#my idea for this is that Mikey starts acting all weird and everything the next day and only makes drawings for Donnie and Raph-

[ilivelikeimtrying]

ROTTMNT Fic idea:

Mikey likes drawing/crafting things for his brothers, but doesn't know that they keep them until he sees Raph neatly fold his and put it in one of the drawers in his room that's filled with old drawings, and finds a HUGE secret board where Donnie has hung them up (he's sworn under secrecy to never tell the others, especially Leo), but no matter what he never sees Leo with any of them, either hung up or in a drawer, but continues searching until he gives up, thinking that he must've just thrown them away then.

And he won't lie and say that that didn't sting, even a little bit.

But that couldn't be further away from the truth.

[savemeafruitjuice]

Tickletober Day 7- Fidget

First week down! Honestly, it's crazy to get so much writing done, but I really hope I can keep my motivation up and get enough time to do everything. Wish me luck I guess?

Also, this was an interesting idea I had, and wanted to explore it a bit. Enjoy!

Lee: Leonardo

Ler: Karai

TW!: MILD SWEARING! ANXIETY FINGER PICKING! (Like, pulling on the skin around your finger, just in case)

THIS HAS SPOILERS FOR LATE SEASON TWO! Just a heads up!

(This is not a ship. These two are SIBLINGS!! Please respect that.)

Why did he feel so.. awkward? Like he can't even have a normal conversation with his brothers, let alone Karai.

Their dynamic had been a bit different ever since.. Miwa?.. found out that she was a Hamato. Having a sister was weird, especially because she was older than them. There were so many things that were missing in their lives, and now they had a chance to make up for it.

Their family had taken a couple days to warm up to each other, but it was difficult for Karai to gain the trust of the younger brothers- especially Raph.

Even so, there weren't as many fights between them as there had been, and Leo had found himself peacefully enjoying their time spent together. More focused, more relaxed..

Except for today.

For some reason, Leo found himself stuttering over his words in front of everyone, using the the wrong moves for training, and even held his katana wrong, the blade facing him. Everyone would give him a weird look, but other than a disapproving comment from Mikey, no one really said anything.

And so he sat on the ground, hoping maybe television would make him feel better. One of the earlier seasons of Space Heroes was on, but even that made him feel weird. Captain Ryan's voice actor sounded so much younger than he would later on, that watching it made him seem incompetent, and inexperienced.

All of the things Leo couldn't be as a leader, and all of the things that no good leader should be. Especially his hero.

"Hey, Leo. I heard you were screwing up a lot today. Guess your 'perfect' act wore off, huh?"

The blue-themed turtle winced, turning around to greet his sister. His hands pulled apart, having been picking at the skin of his fingers, and he gave her a wave. "Uhm- Hey.." There was a slightly pause, but soon enough, she came and sat next to him on the ground. "Did- you want me to pause it?" He asked, head tilted to the tv.

"Nah, I wanna see what kind of nerd show you've been watching. What's it about?" That brought a smile to the younger's face.

"W-Well, it's about this hero, Captain Ryan, and he's the captain of a space ship." He explained, gesturing towards characters as they appeared on the screen. "He and his crew go through space and fight aliens, that- that kind of stuff. It's really cool. Captain Ryan has the best catchphrases like- ever."

Karai nodded, listening to his little spiel for a couple minutes. Eventually, the episode that was playing ended, and Leo started on a whole other rant, and the elder placed a hand on his shoulder to bring him back to real life.

"Hey, woah. Give me a minute, I'm losing track of it all now." Leo cut himself off, bringing his knees up to his chest. "Oh, sorry. I get carried away when it comes to Space Heroes."

The turtle wrapped his arms around his knees. Karai shook her head. "No, you're fine. Just gotta give me time to process what you're saying." She crossed her legs, slouching a bit now. "It's nice to hear about things like shows. Anything interesting, really."

Leo hummed, still feeling a bit embarrassed about going on a tangent. "Did you not watch any as a kid?" she shook her head. "The Shredder didn't want me exposed to things like that. I mainly just trained, or went to talk to friends, or.. was influenced into hatred."

The younger cringed slightly. The Shredder really was awful.. "Yeah.. That makes sense, I guess.." The heavier topic made him feel bad, and he went back to pulling at the skin on his finger. Karai watched for a second, then put her hand on his shoulder to get him to stop. "You shouldn't do that, it could get infected."

Leo huffed, but it.. didn't sound annoyed? More like he was about to laugh. She looked at him, and he quickly went to change the subject. "Uh- so! What.. did you want to do now?"

Her brows furrowed slightly. "I want to know what's so funny. Are you laughing at me for trying to help? That's really low."

By now, the kunoichi had already made the connection, having seen a couple of tickle fights between the brothers within the last couple days of her being here. Leo immediately shook his head, though a smile formed on his face when her hand moved a little, so that it was resting more on the base of his neck.

"No! No no, I'm not laughing at you, I just.. thought of something funny that happened." Karai didn't look impressed. "Oh, really? And what is it that's so funny?" Leo's face went pink as he tried to think of something, shoulders scrunching slightly at the anticipatory touch. Her hand curled into a claw form, fingers digging slightly into the side of his neck and shoulder. "..Or will I have to make you tell me?"

Leo's hand went to grab hers, to pull it away, or something, but he was slapped away. "No, you're going to tell me what you found so funny just now. I want to know." "It's nothing! Really, you won't even care!"

"Then why is it such a big deal to not tell me?" She maneuvered slightly, scooting behind him. One leg propped against his shell, and the other wrapped around his torso. Karai began gently dragging her nails up his neck, and Leo immediately squeaked, shoulders shooting up the rest of the way to protect the sensitive area.

"EEK! Noho- wahait! I cahahan't!" Karai only smirked, reaching her other hand over to carefully pull his head to the side, smushing his cheek into his shoulder so that she could keep tickling. "I'm not letting you go until you tell me. Unless.. maybe you like this?"

Leo frantically squirmed, legs now drumming out on the ground as he tried to arch away. She had him held in place; he couldn't even move his head! He weakly slapped at her leg, face burning brighter by the second. His voice kept breaking, but through his struggles he finally got an idea. He could just pull his head into his shell!

It took a couple seconds of fighting with her hand, but his head successfully retreated inside his shell. Karai looked puzzled for a second, holding onto his shoulders to peer into the hole of his shell. "Wait.. you guys can just.. hide in there? What the hell, that's really useful."

The leader was having trouble stopping his giggles, and shrieked when she dug into his underarms instead. For a second, he flailed, then pulled his arms into the safe space as well, then his legs. "Pfft- Ihi- hehe I cahan't Karahai!"

The elder turner his shell around, grunting with effort because of his weight. "Don't think you've won just yet.." She laid his shell down on the ground, plastron up, and started scratching at his belly. "Are your shells ticklish too?"

As it seemed, they were. Very much so, in fact. Leo screeched, squeaky laughter filling the room as soon as her hands made contact. "BAHAHAHAH! KAHARAI! NOHOHOO! SNRT-"

"Noho way! Did you just snort? You guys are so funny." Leo let out a whine at the tease, unable to do much more than rock slightly, as he was basically immobile.

They were in a stalemate, Karai using her nails to scribble along his plastron, demanding to be told what he found funny, as all the turtle did was laugh and laugh. Well, until she decided to explore more of his shell, and raked her fingers down his sides.

"GHKAHAHAHAH! NAHAH- OKAHAHAY WAIHIT! SNRT- I GIHIHIVE UHUP! PLEHEASE!"

"No, you wait. I told you what you need to do."

"PLEHEASE- I LIHIHIED, IHIHI LIHIED! THEHERE WASN'T AHAHANYTHING FUNNY!"

Karai gasped in mock-offense. "You lied to me? I thought we were supposed to be family, but you lied! You don't deserve to be let go!"

Leo snorted again, spewing out pleas and 'sorry's. She scratched harder at his shell, sending overwhelming tickly sensations through him. On bare skin, it would've been painful, but on the hard exterior of the bridge of his shell, all it did was force the blue-themed turtle into uncontrollable laughter.

"IHI DIHIDN'T MEHEAN TO! IHI'M- SNRT- SAHAHARRY! PLEHEASE!"

Unbeknownst to him, Karai was smiling fondly at his crazed state, though her nails attacked him like he'd just committed an unforgivable crime.

"Sorry Leo, but this is your punishment. I'm going to make sure you never lie to me again."

-----

I thought this would be harder to write, if I'm being honest, but I actually really like it! All of my years of watching 2012 helped me write her dialogue better, I guess. Anyways, happy first week of October! 🎃🌕🪦

[winderlylandchime]

2/2 ‘I will pay him to shut up. I’m broke as a fucking joke but bro i am willing to work my tushy on every corner to make him shut up. Pretentious fucker. I’m so happy Brian isn’t this cringey. *mocks ethan* alone jerking off. Oh fuck off. HE WAS IMAGINING HIM KISSING HIM. I WILL LITERALLY VOMIT RIGHT THIS SECOND, this is gonna sound weird but Bri looks better when he gets head. This guy makes funky faces. (THE KNOCK JUST HAPPENED) imagine if its brian!!!!! He needs help with more posters or some shit! OH MY GOD ROSES! OH ETHAN LOOKS LIKE HE JUST SAW HIS OWN LIFE FLASH BEFORE HIS EYES….spoiler alert it was a very boring one. HIS MUUUUSE? OH ETHAN IS SCARED- OH FUCKS SAKE BEN! WHY DO YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!’ *Mikey is now being dramatic with a needle* ‘Mikey whatcha doing? Dude, why cant you just be dramatic over boyfriends the same way everyone else is? Dye your hair red and get a buzzcut! FINALLY BEN! Now go back to boring and call it a day’ And we are back to Justin ‘ow ow Justin that has to hurt. TELL HIM! YES HE IS A LIAR! OH YOU MISSED HIM? FOR A DAY?! OH ITS JUSTINS FAULT AGAIN LIKE USUALLY?! (Ethan says thee line) OH YOU KEEP YOUR BRIANS NAME OUT OF YOU CHEATIN MOUTH! EXACTLY YOU NEVER FORGAVE HIM BC HE DIDNT DO SHIT WRONG! HE WAS HONEST FROM DAY ONE! YES LEAVE! SHOVE THAT RING UP YOUR ASS. Oh i have a few ideas what you could do without Justin. *does middle fingers at Ethan* HAHAHA FUCK YOU MARACAS BOY! JUSTIN FINALLY SAW THE LIGHT! *pauses tv* you know what we need now? Brian and Justin to bump into each other and for him to see Justin’s bleeding hand. Yup. I could do this shit for a living!’ He is literally smiling so big and he rewinded the scene like 2 times. Each time he smiled more and more while also laughing at Ethan. *raises his soda in the air* ‘lets all have a toast to Ben’s failed attempt at trying to be less boring. Glad you saw the light, big guy.’ ‘NOW HOW DID BRIAN KNOW HE DIDNT SLEEP AT HO-oh his clothes are the same. BRI YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE SO HAPPY! GUESS WHAT HAPPENED? THEY BROKE UP! (Ted just thanked Brian) dude, stop acting like you dont care for your friends. I get that its part of your schtick but dude come on. you most certainly did it for Teddy! THERES POTENTIAL IN THIS BROMANCE!’ ‘Oh fuck you Justin, you were buddies with him last episode but now youre saying he’s acting like total shit, i mean okay true BUT COME ON. And Debbie, maybe you could understand it if you, oh I don’t know, stopped blaming him all the time and being rude to him one second and the next you love him! Im still mad at you acting like you dont know that he loves Justin!’ Melanie just said she’s pregnant ‘oh no. Oh no. This is gonna be the worst thing since…quick name something bad. Mike is gonna be a dad. Oh that’s…i dont wanna say bad but i am coming up short on any other word’ ‘BRIAN! (Btw every time he says that when he comes on tv he literally points to the tv like he’s shocked he’s in the show..imagine that one Leo Dicaprio gif) HEY! brian is a good dad! *looks at me in wonder* Do you think backrooms are still a thing? Are they even legal? OH MY GOD ITS BLONDIE! JUSTIN!! HES IN THE BACKROOM! HES IN THE CLUB! FINALLY!! I hated how he acted that he was too good for it. AND LOOK HOW FAST BRI BRI SAW HIM! of course you are gonna fuck next to hi- OH JUSTIN SAW HIM *starts hitting me all excited* THEY ARE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER! THEY ARE FUCKING AND LOOKING AT EACH OTHER!!! DID YOU SEE THAT SMIRK? OH JUSTIN ISNT EVEN TRYING TO LOOK AWAY! *stands up and starts showing his shirt* TEAM FUCKING BRIAN! I KNOW THATS RIGHT! *screams literally on top of his lungs* I WANNA FEEL YOU FROM THE INSIDE?! OH THEY ARE SICK FOR THAT!’ He is now staring at the tv with his hands in his hair smiling while credits roll..’oh i gotta call mom! I gotta tell her! This is big news, shit i gotta call (friends name)! I gotta tell him all about this! I knew this shirt would work, you all thought i was crazy but it worked!’ And now he is giving mom the full run down. She is stuck with him on the phone bc she ignored his calls so he guilt tripped her

Your brother's reaction to THEE SCENE is everything. It is perfect. 10/10 would read that a million times over, no notes. (Or, this being tumblr, 1k notes post)

Brian and Justin to bump into each other and for him to see Justin’s bleeding hand. <- WHY WERE WE ROBBED OF THIS

THEY ARE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER! THEY ARE FUCKING AND LOOKING AT EACH OTHER!!! DID YOU SEE THAT SMIRK? OH JUSTIN ISNT EVEN TRYING TO LOOK AWAY! *stands up and starts showing his shirt* TEAM FUCKING BRIAN! I KNOW THATS RIGHT! *screams literally on top of his lungs* I WANNA FEEL YOU FROM THE INSIDE?! OH THEY ARE SICK FOR THAT!’

That is all of us right now.

I LOVE that your brother immediately wanted to tell everyone. No one cares but he still wants to share the good news.

[moxfirefly]

So an ask @teenage-mutant-ninja-freak got really has me thinking. So I’m hoping on the train and giving my own two cents on the guys with an s/o who’s ovulating and what goes down.

@tmntspidergirl did her own version so give it a looksie and some love!!

Liste my peeps, wow, what y’all getting yourselves into

Donnie KNOWS, ok and it’s not just cause he’s the smarty pants of it. You once told him when you were on your period and boy just made the calculations and knows when the next cycle happens

But here’s the thing, the little issue. The first time you spend a week with him post menstruation and ovulating?

You know somethings off with him. He’s acting all off and he’s so grabby with you especially in public (like in front of his brothers) I mean this man is straight up making you sit on his lap, he’s pawing at you and when did he become ok with kissing you like t h a t in front of people?

Don’s a private lad when it comes to you and his alone time

But he’s got you pinned against the sink one night while you were doing the dishes. And he’s so tall like when he leans down and nuzzles your ear and inhales the life out of you when he noses your hair the shivers my dudes

‘I wanna put a baby in you’ he whispers against your ear

Well you just broke Leo’s tea mug

‘Excuse me??’ You try to turn your head but he presses you hard against the sink and his hands slide to your stomach

‘You heard me’ and it’s such a territorial tone like you have to make sure this isn’t Raph and some fever dream. But not it’s Donnie, your big lovable nerd and why are you so for this idea all of a sudden?????

Let’s just say when you end up in his bed, Donnie absolutely railing the life out of you. Not once, not twice but an amount that leaves you so close to drunk on your own dopamine that you’ve forgotten how to speak properly

You don’t question when this large fucking terrapin is holding your legs to your chest after spilling himself in you.

He’s breathing so hard, sweaty and grinning ‘Don’t move love, keep all of me in you’

You nod breathlessly not even registering what he’s just said but boy do you not move an inch until he tells you that you can

Drunk Drunk Drunk off your scent

I can’t even begin to explain

He’s in a stupor almost

Mikey.exe has stopped working

He’s lowkey confused tbh like yes you’re hot but f u c k what is it about today that has you so HOT��️

He’s so transfixed by you that you gotta ask

‘Ok do I have something on my face? Is there a stain on my shirt??’

Mikey is just eying you up and down and shakes his head

He scoots closer to you and he’s not rocking that goofy smile. He’s legit studying you. It’s so bizarre seeing him so hyper focused and serious.

And obviously you’re somewhat alarmed when he straight up starts sniffing you

Your neck, your shoulders, your chest

When he starts trailing down your stomach and you’re alarmingly looking around the living room cause MIKEY PEOPLE

It takes all of your resolve and actual praying when he just straight up buries his face in your clothes crotch and the ‘holy shiiiiiit’ and full body shudder that leaves him to not moan out into the open living room

The movie is background noise at this point and whatever has taken over your orange clad boyfriend is somewhat worrisome but not at all un welcomed

Especially when you find yourself trying to muffle your noises because Mikey had straight up slide you down the makeshift couch and onto the floor. Crawled over you and begged to be inside of you

Begged, like he was going to die if this didn’t take place immediately

It’s so not you and his usual style, there isn’t the usual flirting and playful dirty talk Mikey gives you. He straight up telling you that he will Protect you, if anybody goes near you or tries something against you, omg they gonna be d-e-a-d. This lad has never been this serious.

He’s promising you everything. You’re his, and he is yours.

‘Your my mate baby, you’re my mate oh god’ and how is such a simple word turning you into actual goo??

My condolences to your cervix seriously bro r.i.p pour one out for that homie

But here’s the thing and ima do it to y’all

Sub!Leo has entered the chat

This is a time period you must take full advantage that he’s not gonna lowkey embarrassed about his subby tendencies

He’s ready for you to boss him, use him, make him beg and plead for you

All with the most stupidfied and endearing precious look on his face

So obviously you’re convinced that maybe he’s having one of those days™️ cause Leo has days where he needs to to take over (we can delve into that subject later my dudes)

And in this state he’s been all afternoon while visiting you has been weird but naturally y’all end up in the bedroom

And you end up riding him (which he absolutely fucking loves when he’s being a freaking sub)

And god he’s so mesmerized with your hips tonight, grabbing them. Pushing you harder down on him (because he’s allowed per your commands) he wants to bury himself so painfully in you, he’s a man possessed about it

He begs for it, begs for you to allow him to push into you more and more ‘please please’ he says and he looks like he’ll go mad if he doesn’t

So you allow him to switch you guys up

He’s on top but he’s still not running the show

‘You’re so good baby- fuck Lee yes yes’ and he is hiiiiigh of that and your scent how are you smelling this good, feeling this good? It’s more than the usual senses that he’s experienced with you

And I hope you don’t become a complete puddle when this lad starts pleading

Pleading™️

Fearless Leader himself yes you heard it here first folks

He’s pleading to cum inside of you, an absolute mess, he wants to mate with you, he wants to make you round with his child. He wants all of this only if only you allow it

He coos just how beautiful and glowing you would look and wow does the very thought of it make his thrust so pathetically sloppy

You’ve never felt so empowered then watching Leo cum completely undone and bury himself so far in you unwilling to pull out because he wants every last drop in you

‘I’m yours, I’m yours...please have me’ he sounds almost drunk

You hold him so close, kiss all up on him and tell his trembling self you’ll gladly carry half of him and you inside of yourself

Your legs have left the chat

You don’t know what being vertical means

Hi possessive Raph™️

Hi territorial Raph™️

The only time on the clock is baby making time

He is living, breathing and eating up your scent

Hooked on it, that shit is a drug to him and if you think his sex drive was high before

R.I.P to you my friend

This man isn’t letting you leave the bed unless it’s for a bathroom break and some Gatorade and a protein bar

No area is safe in your house. He is going to fuck you in every part, against and/or on any possible surface

It’s just a primal lightbulb turned on to the brightest setting in his head

All he knows is that he has to mate you, mark you and knock you up

All his dirty talk is focused on knockin you up. He wants to make a mother out of you, he wants you big and round with his child

And it ain’t gonna be one 😅

Big bara wants a bunch and he’s gonna do everything in his ability to give you a good amount in the first round

Seriously I fear for your well-being

But you’re absolutely OBSSESED with this side of him 🥴

[arielana]

Yeah, I don’t know what this is. It came from the tiny RNM teaser in TV insider - I was grumpy that basically all the info we got was about Liz’s lab partners abs (not that grumpy, but you know).

Anyway, I wrote this, about Liz and Michael bonding. Just really silly. 

A warning that there is drinking.

____

“Michael!”

“Ortecho, seriously why are you calling me at this hour?”

“I need you to take some time off. Come to California.”

“Sure thing, I’ll pack my little overnight bag and swing right by. I’ve been dying to do some sightseeing.”

“Yeah yeah, funny. I don’t have time for all that. Look I’ve discovered something, here in the lab, that might be relevant to your interests. I can’t get a sample out, but if an old friend from Roswell comes to visit I could give them a tour of the lab. So, just get your ass over here.”

***

That had been two days ago. Michael had some work he’d promised Sanders to finish first and he refused to fly (the thought of airport security freaked him out) so he’d set off in his truck after finishing up at Sanders the next day. He’d driven through the night, arrived very early in the morning and checked into a motel Liz had recommended that was close to her work.

