#only for the next time he open his eyes to a completely alien world in a cold metal body

[little-lanterns]

I am not fine at the slightest

[quite-right-too]

Animal I Have Become

Dark!Tenth Doctor x GN!Reader / requests are open

Summary: The Doctor doesn't like seeing people harm what's his. (18+ only)

The Oncoming Storm.

The Time Lord Victorious.

The Destroyer of Worlds.

The Doctor had many names in many different languages that spread across the stars. Tales of the last of the Time Lords echoed through the galaxy — the man who had destroyed two entire races, including his own people, and stopped being merciful many years ago.

Nobody quite knew how old the Doctor was, or how far back the legends had been traced, but one thing was certain.

Everywhere you went, people were afraid of the Doctor.

The Doctor you knew was gentle and kind. He made you breakfast in the mornings and told you how much he loved you. His eyes were so full of adoration and joy when he was around you.

However, that didn’t mean he was always like that.

All you had done was stop for repairs. You had a task to complete; find the market stall and acquire a list of parts. The Doctor had already written a list and drew some pictures next to each part to make it easier for you to find.

The city you were in was disorienting. It had already gotten dark, making the directions you were given nearly useless. One wrong turn and you found yourself in an alley. As you went to turn around, a man approached you.

His skin was a dark, rich shade of blue. He looked human aside from that. And the small horns that stuck out of his forehead. ‘Like a devil,’ you thought.

“So,” the dark humanoid man standing in front you took a step forward, prompting you to take a step back. “What’s someone like you doing in a place like this?” The street lamp above you flickered unnervingly as you inched further and further away. Each step forward was met with a step back until you were cloaked in darkness, just outside of the small illuminated circle you were relying on for just a modicum of safety.

You felt your back hit the wall as you took another step backwards — it was a dead end.

You were trapped.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

Your heart began to race as a silver glint in the man’s hand caught your eye. The low light reflected off the knife that he held tightly.

Uncertainty makes you afraid. Fear makes you reckless. Just be confident in everything you do and above all else, just remember…

The Doctor’s words echoed through your head as you tightened your fists, preparing for whatever was going to come next. If you were going to die, you would not make it easy. You braced for the inevitable as your attacker surged forward.

I will always be there to save you.

The blue-skinned man was pulled backwards into the light and tossed to the ground. A sickening crack echoed through the dark alley followed by a groan and a cough.

Towering above him was the Doctor. Tall and powerful, long coat billowing around him from the speed he had run over. This was not the man you woke up next to that morning or made love to the night before.

This was the Oncoming Storm.

And he was pissed.

Even in the faint light, you could see that his eyes were impossibly dark. He stared down at the man on the ground with a sneer, his converse-clad foot pressing down on his throat. Below him, the stranger clawed at the Doctor’s leg.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you right now,” the Doctor murmured coldly. “Why shouldn’t I spill your blood all over the pavement like the filth you are?”

Fear flashed in the alien’s eyes. “Please, I’m sorry,” he choked out breathlessly. “I didn’t know you- I would never have-” He was cut off as the Doctor put pressure on his throat, kneeling down to pick up the dropped knife.

The Time Lord twirled the blade in his hand. “Oh,” he cooed. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have.” Without warning, the Doctor quietly and subtly drove the knife into the man’s chest. “And you never will again.”

The thrashing subsided and the Doctor stood up, leaving the knife in the man's chest as thick red liquid began to form a pool underneath him. Wiping his hand haphazardly on his pant leg, he stared down at the body below him.

“Don’t touch what’s mine.”

Before you could even get a word out over what you had just witnessed, the Doctor had you pinned against the wall with a bruising kiss. “You heard me,” he growled. “You’re mine. All mine.” His hands gripped your hips with such force that you couldn’t move, even if you tried.

You gasped as he moved his mouth down your neck. “Fuck, Doctor!” That spurred him on further as he rutted against you, his hardening cock pressing against your lower abdomen.

Nimble fingers undid the button on your jeans, ripping them down your legs with your underwear. “You’re all fucking mine,” he growled as he unbuttoned his own trousers and shoved them down to his thighs, pants following. 

You were desperate for more. Hard and fast and brutal.

The look in the Doctor’s eyes indicated that he knew exactly what you wanted.

Wordlessly, he helped lift you so could wrap your legs around his hips, cock resting at your entrance. “Oooh, so wet for me already?” he breathed, thrusting himself against your slit. “You got absolutely soaked watching me make sure nobody ever touches what’s mine.” His long coat settled around the two of you, offering more privacy in the darkness.

The head of his cock slipped inside you, resting just for a second, before he slammed himself into you to the hilt. “Oh, gods,” he groaned, beginning a punishing rhythm. “You feel so fucking good.” His mouth began to wander down your neck, sucking deep purple bruises into your skin.

As he pushed you harder into the wall, one of his hands wandered up to the back of your head, keeping you from hitting the wall as he fucked you mercilessly.

Even in the situation you were in now, you found it extremely endearing.

“Doctor, please,” you choked out, hands grasping at his back. “I need you, all of you.” You felt him grin against your throat at your words.

“Damn right you do. You’re mine. Only mine. Nobody else gets to touch you.” He enunciated with a particularly hard thrust, “Look at you. Fuck, nobody even gets to think about you.” He let out a filthy moan as your fingers tangled in his hair. “I’ll kill the next bastard that thinks they can take you from me.”

Tightening around his cock, your impending orgasm was making itself known. The Doctor knew it too, keeping his thrusts hard and fast.

“You’re going to come, aren’t you, love? When you do, you’re going to scream for me. Scream my name so everyone knows who you belong to. Be good and come for me. Now.”

You felt the coil snap as your orgasm crashed over you. You followed his instructions, screaming his name. Calling out for the universe to hear. Making sure everyone knew what you were.

Property of the Doctor.

A few more thrusts and the Doctor followed with a shout, burying his face into your neck. He marked you inside and out, filling you just as you liked. Spurting his come into you and letting it trail down your arse. Leaving you absolutely fucked filthily and ruined for anyone who even thought of trying their luck with you.

“Thank you,” you sighed happily as he helped ease you down off of him. It didn’t take long for him to clean you both up and drag you off to the TARDIS.

He made sure you knew you were his at least five more times that night.

[motimatcha]

"nostromo"

PART 4. They don't laught about legends.

parts: one | two | three | four | five

dbd Xenomorph (alien) x fem!reader. attention: nothing?

The xenomorph was not present at the next test, nor at the second, third... it seemed that the Entity had completely gotten rid of one of its killers, and it would have been so, but Ellen was still here, like the Nostromo, empty without its owner.

At first, you were more than happy that your personal nightmare would no longer bother you during the tests, but for some reason it began to seem to you that along with the xenomorph you had lost something important. Other killers could not bring you the same thrill and adrenaline during the chase as the unpredictable stranger did. Who else, besides him, is capable of switching from close to long-range attacks, hiding his presence and appearing in the most unexpected places. Some things with an extraterrestrial being could only be rivaled by Michael Myers, and GhostFace, teasing you with his deep voice after one test.

The same one when you were ready to almost kiss him.

“GostFace,” you decided to raise your voice while repairing the generator, when the named one, hiding his presence, was sitting almost behind you. The killer did not answer you, but since there was no blow from him, you could conclude that he was surprised and interested. Did his banter have an effect? “By chance, you don’t know, a survivor can get into the killer’s territory without being on...”

You don't have time to come to an agreement. A knife whistles through the air dangerously close. The heart misses a beat - vulnerability. It was necessary to look at GostFace, and not sit carelessly at the generator.

Dash to the side and forward along the corridor to the nearest boards. The Lary Memorial Institute was rich in the number of window openings, corridors, rooms, boards - everything that could be used against killers and killers against survivors. Such as GhostFace chasing you felt almost like a fish out of water, if only there were more tall bushes to hide in and keep an eye on the survivors, it’s just a fairy tale.

“Apparently he thought that I was making fun of him,” you thought. And although you did not mean anything like that, and your question was asked out of sincere curiosity, it is unlikely that the killer will listen to you now. Most likely, now he will only chase after you in retaliation, but it’s not that you need to get used to such an attitude.

There are four generators left to run.

You were left standing at the exit from the location created by the Entity. The other survivors had already left, but considered it their sacred duty to call you crazy since you wanted to say goodbye to their failed killer. You decided not to say that you actually wanted to ask a couple of questions to the Entity’s pet.

The GostFace came to you slowly. Another sound signal sounded and another earthquake shook the collapsing world. It was clear from him that he hoped that you had given up trying to find out something from him, but your determination and stubbornness could compete with his own when he was tracking down a new victim.

“This is a one-sided rule,” the silent killer speaks sharply and unexpectedly. You are not quite used to the fact that a seemingly puny guy can have such a low voice. Like smoky.

However, his words force you to think deeply. "One-sided rule"? What the hell is he talking about ? You go through all sorts of options in your head, up to the point that the killers can’t... oh. O!

“Thank you,” you respectfully nod your head and your voice is full of sincere gratitude and enthusiasm. “Oh, you don’t know how exactly you can get into the killer’s territory?”

Perhaps it seemed to you, but under the mask GostFace rolled his eyes. Yes, it definitely seemed to you like a trick of the imagination after a long chase, and he doesn’t think you’re an ignorant fool. Exactly.

“How do you think the Essence responds to us all and gives us certain opportunities? The hatch in the killer's hut, the thickening fog... you make yourself look awkward, even though you've been here much longer than I have. Although if you come up now and allow me to send you to the entity...”

The killer's statement hurts you, but you maintain a stoic expression. God forbid if he realizes that his words really hurt you and starts using it against you, as is happening now after your fiasco in one of the tests.

“I understand that with the help of offerings, but where to use them? I can’t approach...” you didn’t dare to talk about the fact that the survivors have a fire where you all gather after the tests. You can expect anything from a person like GhostFace, up to and including the fact that he just lied to you and in fact the killers can get to the survivors, they just don’t want to do this for their own personal reasons. “...the place where we use our offerings and wish to go to the one I need.”

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t work like that?”

“And who told you this?”

“Other survivors who were told this by the Entity?”

“She actually came to bow to you and said, “survivors, you cannot use the offerings from this thing to get to the killer”?”

“Well... probably not? I don't know. The knowledge that we cannot use it outside of testing has always been with us.”

“So maybe it’s worth asking this question at your leisure?” asked GhostFace and folded his arms over his chest. He tapped irritably on the rough fabric of his dark clothes with his favorite knife. “That's it, the time for playing question and answer is over. It's time for you to go while I let you go, otherwise...”

There was no need to agree that things would happen differently with you. The floor, covered in red cracks, signifying the destruction of the built world, almost completely swallowed up the memorial institute, and the sound of a beep meant that you only had seconds left. You headed towards the exit through the open gate, but before leaving your informative companion, you turned around to say:

“And GhostFace, I didn’t laugh at you,” the man sighed at your statement and pointedly grabbed the knife, as if preparing for an attack. “They don’t laugh at legends.”

These were your last words before crossing the front gate and leaving the killer with nothing. The latter froze, looking distantly at your back.

“Yes. They don't laugh at legends.”

To be honest, I don’t know why the translator translated the last phrase this way. the original version refers to the history of the ghostface, where he talks about how they don’t laugh at legends (here we go again). I dare to suspect that the sentence written there is in the singular.

[eloquentlytired]

steve rogers & sherlock holmes prompts

pairings: 1st prompt — sherlock holmes x gn! reader, 2d prompt — steve rogers x gn!reader

note: decided to do a spin the wheel with the chars I write for & some prompts! they're gonna be funny & fluffy. no smut here ( the world is shook ik )

prompts by @mouserzwuzhere !!!

gifs by @beyondthefold

you find sherlock sleeping on the couch, limbs spread everywhere like a starfish. he'd been drinking of course but it didn't surprise you after living with him for many months. you were working as his assistant— or rather you were his damn nanny because according to mycroft he needed one in his old age. you hovered over him as he snored, your hands full of the most adorable thing to exist in the universe. a snicker left your lips as you placed it on sherlock’s chest thinking about all the times he had angered you or been a pain in the butt.

sherlock found himself in the displeasure of being awoken by someone... something? he blinked carefully as something began bouncing on his chest although for a moment. it was light but it was still there. when the man opened his eyes first he saw you, grinning in the most evil way possible, and then he saw that. not a dog. not a cat. not even a spider. no it just wasn't something that would satisfy your revenge against him. sherlock slowly looked back at you, disheveled hair falling over his face. he was bothered, disturbed even, and the fact alone brought you joy.

sherlock spoke your full name. uh oh. “get. the. frog. off. me.”

you shrugged crossing your arms over your chest. “could I? well technically I could but..” you pretended to think before offering him another wicked grin. “I would rather not. he seems to like you.”

“if you don't get it off this instance—” the frog suddenly jumped on sherlock’s forehead and went completely still. sherlock stilled as well, his body as if frozen and his eyes still glaring at you. wide and clear.

you smashed a hand over your mouth and tried to remain silent. “holy balls—”

“one.” he was fuming, you knew he was. the man actually never slept and here you were, humiliating him with a random frog. definitely not a lover of them huh? “two.” sherlock spoke slowly and you quickly understood he wasn't joking.

you moved forward and collected the baby frog in your hands, placing it near your plants collection. the couch creaked behind you and you knew sherlock was getting up to reach his target, aka you. “it was a joke! I mean kind of? I laughed,you didn't. Oh well! We could move on like adults—” he cut you off by towering over you yet keeping a respectful distance. “I’ll go to the bathroom. I'll take a shower. And by the time I'm out so will the frog.” He said emphasizing the last word. That was kinda funny too but if you laughed right now you and the frog would stay homeless.

he was satisfied enough when you nodded and began walking away. “perhaps the little guy could keep you some company!”

“That is not coming in this house!” he barked.

“Well technically he already is in the h—” his glare silenced you for good. you picked up the small froggy and held it as you went outside to reconnect him with nature. if only sherlock would do the same sometimes.

nothing could have prepared steve for this one. he could expect anything else ; a flying army of zombies. alien venomous cows. a forehead kiss from tony stark what the fuck. maybe chocolate on pizza. was that a thing now in this time and age?

it didn't really matter when you were right there on a motorcycle parked next to steve’s. “no. I refuse.” he said about to put on his helmet but ultimately stopped when he spotted you. you looked at him, raising your eyebrow in question and laughed. “sorry?”

“I am the coolest looking one on a bike. you cannot possibly take that away from me. Besides since when do you drive a motorcycle?” steve said pointing an accusatory finger at you. he didn't realize it was some type of compliment which made it even more amusing.

“actually I'm pretty sure the coolest biker is nat—”

“don’t you dare say nat looks cooler than me on a bike.” he warned.

