#my hands are happy about that because it means I'm letting them rest from drawing a bit haha

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Eddie has strong feelings for Steve. Feelings he thought he had gotten rid of once Steve rescued him from hell. His hatred of him didn't even make sense, even before all of this. So, because he's a jock he has to be a jerk like all the rest? Eddie had made an assumption about him and Lucas just like they made about him. He hated that he had done that. It hadn't been his proudest moment. Now, those frustrating feelings are resurfacing, which is ridiculous because not only is he a good guy, but he is also a complete dork as well and he's so fucking great with the kids. He should be happy that he's friends with him, so why does his stomach feel like there's a bird trying to get out of its cage when he looks at Steve?

"Eddie, man, why are you scowling at me?" Steve asked.

He was hanging out with Steve, Robin, and Robin's girlfriend, Vickie. It was supposed to be a nice, casual get-together. Of course, Eddie had to ruin it.

"I hate you!" Eddie burst out.

There was silence in the living room as everyone stared at him. Steve looked hurt. Robin looked angry, and if Vickie wasn't holding her back, Eddie was sure she would rip out his throat with her bare hands.

"What?" Steve asked.

"It doesn't make any sense why I do, though!" Eddie burst out. "Because you're a great guy! Fantastic even! When I look at you, I get these feelings in my chest that annoy the fucking shit out of me. Everything about you is so fucking perfect like a goddamn prince out of a storybook! With your perfect hair, your perfect eyes, and your perfect teeth. My God, you're even great with the kids! When you talk about going out on dates, I hate that, too! I know you're just trying to do that to get over Nancy. Speaking of Nancy, I like her and all, but when I think about you two together, it makes my fucking skin scrawl! What the fuck is that? I mean, I like Nancy, but fuck, the idea of you two together makes me want to rip off my own eyebrows and eat them! Jesus H Christ! There's no reason for me to hate you, and yet somehow . . . Wait, why are you guys laughing?"

Vickie was giggling into Robin's shoulder while Robin laughed into a pillow. Steve was laughing with his hands over his eyes.

"He's so cute!" Vickie laughed.

"Why are you guys laughing at me?" Eddie asked. "Stop it!"

"You poor Dingus!" Robin laughed.

"What?!" Eddie asked.

"You like me, Eddie," Steve said.

"Yeah, I like you, but I also seem to hate you," he sighed.

"No, I mean, you like me," Steve said, standing up.

"You said that already," Eddie replied.

"Alright, can I do something so I can get my point across?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, do whatever you want to me, man," Eddie said and Steve grinned widely.

"Within reason, Steven!" Robin exclaimed.

Steve cupped his face and kissed him. Eddie gasped, a jolt of what felt like electricity shot through him. He liked it. The kiss was short and to the point. Steve pulled away.

"Oh, I like you! Oh, thank God! I thought I hated you! Wait, am I gay? No, I still like like girls. . .hold on, give me a minute," Eddie said, raising his finger to do invisible math in the air.

"You like this man, Steve?" Robin asked as they watched Eddie erase something.

"Oh, yeah," Steve replied.

"I've never actually seen someone figure out their sexuality before," Vickie said.

"Oh, I had a chance to do that with Steve. It was a wonderful experience. Definitely a lot less stupid than this," Robin said.

"I like both!" Eddie exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "And I like you!"

"I like both too, Eddie, and I like you too," Steve laughed. "I'm bisexual."

"Bi - sex - u - al," Eddie said like, drawing out the words, and he shook his head from side to side as if rolling the word around in his head. "Yes! Me too! Bisexual! Does this mean this is a double date now?"

Steve grinned, sat down on the love seat, and pulled him into his lap.

"Definitely," Steve said.

"Let me tell you, I feel this huge relief now that I know I like you," Eddie said. "I can't believe I thought I hated you!"

"Dingus!" Robin giggled.

"How long are you guys going to laugh at me about this?" Eddie pouted as Steve shook with laughter beneath him.

"Forever!"

Eddie buried his head into Steve’s neck as he laughed with them, sighing in contentment when Steve kissed his forehead.

[hexedwinchester]

Hii! Can I request a fluffy Sam Winchester x reader where reader and Sam are bored while Dean is out to get the three of them food so reader is messing around with his hair, putting random braids in it and stuff? Thank you!

(Kinda inspo):

hi @ghostlyaccurate

Of course you can! Thanks for sending this request and the inspo reference! It was fun to work on..

You can read it below or follow the link to fic on AO3. Let me know if you like it 😊

Happy Reading :)

Summary:

"What-what is that?" He sits straight, back flushed against the headboard, trying to get a peek into that basket. "Like you haven't seen a brush before?" You wave the little brush as you enter the room. "Oh right, I forgot. You just run your fingers through your perfect hair and you are good to go!" Sam chuckles. "Now scoot over, Rapunzel." You gently shove him to make room on the bed for you and your tools. "Whatever you say, Mother Gothel."

"Okay, kiddos. Behave while I'm gone." Dean barks orders standing outside Sam's room. You and Sam look up from your laptops to see him teasingly eyeing the lack of space between the two of you. "No jumping each other's bones."

"Eww!" You fake looking appalled.

"Dude!" Sam blushes. 

Wait, is that what he was thinking about or is he just embarrassed?

"Hey, I mean it." Then glaring at Sam, he warns again, "Not with a bruised hip." 

Sam's green eyes are avoiding rendezvous with anyone else's. 

Dean winks at you before heading in the direction of the main room, spinning the keys of his beloved Impala on his index finger.

"He's an idiot." Sam mumbles apologetically. 

Having been around the boys for a year now, you know Dean is an idiot but a sweet idiot, nonetheless. You don't mind him pulling your leg because you roast him just as much.

"But, my hip is healing quite well..." He hooks a finger under your chin, drawing your face to his. Shutting his laptop and taking yours away, he rolls over you, kissing your neck. 

The smell of his mint soap hits your senses along with a whiff of something rugged that is purely his. Your legs wrap around his slim waist pulling his long, lean body closer to yours when suddenly he grunts in pain.

Instantly, your legs drop and you gently roll him to his side of the bed. Dean's warning flashes into your brain. You sigh. He was right about the bruised hip. Dying by the hands of Dean Winchester because his baby brother couldn't keep it in his pants is not how you want to go.

"Well, Dean's not gonna be home for a few hours. Do you want to watch a movie?" He asks smiling, bringing those deep dimples to the surface.

Any other day, a movie sounded good -especially when it wasn't the tenth re-run of 'Die Hard' that Dean loved- since both you and Sam have similar taste. But after staring at the screen for the last two hours, you could use a break.

"Actually," you start, "I was thinking of something else." Leaving Sam looking like a lost puppy, you grab both your laptops and leave the room.

Sam is sprawled on the bed when you return ten minutes later. Legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, hands resting on his chest. Sensing your presence, his eyes open and a ghost of a smile touches his lips as his gaze shift from your goofy expression to the basket of hair tools and accessories tucked under your arm.

"What-what is that?" He sits straight, back flushed against the headboard, trying to get a peek into that basket.

"Like you haven't seen a brush before?" You wave the little brush as you enter the room. "Oh right, I forgot. You just run your fingers through your perfect hair and you are good to go!"

Sam chuckles.

"Now scoot over, Rapunzel." You gently shove him to make room on the bed for you and your tools.

"Whatever you say, Mother Gothel."

You gasp! "I knew it! I knew you saw that movie!" 

He neither confirms nor denies that accusation. "So, you wanna tell me what's going on?"

"A little TLC."

"TLC?" He repeats. "With butterfly clips and colourful beads?"

"Yes!" There is no way you can contain your excitement. Kneeling behind him, you slip your fingers into his hair, fluffing it up. 

Sam Winchester's hair is like pure silk between your fingers. They pass through easily without a knot to catch on to. There are no expensive products or fancy shampoos in the washroom. Hell, there isn't even a bottle of conditioner but somehow Sam's hair is softer than minx fur coat. A quiet moan passes through his lips as you gently massage his scalp. 

Mother Gothel's obsession with Rapunzel's locks is starting to make sense as you begin brushing Sam's hair. It is therapeutic, combing through those silken strands from the roots to the tips. The rhythmic strokes of the brush seem to relax him even more.

"You know, you could be a hair model." You tease him.

Sam laughs, a deep, resonant sound that makes your heart skip a beat. "Hunting doesn't allow for part-time stints, but thanks."

Grabbing a handful of colourful clips, you place them randomly on his head. A butterfly clip here, a rainbow clip there, few beads snapped on a single lock of hair. It's silly but Sam looks adorable, the bright colours standing out against the dark chestnut tone.

Stealing a hand-mirror from your basket, he takes a quick look at his reflection and bursts out laughing. "Why does it look like a unicorn threw up on my head?"

You smack his shoulder. "No, it does not! Don't you laugh at my artwork."

He cranes his neck to meet your eyes. "Can we try something a lot less 'Hello Kitty' and a bit more, I don't know, me?"

At least he didn't ask you to stop, there is comfort in that. That's something, right? You carefully pluck the clips out and brush the hair smoothing out the crimps left behind.

If there's one thing you know for sure, it's that Sam really seemed to like the massage and the brushing. You make a mental note of it for the future.

The hair is malleable unlike your wild, untamed curls. You gather it at his crown and wrap a simple hair tie a couple of times into a ponytail. At the last turn, you pull the hair only halfway through the tie and twist it around the bun. You brush out the remaining hair to base of his neck.

"Is that what they call a man-bun?" Sam asks trying to catch a glimpse of the bun.

"Yes", you respond sheepishly. "Like it?"

"Ummm... Not really, no. I don't think I can pull it off." Sam is anything but honest and that's what you love about him.

You take a moment to think about what Sam would like and then it comes to you. With a cautious tenderness, you take off the hair tie, careful not to pull or snag any wayward strands. Running the brush through a particularly stubborn tangle, you smooth out the hair.

Your fingers move fast and skillfully as you part a section of his hair on the left of his crown. You weave it into a braid, securing the ends to back of his head with a bobby pin. You repeat the same on the right side but this time you weave a black ribbon into the braid and pin it to the meet the first braid.

"How's it going?" He asks stealing a glance again but this time you are quicker to snatch the mirror away.

"No peeking this time!" You stow the mirror behind your back and out of reach of his ridiculously long arms.

You bunch up the hair from the crown of his head, including the two braids and pull it into a ponytail. The metal barrette clip with a Celtic knot ties the look together as you add it to the ponytail.

Last, you pick out some white and silver beads and add them in pairs to strands of hair behind his ears. Parting the back hair into six sections, you wind each lock of the hair around a wooden stick from another barrette clip, hold it for a minute and then release it to form soft waves.

"Can I see now?" Sam is growing impatient but you dismiss him. He cannot look until you are done.

Twenty minutes later, the back of hair looks like it went one round with a curler. The strands holding the soft, bouncy waves you created quite nicely.

Holding a bigger mirror behind his head, you pass him the hand-mirror. "You can look now."

The hand-mirror is twisting in his large hand, trying to see the full picture, his eyes widening slightly as he takes in the neat braids, the metal clip, the beads and finally the wavy curls.

"Well?" You are anxious, unsure of how to treat his silence.

"Wow, that's... something," he says, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Good something or bad something?"

Putting the mirror down, he twists his torso to look at you with those honest, soulful eyes. "Definitely good something. I like it. It's very..." A thoughtful pause. "Nordic."

"I knew you would like it, lore boy!" You plant a soft kiss on his lips which he gladly deepens.

"Ahem." Someone clears their throat. Sam breaks the kiss.

"Smile, Lara Croft." Dean pulls out his camera and snaps a few shots of Sam in his new hairstyle. "This will get a laugh or two in the Hunters' group."

"Dean, c'mon." Sam is embarrassed, if that mild blush on the planes of his cheek is anything but an evidence of that. He tries to reach back and pull off the hair but you stop him.

"You can laugh all you want, but the truth is you can never pull off this look like he does." You get a little defensive around Sam.

"What makes you think I want to?" Dean's smile is smug and you want to wipe it off his face. Then turning to Sam, he presses, "how come I'm not allowed to give you a haircut but she is allowed to go Zohan on you?"

"Who?" Sam asks clearly not having seen that movie to catch the reference.

"Whatever, chuckles! I should probably print this out and stick it on the bunker walls."

"Sure", you jump in startling both the brothers. "It will look real nice next to your picture from that time with Rhonda Hurley." 

Now it's Dean's time to gasp and turn a shade darker than Sam. "How did you-? You are bluffing."

"Wanna bet?" Your bat your eyelashes at him in mischief. "I can remember some specific details like pink and satiny and-"

"Okay, okay, alright. I'll delete Sam's pictures." Dean leaves looking sour.

"Rhonda Hurley?" Sam raises his eyebrow asking for more information.

"Rhonda Hurley..." you muse about how you will keep using this trump card next time Dean gets cocky.

[baremueran]

I hear you love Ghost and Roach together. Tell me some of your favourite headcanons about them? How do they show their love to one another? 🤍

I am not sure if they are all SFW, so please read cautiously! English is not my native language, please let me know if there is any mistake!

❤HEADCANON!!❤

1. Roach sometimes expose his nose between the mask and goggles, so anyone can boop boop the tip of his nose and get a puzzled look. Just like a puppy👉👈

2. Ghost often wears his balaclava and sunglasses and headphones and ignore anyone. He would say he was too focused on eavesdropping or listening to music, but there is usually nothing in the headphones except the sound of electricity. He just doesn't care. And the noise cancelling function of the headphones is very good.😎

3. I quite like mute!Roach, but the operators must have the ability to communicate in the mission, so selective mute is good enough.🤐

4. But Roach lost his speech because his tongue has been cut out is fine, too. It's also good that he's slurring his speech because of the pain and the inconvenience. But it means he has to leave the field. So NOOOO, it's just something in my head. SRY if this makes you uncomfortable.🤐

5. Ghost probably has the winter blues. Whether it has anything to do with his family and Christmas or not. He could be grumpy and often hide when it's getting cold.😢

6. But I don't think Ghost likes very hot weather either. Hmmm so whatever, he's just grumpy sometimes.😠

7. I don't know if anyone has thought about robot! TF141. I think Ghost could retain inorganic blue electronic eyes and keep the sunglasses he uses to analyze the data. Maybe there is just an LCD/LED screen under Roach's goggles. Soap can survive a fall because of the steel spine and wire guts. But think about it, when Shepherd (who doesn't realize they aren't humantries) shoot them both, they just struggle with Three Laws of Robotics in confusion and look Shepherd in the eye without emotion.👁👁❓The only downside is that they may be less fire and heat resistant.

8. I spent a few months in a hospital burn unit, and I think most writers understate the burns. But it's okay! It may be painful for me to see once again the process of a person recovering from a piece of coke that reeks of decay, although it's a possible miracle.💔

❤THE WAY THEY SHOW LOVE TO EACH OTHER?❤

First of all, I've never been in a romantic relationship. So I can only IMAGINE. But I wasn't in the military either, so I guess it doesn't matter.

It probably makes sense that the military doesn't allow relationships, so I don't think they're going to be too overt during service.

But they can sit down to eat together and throw the things they don't like onto each other's plates. They can also sit together in the plane or car on a mission and quietly hold hands without drawing attention. They are not that bad drinkers, but would pretend to be drunk in pubs just to lean on each other in public. When one of them is sent out on their own, they hug like the rest of the team, pretending it's their noses that's brushing their cheeks instead of their lips. One of them would bring his favorite snacks and kisses while the other was in the hospital/Medic bay. They might hold hands and kiss when change shifts or count the stars together during the night stakeout. And, yes, they can make out anywhere they like, so much so that almost everyone knows about it but there's no proof. Or nobody knows. It doesn't matter.😚😚💕

I rarely read fics about post-military life because many of them are a bit too good to be true. (But i do read them haha) War is war. As long as you have been involved in it, no matter where you go, you cannot escape the shadow of war. And the impact of PTSD on life is often underestimated too. It saddens me to describe these, so I'm not going to continue. They have to work very, very hard to have a happy ending. But that's okay, we can just enjoy some parts and details of their life in the fics. I've just been waiting for one to tell that part of the story!👋

[always-andromeda]

aaaAAA valentines prompts are here!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) weeee please spare some white chocolate truffle for love of my life dwayne? thank you dearest, compliments to the chef (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥

– 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦

𝐃𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐆𝐍!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: aHH okay this was super cute!! I hope you enjoy this one, anon!! also lmao, yes, the title is a song. it's from Yellow House and it always reminds me of Dwayne. <3

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Dwayne is aged up to be high school senior, pure fluff, bits of Dwayne being a little pessimistic guy, nothing else I can think of!

