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mcufox123 · 4 years ago

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Soul Mates

Summary: What happens when there are actual soul mates in the world? Is Wanda yours?

A/N: ok this story gave me such chills and I’m really proud of it. Please enjoy!

Warnings: Injuries, implications of smut

I DON'T OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS

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Soul mates, they exist. You are born with a mark on your skin. If you date someone, the mark will go away when you both fall in love with each other, and they touch your skin. Like you could be in a relationship and touch each other but the mark will go away only when you both love each other. It drove most of your relationships. So many times, you wanted to find your soul mate, but it never worked out. Your mark always confused you. It was two hands together on your stomach. What would you and your soul mate be doing? Where would your mark be on them?

After a while you gave up on ever trying to find them. You didn’t care anymore. You focused on work. You had been an undercover agent for Tony Stark, investigating different targets before the avengers would go and save the day. You lived with Earth’s mightiest heroes, who at home they were far more different than anyone would expect.

Bruce was a geek, Natasha was like the mother hen, Steve was a wood worker, Tony a family man, Bucky and Sam would play video games, and Wanda loved sitcoms. Don’t get me wrong, they of course trained and ate healthy and did mission recon, but other than that they were normal people.

When you first started living there it was weird for you to see everyone in sweatpants, but you quickly got used to it. You spent time with almost everyone, mostly Wanda though. You two quickly entered a relationship a few short months after you started living there. You even moved into her room. A couple months into your relationship you knew you loved her, but you would never dare say it. You always remembered the conversation you had with her about soul mates.

“Do you believe in the whole soul mates mark?” you asked the closed off girl in your arms.

“I believe they do. I never want to know who mine is though. I lost too many people Y/N. I don’t think I could know that and be ok if I ever lost them.” She answered while playing with your hands.

“That’s fair, I guess. What would you do if you found them though?” you asked her. You were nervous because you wanted Wanda to be your soul mate and you kept waiting for her to touch your mark, but she never did.

“I’m not sure. Maybe put them in a bubble only I could reach and never let them go.” She said in an amusing voice and you knew the conversation was coming to a close.

“I’m sure that would not go over well.” You chuckled. There were a few moments of silence, she was just drawing random shapes on your shoulder, head against your chest.

“Don’t wait for me Y/N. If you want to find your soul mate, go find them.” She said with hurt in her voice. You could tell she didn’t want you to go.

“I’m right here Wanda, don’t worry.” You reassured her before you both were silent again. Eventually you both fell asleep.

That happened only a couple weeks before the mission you were about to go on. Tony had found an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. facility that was now operating with Hydra. You had “applied” for a job there and quickly made your way up the ranks. It was now time for you to report to their office to help them continue following Hydra’s plan. You walked out to the car you would be driving in for the mission. Wanda followed you out.

“Please be careful out there, Y/N. Take care of you. No one else matters. Just you. Come back to me quickly.” Wanda said walking next to you.

“I always do babe. I promise, I’ll be back, as fast as I can.” You wanted to add that you loved her but knew now wasn’t the time. Your soul mate’s conversation still lingering in your head. You leaned in a gave her one last kiss before getting in the car to drive to your mission.

The drive to the mission wasn’t too bad, only like 4 hours which is short compared to other cross-country ones that you have done. Just like you planned you fit right in with the agents. You put on this very charismatic façade gaining their trust in a week’s time.

“I think it’s time you met the boss kid.” Agent Gerald said to you as he led you down a series of hallways. You tried to mentally track your path so you would be able to show your friends but there were more hallways than you could’ve imagined. A tactic they must have used to catch fake agents like yourself.

Once arriving to a big room, you met Frank the head honcho. He was a small man, nothing you would’ve expected from someone leading such a complicated organization. He looked up and smiled.

“So, this is agent Reilly? I’ve heard great things about you.” He said referring to your undercover name. He reached out to shake your hand.

“You must be Frank. I’ve heard some scary things about you.” You said testing the waters of the old man, hoping he would see it as a friendly interaction. Which thank goodness he did. He pulled you into his side while pointing at you and looking at Gerald. “I like this one, she’ll be just the person I need for the job.”

Frank had a plan. This made you nervous, what would he have you be doing? You had to get the team here right away. After the pleasantries of meeting Frank, you were excused until tomorrow when he would let you know what you would be doing.

You however couldn’t wait that long and as soon as you got to your hotel room you called the team.

“Tony, I need you guys here ASAP. I know who the head guy is. Its Frank Randone, Fury’s old partner. I met him today I know where he’s hiding, he has a mission for me which he’s going to give me tomorrow.” You rambled on quickly.

“Ok, we’ll be there in an hour and we’ll devise a plan when we get there. Just be careful and stay put.” He told you in a fatherly way. You rolled your eyes even though you knew he couldn’t see it.

Not even an hour later you heard a knock on the door. You opened it to see your modge podge family. They all looked kind of out of it as they piled in your room. You knew it was because they got called here so quickly on such short notice.

The plan was that you would go into the facility tomorrow and go see Frank for your mission. You would have the tracker com in your ear so the team could both track your movement and hear you and what you heard at the same time. After you received the mission, you would leave the facility to meet your friends and help them defeat Frank.

After the mission was planned everybody left besides Wanda. You were exhausted from the day you just had and anxious about the following day. Wanda changed into some sweatpants and grabbed your sweatshirt before crawling into bed. She rubbed your back as you sat on the edge of the bed a million thoughts running through your head. She sat up and hugged you from behind.

“Come cuddle with me please, this week has been too long without you.” She whispered in your ear. You turned back to look at her in the eyes. You saw her looking at you with so much emotion. You leaned in to kiss her which quickly got heated.

If it had been a chaste kiss, it was almost as if she was going to say those three little words, she didn’t though, instead you had a heated night. You both fell asleep in the comfort of each other’s arms.

The next morning you peeled yourself from Wanda’s arms to get ready for the day. You were too nervous to eat or do much, but you had to get the com ready and online and dressed. Wanda was still sleeping when you were about to leave so you walked over to kiss her forehead. Before you could pull away you felt a hand come up to your neck and hold you there. You looked down to see emerald eyes staring back at you.

“Be careful, please. I need you to come back to me.” She said. Your only answer was a chaste kiss before pulling away.

“I promise.” And with that you walked out of the room and drove to the facility.

Once you got there you were immediately taken to Frank. You were grateful that you didn’t have to remember the hallways with the tracking com. Once you arrived at the room you instantly felt a sense of panic though.

“Agent Reilly just in time! I brought your mission in for you to complete it right now, so I know you are worthy of the position I am about to offer and that you are loyal to this organization.” He said with a creepy grin before he continued. “The world is lost, the only people who seem to have it all together are the avengers. That can’t be, we need them to be in array as well. I have captured the founder and his right-hand man, or women I should say. They will be here any minute.” He walked towards you holding a gun. You suddenly were very nervous; you had an idea of who it would be.

“This man and I go way back, we used to be partners if you could believe that. It was easy getting him surprisingly enough and lucky for me she was there too. What I need you to do is kill them. First Maria, then Fury. Then we will talk about this new position I have for you.” You needed to get out of this. Suddenly the door opened, and Fury and Maria were dragged in. The looked awful, defeated even, one thing that you never saw on either of their faces. Then they looked up and saw you and you saw hope on their faces. You, however, were shaking. You had to think quickly of what you had to do.

There were four men there and Frank. Each had a gun, and a knife attached to their belts. You had a gun you also had the team who would hopefully be on their way by now, but you had no way of knowing for sure. You eyed up the four guys, you could take them. You could do this. You just had to get Fury and Maria out of here alive.

Fury eyed you knowing that you had just calculated your plan in the span of 20 seconds, and he visibly relaxed as did Maria. They trusted you. You could do this.

You walked over and grabbed the gun from Frank, “You got it boss.” You said before turning your back on him to walk towards Maria. You held the gun at her head, then eyed Frank who gave you a subtle nod.

Before you could shoot Maria, you pulled your gun up and expertly shot three of the men before the 4th one lunged at you. You dodged him and grabbed him by the arm causing him to turn around. You shot him in the back before turning to look at Frank. He eyed you nervously.

“Who are you?” he asked in a shaky voice. You smirked. “I’m your worst enemy.” You said before turning to shoot him. He fell back, you don’t even check to see if he’s out before you turn around to help Fury and Maria out of the restraints. Right as your finishing helping Maria, you hear an alarm blare. You turn to see Frank with his phone in his hand smiling. Before you have time to process you feel a sharp pain in your stomach. You whip your head around to see a guard standing there. You shoot him then turn back and shoot Frank in the head.

“Y/N,” Fury said as he rushed towards you. You then collapsed on the ground, looking down to see a knife protruding from your stomach. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

You heard lots of commotion coming from the hallway. You knew the team was there. Fury knew not to touch the blade inside you and instead picked you up carefully. He started carrying you out of the building and to the quinjet outside. He put you on the ground and tried to stop the bleeding. He took the com out of your ear to talk to the team.

“This is Fury, Y/N is down. Stab wound in her abdomen. We’re on the quinjet but we have to get her out of here, and fast.” You didn’t get to hear the response but not even two minutes later a red head appeared in your vision cupping your cheek.

“Stay with me you hear me. You’re not allowed to leave remember. You have to be with me.” Wanda said. You reached up to grab her cheek. “I'm not going any-any-anywhere. Re-re-remember.” You choked out with difficulty. You saw tears running down her face.

Fury reached around Wanda to look at the wound. “We need to take that knife out; an infection has already started spreading. If we want her to make it, it has to come out. I will remove it. Wanda, you need to apply pressure as I extract it.” He said looking up at Wanda who just nodded. Wanda put her hands on the spot she would never dare touch before. The knife was directly in the center of your soul mate mark. You realized in that moment that she was your soul mate. You started to cry, now scared about what the outcome of this day would be. You had to make it, you had to be ok for her.

It must have registered in her brain as you simply put your hands over hers. Covering her mark on the back of her hands. You heard her cry harder as both of your marks started to fade away.

“I love you Y/N. You can’t leave me now. I said it. I’ve said what I’ve tried to run away from. We both know now, and now, you can’t leave me.” Wanda said crying harder holding her hands on your stomach. It was so hard for you to process her feelings. The pain slowly started to leave your body as you began to feel numb.

“I love you too Wanda,” breath, “always have,” breath,” always will.” You tried to get out. Suddenly you couldn’t hear anything. You saw Wanda start to sob and scream at you. You saw the rest of the team ran onto the quin jet. Steve immediately took over for Wanda, while Nat and Clint tried to pull her away from you. You saw her fighting her way back to you then everything went black.

Steve held his hands there. Tony used his Iron man suit to freeze the wound until they were able to get you home. You were fighting for your life the whole way back to the compound. Wanda fought everyone so hard to stay by your side. She held your hand rubbing endless circles on the back of your hand. She talked to you the whole way.

“Well, we know now, we’re soulmates. When you wake up from this don’t expect me to ever let you out of my sight again. The first thing that’s going to happen is I'm going to talk to Tony. You need a suit. I know I'm not stopping you from going on missions but you need a suit so you can be ok when I'm not there. The next thing is we are moving out of the compound. It’s a target. I need you safe and I need you all to myself. Maybe we could build a house right next door or down the block because I know you won’t want to be too far from the team. Also, we are getting married. There is absolutely no point in prolonging that. I want you to be mine for forever, officially. For all this to happen you need to stay with me. You need to be ok. Because I love you.” Wanda rambled on. She continued to talk about your life together.

When you arrive at the compound they immediately moved you to the medical bay. Wanda is frozen on the jet. Everyone slowly makes their way off the jet exhausted from the day. Wanda slowly walks off and instead of going with Nat to the medical bay, she goes to your room and puts on one of your sweatshirts. She crawls under the covers and puts on your favorite sitcom. She doesn’t watch though, she’s too numb, a million thoughts running through her head. She doesn’t want you gone; she needs you. After about a half hour she lets out a blood curdling scream as it finally hits her that you might be gone. Clint goes in and just holds her, being her fatherly figure that he is.

They operate on your stomach and everything goes smoothly, but you lost a lot of blood. Now it is up to you to wake up. In the in between life and death you are at peace. You are in your dream house with your childhood dog, and you feel a sense of calm. No responsibilities are on your shoulders, no timeline of missions, no scars from past missions litter your body. In the in between you are just you and you can do anything you want.

Every day you do whatever you want. Some days its running by a lake, some days you are on the beach. The only sad part is nobody is here to share it with you. One day you are cooking up some breakfast when there is a knock on your door. You are startled by the intrusion of your peace. You wipe your hands and go to the door to see a young man with white hair.

“Hi,” you say unsure of your own voice.

“Y/N, I’m Pietro, Wanda’s Brother.” You stand there in shock. You’re not sure what to do so you reach out and give him a hug, happy that you finally are able to meet him.

“Oh my gosh, HI! It’s so nice to meet you! Wanda has told me so much about you!” You say enthusiastically. You then step aside and welcome him into your home.

You take him to the kitchen where you both share a meal, and you get to know him better. He tells you all about young Wanda and their life growing up. You tell him all about your relationship with Wanda and that you both learnt that you were soulmates.

“She really loves you ya know? She tried to push it away for so long. Do you know how long you have been here for?” He asks you suddenly. You’re thrown by the question because you have now lost track of time.

“No, I’m not really sure. The last thing I remember is telling Wanda that I loved her. Then I was just here.” You tell him honestly.

“It’s been 3 months. You’re not dead, your body is trying to figure out what it wants to do. For that to happen you need to know what you want to do. Can I show you something?” He asks as you try processing this conversation.

“S-s-s-sure.” You say nervously, still trying to wrap you head around the fact that it’s been 3 months. He stands up and escorts you to a mirror. He pulls a nob out and places it on the mirror. Your eyebrows furrow and he notices.

“You only get one of these when you’re completely committed to this world.” He says as a sad smile crosses his face. You know he wasn’t supposed to die, but he sacrificed himself to save Clint, a heroic action. He starts turning the nob and you see yourself on a hospital bed. Next to you is Wanda, she looks so broken, a shell of a person who she was. You gasp and put your hand on the mirror to try to touch her. You can’t though and the tears start to roll down your face.

“She hasn’t eaten much Y/N. She hasn’t showered unless Clint makes her. She has spent every day for the past three months in this hospital room next to you, waiting for you to wake up. She needs you Y/N, way more than she ever needed me. You make her happy even if she was too stupid to admit it. She loves you so much. I understand if you choose to stay here and wait for her, to be at peace and get the relaxation you need, but please just do something. Don’t stay in this in between because it will kill her.” The tears are coming faster now as you take everything in. He gives he a side hug and you turn into his body so he could hold you while you cry.

Pietro stays the rest of the day and does whatever you want to do. You both go for a walk, you take a boat out on the lake, you go to the beach and just stare at the ocean. You wish that everything could be easy, but it can’t. You have to make a decision.

After dinner Pietro says that it’s time for him to leave and you escort him to the door.

“It was really nice being able to mee you Y/N. If you do go back, tell my sister hi. Tell her I miss her, but I am so proud of the person she has become. Tell her I am ok and that she’ll see me again someday. And you, if you return take care of her, love her, and give her everything you possibly can.” You nod at him and reach for a hug which he gladly returns. “I’m happy its you, Y/N.” he said before he turns around to leave.

After he leaves, you stay up and write. You write all of your feelings on a page. You write all the reasons you want to stay and all the reasons you want to go back. Eventually you fall asleep on the couch a pen in your hand.

When you wake up the light is bright. It takes you a few minutes for you to realize where you are. You’re in the hospital bed, a warm presence is on your arm. You look down to see Wanda slouched over asleep next to you. You smile, you’re back. You remember your time away so vividly; you look up and silently thank Pietro. You lean over and place a soft kiss on the top of the red head. It takes her a minute to stir. She looks up at you and just stares in disbelief. Her hand reaches up to cup your cheek making sure your really there. You just reach up and touch her hand.

That’s enough for her to attack you in a hug and sob. You hold her whispering reassuring words into her hair. “I’m here. Don’t worry I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Remember I’ll always come back.” She just cried harder.

After she finally calms down, she smashes her lips on yours, putting in all the emotions she has, and you are fast to reciprocate it. When you pull back your foreheads are touching.

“So, when are we getting married?” you ask a smile spreading on your lips.

“As soon as you get out of this hospital bed,” she says while smiling back at you.

“And the house?” you ask repeating all of the promises she made to you.

“Steve already started construction on the edge of the compound property.” She says while planting kisses all over your face.

“And the suit?” you ask, she freezes.

“Not happening anytime soon. We are taking a long vacation you and me, there are a lot of things we need to catch up on and I'm not going to share you just yet.” This causes you to chuckle and agree.

“He’s proud of you, ya know?” you tell her, she freezes and gives you a questioning look. “Pietro, I met him, he’s proud of you, he loves you, and he’s ok. He said you will see him one day don’t worry.” You say as you bring your hand up to her cheek in a comforting way. You see tears roll down her cheeks and you’re quick to wipe them away.

She snuggles closer to you “thank you y/n for telling me. And for coming back to me. I love you.” She says as she lays her head on your chest. You wrap your arms around her and in a few minutes, you hear that she is sleeping. You see such relief on her features, and she looks so calm. “I love you too, always have and always will.” You say as you lay a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

#wanda x reader #wanda #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda marvel #Natasha Romanoff #marvel #Black Widow #steve rogers #captain america #scarlett witch #iron man #Tony Stark #avengers #the avengers

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emilysshortstories · 4 years ago

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Steven Meeks Part 2

Still haven’t thought of a title but I’m liking this story so lets just roll with it. Also if someone could teach me how to put in a continue reading thing I would love you.

Words: 1607

Warnings: a bit of a love triangle? clique plot points?

My alarm clock blaring through my ears abruptly woke me up. 6:oo AM it read for I had to get ready early and stop by all my teachers' classrooms before classes actually started. They had to give me my course work for the week and I had to complete daily assignments and turn them in at the end of the day. I had the same deadlines as anyone else, just got my course work early. My old highschool was a similar format so I was used to this, just not used to waking up so goddamn early. At least this is only on Monday’s. I had United States History, Earth Science, Trigonometry, and Latin to get to before 8 o’clock. My uncle said he will explain everything to me in his classroom at 2, so I didn’t have to worry about english at least.

Now I see why everyone that gets through this school is a fucking genuious. I have not one but two history textbooks, I have to read a chapter a day in one of them and the other I have to read and complete all the questions for a chapter every other day. I have to do a chapter, with questions, everyday in Earth science. For Trig I read a chapter Monday and Wednesday, complete a sheet of 25 questions Tuesday and Thursday, and then have a test every Friday. I was given 30 words to memorize by Friday for Latin. Yes, I’ll have a test in latin every Friday as well. At least I know my uncle isn’t a sadist and won’t give me or his students an excessive amount of work.

I carried all four of my textbooks and school work outside with a large towel. I figured if I don’t have to be stuck in a classroom and can complete my course work on my own time, might as well make the most of it and do it in the sun away from everyone. I have 4 hours before I have to be at my uncle's classroom, so let's see how much of this crap I can get done.

I was done with history and just started the questions for Earth Science when I heard the school bell, signaling the 15 minute passing period. Not thinking anything of it I continued my work, that is until the sun was suddenly hidden from me. “Hey Charlie, what’s going on?” I asked, looking around to see 6 other boys behind him, including ‘Steven the red head’. My smile grew as we made eye contact. “I was about to ask the same thing, what you working on?” Charlie asked me, crouching down to sit next to me with the rest of his pose following suit. “Earth science, I got all my coursework for the week this morning so I’m just going through what’s due at the end of the day”. “Sounds boring to me, but if you ever need help, meeks is the genius of this school”. Charlie said as he pointed to Steven. “I thought your name was Steven?” I asked, turning to face him.

“What?” he said, sounding surprised at something.

“I thought your name was Steven, at least that’s what your father called you when we first met”

“You remember that?”

“Of course I do, so why Meeks?”

“It’s his last name” - “It’s my last name” both Charlie and Meeks said at the same time, which made me laugh a bit.

“What do you personally prefer though?” I asked.

“Meeks.” He said very abruptly compared to his previous tone.

“Okay, Meeks it is then, although I don’t make any promises to not call you Stevie when I’m teasing you.” I say trying to lighten the mood, everyone was just too quiet. “So you going to introduce me to the rest of your boy band Charlie?”

“Sure. This is Knox Overstreet, Todd Anderson, Neil Perry, Gerald Pitts, and Richard Cameron.” This made me burst out in laughter, “Your name is Dick Cam??” I asked, this being the funniest thing I’ve heard all week, but the question made everyone start to giggle as well. Everyone but Cameron of course, who just turned as red as his hair and walked away. “Oh I’m just teasing!” I yelled as he walked, “Sorry!!” I yelled louder, hoping he heard me. “I didn’t mean to offend, I'm sorry” I say to Charlie, actually feeling quite bad. “No! That was the best thing I’ve heard in my life, how did we not notice that?” Charlie asked the boys, but no one replied, they just kept laughing. Everyone but Meeks, who was looking down at the ground and playing with a corner of my towel.

“Is my towel more interesting than my joke there Stevie?” I ask and shuffle a little closer to him while the other boys separate into their own conversation. Good.

“N-no, I was laughing I promise-”

“I’m just messing with you- Stevie”

“Right” said with a sigh and a long pause. “Charlie was right though, you can always ask for help if you need it, even if I can’t help you I’ll point you to someone who can.” he said so fast I barely understood.

