#this is literally my comfort au

[dekuboya]

Almost forgot to post these here,, umm this is so self indulgent but I super super love the idea of Jon and Martin being parents,, it brings me so much joy I hav read like every jonmartin kidfic to exist some of them multiples times like what if they built a family together 😫😫😫😫💕💕💕💕🏳️‍⚧️✊

[bunnieswithknives]

OK JUST A LITTLE THING BECAUSE IM INSANE @cubbihue

Song: Plastic by Cheekface

[shakingparadigm]

they are sooooo cute

[self-awared]

The Anemo Archon

Genshin SAGAU Imposter Au!

Part 1 <— You are here! Part 2

Trigger warnings: Violence, not proof-read, not well written

Everything hurt.

Your whole body was on fire from running, from being stabbed, from tripping... If there was something that could hurt you, it did.

—

You had no idea why people stared at you with hatred as you entered the city of freedom. You were the Creator, after all.

It wasn't until you were jumped by the Knights of Favonius that you realized what was happening. They screamed at you, calling you an imposter that dared to steal their Creator's face.

You barely escaped with your life.

—

"The wind? What about it?" You spoke curiously as you held a small wind spirit in your hand. Istaroth had named it Barbatos. It had the ability to talk, and had a mind of its own. It had also become quite close to you as you made and molded Teyvat.

"Whenever you're hurt, follow the wind! I'll help you!" The spirit's glee brought a smile to your face.

"Will you, now? Who says I need protecting?" You responded, teasing the small and adorable creature.

"Me! I do! And the wind!" Barbatos's childish nature was nothing new to you. It was always refreshing to hear their giggles and watch them fly around you as you took a break from exploring your creation.

"Very well. The great Barbatos shall be my protector until the end of time!"

—

The memory brought a small smile to your face as you rested in the den of a cave, a squirrel huddled in your lap, a bird perched on your shoulder, and a snake around your neck like a scarf.

You had felt the wind comforting you as you ran from your attackers. The wind blowed past your face and almost pushed you forward, as if trying to get you to run faster before an arrow struck your shoulder.

You had managed to get away from your attackers, deciding to take the advice of an old friend and follow the wind. It led you to a deep cave, one that would provide you with shelter. The animals brought you food. Squirrels brought acorns, rabbits brought leaves and carrots, birds brought worms, snakes brought dead animals... The worms did creep you out though.

You ran a finger over the squirrel's fur, finding comfort in the feeling of something so soft after going through something so harsh. The peace was interrupted by a soft whisper in your ear, making you jump and scaring the animals.

"Seems like you do need the wind's protection after all!"

You were flooded with relief upon hearing the familiar voice of Barbatos, before panicking at the thought that he might believe that you were an imposter.

"Barbatos... You... Do you believe it's me?" Your hands were shaking just as bad as your breathing. It terrified you at the thought of having to flee from a beloved friend—

"Of course not, Your Grace! The wind never lies! And it's certainly not lying about the fact that your attempts at bandaging are quite poor." Barbatos teased as he sat next to you.

"May I?" Barbatos reached out to you, a hand hovering over the makeshift bandage over your shoulder.

You nodded ever so slightly, internally sighing at his normal playful nature.

As Barbatos tended to your numerous wounds—mainly the one on your shoulder—you couldn't help but notice that he looked different from what you remembered.

"Did you get a change of style?" Curiosity plagued your voice.

"I took the form of a friend." Barbatos's smile became rather dim as he spoke softly.

"Oh... I see." You paused. "What happened while I was away...?" You were reluctant in asking, as if afraid of the answer.

"Well, Your Grace... Someone claimed to be you. They fit the description told in the tales, and even the one I remember you looking like. Everyone believed them, and I'm no longer as strong as I used to be." He spoke softly, in a quiet tone, weary of any passersby, even though you were in the depths of a cave.

"So, I played along. I'm trying my best to find out how to get rid of them, I swear on my life, Your Grace." His smile was comforting as he finished tending to your injuries.

"And what should I do?"

[dukeofthomas]

Do you see my vision

[flowersdiceandlove]

Okay so soulmate AUs are one of my favorite troupes in fanfiction, but. But! I don’t like it when it comes to hualian.