First period hadn't even started yet and already you could tell that Dwayne was itching for the final bell. He sighed, folding his hands together and resting his chin on top of them. You watched him peer out from under his curtain of dark hair at a few students around you both exchanging cards, candies, and little stuffed toys. 

"Doing okay there, Dwayne?" you asked as you unloaded your textbook and your binder.

He threw you a sideways glance and replied blankly, "I'm a ray of sunshine." Whatever modicum of patience he usually had in school was drained entirely by Valentine's Day.

"Oh, yeah. You're looking especially chipper today."

This time, Dwayne turned to look at you fully with his brow furrowed.

"It's a joke."

"Have you seen what's been going on today?"

"Uh, yeah, it's a holiday," you shrugged.

"It's bullshit. It's an excuse for fucking candy and card companies to make a killing," he sneered. "Because if you don't buy your boyfriend or girlfriend a stupid piece of paper that says 'I love you' then you're obviously a bad person, right?"

You scoffed, "Not exactly."

That earned another scowl from Dwayne.

"Listen, I get what you mean. It can be superficial and overbearing sometimes, I guess." You struggled to conjure the right words to explain yourself in a way that Dwayne would understand, "But...it's nice sometimes, ya know? It's nice to have someone show that they thought about you."

"Please," Dwayne dismissed. "It's not about thought or care. It's all...bullshit social transactions that no one is gonna give a shit about after we graduate anyways. It's just...dumb."

Placing a hand over the top of your binder defensively, the more Dwayne spoke, the more you found a lump forming in your throat. It made it even harder to speak as you choked out, "Dumb?"

"Yeah. And...gross," he huffed with an air of stubbornness. He'd never been particularly fond of the holiday; the unnecessary drama of couples asking each other to be their Valentine and the gossip that came from rejections for days afterwards. But...you thought...

With a new wave of frustration, you flipped open the cover of your binder and pulled a card out from the inside flap. You slid it across the top of the table in Dwayne's direction. "Then there's a stupid card for you, Dwayne. Happy Valentine's Day," you added bitterly.

Dwayne froze. Already, the cover threw him off. There was the haunting phrase of the day written out in your handwriting and above it, a drawing of a bouquet of flowers in glitter gel pens. Slowly, he opened the card, finding more of your handwriting hiding inside.

I know this is super cliche. And you're probably going to roll your eyes at me when you read this. Promise me you won't hate me too much. Or at least promise me you'll spare me the embarrassment and forget this immediately after you read it. I just had to try at least once. But I really like you. Will you be my Valentine?

With your head hidden in your folded arms, you could only guess what you and Dwayne looked like to the rest of your classmates. Already, you were anticipating how that scene would get spun. Everyone talked about how you and Dwayne were bound to end up together, seeing as you're one of the only people that would willingly hang around with the reclusive guy. And one of the only people that he would actually let hang around him.

Your first thought after that was to think about Dwayne. He didn't like being the center of attention. Being talked about like this would be the most aggravating thing in the world. And god, it frustrated you that even when he was being a jerk, you still worried about him.

Then you felt a poke on your shoulder. You raised your head and found Dwayne, still looking at the card and tracing the flowers on the cover. But this time his hand was on the table, open with his palm facing up. Inviting you to grab it. Which you do, quickly.

"I'm sorry for what I said," he muttered.

You sniffed softly. "That's okay."

"I like the card."

"Thanks."

“And I'll be–" Dwayne paused. "I'll be your Valentine."

The exhilaration inside you flared so intensely that you couldn't help but squeeze his hand in return. And Dwayne also couldn't help the tiny smile that formed on his lips when he felt the warmth of your sweaty hand enveloping his. Maybe both of you could be right about Valentine's Day. It was gross. But...nice. Very nice.

[lu-zijing]

WHAT THE ———-

WHAT THE HECK, SO THIS IS OFFICIAL ART AFTER ALL!!!!!!?✨✨

/ Soukoku discussion ahead:

Okay, no, I'm sorry, I've seen it before, this is old news, I know, but I kinda thought someone had edited them together, especially because many people said it looked like they had kissed - being very debatable whether or not it is just battle dust/wounds or actual traces of them kissing......

In my own opinion: Dazai's "scratch" is a bit weirdly placed- but Chuuya's does look more like a normal scratch.. But then again, why is it the only place both of them even have scratches on their face?? The rest of their faces are completely clean, have they even been in a battle? Wouldn't it be more realistic to have multiple small cuts, scratches, or at least some kind of dust or dirt then? - Like this: Which Chuuya had in the actual Dead Apple movie:

Could be an artistic choice for the Official art piece ofc, but then, Why do they just have that one scratch, both of them???

Yeah, okay I guess it isn't directly unrealistic to get just one scratch, but both?? Almost the same place??? Both scratches even look to be made the same way, if you look closely. At least they are drawn the same way - Either they just draw all scratches the same way, or this could mean they were from the same source. But ofc, we have no way of knowing, if that source is kissing, but it couuuld- Okay, yeah, mayybe I'm/we're overthinking it since the, well- ~ship~ But I can definitely see how the whole Idea started. I see it like this, it's probably some sort of actual scratch from battle, but it potentially being from a kiss, can't be completely ruled out either.

Here's a post from Reddit where someone pointed it out:

-Although in the start I thought, that's easy to add, it must be fanmade, looks like they used some scenes from Dead Apple, and... well..... yeah... Okay, I was likely a bit in denial at that point, even everyone around me talked about it as if it were Official.....

And just the fact that it says "HAPPY KISS!" in the text.... (( I am a Soukoku shipper, and now it's said- But Okay, I can be realistic - I can't speak Japanese, it's likely in some other context, but still, you can't help but let the thoughts run wild, and you know I'm right— And just.. The way Chuuya smiles so happily and innocently......!!! Chuuya please do that in the canon story as well— It kinda freaks me out a little though but still—

But... I don't know what to believe about this piece, to be honest. - Even if they actually turn out to be romantically involved with each other somehow, it doesn't mean they necessarily kissed in this specific art piece. It could, but it doesn't have to be. (Even if they haven't kissed I absolutely adore this art piece both as a neutral fan and a shipper..!!! The shipping is taking the upper hand though, that's just how it works, no point denying-))

And besides, would it really be hinted like this??

If it really was the Artist's/team behind this Official art piece's intention to make people think or doubt they kissed -if they actually HAD kissed- I bow in the dust to them- Damn-

It Would also mean that Chuuya and Dazai likely ALREADY have a relationship-!? In the course of the current timeline, I suppose. Which I imagine, is also one of many theories.

Like, I don't think an entire confession scene happened there, so if they kissed, it would have had to have been a thing already. Highly likely at least. Okay maybe I'm going too much into this now-

Personally, I would prefer to see a confession scene between them in the present, should they really come together romantically canonically.

But I certainly couldn't (or wouldn't!)) complain either if it turned out they have had a secret relationship this whole time-!! Imagine the reactions—--! Someone must have drawn that scenario already. Damn, I wanna see it now- If you wanna, feel freeee to draw it and mention me so I can see~~ I would praise you to the heavens, for reading this far, and even drawing it- *ahem* anyhow-

However unlikely, one can always dream — Dream with me if you would like~ ✨ 

And I hope you enjoyed reading this whole silly delightful thing!! Hopefully, you really did, if you read all the way down to here-! 😅 ✨  It became longer than expected-

But well! No matter what - So it WAS from an Official Magazine cover from Spoon-2di!! - These Magazines - Which I figured out was a thing after my last post, about what the heck the magazines were about - Now I know, MANY thanks to @originalaccountname ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ 

They really do have some amazing Official art, just the covers alone! Go check out my post that I linked, in it there are a good handful of them! Otherwise, just go Google "BSD Magazine covers" If You didn't know already, you will thank me later-!

Thanks for reading! Until next time-!

[normal-internet-user]

Hello! Can I plz ask for the ROTTMNT brothers (separately) react to their s/o being cute and innocent? Like they love watching animated movies, become a blushing mess if there's a kissing scene or in real life, love to draw, cook/bake, and dance, also are curious about everything. Oh, and they don't understand dirty jokes and if someone curses they put a hand over their mouth and look flabbergasted. They also are shorter than them and have small hands.

THIS IS GONNA BE SO CUTE I'M CRYING!!

RISE BOY'S WITH AN INNOCENT S/O

Mikey:

Oh mi gosh,

You two are the most wholesome couple this side of anywhere.

Literally two peas in a pod.

Disney movies every movie night,

You bake together,

You draw together,

And he loves watching you dance around.

One of your favorite things to do is to walk around the city at night,

Just to see what you'll find.

He loves how easily flustered you are,

He thinks it's just the cutest!

Mikey thinks it's hilarious how shocked you get when someone swears.

You'd think someone just killed your grandmother!

The first time it happened is a treasured memory for the whole family.

Leo had fallen off his skateboard and smacked his face on the ground.

"Shit!"

*Le gasp* "Language! Oh my gosh!"

Everyone just kinda looked at you then started laughing.

Mikey loves how much shorter than him you are.

I mean sure, it's only a few inches,

But he likes to rest his head ontop of your's.

Leo loves to make "That's what she said" jokes around you,

Mikey hates it,

He's scared you'll lose your innocence.

But everytime Leo goes, "That's what she said!"

You'll just look at him and say, "That's what who said? Who is 'She'? And why won't anyone tell me for gosh sake??"

"I'll tell you when you're older Cutie Pie."

You and Mikey are literally the sweetest couple, like, ever!

Donnie:

He finds your innocence impressive.

With the excistence of the internet,

He assumed there were no innocent teenagers left.

But you are on a whole new level of innocent.

And he thinks it's adorable.

Donnie does his best to shield you from Leo's jokes,

Because he is not about to let you be ruined by his brothers' crude sense of humor.

So imagine his surprise when you come ask him what one of these jokes mean.

He looks at you,

Then sighs,

You look at him confused as he stands up and grabs his tech bo

"NARDO!"

*Que screaches of fear*

Donnie loves that you dance too.

You guys have small disco parties every Saturday night.

He also loves how naturally curious you are,

Because it usually leads to him answering your endless questions about a ceratain topic.

But he doesn't mind.

He likes it when you ask him questions.

He also thinks its adorable how easily you get flustered.

Especially when it's over something as little as a movie scene.

He will tease you,

Just to fluster you even more.

And holy truffle mac & cheese,

You're so small!!

He has a habbit of resting his elbow on your head.

Kinda like how he leans on his tech bo.

You'll usually wave him off, and grab his hand instead.

Raph:

Raph loves your innocent nature.

It just plays into how sweet you are,

And Raph loves him some sugar.

He's more than happy to participate in your hobbies,

Especially if it means you're trying to teach him something new.

You just look so cute when you're concetrating!

Like Donnie,

He does his best to keep you from Leo's awful jokes,

And like you,

He isn't very fond of swearing.

He'll act just as flabberghasted as you if one of his brothers were to swear.

Like, ExCuSE mE??

WaTcH YoUr MouTh YoUnG MaN!

Now when it comes to how much smaller you are than him,

It really depends on the day for how he feels about it.

On the one hand,

You are so tiny and adorable and he could just hug you for hours like holy crap.

Then on the other hand,

He is terrified he'll hurt you.

Human skin is just so friggin fragile,

And he doesn't want to be the reason you're in pain.

Just make sure your sweet self reassures him,

He'll get over it pretty quick with your help.

Leo:

Oh my god, this boy teases you endlessly.

His favorite thing ever is to make you all flustered and stuff.

Whenever you two watch movies together he'll always pick some cheesy romance flick,

Just so he can watch you hide your face in your shirt whenever something romantic happens.

Leo loves baking with you.

Even if he's only allowed to watch.

(He set the kitchen on fire the last time he tried to actually help and in turn was perma banned from cooking.)

He likes trying all the sweet treats you bake up for everyone.

He also enjoys making jokes he knows you won't understand,

Because you look so cute when you're confused,

Your face gets all scrunched up while you try to figure out the joke,

And to him it's the cutest thing in the world.

Leo likes it when you freak out over swearing,

He thinks its funny.

You'll fan yourself with your hand all taken aback.

And your voice goes up an octave when you adress it,

"PARdon me?"

"I said fuck, (Name)."

"LANGUAGE!"

*Wheeze*

............................................

[iu-xo]

"Like we've always hated each other"

Tantrum.

intro part 1 part 2 part 3

It took much less time than expected! I hope it's enjoyable to read, god this is so slowburn, so they still hate each other! But... do they really?

The sun... the sun that comes through the window... the fucking sun.

The most recent being to move into the hotel after its restoration, he was fighting a battle to the death with nothing more and nothing less than the sheets of his bed, nothing new for the king to say the least, In his mind it was the eighth time he told himself he would get up, And this was the real thing, he thought for the eighth time...

When he heard a door suddenly open, and even though he loved his daughter with all his heart, he couldn't wish for anything other than that she would leave him for another hour to rot for a little longer in his nest of depression and procrastination, Which didn't happen that way.

-DAD! I'm sorry to bother you... I know you were still sleeping and stuff! despite being past noon.. But your help would reeeeaaaally help me a lot rigth now!

Even though his body betrayed him and made him want to sink and become one with the mattress, knowing that his daughter needed something from him gave him enough motivation to sit up in bed.

-Whatever you need honey..

His voice was still hoarse and sleepy, revealing his little to none desire to exist at that moment, but surely when he did something he would feel better... he hoped.

The princess gave a happy squeal to take out some notebook pages with lists and colorful crayon drawings, and grabbed one in particular which she put on her father's nightstand while she put the rest away with some clumsiness.

-Today I have an activity planned but I mixed up my schedules with next week's, so I have nothing to start with!

The blonde looked very worried about this problem she had, and Lucifer thought that maybe she would ask him for things to buy and he could just magically appear them, piece of cake.

-So while I fix this I wanted you to put these flyers in the businesses that already gave me permission!

Wait. What?

the angel really thought He could get away with doing this quickly with a little magic trick, but he really had no way of appearing flyers in specific places which he had no idea where they were..

-erm.. Dear.. Can't we just put them in... I don't know... everywhere?

-Nop! Because today's topic is... consent!

She said while making a rainbow in the air with her hands , Therefore, the little angel had no choice but to personally walk through the disgusting streets of the pride ring... his ring. While he was hanging little pieces of paper on the windows of the shops of the ungrateful sinners that owned them. But... it was for Charlie... so how bad could it be, He stopped thinking about how bad it would be and instead saw Charlie's smile explaining how she wanted to deal with today's topic, he saw her eyes full of sparkle and got out of bed.

-Count on me char-char, I'll take care of it!

Charlie smiled from ear to ear and hugged him, leaning down, he had taken Lucifer a little by surprise but he gladly reciprocated

-Thank you.. means a lot.

They both felt a silence after that, it wasn't awkward, it was like they were telling each other without words that they were trying to heal something, And even if it couldn't happen overnight, they were trying, Charlie knew they would make it, Lucifer... he could only hope so.

But after that charlie decided to left the room to let her father get ready, she also had too many things to do, time was against her and she wasn't going to waste it.

-Well.. see ya!

She said goodbye with her hand, while her father did it in the same way, Once she was outside, the angel walked slowly to his closet, looking for something more casual, but ended up wearing his usual outfit but without his white jacket, he rolled up his sleeves and headed to the bathroom to fix his hair, he saw himself in the mirror for a moment, a wave of melancholy drowning him for a few moments, He saw himself worn out, tired.

He washed his face with cold water as an attempt to wash away the draining thoughts, it just... everything used to be so simple for him, at least sometimes... He left the bathroom and opened a window in his room, looking to breathe something other than his own self-loathing, A burst of sulfur aroma was what he found, he sighed, At this moment he missed the aroma of fruit and freshly wet grass... he may not be missing the regime of heaven but... that garden and it's smells sure were something else

He realized that he had gotten quite lost in thought, so he washed his face one last time Seeking to return to reality, and avoiding the hassle of seeing so many faces at the reception... he opened a golden portal under his feet that left him at the exit of the hotel, now he only had to...

walk.

Lovely.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

-WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT.

A demon twice his size was shouting at him in the middle of the street, the lamb-like demon had bruises he was bleeding and holding the demon's hand that grabbed him by the neck while lifting him off the floor, he didn't seem scared, in fact he didn't feel the slightest bit of fear despite the dangerous situation he found himself in, as if he believed that at any moment one of his exterminators would arrive and take him out of there, or simply as if it didn't enter his head that he wasn't untouchable.

-F-FUCK YOU.. YOU.. FUCKING PUSSY!

