#this took a while cuz i could NOT remember what her face/neck patterns were in my design

[op3ra]

Geebs or Dinah?

DINAHHHH <33333

[hannya-writes]

A White Demon love song

Title: A White Demon Love Song

Fandom: Star Wars

Pairing: Obi wan Kenobi x reader

Other characters: Anakin, a Mandalorian? It can be Din Djarin if you like

Category: Romance, Sad, Song fic maybe?, Implied sex scenes.

Warnings: Almost Sith!Obi Wan

Author's note: the first time I wrote this... It was in spanish cuz that's my first language, and I had to translate myself, which was weird and freaking frustrating, but I like the results! Hope you like it!

• • •

Obi wan had hear about "The Killers" bar. It was far away from the center of Coruscant and the jedi temple, it was a place were one could contract a mercenaries, have a nice drink and hear some music. It was one of the very few nice bars in the area. It also was the place where Master Yoda had been informed about the presence of a Jedi, but not just any jedi: someone claimed that Y/n Y/l/n was there every night.

Obi Wan and Anakin where assigned to look out the place. As they grew closer, publicity got heavier. Almost all of the paper and screens announced a singer by the name "Dragon Owl". By his side Anakin sighed in boredom, but he didn't dared ask why were they going to that place, the only data Obi Wan had have him as that they were looking for a death jedi.

As soon as they got to the hidden entrance the Jedi master felt a weird sensation through the force. He couldn't quite place the feeling it provoqued in him, but it was familiar.

A voice reached them and Anakin stopped in the middle of the stairs. Unlike Obi Wan, he recognized the force signature and the voice of the singer: it was Y/n Y/l/n's voice. She had hummed that song to him at night to help him fall asleep.

— Anakin? — Obi Wan made him get back to reality, making him move after seconds of music. His feet moved in a hurry, wishing to see the person singing. He had to see if he was being fooled because it couldn't be Y/n, she was dead, Count Dooku had killed her.

The Sith had gloated about his lost. He had told him how hard she had fought him, how he had tortured her. But there she was, eyes closed in concentration, her mouth open while singing.

— no — he muttered to himself incapable of believing what he was seeing.

— she's alive? — Obi Wan said under his breath, as surprised as Anakin by the vision in front of him. — it can't be... She...— Her eyes opened and Obi Wan felt as if someone had hit him with a blaster. It had to be a clone of Y/n.

"Let us be in love" she sung and the Jedi Master felt a knot in his throat "Let's do old and gray" a headache started with those words as memories came back "I won't make you cry" Y/n was crying in his memories as she cupped his face "I will never stray" no, she hadn't said those words. She had said "You will never stray, you will do your part"

— what are you talking about? — he remembered himself asking her, a smile in his face as she laughed with sad eyes.

— will you let us be in love tonight? — she asked and he lifted an eyebrow.

— I will let us be in love forever — he answered to her delight before taking her closer to kiss her.

He remembered that night a couple of years ago. How the kisses turned wet, how he had traced patterns through the naked skin. How she had whispered love words in his ear while he moved against her, inside her making her moan in pleasure. Her barely audible voice calling for him, singing "Obi wan" like it was the only words she knew. The pleasure, the sweat, the lust. The dangerous need to posses her in every possible way. Then the morning after, her quiet sobs as she explained that they couldn't be together, how it was better to forget. She confessed she had a vision of him falling to the dark side because of his love for her. Why she couldn't allow it to happen so she erased all the memories that made him love her. And he forgot.

Until that moment, with that song. She had made him forget and ran away so he wouldn't fell in love with her again. But she was there singing about the past, about an unreachable love when he was right there dealing with feelings that he was forced to forget.

He wanted to walk towards her, kiss her, hold her in his arms. He wanted to sooth the pain away. It hurt him to listen to her singing about something he could fix, because he could fix her broken heart.

The song ended slowly and someone asked for a big applause for the Dragon Owl. Y/n bowed for the clapping audience and went to the little stair to walk down of the scenario, she had a big smile in her lips. Obi wan felt a brand new blast in his chest seeing her smile, it had been a life time since he saw her smile. He walked towards her to help her get down, he was going to offer his hand but someone beat him to it.

A gloved hand offered it's help and she took it in her left hand, she winked at the person and Obi Wan saw that hand guided to a man with a mandalorian armor, the beskar shone under the bright light.

His muscles tensed acknowledging the treat a mandalorian supposed, however his hands turned into fists when Y/n turned and stretched out to kiss the mandalorian helmet, not in any place but in the spot where the lips of the man should be. As an answer the man took out one of his gloves and caressed her lower lip, as if making a promise to kiss her.

Obi Wan knew that little touch over her lower lip could mean a lot of other things, but the intimacy in it annoyed him. Hand in hand, the couple walked to the back door and he followed with Anakin right behind him.

They kept the distance with the couple, waiting for the right time, the perfect moment to pull Y/n away from the mandalorian. Her loud laughter made Obi Wan jealous, he wanted her away from that man.

Funny enough in that moment she shoved the man while laughing, the man got closer and pressed her to the closer wall. His bare hand pushed the helmet up to uncover his lips, his free hand cupped her face gently, tumb caressing her cheek.

— oh, my dear Mandalorian — she sighed the words charged with a tender love that made Obi wan's gutt twirl.

Anakin gasp was barely audible. From all the people in the galaxy, Y/n was about to kiss a Mandalorian. A Jedi and a Mandalorian. He couldn't avoid thinking about Obi Wan and the Duchess of Mandalore subtly flirting. On the other hand, what he was seeing was everything but subtle. Y/n hands getting the helmet off a bit more, a chaste kiss turning lustful.

A deep blush formed in his face and felt angry, annoyed by this man, kissing Y/n in that way in an alley. He was not going to let it happen, he stepped out to protect Y/n but Obi Wan had moved a couple of seconds before, he ran the little distance and kicked the man away from the supposedly dead Jedi.

The mandalorian huffed trying to get back the breathe he had lost from that powerful kick, he tried to stand up but an invisible force was pushing him to the ground. Somehow his helmet had got back to cover his face.

— how dare you put your hands on her? — Obi Wan voice was calm but hide a underline of danger. If someone had asked him why did he do that, he would have answer that he saw a threat against Y/n. The truth however was he moved because he couldn't stand to see the woman he loved with another man. It made him get mad and jealous. His fear of losing her again was in control.

— Obi? — Y/n said in a surprised tone, eyes open in a expression of astonishment. Her eyes took in every detail in him, from his clothes to the bear. She couldn't stop herself from thinking "it's really him". But there was something wrong, his stance, his lightsaber on and in his hand ready to kill the enemy and the enemy was the man dressed in beskar. — wait! — she jumped in front of her lover.

Y/n felt the force, forcing her to back off, step by step with a strength but carefulness that she found amazing.

Obi wan brandished his light saber aiming for the head, but the lightsaber stopped midair. His eyes turned to Y/n, hand reaching for his weapon, stopping him.

— Stop! — she ordered and the force keeping her still vanished, a second later she let go his saber. She walked quickly to get back in front of Obi wan. — Obi Wan, look at me — she asked looking at man she was still in love.

— Are you willing to die for him? — the question held rage even being said in a low tone. His hand moved to get the lightsaber closer to her, the blue flame of it almost touched the skin of her neck. She made an expression of pain but held her ground.

— I'm not doing this for him, it's for you — she clarified and her eyes looked at those of the Jedi. However for the first time, they weren't of that baby blue color she loved so much, they were golden. — you are good man, an excellent jedi, you are a role model, I won't let you stain your hands with blood —

— Master! Stop! — Anakin said standing behind Obi Wan, looking horrified how Y/n walked towards the Jedi master without getting away from the lightsaber.

— you lied, you didn't love me— loathing was the only thing in his voice.

— but I did and I still do — she muttered with the very first step to get closer to him.

— you left, you faked your dead Y/n — he was threatening, his expression made her feel fear and a deep desire to ask for his forgiveness.

— It was necessary — she claimed standing by the hilt of his lightsaber, the blue fire bit on her neck and she made an expression of pain. Her hands reached his, holding the weapon.

Only then with the touch of her hands he reacted, his mind finally processed what he was doing. He was holding his lightsaber against Y/n. He had hurt her in her delicate neck

Obi wan didn't put resistance as she disarmed him and went to hug him while stating seven words that made him relax.

— I only love you Obi Wan Kenobi — she said softly and he hug her back, nuzzling his face in the crook of her neck, in the side that wasn't hurt.

— My apologies, I didn't meant to hurt you — he said in a low and barely audible voice, she sighed holding him close. — I don't know what happened to me —

— I know — she answered not knowing what else to say, she couldn't tell him he had tasted the dark side, that he had acted motivated only by his feelings. How could she tell him? How could she explain to him that was the only path they could take while being together? How would she explain she left because it was getting out of hand? How could she tell him he had killed a squadron of clones because they had looked at her too long? How could she confess that his love for her will turn him into a sith? — It's fine, everything will be fine— she lied looking at Anakin with sadness.

The young man looked at her and she almost smiled, the pressure of Obi Wan's arms around her made her stop, along with a soft petition that sounded more like a demand.

— Stay with me — those words make her tremble and understand, there was no way to avoid destiny.

— of course, Darling —

[kaider-is-my-otp]

Late Night Doubts

Just a random Kaider fluff, cuz you can never have too much of those. 

P.S.  For the purpose of this fic, I ignored the proposal that happened in Stars Above. Cinder and Kai are just dating, not engaged.

Cinder sneaked into emperor's room as quietly as possible. Kai was sleeping safely tucked in his sheets, breathing deeply. He must have had an exhausting day. Cinder knew what kind of a day he had simply by hearing his breathing pattern.

She took off her shoes and made her way to the bathroom. She just got back to New Beijing after three weeks spent on Luna. Lunars were choosing new government, and as former queen, her attendance was expected.

After a quick shower she came back to the room to find something to sleep in. She found Kai’s old shirt and put it on. It had that sweet musky scent like it’s been worn all day, but still managed to stay fresh. While she quietly changed, Kai stirred in bed. He blinked slowly, his eyes widening when he saw a person in the dark of his room. It took him two seconds to recognize her.

He reached up and grabbed Cinder’s wrist, pulling her to the bed next to him. “Hey,” he said, his voice scratchy from sleep, and kissed her temple.

Cinder nuzzled her nose in his neck, inhaling deeply. “Sorry I woke you up.”

“I’m not,” he said, grabbing her face in his hands and kissing her on the lips. “Did you just come back?”

Cinder nodded, shifting deeper into the covers and wrapping her arms around his waist. She felt completely in peace for the first time in weeks.

This, she thought as she cuddled with her boyfriend, this is what I want.

“It’s been a long three weeks,” she said into his neck.

“Actually, it’s been twenty three days and eight hours,” Kai corrected, tangling his fingers in her hair.

Cinder scoffed. “You hadn’t counted the minutes.”

Kai laughed and his chest vibrated with movement. “Sadly, I don’t have a computer in my head telling me how long exactly it’s been since I’ve seen the love of my life. It would make my lonely nights much more bearable.”

Cinder tried not to grin. She lifted her face from his chest and kissed him, long and soft. When they both ran out of breath, she pulled away. She traced his lips with her metal finger, imagining she could feel the softness with her fingertips. “I missed you.”

Kai gently stroked her face with his knuckles. “I’m pretty sure I missed you more. Just ask Torin. He’ll gladly inform you what a miserable and distracted leader I’ve been in your absence.”

She rolled her eyes, not surprised at all. “If only your people knew what a sap their emperor is.”

Kai shifted on his back and pulled Cinder on top of him. “I’m pretty sure they all suspect. After all, I’ve always been told I don’t know how to conceal my feelings.”

They fell in comfortable silence, listening each other breathe. Despite the calmness she felt, Cinder couldn’t stop invading thoughts that always appear when she was in emperor’s suite.

Kai felt the tension in her shoulders as he drew lazy circles on her back. “Something’s bothering you. Tell me.”

She hesitated for a second, but Kai’s touch worked like magic and she started talking, pressing her face deeper in his chest. “This is emperor’s suite.”

Kai stayed silent for a second, not sure how to react to such a basic fact. “As an emperor, I am well aware.”

Every time they would come close to this topic, Kai basically mocked her for being ridiculous. He could never understand why she was so bothered by staying in his room. She lifted her head and moved to a more comfortable position. She was careful not to put whole weight of her metal leg on Kai as she lay on top of him. When she looked down, his face was nothing short of serious.

“Yes, well…” She stumbled over her words, not able to express her thoughts properly. “You’re an emperor and this is your room, but I don’t really have any business doing here. You do know I have my own set of rooms in the guest wing?”

Kai’s eyebrows furrowed. He untangled his arm from Cinder’s waist and ran a hand through his silky black hair. “What do you mean? You’re the only one that should be here. Except for me, of course.”

“But not legally.” Cinder bit her bottom lip. “Only emperor and empress should stay here, and I--,”

Kai let out a small laugh. “Is that what’s bothering you? That you’re not an empress, so you can’t stay here? If that’s the case, I can easily solve that problem. In fact, I actually have it here somewhere…”

He sat up in bed, pulling Cinder with him, and opened his nightstand drawer, searching for something. Snippets of their conversation on the balcony right after the revolution few years back flashed in Cinder’s mind. He had the same spark in his eyes that he had right in that moment. She grabbed his hand and stopped him before he could do something stupid. Like propose to her.

“No, no,” she said, trying to close the drawer. He wasn’t that willing to be stopped in his mission. “Kai, that’s not what I meant.”

He gave up, his face falling a bit. He laid back down on bed. Cinder stayed above, legs on both sides of his hips. She still felt flustered with what he had potentially almost done.

“Every time I try to propose, you stop me,” Kai said, pouting a bit. He tried to look angry, but corners of his lips were turned upward. “I don’t know how you expect me to do it if you don’t let me even try.”

Cinder shook her head and placed her hands on his stomach. “I don’t want you to do it in the middle of serious conversation. You’re just avoiding the topic. Besides, do you actually expect me to believe you have a ring in your nightstand right now?”

Kai raised his eyebrow, giving her the same charming smile he gave her the first time they met on the market. It was her favorite smile of his, reserved only for her. “You know me well enough to know I absolutely have a ring in there.”

Cinder rolled her eyes, trying to turn the conversation back to the beginning. “Can we go back to the fact that I shouldn’t be here? It just seems a bit inappropriate. You know I don’t really care that much about tradition, but I don’t want to put you in uncomfortable position.”

“Cinder, we’ve been together for five years. Believe me, everyone knows you’re here.”

Cinder fidgeted with her fingers. “That doesn’t make it any better.”

Kai exhaled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to lay back on him. “There’s no law that says that person other that emperor or empress can’t stay in imperial suite. And if there was that law, I would change it.”

With his arms holding her and his lips pressed to the crown of her head, she felt a bit better. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. Believe me, there’s nothing to worry about. No one is judging you.” His lips turned into a smile on her forehead, as if he remembered a fond memory. “I once overheard maids referring to you as future empress.”

“Stars above,” Cinder mumbled into his chest.

Kai found a great fun in her embarrassment. “I’m pretty sure when we are together people are just waiting for me to get down on one knee and propose.”

“Stop talking.” Cinder pinched his arm, but couldn’t stop the smile spreading on her face. No matter how much she pretended otherwise, the prospect of Kai proposing evoked a certain warm feeling in her chest.

“I’m telling you, during every Peace Ball people are staring at me, giving me these weird looks.” He sighed. “I feel bad for disappointing them.”

“Don’t think even for a second of proposing publically,” Cinder warned him. Their lives were already under magnifying glass, with media and basically whole world knowing every detail. She wished they could keep at least something to themselves.

Kai kissed her lips, looking at her eyes with so much intensity and care it made her feel small and delicate right there in his arms. “Believe me, it will only be the two of us. Our wedding will be huge event, so I thought we could at least have a private engagement.”

Cinder hummed in agreement. “I think that’s enough of engagement and wedding talk for one night. Let’s go to sleep.”

