#oh wow two asks in a day for moth?

[stories-and-chaos]

Shrike: Angel Learns a Lesson

[Hazbin Hotel reader insert as Alastor’s “darling life and death partner” I did my best for an ace x ace relationship, based on personal experience. Both parties are moderately sex favorable. Silly one shot inspired by my brain saying ‘what if a Stolas-esque bleep fest was extremely clinical’]

[One shot, 1106 words, no warnings needed]

—————

“Okay toots, you an’ me gotta talk,” Angel Dust found you reading in the hotel parlor. The lanky spider demon had been itching to talk to you one on one since you moved into the hotel. You’d moved into Alastor’s suite, happy to finally have your husband back after his seven year ‘sabbatical.’ That meant you were mostly in the Radio Demon’s company. Angel had learned not to ask him about sex the hard way.

You looked much more approachable. You had the air of a delicate bird. A little shorter than Vaggie, you had the perfect amount of curves for an hourglass figure. The shimmering flapper dress you wore showed that off nicely. Even though your arms and legs were vividly red for ⅔ of their length, they weren’t too alarming. Even your talons looked delicate. The black mask across your eyes was striking but offset by the fluffy silver hair framing your face. Your wings didn’t have a sharpness like a bird of prey and were proportioned more like a songbird.

All in all, you looked sweet, cheerful, and non-threatening.

So on a day that Alastor was out while you remained at the hotel, Angel Dust got the perfect opportunity to get some of the goods about tall, dark, and spooky. “Oh! Angel! What can I help you with?”

“I gotta know sweet cheeks, what do you an’ Al get up to?” You made an inquiring noise as you tilted your head to one side. Even that motion was bird-like. The porn star stared at you, unsure if you were pranking him. But the silence stretched on and he realized you actually didn’t understand. “Wha…how…you…” he didn’t know how to talk about sex with someone who didn’t understand innuendo. “How do you and Smiles have sex?”

That just confused you more. “Angel, ma petite araignée, I thought you worked in the sex industry. Surely you know the mechanics.” You paused. “Though I suppose I wouldn’t put it past that lousy moth to keep you in the dark.”

“I know how banging works! Jeez, I can’t do this sober.” He ordered drinks from a Husk that was trying not to laugh. He drank one, got a refill and brought one back for you as well. “A’right. You and Alastor are both as thick as two short planks about anything sexy, so I wanna know how you guys ever do anything in bed. Besides sleeping,” he hastened to add.

“Ooooooooh, okay! Sure, I don’t mind talking. But you gotta explain all those innuendos we don’t understand, got it cher?”

“You got it toots. Now spill, start with how often you do the deed.”

You sipped your whiskey as you thought back over the last century. “Mm, anywhere from one to four times a year? It varies, but infrequently is a good way to put it.”

“You only have sex once a year?!”

“I didn’t say that. It’s usually just for the night but intercourse occurs more than once when we feel up to it. Multiple times usually,” you clarified with a chuckle.

“Okay, makes sense, ya got me there. So it’s just when you’re both in the mood then?”

“I suppose you could put it that way. It’s an enjoyable activity, just not something we need to do. Or want to do as much as most.”

“A’right, we got the scheduling figured out. I gotta know technique. Positions, toys, he into kinky shit? You into kinky shit?” He leaned on the couch back, thrilled that he got you talking.

“Well [redacted] is our usual position. We’ve tried [beep], [bleep], [what], [why]. Oh and [really?] but that was uncomfortable for Alastor. [redacted] and [redacted] were fun but we were so worn out the next day. I like [beeeeeeeeeeep] to mix things up. I don’t know if they count as kinky but [oh god], [nope], [beepbeep], [thats a thing?], [redacted], [please stop], [srsly], and [wow] are all things we’ve attempted over the years. I like some [bleeping all this] and [this too] personally while he enjoys [hide your eyes], [nope], [double nope]. Oh, I almost forgot [holy shit], we gave that a try before his sabbatical.” Angel and Husk both looked at you in disbelief as your list grew. Then you continued.

“As for toys…[don’t wanna know], [redacted], [dang girl], and [bleepbleepBLEEP] all see some use. I guess [redacted] also counts. We tried [no thanks] but I hated it. We’ve both agreed we never want to try [ew] or [gross]. [How even?] has been fun. Alastor has indulged me with [no more please] a few times. Of course I reciprocate with some [BEEPBLEEP] if he asks. But really it’s mostly [redacted] for us. I’m sure we’re terribly boring compared to what you’ve been up to, ma petite araignée.”

Angel blinked at you in a daze. He held his drink loosely in his hand before downing it in a desperate gulp. Husk was once again pulling his ears down in extreme embarrassment. “I wouldn’t say that toots.”

You brushed his mop of hair from his face. The poor thing looked dazed. “Angel, cher, I think you’ve had enough to drink for tonight. Husk, do you have any water for him?”

“Getting to know the guests my dear?” Alastor manifested from the shadows, making Angel jump and you smile.

“More the other way around darling.”

“So long as everyone is behaving themselves. I wanted to know if you’d like to go out to dinner tonight? I’ve come across a little place that claims to have authentic Cajun cuisine.”

“Mais oui! Although I’m surprised you’re willing to try after what happened to the last restaurant.”

“You cannot dump black pepper into sausage and rice and call it jambalaya. It’s a sin and a disgrace and the place deserved to burn for it.”

“Right you are, Alastor. Am I dressed well enough or shall I go change?” You stood up and twirled for his inspection.

“Hmm, lovely as always my dear.” He held out his arm for you. “Until later chums!”

“We’ll be back! Make sure you get some rest Angel,” you called as Alastor led you out.

Once the two of you were gone, Angel slumped over Husk’s bar. “I didn’t imagine that right? You heard her too, right?”

“Oooh yeah. I kept saying not to ask, but you just had to know.”

“Yeah well I learned my lesson. I’m gonna need another drink after that.”

“Nah, I think Y/N was right about you having enough for now.” Husk pushed a glass of water over to him, garnished with a lemon slice.

“Asshole.” Angel did drink the water though.

A/N: This is absolutely drawn from my being married for 10+ years and still not understanding innuendos. Doesn’t matter how many times we’ve done it, that’s not how I’m wired. I’m going with “you can’t be embarrassed if you don’t care” as to why Shrike is so frank with Angel btw. It’s as embarrassing as picking out her shoes for the day. Also when you’re approaching triple digits in how long you’ve been with a partner, I figure you’ve tried everything under the sun and beyond, purely out of curiosity. My count has roughly 600 instances from 150 evenings over their life- and death-time. Feel free to mad libs her bleeped portions, I honestly only filled in a third of them in my brain, and the canonicity is dubious anyway.

@edgyboi10000 @clearly-awkward @badatpunz @deafsignifcantother @whitewolfsoldat @ch3sire-blu3

[whoistartaglia]

come one, come all

there’s a fabulous magic show in town hosted by the two most famous magicians in fontaine. you unknowingly meet one of them—lyney, a man with a smile full of secrets—in a quiet bar in monstadt.

lyney x reader (pre-release)

there’s a curious man sitting next to you at the bar.

the tavern you frequent is located in a small village at the edge of monstadt, known to host the occasional traveler and adventurer, but none as peculiar as him. his clothes are clean and fashionable, and there’s a look on his face like he knows more secrets than you, has more tricks up his sleeve. moreover, what’s stranger is that he ordered only one drink and has yet to touch it, only observing it, faintly reminding you of a moth studying a flame.

“is something wrong with it?” the man breaks out of his hypnosis at your teasing question, and looks up in suprise. you explain, “i know the bartender, and he’s really great. if something’s the matter with your drink i know he’ll replace it.”

“oh, no,” he says dismissively. “it’s nothing like that. i was just interested in it—we don’t have this brand of wine where i’m from.”

“and where’s that?”

“fontaine,” he replies simply, and yes, now that he says it, you can hear the distinct accent.

“why are you in monstadt?”

“for the same reason everyone else is, i imagine,” he replies, taking a ginger sip from the glass. “for the show.”

ah, yes, the show. a magic show, famous in fontaine and most of teyvat for its impressive tricks and wonderous miracles. you’ve been hearing of it since the twin magicians announced their arrival to monstadt to entertain and wow the masses.

that’s why there are more than an abundance of travelers, adventurers, foreigners, in monstadt. some of them have tickets; many don’t. they hope the magicians will take pity on them and spirit a ticket to them in the middle of the night. or maybe they intend to steal one from actual holders. perphaps a bit of both.

“are you also going?” he presses.

you purse your lips and look down. “no, i’m not.” the tickets were too expensive and too difficult to get your hands on.

“did you want to?”

“of course i did,” you respond, the words coming out more bitter than you intended. it’s the closest thing to magic the world has to offer. tricks to make you forget it’s only an act; displays to dazzle even the most prudent of disbelievers. card tricks, doves from hats, sawing a lady in half and convincing the audience she’s actually been split in two.

of course you want to go. anyone in teyvet would, especially you, who comes from a small town in monstadt, who may never see anything like it again.

“i see,” is all the man says.

there’s an uncomfortable silence you feel obligated to break, and you ask after a second, forcing the lingering bitterness out of your tone, “are you going to watch?”

“yes,” he says, hesitating. “i am…going.”

“do you have a good seat?”

he smiles faintly.

“the best in the house.”

“i’m glad.” you swallow and stand up, placing down enough coins for you and the stranger. he watches you with veiled interest, especially the way you straighten up and conceal the frown creeping on your face.

“i should go,” you tell him. “i’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

“yes, you do” he says faintly, agreeing with you. before you can opine on the strange statement, he smiles. “it was wonderful to meet you.”

you turn and leave, waving to the bartender wiping down the bar as you do. before you’re out the door, he calls, “i shall see you tomorrow!”

you pause and turn back around, intent on correcting the man, but he’s already gone—leaving nothing but a golden, shimmering ticket left in his wake.

•••

it’s a trick, a lie, a falsity. your subconscious screams at you that the piece of paper in your hand, that reads admit one in black inky letters, is a fake. it can’t be real—there’s no way.

yet you find yourself traveling to the shining capitol, with the ticket clutched in your hands. the wind begs to rip it away and the crowded streets tempts it to get lost and stolen, but you hold on tight, your grip only loosening when you hand it to the collectors at the front entrance.

they let you in without a second glance, and still in a state of disbelief, you find your seat, front row, center spot. best seat in the house. you look around for the man you saw last night but he is nowhere to be found, and a part of you wonders it he gave up your ticket for you. but that doesn’t make sense, you just met, it’s too peculiar, too much like a fairytale, a magic spell, come true.

your wandering thoughts are caged and tamed at the diming of the lights. you turn and face the center where a spotlight shines and a puff of smoke reveals two figures. the twin magicians. lyney and lynette.

the crowd errupts in applause, it’s the first trick of the evening, and you join in, until the smoke fades, and the magicians come into view. the sister with cat-like ears smiles adoringly at the crowd, and the brother does the same. but whereas lynette’s eyes are roaming, meeting as many fans as possible, lyney’s have yet to leave you.

at your shock and surprise, lyney dips his head slightly, and smiles, all too familiar from last night. turning back to the main crowd, he introduces himself and his sister, and announces to the crowd.

“come one, come all! we have a great show in store for you! magic will be casted, miracles with be had, and...” his eyes find yours again, and winking he continues, “hearts will be stolen, tonight.”

[fandomworld9728]

Oops... (Angel Dust/Lucifer)

(Requested by @buuteer) (AppleDust hidden relationship getting found out) (Hope this is okay. I wasn't really sure how to go about it and ran with this idea when it popped into my head)

(Warning! This takes place during episode 6 of Hazbin Hotel! So not only spoilers but trigger warning for Val being his usual dickhead, possessive, violent self!) (Also, protective Lucifer and Alastor as a bonus!)

"You forget who you're talking to. I own you."

The pink chains connecting Angel to the Overlord were yanked, pulling him close to him. "Yeah. You do. In the studio, and you can do anything you want to me in there, just like our deal says. But out here? I get to do what I want. So once again. Fuck off-"

Before Angel could finish, the moth demon had back handed him, sending him and Niffty to the floor. Mouth now bleeding. It had felt good to finally stand up to the man even with the repercussions. He wasn't about to let the creep mess with his friends. Especially not after what had happened that day with Charlie.

"Enjoy the rest of your night, bitch, because I'm going to enjoy making you pay for it tomorrow."

A flash of light bright light mixed with an eerie green filled the place, a summoning circle now between Angel Dust and Valentino to keep them separated. "What the fuck is this?"

Hushed whispers came from the sinners arounds them as Lucifer stepped out of the circle and walked slowly towards the moth demon, Alastor, who had accidentally got caught up in this, stayed put scanning over the people of the hotel. More importantly, over the two souls that he owned.

"That is a good question. What is all this?"

"Oh. Fuck. No, wait. Luci don't."

"Luci? Angel sweetie, have you been fucking our dear King and keeping it from me?"

Fuck. "Val listen-"

"Wow. You're that possessive that you need to know all of his clients when you never bothered to ask in the first place? That's how it started out and now it's much more than that. I've tried to stay out of this because that's what Angel wanted. However, this is the second time you've struck him since we've been together."

To say that Lucifer was pissed was an understatement. The day that Angel came to him after a long day of work to relieve some stress and was sporting a black eye, he was ready to go and teach that Overlord how to properly treat the souls under his care. But he was asked to stay out of it. Was reassured that Angel wanted to get out of this and handle it on his own. Lucifer only backed off when he was promised that the next time something like that or worse happened that he had permission to break the guy's face in.

"Ugh, I'm getting an ache in my neck. You're too goddamn tall. How about you come down to my height?!"

Seeing this side of Lucifer did something to Angel. Small, beautiful, powerful, Lucifer. The King of Hell. Defending him like this. The spider demon couldn't help but feel so loved and cared for.

"Holy shit, Angie. You're datin' the King of Hell and didn't tell me?" Cherri asked, helping her best friend up.

"I'll uh... explain later. Oh shit. Where's Niff?"

"Our dear Niffty was involved in this?" And now Alastor was going to join in the beating. Angel wasn't going to complain. The guy had it coming for a long time.

~

Landing on her butt in the hotel's foyer after Adam forcefully sent them back through a portal, Charlie jumped up and ran over to the group sitting and tending to Angel. Her dad was wiping the blood from his lips to make it easier to heal while Alastor, surprisingly enough, was holding Niffty protectively.

"Dad! You've been dating Angel Dust?! Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't either of you tell me? When did it happen? For how long?" A long string of rushed out questions tumbled from her mouth before Vaggie lightly took her by the shoulders and made her sit down.

"Babe. Give them a chance to answer."

"Wait.... how did you find out? This came out while you were in Heaven."

"Oh. Well. We were watching you guys to prove to Sera and the court that redemption could be possible. Uh... Adam was not happy when he found out... but the rest of the court was pleasantly surprised at how you acted and handled the situation! So, Sera would love for you to join us for our rescheduled meeting."

"Of course she does."

"Hey. It's alright baby. I'll join ya if it'll make ya feel better." It felt good to have their relationship out and in the open now. He should have listened to Lucifer before about just being open about it since the beginning.

[stardustbarbarians]

Enchanted

A Daniel Wagner / Samuel Kiszka fic

Summary: Sometimes it takes some meddling to see what is right in front of you.

Tags: fluff, love spell au, very light angst, low-key funny

Words: 10.8 k

Author's Note: Happy (late) Valentine's Day!! I literally got the idea for this one the day of the holiday and proceeded to write this, thinking it would be at max like 2,000 words. So, yeah, this one kinda got away from me. Anyway, this is dedicated to @ofthecaravel for being more enthusiastic about this idea than I was (she also made the cover pic so everyone say thank you, Karou). Title taken from Enchanted by Taylor Swift. Please enjoy!! <3

+++

When Danny had the idea to go to the art fair near his house, he hadn’t thought he’d be walking away with an honest to god love potion. I mean, those aren’t real, right?? It’s all just made up for awful rom-coms and Disney movies. So, when that witchy woman had stopped him and gave it to him for free, he thought nothing of it. 

He had been weaving through the various booths, eyes catching on all the colorful and sometimes gaudy wares these artists were trying to pedal. Some of them were honestly good, others were just clearly trying to make a quick buck. Danny bought a few things; a few jewelry pieces he thought were cute and a fresh squeezed lemonade. 

“Danny?” a woman had spoken up, catching the drummer’s attention. He tensed up at being called out, hoping he wouldn’t be recognized but knowing it was always a possibility every time he left his house. 

Schooling his features to be warm and inviting, Daniel turned on his heel to face the woman. She was what Danny could only describe as a “contemporary witch”, complete with long, black hair and a revealing yet classy black dress and a wide-brimmed black hat. Danny had to suppress his scoff at how on the nose she looked, glancing around her clearly witch-themed, yet populated, booth. But, it clearly worked to help sell her goods, so who was he to judge. 

“Hey!” he responded, abandoning his wandering and making his way over to her. She smiled widely at him, her eyes lighting up as he approached. 

“Oh, my god. My friends are never gonna believe me,” she rushed, her tattooed hands fluttering to her chest. 

“How about we get a picture to prove it to them?” he offered, having gone through this enough times over the years to know that that was what most people were after when they spotted him. 

She nodded, searching frantically for her phone. When she pulled it out from behind the register, Daniel noticed two things. One; her hands were shaking. Two; her lock screen was a picture of him and Sam posed together. It was a picture of them on stage, embracing and beaming at one another and - wow, is that really what he looks like when he smiles at Sam? 

They took their picture, her asking for a hug from him which he happily gave her. 

“So, what brings you over this way?” the woman - ironically named Greta - asked, leaning against the table she had set her register up on. Danny worried for a second as her long hair passed over a candle, only for him to realize it wasn’t real. 

“Had a free afternoon to myself, thought I’d check the art fair out,” he answered honestly, a shrug of his shoulders tacked on at the end. 

She nodded acceptingly. “Find anything interesting?” 

Danny held up his fingers, wiggling them to show off the rings he purchased as well as shook his cup of lemonade in front of her, smiling. She laughed, her head tipping back a bit to show off a moth tattoo that rested under her clavicles. 

“That’s all, huh? You must be pretty picky.” She looked him up and down, her eyes feeling strangely like they were able to see past his physical form. Danny blamed that on the witch-themed booth she ran. 

Danny shrugged again. He didn’t think he was, but then again maybe he was. 

“Here,” she blurted out, jumping up from her perch to brush past him to go deeper into her booth. Daniel watched as she stopped in front of a display of bowls that held vials of various shapes and sizes. Each one was sorted by color, some of them even seeming to glow which made Daniel do a double take. There was probably just a light fixed at the base of the bowl to give them that effect. 

“On the house,” Greta chirped before tossing something at Daniel. He instinctively caught it, letting out a breath of relief that he had. When he got a proper look at it, Danny realized that she had thrown him a vial of baby pink liquid that had been sealed in a teardrop shaped glass vial. The top was a gradient into Barbie pink and formed to a point, sharp enough to probably kill a man. Daniel turned it over in his hand, the liquid sparkling in the light of the sun streaming in through an opening in the tent he was in. 

“What is this?” he dumbly asked, already knowing what the hell it was. 

“A love potion,” Greta flippantly answered. When Danny snapped his head up to look at the woman, he saw the mischievous glint in her eye that never reached her soft smile. 

Daniel coughed on his own spit as he swallowed wrong. He covered it up by taking a few sips of his lemonade. He had no idea how to react to that. 

“Uhh… that’s really kind of you, but I can’t take this.” 

“Nonsense. I insist,” she pressed, waving off his concerns with a wave of her hand. 

Daniel looked back and forth between the woman and the vial in his hand, weighing the pros and cons. Then he realized how ridiculous he was being. It was a kind gesture and love potions weren’t real. 

He tucked the vial into his pocket of his jean jacket and smiled. “Thanks!” 

“My pleasure,” she answered, that devilish gleam back in her eye as well as that feeling that she was seeing through him rather than at him, “and trust me, you will be thanking me later.” 

That made Daniel chuckle a bit nervously. She was starting to creep him out a bit; time to make a quick exit. 

“Right, well. Maybe I’ll see you at one of our upcoming shows!” Danny politely suggested, already backing out the way he had come in. 

“Of course! Talk to you later!” Greta’s last sentence sent a shiver up Danny’s spine. It felt like a promise rather than a send off. 

With one last quick smile, Danny got his ass out of there and trotted down the booths to get away. He definitely wanted to toss that so-called “love potion” away now. There was no telling what was actually in it. He’d just throw it into the next trash can he saw. 

+++

Daniel did not toss it away. Instead, he forgot about it completely and left it in his jacket pocket. It stayed there for a month, silently waiting for the next time someone would wear that jacket and find it. 

“Hey, Dan!” Danny was in his kitchen taking some ibuprofen for the headache he was fighting when he heard Sam call out for him. 

With a big gulp and a gag he didn’t even try to suppress as he felt the pills catch on the side of his throat, Danny responded with a shout of his own. “Yeah?!” 

“Can I borrow a jacket?! It’s cold as balls out and I don’t have one!” 

Setting his empty glass of water in the sink, Daniel ran a hand through his curls. Sam had stopped over at Danny’s before the band’s scheduled studio time so the two of them could carpool. 

“Yeah!” he shouted back. He went through a mental checklist to make sure he had everything he needed before he left, adding Sam to the bottom of that list. 

“What the fuck is this in your pocket?!” Sam called out again, breaking through Danny’s concentration. 

“I don’t know! I’m not over there!” 

It was quiet again for a moment, Danny quickly going through his checklist again as he passed by his laundry room to grab some socks from the pile. 

“Can I drink it?!” 

Daniel, starting to get a little frustrated by Sam’s antics already, huffed out in exasperation. 

“Go ahead!” he screamed harsher than he had meant to. But, really, how the hell was Daniel meant to know what the fuck Sam was talking about. It probably was a shot of fireball or something he never drank. And if Sam wanted to be tipsy while they recorded… Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

“It tastes like bubblegum!” Sam excitedly exclaimed, his voice louder as Danny was just around the corner from where he was stationed by the front door. 

“That’s great, buddy,” Daniel dismissed, walking past him briefly as he went to grab his sticks from the living room. Doing the pat down on his pockets to make sure he had his keys and wallet, Daniel finally rounded the corner to his front door only to see Sam sprawled out on the ground. 

“Sam?” Danny cautiously asked, hoping Sam was just being theatrical over how long Danny was taking to leave. 

But then he didn’t answer. Or move, for that matter. 

“Sammy?!” Daniel was distraught now, tossing his sticks to the side as he kneeled down next to Sam to shake him. 

He still wasn’t stirring, but at least his chest was moving. Daniel frantically searched for a pulse, lifting up his hand to check his wrist. That was when he spotted the nearly empty teardrop shaped vial in Sam’s hand and Danny’s heart sank even further. 

“No no no no-” Danny chanted under his breath, pressing his fingers into Sam’s wrist. His heart rate slowed a bit when he was able to feel Sam’s pulse in his fingertips. He sighed deeply, feeling his shoulders sag in relief. 

“C’mon, Sammy,” Danny implored, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and began to shake him. It wasn’t hard, but it was enough to make his head loll around his shoulders. 

When that didn’t work, Danny bit his lip as his brow knit together. He had an idea, but he’d feel awful for going through with it. With another sigh, Daniel resigned himself to it. 

“I’m sorry, Sam,” he murmured, pulling his right hand off the bassist’s shoulder. He reared it back and smacked it smartly against his friend’s cheek. Cringing at how loud the slap resounded in the echo-y chamber of his vestibule, Daniel smoothed his hand back over the pink mark blossoming on Sam’s face. 

