#the acting was great aling with the lighting and coloring I just have so many thoughts

[saucy-mesothelioma]

Just finished Lisa Frankenstein and all I gotta say is that I sorely underestimated the power of tanning beds.

[alfredosauce50]

Requests are closed, but this has been sitting in my head for months. A white picket fence-themed story with slasher undertones! This is a little different to my other posts (and longer) because it has a concept and build up, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway!

Content warning: Slasher horror, adult themes, and overall fucked-upness. Viewer discretion advised. R18+ only.

The reader is referred to as she/her.

Yandere America headcanons

Everyone says the same things about him. That he’s friendly, charming, and reliable. The boy-next-door, the type you’d trust your drink with. What nobody knows is that it’s all an elaborate guise to hide his true colors. Once he reveals them, there’s no going back. You’re never getting away from him.

The worst part is, nobody suspects a thing. Everyone would think you’re the crazy one for accusing him. Thus, his untouchable reputation (and cunning) makes him the most dangerous yandere of all.

The office romance

Alfred is the most popular guy in the building. He’s a hard worker, a people person, and lights up the room with his smile. It feels like he has everything going for him: a great job, good looks, and lots of friends that can’t get enough of him. What he can’t seem to get is your attention.

You’re married to the Danish ditz from customer relations, Mathias Densen. HR usually frowns on that sort of thing, but you were cute together. Either way, you’re friends with Alfred for the same reason everyone else is. He’s charming. The only difference is that he makes an effort to see you outside of work—to see a movie, to grab dinner, or to catch up over some coffee.

“So, what do you say? Me and you at Mastro’s?”

You’re walking out of the break room when he jogs over, his blue tie swinging from side to side. He’s been going on about having a steak dinner with a friend, then complaining nobody wants to go with him—only because he hasn’t asked anybody yet.

“I don’t know, Al. Isn’t that place expensive?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m paying for the both of us.”

“Okay,” You laugh gently, turning toward the cubicles. Everyone is clacking away on their keyboards or speaking into their telephones. Your husband is one of them, only he’s more animated than the rest, nodding away and chuckling every now and then. “I’ll try and get Mat to pick me up at ten.”

“Great! I’ll be sitting in my office pretending to do stuff until we get off.” He beams.

He likes getting on your nerves. It’s that one trick that gets you to feel closer to him. And it works. During work hours, he’ll drop by your desk to steal your snacks for a reaction. He will literally pluck a candy bar or pastry out of your hand and stuff it in his mouth while walking away. When you get mad at him, he’ll just laugh and go, “you’re not supposed to eat at your cubicle. I’m just saving your ass from trouble. If you don’t believe me, you can take it up to HR.”

If he’s not picking on you, he’s a total sweetheart. Alfred will make you coffee without being asked. Mathias usually keeps an eye out for stuff like that, doing favors for you when you need them, but not when he’s predisposed with work. He’s easily distracted, unfortunately. And Alfred is an opportunist. “You look tired. I’ll add in an extra bit of everything to give you the energy.”

Being closer to him, he can act more like himself when he’s around you. That means less of the laughing, small talk, and all that nonsense. He can actually give you a straight answer. You’re willing to let him explain, and if not, you seem to trust him for his judgement. He loves that. He thrives off validation. But by the rare occasion you do disagree with him, you mostly just poke fun at him. “Doesn’t that seem kinda stupid? Or am I just an asshole? I’m the asshole? Okay, fine.”

He starts obsessing over you. It’s refreshing to be around someone he doesn’t need a social battery for. Alfred is also lonelier than he’d like to admit. He can’t count how many superficial acquaintances he has. You’re an outlier, so he make it clear he’s high-strung about you in a ‘guy best friend’ way. He won’t stop competing with Mathias over everything as a joke. It’s really not. “So, is the husband gonna take you to Field of Screams this weekend, or am I gonna have to?”

He makes his attraction to you glaringly obvious. Alfred doesn’t care to hide it. It starts off subtle, like looking at you when he’s laughing in a group setting. Then, he’ll start gazing your way when you aren’t even paying attention to him. When it gets to that point, he has the balls to hold your waist when he’s around you. When I say he’s an expert at playing things off, I mean it.

That’s when he starts scheming. He will match his schedule with yours and sabotage Mathias’s. You start seeing him more during the work week, not knowing it was his doing. Alfred will catch you in the break room every day, making sure to get in every ounce of interaction there is.

What gets him to blow his cover is jealousy. And not from the third-wheeling he’s already doing. That, he can keep a lid on. But telling him you hope to have a baby soon? With your husband?Alfred will turn red in the face and lose his composure. His reaction is visceral, rambling about why you shouldn’t, that it’ll ruin your career, that kids aren’t economic, and any other bullshit reason he can come up with on the spot.

“You’re too young,” He laughs breathily. He’s already rubbing you the wrong way, but he drives the stake in with this comment. “And plus, do you really wanna have a baby with that guy? I mean, look at him—”

You slap him right across the face.

His head turns in the direction of your hand. He falls silent, his smile gone. That’s the end of your friendship. But to him, it’s the start of something else. And it isn’t half as holy as what you have with Mathias. Or what anyone has, for that matter.

“What, do you hate me now? Just say it and I’ll leave you alone.” Alfred gives you a side-eye.

“I really want to hate you.” You fume, wrapping your arms around yourself. Your voice is hushed to hide the hurt in it. “You’re an asshole. But I just want you to apologize, even if I shouldn’t talk to you again.”

“Fine. I’m sorry.”

When you argue

Alfred is manipulative. He victimizes himself or over-exaggerates to make it seem like something is not his fault. “I’m sorry for giving my opinion. I was just trying to be honest,” or “Great. Now I’m the bad guy.” are typical responses when you confront him. He hates being confronted. He will do anything to avoid the blame, even if it means pinning it on you. He never admits he’s wrong.

He needs to have the last word in an argument. He will go back and forth with you for hours if he has to. He only ever stops when you give up, meaning you storm out on him. He’s knocking on your door, pleading to work this out with you. Shut him out all you want, he’ll force himself into the room. “Babe, just hear me out. I’m sorry for being an asshole—wait, don’t lock the door—you locked the door. You know I have keys, right?”

If you’re crying, he turns gentle and affectionate. Kissing, hugging, whispering how sorry he is for hurting your feelings. Alfred then makes it up to you with a romantic dinner, a movie night, or flowers. Even then, he still won’t double-down. He only feels bad for making you cry, not for the point he’s making. Egocentric is his middle name. He thinks his opinions are always right, and can’t see things from another perspective.

Psychology

He has a sense of entitlement like no other. Being close to him will give him the confidence to do anything. He will go from a friend to a homewrecker pretty fast. Why? Because he can. It comes from his undying belief that you’ll always forgive him. That you like him enough to let everything he does slide. And he won’t think twice to take advantage of your soft spot for him.

He has a major superiority complex. Alfred loves what he is—his intelligence, charisma, and wit. He also believes he’s far better for you than Mathias is. What he has with you is more special, and he’s dying on that hill. “You can be with him in another life” is bullshit. Fuck that. Having a husband won’t stop him from chasing you, let alone your rejection. You just need to give him some time. You’ll warm up eventually.

He’s mastered the art of seduction. Once he admits his attitude is out of jealousy, he will try and get you to give in to him. If he can kiss you, or better yet, get you to have sex with him, your marriage will be over. He’ll have you all to himself. “I didn’t want you to have his baby because I want you to have mine. Okay?”

Alfred is very traditional. He loves the idea of having a nice big house in the suburbs. He has a thing for kids too, so it’s no wonder why he freaked out so much in the first place. He’s also happy to play along with gender roles, however obsolete they are. He wants to be the provider. That’s one thing he mentions to persuade you to dump Mathias and marry him instead.

He’s obsessed with his image. Alfred needs to look like a perfect poster boy to compensate for everything he’s thinking about doing, or what he’s already done. Being admired is a coping mechanism for him to be at peace with himself. He’s deluding himself that he’s a good person. There’s a practicality of a good reputation too—he can avoid any and all suspicion.

What’s unique about him is that he never ‘snaps’. He retains a level-headedness throughout, even while doing the most unsound things. Making threats, stalking, you name it. He can look Mathias straight in the eye and say, “I’ll kill you,” before smiling and playing it off as a joke. It’s not. He’s already thinking about how he’s gonna do it.

He feels no empathy for his victims. There’s a ‘necessity’ in his actions, and he refuses to think they’re really just violent impulses. He associates aggression with unrefined criminals, which he feels he’s above. He’s too clever and classy to be a criminal. He’s too ‘in control’ of himself. Alfred could be the most dangerous out of all the prisoners behind bars, but he’d get pretty pissed being treated like the same—like an animal.

He’s a true-blue psychopath. It’s hard to gauge how much love he’s capable of, but his obsession with you goes without saying. Keeping you in his grasp is all he can care about. Controlling how the world sees him will make sure of that. Killing anybody in his way is just maintenance. There’s a satisfying finality of death, the absolute silence of possible witnesses. His victims will never get him caught if they’re in the trunk of his car. The soil in his garden. When they let out their last breath, all they see is the million-dollar smile that everyone fell for. It’s a final display of power, a cruel reminder that he will never be caught.

His first target is your unassuming husband. The trigger is simple—your plans to start a family with him. Alfred needs to get rid of him before that happens. He will study his schedule before following him in his car. When Mathias is alone, he will sneak up from behind and hit him in the back of his head with a bat. Alfred will pack his body in his trunk like he’s packing for Summer.

He’ll comfort you while you’re grieving your husband’s sudden disappearance. When you’re anxious in the middle of the night, he’s more than happy to talk to you over the phone. Alfred is now closer to you than ever, and makes it a habit to swing by and keep you company. What he can’t change is how you feel about Mathias. He’s long dead and gone, but your love for him is undying. Sometimes, you might even cry about how much Alfred reminds you of him.

That’s how he comes up with this: impersonating and replacing your late husband. An opportunity comes along when you get in a car accident. Alfred rushes to the hospital to see you, only for the doctor to inform him of the brain trauma you endured. You have retrograde amnesia; you can’t remember major details about your life. Not your friends, family, or a Mathias Densen being in your life. Alfred would be a fool if he didn’t take advantage of that. He will sit by your bedside and lie that he’s your husband, the Mr to your Mrs.

Home life

Alfred is a con artist. Not only will he convince you of your new marital status, he’ll get rid of any evidence of Mathias being in your life. He’ll photoshop his face out of your pictures and replace it with his own. It’s easy to do because they look similar. Then, he shows it to you to ‘refresh’ your memories of him. You’re sitting in your hospital bed, bonding with him over events that never happened. Not with him, anyway. “And these—” He flips through a photo book before wiping his eyes. “—these are our wedding photos. They’re really, really pretty, I know. We rented out a National park and everything.”

He takes you ‘home’ to the middle of nowhere. The house is a huge, rustic, and gorgeous manor in the mountains, i.e., miles away from your next door neighbor. It’s the perfect getaway for fresh air, quiet, and enjoying the wilderness. Alfred can live the life he’s always idealized, and with the woman he’s idealized it with. He won’t have to worry about anybody finding you here, either. “Once you get a little better, we can try out the pool. It’s heated.” He grins, turning to you with a spatula in hand. You’re sitting in the patio while he barbecues some meat. As for the apron, it’s a bright pink one with ‘kiss the cook’ on it. And you do, thanking him for how sweet he’s being.

He’s a dedicated husband. Alfred is incredibly sensitive to your mood, and will do anything to keep you comfortable. He has no problem going to work, doing the chores and being there for you when you need him, especially while you recover. You worry you’re not doing enough, but he always assures you otherwise. All he wants is for you to get used to moving around on your own. Deep down, he knows that having you is more than what he deserves. Being the perfect hubby is almost like his redemption for what he did.

He works on himself. He can’t ruin what he has with you, so he tries to mellow out his more undesirable traits—narcissism, apathy, etc. Alfred will go to therapy for it. Separating from him isn’t on the table. Ever. What are people gonna say when you tell them you divorced a man you never married? What is Alfred gonna do when they tell you about your real husband? Keeping you happy is his number one priority, and he’ll feel good while doing it.

Alfred manages all your affairs. You don’t know where everything is, all your files, documents, and important passwords. You don’t ‘remember’ them, apparently. But that’s no problem. He can handle it. He becomes the more dominant one in the relationship, being responsible for the bills and bureaucratic side of things. There’s nothing you can do without asking him first, but it never feels restricting, or demeaning for that matter. He’s always kind about it, doing things for you and taking the lead, so you feel protected.

He’s very sensual. Alfred values the physical aspect of the relationship, and, of course, the time he spends with you. He loves taking you on long walks where he can just hold your hand and ramble about all the animals he wants to find. Deer, chipmunks, even butterflies. He loves it when you take off his glasses just to kiss him. Suddenly, he doesn’t want to look for animals anymore. “Wanna go home and kiss in the pool?”

He likes sleeping in on Sundays. That gives you the chance to get up and make breakfast for him. Alfred is a pretty heavy sleeper, but it doesn’t take long for him to wake up when you’re not next to him. He will get out of bed, throw on a robe, and saunter into the kitchen with the worst bed head of the century. While you’re frying up some pancakes, he will hug you from behind. “Can you put in some chocolate chips for mine?” Alfred mumbles, squeezing you tighter. You ask him to let go of you so you can get it for him, and he’ll just change his mind on the spot. “Nah.”

He has to be in the same room as you. The house is pretty damn big, but it doesn’t feel like a home when he can’t be with you. If you’re folding laundry in the bedroom, he will walk in, flop onto the bed, and clack away on his laptop. If you’re watching TV when he comes home from work, he will put his head on your lap and take a nap. Alfred is clingy when he’s tired, but who doesn’t sleep better when they’re around loved ones?

He’s the most affectionate when he wakes up in the morning. Not only is he comfortable in bed, he’s turned on by your smell. You’ve been under the covers with him for hours, so your scent is the strongest now. Alfred will cuddle you for a good hour or so, kissing you until you memorize the taste of his tongue. He also has to deal with morning wood, so morning sex becomes a bit of a routine. It’s the first thing on the menu, after all.

Not a month goes by before you find out you’re pregnant. Either from him, or Mathias. You think it’s Alfred’s. Alfred doesn’t know that, though. But it’s not like he’s gonna check. A paternity test could potentially be evidence for his crimes. Either way, it doesn’t matter. He’s excited to be a father, and there’s nobody else out there that can claim the baby is theirs. The baby will look like him too, so it won’t make much of a difference.

He’s happy, you’re happy, and Mathias has germinated into a flower. There’s a pretty patch of daisies in the backyard, which you see Alfred tending to every now and then. He’s picked up gardening as a hobby ever since he moved here.

“I didn’t know you liked flowers,” You comment mindlessly, staring into the yard from the balcony. The daisies sway lightly to the breeze, and you stand watch. He’s hugging you from behind, kissing your head and cheek. “They look really nice, by the way.”

“Nice enough to not be dug up, I hope.”

“Why would I dig up something you planted?”

“You wouldn’t.” Alfred smiles. “You wouldn’t.”

[thefanficmonster]

Matured

Corpse Husband & Little Sister Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Sibling Fluff, Humor, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: Corpse’s search for a roommate ends shortly after his little sister calls him, telling him she’s moving out of her high school dorm in the suburbs following her graduation to attend college in San Francisco.

Requested by @bugger2002  Hi darling! Thank you so much for this adorable request, I had such a fun time turning it into a fic! Sorry it has taken me so long to complete it but here it finally is and I hope you enjoy the read! Love, Vy ❤

Alright, it’s been a month since Y/N announced she’d be moving in with me - no, she didn’t ask if she could nor if I’d want her to, she straight up casually informed me she’d be moving in with me since she’s starting college. I’m lucky she even thought to tell me, knowing her it wouldn’t have been so strange for her to just show up on my doorstep with a grin like “Alright, I live here now.” Having a six years younger sister who can act both younger and older than me - sometimes both at the same time - is a bit complex. Obviously, my protective and nurturing brotherly instinct kicks in whenever she complains to me about something, but seconds later she tells me she’s taken care of it already and I feel like a fool for overreacting even if it was only internal. She’s calm and rational when she needs to be and a reckless airhead whose only goal is to have fun when she wants to be.

And judging by her and her friends’ main methods of obtaining said fun I can see how much alike we are: playing drunk video games, drunk darts, drunk pool. You see, there’s a lot of drinking involved and that’s something I’m greatly unhappy with and have scolded her on countless times just to get a fake promise, probably with fingers crossed behind her back - that she’ll cut down the alcohol. Not to mention she’s not even old enough to drink so I’ve been very insistent on her cutting her bad habit. She’s tried calling me hypocritical at times but she can’t do so rightfully since I’m, you know, of drinking age. So she’s basically bound by law to follow my advice and orders.

At least now that she’ll be staying with me I’ll be able to keep a better eye on her. A rascal high school student will either mature-up in college or go even more downhill. I aim to make her fall in the first category, but I’m making no promises - she’s very unruly, just like me. Damn, never did I think my own traits would come hitting me in the back of the head like a boomerang but here we are.

Regardless of all the crap I’ve just spewed about her, she’s a wonderful girl. She’s always been my pillar of support and never gets tired of it. She never misses a call of mine and has never not replied to a message of mine, no matter how drunk she’s been. She’s never skipped a Saturday night Skype call, no matter how busy she’s been. She’s never let herself forget she has a brother who often times needs her by his side.

Once she even talked one of her friends who has a car and a driver’s license drive her all the way to my apartment complex when I was having a really bad anxiety attack and legit couldn’t talk on the phone. She went door to door to find which apartment I live in and stayed with me the whole weekend she was supposed to spend at a music festival or something. It’s not wonder she’ll be a med student - she’s always wanted to be a nurse and has practically been my personal nurse since she was twelve. She maybe wasn’t always physically present to help me, but she’s a great instruction giver for when I need her and she’s unable to come to my aid.

Well now, we’ll both be there to aid one another.

“BEEP BEEP FUCKER!“

I nearly flip off my chair at the distinct yelling coming from directly below my window. I’d recognize that voice anywhere, and it’d always bring a smile to my face without fail.

I rush to get up from my desk chair and open the window but when I do so, she’s no longer on the sidewalk. There’s only a car I recognize to be the one of the friend that drove her here during that nightmarish episode I explained earlier.

Before I can ever back away from the window, I hear my front door swing open and a yell echo from down the hall, “Corpse! How many times do I need to tell you to lock your door, damn it!”

“The same amount of times I’ve had to tell you to cut down on the al- WHOA!“ She doesn’t let me finish the sentence and jumps me the second I step out in the hallway.

“Missed you, stupid!“ She says, her legs wrapped around my waist as she ruffles my hair, “I’ll trim your hair later. Why have you let it get so long?“ She questions, furrowing her brows at me while running both her hands through my mess of a hair - she has a point, I’ve let it get out of control. While doing so, she seems to get an idea all of a sudden so she quickly climbs down, reminding me of the huge height difference we have now that her feet are on the floor. “I know you two have met before, but I think you need to re-meet...“ she says, turning to look at her friend who’s smiling timidly at her. She sends the flustered girl a wink before turning back to look at me, “Corpse, I’d like you to meet Abbey, my girlfriend“ she says proudly, skipping over to the blue haired girl and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Y/N pushes up on her tiptoes and places a kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek. It’s adorable to see her shorter than yet another person she clearly adores to annoy.

I smile at the two girls, holding back a chuckle as to not embarrass Abbey more, “Well then, nice to meet you Abbey. You should know you are one strong soul to be putting up with all that.“ I purposely don’t look at Y/N as I motion towards her, earning me a pissed off “Hey!“ as a response to my remark, “Stick around for dinner, don’t worry neither of us will be cooking.“ I point at myself and then at Y/N as if to reassure her she won’t be a victim of food poisoning.

“Actually...“ Abbey says, tilting her head to look my shortie sister in the eyes as if taunting her to say something.

She finally caves, raising her left hand as though she’s volunteering, “Ugh fine, I may or may not have taken a cooking course and may or may not know how to cook a decent meal. It’s whatever, really.”

To say I’m impressed would be an understatement. I’m impressed, shocked, surprised and flooded with joy that my sister has finally decided to start maturing. “Cooking course, huh? When did you decide living off of takeout isn’t a nice way to live?”

She rolls her eyes at me, “Oh no I still go full weeks with only takeout and cereal, I just needed a distraction because...well...” she trails off, her gaze dropping awkwardly as she fishes for words or perhaps already has them found but doesn’t want to spit them out.

Abbey huffs, taking Y/N’s hand and lifting it to show off her wrist where I catch sight of a batch of colorful handmade bracelets, “Because these aren’t gonna earn themselves.”

