#she was very much like ‘welcome to observer life you’re gonna get sick at least twice’

[marscats37]

Girl I work with is like “haha I probably have a cold 🤪” like. STAY AWAY.

[darkacademicfrom2021]

Moving day

Based on @lucywrites02's writing challenge, with the prompts "1. You're family" and "8. I have a surprise for you". I wish you a very happy birthday, Lucy!

Pairing: Loki x fem!reader (Tony Stark's daughter, not Morgan)

Word count: 3.2 K

Warnings: fluff and pregnancy :) This was very adorable to write.

Taglist: @lucywrites02, @louieboo87,@jesuswasnotawhiteman, @geekwritersworld, @whatafuckingdumbass, @mysticunicorn7, @toe-vind-ek-jou, @t00-pi, @selfship-mishaps, @sallymagnoliaposts, @deadgirl88, @enderslove

Gif: @moonrainbow

It had surprised Thor greatly how quickly and intensely his brother had fallen for you. He was as committed and truthful as he has never been in his long, long life. He looked at you softly, in comparison with everyone else. As soon as you walked in a room, he followed you with his gaze and invited you to his conversation. It wasn’t a surprise that after a few months of this very silent flirting (that very few noticed, because it mainly consisted in batting eyelashes and repressing subtle smiles when the other was around) you’d come out of the shell and admit you started dating. Thor was ecstatic.

Tony, on the other hand, was not amused. Not amused at all; in fact, he hated the idea of you going around with that God. He said, explicitly “if you ever get in trouble because of him, you solve it yourself. Nothing of coming for daddy to help, clear?”. Pepper had told him to cut some slack, and observe at how happy you were together, but he, stubborn to the bone, had to take a few months more before accepting the fact that his little girl was in love with the God of Mischief.

But the months passed by; almost a year, and you grew closer and closer. You hated to sneak into his room every night, and get interrupted all the time by every single soul in the compound, or mocked to death every time you cuddled on the sofa, watched a movie or read a book together. So, it all boiled down to the same conversation:

“I don’t think he’s ready”, you said while pouring some milk on your cereal. Nat rolled her eyes.

“He’s even readier than you”, insisted Wanda. They were exhausted from having the same conversation over and over, but you couldn’t bring yourself to actually do something about it. “He’s lived much longer, if any of you two were to be unready, that’d be you”.

“Do you think I’m not ready?”, you doubted yourself.

“God, Wanda. You’re planting unnecessary seeds here. The girl’s already anxious enough”.

“I just think… I want him to be with me for the rest of my life. I don’t know if he feels the same”.

“He totally does”.

“Yeah. No doubt about that. Just look at how he looks at you. What are you even waiting for?”.

“I don’t know, a signal?”.

“Of what? You’re impossible. Unless God themself comes down the sky and tells you textually just move in with him, you wouldn’t consider it a ‘signal’”, bitched Nat. But she was right. Commitment was not exactly your thing, even though you were as in love as you could be.

You heard an oncoming scream approaching the room. In silence, you three observed cautiously, and moved away from the middle. The screaming increased its loudness, until a body shattered the roof and fell to the floor violently. Loki laid still among the dusted debris until a second screaming started sounding from the sky.

“Oh, fuck”, he said, managing to get up quickly and making himself as a shield for you three. Thor landed on his feet over the same spot Loki had fallen. Dust flew everywhere and the floor cracked a bit more. “Don’t”, he alerted, pointing at his brother menacingly.

“I’m tired of your whinings, brother. Do something or I’ll do it myself”, spat Thor, grabbing Mjölnir and leaving the room. Loki sighed and sat on the couch, cleaning the remains with his magic. Wanda sighed and put it all back together.

“And what was that about?”, asked Nat, eating a candybar, still on the same spot as earlier. It wasn’t an unusual scene.

“I…”, said Loki, but desisted. You sat on the couch by his side and he laid, using your lap as a pillow. You took out a tissue and started carefully cleaning the blood off his cuts. He smiled softly. “We just had a fight”.

“I can see that. What did you fight about?”.

“He wants me to… well, talk to you”, he struggled to say.

“Well, we’re talking now”.

“Yes. No, wait, no. Like, talk talk”, he clarified, and Nat and Wanda nodded, leaving the room. You could still hear their chattery from the door.

Loki sat up and grabbed both of your hands, making direct eye contact. He was nervous, which only made you even more unsettled. He was never nervous. He was always calm, even in life or death situations. He was unfazed in everything and with almost everyone. Almost.

“What do you want to talk talk about?”, you joked, and he chuckled, releasing some tension.

“I want you to move in with me”.

“Oh. Wait. What?”.

“Like, move out. But with me”.

“To your room?”.

“Out of the Compound”.

“To an apartment?”.

“Yes”.

“Here?”.

“In Midgard, yes”.

“But like, in New York?”.

“Wherever you want, actually”.

You stayed silent for a few seconds, and Loki grew nervous again. You couldn’t help but laugh. He looked at you quizzically, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that… a God just fell down the sky and told me to move in with you”, you clarified, which didn’t actually clarify anything.

“You… what?”.

“Yes, I’d love to move in with you, love”.

And in no time you were already packing things up and going together on apartment huntings.

Tony insisted on helping you out himself, which was hilarious, given the repulsion he had for the idea in the first place. So, you’d go to an apartment by yourself, check it out and talk to the owner for a bit; Loki would arrive later, tensing things up (the owners would usually recognize him, but after a little chat they’d find out he’s a fine man), and then, just after you’d be all calm and good, the owners would see in the papers you’re a Stark, and tense up even more. Easier to say, it wasn’t a normal neighborhood chat.

You had finally decided on a small but very cozy apartment near Central Park; far enough from the Stark Tower, but you could get there pretty quickly for every mission.

You found the place advertised on the papers, and when you showed it to Loki, in sickness and all, you insisted on going to visit it that same day.

“My love, my dearest… you need to rest. I’m afraid you might faint again”, he cooed, trying to get you back to bed.

“A little fever won’t do anything to me, really, I’m f…”, you said, but you felt like vomiting, so you stopped your words and sat on the floor. Loki sat by your side and rubbed your back.

“If you feel better tomorrow, we go, yes? Now, come on, I’m gonna call Banner and you wait on your bed”.

“No, but they might take it, we need to go to make sure…”.

“What about I go, call you on one of those animated images, and you can see it from here?”, he proposed, helping you up. He meant a video call.

“That… sounds about right”.

But you had no actual time to have that video call, for when he was in the apartment, Banner was delivering some more important news.

You’ve been to the examination’s room of the compound before. But this time it seemed brighter. The lights shone so strongly, you had to close your eyes a little.

“What would you like to do about it?”, asked Banner. You were sobbing and trembling.

“I… I don’t know, I’m sure Loki will leave me”.

“What? No, don’t base your decision on that guy’s opinion”.

“Well, I don’t want the kid to not have a father, you know?”, you said as he gave you a tissue. “I want to have it, I’ve always wanted a kid. I think I’m… ready? I’m probably not. Not by myself, and I can’t do this alone. He’ll leave me, won’t he? Why would he want to have a kid with a mortal? We’d die as fast as he blinks”.

“Look, I’m no one to talk about it, but this sounds more like your anxiety and less like something he would do. He really loves you, he has for like at least a year, and I don’t see that going away anytime soon”.

“I know. You might be right”.

“You’re allowed to doubt everything. This is a huge thing, y/n. Think this through, talk to people, talk to your friends, or your parents. Don’t let this eat you”.

“Thanks, Bruce. You’re really… you’re being really nice, I appreciate it”, you sobbed. He handed you another tissue as he rubbed your shoulder.

“This is your call, okay? You have time to think. Text me later how you’re feeling, and have bed rest now. And if you feel too bad, take this”, he handed you some pills, “it should be innocuous for the baby”.

One of those days, that same week, you had decided to make it the official moving day. So, you put every box in the van and drove through the city, to your new home. You haven’t told Loki yet what you knew, and you were terrified he’d get even more upset because you didn’t tell him before the moving. But, to be fair, you didn’t think he’d actually leave.

You had told no one about it, despite Banner’s indications. But it wasn’t eating you. You were enjoying it silently. You were glad; you had your doubts, fears… Hell, you were terrified. But you knew, if Loki wasn’t going to be a part of that, you could do it yourself. You hoped he’d wanted to, though.

Loki and you had started taking the boxes inside, all by hand (to be honest, he was a little scared of the neighbours watching him do things with magic and kicking you two out). You laughed through it, and played races to see who’d finish their boxes first. He was wearing one of those midgardians shirts and pants that melted you completely. He wore that for your anniversary dinner the week before that day, and he noticed how much you loved it on him, so he started wearing fancy casual clothes more often than not.

After about two hours, you were done and completely exhausted. You laid in the middle of the wooden floor, surrounded by boxes and a strong smell of floorwax and fresh paint, and looked at each other fondly.

“Welcome home”, you said, and he showed you the biggest smile he’s ever done.

“I think this place is perfect. It’s away, but not exactly far from your family for whenever you’d want to be with them”.

“Yes, it’s perfect”, you said, getting up and helping him up. “You know, I have a surprise for you”.

“Really? What is it?”.

“Tonight at dinner, shall we? In the meantime, what about we get something to drink before unpacking?”.

“Can’t wait for tonight, then. Would you like some tea?”, he said, surrounding your waist with his arms. You played gently with his hair.

“Yes”.

“I love you”, he said, giving you a small peck over your smile.

“And I love…”, you started saying, but the entrance got filled with noisy people, interrupting you. Four of your friends were already filling the place, giving you an idea of how a small party would fit in there. “... you”.

“Oh my God! This place is so well illuminated!”, said Wanda, marveled.

“And what’s that smell? Have you been cooking something weird?”, said Nat, less enthusiastic, but equally curious. Sam and Bucky were still on the door, and Sam seemed to have brought food. Like a cake, or something similar. Wanda and Natasha were quick to invade the place without further notice.

“Oh, you got one of those hidden drawers! What are you hiding in there?”.

“Probably sex toys”, guessed Nat.

“I’d say drugs. But, like, alien drugs. You know, from his town”, apported Bucky, now making his way in and leaving the cake over the counter.

“I thought drawers were supposed to be for clothes”, said Sam, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, but hidden drawers? Sexy clothes”.

“Actually, I’m saving my daggers in there”, finally said Loki, kissing your cheek before pulling away from you, and appearing a cup of tea in each guest with a movement of his wrist.

“Boring”.

“So, guys, what do you think?”, you said as you started opening one of the boxes.

“I think it’s small”, said Tony, as he walked in. Pepper rolled her eyes behind him.

“Don’t listen to him, you guys chose perfectly. This place will look very nice once you paint it and decorate it”.

“It’s already painted”.

“Oh. Well, it… it looks nice”.

“Thanks mom”, you chuckled. “It’s small but we don’t need it to be big”.

“You better be actually saving daggers in here”, Tony peeped inside the hidden drawer. “Now that is not so hidden. I wouldn’t like to open it up someday and find a…”.

“Dad, please”, you rolled your eyes and went to Loki’s side. “Don’t worry, you won’t find anything weird. Just the daggers and knives of my very innocent boyfriend”.

“Well, you’ll have to think further about having knives so close to the floor, you know”, he muttered. Loki furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why?”.

Tony ignored him and walked to you earnestly, with the most serious face expression you’ve ever seen, and everyone observed quietly. He grabbed you by the shoulders, and inhaled a deep breath. All of the sudden, his eyes got watery, and you realized Banner had told him about the pregnancy. Your heart beat so fast you thought you’d faint again, right there. The corners of his lips formed a tiny smile, and he hugged you tightly. Loki was certainly confused now. As far as he knew, Tony didn’t like him, and why would he be so happy about you moving out? It’s not like you were his only child, either.

“I’m so proud of you”, he whispered, and then Loki had the feeling he wasn’t talking about the new apartment, but didn’t ask any further.

That night you managed to cook something special, even though you still hadn’t gotten the gas installed. You cooked together, and laughed at every minor inconvenience the house could give you. The doors of the countertop cabinets were the perfect height for Loki’s 6’4” ass to stump his head every time he tried to open it.

After some time of silent cooking, absorbed on each’s thoughts, Loki asked about your dad’s pride.

“Oh, he’s… well, he just, gets very emotional with these things”. He chuckled at your very obvious lie.

“No, he doesn’t. Certainly not with me”.

“Come on, he likes you now. He likes anyone I love, because you make me happy, and because he has no other choice”.

“Well… I thought he’d be less amused”, he admitted. “Hasn’t he? Other choice, I mean”.

“I don’t think so. He’d have to deal. Family is family”.

“Oh, do I know about that”, he said, cutting a carrot more strongly than before. You laughed.

“I meant it in a good way”.

“Well, your family is one thing, mine is another… I can’t push yours to like me, as much as I would like to. They’re very nice, and I wish I had a family like that, but I don’t”.

“Love, family is built”, you said, this time a little more serious. He repressed a smile, still looking at the vegetables. “You’re part of this, too, you know?”.

“Of this?”.

“You’re family”.

He didn’t repress the smile this time.

“You’re right. You’re my family, too, my love”.

“You…”, you took a deep breath. It was the perfect moment. “Do you ever imagine us in the future?”.

“Why yes, of course”.

“Really?”.

“I want to spend all your life with you. I didn’t want to rush into things because… I don’t know, scaring you out of anything, but I…”, he said, and the alarm on your phone went off, to take the rice from the fridge. You two laughed at how mundane this conversation seemed. “But I love you, and I want you by my side”.

“Okay. Well I do too. That’s good, right? That’s good”.

“Yes, of course it’s good, why so doubtful?”, he laughed, grabbing a tomato and stabbing it.

“Because I’m pregnant”.

“Yeah”, he chuckled, without actually realizing what you just said. And then, he fell. “Hold on, what did you just say?”.

“I’m… I’m having a baby. Yours, of course”, you clarified. You felt like you had to, but it wasn’t actually necessary. Silence filled the kitchen.

“Oh dear” he paused. He left the knife over the counter and looked at you, looking for any trace of a joke. You weren’t joking, and you grew nervous as he let time pass by without saying a word. “How could you not tell me this before moving in?”, he muttered, still in a bit of a shock.

“Oh. Well… I…”.

“I wouldn’t have let you carry those heavy boxes, love, I’m so sorry”, he said, and cupped your cheeks. “Are you really…?”. You sighed in relief. For a moment you thought of the worse.

“Yes, I am”.

His arms embraced you completely, hugging you as tight as he allowed himself to. He muttered how much he loved you, and how happy you had just made him, for the rest of his life.

Later that night, as you laid in bed, he cuddled you from behind with his hands on your tummy and his lips on your bare shoulder. You could feel his soft breathing grazing your skin, and his warmth keeping you safe.

“Loki”, you whispered, checking if he was still awake. You couldn’t sleep.

“Yes, love?”, he whispered back.

“Are you sure you want to be a daddy? With me?”.

He turned you around, and lowered his head to your abdomen. He sank his face and kissed all around your stomach and hips, leaving a trace of kisses up to your neck, and then your lips.

“How could I not?”, he whispered in a low voice. Burying his nose in the crook of your neck, teased “besides, the word daddy comes out so well from your lips”.

You laughed softly, and after some more silence that was fairly filled with loving stares, a thought crossed his head and you saw the light of his eyes turn to dark.

“What is it, love?”, you put a strand of his hair behind an ear.

“I… I’m just realizing something bad”, he said, and you nodded. “I’m a Frost Giant”.

“Why is it bad?”.

“My actual form is bigger than this. And… colder. And if the baby were Jötun too...”.

“You think the baby might hurt me?”.

“They might. I don’t know. Oh no, what if they hurts you?”, he began to panic, and you shushed him, kissing his temples.

“Don’t worry, Lokes. If that’s the case, we’ll figure it out”, you reassured him. “And maybe it’s not. And we’ll have a little and very healthy half-Jötun running around this small apartment. When have we not solved our issues? We’re good at that bit”.

“You’re right. You’re right, my dear”. He sighed, and then chuckled. “Should we have gotten a bigger place?”.

“We’ll be a very close family”, you laughed.

“We already are”, he whispered, cuddling back to you. “We are a very close family”.

[parachutingkitten]

The Samurai Swap

Chapter 1: Nya's Problem - In which Nya and Pixal make a very large mistake.

TW: gore

“I am Samurai X.”

The smile beamed from her newly revealed face, now finally able to see her friends without the filter of a mask. Several arms instinctively surrounded her, the first of which being Jay’s, the second of which was Zane’s and a few more that she wasn’t able to identify in all the commotion.

“I knew it was you!” Jay broke away, now excitedly jumping. “I didn’t say it, but I had a hunch!”

“Yeah right,” Cole rolled his eyes, offering her a high five, which she gladly took.

“You look brilliant!” Her father smiled, taking her hand. “Brand new body and everything! It looks fantastic!”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Zane asked, his arms still wrapped around her.

“I didn’t want you to worry about me.” She nervously shrugged.

“Worry about you? You totally saved our butts on more than one occasion this week.” Lloyd broke in. “As far as I’m concerned, you can be the new Master.”

“Temporary Master Pixal, in training!” Kai added, hitting her in the arm.

“Yeah, yeah, this is great and all,” Nya sighed, speaking from behind the crowd. “But what about Wu? We lost him in the time stream. We have no idea where he could be.”

The whole group’s tone shifted, the energy being sucked away in less than a second.

“If I know my uncle, he’ll be alright,” Lloyd assured her. “Wherever he is, whenever he is, he’ll find his way.”

Silence stayed with the team a moment before Cole finally stepped forward.

“Lloyd’s right! We lost a friend today, but we also gained one back. Sensei would want us to do what he taught us and keep moving forward.”

“Hear, hear!” Jay cheered him on.

“And I think we start with this.” Lloyd picked up the reversal blade, its orange glow illuminating the faces all around. “We need to get rid of it. It’s far too powerful, and we don’t know the extent of its abilities. I say we put it back in the boiling sea. You think you two can handle that?” He glanced up at Kai and Nya as they exchanged a look.

“We did it once, didn’t we?” Kai chuckled.

“Good.” Lloyd agreed. “Then we leave first thing in the morning, and we take shifts guarding it tonight. I don’t want to take any chances, not after everything that’s happened.”

“But aside from that…?” Jay broke in.

Lloyd sighed. “But aside from that, everyone deserves to celebrate. You’ve earned it.”

Cheers went up throughout the group, Zane squeezing Pixal just a bit tighter, before finally letting go.

“I missed you so much,” he whispered.

“Zane,” Pixal smiled. “I’ve only been out of your systems for a couple of days.”

Zane took both her hands, bringing them to his chest. “I missed you.”

Her smile softened, her hands gripping his. “...so did I.”

“Pixal!” Kai’s voice came barreling into their vicinity. “I should have known it was you! You’re just as annoyingly perfect in costume as you are out of it!”

Pixal chuckled, pulling out of Zane’s grasp.

“And hey,” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t think of anyone better to replace my sis.”

“You don’t remember what it’s like having both of us on the same com link, do you?” Pixal smirked.

“I am choosing to ignore that right now and assume that the stupidity that used to happen just… won’t happen now.” Kai smiled blissfully.

“You’re right, it’s been what, 5 years since the jet fuel incident? I’m sure we’ve both matured immensely since then.” Pixal winked.

“I make no promises.”

“Hey guys!” Jay’s voice called out to them. “Let’s get back to the bounty! Zane’s making cake to celebrate!”

“I am?” Zane called back.

“You are now!” Cole waved them over as the group headed for the ship. “Come on!”

“I guess I’m making cake now.” Zane sighed, resigned to his fate as they began moving.

“Oh! Can you do your cream cheese frosting?” Kai asked.

“I suppose,” Zane shrugged. “Pixal, you have any requests?”

“I like your cream cheese frosting.” She smiled.

“Cream cheese it is then.”

Pixal’s smile faded, one of her hands still linked with Zane’s as the group quietly continued forward. Everything should be right with the world now that her identity was off her chest. This weight that she’d been holding onto should be gone now - but something felt off. She couldn’t pinpoint what, but there was still some unsatisfied strain of tension left within her. Her eyes instinctively wandered, looking for what it was that was out of place before it struck her.

“Kai, you really think Nya’s okay with… me?” she asked.

He looked at her puzzled. “Yeah, why wouldn’t she be?”

“I don’t know,” Pixal sighed. “I’m taking over one of her creations, it’s strange that she didn’t really address it when I revealed myself.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Kai shrugged it off. “You’ve definitely proven you can take care of Samurai X, and I’m sure she’s excited to have another girl on the team.”

“You’re right, I’m probably just in my head about it,” Pixal shook her head, this nagging feeling persisting with her. Nya hadn’t really acknowledged her while she was code, seemed to antagonize the new samurai X she had created, and hadn’t even attempted to pass on good will to her after she had revealed herself. Her brother approached her before she did.

Something had to be bothering her.

---

“Who is she again?” Ray asked.

“Part of Zane's brain that decided she wanted to be a real girl.” Nya grumbled, taking a swig of milk.

“Zane's old girlfriend who got stuck as code inside his head,” Jay clarified. “So, it was like two brains in one body. Which, I don't know if that's like the ultimate relationship status, or a terrifying hellscape I never want to experience, but either way, it worked for them for like… what, 5 years now?”

“Yeah… I'm still not sure I get it,” Ray shrugged.

“Well, she seems nice!” Maya smiled. “Have you talked to her much? Maybe you could give her a crash course in Samurai X or something.”

“No mom, I’m not really in the habit of training people who try and replace me.” Nya sighed, lifting her glass to take with her as she moved away from her parents and the rest of the celebration taking place inside.

Everything about this felt wrong. This new Samurai X had certainly surprised her when they first appeared but knowing who it was somehow made it worse. Seeing her creation be appropriated by someone else, put it on like a cheap costume as the whole team celebrated, it didn’t sit well with her.

“What’s your problem today?” Jay’s voice came from behind her. “You saved all of space time, is that not enough for you?”

Nya sighed, leaning back on the wall. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a problem. I’m completely problem-less.”

Jay paused a moment, joining her on the wall, and following her line of sight. “You know, Pix is a really great person.”

“It’s just not right.” She grumbled. “I don’t even know her!”

“Well, maybe that’s your fault.” He gently suggested. “She’s been living with us for years now.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t been living with her.” Nya sat up. “It’s like she’s been spying on us, quietly observing us, collecting information before popping up again. Isn’t that off putting to you? You’re gonna sit here and tell me that’s not the least bit suspicious?”

“Yeah, it is.” Jay shrugged. “And it would probably make a great plot for a horror movie or something, but this isn’t a movie, this is real life. And that’s a real person over there, who obviously looks up to you. So maybe, just maybe, you should at least go over and talk to her.”

Nya’s gaze turned again to Pixal, slowly transforming into a glare as she thought, all her emotions still furiously stirring inside her.

“No one’s guarding the blade.” She turned to Jay again, holding out her drink. “I’m gonna go watch it for a bit.”

Jay looked at the milk, disappointed. “Nya, honey-”

“Jay, darling.” She pressed, her words now forceful as she gestured the cup towards him again.

Jay sighed, taking it. “Yeah okay.”

