#saw like... five different spiders yesterday

[amitherenbored]

Spiderman au where spiderman isn't a flashy one-liner superhero, but a grade A spy. Spiderman au where the suit is all black and brown, and like a real spider, spiderman can move silently across walls and ceilings, almost unseen, and dangle from his webbing without making a sound.

Spiderman au where spiderman is blind. He fills the streets he fights in with thin webs, and knows exactly where the enemy is by the gentle vibrations in his webbing.

Spiderman au where spiderman is a mechanical engineer. He forms traps from webs, waiting for an enemy to get too close before wraping it up in silky threads.

Spiderman au where spiderman just... acts like a real spider.

[acornered]

Hey Tumblr, my snake did the coolest thing EVER this morning and I need to yell about it!

**CW for (accidental!!) inhumane pest control, nothing too graphic**

Mice have been finding their way into our apartment for the first time in years and although we got two with the peanut butter bucket (a humane catch and release trap), I was still very stressed last night, and equally dismayed to spot a scurrying little critter darting under my bed when I woke up this morning. Normally I am fine sharing my space with Creatures-- I am always delighted to host the occasional spider or wasp in the summer time-- but mice are an entirely different story. They piss everywhere. They chew everything. They set off my allergies and they smell terrible and they breed like crazy. You get the picture.

Now, one of my ball pythons-- Dandelion-- had been having some free roaming time in my room since yesterday evening, however if you know anything about ball pythons, you'll know they are notoriously indifferent predators, and my poor sweet son is no exception. Despite the mouse crossing his path multiple times, his only concern seemed to be relocating to the stuffed animal pile as soon as I disturbed the laundry he was sleeping in trying to catch the darn thing. Not even a tongue flick in the general direction. Granted, all his meals are delivered pre-killed, and he has been on a strictly rat diet the entire time I've had him, but still, I admit I'm a little disappointed at his lack of initiative in contributing to our household.

HOWEVER, I have five other potential legless mousers, one of which-- Chrysanthemum-- is a younger, more food motivated male, who hasn't been fed in about 3 weeks (longer than usual but not dangerous by any means for a healthy BP). Chrysanthemum also gets his meals delivered pre-killed, so I had no reason to believe he'd actually be a successful killer, just that his willingness to pursue and strike at the mouse might be the sort of "rent-lowering gunshots" that the critter would need to get the message that my room is Not the place to be.

Well. When I tell you that as soon as I put him in the general area I last saw the vermin scurry he was LOCKED IN to that scent. When I tell you that I cautiously kept an eye on him, hoping to be led to an entry point that I could either block or bait with a humane trap, only to watch in disbelief as he stilled, pulled back his little head, and ACTUALLY FUCKING STRUCK SOMETHING. When I tell you that it took that crazy motherfucker less than 10 minutes from the moment he touched the floor of my apartment to track down and kill that unlucky michael moses.

THAT IS A SNAKE THAT IS PAYING HIS RENT!! I HOLLERED SO LOUD!! I THAWED THE FATTEST JUICIEST RAT FOR HIM TO ENJOY AFTER I REMOVED THE UNALIVE'D MOUSE FROM HIS GRASP!! MY SKIN IS CLEARED AND MY STUFFED ANIMALS ARE SAVED FROM THE PISS DEMON!! HOORAY!!

And of course, as soon as he smelled a rat, Dandelion poked his sleepy head out from under a pile of stuffed dragons, suddenly so eager to give me the time of day. I love my legless cats. So. Much. I will not be doing that again knowing he can actually make a successful kill, but damn. What a rush.

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Another day, another set of incest asks:

Like, you guys get the irony of sending me asks basically saying I'm TOO supportive of incest when just yesterday I was answering some accusing me of supporting purity culture and saying I was one step away from calling for book burnings of Lolita and Flowers in the Attic, right?? We all see and understand the irony, and we all are going to develop media literacy skills? Okay great.

It's important to remember that big blockbuster movies are about what sells best, they want to appeal to the broadest possible audience. Avatar's mission as a series right now from a marketing and production standpoint is to get a younger audience invested, and the best way to do that for the majority of teens is with teen romance. They did Lo'ak and Tsireya and it's clearly been set up and will happen with spiri as well. When I say spiri is going to happen I'm not saying it because I love spiri or some shit, I'm not that passionate one way or the other. I'm saying it because it is. Narratively and from a marketing standpoint, that is what they set up. I'd be really intrigued to hear arguments against this, actually, because when I first saw this movie I was a norman and it was one of my only takeaways lol.

The general audience is not thinking about this at all as any sort of incest implication, because if there is it's really vague. I am not saying that adopted siblings aren't siblings, I have adopted cousins and close family friends myself. It's just that Spider wasn't adopted, and was not raised as a sibling, Familial, friend, and romantic relationships and the bases they were built on don't just instantly change with Jake saying five words and symbolically adopting Spider (maybe, technically, we haven't seen what his means yet but narratively I think that is what it means). Jake saying he's his son won't make Spider see him as a father (or Jake see him as a son) instantly. The same goes for the Sully kids. Theres a past sixteen years of history that can't be erased overnight.

There is a major reason that saying you ship Kiri and Lo'ak is way different than saying you ship Spider and Lo'ak, and that it's going to get majorly different reactions. They are the same amount of related, and yet one feels infinitely more gross! It's because Kiri is adopted, and her and Lo'ak are raised as siblings, because they are siblings. Spider isn't a sibling. Simple. Would be nice if he was! But he hasn't been.

[theyluvlyss]

just saw that u watched atsv, and I've been wanting to rant to somebody about it for so LONG. Im curious about your thoughts on it tho, mind sharing?

𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧...

you've unlocked one of lyssa's mile long tangents. prepare to crumble under my wrath of fangirl-ism. to lie buried beneath the wreckage of my infinite declarations. and to suffocate amongst my many, many convictions /ᐠ○⩊○マ~ !

no, but fr, this may be a lot, so I apologize in advance for the length. however, I'll organize all of my thoughts into cute little sections for you and the others who may read this, if that helps any :).

oh, and short disclaimer, the following is my own opinion. I want to remind y'all not to take whatever I say so seriously/to heart. if you don't like what I have to say/think, then just scroll on and go about your day. no hate needed. and, if you'd like to discuss more in depth, dms are always open (I love to talk😻).

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 :

I give the movie a solid 8.5/10. the only reason it's not a full 9-10/10 is because of two things;

a.) the pacing was crazy, like, it kind of overstimulated me? not in a bad way, exactly, but it definitely made it hard for me to focus while being slung through, like, ten different emotions every ten seconds. so much so, that when the movie ended, I felt nothing💀 (I was mad/hype/in my feels later, ofc) but like... after everythingggg, I felt very numb and needed a second longer than usual to recollect.

b.) everyone needed to take several high dose chill pills. like, am I the only one who feels as though certain character arcs/developments were erased? and that everyone needed to just sit tf down and t a l k fr? idkidk, don't press me✋🏽😃✋🏽.

other than that, solid movie and I'm so, so, excited for the next one, and I can't wait to start writing fanfic and make a spider-sona (or two...or three or four or five💀-).

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬/𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 :

the soundtrack is so fire !! straight heat🔥, not one bad track, just banger after banger fr😻😆. when I give it my second watch (cuz no, I didn't watch it again yesterday like I said, I got busy, it's halloweekend, give me a break lol), I'll definitely list some of my faves from the track.

to be honest, though, I don't know what I expected. of course atsv had some heat. so did the first movie ! so I expect beyond the spider-verse to deliver again.

visuals... they ate down for the most part, I was totally expecting that. I only have one, eensy-weensy little pet peeve, and that's the way gwen's world/coloring is done. personally, it's just not my cup of tea, I didn't really vibe with it, which made it hard for me to enjoy a lot of her home world/dimension scenes. and ofc, it's just my opinion. if you liked it, awesome. I don't expect to start something or like... have the whole artstyle be changed, that's not what I'm saying.

I just wasn't messing with it, and that's totally okay :). everyone else was *💋* perfect, and my faves definitely had to be our miles' (y'know, 1610!miles) dimension, pavitr's, hobie's... okay, so, basically, everyone else's but gwen's (y'all are going to start to notice a theme here, btw🥴💀). but, if anyone has some niche facts or interpretations on why her world was colored as such, I'd love to hear them :).

now onto the good stuff >:3...

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 :

I- *crying about him every second of the day*...

poor boy needs a break, bro, like... (minus the spider-duties, ofc) I was deeply/heavily relating to his struggles. having all of these different things running through your mind at once, all things imperative for a good future/outcome. and then the constant stress of worrying about/for all of this different shit. especially the family bits, him just trying to do right by them but also needing s p a c e hit home mad hard😭.

and then, omg, all of these people telling him all of these different things... how he, A TEENAGE BOY, has to make all of these life altering (some life ending) choices for MULTIPLE realities, including his own ?? have the adults in the building (movie) lost they whole entire minds?! anyways, sorry, lemme chill out. this is supposed to be about miles💀.

as usual, I loved him and his personality like, truly resonated with this awkward swag vibe he has going on (and have since the first movie) and I just-...

he's pookie, fr, and I wish the world and the ppl who claim to love him in it so deeply would act like such😭💋. and he was so, so, so real for dissing peter (b. parker) every time he'd try to talk because bro, he was such a snitch, idcidc💀. and then real again for the whole, "everyone keeps tryna tell me how my story is supposed to go. Nah... i'ma do my own thing." line, like yesss king, go off✨️.

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐰𝐞𝐧 :

she-... ouuu...

y'all, I can't express how much this lil' girl got on my nerves. not to say that I don't understand, I do, trust. but it's not an excuse. and oh my days, did she make me cringe like... she gives me sheltered person vibes, which I was gonna say isn't her fault, but it kinda is when she shut herself out from the whole world willingly😭. again, I understand why, but she set herself up doing that. on top of being so stereotypically white?

no offense, but I audibly gasped when she called mr. and mrs. morales by their first names😃. like girl🥴- ! and then this whole, "I like you but actually lol no I don't because I'm lowkey with hobie, but no, I'm not." thing she's doing with miles? either miss girl is terrible at social cues, orrrr😗... she's an ass🤷🏽‍♀️. sorry but that wasn't cute, like if I were miles, I would just have to let gwen go, I mean, she even said it herself;

"in every universe, gwen stacy falls for spider-man... and in every other universe, it…doesn’t end well.”

like girl, if that's what you believe, then quit it with the, "you might have a chance with me but probably not, let's find out." vibes you're radiating, please😭🙏🏽. like, throwing the whole spider-verse off balance because, "i JuSt wAnTeD tO sEe hIm aGaIn x'0 !" when she literally knew and AGREED that she shouldn't have ever gone to see him again in the first place (because it's not like miles knew she had the ability to come see him whenever, so she should've just kept it that way) was such a foul move, bro...

anyway, I'm done dragging her, because on the flip side...

gwen deserved so much better from her father. sure, he came around towards the end, but where was the unconditional love and support that a parent is supposed to give, regardless of anything else? like, I was wholeheartedly shook to my core when gwen told him she was spider-girl, and his response was to arrest her.

sir...?! if it were me, I'd take all my shit from my room and never speak to that man again. like, oh 'ight, that's how you feel? I'm out here essentially doing your job after having to deal with the murder of my best friend (which you blamed me for, mind you !) and you want me in jail? still?? even after finding out I'm your lil' princess baby girl a.k.a. your daughter, bitch ???

sorry, but I'll say it again, my dad would never see me again 'cept when I'm busy being spider-girl on the tv😹. and just in general, poor gwen fr, like, I truly felt it when spider-woman swooped into the scene in the start of the movie, and gwen's immediate response was to go, "can you adopt me?" and like, sure, "sHe wAs jOkInG/bEiNg aWkwArD" but, coming from a girl who wished she'd had better parents...

that was not a joke, she fully meant that shit, you're not changing my mind😹🥴. anyways, all in all, I have very 60/40 feelings about gwen. sixty being my dislike, forty being my like (or, more accurately, understanding of her person regardless of my dislike).

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 :

let's just acknowledge that she's voiced by the queen, ms. issa rae😻 !!! like she ate down, I don't care what anyone has to say. now, onto her actual character, she was so honorable for taking gwen in. like wow, I wish someone would swoop into my life, via sick motorcycle and sweet webs, and snatch me up into a better life🤩. and then further advocating for her (gwen) and her actions throughout the movie, even though it was risky?

she's so amazing (as all spider-people tend to be, harhar, puns). and yes, it was unfortunate when she couldn't do much for gwen upon miguel finding out what had been done and yada-yada, but she did all she could/agreed to/said she would do. She stood on her word, and that's all that matters🤷🏽‍♀️.

honestly, I don't have much on her except for the fact that I remember thinking she was pretty sick, so yeah :).

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐥 :

um, I don't... dislike him, I guess? but I definitely don't like him, nor am I attracted to him. I kind of don't get/understand that, but to each their own.

b u t... I do wanna say one thing because I hope that once I do say it, I start seeing a bit of a change/more of it...

I've read some miguel fanfiction, both before and after watching the movie. not saying I scoured the depths of tumblr for it or anything, read every last piece of writing on him there is to exist. that's not the case. but, from what I have read, y'all didn't get his character right imo. some aspects, sure, but his whole persona has been completely misconstrued. misinterpreted.

he's not this extra stoic, leader, jason todd-type/esque dude. to me, that man gave awkward and anti-social. I'd even go as far as to say he might've been a little autistic coded, but again, as always, that's just me ✋🏽😗✋🏽. and sure, yes, there was stoic behavior, which comes along with being rather awkward and potentially on the spectrum. and I'm not at all denying that he's a badass, he totally is.

but outside of that, and outside of him being super aggro towards miles, any scene of him was either him keeping to his lonesome unless absolutely necessary. self-isolating (which can be moreso due to trauma/other mental troubles rather than autism), and wanting nothing to do with anything he wasn't comfortable with (and I definitely wanna say he didn't want to be leader of anything/in a position of power, that's just how shit lined up for him, and it's just like... what can you do🤷🏽‍♀️?).

he was consistent with his information, both giving it and explaining deeper. he didn't like to be interrupted while doing so. and there was that one moment where talking to lyla (lila? lyla?¿) where he said something like, "do the explaining thing that do you do."

"what thing?"

"wha-😃? what do you mean, 'what thing?' the information explain-y thingy😐🤨."

and it's not even the only time where him and lila have had this awkward (but cute, ngl) dynamic with each other. anyways, whatever, I could just be talking out of my ass and being contradictory (becauss he is stoic but he isnt but he is-?¿), but-

I need/wanna see more awkward and introverted miguel content, not so much no-nonsense and hella apathetic...

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐥𝐚 (𝐥𝐲𝐥𝐚?¿) :

someone tell me how to spell her name so I can do her proper justice lol🙏🏽.

but anyways, I like her a lot :D. I mean, I know we barely see her, but just from her fit, voice/lil valley girl accent, and vibes alone...

oh yeah, we'd be besties if we ever met, I just know it. lila is so cool and I hope she plays a bigger role in beyond the spider-verse😻.

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐞 :

he's so hot and cool and aesthetically pleasing to look at, I just wish I could understand what that nigga was saying🥴💀. no shade, I'm so deeply infatuated with him, I just... that accent is thick as hell, so that's my sign to be sure my next watch has captions on😭.

through context clues, though, I was happy when he sided with miles/supported his journey to do whatever he felt it was best to do. and how he quit being apart of... what was it called, the spider-society? I-... and then at the end when he shows up to help gwen and them help miles. also, hello, the friendship between him and pavitr is so cute, I live for that😭.

also, his suit kicks ass. I thought the spikes and the fact that he fights with a guitar was a very nice touch, and I really dig how when miles was like, "how are you even cooler under the mask?" he's like, "I was this cool the whole time😌.

like okay, periodt, love that for you, king✨️. like shiiii, I believe it🥴😻. also, is it canon that him and gwen were together? or is it a friends with benefits type of deal? who knows, who cares. I don't >:) (I will being writing fanfiction about him).

also, quick headcanon !! I don't know why, but he gives me vibes that he can't stay focused for the life of him. er, like... he can, but to do so, he has to be focused on something completely unrelated. also, hello, he's a spider-person... shooting off un-asked for quips and jokes is kind of part of the spider-package. like, there were so many times where a person (irl or in the movie, doesn't matter) could swear hobie wasn't paying a lick of attention because he's off doing something else, talking about something totally unrelated...

just a completely unserious ass dude, right? wrong. well, not fully. but no, he's paying attention by... not paying attention. does that make sense😃? anyways...

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐫 :

he's my silly little meow-meow babygirl and I want nothing but the very best for him😆🥺. no but for real, I was on edge watching him try to "do both." save his girlfriend or save her dad (which was apparently a canon event that miles disrupted but he just wanted to helppp😭).

I was so happy when everything went okay, even if it meant that a canon event was fucked with, but stillll...

also, I thought it was so funny how he's "perfect" lmao. he fr achieved that healthy, work-life-spider-man balance. truly peaked😌✨️. also his theme...!! the cultural tune implemented into it !!! what a bop, an absolute jam, a certified banger. I also really vibed with his spider-suit, like, the colors and incorporations clashed so well together, and just the design itself was so...💫sparkly💫, and the way he used his webs??

again, I adored it ! I have no clue what the arm cuffs (??) at the ends of them are called (plz let me know, because I know they're important/cultural, I believe🙏🏽), but once again, beautifully done and amazingly executed. I'm sure people (especially teens and younger) probably went nuts in the theater seeing that, like, y'all... representation matters, I will scream it until my own ears bleed.

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛. (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲) :

when I tell you miles and I went, "you/he had a baby😃?!" at the exact same time, you would've thought I was in the movie lmao💀.

I don't know, I just wasn't expecting it (even though I probably should have been), but she was the cutest darn thing😻🥺 !! her red hair like mary jane's, but having peter's spider powers was just adorable, and the fact that I saw everyone hold her at least once... my heart... it aches😫♡.

never thought a cartoon would give me baby fever, yet here I am. and it was so special to me how he admitted to miles (even though/while under shitty circumstances) that he was the reason he (peter) even wanted to have her in the first place and made him ready to commit. he wants her to be just like him (miles) and that made me-

😭😭😭♡ plus, him constantly having her with him in the little baby carrier thingy... adorable. like, yes, mj, he did take her on another mission, and she was clearly having the time of her life, lay off😆✨️.

now, on the flipside... peter,,, you're a terrible mentor💀. like, I get he was doing his best, but his best was trash, what can I say🤷🏽‍♀️. just doing miles dirty, snitching and switching sides left and right. I mean, the fact that he only showed up during the "intervention" (more like trap-) just so there was a higher chance at helping miguel to convince miles to let innocent people, plus his own father, d i e? shit move, some mentor/father-type figure you are😒.

also, this next bit should really be in the miguel section (oh well), but... how uncool of him was it to literally set miles up with all of his spider friends and then have them try to convince him, "oh yeah, it's a canon event to let people die, including one of the closest people you have in your life. sorry, that's just how it is, accept it lol." like actually, fuck uncool, shit was totally buckwild and uncouth. on top of the fact that none of them thought to visit him for who knows how long?

yeah... no, get fucked, I hope miles figures out a way to beat the system in the next movie, just out of pure spite🙏🏽.

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐞-𝟒𝟐 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 :

I know he was only there for half a second, but listen... how scary was it, coming to that realization that 1610 miles was in the wrong universe. like dawg, I had chilllsss, I was so nervous for him, like genuinely, the stress sweat was insane😃✋🏽.

y'all said tmi? gotchu. anyways, so yeah, but then immediately when uncle aaron showed up, I just knew, I was like, "oh shit, wait, okay, if he's here, and jefferson is dead..." like I put the pieces together so fast, I figured out e-42 miles was the prowler way quicker than I think I should've🥲✋🏽.

but when that mask came back, my mind wiped, cuz um...

like... I'm not the only person that... reacted... to the accent right? like-

I was shook, but when I was... it was like, "😱...😧...😳...😻" yk? like what buisness did he have sounding like that😃💀. anyways, sorry, I'm done. except I'm not, because my mind now contains sooo many headcannons on just earth-42 in general and then e-42 miles, like ?! and that shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone because I'm a writer I do this, this is what I do, I do this, this is what I do🤷🏽‍♀️<3.

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 :

- loved it when they did the thing... yk...

lolll that thing. I giggled very loud :).

- spot was nonchalantly terrifying and funny, and I really a d o r e villains like that. just unhinged and doing thier own thing while still proving themselves great threat and standing on buisness? yeah, he was awesome, I have zero nitpicks on him, he was done very well. althoughhhh.... I know I just said I have no nitpicks, but why is his backstory/origin so insignificant😭? like it's kind of lame, but at the same time, kind of... genius? like, I don't hate it, but I definitely wouldn't have come up with it so I guess that's a good thing. original/unique, in this specific case, I'd say🤷🏽‍♀️.

- I wish my mom was like rio. that's it, that's the post, #mommyissues🥲✨️.

- why did they wash out jefferson's character so badly? like, he still had his moments, but outside of that, he was basically just comic relief, which was... a little jarring given how he behaved in the first movie. I definitely feel like he could've been done a little better, but I supposed it wasn't a crazy bad change. like, there was the fact that miles (as spider-man, but still-) still had to tell him to get off of his ass, so it wasn't a complete 180° change or anything. just a noticeable one.

- ben riley had me giggling hard💀🥴✋🏽. emo ass, I loved him😭✨️.

- the live action editing/clips just- shdjfjekgoekkr !!! like how freaking cool, like I was deadass in my room screaming like a lunatic, like, I get it's the spider-verse so it's obvious those shots would be there but IDC LEMME FANGIRL IN MF PEACE !!!

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

alright, that's all lol. if there's anything or anyone else I've forgotten to put in any of the different sections, I'll add them. but yeah, those are basically my surface level thoughts🥴. But of course, if anyone wants to go in depth with me, I'm totally open to that, and I hope to be posting headcanons and stuff about them soon (just gotta... set up the masterlist and stuff first😃).

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐨, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡... 𝐛𝐲𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 !

[buckybarnesdiaries]

i won't let you down

© @snyderzack

bucky barnes x reader. ⎢ masterlist.

Bucky helps you and gives you hope.

word count: 1.196 words.

warnings/tags: very brief mention of domestic violence, the winter soldier coming to help you.

author notes: none of my stories contain reader’s body descriptions to be inclusive.

Join the tag list here.

BUCKY POV

It was the fourth month he was living in the same building as you, concretely, in the apartment next to yours. Since the very first moment you met in the lift, you were extra kind with him and he couldn’t help but think that you were hiding some kind of intentions, until the days passed away and he discovered it was part of your naturality. He remembered, as if it happened yesterday, the first morning he knocked on your door asking for some coffee and you practically invited him to have breakfast together. You two talked about your part-time job in a cafeteria by morning, close to the neighborhood, and another one in a book shop by evenings. Bucky was fascinated by how much you used the hours of your days, letting you work out and have long walks in Central Park.

And he also remembered the night you knocked on his door for the first time, after hearing him having some nightmares and not being able to go back to sleep. The walls seemed like thin paper. He didn’t get it out of his head that time he heard you crying in your room, in the small hours, after a fight with your boyfriend. A punk who didn’t deserve an angel like you. On all the occasions you two argued, Bucky wanted to intervene, but he didn’t because what was his right.

Until a night where the heated talk escalated too quickly to swearings coming from him, and a painful scream coming from your lips after a loud hit. Bucky kicked the door down without doubting, panting furious and breaking into your apartment like a bat out of hell. As soon as he reached the living room and saw you crying and lying on the floor, all his rage contained during months got concentrated on the same point. Five cold fingers closing in a big and dangerous fist.

“Who the fuck are you?” Your boyfriend spat raving mad.

“A guy who’s gonna disappoint his therapist for breaking rule number two”. The soldier hissed, not giving time to the other to react.

With his left hand grabbing your boyfriend’s throat, Bucky pinned him to the nearest wall with so much uncontrollable strength that he almost opened a hold in it, straight to his own house.

“Listen to me now, you son of a bitch”. Their faces were separated barely for a couple of inches, drinking each other’s breathing. “If I see you coming again, laying a finger on her… I promise I’ll turn your life into a damn nightmare”.

Bucky could see the horror borning in his eyes when your boyfriend recognized him. That voice. Those blue orbs. The metallic fingers cutting off the air from his lungs. He was in the news for a long time. The Winter Soldier. One of those freaks with superpowers, with the difference that he was a trained assassin. Only a fool wouldn’t obey his threat. But for some reason, Bucky wasn’t able to loosen the hold around the other man, driven by the desire he had for killing him. After all the suffering he made you go through, after all the nights hearing you crying, after all the time waiting for your boyfriend to change. He wanted to end his life.

“Bu— Bucky”. Your weak sobs brought him back to reality. To New York. To the year twenty twenty-one. To the new century.

As if it was an automatic act, his fingers opened making your boyfriend fall to the floor. Coughing, choking with his own saliva and the lack of air. The poor coward ran away before Bucky could blink twice. Shaking his head to shut up the voices inside his head claiming him to chase the man, he turned around and squatted next to you. A thin thread of blood poured out from the upper right corner of your lip, as your cheek was burning in pain after the punch. The soldier held you onto his arms, listening to the sound of the police sirens coming. Probably some neighbor called them, fed up with the fights inside your house.

You were crying inconsolably and ashamed when he walked into his apartment, placing you with so much care on his sofa. Bucky didn’t utter a syllable, heading to his bathroom to take something to fix you up. He had a good medical kit since he didn’t want to visit any kind of hospital. Coming back to you, the soldier knelt next to you, feeling a knot inside his chest pressing out his skin. He wetted a cotton in hydrogen peroxide and placed his warm free hand on your untouched cheek to urge you to raise your head towards him. You couldn’t help but draw a grimace of pure soreness that broke his heart in one million pieces.

“Sorry…” Bucky murmured, earning your look filled up with sadness. “I, uh… I wanted to… So many times, I…”

“Thank you… for saving me”. You stuttered in low tears, while he continued healing your lip and cleaning the blood on it. “You’re a… good man, James”.

“I just did what I had to”.

“We’re… more than fifty persons living here… And you’ve been the one who has saved me”.

Knocks on his door interrupted your little chat, causing him to frown as the two of you heard it was the NYPD. Bucky left a delicate caress on your cheek before standing up and attending the call. The cops came into his house without asking if they could, knowing very well the man who was living there.

“Ma’am, you okay?” One of the officers inquired walking closer.

“Yeah, it was… I just… slip off to the fl—”. Tell them about your, now, ex-boyfriend wasn’t an option for you, feigning a soft chuckle as you cleaned the tears in your eyelids.

“His boyfriend hit her”. But Bucky interrupted you.

“And you helped her, mister Barnes?”

“Yeah, and she’s gonna make a complaint”.

That wasn’t an option for you either, but by the look coming from his eyes, you knew it was the only one for him. You couldn’t persuade him.

“Ma’am?”

Bucky licked his bottom lip, shortening the distance between both to grab his cozy and baggy black hoodie to offer it to you. He was determined to help you. He really wanted your welfare.

“C’mon”. He almost begged you in a whisper, shaking briefly his hand holding the piece of clothing to convince you of taking the good road. “I’ll be with you, I promise. I won’t let you down… Not again”.

It took you a couple of seconds to nod your head, getting up from his sofa being helped by the cold hand showing up. Bucky made you wear his hoodie, with so much careless to not touch your right cheek still burning because of the pain. Under the attentive look of the cops, he placed his flesh arm over your shoulders, not caring about the lack of distance when you clung yours around his waist and tried to hide your face on his chest. For the first time since you started that toxic relationship, you felt safe. You felt liberated.

feedback is appreciated, please, leave a comment to let me know if you liked it.

and REBLOG!!! support the writers 🤍

TAG LIST: @mystic-232 @homesicam @theresnoplatypus @i-love-scott-mccall @slutfornat @goldielocks2004 @whatrambles @spidergirla5 @fanofalltheficsx @nocturnalherb16 @valenquei @golden-hoax @hunter-of-baker-street @missusstark @vhscherry @warm-sensations @addictedtofictionalcharacters @sarahsmcu @tinylumpiaa @amelia-song-pond @heartislubbingdubbing @stolenxkissess @clean-and-claire @winchestersgirl222 @virgoroses @marvel-ousnesss @me-a-hopeless-romantic @rvgrsbrns @maccasbeard @haileygarciasunshine @lewd-alien @kait-is-always-late @mckenna @weenersoldierr @mxltifaves @soldierstucky @theboldandthebootyful @arkofblake @isabellamur @kiwisa @spider-man-lover @rosiebrands @stealapizzamyheart @koressecretidentity @asemistablehundredyearoldman @mayans-sauce @petlaufeyson @megapeacelovemusic-blog @phoenixhalliwell

[kassandras-one-braincell]

Abby Anderson x AFAB!Reader - Pain, Pain, Go Away

Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt: Cramping

Can be found on AO3 here.

Inspired by my endometriosis (euthanasia would be appreciated 👌). Reader is GN but AFAB.

Word count: 1273

Kill me.

Shark week was always a struggle during the apocalypse. Women would practically murder each other for a box of tampons, mentally you’d be too lethargic to patrol, the injured soldiers stumbling to and from med bay doing nothing to lighten your mood. And you knew there was no chance medical would spare you some painkillers for the persistent stabbing sensation in your pelvis.

Thus you lay in bed, miserably clutching your abdomen, distracted eyes drifting over the day’s workload: inventory reports from the teenaged recruits. Isaac tasked you with verifying they were consistent and thorough, knowing – likely from Abby or Nora – that you suffered more than the average woman, and your affliction would only put you in further danger outside the base. But the monotonous task was only adding to your foul mood.

Mindlessly, you shuffled through the reports, verifying the numbers were congruous with one another. One recruit only bothered to fill in half of his sheet, scrawling ‘this is fucking pointless’ on the bottom line. You wholeheartedly agreed, making a note of his name, a reminder to warn him about disobeying Isaac, the finicky bastard.

Groaning as a fresh wave of pain seared through you, you glanced up at the clock on your quaint little apartment’s wall. 17:38.

“She’s late,” you muttered, a pang of fear striking your heart. You knew Abby was fine, that she wasn’t called Isaac’s most dependable soldier for nothing, but deep down there was a lingering anxiety that she wouldn’t make it back from each patrol.

Swallowing the worry, you redirected your focus to the reports…

…For about five seconds, before you tossed them to the floor out of boredom.

With a sigh, you curled into a foetal position, praying that some of the pain would be alleviated, for just a second of fucking reprieve.