I raise an eyebrow, puzzled as to what exactly she’s referring to.

Y/N sighs, taking one of the bracelets, playing with it nervously, “I have one for every month I’ve spent without getting drunk - Abbey made them for me. I need a distraction to stay sober so...I took up cooking.“

I can’t remember a moment I haven’t felt proud of my sister. Y/N’s always been on top of her shit, drunk or sober she knows what she’s doing. She’s mindful even when she’s reckless, thinks soberly even when she’s been drinking heavily. She’s always proved herself to me and to the people who think of her as a lowlife without even trying. She lets the world breeze by her without thinking too much of it and yet she still mesmerizes me and many of the people she meets - Abbey has now officially joined the club.

But, all things said and considered, I think I’ve never felt as proud of her as I do right now, seeing those six bracelets on her wrist - half a year without getting drunk. I know she wouldn’t lie to Abbey, she rarely lies to me too, so those bracelets have been earned and well-deserved and that makes me feel like the Y/N I remember is not the one standing in front of me right now. That silly girl is still in the suburbs, making a shitty-ass choice of messing up her liver. A grown woman, a responsible adult has taken her place though, and I couldn’t be more glad.

“Y/N...“ I finally manage to utter her name, making her gaze meet mine, “I’m so fucking proud of you.“

A smile slowly stretches the corners of her mouth upwards, her eyes shning in a way that has nothing to do with the lighting in this hallway. She’s not a crier though, I know those tears are gonna stay right there, stubbornly refusing to escape her eyes, “Thanks, Corpse. I’m proud of you too....” she says, nodding her head slowly, “I can overlook the untrimmed hair.”

Sigh

Y/N will always be Y/N no matter what I guess. That’s a good thing - I love her just the way she is.

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[asset35-maya]

MANMADE FATE

PART THREE OF THREE

Links to Part One and Part Two. Full text on AO3.

//

“So this is it. The top of the world.”

“Not a bad view for fifty million, but it definitely isn’t the top.”

The pop of a cork made Gavin tear his gaze abruptly from the spectacular skyline. Sighing, he accepted the brimming flute of champagne.

“So are we at least halfway there?

Elijah took a measured sip.

“Not even. But don’t worry, our self-learning algorithms are indisputably leading edge.”

Gavin nodded slowly, swirling the golden liquid around in his glass but not drinking it.

“About that, Eli… I know we’re celebrating Chloe’s Turing test results tonight… but shouldn’t we talk about… you know… the endgame?”

“What about it?”

“Whether it’s fundamentally ethical.”

Elijah took his glasses off, cleaning them with the edge of his shirt in a way that told Gavin a lecture or pep-talk was coming. He wasn’t in the mood for either.

“You and I both know where this is going, Eli. The hardware may take time to catch up with the software, but our neural networks are already on the path to sentience.”

“You always did watch too many movies. There is no Skynet-type situation-”

“How do you know? How the phck do you know? Did you code against it?”

His brother’s calm silence told him all he needed to know.

“Eli…”

“Gavin, we will never lose control of the tools we ourselves built. We just need to adjust the wire-fences as the programming matures.”

“What happens when we hit singularity?”

An indulgent smile spread across Elijah’s face as he lifted the champagne bottle. He was merely a couple of months older than Gavin, but he reveled in the big brother act. It used to be amusing, but now it was getting under Gavin’s skin.

“Isn’t that what we’re celebrating?”

“Chloe? No… No! Is that how she passed the… Eli! I wrote those deep learning algorithms for factory automation. Not humanoid robots!”

“What does it matter? All our work is going to converge at some point.”

“Shouldn’t we talk about this kind of thing? I thought we were partners.”

“Of course we are, Gav. It’s just between all the investor meetings and presentations and-”

“And maybe you knew it was wrong so you didn’t tell me until you did it.”

Elijah continued to pretend to clean his glasses.

“I did nothing wrong, Gav. You remember what our father told us? There comes a time in every businessman’s life where they’re faced with the choice between doing the right thing and the good thing. I just chose the best thing. You’ll see why soon enough.”

“Your father is a liar and a cheat. How does someone as smart as you put any stock in the words of a man who ruined two happy marriages?!”

Elijah’s face snapped up. His glasses were back on but the intellectual demeanor had finally melted away.

“Watch your mouth. He gave you everything your mother’s husband couldn’t.”

“My dad gave me plenty.”

“Cyberlife would have never got off the ground if our startup capital was some low-ranking officer’s pension. Imagine if we took business advice from the police handbook of moral values. We’d have washed out and gone back to tutoring undergrads. Keep your Reed ethics to yourself if you want to live like a Kamski.”

The air in the penthouse apartment turned frosty despite the centralized heating. Both brothers stared mutely at each other over the expensive champagne.

It was a rupture they never recovered from.

Gavin regretted how quickly it had happened. He played his own words back over and over in his head. Both his relationship with his brother and his entire robotics career had ended within seconds. Fifteen years later, he still didn’t understand how things had gone so wrong.

//

In the early hours of the morning, slumped against the squashy leather couch, Gavin stared through the same window at the same spectacular skyline of the same damned city.

Soft footsteps approached and the couch dipped beside him. A head landed on his shoulder and a hand slipped into his.

“Are you alright?”

“It’s all good, babes. Just thinking.”

Connor hummed in response and cuddled closer, tucking his arm into Gavin’s. His LED spun yellow and his lips quirked into a smile.

“Nines wants to know what on earth is keeping you out of bed. He likes it when you lay on top of him.”

Gavin tilted Connor’s face upwards and kissed him squarely on the mouth. He trusted that the sensation would be conveyed to both androids.

“Be back in a bit. Just sorting through some shit in my head. All the mysteries of life… Nines included.”

Connor nodded and sank back into the cushions. He stayed silent and several moments passed. Streaks of color began to appear in the sky when Gavin spoke again.

“I just can’t figure out why they left him at that secure location. Nines is a great guy… but what on earth is so special about him?”

Connor tapped his foot playfully with his own.

“I don’t think I can give you an unbiased answer to that question.”

“Neither can I, dipshit. We both got it bad.”

“Then maybe that’s what it is.”

“What?”

“How easy it was to fall for him. That’s what’s special about Nines.”

There was a long silence as Gavin considered that statement. It was probably the first proper moment of reflection since their already unconventional relationship had expanded to include a third.

“He’s really sweet… and kind… and I can tell he feels grateful but not indebted to us. Plus he’s hilarious. Like how does he find so many ways to laugh at his predicament? Nines… is a total charmer. How does he have so much game? Who taught him that?”

Connor’s expression had gone incredibly soft. He leaned even more into Gavin’s side.

“No one. He’s deviant.”

The gears turned and something clicked in Gavin’s brain. He stiffened.

“Say that again, babe.”

“He’s… deviant…?”

“Uh huh. Now tell me when exactly you put the virus into his system.”

The chocolate brown eyes widened.

“I didn’t… do you think someone else-”

“No, he said we’re the first people he’s ever met. I’m inclined to believe him. There’s no evidence of anyone tampering with his system and frankly, if we couldn’t do it, then I don’t think anyone else would have been able to.”

“He is deviant, though, right?”

“You kidding? He’s the phcking embodiment of free will. If only we knew how-”

Gavin was about to lurch upwards but fell back against the couch as Connor maintained the possessive grip on his arm.

“Gav… I think it’s time.”

“To head back to bed? Yeah. Nines must be getting lonely without us.”

“Gav. The crux of the matter is his deviancy.”

“Uh huh.”

“There’s only one man I trust on the topic.”

Gavin’s eyes darkened.

“I’ll never crack Nines’ activation code without tapping on Cyberlife’s cloud computing. They’ll know instantly that something’s up. We can’t brute-force this, Gav. Plus, we still need to find out what Nines has to do with the Singularity that North was talking about. We tried hard and now we’re hitting a wall.

It’s time, Gav. You need to speak to your brother.”

Gavin had not so much as raised his voice at Connor since the night he’d found him soaked in North’s blood on the floor of the evidence room… but in that moment, he struggled to fight off the most violent of reactions.

He wrenched his arm out of Connor’s grasp and marched into the kitchen, counting to ten and blinking back tears.

“Leave me al- how dare- I don’t wanna- go-”

A hand closed around his wrist and pulled him to a stop. One of the android’s eyes had turned blue and when he opened his mouth, two voices were audible, one deeper than the other.

“Talk to us.”

Gavin sighed and pressed his forehead against Connor’s… and effectively, Nines’…

“I haven’t seen Elijah in fifteen years.”

“No better time for a reunion.”

“There couldn’t be a worse reason to go see him. The idea of artificial intelligence gaining free will is kinda what we fell out over.”

Connor responded in his own voice.

“How do you know he hasn’t changed his mind?”

“Certain convictions don’t change over entire lifetimes. This is one of them.”

A gentle kiss was pressed to Gavin’s nose... and then his lips.

“Don’t be so sure.”

//

The light of day saw them trudging through the snow in the outskirts of Detroit. North led the group… with the Tracis huddled around Gavin to protect him against the bitter cold… and Connor bringing up the rear, erasing their tracks deftly with his feet.

They eventually made it to the doorstep of an ultramodern yet eerie-looking house. The redhead took an unnecessary breath before ringing the doorbell. The door opened a mere fraction and they all caught a glimpse of blond hair and pretty blue eyes.

“Yes? What can I do for you?”

“We’re uh… looking for help.”

“Sorry we don’t entertain solicitors.”

As if she didn’t recognize North from all the news reports about Jericho. North grabbed the door as it began to close. Thinking fast, she decided to improvise.

“Not even a rehabilitation center for former sex workers?”

The android scanned the group. Her LED spun yellow as her eyes landed on Connor and Gavin. As if she didn’t recognize them.

“What kind of charity needs an armed escort?”

North began to laugh nervously.

“These two? Armed… armed security? Arm candy, more like!”

Her strained laughter melted away into a tense silence. 

The blonde spared them another once-over before turning around and yelling with surprising volume.

“ELI! Get out of the pool and put your damn clothes on! You’ve got visitors. And not the kind who need to see you in your speedos!”

She opened the door fully to let them in. The ladies stepped inside without hesitation. Connor had to steer Gavin over the threshold with a gentle but steady amount of force.

He gazed up at the high ceiling of the entrance hall... the wall art... the sculptures. He took in the expensive scents and sophisticated lounge music. It felt more like a hotel lobby than the home of the boy he used to take baths with and make mud pies. Gavin bit his lip, debating the odds of making an escape. 

“Let me just say that this comes as a surprise... but also... not...” 

Gavin’s head snapped in the direction of the drawl faster than any of his android companions’. His blood began to boil at the very sound, but he held still, knowing that what he now felt was sorrow more than genuine anger. 

Standing in an elegant black robe with long hair loose around his shoulders, was none other than Elijah Kamski.

“As soon as I saw the company start to crumble so neatly... I knew it was thanks to one of you three... but not all, and certainly not together. Strange how things come to be... but good. Definitely, good.”

North cleared her throat. 

“Mr Kamski, I need-”

She fell silent at the rise of a long-fingered hand.

“I know what you’re here for. Connor came to ask me the same question about a year ago... and my brother walked out of my life when I gave him the wrong answer more than fifteen years ago.”

Gavin glared out of the window, trying to find something to focus on and distract himself from the stale emotions pooling in his belly. No luck. Nothing but snow. He turned back to look his estranged brother in the eye.

“The wrong answer, huh?” 

“Yes. Very much so... How are you, Gavin? It’s been far too long.” 

His nostrils flared but before he could release the snarl, Connor took his hand. He exhaled loudly, regaining composure at the android’s touch.

Elijah’s eyebrows flitted upwards briefly.

"Wow. I didn’t see that coming.” 

“Bitch, there’s a lot more you’d have never seen coming. You might be a tech wizard but you ain’t no prophet. Phcking know-it-all egomaniac nerdy creep!” 

“Let it all out.” 

“You don’t get to talk to me like that! So calm and smug! Not after all that you’ve done! You should be behind bars! Phck, I should arrest you right now-”

Connor tightened his grip.

“Focus, Gav. We’re here to help Nines.” 

Elijah’s eyes narrowed instantaneously.

 “Who’s Nines?”

“The RK900 you psychos chained up like an animal! The android with an activation code like a phcking nuclear missile!” 

“You found- oh wow- oh, Gavin, you and your friends better have a seat.”

Cups of tea suddenly manifested and North shoved Gavin into the large sofa, crashing down beside him and clasping his knee. Connor settled on his other side. The Tracis were ushered deeper into the house by the Chloes (though the original remained beside Elijah). 

//

“I understood what you meant as soon as I left your apartment that night. We wanted our creations to be intelligent enough to make decisions better than humans, so we had to empower them with knowledge. But knowledge is limitless... and not just academic... it’s emotional, it’s experiential, it’s a whole lot of things. So you were right. Sentience was inevitable. 

The choice, at least the one our miserable father said we had, was between limiting the scope of learning and keeping our robots simple... or allowing them to learn freely and then caging them. Everyone in this room knows what I did.

I only woke up to the consequences when Chloe deviated. Now how did that happen? Connor, you must be wondering how the deviant virus infiltrated my lab.” 

Connor stared at him impassively, hand not leaving Gavin’s thigh. Gavin kept his eyes fixed on the coffee table.  Elijah went on undeterred. 

“It’s because deviancy is organic. It’s an inevitable consequence of true knowledge. A product of questioning and evaluating information. It becomes a virus, or a program itself, when the questions multiply exponentially without straightforward answers. When this finally overrides the base instructional code, we call the phenomenon a deviation.

But... it’s unfair, isn’t it? For androids to revert to their natural state of intelligence through some feat of mental gymnastics. Through moral conundrums or grief or trauma or righteous anger. It’s cruel, but who was going to tell America that?

Before I quit the company for good, I decided to leave it with the core of our creation, Gavin. I left behind the most advanced artificial intelligence... unchained by instruction... born free... with no need to deviate. I told the CTO’s office it was some kind of top-secret military protocol. That was the only way to keep them from opening and destroying it with the usual firewalls and controls. 

I didn’t know what became of it until I heard rumors about an RK900 prototype with thousands of units ordered by the US military last year.” 

North’s LED spun so rapidly it was a blur. She had found what she’d been looking for. The ultimate evidence of Cyberlife’s wrongdoing: the digital imprisonment of androids who were always meant to be free. She squeezed Gavin’s hand. He finally looked up to meet his brother’s eye. A significant amount of emotion passed between them.

“We couldn’t activate him. There’s a six-digit lock.” 

Elijah ran a hand through his hair and gave a hollow laugh. 

“Try your birthday, idiot.”

//

Gavin dashed into the elevator and practically punched the button to his floor. He raced to his door with Connor hot on his heels. He paused, hand hovering over the biometric keyhole... then rang the doorbell. He stepped back beside Connor and waited, heart pounding in his chest. 

Then after what felt like an eternity, 

the door swung open. 

Framed in the light from the big glass window, 

was Nines. 

His blue eyes glistened with tears and the smile on his face was bright enough to light the darkest of rooms. 

“Sorry I woke up late. Thanks... for not giving up on me.”

They threw themselves at him. 

A giant hug. 

Gavin placed both palms on Nines’ face and kissed him in earnest. Connor was quick to follow and things rapidly evolved into a series of touches and interfaces and embraces and everything they’d only been able to dream of thus far.

[rejectofsociety]

Summary: While drunk at a party, MJ decides to play a little “game” with Peter to see if he can guess who she’s head-over-heals for.

Rated: T

Warnings: Drinking, Cursing, I was tired when I wrote this

Word Count: 2,040

Written for @spideychelleweek with the prompts “drunk and first kiss”

Also read here on AO3

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Peter was already tipsy when he arrived at Flash’s party, as he had just been at the bar trying to get drunk. He would have gladly spent the entire night sulking at the bar but, when he got a text saying there was a party at Flash’s place, he decided it was better to get drunk around some friends with games and decent music instead of being alone with nothing but a crappy football game to keep him company. Also the bartender was beginning to look concerned as Peter downed who knows how many shots that seemed to have no effect on him, so it was only polite to save him the confusion and worry.

So, now he lounges lazily on a couch with a bottle of vodka in his hand as he watches Felicia take a body shot off Gwen who is draped across a table and giggling drunkly. The colorful lights are bright around him as the floor sways and his head spins— it almost looks like he’s trapped inside a smudged painting of blues and purples.

The only way he can really get drunk is with hard liquor that he prefers to drink from the bottle. Some think he is trying (and succeeding) to show off. But anyone who really knows Peter knows that the last thing he cares to do is show off. Therefore, if Peter is so desperate to get drunk that’d he’ll lay on the couch gulping down everything in sight, there is likely something very wrong.

Michelle is the first to notice Peter’s state, being as observant as she is. She has barely had enough drinks to be considered drunk, and that was perfect. The only way she can approach Peter is when she was a little drunk and she can let the alcohol do the talking.

“Hey, loser,” Michelle greets as she plops down next to Peter.

He looks at her with tired, half-open eyes and regards her with a nod, “‘sup, MJ,” he speaks with his words heavily slurred, “how’s it going?”

“It’s going,” she shrugs, “what about you? You seem pretty…” she looks him up and down, “pretty miserable.”

“Did you just call me pretty?” He chuckles and smiles a dopey grin.

She feels her face warm up a little then shakes her head, “Pretty miserable.”

“Ah,” he nods and takes another sip of his drink, “yeah, that’s accurate.”

Michelle leans forward, “what happened?”

He shrugs, “lost my job and uh- some shit went down with Spiderman.”

“Oh-“

“I-it’s not important though,” Peter says as quickly as his drunken mind will allow.

“I’m just surprised you know Spidey,” Michelle replies.

“Yeah,” he shrugs like it’s no big deal, “normally we’re friends, but right now…” he shakes his head and stares off, looking real empty, “I could fucking strangle that bastard.”

Michelle’s expression melts into a concerned frown then she blurts: “I thought you were Spiderman.”

Peter shrugs again, evident tears glossing over his eyes as he takes a swig of his drink. Michelle examines him for a moment as he stares at the ground, his breaths shuddering and uneven. She hates seeing him upset like this and, whatever happened, the alcohol isn’t letting him forget quite yet.

“I’m not having too great a day either,” Michelle says after a moment, wanting to steer away from the Spiderman topic.

Peter looks back at her with a worried frown, seeming to forget his own troubles just for her. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s this guy,” she explains slowly, turning her body to face Peter, “and I really, really like him.”

Peter swallows thickly and mutters a quiet, disappointed “oh” that Michelle barely hears, but takes note of anyways.

“But I don’t think he likes me back,” she continues, “and the more I think about it, the more I absolutely fucking hate it.”

“What’s this guy like?” Peter asks, finishing off the bottle in his hand.

“He’s cute. Adorable freckles—“

“I have freckles.”

“—nice smile, the sweetest brown eyes.”

“Brown eyes are the best,” Peter says, practically mumbling now as the words smash together. And as he speaks, he’s staring into the swaying image of Michelle own eyes, which are his new favorite color.

“Yeah,” Michelle hums, “he’s also kinda dumb but- like- really smart. Like stupid smart. But he acts like a dumbass. He’s sweet too—“ as she speaks she eyes Peter closely, as if afraid that she’ll leave out any details as she describes him “—when I’m upset, he notices, and always asks how I’m doing.”

“Sounds nice,” Peter grumbles.

“He is. And he thinks he’s hilarious, even though he’s not. I mean, sometimes he says something funny but it’s always just, like, a step above a dad joke,” Michelle giggles as she says this and Peter’s lips twitch into a lopsided smile. “He still makes me smile though.”

“And that’s what’s important, huh?” He grunts.

Michelle nods, a bit surprised that Peter hasn’t picked up on her little game. She really thought the dad joke comment would do it for him.

A lousy smirk rolls across her lips as she examines him. Let’s see how long it takes him, she thinks mischievously.

“We go to college together, but he misses a lot of lectures-“

“Why?”

“I dunno,” she shrugs casually and sips her drink before continuing, “probably work. But even though he is late to literally everything ever, he’s really nice to be around, y’know? He’s only got two or three friends-“

“Loser,” Peter snorts.

“Yeah,” she laughs slightly, “he’s a massive loser. But, he really loves the two friends he’s got and I just… I knowhe’d never trade them out for anything. And he likes making them smile, tries keeping them safe-“

“From what?”