And with that, she was gone. Down the hall, and towards the time blade, away from her problem still chatting away in the living room. Jay meandered back to the kitchen, setting down the glass in a pensive defeat.

“You get her out of her funk yet?” Maya asked.

“No,” Jay shook his head, ideas still churning in his mind. “...Not yet anyway.”

---

Pixal could tell that her presence wasn’t welcome the moment she stepped through the door. It wasn’t a great feeling, but it wasn’t a new one either.

“Everything okay in here?” She asked, scanning the room, her eyes lingering on the glow of the reversal blade sitting in its center.

Nya stared at her for a moment, puzzled. “…Yeah.” Her answer was hesitant and questioning. “Who sent you in here?”

“Jay” Pixal answered, still hugging the wall.

“Of course he did.” Nya sighed. “Look, I’m fine in here, you can go back to your party or whatever. I’m sure you’ve already missed like five people telling you how great you are.” Nya rolled her eyes, shifting as they lingered on the blade, waiting for her to leave.

Despite Nya’s insistence, Pixal remained in the room, her eyes narrowing. She was sick of this. Sick of the dismissive tone, and the constant avoidance. She was a real person, with real feelings, and certainly had more reverence for the Samurai X title than Nya ever had. She deserved some respect, and she wasn’t about to let this fickle, arrogant, lowlife deny it from her.

“Did I do something to you?”

“What?” Nya’s attention snapped back to her.

“It’s just, you’ve been really cold to me, and I can’t think of a single good reason why.” She took a few steps further into the room, Nya standing to match her.

“Well, for starters, you stole my stuff, I thought that much would be obvious.”

“It’s not exactly like you were using it.” Pixal crossed her arms.

“It’s my tech!” Nya tensed up, her voice raising quickly. “I made it! I built the cave! It’s my stuff!”

“Yeah, and it was covered in dust, broken down, and abandoned!” Pixal waved her off. “You clearly didn’t care about it anymore.”

Nya pressed her tongue against her teeth for a moment, attempting to stifle her anger. “I made Samurai X with my own two hands-”

“And you forgot about it the moment you became a ninja.” Pixal cut her off. “Are you really going to stand here and criticize me for saving lives?”

“No, but you’re certainly not the best person to be doing it.” Her tone was increasingly accusatory. “I mean, you’ve essentially been a ghost person for years, and now you suddenly want to be put in charge of, not only your own body, but my legacy, and countless innocents? I don’t think so. That’s something you have to earn!”

“Oh, like you earned your powers?” Pixal mocked her.

“Like I earned my place on the team,” Nya corrected her. “Which you clearly haven’t.”

Pixal laughed in defiance. “Five years of dealing with your crap, saving your lives countless times, without as much as a voice isn’t enough for you?!”

“I don’t trust you.” Nya shrugged. “It’s as simple as that. And you think I’m supposed to just hand over my life’s work to you?”

“No, you’re supposed to pass it on,” Pixal pressed. “But you were too lazy to even do that.”

“I don’t know you!” Nya screamed. “I don’t know anything about you!”

“Yeah, well, I do,” Pixal snapped. “And maybe I should have thought twice before attaching my legacy to yours.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“You know what, you don’t really seem in the right frame of mind to be watching the time blade.” Pixal shook her head.

“Well, I think we’ve established that you’re not exactly qualified to watch it either,” Nya sneered.

Both of their eyes darted to the blade and back, their status quo hanging in the air for a moment. And in an instant, both of them were scrambling towards it. Nya’s hands reached the blade first, with Pixal getting a hold quickly after, the two of them now stuck in a tug of war over the weapon.

“Let go!” Nya screamed, her grip quickly slipping from the edge of the handle she had a hold of towards the blade.

“You first!” Pixal demanded, readjusting her own grip.

“You stupid second rate knock off, just give it to me!”

“Not a chance, you-” Pixal stopped short, the glow from the from the blade growing increasingly brighter.

“What the hell?” Nya’s grip softened for a moment, both of them concerned about the light.

Pixal seized the opportunity, yanking the blade forward, Nya’s hands slipping down, and Pixal’s hands moving up, both towards the glowing blade of the weapon.

“WAIT-!”

But before either of them could stop their momentum, the room was consumed in the orange light, a pulse of energy going through them both. Neither could tell exactly what happened in the moment, but one thing was clear to the both of them:

Something had gone very, very wrong.

And it was definitely their fault.

---

It was cold.

An unearthly, deathly, sort of supernatural cold. It wasn’t just surrounding her, but actively extracting heat from her core. She had never felt anything like it before.

It was dark.

She waited for her eyes to adjust, but they never did. It was pitch black in all directions, no trace of light anywhere.

Nya sat up, a pounding echoing in her head as she tapped around, trying to discern her surroundings. She instinctively recoiled as her hand hit something… wet. It wasn’t water, it was thicker. Smoother between her fingers. Stickier to the touch.

What was this?

Where was she?

She listened for anything that might help her determine her situation. It wasn’t completely silent. There was a definite mechanical hum in the space, and… was it… getting louder?

Suddenly, A bright flash of light illuminated the space, almost like lightning, but brighter and more artificial. And for a brief moment she could see her surroundings, still dark, cold, and mechanical, but there was only one thing she really processed.

Her corpse.

Her own limp, disjointed, misshapen corpse hanging on the wall in front of her. The throat was slit, a stream of blood running down her chest, meeting with the sword sent through her center, affixing her to the wall behind. All of it formed a river of blood, trickling down the walls, and trailing onto the floor.

The flash of light came again as she stared at her hand, untouched by the blood she had so clearly felt between her fingers.

What the hell happened?

Where the hell was she?

And if she was here…

Where was Pixal?

[chaeiimimi]

How I Met Your Mother

Timeskip!Kuroo x Fem!Reader

Fluff

Warnings: None 

it was a fine afternoon, the sunlight illuminated your whole house, the noise from the tv in the background and  Kuroo was on the coffee table catching up with some of his paper works he failed to finish during the weekend, he casted a quick glance at your five- year-old son who was reading a science encyclopedia, Tetsuya was basically his carbon copy, from his feline eyes, to his raven black bed hair not to mention the same love for science and hyena laugh, they would pass as twins. You were out with your friends (Yaku’s and Kai’s wife), therefore he was in charge of the house for the day.

Kuroo went back to his task when he saw his son immersed in his encyclopedia. Not even five minutes have gone by and his son was walking towards him dragging along his Brontosaurus plushie his Uncle Kei got him, his son tugged on his shirt and he tears his eyes away from his computer to look at his son

“hey buddy, you want a snack?” he lovingly ruffled his son’s hair

Tetsuya nod “want dino nuggies daddy” man literally had to bite the inside of his cheeks to stop himself from screeching at how adorable his son is

“alright, daddy’s gonna make you dino nuggies” he says taking off his reading glasses and going to the kitchen while his son trailed behind him like a lost puppy

He sat Tatsuya on the counter’s chair while he brings out the dino nuggies and some ingredients for a sandwich and lemonade as well

“daddy?” his son called out to him and he answered with a hum while taking the nuggets out of their container

“how did you and mom meet?” he looked at his son who was looking at him with the most curious eyes

There was an instant tug on the corner of his lips as he remembered that day, internally slapping his face for feeling like a giddy teenager again

He went back with his work on the chicken nuggets and started

 “well…”

Aside from the sound of the chalk screeching against the board and the voice of his Literature teacher, it was a rather quiet afternoon.

Time seems to be going by slowly for Kuroo, he was uncontrollably tapping his feet and drumming his fingers on his desk, he was eager to get out of this class which was the last class for the day, he was eager to practice, the pressure of the upcoming nationals weighed heavy on his shoulders, his mind was filled with volleyball and classes and college applications that he was barely eating and sleeping

When the resounding bell that marked the end of the class, he immediately got out of his seat and hurriedly walked towards the door only to be blocked by the class president

“where do you think you’re going Kuroo-san? You’re on plant duty today”

He inwardly groaned, how could he forget? Today was Friday

He dragged his feet back inside, placed his bag on his chair and proceeded to look for the water can

He found it on its usual place and walked outside to fill it up, once done, he went to the classroom’s backyard and saw you with gloves on, your hair on a clip as you patiently pull out weeds

Kuroo swears his heart skipped a beat when you looked at his way and gave him a small awkward smile

He walked over beside you, took the gloves in his pocket, put it on, and started pulling some of the weeds as well

“so, which class are you from?” he asked nervously trying to strike up a conversation

“the same class as you, see?” he looked up and saw that you were pointing at the sign with your class on it

A million thoughts were running in his head like, “how come I never saw her before?” “Has she always been in our class?”  “Did I come out as rude?”

Until he heard a chuckle coming from you

“don’t worry, I get that a lot” you say as you continue to pull out weed

“I’m L/N Y/N by the way, Ayumi-chan is sick that’s why you’re stuck with me for now” you said and gave him another smile

‘I don’t mind’ he wanted to say that but he decided to just nod

“the nationals, it’s next week right?” you asked still not looking at him

“yeah” he answers

“well, good luck to you and your team, I’m the only one in the class who hasn’t wished you luck yet” you said as you started digging some holes to put your new seeds in

“thanks, I need a whole lot of that stuff” he chuckled nervously 

“well, I never thought I’d see the great Kuroo Tetsuro get nervous” it was true, Kuroo always appeared composed and confident, the total opposite of you who was shy and demure

“I’m still human you know?” you watch him as he pulls out a particularly large weed

You chuckled and nodded

“you look like you need a break” you say and went back to your own work

It was now his turn to look at you and tilt his head in confusion

You looked at him and pointed your finger to his face

“the bags under your eyes are telling me you haven’t had a goodnight sleep in these past few weeks, your cheeks has slightly deflated implying that you haven’t been eating much, plus you don’t laugh at Tadashi-Sensei’s stupid science jokes anymore, meaning you’re not really having fun or something’s wrong”

You put your finger down after voicing out your long observation and went back to your task

Kuroo was stunned to say the least, he thought he was putting up a good façade, boy was he wrong

While realization was just hitting you and your eyes widen

“PLEASE  DON’T TAKE THAT IN A CREEPY WAY, PEOPLE RARELY TALK TO ME SO I LIKE OBSERVING THEM FROM AFAR!” you immediately blurted out

There was a long deafening silence before a hyena-laugh broke out

“its fine its fine” he said in between laughter while you stood there with a flushed face

“It’s just that you were the last person I expected to hear that from” he said after laughing

You gave him a small shrug

“I just don’t like to see people losing interest in something they’re passionate about” you look at him and smiled

“if you envision the ideal outcome of what you’re doing and it doesn’t spark you joy, then there’s no point of doing it” your words dug its way into Kuroo

You went back to your work and continued “I think that you are very passionate about volleyball and I can see that school is important for you as well, you just need to take a step back, look at the bigger picture and tackle every situation one by one, you can’t experience the dream you had for three years with that depressed look in your eyes”

He freezes on the spot, everything you said digging its way to his system, a flash of relief spreading throughout his body, he felt his vision slowly widening, and for the first time in two weeks he felt tired and hungry

The birds chirping, and the sound of water trickling from the water can were the only things that were heard, the setting sun illuminated your skin as it perfectly glowed and you happily planting the new seeds into the dirt will always be engraved in his mind and heart as one of his most peaceful memory 

“hey, I’m getting food after this, do you wanna come?” he asked his eyes pleading you to say yes

You were taken aback but you eventually nodded with a small “sure”

and so you spent the rest of the day eating at a ramen store with Kuroo (man was hungry he literally finished three bowls) and went to an ice cream parlor for dessert 

After walking you home, Kuroo laid in his bed his hair wet from the shower as he sends a chat to the volleyball team apologizing for skipping practice

           “good thing you did, you looked like you were falling apart”- Yaku

           “you looked like a zombie from the house of the dead”- Kenma

           “you badly needed it man”- Kai

He shook his head as he opens another chat box, his bright smile turning into a soft one

           “hey, thanks for today, I had fun”- Kuroo

      “i don’t even know what I did but you’re welcome? Thanks for the treat”- Y/N

 “… and that’s how I met your mother, we went hung out very often after that and I asked her out after the Nationals” he said as he placed the food in front of Tetsuya, the giddy smile still plastered across his face

“Mom talked a lot to cheer you up even though she’s shy” he says as he takes a bite of his dino nuggies

“well she did confess to me that she liked me since the first year of junior high on our wedding night” he says with a smug look on his face

“you could’ve just leave that part out” both of the boys turn their heads toward you

your son immediately got off his chair and ran towards you as you lift him up and hugged him tight, he started talking to talk about everything he discovered while reading and you listening to every word he says, with a mother smile plastered on  your face.

your husband stood there, staring at you, eyes filled with love and adoration. He was pretty sure he was a hero who died for his country in his past life. There was no other explanation on how he got this lucky, how he managed to get the most perfect wife the world could offer and how he was given the most perfect son he could ever ask for. 

staring at you as you smile gently to your son, he didn’t know it was still possible to fall even harder even after being together for fourteen years.

omg this is my first ever post, It’s kind of a mess but please bare with me I am still learning.

[lettheladylead]

Not Your Aunt

Chapter 6: Dewey [ao3 link]

It’d been quite the week.

Goldie wasn’t sure where she stood amongst everything, but apparently Scrooge was actually the biological father (or at least the unknowing DNA donor) of Beakley’s granddaughter - the same one she’d convinced Scrooge to abandon in a forest in the middle of Florida just a few months earlier.

Not a great start to a relationship she never planned on having. As much as she liked Sharpie, she had no intention of getting to know all the kids in Scrooge’s life. It was starting to feel like a collection.

All the same, though, Goldie still found herself in Duckburg after the smoke had cleared. She didn’t want to interrupt Scrooge’s little family time, but she also felt like they should have a talk of some sort. Their adventure in Florida meant a lot to her and after being kidnapped and mildly tortured for what felt like weeks, she kind of just wanted to spend some quality time with him. It made her feel a little sick to her stomach, but she couldn’t fight the urge to hold his hand and kiss his cheek any longer.

So as Goldie always did, she broke into the manor. Specifically, she made her way into Scrooge’s bedroom, hoping to see him and have some fun and be on her way again. But as her feet hit the floor, she found the room empty and quiet. Not a soul in sight.

She checked the clock on the wall. It was well after dinnertime. Maybe the family was watching a movie together or something. She didn’t know what close-knit families liked to do in their free time, but that seemed normal. Goldie made her way out his door and tiptoed across the hallway towards the foyer.

“She deserves to know more about where she comes from!”

Goldie froze and quickly hid behind a banister as she heard a familiar voice come from downstairs. She peeked around the marble to see who he was talking to.

“Of course, but just try not to overwhelm her. She’ll be overjoyed to fill in all the blanks she can about your ancestors.”

“And she should be! McDuck blood is strong and tough and she should know the accomplishments that made her who she is!”

“...right.”

Goldie stared at Scrooge and Beakley, walking side-by-side and obviously chatting about Webbigail. It seemed like they were about to have a big family conversation, which meant Goldie wouldn’t be welcome nor interested in being present for a bunch of stories she’d heard a thousand times already.

She made her way down another hallway, trying to decide whether or not she should leave or just wait for Scrooge in his room. He could be hours and she didn’t feel like sitting around or taking a nap, so perhaps combing through some old treasures and stealing something from him would be a fun way to pass the time.

As she continued down the hall, Goldie’s attention was drawn to a loud noise coming from what she recognized as the boys’ room. The door was ajar and the lights were on, so maybe she’d say hi to Sharpie as she decided what to steal.

In her usual sneaky way, Goldie stepped inside of the room without being noticed. Even the creak of the door couldn’t grab anyone’s attention - especially considering what was happening inside.

She stared incredulously at the sight of Della’s blue kid - Dewey, she was pretty sure - holding up signs in front of a camera and happily talking about the exciting week he’d just had. He rambled for a good twenty seconds about his cousin and her clones and how his family just kept getting cooler and more interesting every day, so Goldie opted to cross her arms over her chest and lean against the bunk beds and watch him.

It took two full minutes before Dewey noticed her, and as soon as he did he let out a high-pitched chirp that would’ve warmed her heart had it not frozen over long ago.

“What are you doing here?!” Dewey asked with an accusatory pointed finger.

Goldie put a hand to her chest in feigned offense. “Why, Dewford Duck, am I not allowed to sit in on your little show?”

He squinted his eyes at her for a few moments and slowly put a finger to his chin. “Hmmm...I guess. But I meant, like. Why aren’t you with Uncle Scrooge?”

“He’s busy,” Goldie shoved herself off the beds and walked over. “So what is this?”

Dewey’s eyes lit up as he realized his guest was bored enough to listen to him talk about his favorite thing in the world. “This is….Dewey Dew-Night! It’s my talk show!!”

“You have a talk show?” Goldie looked into the camera. “People watch this?”

“Well…” Dewey tapped his fingers together on top of his little desk. “Not really. But I tape every episode in case one of them is good enough to submit to local TV networks! I’m expecting to get a response for my episode on the Moonvasion any day now.”

Goldie stood up straight and put her hands on her hips, looking around Dewey’s pretend studio and observing how he organized everything. “That invasion was several months ago. I don’t think they’re gonna get back to you, kid.”

Dewey pouted. “Yeah, well...maybe it was too much.” He shuffled some papers around on his desk and glanced up at her. “Can I interview you?”

“Excuse me?” she asked, turning around and raising one eyebrow in disbelief.

“Can I interview you for my show?” he asked again.

Goldie rolled her eyes. “What sort of stuff would you be interviewing me about?”

He tapped his hands against the desk and stared at her. “You were captured by F.O.W.L., right? Can I ask you about that? What happened and what you went through?”

“Oh.” She thought he was going to ask her questions about Scrooge or her history and she had no interest in sharing those kinds of things with a child. This, however… “...sure, I guess.”

“Alright!” Dewey got up from his seat and grabbed a dish towel off a shelf. He quickly wiped down one of the chairs for his guests and then sat back down in his usual spot.

Goldie shrugged and took a seat.

Dewey tapped his hands again, clearly amping himself up and getting excited. “So, so, so, so so so sooooo!”

Goldie raised an eyebrow at him.

“Tell me everything that happened. I mean you, of all people, the great Goldie O’Gilt, were captured by agents of F.O.W.L.! They must’ve had ten men at once take you by surprise! Caught you completely off guard! You probably fought for your life!”

“Huh,” Goldie hummed. “I appreciate that this is the image you have of me, but it wasn’t nearly that exciting.”

“Aww...why not?”

“I did get caught by surprise,” she started, picking at the feathers at the ends of her fingers. “But I was knocked out pretty quickly. No big fight. Just me getting involved with Scrooge’s family drama, once again.”

Dewey stared at her suspiciously. “How’d they catch you by surprise?”

Goldie stared back, silently, debating what kind of answer to give him. The actual answer was a bit embarrassing for her to admit, and she didn’t plan on giving one of Scrooge’s kids that kind of ammunition. But she also knew the best kind of lie was one very close to the truth. “I got a text that I thought was from Scrooge. Said he needed to talk to me...and then what do you know? Not Scrooge. No talking.”

“Oh,” Dewey said, noticeably disappointed. “So you got ambushed? Knocked out with chloroform?!”

“It was some kind of gas, actually,” she responded matter-of-factly, ignoring the way he was trying to make her story more exciting. “Bomb shot in my face. Boom. Out like a light. Not my best moment, I’ll admit.”

“Well, you are pretty old,” Dewey said with a thoughtful finger in the air. “So what happened next? You woke up in a horrible cage, confused and trapped?!”

She ignored his ‘old’ comment and focused on the question instead. “Yeah, pretty much.”

He leaned forward and slammed his hands onto the desk. “Did they torture you?!”

“Oh, yeah. Big time torture.”

“Wait, really?” Dewey looked at the camera for a second and then back to Goldie. “That’s so scary. What’d they do?”

“They locked me up right next to Santa Claus,” Goldie complained, sticking out her tongue for disgusted emphasis. “I don’t know if you’ve met the man, but he’s an absolute dullard. I can’t hold a single conversation with him without getting annoyed.”

Dewey stared at her for a few moments, blinking silently. “...is that it?”

“What’d you expect? Cattle prods and the electric chair? They were just trying to get me out of the way, not kill me.”

“Oh,” he said, sitting back down. “I guess I should be happy that no one got seriously hurt, huh? Well except for Uncle Scrooge.”

“Eh, he can take it. He’s Scrooge McDuck, after all.”

“That’s true, he is!” Dewey nodded, looking at the camera again. “Alright so no big fight, no real torture…”

“That Santa thing was not a joke.”

“...so if you’re not here to get financial compensation from Uncle Scrooge, why’d you come here?”

Goldie looked confused for a moment. “...financial compensation?”

“Yeah, ‘cause you said it’s his fault you got caught up in his family drama so I figured you wanted him to pay up for all the trouble you’d gone through.”

“Huh,” she said quietly, trying to think of an appropriate response. “I genuinely hadn’t even considered that.”

“No?” He leaned over his desk again. “So...are you just here to visit? Like...hang out ‘n stuff?”

Goldie hoped her expression didn’t betray the lack of emotion in her response. “I suppose.”

“That’s kind of cool. Are you gonna come around more often?” Dewey asked, leaning on his elbows. “I know you and Louie are, like...friends or whatever, but you should know that me and Huey and Webby are all really cool, too! Or, well. Me and Webby are.”

She blinked slowly at him. The thought of her and Louie’s relationship being defined as ‘friends’ was odd, to say the least. “I, um. I’m not making any promises one way or another. Just wanted to see your Uncle and talk about things.”

Dewey looked at the camera and wiggled his eyebrows. “Oooh, things! Adult things? Like taxes and marriage?”

“Exactly like taxes and marriage.”

“If you guys get married, then you’d be Aunt Goldie, huh?” Dewey said with a smile.

Goldie’s eyes widened and for a brief moment she could’ve sworn she was looking at a preteen Della Duck again. The similarities between them were uncanny, but that little comment really caught her off guard.

“...I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

“Eh, well,” Dewey shrugged. “Maybe I’ll just call you Aunt Goldie anyway. Mom and Uncle Donald already do.”

Goldie held back a groan and just rolled her eyes instead. “They didn’t get my permission on that, you know.”

“Did you know them when they were my age?” Dewey asked suddenly, ignoring her comment. “I mean, you’ve known Uncle Scrooge for, like, a million years, right?”

“Not quite a million, but sometimes it feels like it,” Goldie droned. “Your mom was a lot like you when she was your age, you know.”

“I know!”

“...you know?”

“Yeah, two Christmases ago I traveled back in time and met her and Uncle Donald and we fought a wendigo together!”

“...yeah, alright.” Goldie sighed. “Scrooge still does his time travel on Christmas nonsense?”

“He didn’t last year, but I think that’s ‘cause he and one of his friends got into a fight the year I joined them,” Dewey mused, trying to remember who was who. “I’m not sure exactly what happened, but it seemed like a big deal.”

Goldie made a note of this to ask Scrooge about it later. “So you wanna hear some stories about your mom when she was a kid? I’m sure I’ve got something embarrassing I could tell you.”

