#supposed to do a survey and i was like oh i guess they send the link when youre booked. nope i was supposed to get it last month.

[nails-teeth-neck]

I'm not in any fucking mailing lists seems like so they better not act like it's my fault for not knowing something

[ssaeri]

the taste of home

☆ tags: harvey & gn!reader, harvey tells everyone to eat home-cooked meals because they're better for you (dialogue line), you find out that he mostly eats microwave meals, gift-giving is this farmer's love language, can be read ROMANTICALLY ☆

Maru startles when you enter the clinic, her galaxy-themed pen pausing over a stack of paperwork. Once she realizes that it's just you, her shoulders drop, a half-smile blossoming on her lips.

"Scared me," she says with a huff of a laugh. She closes the manila folder and tucks it away, the motion smooth with practiced efficiency. "I thought I forgot about an appointment or something."

"That's nonsense, Mar. Nothing could ever get past you. I swear you eat organizational tabs for breakfast," you say, waving off her concern. Leaning over the counter, you drop your chin into a palm. "Is the doctor in?"

Her amused expression turns into an eye roll, and she jabs a thumb over her shoulder. "In the private examination room, I think, but make sure you knock first. Last I saw, he was cleaning out the cabinet, and I really don't want to help clean up another jump scare."

"I do it because it's fun to tease him, not to make your job harder," you insist. Opening up your bag, you rummage around for a few seconds before pulling out a glass jar. "But just as an apology for what happened last week, I brought you this. My best strawberry preserves for the best nurse in Pelican Town."

"I'm the only nurse in Pelican Town," she retorts, but still, she hums appreciatively as she takes it, fingers dancing over her name on the lid. You already know that she and Demetrius buy half of your stock at Pierre's, even if she says that they share with the entire family. "While you're back there, can you tell Dr. Harvey that I'm clocking out in fifteen minutes? We were supposed to discuss a patient today, but I think he forgot. I'll finish up here and touch base with him tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am."

You send her a two-fingered salute that she vaguely returns. Then you disappear into the corridor that melts into the clinic's main hallway. Other than the waiting room you were in, the hallway leads to four other places: the patient room, which holds privacy curtains, two soft beds, and a firm bed that you've grown to dislike after all your Skull Cavern emergency surgeries; the stairway up to Harvey's apartment, blocked by two metal doors; the back of the reception desk; and a private examination room, which doubles as Harvey's office.

Harvey's in there now, back to the door, hands on his hips as he surveys the mess by his feet. His green blazer is flung over the exam bed, and he has his sleeves rolled to his elbows. An end of the day vibe, for sure. You look over your shoulder and see Maru staring at you, pretending to rapt her knuckles on her desk. Fine, you mouth, a smile tugging at the corner of your lips. Satisfied, she turns back to her work.

"Knock, knock," you sing at Harvey's door. Despite your announcement, he jumps, hand over his heart as he whirls around. His brown eyes are wide behind his glasses.

"Farmer," he sighs. "You scared me."

"Not the first time I heard that today," you laugh, striding into the room. Behind you, you hear Maru's door click closed. "Your lovely nurse said that she's clocking out soon, by the way. Fifteen minutes."

He glances at his watch. "Oh dear, is it already that time? I guess I got distracted by all the supplies." He drags a hand down his face. "I ordered a new shipment of bandage wrap yesterday, only to find a brand new box in the back. Apparently I did this last time, too. I need to spend my next free day taking inventory."

"I'll just make a few more trips to Skull Cavern and use those right up," you say, but when his glare snaps to your face, you hold up your hands placatingly. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Do you need any help right now?"

He pauses, surveying the stacked boxes, but finally sighs a soft No. "I'll just leave things like this so that I remember tomorrow. Why don't you head upstairs and get settled first? I think the coffee machine is about ready to go."

Now it's your turn to shoot him a look. "How many cups have you had today?"

He flushes. "O-only one this morning! Please don't say anything. Can you just set up the table upstairs?"

You tsk, pretending to be disappointed, if only to get back at him for always giving unsolicited health advice. But he's been helping you a lot lately, so you guess you can cut him a break.

As always, the smell of coffee lingers in the air, growing stronger as you trudge up the stairs. When you first befriended him, it was the only thing you knew he liked. He made sure to always have a tumbler in hand as he walked to the river in the afternoons, and you took note of it. Twice a week, you dropped by to give him a warm cup, which he always took appreciatively, but Maru was quick to tell you what else Harvey liked. You don't want to encourage him, she said mysteriously.

You started giving him more pickles after that.

His room is bathed in orange as the sun sets, light catching on the airplane models scattered across his dining table. They look untouched, frozen in the same positions as last week. Not much to set up, then. You flick on the overhead light and make your way to the kitchen.

Though it’s more of a break room than a kitchen, now that you think about it. You’ve only been over here once or twice. Between the microwave and coffee machine, there’s barely any counter space left, and you wonder how he ever gets any cooking done without a stove. He told you once that he mostly eats food from the Stardrop Saloon, but…your eyes narrow. What about all his lectures about home-cooked meals?

You move around clumsily, unsure of where everything is. Eventually, you find two mugs in the overhead cabinet, coffee packets in the drawer, sugar cubes in a cute little jar you gifted him the other month. The machine whirs and dribbles fresh coffee into the waiting mugs. Just as they top off, you hear footsteps on the stairs.

“Hey, Harvey?” you call out. “Do you have any milk or cream?”

“I have vanilla creamer in the fridge, second shelf,” he replies, but then you hear a sharp intake. “Wait, I’ll get it—”

Too late. You’ve already opened his fridge. The bottle of creamer is there—you pull it out and set it on the counter—but it’s also the only thing there other than half a head of lettuce.

“What the hell?” You scan the empty shelves. “Do you need to go grocery shopping? Pierre’s is closed, but Joja’s open late if you need to pick anything up.”

“No need, I’ll go shopping tomorrow,” he says, hurrying over. He squeezes past you, puts a dash of cream in each mug, and pushes the coffee into your hands. “Go and sit down. I’ll put this away.”

“Oookay.” You furrow your brows. What’s going on? “I’m kind of in the mood for iced coffee, though. Can I let my cup cool in the freezer for a bit and add ice to it?”

“Yes.”

A beat of silence.

“Do you mind…opening the freezer so I can put the mug in? My hands are a little full.”

“Right! Um, why don’t I do that and you sit down first?”

“Harv, I’m already holding the mugs. You just have to open the door. What’re you hiding in there, a dead body?”

You laugh; he doesn’t. Your chuckles die out, leaving the both of you to stand there in silence. If the townspeople were to pick your worst quality, it would probably be your stubbornness—a trait that rears its head now as you stand there, watching Harvey’s flush spread down his neck.

Finally, he sputters a resigned Okay and opens his freezer.

Behind his ice trays are stacks of Joja Mart frozen meals, everything ranging from meatloaf to fries to pizza to peas to chicken parmesan. He shifts a bag of carrots to make room for your coffee. When the door is closed again, you finally find your words.

“So…I guess I found your secret,” you say, making your way to the table and setting down his cup.

“I just don’t have time to cook for myself,” he insists, trailing behind you, “and when I do have free time, I’m too tired.”

“I’m not judging.” You shrug. “I mean, I’m not one to talk. I eat algae from the river and cookies from the trash.”

His face drains. “Wait, you eat what from the—”

“If you’re ever free, though, you can always join me on the farm for dinner. Or I can drop you off some lunch once in a while. I make big portions and freeze them for the week, and I don’t mind sharing.” You wave a hand at the airplane models in front of you. “Think of it as thank you for helping me out with these.”

“That’s…very kind of you, Farmer,” he says after a pause. His fingers curl around the back of a chair. “I might take your offer some time.”

You shoot him a smile. “Great. Now keep that gratitude in mind as we start working on these again.”

[melishade]

So you know how in RiD the Primes send Optimus back to Earth to fight The Fallen? I think it would be funny if Optimus was just going about his day on Paradis and then just popped out of existence for like a week and everyone was freaking out about it. And then he just reappears, dusts himself off, and tells the very concerned Survey Corps “sorry about that, I had to go kill a demigod with my son.”

And the Scouts are very confused because one, “what do you mean you have a son?” And two, “sorry, you killed a WHAT?”

And Megatron’s just in the background like “was he cool?” Because y’know, he named himself after that guy!

RID2015 may be non-canon in AOP but this would be so hilarious in hindsight. Because Micronus can astral project in real time. He used Grimlock to astral project his head to tell Optimus ‘oh we need to take the powers we gave you back since Megatronus is dead.’

So just imagine Optimus and Eren are training one day and all the humans panic when they see Micronus’ head directly on Eren’s chest. All the humans aim their weapons and Levi full blown attacks but Micronus locks him in a sphere of energy in response. He then turns to Optimus, tells the Prime that his presence is needed and locks him in a sphere before teleporting him somewhere else. Micronus disappears, dropping Levi in the process and the Ackerman face plants on the ground. There’s silence before everyone starts freaking the fuck out!

Meanwhile, Megatron returns to the island from his surveillance in Marley and everyone is swarming him and telling him what happened. Megatron thinks they’ve all lost it until he heard that Optimus was locked in a sphere and taken somewhere. Megatron has to ask just how small that head on Eren’s chest was.

Hanji: Why the fuck should that matter?!

Megatron annoyed: It does matter! Just answer the question!

Armin is the one who makes the estimated guess and Megatron is defeated. He explains that it was Micronus Prime that just took him. And everyone is floored! Another Prime?! And with that kind of power?! Why didn’t he say anything?!

Megatron: Look the Primes are elusive and demanding. If they took Optimus, it probably means that there’s some universal threat coming soon.

Eren: So what the hell are we supposed to do?! Just wait?! Are they even going to give him back?!

Megatron gives an expression of doubt. Because Optimus has cheated death quite a few times, but if the Primes want something there’s probably no room for their minds to be swayed. Their only options are to wait for Optimus to come back or to proceed without him.

Everyone ends up working double time and making contingencies for the worst case scenario. But a month later, Optimus is dropped off by the orphanage without warning scaring all the kids.

The Survey Corps are alerted and immediately swarm Optimus, grateful he is alive and demand to know what the hell happened. Optimus explained that another Prime, Megatronus Prime, aka the Fallen, always breaking out of his prison and he needed to help eliminate him with the help of the other Primes and Bumblebee, who’s on Earth. Optimus only agreed to do it if he was brought back, and they complied. However the Primes refused to help Optimus and Paradis, despite his insistence that they do. So Optimus tells Bumblebee as much as he knew about their world before the Primes brought him back here. And they also took all of his upgrades while he was at it.

Levi:…the Primes are dicks.

Optimus: Levi!

Levi: Look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong.

And yes, Megatron would ask what the Fallen is like. Leading to probing from the Survey Corps.

Hanji to Megatron: You named yourself after someone titled ‘The Fallen’?

Megatron: I don’t need explain my reasoning to you!

Levi: You became evil, just like that guy.

It’s some dramatic irony if they ever saw it.

Six months later, Bumblebee and his team manage to get a space bridge to Paradis and Bumblebee tackles Optimus into a hug.

[despair-to-future-arcs]

[DESPAIR SIDE EP. 10] Journey To The Past

Location: Towa City

Time: 7:55 PM

*Some Future Fondation Vans had arrive in the colorful part of Towa City*

Alright, did you find the location of the shelter?

Future Foundation Member: Yes sir, the location is a few blocks away, we are ready to set the agents down.

Good then I suppose the rest of you are ready?

Um... almost, is the camera all set?

Just about...

Done, alright you along with Takemichi, Fujiko and Cheri are ready to go!

Oh thank you, finally! Looks like we are ready to go!

meeeow! *rubs his paw on his face*

Wow, you look great Cheri! Your a very good kitty!

Okay question, why the hell are you bringing along the cat? Seriously, couldn't we just leave that thing at the damn orphanage!

*hiiiiss!* meeeeeo...! *he looks to be hissing at Takemichi*

Heeeey, don't go insulting Cheri like that, he's gonna be very useful for this mission so back off!

Yeah and besides, we can't bring out weapons in so better then nothing, right?

I guess not, still...

Indeed and besides we got more important matters to attend to, like that Kota guy.

So Hitaru and Jataro, are you both ready to confront this guy? After all given what he did to you both, we just have to make sure.

...I think so, I want to confront him and find out why he hurt people.

...I'm still not sure either myself, but...I know that we need to be mentally prepared.

Things are different and I'm sure we be doing a lot more then what he's doing.

Exactly, so be sure to be mentally prepare when we take him down!

Yeah, after that it'll be easy!

Well seems you are all ready, I'll inform the rest of what you will be doing; first will have Komaru Naegi, Takemichi Yukimura and Fujiko Yamada to head into the shelter and get an observation of the area, then when we have an idea will set Hitaru Nijiue and Otoha Yasuda and finally will send in Jataro Kemuri and help us get in.

I hope you all are ready and be sure to survey the area and see if you find anything, good luck.

Yeah, got it - let's go guys...

*Komaru, Takemichi, Fujiko and Cheri leave the van and began to walk down the road...*

So... how far is this place anyway, how long would it take?

They say it's about a 20 minute walk from here...

We better get a move on before it goes dark, so let's hurry.

[mariacallous]

On a recent afternoon in Corriganville Park, an old movie-set ranch in the rocky foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains in Southern California’s Simi Valley, with her blonde bouffant teased to previously uncharted dimensions, a spiked headdress in the shape of a bursting nebula, Wonder Woman–esque wrist cuffs, and bulbous Proenza Schouler open-toe shoes, Jennifer Coolidge looked very much the part of a sci-fi superheroine. She brought to mind such greats as Jane Fonda in Barbarella, Zsa Zsa Gabor in Queen of Outer Space, and First Mate Piggy in “Pigs in Space,” the cult Muppets space opera.

Coolidge, who this year swept the Emmys, Golden Globes, and Critics Choice Awards for her portrayal of a heedless hotel habitué on The White Lotus, was engaged in a winner-takes-all slugfest with Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the directing duo known as Daniels, whose multiverse epic, Everything Everywhere All at Once, was the most nominated film at this year’s Academy Awards. It was a surreal scene. Coolidge was protecting Earth from a giant extraterrestrial fashion lobster with monstrous claws, played by Scheinert, but instead of “Pow!” and “Whack!” their interaction was more like “Pow” and…“Whack?”

“I think the best thing to do is to take this,” said Kwan, handing Coolidge a rhinestone-encrusted metal scepter before ducking back behind the camera. “Act like you’re going to stab him.” Coolidge squinted her eyes, seemingly confused about the nature of her superpowers. “Oh, you mean I’m supposed to be annihilating him? That’s cool, I guess,” she said. She proceeded to gently prod Scheinert, who appeared to barely feel the might of her wrath under the spiked sleeves of his crustacean-couture ensemble. Glancing back and forth between his camera’s viewfinder and the low-stakes combat unfolding before him, Kwan furrowed his brow. “You’re being shocked by the scepter,” he explained to Scheinert. Trying not to laugh, he added, “And maybe, kind of, enjoying it.” Scheinert put his claws on his hips, nodding his head in agreement, his whiskerlike antennae flopping in the air. As if on cue, Coolidge prodded him once again, this time more forcefully, sending Scheinert into an exaggerated Looney Tunes–like convulsion, followed by suggestive gyrations reminiscent of a K-Pop boy-bander.

Coolidge let out a loud cackle. “I can’t kill him now,” she said, her face awash with childlike amusement. When the camera clicks paused, Scheinert peeled off his Robyn Lynch balaclava. Shirley Kurata, Daniels’ costume designer, began removing his arthropod exterior. “What is it about lobster claws that I’m so attracted to?” Coolidge wondered. She then turned her attention to surveying the clothing racks filled with tubular disc dresses, new-wave hats shaped like lampshades, and metallic-hued space cowboy boots. “Oh, so this is what we’re going to be doing today,” she said, her voice tinged with bewildered excitement. “I look pretty evil. They seem to like me in villain outfits a lot.”

...

For their latest romp, the directors said there was no question that Coolidge had to be the A-list star of this B-movie shoot, though they had never worked with the actor and their only in-person interaction with her was a brief hello at the Critics Choice Awards in January. “But of all the people who are having a moment right now, she felt like someone exciting to put on the cover of a magazine,” Kwan said. Thanks to her Rubenesque figure, flowing blonde locks, bee-stung pout, and million-dollar smize, Coolidge certainly stands out in everything she’s in, whether she’s playing a dim-witted nail tech in Legally Blonde, a desperate housewife having a lesbian affair with her poodle’s trainer in Best in Show, a sultry suburban MILF in American Pie, a trigger-happy mother-in-law to Jennifer Lopez’s bride-to-be in Shotgun Wedding, or, most recently, a psychic TV medium in Netflix’s We Have a Ghost.

More than anything, Scheinert explained, the directors appreciate a stacked résumé. “I’m prejudiced against young people,” he said. “I have problems with our youth-obsessed culture and beauty standards, so anytime we can shake things up a little, I’m all for it.” Kwan and Scheinert, who are both 35, said working with Michelle Yeoh, 60, Jamie Lee Curtis, 64, and now Coolidge, 61, allows them to pick up “different strategies for existing in this industry,” almost as if by osmosis. “We still feel like just babies,” Kwan said.

On that point, Coolidge was in firm agreement. “The film business tires people out. But I swear to god, I felt like I was getting together with little kids,” she said of her day with the directors. “They were like these sort of child prodigies who are super, super smart and just super creative. I’ve never been asked to do a shoot like this: I have weapons, take down small cities, pick up cars and throw them. I don’t know if I will ever be this surprised again. It was one of the best things I have ever been involved in.”

Like the rest of the world, Kwan and Scheinert swooned over Coolidge’s performance as Tanya in The White Lotus. They were mesmerized as she blasted her way to a clumsy demise on a megayacht chartered by the fearsome Fab Five of Sicily in the final episode of the show’s second season. One of Tanya’s lines is now the stuff of meme legend: “These gays, they’re trying to murder me!”

Speaking about Tanya, but also possibly referring to her own trajectory, Coolidge said: “I feel bad for her, because she didn’t know what she was made of. She didn’t have that kind of faith in herself. Sometimes these scary things happen in life. And then you find out, in like two seconds, that you are a survivor and that you can really pull through for yourself, sometimes in a way that you never believed you could.” Then, with inimitable comic timing, she pitched her raspy voice ever so slightly so it sounded like her scatterbrained character on The White Lotus: “But then, of course, it didn’t quite end up going my way in the end, did it?”

[simpingandprocrastinating]

𝙀𝙌𝙐𝘼𝙉𝙄𝙈𝙄𝙏𝙔 - 𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘛𝘌𝘕

𝟭𝟬| 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗨𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗭𝗢𝗡

· · ───────────── ·𐂃· ───────────── · ·

Maybe it was a weird thing for Maria to think about, but talking to Erwin always seemed to help her. Yes, she had equally good conversations with Hanji, but Erwin always had a clear view of things. Even if it was just to clear her thoughts, the man would always accept any kind of talk. That's why she respected him so much.

Dawn had come, and the members of the Survey Corps were getting ready to leave for the expedition. Maria tightened the straps on her uniform and threw on her green Survey Corps cape, before leaving her room. She was determined to see Jean before they would leave.

· · ─── · ·

"Ah Jean, here you are." The teen looked up from readying his horse and greeted her with a small smile. "I just wanted to talk to you before we'd leave."

"Oh yeah, of course..." He muttered as the eyes of his friends were now on him.

"I know we never said anything about it..." Armin started. "But what is Lieutenant Maria to you Jean? If you don't mind me asking..." Maria smiled at the blond boy. "We aren't related if that's what you were thinking." He awkwardly put out, while he laid a hand on the back of his neck.

"I knew Jean since we were young. I used to take care of him." Maria told the teen, trying not to embarrass Jean in front of his friends. It wasn't a lie though.

"I suppose it all makes sense now, seeing how casual you act around the Lieutenant." Reiner butted in. "Although we thought you were family of some sort," Connie added. "We're not family in blood, but I see Jean as family." Jean's face turned red as he looked away.

"Alright let's head out, so they can have some privacy." Maria silently thanked Reiner as they took their horses and made their way out of the stables. They might have had a rough start, but she could appreciate his words at this moment.

"So... How are you feeling?" Maria stepped into the stables fully while crossing her arms. "A bit nervous I guess." The teen replied. "That's normal. It's also normal to be scared." Jean huffed. "I can't afford to be scared out there. It will get me killed."

"Just be careful okay..." Jean rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine." "I believe you." She laughed softly as she pulled on his arm, nudging him to come closer and hug her. Jean complied by awkwardly throwing his arms around her small figure. "You were quite the hugger back then too... At least that didn't change." He whispered his cheeks dusted pink again.

