#sit on the tail like a bean bag chair...

[termagax]

[irishmammonagenda]

You pout, arms crossed up against your chest, staring at your boyfriend who currently has his eyes fixated on the game on his PC, mouse and keys being clicked rapidly while the otaku sits cross legged on his desk chair, tongue sticking out in anticipation as he progresses with the battle.

You shift in the bean bag that you made yourself at home on, having long set you DDD down, finding that it had completely lost its entertainment value. Call you a spoilt brat, more millte than the ten year old's in makeup aisles at supermarkets, but you wanted your boyfriend's attention God Dammit! And you wanted it now!

The Avatar of Envy pays you no mind as he continues playing his game, having probably forgotten you were in the room. Well you had been here for hours quietly on your DDD. It was fair, you supposed, though as he starts singing the praises of a certain Ruri-chan, the only thing you could feel was your boyfriend's sin.

That seemed to remind Leviathan of your existence. You huff. He reaches a checkpoint and turns around, jumping when he sees you. "O-oh! S-sorry! M-MC...I-i forgot you were there!" He says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head as his face turns a red that brings out the purple of his hair.

"You should be sorry...." You sulk, sinking further into your seat, Levi flatlines, eyes widening as he nearly falls off his own chair.

"I-I am! I just got so into the game! And you were so quiet...and I-" He rambles apology upon apology as he stumbles clumsily closer to you, finally reaching within inches of you but hesitating. Something along the lines of 'How could they want a pathetic otaku like me anywhere near them right now?!' no doubt going through his head.

You scrunch your nose up, quickly closing the distance with a soft, chaste kiss on the lips. Simple. Leviathan still flatlines, if he was an android he would've stopped working. You grin, giving him another kiss, just as soft but a little less chaste, he blubbers something in his flustered blushy state, demon form popping out. While your pretty boyfriend was normally shy, his instincts were not, while he hid his face and sparkling eyes from you in his awe, his tail wrapped around your waist, bringing you impossibly closer to you, something you gladly accepted as you took Levi's hands away from his face and gave him another kiss, he might as well have been the Avatar of Greed with how greedily he was kissing you back.

Holy fuck, you love your boyfriend.

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood: Polarity

Chapter 1: Sanctuary.

Title By: @oogaboogaspookyman

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

“Uugh…”

A drones hand, the palm scared with burns and the wear of nicks and cuts fumbles blindly toward the refurbished alarm on their nightstand, slapping the faded wood first before slaming the the alarm with their fist aggressively enough for the device to rattle.

The arm flops over the side of the bed with a deep purple cover, the soft purple LED on the back of their hand scraping against the hardwood floor as the being it was attached to attempted to go back to sleep now that the harsh digital beeping had stopped.

The bedroom was adorned with band posters, AC-DC, Metallica, Lamb of God, and Thousand Foot Krutch all haphazardly pasted onto the smooth wooden planks that made up walls. Two Guitars hung up on the walls, a purple hued electric one and a simple accostic one just below it.

On the desk, just in front of the bed, was a homebrewed laptop, thick and bulky, the top being stickerbombed with skulls, bats, and stars. Currently, there was a progress bar displayed for pirating music.

The grey office chair in front of the desk was old and slightly damaged, long scratches that had been patched and patched again throughout the years.

Along the three shelves that dotted the room, there were animal skulls, one with antlers, another with goat horns and sharp teeth, and yet another with a long snout and six eyes, paired with those were small trinkets, a lava lamp, a never-solved rubric’s cube, and a well worn, well loved little bat plush.

A lavender colored bean bag sat against the wall, squished from being used over and over and over again.

Filtered sunlight peered through the window, and a symphony of exotic bird sounds could barely be heard through the thick pane of glass that made up the window.

Light snoring filled the room as the drone fell asleep again, the blankets shuffling as they adjusted.

The door flung open.

“Tera! You're gonna be late for school again!” Came an older, yet familiar voice, her hand on her hip. Purple hair now tied in a long braid that went over her shoulder and signature beanie absent. She wore a dark purple sweater under a lack leather studded jacket.

Uzi Doorman sighed as the only response she got from her daughter was a deeper snore.

She raised her hand; a purple solver symbol appearing in her hand and around the blanket edge, pulling it off and exposing her 17 year old daughter. Long, black, messy hair, a tank top, and many scars covering her body, a darker grey standing out against the white of her chassis.

“Ter. Ter!”

“Huwah?” Tera grumbled, Sleep Mode message switching to a very sleepy display of closed eyelights, her hands come up to cover her visor. “Ugh. Mooom… Five more minutes…?”

“Uh-huh… and five more minutes turns into twenty and then an hour… Been there Jellybean. Get up, school time.” Uzi replied as Tera sat up, rubbing her visor and yawning, showing off a fearsome display of fangs.

“Schools stupid… Didn't you drop out?” Tera asked, waiting until her optics calibrated and everything wasn't a blurry mess.

“To raise you. And you know… I wasn't getting straight C's in all my classes like you.”

“It's great parenting to call your kid dumb Mom.” Tera sassed back. “And I get A's in Athletics and Biology!”

“I'm not calling you dumb, technically I'm calling you average.” Uzi smiled. Leaning against the doorframe. “Athletics is a gimme. I'll give a point in Biology though.”

“You try sitting still and listening to Mr. Riker drone on and on about math. Which. By the way, we're computers. We do that automatically. Why do we have a class for it?” Tera stretched, her back and shoulder joints making a grinding noise as she very subtlety winced, so subtlety her mother didn't notice.

“Same reason why you have a C in it.” Uzi chuckled. “Though arguing with you feels too much like arguing with myself, so I won't egg you on.”

“Gracías…” Tera replied, standing up and stretching out her long tail with a purple head on the end, the tail yawned too, blinking sleepily. Tera opened her inset closet and pulled out a red flannel shirt, which she slipped over her tank top.

“Still gotta go though.” Uzi said as she walked down the hall and down the stairs, her boots making them creak.

“…Bite me.” Tera grumbled, her tail twitching in irritation.

“Hah!” Came floating up the stairs, making the teenager roll her eyes.

She grunted as she bent down to grab her bag sitting next to her desk, a simple black duffle bag that had already been packed the day before. Her joints groaned and creaked, stiff from sleeping.

She pulled the bag up over her shoulder, and used the head of her tail to shut the door behind her.

The door directly in front of her in the upstairs hall was labeled Bishop, the shiny silver metal his name was ingraved on being well polished, compared to hers, which was dull and rather neglected.

Further down the hall, at the very end, there were her parents room, ingraved in the same way.

The only other door wasn't ingraved yet, but that belonged to-

“Sissy! Big Sis!” A pair of twins, currently both sitting at the kitchen table right next to each other, four years old and only te minutes apart, though if you asked the eldest, Bolt, it was twenty.

Bolt looked more like N, yellow eyelights and silvery-blonde hair, in a tiny, toddler sized worker body, smiling like a maniac at quite literally everything.

And then there was A.K, he shared the hair color of his brother but inherited his mother's purple eyelights, he was slightly quieter, instead holding dearly onto a dragon plushie as he awaited breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast…

N hummed as he wore a brightly colored pink apron that said ‘Kiss the Cook' Taking a tray of heavenly smelling oil cakes; a small pastry with oil filling, out of the wood-oven and setting it aside.

The Kitchen was decorated with pictures of family, Tera on her first day of school, the twins on the day they were born, N and Uzi on their wedding day…

And the largest, most center picture of the whole family, one twin each being held in N and Uzi's arms, with Tera standing in the middle and a Dissasembly Drone with thick, round glasses and a long, brown flowing duster that nearly touched the ground, his expression was deadpan, and attached to the duster was a thick leather book.

“Morning B! Ter!” N called in Tera's direction, making the teen turn around to lock into the white eyelights of her younger brother, 16 year old Bishop Doorman, with thick round glasses and long brown leather duster he used as a labcoat.

“Good Morning.” Bishop hummed back politely, face stuck into an engineering book the moment his greeting was complete. His tail, a white vial complete with a stinger tapped against the floor. “Oh, Tera's actually going to school today?” He sassed in a near monotone inflection.

“Put a sock in it, nerd.” Tera hummed back casually, sitting at the table and flopping her bag at her feet.

He rolls his eyes and ignores her, though both of thier tails are wagging afterwards.

N put a plate of oil cakes in front of them, giggling when Uzi thanks him with a kiss on the cheek.

“Ewwwwww.” The twins whine.

“Gross.” Tera agrees, popping the cake in her mouth and snapping her jaw, making it explode warm sweet oil into her mouth.

Bishop doesn't notice, his head is still buried in his book, though he does stab a cake with his tail and then put it in his mouth.

Uzi pulls N down to genuinely kiss him, exaggerating the wet and content sounds to spite and embarass her children.

Tera groans and looks away out the kitchen window, finishing her breakfast without looking at them, the twins cover each other's eyes.

“You should be happy your parents are still in love!” N said as soon as he regained air in his lungs, looking happy and content as his tail wagged behind him.

“I am. I just don't wanna watch my parents suck face.” Tera replied, her voice dripping with attitude as her tail picks up her bag for her, she drops her plate in the sink and waves her family goodbye without actually looking at them.

“See you after hells over.” She says as she opens the front door. Only for her mother to protest. “Not in front of the twins!”

The door shuts behind her.

She leans on the railed walkway that lead up to the Doorman residence, looking down on the town below…

Nestled in a clearing of giant, towering trees, though not enough of a clearing to endanger the solver drones down below, a repaired and functioning pumpjack was working away at the center of the walled town, houses stacked on top of each other to fit inside the circular shape, it was early enough that there were very few drones out and about yet, aside from those on thier way to the school building, through a small street that lead away from the open courtyard.

The Doorman residence was the tallest building, the second being the town hall located just across the pumpjack, and it was almost a labyrinth of walkways and stairwells to make it up to it.

Partly because walking to it had been an afterthought.

Tera shook off the last vestiges of sleep as her bat-like wings unfurled from her back, the hands on the ends flexing and the organic joints inside popping before she took off into the air, sending leaves and misplaced refuse blowing out around her.

The small settlement of Sanctuary (N's name when they first started building and it stuck.) Consisted of about 500 drones, the surviors of the now extinguished planet of Copper-9, and their decendants.

The houses wrapped around the pumpjack, two floors stacked on top of each other to accommodate every family who lived there. Though that wasn't the whole of Sanctuary.

There was a gate that led to the outside, defended on either side by manned watchtowers. A barracks that sat next to the town hall where gaurds were trained with the weapons they could make without advanced machinery.

Swords, spears, axes and bows, the medieval weaponry of old human civilization coming back to aid their spiritual successor in a new, alien environment.

A medbay and nursey sat next to that, for every gaurd that got mauled by the wildlife, or every pump worker that got their fingers stuck in the gears.

Past the medbay was a wooden paved street that lead deeper into Sanctuary, and just inside this is where Tera landed, spooking some students lingering outside the school building.

Her wings folded back into her body as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder and began to climb up the few stairs to it's double doored entrance, sighing heavily before she pushed open the door… and walked inside.

Today was just another day.

[xiiithhazard]

Those That Follow

Why is Knuckles so afraid of ghosts? (Movie Verse)

Word Prompt 8 - Atonement

@year-of-the-echidna

(Warnings at the end)

…

“Alight!” Sonic crowed happily, as he started the movie before anyone could see the title. It was finally his turn to pick, and he had plans. But just so he was out of the danger zone, he’d brought his bean bag chair. Something Tails had clearly picked up on, as it wasn’t a normal habit of his, but he hadn’t commented yet. Thus, allowing the hedgehog’s scheme to continue uninterrupted. “You guys are gonna love this one. It’s a classic.”

They proceeded to sit back with their individual bowls of popcorn and drinks to watch an elderly lady collecting discarded books from a library, before taking them down to the maze-like basement for storage. Of course, the action started pretty soon after that, when a couple of books floated off the shelves on their own, to seemingly reorganize themselves.

“Sonic?” Tails whispered, instantly understanding what he was up to. But he quickly shushed the fox, as they both turned to watch Knuckles, for his reaction. Already he was tensed, however, he didn’t quite understand what was happening yet and continued to watch the woman, as she made her way through the shelves, only to look back when a dozen or so tiny drawers opened on their own, allowing thousands of cards to fly into the air without any visible means to be doing so.

Immediately she began to scream and ran to the exit, only to continuously get herself lost in the endless shelves of books, until she finally rounded a corner and was attacked by a glowing, terrifying creature just off screen. Then the title appeared, and the theme song began to play.

‘Ghostbusters’.

“Oh, come on, man.” Sonic proclaimed, trying and failing to keep a straight face, when Knuckles stood up and walked out of the room. “We haven’t even seen the ghost yet.” He pointed out truthfully. However, it was pretty clear that he wasn’t coming back, so he decided to just let his chuckles run free and relish his prank.