“Well...I do absolutely wanna hear those,” Dewey said as he climbed onto the desk. “But also...I’m kind of curious about, um. About you.”

“Prepare yourself for disappointment, kid, I don’t like to talk about myself as much as your dear old uncle does.”

Dewey crawled forward and sat on the edge of his desk, dangling his legs over the side. “I know, I get that. Sort of. But, like...okay. So Uncle Scrooge told us you’re his ex-girlfriend, but then you were all dancey and smoochy and then you went on a date and we didn’t see him again for like two days and then the next time we see you you’re all smoochy again. And you’re friends with Louie now or something? So I’m just kind of confused, I guess? Like...mom and Uncle Donald don’t seem to trust you very much and Mrs. Beakley definitely doesn’t trust you at all and Uncle Scrooge says he doesn’t trust you but then he kisses you and why would you kiss someone you don’t trust, right? That’s just kind of weird.”

Goldie cleared her throat awkwardly. “Is there a question here?”

“Oh, right,” Dewey said, thinking back over his last sentences. “I guess, um...what’s your endgame?”

“My what?”

“Your goal?” He wiggled his legs back and forth. “Like...with Uncle Scrooge. And with us. Or do you have a secret huge family up in Canada that you give all your money to and that’s why you only show up every once in a while?”

Goldie, who’d been leaning on her elbow on the edge of the couch, lost her balance briefly thanks to the shock of his question. He really knew how to change the mood in a second flat. “I, uh…” She couldn’t help but glance at the camera and wonder if Scrooge watched his kid’s show. She doubted it, but still. “...I definitely do not have a secret family up in Canada. Or anywhere.”

Dewey nodded excitedly.

“Um... don’t you think asking for someone’s life goal is a little personal? You barely know me.”

“Really? They asked us that our first day in school,” Dewey said with a smile. “Plus I kind of know you! I know the stories we’ve heard from Uncle Scrooge, at least.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if those tales are entirely accurate.”

“I’m sure they’re not that far off!” Dewey stood up on the desk again and posed dramatically. “Like the time you two fought a bunch of angry kangaroos and then rode them through the Australian desert!”

“...that’s true.”

“Or when you sailed through the Bermuda Triangle, saving both of your lives from an evil giant squid!”

“I don’t remember the squid, but you’d be surprised how many times I’ve fought one of those.”

“That’s so cool!” Dewey pointed two finger guns at her. “I’ve only met a giant squid once so far, but I’m hoping to add a few more to my repertoire over the next few years!”

Goldie ran her fingers through her ponytail and sighed. “You really are Della’s kid, aren’t you?”

“Did you know she was gonna name me Turbo?” Dewey asked excitedly, changing the subject once again. Goldie wondered if he always did that or just during his little interviews. “Apparently Uncle Donald knew about it and still chose Dewford which is totally insane! Turbo! I could’ve been Turbo!”

Goldie raised an eyebrow and let out a short chuckle. “You’re a funny kid.”

“Thanks!”

“Got any other questions for me?” Goldie asked, wondering how long it’d been since she last checked her phone. It felt like an hour but something told her it’d probably only been about ten minutes.

“Well you still didn’t answer my last question,” he answered as he settled back into his chair. “It just seems like you’ve come around a lot more in the past two years than you did ever before so if you’re thinking of marrying Uncle Scrooge and moving into the manor, you should let me and my audience know!”

“That’s a lot of assumptions to make based on a handful of house visits.”

“I’m not hearing a no…” Dewey leaned forward again.

“And you’re also not hearing a yes.” Goldie crossed her arms over her chest and crossed one leg over the other.

“Ahh, always so mysterious, Glittering Goldie O’Gilt!” Dewey said while staring directly at the camera. “Oh, that reminds me! You’re a singer, right? Or you used to be?”

Goldie felt a tiny bit surprised by that question and then a wave of embarrassment for being surprised. “...did Scrooge tell you that?”

“Yeah! And some other stuff. But I wanted to ask you something really important!”

“...which is?”

“I was thinking of reworking the Dewey Dew-Night! theme song and I’d love to get your input! I dunno if you ever did any song writing, but just getting advice from someone else with musical ears would be great for my chances of getting picked up!” Dewey held up his phone. “Can I play it right now or should I just send you a link and you’ll listen to it later?”

Goldie shook her head, realizing she would never be able to predict where this kid went. He was definitely not like Scrooge in that department. “Aaaand that’s my cue to leave.” She finally stood up, brushed non-existent dust off her pants, and gave Dewey and his camera a little wave before moving towards the bedroom door. She enjoyed this little waste of time (for the most part), but she had no interest in listening to some loud screechy theme song or answering questions about her days in Dawson.

“Aunt Goldie, wait!” Dewey shouted, hopping over his desk and rushing to grab her hand before she could leave the room.

She sighed and looked down at him. “What?”

“I just wanted to say that, well. If you did wanna come around more and hang out or move in or join the family or whatever...I think that’d be cool.”

Goldie blinked down at his genuine little expression and felt a tiny bit of heat come to her cheeks and her heart. “...that’s...very sweet of you to say, Turbo.”

Dewey’s eyes lit up as Goldie made her way out the door and he did a little butt wiggling dance in celebration. He pulled out his phone and quickly texted Louie to ask for Goldie’s number. He stopped in front of his camera and posed. “I’m sure she’ll listen to the theme song later today, probably just wanted a nice quiet spot in the house to really feel the music. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say. It’s gonna be Turbo-tacular!”

[just-another-ficwriter]

Holidate - Part Three

Pairing: Sweet Pea x Reader, Past!Reggie x Reader

Words: 2300ish

Warnings: Cheating, stealing

Summary: Tired of being alone on holidays, Sweet Pea and Y/N decide to be each other’s plationic plus-ones all year round. What could go wrong?

Notes: I don’t know why I always make Katy Keene the villain when honestly I love her!!!

Valentine’s Day 2021

“Okay, what about this one?”

Y/N looks up from the invitation designs she’s been pretended to be interested in for the last ten minutes to see Betty already shaking her head at the sample Polly’s holding up.

“Too boring.” She finds it hard not to huff in annoyance when Betty starts shuffling through the pile in front of her once again.

Too much decoration.

It’s the wrong colour.

Not enough decoration.

The fonts all wrong.

Y/N hadn’t realised picking something so simple like a wedding invitation could be so difficult.

But then again, Betty Cooper had always been a perfectionist.

“So Y/N...” Veronica starts. Even her sister’s best friend, who had been more than happy this morning to help with all things ‘wedding planning’ was desperate to change the subject at this point. “Any plans for tomorrow?”

All four pairs of eyes fall onto her, and she suddenly wishes Betty would go back to her rant about comic sans again. “Actually I have a date.”

“You do?” Polly tilts her head in surprise, looking at the faces of the others to see if they were just as much in the dark as she was.

“Is it with Pea again?” Toni asks with a smirk. It’s not the first time she’d brought him up since the start of the year.

Veronica leans forward, eyebrows raising with interest as she teases. “Oh, tall dark and handsome from the party?”

“If you must know, it’s with a bottle of wine and my bathtub.” Y/N’s the only one to laugh at her own joke, the others just shake their heads in disappointment. “I might even treat myself to a fancy box of chocolates.”

She’s sure the conversation about her love life, or lack there off, was over when Toni playfully slaps at her arm, but Betty, whose taken to organising the samples in piles, has other ideas.

“Toni could totally set the two of you up.” Betty lifts her gaze long enough to eye her sister and then their friend. “Right Toni?”

“I’m perfectly fine, thank you very much.” Y/N frowns. She knew they all had good intentions but their need to always interfere was getting tiresome. She’d rather just find someone her own way, in her own time, rather than having some poor unsuspecting guy thrust upon her by the people in her life who just couldn’t help themselves.

She shudders at the thought of their last failed attempt. “I don’t need a date, tomorrow is just another Sunday.”

“Did something happen?” Veronica asks, sounding almost disappointed.

“Nothing happen.” Y/N sighs. “There was just no spark.”

“Oh please!” Toni practically jumps from her seat at his defence. “I’ve seen Pea with girls at the bar, and he’s never looked at any of them the way he was looking at you.”

Y/N makes a face to hide the flush heating her cheeks. “And that right there, is my cue to leave.”

“But I haven’t even picked the invites yet!” Betty cries out as the others groan in unison.

“Betts I love you-“ She pauses to shrug on her coat and pat the blonde sympathetically on the shoulder. “But there’s only so much of staring at bits of paper I can take.”

And then she’s gone, waving her goodbyes as she slips out of the shop and into the crowds of the busy mall with a sigh of relief.

She’s almost made it to her car when she passes a little chocolate shop on the lower level and feels her steps start to slow. She had mentioned to the others about possibly treating herself to some fancy chocolates so it wouldn’t hurt to at least have a little look.

She half way through browsing their selection, three boxes in hand as she weaves her way through the panicked men buying last minute Valentine’s gifts, when she hears a voice that makes her heart sink.

She jumps when he calls her name, the contents of her hands clattering to the floor. “Y/N Cooper is that you?”

She dives after the chocolate, afraid to look up. Maybe it’s not him she thinks. But then he’s on the floor with her, handing her back a box of truffles and she sneaks a look. Same slicked back dark hair, same breath taking smile he’d given her eight years ago on the football field.

She wants the ground to open and swallow her whole. “Reggie, hi.”

“You look... great Y/N/N.” He helps her off the floor and she has to stop herself from physically recoiling at his touch. Of all the people and all the places in Riverdale, of course Reggie Mantle would just so happen to be here at the exact same time as her. It was almost like a cruel joke. “How are you?”

“I’m-“ She’s cut off by a beautiful brunette wrapping herself around his arm, and her heart drops further. She recognises her face.

She’d seen her in the engagement photos on Facebook. She’d seen her sprawled out on Reggie’s desk two years before.

“Reggie! Here try this.” She ignores Y/N completely as she smiles playfully at the man between them. Reggie’s back to giving her his full attention as he opens his mouth so she can slip a chocolate onto his tongue. His lips close again around her fingers, moaning at the taste, and Y/N would rather be anywhere but here.

“Who’s this?” Katy finally acknowledges her and Reggie gives her a some what apologetic grimace.

Neither of them get the chance to answer before Sweet Pea appears suddenly out of nowhere and wraps an arm around her shoulder. “There you are doll, are you ready to checkout?”

“What?” Y/N blinks up at him, a little stunned.

“You were meant to meet me outside remember?” A bright neon sign would be more subtle than the look Sweet Pea’s giving her, pleading her to just go with it. “So are ready?”

“Oh yeah, sure-“

“Wait aren’t you going to introduce us?” Sweet Pea feels her tense up besides him at Reggie’s question, and pulls her closer.

“I uh- Sweet Pea this is my ex Reggie and his fiancé Katy.” Reggie nods slowly, eyeing Sweet Pea up and down. She can already hear his judgements about his name alone. “Reggie this is Sweet Pea-“

“Her boyfriend.” Sweet Pea interjects and Y/N cough to hide her surprise. “We should get going, it was nice to meet you.”

Y/N’s quick to agree, grabbing his arm and pulling him a little too harshly around the confused couple and out of the store.

A few minute later they’re out in the car park, Sweet Pea leaning against the hood of her car, watching her pace back and forth in a frenzy. She’d barely said a word to him since the two had run off.

“What the hell was that?” Her state of shock finally breaks, spinning to him with wide eyes. Had he really announced they were a couple back there?

“That was me saving you.” He smirks, a little too satisfied. “You’re welcome by the way.”

“Oh god that was awful I think I might be sick-“ She cuts herself off with a horrified gasp, glancing down at her hands. Three boxes of unpaid chocolates still clutched tightly. “Shit! I didn’t even pay for these!”

Sweet Pea watches her spiral further and grabs her arms to stop a total panicked melt down.

“Hey- hey it’s okay.” He says carefully, encourage her to regulate her breathing before some stolen Valentine treats push her over the edge. “Maybe if we just eat them quickly, hide the evidence, they’ll never know.”

Y/N blinks, slowly nodding in agreement before handing a box over.

They sit there in comfortable silence for a while, picking out their favourites before Sweet Pea speaks out again. “So I’m gonna guess by the three boxes of chocolate that you have no date for tomorrow?”

She feels her cheek flush at his observation and shrugs. “No, I guess not.”

“Why didn’t you just call me?” He asks, before reaching for another truffle.

“I don’t know.” She smiles a little sadly, cheeks burning a deeper red. “I guess I was embarrassed.”

“Well that offer to be my date still stands. Standing up again, Sweet Pea holds a hand out to her with a grin. “And you do kind of owe me now.”

Y/N finds herself accepting without hesitation.

-

“Can I ask you a question?” Sweet Pea’s laid on the picnic blanket besides her, leg stretched out as he picks at the label on his beer bottle.

The day had been a lot more fun than she’d been expecting. Y/N had gone in worrying about awkward questions regarding their relationship, fearing judgement from those who knew him best but they’d been nothing but welcoming. Even his best friend and room mate Fangs, had insisted she join them for drinks at the Wyrm that night, not taking no for answer.

She’d even enjoyed the look on both her Mom’s and Betty’s faces when they’d shown up together, confessing that her little joke at the mall the day before had been nothing but that, and she did in fact, have a date.

“Sure.” She shrugs, taking a swig from her own bottle. “Can’t promise I’ll answer it though.”

He chuckles at the way she smirks at him before asking. “Why are you single?”

“Woah, straight to the point.” She chokes a little in surprise.

“Sorry it’s just I’m not blind Y/N, you’re an attractive woman.” Sweet Pea casually points out. “Is it to do with that guy from the mall yesterday?”

“Reggie?” She pulls a face, and turns quickly away from him so she doesn’t have to look him in the eyes. “It’s a long story.”

“We have time.” He discard his drink to the side, moves an inch closer to show her he’s willing to listen if she wants to open up, so she does.

Things had been good at the start. Y/N Cooper and Reggie Mantle, high school sweethearts.

Reggie had been the first to show interest, where Y/N had been more resistant, weary of their age gap, little or not, and the fact he was younger than her. But he was nothing but persistent, insisting he wouldn’t give up until she agreed to at least one date with him at Pops, and so eventually she gave in.

A few cheesy jokes and a cheeky grin over a cheeseburger and suddenly he was all she could think about.

They dated through her senior year, promised to make it work when she went off to NYU and he stayed behind to finish school back at home. After a year of weekend visits and driving to Riverdale as quickly as she could every break, Reggie joined her out in New York, the two of them at college together, practically living at each other’s dorms until they graduated.

They managed to find jobs at their dream professions, moved into a little apartment that they made their own, everything seemed perfect.

Until one day, Y/N decided to surprise him at work for lunch, only to find him a little preoccupied with his beautiful assistant.

Katy Keene.

Just the memory alone makes her chest tighten, even if part of her feels a little relieved to have it all out in the open. Toni was the only other person to know the full story, so it was nice to have someone else’s perspective.

“So that’s it? One bad experience with a guy put you off dating?” He questions, earning him an awkward laugh from her end. “Not all men are Reggie Mantle.”

“It’s not just that Pea...” She’s sighs. There’s so much to the story he doesn’t know, things she isn’t willing to share the details of. “All the men in my life have lied and let me down, even the ones who aren’t meant to.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Sweet Pea arches an eyebrow and watches her struggle with the answer.

“My dad he-“ She cuts herself off with a shake of her head. She wasn’t ready for this right now, especially not when she’d already been so open about her past today. That, and the fact that she was enjoying talking to someone that didn’t look at her and only see the pain her father had caused. “He wasn’t a good person and it’s hard to trust someone when even your own father lies to your face.”

She’s caught off guard when he reaches over and places a warm hand over hers. When she looks up she’s met with eyes full of nothing but genuine honesty. “You can trust me.”

There’s no doubt in a mind to make her think otherwise.

For a second she swears she sees his eyes flicker down to her lips, but then he’s pulling away, awkwardly fumbling to sit up straight and the moments over just as quickly as it started.

“What are you doing for Saint Patrick’s Day?” The question slips out, a filler for the sudden uncomfortable silence between them before she starts to ramble. “I know it’s not really a typical holiday but my sisters usually come to New York and we’ve kind of made it a tradition to bar hop through as many places as we can before getting black out drunk.”

He can’t help but laugh, giving her a chance to catch her breath before she can get to the point. “I could use a date.”

“Sounds fun, I’m in.”

Holidate Masterlist

Forever Tag List: @p-marie-sp

Sweet Pea Taglist: @80sand90simagine @hopelesslylosttheway @be-gay-do-crime-cutie

[spaceskam]

someday we’ll find out what that means

another part of my On Earth series for @christchex ! Happy belated birthday<3

warnings: aftermath of a traumatic event, coping, non-descriptive references to the shed scene

ao3

Not many people caught Alex’s interest.

He wasn’t deliberately rude to people that didn’t, but he typically didn’t give them the time of day. He’d rather sit in his own head, rather just be with his friends and wait it out until high school ended and he got the freedom to get away from people that were close-minded and drove him insane.

He’d heard that there are places where Antarians aren’t othered. It gave him some hope that maybe there would be a place for him that would make him feel less othered too.

That being said, when he first got a glimpse of Michael Guerin, he caught his interest. He didn’t see him often, but it was enough. The guy was gorgeous and apparently ridiculously talented, according to his eavesdropping. He had a lot of control for an Antarian this young. It was almost scary, one of their teachers who “specialized” in teaching non-violence to Antarians had said, because someone with that much control must be a ticking time bomb. Alex was even more intrigued.

That was hardly a secret, not that there was anyone around to notice. He loved Liz and Maria, but he was convinced he could wear the same shirt for a month straight and they wouldn’t notice. By the time he got to have Michael, got to kiss and touch him and know him, it was easy to keep it to themselves until they were ready. Even when Alex told them, it was easy to keep it from everyone else because no one really cared all that much.

That is, until it became impossible to really hide that something happened.

“Call or text me if you need something,” Alex told Michael as they sat in his truck. First day back to school after the incident and Alex was on edge, but he was trying hard not to be. He needed to act like normal.

“Okay,” Michael agreed, “Same for you.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I know you will,” Michael said, giving a sweet little smile, “Now, give me kisses.”

Michael pursed his lips out dramatically and Alex momentarily wondered if the pain medication was still making him a little over the top. However, it really just might be Michael trying to distract him from his own head. Either way, Alex leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss.

“Okay, let’s go.”

They went their separate ways for the beginning of the day. There were a few times they could feasibly cross paths outside of music class, but usually they had to plan that shit to an annoying precision. For both of their sake, it was safer to keep their distance. People were going to ask about Michael’s hand. More than that, people were going to assume.

Alex’s job here was to act like he wasn’t involved.

“Alex,” Liz’s voice said as soon as he stepped into the hallway. She was at his side, staring at him with concern. So much for acting like he wasn’t involved. “Where have you been? You’ve been absent for days and you haven’t been answering our calls or texts. What happened? Are you alright? We thought about going to your house to see if‒”

“But you didn’t, right?” Alex said quickly, his heart involuntarily picking up speed, “You didn’t go to my dad’s house, right?”

“No,” Liz said, though that only seemed to raise her worry, “We figured you’d talk to use when you wanted to. Alex, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Alex said, “When there’s not so many people.” And when he had time to trust himself to tell a good lie.

“Well, at least tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” Alex said. It sounded hollow and he knew it, but Liz nodded her head and accepted it because she was a good friend like that.

Alex didn’t have it in him to deal with anyone today. He let the hallways part in his wake, but he didn’t bother acting cocky about it. He was feared. He got that. But now he wasn’t too sure what that got him. Fear was pointless. The only solace he had was that most of the people making way for him, he’d never even acknowledged. And he only hurt people who hurt others’ first. They should really only fear him if they were guilty.

Which. Maybe they were.

The idea alone was exhausting and, as he reached his locker, he began counting down the hours until he could get back into Michael’s bed where everything smelled good and it was warm.

“Alex,” Maria said as he sat down in their pre-calc class. She leaned close, that familiar concerned look on her face. “Where have you been?”

“Stuff came up, I’ll tell you and Liz later.”

“Would that stuff have anything to do with Michael Guerin’s hand?” Maria asked, voice an almost inaudible whisper, but Alex heard her clearly. His entire body tensed up and he held his breath. He didn’t trust himself to breathe without giving everything away. “Everyone was staring at him and everyone knows you both have been gone. Alex, there’s gonna be rumors that you did it.”

“I didn’t‒” Alex started, but he stopped himself. He took a slow deep breath and let his mind remember Ezra’s words, a never ending ‘this isn’t your fault, you did nothing wrong’. “I didn’t do it.”

“I know you didn’t. Obviously. I meant, like, people who don’t know you,” Maria said, looking around and lowering her voice, “Because your reputation.”

Alex squeezed his fists tighter, his heart thudding in his chest and his throat and his ears and everything. He shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. Well, he should’ve gotten out of bed and still hooked up with Michael in the shower, but he shouldn’t have left the house. He should’ve stayed and doted on Michael all day.

People were going to think he did it.

“Maybe they won’t,” Maria jumped in, trying to make him feel better, probably but not doing too great of a job due to his mind already running with the idea, “I mean, you’ve never beat up an Antarian before. In fact, you’ve gone out of their way to be nice to them! Maybe they’ll think you protected him.”

Alex, involuntarily and yet still stupidly, flinched.

He didn’t protect him. 

He didn’t do shit.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” Maria said. Alex shook his head, trying to tell her it wasn’t her fault but not being able to find the words. She didn’t do anything other than observe.

Alex thought about getting up and leaving, but school had just begun and he wouldn’t have a very valid excuse. He could possibly fake being sick, though that would only do so much and he knew Michael would have a much harder time getting out of class. They wouldn’t be able to meet up just yet.

So Alex stewed in his own head, trying to keep distracted and only being minutely successful in that endeavor. He just had to hold out until lunch. That’s it. It’d be fine.

Still, his classes dragged. They seemed to all be speaking in slow motion and he still didn’t get any notes. He didn’t hear a thing through pre-calc and when he got to biology, it sounded like gibberish. The only solace he had was that he would have to ask Michael for help going over it. He would lean real close as he went over the information and stare at his lips and wait, wait, wait, until he could lean over and kiss him. He was still allowed to do that. He was allowed to kiss him senseless. That was good. He could manage with that.

Maybe they would get lucky and Michael’s parents would be kept late at work and Alex would get the warm opportunity to get his mouth on other parts of him. He wanted to just kiss him all over, touch him where he was able to, let his mind empty itself out with the taste of him. That’s what he needed.

By the time lunch came around and he got to see Michael again, he was itching for him. They met at their usual place behind the school and Alex barely got to take in his pretty, welcoming smile before he was kissing him and slowly backing him into the wall.

He held his cheek with one hand and had his other on the back of his head so it wouldn’t hit the bricks, kissing him like he had nothing left to do in life. And maybe he didn’t. Maybe this was what he was meant to do: kiss Michael until he was numb to everything else.

“Whoa,” Michael breathed after he pulled away. He couldn’t kiss him for too long, he knew, because he wouldn’t want to stop and they were still at school. Sadly. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Alex murmured, nudging his nose against Michael’s warm cheek and then nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck. He let his hands fall to wrap around his waist and Michael’s arms moved to hug his shoulders.