She rolled off of Kai, curling on her side next to him. He wrapped his arms around her in an instant, pulling her closer to him. His nose was buried in her hair, his breathing deep like he was ready to fall asleep right that second.

A minute later, when dreams were already overtaking her, Kai spoke softly, “Empress Selene. It glides nicely.”

Cinder didn’t bother to answer, only kicked him in the leg. Kai laughed one last time, and soon they both fell in deep slumber.

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch18 Battle Gym Leader Melony

It wasn't too surprising all of you fell asleep on the train again that night, seeing how late it was getting when you all hurried onto it like an army of onix was chasing after you all. Thank goodness you managed to catch it and settled down into a couple empty seats to sleep for the night. Come morning the lot of you were already digging into your rations for breakfast to comfort your hungry stomachs that growled for food. And made small talk as the world went flying by outside the windows.

"So how long until we reach Circhester?," you asked biting into come kind of breakfast bar that tasted like bacon bits and oatmeal.

"It's the farthest town from all the others in Galar except for the town in the Crown Tundra Valley but that's farther in the mountains than we need to go," Victor explained after he had pulled out his own phone and pulled up his regional maps to look through them, "It's also deep within the Galarian Mountain Reign so it'll take us about three weeks to get there by train."

"Oh really?"

He nodded again. "The stop we want is Steamdrift Station. From there it's about an hour walk down Steamdrift Way until we get to Circhester and it's gyms."

You paused before blinking and looking at him. Drizzilie taking this chance to pull the rest of your food away from you to eat itself. "Gyms? As in plural?...Like more than one gym?"

"Oh yeah! Guess we haven't told ye!," Gloria cut in leaning into her hand. "The Ice and Rock Type Gyms are located up there and are handled by the gym leader Melony n' 'er son Gordie!"

You paused...eyes blinking wide at them for a moment before pointing. "Hey! Wait a minute! I remember those guys!" YEAH! You did remember them! Ironic since you couldn't remember much of anything else in game. Melony according to in game info was supposed to have a harsh battle style and supposedly be an incredible coach. She ran the Ice type Gym while her son Gordie was in charge of the nieghboring Rock Type Gym also in Circhester. He's supposed to be really popular in a similar way to Raihan and have his own fan base as well that he treats respectfully. ..But the mother and son had a fight over Gordie not wanting to take over his mother's gym and instead but somehow she still became the very first member of his fan club. ...Also he was supposed to have younger siblings as well but you didn't think they were ever shown in the game. You remembered!! That's great! Maybe now you'd start remembering things much more now!! ....You blinked upon noticing the three staring at you. "Uh!...I m-mean I remembering some people talking about them before. Apparently Gordie's pretty popular in Galar."

Hop nodded. "Yeah he is! Last year he was voted Galar's third most eligable bachelor behind Raihan and Lee himself. But unlike Raihan he actually throws a lot of his own events and showings. Lee mentioned once he trained under the old Rock Type Gym Leader before he retired and took over the gym after."

You sighed. Bullet dodged! "Oh. Sounds like he's really nice then." And hopefully won't flirt with you like Raihan did.

Thus began your group's long, LONG trip to the Galarian Mountain Range. Just like your trip back to Motostoke, you all slept on the emptied seats at night but being more prepared Victor had set up his Rotom phone's gps to set off an alarm once the lot of you reached the likes of the station you wanted so you all wouldn't have to take turns staying up all night again to keep an eye out for the right station you wanted. Which was a great idea! Over the next few days you all fell into that repeated pattern minus taking turns staying up at night and during the day just talking about random things while eating food from your rations or looking at whatever the teens pulled up from the internet to show you. Gloria at one point even pulled out her dex books again to finish putting the rest of her pictures into them and showed you the new addtions courtesy of her twin before passing the books over towards the two boys for them to flip through themselves and admire Gloria's handy work. A few more days went by this way until one day Victor all of a sudden said you all should stop at the next town to restock up on food again since it wasn't as much as he thought it was. To which everyone agreed too and at the next town, got off the train and went into one of the random stops which turned out to be a small town like Postwick. From there the four of you gathered supplies and did everything else to prepare to travel again by the time the next train came around before getting back on it and back on your way to Circhester. Day in and night out you four traveled and traveled and traveled. You were starting to get train sick with how much this was going on and found yourself walking up and down the walkways in turns with the others to keep up the exercise and not let yourselves turn your legs to jelly. Until one particular night when you woke up with a shiver. There was a chilly atmosphere inside the metal train from when you were last awake and it was enough for you to make yourself get up groggily. Only to find your drizzilie was lightly shivering as well curled up against your warmer body and stayed clung to you as it groaned in protest at the cold.

"What the-"

"Hey you." You rubbed your eyes turning tiredly to Hop who had his own coat thrown over his shoulders and smiled. "So you're finally awake huh?"

You yawned. "What time is it?"

"About ten in the morning. We're getting closer to the mountains," Victor said and you turned to him next as he rechecked the map on his phone, "We'll be at Steamdrift Station within 'bout three days but you might want to throw on a coat. It's gonna get a wee bit more colder from 'ere on out."

That wasn't a too bad idea actually. You were quick to pull on the coat you had bought and with a bit of a tussle you somehow with Gloria's help managed to pry Drizzilie off of you and put him inside your bag's main opening with Gloria holding it open before you pulled both him and the bag into your lap to make room. And to help keep the lil guy warm. Your pokemon gave a bored expression as he settled down into using the bag as his personal sleeping bag.

"Hey. Don't get too comfy," you reminded him, "Cuz when we leave Circhester you're going back to walking with us again Mr. I-Refuse-To-Get-In-My-Pokeball." Other than rolling his eyes with a sigh, Drizzilie didn't say anything against what you said. "You heard me. This is just to make sure you don't go from a water type to a frozen-water type."

The rest of the three days there was pretty much the same, only now it was hard for any of you all to get to sleep now curled up in the seats because of the cold. Why you even dug out a scarf and wrapped it around your neck and half your face. Didn't these trains have darn heating!? The landscape outside the windows changed too. Going from looking like fall-ish time of the year to mid way between fall and winter, until the last day when you all woke up to have found yourselves so, so...SO!! Cold, and you shivered yanking the hood over your f/c hair more as you looked around and noticed white snow was being blown against the windows like some snow storm. And for all you knew there could actually be one out there.

"ZZZTT. Attention Passengers!," the conductor announced over the speakers to anyone left on bourd. "We'll be arriving at SteamDrift Station within ten minutes. That is all."

"That's our stop!," Victor confirmed, "Make sure you all grab everythin' before we get off."

You all made sure to gather your things, you especially making sure to pull the small hoodie over your Drizzilie's head before pushing him into your bag and telling him to stay in there until you said it was safe for him to come out before zipping your bag up but leaving enough of an opening to allow fresh air to him. Slowly after a few minutes the train finally came to a stop and you all followed Victor out towards the door, you grunting as you stuggled to sling the bag over your shoulders. You had forgotten how heavy this lil guy actually was when carried. You were extremely thankful for the guys getting you the thick coat and scarf too because the familiar full force of Winter hit you as soon as the you all stepped out the door and you shivered from the frosty cold greeting you all. The entire sky was painted in grey snow clouds that made the day look a little dull while snow gently fell from them and down towards the earth below. Around you was a plain looking station that looked more deserted since no one not even a station master was there, and surrounding you all was cliffsides and hills like in Stow-on-Side except unlike Stow-on-Side these were absolutely COVERED in snow and ice as far as the eyes could see as the four of you stood there taking in the sights. The only living things besides you all being pine trees scattered across the snowy land with a cobblestone road leading away from the station that Victor after a moment pointed at.

"That's Steamdrift Way," He explained holding up his phone with a gloved hand to the lot of you showing a map with a red blinking dot that signalled where you all were. "It's connected to Route E-E-Eight. If we go this way we should be at Circhester w-within an hour after crossing Circhester Bridge."

"T-T-Then w-what are we waiting f-f-for?!," Hop stuttered in the cold before pointing a hand forward. "L-Let's get there before we become on thin ice!"

There wasn't any arguments with him as you all headed off. Snow and ice crunched under your all's feet making your group sound like a couple of wooly mammoths trudging through the snow. You all (even you through your scarf covered mouth) could see your breath as snowflakes stuck to your bodies like someone glued white confetti to your clothes as you all followed Victor and his map through the snow. Thank goodness it didn't cover the road up, or else you all might've gotten lost. As you all trudged alone keeping your hands in your pockets after pulling the ends of the sleeves over them to help keep them warm, you all FINALLY came to the stone bridge Victor mentioned before. A cold river running with cold water ran under it as you all crossed and as you walked over it you prayed your drizzilie didn't decided to pop out wanting to swim or see what was going on.

"W-W-We should be there in t-t-ten m-m-more minutes!," Victor shouted back pulling his beanie further over his head.

"B-B-Bloody heck, V-Vick! 'M freezin' my t-tail off 'ere n' I-I ain't even got one!," Gloria yelled back complaining.

"The sooner we git there the sooner ya can rest! So take the energy from ya yappin' mouth and put it to your feet!," He yelled back and Gloria mumbled under her breath.

So you all continued to walk and walk, until you finally reached the end of the road that lead into a metal fenced entrance to Circhester. And you all had a collected sigh of relief once you all got there. It was decently big with it's many story stone buildings you could make out in the snow with cobblestone roads leading everywhere and the figures of two large stadiums on either side of the town as you all got to walking into it. You all passed the pink pokemon center near the entrance of the town and turned right heading towards what you guessed was the town square. A hot spring like fountain was dead set in the middle and there was people walking all around in winter wear with some ice type pokemon or pokemon who could stand this cold weather. Two men had stands selling food in the square as you walked past, one selling some kind of hot wraps and the other......ice..cream??

"D-Dang nabit, V-Vick! W-W-Where's the b-b-bloody hotel a-around here?," Gloria asked rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm herself.

"I-I'm with G-Glory on this," Hop added looking around, "I d-don't feel like camping out here at all."

"I'm WORKIN' on it!," Victor spat scowling at his phone hand lightly shaking.....before he pointed ahead of him at a BIG building in front of you all. "H-Hotel is there! L-Let's go!"

You all didn't hesitate to RUN your way to the building he pointed out jack frost biting at your ankles as you did. You all didn't even care if the door was flung open with a loud noise. The rush of warm air greeting your skins was enough to make up for it in your minds as you sighed. Turning your head up to the ceiling in the bliss of getting out of the cold. After a moment or two you finally opened your eyes and blinked them wide open at what you were all looking at. If you thought the Budew Drop Inn in Motostoke was Fancy this place was absolutely F A N C Y with a capitol F!!! It was like one of those luxery hotels in Paris you'd sometimes see in movies or on tv. Complete with marble floors and chandeliers lighting the place up. It was also HUGE!! And this was just the lobby as you gawked around. The other three were busy shaking snow off themselves as Victor walked up to the man at the lobby counter most likely to book your rooms. You hope they weren't too expensive by the looks around here. A moment later he returned with two keys handing one to Gloria before he gestured to the elevator.

"Let's go get settled in and rest for a bit. I'm too cold to think straight. You guys got room fifthteen on the first floor." Whelp! You couldn't argue with that as you all headed towards the elevator and got inside. The trip to the first floor wasn't a very long one as you all piled out and Victor motioned for Hop to follow him to one of the very first rooms closest to the elevator. "I say we all get warmed up and meet up in the lobby to talk 'bout what's the game plan for us 'ere."

"Alright," you agreed with a nod before following Gloria, "We'll see you two in a bit."

Both boys nodded as well before they turned back, Victor unlocking the door with his key before opening it and they disappeared inside. You sped walked to catch up to Gloria who was already standing in front of a door and turning the knob and throwing it open-

"So that means the culprit must be among us!" Gloria paused in the doorway. Eyes wide and hand still out from throwing the door open. "....Wait....Who are you!?" ..You wanted to facepalm. Oh NO!! Don't tell me Gloria opened the wrong door and walked in on someone. You sped up your walking pace as she blinked again. "After all the trouble of deducing things don't go messing it up now!"

By the time you got to Gloria she was already scowling before pointing her frozen hand at him. "N' who might the likes o' you be!?"

You blinked when you looked inside the room....There was a man there along with an older man, a 'hipster' looking girl, a young boy, and some kind of squirrel looking pokemon chewing something as you all stared at one another...Until the middle aged looking man coughed.

"*cough* I suppose I should introduce myself," he proudly put a hand to his chest, "The name's Howses. Yes. THAT Howses. The great detective. I've been hired by the hotel. At present I have corner the culprit of a most heinous crime!"

"What happened?," you asked. Did someone get robbed? Did something go missing? Something worse?!

"I'm glad you asked," Mr. Howses stated, " And that crime is!..The strange case of who ate the large quantity of berries in the lobby!" He shouted pointing to a random basket of apple cores....You and Gloria both gave each other a look. "I've gathered the three people who were present in the lobby at the time of the crime but because of the noise my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present."...The hotel...Hired a private detective ..to investigate missing fruit.....What a waste of time! He suddenly pointed at Gloria. "That's it! You interfering child! You will be my assistant!"

Gloria gave him a blank look. "...What?"

"Listen to the stories of each suspect and find the culprit," he said as if what he had just said wasn't crazy or unprofessional at all.

"....Yeah. I ain't doin' that." Gloria dead panned before pointing at the obvious pokemon in the room. "'Sides. I already know who it was-"

Instead of listening the man waved her off and laughed in her face. "Heh heh heh. After listening to everyone's accounts deduced the culprit!"....NO ONE SPOKE!! He pointed at the young hipster looking gal who looked just as deadpanned and done with this as Gloria. "Dancer! You are the culprit!"

"WHAT!?," she demanded angrily, "Why me?!"

"Because you're a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you needed all that food for extra energy! That's evidence as clear and sharp as the leek of a farfetch'd!"

"WHAT!? What does that even mean!? You're no detective! You're a fraud!" Your thoughts exactly!

The man gave a nervous look all of a sudden. "W-Who are you calling a fraud!? You can't be referring to me! The great detective!"

"I can't deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the real culprit-"

"*AHEM!!*" Everyone looked back to Gloria who scowled and pointed to the small pokemon chittering at everyone around them. "IT. WAS. THAT!! They ate the darned fruit ya ninnies can't seem ta take a hint of."

The 'detective' blinked before turning to the pokemon. "What? That skwovet is the one responsible?" He looked closer at the small pokemon who looked at him curiously covered in food. "A-.....As expected of my assistant!" He loudly proclaimed all of a sudden proudly and crossing his arms looking pleased with himself. "Splendid! Just splendid! I'm overjoyed!"....He peeked an eye out at all of you annoyed and angry at him before coughing. "Well now that's taken care of...I must be off now." He suddenly sped walked towards you and Gloria and you both scrambled to move aside as he took off down the hall. "Take care, Everyone!"

"Hey you! Just wait a minute!," the girl yelled before running right after the 'detective'.

"Hahaha! I guess I'm supposed to chase after him too," the old man said before also jogging after the two as you and Gloria squished against the sides of the doorway to give them room...before looking after them....and blinking to one another.

"What the world was THAT about?," she asked.

"Honestly I have no idea and I'm too tired to really care," you mumbled gesturing her towards your actual room. "Let's go set up our room and take a break before we have to meet back up with the others."

Fast forward about an hour after finding the right room and getting yourself settled, you all made it down to the lobby to meet up with Victor and Hop. After you had let your Drizzilie out, thankful that he didn't seem to be hurt or even bothered as she walked out and stretched out like a cat before you all left. Promising you'd bring him back some food. Finding the boys already waiting for the both of you with their winter wear and waved the two of you over.

"There you guys are," Victor greeted seeing the two of you walk over, "We've been waiting for ten minutes and I wanted to try and get things as done here as soon as possible."

"We've only just got here this morning," you calmly reasoned raising a questioning brow at him. Yeah you wanted to leave as soon as you all could too since it was freezing and obviously the weather probably wasn't good for your pokemon, but you didn't think you've ever seen Victor this insistant on leaving somewhere so quickly. "What's gotten you into wanting to leave so soon?"