"Well, you would stop crying when I did." She laughed. "Alright, that's enough." He pried himself from her grip as he took a step backward, looking away again. "I'm not even crying..." He muttered, feeling embarrassed. "But do you feel less nervous?"

"Maybe..."

"Well, are you done mothering now?" Levi had been standing there, watching the two like a hawk. "So we can finally leave." She didn't understand why he would act so mean all of a sudden. Jean, however, made a face as he didn't strike the Captain as a jealous person. Speaking of the Captain, this was the first time he'd seen the man up close.

His breath hitched in his throat when Levi turned to look at him.

"What's your name cadet?" "Jean Kirschtein sir..." He spoke, suddenly feeling nervous again. "Get your horse and join your assigned squad." "Yes sir."

Jean didn't dare to look at the Captain's face when he walked by, but he could definitely feel his glare burning a hole through the side of his head.

"I get it, you're mad at me because of the whole avoiding thing, but the kid did nothing wrong. You didn't have to send him away. I'm sorry alright, I had a lot on my mind. You don't have to return the favor by coming here and act like a dick." Maria huffed, getting irritated by his presence. Foul language wasn't really her thing though.

Levi narrowed his eyes as he bit back his words. "Just come and join us, we're leaving shortly." With that, he turned around to walk back to his own horse.

· · ─── · ·

The bells rang, and rows of horses strutted through the street. Some were pulling carts, but most of them carried soldiers who had readied themselves to go beyond the wall. She would never get used to this. People would watch them from their homes as they strutted by.

"Thirty seconds until we open the gate!" Maria heard. Most soldiers were looking ahead, but she made sure to check every person important to her if she was even able to spot them at all. Maria was in the rear, as she had told Erwin the day before. She was situated behind Eren, Eld, and Gunther.

"It's time! Humanity will take another step forward. Show me what you can do!" Soldiers cheered, waiting for the gate to open. "Open the gate!"

Erwin waited for the wall to come up. "It's officially begun. The 57th Recon mission!" Erwin charged forward. "Scouts, move out!"

All soldiers followed him, leaving the safety Calaneth district had given them. Letting the support squad do their job, they made their way through the streets of the old city that now laid in ruins. Maria could see the damaged houses on either side as she rode by.

"Forward! Ride for all you're worth!" They would enter titan territory soon, and then they would split up, following Erwin's long-range scouting formation.

"Sir, you think my friends have a shot at taking down a Titan?" Maria heard Eren ask Oruo. "Huh? Really? I should certainly hope so, otherwise what the hell have they been training for? Besides, Maria would have done a lousy job if they couldn't." The small woman rolled her eyes behind them.

"Now listen Brat and listen well. Prepared or not, you're all Scouts, which means the time is now to choke back those fears and-" Oruo bit his tongue as the blood sputtered out of his mouth. Maria couldn't help but snicker.

Soon they saw the end of the city ruins come into sight and Erwin ordered them to go into the long-range scouting formation. As everyone started to split up, Maria saw Jean drift off to the left out of the corner of her eye.

Now all they had to do was follow Levi and wait for further orders. The first red smoke signs could be seen in a matter of minutes. Which wasn't very surprising, for it was the Recon Squad's job to sight Titans and give off a signal.

They rode on for a while. She could only hear the horses galloping and the sounds of smoke rounds being fired. It didn't give Maria a good feeling. She felt rather odd. Nothing really changed till a green signal came up from the frontline.

"Smoke signals. Green." Levi stated. "Oruo, pass it on." "With pleasure, sir!" She heard Oruo say, before firing a green smoke signal.

"Reporting, sir! A dire message! It appears the right flank recon has been wiped out! Our Recon system is partially inoperative." Maria's eyes widened at the sudden news a soldier had revealed. "One of you will need to relay the message down the line."

"You heard the man, Petra. Go on." Levi calmly ordered. "Yes, Captain." Petra did not hesitate and rode off to the left. Not even a few seconds later a sudden black smoke signal appeared in the sky. 'An abnormal...'

While she heard Levi order Eren to fire another smoke round, Maria turned to look at her right. She knew what she had to do, but she did ask herself what would happen next. Even Levi didn't know how this would unfold. They just had to trust Erwin.

· · ─── · ·

Only the central cart guard had to enter the forest according to Erwin, so naturally, that's what they did. The Levi squad now rode through the isolated forest of giant trees while Maria was on high alert. Eren seemed to be as well, as he figured they wouldn't be able to protect themselves in the middle of the woods. That was true to a certain extent. The trees were high enough to use their 3D Maneuver Gear, and that was exactly what Levi made clear to the teen in question.

Eren turned his head to look at his comrades, but the only one who seemed to be looking as calm as the Captain was the Lieutenant. Maria had to be level-headed at this point, she knew the situation could become dire in a mere second. Her suspicions were right, as there was a black smoke round fired from behind them.

"A black smoke round?!" "It's right behind us!" Oruo panicked.

"It's whatever was coming toward us on the right." Eld butted in. "Draw your blades," Levi ordered. "It'll happen in the blink of an eye. Be ready."

Maria would lie if she didn't feel anxious. She pulled out her blades and gripped them tightly. Yes, she had killed a lot of titans before, but an abnormal could be unpredictable. "Maria, keep an eye on what's happening behind us!" That's when she heard it... The sound of a body being splattered not too far away... Loud thumps and cracking trees.

"Go! Move it!" Levi yelled. Her doe-eyes widened at the sight of the aberrant. It looked like a female... Blonde hair... Crazy blue eyes. She maneuvered through the trees, gaining speed.

"Mimi! Watch out!" Petra yelled out as Maria almost got trampled but got out of the way just in time. Her horse neighed as she tried to regain her speed, her heart pounding in her chest. "Levi! It's gaining speed!" She yelled out.

Petra whipped her head forward again to yell at Levi they should switch to Maneuver gear. Everyone seemed to panic in mere seconds.

Maria closed her eyes for a moment, trying to concentrate above the noise of her squad pleading for Levi to give his orders. Reinforcements had come and were killed just like that.

At some point, Eld got ready to attack, but Maria knew it wouldn't unfold well if he did. "I'll cut the bitch!" "No! Don't engage!" Maria shouted from behind him, stopping him in his actions.

Levi, however, did not respond to any of the pleas his comrades let out. "Captain! We need your orders! She's gaining on us! Let us take her out"

Maria didn't want to get trampled – hell, it had almost happened once already – but she didn't dare speak on Levi's behalf. He was the Captain after all.

As they kept shouting for orders, the female titan had gained on them. The raven-haired man suddenly turned his head back. "Everyone cover your ears. Now." He held up the flare gun while they covered their ears. A noise grenade.

Levi lectured the squad for being swayed by their feelings after the noise had died down. Meanwhile, Maria kept her eyes on the female titan. She had slowed down, creating distance again. Only it didn't last long for her to catch up to them again.

Screams echoed through the trees as more scouts were being killed. It would be harsh to tell a fifteen-year-old that's what they were meant to do at the moment. Die, so he would be protected, and Erwin could finish what he had planned to do... She swore the same thing five years ago.

"She's on top of us again!" She alarmed as the rest of the squad warned Eren to keep pace with the group. "Eyes front! Stop lookin' behind us!" Eld ordered him. "Do as he says Eren!" Maria yelled. "Eld, please! Help them! If the Levi squad can't stop this thing, then who can? Those men need us!" Eren threw a fit, for he simply couldn't understand why they'd leave their comrades to die.

Maria tried to calculate how long it would take for the Female Titan to catch up with them. She was the one in the rear and she was meant to keep the rest from getting harmed. 'If she keeps this up, I might have to join the rearguard... But that will definitely be the death of me...' She thought. 'Just a little longer.'

She could hear the trees creak again. That's when Maria felt a rush of air go past her. "Watch out!"

A big branch had come down, almost launching her of her horse. Maria had just enough time to swerve, but she lost her squad in the progress. "Mimi!" Petra yelled back. "Go on! I'll catch up!"

She had to ride off the track now, so the female titan wouldn't get the chance to almost crush her again. Maria could only watch her squad from a small distance. There was definitely something up. Eren had shed his blades and it looked like he was ready to bite his hand. Maneuvering through the trees, she tried to get to them as fast as her horse could take her.

That's when all hell broke loose. As she rode by, she saw the cart set-up between the trees. Next, she could hear Erwin's voice boom over all the chaos.

"Fire!" Cables were shot at the titan in mere seconds, restraining it completely. The Levi Squad kept riding forward and this gave her the chance to get back in formation.

"Holy shit, did you just escape death twice?!" Gunther huffed. "It seems so," Maria answered back swiping some sweat from her forehead. "Don't try to jinx me, please."

Levi's voice interrupted the two as he turned his head around again.

"Everyone hitch your horses a bit further on and switch to 3DM gear. I have to break away for a little while. Eld's in charge 'til I get back." He now turned to look at Maria. "Maria, you stay with them." Maria gave him a curt nod.

"Make sure to tuck Eren somewhere out of sight, away from the female titan. And see to my horse." With that said, Levi switched to his 3DM gear and shot off to where she presumed Erwin would be as well.

"They're going to take her alive? Seriously?"

"So what do you think of us now, Eren? We caught that titan!" Gunther celebrated. "This is the power of the Survey corps!" Oruo butted in. "Don't ever underestimate us, brat. Never again! Agreed?"

Be that as it may, Maria did not feel at ease. "Alright, calm down. That's enough, we're not out of the woods just yet..." Maria muttered as Eren got an excited smile on his face. "Yes!"

Something was about to happen.

· · ────────────── · ────────────── · ·

< 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 | 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗫 | 𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 >

[bdbdhdjdhdh]

My Hero PSLE: S4E11 "Yo mama so stupid, she failed a survey!"

"Yo mama so stupid, she put a ruler under her pillow to measure how long she slept!"

-Yo mama jokes series

And again they were back at this shitty area doing shitty shit. Aiya why is life so sian leh.

But the actual funny thing is here now-the people who weren't an actual hands-on part of the last project (neither the distractor nor the infiltrator) basically the ones that were sitting there doing nothing and giving moral support, are the only ones that Heavenly Lord won't recognise, and therefore are the only ones that can do the actual part of the operation now.

L for them I guess.

Anyway. They might not be recognisable by Heavenly Lord YET, but actually their work is even lesser now.

Just use reverse psychology on Heavenly Lord lol.

Well the entire city was packed with robot guards cos of the whole shit Xiao Ming and gang caised last time. Well heightened security is exactly what they need right now.

Now all we needed was one of the annoying animal-faces to go up to them-riding a bike carrying bags of sand. And then of course you don't just go around carrying bags of sand like some sus drug dealer right, so a robot immediately pointed Unicorn-face out and had to check for anything in the sand.

But then there was like legit nothing in the sand. So they just decided to let her go. But of course they're not gonna be letting her go so easily, this IS a dystopian land after all.

So of course they deployed their entire patrol after her, since they're still so tense, every little sus thing will set then off.

And how, ever so how, should Unicorn-face go about her day with this elite team of robots following her and noticing her every move like some team of crazy stalkers? And how, oh, ever so how, is she going to pass on the information to the Chrysalis?

Wait, speaking of-I'll assume those animal-faces already have a list of who's in the Chrysalis, right? Right? RIGHT? *nervous sweating*

Just kidding lah. Of course they do. But then again if that list gets leaked they could be in some serious trouble now-

BUT ANYWAY IT'S NOT LEAKED YET SO DON'T QUESTION IT.

But oh how, just how, is Unicorn-face supposed to be able to pass on the information to the Chrysalis?

Well she obviously knew the team of robots were stalking her, yet for some reason she still did the sussiest possible thing-she reached into her bicycle, extended the brake part and pulled out a hidden compartment (hehe reverse psychology made the robots look at the sand bags but not at the bicycle), pulled out a piece of paper from it, did her animal call and summoned a pigeon, then attached the letter to the pigeon's leg and watched it fly away.

Then of course after seeing such a sus thing the robots immediately went forth to arrest her-but some actually quite 聪明, they went to go and chase after the pigeon to retrieve the letter first.

So after Unicorn-face was arrested, she was, of course, promptly brought back to the palace to seek judgement from the Heavenly Lord (omg stop romanticising him liddat sia). But then she did something really strange-she was smiling, or more specifically, smirking to herself while she was being led away by those robots.

On the way there passed by three birds who each continously chirped for a while, and so consistently, one might even suspect they were chirping in morse code.

"The message has been sent."

"Plan executes on Friday. Remember to prepare Dark Sleep stocks."

"Reverse psychology making them focus on you rather than us who were actually sending the message is genius, right?"

And with each bird she passed by, her smirk only grew more and more.

Mission...success.

[levimyshortdaddy]

ʟᴇᴠɪ x ʏɴ ~I want to become a woman

ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇxᴛ: ʏᴏᴜ ᴊᴏɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴜʀᴠᴇʏ ᴄᴏᴘs ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴄᴀᴘᴛᴀɪɴ ʟᴇᴠɪ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴀɴᴅ.

⚠️: ᴀɢᴇ ɢᴀᴘ;𝟷𝟾&𝟹𝟶, ʜɪᴍ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴅᴏᴍ!, ʏɴ:ɴᴀɪᴠᴇ=ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟʟᴇᴅ ʙʏ ʜɪᴍ; ᴜɴᴘʀᴏᴛᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ s𝟹x, ʀᴏᴜɢʜ s𝟹x; sᴡᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ, ᴇᴛᴄ…

(𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙚𝙨.)

H: Levi’s absent this week due to personal problems, we’re all under his commands, so one of the most important thing is to not disobey him, understood?

Yn: Yes! (𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙢𝙡𝙮)

H: Good. He’s already informed about you, so he said that when he’s going to be back, he wants you to show him that you’ve begging to improve.

Yn: Understood. (𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙)

H: I hope that you’re aware about the decision you made, I hope that you didn’t decided this without being sure on yourself… young people like you often do things that they later regret. Don’t miss understand me yn, okay? I just want you to know that this is not an easy road and there is no turning back.

Yn: I’m going to try my best to keep it alive and be useful!

Levi: Good girl. (𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙜𝙖𝙯𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢)

H: Levi? You weren’t supposed to be here.

Levi: Where am I supposed to be four eyes? If not here? Now you can go. (𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙇𝙚𝙫𝙞 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧)

Levi: Oh, wait. I appreciate that you took care of my horse these two days. (𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙.)

(𝙇𝙚𝙫𝙞 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙)

Yn: Let me guess captain… the fact that you found someone shorter than you got you smiling? (𝙃𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣)

Levi: Did I allowed you to talk? (𝙃𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙙, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣)

Yn: I said what came to my mind at first.. I’m sorry. (𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣)

Levi: Why are you here, brat? You think that your camarades will be always there to protect your ass? (𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩)

Levi: Look at me when I’m talking to you.

Yn: No… I will try my best to succeed in every mission Captain… (he quickly intimidated you)

Levi: Alright. (He turned around and started yelling)

Levi: Everyone! Get ready to hit the road! On your horses!

(Your shaky hands were holding into the reins, while your horse was running next to Hange’s horse)

H: It will be your first time seeing a titan? (You nodded)

H: Stay always close to Levi during this mission… I have a bad feeling

Yn: Alright, thank you Hange-san

(Before being able to get close to Levi, a huge titan almost pounces on you)

Yn: AAAH! (you screamed while covering your head, all you heard was fast movements and sword cuttings, then you were grabbed by your cloth, almost being lifted up from the horse)

Levi: Next time… if you almost fail again you’ll return back from where you came. No one will die in this mission! (He yelled looking around)

Yn: My apologies… I didn’t train adequately… but please give me one more chance. (You said with teary eyes)

Levi: Brat… you definitely suck at it. When we’ll get back, I’m going to make sure that it’s me training you.

(It’s late night, Levi is sitting down around the fire)

Levi: I know that you’re behind me, go to sleep.

Yn: I want to be a brave and mature woman like Hange… (Levi sighed)

Levi: Sit here. (You did it)

Levi: I don’t understand why are you here… who in the hell made you decide joining the survey cops?

Yn: Please… don’t send me back. I desperately want to become a better soldier… and become a woman like Hange

Levi: A woman like Hange? Hange is a woman just by training? Just by getting better over the years?

(Levi is the kind of person who perceives everything, and quickly realised your level of nativity. Too bad…)

Levi: There are steps too complicated for you to become a woman, do you get that? And you can’t do it alone

Yn: Teach me, captain Levi… don’t send me back…

Levi: You really don’t want me to send you back? (You nod and suddenly get up when you see Hange passing, running towards her)

Yn: Hange-san please teach me how to be a woman like you! (You grabbed her hands)

H: What are you saying? (She started laughing )

H: Look, Levi looks mad. What did you do?

Levi: Move your ass here yn!

Yn: Y-yes…? (Levi tightly grabbed your wrist)

Levi: Don’t you ever dare to ignore my words… never run away like that, understood? (you nodded)

Levi: Say “yes.”

Yn: Yes.

Levi: Go back to your room, now

(You were lying on bed, thinking about what happened today)

Yn: God… I almost got killed by a titan… if he wasn’t there… (you tightly closed your eyes, terrified, and suddenly the door opened)

Yn: Captain… you’re surprised

(Levi closed the door and walked towards you )

Levi: On your feet

Yn: I should have told you good night before sleeping- (your body jolt when he grabbed your both cheeks with one of his hand)

Levi: You’re such a good girl yn… (your eyes are shining)

Yn: Am I…? (You barely spoke)

Levi: Yes you are. But what about being my good girl? You don’t really need to be a woman, you better be my good girl

(He’s squeezing your cheeks even more, making you almost unable to reply)

Yn: Capt..ain Lev…i what… d.oes.. th..at me..an?

Levi: It’s about obeying everything I say (he releases your cheeks placing his hand under your chin)

Yn: Hange told me that I should obey everything you say

(His bored facial expression won’t disappear but you can feel that you lit something enormous inside his heart, Levi never thought he would want your young body for him that much. He began to think if it is right to submit you to his cruelest desires)

Levi: Make it clear for me little one… what do you want? (You can feel shivers on your back, your puppy eyes made his heart skip a beat)

Yn: I want to be your good girl…

Levi: Take off your clothes. (He said and you obey, starting to undress yourself while feeling so much shame just by thinking about your body being naked in front of him)

Levi: Good girl… (he placed his hand on your waist and you closed you eyes, trying to cover your round breasts)

Levi: Kiss me (you didn’t hesitate to press your lips on his)

Levi: No… not like that… (he grabbed your head from the back and slowly bit your lips, then started kissing you passionately, and suddenly stick his tongue inside your mouth, exchanging saliva. You feel dirty, but this is turning you on too much, this illegal feeling is turning you on too much)

Yn: Ah! (He suddenly pushed you in bed and now your small body is between his thighs then he began to undo his belt)

Levi: You wanna see it?