After getting some sleep and showering he was now standing in the fancy lobby of the Genoryx building, feeling slightly overwhelmed but doing his best not to show it. His cowboy swagger usually worked in most places so he figured it would do ok here as well. 

Just to test it, he leaned slightly against the counter and threw the receptionist who had told him Liz would be right down a little smile. Judging by the way she blushed, he wouldn’t do too bad here either if he felt like it. Not that he did feel like it. There was really only one person’s company he wanted and since that wasn’t available to him currently, he focused on other things.

“Mikey!”

Liz came bouncing down the stairs, running straight up and jumping into his arms to hug him.

She had a certain energy that always put Michael in a better mood, even the times when she annoyed him. There was never any bullshit with her. 

“Hey Ortecho,” he grinned. “Good to see you.” 

“Good to see you too. Would have been even better if you got here sooner,” she bumped her shoulder lightly into his when he put her down, “but it’s great that you’re here.”

Before Michael could ask what all the fuss was about, he noticed a guy had followed Liz and was now hanging back, waiting to be introduced.

Noticing Michael’s look, Liz spun around, waving the guy forward. 

“Heath, come meet Michael. Michael, meet Heath. He’s my colleague from the lab. We do all our work together.”

Michael thought he picked up a little something in the way Heath looked when Liz said “colleague”, but he wasn’t sure. He was a good looking guy, tall, athletic, not the stereotypical scientist. Not that Michael cared much for stereotypes, so he shouldn’t apply them to others either, he reminded himself. 

“So, we’re just about to go out for lunch,” Liz said. “Do you mind if Heath joins us?”

“Of course not.” 

Michael was pleasantly surprised by how fun and relaxed lunch was. Small talk had never really been his thing, but science small talk was a whole other thing he realised. That’s why he had enjoyed hanging out with Liz back in Roswell, and Heath, despite looking more like an actor or model, turned out to absolutely be able to hold his own in the discussion.

After lunch things didn’t go quite as Liz had planned though. Her boss was apparently giving some other people a tour that afternoon and even if he kindly offered Michael to join them as well, Liz quickly switched gears.

“Actually Michael was yawning his way through lunch,” she ignored Michael’s little huff. “He pretends he’s fine but he’s had a long drive. He’s staying for a couple of days anyway, there’s no rush.”

She grabbed Michael’s arm firmly and dragged him towards the exit. 

“Really Liz, I was planning on going back home tomorrow,” Michael complained, without putting any real force behind it. “This isn't really my scene.”

“Oh knock it off, Michael. You were practically beaming at lunch, don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy yourself. And look, it’s just one more day. Tomorrow’s Friday so there’ll be less people around. We’ll do a tour in the afternoon. I’ll make up something to keep Heath busy, won’t be a problem.”

“So for today,” she continued, “how about you get some more sleep, and then we can go out tonight, eat something, have a few drinks. Maybe some dancing,” she winked at him.

“Drinks yes, dancing no, but sure, I don¨t mind checking out the bars here.” Michael gave Liz a considering look. “So tell me, is Heath coming?”

“What, no, why would he?”

Aha, judging by the brief flush of red on her cheeks, there was definitely something going on there, Michael noticed. Maybe something to explore later. He could be a good brother and try to get some more information. Max was certainly asking enough questions about him and Alex, looking at Michael with those big puppy eyes, acting hurt when Michael snapped at him. This could be payback (helping Max out, Michael corrected himself).

**

Dinner continued in the same way as lunch, with them geeking out about new research and theories (careful to steer clear of any alien references while in public) covering everything from global warming to medical advances.

Afterwards they continued on to a bar and after a couple of drinks Michael figured Liz had let down her guard enough for him to do some digging.

“So, Ortecho… tell me about Heath?”

“What?” Liz said with feigned innocence.

“Just wondering, I mean he’s really fit, dark hair, smart, funny, exactly what I look for, in both men and women,” he winked at her.

“Michael!” Liz sounded scandalized

“Unless he’s taken, of course”

Liz twisted uncomfortably in her seat. “It feels weird talking to you about this.”

“Why?” Michael smirked at her, raising his eyebrows. He enjoyed this. He never really got to have a bro moment with anyone growing up. Too busy not letting anyone come too close. But Liz, she got it, she was the same as him in so many ways. 

“Hey. no judgement here. Tell me, is he really as jacked as he looks?”

Liz sighed deeply, before giving up and leaning back with a dreamy expression on her face.

“He really is. Seriously, his abs are amazing. Not that that kind of thing is really important to me of course,” she hurried to add, “but it’s just- nice.”

“So, Valenti,” Michael pulled a face,” Diego, this Heath guy. I see you also prefer dark hair but other than that I really don’t see that many similarities to Max?”

“You know,” Liz took a sip from her drink, clearly deflecting, “from the stories I heard about you before, you know, everything,” she waved her hands vaguely, “I was under the impression it was mainly blondes that you were dragging home from the Pony?”

Michael shrugged. “That was just sex. But then again,” he added consideringly, “I’ve only ever been in two relationships. So they were both dark haired, but that’s not enough to draw a conclusion based on statistics, maybe it’s just coincidence.”

 Liz's gaze sharpened. “Relationships, huh?”

It was Michael's turn to try to deflect. ’Hey, see if you can flag down the waitress, I need another beer.”

“In a minute.” Liz tilted her head questioningly, “I wasn’t aware you considered what you had with Alex an actual relationship?”

Michael hesitated. He knew Liz could probably read him like an open book right now, but he also knew that if he said he didn't want to get into it she’d respect that and let it go. For now at least.

But he’d said more than once that he was tired of keeping secrets. Liz was a friend and it would actually be nice to talk to someone.

“If we’re really going to talk about this I’m going to need another drink.”

“Me too,” Liz thought about it for a second. “Tequila?”

“Tequila.”

**

An hour later they were both just giggly messes.

Michael had shared his and Alex's story over the years, Liz had opened up about the shock of seeing Max again and they had bonded over how no amount of distance or years really made the feelings go away. It had been very emotional once the tequila kicked in. They had both shed some tears and comforted each other. 

At this point in the evening however, they had gone full circle and were back to discussing abs again and both blushing.

“Maybe we should just tell them,” Liz said.

“Yeah, they’d hate that. You’re safe here, but I have to go back. If Alex doesn’t get to me first and give me the ‘Guerin, you’re such a disappointment’ look, Max will give me a lecture about ‘upholding personal boundaries, Michael’. Both a total pain in the ass.”

“Ok, let’s take a selfie and send as well then. If they see our sweet faces they can’t be mad.”

“Ortecho, I think you dropped your logic somewhere on the way here.”

“Come on, you said the two of you are at a stalemate right? Since Alex broke up with Forrest?”

Michael made a face.

“This will give things a nudge,” Liz said. “Plus it’s sent from my phone so you can deny all knowledge of it.”

“Have you met Alex?”

Liz just waved her phone at him. Michael swallowed.

He wasn’t drunk enough not to know that this maybe wasn't the smartest idea, but it was kind of tempting anyway. Just to see how Alex would react.

“Yay,” Liz pulled him in for a selfie, instructing him to make his best puppy eyes before adding the text to the picture and pressing send.

Just so you know, you both have really good abs as well. We love your abs very much. Xoxo, Liz and Mikey

It took no time at all before both their phones started buzzing with an incoming call.

[moonlit-mizukage]

Chapter fourteen: I can explain Mina 

Summary: U.A.’s third year student y/l/n Y/n, has had a crush for a long time on Todoroki Shouto. One day she decides to write an anonymous love letter, sticks it under his door. She confessed her love and asked him to meet under the Cherry tree Saturday at 4pm. She prepared with her friends for this moment, but what happens when someone else takes credit for the letter? (All characters aged up to third year!)

TW Swearing, angst 

Taglist Open!! Dm or send an ask to be added!

AN: Another Angsty Chapter everyone!

After the fight texts: 

THE NEXT DAY

Kiri POV 

Sometimes we really can't explain why we do the things we do, but sometimes, we do these things for selfish reasons. My selfish reason was for my heart. Hopefully one day she can understand why I did what I did. Honestly, right now, I'm not even sure I fully understand what made me say what I did yesterday and do what I did today.  Maybe I have become just as bad as the one she hates, or maybe one day, somehow, she will thank me for this. Right now she just stands in front of me. I can see her breaking inside from the lies I told her. Holding her so close in my arms just felt right, it's what I deserve. I pulled back a little swing, her tears stream down her face, lifting her chin as I moved in closer. 

"I've always loved you." Today didn't start like this. Not even close, if you told me this morning this is how my day would end I would have never believed you. 

This morning...

When I went outside, I saw Mina and y/n talking. I didn’t want them to see me so I stayed back enough to hear what they were saying. 

“Hey baby, are you doing okay today?” She asked as they met up outside of the dorm building. 

“Hi Mina, I’m fine I guess. I still don’t understand what really happened and why he had to say those things. Maybe it’s just best to give him space.”

“Can I ask what happened for him to say that?” 

“He was asking about my love for Todo and then asked about hypothetically if someone I knew liked me, what would I do.” 

“Did he say who?” Mina asked her. 

“He used himself as the person. It was weird honestly.” 

“So what do you plan on doing about it?” 

“Honestly, I will just leave it for now, I think I just want to deal with this Ochaco situation.” Y/n said back to Mina. 

“Do you have any ideas on what to do about it?”

“Honestly, last night I went to my room after the kiri incident and wrote this up.” y/n handed Mina a letter from her bag. 

“Is this another letter?” Mina asked.  

“Yeah but this one has everything written down on it. I even quoted the last letter and made a point of saying like talk to Ochaco about what was in the original letter. I left my name and number this time too.” 

“Are you giving it to him in person?” 

“I don’t trust Ochaco, so I’m going to put it in his locker.” 

“Makes sense, I wouldn’t trust getting too close to him with her around.”

Arriving at school, She shoved the letter through the openings of Todoroki’s locker. I waited for Y/n and Mina to be out of site. I walked up to Todoroki’s locker. I turned my quirk on my hand and smashed his lock. I grabbed the letter from the inside of it and walked off holding it in my hand as I walked away.

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

The end of the day came fast as I crept over behind the lockers by Y/n and Mina again. 

“Hey y/n! Did you hear anything from Todo yet?” 

“No, I saw him in his locker earlier but I didn’t hear anything from him yet. He also already left, holding hands with ” 

“This seems kinda suspicious. Let me be an inspector gadget this time. Just go rest baby, okay?”

“Okay, I will see you later Mina.” 

Back at the dorms I noticed Y/n go right up to her room. I followed close behind. After a fews minutes of just standing outside her, I decided to knock on it. 

“What do you want Kiri?” She said, eyes red from obvious crying. 

“I came to check on you. I kinda acted like a dick yesterday, can I come in?” 

“Sure.” She moved over and closed the door when I walked in. 

“Are you crying because of me?” 

“Kinda… you were right…” 

“What do you mean?” I asked her. 

“Well you did say he didn’t know I existed. You were not wrong honestly.” She let out a small chuckle with a smile you could see the pain behind. 

“What happened?”

“I wrote him another letter, explaining what happened. I gave it to him this morning and I still haven’t gotten a reply.” 

“Y/n, I’m so sorry.” I pulled her into my arms. 

“I am pathetic Kiri. You were right.” She cried harder into my chest. This is how we got here now, her crying into my chest. I pulled back a little swing, her tears stream down her face, lifting her chin as I moved in closer. 

“I don’t think that y/n.” I stated, “I’ve always loved you.” I said as I pulled her lips up to mine, soon beginning to move in sync. I wasn't sure if I was imagining this feeling, but if this was reality I don't want to stop living in this moment. I moved my hand from her chin to place it on the base of her neck only deepening the passion we were sharing. I opened my eyes a little just to check once again this was reality and not just another sleep induced illusion.  

"Y/N WHAT THE FUCK!" She pushed me away seeing Mina standing in the doorway now. 

“Mina!” She said

“I can explain Mina.” 

“Save it kiri. I told you that it wasn't smart to make a move and then you do when she's vulnerable? That's not something I would expect from you!” She shouted at me. 

“I don’t know what to say anymore Mina! You have known that I have felt this way since first year! I didn’t mean to catch feelings!” 

“GET OUT!” Mina and I quickly looked over towards y/n who now looked furious. 

“What…” 

“You knew this whole time Mina, and you never said anything about him to me… How do I even know you actually wanted to help me?” 

“I tried to, I got your letter back..” 

“Please, I just want to be alone right now.” She said opening her down. The two of us took the hint and left her to be by herself...

_______________________________________________________________

Previous | Masterlist | Next

An: I may start posting random chapters as I have so much time still before class starts up again.

Taglist:  @videogameboiwhowins​ @too-many-fandoms666 @angelofdarkness1020 @bakuinred​ @yoonbbyboy​ @iamagalaxy @softesyoongi @tsumuuumiyaaaa @kyomihann @iwavibes @thatweirdfox22 @missmultifangirl @lilithknight1111 @letmebreathepls @ohmygodronnie2020 @noahmanz @smolbbygorl @mikeys-thighs @elephantloser

[all-that-tmnt-jazz]

This is a little silly, but how do you think each of the guys would react to getting a hug for the first time from their best friend who they may or may not (definitely do lol) have a crush on?

This isn’t silly- I love this idea!!

Warnings: Swearing

Incarnation: Bayverse.

Extra Info: I accidentally turned this into a love confession as well… Whoops.

Leo:

You’ve known him for around 1 year and a half at this point

You’ve never really had some form of greeting

You literally walk into his room and start a conversation

He comes into your apartment and lets go of his aloof demeanor, becoming much more relaxed and saying the most random shit 

It’s entertaining, really, how you two are so different when it’s just you two

But it’s what draws you to him, and him to you

But then, you apply to graduate school

He’s supportive all the way, and he’s actually the one you call when you get the email

He’s sitting right beside you when you open it, just as nervous as you are

You read it

You scream

You show Leo, who screams as well

You both act like fools, standing up and dancing in place for a bit

And then you hug him

You feel him tense underneath your arms

You let go, thinking you’ve done something wrong

You see he has wide eyes, and they follow you as you take a few steps back

“Leo…?”

“Y/N, I…”

The look in his eyes changes

It makes your heart flutter in a familiar way

“Y/N, I… I’m in love with you…”

“All it took was a hug for you to finally admit it?” you ask him

You joke, yes, but you’re beaming

He starts stuttering, looking at his feet

You approach him and hold his biceps.

He stops and looks back at you

“Do you want another hug?”

He weakly nods

You hug him, but instead of putting your chin on his shoulder, you tuck your face into his neck

“I love you too, by the way.”

Raph:

The two of you have been hanging out mostly at the Lair

You often hang out in his work out room, but more at your apartment

You spend your time talking shit about people, making jokes, or roasting the shit out of each other

You two met after he had gone to the surface one day, not long after defeating Shredder the first time

You had been preparing to photograph the sunrise on your roof when he came by and nearly knocked you off the building by accident- and you’ve been best friends ever since

You’ve also met his brothers, not long after you met him

You become so much more expressive, outgoing, and rebellious around him, which is so different than you are in the rest of your life

You’re usually so reserved and are never one to disobey someone. But he pushed that aside the moment you met

He also changes a bit around you. He becomes way more chill and less prone to anger- so much so, you notice it

(but you never point it out, because you low-key like Chill Raph)

And one day, he and his brothers just… Disappear

You couldn’t help but worry, and you pace

And then you hear coverage that Shredder broke out of prison, then a threat from the sky

Immediately you knew they were doing something about this

All you could do was wait- you weren’t in their loop to fight a battle

You were only in their loop as a friend and nothing else, as much as you wanted that to change

The night the Threat from the Sky was defeated, you waited on your rooftop

You knew he would come- he was too predictable

But he didn’t. All he did was send you a text

My brothers and I got that threat from the sky. I know I worried you. I’m sorry. I’ll come by tomorrow. -Red

You were a bit heartbroken, really

But he didn’t need to know that.

K- Y/N

So, you waited. And waited. And waited.

And then the next night came, and he came with it

You saw him about a block away, and your heart started pounding

Once he got to your rooftop, he started talking a mile a minute

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here last night, my brothers and I wanted to-”

You shushed him with a finger to his lips briefly

He immediately relaxed and closed his eyes

He exhaled a long breath when you moved your hand away

You wrapped your arms around his large torso, your head resting in the center of his plastron

You felt him tense up again, but didn’t dare let go

He slowly wrapped his arms around you, and slowly melted into the touch

“I missed you like mad,” you tell him

“You have no idea how much I missed you, too, shorty.”

“Shut up and tell me you love me already.”

He chuckled and you swore he held you a little tighter

“I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you too, Red.”

Donnie:

You had actually met Mikey first, when he protected you from muggers while walking through Harlem

But then you were introduced to his brothers

Your heart threw itself into your throat when you met Donnie and it was like you lost all sense of speech

Everything you wanted to say came out as stutters or as a jumble of words unable to be understood

And Donnie seemed just as tongue tied

But you two hung out more and more- mostly in his lab or in the garage with the Tartaruga Truck

You became more goofy and silly, but also let yourself open up to him

You felt so much more vulnerable with him, but you didn’t mind. You trust him more than anyone else

And you noticed he was a becoming more and more talkative around you, telling you about his projects and gadgets

And one day, you notice he’s rather quiet

So, you ask him about it

“Hey, what’s up? You’re usually a bit more talkative,” you say

He freezes a moment, then rolls out from underneath the Tartaruga Truck

He sat up, and you giggled

“You have oil… here…” you whisper

You get a spare cloth and wipe the oil from his neck. You feel his heart racing when you go over a pressure point

“Talk to me, Donnie.”

He couldn’t look you in the eye

“It’s just… My brothers are often annoyed by how much I can talk, so I often work alone,” he admits

He shrugs like it’s not a problem

You feel bad for him- you had seen it with your own eyes, his brothers pushing him away when he’s excited

You see him look to his hands, which lay dormant in his lap

“But you… You, Y/N, don’t judge me when I start talking, you actually encourage it. I… I… That’s been on my mind for a long time, and-”

You knock him back in a tight hug

You hear his breath catch in his throat, and yours does the same

He hesitantly wraps his arms around you

You fear he could feel or hear how hard your heart was pounding against your ribs

Unbeknownst to you, he feared the same thing

“I always will. I love hearing you talk. Hell, I love you, Donatello.”

He gasps lightly, but he holds you a bit tighter

“My gods… I love you too, Y/N. Holy shit…”

Mikey:

You had met under… Weird circumstances, to say the least

You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were getting beaten

This guys had pulled you into and alley in the dark side of the Bronx and held you down, starting to grope you to find any wallets and valuables

And then someone called out

“Hey, guys! It’s turtle time!”

You heard a few pairs of feet his the cement around you, but couldn’t look around

Soon your attacker was lifted off of you and you heard a thud soon after

“Mikey, get ‘em out of here. We’ll handle this guy,” someone in blue said

A moment later, arms were holding you bridal style as they lifted you off the ground

Soon, you were on the rooftop and you heard a fight going on below

“Hey, hi. I’m Mikey. You alright?”

You looked at the one who saved you, and were caught by surprise at his appearance

But only at first, because you were then caught in his baby blue eyes

“Um… Fine. Shaken, but… Fine.”

You hugged him

“Thank you, Mikey.”

You let go a moment later, and he was then joined by three other mutants like him

“Hey there. You good?” the one in a red bandana asked you

“I already asked, Raph,” Mikey said, finding his voice again. “What’s your name?”

“Y/N.”

Mikey smiled at you

The other three started leaving

“I hope to see you again- not like this, of course, but-”

You took out a sticky note as the third one in purple called to Mikey

“Mikey, we gotta go!” said the one in purple

“Here- my number,” you said

You handed him the sticky note.

He looked at it and his smile grew

“See ya, Y/N,” Mikey smiled

He ran off to follow his brothers, already longing for your touch again

That night, in his room, he held his pillow, trying to mimic the feeling of you against his plastron

But the next day, he gathered the courage to ask to hang out

And he got to hug you again

He made sure to enjoy every second, which he didn’t do the first time

[rpf-bat]

My Cellmate’s A Killer

Pairing: Gerard Way x Reader

Genre: Drama, Romance

Summary: Written for Gothtober 2020, Day 22. Prompt: “Prison”.

Gerard is a convict, currently serving time for murder. When he receives a serious injury, the prison warden brings him to the hospital, where you work. As you nurse him back to health, you form an unexpected bond with him. But, can you really trust a killer? 

Trigger warnings for mentions of past violence, and sexual assault. 

The doctors told you that the patient was a criminal. He “lived” at the maximum security prison on the edge of town. Apparently, he’d gotten injured in his cell, and the guards had no choice but to bring him here, to the hospital, to receive surgery. 

You didn’t care. You were a nurse - that meant you would treat any person that needed medical help. You nervously approached the police officer, who was guarding the front door of the hospital room. 

“It’s time for Mister, uhh….,” you glanced down, checking your chart. “Mister Way’s next dose of medicine.” 

“Alright,” the guard nodded, allowing you past. “Be careful in there, miss. He’s a dangerous man.” 

You peered through the window, before entering the room. The dark haired man lay calmly on his cot. His hands were handcuffed behind his head. 