He tried to get free even with less oxygen than required, he increasingly gained strength to kick his attacker into the pit of his stomach, leaving him breathless momentarily and falling to the ground, he took a deep breath and before the opponent could notice Adam was half a block away, he may have been out of shape, but he managed to ran into an alley and lean against the wall, while he saw the idiot run past him.

-SHIT- FUCKING- DAMN IT!

He dropped to the floor sliding down the wall, wiped the blood from his nose, then saw the blood on his hand..

Red.

His blood was... Red. Did he feel.. anger? No.. sadness? Of course not.. he was not a pussy.. He felt... To hell with what he felt all this was bullshit and he shouldn't be going through this! He shouldn't be here! He Should not.. he shouldn't be here...he was the first man...God's most beautiful creation! Fuck..he couldn't be rotting in this shit hole together with all these pieces of shit! They all came from him. where is his respect..

Interrupting his internal monologue bar existential crisis, he heard footsteps and unconsciously clung to the wall with his new claws, since he had arrived he had already escaped from five guys who were looking to kick his ass, perhaps a sixth could be avoided.

Humming a catchy melody, a familiar face passed by looking for something, looked at a sheet of paper, then at the shops, Then he approached the window of the establishment and stuck a flyer on it, without realizing the stare he had on him, Although of course, many people had looked at him since he left the hotel, he had had to send a couple flying, so it wasn't something especially peculiar

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

of all the habitants of hell... IT SHOULD BE FUCKING LUCIFER THE FIRST FAMILIAR FACE HE SEES?! This day, this place and all of this it's nothing but a stupid damn joke!

What the fuck is he doing? Hanging ruffles? Last time he tried to sell him that he was such a big deal, what was he doing hanging fucking pamphlets in the disgusting streets full of shit?

The gaze that Lucifer felt on his shoulder felt heavier and heavier, when he looked out of the corner of his eye he noticed a sinner looking towards the flyer he puted on the glass, and an idea crossed his mind, what would be better than advertising the hotel? Well, make it work of course! He could do this, it was just... talking to a stranger! Perfect, and the bad thing was that... he had to talk to a stranger. come on morningstar! For your daughter's approval!

-Heey you.

They both remained in total silence, panic could be seen on Adam's face, had he recognized him? It seemed like no... everything pointed to no, but that didn't stop his brain from wanting to run away and leave him alone in that moment, Lucifer had an ackward face and it shows in the way his eye twitched that he regretted his decision ever since the words left his mouth, but there was no way to take it back now, meanwhile Adam considered the possibility of just running away.

-I see you... watching from there! You can... read it. You know.. it's a pamphlet. They are for... reading-

He could easily smash his hand against his face in an exaggerated way, but this wasn't the time for that, if he brought a guest to the hotel today Charlie would be so happy! he can do it, it was like selling, It's not that he knew how to sell things... but how hard could it be

Meanwhile Adam looked at him with a disappointed face, his communication skills were as deplorable as they had always been, but he glanced at the pamphlet, of course, their fifth class hotel.

-It has everything! You should tell every person you see in hell about it.

Adam's disgusted face spoke for him, while Lucifer sighed, obviously it wouldn't be that easy to bring someone to the hotel in one day, but for Adam everything was going wonderfully since at least he didn't know it was him.

The feeling did not last too long, as he felt a figure forming behind him, heat emanating from near his back, the lamb-like demon feared the worst, and unfortunately he was right.

-To claim to be the first dick you are quite the pussy.

Said a demon behind him, twice his size, Shark-like, It was the guy from before for sure, shit-

-wait. what was that first thing you said?

before the words had a chance to come out of the angel's mouth in their entirety, He felt a gust of wind pass by him but as far as he was concerned, the wind doesn't scream.

As he turned around at the speed of the wind itself, he could briefly see his future guest crashing into the brick wall at the hands of the stupid demon who had interrupted his negotiation attempt, in a moment six wings came out angelically from the sovereign's back to place himself just in time between the two demons with a flutter of his wings, whit one hand he stoped the inevitable punch destined to hit Adam's face.

-Nobody taught you not get into the grown up's conversations... right?

He said this while a grin formed in his face, showing sharp teeth which this guy would remember all his life, Lucifer released the guy's fist to hold his wrist and with a twist of his hip he easily sent him to the other side of the pentagram.

-now. where did you get that phrase from?

When the angel looked behind him he could see nothing more and nothing less than two hooves walking away two meters away

-Shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!

Although Adam's intention was to lose sight of the small man following him, when he looked back all he could see was his imminent arrival to the ground, receiving a tackle from Lucifer, they both fell rolling around as if they were two little children fighting in the school garden

-SPEAK FILTHY CREATURE

He demanded, standing on top of the lamb, despite it being half his size and looking humorous, the truth is that Adam couldn't get out of his grip no matter how hard he tried.

-STOP BEING SO DAMN DENSE BITCH!

Oh God. He recognized that voice, he recognized that stupid self-nickname, and worst of all, he recognized that stupid tantrum.

-how the hell. are you here rigth now.

-Why should I say that to you, huh?!

-maybe because YOU DON'T HAVE ANOTHER OPTION?! MAYBE??

Both continued to struggle with each other, one to escape and one to have answers. Lucifer was afraid of letting him escape and that he could cause some trouble, although thinking about it carefully... he looked at his lamb's ears, his hooves, his eyes and his teeth... now he was a simple sinner, There wasn't much he could accomplish even if he tried, he'd probably be screwed, he may already had taked a few beatings even.

-Well, I have no idea! I hope that helps sucker!

He said and spit in his face, something he didn't thought about properly, or didn't thought about at all, The ruler's face was irritated, as if he were putting up with a spoiled child, well... that's practically what he's doing.

-That's all, Let's go.

He cleaned his face whit his sleve and grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and began to drag him along the sidewalk, he had an exhausted expression as if he didn't have what it took to face this situation today, although he probably wouldn't any day.

-the FUCK. ARE YOU DOING?!

He said, fluttering his black wings everywhere, managing to irritate Lucifer by obstructing his vision, forcing him to stop, to which he grunted in annoyance.

-Well. taking care of you! What else am I supposed to do! It's what I should always do! because it seems like your entire existence is made to cause me problems!

Adam's gaze could be nothing but anger, he struggled away from Lucifer's grasp, which was curious to see due to the difference in sizes, once free he turned around to look at him from the front

- YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, I WAS MADE TO BE FUCKING PERFECT! YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT.

-If you were as perfect as you say, how do you explain this eh! How do you think this happened?! You are not in this putrid pit for being the dick of the dicks PAL!

The lamb growled in exasperation as he stamped on the ground with his right hoof, after pulling his hair looking to escape from his angryness he lookef at the little one in the eye.

- IF I DON'T CARE, WHY THE FUCK SHOULD YOU CARE, YOU PIECE OF CRAP!

He felt a lump in his throat, but not as painful as the lump in the throat of the king of hell himself, Why should he care? Why the fuck should he care??

-Oh then i saw You die a fucking WEEK AGO. and You expect me to see that You are alive and let you wander through hell knowing that any demon is out there KICKING YOUR FUCKING ASS?! A THANK YOU WAS ENOUGH!

Lucifer screamed as his eyes turned from yellow to red from how infuriating he found having to argue with this idiot, he was never particularly reasonable but right now he was more irritable than normal and had no idea why

- THANK YOU?! OH SURE THEN YOU THINK YOU CAN TREAT ME LIKE A CHARITY CASE FOR YOUR BRAT'S SHITTY HOTEL HUH!? Well I have news for you DUDE!

Adam He kicked dirt from the street, dirtying Lucifer's clothes, who coughed in response to the cloud of dust

-im not your fucking guinea pig.

He narrowed his gaze in disgust, looking down literally and metaphorically at his contrary.

-Are you allergic to kindness? or why is it that you can't accept a fucking favor!?

Adam's Contemptuous face became one of intense anger and he took a step forward and brought his face closer to the angel's.

-from YOU? Of course. Good joke.

Lucifer had enough, he wouldn't wait to know where this reunion could go, It's not even worth wasting his breath on... Adam. Or at least that's what he thought.

-you know what? It's fine with me. It's not like you're not used to everyone leaving you, stay like that, as always, stay alone.

The king shook his clothes to remove the dirt, with one hand he snapped his fingers and as he arrived he left, Adam was left with an unreadable expression, he didn't move from there, he just stood there.

still and quiet.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

The golden portal opened above the hotel's front door, since he had avoided greeting people in the morning he assumed he could say hello in the aftern.. nigth, it was nigth.

Well, anyways, he would greet them at night then.

Opening the door abruptly without worrying about whether it was timely or not, he stepped into the hall.

-HEELLOOO everyone! How does the night treat you all?

From there you could easily see the bartender behind the bar along with the little maid sitting at the bar playing with some dead bug, on the sofa lay their most exotic guest and a certain deer showed no signs of being close, much to the king's liking.

-we have been better short king, But nothing that a drink can't fix, rigth wiskers?

The feline rolled his eyes but smiled at the end, and began to mix different liquids, When he looked in the direction the king was his eyes widened in surprise

- wow. It looks like you were hited by a truck.

Angel Dust looked in the same direction realizing what the bartender was referring to, It really looked like they had made him crawl on the floor, well, in fact something like that happened-

- someone played too rough whit ya~?

Husk put his palm to his face as Nifty leaned over the bar counter

- I like rough.

She said, sketching a sinister smile, to which Lucifer reacted with a certain degree of displeasure, and Husk put a donut from the bar counter in her mouth to make her shut up for a little bit

- umh.. rigth. Well no, I wasn't hit by a truck, and no! Neither, the other thing. I just ran into a few issues. Nothing to worry about.

While this small exchange of words was going on, footsteps could be heard in the distance approaching faster and faster, ending with a hug from behind to Lucifer's surprise.

-DAD! What happened? It took you hours to come back!

-Oh come on, come on... it's nothing at all! A few small issues, a few hours! But everything is fine now.

While the angel convinced Charlie that it was nothing, sounds of static reached everyone's ears, covering them in the act, everyone anticipated the arrival of you-know-who, it was nothing new for him to arrive in such a dramatic way, especially if the king was there prior to his arrival

-How interesting... I would swear it would take more than a few small matters to delay the big boss.. a couple hours.

The one who had just arrived in the room exclaimed very arrogantly, with a smile from ear to ear per usual , Charlie watched him appear on the spot and waved happily, only to receive a greeting from the deer-like demon in return.

-oh oh oh If you only knew You little shit.

Lucifer smiled evilly knowing that if Alastor ran into Adam again the last thing he would do would be act with that arrogance so characteristic of his

-Honey there is someone at the door.

Vaggie entered the room and to the conversation to warn her girlfriend about the presence of someone outside, so charlie left the two old men arguing to answer the door

-Oh but tell us your highness, what were these "issues" then.

-Nothing that your walnut-sized brain can understand piece of-

Two brown hooves entered, stepping on the red carpet that covered the hotel's entrance hall, to which Charlie said very excitedly and taking small jumps until they reached the area where everyone was, her girl on one side of the stranger and her on the remaining side.

Lucifer's sight changed from being fixed on Alastor to seeing the newcomer and although the king was already prepared to smile at the person to receive them, when he looked at him carefully, the only thing that came out of his mouth was..

-FU- ADAM?! THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE.

When everyone heard who he was talking about, they stayed cold and glued to the floor. With his new demonic form, no one would have guessed that it was the leader of the exorcists in person, or rather... in demon.

-ADAM?!

-adam??

-THAT ADAM?!

-OH OH estás muerto CABRON!

-Mhhh..

After the domino reaction Adam with lowered ears tried to talk keeping his dignity and pride, not very successfully, with a stupid smile on his face he speak

-heey bitchees.. so.. what's for dinner?

You could swear there was the sound of a cane breaking in the background followed by a static sound.

[apollodrider]

Hello sunshine.☀️ could you do apollo headcanons with a female human reader? Thank you, have a good day.🌻

Thank you for the request!

I tried my best <33

Apollo x (Fem) Human! Reader

HEADCANONS

____• MAYBE gods and mortals interacting wasn't so ideal. You sometimes get nervous when interacting with him because of that. Apollo doesn't mind, he waits patiently for you to open up to him.

• Apollo does pursue you, he's not the demanding type, he instead works to win you over.

• Apollo likes to go through what we call 'courting', he finds the idea cute. He'd bring back silly gifts to you just to see you smile. He would write poems and dedicate to you. He'd sing you songs and play the lyre for you.

• He always make sure to treat you gently.

• “What's your love language?“ You ask him, curiously. “All five, darling. You deserve to experience all five.“

• I believe Apollo likes to show all the love languages to prove his love for you.

• Physical touch : Apollo lets you lay your head on his lap and rest as he caresses your hair. Whenever he sees you, he gives you a kiss on the back of your hand. He makes sure to give you lots of hugs and kisses. Sometimes, just to tease you, he'd give you a kiss on the lips before leaving. Like a goodbye kiss. He loves to hold your hand, your wrist, your waist, and all of that. It feels like heaven to him, you're just so beautiful.

• Quality time : Apollo would always visit you at completely unique and unexpected times. Sometimes early in the morning and sometimes around the afternoon. He'd drag you and take you to places, taking you out on dates, like picnic dates under the sun or under a tree. Other times, he's just there to keep you company and listen to you speak.

• Words of affirmation : Apollo loves to praise you a lot. In his eyes, you're gorgeous. He constantly compliments you, whether your appearance or your personality. He gives you reassurance whenever you're down.

• “I'm not very beautiful-“ You tell Apollo and he immediately looks at you, a frown on his face.“{Y/n}, you're as gorgeous as a star.“ Apollo said, complimenting you wholeheartedly. You raise a brow at that. “What is that supposed to mean?“

“Your beauty is shining, blinding, infact. You're a star, special and unique.“

• Acts of service : When you go out together and you have stuff to hold, Apollo carries them for you. Whenever your legs hurt from walking, he carries you. Whenever you're sick, he's there to take care of you. He's always worried about you, not wanting to see that you have even a single scratch on your skin.

• Gift giving : He loves giving you gifts. Apollo draws you often, making sketches, and paintings about you. He'd give one to you and keep some for himself, to admire you when he can't see you. When he sees something that reminds him of you/thinks you would like that, he gets it and gives it to you. Most of his gifts are cute, like stuffed toys, clothes, flowers, or food.

• Apollo always make sure to make you feel special. If he ever finds out someone hurt you, he'd have a talk with them and force them to apologize.

• You smiled at Apollo, holding back your laughter before you suddenly burst out into laughter. Apollo froze at that, surprised. He admired you. With glistening eyes, he watches you laugh and finds you adorably pretty when you do. “You're funny, Apollo.“ You comment, finally calming down.

From that day on, Apollo always made sure to crack jokes just to see you laugh.

• Apollo would take you to gardens, or flower fields. You'd both make flower crowns for eachother and wear it. He loves doing that a lot, it makes you happy, and it makes him happy too.

• You and Apollo have a sun and moon relationship in your eyes. But in Apollo's eyes, you are the sun to him. His sunshine. That may sound odd, but sometimes... the sun needs it's own sun, it's own sunshine that brightens his world since he makes other's day, but who will make his? Well, you of course.

[charrfie]

i need to so badly know your opinions/thoughts on wilfre and sock

Unsure if this is the same dtl anon as before, but either way HELLO AND THANK YOU FOR BEING CURIOUS!!!!! I would be more than happy to share! Because the phrasing of this ask was pretty vague, I winded up writing a multiple page essay in an attempt to cover everything wilfre/sock related. So it's all under a read more. That being said, if I've not covered something you were specifically curious about, let me know. I have a million more thoughts on the two (or the whole game!) I'd be happy to share. Here's an additional drawing I made to accompany everything :^]

For those unfamiliar with the drawn to life series, please be warned MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!!!

So, to get into it! I figured I would start with the very basics: wilfre, sock, and the rest of his forms. A lot of folks have different interpretations on the intricacies between wilfre and his disguises! I'm a believer in the fact that they *are* all the same person (in contrast to how some people believe them to be disguises created from stolen appearances/stolen bodies)... but different facets of this same person. Essentially, normal raposa wilfre was a wholly fleshed out being, and every other form he takes exaggerates various traits of his. Flanderization, I guess, but only to a certain degree. Shadow wilfre is an elevation of his more sadistic tendencies, sock is an elevation of his cowardice, and salem is an elevation of his mystery/flair for the dramatic. Granted this is a fairly barebones description of the way his forms worm since I do believe there to be more to these characters and their behaviors, but what I've said already gets my point across well enough for a generalized "what are your thoughts" type of question. Though I will say, sock's spotlight on cowardice is especially interesting to me considering- at least from what I've seen- wilfre's character being largely dictated by his own fear is not something focused on often by fans; it's much more common for you to see him just being cool and evil. We'll come back to this.