“You okay?” Michael asked, pressing a kiss to Alex’s ear. He closed his eyes and breathed him in and tried to imagine being tucked in his bed. Alas, there was too much rough clothing for that to be accurate. Michael slept in soft clothes. And, since Alex didn’t have anything of his own, he also slept in Michael’s soft clothes.

“I just need you.”

Michael let out a breath and relaxed a bit, the first time that Alex even noticed he was tense. God, he needed to get better at noticing that. Michael was just so good at pretending he was totally fine.

“Same,” he agreed, hugging him tighter, as much as he could without messing up his hand more.

They stayed there for probably too long, just holding onto each other. Surprisingly, no one came to bother him. Alex half expected both Maria and Liz to come and ask too many questions that Alex wasn’t prepared to provide the answers to.

“Has anyone asked?” Alex whispered against his skin.

Michael was quiet for a second too long.

“Mrs. Wilks saw me in the hall,” he said, “I thought she was going to cry over it for a second. Kept asking what my doctor said about the piano, if I’d be able to play again.”

Alex swallowed harshly and lifted his head. The idea Michael wouldn’t play an instrument again hurt. He was so smart and strong and powerful, but he was a gifted musician. More than that, he loved it. Alex had only really gotten to see him play in his comfort zone once or twice, but it was so clear that it brought him peace.

“You haven’t even asked the Evans’ about it, have you?” Alex said. Michael avoided direct eye contact.

“No,” he said softly. All Alex heard was that he was terrified for the answer.

“Hey, we’ll figure it out. I mean, we got you to a doctor. They worked on you. If-if you can’t play like you used to, I know you’ll figure it out. Or I’ll just play the other hand for you forever and we’ll be a duo,” Alex insisted, “Left hand is easy without the right, usually, anyway, I can handle it.”

Michael smiled at him, a little nervous and a little fond. Alex would enjoy drowning in that smile.

“I’ll do whatever I can for you, okay?”

“And I’ll do the same,” Michael responded earnestly. Alex wanted to tell him no, but he knew that would lead to an argument and he didn’t want that.

He just wanted him.

“Think they’ll miss us if we skip the rest of the day?” Michael asked, trying to lighten the mood. Alex grinned and leaned close again, nudging his nose against his cheek.

“Tempting, but I want your parents to still like me.”

Michael scrunched his nose up in defiance which just made everything a little easier. They could still be normal after this.

Whatever normal meant when it was the two of them. Alex was ready to be reminded.

[we-have-bangtan]

I know i wrote about Yoongi experiencing y/n’s death but what if Yoongi WAS death?

prompt from @btswritingprompts ‘s blog <3

prompt: you die and death appears before you to take you to the afterlife. You expect a dark and cruel creature, like they tell of on earth but he’s actually..... a dork. He’s a pale, skinny kid with dark hair falling into his eyes, wearing jeans and a hoodie.

-----------------------------------------

She looked up at Death, he looked surprisingly different from what she had expected. There was no cloak covering his face or a large scythe in hand, no dark skin and eyes that looked like burning coals. He wasn’t old by any means, he was almost the same age as her. He was pale and skinny, dark hair falling into his droopy eyes, he looked tired and sleepy and she had the urge to ask him if he ever got to rest at all.                

   Death noticed the girl eyeing his clothes, a black slam dunk hoodie and ripped black jeans, she was clearly judging him. “It’s dress down Friday, don’t judge me” he grumbled, the girl seemed the least bit freaked out about her own death, “are you just going to judge me? no crying or anything?” he asked cautiously, she simply shook her head, no crying, she had come to terms with her death long ago.    

“come on then, I’ll guide you to the afterlife” he said, holding his had out to her. She took his hand as they started walking, she paid close attention to her surroundings, glass walls surrounded her, displaying what had happened just a few moments ago before she had lost her life, “how do you get to the afterlife?” she asked as she followed after him. “you go backwards in life till you reach the afterlife because the afterlife and the beforelife are the same” he explained as they went through what the girl had done yesterday, nothing special, just puking her guts out in the hospital, “why are you not freaking out?” Death asked starting to get a little worried, “because this is what i wanted for a long time now, they can live in peace now” she answered as they walked on.

“how long does it take to reach the afterlife?” she questioned, “how old are you?” he asked, “20″ she replied, “wow your young, it’ll take 20 days to reach the afterlife, one day for every year you have lived” he mumbled as they passed through more days of her being sick, some days in the hospital, some days at home, didn’t matter, she was sick. “are you sure you’re not gonna cry, i was hoping to get a front row seat to some crying and sobbing” he asked again, she punched him.    

“is that why you took this job? so you can see people crying and sobbing over their own dead bodies?” she asked, “precisely” Death admitted before asking her another question, “how long have you been sick?” , they had passed more than half a year and she was still sick, either in bed or on the floor. “ a little over an year” she answered as she looked at herself, struggling to eat and sleep or even breath sometimes, “you almost died here you know” he said, pointing to when she had woken up from her sleep due to a nightmare, “you were the stubbornest soul us grim reapers have worked with, after Jesus ofcourse” he informed, “you simply refused to die, you’re very popular among the grim reapers” he added as nightfall came on the path. “rest child” he instructed, stopping at a street corner so she could stay still for a moment as he finished the paperwork for her soul.

----------------------------------------------                      

  Soul Fill Form

Name: Y/n

age: 20

Gender : F

Cause of death: Sickness

Day: Friday

Delivering soul to: reaper’s club for wannabe reapers

Name of Reaper delivering: Min Yoongi (death)

Reaper no.: 090393

--------------------------------------------

They rested for a while more before starting on their journey to the next year, the last three month were the same, sickness and pain edged themselves into her life, “how did you end up a reaper?” she asked, “career counselling” he shrugged as they kept walking. He snorted when he saw her splash a glass of lemonade at someone, this was a few months before she had started to get sick, she had clearly had a happy life before she had gotten sick, plenty of friends and loving family members but she didn’t react to them.            

“bruh you're hella weird” he said out loud looking at her having a loudest fart competition with her brother, “it was a phase ok” she grumbled, “i doubt people go through phases at 19″ he laughed as they moved on stopping at where she had her first kiss, “ewww, i don’t want to see that” he protested but she still dragged him to watch her making out with a random dude, “was he good?” Death asked as they moved on, he had refused to watch the porno the random dude and her had reenacted. “pretty good” she shrugged as they moved on, they stopped in between for pocky sticks from a stall run by Seokjin who seemed to be familiar with Death because he delivered a few choice insults before handing them pocky sticks and tangerines to enjoy on their journey.      

“where do you think ghouls send their post?” he asked randomly on day 5, she shrugged, “the ghost office” he laughed, she scoffed at his bad sense of humor, “Seokjin taught you that didn’t he?” she asked, he nodded admitting that he himself didn’t enjoy those jokes much.  

 The days started to drag on from day 7, they still had 13 days to go and in those 13 days, Death behaved like a dear friend, he rambled on about what he did before he died, his interests and career before he had been killed in a car crash, he had explained all that when she had noticed the needle scars on her arms and the scars underneath her dress where she had been operated on. He had showed her the scars on his palms, faded with time but they were still there, a little bump on his gentle touch.  

       Apparently the scars would remain as a reminder of how they had died, at least one of them would change into a birthmark when they were reborn, “how many times were you reborn?” she asked him, curiosity poking at her, “never, i didn’t want to be born again and experience all that again, they give you a choice, you can choose if you’d want to be reborn or not” he explained as they walked through when she was 11 years old, “you were a cute 11 year old” he observed looking at her chubby cheeks and the ribbons in her hair. She just grinned at his observation.  

He found her endearing, her constant babbling and the way she treated him. Her heart shaped lips and pink tinted cheeks. She was lovable and he found himself getting more and more attached to her, she was no longer just another soul, she was Y/n, the soul of a perfect human. She’d be a great reaper he reckoned, she’d be able to calm and console souls who had passed with lots of matters to settle.        

      The closer they go to the afterlife the more questions Y/n had, she’d bug him again and again, asking the most bizarre ones he had ever encountered. She asked about the people who he had escorted, anyone famous?, how many reapers were there? could she become a reaper? would she see him again? would she see other reapers as well?

They reached the gates of the afterlife/beforelife soon enough and Death handed the guard her form before taking her hands in his, “be good, don’t give them a hard time, I’ll come to get you once your training is done, that is incase you decide not to be reborn, even then I’ll still see you soon, even though you’d have to wait a few years before you can see me like that” he mumbled, pressing a kiss to her cheek, “stay strong Y/n” he whispered, pressing another kiss to her forehead before pulling away from her, “good bye Death” she said making him pause, “it’s Yoongi now, not Death, Yoongi” he told her, letting go of her hands, “Yoongi,” she whispered, his name sounding like a sweet melody on her tongue, “good bye, i’ll see you soon” she mumbled as the guard opened the heavy metal gates, waiting for her to pass through.

    They held on to each other till they couldn’t anymore. Death watched on as his beloved walk through the gates into the afterlife, satisfied that he would see her again soon enough.    

            Y/n followed the guard to a well lit room in which a tall man in a striking blazer was seated, “hello, welcome to the afterlife, I am Namjoon the career counselor” he introduced as the guard placed her paperwork in front of him, he went through the papers before pausing at the last sheet, he smiled at Yoongi’s messy scrawl that he called a handwriting

 “ GO EASY ON HER FOR ME <3  - Yoongi/Death“

__________________________________________

[thicctails]

Summer of Whump Day 7 [Storms/Sunburns]

Okay so we’re just gonna be a day behind alright everyone? Anyways have a longer fic to compensate.

Ω

 Omega smiled as she watched Pillow walk around her room with her doll perched on his back. The salamander had, for the past three weeks, stayed by her side, keeping her company while she recovered. His presence was a welcome one, seeing how tense the ship had become. Something had offset the usual harmony of their group, but no one would tell Omega what. Whenever she asked someone, they’d just give her a smile that she could tell was fake and told her “not to worry about it”.

 From her little tucked away corner, she could observe the ship’s other occupants. Echo and Tech were doing what they had been doing ever since they had gotten on the ship, which was just barely tolerating each other’s existence. The two squadmates stayed as far away as possible from each other, which made it difficult to do group activities. Before the ‘something’ had happened, she’d used to help them make (mostly) edible meals every third night. She’d enjoyed learning about the chemistry of cooking and how different flavors went together. It had been her bonding time with them, and she missed it.

 Hunter was cleaning his blaster and Wrecker was, to her concern, sleeping again. He’d been doing that a lot recently, and it bothered her to think that he was in pain for most of the day. She herself wasn’t feeling too great, nearly dying from a landslide did that to you, but she couldn’t imagine feeling like this all the time. How he managed to still smile at her, she’d never know. She wished that she could help him somehow.

 A light bulb went off over her head, and she reached towards a small pile of datapads that she was always trying to add to. There was a datapad about the local wildlife and plants on the planet that they were on in the pile somewhere. Tech had given it to her when they had been staying in the medical centre, the two of them bored out of their minds. Shuffling through the pile, she easily plucked out the one she wanted. Patting the space beside her, she began to scroll through the information on Scarif’s plant life. Pillow waddled over to her side, his head leaning on her knee. He’d grown in size a bit, but not enough to where it was really noticeable. She only noticed it because Pillow spent most of his time with her.

 “There! That’s what we need, Pillow.” She said, showing her companion the image she was looking at. It was a bright yellow flower with purple-tipped petals. The description said that it was often used to treat migraines.

 “Come on Pillow, let’s go see if we can find some of these flowers. It’ll help Wrecker feel better, and, between you and me?” She leaned down and whispered to the amphibian. “I’m getting really tired of being in the same ship as everyone else right now.”

 Pillow huffed in agreement and crawled onto her shoulders, draping himself around her neck like an exotic feather boa. Making no effort to conceal her leaving but also not drawing attention to herself, Omega made her way to the ship’s exit. Her leg wasn’t exactly pleased with the movement, but she put aside her discomfort. Checking the datapad for the general location of the flowers, she and Pillow set off into the tropical forest.

  Meanwhile, inside the Havoc Marauder…

  Tech rubbed at his eyes, tired of reading through an endless slog of rumors and unfounded reports of Jedi sightings. His efforts had not gone completely unrewarded, as multiple sources had cautiously whispered about a Jedi having been glimpsed on a distant moon. Selrahc Eluos, that is what they said her name was. It wasn’t much, but they would be unlikely to find much else.

 “Hunter,” He called, getting the brooding clone’s attention, “I may have found something.”

 Hunter didn’t look too pleased with Tech’s announcement but came over anyways.

 “There have been reports of a Jedi hiding out on a remote moon called Una Vere. Of course, seeing as how these reports exist, she wont be there long.” He explained, turning in his seat to look at Hunter.

 “Hmm. How long will it take us to get there?” He half muttered the question.

 “About a day at lightspeed. We’ll need to leave right away.” Tech stood and began to input the coordinates.

 “Are you at least going to tell her?”

 Echo’s voice caused the two clones to pause. Their squadmate was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed in displeasure.

 “We don’t even know if the Jedi will still be there when we arrive, and I don’t want to upset her before I absolutely have to.” Hunter replied.

 “You coward. You’re not even going to give her the chance to voice her opinion on this?” Echo’s voice was venomous, and Hunter knew that he had tread carefully here, lest another fight break out.

 “Echo, this is for her own good. She’ll be happier with someone who can help her with her Force abilities.” He said, his voice gentle.

 “The abilities that we don’t even know she has?” Echo countered.

 “Oh, open your eyes Echo! It’s obvious she’s not a normal clone.” Tech snapped.

 “We’re not normal clones!” Echo shouted back.

 “You know what I mean! She doesn’t belong with us!”

 “Yeah? Well I’m starting to think that I don’t belong with you either!”

 “Maybe you don’t!”

 “ENOUGH!” Hunter’s yell was thunderous. “I am sick and tired of you two arguing!”

 “Well you know what? I think I’m sick and tired of you. Both of you. Give me a call when you’ve figured out how to stop being such a moronic, child-abandoning nerf herders!” Echo threw his arms up into the air and stormed out of the ship, growling under his breath.

 A soft crunch made him pause and look down. There were… picked flowers on the ground? He recognized them; they grew on vines nearby and could be used to help treat headaches and migraines. How had they gotten here?

 Wait…

 He scanned around the ground, terror welling up in him when he spotted small footprints around the ship’s exit. He ran back into the ship, ignoring Hunter and Tech’s confused yells. He made his way up to Omega’s room, hoping that, for once, things would go right for them.

 The small space was empty, no sign of Omega or Pillow being there at all.

 “Kriff!” He yelled, sprinting as best he can on his still healing leg back the way he had came. Before he can make it, however, Hunter catches his prosthetic arm.

 “What’s wrong?” He might be angry, but his brotherly instincts stamp down the smoldering emotion for the time being.

 “Omega’s not here. I think she heard us arguing.” He says as he pulls away. His anger hasn’t been calmed, and it mixes easily into his worry.

 Hunter goes pale. “Shit.” He curses, stepping back as Echo disappears from sight.

 “Mnh, wha’s goin’ on?”

 Wrecker rubs his eyes as he half sits up in his bunk. He looks to Hunter for answers.

 “We were having an argument about, well, you know what, and it seems like Omega came around when we were exploding at each other, and now she’s gone.” Hunter explained as he started to get his gear on.

 “Oh no!” Hunter’s words woke Wrecker right up, and the burly man joined Hunter in getting into his armor.

 “What’s going on? Why are you getting your armor on?” Tech appeared in the doorway, his cheeks still flush from the argument.

 “Omega heard us arguing and ran off. Echo’s going after her, but I don’t want him re-injuring his leg. He’s mad, and that means he wont be thinking straight.” Hunter said, putting his helmet on.

 “Oh Maker.” Tech said, covering his mouth with a hand. In an instant, his hateful words hit him in the face like a blaster bolt. He hadn’t meant anything that he’d said, he’d just wanted to hurt Echo, which made him feel like the lowliest scum.

 Grabbing his own armor, he made a mental promise to apologize to Echo. Actually, he’d need to apologize to Omega too, considering the fact that what he had said, out of context, could be and likely had been taken entirely the wrong way. Thinking about the argument made his chest hurt and his stomach twist, but he didn’t try and find some way to resolve himself of guilt. The feelings were everything he deserved.

   Pillow stared sadly as Warm One cried, her face streaming with tears as she ran. He didn’t blame her for crying, the words she had heard would bring any fledgling to tears. The other members of her pack had been steadily growing more and more tense and angry, especially Shiny Eyes and Grey Arm. Ever since Warm One and Shiny Eyes had recovered from their accident, the air had become sour with displeasure, sadness, anger, and building resentment. It was not a good environment for someone like Warm One, and he had wanted nothing more than to take her out of their flying metal den. Today, he’d gotten his wish, but at a terrible price.

 The adult humans had said terrible things! They were going to leave Warm One all alone! They were supposed to protect her, not abandon her! She had seen them as family, and until now, he’d thought they felt the same. Clearly, he’d been wrong. Well, perhaps not about all of them. Grey Arm had been very loud when he had been yelling at Half Skull and Shiny Eyes; he had wanted Warm One to stay. He wasn’t sure about Strong One, the human’s thoughts and feelings were often muddled by pain, but he hadn’t argued like Grey Arm had, so he certainly wasn’t in Pillow’s good graces.

 Pillow felt a pressure begin to build up inside his chest. A storm was coming. Normally, he’d be overjoyed at the prospect of rain; it had been so long since he’d experienced a good rainstorm, but Warm One had nothing to protect her from the rain and wind, which meant that they had a problem.

 He felt a flash of frustration run through his small body. Before his imprisonment on that barren, icy wasteland, he had possessed a beautiful, strong pair of wings. If he had them now, he could shield Warm One from the storm. Force, he could carry her above it, show her the world the way he had once seen it. He resented his captors for chaining him up and leaving him on that damnable planet to die, but he also understood why they did. He had not been a kind creature, and the names people had given him were accurate. The Great Sky Scourge, The White Beast, Death’s Shadow. All fitting. All horrible.

 But Warm One had never seen him as any of those things. She had given him a new name, Pillow, the human word for a squishy, soft, white thing that they slept on. He felt honored to be given such a name, because to him, it was a chance to start over. He’d been weakened by the lack of food, reduced to his larval state once again, but now that he had her, he’d have the chance to regain his former glory and use it to do good. They’d do it together. If her pack was too stupid to see her Light, he’d take care of her, just as she had taken care of him.

 All he had to do was wait until it was time to metamorphosize. And, of course, keep both her and himself safe from this storm.

 Suddenly, he was no longer around her neck. He landed in the mud, sliding a few feet away. Once he’d blinked away the mud, he realized that Warm One had tripped! He called out to her, running as fast as he could back to her as raindrops began to fall around them. He nudged her, helping her up. He missed the once incredible strength he used to have.

 Warm One picked him up as she stood, her face turning red where she had hit the ground. Her eyes were red, and tears still dripped down her face. He crooned sadly, trying to send comforting feelings over their bond. She had created the bond without meaning too on the day they met, and while he didn’t like being able to feel her pain, it was useful in moments like these.

 “Oh Pillow, wh-why don’t they want me? What did I-I do wrong?” She cried, hugging him to her chest. “I-I thought- I loved-” She sobbed even harder, not being able to finish her sentence.

 “No!” He cried, nuzzling her. “It’s not you! They are being stupid! The most stupid!”

 She didn’t understand him, of course, but she felt his feelings, and that was enough to get him a brief, watery smile. She sniffed and looked around, unsure of where to go. She considered following the path, but ultimately decided to go off into the tropical brush. Pillow wound himself around her neck again, keeping an eye out for any danger. The rain was growing stronger, and they’d need shelter soon.

  After about 20 minutes of running and stumbling, Warm One spotted a cave on the face of a cliff. She managed to get them up there, collapsing once they were inside. Pillow shook off the water that clung to his skin before returning to Warm One. She was wet and kind of cold, but not like she had been when they had still been on his planetary prison. If he kept her warm, she’d be okay.

 She was leaning against the wall, curling up into a small ball. He wiggled his way into her lap and buried into her stomach, purring softly. He remembered his mother purring to settle him and his clutchmates, so he figured it was worth a shot.

 She laughed quietly, and he felt amusement cross the bond. He smiles at that, settling down to sleep.

     Omega slowly opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them. She went to stretch, but found herself spinning. With a yelp, she waved her arms about, trying to right herself. Her surroundings had changed completely. What had previously been a damp cave was now a void of neutral blues and purples. Occasionally, she would see a flicker of light appear.

 “You’re here!”

 A voice suddenly rang out from all around her, sounding like every voice ever spoken and at the same time, only one person. Omega shrunk back in fear, unable to tell where the voice was coming from.

 “Oh, don’t be frightened! I’m just so excited to finally be able to talk to one of my children!” The voice said, almost sounding sheepish.

 “Who- who are you? Where are you?” Omega squeaked.

 “I am known as the Force, little star. I am everywhere.” The voice explained.

 “You’re… what?” Omega held her head, the information making her brain hurt.

 “I know its a lot, and I wouldn’t usually be this direct, but I haven’t gotten the chance to truly talk to one of my children in so long! Even my brightest star could only feel my presence, and he has become so dim lately…” The Force sounded… sad.

 “Your brightest star?” Omega asked, crossing her legs.

 “Yes. I created him from stardust, love, and the wildness of nature itself. He was wonderful, and he would have saved them all, but he was taught to suppress his feelings and push down his troubles. He loved so strongly, at that made it hard for him to let go. In the end, a poison in human form snuffed out his Light, throwing him into the Dark.” The formless presence became somber, and Omega could feel its sadness.

 “But you,” It said suddenly, the sadness being replaced with cautious hope, “I can still save you. I did not create you, that wonderful honor was taken from me, but I can see your Light, little star. It is new and bright and shining, just as his was long ago. What’s better, I can truly, wholly speak to you, even if it’s just in dreamstate.”

 “I don’t understand. I’m not a Jedi, so why are you interested in me?” Omega asked.

 “Jedi is a recent concept, at least to me. Sith is the same. They are often people who have gone too far into the Light or the Dark, and have become blind to the Balance. Any living thing can have a strong connection with me. It just so happens that you were created with that exact purpose.” The Force explained.

 “What does that mean? What can I do?” Omega questioned, not sure how to process this.

 “That depends on you, little star. Many of my children use their abilities to help people, heal them, or create bonds that will last a lifetime and beyond. However, you can also use it to harm others, to defend yourself and your loved ones, or simply hurt them because you want to. That path is a slippery slope, however, and I must ask that you be careful with how you use your anger.” The Force’s voice was soft, but held a note of warning.

 “I will be, I promise.” Omega said, not wanting to do something that could really hurt someone.

 “Don’t fear your anger, my wondrous child. Sometimes, anger is necessary. Control is the key.” The Force explained, and Omega nodded.

 “Okay, okay I think I understand a bit now.” She said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Um, if I’ve always been able to communicate with you, why did you only just start talking to me now?”

 “The stress of your life recently has been keeping you closed off from me. Today, your mental walls broke.”