It worked, to Danny’s utter relief. 

Sam’s eyes fluttered open as Daniel caressed his fingers across the angry outline of his hand, groaning as he lifted his hand to his forehead. 

“What the hell happened?” Sam grumbled out, sitting up on his own. Danny sat back onto his heels, raking his eyes over Sam to check for any signs of danger. 

“You drank the vial in my jacket and passed out, I guess,” Daniel tried to explain, the concern leaking through his tone. Sam still had yet to look at Danny, his eyes having shut once more as he sat fully upright. 

Huffing out a laugh, Sam looked at the vial in his hand, a drop of that baby pink liquid slipping out of the opening and splattering onto the floor. He turned it over in his fingers a few times before he spoke again. “Hell of a rush.” 

Daniel couldn’t help but snort, his worries easing significantly at the joke. Sam was going to be ok. Maybe a little groggy, but ok. That Greta girl should count herself lucky nothing worse had happened to Sam or else he’d bring down hell around her ears for hurting his best friend. 

“Alright, Sam. Let’s get you up or else we’ll be late for studio time,” Danny grunted out as he hauled Sam up to his feet by his arm. 

“Right, right,” Sam quietly answered, his hair flying out around him as he shook his head to presumably clear it. 

And that was when Sam looked at Danny for the first time since he fell. 

“I’m so fucking in love with you.” 

+++

“Hey, guys, we might want to reschedule.” 

“Yeah? And why is that?” Jake was the first one to look over at Daniel. And when he did, Danny watched as his entire body went rigid as his eyes flew wide open. 

“Something wrong- oh my god.” That was Josh, this time. And just like Jake, Josh’s eyes got comically wide as he took in the sight of Danny and Sam. 

And Daniel really couldn’t blame them. He’d have the same reaction if he saw his little brother clinging onto his best friend as if his life depended on it. 

Sam had long since jumped into Danny’s arms, his arms and legs wrapped around Daniel as if he were a monkey and Daniel his favorite tree. He had refused to get down, Danny having tried to fight him in the parking lot before entering the studio to get him to walk on his own, but Sam was having none of it. Even on the drive over, Sam had tried to climb into Danny’s lap a few times all while gushing about how pretty he thought Danny was. He finally got Sam to stay in his seat after promising to hold his hand as he drove. But as soon as they stepped out of the car, it was no holds barred. 

“What the hell is he doing?” Jake asked, his eyes still locked onto his baby brother’s strange behavior. 

“I’m holding the love of my life!” Sam answered for Daniel. And if Daniel’s face wasn’t burning before, he was certain it was set ablaze by that. And the worst part was Daniel could tell Sam was using a genuine tone. 

He watched the twins look between the two rhythm section members, their lips pursing as they took in the sight. Daniel wanted to hide his face in his hands, but they were currently holding his obnoxious best friend so he couldn’t. 

“Oooooooooo-k. Umm, what the fuck is going on?” Josh had abandoned his station at his microphone, setting the equipment down on a chair to his left before he joined Jake at his side. 

Danny sighed, his eyes closing in shame. He wanted to look everywhere else but at the twins and their calculating and bewildered gazes. 

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Daniel let out a squeak after he spoke, Sam surprising him with kisses he placed on the side of Danny’s neck where his head was nuzzled. He tried to pull away, but Sam just chased after him with his lips. 

“Try us,” Josh answered, his arms crossing over his chest as his hip popped out. Jake was idly fiddling with his guitar, probably not even aware that he was playing at all, but his eyes never left Danny. 

With a deep sigh, Daniel launched into the story of Greta and her stupid fucking love potion. While he was explaining, he knew his story sounded made up. I mean, for god’s sake, the titular character shared the name of their band. It just sounded like he was caught in a lie. The only thing he knew would work in his favor was the potion vial that he had the foresight of bringing with him. 

It was a fight, but Daniel was able to wrangle Sam off of him and set his feet on the floor. However, the man still refused to let go of him completely. So Daniel had to live with Sam resting his head on his shoulder and wrapping his arms around Danny’s torso. With his hands finally free, Daniel was able to fish that vial out of his pocket and toss it over to the twins. 

Josh caught it, Jake watching it sail over towards his twin with his eyes. Daniel watched as they inspected it, the baby pink liquid still shimmering in the light. He pointedly ignored Sam and his embarrassing antics. Or, at least he tried to. It was very hard when he kept peppering kisses all over Danny’s cheek and neck as he spoke sweet nothings into his ear. Danny felt shivers dance their way across his skin, his veins warming at all the contact and compliments. But he refused to indulge in them. Sam was not himself right now and he would be damned if he was going to take advantage of him. But, they still felt nice. 

After a few seconds of turning over the evil liquid, Josh tossed it back over to Daniel. 

“Alright,” Jake started, pulling the cord out of his guitar, “we believe you.” 

“Really?” Danny was truly bewildered. He thought the twins were going to think it was some kind of stupid prank they were trying to pull on them. He was actually relieved they did. 

“Yeah. We’ve never seen Sam act this way before. Plus he’s a dog shit actor,” Josh answered, a laugh escaping his lips after the last sentence. Danny had to agree; he’d seen the movies Josh had made where Sam was the lead. There weren’t that many. 

“Oh, thank god. Because I need help.” Daniel’s tone was desperate, his hands trying to pull Sam’s off his waist. But every time he tried, Sam would just slide them back into place. He eventually gave up, huffing in resignation as Sam giggled in his ear. “Yeah, I’m gonna be honest with you on this one. I don’t know where we’ll even start,” Jake bluntly pointed out, placing his guitar on its stand. 

“What if you two try to contact the people who organized the fair and see if you can find the woman who sold me the…” God help him, “...the potion.” 

“Yeah, alright. What are you going to do?” Josh was already pulling out his phone, not looking at Danny as he spoke. 

“I’m going to see if maybe she posted that picture and contact her that way,” Daniel explained, having to shove Sam’s hips away from his own in order to get his phone from his back pocket. 

“Sounds like a plan. But how about we don’t do this here,” Jake posited, his eyes sliding over to where their producer and mixer were watching raptly as Sammy placed yet another series of kisses onto Danny. 

They all agreed. They wanted to spare both men as much embarrassment as possible and also minimize the possibility of this leaking and sending the wrong message to their fan base. 

Daniel offered up his house considering it was the closest. 

“And I’ll drive lovebug here, too.” Danny hooked his thumb towards where Sammy’s face was pressed into the side of Danny’s, a dopey smile on his face as he nuzzled deeper into Danny. 

“I don’t think you have a choice,” Josh so helpfully pointed out, trying poorly to suppress a laugh. 

“Yeah, ha ha. Let’s go,” Daniel sharply ordered, trying once more to rip Sam’s arms off of him and failing. 

“No, no, wait. Let us get one video for blackmail,” Jake quickly requested, already having his phone out and pointed at the two. 

Danny, knowing that there was no way they’d relent, groaned and let Jake record his misery. 

“Alright, Sammy. Tell us how you feel about Daniel,” Jake prompted, the laugh in his voice barely contained. The youngest perked up at the question, his smile getting brighter. 

“Well, where do I even begin! There’s so much I feel about him,” Sam cooed, resting his chin against Danny’s shoulder as he spoke. Danny felt Sam’s hair slip off his own shoulder as Sam tilted his head to get a better look at Danny. 

“Why don’t you start with the physical,” Josh, that bastard, piped up. Danny shot him a glare, Josh only responding with an “innocent” smile. 

“Oh! That’s easy! He’s got these beautiful dark eyes that you can easily get lost in. They’re this gorgeous shade of amber brown that have this nice green in them that remind me of moss in the forest. Oh! And when they catch the light just right they’re so bright and I get butterflies. And speaking of butterflies, when he smiles at me I can’t help but feel like I’m going to pass out from how beautifully warm and overwhelming it is-” 

“Alright,” Danny squeaked out, his voice cracking as his face began to heat up, “that’s enough.” 

“No, no, we’re just getting to the good part. Sam, what else about Danny do you like?” Danny bared his teeth at Jake. He knew it was ineffective, what, with his face burning as bright as a stop light. 

“Oh, his arms are really nice. I love it when he picks me up because then I can feel them flexing and it makes me all dizzy.” Sam’s voice was dripping in honey. It was so sweet it made Danny’s stomach ache. 

“Really? And what about his freckles?” 

“One of his best features, definitely. They get all dark and prominent in the summer when he gets more sun. He’s got 137 of them!” 

“Alright that’s-” 

“And what about Danny’s personality?” 

“He’s the sweetest guy ever! I swear, he’s so sweet he gives me cavities. Like this one time, I was feeling really down in the dumps and then Danny went out of his way to get me a case of my favorite beer and made me laugh so hard I nearly pissed myself. He just knows me sooooo well. And also he takes care of Rose the best and he is always so gentle and loving with her… what isn’t there to love?” 

“Ok, show’s over. We’re done here,” Daniel firmly decided, reaching out to yank Jake’s phone away from him and end the recording, holding it out of Jake’s reach as he tried to grab it back from him. 

Danny tossed it back at him when he was done, watching the guitarist nearly fumble the device to the ground. He shot Danny a confused look at his shift in mood, but he didn’t respond. He simply held onto Sam’s arms as he turned the two of them around and made for the door. 

As they walked to the car, Daniel pointedly did not think about the fact that Sam apparently just seemed to know how many freckles Danny had off the top of his head. Or how that made his heart flutter within his chest. 

+++

The car ride back was considerably less dangerous than the drive over; Sam hadn’t tried to climb into Danny’s lap since he preemptively laced their fingers together. However, Sammy hadn’t stopped talking. And it wasn’t his usual babbling, no. It was much worse. 

“I love you.” 

“I know.” 

“I love you.” 

“I know.” The shock of it had worn off at the thirtieth time Sammy had confessed it to Danny, that first time making the drummer jump out of his skin. Now it was just getting annoying, like the beep of a smoke detector. 

“You’re really hot,” Sam giggled, leaning his head across the consul and bumping it into Danny’s shoulder. 

Danny just groaned, throwing his head into the headrest behind him and asking god what he did wrong to deserve this cruel and unusual punishment. It was one thing to toy with his destiny, it was another entirely to play around with his emotions. 

“I hope we fucking crash,” he whined, the light turning green and taking his foot off the brake. 

“I hope we fuck.” 

Daniel felt his foot involuntarily slam down on the gas, forcing the both of them to jerk back in their seats as the engine loudly revved like an animal letting out a warning growl. Danny whipped his head over to Sam briefly, taking in his lashes batting flirtatiously and his wolfish grin. The driver felt his heart pounding in his chest, ripping his eyes away from his distracting passenger and forcing himself to look at the road. 

“What?” he croaked out, not really wanting to hear it again but also wanting to know if he heard Sam right. 

“You heard me,” was all Sam spoke in response, a dangerously flirtatious edge to his words that made Danny’s heart lurch in his chest. 

“Just… Just keep those thoughts to yourself, ok?” 

“Ok!” Sam cheerfully agreed, settling back down onto Danny’s shoulder. That was another thing about this that was driving Daniel slowly insane: Sam did almost everything Danny asked of him. 

He was so, utterly fucked. 

+++

“Ok, so Greta must be a popular name among artists or something because the fair organizer said there were about thirty booths registered under that name,” Jake explained after hanging up the phone. He tapped his pen on the pad of paper he’d been writing on idly, turned towards Danny’s spot on his couch. Sammy had tackled him onto it, curling up right against his chest like an oversized dog and refused to move. 

“Did she give you the list of businesses, too?” Danny asked, having to crane his neck to look over at Jake. 

“Yeah, and I was able to cross off a few of them already,” Jake answered, swiping away at his phone again.

“Nice work,” Danny praised, his eyes darting back to his phone. He and Josh had taken on scrolling through Danny’s instagram mentions in order to try and find the famed Greta. And, Jesus, people really loved tagging him in shit. They had been at it for hours and were still only finding posts from about two weeks ago. 

“Is this her?” Josh hoisted his phone up into Danny’s field of view. Danny squinted as he analyzed the woman’s face. 

“No,” he groaned, his frustration mounting as they had zero luck. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t like Sam like this, it was just… It was too much. Yeah, maybe Danny had been dreaming about this exact scenario for years, but this wasn’t how he wanted to get it. He’d felt guilt slam into him with every touch Sam bestowed upon him as he remembered that Sam wasn’t in control of his actions. It was that stupid fucking potion that was making Sam all cuddly and cute; the normal Sam would never do that. The normal Sam wouldn’t repeatedly confess his love for Danny in a myriad of ways, or kiss his neck and cheeks, or cling to him every second of the day. No matter how badly Danny wanted it to be true, Sam just wasn’t in love with Danny like the drummer was in love with the bassist. 

And that was the time that Sam decided to stir just enough to burrow deeper into his embrace with Daniel, grumbling something under his breath that was reminiscent of a cat purring. And just like it never happened, Sam fell back asleep again. Danny watched for a bit too long as Sam’s chest rose and fell with each even breath he took, his face held in a content smile as he dreamed away. 

“Man, I haven’t seen him curled up with someone like that since we were kids,” Josh commented, taking a break from his endless scrolling to crack his neck and stretch. He had watched the whole thing, Sam’s stirring and Daniel’s flush creeping onto his face as he gazed down at the cozy bass player. 

“What do you mean?” Danny had moved his own phone out of the way to properly look at Josh. The man had taken to sitting on the floor with his back against the couch that Sam and Danny were laying on. 

“The last time he looked that content while sleeping was probably when he was about eight-ish; that was when he stopped taking naps with mom,” the singer explained, his eyes cast upwards as if searching the farthest reaches of his mind. 

“What, are you calling me his mother?” Daniel felt his face pinch into one of disgust as he remembered what Sam had sprung on him during the ride over. 

“No, what he’s saying is Sam has always liked to cuddle, but only feels comfortable doing it with certain people,” Jake clarified, not even bothering to look up from his notepad. 

“Yeah, he’s never done that with us. And, now that I think about it, he’s never done that with his girlfriends, either. At least, from what I’ve seen, anyway,” Josh added, rambling just a tad at the end. He even brought his hand up to his chin as he thought, his fingers stroking the hair on it absently. 

Daniel had no idea what to do with that particular bit of information, so he elected to shove it into his mental box labeled “The Sam Incident” to be ignored until further notice. It was starting to become alarmingly full. 

He went back to his scrolling, his eyes beginning to burn with how long he’d been staring at the screen. He wasn’t aware that he’d taken to running his fingers through Sam’s hair and absently playing with it as he focused on finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. 

Right when he was about to take a break and grab something to eat, he spotted her. 

“AHA!” he exclaimed, bolting upright and rudely jolting Sam out of his peaceful slumber. The bassist even grumbled, rubbing at his eyes and shooting a grumpy look at his personal pillow for the violent awakening. Danny felt the sympathy ache in his chest for Sam, rubbing a soothing and apologetic hand over Sam’s arm. Though, with how frizzy and staticky his hair looked, Daniel had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at Sam. 

“You found her?” the twins asked simultaneously, Danny feeling briefly like he was in The Shining as they both gave him the same expression as he looked between them. 

Daniel nodded his head, turning his phone around to show the others. Sam took the opportunity to sleepily and unceremoniously flop himself down against the drummer’s chest face first, wrapping his arms around his waist. Danny instinctively placed his hand onto his back to steady him, rubbing it as Sam mumbled something into his chest that Danny could not understand. 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Jake, ever the impatient one, urged Daniel. He pushed away from the table he was stationed at, making his way over to lean over the back of the couch to watch the drummer’s screen. 

danielrwagner: Hey, so uhhh

danielrwagner: This is going to be a strange question but

danielrwagner: Are you the woman who gave me a vial at an art show a month or so back? 

Daniel had set his phone down onto the couch, figuring he’d have to wait a while for a response - if he ever got one, that is. What he didn’t expect was for his phone to buzz almost immediately afterwards. 

StarshineGreta: Hi Danny!

StarshineGreta: Yes, that was me

StarshineGreta: Why did someone drink it? 

danielrwagner: Yeah

StarshineGreta: Who was it?

Daniel swallowed nervously, glancing down at Sammy who was still wedged into his chest and showing no signs that he was moving anytime soon. 

danielrwagner: …Sam

Call from StarshineGreta 

“Guys, what should I do?” Daniel panicked, his heart rate kicking up in speed inside his chest as his ringtone started to cheerfully chirp in his hand. He frantically looked back and forth between the twins, looking for their help. 

“Answer it!” Josh screeched, his thunderous voice that Daniel normally heard echoing through stadium speakers just as loud and commanding in his living room. 

With a nervous bite of his lip, Danny did as he was told. 

“Hey, Greta. Just so you know, you're on speaker with… with the whole band,” Daniel greeted, making sure to give her the courtesy of knowing that everyone could hear her. But, it seemed that she didn’t even register what he had said. Instead, she launched right into it. 

“Alright, how long ago did he drink it and what are his symptoms?” Her voice was nearly clinical if it weren’t for the clear enthusiasm dripping off her words. 

“He drank it at about ten this morning-” 

“And he’s acting like a lovesick puppy and won’t leave Daniel alone,” Josh interjected, leaning over so that he was closer to the phone to be heard. Though that wasn’t really necessary since the man had shouted, anyway. 

“Yeah, Sam won’t stop touching and cuddling him and if he tells him to quit it he gets all mopey and sad,” Jake added, flashing Danny a grin that Daniel merely glared at. She really didn’t need to know all that. 

The beat of silence that followed made Danny’s nerves spike into the stratosphere. What he didn’t know was that Greta had merely muted her own mic so that she could laugh as boisterously as she wanted to without being heard. 

“Interesting. And how much did he drink?” 

“Pretty much the whole thing. There’s about an eighth or so left in the bottle, I’d guess,” Daniel informed, feeling as if the vial in his pocket got heavier as he thought about it. 

“Wow. Ok, wow. No wonder he’s so clingy,” Greta replied, her surprise seeping into her tone. 

“I wouldn’t call him that-” 

“Dan. Try standing up.” 

Giving Jake a disgruntled look, Daniel tried exactly as suggested. As he did, Sam’s arms tightened around Sam and pulled him back down towards him. “Nooooooooo,” he had whined out in protest, his brow knitting together in a grumpy frown once more as he looked up at Danny through his lashes. 

“No,” he said again, this time more firm and accented by Sam’s grip readjusting around Danny’s ribs to pull himself even tighter against Danny’s chest. 

When Daniel looked over at the younger twin, he was met with a small yet smug smile of victory. 

“Shut up,” he lamely shot back, wanting to cross his arms over his chest but being prevented by a certain bass player. Instead, he just settled his free arm back onto Sam’s back right below where his hair stopped in the middle of his spine. 

“Is it a problem that he drank so much?” Josh asked, completely ignoring the exchange that happened between Jake and Daniel. 

“Not really, no. The effects will just be stronger than if he had just drank the recommended amount,” Greta explained. 

“Will it last longer?” Daniel quickly interjected, the horrifying thought of having to deal with Sam acting like this for a month causing panic to lance through his heart. 

“I don’t think so. Maybe a few extra hours, but it should be worn off by tomorrow evening.” 

“And how come your potion actually works? Like, why isn’t yours bullshit like the other ‘love potions’ out there?” Jake so delicately questioned. 

“Normally, most of mine are but… well…” Daniel did not like how her tone shifted from confident to apprehensive, “I won’t sugar coat it. The potions I make are meant to amplify what emotions are already inside someone. They can’t manufacture love or hate or happiness if they don’t already exist in the person who drank it.” 

After she finished her explanation, the room went silent. Daniel felt as if his mind was beginning to overheat inside his skull as he tried to process the information she had just dropped onto them. 

“I don’t get it,” Daniel croaked out, feeling as if his mind was halting all function as he stared blankly down at his phone. 

“Do you have that potion on you?” Greta’s voice wasn’t scheming, per say, but it was clear she had a plan. 

Daniel dug into his front pocket, fishing out the aforementioned vial. He held it up into the air, looking at it and wondering how something so unassuming could flip his world on its axis. 

Before the drummer could even respond to Greta, Jake had swiped it out of his hand so quickly Danny could only blink dumbly at the man. 

“Josh!” he called before tossing it towards the man. 

“Wait-” was all Daniel could get out before the singer had uncapped the vial and tossed it back like it was a shot. 

“Ooh, bubblegum flavored,” Josh cooed after he swallowed, flipping the vial in his hand after he replaced the cap. 

Daniel just sat frozen in place. Great, now he was going to have to deal with two Kiszkas attached to his hip at all times and he wasn’t going to be able to do anything-

“How ya feeling, Josh?” Jake had asked in a voice reminiscent of a gameshow host from the 70s. 

“Honestly, Jake, I feel no different. Daniel, I love you, man, but not like that,” Josh answered, pointing at his little brother curled up into Danny’s chest like an overgrown cat to prove his point. 

“So, that means…” Jake prompted, holding out his hand as if to cue Daniel to understand. It didn’t work. 

“I still don’t get it. And now I’ll have two of you on top of me-” 

“Oh my god,” Josh impatiently groaned, tossing his head back in frustration as he scrubbed a hand down his face. 

“Jesus, you’re dumb, Dan,” Jake added, exasperation of his own causing him to pinch the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. 

“I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually,” Greta optimistically offered, her voice cutting through the groaning from the twins. 

“But, wait, what should I do? Is there anything I can do to help Sam? Or, like, cure him?” Danny inquired, electing to ignore the twins and their antics. 

“You’re just going to have to wait it out,” Greta answered, her voice not even remotely sympathetic to Danny’s plight. 

“Thanks for the insight, Greta.” Jake leaned in towards the phone again, giving it a two fingered salute. 

“Yeah, and thank you for the free blackmail!” Josh was smiling as he waved at the phone, his tone chipper and not at all matching the devious words he spoke. 

“Any time, boys!” 

And with that, the call had ended. 

“Well, we best get going,” Josh sighed as he got to his feet, stretching his arms over his head. 

“Yep. Seems like you and Sam need some time to yourselves.” Jake had playfully nudged his baby brother on the shoulder with his hand, Sam only responding with a half-hearted grunt of annoyance at being jostled. 

“Wait, hold on-” 

“Goodbye, lovebirds!” 

With a slam of the door that carried with it a sense of finality, Daniel was left alone with a love-drugged Sam. In his house. Alone. 

“I thought they’d never leave,” Sam yawned, mimicking his older brother from earlier as he stretched his arms above his head, his face pinching together as he did so. Daniel pointedly did not look at the sliver of tan skin the bassist exposed above his waistband as he stretched, a playful teasing of his happy trail poking out briefly. 

“Uh, what?” 

“The twins! I thought they wouldn’t take the hint,” Sam playfully implied, his hands tracing up from their perch on Daniel’s stomach to his pecs. And that was when he realized that Sammy was straddling his hips and looming above him with a look in his eye and a smirk on his lips that was anything but innocent. 

Danny was stuck in his position on the couch, feeling like those butterflies they displayed in glass with those pins that pierced through their wings stabbing through his own limbs. He felt frozen, caught between his own animalistic desire and his morality; the angel and devil on his shoulders waging a war. 

“Are you hungry?” Daniel squeaked out, his voice breaking as he shoved Sam off of him and bolted off the couch. He felt like his face was on fire as the rest of his skin prickled with its own heat. He stood himself on the opposite side of the room, all but pressing his back to the wall. He didn’t care what that witch or the twins said; Sammy would never do that. 

He’s not himself. 