Now hear me out! I’m not saying they’re not soulmates, I just don’t like the au troupe when it’s used in fanfiction about them. There’s just something about Xie Lian being so kind and caring to little Honghong-er just because. Everyone else was ready to throw that little boy out, but XL was like “no. You can’t do that. He’s just a little kid. Be nice.” He did that not because he had any sort of connection to the little boy, but just because it’s the right thing to do. It really showed XL’s character, his principles, and his kindness. Those were the reasons that HC fell in love with him.

I feel like if by putting them in a soulmate au where they’re soulmates that are tied together and have a predestined bond, that that takes away from XL’s choice to protect Honghong-er even if it caused problems. It becomes like “of course, XL would save him and fight so fiercely to protect him, they are soulmates after all.” Instead of Xie Lian doing it because that’s the type of person he is.

Soulmate aus are fun, and I really do love them, but for hualian, I just don’t. I love their choice in each other. I love that they chose to be tied by the red thread. Who knows, maybe they’ve been soulmates all along, but I love that they had no bonds or connections when they met and XL, despite all the bad stuff that happened around Honghong-er, chose to keep him safe and comfort him when he was upset.

[starry-bi-sky]

more cfau miscellaneous things because Childhood Friends Danny and Jason have my head and heart always and I need to finish rewriting chapter two dammit (and redo the half-finished chapter 4 because its just Not The Vibes). i'm almost through I need to get through the graveyard scene. (i just stubbornly refuse to have it be shorter than the original chapter and thats the little death. that is the mind killer.)

Danny and jason’s ghost forms both smell faintly like burnt flesh and cigarettes. However, Jason has a more smokey smell while Danny’s smells almost,,, electrical? In a sense? Like he just straight up smells like burnt flesh and sulphur while Jason smells like someone put him in a smoker first.

It’s very much an unpleasant smell but Danny finds an odd comfort in it just as much as he finds a comfort in the smell of nicotine.

(Jason post-revival smells burnt flesh once and is immediately offput by the fact that it brings him an instinctive comfort. He doesn’t realize its because it reminds him of Danny, and is uncomfortable by it.)

-

In an au of an au, Danny’s altercation with Rath ends with Rath regaining enough of his sanity to snap out of the grieving state and ends with him breaking down. Instead of being souped and imprisoned, Rath, who is permanently 14, decides to Move On into the unknown. He’s exhausted, heartbroken, and tired.

(Is this influenced heavily by the ParaNorman scene where he talks to Agatha and helps her move on? Yes. But it doesn’t fit with the Original Storyline so im shoving it into an Au of an Au.)

Rath tells Danny that Jason lied to them (which he genuinely believes), and that he’s tired of waiting/looking for him/grieving. Jason is gone. He isn’t coming back, he abandoned them. And he wants his mom and dad, and his sister, and his friends. And he’s ready to join them.

He leads Danny out to Gotham, which other than Amity Park might’ve been the only city left untouched due to Rath’s own mental block on the place. They go out to the park he and Jason used to frequent or up to one of crime alley’s rooftops, and there Rath lies down and goes to sleep. Only to never wake up again, materializing into nothing as his soul moves on.

Before Rath leaves, he forces Danny to promise him that he’ll only wait for Jason for ten years. After that if he doesn’t find him, or if Jason doesn’t show, then Danny has to move on. Whether that be like how Rath does, or if its inly mentally/emotionally, doesn’t matter. He has to move on. Don’t wait for him. Don’t waste his time any more.

(“Oh, and if you find him, kick his ass for me.”)

Danny reluctantly agrees, and Rath lies down. Danny sings to him as he falls asleep.

(Angsty points if the vigilantes including Red Hood caught wind of their presence and were silently watching from the shadows. Rath might know they’re there, but Danny’s too focused on Rath to notice.)

(If only so that Red Hood realizes that this is what happened to Danny, and that Danny is gone before he can make things right. The tragedy, folks. The angst. The initial realization that Danny was Rath, and then also that Danny was dead and has been dead for years, and that before he moved on, he moved on believing that Jason abandoned him.)

(like i said it doesn't fit in the original timeline/storyline hence why its an au of an au and isn't nearly a fleshed out, but i was largely just focusing on the tragedy of Rath moving on and Jason being alive to see it and realize just who Rath is.)

-

Just like how the Lazarus pits shot Jason's twiggy 4'6-5'4 (depending on what you find) feet tall and 86lb ass up like a tree an essentially fixed his malnutrition, the portal did the same thing for Danny.