God, you didn’t know what you craved more: a hug from your girlfriend, or enough ibuprofen to kill a small horse.

Blissfully, your silent plea was answered when the front door creaked open, heavy footsteps in suit.

“You’re late,” you managed to croak out as another bolt of agony struck.

Abby smiled apologetically, braid swishing over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, baby. Had to take a detour on the way back.”

Frowning, you sat up, wincing at the ache in your abdomen. “Any casualties?”

She shook her head. “No, no, just had to pick some shit up.” Doubting her, you began to inspect her for injuries from your position on the bed. Abby flashed you a knowing look. “Seriously, I’m fine.” Seeing no blood or blemishes, only a thin sheen of sweat coating her impressive arms – no doubt from the sweltering heat of summer – you ceased your analysis.

“You’re usually all sweaty and caked in mud,” you noted.

“Showered before my med eval.” She stripped down to her boxers and sports bra, tossing her clothing at the laundry basket, missing by a short distance. “Fuck it,” she muttered, eliciting a laugh from you.

“Good shot, Anderson.”

An impish grin lit up Abby’s face. “Could say the same about the mug you launched halfway across the kitchen yesterday.”

Scoffing, you chucked a pillow at her, which she caught with ease. “Fuck you, you saw the size of that spider.”

“That little baby spider?”

“Baby tar-an-tu-la,” you corrected, immediately regretting throwing the pillow, suddenly a lot less comfortable.

Abby lifted up her backpack and plopped down next to you on the bed, tossing the pillow back at you. “The detour, by the way—” She unzipped the bag. “— was for you.” You opened your mouth to object, to say that she shouldn’t put herself in more danger for your sake, but she stopped you in your tracks. “At least let me show you the goods before you call me reckless,” she chuckled, knowing you all too well.

Sighing, you scooted closer to her, leaning your head against her shoulder and inhaling her beautiful scent of sweat and pine, smiling. This was home.

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a small cardboard box. You gasped in disbelief.

“Tampons?”

Abby laughed. “Unused, yeah.” She passed you the box and you scanned the packaging.

“Holy shit, it hasn’t even been opened,” you whispered. Both of you knew how difficult it was to find a solitary tampon, let alone a whole box. Your eyes widened further when you read the text. “With applicators?”

She pulled out three more boxes, and you just about cried from joy. “Glad I took a detour now?”

“Colour me impressed,” you breathed out.

Abby beamed, your improved mood a relief to her. “You’re gonna love me even more for this,” she winked.

“Impossible.”

“Trust me.”

“Okay, genie.”

“Close your eyes.”

You cocked a brow. Abby snaked her arm around you and covered your eyes with her hand when you didn’t budge. “Really, Abby?” you groaned, but curiosity was certainly settling in. What could she possibly have found to top the tampons?

A rustle sounded from her backpack, followed by the sliding of different textured fabrics against one another. Then a few more rustles. A frustrated grunt.

“Is it stuck?” you snorted, trying to peel her hand off your face.

“You know, if you just closed your damn eyes I wouldn’t have to do this one-handed,” she muttered. Her frame shook with slight exertion and something dropped to the floor – the backpack, presumably, from the clank of the zip against the cement below.

“You good, Abs?”

“Peachy. Now open.”

Her hand retracted and you focused your gaze onto her lap, where a fuzzy green canteen-shaped casing lay flat, a rubber-looking container peaking out of the fabric. A hot water bottle. A fucking hot water bottle.

The moment realisation dawned upon you, you threw your arms around your girlfriend, who eagerly returned the embrace with a kiss to your temple. “I love you so fucking much,” you whispered into her shoulder. Abby’s grin was tangible.

“I tested it during my med eval, no cracks or anything. Must be PVC or something.” She patted your back twice to signal she was getting up. It warmed your heart to know she was concerned about you potentially getting scalded by hot water. “Let me fill it up for ya, ‘kay?”

“Thank you,” you managed through your perpetual beam, flopping back onto the bed, repositioning the pillow. Amazing; your day had infinitely improved from the very moment Abby set foot through your apartment door.

Some moments passed in comforting silence before the stove-top kettle whistled. Abby filled up the bottle and screwed the cap on tight, testing for leaks, trying to seal the fluffy casing shut with difficulty. “Velcro’s gone,” she frowned.

“I’ll live.” You smiled at her from the bed. “But really, though, sweet as this is, I’d rather you be safe on missions.”

Abby made her way over to you. “And I’d rather you be happy than suffer.” She passed you the hot water bottle. The mattress dipped when she perched her weight on it, whispering, “Scoot.” Hot water bottle now pressed to your abdomen, you shuffled over to give her some space. Abby sweetly kissed your neck and pressed her front to your back, wrapping an arm over your waist, interlacing her fingers with yours and holding the hot water bottle to you.

“You sure, babe?” you asked, looking back over your shoulder at her. “It’s a hot day.”

“Shh, just let me cuddle you,” she murmured softly, giving your waist a gentle squeeze. Boneless against her warmth, pain slowly but surely melting away, you leant back into her and closed your eyes, lulled by her gentle breaths into a hazy slumber.

[toontails]

Toon Quest|| Reader Insert

Chapter 3: I'm Here, You're Here, Everybody's Here!

A/n: Hey guys! Sorry I’m late (5 months late) sorry about that. I was busy! I promise! I had to

Split the chapter as this was a lot longer than I wanted it to be. So you’ll be seeing Chapter 4 and possibly chapter 5 real soon! I won’t leave for so long again. Don’t worry.

But I’ll make this note quick. A couple people messaged me and said that this story reminds them of Babqtfim. At the time I didn’t know what that was. Until I did research. And to satisfy some of you. I incorporated some of that in the plot. Don’t worry. It won’t change the plot drastically.

I particularly didn’t wanna publish this chapter as I feel nothing really happened in this chapter. But I couldn’t leave you all waiting for any longer!

Oh! And the next chapter. I’ll introduce to you—musicals! Don’t worry they won’t stay for too long in the story. I know not everyone likes songfics lmao. But it goes with the plot I promise! We’re starting to get rolling again so buckle up.

Enjoy!

-

“Now...where did I put that folder…” M/n searched the desk for a folder she was searching for—for about 4 minutes now. The day has pretty much been frantic—after Henry and M/n left from the board meeting yesterday, work had to be done in all departments. To start the new set of episodes—M/n was in charge of getting the scripts from the writers that were out of town—meaning they had to be shipped into the studio. Which was delayed about a day everyone was supposed to be scheduled to start reading through the script. But that was pushed off because of Bendy now being out of town and the fact that there was a new objective for everyone in the studio to do. Or...more to attend to in that matter.

M/n was silent as she looked under the receptionist desk. Muttering under her breath incoherently. She hardly noticed Charley sauntered over. After pestering Annie for a few minutes M/n so happened to be in his path as he was on his way to go find Edgar. Leaning over the desk he looked as M/n stood back up with a time ticking expression of annoyance slowly etching on her face. That was until she saw Charley standing on the other side of the desk where she flinched slightly, surprised at his sudden appearance.

“God dammit Charley—what did I tell you about sneaking up on me—“ she held a hand to her chest to feel her heart pace slowly slow down after seeing Charley.

“I dunno, I lost track, I think this is the...uh….5th time?” He fakes a thoughtful expression as if he were really counting the many times M/n told him to announce himself before just standing off to the side to be noticed. Which he was known around the studio for.

M/n shook her head and rubbed her forehead. “Did you see my clipboard today? It had stuff on it that I need because Henry wants to have a meeting with everyone in the conference room later on today and I need that.” She said, Charley raised an eyebrow, his eyes slowly sliding away from M/n and to the background where he saw..Edgar! Thank god...Edgar was holding a clipboard as he skipped down the hallway where he left earlier to follow Boris and Alice. He hardly noticed Alice and Boris trailing behind the spider as they talked to each other. The clipboard that Edgar had a grip on was yellow...well from what it seemed from where Charley was standing.

“Is it yellow?” He asks her. M/n perks up, removing her gaze from a stack of paper to look at Charley, In hopes that he had a clue to where her clipboard went. “Yes, it is. Do you know where it is?” She smiled at him. He looks back at her.

“Nope.”

“Then why did you—“

“But, I’ll go find it for ya’, how about that? I got a keen eye, don’t ya’ worry about a thing! You stay right there and I will be back in a jiffy!” He said before turning the other direction and walking off. M/n looked as if she were about to say something...but took his word that Charley would have her clipboard. The only reason Charley was going after it was so he could find out what Edgar wanted to speak to Alice and Boris for.

He, Edgar and Barley rarely talked to Alice and Boris and Bendy—actually they talked a lot because they were a part of the same production. But seeing Edgar seemingly...in a rush to speak to the two? Did raise questions to Charley. But Charley then remembered as he stopped walking.

“Where is Barley..?” He muttered.

“Fer’ the love of—where are ya’ takin’ me? You toss books on my head then expect me to venture off with ya’ to spy on Eddie, so what? Let the guy have a li—“

Charley smacks the back of Barley’s head who wouldn’t stop bantering with him. The eyepatch wearing toon grunts at the impact and rubbed the back of his head.

“Shut up you moron, you sure do love to bicker…” Charley grunts as he and Barley walked

down the hall where Alice, Boris and Edgar once were walking down. “We’re going to see what Ed and the others are talkin’ about, Alice has been rambunctious lately.” Charley said, looking at a door as they passed by, listening to see if anyone was in the room. Barley raised an eyebrow. “And why would that be our problem? Look—Bendy’s outta town. I can finally get a full night's sleep without him somehow having the urge to pull a joke on me at 3 in the morning. And I’d like to say, I slept wonderfully.” Barley said. Bendy was always around the studio doing little jokes and...well being a disruption. Especially to Sammy. It was just that Bendy rarely got out and interacted with other people—other than anyone in the studio. But now that he is gone for a day or two. Barley was glad to get some sleep in and some peace and quiet without having to run into Bendy’s antics.

“Look, I just wanna know what Ed’s got planned. Shut your trap and help me find them.” Charley walked ahead of Barley in search of the three. Barley muttered under his breath.

“Fine..”

-

“Don’t worry about society’s problems, they say, their problem isn’t our problem, they say—“ Y/n mocks. Watching the fields go by. It was still the afternoon and they..obviously were still on the road. Oswald was still seated next to Y/n. His ears flat against his head as he watched her...rather sarcastically bring up the last ‘meeting’ they had at the studio about all that was going on between toons and humans and how—it wasn’t their concern nor responsibility. And;

“Now look at us.” She said, She leaned far back into the car seat. Arms crossed across her chest. Bendy was still looking at the road. But Y/n could see his expression had almost turned sour.

“Are you hintin’ towards somethin’ or talkin’ just to be talkin’?” He asks her. Finally getting a reply from him. Y/n shook her head slowly. Looking at the road as well.

“I didn’t expect a diner to be a place where toons weren’t allowed. I don’t even know when they started doing that.” She said, Oswald opened his mouth to speak. As he did so his ears raised slowly.

“I’m pretty sure there’s other establishments that serve all of us.” Oswald said. Y/n didn’t reply for a second. She silently agreed with Oswald. There’s no way every single establishment or building had a no toons policy.

“Yeah…” she muttered. Everyone fell silent and for the most part the sound of the car's muffled engine was heard. It was nice to have a quiet feeling. Considering what had happened a few minutes ago. Y/n was no longer hungry after the altercation at the diner so for the most part her main focus was no longer on getting food. But figuring out what was in Idaho—or more who was in Idaho and what their next objective was. She felt Oswald sit back next to her. His shoulder touched hers as there wasn’t much room to begin with. But the space was still comfortable to sit with him in. She saw Oswald turn his palm face up and edged it over to Y/n. Y/n looked at his hand, uncurling her hand from her crossed arms hovering it above his and looked over at Oswald who was already looking at her. He must have seen she was maybe upset from not eating—or just the fact that the people at the diner were so...rude and the unexpected turn of events. Was he trying to comfort her somehow?

Soon he lifted his hand and took her hand in his. Y/n smiled and looked back out the window feeling the warmth cascade her hand—touching a toon seemed—odd. She could feel a soft texture from his ‘fur’ but then again it didn’t feel like fur. He was warm and not to mention, odd feeling four fingers instead of five intertwined around her five fingers. But, either way. It did relax her and stop her from bickering she was

Once doing it for about 40 minutes—which was mostly aimed towards Bendy but he didn’t seem to give her a reaction from her constant complaining. But either way, she was calmer and serene.

Soon the car slowed down. They were in a small town—similar to the one they just left in Oregon considering they were now entering Idaho. Y/n blinked momentarily. “What’s wrong?” She asks Bendy.

“The trail is gone.” He said his gaze still focused outside of the window to try and see if he could spot any sort of hint towards their new direction, but to no avail he couldn’t find any sort of trail or subliminal hint anywhere. Y/n looked at the welcome side on the side of the road. A chipped green painted sign with white letters elegantly painted on the wooden sign. ‘Warlington Hillside’

“Warlington Hillside…” Donald read the name, Panchito looking out the window at the sign as well. “Well. A mile back I saw we entered Idaho so..I guess..it’s up to us?” Y/n said. Turning to look at Bendy and then over her shoulder to Panchito and Donald. Donald's expression stirred into utter confusion.

“Why would it drop us off here? It couldn’t just lead us to where we need to be? Or who we’re looking for? For all we know—whatever we’re looking for can be in an entirely different town in this state.” Donald took the book that was on Y/n’s lap. He shook it momentarily as if it would make the book shake to life and get to working again. Panchito tilted his head.

“Ah...Donal—I don’t think it works that way my friend. It would just be best that we start here. After all! We are in a town!” He motions towards the front window of the car towards the town that would have been entering if Bendy kept driving.

“What are we supposed to do? Ask everyone in town if they see any suspicious activity?” Donald sarcastically said as he flipped through the pages of the book. Panchito froze for a moment. And then he shrugged as if to say the idea wasn’t so bad after all.

“Actually, I think that would be a perfect idea!”

“I was kidding—“

-

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. This is the dumbest idea ever…” Donald rubs a hand across his face and soon edged his beak. Y/n closed the car door and looked around the town. She actually took notice that the town wasn’t exactly a town? But more of a city. Its twinkling lights from each building caught her eye. The street lamps were now flickering on as it was nearing sunset—but the sun was still out, showcasing its melodious colors in the sky. Her eyes traveled around the area. Watching the cars drive by in the street and watching such...fashionable people walk down the street.

Looking over she saw a man and a woman walking by. Arms intertwined with each other as they both seemed to be in a deep conversation. But what took Y/n’s attention was the clothing. Their clothes seemed—dated back. The vest. The pants. The dress. It seemed tailored. With rich fabrics. Vintage clothing of something straight from a film in the era of the 40s.

Y/n never heard of this place before. In the distance she could hear jazz.

“Now. All we have to do is ask around!” Panchito glanced at the small group as he extended his arms to motion around his surroundings. Bendy had a hand on his hip. Giving Panchito a blank expression. Obviously he thought the idea of going around asking random strangers for any suspicious activity was a horrible idea. What kind of idea is that?!

“Oh lighten up. I like the looks of this place.” Oswald nudged Bendy. Bendy only sneered before moving away from Oswald’s constant nudging.

“This place—I don’t know. I don’t like it.” Donald denied. Crossing his arms and tapping his webbed foot to the pavement. The four turned their gaze to Panchito who caught their attention when he spoke to a random stranger passing by.

“Hola! A quick question.” Panchito says. The man stopped walking and looked at Panchito. A smile appeared on the stranger's face.

“Of course!” He said.

“Do you have any news around town? Anything suspicious? Anything new? Or big?” Panchito asks. The man thought for a moment. Bringing a hand to tap his chin.

“Well—nothing too out of place has happened around town! But you all should really go to this jazz band tonight—might not be the place you all are looking for. But it really is a good way to relax and loosen up for the night!” The man informed—not exactly information they were looking for. But then again. It was something.

“Is this some place everyone frequently goes to?” Y/n’s asks. Walking over to Panchito to look at the man. The man shook his head. “Oh no—I assume you all are looking for something? There’s been this toon in town—I can’t remember his name. But he’s looking for two other people? From what I remember he said something about them being on the radar from some other group of men. But anyway! He’s mostly at this bar around sunset after—well I don’t know what he does throughout the day—but either way. He’s always at this bar a few blocks down on Columbus Street. I would go ask if he needs works done if that’s what you all are askin’ for.” He thoroughly explained. Panchito hummed in amusement before glancing at Y/n to see what she had to say. Which—was great. Not only did they get information on the fact someone was kidnapped? Y/n wanted to assume it were toons in the same predicament Oswald was once in. But who was at the bar more than likely on the lookout for the same thing they are.

“Thank you! We’ll certainly give him a visit.” Y/n smiled. The man smiled and nods.

“He’s a toon—he’ll be easy to spot in the bar. I wish you all luck! Bye!” The man then turned around and walked off. Donald still had his arms crossed.

“I wonder who’s the big guy that’s on the same page we’re all on.” Donald said. Y/n turned around and looked at Donald. Bendy and Oswald stood next to Donald. Y/n tapped her fingers on her leg. Was it a good idea to even ask a random stranger that would seemingly have information? Maybe. Maybe not…but—either way.

“It’s worth a shot.” She muttered to herself. Glancing around the city she looked at the group of toons.

“Alright. Let’s go find this guy.”

-

“Okay—“ Alice took the yellow clipboard from Edgar. Edgar scattered into the empty meeting room. Past Alice. Boris walked in shortly after, closing the door as he walked in. Alice read over the list of things that M/n and wrote down—it was more of a to-do list. A series of things that needed to be done—mostly before the week let out. Alice ran a hand through her hair as she tapped her foot to the ground.

Boris stood by the table and then looked at Edgar. “So—what was it that you were trying to tell us? Other than that clipboard.” Boris spoke up. Edgar squeaked as he hopped on a chair. Standing on two legs. He placed his hands together as if he were some sort of pastor. He then pointed over to Alice mostly signaling towards her halo—but she was too busy reading the clipboard to take notice. Boris tilts his head. His gaze moved over to Alice when he took notice of Edgar’s gesture.

What could he be referring to? Looking back at the spider. Boris’s nose twitched. “I need more detail.” He says. Edgar nods before looking around before dashing off to the side of the room. Ripping open a closet and pulling a black throw over blanket from the closet before speeding over to Boris and hopping back in the chair. Edgar placed the black blanket around him as if it were a cloak. Edgar placed his hands together once again. As if he were praying. Boris' ears perked up slowly as his tail slowly swayed side to side.

“Is it someone or a something?” He asks. Edgar points to himself. Alice looked away from the clipboard and focused her attention on Edgar.

“Were you pointing at Alice’s halo?” Boris asked. Edgar nods once again. Finally! They were starting to understand him! What a miracle!

“I’m assuming this someone takes on—something religious?” Boris asks. Edgar once again nods. Alice was about to speak before a familiar voice interrupted. “He’s talking about nuns, you idiot.” Boris and Alice turned around and saw Charley standing in the corridor. Alongside Barley who had his arms in his pockets—as he always had them.

“Where did you two come from?” Alice asks. Turning to face the two. And placing a hand on her hip. Her upper lip twitching in annoyance. Charley motions towards Edgar. “Lookin’ for him! And M/n is looking for her clipboard—which you seem to have and I’m here to retrieve that and Edgar—“ Alice quickly cut Charley off by turning the clipboard around and showing it to Charley.

“July 23rd. A board party for toons and humans. It’s more like an integration celebration.” Was all she said. She practically shoved the clipboard in Charley’s face to show the circled date at the bottom of the list. Charley glared at Alice snatching the clipboard from her grip. He looked down at the clipboard and he felt Barley walk closer to him to read the list as well.

“Wuss so bad about it? It’s just some shindig.” Barley asks before looking at Alice. Instead of Alice explaining. Edgar hopped from the chair. Leaving the black blanket in the chair. He landed in the middle of the circle the four created. He squeaked and squeaked frantically. Waving his arms in the air. Charley furrowed his eyebrows.

“Aye! Calm down! What’s the rush?!” Charley told Edgar. Barley took the clipboard from Charley’s hands and read the list attentively. Alice looked between Edgar and Charley.

“What’s he’s saying?” She asks quickly. Edgar huffed before he went still and composed himself before looking at Charley. Letting out a series of squeaks.

“He’s going to explain from the beginning.” Charley translates. Alice nods before raising a hand. She leaned over and closed the door.

“But first. Charley—Barley. There’s something going on. World wide that is.” Alice said. Charley huffed. “Yeah—obviously we can tell. Sudden flux of toon riots and anti toon lovers are starting to rise.” Charley said. Alice nods—that was one thing that was out of the way that she didn’t have to explain. Thank goodness.

“Yes that. And—the fact that Bendy—and a few others are—I guess you can say are resolving some upcoming problems.” She said. Barley laughed under his breath. “What’d he do? Wreck private property again and get himself in cuffs?” He asks—mostly jokingly but Alice deadpanned for a moment as she shook her head.

“No. This is serious. Long story short. The real reason he’s away and out of town because M/n’s daughter found this book—the—“

“The one on TV.” Boris finished for Alice. Alice nods. Charley furrowed his eyebrows and thought for a moment…when the hell was the last time he looked at TV? He did remember seeing a news segment about some government artifacts being looted from a museum a few days ago. Now that he remembered. He could remember being told that the artifact was a book. And…he did hear Bendy in a room the night fumbling around as if talking to someone—now mentioning he heard more than one voice.

Well…he be damned.

“Now that’s somethin’ new.” Barley absently said—it were as if he read Charley’s mind. They were on the same page. Charley crossed his arms and gave Boris and Alice a look.

“You know I didn’t think Bendy would be this stupid and troublsome enough to steal a book for fun and then run off with M/n’s daughter.” He missed the point.

Smack!

“Ow! What was that for?!” Charley rubbed his forehead where Alice deliberately gave a slap to. Alice had her hands on her hips as she glared at Charley.

“He didn’t steal the book you idiot! There were three of them that night. Edgar knows it all—as well as additional information. Edgar can explain all that—but what I need for you too to know…” Alice looked between Charley and Barley.

“Is that we are now working together to help Bendy and the others—“

“What?! No! I’ve basically been told he had a stolen book with him. I’m not gettin’ involved in this mess. Look at society’s impression on toons right now. You think that when they find out that a group of toons with a young girl are on the run, with a book they are currently lookin’ for would look good on us?” Charley sneered at Alice. Barley on the other hand agreed with Alice.

“I’m agreeing with Alice on this. Bendy wouldn’t just do anythin’ fer just the fun of it. When was Tha’ last time Bendy stole anythin?” Barley asks Charley. And Charley couldn’t name off a single time. Charley’s nose twitched as he sneered yet again. Of course Bendy caused trouble around the studio. But anything revolving anything in public—he was—well. A normal toon. That didn’t cause any trouble. So obviously there had to be a reason why he was traveling around as of now. Alice took note of Charley’s silence and then continued speaking.

“Charley. We know. You hate Bendy—hell. Even at times I get angry at him. But he’s still family. And if we have information that will very much help him and the others he’s with. We should help him as best as we can.” Alice’s halo slowly glimmered the beautiful golden light. Charley silently stared at her before grunting and waving his hand.

“Fine! Tell me the info and let’s get started.” He said. Alice smiled and clasped her hands gently at his participation.

“Edgar. Fill Charley and Barley in first on what’s going on. As well as the book.” Edgar nods at Alice's command before turning to both Charley and Barley. It took only a few minutes to inform and get the two to update them of what was going on. Charley stood in front of Edgar, arms crossed and nodding his head every once in a while as he took in the information. Despite it being a bunch of squeaks and motions. He still could understand the spider—as well as Barley.

“So. He’s in Oregon now?” Barley asks. Alice nods slowly. “From last I checked. He is. I was going to give him a call today to see where he and Y/n are—I believe that’s her name.”

“A magic book…” Charley muttered under his breath. It sounds so—made up. Childish. But if Edgar seemed pretty serious about it. Then Charley was willing to go the distance with the others.

“The night when M/n’s daughter came to the building and when she and Bendy and—a third person That was in the room. Edgar was in there—but you said you had more information. Right?” Boris asks. Edgar nods frantically. Charley motioned Edgar to continue.

“Alright then let’s get to the important stuff.” He said.

Edgar looked at the four before he started explaining.

-

“What are we gonna do now? The brat and those toons got away.”

Edgar peeked from behind the garbage can. A few blocks away from the studio. Edgar was entertained by the action in front of him. The rabbit that he saw as he peered from the ceiling out the window in the room where Bendy and two others were discussing with each other—two when how Bendy and that rooster leaped from the window with a lasso.

He had to follow them to see—what were they up to? Edgar had always mostly been in the studio all his life. And seeing such adventurous actions take place out of nowhere really caught his attention. Unfortunately he was too afraid to wander near the bar. But when he saw Y/n, Bendy, the rooster and the rabbit appeared from the buildings. Edgar could tell that they were after something. Which led to them chasing two people—who he now deemed the bad guys. He followed the car chase—but mainly swinging from building to building by his web. Which was how he kept up. And how he ended up behind the garbage can in the alleyway where the van of the two ‘bad guys’ had crashed near. He saw the man in the trench coat slip off his jacket. The two backs were turned towards him. So he couldn’t take in any facial details. But with the coat off. Edgar could see a black blazer vest. A velvet red undershirt. The man's hair was a familiar dark color slicked back with hair—not a single strand disobeying.

The woman had dark hair as well. Fair skin. And a dark knee length dress. Her hands on her hips as she stared at the wrecked car. The man sighed and rubbed his temple.

“We need someone that can get in there for us to grab the book…” the man muttered. The woman glanced at him as she silently watched him contemplate. The man reached in his pocket slowly before pulling out a device—a phone now that Edgar thought back on it—at first he didn’t know what it was.

“I’ll contact him. You know he’s been practically yearning to join.” The man told the woman. Who had then nodded. The two had abandoned the crashed van and wandered down the sidewalk. Edgar squeezed between people who had checked to see and check on people in the car crash. Followed after the two as they then turned down an alleyway after several minutes of walking. Which only led Edgar further away from the studio—but he knew his way back perfectly. So he didn’t have to worry.

Edgar peeked from around the corner. The alleyway had a few puddles from the rain from earlier. The brick walls glistened from the water and the fluorescent street lights that gave light to the alleyway. Edgar saw that the two slipped into a building from a metal door. But it closed unfortunately so it wasn’t able to make it. Looking up. Edgar could see an exhaust hood near the top of the doorway. Scurrying over. Edgar with ease climbed on the wall and up to the exhaust hood. Edgar placed four hands on the hood and with a strained grunt and groan using all his strength he pulled the exhaust hood from the wall. Anyone would have fallen back from the sudden motion of something being ripped from the wall. But seeing Edgar was a spider and could travel up and down walls. His balance didn’t falter. Edgar tossed the torn metal behind him—a distance; ‘clank!’ Echoing in the hall. He quickly crawled in a dark humid vent. The feeling of dust tickling his form wasn’t his worries.

“You had one job!” A shouted echo was what Edgar followed. It seemed the lady that man was with was the one who was shouting. No doubt there may be more people. Edgar crawled through the vents and absently walked by a vent that peered down into the room. Perfect.

Edgar backtracked and quickly placed his full attention down below.

Despite outside being what seemed to be a worn down warehouse. The inside seemed more of an office building. He could see the features of the woman. But the man stood in blind spot. Standing next to a coffee table as the woman stood in front of the coffee table as well as standing in front of three toons—the beagle boys. Magica was standing off to the side. Arms behind her back.

The beagle boys seemed to flatter at the woman's scolding.

“Was it so hard to catch that girl!? She’s 18 for crying out loud! What damage could she do?! She’s a kid! And that—that damn toon! You couldn’t catch him?!” She shouts. The shortest of the three beagles raised a finger to speak. “They all worked together..Miss..” he said slowly.

The woman’s expression only hardened.

“It seems we can’t depend on you three to take them out and take the book. This isn’t some ordinary schemed show where every episode the plan foils and we say oh well better luck next time—and the same thing happens! We mean business!” She shouts. Soon Magica finally spoke up.

“Miss Susan. Might I remind you that this particular group is indeed chosen by an ancient powerful book. She’s more than just some teenage girl with an absent mind and those toons are more than just toons.” The duck said. The woman—now Susan now that a name had been given sighed as she raised both her hands and slowly rolled her fingers down to lock them both into a fist. Each finger gives a satisfying crack. But before she could say anything. Two figures burst through the front door. Standing around the same height. They both were toons. One had two horns on his head. And black fur—he almost resembled a goat. His yellow optics gleaming at everyone in the room. “Ding dong!” He shouts as he extends his arms. Next to him stood a toon. Dressed in a tailored purple suit. His head was a dice. Arms behind his back as he trailed

Behind the demon like-goat into the room.

“Well. What do you know?” Susan mutters. Edgar felt himself shrink at the sight of the horned toon. It indeed was the Devil! He’s heard of him—not someone to be messed with. His Right Hand Man as most toons know of—King Dice. Was also another toon that meant business.

“We heard the news. They got away? Bummer.” The Devil circled around Susan. His tail brushed under her chin as he then stood by the coffee table. Susan scoffed and shook her head slowly.

“Yes. They got away. With the book—we planned this all out. I don’t see h—“ she was cut off by the man in the trench coat.

“As I said. We need someone to go along with them to get that book.” He said. The Devil placed a hand on his chest. “Which..ladies and gentlemen. Is why I’m here.” He grinned. Showing the sharp rows of piercing teeth that were ready to sink into anything.

“Who do you have?” Magica asks. The Devil glanced over to her and placed his hands behind his back.

“Two hard headed people. And might I say. That can make anyone run for their money. Two toons. They’re brothers and I think they would do this mission just fine. After all, They do owe me their souls. Having them run a small errand for me won’t be a problem.” The Devil said. Susan's interest had been caught with the new way to retrieve the book. But there was a small problem.

“Where are they?” She asks.

“Good question. They got away from me a couple months prior to this entire plan you all manifested. But nevertheless. They still owe me. It should be easy to track them down. After all I have their souls and can do what I please with them at any time.” Susan nods at the Devil’s explanation. “I can track them down if need be.” Magica pipes up.

“That would be perfect.” Susan whispers.

“When we find the brothers. All it would take is for me to tell them their objective. Which is to retrieve the book from those toons. And bring them to me.” The Devil said. The man in the trench coat spoke up yet again.

“They would need to approach the group carefully. Go along with them, not startle them.” The man said. Susan nods.

“Heard you loud and clear.”

