#not like a chore or a drag or somewhere else that’s full of my parents

[ajournalingtrex]

throwing the green nook inc tarp over my tumblrs bc we are under construction bby!!! check back with us later!!!

[unfriendthanzeer]

Part One - Dawn

On a fine Sunny day in July 1997, a small quiet village noticed a mother dragging' two little toddlers, two three-year-old twin girls, to a kindergarten daycare situated at the heart of it. They were passing hastily next to a small pond where they can hear the sound of the creek gushing water through the white rocks. They could also see a vibrant Kingfisher, posted on a tree branch, eagerly waiting to snatch its bread- the fish, dwelling in the pond like forever. Although the daycare was a refurbished one-story building, not much to contemplate, there was a partially destroyed well outside its premises and also a big water tank full of guppies and fancy other breeds. There was a 'Welcome to KPS' banner placed on the arch of the building to greet the toddlers who were joining on their first day at the daycare center. Yet hardly possible was for the toddlers to comprehend what it says. The twins were not whining much but there can be seen 'sad' written on their bright faces. They are horrified and crept like any children would on the first few days of daycare. Parents were pushing their kids inside the place but not least outside their hearts. Asna, the younger twin, while the caretaker auntie removed her backpack, noticed a dull and introverted boy sitting on the pony ride toy, swinging back and forth, not looking anywhere but at the floor up front. As the new children saw the new shiny toys their thoughts shifted towards wonderland, like they don't need any other place anymore, not even their own home. Still, Asna was skeptical about his first "boy", perhaps 'scared' is the right word to describe the emotion of a girl at that age. Time passed by, and everyone met each other in their childish 'ways', had milk and biscuits, played with new toys, and took a nap. The clock ticked three-and-a-half. Before they got packed up by the caretaker auntie, they had their 'beauty spa' and tinker. The parents of the kids were eagerly at the gate to embrace their little children and rush home. Qulsum Beevi, the mother of Asma and Asna was delighted to know from the auntie that the children easily coped with the new environment. It was also a refreshing day for their mom because she did chores peacefully except that there wasn't the vibe of her children. When they got home and their mother asked what happened at kindergarten, they had so much to tell. Asma vividly explained all the toys she played with, the boy who kept crying all day, and how she fell. Asna said, "there was a boy on a horse all day". Perhaps that's what the young mind could hold grasp of that strange child. She may have thought she was familiar with him like she has seen him somewhere but she never would have imagined how a life-changer the lad would become for her!

"Silence", shouted Thanzeer, the lonely boy on the pony toy who has become the class leader now, "I will surely write on the board whoever talks". He was assigned on a mission by the Malayalam teacher Hima, who probably be gossiping or babbling at the cafeteria, to write down the names of the kids talking in class. It's been three years now since the first day of school. Thanzeer has grown up to be a "gentleman'. Asna was caught talking, about how was her day yesterday at the movies, to Robin who is the "Arch-Enemy" of Thanzeer. Thanzeer and Robin are forever participating in the "Game of Thrones". "If you keep talking to that Goblin, I swear on my mo..., I swear I will write both of your names," said Thanzeer to Asna and Robin. Sneaky little Robin knows Thanzeer won't write Asna's name. "Go on then, write our names", Robin said. That was when Akash was caught poking Jayasree for a colored pencil. Thanzeer dashed to the board and wrote his name. "I didn't talk!", Akash shouted. "Now you did," said Rajesh. His name was scribed on the board too. Everyone laughed uncontrollably. Silence!, Thanzeer added. The bell rang, "Don't think you all are saved", everyone else had that sarcastic smile, " one day I will get the chance to borrow the "choral stick from the principal's room", the smiles faded together. Thanzeer sits with Asna at lunch, or perhaps all the time. They had a special bond, they were inseparable, and they were "the partners in crime". Robin was jealous of the friendship. Everyone was jealous of Thanzeer and Asna being together, primarily because her name was never written on the board for talking and Asna helps Thanzeer with his assignments. The teachers would not punish them brutally with sticks, but a little spank was cringe to handle. Thanzeer had school-day-song practice with Jayasree, Rajesh, and Ajeesh. Robin and Asma came to Asna to tell their 'Grand plan to cease Thanzeer's Reign of Name-Scribing'. "Asna, listen to this", Asma continued "We can stop Thanzeer from writing our names on the chalkboard by giving gifts our father sends to us from Singapore". "It's called er... briding", Robin added. "Why can't we just stop talking during that time" Asna added, "it's cheating, besides I like him and he is my best friend!". "Not ours", Robin said. "If you don't agree with us now we will tell Hima miss that he once came to school with bubble gum", said Asma. Asna told her "How could you prove it, He will say you are lying". Robin smirked and said, "the whole class has agreed to testify". Asna got into a swirl of tension and confusion. Asma said: "It's just a small thing, you are giving him presents, there is no bad in it, right Robin?". Robin nodded displeased. So Asna agreed that it be kept a secret. Thanzeer eventually listened to Asna. Asna gave him color chalks, lego sets, Singapore-made pencils, color balls, etc... On the contrary, he accepted it without knowing that it was part of an "evil" plan. They had their wondrous moments. Thanzeer would do anything under the sky for her. He thought he will be with her forever but he never knew how a life changer Asna would become for him!

"Everyone, Sit upright!", a silence followed, "Everyone means Thanzeer!". Thanzeer erected his neck from the bench where he was lying down his head and daydreamed, as the teacher was preaching Physics to a half-woke class. He was months away from completing school and joining a college. He doesn't have any idea what he should pursue. He hasn't found his taste, his passion, his spark yet. He is in fact having nightmares instead of daydreams, thinking about the crush, the betrayal, the new one. Yes, Facebook has eaten a good part of his life from him. Yet he was attentive to class. Yet the thought of Asna never crossed his mind in the new millennium. Even when there was a girl named Asna in his class. (to be continued...)

[prankprincess123]

Encanto Parents Headcanons:

Abuela never had the chance to really do any matchmaking, like she tried with Isabella and Mariano, with her girls - although she definitely wanted to - because long before romance became even the vaguest idea in anyones mind it was rare to see either of them without their 'shadows'.

Augustin genuinely doesn't remember a time before he fell in love with Julieta. He was brought to her for healing at 4yo shortly after she got her gift, and just never left, or at least never wandered too far. Every time she heals him for the first few years he just stares in awe, and the emotion never does fade, although he gets better at toning it down and snapping out of it. By the time they were 8&9yo it was acknowledged by even them that without her he'd be dead. Because he was so young when he fell for her though, it takes him forever to realize that his love far exceeds even both best friends and 'she saves my life on an hourly basis'. And even once he realizes this the idea of telling her and being rejected is so terrifying that he stays silent on the matter till she just pulls this gangly boy down and kisses the heck out of him.

Julieta on the other hand found him (and still does to a degree) endlessly exasperating and is convinced that he's going to give her a heartattack someday. The first few times she healed him with the same concern she had for everyone else. But then he kept coming back. And then just not leaving. And she's really grateful for the second because it means he gets better almost as soon as he’s hurt. Because they're just little of course they become almost instant best friends. But his tendency to somehow manage get stung by an enture beehive or both climb and fall out of a tree in the time her back is turned to heal someone else is the most irritating thing in the world. If you ask who her best friend is she doesn't even hesitate to say his name, but she's also just so done with everything he does. And then he actually almost dies one time. And the level of 'NO!' at that prospect makes her realize that somewhere amidst the annoyance she's fallen in love.

Augustin's love starts with the fact that he literally wouldn't be alive without her, and snowballs from there. Julieta's starts with the realization that she couldn't live without this dork no matter how frequently she has to heal him.

Felix and Pepa are another story. There is hardly any time between them meeting and her declaring she's gonna marry him. He's 6yo when the triplets get their gifts, and thinks controlling the weather is the coolest thing ever. So he tells her the first chance he has, which between school and chores and such happens to be a year or so later. And she beams. Full on double rainbow and everyone needs sunglasses. Because she's still just a kid so no one yells at her yet, but she's not oblivious and she can feel the glares when her tantrums accidentally destroy the crops. That alone is enough to cement his place as her best friend for life.

The fact that later that day Felix makes her laugh so hard she cries rather than having to be sad to water the crops makes Pepa drag him to her mama and declare they're getting married someday. Of course Alma just laughs at her little girl and her new best friend, because kids make such claims all the time, but never follow through. Pepa however is stubborn, and Felix is smitten. And as years pass it becomes increasingly obvious that getting married someday wasn't simply a childish claim, but stating a fact.

People almost wonder if Pepa knew she'd marry Felix because Bruno had a vision.

Bruno did indeed have plenty of visions that included the fact that his sisters would both marry their childhood sweethearts, but he never told them. Both Augustin and Felix were such facts of life by the time he realized they'd be his brothers-in-law rather than just all of their best friends that he figured it went without saying.

And all five of them very much were best friends. When one of your triplets comes home with a heart-eyed shadow at such a young age, and announces he's their best friend, there's really no other option than to accept that he's one of your best friends now too.

As soon as they start learning their instruments Felix and Augustin become the musical accompaniment for Bruno's rat puppet shows. It definitely disturbs the adults a little, but the younger kids think it's endlessly amusing. (For a few years at least. As Bruno's visions grow darker and his reputation diminishes, so do their audiences)

Felix is actually Julieta's second most frequent patient, just from lightning zaps alone. She frequently wonders if her sister permanently fried some of his braincells, because he never seems to learn to get out of the blast zone, but also is so glad that he runs towards Pepa to calm her down rather than the other way like everyone else.

Once the triplets are adults Alma does briefly consider attempting to set up an arranged marriage for one or both of her girls. Its not that she disapproves of either young man, merely that on paper they seem not to be the 'best' options. Those musings are quickly shot down however when she finds and questions one of Bruno's vision tablets and he merely shrugs and comments that it's "Augustin teaching our neice piano." Alma merely sighs in exasperation and gives up such silly ideas. She has both the physical evidence in front of her, and her clairvoyant son acting as if such marriages are already a fact of life. She really can't fight that.

Instead she just tries to set Bruno up with someone, with hilariously bad results every time, until she ultimately gives up.

There's one particularly bad date that if mentioned will cause him to turn beet red, look like he wants to die, and attempt to hide in a hole. Meanwhile Pepa, Felix and Agustin will all start cackling, so hard they can't talk, and even years later Julieta has no clue what she missed other than that she had to heal everyone involved afterwards.

[levis-hazelnut]

Levi x Reader Nightmares

Screaming filled your room as your eyes shot open and your body jerked up. You had woken up gasping and a few tears rolled down your face, dropping onto your covers. Dragging a hand up your face and into your (H/C) tresses, you tried to calm yourself down so you could go back to sleep. You laid back down, wiping your tears away and staring up at the ceiling.

You are glad that you requested for your own room because you wouldn't want anyone to see you like this, or for them to wake up because of your screaming and crying.

For a moment, you closed your eyes as you sighed heavily and shook your head to rid of the memory.

"Please! Stop! She can't breathe! Aren't you Military Police meant to help us, not kill us?!"

You clenched your eyes shut as if the nightmare would end. Why does your past still haunt you? Why can't you just forget about it? You hated waking up in the middle of the night nearly every night. Every time, you would wake up panting, or bawling your eyes out, or you would just wake up silently.

You detest people, mostly the Military Police because they are the cause of the nightmares which wake you up every night. They are the reason you can never forget about your past. It's all their fault that you are broken and it will be hard for you to get yourself together again and to rid of those horrible memories.

Slowly drifting back to sleep, you tried your best to shake those flashbacks out of your head so you can continue your sleep without any disturbances from your wretched past from years ago. However, you don't let that bring your morale down. You try to stay as happy as you can so you aren't a burden on anyone else, so you smile your past off. Laughing with other people makes you forget about it.

Sometimes, you really dislike your life and wished you were never born in the first place. But other times, when you are with your comrades, you love living and you're glad you're still alive.

Titans make this a ruthless world. But your comrades cheer you up.

Titans eat and kill your friends. But the remaining ones comfort you.

It's a cycle.

The same thing happens over and over again but it's difficult to get used to it. No matter how many times it happened, you used to react the same as always. Now, you know not to grow too close with anyone because that friendship will disintegrate before your eyes. You don't mourn over them anymore because it always happens and you see no value in it - it won’t bring them back.

When sunlight fingered through your sheer curtains, you woke up after being able to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night. But you were still quite sleep-deprived like you would be any other day. It's unhealthy that you hardly get any sleep, but you can't help it.

Sluggishly, you got ready for the day and walked to the mess hall for breakfast, sitting down on the table where your friends were.

"Hi, guys," you said.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Hello, (Y/N)."

You yawned as you were about to take a bite from your food, so you covered your mouth, having the urge to just rest your head on the table and sleep.

"How come you’re tired? You're lucky to be able to have your own room so no one wakes you up in the middle of the night."

I'm not lucky. I still wake up in the middle of the night and it isn't because of someone, you thought.

"I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Yeah, because I kept you up," Jean smirked.

"Shut up."

"You aren't denying it."

"You weren't the one who caused my lack of sleep," you retorted.

"What was it then?" Connie asked.

"I... just wasn't able to fall asleep," you lied.

"I know something that will tire you out," Jean stated with that smug face, so you rammed your foot into his under the table.

You quickly finished your food and went outside so you could have some peace before the day full of training and chores starts. Strolling far from the castle-like building, you went to a tree and stood beneath it, leaning against the trunk as you stared into the distance with your arms crossed over your chest. There was a slight breeze which rippled through the air and made your hair flow with the rhythm of the wind.

"What are you doing out here, brat?"

"I wanted some peace," you replied.

"... Are you okay?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because the only other room near mine, is yours and I heard someone screaming like they were getting murdered or something."

A shade of red dusted onto your cheeks. Of all people, Levi was the one who had to hear that.

"You were awake?"

"Yeah, I had work to finish off. And even if I was sleeping, I'd probably wake up. What happened?"

"Well, clearly, I wasn't getting murdered. I just had a... nightmare."

"A nightmare made you scream your head off?"

"It wasn't a normal one. It was more like a flashback from my past... I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay... It's kind of cold. Don't you want to be inside?"

"No, I'm fine."

With that, Levi left you alone, going towards the building.

Is there no cure to your nightmares? Is there not something that would allow you to sleep calmly? You have thought about something that will let you sleep in peace, but it's something that will make you sleep forever so you never tried. You didn't like that you actually had thoughts about that. Your life was messed up and it messed up your mind, making you think of unbelievable things.

You wished you could have a normal life. One without despicable people. One without vile titans. One without depression. All you wanted was a cheerful life.

After finished your cleaning duties, you wandered around HQ by yourself since there was nothing else to do.

Your head shot around when you heard someone talk in a cheery voice, thinking it was someone you knew ages ago but it wasn't. It was just some other Scout. They smiled at you and ended up laughing when they noticed that you zoned out, which had brought you back to reality. You gave a slight smile in return, but you immediately turned around and paced through the corridors, going somewhere where it was quiet and you could be alone. You found a dead end and leaned against the wall, sliding down it. Your knees were bent and you crossed your arms on your knees, resting your head in your arms as tears streamed down your face, some landing on your legs and some pattering onto the floor.

That Scout's voice and smile reminded you of Rose - a girl you grew up with. But her life ended before she could even get in trouble with her friends. Before she could run around and play within the walls. Before she could acknowledge what a terrible world it is.

She had ginger kind of hair which only went just above her shoulders. She had glistening, dark blue eyes. She was always happy and always had a smile on her face. Rose was younger than you, but only by two years, and she would call you Big Sis because she said that you reminded her of her sister. She didn't have a family since she had no idea where her parents were, so her sister was her only family, but she got killed by some thugs.

Similar to her, your parents were killed and you were an only child, so you didn’t have a family. You lived in the Underground, which is where you met Rose, along with Abigail. Abigail wasn't as sweet as Rose, but she was caring and didn't like showing it. She was the eldest out of the three of you and she always looked after you and Rose until she left both of you unexpectedly without saying goodbye.

That left you and Rose to live together, stealing together, running together and fighting together.

That all changed when you left Rose somewhere to hide as you went to steal some food. You successfully did and made your way back to her, but when you got to the place you told her to stay, she was nowhere to be seen. You abandoned the food and ran around, searching for her. Eventually, it turned dark and you had to rest, so you could start looking for her again the next day.

As you tried to get some sleep, you couldn't because you needed Rose with you to be able to sleep. She wasn't safe and you knew that. So you began looking for her again, and she was still nowhere to be seen.

Returning to your original spot and that's when you heard Rose's, normally delicate voice, screaming. You jogged to her screams which were then silenced before you heard gasping like she was struggling to breathe. You gasped as well when you saw Rose trying to get air into her lungs. A hand was wrapped around her neck and she was lifted off the floor, pushed against the cold, stone wall. You knew the uniform that the person was wearing - it was the uniform of Military Police.

"Please! Stop! She can't breathe! Aren't you MPs meant to help us not kill us?!"

You were about to rush towards her but a hand gripped your wrist, making you turn your head around. Another Military Police. You tried shaking his hand off but he wouldn't budge. He put a hand on your mouth and dragged you away before knocking you out.

When you woke up, you were kneeling down and your hands were tied behind your back. A rope was also tied around your ankles. You realised that you were positioned to look at Rose being harmed. When you saw her being slapped continuously on her cheeks, you widened your eyes and tried shouting. Her face was bright red and it looked like she was about to give out any second. There were bruises around her eyes and lip and a few cuts on her face.