 “Oh.” Omega felt her heart sink at the thought of what had happened earlier. She’d just come back from collecting the flowers, which had actually been quite close by, only to hear shouting coming from within the ship. She’d heard Tech  angrily say that she didn’t belong with them, but not much else beyond that, as she had turned and ran almost immediately.

 “You believe that they hate you.” It wasn’t a question, but Omega nodded anyways.

 “I can understand why, but you have it all wrong, little star. They love you. They love you so much that I don’t even believe my most Darkness-blinded children could tear you away from them.”

 Omega blinked away tears that had begun to form, her confusion nearly palpable.

 “They have figured out that you have a connection to me. Some of them believe that you would be better off under the care of a Jedi. They worry that they will not be good enough for you.” Omega feels a ripple of annoyance go through her, although it is not her own. “Sometimes my children can be a bit ignorant, and because they do not share a connection like we do, I cannot tell them this. The Jedi ruined my brightest star, my Anakin. They seek peace and order, but life is not meant to be peaceful or controlled. Life is chaos, wild and free. That is what many of my children fail to understand. To walk the path of the Jedi is to practically shun life itself, and the Sith are even worse. They actively destroy life, disrupting the balance. I want you as far away from that mess as possible.”

 “So, they do want me? I didn’t do anything wrong?” Omega questioned.

 “No, starlight. You’ve made their lives better. I can feel their worry for you right now, they are terrified to lose you.” The Force then began to expand, and suddenly Omega was struck with wave after wave of worry and grief. She bared her teeth in sympathy.

 “I know that they care for you, but they must learn that they are your chosen family. Not the Jedi, not another family, them. Until they fall asleep, let them worry. Let them experience what life will be like if they break the still fragile bond that you all share. I will find a way to make a connection with them.”

 Omega wasn’t sure she liked that plan. “I don’t want them to suffer, and I don’t want to be apart from them! Isn’t there something else we could do?”

 The Force seemed to consider her request. “Perhaps, but you will have to find a way to convince them that this is my will.”

 Omega put a hand on her chin, thinking. “Can you control the weather?”

 “I have some sway over certain aspects.”

 “Okay, I’ve got an idea…”

     “OMEGA!”

 Echo’s throat felt raw, the muscles sore from him screaming to be heard over the roaring storm winds. He ignored the pain. He had to find her.

 “OMEGA, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

 “Echo?”

 Echo fixed his expression into a glare as he turned. The other members of the Bad Batch emerged from the storm-darkened jungle, their armor slick with rain.

 “What are you lot doing out here?” He snapped.

 “Looking for you and Omega. Echo, you’re hurt. Go back to the ship.” It was Hunter who spoke first. Echo, still hurt from earlier, looked disdainfully at the other man.

 “No. I’m finding Omega, and I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s safe. Now get out of here before you scare her off again.” He said coldly, wincing as he put weight on his injured leg.

 “Echo, please. You can’t stay out here, you’ll get sick.” Tech said, stepping forward.

 “Like you care! You made your feelings perfectly clear back there.” Echo turned away from the group, his eyes becoming a bit wet as his hurt feelings threatened to spill out. “We’re not batchmates. You don’t have to pretend to like me. Once I find Omega, you’ll never have to see me again.”

 “Echo, no!” Tech’s voice hitched in panic. “You’re my brother, batchmate or not, I still love you! I’m so sorry for the things I said earlier. I was angry and I knew they would hurt and I said them anyways because I was being an inconsiderate jackass. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but please don’t make me watch another one of my brothers die. We’ve lost so many already, and we’re going to loose so many more, but I don’t think I could handle it if you were one of them.”

 Tears pooled in Tech’s eyes underneath his helmet, and his heart strained to cope with the stress his wild emotions were causing. Echo was still for a minute, then slowly turned around, his eyes wide, but free of anger.

 “Y’mean it?” His voice was quiet and small, and it reminded Tech so much of the nights they’d spent comforting Hunter and Crosshair when they were much younger. Their enhanced traits made the darkness of the room scary sometimes, and despite the fact that he was the youngest of his batch, he’d been comforting them right alongside Wrecker.

 Tech nodded, and in the moment he had been temporarily blinded by a flash of lightning, Echo had crossed the distance and pulled Tech into a hug. Tech froze up for a split second, before wrapping his arms around Echo. Hunter and Wrecker were there in an instant, joining in on the moment of affection.

 “’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have yelled at you an’ Hunter.” Echo mumbled.

 “No, we were being stupid and sneaky about things. I already knew how miserable that made her, and yet I wanted to send her away anyways. We all want what’s best for Omega, but leaving her with someone else isn’t an idea I should have entertained.” Tech replied.

 “Thank the Maker! I thought I was actually going to have to do go with its plan.”

 The Bad Batch members separated and turned towards the forest beside them. Omega stepped out of the brush, an agitated Pillow sitting on her rain-soaked head. The amphibian seemed to be displeased by their very existence. She smiled weakly.

 “Omega!” The group shouted happily. The young girl rushed into Echo’s waiting arms, pressing her head into his chest. She shivered as powerful emotions welled up inside her, her still red eyes becoming wet again.

 “Oh adiik, vi're olar. Vi're olar.” Echo’s voice was full of relief and warmth and comfort,  and even if Omega couldn’t really understand what his words meant, she felt their soothing nature.

 “Omega, I’m so, so sorry for what I said earlier. We never wanted to leave you, we just-” Omega managed to get a hand free and waved Tech off.

 “You wanted to take me to a Jedi so that I could learn to use the Force, I know.” She said, smiling at him. “I know you worry about me, but please don’t ever think that I’ll be better of anywhere besides with all of you. I love you guys.”

 Tech blinked, stunned. The other clones shared his confusion and his surprise.

 “W-we love you too, and we’re sorry we didn’t tell you that before, but how did you know about the Jedi?” Hunter asked, kneeling down to be eye level with Omega. He resisted the urge to pull her into a protective hug when he saw her shiver.

 “I’ll show you! Here, hold Pillow. Careful, though. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t forgiven you yet.” Omega said, handing the amphibian over. Pillow growled at Hunter, baring his teeth.

 “Okay, watch this.” She said, cupping her hands around her mouth. “HEY FORCE! STRIKE TWO TREES WITH LIGHTNING IF WE JUST HAD A DREAM CONVERSATION!”

 In an instant, two trees on either side of Omega were set ablaze by twin bolts of lightning. Hunter grabbed Omega on instinct and pulled her away from the burning plants, the rest of his brothers backing up rapidly.

 “Woah!” Wrecker shouted, his hands flying up into the air.

 Echo stared awestruck at the trees, then at a grinning Omega.

 “What the hell was that?” He asked.

 “The Force! Turns out I can talk to it.” She explained.

 “You spoke with… the Force?” Hunter said slowly. “Like, the Force that the Jedi use?”

 “Yep! It was really happy to have someone to talk to.” Omega chirped.

 “Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay. That’s normal. That’s completely normal and totally not something that makes me really wish general Kenobi was here.” Echo said, pressing his hands together. “The Force can talk to you, and you can talk to it. Cool. Cool.”

 “It wanted me to stay hidden for a bit because I think it’s mad at the Jedi for something and it wanted to talk to you guys when you fell asleep, but I thought that was really mean, so I asked if we could do something else to convince you not to bring me to a Jedi. But you didn’t even need to be convinced!” Omega added, shivering again. This time, Hunter did bring her against his chest as he stood, Pillow making his way onto Omega’s neck.

 “I’m glad we worked things out. I don’t like the idea of leaving you out here until we fell asleep.” Wrecker said, his face becoming illuminated by another flash of lightning.

 “Yeah, I think I would’a had some choice words for the Force if you’d gone through with that plan.” Echo agreed, rubbing his arms.

“We can talk about the Force being an less than agreeable later. Right now we have two very wet and very cold-looking squadmates who are going to catch their deaths out here.” Tech fretted, ushering the group back towards the ship. The clones laughed and began walking back through the storm, their hearts much lighter and their hope as high as ever.

         Somewhere, on a distant planet, an inhibitor chip reactivates.

[nolongerironicteenwrites]

Writers Block Ao3

“I just want to be there for you” 

Shikamaru x Reader 

You were sitting alone, observing the quiet early morning. The dew had freshly set and you found yourself smiling while you sat, legs stretched and crossed in front of you. It’s been forever since you’ve sat alone in silence. Normally you were being surrounded by so much going on at once in your work, so it was nice to have a day to yourself. Which quickly interfered with a hum of sorts. You couldn’t put your finger on the noise nor did you initially see anybody. 

Then there was a quiet hum. You looked around more actively now to try and figure out who was there. You didn’t see anyone. Which was off. Standing up you stretched and started to descend down from the mountain you were laying on when someone actually caught your eye. You had missed him while sitting down. The boy was alone and asleep. You didn’t know him, or at least you didn’t recognize him. You squinted a but before taking your glasses off to clean. He was slightly hidden by a dip in the ground. He had long hair and it was down. You could see a ponytail bump. He was playing with a lighter with his eyes closed. You could hear him sigh from a mile away. He just laid back down. He never even opened his eyes. It intrigued you, but you just kept walking. 

The boy knew you were there but he didn’t say anything. It felt too quiet to say anything about anything. Plus he didn’t want to scare you. He saw how peaceful you looked and he was just going to leave you alone. Plus he wasn’t in a very talkative mood, he rather existed in a quiet space with someone who didn’t force him to be okay when he wasn’t. You were cute, maybe he would see you again. 

Sure enough a few days later, as the sunset, he saw you again. Watching the sunset behind the forest. The sun painted you in a low amber color, not that you saw. Your head was in your knees, hair falling around your shoulders. He quietly walked up to you, sitting a few feet from you. Then he heard you quietly crying. He was surprised to hear someone crying out in the open. He wanted to say something but he wasn’t sure what. 

     “Uh, H- Hey. My name is Shikamaru. Are you- are you okay?” he asked looking at you. 

You sighed and whipped your tears. You looked up and he saw your face. Even though you had been crying for who knows how long before he saw you, you looked beautiful which was weird to say, even for him who didn’t know you. You looked up and recognized the hair at first. You put your glasses back on and now you knew who it was the boy from the other day. 

     “Oh, I’m (Y/N) hello.” 

You squint and look at him well for the first time. Oh, this was your boss's son. 

     “Oh, grace. Your my boss’s son..” you pinched your nose. “I’m so sorry.” 

Shikamaru looked at you and squinted. A look of realization washed over him. He didn’t recognize you at first but then it hit him. You were a few years older than him and you were his father’s new assistant. That’s why your name felt so familiar. He smirked a little. 

     “Oh right. I know you now! You’re my dad’s newest assistant. I’m sorry for the ringer my old man is about to put you through.” 

     “I actually don't mind it. It’s been insightful.” you smiled. 

     “Then why are you crying?” he asked, looking confused. 

     “We just met. I doubt you want to know,” you replied, rubbing your eye. 

Shikamaru tilted his head. Why did he care? She was a stranger to him. His dad knew her, not him but yet here he is, trying to console her. It was out of character for him. He would have never cared this much about someone he hardly knew. Then yet, here he was. Sitting at sunset, when he could be at home playing Shogi with his dad. Or spending time with his mom, reading, or learning little skills. He may have complained about how mundane it all is, but he enjoyed it. Never that he would ever actively admit it. But yet here he was, not wanting to leave someone crying. 

     “You’re right. Honestly. I don’t know you, but you shouldn’t be this miserable. Especially if it was my dad’s fault.” he moved closer to you. 

You snorted and looked at him. 

     “It wasn’t your dad Shikamaru. He actually sent me home early when he saw I couldn’t focus- just some personal life. And I know you’re going to say- don’t let personal life bleed into professional life. I just had a bad morning, my dad is sick and it’s taking a toll on my mom and me. She thinks I should stop working to help out. But work- work keeps me sane and someone needs to help them out.” you explained. 

Shikamaru listened. He watched you out the corner of his eye. You weren’t looking at him, you were looking out over the town. He took in your profile and smiled. He did something completely out of character for him. 

     “Want to come over to my house? For dinner maybe play a little shogi with me. I need someone new if my dad’s gonna keep working late.” he asked you. 

You blushed and looked at him. 

     “How forward of you.” 

He huffed and looked at you. You flashed him a smile and nodded. 

     “I would love to.” 

He stood up and offered you a hand to stand. You accepted it and let yourself be pulled to your feet into the start of a beautiful friendship. Dinner was lovely. His mom was a total sweetheart and understood where you were coming from about being stressed. She knew how hard it must be for you to be a provider. She offered you to stay here whenever you may need to getaway. She had such a soft smile that made you feel welcomed. 

     “Do you know how to play shogi?” Shikamaru asked. 

     “I’m rusty but I think I can figure it out,” you replied, helping his mom clear the table. 

Yoshino looked at her son. He rolled his eyes and waved her off like it was no big deal. What you didn’t know is that he hardly ever let other people play with him, not people he hardly knew especially not after Azuma’s death. It warmed her heart to see him connected to someone. She hasn’t seen someone like this since Choji. She watched him lead you through the hall as Shikaku walked in. 

     “Someone over?” he asked, kissing Yoshino on the head. 

     “Yeah. (y/n).” She replied cleaning dishes. 

     “Mhm. That’s going to be a good friendship. I feel it.” 

Yoshino smiled and nodded. 

Shikamaru and you played shogi for hours, not that either one of you really noticed. You lost nearly every game but you had fun all the same. His dad eventually knocked on the door frame. 

     “I know you two are practically adults, but I think it’s time (y/n) gets home, I need her for work in the morning. Walk her home Shikamaru.” 

He grumbled halfheartedly about how it was a drag. He got up and did it anyway. The two of you left the Nara home late into the night. The two of you made small talk on the way to the small family home you still lived in. 

     "I uh we should do this again. I haven’t made new friends since I started working for your dad.” 

Shikamaru huffed but didn’t disagree. He just nodded along and smiled. 

     “Be safe!” you called to him as he walked away. 

He smiled to himself as he walked away. He found himself thinking about you as he walked away. You were pretty sure, gorgeous even. But that isn’t what intrigued him about you, you were smart, rivaling smart. You had more drive than he did which made it rivaling but comforting. His cheeks grew hot when he thought about getting to know you better. He groaned and mumbled to himself. 

     “How troublesome.” 

It took a few days before the two of you met again. But it wasn’t in the first place you had met, it was walking into Hokage's office. 

     “Oh Shikamaru!” you smiled. “Nice to see you.” 

     “Good to see you too (Y/N).” he smiled holding the door open for you. 

Tsunade looked over you two. She explained that she needed all the people she could get to intel for the up-and-coming war. You two have to put together a team and go to the sand to converse with the Kazekage about what their plan is. 

The two of you continue to work closely with one another over months to come. Until you stopped coming to work. It concerned his dad. You were making so much progress helping to uncover different Akatsuki locations but that all stopped suddenly. He called his son to his office. Shikamaru walked in casually but Shikaku’s face looked concerned. 

     “Your friend hasn’t been to work in a week..” 

     “(Y/N)?” he asked. 

Shikaku nodded. Shikamaru nodded as well and backed out of the office. He needed to get out before he ran to where he hoped you were. He was taking a chance by going to the mountain to see if you were there. He hoped you were there, he wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to find you and make sure you were okay. To his relief, you were there but you weren’t okay. It was like the day he first talked to you. He quietly approached you and sat down with his back pressed to you looking at the sky. 

     “You don’t have to talk,” he said. 

You took a deep breath, it was wobbly, then you just started to sob again explaining your father has passed. That broke his heart. He moved to hug you against his chest. You were shaking from the ferocity of how you were crying. He pressed you harder against his chest. He let you cry until you were tired and slumped against him. He pressed his head to the back of your neck and then kissed the back of your head. 

     “(Y/N), I’m sorry about your father..” 

You hiccuped and nodded. 

     “I just want to be there for you. I-” 

You stopped him by hugging him. He froze but accepted your hug. You needed him more than his comfort. He just ran his hand up your back. You both stayed like that forever. He wanted to make things right for you and see you smile again. 

Oh gosh. He thinks. I think I might be in love with her. 

Well, today isn’t the day to tell you that. He brought you back to his house. He played shogi with you and then on a walk through the Nara forest. He took you to all his favorite places to try and distract you from what was going on. You were grateful. Grateful for the friendship you've made, grateful for the love you’ve grown to have for him, and everything that you’ve been able to have thanks to Shikamaru. You knew you’d fallen for him but today solidified everything for you. At the end of the night, you knew, but today wasn’t the day. Or any time soon for the matter. 

You decided to not tell him. You kept it all to yourself. For as long as you could. Throughout the wartime, because it wasn’t time for feelings. Even after you two kept working together. It was hard for you both, especially considering the loss of his own father. Months after the war, you found him, smoking on the mountain, just like it was when you lost your own father. You sat against his back. He never tensed up, it was almost like he knew you were going to find him. You repeated his actions from that day once he realized, he pushed away from you and pulled you to stand up. He dropped his cigarette and stomped it out. You had a look of shock on your face when he gently took your face in his hands before pressing a kiss to your lips. You gasped and pulled away. He didn’t look surprised, but more understanding. 

     “I’m sorry. I just- for so long I have been trying to figure it out.. And I can confirm. I do in fact love you.” 

You blushed and smiled. You took his hands in yours and pulled him to you. You hugged him tight before pulling away and finally kissing him back. He held onto you. He rarely let people in at this intimate a level, but you, you were different. After you guys pulled away he had a lopsided grin. 

    “Feelings can be troublesome, but for once. It doesn’t seem to be such a drag if it’s you. I want to let you in and be here for me. I’m going to need you.” 

You smiled tearing up and nodded. 

     “Of course. I just want to be there for you.” 

He laughed at his words being used in such a way that made him comforted. He was glad, if he had to fall for a friend that it was you. He could see himself living his life with you like he wanted and described. You were just happy he was going to let you in. 

[lenacker]

To Raise an Eaglet

Kuchel and Levi’s life in my Meet The Ackermans Modern! Rivetra AU

This is my longest work yet, Word count : 2654 words

"So you're not coming here for Christmas?" Kuchel holds her phone to her ear with her shoulder, while cutting the vegetables on the cutting board. She was preparing some special stew from her beloved son’s cute, little family.

"No, I’m working on a very important case, Mom. I.."

"Wait, wait," Kuchel wiped her hands to her apron, re-do her ponytail, and now holding her phone with her hand, meanwhile the other was on her hips. "don't say you're not even coming home to Petra for Christmas Eve? For fuck's sake Lev, that's intolerable! That’s your very own birthday! Don't put your work before your family! If they're gone then who are you working for?! What's the use of money when you have no one to spend it with? Seriously, I don't remember raising a man that's ........" 

Levi took a deep breath, putting his phone on the desk while his mom kept rambling here and there. He loves her so much, but she always talks too much for her own good. Sometimes he even wondered how they share the same genes with the difference between their amount of words they can say in one breath.

When he put the phone back to his ear, he didn't hear the nag of his mother. Instead, the woman he heard since he remembered sounds like she's on the verge of tears.

"..... but I guess it can't be helped, huh? It's okay then, it doesn't like I've prepared anything, anyway. Say hi to Petra and the boys for me."

Kuchel sighed, pushing herself with her hands against the countertop, and looked to the ceiling to prevent her tears from falling. Why is she crying, anyway? It's not going to be her first alone Christmas! She spent plenty of them alone, trembling from the cold (and starvation if there are not enough customers in the brothel). 

Until one Christmas when she’s 20, she got a great gift she never even dared to imagine, a beautiful, little bundle of joy she named Levi. He came with such unbearable pain, blood, and tears but the moment she heard him scream and laid her eyes on him, no, even from the first time she felt her baby's move, she knows she wouldn't be alone anymore. 

I'm gonna protect you, she whispered while cradling Levi's tiny head against her chest, tears streaming from her tired eyes, We’ll live a better life together.

Life felt less ugly for a while. She had to hide her baby whenever a customer came, but it gets less lonely with a cute baby looking at you with such wonderful blue eyes. She hopes he doesn't grow up so he won't understand what kind of world they live in.

But of course, he grows. And in the process, Kuchel saw how unfit the environment they're in for a child's development. She saw how Levi started to laugh less, his skin pale and almost translucent. He stopped saying 'I love you' back when he's around four, instead, he would just hug her silently. He stopped moving when he had to hide from her customers in the tiny cupboard, not moving an inch. Not making any sound. It made her worried sick, she couldn't see if he's ok from the bed. Can he breathe properly? Is it normal for a 4 years old boy to stay still for hours?

At the age of six, he looks like a very malnourished four years old vampire-boy. His voice became raspy, his eyes darken, his cheeks sunken. In their city, it's difficult enough to find decent food when you have money, it's even harder when you don't. Sometimes he would give her some crumpled money he somehow finds, tells her to keep it to buy a new house so no scary men come to hurt mommy. That's also the year when she realized she has the disease that has been spreading around. Of fucking course. The disease takes over her entirely. In just a month, she can't even get up from her bed, her body feels like it's on fire. 

And the worst thing, she can't work nor provide food for little Levi. But he never asks for it either. He stayed with her on the bed, caressing her face with his bony hand. Around midday, he would get up, go for an hour or so, and come back with some half-decent food and bruises. Her heart ached every time he put the food inside her mouth, whispering 'please get better, mommy' with his raspy voice. 

She hoped she could ask him where he got the food and the bruises, tell him there's no way she could get better without any treatment, or simply say thank you because she's the one who was supposed to find food, but she couldn't force any sound out of her throat. Sometimes she sheds some tears, which Levi always reacts with a sad 'sorry mommy, I can't find better food'. It hurts even more. Sometimes she wondered if keeping him and bringing him to this cruel world is a mistake. Or if she's being selfish to want a friend in her lonely life.

Then she decided to give up. She kept her eyes shut, feeling how her body struggled to keep her alive. She let the darkness consume her.

-

But she didn't die. She didn't know how much time was passed but when she started to gain consciousness she heard the beeping sound beside her. 

Where am I? Her body does not hurt as much. She opened her eyes and was welcomed with Levi's beautiful blue-grey eyes right in front of her own.

"Levi?"

Wait, did she just talk? Did she really make a clear, understandable word? Well, that’s the first.

She observed her baby's face and noticed how he looks .....more like a normal child. She raised her hand to touch his surprisingly slight chubby cheeks, but he's faster. He moved down to hug -more like crushes, actually- her. He buried his face to her cheeks, mumbling long incoherent words to her cheeks. She felt how her cheeks moisten by his warm tears, how his body trembled, and wondered how she even thought of leaving this precious boy. 

"There's Kenny," Levi said once he calmed down, "he brought Mommy here and taught me to fight" then he proudly showed her some of the moves she recognized as Kenny's with a paring knife.

Kenny was a weird one, he always was. He's her only brother, but he never acted like one nor was there for her. He went to jail for killing some folks when she’s about ten. The last time she saw him was when she's pregnant, and he told him to abort her pregnancy. Of course, she refused, so he left without saying anything. 