“I’ll go and track down these brothers.” Magica straightens her shirt before turning to face the Devil. The dice man had yet to speak. More so standing next to his boss with a calculating expression.

Magica had her eyes closed as she furrowed her eyebrows. She was a powerful force. A witch. With powers so ancient and powerful. It wasn’t a surprise how quick she was able to get the location of their supposed ‘minions’.

“They’re in Idaho. Not too far of a drive.” Magica speaks up. Susan grins.

“Well. Off we go! It’s only a matter of time before those toons and that brat get too far!”

-

“They’re sending hitmans?!” Boris shouts. Tugging at both of his ears. Alice had a hand over her mouth taking in the information that Charley basically had to translate to the group.

“They’re sending someone out to go after the book and kill them…” Alice said slowly. Charley had a hand on his hip as he looked between Boris and Alice.

“Why don’t we just head down there and warn them?” He asks.

“Henry will be looking for us.” Boris answered. And Alice nods. Barley shook his head. “Ah please. The lad is busy gettin’ a headache about that board meetin’ we can leave now maybe make it to Oregon by midnight.” Barley said. Alice raised a finger.

“I have a feeling we should head to Idaho instead. If those brothers are down there, No doubt the others will be.” Alice said. Barley perks up yet again.

“Wait a minute…Charley. Ya’ said somethin’ about nuns?” He asks. Charley looked at Barley and slowly nodded. “Well Eddie did. But yeah. Why?”

“Those boys are in Idaho for a reason. Ed. You said somethin’ about that Devil guy ownin’ their souls. Yeah?”

“Squeak.”

Barley nods at Edgar’s confident answer before looking at the four.

“Well in this city located in the state. There’s this monastery. Filled with nuns. It's an ancient chapel. I remember Wally sayin’ somethin’ about learnin’ in his history class that that monastery has this jewel that can keep away all evil. Spirits and demons. Those boys must have been after that if they’re bein’ chased by the Devil himself.” Barley informed. Alice clasped her hands together. Brilliant! Just the information they needed!

Charley snorts. “Good luck with them thinkin’ anyone would let them inside the sanctuary.” Alice ignored Charley’s statement before she focused her attention on Barley.

“What’s the name of the church?” She asks. But Barley shrugs. “I dunno. Neva’ asked. We could ask Wally. But I doubt he’ll give us an answer without questionin’ why? And I’m pretty sure we should all lay low for now and not run our mouths about all that’s goin’ on.” He said. He was right. Alice wasn’t too upset. At Least they knew that the chapel was in Idaho. That was a start.

“Well..if you think about it. The Devil is also after the others as well…that jewel can come in handy..” Boris said. Charley raised an eyebrow. “You sayin’ Bendy and the others should steal it?”

“Not that!” Boris quickly shook his head. Alice had a look of concentration written on her face. She then furrowed her eyebrows.

“We’re leaving now.” She said. Charley, Barley, Edgar, and Boris all looked at Alice with the same expression. Puzzled and shocked.

“Now?” Charley asks.

“Now.” Alice said. She walked over to the door and opened it. But Charley quickly shot in front of the door and blocked her exit.

“Hey now. Let’s think about this. We have the Devil involved and the government and a witch. Are you sure this is a good idea? Besides. Idaho is hours away from us. And neither of us can leave because everyone will be looking for us.” Charley quickly spilled all of the reality common sense out. But Alice furrowed her eyebrows.

“They need us. I doubt they know those ‘minions’ are after them. Alongside with the Devil himself. This has gotten serious. So everyone let’s go. We have a road ahead of us.” She was serious. A hint of malice dripped in Alice’s voice. Charley stared at Alice. Contemplating. He had no choice. One way or another some sort of altercation would happen.

“Whos car are we takin?” He muttered before moving away from the door.

-

“Thanks Wally! Love you!” Alice sat in the drivers

Seat as Boris sat in the passenger. Wally stood on the sidewalk watching the toons. Charley muttered under his breath as he slipped in the car. Alongside Edgar and Barley. No bags packed. Just them.

“Okay….uh..when will you be back?” Wally asks. Alice smiled innocently. “Soon! Bye!”

And with that. The car pulled out of the parking lot and down the road. Wally blinked—but he never questioned a thing..good thing his apartment was close by.

“Now. Let’s go get our friends…”

-

Pushing the doors open. The sound of various people talking. Cigars. Music—jazz and liquor wafted into the air. Y/n looked around and saw toons and humans together in the bar. All dressed in their Pristine clothing. Some at pool tables and booths interacting with one another.

The floor was made of mahogany wood. The dim golden lights after so lightly lighting the room. It had a warm feeling and not a feeling like that dinner that had that odd feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Thought the guy said our guy would be easy to find.” Donald said. He crossed his arms and his eyes looked around the area. There were toons in the building. And the person they were looking for could be any one of them.

“We could ask around.” Panchito piped up. But Donald scoffed. “Not that again!”

“Well. We have no other choice.” Bendy said. He looked around the building. At Least to find a hint of their target. Hopefully they would track the guy down more sooner than later.

“Let’s go sit in the meantime.”

The five had wandered over to an empty booth. And sat down. Feeling the tension in Y/n’s leg let go. Y/n relaxed in the booth and sighed in pure relief. “At Least for sure we won’t get kicked out from here.” Y/n told the four. Panchito and Donald sat across from Y/n. As Oswald sat next to her and Bendy sat next to Oswald. Sitting on the outside of the booth.

Taking the menu and opening it. Y/n absently went over what would be served in the bar. “What time is it?” Donald suddenly asked. Y/n took her phone from her pocket and glanced at the time. 8:14PM

“It’s 8PM.” She groaned. It was so late already! Suddenly the thought of where to sleep appeared in her mind. She looked over Bendy who was looking over at a small crowd of people.

“Bendy. Are we sleeping in a hotel tonight or are we still on the road?” She asks. Bendy turned his attention to Y/n. “Well. We hadn’t exactly found out what we needed from here—not to mention. We still need to find that toon that guy was talking about. More than likely we’ll stay in town for tonight.” He replied. Thank goodness. She didn’t think she could stay cramped up in the front seat much longer.

“So! Oswald. Where have you been for these past couple of years?” Donald asks. Turning his attention to the rabbit.

“I could ask the same for you, pal.” Oswald gave Donald a smile. Donald huffs before placing his head in his palm. “Watching my nephews. It was a headache. But they’re good kids.” Y/n perked up and placed her attention on Donald. “Oh? You have nephews?” She asks with a small smile. Donald nodded at her answer.

“They left with their mother a few weeks ago.” He said. To which Donald and Y/n strikes a conversation. First talking about his nephews talking about living in a boathouse. Which Y/n still saw as interesting. Within a few minutes. The sounds of cheering and laughing and clapping were heard. Causing the group to turn their heads over by the bar.

Bendy had been rubbing his temple as if his head was aching. He stopped when he heard the cheering and looked over to the bar. A toon was standing on the bars tops. From what it seemed to Y/n. He was a cat, with a white face and black fur. He had on a brown button up undershirt..an odd color for a button up. He had on a tanned faux leather bomber jacket. The shoulder pads seemed to be tanned like soft cotton. And the collar of his jacket was a sherpa design. Which also had that soft cotton look. He had on brown dress pants and brown loafers. An odd choice for his outfit. But that wasn’t Y/n’s business.

He also had on a brown cloth fedora hat. Which, now she’s thinking about it... He sort of resembles Indiana Jones. On his hip was a wrapped up rope underneath a yellow Fanny pack that was wrapped around his hips.

“It almost killed me! But I was too quick! It quickly tried to grab onto me with its claws—but. As quick as I was, it only nicked me.” The cat reached down and pulled his button up. Untucking it and lifting it up to show his torso. A healing wound was seen on the side of his torso. Three distinct claw marks ripped into his fur. The wound was pink which made it much more noticeable.

“That’s more than a nick!” One person shouts. The cat only smiles wider.

“Tell us more!” Another shouts. They obviously were intrigued by his story. He must have been the guy that was drawing that crowd over by that bar when they first walked in.

“Yes. Another. Let me buy you a drink lad. You must be thirsty from your last journey!” A man states. But the cat shook his head. Waving his hand he turned down the offer.

“Ah. No thank you sir. The only thirst I have. Is the thirst for adventure!” His statement made the crowd cheer loudly.

“Who is that guy?” Y/n asks as the cheering calmed down enough for her group to hear. Donald was the first to reply. “He’s this archeologist. I only know about him because my uncle reads his books. His name is Felix.” Donald explains. Yet seeing a renowned person was in the same building as him. He didn’t seem too excited though.

“I’ve heard of him too. I think he’s a cool guy.” Oswald said. His eyes still planted on the cat toon. Who was now off the counter speaking to someone. But Bendy didn’t seem too interested in the toon as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “That still doesn't answer our question as to where this person is we’re searching for…” he muttered. Y/n noticed his change in demeanor and energy. She leaned over Oswald slightly and pressed the back of her hand on Bendy’s forehead. The heat coming from his head gave a little warmth to Y/n’s chilled hand.

“Bendy, are you coming down with something?” She asks him. Before he could speak. Y/n removed her hand and spoke once again. “You need to rest. You’ve been up all day. I think it’s best if We all stay in town tonight.” She told the small group. Panchito looked away from the cat and placed his attention on Y/n. “You still have not eaten anything.” He told her. Y/n took in account that she indeed still hadn’t eaten anything. And it would be best to eat before they ventured off to do anything. And now it seemed they had a lot on their plate to get through.

“So. What are you in town for?�� One of the patrons of the bar asks the cat. Y/n, Bendy, Oswald, Panchito and Donald looked over back at the bar and saw the cat was sitting on a stool facing a man—most likely no one important but their conversation caught their interest.

“I’m lookin’ for two fellow toons. I ran into them about four days ago because they were looking for something down here—to stop someone—that had something to do with a church I believe. They were talking so quickly I could barely latch onto what they were panicking about. So. I helped them here. Where the church was located. But an hour ago when we got here they were napped. Someone took them when I was off on the street asking for the location of the church.” The cat explained. Despite the sounds of the bar with the clattering dishes and murmured talking from other patrons. The group was able to hear the conversation crystal clear.

The cat must have felt the gaze of the five staring and listening to the conversation. His ear pivoted in the direction of their booth before he turned his head to look at the group. Bendy quickly grabbed the menu and lifted it up towards the end of the table to block his gaze. Using it as some sort of wall. Ducking his head. Y/n, Panchito, Oswald, and Donald followed the same as Bendy as they leaned into the table as if having a group meeting.

“Are we all thinking the same thing?” Y/n asks the toons. Bringing her voice down. Oswald glanced at her before he spoke.

“Well the man down the street did say something about someone looking for kidnapped victims. He might be the person we’re looking for.” Oswald said. Y/n sighed and placed both hands on her face to ease the tension. Why him?

“We can’t have him tag along. He more than certainly knows about the book. He’s a damn archeologist! And if he finds out we have it—lord knows what would happen to us.” She whispered to them. Bendy raised his finger to inject something. “Then again doll, he might know more info about the book than we do.” He said. Donald slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Okay—that’s nice. But what about those kidnapped victims? Are we looking for them..?” He then slowly pivoted his thumb towards Panchito—which he was really motioning towards the direction a few feet away at the bar where Felix was.

“—Or the cat?” He finished.

“Well we can’t look for the people that were taken. We don’t have any information on them. But he does.” Oswald answered Donald’s question. Hinting towards Felix. So making it clear. Felix was the person they were on the search for. And now. Someone they needed to lend a hand maybe for the night.

Bendy sets the menu down and sits properly in his seat. “Well I guess we all can agree that he’s helping us.” Bendy glanced at the group. Which they nodded in agreement. Y/n was about to add something else—about who would go to speak with the cat. But with luck on their side. The cat decided to come around himself.

“Hello!” The five looked at the end of the table and saw Felix was standing by the table. A smile planted on his face as he glanced individually at the group. The group was caught off guard by the cat's sudden appearance—other than Panchito. Who waved in return for his greeting.

Felix continued speaking before he placed his gaze on Bendy. “I notice you’re Bendy, right? From the show?” He asks. And Bendy slowly nods. Odd having someone who travels a lot know about his show—but he didn’t complain.

“I am.”

“Great! Nice to meet you! My name is Felix!” Felix took Bendy’s hand and shook it fiercely. Bendy’s smile twitched before widening. His arm trying to keep pace of the cats shaking.

“Hi, nice ta’ meet you too.” Bendy’s voice wavered and bounced from being shook like a doll. Felix let’s his hand go before digging into his Fanny pack. And pulling out a small notebook—not exactly a big notebook—but one of a size that shouldn’t exactly fit in the Fanny pack.

“I love your show! I find it funny. You know. I watch it from time to time when I’m just lounging around—whenever I get the chance.” As he spoke to Bendy he pulled out a pen from his pack and opened the notebook and passed it to Bendy. “Might I have your autograph if you don’t mind?” He asks.

“I—well—sure.” Bendy didn’t seem to know how to respond. Instead he took the pen and the notebook and wrote it down in the notebook. Felix then looked over and placed his gaze on the three that were staring at the cat.

“I’m assuming you all aren’t from around here?” He asks. Oswald shook his head. “No. Actually. We all aren’t exactly—it’s a long story—“

“We’re on a mission and we’re looking for someone—but we got word they were kidnapped at the last minute and some guy on the streets told us to come to you because you know the people who we are looking for to advance further in our objective. And we didn’t want to really bother you—but we really need to leave town by sunrise because we have a lot to do ahead of us because we’re running from these guys who are out to kill us! And if they find out we’re here—we’re dead a-“ Donald quickly slaps his hand over Panchito’s running mouth. Felix ears perk up—obviously his attention now fully on them.

“Sorry—it’s been a rough day—we..” Donald tried to think of a way to make the group seem less…fugitive-like and…predictable. Y/n could feel herself shrink—she didn’t exactly know what to say. Because either way—with explaining what they needed and who they were looking for a why would result in circling back around to the book—the book that was stolen—and obviously is wanted by various people…for some reason. For all she knows, Felix could potentially be someone that wanted the book like that…man in the trench coat..or. Take them in..either way. There were a lot of options.

Instead of anything hostile. Y/n saw the cat's tail slowly swaying from left to right as a smile appeared on his face.

“Am I glad I ran into you all then.” He said. Oswald lets out a perplexed yet shock noise. “You are..?” He asks slowly. Felix nods. “I’ve been searching for those two for hours. Unfortunately not many people are much help here. But now that I need you and you need me. We can make this easier by finding them. But my question is. What do you need them for? Are they friends?” Y/n knew this question would occur. One way or another. None of them replied. Instead glancing at each other waiting for each other's answer. Donald soon sighed.

“Follow us.”

-

Thump

Y/n placed the book on the counter. After leaving the bar. Felix led the group to a hotel room he was staying in for the time being. It was small—but comforting and out of reach of anyone else so the group—along with Felix. Can safely discuss amongst each other.

Felix's eyes widened when he saw the book Y/n placed on the counter. His tail wagged quickly as he quickly placed his paws on the book.

“Oh my! How did you all get your hands on this?!” He ran a finger over the embroidery on the leather book. He quickly turned around and looked at the five. He didn’t seem angry, too shocked or scared—but more ecstatic with seeing the book. How on earth did they get it? Y/n held her book bag close to her chest as she watched the cat. Standing next to Panchito, Y/n spoke up—for the first time to Felix.

“Well. It's a long story that we constantly had to repeat—which I’m sure we have to repeat many more times but, we promise we aren’t thieves or anything like that. We’re just doing what the book tells us—damn that sounds bad..” Y/n muttered the last part under her breath. Felix shook his head and smiled.

“No—no. I have so little information and notes on this book. There’s so much to learn about it. I only know the bare minimum.” Felix turned towards the book yet again. He was silent for a moment before he continued speaking.

“It’s a book created eons ago. The story seems like a fairytale. But I assure you. This is all real.” He picked up the book. But didn't try to open it. Instead Felix examined the leather casing on the book. After a few moments of silence. Felix continued talking again.

“This book holds a lot of power. Along with knowledge about life—“ He then turned around and faced the five who were looking at the cat. Felix then pressed a finger in the stitched name on the book.

“Hint the name.” He adds.

“So…it’s about the evolution of life..?” Y/n asks. Felix smiled but shook his head? Y/n was left perplexed. If the book wasn’t about life itself. Then what was the purpose of it?

“No. In fact. I don’t even know the meaning of it! No one does!” He laughs. Which only left Y/n more puzzled. Donald furrowed his eyebrows.

“What?! Aren’t you the guy with the brains? I thought you knew about this thing!” Donald shouts as his hands flew to his head to tug at his feathers. He didn’t take it well knowing how mostly everyone was aimlessly traveling around without a thought in their head. Which Y/n couldn’t blame him.

“Well. All I know is that this book has knowledge of people that it chooses—from my understanding. This book only awakens when great danger is near.” Felix explained. That was something Y/n assumed would be the answer. The book acts as some sort of warning. Hearing Felix say it. Was a relief in an odd way.

“When was the last time the book was awakened?” Y/n asks. Felix lifts a paw. And taps his chin with his claw. A look of contemplation ridden on his face.

“I don’t have a clue. Any sort of information on this book was held from the last holders and—-well they’re not here. All I know is that only the holders of the book are able to access it.” Felix said. He glanced down at the book before glancing back at the group. “Which is you all.”

“The people that were kidnapped. What did they come here for? The book led us to this town.” Bendy asks. Cycling back around to the main reason they all needed Felix. Felix nods firmly before passing the book back to Bendy. Who took it and tucked it under his arm.

“Yes! The brothers. Their names are Cuphead and Mugman. They came here because they were looking for a jewel I believe.” Felix reached into his Fanny pack as he spoke. He quickly pulled out a photo. And showed it to the five. The photo was a picture of a red ruby. Or a jewel. It was perfectly placed on a white pillow for display. Around it seemed to be something reflecting it. Like some sort of glass box was encasing it. Which raised the answer. Was the jewel another artifact?

“They were escaping the Devil—big guy—I don’t know if you all know about him.” Felix adds. Oswald nods as well as Bendy. Panchito, Donald and Y/n only stared at Felix for further information. The Devil? As in..

“Satan?” Y/n asks. Felix furrowed his eyebrows and contemplated yet again. “In a way—yes!” He answered.

“Wha—huh? Wait..are we talking about. Big furry guy? Horns. Yellow eyes? The one that runs a Casino on this small island near the Atlantic? That Devil?” Donald asks. Leaning forward slightly in disbelief. Whoever this guy was. He seemed like someone not to mess with. Felix nods at Donald’s statement.

“I…I apologize. I do not understand who this fellow is.” Panchito pipes up. Y/n looked away from the rooster and over to Felix. “Neither do I. I only know one guy who people referred to as the ‘Devil’. And that’s this weird guy that lives on our street that shaves his back in the morning every Sunday and when he shaves you can see this tattoo of a demon—“ Y/n crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling in thought.

“I think he was a biker…” she looked back at Oswald, Panchito, Donald, Bendy and Felix. Who all gave her a questioning look.

“Every Sunday? Jeez. How fast does that guy's hair grow?” Oswald asks before grimacing at the thought. Y/n rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it…” she muttered. Donald quickly got back on track by placing his gaze back on Felix.

“That doesn't matter. Why would they be running around from the Devil?” He asks. Felix placed the picture back into his Fanny pack and zipped the pack up as he started to speak yet again.

“They never told me. But they seemed to really try and get away. So I helped them. And got them here. Our plan was to find that jewel. That jewel comes from an ancient tomb on this island called Ruby Falls. Though the location doesn't matter. The jewel is here in Idaho. And last I checked in. It was in a convent.” Felix informed. Thank goodness he was a help. A church would be the last thing Y/n suspected to be a part of their journey.

“The jewel works as a shield. Keeping all negative spirits away. Which in all. Means. The Devil wouldn’t be able to touch them as long as they had that jewel with them.” Felix finished. Bendy’s grin wavered before he raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly were they going to get this jewel? Steal it from a bunch of nuns?” He asks.

“That’s something I don’t know! Never got to find that out!” Felix laughs.

“How do we even know these brothers are who we’re lookin’ for?” Donald asks. Turning his direction to his group. “For all we know we would be chasin’ people that we don’t even need.”

“It’s worth a shot. We don’t have much to go off of but this information we have here.” Y/n said.

“In the meantime. You all can stay here tonight?” Felix smiled. But his ears quickly perked up—as if he had just remembered something in the nick of time.

“Oh! I didn’t get your guy’s name! Besides Bendy of course.” Felix walked closer to the group. His attention sets on Y/n first as he lifts a paw and gently takes her hand in his to give a soft shake. “My name is Felix.” He introduces—as if by now Y/n didn’t know his name. The silly gesture caused her to smile. As she felt him shake her hand.

“My name is Y/n. Y/n L/n.” Felix smiled once more. “Nice to meet you, pretty lady.” He said softly. The cat took a moment to take in Y/n features. By surprise Y/n’s smile widened at the action when Felix looked over to Panchito. Who had been standing next to Y/n.

Felix spoke to Panchito, Oswald and Donald. Getting their names and striking an interesting conversation with Panchito and his home in Mexico. Where he explained he lived on a family farm owned by his father. The conversation went before Felix told the group to make themselves at home;

“Sorry for the mess—I didn’t expect guests.” Felix quickly tossed a book bag across the room. Where it landed by a couch. There were only two rooms. The living room. Which was connected to a small walk in the kitchen and bedroom. Which had one bed. Enough room for everyone to sleep for the night. Y/n had wandered over to a window that was by the couch seeing it was pressed against a wall. Peering out the window. She saw they were a few floors up. Maybe the 4th floor or so. But it was a nice view out in the street. The bar was actually across the street from the hotel. Peering down she could see people walking down the street—which begged the question.

“So. What’s up with this town? Weird clothes and stuff..” she asks. Turning around and surprisingly Felix was standing behind her—which she didn’t know. He was holding a blanket and pillow balled in his arms. Hearing the question he leaned over and placed the blankets on the couch.

“Well this town isn’t exactly ordinary to say the least.” He said. Moving to stand next to her he glanced out the window.

“This town likes to keep a tradition—well. If you would call it that. Singing is their passion. Ya’ know. Back then a lot of films had musical numbers and all that jazz. Very happy town I do say so.” That was..some odd information that she didn’t know even existed…

“A real life musical?” She asks. Her eyes glued on him. Felix turned to look at her before nodding. “Yeah! Something like that.”

“How come I haven't seen anyone sing yet?” She asks.

A town that spent their time in joy and ..singing? Certainly that was something she would like to see.

“Oh trust me. You’ll hear it sooner or later. You should head to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Y/n nods at his statement as Felix turns around to walk off. Still stuck on the fact the town was like a musical film! Certainly she was sure it was down to annoy her friends sooner or later—-mainly hinting towards Donald. But with fatigue now creeping onto her every so slightly. Y/n turned towards the couch. She kicked off her shoes before she placed the book bag down on the floor as well. She sat down on the couch and lifted the blanket and laid it over her shoulders. Looking over she saw Bendy sitting on the floor with a blanket. Along with Oswald, Panchito and Donald. Felix had left his room to give everyone space and quiet.

“What are you guys doing on the floor?” She asks. The four turned their heads away from the TV that was one and held their attention. They looked at Y/n and Bendy spoke up.

“We all can’t fit on the couch.” He said. Y/n glanced at the couch. And he was right. The couch wouldn’t fit five people. Nor was the couch a pullout. But Y/n didn’t want the four to sleep on the floor. Y/n grabbed her blanket and pillow and stood up from the couch before she wandered over to the group and plopped down on the floor as well.

“I guess we’re all sleeping on the floor then.”

“Oh yay! It’s like a slumber party.” Panchito sets his sombrero down away from the group before he nicked Y/n’s blanket and tossed the warm cloth over her and his own form.

“Whatever you all do. Please don’t sleep wild. I don’t need someone’s foot in my face in the mornin’” Donald turned over to lay down. Lifting the blanket to his beak.

And there. They all had their peaceful sleep.

-

“Now stay ya’ asses quiet, my boss’ll be here soon.” Doug fixed his tie on his blazer. Walking away from the cage Cuphead and Mugman were still seated in.

Cuphead seemed to have run out of energy to shout at the two toons. Moving his eyes from Doug who had his back turned to the cage. Fixing his tie and speaking to another toon—or henchman—what Cuphead was now referring to them to. Soon Doug turned around and looked at Jack who was standing around idly.

“Put the cage on the carrier and take it to the next room.” Doug told Jack who had snapped from out of the dazed expression and nodded quickly

Jack stumbled over to the cage picking it up and putting it on the carrier. “Yes sirrrrr!” Jack drawled. Doug then snapped his fingers impatiently. “Hurry! The lady will pay us handsomely when she sees those two!”

Cuphead and Mugman shuffled slightly at the sudden movement of Jack pushing the cart. Cuphead yelped as he tipped over and crashed into Mugman. Causing Mugman to get stuck between the bars of the cage and Cuphead. Mugman wheezes before shoving Cuphead’s form off him with a heavy groan. Cuphead muttered before he watched Jack pushing the carrier to another room in the warehouse.

“Where are you taking us?” Mugman asks, placing his hands on the bar to look at Jack. Who then sniffed and wiped his nose momentarily.

“The garage area. It’s where all my friends are.” Jack replied. Cuphead punched Mugman’s shoulders. Mugman rammed into the cage at the impact. A painful expression written on his face. “Ow! What was that for?!” Mugman hissed at Cuphead.

“Don’t talk to him.” Cuphead nonchalant in response.

“But you talked to him earlier!” Mugman pouts.

“Correction. I was trying to be condescending, you’re tryin’ to make pal-pal with this idiot.” Cuphead whispered to Mugman. Grabbing Mugman by his shoulder to speak to him more closely.

Mugman gasped softly—rather dramatically—and furrowed his eyebrows. “Cuphead...that’s not nice.” He said. Cuphead gave him a blank expression before looking at Jack.

“What’s 2 plus 4 Jack?”

“Negative 7!”

Cuphead looks at Mugman. Who still had his gaze on him. But he didn’t seem to care about the fact that Jack completely got a math question wrong. The two were interrupted by the sound of metal doors flinging open. The two cup brothers faced forward as the cage entered the new room. The fluorescent lights illuminated the room as the cage was placed down. Cuphead and Mugman’s expression immediately deadpanned at the sight of various figures.

“Well—howdy doo!” Zip cackled. Shooting from behind a man cloaked in a trench coat. Cuphead didn’t pay attention to the shadow like toon. And turned his gaze over to a figure he was very familiar with.

“Ah! Dice. Long time no see—is that a new mustache?” Cuphead smiled. Standing up—more crouching in the cage before he wrapped his hands around the bars in front of him to look at Dice. Dice didn’t respond as he held a stoic expression—before rolling his eyes.

“Out of all people…” he mutters.

Mugman looks away from Dice and the odd man in the trench coat to see a woman. She wore a black dress—flats—a sharp gaze settled on the two—next to her was a duck toon. Raven black hair. Dark eyes—and a black dress..what an odd group…

“Country boys…” the duck’s voice was stained with disdain. She sighed before shaking her head. Cuphead could hear the disgust in the ducks before he placed his gaze back on her and sneered.

“Why are we here?” Cuphead skipped the jokes and introduction as he glowered at the group.

“You two have a pretty simple job.” Dice finally speaks up. Mugman shivered slightly. They were dead they were dead they were dead—they are going to die!

“No.” Cuphead responds. Mugman immediately shoots up from his seated position and covers Cuphead’s mouth.

“I—he means—what—what is the—what’s the offer?” Mugman stammered. But Cuphead didn’t budge. He pushed Mugman’s hand away and pointed at Dice.

“And I said no! We—“

“You—“ Mugman quickly added as he nervously grinned at Dice. Cuphead then points his thumb to his chest harshly—pointing to himself.

“I’ve had enough of these games! Just let us go! We want nothing to do with you nor that crybaby Devil either!” He shouts. Susan smiled before looking at King Dice. “That’s one fiesta cup.” She chuckled. King Dice rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it…” he muttered.

“Well. If you won’t listen to me. Listen to him.” King Dice raised a hand. Placing his middle finger to his thumb in a motion of snapping.

“Crap…” Mugman mutters. And with a snap of his fingers. The two felt the ground leave their shoes and into the dark—hot world.

“AAAAAAAH!!!”

Crash!!

Laying flat on his face. Cuphead lets out a heavy yet pain filled groan. His arms sprawled out and his shoes almost beat touching his head. Mugman on the other hand was caught by his shirt by a long appendage. Mugman had his eyes covered. His body curled into himself as if he were cowering from the ground he thought would be his demise. Cuphead’s gaze slowly left the red dusted colored stone ground—he squints as he gazed around his surroundings—almost familiar to a cave—humid—hot—real hot…

Cuphead’s blurred gaze soon landed on Mugman—who had yet to uncover his eyes. Cuphead heaved himself up as he stared up at Mugman. His blurry eyes soon subsided and his eyes trailed over to what had caught Mugman by his shirt. Tracing the long black appendage which soon landed on the imp that stood still—gleaming down at Cuphead with its bright fierce golden eyes. The Devil.

“You gots to be kiddin’ me…” Cuphead whispered to himself. The Devil’s ear twitched and his tail slowly lowered to the ground. Placing Mugman on his feet. Once Mugman felt the ground beneath his shoes he brought his hands down slowly and glanced over at the Devil with frightened furrowed eyebrows.

“Long time no see you two.” The Devil grins widely. Cuphead sneers before he takes several steps to the Devil. Pointing an index finger up at the imp.

“Now you listen here! I have answers that need questions!” He shouts. The Devil immediately deadpans and rolls his eyes.

“I believe you mean questions that need answers…” he corrects the cup. Cuphead sputters before glaring yet again at the Devil.

“What’s the big idea! What do you need from us? We’ve done what you’ve asked the last time—I told ya! Our deal with you—is off. It’s over!” Cuphead shouts. Mugman rubs his forehead in an anxious manner.

“Cuphead—stop.” Mugman grunts. But Cuphead didn’t listen.

“You two still owe me one more deal. That was our agreement. 3 deals. You’ve done two so far. And this shall be your last objective for me. And it is important.” The Devil explained calmly. Placing his hands behind his back. His golden eyes looked at the two in an attentive manner. The corner of Cuphead’s lip twitched as he gleamed up at the imp.

“No more deals.” He repeats. Though the Devil smiled—he’d expected this from the hardheaded cup. The Devil lifts a hand and points at Mugman—who had yet to speak. Mugman felt himself shrink under the Devil’s gaze. “You’ll do this deal—or you’ll lose him. The choice is yours.” He calmly said. Cuphead glanced over at Mugman. Mugman raised his eyebrows.