“Was it really necessary to restrain him like that?” you frowned. 

“We can’t allow him an opportunity to escape,” the guard reasoned. 

“He just got thirty stitches in his leg,” you pointed out. “I don’t think he could walk out of here, even if he wanted to.” 

“Just go give him his pills,” the guard huffed. “And stop asking me questions.” 

“Yeah, alright,” you sighed, and entered the room. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

“Hi, Mr. Way,” you smiled, trying to treat him like any other patient. “It’s time for another dose of hydromorphone, okay?” 

“Call me Gerard,” the man said softly. “What’s your name, Nurse?” 

“I’m Y/N,” you introduced yourself. You began puncturing the blister pack that contained his painkillers. 

“Is it a pill you’re giving me?” Gerard asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yes, sir,” you nodded. “A standard eight milligram dose.” 

“I don’t exactly have a free hand to take it from you,” Gerard chuckled, glancing at the cuffs, that held his hands fast. “What are you gonna do? Feed it to me?” 

You blushed at this suggestion, taking a closer look at him. His long, dark hair framed a pale and handsome face. He looked more like a magazine model, than a convicted felon. The idea of bringing your fingers to his lips sounded….both appealing, and wrong, all at once. 

But, if his hands are incapacitated, you considered, stepping closer to his bedside, what other choice do I have?

“Come here,” Gerard chuckled, “I promise, I won’t bite you.”

“The cop at the door says you’re dangerous,” you hesitated. 

“Well, yeah,” Gerard said dryly, “I was convicted of second-degree murder.”

“M-murder?!” you gasped, jumping back. He confessed to it so casually, as if it was nothing. 

“It’s true,” Gerard said, sounding frighteningly unrepentant. “I killed a man. But, I had my reasons.”

“What reason could possibly justify taking a human life?!” you cried, horrified.

Is he some kind of sociopath?, you wondered, shuddering. Should I be scared, being alone in a room with him like this?

“....Do you really want to know?” Gerard asked, gazing up at you, with his cold, hazel eyes. 

The truth was, you’d always had a weird fascination with true crime documentaries. It intrigued you, hearing the motives, that would drive seemingly ordinary people to kill. 

“...Yes,” you decided, setting down the pills, and taking a seat, beside the bed. “Tell me.” 

“I have this little brother,” Gerard explained. “His name is Mikey. He was in his junior year of high school. Some classmate of his, decided that he looked gay.  Whatever that means. And then he decided, that he needed to beat him up, just for, I don’t know, existing too gay-ly.” 

“That’s terrible,” you frowned. You never understood, why kids bullied each other, for such stupid and prejudiced reasons. 

“They beat Mikey so bad, that they put him in the hospital,” Gerard recalled with a pained expression. 

“I’m so sorry,” you said sympathetically. You wondered if little Mikey was okay. 

“It’s okay,” Gerard shrugged. “I paid the bastard back, by putting him in a grave.” 

You gasped, at this chilling admission. 

“You don’t understand, Nurse,” Gerard said insistently. “The son of a bitch hit my brother in the face so hard, that he went blind in his right eye, for the rest of his life!” 

“That poor kid,” you frowned. 

“Well, he’s not a kid anymore,” Gerard clarified. “I got revenge against the worm who hurt my brother, in 1997. I was sentenced to fifteen years in prison….and I’ve already served seven years of that.” 

“So, you have eight more years to go?” you calculated. 

“Yeah,” Gerard said sadly. “Mikey will be thirty-two, by the time I get out.”

“What does he think about your decision to avenge him?” you asked curiously. You imagined how much you would miss your own siblings, if you were separated from them, for over a decade. 

“He visited me in lockup,” Gerard replied. “He said it brings him peace, knowing the bastard can never hurt him again. So, say what you want. But I ain’t sorry, for putting a bullet between his eyes.” 

“This hospital is the first place you’ve been, other than that prison, in such a long time,” you realized. 

“Yeah,” Gerard nodded. “I ain’t sorry for what I did to get sent here, either.” 

“What did you do?” you asked, eyes wide. 

“I got a new cellmate,” Gerard explained. “His name’s Bert. He just started a five-year sentence, last week.” 

“What did he get convicted of?” you asked curiously. 

“Drug trafficking,” Gerard replied. “One of the harder ones. Prison life is gonna force him to get sober, though. By the looks, withdrawal has been a real bitch for him so far.”

You recalled the symptoms of drug withdrawal, from your medical textbook. Shaking. Vomiting. Rapid heartbeat. Seizures. It was nothing you would wish on anyone - even a dealer, who had sold the poison to others.

“I’m sorry he’s going through that,” you said empathetically. 

“Well, he almost went through something way worse,” Gerard grimaced. 

“What could be worse than that?” you wondered anxiously. 

“We were in the showers,” Gerard recalled, paling. “Some big guy, from Cell Block A, tried uh….he tried to…..touch Bert. In a way he didn’t want to be touched.”

“Oh,” you gasped. You heard about these things happening in men’s prisons - but it was still a sickening thought. 

“I clocked the sick fuck,” Gerard snarled. “Knocked him the fuck out.” 

“....Good,” you said, without thinking. Maybe you shouldn’t encourage a confessed killer, to commit more acts of violence. But, if he hadn’t done what he did, his friend would have been sexually assaulted. Preventing such a thing, was a noble motive. 

“Problem was, the guy was in a prison gang,” Gerard sighed, continuing his story. “After I bloodied him up, all over the bathroom floor, his buddies came after me. One of them had a shiv. Shanked me right in my fucking leg.”

“.....That’s why you needed all those stitches?” you realized. 

“Yeah,” Gerard replied, sinking back into his pillows. “That’s how I wound up here.” 

“Let me give you your pain medicine,” you said, standing up. His stab wound must hurt him terribly. 

“You’re not scared of me?” Gerard asked softly. “After everything I just told you I did?” 

“You’re a violent man,” you considered. “But, I don’t think you’re an evil man, Gerard.” 

“....Really?” Gerard’s eyes widened.

“Truly,” you nodded. “You attacked two men, yes. But, they were bad men. Men who hurt innocent people.” 

“I’d never hurt a nice lady like you,” Gerard whispered. 

You took the pain pill, and put it between your fingers. “Open up,” you instructed. 

Gerard, to your surprise, blushed. 

“What’s wrong?” you asked. 

“I haven’t had  a woman this close to me in seven, long years, Nurse,” Gerard said shyly. “Let alone such a beautiful one.” 

It was your turn to blush. He thought you were beautiful? 

“C-come on, now,” you stammered. “Say ah.”

Gerard opened his mouth wide. You glanced down at his pale pink lips, as you leaned over him. Your hair brushed his cheek, making his whole face go red. 

You gently placed the pill on his tongue. His lips closed around your fingertips for a moment, almost sucking them. You drew back from his touch, startled. 

“What’s the matter, Nurse?” he asked, a sly look on his face, as he swallowed the tablet. 

“I -I told you,” you mumbled, looking away, “my name’s Y/N.”

“Can you do me one more favor, Y/N?” Gerard asked quietly. 

“What is it?” you asked, heart pounding. 

“....Ya think you could scratch my nose for me?” 

You burst into laughter, at his odd request. It wasn’t what you were expecting. 

“I’m serious! It really itches!” 

Overcoming your giggles, you glanced again, at the handcuffs on his wrists. The guard had, perhaps unwisely, left a key on the bedside table. 

“....I really don’t think you need to be tied up like this,” you confessed. 

“They don’t want me on the loose,” Gerard shrugged. “Told ya, I’m a killer.” 

“If I were to unlock the cuffs for you,” you asked, your voice a whisper, “do you promise to stay in your bed?” 

“I won’t try to escape, Y/N,” Gerard said seriously, staring up into your eyes. “I promise you. If I went on the run now, I’d never see my brother again. It’s not worth it to me.” 

“...Then, I’ll do it,” you decided, grabbing the key. You prayed that you were not going to regret this. 

The key turned in the lock, and the cuffs unclicked, releasing Gerard’s hands. He didn’t lunge at you, or jump up. He simply scratched his nose - exactly as he said he would. 

You breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I know you got other patients to look after, Nurse Y/N,” Gerard said, looking suddenly sleepy, as the medication started to kick in. “So...have a good night, alright?”

“Good night, Mr. Way,” you smiled, and walked out of the room. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The next day, you came to provide another dose of hydromorphone. The guard glared at you, as you approached the door. 

“What the hell were you thinking last night?” he asked. “You gave the prisoner an opportunity to escape!” 

“.....Did he escape?” you asked, your heart suddenly aching. Had he manipulated you, into feeling sorry for him, so he could go on the lamb?

“....No,” the guard shook his head. “I guess we got lucky. The prisoner is still sittin’ in there, like a good boy. Exactly where you left him.” 

You breathed a sigh of relief. Gerard had kept his promise. 

“...May I give him his medicine, Officer?” you asked, staring the guard down.

“Yeah, lady,” the cop said, with a defeated look. “You go on ahead.” 

You entered the room, shutting the door behind you. “Hi, Mr. Way,” you greeted. 

“I told you, Y/N,” your new favorite patient smiled, “the name’s Gerard.”

“Hi, Gerard,” you corrected yourself. “How are you feeling today?” 

“Not so good,” Gerard confessed. “As you can see, Officer Jackass put the cuffs back on me this morning.” 

It was true - he was, once again, shackled to the bed. 

“I guess I’ll have to feed it to you again,” you mumbled, cheeks aflame. 

“You kinda looked like you were enjoying it, the last time,” Gerard smirked. 

“N-no!” you denied, blushing harder. 

“Oh, really?” Gerard teased. “Well…..I know I sure did.” 

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” you stammered. You were a medical professional. He was a patient in your care - and a convicted murderer, to boot! You shouldn’t let him flirt with you like this. 

But, although you hated to admit…..he was right. Something about your fingers in his mouth, had been strangely attractive to you. 

“What can I say, Nurse Y/N?” Gerard shrugged. “I got nothing to lose. As soon as I’m healed up, they’re gonna take me back to the penitentiary. I won’t see, or touch, a woman again, for the rest of this decade.” 

“That must be...lonely,” you breathed. 

“I knew the price I was gonna pay, when I got Mikey his justice,” Gerard sighed. “It’s far too late, to start having regrets now. But…..if I could have just one wish….”

“What would you wish for?” you asked, your heart hammering. 

“Just one kiss,” Gerard begged. “Before they lock me back up, and throw away the key.” 

“....I’ll grant your wish,” you decided, in a whisper. You felt so hot, all of a sudden. 

“Wh-What?” Gerard stammered. 

“Sssh,” you shushed him. “Hold still, and say ah for me again.” 

You leaned down, beside his bed, and kissed him softly, on the mouth. Despite the sterile scent of disinfectant in the room, the taste of the moment, was incredibly sweet. 

He struggled against his chains, trying desperately to bring his body, closer to yours. You sat on the bed, closing the gap. 

Now practically in his lap, you kissed him harder. 

“Ahhh!” he cried. 

“....Did I hurt you?” you gasped, pulling away. “Did I sit on the leg that was injured?”

“....No,” Gerard panted. “That…..wasn’t a noise of pain.”

“....Oh,” you flushed. 

“I’d be greedy to ask for a second wish,” Gerard said seductively. “But, if I could have one….oh, pretty, please, Nurse, would you do that again?” 

You nodded, pushing him back, into the bed. “You can wish for it, as many times as you like.”

[babymetaldoll]

Danger Days - Chapter five: "I touch myself"

Word count: 9K

Summary: Joey is freaking out about the first show. She is scared she is gonna suck. Gerard has to deal with how tight his pants are feeling lately. Frank gets his shit together. Ray is the father these kids need, and Matthew acts like a worried boyfriend.

Warnings: Description of male masturbation (in not much detail.) Cursing, grown-ups acting like kids.

A/N: THANK YOU FOR READING THIS STORY!! I really never thought anyone would in fact read it 'cos it's MCR + MGG + OC, but apparently, you are liking it. So thanks!!! Also, I love giving characters weird nicknames, it's a fact.

Not my gif and all this shit is fiction.

Masterlist

Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four | Chapter five | Chapter six | Chapter seven | Chapter eight | Chapter nine | Chapter ten | Chapter eleven | Chapter twelve | Chapter thirteen | Chapter fourteen | Chapter fifteen | Chapter sixteen | Chapter seventeen | Chapter eighteen | Chapter nineteen | Chapter twenty | Chapter twenty one | Chapter twenty-two | Chapter twenty-three | Chapter twenty-four |

::: London, October 22nd, 2011:::

Gerard was sick and tired of interviews, he wanted to get to the hotel and lay down for a good nap, but it felt the van wasn't moving fast enough. Next to him, Mikey was starting to feel his head a little better after a whole day with the worst hangover he had had in months. The bassist kept drinking Gatorade and never took out his dark glasses.

- "Are you ok?"- he read Joey's text and smiled.

- "Dying is the new ok"- he wrote fastly and added- "Ready for dinner?"

- "Are you taking me out?"- the drummer replied.

- "Could be"- he texted back.

- "Great! I've been in this fucking room all day"- Mikey frowned and called- Hey! I thought you were going to answer my text.

- "You haven't left your room?!"

- "No, I was practicing. I've got a pretty big concert tomorrow, you know, I don't wanna be the reason your show goes to hell."

- "Are you dressed?"- Gerard, Ray, and Frank turned to him, frowning.

- "No, Mikey. I usually play drums naked. It helps me stay in the zone,"- Joey answered all snarky- "Of course, I am dressed, Mikey!"

- "Ok, Bug! No need to yell, I just meant go get pretty, and I'll pick you up to have dinner out."

- "Oh! Fancy!"- the girl smiled, thinking Mikey was incredibly thoughtful with her- "Then I'll shower again and put on my best sweatpants."

Mikey laughed and said goodbye. And immediately faced the interrogative look in his brother's eyes.

- "What?"

- "You said you were not going to make your move on her."

- "What the fuck is wrong with you?"- and Mikey felt insulted- "I am not trying to make any move on her! She just spent the whole fucking day practicing for tomorrow's show. The least I can do is buy her dinner! She is putting all her effort into this ‘cos she doesn't want to make us look bad! Not everything is about getting laid, Gerard!"

The van was silent after those words. Gerard whispered "sorry" and didn't say anything else.

- "We could all do something fun"- Ray suggested- "She has to be really nervous…"

- "Yeah"- Frank added- "What was the name of that bar we went to last time we were here?"

- "We are not going to a sports bar"- Mikey shouted immediately.

- "No! Not that one… the other sports bar…"- Frank joked- "Oh come on! We are in London! I need all the soccer shit I can get!"

- "Not tonight, so think of a nice place to take Joey"- Mikey was taking it seriously.

- "Like a band date, and shit?"- Iero asked and frowned, pretending to be confused but basically just trying to make fun of Mikey- "You said you are not going to make your move on her. Are we all as a band going to make our move on her?"

- "Shut up!"- Mikey was pretty annoyed- "That girl has taken special care of me in the lastest days, and I appreciate her very much. We should all make an effort and make her feel good and reinforce her trust for tomorrow."

- "You would be an excellent sports coach"- Frank kept joking, though he really liked the idea of taking Joey on a date, even when it was with the rest of the band.

- "Ok, done,"- Ray said suddenly, and no one got a shit-" We've got reservations at seven at the Earl Ferrers"- Gerard raised an eyebrow, surprised and confused at the same time- "While you were babbling, I googled a nice pub and got us a table."

- "Thank you, dad"- Frank teased him and grinned

- "Shut up."

Mikey kept wondering if Alicia had said anything to Lynz about them. Or if Lynz has told his brother anything about his failing marriage. He was afraid to ask. He had sent his wife a text in the morning and hadn't gotten an answer yet. So far, not good at all.

Ray looked at the schedule for the next day and sighed. Busy as fuck. As every tour, as a matter of fact. He was worried about Joey. When Mikey said she had spent the whole afternoon practicing, it kind of broke his heart.

- "That kid is giving everything for this job. Mikey is right. We have to do something nice for her."

He took a shower, got dressed, and called to her room. She was already waiting for them, but it was still a little early.

- "Wanna play a campaign before we leave?"- Toro asked, knowing the answer.

- "Give a second, and I'll be there"- and it was literally a second, ‘cos Joey showed up with a full smile on his door before he could start the game.

- "Shit! That was fast!"

- "Sorry, I've been alone the whole day, and I guess a part of me was crabbing for some human contact"- she joked and walked in- "Where's the rest of the guys?"

- "They are getting pretty for our band date"- he answered, completely proud.

- "Really?"- Joey held a joystick, feeling the blush on her cheeks- "Aren't you cute?"

- "Yes, kid. We are taking you out for a nice dinner so you can relax for tomorrow"- the girl smiled, embarrassed- "It was Mikey's idea after you told him how much you've been practicing."

- "It's my job. It's what I came to do. You shouldn't thank me for being professional."

- "Knock it, you are in for a treat!"

- "Thank you, Ray"- Joey punched his arm a chuckled- "Now I'm gonna fucking kick your ass!!"

Frank took a look at his reflex on the mirror and sighed. He felt he was losing the fight over Joey's attention, and he hated losing. So far, Mikey was the one texting her, Ray was the nice guy she had fun playing video games with, Gerard was… well, he was the one he knew was flirting with her. And Frank? At this point, he was just the one who made her laugh.

- "Well, that ain't so bad. Besides, I don't wanna date Joey or whatever. I just want… what do I want? Seriously, what the fuck is happening?"- Frank kept staring at his reflex in the mirror. He walked back to his suitcase and picked another t-shirt.

- "You think she is hot. You want her to notice you. You don't wanna date her; you don't wanna cheat on your wife with her. You just… want her to want you"- Iero felt stupid for being that childish, but it wasn't something he could just turn off.

Had that happened before? Not like this. The last time he remembered anything like this happened to him, he was still in high school. That was when he and his, back then, best friend kept fighting to get a girl's attention, which ended up being a mess for the two of them. And the girl? She never even looked at them

- "You are not letting this affect you anymore, heard me!"- Frank pointed at his reflection in the mirror and looked into his own eyes, doing his best to threaten himself, if possible.

- "Ok, be a normal human being, be friendly in a healthy way, get to know your new band member, and stop being a fucking teenager, for christ's sake!"

Mikey walked to Joey's room to pick her up. He was really excited about their dinner, 'cause he was honestly grateful for everything she had done for him. She seemed to sincerely care about what was going on with him.

- "What are you doing here?"- Mikey frowned, surprised to bump into Gerard, who was standing outside her door. He hadn't even knocked. Gerard just stood there and jumped busted when he heard his brother's voice.

- "Nothing! I just… came to ask Joey if she was ready, you?"

- "The same… did you knock?"

- "Ahh, no"- Gerard looked nervous and disturbed, maybe. But Mikey didn't even pay attention to him and knocked on the door. Once. Twice. Nothing.

- "Where is she?"- Gerard frowned, confused, and watched his brother taking his phone from his pocket.

- "I'll call her"- and the oldest Way bit his lips- "Hey, I'm outside your room… great, you have a problem with that shitty thing, did you know that?"

- "Is he flirting? Shit, he is!"- Gee tried to read his brother and kept his eyes locked on him.

- "Yeah, we'll be right there,"- Mikey placed the phone back into his pocket and turned around- "She is with Ray."

- "Ray? Why?"- he made his best not to sound jealous or mad in any way. Which he slightly felt he was.

- ˝Playing Call of Duty, again,"- Gerard nodded and started walking with his brother- "I'm not flirting. I know you think that ‘cos I said I'd do her. But honestly, that's not what's happening."- Mikey said, reading his mind.

- "Yeah, I get it"- Gerard whispered and stepped into the elevator- "And… what is happening? You've been talking a lot with her."

- "Yeah, I don't think that's a bad thing, is it?"

- "No, of course not!"

- "Then?"

- "It's just that I've got the feeling there is something wrong in your life you are not telling me about, and maybe you… told her."

- "Are you actually upset I can share shit with someone who isn't you? Really?"

- "You just met her! What could it be so dark you can share with a stranger and not with your brother?"- Mikey looked at his brother, confused by the stupidity of his words.

- "You have problems, dude. What's the big deal I share something with someone else? Or is the fact I share something with her that bothers you?"

- "No! Of course no!"- Gerard quickly started thinking he might have been too obvious about the conflict he had with Joey, but Mikey never even thought about it.

- "I know you didn't want her in the band, and maybe you don't even want to be friends with her."

- "No, Mikey, really. I didn't mean it like that; I just… guess I was jealous"- at least Gerard didn't entirely lie- "I just feel like you trust her more than you trust me lately, that's all."

- "Don't be an ass, Gee."

The elevator door opened, and the Way brothers walked in silence to Ray's room. You could hear their laughs and yells from the hall.

- "Are you jealous Ray has more fun with her than with you too?"

- "Come on! I said I'm sorry, I know it was wrong."

Gerard glared at his younger brother and knocked on the door, not saying another word.

- "At least he didn't notice I am jealous, but of how fucking close he is with her when I just keep making my best to stay away from her before I do something I will regret."

- "Hey kids!"- Joey opened the door and greeted them with a huge smile. Mikey gave her a little hug and walked in, and Gerard did his best not to get a boner. Just like that, his pants started feeling tighter.