What did they do while you were unconscious? Again, you tried shouting but you were gagged and anything you said was muffled. Tears ran down your face as you couldn't do anything, but watch.

The two Military Police stopped slapping her and started to kick her and knee her and punch her.

Why are they doing this?

After a while, you got so agitated that you looked for anything that would cut you out of the ropes. You noticed a dagger beside you so laid on your side and wiggled your fingers about to try and reach it. Once you got it in your hand, you started slicing at the rope which tied your wrists together. When that was done, you were able to easily cut through the ropes on your ankles.

However, when you were free, you realised that Rose wasn't moving and it didn't look like she was breathing. Her eyes were still open and blood leaked from her head.

The salty liquid left your eyes once again. You weren't going to run towards her, there was no chance in saving her, so you sprinted away in the other direction, as far as you could go.

A few years later, you joined the Scout Regiment and found out that that's where Abigail had come to. You were elated that you were reunited and you told her about Rose.

After a few months of being a Scout, Abigail had left you as well. On an expedition, she was grabbed by a Titan and she squirmed in its hand. The crack of her bones echoed in your ears and blood sputtered everywhere. Why were you always around death?

And that's what happened in your past. That's why you have nightmares nearly every night. That's why you can't sleep peacefully. That's why you are crying, right now.

As you quietly sobbed, you heard footsteps approach you but you didn't move. They sat down next to you as you continued crying. You glanced up when you felt a hand tap the top of your head in a caring way. The way Abigail would when you or Rose would be upset.

"W-What are you d-doing?" you stuttered, burying your face in your arms.

"Why are you crying?" Levi replied.

No words were able to leave your mouth; you had to calm down before you could speak to Levi or anyone.

Around twenty minutes passed and Levi was still by your side, he didn't say anything, nor did you. When you brushed your tears away and blew your nose into a tissue he handed to you, you told him about your life and why you have nightmares.

"My life is cursed. I'll lose all those who are close to me," you muttered once you told him everything.

"You aren't cursed, brat."

"Why can't I get rid of my memories? Why are they engraved into my brain so I never forget them?"

"You needed to let it all out and you needed to talk to someone about it. You might be able to sleep properly now."

"What if I still can't?" you asked quietly.

"You need someone by your side to comfort you. You can't deal with your problems by yourself."

"And who is that ‘someone’?"

"I don't know. Someone you trust or someone you have a liking to."

"I don't really trust anyone. And I don't think the person I like will want to help me with my problems."

"Why did you tell me about your past then? Do you trust me?"

"I, uhh... I don't know. I just let it all out like you said I needed to."

"Would you have done that if it was someone else?"

"I don't... think so."

"So do you trust me?"

"I guess."

"Then, I'll be there if you need me."

"Really?" You arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah. And why do you think that the person you like won't help you with your problems?"

"Well, I know they will now," you told him, kind of hinting that you were talking about him.

"What made you change your mind?"

"Um... because at first, they seem like someone who doesn't care about anyone, but once you get to know them better, they're really soft-hearted."

"Sounds like someone I know." He lifted an eyebrow.

"You know them very well."

"Should I guess who it is?"

"You have one guess."

"Is it me?"

"Yes..." you barely uttered.

"I like you, too," the raven whispered before softly moulding his lips with yours.

It was a short, sweet kiss that left a smile on your lips when you pulled away. Levi tucked a bunch of hair behind your ear and lightly caressed your face. A yawn left your mouth, so you laid your head on the male’s shoulder and fluttered your eyes closed.

"I want to sleep," you murmured.

"Have you finished your chores?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you sleep in a bed?"

"I'm not bothered."

"Tch. Lazy a*s."

"Shhh.”

Levi stayed silent as he allowed you to lay your head on his shoulder as your body was pressed up against his. With some reluctance, he rested his own head upon yours and put a hand on your lap, causing you to flinched, but then. you put your hand on top of his, and he softly stroked it with his thumb.

"Who's there?" a voice muttered to themselves. "Oh. It's just you guys,” Hanji said. She walked away, but her footsteps backed up to where you were. "What?!" she yelled, making you jump.

"What the hell, Hanji?" you snapped.

"When did this happen?!"

"Like five minutes ago."

"Aw! Okay, bye! Sorry for disturbing you!"

She squealed as she skipped away like a schoolgirl. You sighed before standing up and dusting your clothes.

"Where are you going?"

"To a bed."

"You can sleep in mine if you want."

"It's fine. I want my bed."

He nodded as he stood up and followed you, pecking your cheek before you entered your room and he went into his office.

You felt giddy as you laid in your bed, thinking about Levi and what happened, allowing you to fall asleep with a smile on your face.

A few months later...

Screaming filled your room as your eyes shot open and your body jerked up. You had woken up gasping and a few tears rolled down your face, dropping onto your covers. Dragging a hand up your face and into your (H/C) tresses, you tried to calm yourself down so you could go back to sleep. You leaned against the headboard of the bed, and felt fingers gingerly brush away your tears.

Turning your head to the side to look at the raven beside you, he sat up and kissed your cheek before embracing you into a hug. You flung your arms around him and cried into his shoulder as he comforted you, gently stroking your back.

"Shh. It's okay," Levi whispered. “I’m here. You’re okay.”

You slowly quietened down and rid of the tears that were still on your cheek. "Sorry," you spoke quietly.

"For what?"

"Waking you up."

"Don't be sorry."

"But don't you get annoyed that I wake you up by screaming?"

"No. I said I'll be here for you and I'll help you with your problems."

"Thank you, Levi,” you smiled softly, leaning your forehead against his.

He placed his lips on yours. "Anything for you."

Since you were now calm, you reclined onto your back and Levi did the same, looping his arms around your waist and pulling you close to him. Your head rested on his bare chest as he kissed the top of your head and closed his eyes.

You won't have to deal with your nightmares, which scarred you, by yourself anymore. You have Levi who will comfort you, help you and protect you. It's rare for you to have nightmares now, but they still happen and he is always by your side to keep you safe and to calm you down.

[lassieposting]

Any alive! Skulduggery hcs that you haven't shared? I live by your version of him tbh

Hi anon! I think I covered skug's backstory up to when he signs up to fight and then skipped ahead to when he meets his wife, so you can have the Early War Years

- so when we left skug, he'd been on the pirate adventure and essentially moved in with ghastly's family at age 16, and that's where he stays for the next three years. Ghastly's father introduces him to taking pride in his appearance, Ghastly introduces him to Hopeless, and Ghastly's mother Saoirse introduces him to three things: motherly love, household chores, and the back of her hand for swearing in the house. He settles into the family, flirts with the prettiest local girls, develops an allergy to manual labour, and starts Experimenting™ with Ghastly, who's absolutely besotted with him.

- at 19, he has his surge, and it's bad. Ghastly has his a few months earlier, and it wasn't pleasant, but Ghastly was always going to be an elemental. He was sick and achy for a few days and howling in pain for just one or two. Skug expects much the same: he hasn't used necromancy in years, and he's had the best elemental tutors his parents could find.

- But he's inherited an insanely strong necromancy gene from his biological father, and an insanely strong elemental gene from his mother, and his surge ultimately comes down to two branches of magic trying to destroy each other to be the last gene standing. His temperature skyrockets as the elemental gene tries to burn the necromancy out of him. What looks like black blood seeps from his eyes and his nose and the corner of his mouth. His veins go black as the shadows retaliate. It goes on for days. Ghastly's mother is beside herself trying to get water into him so he doesn't die of thirst.

- If he hadn't also inherited the extremely rare genetic abnormality responsible for magical ambidexterity, his surge would've killed him. But he did, so it doesn't, and eventually he comes out of it and spends the next six months or so just recovering.

- at this point, the sanctuary is pushing recruitment. Ghastly doesn't look twice at the posters, but skug does. Ghastly's whole world is his family, their farm, and his father's tailoring business. But skug's father is a diplomat, he's got extended family involved in the war, he was supposed to go to a fancy French university that ended up being burned down during an attack by some pro-Mevolent riots, he's had to field questions from smaller siblings about when - and if - their dad would be coming home. He's highly educated, politically savvy, and emotionally involved. He decides he wants to sign up to fight.

- Saoirse does her best to talk him out of it, but skug is skug, and he digs his heels in and insists this is what he wants to do. He's going to join the war effort.

- Ghastly and Hopeless think it over and decide to join up with him. Hopeless, because he's an idealistic young man looking for glory, and Ghastly because someone has to watch skulduggery's back and keep him out of trouble, or he'll get himself shot long before he gets to set foot on a battlefield.

- honestly, ghastly isn't expecting skug to last long in the army. Skug is a pampered spoiled rich brat, and he's about to be surrounded by people who will scream in his face and make him do drills and expect him to obey orders, and he thinks it will take a few weeks tops before skug wants to desert

- that is. Not what happens

- like. none of them like it very much to begin with. hopeless has never had to do this much exercise in his life, and he hates it. ghastly is lonely and homesick and just wants to go back to dublin. and their first CO decides he hates skug on like, their first day of training, because he's a smart-mouthed arrogant asshole who's never had to be afraid of anything but his own father, and he does not react well to being ridiculed during drills. skug's ego takes a good solid battering because the other enlistees don't appreciate being given extra chores as punishment for him mouthing off, ghastly has to crack some skulls to make sure he won't be bullied for his scars, hopeless doesn't quite fit in and gets some nasty ribbing over it

- but also? they've got untapped talent, all three of them. they end up black ops fighters for a reason. hopeless tops the class for intelligence and undercover operations, because he can become anyone. ghastly is strong and level-headed and does well under pressure. and skulduggery is a natural leader, a ruthless tactician, and has a tendency to pull off insane plans that would go horribly for anyone else.

- they survive basic training. they get sent into the field. and ghastly and hopeless find that they're actually pretty good at this. they earn the respect of the rest of their platoon. and skulduggery? he starts to thrive

- this is the era of wealthy aristocrats buying their way into leadership positions they don't have the experience or common sense to do well in. almost none of the lower-class soldiers have any patience for it, but as a fellow aristo Skug has the social standing to call them out on it, so he still has a habit of making enemies of his commanding officers. he resents being handed orders by men who are less than he is, less clever, less observant, less capable. he goes out of his way to prove that his way of doing things is better.

- and? it works for him, sort of. he gets promoted several times - first he's pulled out of the enlisted ranks to be trained up as an officer, then he makes lieutenant, then captain - partly because he's Challenging to deal with and partly because he's becoming incredibly competent. it's fairly common for skug to get a flogging (for disobeying orders) and a promotion (because it worked out well for him) simultaneously. he has quite a few stripes by the time he meets wifey. when he starts being given command of a squad of his own, he takes ghastly with him as his number two, and hopeless comes along for the ride.

- at some point, skug gets palmed off on then-colonel corrival deuce. it's phrased as "oh here i'll give you some of my best men", but corrival is experienced enough to recognise "god please take this one off my hands im begging you" when he sees it, and sure enough, he butts heads with skug almost as soon as they're introduced.

- by this point skulduggery's men have developed a reputation for being a bit wild, and they're very loyal to him, so corrival has his work cut out. but? he's got a bit of a different approach to a lot of his fellow officers, because he came up through the ranks himself. so instead of locking horns with skug and trying to flog him into compliance, he turns skug into his pet project, his protégé. he gives him a loose rein, defends his decisions to the higher-ups, and doesn't interfere too much with how skug runs his team, but he also doesn't tolerate backtalk, bullshit or cheek. he's the stern-but-fair mentor figure - the Captain Holt/Captain Pellew/Lord Wellington to skug's Peralta/Hornblower/Sharpe. and skug's never had a very involved father figure, because ghastly's father is massively introverted and his own was short-tempered and perpetually disappointed in him, so corrival trips his "kids want boundaries" switch and actually wins him over.

- corrival hangs onto him after that. as he gets promoted and moved around, skug goes with him, and by extension so do his team. corrival learns to use the sensible members of the group - ghastly and hopeless, then erskine - to triangulate skug and stop his temper getting the better of him. he's incredibly proud of his chosen men, and all three of them really come into their own under his guidance. skug turns down promotion a couple times because it would mean a change of CO, and he knows there aren't many people he'd take orders from anymore.

- and then skug meets wifey.

- when skug gets married, neither his mother or father attend. they don't approve of wifey or her pitiful dowry. they assume, as does kenspeckle, that he's marrying her to Do The Decent Thing because he's knocked her up, and his father reassures him that he doesn't have to marry the girl, just send her somewhere far away and send her money to support her brat, and this whole sorry indiscretion can be put behind him. skug is. furious. he was smart enough not to take wifey with him to announce the engagement, and he ends up having a screaming match with his father that ends with him a) walking out and b) getting disinherited. he marries her anyway, and despite mr and mrs pleasant senior snubbing the whole event, he's got a full complement of parents there all the same - ghastly's parents turn up, and so does corrival.

- it's a military thing - skug's in his military dress uniform, they cut the cake with his sword - the parade sword, at least, the one he's never actually used, they walk out of the venue through the sword arch and skug's team do the rifle salute. ghastly's mother drags him to one side, pulls him down by the shirtfront to fuss over his hair and try to make it lay flat, licks her thumb and wipes a smudge off his cheek, embarrasses him in front of all his friends. then corrival snags him while they're waiting for the bride, tells him off for not having perfectly shiny buttons, redoes his collar for him, and tells him, "You'll do" like he isn't about to cry a lil. he offers skug some whiskey from his flask "for courage" and without really thinking skug says he doesn't need it because he's never been so sure about anything in his life and corrival is just. he's fine. he's not choked up at all. stand up straight, boy, for god's sake.

- he also makes a speech ghastly still brings up hundreds of years later, because it's the soppiest the old man ever got with any of them. along the lines of "i never had a son, and if i had, i like to think he would've turned out absolutely nothing like you, because you are single-handedly the reason i am going grey several hundred years ahead of schedule. that being said, i couldn't be prouder of the man you've become; you are at least half as stubborn and annoying now as you were when i met you, and i think i can claim at least some of the credit." and then, to wifey, "as to you, my dear, you have freed me, this monster is yours now. to your health, and my heartiest hopes that your future children turn out like you, because one of him is plenty."

- wifey laughs until her sides hurt and she's wheezing. skug pretends he's offended. ghastly wolf-whistles noisily and gets clipped round the ear by his mama. corrival tears up a little in the middle of his speech and clears his throat to hide it. and when it's all over and they're about to leave, wifey thanks him for coming because she knows it meant a lot to skug, and he promises her he'll do his best to bring skug home safe and sound until this damnable war is over.

(he wishes he'd been able to keep that promise until the day he dies)

[inthelonelycoolbeforedawn]

Harringrove April Days 23 & 26: Picnic & Easy

Harrington & Holloway had a reputation as one of the best law firms in all of Indiana.

It was just as well-known for its annual company picnic.

The picnic was a tradition begun years ago, when Edward Harrington and Tom Holloway first started the firm. It had grown over time from a BBQ at the park to a full catered event at the Hawkins fairgrounds, complete with live entertainment and various activities for everyone from kids to adults.

As the boss' son, Steve was expected to attend every year. It was okay when he was a kid and spent his time playing with Heather, Tommy, and everyone else. But as he got older and friendships changed or disappeared, and the 'happy family' facade his parents insisted on in public became harder to maintain, the picnic became more of a chore, even something to dread.

Leaning against an oak tree at the edge of the fairgrounds, away from the crowds and music, Steve's thoughts drifted to last year's picnic. Last year he'd brought Nancy. She was his first serious girlfriend, beautiful and intelligent and fearless. She got into an argument with one of the junior partners about inequality in the criminal justice system and it ended with the man stomping off like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Steve couldn't quite follow the discussion but at that moment he knew he loved her.

Over the next few months, though, they'd drifted apart. Nancy was ambitious and sure of herself. Steve wanted to do good, to be something more than his father's son, handed everything as he drifted through life. He just didn't know what that 'more' was.

So he hadn't been entirely surprised when they broke up. They stayed friends, and when Nancy announced she was dating Jonathan Byers he was genuinely happy for them. They shared similar interests and were a good match, better than he and Nancy had ever been.

He just kept hoping he'd meet his perfect match, that his true love was somewhere out there, waiting for him.

"Steve!"

Heather's excited voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he straightened up as she and Robin hurried towards him, hand in hand, both of them grinning.

"Oh my god, dingus, we were looking everywhere for you," Robin said.

"I just needed a break," Steve said. He rolled his eyes. "I can only hear 'why aren't you going to college this year', 'do you have a girlfriend', 'what about your career plans' so many times before I snap."

Heather and Robin exchanged a look, then their smiles became even wider.

"Hey, what's that?" Steve asked, noticing something on their faces.

Heather tilted her head to give him a better view of the rainbow painted on her right cheek. It matched the one on Robin's.

"That's why we were looking for you," Heather said, her dark eyes sparkling. "You've got to get your face painted, too."

"Nah, I don't think so," Steve said.

"No, you really do," Robin said, taking his hand and tugging. "C'mon!"

"Okay, Jesus," Steve said, letting himself be led.

He perked up a bit as they walked, buoyed by Robin and Heather's enthusiasm. Heather was like a sister to him, and he and Robin had become good friends in the two months Heather and Robin had been dating. Being around them never failed to cheer him up.