Another thing that comes from my belief of them all being the same person is that wilfre absolutely *did* design his separate forms with conscious intent (with an exception of shadow wilfre, which was likely only natural corruption of his form following his exposure to shadow). It speaks so heavily for who he is as a creative!! He likes being a little edgy and snobby- hence salem's design- and he also doesn't think too far ahead sometimes- hence sock's name, which absolutely had to be something he thought of on the spot! So many hints at who he is as an individual outside of "the antagonist" are hidden away in small details like that.

Now, with that out of the way, back to the topic of wilfre's fear!

In the first game, his sights are not set nearly as high as they are in the sequel. He chooses to spread shadow over the whole world as an effort to fix what the creator ruined; he WILL take matters into his own hands and bend the world how he pleases if it means a reality "done better." While there may have originally been truth in such a goal, his reasoning is slightly disingenuous considering it's more of a rebellion than an instance of wanting to actually better the world (due to his inability to ACTUALLY fix things how he wishes he could). Wilfre has a habit of convincing himself he's correct though, so it makes sense why it pans out this way. The writing of the first game makes it out to be a lot more malicious and pointlessly evil than dtl:tnc. Sort of always seemed flat and boring to me in how it's presented so I tend to have to embellish it a bit in my fanworks lol. It's also at this point that the fear which drives him isn't as obvious... while there are suggestions of it in dtl, it's ramped up a whole new degree in dtl:tnc. For now, most of what the player sees sets the stage for this development with wilfre's struggle against power imbalance.

At the very beginning of dtl:tnc, this framework of a power imbalance comes into play almost immediately when wilfre is spoken to directly by the creator. It's almost insulting to him considering he prayed and begged for some kind of answer for so many years, and yet only when he is far past his worst- when he is no longer devoted- now he hears them. He's livid and extremely reactionary about it! In part, this is due to justifiable anger, but I've always been lead to believe fear plays a large part here as well. His manner of speaking shifts, he hesitates; he's unsure, only for a moment before breaking out into an extravagant display of his power. Almost as if to reaffirm his control of the situation. As the game progresses, these sorts of actions increase in frequency.

Alongside these sorts of direct fear reactions popping up much more often, wilfre's shifted goal also reflects the terror which motivates him. His sights have been set on bigger things by this point: saving the world by freezing it in time and space. It's destruction is imminent if he doesnt stop those who try to return color to it. It's an action SOLELY motivated by fear of death, something he develops an almost obsessive fixation with.

Wilfre's thought process during the execution of his plan tends to follow the idea of "you can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs," which is essentially the equivalent to "you can't save the whole world without killing or harming a couple people along the way." Even if it requires him to create a sterile, barren, unmoving world, he will do anything to prevent the physical destruction of the world... to prevent death. This is something he considers noble and just; something which makes him a savior. Realistically, freezing everything EXACTLY how it is is not much better than the world and it's inhabitants fading out of existence; it's basically the same thing! But when fear dictates logic, it doesn't need to make any sort of sense. Self preservation is the most and ONLY important thing one accounts for.

Sock, specifically, embodies wilfre's myriad of fears to a whole new level. Rather than fear being combated with a reactionary display, he cowers, hides, and acts dismissively towards a various amount of situations. I'll delve into this a bit more later in a separate point, but while some of this may be to manipulate others in the situation, it's not uncommon for wilfre to do/say something that puts on a front while masking other meaning. It's just that his typically inward thoughts tend to project themselves outwardly in this form of his!

Keep in mind that while I do believe there to be reason behind wilfre's logic and actions, that does not necessarily excuse all or even most of them. Do not misconstrue me!!! He's killed people, he's trapped people both in physical cages and in time and space, he's psychologically tortured others, the list goes on. And that's what makes him so fascinating! He's not a good guy! If you erase or excuse all of his terrible actions he becomes so much less interesting as a character and antagonist. But its undeniably interesting to look into the psychology and motivations behind his actions.

Moving on from this, it is also worth noting that I am a HUGE proponent of jowfre and it's very much so interlaced with my reading of the story/characters. Let me explain:

Sock, as a character, stands out to me a lot in how he is a major turning point for wilfre. According to his plan, the "sock" disguise SHOULD be another approach to the same issue at hand: preventing any raposa from impeding on his end goal. Disguising himself as salem was his first attempt at this... but holes were quickly poked in it's execution, and he found that prevention by force would not be successful. Instead, he then goes the opposite route; by disguising himself as sock, he can befriend jowee (who at this point has assumed the role of leader), gain the trust of others, and destroy their group from the inside. Which works! ...A little too well, he finds, as he too starts to believe his own lie of being someone who cares about jowee and his fellow raposa. And in return, he is gifted something he thought impossible in his current state: jowee's genuine friendship.

Now obviously this is a BIG DEAL. For a lot of reasons. For one, it's a hell of a lot harder to endanger the life of someone you care about than it is a random stranger who hates you (worth noting that every time this happens in the game, it becomes increasingly passive to the point that any danger isn't even coming from wilfre himself, sock just suggests that everyone leave/give up). But even less than endangering someone's life is breaking someone's spirit. If he can break jowee's determination and make the village give up on their mission, he'll succeed. And yet this is STILL something wilfre can't find it in himself to do.

I have two personal favorite examples of this that stick out to me. The first is the infamous treehouse balcony conversation... where jowee is heartbroken about the disappearance of mari. Discouraged and lost, jowee confides in sock, airing out his grievances. It's an ideal moment for sock to reaffirm jowee's broken view of himself; jowee wouldn't argue with the state he's currently in. Instead though, sock listens to him, encourages him, and comforts him. One can argue that it's a simple manipulation tactic since it's the perfect moment for wilfre to gain jowee's trust, but it's always stood out to me as something very... vulnerable. Jowee *is* the first raposa wilfre has had casual conversation with in ages anyway...... it's as if he's relishing the feeling of being able to relate and be on equal ground. The shadow has influenced his entire being, yes, but there's an undeniable glimmer of humanity in him still that yearns to escape. It's also here that we get critical insight to wilfre's inner principles when he tells a (likely fictionalized) tale and ends it with "I made a decision that- regardless of consequence- I would succeed." It speaks so much for who he is at his core and how right he believes himself to be. He's sharing BIG things with jowee rather than breaking his spirit.

The second example of this is following the first hint of mari's betrayal: when she steals the book of life from jowee. Accusations are being thrown around, faith is dwindling, and the entire village is on the brink of collapse... but when jowee comes forward with the notion of wanting to try again, to not give up... out of everyone else there, sock is the first and only to speak up. Cheering for him and encouraging him forward. Without him doing so, the mission would have failed. WHICH IS CRAZY BECAUSE THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT HE'S BEEN ASKING FOR!!!!!! The entire time he's been accompanying the village he has again and again (and will continue to) try to get everyone to back out of what they're doing, to split apart. But when it's served to him on a silver platter, he can't. IT'S FASCINATING!!!!!!!!

As I said though, jowee's friendship doesn't just come with one issue for wilfre, but multiple. Arguably the most egregious is the fact that it makes wilfre question if his grand plan of draining the world of all color is really right. If it's something he should even bother to do. Which must be a realization so chilling considering *he is doing so to save the whole world.* How can such a pest of a single raposa make him- the great and infallible wilfre- waiver in his confidence? This particular issue is all implication rather than direct statement; I've mentioned previously how sock gets less and less pushy as time goes on, instead vouching for generally avoidant approaches, and this is what I'm referencing here. It's downright procrastination rather than prevention!

Wilfre drags the execution of his "destroy jowee's village from the inside out" plan out for so long that he only acts when he's desperate. When there's nothing else he can do, no further thing that might delay them. He's been backed into a corner and knows jowee is far too determined to quit. And so, he drops the act. He steals heather's pendant, reveals himself as wilfre, and escapes.

I highly doubt it's intentional (and I'll get into the details on why I find this legitimate reasoning regardless of intention later), but I do find it interesting that he waits until the moment in the map room to ask for the pendant because it directly follows jowee having an outburst about wilfre and how terrible he is. Realistically, it would have been even more in sock's favor to have stolen the pendant while jowee was alone with him on one of the islands they visited. At that point, the other villagers may even have turned on jowee- their leader- out of suspicion. Better yet, sock could have stolen the pendant away while jowee slept, eliminating the need to get caught entirely. But he doesn't. It's not until he's desperate AND is directly getting reminded that the person he most cares about hates him that he acts. It's a nice callback to the aforementioned treehouse conversation the two have: regardless of consequence, regardless of losing someone he had come to care about, he would succeed in carrying out what he meant to do. And so he does. He tries to, at least.

A brief interruption from this point to speak on the writing quality of the games themselves. The drawn to life series contains two separate writing approaches: multidimensional storytelling and face value storytelling. "Multidimensional" in the sense that the writing itself mirrors a character/dictates their identity (e.g. jowee's writing reaffirming his position as someone thought of as unworthy) and "face value" in the sense that the writing tells the story in a straightforward sense with no hidden meanings (e.g. most large plot developments). It's pretty fascinating! Now, do I think this approach of dual writing systems was intentional? Well... no. Truthfully it's my opinion that the writing in the game is fairly underwhelming and not very well thought out. It's not a masterpiece by any means. But despite intent, the dual writing system is very much so at play, and one needs to approach the game being ready to actively parse through which is which.

I bring all this up to say that occasionally, the blatant multidimensional storytelling embedded in the games' writing is really just meant to be normal, face-value storytelling. Certain interactions or events seem deeper than they really are, implications come to the surface due to it, etc. And because of this, the growth of certain characters is entirely stunted. Namely due to the fact that while the player expects said character(s) to act in a certain manner due to implications previously made, this character will instead act in a wildly unexpected way because it was what the writer initially intended. And as we've established, intent does not equal correct execution. By far the worst example of this is the latter half of dtl:tnc, where wilfre tears the appearance of "sock" away with no remorse and escapes to his wasteland. After all the build-up of his blossoming relationship with jowee, his dynamic character development, and overall stakes rising, the player is suddenly brought back to a very static, unsatisfying square one... a completely out of left field 180° with character direction. I've always suspected the reason for this was that midway through the project, the script writers realized the villian had become more sympathetic of a character than one of the main protagonists (mari) and out of nowhere switched it up, cut off character arcs, etc just to ensure their original intent was preserved.. even if that ultimately led to something that felt clunky and odd.

A bit of a longwinded side tangent, but it all prefaces my next point: if the games were written with more care and without the literary biases present, wilfre would have had a redemption arc. Or at least an arc where he sees his redemption as a choice, but turns against it.

I know, I know. You can't simply see a villian character you enjoy and go "well I think they should've had a happy ending so I'm going to let AU reflect my analysis of the canon media." That's not what I'm saying here! It's not just a simple wish for better circumstances influencing my thoughts. I would have been 100% okay with an unhappy ending for him either way, if only the writing didn't handle it in a way so jarring. Because it *is* jarring though, I try to work with it by incorporating it into my analysis rather than just discarding it as unusable, disingenuous storytelling. Case in point: what I did with my jowee pmv... you GOTTA boost the drama and stretch the truth a little bit...

To wrap this very long response up, I wanted to briefly mention very minor miscellaneous thoughts I have about wilfre that didn't fit in with any other main topic I touched on:

Based on my interactions with the fandom, I've come to notice there are a LOT of people who seem to think wilfre doesn't believe in the creator. In reality, he very much so does, he just thinks they suck lol.

I think it's very cute seeing how wildly out of practice wilfre is living as a normal raposa. He's spent so long as a shadow that things which used to come so easy to him are such a chore now (e.g. in lavasteam where he breathlessly chases after jowee trying to keep up with him.. he's so used to floating he's out of practice actually carrying his bodyweight around).

I have always read drawn to life as being a story relating heavily to forced role fulfillment; a character must fill the role they are given, or the world/their own self will fall apart. Assuming you're the same anonymous asker from before, you've seen my pmv, so you know how evident jowee's forced role fulfillment (or lack thereof) is throughout the games. But wilfre is also a shining example of this narrative theme! Many of the issues that the raposa world suffers from (be it relationship disputes, societal structures, general unhappiness, etc) are oftentimes tacked on as something wilfre is somehow at fault for, however loosely. The shadow's influence leads him to lose a lot of his humanity (raposity?) on its own, but his role as the scapegoat does as well, since it warps him into more of a concept than person. This is another reason his paralyzing fear of death is so critical to get across; it returns some of the humanity and dimension to him which make him more well-rounded.

I mentioned that sock becomes more avoidant as the story progresses, but what I've neglected to mention is the fact that wilfre is generally very avoidant by nature. Despite having more power than any other thing he commands, throughout both games he incessantly tries to have the hero and others dealt with through indirect means (other bosses/shadow creatures, influencing potential allies, robbing raposa of resources, etc). It's a pretty obvious behavior that dictates his character, but is further enabled in the circumstances I elaborated on outside of these notes.

Not very wilfre-specific but moreso just general info: I do not consider the newest entry in the series of drawn to life: two realms canon in the slightest so none of my interpretations of stories or characters will ever stem from two realms events. Sorry!

Wtf is up with him being weirdly flirty with mari at the end of tnc btw. I usually just excuse it as bad writing and that sudden shift in character I talked about. Which is funny because if that character shift is indeed the writers overcompensating then that means they were worried about too much gay tension between wilfre and jowee I guess LMAO there's literally zero reason for it otherwise.. it's so ooc and out of left field. Can I just write this dude myself please.

Thank you so much for asking in the first place... I love talking about these guys!!!!! <3 If you can't tell, lol. Hope you found it interesting, I'd be happy to elaborate further if anyone's curious. Just know it might take me a little while since it took me about a week to get to this ask haha

[pablitogavii]

after a bad match reader cheers her boyfriend gavi up. fluff

I just had the same idea :) Great minds think alike!

Another draw...it's been three games that Barça hadn't won and you knew how difficult your boyfriend deals with loses especially since the whole El Clásico debacle at Camp Nou.

pablito<3: just arrived home amor <3

You smiled at the message happy that he always remembers how much you worry so he always tells you when he arrives from a travel.

"Mom, I'll sleep at Pablo's tonight!" you quickly grabbed your school bag before kissing your parents and driving to Pablo's apartment.

princesa<3: open your door Pablito <3

Pablo was laying on the sofa watching some TV while still feeling disappointed and angry with yet another poor performance when he got your text.

He smiled quickly rushing to open his front door quickly pulling you into a tight hug happy that you were finally with him again...he really needed your company now.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming amor? I would have ordered us some food, maybe lit some candles?" Pablo was smiling and you blushed at his romantic side shaking your head before kissing him once more before he led you inside.

"I wanted to surprise you, Pablito. And I missed you so much!" you say while taking off your shoes and he couldn't wait any longer to grab your body and carry you to the couch.

He laid you down before getting on top of you and laying his head on your chest nuzzling his head into your neck as his way of asking for cuddles...you thought he was so adorable.

"I need you so much right now amor.." he said sounding quite sad and you knew that he was surely still going through the loss at Getafe.

"Shh I'm here Pablito..I'm not going anywhere" you reassured him and he nodded kissing your neck sloppily while you ran your hands through his hair gently.

"We just can't get back up from the Clásico...even fans are saying how horrible we are and I'm trying so hard amor..every game and every training I give my all and I get are yellow cards and provocations" Pablo was opening up which wasn't usual but you were glad he trusted you to be vulnerable when he needed it.

"Mi amor you shouldn't feel guilty when you are giving your all and true fans know that...as for the provocations, they are targeting you because they see you as a threat so just ignore them..like you told me to do with those mean girls online" you giggle hoping to lighten the mood and it worked since he pulled you closer looking up and kissing your lips.

"They are jealous of my princesa bonita..because they know how madly in love I am with her..and how special she is to me" he smiled and you did as well kissing him once more before leaving light kisses on his face while his eyes were shut.

"Let me give you a massage Pablito, I promise it will help?" you say and he opens his eyes smiling more before getting off you and taking off his t-shirt leaving you in awe.

He was working really hard on his physique in the past few months and it was certainly starting to show..his abs were flexed and his arms veiny and delicious...you were taking your time to appreciate them.

"Should we go to bedroom or do you want to check me out some more amor??" Pablo teased and you blushed getting up about to walk past him but he grabbed your waist pulling you back and resting his chin on your shoulder.

"Te amo mucho mi amor.." he said into your neck and you smiled turning around and cupping his face before kissing his lips again lovingly.

"Te amo Pablito..come on" you grab his hand guiding him to the bedroom where he laid on his stomach while you grabbed some lotion and sat besides him before starting to massage tense knots in his back.