“Thank you , I really appreciate that.” I smiled at him, hoping that would calm his nerves. “You guys don’t really see a lot of girls going to a school like this do you?”

“No, not at all.”

“Well I come in peace I promise. Even if my jokes can seem a bit pointed at times.”

We both looked up at each other and held eye contact, much like the moment we first met. Yet this time it was deeper, like we understood what we were trying to say to another without having to come out and say it. I hoped he could see how much I liked him and would do something about it, but our moment was rudely interrupted by the school bell.

“Alright, time to go back to prison.” Charlie said, standing up, the boys following suit once again. Every boy but Meeks. “I-I-I’ll see you around Y/N” he said. “What time do you have English?” I asked a little too suddenly. “We all have it at 2” Charlie answered for him, ‘goddamnit let him answer his own questions man.’ “Great, my uncle told me to stop by his classroom at that time, so I’ll see you then” I said with a smile, only looking at Meeks, hoping to not only make eye contact again but also get Charlie to get the hint. “Bye” Meeks said to me. “Bye”.

It’s hard to focus on Earth Science after that, but I tried my best and actually finished all my questions and my trig chapter by the time 1:45 rolled around. Getting up, gathering up all my stuff, and heading to his class. I had my paperwork in my hands underneath the textbooks, with the towel draped on top, slightly obstructing my vision. “Fuck” I said as I reached the english building doors. Going outside was easy when all I had to do to open the doors was lean against them, but now that I was faced with a handle bar I had to pull. This was proving to be a lot more difficult than I had initially anticipated. Trying to balance everything into my left arm, I reached out my fingers to grasp the door, too scared to move my whole arm, and moving my towel into my chest with my chin so I can see what I’m doing. Even that didn’t work unfortunately as my towel fell to the ground. Closing my eyes and heaving a deep sigh, only to open them and see Meeks picking up my towel. “Thank you” I said thinking he was going to put the towel back on the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but started to blush when he draped it over his own shoulders and opened the door for me. I walked through the door- “Here” Meeks said from my left before taking two of my three textbooks out of my hands. “Thank you, that’s really sweet of you” I said, impressed with how kind he was. “No problem, I can help you take these to your room before two is you need?” he asked, now being able to look me in my face without books in the way. “Thanks, yeah it's just right in here through Mike’s office.” I said, leading the way, hearing Meeks chuckle behind me. “What?” I asked, turning around. “Nothing, just I’ve never heard anyone call Mr. Keating ‘Mike’ before”. “Oh, sorry about that, to me he will always be uncle Mike”. “That’s okay, I liked it”.

We walked in silence to my room where Meeks set my books down on my desk. “We should get to class, I have no idea what my uncle has planned” I said. “Okay”. ‘Not a man of many words, endearing.’

“All of you know my niece, Y/N. Mr. Nolan said that she wouldn’t be attending any classes but seeming that I plan to listen to opinions and presentations, so giving her a bunch of paperwork really wouldn’t be the best idea. So she will be joining this class, any questions? No, okay good now let's go.” My uncle preached before just waltzing out of the classroom. I knew he wanted me to follow him but the others who didn’t know how my uncle can be just seemed confused. So I said “That means he wants us to follow him” and I walked out of the classroom on the same path as my, sometimes strange, uncle Mike.

#DPS #DPS fandom #dps fanfiction #steven meeks #steven meeks x reader #knox overstreet #charlie dalton #charlie dalton x reader #Richard Cameron #dick cam #Neil Perry #todd anderson #gerald pitts #mr keating

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mashnotesofthemythopoeic · 4 years ago

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Fic Masterpost

So, in the spirit of full disclosure - all the X-Files fiction I’ve ever written, as memory serves. And some thoughts on how this fine fandom has taught me to write.

Starbuck (circa 1998)

I’m not kidding, this is really embarrassing, absolute beginner stuff, but we all start somewhere and it’s interesting in an evolutionary sense. I found these on Zuffy's X-Files Homepage.

Without The Bee - I couldn’t bring myself to look at this one. That title says it all.

Agents of Change: Return from Antarctica - Obsessions—the Scott Expedition and the X-Files—collide. Rough early days, but probably with hints of potential. A legit turkey of a title!

Penumbra 1998 - 2009

(I’m not going to bother with Gossamer links.) Learning the ropes as I went. Oblivious to so, oh so many things. Rickety, untrained writing, but mindlessly in love with creatively inspired by the churlish charms of our two razzle-dazzle creatures of the night.

Contact High - The last line was plagiarized, pure and simple, from one of Gerald Durrell’s books about his childhood in Corfu. It’s bothered me ever since, so the big thing I took from this experience: by all means steal the rhythm of something, but at least change a word or two.

Vespers - Very stoned ramblings. Inspired by John Leonard’s X-Files essay in The Nation that I’d managed to extract off a microfiche in a university library. I have a soft spot for this fic, probably because Khyber picked it very analytically apart, which was like having Jonathan Galassi or someone suddenly pay attention to you. He introduced me to 'show, don't tell', a paralyzing concept if ever there was one, which I yet only fitfully grasp.

Black Hole Season - Still breakin’ all the rules. This one was hugely popular, and amidst all the ballyhoo, Punk Maneuverability emailed me and quietly said: ‘Please pick a POV and a tense and stick with it’—vastly important advice that I was probably too full of myself to heed. This one won a Spooky award, one of the greatest moments of my life that I had to keep completely to myself (therein lies the painful crux of fanfiction.)

Parabiosis - I was eating cereal and flipping through the dictionary, and there it was: parabiosis. Who knows what it means. I didn’t have a computer, and was working in the mountains, so I wrote the whole thing out on paper several times, unimaginable now. It flowed through my brain as I scrambled through the woods in the evenings. Nothing will ever be that easy again.

Honeymoon Video - Promising title, not much there.

Blue-Sky Conjecture - unfinished Scully/Kresge

The Cretan Paradox - Americana. JET sent me an ear of corn from a corn maze, because she’s thoughtful like that.

Free Beer Night at the Astrodome - Cut years ago in despair out of Heuvelmans’; I think part of it went back in.

Fathoms Five - In one of Gerald Durrell’s books about his childhood in Corfu, his brother steps in a swamp and says that his shoe is ‘full of fathoms five’, so that’s where I got that Shakespearean misquote. I resisted writing this for a long time, but it would creep into my mind as I was falling asleep. I think this is a pretty good story, but it could have used one more draft, so since then, I’ve resolved never to rush to post. Events of this year kind of date this story now. However, it’s rather pleasant to read about a careless, joint-passing, COVID-free 2020.

Fathoms Five Outtakes and gag reels - Sorry about the glitchy old site and bad font.

A random smut biscuit - Uncharacteristic, I know!

Octopods - I loved this one, but it never fit in anywhere.

Maundy Thursday

Untitled Snippet

World’s Tiniest Zombie Fic

∩dsᴉpɐᴉsᴉnɯ - Very flawed, because it was written and posted under a fund-raiser time crunch. I really should overhaul it. The X-Files was ending and I was so depressed when I wrote it, and that’s an unfortunate tincture to saddle a story with.

The Inscrutable Pair - How The X-Files taught me to embrace ambiguity. Goreyesque nonsense à la Gashlycrumb Tinies that also troubles itself to rip off Eliot and Homer.

(7-Year Cold-Turkey Hiatus From the X-Files)

Gave away DVDs, got some perspective, did a little growing up, tried and failed to write a screenplay, two novels, etc. Then they put The X-Files on Netflix. One lonely night, I thought: what could it hurt to watch Darkness Falls? 44 minutes later, with shaking hands, going for the hard stuff—Redux II. Lol, the hard stuff of ancient philes.

The Mythopoeic* 2016 -

Heuvelmans’ On the Track - The nearly suicidal heartbreak that surrounds this story—it was the first X-Files fic I got bogged down in and couldn’t finish, and it left me with a huge mental stigma—sweetens its completion. Under its shadow I tried to become a Real Writer, without success. Give things time, I learned. Just keep working hard. The initial failure of this story taught me stuff that I now wouldn’t trade for anything.

*I came back just intending to hang out with Philes, and didn’t want to make a big deal, and had no intention of posting fic, so I gave little thought to the name. But, characteristically ostentatious name, check. Still keepin’ it real, pure and self-taught, a bit closer to what Chuck Palahniuk calls a ‘kitchen-table MFA’. Check.

But what I really want to say is this. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to try writing if I hadn’t been in this marvelous fandom, having the method and the means demonstrated all around me by wonderfully competent and encouraging writers for whom I felt such reverence that having them reach out or comment on stuff was earth-shaking. They showed the way, and I followed. Hands on my heart, friends, I owe you everything.

#reblogging because @perplexistan pointed out a snippet I missed #plus I remembered #Maundy Thursday #also #World's Tiniest Zombie Fic #and Blue-Sky Conjecture

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autisticshadowthehedgehog · 4 years ago

Text

Sonic X Theory: the other Ultimate Lifeforms

In Sonic X’s adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, they make an interesting claim about the Ultimate Lifeform prototypes on the ARK. When Rouge hacks into the base, she informs Shadow of one thing- he wasn’t the only prototype from Project Shadow that escaped the ARK massacre.

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X: one of Rouge looking up Project Shadow, surprised and reading “Shadow? Secure and dispose?” Another shot of two escape pods falling towards a planet, with the caption from a GUN soldier: “Our mission ended when we sealed away the prototype of the ultimate lifeform.” End ID.]

Rouge makes the claim that neither of these escape pods was Shadow... so in X Canon, is Shadow even who he thinks he is? And just as importantly... who are the other prototypes?

Full theory under the cut.

So first off. Let’s look at Rouge’s claim that Shadow isn’t who he thinks he is.

Part One: Is Shadow from the ARK?

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X of Rouge and Shadow talking, with the following dialogue:

Rouge: This is the progress report for Project Shadow, a plan to create the ultimate life form. The body they created is still held there.

Shadow: I know. That’s a prototype. I’m the Ultimate Lifeform they created afterwards-

Rouge: Two capsules were ejected when the ARK was shut down. But neither was found. They couldn’t lock up in prison what they couldn’t find. Do you understand? I wonder who you really are.

Shadow looks troubled. End ID.]

So two capsules were ejected and neither was found in the fifty years it’s been since the accident-- except I think Rouge is wrong about one thing. Shadow is who he thinks he is- because his capsule was sent out alone. It must have somehow not been logged.

How do we know this? Shadow’s flashback of being sent away and the man who worked for GUN are completely different- first of all, the GUN soldier doesn’t remember her saying anything to Shadow, or Shadow even being there- it seems that she died to send away something or someone else. Second- Maria is in a different position around the lever in both flashbacks. See the GUN soldier’s first--

Though we don’t see the full room, we get the sense that it’s small from the other shots that I don’t have the time to screenshot. She’s around an elevated platform not attached to a wall, and either facing the pod she’s sending away or in a completely different room.

But, both of Shadow’s alternate memories of Maria sending him away-- the first one more stylized, the second one we can assume more real-- neither looks like this.

In both, she’s in a differing position. In the sepia flashback, she’s not facing him, and pulling a lever attached to a wall. In the second flashback, she’s already on the floor, and the lever pad we see would cause her to be facing away from Shadow. In neither of these do we see any evidence that anyone other than Shadow and Maria are in the room or even nearby.

Shadow also has enough evidence he’s who he thinks he is- he has the right powerset, the GUN soldier says that they did, indeed, seal away an Ultimate Prototype, Gerald mentions Shadow enough in his monologues, and... honestly there’s really no evidence that he isn’t Shadow, other than the two pods. And two pods? Shadow was sent out alone, we saw no evidence of a second pod in either flashback. So he wasn’t with anyone else.

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is that these are two different events- one where Maria releases Shadow, and one where she releases another- or, possibly, the others, the two pods that were logged as escaping.

Maria either freed Shadow first and then the other two, or she freed the first two, got shot, and then managed to survive long enough to send Shadow away. Either way-- these events are separate.

So what was in the other two pods? Two other prototypes of the Ultimate Lifeform, clearly, but nothing like the Biolizard, they’re too small.

Now let me ask you something... wouldn’t it make sense for the Ultimate Prototypes to look similar, if they were similar lifeforms?

And who do we know who looks similar to Shadow?

Part Two: Sonic is an Ultimate Lifeform

[ID: Shadow looking down at Sonic, and saying, “I see. We actually do look alike. It’s like looking in a mirror.” End ID.]

Okay so like. Unless you’re very colorblind I think you’ve noticed that Shadow and Sonic are completely different colors. But let’s ignore that for now-- they do have a very similar silhouette... in fact, Shadow’s silhouette is incredibly close to SuperSonic, which is Sonic at full power. And in-universe, they look similar enough that in low lighting pretty much nobody can tell them apart.

And not just that- Sonic has a lot of power for a seemingly “normal” mobian. [Yes, I know they don’t use the term “Mobius” in Sonic X but let me simplify this somehow.] His superspeed, ability to survive so much shit... he’s powerful enough that he presents a rival for Shadow without chaos emeralds (though Shadow is nerfed a little by the Inhibitor Rings- more on that later).

[ID: Sonic and Shadow racing; they are keeping up with each other. Shadow says, “It seems your appearance isn’t the only thing that’s similar to me. Who are you?” Sonic responds, “I’m me.” End ID.]

Shadow’s right- their appearance isn’t where the resemblance stops. And of course there’s probably the most damning similarity-- they are the only two characters we see go Super and have the ability to control the Chaos Emeralds.

[ID: First image is SuperSonic and SuperShadow, having absorbed the power of the chaos emeralds. Second image is from the Third Season, where a MetaRex shouts, “There are two individuals [referring to Sonic and Shadow] who can draw out the power of the Chaos Emeralds?” End ID.]

Oh and SPEAKING OF Sonic/Shadow similarities-- there’s a scene in Season Three where Sonic is being lectured by the villain about how all life ends eventually so why bother etc. and Sonic says that life is worth the good bits, all that jazz. Here’s the scene:

youtube

And exactly 1:25 in.... guess what starts playing

youtube

This song is scarily similar to “Recollection of the Ark”... Shadow’s sad song about his memories of the ARK... while Sonic is being lectured about still having faith in humanity. You know. Like MARIA WANTED.

Interesting how we know absolutely nothing about Sonic’s past, huh-- pretty much all we have before he meets Tails is that he says he’s fifteen years old, but honestly... are we even sure about that? First of all, if Sonic was revived alone, there wouldn’t be a way to tell his age, he’d probably just accept the first age someone assigned him.

Alternatively, we know from the end of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three that time works in a very wonky way from Earth to Mobius- in the ~2-3 days Sonic’s alone with Chris, a week passes on Mobius, despite the fact we know he can chaos control at any time. In the third season? Six years pass on Earth while six months pass on Mobius. So time doesn’t really work in a reasonable way, meaning it’s possible that Sonic is fifteen... and he lived fifteen years on Mobius after awakening, while fifty years passed on Earth.

And we know for a fact that travel between Mobius and Earth was possible even before the events of Season One... because Eggman was born on Earth.

[ID: Eggman looking shocked and turning around in a chair, announcing, “I was born in this world!” End ID.]

Eggman was born on Earth and somehow ended up on Mobius-- but he was young enough he didn’t realize until he saw that Gerald lived on Earth. So was he in the second escape pod? It’s possible, but I don’t think so-- he’d have to have information on Gerald, and it seems he had a picture of Gerald and Maria, so it’s likely he traveled with a parent or guardian, or at least some kind of family history, which I doubt Maria would think to store in an escape pod while everyone was running for their lives. This plot element was probably just to set up that travel between the dimensions happens more than we think.

Neither escape pod from the ARK was recovered, probably because they ended up on Mobius.

It’s most likely that they Chaos Controlled into the other dimension-- I know I said Maria probably wouldn’t think to store anything other than the lifeform themselves in the pod, but if the lifeform needed Chaos Emeralds to practice/control their powers, or the Chaos Emeralds were already stored in an escape pod for safekeeping-- or if, possibly, GUN was attempting to capture the Chaos Emeralds as well, and the Robotniks knew that they would use them in a destructive way-- all that combined could mean that the emeralds would also be important enough to send away in a pod.

If even one of the pods had Chaos Emeralds, it’s possible that the lifeform inside could have sensed danger and unconsciously teleported them to the most safe place from GUN-- another world where GUN didn’t exist and couldn’t reach them. And even better-- a world where mobians like them lived.

From Sonic X lore that I don’t have the time to find and screencap, we know that the two worlds used to be the same but split at some point in history. If this was after, say, the events of Chaos destroying the Echidnas-- which, sidenote, interesting how they disappear and nobody knows where they went, so it’s possible that Chaos straight-up split the dimensions just to get rid of the Echidnas-- then enough of their lore could remain. Old cave paintings, wall carvings, etc., could show enough mobians that scientists could probably think “oh, wow, that looks like a god figure. might as well design our ultimate lifeform after that, esp since they had this god that could control chaos and the chaos emeralds came from here.”

Wanna know what’s interesting about those ancient echidna temples? Guess who’s there-- if we go by Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a game that ofc had been released by the time X was being written...

SuperSonic.

Both the ultimate form of Sonic, and the silhouette of Shadow.

So let’s say they find this on the ARK studies, and they’re like “okay so our ultimate lifeform goal is a hedgehog. Got it.” There’s two options after this:

They make Sonic, but deem him a failure for reasons and cryo-freeze him until they need him or can release him. They then proceed to make Shadow, who they believe actually is their ultimate lifeform.

They made Shadow first, but after a while kept experimenting and making more prototypes, just in case, or possibly because they decided Shadow wasn’t powerful enough. However, the prototypes weren’t ready to awaken before the ARK massacre, Shadow never met them.

So as I’ve made clear, I’m pretty sure that one of those prototypes was Sonic-- who, of course, has no idea. Either he only entered consciousness after arriving in Mobius, or his memories of the ARK were so vague, traumatic, early, or a combo, that his mind blocked them out. Either way, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that he and Shadow are both prototypes, which is what gives Sonic his power.

And Sonic’s power, btw, isn’t limited like Shadow’s. Because he doesn’t have inhibitor rings.

If prototype!Sonic was sent away with inhibitor rings, he ditched them. Which would make sense, especially if he woke up with no memory of the ARK and didn’t know why these weird bracelets were on his arm. He would notice that the rings slowed him down and ditch them fast. And that’s assuming they even stuck rings on the prototype.

But if we do assume they stuck rings on the prototypes... maybe we can find the other lifeform that was sent away along with Sonic.

Part Three: Who is the Third Ultimate Lifeform?

Okay. Let’s do a headcount.

Who, in Sonic X,

Existed on Mobius at the same time as Sonic,

Doesn’t appear to have a lot of power but has a lot of incredible strength if you pay attention,

Sometimes shows strange abilities, such as far leaps into the air, a speed great enough that they can sometimes catch up to Sonic (though not as great, possibly because of the inhibition), even potentially the ability to summon weapons out of thin air,

Looks similar to the Mobian Hedgehog-- or, perhaps, with influences from a Mobian Echidna, who were the ones who had the SuperSonic glyphs in the first place, and thus could potentially serve as a design point,

Wears rings around their wrists at all times?

[ID: Amy Rose being absurdly powerful in several screencaps, often glowing; though this is normal anime expressionwork, it is something that exclusively happens to Amy in Sonic X. End iD.]

And, of course, this beauteous moment:

[ID: A scene from the season two finale of Sonic X. Eggman’s ship, on which Amy’s hammer is stuck, is high above her, and Eggman taunts “It doesn’t matter if you’re angry because your hammer is stuck up here!” In the following image, a moving gif, Amy summons a hammer out of thin air, a puff of smoke coming from it, as she is still glowing with a fire-like energy. Eggman’s robots shout “She has another one! How many does she have?” End ID.]

That’s right! This was all an excuse to spout out my “Amy Rose could kill God” propaganda! But it’s not propaganda if I’m right!

Part Four: The Lifeforms

So. It’s been a couple months since I made this post, but I was rewatching Sonic X with my sister, and we did notice that you do see prototype lifeforms for a flash in the GUN soldier’s story.

[ID: Screenshots from Sonic X; The GUN soldier narrates his story, as we see GUN soldiers arresting scientists, while standing in front of empty tubes of bubbling green liquid. The caption reads, “There were many rumors about ARK. Such as doing research for eternal life or creating the Ultimate Life Form.” The GUN soldier steps to a tube that has something in it. End ID.]

We see a brief flash of an experimental lifeform in this memory, as seen above; we also see two more, the ones that were explicitly stated to be the ones Maria was freeing.

[ID: Screenshots from later in the same episode of Sonic X, the first showing two tubes with dark figures inside, surrounded by dark blue bubbling water. The next screenshot shows Maria preparing to free them, with the captions reading “An experimental life form? She’s planning to free it!” End ID.]

So, these silhouettes. Let’s uh. Let’s take a look at those huh

Now, the bodies are too thick to be standard mobian bodies- but we can also see wires attached to the prototypes, as well as, you know, whatever that liquid is. It’s entirely possible there’s something wrapped around their bodies, to keep them safe/asleep/etc.

But..... ok so I might be reaching here but analyzing the face silhouettes, using red lines to mark quills and green to mark potential laid-back ears, it really could be long-quilled sonic and short-quilled Amy.