Yn: Yes… show me captain Levi... (your cheeks are burning)

Levi: Beg for it (he’s looking straight into your eyes)

Yn: Please… I want to see it (your eyes widened when he revealed his thick and erect cock)

Levi: Can you take this? Huh? (He said grabbing it)

Yn: I… don’t.. know… (you looked away but he grabbed your chin, turning your face to him)

Levi: Don’t scream too loud, understood? (His gaze is too powerful for you to handle, you can’t even look into his eyes for too long)

Yn: Understood… (he opens your legs and gets between them, grabs your hips so he can position your intimacy to his erect cock)

Yn: Captain Levi I didn’t had the chance to- (your back arched and you gasped like you were left breathless, you grabbed the sheets on your hands, squeezing it hard while you can’t process the fact that he shoved his whole cock inside of you)

Levi: Go on, didn’t had the chance to what? Say it

Yn: To… T-thank you.. for sa…ving m-me… (you swallowed dry, letting your tears roll down your cheeks, finally)

Levi: Shh… good girl… (you covered your mouth blocking your moans but he grabs your hand)

Levi: No, dear. I want to hear you, let me hear your cute monas and cries (he’s slowly moving while grabbing your both wrists to your head)

Levi: So tight… (he briefly looked at the ceiling while rolling his eyes and you can’t control your noises)

Levi: Harder? Not yet…? (He’s teasing you, knowing that you need time to adjust, he leans towards you and bites your cheeks, lips and neck then going down to your breasts)

Yn: C-captain… this feel strange… but I… I like it… (he lifts up his gaze at you)

Levi: You do? (You nod then his back gets straight again and grabs your hips, starting to trust inside of you like an uncontrolled mad man, you’re screaming so hard that your throat hurts)

Levi: SHH. (He covered your mouth with his hand)

Levi: Don’t scream… (your body is shaking and you feel like you already can’t take it anymore)

Levi: The bed is already making weird noises… and the sound of our skin slapping… with you screaming this hard it will be obvious that we are having sex

Yn: B-But captain… L-Levi… you are d-doing it… too.. h-hard (he still fucks you hard and roughly)

Yn: Slow down… (he’s continuing with the same rhythm and you can barely hold your screams)

Levi: Beg for it

Yn: P-please… slow down… (you roll your eyes)

Levi: Properly… do it properly

Yn: Please Captain Levi slow down, I’m begging you! (He slowed down immediately)

Levi: Good girl… (after moving more few times he pulled out of your sensitive intimacy after you came so intensely)

Levi: Ass up. (He commanded and you turned on your belly and lifted up your ass then he immediately grabbed your body and shoved his cock inside of you)

Yn: H-he’s grabbing my… hair? (You said to yourself and he began to move while holding into your hair)

Levi: This time you’re not allowed to cum, got it? (his waist is slapping your ass harder now and you’re already feeling like you’re about to cum)

Levi: Ahh.. don’t squeeze that much

Yn: I-I’m going to…

Levi: Don’t you dare (he almost growled, and you’re holding tight into the sheets, while being all submissive to him, trying so hard not to cum that it became even more painful)

Levi: You’re not even going to be able to ride your horse for the two weeks coming (he said while speeding his thrusts)

Levi: Shhh… not that loud (you bite the sheets)

(His cock got out from moving so fast then you temporarily collapsed before being picked up by his arms)

Levi: It didn’t end (he said while fucking your recent deflowered pussy)

Levi: Cum… n-now… (you almost fainted doing it while you can feel his hot cum filling you up)

Levi: Good girl… (he pulled out then sat down next to you, and you slowly turned your face to him, red wet cheeks, barley keeping your eyes open)

Levi: You’re a rare beauty… and you look so beautiful and cute in this state

Yn: Captain Levi… I.. (your sleepy eyes are closing)

Levi: Yes dear? (you couldn’t complete your sentence cause you fell asleep)

Levi: Poor thing… she’s exhausted… (he’s caressing your hair and after 10 minutes, you began to murmur almost incomprehensible words)

Yn: Le-vi… I… love… yo… (he grabs your body and hugs you)

Levi: You’re all I want… my beautiful innocent girl (he kisses your forehead)

[nahoney22]

Press Send***

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵

Echo X F!Reader

word count: 1.4k

After sending a risky picture accidentally to Echo, you’re surprised to find out that he was pleasantly happy with the unsuspecting message.

warnings: Quite suggestive, reader wearing lingerie, Echo being a flirt, mentions of naughty pictures. just a short thing I thought of

——————————

Dating during the Clone Wars was not easy. At all. You weren’t sure why you had not given up on it yet after picking out a few sour apples you had the displeasure of going on dates whenever you could and it wasn’t like you could date a clone either since it wasn’t allowed.

However, this didn’t stop you from day dreaming about one clone in particular. Echo.

You had joined the team a week or two after Echo had joined Clone Force 99 and you were captivated by him immensely. Sure, he didn’t look like the standard clone anymore but despite his trauma, he radiated a kindness and a very alluring nature. He was always such a sweetheart to you and you couldn’t help but become enamored of him but you realised you had to let slip the possibility of you and him ever becoming a thing, go. He was a soldier of the republic and you were just a civilian they had helped.

So, months down the line you pushed your feelings for Echo to the back of your mind and tried the shameless tactic of dating over the holonet.

You weren’t trusting of many people you came across as some claimed to be scandalously wealthy, single and lived a fun life when in reality they were married, worked behind a desk and were averagely wealthy. Working behind a desk and wealth never concerned you but homewrecking? That was a big no-no.

But as it came up to the ‘festive season’, something you told the Batch about from your own planet everything, seemed to be going well.

You had been speaking to someone for a while and they were… alright you supposed and the two of you even talked through transmissions when you had the time. As things got more intimate, a month later you had both started to send pictures of each other.

They were attractive - yes - but there was certainly something missing but that didn’t stop you from sending them pictures back.

Come on, you were young and single and at any given moment you could be blown up by a Seperatist or eaten by a Yalbec. You may as well have a little bit of adventure.

So here you were in the refresher, admiring yourself in the mirror at a brand new lingerie set which seemed pointless most of the time as you never had any physical action in it. Boring.

You couldn’t help but feel absolutely stunning. Your hair was not scraped back as usual and instead you let it fall naturally. The material enhanced your curves and the blemishes you were usually shy off didn’t bother you. You felt sexy and you know you looked it too. Oh, and it was red and white which was perfect for the festivities.

So, you sent the person you were speaking to a picture titled with something very, incredibly corny such as: ‘I wish we could be doing something else other than kissing under the mistletoe’ followed with a seductive pose.

Cringey, you know. But they liked that kind of thing.

Or so you thought.

It was something in your gut that told you to double check the picture you just sent so as you glanced back down after your satisfied attempt of being sexy, your heart dropped.

That was not their name at the top. It was Echo’s.

Eyes wide and panicked, you clumbered around for your clothes and threw them on haphazardly, saying every swear under the sun before you raced out and searched the ship frantically for the clone.

Running into the cockpit you see Crosshair and Tech and they both turn to you simultaneously with curious looks. Guessing by your rapid breath and the sweat dripping down your forehead, they heard you coming.

“Where’s Echo?”

Crosshair quirks a brow. “Why?”

“WHERE IS ECHO, CROSSHAIR?”

“Kriff sake girl, he’s outside.”

Without saying thanks, you dash out and stop on the steps to survey the area quickly but spot him walking towards the ship. Then, he felt his datapad buzz and he began to bring it up to read it.

“Oh no… oh no, no, no, no….”

You began sprinting towards him, him still being a fair distance away from you. You could not let him open it.

“Echo! Don’t open that message!”

Your voice brought his attention away from his device for a moment, eyes bulging wide as he spots you running at him with full force with his finger just hovering over the message, prepared to read its contents.

“Why not-?”

In a physical attack, you lunged onto him, not even caring how your legs had wrapped around him and knocked him onto the ground. You didn’t even realise your cleavage was dangling in his face since you carelessly had done your shirt up in your frantic motions. But, you had swiped the datapad from him but clumsily let it drop to the ground beside you both with the picture opened, and facing directly upwards.

Echo was so stunned by the fact you were on top of him to even realise that there was a sultry picture of yourself just beside his head but as he briskly sat up, you clinging onto his lap, he frowned and almost scolded you for knocking him down but it had caught his eye.

He does a double take and his whole body tenses.

You watched him in humiliation until you couldn’t bear to look at him anymore and hid your face in your hands and leaned forwards as you hid yourself even more against his chest. “I’m so sorry, it wasn’t meant for you. I-I panicked.”

Echo didn’t know what to say but he certainly couldn’t take his eyes off the photo. Hesitantly, he reaches across and scoops it into his hand and inspects the photo closely.

“You really are something.” He breathed after a moment's silence.

You gasped and pulled away from him and gave him a look of perplexity. “W-what?”

Echo sucks in his cheeks and a smirk graces his lips. Seeing you so flustered had got him acting some kind of way. “Well I just thought you were an innocent little girl... Turns out you’re quite the opposite.” He rasped.

Was this happening? Was he flirting with you?

Mouth running dry and unsure what to do with your hands, playing it safe and placing them in your lap, you just stared at Echo. What could you say? Thank you?

“Well, l-like I said… I didn’t mean to send it to you. I’m sorry.” You shyly bit your lip and glanced elsewhere, glad nobody was around to see you almost melt on top of him.

Echo hums, tilting his head. “There’s no need to apologise. Whoever you were going to send it to is a lucky soul.” Echo fed you another compliment that you couldn’t quite consume: too flustered and confused to even elicit any form of reaction other than blushing.

Running a hand across the back of your neck you shake your head. “Nah, not really.”

“Don’t talk down about yourself.” Something cold then touches your chin, his scomp gently tilting your head up so you could meet those mesmerizing hues. Supposedly those feelings for him never went away as a fire ignited in your stomach, hot lava pooling between your legs as you watched his eyes flicker from your lips to your eyes.

“You’ve always been beautiful to me.”

You sighed softly, almost in a dream.

“I didn’t know… I didn’t know you liked me like that.”

Echo smiled softly this time, the smile replacing his smirk that suited him just as good. “I was unsure how to tell you. I wanted to, but with the war and everything....” It was his turn to get a little bashful, his flesh hand kneading gently at your waist as he drops the device down.

“If it doesn’t work out between you and whoever you’re messaging however,” he gets back on track, tilting his head lower to meet yours and you shudder as his nose gently brushes against your own, “if you ever take a picture like that again, don’t be afraid to press send to me.”

His lips trail along your jaw, up to your cheeks as he begins to pepper your face with soft and delicate kisses. “After all, you deserve to be cherished. I don’t want everyone to see you like that.” He groans softly against you as your hands find his shoulders and you tilt your head back to allow him to explore your neck.

“Sounds possessive.” You tease but get a sharp nip in return which makes you jolt at the pleasurable sensation as his teeth grazed your neck as he left marks on you.

“Maybe. But I’ve always wanted to make you mine.”

—————————

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[konigsfaerie]

Sapphire Throne

Summary: While in the throne room, Loki finds a way to relieve his new queen's stress.

(sub!loki x dom!fem!reader)

cw: contains bdsm and femdom)

The Mortal Queen is what they called you, even though you were mortal no longer. You spent your childhood and formidable years on Earth, and when you met Loki and were taken to Asgard, your newfound people either loved or hated you. But the people that loved you adored you, would die for you, and the people that hated you really hated you, some going as far to commit treason to get you off of the throne. Some had views like Odin. Views such as mortals are of no consequence, only made to worship the gods of old and die at an early age. It infuriated them that someone from Earth could hold such power not only physically, but at court.

Nevertheless, Loki fell in love with you during your time on Earth and made you Asgard’s queen, and you stepped into the role with such love in your heart for your people, whether they detested you or not. As you sat on the throne, your love next to you, deciding whether to go into enemy territory, you placed a hand on your chin and contemplated for a moment, water running through your veins. “I hate to put our people at war again…. Our soldiers through more battles,” you said, your eyes falling to the floor and then back up to your council members. “But I fear if we don’t, Asgard might fall. We can’t risk our people like this.”

Most of the council members had the utmost respect for your rule, although one or two silently protested your status. “Is it decided, My Queen?”

You gave a look to Loki, and he nodded in return. “It is, Vastros. We will invade their territory within the next nightfall. We go to war this winter,” you proclaimed, slamming down your large staff, the color of lavender. The look on your face was no look of pride, of hope. It was the look of a woman knowing she would send her people to die, even though you were sure we’d win the war.

The entire castle shook with your proclamation, and Loki’s matching staff hummed in response. For many decisions, Loki let you take the lead, as he knew you needed to solidify your title as queen. It didn’t matter much, because on many, if not all issues, you eventually came to the same decision.

As the council members left in unison, both of you stayed at your thrones. You gave a deep sigh, a hand flying to your forehead.

You personally got to know almost all of the soldiers before you were first crowned. At first it was an act of simply wanting to gain trust among the people, but soon they became some of the most trusted friends you had. You were already a trained fighter, but the way of the Asgardians were much different, and your magic was extremely new to you. While you could wield the power of the elements, they taught you power of the supreme weapons they held. This was why it was so painful to declare war. You knew that many of the people you came to love so much would die on a nondescript, frozen-over battlefield, no one to send them off to Valhalla.

“I know you’re stressed, my darling,” Loki breathed, “but you did make the right decision.” His deep green eyes found your chocolate brown ones, full of love and sympathy. “I suppose I never warned you of how much it could hurt… making decisions for a whole nation of people.”

You shook your head. “No… I suppose I didn’t know how many enemies we had. How much they wanted to get their hands on our vaults.”

His face fell to the floor, knowing he couldn’t exactly say something to make all the hurt go away. He knew how much you loved the Asgardian people, your newfound people. And knowing some of them might die… He quickly fell back into his head, as he was quite likely to do. But you knew him completely. You knew his thoughts, his doubts. His thoughts of thinking he wasn’t good enough to rule Asgard, not good enough to rule beside his Mortal Queen, not good enough to love his queen and receive love in turn. You wouldn’t let him fall back into those doubts.

“There is one thing you could do to relieve my stress, pet,” you quipped, giving him a small smirk. While you would maintain your composure at almost all times, the love in your eyes couldn’t be mistaken.

His back straightened on his throne, his eyes slowly finding yours. “Anything,” he said, not much more than a breathless whisper at the sound of one of his favorite nicknames you gave him.

“Get on your knees.”

Loki was wearing his Asgardian leathers, and you also fell into traditional Asgardian fashions, a small blue cape adorning your shoulders to honor your favorite element, with small green accents to honor Loki, only going down to your mid-back. Beyond that, you had a white jumpsuit on and white boots, streaked with even more green.

Before you could blink, Loki was at your feet, his knees on the ground and his back perfectly arched like the good boy he was. “M-My queen.”

Many people would probably guess he was a brat, and you a brat tamer, of which you both could absolutely be, but the gods-honest truth was that he loved serving you in all ways. It got him off. It made his cock twitch. And seeing him on his knees for you made you wet. Something about his willingly submissive nature towards you and only you made you want to make him beg.

“Oh, sweet boy,” you teased with a chuckle, “you’re so ready for me.” Even with all the doom and gloom, you knew that throughout the meeting when he looked at you, he was imagining just this. You placed a boot on his shoulder, contemplating just what you had in store for him. “What shall I do with you?”

The guards were still at the doors, which undoubtedly made Loki more excited, knowing his personal guards knew how much he served his queen.

“Leave us,” you commanded.

As they gave a curt nod and exited with a bow, the doors closed with a loud thud and you gave another smirk. “I know you like it when they watch, my little prince,” you mused, gazing into those wanting eyes.

In turn, he gave a small whimper and bowed his head.

“Unclasp my cape,” you ordered.

His hands scrambled onto your body, feeling on you until he reached your cape, unhooking the small golden buttons with his fingers. “P-Please let me touch you. Please.”

A small, almost nonexistent golden zipper ran down your white jumpsuit, and as you unzipped yourself, you pushed him back onto his kneeling stance. “Touch me?” you teased, his mouth falling open as he realized you didn’t have anything underneath your clothes. Your body lay more than halfway exposed, his eyes going directly to your breasts.

“Touch… these?” You grabbed your tits, pushing them together and twisting your nipples in-between your two fingers. You gave a little moan, spreading your legs so he could see how you glistened.

He knew to stay put. To stay absolutely still until you said otherwise, because he was such a good boy for you. Because he had seen how you enjoyed punishing him so much the last time he dared to touch you without permission, spanking him and not letting him cum for days at a time until he begged for release. The ways in which you punish him each time he disobeys got more creative.

“Now, who’s my good boy?”

“Me! I-I am! I promise, just please let me-”

You grabbed his wrist, pushing his face into yours, letting his lips fall onto yours. As the two of you kissed, you grabbed his throat and pushed him towards your body, making his hands grab your thighs. “Touch me,” you breathed.

He went to work on your body, squeezing your thick thighs, going up to your equally thick torso, cupping your breasts. You could feel his breath hitching. As your tongue flipped over his, you used your powers to slip off his pants, revealing the feminine underwear he had on that you commanded he always wear.

“Up.”

At once, he jumped up and let you survey his body, a small pout on his lips from the ghost of touch he felt. You felt it too, but you’d never reveal that. In times like these, you’d never let him know just how much you needed his fingers against your body.

“Take your shirt off.”

He quickly stripped down, all but his underwear, as you hadn’t ordered him to do so. And he knew how much you liked looking at his cock straining the thin fabric, of his ass popping out of the cheeky, lacy underwear. Loki bit his lip, waiting for you to instruct him further. Needing you to tell him what to do, even yearning for it.

“Such a good little prince,” you observed, putting one finger on the lacy underthings and pulling them down, his rather heavy cock immediately popping out and standing to attention. “And an excited one, hm?”

You finally arose from your throne of crystal sapphire, walking behind and fetching a black collar. “Is this what you want?”

He suddenly was unable to speak, only nodding without abandon, knowing the collar was a special treat you only gave to him when he was extra obedient. You let out a chuckle, placing it around his neck until you heard a click. With any other collar, he might be able to unlock it, but not this one. You had specifically trained with the most experienced of magical designers and created this yourself. Only could you unlock it, and that’s why it excited him so much.

You sat back down upon your sapphire throne, abandoning your jumpsuit and spreading your legs, placing them on Loki’s back, pushing him to your pussy. “Make your mommy feel good.”

His tongue immediately got to work, spreading over your glistening folds and lapping at your clit. As soon as he started moaning, you knew you were done for. The vibrations were already sending you over the edge, and as you groaned, you grabbed a handful of his black curly hair quite roughly, which only made matters worse for him.

He scooted even closer to you, slowly pushing a finger into you. As his fingers pumped into you, you gripped one arm on your chair, the other holding his hair tightly. Not only was he pumping into you, adding another finger, but he curled them, knowing exactly where your g-spot was. “My love-” you moaned, “Fuck!”

His tongue worked away from your clit, obviously wanting to taste you for longer. He stroked your pussy with his tongue, up and down, up and down, which caused you to wriggle around in his mouth. You could hear nothing but moans from him, his tongue diving deep in your hole.

Unable to stand it any longer, you gave him an order. “My clit, now. Make me cum.” You could only hold your composure for so much longer.

You could feel the disobedience thrumming off of him, wanting his tongue inside you for as long as he could. His tongue entered your hole again and in response, you dug your boots into his back and he let out a small cry of pleasure. “Now!”

He immediately realized his mistake, his place, and his tongue started making circles around your clit slowly. “Ah, fuck, Loki!” you gasped. “Make your queen cum, make your mommy cu-” Your body pulsed with pleasure, digging your boots into him even more. As you tried to escape your orgasm, his hands found your thighs and his tongue kept your pleasure in place, making you dizzy as your orgasm reached its height and your hips bucked against his soft lips.

As you came down, your hand wrapped around Loki’s beautiful curls once again, snapping his head up to look at you. You surveyed his beautiful face, his chin dripping with your juices. His tongue licked his lips, and you pressed your mouth to him, your tongue circling his, tasting yourself.

Your hand moved down to his waist, moving him to your lap and pressing him against your chest. “Sweetie?” you grabbed his face, looking into his eyes and putting on the sweetest smile you could muster. “I’m not done with you yet.”

His eyes widened slightly, his cock pressing against you as he made little movements, needing to feel your touch. “Mommy,” he begged. “Please. I’ll do anything, just please touch me.”

Your firm hand gripped his cock tightly. “Like this? Is this what my sweet boy wants?”

He started nodding, his mouth opening slightly as his eyes dug into yours. “B-But I…”

“Use your words, pet.”

“I want to be inside you!” The words almost came out like one, and you gripped the edge of his collar, getting up from the throne and dragging him just beyond the throne room, upstairs to both of your chambers.

As you dragged him above, you glanced at his blushed face, loving the fact that you had total control of him, body and soul. He was yours, and there was no denying that. In that moment and all moments forward, he’d do anything you told him to do.

You both entered your rooms, clad in black and white marble, huge statues of jade and sapphire separating the bedchambers, living spaces, and kitchen. With a stroke of your hand, the candles and fires lit at once, illuminating his face as you pushed him against the stone wall and started teasing the head of his cock.

With a touch of your finger, the collar fell to the floor and before he could start pouting, you pressed your hand against his throat. He gave a smile completely fueled by pleasure, his form slacking against the wall as your hand moved to stroke him. “Tell me what you want again.”

“I want….. I want…. Inside of you,” he whimpered, writhing against your hand.

“And should I let you cum tonight?”

“Yes! Please!” His blush went deep red, his eyes snaking over your form, landing at your drenched pussy, moving his eyes just for a moment at your hardened nipples.

“Please what?” Your face was one of hardened stone, minutes away from bending him over and punishing him until he cried if he didn’t call you by your proper name in the next five seconds.

“Please my queen! Fuck me!”

You gripped his throat even harder, moving him over to the bed lined with silk sheets and white covers. You threw him onto it, flipping him over to appreciate his ass. You gripped it hard, giving it a little spank. You simply couldn’t help yourself, and you made a mental side note to fuck it later until he was whimpering under your weight.

You flipped him over once more, straddling his perfect thighs and placing his hands on your tits. “Squeeze my nipples, my little prince.”

Of course he did as he was told and his hands sent shocks through your body. You moved his knee up, slowly grinding your clit against it. You bit your lip, letting out a little moan as he continued to palm your breasts. “I love you, sweet boy. I love you so much.”

“I love you more tha-'' before he could get the words completely out, you softly pressed your lips to his, nothing like the desperate kiss only minutes before. This time, it was tender, it was soft, but it also contained all the words you wanted to say.

I love you.

I’d do anything for you.

I’d kill for you.

I’d die for you.

As you pulled away, you gripped his hard cock and slowly lowered yourself onto him, promoting a loud moan from his lips. “Does this feel good, baby?”

