#oh also! this is gonna alternate povs

[marlsswrites]

Coffee and skates

Ice skating AU, part one!!

July 1st - words: 518

Figure skating was most definitely the highlight of Regulus' day, he can't imagine who he would be without it. He went to a prestigious art university in London, and survived mostly from the money that he was able to take from his parents before he moved in with his best friends for his university accommodation - but figure skating was the only thing that really felt like it belonged to him.

He's been doing it since he could walk, start his day with an early morning brain that perfectly cleared his mind of any negative thought, for a few hours, it was just him and the smooth, gliding, sharply cold ice underneath his feet. He's ever so grateful that his university offers a figure skating extra curricular.

One of the things he loved most about his skating, was his coach. Euphemia Potter. She was the kindest woman Regulus had ever met, so rough and brave, yet soft and caring. She's the closest to a mother that he's ever had, it is a low bar, considering the state of his last one.

She understood when Regulus jumped away at any touch, or when he was startled about how motherly she was with him, it wasn't something he was used to. 

He can be quite quiet with anyone he doesn't know very well, for the first year of knowing her - Regulus hardly spoke. But now Regulus knows that she has a husband, Monty, or Flea sometimes, he's not entirely sure what that mans actual name was.

She also has a son, only a year or so older than Regulus, James Potter, described by Effie as 'the joy that keeps this world alive.' He seemed alright, Regulus didn't know much about the man, nor had he met him. All he did know was that James and Regulus' brother, Sirius, were actually quite close friends from uni - though he doesn't see his brother too much any more, he's been rather busy.

"One, two, one, two..." He heard Effie shout along in tune with the song as his skates sliced through the ice in graceful patterns. "Amazing!" She praised as he halted into his finishing position, she was helping Regulus prepare for his competition which takes place in a few months, for once he finally feels good enough. "Just perfect." As Regulus skated over to the rinks exit and smiled at her.

"I'm glad." He pushed away the smile he was hiding at her words.

"You're allowed to smile Regulus." She sighed, still a fond smile on her face. "I've got to shoot, I'm meeting James for coffee."

He nodded, sitting down next to her and unlacing his skates with quick, painted black fingers. "Have fun, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes yes, of course." She offered. She wasn't young, Regulus had never asked her age, but she had to be in her sixties, but he was the best coach he'd had in all his years of skating. "You'll have to meet him soon, you two would get along."

"Would we?" He questioned as the older woman hummed in response, an unreadable yet smug smile present on her face. "We'll see."

Next part

-

a/n: I want to clarify that Sirius lives with James in uni accommodation, and he never ran away to the Potters, he went to Andromeda who helped him join uni, then that's when he and James met. They're in their third year, Reg in his second. :)

[pyrriax]

You seemed to like the first ones so uhhhh here is more because i really enjoy drawing this guy. digital this time!

AUVFHJNDMKVFDK,LM?????/ MY BOY. MY BOY!

[ifwebefriends]

Okay so like I’m kinda developing what I’m calling my “Post-Rescue AU” for Mouthwashing and it’s gonna have some complicated Curlanya in it and I have a few fics planned/partially written (I don’t know when they’ll be out, school is kicking my ass rn) and its all from Anya’s POV because her perspective and choices are what I really want to focus on in this happier ending but that also means Curly’s thoughts aren’t usually shown so I just want you all to know that at a certain point the vibes are just kinda this:

And yes Anya has shorter hair, eye circles and a face scar just like please bear with me on this

[Image ID. a digital drawing of an alternate universe Anya and Curly from Mouthwashing. They’re cuddling in bed and Anya’s head is on Curly’s chest and her arms are around his torso. Anya’s eyes are closed and she has a slight blush on her face. She’s thinking “he’s soft and warm…this is actually pretty nice…”

Curly has had reconstructive surgery done so he has skin and some hair and one eyelid sewn shut. He’s staring up at the ceiling with a wide pupil and a full facial blush. He’s thinking “OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I DON’T DESERVE THIS!”

A small caption in the middle says “both happy but it’s Complicated™” with arrows pointing to them both.

End ID.]

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Dollhouse 2

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as fear, coercion, violence, noncon/dubcon, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk. 

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you. 

Summary: Five girls move into a shared residence for the upcoming school year but not all is as it seems. 

Characters: Jonathan Pine, Captain Syverson, Steve Abnesti, Lloyd Hansen, and Peter Parker 

This fic features five named readers; Ann, Lulu, Polly, Barbie, and Molly. This chapter features Ann and Lulu. Please note that characters may switch but will maintain second-person POV.

Note: It's thirstday.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. Thanks to everyone who reads this one and thank you for all your energy.<3 

Love you all until you can’t stand it. Take care. 💖 

You’ve been waiting all summer to come back. Campus is like paradise to you. Sure, it’s fun to party but there’s also all the clubs and the general sense of community. You always manage to find your way right into the heart of it all. 

You’re a bit disappointed to not be living on campus itself but you found an alternative not too far away, and in a nice neighbourhood too. Not to mention, your best friend ever, Polly, will be living with you! 

The uber pulls up to the front of the idyllic building and your cheeks bloom with excitement. You spent the extra money to haul all your bags from the station, and it was worth it. You couldn’t have dragged it all that way, even on the bus. 

The driver helps you get everything onto the curb. You thank him and tip him on the app. He looks at you with that fogginess that a lot of guys get. He asks if you need anything else and you assure him you’re just fine. He seems almost reluctant to go. His spindly fingers twiddle at his side as he slinks around the hood. 

You stand with your bags and take out your phone. Polly said she was on her way. You don’t want to go in without her. You send her a message asking how close she is.

“Hey, what’re ya standing in the middle of the sidewalk for, bitch?”  

You wince as you spin to face the grizzly snarl. You harrumph and scowl at Polly as she cackles. It’s funny to think she could do such a scary voice considering she always looks so dainty and perfect. Even then, she wears a blouse and skirt, with a scarf that reminds you of an Audrey classic. Never a stitch out of place with her. 

“You sure are dressed for moving day,” you remark dryly. 

“Mm, don’t talk to me Barbie Doll,” she tosses the derisive nickname at you, “I see you have on the classic Mattel shade today.” 

You pout your pinkened lips at her and roll your eyes, “whatever! Pol! We’re gonna be roommates!” 

You squeal together and she lifts her bag over the lip of the pavement, “hell yeah.” 

You giggle and look up at the house. You went there once before for the walkthrough and it’s even more perfect than you remember. You bend to take your smallest bag and Polly shakes her head. 

“Really? You brought all that? I hope you don’t think I’m gonna be your personal camel and carry it.” 

“Don’t be such a downer,” you stick your tongue out. 

“Excuse me,” a deep timbre rolls over as the front gate squeaks. You and Polly share a startled look then turn to the large blond man as he steps through. That isn’t Jonathan... “Are you girls here for moving day?” 

“Uhhhhh,” you drone out and once more glance at your BFF, “we are.” 

“Oh, let me explain, Jonathan can’t make it. He has an emergency at another property. He left your keys with me to deliver,” he stirs around in the pocket of his blazers as he stands across the pavement. 

He's taller than the building manager you met in July, broader too. He’s bigger in every way and just as blond. He wears a pair of square glasses and only a plain tee under his suit jacket. He fishes out two key rings and shakes them. 

“Here we are,” he grins. He steps forward and offers you one of the fobs. “Front door is a censor. All new system.” He gives Polly the other dongle. “By the way, I’m Steve. I help Jonathan with security. I’ll be popping in for routine measures but I shouldn’t bother you too much.” 

“Oh thanks. I’m Barbie, this is Polly,” you squeeze the fob and smile at the grand facade of the building. “Awesome.” 

Polly toys with her keyring and stays quiet. She’s usually a riot but around men, you’ve noticed she gets a bit shy. You don’t blame her. Steve is a big guy and his gaze doesn’t falter for a single second. 

“Well, that’s great,” you continue, “good to be safe.” 

“Yeah, especially with a house full of girls. You never know,” he says. 

You blink at the subtlety of his suggestion. Obviously, there’s always those who will have the worst intentions but you try not to think of that. Besides, you’ve been around the block and it all looks very ordinary to you. 

“Anyway, let me show you inside. You’ve already got a roommate waiting on your girls,” he announces and claps his hands. “Can I help you with some of this?” 

He nods to your bags and you shimmy as you laugh at yourself, “oh, yeah, aha. I wanted to make sure I had everything.” 

“No problem, think I can handle it,” he bends and picks up your two largest bags. He doesn’t struggle at all. You gather up the three smaller ones and Polly rolls her suitcase with her. 

He stands inside the gate as he waits for you to enter. You lead the way up the walk as Polly clicks behind you. You climb the steps and strut across the porch. 

“Go on in,” Steve calls from behind. 

You do as he says and set your bags to the side of the entryway. You pause to take off your shoes as you see another pair on the mat. A pair of round-toed flats with bows. 

“You two are upstairs,” Steve says, “at the top, rooms at the end of the hall. Do you want me to bring your bags up?” 

“Oh, no, you can leave them at the door,” you face him again. “This is so lovely. Will you let Jonathan know we got here or should I call him?” 

“I can take care of it,” he says. “I’ll be headed to him once the rest of you show up. My partner’s out of town so we’re short right now.” 

“Your partner?” 

“Like I said, security.” 

“Ah, right, ha,” you rock your shoulders and he puts your bags down lightly. 

“Sure you don’t want some help,” he peers upstairs. 

“Really, we’re all good, right Polly?” 

“Mhmm,” she nods and looks past him. 

“Right, I’ll be outside. There's three more coming.” He nods and turns to go. 

You wait until he’s out the door to proceed upstairs. As you do, Polly sighs. 

“He was nice,” you say. 

“I guess,” she agrees dully. 

“He’s just doing his job.” 

“I know, it’s just, boys, guys, or whatever, standing next to you with them is like being invisible sometimes,” she mutters. “Not your fault but... yeah.” 

“Whatever. He’s a bit old for me,” you scoff as you get to the second-floor hall. You forgot how wide it was. Probably a good thing knowing it will be a full house. 

As you come to the end of the hall, a door opens and you see a single eye peer out. You stop short and Polly hits your back. The girl shifts the door and sticks her head out. 

“Uh, hi,” she squeaks, “I’m Lulu.” 

“Hey, uh, we’re... Barbie,” you point to yourself, “and Polly.” 

Polly leans around to wave with her free hands, “hi, Lulu.” 

Lulu lets the door go and steps out, “it’s been so quiet around here. I got here last week. It’s so nice to have people around.” 

“Oh, really?” You wonder. 

“I’m on exchange so... yeah, had to fly in,” she smiles sheepishly. “Anyway, sorry to bug you. Just wanted to say hi.” 

“You’re not bugging us at all! We were just chatting with Steve--” 

“Steve?” She frowns, “oh, the big bald guy? That’s Sy.” 

You frown and look at Polly, “no, Steve. Blond hair. Big.” You make yourself wide as you say the last word. 

“Ohhhh, sorry, I haven’t been out of my room. I’ve been so nervous,” she giggles and it sounds like a tinkling bell. 

“He’s the security guy or something,” Polly says. 

“Right,” Lulu’s lips tremble, “cool. Um, anyway, if you need me to show you around...” 

“Um, sure. We’ll drop out things off then I want to have a look at the kitchen. I was thinking of having some drinks once the rest got here. Maybe we can do a housewarming,” you chirp. 

“Oh, that sounds fun,” Lulu laughs again and it seems to clog her throat. She clears it and blinks, “sorry. Nervous.” 

You smile. You like meeting new people and the most exciting part for you, is all the different personalities coming together. And there’s still three more girls on the way. 

New things are always scary. For you, even the familiar is frightening. Sometimes what you know is the most dangerous. Like the bullies you went to school with for years.

Transferring to a new college is enough stress on its own but moving to a whole new city, that’s another beast on its own. Just like a dragon on its hoard. You clutch your worn novel to your chest as you walk down the street, your bag bouncing on the cracks in the sidewalk. 

You should’ve written this down. You think you’re going in the right direction. After the greyhound, you counter the city transit into the core and from there, you’ve been walking in circles. Finally, you recognise a street name and stop to turn on your data and spend a few MBs on confirming your destination. Just at the end. Phew. 

That gate was in the photos, those hedges too. Wow, it looks so much better IRL. You slow down in disbelief as you stare up at the siding. This can’t be. For the price you’re paying, you have to have taken a wrong turn. 

“Moving in?” A chipper voice asks as a shadow skews over the pavement next to yours. 

You blanch and look over at a boy about your age with reddish brown hair and warm amber eyes. He grins as you lower your chin then turn back to the house, “uh, yeah?” 

“Me too,” he says. “Peter. It’s a pretty cool building, huh? My aunt knows the owner.” 

“Mr. Pine,” you murmur. 

“I call him Jonathan but, yeah,” he chuckles. “You’re a Thrones fan?” 

You furrow your brow and glance over again. Then you check the book in your hand. 

“I’ve only read the books,” you say. 

“Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” 

“Molly,” you answer and sniff. You stare up at the house as it sinks in. You’ll be sharing a space with him. Not only him, but four others. 

“Should we go in together?” He offers. 

“Sure, why not,” you clutch your phone against the book and drag your bag forward. “Um, Mr. Pine said we should call--” 

“Yeah, that’s whatever. Like I said, I know him,” he insists as he goes ahead of you and unlatches the gate. “Come on.” 

You come forward as he hitches up his duffle bag. Your suitcase rattles over the threshold as another figure appears from the porch, “Pete, didn’t say you were bringing your girlfriend.” 

A large blond man, built like a warrior in a fantasy novel, descends the steps, “don’t think the roommates will be very happy about that.” “Whatever, Steve. She’s one of them. We just met.” 

“Ah, another one,” the man says, “great, just one more then.” The man digs in his pocket, “Jonathan left the keys.” He takes out two fobs and doles them out between you and Peter, “I’m Steve. Security.” He explains. 

“Oh, uh, nice to meet you,” you eke out. 

“This is Molly,” Peter intones and you give a bashful look. Oops, you forgot that. 

“Right, you two are on the first floor,” Steve says, “you wanna show her around, Pete?” 

Peter clucks, “Peter,” he corrects, “Steven.” 

The large man chortles and nods at you, “let me know if he gives you any trouble. It is my job to deal with the rabble.” 

You smile tightly and Peter waves off the other man, “come on. I’m sure you don’t wanna stand out in the sun with this lump head.” 

You show your teeth apologetically before you follow Peter. He strides down the walk and up the steps. You’re a few feet behind him. 

As you enter the house, you hear voices. They hush and you listen for them as they seem to do the same. Peter stands on the mat as you unlace your sneakers. 

“Hello?” He calls out, “anybody here?” 

There’s some noise before footsteps come from somewhere deep in the house. You look up to the top of the stairs as a figure appears above. The girl bounds down as two others loom behind her. 

“Helloooooo!” She trills, “I’m Barbie!” 

“Barbie,” Peter says, “hey. I love your lipstick.” 

“It’s gloss, actually, honey,” she winks, “you two are moving in? You’re friends too?” 

“Oh, uh no,” you shake your head, “we just...” 

“Good timing,” Peter says, “Peter, Molly.” He points in tandem with his introductions. 

“So cute, Molly, well up there is Polly. That rhymes! Polly and Molly, and that’s Lulu,” she gestures up behind her as the girls wave, “think there’s only one room left.” 

“What are we thinking?” Peter asks. “Party tonight? Ice breakers?” 

“Something like that. Drinks?” Barbie suggests. 

“You’re my kinda girl, Barbs.” 

“Barbie, hon,” she chides with a wag of her finger, “anywho, I’ll let you two get cozy while we wait on the last one.” 

“I hope it’s a dude,” Peter mutters as he turns away.  

You smile at Barbie then follow him. You’re not sure where your room is but he seems to know exactly where he’s going. You wouldn’t mind a door to hide behind. 

[the-sprog]

thinking about Naruto MHA crossover where post Shippuden but pre Boruto Team 7 end up in the world of MHA and have to choose a hero name for themselves for whatever reason and this conversation happens

N: "... You know what would be funny?"