"What did you do with Kenny, baby?" Did he teach you anything bad? killing people? He's a little bit psycho. Much to her relief, they just have some knife and martial arts training, then eat whatever food Levi wanted. Well at least her brother gave him food and brought her to the hospital. At least he keeps Levi alive even though he never approves of his presence.

A few weeks later, she's allowed to leave the hospital. She has been unconscious for three months, apparently. Kenny came, he took care of the administration and payment, drove them to a simple-clean apartment, left some money then left without any unnecessary words. They have never been a normal sibling with a heartfelt relationship but still, Kuchel hoped he would say something, where does he live now, why did he come, does he have any wife and kids, anything. 

And so, their brand new life began. In the morning Kuchel would bake some simple cookies, walk Levi to school while giving her cookies to shops along the street then she went to a supermarket near their home, where she worked as a part-time cashier. Then when her shift has finished, she picks her son home and takes her money from the shops. 

Years passed, their life gets better every day. Levi had poor social skills, but he managed to befriend two nice, orphan kids; Farlan and Isabel. Like everything he loves (Kuchel herself, a hand knife he got from Kenny, multi-functional stain remover, etc.) he was a bit overprotective. She had to meet the headmaster more than three times during Levi's first two months because her son 'created a commotion' when the only thing he did was protect his friends' dignity with his fists. She didn't think it's bad. Kuchel always knows Levi is such a kind and sweet boy, he just prefers to show his crude side (from Kenny or their previous place, she's not sure). So instead of telling him to stop fighting bullies, she told him words can hurt more than any blow. And it turned out surprisingly well, he never 'created trouble' again. (Saying hurting words is not considered trouble, how weird).

In the blink of an eye, Levi became a handsome man wearing an immaculate suit, kissing Kuchel's cheek before leaving to go to his office for the umpteenth time. 

"Don't forget to find me a daughter-in-law," she said teasingly, handing him lunch. Her son pretended to look disgusted, then smiled softly "I don't think I can find someone as pretty and amazing as you, Mom. See you!" 

Ever since he turned 30, she kept reminding him that 29 is the average marriage age for a male and he would answer with the answer he just gave her this morning, or "Nobody would want to marry a grumpy, constipated looking man, Mom" or, "I will once I find the right one". 

Kuchel knew her son was admired by many (he always bring home at least two bags of chocolates on Valentine's Day), he's good-looking (not that tall due to the malnutrition in his early years, but still, even the old lady next-door had mentioned that he's hot). His salary as a detective at the Criminal Investigation Department is high enough to afford both of them that he forced her to quit working and enjoy life. But she's as stubborn as he is, so she sneakily still bakes some cookies and sells them to a bakery far enough from his office. 

About two hours later, right as her oven timer rings, the front door of their apartment opened, revealing a furious Levi. He only wears his shirt and trousers, the suit he initially wears this morning in his hands. Thankfully he didn't notice the freshly baked cookies because he’s too busy muttering curses angrily, something about an airheaded, bitchy woman. 

Woman? Well, that’s interesting. Kuchel couldn’t recall when’s the last time her son mentioned anything about women (never). Aside from Isabel and Hange 'shitty-four eyes’, that is. She raised one of her eyebrows, wondering if this could be the beginning of the hater-into-lover relationship she often watches at Korean dramas. 

“Oh, you’re home early. Something happened?” she asked as neutral as possible despite her giddiness, leaning against the doorframe of Levi’s bedroom. He was buttoning his white shirt, annoyance still clear on his face. However, he forced a grin. 

“Nothing, Mom. Just a friend of Hange’s. She smeared some cake cream on my suit. Don’t know what she’s thinking.” Kuchel nodded understandingly, what a daring girl to do that.

“Is she pretty?” She asked once more, already imagining a scheme upon how they would fall madly in love. 

Her son looks surprised, or somehow like someone who just remembers he forgot something important. He took his tie and walked to her, letting his mother tie it around his collar. (She secretly appreciates how he let her do it, despite knowing how to do it himself. It makes her feel needed) While she ties the red garment, Levi looks intensely to her eyes and mumbles, “ShehasbigeyeswiththesamecolorasyousoIguess.…”

Throughout the years, Kuchel noticed that despite being sweet and kind (to her, at least), her son has difficulties showing feelings he deemed ‘bad’ or maybe ‘weird’. He usually mumbles lengthy sentences that she learned to interpret. Like that time when one of her customers hurt her, 4 years old Levi tried to wash the blood and mumbles how he wanna be stronger and hurt the man back, and how he loves his mother. Or when she woke up in the hospital. Or when everybody in his class praises him for shaving his head when one of his classmates had cancer. Or every time he presented her with a bunch of flowers on Mother's Day. That habit is still there, evidently. 

She simply smiled, deciding to not tease him any further. She patted his chest, telling him to go back to his office, and let the topic go. 

But apparently, the Hange’s airheaded friend story doesn’t stop there.

About a month later, Levi went to watch a musical titled Hamilton with Hange. He always likes musical shows, mainly for the elaborate choreography. She didn’t expect her son to get home so late, and grumpier than ever. She asked him why, but he dismissed her. She didn’t need to wonder for long, because Hange called her (it’s not even a rare occurrence, they’re so close that they often call her randomly in the middle of the night). 

"I tried to set him with my roommate," they said, "Petra is a very sweet girl, not to mention that she's clean and pretty short. She's pretty much perfect for him. I tried to push them into the stuck-in-the-elevator scenario, but I guess Levi ended up saying the wrong thing that Petra smeared her cake -that I ordered- to him. Of course, I didn’t just give up. So, I ordered two Hamilton tickets -it was soo expensive and hard to find!- anyway, I gave one to Levi and another to Petra, and pretend that I'm the one who'll go with them" They talked in a very Hange way, fast and passionate. They sounded really proud of their plan.  “Do you want to meet her too? I bet you two will connect instantly, Imma send you her bakery’s location, how’s that?”

So, the next day Kuchel visited Petra’s bakery and immediately fell in love. She’s like….a sun personified. Like, even her entire appearance was so bright and fun. Her hair was shoulder-length wavy hair, the root was strawberry blonde and it got lighter that the tip was light blonde. Her eyes are big, round, sparkling light brown eyes, and freckles peppered her cute face. She wore an ankle-length light yellow sundress with small blue flower patterns that complement her pale skin perfectly. She talked with a lot of hand motions, and she slips her hair behind her right ears every once in a while.

Yes, this one’s definitely perfect for her Levi.

-

December 22, 5 days after that (surprisingly) emotional phone call. Kuchel woke up to the loud sound of her doorbell. Seriously, the shameless guest was ringing the bell like some kind of madman in the middle of the night. Wait, what if that's a real madman? 

Ah, screw that, she thought sleepily, whoever that is they definitely need to be taught some lesson. She got off her bed, picked a frying pan from the kitchen, and then opened her door.

It's not a shameless nor mad man. 

In front of her door, Leo was sitting on Levi's shoulders while still ringing the bell vigorously with a big grin. Beside him, Petra was fixing her hold to Liam, while the ginger-haired toddler calmly eats his lollipop.

"Gran-Gran!" Leo greeted (gosh, that boy has too much energy for his own good), while his little brother just waved his hand that wasn't holding the lolly. 

Kuchel put down her frying pan, "Hey, guys! Come in!" 

She moved to the side, letting the little family inside. Leo immediately ran off to his favorite playing spot, the cabinet under the stairs. His brother tottered sleepily behind him.  

“So…...what happened to the case?”, she asked with as much sarcasm as possible, while locking the front door again, “Finally realizing your family’s more important than some ruthless murderer?”

A/N : I love Hamilton.

[unmanageable-day]

15. Between a friend and another friend

When you are friends for so long, and it has never come across your mind to date one of them. Until one particular guy friend of yours came to offer you a relationship, a new chapter of life like no other before. 

prev | next

a/n : i hope this is not messed up :’)

Finally, came the day when the last boxes of your stuff had officially moved in to the future house. Nobody was thrilled more than your parents. The big day was really coming and your stomach felt funny. Nervous? Yes, definitely. Ecstatic? Excited? Nah, you were not even sure about that.

After arranging your stuff with typical bickering with the soon-to-be husband, you and Doyoung ended the long day with a big portion of ramyun. He was satisfied looking at the new feeling of his home. The shared closet filled with clothes in similar range of color, shoe drawer that was dominated by your collection of flat shoes, mules and heels, kitchen and dining supplies—including a newly bought tea set, last but not least was the make-up and dressing table full of skin care products.

“The boys want to throw a welcoming party for you,” told him before starting digging in. “For being the new member of this apartment complex, they said.”

“You don't mean a housewarming party in this house, right?”

He chuckled. He definitely read your mind and your horrified expression that you didn't want to do the cleaning after a mess from an occasion with a pack of people. “No. Yuta is booking a restaurant nearby. How about this Sunday? Is that okay with you?”

You nodded, feeling relieved. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Great. I'll let them know.”

“Anyway, Doyoung?”

“Yes?”

“Did Taeyong call you?”

Doyoung was stunned. He had to control his facial expression and his emotion. Thank goodness that he and you had finished eating. Clearing his throat, he started to tidy up the dining table and headed to the sink. “Why?” he asked, his back facing you as he started to wash the ramyun pot.

“Well, I met him, and we talked a bit. I guess he's ready to.. you know, to sort some things up between us. I haven't heard from him again. Did he contact you?”

It takes several days for you to tell me? he said in his head. “Ah, yeah, he did yesterday. We're meeting tomorrow.”

“That's great.”

“Yeah.”

“I hope it will go well for you. Both of you.”

“Wish me luck, I guess?”

“Of course,” you assured him, your voice sounded delighted.

No. Really, wish me luck so I will be the lucky one to get to be with you.

Even the fact that you had decided to move in still couldn't gave him that confidence. He still felt the insecurity consuming him whenever the thought of Taeyong came to his mind.

ㅡ ❆

The dinner with the guys this weekend would remark as the first event after Taeyong finally stopped avoiding you and Doyoung. Hopefully it could be a fresh start for the three of you. You assumed these bestfriends had made up. Although it was inevitable to be the same like the old times, you still wished that things would return to normal.

“Everything will be alright, right?” you asked Doyoung for assurance before heading out. It was funny how you felt nervous to meet your own squad, but as Doyoung's 'housemate'.

“Of course. I've got your back.” He pat your shoulder.

On your way to the restaurant which you decided to go on foot, you were blabbering non-stop about this and that and all random things to overcome the nervousness. Probably it was irritating Doyoung's ears as he didn't respond much. “Okay. Here goes nothing,” you spoke to yourself, breathing in deeply before pushing open the restaurant door.

When you arrived, there were Yuta, Johnny and his girlfriend, Jaehyun, Mark, Donghyuk, Jaemin, Jeno, Sooyoung, and Seulgi already sitting, chattering, and devouring the appetizer. Yuta was the first to welcome you with his loud personality when he saw you by the door. Just then, Taeyong appeared from toilet and he made eye contact with you and Doyoung. You were about to say hi to him, yet he chose to go directly back to his chair. You spotted the empty seat beside Taeyong, so you naturally went there. Doyoung followed and sat down next to you, feeling restless.

“Now that Jooyeon is here, should we cheer for Mr. and soon-to-be Mrs. Kim Doyoung?” Yuta excitedly lead the group for a toast. The mood was instantly liven up, thanks to him. After the first toast, all of you continued to eat.

When you were scanning all the food on the table, Jaehyun offered you a basket of seafood platter, which taken by Taeyong instead. He took the remaining fried fish fillet and put them on your plate, leaving the shrimp and calamari on the basket. You looked at him, not saying anything but he got you. “You're allergic to prawn and you don't like squid.”

You drew a sincere smile. The fact that he still remembered your eating habit somehow made you feel touched. “Thank you,” you almost squealed.

Doyoung silently watched and observed what just happened. Suddenly a bitter taste crept up his mouth although he was munching some baked sweet potato. His appetite was slowly decreasing as he couldn't help but to witness the affection Taeyong showered you.

Taeyong would always picked a food that he thinks you would like. He would make sure that the food he put on your plate didn't contain some ingredients that you disliked. He would check if the food taste spicy or not before he gave some to you. He even switched the chocolate pudding he got for you when everybody knew that it was his favorite dessert.

For Doyoung, this dinner felt like a soft torture he had to endure. He felt powerless. It didn't feel like he was your fiancee. It was like just he was being there as your regular friend. Yes, you were the star of tonight. Being a good friend and partner as you thought you were, you would still talk to him and shared some food, even feeding him with your hand. But Doyoung knew you paid more attention to Taeyong. You were all ears listening attentively to whatever Taeyong was talking about. This bestfriend of yours didn't even steal the spotlight for tonight. Yet he got your fullest attention. And it was shown in his sparkly eyes, how he was comfortably enjoying your company.

“You didn't eat much. Are you sick?” you asked when you arrived home.

“I'm fine.”

“Want me to cook something for you?” You checked the fridge only to find eggs and some side dishes from Doyoung's mom. “Toast with eggs?” you offered.

“That would be nice.”

While waiting for his food, his mind recalled his meeting with Taeyong.

'I assume you already know that Hyemi and I are over,' Taeyong started. 'I've told Jooyeon about that too.' 'I want to say I'm sorry, but I guess that's not the case for you. Am I right?' Doyoung responded calmly. 'You're right.' 'Look, I'm sorry for the way I was. You know how much I value you as a friend. You're very precious for me. And so is she. I'm not gonna lie it still hurts watching her with you. But I guess, I just have to deal with it and overcome it, right?' 'I'd appreciate it. Really.' But, really, how do you deal with it, Taeyong? 'Sometimes I wish you or Johnny were a girl. I'd definitely choose you or him over anything.' The bunny guy tried to laugh without sounded fake. Or awkward. At least Taeyong had tried to make a joke about this already.

Doyoung mindlessly sighed. Although Taeyong didn't say anything weird, what if he tries to win you again this time?

“Did everything go well with Taeyong?” you asked, distracting him and snapping him out of his own thinking.

Getting a yes or no question from you had never been easier. “Yeah, of course,” he quickly answered. Without even thinking.

“I'm glad to hear that.” Soon you joined him on the couch with his toast.

He silently finished the toast, whereas you occupied yourself watching TV beside him. It was oddly quiet. Although you did wonder what might happen with Doyoung, and particularly how his conversation went with Taeyong, you didn't ask him. You didn't tell him what happened when you met Taeyong the other night either. Not telling each other might be a wise choice. Yet not even a single thought crossed your mind that he felt bothered by the fact you and Taeyong had made up.

“Let's go to sleep.” Doyoung got up and put the plate on the sink. He sent you off to the bedroom first.

You had settled under the blanket on the bed while Doyoung was brushing his teeth. Your eyes were shut, trying to sleep but Doyoung's arms sneaking to your waist made you startled and flinched that you abruptly opened your eyes again.

“Sorry. Did I wake you up?” he softly muttered. His fingers traced your hairline and tucked some hair strands behind your ear.

“No,” you mumbled, repositioning your head as you could feel his attempt to shift closer to you.

You wanted to close your eyes again. Yet the way Doyoung intensely stared at you made you uneasy, you had to look away or look at the striped pattern of his pajamas. A part of you was afraid of what he might do if you close your eyes, particularly in this position where you were locked around his arms.

“Do you regret anything until now?”

You squirmed, trying to find a more comfortable position. “Why would I?”

Because there is another man who loves you unconditionally and selflessly. He can make you happy, if you want to be with him. Because he is Lee Taeyong.

Doyoung didn't answer you back. Instead he was brushing your hair gently. Until his hand stopped at the back of your neck. "Just because," he said, before leaning in to plant a soft kiss on your forehead. Then he continued to peck your blushing cheek. He inhaled before he moved closer until his lips were only few centimeters away from yours. “Can I?” he whispered.

You gulped. Your heart was beating like crazy.

This guy was not kidding when he said there is no turning back.

You were contemplating whether to say yes or no. In your mind, both answers would result in awkward outcomes. What happened to 'living with a friend' and 'a roommate sharing a house with'? What kind of roommate who is a friend that do this such an intimate thing?

Oh, wait. Right. Kim Doyoung was not just a friend anymore.

Your eyes were quivering, slightly glancing back and forth at his eyes, his nose, then his lips. Meanwhile he was patiently waiting for your permission, staying still at where he was. You had no idea how your facial expression looked like in his eyes. Was it confused expression? Or maybe terrified? Or even disgusted? That he finally said, “It's okay if I can't.” with a little smile made you even more puzzled. Yet the courage in you suddenly popped up.

"It's not that you can't..." you shyly and hesitantly mumbled, your fist slightly cover your mouth.

The smile on Doyoung's face was getting bigger. “Then it means I can?”

“You said you wanted.. to.. try again..” You couldn't believe you said that. Never had you wanted to be buried alive, or suffocated yourself against the pillow due to embarrassment like this.

Moving away from your neck, his hand reached yours and squeezed it a bit to make it more relaxed. He gestured to guide your hand to hold on to his slim waist, or his back if you wanted. “We're taking it slow, okay?” he whispered as his palm found the back of your neck again. As he leaned in closer, you closed your eyes in panic, just like the first time. You would just let him take the lead because you were already dying from being embarrassed although this is not the first time.

In seconds, his lips finally met yours. Properly, this time. It was a gentle kiss, not particularly a short one since he took a good time to feel the softness of your lips. As if he wanted to preserve the taste of your lips, and at the same time, he wanted you to remember the shape of his lips too. Along with the feelings and the quiet atmosphere when you were just focusing on each other. It was far from a passionate or a hungry kiss as he didn't want to scare you. At least he was hoping it was good enough to make you get used to this.

You almost forgot how to breathe, having no idea how long the kiss lasted. It felt like forever honestly, although it didn't mean you found the kiss awful, or unpleasant. It was just weird to kiss, to be kissed romantically by your very own friend. Maybe you should try to get rid of this kind of thoughts, especially Doyoung will be your husband in a matter of weeks.

He finally released your lips for a breathe of air. Yet he didn't shift away as he still had his nose and forehead against yours. “How was it? Not very bad for the second time, right?”

Unable to look at him in the eyes, you curled your body and buried your face, snuggling against his chest. “Stop asking how it was right away after we did it,” you whined, giving playful slaps while he chuckled at your reaction.

[alynawatchestv]

Alyna watches Xena - 01x01 Sins of the Past

Beware. For the road is long and full of spoilers… I mean, if a 25 years old show can be spoiled. But fair warning.

This thing here was supposed to be short but I made a very long recap of the episode. Sorry not sorry, I’m gonna be making recaps of the series. Yes, every single episode… Not regularly... And it's gonna be long.

Comments and reblogs are appreciated. 👍👍👍

We start with Xena is going through some burned village reminiscing on her past when she was just killing, pillaging and burning villages… And people too, I guess. And then there’s this boy coming out of a burned house asking for food. And when Xena asks him where his parents are, he says Xena killed them. He describes her attack as if the goddess herself showed up and fucked the village up for no reason and Xena is all like:

And it’s really one of the best moments of a pilot, because we’re shown flashback of the attack so even without watching Hercules and meeting Xena there we can see she used to be a bad bitch. So before leaving she gives the kid some bread and cheese so he could hide in his burned house and eat something before he dies of some sickness, gets killed, is eaten by wild animals in search for food etc. Brilliant plan boy, you’re a prodigy.

So then we have the scene where Xena digs a hole and puts her armor her sword and chakram there and frankly, she’s not really a clean lady since there’s still blood and some meat pieces on her chakram.

*rule #1 - wash your weapons from enemies intestines*

And suddenly, a whole bunch of villagers is chased by some warlord taken straight from Mad Max movie. Xena observes the situation, the Mad Max warlord says he’s gonna get the girls (men, smh) and then this blonde girl is all like “take me and leave everyone” and warlords are like “lmfao, nope” and Xena is all like:

*Carless Whisper saxophone solo intensifies*

Because frankly, who wouldn’t be? I know I had the same reaction to Gabrielle so I get Xena. I totally get it.

So when the warlord wants to whip Gabrielle for being insubordinate Xena suddenly jumps into action and starts kicking ass. We get backflips, kicks, punches and a really awesome action sequence until Xena is hit in the head (because she was watching if Gabrielle was safe and it got her distracted. Again, totally understandable).

Men are standing there groaning “argh, grr, rghhg” or something like that and then BOOM! Xena takes out her sword from the hole and with a laugh starts fighting them. And you can see how much fun she has. She kicks warlords’ asses and realizes they’re from Draco so she tell them to say hello from Xena. But who’s Draco? What does he do? Is he more evil then Xena? We don’t know! And… opening!

In a time of ancient gods, warlords… Well, you know it.

So later on Xena is in this small village surrounded by the villagers and Gabrielle is fawning over her and the whole situation, and Gabrielle’s father comes in being all like “thanks for saving us, but now GTFO” and this tall dude behind him wants to take Gabrielle. But Gabrielle is all like “dude, I know I’m supposed to marry you against my will and then die in childbirth or of boredom, but I’m not gonna listen to you. GTFO”. So when he leaves, Gabrielle begs Xena to take her with her. Xena being stoic and supposedly unmoved by Gabrielle words of course disagrees, because “she works alone” and… Then she tells Gabrielle she’s going to Amphipolis, because OF COURSE Gabrielle wouldn’t try and follow her. Nope. Not at all. And she goes like “don’t follow me, you don’t wanna make me mad, do you?” and of course Gabrielle is all like “yeah, no sure, I get it” but then is of course “meh, she’s not that scary. I just need a plan!”

So we move to Draco’s camp where he’s without shirt exposing his bare chest, being all handsome and shit, and being badass when catching almost four arrows at once. But then he’s sort of colorblind… I mean he notices the color of the arrow that wounded him but can’t see who has green arrows when the dude’s arrows are visible from behind his back...

*seriously Draco…*

Anyway, later he’s alone and Xena sneaks in and they have the whole who's tougher bitch, which is Xena of course, and she asks him to leave the village alone (because of her future wife or something) and Draco’s all like “yeah, sure… If you join me” and when Xena says she can’t join Draco, being a typical man he asks why. And we get this really awesome scene where Xena dramatically turns her back, stares at nothing and says she’s going home. OH, DRAMA!

So Draco becomes even a bigger drama queen than Xena and tells our warrior saying he’s dreamt of being in love with her or… fighting in battle or whatever, can’t remember, but Xena turns and Draco goes all soft and says he’ll spare those villagers. But he also asks Xena what's she looking for at home. Being still in drama mode he tells her that when he tried to come home his dad beat the shit out of him with a blacksmith’s hammer. And he survived that. Damn, he IS badass! I mean, have you people ever seen a blacksmith hammer?!

*9/10 parents wouldn't recommend this as an educational tool*

Meanwhile, Gabrielle wants to escape home in the middle of the night and while sneaking out she… Hits strategically placed table waking up her sister Lila. Gabrielle explains to her she needs to follow Xena because she’s in lo… She wants to be a warrior like her and that she doesn’t love Perdicus and it’s her destiny. So Lila being a supportive sister is all like “Go, chase your girlf…. Dreams! Just do it!” and Gabrielle leaves.