“Sonic, that wasn’t very nice.” Tails insisted, not at all finding it funny. “You know how he feels about that.”

“Oh, give me a break. He’s gotta get over it at some point.” Sonic countered, waving his friend’s concerned off like it was just an annoying bug and started the movie again. Only for Tails to get up and leave as well. “Hey. Come on. It was just a joke.”

“If that’s how you feel, then you can watch it alone.” The fox seethed and exited the room in a huff. Leaving Sonic, as promised, alone on a night that the three of them were supposed to share.

And suddenly it wasn’t so funny anymore.

Jumping up, he rushed after his friend, only to find that Tails had run into Maddie on his way to the attic. The hedgehog winced, knowing what was about to transpire. And he wasn’t disappointed, as her gaze suddenly snapped to him, as he tried to sneak back into the living room.

“Sonic.” Her voice was calm, but firm, thus, he found himself basically forced to obey and froze on the spot, despite his better judgement. With that he just sighed and turned to await his punishment. “Why would you do that?” She asked sternly.

“It –” He began, tugging at one of his gloves sheepishly. “It was just a joke.” She folded her arms, never a good sign. “Oh, come on. It’s ghosts.” He insisted, though he knew he was just digging his own grave at that point.

“I seem to recall a certain blue hedgehog having an irrational fear of water.” She pointed out and he quickly jumped to defend himself.

“It’s not irrational. I could drown.” He insisted truthfully. But she just continued to glare at him.

“In the bathtub?” She clarified and he was suddenly less certain.

“It could happen.”

Maddie remined quiet for a moment, just watching him, until she finally spoke again, though her voice was just a little softer now. “The point is, you have a fear, a fear you cannot control. And no one makes fun of you for it.”

He found himself looking at the floor, as he realized she was right. She always was. “I’m sorry.” He said at last, but she wasn’t convinced.

“I’m not the one you hurt, Sonic.” Her specific choice of words made him cringe. He never wanted to hurt his friends. But then she knelt down to be at his level, and he felt a teaching moment coming on. “Have you ever bothered to ask him – why he’s afraid?”

“He wouldn’t talk about it anyway.” Sonic said, at least 98% sure that he was right on that front. However, she just scowled at him again and he sighed, ready to face his fate and started walking to the attic. Only for her to reach out and stop him again.

“The reason for asking is not to actually get an answer.” She explained, though, that hardly made any sense at all. “You ask because you care. Even if he never tells you. It’s your job, as his friend, to be there – and listen.”

Sonic realized just how heavy her words had been, as they really sank in, and he looked up into her eyes. “I – I’ve been really bad friend.” He admitted, almost ready to cry. But Maddie gave him a supportive smile, her eyes filled with understanding.

“Then – it’s time you make it right. And, thankfully, all you have to do is talk to him. It might mean more than you realize.” She encouraged and stood up to give him a gentle pat on the head, before stepping aside and allowing him to head to the attic.

He was halfway up the stairs, when he realized he had a shadow and looked back to find Tails following him, though he didn’t ask why, he could see it on his friend’s face. His own guilt for not stepping up to stop the prank, when he realized his friend would be hurt and a simply desire to just make sure Knuckles was okay.

So, together they climbed the stairs and found their friend sitting on his bed, his back to them. Thankfully, Tails was the first one with enough courage to step forward, and walked over until the echidna could see that he was present.

“Are you okay?” He whispered and Knuckles smiled, though it didn’t light his face at all.

“Yes.” He answered and Tails took that as his cue to sit with him. Thus, forcing Sonic to swallow his pride and walk over as well. Though he didn’t receive as warm a welcome.

He probably deserved that.

“Hey Knux.” He said nervously, fiddling with the cuff of his glove once again. “I – I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He started, only for his friend to lift his head a little, like he was waiting for more. However, Sonic had run out of preorganized thoughts. “It really was just a joke.” He insisted, only for Tails to glare at him sharply. “But – that isn’t an excuse.” He finally let his hands fall to his sides, as he admitted defeat. “A joke isn’t a joke if it isn’t funny. And – hurting my friends is never funny.” He lifted his eyes to meet Knuckles and held the gaze, determined to make this right. “I really am sorry.”

It was all he could really say. But thankfully, his friend’s stern expression slowly softened, and he finally smiled again. This time actually looking like he was okay, instead of just saying it, despite the fact that he clearly wasn’t.

However, Knuckles ended up being the one to look away first and sigh, as he stared at his hands in sudden frustration. “It is not that I don’t understand. I do.” He admitted quietly and Sonic carefully inched backward to sit in a chair, so they would all be on the same level. “It is not becoming of a warrior. It is – irrational.”

There was that word again. “That doesn’t make it invalid.” Tails came to his rescue, but Knuckles didn’t look convinced. Instead, he just clenched and unclenched his fists a few times. Seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

“Maybe – it would help if you talked about it.” Sonic suggested, trying to take Maddie’s words into account. “I mean – if you want to.” He added uncertainly. Honestly, with only a few short years of experience under his belt, he could be forgiven for being kind of bad at this whole ‘talking to people,’ thing. But if nothing else, he and Knuckles could find a shared understanding of each other through the loneliness they had each experienced, as well as their desire to find companionship.

“I – I’m not exactly sure how to explain it.” Knuckles admitted after a minute and went quite again. And, for a time, Sonic thought that he wasn’t going to try and found himself struggling over whether to push or let it go.

Thankfully, their resident emotional compass was there to help the process along. “Maybe just start at the beginning.” Tails suggested warmly and the echidna looked up at him for a moment, then back at his hands.

It was then that Sonic realized the real problem. Knuckles knew he needed to talk about it, he wasn’t stupid, but his isolation had left him unable to do so. Now it had been so long that he just didn’t know how to address it and, what’s worse, he was ashamed. To a stubborn warrior like him, he knew how childish this fear must seem to others, but yet he couldn’t fight it. And that shame made him want to close the bottle again, giving it even more pressure, which would only make the unavoidable explosion that much more devastating.

Trying to bridge the gap, Sonic just said the one thing he sometimes still needed to hear himself. "You're not alone." He said softly and finally, Knuckles looked up, a hint of rarely seen vulnerability in his eyes, then he took a deep breath and spoke.

“Do you recall the owl’s temple on the mountain of snow?” That was unexpected, but Sonic still considered the question.

“You mean where we found the compass?” He asked and Knuckles nodded. “What about it?”

“The murals there. Did you see them?”

Sonic and Tails looked at each other, recalling the stone walls and their story of the creation of the Master Emerald. “Yeah.” Tails answered after a moment, just as confused as Sonic at this point.

“There was one, a depiction of an ancient warrior that once used the Emerald to drive back an invading army.” Knuckles explained and the other two winced a tad, recalling that rather distressing image. “That warrior – was my direct ancestor. Enerjak. In many ways, the power that flowed through him on that day – now flows through me.”

“Oh.” Sonic murmured, honestly unsure how to feel about that and was still confused as to what this had to do with anything. But again, Tails came to his rescue.

“So that’s where your chaos powers came from?” He asked quietly and Knuckles nodded. “I always wondered.” The kid admitted but held back from pushing the topic any further.

“What the murals did not show – was the aftermath of that battle.” The echidna finally continued. “As its Guardian, Enerjak was able to do what many could not. Harness both halves of the Emerald’s power at once.”

“What do you mean?” Sonic found himself asking, despite knowing he should interrupt. But Knuckles explained anyway.

“Chaos comes in two very distinct forms. Negative and Positive. The Emerald acks as a kind of fail-safe. To prevent a single person from gaining too much power, only one form can be accessed at a time.” He said simply. “When Robotnik used its power, he channeled only the negative. When you did so, it was the positive.”

“Oh.” Sonic murmured, having not actually realized that until just now, but he supposed it made sense.

“But – Enerjak was different?” Tails asked and Knuckles nodded, seemingly a little lost in his own thoughts for a moment, thus allowing the fox to ponder another question. “And – does that mean you could do that too?”

“Theoretically, yes.” Knuckles stated, coming out of his thoughts again, though he did so with a kind of shiver. “Though I would very much never like to try.” He admitted, and that more than anything made the other two nervous, for what came next. “In order to save our clan from complete annihilation, Enerjak called on its power. However, whether his cause was worthy or not – it did not save him.” He took another breath to steady himself, before continuing. “He was driven to pure madness.”

Sonic felt himself cringe inwardly, suddenly realizing why Knuckles never wanted to use the Emerald himself, despite arguably having the most right to do so. This also explained why the echidna had been so cautious when Sonic had taken on his golden god form. He had been afraid that the same thing had happened again – in fact, he had to wonder just how close he had been to that fate.

Suddenly feeling squeamish, he looked up to ask, despite not really wanting to know, only to find Knuckles eyes meeting his own, clearly thinking the same thing. However, the echidna’s calm deminer helped him to relax again. He’d not only forced the Emerald out of Robotnik’s body, but had basically put the thing back together again, a few minutes later. Surely, he could have handled a rampaging hedgehog, if he’d had to.

Eventually Knuckles turned away, clearly content that their silent conversation had had its desired effects. “In the beginning, Enerjak’s insanity wasn’t immediately noticeable.” He continued after another minute. “He led our clan to reclaim the Emerald, but they did not realize his only goal was to restore his own power.” He looked away, unusually calm considering the discussion. “It was his leadership that led my people to war with the owls. Even long after his death.” Sonic found himself no longer wanting to talk about this particular topic, but didn’t interrupt, as his friend moved on as well. “In the end, his insanity nearly drove my kind to extinction. He had to be stopped, and the only way to do so was to trap him in the chaos void.”

“What’s that?” Sonic interrupted anyway, before he could stop himself. But thankfully, Knuckles looked relieved to have a change of topic.

“Think of it like an invisible sheet over the universe. It is where all chaos energy comes from. At times, holes will form in this sheet and when the pure power of that void meets our world, a chaos emerald is formed. This is what Enerjak was trying to do. He wanted to create a hole and, with himself in place of an emerald – he’d become a god.”

Both Sonic and Tails winced at that. They could only imagine the kind of destruction someone like that could cause if they reached godhood. Even Eggman’s brief time with the emerald looked almost peaceful by comparison. And that was not a pleasant thought.

“He was stopped. However, he had his – followers.” He explained further, and Sonic roiled his eyes. ‘Yeah, that figured.’ “When I was born, I showed immediate signs of chaos powers, beyond anything my clan had ever seen. They grew concerned that I was his reincarnation, and they feared the possibility of Enerjak’s return. There were honest discussions of simply killing me, just to be safe.”

“Say what?” Sonic proclaimed in horror and his friend finally looked up from the floor, as if shocked that this had gotten such a strong reaction. However, he recovered and smiled at the hedgehog.

“My father vehemently opposed this decision, of course. And his brother, the chief, backed him.” He explained calmly, only to slowly look back at the ground. “There were those that did not agree, and – there were those with – other agendas.

The room went quiet, as Knuckles stopped talking and Sonic and Tails looked at one another again, before the hedgehog leaned forward. “Knucks, are you okay?” He asked worriedly, which seemed to pull him out of the memory a bit.

“If you don’t want to talk about it – you don’t have to.” Tails insisted, but the echidna shook his head, clearly determined to get the rest off his chest. As he soon closed his eyes and took another breath, then continued.

“There was a man, a secret worshiper of Enerjak.” He said, pausing for another second, then shook himself out of it again. “To this day – I cannot remember following him. I just – woke up and I had no idea where I was. He wouldn’t talk to me, he was too busy preforming his ritual and I couldn’t escape, I could barely stand. The energies in the cave were so – corrupt they made me sick. Then I began to – see things. People. People I soon realized were not actually alive.”

Knuckles sighed loudly and leaned back on his hands to look at the sky through the circular window in the ceiling. Like he needed the reassurance that he wasn’t back in that cave. “Then I saw him. Enerjak.” He whispered, seemingly speaking more to himself than them. “I’d heard stories of him, of course. But nothing could prepare me for what I saw. He was – cold. Terrifying. And, somehow, I knew he was there to kill me.”

When he went quiet again, clearly stuck in the memory, Tails reached over to gently touch his shoulder, and he jumped. Prompting Sonic to stand up and sit on his other side, so, he’d have even more contact to prove that he wasn’t alone. But neither of them spoke, there wasn’t really a need.

“In a way. I was right.” He finally spoke again. “It was explained to me later, that the ritual had opened – a hole in my soul. A door, if you will. If the process had been allowed to continue, Enerjak would have forced me out of my own body, to trade places with him. I would have been trapped forever in the chaos void, as he had been. But my father had noticed my absence. They tracked the man to the cave and stopped him, just in time.”

Sonic felt like he could suddenly breathe again, but the tension hadn’t quite subsided. “The ritual was stopped, but – the door remained.” Knuckles went on, slowly lifting a hand to touch his chest, like he could actually feel it there. “I’ve been susceptible to spirits since that day. I still see them everywhere I go. And, though I have had – some positive experiences. My old Chief has often come to me in my times of need.” He clutched his chest fur just a little tighter, as he stared back at the floor. “They can – sense the door and if they feel so inclined, they will try to – enter.”