Sasu: "You're not going around calling yourself "The Jinchuriki", Naruto."

N: "oh cmon why"

Saku: "We're not letting you call yourself a human sacrifice."

N: "but think of how funny it would be!!"

K: "I'm with him on this one. It would be hilarious."

Saku: "Why not... something related to the Ninetailed fox? Kyuubi or something?"

N: "do you want Kurama to eat you? Because if you suggest that again he's going to eat you"

Saku: "Ok ok. tell him to chill out"

Sasu: "I think he can hear you. Also don't tell the demon that lives in Naruto's stomach to chill."

K: "Yeah sakura. That's rude."

Saku: "I hate you all."

N: "... so I'm gonna go ahead and use jinchuriki-"

S&S: "NO"

N ":C"

Sakura decides on Medic-nin, very basic, she's the first that chose and didn't think everyone else was going to go take it THAT seriously.

Kakashi decides to repurpose his ANBU name and goes by Hound.

Naruto wants to use Jinchuriki because he thinks it would be HILARIOUS and is not letting anyone tell him otherwise.

Sasuke didn't want to do this, wanted to use Uchiha but got outvoted. He gets bullied into choosing Amaterasu. Him and Tokoyami would get along here.

I thought about how they'd go about the quirk thing. They can't attract too much attention using all their abilities, so they plan out what to use.

Sakura thought calling herself the Medic of the group would get her underestimated as the sideliner, but she uses her strength to shatter people's bones while naming them.

Naruto mostly stays within Shadow clones and Henge techniques, as well as speed. He allows himself the occasional Rasengan if things get real touch and go.

Kakashi goes all copy nin on them. I'm going to say he can use chakra to copy emitter quirks, so he goes with that and predicting people's moves and general taijutsu.

Sasuke goes all genjutsu on people. Allows himself the occasional chidori too though. Once they get a reliable way to care for them, he also starts sword fighting people.

In my head the first chapter of the fic would be a pov alternation between Aizawa telling a task force of heroes about the new vigilantes on the rise, all serious and gloomy, and team 7 having the above conversation

I was thinking of why this could've happened and I can very well blame the aliens still. I mean, they make a comeback in Boruto. But I want to ignore that show and make up my own ideas post Shippuden. But I mean. If the aliens have a time traveling device what's stopping me from saying they also have a universe traveling one?

So my idea is that team 7 accidentally activated it and it's got this ENORMOUSLY long cool down because it uses a ridiculous amount of chakra. This was only possible because Naruto was there essentially. So they're mostly chill. It's long enough after the war that the biggest issue is Kakashi isn't there to be Hokage, but I mean. Yamato can fill in for a few. So they're only biding their time and making sure the aliens don't come cause problems. Hence the double identities. They wanna make sure they can both spy around and hang out in public places without being constantly Henged.

Meanwhile the hero commission is in shambles because Naruto is physically incapable of minding his own beeswax, especially when children are being mistreated. He's honestly one fist fight away from befriending the LoV let's be honest.

[thesudokukid]

Finished one of my fics recently, added a surprise one-shot to another. Figured it couldn't hurt to poke my toe into the water with my most popular fic. See if posting on Tumblr is a good idea for me.

Personal Question (why are you apologizing)

Pairing: Autistic! Connor x Autistic! Nonbinary! Reader

Word Count: 2433

AO3

Machine Connor Variant on AO3 On Tumblr

“Why are you apologizing?”

Four words you have always wanted to hear after an infodumping session. Four impossible, sacred words induce the sweetest pain you've ever felt.

You can't have heard him right. That has to be wishful thinking on your part. Right? Right?

In which Connor asks you a personal question, as he does, you infodump in response, and experience two miracles in the same day.

This is aimed at other autistic people. I wrote this in the hopes of giving myself catharsis and am sharing it on the grounds that other autistic people may find it cathartic too.

Alternating POV fic under the cut!

“Detective,” Connor says. “Would you mind overly much if I asked you a personal question?”

He reminds you so much of you with that question, you can't help but shake your head and grin, “Of course not, go ahead.”

“This ought to be fuckin' good,” your dad grumbles.

“Why did you choose to pursue a dual degree and not a double major? From my understanding, attending university as a neurodivergent student is hard enough, a dual degree on top of that must have been…”

Oh, that. It's a good opener for a casual conversation with you. Curious and sympathetic to what you must have suffered without tripping over itself to do so.

“It was hell on earth some days, make no mistake. The workload alone-”

At this point you laugh so long he looks honestly alarmed by it. Seeing this, you shake your head.

“I figured if I’m gonna fail, I might as well fail because I dreamed too big and not because I couldn't hack it in general. The fact that psychology is one of my special interests was also pretty helpful.”

For a second Connor looks interested. Actually genuinely interested. This is interrupted by your dad coughing out of nowhere. And also Connor looking around like there's some kind of active threat happening. As soon as he realizes there's not, he comes back to the conversation and just…tilts his head. Maybe that interest wouldn't mean much to a neurotypical but for you? For you who’ve masked so long you don't even allow yourself to engage in your special interests anymore? It's everything.

You can't help the smile that breaks onto your face. Because for a minute, for a moment, for just a little while…someone actually wants to hear you talk about your special interests. And since it's been so long, you go at it a lot harder than you otherwise might have. Even mentioning your first special interest.

—

“Using my first special interest of Titanic as an example, if the devil were to walk up to me and tell me that I would be able to learn everything there is to know about the Titanic, absolutely everything, within my lifetime in exchange for my soul? Could not make that deal fast enough. Wouldn't read the fine print.”

Connor leans forward as well as he can. At the moment, nothing matters more to him than this. He doesn't quite understand why. Only that the social integration protocol isn't even a factor at this point.

“Explain?”

The resulting smile is so bright it could outshine the sun itself. The Detective begins to speak more loudly, more quickly. Stumbling over their words in their excitement to share their interest.

“Devil would be utterly terrified of how quickly I agreed. And not only that, I would honestly feel like I got the better end of the deal out of that one. By a long shot. The Devil would have to give me absolutely everything and even then it still wouldn't be enough. I would annoy the Devil so much I would be given my soul again just so I’d stop being so much of a bother about it and as you can probably surmise that absolutely would not work.”

The Detective laughs and shrugs casually, for once, perfectly at ease. There's even a sunny smile on their face.

“By virtue of being my first special interest it’s also the most intense but that's generally how I feel about psychology as well. You can imagine how much of a boon that was under those circumstances I’m sure.”

They blink and perhaps three seconds later, the joy recedes and their bright smile fades. Only to be replaced by a brittle smile.

—

That last sentence… You’re infodumping. You get your first chance to talk about your special interest to someone outside your family in years and you fucking blew it by infodumping. Of course you did. Of course you did. Your throat’s gone dry, your face has gone hot. You're maybe five seconds of bursting into tears at best. You force yourself to disengage. To avoid thinking about how desperately lonely it is to not be able to talk about your special interests at all. To force yourself not to infodump. You're so tired of hiding. But even still, you have to.

You give yourself one last moment to feel grief for who you're not allowed to be. To feel pathetic for not having a normal level of interest in something so deeply important to you. And then you claw off the part of you that clings like a barnacle to such childish things.

“And I just realized I did a fucking infodump. God that's embarrassing.”

It tries to hurt. It wants to hurt. You smother the feeling and roll your eyes at yourself as you explain what infodumping is.

“It boils down to dropping a whole lot of info about a topic at once. And I don't typically notice when someone has gotten bored or disinterested or is trying to leave the conversation and I…got too emotional. I'm sorry. It won't happen again.”

Detach. Detach. Detach. Detach. Don't feel interest. Don’t show interest. You feel nothing.

You only realize that your past self is clinging to its special interests again when it digs in at Connor’s apparent “no, wait” look. Is-Is he actually interested?

There's no way. There isn't. It's absolutely impossible. You're just seeing what you want to see.

And then… And then… A miracle.

—

“Why are you apologizing?”

Four words you have always wanted to hear after an infodumping session. Four impossible, sacred words induce the sweetest pain you've ever felt.

You can't have heard him right. That has to be wishful thinking on your part. Right? Right?

You blink at him a few times and take a sip of your drink. You look up at the rainy sky, half expecting to see a winged pig fly by. You look back at Connor.

“Genuine question so please hear me out,” you say. Connor nods instantly and you're so relieved you could cry, “Did you actually ask what I’m hoping you asked? Because I’ve wanted someone to say that for so long I am honestly afraid that I’m hallucinating.”

“You aren't imagining or hallucinating anything,” Connor says. “I did in fact ask why you were apologizing for infodumping. Is there a specific reason you felt imagining it was the more likely option?”

There are tears trying to come out of your eyes right now. If you tell him now, right now, they're going to fall and won't stop falling until you can finish your grief of having to suppress who you really are. Feeling childish for having genuine all-consuming passion. The kind of emotional breakdown that’s best to have in private.

He seems genuinely interested in getting to know you and as much as you would be delighted to allow him to, you can't. At least, not right now.

“As much as I’d like to answer that question, that's best saved for a long drawn out conversation. You can call me Ainsel by the way. Internal systems only. For your specific serial number. To make up for the fact that I’m not answering that personal question yet. Sure we're all on a lunch break now but that's gonna end eventually and then it's back to work. Also, I might have a breakdown about it. Lot of grieving to do there.”

“Oh,” he says. It feels like a stab to the heart the way he looks like a wounded puppy about it. Not unlike the way you probably did when you first realized most people don't have a special interest in psychology. That most people will never understand that you express affection by studying them like a bug under a microscope. Most people are in fact deeply offended by it. In his case the worry seems to be that he hurt your feelings or brought up painful memories.

“I’m sorry.”

He gets up and gets in the car. If you don't follow him now, he's going to start suppressing his interest just like you did and oh God he's autistic isn't he?

You were done with your lunch anyway so you toss its detritus and go sit in the car with him. Your dad is still sitting there, eating his lunch.

You look in the general direction of the rear view mirror where Connor is staring at you. Watching, watching, analyzing you. He's like you. The thought settles your stomach more than you imagined possible.

—

Connor is keenly aware of Ainsel's presence the moment they enter their father's vehicle. Eyes sticking to them like a magnet via the rear view mirror, unable and unwilling to let go.

Fortunately they don't seem to be offended by the attention. His eyes move away the second Ainsel's eyes catch his, suddenly forced to remember his place in the world. They're a human. He's an android. They don't owe him anything. They never did. They're meant to have a one way relationship. He owes them an answer to their questions. Not the other way around. He certainly has no right to ask them something so immensely personal without warning.

He opens his mouth to apologize for the discomfort he previously caused them and finds himself surprised by Ainsel's shake of the head.

“You don't owe me an apology. I wasn't offended. About the staring or asking about something personal. I never said that I wouldn't answer the question or that I had better things to do with my time. I didn't even say that it was too painful to answer at all. I only said it was too painful to answer that question during work hours. That is a whole separate thing and idea from your perception that your personal question brought up too many bad memories for me to answer it at all.”

It's here that his programming confirms it would be a waste of time to ingratiate himself with the Lieutenant rather than Ainsel. For someone so immensely private to tell him their name, or something akin to their name, can only speak well of how much goodwill they have towards him already.

And even aside from that, it doesn't make what just happened right. It's him who should be comforting them, not the other way around. He shouldn't even need it.

Decision made. Connor gets out of the car and into the backseat where he closes the door.

—

Your hands start to move, ready and willing to tap out the rhythm of Shave and a Haircut. You force them to be still. You don't want them to be. You really, really don't want them to be. But you’ve had too much good luck today. You don't want to press it by stimming in a way that's actually noticeable. Once you uncork that bottle it won't want to be recorked. Connor might be fine with it. Maybe. He was fine with your info-dumping at him after all. And not even that, he seemed honestly upset that you stopped info-dumping.

But just because he's fine with one visible autistic trait doesn't mean he'll be fine with another. His coin tricks might, maybe, be a stim but you haven't known him too long so it's hard to tell.

You bring your hands closer together, to interlock them in an effort to keep yourself from stimming. They start trembling as if in response. Almost like they're trying to reassure you that you can stim, really, it's fine.

You bite your lip and prepare to ignore the reassurance. And then another miracle.

Connor sticks a hand between both of yours and very gently, very carefully stops you from locking your hands together by pulling them apart.

There's someone else it wouldn't have worked for. Hell, for you, that may not have even worked if you hadn't realized he was autistic like you. But right now, in this moment, for you? It was exactly the right thing to do.

Apparently your calmness is showing on your face because Connor pulls back his hands and watches as you sigh from relief and lean back against the window for a minute.

You shake the previous tension out of your hands and then let them do what they wanted to earlier. They clap out Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits loud enough your hands actually hurt afterwards. But it's a good kind of pain. Necessary. Because it means that you're healing.

—

Seeing that Ainsel seems to be feeling much better, Connor tries to reassure them he isn't going to think less of them for their autistic traits.

“Perhaps sharing the level of information you did earlier at the speed you shared it would have been too much for a human. But I’m not human, am I? You needn't feel contrition or have any qualms about potentially being unpredictable. After all, adaptation to human unpredictability is one of my many features. As for the other issue…”

Connor takes out his coin and rolls it over his knuckles once or twice before returning it to its place in his pocket.

Connor grins wolfishly and tries tossing in a wink for good measure, in an effort to help Ainsel know not only that he's on their side but that he truly means what he's saying. And for… something else. He's not sure why. It doesn't matter what the other reason is in the end. His point is made all the same.

He's made a gaping hole in Ainsel's ability to self-reproach for infodumping at him. And in so doing is tacitly encouraging them to do it more. The aim, in general, is discouraging any attempts to blame themselves for giving him heaps of information on something they're so obviously exuberant about. Because he's one of the few people in the world who can actually keep up with them. Who can process it as fast as they share it or even faster.

He stays in the backseat a while longer. For the sake of getting to know Ainsel better. So he can more easily predict their behavior. Or so he tells himself.

The Lieutenant knocks on the window in the middle of Connor asking Ainsel a safe, inoffensive question about their favorite animal, startling them both.

“Am I interrupting something,” the Lieutenant asks.

Ainsel squints at the man and shrugs. “Depends on your definition of interrupting.”

Connor takes this as his cue to head back to the front passenger seat. As he gets into the seat, trying not to be disappointed by having his conversation with Ainsel interrupted.

[sheepheadfred]

Ectoberhaunt Day 13: Isekai: Old Hero New World

Summary: Danny doesn't know how he got here, but science seems to have advanced a lot... and gotten very animal focused?!

(cw: alternating pov)

Ao3 link

An explosion in the lab and a tumble through a random portal inside the realms later, Danny has no idea where he is.

Blue skies, green plants. He knows he must be on Earth, but where?

Doesn't help that the green is getting closer as he moves upwards. Oh, he's going down!

Are those trees?

Oh yeah, he also seems to be falling!

Danny sure hopes he's in ghost form. Not looking forward to if this is how he kicks the bucket for real. Either way, this is gonna hurt.

No energy to scream and barely conscious as it is, snapping branches snuff out any awareness he momentarily had.

The Wild Kratts crew are relaxing in the Tortuga when Koki gets an alert by some Wild Kratts Kids. It was Aiden! Something strange happened in the forest near his home.

Something had a big crash in the woods and it seems to have scared the animals near by and the kids are worried.

Could it be one of their usual villains? Maybe, but they tend to be more subtle than this. Hopefully it's not a new villain they need to worry about.

The crew packs up and heads to the North American Eastern Woodlands, full of concern and mounting dread.

Danny wakes on a bed of broken branches and is surrounded by trees walling him in, the sun shining through the canopy. A squirrel napping on him scurried away as he sat up to take in his surroundings more clearly.

How long was I out?

He's not Sam and can't identify plants on sight, but he's pretty sure this forest is local or at least similar to what he's used to. He thinks these might be oak trees but don't quote him on that. It just seems likely that he at least stayed in the U.S. is all.

It'd be easier to find out where he is if he could check the stars but, sadly, it's the middle of the day. No stars for him. A shame.