Once Sam recovered from Danny tossing him into the couch, Sam turned those sultry eyes back onto the drummer. “Yeah. For you.” 

Daniel gulped. Sam’s voice had purred out of his lips, matching the very clear bedroom eyes he was shooting Daniel. And Danny was not liking how his body was reacting to that. 

“I’ll order sushi,” Daniel quickly stated before bolting out of the room and away from Sam as fast as he could. 

+++ 

Dinner was an ordeal. Daniel had to essentially manipulate Sammy into eating, which made him feel like garbage. But, he tried to reassure himself by saying it was for Sam’s own good. And if Danny had to use his powers of suggestion over Sam to do it, then it was just a means to an end. To be fair, it wasn’t like he was forcing Sam to do something like make out with Danny or anything like that. It was just getting him to eat his goddamn sushi. 

It also didn’t help that Sam had scooched his chair right up beside Danny’s and would move closer to him each time Danny had tried to move away. And then Sam had tried to feed Danny his food. Which was… an experience. 

“C’moooooooooon Danny! It’ll be cute like Lady and the Tramp!” Sam whined, waving his chopsticks in the air. 

Daniel, knowing his willpower against Sam was weakening, relented. He huffed out a “fine” and half-heartedly opened his mouth. Sam squealed excitedly before gently picking up a roll with his chopsticks and placing it between Danny’s lips. Daniel figured the pain of Sam’s nagging was worth the pleasure of seeing his brilliantly excited smile as Daniel chewed his sushi. 

“Ok, ok, now me!” Sam exclaimed, setting down his chopsticks before opening his mouth wide and sticking out his tongue like he was about to get his tonsils checked. 

With an exasperated yet fond sigh, Daniel selected a sushi roll and brought it up to Sam, cupping a hand underneath it to catch it if it fell. As he placed the sushi on Sam’s tongue, Daniel made the mistake of looking his friend in the eyes. When he did, his breath hitched inside his throat. Daniel could feel as the air around them crackled with a charged energy that sparked to life as their gazes met. And Daniel felt himself unable to tear his eyes away from Sam as he slowly pulled his chopsticks away.

When Sam slipped the food into his mouth and began to chew, that was when Daniel was able to look away. 

That was a few hours ago. The two of them were once again cuddled up on Danny’s couch, Sam trying his absolute best to get every part of his body touching every part of Daniel’s. They had thrown on a crime procedural show; Bones or Law & Order, Daniel didn’t know. He was far too distracted by how Sam kept attempting to get Danny to kiss him or let him blow him or an assortment of other things that made his face glow bright red. 

He’s not in his right mind, Daniel had to keep reminding himself. And he would not break to love-drugged Sam no matter how many times he would flash Danny those puppy eyes that would normally make him fold like a house of cards under a slight breeze. 

“Daaaaaaaanyyyyyyyyyy,” Sam sang, wiggling himself onto Danny’s lap in order to plant himself right in front of Daniel’s field of view. He would no longer be ignored, despite the fact that Sam had always had Danny’s full attention; he just was acting as though he hadn’t. 

“Sam, I’m trying to watch this,” Daniel weakly protested. He had no idea what the plot of the episode was, much less the actual name of the show. 

“Watch me instead,” Sam whined, his shoulders slouching as he theatrically threw his head back in frustration, “you’ve been ignoring me all day.” 

“That’s not true-” 

“It’s like you don’t love me.” And that was what finally caused Daniel to break his facade. He looked Sam right in the eyes, taking in the pout of his lips and the dejected nature of his eyes. Daniel isn’t ashamed to admit that he felt his chest ache at the sight. There was genuine heartbreak in Sammy’s eyes that did nothing to quell the guilt that had been thrumming through Daniel’s veins all day. 

Sam could not have been further from the truth, really. Daniel did love Sam. Like, embarrassingly so. He felt it swelling in his chest every second that he spent with Sam, even when he wasn’t with him. Actually, that was when he felt it the most, when Sam wasn’t with him. Those were the moments when he found himself wishing for the man to be near, feeling his heart long for his calming and wonderful presence. 

But, he knew Sam didn’t feel that way about Daniel. Danny knew Sam the best out of everyone on earth; he’d be able to tell who Sam was in love with. It wasn’t Daniel. 

“That-That’s not…” Danny didn’t know how to answer that. He really didn’t. He had no idea if Sam would remember anything from this after the potion wore off. He really did not want to risk the most precious thing in his life. 

Instead, Daniel just gently lowered Sam’s head down into the crook of his neck, wrapping his arms around Sam in order to pull him as tightly against his chest as he could. If he couldn’t say it, he’d show it. 

Sam calmed down after that, apparently perfectly content to just exist inside of Danny’s personal space. It wasn’t long after that Daniel felt drowsiness creep up on him. Despite not doing much moving around considering the human ball and chain known as Samuel Kiszka was attached to him all day prevented that, he was still exhausted. Emotionally, that is. Who knew having the love of your life falsely confessing his love for you would be so draining? Danny sure didn’t. 

“Alright,” Danny yawned, reaching for the remote to turn off the tv, “time for bed.” 

“Carry me,” Sam murmured, already half asleep against Danny. 

“Sam…” Daniel protested with a sigh, knowing that he was going to anyway but hoping Sam would change his mind. 

“Please, baby,” the bassist whined, moving his head so that one eye poked out from his curtain of hair to give Danny that wretched Puppy Look. 

Like the whipped man that he was, Danny just sighed as his shoulders sagged in defeat. After shuffling around Sam’s limbs to better fit around Danny as he stood, Daniel walked the two of them up to his bedroom. Danny decidedly did not think about what this would look like to an outsider. 

“When did you get so heavy,” Danny grunted halfway up the stairs. 

“It’s not nice to comment on a lady’s weight,” Sam shot back, his face still completely nuzzled into Danny’s neck. The breath of his words made Daniel have to suppress a shiver. 

“Oh, I didn’t know I was talking to a lady.” 

Sam giggled, the vibrant and gorgeous sound making Danny’s heart soar. 

Jesus, he was so doomed. 

+++

It had taken some master level bargaining on Daniel’s part, but he was able to convince Sam to leave him alone long enough so that they could each finish their nighttime routines. Daniel had just loaned Sam a pair of his sleep shorts and a shirt to use as pajamas; the shorts were just a bit too big on Sam and caused the waistband to sit dangerously low on his hips. Daniel found himself having to force his eyes to focus on anything other than that sliver of skin on Sam’s abdomen, which was an incredibly hard task. 

Daniel was far from surprised when Sam had climbed into the bed next to him and proceeded to wrap all of his limbs around Danny. It was like the man had managed to find the exact places where he would fit perfectly against Danny like he was meant to be there. Frankly, it was driving Daniel mad. 

“Don’t I get a kiss goodnight?” Sam hummed directly into the drummer’s ear, able to feel the vibrations in his best friend’s chest that was pressed into his side. 

The question made Danny sigh. He knew what would happen if he said no. 

“You’re going to keep going until I snap or give in, won’t you?” Daniel addressed the ceiling, unsure if he was speaking to Sam or god at this point. 

“Yep,” Sam replied, popping the P in the word. Daniel could hear the mischievous smile in his words. 

Now, it was just a matter of weighing Daniel’s conscience against his desire to get some goddamn rest. And, well, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to kiss Sam. But, once again, not like this. But… well, it wasn’t like they hadn’t kissed before. It happened a few years ago when they were both drunk; the both of them had laughed it off afterwards, but neither of them spoke of it again. Danny was sure that if he had explained to Sam that he was only doing it to get him to relent so that he could sleep, Sam would understand. Hell, this would be far from the first time Danny had done something Sam had asked of him to get him to shut up so he could sleep. 

“Fine,” Daniel had begrudgingly agreed, the word sighed out. But, before he could tell Sam that he was only going to get a quick peck and nothing else, Sam had pounced. 

Danny’s cries of protest had been drowned out by the press of Sam’s unfairly soft lips, his facial hair not an unpleasant bristle against his skin. But, no matter how good it felt, Danny couldn’t allow this to continue. There was just one small problem: Sam had managed to snake his hands from where they had wrapped around Danny’s torso to his head. He felt those lithe fingers weave their way into his curls, locking him in place like a boa constrictor did with their prey. No matter how… how hot that was, Daniel was the one in his right mind. He was the one responsible for his own action, so that meant he had to… to… oh, dear lord, Sam’s tongue was soft; feeling like the finest velvet money could buy. It beckoned Daniel’s own tongue, gently pleading with it to slip inside Sam’s mouth. And, truly, who was Danny to argue? And, god forgive him, Sam’s mouth was so warm and inviting, it should be a sin. 

Daniel blames his fixation on Sam’s mouth for the reason he failed to notice just how long their kiss had lasted. What finally broke him out of his trance was when Sam’s thigh slipped its way between Daniel’s own, brushing against his interested dick and pulling a surprised yelp from his lips. 

Fighting against Sam’s, admittedly strong, grip on his hair, Daniel pulled away from Sam. He made sure to physically push away Sam’s thigh from its spot between Danny’s legs, knowing that should have been his first act. He was out of breath; another indicator for just how he had failed to be responsible. And looking into Sam’s confused and hurt eyes did nothing to help the guilt mushrooming within his chest. 

“You’ll thank me later,” Daniel explained, even sounding out of breath as he tried to put as much distance between himself and Sam as the love-drugged man would allow. Or you’ll hate me later. 

“But what about here and now?” Sam whined, closing the precious distance Danny had built up. 

“You got what you wanted-” and fucking then some, “-just go to sleep.” 

“Daaaaaaaan-”

“Go to sleep, Sam.” Daniel snapped, immediately regretting his tone as soon as he saw the genuine hurt in those amber eyes. 

With a scowl, Sam settled down into the sheets. What hurt the most, though, was when Sam had retracted all of his limbs from where they intertwined with Daniel’s, flipping on his side to face away from his best friend. Despite having wished for it all day, Danny had no idea it would hurt so fucking much. 

Even though he wanted to so fucking badly, Daniel did not reconcile the situation. It was for the best, he had to tell himself. This way, Daniel would be able to actually sleep and Sam wouldn’t be as weirded out towards Danny when he inevitably snapped out of this spell. 

It was for the best. 

Then why does it feel so wrong? 

+++

Daniel had gotten no sleep. 

Despite how much he tried, it seemed that every time he closed his eyes he was met by the image of Sammy’s disappointed face. He knew, deep down, that it was the right thing for him to do, to push Sam away like that. But that really was a thin comfort when the hurt in Sam’s eyes before he disentangled himself from Danny was still playing on loop in his head. Isn’t that what he had been trying to avoid this whole time? Hurting Sam? And, somehow, he had managed to do just that. It was frustrating and exhausting and Danny just wanted to get some fucking sleep. 

Through the night, however, Sam had managed to intertwine himself once more with Danny. It felt like a hollow victory. And when he eventually, slowly, woke up, Sam had seemed to be completely over their spat from the night prior. 

He had simply stretched his arms over his head, his hair a mess of tangles and static, and asked Daniel about breakfast. How Danny had wished that he could just brush off what happened the night prior. 

The rest of the day had happened much like the day before; Sam refusing to let Danny stray too far from his touch. It had been inconvenient as Danny tried to go about his day with another person attached to him at the hip. However, he was able to adapt by lunch time. Sammy was still whispering things in his ear that made his blood simmer in his veins and did nothing to suppress his guilt at what images and scenarios his brain supplied him with. 

Daniel had resigned himself to the fact that his day now would revolve around Sam entirely. He had wanted to go to the grocery store to restock his fridge that was becoming barren, but he knew there was the possibility that someone would recognize the two of them and their… compromising position. 

So, instead of going out and being productive like he had wanted to, he sequestered the two of them to his house. They settled on a Harry Potter marathon, Daniel once again unable to focus on the screen whatsoever with Sam pawing at him continuously. Daniel had ordered food and plopped the two of them on the couch. 

By the fourth movie, Sam had fallen asleep in Danny’s lap. Daniel, now with those doe eyes off of him, felt that he was finally able to end his guise of watching the screen. It had reached the late afternoon, that golden light sun streaming in through the windows of his living room and highlighting the lazy dust mites floating in the air. Most devastatingly, however, was how that sun had focused on Sammy’s profile. The man looked angelic, ethereal in a way that should not be feasible for a mortal. His hair glowed a golden hue, making it look like a halo was crowned onto his head. It made Danny’s heart ache within his chest. 

Daniel had been so distracted by how gorgeous his best friend looked that he failed to really notice that Sammy was beginning to wake up. 

“Daniel?” Sam’s voice was gravelly again. Danny felt his eyes focus on Sam’s, snapping him back into his own mind. 

“Sam?” 

“Wh… What happened?” Sam had lifted himself off of Danny’s chest, sliding a hand from where it rested on the small of Danny’s back to grab at his head. He blinked rapidly, sweeping his eyes around the room as if it was foreign to him with a grimace on his face. 

“How much do you remember?” 

There was a pause before Sam responded, his eyes sliding their focus in on Danny’s. “Remember? Dan, I’m not missing any time.” 

And if that didn’t make Daniel’s blood run cold. 

“So… So…” Danny couldn’t spit it out. No matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn’t say that Sam knew everything. That would make it real. 

“So… what happened?” Sam prompted again, seeming to be more lucid with each passing second. 

Danny involuntarily gulped, feeling a cold sweat breaking out across his skin. Why was he so nervous? It wasn’t that hard to say what happened; he already told the twins. So why the hell was it so difficult to look Sam in the eye. 

“You… You remember that vial from my jacket that you drank?” 

“Mhm, tasted like bubblegum.” 

“...Yeah. Well, that uhh…” 

Oh, for fucks sake! Just say it! 

“It was a love potion,” Daniel rushed out, the words all mushing together to sound like one long word. 

Another beat of silence passed between the two, Sam staring down at Daniel from his perch in his lap and Daniel looking everywhere he could that wasn’t Sam’s eyes. He really wished Sam would move, it would at least help the raging blush on his cheeks. At least slightly. 

“Oh, sick!!” 

Finally, Daniel looked Sam in the eye. Of all the ways he had forecasted that Sam would react to that information, enthusiasm and whimsy was not even on the list. He had expected Sam to get awkward, to politely remove himself from Danny’s touch and make an exit as quickly as possible. He had far from expected Sam to link his hands behind Danny’s neck and eagerly inquire about the potion. 

“Dude, that’s so cool! You know what this means, don’t you??” 

“...No?” 

“Magic is real! And we just proved it!!” Sam’s smile was huge, bright enough to outshine the sun. 

“Sam-” 

“So, like, how does it actually work? Like, I remember that conversation we had with the witch about it only affecting those who already are in love, or whatever, but did she say the actual mechanics of how it worked? Like, is there a special ingredient that it needs to work?” Sam reminded Danny of a puppy in that moment. His eyes were bright and full of enthusiasm, his entire body buzzing with an energy that made it impossible for him to sit still. 

This time, it was Daniel who failed to give a timely response. His mind was too busy reeling over what Sam had glossed over during his rambling to properly process the man’s question. Realizing that the reason Sam was looking at him so expectantly was due to him waiting on the drummer, Danny shook his head to force it to work. 

“H-Hold on,” he began, taking a hand that had rested on Sam’s waist and bringing it up to his forehead, “you… you remember that conversation?? You were asleep!!” 

Danny hadn’t meant for his voice to come out like a screech, however he was just so damn confused that he really couldn’t focus the brain power on proper speech etiquette. 

“What?” Now it was Sam’s turn to knit his brow in confusion. “Oh, yeah! No, I was just faking it. It’s an old trick I pull out sometimes to get out of work; I started doing it so that Jake, Josh, and Ronnie were stuck doing chores instead of me.” 

Daniel felt like he was losing his mind. How was Sam so goddamn chipper about this?? 

“Ok. Ok. Oh my god.” Daniel forced himself to take a breath. It felt as if his entire world was crumbling beneath his feet and his brain was struggling to keep up with the rapidly shifting terrain. 

“So, you remember that whole conversation.” It wasn’t a question, though Danny had intended it to be. 

“Yep!” Danny felt a piece of his soul die at the chipper tone Sam used. He elected to ignore it. 

“And… that means you understand how it actually works…” 

“Apparently better than you did, Danny Boy,” Sam snarked, a playful grin that bordered on flirtatious spreading across his lips. 

Danny could only stare incredulously at Sam. 

“And you’re ok with it??” 

“...Yeah,” Sam answered slowly, “I already knew I was in love with you.” 

And that, right there, was how Daniel Wagner died. In retrospect, he had a good go of it. He was able to follow his dreams, be a rockstar. If he had to pick one, he’d say his one regret in life was ever befriending Samuel fucking Kiszka. It would have saved his life, after all. 

“Danny?” 

Sammy’s voice snapped him out of his cardiac arrest, pulling him back to the present. 

“Y-You… You…” Once again, Daniel felt like his brain was melting out of his head and pouring out of his ears. This can’t be real. Like, it just can’t. “You already… me??” 

“Yeah…” Sammy was looking at him strangely, as if Danny were the one acting weird. 

“You realize what you just told me, right??” 

“I don’t understand why you’re acting so surprised. You already knew this.” 

Danny tried to follow Sam’s logic in his head, he really did. He was still under the spell. He had to be. It was the only way Sam’s behavior made any sense to him. 

“Sam… you were drugged, ok? I don’t know exactly how, but those… your… actions were not your own,” Danny tried to explain, careful and gentle as possible. 

Then, it was as if a lightbulb went off inside Sam’s head. Daniel felt relief hit him; finally Sam got it. They could move past this and save their friendship. 

“Daniel, look at me,” Sammy slid his hands from behind Daniel’s neck to rest them on the sides of his face, positioning it so that Danny had to look at him, “I am not under any spell right now. I am in my sane mind, do you get me?” 

Danny opened his mouth to speak, but Sam cut him off before he had the ability to protest. 

“I am so fucking in love with you. Like, so fucking in love it’s probably illegal. And that was why the potion worked. Because I am in love with you. If I wasn’t, it wouldn’t have worked at all… do you understand what I am telling you in very clear, not-able-to-be-misinterpreted words?” Sam had said every sentence slowly and with a gravity to it that left no room for debate. They were spoken as fact; as law. Just how energy cannot be created nor destroyed, Sam Kiszka was in love with Daniel Wagner. 

Yet Daniel still had a hard time grasping the concept. 

“But… all that… that cuddling and-and kissing and all that… you’ve never acted that way before,” Daniel reasoned, believing this to be the work of the potion and hard evidence to support that belief. 

Sam just laughed, the noise warming up the ice that had frozen in Danny’s veins. 

“I always wanna kiss you, Daniel. The only reason I hadn’t yet was because I didn’t think you wanted me that way. And before you try and say it was the potion forcing me, it just never occurred to me to not act upon my feelings.” 

Danny was still apprehensive, unable to fully grapple with the concept that Sam wanted to kiss him at all times. But, he was beginning to see what everyone had been telling him the past 24 hours. 

“...Prove it.” 

With nothing but a quick “ok” spoken under his breath, Sam wasted no time launching forward and locking his lips with Danny’s. His hands slid from Danny’s cheeks to the back of his head, manipulating it so that Sam could tip it back and deepen the kiss. Once again, Danny felt dizzy. But, unlike the other kiss the two of them shared last night, this one was quick and urgent. Sam had something to prove and he was not about to let Daniel walk away from this without getting his point through Danny’s thick skull. 

It was Sam who eventually pulled away, having to gasp for air. 

“Holy shit,” Danny panted, his head feeling woozy as he took in the sight of his best friend looking absolutely ruined, yet giddy just from his lips. 

“Yeah,” Sam breathed in response, his smile turning dopey as he laughed. 

“You… You love me…” 

Danny watched in real time the excitement and shock that flooded Sam’s eyes. 

“Oh, thank fucking god,” Sam quickly uttered, throwing his head back, “YOU FINALLY GET IT!” Sam had taken to shaking Danny by the shoulders. 

“That’s actually great news because I’m also in love with you,” Daniel admitted, a giddiness of his own flooding his veins at finally being able to say those words out loud to Sam. 

“I would fucking hope so, you dense idiot.” There was no malice in Sam’s words. Quite the opposite, really. He had leaned back down onto Danny’s chest, burying his face into Danny’s neck as they embraced. 

“Wait… when did you-” 

“Truthfully? When we graduated.”

Daniel started to process what that meant. Since we graduated…

“YOU MEAN WE ACTUALLY COULD’VE FUCKED THIS WHOLE TIME??” 

+++

Tag list: @doodle417 @sammykiszkasunusedshoes @jmks-housewife @ageoferin @alwayssotiredbutneverofyou @etoilesnoor @ascendingtostardust @godlygreta @s0livagant @gretavanflowerpower @morganic-goods @dannythedog @baguettejuliette @fan-girl-97 @gaby-gvf @age-of-nyahh @mzbrightside @myownparadise96 @xserenax-13 @sammysvanfeet @loofypoofy @chalametpwk @seventieswhore @razorbladekiszka @capturethechaos @unfortunatelykristin @welightthefire @gretavanfleas @sammiejane22 @satanplayshisfluteforhim @starsasone @writingcold @tearsofbri @gretasmokerising @streamofstardust @lunaindigoraven @jakeydoesit @tripthelightfandomtastic @sunfl0wer-power @wingedgardener2000 @gretavanbitches @teddiie @gardensGateDaisy @sparrowofthedawnsworld @angelbabyyy99 @sammysprincess @whollyfreeamongststars @gretaswhore28 @l0rdoffli3s @kay-jordan @lightmyloverry @kenzie18 @gotavansleep @roosterbbradley @freckled-wonder @flower-power-anthem @Gabyvanfleet @Sarakay-gvf @Mamalikes-gvf @josh-iamyour-mama @st4rdust-ch0rds @pr41sethemoon @fallonfatality @earthlysorrows @jessicafg03 @rossy1080 @hippievanfleet @spark-my-nature @hayley1623 @schleeble @gretavanflipflop

[onceuponapuffin]

Fanatic Intervention Part 14!!!

Happy Birthday to regular reader and commenter @ritz-writes !! :D

Here's the sculpture mentioned in the fic: https://noma.org/collection/history-of-the-conquest/

You'll notice that the poll at the bottom isn't anything suuuuper important. There's just some plot things that I want to get running in the next section, so I'm gonna be writing it up and posting it tomorrow. But I promise you that it's still an important choice to make (also idk what to pick so that means you all get to pick lol ).

Okay! Here we go! Back to New Orleans with The Anti-Apocalypse Crew!

Beginning || Previous || Next

*************************

Now that you all were in the city, it only took Anathema the next morning to hone in on her signal. To Aziraphale's delight, it led you all to the sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. To your delight, it led more specifically to a sculpture of a person riding a snail (to victory no doubt).

"I think this might be my favourite statue ever," You say aloud (because this author is assuming you would agree with her opinion). There is a person you don’t know standing in front of the statue. He gives a dissatisfied huff.

"It's called 'History of the Conquest,'" he tells you, despite not being asked, "The ever-slow and over-confident march of the entitled towards a future where they're in charge. Everyone else suffers while they promise glory and prosperity."

Your jaw drops open. This person looks like a 'surfer dude,' but is talking like someone who's spent most of their life in a cubicle changing 1s to 0s for 8 straight hours a day.

"WOW! That is BLEAK," is what finally comes out of your mouth. "Proper ray of sunshine, you are."

Okay, that sounded really British. You briefly wonder about the effect of spending so much time around Crowley and Aziraphale before Surfer Dude starts to laugh.