(granted i forgot about malnutrition and danny's likely stunted growth at first -- his family lived in crime alley and despite both his parents working, I don't think they had enough food all the time. He probably wasn't as badly malnourished as Jason was, but he wasn't healthy either.)

Granted his ghost in its "natural" state (14) is short, and his growth spurts were slow at first, it did result in him reaching his dad's height. There were points where it just happened overnight, like a baby. He went to bed one night 5’6 and woke up the next day 5’10.

Jazz is shorter than him. Although I have't decided if she's even liminal at all (and if she is, it didn't cure everything because she would have also suffered childhood malnutrition, and since in au canon their parents didn't get their hands on physical ectoplasm until after they got to Amity Park. So the exposure is less.)

-

Danny's voice absolutely sounds like canon Dan's. It kinda just dropped one day when he was 16-17 and never went back up. Sam and Tucker sometimes ask him to just talk about anything because they find his voice soothing.

I'm not sure yet how Danny would feel about it at first considering Rath, but I imagine that Rath, when he did speak, would have had a quieter and scratchier/weaker voice considering he's spent the last decade shrieking and crying.

(and i suppose technically that shouldn't have any effect on his throat considering he's a ghost and idk if that would actually affect him, but i like the idea so im keeping it)

In the beginning you could hear him from a mile away by the sound of his loud, echoing wails, but ten years later you can only really hear him by the soft, shuddering sobs he makes. Like he's gasping for air that isn't there. The future is full of very quiet survivors.

And it's much easier to speak when you pitch your voice upwards (especially when whispering/speaking quietly) so he might've spoken in a higher, airy pitch in order to be heard. So Danny might actually find a comfort in having a lower voice.

[confusedlittleguy]

^ arc 1

^ arc 2

☆

☆

Reblogs appreciated more than likes!

Click on image for better quality!

Will add alt text later

[vibescornerr]

He loves her, even if he has difficulty showing it. 🥹💕💗

[jazzyquarterblugs]

𝐏𝐏𝐓𝐉: 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒

Time to show ya'll the Altercanons for The Smiling Critters!! :D

(I have already looong posted them on my twitter but again for the Tumblr peeps I will post them here! :3)

From Oldest to Youngest!

Enjoy!

Bubba Bubbaphant!

The smart and probably the most mentally stable one out of the bunch (more on that later-) being the oldest isn't really easy when you've got 7 younger friends most of which love to go on rowdy fun adventures, nonetheless he is always with them every step of the way whenever he can! (Mostly because he needs to keep them from accidentally getting themselves killed 💀)

His Talent

Bubba is capable of creating balls of light and is able to change the intesity of light sources around him, in combat he can create lightbulb shaped items and throw them at to flashbang opponents, disorienting them and giving him the advantage, though this uses up his own energy and so he needs to think carefully about how many he creates, or else he will likely pass out.

KickinChicken!

The self-proclaimed cool guy of the critters. An daredevil who's always put looking for ways to have a lil fun, all the while making Bubba slowly lose his patience 😅 even though he may come off as an arrogant jerk to others, Kickin actually cares a lot about his friends and others more than he likes to admit! Just don't get on his nerves or he will make your life a living hell whenever given the chance!

His Talent

He can whip out three items of his choosing, whether it'd be a simple screwdriver or a flat out atomic bomb, all of which seem to follow a common theme 💀 though he is only lmited to three wishes and after using them all up he'd have to wait for an one hour cooldown before he can create more items again.

CatNap!

Not a very talkative critter, neither is he really stable in ANY WAY to begin with, he went suddenly missing once for 3 whole weeks and came back never the same, for 9 whole months has he never ate, drank or even slept, and it's only a matter of time before one day he finally collapses in on himself...

His...Talent???...

He is able create sleep-inducing red smoke, making whoever is nearby inhale it and fall into a Deep Sleep... (it doesn't kill them dn)

DogDay!

The leader of The Smiling Critters! And CatNap's best friend! This lovely sunshine is always ready for an adventure and bring a smile to everyone's faces no matter who they are! He is always standing up for what's right, willing to put his friends before himself.

His Talent?

His body glows a range of red to yellow whenever experiencing intense emotions, the hue and the temperature of his body depending on how intense the feeling is, if it is too intense his body is capable of burning the skin off of anybody who attempts to touch him.

PickyPiggy!