“well she does. and you already have a title! you can't use the hot biker one too.”

“what? what title?” steve asked.

“america’s ass.” you deadpanned.

steve’s lips formed into a small ‘O’ before he placed a hand on his chin, rubbing it in deep thought. “huh..well..” you kept staring at him, raw judgement evident on every part of your face. steve rolled his eyes and eventually wore his helmet. “we’ll talk about this later. this isn't over.”

you bit back a laugh, placing your hand over your forehead horizontally.

“sir yes sir!” steve rolled his eyes again and drove off, a small smile on his lips.

perhaps that's why you two would never do missions together — you could never be serious.

[bullet-prooflove]

Let the rain come pouring down I’m not afraid to drown

Tagging: @kmc1989 @alixw22x @vintagedaydreams @madisonbroxson1 @shira666 @zealouslibrariesparadiselight @lovethis-lovethat @foxfables

Companion piece to:

Wild Bloom - Jamie buys flowers on the anniversary of Lee’s death.

Palm Sunday - Jamie needs help with one of his plants.

Prequel to:

Everything (NSFW) - Jamie wants everything with you

You don’t carry an umbrella. It’s a concept that’s completely alien to Jamie, because he’s always prepared no matter what the weather. It’s a product of his upbringing, a message that was instilled into him from an early age by his father.

Plan for everything, that way you can never be surprised.

“Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy the moment, feel the rain on your face.” You had said to him when he took you out for dinner last night. “Good things can come of being spontaneous.”

He thinks about your words the next day as he’s leaving the office. The town is experiencing a downpour and he’s watching the droplets as they bounce off the sidewalk.

He should have kissed you last night. He’d wanted to but he’d gotten in his own head, started to doubt himself. He’d tucked his hands into his pockets instead and wished you goodnight. You were disappointed he could tell but it was already too late to walk it back.

Sometimes it’s about taking a leap of faith, he recalls Lee telling him when he’d come to Jamie for help with a marriage licence.

Jamie hadn’t been able to understand it at the time because Anna-May had barely been back in his brother’s life more than a couple of days and suddenly Lee was making this huge monumental choice. He thinks he’s starting to get it now because Lee was right when you know, you know and sometimes you just have to take a chance.

Your flower shop is only a couple of minutes down the street and for the first time in his life Jamie tosses caution to the wind and leaves his umbrella behind. He steps out into the rain, letting it immerse him as he begins the walk. There’s something cleansing about the sensation, it washes away his doubts he tilts his head up towards the clouds.

It’s gone past five by the time he reaches the building. The closed sign is hanging in the window but the lights are still on and he can see your shape through the water speckled glass as you tidy your way around the shop. He raps his knuckles lightly on the door and when you open it, it feels like a way of sunshine lighting up his entire world. You’re wearing a yellow summer dress, embroidered with tiny white daisies, a white cardigan draped over your shoulders to ward off the chill as the weather changed throughout the day.

“Jamie.” You say as you open the door to let him inside. “What are you doing here?”

“Something I should have done last night.” He tells you before his mouth covers yours and you’re drowning in the sensation of him, the heat of his body, the rush of passion that ignites in your veins as he kisses you.

The door clicks shut behind him as he pulls away, his damp hair falling across his forehead as he cradles your face between his hands.

“Do it again.” You whisper as he looks into your eyes. “Kiss me again.”

Love Jamie? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[blorb-el]

[in the style of the Finding Nemo seagulls] Id fic? Id fic? Id fic? Id fic?

ok id fic!!

the backstory is over the weekend i needed a break from editing wsbf, and i found a prompt on the dc kinkmeme, along the lines of: omega bruce foils an assassination attempt on kryptonian ambassador kal. this is probably a one off thing in this verse, it is not a story it's just a little. warmup

1.5k, gen, superbat, omegaverse, i was gonna leave this completely unedited but @januariat as usual saved my life

So this is it, Kal thinks, gasping for breath as he presses vainly at the side of his robes, trying to stem the blood. Krypton’s last hope, Krypton’s only hope, and he’s failed. Around him there’s noise, chaos, as Mala and Tor race after the assassin, as the humans’ voices rise in alarm. There’s another being next to him. Kal flinches as the black-garbed one presses primitive bandages to his side. There’s nothing he can do but wait for his skilorrosh, the death vision Telle grants as Flamebird frees his soul from his body and bears it home on her wings to Rao.

Can Flamebird even find him here, on this strange world? Is he doomed to be lost to Kythona’s darkness? It seems like it; there’s no warming red glow the poets of the brain-vaults had described, only cold and darkness and pain pressing in on his vision. Kal closes his eyes. Mother. Father. I’m sorry.

And then - radiant gold, beyond anything he’s ever imagined possible.

When Kal had been a young child, perhaps five or so, he had snuck into his father’s lab and found himself floating. Antigravity was nothing new to him - Jor had discovered the principle years before his birth - but his father had been experimenting with augmenting the machine, passing the energy through different wavelengths of light. Kal’s whole body had felt, for a brief moment, as though Rao himself had taken hold of it, like he was stronger than a drang, faster than a photon. And then he had gone out like a light, along with the power supply of half the city of Kryptahnugrhahs.

This overpowering, blinding sensation is the only thing that has ever felt close. His blood is made of lightning, his nerves fire. The scents and sounds of the room explode into infinite detail, and he jerks his hands to his ears instinctively, accidentally shattering the rock hall of the floor. He curls tighter, helpless against the smell of blood and panic in the air, Tor and Mala’s Beta and Omega scents united in fury, the mass of human scents impenetrable and alien. There’s one close to him, the one that’d been helping, pressure against his side, a little stronger. Kal curls into it, instinctively reaching for the wrist.

Something feels wrong with the glove as he touches it, though. It bends, and then the pressure’s gone, the hand withdrawn. Kal - had he hurt them? He curls tighter, distressed, an almost childlike whine escaping. He doesn’t want to hurt- 

“Just breathe,” a low voice murmurs near him. There’s something touching his face. Kal turns his hand into it blindly. The sounds around him - they’re fading a little. But so is the pain. Kal frowns and moves a hand back to his torso, where the bullets had gone in. His tabard is still slick with blood, his body’s…

It hurts. But it’s a lot better.

That low comforting voice starts to count, and Kal does his best to time his breathing to it. The noise and chaos is more distant now. Kal opens his eyes. It’s one of Earth’s protectors kneeling above him, the mysterious one in the mask. The Batman. The opaque, unnerving white lenses of his mask have been retracted, and his eyes are fixed on Kal’s.

“That’s it,” the man says reassuringly, and there’s a hint of a rumbling purr to the words. Kal blinks, the uproar of talking and breathing and heartbeats easier to filter out in favor of the man before him. There is something strange - the briefings had said that the planet still practices caste-based discrimination, and yet - this man has the alien but unmistakable richness to his scent, concealed though it is under neutralizers, the reassuring timbre to his voice common to the human Omegas of Earth.  

Omegas, on this backwards planet, would not be first responders, would not be public servants. Would not be what the briefings had called ‘super-heroes.’ And yet this man is an Omega.

He’s staring up into the man’s silvery-gray eyes, washed out like the color of rain, when the noise takes a sharp upturn. Batman looks away. Kal smells his fellow ambassador’s scents before he hears their voices. Mala is first to reach them, pushing through the crowd, fury roiling in her scent. “You animals,” she snarls, and Kal notes with alarm that she’s pulled the concealed raygun General Zod had insisted they carry. He pushes himself upright.

“Stand down, Mala Ro-Zan,” Kal growls, or tries to growl, anyway.

“We will not stand down,” Tor growls back to him Lurvish, teeth bared at the humans surrounding them. His diplomat’s staff has reformed into a vikhirn, its three points gleaming in the dim red light. “The outsiders shot to kill you, moliom! We came to them on our knees begging for help and the savages-”

The vikhirn’s deadly points of light focus on Batman’s cowl as Tor levels the weapon at the Omega, and something inside Kal snaps. “Stand down,” he roars, Alpha markings burning gold-bright across his skin. There’s a reddish haze across his vision, and he distantly realizes that he’s a few inches off the ground. Mala bares her teeth, furious, but centuries of civilization fold beneath millenia of evolution and her claws slide back beneath her skin. Tor, as a Beta, is less affected; he stops in his tracks, low challenge-growl beginning in his chest, but when Kal stalks towards him he ducks his head.

The hall’s fallen silent. Kal takes the vikhirn from Tor and inputs the dissolution override; the sunstone crumbles to sparkling dust. He holds his hand out to Mala for her raygun.

“No, moliom,” Mala rumbles. “I will not leave us defenseless in this - khaovrrosh.” She leaves the insult in Lurvish, the older language impenetrable to Lantern translation, but with the open disdain in her eyes as she looks at the assembled humans, Kal doubts that the insult will be lost on them. His Alpha hindbrain has retreated but it’s close under his skin, tense with the danger of the situation. Later that night, writing his report, Kal will look back on his loss of composure with some embarrassment. But in the moment it was the only thing he could have done, with the lightning still racing through his veins and the knowledge that Krypton is doomed if the mission fails. The last of the surge of power fades, and he drops to the ground, trying not to stagger. Mala moves in to support him, albeit begrudgingly. 

“A human has tried to kill our ambassador Kal-El-jran,” Tor says to the crowd of diplomats, tense. “Your kind has-”

“Stop, Tor,” Kal says. With the all-consuming radiance and the adrenaline of nearly dying gone, he feels exhausted and drained, his side throbbing with pain. But if he doesn’t take back control of the negotiation, Tor will continue with the formal withdrawal. For Rao’s sake, it seems like he’s the only one who remembers what’s at stake here. Kal straightens, leaning on Mala, and looks Tor directly in the eye. “Unless I’m much mistaken, a human also saved my life.” Kal nods to Batman, who’s retreated back into the stone impassiveness he’d greeted the ambassadors with. Kal looks at him a moment too long. His head is starting to ache, and he’s distantly aware of swaying a little on his feet, of Mala moving closer to brace him. “I - move to - let Rao set on the proceedings for today, and - convene tomorrow under a fresh sky.” The formal words are hard to remember.

Wonder Woman, the lead negotiator for the humans, frowns in soft concern. It’s a stark contrast to her warrior’s garb and poise. “Of course. Kal-El-jran, may we offer any medical assistance?”

“Your kind has done quite enough,” Mala snaps, her claws briefly poking into Kal’s side before she retracts them swiftly. Kal can’t quite bring himself to care. Dizziness is beginning to overcome him; he closes his eyes but that makes the swaying worse. Tor says something about having medical facilities on their ship, and there’s another arm around him, steadying him.

“Just promise me we’ll still be on this planet when I wake up,” Kal mumbles to Mala. “Swear it.”

Mala breathes out sharply in frustration.

Kal stops moving. He’ll collapse on the damn floor if he has to, damn Kryptonian pride.

“We will be,” Mala says. “Come on, Kal-El.”

There’s something still worrying him, though. “Did they catch them?” Is there any danger to his fellow Kryptonians, to this tense, frayed distal pack they’ve cobbled together?

“Yes,” Tor says, steadying him up the ramp. The serenity of Kryptonian architecture soothes the ragged edge of his Alpha a little, his instincts recognizing it as safety, even as the throbbing in his side is growing. Kelexo are hovering by the doors, and move in to support him.

“Good,” he tells the ceiling, as a Kelex rolls up his sleeve and injects his arm with medication. “I think - I think I’m going to pass out now.”

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 29: Affective Science and Emotional Psychology

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

Prev || Next

"Well, I think that might be everything, so I should get going..."

"Here, let me help you with that!" Leo says with a snarky smile, his sword slashing the air and creating a portal beneath Agent Bishop, causing him to fall through. The last thing they hear is him yelping before he vanishes completely, the portal snapping closed with a spark of light.

"Leo!" Casey sputters. "Why -- what -- what was that for?!"

"What?" Leo asks nonchalantly with a shrug and smug smile. "I was only helping him get home."

"You just wanted him gone," Casey accuses.

"That, too."

"Leo!!"

"Oh, come ooooooon!" Leo groans, leaning against his katana. "What's the big deal? I don't know him yet, and until I know him better, I don't wanna trust him!"

"Leo, he literally just risked his life against superpowered bounty hunters to keep Mikey safe," Casey reminds him.

"Yeah, yeah...." Leo sighs, lifting the katanas again and sheathing them.

"Besides, I already told you guys we can trust him!" Casey reminds him. "Doesn't my word count for anything?"

"Yeah, but that was in an alternate future where things kinda went south," Leo says with a roll of his eyes. "So forgive me if I don't warm up to him so quickly."

"What is up with you?" Casey asks angrily. "You were never so bullheaded when you were the leader of the resistance --"

"Yeah, well, I'm not that guy." Leo's voice is stern and strong. Cold. Tired of going through the same conversation over and over again. "And we spoke about this. Several times. I don't think it's appropriate to talk about the future --"

Casey growls loudly and throws his hands up into the air.

"Rrrgh! You always say that! And I'm sick and tired of it!"

He jabs a finger into Leo's chest and pushes him back a step as he fumes with fury.

"Why won't you let me talk about my life?!"

"It's not just your life, Casey," Leo refutes, pushing his hand away. "It's... it's more than just that! It's our lives, too! And I don't want you to unintentionally weigh them down by telling them what happens to them --"

"You don't know that's how they'll react!" Casey argues. "And it's not like I'm going to just waltz up and start telling them how they'll die! It won't even happen anymore!"

"It's not just that, Mikey may never be the person he was before the double mutation! How do you think he'll react to hearing he was a mystic warrior when he doesn't even remember what his ninpo is?! Or Raph, you can barely even remember what he looked like in the future! What are you gonna tell him about his life?! You don't know that they'd be willing to hear that stuff!"

"It wasn't all a horror show!" Casey snarls. "My life wasn't a complete abomination! How would you know, you won't even hear about it! The others might not feel the same way you do!"

"But they might!" Leo yells back. "And I'm the leader, I have to make that kind of decision for everyone, and I say that --"

"THAT'S IT!" Casey screams. "I've been trying not to cause a scene or pick a fight, but I've had it! I've snapped, this is me snapping -- I'm gonna fight you on this now!! And you're gonna listen, got it?!"

Leo's goes wide-eyed with shock, his mouth opening and then closing as Casey continues to shout.

"I wanna talk about my life! I want to talk about my family! It's not fair that you ask me to not talk about that stuff!! It's my entire home, world, everything I ever cared about! I can't just sweep my whole life under the rug and pretend it never happened!"

Casey starts pacing as he spirals.