"I've seen a few things, human. Been 'round longer than you've been alive, will be long after you die. You're no more than a moth in my eyes."

"Wow," You can't help but repeat yourself, "Again, bleak." Also rude, but priorities.

"It is what it is," Surfer Dude replies. You shake your head and turn to Aziraphale and Crowley.

"You're up," You concede. You have no idea who this is, but he called you "human," and compared you to a moth. Whoever this person is, they’re probably the one Anathema’s had you looking for. He doesn’t look like Jesus, but maybe he will know where Jesus is. Either way, Anathema doesn’t get things wrong. If her work brought you to this person, then he’s the person you need to talk to.

That being said, whoever this is, he's the Ineffable Husbands' department and not yours. Sometimes you just gotta tap out and let the celestials handle their own kind. Now, this doesn't mean that you're not going to sit back and watch. Oh no, you want to see how this plays out.

"Can I have some popcorn?" You stage-whisper to Crowley as you pass him.

"Piss off," Crowley stage-whispers back. Despite his complaint, you notice a tiny Michael-Sheen smile on Aziraphale's face, and you return to Anathema, who looks surprised and is holding two small cartons of popcorn. You gratefully take one and have a seat on a convenient bench that is located conveniently within earshot. This is gonna be good.

"Hello," Aziraphale begins as he approaches, "I'm Aziraphale."

"Right," Surfer Dude says with a roll of his eyes, "The Angel of the Eastern Gate. I'm so honoured."

"Here I thought manners were important to angels," Crowley replies, sidling up next to Aziraphale. Surfer-Dude-Who-Is-Apparently-An-Angel takes in Crowley and raises an eyebrow.

"And here I thought demons didn't make a habit of hanging off angels' arms," Surfer Dude scoffs in in return.

Crowley snarls.

"Yes, well, each of us seems to be an anomaly in our own right," Aziraphale says with an appeasing smile, "This is Crowley. Might we have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"No."

"Ah, right. Well, that is to your own discretion I suppose."

"Rude is what it is," sneers Crowley.

"Regardless, we've come to this garden with the guidance of our friend here, hoping to find, well, Jesus as it happens."

Surfer-Dude-Angel-Person throws his head back and laughs outright.

"You're looking for who now? JESUS? HA! Bit of soul-searching for you, is it? Spiritual journey? Pilgrimage to the Holy Land? You're in the wrong place for that!" He keeps laughing.

I mean, you get the laughter. It definitely sounds weird to a third party. Crazy even. But if this guy is an angel, then shouldn't it sound perfectly reasonable?

"Oi," Crowley interrupts, clearly impatient, "We're trying to save the world here. And since angels don't normally take holiday time, I'd think helping us might be in your best interest."

"You think you can stop the Second Coming? Ha! There isn't another technicality that you can throw around this time. This one's it. Enjoy the giant snail statues while they last, because it won't be for much longer."

"You know an awful lot," You call from the bench, "And you like to talk. So just get to the part about Jesus so we can leave you to be miserable on your own." You popcorn is already almost finished, and you frown into your carton. If only you could do miracles. You'd refill it yourself.

Surfer-Dude-Angel-Person laughs again.

"Yeah, okay, I like this one," he says, nudging a thumb in your direction. He turns away from Crowley and Aziraphale and strides towards you. Suddenly your popcorn carton is full again, so you look up. Okay, maybe he's not so bad. He reaches out a hand to you.

"Call me Sardis, Little Moth."

After a moment of hesitation, you shake his hand. He turns back to Crowley and Aziraphale.

"I can see why you've adopted this one," he says, then turns his attention to Anathema, paying no mind to the garbled protests coming from Crowley. "And since we're doing introductions...?"

"Anathema Device," says Anathema with a nod. She would probably shake his hand, but between her equipment and her popcorn, her hands are full.

"Lovely to meet you, Miss Anathema," Sardis nods at her before finally looking back at Aziraphale and Crowley. "You won't find Jesus here. But meet me for drinks later and I'll tell you what you need to know to find him."

"You're unnecessarily cryptic, Sardis," You say with a raised eyebrow and a mouth full of popcorn. He laughs again.

"Well, Little Moth," his eyes have a sparkle in them now as he looks at you, "Gotta keep myself entertained somehow."

Sardis insists on giving you all a tour of the sculpture garden, but refuses to say anything more about Jesus, or how he knows about Armageddon, or why he isn't in Heaven, or anything else that you actually WANT to talk about. He insists that such talk isn't for a quiet garden full of art. It isn't until he lays a cryptic finger beside his nose and winks at you that something clicks in your memory.

Remember, back before JK Rowling turned out to be an awful person, back when everyone read Harry Potter? EVERYONE, RIGHT?? Perhaps, dear Reader, you remember the chapter in book 5 where Hermione calls a meeting at The Hog's Head because it’s less crowded. Hermione figures the sparse crowd means that there are fewer people to see them together. Perhaps you also remember when, later in the book, this action comes back to bite them, and they are told very sternly that they should have met at the Three Broomsticks precisely BECAUSE it was busier. A busy pub meant they would have been less likely to be overheard.

Suddenly you look around the garden and notice the sparse, but very much there, collection of people. Just the right number of people that could listen to your conversation if they wanted to without you being any the wiser. Oh.

Oh.

Maybe the cryptic is a little bit necessary after all. He’s still overdoing it in your opinion, but whatever floats his goat.

You part ways after his tour, agreeing to meet at a local bar at 9pm. There’s enough time to go back to the hotel, freshen up, and get something to eat before you make your way there.

“Well,” Aziraphale says back at the hotel, “This Sardis certainly is a character.”

“I know the name from somewhere,” You trail off in thought. Where have you heard it before? Sardis…Tardis…Sardine….You’re not sure, but it rings a bell.

Anathema is already flipping through notebooks. Aziraphale has picked up his copy of the Bible, and Crowley is on his phone. You figure everyone else has it covered, and sure enough, it’s Crowley who finds it first. Google, no doubt.

“Ha! Found the sod! He’s in Revelation.”

“Oh!” You practically jump as recognition finally hits. “He’s one of the seven angels! The ones we didn’t think were here!”

“You didn’t think any of them were here?” Anathema asks, “Did you even check, or did you just assume?”

“Well Muriel said…” You go quiet, before clearing your throat and trying again. “We didn’t look into it far at all, no.”

“So exactly what work did you do before you called me?”

“Umm…….” You say.

“Nnngggh” Crowley adds.

“A great deal less than we thought at the time, apparently,” Aziraphale finally admits with a sigh.

“You are all really bad at saving the world.” Anathema shakes her head.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 🖤

Beginning || Previous || Next

[gyu-dloml]

Flower 🌸

Summary : A certain pretty boy comes running to you.

Pairing : Hong Joshua x Gn! reader

Genre : Idiots (fwb) to lovers, angst, fluff

Word count : 724

Warnings : Implied smut, language

It's become a routine. Every night you spend with Joshua ends up like this. You laying on top of him, both of you guys sweaty and panting. If you looked closely you could probably see fog on the windows. And you're going to wake up with sore legs and unfortunately (fortunately?) a Joshua missing by your side.

Well, atleast he's decent enough to wait while you're asleep whilst leaving. Many would argue that it's better watching your fuck buddy leave rather than them sneaking out. But it's easy for your heart and eyes to cry out when it's been hours since he's left.

But how come it all seems perfect for those hours. Why does he look at you the way you look at him? Because you're very sure you look at him with hearts in your eyes. And why does he call you all those sweet names and treat you so well when it's all probably a lie.

As every one of these nights passes, you get more and more anxious. Everytime it ends, you think to yourself 'tonight's the night, no more Shua'. Oh but like a moth to a flame, you go running back to him on every beck and call of his, expecting to not get burnt; atleast not this time please.

He's like a forbidden fruit, sweeter than honey that you apparently can taste but not have. If it was all business you wouldn't be having trouble leaving all this behind. That's why you wish he was meaner to you at work.

You wish he'd just let you be when you didn't want to eat but he comes with food in his hand, ready to force feed you if needed. You wish he didn't notice every mood swing you had and try to make it all better. You wish he didn't pluck his neighbors flowers for you on every one of him 'visit'.

And if he really does all that, you really wish he wouldn't jokingly dismiss all of your confessions.

-

"Shua."

"Yes pretty?"

"I like you."

"And I like you too."

"No, I really like you. Let me take you out for coffee."

"We take each other out on coffee almost every day!" He chuckles and gets back to his phone.

-

There's things he doesn't tell you. Things like how infatuated he is with everything about you and related to you. You like him? That's just too good to be true. He can't fathom that he could have you anymore than he has right now.

"God you're really dumb." Jeonghan says, not even sparing a glance at Joshua.

"Shut up."

"Look Joshuji, she trusts you with her body, how much more could you want? All you need to do is make it official. And trust me when I say she likes you as much as you like her. Stop being a pussy and ask her out. NOW. Or else I'm launching my Lego set at you."

Joshua scoffs, "You could never." That's just how precious Hannies Lego set is.

"Watch me." Wow, he really picked it up.

-

As you stare out of your window, spiraling with all these thoughts, your phone buzzes.

"Hello?"

"Hey." It's Joshua.

"Why are you panting? Are you alright?"

"Yeah yeah, running from Han's Lego set."

"Okay..?" That friend of Shua really surprises you everytime.

"I was wondering if I could take you up on that coffee offer?"

Your heart started beating erratically while you try to think of a response, "But it's almost 11 right now, how about later?"

"Oh no, not any longer. How about we make some? At your house, I'm on my way."

"Wow okay what's gotten into you."

"It's a date then. Do you want me to ask you out romantically?"

"What the fuck are you on Hong?"

"Do you really want me to do this on the phone?"

And you've seen all kinds of Joshua - delirious Shua, drunk Shua and hangry Shua and you know for a fact that he'd never joke about this. But you still need time to process that it's all finally happening.

"No, just come over quick."

"I'm running to you princess, two minutes more."

You can hear him running when all of a sudden he adds,

"Wait fuck, I forgot to pluck Mr. Yang's flowers!!"

"That's called stealing, Joshua Hong."

"Anything for you."

yet, another one on a whim 🥰 tumblr on mobile will make me crazy, I'll change a few things when i come back 😠😭

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 3

Episode 6: Hour of Power Part 1

~In the Man Cave~

"And according to city officials, this mistake at Swellview prison is the biggest mistake in the history of prison mistakes." Those were the words of Mary Gaperman as Charlotte, Jasper and (y/n) watched the afternoon news on the supercomputer.  

Some big-time criminal had escaped from jail and for some reason, it put the young woman on edge, but she wouldn't let anyone catch on to her nervousness.

"Wow, so disturbing. And now, we go live to Swellview Prison with reporter, Barnie Viragosa." Trent rolled the Latino name as (y/n) glanced at the news roll at the bottom of the screen. A criminal named "Drex" was out and she suddenly felt a chill of fear run down her spine.

"Want some soup?" Jasper asked the two girls, breaking (y/n) out of her worry. She didn't want to sound rude, but drinking someone else's soup was a bit gross.

"You don't share soup," Charlotte told the boy, rolling her eyes at her friend's weirdness. Even after many years of friendship, Jasper still knew how to catch her by surprise.

"I share soup with my mom." He noted, not seeing anything weird about what he just said.

"Do we look like your mom?" (y/n) asked him sarcastically, wondering at his oddness. She'd heard all about Mrs Dunlop and knew that she wasn't going to be winning any Moth of the Year Awards soon.

"I wish..." He said wistfully, but (y/n) shushed him as the reporter came on screen. She wanted to know everything about this escape since it could very well be the end of everything in the Man Cave.

"I'm here outside Swellview Prison with Mark Landry from the prison parole board. Mr Landry..." The reporter turned to the pale-faced man, who looked extremely worried and for good reason.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He grabbed the mic so he could apologise profusely as he knew that he'd released a literal menace into society.

"How could you have accidentally released one of the FBI's most dangerous criminals by mistake?" Barnie asked him sharply, grilling the poor guy with his stern words.

"Um, see, today is bring-your-daughter-to-work day and my daughter, Molly, was playing with my computer and somehow, she released Drex from prison. Again, I'm so sorry." He explained, gulping at the thought of the rampaging criminal cutting down people in his path.

"Molly, how could you release Drex, knowing how dangerous he is?" The reporter bent down next to the girl, who looked very innocent with her half-eaten banana.

"I'm five." She gave him a gummy smile, proving that it wasn't her fault that Drex had been released. She was just messing about.

"Oh, kids do say the stupidest things." The reporter chuckled, although he was making himself out to be the stupid one by picking on a small child.

"Uh, Barnie, any news on the location of this criminal named Drex?" Trent asked, just as the psycho himself crept into the shot and strangled an unsuspecting prison officer. 

"Not at this time, but investigators are using all available resources to conduct a complete search of literally everywhere," Barnie answered as (y/n) gasped at the sight of Drex. And to make matters worse, here came Ray.

"Charlotte! I need you to log into the Man Copter's computer guidance system." The superhero instructed his assistant as he came trotting down from the sprocket in his super suit. He must've heard about Drex and was preparing for the battle if the numerous weapons he was collecting were anything to go by.

"Ooooo, you're taking the Man Copter?" Jasper asked, excited to see his favourite hero in the helicopter. It was always so awesome to see him in action. 

"I don't have time for questions," Ray replied sharply, lifting a hand to Jasper's face and marching over to where a stash of blasters and bombs had risen from the floor. He'd need everything in his arsenal to take on Drex.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked her box, but (y/n) already knew the answer and it terrified her. The was a bitter history between the superhero and criminal, for more reasons than she cared to remember. 

"To catch Drex." He said, strapping a load of grenades and ammo to his chest. He ignored the wide-eyed stare given to him by his darling girl and kept loading up his pockets. He was doing this to protect her.

"You answered her question." Jasper pouted as (y/n) took out her gumball tube. If Ray thought he was going alone then he had another thing coming. 

"What?" Ray frowned at Jasper's pouting but didn't notice the tube in the young woman's hand. 

"You said, you didn't have time to answer any questions, but I guess that only applies to my questions." He sulked whilst Ray grabbed several blasters. It seemed like overkill, but he knew the violent rage of Drex and he knew that it might not be enough to stop him.

"Thanks for understanding." He smiled sarcastically at the curly-haired boy, who just picked up a grenade and shoved it into his back pocket. Maybe it would come in handy.

"Okay, I'm logged into the Man Copter computer," Charlotte reported and turned around to await further instructions.  

"Good. Set all weapons to the ready position. Locked and loaded." Ray told her and lowered the weapons cabinet back into the floor, much to (y/n)'s annoyance.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what about my blasters?" She looked at him with knitted eyebrows. and he returned her confusion. Why would she need blasters?

"What do you mean?" Ray asked her and his blindness made her roll her eyes. She saw how it was, he didn't want her to go and risk her life, but it wasn't up to him, not this time. He needed help to take down this bastard and she was going to stick by him.

"How am I meant to fight Drex with no weapons?" She questioned and wiggled her gum tube under his nose, which caused his eyes to darken. No, she couldn't, not against him, he wouldn't allow it.

"You're staying here where it's safe. I'm outta here." He pushed the tube out of his face and tried to run off before she could say anything, but it was a dumb move. Jasper and Charlotte shouted at him to stop and a soft yet strong hand on his wrist pulled him back. Like he could run out on his girl like that.

"What? I gotta go." He grumbled at her and his heart twinged at the hurt in her eyes. He knew she wanted to fight and he loved to see her kick ass, but this wasn't a just fight and Drex wasn't some petty criminal. He was dangerous and would only use her as a weapon against him, so he just couldn't risk putting her in harm's way.

"Why can't (y/n) go with you? And Henry's not here." Jasper frowned, wondering why he was so quick to get away. Normally, he'd get all moody if his sidekicks couldn't go with him and now, he wanted to go solo. Very weird.

"You want me to text him and find out how far he is?" Charlotte offered, thinking that she was doing a kind thing, but it just freaked Ray out. He was going alone, end of.

"Uh, no! No, no, no." He quickly rambled, stopping Charlotte's thumb from tapping on her PearPhone.

"Why not?" The girl asked him in suspicion, noting how (y/n) was being unusually quiet around her boyfriend. Something was going on here and she didn't like it.

"Uh, 'cause I already contacted him. Yeah, and he said he's gonna meet me there, so..." He lied, making (y/n) fold her arms in irritation. He was a terrible liar, particularly when he was squirming under her studying eyes. 

"Really? That's the best you got?" She asked, pursing her lips when he chuckled nervously. He couldn't bullshit his way out of this.

"Hey, look! That's Henry calling me right now!... Hi, Henry." Ray grabbed his phone from his utility belt and pressed it to his ear in the hope that they buy it. However, his friends weren't stupid.

"I didn't hear your phone ring," Jasper commented and the girls agreed. He'd have to try harder than that if he wanted to fool them. 

"It's set to silent." He lied and because he was so engrossed in keeping up his elaborate fibbing, he didn't hear the elevator ding or see how Henry stepped out with a snowcone. Well, this was awkward.

"Uh, sorry, Henry, Jasper was bothering me. Oh, you do? So, you're gonna meet me there? Great." He smiled into his phone as a puzzled teen walked up behind him. How he hadn't noticed Henry's presence was astounding, but then again, so was his belief that they fall for this crap.

"So, let me get this straight, you're on the phone with Henry, right now?" (y/n) pointed at the phone with a smirk, loving how Ray was such a doofus and hating how he was lying to her. Drex was a sore spot for both of them and it hurt to know that he'd rather make something up than be honest with her.

"Yeah, obvi. Sorry, Henry, I'm back. Yeah, girlfriend trouble. Great, so I'll meet you there---" The young woman wrinkled her nose at his distasteful behaviour and that's when Henry decided to jump in. He needed an explanation.

"Gonna meet me where?" He asked his boss, making the man jump at his voice. He turned around slowly and saw that Henry was in fact in the room, which blew his story to bits. Well, now he looked like an idiot.

"I gotta go, Henry...Winkler, ehhh..." He mumbled and put down his phone, feeling very foolish in front of his friends. It was safe to say that his plan had been a complete disaster.

"Why are you in uniform?" Henry gestured to Ray's suit and looked to (y/n) for answers too, but she just glared at the back of Ray's head. Girlfriend troubles indeed.

"Uniform?" He repeated, struggling for an answer that Henry would believe and him being a smart kid meant that it would have to be good.

"Yeah, you know, bright costumes, red and blue. We wear them a lot." (y/n) wandered over to Henry's side, running her fingertips over Ray's arm as she brushed past. It made him stumble even more as he knew that it wasn't her usual teasing touch. 

"What's with the extra weapons?" Henry asked, looking at the bombs, blasters, guns, whatever was strapped to Ray. It told him that he was going. against something big and it didn't sit right with him.

"Weapons? Uh---hey, Schwoz!" Ray returned to his original plan and grabbed his phone again. He was dumb at times, he should've learned that pretending to be on the phone was never a roaring success, especially when you were calling your friends.

"Your phone didn't ring." Henry pointed out, picking up the same point from earlier, although it seemed like Jasper had fallen for it.

"It's on silent." He hissed to his best friend, making (y/n) snort in amusement.

"Absolute bullshit," She shook her head with a bitter smile, not buying it for one moment.

"What's that you say, Schwoz? I should leave the Man Cave right now and Henry and Charlotte and (y/n) and Jasper should stay here and not ask me any questions? Good, good idea." He moved past his girlfriend and upheld his fake conversation, which was then promptly ruined as Schowz came skipping in.

"Here, I got it, I got it! Right here!" He exclaimed, staring at the weapon he'd brought along. Ray growled in frustration as his plan was ruined yet again and he was once more the fool.

"I gotta go, Schwoz...Winkler!" He "hung up" and faced a wall of angry teens and a disgruntled girlfriend. Oh geez, he was in deep shit.

"Hey, I thought you said you were going to leave before (y/n) noticed and Henry got here." Schwoz pondered when he saw their presence, not realising that he was ruining Ray's poor attempts to keep everything under wraps.

"Oh, will you be quiet! Ever?" The large man snapped and snatched the weapon from Schwoz's grasp so he could clip it to his belt. Honestly, how Schwoz kept his feelings for (y/n) a secret for so many years was a mystery to him.

"Raymond, please tell me what's going on here." (y/n) pleaded with her boyfriend, crossing her arms and swallowing the lump in her throat. Since when had there been something he couldn't tell her about? When had he started lying to her?

"Uhhhh..." Ray panicked, not knowing how to tell her and his sidekick that this was a fight they couldn't handle.

"Dude, if there's something going on, tell us, we're your sidekicks," Henry added to the argument, also feeling like (y/n). If his boss had a problem, he wanted to help him solve it.

"Wait, I'm confused. I thought your plan was to go fight that guy, Drex, and not tell Henry and (y/n) so they'd never know about it." Schwoz said, ignoring the subtle shushes given to him by Ray. Loose lips sink ships and now, Ray was left with two pissed off sidekicks.

"Oh, that's it! Come here! Until you learn to be quiet..." The superhero wrapped an arm around Schwoz's neck and forced him to walk to the supercomputer, where a basket of fruit was sitting. He picked up a pineapple and held it in front of the poor handyman's face.

"Ray, not the pineapple!" Charlotte and Henry begged him to let Schwoz go, but a bellowing order from Ray made them shut their mouths swiftly. The small guy turned around and they all winced to see that a fun pineapple had been shoved into his mouth, leaving just the green leaves poking out.

"Okay, you kids have fun. (y/n), take care of them, I should be back by dinner time." He told them calmly, like what had just happened was nothing, leaving the teens to stutter as he walked away.

"Ray, please! Talk to me, I'm your girlfriend." (y/n) cried, sniffing as he tried to leave without so much as an explanation or even a kiss. She hated this, it was like he didn't care, but that'd the thing. He cared so much and he didn't want to upset her, but there was no way he could do this without doing so.

"Sweet girl, I gotta go fight a really bad guy, you know that. And...I gotta fight him alone." He sighed, stroking her cheeks softly with gloved hands as she and Henry processed the information. Alone? No way.

"Why?" Henry asked, not seeing why he got to do the work while they sat on the sidelines. He and Ray and now (y/n) had fought so much together, surely, they could take on this asshole.

"'Cause we know Drex, he's--he's bad on a whole 'nother level," Ray replied whilst Schwoz tried to tug the pineapple out of his mouth. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Well, how do you both know him?" Henry asked, making the couple freeze up. Did they have to answer that? Wasn't the knowledge that they knew Drex enough for the kid?

"I'm sorry, what?" Ray played dumb, gulping at the memory of the evil dude. It was so long ago, but it still infuriated him and his hate ran deep, much deeper than anyone could ever understand. What that man did to him and her, just to be cruel, was something he'd never forget.

"How do you both know this guy, Drex?" Henry repeated, not letting up. There was history here, he could sense it, but he could never guess how deep it really went.

"Oh, you know, just from...stuff," (y/n) excused anxiously, not wanting to dwell on the past either. Usually, she was happy to talk about anything with Henry; he was like her younger brother and she loved talking about her experiences so he'd learn from them. But Drex, he was something she'd rather stay buried.

"Stuff?" Henry frowned, not liking how secretive they were being, but he wouldn't have to wait any longer for an answer, because Schwoz had finally pulled that damn fruit from his mouth. Maybe it would've been better for Ray if he'd shoved it in a bit deeper.

"Why don't you just tell Henry that Drex used to be your sidekick and (y/n)'s boyfriend?!" He exclaimed, making Ray and (y/n) shudder in panic. 