His head tilted back, grabbing your thighs tightly enough to leave marks. You’d let him. If anyone was to see, it would only be further proof you owned each other. And the bruises around his neck would be proof you especially owned him. He could conceal them with magic, but he wouldn’t. During council meetings and social gatherings, he’d press against them so he could feel what you did to him the previous night.

Before he could get his answer out, you slowly started riding him, almost teasing him. In response, he fingers teased your nipples, twisting and rubbing them slowly. You reached his full length, and realized you probably weren’t going to keep your calmness for much longer.

You leaned your body completely against his, wrapping your arms around him and riding him with abandon. “You’re a fucking goddess- you’re - you’re everything I’ve ever wanted,” he breathlessly remarked.

His length completely filled you up, and as always, was stretching you out. Sometimes you thought you couldn’t handle it, but eventually you regained your control and pressed your hands around him, enveloping him to completion. You bounced back and forth on his dick, crying out in unison with him, already on the brink. You were pulsing against his thickness, but you didn’t want to cum just yet, if only to tell him not to.

“Goddess, can I?” At this point, his words were just sounds and you didn’t know if you could reply without moaning your words out.

“Can you what?” you let out.

“Can I cum?  Please?” The last word was just a plea, and you knew he’d do anything just to cum, to release inside of you and have you dripping with his cum.

“Yes, that’s what you want. You want me to cum against your cock and make me leak with your cum. Tell me that’s what you want,” you growled.

“Yes! That’s what I want!” he started, thrusting with you as if he couldn’t handle it anymore. “I want you fill you up, I want my cum all over your thighs, I want-”

“Cum for me!”

At those words, you both cried out as you slammed his shoulders onto the bed, bouncing up and down and taking both your orgasm and his.

The orgasm you had previously was nothing compared to this. You were all filled up, cumming against his cock without abandon. You could feel him shooting inside of you, you could see his hands ripping at the bedsheets as he moaned in pleasure, which only built the orgasm, stars exploding in your eyes.

You both were breathless, panting against each other's bodies. For a minute, you couldn’t move, the pleasure finally ebbing from your body, but then Loki was flipped on top of you, stroking his dark curls and kissing his forehead.

You could feel how tired he was, how tired you made him, and you commanded the collar back to your hand, locking it against his throat. “Thank you,” he said, biting his lip and looking into your eyes.

“I love you, my sweet boy.”

“I love you more than words could possibly say.”

[ragnarlothcat]

Imma sucked for sugar baby AUs, tell me what's going on with yours??

I am delighted you'd like to hear more, thank you 🥰 It's a very silly fic already. I posted about it ages ago but can't find it in my posts (is tumblr being annoying at anyone else or just me?) but the gist is that Obi-Wan is a senator and Anakin is still a Jedi. Senator Kenobi gets some death threats so the Council sends him a Jedi (Anakin) and Obi-Wan immediately decides that what this grumpy, powerful man really needs is for someone to spoil him and let him rest.

This scene is very early, when Anakin is just settling into his newest assignment and Obi-Wan is tormenting him.

(For this wip game!)

“What do you think?” Senator Kenobi asks, and Anakin drags his eyes away from the window he’d been staring out pointedly. The latest outfit is even more form-fitting than the last, clinging to the man’s pecs (why is a senator ripped?) and cinching in around his slim hips. Decked out in white and gold Kenobi looks like a king.

“It’s fine.”

Kenobi hums negatively and adjusts the little cape over his broad shoulders. “Fine? Knight Skywalker, this is one of the most important days in the Stewjoni calendar. I can’t show up looking fine. It would be disrespectful to my ancestors, you know.”

Distantly Anakin wishes he’d paid more attention in class. Kenobi might well be telling the truth, but the amused quirk of his lips makes Anakin suspect that he’s being toyed with, and he feels a flash of sympathy for the temple’s mouse droids.

“I’ll try something else,” Kenobi continues, undoing his shirt to expose his coppery chest hair, and Anakin bites back a groan. “Problem?”

“I can give you some privacy,” Anakin suggests weakly. “I’m supposed to protect you at the gala, Senator. That’s where our intel suggested you might be in danger.”

Kenobi huffs and crosses his arms. “The assassins might break in through the window and murder me while I’m half naked and…vulnerable.”

Anakin gets the sense that this man has never been vulnerable once in his entire life. Kenobi was probably born with a witty rejoinder on his lips and a snifter of brandy clutched in one hand.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” is what Anakin says.

“Senator Amidala was almost killed in her bed.” Oh good, he has a rebuttal. Of course he does. “She told me you once had to burst in while she was sleeping and defend her from some kouhuns.”

So Kenobi knows Padmé. That might explain why he requested Anakin, of all people, to be his personal security detail. Anakin was assigned to Padmé, and they both survived the experience. There were some…complications, admittedly, but they parted ways as friends.

If she’s responsible for this newest assignment he might need to reconsider that friendship.

“Yes,” Anakin grits out, ignoring the way Kenobi’s cheek dimples when he smiles. “But that was the middle of the night. If someone looked through your window now to try to kill you, they’d see you awake and…preening.”

Kenobi laughs, throwing his head back to reveal the bristled line of his throat. “Is that what I’m doing?”

Anakin flushes and turns his head. “I meant no offense.”

“And none was taken. I am fussing, rather, but I just want to make sure everything goes smoothly. Every detail must be perfect, you know.” Kenobi surveys the carnage of his outfit selection process, heaps of rich colors and decadent fabrics laid out across the man’s bed like petals. They look so soft, so elegant— “So which one have you liked best so far?”

Anakin refocuses on Kenobi’s unfairly handsome face. “I don’t know, Senator.”

“Obi-Wan, please.”

Anakin huffs. “Obi-Wan. They all look pretty similar.” At Kenobi’s raised eyebrow Anakin sighs. “I guess I liked the white one best. It made you look—”

“Fine?” But Kenobi’s voice is gently teasing.

“Powerful,” Anakin mutters, and then ducks to hide the rush of blood to his cheeks. “That will honor your ancestors, right?” Oh Force, this is so embarrassing, the senator is going to think Anakin’s some kind of youngling, with a ridiculous crush on a man he’s supposed to be protecting—

“Thank you, Anakin,” Kenobi says, his voice deep and warm. “You understand perfectly. I knew you were clever.”

Anakin shrugs and fiddles with the clasp of his glove. He still feels a bit wrongfooted. He doesn’t know the first thing about fashion, or galas, or politics. He just knows his stomach tightened with something like anticipation when he saw the senator in that getup.

Kenobi smiles winningly in the mirror, and shrugs on a robe. “I suppose that’s me taken care of” —thank the gods— “but the afternoon is still young. What about you, my oh-so-clever knight?”

“What?” Anakin looks down at his tabards and then back up. “I’m wearing my robes.”

Kenobi clucks his tongue. “You are not. This is a gala, Anakin, not a battle. The only fighting will be over the best canapés.”

“Isn’t someone trying to kill you?” Anakin asks blankly.

“No, we can’t have you skulking in background dressed in black. This is a celebration of light, dear one, not the Siege of Christophsis.”

“Yes, I know,” Anakin says, eyeing Kenobi warily. “That’s why I’m standing here chitchatting about shirts instead being shot in the face. Not that the two experiences differ significantly, from a discomfort perspective—"

Kenobi laughs, his eyes crinkling and Anakin wonders if it’s too late to ask for a reassignment. “Such dramatics! Don’t you fret, Anakin. I’ll decide quickly. Fortunately I think you can pull off practically anything, can’t you?”

Pull off—Kenobi is doing this on purpose, isn’t he? "I have to be able to protect you. My robes are perfect for fighting, for running, for arresting people—”

“You can do all those things in my clothes, Anakin. Believe me,” he says with a rich chuckle, “I checked.”

Anakin chokes on his spit. “When did you arrest someone?”

“Now, your eyes suggest that blue might be striking.” Kenobi says, as though Anakin hasn’t spoken. “But something tells me that you might be breathtaking in gold. It’s the way your hair looks in the lamplight, maybe…”

“You want to dress me in gold? Isn’t that kind of flashy?” It’s incredibly flashy. Anakin knows, he built a gold protocol droid. “I don’t want to draw any attention away from you on this, uh, momentous occasion.” As though anyone would bother looking at Anakin when Kenobi is right there. He assumes he’d be nothing more than a shiny distraction, annoying everyone who’d rather stare at the way Kenobi’s abs flex when he laughs.

(Not that Anakin can relate or anything.)

Kenobi brushes that aside with a wave of his pale hand. “Please, darling” —darling? — “everyone will be looking at you regardless. Whether you’re draped in glimmering finery or scowling at them in your functional Jedi attire.”

Anakin scoffs. “Hardly, Senator. Look, I want to respect your customs and if it’s important, I can wear a different outfit. But don’t waste good money on me.”

“Waste—you have no idea, do you?” Kenobi pushes in until he’s close enough that Anakin can smell whatever ridiculous cologne he’s wearing, something spicy and mouth-watering. “You’re so lovely, Anakin, so strong.”

“Um.” Anakin likes to think he’s capable, sure. He’s won more space battles than any other Jedi, he’s one of the best duelists in the Order (second only to his Master, probably) and—

“I know you’re capable, Anakin, I know you’re brave. I’ve seen the holos,” Kenobi murmurs, and a distant part of Anakin’s brain rejoices at the idea that this handsome, smooth-voiced man has been watching him. “You do so much for the republic, for the galaxy. Don’t you think you deserve something nice for once?”

“I get lots of nice things,” Anakin protests, reflexively. True, war leaves precious little time for relaxation, but Anakin isn’t deprived or anything. He’s a Jedi. He’s not supposed to need things.

Kenobi ignores him and picks up a discarded shirt that Anakin faintly remembers him trying on an hour ago. “Feel the fabric,” he coos, and Anakin reaches out with his ungloved left hand. The silk slips across fingers like water, the gold catching the light and shimmering gently against his skin.

It’s softer than anything he’s ever touched before. “Oh,” Anakin sighs. “This feels expensive.”

Kenobi tuts gently and pushes up Anakin’s sleeve just slightly to expose his wrist and forearm. “Hardly. Oh Anakin,” Kenobi breathes, and a small, distant part of him wonders if the senator is playing this up to torment him, or if the man genuinely sounds like sex in all innocent conversations. Maybe he should volunteer to sit in a few senate sessions. “You’re glowing.”

The gold does make his tan seem brighter, somehow. His last campaign was on a tundra planet and his skin lightened a little in the constant snow. He wonders if the color will do anything for the bags under his eyes or the dullness of his complexion that Padmé commented on sympathetically.

“Doesn’t that feel nice?” Kenobi asks, as he drags the silk over his bare skin. “And—yes, I thought so,” he says, and lifts the fabric to Anakin’s face. “Your eyes shine like stars.”

Anakin feels the tickle of the silk against his cheek and presses into it. It still smells a bit like Kenobi’s cologne and it’s so thin he can feel the warmth of the senator’s large hand. His fingers are inches away, Anakin could almost taste them—

“It’s settled,” Kenobi says, and Anakin’s eyes snap open. “I’ll have my tailor make you a set too.”

“Tailor?” Anakin sputters against the touch of the cloth. “No, that’s too much—”

“Hush, Anakin,” Kenobi says, and tugs the shirt away to drape it over his bed, beside the clothes he himself will be wearing. It’s not lost on Anakin that the two outfits complement each other perfectly. Anakin and the senator are going to look like they’re— “You have no idea what a gift you’ve given me. I’ll have a beautiful, shining Jedi Knight at my gala, looking like the sun itself. I can’t think of a better way to honor my culture. Can you?”

Anakin clears his throat around the tightness that appeared when Obi-Wan called him ‘beautiful.’ “I mean, no? You’d know better than I would.”

“You’re right, Anakin. I would,” Kenobi says crisply. “Now, you don’t have your ears pierced, do you? I have some lovely sapphires that have been languishing in my collection.”

“Why would I need—”

“An outfit like this demands jewels, Anakin. You’d look simply ridiculous without, and I’d look ridiculous by association. And I know you don’t want me to show up at my own gala looking ridiculous.”

“No,” Anakin sighs, “I don’t want that. But my ears are not pierced.” Unless the senator counts that time he was shot in the ear. That had been a kind of piercing.

But that doesn’t seem to dampen Kenobi’s enthusiasm. Far from it. “It’s no matter,” he says, and grins. “I have a circlet that will look even better against your pretty curls.”

Anakin tugs on his hair self-consciously, the flood of compliments echoing in his mind. “Isn’t this all a bit…much? It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, senator, but—”

“Anakin,” Kenobi scolds, even as he rummages through a cupboard to pull out a flat, velvet box. “I told you. Call me Obi-Wan.”

[wthtorke]

Swimmer’s Tide Chapter 7

Full story:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/24066844/chapters/57919156

AP scoffed as he rounded the bed, eyeing his future mate like he was prey. He watched as the human backed up against the wall even more after his little laughing fit. He stops near the wall, leaning against it as he surveys his human.

“Listen-, whatever you’re planning-.”

“Why didn’t you bring food?”

The man gasped, eyes darting everywhere as he made sense of what just happened. “What-?” AP scoffed.

“Your ‘backpack’, you came all the way here and didn’t prepare yourself, why?”

He gulped, shifting from foot to foot on the soft bed, “B-Bears, there are bears around-, I couldn’t really-.”

“And you left your precious fishes behind?” AP asked, tauntingly, his tusks forming a smirk at how restless he made the human feel. “Man, what the fuck is going on? Who -are- you? Why-, Oh shit, stay where you are-.”

AP stepped closer, tilting his head to the side as his human trembled in his spot. AP rested his hands on the bed, slouching so he could come eye to eye with the human. “You are a feisty little thing, aren’t you? So brave.” He half purred, half mocked.

“I-I talk shit when I’m nervous-, that’s all.” He stuttered, holding up his fists like he could take AP in a fight. “Hmm, you sure make shitty decisions when nervous too, it would seem.”  He rolls his eyes, retreating from the bed. “You were not supposed to be here.” 

The human sputtered at that, “You come after me, stalk my house, stalk ME, and -I- shouldn’t be here? You got it twisted, alien-,”

“Call me ‘alien’ once more and I’ll put you exactly in your place, ‘Mr. Merman.’ ” He growled. The human gasped, and by all the gods, he looked away, embarrassed.

“Oh? Learning something new about yourself, is it? Surprise, human. We are compatible. Highly so, even.” AP said, opening the door to the main cabin, retreating the backpack.

“Compatible? How can -we- be compatible of-, compatible of anything?? What are you? A riddle maker? Am I dead? Is this hell?”

AP laughed again, tossing his backpack to his feet on the bed, the man scurrying to pick it up and stand up again, checking his belongings inside of it, picking up the water bottle, looking at it like it had offended his whole family. “What did you do with it?” 

AP scoffed, “Let me guess, your bottle is made of metal because plastic harms nature?”

The man scowls at him, “It’s important, you wouldn’t get it.” he uncaps the bottle, having a look inside, trying to decide whether to drink it or not. “What do you know about my planet?” 

AP rolled his eyes, “I don’t care about your planet. Everything I know I learned because it was necessary.” 

He shrugged, “Makes sense, I guess-. Hold on, what are you doing here? Are you the alien bear that caused those murders all those days ago?”

AP lifts a finger, “One.More.Time. And I’ll forget how endearing you look.” The man swallow thickly, “...It was me, yes. I had…things to solve.”

He watched as the human rested a hand on his forehead. “And just what is your business with me? Wait-, I don’t actually want to know. And what do you mean endearing? Do I want to know what that means?” 

AP laughed, “Probably not.” He watches as his human’s knees shake a bit before giving out under him, sending him falling sitting on the bed. AP approaches the bed, towering over the now sitting human. “Now…Why don’t you tell me what you’re really feeling?” He says, lowering his head closer to him. 

“I-I don’t know-, I’m scared-,” He says, looking down to his lap, avoiding AP’s gaze. AP rumbles through his chest, “And beyond that?”

“I can’t believe this is happening-, I never thought-, I’m confused.”

“About what?”

“All of this-, I should be fighting but I’m not, I should be running, but I’m not-, I don’t understand.” He closes his eyes tightly, nearly jumping out of his skin when he feels a huge hand close around his chin, lifting his face. “You’re not fighting because you’re mine. I chose you. Your body understands this, even if you do not. Yet.” He says, “You’re not running away because you belong to me. With me.” AP gets closer to the man’s face. “You came to me with your own legs, did you not?” He says, purring when his human opens his eyes to look at him again. “H-How did you-, I-.” 

“The difference between your species and mine is that yours tries to think when you should act. Trust your gut. What does it tell you?”

“...That you’re not going to harm me.” He says, trying to believe his own words, AP nods, “Go on.”

“That I should-, I want-, I-. Fuck, I can’t say that-,what did you do to me? Is this what brainwashing is?”

AP chuckles deep in his chest, bringing his human’s face closer to his, “I have done nothing more than expose myself to you, you made the decision yourself.”

“Is that how it works with your species? Wherever you’re from? You just-, look at someone and they know?” He makes a confused face, expression scrunched up in AP’s hand, still holding his face. “How can that be?”

“I can sense you, feel you, rather than just seeing. I know excited you get when you think about me. I can smell it.”

“You  w h a t?” The man looks up at him, speechless, nervous, embarrassed. He looks away quickly. “I can’t-,”

“You can.” AP says, withdrawing his hand, grabbing the man’s arms instead, pinning him to the bed, standing over him.“You better start being honest before I lose my patience.” AP says, not missing the way his human closes his legs tighter after hearing his growl.

“You-, you’ve killed people-, I-,”

“Yes, I have. Humans that tried to dissect my people alive and steal our technology.” AP said, the man sighing and closing his eyes tightly. “Fuck.”

“Still sad for them?” AP says, one of his thumbs messing with the fabric of the man’s sleeves. The man shakes his head. “Why me?” He asks, AP looks at him again. “Because you’re special.” He says, lowering his face to his when the human averts his eyes again, “Do my words make you shy?” He purrs, “I can see it, how your heart rate is quicker, but not from fear. How your face is heating but not from strain. Your scent is sweet against my tongue.” He snarls, feeling the human’s arousal coming off of him in waves. “You belong to me.” He says, the man gasps under him, letting out a soft moan when AP nuzzles into his neck.

[quillsareswords]

1:20

Damian Wayne x reader

SUMMARY: You're lucky you've memorized Robin's schedule: it might me the only saving grace you've got left.

WARNINGS: blood, near-death

Master List in bio

It's 1:20 on a Tuesday morning in early June.

Gotham never really gets hot, but the humidity suffocates anything that might think that's a relief. You didn't check the weather this evening. You probably should have.

It's 1:20 on a Tuesday morning. He's gonna be here. You've had mixed feelings about knowing his schedule this well in the past, but now it's the deciding factor of your fate.

It's 1:20. That means you've been bleeding like a stuck pig for ten straight minutes, even if it feels like it's been hours. Or seconds. You don't really know anymore. You're getting dizzy.

So you've leaned against the wall. Some little roof access point that stands tall above the gravel covering the rooftop. The brick digs into your shoulder, even through your jacket.

You're starting to think you've gotten it wrong. Or maybe he just didn't show today. Maybe you're out of luck this time.

It was dumb. Stupid to think that you could stop this. Stupid to think you would end any way other than alone.

It was on purpose, after all. Isolation, that is. You pushed and shoved everyone away with a friendly smile and kept them at arm's length, lest they wiggle their claws beneath your mask and expose you for every ugly thing you are.

You're a mole. An informant. Someone who plays every side all at once and somehow manages to stay neutral the whole time. You've been passing tips to the Bats for months now, means be damned. Trust was meager between you, but what little there is is mutual.

You'd hoped it'd be your saving grace. Hoped the side playing would leave you with at least one friend, even though it was the entire reason you're in this position in the first place. You had hoped your downfall would save you.

He appears before you two minutes late. 1:22 in the morning and he's late. He doesn't seem to have noticed you, a few feet away, surveying the street below him like it's his job (and it is), with his back to you.

"You're late, Birdy." Your voice comes quieter and rougher than it should, and the force it takes nearly sends you to the ground.

He spins around at the sound, hand already curled around the hilt of his sword by the time he faces you. He says your name lowly, like a warning, like always. His posture relaxes nonetheless. "You come with useful advice, I expect. The skirmish by the docks sounded quick, but Batman thinks–"

"I didn't know where else to go," you say suddenly, because you already know you aren't going to be conscious long enough for this conversation.

The effort gets you this time. Your knees, shaky as they've been, finally give out. You understand, and you forgive them; they carried you all the way here, after all. Your body turns on the way down, back of your jacket scraping terribly against the brick as your heels slide through the gravel. The noise you make is somewhere between a groan and a cry.

It rips the breath out of his lungs. Your name is in his mouth again as he drops to his knees beside you, gloved hands already pawing at the hand you have clamped around the knife still sheathed into your side.

"What happened?" he demands, and he's reaching for his pager with the other hand. "Who did this?"