"You guys were everything to me! And it's not that I don't like you as you are now, I do, you're great and you're like a new family to me -- but you're not the family I grew up with! You're right, you're not my Sensei, and you'll never be him no matter how hard you try! He was a fierce, stoic leader of the apocalypse; he led armies and fought alien monsters everyday of his life and he only had one arm! You are not him, and no matter what happens, this world will never be the one I knew. So you will never be the Leo I knew. You'll never become my Sensei..."

Leo looks down at the ground sadly, hand reaching up and rubbing at his elbow. He looks guilty, if not a little sick to his stomach.

"...Casey, I --"

"And I get why you didn't want me to talk to them about the future, but what does it matter now?! It's never going to happen! I'll never see my family again! Why shouldn't I tell Donnie about all the amazing things he did and created?! Why shouldn't I tell Mikey about how cool he was and how he could fly?! And don't you think Raph would like to know that he was a respected hero?! Or that I should tell April that she was the most kick-butt commander and the youngest human to lead a frontline attack ever?! And don't you think I deserve a chance to ask my Mom questions about her life?! Do you know how crazy and weird this whole thing is for me?! DO YOU?!"

Leo flinches at Casey's volume.

"I... I'm sorry..."

"Dude, I am losing my MIND!" Casey screams, throwing his hands up in the air before wringing them through his hair. "Everyone treats me like the plague! They have no idea what to say to me, and I have no idea what to say to them! If I don't talk to someone about my life, about the things I did, or the people I loved and grew up with, I'm gonna explode! I can't just pretend that they didn't exist! I can't just pretend that my Sensei didn't exist!"

Leo looks pale, like he might puke. Something about the idea of 'not existing'... Casey doesn't notice though, and continues.

"And it HURTS! It hurts how I can't talk about them, about myself, about any of it!! And it wouldn't hurt so much if I could see them again, it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't know that they were totally gone! But they are now! I didn't even get a freaking choice about it, I was literally thrown into THIS WHOLE SITUATION and -- I have nothing anymore! No pictures, no family photos or letters or anything! My childhood home doesn't exist, my life doesn't exist, I MIGHT NOT EXIST NOW. Do you even know the existential dread I have about an alternate timeline me being born?! Everything about the future has changed, and..."

Casey's fists shake as hot tears streak down his bright red and infuriated cheeks.

"...and that means that I'll never, EVER see my family again. You can't be the Leonardo I knew. You never will be. He's dead and gone and erased from existence. And I'm stuck here with that knowledge. I love you guys, I really do, but... you'll never be what I want. You can never be the people I loved the most, and... I don't want you to be them. You can't replace them, and even if you could, I'd never want you to have to go through what they did to become who they became. I'm not asking for that, I don't want that, I just... I don't want to dishonor their memory by ignoring them. I don't want to forget them."

Casey heaves a hot and angry breath, grunting and growling before composing himself.

He stands there, glowering as Leo stands before him, frozen stiff. The two of them are still reeling from Casey's outburst. Finally, when it gets just awkward enough, Casey brings his eyes up to the leader.

"...Well? Don't you have something to say?" he asks, glaring at Leo.

He was ranting so much, he didn't even really look at him. Now he is.

Leo looks very, very small.

The slider refuses to meet Casey's eyes, simply holding himself sheepishly and looking very guilty. His head is slowly retracting into his shell. His forehead is wrinkled, his lips pursed and tight. His feet shuffle in the sand, moving back and forth as he tries to force himself to speak.

"...You're right," he mumbles. "Of course you're right. I... I had no just cause to make you stay quiet. It was totally unfair, and you should be able to talk about it. So... go ahead. You can talk about it."

Casey stares at Leo. He's... letting him win the argument? Why? He didn't yell that hard at him, did he? Leo kicks the sand as he continues.

"...I mean, I can't really stop you from talking about it anyways. You're your own dude, and I'm not your Sensei, like you said... I should never have asked that of you in the first place. I'm sorry."

Casey feels uneasy about this. Yes, he's relieved he got what he wanted, but something in the way Leo is taking this... rolling over and acting all wounded and weird. Giving up and giving in too easily.

Leo isn't like this.

He's cocky and confident and stubborn.

What's going on?

"Leo --"

"A-and I'm sorry," Leo continues, voice cracking slightly. "I'm really sorry for everything you had to put up with and all the stupid stuff I put you through, and --"

"Leo, wait, I --" Casey tries again.

"I just didn't want to freak them out over the whole 'dying in awful ways' part of the future, but since that's not going to happen anymore, and... who knows, maybe they'll take it better than I did, I mean... i-it wasn't their fault, and --"

"Wait, what do you mean 'their fault'?" Casey questions.

Leo finally looks at him. Casey can see the strain in his eyes from how he's trying to keep from crying.

".....Nothing. F-forget I mentioned it," Leo mutters, turning to walk away.

"No, wait," Casey says, grabbing his arm and tugging him back. "I got a chance to yell, now you should too. What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

Leo doesn't look back at Casey.

"I don't have anything to say. You're right. I was wrong. End of story."

His lips curl and he pulls his arm away.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, Casey. I never meant to hurt you, I just... I don't know..."

"Neither do I. What's going on with you?" Casey asks.

Leo doesn't respond, apart from a sharp inhale and shaky exhale.

He takes one of the katanas and slices a portal open.

"....I think maybe I should just go. I.... I need to be alone."

Leo steps through the portal, and Casey hears him mutter under his breath.

"...it would probably be better for everyone if I just left, anyways..."

Casey yelps in protest, but Leo vanishes before he can get him to stay and talk it out.

He grumbles. Why can't Leo ever just listen?

No, he did listen. That's not the problem.

The problem is he won't talk.

....Maybe he and his Sensei are more alike than he thought...

.

.

.

Casey peeks around the corner and watches as his Sensei is getting patched up by his twin, 'Uncle Tello.' The purple-clad turtle mutant grumbles as he pulls items from his all-purpose overalls and adjusts Leo's prosthetic arm.

"And how long has it been acting up like this?" Donatello asks.

"Not that long," Leonardo says, clearly lying through his teeth.

"Leo. How long."

"Um.... maybe.... a month?"

Donatello smacks Leonardo upside the head.

He growls as he pulls the arm off of his brother's shoulder, revealing a long halo of rust and torn flesh from where the metal in the robot arm has been digging and scraping.

"....Leo."

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I have to tell you that this is not satisfactory."

Leonardo chuckles.

"Heh heh, yeah... I figured."

"Did you know how bad it was?" Uncle Tello asks him, though the question is so laced with irritation that it sounds more like an interrogation.

"Sort of." Leonardo shuffles in his seat on Uncle Tello's desk. "I knew it hurt, and that it needed repairs... but, uh..."

Leonardo tilts his head to get a better look at the wounds.

"Yeah, that's pretty gross. Sorry, hermano."

Donatello grumbles and gags as he cleans the injuries and disinfects them. Everyone knows that Donatello prefers machines to humans, and Leo is the medic of the two. Donatello hates the sight of blood. He gags again as he scrapes the dried blood off of Leonardo's arm stub and cleans it with antibiotics and antibacterials.

"You know, this is how you get tetanus or septicaemia or --"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it Dee..."

"I don't think you do. Something like blood poisoning in the apocalypse is not to be taken lightly, 'hermano'. And this is the third time you've stalled on coming to me for repairs. What's wrong?"

Casey sees his fearless leader hang his head in shame before covering it with his non-robot hand.

"I just... I knew we were low on supplies, and didn't want to bother you."

Uncle Tello looks at Leonardo with an expression Casey Jones Jr. cannot name. Regret? Anger? Confusion? Sadness? Maybe all at once? Donatello is never easy to read. But there is a hint of understanding in his eyes as his brow furrows a bit more.

"...Is this about --" he pauses, swallowing before whispering the rest, just quiet enough so that Casey has to strain to hear the words. "Is this about what happened with Raph?"

"Maybe," Leo whimpers. "...Yeah."

"That wasn't your fault. He was just too injured, and... there wasn't anything we could do for him."

Leonardo grips onto Donatello and cries into his overalls. Donatello holds him and rubs his scarred shell.

"But if you'd had the supplies you needed -- If I hadn't taken the last of it for my arm --"

"Leo, you went on a three-day trek by yourself to try and save him."

Leonardo looks up at Donatello. He's trembling. Uncle Tello rolls his eyes and pats him on the back, a mechanical arm reaching out to hand him a tissue. Leonardo chuckles as he takes it.

"...Why haven't you said anything about this? Why didn't you tell anyone you felt this way?"

"There's more important things in this war than my regret," Leo mumbles.

Uncle Tello raises a drawn-on eyebrow.

"That's dum-dum talk. And you know it."

"Donnie, I'm serious. They need me to be a strong and stoic leader, and I don't have time to just sit around moping --"

"And you think we have time for this kind of thing? Where you refuse to address what's wrong and you let it fester until you end up fainting after a meeting because the pain from your prosthetic was too much?"

Leonardo stays silent.

"...Kick a mutant while he's down, why don't ya."

Donatello huffs an exasperated sigh.

"I don't want you to end up like Raph. You need to tell me if something is wrong. If not me, then Dr. Feelings."

"Pizza Supreme, no," Leo jokes. "I'll try to do better."

"You'd better."

Leonardo chuckles as Donatello finishes with the bandages on his stub and shoulder, then moves onto the prosthetic. Casey continues to watch nervously from around the corner until his Sensei turns and sees him. He smiles and motions for him to come forward. CJ climbs up to sit on his lap and stares up at his Sensei.

He looks so much older than he really is. His tattered and worn mask has tear stains and wrinkles. He's pale and tired. Casey hugs him, hoping the hug will help him to feel better. It's what Master Michelangelo would do. He vaguely recalls Raphael hugging him as well.

Sensei Leonardo hugs him back, rubbing his hand over his spine. Everything will be fine, he'll get better and he won't cry as much because the world is not lost and it may be sad, but everything will work out.

Casey hugs his dad tighter.

.

.

.

Raph relaxes happily, watching as Donnie builds a miniature civilization in sand. Mikey had run up a few minutes earlier and asked to join in the fun. Don had reluctantly allowed Mikey to assist, gathering water and mixing it with sand. He was having a fun time playing with the muck and splashing it around before passing handfuls to Donatello, who used it like brick and mortar in his tiny colony.

Raph smiles every time Mikey cackles with his sensory beach sludge entertainment. He smiles when Donatello finishes a new house and in self-congratulation throws his head back and yells 'I've done it again!' like a mad scientist before calming and moving on to the next one. He smiles when Mikey finds pebbles and shells in the sand and offers to help decorate a few of the buildings, which Donatello agrees to. Mikey's sense of colour and design is still on point, and his additions to the homes make the tiny kingdom the envy of the world. He even uses his claws to create delicate and intricate indented drawings and designs on the walls, like vines climbing up the castle towers or brick patterns or flowers or stars. The two work in tandem to make the town a masterpiece.

Even though the trip was unplanned, everyone is enjoying it immensely. April promised to come down today after classes. Cassandra suggested that she might also hang out after a mission taking down another sub-par plot from the Foot Clan. He hopes they can make it. April loves the sun and sand and surf; and while Raph isn't sure how Cass feels about it, he thinks that she could use a nice rest and vacay.

At the very least, he's glad that his brothers are enjoying it!

"...Raph! Raph!"

...He didn't just jinx it all, did he?

Raphael turns to see Casey Jr. running up to him.

Mikey sees Casey running and whistles a chirp at him to say 'hello'.

Donatello waves a mechanical arm at him in greeting.

"What's up, CJ?" Raph asks with a smile.

"Rrrracing again?" Mikey asks.

"No, no... I was just... I need to talk to Raph..."

He turns to Raphael and speaks in a much quieter tone.

"Something's off with Leo," he pants. "I... I just had an argument with him..."

"That's not out of the ordinary," Raph jokes halfheartedly.

He regrets the joke immediately when Donnie glares up at him.

Donnie told Raph about the many times he and Mikey had been forced to listen to their screaming matches. And before his mutation, Mikey had also sort of more-or-less-very-vaguely-so-as-not-to-worry him-mentioned to Raph that their arguments may or may not have caused a few restless sleeps and nights where Mikey would just cry himself to bed. He didn't say that exactly, and he wouldn't outright admit it, but Raph had long since learned to read between the lines. He is fairly certain that Mikey couldn't even remember that conversation now, much less the many arguments he'd overheard before the invasion. Raph secretly hopes that is one thing he'll never recall...

"This was different," Casey remarks. "It wasn't even a fight, it was more of just me yelling and Leo simply taking it. He didn't fight back. He didn't even really say anything."

"What did you argue about?" Raph asks, concern growing.

"Just... the same old stuff," Casey mumbles. "I was mad because he didn't want me to talk to you guys about the future."

"Why not?" Raph is sure he already knows the answer.

"He thought that knowing how things ended for everyone would kind of... mess you up."

Casey sighs.

"Saying it out loud... it makes sense. But, not everything that happened was bad! A lot of it was just... hiding in bunkers and hanging out. Movie nights. Scouting."

Raph nods slowly. He knows that the future was scary, but even still... Casey shouldn't bottle it up. He might overshare and trauma-dump on occasions, but that's common for people who have been through a lot.

"So, what did Leo say?" Raph inquires.

"He said I could talk about it with you guys now."

"Just like that?" Raph asks, surprised.

Leo had -- in an inebriated state from the painkillers -- told Raph a Cliffnotes version of what Casey had told him. Everyone dies fighting the Krang. He knew that was why Leo had sacrificed himself, and he knew that was why he'd asked Casey Jr. not to bring that stuff up again.

"Just like that," Casey nods. "He was mostly quiet, and took it like a sad puppy. And then when I asked him if he had anything to say about it... he just went on a rambling apology. I've never seen him so... I don't even know what word to use. Remorseful, maybe?"

As much as Raph is glad that Leo had relented with CJ... This didn't sound like something he'd do. At least, he wouldn't be so meek about it! Casey is right, something must be off.

"Where did he go?" Raph asks.

"He portaled away. He said he wanted to be alone, and then... something about 'it being better for everyone' or something."

Raph immediately gets up.

"Donnie."

Donatello looks up from his architecture.

"Raph," he answers, matching the tone but with no seriousness behind it.

"Where's Leo's tracker?" Raph urges.

Donnie looks down at his wrist and mutters.

"Good news, he's somewhere on the island. It looks like he's near the north side. His altitude is inclining, so I suspect that he is climbing up the mountain."

Raph nods.

"Okay. Can you give me your wrist tech so I can track him?"

Donnie scoffs.

"As if I would let you touch something so precious that by this point it counts as a part of my person!"

Raph growls low.

"But I can send you a link to the tracking program."

Donnie taps away for a moment before a ping on Raph's phone lets him know that he now has access to at least Leo's tracker. Raphael nods with a grunt to let Donnie know he got it, and walks towards the beach.