- "You look terrific, Bug!"- Mikey said and spun her around- "You took the date shit very seriously."

- "Really? Am I overdressed? I can go change."

Joey slightly freaked out at the idea of putting too much effort into her outfit 'cause she never really did. So, it was probably too much makeup or the wrong shirt.

- "I'm just saying you look very hot today"- Mikey simply explained and smiled- "Not overdressed at all… it's jeans and a shirt! come on!"

- "And my clean converse"- Joey added, pointing at her shoes with a smirk.

- "Shit! We are not worthy!"- the youngest Way teased, chuckling.

- "How are you, Gerard? You are awfully quiet today"- the girl asked and smiled at him.

- "Hey, I'm… a little tired, I guess. I just need a coffee."

Gerard tried to look cool and pretend there was nothing else on his mind.

- "Wrestling, Ray's armpit smell, Mikey's cooking, Frank dirty clothing…"- and he just kept trying to stop the boner.

- "I told Frank to meet us at the lobby"- Ray announced and turned off the PS3- "And when we come back, I want revenge."

He pointed at Joey with the most severe, angry, and threatening yet funny look he could find.

- "Deal!"

Frank waved at his friends walking over and gave Joey a warm smile, doing his best to be nice and friendly but keeping a safe distance.

- "Hey! How was your day?"- he asked and hugged Joey awkwardly.

- "It was long and boring. Just gym and work, you? You guys haven't told me about your hard working day."

- "Yeah, it wasn't so exciting,"- Frank quickly answered- "Just interviews, actually."

- "That sounds like fun,"- the girl smiled and followed the band to the underground parking, where a van waited to take them to the pub.

- "It really wasn't"- Frank added- "I think yours was better."

- "For a moment, I stopped feeling my arms"- Joey chuckled, and Frank laughed- "And I ran in circles around my room like Sponge Bob Square Pants too."

- "Are you freaking out about the show?"

- "No, Frank. I'm usually a psychotic girl who locks herself in her room to play drums alone,"- he raised an eyebrow, and she grinned.

- "The sarcasm wasn't necessary."

- "But it's always fun,"- Frank nodded- "And where are we going?"

- "Dad got us reservations at a nice place."

- "Who?"- Joey frowned, and Frank quickly answered.

- "Dad Toro, our father on the road."

- "Really? That guy?"- the girl pointed at Ray, who was scratching his head, staring at his cellphone.

- "Yeah, he is obsessive,"- Frank opened the door for her and let her get into the van first, making an honest effort not to look at her ass. Which he failed immediately until Ray's hand smacked him in the head.

- "I am not obsessive"- he argued and got into the van too.

- "Yeah, you are!"- Mikey jumped into the conversation and sat next to Joey, stealing Frank's seat.

- "Just ‘cos I'm more mature than you, 'cos you are a bunch of teenagers!"- Frank's giggles filled the room while Joey covered her face with both hands and whispered.

- "I played that song so many times today"- the drummer whispered and started humming, "Teenagers scare the living shit out of me."

- "Why? You did it great the whole week. Where does all the self-doubt come from?"- Mikey elbowed her, and the girl shrugged, making the bassist wrap his arm around her friendly- "You are gonna be great! tonight we are gonna have fun, and tomorrow you are gonna sleep late, then we'll go to the arena, get one last rehearsal, and then we'll play a show, ok?"

- "Yes, bróðir"- Joey answered and smiled at him.

- "What the fuck does that mean?"- Mikey asked, confused.

- "It's your new nickname, last night you said that was my job for today"- the young man laughed, the scene just coming back into his mind.

- "You are right! And what the fuck does that mean?"

- "It's "brother" in Icelandic"- she simply added and smiled.

- "I like it, Bug."

Mikey chuckled, and then the two of them made a long pause, both staring outside the window.

- "Wait, are we all going to get Icelandic nicknames?"- Frank asked ‘cos he had been quiet for too long, and deep down, he was still in the race to get Joey's attention. A race no one but Gerard was running against him.

- "I don't know, Jersey; you don't plan those things. They kind of come spontaneously."

- "Like calling me "Jersey"?"- he frowned seductively, and Joey blushed. His eyes were so intense on her she could feel him undressing her.

- "Why do I feel Frank is hitting on me every time we talk? But he is not! He is married, and he is just funny and friendly! This is just because I think he is hot, and damn it! He is."

Joey stayed quiet, staring at Frank for a moment, and he waited for an answer to his question.

- "Hey! Iceland! wake up"- he snapped his fingers, chuckling.

- "Sorry! I spaced a second, thinking about a song"- she lied and smiled- "I call you Jersey ‘cos you are fucking Jersey. The Italian name, the Jersey accent, when you fucking sweat, I bet it smells like Newark."

The whole band burst out laughing as soon as they heard those words, and Ray was the first one to set the record straight

- "It's so sad to tell you how wrong you are, but give it a couple of days sharing a bus with him, and you'll find how bad he smells when he sweat!"- the band kept laughing as Joey frowned disgustedly.

- "Shit! Save some mystery for the honeymoon, dad!"

Gerard stayed quiet the whole drive over. Yes, he was tired. But that wasn't the main reason. He was upset ‘cos he didn't get a nickname. Why?

- "Well, I've avoided her as much as possible, but we had fun yesterday on the trip, we talked… I could have gotten a nickname after that. Maybe after staying away from her for so long, I can get a cute pet name. Shit! I could give her one… could I? Should I? no, of course not! Stop this shit! You are fucking grown up!"

- "Dude, are you even on this planet?"- Joey asked, standing outside the van and staring at Gerard, who was still sitting, not aware the drive was over.

- "Sorry, what?"

- "Are you coming to our date or not?"

- "Fuck yeah!"- he quickly answered and stood up.

- "Are you ok?"

- "Yeah, sorry, I think I'm just jetlagged."

- "Don't worry, it's just dinner, then we can go back to the hotel. You need to rest for tomorrow"- her smile was so friendly it even hurt him. What was it with her? He couldn't even answer at that. He just walked into the pub in silence and watched her laughing at something Frank had said.

Dinner was great, Joey was so happy, she even got a little hyper, and Mikey stopped her from getting coffee because she wasn't going to get any sleep.

- "Sorry"- she whispered and blushed after he heard her friend- "Too much sugar."

- "Well, you ate two chocolate brownies…"

- "Shut up, Michael James! I helped you when you said you couldn't eat anymore, and if there's a god somewhere, I don't want him/her/it to get mad at us for wasting any food."

- "Do you even believe any of the bullshit you just said?"- Frank asked, chuckling.

- "No, why? Does it sounds like I do?"- she grinned, and he laid back on his chair.

- "Ok, I don't think I'm gonna sleep either, I'm too fucking full"- Ray said and pushed his empty dessert dish away from him- "Does anyone want to walk around for a while before going to the hotel?"

- "Dude, is it even safe for you to go out there without Worm?"- Joey frowned- "Five girls came crying over you while we ate, and I saw a picture of us all over Twitter already."

- "We should leave then"- Frank raised his arm and asked for the check.

- "Is there any place you can go without being chased by fans?"- it was a whole new experience for Joey, and she felt like she needed a tutorial to get it all together in her head.

- "Yeah, totally"- Frank said and gave it a little thinking- "When I was back in Jersey, I walked out the house to get the paper, and no one yelled… well, maybe Jamia because I left the door open and the dog ran out, but that was it."

Joey burst out laughing at that answer, and Mikey chuckled next to her.

- "You fucking laugh like Squidward from Sponge Bob Square Pants!!"

- "Yeah!!"- Ray and Frank said at the same time.

- "Fuck you! Where's the check? We should get going."

The band laughed, and Joey's cheeks turned red in a second. Her eyes crushed with Gerard from the other side of the table, and both of them smiled at each other for a long moment. They didn't say a thing. They just wouldn't stop staring until it got weird, and Gerard sighed.

- "I'm gonna walk outside to smoke."

- "We'll be right there,"- Ray answered and grabbed the check.

- "So he is actually our dad,"- Joey whispered to Mikey, and he laughed right away.

- "You bet! He'll be the one by your bunk yelling you gotta wake up to go to rehearsal."

- "Shit, but I like him. I don't wanna hate him."

- "Sorry, I'm just honest."

- "Damn…"

Joey was so happy with the band date they had just have; she felt like she had to kick ass at the show the next day just to thank them for being so nice. All but Gerard.

- "What the fuck is wrong with him now? He won't talk to me; he just stares at me. It's so weird… fuck, I bet he hates me, he still doesn't want me in the bad, that's it!"- Joey stood in front of the mirror of the bathroom and frowned at her reflection.

- "But he was so sweet last night… should I talk to him? Maybe he is having seconds thoughts about me. Maybe he feels I'm gonna suck… fuck! I'm gonna suck…"- her cell phone ringing took her from her head and forced her to step back into reality.

- "Hi Yami!!"- Matthew's voice made her smile in a second, as soon as his face appeared on the screen.

- "Akumu!! I fucking miss you so!!"

- "Where are you?"- he frowned, looking around

- "In the bathroom of a pub,"- Joey answered with her best British accent.

- "All alone?"

- "In the bathroom, yes, I am a big girl"- she giggled, and Gubler stuck out his tongue to her- "The guys took me out for dinner."

- "Aww! they are so nice,"- Matthew smiled and stared at her for a second- "You look so beautiful."

- "And you look hot as fuck, I love your Spencer Reid outfit"- and he laughed- "Still on the set?"

- "Yeah… hey, if you like it so much, I'll wear it when I pick you up from the airport."

- "Fuck yeah!!"- she chuckled and stared at the screen, not saying a word for a moment.

- "I miss you so much, Yami."

- "Me too,"- she whispered and sighed, her eyes glued at the screen.

- "I don't wanna reach home knowing you are not gonna be there"- Joey felt a knot on her throat as soon as she heard those words- "Or knowing I won't be able to drive to your house to crawl into your bed when you are sleeping and scare the shit out of you,"- the girl laughed right away.

- "I love that! it's so creepy and so sweet at the same time."

- "Just like me,"- Matthew said and grinned.

- "Exactly like you, Akumu."

- "And what have you done ever since we talked earlier today?"- the girl gave it a little thinking, but nothing really came to her mind.

- "I showered and got pretty for the band date."

- "Band date, is that a thing?"

- "It could be. How about you?"

- "We are stuck in a scene, and I keep having a hard time working."

- "Why?"

- "Because I can't stop thinking my girlfriend is in London, and I won't be able to snuggle with her tonight"- Joey felt the blood reach her cheeks as Gubler started throwing kisses at the camera.

- "I love you so much, dork."

- "I love you too, dorky."

- "Joey? Everything ok?"- Mikey's voice at the other side of the door broke the magic.

- "Yeah! I'll be right there."

- "Do you have to go somewhere?"- Matthew asked as Joey grabbed her purse and opened the door.

- "Back to the hotel, I guess. Hey, bróðir! say hello to your long-lost lover"- Joey pointed the camera at Mikey as the two of them walked their way out of the restaurant.

- "Hey Matthew! How are you?"

- "Good, how are you? Are you taking care of my baby?"

- "I don't need anyone to take care of me, thank you!"- Joey quickly answered and looked at Gubler, raising an eyebrow.

- "Can you just let me be an apprehensive boyfriend for once?"- he chuckled, and Joey sighed- "Just once, Yami!"

- "Fine, go ahead."

- "Thank you"- Mikey grabbed the cellphone, chuckling, and Matthew asked again- "So, are you taking good care of my baby?"

- "Yes, sir!"

- "Good, I don't want to hear her complaining about you."

- "No, sir. We have a few complaints about her, though"- Joey laughed as she opened the door and saw the rest of the band smoking, waiting for them.

- "Can I just talk with my boyfriend?"- Joey jumped on Mikey and tried to get the phone from his hands.

- "No, I want to know what he is going to complain about,"- Matthew yelled from the other side of the phone.

- "He has nothing! I'm an angel!"- Joey said and grabbed her phone.

- "We'll talk about this later!"- Mikey showed his head behind Joey and then disappeared to get into the van, with the rest of the guys, who kept frowning, not getting what the hell was going on.

- "Thank you for letting me be a protective boyfriend."

- "You are one"- Joey chuckled and sighed- "I think I have to go now. The guys are waiting for me to get in the van."

- "Ok, Yami. I love you."

- "Ég elska þig, Akumu (I love you)"- the girl threw a bunch of kisses to the screen and then hung down the phone.

- "Come on, Bug! It's Call of Duty time!"- Mikey yelled, raising his arms, and Joey pouted as she kept staring at her phone's screen- "Don't get sad!"

- "I won't, I promise"- the girl hopped into the van and sat next to the youngest Way.

- "How's Matthew?"- Ray asked and tapped on her shoulder as she turned around and answered

- "Gorgeous! Do you ever look at your wife and wonder, "how the fuck is that amazing person actually in love with me?"- she asked, and Ray nodded- "That's how I feel every time I talk to him or see his face…"

- "Awww, you are so in love"- Ray messed with Joey's hair and smiled- "It's early, what do you wanna do?"

- "I thought we were going to the hotel and play Call of Duty,"- the girl asked.

- "Yeah, but then we talked about it when you spend half an hour in the bathroom talking with your boyfriend. We won't have a lot of time for sightseeing in the following weeks, and this could be our only chance to walk around and do something fun."

- "You are making me feel I'm gonna be locked in a bus with you for two weeks."

- "You will be"- Mikey smiled- "So we should all start being a little more comfortable around each other"- and just like that, Mikey Way farted.

- "No! Shit! No!"- Joey burst out laughing and arguing, completely disgusted at the very same time.

- "I had to do it!"- he excused himself- "If I hold them, they get worse!"

Joey and Mikey kept arguing while Ray and Frank kept complaining about how awful Mike's fart smelled. Gerard just sat at the back of the van staring at the scene.

- "Fuck, I hate her boyfriend"- it was all he could think about at the moment- "I just want him out of the picture!"- he couldn't take his eyes from her- "Why would I want him out of the picture anyway?! You are not doing anything, Gerard!"

- "Hey! Are you listening?"- Joey waved, and he woke up from his thoughts confused-" Your phone is ringing!"- and Gerard hadn't even noticed.

- "Shit! Right"- and it was Lynz- "Hey babe!"

- "Hey honey, how are you?"

- "Tired, it's been a long day, how about you?"

- "Same here. These commissions are killing me."

- "Come on! You are incredible; you'll manage it,"- Gerard whispered, still having his eyes stuck at what Joey was doing.

- "Thank you hon, how was the rest of your afternoon?"

- "More interviews, so many interviews… and radio shows, now we are out, having dinner."

- "Sounds nice"- Joey's laughter interrupted the conversation as Mikey kept tickling her- "Where are you?"

- "In the van. Ray wanted to do a little sightseeing before we head back to the hotel."

- "And how's Joey going?"

- "I didn't see her a lot today, just now at dinner. She stayed at the hotel rehearsing and shit."

Gee made it sound like he didn't really care, which was ok. He didn't want his wife to know how much he actually cared.

- "Poor kid, be nice to her."

- "Everybody is so nice to her"- every word that came from Gerard's lips sounded like pure envy- "No one wants her to feel bad, and Mikey wanted to take her out for dinner to ease her mind before the show."

- "That's so nice. I'm gonna go now, ‘cos I have to finish gluing a few things on this project"- Gerard chuckled and said goodbye to his wife. Never actually looking away from Joey.

- "You are fucking doomed"- he thought. And he was.

::: London, October 23rd, 2011 :::

When Ray knocked on Joey's door to ask her to wake up, there was no need. She was already showered, fully dressed, bags packed, and ready to go.

- "I wish Gerard was this organized!"- Toro said and stared at her- "Let me help you load all this on the bus and show you your bunk."

- "Sounds exciting!"- Joey joked and closed the door behind her back as the two of them walked to the elevator, carrying all her bags- "Thank you for helping me."

- "Not a problem, Bug"- he stuck out his tongue, and she grimaced as soon as she heard him- "Sorry, the nickname stays."

- "Thanks, dad"- she didn't really bother it, though. She just wanted to argue with him about anything, literally anything that could keep her from the obvious subject: it was show day.

Ray knew it. That's why he wanted to keep her busy, show her to the bus, walk her around, and take her from her mind.

- "Can I pick my bunk?"- Joey kept jumping all over the bus, totally psyched by every single thing on it. Ray peered at her, smiling as he plugged his PlayStation at the tv in the sitting area next to the kitchenette. He actually looked like a dad at that moment.

- "Sure, pick yours. I should warn you, though, Worm always takes one at the bottom."

- "I want tops!"- Joey yelled, running to the bunks and quickly jumping into one- "Mine!"

- "Hey guys!"- Frank opened the door and looked confused- "What are you doing? I heard Joey yelling"

- "I picked my bunk!!"- she was really excited about it. Ray and Frank exchanged glances, and both chuckled.

- "Hey, Iceland! How are you?"

- "Kind of hungry."

- "Let's get some breakfast before it's time to go,"- he smiled and walked to the bunk area- "Which one did you pick?"

- "This one!!"

Joey was actually in the bunk already, acting like a little kid on Christmas morning, and smiled at Frank when he stood next to her.

- "Great choice!"

- "Thank you, where are you gonna sleep?"- he took a look around and sighed.

- "Good question. I guess I'll pick this one"- he said and pointed the one right in front of her- "That way, I can throw you Cheetos while you are sleeping."

Joey chuckled, jumped down her bed, and walked back to Ray. Frank left his bag on the bunk and sighed. He knew he had the best bunk.

The steam in the bathroom was thick as Gerard stood underneath the hot hater, eyes closed, just waiting for his mind to settle. It wasn't working. That's why he had been taking a shower for at least thirty minutes. He had an internal struggle he couldn't sort, and it was killing him. It felt like he was never going to get out of that shower. He had a hard-on, and he didn't want to touch it, ‘cos he knew it was hard from dreaming about Joey, and it felt like cheating.

He just didn't want to give in, but the temptation was too big. His cock was pumping, his dreams were spinning on his head nonstop. He could actually hear her moaning in his mind.

- "Fuck it!"

Until it was too hard to stay focused, and he just grabbed a grip of his hard-on. A small groan left his lips as soon as he pictured Joey in front of him. Not even doing anything dirty, just staring back at him as he touched himself. What the fuck was it? Something about her turned him on as it had never happened ever before. It wasn't rational. It was like his body decided to act at its own will. And its will was horny as fuck. It was forbidden to have those kinds of thoughts about a band member, which made it worse ‘cos his cock kept feeling harder and harder with every thrust.

Gerard rested a hand on the wall before him while the other hand started moving faster and faster. He pictured Joey playing drums at rehearsals, sparkling in sweat as her whole body moved almost in slow motion for him. It was an image that could make him finish in a minute, and he moaned quite loudly with every stroke of his fantasy. Gerard could nearly touch her in his mind, her bouncing breast, her glowing skin… the smell of her hair, fuck!! His hand pumped his cock harder and faster than before, driving him absolutely crazy.

Guilt took over him as soon as he was done. He felt dirty, though he was just stepping out of the shower. What had he done? Jerking off wasn't a crime, was it?

No.

Jerking off thinking about someone who isn't your wife isn't…. Right? No, of course, it wasn't a crime or shit. It was just weird. Or dangerous.

- "Ok, you did it, you took it off your system, now you won't get all hard when you see her again"- he kept lying to himself as he got dressed- "I mean, yeah, it wasn't a big deal, just a jerk off, it not like I wanna fuck her, this is really nothing."

Gerard was in fucking denial, but that was the only way he had to keep himself sane and pretty much able to leave the room and face an important day.

The truth was, his cock got a hard-on as soon as he set eyes on her when he walked into the dining room, and he knew shit was not going to get easier sharing the bus with her.

Gerard was full of it, though. He didn't want it to be easier anyway. He just needed to find an excuse to get a little closer to her. Being locked in a bus with her over 12 hours a day seemed like a good plan. He only kept lying to himself, trying not to feel so bad about his own mind.

Mikey looked at Joey and smiled as she sat behind the drum and played "Kids from Yesterday." Her hands were sweating, but she felt- for once- pretty confident about the performance.

- "Awesome!"- Mikey walked over and raised his hand for a high five- "You just won a beer!"

- "Cool, ‘cause I need one"- Joey stood up and saw Ray walking over after leaving his guitar aside.

- "Great rehearsal, kid!"

- "Thank you, dad!"

- "Yeah, let's go get something to eat. We need to rest before the real shit"- Frank smiled and dried the sweat from his face with his t-shirt

- "Wow! Let me see that!"- Joey walked over and lifted his shirt- "Sorry to intrude, but dude, that's a lot of ink"- Iero blushed and didn't know what to say, mainly 'cos the girl kept looking at his body- "I've been thinking about getting one myself, but I always chicken out at the last moment."

- "What do you wanna get?"

- "My last name on my side"- Frank frowned with a painful face.

- "Really? You wanna start with the worst part?"

- "People keep saying that…"

Joey let Frank's shirt go and started walking backstage with him. Gerard watched them and almost made a tantrum. He wanted to be Frank so badly at that moment. He wanted her to touch him. Was it too much to ask?