*Lila being a supportive sister*

It’s daylight and Xena is riding Argo when suddenly her horse stops all afraid. So Xena gets off the horse that suddenly runs away and… The Blind Cyclops shows up with Draco’s dad’s blacksmith’s hammer! (I honestly don’t know if I used Saxon Genitive in the right way, but I hope you get the meaning). Xena is all like “Fuuuck, that’s a big hammer!” which makes the Blind Cyclops even more badass than he already is, but she stands to fight and humiliates him by dropping his pants. He starts bawling like a baby and Xena leaves him and continues her journey to Amphipolis, because she has no time to deal with Cyclops drama.

But Draco is plotting against Xena. He decides to attack Amphipolis and pretend it was Xena who told him to do it. Plot thickens, you guys.

Gabrielle is afraid of bridges… And gets caught by…Yes, you guessed right. The Blind Cyclops. But being a smart girl she says she’s out here to find and kill Xena because… And here we have very subtexty dialogue:

C: “How’s the young thing like you is gonna kill Xena?”

G: “That’s the point. She’d never let a man get close enough to do her. At least not that kind of do her. But a young, innocent looking girl like me, I’ll catch her totally off guard…

*You sure will, Gabrielle. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*

At the same time, Xena is being followed by Draco’s warlords. They’re dumb enough to think she doesn’t know so she goes all ninja on them, fingers the Mad Max warlord… I mean, she cuts the blood to his body… Pervs. ;) And when she learns about the plan she leaves to stop the invasion.

In the next scene, Gabrielle is chilling out on the road when some old dude stops and tells her to GTFO, because she’s blocking the only route to Amphipolis. So Gabrielle convinces him to take her with him and the old dude agrees.

So while Gabrielle and the old man are traveling on the only route to Amphipolis, Xena is taking a detour through the hills for dramatic effect or something. Basically, New Zealand… I mean Greece is a beautiful place so why not show it, right? Right?

She meets those peasant women singing Bulgarian…  I mean Greek chants and rides through them, but they don’t give a shit being too into chanting and putting on stacks of… Hay, I guess. Meh, whatever.

So Xena reaches Amhipolis and goes into a tavern to drink wine and sleep with beautiful women. But unfortunately it’s not that kind of a tavern and there’s no wine and beautiful women to sleep with. All she meets are angry people, silence and… wait for it… her mother, Cyrene!

Cyrene grabs Xena’s sword and tells her she’s not welcomed there and she should GTFO. Xena wants to rally people against Draco but Cyrene is against and she tells Xena she’d rather die and that she’s not her mother. And it’s a rather powerful stuff, because we only know glimpses of Xena’s past so we don’t really know how big her crimes are. Of course burning one village and killing peasants is a big no no, but Xena is too big of a character to be hated for such a minor offense. Anyway, villagers in the tavern also tell Xena to GTFO so she does.

Draco is pissed that Mad Max warlord told Xena about his plans and tells him to pick a weapon. Sadly it’s not Draco’s father’s blacksmith’s hammer because that’s been stolen by the Blind Cyclops, but a simple spear. Still, Draco proves to be truly awesome by kicking Mad Max warlord’s ass and killing him while telling new plans to his people. Truly, he was a great choice for a pilot.

In the morning, Xena comes back to the tavern looking around hoping to find some wine and beautiful ladies to sleep with, but to her disappointment there are still none. But her sword is there. And her mom is there. Oh boy, this tension between them could cut diamonds in half. But we get a bonding moment where Cyrene and Xena open old wounds so they could heal, and Xena tells her mother she might not be able to set things right, but she’s gonna spend the rest of her life to try. It’s another great moment in this show where we see Xena in her vulnerable state and not all powerful and strong. And this moment is ruined by villagers coming into the tavern saying Xena’s army is burning fields to which Xena answers they’re lying, Cyrene feels all hurt thinking it was all a ruse and leaves, and villagers start throwing rocks at our warrior princess.

But then Gabrielle comes to the rescue! Because Gabrielle has a natural talent to talk her way out of troubles, she uses it to save Xena. She uses a cunning bluff of “if you hurt bad guy’s girlfriend imagine how pissed he’ll be”. So the villagers reluctantly agree and decide to not commit murder. After a small talk Xena takes Gabrielle on her horse and takes her to her dead brother. Because, you know, there’s no better start of a romance than a visit at the crypt.

So Xena is talking to his dead brother saying she’s lost but that she’s gonna be ok, but that she’s alone and then Gabrielle shows up saying she’s not. And by the way that they’re looking at each other we’re to believe these two weren’t into each other from the beginning? Please.

*They’ve known each other for like 1 hour and we get those looks already? So straight indeed*

Meanwhile, the villagers are waiting for Draco to make a deal, but when he shows up he’s threatening to destroy everything and kill everyone unless they tell him where Xena is. And this is another great moment for Draco, because he really is a scary and ruthless dude and I really wish he was more in this show then just 3 episodes. It was a wasted character, imo.

Anyway, while threatening the leader to kill him, Xena shows up and Draco makes fun of her asking about the homecoming. Again, he tries to convince Xena to join him and goes all Palpatine saying she should “celebrate her dark side”, but Xena is all like “pfft, fuck off and let’s fight to the death”. Draco tells her to choose weapons, but Xena leaves the choice to Draco. Now, Draco being a really smart guy and someone who knows how good Xena is with swords, chooses staffs. I’m sure he believes it’ll give him advantage or at least even oit the odds. Xena chooses the conditions and her conditions are to fight on a scaffolding. The first person to touch the ground is gonna die. Draco agrees and tells his people that whoever falls first is to be killed.

Doing a flip with the help of his people he gets to a scaffolding and grabs his staff. Xena is way more of a showgirl. She hits the dude with his staff and when he leans down she jumps on his back and then on a head of another warlord and jumps to meet her opponent.

They start fighting. It’s an even fight and Draco proves to be a worthy opponent. Soon Xena has to fight to stay on the bamboo scaffolding as it starts to fall off. The archers prepare to shoot, Cyrene shows up and everyone is thinking if she’s gonna fall. But no, Xena standing on one bamboo stick starts hitting bamboos under Draco’s feet to make him back out and leave him vulnerable. But Draco stands tough and very soon he manages to make Xena almost fall again. She manages to hang on her staff, her legs barely touching the ground. Cyrene starts panicking, being all teary, because, come on, she’s a mom. No matter how pissed our moms are at us, they worry 24/7.

Draco starts hiting Xena’s hands wanting her to let go and fall, asking her why she would die for the people that hate her. But Xena grabs Draco’s staff with her feet and doing a truly awesome backflip she manages to stand on the scaffolding again attacking him. Draco almost falls but jumps on people’s heads and give Xena a signal to join him.

And the same villagers who earlier denied Xena her wine and beautiful women to sleep with, and wanted her dead are now supporting her… Literally. She manages to stand on the arms of one person and attacks Draco. They do backflips, kicks, punches and all that for a few minutes and then with one swift kick to the chest Draco falls down on the ground and Xena jumps on his chest looking down upon him to let him know he’s just a little bitch and not a match to her skills. Xena promises to spare Draco if he leaves the valley and he agrees.

But one of his warlords decides to sneakily attack Xena from behind. Gabrielle’s warns her, but before the warrior can react Draco throws his knife at him. After all, Draco may be a ruthless warlord, but he’s honorable.

After the fight Xena is preparing to leave when Cyrene shows up and hugs Xena, who asks again for forgiveness and is, of course, given that. It's a truly awesome moment in this pilot.

But, and honestly I have no idea why, Xena doesn’t stay in the tavern for wine and beautiful women to sleep with. Maybe there is no wine and beautiful women to sleep with after all. Instead, Xena starts a fire near some woods when she hears some noise and goes into a warrior mode. But, as it turns out, it’s just Gabrielle saying she wanted to follow Xena without her noticing, but she couldn’t start a fire and it’s cold and there are mosquitoes looking lkke eagles or something.

Xena wants to send her back home, but Gabrielle says she won’t go. There’s a talk about not belonging there and Xena seems to understand Gabrielle completely. So when she gives Gabrielle a blanket we get one of the most beautiful moments in the pilot.

*couldn't find gif so you're stuck with bad screenshot*

And in the morning we see Xena and Gabrielle travelling to new adventures to right wrongs, drink wine and… Oh forget it.

This episode is all kinds of awesomeness. It’s a great introduction to a character of Xena even to those, like me, who didn’t know her from Hercules. It has tons of very well choreographed fights, amazing music and it’s a rreally strong pilot that makes you wanna see more.

10/10

Edit: I got the gif. Thanks @girl4music​ :)

*there’s nothing gay here. nada. zero... mhm...*

[drawlfoy]

Defense Against Your Inability to Respect Curfew p.2

part 1 masterlist request guidelines requests are open!

pairing: draco x slytherinfem!reader

request: yes!

summary: slytherin reader becomes friends with the Golden Trio and draco doesn’t like it. since he’s part of the inquisitorial squad, he catches her leaving the gryffindor common room late one night and drags her to umbridge’s office. he doesn’t know she faints easily...what will happen next??

warnings: fluff, mentions of blood and the mild torture that umbridge put reader through

a/n: i know that this is super late and i’m very sorry about this. i’m starting to seriously buckle down and study for my ACT on the 13th and i’m a little concerned. i need to get somewhere in the 35-36 range for the colleges i’m looking at so i’m a little shaky and not as committed to writing. i’ll make a separate post describing my posting schedule for the upcoming days until my ACT so you’re all more in the loop!

music recs: i was listening to forget about life from alvvays and lost from emily afton while i wrote this

word count: 1,986

Y/N stared at the boy in front of her and grabbed the blankets again, covering her body. Her outer cloaks had been peeled off, leaving her in nothing but the comfy shorts and oversized T-shirt she had thrown on under them. She had never wanted Draco to see her like this. 

“How did I get here?” Her voice sounded stiff and uncomfortable, like she hadn’t had anything to drink for too long.

Draco ran his fingers through his hair and leaned forward in his seat.

“I had to carry you,” he told her, a blush on his face barely visible in the candlelight. “I’m sorry if your back hurts--Umbridge made me drag you out the door, but once she couldn’t see us anymore, I picked you up.”

“Oh.” Y/N didn’t know exactly what to say and pulled the covers up to her chin. “Why?”

“Why...what?” A confused expression flashed across his face.

“Why’d you bring me to your room? You could’ve just...I don’t know, dragged me to my own room or something. Or you could’ve just left me in the hall.”

His face grew noticeably red, even in the limited light.

“I don’t know where your room is,” he explained. “And do I seriously need to justify why I didn’t leave you out in the freezing hallway while you were unconscious?”

“I don’t know,” Y/N responded, a slightly bitter tone creeping into her voice. “I’m just saying that you were perfectly happy enough to take me to Umbridge in the first place, so I don’t exactly know when you decide to start being ethical.”

Draco sucked in an exasperated breath and Y/N readied herself for an angry outburst. Instead, he just sighed the breath out slowly, staring at the candle in his hand.

“I didn’t know,” he told her. “I didn’t know that she...did that to people. I never would’ve brought you to her if I had.”

For some reason, Y/N believed Draco. Maybe it was the way his eyes glowed with concern when he gazed up at her. Maybe it was the way he was taking shaky and uncertain breaths. Whatever it was, she accepted his response.

“Okay,” she told him, noting how his head snapped back up to her to meet her eyes again. 

“Okay.”

Draco slowly rose to his feet, walking over to his bed and sitting down. 

“I brought you some tea,” he offered, holding out the mug that was charmed to stay warm.

Y/N took a whiff of the steam floating out of the drink.

“You like peppermint, right?” His voice was soft and undemanding.

“How did you know it was my favorite?”

“I’m just observant like that.”

She took the mug, bringing it to her lips before pausing.

“How do I know that you haven’t spiked this with...I don’t know, a love potion or something?” 

Draco rolled his eyes and brought his legs up on the bed with him, crossing them and facing her. 

“Please. I have class. Do you want me to take a drink first?” 

Y/N considered the offer for a second before she nodded, holding the mug back out to him. She could’ve been mistaken, but she swore that she saw a flicker of hurt glint in his eyes. 

Draco accepted the mug, taking a sip and swallowing dramatically to show her that he wasn’t faking before pressing it back into her hands. 

Before she took a drink for the first time, she met his eyes one more time.

“And you’re sure you don’t have mono, or oral herpes, or....”

“Jesus, Y/N!” he exclaimed. “What is it with your strong distrust of me? No!”

She laughed and nudged his ribcage while she drank.

“Thank you,” she told him truthfully, offering him the mug again.

They sat like that for a while, passing the mug back and forth while they engaged in chatter. Y/N learned that Lucius Malfoy had an unbridled obsession with white peacocks and that Narcissa nearly kicked him out after he brought 4 more home last summer. Draco learned that Y/N’s parents were lawyers and also what a muggle lawyer did, responding to the definition with “oh, so that explains why you’re so feisty”. 

Y/N had laughed as she took the very last drink from the mug, noticing that there was no tea left and setting it down on the nightstand next to her. 

Once there was no shared objective--finishing the tea--the awkwardness returned. Y/N looked up at the clock to see that it was nearly 3 in the morning. Her realization was confirmed when she heard Draco trying, unsuccessfully, to stifle a yawn. 

“It’s late,” she pointed out, cringing at how obvious it was. 

“Yeah,” he responded, no discernible tone in his voice. 

Y/N was exhausted from the day, but there was a part of her that did not want to leave, so she simply gathered up the covers to her chin and flopped over to face him. 

She nearly jumped when she noticed how close they were. The double beds offered to students in 5th year were not suitable to be shared by two people who weren’t intimate, and this was made apparent when her nose brushed his by accident as she settled in.

“Do you want me to leave?” she asked, praying for him to say no but expecting the opposite.

Draco stared at her, frozen in place, for three agonizing seconds before he responded.

“You can stay for however long as you want,” he told her. His words tickled her face as they left his mouth.

“But do you want me to stay?” she pushed, feeling fear creep into her soul. She’d never been this bold before, especially when she wasn’t sure why she wanted this. 

She could barely see him, but in their proximity she could see his long lashes blink closed once, twice, three times before he responded.

“Yes,” he finally told her breathlessly. 

The pair sat dead still as the air dripped with charged silence, each refusing to meet each other’s eyes.

“Let me see your hand.” Draco broke the silence to pull his hand out from under the covers and held it out. Y/N complied, bringing out her good hand and placing it in his.

“Oh... er... I didn’t mean for that,” he told her. “Your bandaged one.”

Blushing furiously, Y/N dropped his hand and hid that her left hand, drawing out her right and looking anywhere but his face.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured, the heat on her face nearly unbearable. She was intensely thankful for the fact that his lamp was turned off. If it wasn’t, Draco could see her vulnerability written clean all over her face. “I don’t know why I thought...”

“It’s fine,” he said hurriedly as he unwound the bandage slowly, taking special care when he got closer to the skin. “Hey, at least you don’t have a scar.”

He grabbed the candle on the nightstand and held it next to her hand, spotless albeit a bit red. 

Y/N nodded, her mind completely ignoring what he was talking about. She didn’t care about her hand getting a scar on it--no, she was more concerned with the fact that she had just grabbed Draco Malfoy’s hand because she thought he wanted...that. 

Once he placed the candle back on the nightstand, Y/N began scanning the dark room to try and locate her robes. She found them hanging over the chair at his desk and cleared her throat, moving away from him.

“I should really go, I’ve overstayed my welcome,” she told him, making sure to angle her face so he couldn’t see the horrible shade of red she had turned. Y/N was swinging her legs over the edge of the bed when she felt a hand grab her arm.

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he told her, pulling her back. “It’s late, and you’re going to wake up your roommates--you’re rooming with Pansy, right? She’s gonna be pissed if you wake her up.”

“Yeah,” Y/N replied, feeling like she was going to be sick. He was right, and she had no choice but to stay stuck in a room next to a giant, giant mistake. “I can sleep on the floor.”

Draco’s shocked expression would’ve been visible without the candlelight, it was so dramatic.

“Absolutely not! You’re not sleeping on the stone floor right after you’ve endured mild torture!” He lifted up the sheets next to him and gestured for her to join him.

Silently cursing every single deity to ever grace the earth, Y/N slid back into the bed. She scooted as far away from him as she could without falling off the side, turning her back to him and praying for morning to come. 

“I appreciate the offer but I really don’t need this much space,” Draco told her, interrupting one of her frantic mental prayers.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m saying that you should move away from the end, Y/N,” he told her, closing his fingers around her arm and tugging towards him. 

“Can you please just stop?” Y/N pleaded, refusing to give in to his tugging.

“What are you on about?”

No matter how hard she tried, Y/N couldn’t get the words to come out of her mouth. Instead, she just sat there, staring at Draco’s beautiful face illuminated by the candlelight, bewitched and unable to form what she wanted to say.

“Is this because you grabbed my hand?” Draco asked, his voice softening. “Is that what this is about?”

Y/N nodded wordlessly, shutting her eyes so she didn’t have to see him staring down at her like that, all golden hair and snowy eyes and rosy cheeks.

Without her vision, she found herself able to form words.

“I’m so sorry,” she managed to croak. “I misread that situation. I thought you...I thought you meant...”

She trailed off, refusing to finish that sentence and focusing on the the sound of her heart pound. Along with her heartbeat, she also picked up on the sound of Draco shuffling.

Painfully, she pried her eyes open the tiniest bit to see what he had done and was shocked at what was in front of her. His hands were on either side of her head, bracing himself so he could over just above her face. 

“And how did you know I didn’t?” he asked quietly, his voice a low hum. 

Y/N’s shot open, drinking in the sight before her. Draco was slowly lowering his head, his face mere centimeters from hers now. 

“You do?” she whispered, not quite believing what was happening. 

Instead of actually answering her, he pulled away, resting his head right next to hers.

“It’s really late,” he mumbled.

“I know.”

“And I don’t want you to do anything you’re going to regret tomorrow morning.”

“I won’t regret it. I can’t regret something I’ve wanted for a while now.” Y/N’s confession weighed heavily between the two of them as she voiced something she’d never even allowed herself to consciously acknowledge before. 

Without another word, Draco tenderly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush with his chest and clutching her there, pulling a free hand up to stroke through her hair. 

Y/N sighed contently, pushing him onto his back and draping one leg over him so that she was lying on his chest, her head tucked right into the crook of his neck.

Draco’s fingers had decided to switch from her hair and move down to her back, softly pulling up the shirt to trace her skin gently. In response, Y/N pressed her lips to his neck and was rewarded with a sharp breath intake from Draco. 

“Can we sleep?” Y/N asked drowsily after a while, her hands twisted in the shirt of his silk pajamas.

Draco didn’t respond--instead, his rhythmical breathing and paused hands gave her the answer she was looking for. Without another thought, she burrowed her head closer into the crook of his neck, drifting off comfortably. 

final a/n: woah woah woah i really liked writing this even though there’s really no jealous draco in here--i apologize to the person who requested it because i took this in a different direction but i hope you enjoyed what i ended up with anyways! thanks for reading, and please send in requests!

[curse-of-the-dark-emerald]

Curse of the Dark Emerald, Chapter 7.

Welcome back! Enjoy! Let’s see what Robot Eggman and Stone will do next! And here is the CHAPTER  AND “MOMENT” YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!

“You saw that right, Agent Stone?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Not that you’re very observant as I am, but I assume you’re thinking what I’m thinking, right?”

“Yeah, from what the robot's memory chip recorded, Sonic has displayed tremendous strength and agility than ever before.”

The two men after Sonic's life had just finished reviewing the footage of the battle with Sonic and the robots, Robotnik paid attention to every tiny detail from start to finish. The video was captured from the perspective of a different robot that was observing from afar. The last scene shown before leaving was Sonic ripping its chest open. 

“What do you think has caused him to suddenly be better in fighting?” Stone timidly asks but his curiosity was too high to be afraid to ask his boss.

“That should be obvious,” Robotnik's metallic voice shudders with a cold malice, “That jewel he found last night.. must have a lot to do with it, and my theory is..”

Stone turned in his seat to hear, “What?”

“It’s his fear. I, who loathes all human emotions and lack of them myself; I understand how they work at least. When you took away some of his soul, something new and powerful was awakened in his psyche to cause that transformation.”

Stone's eyes widened in stunned fascination. “You know what, when we track Sonic down I was thinking, what if..”

“No no, let me say it.” Robotnik silences Stone with his fingers, “Because I want to first, we need to find him in that form and take that jewel back.”

“So we're on the same page!” Stone skips in his seat and grins. “When you do get that thing back, what’s the plan?”

Robotnik's red eyes clicked and flicker; “We will crush him and harness its power of course!”

Robotnik looks at the desk clock by Stone, it reads 4:38 pm. Dusk was an hour and a half away.

“We will set out to confront the Wachowski resident at sunset, if my theory is correct, the creature will put on a little show for me.”

Stone gulps a knot in his throat, he didn’t know if it was anticipation or the lingering guilt that was haunting him in the back of his mind.

...

Back at the house and sitting in the kitchen, Tom and Wade sat at the bar table, Tom helped himself to some coffee and Wade had his own glass of water. Sonic was upstairs taking a quick rest from the fight, in which earlier he was afraid to do so…

An hour before...

“I am exhausted, but are you sure?” Sonic was at the bottom of the attic staircase and hesitated to go to his room, still worried about more bots coming to attack,

“If any of those things show up we’ll take care of it; but we’ll wake you up if it’s too much.” Tom bent down to rub the young worried hedgehog on the ears,

 “You’ve dealt with a lot of hell and I’m more concerned about you than them, so please, get some sleep, Sonic.”

Now…

Wade looks into his partners eyes, both curiosity and his own worry mixed in his being. While Sonic slept in his room, Tom quietly told Wade the events that took place from the first hour of the night before at the dinner table, to where they sat now. He filled Wade in with everything he wanted to know. 

“So, from what you’ve explained something’s happening to the kid? Is he dying? Or sick maybe?”

Tom grinned and became a bit amused with his friends guess, 

“No, he’s not dying, I’ll probably have Mads take another look at him, but he’s...I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s definitely something going on with him that I don’t fully understand...yet.”

Wade gazes at the black Chaos Emerald on the table, now knowing what it was and its capabilities, he had a really bad feeling about it. 

“This emerald-thingy was causing all those strange lights in the other town huh? Makes me ask now, where are the other ones; he mentioned there’s more..”

“I don’t know that, either.” Tom gently grasps his coffee mug and let the liquid inside warm his hands, “They could be right under our noses, or scattered across the universe.” 

“And, the kid isn’t the type to be easily pissed off, right?” Wade glanced at the spot where Sonic's room was located upstairs. 

“Yeah, pretty much.”

A humming from the garage rumbled the door leading to it following the engine of Maddie’s car rolling in, she was now getting home.

Both men look at each other, “I’ll tell her everything, and what are you going to do in town?” Tom asks.

“Well, I know everyone else is probably wondering where I am.. and I should head back, but I don’t want to leave you guys alone; what if that crazy guy who’s after you shows up? I still haven’t forgotten what he did to the staff months ago.” Wade shrugs one shoulder at him.

“You have a good point. Stay if you want to. We just need to make sure Sonic is safe.” Tom nods in agreement.