"Sh-should I come with?" Casey asks, cautiously stepping after him.

"Nah, Raph's got this," he replies, waving a hand nonchalantly at him. "I'll call if something's up. But I get the feeling this is a brother situation."

Mikey turns to see him go and churrs. Raph pats him on the head to assure that everything is okay before going through the rainbow archway and trekking into the jungle.

.

.

.

Raph wanders across the wooded lands, following the tracker. The glowing blue image of his younger brother's face travels in circles around the center of the island. It takes Raphael longer than he'd like to admit to realize that he's climbing a looping path around the mountain and not just playing ring-around-the-rosie with the ginormous hill. Raph passes a troop of monkeys that hoot at him as he walks through their territory. Leo's icon continues to go around and around and around. Raphael gets tired of walking and wonders if he's even going in the right direction. He climbs a tree to get a better view. While climbing up he meets a family of toucans. One squawks loudly at him.

"Pardon me, folks," he says before continuing upwards.

Raph looks past the branches and sees the lay of the land. He can clearly see the island's dormant volcano, tall and towering into the sky. He spots something like a ledge around it, several cliffs that bunch together and lead upwards. He wonders if he could see Leo climbing it...

Nope. Can't see jack squat. Especially with his eye...

Raph climbs down and heads toward the volcano. After an hour or so, his phone chimes. Leo's icon has halted on the mountain trail, off-center towards the north-east.

The icon doesn't move from there, it stays stationary. Raph is curious, but relieved that he doesn't have to chase Leo all over the island.

He keeps going for the mountain, traversing across canyons, rivers, a lake here and there, sand pits, tropical gardens with flowers he's never seen before and spiders that almost look as big as Big Mama and snakes that are long and fat and could probably swallow him whole.

Oh, and a few more monkeys. Man, this island is really populated.

Raph eventually makes it to the volcano, and starts climbing up the cliffside before finding a rocky pathway that leads near to the top.

He walks along the path, rounding the mountain for quite a while. He wonders why Leo just walked along this path rather than portaling to the top. It's so boring and arduous...

And quiet.

Raph finds himself thinking about things, enjoying the peace and contemplating the events of the day, the week, the month, the year. It's calm, and he can almost hear his own thoughts as he continues to walk. At some point, he realizes that the reason he can hear his thoughts is because he's been talking to himself, making company with his own voice as he tries to entertain his mind. He talks about everything that's been on his mind, from the latest issue of Jupiter Jim, to worrying over Mikey. It's somewhat therapeutic, actually, getting to be alone and think things through...

Oh. So this is why Leo walked instead of portaling.

Raph is about to die of exhaustion and boredom when he turns a curve and sees a ledge leading out, overlooking the island.

Leo sits on the edge of the cliff, chin resting on his knee as his mask tails float calmly in the breeze.

"Hey, Leo."

The slider turns slowly, movements somewhat sluggish and melancholic. He feigns a smile.

"Hey. I saw you coming up."

"Mind if I sit?" Raph requests.

"It's a free island," Leo shrugs.

"Good, cuz' Raph's about to pass out," the snapping turtle gasps, slumping besides his red-eared slider brother as he works to catch his breath.

He waits in silence for Leo to say something. Leo's always the one to start a conversation, just like how he's always the one to try and have the last word.

But Leo is quiet. That's not a good sign.

Raph looks over at him. He looks kind of like how he did during the first month post-Krang.

Tired. Emotionless. You could almost mistake his demeanour for serenity, but he's separated from the others. Casey probably picked the perfect word. Remorseful. Something is holding him back.

"You okay?" Raph asks.

Leo had apparently been zoning out, and jumps a little at Raphael's voice.

"Yeah. Well... no. I mean..."

He turns to look at his brother.

"I don't know, actually. Physically, I'm fine. But mentally, emotionally? I'm not sure what to say."

"Well, start simple. Are these good feelings or bad ones?"

Leo looks away, concentrating on the ocean before them.

"...Probably bad."

"Oh. Wanna talk about it?"

Leo smiles a bit before bringing his dangling leg up from over the edge, burying half of his face behind his knees and wrapping his arms around them, attempting to bundle himself together.

"Casey talked to you, didn't he?"

"Yeah. He said you guys had a spat."

Leo chuckles.

"You could say that."

"He said you were acting strange after. I just wanted to check up on ya."

Raphael places a hand on Leo's back, scooting in a bit closer.

"You can tell me about what's bothering you. I'm here to listen."

Leo glances out of the corner of his eyes to look at Raph. His brother smiles at him, trying to make him feel safe and comfortable.

"...I guess I felt badly. About what I put Casey through. And I started thinking about what I put everyone through, and then he mentioned that I'll never be the Leo he knew, and... he's right. And it's stupid, because it will never happen, but... I'm terrified of what he would say if he saw me."

"Who? Casey's Leo?" Raph asks.

"Yeah I know, it's a dumb 'what-if', but I'm scared all the same. He was this huge monument, the king of the end of the world, a hero and an inspiration, yadda yadda yadda, more apocalypse propaganda. But I'm the guy who almost doomed humanity. I'm the guy that was so stupid and cocky that I got you captured. The brother that got Mikey and Donnie trapped in a tunnel with a monster train. The leader that brought the key to the Krang. I'm --"

"Okay, I get it," Raph says, stopping him from continuing. "But Leo, that wasn't your fault. You didn't know what that thing was, you couldn't have! You ain't psychic, and you did your best."

Raph sighs.

"...And part of it's my fault too, I pushed you too hard. I gave you the wrong idea about what being a 'hero' means. I just wanted you to take things a little more seriously and be responsible, but you just sacrificed yourself! That was a selfless thing to do, sure, and maybe you were just trying to take responsibility for us, but I never meant..."

He pauses, thinking maybe he stumbled across something he didn't mean to when Leo starts crying. Raph panics.

"Leo? What? What did I say?"

Leo can't speak for a moment, and Raph holds him close. Leo just shakes, crying into his big brother for what feels like an eternity. Raph can feel him holding in the sobs, desperately catching his breath to force out a meager sentence.

"...I ...I thought I was gonna die..."

Raph nods, stroking Leo's shell in long strides to soothe him. He knows that Leo knew what he was getting himself into. He knows Leo understood what being trapped in the Prison Dimension with the Krang Prime meant. He knows Leo knew that his sacrifice was just that, a sacrifice. He knows what Leo thought was going to happen.

"...I wanted it."

Raph stops. His hands freeze in place, his breathing halts, his head goes numb. He slowly looks down at Leo, shaking and sobbing in his arms.

"I... I wanted it to end. At first I expected it, I was just waiting for it to happen... I kept waiting. But... then I almost begged him for it! Because it just hurt and hurt and hurt, a-and --"

Raph is trying to calm him down, stroking Leo's head gently.

"Leo, that's not --"

"And I thought about the hurt I put you through! How much trouble I cause, how many times my stupid ego got in the way, and -- and I'm sorry!"

Leo wails, clinging onto Raph as tight as he can, afraid that if he lets his brother go he'll leave him like the sorry, pathetic, wretched little pest that he is.

"I'm so sorry! I'll always be sorry, I know I screwed it all up, I know I failed, I know I -- I know, and I'm sorry, I'm just -- just -- sorry..."

To Leo's surprise, Raphael pulls him even closer, matching his tight embrace. Raph's tail curls around them both. Leo can hardly catch his breath, but he's grateful for the tight hold that Raph has him in. It grounds him, it keeps him safe, he can't think about the infinite failures and the monsters waiting for him in the Prison Dimension if Raphael is protecting him like this.

"I wanted to... to make up for what happened.... I hoped that... that maybe it would..."

"No."

Raph squeezes him tighter, forcing him to stop.

"No. No. That wouldn't... Leo, how could you even think...?"

"I thought you'd all be better off without me--" Leo whimpers.

"No!" Raph says again, pulling Leo away from his chest.

Leo whines, trying to get back into the embrace, wanting to have his brother's comfort but afraid to see his face or meet his eyes.

"I just -- I hate myself, Raph," he admits. "I just hate everything about myself. I hate what I do to this family, I hate the kind of leader I am, I hate how I can never be real and always make stupid corny jokes, I hate how scared I always am, I hate it, I hate me, I hate --"

"Leo," Raph says, lowering his head to try and get him to meet his eyes. "I don't know how to make you understand, but I love everything you hate about yourself."

Leo stares up at him.

"Sure, you being scared sucks, but everyone gets scared."

"I feel like I'm scared all the time, now..."

"I can help you with that. And I may be self-projecting here, but I think the fear you have now is mostly just about us and your role as leader, right?"

Leo nods, bowing his head low as he rests it against Raph's chest.

"You love your family and you care about them," Raph continues. "You're smart and you see every angle. That's what makes you a great leader. I love the kind of leader you are. I really do. I was never really that good at being leader --"

"You were a great leader!" Leo counters.

"And so are you," Raph smiles. "I was terrified as leader, and usually I ended up causing all kinds of problems. Remember the hippo costume? The F.A.B. four? Or how I had us trust Big Mama? Or any of the other countless times I screwed up?"

Leo chuckles softly.

"Point made. But Raph --" Leo looks up at him, eyes wet and sparkling, "I really did like you as leader. You fit the role better than I ever could."

"But Pops chose you to be the leader. And I honestly have to agree with him. You might not like it, but you have the head for it."

Leo sighs and nuzzles against Raph's chest. His older brother rocks him back and forth as he continues.

"And I love your jokes too, man. You always crack me up, and you make even the scariest situations seem normal. Maybe it's not the best coping mechanism, but definitely not the worst. And for real, your jokes are hilarious, not stupid."

Raph feels Leo smile a little against his plastron. He can also feel tears streaming down Leo's face.

"And Leo. This family would be nothing without you."

"But --"

"Ah-ah-ah!" He stops Leo before he can argue the fact. "NOTHING. Without you. I mean that. You've saved our skins countless times. You take charge in ways I never could when I was leader. Our bros listen to you, dude. And beyond being a leader, we love you because you're our brother. And even beyond that, we will always love you because you are our Leo."

"But, Raph..."

Leo reaches up and traces the crack in his plastron, the hole in his shell. The scars under his mask.

"...Your eye..."

"It'll heal," he says with a smile. "And it was not your fault. Stop blaming yourself for something that was not your fault and start seeing yourself the way I do. Leo, I wouldn't even BE HERE if it weren't for you! You pulled me out of the Krang, you got me back to normal! You got me home."

Leo looks up at him, eyes searching for anything to say that Raph is insincere, or hiding some anger or blame. He could search for eternity. He'd never find anything other than love.

Leo bursts into tears and wraps himself around Raph again.

"I'm sorry, I'm so so so so sosososososo so sorry.....!"

"I know, bud."

Raphael holds Leo close.

"I know you're sorry... But I love you too much to let you stay in these thoughts. Tell me what I have to do to help, and I will."

Leo is quiet for a moment before looking up at him with a pout.

"Carry me back?"

Raph laughs as he picks Leo up and carries him on his shoulders back down the mountain.

"Sure thing, bud. So long as you fight those intrusive thoughts, okay?"

Leo nods, hugging Raph again.

"Whatever you say, leader."

"I'm serious. I don't like the way you've been treating yourself."

"I'm not exactly having the time of my life about it, either."

"Leo," Raph scolds.

"Sorry, but you said you liked my jokes!"

"Yeah, yeah," Raph chuckles, hopping over a light crevice in the path. "But for real, we gotta work on this. You need to stop beating yourself up and cut yourself some slack. If you can forgive me for everything stupid I did when I was leader, and for all the hurt I caused when I was krangified, then why can't you forgive yourself?"

Leo pauses, wrapping his arms under Raph's chin and resting his cheek on his face. He thinks it over.

"...I dunno. I guess I should, but I feel like hold myself to a different standard than you guys. I can forgive you because I know you never meant anything cruel or bad."

"And you didn't either, right?" Raph questions.

"That's the thing," Leo sighs. "I don't really mean any malice behind my dumb decisions, but I know every reason for those decisions. I can't give myself the benefit of the doubt or any grace for what happened because I know every dark detail. Even if it isn't a big thing, even if it's just a stupid mistake, like I spilled the milk or something. I still should have known better. I expect better. I can't control what you guys do, but I can control what I do, so that means I should be better about everything."

Leo pouts.

"And I'm not."

"Leo, you've only been leader for maybe a year and a half by this point," Raph reminds him. "And you had to fight a whole alien invasion, and you're only sixteen. Most sixteen year olds just have to worry about their drivers' exam, not stopping a war or battling mutants!"

Leo sighs.

"I guess you're right... but I can't really help feeling this way."

"You gotta get out of your head, man."

"I know," Leo mopes. "I just... don't know how."

"I'll help you figure it out," Raph promises. "We all will."

.

.

.

Casey paces across the sandy shores, walking along the waters' edge. The waves creep up and try to attack his feet, but he steps out of the way before they can get to him. He's been pacing for a while. Raph hasn't come back yet. Leo hasn't come back yet. Every ten minutes, Casey would ask to see the tracker and would check on them. After the seventeenth time, though, Donnie got sick of it and sent him a link to the trackers as well.

Casey looks down at the tracker on his phone again.

The two had finally met up and paused at one location for a long time before leaving together down the mountain. It looks like they finally reached the bottom, and are trekking out of the jungles.

Casey paces again.

The tide laps up and tries to get his toes. Casey steps out of the way. The tide retreats.

Casey paces.

He shouldn't have gotten so mad. He shouldn't have yelled. He didn't mean to make such a mess...

Casey avoids the waves again and watches them slide back into the water.

Casey doesn't pace. He watches.

The waters bubble and foam, tiny tides folding over each other and spilling into one another. They float back and forth, getting closer with each wave. They leave traces of the foam and bubbles in the sand as they recede. Tiny clams or sand crabs are revealed as the water erodes the gravel, but they crawl back under the sand quickly to be hidden away again before a bird can get them. Tiny fish with silver scales swim in schools in the deeper areas of the water. The waves crash again, coming closer to attack his feet.

This time, he lets them.

The water runs over his sandals. It's a little cold, but not uncomfortable. The foam covers his toes, grit gets stuck under his feet, a stray strand of seaweed wraps around his ankle. He sinks in a little as the waves drag trace amounts of the sand out from under his shoes.

Casey hears a rustling from behind him, and Raphael saunters out with Leonardo climbing off of his shoulders.

They're talking, smiling. Though Leo looks exhausted.

Casey runs up to the duo.

"Raph! Leo!"

Raph turns and waves him down, smiling brightly. Leo shrinks and looks guilty again.

Casey slows and fidgets with his hands as he approaches them, unsure of what to say. Raph turns to see Leo hiding behind him and breathes loudly through his nose. He turns back to Casey, and rolls his eyes at the awkward tension in the air. This won't do. He pulls Casey a little closer and directs him to Leo.