You're too focused on the way your first name sounds in his voice. There's something nice about the way he spaces the syllables.

He says it again, all panic and worry, like he hasn't the time to mask it anymore.

You wonder for a moment if it has anything to do with his lingering stares and gruff get home safe's.

But then he's shaking your shoulder and you're wincing because it's bruised beneath the jacket.

"Stay awake, hey, stay with me. Batman is on his way. We'll fix this." There's a pause where he's sucking in a deep breath and you're trying to focus on his voice. "You're going to be fine."

You think it's a little funny. You managed to get all the way here, up a goddamn fire escape, but the moment you think he's got you, you lose all ability to keep yourself upright. You just want to sleep. You want to lay down and take a nice, long nap.

You hate to admit that it just might be because you trust him more than anyone else you know. You've only known him for a few months, but you're sure that you're safest with him. You're safe with him.

It shouldn't be much of a comfort, with Death staring you down like a lion on it's last meal. You won't need protecting if your decline doesn't level out soon. It's surprising what such little comfort feels like when you're staring Death down like a gazelle with an attitude problem.

You don't remember being moved. Or how you ended up in a medical bed with stiff, scratchy sheets and a nearly flat pillow. You do remember hearing Damian's voice, fading in and our with your consciousness. The words are all garbled and quiet, but you know the recall the sound.

Alfred is the first person you see. He's unfamiliar, but he introduces himself and offers you a warm smile and a glass of water. He brings you a bowl of soup and hands you a bottle of painkillers and another of antibiotics.

You fall asleep again, listening to some little body of water just outside the white room you're settled in.

When you wake up, it's to the sound of an argument. Batman and Robin. It's hushed, angry and patient whispers back and forth, but it's an argument all the same. You've heard them bicker enough over the last few months to recognize it.

You can't quite make it out. You hear your name a few times, something about time, something about healing, something about help. Batman finishes it.

Robin swings the squeaky door open a few moments later.

He stops halfway into the room when he sees you're awake.

You wiggle your way up the mattress to lean against the pillows behind you. "Birdy."

He sighs. "You nearly bleed out in my arms and that's how you greet me?"

He doesn't sound quite right. A little deflated, maybe. Relieved? As if he'd been holding his breath before he entered the room, and just remembered how to breathe when he caught your eye.

Course, you can't be sure he caught it at all, with those white lenses.

You cock a shoulder. "I'm sure you've seen worse. I'm sure I'll have worse."

His posture shifts as he crosses the room. He shakes his head. "That's not funny."

"It's kind of funny," you try, throwing the best carefree smile you can manage when everything beneath your skin is so sore. "I'm the one who was bleeding, that means I'm allowed to make all the jokes I want."

"That's an unhealthy coping mechanism."

"So is dressing up in red and yellow and calling yourself a bird."

His shoulders drop again. You think you might see a smile, but he turns his head away too quickly. "You should be more careful. I can't always be there to drag you out of every fire, you know."

You cross your arms, raising both knees to take some pressure off of your abdomen. He takes it as an invitation and makes himself comfortable in the chair beside the bed. He finds a comfortable position with a little too much familiarity. "I don't expect you to. I wouldn't have even been there if I wasn't getting information for you."

"For Batman–"

"Potato, pa-tot-oh."

He goes rigid again. "I never would have asked you to put yourself in danger like that."

It's defensive. Appalled, almost. Offended.

You don't know how to reply. That doesn't seem to matter though, because he's not done.

"And even if I had, I would have gone with you. I would have made sure you had backup, I would have– this never would have happened."

There's a certain distain in his tone that catches you off guard. A resentment, toward you or his partner you aren't totally sure.

He runs gloved fingers through slick black hair. Heaves a breath. Pushes himself to his feet. Falsely composed. "You may stay as long as you need. Alfred will take care of you."

"Where are you going?" It slips out before you can stop it. And perhaps you could play if off as a standard question—you are in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people, aside from him—but it's much too quick. It sounds a little too much like don't leave me.

And you know he hears it too, because he turns back around so quickly you wonder if he even considered it. "Patrol. It's Wednesday night." And yet he makes to move to leave.

You nod. "Right. Yeah. You're, uh, what? You're over by the city museum tonight, aren't you?" You want to smack yourself. What are you doing, making small talk? He's got places to be, people to save.

"Yes." The top seal of his mask flexes when he raises an eyebrow.

You nod again. An awkward smile on your lips. "I, uh, I didn't know how to feel about knowing where you'd be most of the week, but I guess I'm glad I do. Saved my skin last night, didn't it?"

He drawls in a deep breath. "Suppose it did."

There's a long pause. You aren't sure if you're breathing, but you're sure he isn't. He looks tense, like he's torn between saying something and leaving, body angled not quite toward you.

"You can always come to me," he says suddenly. He must read something on your face, because he tumbles straight into the next sentence. "Last night, you said you didn't know who to go to. I'm telling you now, you can always come to me. I'll fix it, whatever it is."

His voice is tight. A little unsure, but not in the statement. Like a hiker on a rocky trail; unsure of his footing, but certain in his destination.

There's something else in his words. Something scrawled between the lines in thin, fragile letters. Something deeper than wounds and needing backup.

I'll fix it, whatever it is.

Your heart rate picks up, and the heart monitor reveals your secrets on the screen beside you. What it can't reveal is the way the poor organ soars, throwing itself to the clouds with reckless abandon, completely uncaring of the hard trip back down.

You still don't know how to reply. You'd like to say something witty. A little sarcastic, maybe a smidge mean. He's giving you a glimpse at his heart, beating bloody in his hands, and there's a large part of you that wants to poke it. Nothing too wounding, just enough that he never makes the mistake again.

But you can't help it. There's a much larger part of you that wails, who wants to snatch it from him to shield and cradle, because he obviously can't be trusted with it. Not if he's baring it to you.

The deciding party is the reminder of last night. Dragging yourself up a rusted fire escape, praying to anyone who might listen that he'd be there. That he'd help you. You remember thinking he wouldn't. You remember the thought hanging above you like gravediggers as you settled into a coffin: you pushed everyone away, you don't leave room for those who want to help you.

"Thank you," you attempt, and it comes barely above a whisper. You allow it to be tender. You let it embody the raw little piece of you that utters it; the piece that wants so desperately to let him in. The piece that knew he'd save you. The tender little sliver of soul who still believed you deserved to be trusted and supported. The one who still hopes for meaningful connections, even among your collection of throw-away contacts.

You can see the way he relaxes. The way he melts inside his skin, like he'd been expecting you to poke when you could have. Like it lifts a weight off of him, knowing that you'll trust him enough to come to him in the future.

"I'll be back in a few hours. You should sleep."

You roll your eyes. "Sleep in some weird ass white room I've never been in, surrounded by a bunch if people I barely know. Yeah, I'm sure I'll sleep like a baby."

He recognizes that you aren't entirely serious, but he also recognizes the orange pill bottles on the table beside you. "If Alfred has you on those, I trust you will—no matter where you are."

You chuckle, he offers you the tiniest smile, and then he's gone. Vanished into the rest of whatever strange building he whisked you into.

You should be worried about it. Not knowing where you are, exactly who you're with, who has access to you. But you aren't. And it might be the medication making you compliant, and you'll look back on this in a week and be horrified—or it could be that you've broken all your own rules and thrust all if your trust into the hands of a boy you've never seen without a mask.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 313: Deku VS Lady Nagant

Previously on BnHA: Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai Lady Nagant showed up to fire a cupid’s arrow into my heart, and a bunch of literal bullets into my son. Deku was all “oh shit it’s Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai, what do I do, let me think back to Hawks’s advice for a sec.” Flashback!Hawks was all “anyway Deku so if my super-hot badass murder senpai ever shows up you’re basically screwed so you’d better abscond the fuck out of there.” Present!Deku was all “lol idek why I flashed back to that conversation since I’m just going to do the exact opposite of what Hawks said” and charged directly toward Nagant because WHY NOT. Overhaul was all “waah I need to get back to my boss who I put in a coma out of love” and Nagant was all “jesus christ why did I even bring you here” and had a flashback to AFO who was all “ILU NAGANT IMMA GIVE YOU AN EXTRA QUIRK SO PLEASE CAPTURE DEKU FOR ME PLEASE AND THANKS” and yeah. Shit is all over the place right now and I love it.

Today on BnHA: All Might gets attacked by a pair of discount assassins and is all “Call an ambulance! ...BUT NOT FOR ME” and it’s really badass but also I really wish he would stop tempting fate like this. Lady Nagant is all “[casually flies around town shooting shit]” and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t read an entire chapter of just that. Deku is all, “[gets shot (≥_<)]” and releases a giant Smokescreen which prompts En to show up. En is all, “( •᷄⌓•᷅ ) (⌣̀ Δ⌣́) ( •̀_•́ )σ (¬､¬) (눈_눈)” which I consider to be a high point of both the chapter and of my life. The chapter ends with Deku using the Third’s quirk to launch a bunch of random objects at Nagant so that he can jump up and grab her arm all sneaky-like, and I’m sure this is going to prompt another week’s worth of discourse that I don’t care about at all, but fuck it, I’m having a good time.

OH WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO ALL MIGHT WELL THAT’S NICE I GUESS. CONGRATS ON NOT BEING DEAD

you named your car??

you named it Hercules??

I love you so much??

please marry me you giant fucking dork???

lmao speaking of huge fucking dorks

who the fuck are you clowns. la dee da we’re gonna murder All Might with our synchronized spear attack!! I mean... they’re clearly trying their best... maybe I should just be nice and politely hype them up like All Might is so clearly trying to do

like okay, but we all agree that this is actually the least intimidating attack any of us has ever seen, right?? these guys zipped up their hoodies all serious-like and are trying to attack All Might and Hercules with their Walmart tiki torches, but just, no?? right?? like the only way this could possibly be effective is if they were trying to kill All Might with secondhand embarrassment

“those are assassins” this is a VERY generous assessment, All Might

OH MY GOD THE TIKI TORCHES ACTUALLY KILLED THE FUCK OUT OF HERCULES

[slaps roof of car] this baby can fit so many weaponized festive backyard lighting solutions in it

and yet, even after watching this with my own two eyes, I still can’t take these dudes seriously. idek what it is. anyways r.i.p. Hercules, I loved you a lot but I guess you weren’t actually a very good armored car were you

omg they didn’t know it was All Might??

okay 1) for a moment there I was like “oh hey maybe they’re not so bad after all” but then a moment later it was like “ah nope, they are.” like, that was an interesting .06 second emotional journey there. anyways 2) All Might you have my permission to kick their asses for this disrespect, and 3) anyone else all of a sudden getting “wouldn’t this be an interesting time for Stain to suddenly show up” vibes?? no?? just me???

(ETA: hmm tbh I’ve still got those vibes and they haven’t gone away lol. Stain?? you out there buddy?? do you want to be cool for just once in your life. ball’s in your court pal.)

OH SNAP ALL MIGHT ARE YOU REALLY GONNA DO IT ARE YOU GONNA KICK THEIR ASSES

PROTECTIVE DAD MODE ACTIVATED?? BECAUSE YOU KNOW I’M HERE FOR THAT SHIT, SO YEAH, FEEL FREE

omg he’s shouting at them about how much Deku has suffered lmao and they’re just like falling over from being scolded

so they have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about though, right? “SIR THIS IS A WENDY’S” well whatever, you killed his pet car so he’s in a bad mood now

OH MY GOD

LIKE, JUST SO WE’RE ALL CLEAR, THESE FOUR PAGES SO FAR HAVE MADE ALMOST ZERO SENSE. LIKE MAYBE 2% SENSE TOPS. BUT ASK ME IF I CARE. GO AHEAD AND ASK. I SAID GO AHEAD, IT’S OKAY. ...NO I DON’T CARE AT ALL THANK YOU FOR ASKING

(ETA: also, the more I look at this panel, the more I’m just like, why the hell would you phrase it like that though, sob. way to doubly tempt fate?? are you trying to give Horikoshi a challenge??)

and now back to Deku who is randomly bouncing around the city and narrating it to himself just in case he was confused about why he was doing this

who are you talking to Deku. but thanks we appreciate it

man you gotta love that overconfidence. the smartest guy in the world warned you away from this lady, so SURE, LET’S RUN RIGHT UP TO HER. “I APPRECIATE YOUR INPUT, FLASHBACK!HAWKS, BUT I’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE” well okay then!!

I think it would be funny if RHA.com put little Buzzfeed-style polls in between the chapter pages so they could survey people at random intervals as they read their way through the chapter. like, you finish this page and then there’s a little poll there asking “do you think Deku’s plan of catching up to Lady Nagant and finding out where Shigaraki is will work?”, and you click “no” just like everyone else and then nod as the results show that 97% of your fellow readers also picked “no”, and you chuckle to yourself wondering how many of the 3% accidentally clicked on the wrong option by mistake, and then you keep on reading

ANYWAY, SO

HOW’S THAT PLAN WORKING OUT FOR YOU SO FAR DEKU. nice kick, though!!

omggggggg

ouch

update: Deku’s plan not really working out. sources tell me my boy has been fucking shot. this is an ongoing story and we will keep you posted with the latest developments as they come in

wait what

feel free to explain to the rest of us what all of this “UNLESS...” and “THAT POSSIBILITY...” shit means anytime, Deku

oh lol did he realize she could fly??

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE, CNN’s John King reports that Deku is still fucked. eyewitness reports now coming in that Nagant is doing no-look shots and basically not even giving a fuck. sources described her mannerisms and expression as “sexy, but in like an effortless sort of way.” we will continue to bring you the latest

so now there’s basically an entire page of Deku being all “ah fuck so she’s basically closing in and she could already hit me with impossible accuracy even from Far Away, so if that’s the case then her being Up Close is probably going to be even worse!” making good use of that Big Hero Brain there, Deku

so now what, you’re doing some kind of spiraling kick thing?? how is that going to help

oh lol he’s using Smokescreen to create some cover. aww, good for you Deku you named one of your Smokescreen attacks

OH NO LADY DON’T TELL ME AFO DIDN’T EVEN FILL YOU IN ON THE BASICS

seriously, AFO?? you basically told her what Deku’s exact strategy was going to be but then couldn’t be assed to drop that little, small, barely notable piece of knowledge that Deku is rocking multiple quirks?? is it supposed to be a secret or something?? you dropped the ball here man

damn this is getting intense now

(ETA: the way En is poking Deku’s head in that first panel is fucking sending me, I love this guy so much omg.)

well then what are you planning, Deku?? I’m actually really curious!! I am genuinely starting to be invested in this fight scene not only in the “wanting to see who wins and how that impacts the plot” sense, but also in the “wanting to see how it happens because the choreography and strategy is actually pretty cool” sense, which honestly hasn’t happened for quite a while now! this is fun

anyway so what’s up Deku, are you going to use another quirk?? I’ve been speculating that he hasn’t actually unlocked the last two yet (since Two and Three didn’t exactly seem convinced when we last saw them), but maybe I’m about to be proven wrong

(ETA: well he clearly has Three’s obviously, but Two’s is still MIA, and that’s the one I am of course the most curious about. that’s the one we’re all curious about, let’s be real.)

OH SNAP???

AHHHH I’M HYPED LOL. ANOTHER SHINY NEW QUIRK LOL SHOULD I PUT UP THE USUAL DISCOURSE DISCLAIMER

(ETA: so yeah, after thinking on it, I’m not gonna say “please no Deku discourse on my blog” this week, but I probably will ignore any discourse that does come my way though, just because I don’t have much interest in getting involved in what would probably be a pretty repetitive discussion. like, I can just sum up my opinions (which is what they are) here instead. in fact here they are lol:

1) I like the SIXQUIRKS and I like seeing Deku be a badass.

2) I also don’t think Deku is too OP. more like he’s exactly as OP as he needs to be at the moment, given that we’re approaching the end of the series. I expect the other kids will also be pretty damn OP when we see them fight again. we’re just at that point now where they’re all badasses (as well they should be; they’ve grown a lot and they deserve it). it’s just that Deku’s the one we’re getting to see right now.

3) of course I miss Kacchan and the others, but for me this vibes much closer to the MVA arc where even though I missed them, I was still having a blast (as opposed to the dark days of the Basement arc where I was pretty much losing it lol). like, even though Kacchan’s my favorite, I still love Deku a lot and this arc has been amazing for him getting to shine on his own (for like the first time, really).

4) y’all know I love the OFA plot and I’ve never been shy about that lol. I like all of the Vestiges a lot. Banjou and his over the top personality; En and his “guy you thought would be serious and :| all the time but is actually hyper-animated and ALL OVER THE PLACE” energy; Shiro who actually is a :| sort of guy lol; Three who I still expect will be fleshed out in a more detailed flashback at some point; and of course Two, who, well. you know what I think about him lol. Bakuverse is still on the table and I’m still hyped. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we still have yet to see Two actually talk to Deku (as opposed to talking to the other Vestiges while Deku is distracted). did he lend him his power yet?? or is he still holding out?? either way it’s definitely going to be a Big Thing when it finally happens and I can’t wait to see it.

5) Lady Nagant is Everything and just because Deku grabbed her arm doesn’t mean the fight is over yet lol. Overhaul hasn’t come into play yet either. not to mention that even if the fight is over, the “where do we go from here” part still has me excited either way. her connection to Hawks and the HPSC is very intriguing and we’ve barely touched on that as of yet; she definitely has more of a role to play in this.

6) last but not least, I feel like every week the discussion is all about how much focus Deku’s getting, and how OP he is or isn’t, and OFA this and OFA that, but meanwhile I’m actually so invested in the character development here though?? the way Deku has distanced himself from everyone (except for the Vestiges, because of course they’re already dead so it’s not like they can die again lol)?? the way he’s pushing himself far too hard and we can see the shadows in and under his eyes, and the fact that he never smiles, and even All Might has remarked on how he isn’t taking care of himself at all?? the fact that he’s so single-mindedly obsessed with focused on stopping AFO?? the fact that he’s still the same sweet old Deku despite everything and was so kind to that fox lady with the umbrella, but there was also something so sad about that scene because it felt like a reminder of the type of hero that he wants to be, but that he’s not allowed to be right now?? because the stakes are too high and the world is falling apart?? and he feels like he’s the only one who can do something about it?? and that he has to be?? and that he is putting so much pressure on himself right now, and it’s absolutely too much pressure for any one person to bear, and I feel like no one is fucking talking about this lol goddammit.

anyway so yeah. I have feels about this, and every week that slow-burn angst is getting more and more intense behind the scenes, and I feel like it’s all going to hit a breaking point eventually. sooner rather than later. it really feels like a mirror of Katsuki’s post-Kamino arc. where all that angst was just churning below the surface for like twenty chapters and then it finally was like “okay it’s time” and it all came bursting out and we got the best five chapters of the fucking series (in my admittedly biased estimation lol).

basically, I know that most of fandom is billing this as either the “villain hunt” arc or the “solo Deku SIXQUIRKS fighting arc” or whatever. but for me, it’s always been and still is the Deku Angst arc lol. the cool fights are a sexy bonus (the worldbuilding less so because even though it’s interesting to see society at such a low point, it’s also very depressing and gets old pretty fast), but for me the thing that’s really keeping me engaged chapter after chapter is seeing Deku like we’ve never seen him before. seeing him all quiet and withdrawn and brooding and focused on AFO, AFO, AFO, and seeing that “he just doesn’t take himself into account” mentality taken to extremes. I am invested in that. I’m soaking up that angst each and every week, and I’m invested in seeing what comes of it. it’s a big picture thing. week to week this arc might just seem like a bunch of villain fight scenes, sure. but Deku’s emotional journey is the thread that’s going to carry this arc through from beginning to end, and for that I’m willing to be patient.

anyway that turned into a BIG OL’ RANT there but yeah! so those are my thoughts on the disk horse as it currently stands. and like I said, I’m open to discussion, but tbh I will probably just wind up repeating these same talking points endlessly so just a fair warning lol.)

anyway so Three says Deku has yet to use his quirk at ALL but now he’s trying to combine it with another quirk?? damn. also please check out En’s face here you guys

En launching a sneak attack up my favorite character list by the sheer power of his expressions alone. he really knows how to make the most of his screentime

OH DAMN DEKU

at this point the 3% from that hypothetical poll earlier are starting to feel prettttty damn smug, I’ll bet. well shit

what in the fuck

?? so like releasing his chi or whatnot?? isn’t that basically just like base OFA all over again?? also Deku did you seriously just apologize to Gran’s cape

update: Nagant has turned her eyeball into a gun

hm. hmmmmmmm. ...okay yep, still somehow sexy

anyway so she’s just floating up there building suspense, as one does. lord I sure hope she has good reflexes because something tells me she’s going to need them

OH SNAP HE THREW GRAN’S CAPE AS A DECOY WHAAAAT OKAY THAT’S SOME SMART SHIT DEKU

LOL SHE’S MAD NOW

JESUS CHRIST SHE JUST NEVER TAKES A GODDAMN BREAK FROM BEING AWESOME HUH

DEKU ARE YOU JUST THROWING EVERY DAMN THING IN YOUR INVENTORY

but without the cape and the hood how will you continue to look like an enigmatic badass. you really can’t. which means we might finally be moving on from the wandering nomad part of this arc, stay tuned

LOL YOU MANIAC

I hope he went full Kacchan with the dialogue there. his face sure looks like it lol. popped out of a building all mad fdskljlkj omg

well this was fun, shit. I still have basically no idea what Three’s quirk does though lol. like, can he use it to charge up objects with kinetic energy or something?? but then what was all of that talk about combining it with one of the other quirks?? or was that just because he was using Smokescreen at the same time??