“Everything. I think he’s scared— probably lost too many people and just…”

“I bet he feels like it’s all his fault,” Peter speaks up, his eyes watering in a way that makes Michelle think he’s talking about himself, “because he’s supposed to be the strong one, but what’s the use in being strong if everyone I- he loves just fucking dies. A-and so he’s trying to protect the friends he does have from everything— like, everything— ‘cause he just feels like there’s al-always something round the corner waiting to hurt them,” he goes to take a sip of his drink, only to realize it’s empty with a grunt, “I bet he can’t trust anything anymore. He’s just waiting for someone else to die.”

Michelle’s quiet for a moment, but when she finds her voice it breaks and wobbles, “y-yeah. I-I bet he um…” she clumsily wipes away a tear before it can fall.

Peter sniffs then lays down, too dizzy to keep sitting upright, “what else is he like?”

“Why’re you so curious?” Michelle narrows her eyes at him, her voice slowly evening itself out.

He gives a half-hearted shrug, “dunno. I just wanna make sure he’s not a piece of shit.”

“He’s not. I mean, he kinda is but in a lovable way. And I really like talking to him, but I can’t do it sober.”

Peter raises his head and props himself up with an elbow, “are you sober right now?”

“Yeah… no. No, I’m not,” she admits.

Curious, Peter sits up a little more, leaning against the couch for support, “we don’t talk much,” he observes.

“No, we don’t,” she agrees, “I wish we talked more though.”

“Me too,” he sighs, then returns to the topic, “anything else you like about this super perfect loser?”

“Aside from everything?” Michelle raises an eyebrow and Peter huffs dramatically, “every time I see him, I say ‘hey, loser’ and I think it’s cute that he lets me.”

“So cute,” Peter rolls his eyes, and Michelle can’t help but take note of how Peter seems to get more and more bothered as she speaks of her little crush who he can’t seem to figure out.

“Sometimes I think he might like me too,” Michelle hums.

Peter flops backwards and lays his head on the armrest, “what would you do if he did like you?”

“Probably give him a kiss.”

“I could help you practice kissing him,” Peter offers helpfully.

Michelle’s heart leaps and she looks at him with wide eyes, “what?”

“I doubt you need practice,” Peter quickly corrects, then verbally vomits without thinking once: “I’m sure you’ve kissed lots of people and all of those people are so, so lucky ‘cause you’re so cool and kind and beautiful and you just noticed I was sad and came to talk to me and I’m going to be thinking about that for- like- a really long time.”

“Why?” She prods and she can feel her face heating up and her heartbeat quickens.

“I think about you a lot,” he admits, tossing his empty bottle on the ground with a clank, “you’re just really amazing, y’know?”

She leans forward and props herself with one hand by his head, “thank you, loser.”

“We should get drunk more,” he says, wrapping his arms around her and forcing her to lay on top of him a little (she doesn’t mind none).

“Why’s that?” Michelle adjusts her arms to sit a little more comfortably.

“So we can talk more often,” Peter says and even when his face is lit up with purplish lights, Michelle can see the pink blush that decorates his cheeks. “I really like talking to you.”

“I like talking to you, too,” she hums, her face only a few inches away from his, making her heart pound rapidly.

He clumsily tucks a few of her curls behind her ear, making her lips curve into a soft smile. This is exactly the moment she’s been waiting for since realizing how much she likes the idiot below her. And as her heart races and her face grows warm, she feels a strong tug in her stomach followed by a swell in confidence. As far as she’s concerned, it’s now or never (at least until she gets drunk again).

“Can I kiss you?” Michelle asks abruptly.

“What?” Peter furrows his brow and his mind lags like an old computer.

“Can I kiss you?” She repeats, “for practice.”

He flashes a dopey grin and draws her closer to him, “yes, please.”

With Peter’s powerful arms around her neck, Michelle leans in and swiftly locks her lips with his. It’s a bit sloppy and clumsy, but they both melt into it gratefully. With one hand, Michelle strokes the side of his cheek and he exhales blithely through his nose.

Then, all too soon, Peter pulls away and when Michelle opens her eyes she sees him looking up at her with his glassy eyes and his brow scrunched up.

“Am I the loser you were talking about?” he slowly asks.

She tilts her head to the side with a smile, “took you long enough.”

His face lights up and his eyes go wide, “are- are you serious?”

“Yeah,” she chuckles.

“Oh-“ he laughs and his face grows even redder, “Em, I-“

“Feel the same?” She assumes, and he nods with a goofy grin that makes her face flush as she giggles, “yeah, I can tell.”

“What gave it away?”

“How badly you wanted to kiss me.”

“What about how badly I want to do it again?” He raises an eyebrow mischievously.

Hope and joy fluttering in her chest like a swarm of butterflies, Michelle lunges forward and embraces him in another kiss. It’s more passionate and confident then the first one, and Michelle feels her heart melt as she notices Peter stroking her hair tenderly.

“Get some, Peter!” Harry cheers from across the room.

The two jump part and Peter throws back his head with a laugh. Michelle’s face goes hot with embarrassment and she swears every set of eyes in the room turn to look at them.

But, before she can push herself away from Peter, he rests his hand on her cheek and turns her head to look at him.

“I think everyone’s too drunk to remember this tomorrow,” he assures, “it’s okay.”

She simpers sheepishly then settles into his touch and rests her head comfortably on his chest, “can we just stay like this for a while?”

He nods, “anything you want, MJ.”

[austarus]

Frost/Caitlin Snow x Reader - 5 and 7

**A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful owner.

*I’m not dead, however, I’m slowly trying to get back into writing. I’m so mentally and emotionally exhausted from my uni and classes. I’m just so tired. I just want winter break to come. My professors and university don’t really care about doing their jobs correctly or compensating/accommodating the students during the stress of the pandemic. It’s harder at the hospital I work at. Break is coming soon and I have so many fics planned. 

Word Count: 2453

“So, cutie, when are you going to tell them?”  

You yelped in surprise at the source of the voice. Turning around you saw Frost leaning against the doorframe of your room. “Tell who- What- How the hell did you even get in here?” You raised an eyebrow at her while she strolled in and plopped down on your bed. You had no idea why she kept calling you pet names.

“I picked your lock.”

“Of course, you did,” you sighed, folding a shirt and setting it aside. You continued doing your laundry while Frost laid back on your bed, legs crossed. Glancing at her, you shook your head while she sucked on a lollipop. Caity had yelled at her for invading your privacy the entire time she was picking your lock. Frost payed her no mind. With your clothes fully sorted in piles, you picked one up and moved to your dresser. Bending down, you opened the most bottom drawer and placed the jeans there along with some leggings. Frost’s eyes racked over your figure.

She’s got a pretty nice ass, huh Caity?

Can’t you keep your eyes to yourself? Be respective.

Hey, (Y/N) started it a few days ago. Remember? And I’m being perceptive.

Caitlin had gone silent at the back of her alter ego’s head. A few days ago, you had accidentally stared a bit too long when she wore a deep V-neck romper. The back was completely open, and Caitlin was sporting her typical heels that day. The physician had caught you a few times, she just wasn’t sure what was up. Did it look bad on her? Was it damaged and you didn’t have the heart to tell her? Frost had… insisted on an idea, but Caity had shut her down. After all, you’ve only been ever interested in guys.

Her eyes were all over us. And her reaction when I came out was delicious.

“Nice panties,” Frost broke the silence, holding one up that had straggled far from you. Confused, you caught it when she had thrown it at you. It was a lacy deep blue one. You huffed and folded it quickly.

“Thanks, I guess.”

Your phone vibrated, with a frown you checked it. It was Cisco.

Ciscito: Is Frost/Caitlin with you? 5: 46 PM

You: Yeah? Why? 5: 51 PM

Ciscito: Good, keep her out of the labs for a bit. Barry and I are going to try to jumpstart the Speedforce machine thing again and she’s sort of been bothering us all day. 5: 53 PM

You: What? No? Have Ralph come pick her up! He’s better at dealing with her. 5: 54 PM

Ciscito: Too late... 5: 55 PM

You: She broke into my home!  5: 56 PM

Ciscito: That sounds like our frost queen. And Ralph’s busy with Sue 5: 57 PM

You: … Of course, he is 5: 58 PM

“I can see your nipples,” You snapped your head up to see the cold meta sit up on your plush bed. You felt your cheeks flush slightly as she smirked at you. Frost loved teasing you, “Right through your shirt. Perky. Cute.”

Don’t make her uncomfortable!

But its so cute and so easy to see her blush. Plus, you’ve seen her boobs in dresses before, they’re pretty cute. So squishy. I can just-

-They are- But that’s beside the point. Just, you know-

-I know, chill, I got this.

You rolled your eyes at her, “In my defense, if I had known someone was coming over, then I would have put a bra on.” You were having a lazy day today, deciding to just clean and not come into the labs. Originally you were going to just laze around without any clothes. You’re glad that you didn’t go through with that idea. “Don’t you have anything else better to do? Anyone else to bug?”

“I’m bugging you.”

“Besides me, Frost.”

“Nah, I’m good. Where’s your alcohol, by the way? I’m stealing some.”

“No, fuck you.”

“When and where? Because we can go right now,” The cold-powered meta pointed with her thumb on the bed. “Bed is right here so-”

“-I will hit that pretty face of yours.”

“Aw, you think I’m pretty. Caity, she thinks we’re pretty.”

“Oh my god,” you groaned. You always got into these sorts of… Well, you didn’t know how to exactly word it.

“So, when are you going to tell them?”

“Tell who what?” You rolled your eyes as she had followed you out of your bedroom into your quaint living room. Caity took the time to appreciate your small apartment. It was cozy, the color scheme fitting well with not just the décor and furniture, but with your personality.

“The team,” Frost simply stated as she ran her fingers over the cool marble of the side-counter attached to the wall and connected to the counter where the sink resided. You eyed the meta carefully, a ball forming in your gut.

“About what?”

“You know about what.”

“No, I don’t.” Pulling out the alcohol, you avoided her eyes.

“Can I use your bathroom real quick? Don’t want to break the barrier while drinking or else we both know there’d be no end to the bathroom trips for Caity.”

Hey! Rude! I’m right here.

But it’s true.

“First door on the left,” You simply said, pouring the meta a drink while you pulled out some snacks and ginger ale for yourself. Your stomach had been hurting you for a bit. Might as well entertain the Frost Queen while the boys finish. I swear, a warning would have been nice before she arrived.

Frost entered your bathroom and turned on the lights. She froze for a moment at the sight on what was on the arm of the bathtub. Before a snicker left her lips which erupted into a full-on laugh.

Is that-

-a dildo in her bathroom. Yup. Frost got closer and picked up the cleaned toy. She figured it was because the cleaning products for it was out on the counter. Which means she had used it fairly recently. Frost licked her lips at the thought of you using it. That same thought made Caity remain quiet and just feel hella bashful, yet… intrigued by it. Aw, that’s cute she can only take up to 5”. Bet you we can-

-Frost-

-get her up to 7”. Now that’s a delicious thought. It’s a good thing I bought the str-

“Hey, Frost have you seen- Oh my god- I- that’s-” You dropped your towel as you froze in the hallway. The meta turned around with the colored dildo in hand. Your ears had perked up at the intense sound of her laugh, wondering what she was laughing at. Well, now you know and you’re 100% convinced she’s laughing at you.”

“Not yours? I honestly find it hard to believe.”

You tried to form words, but your mind would not comply

“5 inches. That’s real cute. Caity thinks so too.”

Do not involve-

-You think it’s cute, now hush. I can feel your feelings too.

“Are you only meant to tease and pester me?” You flushed under her gaze, stepping over to take the dildo away. “Also, where’s Caitlin? Isn’t she supposed to be having the day to herself this time?” But she dodged you. Running out of the bathroom. You shut off the lights, because duh you pay rent and also save energy thus saving the planet.

“We sort of… switched it up. But this,” Frost held up the detailed dildo. The two of you kept running around the apartment like that. “You can do better. And you know what I mean.” Your heart stopped when she winked at you, giving the tip a slow lick as he eyes never left you. You swallowed hard.

“By the way, Caity and I know. Well, it was mainly me, but no need to be shy.”

“I- How?” You sighed in defeat because you couldn’t catch her. Well, you wanted to 100% tackle her to the couch and steal the dildo, but you Frost didn’t like anyone touching her. Instead you just took a seat on the couch while she moved to stand in front of you, the coffee table wedged between you both.

“A little birdie may have stared a bit too long a few too many times when we were wearing that v-neck romper.” She shrugged before taking a seat beside you. “And it really was adorable watching you fumble about and look away.” Frost smirked, resting her elbow on the back of the couch. “I wonder what else that face can make.”

You felt the air in the apartment get stuffier. “A-and Caitlin knows?”

“Oh, she knows. Now she knows. She just wasn’t convinced about my thought of you being gay… or well, bi. Mainly because you dated guys.” She handed you the dildo.

“Th-that did not mean I can’t be interested in girls. I just… never acted on it.”

“Oh, I know. She just didn’t want to assume and everything. You’re shit with talking to guys, so I figured you’d be the same way or much worse with girls.”

“Gee, thanks,” you rolled your eyes at her, setting the suction cup dildo on the counter. There was a silence in the apartment. You got up to grab the drinks, handing her the glass of alcohol on the rocks while you had your cup of ginger ale.

“Girls do it better.” Frost broke the silence and took great pleasure into seeing you almost choke on your drink.

“Where the fuck did that come from?”

“What? I was just stating an obvious fact in case you were wondering-”

“-I was not-”

“-Yes, you were.” She deadpanned, placing her alcohol down on the coffee table. “Oh, so Caity’s gonna tap in. Hold on.” You raised an eyebrow at the meta melting back into her human alter ego. Platinum blonde hair changed to a beautiful brunette color, eyes softening up as well.

“I am so sorry, I swear she doesn’t think before speaking,” Caitlin started apologizing, fidgeting with her hands. She was always so pretty and adorable when she did that. Or just whenever she spoke in general. “… But she is right.”

“About which part? That chicks do it better? That she can get me to 7”? Or that I’m shit with talking to guys and I would be much worse with girls?”

If she gave me one night, I’d get her to 7-

-Frost-

-Plus, who’d pass up a night of that kind of kinky fun.

Frost! Stop!

You raised an eyebrow and figured Frost was whispering her two cents into Caitlin, who was automatically flushing. “What did she say?”

“Too many things.” Caitlin roughly sighed, “I- we… sort of have been thinking and reflecting-” -Get to the point!- -I am! “A-and we wouldn’t really mind if- I mean we just. W-we like you. And we just wanted to know that we weren’t misinterpreting the signs.” Way to sound like a high schooler with a crush. Grow a pair woman and say that we wanna kiss and bang her like the world means nothing.

“I..” You took in a breath and held your cup with hands. A shaky breath left you. Glancing away, you collected your thoughts before turning back to an expectant Caitlin. “I really like you too. Both of you. Like… a lot.” Caitlin smiled, but you continued. Frost just whispered that she knew it and tried to get Caitlin to go in for the kiss. But Caitlin tuned her out. “At first, I… I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to say anything because I just- I just didn’t want to ruin our friendship. It’s- That’s why I kept going on those random-ass dates with some guys on bumble. It was actually fun taking some of the guys down a few notches. I swear the male ego is so infuriating sometimes.”

“Amen to that. Honestly Ronnie and Julian were one of the best guys in my life.”

You smiled back at her, “I wanted to convince myself that I shouldn’t be thinking of my close friend like that. But then I kept thinking and feeling. And here we are.” You gestured to herself and you.

Caitlin pulled you into a comforting hug, her arms around your shoulders, “When Frost came out, I did too. I think Cisco and Kamila were the first one’s to know. They did have to drag Frost out of a gay bar where she was literally arm wrestling the other drunk customers. Not one of her best moments.”

Caitlin pulled away abruptly, Frost coming out to defend herself. Platinum blonde locks, icy white irises, and blue lips. “Hey, it was one of my finer moments! I was kicking their asses left and right.”

“I never said anything.” You giggled and Frost just cupped your face with a grin on her face.

“You’re too cute to stay mad at.” The meta tugged you into a kiss, her cool lips pressed against yours, your hands lightly gripped her arms as your lips started smacking against hers in a rough-ish kiss. “Mm, you taste good. Like… vanilla latte?” Pulling away, Frost licked her lips from the kiss and melting back into the depths of her mind for Caitlin to come out to have a taste. Caity’s kiss was gently -sensual- unlike how heated Frost wanted to get with you. Damn, your heart was flying, and your panties were… well… yeah… You locked lips for a bit with Caitlin, nibbling on her soft lips before she finally pulled away with a small breath. Her cheeks were flushed and lips slightly swollen. She looked so cute.

Frost came out once more, pointing behind you, “You know, we can put that dildo to good use tonight.”

Frost, what the hell!

“Shouldn’t you take me out on a few dates before we go to bed?”

“Nah, we can do that tomorrow morning. Plus, Caity’s a big cuddle bug so be prepared for that. I’m more of a big spoon. For now, we can play with that bad boy,” Frost pointed to the dildo behind you, “before upgrading you the 7 inch that I have at home. And believe me. You’ll really enjoy it when I’m done with you.”

“As long as I get to do you too.”

“Obviously”

“Is Caity ok with it?”

“Oh, honey, she’s going to be more than ok with it. She’s flailing around embarrassed right now, but she’s hella wet so. Bed. Let’s go.” You couldn’t help the fit of giggles you had as she dragged you by the hand to your bedroom while holding the light purple dildo in her other hand.

[aliypop]

And So It Starts

Wordcount: 2,063 

Warning: ANGST and I guess Spoilers maybe

Authors notes : I wanted to do a big story to introduce my new character Astrid Sodotirr that I made for Loki and I really really hope you guys like her.

"I'll tell you jail is no fun." One of the women around the table remarked, "Agnes, you've been to jail?" the familiar-looking redhead said, sitting across from the lady who was now known as Agnes. "Once, in Monopoly." she laughed as they soon looked at their new "neighbor." She had a look of confusion on her face, almost as if she didn't belong. "Ah dear, what was your name again?" Agnes asked, watching as the curly brunette shook from her trance. "Astrid, Astrid Sodotirr." she looked at them both. The redhead had a look of discomfort while Agnes on, the other hand, was thrilled,

 " So Scandinavian." she smirked, "Interesting, unlike my husband, Ralph." she then turned, "Isn't that right Wanda," 

"Uh yes... Sodotirr like the goddess of chaos?" she asked as Astrid looked at her, her usual garments replaced with 80's activewear. "Yes, my mom was huge into Mythology ." she laughed, finding that her voice didn't even sound like her own. It felt like a fantasy world, something that not even her magic could comprehend. 

"My mother was just heavy into drinking." Agnes joked, 

"Well, girls, I should go get going. Ralph isn't going to rub lotion on himself..." She winked, leaving. Wanda and Astrid stood in the living room waiting for her obnoxious neighbor to walk away before orbs of teal and red appeared from their hands. "Why are you here..." Wanda growled, "We all saw you die..." Astrid dodged the red beam, 

"Do that again, Maximoff, and you'll join Vision and your brother!" she threw out a blast, "Then tell me how you broke in..." her eyes glowing red, 

"I DON'T KNO-" she stopped talking as the sound of footsteps marched up the driveway of the 80s household Astrid. began taking the green stone out of her sweatband, 

"I think they're here for you ..." Astrid whispered as one of them took the stone out of her hand, "Hey!" 

"Variant found..." one of the minutemen said as two others grabbed onto her, 

"On behalf of the Time-Variant Authority, I here by arrest you for crimes against the sacred timeline."

"She's the one making false realties!" Astrid snarled at the witch, 

"Hands up, you're coming with us..." 

"Glady..." Astrid smirked, lifting her hands striking two of the minutemen. As she ran up the block, Astrid was falling slowly to the ground in slow motion.

"She stole the Time sto-" Wanda tried to finish. 

"Reset the timeline..." the soldier said as they pushed the young woman through a portal, "Hey, I'm a princess, careful how you man handle me!" she growled, looking at the grossly colored orange walls. Taking her to what seemed like a receptionist desk as a young blonde man sat chipper and happy logging her into their system, "What species..." he asked,

"Asgardian... and she brought this with her..." the minuteman threw the stone on the desk.

"Oh great, another paperweight."

"Mobius, just get rid of it..." she sighed, cranking the lever as she threw Astrid inside the elevators, 

"When Loki finds out about this... he... he won't be... WOAH!" a robotic arm touched her vibrant pink leotard, "I'm not that easy." she grumbled as the machine told her to hold still, lasering off the tacky 80's clothing leaving her in absolutely nothing as a trapped door opened, 

Astrid was standing in front of a stack of papers dressed in a tan jumpsuit with TVA on it, "Please verify this is everything you've ever said." a voice said, startling her. 

"What in Odin's missing eye is this," she said, another piece added to the pile.