"We talked. Now you two talk. Patch things up. Leo, don't hold back. He needs to know. When you two are done, come and find us so we can talk it over with Donnie and Mikey and Pops --"

"I-I don't want Mikey to know yet," Leo whispers. "He's already got enough on his mind, and I doubt he'd understand... I don't want him to worry."

Raph stares him down.

"Fine. That's your call. But Donnie and Pops should know. And I think we should also tell April too, but that's your decision. She'd wanna know."

Leo nods in melancholy agreement. Raph waves again at Casey before heading towards the portal.

Casey and Leo stand awkwardly, each one shuffling their feet and shifting their weight while they try to find the words they want to say.

"Casey--"

"Leo--"

They both pause.

"You first," Casey offers.

"Okay. Um... I-I'm sorry for... everything. Again."

"I don't care about that anymore, I wanna know why you were acting weird and why you ran away," CJ responds.

Leo swallows. Casey can see he's shaking a little.

"I... I needed some time alone. I've not been... honest about my mental state as of late."

"What do you mean?"

Leo spills his guts to Casey about how ever since he told him about the future, ever since he discovered that the Krang killed everyone in the alternate timeline, he's been tormented by thoughts of how worthless he was, how much better for everyone it would be if he just... stopped existing. Leo can hardly even say the actual word, he can barely admit that he's been struggling with thoughts about his own life and whether or not he actually deserves to live. About whether or not he wants to.

Casey is silent the entire time. But things start to make sense.

So that's why he didn't want the others to know about the future... That's why he hated it everytime Casey brought it up.

Leo starts rambling, the words spilling out like vomit. At one point he mentions that he feels like he might actually throw up. Casey sits him down and helps to calm him. He still feels pretty queasy, but he continues to ramble. Part of Leo wishes he would just puke already. Maybe then he'd stop talking about this. Leo wants to stop talking, for once in his life -- but he can't seem to find the off switch in his brain and he just continues to sob and over-explain himself.

And Casey listens carefully. He sits it out and listens to every stammer and stutter and deep dark reveal that Leo has to offer.

Leo finally calms down, panting and heaving from the overly-exerting talk and the sick feeling in his stomach. But he feels lighter. It's good to get it all out and off his chest. He hates that he had to show this part of him; he feels like he revealed a horrible secret or a deadly weakness within him. But he's glad that he did, all the same.

He waits for Casey to respond. He sits beside him, quiet and patting his shell.

"...Feel better?" he whispers.

Leo nods.

"Yeah, actually. Thanks for sitting through all that," Leo chuckles half-heartedly.

CJ smiles at him, wrapping an arm around the turtle in a side-hug.

"That's what family does, dude."

"Some family I've been," Leo mumbles. "I treated you awful."

"You were scared and hurting," Casey states. "It's no excuse, but under the circumstances I can understand why you reacted the way you did. We'll call it even."

Leo huffs a soft breath that Casey interprets as a chuckle.

"So, uh... what now?" Leo asks. "I mean, I do not want to talk anymore, if I'm honest. I'm exhausted."

"Makes sense," CJ remarks. "I guess it's my turn to talk, anyway."

He clears his throat, and Leo prepares himself for another scolding about why he should have let him talk about his family, or another heartbreaking recount of the events of the bad timeline, or something terrible that he deserves because he deserves to hurt, deserves to suffer, he's a good for nothing wretched little pest.

"I'm sorry for what I said."

Leo's mouth softly falls open. He, uh... he wasn't expecting that.

"I shouldn't have said those things. I was angry and I wanted to get my point across, so I intentionally hurt you. The same way I did when we were in the tunnel and I told you about how it all ended. And that wasn't cool of me. I was being a jerk, and you didn't deserve that."

"...Well, I was being a jerk too," Leo articulates. "I needed the reality check."

"Yeah, but I could have been better about it. I was spiteful, and angry, and what I said was brutal. And you held on to that, and you shouldn't have. It wasn't your fault, dude. None of it. None of the attack, invasion, the krang -- none of that was because of you."

"...I wish I could believe you on that," Leo mutters. "But it was my fault. I was stupid and self-absorbed and I let them get away with the key. It was my screw-up that almost doomed humanity."

Casey looks back at Leo, who is slowly slinking into his shell again.

"...Y'know, there was this one mission that me and my Sensei went on," Casey says quietly. "We were supposed to help these refugees back to our hideout. But I got cocky and reckless... I almost screwed it all up. I thought I could get everyone out safely in one night, and I unintentionally alerted the Krang to our location. I could have gotten everyone killed, including Sensei. You. And I went through a lot of negative stuff afterwards. But then... Sensei told me something important."

"...What did he say?" Leo asks with hesitance.

"He said that I wasn't a bad person. He said I was just fifteen. Well, at the time I was. I didn't get it back then, but now I do. I was just a stupid kid who was trying to be bigger than I actually was. And I'm still a stupid kid. The point is, you're still growing up and learning how to be yourself and you'll make dumb mistakes. That's what makes us teenagers. So you should learn from the mistake, but let it go. Cuz' at the end of the day... it was just a mistake."

Leo stares at him before looking out over the water as the sun slowly starts to set.

He smiles.

"...Huh."

He slowly stands up and wipes the sand off before offering a hand to Casey.

"Come on. Raph'll be wondering where we are."

CJ takes his hand, and the two walk back to the hotel to explain to the others about Leo's dilemma and healing.

"Oh, and Casey?"

"Yeah?" CJ answers, pausing to make sure that Leo is okay.

Leo smiles. A genuine, bright smile. He's okay.

"Thanks for telling me that story."

Prev || Next

[sk1bidi-n1k0-e4ts-people]

hi, hi and happy new year 💖✨ may I request thor x daughter reader where she was blipped and they celebrate her first birthday after she comes back and they're all emotional and everything? maybe 17 or 18 yrs, whatever you want and if you want!!!

Finally back to celebrate // dad!thor odinson x daughter!reader

Summary: you and your father celebrate your birthday for the first time after thanos.

Warnings: korg spying, meik, thor and y/n crying, meik being clumsy

Age: 17 turning 18

Area/place: thors cabin on midgard.

A/N: sorry for all the inactivity recently 😅 and happy new year to you too sweet baby ^^

💀˚~˖𓍢ִ໋ ♡*°◇🎧✧˚.⋆◇🦢+*°♡+

your eyelids fluttered open as your father, thor, gently stroked a piece of your hair out of your face. He had a smile on his face as you awoke. You stretched with a yawn. You decided You didn't want to wake up just yet and curled back up again.

"Y/n! Come on, get up! Dont you know what day it is?!" Thor bellows as he smacks you with a pillow. He shakes you to try and get you up.

"Daaad! Stop it...." you groaned. Thor realized there was only one way to really get you up. He poked your stomach and you jumped up.

"Youre really testing me right now y/n..." thor chuckles. "Lets go, wake up now, sweetheart." Thor spoke to you in a soft gentle tone. You rested your head on his shoulder softly. stroking your hair, thor placed a small kiss to your forehead.

You finally stood up, your bed sheets getting caught on your foot. You nearly fell to the floor, but to your luck, thor caught you.

"Careful there, little one. Dont wanna leave this world the same day you came into it, do you?"

You only giggled a bit at his silly words. You pushed open your bedroom door and walked into the living room.

You jumped back at a sudden noise and something hitting you. It hit your arm and the impact would most likely leave a bruise

"Meik! I told you not to point it at people!" Thor hissed at the alien, who had just accidentally popped a confetti popper at you. Valkyrie laughed loudly at this before thor gave her a look, then turned his attention right back to you

"are you okay, angel?"

"Yeah im fine." Your jaw hit the floor when you turned back to the living room, completely decorated. A large 'happy birthday y/n!' Banner hung over two doors, covering the whole wall, korg and val with party horns in their mouths, and streamers everywhere.

"Ta-da!" Korg mumbles with the party horn still in his mouth.

You smiled widely as you saw the scene in front of you. Thor smiles down at you as you are completely lost for words. Though it wasn't much, it was still enough to make this your best birthday yet.

"Korg, val, can you go check if the kitchen is clean?" Thor asks and winks, they were really gonna bring out a cake for you.

"Oh sure!" Korg responds with a obvious wink as well. Korg, meik, and val all run off to the kitchen to prepare it for the birthday girl.

Thor sits down on a couch, his hand gripping yours tightly. He sits you down next to him, he pulls you to him and holds you to his chest. His hands around your waist.

You rested your head against him, smiling widely. "Thank you, daddy. Youre the best. I love you" you speak, looking up at thor from his chest.

Thor gently rubs his hand over your hair. "I love you too, angel." He says before he places a kiss to your forehead. "This reminds me of when you were young. With you snuggled up me like this" thor says with a smile, despite feeling his eyes swell with wet tears

You look up at him with a look of concern, noticing his tears and pulling away. "Daddy? Whats wrong?"

Thor chews at his bottom lip as you ask this innocent little question, feeling more tears arise. "I just missed you, princess...i-i haven't seen you in so long its just....hurts"

"Oh, dad..." you mumble before pulling him close to you.

He let the tears fall and buried himself within your hair, the familiar scent of your shampoo filling his nose. He sniffled before pulling away and cupping your cheek

"I missed you so much, baby..."

"I missed you too...i guess" you joke, thor chuckled tearfully at this, before he pulled you back close to him.

You both sat there for a moment, listening to the sound of meik shuffling around to actually clean with Val ordering him around telling him what to clean up. while korg does something with the cake, most likely adding candles.

None were trusted with lighters obviously, so thor would do that part.

Thor rocked the two of you back and forth slowly. He kisses the top of your head, then your temple, then your forehead, then your cheek.

He continues to smother you in a few more kisses before relaxing once more

"You guys are so adorable" said korg, smiling and leaning on the doorway to the kitchen, spying on you both

Thor gave korg a look that could best be described as "dont interrupt us"

Korg waved in the direction of the kitchen. Thor helped you stand up by taking your hand in his, as if you were royalty, which you are

You saw a mostly white cake with accents of your favorite color. Gold cursive lettering of the words

"happy 18th birthday y/n!!"

18 candles surrounded the words. Thor lit them carefully with a black lighter. You couldn't stop smiling when they started singing happy birthday

Everyone called you something else, which made you giggle

Thor called you angel, korg called you bestie, val called you y/n/n, and meik just mumbled in alien.

"Make a wish, baby" thor says to you, leaning on the edge of the counter. You happily blew out the candles out and everybody clapped

"This means you can have your first drink!" Thor shouts with a laugh

You giggled at his mistake. "Thats 21 dad"

"And?"

💀˚~˖𓍢ִ໋ ♡*°◇🎧✧˚.⋆◇🦢+*°♡+

A/N: hi babies, sorry for how long my break has been <3 don't kill me lol

🦢Tags💀

@animealways // @white-wolf-buckaroo // @tonystark-au // @zebralover // @yummyangy // @carellmcu // @mariasabanahabanabana //

[cfr749]

My second favorite thing about reading all your fics is reading the comments and counting how many “LANA WHAT THE FUCK” comments there are hahah. Truly incredible writer you are. Glad I’m not the only one saying/thinking it also hah. Always blown away in every emotion I feel from reading your works highlight of my day to read anything from you, it’s like a movie in my head. Your work is an amazing experience every time.

My heart 😭😭😭

Thank you soooo much for this unbelievably kind and thoughtful comment. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy this made me, and I know your words are going to be something I can come back to when I’m feeling discouraged for a looooong time ❤️❤️❤️

I am so, so excited to finalllllllly get Chenford to their happy ending in BYB; here’s a little sneak peek of what’s to come in the next chapter 🥰

***

Mortified. She is utterly and completely mortified. What had she been thinking?

She had wanted to be honest; to make sure everyone knew that she knew the magnitude of her mistake. That she was the one that messed up.

But then the host had asked that damn question about giving things another try and Tim had just… been all stoic and silent and Tim about it, and someone had to say something.

So she’d fumbled around with her words, trying to explain that she wasn’t in any position to ask that of him, that she’d never expect he’d even want to give her another chance. Not that she didn’t want another chance, of course she wanted another chance. but it had been months, and she was sure he’d moved on… probably with someone who shared his love of beach volleyball and yeah, it had only gone downhill from there. She’d rambled on like a nervous idiot until their host had finally cut her off, looking downright embarrassed on her behalf and suggesting that maybe this was a conversation they could continue after the show.

And god, Tim had been looking at her like she was some kind of alien from outer space by the end.

She doesn’t regret her honesty, but, god, she does kind of wish she’d been less of a weepy mess about it all.

Unsurprisingly, Tim hadn’t hung around backstage after the reunion to catch up like most of the rest of the cast had.

Not that she could blame him. He was a private person, and she’d just word-vomited her feelings all over him in front of the world. He’d moved on with his life — of course it must have been unbelievably uncomfortable and awkward for him to have to sit there while she’d poured her heart out four months too late.

Lucy’s so busy reliving every microsecond of her mortification in horrifically slow motion that she almost misses the rap on her door.

She scrambles to her feet from where she had collapsed back onto the bed as soon as she made it back to her hotel room, only having paused to kick off her painfully high heels before admiring a view of the ceiling as she’d agonized. She tugs at her dress, attempting to rearrange and overlap the two panels enough to avoid an indecent exposure.

She arches up on her toes to check who it is through the peephole. And she’s so taken aback by the sight of him that she momentarily forgets she is supposed to be doing more than just ogling him through the tiny hole.

He lifts his hand to knock again, and she stumbles back in surprise. The sound is much louder when she has her face plastered to the door. She rolls her eyes at herself before taking a deep breath and opening the door.