Checking himself for injuries, he finds that he must have changed back after crashing. The timing for it makes the most sense for one.

Hoping he doesn't have a concussion or any broken bones that he can't feel, Danny starts to walk through the forest. Too worn out to fly for now.

That and he doesn't know if its safe to risk it or if someone would see Phantom and call the GIW or something.

Danny limped forward in the direction he chose randomly and saw the sun peaking brighter through the trees. Hoping that it means there's a clearing, he speeds up as much as he can.

The closer he got, the louder and more distinct voices became in that direction.

They sound young.

Once he reached the edge of the forest and into the clearing, his legs gave out. He has been walking without rest since he woke up and Danny can't even remember when he last ate.

As he blacks out, his only thought was how he must look to the kids who had to be nearby.

Hope this doesn't traumatize them.

The crew arrives on scene. The clearing near the beaver pond seems undamaged but they know better than to just judge without investigating.

The area is eerily quiet, especially for this time of day.

Jimmy pulls them in for a landing and the others get ready to disembark. Kratt brothers Martin and Chris make their way to the concerned children first thing when the Tortuga landed.

"Ok, just to be clear. What did you hear?" Martin beat Chris to the punch in asking.

"There was a big crash deep in the woods. And then the whole forest went quiet. We haven't seen almost any animals since." The older of the two brothers answered, the younger one nodding to confirm he heard it, too.

After deliberating with the others, the Kratt brothers were about to venture into the woods to investigate. About to.

Because right before they could, a boy, early teens at oldest, stumbled out of the forest looking like he had been through a very rough hike.

Meanwhile, miles away but in the same forest hours ago:

The whelp didn't notice him?! What an insult. The halfling is quick to notice the presence of a ghost, even if due to that 'ghost sense' of his. To not be noticed means it was on purpose or something is wrong with his prey. Yet he seemed to be functioning like usual!

Skulker hovers above the treeline, watching Danny plummet into the leafy abyss.

"Pathetic. The whelp really must be slipping if he failed to notice me. Although his parents were right there and disrupted the sanctity of my hunt! They have no respect for actual hunters. Closer to savages who target indiscriminately than a hunter who can tell which prey is worth the effort and which are bottom feeders best left alone. Even the whelp knows that! They are more akin to Plasmius and his cruel experiments on the recently dead and never born than true hunters." The ghost thought out loud to himself, mentally marking his observations down as he flew. Grumbling along the way. "It should not matter where the hunt took place, even inside the cursed residence."

He left to find something more fun to hunt in the meantime. The whelp was no fun when he doesn't bring a challenge!

And he didn't have to search long.

He didn't happen upon a creature catching his eyes but another hunter! One with a different style and class than he's seen the human world have before! Even if he hasn't really seen most of the human world. He won't stay, of course, but he can observe these new methods and see if he can add them to his own style. The possibilities are endless.

Coming into consciousness was never fun as he was forced to take stock of what is wrong. Danny is sure more damage to his person happened since the last time he did so. A few hours ago. He thinks.

He has never been good at telling time on a good day, let alone on a day where he hasn't been aware of time's passing.

Sitting up, he realized his burns he can now feel have fresh bandages on and that he is not alone or surrounded by trees this time.

He seems to instead be in some kind of medical room. Not professional and it lacks the smell of antiseptic and buzzing of florescent lighting of a hospital. One less thing to worry about, he supposed.

I am getting real tired of not knowing what's going on.

A young woman poked her head in the room. She had a tan complexion, neatly tied back hair, and a bright yellow jacket. Her face lit up once she saw him, kind brown eyes landing on him.

"Hey, we were worried about you!"

Danny doesn't know this woman nor why she'd be worried. Sure he was hurt, but he got hurt all the time!

In lieu of answering with words, he used his very confused expression and pointed to himself to ask and make sure.

"Yes, you! What kind of kid goes hiking in the middle of the woods without any gear or ways of communication?"

Oh yeah, my phone should still be in my room. Haven't had the chance to tell anyone something happened. That and something was in the lab, of course I went alone!

"Someone who woke up there and just started walking." Danny was still groggy having just woken up, his mouth moved before his thoughts caught up with him.

"Just woke up there?!"

Ooops, guess that was the wrong thing to say.

"Sorry? It was the middle of the night when someone broke in and the sun was up when I woke up in the middle of all the trees."

Her face looks sickened.

SHIIIT. WHY CAN'T I SAY THE RIGHT THING?!

"What I meant was 'Hi, my name is Danny, what is yours?'!" he near panic shouted out of sheer embarrassment.

Taking a second, the woman in yellow tried to get her thoughts in order while making sure her mouth worked. Hopefully better than his as he keeps putting his foot in his mouth.

"R-right, I'm Aviva and you're on the Tortuga. The headquarters of the Wild Kratts crew."

"That was a lot of words that you said. I don't know what a 'Tortuga' or a 'Wild Kratts' is but it's nice to meet you, Aviva." Danny answered her with a polite smile and an attempt at a handshake which she thankfully returned.

"Well, it seems we both have questions. How about I get the others so I'm not the only one trying to clear this up with you? Or you can move to the main area when you're ready. Ayaiyai, I am not the team medic. I think I'll grab someone else to clear you and get you something to eat and drink. They'll want to know you're awake, anyway."

All he could do was not as she left the room muttering to herself like mad with a dazed expression.

Great, more strangers. At least I can get answers soon. Hopefully.

Martin and Chris were investigating the forest. Something mysterious is happening and they don't like what they've been seeing.They found the spot of broken branches a good ways in like something fell from way up high.

They sure hope it wasn't anything alive because they doubt whatever it was would have survived the fall. But given that there are nothing but broken branches, either an animal dragged it off or the fallen object got up on its own.

It wasn't just that. If it was just whatever fell, the forest wouldn't be as silent as it is. It's giving them an eerie feeling.

Chris searches for clues from the trees as the climbing brother while Martin checks from the ground.

Heavy boot prints and purposefully damaged plant life hints at someone dangerous out here. They worry about the kid they found who came from this direction and woke up here according to him if Aviva's report is accurate.

They decide to continue investigating a bit longer before heading back. Their animal friends could be in danger and a kid has been targeted!

Only, they didn't need to continue looking. The air grew colder when before the sun kept them warm and now it's like the sun can't reach them. A deafening silence even more noticeable over the lack of forest noise, and a new sound of the whine of small rockets like a jet pack.

Out of the corner of their eyes they could see a silver suit of armor and flaming green hair. A net suddenly sprung out at them and they barely managed to dodge!

The only thing they heard from this new villain was him calling for a 'whelp' and that nothing else in the area would be worth his time, but that they would do for now.

Danny made his way to the main area of this building he woke up in, having gotten tired of waiting, when he heard an alarm. Still exhausted, he braces against the wall after the noise assaults his ears.

What the?

Now fully awake, he tries to understand what has everyone in such a tizzy.

Two men were on a video call on the big screen talking to Aviva, a ginger, and a black woman he has yet to meet. Talking about a new villain searching for some rare creature he called a 'whelp' while stomping around in a metal suit.

A new villain? Wait... 'Whelp'? Oh no.

Danny is now glad no one noticed him because now he can sneak out as Phantom. His reserves are still low but if Skulker is here looking for him, then he's gonna get him!

Not gonna let some innocent civilians get hurt because he's too tired. He never let that stop him before!

... Though, he will have to be smart about his powers. They don't know about him, maybe even ghosts in general, and he doesn't want to ruin a forest because a ghost followed him all the way out here.

On his way out, he got to see the place from the outside and he just knows his friends would be jealous once their worry moves out of the way. A turtle ship! Not too unbelievable from what he's seen but it's amazing. A combination of both Sam and Tucker's passion!

Well, I can always be fascinated later.The dead never rest, after all.

He snaps out of his momentary awe and leaves towards where he first woke up. Following the now twice over haunted forest trail.

Further into the forest, the brothers were dealing with this guy. Or trying to at least.

It's like this anything they do goes straight through him!

Don't get them wrong, they are glad they are being targeted instead of some poor animal but c'mon! This guy has to be getting tired at some point! Even if it's just his suit getting overused.

He kept demanding information of where whatever creature he was looking for was. Which, even if they got what he meant specifically by 'whelp' and 'half ghost' they'd never rat out any creature to someone who'd want to hurt them, anyway!

And then, he decided since they aren't helpful, they might as well be target practice! Who does this?!

They're on the back foot, trying to get away when suddenly a blast of green energy comes from behind. Shooting right in between the brothers and hitting the suit or armor guy square in the chest. Pushing the villain back a few feet and leaving a strange, charged smell in the air.

Whatever that was, the new villain grinned at the arrival.

The crew back at the Tortuga scrambled.

A new villain, a hunter by the sounds of it, is looking for a creature he calls 'whelp' or 'halfling'.

And to make matters worse, when Aviva went to check on the injured kid and he was gone. He vanished as if he was a ghost!

She was the one to check on him because he already met her and now she's even more worried about him! She's glad they already sent the Wild Kratts kids who called them here home. It wouldn't do to worry about their safety, too!

He said he just woke up in the middle of the woods and some of his wounds are older than just the last few hours he has to have been hiking for. More like stumbling! He's lucky the direction he picked led him to other people!

How did he up and leave without anyone noticing, anyway? Even if they were busy, someone should have heard him leave! Right?

No! Don't beat yourself up for this, Aviva! Focus on the task at hand for now! A new villain is in these woods now and the injured kid disappeared! They could be connected somehow!

She jumped on a Buzz Bike after letting the others know she was on her way, and left towards the action.

The brothers Kratt only had a moment to turn their head to see the newcomer before things started happening again. The world felt like it was on pause between the blast and the newcomer floating in there, feet off the ground, as they gave a sassy and confident smirk.

Whoever this was had the physical appearance of a young teenager with snow white hair and glowing green eyes, shining the same color that is lighting up his outstretched fist. He seemed to be glowing the same white as his hair and off-putting aura that the man before them was. An aura that wasn't that noticeable before now is amplified. The rest of him was in black and white like a strange bodysuit with a stylized D on his chest. An emblem like their paw print ones on the power suits.

The power suits!

That gives them and idea.

Before they left to find some creatures, they could hear the robotic armor and newcomer exchange banter like they knew each other.

"Ah, so you finally show yourself!"

"Skulker, you asshole! First you broke into the lab and shot me in the back and now you are just throwing a tantrum because I'm not here to entertain you! What the hell!"

"You know full well how this goes, ghost child."

"But at 2 AM?! I just managed to pass out. And because you attacked in the house, the house's defenses activated! I am so tired of you and I'm running on negative sleep!"

Wait... the 'whelp' was this KID?!

The newly dubbed 'Skulker' refuted the accusation that he blew up whatever lab the kid was in. Then shouting about some kind of 'Frootloop' was the last they heard before they made a retreat.

Who that kid is doesn't matter right now, it's time to find some creature powers to help him out. They don't want to leave the kid alone with that guy for long, he looks and is acting like he can handle it but he's clearly very tired. Skulker is very clearly armed and dangerous!

Aviva made her way to the boys, having no idea where Danny wandered off to and only able to focus on one thing at the moment, when the brothers quite literally crashed into her. Leaving them all sprawled on the ground for a hot minute before picking themselves back up.

"Guys?! What is going on?"

"We wish we could tell you." Martin replied first, taking a second to process things.

"What we do know," Chris chimed in, "is that what we need is some creature power. There is a dangerous villain farther in and we need to help that mystery kid fighting him!"

"What? Is there someone else out there? Did you say 'kid'?"

"Yeah, and we need to help them. They showed up out of nowhere to help fight off Skulker, that's the villains name apparently by the way, but they seemed really tired just after one hit!"

"What?!"

"Yeah. We need to help them! Hopefully after we can learn who this person is, too!"

"Well, more than being the 'whelp' Skulker was searching for!"

The boys ran off in different directions, finding a different creature to transform into.

Aviva was left there, stunned.

Today has been so confusing.

And not the fun way.

She's going to help even if she doesn't know everything that's going on or so help her!

Aviva gets back on the Buzz Bike and heads for the action.

Danny has less energy than he thought!

One blast and he's already struggling to not change back again.

Damn Skulker! First his ghost sense wakes him up and then he comes at him from behind, pushing him into this mess!

Sure, maybe the lab explosion was probably not entirely his fault but there's a whole lot else from that night that was.

Danny is pretty sure adrenaline and rage are all that's keeping him moving, but what else is new?

Having to doge and weave through the trees while Skulker can go right through them, apparently finding it fun to have trees as obstacles. Frustrating but he knows the alternative is the fight above the trees and he's not sure he could stay in the air long enough for that.

Exhaustion dragging through him, right to his bones even in this form, is his body's payback for not resting enough even if he never really gets to.

One wrong turn and a failed dodge later, and he slammed into a tree. Winded, tired, and in a daze. Struggling to catch his breath, all he can do is lean on this tree that caught him mid-flight. Collapsing under his own weight.

He was sure that this was it for him, when suddenly a large green bird and a human sized bipedal blue wolf, he thinks, started attacking Skulker from two different sides.

It wasn't until they spoke did he realize that they were the two men Skulker was fighting earlier! At least Danny thinks so? Today has been wild for him. But he is pretty sure he at least heard their voices back at that giant mechanical turtle.

The green bird man took the fight to the sky, Skulker following him. The ghost is curious and confused, yet intrigued. He hopes they aren't some rare creature for him to hunt, too!

While one went off to take the fight out of here, the blue brother stayed behind. The man came up to him, concern etched onto his face.

"Hey, kid. Are you alright? Standard question, I know, but a response would be good." This was said in a light tone but caution was in his voice.

Shit, is he talking to me? Great, hope my mouth works properly this time.

"Yeah", a groan escaped him as he tried to stand while the world spun, "Just trying to find the bus that ran me over."

"Buddy, I can say with certainty that getting up right now is not a good idea for you."

"But if I don't fight him, who will? He could hurt someone! Besides, I'm used to this."

The man frowned, looking a bit heartbroken. Danny didn't understand why, especially while in this state. No one else minded he did all this stuff. Danger is the price to pay for living in Amity Park, let alone being a Fenton!

"How about this, you tell me what you usually do when fighting him and we can let my brother know? He's the green bird you saw earlier."

Danny wanted to protest but he could barely see straight. Can he really trust these guys? He wants to but his head is pounding too much to think clearly.

"I don't even know your name, wolf-man."

The blue wolf man paused, before chuckling a bit, "Oh, right! I'm Martin and my brother is Chris. We're the Kratt brothers! Most people we run into are able to recognize us so I forgot you probably wouldn't know."

"Huh", Danny's mouth tried to work as he processed this. Martin and Chris are apparently big names here! But all he could say was, "Didn't know a bird and a wolf could be related like that, are you adopted?"

"Wha-", he looks at himself and realizes he's still transformed, " Oh! No this is from my creature power suit! Our friend, Aviva, invented them. Programming and form and everything! Animal DNA and nature know-how takes care of the rest!"

Huh! Technology sure can be impressive! Especially when it's not centered on his and other ghosts' destruction!

"Oh." Apparently he cannot talk today, "I'm Phantom."

While trying to remember what else he was asked, an explosion shook the trees, stopping any further conversation.

Coming back down through the trees was Chris, plummeting right on top of them, screaming.

Martin moved to catch his brother. To keep him from getting more hurt and to keep Phantom from being directly impacted. A glow of green and blue signifying the crash to cause their deactivation.

The light from their de-transformations caught Phantom's eye. They can change just like him! He thinks he can trust them with this, after all.

Oh, no! But that could be bad if Skulker decides to want them for that!

Wait... Skulker!

"Ya gotta remove his head."

The now human looking brothers look at him in disbelief. Chris showed confusion as well as only Martin had context for that.

"Oh, right! Chris, this kid is Phantom! Phantom, this is Chris!"

"Bro, that only answered one question."

Danny just realized they are both looking at him.

Right, it's not obvious. Forgot.

"The head of his suit. It comes off," Danny tried to explain while his head and mouth were not working right, "then ya gotta use this."