"Vick here hates the cold," Hop explained before humming, "Scratch that. He absolutely despises it."

"Well it's not MY fault that ice is so dangerous and you have a great chance of freezin' ta death," Victor snapped back pouting.

"Nevermind that! Did you guys figure out what you wanted to do yet?," you asked changing the subject to avoid more fighting.

Surprisingly both boys nodded and Hop spoke again. "I wanted to try my hand at beating the Rock Type Gym since I think I've come up with a strategy to beat him."

"I was actually thinking about taking on the other Gym 'n town, "Gloria pondered thoughtfully, "I got a good idea 'bout how to defeat Melony after watchin' a lot of her battles on the train ride 'ere. But first I need ta stop by the center and switch out some of me pokemon in order to make it work."

"Well I wanted to stop by around town and get some pictures of the famous Circhester hot springs," Victor explained holding up his camera, "The legends say that the great Hero of Galar rested in the springs and it healed all his wounds. ..Plus I wanted to try the famous Bob's Your Uncle cafe here too. They're supposed to have THE best curry in all of Galar, and who knows when I'll come back here again." He then looked at you. "What about you Y/n?"

You looked at him interested. "Well if I'm being completely honest I think I'll come with you. It's been a while since I've been able to walk around and go sight seeing."

"Then it's settled! Let's meet back 'ere in the lobby when we're all finished."

You all agreed and after tightening your coats around you more, all made off your own ways. Gloria heading in the direction of the pokemon center on the other side of town before going off to battle with you and the boys heading in the opposite direction towards the rock gym since the famous Hero Springs Victor wanted to look at. Eventually parting with him too as soon as the both of you got there. Wishing him luck against Gordie before he left and you followed Victor to what you could only describe as a bath house modeled closely to the buildings of the ancient roman times back on your world. You followed Victor around marveling the sights and old looking structure as he smiled despite his hate for the cold and snapped plenty of pictures of everything as he did back at the Hammerlocke Castle Ruins. You walked up to the steaming water that almost looked boiling hot that was roped off from the public just touching it and watched the warm steam rise from it. Sighing as the warm steam was welcomed against the biting cold you couldn't get away from right now. Victor having getting his share of the old historical sight mentioned there was a few other places that the spring water came through, like the fountain in the town square and mentioned wanting to check out the extended parts of the underground spring as well and offered for you to come if you were interested in coming with him. Of course you agreed since you really had nothing else to do at that moment while waiting for the other two to complete their Gym battles, which by now you were sure they were doing or at least finishing up any gym challenge they were doing at the moment, before going back to the meet up spot anyways. So together you two traveled from the front of the rock type gym to the center of town so he could document more of the springs, before following him again as he moved somewhere else and you followed him down a small flight of stairs to another but much more smaller part of the springs that wasn't so visible or visited by the public. And then another small spot just like a little farther aways on the other side of town. It was...Pretty peaceful despite the chilling cold and snow lightly still falling around you, Victor, and everyone else walking around. It was quiet except for your footsteps crunching through the snow and anyone else walking around or talking. Walking around the decently big town with Victor you noticed there was also a few businesses besides the pokemon center. Your resident barber shoppe, an antique store, a few small little thift shops that sold merchandise of what looked like the two gyms and their gym leaders at the brief glances through the windows you gave, a grocery store, a clothes store, of course the hotel, and a strange looking cafe with the Logo of a man out in front. A sign above the door told you the name of said establishment. Bob's Your Uncle. Hey. Wasn't that the cafe Victor mentioned back at the hotel he mentioned wanting to see? You pointed it out to him and he seemed to light up! Mentioning how you two should drop by and seeing it even if you didn't eat anything. You agreed since by all the walking around and sight seeing you did, you two must've been out here for nearly two hours by this point. So it'd be nice to warm up for a bit. So you two happily walked up to said store and pushed the door open before walking right in. The warm air of the cafe combined with the mouth watering smells of the food made you sigh in relief. Another bigger picture of the logo man was inside on one of the walls, with the place being a color scheme of yellow and red, and a few people sitting around eating already. Including one particular boy who looked up from his seat in the back when Victor pointed him out.

"Hey Hop!," Victor called over to him and Hop looked up from where he was sat phone in one hand and hot coco in the other but smiled when he saw you two approuching. "What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet back at the hotel."

Hop shrugged. "Yeah, but I thought it'd be fine to stop by for some hot chocolate. Who doesn't like hot coco?"

"I know I do!," You agreed with a smile, "How did your battle go?"

"Arghhh." He slumped back turning his head up to the ceiling with a groan. ""I lost. It all went to pot. There must've been something wrong with my strategy but I just did what I've seen Lee do in battles!"

"Huh..Well maybe that's the problem."

He paused before blinking back to you as you looked at him. "....Huh? Whaddya mean?''

"Well, everyone has different fighting styles. Including you and Gloria, and if these guys are a part of the league and you're trying to fight like Leon, they'll probably be able to beat you because they've seen how Leon fights and knows how best to counteract his style."

"But he's the unbeatable champion! If I use his method I should be able to be unbeatable too! I've studied his style for years!"

"It may seem like that," You explained, "But it IS Leon's style and he's perfected it. If someone tries to copy him they won't be as perfect as it compared to someone who's mastered his own style to a degree that makes him such a powerful trainer. And everyone's style is constantly changing. Think about it. If Lee kept his style the EXACT same then eventually someone would've found a flaw in it by now and taken the title from him. Leon doesn't have 'just one style' either. Like everyone else they train and adapt to better themselves that's how he's unbeatable. It's ok to use things you learnt other people do, but you said yourself you were thinking of new strategies. Instead of trying to apply what you think Leon would do, ask yourself what would YOU do."

Hop paused seeming to stare at you for a while before humming and looking back to his phone. "...You actually might have a point. I'll have to rethink a few things then."

You smiled. "Glad I could help. Speaking of which Where's Gloria? If you're finished with your battle then that must mean Gloria is too right?"

"Maybe she's waiting for us back at the hotel."

"Oh hey!" You yelped and jumped around at the lady's voice that suddenly came up behind you, and found yourself face to face with none other than said brunette Girl and Sonia who chuckled at your reaction. "There you are."

....You sighed before giving her a frown. "First Leon and now you too Sonia?" You crossed your arms. "Seriously. Give a girl a warning you're gonna do that first...Wait. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Got that Gym badge, Glory?," Hop asked politely.

Gloria nodded with a proud hum. "I jus' had ta switch out for some fire n' steel types I caught. Wasn't easy tho."

"Nice one!," Hop complimented before holding something out to her, "That reminds me. Here. Take this. It's the rock leader's league card. You should check out the gym leader you'll have to face too. And me. I've gotta figure out what to put on my team once and for all and no more of this doubting! Especially when I have to defeat at least one of the gyms here for their badge."

"Gee thanks!" She eagerly took the card from him.

"I've been trying to found out more about the Darkest Day and the sword and shield pokemon, but still no luck." She sighed before shaking her head. "I was hoping to investigate the Heroes Bath after studying the tapestries and castle ruins in Hammerlocke." Oh. So she had been there before. "And I haven't been able to get more intel on the strange discovery in Stow-on-Side since the Chairman's team is still researching and the area's become off limits to anyone who isn't the League or authorized. But I just ran into Gloria here and figured the rest of you couldn't be far behind her."

You chuckled. "Well you aren't wrong. I'm really sorry about all the dead ends stopping your work Sonia. I'm sure you'll get a break through somewhere." And you DID know since according to the game she does.

She smiled. "Well thank you, Y/n. It's much appreciated." Her blue eyes glanced behind you. "It's really nice ...." She paused staring right over your shoulder. "...to..see you...Wait."

You rose a brow. "What?" Your f/c eyes blinked in confusion when Sonia all of a sudden grabbed you and pushed you aside a bit as she moved behind you. Unintentionally making you bump into the table Hop was sitting at making him scramble to hold his hot coco out of harm's way as you gave her a look. "Sonia!?"

"Hold on!" She exclaimed back looking at a wall. But more importantly what was ON the wall. Which looked like half a tapestry. And in the very SAME art style and people on them from the Hammerlocke Vault!! "No way! What's this!?"

"Uh...A fifth tapestry??"

"The heroes!" She exclaimed pointing to both of the same men from the first tapestries. "Look..sad. And where are the sword and shield?" She hummed before scanning it more. "What was the meaning of this picture?" Ever the fast thinker wasn't she?

You pushed yourself from the table dusting your still slightly snow covered self off before shrugging. "Well those behind them look kinda like grave stones or some kind of sealed tomb." You pointed out pointing at the tapestry and Sonia squinted harder at where you were pointing. "This probably just means the end of the legend. Y'know. Where the hero finally gets to have peace after his long battle? It happens all the time in fairytales."

"You think so?," she asked giving you a glance. As you shrugged she looked back to the tapesry, or what seemed to remain of it, with her hand to her chin blankly staring at it. "....Didn't think I'd see something like this in Bob's Your Uncle. I guess it could be they passed on or that they were sealed away. Or maybe they've gone into some kind of sleep?"

"Well...I mean they call it 'rest in peace' for a reason."

"Well.." You flinched when Hop spoke, not expecting the boy to be studying the tapestry too. "Based on those statues we saw at Stow-on-Side, the sword and shield were actually two pokemon right?"

You rose a brow. "Since when did you see those statues back in Stow-on-Side?? You and Victor left before Bede's stunt."

"Gloria showed me pictures she took of it before you left. But it kinda dawned of me seeing those sword and shield symbols on them. Couldn't they have been pokemon?"

"That's right! That's my take on it at least."

"......Hey." She suddenly turned to Hopand blinked as he pointed to Gloria. "You remember the pokemon we met that day?" ...Gloria rose a confused brow as he spoke. "You remember. That weird giant blurry pokemon we met in the Slumbering Weald."

"Oh yeah! I've completely forgottin' 'bout that by now." She shivered. "Still gives me the heeby jeebies."

Hop chuckled a bit. "Do you think...it could've been one of them?" he gestured the hand holding his phone to her. "Either the sword or shield pokemon? The blurry fog monster we saw kinda looked like those pokemon statues in Stow-on-Side you showed us."

"You..." Sonia was slow to blink and look at Both the kids wide eyed as she talked. The only one who looked super confused was Victor who you guessed hadn't heard of the 'mysterious fog pokemon' bit. "Met them?! Like...Really REALLY met them!?"

"Come on. You know what I'm talking about right, Glory?"

She nodded, "Yep. Right before Lee bailed us out o' the Slumberin' Weald."

"Exactly! We told you too Sonia remember. The mad pokemon we ran into in the fog! Although..I can't remember seeing it too well. Don't you think that could've been it?", Hop pondered.

"Oh right! You lot have been in the Slumbering Weald!"

"Duh."

You gave Gloria a small tap to her shoulder as if to say 'Don't be rude.' "As much as I agree this is all strange, don't you all think you're jumping the gun here a bit? That could've been any big pokemon in the fog, and you said it yourself. You don't remember much of what it looked like. We shouldn't just make assumptions without proof."

Hop hummed. "I guess you're right. It'd be too much of a coincidence anyhow. But it's not an assumption, just a guess. Doesn't hurt to theorize ideas."

Sonia on the other hand smiled happily and held up her hands excitedly. "I only started on this journey because my gran told me to, but this is turning out to be so much fun! You've got to tell me more! How about we discuss this over a meal? Go on. What do you want to eat? Let's get our orders in!"

"Whoa! Hey there buckaroo!" She blinked when you grabbed her shoulder and she blinked. "As much as I love the food as much as the next person, maybe you should slow down there a bit. Didn't you just get here or something?"

...She gave a bashful face. "Oh yeah. R-Right. Sorry I must've gotten caught up in the moment. But hey! How about I treat you all to a nice curry and hot chocolate anyways? It'd be the least I could do for all the kindness you've shown me."

"I dunno. I don't wanna leave my Drizzilie in the hotel room for too long. I'm afraid he's gonna come looking for us if we're gone for too long and I don't want him outside in this weather."

"How about the sweet instant noodle curry they serve here?," Victor suggested as a compromise pointing to the counter the two men were currently cleaning, and the stack of supplies, food, and other things lining the wall behind them. "All they would have to do is poor hot water in it and it's the cheapest curry on the menu. Plus I don't like the spicy ones too much. I may hate the cold but I'm not up for burning my tongue."

Sonia nodded. "Quick and simple. Sounds like a good match to me!" She turned towards the two men and waved a hand gaining one's attention. "Yoo hoo. Sir! Five instant noodle curries and hot cocos please! Uh. Sweet wise." The man nodded before putting down the cloth he was wiping the counter with and turning to grab a few things from the shelf as Sonia gestured for the five of you to sit with Hop at the big table he was currently at. "While we wait, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the Slumbering Weald again. Maybe it'll help me piece together something."

"Sure!"

So the five of you at around the table as you all patiently heard Hop recount the entire events of the Slumbering Weald incident starting from the wooloo banging against the gate to the Slumbering Weald to when you all left it. In the middle of him retelling his your food was delivered by one of the men behind the bar and you gladly took it wanting something warm in your stomach before having to go back out in the cold, Gloria taking a quick picture of it before you all began eating it. It looked and smelt a lot like those instant ramen cups you'd sometimes had to resort to have for lunch back at home since money was tight with your mother working hard as a single mother now and you having to work summer, weekend, and afterschool jobs in your spare time to help with bills. If you didn't then she'd say you were being lazy with your music and games again...Anyways. It looked like instant ramen and was sprinkled with curry sauce. You were a bit doubtful of how it'd taste but when you ate it it wasn't that bad. It had a bittersweet kinda taste that wasn't too sweet or sour thanks to the sauce covering the noodles when you ate it, and it was a bit more like pasta than a curry. But you weren't going to complain about free curry and hot coco in this cold weather and neither was anyone else as they ate and listened to Hop, and then Gloria as she recounted her own point of view on the events which was pretty much Hop's as well but you all let her speak her mind. By the time she finished everyone had already finished eating and drinking their food even Hop who had gotten a second hot coco thanks to Sonia's generiousity.

"-and then Lee found us and marched us both back home where we met up with Y/n," Gloria finished pointing at you. "Mum was...not very happy about it all."

"Fascinating," Sonia commented thinking again, "All right." She suddenly stood up making all of you blink. "The next thing to do now that we're done eating is to have a look around Circhestester! Let's inspect the Hero's Bath."

"Huh? But we were just there. Wasn't anything that could be tied to your research," Victor said.

You shrugged as you stood up. "Well we were going to leave to go back to the hotel soon anyways. Let's go have a look since we'll have to go that way anyways."

Victor looked like he wanted to protest but sighed as his Best friend and twin also stood up to follow Sonia out the door. The cold outside nipped back at all of you as you tightened your scarf around your nose and mouth. Following Sonia back to the steaming waters of the spring under the town as you all entered back under the historical sight. Hop and Gloria looking out in awe at the place.

"The Hero's Bath, "Sonia commented looking around the place, "They say this is where the two heroes came to soothe their wounds after the battle to bring down that evil presence long ago. Nowadays only pokemon really use the Hero's bath though. Hmm. Who exactly were the heroes that bathed here? I think I'll have to look into that...Gloria! Hop!" She turned her head to shout at the two and both looked up from one of the carvings in the stone at her. "You two met a mysterious pokemon back in the Slumbering Weald. Perhaps...you two can become new heroes."

You blinked at her. Where did that come from?

Even Hop looked at her confused and skeptical. "What? Like some hero waving around a sword and shield? Psh. Pull the other one."....But he hummed. "Though...I guess I'd fancy a shield if I had to take my pick."

"Hm. What kind of battle do you think the heroes had back then?"

You shrugged and went to say something- "Why don't we show her, Glory?" Hop asked giving his friend a playful shove, "Think we can pull off a real heroic battle?"