They dragged him to a tent where several people, mostly little kids and a few teenagers, waited to get their faces painted.

Steve felt awkward being the oldest person in line, but Robin and Heather stood with him. And when they reached the front and he got a good look at the face paint artist, he forgot all about the other people around him.

The face painter was a guy who looked about his age, blonde curls pulled up in a messy bun. He was wearing a red shirt with two buttons undone that showed off his muscular build. But he appeared surprisingly gentle as he drew a glittery flower on a little girl's cheek. Steve could see his tongue poking out between his teeth ever so slightly as he concentrated.

The guy finished and held up a mirror so the girl could see her flower. She grinned, then ran off to show her mother, waiting nearby. The guy looked up, a big smile on his face to greet his next customer.

So distracted by staring at the face painter, Steve didn't realize he was the next customer until Robin nudged him.

"Get going, dingus," she said, Heather giggling beside her.

Steve tried to glare at them and ended up almost tripping over his feet as he crossed the short distance and dropped unceremoniously into the chair near the face painter.

"Well, well, well," the guy said, aiming his blinding smile straight at Steve. His eyes were bright blue, almost the color of the summer sky, and Steve noticed he had a small gold hoop in one ear. "What can I do for you?"

Steve realized he probably should have thought of something. "Um...I'm not sure?"

"I've got some designs here you can pick from," the guy said, reaching for a photo album. "Or I can come up with something just for you."

Steve gulped.

"Uh, surprise me, I guess," he said. "Just, nothing too wild?"

The guy's grin turned softer. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of you."

He studied Steve for a moment, as if thinking, then picked up a brush.

"Turn your head," he said.

Steve obeyed, shifting in the chair so the left side of his face was exposed. He almost jumped at the first touch of the cool paint against his skin but as the guy worked, he relaxed. The guy's hand was steady but gentle, and occasionally Steve felt his breath against his cheek when he leaned in to touch up a spot.

He felt a twinge of disappointment when the guy set his brush down, sat back, and said, "All done. Ready to see?"

Steve managed a grin. "Yep."

The guy lifted his mirror. Steve was almost afraid to look, but as soon as he saw his face he couldn't tear his eyes away.

A dolphin in shades of blue and gray curled along his forehead, past his eye, and down his cheek. Dots and swirls of white and lighter blue created waves around it.

"Wow," Steve breathed. He looked at himself again, then back at the guy. "You're really good, man."

The guy's eyes widened slightly, as if he was surprised. "Thanks." The blinding, charming grin appeared again. "It's easy to work on a pretty face like yours though."

Steve blurted it out before he thought.

"Like mine? Have you ever looked in a mirror?"

The guy laughed, still watching him.

"Once or twice," he said, teasing.

Steve knew he should get going, find Robin and Heather and let the next kid in line have their turn.

"Well." He opened his mouth to thank the guy again, but instead he heard himself say, "You get a break or something, right? Do you wanna grab something to eat?"

"That'd be great," the guy said. "I'm Billy, by the way."

"Steve." Steve automatically held out his hand, years of polite introductions and handshakes drilled into him, and just as quickly wished he could take it back.

But Billy clasped it in his own hand, giving his fingers a gentle squeeze. "Nice to meet you, Steve. Let me just clean up here."

Steve waited while he set out a sign saying 'Back in 30 minutes' and put away his paints, brushes, and other supplies.

They set off towards the food tent, falling into conversation as if they'd known each other for years. By the time they sat down at a picnic table with ice-cold cans of soda and plates piled with burgers, salads, and potato chips, Steve had learned Billy had recently moved from California with his stepmom and stepsister.

"Susan's got family here," he explained. "So she came here to be close to them and away from my asshole father. I was lucky she got custody and brought me too."

"Do you miss it?" Steve asked. "I mean, coming from California to good old Hawkins - that's gotta be tough."

"Yeah, it is," Billy said. "I miss the ocean. Surfing in the early morning when there's not many people around - there's nothing else like it. Sometimes I'd even see dolphins. Once one swam right up next to me." His eyes shone with excitement. "That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen."

"Wow." Steve used his fork to poke at his potato salad. "So is that why you drew a dolphin on me?"

"That, and I just like them." Billy looked directly at Steve, a small smile on his lips. "They're smart, playful. Beautiful."

Steve stuffed a forkful of salad in his mouth and chewed while he considered what to say. When he'd swallowed he took a deep breath.

"I think there are some dolphins at the Indianapolis Zoo," he said, trying to sound casual. "Maybe we could go and see them sometime. If you wanted."

Billy's smile widened. "I'd like that, pretty boy."

Steve smiled back.

*

When the Harrington & Holloway company picnic rolled around the following year, Steve wasn't there.

He was lying on a beach with Billy, the two of them celebrating the end of their first year at UCLA with an entire weekend doing nothing but surfing, hanging out at the beach, and having sex on every available surface in their dorm room.

Steve still couldn't quite believe how easy it was being with Billy, how easily everything had fallen into place in the past year. After hitting it off at the picnic he and Billy began dating and were soon deeply in love. He'd picked up some pamphlets at the zoo the first time they went there, and that led to an interest in environmental issues and conservation. He'd applied to environmental science programs when Billy applied to art school, and they both got into UCLA.

Robin and Heather, who were both studying social work in Chicago, had been thrilled when Steve told them about his plans to move to California and go to school with Billy. The four of them had double-dated several times during the year, and they were excited that Steve had not only found a loving boyfriend but an academic and career path he was passionate about. They'd promised to come for a visit over the summer, and Steve couldn't wait to see them.

Even Nancy was happy for him when she heard the news. She'd hugged him and said good for you, Steve Harrington with a big smile that made Steve glow with pride. He talked to her and Jonathan once in a while, and he was glad they were happy at NYU, supporting various causes and fighting for what they believed in.

The only people who weren't happy with his decisions were his parents. But they couldn't stop him, and although Steve still loved them, he didn't want to live their life or the life they'd planned for him.

"What are you thinking about, baby?" Billy murmured, rolling onto his side to run his fingertip up Steve's arm.

"Us." Steve flapped his hand to indicate everything around them. "This."

He turned his head towards his boyfriend and pressed a kiss to Billy's lips, the action familiar from repetition and even sweeter for its familiarity.

They smiled at each other when they parted, then settled back onto their towels and laid there holding hands, comfortable and content.

[rimaiahwrites]

Slumber party—

Part five

Israel was sitting in her room with a thick book pressed in between her fingers while her cute round glasses hung on the tip of her nose. Since it was Friday, It was a chill day for her. She had no chores or errands to run because she had gotten them all done the day before, so that meant it was just going to be herself, her books, silence, And her baby turtle Franklin, of course. He was cute, small and a bit smelly but he was one of her first friend.

Israel slightly jumped from the screeching sound of her window Flying open and hitting her wall, with a loud slam.

The weather was a bit breezy today but Israel loved when it was like this. The sound of the wind blowing against her window and The soothing clicks and clacks of her mother Wind chimes hitting against each other. It triggered a feeling In her that was hard to explain... It brought her back to a place she missed dearly, her childhood. Summers at her grandparents house playing outside, and sleeping in a full size bed with four of her cousins, scratched up together with nothing to cool them down but the loud fan in the window.

it was a feeling that only lasted seconds before life pulled her back to the harsh reality that she was grown and had responsibilities.

She got up from her window seat and shut it. She glanced out the window and her eyes drifted over to the site of her parents loading the car up with what looked to be suit cases. Her eyes frowned in confusion before she throw her book on the bed and jogged down the crackling stairs. The front door opened before she could reach the bottom of the stairs, her mom came in frantically looking around the room like she was looking for something.

"Mom where are y'all going?" She asked concerned at this point. She had only seen her mother like this once, and that was when her oldest brother got arrested. That was another story for a different day.

Isabel finally grabbed her keys and headed for the door not even hearing her daughters question. Israel followed her outside and grabbed the car door before she could close it. "Where are you going? What happened?" Her mother let out a huff since she was out of breath from running around the house grabbing things.

"your aunt got into a really bad accident this morning, so me and your dad is catching a flight to Chicago to make sure she already, this was the earliest flight we could catch. We're probably gonna have to stay a week or two since she has no one to take care of her. Call and Tell your brothers we're leaving, and make sure to lock the door." Her mom yelled out the car window as her father drove out of the driveway slowly as Israel stood there dumbfounded by the news. She watched as they drove away. It more then odd but why would her mother lie about her sister being in a car crash? She shrugged before going back into the house.

She sat on her knees in front of the couch with her Palms facing The ceiling saying a quick prayer for her aunt before hopping up with a squeal.

She felt bad for her aunt...(even though she only met her once when she was about ten) she really did....but that didn't mean she wasn't excited to have the whole house to herself for the day. Having three older brothers will leave you drained and in-dire need to some privacy and alone time.

She decided it was the perfect time for her pamper routine she tried to do every week.

She jogged up the stairs before grabbing her speaker and phone. She Blue-toothed it to the speaker. Soothing music was a very important part of the routine, or else it was boring. She turn on her Noel soul/feminine empowering play list. Which was full of, erykah-badu, Ari Lennox, Lauryn Hill and Solange, plus more amazing female artists.

She ran her bath water hot, and clear of soap since she was very sensitive in her lower half area. She pull flower prattles in the water to make it look pretty before adding a few drops of some scented oils.

Her bathroom smelled of vanilla.

She stood in-front of her bathroom mirror, slowly swaying her body to the beat and voice of Ari Lennox. Backseat.

Israel dragged her oversized shirt over her head, and slowly dragged the thick fabric of her white sweatpants down her smooth pretty brown legs. She turned away from the mirror and dipped her foot in first before fulling sitting down in the hot water. She took a breath of relief.

She reached over her bathtub to grabbed the book she was reading. 'How to embrace your feminine' it read on the cover, in big bold pink lettering. She was very interested in the topic lately. And it was differently helping her embrace her feminine side more and more. Her mother, of course taught her the basics such as, how to properly clean herself and to cross her legs when she sat, but it was so much more to it then just making sure to cross your legs when you sit.

It was WAY deeper then that. It was the way you dressed, acted, speak.

When you hear that it may seem a bit intimidating but it truly changed the way the whole world looked at you, especially as a brown/dark skin women, Since they were seen as aggressive, anger, and bitter by Society for whatever reason.

It hurt a bit to know you have to change yourself for society to except you, but Israel wanted this. Ever since she was a young girl but never knew how To express her girly side since she was mainly around her older brothers.

A hour later, her music was interrupted by her phone ringing and she sat her book down on her sink before standing up from the water and stepping out, dripping water everywhere.

"Erik." She whispered, a grin spreading on her glossy lips, as she stared down at her phone screen. She jumped on her bed and unplugged it. "hello?" She answered, her voice getting softly automatically.

"Wassup babygirl, what you doing?" He asked, putting his phone on speaker so he could set it down on the floor next to him. Grunting as he pulled himself up, his chin tapping the pull up bar slightly before he lower himself, repeating it over.

She stood up from her bed and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around her breasts. She walked back into her bathroom and drained the now lukewarm bath water. "just got out the tube, and about to shave, exfoliate and put a face mask on." She giggled softly.

"Damn that sounds good as fuck right now, you mind coming over and pampering me?" He half joke, chuckling before jumping down from the pull-up bar to grab his ice cold water. She laughed throwing her head back. "Awww poor baby, you sore?" He sighed laying down on his mat. his hands on his head, feeling the soreness really kick in. It was most likely gonna be worst tomorrow.

"Hell yeah...my legs, arms and stomach feel like they just ran over."

"Why do you work yourself so hard Erik?" Things got quite on his side, she looked at her screen wondering why he was speaking. He was staring off into the distance with his lip in between his teeth. "Because I got some important shit to get done..." he tailed off.

"Life changing shit. Get ready I'm about to pick you up." She chuckled rolling her eyes, dipping her fingers in to the clay face mask that she was in love with. It made her skin so soft and scar free. It was a very important part of her skin care routine.

"How you know I wanna go somewhere with you?" He chuckled standing up from the floor taking the phone with him.

"Cuz you ain't got shit else to do." She opened and closed her mouth, offended but know he was right.

"Fine I guess, but this time I get to stay out how ever late I want since my parents are out of town." She cheered brightly. Smiling into the camera with her gray face mask on. Then She gasped As a genius idea popped into her head. "Oh my gosh can we have a sleep over at your house? That would be so fun!" Erik on the other side of the phone sorted. "A sleep over? What is this 5th grade?" Well shit. Israel thought putting a pout on her face.

"Well I wouldn't know since I never got to have a sleep over or go to a sleep over before of my parents." Having strict parents was a struggle. She knew that they only did it to protect her but she feels like she missed out on a lot stuff when she was a child.

"We ain't having no damn sleep over." He said sternly, pouring some cold water in his glass water bottle. Israel pout got bigger but Erik ignored her. Israel stomped her bare foot on the ground, the smacking sound catching his attention. "Please? Pleeeeeeease! We can get candy, movies blankets the whole thing....pretty please? With a cherry on top?" Erik sighed harshly staring at her with a bored expression. "Alright whatever Sasha, start packing ya shit, imma be there in like 30 minutes." He said chuckling before hanging up on her before she could ask why he called her Sasha. She laughed at the fact that he thought it was only gonna take her 30 minutes to get ready.

Israel shrugged and ran back into her bathroom to shaved, deep condition her kinky curls and moistures her whole body.

a horn honk was heard two times and Israel already knew it was Erik so she didn't bother looking out the window. She ran down the stairs and out the front door with her big brightly blue duffel bag. She locked the door before skipping off the porch happily, with a big grin on her face, Her big duffle bag swinging around from her running.

"Look at her spoiled goofy ass." He mumbled to himself smirking.

"You're 2 hours and 15 minutes late." She stated jokily because sliding into the passenger seat. He chuckled dryly. "Ha ha I was low key rethinking this whole thing to be honest."

Bold.

Israel had been trying to think of a word to describe him and one of them was bold. He didn't really have a filter...or maybe he just didn't really care about other people's feelings. Not saying that it hurt her feeling because she knew he was only joking...probably.

"Stop acting like you wasn't the one that asked me to come with you. You don't be having anything to do ether." She assed back, cutting her eyes at him. Only making him chuckled.

"What the fuck is in that bag? You pack ya whole room?" She rolled her eyes before unzipping it to show him everything.

"No, I just brought some of my favorite movies, some popcorn and the rest is some clothes and stuff."

"The notebook?" He said eyeing it in disgusted, picking it up and throwing it back into her bag.

"What? What's wrong with the notebook? It's a really sad and loving story." She defended her favorite movie hugging it to her chest. "That shit is so soppy-" she smacked her lips. "Ok and? You probably only watch thug where the main character always dies in the end from some gang related shit." Erik sat quietly because she was right. She snickered shaking her head.

"Yeah but that's real life shit, niggas die every in the hood but how likely is it that you meet this girl in high school, y'all parents make y'all break up on some Romeo and Juliet type shit then years later y'all find each other when one of y'all about to get married then y'all fuck fall in love again them find out whole time the bitch had short term memory lose-" Israel gasped at his harsh words, smacking him on the arm. "Erik!" She screamed covering her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"That's shit is just not possible." He shrugged stopping at a red light.

"You're just looking at it In the wrong way- she grabbed the movie case looking at the back of it. -think of it like this, they had a love so strong that even years later they were still in love with each other, even after ally found love again there was no love compared to the love she had for Noah." She sighed batting her eyelashes towards the blue sky, like she looking at the love of her life.

"It's a beautiful story Erik." He rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath. "I still don't want to watch that shit but ok."

-

Erik unlocked his front door to his house and Israel stepped in.

His house smelled like him- was the first thing Israel thought, while spinning around to get a full look at the house from the door way.

Since it was a loft his Kitchen, living room and bedroom was all in one room, basically, Except you had to go up stairs to get to his bed. And it was all decorated with a African theme. Masks and ancient looking spears and weapons hung on the wall almost like in a museum. Israel was so intrigued She forgot Erik was even standing there. "Wow..." she whispered reaching out to touch The long sliver spear. "You like it?" Erik whispered in her ear making goosebumps appear on her arms The back of her neck. "Yeah...it's beautiful, where you get it? Is it real?" She said dragging her finger tips down the front of it feeling it's smooth texture. "You mean is it from a real African tribe? Yes it's is, it from a tribe of women." Israel's eyes lit up brightly.

"You have so many cool things up here." He nodded watching her look closely at everything. He went to the kitchen to let her explore a little while he popped the popcorn for the movie. Eventually she walked into the kitchen to find Erik pouring the bag of popcorn into a big bowl for the both of them to share.

"You have a beautiful home." She complemented him as he passed the bowl over for her to grab some. She stuffed her mouth full as she grabbed the bowl. "Thanks, Damn slow down mamas it's not gonna run from you shit." He mumbled watching her barely be able to swallow the rest that was in her mouth before a another hand full was in her mouth. "My bad, it's a habit." She laughed chewing slowly now.

"Nah yo ass just always hungry." He joked. teasingly poking her in the side, making her squirm from how ticklish she was.

"stop that!" She groans smacking his hand before grabbing a another handful of pop corn.

______

Israel plopped down on Erik's bed as he turned on his projector and set everything up for the movie.

She loved it here, his whole loft was a vibe. From the front door to his bedroom— his bedroom was probably her favorite part since she has never really seen anything like this.