- "I'll tell you what, why don't we go to a tattoo shop after the show? I know a great guy. I can call him, and we give you your first tattoo. Let's start with a small thing, like a…"

- "A couple of drumsticks on my wrist!"- she jumped, eyes wide open in excitement.

- "Sure thing! Sounds good"- and to Gerard's suffering, Joey jumped and hugged Frank tight.

- "Thank you!!!!"

- "I haven't done anything yet!"- Frank chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, not losing the chance to hold her tight.

- "I don't care! Thank you, Jersey!"

Gerard mumbled something annoyed as he passed by, and Joey felt the cold coming from him. He was the only one who never told her anything about the rehearsal.

- "Come on! Let's eat something"- Mikey walked to her and grabbed her hand, pushing her backstage.

- "Hey, what's wrong with Gerard?"- she asked, turning around to look at him one last time.

- "What the fuck do I know?"- Mikey answered and made complete lights off of the whole deal.

- "He fucking hates me, it's a fact,"- Joey thought and bite her nails as she sat, and Mikey handed her over a cold beer- "Fuck… what the fuck am I gonna do? Should I talk to him? Would that make things worse? Does he want me to leave?"

- "Iceland!"- Frank clapped his hands in front of her and woke her up- "What do you want to eat for lunch?"

- "I don't know… what are you having?"

- "We were thinking about getting pizza, then go to the hotel, nap, and head back here"- she nodded and sipped her beer.

- "Sure."

- "Are you ok?"- he asked, kneeled in front of her. His hazel eyes on her, making her feel somehow special, as his hands rested on her knees, not making her awkward, but somehow it made her feel like she was part of the gang.

- "Yeah, I'm just a little nervous,"- she smiled at him and felt a tiny kiss on her forehead.

- "Knock it, Iceland. You are gonna be great."

Joey blushed and nodded as Frank stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

- "What the fuck was that?! You kissed her forehead! It shouldn't be a big deal, but you've been jerking off thinking about her for a week now! This will only give you more material, and you know it!"- Frank wanted to hit himself, and the only thing he could do was walk into the bathroom and hit his head against the wall a couple of times, while no one could see him.

Iero wasn't proud of jerking off thinking about the band's new member, but he felt way less guilty than Gerard. At least he knew it was platonic and impossible. It was like if she was someone he didn't know, like the hot member of another band unrelated to him and who he would never be with. That made it easier.

Gerard laid on his bed. There was no way he was going to sleep. He was debating himself again, fighting the desperation to release himself thinking about the band's drummer yet again. He couldn't even turn to the drum that day; Gee blushed and felt guilty, knowing he had just jerked off thinking about her in the shower. Still, at the same time, he would feel his cock getting harder as soon as his eyes reached her. It was fucking insane.

He looked at the tent in his pants and sighed. No way was going to go unnoticed on stage. He couldn't get a boner there. Fuck! He was going to get a hard-on performing. The only way he could think of to lower the chances of going through something like that was… well… jerking off again. So he guided his hand and grabbed his hard-on. He tried to picture his wife on top of him, and for a few seconds, it worked. Until it didn't, and he found himself fantasizing about Joey, her hair loose, falling down her shoulders as she rocked on top of him completely naked. He could feel himself getting harder as a groan left his lips. Fuck, he hated himself, but he couldn't stop.

Until a knock on the door forced him to.

He was sure he had put the "do not disturb" sign on the handle, but fuck, the moment was ruined anyway. He stood up and sighed, doing his best to hide the boner on his sweatpants. Sweatpants do not help to do that, really.

- "Hey,"- Joey whispered, standing at the other side of the door, and he caught his breath, too surprised even to say a word- "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Was it finally his moment to lose his mind and do whatever his body was longing for? No, of course, no, but how would he control his desires if she was right there, in front of him. No one else but the two of them.

- "Sure, come in"- he managed to whisper, and Joey walked into his room.

Gerard took a deep breath as he followed her and took a look at himself to make sure she wouldn't notice his hard-on. He was ok, at least for now.

- "I'm sorry to disturb your nap."

Joey seemed nervous. She kept playing with her hands and refused to look at Gerard right to the eyes. Just to stand in front of him was hard enough for her. She couldn't make it worse.

- "I just… needed to know… why do you hate me so much…"- her words hurt him deeply. Fuck! had he made too much of an effort to be away from her? He had ruined everything. It was a fact.

- "Why would you think that?"- he asked, frowning, making his best to look casual and fighting the urge to hug her that took over his body immediately.

- "The fact you ignore me the whole time,"- she murmured and kept her eyes now on her shoes, still refusing to raise her eyes to him.

- "That's not true."

- "Yeah, it is."

The girl made a pause and sighed. This was getting harder every second, ‘cos it felt like Gerard was a magnet she couldn't stop feeling the urge to get closer to, and it took all the power in her to stay still and avoid his eyes.

- "The only time we've talked ever since we started working together was the plane trip we had to share, and that has been it. I'm sure you hate me. Just tell me why, please."

- "Joey, I don't hate you,"- he whispered and looked at her, forcing his hands not to touch her face.

- "Well, then what is it?"- her voice raised a little, though her eyes were still stuck on the floor- "If you don't trust in my work, you shouldn't have hired me."

- "No, Joey"- but she didn't let him continue.

- "And if you want me to go after today, I get it. I don't have to be here if you don't want me here."

- "I love having you here!"- he finally interrupted her and moved a step closer, making her jump right away and raise her eyes, staring at him. It felt like the worst mistake she could have made, ‘cos now she was paralyzed. That guy was a magnet.

- "You do?"- she whispered, confused, lost in those hazel eyes.

- "Yeah, I'm sorry I've been a little distant, I just…"- Gerard took another step close to her, and her perfume filled the air around him. It was intoxicating. It just made him want her more- "I guess there is a lot in my mind with this tour… it's not that I hate you. Please don't think that."

He slowly raised his hands and placed them softly on her arms, making her shiver at his touch right away.

- "You are not just saying that because I'm here, and you want to make things less weird?"- she was nearly pouting as she spoke, fighting her body not to shiver again. His hands were on her arms, and they felt too warm, too tight… too much. She could imagine what it would feel like to have his whole body around her. And she could only think it would be heaven.

- "No"- his voice was a soft whisper that took her from her thoughts and made her sigh- "I don't hate you at all."

Gerard's eyes fondled her as he spoke, and the two of them stared in silence more than they should have. And they knew it.

- "Good,"- Joey murmured- "'Cause that would suck."

Neither of them had the slightest clue what to say next, ‘cos they weren't really thinking about talking either. Gerard felt his pants getting tighter as his hands moved slowly down Joey's arm, almost reaching her hands.

- "Joey, I wanted to…"- but whatever was Gerard going to say, it never left his lips, ‘cos her cell phone rang and the spell was broken. He quickly moved his hands away from her, and she grabbed the phone from her pocket.

- "It's Matthew. I should get this,"- she said and moved two steps back from Gerard.

- "Yeah, go… I should rest"

- "See you later, thanks for the talk"- Joey waved and sprinted to the door. She had to get out of there.

::: At the arena :::

Ray looked at Joey and chuckled. The girl was freaking out, though she kept making her best not to show. She was read through, though. They were backstage. You could hear the kids yelling outside; it was twenty minutes before the show. They were at their dressing room, just hanging ‘cos they were all ready. Gerard had done his vocal warm-ups. Mikey had forced everybody to do 15 push-ups, and Joey had gone through her elongation routine before shows.

But now, there was nothing else to do but wait. And waiting was killing her.

- "Hey Bug"- Ray walked to Joey and sipped his beer- "Wanna walk with me before we start?"

- "Sure."

She stood up and hid her hands in her shorts' pockets. She had actually been very hesitant about her outfit for the night. Mikey was her assistant and helped her pick back shorts, a sleeveless Alice in Chains gray t-shirt she decided to put on backward, not show the logo of another band on the scene, and a lumberjack shirt around her waist. Basically, what she always wore.

- "Don't be nervous"- Ray wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked backstage, and the girl took a deep breath.

- "Thanks."

- "You are gonna kickass."

- "You know, it's so embarrassing that you have to encourage me before shows like this… you hired me ‘cos I'm a professional, I shouldn't be so nervous."

- "We always get nervous too."

- "Sure, Ray"- Joey rolled her eyes at him, and he stood in front of her

- "I mean it, if you don't get nervous, you don't make an effort, and if you don't make an effort, it means you don't give a fuck"- the girl looked at the guitarist and smiled.

- "Fear is the path to the dark side"- and Ray burst out laughing- "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering"- Ray finished reciting the Yoda quote with her and chuckled.

- "See? That's the Iceland chick we hired"- Joey wrapped her arms around him and sighed.

- "Thank you, dad, you are the best."

- "Yeah, I know,"- Joey smiled and let him go- "Now come on, let's play a show."

Gerard high-fived everyone in the crew and gathered the band together before they walked to the stage.

- "I'm so happy to play this show with you guys today,"- he said and smiled- "We are gonna have a kickass tour starting right now!!"

- "Yeah!"- Frank yelled, and the band chuckled- "And by the end of the night, Bug is gonna have her first tattoo!"- and Joey chuckled.

- "Yeah!"- the whole band yelled.

- "We are gonna make the best show ever ‘cos those kids deserve it!"- Ray added, and they all yelled in agreement too.

- "I love you guys,"- Joey said, still in the circle- "Thank you for believing in me."

- "Aww, Iceland!!"- Frank quickly moved over and hugged her- "If you suck, you are out"- and she burst out laughing right away.

- "Thank you, Jersey!"- he hugged her tight and sighed, smelling her perfume. But his moment was ruined when Mikey joined the hug, and then Ray, and finally Gerard and James.

- "Ok, kids! let's do this!!"- the road manager said and clapped next to the band. Joey jumped a few times on her spot with Mikey, who kept making funny faces to make her smile, which worked.

- "Hey Joey,"- Gerard's voice next to her made her jump- "I just wanted to say you are gonna be incredible"- she felt the blush on her cheeks as she smiled and nodded.

- "Thanks."

The audience was going nuts. Joey walked to the drums and grabbed her drumsticks as a countdown started on the arena's screens. She looked at Mikey, putting on his bass and smiling at her. She took a deep breath. The countdown reached one. "Look Alive Sunshine" filled the arena, and the crowd yelled each word. Joey started playing the intro of Na Na Na. It was time.

- "London!! Make some noise!!"- Gerard shouted. The band kicked in, and the show was on.

The girl was giving everything she had at that point. Halfway through the first song, she was feeling much, much better. Playing was what she loved the most, and she knew every song. She could do this. She was doing it.

- "Pull this pin! Let the world explode!!"- Gerard sang, and the song ended. He turned around and cut the drummer a huge smile. Mikey did the same as he walked over and stuck his eyes at hers. She counted, and "Give them Hell Kid" started immediately. Mikey winked, and she chuckled. So far, so good.

James played the keyboards, and the whole arena stayed in silence. Joey stood at one side of the stage with the rest of the band. It was over an hour into the show, and Gerard was ready to sing Cancer alone in front of the crowd.

- "You are doing awesome,"- Frank wrapped an arm around Joey's body, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

- "Thanks, Jersey. I've felt your love looking after me, from all of you"- Frank was in heaven feeling so close, and Joey was in heaven as well. But watching Gerard perform. She couldn't understand how on earth he could change so much from Gee backstage to Gerard, frontman of My Chem. The worst part was knowing both Gerard had an intense effect on her. They made her feel too nervous.

- "Come on"- the song ended, and the band slowly walked back into the stage.

- "Please make some noise for James Dewees,"- Gerard said, and the crowd yelled- "Please make some noise for Joey Sveinbjörndottir, our amazing new drummer for this tour!"

Joey sat behind the drum and felt her hands shaking as the crowd cheered. Gerard just turned to her and winked. That wink. It was too much for her to handle.

- "And me and my three brothers are in a band called My Chemical Romance…"- he continued talking with the audience.

- "Ok bitch, get your shit together! So far, you've been doing good! You can do this!"- the girl kicked her own ass and turned to Frank, ‘cos it felt like he was looking at her. He was and grinned like a maniac when she looked at him.

- "Tattoo"- he mouthed, and she laughed. Yeah, so far, so good.

::: Later that night :::

- "Hættu þessu, pabbi!!! (Stop it! Dad!!)"- the band kept frowning as Joey talked half in Spanish, half in English and half in Icelandic with her family- "Come on! I'm a fucking grown-up!"

Frank chuckled and opened a beer.

- "Parents freaking out about a tattoo, been there."

- "If she gets in trouble, this is your fault"- Gerard was too serious about it, at least according to the rest of the band, but no one said a word.

- "So, how do we feel after today's show?"- Ray asked and sat next to Mikey.

- "I feel awesome. It was an amazing show"- Frank was nearly jumping, filled endorphins after playing a show, and exciting after getting another tattoo on his hand- "I really think we made a great choice with our drummer."

- "Yeah,"- they all said at the very same time.

- "Ok, that was fun"- Joey showed up and smiled- "My dad officially hates Frank"- and she chuckled- "Other than that, everybody back home says hi."

- "Hated by parents, sounds like senior year in high school all over again."

- "Funny, Jersey"- Joey's cell rang again, and Matthew's face appeared on her screen - "Akumu!"- and the girl went back to her bunk again.

- "Ok, so now the tour starts,"- Gerard whispered- "Now we have to share the bus with a girl."

- "Your worst nightmare"- Ray smiled and grabbed a joystick- "Who's in for some video games with me?"

**

taglist @all-tings-diego @worryd0ll

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[aslanjadecarlyle]

ghost of you (asheiji)

This oneshot is birthday gift from me to myself

-

You May also find this oneshot on my AO3 account: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33681853

-

In which Michael makes an imaginary friend.

-

Warnings: post-canon, grief/mourning

Michael is eight. Eight years, five months, and four days, to be exact. He’s too old for imaginary friends.

But, his friend that shows up in his parents’ living room one day can’t be imaginary. He can’t be, because Michael recognizes him.

“Ash!” he squeals.

He’s not sure what Ash is doing here. According to his parents, Ash had “gone away for a long time,” and they’d both had tears in their eyes when they sat him down to talk about it. That was just a few days ago. But, Ash is back. He hadn’t been gone for very long.

He’s back, and he’s right here in Michael’s living room!

The older boy looks surprised. And pale. He looks very pale, but it only makes the green of his eyes even brighter as they widen. “Michael?”

“Hiya, Ash!”

As Ash’s eyes soften, they are sad, but calm. “You can… you can see me?”

“Course I can, silly!” Michael grins as he jumps to his feet. “Oh boy, just wait ‘til I tell Mom and Dad that you’re back. They’ve missed you a whole lot.”

“Wait, Michael,” Ash calls out.

Michael, who’d started for the hallway, stops in his tracks. Confused, he turns back to the older boy.

“I don’t think telling your parents about me is such a good idea,” Ash says softly.

Michael juts his lower lip out in a pout. “Why not?”

“People don’t…” Ash pauses. Hesitates. “People don’t… normally come back from where I went to.”

“Where did you go?”

Ash hesitates again. Michael frowns.

“What’s wrong, Ash?”

“Nothing, buddy,” Ash says. “Just… I went to a place that you won’t have to worry about for a long time.”

“Oh. When I do have to worry about it, then will you tell me?”

Ash cringes, but he nods. “Of course.”

Michael smiles, eyes sparkling again. “Okay!”

“Michael?”

At the sound of Jessica’s voice, Ash freezes. As Michael looks at him, he puts a finger to his lips.

Michael nods.

“Yeah, Mom?” he calls back, going into the hallway. His mother is coming down the stairs.

“Are you talking to someone?” she asks. She’d just gotten out of the shower and she’s wrapped in a fluffy robe, her hair still dripping wet.

Michael shakes his head. “Just me. I made up a new game.”

“Oh. That’s nice.” She smiles, but it’s small and sad. All of her smiles have been sad since Ash went away.

As she turns away to go back upstairs, Michael says, “Hey, Mom?”

Jessica pauses, then turns to face him again. “Yes?”

“I miss Ash.”

At that, Jessica’s eyes mist over. She stares down at the floor and tries to hide her sniffling, but without much success. “I think we all miss Ash, sweetheart.”

“Will he come back?”

Jessica tries to hide the tear that escapes down her cheek, but she’s too late. Michael sees it. “Probably not, Mikey.”

Michael’s eyes widen. His mom hadn’t called him Mikey since he was a little kid.

“Okay, Mom. Okay.”

“Michael, if you…” Jessica pauses. Takes a deep breath. “If you want to talk about Ash, or anything else, your dad and I will always be here to listen.”

He nods. “Will Dad be home soon?”

“He has another hour at work, but he’ll be home after.” She ruffles his hair, but he doesn’t cringe away like he normally would.

He nods. “Okay.”

After she goes back upstairs, Michael returns to the living room. Ash is huddled in a corner on the floor, knees drawn up to his chin.

“Are you okay?” Michael asks, voice squeaking a little.

“I will be,” Ash mumbles.

“How long will you stay?”

Ash lifts one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t have anywhere I need to be. I can stay awhile.”

Michael’s eyes light up again. “Oh, yay! Will you play with me?”

Lifting his head, Ash manages a small smile.

“Of course, buddy.”

*

Ash keeps his promise. Ash stays.

They’d been almost caught a few times, but Michael is starting to think that neither of his parents can see Ash, which is weird. They’d had no problem seeing him before he went away.

When he asks Ash about it, Ash says he doesn’t know. He says that the place he went to changed him, and maybe grown-ups can’t see him anymore.

Michael accepts this answer, but he’s still curious about where Ash went. Whenever he asks, all Ash says is that it “was a bad place.” He’d tell Michael more about it when he was older.

Michael didn’t like this answer.

He was almost eight and a half. Eight years, five months, and twenty-three days, to be exact. He thought he was plenty old enough.

But, even though he gets frustrated, the frustration usually fades quickly. Ash was sticking around, and they still played together. That was enough, for now.

It took a lot of concentration for Ash to play, though. He could hardly roll a car across Michael’s bedroom floor without focusing absolutely all of his attention on it. Michael thought maybe he was sick, but Ash said that the place he went to made him weak. Not sick, just weaker than he used to be.

Michael hadn’t realized it before, but Ash was good at keeping secrets. He wished he was as good at keeping secrets as Ash was.

Because one night, about two or three weeks after Ash came back, Michael accidentally lets their secret slip.

He and his parents are sitting around the dinner table. Salmon, green beans, and rice tonight — one of Jessica’s favorite meals. Max and Michael normally preferred burgers and fries. But, it’s still good. Everything Jessica cooks is delicious.

Max is talking about work, and Michael, in typical eight year old fashion, zones out.

That is, until Ash’s name comes up.

At the mention of Ash’s name, Michael perks up. Forgetting the promise he’d made, he pops a piece of fish into his mouth and says, delightedly, “We’re going to play a new game later!”

Talk ceases. Max and Jessica both turn their attention to their son.

“Who are you going to play with, bud?” Max asks.

Michael smiles. He thinks it’s funny that Ash started calling him ‘buddy’ like his dad does. “Ash! He can’t play a lot of games anymore, but he said he’s gonna teach me a new one. One he can play.”

The clinking of silverware stops. Both adults freeze, then glance at each other.

“You’re going to play a game with Ash?” Jessica asks.

“Yeah!”

“Where did Ash come from?” This time, it’s Max who speaks.

Michael shrugs. “He came back. You guys acted like he’d be gone forever, but it was just a few days.”

“A few days? But it’s been weeks…” Jessica glances at Max.

A frown is settling deep in Max’s brow. “How long has he been back, bud?”

Michael shrugs. “You guys talked to me, told me Ash had gone away. But then he came back again a few days later.”

Jessica sucks in a breath.

“All right.” Max inhales deeply, nods. Then, he smiles. “How about you finish dinner in your room, huh? A special treat.”

Michael’s eyes light up. “Can I watch TV?”

“Of course, bud.”

Jessica helps him prepare a tray, then Michael takes his food to his room without complaint.

When he arrives in his room, Ash is waiting for him.

And then he remembers his promise.

“Oh!” Michael gasps. He stands there, tray rattling as his hands start to shake, and his lower lip quivers. “I’m s-sorry, Ash.”

Ash, though, only smiles at him. “It’s all right, buddy.”

“Are you gonna leave?” Michael’s eyes fill with hot tears. “I’m sorry!”

“Nah.” Ash leans back, crossing one Converse-clad foot over the other, “I won’t leave.”

“Really? You’ll stay?” Michael sniffles, but manages a smile.

Ash smiles back. “Yeah, I’ll stay. But, playtime is going to be a bit delayed, all right? I need to check something.”

Michael nods. “O-Okay.”

“Finish your dinner, huh? I’ll be right back.”

Ash leaves Michael, still sniffling but calming down, in his room, and ventures out. He knows there’s no reason to be overly cautious or sneaky, but old habits die hard

(pun intended)

as he creeps down the hallway.

He finds Max and Jessica talking in the kitchen. He stands, totally exposed but unnoticed all the same, in the doorway, and watches.

Jessica has her head in her hands and her shoulders shake. Her tears are silent, but he knows she’s crying. Max has a chair pulled up next to her and he’s got his arms wrapped around her.