“Wait—who me? Huh?” Mugman sputters. Placing a hand on his chest. “Death is inevitable for everyone. But I can and will take something precious away from you Cuphead if you don’t comply. As said this is your last deal and you two won’t have to hear or see from me ever again.” The Devil said. Cuphead sighed through his nose harshly.

“But if you don’t. Mugman will die. I do own you both after all—but on the bright side! Haha! Hey! After you two finish this deal. You two won’t be owned by me anymore! This is a win-win deal here!” The Devil lets out an airy laugh. Mugman shuffled under his feet.

“What do we have to do?” Cuphead asks. The devils ears perked up. “All you have to do. Is take and eliminate.” He answers.

“Wait—no! We can’t—no!” Mugman rushes between the Devil and Cuphead. Spreading his arms to intervene. Mugman then looks at the Devil.

“We can not do that! We can’t kill anyone! I apologize—but this is way out of me and Cuphead’s bargain—“

“We’ll do it.” Cuphead replied. The Devil hummed before looking at Mugman. Mugman sighed before shoving Cuphead away and fully facing The Devil.

“I can’t..I can’t do that—I—I can’t just hurt someone.” Mugman pleads.

“Why Mugman I didn’t even tell you if they were even good or not! For all I know I could be sending you two to take out one of the world's most wanted criminals!” The Devil laughs. Mugman frowns. “I can guarantee you that they more than likely aren’t.” Mugman said. The Devil grins before nodding.

“You’re right. They aren’t.” He chuckled. Cuphead soon spoke up. “Like I said. We’ll do it. What do we need to do.” Cuphead went back to the topic at hand. And the Devil wasted no time.

“A book. You two are off to capture a book. You will retrieve that book and bring it back to me. As for the people that are holding the book. You will take someone by the name of Oswald. And kill one person—she’s a useful source that needs to be stopped.”

“And her name is Y/n L/n.”

-

Y/n felt her nose twitch. It felt like something was crawling on her nose. The light touch on the tip of her nose felt soft. But caused her nose to twitch yet again. She furrowed her eyebrows and lifted a hand to rub at her nose. But was met with something soft. Her eyes fluttered open. The smell of something sweet wafted in the air. But her focus was more on touching her nose to see what it was that was bothering it.

To Y/n’s surprise; it was Oswald’s ear. The rabbit was asleep. And his ears must have flopped over in her direction. Y/n places a hand on his ear to gently move it away. The sudden feeling over his ear caused him to awaken. His onyx eyes slowly and heavily opened. He must have been awfully tired. He smiled at her softly and Y/n returned the smile.

“I made breakfast.” Y/n flinched at the sound of Felix’s voice. As well as Oswald. The two glancing above them to see Felix hovering over them. Arms behind his back with a smile.

-

“So. First thing we need to do ask around town if they found any details last night about—“ Y/n ignored Felix and was busy stuffing her mouth with the pancakes he made—she didn’t know if the fluffy pancakes were so delicious because she was yearning for food for the past several hours or if they really were just some really good pancakes. Panchito watched Y/n as he held his fork. A smile stretched on his beak. Boy was she eating fast!

But Felix hadn’t noticed as he was busy going over today’s routine with everyone—which actually mostly consisted of Bendy listening to him. Donald was trying not to drift back off to sleep. As he had the bottle of syrup in his hand. The syrup substance had long over spilt on his plate and was now dripping on the counter. Oswald hadn’t eaten his pancakes—he must not have been hungry. But overall..majority of them were distracted and weren't listening to a damn thing Felix was saying.

“So!” Felix clapped his hands. Causing Donald to jump in his seat and quickly place the syrup bottle upright and put his attention on Felix, Panchito and Y/n to quickly place their attention on Felix and Oswald to snap daydreaming and place his attention on Felix as well. Felix thought he had their attention the whole time. Smiled with glee.

“You all got that? That’s the plan!” He says. Bendy looked at the four. He could tell they didn’t take in a single thing of info.

-

“Okay. I think it would be best if we all would split up.” Felix said as he looked at his wrist watch. He and the group stood on the pavement. In the early hours. It was around Looking away from his wrist watch he looked at the group. Counting before nodding. “Luckily we have an even group.” He says.

“Oh! Can we pick our partners?” Panchito asks. And Felix nods—“well of course.” He said in the background as Panchito hops over to Y/n and hooked his arm around hers. Y/n smiled as she stood next to Panchito as the others took their partners as well. Bendy went with Felix and Oswald went with Donald. An even group—thankfully.

Leaving out Panchito practically was skipping down the sidewalk in joy. Y/n scrolled through her phone for a mere few minutes before she placed it in her pocket and looked over at Panchito.

“You think we’ll even find them in town?” She asks. Panchito took a moment to think. “Ah—a slim chance. We'd have already run into them by now.” He replies.

“But. I’m more on the optimistic side.” He smiled at her and Y/n smiled back—their characteristics should be too hard to see as the brothers—from what Felix explained—literally had cups for heads. So they would be easy to spot. Rounding the corner. As Panchito and Y/n were in a deep conversation—Y/n accidently ran into someone. Not paying attention. Y/n was gladly able to keep her balance, opening her eyes that she didn’t realize she closed on the impact. She looked in front of her to see who she had accidentally ran into. Not before placing a hand on her forehead after feeling the pain starting to travel on her forehead. She must have run into them pretty hard.

Standing in front of her was a toon. Also holding his forehead—his head was as shaped as a ceramic pale gray cup. He had a red nose and wore a black dress shirt with brown shorts. He held his eyes closed as he muttered under his breath—damn. She must have run into him pretty hard.

“Sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” Y/n sheepishly apologized. Removing her hand from her forehead. The toon slowly opened his eyes and looked at both Panchito and Y/n. He held a sour expression but that was until he took a moment to stare at Y/n.

“Oh—uh—No. I’m sorry—I should have been payin’ attention.” He apologizes, speaking slowly as if he were unsure. As for Y/n it were as if a brick was tossed at her face to bring her back to reality. Wait.

“What’s your name?” They both ask in unison. Both Cuphead and Y/n put on a surprised expression. Cuphead quickly then replied. “My name is Cuphead.” He replied. Y/n felt her heart leap in her throat. Well what do ya know?! Look at how quick they were able to find one of the brothers! How long have they been just wandering around town?

Gasping slightly. Y/n smiled. “Hey! Aren’t we glad we ran into you—me and a couple of friends of mine have been looking for you and your brother.” She explained. And Cuphead couldn’t wipe the look of awe off his face—what is he supposed to do now?! He can’t just kill the poor girl. Not to mention—

“You’re pretty!” He nervously exclaims. Y/n stopped talking slowly as she stared at him before she smiled yet again. “Oh—thank you.”

“Qué nombre tan extraño…” Panchito mumbled under his breath. As he stood beside Y/n and gazed upon Cuphead.

Panchito then softly nudges Y/n’s arm.

“No. No sé de él.” Panchito told her before putting his gaze on Y/n. Y/n looks away from Cuphead and to Panchito.

“What’s wrong?” She asks him. Panchito grabs Y/n by her arms softly and directs her to face the opposite direction of Cuphead. “I don’t know about him.” Panchito lowered his voice for only him and Y/n to hear. The sound of various footsteps and murmured voices of people in the town were seemingly muffled to Y/n’s ears.

Cuphead stood behind the two. His eyes found sight of Y/n’s book bag that she had strapped around her shoulders—more than likely he assumed that’s where she kept the book.

“Why?” Y/n asks Panchito. “Do you think it is odd that we spent hours last night searching for him and his brother and no sight? And seemingly we now run into them?” He asks. Which. Y/n agreed. The town wasn’t that big from the looks of it. They should have ran into the brothers hours ago last night—but then again—seemingly they were kidnapped. And Cuphead didn’t show any sign of stress from being taken—then again she knew nothing about Cuphead nor his brother.

“Yeah…I guess you’re right.” Y/n muttered.

“Hey—sorry to interrupt—“

Y/n and Panchito both flinched at the sight of Cuphead standing in front of them.

“But. Do you two know Felix? The guy we came to town with.”

-

DING!

“OH! Look! Oswald! Look!” Donald points at the game stand in front of the two—Oswald looked away from whatever he was gazing at and looked over to Donald and then the stand his friend had been playing at. The two managed to come across a small fair in town. A few stalls held games and unfortunately Donald grew distracted and started to play the silly game—tossing the baseball in a bucket—much to Oswald's mind it didn’t interest him.

“You’ve played this 3 times already Donald.” Oswald told him. Donald looks at the stall and back at Oswald. “You must be the fun guy at parties.” Donald grunts before he walks past Oswald and down the dirt path. A few people walked by to have fun on their own at the fair. Oswald's ears perked up slowly before looks behind him. He then started walking slowly—following after Donald.

“Is it just me. Or do you have this weird feelin?” Oswald asks. Donald opened his eyes after walking with his eyes closed for a few seconds. He had an expression of contemplation on his face. Before he dismissed the thought. “You think always like that.” He grins triumphantly. Maybe in a way to get back at Oswald’s last remark. Oswald blinks before squinting his eyes. “No I don’t.” Oswald quickly reputed.

“I’m joking..” Donald laughs. The two walked down the fair, the sound of murmured voices and games wafts in the background.

“But really. You hadn’t told me anything about what you’ve had going on.” Donald picks up. Oswald looks at Donald. “Well..nothing too exciting happened lately.” He started before looking ahead of the two again. Oswald’s ears slowly flattened. “Just been hangin’ around.” He finished. Donald’s tail feather flickered as he looked away from Oswald. When he knew Oswald the rabbit was very outgoing and straightforward. But he couldn’t find the sense in himself to keep pestering the rabbit.

Trying to think of another topic to push aside the now awkward silence—before Donald could say anything. Oswald turned his gaze back on Donald. “I’m sorry I left suddenly.” He said abruptly. Donald looks at Oswald as the two slowly start to trail off with their walking before standing still.

“I’ve…been meaning to tell you that for years—and the others of course. But more importantly you because well—you were always there.” His voice was quiet but Donald could still understand and hear every word that came from Oswald’s mouth.

“I feel horrible for what I said and—and I didn’t mean it—Especially not towards you—I was angry and sad and at times I can’t really control that because…” Oswald trailed off. His ears felt flat against his head before reaching a hand up to wringe nervously at his ear. “A lot has happened when you and the others were away that I tried to get myself through and I couldn’t..” he trailed off yet again and Donald felt himself frown.

“Oswald. You don’t need to apologize. I’m always here to talk. What ha—“

Pew!

THUD!

A light blue light of energy whizzed between Donald and Oswald. Oswald’s ears quickly shot up. As Donald quaked in fear before jumping away from Oswald.

“Bettigan! Don’t do that!” Shouts a voice. Oswald and Donald quickly shoot their heads over to see 3 figures. A lanky stack of casino chips. In a western get up outfit holding onto the wrist of a cup headed figure. With a blue nose black sweater and blue shorts. Floating in the air was black 8 ball.

“HAHAHA! THat was funny! You almost got em’ Mugs!” Shouts the 8-ball as he cackled.

“That’s not funny. You almost caused a scene you nut!”

“Is that…?” Oswald whispered. Donald slowly nods. “I think.”

“Should we?—“

“Run!” Donald dashed past Oswald and grabbed onto the rabbit's wrist and dragged him down the fair.

“Hey. They’re gettin’ away!” The 8 ball cried out. Mugman looks away from Bettigan—one of the few partners he was assumed to be before looking over at where Donald and Oswald stood.

“Come on your idiots!” Bettigan laughs before he runs after the two in the general direction they headed. Mugman and Mangosteen followed after Bettigan.

“I thought he was on our side!” Donald shouts as the two run out of the fair and back into town. Oswald huffs before throwing his hands in the air. “I did too!”

“Do we find Felix!?” Donald asks.

“We need to find So—OW!” Oswald’s ears dropped low to steer clear from the blue peashooter that whizzed past them yet again. Donald looks behind them to see the three were indeed after them—the town didn’t seem to take heed that the peashooter was a dangerous weapon as it didn’t seem dangerous at all. So they kept on with their day.

Oswald soon ran into someone knocking the two onto the ground. “Ow! Hey!” That voice! Looking down he saw Y/n who had squinted her eyes from the sudden impact.

“Oh. There you two are.” Panchito stops walking as he turns around to see Oswald quickly shooting from the ground dragging Y/n along with him. Cuphead stopped walking as well but didn’t face the group as he saw Bettigan, Mangosteen and Mugman running over. Mostly Bettigan holding Mugman by his handle and Mugman holding a sour expression.

“Run! Go!” Donald shouts as he shoves Panchito with him. “What’s going on?!” Y/n said as Oswald took her wrist and they jogged off with Panchito and Y/n.

“Hey! You didn’t get the girl?! I just saw her!” Bettigan said as he skids to a stop to stand in front of Cuphead. Cuphead sends a glare to the cowboy. “I was going to you idiot!” Not entirely true.

“They’re gettin’ away. The girl has the book.” Cuphead picked up Mugman from Bettigan and placed his brother on the ground.

“Are ya’ sure?” Bettigan asks. Cuphead nods. “Yes! It’s in her book bag. But I wants the girl. You all stay away from er’” he sneers as he eyed Mangosteen and Bettigan.

“What? Why—“

“I said so! Now go catch that rabbit!”

“Aye aye. Capn’” Mangosteen cackles before In a blink of an eye that magical 8 ball vanished in thin air.

-

The four ran down the sidewalk—that surprisingly didn’t have many people as it was still the early morning.

“Where is Bendy and Felix?!” Y/n shouts as the four rounded the corner. “Don’t know! The town is small, sure we’ll run into them.” Donald shouts.

“Okay! New plan! Forget the last plan! Keep the book safe! And don’t die!” Oswald shouts. Panchito smiled. “Sounds delightful!”

Soon a black dot formed in front of the two. Two eyes rolled around as well as a smile forming an 8 ball with a face?

The 8 ball opened his mouth and a light illuminated within its mouth and a loud vibrating sound hummed as if some sort of weapon was starting up. As the sound got louder the light grew brighter and brighter. The four took wind that they needed to stop running. The four skidded to a stop just as they were about to get too close to the 8 ball. A light of energy soon shot from the 8 balls mouth and landed on the sidewalks creating a small explosion. Unfortunately being too close and not having enough time to react. The impact caused a powerful force and Y/n flew back. Not knowing whenever the others were she felt herself land somewhere soft.

“Hey—I know this is sudden—“ quickly opening her eyes she was face to face with Cuphead who held a nervous grin. Y/n shrieks before swinging her fist and it collides with Cuphead’s temple—unbeknownst of her his cup head was..well actually a cup. And the solid ‘tink!’ Made that known as the pain surged through her hand and through Cuphead’s head. “Ow!” He shouts as his hands fly up to his head. Y/n fell to the ground and immediately scurried away. Tripping over her shoes she ran past Cuphead and across the street where she thankfully didn’t get hit by any passing cars.

“No wait!” Cuphead shouts before groaning heavily in frustration.

Donald quacks in fear as he runs in the opposite direction. Taking Oswald by his ears and Panchito by the collar of his shirt. Dragging the two—more so Oswald. Donald ran the opposite direction to avoid the 8 ball.

“Who are these people?!” Donald shouts. As Panchito ran beside him. “Ow! Let go of my ears!” Oswald cried out as Donald shoved the two in an alleyway—Panchito heaves before turning around.

“Ah! Where is Y/n?!”

-

Y/n ran down an alleyway. Hopping over forgotten garbage and trash bags. She heard footsteps behind her and she felt her heart leaping in her chest. She was going to die! She was going to DIE!

She skids around a corner and sees a dead end. A garbage dump against the brick wall. If she could hop that she could get to the roof!

“Fuck am I thinking?!” She quickly disputed the thought. She couldn’t do that—she wasn’t in a movie. This was real life! She panicked as she heaved out of breath to try and catch her breath. She paced back and forth until she heard the sounds of the footsteps getting closer. Turning around she spotted Cuphead.

He heaved and tried to catch his breath as he frowned. “Jeez—you’re fast—“ he heaved. Y/n quickly stooped down and picked up a few rocks and pebbles. She quickly yet harshly threw one at the toon and it hit him in his face—some landing on him as some didn’t. Cuphead flinched and raised his hands up.

“Ow! Listen! Ow! Stop! I’m not here to hurt y—ow! I don’t wanna hurt you! I’m just here for the book!” He shouts. The minute he mentioned the book. Y/n felt herself jerk backwards. The familiar tug caused her to drop the rocks in shock. Her shoes slightly lifted from the ground from the book now awakening in her book bag and the dumpster vibrated and echoed at the impact of her shoes.

“No—no-no.” Y/n quickly tried to run past Cuphead—but the book dragged her back over to the toon—undoubtedly running into Cuphead sending the two to the ground.

“Ow!”

“What was that?!”

The two shouts. Y/n quickly got up before turning to face the streets and running off yet again. “HEY!” Cuphead shouts.

Y/n almost tripped over a stroller a mother was pushing. Y/n glanced over her shoulder and shouted a quick apology to the mother. “Sorry!”

Looking back ahead. Y/n tried glancing around the town for her friends but to no sight she didn’t see anyone. Breathing heavily through her nose. Y/n looking over on the porch of a house. There sat. Water gun. Not a weapon but she was sure it would come in handy. Her fight or flight mode was kicking and she was desperate for survival and protection. Grabbing the toy gun she ran down the sidewalk and looking around.

“Guys!” She shouts in spite of catching the attention of her friends—but instead. Catching the attention of a certain cowboy.

“Well looksy here!” Bettigan shouts. Y/n stops jogging before turning around and spotting the toon. Bettigan flicks his hat up and grins at Y/n. “Put em up—cow girl—“ he demands. Y/n blinks as she shuffled on her feet. The sidewalk had little to no one to hide behind but she still felt crowded. She quickly lifts the toy gun up and glares at the opposing opponent. “Stay back!” She shouts!

Bettigan stared at Y/n for a moment before reaching to his side and pulling out a pistol—in fact..it was real. Not ever having a weapon pointed at her. Y/n—like a wimp. Dropped the toy gun and raised her hands up in fear.

“Drop the bag.” The gun motioned for Y/n to turn around. But Y/n felt her mind go foggy. HOW WAS NO ONE SEEING THIS?!

“Come on now..drop it.” Y/n slowly took the book bag off her shoulders before placing it on the ground. Bettigan smiled—but before he could talk. Something whizzed in the air and knocked the pistol from his grip.

“Bettigan! I told ya’ don’t kill her! What are y—“

“You idiot I had her right there she has the bag in the ground!” Y/n saw Cuphead walk over pointing his index finger at Bettigan’s chest out of fits of anger.

“She’s right there!” Bettigan motions over to Y/n. Only to find.

“Where did she go?” Bettigan muttered.

-

Y/n tripped over her shoes as she rounded yet another corner. She rushes past a street where a quiet neighborhood resides. On the whim she heard two voices! One she was familiar with.

“Hey! Watch the horns!” It was Bendy!

Y/n skids to a stop and looks down the street. Standing on the side of a building was a tall lanky figure. He was furry, dark and…his horns were large and he had Bendy by his tail. Bendy hung upside down as he gazed up at this creature.

“Where’s the rabbit?” The creature asks. Y/n could only see the back of the creature and see Bendy being held. Y/n wasted no time before she ran over. Picking up a rock from the ground and chucking it in the air.

“Put him down!!!” She shouts. The rock hits the creature at the back of its head. It was a hard hit but not enough to deter the creature. But enough to make him turn around and gaze over his shoulder to the girl. It’s yellow eyes pierced into Y/n’s form.

Yellow eyes, black fur, horns.

“Oh shit…” she whispered.

The Devil drops Bendy before turning to Y/n. Bendy soon scurried away from the creature and over to Y/n. His arm looping around Y/n’s waste and picking the girl up to run from the neighborhood.

“What are you nuts?! You just hit the Devil!” Bendy shouts at her. Y/n frowned as she looks over Bendy’s

Shoulder—not seeing the creature anymore.

“I didn’t know that was him!” She cried out in fear. Bendy slowly stops running as he looks around frantically.

“Do you still have the book?” He asks her. Y/n felt him put her down. “Yeah, where’s Felix?” Y/n asked. Bendy looks back at her. “I dunno. The guy wandered off. No wonder he lost the twins!” Bendy sneered. Y/n breathed heavily trying to grasp onto her breathed as she looked around.

“I can’t find the others.” Y/n huffed

“Me ei—“

“a…a…a…a..” a distant scream echoed in the air.

Y/n and Bendy looked at each other as they heard the distant screaming grow closer.

“aaaaaAAAAAAAAHH!!!” Oswald had soon flown into Bendy and Y/n and the three had unfortunately rammed into a glass pane window of a store; the glass shattered into shards as the three fell into the store. A few screams of the pediatricians pierced the air. And Y/n felt wind get knocked from her lungs. Y/n rolled on the ground. The glass shards sticking to her shirt, pants and bag, Bendy groaned in pain as Oswald did as well. The sound of feet slapping the concrete grew closer.

“Guys! Are you okay?!” It was Donald. Y/n felt her eyes go blurry from the sudden impact. She groaned at the feeling of air not being able to properly cycle around her lungs. Soon Panchito and Donald hopped into the store through the broken glass. Donald reached down and helped Y/n up. Y/n groaned as she stood up slowly. Closing her eyes to help regain her balance.

Oswald slowly got up as Panchito looked down at Oswald. A few cackled and laughs echoed in the air—similar to being surrounded by a pack of hyenas. Y/n opened her eyes to see Bettigan, Mangosteen, Cuphead and she assumed his brother Mugman was standing in front of the broken glass pane. A few imp like creatures with different shades of red fur—there had to be at least 8 imp creatures that stood next to the now villainous people that weren’t on their side.

Mangosteen had yet again opened his mouth—like how he did to throw the energy ball at them earlier—but instead. Y/n felt herself slightly lift from the ground and her book bag unzipped and the book soon slipped from the bag leaving Y/n to tumble to the ground. Bendy had caught her and held her by her waist.

“No!” Y/n protested as the book floated over to the group. “Nice running around. I’ll give you all that.” The western cowboy—Bettigan praised. His voice was deep and husky. The book was an arms length away from him as he reached out to grab the book. But instead;

Whip!

A thick lasso rope embraced around the book. With a tug the book was pulled away from the beam of energy that was pulling it closer to the opposing group—being snatched off the go side where it landed in the hands of Felix. Felix stood in the doorway entrance of the store. A couple of customers cowered behind a shelf that stood next to him.

“I don’t think so.” Felix smiled at Bettigan. Bettigan huffed before pointing at the group. “Get em!”

With a blink of an eye. Donald, Y/n, Panchito, Bendy, Oswald and Felix dashed from the store. Almost tripping over her feet. Y/n ran down the sidewalk with her friends to seemingly nowhere—their main objective was to just get away from their opposing team.

“Where are we going?!” Y/n shouts as she and the others found themselves on the main street of the town once again.

“I don’t know!” Felix shouts—but he didn’t seem to sense the danger they were in. Instead enjoying the cat and mouse chase that ensued. He then grunts before looking down at his hands where he held the book.

“Ow! Hey—it’s burning me!” Felix said curiously. He tossed the book over to Y/n and she caught it. “Maybe it—AH!”

Y/n was dragged back, her arms being tugged harshly by the book. It lifted her from the ground with great strength. Y/n shrieks as she feels herself seemingly get tossed backwards and ramming into someone.

“Ow!” Shouts a voice but she couldn’t match the voice to the face as she and the person fell and rolled on the ground—rolling in a few summersaults from the impact. With adrenaline pumping she didn’t take much time to get up as she did the first couple of times. Sitting up and looking over. She was met face to face with an exhausted looking Mugman.

“Ah!” The two scream before backing away from each other. Her back hits the car that was parked off to the side of the street.

“Gotcha! You brat!” Y/n felt someone take ahold of her hood and lift her up yet again. She sunk into her jacket and aimlessly kicked and tossed her legs. “Ah! Let me go!” She protested. Swinging her arms back, try and hit whoever had her hold by her hood. Looking off to the side she saw the book laid aimlessly on the ground in the middle of the street.

“Mugman! Get the book and take it to Mango! I’ll deal wit’ da girl!” An accented voice shouts. Mugman stared at Y/n momentarily before he slowly backed away and scurried off towards the book. Y/n was dropped to the ground. She fell to her knees and before she had the time to get up and run off. She was grabbed by her shoulders and flipped around onto her back. A foot pressed into her torso. She gazed up at the person to see that they were a toon. A fox toon in a red suit. He looked to be some sort of pimp.

“Alright Noid. Heard ya’ve been givin’ my boss problems.” He sneered. Leaning down as his nose pressed against Y/n’s. Y/n glared at the toon. “I dunno who you’re talking about! I don’t even know what you guys are after us for!” She shouts.

“The book! Where’s the rabbit?” He got to the point. Y/n was silent for a moment as she stared up at him. “Oswald?” She asks.

“Yes, him—“

“What makes you think I’ll tell you!” She tried to swing at the fox. But he backed away before her fist could make an impact on his face. He holds his belly and laughs boisterously. “HAHAHAHA! OH man! You’re too good kid!” He laughs. He reaches behind his back and pulls out a pistol.

“Too bad you gotta be put out da’ picture.” He aims the gun at Y/n. Y/n wheezed slowly as she saw the weapon. Her fingertips running cold. She was going to die! She tried to sink into the concrete road away from the barrel. She could see the black hole pointing at her eye. But before the fox could pull the trigger. A loud thud was heard above Y/n. The creaking off a car and the alarm on the car went off—letting her know something heavy must have landed on it. The fox lowers the gun and looks up.

An animalistic growl rumbled the ground and Y/n shivered at only thinking what creature was there to kill her now?! She slowly moves her head to roll her eyes back to glance behind her. She only could see a large silhouette crouching on the alarmed car. She didn’t wasn’t to move too much in fear of having that fox toon wanting to quickly finish the job and shoot her.

“Let. Her. Go.” It was no one she was too familiar with. It couldn’t be any of her toon friends. Y/n cursed under her breath

But instead the fox's ears lowered as he lifted his foot from Y/n’s torso. “Go on. Take the girl.” He retaliated. Or so what Y/n assumed he did. The creature took a step from the car. And Y/n could feel purgatory chanting her names. She was going to die. She should have listened to her mom! Just stay in the house! This was crazy! She didn’t even know what she was doing! Should she just give them the book?!

“Whoa!”

Thud!

Whoever the big and bad creature was must have taken a step too wide and fell off the car. And fell face first into the ground. Deciding to take a look at this mystery hero. Y/n slowly sat up and saw;

“Boris?” She asks slowly. The wolf had landed on his chin, ears dropped low as he looked at her. His body arched over his head as he gave her a flustered smile.

“Ah…hey Y/n—“

“AAHAHAHA! This?! This is supposed to be the big wolf?!” The fox hurled over and laughed, arms curled over his stomach as he laughed hysterically.

“You—YOU HAD ME THERE FOR A SECOND!” He laughs. Boris’s attempts to try and spook the fox clearly almost had the enemy—but with one silly move caused Boris’s plan to fail.

As the fox laughed. Y/n quickly pushed the fox away from her, causing the toon to fall into the car behind him. She scurried off the ground and rushed over to Boris. Grabbing his arm and tugging him up—with how heavy he was her tugs meant nothing—but Boris thankfully was quick as he stood up and towered over her—she never realized how tall the wolf was—but thinking more on that later. She and Boris ran down the street away from the fox who just then got back up and shouted curses at the two.

“Where did you come from?!” Y/n shouts. She smiled at the wolf who ran next to her with a silly grin. Without taking notice. He closed his eyes and started to explain. “Well! Alice decided it would be best if we—“ Boris was cut short by running smack dead into a light pole. He stood stiff as a board. His ear twitched as his two eyes were replaced with X’s

“Didn’t…see that…sign…” he wheezed. Y/n skids to a stop as she looks forward to seeing that wandered into a construction sight. Looking at the sign that Boris inadvertently ran into she saw it had a black photo of a sewer hole. Boris staggered as he held his head.

“Oh my…” he whimpered. He seemed like he was about to fall.

“Hey! You two can’t be over here.” A construction worker warned. Y/n saw Boris falling back. She gasped and tried to stop the wolf from falling but he was far too heavy. She pressed her back into Boris’s but he already seemed to be knocked out unfortunately when turning the opposite direction to hoist Boris up. She noticed the open sewer hole a toe length away the black darkness was calling her name to just fall in.

“NO!” She shouts.

“Yes!” Y/n quickly looks up to see that flying 8-ball again. Gasping she stiffened at the sigh of the creature.

“Boris! WAKE UP!” Y/n legs gave out as she then fell into the sewer hold. With Boris limply falling in after. His foot had kicked an abandoned street sign and it flew in the air before falling into the sewer hole with Y/n’s descending screams. Mangosteen blinks before reaching a hand up to his chin (?)

“Wow—she’d much rather toss herself in a sewer line then be up here with me?” He seemed hurt genuinely as he frowned.

“…”

“OH WELL! Time for some brutal murder!” He cackled before floating over to the sewer hole and falling in as well. The construction worker blinked slowly and furrowed his eyebrow. Before he rolled his eyes

“I don’t get paid enough for this..”

-

Boris landed on top of the metal street sign shortly Y/n landed between his legs oddly Boris was still sitting up muttering under his breath—eyes closed but he seemed out of it.

“Yes—I’d love to….” He muttered under his breath. Y/n couldn’t see anything in front of her as her shaky breathing echoed in the sewer.

She shakily reached for her phone. Once finishing it she quickly took off her bookbag and placed it in front of her. Mesmerizing where her front zipper was. She unzipped it before turning in the flashlight in her phone and placing the phone in the front zipper. Once the light was on she could see the sewer line. The street sign oddly secures at some sort of boat as in the shallow water kept she and Boris afloat as it floated down the line.

She heard water a few feet ahead but it was so dark she could only see what was really in front of her. She looked over her shoulder and nudged Boris.

“Boris! Wake up—wake up please! We’re—we’re in the sewer and I think we’re lost!” She panicked. She lifts a hand up as she looks infront of her. Her hand softly pats at Boris’s face.

“5 more…minutes…Henry….” He muttered.

Y/n had her focus on the end of the tunnel—where she soon could see that—there was a drop!!

“Nonononono!! No!” She shouts. Pressing herself back into Boris. Boris snores before he snorts and wakes up. He looks around with an alarmed expression.