Tails and Sonic winced again, as that certainly did not sound pleasant. “But – they can’t – take over – can they?” Tails asked worriedly and thankfully their friend looked up to smile at him reassuringly and shook his head. Leaving them both to breathe a sigh of relief.

“That being said.” Knuckles continued quietly, and the sudden fear in his voice made the room’s temperature drop by a couple degrees. “He – still lingers, at the edges of my sight. He waits for the moment that the final pieces of the interrupted ritual are set back into motion. If that should ever happen –” He froze, the words getting stuck in his throat, but they didn’t need him to finish. Sonic and Tails were already completely distressed, trying to imagine one of the people they cared about the most being hunted by a literal god.

“Gees.” Sonic complained, rubbing at his quills, suddenly immensely irritated with himself. “Now I feel like a total jerk.” He looked up to meet his friend’s gaze and found himself practically begging for forgiveness. “Knux, I – I’m so sorry. I – I –”

Before he could completely break down, Knuckles reached over to lay his hand on the hedgehog’s shoulder. “I forgive you.” He said simply and Sonic felt like a planet had just been lifted off his chest. “Besides.” He spoke up again, his smile returning, though it looked much more genuine than it had before. “If he should return – I will not face him alone.”

Sonic perked up at that, and smiled as well, before they were interrupted by Tails suddenly throwing his arms around the echidna’s waste. “No – you won’t.” He whispered, his voice cracking as tears welled up in his eyes and his hold got just a little tighter, causing Knuckles to gently place a hand on his head, clearly unsure what to do. He wasn’t exactly accustomed to this kind of emotional show of affection.

But he’d just have to get used to it, cause Sonic quickly threw his arms around him too. “Never again.” He promised and together, the two practically crushed their older brother. Until he finally had no choice but to give in and gently rested his arms around them both and brought them in closer.

…

The End

(Warnings: Child abuse, kidnapping, ritual, trauma)

[fandomnerd9602]

Only You

Bambi!Wanda x Reader

It all began when your doe-human mate Wanda skipped happily into the kitchen, her mind focused on asking you one singular question.

You were listening to Wanda’s favorite song on your Amazon dot.

Only you can make this world seem right

Only you can make the darkness bright

Only you and you alone can thrill me like you do

And fill my heart with love for only you

“Dance with me, detka!” She giggles as she takes your hand. The two of you sway to the music.

“Detka,” she smiled at you, “will you marry me?”

The question caught you off guard but happily off guard, “y-yes.”

“Good!” Your antler adorned mate hugged you tight and kissed you gently. “I want to marry you.”

“When do you want to tie the knot?”

“Tie the knot? Why would we do that? I wanna marry you.” She giggles, thinking that you were making some weird joke.

You and her didn’t talk about it much on the way to the Sanctuary but you found Wanda happily running around to the other hybrids, telling them the good news.

“I’m getting married! I’m marrying my amazing mate!!” She practically ran all the way around the Sanctuary grounds.

Natasha was practically laughing her wolf tail off as Wanda ran in. “I heard.” The red head wolf hybrid laughed, “can I be your maid of honor?”

“Sure!” Wanda giggles.

“Why do you suddenly want to be married?”

“I love my detka and I want to marry them.” Wanda found herself wistfully explaining. “I wanna spend my life with Y/N, I want to go to sleep in their arms every night, I wanna…”

“What?” Natasha’s tail wagged, “come on buddy, you can tell me”

“I want to have little deer babies.”

“Oh you scandalous doe!” Natasha giggled, earning a blush from Wanda.

“But I don’t know if I’m ready for kids yet” Wanda’s tail dropped a little, she sits down on her friend’s bean bag chair, “I still miss my boys”

Natasha gets down on her knees and hugs her friend tight. “Take your time. There’s no need to rush into a marriage. (Y/N) loves you and will understand”

Wanda couldn’t help but smile.

Meanwhile you took an early lunch and went with Yelena to a jewelry store you had your eye on.

“Why did you ask me to come with you and not sestra?” The blond wolf hybrid bemoaned.

“Because Natasha is with Wanda and I don’t want my mate to know what I’m up to. And I need you to keep watch as I browse the store.” You stepped into the store as Yelena kept watch.

You found the perfect ring. It was a gold band designed to look like interlocking vines and leaves with a simple diamond adorned at its center. You were just about to purchase it when suddenly Yelena tackled you to the ground.

“They’re here!” Yelena dragged you behind some tables. You looked under the table to see a familiar pair of legs and tails walking into the shop.

Natasha and Wanda walked in, happy as could be.

“Which one says I want to be your forever mate?” Wanda asked as she approached the wedding bands section.

“Any one of them, that’s the whole point.” Natasha smirked before a familiar scent caught her nostrils. You and Yelena.

She dropped to her knees and came face to face with the two of you. You gestured for her to stay quiet.

“What are you…you were gonna buy a ring?!” Natasha whisper-yelled, kind of happy and excited too. You hold up the ring you selected, Natasha smirked, “oh that’s very lovey but I don’t like you that way.”

“Steer her to another store, Fifi!” Yelena retorted.

“Fifi? Funny coming from you, sestra!” The two wolf sisters began fighting. You silently separated them.

“Gals, please this is the love of my life and I don’t want to ruin her special moment” you quietly begged them.

“I found it! The perfect engagement ring!!” Wanda called out with a giddy laugh.

Natasha quickly ran over and saw a simple band that looked like two antlers intertwined. Wanda looked to her friend with pleading eyes. Natasha peeked back to be sure that you didn’t see it. You could not.

“I-I don’t have any…” Wanda began to say.

Natasha gave a wave of her hand, “I’ll cover it.”

“Thank you” Wanda hugged her wolf pal tight.

“Just name your first daughter after me” Natasha said jokingly.

“Deal!”

The two bought the ring and left. You and Yelena got up from your hiding spot and approached the register. The cashier was practically laughing, “I take it your gal had the same idea?”

“Great minds,” you shrugged. Yelena stifled a laugh.

An hour or so later, Wanda was back in her friend’s den on the Sanctuary grounds, admiring the ring.

“Now you just need to find the perfect time to propose” Natasha smiled.

The sound of an aux cord plugging in caught Natasha’s wolf ears.

Only you can make this world seem right

Only you can make the darkness bright

Only you and you alone can thrill me like you do

And fill my heart with love for only you

Wanda rose from her seat, tears beginning to form in her eyes. It was yours and her song. Natasha peered out the den’s entry and smiled.

“You might wanna see this,” her wolf pal smiled.

Wanda walked out to see the Sanctuary gazebo decorated in Edison bulb lights and roses. Against the setting Sun, it looked heavenly.

And there under the gazebo roof was you, standing there with a smile on your face.

Wanda walked up the gazebo stairs slowly, tears of joy flowing down her face. You took her hands in yours.

“I love you Wanda Maximoff” you began. “I wanna spend each and every day of the rest of my life with you”

Wanda giggled.

“I wanna hold you when you’re hurting. And kiss you when you need a little love. I wanna raise a family with you and I wanna be there for you when we find your boys. And I’m gonna love you and them forever.”

“I love you.” Wanda whispered, “forever and ever”

You got to your knees and produced the ring, Wanda gasped. “Wanda, my doe, my love, my mate, will you marry me?”

Wanda got to her knees and pulled out the ring she got for you, “only if you will marry me”

“Yes” you smiled, tears forming in your own eyes.

“Yes!” She cries back. “Yes! Yes! You and only you!!!”

You slide the ring on her finger and she slides the ring on yours. A feeling of pure happiness takes over Wanda as she launches herself at you, knocking you to the wooden floor. She kisses you repeatedly, over and over, giggling against your lips as you held her tight.

The staff and other hybrids laughed and cheered as the two of you found each other lost in your moment. Natasha smiled and her tail swished back and forth happily.

It all started with a simple question. And it turned into a moment that you and Wanda would treasure forever. And you’d eventually tell it to Billy and Tommy: the tale of how you and Wanda ended up proposing to each other.

Tags @lifespectator @russianredassassin @revanshand @julieromanoff @multi-fandom-enjoyer @family-house-of-m @holiday-house-of-m @iiconicsfan25 @supercorpdanbeau @scarletquake-n7

[scav-trapped-in-a-pit-of-yeeks]

i intended to draw my creature's regular form, then i just kept making the tail larger and now i like to think they decided to make their tail bigger so they could sit on it like a bean bag chair.

anyways yeah, this is the creature. i don't have a name for them (feel free to leave suggestions) and i'm not entirely sure if i like how i drew their face specifically so that might change in the future.

also massive shoutout to @adenator whose oc mikii i very much took inspiration from with the tailmaw.

[the-era-of-shadow]

Mission: FOX FRENZY

Written by Aikshlin Rose

Cover Art by Aikshlin Rose

Chapter 5: To Whom It Will Concern

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: Swearing, mention of death

[Start] [Prev] [Next]

In due time, the other Freedom Fighters had departed from the beach into the depths of the Merop Sea, leaving Tails all alone to finally, truly, start their day. Of course, the perfect start to any day worth having, in Tails’ humble opinion at least, is to have a freshly brewed, piping hot, and completely black cup of coffee, preferably made from whole, darkly roasted coffee beans. Luckily for Tails, the Freedom Fighters had bought a new bag of dark roast beans just the day before, so there was no doubt that they were going to get to have their ideal beverage.

Though the coffee machine in the Sky Patrol looks rather complicated to use, it only took a few minutes for Tails to get their coffee - though that may be due to the fact that they’ve had several years now to become familiar with how it works. In the few minutes that they had to wait for their drink to brew, they reflected upon a memory of when Cream tried to use it for the first time and caused it to short circuit. They had already said it to him prior to this incident, but afterwards, Tails really began to tease Rotor for how complex his inventions tend to be compared to the sleek simplicity of their own creations, because who doesn’t love a bit of light-hearted friendly rivalry? If Sonic gets to have a relationship like that with Knuckles, then surely Tails deserves something akin to it, right? Right.

But anyways, once they had their coffee, Tails took a stroll about the entirety of the Sky Patrol. But this walk was not just for the sake of exercise, no no. As they went about their chosen route, Tails activated various drones and robots that they have either made or modified over the years and sent them out to defend the exterior of the Sky Patrol. Tails didn’t really have any reason to believe that the Sky Patrol would be attacked at any point in the day, but as their parents always told them, it’s better to be safe than sorry!

The Sky Patrol is pretty big, all things considered, so it was a nice relief that after Tails completed their walk, they would get to go back to their room and sit on their nice, big, comfy gaming chair… So soft, so cozy… ~ 

Though today there was no gaming for Tails to partake in! They had to focus on getting out a status report to the Armada! Tails did their very best to remember that as they staggered to their room - no more procrastinating! The fate of the Aerth may just hang in the balance! Yes, the entire world was depending on Tails to send this e-mail! Okay, that’s probably not true, but it’s what will get them to actually do what they need to get done instead of getting sucked into Portal 2 for the third time that week. 

It worked pretty well, actually. They sat down at their desk and immediately opened up the MFA database and went to their father’s account and started up a message to send him. But then… Tails just sat there. For minutes on end they stared down a blank white pop-up window, near catatonic. They knew they had to write something, but what? It just wasn’t coming to them. Their head was just as empty as the page was. Actually, no, it was the complete opposite, come to think of it. It was full of thoughts. Too full. So many things that needed to be said, but with no clear order to them. Truly, the hardest part of writing is knowing how and where to begin.

Especially with a subject matter as heavy as this.

A few more minutes went by - nothing. Absolutely fuck all in terms of productivity. Man, at least procrastinating by playing Portal 2 is mentally stimulating! It had to be now or never, Tails suddenly decided, and with nothing else coming to mind, Tails sighed to themself and let out a simple phrase of defeat before beginning to type;

“Fuck it, time to be blunt.”

Name: Tails Prower Document Type: Status Report Date: 18-11-2011

Dear Dad,

The Black Arms have returned.

After all, that'd probably be good to lead with, right?

Once Tails typed that first sentence down, the progression of the rest of the report was almost like second nature, Tails’ hands moving from key to key at a rapid pace as the who, what, when, where, why and how behind and surrounding that opening statement fell into place. Then after that, a recap of the past month or so of events. Then lastly a split second decision to throw in the fact that G.U.N had hidden the Black Arms’ return from the Freedom Fighters for years. Because fuck G.U.N.

Soon enough, the report was finally complete. While there was a part of Tails’ mind that wondered why they hadn’t done this ages ago, they kept their focus on the simple satisfaction of it finally getting done and sent. As they watched the screen load up and send off the report into cyberspace, they went to take a sip of coffee from their-

Oh.

It’s empty.