The nature-loving and diet obsessed one of the group, she absolutely loves the wonders of mother nature, even owning an vegetable garden herself! She loves to eat but always makes sure she stays healthy when doing so! Though sometimes she is so entranced by eating food that she often forgets to keep up with the others and finds herself confused, she always feels like she has an reputation to uphold considering her father is a well-known cook in Critterville, to make things even less easy she has 12 younger brothers to take care of!

Her Talent

She is able to take and storage items within an infinite pocket dimension like a personal inventory in her pockets, though she needs to have actualy pockets for this to work, luckily she knows how to sew!

Hoppy Hopscotch!

The physically active one of the group! And DogDay's beloved little sister! This rambunctious lil rabbit is willing to take on a challenge if it means having fun! Though she is really accident prone so she often gets herself hurt! (Pretty frequently actually-) but even so she doesn't know how to back down! While impatient and loud, she is happy to protect her friends from danger!

CraftyCorn!

The shy and soft-spoken one! She's pretty timid but has an incredible creative side to her! She loves to create all kinds of art but most specifically loves to draw! Even though she may not have had the best first start of her life, but after moving into Bubba's home and becoming part of The Smiling Critters, she realizes she feels right at home.

Her Talent

She is able to mend and shape paint however and whatever she wants it to be! Whether it is colorful wings of freedom or another way to paint, she needs to have paint at her disposal though.

She is also capable of magic of her own! But due to her previous living conditions she was never able to tap into her gift and discover the wonders of unicorn magic all that much, though luckily Bubba has enrolled her to equestrian classes to help her with that problem! <)

Bobby Bearhug!

The sweetest and youngest one out of the group! She was found alone outside near the Critters' treehouse, ever since then Bubba has taken her under his wing and has been taking care of her since, it is unknown what happened to her parents it has been assumed that they had just abandoned her.

Her Talent

She is able to sense the true intentions of a person's heart, helping her know who is worthy of trust or not, she is also able to sense the emotions of an individual though this can be physically and even mentally exhausting, making her needing to take frequent naps to gain her energy back.

Aaaand that is all I have for today!

I hoped you enjoy these Altercanons and if you have any questions regarding them or this AU feel free to ask in my ask box! :3

(repeat users are okay btw!)

[hedwig221b]

Derek leaned forward, trapping Stiles between his naked arms. His scent was so concentrated, it overwhelmed Stiles. “You will come back to me?”

Stiles could stare at his eyes for hours, watch the pools of magnificent colors unite into one symphony that caught him in their trap so long ago. There was poorly concealed desperation in Derek’s gaze, in the beginning of a wrinkle between his brows and his tense jaw.

Because, while Stiles had his dad and his dad had the booze, Derek didn’t have anyone.

He and Stiles were similar in that way; they found each other, stranded in an ocean of loneliness and refused to let go for the fear of drowning.

“Yeah,” Stiles said, feeling his breath reach Derek’s lips.

Then Derek leaned forward even more and closed the distance.

The kiss was light and chaste, despite the heat of Derek’s lips and breath; it was more a promise and a plea, combined in one tender touch. Derek seemed to be content just by being so close to him. Wolves, as Stiles found out from the books, were known for being touchy-feely, it’s how they spread their scent on loved ones to offer support and provide safety. It put a lot of what Stiles had witnessed these past few days in a different perspective. Derek was, probably, most certainly, touch-starved.

Stiles felt like he was taking advantage a little. Derek craved touch — probably any touch, and Stiles was there and willing to provide it because of his hunger for Derek.

He was scared to let the hope of Derek reciprocating his true feelings blind him. For now he will be what Derek needed and if it turns out to be everything, then… Stiles would gladly give every single bit of himself to Derek.

They separated, but didn’t sway far, still drunk on each other, despite the innocence of their kiss.

“Stay,” Derek rumbled quietly, unable to look away from his face and lips in particular. “Just for a few days. Then I’ll drive you.”

Stiles just nodded. His chest felt like an inflated balloon, ready to be popped.

Derek scooped him up into his arms, pressed their bodies together. Stiles readily put his arms around Derek’s shoulders and hummed into Derek’s neck, closing his eyes from the pleasure of a simple human contact.

He would never get tired of hugging Derek. He was fully committed to becoming a leech.