As well as this, in the shot of the GUN soldier looking at a prototype, I swear I can see a mobian ear.

tl;dr this is all fascinating me and I think we should let the Sonic X crew return to making this show as if they never left so that we can get answers to this

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic x #shadow the hedgehog #sonic adventure 2 #amy rose #mine #connie theories #connie writes

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queenxxxsupreme · 4 years ago

Note

Geralt and either NFWMB or Like Real People Do pls

A/N: I chose Like Real People Do. I owe a huge HUGE thank you to @pressedinthepages for just being such an amazing beta!!! I love you baby <3

Warnings: implied smut prior to this story but no details, mentions of nudity but nothing sexual, mentions the death of a child, mentions of a mother losing her child,

***

I had a thought, dear, however scary about that night the bugs and the dirty,

Why were you digging? What did you bury before those hands pulled me from the earth?

The light from the hearth flickered against the walls of the room. Outside, rain tapped lightly against the window. A gust of chilling wind blew against the panes, making a little whistling noise.

You were laying on your side facing the witcher in your bed. One of your legs lay across Geralt’s lower stomach, his hand resting at the crook of your knee. His thick and calloused fingers held your tender skin, and his arm closest to you was pillowed beneath his head. Your head was on his chest, counting his breaths and listening closely for his heartbeat.

You’d only known the White Wolf two years come the Summer Solstice. He found you at the town cemetery placing flowers upon a grave. He approached you to ask you about the ghost that had been haunting the town at night. After a bit of chatting and flirting, he ended up in your bed. Now, every time Geralt passed through your village in Kaedwen, he’d stay with you.

I will not ask you where you came from,

I will not ask you, neither should you

You lifted your head to see if the witcher was still awake. He was, in fact, and his eyes were focused on you.

“Hm?”

“I just….” You trailed off for a moment. “How long will you stay this time?”

“I don’t know.” Geralt answered honestly.

You looked down at the medallion on his chest. There was a scar next to where it lay in the valley of muscles and lean strength. That’s where your eyes went next. It was large and jagged. The wound had been anything but clean. You were amazed that the Wolf had survived a blade to the sternum.

“Are you going to ask me about them?” He spoke, deep baritone bringing you from your thoughts.

“No.” You softly shook your head.

“Why not?” He brought his eyes to meet yours once more. “Everyone does.”

“You’ve never asked me about mine,” you offered with a little shrug of your shoulder. “I’ve no desire to bring up painful pasts. There’s nothing that can be done to change it, so why linger?”

Geralt said nothing.

You put your head back down on his chest and closed your eyes.

Geralt listened to your breathing, to the way you exhaled softly. You didn’t go to sleep though, you rarely did when he was around. He wasn’t sure if your sleeping habits were so poor because of him, or if it was because of something else.

His mind wandered to what you had said about not wanting to bring up painful pasts. He’d always been curious why you wouldn’t ask him of his hunts, of his life as a witcher. Sure, you’d ask about his brothers, about his bard and his child surprise, but you never asked about how he got the scar cutting through his eye or any of the other thousands of scars littering his body. Sometimes you’d trace them in silence or kiss them gently, but you never spoke of them.

You’ve never asked me about mine, your words echoed in his head.

You had few scars on your body, fewer than him at least. There was a large one that went from your left rib down to your hip. It was clean but thick in width. A few other scars were here and there on your cheeks and the back of your hands, where another prominent one stood out in a stark relief of pigment.

Geralt silently wondered if perhaps the scars on the back of your hand were from self defense, if maybe you were ever attacked.

His thoughts went to the day he met you. You were at a grave in the cemetery. He didn’t pay attention to the name on the headstone then, but later after leaving your home, he returned to the graveyard out of curiosity.

The name on it was of a young boy, described to have only lived to his third harvest season.

Geralt had made assumptions through the couple years you’d seen each other off and on. His first assumption was that it was a brother or a relative of yours buried beneath the headstone. But then on one of his longer stays, he noticed there was children’s clothing in your wardrobe. Also in your wardrobe, he found a painting of a little boy with a bright smile.

He came to the conclusion that you had lost your son. He was curious and wanted to know, but he could never bring himself to ask.

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real people do

A few hours later, you both were still wide awake in silence, save for the ambient noises of the life around you. Sometimes you’d try to start a conversation, but it never lasted long.

The sun was beginning to peek through the windows, shining light into the room. His hand removed up and down your back.

You lifted your head up and looked at Geralt. His eyes found you. You said nothing though, and instead brought your eyes down to his lips.

You admired the Cupid’s bow on his top lip, the way a tiny scar seemed to start on his bottom and trail down a half an inch.

Your eyes flickered back up to him. He was watching you closely. You didn’t realize until then that his hand on you had stilled. He was tense and if you didn’t know better, you’d think he looked panicked.

Gerald cleared his throat and you looked away, taking that as a sign that he didn’t want to kiss you, or partake in whatever it was you were thinking about.

You sat up off of him, pulling your hair over your shoulder to cover your breasts.

He shifted a little on the bed, fixing where the linens rested just above his groin.

“I should, um...I should be getting up.” You spoke quietly.

He said nothing. He didn’t know what to say. So he laid there in silence, watching you dress and leave the room.

The White Wolf let out a breath, laying his head back against the pillows. He wished it was easier, that his life was easier. Maybe then he’d feel able to settle down, to commit to you. You deserved someone who could do that for you, but he couldn’t be the one. There were far too many dark things in his past, too many beasts following him. He couldn’t bring that to you.

Taglist: @pressedinthepages @mishafaye @whitewolfandthefox @wolfyland07 @belalugosisdead @persephonehemingway @keira-hulmaster @dinonuggs69 @greatestauthorofmygeneration @shadow-hunters-lover @dancingwith-thesunflowers @tedi-fach-las @thecomfortofoldstorries @raspberrydreamclouds @natkowaa @disasteren @weathervanes-my-oneandlonely @onlyhenrys @wackylurker @criminaly-supernatural @magpie343 @permanently-exhausted-witcher @hina-chans-stuff @the-space-between-heartbeats @havenoffandoms @carriebee1 @ger-bearofrivia @naominami @writingawaymylife @reaganjenelle @theawkwardpedestrian @scarlettwitcher @badassspaceprincess @just-a-sad-donut @summersong69 @an--actual--human--disaster @rubyqueen819 @omgkatinka @c-a-v-a-l-r-y @vonxcon @mazakeen @bravelittlesunflower @thereagles @awkward-turtles-world @menalliha @cotton_mo @maan24 @thefirelordm @monkeymo @krenee1drful @nympha-door-a @unadulteratedtreecrusade @Aquarius-pisces-rose @mentallyscreamingsincebirth @fl0ating @sometimesiwrite @ayamenimthiriel @crazybutconfidentaf @grossgayartist

#geralt x reader #geralt x reader fluff #geralt fluff #geralt #the witcher #the white wolf #kacey answers

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power-rings · 4 years ago

Text

Growing Pains

Chapter Two: A Bond

"I need you to know I would never be this strong without you You’ve seen how I’ve grown you took all my doubt Cause you were home..."

Weeks and months went by, and Maria succeeded in sneaking Shadow out of the lab. It happened so often to the point it was no longer a secret to her grandfather; not that he minded anymore, now. Shadow was developing just perfectly on his own, without anything from IVs, fluid, and some oxygen from a machine. So, Prof. Gerald was more than happy to allow Shadow some exercise. Although, the lifeform was developing just fine he did struggle to keep his balance every so often. With the help of Maria, he was able to maneuver around their unique home in Space. Over the time they've spent together they were becoming quite a interesting pair. It wasn't common they would get into trouble, but sometimes trouble would end up finding them.

One accident occurred between a middle-aged female nurse, which Maria swore to Shadow that she was like 150 years old and would never die. (He didn't quite understand, yet nodded in agreement either way.) Everyone called her an old hag on the A.R.K. but she did well at her job, despite her nasty attitude towards... well... everyone. For the first several years that Maria was on the Space Colony, this nurse didn't allow Maria to do anything except stay in her bed. She would force her to take some horrible medications, with worse side-effects. She didn't believe the old lady that they were helping her immune system, but Grandpa reassured her worries. Nobody really calls her by her real name, therefore she is known by That Nurse, and some other nasty names Maria would not repeat. That Nurse always wore her hair up in a bun, with a light blue pin tightly in her hair. For years, she told Maria that leaving her room would be a disaster for her health, she even hinted that she should go on Earth... because her grandfather wasn't present all the time. Unbeknownst to Maria though, she didn't have any living parents on Earth, so grandpa had to be best option for a guardian. If she was able to go out of the room, she was forced to wear a protective clothing, and uncomfortable masks. Eventually, Prof. Gerald had enough and told her that the treatments will be enough to keep her immune system strong, she of course argued with the man to no avail.

Can you guess how she felt about her friend, Shadow? She would spit out insults at Shadow, such as "you're just a lab rat", and "get back in your tube where you belong!" Maria frowned at her, and continued on her way, blocking the nasty old lady out. Thankfully, the rest of the residents were more approving of Shadow, and even found him to be quite interesting. None of them really knew what Gerald's purpose behind his creation, but that answer will come in due time.

Throughout their days together, Maria invited Shadow to try various foods from the cafeteria. Most of which was prepared by some of the greatest cooks that Gerald hired. It was quite different than some of the foods that they would enjoy on Earth. Her grandpa said that Shadow didn't have to eat, and could get away with eating one meal a week or longer. But, she insisted. Some of the foods such as veggies were packed tightly in portioned out boxes. (at that time they were trying to figure out how to grow veggies, and fruit in Space, so most of it were grown from Earth. ) Shadow was grossed out by broccoli, unless it was covered in the yellow substance called cheese. Anything else that was green, he refused to consume. Some of the other foods given were hand-prepared by the cooks among those meals... spaghetti were their favorites.

Their days would end by looking out the observation room where Earth, and some other planets orbited near them. It was absolutely stunning. Maria talked and talked about the books she read about this beautiful planet, Shadow of course soaked it all in. When it was it their curfew, this alarm would go off around the Space Colony, and everyone made their ways back to their rooms to settle for bed. Prof. Gerald would always walk Maria to bed, and would leave Shadow in the lab, but for the first night, he allowed Shadow to stay in Maria's own room. She worked on a make-shift bed for him, which was surrounded by soft pillows, and tons of stuffed animals - you would almost confuse Shadow for one! This became a routine every night from then on.

Maria's 10th birthday of all days she fell really ill. And when she got sick, it can be very deadly for her. Shadow was forced to stay out of the room, doctors, Prof. Gerald, and That Nurse were huddled around her bedside, checking her vitals, poking her with needles injected with medications. He waited outside of her door for days to come, faithfully obeying Prof. Gerald's orders. She was ill for about fourteen days, but gradually regained her strength, and Shadow was able to keep her company. No one knew what caused her to get ill, but whatever it was, almost everyone caught it and less people were seen roaming around. The next couple of weeks were slow, and their typical routine were a little different because Maria was struggling to regain her strength. When she was allowed to leave the room, because of the illnesses spread amongst the crew were no longer contagious, Shadow ended up carrying the girl to the observation room to see Earth... together. Their bond had grew drastically, and the two were inseparable.

A year went by since Shadow's creation, he grew to be typical hedgehog's height, and weight. Still a shorty, as Maria teases. During that same year, the nurse that everyone thought would never die, she ended up falling sick, and was sent back to Earth and died peacefully surrounded some of her grandchildren. It was almost weird not to hear her voice echo through the corridors of the Space Colony.

"What does it mean to die?" Shadow asked the pre-teen, he watched the screen in the cafeteria, that displayed various pictures of the nurse to pay tribute to her - they learned her name was in fact... Linda.

Maria raised an eyebrow, this wasn't a subject that children typically talked about. But, for her she had came close to the jaws of death more times than she liked. It didn't mean it didn't scare her. Any normal being would be scared... "Grandpa describes as a deep sleep..." Which he wasn't exactly wrong when he watched many of his creations go to sleep and never wake up. Maria played with her food, a little distraught, "but he says that Linda isn't suffering anymore." She gave a little smile. Shadow blinked, and the whole topic of death was completely dropped between the two.

His first year alive was literally hell from then on. Those scientists that observed him when he was tiny... they returned to discover any progress being made with the Ultimate Lifeform, he almost forgot that's what they called him. Shadow was being lead down the hallway to a room that he never knew existed, it was labeled as the "Testing Room". It was a huge empty room, no windows except for the up ahead where his creator observed, and the six other men standing before a platform that had a ton of buttons. "Let's see what it's capable of, shall we?" Stephen who had higher authority than the other 5. "Lifeform," he spoke into the microphone, his harsh voice echoing in the room. "destroy these robots." Within seconds, two robots were dropped from the ceiling. Prof. Gerald nervously watched above.

Shadow's ears pricked back, rather confused. Why did he have to destroy them? It wasn't like they were trying to harm him - OH SHIT, nope nevermind they're shooting at the lifeform now. He winced in pain, and growled. Tossing a glare at the men watching him. They kept firing. Shadow dodged left and right. Eventually, he was on all fours, panting. He was bleeding, but nothing that wouldn't heal on it's own unlike any other living being. His opponents approached him while he was down. "Lifeform! What in the hell are you doing?! DESTROY THEM!" He hollered from the control room. It was at that second Shadow's friend ran inside to his side, shielding him.

"STOP! You're gonna hurt him!" Upstairs, Gerald's face went white as the robot found a new target.

"SHUT IT OFF!" He roared, he shoved the men out of the way, and slammed his fist on the red button in the middle of the console. Immediately, the robot's systems went idle.

Maria hugged Shadow close, tears falling down her cheek - concerned deeply for her friend. Coming to reality, Shadow return the embrace. "Let's get you out of here..." She sniffled.

#my writing #fanfiction #maria robotnik #shadow the hedgehog #growing pains chapter two

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another-sonic-blog · 5 years ago

Text

By Accident Ch.2

Part one: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/618876056624054272/how-about-one-where-amy-discovers-shadow-in-stasis

This chapter's synopsis: After waking up Shadow from stasis, Amy and the black hedgehog spend some time together before going to see the Federal Reservation Bank, home to a Chaos Emerald. However, the longer Shadow spends time with Amy the more he realizes that he is having conflicted feelings about destroying Earth. This leads him to a final resolution.

ShadAmy (Platonic/Romantic it's up to you)

The sun began to rise as it helped the sky decorate its blue canvas with soft pastel colors. Flowers bloomed as they began to be touched by sunlight, they detached a sweet aroma that could even be smelled by the unskilled nose.

Shadow the Hedgehog looked outside the window from Amy's apartment where he could see people coming out of their houses, ready to start a new day. There was a new unknown feeling that was taking over his body. He wasn't tense, his body completely relaxed and although he didn't sleep he didn't feel tired ... He was at a complete state of tranquility. Something that he wasn't used to since leaving in the Space Colony ARK. Constant test, needles coming in and out of him, Xrays, and overexerting his body in every possible way was an everyday item to him. Although there were very loving and caring scientists at the ARK, not everyone was. Must of them saw Shadow for the living weapon that he was, nothing more and nothing less. Even Professor Gerald Robotnik saw him as such but instead of a weapon, he saw Shadow as a cure. The Ultimate Life Form, his body was perfect in every sense of the world. Undefeatable.

All the power in the world and he couldn't save the only person he truly cared for.

The black hedgehog looked at the people walking underneath him. So small and fragile but still a smile plastered on their faces. How could they be happy when their race only seeks for destruction? How can they be happy when they can only feel hate towards each other? Humanity was rotten from the very pinnacle of its core and Shadow wanted nothing more but its demise.

How can they be happy when they took away the person he loved the most?

Even with the pain, hate, and suffering inside of him ... Shadow didn't want to do it. He didn't want to destroy this pathetic planet but ...

He will do it.

The promise he made to Maria is more important than Shadow's conflicted feelings. Maria wanted revenge and for all that's sacred, Shadow was going to give it to her.

"Shadow?"

His moment of rage was broken as Shadow heard the sleepy voice of the pink hedgehog who opened the doors of her house to him. Shadow reminded himself that he shouldn't get attached to anyone, especially Amy who seemed to have her way into people's hearts ... quiet easily. However, Shadow couldn't deny that the pink hedgehog has come in handy to him. She cooks for him, gives him a roof and-

"Are you alright? Did you sleep?"'

She gives him company.

Something he didn't need nor want but it was greatly appreciated. It was going to be complicated to destroy the world she seemed to love so much, Amy will probably hate him when she finds out ... if she ever does. Shadow will try to keep the destruction of the world a secret for as long as he can. At least until he makes sure Amy is safe at the ARK and that's if she wants to come along with him.

"You know that I don't need to sleep," Shadow said still looking outside the window. A heavy sigh left Shadow's lips as if he was letting out all the anger that built up inside of him just a few moments ago. Once again he felt tranquil. "I'll be fine ... soon enough."

There were a lot of moments in which Amy questioned Shadow and if she was being completely honest there was doubt within her. The pink one knew that Shadow was hiding something. However, she decided to let the feeling go. He was just a mysterious hedgehog who wanted to go home, nothing wrong with that. Amy could trust him and she will.

"I'll cook something and then we can go to the Federal Reserve Bank of Capital City." Amy walked towards the black hedgehog. Again, she could notice that same sad look. Full of anger, pain ... If there was a way Amy could console him, she would. But how? There was a wall around him, one where there was no way she could climb up nor go underneath. Nonetheless, she was stubborn as well. It didn't matter how long nor how many hits it took, she was going to break down Shadow's wall.

Federal Reserve Bank?" Shadow asked this time he was facing the pink hedgehog.

"That's where the Chaos Emerald is."

Shadow thought that it was just a matter of eating breakfast and getting to the place where the Chaos Emerald is located. However, it seemed like the pink hedgehog had other things in mind. She took him to places that he only had seen in magazines and books back at the ARK. Places that Maria always wanted to visit.

"When I get better we definitely need to go to a shopping center! I wanna buy cute clothes and ice cream!"

"Shadow, once we go down to Earth we should go to a park! It would be nice to race against you!"

Something was screaming in Shadow's mind, telling him to tell the pink lady to stop playing around. What surprised him the most was his level of patience, he was supposed to be completing his plan to destroy the world but instead here he was. Following a pink girl around to sightsee.

It was late afternoon now, the sun once again helps paint the blue sky with pastel colors. The only difference was this time the color palette was darker. Purples and blues showed up and Shadow mentally smacked his forehead already disappointed that he might lose this day.

Maybe he could sneak outside during the night while Amy is asleep. But what if she wakes up and doesn't find him? Will she suspect him?

And what if she does? What does that matter to him? Shadow needed to continue his plan to destroy the world, that was the only thing that mattered to him now.

"Are you enjoying yourself Shadow?" Amy asked as she looked over at the black hedgehog with a smile on herself.

"No."

"Oh ..."

Chaos gracious, Shadow doesn't even know where to start with this one. He regretted being so upfront with her even if he was speaking up his real feelings.

"My apologies, it's just that I am desperate to get a Chaos Emeralds."

Although Shadow wasn't looking directly at the people, he felt the presence of humans passing by them. Some looked, some didn't care and to be fully honest Shadow never thought he would be walking around with humans as normal as this. On the vast streets that were filled with cars, cafes, restaurants, lights, and all of these mechanical things he quite didn't understand ... yet. He was never fond of the loud sounds but this was quite amusing to him.

"No, I am sorry," Amy said. "I know you want to get home and to do that you need the Chaos Emerald but ... I don't know I just thought that maybe you would like to sightsee before you go? I also wanted to spend some time with you before we parted ways ..."

When Amy says things like this, it becomes more complicated for him to think of the destruction of the Earth. His need to protect her increased to levels that even worried him. Now it wasn't a matter of Amy wanting to come along with him to the ARK. It was as if Shadow needed her to come with him.

No, he can't let those feelings take over him. He can't get attached and he shouldn't. Not after what the world has already taken from him.

"Yes, I need to go home but that doesn't mean my journey with you ends once I get the Chaos Emerald." Shadow looked over to Amy who was walking next to him, a bit too close for his comfort but at the moment he didn't mind. "I still need to help you find your friend, remember?"

"Oh, you are right!" Amy said, a bit surprised. "Thank you Shadow, most of the time I am left behind ... So, I thought that maybe you would do the same."

This time a sad smile was placed on her face. As if Amy was remembering a nostalgic memory, maybe someone who she was found off mixed with a sad memory. Anger suddenly began to rise within the black hedgehog. Whoever dared to leave behind such a kind-hearted person like Amy was an awful creature.

However, the rosette hedgehog was back to her bubbly self. She smiled the brightest that she could and looked at Shadow with her Emerald eyes.

"But I know you won't do that to me right, Shadow?" Amy asked.

This was becoming difficult. Way too difficult. Shadow was once again conflicted with his feelings, he shouldn't care much about this girl but still he does.

"No, I won't," Shadow said and really meant it ...

So then, why did Shadow felt like he was lying?

The Federal Reserve Bank was one of the most secure places in Capital City, may even in the whole world. A great facility, robots, guns, lasers, soldiers, nothing that Shadow couldn't handle.

Amy and Shadow were a few meters away from it as to Shadow's request. Although the facility was on the outskirts of the city, it was still very concurred by people, especially G.U.N. agents. Shadow knew that it was better to keep his distance now.

"I have a friend who works for the government, I think we can ask her to help us convince them to lend us the Chaos Emerald-"

Amy's voice was cut off as an explosion was heard on the Federal Reserve Bank. The gates that were surrounding the facility were no longer there and Amy immediately recognized the person behind this.

"That's Dr. Eggman!" Amy said to Shadow. "I have to stop him! He must be after the Chaos Emerald."