"What are we watching?" Israel asked innocently looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"IT." He shrugged clicking on the movie before walking back over to the bed to sit next to her.

"but...I don't want to watch it..." she tilted her head to the side, sticking her bottom lip out at him. "Oh come on you cry baby you'll be fine, ain't no clown ass nigga bout to come in here and get you, and if they tried I'll kill his ass." He said making her laugh out. "I still don't want to watch this shit, imma be scared to night...I'm going to be by myself all weekend most likely and you live all the way out here so what you gonna do?" He only chuckled and hushed her pressing play on the movie.

Israel hide herself on the side of Erik as it began.

-

A hour and 5 minutes later A jump scare popped on the screen and Israel jerked so hard the popcorn spilled over landing on Erik's lap. Erik on the other hand was unfazed and haven't jumped not once yet, and it was annoying Israel. "You're making me look like a scary cat damn...at least jump once." She mumbled cutting her eyes his way. "Because it's not scary, you just a pussy." She gasped and smack him on the arm playfully. He chuckled and throw a piece of popcorn at her face that she throw back without a hesitation and then that turned into a popcorn fight.

Israel throw a hand full of popcorn and Erik won by dumping the whole bowl onto her head. "Erik! That's not fair!" He stuck his tongue out at her and hopped off the bed before she could throw more at him. "I won fair and Square, don't be a sore loser." He chuckled as she sat on her legs with a pout on her face and her arms crossed over her chest with the bowl on her head. "Stop making that face before I come over there and attack your cute ass."

"You always cheat when we play games....like last night when we played 8 ball-"

"I didn't cheat you just trying to make yourself feel better because you know you suck ass." Israel mouth hang open in fake shock and Erik tossed a piece of popcorn into it. She couldn't help but laugh at his dumb ass as he yelled "buckets!"

He pick up the remote and pressed Pause on the movie that they had completely forgot about and scooped some of the thrown popcorn back into the bowl. "Imma go get my vacuum, I'll be right back." Israel Nodded her head, popping a few m&m's in her mouth.

It was popcorn literally everywhere and Israel felt kinda bad that he was the only one trying to clean even though she helped make the mess. She didn't want him to think she was a horrible guest so she started to push the popcorn up in a pile in the middle the bed. As she was reaching over to grabbed more popcorn she stretched her leg out accidentally kicking something off of the bed. It made a loud crashing sound and Israel prayed that she didn't break anything. She was sure Erik would ripe her head off if she did.

She turn around and pecked over the side of the bed. It was a laptop- a Mac book to be exact. A two Thousand dollar laptop. "Shit." She mumbled reaching over to grab it by the screen. She plunged it back into the charger and the screen popped on. it was unlocked which was surprising since not many people left their laptops or phone without a password.

She hummed and focused on what was on the screen. It was a girl with pink prissy Lingerie and tall white platform heels on. Her makeup was bright and her curls were loose and blonde. It caught Israel's attention immediately. It looked to be on Tumblr but she wasn't quite sure. She knew it look familiar to the app that her cousin jazz spent hours. Jazz had tried her to get into it but Israel just wasn't really fascinated by the app. It looked boring and plan to her.

And eventually after looking at the picture for a couple of seconds Her Curiosity got the best of her And soon her fingertips were moving to the scrolling pad and she was invading his privacy.

The page was full of beautiful girls dressed in cute girly outfits and pigtails and she was hooked. She was already a whore for fashion so she was always up for finding and exploring with different aesthetic's. And this was definitely one that she was not TO familiar with. She has dressed in prissy and girly things of course since she was a girly girl but never to this Extreme. The hair bows butterfly clips, knee-high socks pastel color platforms and tutus styled with crap tops were so cute to her. It was nothing like the clothes she had in her closet.

Her style had multiple personalities and this was one that she definitely wanted to add to the Collection. Then something Else caught her attention, the words DDLG, princess, daddy, little, and dom/sub printed everywhere on the site. One girl put #miss my daddydom in her caption and Israel went to click on the tag curious as to what that meant. She knew the girl wasn't talking about her father with the type of picture that went with the caption clearly.

She was so lost in Computer and finding new pages that she didn't hear or see Erik walk back into the room...not until the laptop was being snatched away from her hands. She gasped and scramble to get her words out. "Why were you on my shit?" He hissed slowly pressing his body against hers making her lay flat on the bed with her palms gripping the cushion. She let out a shaky breath turning her head avoiding his eyes. "I'm sorry I-it was a accident-" He let out a deep and scary chuckled that made her blood run cold.

It was like he was a completely different person.

"So you accidentally turn my laptop on and was looking through my shit?" He asked. She then realized how stupid that sounded how much trouble she had just got herself into. She should have knew that he would snap like that since he did that the first she got in his car and was looking through his shit. "Well n-no I just meant I didn't do it intentionally....I accidentally kicked your laptop off the couch while I trying to clean up the popcorn and your laptop popped on and then the cute ass outfits that girl had on caught my attention and the next thing I knew I was scrolling through your st-uff." She whispered trying to Swallow the lamp that was Forming in her throat. The tears filled her waterline and her vision became blurry. Erik's face softened a bit and he sat her up on her butt. With tears now running down her face and a little pout silently asking for forgiveness.

Erik's big thumbs ran across her cheeks taking the tears with it. He let out a deep breath before pulling her head up in the air so that she was looking at him. "Stop all that crying shit, look at me." He demanded. Her doe eyes stared into his. "It's alright just don't be looking through my stuff without my permission, I hate that shit."

She nodded and they sat in silent until her Curiosity got the best of her. "What is...that?....i really like the way they dress... it's cute." She said batting her eyelashes trying to lighten the mood. Erik ran his hand down his face cracking a small smile before resting his hand on his chin, Staring at her.

"You like... the outfits? the only thing you saw was the outfits?" She shrugged. "I mean some of them were half naked but nothing more then their panties and bras" He plotted down on the bed next to her pulling her down with him so they were both laying down staring at each other. "I got some filthy shit on there I don't think you're innocent ass would be able to handle." She broke out into a fit of laughter, she laughed so hard tears came to her eyes. She didn't know exactly why it was so funny to her but it was- maybe it was the fact that she couldn't see Erik as a 'filthy' man. Erik didn't find it as funny as she did. Once she saw he wasn't laughing she stoped, and bit her lip. "Sorry."

"Why you laughing tho?" She shrugged again.

"I just...don't see you as- I don't know a dirty man. When I think of a 'dirty man' I think of a man that's really  really sexual. You talk dirty sometimes but you even talk about your sex life that much- a matter of fact you never talk about you sex life like ever, I mean expect for that one night but other then that you don't." He give her a teasing grin before pulling her closer by wrapping a arm around her waist.

"you want me to talk about my sex life?" She blush And smacked him on his chest, it vibrating from his deep laugh. "No of course not...unless?" She mumbled before placing her hand over her face to hide her embarrassment. "How you gonna say that then get embarrassed?"

He lick his thick lips slowly watching her peck through her fingers with a small smile on her face. "I just mean like....what so interesting about it? My cousin literally tells me everything about her and her man sex life so I'm sure I can handle what goes on in yours."

"'ight bet." He smirked getting up from the couch And over to the cabinet that was across the room. He grabbed a key that was hanging a above it and unlocked the cabinet. Israel leaned over to try and see what was in it but his bold ass shoulders were in the way of her view. Soon he pulled out a dvd case with no picture on the front and popped it in. He jumped back onto the bed with her, he watched the screen load while Israel starred holes into his face.

"What did you just put in?" She asked as she got a bit suspicious. His behavior had changed she could tell by the way his body shifted and the look on his face. It was hard again with a slight smirk glazing his lips. His eyes hazy and low. He shrugged at her question just as she did not to long ago to him.

He pressed play and the smirk he had on his face turned into a full on grin when a dark room with little to no light in it. The only light was a red LED lightbulb that gave the room a dark glow. Israel frowned as she tried to figure out what was happening. Realization hit her when she saw Erik come into the camera shot with a limp girl laying in his arms. She almost looked....lifeless with the way her arms just flopped around.

Erik laid her in the bed and took what looked to be rope from the dresser next to the bed. He brought her arms up to the headboard and tied them tightly. Since the girl was unconscious he had no problem tying her up. He kinda wished she was awake cause he liked the struggle sometimes. After he tired her arm and legs to the headboard he reached In the dresser again and pulled out a long white candle and a lighter. He sparked the lighter and the girl's finger twitched a bit and he grinned evilly knowing she was coming back. He lit the candle and let it malt slowly. The tip of the candle wax was clear now so he slowly pour it onto the back of the girl's legs since they were up in the air. She blotted awake in shook and in pain.

Israel slowly began to sink into her seat as chills were sent down her back, this wasn't something she has ever seen and he haven't even got started yet.

"You're awake.....how lovely of you to join me princess, how was your sleep." The girl breathing was heavy and loud but she calmed down when she saw it was just Erik. Erik ran his hand down her the valley of her breasts all the way down to her naked pussy.

Her body shivered slightly and jerk. "Just fuck me already Daddy!" The girl whin. He had already teased her to unconsciousness she was tired of his games.

"This is what you call foreplay, it's basically just getting the girl turned on before you start fucking her. Mainly because if she isn't wet it'll hurt her and won't feel as good for the guy ether." He answered before she could even ask because he knew she was going to ask. She clueless, poor thing.

She nodded trying to swallow her spit even though her mouth was dry. She was getting hot everywhere. Erik could tell by the way she squirmed and shifted in her seat. Her eyes were glued to the big tv screen. eyes watching his every movement, as crazy as it may sound she was slightly jealous of the girl on the screen. As she got older the more she craved to be touched by a man, she was definitely sexually frustrated and she just had to deal with it.

"Ok Erik I get it now we don't have to watch the whole thing." She huffed out a breath reaching out for the remote to turn it off but Erik snatched the remote from her.

"Nah you wanted to watch it so watch it." He snapped making her roll her eyes. They were now 15 minutes in and Erik was fucking the girl to tears. Her voice was horsed and almost gone with the way she was screaming for him to fuck her harder. Erik's body was glossy from the sweat that was dripping down in tear drops onto the girl's.

The tension in the room had gotten so thick that Israel was feeling a bit uneasy, her cheeks were hot and her hands were shaky but her eyes stayed on the screen.

This was probably the best porn she had ever seen- even though She hadn't searched and looked for porn on her own since she was semi traumatized from All the videos her cousins tried to get her to watch one night at a sleep over they had about a year ago. And all the videos that they showed her were videos of white girls fake moaning 'yes daddy give me that big thick cock' and ever since she it had been a big a turn off for her— but this? This was on a whole different level of sexy. The way his body moved mesmerized against the girl's. she couldn't help but imagine the girl as herself. In a deep arch gripping the sheets begging for him to let her cum.

Israel lip was sucked in between her teeth in a hungry manner and her feet played with each other on top of the blankets that were now at their feet.

"Erik..." he hummed at her, moving his eyes to hers. "Why are you showing me this?" He grabbed the remote and stopped the video.

"Because you asked to see it, don't ask me to show you for no shit like this again-" He mumbled taking the dvd out his dvd. "-cause clearly you can't handle it." He snapped, now facing her.

"I Didn't expect you to show me that..." she mumbled moving her eyes around the room to avoid his.

It was silent on both sides, Israel was more so embarrassed then amused like Erik was. "Why so quite now mamas?" He asked laying back on the bed.

"I feel...tingly, down there" He hummed, smirking. turning his face towards her. "You feel all hot and bothered?" She nodded her head before laying against his shoulder, in embarrassment.

The fact that she just admitted that to him was probably the most embarrassing thing she has every done.

"You want me to fix it?" He asked very softly, against the shell of her ear. She whimpered. "E, stop...can you put my movie in now?"

"You don't want daddy to help you?" He said in a jokily manner, Teasing her while poking her in the stomach.

"Erik stop teasing meeeee you're making it worse!" She whined pushing him off of her. "Nigga put my movie in." She demanded, pointing to the tv laughing nervously.

"Alright alright, Baby." He chuckled loudly before getting up to put her movie in.

Part 1 of 2

[issamhysa]

Catboy! Ivar The Boneless would include...

A/N: Yes, this is absolutely fucking wack and makes no sense at all. No, I will not explain. Just take it and go.

Tagging @piratecult​ because this was shameless teamwork. Thank you for indulging in my weird-ass dreams. 

Oh god, he's the worst

The absolute worst

This boy needs attention

All the fucking time

If you take your attention off of him for more than a full minute, he'll start complaining

He has this tendency to sit outside the shower while you're showering

He'll just sit there and scream at you

And then has the audacity to throw a fit whenever you actually bring him in the shower with you

He's an asshole, really

He'll make full eye contact with you as he slowly pushes your favorite vase off the coffee table

That'll teach you to nudge him with your foot when he's in the way

He likes to be tall

So expect to find him sitting on top of your counter

And god forbid you have bookshelves

He can and will knock everything down to make space to sit

How did he even get up there?

Anyway, he'll also lie down on things when you need them

Your sweatshirt, your phone

Your fucking car/house keys

Ivar does this mostly when he knows you need to go somewhere

"Ivar? Have you seen my keys?"

He'll shrug, but will definitely grin when you face away from him

Keep away from corners

Because this fucker will jump at you and knock you over

He does this to your guests as well

Imagine a grown-ass man with cat ears, a tail, and two non-working legs coming at you full speed from a dark corner

It's absolutely terrifying

He likes acting all tough around guests

He stares at them menacingly from his spot next to you

Nobody is allowed to touch you

He'll bat their hands away and hiss

Literally. Fucking. Hiss.

He doesn’t give a fuck who it is

A parent? A sibling? A partner? One of his brothers?

His little bastard hands don’t discriminate

He hates everybody that isn't you

HOWEVER

He will definitely answer to "psspsspss"

He'll be mad about it, but he can't really resist

He sleeps on your bed

He doesn’t care that he takes up most of the space

Ivar tosses and turns and stretches in his sleep

You’re left trying not to fall off the edge of the bed

And if you had a dollar for every time this sleeping shit “accidentally” smacked you in the face while stretching, you’d put Jeff Bezos to shame

Ivar just won't let you fucking sleep

He'll drag himself around the house at 4am being as loud as he possibly can, just to spite you

Also, for your sake, don't fall asleep on your back

Or you'll wake up with this creature crushing the hell outta you while you sleep

Will wake you up if you sleep for too long

He's a KING, for fuck's sake!

Where's his breakfast, Y/N? Step up!

Watches tv shows with you, but is super picky about what he watches

The only thing he actually enjoys watching is that one video of the fish swimming around in the screen

It's his favorite thing

Ahem, anyway

He knows a few tricks

But will only do them if he's promised fish sticks afterward

He's gotten pretty good at balancing little stacks of objects on his head

He'll also help you with chores if it means he'll get his goddamned fish sticks

Do NOT eat near him

He will definitely try to steal something off your plate

You could've sworn you had one last strip of bacon on your plate…

Oh well

For such a messy little bastard, he actually likes being clean

He cooperates when you trim his nails and brush his hair

Ivar pretends to hate it, but you know he likes it

He hates it when you have to study for a test

Because your attention is solely on the book in front of you, or your laptop

So he'll wedge his head between you and your laptop and lie there with his head on your lap

He will not move under any circumstances

He likes it when you pet him, but will definitely bite you every 10 seconds

He purrs real fucking loud

It's his way of telling you that if you stop petting him, he'll make your life living hell for the next three hours

Likes kisses

Kiss him on the forehead or on the top of his head and he won't stop purring

He kisses your cheek in return and it's the cutest thing

5 seconds later, he's nibbling on your finger like an asshole

Like every cat, he has a strange love for boxes

He's a pretty big boy, so he doesn't really fit in them

But that won't stop him from trying

If he can stick his head in it, he's good

Give him 3 minutes and he'll come to you screaming because his head got stuck

Speaking of messing around, he HATES laser dots

But he can't keep himself from chasing them all around the house

Even though he feels stupid about it

He caught it once and didn't know what to do with himself afterward

He just stared at the spot where the dot was for a solid hour

Moving right on, Ivar brings you gifts!

By gifts, I definitely mean little dead things

He'll just leave them in front of you and sit there, waiting for your reaction

If the gift gets him a little ear scratch, he's a happy boy

If not, he'll scream about it for 10 minutes before finding something else to do

When he misbehaves, you shoot him with nerf gun

He hates that thing with a PASSION

How dare you shoot a KING?

The look of betrayal on his face is absolutely priceless

Hey, that’ll teach him to stay off the goddamned counter

Jesus

He likes sitting by your window to taunt the neighbor's dog

The poor dog will bark for hours on end, all while this smug bastard sits there with the biggest grin on his face

Lastly, he gets cat hair everywhere

He's a little embarrassed about it, but for the most part, he just owns it

You teach him how to use a lint roller because the amount of cat hair he leaves around the house is astronomical

Little bastard has to learn

The end, you’ll probably never see me again

And if you somehow got this far, I’m sorry

[solesurvivorpaigeargot]

I wanna hearing about Paige's family with #5.

Super detailed questions about your OCs

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?

HOO BOI my friend, you have volunteered for an infodump. I’m putting in a read-more cut to prevent dash clogging.

Paige was the second-to-last child out of five, with three brothers and one sister. 