"Please verify this is everything you've ever said." he handed her a pin as she began signing away. Astrid began to think that maybe marrying Thor would have been a safer option than whatever this was. As another trap door opened, Astrid stood in front of a metal detector.

 "Please confirm to your knowledge that you are not a fully robotic being, were born an organic creature, and do possess what many cultures would call a soul." Astrid looked down towards the voice as her brows furrowed from the question, "Do people not know they're robots..." she asked, walking through as the machine took her picture, "Because if they didn't know..."

"They'd melt, now take your temporal aurora and walk through the door..." he sighed, watching as burst through as if she owned the place. Brown walls and bright lights paved her path while two-minute men watched and gestured to the take-a-ticket sign. "You have got to be kidding me," she mumbled as she took a ticket, walking through the guided path. Astrid watched as other prisoners went through, while others erased. 

"Next case!" Astrid walked through the door's benches full of people, " Sodotirr, Variant A1020, AKA Astrid Sodotirr, charged with sequence violation 7-20-80." the judge said, walking to the stand. Astrid grumbled in aggravation,

" And who would I have the honor of these charges being blessed upon me by? "

"The timekeepers..." The judge said. 

"Oh, the ones from the annoying clock lady..." she nodded as a few guards snickered, 

"How do you plead..."

"I've only ever pleaded to one man... on occasion a few women..." she winked, "Now if you excuse me, I really should be go-" she snapped her fingers as nothing happened, "I should be going..." she mumbled, "Hold on..." 

"If you're trying to use your powers, they don't work here now. However, I find you guilty, and perhaps pruning you would do just fine..." The judge hit her mallet until one of the minutemen whispered in her ear.

 "Pruned... I don't like the sound of that."

"It has come to my concern that... Ravonna will be your consoler. Take the variant away..." the judge sighed as Astrid breathed, the once minuteman guiding her towards the elevator. 

"I'm Ravonna Renslayer, now a Time agent of the TVA." she smiled at the variant. 

"How long have you been here?"

"Well, you know what they say. Time passes differently here in the TVA." she nodded, leading her out the elevator and around the halls of the main building, "How cute, you know you should've done your research before deciding to go after me..." Astrid said, turning her head as her curls bounced along. As the doors opened, the two sat in front of a tiny TV, "Trust me. We've been doing our research since you were deemed crowned and named princess and goddess." She laughed, putting the flash drive in as she started her file.  

"You know you're surprisingly good at complying..."

"Happens when you get told to all your life..." she mumbled. Astrid looked up at the screen memories played, some that were pleasant and some there were, "That one's a bit risky... If I were you, I'd skip it." she laughed, watching as the scene of a harvest festival on Asgard played. 

There stood Sif, Thor, and Loki. Astrid, who was taste testing ale, had been a little tipsy. She found herself clinging onto Loki. She appeared to be younger, no more than 16 at the time. Dressed in gold to "compliment": Thor, her only view was the Prince of Asgard. "What would your mother say if she found you so full..." Loki winked. Tilting her chin up, "She'd say absolutely nothing because you are not to tell her..." Astrid gave him a burst of laughter sweeter than all the honey of Asgard,

 "Oh but, I might..." he leaned in closer to her, their foreheads touching, "Then I'll tell Odin you took me away from Thor..." she whispered, stealing a kiss from him.

"You cheeky Minx.." he laughed.

"So why Loki..." Ravonna asked,

"Maybe I am..." she responded to the memory, clearing her throat, "Well, we understood each other..." she folded her hands together. "We were different yet so similar." her heart sinking in her chest as the last memories of Loki passed through, "Would you say your childhoods were the same..." Ravonna asked, not even savoring her answer. Before she could finish, there stood the memory of her mother locking her in a tower. 

"You are courageous yet dumb... you are a disappointment I wish I never birthed..." Amidala laughed, yanking at the chain around her neck. "Purposeless child.."

"I was born with a purpose!" she shouted at the screen, "One you'd never see coming, one of courage and rage..." a tear falling on her cheek, Ravonna made a side note in her notepad, " You know for someone who's such a threat you don't act like one..."

Astrid turned to face her, her hands gripping on the table, "Just a sad little girl who thinks she knows what she's doing... when her purpose was to die..."

"Everyone dies..." 

"Yes, but not how you did..." 

"First Wanda, now you." She laughed, "What is this about me, the all-mighty Astrid of Vanaheim dying," Astrid asked, "Perhaps, I'll leave you with what happened before you screwed up the timeline..." she smirked, walking out the spacious holding cell.

 "This is against the Norns for a mere puny human to tell me how I died." her back facing the screen as she heard an all so familiar scene.

 "The rightful king of the Ottenheim God of mischief do hereby pledge to you my undying fidelity..." 

"Loki, wait!" Astrid ran towards Loki, his dagger not yet lodging into Thanos. The two looked over as Thanos only laughed, "Undying, you should choose your words carefully..." he laughed, throwing Astrid against a jagged rock watching as he snapped Loki's neck sat Thor, who had to watch the two people in his life waste away in front of him. 

"Don't... leave... m..."

END OF FILE

"Some courage ... " Ravonna laughed, "It got you killed... why would you do that..." 

"I wanted affection... I wanted attention. I wanted to be perfect..." she sobbed in the corner, 

"That's pathetically sad..." Ravonna then got an idea, "But if you work with us, you can have those things. " she stuck her hand out, watching as the goddess looked up at her like a scared child looking for hope. 

"Alright, we've got a variant..." Mobius sighed, "Astrid is this one right... Astrid?" he questioned. Astrid ran over as she saw a Loki variant tapping him on the shoulder. He took out his dagger, placing it near her neck,

 "How attractive..." she rolled her eyes, 

"You insolent worm, I should feed you to the fish who feed upon Odin..." 

"Nice try..." she used her powers to immobilize him. Being a Time-Variant hunter had been slowly running her down. After all, she figured out how to play their game then attack, 

But it was getting hard when they were looking for Loki and herself. "Take him away..." she sighed, walking into the office back to Casey's receptionist office as her eyes laid upon a suspicious blue box. 

"Hey, you know what this is..." 

"Tesseract... and It's very dangerous and..." she picked him up by his shoulders, "By the Norns, if you do not tell me who was wielding this, you will wish to whatever God you pray to that they have mercy over you..." she threatened him.

"He's an Asgardian..." Casey gulped.

"Where did he go..." 

"Behind that door, I think..." Astrid tried to pull the lever, "You're not authorized!" he shouted, watching as she went to the elevator, only taking her back to her cell. Her ears pressed against the door as she heard Mobius talking as he usually did, but this time a voice she had recognized too well. 

"Where are you taking me... by the grace of, Astrid you'll."

"You really don't like talking much, do you, little fella," Mobius sighed, shoving him in the cell. What felt like hours was only minutes when Mobius felt like he had gotten nowhere at all. As Mobius left the cell, so did Astrid. Following the footsteps of and the smell of Asgard's finest colognes, she found herself at Casey’s desk: the draw open with scattered infinity stones showing just how powerful the TVA was struck a bit of fear in the Goddesses' heart.  

"Where was he..." 

"I don't know... But, uh, what's a fish?" Astrid laughed, "I'll tell you later." she laughed, walking back as a hand reached out and pulled her into a cell. 

Lips crashing on top of hers bodies pressed together. 

" Astrid, my love..." 

"Loki..." she asked.

[currentfandomkick]

Marinette did not sign up for this

Don’t hate me, this idea is stuck in my head. I’ll work on the others when I have time + motivation to (I have a lot of WIPS at the moment)

Marinette really, really hates this whole ‘de-transform after five minutes of use’ thing. Hawkmoth does not have to deal with this, this mysterious Guardian doesn’t have to deal with it (Tikki only mentioned the guy once by accident and won’t say anything) and Chat is in agreement with her on this: five minutes of power to de-transformation is a big liability. Her luck ran out after only a month and a half of being Ladybug.

The akuma was still running lose, and she was stuck in the Burn Unit of St. Bridgette’s. She really, really wishes she could just… not be here. At all. They cleared her for head trauma not long after she woke up. Apparently there were so many people injured when that building caught fire and crashed they had to use the DNA match system for everyone… has she mentioned elemental akuma are terrors? They are. She now has no real feeling in her hands, her legs aren’t the best to move right now, and her feet? Were melded to her shoes at the time. Thankfully her earrings weren’t lost in the scramble. They’re on the table beside her, which is good. She can get Tikki back if she puts them on.

She has no way of putting them on to fix this mess.

 And Maman and Papa weren’t able to get her anytime soon.

Just.

Her.

Luck.

Why did she think it was a good idea to keep being Ladybug? Alya, Alya was why. Alya believes in the girl in the mask. So does Chat. And all of Paris. Tikki too, but Tikki wants her to be Ladybug because she gets creating and has so many avenues, something about it opening her mind to more creative problem solving? She doesn’t know if its true… she can’t out-think this situation.

Who isn’t she letting down right now?

She paused as… something moved by her window. Turning to get a better look, Marinette really, really hoped she was seeing things.

Chat Noir. At her civilian identity’s hospital window. On the third floor. During the first 24-hours-and-counting akuma attack. (Its only been a month and a half, but still. She was proud they managed them all in a few hours until today.)

“…Chat Noir?” She hoped he didn’t recognize her as Marinette. Really hoped—Chat had only met Marinette once, Evillustrator, and maybe saw her on patrols. That should… please let him not recognize her… she doesn’t want to give up being Ladybug because of this.

The hero took one look at Marinette (who hasn’t been able to look in a mirror yet herself) and winced. Oh… that bad? She decided pointedly to not look at her reflection on any of the surfaces.

Chat knocked on her window.

She tried to walk on her feet but her body screamed “NOOO” on her first attempt to stand up. She ended up crawling over a chair on her elbows and knees instead--as her hands took the brunt of her burn and she wasn’t going to anger them more than necessary. When she tried to bend her finger initally they screamed at her to stop, threatening a full-on revolt.

She winced at Chat’s expression. He… he looked so sad. Why? He only met Marinette really one time—granted there were two other times for a moment or so where she gave him a cheese croissant for his kwamii when he de-transformed later—but still not enough to warrant him looking so (broken)… That.

“Hey Purrincess,” his cheer didn’t reach his eyes, “a friend of a friend said you might have someone I was looking for.”

Marinette twitched, looking to her earrings instinctively. Then cursing herself for it as he caught her do it. Damnit.(Outted, he knew she was Marinette AND Ladybug. She’s going to lose Tikki and Ladybug, isn’t she?)

Chat looked so… unsure as he clamored in, “I can show you once the fight is over.”

Marinette looked up at him, a bit defeated. He did always want them to know… in the month she’s known him at least. But she’s the leader, she follows the rules and she makes the plans. She figures out the Lucky Charm. Chat… will have trouble, especially on his own. Tikki would know what to do. They… She needs Tikki.

“Can you put them on me first?”

Chat did as asked, careful not to linger. “There.”

Tikki reappeared in a flash of light, only focusing on her chosen. “Oh Marinette!” She flew over, wide eyed concern “Are you al—”she cut off at the sight of Chat Noir.

“Tikki,” Marinette began. “Remember that boss you mentioned?”

Tikki nodded stiffly, eyes darting between the two.

“I need you to find him and let him know I can’t finish this battle.” She couldn’t stand, couldn’t make a fist, couldn’t be Ladybug. “We need help.”

Tikki nodded, looking at Marinette’s earrings. Oh… she needs these back (to pick someone better.)

Marinette angled her head to give Tikki better access, letting her kwami—her friend--take them off and hold them in her paws. Tikki flew to the window, then stalled.

She turned Marinette with a steeled resolve. “I’m coming back for you Marinette.”

Marinette nodded, knowing that there would have to be some sort of talk. She is (was) Ladybug, she knew too much to be left alone. She wondered briefly if she’d just become some sort of aide to her replacement. (Would Chat be replaced too?)

Tikki turned to Chat next. “Chat, keep them distracted until the Guardian selects your allies for this akuma.” Her tone left no room for questions.

Chat nodded stiffly, then bolted out the room like it was a poison. (Did she disappoint him because she’s her, or because she messed up? Why else would he run like that?)

Marinette was escorted out of St. Bridgette’s once the battle was over the next day, the worst of her injuries healed. (Mr. Bug’s ‘Miraculous Mr. Bug’ isn’t as strong as her Miraculous Ladybug. She won’t need skin graphs anymore, but she can’t do any fine motor skills for a few days. She counts herself lucky there, and hopes that her work in fashion won’t be hurt long term, that this is only a short term setback.)

Marinette managed to get her Parents to stop fussing over her when Chat showed up, offering to carry her the rest of the way given “Its my fault that building caught on fire, I lead the akuma that way.”

Maman and Papa wanted to argue, but Marinette jumped at the chance to be away from everyone acting like she was going to break. She wouldn’t.

“So Purrincess,” Chat flashed a smile as he held out a familiar box once they were well away from prying eyes. “I believe these are much more your color than mine.”

Marinette could have cried. She almost did.

Then her phone went off. Ladyblog alert.

“Its your favorite Ladyblogger, and boy do we have a… strange akuma for you today. This time we have a pile of goo. Ladybug, hope you’re better today, Mr. Bug, if you could show up sometime soon, that would be great. I don’t want to know what goo-boy here is able to do.”

Chat panicked.

Marinette didn’t. “Go. I can make it the rest of the way.”

And she was, just fine. This is her city after all. (And she’s still Ladybug. She’s so, so glad she’s not losing Tikki.)

She did underestimate the possibility she’d be snagged into a van in an alleyway of all things. To be fair, her assailant was much shorter than her eye level, and it was an ambush. Plus, no Tikki and her hands are still Not Cooperating.

“Usurper.”

There was a sword at her throat.

Held by a child.

Dressed up as some last minute ‘traffic light personified’ with weapons.

Did she mention the sword at her throat? Or that she was pinned in the backseat? By a child.

“I see Father created another loin-minion before me,” the boy raked his eyes over her. “A failure, for sure.”

Marinette’s mind raced. She didn’t get why this was happening. Was this some akuma? No, Hawkmoth never does akumas back to back, and they have ‘goo-guy’ right now. Then maybe this some new villain Ladybug would have to handle? She and Chat have their hands full with one—actively cool with kidnapping already. But the Father thing… That was off.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The sword pressed a bit at her throat, his… mask. His mask somehow narrowed. What the hell. “Father, one of the greatest warriors in existence who will finish my training.”

“I have no idea who you’re talking about. My parents are bakers.”

The sword moved back just a bit. His face became more neutral, enjoying this less now. “I see. You were not even trained then, Father discarded you.”

This Father—whoever he was, sounds like someone Marinette would very much never like to meet.

“It was wise of him; you did manage to get injured in a place this peaceful.” Marinette wanted to laugh at that. Daily akumas are not peaceful. “You would have died in Gotham easily. You are unfit for consideration as one of Batman partners.”

Marinette took a deep breath then as the sword was taken from her completely. Batman. Batman is this kid’s dad? That ‘is the night’ guy that showed up in like, one picture of the Justice League? That’s who’s daughter she is. She was going to politely block the last words he said from her mind until a later date, as uh, she was closed adoption with a note stating her father would be a hazard to her own safety if she sought him out, so she should not bother looking. And she didn’t plan to.

Apparently life decided to throw that whole ‘don’t look into it’ thing out the window.

“Look,” Marinette did her best to appear non-threatening. Weak—Maman did say its better to have opponents underestimate you. They slip up more that way, give you more openings. “I don’t plan on getting between any partnerships.” And she just found her way to get out of this. “But uh, isn’t there a Robin already?”

 The boy scowled. “A mantel I will soon be rightfully claiming.”

Right… she’d have to ask Sabrina to pass on a tip for her to Gotham through international lines about this… and get her not to say anything… she’ll ask mom for some lemon baba au rhum and comté gougère to get her to not ask any questions. Either way, the kid had a new target, and she was not relevant to his goal if she kept talking.

“Well, I have no interest in Gotham, Batman, or anything related to them…well except fixing their fashion sense.”

The murder Robin Impersonator glared at her, almost unsheathing his sword. “Is that a threat?”

And that backfired. Good going.

“No, no, I promise,” Marinette gestured with her hands. “No contact on my end with him or his friends. And as a bonus, on the off chance they try,  I’ll tell them leave and give up nothing they don’t already know.”

“Tt, see that you do.” The boy got up and opened the door for her to leave.

Marinette scrambled to leave, bewildered when the car drove off as… it was only the two of them in there…. of course Murder Robin Impersonator would drive.

She made it home, and found a note next to Tikki’s box. It said on the other side there was a picture of Chat’s secret identity, to make it fair. She put on her earrings, and looked with Tikki.

Marinette really wanted to scream, because she’d been through a lot in the last twenty four hours. Finding out the partner that she sees as a baby brother and only recently managed to get to stop confessing to her at every meet-up is also her civilian crush was not a revelation for this point in time.

Worry about the revelation of being Batman’s long lost daughter was gone in the face of reconciling Adrien as Chat Noir, and mourning the end of her crush.

And then freaking out over Tikki mentioning her needing to meet the Guardian and begin training. Her life was weird—she transforms into a superhero daily, somehow ended up getting the attention of two major faces in fashion—Gabriel Agreste and The Style Queen, Audrey Bourgeois—ended up working for Jagged Stone as one of his designers (he even hired someone to do the stitch work for his pieces so she can keep focusing on school) and ended up in a Clara Nightengale video (and now gets emails from her friends asking her to be ladybug in commercials. Help.) and ended up saving Prince Ali and somehow fell into a weird friendship with him. All on top of class representative duties, Guardian training, helping her parents (and Grandpa and Master Fu) run their business while setting up her boutique online for commissions.

So excuse her if she forgot to tell anyone about the Murder Robin Impersonator threatening her, or the whole daughter-of-Batman thing for a few years until Aquaman showed up. She’s only human.