They were hiding behind some bushes where there was not a possibility of them being detected. Amy looked at the facility once again, determination on her eyes. Maybe this time she could prove to Sonic that she could be useful.

"Who is this Dr. Eggman?" Shadow asked, trying to get Amy's attention so her mindset would move away from entering the facility.

"He is a villain. Dr. Eggman is always trying to conquer the world and he is always after the Chaos Emeralds." Amy said. "I wonder what does he need them for now."

"This information can come in handy later on."

A quick thought crossed his mind. This was it, the means as to how to start his plans. But first he needed to do something.

"I need you to go back home, I got this. I'll stop him by myself-"

"No."

Shadow quickly interrupted, Amy had such a determination on her face that could intimidate anyone ... but him.

"I don't like being left behind Shadow and I won't leave you alone either," Amy said. "He can hurt you, what if you need me to protect you?"

"From what I remember I was the one who protected you from that guard of robots a few days ago."

"And? I still helped you get out! I can take care of myself."

"I can take care of myself!" Maria caught the red ball with her hands, an angry look placed on her face. "I want to play too!"

"Dear, even if you feel good that doesn't mean that you are." One of the scientists approached the blond one, trying to provide her with some comfort. "But your health is very delicate, one small agitation and may end up in the infirmary again ... You don't want that do you?"

"But I want to play with Shadow!" Maria said.

"Shadow is very strong, he may even hurt you if he were to throw that ball."

The black hedgehog watched from afar, a bit sad that his best friend wasn't able to play with him the activities that he enjoyed.

"Don't worry Maria," Shadow approached her, a delicate and comforting voice coming from him. "We can read a book or do a puzzle if you want."

Even when Shadow tried not to compare Amy to Maria, there was an evident share of personalities within the two. This brought back a faint memory, one that he wished he could relive again.

"I know you can take care of your self," Shadow's voice changed and this took the pink one by surprise. "I don't want you to come with me ... because I don't want you to get hurt."

Shadow the Hedgehog was the Ultimate Life Form but even he had failed to protect the one he cared for the most. His failure was something that will always hunt him in the form of insecurity. He was the Ultimate Life Form and he failed to protect a little girl. Who is he to say that the same thing won't happen to Amy? What if he can't protect her? What if he can't be there when she needs him?

"It's not like I don't trust your abilities ..." Shadow made a pause as he took a moment to appreciate Amy's emerald eyes. "It's more like I don't trust myself to protect you if need me to."

There it was again, that sadness, that painful look. There was a reason behind his insecurity and although Amy wanted to know why she knew she couldn't do that at the moment. Just what had happed to Shadow that made him be this insecure about himself? Heck, Amy was utterly impressed when she saw him destroy that guard of robots back at Prison Island. He had unique and amazing abilities ... but even he had his insecurities.

"Will you be back by dinner?"

Maybe, she was finally understanding the black hedgehog. Amy now knew that she wouldn't be able to break down the wall that Shadow had built up around him no matter how much she tried to destroy it. It was a matter of giving Shadow time, space, and understanding ... And that way maybe ... He would be the one to destroy his wall.

The dark hedgehog gave Amy a small smirk, one that pierced through the pink hedgehog's heart. Hopefully, she would be there to see more of that enchanting smile.

"I'll try my best," Shadow replied.

"You will come back, right?"

Almost like plead, Shadow's heart begged him to not stay away from the pink hedgehog. To forget everything and to not destroy the planet that Amy seemed to love so much.

But he couldn't. Shadow had made a promise to the most important person in the universe, to Maria ... and he always keeps his promises.

"I promise."

Obtaining the Chaos Emerald was too easy. The black and red striped hedgehog even felt a little bit guilty that he took down every single agent and robot at the facility. In his hands now was a green Chaos Emerald.

"It all starts with this ... A jewel containing the ultimate power," For a moment, Shadow was lost in the beauty of the green Chaos Emerald. How could something so small be so beautiful yet powerful? In a sense, the Chaos Emerald reminded him of someone he knew.

"You rat! What do you think you are doing with my Chaos Emerald?"

Although Shadow didn't recognize the voice, he wasn't scared of it much less intimidated by it. There was complete silence between them. The only thing surrounding them was the metal room in which Shadow had stolen the Chaos Emerald. Slowly, he turned around coming face to face with the so-called Dr. Eggman.

"My name is Shadow, I am one of Gerald Robotnik's greatest creation ... The Ultimate Life Form." Shadow said. "It's an honor to finally meet you, Doctor."

Although Dr. Eggman was surprised that this black hedgehog knew his grandfather's name, thanks to his great thinking abilities he was putting all the pieces together.

"You are the military's top-secret weapon! The one that the military shut down the research because they feared it!" Eggman said on top of his robot. Shadow had to admit the whole scene was comical even. He could tell why Amy called him Eggman but if the black hedgehog wanted the human to do as he pleases, it was better to not say that nickname.

"A few days ago I found my grandfather's old research files and dairy. He wrote about the greatest weapon he has ever created ... Project Shadow," Eggman was still keeping his distance, not knowing how dangerous could this hedgehog be. "I was looking for you in Prison Island, just to find that you were no longer there ... How did you even escape?"

That was something that Shadow didn't dare to say. He didn't want to involve Amy in any way into his devilish plans. He decided to ignore his question and instead focused on the information that was given to him.

"Because you are the grandchild of my creator, I'll grant you one wish," Shadow said. "Bring more Chaos Emeralds."

"Shadow wait!"

"I'll be waiting for you in the central control room on the space colony, ARK."

Shadow was enjoying this too much. The police, soldiers, agents, everyone was after him. Although he could easily use Chaos Control, a part of him wanted himself to be known to the world. Shadow wanted this planet to know that he was here, that they should start to feel despair, pain, and suffering just like he felt it. Just like he was feeling it.

Destroying the Federal Reserve Bank brought him a certain pleasure, was this what revenge felt like? If he was being completely honest, it was quite lovely.

Standing proud of at the tallest bridge of Capital City, Shadow the Hedgehog looked down on the humans. So small, so weak and pathetic and they still managed to outsmart the ultimate life form 50 years ago in the ARK.

The sounds of police sirens and helicopters around him made Shadow smile, did they really think their machines are good enough to stop him?

"Hmf ... How pathetic ..." The words left his mouth but as soon as they did, he remembered what had happened on the ARK. Yes, he was the Ultimate Life Form. However, he shouldn't let that fact make him underestimate the humans. They were more deadly than they looked.

"Find them before they escape!"

Shadow did everything he could so Maria's small hand didn't slip away from his. Her breathing was becoming more agitated, and Shadow feared that her weak lungs would explode at any moment.

Gunshots were heard and without noticing Maria had been shot right in front of him. Everything happened so fast that Shadow didn't know how to react, what to do. He had been trained to be many things, a weapon, a cure ... but Shadow had never learned how to be a savior ... A hero.

"Maria!"

In the next moment, he was trapped. A crystal capsule surrounded him and Shadow was again lost. He couldn't do anything. The black hedgehog only stood there, watching his only family bleeding to death. Maria sacrificed herself to save him, to put him to safety. Shadow was supposed to be the one to save her. After all, he was her hope all along for a happy and normal life on Earth.

"Shadow, I beg of you ... Please do it for me."

"Maria!"

"For all the people ... on that planet ..."

No matter how much Shadow screamed her name, she wouldn't listen. The Ultimate Life Form was reduced to helplessness. To nothing, he just wanted this nightmare to end. For Chaos, for everything sacred in this universe ... He swore to never sleep again if that meant he will never have this nightmare.

"Sayonara ... Shadow the Hedgehog."

He couldn't do anything back then. But now, Shadow was going to do anything in his power to get revenge. Nothing else crossed his mind, although the memory of the pink hedgehog wanted to make its way trough. He suppressed the thought, knowing that if he let his mind go to Amy the sudden rage of destroying everything will disappear. The black hedgehog didn't need that right now, all he needed at the moment, was anger, rage, and determination.

Starting right this moment, he didn't care about anyone or anything. He will seek destruction, he will full fill his promise. Shadow will make everyone feel the pain, the suffering, the no-ending nightmare that was his life.

Just how dare they? How dare these humans walk away as if nothing happened? Like they just didn't destroy his whole universe? His purpose to live?

These were the same thoughts he was having early this morning until a sweet voice interrupted him.

Amy made him have second thoughts and doubts about destroying the world.

But she wasn't here now to remind him of that.

"Maria, I still remember what I promised you, for the people of this planet ... I promise you ... Revenge!"

The dark hedgehog had already finished defeating the guars of the military that was after him. It didn't take him long and his satisfaction was short-lived, therefore he decided to go downtown where he could cause a little more of despair within the population. He looked around the city, sightly enjoying the lights and how perfectly they illuminated the city.

Suddenly, something caught his attention. It wasn't the tall buildings, nor restaurants nor how there were no people at the moment.

It was a blue hedgehog, who was fighting a G.U.N robot. It was pretty big and Shadow would have liked to take down that robot as well but seeing that the blue hedgehog was almost done with, he decided to not interfere. Shadow had to admit that the blue hedgehog had good skills for the regular Mobian. Watching from the rooftop of a close-by building, Shadow thought that maybe this could turn out to be an interesting fight.

The black hedgehog landed on top of G.U.N's robot as he threw the Chaos Emerald up and down, playing with it to get the blue hedgehog's attention.

"Now, I know what's going on!" the blue hedgehog said as he approached Shadow, looking directly up at him. "The military has mistaken me for the likes of you!"

Shadow reminds quiet, it was amusing to see that the blue one had the guts to face him. The black hedgehog wanted a fight but he didn't think it was going to be that easy.

"So, where do you think you're going with that Emerald?!" The blue hedgehog raised his voice, tired that Shadow wasn't saying a word. He began to run this time. "Say something! You fake hedgehog!"

"Well, let's play."

Throwing up the Chaos Emerald and then catching it, Shadow only said two words.

"Chaos Control!"

Greenlight eradiated from the Chaos Emerald and Shadow felt his whole body go through an energy shock. It was a sensation that was long forgotten but it wasn't uncomfortable. In the next moment, there he was up close to the blue hedgehog.

For a moment, everything went in slow motion. Blue met black as they crossed next to each other, Shadow finally took a good look on Sonic's features. He was just a regular blue hedgehog, but his green eyes remind him of someone.

Amy's emerald eyes.

"Damn it, I forgot! I promised her I was going to be back!"

Shadow mentally face palmed himself, he felt so stupid for letting his uncontrolled emotions take over him so easily.

"And tragically, I didn't make it for dinner either."

Shadow decided to teleport back to the top of the building where he could see again the blue hedgehog. Why did he even think this was a good idea? He was just wasting time.

"Wow ... he's fast!" The blue one said. "But wait ... Its not speed! He must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp!"

Oh, well at least the blue one offered him some type of entertainment. The least he could do was to introduce himself before he goes off to Amy's apartment.

"My name is Shadow, I'm the world's ultimate life form." The black hedgehog was once again playing with the green Chaos Emerald, mocking the inability of the blue hedgehog. "There's no time for games ... Farewell."

Shadow used the Chaos Emerald to create a great amount of energy, it was so bright that it blinded Sonic for the moment.

"Shadow ... What is he?"

And then he was gone.

"I better investigate this ... Just after months of not seeing Amy and Tails ... I come back to the city to see them and this happens-"

"Don't move! Stay where you are! Keep your hands up in the air!"

Sonic's thoughts were interrupted as in few seconds, the blue blur was surrounded by G.U.N's trucks, soldiers, and helicopters.

"Huh? Not again!"

Like a teenager coming back from a party that he wasn't supposed to go, Shadow entered Amy's apartment through the living room's window.

He tried to be quiet but of course the pink hedgehog was waiting for him. Amy was wearing her pink pajamas, messy hair, and tired eyes. She was sitting on the couch, in front of a small table. On top of it, a plate of food was wrapped with plastic paper, Shadow could tell the food was long cold.

But his heart wasn't.

Far from it, actually.

"My apologies, were you waiting for me?"

Shadow was finally inside the apartment, his voice was soft. For a small moment, he looked over to the lamp that lightly illuminated the room, giving him enough light to see Amy. "Have you eaten?"

"Yes."

Growl

As if destiny wanted to prove Amy wrong, her stomach let out a loud growl, showing that she hasn't eaten anything since she last saw Shadow.

"I wanted to eat with you," Amy defended herself. A bit shy and embarrassed that Shadow watched her being this vulnerable. "How did it go? Did you defeat Eggman?"

Shadow nodded, he watched Amy stand up from the couch. The pink lady slowly walked towards him where she could see him better thanks to the moonlight coming from outside the window. Shadow's vermillion eyes glowed even brighter. The first time Amy saw his eyes, they were a bit terrifying. But now, she found a strange sense of comfort within them. Red pools that wanted to say so much, but couldn't.

"Did you get the Chaos Emerald?"

"Yes,"

"Are you going home now?"

"...Yes."

Amy's heart shrunk a little when he accepted it. They had been together for a couple of days but they had built a special bond. She knew this won't be the last time she would see him ... So, why does she feels like this?

"I need to go home but I'll come back to you when the time is right."

Even for Shadow, it was hard to say those words. But why? His heart stopped beating as he watched Amy's face change.

It was as if she knew everything, about his past. About his plan to destroy the Earth, about his dark thoughts.

But her face showed such calmness, such softness ... It wasn't pitying, it was compassion.

She was giving him comfort, without Amy knowing it.

"I'll be here whenever you need me,"

This time, Amy smiled. She knew that Shadow needed to follow his journey and to discover himself on his own. However, if there was any way she could help, then she would make it clear that she would be here for him. No matter what.

"Would you ... Would you really be here?"

Amy couldn't tell all too well, but she knew that his voice had cracked. His voice was filled with such grief that Amy herself felt like crying. That insecurity was showing up again in Shadow and this time it was breaking him. His voice was a quiet plead. He was like a sinner seeking forgiveness, like a vagabond seeking a home.

"Yes, I'll be here ... I promise."

The rosette hedgehog was something or rather say someone who Shadow has been looking for since the day Maria died. Something that he thought he lost forever. He had only known the pink hedgehog for a couple of days but she had shown him so much. She offered him such unconditional sentiment and comfort that made his heart feel at peace.

But was that enough to forget a promise?

No.

"When I come back, I'll help you find your friend. How does this individual look like?"

"No need. Honestly, he must be traveling somewhere. I have my ways of finding him, so don't worry about that," the pink lady was getting closer to Shadow but now he didn't mind the closeness of it at all. "Besides, something tells me that you have more important things to do that to help me find Sonic."

The black hedgehog still wonders who was this person who seemed to be so important to the pink one. Why would anyone want to be away from her? When all that Shadow wanted to do was to be close to her?

"I'll come back soon enough, don't get in any trouble alright?" Shadow took one last good look at Amy, fully appreciating her soft features. Nonetheless, his eyes landed on hers. How come he didn't notice earlier? Amy's green emerald eyes were even more beautiful than the Chaos Emerald he was hiding.

"No promises!" Amy said playfully as Shadow walked towards the window, ready to disappear into the distance.

Although his heart was begging him to not leave, he knew that this was for the better. He needed to figure out things by himself and hopefully, he could get rid of the strange feeling that was starting to make its way into his heart.

"I'll come back," Shadow said. What the black hedgehog didn't know was that he would see Amy soon enough, in a circumstance he wished Amy wouldn't see him in.

"I know," Amy gives him a reassuring smile, one that made his heart and soul feel ... tranquil.

"You promised me."

A/N: The hardest part of this chapter was the ending. It took me a very long time to figure out how this conversation. Shadow, a lost, suffering soul ... and Amy, an idealist who sees the best in everyone. I guess I really wanted to show Shadow's mains traits in this chapter. His determination, insecurity, and caring side. No matter how much he tries to not let 'superficial' feelings get to him, he always ends up caring for others. He does not want to destroy the planet earth, but he is still going to do it because he 'promised' it to Maria. I wanted to show Shadow's inner conflict and how much that affects him. He is going to have his lows on this story but you all know how it's gonna end. I am really trying to stay 'in character' for these two. This won't be your super 'mushy lovey-dovey fanfiction story.' This story is going to be more like 'the reasons why Shadow and Amy have such great potential as a couple, romantic and non-romantic'. I want to highlight both characters' traits, weaknesses, and strengths as I give a new approach to this iconic story.

Also, I just realized that Sonic never introduces himself to Shadow but after they are at the ARK racing each other. So, if I can I'll have Shadow at the end be like 'Oh, so you are the hedgehog Amy is looking for!"

On the side note, I am already preparing for the big ANGST moment. Well, two main angst moments, I am sure you can figure the two moments out. I honestly can't wait for all of you to read it.

I want this story to be around 10 chapters long. But, it may be more or less. It all really depends on how much I can make out of the SA2 story. I'll be pulling out things from the hero and dark stories to finish this.

Anyways, that's all I have to say for now. I think, lol.

See you next time on Prison Island!

#shadamy #shadamy fanfiction #shadamyau #shadamy fanf #shadow and amy #shadamy comic #shadow x amy #shadowxamy #shadowandamy #amy rose #sonic fanfic #sonic fanfiction #sa2

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xxx-cat-xxx · 5 years ago

Text

A little broken

Over a year after defeating Thanos and almost losing Tony, Peter is still haunted by the final battle. In an attempt to outrun the memories, he starts college far from New York.

It takes a visit from his mentor and an ill-timed flu bug that brings them both to their knees until Peter realises that he doesn’t have to take on the whole world alone.

Some Irondad hurt/comfort for everyone who’s quarantining at home (and those of you who have to work. Stay safe!) This is my @marveltrumpshate fic for Heyriel. Great thanks to @whumphoarder for doing so much more than beta reading. I hope you enjoy.

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The first time they meet, Peter isn’t sure what to make of Tony Stark.

The man shows up unannounced to Peter’s apartment, chewing on May’s date loaf and walking around Peter’s room as if he owns the place—talking as if he owns the whole world. Peter is both awed and appalled, May’s occasional comments about greedy billionaires ringing in his ears. But then Peter starts talking about his motivation for doing what he does, and for a moment something in the older man’s face seems to break. That’s when Peter knows that there’s more to him than what makes the tabloids.

Germany is both a thrilling adventure and an unparalleled disaster. Peter watches the group of heroes he’s looked up to since childhood break apart before his very eyes. The fight is grueling, taking more out of Peter than he knew was possible. He is lying there on the ground, trying to catch his breath, when Tony bends over him. And for a moment, there it is again: the broken facade on his face—below it, pure panic. The way Tony looks at him with thinly masked worry reminds him of Ben’s expression whenever Peter was little and having an asthma attack, and it does something to his insides that he can’t really explain.

Then, a few months later, Peter inevitably screws up and slices a ferry in half. The two of them are standing high above the city when Tony takes his suit away, and Peter feels tears pricking at his eyes. He cries later in his room, alone, because it’s so much more than just the suit; he feels that by disappointing Tony he’s lost his chance at something so much bigger.

It’s a miracle he manages to fix this one.

After Siberia, Tony is darker and quieter and indisputably older—like he’s finally grown up. Peter is sad for him, but it’s not all bad either. This new Tony starts taking more of an interest in Peter’s training—starts acting like a real mentor to him. There are afternoons spent together in the lab, dinners at the tower with Tony and Mr. Rhodes, and even the occasional low-stakes mission. Slowly, Tony’s world starts to feel like a place where Peter might one day belong.

But then, the universe gets ripped in two and somewhere on a red and war-torn planet, Peter clings to Tony in desperation, feeling first his body, then his thoughts slip away from him.

When he wakes again, there’s another battle to fight, but this time there’s no thrill to it. It’s his personal horror film come true.

He can hear the moment when Tony’s heart stops. Peter cries openly this time.

In the end, Tony makes it through. He loses an arm and much of his physical strength, but he’s stubborn as hell and fights his way through recovery. But somehow the day of the battle never fades from Peter’s brain like memories should.

When he finishes school, May proposes NYU, Tony naturally wants MIT, but Peter chooses Culver University. It might be good for him to get out of New York, is what he says. It might be good for him not to be in a place that has Tony’s legacy lurking around every corner, is what he thinks. And maybe moving away will make things easier when he returns.

Three months into Peter’s first semester at Culver, Tony accepts a guest speaking gig at the university and decides to stay at a nearby hotel to spend the weekend with Peter.

And that’s when it all goes to hell.

“Hello? Earth to Peter.” Tony waves a hand in his face. “Who are you daydreaming about?”

“Huh?” Peter looks up at Tony, then down at his half-finished iced tea. “Nothing,” he evades. “Nobody, I mean. Sorry, I’m just—just tired. And I have a lot of work left this weekend.”

“Mh-hmm.” Tony looks as if he isn’t quite believing it. “You want more spring rolls?”

“Nah, I’m good. I’ll wait for the main dish.”

Peter hasn’t eaten much today, but he’s not quite hungry either. He’s nursing a headache and the tiredness is not just an excuse. As happy as Peter is to see his mentor, Tony’s timing in showing up the week before midterms really could’ve been better. Peter feels like he might fall asleep right here at the restaurant table, but he already knows that he’s going to have to stay up until late to finish his readings.

“You’re doing it again,” Tony points out. “You’re being awfully quiet, kid. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, seriously.” Peter manages to hold eye contact for a few seconds and then takes another sip of his iced tea. “So, you said we could fix the suit while you’re here?”

Tony takes the bait (or maybe just lets it drop intentionally) and the talk quickly turns technical.