Isabelle [Bella, Belle] -- the eldest, Paige’s sister and seven years older than her. Basically ended up as built-in babysitter/second mom. Paige calls her Izzy and is the only one who is allowed to call her that [anyone else will get whacked, including Bella’s husband]. Their relationship when Paige was a kiddo was pretty strained; Paige grew up running wild with her brothers whilst Isabelle, the eldest daughter of a very conservative and publicly religious family, was constantly being watched and judged on how responsible she was and how well she was growing into a ‘lady’ as she was expected to do. Meanwhile Paige, as the younger daughter and surrounded by boys, was excused for more wild behavior and often given a flavor of the ‘boys will be boys’ pass when she got into trouble until she hit puberty and suddenly got whacked in the face with more feminine expectations. 

Somewhere in Paige’s early teens, she and Izzy had it out in an honest to goodness, full-on fight, wherein Izzy accused Paige of being a spoiled brat who was incapable of understanding just how hard it was to hold up under everyone’s expectations, and Paige threw it right back by calling those expectations petty bullshit and questioning why Izzy didn’t just toss it all out if she hated being a lady. The two grew apart after that, maintaining some sisterly affection but mostly not getting in each other’s way. Izzy taught Paige how to look after her hair when she started growing it out, taught her how to do make-up, gave her advice on clothes and shoes for interviews, that sort of thing. 

They both ultimately stayed at arm’s length until Shaun was born, at which point Izzy had reached out to try and reconnect. She and her husband had been living in Pennsylvania when the bombs fell. Izzy’s family was well off enough that they might have gotten a spot in a vault, but Paige hadn’t been keeping up with them enough to know whether or not they’d registered...

Ethan -- eldest brother, five years older than Paige, she always looked up to him as her cool older brother. He and his friends had a garage band when he was a teen, but he gave it up when their parents put pressure on him to start figuring out something ‘real’ to do with his life. Music became a beloved hobby, noodling about on his guitar when he could get away with it, but never when their father was home, as he’d threatened to smash it on more than one occasion. 

Like Isabelle, Ethan was often leaned upon to be more adult than he actually was, looking after his younger siblings but with a touch more wiggle room. Where Isabelle was very much considered the one with full parental authority, and thus expected to enforce the rules to their fullest extent, Ethan allowed Paige, Daniel, and Zach to get away with the occasional mischief with a wink and a smile that assured them he didn’t see anything. 

Besides music, Ethan also had a gift of gab that made him excellent at talking himself and his siblings out of any trouble-- something he and Paige shared, and the two would get into deep arguments over tiny things as a kind of sport. At school a teacher encouraged him towards debate club and theater, and he participated in multiple school productions before, again, their parents reminded him that artistic careers were more fantasy than anything to build your life around. Instead, they pushed him towards law, which he fucking hated but attempted to make them happy.

He dropped out after his first year of college, arriving at home with black dyed hair, two tattoos and three piercings he hadn’t had when he left for school, giving their parents the finger, and all but disappearing when Paige was fourteen. Nineteen years old, he was technically an adult, his their parents couldn’t drag him back. Dad doesn’t talk about Ethan, and mom would cry when he was mentioned. Paige worried he died chasing a dream for the longest time, until she left for law school and started getting postcards-- turned out Ethan was still in contact with Izzy, and had embraced his musical career [and all the hardship that came with it] with everything he had. 

Last Paige heard, Ethan had been somewhere on the western seaboard when the bombs fell. She finds it unlikely that he, or any descendants of him, survived... though, if he went ghoul, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was still living the traveling musician life two centuries later. 

Daniel [Danny] -- middle brother, two years older than Paige, and oldest of the trouble trio. Daniel, Paige, and Zach were always the three making messes together as young kids, running wild, exploring the backwoods on the family farm, finding fun and odd ways to get chores done, and generally being kids. Danny was the tough one out of the three of them; easily the biggest out of all of Paige’s siblings and the one who got in people’s faces if anyone was messing with anyone else in the family. 

Danny and Paige frequently butted heads; they were both stubborn as hell and outspoken, and before Paige was expected to be more lady-like it very regularly came to blows. It’s thanks to Danny that Paige knew how to squirm out of most holds by the time she was an adult, even if the other person was larger than her, and exactly which soft spots to shove her elbows or heels into. This tendency towards brawling changed as they got older, however, as Danny realized that Paige was going to be a petite woman her entire life and went out of his way to teach her some honest-to-goodness self-defense tactics after hearing a few of his friends say a few... off color things about his sister. 

Danny stayed in Minnesota to attend a trade school, finding work in the automation industry; installing and maintaining machines used for mass manufacture. He married almost immediately out of highschool, and the timing of his first kid suggests that his wife was pregnant before the wedding. Paige kept in contact with him, and Danny actually made the trip out to visit her when Shaun was born. While Paige suspects that he’s dead, unless of course he ended up ghoul, she has occasionally speculated that if Danny and his family survived the initial bombing? He had practical skills that might have seen him through long enough to have descendants that survived to the present day.  Zachariah [Zach] -- the youngest, a year younger than Paige and her childhood partner in crime. Zach, like Paige, was kinda on the small side. Unlike Paige, Zach was also intensely shy in a family full of outspoken, opinionated, stubborn mules. It wasn’t that he didn’t have opinions, mind-- rather that he had a lot of trouble putting the words together to express them. Zach would often stick with Paige like her second shadow, because Paige was very good at picking up on what he meant to say to others and saying it for him, or re-iterating when he spoke too quietly and he got ignored. 

That said, Zach was often the mastermind behind what he, Paige, and Danny got up to as little kids-- quiet, but quick witted, and a grade-A prankster. 

As adolescents, Zach and Paige were occasionally confused for being twins despite there being a year difference between them. Their faces were strikingly similar, with Zach having deeply brown eyes rather than Paige’s hazel being the main difference. Sometimes their mischief would play into this, and Paige was allowed to get away with many things as a young teen simply by virtue of being mistaken for her brother. 

When Ethan ran out on the family, Zach was probably the one most deeply effected by it, and Paige did everything she could to support him at the time. They both looked up to Ethan, but Zach even more so because he was also musically inclined and had been learning the drums from one of Ethan’s friends. Sometimes the band even let him do some kind of back-up percussion when they were practicing before their father shut it down, and it was during those practice sessions that Zach tended to really light up. When Ethan left? Zach fell deeply into depression for a long time, and Paige felt like it was her responsibility to hold him up lest she lose another brother. 

Despite being the often-overlooked child in the family, Zach had damn near perfect grades... and yet, their parents appeared to lack specific expectation for him. Rather, the had a vague assurance that he’d simply do well at whatever he decided to do, and Zach confided in Paige that he had no idea what to do with his scholastic success-- that it didn’t feel real to him. That he wasn’t a person, but rather a mass of goo that could just be poured into whatever shape worked best for the people around him. 

Paige still regrets not having any good advice for him. Last she heard, he’d gone to school to pursue an engineering degree, like their father; imitating a ready example. She suspects that he might have gone after something musical, if not for what happened with Ethan, and that his choice paralysis was a form of avoiding even thinking about that kind of rebellion. Like Danny, Zach’s schooling didn’t take him far from the family home, and he still lived in Minnesota at the time of the bombing. He was, at the time, unmarried. Given time to think further on it, Paige actually suspects that Zach might have been some form of closeted due to still being close to the family and their parents intense involvement with the church. Thinking about that always makes her wish she’d been there for him more, that she’d been smarter and figured out what he’d been dealing with and helped him handle it better. 

Like everyone else, Paige is pretty sure Zach is dead... and he’s probably the one she’s mourns the most, because it feels like he never really got to live in the first place. 

[themangledsans0508]

Grasping at Control

Allie can suck my wee if she’s reading this you bitch.

TW: Self-Harm

Tweek Tweak considered himself the most fucked-up person in the entirety of South Park, which was quite an achievement considering he went to school with actual sociopaths, murderers, and drug dealers.

Yet here he was, a cocktail of addiction, anxiety, ADHD, and depression. He felt pretty alone, despite all the years he had to make friends and come to terms with himself. One of two kids out as gay, and very few adults in their town understanding, much less out themselves; he had no one to talk to. 

Just thinking about it made him want to curl up into a ball and suffocate.

And he tried.

He wrapped himself up in blankets and cried.

He cried for what felt like ages before he got sick of feeling miserable from the stale air that had just enough oxygen in it to keep him alive. 

He crawled out and sat, shaking violently. Why did he want this to happen? Why didn’t he want to be alive?

Mr Mackey had lectured them many, many times on what to do if you or someone you knew felt like they wanted to kill themselves, and Tweek wouldn’t hesitate to act if someone else felt the same way he did.

So why didn’t he care about himself?

He thought back to fourth grade when Kim Jong Un marked him as a possible target if war were to break out and Craig brought him to an amusement park.

“Well, I’m sorry that I’m actually in control of my goddamn emotions, you baby!”

That exchange had only been a minute long, but Tweek had never forgotten it. Craig was right, he wasn’t in control of his emotions. For fuck’s sake, he wasn’t even in control of his movements.

He wasn’t in control of anything. He snapped back to the present from the pain of his hair being torn out by himself, and he tried to stop himself.

His movements were involuntary, even when putting his force against them he couldn’t stop himself.

He screamed in frustration. He didn’t care if anyone heard him, because he knew from experience that nobody would do anything even if he was being murdered. His own parents didn’t care for him. The only reason his dad kept him was because having a kid helped his coffee shop.  As he got older, his dad also got free labour out of him as the form of “chores.”

His hands flew from his hair to his arms, tearing up his skin to the point he bled. He looked down to see the mess and rushed to the bathroom to prevent his room from turning into a crime scene.

He stared at himself in the mirror. Small patches of hair missing from his scalp, large bags under his eyes that served to highlight the tears running down his face. There were scratches down his cheeks from his nails dragging down his face and when he raised his hand to feel them, his arms showed a nightmare of red lines intersecting so much that they looked like a terrible map. 

He reached for the bandages under the counter and felt a flash of pain from a tear dropping onto an open wound on his arm. He bit back a yelp of pain and a horrible idea came to him. He reached for a razor in the cabinet.

Maybe there was something he could control.

~

Craig Tucker liked to call himself a “good boyfriend.”

Sure, he wasn’t perfect, nobody was. He still had spats with his lover just as everyone else did. However, as they aged and matured, those spats stopped being physical very quickly as they aged and by eleven they were purely verbal. 

They didn’t have them frequently either, and they didn’t last very long. 

So, as a good boyfriend would be, he was concerned when Tweek didn’t come to school. He tried texting him, then calling him to no avail. He didn’t like that, Tweek would usually tell him if he was sick, or pick up the phone when Craig called. 

“Craig, dude,” Token said, “maybe he’s asleep or something.” 

“He doesn’t sleep Token. He breathes coffee,” Craig sighed.

“Okay, maybe he left his phone somewhere,” Clyde offered. Craig nodded.

“Probably.” Craig could hear the static noise of his friends talking about girls, football, or other things he would usually be amused by.

Concerned was not something that people would normally think Craig Tucker was capable of being. Once upon a time, they were probably right. Tweek taught him how to comprehend emotions instead of pretending they didn’t exist, even if he still preferred not to express them.

Tweek brought out the best in him. Craig helped him find his center. They balanced each other out pretty well. 

Craig would be lying, however, if he said he didn’t keep secrets from Tweek. His secrets weren’t anything terrible like he murdered someone or he was cheating on Tweek, but that he had anxiety himself.

He never told Tweek because he decided early on he could deal with it himself. He was constantly worried that something would happen to Tweek or any of his other friends. With the town that they lived in and the fact that he had actually been kidnapped and dragged to Peru once, he felt those fears were justified.  

While he would never claim his anxiety was as bad or even worse than Tweek’s, it had given him his fair share of sleepless nights and long days.

Situations like this had happened a few times before and never failed to set off his anxiety.

Perhaps his friends were onto his lies, or maybe they could simply tell that this was bothering him more than he would let on, but they gave him some space.

He appreciated that.

~

Tweek sat on his bed, staring at his arm. His room was littered with lego bricks, empty coffee cups, and bandage wrappers.

While he was in general rather prone to accidentally hurting himself,  the sheer amount of fresh wounds dancing down his arms exposed what actually occurred.

He couldn’t risk anyone finding out about it, especially Craig. 

He loved Craig too much for him to have the burden of this on his shoulders. He couldn’t imagine what he would say when he found out.

If he found out.

Tweek had no intention of telling him, and he wouldn’t let him see either. 

But he couldn’t skip school forever. 

He sighed in frustration. He didn’t know what he was feeling. Anger, sadness, frustration, regret, or maybe a mix of it all.

He felt lost

~

Craig inserted his copy of Tweek’s house key into the lock.

They both had a key to each other’s house, and they had for a long time. Since they began dating to be exact. They respected each other’s privacy though, and if Tweek told him to leave, he would. 

He opened the door and poked his head in. The house was dark, which didn’t really surprise him since both the matriarch and the patriarch of the family were working in the coffee shop.

“Tweek? Are you in here?” he called

The house was still, yet Craig went in anyways. He shut the door behind him and flicked on the light. There was no one downstairs, so he swiftly moved to the second floor and approached Tweek’s room. He knocked on the door gently.

“Tweek?” Craig listened for a response. He heard nothing but quiet breathing on the other side. “Tweek, is it alright if I come in?”

The boy on the other side remained silent.

“Tweek?” 

“Go away, Craig.” His voice was sad and quiet, and the promise Craig had made got lost in the wind.

“What’s wrong Tweek?” Craig couldn’t stop the worry from flowing out in his voice, even though he tried.

“I’m sick Craig. Just go away. I don’t want to see you right now.” Tweek’s voice shook as he spoke, along with small jitters and whimpers. Craig could sense something was wrong and turned the doorknob.

He gently pushed against the door and to his surprise, it didn’t open. There was a weight against the door. It wasn’t heavy, well he wasn’t heavy. Craig knew exactly who was against the door. Tweek was never heavy, not even when they were little. He had gotten scrawnier and scrawnier as they aged since sometimes his anxiety made him just not be hungry, or even scared to eat. He would also forget, or be full from drinking so much coffee even though he drank far less than he used to. 

Craig stopped pushing and heard the door quickly snap back into its place with a click. He wasn’t going to force the door open and possibly hurt Tweek, he wouldn’t risk that.

“Craig, please. Just-” he heard his voice break, “Please.” His voice broke, along with Craig’s last straw. 

He silently went back down the stairs and out the house, turning to look up at Tweek’s window. The shades were drawn and the room behind them was dark. 

Craig turned to look at the twin pines that grew next to the house. They had been there for longer than either boy had been alive, and had grown past the height of the window.

He walked over to the lush green plant and grabbed a hold of it’s lower branches, hoisting himself up. He repeated the movement multiple times until he was at the tip of the tree. The entire tip shuddered with his every breath and threatened to snap with his every movement. 

The tree leaned over slightly, allowing Craig to reach over and tap the window. It flew open and Tweek pulled open that shade.

“Craig! What the hell are you doing?”

“Hanging out. Can I come in?”

Tweek cursed under his breath and reached his hands out. Craig accepted them and jumped into the window, cutting his legs on the branches of the tree. He tumbled through the window, landing on top of Tweek with an “oof.” He felt the stinging in his leg and light wetness and realised trying to climb into a window from a pine tree was a terrible idea.

“Tweek-”

“Craig, what the fuck?” Tweek panted. “Why did you fucking do that?”

Craig looked at the blonde boy underneath him. He was skin and bones, the bags under his eyes were huge. His face was tear-stained and scratched. 

“Tweek, I know something’s wrong.” Craig pushed himself off Tweek and offered to help him up. Tweek simply stared at him, mouth slightly agape.

“You’re an idiot, Craig. Why don’t you ever just listen to me?”

Tweek let out a quiet sob and looked up at Craig. 

“Craig, I’m a mess. What the hell do you want from me?” Craig lowered himself down to the floor and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Tweek, I want to know what’s wrong. We have to work together through these things, remember? Beat them together, expectations, resentment, all of it.” Tweek pushed Craig’s hand off him and jumped up.

“You want to know what’s wrong? What’s wrong is the fact that no matter what I do, I have no control over my life! Something that only I should control! Me and me alone! Everyone else controls it! I never became a knight or a queen, I’m still just a pawn in someone else’s fucking game! And guess what, pawns are expendable! I’m expendable. I’m not needed. That’s what’s wrong! I’m only a fucking tool for the entire world to use.” 

Tweek waved his hands, exasperated. His voice shuddered with every word he said, tears ran down his cheeks. He twitched and whimpered every few seconds. His hands tore across his body, flying from his arms to his shirt to his hair.

Craig stepped forward and embraced him. He pulled him tight against his body and felt him tense up and wince slightly. Tweek pushed against him slightly in a poor attempt to break free of his grip, before he simply caved in and buried his face into Craig’s shoulder. 

“I-I’m just replaceable Craig. My parents didn’t have to sell me into slavery because I’m already a slave to them. They control me, Craig.” 

“What can we do about that, Tweek? There has to be something.” Craig tangled one of his hands in Tweek’s hair and had the other one rub circles into his back. His voice was not sarcastic or mocking, but gentle and genuine.

“I don’t know Craig. I’ve tried so many things, so many things. Nothing works, Craig. Nothing.”

“Let’s try something else then. Something together. You don’t have to do this alone, Tweek.” Craig lowered them down to the floor, sitting with his legs crossed and Tweek in his lap. “We can run away together. Get our own house.”