[juno-of-wonderland]

Hello. I got an idea after listening to these songs - requiem ver chogakusei Alien Stage - sweet dreams. Namely, that Yu has the magic of music (more precisely, magic manifests itself when Yu sings or plays musical instruments, sometimes when he dances). And I would like the guys to catch Yu during one of these actions (dormitory wardens + Jamil). Just imagine how Yu sings requiem and magic begins to appear in the form of flames/shining stars/flowers, etc.)

you brought me some memories and I love ideas involving music, most of my entries are made with a POV playlist and I swear I tried to do it in dorm order, but I was blocked so I wrote who already had one (yes, I I do everything disorganized and then together) and as my limit is 7 characters, I believe you asked to change Kalim for Jamil, if not, just let me know and I'll do his THANKS FOR THE REQUEST

Azul Ashengrotto

-Azul was ending the day and going to his room -but the kitchen lights were on, which made him frown, don't people know how much energy can cost? -as he was approaching, he heard a small voice singing "I travel the world and the seven seas Everybody's looking for something" -he sneaked in to see you and his eyes widened -there you are, washing the dishes, a normal thing, if it weren't for the small bubbles forming around you and the water apparently wanting to come out of the sink -he was certainly stunned for too long for you to stop your work and look at him -you stare at each other in silence -he clears his throat and says he appreciates you staying until everything is finished, but it's already late and he's going to walk you to the mirror -if you act as if nothing had happened or don't know that anything happened, he will understand that tiredness is causing some kind of jock -if you seem nervous, then he knows that what he saw was your secret… that he can use later

Malleus Draconia

-this man loves the night, we all know, but you didn't expect him to show up today -you start singing outside the ramshackle and doing a very small and centered dance -it's not really a dance, it's just a swing -small flowers bloom next to your feet as you says "Sweet dreams are made of this Who am I to disagree" for the second time -and the dragon is watching everything -he is surprised but delighted by your performance, he finds it adorable -he only talks to you when you finish -Malleus asks about your magic with interest, but if you don't want to talk about it, he won't insist, even if it upsets him -please sing him another song

Idia Shroud

-a miracle happened and this man was outside his room -he wanted to play a new game with you -Idia just didn't expect to catch you singing alone in a completely personal and shameful moment -he planned to sneak out, he was really going to do it! but your voice is so jahavsbgsjsbsfgssnj he sounds like an otome boy, stop doing this to him! -you start another song "one vague, misjudged view like a faint flower gone insane " -and that's when he realizes, small spark of fire dancing on top of his head -he leans over from where he was hiding, to get a better look… and ends up tripping and falling -Please don't do anything to him! he didn't want to peep! -if he has the courage to mention what happened while you were singing and you look confused, he will get excited like "I think you unlocked a power because you were brought here like in an isekai… in fact you are already in one isekai" -if you are aware of this ability, it will be your little secret, he will keep this information and fulfill the promise

Vil Schoenheit

-Vil was going to her dorm, to take you on a comparison trip -This man's ears are trained and he doesn't even need to open the door to see that you are singing -he ponders whether he should go or not, he chose to stay and open the door slowly and you sing "if i became a butterfly, so free"

-and look at his surprise when he saw you beaming like a crystal while (trying to) clean -several occasional sparkles and butterfly's swirling around you -you get scared when you see him -"your performance…" Vil begins "it wasn't bad, but I'm disappointed that you hid your magic potato" he's serious -after all, his magic suits you, he wants to know why you don't tell anyone, but he won't be invasive, he will be… subtle

Jamil Viper

-I couldn't think of an excuse for this guy to find you, so let's get to the basics -he was passing in the hallway when he heard his voice coming from an empty room -he pulled up next to the door and heard you sing "Lord, Please when the song is over, save me please My Father, My Universe Take away the small and weak me" -and when he looks at you and literally sees stars dancing with you -this man is bewildered, I think tiredness has finally caught up with him -but he remains silent, without interrupting you, you seem so carefree now, he doesn't want to take away that feeling -At some point he will leave, you won't even notice it -he needs to see this again and make sure it wasn't something in his head

Leona Kingsholar

-Now I Live in Darkness Bring me brightness Show me proof you hear my sound Live in darkness Bring me brightness Show me proof you're here now -His ears twitched at that, why does someone always have to show up at the botanical garden and disturb his sleep? -Leona intended to go back to sleep when he recognized your voice -he decided to sit down and look at the free and private show he was getting -…why are there rose petals surrounding like a hurricane and why are flowers blooming on the bushes? -he remained quiet, his mind loading until you noticed him -this guy has a mischievous smile on his face -"it seems that the herbivore hides several little things, doesn't it?"

Riddle Roseheart

-you had offered to help paint the roses -you were bored and started singing "Sweet Dream, it's today, wait for me I'll go see you soon, woo~woo~woo" along with small movements -a crown of flowers began to form on his head and roses as red as blood surrounded the garden -like when you hear a familiar voice behind you, you even spill paint on yourself -"since…since when can you do this?" -Don't try to pretend you didn't notice -he is willing to listen and help you control this magic better -he thinks what you do is really beautiful…just don't say it out loud

I hope I got the songs you said right

[maxbytes]