After a few minutes, they’re interrupted by the waitress—a student Peter thinks he recognises from his Python lab—who stares at Tony for a moment, her gaze lingering on the scars decorating his right cheek and ear before dropping down to his bionic arm. Then she catches herself and asks for their order.

When their food arrives, Peter observes Tony take out a box of different coloured pills and swallow a couple of them dry.

“I know, not sexy,” Tony remarks, noticing his look, “but sort of necessary if I want to keep this baby ticking.” He taps his hand over his chest with a wan smile.

Peter grins half-heartedly in return, even while he can feel his insides clench. The comment reminds him of the time Tony’s heart actually did stop, of the battlefield with the dust of Thanos’ army still hanging in the air, of the utter helplessness he felt when Tony snapped, of―

“Uhm, excuse me?” It’s the waitress again, her voice shy, cheeks blushing. She extends a piece of paper toward Tony. “Could I, uhm, could you, maybe give me an autograph for my sister? She’s a big fan. I mean, we all are, of course, but she’s got her room decorated with posters of you and all that…”

Tony looks her up and down with a raised eyebrow and a smirk playing around his lips. “What’s your sister’s name?” he asks finally, making a show of producing an integrated pen from his bionic arm. The waitress is visibly impressed, and Peter resists the temptation to roll his eyes―it’s far from the first time he’s seen this trick. If Tony was famous before, it’s nothing compared to the status he earned since dusting Thanos and saving the universe.

Tony gives the waitress an easy smile along with the paper he passes back, and then turns back to Peter with a smirk. “Fangirls,” he whispers. “Gotta love ‘em. Did I tell you about the kid who offered me all of his allowance for a hoofprint from Gerald?”

Because Tony is Tony, it takes a long time before he has caught Peter up on anecdotes of Morgan, Happy, and Gerald’s newest misadventures, and by the time Peter gets back home, it is already late evening. His studio apartment is small and rather old, with walls that have turned grey over time and windows that don’t fully close anymore, but it’s got its own kitchen and bathroom, which is much better than a dorm room―especially since Peter wouldn’t know how to explain the odd hours he keeps or the regular blood stains in the shower to any of his fellow students.

Peter’s head has been throbbing painfully for the better part of an hour, and the lights from the screen when he pulls out his laptop don’t make it any better. All his body seems to want is sleep, but if he’s going to spend the next two days upgrading his suit with Tony’s help, he really needs to get these chemistry readings finished.

He tries for several hours, but the words don’t seem to want to stick in his mind and it takes longer than expected until he feels that he has understood the chapter. Peter drops into bed around 3:30 in the morning, too tired to even change out of his jeans, and falls asleep immediately.

Peter is woken up by someone knocking on his apartment door to the beat of “We Will Rock You”, and it’s all he can do to stifle a groan. He drags himself out of bed and over to the door.

“Finally,” Tony sighs when Peter lets him in, shoving a reusable thermal to-go cup in the kid’s face and causing him to flinch backwards. “I thought I’d have to actually start singing.” Then he gives Peter a once-over and his face falls. “What happened to you?”

“I think I’m sick,” Peter replies, realising it is true the same moment the words leave his mouth. His head is hurting even more than the night before and his throat feels raw and painful, but the worst is the utter weakness in his body and the chills running down his back that tell him he has a fever.

“What kind of sick?” Tony asks suspiciously. To Peter’s surprise, instead of turning on his heel and leaving the surely germ-infested apartment, Tony steps over the threshold and raises a hand to cup to Peter’s forehead.

“Dunno.” Peter shrugs. “Just feel like garbage. Flu was going around the school last week―it’s probably that.”

“Aw, kid,” Tony sighs, something like compassion in his voice. “Yeah, you feel really warm.”

“Sorry about the suit,” Peter says, moving back to sit down on his bed heavily. “I guess you can just go back to New York early then.”

“What? You think I’m coldhearted enough to leave my former intern alone on his deathbed somewhere in the Virginian wilderness?”

“Culver’s not that bad,” Peter defends. “And I’m not alone either.”

“So that means you have someone here to take care of you?” Tony raises a sceptical eyebrow.

Peter hesitates. “I… May’s a nurse,” he evades. “I can call her.”

Truth is, there actually isn’t anybody. He hasn’t really made friends yet―at least certainly not the kind he would consider asking to take care of him while he’s down with the flu. He calls May twice a week, skypes with Ned—and occasionally still with MJ—on the weekends, and he’s friendly enough with his classmates when they’re working together in classes. But his downtime is mostly spent studying on his own and patrolling the city at night.

“Yeah, no, that’s not happening.” Tony looks him over appraisingly, then seems to make a decision and presses the cup of hot chocolate into Peter’s hand. “Guess I’ll stick around for a bit. Here, drink that.”

“I don’t really feel like it.” Peter is definitely queasy, bordering on nauseous, and the thought of drinking something as rich as hot chocolate almost makes his stomach turn. He shifts on the bed so that he can lean against the headboard, feeling too tired to hold his body up without support.

“Well, you need to have something. Super metabolism and all that.” Tony strides over to the small, definitely not tidy kitchenette and starts opening cupboards, most of which are empty. He comes up with a few packets of shrimp-flavoured instant noodles and a box of Coco Puffs. “Really, kid?”

“I was gonna get groceries today,” Peter says defensively.

“Yeah, I’m gonna do that now,” Tony states. “What do you say to buttered noodles? That’s all Morgan ever wants when she’s sick.”

“Yeah, that’s...that’s fine,” Peter says, dumbfounded at the idea of Tony Stark going to the supermarket and making pasta for him.

“Good. Glad that you agree, since that’s about as far as my cooking skills go.” He zips up his jacket and grabs Peter’s keys from the table. “Don’t do anything stupid till I’m back.” With that, he’s out of the door.

Peter doesn’t feel like he’d be able to do anything stupid even if he wanted to. He can’t remember the last time he felt this bad, and with his Spider-Manning lifestyle, that really says something. He’s thirsty, but his throat hurts in a way that doesn’t make him want to swallow anything. There’s an ugly taste in his mouth and he really wants to brush his teeth, but the bathroom could just as well be a hundred miles away.

If May were here, she would have set him up on the sofa with Star Trek: TOS playing on the TV while changing his sheets and airing out the room, he thinks. And suddenly the homesickness hits him like a train. He misses May. He misses New York and his friends and even the busy schedule that high school provided him with, but mostly he misses coming home to an apartment that’s not empty, having someone to eat breakfast with in the mornings and share his day with in the evenings over burnt teriyaki chicken. Just the thought of May’s disastrous cooking skills almost brings tears to his eyes.

He stays like this for an indefinite amount of time, feeling miserable and blinking back tears, until Tony eventually returns. He sets down the shopping bag on the table and closes his eyes for a moment, rubbing the bridge between them with his fingers, the telltale sign that he has a headache.

“You okay?” Peter asks hoarsely.

“Yeah. You live in a village, kid. Took forever to find a parking spot and then everyone and their mother wanted an autograph. Basically fought my way out of there. Might have to give my lawyer a heads up, actually.”

Peter can’t even bring himself to force a laugh. A part of him wants to tell Tony to just go home already; the other part of him really, really doesn’t want to be alone right now. He sniffs hard and swallows to keep his nose from dripping.

“Hey,” Tony’s expression sobers as he sits down next to him on the mattress. “Did I miss something?”

“I just―” Peter rubs a sleeve over his watery eyes, feeling embarrassed. He thinks for an excuse and suddenly remembers the very real problems of college. “Ah, crap.”

“Huh?” Tony asks.

“I have two tests next week,” Peter admits miserably. “I haven’t done anything for them yet―I was going to study this weekend in the evenings―”

“That’s fine, kid, we can deal with that. We saved the universe, remember? Schoolwork is nothing compared to Thanos, trust me.”

“I know,” Peter sniffs. Then, before he can stop himself, he blurts out, “I‘m just missing home.”

“Ah,” Tony says. He lays his bionic hand on Peter’s shoulder and rubs it. “Yeah, that makes more sense.”

“I’m sorry,” Peter goes on, “I didn’t mean, I’m just―”

“You’re just sick and tired and emotional,” Tony assesses, but there’s no judgement in his voice. “Come on.” He gestures for Peter to lie down and pulls the blanket up to his neck. “Go to sleep, kid.” His tone is almost soft. “I’ll be here.”

Peter falls into a feverish, exhausted sleep. He’s dimly aware of an icy cold gripping him and chills wracking his body, and then of Tony putting an extra blanket on him. At some point Tony offers food, but Peter’s too tired to even fully open his eyes. He mumbles something that he hopes Tony understands and turns over to the other side.

The next time he fully surfaces, it’s from Tony gently shaking him awake. “Hey Pete, I know you’re tired, but you really need to eat something.”

“Don’ wanna,” he mutters, pulling the covers up to his chin.

“Peter. Come on, kid.”

He blinks himself awake. The apartment is dark now; it must be evening already. The faint smell of food lingers in the air. “D’ I sleep all day?” he asks, confused.

“Almost. You can still catch Saturday Night Live.”

“Hmm.” Peter sits up slowly. He feels woozy and weak and his head is still hurting, which is ridiculous considering how long he slept for.

“Just let me check your temperature.” Tony takes off his smartwatch and presses it against Peter’s neck, just under his chin. The cold metal sends shivers down his spine.

“102.6,” Tony reports. “Yeah, that’s not great. A pity that fever reducers don’t work on you.” Tony’s voice sounds rough. Peter squints up at him just as the man turns his head into his shoulder to cough. He looks tired—really tired—and, as far as Peter can make out in the dim light of the bedside lamp, his face is kind of flushed.

“Are you okay?” Peter croaks.

“Uhm...” For a moment it looks like Tony wants to lie, but then he falters. “Not really. Guess I caught the same bug you did.”

“Shit,” Peter says. This sucks big time.

“I already texted May—she’ll probably be up here tomorrow. As soon as you’d had something to eat and drink, I’ll go back to the hotel and get out of your hair. You don’t need an old sick man around.”

“What? No!” Peter blurts before he can stop himself. He feels his breath speeding up, horrified at both the idea of Tony leaving him here alone, and of Tony being on his own in some hotel room feeling as miserable as Peter does now. “Please don’t go.”

Tony looks taken aback. “Pete, I don’t think I’m going to be much help soon.”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” Peter feels himself blushing. “It’s nice not to be alone,” he admits in a small voice.

Tony gives him a long look. “Okay, fine,” he agrees eventually. “But that means you have to listen to me. And the first rule is: eat your dinner, kid.”

They eat quietly. Tony is visibly making an effort not to let on just how bad he’s feeling, but Peter has learned to read the signs during his mentor’s long period of recovery from the snap. Tony is rubbing his shoulder whenever he thinks that Peter isn’t looking, which means that his prosthesis is hurting him. His shoulders are slumped, showing how tired he is, he’s nursing a headache, and then there is the fairly obvious sign of him hardly having eaten anything except for two spoons of pasta and his medication.

After dinner, Tony calls Pepper while Peter calls May. She gives him a run-down of the usual flu advice―“Stay hydrated, try and rest, and for god’s sake, don’t pile every blanket you own on yourself like that time you had strep, Peter—keep the curtains on the windows”—and promises to drive up tomorrow if she can get her shift covered. Then she asks to talk to Tony. Meanwhile, Peter uses the bathroom, brushes his teeth and changes into pyjamas. Observing himself in the mirror, he realises just how run-down he looks. He splashes some water on his face, which does nothing except make him shiver.

“She asked whether you built that Lego ship she got you for your birthday,” Tony announces when Peter returns.

“Oh.” Peter hasn’t, of course. He’s neither had the time nor the motivation to do so without Ned.

Tony makes a show of looking around the room. “This place is less personal than an airbnb. I told her there’s not even a poster on your wall.”

“So what?” Peter sighs. He feels the need to defend himself, but he’s too sick to come up with anything.

Tony doesn’t press it, luckily. He borrows a pair of sweatpants, which end up being a bit short around his ankles and make it look like he’s outgrown them. It almost makes Peter smile. They pull out the sofa-sleeper that May insisted on him getting, but which he’s had no opportunity to use until now. When everything is set up, Peter is almost dizzy from being on his feet for so long. He’s both sweating and shivering and very glad to lie back down under the covers.

Tony turns on the TV, but neither of them is really paying attention. Peter is half asleep a few minutes into the news and Tony seems visibly uncomfortable, shifting around every few minutes on the couch.

“Do you want to switch to the bed?” Peter asks him, secretly hoping for the answer to be no―he really doesn’t want to get up again. Tony shakes his head, lips pressed tightly together. Then he gets to his feet faster than Peter would have thought possible for someone in his condition and bolts to the bathroom.

Peter hears nothing for a while. Then there’s a few weak coughs, followed by a retch and the sound of splashing. Peter cringes, his own stomach twisting in sympathy. The small size of the apartment and his enhanced hearing make it impossible to tune out the sounds as Tony continues to be sick into the toilet for the next ten minutes. When the retching tapers off, Peter shakily gets to his feet and fills a glass of water from the kitchenette.

He knocks on the bathroom door, then leans heavily against the frame. “I got you some water,” he calls, hearing Tony’s ragged breathing inside. “Can I come in?”

“Just go to sleep, kid,” Tony croaks.

“Yeah, sure,” Peter mumbles under his breath. After a few moments, he hears the sound of the flush and then the door opens. Tony is covered in sweat and looking about as bad as Peter feels, plus there’s a greenish tinge to his face. The smell of vomit wafts out and hits Peter’s nostrils, turning his own stomach.

“Thanks, Pete,” Tony croaks says hoarsely and takes the water from his hand. His metal fingers feel cold against Peter’s burning skin when they brush the back of his hand. “Sorry you had to hear that.”

“‘S okay,” Peter mumbles. He suddenly has a hard time focusing on Tony. His head feels so heavy that he has to rest it against the doorframe as well.

“Jeez, kid,” Tony comments. Then his face drains even more of colour and he presses his knuckles against his lips, swallowing thickly. “Go lie down, okay? I’ll be out in a bit.” With that, he turns and disappears back into the bathroom.

For once, Peter listens to him, unsure whether he will be able to keep standing much longer anyway. After a moment of consideration, he curls up on the couch, leaving the softer bed for the older man. He drifts there for a while, trying to tune out the sounds of sickness coming from the bathroom.

Eventually, he is dimly aware of someone entering the room and switching off the lights. There’s cold metal touching his neck as someone takes his temperature and tsks, then softly brushes back his hair and lays a cold washcloth on his forehead. It feels amazing against Peter’s burning skin.

“Thanks, May,” he mumbles.

Waking up feels like resurfacing after diving into a deep pool of water. Peter’s eyelids are sticky with sleep and his brain feels like it’s been through a potato masher. He’s disoriented, so it takes a bit until he realises that it was Tony’s voice that woke him. “Pete,” he hears him calling again weakly. Something about it shakes him out of his half-awake state.

“Tony?” he asks, sitting up. There’s a rustling sound and a thump from the bathroom, confirming his worry. A quick glance at his phone on the bedside table tells him that it’s just after 4am. Definitely not the time to take a shower.

Peter’s head swims when he gets up from the couch. He takes a few unsteady steps towards the bathroom and then stops to lean against the wall until his vision clears and he can open the door.

Tony is on the ground next to the toilet, wrenched in between the bowl and the shower, looking about ten times worse than earlier. His face is almost grey except for the scars on his right cheek, which are flushed in an angry red. His dark eyes are glassy and deeply exhausted. Sweat sticks to his hair and t-shirt, the prosthesis off and one sleeve dangling empty. The smell of vomit hangs thickly in the air, much stronger than before.

Tony slowly lifts his head when Peter steps in. “Hey,” he croaks, attempting a smile and giving up somewhere halfway. “Sorry for waking you. ‘S just that I could use some help.”

“With what exactly?”

“Getting up?” Tony asks sheepishly. “I tried and almost took down your shower curtain.”

Peter blinks. “Well, shit.”

“You said it, kid.”

Peter extends a hand and Tony grabs it gratefully, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. Peter closes the toilet lid and Tony sits down on it with a heavy sigh. He shudders convulsively, then closes his eyes and swallows rapidly a few times, as if trying to stop himself from being sick again.

“How long have you been in here?” Peter asks while checking Tony’s temperature on his smart watch. He finds it to be at a worrying 103.6.

“Uhm,” Tony makes a vague gesture with his hand. “Midnight, maybe? Kinda lost track of time.” Peter frowns. “Sorry for waking you up, kid,” Tony says again, taking his expression the wrong way. “That’s kind of why I didn’t want to stay.”

“You should have called me earlier.” Peter fills a glass of water from the tap. “And yeah, really reassuring to think of you spending the night on the bathroom floor of your hotel because you can’t get up on your own.”

Tony mumbles something that sounds a lot like, “Not like I haven’t done that before.” When Peter hands him the glass, the man’s hands are trembling so much that half of the water spills out onto his shirt.

“Shit,” Tony mutters. “All my spares are at the hotel.”

“I can give you one of mine,” Peter offers.

“Yeah, that... that would be great,” Tony says earnestly. Peter wonders whether he’s maybe a bit delirious. “This shit didn’t use to happen before the snap, you know.”

“Don’t worry,” Peter says, surprised at the admission. He fetches a clean sweatshirt from the dresser and hands it to the older man. His mentor’s whole body is shaking violently with chills. While Tony changes, Peter notices that the scar pattern around his shoulder stump is an angry red. It looks painful, but Tony doesn’t seem to care too much.

Something twists within Peter. It reminds him too much of the time just after the snap when he saw Tony in the hospital, weak with fever from the infected limb.

“Ready for bed?” Peter asks, shaking the thoughts from his head.

“Yeah,” Tony says, although he doesn’t look too sure. Peter pulls him upright and almost staggers under the man’s weight and his own weakness. Tony doesn’t comment, and when Peter turns towards him, he sees that he is biting his lips, eyes largely unfocused.

“This really hit you hard, huh?” Peter asks when they have made it to the bed, sitting down next to Tony. His mentor is bending forward, head in his hands, panting and shaking like he just finished a mission in the suit. That’s not the only thing, though. With his advanced hearing, Peter can pick up Tony’s heartbeat, which is slightly arrhythmic.

“Tony?” he asks suspiciously. “What’s wrong with your heart?”

“Yeah, about that…” The other man raises his head, but avoids Peter’s gaze.

“What?” Peter can feel his own heart rate speeding up in worry.

“I, uh...remember my heart medication?” Tony says casually. “I threw up the last dose. It’s not dangerous, don’t worry,” he adds when Peter stares at him, alarmed, “Or, well, at least not yet. Just sort of increases the nausea and dizziness.”

“Can’t you take another dose?” he asks.

“I don’t think I can keep anything down right now,” Tony admits. “But I’ll try in the morning.”

“Hmm.” This doesn’t really do anything to make Peter feel better.

“Don’ worry, kid” Tony adds with a tired slur to his words, which only achieves the opposite. With a lot of effort, he pulls his legs up to the bed and then lies down under the blankets. “Let’s both sleep for a bit and things will look brighter in the morning.”

Peter gets himself a glass of water and then curls back up on the couch. He hears Tony’s breaths turn heavy and even out before long, but although he feels exhausted, he has a hard time going back to sleep. The sofa feels like rocks under his achy body, and he keeps turning around, unable to find a comfortable position. His head doesn’t fare any better. With his brain cloudy from fever, it’s even harder than usual to stave off the memories from the battlefield.

His eyes finally fall shut and back he goes, right into the middle of dust and blood and death looming around every corner. He knows that there should be screams and shouts everywhere, but it’s silent, dead silent, except for the underlying thump-thump-thump of Tony’s heartbeat, becoming ever quieter.

Peter rounds a heap of rubble and almost stumbles over Tony, who is lying on the ground, half his body eaten away by the radiation. The beating gets weaker even as Peter falls onto his knees and tears stream down his cheeks. He’s been here a hundred times, unable to save the man who saved him, and he knows exactly how this is going to end.

A beat, almost indiscernible. A breath leaves Tony’s lips for the last time.

Silence.

He wakes to the feeling that everything in the world that possibly could be wrong, is wrong. His whole body is hot and he feels nauseous, almost as if he will throw up. Sick, he remembers. He’s sick. Tony’s―

Peter forces himself to take a deep breath that comes out more like a choked sob. He sits up dizzily, and is surprised by the light streaming through the windows. His eyes immediately wander to Tony’s still form on the bed, covered by blankets. Peter can make out his slightly ragged breathing, but he’s way past the point where he would feel calmed by this.

Unsteadily, he makes his way over to the bed and sits down on the floor next to it, shivering uncontrollably from the coldness of the tile, but not wanting to wake Tony up. He tries to calm himself, but his heart won’t stop racing. Everything feels kind of surreal and he can’t shake the image of Tony’s body on the ground, so still and lifeless. There are tears burning in his eyes. He shoves his knuckles in his mouth to keep himself from sobbing loudly.

“Kid?” Tony’s groggy voice asks. “What ‘appened?”

“S-Sorry,” Peter manages. “G-Go back to sleep.”

“Hey.” Tony rubs his eyes and tries to push himself up, only partially succeeding. Looking at Peter, his face takes on an alarmed expression. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Peter whispers, feeling infinitely stupid. “J-Just had a nightmare.” He bites his lip, but with the admission, a dam seems to break. He can feel his eyes overflowing.

“Hey, kid, hey,” Tony says softly. “It’s alright.”

Peter just shakes his head, tears dripping down his cheeks onto the floor. Tony extends a trembling hand to wipe them away. “Do these nightmares happen often?” he asks.