Gloria giggled back before giving him her signiture determined look. "Oh I think that'd be just the thing ta warm up me bones!"

"Sonia treated us to a great meal. After all that curry I feel like I've got the energy to wrestle a bewear!"

Sonia returned her hands to her hips amused. " A battle now? I don't entirely understand your reasoning but I might as well see what you can do."

"FORG-G-GET IT!!", Victor yelled as you all looked at his shivering form turn on his heel and stomp off towards the hotel, "Y-Ya'll can battle if ye want! 'M headed inside the warm hotel!"

"..Hm. I'd hate to say this, but I think I getting get back too." You gave Sonia a look. "Thanks for the food. It was really good seeing you again, but I REALLY wanna go back and check on my drizzilie."

She nodded understanding. "Of course. I'd feel the same thing about Yamper if I was in your position."

You nodded before turning to the other two. "And you guys don't stay out here for too long. Come back when you're all done battling."

"We will!," Hop quickly agreed before pointing away from the Springs, "Time for a little exhibition match starring the future champion!"

With a wave to them all you all turned and jogged to catch up to Victor who was rubbing his arms and muttering to himself as he stomped his way back towards the hotel. And you didn't blame him, you wanted to get out of the cold too and see how your Drizzilie was doing. You two made your way across the town and into the familiar fancy hotel, through the elevator and immediately headed onto your own seperate rooms. You were kinda worried your pokemon might've wodnered out of the room but when you entered you found him in the same spot you left him in. Curled up on one of the beds and barely even opened an eye at you as you came back in gave giving a small thrum before curling back onto it's side away from you and going back to napping. Hmm...Maybe Hop was right about your drizzilie developing a new lazy habit. Or maybe it was because he was cold blooded or something like a snake and had a hibernation thing?? You shrugged it off and instead sighed as you finally had a moment to shed your winter coat and relax for a little bit, flopping onto the bed next to the napping pokemon who again barely moved as you did so. And you remained there eve when Gloria returned and you gave a small wave as a greeting.

"Hey. How was the battle?"

"Fine! Although I won Hop seems to finally have gotten out of the lil funk he was in thanks ta Bede!," she answered happily, " 'E's with Victor right now."

"Hey that's great to hear! It's good he's getting back into a healthier mindset."

"Yeah! I still can't wait ta see him compete in the champion finals this year! It's gonna be so much fun! I-....." She stopped talking for a second and then you heard frantic shuffling about and footsteps. With a sigh you turned your head up from the spot you were laying down at and was met with the sight of her shaking her coat upside down frantically over he bed as she looked worried. When nothing dropped from the coat she unceremoniously dropped it and whipped her head around back to you. "Y/N! My camera's gone!"

"..What?," you asked pushing yourself up as she patted herself down searching her pockets.

"Victor's camera he's lettin' me borrow!," she yelled sounding more concerned,"I was supposed ta give it back ta him once I finished fillin' me dex books!! He's gonna kill me!"

"Whoa! Hey!" You were quick to push yourself up into a sitting pose as you watched her start to likely panic. "Gloria!" She paused blinked wide eyed worried at you as you groaned standing off the bed and stretching out your back. "First you need to calm down." You held up a hand rubbing your back. "You probably just accidentally dropped it somewhere."

"WHERE!?"

"I have no idea." She looked worried again. That was probably the wrong thing to say apparently. "Whoa. Don't freak out on me here. Look. There's still plenty of daylight left. I'm sure if we just retrace your steps then we'll find it for sure. When's the last time you remembered having it?"

.....She blinked. "Uh! A-At the cafe! Then we went to the hero's bath."

You nodded. "Ok. Then let's go look over there and see if we can't find it ok?"

Gloria nodded and you sighed again. Looks like you all were going out yet again. You both quickly put your winter wear back on and out you went again. The winter weather nipping at you even colder now that it must've been about near sun down by how limited light there was too. There was still enough to clearly see the snow and all the surroundings but it was noticably colder as night drew nearer as you both stopped in front of the warm springs in the town square.

"A-Alright! 'Eere's the plan!," Gloria said pointing at you, "I'll go check the cafe you go check the bath. We'll cover more ground like that!"

You nodded wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. "Alright. But hurry, and keep an eye out in case you dropped it on the ground somewhere. Meet me back here as soon as you can."

She nodded and before you could get another word in she turned and scurried off towards the cafe area. After a moment to relax you sighed shaking your head and started walking off towards the Hero's Bath, making sure to scan the road and ground around you for any signs of a camera dropped in the snow. But you saw nothing as you looked around. Your footsteps crunched in the snow once again and you shivered rubbing your arms as you made your way towards the hero's bath still looking for it. Just when you thought you'd be able to rest for the rest of the day. You just wanted to find the darn thing and return back to the warm hotel. As you circled the large building needed to get to the Hero's Bath you paused blinking at the sight in front of you. Oh great what was it now? In front of the Hero's Bath was a small crowd of anywhere from fifthteen to about twenty people mostly women huddled around...something? Sure the Hero's Bath must've been a really cool historical sight to see but you didn't think such a crowd would gather here all of a sudden especially when it wasn't like this the other times you passed by it. Oh well. Right now you could care less and just wanted to find that darn camera and return to the hotel as soon as possible. Besides you could easily just walk around the happily chattering crowd without having to bother anyone. Get in, look around for a camera, get out, and then meet up back with Gloria. Easy enough. Or so you thought. With a sigh behind your scarf, you braced yourself and began walking your way over towards the crowd, and like you had suspected there was plenty of room to walk passed them, or so you thought again when a woman dressed in all while and with white hair suddenly appeared and you both ran right into each other. With the speed walk you were going it was impossible to stop on time before you collided with the white blur with a yelp. Stumbling back your foot slipped on some snow and down you went arms flailing landing on your bottom on the hard stone ground. Luckily you weren't hurt but you hissed and mumbled something under your breath at the feeling of the cold seeping into the back of your pants now.

"Oh my goodness gracious!," an older woman's voice exclaimed above you and when you looked up you were met with a woman who looked about the same age as your mom as she held her face in an 'Oh no' kinda pose as she looked at you. All decked out in white winter wear. "I'm so sorry, Young Lady. I didn't see you there."

You waved her off as more people turned their heads at the commotion. "Nah. It's ok. It's my fault I wasn't looking where I was going-," you had begun to say before another's voice much more louder and angrier sounding made you both look over.

"MOM!! What are you doin'!?," A man's voice shouted out as people parted and a guy who looked vaugely familiar marched his way forward. The man wore...Shades of all things in this not so sunny weather with a tan-ish coat thrown over himself and blonde-white hair that draped to just above his shoulders as he pushed his way through the small crowd of people until he stopped right in front of you and the woman. He looked right at your confused self still sitting on the ground for a moment before looking over at the woman with a deep frown. "Seriously!? Ya knocked one of my fans over?"

"I'm so sorry, Honey. Really I am," she said calmly as if she had all the patience of an ancient monk. "But it was an accident." Oh. So this must've been his mom. But what does he mean by fan?? You didn't even know this guy.

"Tch!," he scoffed before crossing his arms, "Yeah right. You crash all my events especially after I win against a gym challenger." Your eyes widened. ....Gym chall-..OH!! Now you remember! You looked between the two who had a resemblance now that you looked at them. Gym Leaders Melony and Gordie! So that's why he looked semi familiar to you. These were some of the few characters you actually remembered from your time playing the game! ..Oh. And they were known for fighting of course. "You're lucky you didn't cause her to hit her head during the fall!" You looked back up blinking wide eyed at him as he scowled at his mother. "Did you even apologise to her or were you just gonna forget that too?"

You stared wide eyed at him. Who says that to their own mother!? Through all this Melony just calmly and sadly watched him as he angrily spewed out. You WISH your mom was like Melony- "HEY!!" You were quick to try and rise to your feet stumbling a bit on the snow as you did. Rising up with your own frown behind the scarf covering your face and quickly dusting yourself off.

"Ah man. Are you alright there?," he asked holding his hand out. "Sorry about my mom-"

"Oh be quiet!" You bluntly said as you snapped your face to him, which combined with your sharp tone seemed to make him pause in the moment. "I know exactly who you are!! What is WRONG with you man!?" You couldn't help but shout at him. Well considering Gordie's only a side character who you wouldn't probably see again after Gloria defeated him, it would be ok to shout at him. Especially since you weren't in the game's storyline at the moment. So you jabbed him in the chest which made him blinked and take a couple steps back. "Of course your mother apologized to me but that's NOT the point! It was an accident and I happened to run into HER! Not the other way around!! Are you kidding me with your behavior right now, Gordie!? Don't you see what you're doing!?" You gestured towards Melony who looked shocked herself seeing you jab at her son. "You're yelling at your own mother who didn't do anything wrong in front of a bunch of your fans in public!? Are you trying to embarrass her or something!? Your mom's so much nicer than you!! Geez! What were those guys thinking!?"

"I-...W-Wha-" He sputtered but you shut him down real quick.

"NO! You're not allowed to talk to me! You know why? Because your mom's one of the nicest people in all of Galar!! DUDE GET OVER YOUR STUPID EGO!! You both had a fight like..years ago!? So WHAT?! You're running your own stadium you wanted and you have like loads of fans! Don't you think that bashing her in front of your fans would make her look bad!?....No. Scratch that." He blinked as you took a step forward and he stepped back. "It makes YOU look bad! SO I am NOT a fan of yours! I'm just here looking for a missing camera but even if I didn't I'd still feel bad for your mother! Don't you think the reason Melony makes an effort to be in your fan club and trying so hard to support you is her way of showing she cares about you and is actually sorry about the fight you two had!?" You shook your head. "Gosh. Your head must be thicker than a onix if you missed that!!"

There was silence all around as the once crowd of chattering people were all shocked and staring at you, Gordie, or Melony or looking between the three of you as Gordie just stared jaw dropped and making noises like a fish out of water as you scoffed and turned around. Melony watching with equal reaction to her son and even passing people who weren't a part of the crowd was staring right at you as you turned your back to him.

"So don't apologize to me. Because the only one you should be apologizing to is your poor mother." You gave him one last very SERIOUS look over your shoulder. "As someone who wished for a parent like her, you need to get a reality check man." You turned back to his shocked mother before sighing. "I'm really sorry about all this, Ma'am. But I gotta go. I have to meet up back with my friends."

With a new sour feeling that combined with your annoyance with the cold and falling down, without looking behind you, you turned on your heels and stomped off back towards where Gloria was headed when you both split up. You didn't feel like staying at the Hero's Bath any longer now with the eerie silent you left behind. Everyone watched after you as you disappeared....until a single THUNK sound broke the silence as Gordie's shades fell off his shocked face to the cold ground below.

[notquitecanon]

Ohhhh or maybe one where the reader just makes jasper talk for a while just cuz she adores his accent 🥺

Jasper could feel your bad mood from outside your house- he was always so attuned you you. If his abilities were anymore developed he would probably be able to see your mood like a dark storm cloud hovering outside of your bedroom. Alice had a vision in the middle of their hunt of how your day would go, but with the sunny weather and the face they were already in the Canadian wilderness- he could do nothing but hope it wasn’t too bad. After stopping by his house to change clothes, he made a beeline to the tree line that surrounded your yard like a natural property line. He’d seen your silhouette in your window starting at five pm, but couldn’t make a move until the sun had gone down. The last thing his family needed was Chief Swan getting called because your neighbor caught him climbing into your window. The moment the sun dipped below the tree line, he raced up and into your bedroom.

You had been wallowing in self pity: already showered, in pajamas, and lying face down in bed with your computer playing some of your music quietly. The moment he crossed into your room, you felt his presence like a calming wave washing over you. Eyes fluttering shut as some of the tension left your body, you muttered, “Jasper.”

“Evenin’ Darlin.” His voice was like honey-warm, sweeter than sugar, slow, and sticky. Drawing you into his words and keeping you there while he lingered on the edge of your room. Ever the gentleman, waiting for your invitation. Prying your head out of your pillow, you faced him.

While you observed his freshly glowing golden eyes, slightly disheveled blonde hair, statuesque posture, and heavenly face- he did the same, taking in your tense muscles, dark under eye bags, flushed cheeks, and the general feeling of resignation and annoyance in your emotional map. He didn’t fail to notice you’d been crying- you didn’t fail to notice that he noticed. You were the first to break the silence, adjusting yourself to meet his eyes easier, “Good hunt?”

Jasper breathed a quiet laugh, such an abnormal question asked so nonchalantly, but entertained the notion nonetheless, “Most of us went up into Canada, into the mountains. Emmet took on a pretty big grizzly so he’s in a particularly good mood. I got a Moose and a couple deer.”

You didn’t know what truly constituted a “good hunt” but his thirst seemed appeased so you nodded. The head ache that came after a long day hadn’t put you in a particularly chatty mood. Jasper filled the silence, “Alice told me you had a bad day- well, told me you would have a bad day. I’m sorry I couldn’t help, doll.”

Shaking your head, you brought your knees up to your chest before wrapping your arms around them, “Not your fault, Jazz, bad days happen.”

There was a beat of silence as the two of you stared at each other, him trying to dissect every emotion you were feeling and you mentally begging him to just drop it. Finally, you just patted the spot beside you, motioning for him to join you. Talking waant something you wanted to do, but just having him close would be a big step towards feeling better.

As always, the vampire had a hard time saying no to you. So with the mattress dipping beside you, he easily slid beside you- staying perfectly still until you were situated. As usual, you bunched up a blanket where you cheek would rest against his chest- thick enough to cushion against his stone chest but thin enough to be close enough to smell the comforting scent he always had on him. Cologne, cedar, leather, something woodsy, and a sweet scent you could never quite put a finger on. After letting you settle, he looked down to you, “Wanna talk about it, sugar?”

He felt you shake you head before you nestled closer to him, so he just wrapped his arm around you alternating between tracing patterns up you arm and running cold, graceful fingers through your hair. One of your arms flopped across him just to have more phsyical contact, and Jasper frowned out of your sight. Besides truly changing your emotions (which felt invasive), he didn’t know how else to help. So for the moment, he just let you curl into him. Golden eyes raked across the room before landing on a book on your nightstand so without jostling you, he easily snatched it up.

Not bothering to read the synopsis, he began flipping through the first chapter- quickly becoming amused at the scandalous historical fiction set during the Civil War in Mississippi. Now that he thought about it, he remembered Angela passing it off to you during third period. He chuckled at a particularly inaccurate and racy part. His laughter was deep and reverberated through his hard chest which roused you, at your movement, he tried to quiet himself, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. This book is just so terrible.”

His amusement made it hard not to smile as you tried to snatch the book out of his hands, the racy novel had been on lend from Angela and after the second chapter had been collecting dust on your nightstand. He easily kept it out of your reach, amusement growing at your protest (and quiet proud that he’d got you laughing again, he could already feel your mood lightening up). Listening to his laughter made you long to hear him talk in the smooth southern accent, about anything (anything other than that awful book), “Well, if the book isn’t up to par, how about you tell me what it was really like?”

As his chuckling was dying off, he thought about it before tossing the book back on the nightstand. It wasn’t that his past was an off limits topic, there was just a lot of it and he preferred to live in the moment with you. But you were staring up at him with hopeful eyes, and he could feel the remnants of sadness and frustration so he just nodded. “Well, first of all Mississippi didn’t see battle until The Spring of 1862, and union soldiers didn’t make any head way until a year later. So the notion that a this woman met a union soldier celebrating victroy in New Albany is just wrong. Even if it was true, she wouldn’t be so eager to fall into any soldiers tent considering Conderate troops would of torched her father’s plantation for being a sympathizer or vice versa.”

“Hmmm.” You hummed in response to the history lesson, before he continued going back and forth between learned history and personal experience until he hit where he was changed. You’d heard this story, traced the silvery scars on his arms, so once he went quiet you didn’t press any further. “So where were you at the turn of the century?”