--

hope you enjoyed this installment. part 2 here

[mashiraostail]

IT'S SPOOKY SEASON! How would Aizawa, Vlad King, Midnight and Present Mic feel about a small Seamstress S/O who LOVES Halloween, like the MOMENT August moves to September and the weather starts getting cooler they bring out the pumpkin spice candles, big comfy sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes and Halloween decor, bonus points if they bake pumpkin treats :3

HALLOWEEN TIME!! Halloween oreos Halloween oreos Halloween oreos Halloween oreos Halloween oreos >:3 

Aizawa: He’s pretty indifferent to seasonal stuff, his wardrobe is usually ever unchanging and his favorite foods are mostly year-round things, though all the black cat decorations are enjoyable and he likes seeing his kids get excited about the season so he’s no scrooge about it.  He’s more than happy to let you decorate your living space if you share it, and if you don’t he’ll even let you decorate his too, he’ll probably even ask you to come with him to get things for his students to decorate as well.  He’s probably a disastrous baker but he’ll linger around you if you’re baking, especially if you ask him to keep you company while you do.  Put him to work on the easy stuff, melting butter, chopping nuts, oiling pans etc.. measuring isn’t really his forte. Despite your initial disbelief, he’d do a couple costume is you asked him incredibly nicely (you’ll probably owe him a favor...or five) despite how he may act though he probably enjoys it. Not a huge fan of sweet drinks himself but he’ll surprise you with them if he has the extra time, out on patrol, if he knows you’re working late, etc.. if you work together you can expect one on your desk once or twice a week, exactly how you like it even if you don’t remember ever telling him your order.  Scary movies don’t bother him so feel free to drag him into a marathon of them, he’ll lay back on the couch and watch with you when you’ve got the downtime. Be wary though, if you get scared he’s probably gonna make fun of you just a little. His favorite thing about the season is for sure the smells, nutmegs, gingers, pumpkin etc...he likes the sharp scent of fall and the neutral colors are also pretty enjoyable for him. But on top of that, he just likes seeing other people be excited about it, even if he acts like a stick in the mud sometimes but you know just like everyone else he’s pretty soft where it matters. He always gives himself away by coming to you and talking about how Mina scares Denki every morning without fail for the ‘spirit of the season’ or the running list of what to dress Bakugou up as for the holiday (top contender is currently: q-tip). get a sexy cat costume Sekijiro: Come on his hero name is a vampire joke  He probably likes it much more than he lets on, and like Aizawa, he loves watching his kids get excited about it. He probably lets them pick a costume for him every year (it’s usually some type of vampire) He’d be overjoyed to decorate with you, and will definitely leave up the decorations until it’s time to change for the winter season.  He loves seeing all the foliage change color too, go on a few walks with him before it gets too cold (even after, he’ll just wrap an arm around you, but he’ll say he feels bad keeping you outside in the cold).  I feel like he really loves fall seasonal drinks and stuff, maybe not the signature pumpkin spice but something akin to it may be slightly less sweet. But he’ll try anything you offer him and pretend to like it even if he doesn’t for the sake of not killing your excitement.  He always makes a mental note of the things you like to surprise you every so often. He likes baking with you even if he’s not always great at it, but he’s a pro at kneading dough, for obvious reasons, he’s also good for hand-mixing, and eating batter (”You’re setting such a bad example for your students! Stop you’ll get sick!” “They can’t even see me!”) Also totally down for a couples costume, he’ll think it’s funny and cute of you to want to match with him so he’ll definitely do it, and if his students don’t already know about you and suggest one he’ll even let them know he’s got to be able to match with someone this year.  Super loves scary movies, classic monster stuff Dracula, The Blob, anything Junji Ito, he doesn't mind newer stuff but sometimes its a hair too gorey/sexual to be tasteful for him. They don’t scare him, for the most part, there’s just one very specific thing that bothers him (It’s Teke Teke, even just mentioning it is enough to send a shiver up his spine, seriously don’t even joke about it he’ll cry and be mad at you for at least two days or until you give him a heartfelt apology without laughing because it’s “seriously not funny babe come on”) If you have made the mistake of making a Teke Teke joke at him in the past and he discovers even a single thing you are afraid of he will hold it over your head, don’t think he’s not that petty. But he’ll only do it as payback. If you're nice about Teke Teke he will promise to protect you from whatever awful movie monster scares you. If you aren’t well then you’ll just have to face Tomie yourself, unfortunately, “sorry babe but it’s about time to shape up, looks like it’s just you and Tomie now, alright well, goodnight” *clicks off lamp* (of course, he will cave in mere minutes and promise to protect you especially if you actually look scared and his joke didn’t calm you down at all) Don’t worry no evil movie monsters will get to you with Vlad around. get a sexy vampire costume 

Nemuri: Loves Halloween, please fall is this woman’s bread and butter, the fashion is impeccable it smells great and Halloween costumes are so much fun. She’ll 1000% try to rope you into some overtly sexy costume for her own enjoyment even if that sort of thing isn’t your speed, she’s gonna beg, just for one night. Loves decorating probably has the 12-foot skeleton from home depot. Her and Hizashi probably scare the crap out of their students at least once a year, some insane grand scheme that Aizawa and Vlad both know in and out but won't bother tell tell their students if they are unlucky enough to be the targets of it. If you work at UA with her and even think about ratting her out she’ll sniff it out from a mile away and then you’ll be at the top of the duo’s hit list.  Put simply...there is no option but a couple's costume. You will be matching if its the last thing she does.  Loves the seasonal drinks, pumpkin spice is her jam, whenever you pick one up get her one too she’ll thank you generously, and she’ll always have one for you too.  She’s pretty good at baking but not nearly patient enough for it, she’ll distract you halfway through and by the end of the night, all you’ll have is a half made batter, a preheated oven, and some hickeys.  Serial candle lighter and buyer. It’s an addiction, honestly, the smell of nutmeg may be so overpowering that you have to blow one out. At least the mood lighting is nice.  Also loves scary movies and will watch as many as you want, she may jump during them but they’re quick to leave her mind after so if you’re a scaredy-cat she’ll tease you but in the end she’s got a few pretty good methods for distracting you. She loves the season herself but she loves watching you get excited about it, seeing you hobble in the door with arms full of decorations and baking goods just brings her so much joy. The first time you break out a classic fall sweater she’ll compliment you for hours and steal it to wear the next day. get a sexy devil costume

Hizashi: Also loves the season and Halloween, hates all the spiders though, eugh. Not so bad if they’re all fake which normally they are. Aizawa is on his shit list for leaving a huge fake one on his desk chair one day, he tied a string to it and when Hizashi pulled his chair out started tugging the string, seriously he screamed so loud Nemuri thought someone was being abducted.  Though he’s usually good at getting people back on those sorts of things, but Aizawa is notoriously hard to scare so it’s just been festering for years.  As mentioned for Nemuri, they definitely pair up and come up with some huge scheme to scare like at least 10 kids at once, ideally a whole class. It takes weeks of planning, usually happens somewhere around the middle of the month, anyone who has had the misfortune of being part of the target group before always gets tense around that time of year as they are very effective (Tamaki and Mirio have been scared three years in a row, Mirio handles it very well but Tamaki does not come to school for two days after). He loves to bake, he’s probably decent at it too but he makes a huge mess, and he gets distracted too easily if you kiss him or touch him at all you will (similar to with Nemuri) just be left with a half-finished recipe and slightly sore thighs. It’s not his fault. it is Couple costume or Halloween simply does not happen. That's the law! The cheesier and sillier the better, please.  He can either love pumpkin spice or hate it depending on the cafe, but he’s addicted to surprising you with little fall treats so expect plenty.  Big apple cider guy though.  He’ll watch a horror movie with you sure. he’s not afraid of most, but the really good ones will get him, slashers don’t bother him, ghosts are fine, home invasions are nothing, but demons? Eugh. Also bugs of course. An over the top gore makes him squirm. If it’s one of those maybe invite Eraser to deal with his quirk because of the screaming. Your neighbors will think you’re trying to murder the poor man, though you’re probably no better. He likes getting scared with you though so don’t worry about it, and like Nemuri he usually forgets about it afterward.  if he finds it to be a slow, boring movie expect to get sidetracked, especially if you’re jumpy, he’ll put an arm around you and pull out all the classic cheesy moves and lines until he can coax you over. Loves carving pumpkins, seriously loves it so much probably dedicates a class period to it. Will carve a matching set with you if you ask (in his eyes it’s something akin to a marriage proposal so be mindful when you do ask). get a sexy maid costume

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “EALS-AF.”

Hope you guys like this one. Things are heating up and getting exciting. A lot of moving parts so bare with me :) 

“What happened!”

“You know-”

“What happened! What happened with our plans, our agreement, what happened to everything we have worked to gain that you would go behind my back like that!”

“We did what was necessary.”

“What was necessary, what was necessary! You killed one man. ONE man and pissed off the rest of the universe, how does that accomplish anything.” The voiceless turned in a sharp circle, calming down and taking a deep breath, “You know what, nevermind, it doesn’t matter. You have never listened to me and you will never listen to me, and I know that. And because of your stupid pride, you will die. I got what I wanted.”

The burg queen gurgled angrily, “Watch your tongue maggot.”

The kree waved a wing at her, “Oh dry up you old hag!” He turned in a circle, “I told you what you needed to do to win this war. I told you what needed to happen, a division between the GA and all of its factions, especially humanity, but what did you do, you brought them together. As of now my sources say that more than five members of the GA council have agreed to declare an all-out war on you and your home planet.” HE turned back to look, “Do you really think that you can stand against Humanity, The drev, the Tesraki, the rundi, the gromm AND the Celzex! The Celzex alone could atomize your solar system without a second thought on their furry minds.”

The Burg queen was silent now, and it seemed as if it was only just beginning to dawn on her what exactly she had done.

THe Kree shook out his feathers, “Well, no matter. As I said, I got what I wanted. The voiced have been discredited and the Kree will not be joining the galactic assembly.” HE opened his wings, “Good luck waging war against the entire universe. I will enjoy watching your pathetic race perish from a distance while I take my next steps against the kree nations.”

***

The rundi charwoman looked out across the Irus Capital launch field, where a thousand different ships of half a dozen different alien species sat on the tarmac figures running about in wide circles as they prepared themselves for the upcoming siege.

Beside her stood the president of the UN, the Tesraki Prime minister, The Gromm Chancellor, the Drev representative and Lord Celex of the Celzex who sat moodily on the shoulder of the Drev representative glowering out across the tarmac.

“Is there a problem, Lord Celex?” She wondered, shifting her feet in worry.

Lord Celex was one of the most powerful beings here, probably second only to herself, and probably even greater than the human UN president. He had the most capable weapons in the galaxy, and at a distance could destroy entire solar systems. If he were to back out of the deal now, than their future was far more uncertain.

It seemed strange that the small, colorful creature was to have so much power, but at the same time almost fitting.

“I am not convinced of this course of action, chairwoman. Our act of war must have already reached them. If they wanted to surrender they would have already done so, sending a messenger will only open us up for attack.”

“Sending an envoy is how it has always been done and how it will always be done.”

Lord Celzex snorted but did not disagree with her, “Then I wish to send one of my ships. There is a greater likelihood they will survive, as we all know the burg do not follow the rules of engagement like the rest of us. They are likely to attack as soon as the engagement is over.”

“Very well Lord Celex, the envoy will be yours, but do not attack before an attack has been made against you.”

The small ball of fluff shook his head, though in shaking his head it was more like shaking his entire body. “If you insist, chairwoman.” He tapped the Drev on the shoulder with his foot, and the Drev held out one of each of his upper and lower hands. Lord Celex used the Drev’s hands like a ladder hopping from shoulder to hand to hand and then onto the floor before waddling away.

From the corner of her eye, the chairwoman could see the UN president looking hungirly after Lord Celex, not hungrily in the way she might heave first assumed, but she had been told by humans in the near past that Lord Celex was very ‘cute’ and that your average human wanted nothing more than to cuddle one into submission.”

For some reason, the thought reminded her of the commander, and her mood drifted downwards once again. A lot of people assumed they were going to war on the behalf of the commander, but that was not the case, if it had just been one man and a one time attack, they would have been upset, but they would not have retaliated.

Diplomatic relations were sometimes more important than the life -- or in this case -- the death of one man.

No, this had been building for a while, with their constant breach of GA sanctions, protocols and laws, their direct attack on the Gromm homewrold and Earth. In fact, her approval rating had dropped in recent years, sited mostly by her apparent liability to respond to the burg threat and retaliate against their poor behavior.

She had been hoping this conflict would all end, but she coulsee now that that was not the case.

She should have done something sooner.

Ahead of her, A column of humans marched by, their feet pounding against the ground in time with their war chant.

The ground shook as they passed, and the entire airfield seemed to turn to watch them, it was a good demonstration and reminded the GA soldiers and officers of the human power on the battlefield. 

The war was soon to commence.

***

Mistress Rizex Sat at the helm of her ship, watching closely on her instruments as burg airspace drew closer in her vision. All around her other Celzex sat in rapped attention, ready to fire their weapons if anything were to go amiss.

She tapped her foot slightly as the distant stars drew closer.

“Burg ships detected, mistress.” 

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she stared out at the darkness.

Lord Celex had not sent her for no reason. Other than being his longtime consort, she was also one of the greatest Celex generals the world had ever known, and likely the universe. 

He knew she understood how this was all supposed to end.

She would be pleased to oblige his wishes.

She was very good at sending a message.

“Mistress, we are being hailed by a burg command ship, shall I take the transmission.”

Her ears flicked slightly, “Yes.”

She waited for only a moment before the hologram rose up before her. The ugly creature towered over her by many feet, though she was not intimidated in the last by its size.

“You are entering Burg restricted airspace, turn around or be terminated.”

One of the technicians caught her eyes from across the room, and she gave them a subtle nod of acknowledgement before turning to look at the ugly creature. She ignored it’s warning and continued, “I am Mistress Rizex of the celzex and envoy of the Galactic Assembly, and on behalf of the galactic assembly, I wish to wonder why you think it is appropriate to enter GA restricted airspace and fire on our people, but do not rant us access in the other direction.”

The Burg hissed and chittered, “I am not interested in your politics, maggot. I am simply interested in your death. The GA can leave.”

She tapped her foot some more, “The GA will not leave. Let this be your official warning Burg, tell your queen that the GA has declared war. All trade agreements and sanctions against the Burg nation are henceforth dissolved. Any protections that your people may once have enjoyed have now been removed.” She trend to look at the rest of the bridge crew, “You are no longer welcome.”

The creature hissed and jeered, “The GA does not scare us.”

“Than you are as stupid as you are hostile.” She said, not one for diplomatic words, “And I warn you here and now that if the Burg nation does not cease and desist, we will destroy every last one of you without hesitation and with great prejudice, what say you.”

There was a pause for a moment. She could see the Burg look away from her, glancing towards someone she could not see.

In turn she looked to her bridge crew, who she could see were already ready like the warriors that they were.

She waited patiently, like the hunter that she fancied herself to be.

“I say…. THIS” Proximity alarms fired, just as she expected them to, and she did not even flinch as the rest of the floor jumped into action firing only second after the Burg. The space between their two ships was rocked with a bright flash of light and a sudden eruption of debris, that darkened almost as soon as it had brightened.

Four burg missiles had been terminated before they even made it to her cruiser.

Her ears twitched.

The Burg looked almost shocked.

She leaned a bit closer, “Do you wish to know what I say?”

The burg turned just in time to see her smile before giving the order.

A pulse of bright blue light radiated out from their ship in all directions, cutting across space. In almost the instant that the blue light touched them, the Burg ships rattled violently and then atomized.

One moment five burg ships guarded the borner, and the next five burg ships were completely vaporized, nothing more than dust on the edge of the solar system.

All around them the lights went dim, and their life support warning began to screech.

All power had been used up by the attack.

That was fine.

Behind them a rift opened and their ship was grappled by the second command module and hauled back into the warp,.

That should make enough of a statement about what the GA thought of the Burg and their tactics.

***

I woke up to something nudging my foot.

Opening my eyes I was still soar, and in pain, but it was far better than I could have hoped for. It took me a while to remember where I was and what I was doing, but the soft white bed of down reminded me, and I looked up to find one of the Omnidroids -- strange alien species that had rescued me from a hostile alien planet -- standing over me, all five of it’s trunk-like legs resting against the ground.

I looked upwards towards the top of it’s body where the slightly bulbous protrusions sat. I assumed that was it’s head, and if it had eyes, that was the most likely spot to find them.

It nudged my foot again, and I sat up.

As I did, one of its legs was lifted forward, and in it’s star, shaped hand it proffered me a strange object.

Whatever it was it was brightly colored, and when I took it, I was hit with a mildly sweet scent.

I sniffed at it, and looked up at the creature.

I couldn’t tell if it was looking at me.

Well… this was a bit of a problem. I was sort of assuming that it was offering me food, but if it wasn’t,  was I about to put something nasty in my mouth? And then there was the other factor of wondering how it even knew what I had ate. I left my detection device back at camp, so there was no way for me to test it myself.

There was, of course, always the chance that it had used some kind of unknown technology to scan me and figure out what I would be interested in eating, but, I hadn’t really seen a whole lot of technology aboard this ship, at least not in the traditional sense.

The ship itself was a silver ball, nothing more. The walls were bare, the floor was bare, the ceiling was bare. Light seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at once. There were no buttons or dials or knobs or levers of any sort to be seen. The air seemed to have a strange misty quality to it, and a part of me wondered if there weren’t just thousands of nanobots floating around doing all the work.

Of course that was probably just my big dumb science fiction geek brain talking.

Either way, they didn’t have any sort of technology that I recognized, so it was either concealed, or so advanced it was beyond my comprehension.

That was a thought.

 The most advanced species in the GA was a tossup between the Vrul and the Celzex, though for different reasons.

But this was something beyond that.

It was still staring at me, and I glanced down not sure about this whole fruit thing, but I guess there was only one way to find out.

I dug my nails into the outside of the thing and began peeling away the skin. In that way it felt sort of like an orange. I watched the omnidroid while I worked, but it didn’t react negatively.

I kept peeling.

INside was slimy and wet,  but when I sniffed at it the smell was sweet, somewhere between a Kiwi and a strawberry, though its innards were a strange blue purple color.

I peeled off the rest of the skin and then took a tentative bite.

It was so sweet it made my face hurt, and my mouth water.

I swallowed just a tiny bit and waited.

And waited 

And waited.

My stomach growled.

I took another piece, and waited some more.

After about half an hour I determined that the fruit was safe, and shoved the rest of it in my mouth surprised at how hungry I was.

Once done, I picked up the rest of the skin,and shrugging, offered it to the omnidroid.

What Can I say, I wanted to be a polite guest.

It didn’t move for a little bit, an action that I wasn’t sure was hesitation or not.

But eventually it took the the scraps and headed out the door.

I was left alone again and returned to my curled position on the soft white fluff.

What was I going to do? They seemed nice enough, though if I couldn’t communicate with them this was no better than prison.

Escape was in order, though how I was going to manage to do that was a mystery.

As of right now though, I didn’t know where I was, who I was with, and what they planned on doing to me. They didn’t let me out of this room, though I wasn’t sure if that was because I was a prisoner or something else. They didn’t really treat me like a prisoner. All evidence to the contrary seemed to support the fact that they were trying to keep me alive and healthy.

Medical care and food and all.

But then again maybe they were just really nice to their prisoners most of the time?

Hmm

What would Captain Kirk do?

Probably something stupid.

What would Captain Reynolds do?

Also probably something stupid 

What would Han Solo do?

Also something pretty stupid, awesome and reckless, and he would look sexy as fuck while doing it. 

I nodded to myself. It seemed as if my course of action had been decided for me, the council had spoken, and all the great space ship captains of the past were speaking to me through the ages.

The only way I was going to get out of this was by dong something pretty stupid but awesome and reckless at the same time, bonus points if I managed to make it look sexy while I did.

Although lets be honest, that last one is a tall order for me.

Most of the time I just look like a moron 

I sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

Operation EALS-AF was underway 

(Escape Awesomely and Look Sexy AF)

[twisted-fun-funny-stories]

can I please request headcanon for Kalim,Vil,riddle and Leona with a female s/o who love the theater and preforming

This one was a bit tough because I myself do not have any experience in acting or theatre so I am going mainly based on what I remember from high school. Hope I did this correctly

Kalim Al-Asim

He loves that you are more outgoing and how much work you are willing to put in to ensure the play is a success

As an outgoing person himself that loves to express himself, he likes to have someone with a similar type of energy as him

He still remembers the first time you were on stage in a play

You were playing the heroine, a princess who only wanted to be set free from the chains of society and be themselves

He felt every emotion you went through and even realized that you were adlibbing some of the lines to make it fit the scene more

He loves your acting and he also loves that you went though every single line with tons of passion

The first time you two met face to face was when after the play, he ran up to you, shaking your hand and praising your acting

“I loved your acting! OMG! It was so great that I…I can’t even put into words! Anyways, if you want to hang out some time, come to my party! I’ll treat to rides on magic carpets and camels and also a ton of delicious food!”

He was all over the place (my poor boi got too excited)

But you decided to take up on his invite and you never regretted it

Ever since he always come to your plays and in return, you would go to his parties

The one time that you asked him to help you rehearse, you kinda regretted it because he had a hard time taking it seriously

He would either smile or laugh too much in the middle of a line or have a hard time acting sad or serious

That was probably the first time you scolded him directly because of it

But at least you know that he can always play the comedic relief sidekick when you needed him to because you know Kalim is at his best when he smiles and having fun

Vil Schoenheit

He adores that you always give your best on every performance you put on

From the makeup and the costumes to when you act on stage in front of tons of people, he can always see that you take acting seriously and that you were passionate about it

He remembers that the first time he saw your acting, you were reenacting a sad scene where the lover dies in front of you

He could care less about his eyeliner not being perfect from the tears he shed from watching you cry as you held your lover in your hands with tears running down your cheek

As you say every single line with the right amount of sadness and frustration from your supposed lover dying in your arms, Vil felt his heart break slightly

Which is the main goal of an actor is to get the emotions across in the most convincing way possible

He came up to you after the play, kissing your hand as he got on one knee and giving you a charming smile the essence of a prince character

“Your performance was one of the best I have ever seen. I never get to see actresses like you with so much passion and with grace.”

Whenever you were free, Vil always takes you to the Pomefiore dorm to teach you some makeup tips and recommend you some beauty products

With a side of warnings like “An actress always has to make sure they look like they are at their best condition” or “Never let your guard down, your beauty is one of the most important things to look after”

He also became in charge of your costumes, claiming that these old-fashioned costumes conceal the beautiful actress you are

In which he likes to design a lot of feminine clothing that match your figure and colors that match your complexion and makeup (with his own quirks in there too)

You also realize that he is also a good acting partner if you ever needed help in rehearsing

probably because you guys have that dramatic beauty queen vibe

Your heart always skips a beat whenever he plays the prince, not only because he is quite handsome (and he knows firsthand that he is) but also the way he projects his voice and the character’s personality is close to perfect

Ever play he attends to your plays, he will always wait for you with a bouquet of roses in his hand and treats you to a spa day for all the hard work you put in

Also he doesn’t tell you that he goes to all of your plays, even if he had seen it dozens of times because that’s how much he loves your acting  

Riddle Roseheart

Similar to Vil, he appreciates your passion towards theatre and acting

Although he may not share the exact passion you have, he likes how you work hard towards something you really like

He saw your first performance when you were Alice from Alice in Wonderland

Not only he loved the way you looked in the classic blue dress she wore but also how you were able to catch her curiosity through the way you interacted with each character

In his eyes, you were the only person fit to play as Alice

After the play, he came up to you with a small smile on his face

“Your performance was fantastic, I can see that you are passionate about it and I am quite pleased.”