He hands them the Fenton Thermos.

"For soup?"

"Nooooo, ya gotta uncap it and just point it at him once the head is off. It'll get him to stop."

Dannys instructions were not as clear as they should be but they had no choice but to try it.

Able to get around the trees better and with Skulkers attention back on Phantom, they managed to knock his head off.

And they were really not prepared for what happened next.

With the head now off, the body just went limp.

Like no one was inside.

Then they looked at the head in their hands and tiny, green feet were sticking out of them. Kicking wildly.

"Use the thermos!"

Phantom's strained yell startled them that they dropped the thermos and almost dropped the head.

Only to be picked up by Aviva, coming in clutch.

Danny tried to explain what to do, but he's unsure if what came out made sense.

Well, either it did or she was able to intuit what needed to happen, as she did exactly what she needed to do.

She pointed the thermos and aimed it at the knocked off head. Skulker finally was able to force himself out of his robotic head right before the beam hit him.

His booger-y form is visible for all to see and cursing them all.

Danny laughed at his small form, feeling good about this.

"Hey, guess what! I can transform like you guys!" Danny exclaimed, impulse making an executive decision.

And Danny let his transformation rings wash across his body, passing out again for the second time that day. Oblivious to the three adults' shocked faces.

Back in the Tortuga, hours later:

"...And that's what happened. I'm pretty sure that the portal spit me out somewhere completely different or even a different dimension. I don't have time to keep up to date on most news usually, but I'm pretty sure either of my friends would be raving about you guys. One's an extreme activist and the other is a tech nerd who'd totally geek out about this ship."

Danny, bandaged and rested up, explained all that happened leading up to here since he was last home. He slipped in some things about his home and his friends and family. Even ending with what he thinks is a lame smile and jazz hands.

"Everything I learn about you makes me more concerned." One of them said. Danny thinks her name was 'Koki'.

"Yeah, dude. That is seriously messed up," JZ chimed in, "This guy wasn't even one of the more dangerous ones? Are you sure you should even go back?"

"Speaking to the choir, dude. I'm well aware how messed up my half life is. But it is my life, y'know? I need to be able to get back."

Despite the adults' clear hesitation about sending him back, they don't want to trap him here away from the people he loves. That's what their villains try to do when they kidnap baby animals! With what they old him, he can at least trust them to help him get home.

Somehow.

"How will I get home, anyway? I can do some basic engineering from being around my parents' stuff my whole life but I'm not sure where to start!" Danny had to ask. He feels like he can ask them despite the uncertainty. It's not often he comes across adults he can feel this way about.

"Oh, I can help with that!"

"Aviva? I thought you did animal based engineering and inventing?"

"Si, I am. But if I managed to crack time travel, even just a bit, then I don't see how I can't do this, too!

"Now, that is some confidence! Time travel? Do tell!"

"Oh!" The brothers simultaneously looked at her and Danny, "She invented a time trampoline!"

"We went back in creature time to meet extinct animals!"

They practically talked over each other out of excitement.

"A trampoline?!" Danny could hardly believe that human made time travel existed here, let alone one that functioned like a trampoline!

The group laughed good naturedly at his reaction, as understandable as it was.

"I think we all agree that you can stay with us until a way home is secured. Bet you never got to fly in a giant turtle ship, before?" Jimmy casually tells him in his usual, laid back tone.

"You bet I haven't! I did successfully land a NASA shuttle once, though. That was a story and a half for sure. I've done a lot of flight simulators in preparation to be an astronaut!"

It felt good to be able to passionately talk about what he loves with others who can share back different passions.

"Ah, a future space boy, huh?," JZ responded, "Thinking about life on other planets?"

"One of the many things to think about regarding space!" Space talk really brought out Danny's energy.

"Oh,"Koki added, "bet he doesn't know about tardigrades!"

"What are those?"

"Tardigrade, or a water bear, is a small creature, usually only visible with a microscope that can survive in even the harshest environments. Creatures like the tardigrade show us that life could be possible out there in ways we never thought possible." It's like all of them took turns infodumping that he wasn't able to discern who said which part as he took in the information.

"Those things sound so cool! How do we find them?"

"I guess we can show you. You are staying until you can go home after all!"

He's looking forward to future adventures while they last. To learning about animals he never once though twice about and giving their villains a good scare.

"Oh yeah," a thought just occurred to him, "what does 'tortuga mean? Like why did you make that the name of your giant turtle ship?"

"Danny," Aviva said with a smirk,"'Tortuga' means 'turtle' in Spanish!"

Danny's face lit up red in embarrassment and everyone laughed at his expense. He felt warm and welcome here, a way he hasn't back home in a long time if ever.

If animals and how they work were taught anything like this, I don't think I would have failed that class as badly. I think being here will be fun while it lasts!

Sam and Tucker are gonna be so jealous!

[sxeraphfic]

Donnie Darko x goth!reader 🙏🙏🙏

GOTH!READER X DONNIE DARKO    

WARNINGS; basically none! Slight swearing and bullying but that's it. 

WORDCOUNT: 1.5k

A/N: Gender neutral prns used in this for readers! I'm assuming by goth you mean trad goth (which fits the time era honestly) or maybe romantic goth (my style hehe lol) so I'll keep that as a reference.  Theres also a pov switch half way through. Hope it isn't too jarring!

˚ ‧ ₊ ♱ ༺ 𓆩 ❦︎ 𓆪 ༻ ♱ ₊ ‧ ˚

Donnie had never had a particular taste in people, really, he’d be surprised and feel lucky enough to have someone even glance over at him in a slightly romantic regard. Sure he had his ex-girlfriend Gretchen show interest in him but that didn't really assure him of how attractive he was, he could barely comprehend how others perceive him other than the obvious being that he's a little out of it. He liked all sorts of different styles of people, who was he to judge? It's not like he was particularly fashionable outside of the average late 80s young mens fashion.  

This statement wouldn't last long though, as he placed his backpack on the back of his chair and sat down he saw an unfamiliar person sitting at the front of his class alone from the others. The teacher smacked the chalkboard with her ruler to gain the class's attention, “Attention class! Good morning everyone”  she announced. “Today we have a student transferring from the other class to join ours” students began to whisper to each other, “Dear, why don't you come up here and introduce yourself?” she clearly had good intentions with asking this. But this is like.. The number one way to make a kid embarrassed, Donnie pondered to himself. 

The transfer stood up in front of the board “um.. hey.. my name y/n l/n,  i've moved from the class next door” -- “no wonder you had to move '' one of the kids called out jokingly, y/n sighed in an annoyed tone. Donnie stared at you, you were well.. Clearly alternative, goth? You were dressed in the normal school uniform but your hair, makeup, piercings made it obvious you weren't like the basic kid. He felt his insides twist a little, you were beautiful. You looked so mysterious and otherworldly compared to the other students and he was enamoured by your appearance. 

Apparently some of the less emotionally intelligent people in our class didn't see that though, not even ten minutes after finishing your introduction and sitting back down you had some kids throw paper balls at you from across the classroom. And as the average lame ass teacher does she ignored your clear bullying situation. Donnie wanted to say something, but bit his tongue. Glancing at you pitfully only to be met with a glare in return, ‘oh god, did i make them feel even worse?’ He worried to himself. ‘Of course I did. God, I'm bad at being chill.‘

A few hours after school, as the dark began to dawn upon the sky donnie found himself lying on his bed daydreaming of you, what type of music could you be into? Surely Dark wave or post punk right? Did you dress even more extreme outside of school? Were you secretly kind and sweet underneath your intimidating appearance? Were your lips as soft as they seemed? Donnie snapped out of it, what was he thinking… he felt kind of creepy daydreaming about someone he's never even spoken to before. Ever since he had gotten home he'd been more zombie-like than usual, his parents even asked him at the dinner table if he had been taking his meds and he scoffed, for once that wasn't the issue. The issue was he had fallen in love at first sight. 

Morning came around, Donnie walked with his doofhead friends aside his sister and her little group. “Donnieee” Samantha groaned “we’re all gonna be late for the bus we took too long!” Donnie and his friends shrugged and Samantha retorted “well my friends and i aren't gonna miss the bus. Have fun slow pokes” she said as she signalled her friends to start running up to the bus stop.  

Samantha for once in her miniature life span was right, Donnie and his friends did in fact take too long. Now they had to walk all the way to school and be late. This wasn't all bad though, as the one and only y/n pushed between them to get through clearly having also missed the bus as well. He could hear your music practically blasting through your walkman, funny. Wasn't that a metalhead thing to do? Donnies friends began to snicker to themselves “what a loser” they whispered in reference to you. Donnie gave them an annoyed glare, before speeding up to walk next to you and speak. 

 “Uh.. hey uh-” he began, you looked at him in confusion, taking your headphones off. 

“What?” you said bluntly, internally you were nervous, you'd already gotten the shit bullied out of you yesterday. You don't need another total dweeb ruining your day before you even manage to get in the school gates.  “I'm uh.. Donnie Darko, I figured I'd say hi since we’re in the same class now right?” he smiled awkwardly and attempted to shake your hand. You gave him a wonky smile back, “oh uh.. hey nice to meet you Donnie.” The handshake failed miserably, you tried to shake his hand but took too long to process the action.  

 What the fuck am i doing? Donnie thought to himself, he was incredibly nervous. The two of you had been walking in essentially complete silence for 5 minutes now, Donnie felt like an idiot for assuming someone as cool as you would be interested in talking to him, he gave you a slight glance and you returned it back

Sighing, you figured that indulging in a little conversation wouldn't kill you. Besides, if he came up to you in the first place and has stuck around walking with you for this long without saying anything outlandish surely he wasn't all bad.

“Sooo.. Darko huh? Kind of a cool last name isn't it?” you initiated. “You think it's cool? I swear people just make fun of me or think it's weird” he looked at you with giddiness in his eyes and smiled, ‘oh. He's cute.’ you thought to yourself.  “So is there a particular reason you've decided to be nice to me Donnie?” he shrugged nervously “Oh well- i mean i don't know, i'm not exactly popular myself so i guess i understand how it feels to be judged” you thinly smiled in response before you began to hear high pitched exaggerating moaning noises from behind you, Donnie’s friends were acting up. “Ugh fuck im sorry about them.” Donnie groaned, “it's chill, i've dealt with worse” you shrugged, before continuing “ever jigged school before Donnie?” he raised his brow at you “sure have y/n.” you giggled “let's ditch these losers i know a spot.” 

You lead him down an old path through the forest before sitting at what looked like some sort of strange concrete circle on the ground. “Jesus y/n how’d you even manage to find this place?” he voiced in shock “Someone who looks like me has their ways,” you smirked. “Y'know y/n i may end up regretting this, i actually have some major sleepwalking issues. I'd hate to wake up down here at 6am” he chuckled softly before sitting on the ground with you. “Sleepwalking? At this age too? Why's that?” Donnie smiled looking down to the ground “oh well uh.. We all got our own problems right?” “amen to that donnie.” you started to soften up, he seemed genuine. 

“Hey, sorry about glaring at you the other day. And being kind of rude when you tried to speak to me earlier” his eyes stared into yours “it's fine y/n, and understandable.. You have all sorts of people targeting you at the moment id be no different at first sight” he continued “i mean, with the way you look and all. You don't seem to care to live up to others expectations of what you should be, you're more free than m-majority of the people in our school will e-ever be. I'm uh envious really.” he started off saying this quite assertively, but his words tangled in soft stutters at the end as the intensity of your gaze made him recoil into himself. “Wow Donnie, I didn't expect that many words to come out of your mouth.. Let alone be so true..” “It feels good to have someone who gets it for once.” you warmly smiled. 

“Do you listen to music, Donnie?” you inquired “you mean do i listen to your type of music?” he snickered, you rolled your eyes in response “duh.” He thought about it for a second “well yeah i guess technically, nothing super niche but i like new wave.” you nodded your head “we should uh.. Y'know hangout sometime and listen together, i could introduce you to some stuff " Donnie perked up "in a going together type of way?” you gave him a confused look. “Ah sorry i meant to say going out ugh” he looked flustered and you giggled, before standing up and proceeding to pull him with you. You embraced him, gazing into his eyes beginning to lean in closer to his face. 

Hehe cliff hanger. Maybe you guys kissed, maybe you pushed him away and called him a weirdo! Who knows, hope you enjoyed my lovelies 

partially proof read. will check for mistakes.

[bobbie-robron]

Robron Fanfiction Recommendations (Dec-2024)

The below were recommended on the Voldemort site and 🦋 during December 2024

As the sun rises (2020) 31.5K words, softlyspoken

Post reunion 3.0, Sebastian POV. Sebastian is 13 years old when Aaron attempts to see his son but that woman continues to block him until Sebastian runs off for few hours returning to find Aaron and Robert there. Willing to get to know the two, Sebastian decides to stay with them for a week at the Mill. There he sees for himself how devoted and attached the two are to each other (Aaron even dumped his last boyfriend Reggie soon after Robert returned from prison) but that also Robert is struggling to cope with what he went through inside and his worthiness to be back with family. But for Sebastian it’s learning about the family he lost out on, warts and all, and accepting what Robert did isn’t who he truly was and still is…

Oh it’s such a shame for us to part (2016) 14.1K words, softlyspoken

Alternative canon for Nov-2015. Aaron spouts out venom toward Robert to reinforce to him what was said post-chicken run 2.0 that he hated him and that he wouldn’t care if he died. Those words soon haunt him as Chas, in her sleepwalking trance, stabs Robert (instead of Diane) and Aaron is beside himself trying to keep him alive until the ambulance arrives. Even with words of being sorry and loving Aaron, that doesn’t mean they’d be together. By the end, the two have a much needed clearheaded discussion where they go from there.

Come what may (2020) 18.4K words, anythingbutplatonic

Reunion 3.0. It’s been now months since Robert went to prison and Aaron’s just about to sign the divorce papers until the one and only DS Wise arrives with the worst news… Robert attempted to take his life. So what does Aaron do? Demand to know where Robert is and he hurries off to see his still husband. Along the way, Aaron realizes he missed all the signs of just how badly fractured Robert’s mental health was and prison only exacerbated those feelings. It’s gonna be a long road of recovery for Robert who feels unworthy, a burden and an unnecessary responsibility to Aaron.

Seat Fillers (2020) 5.1K words, Ok_To_Be_Me

Reunion 3.0. Aaron’s about to have ‘the talk’ with the bloke he’s been involved with, Marc (who brings in Liv as a back up to talk him around), when Robert shows up at his doorstep out of prison. Removing those that are not Robert, Aaron decides it’s time for a much needed chat with his soulmate which includes why he didn’t fight for him and where they go from there. In short, seat fillers fill an emptiness until the star of the show returns.

A hundred mini dreams and a healing scar (2020) 65.4K words sugdensrobert

Reunion 3.0. It’s seven months later and Robert is a free man because another victim came forward and because of the overcrowding in prison. While doubtful of returning to the village, he does so and to his surprise, Aaron wants him back (the same day) even though he hasn’t forgiven him for cutting him off. Aaron realizes right off the bat that Robert is not the same man… unsure of himself, feeling he isn’t worth it and not wanting to be a burden to him. But especially so, Robert had no support those seven months… and even before then… and Aaron’s determined to be there for him (and fight for him) when he wasn’t before.

Stay Awhile ‘verse series (2020) 24.2K words, exploring_in_space

AU. Two stories. Robert works for his father at Sugden Enterprises as a business operations manager in the logistics department. He’s determined to make Jack proud and that means 75 hour work weeks. On a day ending with more overtime, Robert winds up at a pub in a seedy part of town and it’s where he comes across Aaron. Aaron takes charge taking him to his home but is rubbed the wrong way when Robert tries to pay him. So there on out it’s about Robert’s struggle to accept who he is which affects how he handles Aaron over the course of months and whether it’s worth getting Jack’s acceptance after all. The second story is Aaron’s POV which includes Adam.