“I was still with Maria, we were going back and forth across the border in Texas and New Mexico, I honestly didn’t now it was the new century until 1905, but we were the cause of the Austin Dam failure.” He mused, thinking pack, “I left shortly after the start of the First World War, to search for my friend Peter and because I was tired of fighting Maria’s battles- she starting to lose trust in me and me in her.”

You’d heard him talk about Peter and Charlotte, the only two he ever let escape, “Did you find him?”

“No, not until the late 1930’s, so I mostly just wandered around the South and the West as a nomad. The roaring twenties were fun between Chicago and Mexico City, I’d like to go back to New Mexico someday.” He thought aloud, cold lips ghosting on the crown of your head as his grip on you tightened ever so slightly. The hand laid over him searched for his so you could intertwine you fingers with him. He squeezed for a moment before detaching just to play with you fingers, burning hot compared to his cold touch.

“Where’d you go next?” You asked, letting him gently tug and curl your fingers with his. Jasper laughed bringing your knuckles up to his lips. When he had just fed, it was so much easier to be so close- which is where he preferred to be.

“You’re mighty full of question tonight, ma’am.” He teased, dropping you hand in favor of lightly digging his fingers into your side. The quiet squeal, laughter, and weak attempts at fighting him off was so delightfully human that he couldn’t help but do it every now and then. Jasper gave you a moment to calm down before continuing, “I spent some time in Tennessee and then Kentucky, the Great Depression hit those areas pretty hard, but it was better than being involved in a territory war.”

“Peter and Charlotte ran into me in the Appalachian mountains- that would be the late 30’s- it was easier to hunt without gaining attention up there.” He paused to gauge you reaction, carefully checking for any fear. Finding none, he sighed in relief before continuing, “They told me about Coven’s in the North, how there weren’t many territory disputes and how in some areas they could even go out in day light...”

You let your eyes slip closed, tension melting as you listened to his honeyed words, and his fingers toyed with your hair. Jasper kept going, talking about traveling with Peter and Charlotte through the Midwest and Northern states before breaking off from them too. Then it was the Fifties, going into a diner and meeting Alice. You’d always envied Alice a bit for her closeness to Jasper, even though you knew neither of them felt that way for each other, but you were also incredibly grateful to her- who knows where Jasper would be without her.

“I remember she said that I’d kept her waiting long enough and I thought to myself I’ve never seen this woman in my life, but I sat down with her regardless and she told me about ‘vegetarianism’ and our future family. I could feel her excitement but I thought she was crazy.” He laughed to himself, a beautiful sound. You’d heard this story a few times from him and Alice. “I was about to go on my way, leave Alice in the wind when she told me something I couldn’t ignore.”

You perked up, neither of them had ever mentioned this part of the story. Craning you’re neck up, you saw he was watching you expectantly with a soft smile tugging those perfect lips up- waiting for a reaction, “She told me that she’d seen me with my soulmate and her future family. She couldn’t tell me when, or where, or how, but she’s seen it and I had to trust her. She felt so sincere and I’d been lonely for so long that I left with her that very afternoon.”

You sat up very suddenly, blood rushing to your cheeks ass you turned around to him, “Jasper, you’ve never told me that before! What are you doing with me then?”

Jasper couldn’t help but grin at the flash of indignation and feisty anger, but quickly frowned when it morphed to hurt. His movement was much faster and infinitely more graceful than yours as you took your face in his hands, “You were the girl in the vision, (Y/N), you’re what I’ve been waiting for.”

It was like someone pulled a plug on your negative emotions as they drained out to be replaced by jittery happiness, and he didn’t need his brother’s telepathy to see the wheel’s turning in your head, “Oh.”

Meanwhile, you were trying to figure out the appropriate reaction to being told your someone’s soulmate. You’d never really imagined life without Jasper, you’d long since admitted to yourself that he was the love of your life, “Well, I’m glad you believed her otherwise I could be with Mike Newton right now.”

It was a bad joke, but he laughed nonetheless and pulled you back down with him, now wrapping both arms around you-effectively trapping you to his chest, but you had no reason to be afraid or even attempt to break free. There was a long pause of silence, him sending off soothing vibes, (it was getting pretty late) listening to the sound of your heartbeat as it slowed, and waiting for you to doze off. It did surprise him when you spoke back up.

“Where’d you go next?” It was quiet, sleepy, but a request he wouldn’t deny. He’d pay you back by asking a hundred inane question about your childhood tomorrow.

Pulling your comforter over the two of you, he adjusted you to what would be a more comfortable sleeping position. He continued, “Well, in took a few years but eventually we met Carlisle who welcomed us to the family with open arms. It took a bit to adjust to the new life of going to highschools and colleges, being around humans. Alice would occasionally drop little hints about you, your hair color, eye color, things you would do in her visions, and that was enough to encourage me to stay with it.”

You only hummed in response, turning over a bit as you let him nudge you towards sleep. Jasper was more than surprised when you made it to the mid-seventies without falling asleep, but was satisfied that he could no longer read any anger or frustration on you. Brushing a lock of hair out of your sleeping face, he silently laughed at your unconscious reaction to his cold touch. Yes, he had waited nearly sixty years for you.

“Good night, darlin’. I love you.”

Bad moods and all, he’d wait a hundred years more for moments like these.

[spideythot]

Consider Hypnokink where Peter gets hypnotized by something (cursed necklace he puts on/some villain/something like that) and to save him, Tony finds a way to redirect the hypnosis so Peter listens to him instead of whatever was controlling him. He initially planned to snap Peter out of it once he had control, but ends up keeping him under after finding his obedience rather... enjoyable 👀

Mm, I love this idea - I’m such a slut for any hypnokink really - so consider a rewrite of Far From Home and Endgame (aka Tony’s still around... Beck gets his hands on EDITH, breaking in and stealing it while Tony recovers from his fight with Thanos. What’s worse though is that Peter goes after Mysterio alone to get back Mr. Stark’s glasses. He’s not sure what they do - just that they’re important. He finds Mysterio’s high tech hideout. And it’s eerily easy to break in. The glasses are set aside on a laboratory table next to a laptop. Peter hesitates - something feels off - but then he grabs the glasses and escapes. He manages to make it out undetected, slipping last an angry Mysterio and all his lab techs. Peter’s on the bus in plain clothes, riding back toward Mr. Stark and hiding from Beck, when curiosity strikes. He unfolds them carefully and puts them on.

((You know that scene where EDITH comes to life in FFH? When I first saw it, hypnosis was the first thing that came to mind - cuz I’m a perv))

So the screens come to life for Peter, swirling around his eyes and there’s a bit of a welcome screen. But the swirling doesn’t stop, it intensifies. Peter’s alarm bells go off again, but he ignores them. He can’t look away - doesn’t want to look away. And the tingle of danger fades. Words fade in and out on the screens. Peter’s getting off the bus suddenly and just wandering down the street. He stops in an empty alley, and just waits. Not long though. Beck pulls up in car with tinted windows and steps out.

The commands on the screen disappear and through the haze of the mesmerizing patterns. Peter can see Mr. Beck’s face. It’s all he can see, all he wants to look at... Beck takes his chin between two fingers and grins. “Well, well,” he says, “Who knew Spidey was so cute?”

Something feels off - Peter’s eyes close and he shakes his head free from Beck’s grip. “N-no...” he manages to say.

Beck tuts and grabs Peter’s face again. The swirling patterns return full force and Peter’s trapped again. “There,” Beck says as Peter stops his struggling, “That’s a good boy.” He takes Peter by the arm then and leads him the the vehicle waiting in the alley. Peter sits still as Beck straps him into the back seat. The man gets in next to him and orders his lackeys to drive. Peter turns his head toward Beck’s voice.

The man kisses him, and through the haze in his head he gets an explosion of pleasure. He wants so badly to have his eyes close, but EDITH’s program won’t let him. He moans and whimpers when Beck pulls away.

“You want more?” The man teases.

Peter nods and whispers, “Please...”

“Give me your name, little spider,” the villain commands.

The boy hesitates - something is telling him to keep his mouth shut - but he wants more. It felt so good. And he wants to be a good boy, right? He opens his mouth, and answers with a soft, shaking breath. “Peter.”

“Peter,” Beck repeats. He kisses the boy again, a reward. Peter leans into it, parts his lips to receive Beck’s tongue. But the man pulls back again.

“Surname,” he commands.

“P-Parker...” Peter obeys reluctantly.

Beck chuckles and rewards him again, slipping his tongue into Peter’s mouth this time. He gropes the boy, cupping the bulge in his pants and rubbing hard. Peter’s body arches into the touch the boy whining into Beck’s mouth. Beck finishes their kiss and moves his lips to Peter’s throat. He marks the helpless hero, biting his neck and sucking a deep hickey to it. He drags his tongue up to Peter’s earlobe and whispers. “Such a good little boy. I’m going to make you my personal slut. Won’t you like that?”

Peter moaned again, “Uh-huh,” he agreed. His hips bucked against Beck’s palm. He was so desperate already. Beck was going to have so much fun with him. “So sensitive, so horny,” Beck teased. He opened Peter’s jeans and shoved his in them. But he only stroked Peter through his underwear. “Such a slut.” Peter squirmed and keened. His head rolled to the side, leaning on Beck’s shoulder.

“Cum,” the man ordered.

Peter’s body shook and he moaned loudly as he obeyed the command instantly. Beck grinned at the damp briefs under his hand. He kissed Peter’s cheek as the boy came down from his high. “Now, sleep for me.” Peter sighed content and his head dropped, obeying Beck again.

——

It only took a week for Tony to get Peter back - which was remarkable considering the condition he was in. When he’d heard that Peter had disappeared with Beck and EDITH, nothing could stop him from getting out of his medical bed and back into the suit. He found Peter, tied to a chair in Beck’s new hideout, wearing the glasses. Two birds, one stone. It had been a hell of a fight to get to Peter, but Tony finally had him again. He took EDITH from the boy and put them in his pocket. Peter blinked a few times, his head shaking as if he’d been asleep.

“Mr. Stark?” He asked as Tony uncuffed him from the chair. “You’re better? What’s... happening? My head feels like, so heavy...”

Tony helped the boy to his feet, ignoring his lack of clothing (kid was only in his underwear) and chalking his dizziness up to whatever Beck had done to him. They’d figure it out later. “Yeah, I’m better kid, I’m here,” he replied. “Lets get you safe and rested. Then we can process everything else.”

Peter nodded slowly and agreed with a soft grunt. He wobbled on his legs as Tony escorted him out of the hideout to a waiting ambulance. Once they were in the Avengers’ secure medical compound, Peter fell asleep halfway through his physical exam. Tony had him moved up to his own room - Peter was probably fine. Sleeping was a way of healing after all. Tony would keep an eye on him while he worked out what had happened. He needed to see what Beck had done to EDITH - and Peter.

It took a couple days of tinkering with EDITH’s programming to unlock what Beck had done... and the program he installed for Peter. Some sort of mind control. The more Tony delved into the conditioning Peter was under, the more anger bubbled inside him. He’d strangle the man if he ever got the chance again.

Tony has to reverse whatever sick perversions Beck had forced on Peter. So he went to work on his own programming. Part of him hated that it he had to subject Peter to that sort of thing - reverse brainwashing? - again. But it was for the best. Who knows what kind of triggers Beck put inside Peter’s subconscious. Tony couldn’t let the boy be vulnerable like that in the world.

He kept Peter under supervision, giving some bullshit to his aunt to keep her happy. A few days later, he approached Peter with EDITH and the modified programming. Peter’s eyes dropped to the glasses immediately and he frowned. “I know,” Tony said before the boy could protest, “I fixed them. So, I just need you to wear them for maybe an hour.”

Peter’s eyes glanced up at Tony, concerned. “I don’t... I don’t know, Mr. Stark,” he said. Of course, Peter was hesitant. He’d been under Beck’s control for quite a while. Tony didn’t even know what the boy remembered from the whole ordeal.

“Just an hour?” Peter asked. Tony stepped closer and nodded.

“You’ll be able to take them off, if you need to,” Tony assured. He handed them over. Peter took them gently and went to the couch to sit comfortably. Tony followed but didn’t sit down. Peter just stared at the glasses in his hand. Then he looked up at Tony, he opened his mouth and closed it.

Then he opened it again, “Will you... put them on me?” Peter asked slowly.

“Alright,” The man agreed. He took the glasses from Peter again, who had closed his eyes, and gently put the on the boy’s face. EDITH activated when Peter’s eyes opened again. Tony had tuned the program to start as soon as Peter’s eyes had focused under the lenses.

Peter’s body went lax as he focused on the program Tony had developed. He shivered just a little before settling on the couch. Tony decided to sit with Peter. After about 10 minutes, the boy let out a shaky breath. Tony glanced at him when Peter shifted slightly against the couch. His knee knocked against Tony’s as his legs spread open. Tony didn’t bother to move away - he wasn’t sure what stage of the programming this was - he hadn’t watched it himself obviously. EDITH and FRIDAY we’re capable if correcting the problems with simple guidance.

Tony immersed himself in some work on his phone instead of worrying about the boy next to him. Until Peter moaned softly, and his hips rolled against the couch. That... was not supposed to happen. Tony frowned and turned toward Peter, who was still squirming on the couch. His mouth hung open, as he breathed in heavily.

Tony pulled the glasses off without hesitating - which, probably was a bad idea - but he had to stop what was happening. “Peter,” Tony said to him as EDITH was removed. “Wake up!”

Peter blinked and shook his head. “Mr. Stark?” He asked, rubbing his eyes a little, “Is it done?”

“Um, for now,” Tony replied. “I’ve got some tweaks to make, it seems.”

Peter hummed and nodded in understanding. He gazed at Tony, eyes a little glazed over, pupils dilated. “I feel better,” he said with a sigh.

Tony could tell - not just by the tent in the boy’s pants. “Yeah,” The man replied, “You should take care of that.”

Peter glanced down at himself and giggled. “Yeah,” he agreed. Peter shifted slightly and began to open his pants.

“Woah!” Tony said. “Woah, stop!”

Peter glanced back up at him, hurt and confusion on his face. “But you said...”

“I meant in your room, Pete,” Tony replied, “Take care of yourself in your room.”

“Oh,” Peter said. He smiled at Tony then, his mood switching again, “I’ll go to my room.” Peter got up off the couch and dropped his pants, much to Tony’s shock, and walked toward his private quarters down the hall. It was weird, but Tony shook it off. He picked Peter’s pants up off the floor and carried them to the boy’s room. He left them outside the boy’s door, hearing him moaning in the room. Then Tony retreated to his workshop to fix his program and shove the incident from his mind.

A few hours later, Peter was still acting a little strange. He’d come down to the lab after his little relief session all smiles and sat very close to Tony. Tony was still going over program files, listening to Peter hum a quiet tune. “Hey, kiddo,” Tony said, “Still doing alright?”

“I am, Mr. Stark,” Peter replied promptly. “I feel good.”

Tony glanced at the boy, studying him carefully. Peter’s eyes looked a little glossed over, his face flushed too... but other than that, he seemed fine. “I’m working out the bugs still,” Tony informed him.

“It didn’t seemed bugged to me,” Peter replied. “You said I’d feel good if I listened, and it did. It worked.”

Tony frowned. “When did I say that?” He asked.

Peter thought for a moment. “Well, I heard you say it before... I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

Tony figured it was something EDITH had suggested to Peter in her botched programming. But he had fixed that problem, hopefully. “Here,” Tony said. He held up the glasses again. “They should work correctly this time.”

Peter’s face flushed at the sight of the glasses. He looked a little worried, but mostly excited. “Y-Yeah?” He asked. “I’ll put them on again...”

“Yeah...” Tony said. He hesitated, pulling his hand back as Peter reached out for the glasses. Peter stepped in close again, his hand gripping the frames of the glasses, and brushing over Tony’s fingers.

“Wait,” Tony said, “I should make sure it’s really going to work.”

Peter’s face fell a little but he took his hand away. Tony quickly turned back to EDITH’s code and added in some new commands and actions for Peter. Then he handed the glasses to the boy. Peter stood there for a moment, face still flushed, just staring at them. Finally, he took them over to the lounge sofa Tony had in the workshop and put them on after flopping back against the cushions.