After only a few minutes, Pablo was moaning in pleasure as his muscles started to finally relax and his thoughts cleared focusing on the magic your fingers brought to him right now.

"Feeling better amor?" you came closer to his ear whispering gently not wanting to disturb him peace and he just nodded with his eyes still closed never wanting you to stop...it's the best he felt in months.

You noticed half an hour later that Pablo was softly snoring and you smiled kissing down his back gently before pulling blanket over his exhausted body and turning the light off in the room.

It was still early for you to sleep so you grabbed your book and went to the living room making some tea. You only finished one chapter when a familiar curly haired boy peaked through bedroom door with a big pout on his handsome face.

"You left me amor.." he said like an adorable puppy and you put the book away smiling wide at his adorable childish behavior.

"Come cuddle me please??" he asked blushing a little and you smiled nodding your head and running to give him a hug as he pulled you into the bed and cuddled closer to you once more.

"You keep me calm amor..I couldn't do it without you" he said sleepily and you kissed his head feeling so happy to have found someone like Pablo to love and be loved by.

"Talk to me..I just want to hear you voice" he said and you smiled running your hand through his hair once more as he relaxed against you.

"What should I talk about?" you whisper

"Us...in ten years..where do you see us amor?" he said and you felt your heart racing thinking about your future life with Pablo loving how neither of you had doubts that you were meant to be together forever.

"Well...we will defiantly still be in Barcelona and I will be with a best midfielder in the world.." you started feeling his smile against your neck.

"Married...you will be married to the best midfielder in the world amor" he said and you blushed nodding your head in agreement thinking of yourself as future Mrs. Gavira...it will always sound like a dream.

"And we will have a house....with a big garden..where I can plant roses" you say and he listens carefully taking in every detail so he can bring it to life over the years..he wanted to give you everything you wish for.

"And a big pool so I can jump with PabloJr. into it and annoy you every day" Pablo added and you took a moment to realize what he had just said blushing more looking down at his sparkling eyes.

"Pablo Jr.?" you repeat and he nods proudly with a big smile.

"We can have more than one....preferably three if you ask me" he said smirking and you have him a shocked face.

"Easy now...they will all have to be inside of me first" you remind him and he raised his hands in surrender before you both giggled.

"It's all about what you want, my vida...I'm here to give you everything you set your mind to princesa" he said and you smiled nodding your head and placing your lips on his once more into a sweet kiss.

"In that case, I do have one request for you.." you say seriously and he raised his head a little waiting to hear this request of yours.

"I want you to always love me the way you do right now...to make me feel peace and to never change yourself because I love you just the way you are right now..my angry bird" you tease and he smiled kissing your lips passionately before nodding his head and giving you a pinky promise (ofc!)

Hope you like it :) It's short but sweet <3

[quigonswife8]

Ethan Winters || Chris Redfield x reader who gets hurt

Since i'm a new resi fan I thought it would be perfect to start writing resident evil fics. So here's something about my two of my favorite characters :)

Warnings: injuries, swearing.

For Ethan's part you are in place of Mia, so everything basically happens the same. Just in this you end up leaving to look for him in the village, you aren't experimented on like how Mia was. Sorry if that doesn't really make sense.

-

Ethan:

[Gif creds: @darkened-writer]

"Ethan.." you mutter, watching as the werewolf gets ready to charge towards the man. Ethan is knocked out so he doesn't know that he's about to be killed.

The werewolf doesn't pay any mind to you, but that's about to change. Gripping onto the gun tighter you take a deep breathe before screaming "HEY!" and shooting up to grab it's attention more.

Come on you look at him. The werewolf, you'd found is called Varcolac, huffs, and then turns in your direction. "Yeah! Come and get me..."

He slowly moves away from Ethan as to get ready to charge at you. The pure adrenaline running through you pushes away any fear that you should be feeling, and as you look back at Ethan again, you notice how he's starting to wake.

You can't won't let anything happen to him, he deserves to live. With one last look at Ethan you quickly break into a sprint, drawing the werewolf away.

----

You fall to your knees, letting the gun fall to the ground. The blood on your hands marking the ground as you press them to it- your breathing is heavy and you feel like passing out, but you're relieved that the wolf is finally dead.

"(y/n)?!"

You look forward, watching as Ethan limps over to you. This of course makes you stand, but the pain in your side forces you back to the ground. "(Y/N)!". Despite the amount of pain he's in Ethan runs the rest of the distance to you, his eyes so full of sadness, and when he kneels down in front of you, he checks you over for any other injuries.

"What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking..." you begin "...that I made sure you didn't die" a weak smile grows on your lips, and you chuckle. "That worked out didn't it?"

Ethan blinks a few times trying to wrap his head around what just happened. To be honest he wants to be furious at you- he nearly lost you, and you mean everything to him. However you did save his life and because you're happy that he's alive, he realizes he shouldn't be feeling furious.

He sighs and then manages to crack a smile. Then he nods, thankful.

"Thank you."

-

Chris:

[Gif creds: @hermaeusmoras]

You sneak through the mansion to one of the safe rooms. Chris is waiting there for you, he'd commed and had let you know which safe room he was waiting in.

It's good that he's safe, and he's okay. You can't say the same for you however, as you have a large gash on your shoulder that can only be fixed up with items available in that safe room. With a makeshift bandage pressed to your shoulder you pick up speed.

-

"Shit!"

You grab the lighter out of your pocket, quickly setting fire to the zombie. It's hisses and snarls fill your ears, and as it shakes violently, you back away quickly. Man you swear you can hear your heartbeat in your ears because it's so loud, it hammers against your chest.

Finally the zombie is dead dead. Shaking you put the lighter away, but you don't move. All you can do is stare at the corpse in front of you, blinking slowly, breathing slowly. "Jesus." you've been in this mansion for two hours- two hellish hours- and it's only now starting to take it's toll on you.

"(y/n)."

Chris's face comes into view- his worried face, to be exact- he is leaning down to properly meet your eyes. He wants to spend time making sure you're alright, but not there as it's safer in that room. He can tell that you're traumatised. Even as a S.t.a.r.s. member you never would have been prepared for this.

"We have to go."

He grabs your hand and pulls you to the safe room, just in time to miss a few zombies lunging at you both. He practically throws the door shut, and his fingers work away quickly, the door locking, and he protectively moves in front of you. There's no way those zombies will get in, but it's more of a safety measure.

You stand there in silence listening to the zombies slowly move away from the door, until their grunts and groans can only be heard in the distance. "Okay..." Chris sighs, turning to look at you. "I think we're good now.."

Thank god

You want to cry with relief, but you can't because if you start crying you know you won't stop. "Man am I happy to see you." You put a hand on Chri'ss arm, and Chris is equally as happy to see you. Maybe more. He's not happy that you're hurt, though, as he had managed to catch a glimpse of the gash on your shoulder.

Now that you're there he can fix you up- well if you'll let him.

"I'm happy to see you too (y/n)..."

"I feel like there's a 'but' coming." you raise an eyebrow.

"...but..." he continues chuckling at what you had said. "...I need to fix you up before we head back out there. If that's..."

You're surprised he'd noticed your gash since he'd been so focused on getting you inside instead of anything else. Not that you mind, though, since you were going to tell him anyway.

"Yes please." usually being the one to fix yourself up, but being too exhausted after that whole run-in with the zombie. "...that would be perfect Chris, thank you."

You walk over to the nearby bed, while Chris gets whatever is needed to mend to your shoulder.

--

[shouldaspunastory]

Thank you @uchidachi! @dadrunkwriting

Cullen Rutherford & Dorian Pavus (mid-DAI, pre-relationship, 2963 words)

———————————

"No rest for the wicked," Dorian Pavus chuckles softly, shaking his head as he leans casually against the other side of the doorframe where he's been since he crept in mid-briefing, watching as Cullen had addressed and handed out assignments to his knights. "Long, day, Commander," the Tevinter mage asks in his usual silky and lilting playful tone.

Cullen sighs shaking his head, he'd not noticed the mage sneak in. He's slipping. Too much time in the office and not enough in the field these days has made him lax. He runs a hand through his hair- a little less composed than it was at the start of the day- even less so now as he tugs a little, trying to create something else to draw his focus away from the way his head is throbbing. "I didn't see you come in," Cullen admits with a small chuckle.

"You were distracted," Dorian shrugs towards the large stack of papers and maps that litter the Commander's desk. "As was I," he adds with a slight smirk. "It's impressive, watching you at work," he compliments, eyes flickering appreciatively as they so often do over the Ferelden man with a hint of something... hungry. "But you missed dinner. Again," Dorian adds with a slight look of admonishment. "So, I thought I'd come and drag you down to the tavern for a bowl or plate of whatever is on offer tonight."

"I wouldn't mind a break, for a change..." Cullen admits with an exhale, steadying himself for a moment against the North door he's just closed and locked before pushing off of it preparing to accompany the mage to The Herald's Rest. "No need to drag me, Dorian."

"You certain," Dorian asks, raising an eyebrow. "Well, good. Because unless I resorted to some manner of magical means I very much doubt you would welcome, I don't think I'd be able to manage it," the mage laughs. "But do let's go before you develop any second thoughts about leaving your work behind," he grins, holding the Western door to the office open for him. Cullen chuckles good naturedly but follows without resistance.

Dorian frowns slightly when Cullen isn't looking, takin in how the Commander is locking his muscles just to keep his posture proper and not slouched under the weight of his exhaustion. Honestly, his work ethic is admirable, but what is it all for if he works himself into an early grave burning the candle at both ends like this?

Dorian grabs them a table upstairs. Normally he'd be quite happy to be at the center of it all, chatting and flirting, but Cullen will surely appreciate the quiet more.

"I'm going to have to insist that you start taking better care of yourself," Dorian scolds gently as he sets the second bowl of stew he'd been balancing in front of Cullen who's all but collapsed into the chair across from him. "I can't afford to lose my favorite chess partner," he quips, going for a lighter tone rather than piling on still more responsibility and worry on him about letting down their illustrious leader and the Inquisition by neglecting himself. He'll leave that to Cassandra, should she see fit. Dorian's not concerned about the Inquisition at the moment, but his friend.

"I wasn't aware you had other partners," Cullen replies between a bite of his stew. He's fighting the urge to close his eyes from sheer exhaustion, but manages to keep himself from doing so, leaning back in his seat, finally allowing himself to relax for perhaps the first time today.

"I'll... try," he concedes slowly as his focus drifts back to his dwindling bowl of stew. He'd not realized how hungry he was until the first bite. Had he eaten anything else today? He can't recall.

"When was your last meal," Dorian asks perceptively, leveling him with a suspicious gaze, fighting to keep the worry from his voice. "Or the last time you slept?"

"Erm..." Cullen bites his lip, a hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck as he ponders the question, eyes fluttering closed as he struggles to think. "The last meal... was breakfast." A cup of Elderflower tea to take the edge off the withdrawal symptoms, but Cullen doesn't think sharing this with Dorian would satisfy him. There had been some toast, he thinks, maybe some eggs, left to go cold and forgotten when he'd hit the ground running helping Rylen with the troop's morning exercises. "And I sleep... when I can."

"Mhmm," Dorian nods with a frown, clearly unimpressed. "And when is that? When you're dead?"

"I'll be fine, Dorian. You don't need to fret over me."

"I don't fret," Dorian replies, sounding offended. "I fuss," he corrects with a dismissive and overly dramatic wave of his hand. "It's far more refined, darling," he winks, but he loses some of his enthusiasm as he realizes that Cullen is far too tired to keep up with their usual level of friendly banter, and bicker about whose country and culture is better.

"Clearly, you need someone to fuss over you more," Dorian mutters softly, more to himself than his companion, watching as Cullen drags his spoon along the edges of his bowl finishing the last bites of his stew with as much enthusiasm as he can bone tired as he is and without neglecting his manners.

Cullen hums. "Maybe," he replies tiredly.

"No maybe," Dorian replies firmly once he realizes Cullen has heard him. "You do. And since no one else is volunteering, I suppose I'll have to do. Here," Dorian says, pushing his half-eaten bowl across the table to t beside Cullen's now empty one. "No arguments. I've had my fill of Ferelden food for the evening. Take it."

"I thought you had some manner of arrangement going with Cassandra," Dorian frowns, "I'm not saying you should be removed from your duties, but the Seeker hadn't expressed any concerns about this level of neglect you are imposing on yourself?"

Cullen looks up, momentarily considering arguing with him about taking the rest of his meal, before thinking better of it. If the mage is determined to fuss over him this evening, perhaps the easiest thing is simply to go with it, taking up his spoon and digging into the second bowl with barely restrained gusto.

"She worries," Cullen admits with a slight frown. "Thinks I'm putting up a wall," he says taking another bite.

"You are," Dorian nods in agreement.

"Doesn't seem to be slowing you down," Cullen mumbles around a spoonful of stew.

"That you're way of saying you wish I'd bugger off," Dorian chuckles, shaking his head.

"No," Cullen replies, a little surprised to find how true his answer is. Were it anyone else Cullen would probably find it irksome, double down on throwing up his defenses. Somehow, though, with Dorian... the man manages to see straight through him. Once that would have terrified him- being so easily read, so vulnerable. But he trusts him. This man. A mage, of all things.

"I know that I'm- that is, that we don't often talk with one another about... weightier things," Dorian ventures softly, "but you know, I can in fact listen as well as talk, if there's ever anything you wanted to get off your chest you couldn't speak to Cassandra about," he offers.

"I... I consider you a friend," Dorian continues, swallowing the bile he feel in his throat at this lie by omission in not saying anything about how he's begun to feel something more, something deeper than just friendship for him. Now is not the time. If, in fact there is any right time where such a confession would be welcomed. "I don't have many of those," Dorian continues softly, this statement, at least, entirely truthful.

Friend. The word sounded so familiar, yet so... foreign as Dorian speaks it. Cullen graces the other man with a small, tired smile.

"For a long time it was just Felix," Dorian admits, smiling sadly at the thought of his friend who'd finally succumbed to his long illness a month ago. "Now, I suppose there's more- you, Varric, our esteemed Inquisitor. I suppose even The Iron Bull is growing on me, but don't you dare tell him I said so. Even so," Dorian continues. "Friends have been few and far between often enough for me to know their value."

"And you," he continues, returning his focus to the blond across the table from him, "seem to have forgotten yours- that you matter to other people and have value outside of being the big, strong Commander of our forces."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Cullen offers softly. "Friends are..." he shakes his head, "I wouldn't know. I'm just... one of many."

"Festis bei umo canavarum," Dorian swears, fighting the urge to slam his fist on the table or light a nearby curtain on fire in frustration. "No, Cullen," Dorian says firmly, using his first name rather than his title or any of the playful nicknames he so often uses to catch his attention and impress upon him how much he means his words. "You're one of a kind, and working yourself *this* hard, it's going to kill you. I can't- I won't stand back and watch that happen. If that means I have to drag your perfect ass out of your office every night to come down here and eat with me or light the trousers of any soldier who come knocking at your door after a certain hour on fire to make sure you get some rest, so be it."

Cullen's eyebrows raise at Dorian's sudden outburst. "... I'm not perfect," Cullen offers finally, shaking his head.

"I never said you were," Dorian laughs, shaking his head. "I said your ass was, and it is," he teases. "Cullen, no one is perfect. Not even me, difficult as I know that will be to believe," he teases with a wry smile. "None of us expects perfection from you, just that you do your best. And I have never seen you do anything less than that. But you cannot go on like this. Not for long. It isn't sustainable."

"Please," Dorian continues softly, allowing himself a little more vulnerability than he normally does, a little of his desperation to bleed through in his voice. "Selfishly, I can't bear to watch another friend wasting away in front of me," he whispers thinking of how gaunt and hollowed out Felix had been at his end. "Not if it can be prevented."

Once more, Cullen simply kept still, listening to Dorian's reasoning and words with a slight hum. He took in every word. "I hate that I don't know how to argue with that," Cullen admits with a shake of his head. "You're not wrong," he sighs, taking a long draw from his flagon.

"You know, you could delegate a little for a start. You're a good leader. I'm sure Rylen would be thrilled to know you trust him to handle more responsibilities. And you need to be more mindful to eat and rest," Dorian continues. "Is it that you lose track of time, or is it hard to think of it as important enough to stop what you're doing?"

"Has it not occurred to you how much harder you're making it on your body to overcome Lyrium," Dorian asks softly, making sure there's no one around to hear him speaking about Cullen's secret.

"I... just get so busy sometimes, there's so much to do and so little time, and..." Cullen trails off with another sigh. Dorian has said it already, he knows he's overworking himself. In theory, he should just take it a little easier and delegate, but it felt wrong. It felt unnatural to just hand over work that he knew he could do to others. "...It's a... bad habit," Cullen concedes finally. "And I'm not... handling the Lyrium withdrawal well."