“What?! What’s going on?! Where am I?! Why is it so dark?!” He cried out. Y/n wrapped her arms around Boris’s arms as if to use them as some sort of restraint.

“Oh my gosh!” Y/n shrieks in fear. Boris shouts as he wraps his arms around Y/n as well. The street sign lurched forward and the two were sent sliding down the steep hill, Y/n felt her stop spinning in circles. Similar to how it felt riding on a rollercoaster. Their screams echoed in the sewer.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

“AAAAAAH!” They both shout in fear yet—excitement.

Suddenly a ball of energy shoots down the tunnel. Lighting the way down the tunnel where Y/n could see for a split second an abrupt turn. Y/n looked over Boris’s shoulder to see the 8 ball had followed them into the sewer line—possibly to make sure they were dead for sure. Y/n hid her face in Boris’s shoulder as she felt the abruptness. The metal street sign that acted as a sled skids the wall. Creating a spark as the tunnel dipped down yet again causing them to go faster.

Another energy ball had been shot and it landed right in front of the two just before the second dip. Y/n shrieks as she flies off the sled—as she deemed it.

Boris yelps and frantically tries to grab onto Y/n but he is separated by going into another direction which is downwards into the sewer. The energy ball had torn off another metal plate which held cables to the sewer lines wall—thankfully with luck on Y/n’s side she lands on the new sled and was separated from Boris when she was led to different tunnel—which was a form as Boris went left and she went right—on the hood side she managed to lose Mangosteen. Y/n had landed in her stomach and was holding onto the metal plate that was curled at the end so she could have something to grasp onto. It really resembles a sled now.

Y/n felt another dip and her legs lifted from the sled and she flipped forwards mid air. Screaming Y/n felt herself free fall as she lost the metal plate she was on. Boris had made it from the tunnel he was separated from Y/n. And he looked up in the direction of Y/n’s screaming. And right when he looked up. She landed back between his legs.

“AH I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!” He shouts with glee. As he hugged Y/n. Rubbing his cheek on top of her head. Y/n felt herself shivering at the thought of maybe landing in the sewer water and scraping herself up pretty bad. She was thankful that Boris was there. The two looked forward and saw at the end of the tunnel a large pipe that led upwards. The pipe had a valve. And spurts of water were spilling from the crevice of the pipe.

“I think that's the way out!” Y/n shouts and smiles. Boris smiled as well before frowning.

“Why aren’t we slowin’ down.”

-

Being tossed through a window of a house that was nearby. Bendy groaned as he laid on the floor limply. The debris of the glass shards and dust particles from the wall wafted in the air. The demon's tail twitched as he sighed…tossed through a wall…again. Bendy glared up at the ceiling in irritation.

“This is not my week…” he grumbled.

Hearing the sudden tiny gasp caused Bendy to snap from his trance before sitting up on his elbows. Looking over he saw two children. One boy—no older than maybe the age of 10 holding a bat over his head in fear that Bendy may have been an intruder. And a little girl who had to have been 8 cowering behind her brother. They both held a fearful expression thinking Bendy would harm them. Bendy blinks before having a nervous smile. “Um—-I can explain—“

Donald was caught off by frantic huffing and puffing. Oswald quickly crawled into the apartment. Crawling over the glass shards and wall pieces. His fur was ruffled as he landed on his stomach to breathe.

“They—are Vicious!” Oswald's voice cracks as he shakily points behind him which leads outside. Bendy was surprised that the rabbit crawled up to the second floor to get away from beagle brothers—who had also shortly after decided to make their appearance after Y/n suddenly vanished.

Oswald looks at Bendy before looking over at the kids. His ears dropped once he saw how alarmed the two kids were. Seeing two toons being thrown through the wall into your home? That would frighten any kid.

“Oh man…” he muttered.

The two kids then screamed in fear and the brother dropped the bat to the ground before he grabbed his sibling and scurried off down the hall. Oswald quickly gets up as well as Bendy.

The faucet in the kitchen trembled and the ground vibrated. Oswald and Bendy look down at their feet before looking at each other. Bendy blinked before the sound of water spraying widely outside caught his attention. Two distinct screams were heard and both Oswald and Bendy were yet again tossed to the ground by Boris and Y/n. The two were soaking wet. The mildew smell of water wafted the air. And the sound of a heavy sew lid smashing onto concrete echoed in the streets.

Y/n coughed up water and crawled off of Bendy. She gasped for air and groaned heavily. Bendy yelped as he quickly wiped the water from him as he looked over to Y/n who were on her hands and knees trying to free her lungs of water. Head to two she was drenched and shivering.

Boris stood up quickly and shook his coat of fur. Splashing water everywhere. Bendy wandered over to Y/n and helped her up.

“Boris! What are you doing here?” Bendy was relieved to see his friend. And Boris wagged his tail quickly, happy to see Bendy as well. “Alice led us here! She had something to tell you! That there’s this group of people trying to kill you all!” He explained before he grunted.

“But it seems you all already got the gist of that.” He muttered under his breath shaking his left foot from any water. Y/n gagged and groaned.

“I’m all wet! With sewer water! And—and they took—-The book!” She shouts. Bendy and Oswald both looked at her.

“They took the book?” Oswald repeats. Y/n looks at him and nods, breathing heavily to catch her breath. “Yes! And we need to get it back!” She looked out towards the hole in the wall and ran a hand through her hair.

“Where’s Alice?” Bendy asks as he turns to look at Boris. Boris thought for a moment. “They’re still in town.” He answered.

“They’re?”

“Oh yeah! Charley, Barley and Edgar are with us too!” Boris nods with a bright smile. Y/n didn’t know who they were other than Alice. But Bendy didn’t seem pleased.

“Come on. We need to find Donald and Panchito.”

-

Rushing down the sidewalk. Y/n could see the water spluttering from the sewer hole that she and Boris had exited from. Water everywhere on the street after busting that pipe they ran into shortly after their victory chase with Mangosteen. Luckily the water damage didn’t floor the street—but surely construction will pull their hair out when they see that.

“How did you two get up there anyway?” Y/n asked Bendy and Oswald before motioning up to the hole in the building on the 2nd floor. The two kids that were in that room peered down at them. Bendy points to himself. “I was tossed.” He then points at Oswald. “He was hiding.” He finished. Oswald looks away down the road to avoid eye contact. Y/n’s clothes felt heavier she sighed and shivered yet again.

“All we need to do is locate that bo—“

“Squeak squeak!!” Two loud echoing squeaks that reminded Y/n of a dog's chew toy echoed in the air. The four turned around and were faced with a spider toon—Edgar. He held the book in his hand and smiled triumphantly.

Bendy smiled.

“Eddie!” He shouts with glee and runs over to the toon. He wrapped his arms around the spider toon and lifted him up to give Edgar a tight crushing hug. Edgar let’s out various squeals of laughter. Y/n didn’t know who the toon was but assumed he was good and that Bendy knew him. She jogged over and once she got closer the spider smiled at her and handed her the book. Y/n smiled before taking ahold of the book. At long last!

“Thank you.” She thanks the toon as Bendy sets Edgar down. Edgar smiled before he looked away with a flustered expression.

“There you guys are!” Y/n glanced up and saw Panchito and Donald running over. Once they were close they skidded to a stop once spotting Boris. His height must have made the two cautious as Donald quacked in a surprised manner before hiding behind Panchito. Boris’s nose twitched before he smiled and waved. “Hi!” He says. Panchito soon smiled and waved at Boris—remembering the face from the studio. As for Donald he cautiously looked at Boris but remained silent.

Bendy took the book from Y/n and smugly grinned.

“And we have the book. You all can thank—“ he then looked at Edgar but—Bendy then points to himself with his thumb as he grinned.

“This guy.” Just as he said that. A black blurry figure ran in between him and Y/n. Snatching the book from Bendy’s grasp. Bendy still held the hand up that was holding the book. He looked at his head before he looked at Y/n whose mouth was agape.

“What the hell Bendy!” She shoved him—for what felt like the 100th time the book was taken from them! Bendy grabbed Y/n’s hands to stop her from shoving him again. “Hey! Hey! Don’t get hostile with me—“

“Hah! Losers!” Everyone looked over to see the shadow like toon that Oswald, Y/n, Panchito and Bendy encountered. The fast shadow toon grinned as he held the book above his head before dashing off reaching behind his back with his free hand. He held a small metal like ball.

“You know out of everyone we’ve encountered—he doesn't make me scared.” Panchito absurdly confessed. Oswald rubbed his eye so that he could start to bruise up. The toon then smashed the ball to the ground like a smoke bomb. Black smoke seeped onto the ground and out popped 4 shadow creatures. All with sharp features their glowing white eyes caused Y/n’s bookbag to fall off her shoulder as everyone stared in awe as the 4 shadows loomed in the air threateningly.

“I take that back.” Panchito said nonchalantly.

“Get them!” Zip shouted before he cackled loudly and rushed away with the book. The four shadows quickly started towards the group and all six of them screamed in fear before scurrying off in different directions.

Edgar tripped over his legs running away as he followed Y/n. With how small he was he sure was fast as he kept up to speed with her. Boris and Bendy had run off into another direction. Boris screams and he tripped over a trash can. But he rolled off the ground and kept running. Oswald, Donald and Panchito found their different paths as well—everyone splitting up yet again.

Y/n held her bookbag as she tripped over her wet and saggy pants that were weighing her down. She had to think big instead of running everywhere! She looks at Edgar hoping he could understand her. “Do you think you can find that book again?!” She asks the spider as the two rounded a corner. Edgar squeaks before he remembered she couldn’t understand him. He nods before he stops running and zips off to another street in hopes of finding the stolen book. Y/n looked behind her and saw that the shadow like creature was quick and series of voices were in her head—she assumed it must have been the effect of the creature she covered her ears and huffed she was running out of breath and her legs urged her to take a rest she was running too much! Y/n ducked under a man's arm as he stood in the way. He almost tripped over and looked at Y/n in confusion but didn’t seem to notice the shadow creature chasing after the girl.

As soon as Y/n thought could outrun the creature. To arms stuck out. And grasped onto her dragging her into an alleyway. Y/n yelps and almost tripped over. Turning around quickly she was met with Cuphead.

“Sh! Quiet! I’m helping you—“ he raised a finger to his mouth to silence her. Y/n huffed and placed her back on the wall opposite of Cuphead. She felt water dripping from her and onto the concrete ground. She tried to contain her hard breathing but she couldn’t as Cuphead peeked from the alleyway. Should she even be standing near him?

As he was busy looking away and out the alley to see if the creature was far off somewhere. Y/n looked over and saw a gate she could hop—would she even be quick enough? She couldn’t even run—her clothes were wet and she felt icky and tired! Y/n looked down at her hands to see the bandage around her hands were loosely coming off.

“Are you okay?” Y/n heard the voice echo in the alleyway. She looks up to see Cuphead had turned around to face Y/n. He was wringing his gloved hands slightly.

Y/n didn’t really know what to respond as she stared at him. “Yeah…” she cautiously said. Cuphead smiled. “Great—“

“So. You’re out to kill me?” She abruptly asked…well she had to know! Cuphead opened his mouth before placing his hands on his chest. “They told me to. But I don’t wa—“

“So you are going to kill me?”

“No! I’m not—I was but until I ran into you today—I made the decision that I wasn’t—“

“So your original plan was to kill me—“

“I don’t think either way I put it—it’ll sound good. Look—let’s start from the beginning.” He wandered over to a trash can and leans his elbow onto it. Before looking at Y/n he then smiled.

“Hey, I’m Cuphead. Cups—whateva’, but you can call me…anytime.” He winks at her. Y/n mouth was agape as she stared at him. Feeling butterflies in her stomach as she saw him lean too far in the trash can and almost fall over. He played it off by reaching a hand out to Y/n to shake.

“And I know you. You’re Y/n—my uh…boss…sorta told me. To kill you.” His words went quieter—as blunt as he was he really didn’t seem like the guy to want to kill anyone. But Y/n couldn’t even form words as she looked at him…what an odd guy..

“Don’t seem too…moved..okay..uh…you're still there?” He moved his hand when he saw Y/n didn’t take the hand shake. He waved his hand in front of her to see if he could snap her from her daze. Y/n blinks before she slowly removes herself off the wall.

“What suddenly made you not want to kill me?” She asks. Cuphead gave her a closed lip smile as he gazed at her with a far off look. “Well…you’re pretty.”

What?

Despite feeling the fluffy feeling of butterflies in her stomach. Y/n didn’t find the reply good enough. She furrowed her eyebrows and Cuphead soon raised his hands.

“I know—that doesn't sound like anything too believable—look. My brother and I aren’t people that go around for fun harmin’ folks. This—our boss—The Devil. He sorta owns our souls for the time being, and he said to release us. We had to take that book from you and your friends and specifically kill you. I don’t know why.” His reply seemed genuine and authentic. Y/n tensed muscles slowly eased as she slowly nodded.

“So you’re not going to kill me?” She asks yet again. Cuphead shook his head. “I’m not. I promise I won’t lay a finger on you..” the two were silent for a moment as Y/n tried to wrap her hand around everything. She doesn't understand.

“I don’t understand…Why would you not kill me if that’s the only way to not be soul bound to the Devil.” Y/n repeats. Cuphead looks off to the side.

“You know Felix..right?” He asks. And Y/n nods.

“Well. Me and Mugs—my brother. Our original plan was to get this jewel that would protect us from the Devil. But as you can see—“ he motions around himself. “We’re here. I was going to let you all go—I hope your friends are still alive.”

“Trust me. They are.”

“Well. If you all can get away safely and find that stone. That can break the string between the Devil and me and my brother.” Cuphead finished. Y/n stared at him for a moment.

“So you want us to help you?”

“If that’s not too much to ask..”

Y/n was silent…the book..something about it from earlier…she ran into both Cuphead and Mugman because of the book. Idaho…wait.

Gasping softly she looks at Cuphead.

“You—you and your brother. The book—okay look. We have this book. And this book is leading us to people that should belong on our team. And you and your brother are two of the few people!” She quickly explains. It all made sense now! Cuphead tilts his head.

“What’s the purpose of it. Everyone on my team—the head honchos as I put it. Want that book. I never really cared to find out why but..what’s so important about it?” He asks. And frankly;

“We don’t have an answer for that yet. It’s—it's a lot to unravel. And we’ll explain that when we get you and your brother out of this mess. All you need to know now. Is that. You need to be on our team. And I’ll make it happen.” She boasts. Y/n gave him a smile and Cuphead then smiled back.

“I like ya’ spunk.” He winks. “Have any boyfriend’s?” He grins. Y/n smiled slowly. “No.”

“Lookin’ for any?”

“We have bigger things to look at right now—“

“Alright, alright. I have a plan for you to get your book back and for your friends to leave town safely.” Cuphead moved on. Y/n nods as the two walks deeper into the alleyway.

“Tell me and let’s put it into action.”

[lizzy-williams]

𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐

🍎Warnings: dark!peter parker, manipulation, innocent!reader, smut, triggering themes, oral (female receiving)

🍎Masterlist

🍎PART ONE

🍎A/N: Major trigger warning, I don’t condone actions like this, it’s fanfiction.

She was trapped in a spider’s web. Thankfully metaphorically, but it didn’t make the situation any better.

[y/n] was restless the night after the events that took place in her favorite teacher’s classroom. Tossing and turning as she found herself quite lonely in her bedroom.

Was this wrong? Was it worth it? What would someone say if they found out?

These questions floated around her head, hoping that maybe her thoughts would calm and she could at least get a little sleep before classes.

But then her alarm went off, and it set in that she would need to live on coffee and Five Hour Energy to keep her going and make her pay attention to her classes.

The day went by painfully slow. That was until her 6th period class. Mr. Parker’s class. And she purposely showed up when everybody else did, breaking her habit of arriving ten minutes early.

And Peter didn’t fail to notice.

Because little did [y/n] know that he was up all night as well. His thoughts were filled with nothing but her.

He didn’t fail to keep her eyes on him as he stood up in front of a room of rowdy college kids, his eyes training on her loose turtle neck, and pants.

She never wore pants, her usual outfit consisted of a skirt and knee high socks, usually with a matching sweater. He didn’t like the change of wardrobe.

Class continued as usual. But Peter’s thoughts filled with the events of the day before. How beautiful she looked on her knees. How she looked with her makeup spilling down her face, and her nude body perfectly prepped for what he had planned next.

It was then the Peter noticed he was beginning to get hard in his nether regions, and quickly dismissed the students to work and have a study hall, before sinking down at his desk, bright red but thankful that nobody saw.

Nobody accept one person, and she felt shameful for it, almost as red as her manipulator was.

She avoided eye contract with him the entire period, not wanting to catch his attention, and eventually the bell rang, her saving grace, as she rushed out of the room.

[y/n] felt sick. She didn’t want to go. She really didn’t want to go to his room after school, knowing that there was more to come. But as much as she hated it, she thought on it.

He said he wanted the best for her. And this was a learning opportunity with perks. As foreign as it felt, what he did to her felt... good. Not the last part, but the first part.

Nobody had touched her like that, not even her past boyfriends, who were almost just as clueless as she was. But Peter gave her something new. Something that she liked. Not to mention his praise did something to her that she liked. She wanted to hear him call her a good girl just one more time.

She took her sweet time, almost 20 minutes late to see him. She paused right as she got to the door. Was she really doing this? Was she inviting it?

But she needed a good grade on this paper. She really really wanted it.

And maybe, just maybe, a small piece of her wanted Peter.

When she opened the door, Peter immediately looked up, his leg bouncing up and down, a scowl on his face.

“You’re late.”

She looked down in guilt, hoping this didn’t anger him too much.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Parker, I had a family emergency, it was small, but everything is fine now...”

Her voice was barely audible as she spoke. But Peter seemed to be having none of it.

“I can’t have you being late, now can I? I might have to doc a few points from your grade...”

“No!” She started, and this was the loudest she had ever spoken to him, the threat working better than Peter had thought, “I’m sorry... sorry, I just... please, there has to be something I can do.”

“You’ll have to do an exceptionally good job today then. We need to start the next lesson.” Peter’s tone was laced with pretend disappointment, knowing it would seem authentic to his prey.

“Yes sir,” she muttered, setting her bag down and standing in front of him, sinking down to her knees, her hands folded in front of her, her eyes on the floor, preparing for what she thought was a recap of her most recent teachings.

Peter let out an amused laugh, proud that he taught her well. Fast learner, she was.

“Stand up, [y/n],” he put a finger under her chin, making her look up, “we’re going to try something different. It’s new, and I think you’ll like it.”

She began to stand up, grasping onto Peter’s hand as she stood. She was nervous, and she was starting to think twice on her decision to show up, but there was no going back now.

“I need you to sit on your desk, just like we did yesterday, alright?”

She nodded, sitting on the table of the desk before she folded her hands in front of her once again. It was a habit of hers, folding her hands, it gave her something to hold onto. Even if it was just herself.

He stepped closer, before he began to mess with the bottom of her sweater, “Never seen you in something like this before,” he muttered bitterly.

Part of him wanted to rip it off of her, destroying the modest sweater all together. But a shirtless girl walking out of his classroom could cost him his job.

He leaned over, close to her ear, sending goosebumps up her arms, “Strip.”

Peter stood back and watched as each piece of clothing found their way to the floor. She even did the honors of unhooking her bra. And soon her panties were off.

No matter how many times he would see her naked, it always felt like the first time. Amazed and in awe that even just for an evening, it was his.

“Now. What was something we learned yesterday?” He spoke, [y/n] shifted, her thighs now closed.

“Pleasure is key?” She tried, relieved at the gleeful smile that crossed her professor’s lips.

“Look at you,” he came closer, stroking her cheek, “such a fast learner. My brilliant girl,”

Even though the young woman knew what was about to come next, the praise gave her the pride to at least keep going a little while longer. Something to look forward to.

“Yesterday you gave me pleasure. You did a fantastic job. So now, it’s my turn to do it to you. But I’m also going to teach you how to do it yourself.”

Peter let his words sink in, [y/n] doing her best to understand, but no matter how hard she tried, the concept flew over her head.

“I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it. I’m going to show you how to do it. Think of it like homework. Something to do while your away from me,”

Peter gently took her hand, bringing it to his lips before placing a kiss on her wrist.

This was fine, the naive nymphet thought to herself. She foolishly thought this lesson was easy.

But once she felt her hand go down her stomach, worry filled her thoughts once again, Peter’s voice an interruption.

“Have you ever touched yourself, [y/n]?” Peter pried, pausing her hand right at her clit.

She shook her head, no longer knowing how to speak. But secretly, she had tried once. Her friends (as a cruel joke on their pure friend) invested in a vibrator. But she she tried it, the buzzing only made her laugh, not being able to take it seriously. So now it sat in a box in her dorm’s closet, not being touched since then.

“Perfect.” Peter’s dreams were coming true. He knew she was pure. And he was going to show her. Help her. Have her. Even if it was just for a little while.

He positioned her hand, their pointer fingers now laced with each other.

“Start by rubbing right here...,” he instructed, rubbing her clit in soft circles, devouring the sounds of her gasps as she bit her lip.

“Hey, don’t be afraid to make noise. There’s nobody here.” He reassured.

Did he know this as a fact? No. But he would tell her anything to get her to make the sounds he had only daydreamed about.

This was when she let out a weak whimper as he applied a little more pressure. He did this for a few more seconds, Peter not failing to notice her cunt clenching around nothing. He loved her small noises.

But the whine when he took her hand away was music to his ears. It was angelic, heavenly. Everything he wanted.

“Hush,” he shushed her, “this next part you’ll like.”

She hated to admit it, but [y/n] wanted to see what was coming next. Anything to get the warm feeling on her clit again.

“It’ll be uncomfortable at first, but it will feel good after a while. Alright?”

“Mhm.”

Taking her middle and pointer finger, he positioned them. [y/n] looked up with wide eyes. Peter gave her a soft kiss on her forehead before inserting her fingers inside of her.

She whimpered at the sensation, the feeling almost alienated. It was new. It was strange. And it was very uncomfortable.

“Here, I’ll help you,” he lulled, pulling her hand slowly, her fingers slipping out, but he pushed them back in, her cunt swallowing them to the knuckle.

She let out a weak cry, the feeling of being stretched out, even by her own fingers, was scary.

“There you go, princess, just like that,” the professor muttered, continuing to guide his student.

This was a lesson he thought he should have taught her sooner.

The pace was slow and easy, but the feeling was overwhelming for the young girl. Peter then took it a step farther, pressing her palm up against her pearl and adding pressure, making sure her fingers were still moving inside her.

“That’s right. Rub that clit while you fuck your hand, that’s it...,”

Peter’s encouraging words made her melt, Peter then taking his hand off hers. But to his delight, she didn’t stop. She continued, loving the tightening in her core.

Her light moans were making Peter’s cock strain in his pants. Almost to the point of pain. Peter kicked the chair away from the desk, now standing behind her.

[y/n] was too lost in pleasure to register the sound of his belt and the unzipping from his slacks.

And the moment Peter’s cock sprung out, his hand wrapped around it, squeezing gently to relieve the pressure, his free arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her back to his chest.

This gave him perfect view of [y/n]’s finger working her pussy. He started in soft strokes, his eyes trained on her hand and the soft moans she was releasing.

He started going faster, thinking about what he wanted to do most. But that was a lesson for another day. But for now, all he had were her noises. His hand began going even faster, his head now dropping to the crook of her neck, his cheeks flushed.

“That’s right, my perfect girl, you’re doing fucking amazing, keep going, baby,” his words were muffled by the young woman’s skin, but was heard none the less.

Peter already knew that she was close, her signs apparent as she went faster, the coil that was tightening inside her feeling otherworldly.

But right as it she was at the edge, she slowed.

“Mr. Parker, I-I’m scared,” she whimpered, but Peter gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s okay, keep going, your almost done, don’t stop, alright? I promise it’s worth it.”

And just like he knew she would, [y/n] obeyed, resuming the swift speed she had before, moaning at her own sudden change of pace.

Peter was on the edge. He was so close. So fucking close. He had to cum before her. He wanted to take in the sight that he couldn’t imagine if he tried.

And soon enough, he came, his cum dripping down his cock and spurting onto the girl’s back, grunting loudly, cursing at his peak.

His sounds is what set her off, [y/n] letting out a loud moan as she fell off the edge, her legs shaking as she experienced her first orgasm. But right as her hand stopped, Peter reached around with his cum-covered hand and violently rubbed her clit, his harsh movements making her yelp.

She felt the coil inside her tighten again, quicker this time.

“Come on, give me one more, I wanna make you give me one more.” He growled.

And right as she fell off, her vision went white, almost blacking out as her eyes rolled back in her head. Peter held her close as he spasmed and tensed, shaking almost to the point of vibration.

Peter’s mouth dropped open as she released, squirting all over the desk and the floor in front of the classroom. His hand was soaked, and his girl was close to crying.

He refused to stop there, moving away from behind her, picking her up and laying her down at the edge of his own desk, the dazed girl laying back as her bottom half hung over the ledge.

Before she could protest, Peter was already on his knees, her legs over his shoulders, diving into her pussy, licking up everything she gave.

This time it was overstimulating, but when she tried to get away, Peter pulled her right back. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she tried to form words, her language slurred.

“S-Stop! Off!” Were the only words she could force out, but in response, Peter only licked quicker, inserting his own fingers in her cunt.

His stalky fingers shoved her open as she screamed in pain as he gave her no time to adjust before thrusting at a punishing pace.

“One more, baby, one more for me,” he growled against her folds.

And she did, her mouth opening as she let out a silent scream, forgetting how to breathe as her ears rang. Her thoughts were incoherent, mumbles of words seeping out of her mouth as she did her best to regain sanity.

But it was too much. It was all too much. And that’s all she remembered as darkness claimed her, her body no longer conscious.

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃

When she regained consciousness, she found herself fully dressed, laying down on her professor’s desk. She struggled to sit up, her mind fuzzy.

Peter stood up from cleaning up her... mess, letting out a breath of relief.

“Fuck, you’re up, lost you for a second,” he rushed over, helping her stand. He reached over to a stray desk, picking up a glass of water along with Advil and a shot of electrolytes.

“Here, this should help you.” He helped her drink and take the pill, watching as she did so.

And of course, there was still one thing that she couldn’t get off her mind. The question that she was dying to ask.

“D-Did I do good?”

[raineydays411]

The Best of Friends pt4

Peter Parker x Stark!reader, Jason Todd x Stark!reader

Summary:  After the disastrous weekend, you and Peter are going through a rough patch. It doesn’t help that he seems to get set off whenever Pietro or Jason was around.

<A/n: Hey yall, sorry about posting this so late! I’ve just been really stressed with school and life. This is a bit shorter than usual but stay tuned!

After that horrible day out, you were glad to get some time off with your dad. Or at least you were, until it was revealed that he had yet another meeting with Mr. Wayne.

“I’m sorry kiddo, I promise as soon as I’m done its gonna be just you and me” Your dad says with a frown. Then he kisses your forehead, ruffles your hair, and walks out of your room. You sigh and flop back down on your bed. You really were looking forward to spending time with your dad. Plus, you couldn’t even bother anyone else on the team as everyone was on a mission or something.

“Ms. Stark, there seems to be a group of boys outside your door.” FRIDAY says suddenly, scaring the crap out of you. 

“Pull up the security footage Fri” 

On your table you can see Jason, Tim, and Damian. They seemed to be arguing about something, Jason looking annoyed as usual. You tell FRIDAY to play the audio.

“Don’t be an idiot Todd, if she wanted to come out she would have by now, besides, it seems like she’s tolerated your presence enough for a night.”

“Shut up demon. Why are you even here if you’re so sure she doesn’t want to talk to us.”

“I have my reasons”

“Aww do you have a crush Dami?”

“Shut your mouth Drake”

“No I think you’re on to something replacement...you got a crush on my girl, demon?”

“Oh don’t be delusional Todd, a woman of that caliber wouldn’t be fooled by your cheap flirtation tactics.”

Geez, you forgot how...proper Damian was.

“Wait...my girl” You think to yourself, blushing slightly at the thought. You get up from your bed and quickly run to your closet, looking for more presentable clothes than your dads ratty Led Zeppelin shirt. You finally found a striped long sleeve shirt and some overall shorts. You take the bonnet off of your head and let your curls out into a fro. 

You wait a few seconds, watching the boys argue some more and then quickly open the door. 

The sudden silence and wide eyes of the three boys makes you laugh out loud.

“Hello boys” you say with a smirk.

Damian turns a deep red, stuttering out a hello before looking down at the ground, Tim just smiles and waves, and Jason smirks back.

“Hey doll”

“Ew. that’s what Bucky calls me: you say with a snort. Tim and Damian snicker at Jason fail and he turns around to glare at them. 

“So..did you need anything or..”

Before Jason can speak up, Damian beats him to it.

“Yes, we were wondering if you would like to accompany us while our fathers are at the meeting?” He smiles looking up at you with big eyes.

You find this adorable, “ Aw, of course! I’d love to spend time with you” 

You ruffle his hair, then turn around to get your phone and shoes. As you turn your back, you miss the smirk Damian throws to Jason and the glare Jason sends back. 

Putting on your shoes, you walk back up to the boys, “Okay ready! What did you guys wanna do?”

“There’s a new interactive exhibit at the  Science museum...” Tim suggests fiddling with his phone. 

“Sounds boring.” Jason drawls as he walks round your room examining your knick knacks and pictures. Damian scoffs at his older brother.

“Have you no class? I’m sure  Ms. Stark does not appreciate you rummaging through her belongings.” 

“Oh, Damian you can call me Y/n, we’re all friends here.” You quickly say, trying to stop an argument before it started. “ And Tim, I haven’t been to the Science Museum since I was a kid, so I’d love to go”

“Oh great, we get to go to the nerd museum..” Jason mutters. 

“You calling me a nerd Todd?” You tease

“Well, if the shoe fits, Princess” 

You roll your eyes and walk out of the room, “Whatever, come on boys we don’t have all day.”

As you walk, you can hear the three boys squabbling quietly behind you. You let out a small laugh, amused by their antics. 

Walking into the common room, you pass by Wanda and Pietro, who were sitting on the couch watching some show. 

“Hey guys!” You greet, with a warm smile.

“Y/n!” Wanda beams, pausing the tv as she turns to you, “ There you are! I was looking for you earlier-” “WE were looking for you earlier.” 

Pietro cuts in with a smile. Wanda glares at him for interrupting her. 

“Yes, we were.” She continues.