“Sometimes,” Peter evades. He wonders why he doesn’t just tell the truth. That there’s rarely a night when he doesn’t go back to the battle against Thanos, or the dust on Titan, or even the Vulture in flames―an enemy that seems ridiculous now compared to the ones they’ve fought since, but sometimes still makes it into Peter’s dreams.

“It’s gotten worse again, hasn’t it?” Tony asks. “Since you moved here.” His hand drops down to Peter’s shoulder and squeezes it lightly.

“‘S okay,” he lies. “I’m fine. Jus’... just the fever.”

“Mmh-hmm, sure. Come here.” Tony nods his head towards himself, weakly lifting an arm, and Peter lets himself get pulled into the hug. “Woah, kid. You’re on fire.”

“Hmm,” Peter mumbles. “You too.”

It’s true; Tony’s body feels even hotter than his. The sweatshirt Peter had given him is already damp with sweat. And, most concerningly, his heart is still beating out of rhythm. It reminds Peter way too much of his dream for him to ignore it.

“You need to have some water,” Tony says, ignorant to Peter’s thoughts. “And eat something. It’s been a while.”

Peter’s queasiness increases at the thought. “Stomach’s not feeling great,” he admits. “How are you doing?” he asks then, into the older man’s chest. “And don’t lie.”

He feels Tony grimacing. “Like a clock someone forgot to wind up.” His remaining arm lets go of Peter as he brings it to his chest to massage the area around his heart. “But hey, don’t worry. I’m gonna try my pills and some water and then I’ll be back on my bullshit before you know it.”

But he isn’t. Half an hour later, Peter has to support Tony to the toilet to once again throw up the medication and the few sips of water he’s just managed to get down. He stops trying to reassure Peter after the second bout of painful dry heaves wrack his body and doesn’t even resist when Peter wipes down his grey face with a wet cloth. On their way back, halfway across the bedroom, they almost lose balance when Tony’s legs suddenly give out. Peter just manages to stabilise him before they can faceplant all the way.

“That’s it. You need to go to the ER,” Peter decides after all-but carrying Tony back to the bed and sitting him down. Peter’s own body feels heavy with exhaustion. Tony weakly shakes his head and opens his mouth to object. “Please, Tony.”

There must have been something in his voice that gave away his desperation because Tony shuts up mid-inhale. He gives Peter a deep look and then nods shakily. ”But only if you eat something first.”

“Okay.” He checks Tony’s temperature, which has climbed even higher, to 103.8. Peter’s own is hardly any better at 103.2, but at least he can still stand―kind of, he realises when he has to sit down to be able to concentrate on his phone screen long enough to call a cab.

The walk to the kitchen feels like it’s a mile long. Peter surveys the meagre food choices and decides that cold pasta with salt looks like the best option. After the first few bites, his queasiness abides a bit and he manages to finish his small plate, suddenly realising how hungry he was. He drinks two glasses of water with it and finally feels a little less lightheaded. Then he goes to the bathroom and, on a whim, swallows a small handful of painkillers from the bottle of Advil Tony has sitting beside his pill box. They will hardly do anything for him, but hopefully they’ll keep him upright until they reach the hospital.

When Peter comes back, he expects Tony to be lying where he left him and is already wondering how he’s going to maneuver him down the stairs from the second floor with the man's balance shot and his own legs feeling like noodles. But Tony is sitting up and in the process of putting on his shoes. His determination, however, falters a bit when it comes to actually standing up.

“Just go slow,” Peter directs, supporting Tony to the door and taking on most of the man’s weight. “One step at a time.”

They make it down the first staircase before Tony holds up a hand. “Just need a minute,” he exhales, sitting down with a sigh and leaning against the wall, his eyelids fluttering shut. His breathing is ragged. Peter looks at him worriedly, the unsteady thump of the man’s heartbeat loud in his ears. Tony, as if feeling the gaze, opens one eye to squint at him. “Not dead yet, kid. Come on, let’s get downstairs.”

Maybe it’s the fact that the painkillers are wearing off faster than expected or that Peter’s anxiety is finally getting the better of him, but the cab ride is kind of a blur. He just remembers Tony sitting with his head tipped back and his eyes closed, looking deathly exhausted, and at some point grabbing the older man’s hand and holding on.

Peter only lets go of it when he has to fill in the forms once they reach the hospital. The ER nurse takes one look at Tony’s scarred face and missing arm and then directs them to a private room. Peter’s hand is shaking so hard that Tony’s name on the form looks like a child’s scrawl. Behind him, his mentor is already being connected to a heart monitor, while another nurse is bringing an IV stand.

He hands the form to the elderly nurse and then has to steady himself against the wall when he stumbles a bit.

Her brow furrows. “Are you alright?” she asks.

“Y-Yes,” Peter answers quickly.

“Bullshit. He’s got the flu too,” Tony mutters from the bed behind them.

“I’m fine,” Peter insists, feeling his heart rate spike. They’ve done a great deal to keep his secret identity, well, secret while he’s at Culver, and he’s not about to let his powers be discovered just because of a flu bug. “Really, I’m okay. Not a big deal.”

“Honey, you can’t be here as a visitor if you’re sick,” the nurse says, her tone kind, but firm. “You’ll risk infecting the other patients.”

Peter looks up, taking a moment to understand the implications. “What? No, please don’t make me go!”

The nurse eyes him critically, then sighs and relents. “If you’re going to stay, you’ll have to be inside this room at all times. I can’t have you walking around spreading germs.”

“That’s okay,” Peter agrees immediately. It’s not like he was planning to walk the halls anyway; his legs feel like they might go on strike any moment. When the nurse turns around to start working on Tony, Peter wobbles over to an uncomfortable chair in the corner and collapses into it.

He feels like the next time he takes an actual breath is once Tony is hooked up to painkillers, antiemetics, and something for his heart, the fluids dripping steadily into his arm through an IV and the heart monitor finally—finally—reverts back to a steady rhythm of beeps. Tony isn’t conscious anymore to notice; after spending the better part of the last 24 hours on Peter’s bathroom floor, his exhaustion has finally gotten the upper hand. He drifts off as soon as the meds start kicking in.

Once the nurses leave, Peter drags his chair over next to the bed. Tony looks—there is no other way to describe it—frail. Like he might fall apart any minute if Peter stops watching. His fever is still much too high at 103.3 and he is sleeping fitfully, as if the dreams are haunting him as well. Peter can still see images from the nightmare in his mind. Not clear, but looming, like he might find himself on the battlefield any time he turns around.

He doesn’t want to fall asleep, but he’s dead tired. Now with the adrenaline fading, it feels like his body weighs a thousand pounds. He suddenly doesn’t even feel able to keep his head up, and instead lets himself slump forward, crossing his arms and resting his head on top. His cold hands are a sharp contrast to his burning face.

His mind feels oddly detached from his body, like he’s floating, and he has no idea how much time has passed when suddenly the nurse shakes him awake from where he’s slidden down onto the edge of Tony’s mattress. “Can you just move for a second, hon?” she asks gently. “I need to hook up some more fluids."

"Oh yeah, sure, of course..." Peter nods groggily and goes to stand up a little too quickly. The moment he is on his feet, he can practically feel the blood rushing away from his head, and a wave of darkness rolls over him. Peter grabs for something to hold on to but comes up empty. He feels himself sway into the nurse, who grabs his shoulders and just about manages to keep him from face planting on the hospital floor.

“You’re really warm, dear,” she observes after helping him sit back down on the chair. "You really can't be here if you're not a patient. Let me call someone to get you a bed."

“But I—” Peter feels panic swelling in his chest. He doesn’t want to leave Tony alone, especially when he can’t be sure that the man’s heart won’t stop again, but he can’t let anyone find out about Spider-Man either―

"Peter, it's fine,” he hears a thin voice. Tony, just woken up, is shifting wearily under the blanket, turning his head towards them. “They'll sign NDAs and no one will know. Just do what she says and get in the bed, alright?"

So Peter does. The nurse calls her colleague, who sets up a bed next to Tony’s and takes Peter’s vitals. After Peter groggily explains that fever reducers won’t do anything to bring down his 103.5 degree temperature, the nurse hooks him up to fluids to counteract the dehydration.

The world goes blurry again and he is half asleep when he sees Tony slip something into the elderly nurse’s hand on her way out the door.

When she’s gone, Peter gives Tony a confused look. “You bribed her to let me stay in the room?”

“What are you talking about?” Tony scoffs lightly. “I just asked nicely and told her you took part in saving the world―that was more than enough.” He shrugs a bit. “And I might’ve signed an autograph for her son.”

Peter would have rolled his eyes if his head wasn’t hurting so much. “Still a bribe,” he mumbles.

“Go to sleep, kid,” Tony says warmly.

He closes his eyes but then opens them again to see Tony watching him. “You’ll be okay, right?” Peter asks.

“Of course,” Tony replies. “I’m always okay.”

When Peter wakes up again in the early evening, it’s to May lightly stroking his curls out of his face. A tension he didn’t even know he was holding seems to fall off his shoulders.

“Hey, baby,” she says softly when he hugs her. “Rough weekend, huh?”

It is decided that neither of them has to spend the night at the hospital―Tony has to fight to be discharged, but they eventually let him go after making him promise to rest, take his medicine, and tell May if his heart acts up again. In turn, Tony collects each of the staff members’ contact details to have his lawyers send NDAs later.

The drive back to the flat is quiet. Tony attempts small talk for the first five minutes, but is still too out of it from the combined force of illness and drugs, and quickly gives up again. Peter is just relieved that May is there.

Once they’re home, May makes both of them eat some toast and then ushers them off to bed. Peter feels like he hasn’t slept since he moved to Virginia, and maybe that’s true in a way. But now with Tony and May both there, he finally feels like it’s safe to let himself go.

He wakes up to May opening the windows to let in the chilly morning air.

“C’n I have some water?” he mumbles.

May hands him the glass. “Your fever has come down a bit overnight. Feeling any better?” she asks.

“Hmm.” He’s still weary and headachey, but the chills are gone and the world seems much less frightening now. “How’s Tony?” he asks.

“Still asleep. We talked a little last night—he didn’t get much rest, I’m afraid. But you should wake him up and tell him it’s time for food and medicine.”

Peter sits up and is rewarded with a lack of dizziness. He goes to the toilet and washes his face before trudging over to the bed and sitting down carefully on the mattress next to his mentor’s sleeping form. Tony’s eyes are moving rapidly behind his closed eyelids as if he’s in the middle of a dream. His hair is a greasy mess, the scars as red and angry as before and his cheeks still flushed with fever, but the rest of his face isn’t as pale as it was the previous day, and, when he listens carefully, Peter can make out his regular heartbeat.

“Tony?” Peter whispers, gently touching his flesh shoulder.

Tony grunts and rolls himself over. “Pep?” he asks in a muffled voice.

“Not exactly.” Tony blinks awake and squints up at Peter. “How are you feeling?”

“Ugh…I want my hospital drugs back,” Tony half-jokes. “But not on the verge of cardiac failure anymore, so that’s a plus.”

“Hmm.” Peter reaches for his hand to check the smart watch. “Your temperature’s down.” Tony’s is at 101.5, whereas Peter’s is at 100.7. Tony gives first the numbers and then Peter a critical once-over before closing his eyes again.

“Don’t go back to sleep,” Peter warns. “May said you need to take your medicine and eat something.”

Tony groans audibly. “Nurses never let you have any fun...”

The first time they met, Peter wasn’t sure what to make of Tony Stark.

Times have changed, Peter thinks, as he surveys the scene in his apartment.

After a painfully slow shuffle to the bathroom and back, Tony decides that he doesn’t feel up to walking around just yet, so they all eat breakfast in bed, assembled on various pillows and blankets, while Star Trek plays on the TV in the background. With his appetite returning and worries temporarily lifted, Peter devours two pieces of toast with chocolate spread and a glass of orange juice while Tony sticks to saltines, tea, and the pills he swallows under May’s watchful eye.

When they’re done, May announces that she’s heading out for groceries. “No crime-fighting until I’m back,” she orders with a smile. “And I want each of you to finish the water bottles on the table.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” Tony salutes sarcastically. The moment May shuts the door, he sets down his half-finished cup of tea and slumps visibly into his pillows.

“You alright?” Peter asks immediately.

“Jeez, kid, you’re worse than Morgan,” Tony comments, not without affection. “I know last night was scary for you, but honestly, this is not even in my top 20 for life-threatening events I’ve experienced in the last few decades.”

“Is this supposed to make me feel better?” Peter retorts. “Because it really doesn’t.”

He must have come across less playful than intended, because Tony’s expression sobers. He regards Peter with the deep look that always gives him the feeling of being x-rayed.

“I know,” Tony says. “But that’s kind of the point. I’ve been through so much shit in my life that I know pretty much exactly how you feel.”

He drags himself a bit more upright and lays a warm hand on Peter’s forearm. “I know how it is when your thoughts circle back to the same moment over and over again and the nightmares won’t let you rest. I know how easy it is to isolate yourself because the memories are eating you up and you feel like nobody can help you.”

He pauses for a moment and rubs a hand over his forehead. Peter remembers the darkness on Tony’s face the first time they met and wonders whether that’s what Tony sees on his now.

“What I’m trying to say is,” Tony continues, “you don’t have to pretend to be fine if you’re not. At least not in front of me or May.”

The irony of it almost makes Peter smile, despite the lump forming in his throat. Tony just spent the last 36 hours trying to downplay the pain he was in. “You are one to talk,” he remarks.

Tony chuckles quietly. “Still learning, kid.” He picks up his tea cup and takes another sip before continuing in a softer voice. “Just trust me, it‘s okay to be a little broken, even when you’re not sick. And you don’t have to hide it. I know what loneliness looks like. I’ve been through all of it and it took me years to understand that the only thing that can help is to let other people in―the right kind of people.”

The thoughts are running a marathon in Peter’s head and he’s dimly aware that he’s trembling. He swallows hard before speaking. “It’s just… sometimes I don’t even want to remember. It’s just so hard to start talking. About”―he takes a deep breath―“the battle. And the dreams. And everything else.”

“Yeah, it is. I never said it would be easy.” Tony seems to hesitate for a moment, but then he pulls Peter toward him one-handedly so that they can lie side by side. He covers both of them with his blanket. Peter turns his head into Tony’s shoulder and closes his eyes, taking deep breaths. “And we don’t have to start today. But I’ll be there whenever you’re ready.”

________________

If you liked this, you might also enjoy my other post-Endgame fic (in which Tony is obviously still alive): What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood

All my fics

Taglist: @toomuchtoread33 @yepokokfine

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smallheathgangsters · 5 years ago

Text

Business Deal (Part Three)

Header made by the amazing @flowers-in-your-hayr 🌻

A/N: I’m so excited about this mini series and I hope you are exicted with me! Part four will hopefully be uploaded next week or at the beginning of the week after. Please enjoy and leave some feedback! ❤️ Excuse any mistakes, I try my best to make as little as possible. :)

Tag List: @captivatedbycillianmurphy @tranquility-or-chaos @zodiyack @claire-loves-music @cubedtriangle

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Reader

Word Count: 3264

Type: angst, violence, a lot of swearing

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You came back to consciousness only a few minutes after breaking down in front of Tommy’s betting shop and realised that your father’s men had carried you to a car and laid you on the back seat.

After pushing yourself up, you massaged your temples with closed eyes and tried to process everything that had happened in the last half hour. The graphic images flashed before your eyes that were shut tightly. The men storming in, the hands grabbing and pulling you carelessly, almost violently. Tommy being pushed to the floor. The fists and feet punching and kicking him. The blood.

And lastly, yourself. Yourself going absolutely crazy by shattering a glass against the wall and slapping the Shelby man across the face, as if he hadn’t been hurt enough.

Although, maybe he deserved it. Maybe he deserved worse for murdering your father and not even doing it himself. For sending his helpers like the coward he was, giving your father the least honourable death, he could have ever wished for. Your father would’ve never went to heaven. He’d done a lot of bad things in his life and caused a lot of pain. But he’d always done the dirty work himself, having to live with the consequences and only ever taking men with him for backup and assistance, not to do it for him.

That was one of the many reasons he’d been able to achieve such a great following. He was a man who people admired, apart from the horrible side of it.

You opened your eyes when you stopped massaging your temples and leaned forward to the two men in front of you, one of them driving the car. “Where are we going?”

“We’re bringing you home,” you heard Gerald say. He was steering the automobile.

“Did you kill Tommy?”

You saw him shake his head.

You frowned, surprised by his answer. “You didn’t? Why not?”

Gerald sent you a quick glance over his shoulder. His expression was confused. “You wanted us to finish him? I thought you’d be happy we didn’t.”

You let out an irritated scoff. “Why the fuck would I be happy?”

Gerald shrugged. “I thought you were like in love or something.”

“In love or something!?” you exclaimed outraged. “Bloody hell, Gerald! He killed my father! Why on earth would I still be in love with him?”

“So, you were in love before we stepped into that filthy betting shop?”

“Fuck off,” you grumbled and pushed yourself back into the seat. You saw the man next to Gerald on the passenger side turn around and give you a curious look. That made you realise that you didn’t only know your driver, but his companion as well. Ben.

“What are you staring at?” you said to him, annoyed by his invasive gaze. Your mother had always hinted at you that Ben might like you but was too scared to come forward because in the end, you were his boss’s daughter and he wasn’t just any kind of boss.

Ben immediately turned his head back to face the road. “Nothing, sorry.”

“Do you want us to go back and get him?”

“Tommy?” you asked. Gerald nodded. “We can send some boys to go back, pick him up and bring him to the mansion.”

You thought for a second. Having him at your house would give you some time to talk to him in private. Maybe you’d be able to find out what exactly had happened and what your father had done that made him get himself killed.

You started chewing on your lip. Since waking up from your black out you hadn’t yet shed a tear for your father’s passing. You felt bad because you loved him very much but the only thing you were able to think about was what had taken place between Tommy and him and what you’d do to Tommy if you’d have him in your control.

Your whole behaviour was the absolutely opposite of what you’d sworn yourself to be. Your promise to yourself and your future children to not follow into your fathers’ steps. To bring as much distance between his business, his lifestyle and yours. But the anger and rage in your body was too intense to ignore, to not act upon it.

“You know what, Gerald? Get him.”

Gerald nodded again. “I’ll send someone when we’re at your house. It’s not much further.”

He was right. Only a few minutes later the automobile rolled onto the large driveway with the pretty fountain in the middle. Thousands of roses graced the sides of the front yard. Pink ones, because they were your favourite. Your father had immediately called some gardeners to replace the red ones when he found out, that you preferred pink roses.

The car halted and you jumped out the back seat before Ben was able to open the door for you. You saw how Gerald leaned in to one of the men guarding your home, whispering something in his ear, most likely sending him off to the betting shop. With long strides you walked towards the entrance of your house, again pushing open the door yourself before Ben could get it for you.

The second you stepped into the entrance, the body of your mother flung itself against you, wrapping you into a lavender-scented embrace. Her slender arms felt as if they were trying to crush your ribs, making it hard for you to catch your breath.

“Mum …” you breathed out, signalling her that she was hugging you a little too hard. That made her loosen her grip but erupt into tears instead.

Your heart broke for your mother. She may be a gangster wife and daughter with a hard shell, but her core wasn’t. It was caring, soft and motherly. And you both knew what the death of your father meant. It meant that if they didn’t want to lose their influential position in the city, country even, your mother had to take over his place.

“I’m going to help you,” you said with a shaky voice, your eyes getting misty too. Hearing and seeing your mother cry shattered your heart. She didn’t deserve this.

You felt your mother nod against your shoulder, where she had placed her head. You knew she knew what you’d meant with that.

Your mother eventually peeled herself off of your body and looked at you with puffy, red eyes. But nevertheless, her expression was strong. Fierce even. “We’ll make these bastards pay.”

“We’ll be a great team, mum,” you assured her. “We’ll make father proud. There is no way we’re losing this fight or our position.”

That was the moment you let go of everything you stood for. With this statement you had committed yourself to taking over and helping your mother with your father’s business and there was no way out from here. But in that exact moment, you didn’t even think about the consequences.

You gave your mother another loving hug. Then you grabbed her hand and breathed in slowly. “Mum … where is he?”

Your mother gulped, trying to hold back another wave of tears. “S– still in his office, where he got shot.”

“He got shot in his office?!” you exclaimed loudly. “How was that possible?”

There was no way for somebody outside of your father’s inner circle to get into the house. All your entrances were either locked and barricaded, so nobody was able to get in or at least two men guarded them. Except …

“We’ve got a mole, Y/N,” your mother said, her voice now stronger again. “There wasn’t a break in or any of that kind. Nothing was damaged and there weren’t any noises that would’ve alerted me. I was here the whole time.”

“A mole?” you hissed. “Who? Do we know who?”

“No, not yet. But we’re at it.”

You huffed. “How the fuck are we going to find him if he’s among the men that should be detecting him?”

“I only told Gerald, we can trust him,” you mother said, trying to calm down your raging self. But it was no use. You didn’t trust anybody. Not since today happened. How would you know that Gerald was trustworthy? Not to mention that he had been the one to let Tommy live instead of killing right him on the spot, a decision that had been rather strange compared to the usual manner they had.

“Fuck Gerald,” you spat. “I’ll take care of this matter myself. The only person I trust at the moment is you, mum. And you shouldn’t be trusting anybody else than me. I don’t want something happening to you as well.”