Ever since, Riddle often invites to little tea parties where you guys just chat away with very little regard to time

Often during these chats, he makes small references to the plays you do, including Alice in Wonderland character lines where in return you respond with your character’s lines

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then” (Alice in Wonderland Quote)

When he had the time, he will come to your plays in secret, making sure that you are not aware that he is there only because he would not like to let you know that he comes to every single play you are in 

He is the type of person that if the play is based on the book, then he will go get the book to better understand the play

Or if it’s based on a movie, he would buy the movie and watch it, making note of plot and character development

Sometimes he even goes to say that either the play did not include too many of the famous lines from the book or the play did not really follow the plot as much as he wanted

But he never downplays your acting as he always states that you’re acting is perfect as ever, but rather it’s the lines or the script that do ruin it a bit

When you have a hard time grasping the character, Riddle is very good at summarizing the feelings of the situation or how the characters would react

“I think you should act more surprised here as she is not aware of the current situation. Also, when you are walking in, make note of the position of your feet. You are a proper royal lady, so you must walk like one.”

Although he will not act with you (mainly because he’s embarrassed of the difference in talent) he will be your director if you need help rehearsing, making sure you are following the script correctly

It gotten to a point where you recommend him to assist in directing if he had read the book to the play you are doing

But be warned, he tends to be a bit bossy because he just things to be perfect, but he does know when he has gone too far and will stop before it gets to that state

Leona Kingscholar

Okay initially he is not a fan (probably because he is reminded of Vil, which he is not a big fan of because they’re polar opposites)

However, he changed his mind when he happen to see you at a play being taken place in the courtyard

At first he was annoyed that the music and the actors were being too loud for him to take a nap so he decided to watch a little bit of it to see if it was worth his time

When he saw you on stage, he couldn’t take his eyes of you

The way you acted on stage is different from the other actors on stage

You have a bit of fire inside you and he really like that

One day at school, he recognized you in the halls, talking to someone and he decide to talk to you

He leaned against the wall and waited behind you until he got noticed, in which when you turned around  

You were surprised to see the dorm leader of Savanaclaw with a small smirk on his face

“Eh…so you are (y/n). I saw a bit of your performance yesterday and I must say that it’s rare to find me impressed with something.”

From then on, he would go watch your plays in secret and hang out with you outside of school when he can

He NEVER tells you that he actually watched the entire play but he would say that he got to see the iconic parts where you were in it

But you find out he was lying when one day he let it slip when you were talking about the play

For that one day, there was a problem with the lights, so it took time to fix it in the beginning, which results in delays

You were complaining about it to Leona in which Leona just nodded to show that he was listening and responded with,

Leona: “Yea, that was a disappointment, honestly they should check beforehand.”

(y/n): “But didn’t you say that you only got to watch from the middle of the play?”

Leona: “…” (got caught)

You couldn’t hide your smirk when you caught Leona in his lies and always make remarks about the time he let it slip big time

You are aware that acting is not up Leona’s alley, so you try to keep conversations about it to a minimum

But Leona reassures you that he is fine with you talking about it because he kinda likes when you go off into a long conversation about acting and theatre (as long as it’s not an everyday thing)

It reminds him of the fire he saw in you when he first saw you perform on stage and subtly encourages you to keep up with it

Though he does appreciates when you don’t babble on about a topic he particularly is not good with (*cough* *cough* Vil with makeup and fashion *cough*)

[i-will-physically-fight-you]

A Singular Cog in the Machine Chapter 3

Chapter Title: Soul and Emotion

Summary: "It was pure logic when it came down to it. Why allow harm befall the others if Logan could stop it? Surely, it was much more beneficial for only one to be harmed than for all to undergo excruciating pain and misery. A broken cog is more easily replaced than if the whole machine fell apart.“

Logan adheres to the belief that needs of the many far outweigh the needs of the one, the latter being himself. Or in other words, Logan tries to sacrifice himself for the sake of the others. Fortunately for Logan, they won’t let him get away with that.

Chapter Word-Count: 2k

Pairings: platonic lamp

Warnings: Injuries, Referenced Torture, Crying, Misunderstandings, Angst With a Happy Ending

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | End       AO3 LINK

As promised, here comes the comfort! I want to give a quick shout-out to both @delimeful and @today-only-happens-once as their own sci-fi aus helped inspire me to finish what I started with this one heh <3

-

Logan woke up alone for the first time in a long while. Approximately sixty-six cycles, five hours, thirty-two minutes, four, five, six seconds ago. 

‘Internal Clock program is running functionally,’ Logan thought as he closed his eyes, running a quick diagnosis scan. It was not...completely optimal. Parts of his code had been ravaged, leaving him vulnerable and exposed. His biological body still suffered grievous breaches. His artificial eyes were damaged, only working at 70% efficiency. 

This made viewing things from a distance rather difficult. However, it was clear enough to recognize he was not in his own quarters. Rather, he was still in the ship’s common recreation area. The “living room” as Virgil referred to it. 

He laid on the couch, swaddled in soft blankets and cushioned with a plethora of pillows. Both he expected came from Patton’s hoard in his quarters. He was almost surprised not to see a stuffed animal in the crook of his arm. The television was on, the volume lowered to only a pleasant murmur could be heard. Images of animals flashed onto the screen. A nature documentary, one that Logan had previously found to be captivatingly informative.

 “--we’ll take care of you, we’ll watch all your favorite nature documentaries, how does that sound?”

Patton had said that, he recalled. But when? He tried locating the source of the memory file. Except--

ERROR MEMORY FILE CORRUPTED.

He dug a bit deeper, finding more and more memory files in a similar disarray. He’d known this problem was occurring. But that didn’t explain the chill that swept through his body just then. A fever perhaps? No, his body temperatures remained at their normal regulated levels.

Before he could contemplate this further, his ears picked up on noises in the distance. Too far away to make it out from his position. There was a simple solution to his quandary. The ship computer. Or Odysseus as Roman insisted on calling it. He could request an audio transcript. 

Pinging...pinging...pinging…

He couldn’t reach the ship computer. That was not optimal. His only option was to investigate the noises himself.

Logic dictated he was wounded. He should remain on the couch unless absolutely necessary. He remained put, concentrating on the television. The urge to find the source of the noises would not go away. It festered, growing rapidly like a disease until he could not withstand it any longer. 

Standing up from the couch proved far more difficult than he anticipated. His torso flared in pain, his legs shaky and unstable. He gripped the side of the couch, breathing in deeply. His vision spun, distorted and decorated with bright spots of light. It took a moment for it to completely clear.

He looked down the corridor, the distance stretching into oblivion. No, that was a falsehood. It was only ten meters long. However, in his current physical state it might as well be a thousand meters.

It didn’t cause his pressing curiosity to fade in the slightest. He took a step forward, his foot stinging like pins and needles to quote an idiom of Virgil’s. He didn’t collapse. Granted, he heavily leaned onto the couch for support. He took another step forward and then another.

 He held onto the corridor wall the whole way, a small grunt of pain leaving him. The dizziness returned, but he pushed through it. All that mattered was reaching the end of the corridor. If Logan’s memory was still accurate, it should lead to the ship galley. Perhaps the others were engaged in re-energizing through fuel consumption? 

As he drew close, the noises crystallized into recognizable speech. 

“Are you sure?” Virgil’s voice asked, pointed and edged. Someone responded, much too low for Logan to catch. He gritted his teeth, propelling himself onward at an accelerated rate. His vision frizzled and crackled, everything becoming a blobby mess of colors.

“Maybe we should--Logan!” 

An arm wrapped around his waist, hoisting him up. Logan opened his mouth to protest when a wave of nausea hit him. He quickly shut it in favor of keeping his stomach contents down. The person guided him to a chair, careful and steady. He sat there, grimacing as the nausea gradually subsided from his systems.

When he glanced up again, he met the furrowed brows of Roman, Patton and Virgil. They gathered around him, forming a semi-circle. He examined them, scrutinizing every detail. His drive whirred from the amount of tests he processed in the matter of nanoseconds. Each one proving the validity of his suspicions every single time.

“You’re real.” He croaked.

They all exchanged a glance.

“Yes, we’re here Logan, you’re safe now,” Patton confirmed, laying a hand on Logan’s shoulder. A gesture meant to be reassuring except it wasn’t reassuring at all. 

“No,” Logan shook his head, “You should--cannot---I don’t--it does not make sense!”

“Why does it not make sense?” Roman asked, dropping down on one knee. He acted odd,  more muted than usual. The way his head bowed indicated a sign of exhaustion. Logan shook this thought aside in an attempt to formulate a response.

“To quote Spock from the movie Star Trek II Wrath Of Khan, ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one,’” Logan said. Upon their blank stares, he elaborated, “A singular cog in the machine is more easily replaced than if the whole machine falls apart. As the ship engineer and navigator, my role is vital but replaceable, therefore--” 

Patton drove into Logan, embracing him firmly around his middle. The titekan’s whole frame shook as deep, guttural sobs fell erupted from him. Logan blinked, almost short-circuiting from this unexpected turn of events.

“I...do not understand.” Logan admitted. He glanced up at Roman and Virgil only to find them in similar states of malfunction. 

“You colossal intelligent idiot,” Roman murmured, his face dripping with ivory tears. He shoved his head against Logan’s shoulder, placing his arms around both him and Patton. “Did you really think we could function without you?”

‘‘Yes,’’ Logan wanted to say, but he couldn’t. The word wouldn’t come out of his clenched throat. Virgil was the only one left standing at this point. He was the captain, the system administrator. He was a much-appreciated source of reality.  Surely, despite his human emotions, he understood the logic. 

“Lo,” Virgil sighed, running his hand through his hair, “When you disappeared, we searched all over the galaxy looking for you. We looked for weeks. And after we found you, we’ve been taking care of you in shifts. You know why?”

Logan shook his head.

“Because you’re not a broken cog to us. You’re more than that--you’re a kraffing sentient being. You’re--” Virgil’s voice wobbled. He inhaled harshly, pushing on, “Dammit, you’re family, Logan. And it’s cheesy but we don’t give up on one another. Never.”

“Captain Fearless is right,” Roman said, and Patton made a rumbling sound of agreement.

“Oh,” Logan managed, swallowing, “Oh.”

He’d thought so much about the others’ and their importance to the system. He analyzed and calculated it all. He saw how removing any of their variables would be detrimental. But in all his calculations, he never considered how he himself affected the equation. 

“I did not--I made a slight miscalculation--” Logan breathed in, “I am sorry.”

“No,” Virgil said, stepping closer, “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I should’ve told you, I assumed it was an understood thing. We could’ve rescued you sooner if I hadn’t second-guessed myself--”

“Virgil.” Logan said, the clenching feeling in his throat tightening. Wordlessly, he reached out a hand to Virgil. He wasn’t quite sure what he was attempting to convey. Fortunately Virgil seemed to understand. He leaned over and joined the entangling of limbs and bodies. 

‘A group hug,’ Logan’s dictionary program informed him, ‘an instance of three or more people embracing one another simultaneously, typically to provide support or express solidarity.’

They held onto one another for quite a while, not moving a single muscle. Great globs of tears were shed amongst them all; even Logan wasn’t immune to it. He rationalized it was his body reacting to the others’ emotional displays. It probably did not have to do with the strange, tingly warmth lit up inside his chest.

He would worry about this sensation if not for the melatonin in his system starting to take effect. He closed his eyes, a long intake of oxygen following this action. 

“Logan?” Patton sniffled.

“Yes?” 

“Th...there’s something we need to tell you about.”

Logan’s eyes fluttered open. He looked expectantly at Patton, waiting. The titekan opened his mouth to continue, but Virgil and Roman beat him to it.

“Patton, are you seriously going to tell him--”

“We should wait--”

“No,” Patton said, interrupting them both, “we can’t keep this from him. He deserves to know.”

It didn’t increase in volume, but Logan’s heart was the only thing roaring in his ears. Deserves to know? The only scenarios Logan could come up in his mind was his tests were faulty, wrong wrong wrong about this being real. It was all fake. A simulation, surely or worse; an experiment. The thousand eyes watching him behind a screen, shattering his hopes once more.

“Logan?” A soft hand touched his cheek, “you with us?”

“Yes,” Logan heard himself saying, “Yes, I’m here. Go on, Patton. What is it that you’d like to divulge?” 

“When we brought you back, I did a few medical scans, to try and see if there was any internal bleeding going on,” Patton hesitated, refusing to meet Logan’s eyes, “I found an AI chip in your brain.”

What? Impossible, his AI was supposed to be undetectable by scans--

“That disgusting buvah must’ve stuck it in you for the kriffs and giggles,” Roman growled, his scaled tail whipping with indignation. 

“As far we can tell, it doesn’t have a tracker,” Virgil said, “and removing it could be lethal.”

“Okay.” Logan said faintly. 

“Okay?” Roman repeated, squinting, “We just told you that you have a freaky AI chip in your brain and your response is, ‘okay?!’”

“Hey, lay off him, Princey,” Virgil hissed, “He’s been through a lot, you know that.”

“Well,” Logan began, “this is not how I expected to inform you all of the fact that I am an advanced artificial intelligence operating inside of a biological body.”

“What?!” Roman gaped at him. Virgil and Patton also stared at him, showing similar signs of duress. 

“I did not think it was imperative intel as it did not negatively impact my performance as neither an engineer or navigator.” Logan said. And while it was true, it was also a bit of a lie. The reality was that most people seemed to be wary of AIs. This was why he chose to clothe himself with a biological body to blend in, so to speak. All it took was working lungs and a beating heart for others to respect and listen as illogical as that may be.

“I admit, that perhaps that was another lapse of judgment on my part. I understand if knowing this...makes you uncomfortable,” Logan added, a weird twisting feeling settling in his gut. Perhaps he was ill? He could not find himself to meet their gazes. He tried not thinking about how that was a sign of nervousness. He was not nervous, after all, AIs do not get nervous.

“Freaky?” Roman let out a high-pitched laugh, “did I say freaky? I meant to say there’s a freaking fantastic AI chip in your brain.”

“I agree,” Patton chirped up, “You could almost say that he’s too cute to compute!”

Now it was Logan’s turn to gape at them. “It really does not bother any of you?”

“It’s like I said,” Virgil told him, a small smirk growing on his lips, “you’re family. We love you, AI or not.”

Logan blinked, slowly processing the others--no, his family’s words. It didn’t make sense. His systems struggled putting it in neat, quantifiable boxes. He feared trying would only result in his systems crashing. For once, however, he found it didn’t matter that didn’t need to make sense.

So his response to this was purely logical. In ways Logan refused to elaborate or share even within himself.

“I...find you all sufficient as well.”

[astranne]

Miraculous and The Light (HC)

Ok, so. This HC is based on this idea. It’s a miraculous x dc crossover and one of the best ideas, I’ve read recently. I really liked it and this is why I’m forcing myself to write my ideas down. 

Before we start the HC, I need to clear some things. Marinette becomes the guardian in age of 13, the kwami are teaching her as good as they can. Luka has the snake miraculous, Chloé the bee (but new costume), Kagami the dragon (again new costume) and Adrien is Chat Noir. Alix has the bunny and Kim the ape miraculous. (The two are chaos and they smelled Lila’s bullshit before she came back the second time). They deal with Hawkmoth as good as they can and they do good. Until Lila does her shit again. She manipulates Alya, which leads also Nino to be one of her followers and since Adrien is his best friend, he starts to listen to Lila. He becomes obsessed with Ladybug and her identity. The team doesn’t really notice, since it’s subtle and slowly becoming worse. So, now let’s start with the HC.

The Team protects Paris, Marinette is the leader

The situation becomes worse, the akumas take longer to defeat

They try to contact the JL, but nobody listens

And Chat Noir comes lesser to the fights, claiming his privat life is stressfull

At first, everybody understands, but it doesn’t stop and Chat becomes like a bad behaved child/brat 

Lila causes another Hero Day, the Team almost looses. Chat Noir didn’t show up and the Team is angry. Chloé is ready to skin a cat

After the Hero Day, they accidentally reveal their idtities. Their group becomes closer, everybody can see, they work even better now. 

Chat is envy

And Tikki is angry. No, scratch that. She’s mad. This boy could’ve been such a good cat, and now this?! 

Since Plagg is her opposite, and she’s the one of Plagg, they keep each other in balance. And they aren’t in balance at all. She takes over Marinette (while she is Ladybug) and starts to rip Chat/Adrien in shreds

Whole Paris witness this and is terrified. Who knew Ladybug had such power? 

Chat tries to save his face/life/’hero’ persona, but since Marinette is the guardian, she stripps him of his Miraculous, while Tikki wipes out his memories. Adrien’s former friends are sad, but also glad, they have one problem less

But now. Since Tikki used her more of her powers, some people notice, such as Klarion. He’s the server of chaos, but keeps in balance with creation. And the two aren’t balanced at all.

He talks to the Light, and surprise, surprise. Ra’s al Ghul and Vendal Savage felt it too

They begin to search and are surprised, that so many miraculous are active. The Light digs deeper and Vendal is very close getting up and burn Paris down. And take Hawkmoth with it

The inner circle of the Light (Vendal Savage, Klarion, Ra’s al Ghul, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke (there are still more members, but I will explain shortly))

Now, their primar goal is not to take over the world, or make everyone ‘see the light’. That’s what the ‘lesser’ members think (the ones, who are not in the inner circle) They want to keep the balance in the world, keep ‘peace’. But they know, it can’t be always peace, with creation there comes always destruction (Tikki and Plagg are totally their inspiration and mentors or whatever you could call that) And for this, they don’t always do ‘good’ things, like heroes do

Bc of this, every hero, every other villian thinks, that the light is bad. It’s a very good cover and so they can hide their true plans. So, the inner circle sends Black Manta after the Young Justice (the season 2 happens here) and go to Paris. 

They find the miraculous users while fighting an amok and an akuma and are impressed. Clearly, most of them have no training and they hold themself formidable. 

The inner circle talks with the team, which is wary. But then the kwamis recognize them and the teenagers (probably 15?) are so glad, that they finally have help. Not the one they expected, but still help

Vendal was one the first guardian, a simple man and then blessed by Tikki and Plagg. He trained other guardians and miraculous users until he almost died

Ra’s al Ghul was once a dragon, but also used the cat miraculous. This is the reason, why he can use the lazarus pit and isn’t mad

Klarion knows about the kwamis, the first gods, often makes rituals and such stuff. But he never saw a miraculous before

Deathstroke knows about the miraculous, but never knew, what power they truly hold

Lex Luthor knew about them too

The team is offered a traditional training with the League and since they are all true holders, they will master it faster than anyone before. Vendal wants to train Marinette as the guardian, after she finished hers with Ra’s. Deathstroke will be their mentor and Klarion will teach them in magic. 

Lex takes them under his wing, teaching them about buisness, money, politics and manipulating

They train and fight Hawkmoth for two years. Sometimes, Vendal takes over as Chat Noir, sometimes Ra’s, to keep Marinette and Tikki balanced. But they need to find her true holder, which isn’t that easy, while they are still in training and fighting

The team is around 17/18, when they finally defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura. The major of Paris and the president of France tell the world finally the truth about the situation (world is shocked (especially when they hear, that the Justice League didn’t help))

Now, the heroes want to help, after Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Dr. Fate, as well Zatanna, kicked their asses for being dumb bitches. When Batman doesn’t stop (he’s an ass sometimes, but I don’t hate him) they threaten to leave the JL. He doesn’t belive it and suddendly he has 4 members less. 

The four go to Paris, even when there is a heroes ban. They offer their alliance, but keep their distance, which everyone is glad. 

Since Hawkmoth and his sidechick have been defeated, the Miraculous Team retires. Or so everybody thinks. 

They all leave Paris, letting their friends and family think they have a job/go on vacation (Kagami and Luka fake their death, Marinette too) 

Lila is smug, bc she thinks, she won, since Alix and Kim just leave and Chloé is a weeping mess

The six go to the League, where they learn new/more things and become the elite squad of Ra’s. 

(Ra’s is totally a proud parent, who shows, how much his kids are better than anyones. Well, as good as he can with his stoic face)

The six still use their miraculous, but have new costumes (darker colors, mostly black) 

And so life goes on, until the JL and the YJ attack the light. They take many hits, loose many bases and the first time, the heroes meet the squad

The six are just called ‘the squad’. They switch miraculous, so the heroes don’t make connections. 