“We can’t do that. Your sister needs you. She’s only thirteen.” 

“Fine. I’ll take you home with me then. You can live in my room.” Tweek shook his head.

“No, no. All these things put stress on you too. I want to deal with it myself,” he scolded. Craig sighed.

“I won’t let you do that. The whole point of a relationship is to deal with things together. If I can’t help you directly, then I want to be able to at least support you.”

“Where were you when I needed you? Why aren’t you ever here when I need you?” Tweek pushed himself out of Craig’s grip and stood up. “Why the fuck does everything go the shit when I’m not with you?” He shouted.

“What do you mean Tweek?” Craig slowly stood up and put his hands into his pockets.

“I mean why am I even more of a fucking mess without you?” Tweek’s hands flew up to his hair, causing his sleeves to slip down. 

Craig didn’t miss the small movement, he had become very perceptive since they had started dating. He noticed the red lines and scabs weaving down his arms. He reached his hand over to intertwine their fingers and grab his attention.

“Tweek, what happened to your arms?”

“Huh?” Tweek looked down to the subject of Craig’s curiosity. When he realised what it was he attempted to pull himself out of Craig’s grip. “It’s nothing! I just fell!” 

Craig’s grip strengthened just enough to keep a hold on Tweek but not enough to hurt him.

“Tweek, those weren’t from a fall.” Craig locked his own green eyes with Tweek’s blue ones. “Tell me the truth, Tweek. What are they from.” 

“What the fuck do you think they are from? You aren’t dumb,” he snapped. Craig lurched forward, wrapping his arms tightly around Tweek. He pressed his full weight into him. For the first time in perhaps ever, he had no control over himself.

They toppled backwards onto Tweek’s bed. Craig manoeuvred them so they weren’t at risk of falling off the bed and rested his head so his ear was directly above Tweek’s heart.

“Dude, what the hell?”

“What were you thinking?” Craig’s voice was different. It wasn’t monotone or bland, it was raw and emotional and occasionally breaking. “Why would you do that?”

“I was in control. I knew what I was doing. Nobody was in charge of me.”

“Yeah, well, you could have fucking died! Those could have gotten infected. They could have gone too deep and cut a vein! Is a brief relief really worth that risk?” Craig let out a quiet sob and gripped Tweek’s shirt.

Everything hit Tweek suddenly. He wiggled out from under Craig to lay beside him instead. He placed his hands on his cheeks and pressed their foreheads together.

“Hey, hey, I know it was stupid, okay? I’m not going to do it again.” Tweek whispered.

“You better not,” Craig muttered.

“And if I’m feeling like shit,” Tweek continued, “I’ll call you or text you to come over.”

“Or you can come over to my place,” Craig countered.

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Craig rolled Tweek over and pulled him against his body. He moved his arms from his shirt to his waist and pulled him down so he could rest his chin on his head.

“Well, I’m tired,” he yawned. “Text my mom and tell her I’m staying here tonight.”

“Why can’t you do it?” Tweek asked.

“Well, because I’m about to take a nap.”

“Wait, right now?”

“Yep.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Tweek said, “I have stuff I need to do.”

“Not anymore you don’t” Craig grumbled. “All you need to do is stay right here. I’m not moving until it’s time for school.”

“I fucking hate you.”

“Well, we’ll have a terrible marriage then.”

There's gonna be a part two the angst isn't over my dears

[misssunflowersandsangria]

This is my Idea

Chapter 1: Trust 

Happy @shikatemaweek my deers!  OMG!  I’ve been so excited about this week and seeing all the amazing content from some incredible creators!  I got into the fandom so late so this is Baby’s First ShikaTema Week! 

This story is Canon Divergent.  Don’t worry too much about what’s going on in everyone else's storyline because it doesn't really affect ShikaTem.  Also just know that Temari’s parents are alive and Rasa is not a complete monster.  Okay, happy reading! 

Prompt: Trust

Ages: 

Shika: 13

Tem: 15

Summary:   At a young age, Shikamaru is tasked with guiding the Princess Temari around Konoha every Summer. It was an assignment neither one was happy with but over time those feelings changed.

*

**

“Lord Kazekage, it’s an honor to welcome you and your daughter to the village.”  The Hokage warmly greeted the duo.  

“We have assigned a Chunin level Shinobi to accompany your daughter around the village during our meetings.  He will remain her guard for all of Princess Temari’s trips in the future.  He is one of our best and they are close in age so I feel that they should get along quite well.”  The Kazekage had warned the Hokage in advance about his daughter’s temperament; he assured him that they’d have a capable Shinobi available.

“Shikamaru…”

The recently promoted Chunin moved forward bowing politely.  “It’s an honor Lord Kazekage and Princess Temari.  I will do my absolute best to ensure your comfort and safety while you are here in the village.”

The newly formed alliance with Suna was a huge step forward towards peace.  The Kazekage was there to work out the important details.  He brought along his daughter because the plan was for her to take on the role of ambassador.  To bring the countries together she would spend her Summers in Konoha for the foreseeable future.  This was to build unity and familiarity while she conducted important alliance work.  Shikamaru knew that it was an important mission some would even call it an honor. He saw it as a complete chore. He tried as hard as he could to avoid making it look like he’d rather be anywhere than there.   

She was taller than him with four bunches of blonde hair and teal eyes.  She might be considered cute if it wasn’t for the look of utter hatred and disdain on her face. Her expression matched how he was feeling.   

Temari glared at the Shinobi standing in front of her.  He was shorter than her despite the obnoxious pineapple hair.  He was probably younger than her too. How the hell was he supposed to protect her?

“Temari.”  The Kazekage pushed her forward towards the Shinobi.  Putting on her best smile and not wanting to incur any rage from her father she nodded.

“Thank you Shikamaru, I know that we will have a pleasant time together.”  She replied through clenched teeth. 

“Alright kids, we will see you back here at 5.  Shikamaru, please keep a close eye on Princess Temari.”  The Hokage directed as he and the Kazekage went towards his office. 

“Yes sir.”

The second they were outside of the Hokage’s office Temari leveled Shikamaru with a look pushing a finger against his chest.

“Listen here, I don’t need an escort.  I can take care of myself.”

He rolled his eyes and looked at her with a bored expression.  “And you listen, I didn’t want this damn assignment, babysitting a spoiled princess all Summer was not my idea.  But your dad and the Hokage expect us to play nice so stop being such a drag.”

Temari felt the rage starting to build.  At first, she was excited about the prospect of going to Konoha.  Any way that she could help her village she’d gladly take on.  This was not what she expected. 

“A drag?  You arrogant little!  Screw this!”  Faster than he could react she was gone in a flash forcing him to run after her.  He would rather she get lost but the Hokage would have his head if something happened to the Princess. 

“What is your problem?  Get back here!”  He yelled, chasing her across the rooftops.

“Do your job better!!!”  She teased him racing forward. As annoying as this whole situation was, it was kind of fun weaving through and trying to lose him.  Seeing him become increasingly frustrated.  

“Stop chasing me!”  She demanded once they hit the tree line.  She went into the treetops trying to stay hidden.

“Stop being troublesome and I won’t have to!”  Like that was going to happen.  She went to dart across to the next tree but found herself completely stuck.  

“What the hell?”

“Shadow possession jutsu complete.”  She felt her body turn to face an all too smug Shikamaru.

A shadow user, of course.  She should have asked him what his jutsu was in the beginning.

”Let go of me!  I’m a Princess.”  She demanded in disbelief that he caught her. 

“No, you’re being a brat!”  He yelled back. 

“The second your jutsu falls I’m running.”

She was strong and he could feel himself struggle to hold it.  He knew he had a time limit before it would break.  “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do but we need to make this work.  I won’t be any more annoying or invasive than I have to be but you’re going to have to give me something to work with here.  It’s pretty obvious that you don’t need me to protect you so I won’t even try to step into that kind of role.  Think of me as a guide while you’re here.”

Temari struggled before letting her body go lax. She knew that her father wouldn’t be too happy knowing that she acted this way.  This wasn’t the way a future ambassador should behave.  Perhaps she could just ignore him for the time that they were there.

“Fine.  I won’t run.  I get you’re stuck with me but you’re going to give me my freedom okay.”

“Fine.”  He dropped his shadows giving her back control over her body.  Before he could blink he was thrown back into a tree by a gust of wind. 

“Damn it….”.  He groaned, so much for trusting her.

“You deserve that for using your Jutsu on me.”  Temari grinned above him but held a hand out. With a sigh, he took it standing up. That was a dirty move but at least she was still there. 

“We’re even now.” 

“I’m hungry, take me somewhere to eat.” 

Shikamaru had to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes at the demand.  The alliance with Suna was important so he’d have to ensure the Princess didn’t say anything that would put it at risk. 

“Okay, come along.” 

He chose to avoid popular places in town not wanting to run into his friends who thought his assignment was hilarious. Instead, he took her out towards the Nara lands.  His clan members thought that the assignment was actually quite an accomplishment so he hoped that they wouldn’t give him too much grief. They didn’t bother him but he saw their smiles and knowing looks.  It would only be a matter of time before his mother tried to find him to ensure that he was treating the Princess with the respect she deserved. 

“So what’s there to do around here?”

“Well, there’s shopping and uh salons?”  He offered, those were things that Ino enjoyed. 

Her lips immediately curled into a frown.  “Does it look like I’m interested in things like that?”

“I assumed because you were a Princess and a girl, yes?”

Hopeless, this kid was completely hopeless.  “Figure out something that we can do or I’m running off again.”

“Fine, geez.  How about we go train, get some of that aggression out of you.” The suggestion was partly a joke but earlier when she’d run off there seemed to be a genuine smile on her face.  

Temari contemplated the thought but nodded.  She did enjoy practicing her jutsu and she relished an opportunity to put this kid in his place.  As annoyed as Temari was at Shikamaru using his shadows against her, there was a part of her that was impressed. It was very difficult to outwit her. Practicing her jutsu with him could be fun. 

“That will be fine.”

They spent the rest of the Summer training with one another. She was a very talented wind user and had a strategic mind. Developing counters for her moves was fun and challenging.  They kept score for all their Summers together.  

For as bad of a start that they had as the days passed the company became more pleasant. He was thankful to find out that despite being a little high maintenance and demanding at times she was actually quite interesting and engaging.   She appreciated that despite how young he was and prone to complaining he was a genius, quick-witted, and dependable. Every morning she looked forward to where the day would take them. 

He taught her to play Shogi and their games would sometimes go on for a few days because neither would admit defeat.  They explored all of Konoha and the  Nara lands.   He began to integrate her with his friends and they would all hang out together. They would look forward to her visits as much as he would.  Some of the best days they had were when they would do little to nothing at all besides watching the clouds float by.  

When the first leaf changed its color their first Summer together finally came to an end.  It took some time but by the end of it trust in one another had been built.   They had become close friends and confidants. 

“Thanks, Shikamaru.  It’s actually been pretty fun.”  Temari admitted with a smile.  

He shrugged trying to keep his expression neutral but the acknowledgment was astounding.  “Thanks for being a little less troublesome.” 

She shook her head with a grin, okay she was pretty cute.  “I’ll see you next year?”

“See you then.”   He watched her figure disappear into the horizon with a smile. So this would be his Summers for the foreseeable future.  Perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad.

*

**

So this is a different take on Shika being Tem’s guide in the village and also inspired by Swan Princess the movie :D

 I’m approaching this week differently.  Instead of doing small one-shots for each of the prompts I’m going to write one full story trying to use the prompts.  I had to get...let’s say ‘creative’ to make the prompts work but I think that I did okay with them.  This story is going to go fast.   Either way, I hope that you enjoyed it.  Thank you so much for stopping by to read! There is so much more incredible content, art, and stories out there, especially for this week!  Go forth, love you all, and love ShikaTema!

[cosmi-trashbin]

Voxman Ship Meme (REPOST)

(Note: This is adapted and edited from a ship meme pulled off of a long-deactivated blog. The newer edits include my take on K.O. visiting Professor Venemous on weekends.

Big thanks to @enlightenedrobot for saving one of my personal favorites of the asks I received. I’m still in love with the idea of bite-sized speculative fiction about the hypothetical domestic lives of two dumbass mad scientists and their big adoptive family.)

Who snores?

When Lord Boxman snores, it sounds like a chorus of chainsaws chopping trees. It drives Professor Venemous crazy, but he can’t complain. Apparently, he grinds his teeth with the ferocity of ten cats dragging their claws down chalkboards. These two have to sleep in separate bedrooms or they’d murder each other.

It pains Boxman since he loves to-no, needs to-cuddle. Boxman will chug two energy drinks and screw up his sleep schedule for a week if it means getting to spoon with his sleeping husband for a few hours. He has ample competition, though. Fink, Raymond, Darell, and even K.O. take turns sleeping in Venemous’ room to assuage nightmares or just because Venemous is the warmer, more affectionate parent. Raymond, Darrell, and K.O. tend to accommodate Boxman and gladly include him. It takes Boxman awhile, but he eventually comes to enjoy the family huddle pile (even if this includes K.O., but he’d never openly admit it).

Fink is the exception. She’ll snarl and bark like a guard dog until Boxman reluctantly retreats back to his room.

Who takes out the trash?

At first, Venemous and Fink take turns taking out the trash. After a bitter argument about unfair chore schedules, Boxman was supposed to take over that chore. Instead, he delegates it to Darell, Shannon, and Raymond. Between the three bots, hope that Darell or Shannon lost the latest no-holds-barred tussle for who has to do it. If it’s Raymond, the trash just sits there and rots.

The headache stops entirely once K.O. starts visiting on weekends. He gladly picks up the chore, as well as many others, leaving Boxmore just a little cleaner than it normally is. K.O.’s cleanliness is almost enough to sell Boxman on the idea of eventually recruiting the little goody-goody full time.

Who hands out candy vs who takes the kid(s) trick or treating?

A week before Halloween, Boxman buys out all of the best candy. On Halloween night, Boxmore is a hotspot for trick or treaters because he hands out jumbo candy bars, homemade caramel apples, and even popcorn balls. He knows kids by name, takes requests, and has a waiting list of clients two miles long. His rationale? The bigger and flashier his Halloween offerings, the less foot traffic Gar’s Bodega gets. He’ll quash Gar by cutting his bottom line. (That’s Boxman’s cover story, but really, Halloween is just his favorite holiday).

As if this weren’t enough, Darell, Shannon, Raymond, and others ambush the Bodega all night with over-the-top Halloween related pranks or attacks. Gar usually works these shifts by himself since it’s an important family holiday for Enid, K.O. will probably go trick or treating with Carol, and Rad would find endless excuses to sneak over to Boxmore anyway.

Venemous is the trick or treat chaperone. He loves the holiday because it tends to be his best opportunity to bond with Fink. He lets her go nuts: She terrorizes unsuspecting citizens, steals kids’ candy, and threatens people at the door for their entire candy stash. While Fink brings home an ungodly large stash, Venemous refuses to let her eat all of it at once. He’s still supposed to be a responsible boss/parent in some capacity after all. K.O. tags along with Venemous and Fink on one Halloween after the big reveal. Apparently, Halloween is a good enough excuse for a truce between Fink and T.K.O. The results were so disastrous both Carol and Venemous agree that K.O. exclusively spends Halloween with her or his friends. No exceptions.

Who goes to parent/teacher conferences?

Venemous attends parent/teacher conferences more than he likes to. It usually boils down to: He nods and smiles for an hour, then bribes the principal to clear up Fink’s record. When he starts dating Boxman, he forces him to tag along to make the experience more bearable. Of course, Boxman acts as obnoxious as possible while Venemous pretends to be the embarrassed and utterly mortified “Excuse my buffoon partner” parent. After the fourth parent/teacher conference with Boxman, Fink’s boarding school just gives up.

Carol encourages Venemous to attend at least one of K.O.’s parent/teacher conferences in an attempt to “better include him in K.O.’s life.” It goes surprisingly well, despite some of Venemous’ catty comments; well enough that Carol, Venemous, and Mr. Gar can coordinate to go in each other’s stead if one or the other gets too busy. Venemous insists on getting a full report of K.O.’s progress every time, brags about his “smart little boy” for weeks, and makes Fink very jealous of her step-sibling.

Who packs a lunch for the other to take to work?

Boxman makes a point of preparing a lunch for his ‘gorgeous, successful’ partner everyday. He’s a terrible cook. A nightmarishly terrible cook. But, Venemous takes the heart-shaped boxes with burnt pot roast and limp greenbeans anyway because he appreciates the gesture.

Who leaves clothes all over the floor/in the laundry basket vs who puts them away?

Boxman has a giant “dirty clothes” pile in the corner of his room. The only clothes he’s very careful, even anal, about getting thoroughly cleaned and professionally pressed are his theatrical costumes. Costumes and presentation are actually a key bonding point between he and Raymond. Venemous encourages Boxman to go out once a week with Raymond clothes shopping and getting suits pressed or whatever else. Raymond is eternally grateful to Venemous for this, but he’s still trying to convince his more fashionable dad to join them. It’d be nice if Raymond had backup to get Boxman to back down on some of his more questionable fashion choices. 

In contrast, Venemous is very careful about hanging his turtlenecks and lab coats, knows the best dry cleaning locations available, and gets the high-grade laundry detergent he can find. He doesn’t mind stains since he usually ends up with mud stains or crayon marks on his clothes after spending quality time with Fink. He just likes to make sure he’s presentable for clients and rivals alike.