“Oh,” You say, “ Whats up?”

Wanda pats the seat next to her, in between her and Pietro. 

“Tell us, how did your day out go yesterday?” 

“Yes, did the spider boy finally confess his feelings for you” Pietro teases. 

You sit down in between them with a sigh. You give Wanda a look that has her shaking her head.

“Oh no, what happened?” She asks, frowning.

“He’s going to homecoming with Liz..” You say, eyes watering at the memory. 

“That idiot.” Pietro mutters, “ I saw his face when I kissed your forehead! He was jealous!” 

“I don’t think so Piet..” You mutter, looking down, “ I think he just didn’t expect us to be friends.” 

“ Well what else happened?” Wanda asks rubbing your arm softly

“ He didn’t talk to me all day, and when he did it was after Liz left. Plus he was really rude to Jason”

Wanda arched an eyebrow at that. “ He ignored you?!” 

“ Yeah... and then towards the end of the night he acted like he was mad at ME. Can you believe that”

Pietro shook his head and Wanda looked irritated. 

“Don’t worry Y/n, sooner or later he’ll get his head out of his ass. You shouldn’t waste your time over him.”

“i know..I just--” “ Y/N! Are you ready? Bruce let me borrow the car!” 

Jason, Tim, and Damian ran in to the room panting and pushing each other.

You laugh, “ Yeah yeah, should I even get in a car with you driving it Jaybird?” 

“Aw come on iron baby, I’ll let you sit in the front”

You smile, and turn to Wanda, “ I better go before those three murder somebody” 

She looks at Pietro who was smirking, then turns to you with a smile 

“ Yes, you better hurry along,have fun!” 

You thank her and skip along towards the boys. The four of you running to the elevator. 

“I bet you five bucks the big one is going to fall in love with her.”

“You’re on.”

..........

“When did you kiss her forehead?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You all finally make it to the museum, Jason had accidently taken a wrong turn and traffic in New York is absolute hell. But you made it. 

Walking in you looked around in awe. You smile as you took in the environment, remembering the times you and your father used to come.

“So, what do you wanna do first princess?” Jason asks placing his arm around your shoulder. You glance at the arm then at him, but don’t make any moves to remove it. 

“Well, I loved seeing the natural science exhibit, maybe we can start there?” you say hopefully. 

“A wonderful idea” Damian says, grabbing your hand and dragging you off to the exhibit, “ Come Y/n, would you mind showing me your favorite parts of the exhibit?”

“Of course not Damian!” you say cheerfully, letting the pre-teen drag you away. You didn’t notice Jason huff and glare at the child, nor did you see Tim stifle a laugh and pat Jason on the back.

You and Damian walk side by side admiring the different exhibits and conversing about your childhoods. 

“I miss being able to be out freely” You say facing a replica dinosaur “After dad became Iron Man, it was like the whole world was watching even closer, and it was too dangerous to be outside..”

Damian nodded, “You do not attend regular school?” 

“No, not since I was a child”

“Father forced me to attend Gotham academy after I moved in with him. He said I needed to ‘socialize’”

You laugh at the annoyed tone Damian had, “ Well, at least he cares”

“Yes, I suppose. It’s better than living with mother, that I am certain of.”

“Moms suck.” You mutter looking away, “ Who needs them.”

Damian looks at you shocked, a bitter tone took over the previous light heartedness of the conversation. That’s when Jason and Tim caught up to the two of you. 

“There you are, we’ve been looking all over” Tim said handing Damian a water.

“And yet you had time to stop for refreshments” Damian deadpanned, taking the water with a roll of his eyes. 

“ And stop at the gift shop” Jason added with a cheeky smile, “ Here sweetheart”

Your face burns, both at the name and gift. It was a little necklace of an atom. 

“Thank you” You say, “Put it on me?” 

Jason unclasps the necklace and steps behind you. You gather your hair, and tense as you feel his warmth behind you and his warm hands gently brushing against your neck. He struggles with the clasp for a bit before finally tying it. 

“There” Jason says as you turn to face him, ‘ Gorgeous as always, Ms.Stark”

You go to respond when you hear a voice

“Y/n?”

You turn, only to see Peter and Ned staring at you and Jason with shocked faces.

[7soulstars]

hello! can i request something funny with thranduil? ony if you're comfortable with writing itof course.

he took y/n in *like Elnord did with Aragorn* but she is a huge troublemaker,always pulling pranks on elves or sneaking to the woods and putting herself in danger, giving him many heart attacks in the process, yet he can't stop loving her.

*screams* I love this !! Of course I’ll write something based on this ! Let’s go !!

Erevan Ilesere’s Petal 

Pairing: Thranduil x Immortal! Reader

Warnings: Cavity Inducing fluff, Angst if you squint, Decent writing ??

Summary: No matter how much of annoyance Y/N is,Thranduil cannot stop adoring his lady. 

..............

Erevan Ilesere ; The elven god of mischief and tricks

Nobody knew who Y/N was, what she is, where she is from or why was she found in the center of the clearing at the heart of the forest Mirkwood. Neither did she. She knew nothing of herself except her name. But that didn't intrigue Thranduil, the blue petal mark etched on her skin did.

The battle of the five armies had been a turning point in Thranduil’s life, he was at calm with himself, but at the same time he felt lonely. He let his son go on an adventure that he’d not know when he would return from, he was at peace with his wife’s death.He had to let her go.Though she would always have a special place in his heart. He had to focus more on his people, flourish his kingdom and move on. But he felt empty.

He felt alone.

So went he found Y/N heavily injured at the clearing, he didn’t hesitate to take her in.

Y/N was different. Not in normal mannerisms she was not. It was unexplainable. She was different.

After she was taken in by Thranduil and healed, she said she knew nothing of her kin or where was born. All she remembered that she had been living the life of a ranger for as long as she recalls.

She had always been alone.

But that never stopped her from being vocal. She was bold, so bold that she would barge into the court meetings to give the most random suggestions, make jokes or even put flowers in Thranduil’s crown during it. And he would always let her, sometimes even smiling.

The elves didn’t expect it. Valar! No one on Middle Earth would have. 

Y/N became the most adored individual in the entirity of Mirkwood. She made the place happier, the forest was healing and things got better.....

But everyone has things others do not enjoy about themselves. Y/N did too. She was chaos in a bottle. 

Once she had covered onions with caramel and gave it to the palace guards claiming they were caramel apples. The other time she had paired along with with Mëludir, Lindir’s brother who was at Mirkwood and had filled the sweet Lembas bread with mayonnaise instead of cream which had everyone at the dinner table spit it out except Elrond who as wierd as it seemed, took a liking to it. She had put a rat inside Tauriel’s hair, having her scream across the hall. And Rumil and her had filled Haldir’s shoe with mud which had forced the two to hide for the entire day later with Y/N hiding behind Thranduil and his robes flinching everytime Haldir was yelling at her.

“Lady Y/N this is not a joke I had those shoes cleaned yesterday and now you have ruined them! And Rumil you are no less! Is this how you treat me? Your Gwanur(brother)?? Lady Y/N that is not it-”

“Haldir enough leave her be”,Thranduil ordered as he hid you behind him even more as you clenched his robes.

“But-”

“I had helped her put the rat in Tauriel’s hair....are you going to discipline me too?”

“Apologies nin aran (my king), I am just simply worried she will get herself in trouble.....”

“Hmmm you are dismissed.”

With that Haldir had left pulling Rumil along with him. Thranduil looked down to see Y/N poking her head out from behind him and giving him the biggest and most sweetest smile possible. The elven king let out a chuckle as he shook his head. Freezing when she gave him a hug before she ran out mouthing a thank you. 

Thranduil would always side Y/N, even if he wouldn’t admit that she would scare the life out of him everytime she would do something dangerous, the others would warn him about the dangers she puts herself into but he would refuse to believe them. It wasn’t that he believed she wouldn’t do something like that but it was because he believed Mirkwood would be impossible for her to get out of without help.

But oh how wrong he was.

Ever since Y/N came to Mirkwood a few decades ago Thranduil’s daily schedule had always been the same. Wake up, do formal chores (like bathing, having breakfast with Y/N etc.) ,attend court and hear his people out, roam around palace halls or in the kingdom, spend his free time with Y/N and then spend his time researching something in the library before sleeping. This night was no different except there was an erractic knocking on the library doors. Y/N’s lady in waiting pushing through with a very alarmed look on her face. Thranduil cocked an eyebrow at her, ready to yell at her to disturb him at this time of the night. But the look on her face made him wait for an answer.

“Your Majesty, Lady Y/N she- she-”

“I would appreciate if you complete your sentence”

“She dissapeared !”

Thranduil’s eyes widened. An unfamiliar look passing across his face as he unseathed his sword and speed walked out of the library.

“HALDIR !”

“Lord Haldir and the patrolling team is looking for her in the city right now my lord ! She is nowhere to be found !”, the elleth contiued following him. 

“SEARCH EVERY CORNER OF THE KINGDOM !” ,he yelled at her before mounting his elk and riding into the forest.

He searched for her, by the clearing, the spiders nestings, the old bridge, the narrow pathway that lead to the darker parts of the forest. But she was nowhere. 

“Y/N !?”,he yelled for the 14th time, his voice hoarse is eyes seaching frantically. Orcs and Wargs always preyed at night it wasn’t safe.

Splash

He heard the movement of water not much far from where he was he panicked, his elk moving swiftly but gracefully enough to not startle whatever was making the noises but this action was quite ruined by Thranduil yelling out the missing lady's name startling everyone before his eyes. Both him and his elk froze. There Y/N sat, by the backwaters looking at them with eyes widened as big as saucers, along with who seemed like mermaids that swam away as soon as they saw the elven king splashing Y/N with water wetting her completely.

“Thranduil? W-What are you doing here?”,she stuttered.

Thranduil moved closer to her watching as she visibly tried hiding something behind her back. He noticed how she was barefoot and scratches and cuts littered across her feet making his jaw clench.

“What are YOU doing here?”, the blonde elf hissed clearly angry but Y/N couldn’t point out why. Before she could even reply he yanked her hand from behind her back before stilling completely. His eyes unmoving from the contents in her hands. Forget me not flowers..... They had stopped growing in Mirkwood years ago. Drooping and dying more every moment the royal family distanced itself from each other, In grief, pain and misery.

“Where did you-”, ah the cuts on her feet, the dirt on her hands.....she brought them from out of the forest...

“I had seen them on our trip back from Rivendell months ago.....They were dying....I asked the mermaids to help me save them with spells, but you came interrupting them....”,she said in a soft voice, on the verge of tears breaking Thranduil out of his trance as he panicked,cupping her face with his larger hands. “I am sorry Lady Y/N I was simply worried about you, why did you not tell me? I could have helped you...”,he asked looking directly into her eyes as she poorly attempted to not shed any tears. “I didn’t want to bother you. I already bother everyone else. I don’t want to loose all of you..”, she said, tears unevitably falling and rolling down her cheeks. Oh... She thought she was alone...she had never asked for help from anyone....she felt insecure no matter how much everyone loved her....he knew someone who was like her few decades ago.

Him.

“You could never !”,he intended to say softly but it came out as a yell, making the woman flinch. He was mad, at himself for not noticing,for dismissing hints. “You would never......we care for you too much. Valar ! I care about you too much ! Everytime you do something dangerous my heart leaps....but I cannot resist your eyes, your words, you tempting smile.....Look at me....I do not wish to loose you like lost the rest of my people I cared about......”, Thranduil finished, his face only a finger distance away from the girl. “What are you doing to me Y/N ?”, he whispered, the other still trying to process everything. “Can I kiss you”, she whispered back. “Please...”,Thranduil said,his voice almost coming out as if he was begging.

And she did as the king asked, lips moving softly yet with love, for the first time in his entire life, the blond elf had let himself be completely vulnerable. His posture,his personality melting, almost as if a light glow covered around them. Even his dragon fire scar revealing itself for the first time to Y/N as they broke the kiss. Thranduil didn’t flinch when touched it, when she left a lingering kiss on it, smiling that wide smile he adored so much at it. The stayed that way before she leaned into his chest for a while,his arms around her. “No matter how much chaos you create I will never hate you...”, he said as he took in her scent.

Splash!

The voice echoed startling the two as the separated from each other, their faces red, only to see the group of mermaids hiding behind the rocks, their eyes on Y/N’s hands

The flowers were back alive and blooming....

That was the moment Thranduil knew that he had faced dragon fire once, but for his Lady he would face it again and again. He couldn’t help adoring her.

Back at the palace library the book was well forgotten, the pages flipping till it rested on a particular page littered with blue petals

Erevan Ilesere‘s Petal,his descendant on Middle Earth. 

But that is a story I, Gandalf will tell you another time.

--The End--

Finally ! Behold ! I am done after ages of procrastination! Thank you for requesting this fic it was really fun to write ! I may have gotten a bit distracted but did you like the twist ? I'm sorry if it's not really great but I really tried my best🥺.I really hope you did ! @gorgeourrific-nerd you too ! I think it is a bit similar to your request I hope you liked it too ! The rest of ya’ll too I ain’t forgotten ya’ll. Pleade like and reblog my posts if you like them ! Feedback is highly appreciated and please do not plagarize my work. I really work hard on them ! Thank you for supporting me! I love ya’ll so much !!

~Love, Hri

[chaozsilhouette]

Venomous Encounters

With the season two special, we know it is canon that humans can be forcibly transformed into demons.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

“Wait, I helped you!” Syntax screamed at the sight of one of his own creations scuttling towards him. Cornered between two dangerous demons with his back to the computer, he had nowhere to run.

Despite being an expressionless mechanical construct, the Spider-Bot was cloaked in a sadistic aura. The machine jumped behind him before clamping tightly onto the man’s back. He felt the injectors bypass his coat to easily pierce his soft flesh.

Gasping at the pain, Syntax saw the world around him had changed.

No longer was he in the Spider Queen’s lair. No, now he was in the lab of his dreams. Advanced computers were in the midst of running simulations. Blueprints for new robotics were neatly filed on a workbench. Tools of every shape and size were scattered throughout the lab in a lovely display of organized chaos. Framed pictures showcasing different machines were hung tastefully at regular intervals.

Syntax couldn’t help relaxing in such an environment. He just felt at peace.

“There truly is no place like home.” Startled, Syntax spun around to see a male figure barely five feet away from himself. Or at least one he assumed was male. The being was of equal height to himself, but they could never pass as human. Maybe it was the serrated teeth and purple skin, but Syntax knew nothing good would come from this creature.

Although beyond that, Syntax couldn’t make out many details. It was as if someone had drawn the basic framework but left the rest of the canvas blank. A bizarre thought whispered in the back of his mind that it wasn’t complete, yet.

Syntax stepped back. He wasn’t a man of action. He was a scientist; his nature was rooted in tinkering and discovery. If this demon wanted to fight, he feared for his nonexistent chances. All he could do was buy time. “Who are you? Where am I?”

“Hehehe.” Glowing green eyes stared down the scientist with an inhuman hunger. “For starters how do you feel? You know you’ve never set foot in this lab, but there is no mistaking that this place feels familiar.” A dark voice spoke, eerily similar to his own. The demon slowly took one step then another and another and another, until he was circling the scared human-like the predator it was.

Syntax kept track of the demon’s progress. After getting stuck here, he wasn’t so keen on getting stabbed in the back again. Yet his mind couldn’t help but dissect the question.

Looking back on it, the stranger was right. The blueprints were of his own design. Copies of his old creations were scattered around. The pictures were of his finest work. Somehow, he was trapped in his head. Odds are this was the result of the transformative properties of the Queen’s venom. Which meant the stranger was a creation of the poison that now coursed through his veins.

“Good to see fear hasn’t completely taken that mind.” Somehow the fanged smile widened “Go on. Say it.”

“This is a mental projection of my mind.” Syntax summarized, cursing his luck. If this was any other situation he would have been thrilled at the opportunity before him.

“Precisely. I am grateful.” The weirdest thing was the demon actually sounded honest. “To think I would be born from such brilliance. You have my dearest gratitude.” The demon bowed but quickly demonstrated the action was more than a simple sign of respect. Four metallic spider limbs grew from his back. As they touched the ground, green lines started lighting up like a live circuit board. Syntax watched for a minute in morbid fascination as they crawled up different surfaces and became more complex.

Syntax immediately likened the effect to a virus, meaning he couldn’t get caught up in that.

Without further hesitation, Syntax ran. He ran with the knowledge his capture would equal a fate worse than death. He leaped over desks and sidestepped machines knowing he couldn’t let anything stand in his way.

“Trying to run won’t save you. You are me and now I will be you.”

He was really starting to hate that voice. It was only made worse accompanied by the sound of metallic spider legs rushing about.

No! He couldn’t think like that. This was his mind, meaning there had to be some way he could fight back.

“Struggle all you wish. All your struggles are simply making my emergence into reality all the sweeter.”

Something snagged his foot. Falling to the ground, Syntax stared at his foot. It had been wrapped in what could only be called webbing.

The demon grabbed him by the neck and rammed him against the wall. Photos clattered to the floor. Syntax looked on in horror as the virus consumed everything in sight. Computer monitors fritzed out before halting to display a spider logo.

But that wasn’t the most disturbing thing.

Before his eyes, Syntax watched as the finer details started to emerge from the originally simple body. The face soon became an exact duplicate of his own but altered in such a way that the monstrous fangs and eyes appeared natural. Clothing manifested as a darker version of his current garb. He could feel claws growing around his neck where the fiend held him down.

“Thank you, Syntax. This wouldn’t have happened without you.” The human watched to horror as his twisted mirror took a moment to stare at him with a level of love he hadn’t felt since long ago before clamping down on his neck.

The darkness was creeping in. He was losing feeling in his limbs. Yet with his last ounce of strength, Syntax reached towards a small picture frame on the main desk. Even as his vision blurred into a despicable mix of colors, he could still remember the young face staring up at him with joy.

“Forgive me.”

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

*Crash*

Whipping her head around, a young girl with black hair and green eyes searched for what caused the noise.

It was the music box her dad made for her. The once beautiful creation was lying on the ground with cogs strewn around it without rhyme or reason. What she didn’t understand was why? She hadn’t opened it in since yesterday and when she last saw it, it wasn’t anywhere near the edge.

She didn’t know why, but she had a very bad feeling. She just hoped he was able to finish up work before the parade started. He promised they would watch the fireworks together.

[waitimcomingtoo]

Where We Start Again - 4

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Synopsis: how do you fake date someone you have real feelings for?

Series Masterlist and Regular Masterlist

Playlist by @tiny-friggin-human

“Wasn’t lunch crazy today?” Your friend Naomi giggled shortly as she leaned against the locker next to yours. You made a face as you finished putting your books away and hoped she didn’t catch it.

“I wasn’t there. I haven’t sat with you guys since Monday.” You told her, a little offended that she didn’t notice you were gone.

“Really? Huh, I didn’t realize.” Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Anyways, Colin and Henderson were flipping water bottles without the caps on and it was the funniest thing. Until Colin got Abby’s hair wet and she told him his girlfriend was cheating on him with Henderson. It was so funny.”

“Sorry I missed it. Is Colin okay?” You asked her and she snorted.

“Who cares?” She replied and you figured you should have seen that answer coming. “Anyway, are you coming tonight?”

“Tonight?” You shut your locker and turned to her.

“Fallons party. He just texted it in the group chat.” Naomi explained and you briefly thought back to the groupchat you never checked. “And I heard from Effie who heard from Lacey that he specifically asked if you were going to be there. He totally wants you.”

“I can’t tonight. I have plans.” You gave her a falsely sympathetic smile and hoped she’d drop the subject.

“What could possibly be more important than Fallon’s party?” She asked like the thought was impossible. “He said he got like, six cases of White Claw and his parents are away. You have to be there.”

“Sounds like fun.” You lied. “Sorry I have to miss it.”

“But Y/n!” She whined and you sucked in a breath. “There’s no laws when you’re drinking Claws. You have to come.”

“I have the science fair and then I have plans with Peter and Ned. I told you yesterday, remember?” You asked her but her face showed no sign of recollection. From the other side of the hallway, Peters ears perked up from the other side of the hallway at the mention of his name. He used his advanced hearing to listen to your conversation after hearing the tension in your voice.

“Who’s Peter Annid?” Naomi scoffed and you had to bite your tongue to keep from screaming.

“Peter and Ned.” You corrected her sharply. “Peter Parker and Ned…I don’t actually know his last name. But I’m hanging out with them.”

“Omg, ew why?” Her nose scrunched you in disgust. Peters face fell upon hearing this, reminding him that you and him lived in different worlds. You looked at her for a moment before deciding what to say next.

“Because I’m dating Peter and friends with Ned. Ned Leeds.” You stared firmly as you remembered his last name.

“You’re actually dating that guy?” Naomi grimaced. “I thought that was just a mean rumor Flash started.”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing and laughed in disbelief. You made eye contact with Peter from across the hall and he gave you a sympathetic shrug.

“It’s not a rumor.” You snapped. “Peter makes me really happy. And I have to be at the science fair to see him win.”

Peter smiled to himself at your words and started walking over to you.

“Y/n, people like us can’t be seen with people like them. We definitely can’t be cheering them on at the nerd fair with all the other nerds. What if someone sees you?” She looked genuinely worried for you and your jaw clenched in frustration.

“Is everything okay?” Peter asked as he came behind you. He put his hands on your shoulders and rubbed your arms to calm you down, immediately feeling the tension leaving your body. You leaned your back into Peters chest and looked at Naomi.

“Then they’re gonna see a supportive girlfriend cheering on her genius boyfriend. Enjoy the party, Naomi.” You smiled at her and took Peters hand. “Let’s go, baby.”

You walked down the hall together, away from Naomi’s dropped jaw. Peter couldn’t wipe the smile off his face from you standing up for him.

“What was the about?” Peter asked you once you were far enough away from her.

“Nothing.” You answered. “Conversations with her are never about anything.”

“Are you okay?” Peter could hear the annoyance in your voice lingering from your conversation with Naomi and wanted to help you.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.” You stopped walking and turned to Peter, still holding his hand. “Don’t worry about me. You need to focus on your acceptance speech when you win the science fair today.”

“You don’t get to make an acceptance speech. You get a sweaty handshake and a firm, passionate pat on the back from the principal.” He told you and you laughed happily.

“That’s kinda hot. Are you cheating on me with Principle Mendoza?” You teased him.

“I’m sorry. I have a thing for spider veins and your legs are too perfect.” He played along, making you look down at your legs shyly.

“I hate you.” You shook your head and continued to walk to class. “I’m gonna fake break up with you just for saying that.”

“But I cant fake live without you, baby girl. Can you give me another fake chance?.” He pouted. You giggled and wrapped your arms around Peter, pulling him into an unexpected but welcomed hug.

“I’ll give you a million fake chances, baby.” You mumbled into his ear before pulling away. “But I’m about to be late for real math. I’ll see you at the science fair.”

“Okay. I’ll see you there.” Peter smiled in content as you squeezed his hand and walked away. It had been five days of fake dating. That meant there was only more week to go. As much as Peter loved the time you spent together, he couldn’t the shake the fact that it was ending soon. The moments he had with you felt real, but that didn’t change the fact that they were rooted in a lie. Still, you had chosen to blow off a party to come to the science fair with him. That had to mean something.

It meant something to him, at least.

~

“Look at you with your informational poster.” You smiled fondly at Peter as you walked up to his table. The LEGO lamp you had glued together sat in front of a poster about the science behind solar power. Peters eyes lit up at the sight of you and he stepped aside so you could get a full view of his presentation.

“Thanks for coming, daisy.” He grinned and pulled you into an embrace. You were surprised with him taking the initiative to show affection, but you appreciated it nonetheless.

“I’ve been walking around and you definitely have these people beat.” You said as you squeezed his arm for good luck. “One kid just had a baby carrot taped to a battery.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t actually go to this school.” Peter told you. “They tried to kick him out but he started barking so they let him stay.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the judges have made their final decisions for the winners of Midtown Techs 75th annual science fair.” A teachers monotone voice came through on a microphone. Ned joined you guys with a box of popcorn, holding it out to you to offer you some. You and Ned stood on opposite sides of Peter as you impatiently waited the heat the winners.

“Let’s go, baby. This is all you. All you, baby, all you.” You mumbled just loud enough for Peter to hear. He chuckled and looked at you from over his shoulder.

“I am so scared of her right now.” Ned whispered to Peter.

“I know.” He whispered back. “I am so turned on.”

“In third place, Madison McDermott.” The teacher announced. Scattered claps sounded from the crowd.

“Madison has nothing on you, baby. Nothing!” You said into Peters ear as you bounced up and down.

“Second place, Chirag Saini.” The teacher said, earning more claps.

“Chirag wishes he was you right now baby, he just wishes.” You hyped him up and rubbed his shoulders.

“And in first place, Peter Parker.”

“AHHHH!” You screamed, wrapped one arm around Peters neck and pointed to him with the other. “That’s my boyfriend! That’s my boyfriend!”

Peter laughed happily and hugged you back, more excited to be holding you than to win the science fair. You buried your face in his neck and squeezed him tightly before running away to collect his trophy.

“She seems excited.” Ned commented with a knowing smirk.

“I have never felt this loved.” Peter squeezed Neds arm in excitement as he watched you bounce around.

“MY BOYFRIEND WON THE SCIENCE FAIR. FUCK YOU CHIRAG - I don’t mean that though your model of the universe is gorgeous- BUT YEAH PETER.” You ran back to Peter and threw your arms around him again as he lifted you off the ground.

“Remember, all I get is a sweaty handshake and a pat on the back. It’s not that big of a deal.” He tried to tell you but you didn’t listen.

“This is the hugest deal!” You grabbed his face and shook it. “You won the science fair four years in a row. And you did it after everything you’ve been through. I’m so proud of you.” You said sincerely and Peters heart melted.

“Meet me outside in five minutes.” He said as he rested his hands on your waist. “I have to show you something.”

“Okay. What’s-“

“Mr. Parker, you’re needed for a photo.” Principle Mendoza called for Peter.

“Go take your picture. I’ll see you outside.” You assured him. Peter kissed your forehead before he lost the nerve and went to get his picture taken.

As the camera flashed, Peters eyes drifted to you. You had your hands clasped together and a proud smile on your face as you bounced on your heels. It almost made Peter emotional to realize he had never been looked at that fondly. In the moment, he knew the truth.

He loved you.

He had developed real feelings for his fake girlfriend.

~

After waiting the allotted five minutes, you went outside to see what Peter had to show you. You walked slowly, taking the time to think about the past week with Peter. Even you didn’t know why you were so happy that he had won. Something about getting to know him gave you a newfound need to see him happy. As much as you liked spending time with him, you regretted getting attached. You only had a week left of your fake relationship and once it was over, you’d be left crushing on a guy who only saw you as a way to get Flash off his back.

You rounded the corner and saw Peter standing in the courtyard holding a bouquet of daisies.

“What’s this?” You asked curiously and he gave you a bashful smile.

“Will you go to the dance with me?” He asked as he held out the bouquet. You stepped towards him and accepted the bouquet with a confused leer.

“What?” You chuckled shyly.

“I know were already going together but you still deserved a proposal.” Peter explained. “You Flash this is how I asked you and I know you like daisies and I-“

“I would love to go to the dance with you.” You cut him off and sniffed the bouquet.

“We love to see it.” Peter used your own words and made you laugh.

“You are such an idiot.” You shook your head. “Can we go get that sandwich now?”

~

“Hola.” Ned bellowed as the three of you entered Delmar’s sandwich shop. “Do you know what today is?”

“Oh no.” Delmar gulped at the sight of Peter and Ned.

“Peter won the science fair!” You held up Peters trophy and screamed. Ned started pumping his fist and grunting while Peter hid his face behind his hand.

“Por favor, don’t make me make this sandwich.” Delmar pleaded. “It hurts me as a chef.”

“We’ll take one sandwich which every ingredient please.” Ned ordered and Delmar shuddered.

“Can we get it on whole grain bread?” You asked the boys and Ned gagged.

“Sure. Anything for my girl.” Peter touched your chin fondly. Delmar noticed the display of affection and folded his arms.

“Su novia?” He asked Peter, who looked at you in confusion.

“I’m sorry?” Peter stammered.

“Sí. Muchas gracias.” You smiled politely at Delmar as you dropped a five dollar bill in the tip jar. Delmar smirked at you and held up his hands in defense.

“Fine. I’m make it.” He agreed. “But only because I’m happy for you, niño.”

“His name is Peter.” Ned deadpanned.

“It means kid.” You told them. “You’ve been in my spanish class all four years, Ned.”

“I know.” Ned sighed dreamily. “I love that class.”

“Hey. Quit staring at my girlfriend.” Peter snapped his fingers until Ned stopped gaping at you. You smiled proudly at Peter calling you his girlfriend and wrapped your arms around his torso.

“She’s your fake girlfriend.” Ned reminded him. “Why do you care?”

“Because she’s right here. And she can hear you.” You said sarcastically as Peter wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

“Here. I made your disgusting sandwich.” Delmar slammed the sandwich on the counter angrily and Ned paid him.

“Grassy ass. Me gusta el sandwich.” Ned took the sandwich and bowed.

“Get out of my store.” Delmar ordered. You and Peter stayed in each other’s embrace and you left the store.

“We usually eat it on the rooftop of my apartment building.” Peter told you as he squeezed your shoulder.

“Let’s go. I’m hungry and it almost smells edible.” You quipped.

Ned watched curiously as you and Peter walked in front of him to Peters apartment. From his perspective, you looked like an actual couple. And with Flash nowhere around to see you faking, he wondered what you were doing it for.

As he heard you laugh loudly at a joke Peter said that couldn’t possibly be as funny as you made it seem, he realized something.

You liked Peter.

“Haha, just kidding”, he thought, “…unless.”

You got to Peters apartment and rode the elevator to the rooftop. Peter laid one of the towels down so you all had a place to sit. You took a seat next to Peter and put your feet in his lap.

“Y/n should have the first bite since it’s her first time.” Ned declared as he unwrapped the sandwich.

“You are going to love this.” Peter grinned as he handed you the sandwich. “Here.”

You took a bite and chewed it slowly. You could taste the mustard, salami, and peanut butter with the first bite. Your face twisted in disgust as you painfully swallowed the sandwich.

“So what do you think?” Ned nudged you.

“I think that’s the grossest thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.” You whispered hoarsely.

“Well you haven’t been dating Peter for that long so-“ Ned began until Peter smacked him.

“Ned!” He scolded and Ned retreated.

“It’s making my eyes waters. Are my ears supposed to be ringing?” You looked at them for answers.