Dorian nods thoughtfully as Cullen explains, or tries to, why he's not been taking better care of himself in favor of trying to serve too many of the Inquisition's needs at once.

"Well, time we unlearned the habit then, wouldn't you say," Dorian replies gently, slowly reaching a warm, ring-covered hand across the table and briefly covering Cullen's own.

It shouldn't have felt so odd to have Dorian touching him, placing his hand over his. A part of him briefly contemplates pulling his hand away, but that's just foolish. There's no reason the gesture should feel uncomfortable, even if it is new and unfamiliar to him. This is Dorian, after all. They're friends. Perhaps it's simply down to the fact that Dorian is a much more affectionate person than the sort of friends Cullen is more accustomed to having, he concludes, thinking briefly of the Seeker.

"One thing at a time. So, now that you're fed, let's see about getting you some rest," Dorian smiles, softly leading them out of the tavern and back across the battlements to Cullen's office.

"Maker, why in the name of Andraste is there a hole in your roof," the mage exclaims, having followed the Commander up the ladder to his loft where he sleeps to see him settled in for the night. "It's bloody freezing up here. No wonder you don't sleep."

"I don't mind," Cullen replies with a sheepish shrug.

Dorian thinks back to some of the little snippets of things Cullen has told him and what he's intuited between the lines about his past and some of the trauma he's developed surrounding magic, before it comes to him. The fall of the Ferelden Circle when Cullen had been a young Templar knight, being locked up in a magical cage for... Maker knows how long. And now a room with a hole in the ceiling, a view of the sky, the stars. Not minding a bedroom without doors or a fourth wall. Cullen doesn't want to feel trapped again.

"Nevermind," Dorian replies softly, shaking his head. "That'll teach me to dress warmer next time I visit," he quips, not really thinking about the full implication of his words. "Really I've been here in Ferelden for months now, I ought to know better."

"Ah, but is it really so bad? You stay here in the South much longer, and people might start thinking of you as an honorary Ferelden," Cullen chuckles softly.

"Fasta Vass! You wouldn't dare," Dorian gasps, feigning outrage, dramatically placing a hand over his heart. "I've a much better sense of fashion and taste. One day, when all this is over, you can come visit my homeland and we'll see which one you come away preferring," Dorian says haughtily.

"Maybe I will," Cullen smiles softly. "Some warmer weather might be nice for a change," he replies, kicking off his boots and various kit he can't possibly sleep in. He can't pretend Tevinter being a land for and run by mages doesn't intimidate him a little, but maybe, seeing it all through Dorian's eyes... it wouldn't be quite so scary.

Dorian smiles fondly. He doubts whether Tevinter would actually win Cullen over, but the idea of showing him his country, all the places and things he loves most about it is a nice fantasy. Something to hold on to perhaps, a dream for when all this damned fighting is over with.

"There must be something you've found to your liking since coming here. Why else would you stay," Cullen says he divests himself of all but his breeches and undershirt and sliding into his bed. "Even you have to admit there's something about Ferelden winters that's endearing."

Endearing? Freezing one's tits off, Dorian thinks incredulously. A giant hole in the sky and evil ancient magister who fancies himself a god seems more than enough reason to stay and try to fight. Still, Dorian thinks, fighting the slight blush that comes to his cheeks at the thought as his eyes trail over the V of bare skin beneath Cullen's tunic as he settles into bed, there are other- handsome- compelling reasons for staying in the South.

"Hmph," Dorian sniffs, "I suppose curling up in furs is... nice," the mage concedes, suddenly biting the inside of his cheek and fighting hard against the image of Cullen without all his pesky armor, or that handsome mantle that sinfully ruins any opportunity of checking out his ass in favor of the sort of simple tunic and trousers he wears now as he slides beneath the covers. A large fur covering them and Cullen's larger, warm body tucked against and wrapped around his, keeping him warm. Fuck. He has got to stop this. Cullen is straight. There's no chance whatsoever that he's ever thought of or would want Dorian like that, or anything between them other than friendship. This is the path to madness.

Cullen's smile falters ever so slightly for a moment when he catches Dorian looking. There is a tinge of awkwardness between them for a moment before Cullen finally looks away, trying to keep his focus on fixing an imaginary perceived flaw in his bedding rather than the mage's gaze.

"Right. Well, I suppose now you're settled I should leave you to your rest," Dorian says awkwardly after a moment. "But I expect to see you at breakfast tomorrow," the mage adds, vaguely threatening as if he is already planning to storm the office to come collect him if he doesn't.

"Goodnight, Cullen," Dorian offers softly before climbing back down the ladder and making his way across the rotunda to his own quarters beside the library.

"Goodnight Dorian," Cullen whispers softly into the darkness, a tired, but contented smile on his face for the first time that day as his head falls back onto the pillow.

[scarlet-ancunin]

hello again, I wanted to thank you again for your Patience with me and explaining everything I really appreciate it.^-^ I Send you the Infos for my tav and was wondering If I could get Like Astarions pov :) be fluffy, be angsty, Go wild, im honestly Just Happy about this opportunity. Thank you so so much again ^-^

A/n: hehe I love this and you are welcome i'm glad you asked me to do this for you. I hope this is to your liking~ this fic is based off of your unique Tav ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧

My Dear Idiot~

It was another lovely morning in the camp. Gale was making breakfast for everyone in their Group while the others were either packing up or freshening up. For Astarion it was the latter. he may not be able to see his reflection but he knows how to draw attention to himself. it can be good or bad. good for his look but bad for his snarky remarks or attitude. Soon Astarion's eyes land on Egon, his half-elf companion. when he first met him he wanted to see the man dead assuming he was working with those mindflayers having a knife to the poor man's throat. Turns out he didn't have to spill their innards. Astarion saw that Egon was somewhat like him with trust issues. But they slowly both grew on each other. But damn was this man greedy at times. Astarion scoffed at the memory. they found a hidden cave behind some carefully crafted rubble to look normal, but Egon wanted to go in, and he hated it because he used to enter without knowing if they were walking into a trap or if everyone was downright tired. "Why in the hells are we doing this now we can rest here and then check it out in the morning Egon" Astarion would complain standing by the entrance with his arms crossed. Egon was annoyed but he smiled because he wanted to get his hands on any rare trinkets or gold he could get his hands on. "well I'm not tired Astarion i want to get everything now so that way we can have something to sell or keep for ourselves to use. AND, what if someone else gets it before us?" Egon stated Astarion growls "You are so bloody stubborn what about Me- I mean, everyone else ever considered they are tired" Gale tried not to laugh. "well how about we go in halfway and make camp that way if someone tries to enter we can stop him. Halsin nodded smiling. "seems good," Egon said sighing in defeat. Astarion did admire his determination though like when he mentioned to him about Cazador he made it his business to promise to protect him from his master. "sweet love but he isn't a simple vampire you can kill he can come at any time whenever the mood strikes him." "well I can strike him too and he won't see it coming" Egon counters pouting slightly. Astarion rolled his eyes "your such an idiot." Egon snickers "but I'm your idiot" Astarion hums low looking at Egon "well you have a point." Astarion would chuckle at the memory he was indeed a stubborn idiot but he did care about him and how strong and determined he was to anything he set his mind to. and because of this Astarion wanted to make sure he does small things to let Egon know he was grateful for him. Astarion recalled last night's events and smiled fondly because he found out his lover enjoys being read to. However, he would enjoy it when He reads specifically. he would fall asleep with everyone else but he and Egon make sure he was cuddled next to Astarion listening to him read. and when he was tired he would tell him to stop so he wouldn't miss the next part which makes him laugh but soon join him in slumber or rather he sleeps while he meditates. Astarion snaps out of his daydreaming to look at Egon once more who just so happens to be reading a map to locate a treasure that was in Baldur's Gate. Astarion did love this man during all this and now he was certain that maybe there could be a future for them. minus the possible stupid and rash decisions but where is the fun in simplicity? Shaking his head he would walk toward him and shake his head. he leans against him and looks over the map as well. "hm something to get love" Egon grins and nods sharing the map there is a way into this spot through the graveyard" Astarion snorts "ah my darling idiot always doing instead of thinking."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧

A/n: I hope you enjoyed this, my friend. as always requests are open and you're welcome to send me your unique Tav if that is what you want.

[sandy-the-glader]

Happy Halloween Stranger

Character: George Karim x Fem!Reader

Type: Fluff

Length: 1.5k words

Summary: George comes across a beautiful Fittes agent he's never seen before. She's there to cure his boredom at the Fittes Halloween party and he wants to know more about her by the minute. Did I mention this is a masquerade and he has absolutely no idea who she is or how to find her?

Trope: Strangers to Lovers

A/n: This was fun to write so lmk if you want a part 2 or smth but this is a special for Halloween. A few more one-shots should come out next month so I'll get on that but like I'm in the mood to write for Mike Schmidt since the fnaf movie just came out soo hit up the inbox lol but anyways Happy Halloween everyone!!

George sat lonely at a table with a glass of champagne in his hand. He watched the dance floor as couples twirled together giggling at each other. One of those couples being Lucy and Lockwood. For the past few months at Portland Row, he had to deal with the constant third wheeling between them. Even on missions or even simple research jobs.

He swirled his drink in his hand and sighed. They had been dancing for hours and having fun by barely giving him a second glance. A mysterious woman seemed to take notice of it. George took a swig of champagne and slumped further into his seat wanting very much to leave the event and entirely disappear. He hated parties, especially a posh masquerade where he didn't know who anyone was beneath the mask.

He would honestly rather be handing out candy to the trick of treaters that came by and he hated that too.

-

I scanned his features well the ones I could see without him taking off his mask. After asking around the party I found out his name was George Karim. He works for the small agency of Lockwood and Co. There was something that drew me towards him. I don't know he looked so lonely and he wasn't like the rest of the guys here.

My feet started to walk over to his table, moving past all the rest of the masked folks. I couldn't care about any of these people here. My team was god knows where and I couldn't tell them apart from the other people here for the life of me. They were probably tipsy and making out with their partners on the dance floor. I want to have a little fun tonight. It was Halloween and I was not about to have a boring and wasted night.

I pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. The boy's eyes were immediately attached to my face out of confusion. They were a beautiful brown and they danced in the light.

His mask was also insanely creative. It was half gray half orange with swirls of black. Some of his dark curls fell over it.

"Some friends you have hm?" I spoke up nodding towards the other two members of Lockwood and Co. which were Lucy Carlyle and Anthony Lockwood. They were much more well-known than George Lockwood always being in the spotlight lately with his amazing achievements and Lucy as his partner in crime. George wasn't in the pictures they had in newspapers, let alone he wasn't mentioned much.

"What?" He quite obviously heard the question he was just startled that someone seemed to be talking to him.

"Your team," I spoke again. "they're out on the dance floor just enjoying themselves but I mean what about you? You look bored and don't seem to be enjoying your time here. Am I correct?" His brown eyes softened beneath the mask and he nodded slowly. He looked skeptical of this conversation but he seemed to be leaning into it. "Look, I've noticed they haven't been over here in perhaps an hour or more."

"Yeah but why is that your concern?" He huffed. I took out a pen and started to draw on a napkin on the table.

"I know I'm right. And you're right too, it isn't my concern but, you haven't told me to leave you alone yet." I pointed out. He sat up.

"Because I appreciated the company." He admitted. I finished writing on the napkin and shoved it in my pocket.

"So George Karim of Lockwood and Co. tell me why you're here in the first place? Since you seem to hate parties so much?"

"They forced me to. They wanted me to get out of the house and do something fun like go to a dance because 'I need someone to love' and dance with. They knew I wasn't going to dance here." He crossed his arms with annoyance.

"How about we dance?" He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me oddly. "Look I'm not saying you gotta love me but if your friends see you dancing and at least looking like you are enjoying yourself, you could go home quicker. I mean that was the whole point of coming here right?"

"And the fact they wanted to have a romantic outing." He rolled his eyes and I laughed. "I suppose that's not a bad idea. But sorry to tell you I don't dance with strangers I need to know who's behind the pretty mask." The flirt took me slightly aback.

"Y/n L/n. Come on Karim. The sooner you dance the sooner you're out of here and you can get back to whatever you were doing before."

"Do we need to shake on it since you're so eager to dance with me?" Oh, so he can joke I thought he almost wasn't able to for a second.

"Hey, I'm trying to save a bored boy at a posh old person's party be grateful." He smiled softly and we stood up. We made our way to the dance floor. He was insanely stiff.

"Do you even know how to dance Karim?" His eyes widen.

"Erm.. no." He said nervously shaking his head.

"It's okay. Lemme help you so you don't look like Bambi on ice." I took both of his hands and guided them to my hips and I draped my arms over his shoulders. "Now you're just going to move your feet in a smooth pattern. And relax your shoulders you look like a brick." He listened to my advice and I noticed him start to relax under my hands. "There you go! Perfect."

"How'd you learn how to dance?" He asked as we swayed. "Just as a kid. I've bounced around many agencies and they always had balls like these." He nodded understanding. "Though Fittes was the only one I stuck with because of its high reputation."

"Do you enjoy your job though?" He asked genuinely curious.

"The job is definitely something I enjoy doing It's just my team I'm not extremely fond of." I frowned. I looked into my eyes wanting me to continue my small rant. "They're always off on their own and they're extremely careless! I want to put my abilities to good use but I can't with them around." I noted.

"I know what you mean. I used to work here and I didn't think very highly of my team either."

"You did? Why don't you work here anymore? I mean not saying your team now isn't lovely." I glanced over across the dance floor at the duo.

"I got fired." He said throwing me off.

"You got fired? Jeez Karim, what did you do?" I said shocked that he would even be considered a problem. He seems so relaxed.

"Because I asked too many questions and was doing things above my pay grade." He said and shrugged his shoulder lightly.

"Fired for being a smarty pants." Cute. "Now that's something I could see. That's idiotic of them though. Your brain could be used for some good things here. But If you're happy at Lockwood and Co. then I'm happy for you." His cheeks flushed slightly and he looked puzzled but happy.

"Thank you." He murmered. I wanted to see the rest of what was under his mask. I took my hands and cupped his cheek and he copied my action. Maybe he was wondering the same thing. Maybe this could be more than a one-time thing. We seemed to get closer to inch closer together.

Lucy and Lockwood stumbled up to us unexpectedly. We backed away from each other. They were tipsy and they were giggling like school children. George looked surprised to see them and waited for them to talk. While George was distracted I took the napkin I drew on earlier and slipped it into the boy's pocket without him realizing.

"Georgieeeee" Lucy wined. "Your girlfriend is pretty but it's late we have to go." She tugged on his shirt and he stumbled.

"Lucy!" He tried to get her to stop yanking him away but she wouldn't budge. He looked backward at me and I waved.

"Goodnight 'Georgie' Happy Halloween." I smiled. He looked upset leaving but that was what he wanted wasn't it? To get home and not have to deal with these people. That was the whole plan.

-

As soon as I got home, I guided Lucy and Lockwood upstairs so they didn't fall they giggled the entire way up. The entire way.

"Goodnight Georgie!" Lucy said before slamming her door. I shook my head and finally entered my room. I collapsed onto my bed. Once I lied down I heard the crinkle of paper. I looked at my bed confused. I cleaned up all my research papers before we left so it couldn't be those.

I felt around the bed and then my pocket. I felt a small indent and I reached into the pocket and pulled it out. There was a small not that said

Just in case you need another dance partner ;)

xxx xxx xxxx

I smiled to myself and placed the napkin on my side table. Defiantly could put that to use later. I ended up having so much more fun than I could have ever thought. Happy Halloween to me.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

From Hell to Home To Back Again

Summary: At the talent show, Chrissy Cunningham is so hungry that she nearly collapses. When she's found by Hopper, her parents ended up losing custody of her. She ends up being placed in the care of the Hendersons, and she finally finds the family she so desperately needed. She also ends up falling in love. What other changes are made in this alternate universe?

@emen-98 @1lostsoul0fishbowl

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chrissy was putting her books in her locker, humming a Bob Dylan song under her breath as she did so. She slammed her locker close, jumping when she saw Eddie leaning against the other side of her locker. She glared at him.

"Hey, Witch," Eddie grinned.

"Hey, Freak," she said and slapped his shoulder. "You scared me."

"Sorry. . .so, you're a fan of Bob Dylan?" Eddie asked.

"Who isn't?" Chrissy asked with a grin.

"Hmm, my mom was a fan. . . not as much as she was of Muddy Waters, though," Eddie said and paused. "I still have some of her records. Hey! I got a good idea!"