Once again, he didn’t care. Just let Derek be near him, that’s all.

excerpt from Wait for Me

[mintytealfox]

Any Nortalice hurt/comfort aus or the different skins/cosmetics 🤔

hehehhehehehhehhehhehhehhehehhhehehhehehehhehheheh

🙈🙈🙈🙈here are some from THAT au 😈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

So in this au tensions are HIGH and discomfort is MUCH

So this round is gonna be physical hurt in an AU

------

I am gonna start slow here with this one and then its gonna escalate LOL

1 Scene: Norton in extreme pain, as Alice trying to help him

I may have talked about this first one before, but In this first situation Norton is in the main hub city of the humans where Alice lives and works. He had to go through the process of the biological altering so he could enter the city and not be giant sized (this is why I sometimes call it the Zentradi au cause those aliens are giant and they can go through these biology altering processes to become human and return back to their true forms through the same process. anyways pff)

In this Au that process aftermath is a terror on their bodies. So with Norton he can barely move as the body aches and pain are practically unbearable. Once Alice gets him home to her place he is just sick in the bathroom for HOURS and is just in the worst of states. Vertigo, Fever, absolute cleanse session of the bowels and stomach, the body and joint pains, etc. Alice is trying her best to help in anyway she can, but all they can really do is wait it out for Norton's body to get used to the major alterations of his biology. (the humans could put more time and tech into making the process better, buuut they don't 🙃 cause 'time and efforts must be spent elsewhere' ...lame-os )

Frederick goes through this process often so once Norton is well enough to just sit up and talk, he is baffled that Frederick puts up with this all the time. (He comes to the city and leaves pretty often orz.) Alice is sitting next to Norton on the floor leaned up against the wall facing the toilet "I wondered if it was something one could get used to over time but....after worrying over you all these hours...I no longer think that." Norton: "I wonder what is driving Frederick so hard that he thinks all this pain is worth it...." Alice: "I actually wanted to ask you the same thing....you should have said no about coming here...You knew it was going to be a bad experience for you...but you came anyway...why?" Norton: "I can't let you solve this thing alone...and....I thought it would be nice.." Alice: "? what would be?" Norton: "to...erm.....sit beside each other....and...walk side by side together...and...-clears throat- have your hand fit nice in mine...." Alice smiles and places her gloved hand in his "does my hand fit nice in yours~?" Norton does a tiny extremely tired smile and interlocks his fingers with hers, "..yea" -but suddenly lets go to be sick, bent over the potty-bowl- Alice hurries after him and just rubs his back "......"

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

Scene 2: Norton unconscious and Alice is trying to wake him up before the Mystery Mech catches up to them

They are back outside of the city and Norton is back to his true biology and height and all that.

(the size difference is like this kinda)

Norton just got absolutely launched from a hit and then explosion from this 'random' hostile mech that is targeting both him and Alice (they are getting too close to the truth) So in an effort to protect Alice, Norton completely takes the hit and explosion that was launched at them. It was enough to send Norton's giant self flying and the mech to fly backwards, short circuit, and temporarily shut down from its pilot ignoring the overload warnings.

Alice scrambles through the dust and debris trying to find Norton, using her half working vehicle to get through. She spots him just as her little vehicle is about to break to pieces so she aims the thing and punches the power and launches her in Norton's direction, crashing into the ground next to him.

Norton is laid out in a heap on his back, unconscious.

She runs over to his face, that is lulled off to the side luckily so she see him properly, and checks for breathing, which, thankfully his is. "Norton, I need you to wake up!" -pulling his eyelid up- "NORTON" -she moves to start whacking his forehead- "NORTON!!" -the mech can be heard powering up again- Alice: "NORTOOOOOOONN!!!!" -she turns and presses her back against his forehead several times like she is trying to open a door- (sure give him more head trauma lol)

-The mech can be heard moving again-

"SHIT NORTON! WAKE UP!!"

".......language....." -Norton slowly opens his eyes, finally able to say that to her for once. Since it was always her telling him to watch his dang language lol-

Alice laughs in relief and stands where she can see his eyes "Thank goodness~"

-The mech starts shooting off random explosives with not rhyme or reason, Causing Norton to suddenly sit up and realize what is going on-

Alice: "Right! WE need to GO!!"