“Maybe this is his way of coping,” he mumbles.

“B-By thinking he can see Ash? Max, Ash is, Ash i-is—“

“I know.” Max cups her face in his hand. He attempts to wipe the tears away, but they come too quickly. “I know, Jess. But, I don’t think he quite understood when we tried talking to him. Maybe this is his way of… processing.”

“He’s too old for imaginary friends, Max!” Jessica snaps.

But, she’s not angry. Not at Max.

She’s angry at the world.

She’s heartbroken.

“This will last a few weeks, maybe a few months,” Max predicts, “but he’ll grow out of it. Maybe it’ll help if we sit down with him again. Explain things… properly.”

“Y-You mean, tell him—“

Max nods.

“Oh, but Max—“

“I know,” he mumbles, pulling her into a hug, “but, is it really fair to let him continue to believe that Ash could come back someday?”

“I, I—“ Jessica hiccups, sniffles. She rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I’ll talk to him after school on Friday,” Max mumbles, rubbing her back.

“Okay,” she whispers. He holds her tight. “But, what if…”

“Hm?”

“What if… it doesn’t help? What if he still thinks he can play with Ash?”

Max sighs deeply, presses his lips to her forehead. “If it doesn’t pass after a few months… it may be a good idea to take him to a child therapist.”

“Max,” she whimpers.

“I know. Shh. We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.”

It is then that Ash chooses to take his leave. He returns to Michael’s room with hunched shoulders. He can no longer feel pain, but he’d swear his heart would be aching in his chest if it could.

Michael, though, is thrilled (and incredibly relieved) when Ash returns.

“You came back!” he exclaimed, hopping off his bed. His plate, now empty, sits on his dresser.

“I told you I would.” Ash smiles, but it’s small and shaky.

“I’m sorry,” Michael says again.

“Don’t be. You kept the secret for a long time.”

“Can they see you now?” Michael asks.

Ash shakes his head.

“But—“

“They know, but it’s still probably a good idea not to talk about me too much, all right? Sometimes grown ups think ghost stories are silly.”

Michael frowns. “But, you’re not a ghost, are you, Ash? Ghosts are dead people.”

Instead of answering, Ash says, “Hey, how about I show you that game now, huh?”

At the mention of a new game, Michael grins.

“Okay!”

Questions forgotten.

*

When Michael comes home from school on Friday, he doesn’t come straight to his bedroom. Instead, Max calls him into the living room. He says he needs to talk to Michael about something important, but assures him he’s not in trouble.

Ash could observe, but he knows that he’d only be distracting Michael.

So, he sits on Michael’s floor.

And he waits.

Michael is gone for a long time.

But, finally, his bedroom door creaks open. He pokes his head into the room first, lip quivering, eyes flooded.

“Michael—“

“You lied to me,” he whispers.

Ash stares down into his lap, fiddling with the zipper on his coat. “I’m sorry, Michael. I—“

“I said ghosts were dead people, and you said you weren’t a ghost!”

Technically, Ash hadn’t. He’d changed the subject. But, he knows what Michael means. He’d been lied to for weeks.

He felt betrayed, and it was because of Ash.

“I’m so sorry, buddy. I…” Ash hesitates.

Michael stares at him, heavy tears down his cheeks. His eyes are red and swollen.

“I can leave, if you want,” Ash offers, quietly.

He doesn’t know where he’d go. But, Michael doesn’t have to know that.

“No,” Michael whimpers.

“What?”

“I don’t want you to leave!” the boy cries. He sits on the floor, school bag still heavy on his back, and sobs. “Don’t leave, Ash. Please don’t go.”

Ash had thought it selfish of him to stay.

But, looking at Michael, eight years old and already having to deal with more than any boy his age should, he thinks it’d be much more selfish of him to leave. At least, for now.

“Okay,” Ash mumbles. “Okay, buddy. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

“Ash?”

“Yeah, buddy?”

“C-Can I hug you?”

“I’m… not sure, Michael,” Ash admits.

“Can I try?”

Ash hesitates. “All right.”

Michael hurries at him, arms outstretched. But, he passes right through Ash like he’s made of smoke.

Ash shivers. Michael hangs his head low and sniffles.

“I’m sorry,” Ash says.

“I wish I could hug you.”

“I know.”

They’re interrupted by Jessica, who knocks on the open bedroom door. Michael looks up at her from his position on the floor, then looks away.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” she murmurs.

Michael ignores her.

“I don’t think… I don’t think it’s good for you to be alone right now, Mikey.”

“I’m not alone,” Michael says. He looks next to him, at Ash. “I have Ash.”

Jessica looks directly at him.

Ash’s green eyes are wide and bright.

But she does not see him.

“I’m so sorry, Mikey. Please… come watch a movie with us? It will take your mind off of…”

“Go with her,” Ash whispers.

Michael freezes.

“Go on, buddy. It’s okay. They just want to take care of you.”

“You’ll stay here?” Michael whispers, believing himself to be quieter than he is. Jessica’s eyes widen.

“I promise.”

“Okay,” Michael mumbles. Slowly, he gets to his feet. “Okay, Mom. Can I pick the movie?”

Jessica tries to smile.

“Of course.”

*

Michael turns nine tomorrow.

And Ash has stayed through it all.

Since learning of Ash’s death, Michael has tried to quiet down around Max and Jessica. He still talks about Ash sometimes, but, though the subject is still a sensitive one, they have dropped the idea of taking him to see a child therapist.

Ash and Michael still play sometimes, but mostly Ash has become somebody to talk to. Every day, after he comes home from school, Michael tells Ash about his day.

Ash can’t help but compare his nine-year-old self to Michael, and he’s so grateful he would cry if he could. Michael had gone through a lot in the past year that no eight-year-old kid should have to go through, but it was nowhere near the inferno that had engulfed Ash’s childhood. And, most of all, Michael had parents who loved him. Who supported him. Who helped him however they could.

Something that Ash himself had never, ever had.

They’re in the kitchen. Ash is leaned against the refrigerator, arms crossed over his chest, easy smile on his lips. Michael is helping his mother frost his chocolate birthday cake, but he keeps sticking his fingers in the frosting whenever she turns her back. Max is decorating in the living room, but pokes his head into the kitchen every once in awhile to sniff the air.

“Why does Michael get to lick the spoon?” Max whines.

“Because,” Jessica huffs in exaggerated annoyance, “only one of you is turning nine tomorrow.”

Michael sticks his tongue out at his father.

Max grins, about to retort, when the doorbell rings.

“Ah!” Max grins. “I believe our special guest has arrived!”

“‘Special guest?’” Michael echoes. He and Ash exchange a look, but Ash shrugs.

“You stay there, boy!” Max orders before hurrying to the door.

When he returns, Ash’s jaw drops.

“EIJI!” Michael screams.

Eiji smiles.

“Hiya, Michael.”

Michael runs across the room, knocking Eiji back against the wall in a hug. Laughing, Eiji wraps his arms around the boy.

Ash is frozen.

He can’t stop staring.

It’s only been six or seven months since Eiji left for Japan, and, apparently, he’d come back earlier than that for the funeral. But, this is the first that Ash has laid eyes on him since… the hospital.

Since he was alive.

Eiji’s hair is a little longer, a little shaggier — it looks like he’s trying to grow it out — but, otherwise, he looks the same as he had six, seven months ago. He—

No.

Not the same. Not quite.

His eyes are dark, dark and sad. He’s laughing as he hugs Michael back, but there is a heaviness behind those eyes that wasn’t there before. Because of…

Because of Ash.

“Eiji, Eiji,” Michael repeats over and over, like it’s been a lifetime since they’d seen each other, “You came from Japan?”

“I did,” Eiji says. His voice is soft.

“You came for my birthday?” Michael squeezes tighter, afraid to let go.

Eiji laughs as the air is squeezed out of him. “I did, yes. But, not only reason.”

“Huh?” Michael finally lets Eiji go as he takes a step back and looks up at him.

The gentlest smile pulls at Eiji’s lips. “I been thinking of relocating to New York. Permanently.”

Ash’s mouth falls open.

“You’re moving here?!” Michael demands.

“Well,” Eiji says, “I sure going to try.”

Ash continues to gape at a man who cannot see him.

What happened to going back to Japan?

“It’ll be wonderful to have you around again, Eiji,” Jessica gushes, wrapping him in a hug and gently squeezing, “You are always welcome here.”

Eiji holds Jessica close as he hugs her back, sturdy and comforting. “I appreciate you very much, Jessica.”

Jessica is shaking her head as they pull apart.

“You boys,” she murmurs, voice thick, “did not deserve any of what happened to you.”

Her own traumas go unspoken.

“I hate to interrupt,” Max says, stepping in as soon as he realizes Jessica is becoming overwhelmed with emotion, “but, I think we still have some presents to wrap. Can you watch the cake for us, Eiji?”

Eiji laughs. “Of course.”

Wrapping his arm around Jessica’s shoulders, Max leads her out of the room and takes her upstairs.

Michael waits until they are out of earshot before turning to Eiji, big smile on his face. “Guess what!”

Eiji smiles. “What?”

“Someone else is here for my birthday!”

Snapping out of his Eiji-induced trance, Ash’s eyes go wide. Pausing, Michael looks at him. Ash looks very scared for a moment.

But, after a moment, he nods.

“It’s okay,” he whispers.

Michael grins.

“Huh? Another guest? When will they come?” Eiji asks.

“They’re already here!”

“What?” Eiji crosses the kitchen and looks out into the hall. “Where?”

“Right here!’

Eiji turns to look back at Michael, who’s pointing at the wall.

“Ah, I get it. Is your friend invisible?”

“Yes!”

Eiji chuckles. “Well, then. What his name?”

“It’s Ash!”

The laughter cuts off as quickly as it had started.

“Your imaginary friend… is Ash?”

Michael scowls. “He’s not imaginary. He’s dead!”

He says that so excitedly that Ash can’t help but laugh. He covers his mouth with his hand.

Eiji is starting to look a little pale. “Don’t be silly, Michael. There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“Yes, there is!”

Shaking his head, Eiji leaves the kitchen. Michael and Ash both follow him into the living room.

“Don’t you believe me?” Michael asks.

Crossing the room, Eiji goes to Jessica’s bookcase, picks a seemingly random book, and begins to flip through it. “You’re very imaginative, Michael. You should be an author when you grow up.”

“I’m serious!”

“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Eiji repeats. He takes his book and sits on the floor… just like Ash does. Leaning against the wall, he pretends to read.

Michael looks at Ash, exasperated.

Biting his lip, Ash looks back at Eiji. His head is bowed as he skims the page.

Michael bites back a giggle as Ash moves closer to Eiji. He stands right in front of him, and Eiji shivers.

This, though, is where Ash falters.

In the months since Ash had shown up in Michael’s house, he has not been able to muster the strength to touch a living human.

Ash looks back at Michael, who nods his encouragement. He turns back to Eiji, who is still pretending to read though his teeth have started to chatter.

Slowly, very slowly, Ash bends down. Then, he leans forward and wraps Eiji in a hug.

Michael is all but holding his breath.

At first, nothing happens.

Then, Eiji gasps. The book falls from his hands, into his lap, and his head jerks up.

He stares directly into wide, bright, beautiful green eyes.

Ash’s smile is very soft.

“Hello, Eiji,” he mumbles.

“Nice to see you.”

[heyheydidjaknow]

Can I have a lighthearted chapter? No, I cannot. Can I upload at the due date? Also no. But you can always count on me to make characters suffer. I would say that I'm sorry, but then I would be a liar.

Chapter 8

“Will you shut up?”

Donatello looks up from his computer. “Huh?”

Raphael’s eyes do not leave his magazine. “You’ve been muttering under your breath for the past hour and it’s starting to get on my nerves.”

“You’ll live.”

“You won’t for long if you don’t cut that shit out.”

He sighs. “Are you ever content with just leaving me be?”

“As your brother? No.” He sets the article down. “You’ve been acting weird all week. Usually, I could not care less, but you wreck enough shit without the added benefit of being distracted.”

He looks back at the screen. “So, I’m a ticking time bomb to you?”

“Yes.”

He looks back at the screen as he tries to think of how to answer. “It’s just that…”

“Oh, wait, don’t tell me.” He smirks. “You’re all depressed because your girlfriend has a life.”

He goes red. “I don’t care if—she’s not my girlfriend, first of all.” His voice rises.

“Sure, sure.” He stretches. “You know, typically, girls aren’t into guys who obsess over them.”

“Look, I’m worried about her!” He sets the computer down.

He blinks. “Why?”

“Are you kidding?” He throws his hands up in exasperation. “She killed a man!”

“Yeah,” he nods, “and I’m pissed I wasn’t the one to do it. What’s your point?”

“True,” he smiles cooly. “What you fail to consider, however, is that the rest of us aren’t psychotic.”

“I’m hurt.” He places his hand on his chest. “I will have you know that I’m definitely sane.”

“See, this is why nobody comes to you about their problems.” He leans his head back. “You ask why I’m down, and you immediately give me a hard time.”

They both turn their heads toward the entrance as their two other brothers walk back into the lair.

“How’d it go?” Raph gets up to meet them.

“You didn’t miss anything.” Leo sits down next to Donnie, glancing at his laptop before staring at the empty television screen. “Nobody was there.”

“Really?” Donnie’s eyes tear away from his computer screen. “Nobody?”

“Man, it was weird.” Michelangelo stays standing. “It was, like, two bots and then nothin’.”

“That is incredibly suspicious.” The tallest brother saves his work. “You used the stuff, right?”

“Worked like a charm.” Leonardo stretches. “So, what’d we miss?”

“Donnie bitching about not talking to his girlfriend for a whole week.”

“Can it,” he hisses.

“Donnie,” his brother speaks from next to him, “I’m sure that Y/N is perfectly fine. If you’re worried about her, you can and should go check on her.”

He groans. “If it were that simple, I would’ve done that by now.” He holds his head. “But what would I even say?”

He sighs, “I’m not going to say the same thing every time.” He gets up. “Mikey, you try. I’m going to go meditate if anyone wants to join.”

“Hey!” Mikey sticks his tongue out at him. “How come I have to do it?”

“Because Raphael is as cuddly as an eel.”

Raph glares. “Do you wanna go right now?”

“See?” He walks off. “And I did it last time. Your turn.” They hear the doors to the dojo slide closed behind him.

Mikey sits down in Leo’s spot. “If you want,” he offers as his brother walks off to the dojo, “I can try talking to her.”

“Would you?” He sighs. “I’m not good at this sort of thing.”

“For sure, man.” He gives him a thumbs up. “What are brothers for?”

“If you don’t make him do things,” Raphael warns, “he’s never going to learn to do them.”

“Man, he’s our bro.” He wraps an arm around his neck. “You can’t just leave your bro out to dry.”

“The hell I can’t.” He gets to his feet. “You guys have fun with that. I’ll be in my room.” He walks off, taking his pet turtle with him.

“Don’t listen to him.” He shoots his brother a thumbs up. “I’m sure everything will work out.” Mikey hopped to his feet. “Be back in a bit.” He waved, running out of the lair. “I’ll be back in ten.”

--

The look on his face is less than reassuring.

“Well?” Donatello, who has been checking the time religiously, is sitting at the door like a dog waiting for his owner. “How did it go?”

He smiles tightly. “I have good news and bad news.”

He groans, holding his head in his hands. “Just tell me.”

“Well,” he says hesitantly, crouching down in front of him, “she’s not dead.”

“That isn’t exactly a high bar to hurdle.” He takes a deep breath. “What’s the bad news?”

He pauses. “She’s… freaked out.”

“On a scale of one to ten,” he asks slowly, “with one being—”

“Nine.” His younger brother nods certainly. “At least a nine.”

He stands up. “I should go check on her.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what to do.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I think I made things worse, actually.”

“What else is new?” He runs out. “Tell Leo I’m going out,” he calls over his shoulder. He does not wait for a reply.

He does not blame himself entirely for the events currently happening; he is well aware that her inclusion into their mess was not willed by him. However, a part of him can not shake the belief that he and his brothers have, by virtue of their lifestyle, caused her more pain than he had ever wanted. A part of him, still, believes that he or someone else should have bitten the bullet; of them, you should be the last person in line to murder.

‘I should’ve said something, done something.’

He lands down on your roof, starting to scale down the building. You have left your window open: he can see your floral curtains fluttering in the autumn breeze. Artificial light streams from your apartment as soft music plays from inside. He lands on your windowsill carefully, reaching in past the curtains to knock on your wall. “Y/N?”

He hears the music shut off the shuffling of bedsheets, three steps. You pull the curtain open.

You have not slept in a week. You have continued to go to school, scared as to what would happen if you did not, but you have not eaten or drank in a while either; more accurately, nothing has stayed down. You have contributed these things, easily, to the newly introduced variety in your nightmares. You wonder, now, if seeing his body would have been such a bad thing; your head has conjured up every possible position he might have fallen in, anyhow. At least, if you knew, you would only have one image torturing you as opposed to the seemingly different variations your head could come up with.

Donnie is not a psychologist. He has never been able to fully grasp the subject as much as the others in the scientific field; all of medicine, for that matter, has, regrettably, been hard for him to wrap his head around, what with how different he and his brother are from humans, physiologically. His master was the closest he had to an actual human until you had shown up, but he was hardly exemplary of your typical human. However, be it by what knowledge he does have or by the way you hold yourself, he can easily tell you are off. The color in your face is gone, the bags under your eyes larger than he has ever seen them on you, and every move seems oddly sluggish to him.

“Oh, hey.” You smile tiredly. “If you’re here about Michelangelo, he was just here a few minutes ago.”

“I’m not.” He climbs inside. “He got back to the lair ten or so minutes ago. Are you alright?”

Your eyes are flooded with black for a moment, a wave of numb pain and vertigo washing over you as you spread your stance slightly, not wanting to trip over your own feet. You hold your face in your hand as you steady yourself. “Totally.” You wince as you nodded. ‘Let’s not move our head more than we need to.’

Years of attentiveness and common sense tell him that you are blatantly lying. “What happened?”

“Huh?” You close your eyes. “Oh, nothin.” You take a couple steps back, slowly sitting back down on the bed, which was covered in packets. “Please,” you insist, “make yourself comfortable.”

He shuts the curtains, crouching down in front of you to look your features over more closely as he tries to identify what, exactly, is wrong with you. “Am I allowed to touch you?”

You look down at him from your seat. “I mean,” you sigh, “you _can_, if you want. Just not anywhere a general physician wouldn’t touch, alright?” You give him a half-hearted thumbs up. “I trust you to know where you can and can’t put your hands.” You highly doubt that he has any bad intentions, really, but you want to make your intentions clear.

“O-oh, of course,” he nods quickly. “I wouldn’t do anything you wouldn’t—well, not that you wouldn’t—” his face went red. “I-I mean—”

“Dude, relax.” You roll your eyes good-naturedly. “Take a deep breath or I’m gonna the wrong idea.”

He does “S-sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck. “That was weird.”

“You’re all good.”

He presses the back of his hand against your forehead. “You don’t have a fever,” he notes, still red in the face. “Did you eat anything you normally wouldn’t?”

You give him a thumbs down. “I’ve only had soup. Do you want some?”

He blinks. “Soup?”

“Yeah.” You look back at the kitchen, where a pot of soup is sitting on the counter. “Ran out of leftovers a couple days ago.”

His eyes widen. “Days?”

You nod, wincing as you feel your brain pounding against your skull. “Yeah,” you sigh. “It’s been hard to keep things down. Glad I ran out, actually; I think I got a—”

He cuts you off. “How many days do you take between meals?”

You pause. “Now?” You shrug. “One meal every day or two.”

“Day or two?”

“Again,” you repeat, very confused as to why he looks as though he is about to have a heart attack right then and there, “it’s been hard keeping stuff down lately.”

“How are you not dead?”

You blink. “I beg your pardon?”

His voice rises as his speech sped up. “How many cups of that do you eat in a sitting?”

You sit up properly. “Maybe three or four and a couple pieces of toast?”

He looks about ready to pass out. “Are you insane,” he cries, an octave higher than usual.

You cover his mouth with your hand. “Shut up,” you hiss. “You’re gonna wake my neighbors up.”

He stops talking, grabbing your hand and pulling it off his mouth. He gets up, muttering something about being ridiculous as he pours you an unusually large bowl of soup and placing it in your lap. “Eat.” He stands there, glaring at you pointedly.

You are, admittedly, surprised by his icy, commanding tone. You do as instructed. “You act as though I’ve poisoned myself,” you point out between bites. “It won’t kill me, you know.”

“I’m not a licensed dietitian,” he informs you, clearly upset, “but the recommended caloric intake for a woman is approximately four thousand calories—”

“That’s wrong.” You are already halfway through the bowl. “It’s two.”

“Do you seriously want to get into a debate on something science-related right now?” You are genuinely scared by his expression; every word sounds oddly lethal, as if they themselves could kill you.

You swallow, standing your ground. “We can look it up, if you want,” you offer. “I know for a fact I’m… right…”

He has glared directly at you. It almost shuts you up.