"Schwoz, you dick!" The young woman shrieked at him as Henry dropped his snowcone. Drex, sidekick, boyfriend? What the fuck? 

"You had a sidekick before me? And you dated a criminal?" Henry gawped at his boss with utter betrayal written across his face. The couple felt trapped by the truth, especially at how it seemed to crush the boy, who had always thought he'd been Captain Man's first. And (y/n), sweet, kind, innocent (y/n). He couldn't believe that she'd go out with someone so evil, the thought of her with anyone but Ray was simply...wrong.

"Uhhh...hel--hey..." Ray tried to try the phone trick again, but it wouldn't wash this time. Henry was disgusted and hurt, he didn't want tricks. Charlotte grabbed a towel to clean up the melting snowcone on the floor and Henry began to pace. How had he not seen the lies and the guilt?

"I can't believe this. I cannot believe this!" He gasped at the couple as they watched him. He could've been overreacting, but he could have also been underreacting. This was a big shock to him and it felt like his relationship with them had been built on a lie.

"Oh, you say that every week." Ray dismissed his feelings with a wave of his hand, which earnt him a smack on the chest.

"Ray! Be nice." She hissed at him. She was worried that the kid thought badly of her now, but he had to know that she was very young at the time and Drex seemed so lovely for a twenty-year-old with questionable feelings for her boss. He was closer to her age and Ray seemed so out of her reach that she just thought "fuck it" and went out with him a few times. But that then turned into a lot of times and a few kisses later, she found herself with a boyfriend. 

"I don't know, I just thought that I was your first sidekick. And (y/n) dating him, ugh..." Henry rubbed his neck and tried to seem less sad than he was. 

"Well..."

"It wasn't like that--" Ray and (y/n) tried to soothe his worries, but they couldn't. Lies hurt, especially when they were told to a kid who'd idolised you since he was a small child.

"You had a sidekick before me and you never told me?" The boy whimpered, breaking their hearts. He'd grown so much since they first met him and he was no longer a child, not really. But at that moment, they saw a glimpse of the same kid who stumbled through the elevator door and jumped on an old lady's back to help Captain man. They'd hurt him and it sucked. 

"Well, no, but only because I didn't want you to know." Ray offered him an excuse, which didn't go down very well with the kid. 

"Oh, shut up, doofus...Look, Hen, it was a really long time ago and...I just want to forget that I ever looked his way. I'm sorry that we've upset you." (y/n) put her hand on the boy's shoulder and gave him her best soft smile in an attempt to tell him that they never wanted him to find out like this, but she never got a reply.

"Hey, something's happening upstairs in Junk-N-Stuff." Schwoz interrupted from his place at the supercomputer, making everyone sprint over to see what was going on. 

"Hello? Hello? Where do you go? I need my change." A lady shouted on the monitor as she held a funny-looking statue. 

"Jasper, why aren't you up there?" Charlotte asked her friend as she realised that the poor woman had been left alone for a long time. God knows what would've happened if she had wandered into the back.

"I was but I came down here to get change for a twenty and then I just got distracted." He. recalled, suddenly feeling like it would probably be best to get back to work.

"Jesus, that was forty-five minutes ago!" (y/n) gasped and the group pushed the teen in the direction of the elevator so he could go serve the customer before she wrote a bad review online. Honestly, how they hadn't gone out of business yet was anyone's guess.

"Son...give me the proton grenade," Ray stopped him before he could return to work, remembering how the boy had nicked one of them from the weapon stash. Looks like nothing got past Captain Man. Well, almost nothing. 

"But it's so cool." He whined, holding it in his hand so he could look at the bomb in his hand. None of the other kids in his school got to work as he did, he just wanted a bit of action. 

"Curly!" (y/n) snapped at him with a scolding face and he relented. No one wanted to get one of her teacher-like lectures.

"Fine." Jasper sighed and chucked the grenade back to Ray, making Henry, Charlotte and Schwoz duck for cover. Just because Ray and (y/n) would be fine, didn't mean they didn't want to get blown to bits.

"So, this bad guy, Drex. He was your sidekick and your ex-boyfriend?" Henry picked up where they had left off once Jasper had disappeared into the elevator. It seemed like he wasn't letting this go, despite the apology given to him by (y/n).

"Yes, for a little while," Ray answered, deciding that the truth was the only option now, even if it stung. God, he hated to remember how Drex got to have his girl first and made him sit and watch how she fell in love with him. It was a brief romance but it was Ray's first taste of jealousy over a woman he was genuinely falling for and it still infuriated him to know how that bastard knew the taste of her lips and the feel of her skin like he did.

"Look, I hired Drex nine years ago, it was before I even had this Man Cave," Ray exclaimed, feeling antsy at how he was being forced to revisit the events of nine years ago, back when (y/n) was fresh out of college and nowhere near as in love with him as he was with her. 

"Why did you date such a bad guy, (y/n/n)?" Charlotte asked the young woman, who had chosen to stay silent unless she was spoken to. People make mistakes in their youth, it's normal and it was safe to say that Drex was one of her biggest. A way of ignoring the tugging on her heart for a man she thought she couldn't have.

"Because in every way, he was perfect." She shrugged, looking at her feet shyly as she was forced to talk about her ex in front of her current boyfriend, who hated seeing her so flustered about another guy. A guy who at present, had dated her for longer than he had and that made him insecure. 

"Well, w-why? What made him so perfect?" Henry stuttered, feeling just as envious as Ray, although his jealousy was for a different reason. He was a better sidekick than this Drex, he was sure of it.

"I don't know, Drex just had it all. He was sweet and handsome, brave and strong." She shrugged, trying to think of all the reasons her younger self fell for Drex, but looking back, it wasn't love. It was meaningless and nothing compared to what she had now, just the fantasy of a young girl who knew nothing about the real world or how manipulative people could be.

"Hot mom." Ray shrugged, making her snap her head to him with offence in her eyes. That wasn't necessary, but it was the bitterness speaking.

"Ray!" Henry hissed, seeing how the hurt flashed across the woman's face. That wasn't something you said in front of your girlfriend.

"Well, not as hot as yours!" It slipped from Ray's lips before he could stop himself, a rehearsed comment from years of turning to other women when his heart ached for its soulmate. But it wasn't needed now, or ever again, he had the one he wanted, not that his words told her that.

"Yeah, Henry's mom is lovely." She sniffed and stared at the floor, wanting to avoid Ray's eyes so he wouldn't see the tears in hers. She knew it, she just knew it. All those girls before her, Henry's attractive mother, were still on his mind and she was just the next idiot in line. She had told herself that everything was too good to be true, but she didn't want to believe it, not when he told her those three little words with such sincerity. He must've been a good actor because she thought he'd played her for a fool.

"So, why wasn't Drex the perfect boyfriend and sidekick?" Charlotte moved on quickly, hoping the older girl would forget what had just been said, but it was already putting doubt in her mind.

"Uh, well, he...has a dark side." (y/n) shrugged, willing her voice to stay steady as she spoke. She was a big girl, she could handle this, even though she was feeling very, very small.

"Dark how?" Henry frowned, finding her choice of words unusual.

"Evil, mean, he started to change one day. I just remember realising that he was violent and cruel and dangerous...we..." She stopped halfway through, wondering if the kids needed to know the worst of it. 

"You..." Charlotte leaned forward, wondering what could be so awful that she couldn't say it. They were all friends, she could tell them, there was no need to be afraid.

"Had an argument, he shouted at me and pushed me against the wall and threatened me. He...wasn't very nice after that and then Ray found out." (y/n) skipped around the finer details and left it open for them to interpret everything. They got the gist of how badly it ended, particularly when they saw the Ray tensed in anger. No one messed with a defenceless girl, especially when she was as sweet as she was.

"One day, Drex and I...we had it out," Ray revealed, remembering how he just lost it when he learnt about how evil his former sidekick really was. He couldn't bear to have that kind of filth wearing his uniform and sullying his good name, not to mention harming the woman he'd fallen in love with. 

"You guys fought?!" Charlotte gasped, not believing that Ray would challenge someone who was supposed to be his greatest ally. But, then again, if it was for (y/n), he'd do anything.

"It was horrible. Drex treated (y/n) very badly." Schwoz piped up, recalling how it was one of the darkest times in Captain Man's history, which was why neither Ray nor (y/n) liked to talk about it.

"But you won, right?" Henry looked at his boss with a hopeful expression. Obviously, Ray had been the victor; he was standing here and for nearly a decade, Drex had been behind bars, but that didn't mean it was a battle easily won.

"Barely," Ray whispered, growing quiet at the thought of how he'd almost lost his life.

"Barely?! But you're like the best fighter in the whole world." Charlotte pointed out his skill and strength and how Captain Man was known to be one of the greatest superheroes there was.

"Even that wasn't good enough against Drex. He came home all battered and exhausted, I'd never seen him like that and I haven't since." (y/n) mentioned quietly, remembering how Ray had stumbled into the old Man Cave in a terrible state after a whole night of waiting for his return. He had fallen into her arms and told her it was done, but the fight had taken a toll on him. 

"If I wasn't indestructible, believe me, I would've been, y'know, destructed." Ray shrugged, reaching to wrap an arm around his girlfriend so he could comfort her, but she didn't want it. How many other girls had he put that arm around and whispered sweet nothings into their ears? Did it feel the same for them as it felt for her? Real and honest?

"I just can't believe I'm not your first sidekick." Henry reiterated, still baffled at how the secret had been kept for so long.

"Hey...you're the first sidekick that I really care about." Ray put a hand on his arm since he couldn't give (y/n) any comfort, which baffled him too.

"Oh, you tell that to Drex too?" Henry scoffed, rebuffing Ray's touch with a scowl. He found himself in a similar situation to the young woman, not the first and possibly not the favourite.

"No!...Well, maybe." Ray admitted that the conversation might have cropped up between him and Drex back when they were still friends and it soured the mood even more.

"Henry, Drex was only here for, like, six months. He never fought any crime with...him and I never made my chocolate chip cookies for him, like I do for you." (y/n) butted in, moving past her boyfriend and gave Henry a small smile. Drex would never match up to him, he was a good kid, she just needed to get it into his head.

"Did you think about it?" He asked, sensing that it could've crossed her mind at some point.

"I beg your pardon?" She muttered quickly, feeling a bit stuck since she had technically thought up the recipe for Drex, but had never gotten the chance to make them.

"Oh, god!" Henry took her nerves and the following silence as her confession and turned away in anger and hurt.

"Just say no!" Schwoz told her when she looked to him and Charlotte for help. She wasn't sure if her heart could take looking at Ray at the moment, she just wanted to be on her own for a while.

"Uh, you guys. There's breaking news." Charlotte piped up as she scrolled on her PearPad. This looked big and they all needed to see it.

"What news?" Ray asked in a tetchy voice. This was all too much for him, the secrets being aired, Drex on the loose, (y/n) avoiding him, what was he meant to do?

"It says that mistakenly released criminal, known only as Drex, has been spotted in North Swellview travelling south on East Avenue." She read out, making the hair on the back of (y/n)'s neck stand up, Ray's too.

"I know where he's going." She realised, getting the picture that he was playing some sort of game.

"The bakery district." Ray seethed, knowing exactly what happened there and why he was luring him to it: to taunt him.

"Our first date." She remembered the memory of sharing pastries with Drex on a chilly Saturday in autumn and knew that it was his way of being cruel. She was the one who got away and Ray was the one who stole her heart from him. This was about them.

"And when he gets there, he's gonna have to deal with me." The superhero growled and ran to the tubepads, but Henry wasn't going to stand idly by. Neither was (y/n), even if Ray had been so careless with her feelings, she still wasn't going to let Drex anywhere near him.

"No, he's going to have to deal with us," Henry spoke confidently and the two sidekicks walked towards Ray with their gum tubes in hand. 

"No chance!" Ray hissed at them, scowling at the determination on their faces. This wasn't some day trip to go fight bad guys, this was gonna get bloody.

"We're going!" (y/n) snapped back, ready to have an argument with her boyfriend if he wanted one. She'd taken enough shit today.

"Forget it, you can't!" He told her sternly, making her and the boy next to her sigh furiously.

"Give us one good reason why we can't go. Give us one good reason!" Henry dared him, pushing Ray's temper even if it was a dangerous game. 

"Because, he was my sidekick and your boyfriend and now you're my sidekick and I'm your boyfriend and we're all be there together and I don't know, man, it's just gonna be weird." He ranted, trying to disguise his jealousy under some awkwardness.

"If we're going to see your sidekick, then we're going." The boy demanded, making Ray whine. He didn't want to be in this situation.

"Henry!" He groaned, not liking how both his sidekick and his girlfriend were so stubborn. It was nice to have help, but not when they refused to take no for an answer.

"Oh, just let them go." Charlotte sighed, knowing that if she didn't butt in, they'd be there all day.

"But Drex will go crazy when he sees (y/n)." He pointed out, trying to make them see that he didn't want her to be around her first boyfriend again. The one who had left him in second place.

"I'm not afraid of him! I'm with you, for better or worse." She stepped up to his height, or as near as she could get and looked him straight in the eye. Even if he thought about other girls and didn't see the relationship the same way she did, she had pledged herself to him long ago and was certain that she'd never love anyone else as much as she loved him.

"All right, fine. If you're coming with me, you better put this on." Ray caved and passed the weapon he'd received from Schwoz to her. He was with her too, for richer or for poorer, he just needed to work on his problem of saying stupid things at the wrong time and letting her know that she was the only one.

"Here, you have it. I've got a superpower, you don't." She immediately passed it to Henry, who looked at it in wonder. It looked cool, but what the hell was it?

"What's this?" He asked, strapping it to his wrist as Schwoz came over to tell him about the nitty-gritty.

"It's a glove that shoots tranquilising darts. You can use it to take down Drex." He explained and. Henry pressed a button near his thumb that made the glove extend down his arm.

"Okay, how's it works?" He asked, feeling a little unsettled at having to use a weapon he'd never seen before against a psycho like Drex. 

"Just aim it at Ray's neck and pull the trigger," Schwoz told him and Ray reluctantly offered his neck for testing. The dart pinged off his skin as expected and he felt nothing more than a sharp sting for two seconds.

"If Ray wasn't indestructible, the dart would've stuck in his neck and delivered enough hippo-grade tranquiliser to knock him out cold and we could draw a moustache on his face," (y/n) joked, but they had a small problem.

"Where'd the dart go?" Henry asked, suddenly relating that he couldn't see the red feathers anywhere on the floor. But that was probably because it hadn't fallen on the floor.

"It's right here," Charlotte slurred woozily. She had the dart sticking out of her forehead and the tranquiliser was working fast in her bloodstream. She was getting very sleepy...

"Charlotte, that's dangerous. Give it back to Schwoz." Ray told her like she wasn't about to pass out, but she plucked the dart from her head anyway and passed it to the small genius.

"Hey...has the Man Cave always been covered in glitter?" She questioned, seeing nothing but a sparkling haze as her eyes drooped shut and her legs gave in. Well, that was her unconscious.

"Aw, Charlotte's so cute when she sleeps." (y/n) smiled, liking how peaceful the girl looked. She'd not be waking up for a while though and Ray had bigger things to worry about.

"Whatever. If you're both coming with me, you better pop a gumball in your mouths and fast." He told his sidekicks begrudgingly, not wanting to lead them into danger, but they necked one anyway. 

"How will you find Drex in the bakery district?" Schwoz asked his boss as the sidekicks chewed their gum, but it was easy to answer.

"There's only one place he'd go and I know that place," Ray growled at the thought of Drex and (y/n) on their first date together and all the cupcakes and crap they ate. It made him sick to his stomach, but also thankful that she'd chosen to give him a chance.

"Okay, let's go meet your first sidekick slash boyfriend. That you used to love." Henry grumbled to both of them, not liking the details but he could ignore them to get the job done. He sure knew how to rub it in. 

"Oh, come on, I was twenty and I wanted a boyfriend! It's not my fault he turned out to be pure evil." (y/n) complained, stepping up to wrap her arms around Ray so they could share a tube. It was funny; she wanted some space but she didn't want to leave him at all and that was her with Ray all over. She just wanted to know if he was all in like her and that what they had wasn't a meaningless fling.

"You wanna say it?" Ray asked Henry, who was standing adjacently in a sulk. Geez, it wasn't easy for him to see the ex either.

"Nope. Probably wouldn't say it as good as Drex would." He grumbled, feeling second best to a guy who was evil but also had it all apparently.

"Oh god, up the tube!" (y/n) shouted and sent them all flying off. She was the one who was supposed to be sulking about exes and jealousy and now, Ray had to deal with Henry too. Today would be double the fun.

~The Bakery~

Ray cautiously burst into the store, a large blaster in his hands. He was on edge and more nervous than usual. He could only predict that in the past nine years, Drex had been getting stronger and it worried him that he had too enthusiastic yet inexperienced sidekicks behind him. 

"Y'see anything?" He asked Henry and (y/n), who had followed just after him and took a look around the bakery. There wasn't much going on and there was no one around, just bread baking in the ovens.

"Yes. I see some cakes...some breads...various pies." Henry replied, listing off every baked good he could see on the shelves.

"You know what I meant!" Ray snapped, not liking Henry's cockiness. He just needed to know if there was any sign of Drex.

"There's no one here! All right?" (y/n) rolled her eyes, but she still had a tight grasp on her blaster. She had made up a rule; when Drex was about, get your gun out, 'cause you'd definitely need it. She had no idea what she'd do if they came face-to-face with the madman, but she didn't have to worry about that yet.

"Except that dude behind the counter, talking on his phone," Henry added, gesturing to the man, who was hunched over in the corner and chattering away on his cell. 

"Hey...that dude is Mr Schneider, the owner of this bakery." Ray scolded his young sidekick. He was starting to get a little cheesed off with how moody Henry was being and the kid's grumpy attitude was unusual for him.

"Oh, big whiff." Henry scoffed, not caring about some dumb baker and his pies.

"It is a big whiff!" The superhero hissed back, forcing (y/n) to stand in between them to keep the peace.

"Okay, okay. Let's just leave it, all right?" She told them both, making Henry back off just a bit, but he was still tetchy.

"Why are we here?" He questioned, not seeing why they had to stand around like idiots and wait for a guy who might or might not turn up. All this crap, just for a grudge.

"Look, I know Drex is coming here. (y/n) loves this bakery...and he still loves her." Ray revealed, growing sombre at the thought of his girlfriend's ex still being hung up about her. Drex was convinced that Ray had stolen (y/n) from him, but it wasn't like that at all. She had realised several months into the relationship that she saw nothing happening with Drex and she was in love with someone else. In the name of being honest, she had tried to come clean with him so they could split amicably, but let's just say that Drex didn't take the news that his boss had caught the eye of the young girl very well.

"How do you know that?" (y/n) asked him, wondering how on earth he'd know that Drex still held a candle for her. She had a few suspicions, mainly because he was a nutjob and had never taken the breakup well, but she'd never discussed it with her new love.

"Uh, 'cause Drex and I used to come—-" Ray mumbled and his words blurred together until they were incomprehensible. He didn't like this; Henry was jealous and (y/n) was walking back into Drex's trap. Everyone's first love always stays in a special place and Ray was worried that by some terrible miracle, he'd fall foul of Drex and his status as her first kiss, her first boyfriend, her first everything. Would she remember the thrill that her younger self did? Would she leave an old idiot like him for a younger, stronger man?

"What? Did, uh...you and Drex used to come here? Together?" Henry pressed Ray, who was feeling corned by all the questions. 

"Yeah, okay, yes. We came here a couple times." Ray sighed, hoping that Henry wouldn't be too hurt. They did stuff together too, it was just one of those things. Drex had been his friend for a while and friends go out together and eat pastries, no biggie.

"So like, twice?" Henry asked, thinking that twice in their entire friendship was...okay. He still wasn't happy with Ray having another sidekick, but as long as he knew it wasn't a regular thing, he'd be able to deal with it.

"Yeah, twice...twice a week," Ray added and the sheer frequency of their little bakery dates made Henry see red.

"What?" He gasped, feeling like all Ray was doing was lying to him. Twice a week for six months was way too often for his liking and it stung to know that their partnership was that close.

"Look, I'm not talkin' about this anymore!" Ray groaned, wanting the conversation to end there. Yes, Drex had been his sidekick, he couldn't deny that anymore, but he'd moved on and now, he had Henry Hart and (y/n) (y/l/n) as the only sidekicks he needed and wanted.

"Well, good." Henry pouted and Ray walked past him since they were both moody now. Honestly, they were like an old married couple.

"You two are terrible." (y/n) tutted, but all of sudden, Ray wasn't listening. He'd spotted something tantalisingly tasty on the counter and they were free...

"Oh, wow." He gasped softly, not believing that he had chanced upon some free nut clusters, also known as, Ray Manchester's favourite snack.

"What?" Henry asked when he heard the amazement in his boss's voice and wondered what had caught his attention now. 

"Nut clusters!" Ray squealed, making (y/n) groan. They were a menace and his kryptonite, well, his second kryptonite.

"I'm sorry...what?" Henry questioned, frowning at the odd name. Why was he getting so excited about a dumb nut cluster? They were in a bakery, of course, there would be sweet stuff around.

"It says, free nut clusters, just reach in hole." He read out the sign on the box, feeling his excitement build at the prospect of scoffing the lot.

"What's a nut cluster?" Henry asked, having never heard of anything like that, which was surprising considering how crazy Ray was for them. 

"Oh, man! Imagine if a cookie and brownie got married, fell into a pool full of caramel, and then just rolled around in a big old sack of nuts." Ray smiled and wiggled his fingers in preparation for snack time. It was nut cluster time and they had an appointment in his belly.

"Wait, wait! Did Drex know how much you loved nut clusters?" Henry suddenly had a troubling thought and (y/n) could see what he was driving at. Ray though, not so much.

"Aw, kid, you gotta stop bein' so jealous." He sighed and gently shook his head at Henry. The boy knew that coming from him, it meant zilch, nada, nothing, but luckily, he had a pretty young woman on hand, who was an expert at getting Ray to open his ears.

"Ray, he's not jealous. What if...what if this is a trap?" She asked softly, setting the idea going in his head. It was a possibility and she really didn't want to see him hurt or captured. She wanted him to stay with her, forever.

"Oh...okay." Ray took a second to mull the problem over and then promptly sneezed loudly. Oh god, now (y/n) remembered why she tried to ween him off them.

"Doofus, you're allergic to nuts, don't go near them!" She whined, not liking how he made himself miserable for days on end just for a few minutes of pleasure. She'd have to come up with a better alternative in the future if she wanted him to resist the caramel, chocolatey goodness. 

"But I don't care." He replied, making her fall into a moody silence. She just wanted to look out for him, but he wouldn't listen. 'Maybe he'd listen to Henry's hot mom.' She thought bitterly, feeling like, for some reason, she was losing him. She'd seen this happen so many times with his flings and fancies, a brief interest and then the discarding. However, she'd always thought that with her, he was different and he genuinely wanted things to work. She wanted to be his one.

"Wait, no, no, no! What if it's a trap?!" Henry repeated his and (y/n)'s point, feeling extremely worried that they were walking themselves into crisis. 

"Oh, okay...we'll each just get one nut cluster." Ray compromised, thinking that a little nibble couldn't hurt.

"No, no nut clusters for anyone. Don't put your hand in the—-" (y/n) begged him, but Ray was like a child with a candy jar, he just couldn't help but reach in. As soon as he had his wrist through the space, a mechanism clamped around his hand, making him squirm to get free. Oh, shit.