Norton nods, gets up and grabs Alice in his hands and books it out of there to hide deeper in the forest

They end up loosing the mech and able to rest for once in like 24 hours. So, Norton takes a seat and rests up against a tree (Note: this world fits Norton and his people since it is their planet, its the humans that invaded. So its a regular tree for him. ANYWAY)

Alice is standing on his open palms as he holds her steady

Norton: "mmm...you have some cuts and bruises...I'm sorry..." Alice: "Could have been worse, you shouldn't have thrown yourself into the line of fire like that..." Norton: "...I should have and I am glad I did." Alice: "What if all that had killed you? It destroyed your headgear...you're bleeding terribly...." Norton: "hm.....All I knew is that you wouldn't have been able to survive that...at least for me there was an 'if'..." Alice: "I........well........mm......thank you..." Norton: "....no point on dwelling on it, we made it and that is what matters." Alice: "lets get you somewhere with medical supplies, we can't trust a hospital" Norton: "hmm, I think I know a place, let's--" he pauses when he sees Alice extending her hands up to him- -Norton, knowing what this means by now, lowers his head and brings her up closer to him so they can rest foreheads together- -Alice rests against him and pets his nose- "truly....thank you, Norton..." Norton: "...........sure" -nuzzles against her-

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

Scene 3: Alice terribly injured

Norton rushing around the area trying to find Alice. He is in a panic after seeing the events that transpired from a far and ran as fast as he could to get to her.

He spots her and falls to his hands and knees over her, "Alice??"

She is just laying there, bleeding out

Pulling out a device, he scans her body to collect all the injuries and data, and it further confirms that she is in critical condition.

Carefully, Norton scoops her up in his hands and runs to the nearest healing sanctuary for humans, and of course its abandoned by the time he gets there due to tensions between races getting a little too high by this point. He maneuvers Alice into the crook of his arm to free up is other arm so he can rip the roof off of the building so can see what he has access to.

"UGH! I don't know what any of this F**KING IS!!!" -He eyes what he thinks could be beds, but there is this dome over each of them, he notes they are connected to a machine and familiarity starts kicking in- "this could be one of those--" -he clumsily messes with the machine's little buttons and by some miracle it turns on and the dome lifts with a hiss as the tech begins awakening. Norton then lays Alice onto the bed and the dome closes over her. It assess the damage and gets to work, giving her shots, blood, stitches, everything she needs, much to Norton's relief-

-He hates human tech because its often painful and works at the bare minimum for him and his kind (and he thinks that is on purpose), but it is a good thing that it works so well for humans and Alice happens to be one-

He will have to sit there and wait for the machine to do its thing, then wake and release Alice.

Once she wakes up and is able to step out of the healing sanctuary she will groan rather groggily which catches Norton's attention. He turns and lets out the loudest sigh of relief, prompting Alice to smile up at him.

-Alice: "I should have listened to you....about that being a trap." -Norton: "Yes you should have....I am glad I followed behind..." -Alice: "judging by where I am right now, I am glad too." -she starts getting hazy flashbacks of being surrounded by doctors and medical speech and sounds, becoming visibly unnerved- -Norton: "...Alice?" -Alice: "I....." -She starts looking around her like she is seeing shadows of the past- "Something......I......" -looking around more frantically- -Norton now getting concerned again- "Alice??" -This snapping Alice's attention back up to him blinking several times- "Norton....I...need you.." -Norton swallows hard- "I'm sorry I can't be there beside you...." Alice: "but you can hold me. Please" -Norton reaches for her as she climbs into his hands and he brings her up to him, to hug her to him- "...is this alright..?" -Alice grabbing onto the fabrics of his clothes- "its perfect...and warm.... Thank you"

[emloafs]

and what's everyone gonna do when they find out i've got a hawkmetri to all the boys i've loved before au half written in my drafts

what would happen if i said that

[sillystringsimpsons]

Pic unrelated. I just think they're cute here. Lol.

SOMETHING IS WRONG.

A short fanfic set in The Good Ones [AU], featuring Johnny and Frankie.

STORY BELOW CUT!

"Something is wrong."

As he speaks, his leg taps incessantly beneath the dining table: little creaks and the rhythmic scuff of his socks against the linoleum punctuating the syllables and iambs in his anxious words.

"Somethin's always wrong with yous," I mutter. My words are muffled as I lazily press a chunk of bread, drowned to limpness with pumpkin soup, into the pocket my right cheek. "What's the matter, coniglio? Jeez, is it the bread? Sorry, baby, I know you ain't a fan of them baked-in olives, but it's all the bodega had out when I got there-"

"Gio, damnit! I ain't a frigging toddler, I can stomach some damn olives!"