“Whelp, guess I should go clean you up while I wait for a response then, huh?” Tails said to the mug. Yes. The answer was yes. So they got up from their chair and headed out to find the nearest sink to clean the mug. Technically there is a designated sink for cleaning dishes, but using a different sink for just one cup couldn’t hurt, right?

The time taken to clean the mug had been just about ten minutes in total, including the time taken to walk to and from the sink.

And yet, Tails had already gotten a response.

Name: Amadeus ProwerDocument Type: RE: Status Report from Tails Prower (18-11-11)Date: 18-11-2011

I expected this.

That was all that was in the document. Nothing more, and, well, could it possibly even be any less than this? Suffice to say, the simplicity threw Tails for a bit of a loop. Desperate to make their father elaborate, they immediately got to work on a response to his response. But before they could do so much as to get beyond the first sentence, they were alerted to the sound of an incoming call. An incoming call from their dad.

He’s totally panicking right now, isn’t he? If he is, which he probably is, Tails couldn’t even blame him. After all, everyone had been certain that the Black Arms were finally dead and gone. They had been for six years. They all believed that their multi-millennia long reign of terror had finally, finally, come to a close. But they had been wrong, and thanks to G.U.N, the reveal of such was incredibly sudden. Admittedly, they panicked a little too when they had gotten the news.

So they picked up.

“Tails! I got your status report!” He said as soon as Tails did so.

“I’m aware of that. I saw your response,” Tails responded, keeping cool.

“Oh, good. Good…” Amadeus sighed in relief, seemingly confirming Tails’ speculation that he had been in panic mode.

“Would you care to maybe… Elaborate on it?” Tails inquired as gently as possible, not wanting to come off as rude.

“Huh?” Amadeus uttered in confusion. Before Tails could reply, he seemingly pulled up his response and read it. “Oh… Yeah, I guess I was in a rush to get something out in the shock.” 

“So did you expect this, or not?” Tails teased.

“I did, just… Not so soon. Not like this. Not with the human government hiding it from us for four years straight,” Amadeus explained himself.

“Yeah that’s… That’s fair,” Tails replied, letting the mood become more serious.

“But I figured this would happen eventually. We’ve been fighting those black alien bastards for eons! The Armada was born to take them down! And in that time, we’ve come to learn that no matter how many of them you strike down, they’ll always bounce back, meaner than ever!” Amadeus ranted. “Like mint.”

“... I really should’ve had that mindset too, huh?” Tails lamented with a sigh.

“Hey kiddo, don’t think like that, okay? You were just a kid when Black Doom had been killed, you didn’t have the capacity for thoughts like that back then! You were just excited to have another victory…! I mean, if I was a young kid and saw a big bad taken down by a so-called ‘Ultimate Lifeform’, I would believe that to be the end of that conflict, too!” Amadeus gently assured Tails. Despite the screen and distance keeping the two apart, Tails couldn’t help but to feel his fatherly warmth regardless, and felt comforted by it. Though that only lasted for a minute or two as dread quickly slipped back into them.

“Heh… The same Ultimate Lifeform that’s now on… Their side…” Tails remarked.

“That’s definitely a part of this that I wasn’t expecting,” Amadeus admitted. “And a pretty scary part at that. Shadow was powerful enough to kill Black Doom - a god of chaos. There’s no telling what the remaining Black Arms may be capable of with it on their side,” He continued.

“And somehow… They’re not even the scariest one out of the gang…!” Tails muttered to themself.

“... From your report, the ‘New Black Comet’ that had survived the failed invasion had housed a couple thousand Black Arms. That would be enough for a resurgence… in ten or twenty years’ time. There were two of the leaders remaining on that comet, but neither of them were Black Doom. Black Doom was gone. They should have been aimless without his guidance, both the common soldiers and the two remaining leaders… But in just two years they had sprung back completely and were ready to get their revenge… Something like that is an anomaly, Tails. One that would take a miracle to occur,” Amadeus pointed out, his voice tense.

“I’m not aware of any sort of ‘anomalous miracles’, but I do know that one of the other remaining Black Arms, Eclipse, is… frighteningly intelligent. From what we could gather, that may just be the reason for the Black Arms’ swift return,” Tails stated.

“I figured as much from your report. That one’s seemingly just as scary as Shadow, if not more so because of their wit,” Amadeus commented.

“Probably at the same level, I’d say,” Tails remarked. “They’re a sub-par fighter, according to Knuckles. That’s a relief in its own right. The problem is that instead of just constantly flunking fights, they play to their strengths - their cunning wit. According to the records we were able to get together, they were created a year after the failed Aerth invasion, and in the little under five years they’ve existed, they’ve managed to make massive advancements in Black Arms biotechnology that would have most likely taken decades for any other Black Arms to achieve! That’s not even to mention the various recruits and ally-ships that they’ve created after they escaped Angel Island, nor how those partnerships have been made with just the right people to make the public start to turn against us Freedom Fighters!” Tails then began to rant, realizing by the end that their words were striking fear into their poor father’s heart as they stared through the screen and into his quivering irises. 

“That… No wonder the Black Arms are already such a major threat again…” Amadeus quavered. “With power like Shadow’s and intelligence like Eclipse’s, the thought of the world’s end is not one to scoff at… And that’s not even to mention the other remaining Black Arms among them, including the final living Black Arms founder, Queen Black Widow-!” 

“They are on the down-low, currently,” Tails interjected, hoping to calm their father down a bit. “They tried to recruit Amy, but other than that, every encounter we’ve had with them thus far, they were not the ones to attack first.” 

“Tails,” Amadeus said sternly.

“Yeah?” Tails replied.

“That’s not a good thing,” Amadeus pointed out. “Right now, it makes sense. It’s winter, the cold weather is going to put them in preparation mode - it’s simply their biology. But for them to have been like that back in September… That is troubling.”

“Not to be rude but… Why so?” Tails questioned.

“They’re plotting something. Something big,” Amadeus surmised. “A superweapon of some kind, surely. Hell, it could even be another Ultimate Lifeform!” He added.

“Wait… You’re right! I’m pretty sure they are!” Tails suddenly recollected. “Project Midnight! With their limited resources they’ve resorted to using the organic remains of roboticized mobians to construct a new being! Sally told me all about it last month, including how they managed to stage the whole thing as a G.U.N project corrupted by the Robotnik Empire!” Tails exclaimed.

“Tell me more about this,” Amadeus ordered. 

And so Tails did. They gave every single detail that they could remember being told. Every guess Sally and the others she had discussed the matter with had made falsely, the impact the project had made on South Island, the fallout between G.U.N and the Freedom Fighters that happened afterwards, all of it.

“Yes… This is exactly what I had expected them to have been doing if not fighting. This ‘Project Midnight’ is already a superweapon of its own right. A weapon of mass destruction towards the trust we Aerthlings ought to have for one another!” Amadeus explained. “Once our trust towards each other is broken down, it becomes easier for them to make you trust in them instead. That lets them take over! That’s what they want!!” 

“... Man, I really should’ve told you this stuff sooner, huh?” Tails apologized.

“Perhaps, but now is a really good time too, you know,” Amadeus responded. “Frankly, it's never too late.”

“It is?” Tails asked.

“Yes! With the Black Arms currently in preparation, that gives us more than enough time to come up with a plan to kick their behinds!” Amadeus assured them quite confidently, bringing a smile to Tails’ face. “You know, maybe I should write a status report of my own summarizin’ this conversation of ours!” He then suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea, Dad,” Tails agreed, beginning to reach for the ‘end call’ button.

“Hey! Before you go hanging up on me, I want you to know one last thing!” Amadeus said to Tails, catching their attention.

“That being?” Tails inquired.

“Tails, keep guard of your wispons, no matter what! I saw in your report that that ‘Eclipse’ person has been doing experiments on wisps, they probably won’t hesitate to deconstruct and play around with recreating them from scratch if they ever get their nasty little hands on those things!” Amadeus advised.

“I promise you, I won’t let another wispon ever leave the Sky Patrol again until I can verify that they can be kept out of their hands,” Tails promised.

“Good. I have a lot of faith in you kiddo, so go out there and do your best!” Amadeus responded, letting that be the final statement said before ending the call himself.

“I won’t let you down. I won’t let Aerth down. That’s a promise,” Tails said to themself with determination.

[manyothermusingsofmine]

Library Spot || Drabble

Fandom: Xmen

Warnings: None. (it really fluffy tho)

Wordcount: 2410

Summary: Nothing better post-mission than to snuggle in some cosy hiding spot AN: Thanks Miranda, for reminding me that Four Seasons by Vivaldi exists. I should listen to it more while doodling myself. I can apparently either do soul crushing angst or very soft sugary sweet fluff and little in between. We're not going to argue the logistics of a Walkman playing classical music here I'm already annoyed its a Capitalized Word TM and Quicksilver has some kind of portable music system in Days Of Future Past which is set in what, 1976? I think? -checks- 1973 actually eh I was close. -------------------------------------

She wasn't in the danger room, in the kitchen, in the gym. Not in either of their rooms, and not on the roof either where Kurt now stood with his hands to his sides, thinking of where Miranda could be now that he had crossed off most of her usual spots. He didn't even need to check the waterfall; because that was a late resort hiding spot she only used when severely upset. Which was a mood that had thankfully not occurred in her for quite a while now. Looking over to the usual spot in the garden where she liked to hide out as well, he saw she also wasn't there.

"Well, I'm starting to run out of options.... Right," he muttered to himself, shifting his weight a little as he thought out loud to himself, "I'm Miranda, an introvert in need of time by myself to charge my social battery. If I'm not in my usual hiding spots, where am I?"

He thought for a while until his brain offered one more idea of where she could be, to which he raised an eyebrow. Well, if she wasn't there, he had truly no idea where she would be. Poofing over to the library in the mansion, he looked around until he saw a sliver of wine red between some bookshelves, all the way off into a corner. He teleported over once more as he finally found her. She had burrowed away in the corner furthest away from the door to the library, comfortably nestled in a big bean bag with her legs crossed as the foot on her elevated leg lightly moved along to the music she was listening to on a Walkman. A few art supplies were on a small stool next to her, and she was happily scribbling away on the paper that she had on the clipboard in her lap.

As soon as he appeared, she looked up at him, pushing the headphones off and pausing her music

"Oh, hey, I didn't realise you'd be back so soon or I would've met you outside."

"It's okay; I just wanted to check where you are. Now that I know, I can go if you-"

"Kurt, stay. Please."

He gave a soft smile to her, gesturing at her to sit back down as she made an attempt to leave the bean bag. Because for starters the big bag didn't seem in any hurry to let go of its current occupant, and Kurt had teleported himself in between various objects and people before.

She gave a light squeak as he tossed her up enough to really settle in between her and the semi chair, taking her place in the surprisingly comfortable and warm bean bag while wrapping his arms around her as she was now in his lap, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"What’cha doing?"

"Drawing," she muttered in response, as she leaned a bit further back into his embrace. An embrace she would spend forever in if she only realistically could, "mostly flowers and birds, right now, I don't know, I just felt like doodling. Hey, uhm... This is going to sound stupid-"

"I don't think anything you say is going to sound stupid to me."

"Y-Yeah, well, uhm," her cheeks slowly turned a little red. He might not think it was stupid, but she still felt like she was about to make a very odd request, "can you... wrap your tail around me?"

He blinked just once at it, but silently obliged, gently and loosely wrapping his tail around her lower waist as per her request. Well, she hadn't actually specified where, but that seemed to be the most logical choice, right?

"Like that?" he got a small nod as a reply, "Hm. May I ask why?"

"Dunno," she said as she shrugged, "it just makes me feel protected. Safe. For some reason. Sorry if that doesn't make sense."

Letting her change the position of her arms so she could continue her drawing, Kurt pressed a gentle little kiss to Miranda's shoulder before settling back into his previous pose; he was actually feeling quite comfortable like this.

"Don't apologize. I'm glad it makes you feel safe. What where you listening too, anyway?" and without waiting for an answer he took the headphones, putting one of the soft pads to his ear while yanking the Walkman close enough to press play and listening to the music for a little bit, "Huh. Vivaldi, really?"

"Mh. I like listening to classical when I draw. It's great to keep in the background. But Vivaldi has nothing on you, honestly."

"Huh?"

"Your purr."

Feeling his cheeks burn with heat, Kurt set the Walkman aside with a slight huff. He wasn't. He didn't. Did he? If he did he had never noticed it himself before. Leaning back onto her shoulder, he pouted.

"I don't purr. ... Do I?"

"You do. You're doing it right now," she countered with a soft laugh as she could very clearly hear the light, happy rumble coming from low in his chest, "only happens when you're really comfortable, so I'll take it as a compliment. And... I like it. It's soothing."

"Great; I'm not beating the cat allegations any time soon then."

"You're the best kind of cat in that case: a very snuggly one," Miranda said as another laugh escaped her, turning just enough to him to press a kiss to his cheek before turning her attention back to the drawing she was working on; one of a little hummingbird. She felt the blush on her face blossom further, the comfort from the hug warming her to her core, "... but, seriously.. I don't think I've ever been hugged this much in my life. And, uhm... k-keep doing it? I think I have a lot of not hugging and not cuddling to make up for."