“That would be the jalapeños.” Ned nodded in approval.

“Here. I can’t have this near me. It’s making me hate myself.” You handed it off. Peter took the sandwich and took a bite, wincing as it went down before passing it to Ned.

“This was the last science fair. That technically means this is our last sandwich.” Ned said after he swallowed. Peter realized he was right and felt a sadness settle into his tummy. You noticed Peters face and interlocked your hands.

“It doesn’t have to be.” You piped up. “We could come back and do this every year. On this exact date.”

Peter stopped sulking when he heard your suggestion. You were already planning ahead for your future. And by some miracle, it included Peter.

“I like that idea.” He told you. “I’m not planning on leaving New York. Mr. Stark said I could work for him during and after college so I’ll be around. Where will you be?”

“I’m not sure.” You answered. “Anywhere but here, hopefully. I want to go somewhere where not one person knows me. I just don’t know where that is yet.”

“Well what about that Harvard application on your kitchen table, says your friendly neighborhood stalker?” Peter quipped.

“I don’t know, it’s a long shot.” You shrugged it off. “I probably won’t even apply.”

“I think you should.” Peter encouraged. “They’d be lucky to have you.”

“Maybe.” You smiled softly at him.

“Guys, what does GYHAHN mean? My mom just texted that.” Ned asked in a panic as he looked up from his phone.

“No idea.” Peter shook his head as he rubbed soft circles into your hand with his thumb.

“Get your Hawaiian ass home now.” You translated and got puzzled looks from Ned and Peter. “What? I speak angry mom.”

“How’d you know she meant Hawaiian?” Peter wondered.

“I took an educated guess.” You replied. “Why does she need you home?”

“YGFL?” He read the follow up text out loud.

“You’re grounded for life. Here.” You handed him one of the daises from your bouquet. “Give her this and tell her you were helping Peter carry his giant science fair trophy home.” And tell her you appreciate her waiting.”

“Okay. Me appreciate.” Ned nodded. His face faltered when he realized what he said. “Why does this always happen? Bye guys. And congratulations Peter.”

Ned picked up his bag and did an elaborate handshake with Peter before leaving. You fell into a comfortable silence with Peter following Neds absence.

“I hope you don’t mind that I spared a daisy.” You said as you scooted closer to Peter.

“It’s okay.” He smiled. “Thanks for helping him. I promise he’s cool when he uses full sentences.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” You chuckled. “I still like hanging out with you guys. Even if you made me eat that sandwich.”

“Hey, you wanted to come.” He reminded you when you insulted the sandwich. You smiled softly and looked down at your intertwined hands. “Are you really not going to apply to Harvard?”

“I mean, yeah it’s my dream but what if that’s all it is? Just a dream that isn’t supposed to come true.” You shook your head. “As long as I can start over somewhere, I think I’ll be okay.”

“Well I hope you change your mind an apply.” Peter told you.

“Peter?” You said after a beat of silence.

“Yes?”

“Today was the most fun I’ve ever had in high school.” You told him honestly. A grin broke out on his face when he realized the same could be said for him.

“I thought you were a party girl. Are the popular kids really that bad?” He teased you. He thought it would make you laugh, but it caused a sad expression to cloud your face.

“Do you want the truth?” You asked quietly.

“You can tell me.” He leaned forward when he saw how vulnerable you looked.

“It’s like they’re not even people. They’re all just a collage of different personas they put on so people like them. And they need people to like them. It’s like an addiction. And yeah, people like me but, but what if I don’t like me?” Your voice broke as you looked to Peter for answers he didn’t have. “What if they’re following around a leader who isn’t all that great?”

“It doesn’t have to be such a bad thing. They follow you because they like you.” He tried to make you feel better but you shook your head.

“They don’t even know me.” You said in exasperation. “I haven’t been myself for one second in that building. I was too busy trying to please everyone. And for what? Once high school is over and we all get out of here, what will it have been for?”

“I don’t think people are thinking that far ahead. I think they just want to be the center of attention in a given moment.” Peter reasoned.

“But that’s not what I want. I want weird, kinda unsanitary traditions with friends and people to talk to when I’m sad.” You laughed sadly. “I want people who notice when I’m missing. I want- I want…”

“What?” He asked.

“I want to be loved.” You confessed. “You and Ned love each other so much. Any idiot can see that. No one loves me like that.”

“But you have all those friends.” He wondered.

“I have followers.” You corrected him. “I don’t have any friends.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you have two and a half friends.” Peter tilted your chin up so you had to look at him and your eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“Half?”

“Ned isn’t a full person yet but he’s so close.” Peter explained and you laughed spritely.

“This is why I can’t wait for college.” You sighed. “I can start over and finally be myself.”

“At Harvard?” He smirked.

“I would never get into Harvard.” You laughed softly.

Peter let go of your face, content that he had made you smile until he remembered something you had said.

“What did you mean before when you said you didn’t like you?” He asked and your smiled faded. You took your hand out of his and picked at your nail polish nervously.

“I know you think it’s hard to be you, but it’s hard to be me too. I wake up every day terrified that people are gonna realize I’m nothing special.” You looked up at him with watery eyes. “Everyone wants something from me and they don’t even know why. And I’m scared that once they really think about it, they’ll realize I’m not good enough. That I’m a fraud. I feel like I can’t breathe.”

“You can breathe with me. It’s okay, daisy.” He pulled you into hug and rubbed your back as you nuzzled into his neck.

“It’s so much pressure. They want me to be this perfect, happy girl but I’m not.” You sniffled. “It’s so hard to look at yourself and not be able to find anything you like. I threw myself into planning the dance but when the planning was done I was left empty. I thought I was going to lose my mind and then…”

“What?” He pulled away a little to look at you.

“I saw Flash picking on you in the hallway.” You smiled. “And I made a split second decision to pretend to be your girlfriend.”

“I knew you didn’t think it through.” He chuckled as you confirmed his suspicion.

“Maybe not, but,” you shrugged, “four years of high school and I finally found someone I actively want to be around. I wish I started pretending to be your girlfriend freshman year. I would’ve been so much happier if I had.”

“Let’s go to that party tonight.” He said suddenly. “The one that girl was talking about. You seem like you need a party.”

“We don’t have to. I know you’re not really a party person.” You scrunched your nose.

“Well I can’t know I’m not a party person until I actually go to a party.” Peter pointed out. You pulled away from Peter and took both his hands in hours.

“Peter Parker, would you be my date to the party?” You proposed.

“Daisy, I’d be honored.”

Tag List 🏷

@a-villain-vying-for-attention​ @wendaiii​ @dorbiksbitch​ @t-monosapiens-h​ @badhollandfluff​ @silteplaittais-toi​ @thisisthebiplace​​ @seasidecrowbar​​ @spideygirl2003​ @5-seconds-of-mendes​ @bitchylittleredhead​ @oh-whatabeautiful-parker​ @everydaymj​ @write-from-the-heart​ @blackpetalsmeandeath​ @electraheart-3174​ @shawni-h​ @peterparkoure​ @sleepythighsweat​ @steebbb​ @traveleraroundsworld​ @averyfosterthoughts​ @bralessandflawless @viwihere @eridanuswave @the-greatt-perhaps @spidey-lillies

[cuddlemen0w]

daily dose of failure | peter parker x reader

(+ the group aka mj, ned and harry)

warnings: none

a/n: my friends... i have no clue what this is :/ but it’s part 3 and the end

previous

“He’s in danger!” the man in the red mask said.

“Peter?” y/n's heart hammered in her chest. She was sure her legs would give out at the superhero's short silence. “Peter is in danger?” she worried once more, urging him to go on, explain, or deny his statement. Anything. Anything, just to know what happened to Peter.

“Yes," he answered, “Peter needs Ned, Ned Leeds.”

y/n was still very much frozen to her spot as Ned moved forward from beside her. It was only when Ned along with the Spider-man, were gone, that she sat down in disbelief. MJ moved to her friend, hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to find out what's wrong, yes?"

y/n touched her friend's hand on her shoulder, sqeezing slightly in agreement.

"I'll be right back."

y/n's feet tapped on the floor of her bedroom erratically. Phone clutched tightly in her sweaty palm. "Respond, please," she pleaded into the silent room. The only response she got was a blow of wind from her open window.

For the houndred time, she checked her messages.

It was useless, really. No matter how many times she asked, no one would explain anything and Peter would not reply. She tried calling multiple times too, but it send her straight to voice mail. And after many voice messages she grew tired of being ignored. Did she not mean anything to him? Were they ok with her being scared to the core the whole night? No sleep, no rest?

All of it went through her mind at once. She paced her room quietly, her parents already asleep. Silent tears started to prick her eyes.

For the last time, she opened Peter’s contact and clicked call.

The phone rang, and rang. It went for five minutes before it died on its own. Peter’s contact, along with his now, mockingly smiley face disappeared from her screen.

A sob escaped her throat.

“Are you sure it was a good idea?” Peter asked his two friends. All three of them were now in the school’s lunch hall, a crowd of people from the party around them.

“Yes.”

“Not really,” both said at the same time. Peter narrowed his brows at MJ, she only shrugged. “I mean, yes, yes. It’s a good idea.”

It was their free period before lunch. y/n was the only one in class still. But he hasn’t seen her all day, either she avoided him or didn’t show up at all.

Ned saw the doubt in Peter’s face, “She’s in class, saw her this morning.” Peter nodded.

He had to grow a pair, he remembered Tony’s words. This time, he would listen to them.

“Okay, everyone!” MJ clapped her hands, interrupting everyone, her head cocked to Peter.

“Um, so,” he started, “As you all heard yesterday, I was— uh, I was in danger yesterday,” he winced at his words internally.

“I witnessed a robbery?” he looked for help in Ned. He of course, saw the miserable look on his face and stood up to help.

“There was a robbery, and he was there,” Ned said with a proud nod.

Peter chuckled nervously, “and Spider-man helped me.” Peter finished, making MJ face palm. She rubbed her eyes, smudging her already faded mascara.

Frustration was evident in her voice, “what he’s trying to say is, that nothing really happened to him, everything’s fine and now we need your help,” she stated, meeting his grateful gaze. “You’re welcome,” she mouthed.

“What help?” the blonde guy from yesterday asked, his deep voice booming above all the people.

“Peter here,” MJ pointed to him, “really likes a girl, and needs help telling her.”

“What do you need all of us for?” a small girl with pastel pink hair asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to get at, sweet cheeks,” MJ winked, making the girl blush a bright pink. “Here’s the thing.”

After MJ explained the whole plan, everyone went to put it into action. The cheerleaders painted a big banner, that Harry’s football team hanged in the lunch hall, the words big and clear. Ned and MJ along with the pink haired girl went around the hall, explaining and pleading with people to elaborate, or simply, get out the way.

Everyone from the school was on to it by lunch.

It all made Peter feeling grateful, but he couldn’t shake the nervousness so easily. “What if it won’t work out?”

“Don’t say that, not after we put all these people into it. Besides, if you don’t tell her, I’m pretty sure all these people will, not the mention the big banner over there,” MJ said, making him look up.

He likes you, get together already. Was painted on the white canvas, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the red and pink hearts around the words, few of them had his and y/n’s initials paired in them. “You sure?”

“Positive.”

Nothing was positive about y/n’s day. She spent the night crying herself to sleep, the evidence was clear in her bloodshot eyes. Her cheeks were puffed and she was sure if people looked closer, they could see the starting of dark circles under her lids.

She avoided her friends, too proud to approach them first. They ignored me yesterday. So I will today. It was childish, really. But she stood her ground.

All was going smooth, she didn’t have to meet them, since that day they all had different classes. But was starting to get tough. Lunch was behind the corner and that meant facing her friends, and Peter.

The bell rang and everyone started to get out the class, she stayed behind. She packed her books slowly, almost painfully so. She didn’t run like everyone else. Her steps were slow, prolonging her journey to the lunch hall. Her eyes were down the whole time.

Once in the hall, a pair of feet appeared in her vision. Blue sneakers with roughed edges. Peter’s. Her eyes shot up as he started to speak.

“I’m so—”

Smack. y/n’s hand stung, so did Peter’s cheek.

The slap sounded through the whole hall, all the excited smiles dropped at the scene.

“Yeah, I probably deserved that,” he nodded, hand on his cheek. At his words, the girl shook her head.

“Wha—” he was once again interrupted by her. But now, it wasn’t at all painful. It was soft, sweet and salty? She was crying when her lips parted from his.

“You didn’t answer, and I—” It was Peter now who kissed her. His lips were tender, moving lovingly over hers. All they felt for each other poured into it.

“I’m sorry,” Peter said. “I really am.”

“I am too.” She touched his red cheek. “That was a bit too much.”

Someone cleared their throat behind them. MJ. “So you’re telling me we did this for nothing?”

The two of them turned to face the whole room, all eyes were on them. Smiles splattered over all the faces again. ‘He likes you. Get together already.’ Hanged over them.

“No,” the girl smiled at Peter. “I like you too, we should get together already.”

“We totally should,” he said, with a big grin, his eyes full of love.

[sophlubbwriting]

Shifting to your arms - 03

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Summary: This is a slice-of-life series where you, the reader successfully shifted realities with the goal to spend time with Loki. Nothing too intense.

A/N: I didn’t have that much time to write this week, but I finally finished editing it (an hour to late, hope you don’t mind).

Feel free to shoot me a request and I'll see what I can do!

Taglist: @gingerspicetalks​ @adoreyou976​

Feedback is always appreciated!

Chapter Summary: A nightly meeting with the god of mischief and an intense discussion after a mission briefing where you finally come clean.

Chapter warnings: slight angst, spiders, Loki being Loki

Word count: 1871

One might think your muscles would get used to the way they are strained by the training with Loki, but your muscles decided to be sore and stay sore. Great way to be woken up.

The sun was nowhere to be seen yet, the dim light entering the window however was alluding to its already anticipated arrival.

Turning around in your bed again, your back felt like it was stabbed – which has woken you up and was almost, what had happened yesterday. The god of mischief figured it would be a great idea to show you, how to defend against an attacker who uses knifes and, of course, he never even considered using dummy-knives.

“I would never do so much as to wound you fatally, mortal.” he had assured you and oddly enough, you had believed him. You had to. Everything the god of lies told you sounded true, albeit might be caused by his velvety voice. Somehow, he had been picking up on the effects it had on you. Ever the observer.

As you struggled to stand up, you let out a heavy groan. For as much as you wanted to just sleep it off, you deemed sleeping as impossible. Not with muscles this stiff and not with how much you usually moved while asleep.

With every step you took your thighs stiffened. Stretching might seem like a good idea, but you already knew it would hurt like hell and quite frankly, you didn't have the energy to try it. You've heard somewhere, magnesium would help with sore muscles and as for now, you were more than eager to test your hypothesis.

Usually stuff like that is kept in the kitchen, right?

The oversized T-shirt you wore instead of a regular pyjama reached just above your knees, concealing not only your body shape but being unbelievably comfortable too. Who in their right mind would be awake in these ungodly early morning hours anyway? Changing clothes now was no use.

While the magnesium tablet was dissolving in a glass of water, you saw a box of cocoa powder just waiting on the top shelf above the stove. It towered there, tauntingly, staring down at you because it knew you weren't able to grab it.

A hot cocoa mix. That's what you needed  right now.

Determined, you took a step back and looked at the situation in front of you. There was one rather obvious solution to this:

Climbing.

Your legs were protesting, but you didn't care. You needed that cocoa. Maybe that's the tiredness speaking, but you couldn't live another moment without it. Hot chocolate.

You checked twice that the stove was both turned off and cold, so you wouldn't accidentally burn yourself if you happened to step on it and proceeded to swing a leg on the sideboard. Your shoulders were burning, but you didn't stop as you slowly pushed yourself up. You couldn't let the box win.

Once you managed to balance yourself out and fully straightened up, your eyes were barely below the surface, the box was prominently placed on, but that wasn't an issue. You, unlike the box, had hands, which you would put to use now. Reaching out, you snatched the box and inspected it. After reading all the nifty details from the back of the box, you wondered what the artwork on the front would look like, but you weren't able to look at it.

There was a huge spider, clinging to this side of the box.

Frightened you threw the box away from you and stepped backwards, only to lose your footing on the sideboard. Bracing for impact, you closed your eyes.

But nothing happened.

Confused you slowly opened your eyes back up. There he was, your deus ex machina. His face being mere inches away from your face, the god had hold you in a close embrace to stop you from falling. This in and of itself made it hard enough to keep your composure, but the following conversation only heightened the stakes.

There it was again. That damned voice.

“Oh my, are you falling for me?”

Together with his smirk, this was a deadly combo which short-circuited your brain.

Your thoughts raced faster than you could control them. I have been ever since I first saw you. You wanted to let him know, how you felt.

But you couldn't.

Instead, you opted for a cheeky grin and for the line “you wish”, although in all reality, you were the one wishing. This was torture, being this close to someone you wanted to be even closer with but not being able to be.

What if he would reject you? What if he wouldn't feel comfortable with you being around him any more? What if...

He carefully set you back down on the floor, almost as if he was afraid to break you if he were to drop you too harshly. You were still gazing into each others eyes, lost in the moment and although the spider should have scared you wide awake, this magical moment felt like a dream.

Being lost in his eyes, you stopped taking in anything else but Loki. You didn't notice how soft raindrops were clashing against the windows, you didn't notice how the sun was rising or how bright it had become.

And you most definitely did not notice, how the scary spider was dissolving into green mist.

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

After Tony had laid out your mission, you didn't quite know how to react. You were being sent on a real mission, together with the god of mischief. Just the two of you, only 48 hours left to prepare and your thoughts were racing.

Meanwhile, Loki looked unfazed by the mission, although he shot you a quick look. He knew you were capable of defending yourself and others, but attacking someone else was something different. Whenever you had tried to surprise him with an attack during your training, he had told you how you weren't ready just yet.

You had to think about possible excuses, not to go on this mission. Tell them the truth? You weren't sure how they would handle it. Would they call you an imposter? Imprison you? Besides, a literal god would be fighting right next to you. Everything would be okay.

“You seem rather nervous, my dear. Is everything alright?” The god of chaos averted your attention back to the conversation.

He spoke with the same nonchalant tone he used if someone different than you was within earshot, but if you weren't mistaken, there was a hint of concern hidden behind it this time. Before you could calm him down, the rich kid chimed in.

“Opposed to you, Reindeer Games, our sweet agent here has been on multiple missions similar to this already. It should be smooth sailing, even if you decide to turn on us and abandon both the mission and your partner.”

Oh no.

You saw over to Loki whose smirk was filled with amusement as he was declaring to Tony how he would never betray anyone in his life. He would soon realise something didn't add up. How could you have been on multiple infiltration missions without being able to fight?

At least you didn't have to make an effort and control your thoughts around him any more. Whenever there had been a small thought you weren't able to contain, he didn't seem to notice it, so why try to keep up a facade if no one would even realise it was there?

You left the room while Tony was still trying to threaten Loki out of betraying anyone. Your feet lead you to the gym where you planned on meeting the god of mischief once got bored of talking with Tony and you anticipated it to take five minutes, tops.

After spending some time beating up a punching bag, you heard someone walk in. You didn't have to turn around to know it was him.

“Explain yourself” the voice demanded harshly. He didn't even try to sugar-coat his words, he was disappointed. Probably hurt.

But you couldn't confront him with the truth, could you? You weren't ready, so you feigned innocence.

“What do you mean?”

It was no use. As you turned around and saw him standing there, visibly sad. He knew, although not everything. He knew you lied to him and that was enough to break both his and your hearts.

Loki didn't deserve this.

“You know exactly what I mean.” he looked like he barely kept himself from crying, but his voice was now steady and... cold? Now your heart felt like it was being shattered. “How have you done multiple missions, some of which were solo, despite being barely able to fight? What is the truth, mortal?”

Gone were the pleasantries you were used to, gone were the words 'darling' and 'my dear'.  Now you were just called 'mortal', one of many, easily exchangeable to him. You never thought words this small could hurt this bad.

“You wouldn't believe me.”

That was all you could mutter now, the only thought consuming your mind. He wouldn't believe me. The god of lies however insisted he would believe you, provided you told him the truth. This was your last chance to come clear and you both knew that.

“I-” you started insecurely, looking left and right in hopes of finding the right words to use somewhere in the room.

“I am not...”

Your eyes were slowly filling up with tears. This was harder than expected.

“I'm not... from here.”

In a poor attempt to hide your tears you looked down at the floor, but you were sure he saw them since one or two drops managed to fall from your eyes onto the floor.

“Neither do I”

This simple response made you chuckle, what in turn calmed your nerves. You looked up again and your eyes met his. Maybe he would understand.

“I mean... I am not from this reality.”

Silence. Loki didn't ask any questions, but you were sure he had plenty. Who wouldn't?

Fidgeting around with the seams of your shirt, you decided to elaborate a little bit more. “It is... kind of a long story which I feel like I couldn't explain properly, but I managed to shift realities so I can be here.” A heavy weight was dropped from your shoulders as you proceeded to tell him about how life was in your reality and, most importantly, how the Avengers are non-existent.

The last part caught Loki's attention and he thought for a few seconds about it. “So, am I just a mere work of fiction, too?”

You hesitated with your answer and he noticed. Of course he did.

“In... in my reality, yes, but in this reality you are very real.” You gave him an encouraging smile and he nodded understandingly.

“I think therefore I am. So, my dear, why did you... shift realities?”

His prying eyes saw right through you, it was almost as if he already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear you admit it.

“I did it so I could see you, Loki.”

[writtenbynightlock]

Hi! Idk of request are open rn.. but could you do a hinata x reader angst? Where hinata walks in on kageyama and y/n in a position where it looks like they were cheating. But in reality it was nothing like that at all! So hinata gets very mad and says really hurtful things to them. Then word gets around school and people start to bully y/n and kags. However hinata doesn’t care. He never stood up for y/n. Then due to bullying going to far y/n loves school. That’s when y/ns best friend yams goes up to hinata and shows him the video where in fact they were not cheating. But it’s too late. Hinat already lost her. Sorry if the request is too long btw!!

Misunderstanding | Hinata Shouyou x Reader

Note: Requests are open 💌 Please be informed here

Masterlist

Warning: Timeskip spoilers

Tagging: @shoyosbitchh (thanks for the request love)

“Do I really have to do this?”

“Yes” you answer as you fix Kageyama’s jersey jacket. 

“What am I gonna do again?” 

“All you have to do is answer my questions. After this segment, I will film you in action with Shoyo. Are we ready, Yama-kun?”

You ask your classmate and the captain of the Karasuno Men’s Volleyball Team, Yamaguchi Tadashi, waiting for his go signal as he was in charge of the camera. You were in your third year in Karasuno High. You are an active member of the journalism club and your specialty is sports writing. You and Hinata have been together since your second year. It all started when you’ve done a coverage of the Karasuno High Men’s Volleyball team ever since the crows were finally taking flight in the Nationals. Pretty much to say you are close with your batchmates involved with the sport which made your job a bit easier. 

You were currently working on a special ad for the team that will be on air in the campus as a way to show support and acknowledgement to the seniors who will be having one last fight --- Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyou. In thanks to the manager, you will be also adding a special segment to the woman who’s always been there with the crows, Yachi Hitoka.  

“Camera is rolling in 3..2..1..”

As Yamaguchi gestures for you to start, you have him a small nod and put on your game face on. 

“Hello Karasuno High! The much anticipated Spring Interhigh tournament is fast approaching and our crows will be taking flight once again. With the excitement to the world of volleyball, our players have quite gained quite a few fans. Here I am with the famous King of the Court, the Karasuno Men’s Volleyball Setter, Kageyama Tobio.” 

During the interview segment, things went smoothly due to Kageyama being straightforward with his questions much to your relief. You were glad Yamaguchi was also there to help you. Usually, Yachi is the one who helps you with your journalism when it comes to the team but she had a meeting with Takeda sensei, explaining her absence. 

After the interview, it was time for you to do the final segment which was  getting to film the iconic duo in action. You told Kageyama to change into his volleyball uniform, with the setter obediently following your instruction. 

“Thank you so much for helping me, Yama-kun. Your segment yesterday with Tsukki is great too! I’m very excited to edit it.”

Yamaguchi blushed at your compliment, making him scratch the back of his head in a shy manner. 

“You’re really making it hard for us to graduate, (Y/N)-san. This will be your last feature too, is it not?” 

“Yup” 

Yamaguchi smiles as he saw the gleeful expression on your face. He admired your determination in making the video possible as a tribute to them. Yamaguchi’s sense of determination in leading the team to Nationals has boosted but there was one question bugging in his head.

“(Y/N)-kun, you are a sports writer, right? I don’t recall them doing this extent.”

You stopped what you were doing and looked at Yamaguchi, giving him a sincere smile --- your mind instantly filled with the ray of sunshine that is currently in your life. 

“You don’t know how proud I am on how far you all have come. You five were part of the flightless crows who worked hard to spread its wings again. You were there when people would underestimate the team but you all proved them wrong, along with our seniors who graduated also. We all keep moving forward and now, you are your juniors senpais, helping them keeping the crows to keep flying. Not only that, I am so proud of Shoyo. He’s one of the main reasons why I’m motivated to do this. I’m always here to support Shoyo and to all of you --- no matter where we go after we graduate.”

After your speech, your eyes widened as you Yamaguchi’s eyes were watery and he was sniffling, making you panic a little.

“Y-Yams, are you okay?”

“Don’t look at me, (Y/N)-kun! That was so beautiful- wait I’ll be right back!” says Yamaguchi as he hurriedly went to the nearest bathroom --- not wanting for you to see him bawl his eyes out. With a soft chuckle, you turned around to see Kageyema already in his attire and was now setting up the net. Deciding to help, you went to him and gave him a hand.

“What do you need?”

“Could you hand me that screw over there?”

With a nod, you went to the tool box, grabbing the screws Kageyama.

“Do you think Shoyo will go far with volleyball?”

You ask out of the blue, avoiding eye contact with Kageyama as you just stared at the net. It’s not that you doubt Shoyo’s skills but it is a scary world out there. There will be people who will look down on him for different reasons. You just worry. You care for him so much. You admired how Hinata was able to use the mean comments against him as his motivation for him to improve his skills. His positivity and bubbly personality is contagious. He never fails to make you smile when you’re feeling down. 

As Kageyama finished the net, he gave you a smirk. 

“If that dumbass doesn’t slack, he will. If he does, I’m definitely getting ahead of him.”

A grin made its way on your face. What more could you expect from Hinata’s partner in the court?

As the two of you waited for Hinata and Yamaguchi to come, you and Kageyama had talked a bit about college plans. As the two of you converse, you suddenly noticed something crawling on Kageyama’s jersey shirt. 

“Kageyama-kun, there’s something on your shoulder” you say, pointing at it. At first Kageyama was confused to what you meant but when he finally took a look at it, it was spider --- making his eyes widen and panic, letting out a manly shriek. 

Kageyama was all over the place, jumping and swatting it away --- to the point where he tried to take the shirt off. 

“Kageyama, calm down!”

“It’s on your head!”

“It’s back on your shirt!”

Kageyama felt chills, the hairs on his skin rising as he felt it crawling the back of his neck. The next thing you knew, with Kageyama’s head covered with the shirt that was taken off midway his arms, the setter stumbled onto you, making the both of you fall on the ground with Kageyama on top. Your eyes widen at how close your and Kageyama’s faces are, the setter not able to take in what just happened. 

“Get off!”

“Can you help me put my shirt back on? I-if you don’t mind. My hands are sort of restricted” says Kageyama, pointing out that his arms were trapped in the sleeve holes. You sigh and grabbed the hem of his jersey shirt, attempting to pull it down back but the both of you suddenly heard the gym doors open.

“(Y/N)?!” 

Hearing an all too familiar voice, you quickly shove Kageyama off of you, sitting up from your spot to see Hinata who froze by the gym doors as he stares at you and Kageyama with wide eyes, his heart beating so fast in his chest.

“W-were you cheating on me?!”

“No baby! It was just an accident-”

“An accident?! It looked like you were taking off his shirt! I can’t believe you’re cheating on me with Bakageyama!”

“No, Shoyo! It definitely doesn’t look what it looks like at all!”

“I trusted you, (Y/N)!”

Tears were starting to form in your eyes, getting a bit angry and frustrated that Hinata wasn’t letting you explain your side. Kageyama noticed this and decided to step in --- defending the both of you.

“Boke, Hinata, boke! Why would I even do that to your girlfriend?! Let us explain what happen-”

“No! I’m so hurt, (Y/N)-chan! You’re the first girl ever that made me really happy but this is how you treat me? Is it because I’m not tall enough?! Is this how you repay my loyalty to you? You’re so heartless! You seem so faithful to me but behind my back, you’re a different person.”

“S-Shoyo-”

“Don’t call me that anymore. I don’t want to see you anymore. We’re done.” 

With that, Hinata left the gym, leaving you and Kageyama all alone. You wanted to run after him but you lost your strength and collapsed on the floor, your gaze lingering at the gym doors, tears rolling down your cheeks. 

Kageyama panicked a little, not knowing how to comfort you but he just stood beside you and patted your head as you were hugging your figure, too hurt by Hinata’s words. 

“That dumbass doesn’t know how to listen.”

“What am I gonna do, Kageyama-kun?”

Kageyama glances at you, a frown on his face. He knows how much you care for Hinata. He can’t help but feel frustrated also being in your position. He also felt bad to what just happened. 

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t apologize, Kageyama. You did nothing wrong. Hinata just misunderstood.” 

“That runt will regret for letting you go. I mean, who else could keep up with him?”

As you wiped your tears, you stood up and grabbed your things, heading towards the gym doors.

“I think we’ll call it a day. I’ll message Yams that our filming is finished. I’ll just ask another sports writer to cover you and Hinata’s segment. I don’t think I can face him for awhile.”

Kageyama frowns as he saw your eyes tearing up again but he just nodded, not wanting to press any buttons even further.

“Okay. Get home safely.”

With a sigh, you left the gym heading home, feeling all too drained and hurt. You can’t believe Hinata was able to say those hurtful words to you. In attempts on calling him while walking home, you let out a frustrated groan as he already blocked your number. 

“Oh Shoyo. It was all just a misunderstanding.” 

Days had passed ever since the incident and break up with Hinata. Word got around fast. You and Kageyama had been the talk of the town as cheaters, making you lose your appetite. People were sending you dirty stares for even daring to cheat on such a pure soul. 