Tony watched him as the trance took over and then decided to give Peter some privacy. He’d need it after all. Tony put the workshop on lockdown and returned to his room for the evening. Peter would most likely be sleeping in the shop.

But Tony was woken shortly after slipping into bed by another body being pressed up against his. Peter wormed his way under the covers and fell asleep next to Tony. He was still wearing the glasses, so Tony took them off and let the boy sleep next to him. Though the distance between them on the bed didn’t last. Peter ended up clinging to Tony in the middle of the night.

In the morning, Peter rolled himself over and stretched. He yawned loudly and sat up next to Tony before he finally realized where he was. He saw Tony lying next to him, tapping away at something on his phone. “Mr. Stark!” He cried out, nearly toppling off the bed. “Oh my god!”

“Pete,” Tony said. He got up off the bed and walked around to where the boy was on the floor. “Relax, kiddo, you’re okay.”

Peter rubbed his head and stared up at Tony. “I must’ve... been sleep walking? I was dreaming so vividly,” Peter said.

“Yeah?”

Peter nodded. He took Tony’s outstretched hand and the man pulled him to his feet. “Yeah,” he said softly as his eyes met Tony’s. Then Peter blushed hard, his eyes darting away.

“Tell me about it,” Tony said. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched Peter carefully. Peter turned an even deeper shade of red and he babbled out a little bit of nonsense. He covered his mouth but it spilled out anyway.

“W- well, we were down in the lab,” Peter began, “And after you gave me the glasses again to fix me, you started making me feel so good. And telling me all kinds of... really hot things. How much you want to bend me over and make me beg on my hands and knees. You said I was your good boy and I... wanted to be. Yours. To let you do anything to me. You could own me... and I’d be okay with that. I-I was okay with it.

T-then... when we were done, I just wanted to be close to you. So I guess I came up to sleep with you... next to you.” Peter took a deep breath and stared at Tony. “I don’t know why I said all of that...” he whispered.

Tony grinned. He had control now. Because his program worked. He’d put Peter back to normal eventually - well he’d keep a few triggers, to have fun with Peter in the future too.

“Because you’re my good boy,” the man replied.

Peter’s eyes widened and then they glazed over. “I am your good boy...” he moaned softly.

Tony beckoned Peter closet and the boy moved in toward the man. He stared up at Tony, cheeks dusty pink. Tony leaned in and kissed Peter. Just a little fun with him, Tony thought to himself, then he’d let Peter’s mind go back to normal. They’d just play occasionally; Peter would enjoy himself either way - Tony would see to that.

[orbitariums]

What, You Didn’t Miss me?

for venusbarnes 5k challenge!! i'm gonna be doing a bunch of these but i just decided i wanted to write something different than what i usually lean towards for this :)

i also wrote a loki imagine called idoru! very angsty but cute :)

#6:  “what, you didn’t miss me? i’m hurt.”

reader is thor's rival/fling thing. you've fought & battled each other hundreds of times, but nothing can compare to the energy you two have. but you've gone a while without seeing him, and he's honestly relieved he doesn't have to put up with it anymore - until he sees you again. *reader's bi cuz she's that bitch, and kind of like valkyrie*

warning: toxic! (but it's really not that deep, considering they do b fighting a lot), fight scene!

also: i would listen to THIS playlist while reading this!!! i was listening while writing, made it so enjoyable.

    You were what they called a "wild child." Graceless, rebellious, brave to the point of stupidity. You were full of rage, a warmonger with no remorse. In your kingdom you were admired for your bravery and physical ability and looked down upon for your "unwomanly" tendencies and your recklessness. You weren't alone in this though - you had a group of women with you who operated as a team, all of them ostracized because of their resistance to submitting. Together, you were unstoppable.

     There was also Thor. He admired you for your brutal honesty, your unabashedly flirty demeanor, and for your fighting abilities. To him, you were like the lady version of him, only not so lady like, and much less cautious, if that was even possible. You were chaotic and wild in combat, and he knew this first-hand. Thor had been at the mercy of your rage many times, and you had seen the force of Mjolnir much too close for comfort. Sometimes you fought for a reason, other times you fought just because you felt like it. For as long as you could remember, Thor had always been your otherworldly enemy... rival was a better word for it.

     But perhaps the best part of your rivalry, besides the satisfaction of beating down the god of Thunder on the times you did win your battles (because, really, you did beat him sometimes, and it felt good), was the flirtatious nature that lay within it. You couldn't doubt that sparks flew when you and the god were together, even when fighting you found yourselves closer to each other than necessary. And outside of a fight, your titillating banter was enough to make heads turn-- tongues soaked with whiskey, hot breath against the other's neck, narrowed eyes matched with rosy lipped smirks that said: "you really wanna do this right now?", sarcastic and degrading humor. It was all a part of the program. Thor rotated women on a weekly basis, as did you with the women and men back on your kingdom, but the relationship he had with you was different.

    No one challenged him like you did, no one was snarky like you were - women joked about Thor submitting to them, but none of them had the power to actually manifest that, other than yourself. He liked that he wasn't exactly intimidated by you, but that you made your worth and your ability rather clear. He knew you weren't "easy" in a fight, and you wouldn't back down. For a while, you steered clear of Thor while you got your own life together. And for that while, it was quiet... too quiet. You were glad to be given a reason to stir things up again. And boy, was Thor in for a surprise.

    You smeared black liner on your waterline (stolen from a Walgreens on Midgard - you liked their makeup more, it was low quality and gave you a cheap, uncouth look that you cherished - not like makeup on your planet, which made you look exactly like what you were... a warrior goddess), and looked in the mirror. Well, what remained of the mirror after you had smashed it. You held a piece of broken glass in your hands and leaned in towards it, your reflection wonky and distorted. You were sitting in your dim-lit, unfurnished (purposefully) bedroom with your friends - the warrior women who you considered your sisters.

    "Thor's in for a lovely surprise today," you sang in monotone, applying more dark pencil liner below your waterline. You quickly rubbed a dark purple lip on and puckered up, raising your eyebrows at yourself in the mirror.

     Mira shook her head playfully and sighed,

    "Honestly, YN, I've known you for years and it still strikes me how crazy you are."

    "Thor's a player, anyway. We know how he is with women... do you really need to fight him?" another one of your sisters, Amina questioned.

     You turned around, huffing defiantly and gripping your sword at your side,

    "Look, it isn't about that. I don't care if Thor wants to bang a fucking dwarf, and with his streak, he probably has. It's about respect. I don't go around flirting with Loki. How dare he invade our honor and try to pick up one of my sisters! It's nothing personal, Lydia, honestly. I think Odinson just forgotten the boundaries."

     Lydia, one of your sisters, the "victim" of Thor's heavy flirting, who had resisted because there was an unspoken but obviously clear rule that Thor was not to ever try to play with one of your sisters, for the purpose of respect. You didn't want him to see your sisters as easy targets or see them as the various women he went through every day of the week. You had all agreed on such a rule, so it wasn't like you were just bossing everyone around. And as for your flirtationship with Thor, that was different. Thor knew better - he knew you could handle him just as well as he could handle you. And for the most part, you were in control.

   Lydia shrugged, continuing her crotchet pattern - she helped make outfits for all of you. You all vowed to be self sufficient. She didn't seem to mind the situation much,

    "Listen. I say go for it. It's been a while. Shake things up again."

You smiled, glad someone understood you,

    "Thank you, Lydia. Right then, I'm off. See you after I ravage him."

| | |

    Back at Asgard, Thor was living his best life. He was breezing through the days, lounging on his throne with multiple women around him daily, feeding on grapes they hung above his lips, getting drunk every night, all while performing his kingly duties. He had let go of the tension you caused him- while he enjoyed his encounters with you, it gave him a lot of unconscious stress to be constantly thinking of when you might next attack. But it had been a while since you last arrived to stress him out, and so he relaxed, and he forgot about you, just a bit.

    But that was before you decided to pop back in again, stomping into the golden room where you saw Thor sitting with one leg up on the throne, women chattering to him and leaning on him, fawning over him. The sight would've made you sick if you weren't already so preoccupied with your rage. You paused in front of the stairway to the throne.

    "ODINSON!!!" you let out a roar that let him know you were here, because he was so distracted by the presence of the women. He almost jumped, and his heart sank when he saw you - weeks of tension returned to his body.

    "Oh shit," he said under his breath, and you smirked, folding your arms and cocking your head at him.

     "What, you didn't miss me? I'm hurt," you gave him a faux pout and then you were back to teasing, your eyes squinted and your lips turned up into a devious smile.

Thor groaned loudly, banging his fists on the arms of his throne. The women surrounding him began to scatter.

    "Why are you here!" he roared.

    "No," you raised your voice at him, "the question is, why are you trying to seduce my sisters? Hm?"

Thor's face went taut and you could see the guilt all over his face. He understood your agreement, and he knew there would be consequences for breaking this agreement. He just didn't think about it until now. You folded his arms, leaning forward,

    "You thought I wouldn't hear about that, did you?"

    "YN, I-" he began stuttering, and nothing coming out of his mouth was making any sense.

     "Yeah, go head and shut the fuck up for me," you cut him off, your tone final - you'd had enough of his bullshit. Thor's lips shut closed immediately. "Gods, you asshole. We had an agreement! Did we not?"

    Thor found this the perfect time to take a dig at you, a knowing smirk playing at his lips as he straightened up in the throne,

    "Sounds awful personal, YN, I mean, it really seems like you took this to heart." You folded your arms annoyedly, already anticipating what he was insinuating. He licked his lips and pulled his lips underneath his teeth. "Jealous much? Are you jealous, YN?"

You didn't answer, just gave him that death stare that told him you weren't here to chit chat right now. He sighed deeply and held his arm out, reaching his hand out into the air,

     "Yup, I got it."

Mjolnir came flashing by and into his hands, and immediately you lunged forth, jumping all the way to the top of the stairs and in front of him on the throne, the two of you clashing. You held your spear out, but Thor blocked it with his hand and knocked it down with his hammer. You scoffed, looking down at your damaged spear on the ground and laughing,

    "That the best you got, king?"

That lit a fire in Thor like no other - not only was it a major turn on for you to call him king, even if it was within an act of defiance, but the mockery was enough to make him black out. He swung his hammer at you and you ducked, bouncing back up just in time to kick him in the face and send him flying backwards, knocking his hammer out of his hand and on the floor away from him.

     "Oh, I do love this!" Loki quipped excitedly as he walked past, and you greeted him joyously - where you and Thor were rivals, you and Loki were twin flames. Thor found your relationship annoying. Every once in a while you'd come to Asgard just to hang out with Loki, scrapbooking and being unusually domestic. He almost wished for a fight when he saw you and Loki hanging out and wreaking havoc.

     "Hey, Loki!" you turned to wave at him, and then got right back to business, pouncing forward like a cat and landing on top of Thor - specifically on top of his lap. You chuckled viciously and held his chin in your hand, lifting it up and wrapping your hand gently around his throat. Neither of you could ignore the erotic nature of your violence. You licked your upper lip like a hungry wolf. "Where's your hammer now, casanova?"

    Thor reached out and Mjolnir was right at his service again.

    "Right here, darling."

A spark of lightning flew out and struck you, sending you flying and laying feet ahead of him on your back, coughing from the impact of the fall. Now Thor stood above you, his height both menacing and alluring, towering over you. Cockily, he blew the tip of his hammer.

    "Anything else?"

    "Yeah," you mumbled, a bit dazed from your fall. "Stop trying to slobber on my sisters!" you kicked your legs up directly at his crotch, and he stumbled back, falling onto the floor in a sitting position, his knees bent towards himself. 

       You grinned victoriously, and picked yourself right up, walking towards him and assuming the same position you had been in before, lowering yourself slowly down onto his lap, one leg on either side of him, the same narrowed, cheeky look in your eyes as before. Thor gazed up at you, in a daze only you could pull out of him, raised eyebrows and glazed over amazement in his eyes and all.      

    "Tap out," you demanded, folding your arms over your chest in such a way that diverted Thor's attention to your body.

    "You know I can't pay attention when you're on top of me like that," Thor sighed, his voice low and husky. You fought a grin off your face, but couldn't hide it completely, your voice steady and methodical,

    "I know."

Thor tapped the ground beside him to insinuate he was done, forfeiting - it happened often that you or Thor tapped out, considering your fights weren't all that serious and were sort of like a game you liked to play. You made a move to get off of him, but he pulled you down by your waist, making you stay.

     "No, stay here," he whined, and you laughed, throwing your head back.

     "You'll stop hitting on my sisters, then?" you inquired, raising a suspicious brow.

     "Not if it means this is what will happen," Thor shrugged. "Really though, you never answered my question." You raised your brow, waiting. "Are you jealous?"

You snorted, though you didn't feel the need to lie,

    "Perhaps a little bit of me wants you all to myself," you batted your lashes at him and ran your hand along his chest. He gripped your waist harder, a determined look settling on his face,

    "I as well."

You shook your head playfully.

     "Oh, Odinson." You leaned forward to place your lips upon his, and he craned his head up so your lips could meet. But you pulled away, just enough so your lips were barely brushing against each others, then gently pushed his chest down, making him lower his head onto the floor again, your lips still hovering above his. You granted him a teasing smile, a knowing look in your eyes as you stared him down. "One day," you said, and vanished, teleporting away from him and back to your own kingdom.

One day!

[rogue-barnes-16]

KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR

Summary: Natasha Romanoff shows up after two long years to protect the life of the woman she secretly loved for so long.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x fem!Reader

Genre: angst-fluff

Tags:

Natasha Romanoff: @5aftermidnight

Permanent taglist: @notexactlythatgirl @thisismysecrethappyplace @sofreakinmanyfandoms @pizzarollpatrol @bubblycypress87 @1a-girl-has-no-name1 @loislp @lovenaturefirst @dyanna-corona @2ptonpt @goodnightmode @disneyprincessbuffyannesummers @mannls @cutie1365 @catch22inareddress @mybooradley @sebastianisasnack @butifulsoul125 @unlikelygalaxygiver

Warnings: injuries, fight, probably typos and language?

A/N: I'm giving you this after a long ass day and night. I felt bad cuz I had no time for requests (there was a big ass fire in my town's forests) so I wrote this in like an hour, hope you enjoy <3.

Rogue-barnes-16 masterlist

I had to do one thing, I had to drop by to pick Vision up in case Wanda didn't agree on staying with him.

I had given Vision a device made with Stark technology that would allow him to send me his location with just pressing a button.

He pressed it, and I dropped as soon as possible, which turned out to be after five minutes.

I was standing on the train station when Wanda and Vision plummeted through the roof and crashed against the floor, and man, was I quick to switch from civilian to Avenger mode.

I was soon standing by their side, checking Vision's injuries and interrogating Wanda about what was happening.

"They’re coming for him." she whispered, distress and fright making her voice tremble.

"what- who?" before Wanda could answer, Vision rushed us to flee the station and the city. "No way I'm leaving. Wanda, go, I'll stay."

Before the sokovian girl could argue, I heard something behind us.

I turned around as fast as possible, and I saw- what the fuck was I seeing? I didn't really know, but they both were huge and I had only my gun and a couple of knives.

I drew out my gun and shot one of them a couple of times. Not so surprisingly, it didn't do much "fuck." the knives it would be, then. "Wanda, get him out of here." I ordered.

"I'm not leaving." she retorted, twisting her fingers to make her powers appear.

We were fucked.

As they stepped forward, a train passed behind the three of us, which caught one of those beings' attention. Following her line of sight, I saw a dark figure standing on the other side, to which that being's trident was thrown.

Seeing Steve Rogers step out of the shadows, holding the same weapon that had been thrown at him was a tremendous relief.

I took advantage of the shock that this caused to our opponents and, now more confident about my survival probabilities, I threw myself at them, using all my skilled movements to attack them.

I put up a good fight with one of them, slicing him with my knives several times, but one single slip-up was enough for him to get the tables turned.