He smiled, slowly tightening his grip on her ever so slightly. That was a request he was all too happy to fulfil; there was little he loved more than cuddling with someone he cared about. And if it helped her in any way he was only too happy to provide the physical affection she had apparently been missing out on for so long.

He liked the way she fit into his arms, anyway, the way she leaned into his embrace now when she definitely had felt more stiff and unsure before- which made sense, he supposed, if she wasn't that familiar with affection like this.

"People compare you to a cat a lot too."

"An obnoxious stray one that won't leave after she's been fed."

"You're not obnoxious," he protested immediately, poking her in her side to which she gave a soft squeak of protest, "You're cute."

"You.... really think so?" she asked quietly after a bit, removing the paper from her clipboard before adding another one and starting a new sketch. Kurt just nodded, softly kissing her shoulder again, "... I think you're cute too."

They sat there together, hidden away from prying eyes with the only sounds between them being the light scratching of her pencil on the paper and his soft purring as he rested his head against the back of her shoulder. His eyes opened the moment the pencil stopped making sound, but fluttered shut again when he realised she was just switching it for an ink pen and an eraser.

"What do you think?" she asked after a little while, causing him to open his eyes again as she held the clipboard up for him to easily see what she had been working on, "and... be honest. Because I don't think I got it quite right."

"It's me," he said with a little grin, "it looks great, Süßer. As long as people can tell what it's supposed to be, you're doing great. How long have you been drawing for?"

"About a decade, on and off. Kind of wish I was further along than I am, but... I'm not doing this for competition or as work; it's just the best way to get out of my head."

Setting the clipboard aside, she stirred in his arms. He released his grip so she could adjust and change how she wanted, to which she turned to her side and rested her head to his chest with a slight calm sigh. He looked up for a moment when he thought he heard a sound, but there wasn't anyone else in the library currently.

Made sense, most of the people in the mansion were occupied with other things. The only one he could feasibly imagine entering anytime soon was Hank, and if that did happen Kurt doubted Hank would care to notice they were there; Beast was often far too wrapped up in his work and study to really pay mind to his surroundings.

"You've... got anywhere to be?"

"Nowhere I'd rather be, if thats what you're asking. Rogue is reporting our mission findings to Scott, she doesn't need my help with that. She told me so herself, that it would be fine and that I should just get some rest."

And he wasn't the only one in need of some rest it seemed. Whether it was from the comfort of his embrace, that she hadn't slept enough last night, or a bit of both; she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Readjusting his arms around her to a comfortable easy grip, Kurt gently ran his hand over her arm to soothe her further.

"And it seems like I'm not the only one," he laughed as she yawned almost on cue. She hummed softly in agreement, shutting her eyes not so much to truly fall asleep as to just rest her mind and body a little.

The door to the library was opened, glowing yellow eyes immediately looking over as Kurt was ready to get them both out of there depending on who was entering- his alert instantly subsiding as Hank came in. Kurt's gaze just followed as Hank wandered in, muttering something to himself that Kurt couldn't quite make out; and if he did it all had to do with medical science above his level of understanding. Hank grabbed a couple of books, debating to himself for a moment which one he actually needed, before putting one back and opening the other. While reading it semi aloud to himself, he walked back out, all without acknowledging the presence of the other two mutants in there even once.

"Who was that?" Miranda softly asked.

"Hank. I don't think he noticed us. Well. I think he knows we're here, I'm half convinced he depends on his scent more than he claims to. But there's a difference between knowing we're here and seeing what we're up to. We're fine."

And with that, he settled into the embrace himself. Closing his eyes for some rest himself, his ears remained sharp to listen for anyone else. And as soon as he heard the doorknob to the room turn in a different way, with way less weight behind it than Hank used, he reached out to grab the clipboard, taking it and her last drawing along as he teleported both of them out of the library and into his room. He placed her on the bed before going back the same way he came, moving around the library as if that had been what he was doing the whole time; easy to pretend he was just poofing around the room to find a specific book until he deliberately showed up next to Shadow.

"Gutentag. Fancy seeing you in the library. Looking for anything in particular?"

She just looked at him, one eyebrow half raised at his question.

"You don't seem like the librarian in here, Kurt," she said, shaking the book she was looking for as she had already found it by herself, "I've got it covered, it's fine."

She watched as he grabbed himself a couple of fiction books and took a spot at one of the tables around the place, opening one. And for a moment, she almost bought it; but for a reason she couldn't quite put her finger on it seemed a little too staged.

"Why are you actually here?"

"Why's anyone in a library, Fraulein? I've been here since I got back from the mission."

"The mission with Rogue? Who's been in Scott's office for what, ten, maybe twenty minutes? And you've just now decided which books to grab to read while being here all by yourself?" but the thing was, she had little to disprove his claim, something she was all the more aware of when yellow eyes slowly turned her way.

"Well, what do you suggest I was up to in here before you got here?"

"... I don't know. This library is big enough to hide away in."

A slight tension lingered in the silence between them, as both stared at each other for what felt like minutes on end, but in reality was only a couple of seconds.

"If you must know, I finished the last few pages of a book before you got here. Better to wrap up what you started than start something new with ten pages to the finish line."

She had no reason not to believe him, other than the feeling in her gut that he somehow wasn't telling her the truth. Then again, Shadow had little grounds to stand on when it came to honestly admitting to who she was spending most of her time with, so even if Kurt's claims fell off and she could probably needle him with the fact that his own faith condemned lying...

Bit hypocritical from someone who wouldn't admit it either had she and Gambit been up to something around here. Blue eyes observed Kurt for a moment longer, and she knew she didn't have any evidence that Miranda had been here.

"... Enjoy your books, I have to get back to the lab," she concluded, leaving the library. As soon as she shut the door behind her, Kurt let out a relieved sigh. He waited a little while longer before setting most of the books back where he found them, and teleporting back to his room with a singular one. He settled onto the bed, close enough to a sleeping Miranda that they were slightly in contact, before opening the book back up and returning to the point he had stopped at before.

[beados10]

Some stupid Krapopolis episode idea(s)

🫛The Beans🐍

Maybe Tyrannis was back at the old forest festival site and found some crushed magic beans in a bag (like the end of the episode) looks like it trampled or something, I dunno. And tried it, it was great at first and he was getting work done very fast, then he became somewhat addicted and very much sleep deprived and he started to become coo coo crazy. Also there’s always two plots in one episode so there’s probably gonna be some sort of “too much snakes” problem(s) with Deliria and Shlub has to deal with it from help from the Killassians. While Deliria, Hippopocampus, and Stupendous try to fix/get rid of The Beans. (Tyrannis eventually names them coffee beans and eventually makes coffee, also if I spelled the names wrong, sorry) there would probably be a few references to Ty’s Tail Tale about the cobras and unicorns or something lol

*Stupendous walks in with Shlub while Deliria turns another subject into a snake*

Stupendous: “Mom I think you have to stop turning people into snakes.”

Shlub: “She’s right honey, or else there will be no one else to have sex with other then snakes.”

Deliria sitting on layout chair(don’t know what their called): *scoff* “oh shut it, I’m a goddess, I can turn whoever I want into snakes.” *accidentally shoots towards the Killassians area*

*cut to the Killassians and a pink bolt that turns a random Killassian into a snake*

*cut to intro*

That’s just one of my ideas right now, pretty sure I had more but I can’t place it at the top of my head right now, again sorry if I misspelled anything, might repost if I have another idea

[lost-kingsmen]

Ao3

"You need to rest." Gawain's eye lights flickered briefly - first up, over the edge of his book, and then down to the pages again - at the quiet crunch of dried leaves. Chopper lashed her long tail as her liege tried to ignore her, and grudgingly uncoiled from her comfortable position beneath the desk lamp to stand up and arc her spine in a stretch. "You have been active for six months and fifteen days. You need to rest." She insisted in the soft shushing of leaves in the wind.

"When did you start counting?" Gawain flipped the page of the book to try and make it clear that he wasn't listening. He hadn't read a single sentence in the past ten minutes. He just...he couldn't focus on the words. He got too distracted by the surreal glow of his own eyes on the page and how, no matter where he looked-

Little orange claws hooked over the edges of the pages as Griflet hauled his body up from the knight's lap. Though the spirit's negligible weight barely even made a dent in the paper, Gawain lowered the book anyway, allowing Griflet to climb up and resettle over the pages in a definitive end to his distracted reading.

"Rest is important." Chopper made sounds like the creaking of old trees in a storm as she gathered her long body at the edge of the desk, and then jumped across to take up the space in Gawain's lap that Griflet had vacated. "You need to-"

"NO." Gawain moved to stand up abruptly, causing Chopper and Griflet to tumble off his lap with a series of startled chirps. They recovered quickly, though, and gave their master matching looks of mild offense. "I can't risk it. I can't risk losing another twenty years-" He made a sound akin to breath hissing through clenched teeth as something tried to wedge itself between his palm and clenched fingers, and almost jerked his hand away. Branwen simply reached out again to take the knight's hand and lifted it to press it against the heart-shaped mark on her chest.

"You are not alone anymore." The spirit said in the soft clicking of his brother's building bricks. Gawain made the hissing sound again, but softer - quieter - in the fragile silence that now filled the space in the wake of his own near-shouting. He felt Griflet and Chopper grasp at his other hand, and let his arm go limp so that they could lift it, too.

"We will wake you." Branwen promised in the soft rumble of distant thunder before leaning her long neck in to press her head against the side of his helmet. Griflet and Chopper echoed her with rumbles of their own, patting his hand and arm with their little claws, and Gawain's eyelights narrowed.

But...not in anger.

"I can't lose another twenty years." He repeated in a voice far more defeated than before. Griflet moved to wrap his arms around the knight's wrist in a reassuring little hug. "I've already missed so much, I-. I can't."

"You will not." Branwen promised again, this time in the gentle ticking of the old clock that hung on the wall of his uncle's study. "We will wake you. You are not alone anymore." Gawain said nothing and let his eyelights flicker out of sight. He did not resist, however, when the three spirits guided him to walk around the bean bag chair he'd been sitting in and stand in one corner of the shed, where he could lean against the edge of a windowsill and the frame of a cluttered shelf.

They settled around him - Branwen stretched across his shoulders in a comforting weight, Chopper coiled around his boots like a patrolling guard dog, and Griflet draped across his hands - as the fatigue he had been fighting off for so long began to weigh on him, impossibly heavy and inescapable.

He felt a spike of fear as his awareness began to fade into the dark, but fighting was no option, anymore. Gawain's helmet dipped slightly as he dropped fully under, and Chopper heaved a heavy sigh.

"So dramatic..." She tutted in the tinkling of broken glass. Branwen reached a paw deep into her mouth and dug around for a few seconds before producing an old hourglass in a wooden casing. She set this carefully on a clear spot on the shelf beside them, and then settled back with a satisfied hum.

"Start small." She told the others in the splashing of little feet in a shallow puddle. "One hour. Later more." Chopper rolled her yellow eyes but didn't argue further. Instead, she kept her gaze on the falling sand as the other two drifted off for a quick nap of their own.

"Start small..." She whispered to herself. One hour wasn't nearly enough to make up for months of neglect, but she could understand Gawain's fear....after all, how could one tell an hour from a year when unconscious to the passing of time?

Chopper coiled herself a little tighter around Gawain's boots and watched the falling sand for the rest of the hour.

[midnightshard06]

Flufftober Day 11

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50489362/chapters/128240896

Summary: Tails attempts to sneak mints into the resistance base and is caught by Silver. Metal meanwhile is just confused.

Pairing: None

Warnings: None

Word Count: ~750 words

AN: Takes place in my Heart of a Hero au

@flufftober

Metal tilted his head as Tails attempted to sneak back into the resistance base. Part of him wanted to stop the fox but he was mostly just confused. Instead of doing anything he just continued to sit on the bean bag chair where he’d been. With a yelp Tails was snagged by a blue energy, one that Metal instantly recognized as Silver’s psychokinesis. Now he was even more confused.

Silver walked into the main room of the resistance base with Tails still in the air. The two looked at each other but didn’t say anything and Metal was just starting to feel like there was something he was missing here. After a while of the two just staring at each other Silver sighed. “How many?”

How… many? Was Tails smuggling something into the base? If so why? Was it something bad? Tails looked away, definitely looking like he didn’t want to say anything. “... five.” The fox finally conceded. 

Silver held out a hand and put Tails down. “Hand them over.”

Tails’ eyes darted around, perhaps looking for a way out before sighing and putting five containers of… something in Silver’s outstretched hand. Alright, enough of this. He was going to figure out what was going on. As he walked over he heard Silver mutter under his breath. “I don’t even know how you keep getting these things…”

Metal waved to get the two’s attention. ‘Can I ask what the heck is going on here?’ He signed once he had their attention.