Who organizes the DVDs and books?

Venemous has an extensive personal library he organizes alphabetically and according to how ‘evil’ the subject matter is. He’s particular about where he places books and DVDs in his private collection, but he lets everyone else keep ‘organized chaos.’ He only makes comments or asks them to clean up if the mess is in the main room or a tripping hazard.

The way he sees it, happy minions and families should be able to keep their private space and belongings arranged however they please.

Who has a million magazine subscriptions?

Boxman is notoriously bad about signing up for any flashy-looking magazine or service out there. There’s so many that come in every other week Venemous has to sort through them to pick out which are salvageable and which are garbage. Most ends up in the trash, but he does keep POINT gossip rags in the bathroom cupboard for grins.

Boxman is just barely trumped by how many teen-girl magazines Shannon orders. Every time a new magazine comes in, Venemous gets a death glare from Shannon until they figure out if it’s Boxman trash or her precious new Tigerbeat.

Who has a name for the stray neighborhood cat?

Venemous keeps tabs on the stray neighborhood cats to protect them from Fink. He’s been at it so long he named them to make it easier to keep track. At some point, Boxman joined in and started naming cats, too. He also turned their nightly antics into a needlessly complex and dramatic soap opera.

Venemous rolls his eyes every time Boxman ‘recaps’ the latest episode of Alley Cats to him at the breakfast table. And, every time, Boxman sneaks a look at Fink before winking slyly at Venemous. When Venemous does his Captain Picard facepalm, he feels like it’s a miracle Fink hasn’t found out about his watching out for the cats yet. 

When K.O. discovers his dad’s soft spot for cats, he melts and goes on about how he knew Venemous had a heart somewhere. Every time, Venemous shuts him down with a cruel comment about handing over one of the cats to Fink. If K.O. pushes too much, he describes what Fink might do in horribly graphic, gruesome detail.

Who walks around naked at night and forgets the living room window is open?

Every Saturday evening, Boxman claims the living room to himself to watch his shows (a very melodramatic and sappy soap opera he doesn’t want anyone to know he watches). At exactly 8 pm, Boxman shuffles towards his kitchen for a snack stark naked. He always forgets that the living room curtains are wide open. Or, more accurately, he leaves them open because he ‘likes the breeze.’

Rad and Enid dread Saturday night shifts. They fight over who gets their 15-minute break at 8 pm to avoid the sight that’s the stuff of nightmares. Rad usually loses whatever game they picked to decide and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t look away when Boxman does his weekly snack shuffle.

The snack shuffle abruptly ends when Fink decides she wants the TV at that exact day and time to watch wrestling. Boxman gets out-voted and overpowered by everyone, including K.O., making a family night out of it. Sometimes, even Gar and Carol join in on the fun.

[sirsparklepants]

Today is my mom’s birthday. If she hadn’t died a year and a half ago, she’d be 53. I love her, and despite my childhood with her, I miss her. But I wanted to take today to deliver a perhaps... more nuanced tribute to her than I could somewhere like Facebook. I wanted to talk about a pretty difficult topic: when you still love your abusive parents.

Below the cut: child abuse, parental death

My parents separated when I was eight, after two years of increasingly toxic behavior toward each other. They both continued their separate downward spirals until about when I entered high school five years later, when they leveled out into a plateau of “mentally ill and still abusive but functional”. Coincidentally, when I hit high school (a year early at 13, I was bumped up a year before they split), I made some of the most genuine close friends of my life, a few of whom I’m still close with to this day. And that’s when I started to realize that even aside from being divorced, life with my parents... wasn’t quite normal.

I figured everyone got pissed with their parents and had screaming matches. Everyone had chores and had to look after their younger siblings. Everyone had to sit down and listen to their parents lecture them about the most tedious shit. But... something didn’t quite fit. I’d tell a story that I thought was hilarious and get met by a room full of horrified stares. My friends’ chore load wasn’t as heavy as mine. No one else got crowded into walls and told “you’re lucky I know better than to slap you” or “be careful next to those stairs, huh?” And no one else’s parents thought it was funny to give their eleven-year-old a drink or have them bartend at their parties. 

See, before high school, I didn’t have close friends I could trust. I didn’t understand how to socialize, really, until then. This was my first time seeing into the home lives of other people, and it was eye-opening. Even my parents on their best behavior clearly weirded some of my friends out a bit. Even the ones with abusive parents themselves. Probably because my parents were both alcoholics with severe bipolar disorder with psychotic features. My mom had dissociative identity disorder as well. My dad was a coke addict for several years who blew through quite literally multiple millions of dollars on either drugs or manic or drug-fuelled bad decisions in... oh, less than ten years, I think. So almost everything they did had to be extreme.

But the thing was, though, they weren’t all bad. That’s the thing that people sometimes miss in their depictions of abusive parents. You don’t just love them because they’re your parents. They’re also not abusive all the fucking time. My dad took us on fantastic island vacations and to Disney and out to eat for every birthday and to the bookstore every couple of weeks. My mom made us art and let us watch cool movies and listen to cool music and loved to let us choose clothes we liked. In retrospect, most of those choices were either financially or like, parentally irresponsible (I watched Natural Born Killers for the first time when I was thirteen), but when you’re a teen, you don’t think about shit like that. 

You think, ‘oh, my parents are the fun parents. They’re the ones who will let me stay out at night as late as I want as long as they know where I am. They’re the ones who won’t make us do homework if we have friends over after school. They’re the ones who will let us watch Rocky Horror and not tell any of the other parents, especially the religious ones. They’ll let me sleep in the same bed as my boyfriend. That’s so much better than what my friends deal with.’ And you take the rest of it - the responsibility for younger siblings, the yelling, the heavy chore list that really should belong to an adult that’s basically all the housework and cooking, the listening to your parents destroy shit and sob when they get upset, the hitting, the listening to your siblings get hit - as the price for them being the fun one. Or you think, ‘they let me do so much fun stuff, I have so much freedom, and I still fuck up. It probably really is my fault and this is a justified punishment.’

I was probably sixteen, in my junior year of high school, when I really realized that things weren’t right. I’d been living in a bubble of unreality. And that’s when the bad stuff started ramping up from my mother. I would start fights with her just to keep her attention on me, so she’d stop screaming at my younger sister over her grades. I’d get after my sister for her homework, but much more gently. I’d do all the laundry, clean the house, and cook dinner most nights. And most weekends, she’d get drunk and cry on me about her boyfriend problems, about my dad and how awful he’d been to her, about her relationship with her parents. I became the parent in that household, and it was suffocating. And it was most suffocating because I genuinely loved her. I still love her. I wanted her to do better. And I thought if I left, I’d be abandoning her and abandoning my sister.

I did leave, eventually, and it caused her to attempt suicide to get me back. When my sister left, three years later, she did the same thing. I had a very hot and cold relationship with my mother most of my adult life. With my father as well, but that was mostly papered over by pleasantries. My mom came to me and apologized for what a fuck-up she’d been during my childhood - a rambling, self-centered, guilt-trippy apology, but it was there. But even without that, I loved her and would have tried to make it work with her, because I genuinely wanted her mental health to improve and cutting her support system down wouldn’t do that. If she stepped over my clearly delineated boundaries, we didn’t talk for a set period of time. When she didn’t, we went out to lunch and talked about work and she gave me small little gifts that improved my day - bath oil in my favorite brand and scent, a tiny light with a screen over it to look like a planetarium, oil perfumes, things like that. Because she knew me. Sometimes she used that knowledge to hurt me, and sometimes she used it to care for me.

When she died, we were in a good place, relatively. I didn’t hear from her for Christmas, but I was going to see her for New Years, probably, because we never set much stock in dates. But two days after Christmas, I got a call from my sister. She’d died. She’d died two weeks ago.

I don’t think I can explain the conflicting mass of emotions that rose up in me, those first few months. I’d seen her a week before she died. She’d hugged me. But I hadn’t really talked with her, because it got up to 80 outside (yes, in December, I live in Satan’s taint) and I was making gravy on the stove without the AC and I got sick from the heat, so I laid down for most of the visit. But I said hello to her, and I did talk with her, and I hugged her goodbye. It was good. She behaved herself, didn’t drink, didn’t get too loud and self-centered. It was a good note to end our relationship on. But I can’t count how many times I expressed, to my best friend and my then-boyfriend, that I wish we had been on the outs so I’d feel less grief. That I’d feel less guilty that no one checked on her, even though she isolated herself and often went weeks without speaking to anyone. That if I was angry with her, doing the things that I needed to do would be easier. That if I was angry with her, I wouldn’t feel so badly about still having so much lingering anger about my childhood. That no one would expect me to come up with a beautiful eulogy at her funeral. That her friends wouldn’t be so angry with me for not checking on her.

It’ll be two years in December, and I’m still not done processing everything. I’m still conflicted. But two facts do stand out to me. She was abusive. I did still love her.

Happy birthday, Mom. I love you, and I see you, the whole person. You were doing better, but that didn’t make up for your fuckups. But neither did your fuckups take away from the good you did. You believed that things continue, so here it is, my tribute: I believe you are keeping on, somewhere. I believe that you’re beyond the concerns and hurts that dragged you down. I believe that’s what’s left of you is love. Love and dragonflies and the light of the moon and the sun.

Love, your kid.

[triforceangel13]

Move to the Music Ch. 7(A SidLink Cinderella Story Au)

Chapter 7: Happiness So Far Away

The days that passed were still much like a dream to Link. This was the taste of a life he had always  wanted and he didn't want to let it go. He wished his mother was still alive to see this. To see him happy after so long.

This was the life that he was supposed to have, not the one that he had come to know in his time of being alone with Ganondorf's family.

The days that passed were like walking on air. He spent every day after school with Sidon, Zelda tagging a long a few times as well.

This day was no different either.

Sidon had taken him to his house this time after school and they had hung out most of the day together talking  while playing video games together and with the occasional kiss or two between matches in their games.

To Link's surprise he didn't live that far away from him either, only living a few streets over and within walking distance. It made seeing him all the more easier and a reason for Sidon to be able to walk him home.

And walking him home was just one thing Sidon loved to do much like this particular evening. It was his way of making sure he got home safe and give them just a little bit more time to spend with one another.

They were inseparable and Link wished he had done this sooner.

“So...Link,” Sidon said after a moment of silence. “Would you mind me asking something? It's a little personal.”

Link shrugged his shoulders. “I don't really mind.” They had been kissing on an off for several days now so asking something personal really shouldn't bother him.

Sidon seemed to relax at that yet hesitated at first before finally speaking. “When Zelda was attempting to give me ideas of who you were back then...she had said something about your home life. Are you okay being in that home? If you're not I could always help you find a way to make it better. Or maybe even see if my parents wouldn't mind you staying.”

Link tensed quickly but let out a small sigh. Zelda didn't know the full extent of what he went through but how much did she tell him?

The offer was sweet of him as well. What he wouldn't give to live with Sidon and get away from Ganondorf and Hilda. But it was a dream that he couldn't have right now. He couldn't ask Sidon's parents to let him move in no matter how much he wanted. There were too many factors of why it wouldn't really work.

“Well it's not exactly easy. Have you ever tried living with Hilda?” Link laughed softly which Sidon couldn't help but chuckle himself.

“I see your point.”

“It's that and well it's hard that my step father favors her over me of course,” Link added with a small shrug.

“Anyone who favors her over you is a little crazy,” Sidon sighed, stepping to Link's yard with him, his hand squeezing his. “Even before we had gotten together I had always thought you were nice, although a little quiet. Hilda on the other hand is loud and obnoxious, not to mention very self centered. I apologize that you have to live with her.”

Link rolled his eyes at his teasing but turned to him, his hand resting on his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin from underneath his shirt.

“You honestly don't know how much that means to me,” Link admitted. Not many people ever talked to him like this. It was nice to have someone do so where Link felt like it wasn't forced. The only other one that tended to do that was Zelda.

Sidon gave him a warm smile, his hand resting on his chin. “Then I'll be sure to say these sort of things to you more often.”

Link beamed up at him, letting his eyes flutter shut as he felt those warm lips of his pressing into his own. Each kiss left him breathless and each one was better than the last. Sidon gave him the best kisses he ever had, granted that he had never kissed anyone else in his life before until the night of the masked dance.

To his surprise Sidon even pulled him closer by his hips, deepening the kiss. Their kisses were usually short but warm and full of love. This was the first time that Sidon had taken this step to do something like this.

Link's breath hitched at the feel of his tongue against his lips.

Their first deep kiss.

He was swept away by the feelings, losing himself in the moment and unaware of the pair of eyes glaring at him from the window from inside of his home.

Slowly Sidon pulled away after a moment, gazing down at Link's ruby red cheeks. He chuckled, rubbing a thumb over the warm skin on his face.

“I have been wanting to do that for some time, I hope you don't mind,” Sidon sighed in content. Link leaned into his palm, his eyes full of love.

“I didn't mind it at all,” Link said as he pushed himself up on his tip toes, fingers digging themselves into the red locks of hair at the base of his neck. “In fact...I think I would like another one if that's okay with you.”

Sidon chuckled again and did not hesitate to kiss him again with just as much heat as he had done before.

“I really do need to go inside,” Link mumbled against his lips after the second kiss, pulling away for some air. “I'll get in trouble if I don't.”

Sidon playfully pouted which Link kissed away with a quick peck.

“Alright, alright,” Sidon laughed, pulling back a bit so that he didn't end up indulging in another long kiss with his boyfriend. “I'll text you okay?”

Link nodded his head. He was going to miss him. Sure he saw him almost every day now that they were together but with the moments alone in his room or even being in this house at all made him miss Sidon so much.

“I'll see you soon...my little Cinderella,” Sidon said giving his cheek a kiss. Link briefly closed his eyes.

“Have a good night my prince charming,” Link replied.

Sidon chuckled and left Link on the door step to head home.

Link let out a small sigh as he stepped into his home.  These past days had been ones that he actually liked in a long time.

He and Sidon were out to the school and had spent as much time together as they could. Making up for lost time Sidon had told him once.

The home was dark which wasn't usual. Hilda or Ganondorf tended to be home before him when he came home from school or even being out for the day. Usually if they were out somewhere he would have had a text on his phone from them with a list of things to do following it to keep him busy for the rest of the night to make sure that he wouldn't be going out anywhere. It happened so often Link tended to just expect it and never really made plans.

But now that he was with Sidon it would change quite a bit. He would just have to figure out how to juggle spending time with Sidon and keeping up with his chores.

Thinking that he was alone he flicked the switch on, nearly jumping out of his skin when he saw Ganondorf sitting on the couch.

A smug look was on his face, his hands resting in his lap as he looked at Link. Next to him Hilda sat with red puffy eyes, a scowl on her face as she looked at him.

“Nice of you to join us,” Ganondorf said, jabbing a finger towards a chair across from him as the smile fell from his face. “Sit down.”

Link's cheeks turned paled and he carefully took a seat down in the seat he had gestured. This wasn't good. Something was going on. Something terrible. His flight instinct was running through him but he stayed planted in the chair.

“Now Link, would you mind telling me the story of how you disobeyed me and then went behind Hilda's back and stole her boyfriend,” Ganondorf asked.

Link went rigid. She had told him. She had told him everything but had twisted it in her own way to make her the victim. He should have known this would happen. Hilda never bluffed when it came to her threats. She was always serious.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Link said, trying to save himself but knew that it was a lost cause even before he spoke.

“Do not lie to me boy,” Ganondorf said, rising from his seat and looming over Link. He felt like he wanted to shrink against the cushions but he held himself up, something he wasn't really used to. He always tended to shrink away but now...well now he wanted to push forward. He wanted to fight back and not be walked all over again.

“Not only did you go to that dance when I told you not to, but you stole your sister's boyfriend,” he said, angry that he wasn't backing down. “What do you have to say for yourself before I throw you in the basement?”

“Yes I snuck out...” Link started but a look of defiance crossed Link's face. “But I never stole anyone. Sidon never liked Hilda. He likes me.”

“He's lying Daddy,” Hilda cried from where she sat. “Sidon had told me he loved me that night and then Link was feeding him lies ever since to make him turn on me. I told Link to stop but he just made it worse till Sidon left me.”

A large hand grasped Link by the hair, yanking him up from his seat as he let out a yelp of pain. He struggled against him, grabbing at the fingers that clutched his blonde locks.

“Let me go,” Link growled.

“Not a chance boy. You know what happens when you disobey me,” Ganondorf replied, his other hand grasping hold of one of his hands and tugging it behind his back.

He hated that he was so much stronger than him. He hated that he was always weak and never able to protect himself when things like this happened.

Link struggled hard against his grasp as he dragged him towards the basement door. No! He didn't want to go down there again!

“Please, stop! You can't do this! Someone will know I'm missing!” Link declared hoping that would change his mind.

But it didn't.

His grasp tightened and with a hard jerk Link felt a snap. A loud cry of pain escaped him., his free hand attempting to pry his injured wrist free.

“Get down there,” Ganondorf growled, opening he basement door and pulled Link down the stairs with little effort.

Panic rose in Link's chest, collapsing with a gasp as Ganondorf thrust him into the dark and damp room.

“You keep your mouth shut and let it sink in that this is what happens when you disobey my orders you piece of filth,” the tall man spat at him.