The universe series (2020) 16.4K words, Karla_Kattz

Single dad AU. Two stories. Since Sebastian saw a show about the moon and the stars, he’s become obsessed with all things about the universe. Robert decides to take him to the observatory to feed his interest. It’s where they meet Aaron who makes a great impression on Sebastian believing he’s a scientist because of the knowledge he shares. While entrepreneur Robert has no space for dating, boyfriends or even an affair, he still trades numbers with Aaron and so begins them getting to know each other. But his sister isn’t accepting of Aaron in case Sebastian gets hurt and Aaron himself hasn’t been above board about a certain part of his life which might put a dent in their growing relationship…

Ghosts of You (2020) 22.6K words, dirtylittlegreasemonkey

Reunion 3.0, year 2037. While in Leeds during Christmas, Aaron spots a lad and automatically just knows it’s Sebastian working in a coffee shop. It takes a couple of visits before the two actually talk and come to talking about Robert and Sebastian mentions finding him via LinkedIn having made a name for himself in a new business in Manchester. Sebastian is the first to contact Robert (but don’t expect any close relationship) and it’s from there where it takes over with Aaron seeking out Robert learning he’s involved with a woman. They take a chance at friendship for a few months. But can the hurts of the past be put in the past to allow them that one final chance at being truly happy… together?

The insubstantial shadows (2017) 15.3K words, thisissirius

Mythology AU. Robert and Aaron have been in another car accident which has landed Aaron once again in a hospital bed with Robert there nonstop. At a blink of an eye, Hades sits himself next to Robert. He’s about to have Robert take a harrowing journey through Hell literally in order to save Aaron from dying. Robert’s companions during this journey into his past includes Katie, his birth mum Pat and then later joined by Jack. As Robert continues to feel unworthy of being with Aaron (and determined not to look back) during this emotional sojourn, will he be able to face the most critical moment in his life to make sure Aaron lives or was he doomed to fail from the start?

[l1ve-l4ugh-lov3craft]

Marauders Arcane AU Idea Dump Part 2

@taleofapart-timepoet I have more lol But only cos @cheekyboybeth was enabling my madness in the comments of one of our posts

Starting off strong with the rest of my episode 2 ideas:

“Nobody wins in war, Sirius.” That whole conversation is very Alphard to me so we need that I think

Idk if i feel like doing the ‘Jayce almost slip n sliding’ thing so we gotta come up with another way Lily and Panda meet

“What makes you different makes you strong” - use this bit maybe? Idk we’ll see how the rest of the ep plays out for them

Episode 3:

The Silco flashback in the beginning can tie into Riddle’s backstory??? Something something with Alphard

“You’ve got a good heart, never lose it.” - Alphard, Sirius content is WINNING

Possibly do ^^this chapter from Alphard’s POV and then have an interlude that’s Sirius’ POV

Make all that^^ the end of a chapter to leave everyone on a miserable cliffhanger after Alphard gets captured

Start with some pandalilly content the chapter after :)

Have a nice but angsty lil James and Sirius moment when they debrief about Monty dying and Alphard getting caught

Silly goofy scene of mary catching pandalily while they’re trying to break in and get lilly’s research

The whole “you’re not ready” scene needs to HURT

“Crank it” joke required

And then ofc the scene with the hex cores and powder’s freak out moment are ALSO important but we’ll probably tone it down just a little bit to fit regulus’ character a bit better (A/N: okay for this one I imagine a sort of pacing, regulus falling into a bit of an inferiority spiral thinking of all the ways he feels like he's failed Sirius up until then. More of a panic attack then a breakdown cos i feel like that's more his forte)

The entire bit from when vi and crew make it to rescue vander up until the end of the episode will possibly be its own chapter? At least a VERY sizeable chunk of the chapter

^^alternate sirius and regulus POV

We DO have to include the oogly moogly scientist bits with pandora and lily cos that is important

Use the monkey clanging or the individual bomb explosions as a sort of measurement for how fast things happened after regulus throws in the bomb (A/N: OKAY THIS??? Let me see if I can paint a picture properly. I'd love to start the scene with a "As (description of whatever happens and regulus throws in the bomb), (insert number here) things happened all at once." and then describe how the bomb rolls in and bounces. And each time it bounces, do a description of one of the aforementioned things happens. I dunno how to fully describe it, I may have to write out a snippet and make a post on that to fully describe but AGH! it is SO good in my head)

Random Ideas I've Had:

I want to focus a bit more on James and Regulus' relationship in the first few chapters before it all goes to hell so that the scene on the bridge when the two of them will fight hurts as much as it should

not plot related, but it would be LOT to have one fic for season 1 and one fic for season 2. like a sequel. cos pitfighter sirius???? are you fucking KIDDING ME?? I will die

obviously the prison Vi is in is gonna be Azkaban for this AU, so that's super cool

I would LOVE to pay homage to the horcruxes in the way that Silco has his who creepy stuff on his face (idk I don't play league so i don't know the lore

I am THRILLED to have Mary as Mel cos agh! her character arc is going to be FANTASTIC and i love that I get to let Mary commit crimes

OH MY GOSH- I just had the idea to have Barty and Evan as Clagger and Milo and it's going to be FANTASTIC having the two of them haunting the narrative (and regulus' conscience) the way milo and clagger do for jinx

uhhhhhh that's all I have? for now? I think? but I'm certain I'll have more. Thank you for coming to my ted talk :)

[steddieunderdogfics]

Not sure if it’s too late to suggest fics for the Color Monday Challenge, but I’ve got three.

Blinking red light by cuips_not_cute (Alternating POV; S4). Eddie is facing a massive trial for murder charges, and his lawyer seems to think it’s a lost cause. Steve comes up with an idea to create an alibi that no one in small town Indiana will be able to refute. Yep! It’s a series of sex tapes faked to look like Steve and Eddie have been sleeping together for two years before the murders. Each chapter is typically one to two tapings. It’s very explicit and heavy on the angst! This fic is ongoing and updating regularly.

Three Days on the Red Planet by CaptainHoney. It’s the Mechanic Eddie and Car Guy Steve on Mars. How cool is that?? Steve keeps finding reasons to break his speeder bike so that mechanic Eddie can fix it. It was so unique I haven’t seen a lot of sci-fi Steddie. This is a complete fic.

A Tarnished Copper Boy by PaperBackRibs (Eddie POV). This is my favorite on-going fic right now, although I’m pretty sure the author has said it’s finished. Season 4 Steve is stuck in a time-loop, falling through Eddie’s ceiling at random (yet sequential) points in time, starting with season 1 Eddie. After Dustin explains the Butterfly Effect in the first loop, Steve’s so anxious about ruining the future that he and Eddie decide it’s best if he never talks about it or leaves the trailer. The amount of time Steve spends with Eddie before he blips from existence is extremely inconsistent, leading to angst, whump, and a slow burn. (This could also be used for the Time-Loop theme weekend)

blinking red light by cuips_not_cute

@cuips-not-cute

Rating: Explicit

69,120 words, 6/20 chapters

Archive Warning: No Warnings

Tags: Sex Tapes, Fuck Or Die, or like...fuck or go to jail for One housand Years, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Spit Kink, Kissing, Making Out, Steve Harrington's Soft Dom Awakening, Soft Dom Steve Harrington, pleasure dom steve harrington, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Sub Eddie Munson, Bottom Eddie Munson, Top Steve Harrington, but also...they switch!, Bottom Steve Harrington, Top Eddie Munson, First Time Bottoming, First Time, Virgin Eddie Munson, Friends to Lovers, but it takes them a reallyy long time to get to that second part, Eddie's facing jail and Steve's like hey we should fuck, to Eddie's utter dismay, Bisexual Steve HarringtonGay Eddie Munson, Lingerie, Blow Jobs, Anal Fisting, the softest gooiest fisting you ever did read, Rimming, Dry Humping, Recreational Drug Use, Edging, Bondage, Safeword Use, Dom Drop, Sub Drop, they get it together i promise, Impact Play, steve being fascinated by eddie's actual ass, Prostate Massage, Drunk Sex, Drunk Kissing, Angst with a Happy Ending, but oh boy is there angst, Wrestling, and with that comes ill-timed boners, orgasms as a negotiation tool, despite being the lamest guy around steve actually has some game, Kink Discovery, Hair-pulling, Praise Kink, Service Top Steve Harrington, Multiple Orgasms, Friends With Benefits, kindaaaa, they are definitely friends who fuck each other but there's some twists, Spanking, sweat kink, idiots to lovers, Mutual Pining, Wet & Messy, Hand & Finger Kink, Sex Toys, Ass Play, Miscommunication, Felching

Summary:

A sex tape is…crazy. It’s totally crazy. It wouldn’t work, and it's worse than any of Steve’s other ideas because…well, because Steve is straight. And hopeful. And stupid. It wouldn’t work. “No way,” Eddie says. “I’m not gonna make a fucking sex tape.” Steve leans down, gets in his face. Eddie’s breath hitches. “Why not?” Steve asks. “You scared?” In the months following Vecna's death, Eddie is facing triple murder charges and a lifetime in jail. With Dr. Owens gone off the grid and a town that hates him, that plea deal his lawyer offers him is looking pretty sweet. Enter Steve Harrington, who is having none of that.

Three Days on The Red Planet by CaptainHoney

@grandmastattoo

Rating: Explicit

10,872 words, 1/1 chapters

Archive Warning: Creator chose not to use

Tags: Space Western AU, Sci Fi AU, Western AU, what if stranger things but on mars, literally a bog standard steddie fic but they're on mars, eddie has a mechanical arm, the upside down monsters are all aliens, enemies to lvoers speedrun, eddie thinks it's enemies to lovers but it's actually dumbass4dumbass, non-detailed mentions of medical procedures, injury description, references to blood and gore, this is all reasonably gentle but there's Past Trauma, tommy H the experimental town bicycle that you are, brief mentions of past underage sex, Open Ending, sci fi in the classic tradition in that I made a bunch of stuff up, written with the wikipedia page for Mars open and unperused, completely innaccurate space science, anti-capitalist and anti-colonial themes because fuck the man, implied childhood neglect, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Gay Eddie Munson, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Rimming, Virgin Eddie Munson, Intercrurual Sex, lots of spit and crass talk, 60s pop culture references because Mars is behind the times, wayne is supportive but very annoying about it, Southern Eddie Munson, they have mcdonalds on mars for some reason but it sucks very much, borderline orgasmic fig eating experience, cyborg eddie kinda, a lot of lotion used as lube but at least their dick skins will be soft, Unprotected Sex, the inherent tragedy of being the only gay man on mars

Summary:

"A hiss as the speeder’s roof lifts and oh, Eddie knows this asshole. Rich boy, pretty as sin, heir to his daddy’s Earth imports business. Papa Harrington has the kind of monopoly there ought to be sanctions against, has his fist around the throats of most of New Indiana. And now here’s the prodigal son, slumming it in the dust of the Munson front yard. A man might get ideas with a thing like that, the kind involving ransoms and the wrong end of a raygun."

Thanks for the recs!

Know a fic that deserves extra love? Submit through our asks!

[glitteringsunshine]

Jethro's Wife

Pairing: Leroy Jethro Gibbs x Reader

Situation: You are married to Gibbs with two kids. They have a school trip on the weekend with no phones and you are worried.

Reader( Y/N’s) POV

" Relax Babe. It's a school trip. The kids will be fine." Jethro said rubbing my shoulders.

" But this is the first time they are spending the night without adult supervision, Jethro. "

“ They have teachers with them Y/N” .

“ 3 teachers for 24 students Jethro. That’s a 8:1 student teacher ratio”.

“ Hey our kids are smart independent and responsible. They can take care of themselves. “

“ They are too smart Jethro. That’s what worries me “ I laughed.” I still feel the no phone or internet connection is a lousy idea.”

“ Shh Babe, it’s a weekend . We have the house all to ourselves” Jethro whispered in my ears. His lips gently peppered a couple of kisses down my neck as I held my breath in anticipation. I could feel tingles in my stomach. It is amazing that even after so many years of marriage I feel the same excitement that I had felt the first time with him.

He held my waist and pulled me close to him as I turned towards him and saw desire flashing in is eyes. I leaned in towards his lips but instead of kissing him I softly ran my tongue against his lips, teasing him. He chuckled cocking up his eyebrows. “ You are gonna pay for that babe” he giggled. He grabbed my waist and pulled me on to his lap so that I was straddling him. I could feel his heart beat against mine,his masculine hardness setting my feminine core ablaze. He leaned in claiming my lips as I ground against him.

As I moaned he gained access to my tongue, with his finger slowly sneaking inside my panties. He found me all wet and ready. Rubbing his thumb against my clit he pumped a couple of fingers inside me ,building a rhythm of pleasure. The way I was thrusting against his finger, he could feel I was close.

“ Jethro. Oh Jethro. Jethro please” I whispered.

“ Yeah baby what do you want?”

“ Jethro I ,I ,I…”

" Do you wanna cum kid"

“ Yes, Oh Yes please” I cried put frustrated as he slowed his fingers.

“ Then ask me nicely baby” he said smirking.

“ Jethro ,Please let me cum.”

“ Can’t hear you babe”

“ Jethro , my Darling Jethro , my dear husband ,please let me cum. Can I please cum ? Please”

“ Since you asked so nicely, now cum baby. Cum on my fingers he said pumping his fingers hard as I came ,waves of pleasure running through me one after the other.

He licked his finger tasting me. “ Ahh Yumm” he said. He brought his fingers to my mouth letting me suck on it.

I kneeled down unbuckling his belt pulling out his hard throbbing Cock. I looked at him asking for his permission as he nodded. I took him in my mouth ,my tongue enveloping his hardness.

I explored his Cock slowly building a rhythm flicking my tongue in a way and pace I know Jethro loves. I looked up at his eyes, seeing lust, desire, passion. But like always I also found a level of tenderness in them , the one of love. He stroked my hair alternatively brushing it off my face.

“ Y/N, love” Jethro said “ I am close”.

“ I know Jethro . I want you to finish in my mouth. I want to taste you. Please” I said Licking the precum from his tip.

I slowly moved my tongue up and down from side to side feeling him in my mouth. I felt him shoot his load . I took it all swallowing it. I licked my lips.

Jethro pulled me up kissing me passionately tasting himself.

“ Time to return the favour “ he said, laying me on my back and tracing kisses to my core. He sucked and bit my clit , then moving down to eat me out. I thrusted arching my hips towards his mouth. Realising I was so close he looked up.

“ Don’t tease me now, please” I said.

“ I won’t kid. You can cum when you like. “ he said plunging his tongue inside me. I came in waves of pleasure as he held me steady.

“ Darling “ he said. “ I want to be inside you, Please”.

“ Since you ask so nicely” I chuckled mirroring his words, making him chuckle.

“ hmm you could be a bit more nicer , though” I grinned.

“ Please” he said grinning as I nodded to him.

He lined his cock against my entrance pushing in.

“ God Y/N” “ you are so tight “ he said.

He made a few shallow thrusts letting me adjust to his size, before he plunged deep. I wrapped my legs around him , pulling him closer. We moved together, our bodies tangled to each other. He sucked my nipples making me moan in placer. Our hearts were beating together. I was getting close. I clenched his cock making him moan.

“ Jethro, I am going to ….”

“ Go on Y/N, cum for me.”

As I came milking his cock, his thrusts became more erratic. I could understand he was close. He sucked my nipple, making me go over the edge. This time he followed me, and we came together, he swallowing my moans with his deep kiss.

We panted ,as our sweat intermingled. He brushed the hair of my face, gently kissing my forehead. He pulled me close , as I cuddled against him.

“ I love you so much Y/N”

“ I love you too Jethro.”

[autisticlalna]

"You Were Right" (and a behind the scenes on how we got here)

initially i was gonna make a post going over all of Anathra's lore so far but then i realized i do not quite have the spoons for it, and also i'd like to break it up into easier to cover parts anyway. so let's jump straight into the most recent mystery!

i've already talked before about the hidden messages in Rubyco's videos, and about the split-second easter eggs in Viking's. encrypted messages aren't exactly new to Skyblock Kingdoms.

but, okay, let's rewind a little. it's 1 am, a couple days before Anathra's episode 8 premieres. i'm winding down for bed, see the premiere on my homepage, and go: hey! i wonder what Anathra's doing next episode!

hey what the fuck is that. why is there elder furthark

a bit of backstory on me: i love translating things. you probably know this by now. i also knew a guy who was big into norse mythology stuff, and that included him knowing elder furthark. so i immediately peg that as "oh, shit, that's elder furthark" and track down a translation tool.