...Jesus.

I like his skittishness. I know it sounds a little patronising, but it's endearing to me; the constant fidgeting and wriggling is as much a part of him as the borrowed trace-scent of my cologne in the crook of his neck and the way he gets little crow's feet by his eyes when he smiles. But this, right now, is more than his day-to-day restlessness: he's cagey today: more so than normal. I can see it in the way his eyes dart frantically around the room, the way those dilated pupils can never quite seem to sit in one place, caught in that same little loop of endless motion as his squirming lower half.

"...Sorry."

As soon as he breaks the silence, I realise I've been absentmindedly holding my breath in - as if, if I had let it go, some inappropriate response to his seemingly unprovoked outburst would have slipped out with it. But he's taken the weight of the reply off my shoulders, leaving me with nothing to do but give a barely audible, shaky out-breath after I choke down the food still in my mouth with an unwittingly stilted swallow.

"I... I, uh, don't apologise, Frankie," is all I manage to offer, at first. "I shouldn't 'a cut you off like that. My foul, alright?"

"No, Johnny, it ain't your fault, babe, I just... I just-"

Ironically, he's never been very good at expressing himself: it's no real surprise that the words he wants to get lost at the tip of his tongue, leaving him with nothing but stutters and frustrated little grunts - and once he's run out of those, all he has left to give is a big, defeated groan as he buries his face into his hands.

"It's just... Things have been good."

That confession, meek and padded by the hum of his lips against his calloused palms, is the absolute last thing I expected to hear.

"Good?"

"Too good," he whines, still refusing to look me in the eyes. "Everything is too damn good, and I feel like somethin' awful is about to happen. I can't freaking relax, Gio, I feel like- Damnit, I don't know, it feels like my brain is full 'a fluid, and- And my head is going to explode- Or somethin'-!"

"What, like, a fever? Frankie, if you got a fever-"

"No, no, it's metaphor-ismical, or freakin'- Whatever you call it! I just... It feels like there are a million bees inside my skull, Johnny. Does that make sense?"

No, not really. The bees, at least: I can't particularly envision something like that, I've never been all that good at creative thinking - or whatever the ability to picture insects in your head is called.

But, what does make sense is the look in his eyes as he raises his gaze: only slightly, just enough to meet my own.

There's a frenetic, anxious energy there, one that I've seen time, and time again: in the eyes of the lanky, up-town sixteen-year-old who'd ride past my shop on his bike a suspicious amount of times every day, in the eyes of the point of contention sat across from me at one too many impromptu meetings of DiMaggio's inner circle, in the eyes of the disgraced caporegime reluctantly settling into his new place among the ranks of my crew...

In the eyes of the man sat opposite me.

I give my best attempt at a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah. It does."

[h-didanart]

Have any of you guys ever been doodling when suddenly you’re hit by the angstiest idea ever and so you start workshopping that idea into an au as an alternate timeline to see if it would fit with the au only to create an absolutely heartbreaking and depression inducing scenario, only for your brain to decide that’s not enough and end up creating that same scenario in your two other main aus so that you end up with three deeply traumatized versions of the same character?

Anyone?

No?

That’s fair

I call them the heartbroken trio.

We have a post-Everything Goes To Shit arc Scythe, around January ‘24 Bloody, and a post-Second Takeover Harvest. You may notice I called them by their actual names and not by their usual [insert trait here]!BM names, and that’s on purpose.

See, due to various circumstances in each of their respective timelines, their twins died.

They’ve all taken it very harshly, but express it in different ways, Scythe is more reserved yet more ruthless in her anger, Bloody has become extremely disconnected from everything, and Harvest is an anxious wreck. All their reactions are directly correlated to their twins’ death and how they perceived it.

Anyways, yeah.

New au//timeline thing. Yay?

Oh, and for your troubles

The guy who in his canon lost his twin being extremely conflicted about the newcomers. Cuz in one hand they are versions of versions of himself that he knows that he can relate even more to! But on the other hand they are versions of versions of himself that he knows that he can relate even more to.

Yeah :P

Might elaborate on these guys later

[soulsty]

Antarc, Cinnabar, and Phos rushing to deliver presents to their sleeping companions~

Happy Holidays everyone!