“But–“ she started, but you interrupted her. “No, mum, no buts.”

Your mother knew you were right. You couldn’t risk anything, especially being women. Men, often looked down at you, underestimating your skills and knowledge and you weren’t going to let that happen. Most importantly not when it came to your father’s subordinates.

You were about to storm off when something on your mind stopped you. Your turned back to your mother and grabbed both her hands with yours, squeezing them comfortingly.

“D– did you find him?” you asked carefully, internally hoping strongly that it hadn’t been your mother who had discovered his body.

She shook her head, making you exhale deeply. “Thank god.”

She gave you a weak smile. “Please be careful, darling.”

“I will,” you promised her and then hurried down the hall. You weren’t paying attention at all when you ran towards your father’s office, suddenly crashing into somebody with full force. You had been preoccupied with your thoughts of what you’d witness when stepping into the office, that you didn’t see the person approaching you.

You inhaled sharply, trying to suppress the pain the collision had caused you.

“I’m so sorry, Miss, I wasn’t looking,” you heard a masculine voice mumble apologetically. A hand reached for your shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m okay,” you answered, looking up at the man you’d bumped into. Ben.

For fuck’s sake. He was the last person you wanted to see. His intense gaze on you made you feel uncomfortable once again and look past him into the direction of your father’s bureau. “I need to get going, Ben. Could you please let go of my shoulder?”

“Oh, of course, Miss. I’m sorry,” he apologised instantly, pulling back his hand. “I’ll be available if you ever need something. I understand that this is a hard time for you.”

Your instincts wanted to tell Ben to get away from you as far as possible, but your brain suddenly had an idea. Including Ben.

You mouth formed a wide, fake smile for him. “You know what, Ben? There is something I need your help with.”

“Y- yes?”

Ben seemed confused. Understandably though, since you’d never given him any attention and usually were very harsh with him, trying to get across your disinterest in him.

You nodded cheekily and grabbed his hand. Another puzzled glance from Ben. “Am I in trouble?”

You laughed. “No, Ben. Just trust me.”

Your inner self huffed at your choice of words. Trust. But you kept up the act and pulled him down the hallway, past your father’s office to the large door to the sitting room where you’d met Tommy Shelby for the first time.

“In here,” you said, pushing open the door, leading him inside and closing it behind him right away.

Ben stood in the middle of the room cluelessly. “What are we doing here, Miss?” he asked and frowned, looking around and probably trying to find something that would help him understand the strange situation.

You walked towards him and let your fingers run up the hem of his suit jacket. “A little birdy told me that it’s hard for you to keep your eyes off me?”

You heard him gulp, his Adam’s apple bobbing when he did. “Who said that?”

You gave him a disappointed look. A fake one, of course. “Are you telling me you don’t like the way I look?”

“N– no, not at all!” Ben stuttered, not really knowing how to react to your sudden approach.

“It was my mum,” you admitted, truthfully this time. “I don’t think my mother would lie to me.”

Your words made him even more insecure. “I didn’t intend on calling your mother a liar, please forgive me.”

“It’s alright, Ben,” you purred, looking up at him sweetly. Your hands wandered from the hem to the back of his neck, interlocking your fingers behind it. “As you know, my former love interest was beaten up badly for giving the order to kill my father and now I don’t have anybody who can cheer me up in this sad time …”

You pouted at him. With your hands around his neck you could feel his initial tenseness slowly go away. Finally, you had made him regain his confidence.

“Cheer you up, Miss?”

“Please, call me Y/N,” you said, winking at him quickly. He grinned and lifted his hands up to place his hands on your waist. “Something particular in mind, Y/N?”

You nodded and crashed your lips on his without thinking much. You felt sick to your stomach when you did that, every part of your body wanting to resist. But no matter how much you wanted to get away from this man, you maintained your act, not showing him the internal feeling of disgust that took over every fibre.

He moved his lips against yours and you tried your best to not tense up, letting him grip you harder and pulling you against his chest.

“Do you know how my father got killed?” you asked in between kisses, trying to keep him from pressing his lips to yours.

“Something about a mole?” he murmured, pulling your head closer to his again.

“So, you know about the mole?” you questioned before his lips were able to touch yours. You took a step back. Ben shook his head. “It’s what I heard Gerald say.”

You hummed thoughtfully. “You don’t know his name then?”

He denied and came towards you again, gripping your hips. You suppressed a groan when he touched you and unwillingly let him pin you against the wall.

“You’re really pretty,” he breathed against your neck, placing a kiss on it. You pressed your lips together, concentrating on the reason why were tolerating all of this.

“Don’t you have some insider information? Maybe somebody that has been acting suspiciously lately?”

You felt him sigh against your skin. “With a job like this you always notice strange behaviour going on.”

Ben trailed kisses along your jawline and let his fingers tangle into your hair. “Are you sure you can’t name someone who stood out to you? Or to Gerald? Did he mention something?”

“Why do you keep digging?” he suddenly asked, pulling away from your neck. He looked down at you with a strange look on his face. “I thought you wanted to get your mind off of things?”

“I do, but I’d feel much safer if I knew,” you admitted. Ben chuckled. “Don’t worry sweetheart. We have everything under control, it’s nothing a lovely lady like you should need to worry about.”

You scoffed internally. That had been the exact reason why you’d decided against simply walking up to Ben and asking him about conspicuous behaviour and events in your home and between the men working for your father. No matter how much he’d respected his boss, he’d never seen you as more than just the daughter they had to protect. Not as an equal with just as much brain as your father.

“If you tell me, I’ll show you a little more of myself,” you whispered seductively, running your tongue over your lips slowly. His eyes were fixed on them.

You reached down and grabbed the material of your dress, hiking it up your leg and revealing half of your thigh. “What do you say, Ben?”

“Fuck,” he grunted, connecting your lips again. He started letting his hand wander under your dress, suddenly grabbing your bum.

Your hand reflexively pushed it away. “Still didn’t hear a name, Ben.”

He let out a suppressed moan, moving his hand down again, but still having it resting on your thigh. “Chester. Chester Gordon.”

That was all you needed.

You knew exactly who Chester was. He had been your father’s main right hand next to Gerald. While Gerald had been with your father since before you were born, Chester had only just joined a few months ago. Still, something about the knowledge or the skill he had helped him get the powerful position, given to him by your father.

Without much thought your quick hand sneaked its way under Ben’s jacket and grabbed the gun in his holster, pulling it out. Before he was able to resist or protest, he had the barrel pressed against the skin under his chin. “Get the fuck away from me or I’ll shoot your brains out.”

“What the fuck, Y/N?” he breathed surprised and annoyed at the same time. He tried to grab your wrist and bring the gun away from his face, but you cocked the gun, making him pull his hand away immediately. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing! That’s a loaded gun, you stupid bitch!” he hissed angrily, but still too afraid to move. He thought you’ve never held a gun before. The way he was constantly underestimating you made you fume. “You’re fucking disrespectful, Ben. I said, get the fuck out of here and go tell Gerald to meet me in the back yard. I’ll have something I need to talk to him about.”

Ben inhaled sharply, gritting his teeth together. You saw him open his mouth to let out another insult, but you beat him to it. “Shut your mouth and do as I said.”

He scoffed but stepped back. Then he hurried out of the sitting room, adjusting his jacket before opening the room and entering the hallway.

When Ben was gone, you let out a shaky breath. Your hand was trembling. The façade you’d been keeping up for the last twenty minutes hand taken a toll on you. But you knew it wasn’t over just yet. You had to suck it up and finish what you’d planned on doing. Especially since you’d threatened Ben and made him look like a wimp.

You inhaled deeply, trying to calm your nerves and then followed Ben out of the sitting room but turning into the other direction instead. Chester’s office was three doors down from your father’s. You counted your way along the hall and eventually ended up in front of the one you aimed for.

You knew you didn’t have much time to think about what you were about to do. If you did, you probably wouldn’t pull through with it and you couldn’t risk failing. So, you pushed all worries and fears aside and burst into the office.

Chester was sat at his desk, hovering over a stack of papers, a pen in his left hand. His head shot up when the door slammed against the wall forcefully, eyes wide in surprise. He tried pushing himself up from his chair, but he didn’t get that far. You had already lifted the arm that was gripping the cocked gun and pulled the trigger.

A loud bang filled the air and the bullet hit Chester perfectly between his eyes. A clean shot. One that your father would have been proud of.

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iwasbored777 · 7 days ago

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The way Ivo looks down at Earth when Gerald says "You have nothing down there. No one who cares about you" cuz Ivo was thinking about a certain someone who does care about him, the person he left on Earth all alone.

And he tells Gerald "But I have you now" not something like "You're right, I have no one except you". He can't even say that no one cares about him on that planet because he knows that it's not true. He was fully aware of Stone's feelings, he couldn't even deny it anymore. I think that this was the moment he started regretting how he treated Stone, it wasn't Gerald's betrayal that made him feel that way. But when Gerald mentioned how he wants to destroy the whole planet and how all humans deserve to die, Ivo was thinking about Stone who will get killed if the planet explodes. A person who cares about him, and the person he cares about. Not only that Gerald betrayed Ivo but he threatened to kill Stone too and Ivo couldn't let him get away with that.

#i wanted to post this days ago but i always forget and last night i had no time to make this post but now i finally did #it's how he looks at earth that hurts my feelings you know who he was thinking about #sonic movie 3 spoilers #sonic 3 spoilers #sonic the hedgehog 3 #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #sonic 3 #sth #sonic movie #sonic movie 3 #stobotnik #doctor robotnik #doctor eggman #ivo robotnik #agent stone #stonbotnik #gerald robotnik #eggman

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heartvess · 3 years ago

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look at this whole character study, courtesy of @glitchedmuses:

glitchedmuses asked: 1, 4, 9, 12, 16, 18, 28, 29, 37, 49 (oop)

1. does your muse like her name? has she ever thought of changing it/goes by a nickname?

she isn’t the biggest fan of her given name. mostly because it’s so long. from what she understands, her dad wanted to call her dena marie, which he does, but her mother didn’t like just dena. she tends to change her name when she gets married by shortening it, or she goes by nicknames. her nicknames include:

dena, maddie, dee, mads, or any variation of the sort.

4. has your muse ever struggled with their relationship to womanhood and femininity?

yes and no. it depends on who raises her for the most part. it’s very rare she’s raised by her biological parents, and because she is a girl, she’s had to deal with the fact that when she is taken from her father, it’s because he doesn’t have room or the means for a little girl. it’s led to some resentment for not being a boy, full on crisis on her part when she is left to her own devices, and more often than not, she doesn’t deal well with her gender, femininity, and being a woman in general due to the fact it’s very rare for her to have a mom to guide her through those struggles. it’s easier for her as an adult and copious amounts of therapy teaching her that womanhood and feeling feminine isn’t wrong. that coupled with miriam steinman who taught her that she could be a woman and still be one of the boys (since that’s all her dad has).

now, she’s very feminine and very much in tune with her woman side. there’s nothing anyone can do to take it from her.

9. how is her relationship with her father?

this depends on the father you’re talking about and the father in question.

john; it’s very complicated. in no verse was she born in america and constantly in contact with him. she loves her father, but she knows she isn’t dean, or sam, or adam, or henry. she’s always been an independent person, and she doesn’t ask for help if she can get away with it. she loves him, but she doesn’t entirely trust that his people permanence is all that great. she’s more like him than she’s willing to admit, too. so, they butt heads a lot.

sander; is probably her favorite person on earth, and she will kill/be killed for him. if she isn’t with john, she’s with sander, so he provided the security she didn’t get from her father. she knows she isn’t actually his, but she wouldn’t be half of the woman she is now without him and his jewish dad guilt.

12. does she tend to surround herself with women or men more? is there a particular reason for one or the other?

she tends to avoid as many people as possible. it started as a language barrier and seeming much older than she was. if there is a large host of people in her life, it’s pretty evenly mixed. it depends on who is raising her and her daily life in childhood. if she’s raised by john, it’s mostly the people she’s met in school. if sander raises her, it’s the whole neighborhood of kids. all of those friendships are the ones she has in adulthood. mostly josh steinman. that’s her bestie.

16. if your muse is queer in any way, talk about how that impacts their view on womanhood?

mm, yes. dena is a bisexual dumpster fire, and we love her so much. so, in terms of womanhood, it’s helped the identity crisis, but it’s given her an appreciation of femininity. for a girl who can hear or see something once and repeat it verbatim, she knows she lacks the confidence that most of her partners of the female variety have and there’s a hint of envy behind it. nothing that would define her on a personality level. she will forever question her own womanhood due to trauma. nothing really changes that.

18. was she raised in a progressive or sexist household? was it more neutral?

if she’s with either of her fathers, progressive. neither said she couldn’t do something because she was a girl, and neither used her gender as a means to put her down.

if she’s with her grandfather, very sexist. gerald believed women should be seen and not heard, that a woman’s place was in the kitchen, etc. he isn’t a good man and most of her trauma comes from him. it’s fine.

28. is there a female figure from history, or current times, she looks up to?

again, it’s going to depend on the verse, but if you ask her, she’s going to tell you miriam steinman. why? because that’s the closest thing to a mama she has. you can take that gift to earth from her cold, dead hands.

29. does she prefer to be perceived as cute or sexy? does she not want to be viewed on an attraction basis at all?

it depends on who is doing the perceiving. she hates being called cute. by anyone. ever. but if she’s built a relationship on her body, she’s going to use it entirely. if she hasn’t, she would rather not be viewed at all? she likes to blend in and disappear whenever possible. being the cute or sexy one in town doesn’t do anything for that skill she has.

37. how do they view motherhood?

motherhood terrifies her. she’s a mother in most verses, but she’s also french. so, from an american sense, it probably seems like she doesn’t take as much active involvement with her kids. it isn’t true, she knows she’s raising little humans and they need to be independent, but she has no clue what she’s doing on the daily. most of her kids: frankie, simon, rj, vera etc. are NOT planned, and she has no sense of surety, even if the father/her have been together for years. she thinks the best mothers are the ones who can say they listened to their child, they gave them everything they need, and if she can swing a want, she will. but no. motherhood terrifies her. leave her alone. it’s also the one thing she feels she’s ever done right in her life.

49. if your muse dates men, what is their process of vetting them? do they have a checklist of things to look for to decide whether or not they’re safe? any kind of tests or questions they use to make a judgement.

there’s a process? this is about to get real questionable. dena has a habit, if the relationship isn’t one from youth, to date dangerous, older men. a cannibal? did that. loves him. a drug dealer? hot. yes. a demon? spicy. the only judgement she uses is how well they can rail her into next week. that’s it. sex is the test. why? because her grandfather lowkey traumatized her into believing laying on her back is all she’ll ever be good at. that or she’s already in sex work. she has no plan. she decides on a whim. if they tried the woo-ing thing, she’d think they were insane.

#→help me find an answer to my darkened heart ( asks )#glitchedmuses #ooa. how do we know she's even real ( study )

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zenothemanager · 4 years ago

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Axion: A Kortia Fic

If I write this, does it still make it a fanfic? Anyway, enjoy this short little thing I wrote about Gerald.

“Identify yourself travelers.” A voice came from a small open spot above the steel-like doors that looked about the width of a highway.

“I’m Gerald Yori, and this is Dakota. She has no last name.” Gerald spoke towards the doors in a commanding voice I didn’t think he was really capable of. The slit above the doors quickly shut and a beam of purple light hit us, which tingled a lot.

“Gerald what the hell is this light?” I questioned, looking over my arms.

“They’re scanning our identities to make sure we aren’t known criminals.” He said cooly, just as the light turned off.

“Entry granted. Queen Flore hopes you enjoy your stay at Astron, The Light of Vallauria.” A robotic voice said from the wall, seemingly from nowhere. After that, the doors began to open.

“The queen's name is Flore? Isn’t that a bit close to Florus?” I questioned with a bit of worry. After all, we had left the Princess to deal with the Dyclos problem by herself.

“You don’t need to worry Dakota, there's no relation there. From what I hear, the Queen is nothing like the Florus family.” He assured me, just as the gates finished opening.

And inside was more neon light than I had ever been exposed to in my life.

“Look at… all of the lights…” I muttered in sheer awe as my eyes darted across every little thing I was seeing. Purple, pink, and blue neon lights were shining from every corner of my vision. Cars were stacked in traffic high above the streets, thousands of people walked the sidewalks, and every bit of the city felt alive.

“You like it?” Gerald questioned, a small smile appearing on his face.

“This is better than I ever imagined it to be Gerald.” I smiled at him, the realized that for once, he was actually smiling.

“Wait are you smiling again?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you're talking about Dakota.” He said, his face going slack as he immediately began walking away from where I was standing. “You better hurry up and get your looks in now, or you’ll get left behind.”

“Gosh Gerald, you sound like a mother trying to get their kid to follow them.” I sighed, tearing my eyes away from the skyscrapers that seemed to cut through the very clouds themselves.

“What does gosh mean?” He questioned, shooting me a confused look.

“O-oh it's a saying where I’m from.” I suggested.

“Sure.” Gerald muttered in disbelief, but stayed silent afterward. This gave me time to actually take a good look around as we walked.

The vibe of the city was definitely cyberpunk. Futuristic flying cars, neon on every inch of the city, and the various ads for products that absolutely blew my mind. One thing I did notice that was odd were the people themselves.

They all looked different.

I knew they were all Vallaurian, but not a single one had common features that everyone would normally have. Some people had crazy eye colors, some people had crazy hair colors, and some people even had wacky colors of their skin, or even more limbs than they should have.

“There's so many people here Gerald, how do they feed everyone?” I asked, realizing the lack of farms in the grasslands surrounded the giant walled city.

“You remember the floating farms we saw in Imperious?”

“Yeah.”

“That's what the people of Ventali do too. Sitting high up above the buildings is a huge floating farm that blocks out the sky during the day to feed the plants. Between dusk and dawn though, the plain splits itself up and sits on top of buildings around the city.” He said, looking around the neon city with even more awe in his eyes than even I had. I could tell he was really happy to be back here, and that in turn made butterflies fly around in my stomach.

“Well, where should we go first!” I asked in an excited tone, a bit louder than I expected too, but no one around us seemed to care.

“We have to go to Axion, to deliver this letter.” Gerald said, pulling the white colored letter from one of his pockets and showing me it. It looked a lot more tattered and torn since the last time I had seen it… all that time ago.

“I thought Axion was destroyed?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him as he secured the letter back into his pocket. He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, keeping his hands in his pockets. It seemed like he was worried about something.

“It was, but apparently they tried to rebuild it a year or so back. I think something happened with the funding or someone broke in, because they quickly stopped on the project.” Gerald explained as we turned a corner and entered an even bigger neon street. I wanted nothing more than to fangirl over everything I was seeing, but Gerald was right, we had a job to do.

“Even with that being said, who are we delivering it too? Who would be in an abandoned school?”

“The Savior, I guess.” Gerald shrugged. He obviously didn’t know who we were supposed to deliver it too.

“You guess? I thought you had better information sources than that Gerald.” I teased. I was a bit nervous, however. Just who had told him that we should go to Axion? Could it be a trap?

“Apparently the person who wrote this sent another message to Lord Summerset and told him to ignore this letter. It also said that the message was going to be delivered to the ruins of Axion on… today.”

“So the time we spent coming here was just to stall then?”

“You’re learning well Dakota.”

“I swear, you are impossible sometimes.” I muttered, putting my hands in my pockets and walking closely next to him. It was an odd experience to be in a city again, after all the time I had spent away from Earth.

“Are you cold or something?” Gerald asked, turning to me with a confused look on his face.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You’re walking close to me like you’re cold or something.” Gerald pointed out, looking me up and down. My face immediately turned red, just as he looked away. Did he really have to call me out like that?

“Well I mean, I am a bit chilly…” I muttered, letting my voice trail off.

“It is a chilly night.” Gerald admitted, pulling his brown traveller coat off. This revealed his extremely toned arms and his amazingly tight shirt.

Oh god.

He then stopped walking, and draped the coat over my shoulders, adding yet another layer of warmth to my outfit. Instantly his smell struck my nose and it was intoxicating for all the right reasons.

“T-Thank you Gerald, but won’t you be cold?” I questioned, pulling his coat further around me and relishing in this moment.

“Not even a little. This is nothing compared to the nights in Deazure.” He said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Turn left here, down the side street.”

We quickly crossed the street as the flying cars whizzed above our heads effortlessly. It still baffled me, just how did these things work?

But I knew that wasn’t important right now, so I focused on the task at hand. Getting to the school.

“This...is the place? It doesn’t really look like a school.” I muttered as I took a look at the path before us. It looked like at one point the walk way had huge flowery trees, but all that was left were burnt husks, and long dead flowers on the ground. Further down the path I noticed a tower the distance that looked like it was almost falling over. Below the tower, was what looked to be a broken rectangular building, with all of its windows blown out, and two huge doors lying on the ground in front of it.

"It used to be one of the most populated places in the city, believe it or not." Gerald explained as he put his hands on his pants pockets. He then started walking along the path, his shoes crunching over all the dead leaves that littered the ground.

"I heard a lot of conflicting things about it, but what actually happened?" I questioned, quickly following him.

"You probably won't accept the answer ‘a lot’, will you?" He asked, glancing over to me.

"What do you think Gerald?" I question with a soft smile, which just made him feign being annoyed.

"The Savior destroyed this place with his power. It's said he betrayed the very friends he had worked with during his years at the school, then, in an odd twist, he killed one of them. Following that he blew up this section of the city, causing all of this that you see around you."