(ETA: having seen and read an additional half-dozen explanations of Three’s quirk, I can say with confidence that I still have basically no idea what it is or does.)

anyway so!! Deku is a badasssssss but something tells me not to count Nagant out just yet even so. also I really enjoy seeing Deku flip out on people like he doesn’t have a fucking hole in his torso because it reminds me of A CERTAIN SOMEONE and I always love to see him channeling that feral energy; I feel like it’s been a while

anyways good luck to you both!! I truly wish that both of you could win. but if not, then maybe you can at least become friends instead. you have so much in common, you both can fly and have multiple quirks and you’re both badasses, and plus it would just be really funny to see the look on Hawks’s face lmao

[lexosaurus]

Invisobang: Morge pt 2

It was a beautiful day outside. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming...a corpse was found in the woods.

Or, Amity Park's local cadaver dog trainer was walking her dog in the woods when they discovered a little surprise waiting for them six feet under.

Pairings: none WC: 9886 read on: [ao3] part 2 of 2, read: [part 1]

---

some amazing accompanying art by @ghostkiin

---

“It’s like you’re not even trying!” Plasmius barked, throwing Danny an exaggerated yawn while blocking the ectoblasts thrown his way. “Really, Daniel, you were always woefully incapable compared to me, but this is just abysmal, even for you.”

Danny gritted his teeth and glared back, allowing his glowing eyes to glare to toxic levels. Plasmius picked the wrong week to try to steal blueprints from Fentonworks.

“What, are you going to hit me with a little ectoblast again?”

“Oh I’ll show you an ectoblast,” Danny growled, charging ectoplasm in his palms so concentrated that the green glowed a fierce white. He flung his hands out, releasing the energy with a venomous, “eat shit, Fruitloop!”

But just like the rest of his life, his attack was uncontrolled, wild. It flew several feet to Vlad’s side, nailing a road sign and burning it like acid until there was nothing left.

Plasmius grinned at its charred remains. “Was that supposed to hit me? My, Daniel, I’m quaking in my boots!”

Danny felt his aura increase.

This week had already been shitty enough, even without Vlad’s help. He felt like his brain was trapped in a hailstorm, with constant unavoidable attacks pelting him from all sides. His core was a ball of energy and anxiety, not allowing him to sleep or eat or even breathe without the constant fear about his body and how it was being messed with and he needed to protect it and how he’d failed so miserably at protecting it and now his secret was going to be revealed and he was screwed.

“Well? I’m waiting! Tick tock, Little Badger!”

Ancients, Vlad was such an asshole.

“Shut UP!” Danny yelled, releasing his ghostly wail.

Just as a pink blast slapped him across the face, sending him flying into a brick building.

Plasmius tisked, flying nonchalantly towards him. “We can’t have you using that particular power, now can we? Not while you’re so obviously in control of yourself.”

“Fuck off.”

The older ghost smirked and brushed dust off his red and white cape. “Teenagers. Always so hormonal. What, did a girl at school reject you?”

“What are you talking about?” Danny launched himself back in the air and powered an ice blast. “You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t care what you have to say.”

“No, I’m sure you don’t,” Vlad said, releasing a plasmius blast just before Danny released his own. The pink blast travelled across the air like a bullet, punching Danny in the gut and sending him crashing back into the building.

Meanwhile, Danny’s ice blast flew a foot above Vlad’s head, webbing itself into a tree and coating the branches with thick icicles.

Danny tried to push himself back onto his shaky feet, only to be pushed back down yet again by another plasmius blast.

Brick tumbled onto his head, coating his vision with dust. His body ached, and his neck was sore from the whiplash.

From his clouded vision, a glowing white figure with red eyes and gaudy horn-like spikes for hair hovered closer to him.

“My, my. You really are out of sorts today,” Plasmius said. “This is almost too easy. I could just take you out right here and go take your parents’ entire spectre speeder straight from your lab.

“What do you even need a spectre speeder for? You can fly,” Danny asked, rubbing a lump from his skull.

“A simple minded teenager such as yourself couldn’t possibly understand my reasons.”

Anger flared through Danny. He gripped some wreckage next to him and forced himself back onto his feet. His legs shook and he felt something wet drip down his calf.

Great, he was bleeding. Just add that to the list of reasons as to why this week was the worst.

“Shut up. I won’t let you do that.”

“Oh?” Plasmius powered a pink blast in each hand. “Then prove it.”

Danny tried, but with each attempted blast, kick, or punch, it seemed like Plasmius was one step ahead of him.

And worse, it felt like he was reveling in the power trip.

A burn here, a kick there—everywhere Danny looked, there was Vlad, glowing fist at the ready. It reminded him of the first time he’d encountered Vlad, back at the mansion. Having Vlad so openly destroy him had been shameful.

Danny collapsed onto the pavement, heaving, his entire body searing in pain.

Plasmius paused to survey him up and down with suspicious eyes. Finally, just as Danny was one breath away from turning invisible out of sheer discomfort, did the ghost finally open his mouth. “Alright, spit it out.”

Anxiety gripped Danny’s stomach. “What are you talking about?”

“Something’s troubling you enough to make you pathetically weak. It’s honestly embarrassing. I can’t stand here watching my future ward make a fool of himself any longer.”

“I’m not moving in with you, creep,” Danny bit back.

“That’s what you think. No matter, tell your dear old uncle what’s troubling you.”

“Go play in traffic.”

Plasmius’ eyes narrowed. “I’d nearly forgotten what a brat you are. Now tell me before I take methods into my own hands.”

Danny sighed, and attempted to stand. But the moment his foot touched the ground, a sharp pain shot up his shin. He hissed, and lowered himself back to the pavement.

“Well? I don’t have all day.”

“It’s nothing,” Danny grumbled, glaring at the pavement. He felt small under Plasmius’ critical gaze. “Nothing at all.”

“It’s obviously something,” Plasmius said, landing in front of Danny. “Now quit wasting my time and tell me what it is before I—”

“Then why don’t you leave? If I’m just wasting your precious time, then go home! It’s not like you even care about me anyways.”

Vlad leaned in, flaring his aura. “In case it’s not clear to your simple teenage brain, your actions represent the both of us. You fuck up, I have to pay the consequences.”

“Who says this is even about ghost stuff?” Danny hissed. “For all you know, I got in a fight with Jazz.”

Vlad scoffed. “Do you seriously believe me to be that stupid? Of course it’s about your identity! Why else would your core be acting so wildly if its Obsession weren’t at stake?”

Danny flinched.

“You did something, and I want to know what it is so I can determine if I need to run damage control on you or not before you blow this for all of us.”

“It’s...” Danny felt his aura pull back. “It’s about...you know…”

“I can assure you I do not know.”

“I...I might have…the police may have found...it…’

Plasmius sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. “What did they find?”

“My—my, uh...body?”

“You mean your identity?” Plasmius’ eyes widened.

“Not exactly.” Danny felt his face burn. “You know...the body I left when I...after the accident.”

Plasmius reacted instantly. He shot up, glancing around, before grabbing Danny and pulling him through a hastily erected portal.

Danny felt his body squeeze through the portal and then seconds later, he was in Vlad’s study. The ghost threw Danny on his loveseat and heightened his aura. His brows creased, and his eyes glowed a dangerous shade of red. “What exactly do you mean when you say the police found your deceased body? How did this happen? What the hell did you do?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Danny cried indignantly. “They found it with their freakish police dog! I swear I buried it deep in the ground.”

“Well not deep enough, apparently!” Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Of all the stupid, childish things you could do!”

“It wasn’t my fault!”

Vlad ripped his hands away from his face, his eyes snapping back to Danny. He took a step closer to the teen, his eyes narrowing until a red glow peaked underneath. “Then whose fault would it be exactly, hmm? What, is this yet another piece of blame you’re going to cast upon my shoulders? Me, the halfa who has managed to keep this a well kept secret for over twenty years when you apparently can’t even manage to keep it to yourself for one?”

Danny let his own ghostly strength shine through his eyes. “Quit acting like I invited them all over. I didn’t, it was a coincidence. A mistake.”

“Oh, goodness me!” Vlad let out a sardonic laugh. “I guess when the Ghost Investigative Ward appear at my doorstep in a month, I’ll just tell them it was all a mistake. That’s sure to turn them right around!”

“Shut up.”

“No I will not.” Vlad’s face set back into a scowl. “You have proven yourself to be a liability again and again, and every single time it’s me who has to clean up your little messes. Messes that you don’t seem to realize could be the end of our kind!”

Anxiety shot through Danny’s stomach. He gripped the arm rests of the chair, squeezing them so tightly he heard the faint sounds of cracking in the wood.

“And now you mean to tell me that the police have your rotting, ectoplasm-drenched inhuman corpse in their possession?” Vlad yelled. “And you’re really trying to argue with me that it was just a simple mistake?”

Danny’s shaking hand slipped, tearing off a chunk of the armchair. It clattering to the floor. “I don’t—I didn’t mean for this to happen. I don’t…”

Vlad closed his eyes, but Danny could still see the wisps of red shimmering through his eyelids. “No, of course you didn’t. But that doesn’t mean we can let them keep it.”

“I’ve tried.” His voice cracked. “I keep trying to convince them to stop, but they won’t—”

“What, you actually thought they’d listen to you? A ghost? My boy, I know you were dim, but this is truly extraordinary.”

Danny sniffed, keeping his head down. He felt like an egg boiling over, the yolk just one jolt away from breaking.

“No…” Plasmius hummed. “What we need is to take it back by force.”

“We can’t, they have the whole morgue under a shield. We can get in as ghosts, and it’d look too suspicious if we showed up as humans.”

“Unfortunately, you may be right about us appearing as humans. We can’t do that. But,” Plasmius’ tone shifted, “one thing we can do is break the shield.”

Danny froze. He gazed questioningly up at the older ghost, who was facing the window with a renewed sense of determination. “Break the shield? How? We can’t touch it!”

“No, but the shield doesn’t exist on its own. It has to be generated from somewhere, doesn’t it? Do you see? We break the device, we break the shield.”

Danny wasn’t following, and he was sure his face betrayed that much.

“Listen, Little Badger. Ghosts cannot touch the shield or the device, but who says—oh I don’t know—maybe a collapsed ceiling might do the trick? Some torn cables, perhaps? After all, with no energy supply, how could it possibly generate the power necessary to produce a shield?”

Danny felt his eyes widen. Something icy settled in his gut. When he spoke, his voice was hollow. “You want to destroy the building.”

“Well I certainly wouldn’t be so crude, but perhaps a few colleagues of mine might be swayed—”

“No.” Danny stood automatically.

Vlad’s head snapped over to him. “No?”

He could feel Vlad’s confusion, and it blended with his own. Deep down, he knew he needed to stop at nothing to get his body back, but collapsing the building? Putting others in danger?

Putting his remains in danger of ruin?

What if something happened? What if a brick fell on his skull? What if a spike tore his abdomen in half?

No, he couldn’t do it. It wasn’t worth the risk.

This was wrong.

“We can’t,” Danny choked out. “You’ll hurt it.”

“I don’t think you understand, Little Badger,” Vlad hissed, leaning down.

Danny could feel the heat of his red eyes on his skull.

“With the position you’ve put us both in? You don’t get to decide what happens to your corpse now.”

“No, Vlad. I’m serious. You can’t—”

“And so am I.” Plasmius straightened, and his aura tinted to a dangerous pink. “You’ve put us at risk one time too many. Now I’m taking things into my own hands. And no amount of scary eyes is going to sway me.”

In one motion, Vlad ripped open a portal and pushed Danny through. Before he could blink, he was back in the damp alley they’d just been in.

“Good day, Danny Phantom.”

Plasmius shut the portal, and Danny was alone.

---

“Thank you for taking the time to come talk to us about this,” Mark said, opening the conference room door for the consultant before him. “This case is unfortunately a bit out of my expertise, and the lab results are even more perplexing. Hopefully you’ll be able to parse through the documents much easier than I.”

Dr. Maddie Fenton, dressed in her typical turquoise lab attire, stepped through the door and took a seat at the table. “Of course, I’m always happy to help Amity’s law enforcement protect its citizens against ghosts.”

“Well,” Mark pulled out a chair for himself, placing the manila folders against the table. “This is actually a bit more complex.”

“Oh?” Dr. Fenton reached for the folders.

“To bring you up to speed, I mentioned on the phone that we needed your assistance with a murder case involving a ghost. But there’s a bit more to it.”

She opened the folder and leafed through the files.

“The truth is the body we uncovered we believe to be Phantom’s body.”

Dr. Fenton paused, her eyebrows shooting up. She glanced up at Mark. “That’s a rather serious case. What evidence do you have to support that?”

“Well…” Mark started. “When we uncovered the body, Phantom appeared above it, and was acting rather erratically. Like a cornered animal, almost.”

“He felt threatened.”

“Right.” He nodded. “But it’s more than that. When we ran forensics on the body, we found that all our lab results were corrupted with ectoplasm. Ectoplasm that when we ran the ectosignature for, turned out to be Phantom’s.”

Dr. Fenton looked back down at the files. “That’s highly unusual.”

“Well we were hoping you’d be able to piece this all together.” Mark gestured to the files.

“I see…” Dr. Fenton’s voice trailed off. Her eyes scanned the page, hungrily soaking up each word. The silence stretched on for a few minutes as Mark awaited her opinion.

Contacting the Fentons had been something Mark had been pushing off for as long as possible. The Fentons were loud, boisterous, and not at all known for their professionalism nor tact.

But it was either they contact the Fentons or the Ghost Investigation Ward. And despite Phantom’s cold demeanor towards the detectives, Mark still had hope that perhaps he could gain the teen ghost’s trust. And to do that, the GiW could not be anywhere near the station.

Of the duo, Maddie Fenton seemed the most level-headed. And it had just been Mark’s luck that of the pair, she was the one with a doctorate in ectobiology. Which meant that it was perfectly understandable when Mark had requested that she alone come into the station to review the files.

“We’re trying to keep this on the down-low. If Phantom feels like we’re going to turn him over to the government, he’ll clam up. As it stands we’re only barely getting information out of him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t trust anything he says anyway,” she said, not looking up from the paper. “He’ll do whatever possible to keep himself safe. Ghosts are products of their Obsessions, and Phantom is no different. If he feels like this investigation is going to come in the way of him being able to feed into his Obsession, then he’ll do anything to stop that from happening. No matter who he hurts in the process.”

Mark felt a shudder creep up his spine. “Do you think he could be lying about this being his body? Maybe he could have been the one to kill this boy and is trying to cover it up?”

“Hmm…no, that doesn’t seem likely given the labs. And besides, it would be highly unusual for Phantom to be summoned to a body that wasn’t his. Although…” Dr. Fenton mused. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before.”

“Like what?”

“Well, when an animal dies near a cluster of ambient ectoplasm, their body runs the risk of forming a ghost. However, there must be a significant final moment for the neural pathways in the brain to bond with the ectoplasm. That moment translates into an Obsession, which forms the core that the ghost then forms around. If a human dies peacefully, there’s nothing to work with. But if the human dies violently, or if they die with unfinished business, that gives the ambient ectoplasm something to charge with.”

Mark nodded politely, not seeing where this was going. This was all common knowledge for the people of Amity, and Mark had certainly seen enough of the Fentons’ public speeches to understand these basics.

“The ambient ectoplasm comes from the electrical connections in the brain, unrelated to what’s happening in the body. It’s why a human can be paralyzed from the waist-down, but still form a ghost with functioning legs. Do you see what I’m saying?”

Mark nodded, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m not seeing how this relates to Phantom specifically?”

“There’s no real reason that Phantom’s human body should have been corrupted by ectoplasm. In fact, there’s never been a case of a human body with an ectosignature embedded in its cells. It’s virtually impossible, in fact. Living cells are completely incompatible with ectoplasm.”

Mark stared down at his own copy of the reports, his mind reeling. “You’ve never seen this before?”

“Not in my twenty years in this field.”

“Do you have any idea what could have caused this?”

Dr. Fenton pursed her lips. “There’s one...it would explain a lot about him actually. Human experimentation.”

Oh.

Oh.

Shit.

“You don’t think…” Mark’s voice trailed off, his tongue incapable of finishing the sentence. To think that some sick individual would even attempt such a thing.

“It’s the only logical explanation here.” Dr. Fenton gestured at her folder. “Or at least, the only one I can piece together given this information. Phantom would have had to have died after interacting with an intense amount of ecto-technology. Technology with the power to chemically alter every cell in his living body just before finishing him off with electrocution. Of course, it’s just a theory. Only Phantom knows the truth.”

“Right.” He could hardly process what was being said. “But he won’t tell us the truth.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. Ghosts run a different social hierarchy than humans, theirs is far more simple. It’s entirely based on strength. The stronger the ghost, the better they protect their haunt, the more respect they’re given within ghost culture. If Phantom shows weakness, then the other ghosts can use that to dethrone him as the human world’s great protector.”

“But we’re not ghosts.”

“But he is.” Dr. Fenton cocked her head. “This explains other things too. Like the fact that Phantom, a relatively new ghost, is already a level seven on the ectoplasm power scale.”

“I assume that’s unusual.”

“Quite. It would have had to require an extremely intense death at the very least. But human experimentation with ectoplasm, feelling your body reject itself from the inside out, every strand of DNA being corrupted by the essence of death—that’s not an end I’d wish on my worst enemies.”

“And now we have his corpse. Phantom’s going to feel incredibly threatened. He’s bound to lash out.”

Dr. Fenton nodded gravely. “Then you better wrap this investigation up quickly, because Phantom is still a young ghost. He’s impatient, like a child. The longer you take to solve this case, the more unstable he’ll get. And I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end when he finally snaps.”

---

A dull unease panged at Danny’s core. It was calling to him, trying to goad him to his corpse.

Trouble, trouble, trouble, it seemed to whisper.

But he ignored it, just like he’d been ignoring it all this time. Because no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get past the shields, he couldn’t get back to his corpse.

He was powerless. Alone.

Scared.

He tried to focus on his math worksheet, but the numbers blurred together and he couldn’t remember what eight times seven was. He had a calculator, but it was in his bag and he couldn’t remember what pocket he’d shoved it into, or even if he’d remembered to put it in his bag last night after staring blankly at the homework assignment for an hour without lifting his pencil even once.

No, his calculator was probably still on his desk at home.

Trouble, trouble, trouble.

The voices were louder now, and the pull was more desperate.

His throat hurt, and for a moment he was convinced his lungs were collapsing before he remembered that he’d forgotten to release the air trapped in his lungs and he couldn’t remember when he’d stopped breathing.

“Danny?” Mr. Falluca said from the front of the room. “Is everything alright?”

He commanded his head to nod, but he wasn’t sure if he succeeded. Maybe he did. He couldn’t check, he couldn’t lift his eyes from the desk.

The voices were too loud.

The dull pang wasn’t so dull anymore.

Trouble, trouble, go now, go now.

The pang was solidifying, taking shape. It was becoming sharper, more urgent.

Go now, go now, go now.

The pokes turned into pricks, threatening to rupture his organs, sending needles down the nerves in his arms and legs. A headache sparked before his eyes and his vision swam.

The voices attacked him from all angles, and fingers brushed against his skin, tugging the sleeves of his shirt towards the window, the ceiling, the wall, the door— anywhere so long as it was away from here. Outside. To the morgue.

Go to the morgue.

Ignore it, be strong. Just ignore it and it’ll go away.

Go now.

No.

Go now, go now, GO NOW.

No, he couldn’t.

The pinpricks finally morphed into one sharp, icy cold knife.

It stabbed his core.

Go now.

He stood from his chair, knocking it back.

Vaguely, he could hear the alarmed cries of his classmates, but he ignored them.

The only thing that mattered was his body. His corpse.

Protect.

A hand grabbed his arm, yanking him back, but he could feel the warmth of the human blood running under its veins and he couldn’t be bothered with human problems right now. Not when he was in danger.

He phased through the grip, and ran out of the classroom. He sprinted down the hall, tearing open the familiar looking door and transforming and taking off into the sky nearly as soon as the sun brushed his skin.