He slammed my head against the ground, and I felt a cold blade against my neck, although I was too dizzy to move or do anything to avoid it from cutting my throat.

In my peripheral view I caught a glimpse of a blond, dark figure, jumping between me and my opponent.

I got up slowly, just in time to watch Natasha digging the trident into the creature's abdomen with such a rage I rarely saw on her.

NATASHA'S P. O. V.

I took an instant while I jogged through the train station to look at Y/n's fierce movements.

After two years, I finally had the chance to see her, and damn my bad luck, it had to be in this kind of situation.

I noticed the mistake on her last turn, and I knew she did too, so I sprinted to reach her, a sudden fear flooding through my body when, in a split second, I wondered if there was any possibility of me seeing the woman I had fallen for four years before die right there.

Steve threw me the trident at the same time as, after grabbing Y/n leg, that thing made her head brutally crash against the cold hard ground.

My breath hitched and I panicked, seeing the gigantic spare gracing Y/n's neck.

Something dark took over me and in a matter of seconds, the trident was buried in that creature.

"Natasha...?" Y/n's quiet, shaky voice, asking for me in disbelief triggered my dark side once more, and, even if the creature was badly hurt, I decided it was not enough.

With a strangled growl, I twisted the weapon inside that monster abdomen, making him cry for help while he fell on his knees.

I kicked the creature down to the floor, extracting the trident from him. "Nat..." this time Y/n's voice was slightly louder, and I turned around to look at her.

The moment I properly saw Y/n, everything in me shut down the danger surrounding me, the fact that it wasn't over, because I could finally see her.

I downed the weapon, my lips parted slightly due to the urge of letting myself pronounce her name. Due to the need of finally telling her what I felt because it had been too long, and the world seemed to go down, this time for good.

The trident slipped away from my grasp, and before I knew it, our other opponent ran towards my now disarmed self.

My first instinct was to get down an cover my head, waiting for the hit that didn't come because of a couple of reasons.

The first one was Steve blocking the weapon.

The second was Y/n pushing me away from the creature's way, and throwing me to the side with her on top of me.

"Hey there stranger." she mumbled, propping herself above me with hooded eyes and a half smile.

"Y/n" I finally said, my eyes starting to get watery but my lips reciprocating the smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After lecturing Wanda, I kneeled before Y/n, now sat against the quinjet's wall with her eyes lost. "let me see your head." I requested.

"alright, Blondie." Y/n obliged with a smug smirk on her face due to her own joke, a smirk that quickly faded when she, wincing, leaned on me, resting her forehead against my shoulder for me to see her crown.

"They did you bad..." I whispered, seeing the fresh blood on the back of her head. "they did you so bad" my fingertips went to the wound, and the moment they tenderly landed over it, Y/n gasped and her hand tried to grip my hip, but she didn't have enough strength to do it.

"they could've me done way worse." she mumbled in a lazy tone, almost as if it was hard for her to speak. "If... my Knight in shining armor hadn't showed up I would... Be... Dead by... By now." she moved slightly to place a subtle kiss on the crook of my neck, which made my heart pound against my chest. "I missed you, Natasha... A lot."

"I missed you too, Y/n." I didn't even notice that sentence made my voice crack, but Y/n did, and both her hands went to my sides, tracing random patterns there with her thumbs. "I'm gonna take care of you, alright?"

She nodded against my shoulder, and I helped her retreat to rest against the wall once more, but her hand refuse to let go of me, even after her eyes closed. "I love you y'know?" her sentence was almost intelligible, but I did understand it.

"You're talking nonsense now." I replied, plainly refusing to believe it was true, because I just felt like I didn't deserve someone as good as Y/n.

"I'm not- just... Just listen for a second" her eyes opened slightly as she tried to avoid to fall asleep. "I mean... I don't know what to say but- wait I know now... I liked the teasing and taunting at the beginning." she sighed, but I stayed there, trying to breath properly while I took in the fact that Y/n knew. "but I don't... I don't like it anymore. You left and I... I lost you and I don't like it any more okay?" a lump formed in my throat as I listened to Y/n's words and realized she was hurting. "I don't like it... So I start, I... I love you."

When she said it again, I remembered that the push and pull, the teasing and taunting, were meant to substitute the love I knew I didn't deserve. "Y/n you're not-"

"Shut... up." she intertwined her fingers with mines. "I'm tired and dizzy, I don't... Wanna argue." she sighed, squeezing my hand. "You're... Amazing and I fell for... You and that's- that's all. Don't... Just don't fight me on this."

The world shut down for the third time that night, and I leaned on Y/n to plant a kiss on her lips, not minding the four people that traveled with us. "I love you too."

"I know." she replied, tugging my hand for me to seat besides her. "I know you do, Nat." she rested her head over my shoulder and started to drift off, our fingers still intertwined.

[searchingwardrobes]

Here’s my next previously unpublished story from What Hindered Love, all of which are from Micah’s point of view. Here have Micah playing the guitar and being a hot dad with adorable Luke. With a side of angst as he pines for Chloe.

Summary: When life seems at its lowest, Micah has learned to turn to his music for comfort. His five year old son and his childlike faith helps too. This takes place right after chapter eighteen in What Hindered Love.

As Micah pulled the door of his son’s room quietly shut, the weight of the day suddenly was too much to bear. He’d put on a brave face for his son, not wanting him to sense anything was amiss. But now, he could finally retreat and try to make sense of the ache within him. He knew just where to find solace; the same place he’d found it back when he was a confused teenager. The place of solace he had lost for a time following Rachel’s death. The place of solace that had gotten him through rehab and back to a place of healing. His music.

He went to his bedroom and pulled the case holding his acoustic out from under his bed. A Taylor he had bought after celebrating one year of being clean. He sat on the bed and rested the instrument on his knee, strumming a few times as he turned the pegs to tune it. When he finally started to play, he was surprised at the song that he began to strum: REM’s “Losing My Religion.” It had been a favorite of his as a teen – the words seemed to speak to his wandering, questioning soul. He no longer was floundering where his faith was concerned, but his heart. His heart was still lost. He had given it years ago to Chloe and didn’t he think he would ever get it back. The song talked about the distance in a lover’s eyes and the fear of saying too much. There had been distance in Chloe’s eyes, all right. The entire time at the diner today, he could feel her walls like a tangible thing, higher and more impenetrable than ever.

Micah belted out the chorus next, about a person losing their religion. This was the part of the song that the confused preacher’s kid had been able to relate to so strongly. All his life, lived under a spotlight, yet the real him deep inside slowly fading, shrinking away in a corner. Because who he really was would never be good enough.

The contradictions in the song spoke to him in this situation just as much as it ever did. He felt in some ways he had revealed too much of his heart to Chloe the last few days. Hell, the last few months. The near kiss on Christmas night replayed in his mind over and over. She seemed to want him to kiss her. Had he read things completely wrong? And now that they were in this impossible situation with Scott, the song he had sung to her as a Christmas gift seemed like an over-exposure of the depths of his soul. Surely she couldn’t misread how he felt. Then again, their past still loomed like a mountain they couldn’t scale.

He thought so many things when it came to Chloe. He thought she enjoyed his company. He thought he saw something the night they were tending to Lincoln when he was sick. She seemed ready for the next step. She said staying away from one another was the only safe way to handle Scott’s threats. But Chloe seemed to be protecting her heart again as well. Why?

He transitioned into the second verse, which was all about confessions. He knew plenty about confessing. But where Chloe was concerned, there was still so much left to confess. Namely what he had told her that fateful day, the last day he truly saw her. Family court didn’t count. Maybe he should tell her the truth about what he had said. Micah lowered his head closer to the guitar as he continued to sing, the words coming from a place deep in his soul.

What if he said too much? What if what he longed for was nothing but a fantasy? The last few words of the song where like razors dragging across his raw heart. He had vowed so long ago that he would never hurt her, but he had failed. He failed then. What if he failed her again?

“Daddy?”

Micah stopped strumming at the sound of his son’s voice, laying his palm flat against the strings to stop the sound. Luke stood in his doorway, rubbing his eyes and clutching his favorite stuffed dog to his chest.

“I’m sorry, little man, was I too loud?”

“Kinda.”

Micah had intentionally left his amp and sound effects pedals alone, but he knew he had a tendency to play even acoustic a little loud. He strummed really hard, probably because playing was so emotional for him. Kate and Hannah were always complaining that he broke strings too often in the middle of worship sets. His father had even been forced to sheepishly tell him the church could no longer pay for his strings. And Beau was constantly grumbling from the sound booth that it was impossible to get the levels right when Micah played so much louder than everyone else.

Luke shuffled across the room and climbed up on the bed. Lightning lifted her head and watched the boy, then jumped up on the bed as well. For some reason, the golden retriever thought Luke being on Micah’s bed meant she had permission as well. The dog licked Micah’s ear, but once he gave her the obligatory rub behind the ears, she curled up contentedly at the foot of the bed. Luke stared at the pattern on the quilt, tracing it with his finger. It was a gesture so like his mother, it made Micah’s chest ache.

“Why are you singing sad?”

“Am I?”

“Uh huh. You and mommy are both sad,” Luke looked up with hopeful eyes. “Maybe you wouldn’t be so sad if . . . you got married?”

Luke phrased the last part as a tentative question, as if he thought his daddy would be angry with him for asking. Micah sighed softly and set his guitar aside. “Is that why you asked Santa for all of us to be together at Christmas?”

Luke nodded, his face sad. “Mhm, and I’ve been praying for it, too. ‘Cuz when I told Grandma that I want my mommy and daddy married, she said I could ask God anything. Are you mad at me for praying?”

Micah pulled Luke onto his lap and brushed a kiss to the top of his head, “Of course I’m not mad. But I have to prepare you for something, Luke.” Micah took a deep breath. He hated what he had to tell his little boy, but he wouldn’t lie to him or give him false hope. “Your mommy and I won’t be able to spend time together anymore – at least for a while.” God, he hoped it wasn’t forever!

“But why? Is this because of the lady with the clipboard? She looked all around and asked Mommy questions.”

Micah sighed and brushed his chin against Luke’s unruly dark hair. “Yes, Luke. I’m afraid so. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be with you any less. And Mommy and I are still friends.”

“So I can keep praying?” Luke asked, looking up into father’s eyes.

Micah smiled down at the little boy he loved more than his own life. “Of course, buddy. You can always keep praying. No one can stop you from doing that. And, honestly, with what your mommy and I are going through right now, we need your prayers more than ever. ”

“Can I pray right now?”

“Sure.” Micah expected Luke to just bow his head and say his prayer, but instead, Luke stood up on the mattress next to his father and placed a hand to Micah’s head. Micah smiled wryly. Yes, grandma was definitely a strong influence.

“Jesus, please help Daddy not sing so sad. Help Mommy, too. Grandma says we can’t always understand why you do things, but can you please, please, please, help Daddy marry mommy? Amen.”

Luke dropped his hands from Micah’s head, but then quickly put them back. “Oh, and I pray that Daddy can be Lincoln’s daddy, too. That’s it, Jesus. Amen.”

Micah had to clear his throat and blink before he could start crying. How did Luke know to throw his little brother into his prayer? He also hated the unwavering faith he heard behind Luke’s prayer. How would it feel when Luke discovered his prayer was impossible? Almost as soon as the doubt came to his mind, that still small voice he had learned to listen to during rehab whispered a response. Is anything impossible for God? He chuckled a little to himself. Faith like a child, indeed.

“Okay, little man, speaking of prayer, we need to get you back to bed. We have church in the morning, and when you’re staying with me, we have to be early. Praise band warm up, remember?”

“Can I take my guitar? Just for the warm up?”

“Sure, why not?” Kate would hate him, probably, but Micah could handle his sister-in-law.

“Can I play one song with you just before bed?” Luke saw the stern look come over his father’s face, and instantly reverted to pleading. “Please? Just a bedtime song? One song, please?”

Micah groaned as he looked at the clock, then sighed. “Fine. Okay. One song.” He picked his guitar back up as Luke raced to his room for his Baby Taylor. “You want me to teach you the Boat Song? The one I sang for Mommy? You said you wanted to learn it?”

“Uh-uh. My Lighthouse.”

“Again?”

“Please?”

“Fine,” Micah relented with a shake of his head. So he had sung the song what seemed like a hundred times. For his son, he would do it a hundred more.

Micah placed Luke’s hands on the neck to demonstrate each of the chords in the song. He knew Luke would only play the first one and then revert to strumming any old sound. He was only five. Micah wanted the guitar to be fun for Luke, though, so he patiently pushed back his frustrations. Micah started with the chorus, and as he sang, he felt that his son made the perfect choice. This song was the balm his soul needed. The Lord was their lighthouse, and he would carry them through the storm.

[starlightwrites]

For the Emotional Prompts, could I please get Anger 10. “Do that again and you’ll regret it" for Cori and Gage? There are a lot of reasons I can imagine either one saying that, to each other or anyone else, so I'm curious to see what you'd do with it! Thank you!

Hi @aliceliveson!

Thank you for asking! It took me a couple of days to land on a scene, but I think I found some context for this one. This was a challenging prompt; I really liked writing it!

For the Emotional Prompts (linked)

Anger: “Do that again and you’ll regret it.” (Gage)

Corinne was already at the arcade by the time he caught up to her.

He found her up front by the token machines, leaning against the wall and talking to Fritsch. Bit her lip. Didn’t look up as he entered the room; she shoulda’—should always have her head on a swivel when she was out. Especially when she was out without him.

And that was the real fucking problem, wasn’t it? She was just out. Hadn’t told him that she was leaving. Left him sleeping while she wandered all over the goddamned place alone. She could have gotten gutted or grabbed. After the shit that happened with Nisha? She should have known better. Should have thought better.

Fritsch nodded at whatever she said before glancing back over his shoulder, his gaze landing on the door. Cori finally looked up too. Took her long enough.

He raised an eyebrow. She nodded at him and then turned right back to Fritsch. Right back into the conversation as if she hadn’t gone awol and scared the living daylights out of him.

He crossed to stand closer to the middle of the lobby. From there, he could see into the rooms on either side. Some Disciples milling around the shooting game. He could hear folks out back, most likely Pack, given how loud they were. No one by the hoop-shoot game. No telling if there was someone out in the back closet, but there were enough people just from what he could tell that there was potential for this to go south.

“So, Boss,” Fritsch said. “You gonna kill it?”

Cori thought for a second. Sighed. Drummed her fingers on her thigh. She was nervous about something.

“I don’t think so. Better plan:  let’s put out a general bulletin with RedEye to open season on the thing. I’m sure there’s plenty of raiders around here who’d love to take a crack at a Super Mutant.”

���You might be right about that, OverBoss, but I’ll tell you something because I like ya.” Fritsch smoothed the ends of his moustache. He leaned in and spoke quiet enough where Gage had to strain to hear him over the constant noise from the old soundtrack in the background. Quietly, he added “Eventually, you’re gonna want to hop back in that ring. We all got things around here that keep us useful. This arcade is my pride and joy, but it’s also the only reason I get to stay here without a collar. Folks need some way to blow off steam, you know?”

Corinne nodded.

“You’re doing good work here, so far as I can see. But the gangs need reminding of how tough you are. Keeps them from getting too curious about who could take you in a fight. Pass this one up, but maybe take on the next asshole who gets caught in the trap, right?”

“Maybe.”

“I knew you were made of smarter stuff. Old Gage over there doesn’t trust just anyone, do you Gage?”

He grunted. The Disciples in the other room were still watching.

“That’s some glowing praise from Gage,” Fritsch grinned as he nudged Cori with his elbow. She smiled.

“I’ll remember the advice. And thanks for the tokens,” she replied.

Fritsch nodded and waved them off. The Disciples watched Cori cross the lobby but didn’t move. After a moment, Gage cracked his neck, nodded to the Disciples and Fritsch, and followed Corinne out into the midday sun.