"One person… did all this?" I questioned as I glanced at the broken building once again. It was only one story, which already raised a lot of questions. Just how had so many people attended this school.

“The more impressive part is that the fight happened underground apparently. Yet all this damage still happened.” Gerald said, his eyes turning more towards sadness.

“Weren’t you here when it happened?” I asked softly, just as we got to what looked to be a courtyard in front of the fallen doors. Giant slabs of broken concrete, twisted metal, and leaves were scattered over this area. It was sad to see that what once was a place full of hope, was turned into such ugly rubble.

“I was.” Gerald simply replied, with sadness now evident in his face. Sympathy flowed through my heart, and I knew that this once, I couldn’t be the shy person I had been.

“It’s okay Gerald.” I said, getting closer to him and pulling him close to me. I was surprised when he didn’t push away, or say something sarcastic, or refuse at all.

Instead, he wrapped his arms around me and held me, as silent tears fell from his eyes.

“I watched… I-” He said, his voice breaking as he tried to tell me something. As he said it though, it looked as if he were in pain just trying to push out the words.

“It’s okay Gerald, you don’t have to explain this time. Just...let it go.” I said, reaching my hand up and running one of my hands through his hair.

And then he cried.

He cried and cried and cried, and let out every bit of emotion I knew had been building up. Ever since the first moment I had met him, I knew he was holding back unimaginable pain. I had tried time and time to ask him when we agreed to run away together, but he just wouldn’t break down, and he wouldn’t tell me. But now that I was seeing this, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt in my heart for even asking him about whatever horrible tragedy had made him feel this way.

“I think we should go Gerald, there's no sense in putting yourself through this pain just for-”

“No.” He said with a shaky voice as his tears stopped. The expression on his face hadn’t changed, and the pain was evident, but I could see a shimmer of determination in his hazel eyes. “We have to go in, I need answers Dakota.”

“Answers for what Gerald? Is it really worth putting yourself through all this emotional pain?” I questioned, almost begging him to reconsider his decision. I didn’t want to see the man I loved put through so much-

Love. Love?

What did I mean love?

“Before, I would have said no. But with you by my side, I think I’ll be strong enough.” He assured me, grabbing my hand in a way he had never done before. A blush hit my face, but the look in his eyes completely drove it away. He needed me to be strong now, or else he couldn’t get whatever he wanted from this broken place, and he would never be complete again.

“Okay Gerald. Let’s go face these demons head on. I’ll be with you every step of the way.” I reassured him, trying my best to give him a strong smile, even if I was dying on the inside from seeing him like this.

“Thank you Dakota, I don’t know what I would do without you.” He muttered genuinely, then pulled me by my hand towards the two grand doors that stood before the extremely dark entrance hall. We passed the fallen doors, the very same doors that the artwork in the Byrathes mansion was based off of, and then we entered what used to be a grand hall.

But it was now only full of skeletons and cobwebs.

“Oh god these are-” I started to say, the very hairs on my arms rising in fear.

“The bodies of everyone, still never removed.” Gerald’s voice cracked as he stopped and looked upon the horror before us. His hand squeezed mine tighter as he shivered slightly. I quickly moved next to him and pushed his face to meet mine.

“Look at me Gerald, they are just skeletons. You can’t do anything to change what happened here. The best thing you can do for these people that died is to live your life. You survived for a reason, so don’t waste it by holding all this guilt inside of you.” I pleaded, as I pulled him closer to me.

All that I wanted to do was warm his cold heart, and bring a smile to his face.

“You just don’t understand Dakota, I was-”

“Might want to reconsider what you’re about to say there Gerald.” A voice came from above, and immediately my senses went into overdrive. Before either of us could react however, a figure dropped onto the ground next to us and blew up a ton of dust at us.

“Gerald, we have to move!” I yelled trying to pull him along, but he simply wouldn’t budge. I glanced in the direction the figure had dropped onto, and the first thing I noticed was two glowing yellow orbs about where I expected eyes to be.

And then the dust disappeared, and revealed a figure in pure black armor, with their face covered. But even through this cover, I knew the two orbs I was seeing were their eyes, something I had never seen before.

“Who are you!?” Gerald yelled, letting go of my hand and pulling two blades from his belt, getting into an attack stance. The figure laughed, then turned to Gerald, but still pulled out no weapons.

“I am The Savior.”

#kortia #dulcet games #zinex #gerald #kortia gerald #kortia fanfic

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shirtlesssammy · 5 years ago

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10x07: Girls, Girls, Girls

A woman runs down an alley, clearly escaping someone --or something. She’s eventually found by the man pursuing her. She stabs him in the eye, but that doesn’t slow him down. He flashes black eyes and snaps her neck.

Sam and Dean are enjoying a meal and no case on the horizon. Dean’s phone keeps blowing up with alerts, so Sam grabs it and sees Dean’s joined a dating app. Impala67, lol. Sam is having the TIME OF HIS LIFE, and thinks the woman that Dean is pursuing is a little too available. “Is it so hard to believe that an attractive, red-blooded, American female could be interested in someone like me?”

Sam’s proven wrong when Shaylee shows up and Dean takes off with her on his arm.

Castiel is still working with Hannah on finding rogue angels. She suddenly strips right in front of Cas. It makes our bumbling, awkward angel spontaneously combust with embarrassment and confusion.

His little huff and awkward casualness about her nakedness is --hearts. Also, how he just hangs on to the laptop with one hand like it’s nothing is somehow very pleasing.

Dean, meanwhile, is slightly bummed to find out that Shaylee is really a prostitute.

And she’s not just any prostitute. She doesn’t want money--she wants his soul. You picked the wrong mark, girl!

Hannah gets a visit from her vessel’s husband.

Back at Dean’s motel room, the demon shows up for Dean’s soul, but he’s greeted by both Winchesters --and a devil’s trap. They learn there’s an entire brothel somewhere before Shaylee stabs the demon with an angel blade. The dude was carrying a card of where the brothel is located --so lucky them!

At Raul’s Club, Raul and another dude are ---OMG ROWENA. Yep, she wanders in and they tell her that they’re not hiring and she’s too old (sigh). She tells him she would never do business with filth like him and throws a hex bomb at him.

Raul dies a most horrific and perfect death. Rowena then invites the girls for a bit of food.

Hannah talks with Joe about why Caroline disappeared. Joe wants answers. Hannah struggles with finding an adequate way of explaining Caroline’s absence. Castiel walks in the room then and things get even MORE awkward. Joe asks if they’re together --which Hannah doesn’t get right away, but realizes that’s the best way to explain things, and grabs Cas’s hand.

Joe doesn’t believe it. “This guy?” Um, that guy is probably on A LOT of people’s cheat lists. Just sayin’, Joe. But Joe knows his wife, and knows deep down that it is false. Hannah kisses Cas to prove her point.

Sam and Dean find the chaos left in Rowena’s wake.

Rowena brings her new charges to a fancy restaurant, and they are prompt asked to leave due to their sartorial choices. Rowena casts a spell to keep the wait staff in order. The girls ask her how she did it. “Magic.”

Gerald, the demon that wasn’t Raul, reports back to Crowley and spills that they opened the brothel. He wanted Crowley to know about what the powerful witch did.

Sam does his research on the demon killing spell. It turns out to have not been used in over 300 years and it’s only been used by the witch who created it, Rowena. (SMART LASS.)

Rowena explains witches to her new friends. She talks of being a natural witch, and how the Grand Coven kicked her out. She’s been on the run and in hiding. Now she’s ready to fight, and is looking for witches to train. The girls wonder when they can start their training. Rowena sees the waiter go up in red fire and they make a bee line out of the restaurant.

A demon wakes up in a trap and immediately starts hurling insults at an unseen captor. When the captor comes into view, we learn that it’s Ass Hat and he’s after Dean. I didn’t remember that Ass Hat was in this episode! I DEMAND A REFUND.

At a gas station, Hannah and Cas share an awkward conversation. Hannah is perturbed by the confrontation with her vessel’s husband. She’s feeling, more specifically, plagued with guilt. Cas consoles her and tells her that the “affair” gave him a reason to walk away. He then speaks of Jimmy Novak, and how he took him away from his family - twice. But “the mission comes first. Always.”

Dean investigates the waiter’s death and catches a lead: there were two sex workers in the restaurant who came in with another woman. Meanwhile, Sam researches mysterious deaths at fancy hotels. The brains were all boiled, just like the waiter’s.

For Calming Scenery Science:

Cas trails Hannah to a quiet bridge. She apologizes to him but she won’t go with him to track down any more angels. Hannah is horrified to experience an echo of the sacrifice humans have made to become vessels that allow angels to walk the earth. “It’s time to put [humans] first,” she says. Working with Cas, she felt human things. “Passions. Hungers.” (Me: eyebrow waggle) When she was confronted by Caroline’s husband, she felt their pain. She kisses Cas on the cheek and says goodbye.

Caroline wakes up in his arms. It’s time to go home.

At a swanky hotel, there’s a knock on Rowena’s door. She rustles up her troops to cast her spellwork and opens the door for a hotel employee. Unfortunately, that employee is already MEGA dead. Two demons step inside.

We cut to Rowena captured and her protégés destined for doom, when the Winchesters intercept them. They dispatch the two demons quickly and then circle in on Rowena. She lobs a spell at her blonde minion and drags away the other woman as the blonde shrieks. Her eyes bulge red and she launches herself at the Winchesters with superhuman force.

Outside, the other woman confronts Rowena, who explains that she used an attack dog spell to create a decoy to stall the Winchesters.

The other woman is entirely uninterested in being Rowena’s gal pal after that, and punches her. Rowena’s about to hex the ever loving stuffing out of her, when Dean interrupts. He’s got a gun pointed at Rowena! Rowena smiles because behind Dean...is Dumbass, who has a gun pointed at DEAN. Dumbass compels Dean to free Rowena, who flees merrily.

Dean apologizes to One Entire Butt, but he’s not having it. Dean explains that he was only a demon TEMPORARILY. One Entire Butt concludes that Dean is a monster through and through (demon or no demon) and they fight.

Sam hides out in the hotel room while the woman under the attack dog spell pounds frantically at the door. She pounds and pounds and pounds until...she just stops. Sam opens the door and she falls down, dead.

Dean defeats Worm Guts and insists that they talk it out. He gives him the monster talk. It turns out that Dean remembers every detail of that kill and how Worm Gut’s father was out murdering people and eating livers. Dean retells that evening until Sam arrives. There’s another gun standoff with twitchy Worm Gut before Sam finally lowers his weapon. Worm Gut experiences emotions while trying to reconcile what he just heard with his memory of the past.

Dean has one last revelation to drop. “I get it. That was your story. Look, man, I got one of those, too. Okay, but those stories that we tell to keep us going? Man, sometimes they blind us. ...The people who love me, they pulled me back from that edge. ...Now, the truth is I'm past saving. I know how my story ends. It's at the edge of a blade or the barrel of a gun.” DEAN WINCHESTER SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH.

Sam chimes in, urging Sack of Raw Eggs to go back home to his family. Dean gets his gun back though so, yay?

Caroline arrives home and knocks on the door. She reunites with her husband while Cas sits alone in his rain soaked car.

Cas opens up his laptop and looks up Jimmy Novak on the web - he’s still marked as missing after all these years. Cas bby.

Sam confronts Dean after Slime Mold takes off. Did he really mean all the sad things he said about himself? OF COURSE NOT, Dean tells him. He is FINE and has always had a healthy self image!

For Brooding Boys Science:

Cut to Crowley who’s being escorted by a minion to someone in a holding cell. The camera pans down to show ROWENA. She smiles at Crowley from her shackles and lobs barbs his way. The camera zooms in on an utterly gobsmacked Crowley.

“Mother?” he asks. And we fade to black.

QUOTER???!!!

Nice screen name, Dean. Impala67

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basketballandtextbooks · 4 years ago

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Bat how do you feel after watching the special

There are multiple levels to my thoughts.

On a satire level, they bungled a lot of the information. They were trying to take an “all sides are stupid stance” on an issue where people are dying daily and there are actual medical reasons for one stance to be factually incorrect so taking an “all sides” stance is... fucking tone deaf. To be fair to them, I enjoyed the amount of meta that informed their episode about knowing that their episode was doing more harm than good and using Randy as a tool for that particular satire was a smart and effective mood. That said, it was a mixed message that promoted a lot of misinformation. While the meta parts were funny, lamp-shading how poor your satire is doesn’t actually make your satire good. It just means you’re lamp-shading the issue. It was disappointing because I had hoped for better as they frequently write good satire. Stan’s character journey was the only cohesive one throughout the episode and while it was a good one, there was so much of the episode that was tone deaf to the severity of this issue. While I think it’s valid to bring levity to the issue and I was hoping they would, they missed the mark by a long-shot. That said, they usually don’t do well with medical issues. The last time they bungled their satire this badly was the vaccination episode. And they infamously bungle literally every trans-related episode. There were aspects of the episode that were poignant, well thought out, and well executed, but the majority was an under-researched in-cohesive mess. Which to some extent I think that’s what they were aiming for because they view the pandemic as an in-cohesive mess. The issue is that one of the reasons that pandemic is such a pervasive issue (especially in the states) is the mass spread of misinformation so when they spread misinformation to criticize the spread of misinformation... it’s just stupid.

However on a character level I very much enjoyed the episode. It was yet another Randy focused episode and as I’ve expressed on a few occasions I just don’t find him funny. Oh no, he jizzed on the weed, that’s sooooo surprising. Honestly Randy is a very one-note character. He does something horrifying, people are horrified, he faces no consequences, rinse, repeat. That all established, I think it’s important character information that he cheated on Sharon twice in China with no guilt whatsoever. He only wanted to hide his crime because “my wife is a bitch”. Also considering he cheated with non-human entities, I think this is strong proof of Rowelie’s viability so take that as you will Rowelie shippers. Also the fact that people grow Randy mustache’s if they ingest his cum and Sharon had a mustache at the end... I sort of hate that Randy took that as proof that she smoked his weed. Now, even if she had smoked it his behavior still is completely and disgustingly inexcusable but also... everyone in South Park is openly smoking so she could have very easily gotten second hand Randy-stache. Or just given her husband a blow job. Also it’s interesting information that within universe Randy’s cum has mutagenic properties. Again for the Rowelie shippers: you could use this as an excuse as to how Towelie turns into a human, Randy’s cum mutated him. Also I think it’s likely that microwaving his balls could be what caused his radioactive jizz. Or one of the times he was experimented on by aliens. Or both. Altogether Randy was a repulsive bastard within the episode who I find boring at best BUT the amount of meta information that he introduced will be very useful to inform my theories. (Also again, the fact that he so easily and guilelessly cheats on Sharon tells me that he that he has done it a multitude of times. My theory is that after he gave Gerald a handy in the hot-tub and was forgiven he just never stopped, basically assuming the permission to do it once was broad permission to do it forever) (oh and second note: this is the second time within canon that Randy has poisoned people’s weed so uh... that’s fucked up)

Freaked out a lot about Jimbo dying, I’m really scared they’ll kill Jimbo but also since they already killed Ned I wonder if the two of them can be happy in the afterlife together because no one can convince me that Jimbo and Ned aren’t canon. Also Randy’s blatant racism and lack of empathy for Jimbo’s illness was really yikes. I dunno guys, I’ve always had a soft spot for Jimbo. He’s a stupid stereotypical red-neck but he had a sort of charm to him and I thought he was funny. I miss when him and Ned were regulars on the show.

CARTMAN DANCING AND SINGING WAS ACTUALLY THE CUTEST THING EVER ON THIS FUCKING EARTH, FIGHT ME I LOVE THIS STUPID SELFISH LITTLE CRETIN also it’s yet another episode to add to the list of “times Cartman shows he can grow into a better person” and list of “times Cartman seems to show a special soft spot for Stan”. Cartman does tend to listen more frequently when Stan asks and less frequently for literally anyone else. So the Stanman was strong in this one. Also really enjoyed the Stutters. While yes, Stan was completely using Butters as a tool to project his own feelings of unease I think it really says something that he chose Butters for that role. I think to some extent he felt that Butters might be feeling the same mortality-panic he was feeling (whether it was true or not) and that kinship he felt with Butters led him to feel that Butters was also feeling the way he did. He was panicked and he thought out of all his friends that Butters was the one who might share his feelings. I enjoy that sort of subtle connection between them and it’s been a consistent thread within the show that Butters and Stan just treat each other a little different than they do literally everyone else. It’s worth thinking about.

I think Stan was also at his limit because he was already suffering from isolation issues due to Tegridy Farms from before the pandemic. He’s always been a social boy and this brought him to the brink of what he could handle.

THEY SHOT TOKEN AND I SWEAR TO GOD YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LOUD I WAS SCREAMING AT THE TV I THINK I PISSED OFF MY NEIGHBORS i fucking knew it was coming too. The fucking SECOND they shoved those fucking corrupt ass cops in the same room as Token.... I fucking feared for his life. They’ve killed off fairly major background characters before and killing Token would be... topical. I will make it my mission to personally destroy every fucking cop in South Park (Barbrady gets a pass... BARELY). I hate them all. I’ve hated them all for a long time but they murdered several children (including Kenny, the bastards) and they SHOT MY BOY TOKEN I WILL RIP OFF THEIR FUCKING ARMS SEE HOW WELL YOU CAN SHOOT THEN YOU TRASH BASTARDS

Nothing big Kenny happened this episode, insert sad fanboy noises

There were some strong Kyman moments. Cartman went to Kyle’s house for help at the beginning of the episode, obsessed over whether or not he’d be in the same room as Kyle, tried to vomit on Kyle, AND THEN KYLE FUCKING JUMPED HIM AND BEAT HIS ASS DOWN, FUCK ALL OF YOU WHO INCORRECTLY THINK DIFFERENT KYLE IS A FUCKING DOMINANT TOP, HE DOESN’T TAKE IT, HE GIVES IT

Adding that to my long list of “episodes where Kyle shows he isn’t a pushover, is very violent, and can easily kick Cartman’s bitch ass” because every so once in awhile I have to break out that list when someone insists upon how submissive Kyle is. Bitttttttccchhhhhh, you haven’t watched the show if you think that. My favorite kid doesn’t take your shit

Very interested in Red’s new canon last name (McArthur) but I’m also unsure about it because in the scene’s where it’s shown I couldn’t quite tell if it was actually Red or Powder. She kept being shown from odd angles and her hair looked a little shorter than normal. That said, I’m happy if it is her because I’ve been wanting a canon last name for Red for a long-ass time. Even presuming you go by the cousin’s headcanon for Craig and Red, there’s no guarantee they would have the same last name.

Let’s see, I think I had some other thoughts but those were the main points

OH PAUSE THE SCREEN WHEN THE PARENTS ARE ON ZOOM it’s really cute/funny what the usernames are. For example Annie’s mom is totally just using Annie’s account so she’s probably not very tech savvy. There’s actually a lot of minor character detail that you can infer from those screen-names.

Yeah those are my major thoughts: Randy is trash, nothing new, Cartman was ADORABLE and also lots of good meta for him (I have some hcs that one of the reasons he adored the social distancing so much isn’t because he hates human contact because we know from previous seasons that he’s a bit of a lonely boy, but he likes the social distancing explicitly because it gives him an excuse to reject other people before they can reject him), good stutters moments, good kyman moments, good stanman moments, there were some style moments if you squint? Kyle was one of the people Stan consulted about his feelings of unease but since it wasn’t just Kyle that he consulted it didn’t really feel like that was a special personal part of their relationship, moreso that he wanted Kyle to kiss his booboo and make it better. Although further proof that Kyle is the dom in that relationship. Kyle was agitated over the situation but overall rational, Stan was flipping the fuck out. Stan came to him submissive, scared, and asking for Kyle to make him feel better. Kyle remained calm and logical. I swear to god if I read one more cutesy-innocent Kyle post I might flip a table. Literally Kyle’s canonical self is RIGHT THERE

OH YEAH MY BUTTERS THOUGHTS there’s nothing really new here but it continues the trend of Butters being a self centered prick. (I love him but he is) Instead of even trying to understand the number of people dying or the gravity of the situation, he’s just upset and throwing tantrums because he doesn’t get to play at Build a Bear. And it’s made explicit in the writing that unlike Stan he isn’t struggling with the nebulous fear of death (probably brought on by his uncle getting sick). Butters is just bitter that he doesn’t get to have special things. Also Stan was the only one who tried even a little to save Butters from getting taken by the guards. No one else tried to stop or warn Butters. So again, very cute Stutters moment where Stan is overtly worried for Butters’ well-being even when he’s throwing a bratty tantrum. (I don’t know how anyone perceives Butters as an altruistic person, he’s a selfish twat. he’s a lovable selfish twat, like Cartman, but he’s still a selfish twat. and none of his shitty behavior in this episode was even remotely related to Cartman so you can’t connect it to him. Butters, on his own and without anyone else’s influence, does and acts like a shit-head). There is the excuse that he’s only ten but literally everyone in that cafeteria is only ten. But Butters is the only one kicking other people’s food because he didn’t get his special prize.

This all sounds like I hate Butters. I love Butters, warts and all, I just get really annoyed when fandom ignores his warts because his warts are PART OF THE REASON I LOVE BUTTERS. Also it’s like... blatantly and observably canon that he’s selfish.

I’m going to happily ruminate on Stan feeling a strong pang of protectiveness towards Butters though. That was quite illuminating.

#official ooc tag #official ask tag #timmytimmytomcats

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