This was different than all the other times his core had tried to coax him to his corpse. Something was wrong. Really, really wrong. His body was in danger, and he needed to save it.

He heard an explosion in the distance, and he increased his speed, feeling his eyes sting as the cool air slapped against his corneas. The world blurred, but it was okay. His core was guiding him now, not his eyes. He didn’t need to see, he just needed to close off and follow his ghostly instincts.

“That’s right!” A deep voice yelled from across the way.

Danny pulled to a halt, blinking the sting from his vision.

Then a boulder flew past his body, hitting the wall of a disturbingly familiar building.

His core yelled in protest. The body was in danger. His body.

“You thought a pesky shield could keep me out? Me, Skulker, the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter? I’ll show you!”

Ice filled his veins, freezing his aura and building in power around his hands.

Skulker hoisted a parked motorcycle from the edge of the street into the air. “Take this!” he yelled, hurling it into the air.

It was heading straight for the door. It was going to break it, it might break the window, it could damage the body.

An icicle stabbed his core, and before Danny could blink, his hands were raised and jagged blue ice was shooting from his palms, catching the motorcycle in midair and pinning it to the street.

“What is the meaning of this?” Skulker roared, whipping around. His eyes locked on Danny and his confusion melted from this face only to be replaced by a triumphant smirk. “Well hello there, ghost child.”

Danny’s palms burned an even brighter blue. “ Leave,” he hissed, the Ghost Speak slipping off his tongue like butter.

Skulker’s grin widened. “It seems I’ve touched a nerve. Fear not, child, I’m just here to procure your pelt. Well, your other pelt.”

He flashed his aura in a showcase of power that would send most ghosts running for the hills. “Leave.”

A look of contempt replaced the humor on Skulker’s face. His eyes narrowed, and his voice lowered. “I don’t take orders from you, child.”

There was a natural balancing act between his human brain and ghost core, one that ensured that neither half of him was in full control one hundred percent of the time. No matter how human he was, his core still lingered in the background, and no matter how ghost he was, his human brain still kept tabs on his movements.

But now, as Danny watched Skulker rip a slab of concrete from the ground, he felt something snap inside of him.

“Then I have no choice.”

Green overtook his vision, and Danny Fenton simply disappeared.

Time passed—or it didn’t—in swirls of blue and green. If he looked out, he could see the power released from his gloves, he could see the mix of ectoplasm and ice that he was hurling at Skulker, to protect the building, to protect his body, to protect himself from Plasmius.

That vindictive, lonely asshole.

Who was Plasmius to encroach on what was his?

There were flashing lights around him, but Danny paid them no mind. The only thing that mattered was protecting his body.

Protect his haunt.

Protect his people.

Protect.

He could feel the newly pointed teeth pinch his gums, and the ghostly wisps of his hair fizzle around him. But oddly these changes didn’t worry him, instead they made him feel safe, secure. Like a child clinging onto their blanket.

He launched another barrage of attacks at Skulker, tearing holes through his armor. Panic struck Skulker’s features, and all Danny could think of was, ‘good.’ If Skulker wanted to try to claim dominance over his body, then he would suffer tenfold.

And just before he was about to launch a blast at Skulker that was sure to disintegrate his armor, an amplified voice behind him called out, “PHANTOM!”

Danny flinched, his power leaking out of its concentrated ball.

Weak.

“Phantom, stand down!”

Not a chance.

“We have the area surrounded. Stand down or we’ll be forced to shoot.”

“Better listen to your human puppets,” Skulker said, his voice too shaken to sound mocking. “I know when I’ve been bested.”

It took everything in Danny’s power to not launch himself over to Skulker and tear off his head. “You tried to steal my body.”

“That’s a fight between you and Plasmius.”

“Don’t try to get out of this.”

“Phantom,” Detective Johnson said. “Final warning. Stand down.”

Ectoplasm surged throughout his body. “Make me.”

Multiple events happened at once. Skulker motioned to leave just as Danny raised his arms, blistering white light moments away from release. Then, pain seared through his torso.

Danny yelped, jerking his hand back and releasing the ectoblast somewhere off into the sky. He fell back and hit the ecto-shield, sending electrical warnings through his bones.

Memories of the portal, of the thousands of volts of electricity, of the feeling of his bones and muscles and tissues and cells being ripped apart and stitched back together flashed before his eyes. It was too much, all too much too soon too present. He tried blasting the portal but his gloves were splattered with green and oh no, not good, not good.

He was dying, wasn’t he?

Again.

Would he have a second body?

His vision tilted, and finally he managed to rip himself away from the shield. He collapsed onto the cement and stared up at the sky, chest heaving.

He was paralyzed. He knew he had fingers, toes, arms, legs—but they didn’t work. He couldn’t feel anything. Couldn’t fly.

He was dying.

“Phantom?” Johnson’s cautious voice sounded from somewhere off to the side. “Sit up, let’s talk through this.”

There was a pregnant pause, and then Danny finally managed to blink. The world snapped back into focus, and his surroundings came with it. He looked down at his torso to see a little hole in his side of his suit surrounded by a trickle of green.

“What—?” Danny gasped.

“I’m gonna put the gun down, okay?” Johnson said. “I just wanna talk.”

“No.” Danny slowly pushed himself up. He surveyed the damage along the walls, the falling bricks on the sidewalk, the shattered windows and bent door. “No, no, no.”

His body wasn’t safe. Not anymore.

“Phantom, come on. Work with me here.”

But he couldn’t. That detective and his partner were just human, they didn’t understand. This was his body and Vlad knew about it and was trying to take matters into his own hands no matter the cost to Danny.

This was a disaster. He shouldn’t have told Vlad anything. He was so stupid for thinking Vlad could help him. He should have known, should have known.

“Phantom.”

“No.”

The cloak of invisibility covered his body, and he shot up into the sky.

Towards the city.

He needed to end this.

---

Sarah felt the chill first.

“You have to stop,” Phantom’s voice echoed behind her.

She sighed and put down her pencil. “Phantom, I thought I explained this already. The police can’t—”

“I don’t care about the police!”

The room grew cold.

“I don’t...ugh!” Phantom floated around her desk, clutching his forehead with one hand and his chest with the other. Mark had just called her with a warning, saying that Phantom was unstable. Looking at the ghost now, Sarah had to agree.

Phantom looked awful.

Dark circles pooled under his eyes, his hair stuck up in all directions, and his face lacked the green blush that normally sat below his skin. His jumpsuit was burned and dried ectoplasm crusted around the torn edges. He looked every bit the image of someone quickly coming undone.

Except this wasn’t just some random person, this was a powerful ghost. This was someone who could easily kill anyone who wronged him.

Or who he felt wronged him.

Deep down, Sarah knew Phantom wasn’t a violent ghost. It didn’t line up with his ghostly Obsession, or the theorized one anyway. But this was his corpse they were dealing with, it was an extension of himself.

Sarah had never confronted a ghost who had lost possession of their corpse. She’d never dealt with a ghost who willingly protected the shield that kept him away from his body if only to make sure it stayed safe. She’d never seen Phantom look so rattled.

At this point, there was no telling what he was capable of.

“Phantom,” she tried cautiously. “You need to calm down.”

“No, you need to tell your buddies to call off this investigation!”

“You know I can’t do that. I have no control over the department, and even if I did, we need to follow the law.”

His eyes flashed dangerously. “Why, because I’m a ghost? Because my words mean nothing because I’m not human? I’m telling you that I don’t want to press any charges, I don’t get why that’s not good enough!”

The room grew even colder.

“We’ve been over this. Please, Phantom, sit down—”

“No!” he snapped. “I’ve been telling you guys since the beginning that this was a bad idea, that people are going to get hurt! And no, nobody listened to me because I’m a fucking ghost! And now look, the building was attacked! My body was attacked! Do you—” his voice cracked, and the glow on his eyes wobbled. He drifted closer to her. “Do you even understand? Do you get how dangerous this is? Do you understand the people you guys have pissed off? Who you’re playing with now?”

Sarah took a deep breath. Even as a human, the power Phantom was emitting was palpable. “What people? You mean the ghost who attacked the morgue?”

“Not him. He—he’s just a lacky. Just following orders.” He let out a bitter laugh, running his hand over his forehead and smearing green across his skin. “You guys have no idea, you really don’t…”

Dread crept up Sarah’s spine. If what Mark was saying was true, then this could run deeper than they thought. “Explain it to me.”

“I’m…” He glanced up, looking ill. “I’m not…normal. For a ghost, I mean. I can’t explain it. I really can’t. But the other ghosts...they consider me a liability. And now that you guys have my—my body, they’re afraid.”

“Why are they afraid?”

“Because…” His brow furrowed. “I can’t—I can’t…”

She tilted her head, watching the ghost choke on his words. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’ll stop at nothing till they get my body back. They’ll kill everyone in that building if it means nobody finds out my secret.”

What secret? Sarah wanted to scream, but she held back.

“Phantom,” Sarah lowered her tone. “Are they the reason you’ve been so afraid of us finding out the truth? Have they threatened you in any way?”

“No!” He backed up in shock. “I—I mean, sort of? Listen, it’s not because of him—them, I promise. It’s more complicated than that. He’s just protecting me, you know? If my secret gets out, that would put them all in danger, but it would put me in even more danger. I wouldn’t...I’d have to leave. I’d be on the run.”

“Why?”

“It’s so messed up.”

“Then tell me.”

She already knew. She just needed him to confirm it for her.

He looked to her, his bright green eyes seemingly desperate for help. But he shook his head. “I can’t do this.”

“Wait—”

But he was already gone.

---

“I’ve never seen him look so scared,” Abrams said.

“So you think he’s right.” Crowley took a long swig of his coffee, “Course you do.”

“It makes sense,” Abrams insisted. “Why else would Phantom be so terrified of people finding the truth?”

“Oh gee, I don’t know, maybe it’s because he’s a teen who was playing with electrical equipment he wasn’t supposed to be near and even in death doesn’t want to get in trouble for it!”

“Yes but how would that explain all the ectoplasm in his DNA? That doesn’t come from just any electric shock.”

“Who knows,” Crowley said. “The Fentons have always been crackpots. Always have had ludicrous theories. Now suddenly when it’s convenient, you’re all running to their side?”

Mark rolled his eyes. “We’re not running to their side.”

“Then what do you call this?” Crowley gestured to the duo. “Sure looks like it to me.”

“You have to admit that it makes sense,” Mark said. “I mean, get real. Doesn’t any of this smell fishy to you?”

Crowley slapped his empty coffee mug on the table. “You know what smells fishy to me? The Fentons are the only known ecto-scientists in this whole damn city, the only people who have lab-grade ecto-equipment in Amity Park, and suddenly right when they were getting into some financial trouble, Phantom appears out of nowhere from a death that reeks of forced ecto-contamination. That smells fishy to me.”

Mark paused, but then shook his head. “If that were true, then why would Dr. Fenton even offer human experimentation as a possibility?”

“To gloat? Gain our trust? Test our intelligence?” Crowley threw his hands up. “Who knows? They’re crazy!”

“So you think we need to investigate them?” Mark asked.

“I’d be a damn shit detective if I didn’t. They have the means and motive to create a ghost like Phantom. It’s just like Maddie said.”

“I think he’s right,” Abrams said, nibbling on her bagel. “If this is actually a case of ecto-experimentation, then the Fentons should be on the list of suspects.”

“Finally, some common sense around here. Just about the only case of common sense these days…” Crowley grumbled.

Mark chose to ignore that comment, instead checking his phone. No notifications, damn. The entire department had been on high alert for Phantom ever since the attack on the morgue. Mark was just relieved that the new and improved ecto-guns had finally been issued that morning. If not for the updated technology, that incident likely would have ended far less smoothly.

Not that it really ended smoothly. Phantom had yet again escaped Mark’s clutches, free to run off and break into Sarah’s home.

Guilt clawed at Mark’s stomach, but he pushed it back. Phantom was a slippery ghost, one that had escaped all levels of ghost hunters from the Fentons, to the Ghost Investigation Ward. Mark knew it would take a lot more than a few words of peace and one ecto-gun to stop that kind of raw power.

“What do we even know about the Fentons?” Abrams asked.

“They’re ghost hunters and mostly make weapons now, but before that they dabbled in all sorts of ecto-based technology. The husband, Jack, is the engineer and the wife, Maddie, is the biologist. They have two kids, Jasmine and Daniel. Jasmine, or ‘Jazz’ is supposedly top of her class, likely to graduate valedictorian, while Daniel’s something else. Bad grades, skips class, all around a bit of a loner,” Crowley said, regurgitating information like he was reading a case file.

Mark glanced at his colleague, giving him an impressed smirk. “Did your homework early, eh?”

“I told you, something aint right here,” Crowley said.

“And? What do you think?” Mark asked.

“What I think is that I’m shocked their house is even coded to have a lab inside. I’d like to know whose ass they kissed to give them that permit.”

Abrams snorted. “Jesus, Jacob.”

“What? I’m right!”

“Fine, whatever,” Mark stood, collecting his empty coffee cup and paper plate. “I godda head home, my sister’s visiting this weekend.”

“Alright, tell Susan I said hello. And say hi to her little demon child too.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “She’s four.”

“What, four year olds can’t be demons? I should know, I had two of them.”

Abrams swiped her empty wrapper and tossed it in the trash. “Yeah, I have to feed Atlas. I’ll see you both next week.”

“Take care!”

---

“Well at least we know Phantom didn’t change anything about his facial structure when he became a ghost.” Crowley’s small eyes swiveled between the photo of Phantom in one hand and the new sketch rendition of his human identity.

Mark grunted and stared at his own copy of the photo.

The corpse had been too decomposed to be able to distinguish a face, and ghosts often change their appearance in death. Sure, Phantom looked like a regular human, but it was impossible to know that for a fact.

Fortunately, modern research and re-composition was advanced enough that they didn’t have to wonder for long. Especially with this being such a high-profile case for the city.

And as it turned out, aside from the hair, Phantom really didn’t look all too different when he was alive. He had the same sharp nose, the same angular chin, the same boyish face. The only thing that was different was his hair and presumably his eye color, although that was still a mystery due to the corrupted DNA.

Even though there was little change to Phantom’s appearance, seeing the black haired, brown eyed human boy staring back at Mark was rather shocking, if he were being honest. There was something off putting about seeing this enigma quite literally brought back to life. It took away that edge of lore that the heroic town enigma had.

Now Phantom wasn’t some wild mystery. He was just...a kid.

“This really is something,” Crowley said. “Guess we should put it to good use.”

Mark sighed, turning his attention back to his desktop. Sifting through missing person’s reports was never exactly a fun way to start the morning.

“You think you can handle it, rookie?” Crowley asked.

“Yeah, I got it. I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting.”

Crowley let the photographs drop to his side. “Alright, I’m going to continue doing some digging on our suspects.”

“Good luck.”

“And you.”

The work was tedious and depressing. Face after face of missing minors flickered across his screen. It was almost too hard to believe that Phantom was a part of this list.

Caucasian. Black hair. Eye color unknown. Five foot five.

That was all they had on Phantom. For all they knew, he could have been from another city entirely.

But hopefully Mark would find a hit, at least one kid from Amity who fit the profile.

And in fact, there were a few...sort of. Four teens who had black hair and were about five foot five. But none of them looked quite like Phantom.

Which meant Mark had to widen his search.

How wonderful.

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms out wide. It was nearly lunchtime now and he felt like he’d gotten no further than where he was before. Mark stood from his chair, feeling a bit defeated. Hopefully Crowley would’ve had better luck on the suspect list than Mark.

He strolled over to Crowley’s desk, only to find the desk empty. Crowley had likely already left for lunch, the bastard hadn’t even bothered to grab Mark on the way.

Not that Mark could really blame him. He doubted Crowley wanted to use his lunch break to talk about the case after the tedious research they both had spent their mornings doing.

Mark dug his phone out of his pocket, intent on sending the older detective an update, when he stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, a familiar face stared up at him.

Mark slowly lowered the device and crept toward the desk, as if his mere presence would disintegrate the paper on his desk.

Inside Fentonworks: the Fenton family’s home-grown anti-ghost business!

It was an article printed from some online magazine that Mark didn’t recognize. Slapped on the cover of the page, just under the title, was a photo of a family of four beaming, waving at the camera. One of the members was a young boy—about Phantom’s age—with black hair in almost the same haircut as Phantom, with that crooked smile that Phantom had been caught adorning all too many times.

Waving at the camera.

Skinny, short for a boy, son to two ecto-science parents who fill their basement with dangerous high-voltage and easily combustible ecto-technology.

His name was listed as Daniel.

Mark glanced at the two images in his hand, and then looked at the article below him.

Holy shit.

No. There was no way. Crowley had been suspicious of them, and he had good reason to include them on his suspect list, but this kid was alive. He wasn’t missing, he wasn’t dead, he was standing right there.

It just wasn’t possible.

His apple watch pinged, alerting him of a ghost attack nearby.

Mark hurried back to his desk, swiping his coat off his chair.

This was impossible.

The police sketch and the copy of the article pressed against his fist.

Phantom was a ghost. Ghosts will do anything to protect themselves. They would lie, cheat, and manipulate humans in order to stay on top.

Mark was just seeing things.

There was no way that this was him.

He beelined for the door, tucking the papers into his pants pocket.

It wasn’t possible.

The drive there was short, and the fight even shorter. It had just been the Box Ghost, so nothing that Phantom couldn’t handle. The ghost gave his little song and dance, captured the ghost, and waved brightly to the crowd. But Mark could see right through it, right past all the cracks in his façade.

Phantom was losing it.

And Mark could end this.

“Phantom!” Mark called out through his cupped hands.

The ghost flinched, his cheery face replaced with a scowl instantly.

“Another time,” he said.

But Mark didn’t have another time. He needed to know now.

Because Phantom could end this insane proposition. He could laugh heartlessly at the mere mention that he was this random living child. He was Phantom, protector of Amity Park, not some human experiment.

Not some impossibility.

Not some kid who’s been dead for a year and only pretending to be human for his family.

Not the greatest act of manipulation from a ghost that Mark had ever seen.

Mark yanked the papers from his pocket and unfolded them with shaking fingers. He held them up hastily, knowing that they were too far away for normal human eyes.

But this was Phantom. He wasn’t human.

Mark saw the exact moment that Phantom recognized the photos. The ghost’s eyes widened, his face paled, his aura dimmed. Then, in the blink of an eye, the ghost vanished.

Mark was right.

---

The air was thick, tense. Phantom slumped in his armchair, his body the equivalent of a white flag. Even so, his eyes were bright, charged with nervous energy.

He was terrified.

Atlas must have sensed this, because the dog had decided to break away from being Sarah’s shadow to lay against the ghost’s feet.

“I don’t know where to start,” Phantom admitted after a few tense beats of silence.

“The beginning, maybe,” Jacob said.

Phantom looked sick at the suggestion, but relented. “You’re right. Yeah...I…” he glanced up at the two detectives and Sarah seated across the coffee table on her dull green couch. Phantom had appeared in her kitchen not even an hour ago, looking like he’d just seen the personification of death itself.

And instantly, Sarah knew.

She’d tried to coax him to let her bring him to the station so he could come clean there, but he refused. He said the information was too sensitive and he didn’t trust the station to not have cameras recording every angle of every room.

And so they settled on her living room instead. Mark and Jacob arrived, seeming none too surprised by the arrangement, and more than willing to follow Phantom’s direction if it meant they would finally get the truth.

Which Phantom didn’t seem remotely ready to give.

“I guess…” He tried again, closing his eyes. There was another tense moment of silence before a pair of white rings appeared around Phantom’s waist, traveling up his body and leaving behind a skinny black haired teenager.

Phantom cautiously opened his eyes. And, to Sarah’s surprise, they were blue.

“You’re Daniel Fenton,” Mark said.

She heard Jacob suck in a breath.

“Yes. I’m Danny Fenton.” Without the echo, his voice sounded much closer, much more down to earth than Phantom’s. “And a year ago, I was in an accident.”

His voice, like the rest of him, seemed softer without the powerful aura of Phantom behind it. If Sarah had passed him on the street, she wouldn’t have blinked twice. Gone was the cocky personality, the perfect posture, the floating white hair, the bright, determined expression. Gone was the jumpsuit, the logo, the strong voice that seemed like it could project for a mile, the banter, the confidence.

It was just a kid. A kid with baggy jeans, dirty shoes, and a plain shirt. He didn’t seem lithe, he looked weak. The green undertone to his skin was replaced with red, and his shoulders hunched in a way Sarah had never seen on Phantom before.

“What happened?” Mark asked.

“When my parents first completed their interdimensional ghost portal, it didn’t work. I decided to—it was my fault. I just decided to go in it. I don’t know why.” He looked up to the ceiling. “It was a stupid idea. The portal was plugged in, but there was a switch inside that wasn’t turned on, and I tripped over a wire and turned it on. From the inside.”