"Okay, what just happened?" Henry asked him, seeing him struggle against the box. His panic was taking off and he got the picture that they were in trouble.

"I dunno...I can't pull my hand out. That's weird." He chuckled nervously, making (y/n) move over to see if she could help loosen the lock.

"Why can't you just leave well alone when I tell you to?" She grumbled at him and began to poke around the box. She wrapped her fingers around his wrist and tried to yank him out, but it was no good. He was well and truly struck. It was time to try a hairpin, but she wasn't sure that it would work either. Drex wouldn't be fooled by something so simple and that freaked her out.

"I told you it could be a trap." Henry groaned, shaking his head and tutting at his boss. Just once, he wished that he had listened. He and (y/n) weren't doing it to be stick-in-the-muds, they just saw the danger and wanted to stay away.

"It's probably just broken. Y'know, defective." Ray responded, believing that they were being overly cautious and dramatic. He was Captain Man, he knew what he was doing. Probably.

"Your brain is defective, I can't pick the lock." The young woman sighed and gave up trying to trick the lock into springing open. She was beat and Ray was still in schtuck.

"Here, let's try a peanut butter one." Ray was hurt by her annoyance with him no decided that a chocolate nut thing would heal the pain. Her love would be better, but he didn't want to upset her anymore.

"No, don't put your other hand—" Henry was too late to warm him and predictably, the box locked Ray's other hand parallel to his other. 

"Man, both these holes are defective." He shrugged, trying to keep his cool, although things were starting to look more and more trap-like.

"It's a trap!" Henry exclaimed as he and (y/n) rubbed their temples in frustration. Nothing ever went right for them, not when Ray's childish side was running the show.

"Who for?!" He asked in return, not seeing the bigger picture. He was in denial and it showed.

"Oh, I dunno...you? Us? Any idiot who's dumb enough to stick their hands in those holes?!" (y/n) retorted, her voice laced with sarcasm. 

"Well, I'm sorry, sweetness. Henry, go tell Mr Schneider to call a handyman before (y/n) bites my head off." Ray instructed his younger sidekick. He didn't know why she was angry with him, but he thought it was a bit unfair to pin the blame solely on him. The nut clusters were partially to blame.

"'Kay. Hey...Mr Schneider, can you call a handyman? 'Cause my friend's girlfriend is gonna kill him—ah! Ahhhh! Ah!" Henry did as he was told and put a friendly hand on the baker's shoulder, but to his horror, his head wobbled and fell from his shoulders. The boy jumped back in shock and his terrified screams drew the attention of the bickering couple. 

"His head just fell off of his body!" Henry shrieked at them and began to hyperventilate as he thought about how he'd be spending the rest of his life in jail for decapitating an innocent baker.

"Calm down! Calm down! Obviously, that's probably not the real Mr Schneider." Ray theorised, keeping his sidekick calm as he thought about what to do. This was bad, really bad. If that was a dummy, then that meant...

"Ray, I'm scared...something's wrong." (y/n) whimpered, pushing aside her insecurity so she could be honest with him. Her gut was right, the situation was about to go from bad to worse. The door opened and in walked a man with blonde hair, dark clothes, a black bandage tied across his forehead and an evil smirk on his face. Drex.

"You," Ray growled and tried to shift his shoulder in front of (y/n) so he could shield her from that monster, but it was a bit tricky when both of his hands were locked up.

"You." Drex snarled in return and glared at Ray as he tried to hide his girl away. She had just gotten distracted, that's all. She was his, she loved him and if he couldn't have her, then no one could, especially not Captain Man.

"Who?" Henry looked so confused, but Ray was too busy trying to get free to answer any questions. Like this, he was useless and his darling girl and faithful sidekick were in serious danger.

"Drex." (y/n) swallowed and tried to keep her face free from fear. She was terrified of him, even with her newfound confidence and superpower. She still remembered how rough his hands were when he threatened her into submission and it had left her so quiet for so many years. She didn't want to go back to that or see Henry hurt.

"There's my little cupcake, still sweet for me. And poor Ray, did you want a nut cluster?" His smooth, sinister voice made her shiver and she clenched her fists to stop them shaking when he started to walk closer.

"Don't talk to her! And you know I did...Tease." Ray glared at his enemy, hating how he was deliberately making moves on his girl more than any mockery that was pushed his way. He'd die before he lost her, he couldn't bear to live a loveless life without her again.

"Why shouldn't I talk to my girl? After all, I loved her first and she was such a good little thing for me. My cupcake." Drex chuckled and stepped towards the stony-faced woman as Henry circled around him. (y/n) watched his every move and Ray jerked against his restraints as his girlfriend was subjected to the leering gaze of Drex. No man could have her, she was his, he'd waited too long finally have her in his bed at night, calling out his name. One finger on her blemish-free skin and there would be hell to pay.

"Henry, use the thing!" (y/n) directed the young boy and he nodded from behind Drex. 

"Okay, that's it, jerk! On the ground, right now!" Henry ordered the criminal, pointing the tranquilliser glove directly at the man's neck. It was primed and ready for firing, but Drex was uncaring. Truly, he couldn't be happier. He had his perfect girl metres away from him, quivering in his presence, the man who took her away from him rendered helpless and an inexperienced boy left to stand alone.

"Mmmm, what a nice pie. Share a slice with me?" Drex offered him, but he was being anything but kind. This was one of his mind games.

"Maybe I want my own slice." Henry shrugged, not trusting the man for a moment. 

"Kid, stay away from him," Ray warned the boy, fearing for his safety as Drex waited for Henry's first move. He might be calm now, but the man was a monster and Henry was so unaware of what he was facing.

"Why? We gotta take this guy in." Henry replied, keeping his disgusted expression. But then, something unexpected happened.

"Don't move! This is a robbery! Now, I want everybody to—ah, geez." Two robbers kicked the door open and stormed into the bakery, but they were stopped in their tracks by the sight of three superheroes already embroiled in a fight.

"It's Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger." One of the robbers whispered to his friend and they both gulped at the sight of the heroes catching them red-handed.

"Both of you, on the ground!" (y/n) instructed the men sharply and pointed her blaster at them confidently as she tried to move closer to Henry. But Drex wouldn't have her being so brave, he wanted her to fall into line like she had done nine years ago when she idolised him. 

"Shush, cupcake. I don't want to hear anything from your honey lips." His voice was supposed to be soft, but it held a darkness that made her falter. That was how he kept his control, cruelty disguised as kindness. Ray tugged his hands in the box at the reference to what her kisses tasted like and it enraged him to know that Drex was up to his old tricks. He didn't deserve to know her so intimately, she deserved the softest treatment, not this pig-headed bully.

"Hello, idiots. Would either of you morons like to share my pie?" Drex asked the two thieves, who weren't too happy about being insulted, but they'd picked the wrong villain to mess with.

"I don't like your attitude!" The thief in a beanie snarled at Drex, who was scared about some dumbass who was an amateur at the art he had honed.

"Well then...do something." Drex dared them to make a move and the beanie man threw a strong punch at his face. Henry and (y/n) flinched at the violent impact and were disturbed to see how it barely phased Drex. What would knock most men out was like a small tickle to him and he then calmly proceeded to dish out their punishment. Without dropping his pie, the psycho brutally kicked the men to the floor, ending their burglary before it had even begun.

"Scary. I almost dropped my pie." He joked psychotically, turning to face the three spooked superheroes. He was insane and he was enjoying how he was unsettling them.

"Now, where were we? Ah, yes. You and I were about to fight." Drex smirked at Henry, who looked to (y/n) with a pale face. She didn't want him to be kicked so harshly and to be honest, neither did he.

"Good...I just need to use the restroom first." Henry lied, trying to buy himself a few minutes to come up with a plan. Without Ray, he wasn't sure if he and (y/n) would survive. His silence and anxiousness told the evil asshole that the kid would be easy to break and if he was broken, (y/n) would be his for the taking. 

"So, Captain Man, I hear that you've been messing around with my girl." Drex seethed, looking between the couple and noticing the way (y/n) instinctively returned to his side when she was frightened. Of course, Ray had stolen her away from him and now, he was going to pay.

"She's my girl now. She doesn't want you." Ray glowered at him and (y/n) stood proudly next to his side. It was true, she hadn't even thought about Drex for so many years and there was only one man she wanted now and he was the one defending her honour.

"Oh, really? She wants you? The guy who makes her scrub floors and live in fear? You've never been able to stick to one girl, she's just another plaything for you." Drex accused, reading the insecurities in the relationship like an open book. Even after ten years apart, he still knew Ray's ways and the role (y/n) had in the Man Cave. Ray thought that he was holding her back and she thought he would ultimately lose interest in her; there was trust but also doubt, which was a dangerous combination when it was being provoked by the man who wanted to see the relationship burn.

"I love her and only her. I...I just want her to be happy." Ray growled back, staring at Drex like a cornered animal. His heart was open and every insult was calculated to sting where he was most vulnerable. He wasn't the playboy everyone thought he was, all his life he had been waiting for one woman to be the one and the moment he had her, the frivolous dates stopped. He didn't want anyone else, just her, but he was still aware that because of him, she lived a challenging life. He was sure that whilst no one would love her as he did, some other guy could give her a peaceful life, where no villains would threaten her in a bakery.

"And that's what she'd be with me. She'd never get hurt or upset, she'd be loved. More than you ever could." Drex hissed, preying closer and closer on Ray in his cruel torture. Why fight when you can mentally wreck your opponent into giving up? Not that they were, one girl wasn't going to be trampled over and lectured to about how happy she was with the man she chose.

"No." She told Drex coldly and cocked the blaster that was still being pointed at him. Who was he to tell her who could give her a good life? She wasn't a prize to be won and was more than happy in the life she lived. She was a superhero's girlfriend, for god's sake!

"Be quiet, (y/n). I'm talking." Drex snapped at her, not used to hearing her backchat. He'd have to sort out that problem after this was finished.

"That's funny, 'cause so am I, so how about you listen to me? I don't care if I scrub floors or fix machines and have to fight assholes like you, because I have a damn good life. I have great friends and a great boyfriend. Even if he looks at hot moms or supermodels and leaves me behind, I know he's the only one for me, not you. So, get on the ground before I shoot your ass." She glared at him and stepped forward so the blaster was less than a metre away from his chest. 

Ray couldn't believe how courageous she was or how happy she was living with him. It broke his heart to learn that she was still intimidated by the mistakes he'd made in his past and he was cursing his younger self for putting her through so much heartache just so he could be selfish. He wanted to get down on his knees and tell her until his words dried up that he would never even think about anyone else. His stupid words had left her unsure of his love for her and he felt like he'd broken his promise. His girl was hurt and it was thanks to him.

"So, Captain Man, before I spank your boyish sidekick and put MY girl in her place...some pie?" Drex's rage was reaching the surface and seeing a formally compliant girl so defiant made him see red.

"Nobody wants your filthy pie," Ray growled, hating what he was being put through. God, he just wanted to break free and throttle Drex for even thinking he could go near (y/n) again. He wouldn't allow it, not after how far she'd come from the unassertive girl he'd abandoned. 

"You're done, Drex," Henry told the criminal and it was obvious that he was vastly underestimating the extent to which Drex would go. He wouldn't stop just because he was a boy, in fact, it just made him easier to beat.

"Careful, kid." (y/n) warned him, not liking how close Henry was getting to Drex. 

"Why?! I'm the one with the cool thing on my wrist." Henry exclaimed. God, he just wanted to kick some ass. Surely, it couldn't be that bad, his famous last words. Drex took advantage of Henry's brief distraction and yanked the tranquillising glove from Henry's hand. Oh shit, that was Henry rendered useless.

"That's why." (y/n) sighed, feeling the blood drain away from her face as Henry stood there without a weapon.

"Fetch, boy!" Drex taunted Henry and threw the glove out of the door so Henry would have to run and retrieve it. It was humiliating, but that was Drex all over. Knowing that he needed the tranquilliser more than anything, Henry sprinted to get it from the bushes outside, leaving Ray and (y/n) alone with their former friend.

"You will show me respect!" Henry hissed at Drex as he stomped past, but the man didn't give a shit. He just fake-yawned and slammed the door shut.

"Now, old friend...I have a gift for you. And for my cupcake. She's always loved the little gifts I get her." Drex growled and Ray and (y/n) stepped in front of her boyfriend protectively. The psychotic guy leaned past her and reached into a cupboard so he could bring out a box, helmet thing.

"What is that? Some kind of crazy box with a wide-hose bottom?" Ray asked as he continued to wriggle his hands in the holes. He'd had enough of boxes, thank you.

"Whatever it is, we don't want your gifts, Drex." (y/n) stated in a cold voice, but he just smirked at her. She was so cute thinking that she stood a chance.

"You'll take whatever I give you, cupcake." Drex bellowed in her face and swiftly jabbed her in the neck before she could blink. (y/n) stumbled back and hissed at the sharp prick she felt in her neck.

"What the fuck have you done to me?—-" She slurred and suddenly, her mind felt woozy and the room was spinning. Her fingers ran down her throat until they came to a small metal needle sticking out her skin and she yanked it out. She held it up to the light and Ray's temper exploded when her legs turned to jelly and gave in.

"What did you do to her, Drex?!" The superhero yelled in pure rage as his girl slumped to the floor and battled to keep her eyes open. She wanted her legs to move but they weren't listening, all she could do was mumble incoherently.

"Good girls stay quiet and that hypnotic sedative will make her go to sleep for me." Drex petted her hair "lovingly" and (y/n) did her best to jerk away from his touch. She had to stay awake, she just had to.

"Drex, I swear, if you hurt her..." Ray warned him in a dangerously calm voice, but everyone could hear his anger. His muscles were tense and if his hands were free, he'd be raining down hundreds of punches to Drex's face for even thinking that (y/n) would ever be forced to love him.

"M'okay, Ray. Just gotta heal--need to heal..." (y/n) panted, willing herself to sober up quickly. Her toes felt fuzzy and she could almost wiggle them, but she was a long way off getting back on her feet.

"Why don't I show you what this does?" Drex nodded his head to the box, helmet thing that was still in his hands and raised it over his head so he could slot it onto Ray's, who wasn't too keen on the light's being turned out.

"No. D-D-Drex! Don't do it, Drex! No, I mean it!" Ray panicked and bent down as far as he could to try and avoid the box being locked onto his head. Henry was thumping his fist against the glass of the door, but he couldn't get in. The door was locked and (y/n) was out of action, leaving Ray defenceless.

"Leave him, Drex...M'not gonna let you hurt him..." (y/n) mumbled slowly, trying to get her fingers to twitch to life around her blaster. God, this was like torture, she could see and hear everything, but her paralysis meant that she was useless.

"Leave him alone!" Henry's muffled voice could faintly be heard in the shop, but there was nothing that they could do to help their leader. Drex put the box over Ray's head and flicked a switch on the back, illuminating it and telling him that Captain Man was now good for nothing.

"Uh, Drex? What just happened, Drex?" Ray asked from inside his new prison and he had to rely on his hearing alone. 

"Drex, let me in!" Henry demanded, whacking his hands on the glass pane as he watched on helplessly. (y/n) was now able to slightly flex her ankles up and down and her fingers were starting to creak into life, but it wasn't enough.

"Hang on, we have a customer." The villain smirked and dashed over to unlock the door. He didn't care if Henry could move around the shop now, Ray couldn't help him, neither could Miss Danger, perfect.

"Captain Man! Captain Man! What is—what is this? Are you okay?!" Henry ran to his boss's side and his eyes grew in fear when he saw (y/n) almost lifeless on the floor and Ray totally blind.

"Is (y/n) okay, kid? Where is she?" Ray ignored the questions about himself and focused on his girl instead. The last time he'd seen, she was on the floor with Drex leaning over her and now he was panicking for his sidekicks' safety.

"I'm still here, doofus. And good news, I can move my hands and neck now. How about you?" She replied for herself, her voice much clearer now the drug was being combated by her super-regeneration. Just a few more minutes, that's all she needed and then she'd be back in action.

"I can't see, sweet girl! Henry, help me get this thing off my head!" Ray instructed his sidekick, feeling relieved that she was okay and on the mend. It meant that he could focus on his problem, not being able to move his hands or see a damn thing.

"Stop smirking, you prick." (y/n) lolled her head in Drex's direction and glared at him whilst Henry tugged and pulled at the box. She hated how smug he looked and wobbled her leg a bit to try and get it to move. Her weak limb just flopped over the other one and she grumbled at how useless she felt. 

"Kid? Kid, what's happening?" Ray asked when he felt Henry let go. The boy had seen Drex's cocky face and knew that the box wouldn't be coming off soon, so he might as well test out the glove on him. A taste of his own medicine, that's what he needed.

"Henry, watch it, he's sneaky!" (y/n) warned him and gasped when Henry fired a dart at Drex, only for the criminal to pick up the pie and deflect the tranquilliser with the metal dish. Sneaky indeed. Henry fired two more shots, both blocked on each try and Henry gulped when he pressed the trigger again and was met with a beep. He was out of ammo.

"So...are things going well?" Ray asked his sidekicks, who panicked as Drex stepped forward and squared up to Henry. 'Come on legs, I need you to work!' (y/n) thought in worry as she tried to get her torso and hips to wake up. 

"Uh, no not really. (y/n)'s still floppy." Henry replied shakily as he backed away from Drex and the woman could only watch in terror as the boy tried to keep away from harm.

"You need to get out of here!" She advised him, seeing that with no one to help him, Henry was at a serious disadvantage and at risk of being beaten to a pulp.

"Agreed." He gulped and quickly shuffled towards the door. The couple would be fine, hopefully. Once (y/n) got her legs back then they could think of a plan, but for now, Henry needed to get to safety.

"Don't worry about us! Get out of here!" Ray shouted, agreeing with his girl that there was nothing Henry could do here to help. It was a mistake to bring him along, not that it was worth complaining about now.

"That's an order!" (y/n) insisted, not liking that how he was still being chased around the store by the deranged criminal. 

"I'm completely on board!" Henry answered, shuffling around a table as a crowd gathered outside the bakery. Adults and children alike were marvelling at the site of their favourite superheroes in action, but they were unknowingly providing a stage for Drex to humiliate them.

"Hey! What's going on in there?!" A cop banged on the door and peered into the store when he and his patterned passed and spotted the ruckus going on. 

"Hahaha, woo! Hey, Drex, looks like you're going back to jail." Henry chuckled in the criminal's face and pointed to the police officers outside the building. It was nice to have backup, but this was the Swellview Police and they were notoriously crap.

"Oh, man! It's Drex!" They cried and legged it when the villain turned around and scowled at them. One look, that's all it took and they were running for their lives, leaving Henry alone again.

"Uh...I think you're supposed to follow those cops." The boy awkwardly told his enemy, who was thoroughly amused by the situation. The police were terrified of him, meaning they wouldn't be a problem.

"Get him, Kid Danger!" A young boy yelled from outside and his enthusiasm set off the crowd's cheers. They thought that Kid Danger could beat anyone, but they didn't know Drex.

"You heard 'em. Get me." Drex dared Henry, who tried the tranquillising glove one more time before harshly discarding it when he knew it was futile. It was time to get physical.

Henry stormed forward and threw two punches at Drex, who blocked them instantly. He was fast and experienced, so Henry switched tactics and tried to send a kick to his stomach, but his foot was grabbed by Drex and shoved back. As Ray struggled and (y/n) rolled around to get on her feet, Drex grabbed Henry's weaker body and forced him into a large cooking vat. 

"Kid Danger!" (y/n) gasped as she tried to use the counter to pull herself up, but her muscles were still unresponsive when she willed them to start working, so it was to Ray to bring the action. He grunted and strained, pulling with all his might until his superhero strength was enough to yank the box from where it was nailed to the counter.

"Miss Danger! Where are you?!" He shouted, spinning wildly around as he tried to search for his girl and a tap on his leg gave him an answer.

"Down here. I'm still floppy, but it's getting better." She replied, rolling her shoulders to loosen them up. Okay, she was nearly back to normal and it was agonising to wait and do nothing. How strong was this sedative?

"Where's Kid Danger?" He asked next, stumbling down her body clumsily as he tried to not do her any more damage by treading on her arms or anything. Geez, you don't miss your sight until you don't have it.

"I'm afraid he's a little battered and bruised right now." Drex quipped, confusing Ray with idiomatic phrasing. He really didn't need any hidden meanings right now.

"What does that mean?! Are you being literal or is that wordplay?!" He questioned, taking a few baby steps to see if he was walking into the room and not into a wall.

"He's in a cake batter vat thing." (y/n) groaned as she grappled herself onto the counter and hauled herself up. The sudden movement made her head spin again, but she was determined to stay up, even if it meant she was practically half-laid on the surface.

"Drex? Where are you, Drex?!" Ray growled at the information and bashed his boxed hands against a table. Whether he was trying to get them free or taking a stab in the dark in the hopes of whacking Drex was anyone's guess, but all it resulted in was Ray cracking a chuck of table off. Not his best idea ever.

"Well, you certainly showed that table." Drex hissed, making Ray panic when he realised that the map he had of the room in his head was getting harder to focus on. Had the floor always been this big and how many tables were there again? Was the counter in front or behind him?

"Kid? Kid Danger?" Ray called out for Henry, but his voice was muffled by all the gooey batter in his face and it left Ray open to Drex's tricks.

"Oh no, Kid Danger just ran out the door." He lied and opened it so he could fool Ray into going outside. 

"Hang on, kid, I'm comin'!" He cried as (y/n) blanched at how easily he was trusting Drex's word. She stuttered in shock as she watched him crash through the tables and into a wall. It was painful to see as well as painful to endure.

"Ow! That's not right. Uh, where's the exit? Is this the exit?" He rambled as he drunkenly headed towards the door. Oh shit, no, no, no!

"Ray, don't listen to him! Kid Danger's right here—oh, god!" (y/n)'s eyes widened as Drex slammed the door shut and locked them in with no Captain Man, no police and a gang of spectators with their phones out.

"Hello? Oh god, I'm so sticky! I need some paper towels. Paper towels?" Henry suddenly emerged from the cakey darkness and (y/n) gulped when she saw how disoriented he was. His entire upper body was caked in a thick, vanilla cement and it clung to him in a disgusting embrace. Things weren't all about the batter though, because now that he had literally shoved Ray away, Drex was able to make his dastardly move on Henry.

"Put him down, Drex!" (y/n) snarled as she pulled herself away from the counter and tried to reach out and help the poor boy, but her knees gave in again just when she needed them. Damn this drug, even with her healing, it was taking a good fifteen minutes to get it out of her bloodstream, but she didn't have the time to wait.

"No, I don't think I will, cupcake," Drex smirked and seized the young superhero by his collar and tunic so he could lift his body and sit down on a vacant chair. With Henry's body laid across his lap, the humiliation could begin.

"Spanky, Spanky, spank your butt, doo-dah, doo-dah. Spanky, spanky, spank your butt, oh dah doo dah day!" Henry was close to tears as he watched the kids pull out their phones and laugh at him. It didn't hurt, not even close, but the jeers and heartless giggles were the cruellest things he'd ever had to go through. 

"He's just a kid, leave him alone! Hurt me, just don't hurt him!" (y/n) urged her loathed ex-boyfriend, not being able to bear seeing the children and their parents enjoy Henry's pain. Sometimes she forgot how unkind people could be and that's what Drex always played on. The world would never be as kind to her as she was to it, allowing him to exploit its harshness. 