Link clutched his broken wrist to his face, looking up at Ganondorf as he walked back up the stairs and slammed the door.

The sound of the lock sliding into place was like the final nail in the coffin, sealing him in there for who knew how long.

Anger and despair rushed through him, his free hand grasping at his pockets for his phone. No...he had dropped it. He had no way to communicate, no way to tell Sidon that something had happened to him and he needed help.

He pressed up against the wall, resting his head against his knees.

There was no way for him to escape. There would be excuses made as to why he was missing. At this rate he had no idea how long he would be down there.

He might not ever see Zelda and Sidon ever again.

These thoughts in his head, he held back a sob but let a few tears leak down his cheeks. How had his life come to this again?

I can no longer link previous chapters with the new “updates” from tumblr.

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[imagine-loki]

Light Lost

TITLE: “Light Lost.” CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Prologue.

AUTHOR: apandorasboxofstories (was writing on ‘a-pandoras-box-of-characters,’ but I made a side blog for only my stories - since the other is for Rp.) ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki competing with Thor for your attention.  

RATING: I think it should be alright for everyone as of now. NOTES/WARNINGS: I have been trying to write this fic for a few years now. I have never been happy with how it has turned out any time I tried to write it, so I have given up each time. This time, I have been given some (loose or more than that) inspiration from part of a few different imagines that I have seen. As well as some songs I’ve been listening to. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it as I try again.

Feedback would be GREATLY appreciated and encouraged. <3 (Please also note, there will be some sad stuff in this story.)

… … . 

The week began as a normal one should, for the children born to the king of Asgard. As well as those, who were not.

A symphony of laughter rang through the palace gardens; the highest notes having come from a small child with a head full of fiery red hair. The others, having come from two boys. Sons of Odin, a bit older than the girl but younger than their older siblings. Both of them wanted her attention, and were doing their best to keep it.

The last full day that they spent together, was in the middle of the week.

After she went home with her parents the next day, neither Thor nor Loki ever saw her again. The reason behind this, lying within the grim news that had come to Asgard. That one of their closest allying realms had been invaded and destroyed by Frost Giants; what they wanted was unclear, though it was clear that no one had survived. Hearing this heavily dismayed the queen, and concerned the king. Millions of lives - one of their greatest allies - had been lost, needlessly. The information was kept from the ears of anyone else; a spell of forgetting had been placed on the entirety of the realm, and her people. To prevent the grief from impacting the lives of the princes in the future, they also had their memories stolen. The loss of their allies, the friend of the queen, and her daughter; added onto the long, and ever-growing, list of things which Odin kept secret.

Only Odin, Frigga, and Heimdall were aware of the great loss - at least as far as Asgard went.

The later information that the force that powered the realm had disappeared, was thought to be something that could be ignored. If it were ignored, then perhaps over time it may simply fall into legend. Or; unbeknownst to the Allfather, and his bride, it may ‘fall’ somewhere else entirely.

~

“Frank! Frank, what are you doing?”

The voice of an irritated, crabby woman rang out across the yard from where she stood on the porch, arms folded. She glared out into the rain, and rolled her eyes. The thought ‘I hate children’ crossing her mind as she was just about to storm across the muddy yard and force the boy back inside, she finally got an answer.

Out of the pouring sky water, a boy walked unsteadily forward. He had dark hair, and was about nine years old. Despite being soaked clean to the bone, and shivering profusely, he had brought another child to the porch with him. In his arms, Frank was doing his best to hold a up little girl he’d found. Even if the Orphanage lady - as most of the children called her - was mean, he knew he couldn’t leave another person out in the rain alone. Especially; since she looked like she was hurt.

“I’m right here, Mrs. Pitterling.” The boy finally got out, nearly out of breath from having trudged through the muddy yard carrying another child with him.

“What were you doing?” the older woman snapped, as she folded her arms impatiently. “And what is that thing you brought with you?” her tone was huffy, as if she were too busy a woman to have to put up with such nonsense.

“It’s a little girl, ma’am. I found her out in the woods.” Frankie’s voice shook, as he swallowed roughly. “She’s hurt pretty bad..I didn’t think I should leave her.” He added this, as if hoping that it would not cause further aggravation to the woman who took care of him.

“Oh, great. You’ve brought me another mouth to feed!” Mrs. Pitterling threw her arms up. “And how many times have I told you, never to go out into the woods?” she scowled, grabbing hold of his ear. “You’ll bring all kinds of dirt, bugs, and everything else in here! I don’t want to clean that up. What if you brought poison oak or poison ivy in here, and got the other children infected? Do you know how much that would cost, to have to take care of you all? Come here!”

A whimper of pain came from Frankie, as he did his best not to drop the little girl who he’d worked so hard to not end up hurting further, on his way across the yard and then up to the porch.

“I want you to get cleaned up, and then I want you to take care of..that child you brought in. You found her, so it’s not my problem.” Mrs. Pitterling shook her head, as she dragged Frankie in the door. Quite a few of the other orphanage children were waiting inside the main room, or on the stairway looking down at them. When caught, they scattered.

“When you get that done, I want you to take care of your chores. While you do them, I’m going to take a nap. Don’t wake me up unless the building is on fire, or someone comes to adopt one of you stupid brats.” She huffed, muttering to herself and shaking her head. She slammed the door to the kid’s room, on her way down the hall and to her own bedroom.

After the woman left, Frankie frowned. An older girl, named Clara, went to tending to the wounds of the other little girl. She sighed slowly.

“Frankie, you have got to stop making Mrs. Pitterling mad at you. One day, she is going to hurt you real bad.” she looked over at the boy, and shook her head. Another little girl, named Annie, was crying. “I wanna be adopted. I don’t like it here no more,” she wiped her eyes with her hands in effort to clear away her tears, but ended up continuing to cry.

“We all do,” Clara sighed, while holding Annie closer.

Within hours, the little girl brought in by Frankie woke up. She had no idea who she was. Where she was. And immediately began to cry for her mother, who none of the other children knew of, or of her location.

This is where the story would begin: a string of sadness lasting all the way from childhood, into early adulthood. From sorrow and anger, to an extremely odd day.. Where a certain person with green eyes and very dark hair would make an appearance in the little girl’s life again.

And change everything.

[smoaking-greenarrow]

“I’ll just have to cum inside you then”

Read on AO3.

The street was abandoned. Dark, cold, and way too quiet.

It gave her the creeps. But Felicity pushed on, her heels clicking along the pavement as she started to walk a little faster.

Her adrenaline was slowly beginning to rise, especially when she noticed a green hood on the roof across the street.

He was following her.

The Hood was lurking in the shadows and watching her. Just as she’d planned. Taking a sharp right, Felicity stumbled into a dead-end. It was the back alley behind an Italian restaurant, and there was nowhere to go unless she turned around. And if she did that, she knew who she’d see.

Felicity could vaguely hear the kitchen crew washing the dishes, clanking around behind the brick wall of the restaurant. She took a deep breath in, trying to calm down and focus on the delicious smells coming from the restaurant. Anything to take her mind off the fact that he was somewhere above her. Watching.

But then an arrow whizzed by her head, and she yelped. Felicity’s eyes widened as the arrow landed in the wall at the end of the alley. Knowing that he was right behind her, Felicity shivered.

Turning slowly, she watched as The Hood stalked towards her. His face was covered, only his jawline visible. And damn, he had a gorgeous jaw, chiseled and dusted with facial hair. His lips were curved, pulled downward like the bow in his hands.

And he was closing in on her.

The Hood moved towards her like a lion circling its prey, and she swore her heart was going to beat out of her chest. Felicity swallowed roughly, unable to blink out of fear that he’d make a move she wouldn’t see.

Yet he remained steady, taking slow and torturous steps. His feet didn’t make a single sound.

“Felicity Smoak,” he growled when he reached her. “I’ve been looking for you.”

He didn’t stop. The Hood kept advancing on her until he was inches away. She had to look up to see him, staring into his bright blue eyes that popped even beneath his hood and mask.

She took an instinctive step away from him, not taking her eyes off his face. Felicity backed up until her ass touched the wall behind her. He hovered for a moment, like he was contemplating how rough he needed to be. And then he shifted, fidgeting with the bow in his left hand.

Slightly mesmerized, Felicity stared when The Hood followed after her.

With nowhere else to go, she pushed into the wall, refusing to blink as his free hand came up to grip her waist, pinning her against it. He dropped his bow, neither of them noticing as it crashed on the pavement at their feet. His other hand snaked up to rest on the wall by her head.

She glanced at his gloved fingers, the way he held her between each arm, trapping her between the wall and his solid chest.

Closing her eyes, Felicity waited for the harshness. The fantasy she’d had in her brain for way too long. The Hood…rough and demanding, fucking her in whatever way he pleased. She wanted to feel his punishing thrusts, hear his wild grunts, see him lose control as he found pleasure in her body. Because of her. She wanted to watch the city’s protector come apart. Taking what he wanted, losing himself in her.

“Did you want me to find you, Ms. Smoak?” He asked, his voice gravely. She bit her lip and nodded. “Because you wanted me to touch you?” Felicity felt heat rushing between her legs, her body aching to feel the cool leather rubbing her sensitive clit.

As if he could read her mind, she felt his fingers slowly glide through her hair. They touched her skin, and she shivered at the feel of the cold leather, her eyes fluttering shut. The Hood dragged his thumb across her bottom lip, groaning his appreciation before his hand skimmed down her neck and chest.

Then he pushed his hand into her shirt, shoving the buttons open and not caring if they broke or not. Not that she gave a single damn, either.

“You need to breathe, baby.” He grumbled into her neck, palming her breast. His voice was so quiet that she wasn’t sure she heard him at first.

Opening her eyes, Felicity pulled back so she could meet his gaze. He took a deep breath in…she instinctively did the same.

And she didn’t see The Hood anymore.

She saw the guy who lounged on the couch with her watching Doctor Who. She saw the sweet man who knew all of his son’s friends’ names and insisted on bringing them all out for ice cream after a baseball game, win or lose.

Felicity saw her husband who really, really wanted a baby. Bad enough that he’d put on his green leathers and stalk her into a grimy alley.

Felicity licked her lips, “baby?”

Oliver cleared his throat, trying to get back his intimidating air, but the thrill was slowly leaving her. “You stopped breathing,” he mumbled, glancing away from her. “I can’t exactly do this if you’re going to forget to breathe.”

Taking in a big, obvious breath, Felicity let it out slowly. He stared at her, and she tried to fight a smile. “This is silly, isn’t it?” she asked, pulling at the green leather over his chest.

Shaking his head, Oliver’s fingers loosened, making her whimper. “It’s not silly. We agreed to try new things. I just had no idea this was something you fantasized about.” His face was covered by the mask, but she could see the humor in his eyes. The teasing.

“Oh my god,” Felicity groaned. “Are we too old for this? Is that why we suck at it so bad?”

Oliver let out a breathy laugh over her head. “We do not suck at sex,” he argued. “And we are not old.”

“William’s going to be in high school next month,” Felicity whined, pulling back to look at her husband. “We’re parents of a full-grown teenager. That seems old to me.”

“No, old is living in a nursing home and going to daily bingo,” Oliver smirked, “but I’ll still be making you scream my name even then.”

Felicity laughed, nudging her fingers under his hood and touching his neck. There had always been a part of her that loved touching him like that. When he was coming or going from the bunker, dressed in his leathers, something about knowing The Green Arrow was hers…it was a total turn on.

But even before they got married, before he even kissed her for the first time, she’d had more than one fantasy about him coming back from a mission and fucking her on her desk until she saw stars.

She’d never really voiced the fantasy. He knew she thought it was sexy, but part of the arousal in the beginning had been the gritty, intense, dangerous looking man. Before she’d gotten to know him as the giant teddy bear he really could be.

Which, of course, had led to their current situation…

“I swear Thea said this works,” Felicity mumbled under her breath, letting out a deep sigh.

As Oliver blinked at her, Felicity pinched her lips together, cursing her non-existent filter. She watched his eyes change from confusion to horror. “You got sex advice from my sister?” he deplored. And then his eyes widened, “wait, you’re saying that Thea and Roy…in the suit…”

“Oh god,” she groaned, closing her eyes. “We’ve gone from nursing homes to your sister’s sex life. This is officially an epic fail.”

He huffed, his expression disgusted as he stepped away from her. Felicity sighed, adjusting her shirt and what was left of the buttons. “We can try again, Oliver. And we can keep trying.”

“Maybe we’re trying too hard,” he mumbled back.

Felicity smiled sadly up at him. “You’re probably right,” she admitted gently even though it killed her to have to acknowledge it. They both wanted a baby more than anything. She wouldn’t say that sex was becoming a chore…but… “Making babies isn’t supposed to be hard,” she shrugged, taking his hand and pulling him out of the shadows. “I think it’s supposed to be fun.”

“Then let’s just have fun, stop thinking about getting pregnant and just lose ourselves in each other like we always do,” he shrugged.

She scoffed, “you make it sound easy.” When they both knew it wasn’t. Actively trying to get pregnant and continually being disappointed when it didn’t happen was stressful. And sad.

Oliver stopped, halting her with his hand in hers when she kept walking. She turned to look at him with a question on her lips, but he pulled her against his chest before she could ask. As she stared up at him, his eyes hardened, his jaw tightening.

Turning her, Oliver walked her back against the wall, not saying a word, staring down at her with a calculating gaze. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you, Felicity.” His leather-clad palms flattened over her ass, pulling her closer to rub against him. His hands pulled her close but his hips pushed her back, trapping her between him and the wall, creating a torturous friction.

“Don’t stop,” she gasped. And Oliver growled as he watched her face, dropping his mouth to her neck. He licked and sucked on her throat until she was aching for him. Scratching his teeth along her skin, Oliver lifted her leg to wrap around his hip. Then he hiked her skirt up, getting the material out of the way so he could rub himself against her.

Sliding his hand between their bodies, he shoved his hand into her panties without warning, cupping her sex harshly and listening to her cry out. “Yes!”

He could feel how wet she was, soaking his gloved fingers.

Grunting his satisfaction, Oliver pulled his hips back. “Unbutton my pants,” he told her, and Felicity’s fingers flew to his zipper, doing as he asked.

Once she was free, Felicity stroked his length, squeezing him in her hand. His eyes fluttered shut, and she stared up at him, turned on beyond belief at the sight of him. At what they were doing. Felicity slid her leg down, moving to kneel in front of him. “Ever since I met you,” he murmured, gripping her hair in his hands, guiding her down, “I wanted to know what that bright pink lipstick would look like all over my cock.”

His eyes opened, watching her as she rested her back against the wall. Felicity kissed the head of his erection, glancing up to meet his eyes as her lips wrapped around him.

It was the pure arousal in her gaze that made him snap.

He grabbed her arms, heaving her up until she was on her feet again. And then he tossed her leg over his hip again and shoved into her to the hilt. Felicity gasped, feeling his full length stretching her walls. She scrambled for purchase, clawing at his back as he rocked into her again. He slid in easily, perfectly, her juices coating him.

Sharing a breath, Oliver froze for one moment, just long enough to meet her gaze. He watched as her eyes glanced over his mask, enticing him, and then she wrapped her arms around him, too, holding on for the ride. Seeing her satisfied eyes slip shut as her fantasy played out, Oliver gave in to the wild desire stirring inside him.

His hips began to move, fucking her roughly against the wall as he set a punishing and frantic pace. Her body welcomed him, her walls pulsing as he slipped in and out of her in her arousal. And there wasn’t a bone in either of their bodies that was thinking about babies. Felicity keened, “oh my god. Fuck! Yes, Oliver. Yes!”

He was sending her body into a whirlwind of ecstasy. His hips slamming into hers made it feel like a free fall. One where the only thing she could do was wrap her arms and legs around him and hold on as tight as she could.

“Sometimes I thought about what you’d do,” Oliver grunted, his hot breath making her shiver as he whispered the words in her ear. “If I just went over and pulled that ponytail out of your hair…dragged you out of that chair and screwed you as hard as I could right there on the floor.”

“Oh,” she moaned, her hips rocking into his as she imagined it; that little basement bunker. How many times had she fantasizes the same thing?

Felicity knew his body. She knew his signs. The breathless way he spoke, his teeth sucking his lower lip into his mouth. He was close, and she was only moments away from her own orgasm. “Oliver,” she pulled back slightly to smirk at him. “This is a new skirt…I don’t want you making a mess of it.” She mumbled innocently, her body writhing against his.

“I’ll just have to come inside you then.”

She rolled her hips into his, groaning. “Yes.”

With three more forceful thrusts, Oliver drove into her until he came. “Felicity,” he moaned her name.

“Oh my god,” she clenched her legs around him, watching his face as she felt him twitching inside of her, filling her.

She came with a shout, grounding down against Oliver and squeezing him tighter, making him hiss as she continued to ride his sensitive cock.

Her head dropped back, but Oliver’s hand rushed up to catch it before she hit the wall behind her. He pulled her head towards him, guiding her face to his neck.

As he kissed her cheek, her hair, her temple, Felicity came down, her body feeling light as a feather. “Are you kidding me?” she chuckled breathlessly, nipping at his neck before she pulled back to smile at him. “Why the hell didn’t we do this ten years ago?”

Oliver laughed, shaking his head. “Because I was an idiot.”

“Ah,” she touched his jaw, looking up at him with a satisfied, post-orgasm grin. “That’s right, I remember now.”