Sarah felt a pang in her chest. “That’s horrible.”

“Yeah. It was,” Phantom agreed. “And then I guess the portal stabilized the connection between Amity Park and the Ghost Zone, because ghosts started appearing in town. So I decided that if it was my fault that they were here, I was going to protect the town. And that’s what I’ve done.”

That’s his Obsession, Sarah realized. It’s protection.

“Why not come out with it?” Jacob asked. “Why bury your body? Why still try to pass as a human?”

Phantom’s head fell into his hands. “I didn’t know what else to do! It—I...you have to understand, my parents would never understand. They think all ghosts are evil. I couldn’t just come out and tell them what happened, they’d kill me!”

“So you decided it was safer to play human,” Jacob said.

“Yeah. I guess I did. Especially since...I sort of still am?” He lifted his head and stuck out his wrist. “I still have a pulse.”

No one moved.

“You’re shitting me,” Jacob guffawed.

“No, I’m being serious. The portal killed me, but then it brought me back to life. Except by then my body was already altered from the ecto-electricity, so the working theory is that I exist in this sort of limbo state between dead and alive. Hence why…” He transformed into Phantom and then back to Fenton. “Hence why I have two forms.”

“And the body,” Mark said. “The coroner report said it only weighed a little over half the weight of a normal body due to all the ectoplasm. But if you’re half alive, how would you have a body?”

Danny shrugged. “I don’t know? To be honest, that day was such a nightmare that I’ve mostly blocked it out.”

Mark finally reached over and took the boy’s wrist. He pressed two fingers against the skin and waited.

“Damn.” His eyes widened. “It’s actually there.”

“No way,” Jacob said, leaning over to take Phantom’s wrist. A few seconds passed before he was joining Mark’s reaction. “It is there.”

“I know.” Phantom tucked his arm back to his chest. “I don’t understand it. I have a heart and also a ghost core. I can feel it all the time, even as a human. I have human thoughts and feelings and ghostly instincts playing constantly.”

As confusing and morbid as this was, it made sense in a sort of twisted way that Sarah only reserved for the rambling logic of her paranoid, senior grandmother. It explained why Phantom, a ghost, would willingly risk himself day in and day out over the safety of humans. Phantom was a ghost who was driven to protect his home, and he was also a human who wanted to look after those he loved.

He was truly Schrödinger’s cat. Dead and alive inside his little box, his little town, with no one able to measure him.

“That’s the thing that sets you apart from the ghosts,” Sarah said, tapping her knee with her finger. “That day when you came to my house saying that you were different, this is what you were talking about. You also said it would be dangerous if this information got out.”

The question was implied, and Phantom seemed to pick up on it, judging by his grimace.

“You weren’t talking about your parents.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“So then who is it? Who was trying to destroy the morgue? Who are you hiding from?”

Danny crossed his arms and glared at the floor. “Isn’t it obvious?” he said bitterly. “The government. GiW, all of them. Think of what they’d do if they knew someone could be both dead and alive at the same time.”

“Well fuck the lot of them,” Jacob said.

“Yeah,” Danny agreed.

“And the ghost who was trying to take down the morgue?” Mark pressed.

“I…” Danny’s eyes shifted. “I can’t say. It’s a ghost thing. All the ghosts in the Zone know about me, they call me a halfa. Half alive, half dead. Honestly, I don’t think it took much convincing for them to want to protect me.”

“But you were fighting against them,” Jacob countered. “If they were really trying to protect you, then why not go along with them?”

Danny opened and closed his mouth, the words seemingly stuck in his throat. Words from Maddie’s ecto-biology papers fluttered across Sarah’s eyes, about how ghosts were evil, they were liars, they’d say and do anything to keep themselves safe.

But as Danny let out a defeated sigh, his arms uncrossing to dangle at his side, Sarah couldn’t help but see the face of a scared teen who was just doing his best.

“It’s a ghost thing,” he finally said. “I didn’t like what they were doing because...because I needed to protect my body. If the building collapsed, it would have gotten damaged.”

Sarah blinked, and her and Mark exchanged a glance.

“I see,” Mark said carefully. “So if there was a plan to recover your...body...safely, you would have gone along with it?”

“I don’t know. Ghosts are weird, they all have their own agenda. I’d rather if it were just...left alone. In the ground. Untouched. Like it had been.”

They were silent for a moment, and Sarah watched as Jacob and Mark stared at each other in silent conversation. One that only partners could properly understand.

Finally, Jacob relented. “Okay, here’s the deal. Say I go talk with Chief Davis and he agrees to keep your identity secret. In exchange, all you’d have to do for us is tell your parents.”

For a moment, Sarah thought Phantom was going to bolt out of the armchair.

“Why?”

“Because you’re screwing around putting your life in danger every day, kid,” Jacob said. “Not to mention, your parents’ house is a walking minefield for you. You godda protect yourself.”

“I protect myself just fine.”

“Doesn’t dismiss the fact that you’re running off getting in fights every day with ghosts, and then coming home to a house littered with ecto-weapons that could kill you. You know, all the way.”

“My parents will kill me if they find out though,” Danny said darkly. “You don’t know them.”

“Which is why you won’t be alone. Crowley and I will be there with you. And I know a woman in CPS who can keep this on the down low too. We won’t let anything happen, promise,” Mark said.

Phantom glanced between them, his wide blue eyes betraying just how fearful he was. “You promise?”

“Yeah kid, we got your back.”

---

“It’s going way better than I thought,” Danny said, throwing the stick up the path.

Atlas didn’t hesitate, bounding after the object with an enthusiasm rivaled by no one.

“I’m glad,” Sarah said. “You deserve a safe place to go home to.”

Danny cocked his head. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Getting to know Danny these past few weeks was surreal. For a year now, Sarah had a set mental image of who Phantom was. The hero, the great protector, the thrill-seeker.

But now, as she got to know the quiet yet snarky kid who went to school and stressed over his math exams just like any other teen would, she’d gotten to appreciate the person that Danny truly was, the person he became when he wasn’t trying to hide his ghostly persona or playing the larger-than-life character.

Atlas pranced back, the stick held high like an Olympic medal.

“Good boy!” Danny praised.

At Sarah’s nonverbal command, Atlas dropped the stick in front of Danny, who was more than happy to pick it up and hurl ahead of the dirt path again.

“It’s weird. It’s almost like...I don’t know, it’s just kind of relieving? To not need to hide? Like don’t get me wrong, my parents are still kinda weird about it. I still don’t really use any of my powers at home because I just don’t think I’m ready. But the other day I used intangibility to get a cup out of the cabinet instead of just opening the cabinet door, and my mom didn’t even say anything. I remember back when I first got my powers and I couldn't figure out how to work them. I spent so long trying to hide any weirdness, and to think that now I can just do stuff and nobody cares.” A blissful smile dressed Danny’s lips. “It’s just nice, is all.”

“I bet,” Sarah said. “Must be a huge weight off your shoulders. And your sister’s okay with it?”

“Oh yeah. My sister actually already knew about it.”

“You’re kidding. Really?”

Danny threw the stick again. “Yeah, but I already knew about that. She told me a few months ago. But she’s been really helpful at home with trying to get everyone on the same page.”

“That’s good.”

“And my dad’s already been begging to take me out to the field with him.”

“Have you taken him up on it?”

“No. Not yet.”

Sarah peered cautiously over to him. “Why not?”

“I dunno.” Danny’s eyes tracked Atlas’ triumphant return from the woods. “It just seems a bit weird still. And besides, it would be kinda odd if my parents went from trying to kill me to suddenly Phantom’s new best friend overnight. For now they’ve agreed to a public truce.”

Ah yes, the truce. That had been all over the news when the Fenton’s announced it, citing new research into ghost psychology that showed instances of benevolent ghosts. The news had rocked the city, some calling the duo crazy, while others praising them for their growth.

Even though Phantom and the Fenton couple were still in the growing pains of their new truce, no one could deny how much more smoothly ghost fights had gotten since it began. There was less property damage, less citizen’s hurt, and overall the process seemed far more professional than it ever had.

“I’ve noticed a change,” Sarah said. “I really think it’s for the best.”

“So do I. Even though it’s still kinda weird.”

“It’ll get easier, just give it time.”

Atlas dropped the stick, apparently distracted by some scent on a bush. He stopped to sniff the plant before wandering behind it, his nose glued to the ground.

“Wait, Atlas—” Danny started, watching as Atlas disappeared into the foliage.

Hearing his name, the dog leapt back onto the trail and over to Danny, who paused to scratch him behind his ear. “Good boy.”

Sarah grinned down at the duo.

Who knew a cadaver dog and a half dead kid could make such a good pair?

---

Thanks for reading!

[from-a-reckless-writer]

The first tell was the body next to her. The second was the warmth. Her bed was never warm these days. The first two things had already clued her in that there was something off. Off was an understatement. She’s certain she passed out on her office floor clutching a bottle of alcohol and Jess was going to kill her in the morning. So, how the fuck-

The longer she stays there, eyes closed, feeling the breathing of a stranger, the more she’s convinced she’s suffered from amnesia. 

Beyond scared she opens her eyes, hoping, praying that she didn’t bring home some idiot from a cheap lesbian bar. Her eyes land on blonde hair and an all too familiar set of defined shoulders and Lena lets out a gasp of surprise. She sobers up, jerks upright. Jolting the pair of arms wrapped around her waist and making her companion wake abruptly. 

“Lena- Wha- Why’re you awake?”

“Kara-” That was all she was capable of as of the moment, because Kara was sitting up and flicking on the bedside lamp, letting Lena glimpse the small clock on the nightstand that read 4: 00 a.m. 

Kara’s voice was all raspy and sleep-laden and she was looking at Lena with concern. She was looking at Lena like they’ve done this all the time. And they did. 

Once. 

She remembers jerking awake screaming from nightmares and Kara holding her; remembers waking up to Kara’s screams and holding her. 

But this-

This wasn’t right. 

“Did you have a nightmare?” She asks, crinkle forming. And Lena just stares and stares and-

“Kara, this isn’t real.”

“What? Oh, baby, come here. That dream must’ve really done a number on you, huh?” Kara coos and she gathers Lena in her arms. Lena can do nothing but melt and follow Kara’s movements, her mind is still reeling. 

Trying to decipher the events that had led here. This wasn’t real. This-

A tremble shakes the bed. Lena’s heart rate ticks up, Kara seems to have heard because she’s tightening her embrace and more words come out of her lips, but Lena doesn’t hear a word of it.

“I’m here, you’re safe. I’m here.” 

Lena finally finds her voice and she slowly tries to extricate herself from Kara. She can feel her hesitating to let her go. 

“This isn’t real,” She repeats and Kara is ready to protest, “Please, Kara. Please listen to me?”

She nods. Kara was never one to deny Lena anything, anyway. Lena sighs a breath of relief. 

“Thank you. Uh- I think this isn’t real, Kara. I think I’m inside a Black Mercy induced dream.”

And as if it heard a cue, the bed and the rest of the room vibrates as if ashamed of being called-out so easily. 

“No, no, no. You aren’t. You’re real. I’m real, You-” Kara is scrambling for words, “Look- Here, feel this?” Kara frantically grabs her hand and presses it to her own chest, “Can you feel it? This is real. Don’t say it isn-”

Lena feels like sobbing, because it does feel real. The strong beats underneath her palm thundering through her very soul. It feels so so so fucking real. She’s never wanted something to be real as bad as this. She wants to believe, because Kara is looking at her with those baby blue eyes and she wants to say that ‘Yes, I believe it real. We’re real.’

She can’t.

“Kara, the bed is trembling. Can you feel it? This isn't real. You’re in my head.”

It was brutal. She watches Kara’s face fall. She retracts her hand back. 

“How are you so sure that this isn’t real?”

The question was asked with so much fear. 

“Because,” she starts shaky but certain, “I hurt you, Kara. And that is the one thing that I can never forget.”

It was true. She can never forget the way Kara crumpled to her feet. Can’t forget the way the Girl of Steel broke by Lena’s hands. Can’t forget the tear-stricken face. 

Can’t forget the pleas. 

“Don’t do this, Lena. Please, come on. Please, stay. Don’t leave. Not you, please I can’t-”

“Oh.”

The silence was deafening. She can’t look at Kara as she processes everything. So she takes the time to survey the room. And God, every inch of the room screams how much they’ve stitched their lives with the other. 

There were books haphazardly stacked in one corner, a painting easel in the other, Kara’s cape shining in the dim light of the lamp, Lena’s old MIT sweatshirt at the foot of the bed. 

A wedding portrait. They were married here. Fuck. 

Lena chances a glance at her left hand and not only does she find a ring but also a matching gold bracelet. A Kryptonian mating band. Now, she notices that Kara’s ring was worn on her neck next to her Mother’s necklace Lena supposes she wears it underneath the Super suit and a matching bracelet sitting on her left wrist. 

“I’m sorry,” Lena says ‘for everything.’ she wants to add but she remembers this isn’t her Kara. She doesn’t have a Kara. She doesn’t have any part of Kara. Not anymore.

“What are you sorry for? If anyone could figure out they were inside a parasite induced dream, it would be you.  You’re a genius but you’re dumb for apologizing. You should reject the fantasy now, Lena. You’ll die.”

Damn it, even here. 

Even here Lena is still hurting her and Kara still wants to save her. 

The tears finally fall. The sobs come next. 

“Oh, Lena. Come here. It’s okay. I’m here,”

“I- I know, I’ll die but God, Kara, I want to stay here. I- You’re my everything, you know?”

“I know, Lena. I’ve always known. You don’t have to die because I’ll always know. You need to get out of here now,” She whispers against Lena’s temple and Lena takes the time to breathe her in. God, even the scent smells real. 

“Y-you’re right. I should go, but-” Lena doesn’t know how to ask for what she wants. That was what her therapist had said the first time she booked an appointment.

“But what?”

“Tell me about our life here first?” At that Kara pulls away a bit to look into her eyes; gauging if this is really what Lena wants. 

It is, it’s what she wants but more than that it’s what she needs. The reassurance that somewhere out there, there was a world in which they made each other happy. That in a universe out there--whether real or not--the both of them had a taste of a happy ending.

“Okay, okay yeah. But first, promise me you’ll get out of here as fast as you can, once we’re done?” 

She was never one to deny Lena Luthor anything, remember? She was more than happy to recount the entirety of their love story to her.

“Thank you.” And Lena can’t help but press a soft kiss to Kara’s cheek. 

“Where do you want to start?”

“Do we have a dog?”

“Krypto,” Kara says with a shy smile as if she knows that Lena would laugh at the goofy sentimental name choice, “And a cat, Streaky Jr., you don’t allow pets in the bedroom so,”

“I’m impressed we have the time for pets,” Lena whispers as she shifts closer to Kara in the bed. Heart now beating in a steady calm rhythm, gone was the panic earlier, now replaced by a sense of security, no matter how false it is. 

“Well, you decided to distribute most of the workload to Jess--who you promoted to board member by the way, and to Sam. And since, Wednesday is my first day as Editor-in-Chief, my schedule’s not as busy as it was.”

It was nice to hear that. The way they have obviously chosen to grow into themselves together. She was glad that in her perfect world she hadn’t forgotten about Jess and Sam.

“Oh, and also you spend most of your days in our home lab with Jack anyway. So, the pets get plenty of love.”

“Jacky’s alive here?”

“Yeah, you reversed the nanotech matrix. You saved him.”

And the crying fest begins anew. 

“I miss him, so much.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lena doesn’t have to explain her reaction, Kara knows how to read her anyway.

At the reminder of Jack, Lena finds the courage to ask a question she’s never thought she would want to ask.

“What about Lex and Lillian?”

“Well, your brother’s probably drunk in an L-Corp gala somewhere and Lillian’s probably plotting about how she’s going to insult my next article-”

So, she still has her brother and it seems like Lillian’s not much of a xenophobe as she is in reality but she senses that she still is a bad mother with the way Kara talks.

“When did we get married?”

“Two years after we first met. We had two, actually.”

“I’m guessing I insisted on a Kryptonian wedding and you insisted on a human one?”

She knows that one, because she’s been thinking about it. Well, at least she was before everything went to shit. She wanted to give Kara a Kryptonian ceremony. She had wanted to show her that Lena would be honored to share everything Kara’s world had to offer.

“Are we-” she hesitated, “Are we happy, Kara?”

She wasted no time in answering, “The happiest. You make me the happiest soul alive in this universe and in any universe.”

Fresh tears fall down the side of her face and Kara wipes them away before speaking, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Well, I guess it’s only fair.” Lena sniffles and prepares her mind for what she knows will be an emotionally-charged exchange not that this has been an easy conversation thus far.

“Out there, are you happy?”

Lena’s air is stolen from her. Well, she doesn’t know how to answer that one. 

“Sometimes,” she whispers. She’s not happy most of the time but sometimes she is.

Sometimes, Ruby calls her to tell her about a science project or sometimes Nia sends her meme even though she hasn’t been to Game Nights for almost a year now, sometimes Brainy takes her out for a drink and she feels like she’s got a little brother to call her own. 

So yeah, sometimes. Because the thought of perpetual happiness without Kara in her life is impossible. 

“Only sometimes?” Kara asks, brow furrowing.

“Yeah, only sometimes. Not like it matters, anyway.”

“Well, of course it matters! Your happiness matters!” Kara exclaims, old habits die hard what can she say?

But then Kara takes a turn from defensive to curious again, “Am I happy? Out there? I mean?” 

“I- I have no idea.”

Lena waits for the answer to sink in to Kara. 

“What? What do you mean you have no idea?”

“Remember when I said I hurt you?” 

Kara gives her a nod.

“Well, I haven’t seen you for a long time. I’ve been avoiding you. Normally people tend to not seek out their exes, you know.” 

She’s trying to keep it lighthearted. She’s trying not to let this Kara see how much she craves her presence, how much she wishes she could see Kara again. Don’t get her wrong, Supergirl is plastered every minute on the news, but- 

That’s not who she wants to see. 

“She’s miserable,” Kara answers point-blank leaving no room for argument, “If you’ve been avoiding me, I’d be miserable.”

That has Lena speechless. 

Because miserable would be an understatement of how things had been ever since they ended things. 

Ever since Lena ended things. 

“I don’t like not being with you, you know?” Kara states as if Lena doesn’t feel the same.

“I- I don’t like that either.”

“I know.”

She has to go. Lena knows she has to go but Kara is looking at her so sincerely and she can feel the love and she knows this is nothing but an intricate trap formed by an alien parasite slowly killing her. She has to go but-

“Lena!” 

The both of them are startled and four eyes immediately land to-

Kara?! No, not Kara. Supergirl.

“Supergirl,” She says; surprise coloring her voice. She didn’t know Supergirl would go in and save her. Hell, she didn’t even know how she found her. But then again, she’s tried solving the puzzle that is Kara Zor-El but had never been able to piece it together. 

Supergirl takes a look at her doppelganger in bed with Lena; a scene so familiar to her. A scene she’s replayed again and again in her head. A scene that was once their reality then a memory and now an illusion. She takes a step closer.

“Lena, we have to go, please. Please believe me, this isnt-” 

“-real,” Lena finishes for her and Supegirl looks stunned, “I know, Supergirl. I know how to reject my own fantasy. I’ve had plenty of practice, after all.”

She aims for sarcasm, because fucking fucking hell, how the fuck does anybody expect her to function if there were two Kara’s in front of her?

That was asking for too much. 

Beside her, Kara had gone silent. It seems like she knows what comes next. She knows what Supergirl intends to do. They’re the same person after all. 

“It’s okay,” Lena hears Kara say and she breaks away from the hero’s gaze to find Kara looking at her with those eyes again.

“It’s okay, Lena,” She repeats, “It’s okay, Supergirl’s here. You’re gonna be safe. Stay safe for me, yeah?”

“Lena we have to go. Now,” Supergirl commands from the other side of the room. 

“Okay, yeah,” She whispers then she turns to Supergirl, “Just give me a chance to say goodbye, please?”

Supergirl stares at her for a moment then at Kara then she gives them both a nod and turns back to give them privacy.

“Last question?”

“Hit me.”

“What’s your surname?”

“Luthor.”

Fuck. She shouldn’t feel this surprised but damn, hearing Kara confirm it? Lena doesn’t know how to feel about that. She doesn’t know how to feel about all of this. 

“Just like you promised.”

“Just like I promised.” 

The words are echoed back to her and Lena hates the way she’s noticed how stiff Supergirl’s posture had become in her periphery. Ignores the fact that Supergirl has superhearing. 

“Thank you for indulging me, Kara.”

“Always.”

Goodbye, darling.”

And then everything fades to black.

author’s note: hiya lovely people send me an ask if i should write a follow-up for this.