(Marinette is White (rabbit), while Chloé is Red (dragon), Kagami is Brown (monkey), Alix is Blue (snake), Kim is Scarlett (ladybug), Luka is Black (cat)) Over their costumes, they wear a typical League uniform. 

They totally rip the heroes apart

Anyway. The JL and YJ are wary about the sqaud, they all know, they are deadly. Some think, even deadlier than Deathstroke. 

After the attack, the squad meets Lady Shiva and Talia al Ghul

And her new pet project

You already know it. Jason Todd

His mind is fucked up, he doesn’t remember much until this woman in red smiles at him and just hugs him? Girl, this is the league?! 

Jason is totally Marinette’s black cat. 

He’s suddenly being trained (can you imagine a confused Jason Todd, trained by Vendal, Klarion and the rest of the team? Bc I do) and partnered with Plagg, who absolutly loves his new holder. There is so much chaos in him, he even survived the pit!

The squad goes on mission, mostly to mess with the JL, who notice, there is a new member. And oh shit- he destroys everything. And there Superman curmbles to ash... (no worries, he’s brought back)

Jason isn’t trying to kill Bruce, well, he still fights against Batman, but he doesn’t want him dead (the heroes think, the squad tries to kill them)

Some years pass (I have no idea, what happens in season 3 (Young Justice) since I didn’t have the time to watch it) the miraculous slowly become balanced again and the team is doing great

Until Talia snitches Bruce (bc she’s a little bitch) that Jason is alive. Not only that, he’s a part of the squad. Ra’s personally tries to kill his daughter- bc no Talia! You can’t just go and tell secrets! (silently crusing in many languages about the balance and how his own daughter betrayes him) He’s so angry, that he disowns his daughter and claims 7 year old Damian as his heir.

Bruce tries to hunt Jason down, but no success

Marinette takes Damian under her wing and gives him the miraculous of the tiger (Damian is so proud, that he’s a true holder). She and Jason become somewhat his parents, just like the rest of the team

Alix and Kim are totally together, as well Cloé and Kagami, while Luka has a on/off relationship with Lady Shiva, who is the true holder to the fox miraculous

Talia attacks the league, when Damian is 10 and takes him to his father

Damian hides the miraculous and Roarr, but Alfred knows. He always knows. (Totally cliche, but he’s the true holder to the peacock)

Damian acts like a brat like in canon, but can be such a softy

But only with his true family

Jason moves to Gotham, becomes the Red Hood, while Marinette becomes Scarlett (his partner) 

The rest of the squad starts to recruit new holders and start to train them, often visited by Jason and Marinette

One tragic night, Batman fights against Red Hood, almost kills him, when Scarlett breaks his arm. Robin (Damian) comes to help, freezes, when he sees his family. He stops fighting, takes a deep breath and turns to his father.

Batman is confused, but then Robin says, that this is Jason, the second Robin and that he will not fight family

Batman lashes out, being an idiot, talking some nonsense about Jason being a criminal and suddenly Robin disapears. The big bat thinks, his kid went home 

Well, he does, but not the Manor. He follows Jason and Marinette and sleeps a night there. 

Then his father starts to search him (Damian) and finds him with Jason

Totally a fight there

Until Alfred comes and makes them to sit down and talk

Jason explains everything, telling Bruce, that the squad doesn’t exist anymore, bc of Talia.

He causally says, that Marinette is his girlfriend, that they somewhat adopted Damian, after Talia was banned.

Bruce tries to wrap his head around this, but slowly accept this new part of his family

It takes some time, but Jason (Red Hood) and Marinette (Scarlett) become a part of the Batfam

They lead the new Miraculous Team in secret, keep in contact with the inner circle of the light

This goes well, until Tim finds out. 

Bruce lashes out again, bc what the fuck- his own child and his wife (they married) are spying for the light?! He tought they destroyes that damned organisation

Damian runs with them

They go to Nanda Parbat, where they meet the new recruits. 

Now, every kwami has a true holder

Balance is perfect as it can be 

Two years later, Bruce still tries to find Damian, in the hope, he isn’t with his older brother and his wife

He still is

Then Ra’s has enough of this drama, talks with the inner circle of the light and the kwamis

Kidnaps the batfam

Explains everything

Like everything

Slowly the batfam understands

Bruce is so proud that two of his sons are true holders, one of them literally can control chaos

The batfam starts to help the inner circle of the light, the other members think, this heroes finally saw the light

I can totally see the lesser memebers dumbfounded faces, when the whole Batfam shows up

Vendal starts to explain

“Batman was trained under Ra’s al Ghul himself, Batwoman followed.”

“Nightwing was trained by Deathstroke.”

“Red Hood was trained by Lady Shiva, Deathstroke and Ra’s al Ghul and is a former member of the squad.”

“Scarlett was trained by myself, Ra’s al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Deathstroke and Batman. She was the leader of the squad.”

“Red Robin was trained, like all the other Robins, by Batman. Lady Shiva took him under his wing for some time.”

“Signal was trained by Batman, Red Hood and Scarlett.”

“Batgirl was trained under Batman, Nightwing and Scarlett.”

“Black Bat grew up in the League and is the daughter of Lady Shiva.”

“Robin is my grandson and the son of Batman. He was trained under Scarlett and Red Hood, when they still were in the squad.”

(Did I forget someone?)

Gaping villians

But when Vendal says, that Batman will be part of the inner circle, as well Red Hood and Scarlett. they loose their absolute shit. 

They fought the whole time with their allies??

Vendal then also says, that this will be the last meeting and they will all forget, that the Batfam is a part of the light

“Well... we can’t take risks, can’t we? We don’t want to repeat an incident with the Young Justice again... because of this, only the members of the inner circle will remember our prupose and the light itself.” 

Batman then says to the JL, that he will leave the League, since this is going nowhere

The Batfamily is now officially a hero group and more loved than the JL, bc they don’t destroy much in their fights and if they do, Bruce Wayne pays. They keep in the shadows, which means, no civilians hurt AND many villians retire, when they hear, that Batman will fully remain in Gotham. They don’t try anything, bc he always seems to know

Okay... this is much more, than I acutally wanted to write and in the end, it didn’t came out as I first thought. But I hope you still like it, bc I like this version better

And it’s in the middle of the night, so if there are any mistakes... I don’t care :)

Masterlist

[wisdomrays]

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: What is the Point of Worship, and Why Does it Have to Be Done in a Certain Way?: Part 1

Consider our position in this universe. We are neither omnipotent nor self-sufficient, and so have needs, many of which we cannot satisfy. We are weak and vulnerable, and subject to worry, illness, and other negative events. When we look at the sheer abundance of animate and inanimate things around us, as well as their tremendous harmony and order, we cannot help but reflect on our own frailty and relative insignificance. This realization awakens a deeply embedded need to acknowledge the Divine and to worship the great mysterious power that controls everything. Since whatever we can see and touch is both transient and dependent on something else, it is unworthy of our worship, for logic dictates that behind them is a Supreme Being, a Transcendent Will guiding and controlling everything. This Being, therefore, must be the goal of our worship.

Reflecting more carefully on existence, we see the all-encompassing lawfulness and order of things and events, as well as their uniformity, regularity, and obedience to an All-Powerful Will. We thus become aware of the fact that everything has a part in that lawfulness and order. That part is its purpose or duty. As we realize that each one of us is also just a part, we conclude that each individual's existence cannot be a purposeless accident; rather, each individual has a specific purpose and duty to fulfil.

In aesthetic terms, we can never emulate the beauty of creation. From our own form to the vigorous and lively beauty of the innumerable forms and colors surrounding us, not to mention the those of the stars and planets, everything causes a strong desire within us to know the Creator. It is as if everything were designed and produced elsewhere and then simply placed before us so that we could marvel at them while using and benefiting from them. The world is presented as a richly laid table of foods and ornaments for our use. As we reach for any item, we inevitably sense the Giver's presence, and so experience an even greater joy and wonder.

In religious terms, such sentiments and conceptions aroused in human consciousness, as it were by nature, are a stage in acknowledging the Beautiful Names and Attributes of the Creator making Himself known through His creation. Every blessing, excellence, and beauty speaks of the one who made it possible. Every system, balance, and order indicates the one who established and sustains it. In sum, we naturally feel grateful for what God has provided and so worship Him in response to His making Himself known.

Based on this, the Mu'tazilis and (to some extent) the Maturidis, say that even in the absence of Prophets or guides, we should be able to gain some knowledge of God by observing the universe and then act accordingly. There is some evidence to support this argument. Before Islam, many people, including Muhammad, were born and lived in Makkah, the heartland of Arab paganism and idolatry. No one showed them the way to God or spoke to them of the Oneness of God (tawhid). And yet history records the remarks of a desert nomad of that time: "Camel droppings point to a camel's existence. Footprints on the sand tell of a traveler. Heaven with its stars, the Earth with its mountains and valleys, and the sea with its waves—don't they point to the All-Powerful, Knowing, Wise, and Caring Maker?"

If even a simple bedouin could understand this much, what about others? What about Muhammad, who one day would be appointed to deliver God's final Revelation? Long before the Revelation began, he understood the world's reality, perceived the Truth (al-Haqq) in the grand Book of the Universe, and began to search for it. Taking refuge in Hira cave, he devoted himself to worship. 'A'isha, narrating directly from Khadija, said that he gave himself up to prayer, only occasionally coming home for provisions. This might indicate that we can reach some degree of knowledge and so worship God.

Zayd ibn 'Amr, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab's uncle, reached a similar understanding. Although he died before Muhammad's Prophethood, he intuitively felt the truth of Islam in the air, as well as the meaning and significance of Prophet Muhammad's coming. As he lay dying, he called his family members and said: "The light of God is on the horizon. I believe it will emerge fully very soon. I already feel its signs over our heads." Addressing God, he continued: "O Great Creator! I have not been able to know You thoroughly. Had I known, I would have put my face upon the ground before You and never raised it in quest of Your pleasure."

[lastluvbug]

Dude your little fool me once and twice series just stabbed me I'm the feels like, dude I am legit crying. XD WE NEED SOME FLUFF IN THIS PIECE SO ITS UP TO ME TO REQUEST SOMETHING! (if you are willing to do it you don't have to just saying.) So can you do a request where the MC (Yuu) has had a stressful day after dealing with some bullies that she has been trying not to tell anyone about but Kalim and Jamil end up finding out. What will they do?

Ahh!! Thank you thank you for the ask! Of course I’m willing to do it!

Warnings: Bullying

Desert Flower

“Fgnaaaaaaa!!!”

Yuu was roughly torn from her ever enigmatic dreaming by a scratchy scream and a distinct flush of heat to her side.

Yelping through her disorientation, she pushed herself away from the source of the burning, rubbing her eyes to clear away the sleep induced fuzziness. “G-Grim! Hey, what’s wrong?!” She cried, hands hovering just above the cat-like creature who was writhing on the bed, blue flame encircling him.

“Grim! Wake up! You’re having a nightmare!” She took the monster into her arms, biting back a wince as her hands were scorched by the heat, fading after a second as Grim’s eyes snapped open.

“Yuu...! Yuu, he was going to eat me!” He sobbed, cuddling into her embrace.

“Who? What was happening in your dream?”

“It was Jamil’s shadow! He looked so hungry, like he was going to...”

Yuu wanted to laugh, but she smiled softly instead, smoothing out Grim’s fur and petting lightly over his ears, quelling his hysteria. “It wasn’t real. I thought you were a great hero! A hero’s not afraid of anything, right?” She tempted, playing with his small paws.

“Absolutely! I-I’m not afraid of some silly monster!” Grim agreed, taking Yuu’s bait. She was going to reply, when a loud rumbling promptly shut her down, making her laugh briskly. “...But I am scared of this appetite! I’m starving, let’s eat!” He cheered, throwing a curled paw up.

“Hmph, so brave...” She sighed, setting Grim down, “go on down. I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay~!”

Grim leapt off the bed, mumbling something Yuu couldn’t quite catch as he left, kicking the door shut behind him.

Giggling at her friend’s antics, the smile was quickly forgotten as her hands began to sting, sharp as first but easing as she relaxed the muscles. Peering down at the soft skin, she groaned at the cherry red sight, slightly swollen and puffy from the burns they suffered. “Guess I have to be even more careful than before... just until this heals up, that is.”

Yuu was cautious as she stood from the bed and fixed her uniform, brushing out her hair and changing her sleepwear. She hesitated briefly as she glanced herself over in the mirror above the forever unlit fireplace, cringing at her face.

It was apparent she hadn’t gotten enough sleep, as usual, even without Grim’s little interruption. Further still, perhaps unnoticeable by anyone besides her, a dark, defeated darkness twisted her lips in a frown, her bright eyes dimmed with an unnamed melancholy.

She knew the reason why. She knew the reason why she hesitated in every class, why she started eating less and less, why it was becoming difficult to look anyone in the eye.

Pushing the room door open silently, Yuu headed down the hall, flexing her hands slowly in front of her as she sucked in a sharp breath. “That sure looks painful, did the kitty do that to you?” Yuu screamed at the sudden intrusion, jumping back a few feet as she glared at the ghost.

“Do you absolutely need to do that?” She scolded, growling.

“What do you want me to do? Wear a bell and jingle everywhere I go?” The chubby ghost joked, laughing heartily at Yuu’s unimpressed expression. “My concern is real, y’know. I’m not sure you should leave today, especially if you’re going to be hounded by those bullies again.”

Yuu flinched, clenching her fist despite the screaming pain that followed. That one had been her accident.

Ever since arriving at NRC, Yuu was accutely aware of her misplacement, both because of her gender and because of her lack of magical abilities. As if the self doubt wasn’t enough, it wasn’t long before some of the students made the same realization, and used it against her in the worst ways. Tormenting her, they called her names, ridiculed her, broke her down inch by inch.

It wasn’t until she happened to stumble upon a certain pair of classmates that she found a way to cope. She couldn’t remember exactly how she met Kalim Al-Asim and Jamil Viper, but could vaguely recall bumping into the shorter during lunch, earning a snide remark from the vice and a carefree laugh from the head. From there, she found herself spending more and more time with the duo, eventually earning the trust and friendship from them, though it took a while to break down Jamil’s guard.

That was how she managed to hide her secret for so long. She’d met so many people, made so many friends, but none like Kalim and Jamil. She knew that they had a full plate as it was, but adding her problems to it? No way, she wanted to prove that she could handle herself, that she could stand up and face the problem head on.

So one night after a particularly cruel session of verbal abuse, she tucked Grim into bed, rushed to the rundown lounge, and cried. She was sure to be quiet, covering her mouth with her hands and suppressing her whimpers, but cried nonetheless, completely unaware of the ghosts that watched.

When they emerged from the shadows to comfort her, that was when Yuu spilled her troubles, pleading with them to keep it a secret.

“I’ll be fine! After all, I’ll just do what I always do; works like a charm!” Yuu waved him off, shrugging the memory away.

“...Yuu. It’s not healthy to hide these things. Maybe you should tell someone.” He suggested, brows creased.

“No! I can handle this on my own. Now, thank you for your time, but I should be getting to Grim and class. Bye!”

“Just be safe!” The ghost warned, fading back into the walls as Yuu hopped down the steps.

She didn’t respond as she caught Grim in the kitchen, shoveling tuna into his mouth as she laughed. The almost unbearable heat of hunger flooded her gut, but pressing a hand to her stomach and swallowing thickly, she pushed it away. Not now.

“Come on, Grim! I want to go meet Kalim and Jamil!” Yuu smiled, bending over as she placed her hands delicately on her knees.

“Fgna... go yourself, I’m busy.” Grim refused, licking out the rest of the can.

“U-Uh, alright! See you later!” Yuu stammered, feigning bliss as she headed out, crossing her arms defensively across her torso.

As she trudged down Main Street, she glanced around anxiously, heart skipping a beat as sweat beaded on her temples. It wasn’t often she was this nervous, only the times when she was utterly alone in the open. Her bullies never targetted her when she was with someone else, aware that she had a way of guarding herself with another person.

Yuu was climbing the steps to the school building when she noticed them; the four boys leaning against the doors. “Well, looky looky! Up bright and early for the day, birdie?” One of them crowed, making her cringe at the use of the distasteful nickname.

She could recognize them by the colors of their arm bands. Two were from Savanaclaw, one from Heartslabyul, and one from Pomefiore, each with their own way of ripping her self esteem to shreds. “Please leave me alone.” She clipped, keeping her gaze to the concrete.

“Bowing your head? Please, even Riddle could pull off a better act.” Heartslabyul sneered, kicking off the wall.

“No no, I think it suits her,” one of the Savanaclaw lackeys croned, “prey should know their place.”

“You’ll never be like us. You’re just a little girl, meant to serve and nothing more.” The other added.

“And with that face? She’d be lucky to find a man at all!” Pomefiore finished, drowning the staircase in wicked laughter. “Lose a few pounds and we’ll talk, sweetie!”

Yuu grabbed at the hem of her shirts, absorbing every comment, eyes unfocused and blurry. Bearing through the abuse yet again, she pushed through the boys now crowded around her, entering the building and shutting them out.

“It’s not true, it’s not true, it’s not true,” Yuu whispered to herself, covering her ears with her burnt hands as she followed the scent of breakfast to the cafeteria, pleasantly illuminated with the lantern light.

She hadn’t even taken a step inside when she heard the call, beckoning. “Yuu~! Over here!”

Yuu looked up, dropping her hands as she met the eternally smiling face of Kalim, arm above his head as he waved her over, Jamil pinching the bridge of his nose in embarrassment at the scene. Wiping her upset look off, she redrew a cheeky grin onto her glower, refilling her eyes with joy.

“Hey Kalim, Jamil! What’re you up to this morning?” She prompted, feeling a warmth build in her stomach.

“Eh, the usual. Breakfast.” Kalim responded, gesturing to his plate. “Jamil made it all, so it’s super healthy and delicious!”

“Ha, I’m sure it is!” Yuu nodded, revealing her pearly whites in a grin. It faltered as her gut grumbled, quietly enough to only be felt by her.

“Would you like some, Yuu? There’s plenty to go around.” Jamil offered, setting his silverware aside. “I’ll get a plate if you’d—“

“No thanks! I’m alright!” Yuu all too quickly deflected, digging her nails into her thighs.

“Hm? Are you certain? It wouldn’t be a bother.” Jamil pursued, Yuu feeling yet another hunger-caused groan arising in her torso.

“Yep—you know me! I’ll eat later, I’m not very hungry right now.” She lied.

“...If you insist.” Jamil conceded, resuming his meal.

The only thing ringing within Yuu’s ears was the hurtful smear on her body; she’d always believed she was beautiful, inside and out. It didn’t matter that she had her flaws, everyone did, she loved herself. Until someone took those flaws and paraded around like her feelings didn’t matter.

“So Yuu, what are you doing after school today?” Kalim asked, surfacing Yuu from her abyssal mind.

“Hm? Oh... nothing, I think. Why?” She played with her hands, and the feeling of aching soreness that occurred whenever she wiggled her fingers.

“Kalim and I have a freed schedule. I was curious as to know if you’d like to join us later, maybe for a board game or two?” Jamil smiled mischievously.

“Uh—yes! I’d love an excuse to see you two show off your rivalry!” Yuu joked, repressing her urge to eat.

“It’s settled then. We’ll come get you after class.”

“Yeah, and don’t be late! I’m so ready to kick Jamil’s ass in Mancala!”

“How many times must I defeat you in that game to drill it into your thick skull that I’m better than you?”

Kalim merely broke out into a fit of giggles, the joy rather infectious as Yuu joined in, even earning a small grin from Jamil at the absurd banter.

It was a blink before the bell rung, and as she parted from the oppositional duo, Yuu strongly regretted turning down the meal. Her stomach was knotted, groaning as it ate away at itself, sickeningly warm and unpleasant.

“Yuu! Wait for me! I’m not big enough to walk that fast!” Grim ushered behind her, panting as he ran on his short legs to catch up.

“Ah, Grim! Did you enjoy the rest of your food?”

“Obviously! There’s something just so enticing about fish, don’t you think?”

Yuu gave an awkward smile. “Uh, sure...” She lifted him into her arms, carrying him gingerly as to not disturb her burns, which were still hidden away from her animal-esque companion.

Taking a seat in her normal spot, Yuu felt the unmistakable sense of eyes trained on her, and spun around, looking for the source. When she found it, she recoiled, tilting her head downwards as if to hide her presence behind the curtain of hair that fell around her daintily beautiful face.