"Cupcake, I've heard and observed your little superpower, another one of Captain Man's tricks. You can't get hurt, well, not yet. I'll see to you later." He jibed at her, his face twisting into a sneer at the thought of the girl who used to be his spending her life with the man he had sworn to kill. Nine years in jail had given him a lot of time to think; all those times he saw Ray eat with (y/n), work with (y/n), laugh with (y/n), that was him drawing her away. His plan all along, steal his girl because that's what Captain Man does, but not again.

"You bastard..." She growled and crawled along the floor in their direction, hoping to do something, anything. This was working out rather well for Drex. Ray was neutralised and no longer his concern; Kid Danger's spirit was seconds away from being broken and (y/n)? She was fiery and defiant, something that had infected her from too much time spent in the Man Cave, but she'd learn. Drex was determined to make her his perfect little doll again and Ray Manchester wouldn't stop him.

How were they gonna get out of this one?

[pocket-sized-nightmare]

my first entry for @mcyt-yuri-week!

prompt: break

ship: pearl/gem (hermitcraft)

Tap, thud, click. Tap, thud, click. Tap, thud, click. 

The soft noise of blocks falling into place echoes in Gem’s elven ears. She loves almost everything about building, but the satisfying sound of the blocks in her hands has to be her favorite part. It forms a beat that calms the racing thoughts in her head into a steady rhythm. She quietly hums along to it as she builds.

Tap, thud, click. Tap, thud, click.

Gem hasn’t stopped to check her progress in ages. She’s so absorbed in her work that she barely even notices she’s doing it anymore. Of course, this isn’t an uncommon occurrence for her. When she slips into a hyperfocus state, she can go through a whole shulker’s worth of materials without realizing she’s running low on them. The feeling of bouncing between blocks and crafting things with her hands makes her feel productive and connected in a way that she never feels while doing anything else. It doesn’t matter that she’s a little tired or that she hasn’t eaten in a while – it feels like she could keep at her task forever.

Tap. Thud. Click. Tap–

“Gem, love, what are you doing?” Pearl’s voice echoes from below the tower.

“Building,” Gem says, brushing the dirt off her hands.

“All this?” Pearl asks in amazement. “That’s twice as much as you had yesterday.”

“I’ve been focused!” Gem checks her inventory. “Oh, wow, I went through two shulker boxes.”

“Two? Gem, how long have you been working?”

“I don’t know. I kind of lost track.” Gem sits down on the wall and dangles her feet over the edge. “I started a little after lunch, so not too long ago.”

“Not too long?” Pearl shakes her head in amazement, then flutters her moth wings to fly up and sit down next to her. “Gem, look up.”

Gem does. To her surprise, the mid-day sunlight has been replaced with the moon and stars. “Oh. Wow. It’s night.”

“You honestly didn’t notice?” Pearl laughs. “Gem, it’s been hours. No one’s seen you all day!”

Gem sighs, then joins Pearl’s laughter. “Okay. I just need to finish this one thing, and then I’ll come down–”

She’s interrupted by her stomach growling loudly. Right – she skipped dinner. She blinks and yawns. “Yeah, no, you’re right.”

“I thought so.” Pearl wraps her arms around Gem and flutters down from the wall, managing to land them both (somewhat) gracefully on the grass. Gem blushes. Pearl is too proud of herself to notice. “Oh, hey, I’m getting better at that!”

Gem stays in Pearl’s embrace for just a little too long, both of them refusing to let go of the other. Pearl finally lets go and starts down the path back to her alien base, dragging Gem behind her. “Alright, let’s get you some food.”

“Food sounds good,” Gem concedes as she’s led away from her project and into Pearl’s kitchen.

As Gem sits down, Pearl begins to gather ingredients from her (impeccably organized) kitchen cabinets. “Do you want mushroom soup? I went mushroom picking the other day, and I think I found some really good ones. I know it’s silly to get excited over mushrooms, but-”

“Are you kidding? A great mushroom is a treasure.”

“I knew you’d get it.” Pearl smiles as she finds the mushrooms at the back of a cabinet. It feels strange to say, but Pearl feels like she and Gem have the same kind of brain. They have the same sort of humor and energy. It’s like they just fit together, like puzzle pieces, or like how Gem fits perfectly beneath Pearl’s wing when they sit next to each other and watch the stars. Like how Pearl’s hand feels just right in Gem’s hand when they’re leading each other to the next adventure or picnic they’ve set up. Like how even their names fit with one another: Pearl and Gem. They’re a treasure chest together.

Pearl returns to the table a moment later with two bowls of warm soup and two tiny loaves of bread. “There you go.”

Gem doesn’t realize how hungry she is until she takes a first bite of the bread and proceeds to inhale it. Pearl bursts out laughing as Gem blushes to the tips of her deerlike ears. “Gem, oh my goodness, you were hungry. Have some soup, too.” 

Pearl takes a sip of her own soup, and Gem follows suit. Gem’s eyes widen. “This is so good.”

“We’re not called the Soup Group for nothing!” Pearl grins.

They sit and talk for a few more minutes as they finish their (very late) dinner, both trying to hide the pink blush in their cheeks. Eventually, Pearl decides it’s far too late to send Gem home – she’ll either get killed by a horde of mobs or just fall asleep on the grass halfway there. “No, I’m serious. Did I tell you why I found you in the first place? I got shot out of the sky by a skeleton.”

“You’re kidding!” Gem yawns. “Oh, that’s the worst. I hate when skeletons sneak up on you.”

“Yeah. I was fine, though. Just a little annoying.” Pearl sits down on her bed. Gem lays a sleeping bag out on Pearl’s floor, then sits down next to her.

As Pearl continues her story, Gem flops over and lies down on Pearl’s bed. “I’m just glad skeletons can’t use tipped arrows,” Pearl jokes. “I think I’d probably die once every two minutes-”

A soft snore from Gem interrupts her – she’s already fast asleep.

Pearl laughs quietly. “Told you so, Gem.”

She gently tucks Gem into bed, then lies down next to her. Gem rolls over and presses herself up against Pearl, not once waking up. This time, it’s Pearl’s turn to blush.

Pearl whispers a soft “good night” to Gem, then wraps an arm around her and drapes her wings over them both like a delicate blanket as she drifts off to sleep.

They’re still cuddling when they wake up the next morning.

[felice-jaganshi]

His Pet

Chapter 16 (Final chapter!)

(At least until the sequel)

(CW: Consensual cannibalism)

 

"I bet you could play Doom on vox's screen. Heh, that'd be a funny prank. Especially if he turns it off right away, you could say something like 'wow, you can't even run the most basic of code? How pathetic’." She smiled mischievously, they had gone out on another walk. Heading towards cannibal town to meet with Rosie. She had invited them, saying she had a very special treat for him, and to bring Zariah along.

“What an inspiring idea my dear, I'll have to put it into practice someday… but tell me, what is this ‘Doom’ you speak of, some television show?” He gave a little head tilt, and she laughed before going into a whole explanation on the video game and why the joke was funny. Though, he didn't truly seem that interested in what she was saying, just enjoying the energy with which it was being said.

 

They arrived at Rosie's and Susan immediately started giving Alastor trouble, wanting to pick a bit of a fight about some nonsense or another. 

Meanwhile, Zariah went with Rosie back into her back room to prepare Alastor's present that the two had schemed on.

 

Rosie eventually came back out and waved to Susan who immediately stopped giving Alastor shit when she did, walking away. Her distraction was done.

Alastor made his way into Rosie's parlor with a slight grumble, “Ornery old bitch needs to be stuffed in a box and thrown down the fucking river.” His smile never faltered. Rosie couldn't help but laugh at that.

“Oh Al, this time she was just being a distraction so you wouldn't ruin the surprise Zariah had planned for you. She needed my help with it, since I'm the only one who would agree to her crazy idea.”

 

This caught his attention, “Oh? What kind of crazy idea?” He looked around, “Where is she?”

The door to the back room opened and Zariah came out holding something large and oddly shaped, wrapped in heavy satin with a bow around the middle.

“Right here Al! Don't worry, I didn't go far. I just wanted to surprise you, and Rosie's the only one you'd leave me alone with outside the hotel.” She set down the present on the table.

He tilted his head, “Oh? And what kind of gift is this, my dear?” He looked it over before pulling at one end of the bow to unravel it. “And what is this present in exchange for? Your rescue from that moth, I assume?” 

“Sorta, there's a second present waiting back in my room too. But that's a ‘just because’ present.” He pulled back the cloth and his eyes went wide.

 

“ Darling… what am I looking at? ” He sounded… confused. Unsure if he should be angry or elated.

“My wings grew back! And I heard you and Rosie talk the other day how angel flesh was so much tastier than any sinner you ever had. So… I wanted to give my wings to you!” She sounded so cheerful and excited. “You like them right? I know it's not a ‘prime cut’ or whatever the word is. But it's part of me I can happily live without, and there's a good chance they'll grow back again! I just had to promise Rosie if they do grow back again, she gets one of them next time too.”

 

Alastor ran a hand through the feathers, looking troubled by this before turning to look at the two women he loved most in all of hell. “I… you mutilated yourself for me? I'd never have asked this of you.”

Zariah's smile softened, “I know… but I wanted to do this for you. Give you a special part of myself.” 

 

Rosie sighed at this, “it's a truly romantic gesture, Alastor. And don't worry, it was completely her idea, and I was able to remove them without any further damage done. I was extra careful with our little angel.” She pet Zariah's head and she purred at the touch, tails swishing around happily.

“Rosie… I… I'm conflicted. I'm certainly excited about such a wonderful gift… but I also feel betrayed that you'd hurt her, even with her permission, behind my back.” 

 

“Oh Alastor… I'm sorry, I didn't think about it like that. But, it's her body, and her choice. Isn't it?”

“Perhaps, but she gave me possession of her soul in exchange for being her protector and caretaker. I have an obligation to protect her even from her own foolishness.” He held out a hand to Zariah, and she gave Rosie a tight hug before going to take his hand. He pulled her to his chest and kissed the top of her head.

 

“Al, if she didn't help, I still would have tried to do it on my own. Don't be cross with her.” She nuzzled into his chest, hoping acting cute would spare Rosie any wrath from him. He placed a hand on the back of her neck in a loose grip.

“Love, you'd really disobey me like that?”

“If it was for your benefit, absolutely. You have no clue the depth of my devotion to you.” She looked up at him with a determined light in her eyes. It almost scared him a little. He sighed in defeat.

 

“Well, I suppose we better cook these wings up while they're still fresh. Rosie, will you share these with me? That way what Zariah owes you is paid and she won't have to cut any more off.”

 

“Well, I certainly won't say no to that. How would you like them cooked up?” She smiled, glad he had calmed down. She'd hate to have to fight him, he was like a brother to her.

“ Barbecue. ” He said confidently, he knew they'd taste wonderful barbecued. 

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_

And that's the end for now! The sequel is almost done with its first draft as well. It will be darker and have more drama than this one did though. So get hype! Love you all!

[kadegravy]

Pastor X reader part 4. Y/N drinks with husk. Wowza.

The title says it all, hoes.

TW: YN being a sad bitch, Al being an ass, just val

You were sad, very sad, so tired of Al. You were sitting at Husk's bar. He poured you vodka, you sigh, "down the hatch," you pour it all down your throat. It burns, "fuck." Youd only drink terrible 'voodoo ranger' beer at a friend's house.

"Ya like it?" Husk adds, you were growing on him.

"Eh. The only booze I've drunk is some shitty beer at a friend's place at age 14." I smirk

"Wow... that's an interesting booze story. That must have been fun..?"

"Not really. I was the youngest, and smallest but somehow a heavy weight?"

"Really? Damn. Thats... commendable."

"I was kinda made to drink by a friend's friend. She was a bitch."

Husk chuckles, "huh? Seems like you definitely had experiences growing up?"

You shrug. You keep drinking, thinking over your life. You didn't really regret that much... maybe that one time you let your dads cats escape and they disappeared, poor Clyde.

Maybe you should have picked better friends... Maybe not druggies, criminals, all the bad kids. Fuck, your going for a walk. You excuse yourself from the bar and step out of the hotel.

The hellish air smells like... cum and regrets.. ew... You keep walking. You see some... distasteful things... there is an overlord... Valentino... is that the one Angel always hates on? Fuck. The demon is a moth, with pimp attire. Run bitch, run. He sees you. Damn, run faster. Your shoe falls off, keep running, hoe.

He catches up to you, grabs your shoulder.

He has a Spanish accent, "Oh mi amor, what's your name?"

"It's Y/n." You say, for once praying Al would find you.

"Your Angel's little friend, hm? We could use you at the studio."

"No thanks.." You try to dash off.

He grabs you. You scream. Alastor travels through the radio and finds you.

"Oh deer, are you alright?" Al asks.

"Val... Valentino's here.."

Al rubs your head, "it'll be okay, my dear."

He starts attacking Val using his radio waves, keeping Val far enough for me to escape.

You return to the Hazbin Hotel, so tired you almost fall asleep. Angel-Dust sees you. Your laying on the couch, back scrunched up.

"Wake up tits! Al and Val got into a fight! Alastor fucking won!"

"Oh. Cool, he won? The fight was kinda over me... Val saw me, tried to make me work for him." I frown.

"Oh. Really, you had TWO men fighting over you? Wow.." Angel chuckles.

"Hey Angel?"

"Yesh, suga' tits?" He replies, a new York and slight Italian accent.

"Is Angel Dust your real name?"

"Can I tell you the truth?" He asks hesitantly.

"Of course, dude."

"Angel Dust is not my name, imagine actually being named after a drug," he chuckles, "its Anthony, don't tell anyone."

You chuckle.

You go to sleep. You wake up in the middle of the night. Yoi go to the bathroom. Ugh your stomach hurts from that booze. Shit.

After puking your guts out, you go to Husk.

"Husk, is there snacks at the bar? I'm hungover."

He hands you Chilli cheese fries. You eat them. You explain your day. He gives you a reassuring smile.

"Have you ever read No Longer Human?"

"Nah, why ya askin?" He asks gruffly.

"I've been thinking about it. It's really dark."

"Well... with a name like that, no shit tits."

You start to fall asleep at the bar. He places you on the couch.

(Another chappie done. Fuck breaks)

[cutelittleriot]

Chapter 3.5

For hours Branch has been working on his jigsaw puzzles. He had been meaning to he had just been too busy to actually do so but now he has time.

He is only a quarter of the way done with the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle when he hears a knock. He has a good idea as to who it might be. Heading up and peeking through he is correct in it being his girlfriend.

"You need something Poppy?" He asks confused as to why she is here right now. Also his lisp has went away thankfully as his fangs are getting close to the same length as his original teeth,the process wasn't pleasant for sure.

"Branch can....we talk? Or is it a bad time?" She asks uncharacteristicly nervous she probably doesn't want to upset him any more than he already has been.

Thinking over his options he decides let her in to talk "Fine we can talk" He says letting her in. The two trolls make their way down and Poppy is being unusually quiet. He looks at her and she seems a bit anxious as by her fidgeting.

The two soon make it to the bottom and both sit down in chairs "So what is-" "I'm so sorry Branch!" Poppy all but yells at him catching him off guard as she usually doesn't raise her voice like this unless she was genuinely upset.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for exactly?" He asks confused. "I'm sorry for well everything that's happening to you Branch. It was because of me your transforming right now and I can tell its hurting you" She says looking like she's seconds away from crying.

'She has been blaming herself for this?' Branch thinks to himself as his ears lower. Well it was sort of her fault but he knows his girlfriend only had good intentions. Sighing he sits beside her and puts a hand on her shoulder "Poppy while yes you were the one who gave me the fruit that caused all this I'm not mad or blaming you at all. I know you only had good intentions. You couldn't have possibly known this would happen. All you knew what that your new friend gave you a gift and you wanted to share it with me" He says.

"But-" Poppy tries to explain but Branch stops her. "Look you made a mistake we all do. I'm not dead that's a good thing I'm just....changing right now. Sure it's painful and annoying and I would rather not be changing but it is what it is. It's what life has given us and our choices lead up to this. All that I ask Poppy is that if by some random one in a million chance this ever happens again you will research the food before eating it?" He asks her to which she nods.

"Thank you so much Branch that has been eating me up inside all day I have felt so bad for you. But I have good news I have something special for you to see tomorrow! I'm sure you will love it!" She says wiping her eyes and her bubbly personality returning.

"Oh really is it a party?" He asks with a smirk

"Nope"she replies back smiling

"A scrapbook?"

"Nope"

"A new song or dance?"

"Nope"

The two go back and forth guessing to which every time Poppy says no. Wow Branch is actually stumped he actually has no idea what his girlfriend has done for him he is very curious to see what she did but like she said he will have to wait until tomorrow.

"So uhm while I'm still here can I possibly.....touch your fur? It looks so soft and fluffy!Please Branch?" She begs giving him the look she knows he can't resist.

"Ok fine go ahead" He says resigning himself to his fate as Poppy squeals and begins to pet him he can feel her hands going through his fur he will admit it felt nice she wasn't too rough so he just let's her do as she pleases. "Its so soft its unbelievable,by the way Branch is everything ok with your teeth they looked a bit odd when you were talking?" She asks as she is petting his arm.

"Yeah it's just I'm getting fangs at the moment they are currently growing in and it isn't exactly pleasant" He says opening his moth and showing her said fangs. "Woah they look crazy sharp imagine what happens when you bite down?" She looks amazed at the fangs.

"I could probably do some damage your dad did say our ancestors did have them to help defend against predators. I just wonder how long they are going to grow?" He wonders.

"I don't know but they look around the same length as your other teeth so they are probably close to being done growing" Poppy says getting a closer look. 'Well that's good news. So that must mean the pain is probably close to going away and he can finally eat. Ever since his teeth fell out he didn't eat a single thing just in case. He has thought about eating something soft as they grew longer but decided against it just to be safe.

For hours the troll couple just enjoy eachothers company while doing a jigsaw puzzle and they got around halfway done before Poppy yawns. "Well that was a productive evening. Well I'm going to head back home take care Branch" She says before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "And again I'm really sorry for all of this" She says her ears drooping a bit "I told you already I forgive you Poppy you don't need to be sad about it anymore" Branch says giving Poppy a hug as he knows that it usually cheers her up and it does as she gives him a tight hug back.

She soon leaves the bunker and heads back to her pod. Meanwhile Branch is getting ready to head to bed thankfully the pain I'm his jaw is starting to go away so he should be able to fall asleep soon.....hopefully. he wonders what comes next after this though and just what is the surprise Poppy has planned for tomorrow?

[beansterpie]

B, D, J, L, T, U

Thanks for the ask moth!! <3

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

LMFAO Agohiru from ES21 😂 I remember when I first got into es21 back in highschool, Hiruma was my fav, but I didn't think much of Agon other than 'wow what an asshole!' and didn't like him. (Also I was a big Hirumamo shipper at the time, and I'm the type who clings onto One Ship for a character and isn't too interested in anything else lol) It wasn't until I got back into it in the last couple of years that I've come to appreciate how much fun it is to bat that asshole around, and just how loaded Hiruma and Agon's ~history~ is.

Though I guess no one person specifically changed my mind, unless you count past me vs present me lol. OH actually, what changed my mind was the fic "Independent Variable" on ff.net. I think I got back into es21 and was like 'you know, hiruma/agon totally has potential' and so was looking up fics of that pairing, and then I read that fic and was lost.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Hmmmm oh, Merther (Merlin/Arthur) lol. Their set up as a ship is extremely juicy (two sides of the same coin?? fate ties them together??? conflict because their initial world views are diametrically opposed????) and there's soooo much fic for them, but. I just. I don't like Arthur 😭 Like, I mean, he's FINE. But the writing of the whole show is so inconsistent and there's entire seasons where he's just so shitty to Merlin for no damn reason in a way that I'm supposed to take as funny and silly which pisses me off more.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

I mean, most shows that have mainstream popularity that I never checked out lol, though I think one that I've seen a lot of shipping art for on my dash is Star Wars? I've seen the main movies, but I think this is from.... Clone Wars, or the Obi-wan show or something. I see a lot of Obi-wan shipped with... one of the clone guys I think lmfao.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves.

Hmmmm this isn't even a character I dislike, but whatever-- Judeau! I like him a lot tbh but I also find him shady 😂

I like how his 'friend who gives good advice and just has your best interests at heart' vibe is subverted by his personal biases and emotions, even if he'd probably deny that lol. He's flawed and it colors the advice he gives, and he even has moments that I'd argue are kind of judgy. It's what makes him interesting!

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

Yes! Main one coming to mind rn because I've been thinking about Hiruma (ES21) a lot, is that Hiruma is on the ace spectrum! I'm usually pretty take-it-or-leave-it when it comes to sexuality headcanons, like I can buy most interpretations but I generally don't feel strongly about them, but with Hiruma I really struggle to see him as anything else.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

OOHHHH. Well in Berserk, it's legit a tie between Guts and Griffith. I wouldn't like either one of them as much without the other in their orbit, and Berserk is one of those rare stories where both characters are really complex and compelling in their own way, and bring a lot of significant baggage into their dynamic lmfao. With Guts I love how sensitive he is, and the various ways in which he subverts and deconstructs the Macho Male Power Fantasy™ archetype, how at the end of the day he just wants someone to care about him and find worth in his existence. With Griffith, I love his ideals and his fragility in the face of the sacrifices those ideals demand from him, I love how much he cares and how much he gouges himself for caring, and how all of his stress and guilt and obligation still aren't any match for his love for Guts. And with both of them, I love how their upbringing informs their decisions so well to ruin everything even though they care about each other so much :')

w/ ES21, it's Hiruma lol which might be basic because he's everyone's fav, but for good reason! He's just fucking fun! I love how unhinged and demonic he is, I love the borderline slapstick loony-tunes tyle antics he gets up to, and I love his shamelessness. But I also love how accepting and realistic he is about his limitations, and how that doesn't stop him from striving for the top and going for what he wants. And like, for such an anime-level strategic genius type character, I love that such a core part of what makes him great is that he brings people together and uses teamwork and creativity to overcome everyone's various limitations. He's just-- so much fun!

And because this list is depressingly male lemme throw in a wild card-- Chase from Midnight Furies! It's a webcomic that I recently read for the first time, and Chase is the deuteragonist and a Hiruma expy lol. Which you can definitely tell, they both have the unhinged vibe and shark teeth, as well as the mysterious past and having a lot of cards up their sleeve, but I also think they're quite distinct. Obviously, Chase is a butch lesbian (which really does just add to her cool factor), but also I feel like Midnight Furies is a more grounded story compared to ES21, despite there being supernatural elements lol, and so Chase feels more grounded and realistic as a character. She's a bit more raw in her relationships to other people, and she shows vulnerability more, but she's also much more of a direct physical threat than Hiruma is. Because of that, she has moments where calculation gets thrown out the window in favor of a good ol' beat down, which of COURSE I love to see. And I think she has the capacity to be more ruthless. ANYWAY, awesome character, A+++ (please read Midnight Furies)

[alphabet ask meme]

[beetleskeleton]

Hey. What kinda stuff you like? Just in general. Vibe wise. You be cool. This is an interrogation.

Oh wow, an interrogation? Never had that happen to me before. But you asked, and I shall give;

-I like a lot of vintage things. Hyper specifically keys. As well as other things like porcelain and jewelry and whatnot. -Somewhat on that note, cottagecore stuff also falls into that category.

-In terms of colors, I like yellow-orange because other people hate it. Same goes for certain yellow-greens. I’m a petty bitch.

-I like indie rock as my go-to for music. But I also like just more general alternative stuff. Alternative folk is the good shit. Though on very rare instances a pop song will slither its way into my playlists. These pop songs are old people music, like from mid-80’s to very early 2000’s.