("why are you going into backstory" we'll get to that. lol lmao.)

anyway, its 1 am, i run it through the first tool i find, and get:

someþiŋ ' weird ' happened

...or "something weird happened".

COOL. THAT'S OMINOUS.

i go to bed. when i wake up, Moxi has shared something from Anathra's discord:

...but i can't figure out what it translates to.

timeskip to the premiere.

Anathra gets a delivery from the End Kingdom after helping Josh out with villager stuff. he goes to place the shulker down, it's suddenly nighttime, and...

hey, what

iou were right

...okay, here's where we loop back to that backstory bit, and also i pull back the curtain to showcase how hilariously bad this went for the dnerds.

i recognized the alphabet as elder furthark

(and yet my dyslexic ass doesnt realize theres two rs in it until now. it has been 5 years.)

trying to translate the box name gave me gibberish ("io nht tuil")

i also knew from the "something weird happened" message that elder furthark isnt 1:1 with the english alphabet

oops there are two translator tools. oops they use different runes for "y"

due to [gestures at cherry and doak], there is a minor scuffle about if it says "you" or if it actually IS supposed to say "iou"

we still cant translate the box

still cant translate the discord message either. this is about to be really funny

people in the sbkcd are also translating it, so we compare notes

anathra steps in to save us:

THANK YOU ANATHRA <3

i am immediately embarrassed because, oops, turns out Angerthas (dwarven runs from Lord of the Rings) has alphabet overlap with elder furthark, so that's where the confusion came from. seeing as it's a post-filming decision, that does mean that the episode description and chat message were translated correctly, but the box is in Angerthas and, despite having the same runes, they do not correspond to the same english letters.

i spend a bit alternating between bonking myself for my mistake and bonking my very tired head against Angerthas for a bit until WhiteQry suggests that maybe what Anathra said in chat is the same thing. later, Aquelon is able to translate it as "IU WER RAIT". or,

YOU WERE RIGHT

...right about what?

skipping back to the events of the episode: Anathra realizes that he's lost time. he says he's only felt this "once before", doesn't know what the writing is, and is generally thrown off by... whatever just happened.

i need to rewatch Anathra's pov before i can dig into what i think the message means-- my initial guess is that it has something to do with his ?nightmare? from episode 5, although im not sure past that. considering his pov plays with the concept of the fourth wall a bit as-is, the message also might not be for Anathra (and he can't read it with glasses on either way).

Anathra's in the middle of something. there's a lot going on with him, inside and outside, and i really want to do more overviews of his lore because it's very fun. until then, keep an eye out for more strange messages i guess.

-

"hey leo you didn't translate the furthark in the 'glasses off' message, what gives" WELL, YOU SEE. I WAS TOO BUSY BEING EMBARRASSED AT THE TIME TO PROCESS IT. AND IT WASNT UNTIL WRITING THIS POST AND GETTING THAT SCREENSHOT THAT I SAW IT AND WENT "wait. hold on" AND RAN IT THROUGH THE TRANSLATOR.

AND THEN REALIZED, AFTER FOUR DAYS, THAT ITS THE URL OF THE SITE IM USING TO TRANSLATE THIS AND IT JUST GOT KINDA MANGLED BECAUSE OF THE "NOT 1:1 WITH ENGLISH ALPHABET" THING.

im in hysterics. how did this happen. please dont ever think im professional. all of these super cool in-depth explainer posts are the end result of so much clownery but i needed to show you guys just how much of a MESS this is lmao

[concreteburialplot]

VIRALITY // 10

10 - Maybe Both, Maybe Neither

pairing: nicholas ruffilo x fem!oc [vallie]

masterlist/intro: here | crossposted: ao3 | word count: 5.8k

summary: after waking up next to each other vallie & nicholas go their separate ways. vallie goes to visit an old friend who may be more than friendly. nicholas goes to sober up noah but doesn’t expect him to pull the curtain back on his resentment.

warnings: mentions about alcoholism/AA meetings/cheating, arguing, noah being annoying but what's new, tea is spilled !!, vallie is vulnerable for once in her life, lots of dialogue, alternating POVs sorry 🥲

A/N: Sorry it's been like 2 months since I’ve updated, it literally did not feel like it 🥲 school & life are kicking my ass lol + this chapter ended up being so complicated / difficult

Also! This chapter introduces a very mild crossover with Christian 'Kras' Anthony from the band Chase Atlantic - he's being used as a fun little temporary reoccurring side character. Don't worry, knowing who he is isn't necessary to understand his character lol i just think he's cute🥰

don't like it don't read it. don’t be mean for no reason & let others enjoy things thnx :)

-NICHOLAS-

A jarring buzzing jolts me awake. I sit up a bit with scrunched eyes trying to follow the noise with a wandering patting hand. The noise leads to Vallie’s phone rattling on my bedside table next to her. I grab it and sleepily ignore the call out of habit.

In my still half-sleep state, I don’t want to be anywhere else besides where my body was curled up against her. I return to my spot with my arm around the brunette, tugging her closer. Her scent fills my nostrils when I nuzzle into her neck. The smell of her hair is peppermint-y and the scent on her skin reminds me of marshmallows and… matcha?

Whatever it is, it’s warm, cozy, and smells so yummy it makes me want to eat her again.

Before I have the pleasure of manifesting that thought into reality, her phone goes off vibrating again, this time making me significantly more aggravated.

I snatch the phone looking at her caller ID – the name plastered across the screen:

Christian

with some emojis I’m far too sleepy to decipher.

Christian?

I decide not to ignore her phone call from an evidently urgent caller.

“Hey, Hey.” I gently nudge her shoulder. “Your phone has been going off.”

She lets out a sleepy groan that is probably the cutest noise I’ve ever heard.

She takes one look at the ID and immediately ignores it and shoves it under the pillow.  

Odd.

She yawns and rubs her eye, “What time is it?”

“I’m not sure.” I try to look at the edges of my window covered with blackout curtains trying to gauge even the time of day. “You have your phone, check it?”

Her fingers tap against the mattress. “It’s not that important.”

“Who’s Christian?” I blurt out without thinking.

From the angle I’m at, I can see her eyes widen a bit at the question.

She clears her throat. “What?”

“The person who kept calling you. It was someone named Christian?”

“Oh um,” She bites down on my lip, seemingly contemplating her answer. “He’s a friend.”

I’m filled with a feeling I’m not sure I enjoy nor one I should be feeling.

“A friend?” I ask, unconvinced.

It’s none of my business. It doesn’t matter who he is.

“Yeah, a friend.” She scrunches her brows at the wall. “Why do you care who’s calling me?”

“I-I don’t.” I reply but I know I’m a shit liar and I probably don’t sound very convinced. “I was just wondering.”

“Right.” She yawns then gets up in a panic like she just realized where she is. “Oh my god we fell asleep.”

“Yeah…I figured you gathered that by now.” I said falling down flat beside her.

“Fuck Nick, how am I gonna get out of here?” She scrambles for her phone beneath the pillow to finally check the time. “Fuck, fuck, I have to leave.”

“Okay, okay, calm down. Let me just check out the house, I can take you to get your car.” I pull myself out of bed and let myself stretch out my arms above my head.

“Fuck.” She mutters, readjusting her entire torso in her tight top. “Remind me to never sleep in a corset ever again. I need to get out of this, can I borrow something?”

Her attention lands on me and at first, her forest greens are inquisitive and calm but when she actually looks at me, they widen. Her eyes slowly trail down my body and land where my shirt hangs above the exposed skin of my hips.

Watching her tongue slide between her lips makes my heart thump in my ear drums so loud I can barely hear what she’s saying.

 “Also, can you um,” She clears her throat and looks back up at me, “Help me get this off?”

“Sure.” I nod and drop my arms back down.

She shifts in the bed so the zipper in the back of the faux-corset faces me. My fingers delicately gather her dark chocolate locks and drape them over her shoulder to get them out of my way. Her tan skin curves so beautifully from her neck to her shoulder that I feel as though if I don’t kiss her there it would somehow be insulting.

The need to kiss her there feels as necessary as air, so lean down and press a hesitant kiss to the crook of her neck as I begin unzipping her top.

She doesn’t stop me, which I was sure she would stop me now in the daylight.

Another kiss up, I linger more there.

Then another in the same spot, then another, and another, and another – until I am fully peppering her skin with open mouth kisses and my hands roam her curves.

She lets out little noises the closer I get to her ear that remind me of the ones she gave me when my tongue was inside her.

It’s not until I’m nipping and sucking at her skin that she speaks.

“Nick…” She whines in a tone that says ‘you know better’.

I tug down the rest of her zipper.

My lips still lazily drag up her neck.

I hum against her and let my hands wander down her sides to her hips. “Let me make you feel good.”

She lets out a shuddered whine but not a red or green light.

My hands round her hips giving them a gentle back and forth rub, “I need to taste you again.” I press another kiss against the sensitive skin below her ear and I can feel goosebumps erupt all over her skin.

My fingers burn everywhere they meet her skin and beg to be everywhere  they shouldn’t be.

She closes her eyes and lets herself breathe for a second.

“Nicholas.” She repeats, more sternly this time. “I have to leave before anyone sees me.”

“I know.” I say simply and pull away, strategically resting both hands over my semi.

I know I shouldn’t press more. I know shouldn’t try to convince more. But god do I want to. All I’m thinking about is fucking her senseless.

She keeps a hand on the front of the corset to keep it flush on her skin. “Could I please borrow something?” She reminds me of her original request.

“Oh yeah sure, sorry.” I quickly scan the room for the closest item.

I spot a barely worn Deftones shirt and hand it to her.

“Thanks.”

 She just sort of stares at me then makes a ‘turn-around’ motion with her hand.

“Oh, sorry.” I shift away from her. “It’s not like it’s anything I haven’t seen before.”

“Shut up.”

I hear her let out a sigh of relief, probably from finally being freed from the constricting top.

“Okay you can turn around now.”

I turn back to her and find what I expected: her in my shirt.

What I didn’t expect was to somehow find her even more attractive in my shirt than even a lace corset.

As much as I’d like for her to stay, I fear that if I don’t get her out now, I’ll devour her whole.

“I’ll just… go scope out the area.” I thumb over my shoulder towards the door.

“Good idea.” She nods.

I very quietly sneak out of my room into the empty hallway, gently closing the bedroom door behind me.

After tiptoeing around the house, I find everyone asleep as it seems still quite early, at least for them.  

The drive back to the bar is quiet and somewhat awkward. I’m not sure if it’s because of what we did or if I crossed some sort of invisible line and made her upset.

Or maybe both,

Maybe neither.

Maybe I’m over thinking it.

We haven’t talked about anything, no rules, no boundaries. I don’t know how I would bring that up to begin with. What the hell are we doing? And how do I feel about it. How do I want to feel about it? 

We say goodbye and it’s stiff and odd. I’m not sure if I should kiss her? Or treat her like my colleague?

Maybe both,

Maybe neither.

That one feels more like a maybe neither.

The way she acted this morning makes me think that whatever… this is, is over.

I know it should be done, but there is a part of me that doesn’t want to stop. At least not yet. Maybe if I got one more fix.

Regardless how I feel about it, it was a mistake. I knew that the first time, I knew it last night and I know it now.

Why did I let this happen. How did I let this happen?

I tap my fingers anxiously against the steering wheel once I’ve parked at home.

I know Folio wouldn’t really care but if Noah or Jolly found out about this?

Oh my god.

I don’t even want to think about what would happen.

All I know is two things.

One, I can’t keep fucking thinking about this – I can’t keep thinking about her.

Two, I unfortunately know what I need to do when I walk back through our front door.

-VALLIE-

As soon as my car door shuts behind me, I let out a long sigh that I wasn’t aware I was holding.

I fold my arms around my steering wheel and rest my forehead against it.

“Fuck.”

The entire ride home there was this nausea festering in the pit of my stomach.

I like being with Nicholas.

I like being with Nicholas too much.

And this stupid fucking Deftones shirt is too comfortable and smells too much like him – and I like it more than I should. And I need to get home as soon as possible to get it off me.

This is absolutely the last thing I needed – catching feelings or whatever the fuck is filling my chest with butterflies from someone I’m representing.

This is the band that I shouldn’t have even taken on in the first place, and now I’m here on the verge of vomiting because I miss the way his bed feels. This was not the plan.

I shake my head from the the thoughts as I walk through my front door. It’s just the dickmatization talking. That’s it. I like his dick and that’s all.

His huge fucking…

No.

No.

And god his fucking tongue...

No.

No.

This absolutely cannot be happening.

I won’t let this happen.

I need to nip this in the bud before it goes any further.

I chuck my phone and keys on my dresser and use my palms to lean against the edge.

An abrupt buzzing of my iPhone against the hard wood shocks me from my dissociation.

Christian

Christian

Christian

…could be exactly what I need.

I slide the answer bar across the screen and bring the phone to my ear.

“Hey Kras.” I smile, using his nickname.

“Val!” He chimes cheerfully on the other line. “I’ve been trying to get ya all day!”

“I’m busy Kras, you know that.” I roll my eyes playfully. “What’s up, what do you want so badly?”

“Tour ended last week and I’m staying in LA for a bit for some band stuff before I head back home to Sydney.” He pauses. “I wanna see you. I need to talk to you about something.”

I press my lips together and take a deep breath, suddenly stressed about what exactly that meant.

“Okay. When and where do you wanna meet up?”

“Today? My place?”

“Okay, see you then.”

After a much-needed shower I’m finally at the door of his temporary apartment. I smooth out my outfit, which wasn’t much really, just some sweats with a cropped tank. With as long as I’ve known Kras, it didn’t really matter what I looked like, but I still wanted to look cute. I use my hand to flatten my tied up hair to make sure there’s no ridges before I knock on his door. It doesn’t take long for him to answer it.

“Val.” He greets with his signature big goofy smile.

The tall, long-haired blonde envelopes me into giant hug and I embrace it. His scent fills my nose with memories; it’s soft, comforting, and most of all, fun.

Christian and I have always been close, he’s the closest thing I have to a best friend. Our friendship has always been…interesting to say the least. I think most people would consider our dynamic complicated, but to us it’s quite simple.

I give him a good, hard squeeze around his midsection. “Augh, Kras I’ve missed you.”

He reciprocates the squeeze and places a kiss atop my head. “I missed you too.”

I pull away with a smile and smack his arm, “You don’t text me enough! I didn’t even know your tour ended.”

“Me? The phone works both ways Miss ‘You know I’m busy’” He mocks me jokingly.

“God, I forget how strong your Aussie accent is in person.” I chuckle, diverting the conversation.

I shiver at the ice-cold chill I get from his AC and rub my arms for warmth.

“Fuck it’s cold as shit in here.” It’s so frigid even my teeth chatter.

“Yeah, sorry I like it freezing. You want a jacket or something?” He offers then crosses the room when I nod.

He picks through some clothes in an open suitcase and hands me a multicolored flannel. I pull the flannel over my arms letting the material engulf my body.

After a brief catching up about tour and life, I lean against the wall and cross my arms.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk about.” I cut straight to it.

He bites down on his lip, and I can’t tell if he’s excited or nervous.

Maybe both, maybe neither.

“We need a manager.” He blurts out.

“Oh? I thought you were working with-”

“We want you Val.”

I laugh, because surely, he can’t be serious. I don’t belong to an agency and work my two clients freelance, all on my own. There’s no way I could take on another band, especially one as successful as Chase on top of the other two.

“What? No, no, I absolutely couldn’t manage you guys…”

He steps towards me and trails his fingers down my arms and hooks onto my hands. “Sure you can. You used to, remember?”