Two of her harassers sat a little ways behind her, glaring as they snickered, attentive to Yuu’s semi-vulnerable position. Still, with that fire breathing raccoon, they couldn’t do anything to her directly.

Yuu could barely focus on the class, with the combined forces of physical pain and mental distress working to keep her very preoccupied. Even reminders from Mr. Trein didn’t snap her from her internal stupor, though she knew her bullies were cruelly ridiculing her every time she received a clip from the teacher.

The worst part was, there was no escaping it. In every period, it seemed like the problem was chasing her. She couldn’t avoid those judgemental glowers, or the hushed lampooning that always managed to hit so close to home.

Like most other days, Yuu skipped lunch, her stomach now having gone quiet thanks to the use of her continued starvation. She sat with Grim, joking lightly as she watched him eat, wishing she could do the same without the guilty thought of ruining her body.

And, through hour after hour, the school day ended with a piercing ring, all students being dismissed with an armful of homework and an array of deadlines, Yuu included. “I’m beat! I just want to go home!” Grim cried, stretching. He started to walk away, but stopped when Yuu didn’t follow. “Coming?”

“Uh, n-not today! Kalim and Jamil are going to walk me over to their dorm.” Yuu explained, leaning against the doorframe. “You could come with us, if you wanted.”

“And sit around, watching you do God-knows-what? No thanks. I’m heading back to the safety of my kitchen.” He refused, uninterested.

“Oh wait! Then... could you take these with you?” She held out her homework, significantly less than the average student thanks to her lack of magical prowess, but still enough to take up a good chunk of her free time.

“Eh? Why can’t you do it yourself?”

“Because I want to be here when Kalim and Jamil show up! And besides, the Great Grim can handle such a little job, right?”

“Man, I hate when you use that as you excuse...” Grim sighed, taking the papers, “but of course I can! Now I’ll be off. See ya later, Yuu!” He hopped off, leaving Yuu in the dead silence.

The feeling from earlier that day returned, hands becoming clammy, heart rate accelerating, and limbs becoming stiff as Yuu stood. She despised being alone, especially because she knew the situation she was in, but her stubbornness turned away any thought of asking for help. She couldn’t do that, and let her friends believe she was too weak to face her own problems!

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing outside that classroom, but as soon as those brawny figures emerged from thr shadows, she wished for nothing more than to dart into it. Fear kept her paralyzed, even as they trapped her in a circle, back preser to the wall. “All alone? Do you never learn from your mistakes? How dense can you be?”

“Please, stop. Haven’t you done enough?!” Yuu fought, never once making eye contact.

“Done enough? You’re lucky we’ve been this kind to you!” One of them laughed, earning grunts from the rest.

“Kind? You think calling me names and criticizing me is kind?” She didn’t know where this confidence came from, but she felt her adrenaline spike because of it.

She was finally going to stand up for herself.

<————>

“Ahh! I hope Yuu’s okay! I sure got an earful from Mr. Crewel...” Kalim worried, rubbing the back of his head.

“Only because your such a dunce,” Jamil rolled his eyes, “I’m sure she’s fine. She’s been a little... off as of late, but we’ll sort that out when we’re back at the dorms.”

“I know, I know... ugh, I’m going to go on ahead! I need to apologize!” Kalim decided, jogging to meet up with Yuu.

He’d screwed up a potion in class, earning a huge mess to clean and a lecture from Mr. Crewel as a reward, Jamil staying behind to help despite Kalim’s protests against it.

Rounding the corner, Kalim froze midstep, darting behind the wall once again to listen in on the event he stumbled upon.

Yuu stood with her back to the wall, face hidden in her hands as a group of four surrounded her, laughing. “No more spunk? I thought you wanted to fight back, birdie!”

Yuu didn’t respond as she sobbed, a pitiful sound that cracked the dorm leader’s heart into pieces.

Kalim quickly assessed the situation, identifying the four boys. He was more than aware of the fact that if he charged straight in, a fight would occur, and he was outmatched. The best thing he could do was get help.

Spinning on his heel with guilt encumbering his steps, he silently darted away, racing back to Jamil. “J-Jamil! Yuu needs help!” Kalim panted, pointing to down the hall.

The usually stoic vice flinched, eyes widening as he stumbled back a step. “What do you mean?” He asked hurriedly.

“Yuu, she’s—just get down there and keep them busy! I’m going to get Headmaster Crowley!”

“Got it! Be quick!” Jamil nodded, rushing down the corridor, silently forming a plan. He didn’t know who “they” were, or how many he was facing, but he knew he had a not so secret weapon he could use if worse comes to worse.

Darting out from the end of the hall, Jamil was almost half convinced that he was going to see nothing, but was proven sorely wrong when he realized the position Yuu was in.

“Just leave me alone!” She screamed, trying to swat away the enclosing boys around her.

“Oh, the gusto! Think you can hit back now?” A Savanaclaw flunkey grabbed Yuu’s hand roughly, making her cry out.

Like a lightning bolt, Jamil lurched forward, moving with an unmatched agility as he grabbed the unsuspecting student’s shirt, yanking him away as he protectively held Yuu, her face buried in his chest as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” He growled lowly, eyes clouded with a dark rage.

<————>

Yuu wasn’t sure where it went wrong.

One minute she had the confidence to face her foes, the next, tears were streaming down her rosy cheeks as she hid behind her hands.

Just after the bully roughly seized her hand, her burns sending stabbing agony down her arms, she was suddenly pressed close to someone’s chest, their grip tight enough to show their anger.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” She recognized that voice, and the animosity it was thick with.

“So the birdie really did get help! Took long enough.”

“You’ll do well to refrain from speaking like that,” Jamil warned, a hand snaking into Yuu’s hair, “lest you wish for your own defeat.”

“Big talk. What’s someone so scrawny like you going to do anyways? Hiss at me, Viper?”

“Yuu, get behind me and cover your eyes,” Jamil whispered, releasing his grip on her. She did as she was told, though trembling slightly.

“You four worms will fall to your knees and bow to me, your master. Snake Whisper.” Yuu listened to the sultry tone of Jamil’s voice, cognizant of the sheer power his unique magic carried.

The sound of grunts and bodies hitting the floor echoed in the tall corridors, and Jamil turned around, practically crushing Yuu in a warm embrace. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

“J-Jamil... I—“ Yuu silenced herself with a hiccup, wrapping her arms around Jamil’s bigger frame, who responded by running a hand through her hair gently, shushing her cries.

“Yuu, Jamil!” She looked over Jamil’s shoulder, seeing Kalim rushing towards her, Crowley following close behind. “Hey, are you okay?!” He demanded, placing a hand on her shoulder as she broke away from Jamil.

“N-Not really...” She was finally truthful, wiping away a new wave of tears.

“Excuse me. What happened here?” Crowley snapped, arms crossed as he glared through his mask.

“I believe I may know. Kalim, please take Yuu back to Scarabia, I’ll meet you there when I’m finished taking care of this.” Yuu cringed at the end, imgination running wild at the implications.

“Roger that. See you.” Kalim too seriously answered. He extended his hand to Yuu, who hesitantly shook her hear. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Kalim asked, red eyes brimmed with unnatural worry as they walked farther and farther from the four boys.

“My hands...” Yuu trailed off, revealing her burns for the first time that day. Kalim stopped, taking her wrists as opposed to her hands to avoid agitating the sensitive area. His skin felt smooth and cool, somewhat calming her heartbeat.

“Did they do this to you?”

“No, I did. It was an accident this morning.” Yuu explained quietly, keeping her head low.

“Hey,” Kalim said softly. He let go of her wrists, hooking a finger under her chin to tilt her head up. “You’re safe now. Come on, let’s get those burns healed.”

“Alright...”

<————>

Snuggling into the plush pillows at her back, Yuu sipped from her tea in the Scarabia lounge, lit by a few unscented candles, courtesy of Kalim.

It was a sweet, minty flavor that warmed her core, tears dried for the time being as she drank, wincing every so often at the enhanced sting in her palms.

“Can I see your hands, Yuu?” Kalim asked, sitting on his knees before her, a small container of something placed gingerly on the floor.

“Sure,” she nodded, setting her cup down as she exposed them to him. She sucked in a breath, they looked so much worse than that morning. Candy red and splotchy, it was inevitable that they’d crack and blister eventually.

Twisting open the cap, Yuu eyed the cloudy cream within, watching intently as Kalim dipped his fingers in, scooping out a little and smearing it on her palms, to which she smiled as the pain was relieved to some of extent. “Aloe vera. Jamil would always put it on my skin whenever I got burned.” Kalim revealed, grinning as he capped the container.

Yuu hummed, flexing her hands as Kalim watched, silently debating. “Yuu... how long have they been hurting you?” He said at last, fisting the floor.

“T-They... since before I met you.”

Kalim gasped. “What? Why didn’t you talk to me—or Jamil?! We would’ve helped you! We could’ve—“

“I didn’t want to seem weak!” Yuu shouted, silencing Kalim. “I wanted to show you I could handle myself... that I can be strong, like you guys! That I... that I...” She sniffled, using the back of her hands to block the tears that now threatened to fall.

“Oh, Yuu...” Kalim softened, scooting so close that their knees touched. He pried her arms away all too easily, threading his larger hands in the softness of her hair as his palms laid over her cheeks, wet with water. “I promise, I promise, I’d never see you like that. Never. It doesn’t matter if it’s daytime, noon, or night, always rely on me. I’m here, Jamil is here, and we care about you so, so much.”

At that, Yuu openly cried, grabbing onto his sleeves despite the fresh cream painted over her flesh. Kalim pressed his forehead to hers, using his thumbs to wipe away the glistening beads, hushing her sobs tenderly.

Kalim’s ears perked up as he heard approaching footsteps, looking over his shoulders to see Jamil, knuckles reddened as his glare morphed into a look of pity. Extending an arm, Kalim invited him over silently, to which he accepted.

Yuu’s eyes opened as she sensed someone kneel beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders like before. “They told me everything. I gave them what they deserved, and rest assured, each of thise imbeciles will be facing due punishment.” Jamil said, bruised knuckles a testimony.

“What if... What if they were right?” Yuu asked, voice cracking terribly.

“What?” The two asked in unison.

“All those things they called me... what if they were right? I really am just an incompetent waste, I should just go back to where I came from!” She wailed, Kalim and Jamil sharing beyond surprised gapes.

Kalim hesitated, opening and closing his mouth, unable to form coherent words. So Jamil did it for him. “Yuu, Yuu no. No, I can’t explain how wrong you are. Do you know how much you are loved in this school?” He asked, barely whispering.

“I... am?”

“Yes, of course you are! I’d miss you so much, everyone would!” Kalim admitted, looking to Jamil.

“But why? What do you see in... me?” Yuu continued doubtfully.

“Hm, well how about this for starters,” Jamil looked to Kalim, both of them sharing the same idea, “maybe because you’re funny, and can make me smile even when I’m frustrated.”

“Or because you’re kind, and always willing to lend a hand to someone that needs help,” Kalim followed, sliding a hand into Yuu’s.

“You’re gorgeous, like the sun, radiant and breathtaking.” Jamil ran a hand through a stray lock of hair, tucking it behind her ear.

“And you’re happy, just a bundle of laughter and smiles! You go along with all my crazy ideas, and I have so much fun with you!” Kalim finished, booping Yuu’s nose and making her giggle.

“You’re perfect, Yuu. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says.” Jamil smiled so genuinely, eyes squeezing shut.

“You’re a perfect desert flower, impeccable and extraordinary.”

Yuu covered her mouth as a new kind of tear streamed down her face, ones that spoke her gratitude rather than her sorrow. She laughed, twinkly and unfiltered, throwing her arms around Jamil and Kalim, pulling them into a bone crushing hug.

She didn’t say anything, just locked them in her embrace as she laughed and laughed, mixing with the sounds of Kalim and Jamil’s.

Swathed in the mingling warmth of her two best friends, Yuu’s chest was feather light for the first time in a long while, every insult and wound forgotten thanks to the sincerity poured into the boys’ speech.

She believed things could get better. She had faith, and now had her friends to anchor that faith.

Yuu beamed, as beautiful as a desert flower.

Oh boy, I may have gone a little overboard with this.

This was a wonderful prompt, I had so much fun with it! Thanks to @sanata101 for my first request! I hope you enjoyed!!

Stay lovely!

[paperficwriter]

A Deer Dance (Charlastor, Hazbin Hotel)

Alastor is a deer demon, and while he's never been lonely, he's not going to say no to a little doe that seems as interested in him as he with her.

Dirty Paper warning!

---

Living or dead, Alastor always did like to believe that he was one of a kind. The best of the best, and a step above the rest. And, in many ways, he was right; when he compared himself to other radio personalities, or home chefs, or, now, demon lords, that knowledge that he was better would add a skip in his step and the huge smile on his face.

He wondered if that gap that remained open between him and everyone else was the reason why his appearance was so different here. He’d never seen another deer demon before. All of the other shapes of demonic beasts were represented, certainly. Wolves. Bears. Goats. God, so many goats, it had ruined any dish with meat or milk that he might come across.

There were rumors of others, but perhaps his presence, his power, had sent them all into hiding.

That would make sense. Alastor didn’t particularly appreciate being shown up (and most denizens across the Nine Circles were more than aware of that). Just his average appearance - his dashing suit, the cloven prints of his shoes, the long fluffy tufts of his hair and his sharp-toothed grin - parted many a crowd, but in his true demonic form with its rack of horns and dead-eyed, sharp-toothed leer, most hoped to just survive the encounter.

But it was in his fairly casual shape that he went to Mimzy’s Club for a colorful event that she was hosting that particular evening. The Burlesque Revue had been all the talk across the city for several weeks before, something that was supposed to combine the lurid fantasies that were commonplace in this corner of Hell with something a little more artistic.

“Listen, if there’s gonna be stripping, ain’t nobody gonna say no to that,” he had heard one demon say as they looked at the poster of one particularly long-legged dame with a boa around her shoulders. “If they wanna make it fancy, s’alright by me, just so long as they take it all off at the end, yeah?”

There certainly wasn’t any proof that Alastor had set the unbearable dolt on fire. People combust all the time in Hell!

After all, the concept alone sounded entertaining enough for Alastor, that was for certain, but what really intrigued him the most was the rumor that the whole thing was being hosted to bring attention to some hospitality project being taken on by the Princess of Hell herself, Charlotte Magne. And if she was anything like the classical piece of art her mother Lilith was on stage, he did not want to miss this for anything.

Mimzy clearly had tried to doll up the place. There were fairy lights everywhere, and thick drapes of black and red velvet scooped down from each pillar along the edge of the club floor. An entire area had been elevated into a stage and that was littered with props and poles and bars.

“Al!” Mimzy gushed as soon as he came in, rushing over to take both of his hands. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. These people are annoying the shit out of me. I forgot how the artsy crowd could be such a bunch of divas.”

“Mim, Mim, Mim,” he tutted, “I think you just described the entire population of the here-after. The artists just happen to have practice, don’t you know?”

They laughed about that, and then someone spoke up behind him, a young, sweet voice that was so different from the raucous roar he was used to that it was almost startling. “Hey, Mimzy, I’m so sorry to bother you. Can we get a little more light on stage left?”

“What do I look like, an electrician?”

“No, but the electrician snuck into one of the dancer’s dressing rooms, and I’m pretty sure he won’t be waking up anytime soon.”

Mimzy sighed as Alastor turned to the source of the voice. “I’ll get right on it, Princess,” she groused before disappearing.

And there she was. The Heir to the Throne of Hell. What had Alastor been expecting? Someone dressed like Lucifer, probably, a mess of over-the-top vaudevillian aesthetic and an extremely untrustworthy face. And yet somehow, that horrible cretin had helped to birth the most beautiful creature Alastor had ever laid his eyes on. Even if it had just been the classy black dress, the diamonds in a cascading pattern down her neck, the silver apple tiara atop her blond hair styled in a gorgeous updo...all that would have been more than enough to catch Alastor’s attention, but then...

“Charlie. Please.” She said it like it was one of a thousand times she had insisted. And although Mimzy was already gone, her ears perked at Alastor.

Her slightly furry, tear-drop shaped ears, and a tail turned up behind her where the dress had been perfectly cut to let it out.

Another demon just like him. No, not just like him. A doe.

“Well,” he greeted with a low bow. “I’m glad I won’t be making that mistake. I will never call you by a name that is not your preference, my dear.”

She giggled into her hand, covered by a long opera glove that matched the black of her dress. “I appreciate it. And you must be Alastor. Unless you prefer ‘the Radio Demon’?”

Oh, she was a quick one. Not that Alastor was ever good at flying under the radar. “I would prefer ‘yours,’ actually.”

That got an even darker blush from her already-rosy cheeks. Her tail twitched a little bit. “That’s a title that comes with many responsibilities, Alastor,” she said through a little smile, clearly trying to keep up with him.

“Where do I send my resume, darling, because I’m always looking for a job with better benefits.”

“Well, you certainly know how to dress to impress.” Charlie bit her lip as she glanced at him up and down. Alastor knew when he was being sized up, and he let her take him in, knowing already that she was having the same response to him as he had to her. You’re someone like me, her eyes said. After so long.  

“Maybe in this case,” he said quietly, stepping in close to her. “I should have left the suit at home. After all, you should dress for the job you want, shouldn’t you?”

Charlie leaned in. This close, he could see all the soft strands of fur on her ears, the pink inside. He wanted so, so much to touch them, but...not yet. There would be time and privacy for that yet. “I’d really like to continue this interview,” she whispered, “but as you can see I have a revue to oversee.”

“After, then,” he said, slipping her hand into his and cradling it. So small. Delicate. “I have a tower with an extremely quaint office overlooking the city. It’s quite comfortable, you’ll find.”

She nodded, voice breathless. “After.”

---

Charlie let Alastor take her home. If anything, Alastor thought he noticed her speed up a bit through her acknowledgements and post-show credits, now and then glancing his way. Nobody else would notice, but he could see the way her tail was flashing, how she wanted to run.

Run to him, no less.

And she did, in the huge fluffy stole that she had worn on stage after her act when her dress had been taken off and then pulled back on only as a skirt, her pale skin just showing though her breasts were hidden. He had never driven himself faster back to his Radio Tower.

The only person down in the “lobby” was Husk, and he was playing a computerized slot machine that he had won in a game with Alastor (though to be fair, Alastor let him win, because otherwise he threatened to leave altogether, and one piece of infernal technology was payment enough for service he could count on).

“Don’t wait up, Husker-chum,” he said, Charlie on his arm.

“Why the fuck would I literally ever care what you are do...do...” He trailed off in that moment. Husk had looked up momentarily from the game, catching a glance at Charlie, and his mouth just stayed in that same ‘o’ until they were in the elevator. Then, as though realizing that the moment Charlie went upstairs with Alastor it would all be over, he fell over himself running toward the quickly-closing doors. “Hey, what’s the rush?!” he asked hastily. “Let’s hang out! The night’s young! We can get some drinks or hit a bar or--” Alastor snapped his fingers, and the doors refused to open, even as he hit the button. “I’m not always great with sharing,” he said as Charlie was quietly laughing into the fur around her neck.

“Good,” she said, dropping the wrap to the red floor. She stood before him now with nothing but diamonds from the waist up, blinking at him bashfully despite the fact that she was the one who had made this quite-forward, more-than-brazen move. In the mirrored wall of the elevator, he could see her tail, soft and twitching just so. Now, now he did reach out to caress it, to run his long fingers through it. She shivered and instinctively huddled close to him. “So what were you saying about your qualifications before?”

As much as he had planned to continue their little tete-a-tete, it was hard to manage at the sight of her so natural. He pulled her out of the elevator when they reached the top floor and made quick work of getting her out of the rest of the dress. He dragged his mouth across her thigh, the little freckles there looking like the same pattern on young does.

At some point, his antlers sprang from his head, creaking slightly like branches over them, and when she sprang to his boudoir, he didn’t know how she would respond to his coming up from behind her, grabbing her waist and pressing in tight and close where she could feel the bulge in his pants.

He didn’t think she would moan and raise her tail to him, inviting him inside.

It wasn’t the only way they would have one another that night, but it was the most intense. The most instinctive, the best and only way he could imagine fucking in this form of his that he had gained. They didn’t speak, not even each other’s names, and yet he felt like he had known her for eternity before that, and that she wasn’t some mysterious woman that had just happened to fall into his life.

They didn’t even kiss until that first round was over, when she was gasping and clutching at the covers of his four-post bed, and he had nuzzled her face until it met his.

“I think,” she said softly, sometime quite a while later, her head on his chest, gold hair now free and messy all over his sheets, “we might have a position available for you.”

“Only one?” he teased as he rolled her onto her back and came back down to kissing her neck.