-I like taking pictures of things. I’m a pretty big fan of wildlife photography, as well as landscape photography. I find it a relaxing activity whenever I go on hikes and stuff, either with family or on my own.

-I’m a cat parent of two, apparently three because I didn’t know that Minx is actually my cat now. Though I have been thinking about getting another one recently.

-I have apparently never voiced this, but owls are one of my favorite animals. I have had a love for them for as long as I can remember. I also like Stoats, fishing cats, and otters.

-I’m probably the biggest entomology nerd you’ll find. So yeah, love bugs. Absolutely adore them. My favorite kinds are moths and weevils.

That’s as much as I can think of right now. Have a good rest of your day/night friend!

[nicsalazar]

Moth to a flame || Nicole & Zane

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @rn-zane  & @nicsalazar SUMMARY: Nicole comes to the ER with a cut. Zane's super chill about it. CONTENT WARNING: Medical blood

Eleven. That was the last time Nicole set foot in a hospital. A sprained wrist after a tree climbing accident. She always enjoyed climbing, despite her mother’s numerous warnings. What she first recalled of that day, however, wasn’t her mother grounding her for two weeks (though that did suck), but how much she had hated being asked questions and prodded by professionals, and fuck— did it make her feel like a freak. 

So she decided, after that, that she was done visiting hospitals for the rest of her life. 

It was clear in her demeanor that she didn't want to be here, waiting to get that nasty cut on her arm checked. It wasn't even her fault. And it was fine. But the boss insisted she got it checked. Doing as much as to send someone to chaperone her. A fucking chaperone. Nicole slumped, face wrinkled in displeasure, mind going over incident reports and other paperwork she wasn’t looking forward to get done. She almost missed the nurse that was fast approaching to her side.

Straightening up her back slightly —she wasn’t rude, okay?— Nicole gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Believe me, this is unnecessary. I can just... rub alcohol on it myself" thank you very much, she didn't say.

Zane rarely had much time to do a proper reading on patients before he saw them, usually getting the highlights thrown at him before running to the next bed. This time, he’d actually managed to find a free computer at the nurse’s station, sitting down mostly to get his mind back on track. He wasn’t supposed to be here right now but when the handsome charge nurse asked Zane for… well, anything - his automatic response was an enthusiastic yes. One day, he might end up accidentally curtsying to the man if he wasn’t careful. 

So here he was after his already 16 hour day shift, filling in for a sick nurse and heading into hour 20. And he was hungry. 

The smoothie glass with his shift ‘snack’, very clearly marked with his name and a ‘do not touch’ sticker, had held him off for some time but… besides, his replacement would be here in less than an hour. He had other things to think about, like the - oh, wow - literal firefighter waiting for him. 

Head slightly clearer, he maneuvered past the gurneys posted in every hallway and pulled back the curtain to the assigned spot. A courteous nod to the man standing by the hospital bed was all Zane managed before the patient, the firefighter, spoke up. 

Zane smiled, a soft smile reserved for children and the more nervous of patients. “I really won’t be a minute and from what I heard, you might not even need… stitches…” His voice faltered at the end, eyes dragging to the wound on her arm. It was still weeping blood despite the fabric pressing down on it and the smell wafting up…

He cleared his throat, dragging half of his attention back to the patient. Nicole. Human. Not a meal. “I’m Zane. Do we need to worry about any debris in there, Nicole?” 

Maybe they’d be done soon. And she wouldn’t have to tell Leah about her ER visit. Nicole lowered her gaze, snuffing out the small flame of hope in her chest. Instead her eyes fell on the makeshift bandage, willing to accept –for the first time– that it still seemed to be sticking with fresh blood every now and then. And that couldn’t be too good, right? She tilted her head to figure out a proper answer to his question.

“I— probably” Nicole admitted, jaw tightly clenched before she let out a weary sigh. Some of the tension evaporated in her breath. After all, these people were here to help. No matter how terrifying she found their shiny tools to be. When she spoke again, the edge was gone from her tone. “They patched me up with what they had in the field. We don’t really get too…” she snapped the fingers, fishing for the word in her hazy brain. “Cómo se dice? We just got the basics up there, y’know? But should be clean enough”. 

Nicole glanced at her crewmate, but he remained quiet, as if scared to contradict her. “Someone in handcrew slipped, they were carrying fuel… branches, weed, anything that can—” did nurse Zane need the whole story? She paused, heat rising to her cheeks. “It might be a little dirty, anyway” she concluded, releasing the hold she had on her left bicep, silent permission for the nurse to go ahead and get to work. 

For the first time ever, Zane was relieved to have a nervous patient. Nicole seemed way too preoccupied with her own discomfort to notice how jittery the blood was making him but her guest on the other hand… Feeling like he was getting rid of a witness, he politely asked the man to hang back in the waiting room due to lack of space, which definitely wasn’t a lie. With curtains on every side giving staff just enough space to squeeze in next to the beds, one extra person could definitely fill up the space. 

“Right, I noticed the firefighter thing. That’s really cool, y’know,” Zane started, falling into the habit of talking to distract patients and, in this case, hopefully distract himself as well. “Not sure I’d willingly run into a burning forest, even if I was getting paid for it.” Practiced hands busied themselves with preparing an IV line, his attention focused on the non-injured hand for now as he swiped over the skin of her forearm, tightening a tourniquete. “Small pinch,” he warned, settling the IV needle in place and making quick work of bandaging it down, definitely not entranced for a moment at the droplet of blood that managed to leave the line before he screwed the cap back on. 

“I’ll need to draw some blood, maybe get a little fluid in you. Are you feeling woozy at all?” Turning from Nicole, he busied himself with preparing supplies for the wound, really not in a rush to expose the whole thing to his nose. 

Nicole offered a small, thankful nod once the nurse finally dismissed her chaperone. She planned on slipping past him when she was free to go, but her escape ideas and other petty thoughts were interrupted by the nurse’s voice. Breathing out a laugh, her eyebrows pinched together. “It really isn’t like that—unless you’re a smokejumper… or a hotshot, which I’m not. They’re the cool action heroes” she explained. There was nothing glamorous about digging up a fireline or reducing fuel. “You work in the ER, I bet people think it’s… y’know, stuff out of a movie”.

Her eyes landed on Zane, as much as she hated staring. Nicole’s options were limited in the secluded space. For the first time in the evening, her thoughts went to someone other than herself. Knowing a thing or two about exhaustion, it was easy to recognize the signs on him. So she acknowledged the pang of guilt at her previous behavior, mentally promising to be more cooperative moving forward.

At the sight of the needle, Nicole tried to distract herself by sneaking a look past the curtains. She couldn't really make out anything but white coats and varied colorful scrubs, but it did the job of taking her attention away from her arm as the nurse set the IV line. “No…no. I’m—” fine, she almost said, stubbornly. But the words died in her tongue. No one was here for her to prove a point anymore.  “Not woozy, but— guess my arm kinda hurts” she conceded, bringing her thumb and index finger as close together as possible, “barely”. That part was true, she had endured far worse. Meanwhile, she appreciated the play by play, wondering if that’s what she had needed when she was a kid. No one seemed to explain much to her, referring only to her parents. She could do the whole introspection thing once she was back on her feet. “Right, blood, take it”. She gave him a nod, ready. 

She was talking now, visibly less stressed now that her coworker had left. The answers about Zane’s firefighter inquiry seemed rehearsed in a way, as if she was used to making sure people didn’t think she was an actual hero. It was stupid, obviously, if only judging by the giant cut on her arm that she definitely wouldn’t have gotten working at some desk downtown. “Yeah, your job seems really safe and this definitely doesn’t make me think you’re an action hero,” Zane joked, nodding towards the cut and just as quickly looking away from it again. Keep it together, man.

Smiling as Nicole finally let go even further, admitting to her pain, Zane gave her good arm a soft but comforting squeeze. “Secret’s safe with me,” came the conspiratorial reply as he gathered up the vials, took the samples and set them aside. He was running out of tasks to do that didn’t involve assessing the wound and a phantom heart was starting to beat wildly in his chest at the thought. This hadn’t been a problem any other time, he’d literally gotten covered in blood a few shifts ago and only felt a mild pang, like when you dropped a fresh cookie and realized you couldn’t eat it. Now it felt like a tug, this hunger, egging him on to get to the source of blood and then… what? He’d never bitten anyone, didn’t plan on it and especially not in here. 

So he rambled on as he gathered up the rest of the materials, moving to give Nicole some painkillers. “I remember the first forest fire I ever saw, we were in California and it almost started out of nowhere. The news had all this footage of people doing what the could, helping families from their homes or spending hours cutting down trees and digging ditches, I was pretty much in awe and wondering if would ever be able to make an impact like that. Then when they covered the deaths I realized that a job that dangerous is definitely not my style, I mean, Grey’s makes hospitals look like the most dangerous place ever to work but that’s TV and here…” Zane finally looked up from the gauze he was unpacking, mild horror dawning on his face. “Sorry, I’m… rambling. Let’s get to that wound, yeah? Get you out of here.”

Without giving himself time to overthink it, Zane positioned himself next to Nicole’s wounded arm, removing the material that had previously been keeping her blood where it was supposed to be. It wasn’t too bad, would definitely need a few stitches and a little bit of cleaning up but there didn’t seem to be any damage to muscles or nerves. A small artery had gotten cut, still dripping out fresh blood. Zane swallowed. “You’re going to… you’re going to need a stitch or two.” His eyes were locked on the wound now, gums aching with pressure. 

Nicole bowed her head, shaking it in disagreement. “I’m not!” she doubled down, a hint of mirth betraying her words. The optics were there, she couldn’t pretend they weren’t. If she were slightly removed from her situation, then she could probably see it a lot clearer. She let the topic go, unwilling to agree with him, but unable to find the arguments to persuade him.  Zane, on the other hand, was doing a great job at turning her perception of medical care around. She felt further at ease once he offered a friendly squeeze.

The gentle hum of understanding was the only sound Nicole made as he recalled his memories of wildfires. It never got easier, dealing with families losing all their belongings. Arguing with those who refused to live their livestock behind. And then, of course; the casualties. Civilians and firefighters. It was a lot, but any sort of commentary she made would tilt their previous argument towards Zane’s point of view.

“You’re fine” Nicole never minded ramblers. If anything she always held quiet appreciation for them. It made conversations so much easier. She was a listener, and if somebody else wanted to take the spotlight, well… it was the perfect scenario, wasn’t it? “Getting out of here sounds great, but I don’t mind your chatting” she raised her gaze to offer a reassuring smile, but his face gave her a pause. “Um. Are you—” okay? She closed her mouth, let him gather and prepare what he needed. Meanwhile her mind raced, searching for an explanation. Maybe he was new. Hadn’t gotten used to all the bodily fluids yet. He looked very young. it would make sense. 

Nicole knew direct questions were uncomfortable. Sometimes provided no results. So she had perfected the art of the roundabout. Finding a parallel thread to pull from, until the truth came undone. “Long day?” She tried, instead. Maybe she was doing that thing again. What was it called? Projecting or something. “You look a little rough, is all” Or like you’ve never seen a bloody arm before. Only then, she realized she should be concerned about that. From a logical point of view, not a sentimental one. Because this person was about direct all the pointy things into her skin and if he wasn’t completely comfortable… “Sure we need that? I— I need that, I mean. You think I need that?” she looked pointedly at the suture kit. “I scar pretty well, actually”. She was stabbed in the shoulder once, not a single was stitch needed. But Zane couldn’t know that was because a jaguar had overtaken her body for five years. “Maybe a bandaid’s enough”.

“Hmm?” Lips pursed tightly together, Zane tore his attention away from the wound and looked up, straight into Nicole’s worried eyes. So he obviously wasn’t hiding his raging thoughts well, or at all. She was looking at the suture kit like he’d proposed cutting off the whole arm to make things better and honestly, he didn’t blame her with the way he was acting. “Oh, uh… yeah, extra shift today. Sorry.” Hands working on their own accord, practiced movements dousing some gauze and wiping it around the wound, most of his attention on the opposite wall in the hopes of shutting up the clawing voice in his head. 

“Think I might ask the doctors to stitch it up, actually. Since it cuts a little deep.” He’d done a few sutures in his time here, most of them shallow but sometimes, on the really busy days, a junior doctor would throw the suture kit his way and run off to some other, hopefully more sick, patient. Theoretically, Zane could do a good job of stitching up the wound. At this very moment, though… 

The gauze moved over a nice, clotted part of blood, tearing it away and -joy- exposing even more blood from the wound. Zane felt it before he realized it, the shift in mindset and the distant feeling of his eyes gaining more focus on what mattered. His gaze was downcast, thankfully, as now red eyes were staring down at the wound. “Let’s, uhm…” he stuttered out as he moved to stand, briskly enough to make the stool he’d been sitting on tumble backwards. “I’ll go get them now,” he blurted out, turning away from Nicole and grabbing at the bridge of his nose, which was a mistake with a blood splattered glove still on. “Sorry, I… sorry.” It was almost incoherent, words spoken through gritted teeth as he stood tense for a few seconds too long, willing his body to move. 

It finally did, clattering into the nicely prepped table of supplies and sending a few things scattering to the floor. The brisk walk away from Nicole, away from the temptation, was closer to a run than a walk as he retreated to the nearest bathroom and locked the door, leaving him only with the blood spattered gloves, eyes still gleaming red and head pounding. 

Nicole opened her mouth, deciding to ask a follow-up question. Something that would shed light on why the young nurse's behavior suddenly changed. But he interjected before she could say a thing. His suggestion earned him a frown, and Nicole’s latent annoyance surged up again. A doctor? Wouldn’t that take more time? Time that she absolutely didn’t want to spend in a fucking hospital? She shook her head, making the mistake of clenching her hands into fists. She let out a hiss as her wounded forearm protested the action.

But the pain reined back her anger, allowing her to put things into perspective. Neither Nicole nor this guy were having the best of times, clearly. It was better to part ways. He certainly didn’t look in the headspace to shove a needle into her arm. She sighed. “Ah…Y— sure, whatever you…” her words were cut off once more by his jolting movement. Jesus. She winced at the clattering sound the stool made as it flew back. She sat there, dull ache forgotten, watching this man become an incoherent, twitchy mess. The apologies spilling from his mouth barely registered, as another clumsy movement ended up with supplies scattered on the ground. Oh, the guy had lost it. Nicole almost felt sorry enough to reach out. But she didn’t, because having to wait for a doctor still pissed her off .

His turn to disappear was marked by a flash of something red, but Nicole was too stunted to comprehend any of it. The detail would end up forgotten as she reported the story back to her crew. With the small cubicle now silent, there were no distractions to stop the steady wave of annoyance washing over her. She clenched her jaw, tempted by the idea of bolting.

Well, so much for Zane changing her perception of medical care.

[inmydr3amz]

✮ IN THIS LIFE OR ANOTHER ✮

​​​🇦​​🇷​​🇮​​🇸​​🇺​ ​🇦​​🇳​​🇩​ ​🇺​​🇸​​🇦​​🇬​​🇮​

✦ synopsis: in which arisu sees a girl he swears he's known all his life

⟡ content warnings: none just fluff!

✦ word count: 956

✮⋆ a/n: these two are my babies isw ⋆✮

Arisu loved Christmas. The lights, the trees, the gifts, the feeling in the air, the snow—but most importantly, he loved that Karube's boss cut him slack this time of year, allowing him, Chota, and Arisu to drink and talk even while he was still on duty.

Only five days 'till Christmas; he kept a countdown clock on his phone, one he checked feverishly every morning as if that would make Christmas come quicker.

"What do you want for Christmas this year?" Karube asked.

Chota downed his beer, tsked. "To not be a virgin anymore."

Arisu laughed, bringing his cup up to his lips. "Wow, Chota, So pro—" There was a girl. A girl standing on the other side of the bar. A girl standing on the other side of the bar with short hair and such a pretty smile. A girl he'd never seen before yet he had the ineffable feeling he'd met her at one point. ". . . found," he finally finished, his eyes never once leaving her.

Amused, Karube looked over. "The tall one with braids?" He whistled. "Yeah, she's fine."

"No, not her . . ." Arisu was basically whispering, breathy, enamoured.

"The short one's cute too. Not my type. She'd be good for you, though."

The cup never made it to his lips. Instead, it made it back to the table as he clumsily set it down, almost dropping it. "I'll . . . be right . . . back," he rasped, stumbling out of his seat, drawn to this girl like a moth to a flame. Karube and Chota shared a look; they'd never seen him so captivated before.

By the time he was in front of the girl and her friend, he was suddenly very away of the fact that he was going to speak to a stranger. Not just a stranger—a girl. His nerves almost got the best of him, but he forced himself to speak anyhow: "Hi."

Both girls looked at him. The friend seemed instantly defensive, tensing because some random pathetic awkward lanky gamer boy interrupted their night, but his girl seemed to notice it instantly, too—she'd seen him before.

"What the hell do you want—" the friend started, but his girl gently grabbed her forearm and tugged.

"Kuina, it's ok," she breathed.

The friend—Kuina—was still giving him a look, one that made Arisu sure there was no doubt she could beat his ass without spilling her drink, but she digressed anyhow. Then, she mustered a sweet smile. "Yes?" she said kindly. It would've been enough to fool Arisu, make him believe she didn't mind his presence at all had he not been here for the entire interaction.

He realized now he was staring—at the both of them, sure, but mostly at his girl—and pulled himself out of his trance. He figured it wouldn't be a good idea to ask to see his girl alone, so instead he'd have to get Kuina to leave. "Oh, um . . . my friend over there thinks you're"—'hot' would be way too crude—"uh, cute. He's, um, the one behind the, uh, bar," he stuttered, so visibly nervous he was practically sweating in the -1ºC chill, pointing over at Karube.

Kuina looked past him, then her eyebrows raised as she noticed Karube. She was interested. "Tell him he can talk to me after his shift, then."

Arisu glanced over at his girl. There was a look in her eyes—she was thinking the same thing. "Bartenders always work late. You should go talk to him now," she urged. He smiled.

Kuina looked over at her, examining her eager facial expression. "Fine," she gave in. Then she turned to Arisu, pressing a threatening finger to his chest, accompanied with an equally threatening glare. "But if you try anything . . ."

He threw both his arms up, leaned back slightly. "Wouldn't dare."

Finally, she left, but not without eyeing him up and down insidiously and shouting out "Call me if he tries anything, Usagi!"

He looked over at his girl—Usagi—and felt his second wave of nerves for the night. They were different this time—it was the excitement you get seeing an old friend for the first time again.

"Hi," he said again, this time with a soft, playful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Hi," she echoed, flashing him the same smile.

"I'm sorry if I'm being too forward but . . . have we met before?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

He scoffed at himself, shrugging. "You're probably right. I just have this feeling that we've—"

"Known each other before," she finished.

It took his breath away for a moment. "Yeah." He was quiet as she smiled—a full smile, with all her teeth. "I swear I've seen that pretty smile before," he confessed without even really thinking about it.

Usagi seemed amused. "Are you flirting with me?"

His eyes went wide and his face flushed. "I—" He didn't know what to say, so he just put his hand out. "I'm Arisu."

She laughed. "Usagi." She shook his hand. It felt like he'd touched her in a thousand different lives before.

He swallowed. "Would it be . . . a problem if I was?"

She held his hand still, staring into his nervous eyes. "No." She thought the smile that broke across his face was the cutest thing. With his hand in hers, she pulled him closer. She could almost hear his quickening heartbeat. "Arisu, look up," she whispered. 

And so he did, just because she told him to. Directly above them, hanging from the ceiling, was a mistletoe. His excited eyes found hers, and she nodded. He slowly leaned in, pressing his lips to hers.

It felt like kissing her for the first time again. 

[tsuki-sennin]

Happy Hallowed ween! ...two days before, but still!

Who is the mysterious new Cure we're meeting today? What is their deal? For what reason have they appeared before us? Will the Halloween party be fun~? Well, of course~!

-Have you heard? Has anyone told you? The Rumor of the Sorashido Witch. They say on the other side of town, a mysterious witch lives inside a mansion that only ever appears on Halloween! If you prove yourself brave enough to go there... you might just get a sweet reward!

-Spooky~!

-Man, that close up of Sora makes me think she'd love doing that pose with her life on the line.

-That's all the things we do on Halloween~! ...that'd be appropriate for the kiddies watching, anyway.

-Real witch?

-Hill... old lady and little girl... BORB

-Wait, I LIVE THERE

-Damn Yoyo, you're

-Going all out this year!

-Baba Yoyo.

-You guys say all that, and yet I wonder what kind of holidays Sky Land has.

-Sora wants a snacc...

-Battamonda appears!

-And he sucks at Halloween!

-Today's the big day.

-Step into the Hell House, children!

-Ohhhhhhhhh, they back each other up!!

-At once, Madame Yoyo!

-Truly magical...

-Pretty Holic Candy, available for a limited time on

-Battamon-mon!

-Oh fuck, he's transforming

-Oh ye Gods, he's serving.

-Can't believe we got Cure Battamonda before Cure Kabaton, smh

-Cure Pumpkin!

-My man really went from attempted assassination of royalty, child kidnapping, and forcing someone to destroy people's lives and kill their own admirers...

-Now he's literally stealing candy from babies.

-EVIL RAP ABOUT BEING BAD FT. CLOWN_DEPOT

-Saying it nicely... They believe in the Pretty Cure :)

-This is still quite cruel in its own way, Mr. Battamonda.

-Yoyon! Yoyon! Yoyo yoyo!

-Do it for the festival!

-The Pretty Cure protect this town, but our kinship makes it wonderful.

-Here you go, Pumpkin-san :)

-Skearhead Jumpscare

-"So YOU'RE the faker!"

-"I have literally not been here all day. Oh well, might as well let you die believing you're right."

-Superhero horror movies aren't as common as you'd think! Maybe I'll just watch all three Blade films again... Oh, uhhhhhh, Cure Sky!

-I'm hiding under the covers with Sora right beside me! Cure Prism!

-Acrophobia and aerophobia are among humanity's most common fears! Ornithophobia not so much... Cure Wing!

-My kind aren't really used in horror media all that much... Moths, on the other hand~! Cure Butterfly!

-Baby's first Halloween, I'm going as... Cure Majesty~!

-Taking this extremely seriously, huh Sky?

-Oh, that was a fast fight.

-Kind of a sucky Kyoborg you made this week, pops.

-Oh wow

-Oh! Majesty's learned a little disappointment.

-The Pretty Cure love the witch~!

-Alright, nobody asked but here're the costumes I'd personally put 'em in! Homestar Runner style!

Sora = Mr. Incredible's original costume (Color scheme is dead on perfect)

Mashiro = Minky Momo (One of anime's oldest non-Toei animated magical girls)

Tsubasa = Skyward Sword Link (Birds, knights, flying)

Ageha = Jolyne Cujoh (Butterflies~!)

Elle = Jack-Jack as a baby, Lucina if she scales up to Majesty size.

Kabaton = Mr. Heart from Fist of the North Star

Battamonda = Weevil Underwood/Insector Haga (Very fitting for his cheatery nature and KENN having previously starred in Yu-Gi-Oh as Judai Yuki)

Minoton = Andre the Giant

Skearhead = Shelly de Killer

-EHHHH????

-BOY??

-TSUBASA?

-WHADDYA DOIN???

-ELLE THIS IS

-VERY EARLY FOR BOTH OF YOU!

-I don't think this boy even knows what a marriage license is!

-Whose idea was this

-I just wanna talk