“Tails was trying to sneak in mints again.” Silver explained that it was the most normal thing in the world. Metal stared before gesturing for Silver to explain further. “Oh right, he hasn’t tried that since you’ve been with us. Tails is somehow really good at getting his hands on mints. He also is bad at controlling how many he eats.” Silver side eyed Tails who did his best to look innocent. It wasn’t really working, the fox had little to no poker face. “So since I’ve been with him I try and take them from him and make sure his mint intake is more… controlled.”

‘That is… not what I was expecting him to be sneaking in really’ Metal said honestly. For Tails to be acting like that he’d expected much worse.

“What were you expecting me to have?” Tails looked at him, curious.

‘No clue just not… mints’ Metal shrugged.

“It really is a problem for him.” Silver sighed. “And now that you know about it you can help me make sure he doesn’t sneak any behind my back.”

Metal looked between Silver and Tails. Silver was giving him a serious expression while Tails looked hopeful. The fox was probably thinking that Metal would side with him but well, he was wrong. He looked at Silver and nodded. ‘You got it’

Tails slumped and his ears drooped while Silver smiled and nodded. “Thank you. With two of us we might just beat his addiction yet.”

“Having someone else to get around will only slow me down, not stop me.” Tails straightened back up. “I just have to get more clever about how I sneak them in.” He muttered, probably not expecting them to hear him. Metal decided not to say anything.

“Right…” Silver shook his head. “Well I’m gonna go hide these. Could you watch him Metal? I don’t want him trying to follow me to see where I put them.” Metal gave him a nod and Silver was off. Thankfully Tails didn’t try to follow.

The two stood there in awkward silence before Metal decided to break it, or well break it as best he could. ‘I have to ask… what does mint even taste like?’

Tails perked up at the question. “Well I guess it’s kinda sweet and leaves your mouth feeling all cool.” Tails tapped his chin before seeming to realize something. “Wait, does that make sense? I don’t know if you can understand the concept of taste because…” Tails stiffly gestured to all of Metal.

Metal tilted his head. ‘I can understand it yeah. I wouldn’t have asked if I couldn’t’ While Metal couldn’t explain why, which was becoming far more common than he’d like it to be, he knew what tastes were. He just couldn’t recall a mint flavor. He’d heard of it sure, but that didn’t mean he knew the taste.

“Oh.” Tails just nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Sorry.”

Metal waved the apology off. ‘Don’t worry about it. What you assumed was reasonable’ He paused. ‘Thanks for telling me’

Tails smiled at him. “You’re welcome.”

[zaneverses]

Love Language Edition: Dadda

Andrew always found comfort in the kitchen. There was something therapeutic about chopping vegetables, the rhythmic sound of a knife meeting the cutting board, or the swirl of a wooden spoon in a bubbling pot. To him, it was second nature, a small act of care that he never thought much of. But to the people who loved him, it was more than just food—it was Andrew’s love language, even if he didn’t realize it himself.

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

Ralph came home from a grueling work trip late one Friday night, exhaustion etched into every line of his face. The kids were already asleep, and Blue wagged his tail lazily as Andrew greeted Ralph at the door with a soft kiss on the cheek.

“You look like you’ve been through a war,” Andrew teased gently, taking Ralph’s bag and coat.

“I feel like it,” Ralph admitted, loosening his tie.

“Go wash up. Dinner’s almost ready.”

Ralph didn’t argue, too tired to do more than nod. By the time he returned, the dining table was set with a hearty meal: Andrew’s famous creamy mushroom risotto, garlic butter green beans, and a small bottle of Ralph’s favorite German beer.

“You didn’t have to go all out,” Ralph said, though the warmth in his eyes betrayed how touched he felt.

“I wanted to. You deserve it.”

As they ate, Ralph’s tension melted away with each bite. Andrew didn’t just cook; he poured his care into every dish. And Ralph noticed, even if Andrew didn’t.

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

One Saturday morning, Yaz stomped into the kitchen, her hair an untamed mess and her mood as stormy as a summer squall. Her soccer team had lost a crucial match the night before, and she hadn’t quite shaken the disappointment.

Andrew, sensing her gloom, had already started whisking pancake batter. “Tough morning?” he asked casually.

Yaz grumbled something unintelligible, slumping into a chair.

“Thought so.” Andrew flipped a pancake onto a growing stack, the scent of butter and maple syrup filling the air. He topped the tower with whipped cream, fresh berries, and just the right drizzle of chocolate sauce before setting it in front of Yaz.

“What’s this?” she asked, her mood lifting ever so slightly.

“Victory pancakes,” Andrew said. “Because you’ll win the next one. And if not, we’ll just have more pancakes.”

Yaz grinned despite herself. “Thanks, Dadda. You’re the best.”

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

Ellias was always on the go—whether he was helping Yaz practice soccer drills or planning his next camping trip. One afternoon, he burst into the house, sweaty and ravenous, shouting, “Dadda, I’m starving!”

Andrew chuckled from the kitchen. “Good timing. Sit.”

Ellias watched as Andrew layered turkey, avocado, tomato, and crisp lettuce onto toasted ciabatta bread. He added a smear of pesto mayo and cut the sandwich diagonally before handing it to his son.

“What’s the green stuff?” Ellias asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Pesto. I learned how to make it when I was your age, spending summers with your grandmother.”

Ellias took a bite and nodded approvingly. “This is awesome. Thanks, Dadda.”

Andrew smiled. He never needed grand gestures; a sandwich was enough to show how much he cared.

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

Elliot was deep into his homework one evening, surrounded by textbooks and notes. Andrew peeked into his room, noticing the furrowed brow and the relentless tapping of a pencil against the desk.

“I thought you could use a break,” Andrew said, placing a tray on Elliot’s desk.

Elliot’s eyes widened at the sight: a steaming cup of hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream and marshmallows, and a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

“Thanks, Dadda,” Elliot said, taking a grateful sip. “You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” Andrew replied, ruffling his hair.

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

When Aunt Amara visited one weekend, Andrew insisted on making dinner. “It’s the least I can do,” he said, rolling up his sleeves.

Amara tried to protest, but Andrew waved her off. Soon, the house was filled with the aroma of roasted chicken, rosemary potatoes, and a vibrant arugula salad.

“You’re spoiling me,” Amara said as she took her first bite.

“That’s the idea,” Andrew said with a grin.

Ralph watched from the other end of the table, amused. “You see? This is what he does. He cooks when he loves someone.”

Amara raised her glass. “To the best cook and friend a person could ask for.”

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

It wasn’t until Ralph brought it up later that night that Andrew began to see the pattern.

“You know, your love language is cooking,” Ralph said as they loaded the dishwasher together.

Andrew frowned thoughtfully. “What do you mean?”

“You show how much you care by feeding people. It’s how you’ve always taken care of us,” Ralph said. “Even when you’re not trying, it shows.”

Andrew thought about it for a moment, recalling all the meals he’d made for his family and friends. “I never realized that,” he admitted.

Ralph smiled, leaning in to kiss Andrew’s temple. “Well, now you know. And we all love you for it.”

Andrew blushed slightly, but his heart swelled with pride. For him, cooking wasn’t just about food—it was about family, love, and the small, unspoken ways he made their world a little better every day.

[hemo--havoc]

P1:\\ < if it's not -Any trouble something to e-At DOES sound good.. >

Arcayd pipes up, following suit in fiddling with their boots to get the things off to wander about in their patterned socks. There's no carpet in her place for convenience reasons.

=|= it's N-o-thing, i Was making S-o-mething already.. alth-o-ugh I must Ask, h-o-w Well d-o- Y-o-u handle Spice? if I'm t-o- Make any Adjustments i Sh-o-uld n-o-t Wait l-o-ng..

They muse, already off to the kitchen to check on how things are going in there. Really, although it's technically another room it's pretty open into the living room area as well. The living room, not only has a few beanbags situated about, there was also a small humble couch that could probably fit a couple people. She gets by, but it's not like Kharmi was swimming in funds. It's hard to make a living when you're already busy most of the time as it is.

Arcayd, is naturally immediately drawn towards the gaming system and the handful of titles for it that were sat in a stack on the entertainment center tails flicking back and forth.

Kharmi herself seems intent on sticking close to Odonaa. It was odd but little things just seemed to keep happening around the winged troll. Something would happen to drop, or be bumped into, or any number of small incidents. But each time the psion is right there to circumvent them.

=|= thank Y-o-u bumble Bee, but Y-o-u really Must sit Already..

\\ but..! //

=|= n-o- Buts..

Odonna insists, voice gentle but firm as they guide her out of the kitchen and back into the living room to one of the bean bag chairs, softly pressing upon her shoulders to get her to sit down.

To which Kharmi crosses her arms and grumbles about a little under her breath.

=|= i'm Fine, you Are not.. now Stay put.. i'm Going to Fetch the First aid Kit.. and Some drinks While i'm At it.

Oh! There was the thing he was looking for.

The renegade removes his boots, unleashing some heavily baggy pant legs from their confines and draping over his black socks. He places them near the rest of the footwear, feeling a deep ache in his chest as he watches Kharmi just. Ruffle Arcayd's hair without really any issue.

...G o g, he wished that were him.

<{ I second Kharmi's judgement. I'm happy to explain more once we settle in, bUt Arcayd came in very clUtch dUring the fight that roUghed Us all Up. |F

Xerxes meanwhile, is absolutely loving the attention, giving a little happy trill as he leans into all the pets and scritches the oliveblood threw his way. 'Why yes, I am majestic, and handsome, and very very powerful,' Vyrgyl was sure he would say if he could speak at this moment...

<{ YoU lil traitor, yoU-- |F

The comment is said playfully, under his breath, and with a bemused smirk on his face, but the lusus apparently hears it anyway, and glances over at his charge with... was. Was that a smug side-eye???

The limeblood snorts, against his own vague irritation at the look, before Oodana speaks, and somehow, for the first time, he notices the scent of cooking in the air, and feels the pit in his empty stomach gnawing at him.

<{ ...Personally, I coUld eat an entire hoofbeast... thank yoU, Oodana. |F

He. Also felt like his legs wanted to give out. Seemed like the adrenaline was finally starting to fade. Thus, Vyrgyl wanders over into the living room, scoping out which seat he might wanna sink his happy ass into, as a leg bends back, tapping the tips of his toes against the floor almost as a force of habit.

[elizabethemerald]

A Shade Darker than Red: Part 7

Jason, Jazz and Danny sat together in Danny’s home. The building had once been home to the infamous Fentonworks but now had been sitting seemingly abandoned. Jazz had technically inherited the building but she wasn’t interested in ever living in it again. It did however make a good Living World base of operations for Team Phantom. 

The interior of the house was almost completely unrecognizable from what it had been before. Danny had refitted the living room with comfortable bean bag chairs and rugs. He had demolished most of the interior walls, leaving just enough load-bearing pillars to keep the roof up. Most of the raw material had been used to completely fill in the lab in the basement. No one would ever be hurt in that lab again. 

The trio of them were laying in an unfinished circle. Jazz had kicked off her shoes and laid down first, stretching out like a cat in the sun. Danny had dropped on her almost immediately, drawing a small grunt and half-hearted, “Danny!” from her lips. He laid with his head on her stomach, his ghost tail curling and twisting for a moment before it settled down into legs. With a flash of light Danny again took on his now infrequently used human form. 

Jason had hesitated, hovering in the air above them for a few minutes before Danny gestured him down. When he finally settled on the ground he kept his tail twirling around himself almost like he was sitting criss cross. Of course Danny wasn’t having that and playfully wrestled Jason until he was also laying out, his head on Danny’s stomach. 

Jazz laughed at the two boys and began combing her fingers through Danny’s hair, humming softly to herself as she did so. Danny copied her and began doing the same to Jason’s hair, even though Jay’s hair kept returning to how it had sat. Perks of being a ghost, he never needed to worry about styling his hair again. 

They sat like that together for a few quiet moments. It had been a month since the funeral and Jason had said he wanted to talk to the two of them, but he kept getting anxious when he wanted to bring it up, so Jazz insisted on as casual an environment as they could get so he would feel comfortable. Her help had been so amazing through the past month and before that as he came to grips with both his death and his murder at the hands of the man he had once treated as a father. 

Finally after a few minutes of relaxing at the feeling of Danny’s touch in his hair and the sound of Jazz’s humming Jason felt comfortable enough to bring up what was on his mind. He was still nervous because he was terrified of them turning away from him after what he was about to say. 

“Hey guys,” he started, focusing his gaze on the stars Danny had painted on the ceiling as he spoke. “I think I would like to avenge my death.” 

Jazz had stopped humming when he started speaking and now gave a short thoughtful hum. Danny’s hands hadn’t stilled in his hair. 

“You know you don’t have to avenge your own death right?” Jason was surprised by that and partially turned so he could look up at Danny. “You’re still just a baby ghost, it’s not your responsibility to avenge yourself. An older ghost should take care of that for you.” 