You quietly eat the rest of the bowl. You set your spoon down with a gentle clatter, clearing your throat as you try to ignore the way he was staring at you as if he were trying to dissect you with his eyes. “Done.” You showed him the empty bowl.

“You genuinely see nothing wrong with your dietary choices?”

You shake your head, immediately regretting it. “I know it’s unhealthy, but not to the same degree you seem to think it is.”

“And you honestly believe that you only need to eat two thousand calories to be healthy?” His tone was softer now, likely in reaction to how quickly you had recoiled.

You nod hesitantly, ignoring the way your head pounds.

He pauses. “We’ll talk about that later,” he decides. “For now, I have to ask: why can’t you keep food down, exactly?”

You lean back, placing the bowl on the nightstand. You stay like that, closing your eyes. “I just keep seeing it,” you explain simply. “Hearing it, too; it’s kinda like tasting really bad and then having the aftertaste stuck on your tongue, but for memories. Or like doing something embarrassing and, every once and awhile, having something happen to remind you of it.”

“It? Oh.” As soon as he says the words out loud, he knows what you are referring to.

“Yup.” You pop the P. “I dunno if you knew, but it doesn’t splat.”

A heavy silence smothers you both, despite the sounds of the city.

You feel the bed shift. Your eyes glance over at the man lying next to you, hands folded across his stomach as he stares at the ceiling.

“I honestly don’t know what to say.” He sighs. "I wish I knew how to do right by you.”

“You don’t have to—”

He cuts you off. “I want to, though.” He rubs his face with his hand. “I want to be able to invent something that makes things easier for you, to keep you from getting hurt.”

“Dude, it’s fine.” You punch his arm lightly. “I’ll be fine, eventually. Just not right now.” You smile weakly. “But, hey? At least my dreams have a bit of variety, right?”

“Dreams?”

You chuckle tightly. “It turns out my head is rather creative when it comes to ways the body can bend. I almost wish I had seen the bodies; then they could all be consistent.”

He groans. “See, it’s stuff like that that makes me feel bad about not being able—not that it’s your fault,” he back peddles. “I just—”

“Stop stressing so much,” you cut him off. “That’s my job. Don’t put yourself into a tizzy on my account.”

“How could I not?” He threw his hands up in the air. “I care about you, Y/N. I’m obviously going to care if you’re alright.”

You pause. “My mental stability should be the least of your concerns right now, what with Shredder and all.” You close your eyes. “The only reason he hasn’t beaten you and your brothers within an inch of your lives is that I knew where he’d be when. All things considered,” you roll over to face him, “my having bad nightmares is a small price to pay.”

Another silence.

You sigh. “You should probably get going.” You pull yourself onto your elbows, leaning forward onto your knees. “I gotta stake out Shredder’s lair tomorrow so you guys know when to come in.”

He sits up next to you. “Y/N, I—”

“You should stop worrying so much, alright?” You smile gently. “I have some sleep meds if your dad needs them.”

He opens his mouth to say something, pauses, closes it again. “Alright.” He stands up. “I’m sorry for bothering you.”

“You didn’t.” He didn’t.

He stops in his tracks.

You rest your head on your legs. “Yeah?”

“Will we see you tomorrow?”

You purse your lips. “I don’t know,” you admit. “I’ll definitely call you, though; it’ll be something of a feat to hijack a hijacked chemical truck.”

He looks back at you. “Please, be safe.”

You nod.

“Eat, too.”

You nod again.

“And drink?”

You roll your eyes teasingly. “Yeah, Dad, I’ll eat.”

His face flushes again. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You got it, buddy.”

You look so small.

‘I did that.’

He climbs onto the windowsill, hesitating to leave. “Goodnight.”

You wave lazily. “Goodnight, Donatello.”

He climbs out of your apartment.

You wait a minute or two before you close and lock your window. You pull the curtains shut properly behind him, walking back to the kitchen to put the food away.

You sigh, doleful. “Sorry.”

--

You were maybe thirteen years old. It feels like longer, but you were most certainly in middle school

Driving home after school one day, you had stared out the window, the radio playing something you half paid attention to. You don’t remember, now, what prompted the conversation—you figure it was some sort of assembly you had mentioned—but, somehow, the question of what to do if you were tied up in the back of someone’s car had been brought up. This was not an unusual line of conversation, considering your family’s conviction that you would be kidnapped someday, but you remember it specifically because, after he brought it up, you had run the scenario over in your head what felt like a thousand times.

“It depends on where you are in the car,” he had said. “If you’re in the back seat, you have to reach forward and try to choke the driver out, if you can’t get the doors open.”

“And if I’m in the front?”

“Ram your body against his. Get a hold of the wheel and swerve the car.

The line of thinking had confused you. “But,” you countered, “then the car would crash; we would both get hurt.”

“You have a better chance of surviving a car crash than whatever would happen to you once you get to wherever you’re going.”

You two had not spoken for the rest of the drive.

Now, you stare ahead at the road, eyes occasionally glancing at the man in the driver’s seat as you try to come up with a plan. You wish, now, that you had gone with your initial instinct to call instead of sending Leonardo a text message; who knows when he will get it?

“I feel almost sorry for you,” the man sneers. “You would be better off getting killed in the explosion than what’s going to happen to you.”

You say nothing.

“Hey?” He barks out a laugh. “You’ll get to see what happens to them.” He sighs happily. “I can see it now. The smoke, the fire, the smell.”

You eye the door. ‘Locked. Shit.’

“Those freaks won’t know what hit them.” He leans forward, staring at the truck in front of them. “Shouldn’t have messed with us if they didn’t want to meet their maker.”

‘Could I even survive it?’

“You know somethin’, kid?” He grips the wheel tighter. “I gotta give ya some respect; not a ton of kids would’ve come this far. Personally,” he shrugs, “I would’ve killed you right then, but Shredder wants more out of ya, apparently.”

‘Would he?’ You shift your feet to your right.

“I’ll thank you for one thing, though; I was getting sick of that pompous asshole.”

‘I just gotta get his hands away from the wheel. There are people in the back of this van. They’d survive, right?’ You fight to keep your breathing steady.

“For someone who hangs with those freaks, you ain't slick, hangin on the street corner.”

‘They’re ninjas. I gotta believe they’d be fine.’ You shut your eyes, stealing yourself.

“How you got Bradford is be—hey!”

You slammed your torso against him, eyes squeezed shut.

“What are you, fucking suicidal?” He yelled, trying to push you off.

You pull away, slamming one foot against his cheek and stuck the other into the wheel. You hear honking as you desperately bang your foot into what you pray is his body. You feel the car speed up as he screams obscenities at you. You force the wheel away from you as hard as you can.

The next few moments are a blizzard of broken glass, voices, and blackness as the metal deathtrap tries to shake the life out of both of you.

You figure that you must have passed out a second, for the next thing you remember is the smell of gasoline.

Your eyes snap open. You look over at the man stuck half out the window. You reach back, trembling hands fumbling with the buckle strapping yourself in. You slam yourself against the front window as you hear it click open. You use your arms to pull yourself through the hole, the rope slicing against a stray piece of broken glass.

Your head is spinning. The only thought currently on your mind is to get away from the car.

For some reason, you find yourself unable to stand. You, instead, crawl, dragging your body desperately away from the wreckage. You do not feel yourself doing it, ignoring the glass shards sticking themselves into your palms and under your nails, the way they slashed into your stomach and sides as you drag yourself over them completely irrelevant as you claw towards the sidewalk.

You hear the explosion.

You pull yourself into an alley, waiting for the ringing in your ears to stop as you hear the conflict happening a few blocks down. You swallow your vomit as you stare forward blankly, the smell of smoke filling your nostrils.

Another.

You fall forward, tears filling your eyes as the pain settles in. You do not know what happened to your legs, only knowing for sure that they could not and would not support your weight. Every muscle and every tendon is vibrating. Your hair sticks to your body as your clothes soak in some sort of warm liquid.

You do not like that smell.

‘Why is everything spinning?’

You hear yelling, the screeching of wheels against asphalt.

‘I’m going to die.’

The sentence repeats in your head over and over again as you lay there in the alleyway.

‘I’m going to die here.’

You do not know why you are shaking right now.

‘I don’t want to die here. Not now.’

“Help,” you beg. “Please, God.” You feel a sob rise in your throat. “I don’t… wanna…”

You hear screaming.

“Help,” you breathe.

You black out.

Table of Contents

Chapter 7

Chapter 9

[orange-meringue]

Lost And Found Q & A

(The Q&A is here! Yeah, I’m not sure exactly how many of you ended up coming over from AO3, but I’ve decided to do the Q&A for my fic here -sorry to those of you who are uninterested in my writing life, I’ve been really invested in Lost And Found lately. 

The first question was submitted here on Tumblr, and the rest are all from AO3. I hope you’re satisfied with my answers, and if you have any more questions after this or just want some elaboration, please feel free to ask! I’ll add them on in a reblog! 

Anyway, enjoy! I’ll put everything beneath the cut) 

How does Donnie adjust to physical touch/affection in the future?

-Donnie is definitely touch-starved. No way around it. As mentioned in the fic, Draxum, Huginn, and Muninn never really gave him more than a few one-sided hugs, fist-bumps or handshakes. He’d never been fully hugged or held until he met his brothers, and it’s still very weird and new to him. But obviously his brothers (as well as April and Splinter, once you get to know them) are pretty touchy, but a few of them are better at picking up on Donnie’s thing with touch than others. Overtime I feel like they would be able to get him more and more acquainted with things like casual hugs and friendly touch, and the more he gets used to these things, the less they startle him every time. Though I do imagine he has a few relapses in the future (which I do plan to write about) where touch goes back to being startling and scary, and it takes him a day or so to warm back up to it. Mostly good things, though! Donnie truly does love the familial affection, though he’s not likely to admit it

When did the boys prepare Donnie’s room?

I imagine they made his room during the last chapter, after Splinter’s apology and after April and Mayhem left, when everyone began to split up to do their own things. The timeline is a little questionable, but I like to think they had a good hour in there, and most of the materials were already there and ready -the room was likely empty, too, and was acting as some sort of storage room that they never knew what to do with. I tried to make it obvious that they’d been pressed for time and hadn’t been able to do much, hence the hastily made bed frame and why there were only two other pieces of furniture

Will Donnie ever feel comfortable enough to remove his tech around the lair in the future?

I feel that, much like canon Donnie, wearing his tech is a bit of a habitual thing. He doesn’t really see a reason to take it off, even if he’s technically safe in the lair, especially because it was ingrained in him via Draxum that his tech is everything keeping him safe. His tech is his armor and his safety blanket, and even if he knows, logically, he’s not going to be ambushed in the middle of the lair, it’s hard to take it off. Eventually, though, I feel like his brothers help with that. At one point Raph probably starts trying to train him to build strength and muscle on his own so he doesn’t have to rely on his limb clamps, and, as Donnie gets more comfortable with his brothers, he starts feeling relaxed enough to remove his battle shell when lounging around with them

Would Splinter try to bond with Donnie and attempt to form a better connection with him?

Splinter really does love his son and wants to spend time with him! But...uh...as of the story’s ending...he doesn’t know very much about him. He knows he was raised by Draxum to be a soldier and is very good with technology, but other than that...next to nothing. But it’s a great motivator! Splinter 100% wants to know Donnie as well as he knows his other boys, so he pulls out every stop to try and bond with him, making sure not to rush him despite his curiosity and family-oriented nature, because Donnie is currently pretty skeptical of adults (even Splinter) for...obvious reasons. But he wants to get to know Splinter, too, and, yeah, he’s willing to sit through his 5+ hour Lou Jitsu monologues to let that happen

How does Donnie feel about the boys’ future plans to capture oozesquitos and sabotage Draxum? Does he still have conflicted feelings about humans?

After the initial adrenaline and shock of everything subsides, I feel like it was Donnie’s idea to go after the oozesquitos. He probably wakes up in a cold sweat one night remembering oh yeah, Draxum and I unleashed a swarm of carrier bugs upon New York that are set on turning people into mutants and immediately feels the need to remedy his past mistake. So he builds a device to track the oozesquitos, which leads the boys to Big Mama’s hotel, and the rest is history (though slightly different than it was in canon, considering Donnie’s knowledge of Big Mama’s schemes and the Battle Nexus). But in terms of Draxum, Donnie would definitely be far more hesitant about trying to sabotage him. Donnie is still afraid of Draxum, after all -a small part of him feels like everything with his brothers is only temporary, and eventually he’s going to be stuck with Draxum again, and the further on his bad side he gets now, the worse it’s going to be when that does happen. He never directly challenges or fights Draxum whenever they run into him, and if there’s a way to avoid clashing with him altogether, he’ll take it

As for humans, Donnie’s definitely still conflicted about them. It’s been ingrained in him his whole life that humans are evil and selfish- that they forced his whole race underground and that’s the reason they now live in secrecy. And honestly, not even Splinter actually knows if that’s true. So Donnie remains skeptical, but overtime he’s able to do a lot more things around the city without fear of humans. They’re not actually that dangerous, he discovers, and maybe -just maybe- they’re alright. But there’s only one human Donnie grows to fully trust, and that’s April. In his eyes, she’s already proved her loyalty and compassion and, y’know, desire not to out him and his brothers to all of human-kind, not to mention she’s super badass and someone Donnie does not want on his bad side again. She’s a good friend, he realizes. He can definitely understand why she’s part of the family

How much does Donnie know about the Hidden City? Does he know about Big Mama and her hotel? How would the boys’ interactions with Big Mama change with this version of Donnie?

Considering he was raised with Draxum (who is apparently a well-known public figure in the Hidden City) he definitely has a fair amount of knowledge about the place, as well as a few ins and yōkai to go to when he needs something done. He’s very well-known himself, and actually has a reputation as a very intimidating soldier. He’s also well-versed in Big Mama’s tricks, because she and Draxum have done business before and she’s 100% tried to kidnap him for the Battle Nexus (emphasis on tried). Harking back to the question about Donnie’s oozesquito-capturing plan, the episode would definitely go differently with him there. It would be a great Leo and Donnie bonding episode, because neither of them trust Big Mama in the slightest, and Raph and Mikey would be far more cautious around her, though still intrigued by the concept of a mutant hotel and her apparent interest in helping them. But I think Donnie would manage to slip out with Leo before their brothers are captured, then it would be a race with a hilarious amount of arguing until they rescue Raph and Mikey, then everything would likely proceed as normal for the rest of the episode

Is Donnie jealous that April gets to attend school? What would his relationships with the Purple Dragons be like?

Donnie has no idea what school is. He’s heard mention of it in shows he’s pirated, but it isn’t until April comes to him one day complaining about her workload that he asks what she’s talking about. Once she explains it, he’s ecstatic! A place you can go to learn about math, science, history, and any other subject you could ever want? How much does it cost? ...It’s free?! He’s begging April to smuggle him in. She absolutely does not want to deal with that, but Donnie did make her a whole laptop and upgrade her phone a whole bunch, so how can she say no? She agrees to take him the next day, but it doesn’t fully occur to Donnie that the school is crowded with humans until he gets there. He’s on-edge the entire day, and it doesn’t help that he’s a weird green-skinned new kid no one’s ever seen before. I imagine it would be a great chapter for some good old fashioned Donnie and April bonding, and I’m 100% going to write it now, so anything else would be considered a spoiler

As for the Purple Dragons, I imagine their relationship wouldn’t be too different. The Purple Jacket episode would go relatively the same way, though I imagine Donnie would be a little more reluctant to actually join the Dragons, and way more irritating throughout the rest of the episode. But the plot and their feelings toward each other would likely remain the same

Does Donnie still eat bugs?

The whole thing with the bugs is basically...Draxum didn’t know what to feed Donnie as a baby, so he went to a local animal expert who recommended things like fruits, veggies, bugs, etc. So, considering that Draxum’s main priority was rebuilding his lab and he didn’t really have the resources to get food for anyone but himself (and maybe Huginn and Muninn- though they probably stuck to dumpster diving), Donnie’s appetite ended up consisting completely of typical turtle food, and only when he got older did Draxum started adding in things like nutrient bars and protein shakes, just to help him build more strength and muscle. So Donnie never really had anything else before he met his brothers, and it feels weird to him to jump straight from turtle to human food, so he slowly incorporates more of the latter into his diet overtime. He does still eat bugs, though. Splinter started getting him things like bug chips and seasoned bugs to make it less unsettling, but now he just eats those all the time and none of the others care for it. If a live bug happens to get in his way, he definitely won’t hesitate to eat it, and, yeah, sometimes it’s startling and almost made Leo throw up once, but it’s also really helpful if there’s a bug in the lair and none of the others want to deal with it. Donnie has eaten a spider before. The others just pretend it never happened

[lady-maria-the-wolf225]

Mikey x Fem! reader ch: 4

It was the next morning, and the four turtle brothers were doing their "Training day" like their father told them to do. Mikey was getting distracted being unable to do his training right. "Michelangelo. You seem unfocused today. What's gotten into you?" Splinter raised an eyebrow at his son, and Mikey swallowed his confidence replying. "nothing Master. I.....I'm just a bit tired. That's all." Splinter looks at him in a bit of a suspicious way. "You're not hiding anything from your own father are you?" Mikey looks at his brothers as they all stared back feeling nervous hoping he won't find out about last night. "N-No sensei. He isn't." Raph replied smiling nervously. They all smiled and chuckled acting like nothing even happened. "Hmmm. Very well. But if I find out you were all lying, then you all will be punished in the Hashi." They all nodded without hesitation. "Now. Back to training!" They went back to their training and soon finished after a couple hours. After they finished, they went to go check on (Y/N). She was gone. "Oh no! She's not here! We gotta find her!" Mikey panicked looking for her. Leo calms him down, and takes a deep breath. "We gotta split up and find her. She could be anywhere in our lair." They all agreed with the idea until Splinter walks up to them. "My sons. I forgot to mention to you all. I will be going out tonight to play chinese checkers with an old friend. You four will be on your own staying here. Understand?" They all nodded and smiled again at him. Splinter looks at them strangely. "You all are acting strange today. Is everything alright?" They all responded. "Pfff. Yeah! Everything's fine and dandy dad." Raph whistled trying to act casual. Same with the others. Splinter gently pushes them out of the way and notices the mess in Mikey's room. "Hmm. It seems you had too much fun in your hands." Mikey chuckles. "Yeah. You know me. Your classic fun son here." Splinter sighs and walks away shaking his head. "Teenagers....always enjoy going wild and party hard." Night finally came, and Splinter ends up leaving to go to the surface to play his game of chinese checkers. Meanwhile Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey try to look for the girl. "little girl! Honey Cakes! buttercup! lollipop! pumpkin spice! where are ya?" Raph punches  his shoulder. "would you quit with the cutesy pet names and keep on looking?" Mikey rubs it and sees his cat just cleaning itself. "Klunk! have you seen this girl? she's about this tall, kinda hot, and has nice looking hair like the little mermaid but shinier?" The cat looks at him and stretches its limbs. Mikey starts to panic. "Klunk doesn't know where she is either!!" they all kept on with the search until they stopped when they suddenly heard a loud thud. "ow!" they followed the source of the sound, and that is when they finally found her. "ugh!..." (Y/N) rubbed her head and she looks up as the four turtles stare in complete surprise. Mikey then waved at her with a smile and responds. "hi!" (Y/N) starts screaming, and then Mikey starts screaming. as for the other three brothers, they started to scream as well. "Why are we screaming!!?" Mikey asked in a frantic way. "I don't know!!" Donnie replied. they all eventually stopped screaming except for (Y/N). Leo walks up to her and covers her mouth shushing her. "Hey, Hey! calm down! we're not going to hurt you!" she pushes his hand away, and takes a few steps back. "y-y-you're.....y-you're...." Mikey interrupts her before she could even speak in sentences. "real? yes we are. allow us to introduce ourselves. This is Leo, in the blue. fearless leader, silent but deadly. up next is Donnie. Science geek, and a fix it kind of guy. then there is Raph the muscle, and a cuddly teddy bear at times. and finally yours truly. the party dude who loves to have fun. ladies call me Mikey." his brothers stare at him and he looks back. "what?...." Leo shakes his head sighing and  kneels before (Y/N). he starts to speak to her in a soft tone. "Anyways, who are you?....and how did you get here?" (Y/N) takes a deep breath and brings up the courage to speak. "well, I was following a mystery stranger who has three fingers, and noticed he was going into the sewers. that's how I ended up here. I didn't realize this was your home. I didn't know." mikey's eyes suddenly lit up. "wait a minute. I remember now! I'm the mystery guy you were following! I saw you one time and I gave you back your headphones back when you dropped them. even though you were kinda mean to me. but uh no hard feelings." his brothers looked at him with shock. "Mikey! you know her!?" Mikey bites his bottom lip and replies in a nervous way. "n-not really....I think..." Leo gets up, "Great. just great. Now Sensei's going to punish us because of you. even worse, you may have put this poor girl in danger." Mikey looks at his brothers. "w-wait a second! I didn't do anything wrong! I just didn't know she was gonna come here! come on guys!..." his brothers ignore him as they walked away. Mikey sighs and sits down feeling hurt. (Y/N) looks at him with concern. "do they always treat you that way?"  Mikey looks back at her. "Yeah. but not always though. only when I'm involved in something." (Y/N) nods her head in understanding how he feels. "I have a sibling too, so I know being the youngest sucks sometimes." Mikey stares at her for a bit and he clears his throat. "so uh.....you new here?" (Y/N) nods and replies to him. "yeah. I moved here from Chicago Illinois because my mom found a new job here. My dad passed away when I was a kid and....things just went down hill from there." mikey stares at her for a bit and asked. "how did your dad die?" she looks up at him and responds softly. "he died from a car accident." she looks down to the floor and mikey responds. "I'm so sorry to hear that." she slightly looks up. "thanks..." he scoots a little closer and starts to talk to her more. "don't mind my bros. they may a bit weird and cranky at first. but once you get to know them, they ain't bad. they are family and always will be. that's what matters. plus our father is a rat. we call him Master splinter." (Y/N)'s eyes widened a bit looking at him. "so...that rat is your father?..." Mikey nods and smiles. "yep. I know. it's weird, but he's the nicest and wisest rat you'll meet. you'll see when he comes back. although once he sees you, he'll put us through the Hashi." (Y/N) cringed a bit when he said that. "what's that?" Mikey sits up and explains what it actually is. "basically it's a punishment where we have to balance on objects so he could make one of us tell the truth. our only weakness is pizza. works every time." (Y/N) starts laughing. "really? pizza? that's so strange but funny." she laughs even more and then Mikey laughs along with her. they were slowly but surely starting to warm up with each other and Mikey smiles at her. she smiles back. Mikey couldn't help on how enchanting she looks to him. a mutant and human being friends may be rare, but could love even work between the two? well, only one way to find out.