"What?" Chrissy asked.

"You want to come over this evening and listen to them?" Eddie asked.

"Um. . .yeah, I would love that!" Chrissy exclaimed with excitement, her eyes lighting up, and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

Eddie grinned bashfully at her, pulling a lock of hair in front of his face to hide behind it. They stared at each other for a moment before Eddie cleared his throat and dropped his hair.

"So, how was your Christmas break?" Eddie asked.

"It was good. Quiet meal with my mom, my brother, and the Byers'," Chrissy said.

"The Byers'?" Eddie asked.

"Oh, yeah, Will wanted to have Christmas dinner with us, but I honestly think he wanted to escape his mother's cooking. There's a lot of things that Joyce Byers can do, but cooking is not one of them. Luckily, for them, Dusty and I love to cook together," Chrissy grinned. "Plus, I think Will wanted to spend some more drawing time together."

"You draw?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, I'll bring by my sketchbook and show you," Chrissy said. "You're going to have to tell me where you live."

"Or I could drive you after school," Eddie said. "If you don't mind."

"You're lucky I have my sketchbook in my bag," Chrissy said. "See you after school."

Chrissy couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the day. She grinned all the way to lunch, plopping down at the table with a wistful smile on her face.

"You look like you have a hanger in your mouth, Henderson," Steve said.

"You do. What's got you so happy? Did you do something slutty?" Robin asked.

"I'm going over to Eddie's house to listen to records after school," Chrissy replied.

"Oh, so you're going to do something slutty," Robin said.

"Not necessarily, Robin," Nancy said, but she was grinning.

"You guys are taking something completely innocent and turning it into something dirty," Chrissy laughed.

"Doesn't sound so innocent to me," Jonathan said. "Are his parents going to be there?"

"His dad and no," Chrissy frowned. "I doubt we're going to do anything, and just because I like him doesn't mean that he likes me back."

"He'd be crazy not too," Steve scoffed.

Chrissy scooped some peas into her spoon and held it up threateningly.

"Enough, anyone who says anything else about it gets the peas," Chrissy said.

"Well, I'm terrified," Steve said sarcastically, and Nancy laughed.

Chrissy couldn't help but let her thoughts get the best of her as the rest of the day moved at a snail's pace. Finally, the end of the came around, she waved at Steve and Nancy as she walked towards Eddie's van. She found him walking towards it with a long-legged girl wearing a baseball cap. She looked like she could be his sister. That must be Ronnie, his best friend since he was eight or so Eddie had told her. She bounced over to them.

"Hi!" Chrissy exclaimed, startling Eddie.

"Jesus! Are you getting me back for this morning?" Eddie asked, putting his hand to his chest.

"Yeah," Chrissy replied.

"Don't be such a witch, Henderson," Eddie said teasingly.

"Don't be such a freak, Munson," Chrissy replied.

"You must be Chrissy," the other girl said.

"You must be Ronnie, Eddie's told me so much about you," she said, as she reached out to shake her head.

"And Eddie simply won't shut up about you," Ronnie said. "Even told us all about how you have a little brother who plays D&D whom you simply adore."

"Shut up, Ecker! Speaking of your little brother, is he getting a ride from someone?" Eddie asked.

"He usually rides his bike home with his party, but he's being driven home by Jonathan Byers today," Chrissy shrugged. "You haven't even met him yet, and you're very concerned about his well-being."

"Well, he's a future member of Hellfire," Eddie grinned. "Can't let potential like that get away."

"Hopefully, Hellfire will still be there by the time he gets to high school," Ronnie said. "Bet Higgins is going to get rid of it once you graduate."

"God, I hate that guy. He always calls me Miss Cunningham," Chrissy rolled her eyes.

"Why?" Ronnie asked.

"It was my name before I got adopted," Chrissy said. "It doesn't matter how many times I correct him, he still does it."

"What an asshole," Ronnie said.

"I hope you don't mind, but I promised Ronnie here a ride back home," Eddie said.

"No. I don't mind, I can ride in the back. . .unless you changed your mind about me coming over," Chrissy said.

"Never!" Eddie grinned.

"You're more than welcome to sit up front with Eddie," Ronnie said, smiling knowingly.

"No, I'm good," Chrissy grinned. "Seriously."

Ronnie punched Eddie in the arm, laughing at him, before climbing into the front seat. Eddie opened the back door for Chrissy, bowing.

"Milady, you're horribly drawn carriage awaits," Eddie said.

Chrissy giggled and climbed into the back, settling in on the floor. She leaned against the back of Eddie's chair to look at Ronnie.

"So, you got any embarrassing stories about Eddie to tell me about?" Chrissy asked.

"No!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Oh, I got tons!" Ronnie exclaimed Eddie drove off.

"Nope! No! No way!" He yelled.

"Shortly, after we met, there was this caterpillar that Eddie had befriended, but of course, in his haste to tell me his story, he stumbled and fell upon his dear old caterpillar. . .of course, killing the poor thing. Distraught, Eddie had to throw the caterpillar - ,"

"Well, if you're going to tell the story, Veronica, then you should at least tell her the name of my fallen friend. Ah, good, Ser Lawrence - a dear and sweet friend -"

"Anyway, Eddie had to throw Ser Lawrence a funeral. He made me attend, as well as his uncle," Ronnie said.

"Aww, that's not embarrassing. That's so sweet," Chrissy said.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of police sirens, and Eddie sighed before pulling off to the side. Ronnie scowled when a police officer tapped on the window. Eddie quickly rolled down it and put on a forced grin.

"Officer Moore, always a pleasure," Eddie said sarcastically.

"I thought that was you, Munson. Going awfully fast there," Officer said. "The roads are dangerous this time of year. . . Icey. Anything could happen. Wouldn't want anyone to get hurt."

"Well, yeah, I know that considering I have snow tires on, and I wasn't speeding at all," Eddie said dryly.

"Well, you can't be too careful," Officer Moore said. "You haven't been drinking today, have you?"

"Considering I came from school, no," Eddie sighed.

"If I search the car, am I going to find any illicit substances?" He asked.

"You never do," Eddie replied.

Chrissy popped her head in between the seats.

"What seems to be the problem, Officer?" Chrissy said cheerfully.

"Just making sure Junior over here isn't speeding," Officer Moore said.

"Well, allow me to introduce myself," Chrissy said as she wrapped her arms around Eddie from behind, her hands on his chest. "I'm Chrissy Henderson."

"There's a picture of you with other kids on Chief Hopper's desk," Officer Moore realized.

"Oh, well, that's because Hop's practically my uncle," she said with a grin. "And he would just love to hear about his cops doing their duty. Especially hearing about how they're not making any illegal stops and searches. He so loves hearing all about his cops doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. He hates having to fire people for incompetence."

"No, I suppose he wouldn't enjoy it," Officer Moore muttered.

"And he'd want you to know that if anyone has a problem with my dear friend Eddie, that he would definitely want to know about it. I would hate to have to tell him about that," Chrissy said. "Gosh, I hope I don't have to do that. He hates when his precious niece gets upset."

"Have a nice day," Officer Moore said and walked away.

They waited until they drove off before they turned to Chrissy. Eddie hugged her tightly.

"Holy shit! That was awesome!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Yeah, I definitely like you," Ronnie said.

"It was no big deal. Seriously though, if any cop bothers you, I'll make sure Hop knows, and he can fire their asses," Chrissy said. "He hates when cops do shit like that."

"I highly doubt that idiot is going to come back after that speech," Eddie said. "I feel like I owe you something. Oh, I could cook for you!"

"Eddie, she deserves to be thanked not to be killed," Ronnie said.

"Oh, ha, ha, Ecker," Eddie rolled his eyes. "I just never bothered to learn to cook. Surely, it can't be that hard."

"It's basically like making a potion sometimes," Chrissy said.

"I never thought about it like that before," Eddie gasped.

"Well, once you drop Ronnie off, maybe we can go to the store, and I can pick some easy starter meals for you to make," Chrissy said. "I can teach you how to cook."

"Good luck with that," Ronnie chuckled.

After dropping off Ronnie, Eddie drove them to the grocery store. Of course, shopping with Eddie wasn't easy. She lost him on multiple occasions, and when they finally did get the things she needed to help him make vegetable soup, he ended up revealing that he had nothing to make it in. The next stop was Melvald's. Chrissy wasn't too surprised to find Hopper in there chatting to Joyce.

"Hiya, Hop, Joyce!" Chrissy greeted with a grin.

"Hey, Chrissy, didn't know you were friends with Junior," Hopper said.

Chrissy looked over at Eddie and she could tell that he didn't care for that nickname.

"I'm not friends with Junior. I am, however, friends with Eddie," Chrissy said.

"What are you up to?" Hopper asked.

"I'm teaching Eddie how to cook," She said brightly and looked at him with mirth in her eyes. "What are you up to, Chief?"

"I stopped by to pick up something," Hopper said.

"I'm sure," Chrissy said with a knowing grin.

"Oh, I think you lost your friend," Joyce said.

"Every time!" Chrissy exclaimed, and then she saw him perusing the aisles.

"How was your first day back from break?" Joyce asked.

"Really good," Chrissy grinned.

"I'm sure it was," Joyce said with a knowing grin of her own.

"I better make sure Eddie's okay," Chrissy said, blushing and pausing. "You should probably keep an eye on one of your officers. Officer Moore."

"What did he do?" Hopper scowled.

"I don't think Eddie wants to make an official complaint or make a big deal out of it. He did stop Eddie without provocation. He wasn't speeding at all, and he kind of threatened to search his vehicle for drugs. It doesn't seem like this was the first time either," Chrissy said. "He seems to have it out for Eddie. I wasn't sure but I thought you ought to know."

"Yeah, I'll look into it. I know Moore has bad blood with Al Munson, but I didn't think he'd go after his kid," Hopper said.

"You don't think he'd make it even more difficult for Eddie because I told you, will he?" Chrissy asked with a frown.

"I will make sure he won't, but in the meantime, maybe you should be riding with Eddie after school and tell me if he does it again," Hopper said, thinking out loud. "Meanwhile, I'll make sure Powell rides with Moore."

"Did you just give me permission to ride with a boy, Hopper?" Chrissy asked teasingly and Joyce laughed.

"No, that is not what I did. You know what, never mind, I shouldn't have asked you do that anyway," Hopper scowled.

"Really, I don't mind," Chrissy said and skipped away. "Me alone. . .in the back of his van. . .anything could happen, Uncle Hop!"

"Chrissy!"

"Didn't you need to pick up something?!" She asked, and she could hear growling followed by the sound of Joyce laughing.

Chrissy knew that as much as he wanted to, he wouldn't do the same thing that Moore was doing, but he was thinking about it. She found Eddie at the back of the store, looking at the kitchen supplies.

"You need to stop wondering off," she said in amusement.

"I figured I would let you catch up with your uncle," Eddie shrugged. "Is that his wife?"

"Practically. She would be if Hopper ever got his head out of his ass," Chrissy said. "Before he knows it, someone else is going to see how great Joyce is."

"Hmm, maybe he's just scared to lose her," Eddie mumbled.

"There's a chance of that happening no matter the situation," Chrissy said. "Why shouldn't he make the most of it while he can?"

"He definitely should," Eddie said with a grin.

Gathering the supplies he needed and a few extra things, Chrissy left with Eddie back to his house. It was a decent looking house, smaller than her own, but it was nice.

"It's a piece of shit," Eddie laughed when Chrissy told him that. "You don't really mean that, do you?"

"Of course, I mean it," she laughed as she set the stuff on his kitchen counter.

"I hope your mom doesn't mind that you spent some of your money on this," Eddie blushed.

"It was my idea, I was happy to help. Besides, not all of it was my allowance. Some of it was when I worked at Benny's Diner," Chrissy said.

"Shit, you did work there. You didn't see. . .?" Eddie trailed off.

"I was supposed to work that evening, and when I arrived, the cops were already there. . . And I saw his body," Chrissy said sadly.

"I'm sorry, I'm guessing you knew him well," Eddie said. "I mean, I knew him too. Sort of. He was a good guy, funny, and generous too."

"Yeah, he was, and yeah, I did. He was amazing, and when I told him I wanted to save up to buy my own car, he was the first one to give me a job," Chrissy said and went quiet for a moment. "It's total bullshit that everyone is still saying he killed himself. He was murdered. Karma got his killer in the end, though. They got killed by a wild animal. . . Benny was supposed to go on a date with my mother that next weekend. . . Sometimes, I can still hear my mother crying about Benny. . . He was so great with Dusty too. . .he would have been a great dad."

The woman had actually got killed by El when they came for her. Chrissy tried not to think about how she was killed, and a part of her felt like she deserved it for what she did to Benny, but it also wasn't her place to judge considering how biased she was. She had been staring at an empty spot on Eddie's counter when she felt his hand slip into hers. He squeezed.

"Sorry," he said softly.

"Yeah, me too," Chrissy said, sniffling. "Anyway, let's get started! Eddie, what - "

Carefully, Eddie pulled her into his arms and hugged her gently. She froze for a moment before relaxing and hugging him tightly, letting the tears escape. Her body shook as she buried her face into his shoulder and cried. Everything had happened so fast that day, and the days after that, Chrissy hadn't really let herself mourn for Benny. Now, she was letting it all in. After crying into his shoulder for a while, she kind of just stayed there. . .not moving and not saying a word as she enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her. Slowly, Chrissy pulled back and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks," she whispered.

After a while, Chrissy managed to get herself together and began instructing Eddie to make vegetable soup. It was pretty simple, and when she told him that she measured by heart, he nearly dumped the entire thing of pepper into the soup.

"You told me to measure by heart," Eddie said.

"Within reason!" Chrissy giggled.

Eddie cackled and hip checked her. When they got the soup boiling onto the stove, Eddie threw his head back as he stirred, laughing madly.

"Yeah, I like this," he said.

"You're crazy," she laughed.

"Says the person who's choosing to hang out with me," Eddie said.

"Well, maybe I'm crazy too," she said and he paused to gaze fondly at her. "Stir the pot, Eddie."

"You look crazy too," Eddie replied.

"I meant, stir the soup in the pot!" She laughed.

Once Eddie managed to successfully make the soup, they sat down at the kitchen to eat it.

"Hey, I didn't do half bad," Eddie grinned.

"You did really good," Chrissy said.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you," Eddie said with a smile and nudged her foot with his. "Nor would I have wanted to. It's kind of the perfect weather to have soup, you know."

"Yeah," Chrissy said softly.

After they finished eating, they put the leftovers away and started to clean up. Eddie insisted on helping even though he had been the one to cook. Chrissy figured he only wanted to help so he could flick water at her. He's such a menace. After putting the dishes away, Eddie brought her back to his room. They listened to Muddy Waters for a while and other blues music with Eddie telling her all about how he used to dance with his mom. Chrissy could tell by the look in his eyes that he really loved his mother, and even though he lost her when he was really young, he clearly missed her every single day.

He changed the record, and she smiled when she heard Bob Dylan start to play. He danced with her and spun her around the room, her laughter bouncing off the walls with the music. In that moment, it was just them and no one else. And when "Simple Twist of Fate" came on, he pulled her close to him. She knew what the song was about, a man having a moment with a woman, and all it took was him to fall in love with her, but it wasn't destined to work out. Chrissy was determined to have several moments with Eddie, and she hoped they would mean something to him as they did for her. And even though this song was about lost love and heartbreak, she could feel it in her bones that this was their song.

"Eddie?!" A voice from the living room called.

Eddie and Chrissy jumped apart pretty quickly, their faces red. Eddie shut off the music and turned to Chrissy.

"It's my uncle Wayne," Eddie said. "Sometimes, he comes to check on me."

"Aww," Chrissy said.

"Yeah, it's real cute," Eddie said, rolling his eyes.

"I wanna meet him," Chrissy said.

"What? No," Eddie said, and she gave him a look. "Alright, fine, but no asking him stories about baby Eddie."

"You know, I didn't think of that, but that's a good idea," Chrissy said, and Eddie groaned.

"Eddie?" Wayne called and popped his head into the room. "Oh, sorry."

"Hi, I'm Chrissy Henderson," she greeted and held out her hand.

"Wayne Munson," he replied, shaking her hand. "I didn't know Eddie had a girlfriend."

"What?! She's not my girlfriend," Eddie yelped. "I mean, she's my friend, and she just happens to be a girl. Technically, that does make her my girlfriend, but you know, guys and girls can be friends without it being romantic. Look at me and Ronnie except that we're not the same in the way. . .well, it's just different."

Chrissy bit her lip, repressing a giggle, and placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Eddie," she said and turned to Wayne. "He's my friend. . .for now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eddie asked. "Wait, how long were you going to let me go on for?"