“I’m not a child!” Jason said, childishly. The others chose not to comment on his tone. 

“You’re still a very young ghost.” Jazz explained, her voice calm. “If it weren’t for your exposure to ectoplasm prior to your death you wouldn’t even have fully formed a core at this point. You would still be vulnerable. That’s why the Realms have a code of honor for older ghosts to avenge the deaths of younger ghosts.” 

“Oh. Then who would avenge my death?” 

“I would obviously.” Danny said immediately. “Even if I hadn’t basically ghost adopted you into our family, I was the first ghost who found you after you formed. I consider it not just a responsibility but a privilege.” 

Jason had to sit up and meet Danny’s eyes at that. 

“Really?”

“Yes. The only reason I haven’t done it already is because I was waiting for you to be ready. It’s your life that’s being avenged. I will avenge it exactly as you wish.” 

Jason had to lay back down to think about that for a few minutes. Danny began playing with his hair again while Jazz continued her soft humming. She was humming one of Ember’s songs if Jason remembered correctly. 

He honestly hadn’t expected Danny to be so on board for vengeance, much less to volunteer to do it himself. He was still getting used to people caring about his wishes. Then a thought occurred to him. 

“Wait a minute, then who avenged your death?” 

“I did.” Jazz responded. 

Jason again had to meet her eyes in surprise. He never would have expected his sister/therapist/grief counselor to have enacted a plan of revenge, though maybe he shouldn’t have been so surprised. Seeing his questioning look, Jazz continued speaking. 

“Honestly we had argued about it back and forth ever since Danny died.” She said, then Danny spoke next. 

“For a long time, I considered my death a mere accident.” 

The two of them continued trading off on the story, Jason listening silently. 

“But the accident wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for negligence on their part. And their actions after his death made the decision easy for me.” 

“Then it was all a question of who would get to them first.” 

“Turns out my plan was faster.” 

“Of course it was! You had been planning yours for way longer than I had!” There was a trace of a laugh in Danny’s voice, though Jazz’s remained serious. 

“Of course I had. I knew what they were doing was wrong as soon as I read and understood the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Even more so once I read the Meta-protection acts. In the end the plan was easy. I just had to play on their own insane biases.” 

Jazz changed her voice to make herself sound younger and more excited. 

“Isn’t it strange how Superman’s powers are just like those of a ghost? Do you think he could be a long term possession?” Her voice returned to normal, with a tight edge of anger hidden underneath. “They of course drove out to Metropolis immediately. Danny and I forwarded their plans to capture and destroy Superman to the Justice League under the guise of scared civilians. Jack and Maddie got there first and put their plan in action, and like with everything they do, innocent people got hurt.”

She had to pause for a moment to clear her throat before she continued. 

“Of course the fallout from that was more than even I had planned. A hidden loophole to the meta protection laws that allowed indiscriminate torture, experimentation and annihilation of meta adjacent beings made international news. The Justice League closed that loophole then went after the Guys in White with a vengeance. All our parents' research was handed over. All of the monstrous things they had done, and all their horrible backwards biases that they used to justify their cruelty. Including the video of Danny’s death and torture.” She took a deep breath to calm her fury, then finished in a smug voice. “Life in prison. For both of them.” 

Jason thought about that, he vaguely remembered reading up on that news while he was trying to catch up on everything he had missed after he died the first time. After the GIW were destroyed, all ghosts and ecto beings were given the same rights as all other sentient and sapient species. The Justice League established a special hotline for citizens to inform them about ghostly activity. 

Danny had explained that he had created a Royal Edict and ordered all ghosts to keep their interactions with humans to a minimum for the next several years. He didn’t want to outright order them never to interact and end up destroying a ghost’s obsession, but he wanted the very idea of ghosts and the Infinite Realms to fade from the public consciousness to prevent any risks to the ghosts or the Realms themselves. 

“Jack and Maddie are still alive?” Jason finally asked after he had thought about their story for a moment. He felt Danny’s hands tighten in his hair before with a conscious effort, Danny forced himself to relax. 

“No. Jazz avenged their crimes against me. I avenged their crimes against another.” His voice was hard as ice and twice as cold. “My- my younger sister. Danielle.” 

It was Danny’s turn to take a shaky breath before continuing.

“Danielle or Ellie, was my clone, a half ghost, just like me. My fruitloop of a godfather wanted to kill my dad, marry my mom and make me his perfect son. When I refused to be his heir he stole my DNA and cloned me. Most of the clones didn’t make it. Ellie was the only one who was stable enough to survive. She fought against his programming to be our friend, rather than trying to kill me. She had some health problems but over all we did the best we could to help her live her best life.”

“She loved traveling.” Jazz said, her voice a little wistful. “She wanted to see the entire world. She was always sending us pictures of her at different locations around the world. Every few months she would come home with a new souvenir. Any time she called she would have some new and fun story about such and such country or city.”

“Ellie took to languages like a duck to water.” Danny said. “Here I was struggling to master Ghost Speak and failing English and she was having philosophical debates in Cantonese or a dialect of Arabic I hadn’t even heard of.”

Jason could feel the gulf of grief that surrounded the other two. He could feel the hole left behind by Danielle. The perfect spot in their little circle where she could have been, her head resting on his stomach and Jazz resting on hers. He would be playing with her hair, longer than her brother’s but probably just as light and floaty. He could almost see the way Ellie would try to braid Jazz’s hair, attempting styles she had seen among her travels. 

He could have talked with her about his own travels, the countries he’s seen and the martial arts he learned there. The two of them could have made fun of Danny for having no spice tolerance. He could have shown her how to bake, and shared some of his favorite books with her. He felt Danny and Jazz’s grief and longing for Danielle almost as if it were his own. 

“What happened to her?” He asked softly. 

“Jack and Maddie had scattered ghost traps all across the country. We tried to remove all the traps, but they barely took notes on where they were, and we couldn’t find them all.” 

“Like mines being buried all over Europe after the World Wars, just waiting for a child to find them.” Jason could feel his gut curl up in fear and anger. 

“Exactly.” Danny sighed, breathing out a little bit of frost as he tried to keep his emotions even. “Ellie had found one of the traps. She had sensed the ectoplasm of a bunch of blob ghosts that were caught in the trap. She couldn’t just leave them there. So she tried to free them. Apparently it was a newer design that we hadn’t seen before. Designed to stop anyone from tampering with the trap and freeing the ghosts.” 

“And in their mind, the only thing that would care about a ghost enough to try and free it was another ghost.” Jazz’s voice was as bitter as black coffee. 

“If a human had encountered the trap they would have died just about instantly. All but the most durable of metas would have been horribly maimed by it. Even a fully formed ghost would have been brought to the very edge of nonbeing, and only a few of us could have survived.” 

Danny’s voice was shaky, and his fingers in Jason’s hair had taken on a mechanical movement, as if he weren’t aware he was doing it, and only stimming to keep his mind functioning. 

“Ellie was never the most stable.” Danny continued, his voice breaking. “I felt her pain. I wasn’t fast enough to save her. Only fast enough to hold her as she fell apart.” 

Jason reached up and grabbed at Danny’s hands as the other ghost sobbed. He wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to continue, but underneath the sorrow that Danny was filling the room with was a burning rage that made him keep speaking even past his tears. 

“Ellie was my family. It was my responsibility to avenge her death. And I did.” He grit the words out. “Jack and Maddie were already in prison for what they had done to Superman and Metropolis to say nothing of their other crimes against ghosts. I went intangible and snuck past the security of the prison to get to their cells.” 

His words died, unable to continue past his emotions any longer. Jazz finished in a somber voice. 

“Madeline Fenton slipped in the showers and broke her neck. Jack Fenton was overcome with regret for his actions and committed suicide in his cell.” 

“What if they had become ghosts?” Jason couldn’t stop the question even in this serious moment. He was only marginally surprised by Danny’s dry, humorless laugh. 

“Their souls are bound for the worst cells in Walker’s Prison for a millenia or more. If they ever form as ghosts, they will spend their time in a place where every single one of their jailers is a ghost and knows exactly what they’ve done to ghosts in the past.” 

Jason was quiet. They really were willing to do whatever it took to avenge a death. Jazz sent both of the Fentons to prison for life for killing her brother, and Danny killed them himself for killing his sister. Unlike Bruce who had refused to bend his rule about killing only for the Joker to kill hundreds or maybe even thousands more. He had paralyzed Barbara and Bruce had done nothing. Then he had crossed his own line and beaten Jason to death. 

“Jay, you said you wanted revenge? You name it and we’ll do it.” Danny said, his voice completely serious and only a little hoarse from his tears. 

“I don’t think I’m ready to do anything about Bruce. I can’t- I don’t- I’m just not ready.” Jason said. He was still coming to terms with what Bruce had done to him. 

“That’s ok Jason. This happens on your terms. Whatever you need.” Jazz said, reaching across their circle to grab his hand and give a quick squeeze. 

“I can’t deal with Bruce. But maybe, it would be nice to deal with the Joker?” His voice was still hesitant. 

“Deal, buddy. You tell me what you want. And I’ll make it happen.” 

“Deal. Thanks Danny, Jazz.” 

.

It was some hours later that alarms around Arkham Asylum started blaring. At first the guards were worried about a break out, none of them wanted the Clown Prince of Crime back on the streets of Gotham. Then they realized it wasn’t a break out. Someone had broken In to get to Joker’s cell. 

[i-smell-sass]

Overworked [Donnie ROTTMNT x Male/Masc Reader]

A/N: FINALLY my first donnie fanfic i love this goofy goober. Donnie is autistic coded and mikey ADD, leo ADHD!. Reader is not specified to be human or mutant but appears in human Form. The turtles have tails

Pairing/Relationships: Donnie Hamato x Male/Masc Reader 

Summary: Donnie is tinkering on his tech and neglecting his needs, Y/N helps him get his sleeping schedule on track.

Requested: Yes/No

Warning(s): Donnie neglecting his needs to do science, a little of arguing, awkward morning between Donnie and Y/n

Genre: Fluff/hurt 

AGAB: none mentioned

Pronouns used for Y/N: He/Him

Y/N = Your name

H/C = hair color

H/L = hair length

FEM/FEM ALIGNED AND PEOPLE WHO USE SHE/HER OR SHE/THEY PRONOUNS DNI THIS IS A FANFIC FOR MLM/NBLM

Leo's dialogue is blue, Raphs red, Mikey's orange, Donnie's purple and April's green.

Y/N was sitting in the living room, watching a movie with April, Raph, Mikey and Leo, talking about a Jupiter Jim movie and giggling as they were exchanging stories and theories about his adventures. Donnie had gotten bored of the non-Jupiter Jim movies and went into his lab to tinker away at his inventions. Y/N got up and stretched, looking over everyone "hey, I'm gonna go get a snack. Anyone want anything?" Mikey piped up and held up his empty glass. "Yes please! Orange juice for me" Leo leaned over the bean bag chair and looked at Y/N, smirking "you already know what i want, don't 'cha?" Y/N rolled his eyes "yeah another bag of chips. As always." April shook her head and Raph just said "I'm good, thanks" He took Mikey's glass and walked into the kitchen, getting him a refill and then grabbing the chip bag. He glanced in the direction of the door, seeing Donnie lazily trot into the kitchen with his goggles still on. He moved to the coffee maker and put on a pot of coffee to brew, leaning on the counter to stabilize himself since he was so tired. Y/N looked at him and sighed, laughing under his breath. "Hello sleepyhead. Finally came out of your genius lair?" Donnie shrugged and nodded "mhm. I'm so close to finishing my invention. Just needs a few more tweaks and then I'm done." He said, grabbing the coffee pot full of steaming, brown liquid. "So how long have you been working on that already?" Donnie shrugged and looked at the wrist thingy he had on, squinting at it since his vision was getting a bit blurry from the lack of sleep "i dunno. Like, 20 hours maybe?" Y/N scoffed. "And you didn't sleep at all? Donnie, that's not good." Donnie rolled his eyes and sighed "well, my dear, less intelligent friend, luckily coffee is by my side" Y/N sighed and grabbed the snacks and Mikey's glass. "Okay, well, just don't stay up so long, alright?" The purple dressed turtle shrugged and trotted back out of the kitchen into his lab, and Y/N brought everyone their drinks and snacks. "Shit. I forgot my snacks. Whatever." He shrugged and just flopped down next to Leo on the bean bag chair, stealing some of his chips out of the bag "hey! Rude. go get your own chips." The H/C haired male rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Leo. "Stop complaining, you jerk." Leo sighed and just kept eating his chips grumpily.