[star-six7]

Young and Reckless (It’s Just Past 8)

Frank Iero x Band Member!Reader (Gender Neutral), Bullets era.

Words: 1234

Disclaimer: This is entirely a work of fiction. No part of this story is meant to be libel, slander, or in any way derogatory towards any character’s real life counterpart. I’m not delusional; I know that these characters are simply based off of a public persona and may not actually resemble the people behind those personas. Any additional characters that you do not recognize are entirely fictional, unless otherwise stated. And finally, if you got here by Googling yourself, whatever happens next is 100% on you.

Touring could get weird. It was tough being away from friends and family for months at a time, sleep could only be found at the oddest of times and places, the food was questionable at best, and showers were practically non-existent. All of this combined with the nervous thrill of trying to play a killer show every single night sometimes made people act out in weird ways. Moods varied from cranky to hyper to withdrawn, often all within the same night. When My Chemical Romance began to tour more and more often in support of their debut record, this was something you had to learn to love- you were one of the band’s original members, after all. Therefore, one quiet afternoon during the heat of summer, it really didn’t come as a surprise when Frank randomly started pinching your arm during a particularly long stretch on the road.

“Frank.”

Pinch.

“Frank, I swear to god. I am trying to read.”

Pinch.

“If you pinch me one more time-” you glared down at Frank, who was curled up on his back with the top of his head pushed against your hip. He grinned right back up at you, the picture of innocence. However, you (and anyone who had known him for more than 5 minutes) were well aware that “Frank” and “innocence” should never be used in the same sentence.

“If you kids don’t stop fighting, I will turn this car around; so help me God,” Gerard called idly from the driver’s seat.

Pinch.

“Okay Frank, really now, what’s up?” you said, keeping your voice down so that Gerard could focus on the road. You shut your worn novel and twisted in your seat to look down at him. He just smiled again and turned over, already on the way to falling asleep.

---

By the time you were midway through the set at that night’s club, you had completely forgotten about the confusing and mildly infuriating incident with Frank. On stage, everything else seemed to fade away - except for the guys and the music you were working so hard to bring to life. However, what had happened earlier that afternoon was brought to the forefront of your mind when Frank started throwing picks at you from across the stage.

At first, it was easy to chalk it up to his chaotic stage persona- he was always doing whatever he could to get a rise out of you, Mikey, or Ray. However, it soon became clear that tonight he was zeroed in on you, taking every short break between songs to launch picks and water bottle caps at your back and the side of your head. You tried to catch his eye a couple of times, wondering if you had done something to genuinely piss him off, but he just laughed and refused to meet your questioning stare.

---

After the show, when the endless barrage of small projectiles had ended, you tried to corner him while you were supposed to be helping load up the van. You cut him off just as he came out the back door of the club, glaring at him with your arms crossed.

“Hi, um, excuse me, Frank, but what the actual fuck,” you demanded.

Instead of explaining his sudden fixation with mildly attacking and greatly confusing you, or even addressing you like a normal human being and speaking to you directly, he dropped the box of cables he was holding at your feet. Grinning wider than before, he ran across the parking lot, spurring Ray to chase after him, laughing. You sighed, picked up the box, and started carrying it towards the van when the glint of a familiar pair of glasses caught your eye. Instinctively, you glanced in their direction, and saw Mikey observing the entire situation with a carefully bored expression.

“Mikey, what’s going on with Frank? Did I do something?” you asked plainly. Mikey was the one to go to if there was conflict within the band; somehow, he always seemed to know everything that was going on.

“I don’t know,” he said, almost smirking. “What do you think’s happening?”

“I honestly have no clue. He’s acting…” you frowned, realization dawning on you. “He’s acting like a third grader with a crush!”

Mikey said nothing, and simply turned around to continue loading the van.

The idea that Frank might have a thing for you… was jarring, to say the least. You had spent the entirety of the last several months carefully constructing a mental wall between your friendship with Frank (for the sake of the band) and your feelings for him. Since the first time you had watched Pencey play in a crowded basement, to opening for them with My Chem in the next state over, and finally, Frank joining the band just before the release of Bullets, you had only fallen deeper and deeper for him. The idea that maybe, just maybe, the secret that you had been harboring for almost a year didn’t need to be kept secret anymore made you feel like a third grader with a crush too.

After that mildly earth-shattering revelation, all of Frank’s weird behavior quickly turned from being confusing and frustrating to endearing. You felt giddy, giggling every time Frank made a big show of stealing a fry off of your plate at the diner the band had chosen for a late dinner that night. Though you were eager to find out if your suspicions were correct, you knew you needed to wait until the two of you were alone. Luckily, it happened to be Frank’s turn to drive next, and you had won the right to shotgun that night after beating Ray in an intense game of license plate bingo.

The rest of dinner passed in a blur, and before you knew it, you were watching the streetlights fly past as Frank navigated the van back onto the freeway. For a while, the two of you drove in silence, not wanting to disturb the other four who were clearly trying to get some sleep before the next bathroom break. Clearly, the playful, teasing mood of earlier was gone, though the companionable silence wasn’t unpleasant.

After a few minutes, Frank cleared his throat. “Why don’t you put on some music?” he suggested.

You flipped through the stack of CDs in the glove compartment, settling on one that you knew both of you loved. After turning down the volume to an appropriate level, you kicked back in your seat, occasionally checking the rearview mirror to make sure everyone else was asleep. You also noticed Frank glancing at you out of the corner of his eye every so often.

It was now or never, you thought. “Frank,” you started.

“Yeah?”

“So, about earlier…” you watched as his grip tightened on the steering wheel. “You were really acting up, huh? Trying to get my attention?”

He nodded, turning scarlet.

“Well, you didn’t need to act like a lovesick fourth grader,” you laughed. ”You already had it. You have since the day we met.”

You watched his face as he glanced at you out of the corner of his eye. “I do?”

“Of course you do, so why don’t we skip to the part where we hold hands underneath the slide?” you grinned.

Smiling, he took one hand off of the wheel and gently rested it on yours.

“I think we can do that.”

A/N: Thank you for reading my work! If you enjoyed it, please comment and let me know what you liked about it or what your favorite part was! Also, feel free to send in requests! :) 

[allsassnoclass]

OKAYYYY here we go: “First second I saw you and I couldn’t get over how beautiful you were.” mashton!!! steer that mashton ship baby xoxo bella

hm theoretically this would be a fluffy prompt but this is not a fluffy fic. subversion of expectations, baby!

mashton: “First second I saw you and I couldn’t get over how beautiful you were.”

Michael hasn't shared a room with Ashton in what feels like a very long time.  It's just easier to share with Luke or Calum instead, in the same way that it's easier to hang out with Luke and Calum, or talk to Luke and Calum, or exist in general outside of Ashton's proximity.  At every opportunity, he claims one of the others as his roommate, and typically Aston does the same.

They're both pretending that they don't notice.

It's not that Michael doesn't like Ashton as much as the other two, but it's harder to act normally around him since they almost kissed.

It just... had seemed like the thing to do.  Michael has long since acknowledged the fact that he has a crush, and he can recognize flirting when it happens.  To an extent, they all flirt with each other, but with Ashton it felt different.  Ashton doesn't typically drape himself all over them like the others do, but there have been these little touches that linger longer than should be normal, gentle brushes against Michael's arms or the back of his neck that make the hair on his arms stand on end.  There have been looks, too.  Ashton doesn't zone out while looking at people like Michael does, but that doesn't mean that Michael hasn't felt his eyes on him while they're hanging out.  Sometimes he has looked away by the time Michael turns to face him, but sometimes he catches him.

When he's caught, Ashton maintains eye contact, even if he's blushing.  Sometimes he winks.  Michael almost always looks away first.  That hasn't changed, even though everything else in their relationship now feels stiff and awkward.

Maybe Michael is the only one feeling it.  Maybe Ashton hadn't noticed that he was leaning in, even though it feels like they haven't had a direct conversation since it happened.

It had been late at night, because of course it was.  Michael's best and worst decisions are always made sometime between 2 and 5 in the morning.  Michael had wandered down to the kitchen, hoping for a late night snack and instead finding Ashton sitting on the floor, notebook in front of him.

"Hey," Michael said.  "Why are you up?"

"Thought I had something to say, but it's shit," Ashton said.  "What about you?"

"Dunno," Michael said, opening the fridge, hating everything he saw in there, and closing it again.  In the end, he just got a glass of water and sat next to Ashton.  The silence stretched between them for a bit, but Michael wasn't in a rush to break it.  Silences with Ashton have always been comfortable.

"I just wish I was better at this," Ashton said suddenly.

"What?"

"This whole... music thing."

"What are you talking about?"

Ashton shrugged, then gestured to his notebook, since closed.

"I can't write.  I want to, and I feel like I have stuff to say, but I'm just not good at it.  You'd think that after this long in a band I'd have picked something up."

"Ashton, you helped write our biggest hit to date," Michael said.  "You know, the one that was played on the radio all the time?  That was you."

"That was Jake and you."

"Shut up," Michael said.  "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response, because you're being an idiot.  Stop being so mean to yourself."

Ashton huffed a laugh.

"You're very comforting."

"Yeah, well, someone has to be," Micheal joked, bumping their shoulders together.  "Seriously, though, I can't reason with you when you're like this.  Everyone writes really shit stuff sometimes.  You can't produce too many hits or no one else would ever get any radio time."

"If you say so," Ashton said, but it was lighter than it had been.

"I do say so, and I'm always right, so you have to listen to me."

Ashton snorted, and that's what Michael had been looking for.  It wasn't derisive, it was a release.

"I will just this once, but know that it's against my better judgement," he said.

"Ha, ha."

Ashton had turned to Michael and smiled, just a little.

"I really appreciate you, you know?" he said.  "I know we all joke otherwise a lot, but you're really important to me, Mikey."

Michael swallowed, startled at the sudden change in atmosphere and steadiness of Ashton's gaze.

"I appreciate you, too."

There was that hint of a smile again, and the same weight in Ashton's gaze that appeared so often when he was looking at Michael.

Ashton's eyes had flickered down to his lips.  Michael's heart started beating double time, quick and powerful like one of Ashton's drumbeats.  Ashton swallowed.

Michael still doesn't know what had made him lean in, but he knows that it was the wrong choice.  Ashton had reared back, then immediately scrambled to his feet with a quick excuse about trying to sleep.  That had been weeks ago, right before tour restarted, and now Michael has to figure out how to survive the night in a hotel room with only Ashton for company.

Michael kills as much time outside of the room as possible, dreading having to retire for the night.  He hates Calum and Luke for immediately choosing to room with each other tonight.  He hates Ashton for pulling away and making things weird.  He hates himself for misreading things and leaning in in the first place.

Eventually he has to sleep, but only after a full minute of staring at the door with his key in hand, trying to psych himself up.

Ashton is laying on his bed with the TV on, but he's scrolling on his phone instead of watching.  He glances up immediately, offering Michael a strained smile.

"I'm going to shower," Michael says before Ashton has a chance to open his mouth.  He spends the next half hour in the bathroom, hoping that Ashton isn't insulted by how obvious he's being in his avoidance.

The lights are off when he gets back to the main room, and Michael finds himself relieved and strangely disappointed that Ashton didn't wait up.  He doesn't want to have to talk about what happened, but maybe they could've tiptoed around it in a way that wasn't excruciating.  Just because he doesn't want to talk to Ashton doesn't mean he can't miss him.

He slips under the covers, fully aware of the fact that sleep is not going to come easy tonight.  Ashton shifts in the other bed, lighting all of Michael's nerves on fire, and he feels the anxiety rise in him.

"Michael?" Ashton asks.  Michael considers staying silent, but it's much too soon for him to have fallen asleep and deliberately ignoring Ashton would be cruel, even if this is probably the rejection talk he's been dreading.

"Yeah," he sighs, defeated.

"I wanted to kiss you, too."

What?

Michael turns over, but he can't see anything in the darkness of the room.

"That's what was happening, right?"  Ashton asks.  "You were trying to kiss me?"

"Uh, yeah," Michael says.

"I didn't pull back because I didn't want you to kiss me.  First second I saw you and I couldn’t get over how beautiful you were.  I've had a massive crush on you this whole time, but I don't think it would be a good idea."

Michael swallows.

"Why not?"

He waits for what feels like forever until Ashton speaks again.

"The band.  If something went wrong, it'd change everything.  This--you, the boys, the music--means everything to me.  I can't risk that."

"I thought you've been trying to be optimistic," Michael says.

"Sometimes you have to be realistic instead."

Michael clenches his jaw and attempts to keep the whirlpool in the back of his throat down.

"I think..." he starts, then has to take a steadying breath, "I think it would've been nicer if you let me keep thinking you didn't like me, instead of telling me you do just to reject me anyway.  And I think you're wrong.  You're not being realistic, you're just being a coward."

"Michael--"

"I don't want to talk to you about this anymore."  He throws back the covers and swings his legs over the side of the bed.  "I'm going to sleep in Luke and Calum's room."

"Mike, wait--"

"Do you think you could change your mind?" he asks.  "Could you agree to give this a chance instead of deciding it'll be a disaster right away, or would I be fighting a loosing battle?"

Ashton is silent.  It's all the answer that he needs.

"I'm going to sleep with Luke and Cal.  See you tomorrow."

He leaves the room without another word, squinting in the jarring light of the hallway.

What the fuck was that?

Michael clenches his fists, then releases.  It does nothing to ease everything swirling inside him, a confusing concoction that he doesn't want to think about or make sense of.

What the fuck?

Luke and Calum's door is right there, but he can't bring himself to knock yet, too much energy thrumming through his veins.  He wants to scream.  He wants to punch something.  He wants to cry.

He wants to break onto the roof, and if he can't find a way to do that he's going to keep walking up and down the stairs until everything threatening to bubble up feels manageable again.

He already got rejected, so theoretically it shouldn't be as bad the second time around, but it is.  The first time Michael felt like he was a fool; now he knows that Ashton doesn't think it'd be worth it, that he would be worth it.

He can't keep standing here.  He forces himself to take one step, then another, and tries to focus on that instead of the tears stinging behind his eyes.

[penaltbox]

Something like enemies to friends to lovers with beech or mike vorlicky? Maybe it starts w u guys living in the same dorm hall and u hating how much noise he and his teammates make at ridiculous hours of the night when ur more exhausted and stressed out than u’ve ever been before & in dire need of sleep

Oh you know I’m always here for a Mike one 😬

—

You remember the first phrase Mike Vorlicky ever said to you like it happened yesterday. You’d somehow got stuck near a bunch of freshmen in the dorms despite being a sophomore and to say they were loud was an understatement.

You went over to ask them if they could quiet down, just a little, because you had an 8am class the next morning and it was an important one. Mike looked you straight in the face when he answered the door and said ‘I don’t care.’

Your jaw dropped, and before you could argue with him, another boy came up behind him and introduced himself as Owen. He apologized for Mike’s rude behavior and had the boys settle down a little. Owen was much nicer and Mike became your least favorite person on campus after that.

Various run ins happened with him afterwards and you just tried to ignore him. He usually brushed past you, all but ignoring you for the first couple weeks after his rude greeting.

You’re trying to lock some homework down one Tuesday night when you hear a loud thud on the wall next to your bed. You look at the wall, completely confused, and turn back to your laptop. You hear another thud accompanied by a low ‘fuck’ and you know it’s Mike’s voice.

You frown, not sure what the issue is, but you try to ignore it. Suddenly he’s loud, on the phone with someone you assume to be his mom, and he’s complaining. He’s sick, and he has no medicine and no idea how to take care of himself. You curse yourself before getting out of bed and going to his door.

You shake your head but knock anyways. It takes a second before he opens the door but you’re met with a miserable version of the boy you knew. He frowns but doesn’t say a word. You take a deep breath and think of how to phrase it.

“Apparently we share a wall. I heard you say you’re sick, I’m sorry for eavesdropping. I have some medicine if you need it,” you offer gently, hoping he wouldn’t make you regret trying to be nice.

His shoulders drop and he nods quickly, speaking in a scratchy voice, “I feel so miserable. Please help.”

You smile a little and nod, instructing him to go back to bed as you go grab some stuff. He deadbolts his door so you can get back in and follows your instructions. You get everything you think he’ll need and grab an extra Gatorade from your fridge.

You spend the next three days checking on him as he progressively gets better. He tops it off with apologizing for how mean he had been at the beginning of the year. You don’t think you hate Mike anymore after that.

A weird friendship grows after that, rounding out the first semester, and you keep talking to each other despite being back home for the holiday break. You snap, text, and even FaceTime once. It was weird, but you started looking forward to hearing from him.

He’s at your room as soon as you get back to campus and when you open the door, he hugs you for the first time. It catches you off guard, but the feeling in your stomach lets you know you’re in trouble.

It doesn’t get easier after that. He wants to hang out all the time. He does homework in your room and invites you to hang out with the boys. He even invites you to a party, but you politely decline that offer. He still shows up to your room that night, drunk and sweeter than he’s ever been. If he falls asleep in your bed that night, and you happen to be cuddling, well that’s just something you don’t bring up the next morning.

It’s late in February when he comes over one night, seemingly run down from homework, hockey, and his crazy schedule. You had just finished a paper, submitting it and planning what you want to do with the rest of your night when Mike interrupts you.

You sit on the edge of your bed and he walks over, hands on either side of your thighs as your feet dangle. You’re glad now that you lofted it slightly so you’re level with his face.

“What’s wrong, Mikey?” You ask, reaching a hand up and running it through his hair. It was getting long and you hated to admit how much you liked it on him.

He sighs, closing his eyes for a second before speaking quietly, “how would I have survived this year without you?”

You giggle lightly, pulling your hand back to your lap and fidgeting with your fingers, “I don’t know. You seem to be doing just fine.”

“I almost died in November. You swooped in with medicine and saved my life,” he says, acting far too serious.

“You are so dramatic, Vorlicky.”

He smiles a little and shrugs, “I think it’s pretty close to the truth. Hey, I have a question.”

You frown a little because he’s never said it that way. Usually he doesn’t hold back and if he wants to know something he goes for it. You nod, saying, “yeah, go ahead.”

“Will you come to my game tomorrow night?” He asks, almost seeming shy. It wasn’t like him at all but you couldn’t tell what was going on.

You smile a little, “of course, I usually do. Why would this week be any different?”

He reaches a hand up and scratches behind his ear, a nervous tick you’d noticed with him. You grab his hand and wait for him to look you in the eye.

“Mikey, what’s going on?” You ask more firmly.

“I want you to go as my girlfriend this time.”

It’s quiet and rushed, and you have to take a second to make sure you heard it right. Your mind starts reeling, all the little things that had happened since holiday break building in your head. When did this happen? How did you miss that you weren’t the only one with feelings here?

Mike looks horribly nervous so you quickly snap out of your thoughts and nod, telling him, “I’d really like that.”

He lets out a big breath and smiles, laughing a little, “I really thought you were gonna say no. You hesitated a lot.”

“I’m sorry,” you say, scrunching your nose up, “I just had a million thoughts at once. But yeah, I think that sounds pretty nice.”

Mike nods and leans in, one hand sliding up to your hip, squeezing a bit as he kisses you gently. You return it, but instantly it’s not enough. You pull him closer, grabbing his shirt, and kissing him harder. He complies and keeps things going until you have to pull away and catch your breath.

“Wow,” is all you can manage at first, “does this mean I get to steal a sweatshirt to wear to the game finally?”

He smiles, mumbling before kissing you again, “yeah, I don’t care.”

This time the phrase is nicer, holds a much different tone, and yeah, maybe you definitely don’t hate Mike Vorlicky anymore.