I shake my head, “Oh, you know that doesn’t count Christian. We were nobodies – you were nobodies. Of course I could manage your measly little 10,000 Instagram followers.”

He squeezes my hands and tugs on my arms. “C’mon Val. It’ll be like the good old days. It’ll be fun!”

“I don’t know about you, but living in a tiny LA apartment with three men struggling to afford food wasn’t really that good or fun.”

He rolls his eyes and tugs on my arms again. “For old times’ sake?”

I shake my head, “No, no, I already have enough on my plate. I just took on another band not that long ago.”

“Please Val, for us?” His brows curve up, and he gives me the biggest hazel puppy dog eyes that he knows I can’t say no to. “For me?”

I groan and rest my head back against the wall. “I’ll think about it, okay?”

His hands leave mine and find their way to my hips, slipping under the flannel so his hands are holding onto bare skin between my tank and my sweats. His forehead presses against mine.

“Is there anything I can do to help change that answer?” He asks between the small space separating us while his finger traces my jaw line tilting my chin up a bit.

I tug at my lip – this is partially why I came here right? To nip my Nick problem in the bud, to break the dickmatization spell.

“I don’t know, maybe.” I tease up at him with round eyes.

“Hm.” He hums and leans in, pressing a kiss to my lips and I freeze.

Even though we’ve done this a million times before, it just feels wrong now. Nicholas and I aren’t even… anything, we’re just fucking, right? But it still feels odd.

I know this feeling.

And I know what it means.

Fuck.

I pull away and give a little head shake.

“Plum?” He asks using our code word for when we’re interested in or dating someone else.

I groan loudly, shuffle past him to his bed in the studio apartment and dramatically fall flat, face down onto it. Then let out an even louder, longer groan.

He walks over and gently sits criss-cross on the bed next to me.

“Must be a pretty good Plum to have you like this.”

Our friendship was simple. We’re the rare example that a friends-with-benefits can be truly, purely platonic and casual. Kras is a generally affectionate guy, even with his bandmates. And he is one of the only people I feel comfortable being affectionate with, so I let myself be affectionate with him.

We are platonically affectionate best friends who fuck when we’re single. It sounds impossible but it’s who we are and who we have been for almost 10 years. 

It’s nice, cozy, and convenient. Easy.

He’s safe, familiar, and reliable.

Which is more than I can say for any friendship or relationship I’ve ever had.

I turn my head towards him still flat against the bed.

“It’s bad Kras.”

“How bad?”

I chew on my bottom lip. “I work with him.”

His eyes widen. “Oh no.”

“Oh yes.”

“…In the band you were talking about?”

I turn back to hide my face in his duvet. “Oh yeah.”

“Val noooo.”

I chuckle at how his ‘no’s sound like ‘naaauur’s.

“I knooow.” I whine into the sheets.

“Singer?”

I shake my head against the duvet.

“Guitarist?”

“Bassist.” I reply muffled in bedding.

“Oof.”

A laugh escapes me at his reaction. I pop my head up at him, “Stop, I know.”

I pull myself up and cross the bed to sit next to him and lay my head on his shoulder.

“Maybe I just really like his dick.” I state confidently staring out the large window across the room. I blankly watch the daytime city lights flicker across the highrise-littered skyline.

“You think so?” He asks looking down at me a little. “I’ve never seen you get like this over just good dick. You’re pretty cut and dry about like…emotions. You’re good at separating sex from feelings.” He laughs and nudges me. “That’s why we work so well.”

I groan and hide my face in his shoulder because I know he’s right. He’s always right when it comes to shit like this.

“He sang to me Kras.”

“Oh god…was he any good?”

I feel my cheeks heat up and I nod against his arm, “It was so pretty.”

He laughs and tickles my side, “Look at you! You’re smitten! I never thought I’d see the day.”

I grab the nearest pillow and smack him with it, “Shut up!” then fall back flat and cover my face with it.

There’s a silence between us for a bit, a million things running through my mind, but Kras speaks for me.

“You know you can’t love him, right?” He says gently.

My brows furrow immediately, I slam the pillow down and shoot straight up.

“WHOA, whoa whoa.” I cut through the air with my hand. “Nobody ever said anything about…the L word. I do not…love him.” I can barely get the word out as if it’s something forbidden. “I barely fucking know him. I just like his dick.”

“Okay, okay.” He raises his hands in defense. “You can’t like him. You know that right?”

“I don’t even know if I like him. We’re just fucking. That’s all.”

He glares at me with a face that screams, ‘yeah right’. “Well, fine, you know you can’t keep fucking him.”

I let out a long sigh.

“Yeah, I know. I thought coming here to fuck you would help.”

He laughs then tapers off in thought.

“Maybe we don’t actually have to fuck in order to help.” He suggests.

I raise a brow at him, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean… guys normally don’t just sing to girls they’re casually hooking up with.”

“Okay…?” I motion for him to keep going.

“So, if it comes up or anything, you could just lie.” He shrugs.

“Lie about what?”                             

“About like, fucking someone else. If he likes you enough to sing to you, he probably won’t be happy if you tell him you’re fucking someone else. So, he’ll stop trying to fuck you.”

I chew on my thumbnail in thought, he’s right. Like always.

“Maybe. I don’t really know if he’d even care. We never really talking about anything… I thought we just had a silent agreement about just fucking, he never said anything about-”

“He sang to you Val.”

I anxiously twirl the ends of my ponytail and chew on my bottom lip. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

He gives me the most ‘are you for real’ glare.

“Okay, okay.” I deflate. “IF it comes up, I’ll mention something.”

“Just don’t say who I am. I don’t know him, he could beat my ass." He laughs. "Plus, it would be pretty awkward for him to find out that you’re fucking a hot guitarist from your other band.” He smirks cheekily.

“Shut up.” I elbow his side playfully, “I never said yes.”

“But you will.”

I chew on my lip thinking it over.

On one hand, I’m already insanely busy and overworked with the two artists I’m already managing.

On the other hand, as odd as they are, they are old and close friends of mine. It wouldn’t be like managing strangers or learning a whole new fanbase, I helped build the foundation of the one they have now back in 2014.

And it would be a good distraction.

If this plan works out with Nick, maybe I could move on from Plum status and I can actually focus on my job.

“Fine. I’ll do it. BUT,” I hold a finger pointed towards him menacingly, “ONLY temporarily.”

“Ah yes! I knew you would!” He exclaims, wrapping his arms around me and tackling me to the bed, pressing various ‘thank you’ kisses to my cheek.

“Okay, okay enough.” I chuckle trying to escape his grasp.

-NICHOLAS-

I let a long sigh at the bottom of the stairs, shifting my weight between both feet. I tap my fingers on the wooden railing anxiously. I probably shouldn’t be this rattled over something I’ve done a million times before. But it doesn’t get any easier.

I push myself up the stairs in one driving force knowing that it has to be me. It’s always me.

Never Folio. Never Jolly.

It’s always been my job.

There’s no response when I knock on Noah’s bedroom door.

I knock again, no answer.

I knock again, no answer.

So, I let myself in.

As expected, Noah’s passed out with a fresh bottle of whiskey half drank on his nightstand. His room still in as much filth as it’s been for a while. For as long as I’ve known him, I’ve only ever seen his room even remotely messy a handful of times, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen it. In the past I’ve known the reasons behind the mess or the drinking – usually over a breakup or some depression spell – but this time he kept me in the dark. I have no fucking clue what's going on with him.

If I wasn’t so aggravated with him already, the mess of the room would worry me even more than I already am.

I cross the threshold of garbage between the door and his bed and pat his cheek awake.

“Noah.”

Sleepy snores tumble from his mouth and while one might find them endearing, right now, they’re pissing me the fuck off.

“Noah.” I say more sternly, nudging him more. No luck.

I try various other ways, and nothing works. He’s out cold.

So, I try a tried-and-true classic.

I climb on top of him and straddle his waist over the duvet, one knee at each side of his hips. His boney exposed shoulders offer a great anchor so I grab them, shaking him awake.

He comes-to slowly, droopy heavy lids struggling to open. His fist goes to rub his tired eye but winces when he’s reminded of the swollen black and blue that surrounds it.  

“The fuck are you doing?” He groans, stealing a pillow from beside him to cover his face. “Get off of me.”

I snatch the pillow from his grasp and toss it across the room. “No. You’re going to get up. You’re going to shower. And I’m taking you to a meeting.”

He shields his eyes with his arm. “I’m-I’m fine Nick, don’t need a meeting.” His words slurring together.

“You’re a fucking idiot.” I correct.

“I don’t need a meeting.” He hiccups and I can smell the alcohol radiating off him, seeping through his skin. “I’m not going. I'm just gonna sleep.”

I grab his wrists, pin them to the bed and get low to his face. “Oh you’re going. We’re gonna sober you up, starting with a shower.” I pull off him and stand beside the bed.

“Let’s go. C’mon.”

“No.”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way has the same result. Let’s go.”

“No.”

I sigh, even though I knew it would end up like this. “Fine. Hard way it is.”

I yank the sheets off him and use two arms to scoop up his body by his midsection and throw him over my shoulder. He’s thin enough to where even I can lift and carry him easily – or maybe I’ve just gotten used to the weight of him in my arms.

“Nick let me fucking go.” He whines but doesn’t try to wiggle out of my grasp, probably too hungover to move that much.

With every bit of my strength, I carry his thin body to his guest bathroom.

I all but toss him into the shower, start the water, and fling the curtain closed.

“Hey! What the fuck!” He yells and shuts off the water immediately.

He slings the curtain open and snatches a towel off the nearest rack, wrapping it around his shirtless torso.

“What the fuck is your problem, Nicholas!” His hands frantically wipe the water from his face. 

I let out a frustrated groan and turn to leave. "Stop being a baby." 

He steps out of the tub and calls after me, “Hey, I’m not fucking done talking to you!”

The shower shock did exactly what I needed it to do, sober him up, but now I regret even waking him up.

“My problem is that you’re a fucking drunk Noah.” I snap turning back to him.

“I’m not a fucking drunk, I have it under control. You’re just fucking paranoid!” He steps into the hallway dripping water all over the carpet.

“I’m not fucking paranoid, Noah. I’m not letting you drink yourself to oblivion.”

His brows lift in offense, “Let me? What the fuck are you, my fucking keeper?”

“Sometimes it sure fucking feels like I am!” The words escape me before I can stop them.

He chuckles in disbelief, “Well, nobody fucking asked you to be.”

“It doesn’t matter if anyone asked me to, I have to because who the fuck else is gonna pick your sorry, bruised ass off a bar floor in the middle of the fucking day?” My hand helps exaggerate each word.

“Jolly or Folio would’ve.” He sasses, crossing his arms.

“Oh yeah? And how long you think they’d put up with that?” I step closer to him. “Not for as long as I have, that’s for fucking sure.”

His eyes scrunch together like he’s hurt or offended.

Maybe both,

Maybe neither.

“I won’t let you push out everyone in our lives Noah.”

His eyes land on me and he cocks his head to the right a bit like a dog processing a foreign noise.

“‘Push out everyone in our lives’ is that what this is actually about? Alice?”

My gaze locks on him and my hands curl into tight fists at my sides. There are many words I want to say but none seem able to leave my tongue.

“Oh my god. You can’t be serious.” He steps back and points defensively at me. "I didn't push her out, you did!" 

My blood boils and burns as it courses through my veins. My eyes narrow at him.

“I know you fucked her Noah.” I shove my finger so hard into his chest that it nearly knocks him back.

“I didn’t even like her Nick! Why the fuck would I fuck her?” He immediately denies.

“Because you always have to have everything you want, including the things that aren’t yours.”

“‘Things’” He scoffs. “Funny how you’re so upset about someone you only see as a thing.”

My teeth grind so hard it makes my jaw clench, “You know she was never a thing to me until you fucked her.”

“Oh, give it a break Nicholas! Stop blaming me for her leaving.” His hands exaggerate his words then points straight at me. “You are the reason your relationship failed. You are the reason she left.”

My eyes narrow as I step closer to his soaked body. “I would really watch what you fucking say if I were you.”

“Or what?” He asks but I have no answer. “When are you going to stop punishing me for something I never fucking did?”

I watch his eyes: dark brown, heavy, bloodshot, and one lined with a dark bruise from the bar fight. His words sound genuine, but I know his eyes, I know them like the back of my hand.

I know when he’s lying, and he’s lying to me right now. I can’t prove it, I haven’t been able to, but I know he’s been lying to me for the past year.

“For the love of god Noah, can you just stop fucking lying?” I snap. "You don't even have enough respect for me to tell me the truth?"

“Wow.” He presses his lips together for a moment. “You must think so low of me to really believe that I would do something like that.”

“I don’t have to think low of you to believe the truth.” I hiss, stepping towards him. “But you’re going to keep denying it so it’s irrelevant what I believe did or didn’t happen. What I do know, is that you have a fucking problem, and you need help.”

He steps towards me with low brows and narrow beady eyes, “I didn’t fuck Alice and I don’t need a fucking alcohol anonymous meeting just because I still like to get drunk sometimes. I am a fucking adult, and I don’t need you to ‘save me’.” He scoffs and runs his tongue across his teeth. “You know? Maybe that’s what actually drove Alice away, you and your fucking high-and-mighty, savior complex bullshit.”

Every inch of skin on my body feels like its burning and my heart races so loud I can barely even think clearly. I tighten my fists so tight that my nails dig into my palms painfully. I know that if I do anything, it will make me look like the villain.

“I can’t fucking hit you because if I do, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.” I growl lowly. “Get sober or don’t, I don’t fucking care anymore – but we have a chance, a real chance at making it now and if you ruin this for us Noah, I will never fucking forgive you. Do you understand me? I will fucking destroy you if you fuck this up for us.”

His brows curve up and he looks at me like I’m insane for insinuating that he would. “I won’t.” He replies through gritted teeth.

I glance over the railing when I hear the house beginning to stir with Jolly and Folio starting to wake up, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I don’t need them getting involved.

“Just,” I lower my voice between us. “Make it to rehearsals, meetings, shows – the rest I don’t give a fuck. Just make it to work. Sober.”

“Fine.” He says quickly, "If that will keep you out of my fucking business and leave me the fuck alone."

"Fine."

"Fine." He repeats, because of course he has to have the last word, before storming off to his room and slamming the door behind him.

I mirror him, making it to my room and slamming the door.

Once alone, the feeling that courses through my body is nauseating, painful and overwhelming. It is a visceral ache, I feel it twisting in my chest first, in my ribs, then flows and pools in the pit of my stomach.

I thought I moved on from the Alice situation. I tried to force myself to believe him, I tried to forget and push it so far down that it wouldn’t hurt. Tried to rationalize, maybe he didn’t sleep with her. Maybe he didn’t betray me. Maybe it really is just me projecting the weaknesses of our relationship onto him. But no matter how hard I push it down, it always bubbles back up.

And in my gut, I know he did it. Everything adds up, the timelines, the behavior, all of it.

I was just never prepared for a girlfriend to cheat on me with my best friend. I was never prepared to have him sleep with my girlfriend. Not after everything we’ve been through.

I was never prepared to have my heart broken by the two people I trusted and loved more than anything in my life.

In retrospect, I guess, I should’ve expected it. For as long as I can remember Noah always had girls fawning all over him. He always had that lead singer charm even though he never planned on being a frontman. Girls were never an issue for him, he seemed to get anyone he ever wanted.

Is it really that far-fetched that the one I had wanted him too?

Is that all that this is going to be from now on? Any girl the rest of us want, would just want Noah first?

I never pictured that this would be our future.

I never pictured my best friend of over a decade fucking my girlfriend then lying about it to my face.

I never pictured having to drag said lying, alcoholic best friend out of bed trying to get him to an AA meeting just so he could be sober enough for rehearsals.

I never imagined that out of the four of us, it would be me having to hold it all together. I never signed up for that. I signed up to play an instrument, to sign CDs, sleep in busses and sit in interviews. I never signed up to play manager, I never signed up to secretly scrape Noah off bar floors, be his personal caretaker and tentative AA sponsor. Doing all of that just to have it thrown in my face, to stand next to him – every day in rehearsals, in photoshoots, on stage, across the fucking dining table – knowing what he did and pretending that I’m okay with it.