💚💜 MAXDOOF DRABBLE 💚💜

~~~~~

Maxidot knocked on the door labeled "Doofenshmirtz" and stood waiting in the hallway. There was a shuffling and clinking coming from somewhere inside, followed by a, "Just a second!" in a familiar voice. Maxidot's long ears perked at the sound of hard-heeled steps against hard flooring. The door unlatched and swung open with urgency, and the man behind it flung up his arms.

"Maaax!" Heinz Doofenshmirtz exclaimed, grinning widely as he motioned Maxidot in. "Come on in. I was expecting you some time in the next few hours, but- oh, would you look at that! I had completely lost track of time working on my- ah! Nevermind, you're actually just in time!"

"Hey Doofy," Maxidot crooned once he found an opening to speak, adoring the man's animatedness. The alien's soft, resigned voice was a stark contrast to the scientist's.

Heinz blinked at the nickname, appearing to be taken aback, then grinned all the wider, his cheeks reddening.

Their relationship had only just started to slide the scale from friends off the internet to something more, which seemed to affect the lone evil scientist quite a bit. On their first official date a few weeks back, there had been a long and deep conversation on whether or not that was the nature of their night together. Heinz had told Maxidot that he couldn't recall ever having been interested in another man, and that his feelings were all mixed up and confused. That his liking toward Maxidot was something that both gnawed at him like a piranha and warmed him from the inside like a hot drink. And it had taken until they had nearly closed the space between their lips in the midst of their shared elation that he could no longer deny or keep these feelings to himself. But it was Maxidot who had initiated the first kiss, soft and quick, more of an experimental peck. When he had pulled away to assess Heinz's reaction, the man had looked for all the world like he was starstruck, at a complete loss for words for the first time that night.

Presently, the excitable evil scientist was as animated as ever, having so much to show and tell his friend, work partner, and new person of interest - er, alien of interest? Maxidot was content to let the other man do most of the talking as they settled into the motions of a new collaborative project. Some kind of -inator that, according to Heinz, was to be the solution to Danville's traffic problem. Maxidot didn't particularly care what the contraption's use was; he enjoyed the process of his art and only wanted to see his visions through. The usage of the final product was, usually, none of his business.

The only obstacle he found in working with his new work partner was that Heinz had a "nemesis," whose job was to "thwart" the evil scientist's scheme of the day. The most curious and strange animal Maxidot had ever encountered on planet Earth, a platypus named Perry. Perry's sudden visitations had caught Maxidot off-guard the first few times, and Maxidot had kept to the sidelines out of instinct, having never been the fighter type, letting the two rivals play out their parts. But today, the platypus was sure to be kept well away.

"You know what's weird, Max?" Hienz shouted down as he climbed down the finished -inator. "Usually Perry the Platypus is kicking down my door by now, but there's not a sign of him. I wonder if he even knows we were planning something evil today."

"Heh, I'm sure he does," Maxidot replied, grinning deviously. "But I don't think he'll be bothering us this time."

"Huh? Why's that, Max? Wait, did you do something to him?" Heinz's eyes grew wide. Maxidot couldn't tell whether the man liked or disliked that possibility.

Waving his hand dismissively, Maxidot sighed, "Oh, it was nothing, really. I simply traced back his whereabouts on the dusk previous and left him a little note. And if he has any respect or integrity, as his side is sure to hold to, he would do well to listen to the words I left for him."

"Did you threaten him harm? Blackmail? Oh, do tell me if you found out anything juicy-!"

"No, no, none of that," Maxidot almost purred, rising to a stand and sauntering over to the scientist. "Just a request that my next visit with you here is 100% platypus-free so that... well," he trailed off as his hand found its way on the other man's chest.

The scientist's heart was beating hard and fast under his palm, loud in the alien's keen ears. Maxidot looked up to meet Heinz's wide eyes with the faintest, questioning smile.

"Did you wanna- did you mean to... uh," Heinz struggled for the right words as he was coaxed backwards with Maxidot's leading steps.

Once Heinz's back planted against the diagonal base of their day's project, Maxidot leaned further forward, up on his toes to reach until his lips found those of the scientist. They locked together firmly for the first time, having only ever shared trying pecks. Heinz made a noise in his throat that sounded out of both surprise and delight. He angled his head so that he could deepen the kiss. Maxidot's fingers curled to grip the other man's shirt tightly as sparks seemed to travel through him like live wires.

Several seconds passed before Maxidot let up on the man that he had pinned diagonally to the hard flat surface, and he took in the delicious sight of Heinz in this soft and vulnerable state he had put him in.

Oh yes, he could get used to this.

[ivanttakethis]

Before Round 18 - Tov’s Log

Onyx (?) vs. Lang (?) -> ??? Win

————————————————————

Lark died on stage.

Tov was still holding his hand.

It hadn't been more than five minutes since they walked out together.

The giant holograph hanging overhead displayed their scores.

69 - 31

He would've died anyway.

That didn't make Tov feel any better.

A bullet to the head may have been a less painful death.

She thought about praying for Lark to have died peacefully, but she didn’t know if the stars were listening.

They hadn't answered her in a very long time. The silence had grown deafening.

Tov was tired.

Someone cut off the lights and music on stage.

The medics took Lark's body in one direction, and three guards took Tov in the other.

She let their gloved hands guide her away without a fight.

They sat her down on a bench backstage. The same bench she found Nyx on after Round 16.

And his second round was up next.

Another guard appeared at her side and draped a shiny, light blanket over her shoulders. A shock blanket.

They gently patted her arm, as if to comfort her, and left as quick as they came.

The chaos unfolding around her faded to background noise, muffled by something separating her from the rest of the world.

Tov kept her eyes cast downward, fixated on her glass heels.

There was a hairline fracture in the right one. It hadn't been there before the round.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there staring; mind hopelessly empty, cotton stuffed in her ears and mouth.

It could've been a few seconds, or a few hours. Time slipped by unnoticed.

Then, an unfamiliar feminine voice called her name. “Tov?”

Tov blinked out of her haze, looking up.

A lone guard stood before her, their hands tucked behind their back instead of resting on their holster or baton. The black visor of their helmet was pulled down over their face.

“I’ve been instructed to take you back to your room.” They said.

Tov nodded slowly and rose to her feet, still clutching the shock blanket. She followed after them in silence.

Neither she nor the guard spoke until they were inside the dormitory.

The halls were empty, completely devoid of any signs of life.

“Listen, Tov,” They said quietly, just a few doors down from her room.

“There was nothing more you could’ve done for Lark. He was already too far gone.”

Tov didn’t know if the guard was trying to make her feel better or simply stating the facts of the matter. She was too drained to think it through.

“I know.” She said anyway.

They stopped outside Tov’s room and the guard waited for her to open the door.

“Goodnight.” The guard said as they turned to leave.

She nodded. “Thanks.”

With the door shut and locked behind her, Tov collapsed on her bed.

She was still wearing her heels.

Usually she would take them off and leave them nice and neat next to the door, but she had nothing left to give.

Tov was so tired.

But she didn’t want to close her eyes.

She didn’t want to see Lark as he lay dying on the stage.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Congratulations—

The phone on her bedside table started ringing.

Cassio…

Tov sighed.

She didn’t want to talk.

But if she didn’t pick up, they would just keep calling until she did.

Tov rolled over on her side and pressed the speaker button, “I don’t feel up to talking, Cassio.”

“Good thing I’m not Cassio, then.”

Tov frowned at the voice on the other end of the line.

There’s no way.

“Wren?”

“The one and only.” She could hear the smile in Wren’s voice.

Tov’s eyebrows only furrowed further in confusion. “How did you get this number?”

“I have my ways.”

No further elaboration.

How cryptic.

“Isn’t it past curfew at Anakt?” She asked instead.

“Oh I’m not at Anakt right now, I’m in boot camp. ZYNE wanted to give me one more chance before prep starts for Season 40 of Alien Stage.”

Boot camp?

ZYNE?

Every answer Wren gave only created more questions. It was a good reminder that Tov knew nothing about her.

“I saw your round earlier.” She said. Her voice had lost its bubbly tone.

The sudden change in demeanor and topic made Tov’s head spin.

She sighed, rolling onto her back to stare up at the ceiling, “Yeah.”

Silence.

“What happened to that guy, Lark? Did he make it?”

Tears prickled behind Tov’s eyes. She could still feel the warmth of his hand as his grip gave way.

She had to force out a reply.

“No. No, he didn’t make it.” Her voice sounded off, even to her own ears. “He died on the stage.”

More silence.

“Sorry to hear that.”

Tov didn’t respond, even as the quiet grew oppressive.

She wished she could go back in time and call out Lark’s symptoms earlier.

Maybe if she’d said something before the round started, he would’ve had a better chance at surviving.

Maybe then he wouldn’t have died on display, surrounded by strangers and at most an acquaintance.

The thought weighed heavy on her chest.

“It’s not your fault, Tov.” Wren said, once again seeming to read her mind.

“I know.”

“Do you?”

Tov frowned, yawning, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That I know you’re blaming yourself.” She said. “I can hear it in the tone of your voice.”

Tov would’ve rolled her eyes if her eyelids weren’t so heavy.

Wren sighed, “Look, all I’m trying to say is there was nothing you could do. It was completely out of your control.”

Tov’s head knew that was likely the case, but her heart felt differently.

Losing someone she knew every round was taking its toll.

It got worse each time it happened.

She didn’t know how much more she could take.

“Hey,” Wren called.

“Yeah?”

“Just… hang in there. Okay?” There was something buried in Wren’s words. Tov had no idea what it could be.

She yawned again, finally letting her eyes drift closed. “I’ll try.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Wren said, a little touch of warmth tucked into her voice.

“Goodnight, Tov.”

“Goodnight, Wren.”

————————————————————

This whole log is just Tov going through it and other people trying to stop her from blaming herself for everything.

And then some light sisterly bonding to balance out the angst.

My headcanon is that the guard who took Tov back to her room was Leona, an acquaintance of Himei’s ( @lookatmysillies ) through her older brother Hayate.

At this point, no one knows Lark’s cause of death. The investigation notice goes out after Tov falls asleep.

Lark belongs to @kamersona.

[therealkhajida]

Chronophobia

- The irrational fear of the future and time.

Jaime didn’t understand what was happening to him, he didn’t understand what he was seeing around him. It was all too chaotic and out of place, it looked like earth but destroyed, decaying and gray. What was going on?

He started to walk around, the sound of silence was heavy and only the few crackling of fire that was near broke that quiet air. What happened? He was just at home and all of a sudden this happens, it appeared out of the blue.

He even felt something wrong with him, but that wasn’t possible, he was okay as far as he knew, he stepped cautiously around, the air was contaminated, it was no longer clean and it was hard to breath in it.

He coughed a few times, trying to hydrate himself with his saliva, he felt so dehydrated, like he hasn’t drank water in days, hopefully that wasn’t the case, or else he’d die very quickly.

Walking across the rubble he found that it was completely deserted, not a soul in sight, he wasn’t panicked though, he was calm, just like a fish in blue ocean sea travelling on his own, it was home.

It didn’t make sense, he found himself being more afraid of the fact he was calm about this rather than being scared of what happened to the remaining of human kind. Was he even alive? Was this his afterlife?

Before long he finally heard a sign of life, but it was unpleasant, people were screaming. He ran, trying to find footing in a rubble is difficult, he nearly tripped and fell a few times. But the noise was getting closer, he’d save those people, that’s what he does.

He halted in his track, before him were the remnants of his kind, chained, skinny and dead-looking, life had been sucked out of them. Jaime watched from afar as an alien passed by the humans, it was big, it had a blue like armour around its body, almost resembling the exoskeleton of an insect.

Jaime apprehended the sensation of vomit in his throat, what was this? Did human kind fall? Who’s fault was this? Why doesn’t he remember?

Windows beside him glinted in a slight glow as the sun hit them, only for a few seconds but it made Jaime turn his head to them, but he wished he hadn’t.

Blue.

Jaime saw not him but a blue and black armoured alien, he was buff, he had no emotions in his eyes but only malice could describe what he was perceiving. The reflection smiled back at him.

Blue.

Jaime ran, screaming like a child, he didn’t care of the rubble underneath him, he was scared, god he was so scared.

Blue.

He tripped, his covered his face with his hands as instinct and shut his eyes, taking blows on his back and abdomen. His body halted to a stop on the ground.

Blue

The feet of a teenager greeted his face, his vision hazy as he glimpsed up at who it might be. A little girl, but not just any little girl.

His baby sister.

Su hermana.

Blue.

Jaime’s heart thumbed against his chest he was sure that would burst, water tickled his eyes even if he knew he shouldn’t have any. She was bruised, her baby face now grim and skinny, she was horribly skinny and a gashed wound was open on the side of her arm, flies circled around it.

“Look at what you did.”

She pointed to herself before gesturing to the rest of the world, he remembered now. He was a mole, he had helped an alien race take over earth.

Blue.

Jaime couldn’t breath, as if he could before but it was worse now, his heart was beating, his mind was hazy he couldn’t focus, his throat was closed away and he was crying, snot in his nostrils, every sob was harder than the last.

Blue.

His mind went blank, next he knew he found himself in the desert. His shirt and pants dirty with dirt and his bare arms had a few cuts to them.

🪲- Jaime Reyes, you are awake.

“What..happened i-“ Jaime had a raging headache which made him wince, he curled himself on the ground, hugging his stomach.

🪲- You were infected with fear toxin, a toxin made to make people hallucinate their worst fears. I got the toxin out of your system as fast as possible.

Jaime groaned on the floor, closing his eyes to make himself more comfortable.

“Why am i here?” He slurred on his words, he felt numb in every place of his body, almost like he was drunk in some way.

🪲- To be safe. If you were in the desert no one would be in your way, and you’d be safe.

Jaime was about to speak before a hit of nausea got in his trachea and he quickly faced the floor to hurl whatever was in his stomach to Mother Nature.

He rolled after wards, facing away from the vomit, he was slightly shaking and he was so weak it was hard to even move his hands.

“Get…get me back home and in bed Khaji..” He asked as he closed his eyes. He knew The Scarab Said yes but didnt acknowledge it, the warmth of the armour around him made him tickle but the anxiety of becoming whatever he hallucinated was in the back of his mind, maybe he’ll take a break from the scarab for a while.

From Blue beetle.

[bumpkinspice0]

Recovery Time: Chapter 4

Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

No use of y/n

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3k

Summary: He has a guitar and a quiet place to play now. Joel is starting to appreciate slowing down a little, but still wants to be useful. Finally off of his crutches, maybe he can be.

Warnings: A little angsty this time. Little bit of pining

Series Masterlist

Previous - Next

AO3

_______________

Chapter 4: Trust

He hates it. He fucking hates it. Sitting all day. The simple act of walking a few feet exhausting him, but he can’t seem to do much else. Like a lazy house cat. It’s foreign to him— being looked after. He didn’t like feeling so weak. Being so goddamn helpless. It’s simply not who he was. He protected the helpless… or used them if he needed to. But he was never one of them— pathetic and small. 

Joel didn’t like it at all. 

He doesn’t know what to do with all this time. He thinks he’s forgotten how to simply just live anymore. Survival was all there was for so long, and now he could actually take a moment for himself— and it was too much. Like he was suffocating on nothing but the air he could finally stop to breathe.

Then there was you. 

You and that impenetrable cheery attitude. Yet another thing here that was completely alien to him. 

He doesn’t deserve this— Any of it. Being catered to. Staying in the little paradise you’d built. Bleeding out in a field alone for the birds to eat was the death he deserved. So why did you take pity on him? What made him so fucking special to be given yet another second chance? You wouldn’t have taken him in if you knew who he was— what he’d done. He knows that for sure. 

You were a capable woman, smart and kind— but so fucking stupid. 

Everyone he knows would have just left him there. He would have if he were in your position. A stranger beaten to hell in the middle of nowhere, there were too many risks with it. Yet you dragged him right through your front door.

You welcomed him in with open arms. That’s just not how it goes anymore. All your time up here alone must have made you thick in the head. You gave him your bed. You feed him your food and put clothes on his back. Why? For nothing in exchange? He still can’t wrap his head around it. 

Has the world really made him so callous? It’s what’s kept him alive for so long. It’s how you survive another day without being able to ever sleep through the night. He wonders if you had the same problems as him. As everyone else. 

You, in many ways, were an enigma. 

You talked. You talked all the time. To him, to that damn dog, to yourself. After years alone it’s probably all you had. Like that movie with Tom Hanks and the volleyball. You’d been alone for so long, it was only natural… and he wasn’t entirely unhappy to oblige some of your ramblings. Some.

While you did build something amazing here, he still pitied you. Pitted the fact that you had only yourself to share it with. 

Christ, even someone like Bill had Frank to share his little safe haven with. 

How did someone like you end up all alone here? Someone beautiful and kind and with valuable skills— someone who should never be alone. The story was probably a sad one. Sad stories were all there seemed to be anymore. He saw it in your eyes sometimes, despite the smile underneath them. That deep pain no one can really hide. Eyes that have seen horrible things. He’s sure his eyes looked the same. 

You turned that pain into this place. Pouring your soul into everything here. He turned his pain into… something else. 

He’s ashamed to admit he was obsessing over what your angle could possibly be, why you would keep him here. What you could gain from him. 

What changed his mind was so stupid. You brought him that cup of coffee and eggs and he could just see it in you. He’s not sure what was so different about you that time. You weren’t pitifully leaving food next to the bed. He didn’t ask for anything. Just a kind gesture to say you were thinking of him as more than a hurt man. A cup of stale coffee in some faded old Garfield mug. Then it was just so obvious—there was no angle here. This is just who you were. 

A good woman. A loving woman. The rarest thing in the world now. 

Or maybe Joel just really missed coffee. 

You’d made something truly beautiful. Not only surviving but thriving all alone. You’d left the property vastly under-protected, but in a way you worked smarter rather than harder. You camouflage yourself rather than make something conspicuous that needs constant maintenance like Bill’s stupid giant gate. The house was almost completely eaten up with overgrown vines sprawling all over every inch of it. Instead of a wall, you planted flowers. Ridiculous… but effective. He’d taken a short walk on the outside of the property the other day and once he got a good few yards away it was just another mass of overgrowth in the forest. 

It couldn’t be sustainable. Nothing these days was. It would all have to be abandoned one day. Just another memory. Yet you put the effort in to make it a nice place to live. Not just a passive temporary shelter, but an actual home. It’d been so long since he’d been in a room that was actually loved. Bill and Frank’s place was loved but in a different way, like Bill was preserving something. A little time capsule of the past— But you somehow embraced the oddity of your situation. 

Random junk decorated your walls and yard. Old rusted things that had no use in them anymore. Yet you displayed them as if to say this was something once. A reminder maybe. The walls of the cabin were lined with old magazine pages, dried herbs and flowers, and old relics of the past. Even a few candy wrappers hung there like family photos. Proof of humanity. Plants in every corner. You used every inch of space selfishly. 

He noticed a few strings of Christmas lights hung around the house and across the property. They were useless now but he can almost picture you dancing at night with the property lit up and music blasting. You seemed like the kind of woman that’d like to dance. 

I was a cluttered mess, but a beautiful one. Chaos yet everything had its place. Everything had its purpose here— except for him. 

He’d been toying with the guitar on the porch for the last 2 days. At first, it sounded like familiarizing himself— scales and reluctant plucking. Seeing if he could still do it. Then a few licks that could resemble an actual song. You didn’t recognize most of them, but it was still nice to have something new to listen to. It was nice to have something to listen to at all.

He was skilled with it. Not a rockstar but well enough to hold his own— Not that you could really tell. You were a little tempted to start shouting song requests once it sounds like he’s got the hang of it again. 

Art had one or two song books lying around— Mostly consisting of classic rock and country. Still, Joel mulled them over all the same. You hadn’t found any chores for him to do while remaining mostly immobile. You gave him a basket of beans to shuck and he had them finished in less than an hour. So you dubbed him the title of radio instead. He didn’t seem amused by it, but it didn’t stop you from leaning into the nickname. 

“Next station!” You playfully shout from the garden. He’d been driving himself half mad for the last 20 minutes trying to get a particular riff just right. 

 “The station changes when I say it changes!” He shouts back, frustration pricking his words. He attempts the riff one more time and stumbles over his own fingers yet again. He mumbles something under his breath and flips to a new page in the country songbook. You hide a smile. 