Maddie enters through the door, still wearing her vet scrubs and immediately, sees her husband and Wade, in her brain she assumed something bad was going on and hastily drops her belongings down, 

“What did I miss? Is Sonic okay?”

“He’s upstairs,” Tom replies.

“Has he been up there since I left this morning?” Now, she was really worried.

“No, no. Me and him went out for some food, but..Maddie..” 

Tom didn’t know where to begin to explain what was going on first.

“That crazy government guy is back and he’s after Sonic and Tom again.” Wade finished it for his friend.

Maddie’s jaw drops.

“Oh my god.” She sighs loudly, “But how? I saw you two send him off in a portal!” She rubbed her forehead and could feel the oncoming headache in her skull.

“We don’t know, but that’s not it, he’s brought in a bunch of mechanical looking Sonics with him and they ambushed the diner today.” Wade added.

“Oh my god…” Maddie repeated herself and not only was she worried now but angry. She put the pieces together and understood now..that evil doctor was responsible for Sonic’s injuries.

Tom gets up and put his arm on her, “I know he can defend himself, but he’s not only injured, I’m worried about his mental well-being.”

Maddie nodded and looked down at the floor, “But what’ll we do? He’s gonna come ruining the house again, and I’ll clock his lights out if he does.” 

Wade bent his neck back and made a soft chuckle to himself. Yep that’s like Maddie. 

“Pretzel lady?”

All three adults turned to the voice by the kitchen entryway, and Sonic grinned at his motherly guardian, and in a blink of an eye he was hugging her legs.

“Hey, sweetie. Are you okay?” Maddie bent down and rubbed her hands on his back quills.

“Sorta. I tried to sleep, but I’m too nervous about Eggman.” Sonic fumbled his fingers and his glove was still ripped from the battle earlier. 

Tom looked at the kitchen clock, it read 5:40 pm, 30 minutes till the sun was leaving. 

“Hold still for me, will you Sonic? I just want to check you again.” 

Maddie saw the new scuffles and cuts on Sonic's arms and face, and he did as he was told. 

“Does this hurt here?” Maddie puts pressure on his fingers and forearm to check for any broken bones.

“No, I’m fine. Really.” Sonic shrugged and forced a smile, “It’s just a few scratches.”

“If you say so.” Maddie pats his head, and looks at Tom and Wade.

“So, what’s the plan?”

Tom looks at Wade quickly then back at his wife, “I really don’t know, egg-guy or whatever could be coming back anytime now and we should be on guard.”

“I’ll step up on that,” Sonic inserts a serious tone and points his thumb to his chest,

“Remember, it’s me he’s after and he can’t catch up to me no matter how fancy his robots are, but I need you all to know this…”

The three adults listened intently and Sonic jumps to grab the tainted Chaos Emerald, displaying it to them in his ripped up gloved hand;

“I have to fix this. No matter how you put it, I’m mostly to blame for making the Emerald turn into this and we have to restore its powers. When these become messed up, I was told by Longclaw bad things can happen.”

Tom was going to make a response but a loud bang on the front door interrupted the conversation.

Both Tom and Wade took their guns in hand, Tom made a silent signal to Maddie, and she understood what it meant: take cover.

The two adults and with Sonic right behind them inches closer to the door, readying for what could be outside. Maddie takes herself and Ozzy to a hiding place in silence. Ozzy could sense the tension from his owners and knew to be silent and on guard for Maddie as well. 

Another loud knock hits the door, Wade and Tom take each side, and Tom shouts,

“This is the Sheriff of Green Hill! Who is it!?”

No answer.

“It’s obviously a trap, you know that right?” Sonic throws his hands, warning them.

“Identify yourself! If you don’t we'll take precautions if you’re a threat!” Tom yells again, and glances at Wade.

“On count of three…”

Wade nods.

Sonic positions himself with one hand on the floor, ready to stop any oncoming attack and enemy awaiting…

“One, two…”

Tom grasps the door-knob.

“Three!”

Tom shoves the door open with he and Wade aiming to whatever could be outside, 

But nothing. They scan around for anything or anyone but see nothing in sight.

“I’m getting sick of this…”

Sonic, whose head was bowed down and eyes covered in shadow, runs ahead of the two and shouts, 

“You coward!! Come out and fight me already!!” 

The sun was halfway set on the horizon, and not far from it..the full moon was soon going to take its place…

“I’m sick and tired of playing these games, Egghead! I’ll kill you!”

Sonic stops himself and puts his hand on his mouth, shaken by the words that came out. 

Tom and Wade still kept guard but they too were now really worried about what Sonic could be capable of, but it wasn’t the time and place to dwell on it.

“Very well, Sonic!”

A voice, that voice...Sonic and Tom immediately recognized it; callous and mocking with a hint of amusement.

A few of the dark blue robots finally hover downwards to them, their arms and hands pose and reveal their weapons aimed at the three, their red eyes piercing them down. 

In the center of them all, a figure with another pair of red circular eyes glow in the darkness, a man with his hands tucked behind his back, snidely chuckling at them like a giddy child.

“Glad to see you’re alive and well.”

“So you finally show up, Eggman.” 

Sonic gives the most angry glare he could muster at the doctor, shaking his fist at him, “I don't want to prolong this any more than I have to. Let’s get it over with.”

Sonic runs in a blue flash straight at Robotnik, intending to punch his face..but the attempt became slack and Sonic’s expression turns confused; Robotnik was quick enough to catch this and stops his fist from reaching him and threw the teen back, Sonic yelled in surprise and falls on his back, stunned. He sits up,

“You’re...not Eggman...you’re a robot, too?!”

“Correct. I was created to take his place if something were to ever happen to him. And here I am.” Robot Eggman bowed with one arm outstretched,

“Now, there’s something I need from you, before you worry your little heart about attacking, first..”

Tom and Wade also yelped in surprise from behind Sonic, the two of them were pinned down by unsuspecting robots to the ground, they struggled to free themselves but the mechanical copies held a death grip on them. 

“Donut Lord!” 

“Sonic, don’t worry about us! For just this once, run and save yourself!” Tom begs.

                  Hearing that...something in Sonic's mind snaps…

Run. 

Hide. You can’t save them. 

You’re only good at running and avoiding your problems…

You don’t need them...

The black Chaos Emerald Sonic dropped on the ground pulsates, a little red, glowing light from its center begins to show. The sun was now gone…

                                                       “No.”

Tom and Wade stopped struggling and froze, Sonic's voice.., it was dark, guttural, and thunderous. The very sound of his voice alone seemed to make the air crack. Sonic never felt this much bitterness towards something and he didn’t have a sliver of care this time of how he looked and sounded like. He just wanted to rip into something..

They saw his eyes flash red at them, 

“I’m tired of running away, and listening to you, Tom.”

Wade gulps in stunned silence, his stomach dropped in a knot seeing Sonic's face so grim. 

“I’ll handle this myself, since you have such little faith in me.” Sonic spat with venom at his best friend.

“Sonic..” 

The corners of Tom's eyes started to water with tears. He wasn’t hurt from what Sonic said, but was so scared for him…

“What’s happened to you, buddy?”

“Are you done talking?” Eggman asks in a bored tone while looking at his hand, waiting.

Sonic takes a few steps forward, his teeth revealing his small fangs, 

“Shut up. I’ll tear you to pieces..”

The full moon illuminated its cold light just behind the robotic doctor, the man was waiting for it..

“You just wait until I-“ Sonic stops in his tracks and lurches forward, his chest and heart throbbed in pain so hard it makes him fall to his knees.

“What’s the matter? Having some heartache over the fact you’re weak?”

Sonic could barely hear Eggman, he held himself up with his hands on the ground, his body was stopping him from moving any further and he grunted and tried to take deep breaths to calm his panic and hold back his pain.

“Urrghh! Agghh!”

“Sonic!?” Tom cries out and he knew he was helpless to do anything.

                               “Show me your true self, hedgehog..”

“Aaaaghhh!!!”

Sonic screams in pain and fear as his body once again begins to shift and morph. His gloves rip open to reveal the long sharp claws growing out, white fur pricks out of his wrists, his short fangs extend past his lips as his fur darkens to midnight blue, his shoes blossom out the metal spikes again and his quills become dipped in white tips..and finally with a tortured howl, the newly transformed Sonic sets his green slit eyes at his enemy…he groans angrily;

“What have you done to me, Eggman!!?”

“Don’t blame me, this is all in the good name of science.”

“I’m seeing everything on my end, Doctor.”

In a different area Agent Stone was watching on surveillance, “What now?”

Eggman didn’t reply to his assistant and and claps his metal hands together,

“I’m done here for now. I’ve collected all the information that I needed to see.”

The robots who held down Wade and Tom finally release them and fly off towards Eggman. The two with their guns in hand standby if they were to attack at any point. Sonic, still staring down his enemy, was livid, of course. 

“Now listen carefully, if I may call you “werehog”, you can find me at the same place you found your precious little diamond from last night, we can finally settle our conversation from there.”

Eggman turns and walks away, not before with a few final words, “Bring me the jewel and I may spare your friend’s lives and to make it a sweeter deal, I’ll cure you of your curse. Hahaha!”

He continuously laughs as he makes his leave and disappears into the darkness, the robots along with him.

Wade, who let out a breath he was holding clutched his chest, “Oh my gosh, I really thought I was gonna..”

He stops himself and runs back to the house, “Hey, Maddie! Are you okay in there?” 

Tom finally comes to Sonic's side, who was looking at the ground, angry...but most of all, frightened. 

“Tom…” Sonic's voice shakes with fear,

“Hey, it’s okay for now, he’s gone.”

Sonic looks at his hands, which tremble and shake, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. His claws gleamed in the moonlight. 

“What’s..what's happening to me? I don’t know what to do..”

Sonic looks into Tom’s greenish blue eyes,

��I’m scared…”

Tom put aside all his own fears, frustrations and concerns for himself, right now he knew Sonic needed the one thing to calm him down…

“It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be alright..” Tom gets to knee height and embraces Sonic into a firm hug.

Sonic’s chin cupped on top of his shoulder, his face and eyes cloaked in so much fear...till finally his tears fell and were released. Sonic returns the hug back and sobs onto Tom's uniform. His cries echoed into the empty night.

[dailyaudiobible]

01/14/2021 DAB Transcript

Genesis 30:1-31:16, Matthew 10:1-23, Psalms 12:1-8, Proverbs 3:13-15

Today is the 14th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is a joy and honor and a privilege and a delight and everything good to come around the Global Campfire together today with you, with everybody as we come in out of the cold, yeah, and the chaos that life can bring our way and all the unexpected things that…that just can blow our day apart. It’s so easy to get distracted. It's so easy to get underwater. It's so nice to have one place where none of that is allowed, right? So, we just kind of come in here take a deep breath exhale take off our hat and scarf and coat, sit down around this Global Campfire and just warm ourselves knowing that we’re not alone and that this is a peaceful place. This is a place to let it go. Like we could spend just a few minutes here. All the distress that is outside, it'll still be there. We can pick it all back up if we want to. It’s not gonna go anywhere. Nothing’s gonna happen so bad that we can’t just have a few minutes of serenity. But man, this a few minutes of peace, this little oasis that we have created for ourselves here, it can change the paradigm, it can change the way we look at everything so we can go back and meet our day with new perspective. So many of the things that jump up and down in demand our attention, they have no right to our attention. And if we walk with God, we will be doing what were supposed to be doing. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the book of Genesis, obviously. And we are in an interesting story, the story of Jacob. Jacob had to leave his family because he stole his brother’s birthright and his father's blessing to the firstborn, had to flee, went to Bethel, saw the stairway to heaven, made it to his uncle Laban, worked for 14 years and achieved two wives who were sisters - Rachel and Leah. Rachel, he loved. Leah, she was the surprise wife. The thing is Leah is the only one that's able to have children at this point. She has had four sons. Those sones were named and they will all become tribes of Israel. Now we’re about to see a war over who can have children and who can have the most children. And the irony is that the story unfolding before us is how the tribes of Israel were formed. And, so, let's dive in. Genesis chapter 30 verse 1 through 31 verse 16 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Genesis, this is a context thing and it's an important context thing. And, so, we've kind of been laying the groundwork as the story unfolds. Jacob has two wives Leah and Rachel. Leah and Rachel are two sisters married to the same man. You can only imagine. And we see that the most valuable thing at this time is to have more…as many children as possible. This is how the survival happens in this kind of clan and tribal time. The more people there are in a family, the more…well…the more everything, the more power, the more manpower. The…the more crops, the more livestock, the more everything that can be maintained. And, so, an eventual kind of war over having the most children breaks out between the two sisters and eventually involves their handmaidens as well. And, so, a bunch of children have been born. We should notice or at least kind of have some familiarity with those names if we’ve been around the faith for very long. Those names become the names of the tribes of Israel. So, these are the firstborn that become the tribes of Israel but they’re the children of Jacob. So, how do they become the tribes of Israel. Jacob's name is going to change. We’ll witness it ourselves in the coming days. His name will become Israel. And, so, these are the children of Israel. This is how they came to be. This is the surrounding context, a bunch of trickery, Jacob running to Laban, him getting a bunch of trickery, 14 years to become…to…to receive his wives. And…and now they're talking about going back to their homeland and try to figure how to get away from Laban. There’s all of this going on. And as these children are being born there’ll being born in this struggle. That is the story of the people of the children of Israel, the struggle. Israel means one who wrestles with God.

And then we move into the book of Matthew and Jesus is sending his disciples out and giving them instructions about how they are to go. And they are indeed counterintuitive instructions because they're basically not to take anything that can give them security or give them any sort of sense of control. Like Jesus is sending them out and He even says it, “I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves.” But He’s sending them out without any way to defend themselves essentially. Or is He? Because what He's asking them to do is to remain utterly and completely rooted in their dependence upon God, even for their very words that they're going to speak. Maybe that is a way more equipped than any of the preparation they could do. Maybe Jesus is teaching them and us a better way of being in this world, one where we are not constantly try to prepare for every eventuality and spending our whole lives in preparation for things that aren’t going to happen. Maybe we could depend upon God completely. That’s easy enough to say. And we would all, “yes. Yes, I want to do that.” We have to move in that direction in order for that to happen. Like for us to achieve that, for us to get there we have to go in that direction, which means we have to go in a different direction than our culture is going, which we find is so much the message of Jesus. But Jesus said something really important. We are 14 days into this year and Jesus said something very important, “but everyone who endures to the end will be saved.” We don’t gotta get into a bunch of that right now because that…I’m just pointing it out…that theme, we will not be able to escape that theme, the theme of endurance for the whole year. But as the year continues on there will come a point where endurance is the central theme that is coming out of the Bible. And, so, it’s important for us to observe it right here at the beginning. None of us like enduring, right? None of us really…but listen did you make some New Year's resolutions? Maybe you are here because of a New Year's resolution where you want to strengthen yourself spiritually and find out what the Bible finally says. Probably in combination with that you're on a diet and you might be getting’ sick of salad by this time, we’re two weeks in. The only way you are going to achieve the goals that you set for yourself are to endure, right? So, if it's 20, 30 pounds you gottta dump this year or whatever, you're gonna have to endure the cravings and you're gonna have to endure the habits in order for them to change. You’re gonna have to stick to it and endure. If you're exercising, right? I mean you hit the wall. If you're lifting weights, you can only do so much, but you are enduring, tearing the muscle so that it can become stronger so that you can endure more and grow stronger or run farther or walk farther or faster or whatever. The only way to expand is to accept endurance as a part of the story. It's a part of the spiritual journey as well. What we’re gonna find is that like we’re not as compartmentalized as we think we are. Everything about us is integrated and it all works together, and endurance is what makes us grow. And Jesus is saying that, and I point it out here, so that we can notice that. Every time we hear the word endure, let's remember that. It's a central theme in the Bible and it's an important part of our journey.

And then lastly for today is the book of Proverbs. Listen…listen to this. “Joyful is the person who finds wisdom.” Do you want Joy? Do you want to be joyful? Then find wisdom. And we must find wisdom. “Wisdom is more profitable than silver and her wages are better than gold. “Wisdom is more precious than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with her.” We can just take that as a nice thought, or we can understand this as a reality. Wisdom enables us to gain or achieve all of the rest of life. All of the things that we’re scratching and clawing to get, hoping that it will just fall into our lap or somehow come easily. Everything in life will come through endurance and through wisdom. But with those two things, endurance and wisdom there is very little that we cannot accomplish as long as we are willing to take however long it takes and as long as we are able to count the cost and weigh out the decisions allowing wisdom to speak instead of our own emotional desire then there's very little we can't accomplish. Wisdom is more valuable than gold. Let’s take that to heart.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and again the way that it speaks, the way that it comes to us simply offering the hand of friendship. All of the sudden we’re finding out we’re not getting the beat down we thought the Bible was gonna give us. Yeah, maybe we’ll get smacked a couple times along the way because we need to wake up, but this isn’t a beat down, this isn’t a shame-fest. This isn’t something to make us feel more and more like a failure so that we’re more and more in hiding. This is an invitation to come forward and be true and let it all go and not play by those rules anymore. You are giving us what we need to live this life if we will accept it. Holy Spirit come, give us the wisdom to see it and to perceive it we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned and stay connected.

Be familiar with the Community section. Of course, all of this can be accessed using the Daily Audio Bible app as well. Si, if you are using the Daily Audio Bible app you can just press the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. If you’re using a computer or whatever just become familiar with the Community section. You will see that right at the top of the navigation section. This is where the Prayer Wall is. This is where the different links to different social media channels are. This is where to get connected. This is where the Global Campfire is. So, check that out and be familiar. Pray for your brothers and sisters, even as they pray for requests that you might have.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you humbly, truly, deeply, humbly. Thank you for your partnership. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible this is Isabel from Australia I’m in Melbourne. I just wanted to thank you all. I love you family. Just thank you Brian and Jill and China and Ben and that beautiful Ezekiel. It’s been amazing listening to Daily Audio Bible. I’ve been listening now for over three years it’s been such a blessing to my life. I started to listen to the Daily Audio Bible Kids because I am introducing my three-year-old granddaughter introducing to the Bible and…and to learning about, you know, to listen to the Bible so she can actually teach her teach her daughter about the word of God. And it’s just amazing listening to your Ezekiel. You’re so much…you’re so much like your dad and your mom__. And you’re amazing. I’m so proud of you and everything that you’re doing. So, congratulations and well done. And I just want to say…say thank you to everybody. I’ve been praying for so many of you on this Daily Audio Bible and every time I hear the prayer requests. I don’t always call in, but I always pray, and my heart goes out to my family. I love you’s all and God bless you’s all and may you have a beautiful happy new year, and may the Lord give you the desires of your heart this year, that this year would be a year of blessings in your family and restorations in your family and that all your kids too that are struggling, that the Lord brings them back to His ways Lord. And also, I just ask You Lord to bless each one of you, to just come before Your presence Lord Jesus Christ and I just thank You Father for this beautiful Daily Audio Bible family, Lord. Everyone that’s going through problems, and family problems, and, You know children’s problems, and marriage problems I just ask You Lord that this be the year of restoration, a year of revival Lord for every family Lord. And I just ask You Lord to be with each and every one of them Lord, that You enable them. Lord Jesus Christ I pray. I love you’s all…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Jane Ruth from Nebraska. I’ll share more later but I just heard Hope from the Heartland sharing the fact that her mother had just passed away in the nursing home. She had just been notified and her mom had early onset Alzheimer’s. And I want you to know how terribly sorry I am for your loss and for the way that that happened. And I just wanted you to know that my mom passed away, and granted she had Alzheimer’s. It was in November 2013, but I wanted you to know that God spared her a lot of suffering. My brother, my oldest brother had…had passed away two years before she had passed almost of the day and it was amazing how God had just saved her a lot of pain and suffering and a lot of the things that happened and the way she interpreted them in the way that she had shared with me. I mean, there were times when she had talked to me like I was her husband, or I was her mother, or I was her best friend or, I…you know, and sometimes I was even her daughter. Amazing as that may be. But I believe God really does take care of His own and I wanted you to know that I saw that. I experienced that with my mom. And, so, I hope that comforts you. I really do love each and every one of you and I believe we are family. I love you. And may God bless each and every one of you.

Hey this is Jared calling from Duluth Minnesota it is January 9th about 2 o’clock in the morning, day 624 of my journey in the DAB consecutively, day nine of the new year. The exhortation from John in Matthew chapter 7 from Brian about knowing God so hit me and so moved me. Do I know God? Do I know about God? Do I really know him? Thought-provoking and heart-searching questions. My mind went to Philippians 3…3 verse 10 where it says that I may know Him the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable to His death. And I prayed that prayer that, O God that I may know You, may I know the power of Your resurrection, may I know the fell…fellowship of Your sufferings and be conformable…be made conformable to Your death. Oh God that I may know You, that I may know You. Indeed, saying hello God. Please come. Show Yourself mighty on our behalf in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family I just finished listening to January 8th and heard the passage about. you know, judge not lest you be judged, and you will be judged by the measure that you judge others. And after listening to Brian’s commentary just about how…just about forgiveness and if we don’t forgive then, you know, it leads to bitterness and poison. And, so, I just…after listening to that and thinking about, you know, even this past week in my own life having to forgive somebody else for words that were spoken. And even within my own family seeing how over the years of exactly that, words that were spoken, hurtful words, how it can cause pain. So, I just want to call and pray right now specifically into that passage and pray for families. And, so, Lord heavenly Father I just pray God that You would reveal to us in our own hearts in any way that we have been critical towards others, anyone that we have offended, Lord that You would reveal that to us and…and…and Lord that we would just turn from that. I pray for healing for families that are still experiencing the pain of words that were spoken years ago. Lord I just pray that You would root out any…any critical spirits or any divisive spirit within our families God and within our nation in the United States. And God we just pray against that. Lord we just pray for forgiveness and healing within our own family…

Hello this is Ivonne from New York. I’m calling in. I…I just want to thank God for Hope of the Heartland from the Heartland. Just your name has reached into my heart and…and broken a bitterness that I’ve had for years as you began to give your message about your mom and the early onset of Alzheimer’s. I personally am asking for prayer that the bitterness will be broken in me regarding the caregiving to my mom who’s 90. I’m 68 years old, young, and there’s a bitterness, a resentment for having to care for my mom who also has dementia. And I feel as though my entire life has been robbed and that my mom. From an early age, my…I…I was an adult child always caring for my mom and her needs and never establishing a real relationship with my mom of love. And now at this point in our lives she’s so bitter and angry towards me and…and critical that…that I’ve I have the same bitterness in me. And I just want it to stop. I want my heart to be soft again towards her. I know that she can’t help what she’s doing but I just ask for prayer to please help me to be loving to my mom. Thank you DAB family. Pray your prayers. You’ve always been there for me and I thank you.

Hello this is Emily from Norway. I want to pray for the woman that called in. She was from London and earlier she was a Muslim and now she have been a Christian. I thank You Father for my sister. I thank You that You comfort her and strengthen her and…and help her in the new journey she have begin. I thank You Father for Your love for us all and for her and that You give her all the things she need every day. Thank You for Your goodness Father in Jesus’ name. Amen.