I never thought I’d feel stuck in this band, this thing Noah and I have worked on and dreamed about since we were 15. I’ve poured so much of my life into this fucking band.

I can’t just up and leave. I’d have nothing left. I’d be nothing without them and I can’t be the bomb to blow us up. Especially not now when everything is just starting to take off. All this work would’ve been for nothing.

It’s not just my livelihood and dream, but theirs as well. I can’t do that to them.

And as much as I want to, as much as I’ve tried, I can’t leave Noah. We both know I’m right whether he wants to admit it or not. Nobody else would do what I do, nobody knows what I do, and nobody knows how to take care of him the way I do. He’s stubborn and stupid and won’t let anyone else in the way he’s let me in.

I don’t know why I’m the only one who has gotten the curse of his trust, but I have it and I can’t hand it off or set it down – no matter how heavy or suffocating it is.

Next Chapter -> 11 - Peak Fashion

tag list; @ladyveronikawrites @kingdomof-omens @persuasivus @strawberryruffilo @thebadchic @the-hell-i-overcame @sinkingteethinwhitenoise @cncohshit @dominuslunae [comment if you'd like to be tagged?]

A/N: The love for this story has honestly been so overwhelming (in a good way obv) and I couldn't be more grateful. I really thought this would flop lol so, thank you so much for every like, reblog, ask, or comment. It means the world to me truly. Thank you.

i love hearing your thoughts so feel free to share! (i'm really bad at responding to comments/asks but i still love them 🥺)

[willowbird]

WIP Wednesday

9/18 - 9/24

The stars have aligned! Day off + writing inspo + spoons + wednesday! I'll be writing on and off all day and wanna give this neat thing a go. I'm not sure where it originated, but snagging from @jtl-fics :D

Update: Pinning to the top, and will be open all week! I'll pop in and out as I'm writing to keep the juices flowing ^_^. No context will be given in the responses themselves, but feel free to ask any questions about the WIPs separately! Also, any general "oh hey are you gonna update this?" asks are being absorbed into this lil game. I have absolutely no problem with people asking me about the status of my projects and if/when they might see an update, as long as they're polite - but I tend to want to hold onto those and not respond until I can say "yes, and here you go!!!" so they just sit unanswered - the idea is that this way, I can give you a little update AND write a little bit too!

Send me an ask with one of the WIPs listed below. I'll respond with like, 3-5 new sentences! ^_^

Fics on offering:

Finding You (Chapter 13) Ongoing - 12 chapters up on AO3 Daemons AU retelling of "The Foxhole Court", wherein Andrew's just really really gay and so is his daemon. Super self-indulgent.

dannapped Unposted - < 1k written someone makes a very dumb decision and kidnaps dan - neil takes care of it, this will be dark and violent despite the humorous working title

if we could pick and choose our destinies Unposted - > 10k written pet project of mine, time travel/alternate timeline AU. temporary MCD of our boys causes Katelyn & Aaron to literally rewrite history. heavy focus on the twinyards relationship. POV alternates between aaron and andrew

USB Unposted - > 5k written other pet project, no name yet, it's just this "ultra slow burn" in 4 parts (elementary, middle school, high school, happily ever after), an AU where andreil meets in 1st grade but don't get together until college. lots of friendship, family, drama, and gay pining. originally planned to be four 5k-7k chapters, each covering the main events in each time period, but you guys know how this works so I decided not to commit to just a tidy little thing

[katyawriteswhump]

the power of love, part 12 (steddie, steve whump, stobin fic)

Alternate ending S4: Steve has a habit of surviving near death experiences then getting sick for no reason. And Eddie and those fatal bat bites? After an impossible feat of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from Steve, he’s mysteriously fixed. So, Eddie’s back to being banished, this time with Steve and Robin in tow. Eddie’s healing, but Steve isn’t… and life gets even more confusing, when Eddie develops feelings for Steve, which aren’t entirely unrequited.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 13

(also on AO3 here and as part of my steve whump fic series)

Eddie POV

To Eddie, there’s something way too police-like about the way Hopper escorts Steve to the Humvee. He even raises a hand to check Steve doesn’t knock his head, while climbing in the rear seat. Eleven gets in the far side of Steve, and Robin piles in on the near side. 

Robin shoots Eddie such a mean look and slams the armoured door. Left standing in the mud, Eddie gets it—subtle as a monster punch in his gut. Stay away from Steve.

“Let’s move.” Hopper motions urgently, and Eddie trudges over and gets in.

“You sure you want me riding shotgun? What with me being… Oh, I dunno, verified spawn of Satan?” 

Hopper drops his voice to a barely audible rumble: “Whatever game you two were playing last night, I don’t wanna know.” He doesn’t sound chummy. Not actively hostile either. “I promised your uncle I’d look out for you, if I could.”

Eddie inhales sharply: “You’ve seen him? He’s okay?”

“He salvaged your six-string after the quake. He wanted me to tell you.”

Eddie snorted; cannot deny it’d played on his mind. God, Wayne knows him too damn well.

Hopper fiddles with the switches on the spartan dashboard. “Not gonna say he’s okay, because nobody in Hawkins is. Our best hope is that the military pull out when they can’t find Eleven. We still have allies, acquaintances of Owens, though their numbers are thinning fast.”

“That who we’re running to?”

Hopper has some kind of plan, which he explains as he grinds into gear. They’re heading for a remote road, where these remaining ‘allies’ have arranged further transport. “Luckily,” says Hopper, “you guys were pretty much on route.”

“We can’t stay away long,” says Eleven. “I have to go back. I can beat One, with help from friends, and…”

Eddie peeps over his shoulder, sees her staring hopefully at Steve. Who is staring glassily ahead.

“Steve?” prompts Robin. “Anything you feel like sharing.”

“Will you gimme a break? Look, I got an idea about what’s behind all this. I don’t know how much sense it’s gonna make, so…”

Nothing could’ve prepared Eddie for what Steve discloses next. “I know how nuts this must sound,” Steve says. Eddie, like the others, is temporarily stunned speechless. “That I should be… That I should’ve drowned in that lake, when I was a kid.”

“The only thing nuts,” says Robin, who’s literally cuddling him from the side, “is that you didn’t tell us this sooner.”

Steve squirms. “Honestly? It only came together in my head in the past day or so. It was like a really annoying jigsaw puzzle, and jigsaws are basically my least favorite thing ever.”

“We need to figure this out,” says Hopper. “There was no gate open to the Upside Down in 1978. Doesn’t mean Steve’s powers, if that’s what you got, aren’t linked to the Upside Down, or the experiments at Hawkins Lab. If they are, doesn’t mean they’re all bad news. Look at El.”

“I guess.” The Humvee rocks and rolls over a particularly cavernous pothole, and Steve flinches hard. “In my dreams and shit, I see this trippy… I don’t know how to describe them. They’re like a ghost or something; also, not quite a ghost. Whatever, I got this hunch they’re behind it.”

“Could be some kind of water spirit,” says Robin. “Or even a goddess. Oooh, so the Romans worshipped this water goddess, Minerva, and the ancient Celts had Sulis—"

“Be serious,” says Steve.

“I am serious. In Native American religions, water can represent a link between life and death. I wish I knew more.”

“Not sure I wanna know any of this.” Steve peeps down at El, who’s not quit staring at him. “If this is your crazy-pants frenemy after all, now would be a really good time to tell me.”

She shakes her head. “No. If I sense anything, it’s good… soft… like Mama should’ve been.”

“Oh,” says Steve. “Can you, like, see them too?”

“No.”

“Son-of-a-bitch!” bellows Hopper. The Humvee’s wheels churn uselessly in the sludgy ground. “Everyone out, apart from you.” He points at Steve. “You okay to take the wheel?”

Steve revs for about ten seconds. Eleven uses her powers to unstick the armoured vehicle, and nobody needs to shove. Trouble is, they get stuck again about ten minutes later. And again, five minutes after that. Soon after they next get going, there’s a loud metallic clunk. The Humvee chokes, splutters, and dies completely.

They all tumble out yet again, apart from Steve, who stays put, and nobody argues. Hopper props up the hood. “Munson, you any good with cars?” 

“Uh, hello?” says Robin. “My moms jumpstarts her Chevette every single day.”

That distracts Steve’s guard-dog. Eddie suffers a moment of agonising indecision then pops his head in the rear seat.

“How you doing?” Eddie knows it’s a stupid question. 

Steve shoots him a withering look, fluffs his messy hair. Eddie slides in beside then totally freezes up. He feels horrible about Steve’s arm in the sling, and as for the rest of it… 

HE DIED! On the other hand, I died too.

Yeah, how exactly does Eddie Munson fit into this beyond-freaky legend? He hardly gives a shit— he’s not the one seeing ‘ghosts’ and, worse, starting to resemble a ghost.

“Eddie,” whispers Steve. “I might need to get away.”

“Get away?” mouths Eddie. “What do you mean? From Hopper?”

Steve’s silence is answer enough.

“Granted, the dude’s packing heat,” says Eddie. And driving a freakin’ tank. "He’s not holding you hostage.”

“I know that. God, I’m so confused.” Steve’s stopped being grouchy or fighty. Which is pretty un-Steve, and scary in itself. He curls a hand over his eyes. “I feel like I’m being… I dunno, pulled in the wrong direction.”

A power chord of fear twangs across Eddie’s every fibre. “You want us to go back to Hawkins?” 

“Us?” Steve emerges from behind his fingers. “No. Hop’s right. You’d be arrested and I’d be… Ugh, I’m so goddamn sick of this. I want this all to be over, so we can… you know, fool around together.”

He reaches out, hooks a strand of Eddie’s now-totally-mad hair behind his ear, and sorta smiles. For a single damn fine moment, that smile sparks in his eyes; Eddie loses himself there, and their world is perfect.

Then Steve’s fingers drift away. Eddie wants to catch them, kiss them, promise he’ll do anything Steve needs. He’ll take down the whole damn US army, slay Vecna in a blaze of glory, even if he dies AGAIN trying, and yet… 

… Holy shit, he’s terrified of Steve! Scared that, if he touches him, he’s gonna crumble into dust, or…

“Earth to Eddie?” Steve waves in front of Eddie’s nose. “Have I added invisibility to my list of useless powers?”

“No. It’s just… I want this over too, so we can do, uh, yeeeaah, stuff.” Wow. Call yourself a lyricist, Munson? He’s rescued by a roar from the Hummer’s engine. That sleepwalker’s glaze returns to Steve’s eyes, and it feels way too much like another door swinging closed in Eddie’s face.

Although the dinged motor is fixed, the mud continues to be literally a pain in the butt. Nobody enjoys the bruisingly rough ride on the rock-hard, upholstery-free seats. 

“At this rate, we’re gonna have to ditch this piece of garbage and walk,” says Hopper.

“Jesus Christ, just ditch me already,” mutters Steve, who’s turned a disturbing shade of gray-green. Hopper doesn’t argue, which makes Eddie think he isn’t taking all that Steve says seriously. Which makes Eddie feel kinda sick, too.

What should they do? He wishes he could talk to Steve alone again, this time be less of a tongue-tied dipshit. That said, how can Steve go back to Hawkins? Right now, he can’t hardly walk.

They’re halfway across a patch of open land when they get stuck yet again. Eleven’s nearly as washed out as Steve, her nose bleeding. Hopper suggests they get the Humvee moving the traditional way.

“Shame about all that rain,” says Robin, as she, Hopper and Eddie pile out to push.

“Is that a dig?” snaps Steve, from the driver’s seat.

“Wasn’t supposed to be. Sorry. Sorry.”

They’ve barely put their backs into it, when Hopper squints into the air and curses louder than ever. A distant juddering noise reaches Eddie’s hearing.

“Oh my God,” cries Robin. “Is that—”

“Sikorsky search-and-rescue Hawks,” shouts Hopper. Yup, Eddie counts a battle-wave of ten or more. “Into the trees. Go, go, go!”

“What about our tank?” Eddie jumps on instinct to help Steve, who’s clambering out, seeming kinda dazed. Robin blocks Eddie’s path. It’s all a moot point, because Hopper’s already got to Steve.

“If they see it,” says Hopper, hustling Steve ahead of him, “chances are they’ll take a potshot.”

“I can crash them,” gasps Eleven. “Done it before.”

“Not a great idea, kiddo,” says Hopper. “They’ll know for sure it’s us, and throw everything they got into this part of the country. We’ll never make our meet.”

Eddie is scratched from head to foot by outdoor crap, before Hopper says, wheezing hard, “This’ll do.” They all get down in a bunker-like dip. Steve kneels beside Eddie, Hopper behind them. Robin shuffles around to crouch beside Steve.

“Do you hear that?” murmurs Steve to Eddie.

“Uh, yeah,” replies Eddie. “Evil empire TIE fighters, straight outta the Death Star.”

“Not them. A river or something. Loud. Like a waterfall.”

“Could be a giant bear taking a slash?” says Eddie, because life is currently so unfunny, he really might as well. And no, he can’t hear any water. Only the crescendoing approach of that airborne death squad.

“Bears have gotten so far down my ‘worry about’ list,” says Robin, “that that’s scary itself.” She picks a cobweb out of Steve’s hair. Steve, meanwhile, closes his eyes. He starts to tremble. “Uh, Steve,” says Robin, “what are you—”

“What d’you think I’m doing?” Bitchy Steve has returned, which Eddie chooses to find reassuring. “They’ll see the Hummer for sure. If I can actually do what you say I did—”

“It makes you sick,” hisses Eddie.

Robin bristles. “Since when did you care?”

“Will you both zip it?” says Steve.

Robin rubs his back. Eddie considers squeezing his knee, then decides against it. Hopper stops scrutinising the skies, brow furrowing: “What’s he doing?”

“Nothing!” Robin’s overwrought smile is stupidly guilty.

“Stevie?” prompts Eddie. “Is there anything we—”

“No, no. I remember this insane crackling. If I can get that going… Gnnng!”

“Anger helps,” whispers Eleven, from the far side of Robin. “What makes you angry?”

“A ton of shit! I can’t… Jesus, it feels like my head’s gonna explode.”

There’s a blinding flash, and a deafening thunderclap. Steve crumples forward, and Hopper grabs him by the scruff of his sweater before he hits the dirt. Eddie shrinks back, his own heart beating like it’s gonna bust outta his chest.

Steve’s now basically hyperventilating. “Ssssh, you did great.” Hopper gently braces an arm around him. “You gotta calm down. Breathe slower, nice and steady, huh?”

Eddie glances up at a bank of wispy grey clouds that hadn’t been there before. A few tense moments pass, the air palpably crackling with an electric tension. Then the noise from the choppers begins to fade.

“They’re turning around,” says Hopper. “Hawks can’t fly with lightning around.”

Robin’s shoulders sink with a relief Eddie shares. Steve, however, groans miserably. Hopper is still keeping Steve upright and asks, “You gonna puke?”

Steve scrunches his face and nods. 

“Stop goggling and get lost,” says Hopper to the others. Nobody disobeys. They’ve not gone a dozen yards, before Robin trips and falls on her face. As Eddie stoops to help her, she springs back up without aid. Far more shockingly, she throws her arms around Eddie’s neck:

“Oh my God, oh my God, I know the powers are awesome but he’s sick and I’m so scared he’s dying. What do we do? How can we help him? WHAT DO WE DO?”

All Eddie can do is press his cheek to her hair, and answer with an honesty that jack-knifes through his guts. “I don’t know, Robin. I haven’t a goddamn clue.”

Part 13

...

PS--In case anybody's worried... while there is plenty of trauma ahead, I only do happy endings ;)

tags: @estrellami-1 @kal-ology @finntheehumaneater (thank you, thank you, thank you!) If anybody else would like to be tagged on this fic or any of my writing, please let me know :) Reblogs, comments and likes also very much appreciated :) Thank you for reading so far :)

(also part of my steve whump fic series on AO3)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 13