently, Hades kids don't need to eat as much and when you hang out with shades and skeletons for most of your life, you don’t really worry about making food that's any better than… "Well, technically it's edible." 🤷‍♀️

Their food won't kill a person like Solomon's, but you WILL start seeing stuff you probably shouldn't. He tried their "soup" once and swore he saw the ghost of his mother… and he doesn't even have a mother!!!

He swears that if he ever sees the MC and Solomon working together in the same kitchen he's skipping town… Whatever culinary abomination the two of them could create would probably gain sentience and eat HIM instead. He's always figured he'd go out with Death by Food, but not like that!! 😫

Belphegor

Ever meet someone who’s like looking in a mirror? Yeah, he’s getting those vibes…

He never expected the "human" to be so similar to him, it was kind of uncanny.

Upon first laying eyes on each other there was a pause… then a squint… and then… a nod.

Honestly, their combined dry wit, dark humor, and pessimistic outlook played off of each other surprisingly well. Too well for him to hate, really.

Not that it mattered because they didn’t believe him for a second when he tried to trick them (they had dealt with loads of lying monsters before). He hated to admit it, but they had a good head on their shoulders and knew better than to trust a locked up demon…

And yet, they seemed to stick around with him anyway. Because of the good conversation or just empathizing with his loneliness was anyone's guess. 🤷‍♀️

Sometimes they'd come up and sit outside the door in comfortable silence… Or they'd talk about whatever:

MC: *sitting out by the attic with their back against the door* So what happens to demons when they die…?

Belphie: *laying on the floor on the other side, staring at the ceiling* Depends on the kind. If I die, I'll just reform later.

MC: Like a reincarnation?

Belphie: Eh. *shrugs* Maybe. Haven't died yet.

MC: You could die in there, you know.

Belphie: *throws a side glare* Well thanks for bringing that up…

MC: *shrugs* What? It's true. But don't worry, I won't let you. *small-ish smile*

Belphie: *stares at them wide-eyed and pink-cheeked before turning on his side quickly* Ugh… whatever…

They did their word, somehow. They eventually got the door open and let him out, but by that time the anger was gone and he was just happy to finally talk to them face-to-face...

And good thing too, because apparently it's not smart to fight a death-child in what is essentially their element - as he saw when they summoned an army of skeletons to kick Levi's ass when he cheated them in Devil Cart...

He would not have lasted in that fight... Dodged a bullet there.