"Until it stopped being funny, but that would have gone on forever," Chrissy said and Wayne snorted.

"I like her," Wayne said.

"It's hard not to," Eddie said, rolling his eyes.

"I brought by some food for Eddie, but it seems like there's proper food in there," Wayne said.

"Oh, Eddie made vegetable soup," Chrissy said proudly.

"Eddie cooked?" Wayne asked.

"I had a good instructor," Eddie replied.

"It's really good. You're welcome to have some," Chrissy said. "Maybe you can tell me all about baby Eddie."

"That sounds like a good plan, darlin'," Wayne said.

"No, no, nope! No way!" Eddie said, shaking his head.

"Don't be such a bad host, Eddie," Chrissy mockingly scolded him and Wayne laughed.

"I should tell you about the time I caught him hiding comic books in the freezer," Wayne said as he escorted her to the kitchen.

Eddie begrudgingly followed them to the kitchen and plopped down next to Chrissy after she fixed Wayne a bowl. She could feel Eddie's eyes on hers as Wayne talked about him. She could feel him trying to figure her out, and Chrissy's grin widened, wishing him all the luck in the world. Oh, she forgot to show him her sketchbook. Oh, well, plenty of time for that later.

Chapter Six

[perpetualexistence]

Sea Monster AU: Chrefxposition

So, on the one hand, this part is a few days later than originally promised. On the other hand, it's twice as long. I could have arguably made this into two parts, but I've got no energy left to figure out where exactly it should be split. Turns out decent exposition can take a while!

In the eventual fanfic proper I'll be sure to spread/foreshadow some of this exposition earlier. With me writing as I'm going it with only an outline for certain events, the foreshadowing is going to be a bit splotchy, but I'll try my best.

Without further ado, time to watch Noah go darker yet darker still!

Content warnings: Mentions of eating people, death, blood, Alejandro being a manipulative bastard

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For the rest of spring break, Alejandro insists on hunting more than usual to build up an underwater cache for later. Noah has to work on overdrive to find enough ships to keep Alejandro happy. He goes to different parts of the lake in order to spread out the location of where the disappearances are happening. Also to keep them as far away from his hometown as possible. He knows this many disappearances so close to one another are going to draw attention from other humans. He doesn't comment on it for two reasons. One, because he'd rather not test Alejandro again even if the concern is practical and legitimate. And two, he wants the disappearances to get attention. He's got to figure out who's smart enough to notice, and vocal enough to try to do something about it.

Noah starts intentionally hanging out by the docks more. He knows it's safe because Alejandro never dares to get that close to civilization. Sailors will sometimes have odd jobs when they need an extra hand on deck or someone to help with loading/unloading. Since everyone knows everyone to some extent in his town, the Mudaliars have a reputation for picking up odd jobs in order to help pay off their debts. Noah's never done it before since he's had his poetry to provide income. But at the very least, it means he can have an excuse for why he's there. It also gives him an excuse for talking with sailors to see what their thoughts are on sea monsters. He doesn't bring up the disappearances himself, because that's inviting trouble. Instead, he lets sailors do what they like to do best: talk.

That's how he finds Chef, a loud ex-marine who found himself kicked from the marines and now works as a sailor taking odd jobs transporting things across the lake. Chef shares that the real reason he got booted out is because he started noticing a bunch of disappearances with other marines. He started hearing tales of beasts and went to go investigate it himself. Sure enough, it was a giant monster making easy pickings of his brothers in arms. His husband knew more about taking those slimy bastards down, so he went to him for help. Eventually they did win, but he lost men doing it, and the beast sunk to the bottom of the ocean, getting rid of their proof. He was tossed out for 'recklessly endangering lives'. (He sacrificed far more men than he truly needed to as a distraction, and didn't even let them know that was going to happen.)Now he's seeing all these disappearances happening and his gut is telling him this is happening again. He doesn't have the same firepower as before, but he and his husband are still preparing.

Noah's now very curious about this husband of his if he's the one who knew more about sea monsters. Chef immediately gets suspicious and wants to know why he cares so much about this. Noah hates having to give up information, but he knows if he's to get anywhere, he's going to have to. He says that he knows for a fact he saw something like a sea monster in the distance. He's just been keeping quiet because he doesn't know who would believe him. Which isn't technically a lie. It just doesn't reveal how much else he knows. It also won't really give Chef any new information since by the sound of it he was already going to prepare regardless of if he got any confirmation from someone else. It's enough to get Chef decide to take him in on his and Chris' monster hunting crusade.

Chris's family are among the humans that believe/know sea beasts exist and make it their job to hunt them, his most notable one being his cousin Jerd.

Chris though? Nah, he doesn't give a shit about hunting. He just cares about fame and fortune. He stole a random ass book that was supposed to have rituals to give him just that and booked it. The pouch around his neck is a result of that in that it's supposed to give him good luck. Someone else in the family made it for him as a rite of passage in being ready to join the family business.

He's pretty shitty at magic because he doesn't want to put in the time and effort to learn, he just wants the results. And this is why he'll forever be shitty at magic. Magic is about intertwining sentience with nature. For that, you need two things: Desire and Effort. The desire has to be focused, and it has to be what a person actually desires. If a person thinks they want one thing, but deep down they really want something else? The magic's either going to act based on the true desire or be fucked up as a result. That's the sentience part.

The nature part is effort. You can't get something for nothing. If you try, someone or something still ends up suffering along the line. There's balance in the ecosystem of the sea, even for those who are at the top of the food chain. It might not be fair to those on the bottom, but it is what it is. Whether you take time and effort in learning runes, or gathering ingredients, the point is that it's your work in a way that you truly know is giving it your all.

Chris has definitely got the desire, and it's why he was able to become famous thanks to his magic pouch. However, he wasn't willing to put any work into actually maintaining the pouch's components so his luck ran out. He keeps it mostly for sentimental reasons at this point. He can't really go back to his family because he stole the book, aka a family heirloom that he knows damn well is dangerous when it's in the wrong hands. (Little does he know his family would have been okay with him leaving the family business. Their problem was with how he did it, which is no one's fault but his own.) He doesn't even know how to read the damn thing because he never paid too much attention to his parents trying to teach him how. All he does know is that it's very powerful, has a mind of its own, and hates Chris because it loves to try to snap closed on him.

So now he's a washed up TV host stuck in this dingy little town. The only person who's still standing beside him is Chef. He runs a stupid little pawn shop in this tourist trap of a town to try to sell fake crap, plus some of his tv host memorabilia. He's trying to find a way out of this mess until what does he see? Evidence that there's a sea monster lurking about.

Chris realizes he could just expose sea monsters to get fame that way. Completely ignoring everything that his parents ever told him that it'd be a terrible idea. Sea monsters would have no reason to hide if they were public knowledge, so their fatality rate would grow exponentially. Still, that's not his problem, and his good luck will ensure that he and his husband will turn out alright.

Chris doesn't quite care for including this walking twig into this situation at first when Chef introduces the two. As far as he's concerned, Noah provides nothing and is a walking liability. Up until Noah reveals that he's able to hack.

His family has a whole library worth of information about sea monsters. In order to try to expand their reach in where they can defend against sea monsters, they've taken to digitizing the library. Thanks to Chris's less than stellar exit, he's been locked out of that information. But he knows how to find it, and Noah seems like he'll be perfect for actually getting in. And hey, the kid's volunteering to do all the boring research? All the better! Chris will focus on strategizing and seeing what this dumb book will do for him. Not that he tells or shows Noah the book. He's lazy, but he's not that dumb to let someone else touch that thing.

This is how Noah starts learning things about merfolk. Turns out they've been around for quite a long time. It turns out merfolk aren't naturally as big as Alejandro. They use magic to make themselves that big. Due to the amount of effort and food to maintain their size, they can't use any other kind of magic when large. Thanks to generations of not using any other kind of magic, they lost the ability to use magic to do anything except change their size over time. That's how they gained their own separate classification as sea monsters. The only exception to size magic they have is using lake/ocean currents to travel. It takes a lot of magic depending on the distance traveled.

Their first meeting is making a lot more sense to Noah.

It also presents an interesting idea. Maybe he doesn't have to kill Alejandro. Maybe he could just stop him from ever growing again.

He knows he should kill Alejandro. He'd never settle for being kept vulnerable for the rest of his life. Noah would have to become his keeper. He'd never get rid of him. And yet. Despite all the murder he's witnessed, helped with, and at least slightly enjoyed, he still hasn't taken a life himself. He really wants to believe he has standards. Killing Alejandro would cross one of those.

It doesn't help that despite how dangerous Alejandro is, and how clearly he's pushing the limits of their deal, Alejandro actually does listen to Noah. He hasn't knowingly gone after innocents. He hasn't physically hurt Noah.

If anything, Alejandro has been gentle. He'll snatch him up when faking his death for a crowd, but he never squeezed and always checked to make sure he was okay afterwards, even when he was trying not to make it too obvious. Alejandro had a horrible habit of messing with his hair yet despite his claws Noah never had a scratch on him. He'd put Noah on his shoulder to go for a swim without getting him wet.

To let him look down at the destruction he helped caused against people who spit and cursed at Noah. To help him feel above others and his actions. To somehow spoil him rotten with attention to practically beg for a reaction. Noah's dark humor as he watched bastards die was to cope, the smirk that grew on his face a coincidence. He felt nothing to hear Alejandro laugh as if they were just sharing a regular meal.

Alejandro had also caressed his throat with a claw the first chance he had power. He had felt a vice like grip when he dared to argue back. So long as Alejandro is huge, Noah is going to be relying on Alejandro's mercy. As recent events have shown, that can be a finite resource.

He'll just do more research to see if his idea is even a workable one. He'll figure what to do next after that.

Researching more about magic led to him learning about a new faction: sea witches. They were merfolk who were able to use magic for means aside from simply changing sizes. They made potions, used rituals, spoke chants. Their powers came primarily from the deals they made with others. There were rumors that deals like these could make magic accessible even to humans. Other rumors said that humans could learn to use magic independently.

Sea witches and sea monsters are naturally at odds with one another. One needs people to make deals, the other needs people to eat. Or at least, to stay as big as they do for as long as they do. Turns out sea monsters can in fact survive without eating humans. It's just that humans keep them bigger for longer. Figures that Alejandro would lie about having to eat people out of necessity.

As a result, sea witches did create defenses against sea monsters. Including spells that would strip them of their magic and force them into their smallest form. Bingo.

Unfortunately, while there are mentions of magic in the database, there don't seem to be any actual spells/rituals there. Something about sea magic not mixing well with technology. He's going to have to ask Chris directly to see if he'll be interested in shrinking Alejandro rather than killing him.

Chris is alright with this because hey, a small merfolk you can put in a tank sounds perfect for exposing and becoming famous! (Not that Noah will actually let Chris take Alejandro away, but he doesn't need to know that.) He'll just have to lie a little to his husband about plans to kill Alejandro, no big deal. And...ugh. He's going to have to actually try to read that magic book to find something about shrinking things. Noah's immediately interested in seeing that book for himself, but Chris shuts him down immediately. Chris will look at the magic shit, Noah will just be the one getting them whatever they need. A coffee would be a great start.

So Noah ends up becoming more like Chris's assistant. He gets used to getting Chris coffee or do the more boring research a lot. Chris uses Chef to get the more out there ingredients for this new ritual he's managed to find. And he starts sending Noah to carve out runes around town. Something about 'using the town's natural magic to siphon that of the sea beast'. Noah would prefer to know exactly what he's doing, but Chris keeps being cagey about Noah having to know things.

During all of this, Noah still has to meet with Alejandro to keep him happy. Thanks to overindulging during spring break, Alejandro's in a much better mood. However, he's being rather clingy with Noah. If Noah didn't know any better, he'd think Alejandro was trying to keep him from being able to have time for anyone else. It makes finding time to work with Chris and Chef a lot more difficult. He can't juggle stroking Alejandro's ego, Chris's ego, and going to classes all at the same time. So he decides to sacrifice going to classes. He'll help Chris and Chef during that time and Alejandro won't question him being away since he knows Noah needs to 'keep up appearances'.

It sucks because after the spring break party, he had actually been considering trying to know some of the others more. If only to take a break from Alejandro. There is one person who won't leave him alone though: Owen. Owen finds out through the grapevine about Noah not showing up to classes and immediately gets to texting to check on him. Noah makes up a lie about not feeling too well/needing to step back, and Owen buys it. Still, now that Noah's responded to one text, Owen takes to texting him throughout the day. Because he was pretty serious about trying to get to know Noah. And Noah would never admit it, but it's nice that someone else cares to check up on him. Plus, Owen is terrible with secrets, so he ends up blurting so much gossip about the others. Noah gets to make sarcastic remarks about them, and Owen just rolls with it. It's nice.

Eventually, Noah's suspicions about Chris outweigh his need to be cautious. So much so that he decides it would be better to try to break in to Chris's and Chef's place to see what exactly this spell book is saying to do rather than just take Chris's word for it.

It's written in a language he doesn't understand. He doesn't have the time to decipher it since he doesn't want Chris or Chef to know that he's in their house looking at it. He does manage to find the pages that Chris has been frequently using, though. They're the only ones that seem to be in English. He's not surprised to learn that Chris has been lying to him about the spell. He's horrified to discover to what extent.

Chris gives absolutely zero shits about this town. He wanted something that would help him take care of this sea monster problem, and he didn't really care how it was done. He practically had to fight the book to show him anything that wasn't in nonsense gibberish. But then, for once in his life, the decided to be book is on the same page as him. It showed him a ritual for mind controlling a sea monster that involves a rather brutal sacrifice of a whole town's worth of people. That sounds like a WAY better deal than regular fame and fortune!

Noah was already not happy when he found out about the mind control. As much as he's worried about his Alejandro, he doesn't know if Alejandro deserves that. Knowing him, he'd probably prefer death rather than being forced to obey someone else. Then Noah reads to the end and discovers the whole 'sacrifice a town' thing. That's what the runes around towns were for.

He'd been putting so much focus into trying to take down the literal monster, he'd forgotten all about how humans could be metaphorical monsters.

Noah knows how to take care of that. It's what he always does when he finds people that deserve to die.

He tells Alejandro about them.

He doesn't reveal the whole plot against Alejandro, of course. He just reveals that some sailors had been getting suspicious with the whole spring break binge eating. He infiltrated them to learn what they knew, and now they're getting too close. He's not sure how much of that Alejandro truly believes, but he does agree that if humans want to hunt him down, then they need to go first.

Noah first makes sure to screw up the ritual by fucking up his own carvings and scratching them out with the knife Chris let him use to do this in the first place. At this point he'd been using it so much it just became a force of habit to keep having it.

Then he goes on a ship with Chris and Chef who thinks that everything is going according to plan. Well, Chris's plan of mind controlling a sea monster, Chef's plan of killing one. What Noah had never told them was that Alejandro was an electric eel. He made sure to encourage Chef to use as much technology as he saw fit in order to leave them completely vulnerable.

Things would have been easier of course if Alejandro didn't decide to gloat about Noah being his loyal little pet when he shows up. Which bothers him both because it ruins the surprise and because it's condescending. This doesn't help things as Chris and Chef are quick to try to spring into action. Chef is trying to solo Alejandro, and Chris is coming at Noah pretty pissed because he's also just now realized that the ritual that should have automatically started taking action hasn't done that at all. Alejandro's occupied because Chef did still come with firepower, and Noah can recognize murder in Chris's eyes.

He's standing over Chris's body now. He knows it's a body because of the blood and the stab wounds. He knows he did it because he's gripping a knife in his hand he doesn't remember pulling out. Chef must be in Alejandro's stomach by now or else Noah would be dead. He can piece together what's happened, but he honestly can't remember the act itself. He knows he had to do it because Chris would have come to kill him first. He hadn't planned on crossing this line but seems like he did anyways.

He loves hates the pride in Alejandro's eyes. The promise that the first can be the hardest. But he's very grateful that Noah had chosen to live.

This isn't living. Rather than process, Noah points out that he's got to go back to Chris and Chef's house to get rid of any evidence that he knew them. After Alejandro takes care of Chris's body, he lets Noah go back to shore.

Noah dashes for the house, goes for the book, and hugs it like his new lifeline. Chris's book is now in Noah's possession. The book is rather content with its new owner. Because it felt Noah's desire to defend himself and his town, and willingness to put effort into doing it. It translated that ritual for Chris specifically to have something like this happen. It won't translate itself again, but if Noah's truly like the book thinks he is, that shouldn't be a problem.

Noah now has an unfiltered shot at evening the playing field with the book of a sea witch. Time to fight fire with fire.