“Freebird!” You enthusiastically request for roughly the billionth time since he started playing that thing. 

“If you say that one more time, I swear I’m leaving,” He grumbles, coming to a new page. He scans it briefly, recognition flashing in his eyes. “I know this one.” He mumbles, positioning his fingers.

A few practice picks and he starts a slow and clunky melody you didn’t recognize but was still overall pleasant. All of his slow playing was. You glance over and notice him mouthing some words in rhythm with his plucking. He’s putting a song together.

Is he going to sing? You wonder. Now that’d be a show. 

For once since he got here you decided to just keep your mouth shut and enjoy the moment. He was finally relaxing. Comfortable with the situation. It took over a week but you finally didn’t feel like you were walking on eggshells around him. You hope he felt the same towards you. 

You have lunch together— A fresh salad with a boiled egg and some rabbit jerky. You have most of your meals together now. For the first time in a while, you were enjoying mealtimes. It was just something passive you had to do to just fuel yourself. It was a chance for you to slow down too— and learn a little bit more about each other. 

“You said you’re from Texas, right?”

“Austin,” He clarifies, pushing around the greens on his plate, “Came up here when it all started. Been here ever since.”

You nod, your eyes looking back down at your own plate. You didn’t want to push anything, he obviously didn’t like to talk much but neither of you liked sitting in silence. You were both trying.

“Saw a Generator back there,” He breaks the latest awkward silence that brewed, “Looks like it still works?”

“Barely useful,” You grumble, “Gas powered. Only have so much juice left for it. I only turn it on for emergencies or… special occasions.”

“Special occasions?”

“Holidays. My birthday. Or just… bad days” You feel almost embarrassed to admit it, “I use the stereo or watch a movie. It’s like a… treat.”

“A treat,” You catch a glimpse of a smile on his lips. He’s amused at the idea of your little parties. It was a little silly, yes, but it’s certainly kept you sane a few times. 

Entertainment like that was a rarity these days, so whenever you had it you felt like the richest person in the world. Art didn’t have the best selection of music and movies for your taste but it was still something. You’ve unwillingly become a big fan of The Eagles and a lot of Clint Eastwood movies.

You both finish lunch in silence and move on to the next item on the docket. You see his face drop when you come back out with your medical bag.

“Bandage change already?” he asks. You’d been changing his bandages daily right before bed.

“Not yet actually,” You take a seat on the floor in front of him. “Today you get to come out of crutch jail. Can I see your foot?”

He scoots closer to you and gently places his wrapped foot on your lap. He’s eager. You can tell just how much he hated being so immobile. The image of him making a run for it as soon as you take the stabilizers out flashes through your mind. It’s a little cartoonish and funny but from what little you know about him he’ll be leaving as soon as he can walk a straight line halfway decently— Then it’ll be just you and Gus again.

“You sure the pain’s gotten better?” you ask one final time, “Nothing feels… off?”

“I know what broken bones feel like,” he assures you with a small eye roll. Well, without an X-ray machine, his intuition was the next best thing you had. What could go wrong?

“Okay,” you nod and begin the process.

He winces as you unwind the bandages and slip out the makeshift braces. The swelling has gone down considerably but there’s still a little stress on the skin. You gently roll his ankle through a series of movements to assess the damage. He gives an answer for each position through gritted teeth. Overall, it’s not too bad and likely not broken. The time for resting was over. Now he had to move if he wanted to speed up his recovery.

“Do those stretches twice a day. Feel free to walk around as much as you’d like, just don’t stress it too much. Use a walking stick if you need,” You instruct him as you gently roll the compression bandages around your hand and place them back in the bag, “You can put your boots on, just tie them loose. Move it around whenever you’re sitting, keep the blood flowing. Movement is your friend now.”

“Goody,” He groans as he leans down to roll his sock over his now only moderately swollen foot. “Alright, what do you need help with?”

Already back on the grind. 

“I don’t–” you cut yourself off and actually think. He needs to move around. He’s healing up amazingly. Sitting around won’t help him anymore. You haven’t had the option to have help in so long that you don’t actually know what you need. There had to be something for him though, “What are ya good, Joel Miller?”

“Lately, just sitting around and lookin’ pretty.” You pause in shock before a laugh slips out more like a raspberry. It’s the first honest-to-good joke he’s told since he got here. He smiles at your reaction and you notice how the lines on his face change when he does. The dimples in his cheeks. The creases around his soft brown eyes. He was rather pretty… you suppose. 

“I’m good at huntin’, I suppose,” he finally answers. “Noticed we went through those pheasants and rabbit you had.”

“We did,” You confirm. 

“You have any traps set up?”

“I do not,” You confirm again, “Never learned that one.”

“Then I’ll set up some traps nearby,” He stands up with a grunt, taking a moment to regain balance. You hop up and offer your elbow for support but he waves you off, leaning on the railing instead. He wants to do it himself. That’s fine.

You’re a little worried about him going off on his own but he wouldn’t have offered if he wasn’t going to come back…right?

“I’ll go with you.” You offer.

“You have plenty to do here. I can manage if you at least point me in the right direction of some rabbit trails.”

“I can do that. Gus’ll probably go with you. He’ll show you all the good spots and the way back, hopefully.” You look at the lazy dog sitting on the doorstep. His ears perk up at the mention of his name and strolls over to you, “Whadda need for supplies?”

“Rope and wire if you have it. A hammer would be nice.” He takes an experimental step. It’s clumsy but manageable. The next few days are gonna be rough for him but it’ll be what’s best for his ankle in the long run.

You lead him over to the Buck Shack, where you kept most of your miscellaneous supplies. He’s slow but steady, still getting the hang of it. You fill a bag with rope, some rusting wire, a hunting knife, and a hammer. 

“I’ll tie a few here and I’ll head out and place ‘em,” he says, walking over to the workbench.

“Whatever you gotta do,” you say, turning to leave him to his work. You pause at the door. This could be an opportunity to get to know him more. For him to actually show you something. You’re debating your next words, but they still come before you can stop yourself, “Will you show me?”

“What?” his brows knit together.

“Show me… how to make a trap.” You let the request sit a moment before you start to regret it, “Actually, you don’t have to—”

“Okay,” He nods, gesturing you over to him, “Come over here.”

You skittishly walk to his side as he takes the spool of thin wire out of the bag. He cuts a length of it and spins a loop around his fist. 

“For just a simple snare there’s not much to it, actually. Just a noose really. Most traps start the same, it just depends on how you set ‘em up that’s different,” Joel says as he ties a loose knot at the top of the loop, wrapping the wire around itself several times. You watch his large hands work with intensity. Callous, worked hands doing such small delicate movements— His knuckles still a little bruised from whatever fight he had been in. Your imagination runs a little wild at the sight of such strong things doing such small, purposeful movements.

“Just like this,” he holds up the small noose and pulls the loop tighter around his fingers, “This is for a still snare, good for rabbits and squirrels. Tie this up for them to run through on the ground and that’s about it. Nothing fancy. You try.”

You silently cut yourself a length of wire and copy his movements, wrapping it around your fist to make a loop and then twisting the wire around itself loosely at the top. He was right, it wasn’t anything fancy but you can’t help but feel like yours is inferior to his. 

“Like this?” You hold up the completed trap. 

He slides two fingers through the loop and pulls it taut. His eyes burn into yours as he does so— slowly. You immediately feel your cheeks start to heat up as he curls his fingers and gives a small tug. It wasn’t forceful but you can’t help but take a step closer to him.

“Perfect, darlin’.”

[rainnycloudstorm]

Come on, Be Quiet…

Eric x FemReader

Warnings: NSFW 18+ Only!!, Very needing Eric that makes him Dom, DobCon, Cussing, Creampied, Age gap reader in early 20’s, Violence and Horror scenes.

It was a month into the alien invasion I guess you would call it. You were at a local coffee shop in the middle of New York when it happened. You watched so many people get killed by the extraterrestrial you tried to block the horrific images from your brain some days were easier than others, but when walking by and seeing the dead deformed bodies would only be implanted into your soul forever until your last breath. You hoped that at least when you did eventually die it would be happy memories before this awful invasion happened. But meeting Eric has helped tremendously, you swore he was more scared than you. But finding comfort in each other’s company was making the stress of the world a little less intense.

You both were walking down the burned, blood splattered streets. Trying to find a way towards the peer to catch the next boat out of this fucked city. It was raining and it was coming down hard, it was better to travel in the rain but the storm was getting increasingly harsh it was becoming hard to see. Every drop felt like little pellets piercing your skin, you grabbed Eric’s arm and pulling it gently. He turned to you, worry covered his face. “What?” He whispered, “It’s too intense to be walking right now… I can barely see in front of me. Let’s just take shelter and wait for this to blow over.” You said, he sighed, looking around almost debating with himself if that was the best option but he nodded in agreement. You both found shelter inside a pharmacy, luckily they still had pillows and blankets. Sleeping around him was always so, strange. It’s not like he was a weirdo he never tried anything but it was always to quiet. I mean of course in the living conditions of the world you HAD to be quiet but whispering was always an option, but he never did.

As the two of you were settling into your make shift sleeping areas a few feet away from each other the rain of course stopped. You sighed softly to yourself, pinching the bridge of your nose. You looked over to him, he shrugged and shook his head. “Just rest for now.” He whispered. You shook your head, and laid down. It wasn’t long before you fell asleep. But once you woke up it was already morning, it was summer time so the cold night rain storm made the morning feel muggy. You were already drenched in sweat, you decided to get up and change before Eric woke up. But when you thought he was sleeping, he was just resting with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes to see you now almost completely naked. You wore tight but comfortable fitting white panties, and a matching bra. He couldn’t help but stare, he knew it was wrong but he couldn’t deny that you were extremely attractive to him. The boner in his pants became uncomfortably tight, he just needed to at least readjust himself. But in doing so sent a shiver through his body that caused him to jolt, it’s been far to long since he last touched himself. Even before the alien invasion began, he watched as you removed your underwear, the moment you bent down to get them to your knees and seeing your core between your thighs it was over for him. He couldn’t handle it any longer, the feeling of his pants uncomfortably tight around his still growing cock and the sensation of them rubbing against him, he needed to feel something warm, and you looked warm, so very so.

He hastily got up, proud he did so quietly. He wrapped an arm around your stomach and the other one around your mouth that trapped the gasp that escaped your lips. “Shh… Please, I know… I shouldn’t have watched.” He paused, moving his hand between your legs quickly. His fingers swiftly found your nub that he eagerly started to rub. You gripped his wrist trying to pry him away but the strength he had in him shocked you, but scared you all the same. “Y/N… You’re so wet… You can’t deny you need this to.” He quickly and with such ease moved you back down to your make shift bed. Trapping you to the ground with him between your legs, he leaned forwards to whisper into your ear, after slamming his two digits into your soaked core. “Fuck Y/N… I can feel your insides grip my fingers.” His hot breath caressed your ear, sending a bolt of lightning through your womb that was growing hotter. His long and slim fingers began to move inside you in slow but steady come here motion, you wanted to pull back from the overwhelming knot that was growing. But he was keeping you plastered down to the ground, still covering your mouth. You could feel that the knot was about to break, he must have known as well, he pulled his fingers out that caused you to whimper under his palm. “No, I’m not done yet… I haven’t touched a girl in years… I could be killed today, so I’m making this last. I need to savor my last meal.” He spoke softly into your ear, then began to hungrily kiss on your neck, jaw line, and ear biting softly. Your body couldn’t help but to jolt and twitch to his needy touches and kisses. He finally pulled his hand away from your mouth, grabbing your own hand and placing it in his sted. He sat up between your legs, removing his shirt, and lowering his pants just below his ass letting his cock finally free. He covered his mouth, his chest rising and falling with each trapped breath. The sensation of his dick no longer confined inside his pants felt so good to him. You thought, why not just tease him back? You gripped his dick, causing him to jump, and gripping onto his mouth tighter. But once he looked down at you, you knew that was a mistake. His eyes were filled with fear but a lustful anger, he grabbed your hand and ripped away. He slowly lowered himself down with your wrist still in his hand pushing it firmly to the ground, his chest pressing against yours. “Y/N… You can’t do that to me those things… Could’ve heard if I didn’t have my mouth covered…” He whispered, he removed his hand from your wrist, now moving his hands up under your bra to expose your breasts and hardened nipples. “So pretty…” he kissed down your neck to take in one of your nipples in his mouth, his other hand yet again moved from your mouth to begin to pinch, flick, and pull on the other. You quickly covered your mouth with both hands, trapping your moans. He shifted upwards, positioning his dick at your entrance. You looked down at him, you took one your hands pushing on his shoulder to try and get his attention. He looked up at you, you started to shake your head No, eyes filled with fear. You knew if he were to fuck you there would be not quiet.

He moved back to your ear. “It’s going to be okay…” Before you could whisper anything back you could feel his cock slipping inside you. Before you could cover your mouth you let out a sharp mewl. He looked down at you fearful, covering your mouth so hard his grip was hurting your cheeks. “Shh… Please…-“ he said into your ear as he started to eagerly thrust into you, his brows furrowed. “Be Quiet…” He leaned forwards behind your head, you weren’t sure what he was doing but before long he was shoving a piece of cloth into your mouth. Your eyes went wide once he grabbed ahold of your legs behind the knees and pushing them open and against your shoulders. His motions were becoming frantic, having you in this position was not safe. You could feel the knot forming yet again, he could feel it too, he bit down on his bottom lip looking down at you. Watching as your boobs bounced with his motions. He leaned forwards, moving his hands and placing his forearm under your knees so that he could take his thumb and begin to rub against your clit. Your back arched up, the knot finally breaking. Your walls gripped, shuddered, and pushed against his cock as you came you moaned into the cloth that was forced into your mouth. The way he started to slam into your overstimulated, abused, and puffy cunt you knew he was about to cum. He was whimpering after every thrust motion. It was to much noise, this was becoming too dangerous. But you didn’t want him to stop… You put your arms around his neck pulling him down roughly, covering his mouth with your hand. You pulled the cloth from your mouth and smashing your lips with his. He wrapped his arms around your back, holding you close as he continued to fuck your pussy raw and hard. You pried his mouth open with your tongue, allowing him to moan into your mouth and you into his. You could feel his hot seed fill you, and his nails digging into your back, god he was so clingy… He laid there on top of you, his cock still implanted inside you. His face resting in the crook of your neck. It began to rain yet again along with thunder roaring. You couldn’t help but laugh, he looked at you and began to laugh as well. “You could’ve waited until it rained again Eric!” You said, he smiled nervously and sat up. “I didn’t want to waste any time… You never know what could happen these days.” He said with an awkward but cute smile. You sighed and put your clothes back on as he did the same. “We need to get going.” You said ready to walk out the door, he grabbed your wrist and pulled you back into a fierce kiss. “When we get the ferry… I’m fucking you for real, I want to hear all those pretty pathetic sounds you make.” You blushed a dark red, but gave him a smile nodding your head in agreement. “And I want to hear yours.” You replied, leaning forwards and biting down on his bottom lip…

Notes: If you enjoyed this, please let me know if you’d like a part two! ❤️

[lostmyhufflepuffstatus]

Dear Genius {Criminal Minds}

Word Count: 1010

Summary: With things slowly going back to normal you're thinking about the past when you get a midnight visitor.

Warnings: Blood, horrible writing, OOC Characters, She/Her Pronouns used

Genre: I don't even know anymore angst????

A/N: So this was not what I was expecting to write for part 4 of Under the Door... I was going to do something happy but then my brain decided screw that you're gonna make people mad at you. I have no idea why people enjoy this series... and sorry for the long hiatus, i have issues lol.

You finished the case in San Fransisco a few months ago and everyone had made it home safely. Spencer had been back a few months and things were slowly returning to normal, or as normal as they could when your partner and best friend had been through the traumatic experience of losing the love of his life. Since he has gotten back you and Spencer have gotten closer and have been spending more and more time together passing notes. You passed them in the books you shared with eachother, on the togo coffee cups you got for one another and even writing on someones hand when paper was inaccessible. The closer you grew the more that old work place crush from oh so long ago rears it’s ugly head. Something you thought that you had squashed under your boot a long long time ago. one night after a particularly rough case that did not have a happy ending, are alone in your apartment, and you’re pulled into a memory of the first time you and Spencer met.

Taking a deep breath you pull open the glass doors leading into the bullpen. At twenty-three years old you had just barely cut into being an agent at the FBI. You had worked your ass off to get to where you were and you were not about to stop now. You had double majored in psychology and geography during college and went to the academy as soon as you had your degrees in hand. You were smart and capable, and most importantly prepared and trained for this job. 

Stepping into the bullpen was like stepping into an alien world, it was very overwhelming at first. You tried to get the attention of some of the other agents but because everyone was doing a hundred million things at once, nobody seemed to notice you. After a few minutes you locate Hotch’s office and he takes you into the conference room to be introduced to the rest of the team. Going around the table you are introduced to Elle, Gideon, JJ, Garcia, and Morgan. Hotch mentions that someone named Spencer is running late. As JJ starts to go over the case you are distracted by the door quickly opening and closing, Morgan is the first to turn towards the door with a smile. Others follow suit including you.  After taking a moment to take in the height of the man before you, your eyes meet the warmest brown eyes and you are rendered speechless. And to the team's surprise Spencer goes silent as well. There is a pause before awkward pleasantries are exchanged and both of you notice that there is only one chair left at the round table, right next to you. You held your breath as he took the seat next to you, JJ resumed her case and you forced your eyes to the front of the room, completely aware of the genius sitting next to you.

Since that moment you became inseparable as friends, and realized that you complimented eachother’s skill set on cases so Hotch frequently partnered the two of you up for assignments on cases. While you befriended all of your teammates, the connection you and Spencer shared was different. And as cliche as it sounds, as time went on you started realizing that you had started falling for your best friend.  You have never told anyone other than a single piece of paper, that you had buried in your bedside table drawer. You didn’t want to ruin the friendship that you had if he didn’t share your feelings, and especially with Maeve you convinced yourself to ignore your feelings and pray that they would go away. And for a time it seemed to work. While thinking about everything that had happened since joining the BAU there was a knock on your door. Forcing yourself off the couch you grumble as you walk to the door, pulling it open. “Hello?”

MEANWHILE

The incessant knocking on his door dragged a reluctant Spencer from sleep. He pads his way to the door before pulling it open to reveal that nobody is there. Letting out an exasperated sigh he peeks his head out to look around the hallways before noticing that there is an envelope taped to the door with his name on it. Pulling it down he immediately recognizes your handwriting. Tearing it open two pieces of paper fall out, one of which is much older than the other. Taking the older slip of paper in his hand he read it over and over again. 

Dear Genius,

If you’re reading this letter that means I have either completely lost my mind and gave this to you of my own free will, or Penny found it, read it and passed it along to you…

The words went straight to his heart and soul, puncturing the walls only you could bring down. He could have stared at that letter for hours but his curiosity about the second sheet of paper got the better of him. Tearing his eyes away from your letter he was met with handwriting he did not recognize. The ink used was a dark red that was still wet to the touch, and attached to the letter was a lock of hair, it was a color that he had grown so used to and fond of over the last several years. He took a second look at the “ink” and realized that he was not looking at a typical ball point pen or even fountain pen ink. His heart dropped into his stomach as he realized what it was, blood. Trying not to smudge the “ink” he forced himself to read the words;

Did you miss me? I sure missed you.

P.S. This is a scavenger hunt, I have left clues for you. If you want her back alive, follow the rules. You have 24 hours.

Clue #1

Rain, rain, go away

Come again another day

She wants you to come out and play

Where to hide from the rain?