They watched a couple more movies, talked a bit and joked around until Y/N got up again "alright. I'm going to the bathroom. You guys can start the next movie without me." He walked off and went to the bathroom, after that he walked over to Donnie's lab and heard some machines whirring. He peeked into the room, the doors opening by themselves and he gasped, jumping at the loud sound of the mechanical doors opening. But Donnie was still fast asleep, laying sprawled out on his desk with music blasting from his headphones/goggles and he was drooling. Y/N sighed and looked around for shelldon. "Hey shelldon. Turn off the lights and Donnie's music please." Shelldon nodded and did so, then he flew back to his loading station. Y/N picked Donnie up and sat him up so he would lean back against the chair. He took off his goggles for him and tugged off his elbow and hand protectors as well as the knee ones. Since Donnie had his battle shell off already, he did his best not to touch his sensitive shell and pulled him up so Donnie's arms were wrapped around his neck and he was carrying him by his legs. Donnie snuggled himself into Y/N's neck for warmth and continued sleeping. The H/L haired male carried Donnie to his bed and tried to lay him down on it, but Donnie wouldn't let go of him. In fear of waking Donnie up, Y/N just decided to lay down with him and wait until Donnie would fully fall asleep again so he could leave. I mean, they both slept next to each other and slightly cuddled before but that was at a sleepover where they both fell asleep watching a movie and neither of them talked about the situation again. Y/N had a big crush on Donnie but didn't want to make it weird between them, so he just never said anything. Donnie wrapped his arms around Y/N's waist and laid his head on his shoulder since the other was taller, sleeping peacefully on him and enjoying the warmth since he was a cold blooded creature. 

In the morning, Donnie woke up to an unfamiliar warmth surrounding him. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, then he looked at what or who was under him, and low and behold it was Y/N sleeping peacefully under Donnie. Donnie gasped and blushed bright red, moving to get off of His crush but falling to the floor in the process. "Fuck- OW!" Y/N jumped up and looked around in a surprised manner. "Huh? What? Don? Why are you on the floor?" Donnie rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "Eh.. uh.. i.. fell..?" "Well are you okay?" "I think so.. just kinda hit my head." "Oh. Let me see. Are you sure you're fine?" He asked and got out of the bed, kneeling down in front of Donnie and looking at his head. "Hm. There are no bruises. I think it wasn't that bad." Donnie nodded, still blushing as he did. "Why were you.. um.. in my- my bed?" "Oh! You fell asleep and I wanted to bring you to bed so your back wouldn't hurt because you fell asleep on the table, but you didn't want to let go of me so I just laid down with you. I wanted to wait until you fell asleep and then I wanted to leave but I guess I fell asleep too." Donnie nodded and sighed, tapping his fingers on his knees lightly as he thought. "did you sleep well.. at least?" "I mean.. yeah. I like being close to you. But you don't like physical affection that much so i try to keep it minimal" "yeah i uh.. understand. But.. I guess it was nice for me too? I mean you're warm and it was comforting but next time it would be nice if I would be informed before I wake up in your arms." "Yeah that's alright. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable" Donnie shook his head "no no it's okay. I just didn't expect it. Being so close to you all of a sudden.." "Is that bad..? I didn't mean to be weird"  "no! It's just.. eh. I get nervous around.. you when you're so close to me. So.." Y/N ran his hands through his hair. "Oh.. is that bad..? I think that's.. not good." Donnie shook his head and waved his hands in a panicked manner in front of himself. "NO! No. It's because.. ugh do i really have to say it? You know I'm bad with feelings" He let his head hang down and he played with his fingers as he mumbled "maybe.. kind of.. have a crush on you.." Y/N stared at him in disbelief. "..you what?" Donnie sighed and covered his eyes as he rambled "i know it's stupid and i don't even know if you like guys and especially me because I'm a mutant turtle for heaven's sake! And I just made it awkward and now you probably won't even want to be my friend anymore-" Y/N grabbed Donnie's cheeks and smiled as he looked at him "don, Donnie! It's okay. I like you too. You're so smart and awesome and funny and when you're not trying to put up a front you're the sweetest guy I've ever met." Donnie gasped and looked up at him, staring him in the eyes as he held his hands that were resting on his cheeks "..are you sure?" "Yes. 100% sure." Donnie chuckled and pressed their foreheads together so that their foreheads and his beak and Y/N's nose would touch. He then intertwined their fingers.

"Thank you. For being my friend and not finding me weird because I'm.. a humanoid turtle that builds high tech assault weapons in his spare time" Y/N laughed and kissed Donnie's forehead "why would I hate you for all the traits i like you for?" Donnie rolled his eyes and squeezed Y/N's Hand. "So.. does this mean we're.. boyfriends?" Y/N chuckled and shrugged. "I mean.. sure if you want that." Donnie nodded and smiled. "I absolutely want that." The H/C haired male smiled. "But only if you promise to not stay up so late all the time." Donnie sighed and rolled his eyes "betrayal!" Y/N giggled and pat Donnie's head. "Stop being such a drama queen." Suddenly the lab doors opened and Mikey stood by the door. "Donnie! Breakfast is-" Mikey looked between his friend and his brother a couple times before smiling and yelling: "LEO YOU OWE ME 20 BUCKS" to which a dissatisfied groan and a "OH COME ON" came from the direction of the kitchen. Donnie blushed and sighed, curling up in a ball and covering his eyes as he laid there "I'm never gonna live that down" "oh come on it isn't that bad. Plus, we get Mikey's pancakes. They're awesome." Donnie sighed and laid there sprawled out on the floor "did they really bet on us getting together? Was I being that obvious?" Y/N shrugged and leaned back on his arms as he sat there. "I mean sometimes you'd just stare at me for a good while while I was like, playing something with Mikey. But i always thought you just zoned out or something" Donnie shook his head and sat up. "Sigh. I really have to be more suave about it next time" Y/N shook his head and lightly held Donnie's hand. "Nah. I like when you're doing stuff like looking at me and that's obvious. It's cute. That way i know that you're interested in me" The purple turtle nodded and leaned his head on Y/N's shoulder. "Fine. But can we keep PDA around my brothers to a minimum..? At least for now? I don't want to be teased even more by those dum dums." Y/N nodded "sure. Now let's get breakfast. I'm starving for some of Mikey's pancakes" he smiled and got up, pulling Donnie up with him and they walked to the kitchen where they were greeted by joyful words of Donnie's brothers and a couple teases about how they were dating now.

[sukuna-darling]

ᴛʜɪs ᴛɪᴍᴇ ɴᴇxᴛ ʏᴇᴀʀ

reading time ⥂ 5mins/1.3k

request/ @deepcloudspyhairdo ⥂ Could you do a sfw with Nanami, like a really cold evening and making hot chocolate or something. Thank you!

prompt ⥂ Relaxing with your adoring husband and drinking some hot chocolate, after Christmas decoration shopping for the new family home.

tags ⥂ fluff, sfw, established relationship, six pregnant!reader, soft!Kento who wants to pamper you

@hxllhxunds @dickdeprived | Christmas event!

    Kento sets the bags of decorations down by the front door. Whilst you say, “I can handle opening the door and carrying some of the bags.” Crouching to pick up some bags when Kento grabs your arm.

He says, “Please don’t strain your knees and ankles. Let me bring the decorations, then we can put them up together.” Stepping into the house and standing next to Daisy, who sat by the doorway. Her tail making it impossible for her to fully sit.

Rubbing her treats and grabbing of her treats out of the jar. Next to where Kento sets the keys down in the bowl. Whilst you ask,

“Can we make some hot chocolate together first? I’m so cold I feel like baby bean is going to catch a chill too.” Bud sits up, holding her fluffy white paws in the air. Softly taking the treat you hold out to her and walking away with it.

The crease between his eyebrows forms whilst he picks up the bag. Telling you, “I’ll start the fire, you can rest, let me unpack and melt some chocolate.” Muffin runs through the door past Kento, who pauses for her to go through first.

Closing the door behind Kento and sitting down on the chair on the other side of the door. He says, “Wait, let me.” He sets the bags down, then kneels to slip your shoes off.

Sighing as Kento rubs your swollen ankles. He says, “You should relax and soak your feet, whilst you warm up in front of the fireplace.” The ache quickly vanishes underneath Kento’s soothing touch. Whilst he switches between rubbing either both of your heels or ankles. 

Moments later, when he stands up, you whine at the loss of his comforting touch. Kento leans down and kisses the pout off your lips. Before saying, 

“You can tell me where you want the ornaments once I set up the tree.” Slowly standing up whilst wishing you were sitting back down. Since after a few steps, the all too familiar ache settles in. 

Pausing and sighing before saying, “You win, little nanamini is a getting to heavy on me.“ Rubbing your belly whilst heading for the living room. Where you ease yourself onto the sofa.

Kento sets the bags down around the coffee table. Whilst he grabs fresh logs to put in the fireplace. Sparking the fire and tending to the logs to make sure it catches and spreads.

Turning on the lamp next to you, whilst saying, “Next Christmas is going to be the baby’s first. They are going to be so cute in their Christmas pictures.” As the fire catches, it leaps up into the chimney and Kento stands up. The fire’s light dance across his sharp cheekbones, whilst making his golden hair glow.

Kento goes to flick on the tall lamp behind his reading chair. Whilst he says, “We can get one or two pictures framed up around the house, and the rest can go into a family photo book.” The book in question rests on his bookshelves next to his reading chair. With pictures of your belly at every month taking up the first three pages.

“The first family photo book of many. I can’t wait to have both bedrooms with little nanaminis in them!” He chuckles whilst he sits down next to you, rubbing your belly. Whilst kissing your cheek.

He asks, “You really like that nickname, don’t you? It’s cute, much like you are.” Turning and kissing Kento, you could never get over the softness of his lips. Or the way they fit perfectly with yours.

Cupping his cheek whilst he parts his lips, slipping your tongue past. And whimpering softly whilst he groans. Then breaks the kiss before you get breathless.

Kento says, “I’ll get the chocolate melting and bring in the Christmas tree.” He kisses the inside of your palm and tells you,

“I love you so much. To grow old with you, and have you be the mother of my nanamini is heaven on earth.” Smiling up at Kento only for it to drop a little as the baby kicks.

Gasping to Kento, “He’s moving! He is trying to say he loves you too.” Moving Kento’s hand resting on your round belly to the bottom. His eyes water up a little, whilst he says,

“He’s so strong already.” Kneeling in next to you whilst saying to your belly, “You don’t need to be hurting your mom. Be kind to her, she’s a wonderful person. And when you met her you’ll love her as much as I do.” Pulling up your shirt and kissing your belly before pulling your shirt back down.

Kento stands up whilst you say, “I can’t wait to meet him. Next Christmas we can dress him up as a little elf!” Muffin jumps on into the sofa, loudly purring as she walks towards you. Whilst flicking her fluffy tail.

Kento scoops her up before she can settle on top of your belly. Whilst he tells you, “We can take some pictures of him helping with making Santa’s cookies.” Holding Muffin on her back whilst picking out leaves that got caught in her tail and belly.

He rubs the fluff between her paws as she spreads apart whilst she lets out a soft squeak. After which he sets her down on top of your belly whilst you say,

“That is going to be so cute! I can’t wait for the baby to try your cooking.” Daisy comes bounding down the stairs and jumps on the sofa, sitting down. Whilst sniffing Muffin, who squeaks at Daisy, causing her to wag her tail.

Kento says, “We are going to have to record the faces he makes. Family videos is going to be important too.” He rubs Daisy between her ears before telling you,

“I’m going to melt the chocolate and bring in the tree. Here is the remote.” Pulling the holiday section up on HBO and deciding on a classic Christmas movie. That you could talk over to Kento whilst he puts the tree together.

Speaking to your belly as you hear the door close, “You have a wonderful dad. He is stubborn and strict sometimes, but it’s because he cares so much. You’ll see how thoughtful he is and how much he loves you.” Your son settles in your belly.

Rubbing Daisy’s head after she curls up on the sofa next to you. Whilst stretching Muffin’s fuzzy chin, her soft purrs getting louder.

You say to your baby, “Even if he is tired from work, your Dady will spend time with you when he comes home. And I can’t wait to for your dad to hold us both close.” Smiling whilst watching the movies opening play out.

Waiting on Kento, who comes into the room minutes later with two steaming mugs. He hands one to you whilst he tells you, “My love, you’re radiant.” He sets his own mug on a coaster.

Blowing on your hot chocolate, which has a stick of cinnamon in it. Some spices floating around the hot chocolate. Whilst fluffy marshmallows float with it.

Kento leaves the living room and you hear the box sliding. As you ask him, “Can I have some…” He holds out the box of various assorted cookies you saw whilst shopping. And after seeing the way you were eyeing them, Kento picked them up.

He grabs his mug of hot chocolate whilst saying, “Hopefully, find them as delicious as they appear.” Opening the top to find a chocolate cookie with three different chocolates. Which you take a bite of before taking a small sip.

After swallowing, you let out a small moan and take another bite. As your husband sits next to you whilst he says, “I love seeing you so happy.” Placing your cookies in his lap before wrapping his arm around you. Whilst kissing the side of your head before taking a sip of his drink.