There was one time when you ate at the school cafeteria with Yamaguchi and Tsukishima and a group of girls suddenly went to your table, snickering at you and called you a slut. Between Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, it was Yamaguchi who was full on beast mode, defending you. 

“Don’t waste your time with these fools, Yamaguchi. They just don’t know how to mind their own business” says Tsukishima as he shakes his head in annoyance. You told Yachi, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima the whole thing. Yachi felt really bad at what happened. She was the one also who keeps comforting Hinata. Tsukishima was in charge of breaking apart Kageyama and Hinata whenever the two started to argue, much to his dismay but he just wants the team to be peaceful and focus on their practices and official games. 

Not wanting to eat anymore, you grab your bag and stood up, making Yamaguchi and Tsukishima look at you with worry. 

“Where are you going, (Y/N)-san?” 

“I’m just gonna go get a breather. I’m not that hungry anyway. See you later” you say with a solemn look on your face then left the cafeteria. 

“What are we gonna do, Tsukki?”

“I don’t know. Don’t involve me in their quarrels. It’s tiring.”

Yamaguchi sighs but then he remembers that he left his camera in the gyms while he was in the bathroom. When he returned to the gym, his camera was already battery drained. In hopes to resolve this mess, Yamaguchi checks the contents to see of the camera was still rolling. Much to his relief, it apparently recorded the whole thing. He immediately showed this to Hinata, finally clearing all the misunderstanding.   

Hinata regretted on how he acted. He felt his heart breaking even more. He needs to apologize for his wrong doings but it was too late. The twinkle in your eyes as you see him weren’t there anymore. His words really hurt you and you’ll have a difficult time in trusting him again. The bullying around the school made you feel even more damaged.

You told Hinata its best to cool off from the relationship. You needed space. You need to focus on yourself now. You just wanted to forget the words that come out from his mouth.

It was over.

Hinata Shoyo. You were my sunshine, my only sunshine. You made me happy when skies are gray --- but now, the skies weep with me.

[yellowocaballero]

Not Your Queer-Coded Disney Villain: Annabelle & Web!Jon Ficlet

Got bored again today and forced myself to write something that wasn’t gratuitously long. Set in the same universe (or, one of the universes) as The Convention on Chronographer Lane, but it’s completely unnecessary to have read that one before this. 

Content warning for (apparent and fake) predation of a student by a teacher, body horror, and spiders. REVERSE content warning for A PSYCH 101 LECTURE WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHO WAS A TA FOR PSYCH 101. ACCURATE SCIENCE, BITCHES. 

“What am I turning into?” Annabelle asked, after a half-second of rapid thought. “Who are you? And what do spiders have to do with any of this?”

Jon smiled again broadly, grey eyes dancing with a barely hidden delight. “You’re fully aware that these are all the same question.”

“Then answer them. You said you’re here to help me. Then help me.” Annabelle narrowed her eyes. “We’ll negotiate a price later.”

“This one is a freebie,” Jon said. He leaned back, face fading into the shadow of the dim yellow light of the hanging light. “You’re turning into something much akin to myself.”

In the darkness, Annabelle saw Jon open his eyes. And his eyes. And his eyes. And his eyes…

Annabelle was sleeping through Psych again.

In her defense, she was really tired. The nightmares had been getting worse every day, and yesterday she hadn’t gotten more than forty minutes of sleep without jolting up in the middle of the night. She had flipped on the light five times during the night, hysterically convinced that bugs were crawling over her and earning the eternal ire of her roommate. Whatever - Irene would forgive her once she bought her an iced coffee from that campus shop she liked. If Annabelle gave it to her later at night, she’d stay up later and would be less likely to bitch when Annabelle inevitably made a stink at three am again.

It didn’t matter. Psych was tediously easy anyway. Not that everything wasn’t tedious, but there were few things more boring than listening to the drone of Mr. Sims’ voice. She had no idea how that guy had a fanclub. Emmanuela Odugawa had asked her if she thought that he recited Piaget’s developmental stages in bed. Barf. 

Thankfully, Annabelle had mastered the art of sleeping with her eyes open in class and barely aware enough to recognize when somebody called her name a decade ago, and she ruthlessly used this skill now. She dropped into a half-doze, and was only startled into awareness when she heard the word that had been running in a nonstop track loop through her mind for the past month. 

“Phobia: an extreme or irrational fear or aversion to something.” Mr. Sims adjusted his glasses, pressing a button on his laptop that advanced the slides. “It’s an interesting definition, in my opinion. Like many things in Psychology, it is almost infuriatingly vague. How do you define ‘extreme’? How do you define ‘irrational’? Oftentimes, that label is determined by society, science, and our therapists. However, I believe you can argue that phobias are the most rational thing of all.”

Annabelle rubbed her arms, suddenly cold. These auditorium classrooms were always freezing. 

“The concept of aversion is heavily rooted in evolution and biology. Anyone here ever eat any bad shrimp?” He didn’t wait for a response. “The smell of seafood probably made you sick for weeks afterwards. Our bodies are primed to detect poison, just as they are to detect danger. Phobias rooted in modern, abstract concepts - clowns, elevators, airplanes - are easy to extinguish. But phobias rooted in real, present, perpetual dangers, the sort of dangers that threatened the lives of cavemen, are far more difficult to ignore.” 

Despite herself, Annabelle found herself awake. She found herself listening. 

“Snakes. Heights. The Dark. Dogs, bears, large animals. Storms, driving, insects.” Mr. Sims’ looked up at the auditorium, and Annabelle could have sworn that he was looking right at her, he was looking at her. Annabelle’s breath caught, her heart thumping in her chest - a little differently than it used to. “Spiders.” 

A horrible clicking echoed in Annabell’s ears. She was afraid that it was her. 

Then he looked away, and the spell was broken. “Phobias are one of the most powerful and motivational forces in human evolution. Like mental illnesses, pack bonds, and emotional needs, the perceived weaknesses of the human mind can frequently be some of the most powerful forces that allow the survival of the human species. It isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. I find that a useful way to think of humanity, and of ourselves: that our weaknesses can make us very strong indeed. Next slide…”

If Mr. Sims said anything after that, Annabelle didn’t hear it.

She didn’t pay any attention to anything he said until the end of class, when she shrugged on her cute little silver backpack and merged into the stream of students filtering out of the classroom. A few students had stayed behind to talk to Mr. Sims, and he appeared wrapped in conversation with the giggling girls, but somehow he picked her out of the thick crowd. 

“Annabelle?” Mr. Sims asked. “Stay after, please.”

So she leaned against the long sweep of desks, left with nothing to do but squint at Mr. Sims as he spoke with another student about the requirements for the upcoming paper, wondering why he looked so familiar. 

All of the other students had assumed he was in his late twenties - “total DILF”, they all inanely assured her - but Annabelle wasn’t so sure. Despite the already graying hair, small glasses, and severe expression, she really wouldn’t put him any older than 23.

Maybe his greying temples were hair dye. Or stress did that to you, right? Annabelle squinted. But when Annabelle looked closer, if she really focused, then she really wasn’t sure it was his hair color at all. 

So she looked closer. Her eyes had been itching for the past week. She had caught her skin flaking and peeling, and instead of pink raw skin underneath there was hard and scratchy black necrosis. Her eyes itched now, as if they were striving to split apart, and if Annabelle only let them then they would burst. And as her eyes itched in a horrible, visceral pain, she thought that maybe the white at Mr. Sims’ temples was the thin, sticky webs of spider-silk. 

“Annabelle? Are you alright?”

She snapped back to attention, fairly embarrassed. She had been zoning out more in the past month than she had her entire life. Her older siblings had said that college would be rough, but she hadn’t known it would be this rough. This wasn’t like her. None of this was like her. 

“I’m great,” Annabelle said reflexively. All of the other students were gone, and Mr. Sims was staring at her over his glasses. “Sorry. Is this about my test…?”

“No. You did quite well on your test. Best in the class, actually.” Mr. Sims smiled at her, as if this was a compliment or important. “Is that why you’ve been so bored in class?”

Ah. Busted. A rare thing for Annabelle. She affected a faux-abashed posture and expression. “Sorry, Mr. Sims. I’ve been staying up ‘til two every morning trying to get my homework done on time. If I’m ever going to go to med school…”

“I thought you were a poli sci major,” Mr. Sims said cheerfully. Annabelle fought a shudder - how did he know so much about her? This class had 200 students.

“Double major,” Annabelle said blithely. “I’m sorry about sleeping in class, I’ll manage my time better. It won’t happen again.”

“Yes, yes.” Mr. Sims waved her apology away, as if that wasn’t what he had been looking for. Then what had he been looking for? “I’m afraid I had somewhat of an ulterior motive for speaking to you today.” He leaned in a little, pulling his glasses down, and his foggy grey eyes - same color as the grey at his temples - focused solely on her. Annabelle made her eyes bigger, and she leaned in too, adjusting her posture so she looked smaller. “You’ve been doing very well in class. I actually wanted to invite you to a meeting. About...oh, your potential for med school. I’m excited to see you succeed. I think you could do quite well in whatever field you choose, and I’d like to help. It would be just us, of course.”

Ding ding ding. Annabelle affected a giggle. “I could totally use the help! Like, in your office? Or, like...lunch, or…?”

“I was thinking dinner, actually,” Mr. Sims smiled. “How’s Bombay Bicycle Club?”

Restaurant and bar, with a casual yet dignified atmosphere. Not formal enough to put up anybody’s guard, but nice enough that a freshman girl could feel treated and be impressed. Most importantly, it was popular among the businessman crowd and almost nobody on campus visited it. Annabelle used it herself to meet up with her sugar daddies all the time. 

For a brief, strange moment, Annabelle felt as if he did - but of course he didn’t. But it wasn’t impossible. But if he knew, then why wasn’t he blackmailing her? Was the blackmail for later, once he got her alone? This was probably a power play, getting her off balance by insinuating that he knows but not being explicit about it. He’d probably pull out the blackmail, ‘I’ll ruin your reputation you slut etc’, once they actually got there. Not that he could - Annabelle had contingency plans - but she would have to be careful to actually record him propositioning her anyway. Worst case scenario they had a MAD situation, best case she could squeeze him. Probably not for very much money, since grad students were poor as dirt, and she didn’t exactly need him to boost her grades...get him to slip her the test key and sell the test key? That could work. She could probably get him to strategically cut grades, which was a service that Annabelle could probably sell to students with a grudge…

But then Mr. Sims smiled at her, as if he knew what she was thinking, and Annabelle realized that she had been silent too long. She wanted to come off as panicked, maybe desperate, definitely flattered. 

“Sure!” Annabelle said, barely having to feign the anxious creak in her voice. “What time? I have night classes, so…”

“Next Friday at six,” Mr. Sims said instantly. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me too.” Annabelle affected Smile #35 - shy virgin. Mr. Sims’ grin widened. Annabelle silently put aside the ‘Catholic schoolgirl’ outfit for Friday. “See you then!”

She turned around, gave him a shy smile, and bounced off. She had just opened the heavy door out of the room when she heard him speak again, freezing her in her tracks. 

“Oh, Annabelle - how is the study with Dr. Bates going?”

And his question panicked her so much, made her heart change rhythm and made her skin itch as if something was straining to come out of it, made her eyes itch and crawl and burst, that every calculated move went out the window. She didn’t answer his question, didn’t even give an excuse - she just ran out the door, bright purple vintage boots thumping against the linoleum, breath catching in a chest where she was no longer sure she even had ribs. 

Most of her was already calculating. She was already two months into uni, she had to start establishing her power base. The minute her sorority accepted her she’d have greater access to money, popularity, and influence, but she needed reach with the administration too.  Mr. Sims was her in. This was a good thing. 

But part of her was disappointed, because she had liked him, and she felt a little used. Feelings of disgust, as strong and vivid as in her nightmares, rose in her chest. She squished far down in her chest, familiar with the feeling and effortlessly repressing it.  

Annabelle was good with disgusting things. 

She had another session with the Arachnophobia study on Monday. Which went fine. It was fine! She didn’t wake up that morning so sick with nerves that she almost threw up. She didn’t stare at her email inbox for thirty minutes, begging herself to cancel and drop out of the study. Nope. 

She distracted herself by befriending all of her roommate’s friends and dropping faux-concerned gossip about how cranky and anxious Irene’s been lately, have you noticed she’s been blaming me for how badly she’s sleeping? It was really super sad, frowny face, how do you think I can help, frowny face frowny face frowny face? 

So Annabelle went to the Arachnophobia study (it was fine), had increasingly realistic and vivid nightmares about her chest caving in and a nest of spiders crawling out of her chest and eating her eyes, and slept through class. It was all fine. 

She should have gone to Oxford. It still made her a little bitter. She had been smart enough to get in, but she hadn’t been smart enough to get the full scholarship. She couldn’t afford it, so instead she was stuck in University of Surrey, where dreams went to die. Future politicians should go to Oxford. Yeah, Surrey had some peers and Parliament members, whatever. She needed better, Oxford and awards and money. From there, from some swotty school or another, it was easy street. Annabelle deserved easy street, and she deserved Oxford, and it just wasn’t fair -

After another three am nightmare, Annabelle blearily scrolled through her sibling groupchat. Barney was doing great in med school. Tricia had posted her maternity photos. Wow, look at that, Robin had gotten a commendation at his law firm. Whatever. 

No hope of distinguishing herself in the world. No hope of distinguishing herself in her stupid family. She was smarter than any of her siblings, brighter and better than those doctors and lawyers and accountants, but nobody cared. Mum and Dad were living their retirement in comfort and cooing over their grandchildren, finally rewarded in old age for all their hard work. 

If Annabelle dropped off the face of the earth, nobody would even notice. 

It should have been a depressing thought. The idea that nobody cared about her, not really, that nobody knew the real her. But somehow it just made her heart beat faster in excitement. 

The idea of disappearing from all of this, of cutting herself free from a thousand threads that brought her plummeting down to earth...in the cold hours of that dark morning, to an eighteen year old terrified and alone in uni, it was a siren song. 

It was a siren song that sounded, oddly, like the chittering and scuttling of a thousand tiny bodies, but Annabelle was learning to look beyond that. 

By the time next Friday rolled around, Annabelle was considering breaking her self-imposed rule against drugs and popping a Xanax. But that wouldn’t help her exhaustion, the persistent bone-deep frazzled sensation of going a week on almost no sleep whatsoever, so she settled for an espresso as she wriggled herself into a tight, slinky plaid dress paired with a puffy olive green windbreaker. She wasn’t sure if she owned any clothing that was made after 1990 - a habit born from a childhood of shopping from thirst stores, and continued voluntarily into high school when she started making her own money online fleecing suckers. It was her, so much as anything was. 

“Hot date?” Irene asked, bending over her Physics textbook without looking up. She glanced at her vibrating phone, scowling. Poor baby - her friends were staging an intervention. “New guy or old guy?”

“New guy,” Annabelle said vaguely, carefully picking out a bold red lipstick - or did that seem too forward? Should she go for a natural look? “If I’m not back by midnight call the police. I’ll text you a picture of his car.”

“Roger.” Irene flipped a page of her textbook, oblivious to the fact that she was one of the few people Annabelle genuinely liked. Not enough not to screw with her, but she liked her. “He’s not good enough for you, something something.”

“Darling,” Annabelle said, winking into the mirror, “nobody is.”

She hoped Irene believed it. She didn’t. 

It wasn’t a frequent occurrence that Annabelle wished she was stupid, but today she wished she was stupid enough to take a power nap during her ten minute Uber ride. Her mind felt frazzled and frayed, as if it had been taken out of her scalp and spread out with a rolling pin onto a floured countertop. She felt as if she was melting, her vision spiralling into fractals or blurring out. She wanted to sleep. God, she’d do anything for some sleep -

So she blared Bad Romance in her frayed earbuds instead, clutching her iPod Touch tightly, pulling herself together. Gaga, give her strength. 

By the time that she tipped her driver, effortlessly found Mr. Sims’ car in the parking lot of Bombay Bicycle Club and texted Irene the license plate (Volkswagen, obviously), she had dragged herself into focus. She stapled on her confident posture and walk - no, we’re going with ingenue today, make it shy and hesitant - and slipped inside the restaurant, making a show of holding her clutch tight to her chest and looking around with big eyes. 

She saw him instantly. He was sitting in a corner booth, head down and texting on his phone with a half-smile. The corner booth was poorly lit, light dampened by the wood panelling and soft leather seats, and half of his face was draped in shadow. 

Great. She had even arrived ten minutes early just so she could pick a brightly lit, intimate little table in the center of the room. This guy - he was almost like her. He was almost like her, but he was better. 

Annabelle fought the urge to grind her teeth. She smiled instead, waving cheerfully until he raised his head. He smiled back at her, wriggling his fingers, and Annabelle wove around the tables until she could slide into the seat across from him. 

“This is cozy!” She said brightly. “Thank you so much for inviting me out, Mr. Sims. It’s been ages since I got away from my books -”

“Oh, cut that shit out,” Mr. Sims said, bored. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

Annabelle’s mind shut down. Error 404, blue screen of death. 

“I’m sorry,” she said pleasantly, smile frozen on her face. “What?”

But Mr. Sims just shrugged listlessly, slumping against the cushioned wall. His expression was no longer fond, indulgent, haughty. He just looked bored now, as if he was too tired and underpaid to deal with eighteen year olds. “I don’t want to sit through this entire dinner fending off flirting. We have actual business to talk about, and I am uninterested in beating around the bush when there’s no point. You aren’t even subtle.”

“Excuse me -” Annabelle started, enraged, but Mr. Sims put up a hand and cut her off. 

The change was instant. On a dime, Mr. Sims straightened his posture, swept a finger through his hair to transform it from slicked back professor type to windswept, adopted a friendly and casual expression, and leaned in as if he was happy and excited to be sitting with Annabelle. In a moment he dropped ten years. Barely a second after his transformation the waiter approached them, holding a notepad, and Annabelle realized with a start that he had noticed the waiter coming before she did. 

“How are you two doing tonight?” the waiter asked politely, smiling at the both of them in a rote routine that Annabelle remembered from her own days waitressing. 

“Doing great!” Mr. Sims said, and even his accent was different, closely matching her own. He glanced back at Annabelle, nothing but open and friendly. “Mum says get whatever you want, dork. It’s on her bill, so let’s run her out of house and home.”

Instinctually, Annabelle shot back, “Aren’t you old enough to take me out to eat with your own money, loser?”

“Not with your stomach!” Mr. Sims laughed, and the waiter chuckled along too. Mr. Sims effortlessly rapped out an order for the waiter, before Annabelle even got a chance to look at the menu, and when she floundered Mr. Sims just rolled his eyes and ordered for her too. It was, somehow, her favorite food. 

He waited for the waiter to move onto the next table, eyeing him carefully, before he let the persona drop. Mr. Sims sagged again, dropping the friendly act, sizing her up from half-lidded eyes. 

“How did he even believe that,” Annabelle said flatly. “We don’t look anything alike.”

“White people will believe anything,” Mr. Sims said, rolling his eyes. “I have the Belgian government convinced I’m an Iraqi scientist and most high profile Australian celebrities think I’m Egyptian royalty.”

“...does Egypt have -”

“Nope.”

Annabelle was beginning to feel a little like the star actress in the school play who got upstaged in every way by the villain’s performance. Nobody did what she did. Nobody did what she did, but better. 

“Don’t feel insecure,” Mr. Sims said, as if he could read her mind. “I’m a good actor, and I’m excellent at reading people. But I can’t plan or plot like you do. I’m shit at thinking three steps ahead, much less thirty. You can keep plots and schemes going for years - decades, even, if I were to guess. I’m not sure how someone as competent as you can have self-esteem issues.”

Annabelle bristled. “You try having nobody care about you for - how do you even know that shit about me?” Something terrible occurred to her. “Are you some kind of stalker, Mr. Sims?”

Mr. Sims shuddered in real disgust. “It’s Jon. And no, of course not. You just aren’t as subtle as you think you are.”

Yes, she was. She was subtle to everyone on the planet - everyone save, maybe, Jon. Annabelle narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Jon said immediately. 

“Liar. Everybody wants something.”

“I’m here altruistically,” Jon said, the perfect picture of innocence. “Really. I’m here to help you, Annabelle.”

“You are stalking me.” Annabelle leaned forward, but Sims didn’t move. “Are you even a real graduate student?”

“Absolutely not. I’m twenty three, I got my Psych degree last year and I’ve been bouncing odd jobs since.” Jon shrugged, as Annabelle felt silently vindicated. Nothing about this man acted like a twenty three year old - she remembered her siblings at twenty-three, there was nothing adult about them - but it was probably just another persona. She wondered how far she’d have to scratch to get to the real Jon Sims. 

“So you were just at Surrey to spy on me,” Annabelle said slowly. “I don’t know what country you’re from, but in England that’s definitely stalking.”

“I’d call it scouting,” Jon said. The waiter dropped by to place their drinks on the table - Jon had gotten a mule for himself, and he had ordered water for Annabelle in a move uncharacteristic for a sketchy guy. He waited until the waiter left to continue. “Call me a recruiter.”

“For who? What kind of job recruiter teaches a class for two months just to get to me?”

“How’s your study with Dr. Blake going, Annabelle?” Jon said, almost randomly, and Annabelle shut up. He must have seen something in her eyes, because a sharp little grin stretched in the corner of his narrow and sharp face. “Thought so. What do you dream of, Annabelle? In the cold corners of night, what fears come to life in the dark recesses of your mind?”

Maybe, Annabelle thought inanely, this was a dream too. Just an extended nightmare, one she hadn’t woken up from. It felt like that: distant and strange, hyper-real and unreal. This strange man sitting in front of her, who swapped faces so easily even Annabelle couldn’t keep up, was far too out of place to truly exist. 

Or maybe he was the first real person she had met in a very long time. 

Jon continued talking, as if she had responded. Maybe she had. “I am not a hero in this story. If I was, I would have come earlier. I would have deleted your name from the pool of subjects, and I would have made it so that you never got that call.” Jon looked away from her for the first time, letting a little sadness show on his face. “I couldn’t. No - no, I could have, I simply chose not to. You’re important, Annabelle. And I didn’t want to rob you of something that you may grow to treasure. I’m afraid that the choice you make now may not be much of a choice at all - but, perhaps, there is still a chance. At the very least, I would like to make this transition a little easier for you. It is a terrible thing, to have to do it alone.”

That…

“That was so vague it was completely meaningless.”

Jon barked a laugh, strangely delighted. “It’s not fair to speak in circles to somebody who’s gone a week without sleep!”

“But you’re doing it on purpose,” Annabelle said, too dead inside to feel mad.

“Oh, absolutely. I am not taking the risk of taking you on at full power.” Jon smiled at her, as if they were friends sharing a joke. “I saw what you did to that Walker boy in secondary.”

Despite herself, Annabelle smiled. “Hear he gets out on parole in five.” Something else occurred to her, a bit belatedly. “You are stalking me!”

“Does a spider stalk the fly that strikes a string on its web?” Jon asked cheerfully. “Or is it simply investigating an encroachment into its territory?”

“Does that mean that you’re going to eat me?” Annabelle said archly. “Thought you said you didn’t want to fuck me. Rude, by the way.”

Almost hilariously, Jon wrinkled his nose. “Sex is a waste of time, resources, and my attention. Can’t imagine why people are so obsessed.”

“I know, right!” Annabelle burst out, before she could help herself. “Do you have any idea how much money I get a month from guys just to talk to me? It’s like they’re aliens! Why do people fuck or date if it’s not to manipulate someone?”

“Right! It’s ridiculous.”

It was the first time anybody had ever agreed with her on that. It was the first time she had even told anybody she felt that way. For a brief second, Annabelle felt connected to Jon. It was the first time that happened in...a very long time. 

Jon was the first person Annabelle had ever met who was like her. Everybody in Annabelle’s life had always been either useful or useless. Jon seemed above that, somehow. To be beyond utility, to exist on your own power...what did that look like? To be the powerful, instead of the powerless?

No matter how hard she tried, no matter how many puppet strings Annabelle tied around her fingers, she was never powerful. Not really. She was eighteen, from a nothing family, and no matter how many molehills she made herself queen of she would never rule the mountain. She couldn’t get as far as she wanted with what she had. The only reason she had even volunteered for the stupid Arachnophobia experiment was because she needed to crush out weakness in herself, erase the hidden flaws in her mind.

But Jon said her flaws were strengths. What made her weak could be turned into power. 

Annabelle needed more, more, more. She needed everything, if she was to have anything. She needed what Jon had. 

Everything Annabelle said had a purpose. Every word she used was chosen carefully, every little gesture or body language was calculated. She said nothing without thinking, and she could do it so quickly nobody even noticed. Jon would notice, a con man as perfect as she was.

Let him. Give her two straight days to sleep, and they’d have a real battle of wits. In the meantime, she just had to pick her questions strategically.

“What am I turning into?” Annabelle asked, after a half-second of rapid thought. “Who are you? And what do spiders have to do with any of this?”

Jon smiled again broadly, grey eyes dancing with a barely hidden delight. “You’re fully aware that these are all the same question.”

“Then answer them. You said you’re here to help me. Then help me.” Annabelle narrowed her eyes. “We’ll negotiate a price later.”

“This one is a freebie,” Jon said. He leaned back, face fading into the shadow of the dim yellow light of the hanging light. “You’re turning into something much akin to myself.”

In the darkness, Annabelle saw Jon open his eyes. And his eyes. And his eyes…

All eight of Jon’s glittering black eyes shone in the darkness, straining her own and making her head thump. It was wrong, outside of humanity or reality, and it felt as if the very sight was straining the fabric of her delicately maintained life so tight it would tear. It felt as if it was tearing her, right in two, ruining her forever. Her eyes felt like they were going to burst out of her head. 

She didn’t want to know what would replace them. But she had the feeling that she already did. 

“Then what,” Annabelle gritted out, “are you?”

“I am the eldest and most treasured Son of the Mother of Spiders,” Jon said. He smiled at her, just a little, almost apologetic. “Sorry about that. I know you’ve always wanted to be an only child.”

Ah. Duh. Obviously. She should have known.

“...do I want to know who the Mother of Spiders is?”

“Your mother, should you choose to accept her,” Jon said cheerfully, leaning back into the light, and his face was normal again. Human as ever. Strange and foreign as ever - possibly everything, possibly nothing. “I know you aren’t strictly in the market for adoption, but you may not have much of a choice. You’ve felt her scratching beneath her skin. She’s going to tear out of you, and soon. Did you know some species of wasp lay their eggs in the body of spiders to provide food for the grubs?”

“During the next experiment,” Annabelle said dully, already filtering out Jon’s useless tidbits of information. That was a guy who spoke for the sake of hearing himself talk. “That’s when it’s happening. When I’ll...change.”

“Yes. It’s a painful process,” Jon said, and it was almost apologetic. “My own happened when I was fifteen - quite young, all things considered. I still remember the sound of my bones snapping as -”

“Don’t.”

“Of course! Anyway, I thought I’d make sure you had...to use the psych term, informed consent, before you entered the crucible. Our - my, sorry - Mother often foregoes true consent in our operations. The beauty of nature!” Jon laughed, as Annabelle felt sick. “Agnes wanted to put together a pamphlet, but then we let Gerry go wild on the clipart and...well, it’s better if I just explain. I can’t give you the full story now, but I’ll tell you as much as your mind can comprehend.”

Annabelle wasn’t sure she could even comprehend this. It was so much, and she was so tired. She had just heard that her body was going to rupture like a cocoon and give birth to a giant spider that may or may not also be her, and all she could think about was the fact that she wanted to go back to bed. Somehow, all she could ask was -

“Why?” She asked, so stupid and pointless, as if she was stupid, as if she wasn’t her at all. “Why are you doing this?”

“It’s like I said.” In the dim yellow lighting, Jon’s eyes glittered pure black, and in that brief and stupid second Annabelle felt as if they were the same in that way. “Nobody should have to go through this alone and ignorant.” Then the moment was over, and his eyes were a human grey again, just left of normal. “Besides. Siblings stick together, right?”

“I hardly need more siblings,” Annabelle snapped. 

“You’re about to lose seven of them real soon,” Jon promised, extremely worryingly, “so I’d take what you can get right now, Annabelle.”

“Are you going to kill -”

“Unfortunately, you may have to fake your own death!”

Then their food came, and Annabelle received her first lesson in the class of hard knocks. 

They talked for hours. It took hours, to even just get a picture of the story. Jon was patient, answering every question, and Annabelle strained so hard trying to fight through her exhaustion, trying to understand the answer, Jon’s motivation in answering it or what he could be leaving out, that by the end of it she felt as if she had run a marathon. She had never felt so tired in her life, in the most dangerous situation in her life, with the most dangerous person she had ever met. 

By the end of it, Irene was texting her to ask if she was dead, and Annabelle was falling asleep at her chair. Jon cut an end to their conversation when he slid out his wallet, covered the bill with a black Amex card, and slid a business card against the table. Annabelle squinted down at it. 

The text in the center just said [FREELANCERS]. That was it. She stared at it.

Underneath the vague word, she saw a phone number [555-555] and an email [email@organization.gov]. Annabelle looked up to stare at Jon. “Are you for real?”

“Almost never,” Jon said cheerfully, “but the card will make sense when it needs to. Let me take you back to your dorm, alright? You can get some sleep in the car.”

If he was a creep, she was dead anyway. Annabelle didn’t bother arguing. She grabbed her jacket and got in the passenger seat of his car, and true to his word Annabelle drifted asleep almost immediately. She even felt as if the ride took longer than ten minutes, as if he drove in circles just waiting for her.

For the first time in a week, Annabelle slept uninterrupted, and had no dreams.

Annabelle wanted what Jon had. 

And a week later, she took it. 

Shivering in an alley, clothing ripped to shreds, her own skin hanging off her triple jointed limbs, she dug out a creased and torn business card. She had been worrying at it intensely over the weekend, staring and it and clenching it tightly as if it was her only lifeline. It was, of course. But Jon had known that.

The card looked different now. The text now looked handwritten, but with a beautiful and old-timey slanted handwriting. It now just read: 

‘To Annabelle, with love. From your new friends Gerry, Jon, and Agnes’. There was a number underneath, and Annabelle frantically dug in her tattered leather jacket pocket to draw out her cracked phone. 

Annabelle hated taking favors from people. Everything she had, she had fought for herself. She would scrape, borrow, beg, and steal whatever she had to. But, when it came to siblings...maybe, then, it was okay.

Dizzily, as Annabelle let the phone ring, she thought: this is my supervillain origin story. 

The thought sent a slow smile crawling across her inhuman and warped face. 

Sounds like fun.