She walked like there ain’t no place she oughtta be, and sure, not like she needed to be outpacing a deathclaw, but the unaffected ease of her stride was pissing him off. Looked back over his shoulder again. Some runt Fritsch had probably hired from the travelers scrambled out the door in the direction of RedEye’s radio tower, at the other end of Nuka Town. Disciples weren’t following, but he could tell at least a couple of them had thought about it just by how they’d been standing. Ears probably pricked up under their masks.

He waited until they made it all the way up to Fizztop before saying a word.

“And what the fuck was that, huh Boss?”

“Excuse me?” She flopped onto the couch across from the bar, feet up on the table. Half a smirk played across her lips like she thought this was the funniest damn thing.

“You ran off.” He folded his arms over his chest. Her eyes swept from his hairline down to his boots and back up again. The smirk faded.

“I went to handle some OverBoss business,” she said.

“By running off.”

“Yeah, to talk to Fritsch. Not to go fight Nisha or anything like that. Didn’t you want me to be more hands-on?”

Fuckin’—

Gage looked down at the shitty star pattern on the faded blue carpet.

Of course. Of course he wanted her acting like she owned the place, because that was the only damn attitude that raiders payed attention to. But she had to know that running off without a word to talk to an unaffiliated repairman wasn’t what he had in mind.

“You know this ain’t what I meant.”

“Do I know that?” She took her boots off the table and sat up a little straighter. “Because listening to my constituents seems like doing my job.”

“Listening to your what?”

“Fritsch. He wanted me to fight in the arena.”

“And you said no?”

“Absolutely!” She shot up from the couch, throwing her arms up. “He wanted me to fight a super mutant. There is no way in hell I am fighting a super mutant alone.”

At least she’d thought something through.

A super mutant in the gauntlet. If he weren’t so mad, he woulda said she’d made a good call in having the other raiders torture it to death. It should at least keep them happy and preoccupied for a bit, which was always good. But that didn’t erase the fact that she’d done all that alone. That’d he’d woken up and she’d been gone.

“Do you know what might have happened to you if someone had heard you say “no” to a fight?”

Corinne sputtered for a second. Mouth open. Mouth closed. Jaw clenched. Hands on her hips. Couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but she sure as hell wasn’t just agreeing with him, which meant that whatever she was about to say was dead wrong.

Finally, finger in his face, she hissed “so what? You’d have me fight a super mutant voluntarily?”

That wasn’t even the point. This wasn’t even the point of the whole thing, but somehow they’d spiraled off track and he couldn’t even begin to think about how to explain to her that she was fuckin’ mortal and that some of those raiders wouldn’t hesitate to gut her if they thought they had the chance.

“I ain’t sayin’ that,” he growled.

“No. You aren’t.” Her tone spiked, arms stretched out. “You aren’t saying anything helpful, really. You’re just yelling at me for doing my job, and last I checked around here, I was the one in charge. Not. You.”

Not him.

Oh, for sure he knew she was in charge and not him. Cuz if he was in charge? He wouldn’t make stupid calls. He wouldn’t put himself in danger just because. He wouldn’t argue with good advice. He wouldn’t go prancing off to a place where he was likely to get stabbed in the throat just to talk to a mechanic about some bloodsport, cuz he wouldn’t go fuckin’ anywhere without someone watching his back. Because he knew better.

Fritsch was smart and kept to himself for the most part, but he didn’t ever claim to know how to run this place, and there was no way in hell that he’d stick his neck out to keep her safe, push comes to shove. Can’t alienate the folks who pay for his meals; Frisch ain’t the type to shit where he eats. And she may not have had the time to ask him for help in the first place, because she probably hadn’t seen noticed the gaggle of mask-wearing jackasses sitting just around the corner, fiddling with their knives. If those Disciples had realized she was alone. If they’d followed her out of that place. If they’d gotten her by herself—

She’d be gone. If he hadn’t shown up, there was a fair chance she’d be gone and he’d be finding chunks of her all around the park.

Didn’t want to think about that.

“Do that again,” he said through grit teeth, “and you’ll regret it.”

“Mmhm.”

“I’m fuckin’ serious.” He stepped in close to catch her eye. “That was risky. You know how many people would be pissed off that you didn’t take the fight? If I hadn’t turned up, those Disciples in the back room might have gutted you for turning Fritsch down. You ever seen what the Disciples do to folks they don’t like? For once in your goddamned life, just think shit through.”

She blinked. Jaw locked up and lips pressed together in a hard line. He realized he was towering over her, right in her damned space, and he straightened out. Took a step back.

“I’m serious,” he said again. Just for something to say.

“I heard you.”

He wanted to retort. Tell her off. Remind her that he was on her fuckin’ side. But his mouth felt dry and his head ached and for a minute there, he couldn’t think of a damn word to add to the conversation.

“Is that all you had to say, Gage?” Her tone was crisp and sharp, like falling through the ice on a barely frozen-over lake.

Outside, the sun burned bright through the windows behind her. Vibrant blue, cloudless sky extended out like someone had spilled paint. In the distance, one of those mangled birds he saw sometimes landed and perched on the wall around Nuka Town, its dark wings a black splotch on the horizon. The flat, dusty earth stretched out as far as he could see and he had the strange thought that they were on an island but somehow, he was still alone out here. Stranded in this strange place that ain’t quite land and ain’t quite sky.

He looked at her again. Angry—her chest heaving, eyes hard, shoulders squared. And she coulda been gone. That’s what this was all about. Not that she made a bad call, cuz she’d made bad calls before. That she coulda been gone, and he wouldn’t have had a single say in that. Might not even have known till it was way too late. For all the times he felt like they were a team, this was the reminder that she was gonna do what she wanted, and that there wasn’t anything he could do to stop her.

And he was tired. Plain and simple.

He shook his head, then, turned around, and slunk back through the doors and into the quiet dark of his old room.  

[tuff-and-fluff-archives]

Party Preparations (Yuletide F/O Event)

Word Count: 1750

Content Warnings: Alcohol Mention

Summary: Not even getting ready for a party is an easy task with Junkrat around. Will Ruby be able to get her boyfriend to comply in time, or will these ADHD- riddled fools get too distracted by each other’s cute outfits? Well, the answer’s obvious, but at least Roadhog is there to help them out.

AAAAH I’M A SLOWPOKE BUT HERE IT’S DONE! I’m so glad I got this done in time for @nougatships​ ‘s event! I’m really looking forward to this event so I’m happy that I was able to finish this hhhhh. It’s far from perfect but I’m just happy it’s done! Also, here’s what Jamie and I will be wearing! (I didn’t include anything for Mako cuz I like that being left up to the imagination.)

“Jamie! Will you just unlock the door already?”

“No! I'm not goin', darl, not if I have ta wear that shit!”

Ruby let out an annoyed huff as she leaned back against the bedroom door, clutching a green flannel shirt in one hand. She, along with Junkrat and Roadhog, had been preparing to leave for a holiday party, but as the night went on, Junkrat had only grown more and more irked that he would need to wear somewhat formal attire for the event, which had culminated in him stubbornly locking himself in his and Ruby’s shared bedroom.

“Jamison,” Ruby called out again, “are you only complaining because you have put on a shirt with long sleeves?”

“... Maybe!”

“C'mon, honey, you know you can’t go shirtless. Even Mako was alright with putting on his sweater!”

“Well he always gets way too into this whole holiday thing anyway!”

Ruby looked back down the hall at Roadhog, who was in the kitchen adding a few finishing touches to the sugar cookies that he had baked earlier that day. The giant of a man was wearing a headband with antlers on it over the top of his mask, along with a flashy sweater with a cartoon pig wearing a Santa hat and the phrase “MERRY PIGMAS” below it.

“... Okay, maybe so,” Ruby answered, turning back to the locked door. “But you picked this shirt out yourself, Jamie! I thought we were gonna do a matching colors kind of thing.”

Junkrat let out a frustrated whine, a clear signal to Ruby that he was giving in. Time to go for the kill.

“You haven't even seen how I look in my outfit yet, honey. I think this dress is really cute, I was looking forward to finding out what you thought…”

There was silence. Then, Ruby noticed the door begin to creep open, and Junkrat's wide amber eyes peered through the cracked door to get a peek at the outfit in question. Ruby took the opportunity to shove the door open, taking Junkrat by surprise and making him stumble backward, and she quickly rushed into the room and tackled him, sending him to the ground.

“Aah!! You tricked me Roobs, no fair!” Junkrat squealed, although he couldn’t help but grin up at his girlfriend as she pinned him to the floor and gave him an up-close view of her new dress.

Ruby leaned in close and teasingly kissed his nose. “All is fair in love and war, my dear. Now put your shirt on!" She shoved the button-up into his face, and he let out a giggle before yanking it out of her grip. 

“Alright, alright, love, stop talkin’ nonsense, I'm puttin' the damn shirt on!”

Ruby scooted down a bit and moved her legs to the side so that she could sit in Junkrat’s lap as he sat up straight. “I was gonna do it all the while anyway,” he chirped with a smug grin as he briskly tore the button-up shirt open. “I just wanted ta make ya work.” He stuck his tongue out, and she playfully smacked his shoulder.

As he slipped the shirt up his arms and over his broad shoulders, Ruby helped him roll the right sleeve up out of the way of his prosthetic arm before she started to fasten the buttons, starting at the lowest one first. As she focused on the task at hand, Junkrat sat back and admired how his girl looked in that low-cut red dress that was short enough to show off her chubby thighs, and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching up and sliding her cardigan off her shoulder to reveal even more of her soft skin.

Ruby kept her eyes on his shirt, but she immediately took notice of his intentions. “Jamie, remember we’re going to leave in five minutes,” she affirmed as she made it to the last few buttons and attempted to fight back a blush. “We’re supposed to be getting dressed.”

Junkrat giggled at the red hue coming over her cheeks as he trailed his hand down to her hip to pull her even closer, and he squeezed her thigh while he leaned in to purr in her ear, “Ya know, babe, you really do look like a right spunk in that pretty little outfit a’ yers.”

As she finished buttoning his shirt, leaving the top one open to provide a glimpse at his chest, she felt a smile spread across her face and a rush of heat go through her body. She moved her hands up to fix his collar and at last made eye contact with him as he grinned down at her, and the blush on her face only strengthened as she felt Junkrat’s hand slide up to cup her bottom.

“J-Jamison, come on. We’re already gonna be late.”

“They can consider it fashionably late,” Junkrat chuckled mischievously as he raked his eyes over her outfit before he looked down at his own and noticed that she had left the top button of his shirt undone. “Oi, Roobs, I think ya missed one.”

“I know,” Ruby whispered as she slowly pulled his face close by his collar. “I like when you leave some cleavage exposed,” she joked.

A deep laugh rumbled in Junkrat’s chest, and he felt his lips brush against Ruby’s as he mumbled, “Well then, that makes two of us.” And with that, they let their mouths crash together, and Ruby moved a hand up to grip Junkrat’s blonde hair as his arms wrapped around her small body to push her tight to his chest. The two were so caught up in their makeout session that they hardly noticed Roadhog stomping down the hall and finding them on the floor of their bedroom.

Roadhog slammed his fist on the door to get the lovers’ attention. “We’re going to be late,” he grumbled, making his annoyance more than clear.

Junkrat looked over to his friend and flashed a wide smile, lipstick smeared around his mouth and not an ounce of shame in his body as he excitedly gestured to his girlfriend. “Look, Hoggie! Doesn’t my Ruby look fuckin’ great in her little outfit?!”

Roadhog merely let out a tired huff before turning around and walking back down the hall.

“Eh, what does he know about fashion,” Junkrat scoffed as he turned back to Ruby. She decided not to burst his bubble and kept it to herself that Roadhog had probably seen plenty of her outfit for the twenty minutes that she had been standing in front of the locked bedroom door. He held Ruby close and stood up so that he was carrying her bridal style and placed a short and sweet kiss to her cheek. “Ya look better than all the gold in the world, darling.”

As Junkrat carried his girlfriend out to the living room, the two saw that Roadhog was already headed out the door, a platter of his homemade sugar cookies in one hand and the car keys in the other hand.

“We better hurry and join him before he leaves us,” Ruby said as she looked up at Junkrat.

“Alright, then let’s- oh shit, wait a tick!” he blurted as he hastily set Ruby down, nearly dropping her before he dashed into the kitchen.

Ruby rolled her eyes, but it was a good opportunity to grab a scarf for her boyfriend so that he kept warm, so she moved to the closet and grabbed his favorite flame-patterned scarf as she heard him rummaging through the fridge before he ran back to her with a boxed pack of beer tucked under his arm. She raised an eyebrow as she turned to wrap the scarf around his neck. “Jamie, are you serious?”

“Aw c’mon Roobs, it ain’t a proper party without heaps of grog!” He flashed a wide smile in the hopes that she would let him bring the alcohol along.

As much as she wanted to say no, Ruby didn’t feel like wasting even more time and testing Roadhog’s patience even further, so she rolled her eyes before tiredly saying, “Alright, fine, but if you get shitfaced you’re going home in the trunk.”

“Deal!” Junkrat beamed and bent down to give Ruby another kiss as she wrapped his scarf around his neck, and he confidently stood up straight and turned towards the door. "Alrighty, let's move out!!"

As Junkrat ran for the open door, he let out a gag as Ruby firmly held onto his scarf to stop him in his tracks. 

"Ey,” he sputtered, “the hell was that for?! I almost dropped me grog!"

"C'mon Jamie, you know the drill. I can't have you banned from another one of my friend's houses," Ruby chided as she moved so that she was standing right in front of him.

"Hmph, s'not my fault they didn't know how ta have a party."

"Well not everyone has the same definition of fun as you, honey. Also, you blew a hole in their roof. Now come on, arms up before I lock you in the bedroom."

Junkrat didn't hesitate to comply, setting down the box and lifting his arms to allow Ruby to give him a pat-down and ensure that he didn't sneak any of his explosives out with him.

"You promise you're gonna behave tonight?" Ruby asked as she checked all his pockets.

"Yes, sweetie."

"No trying to challenge people to any types of fights or 'challenges'?"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

She was almost finished as she stooped down to run her hands down the legs of his pants. "And you'll be watching your mouth, right?"

"Of fucking course I will, babe!"

She looked up at him with pursed lips and one eyebrow raised. He let out a little giggle before kneeling down on one knee and cupping her face to kiss her forehead.

"I'll be on me best behavior, my Ruby," he promised.

She briefly turned her head to kiss the palm of his hand and muttered out a “thank you, sunshine” before refocusing herself. “Well, you’re clean, so you’re free to go. Now let’s get in the car before Mako drives off without us.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Junkrat grinned as he grabbed the twelve-pack and stood back up. He extended his hand to help Ruby up as well before gripping her hand tight and running out the door with her, giving her barely enough time to shut the door behind her as they dashed to the car, ready for a night of socializing- and hopefully, not too much mayhem.

[chicgeekgirl89]

I Could Have Loved You: A SEAL Team Fanfic

Recommended Listening: “Say You Won’t Let Go” by James Arthur

Read Chapters 1-3 Here

She was wearing his shirt, perched on the counter with her feet dangling over the edge, eating a bowl of cereal. Her hair was still mussed and she had last night’s make-up smudged under her eyes. “What?” Lisa asked when she caught him looking.

“How can you be so damn beautiful this early in the morning?” Sonny said.

She smirked at him around a mouthful of cereal. “It’s a gift.”

He cradled her face in his hands, lowering his lips to hers. She put her bowl down and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him lazy and slow. “We should go somewhere this weekend,” he said, resting his forehead against hers.

It was their last one together and he wanted it to be special; something they would remember for a long time after.

“Okay…” Lisa said slowly. “Somewhere like where?” 

“Anywhere. Like one of those little bed and breakfast things. Or Six Flags.”

She laughed and pulled back a bit. “Those are the options? A B and B or Six Flags?”

“Well hell Davis, I’m just trying to think outside the box here. I don’t know much about being a couple,” he grumbled as he began fixing his own cereal.

“I’m have a hard time imagining Sonny Quinn fitting into a double bed with cats on the quilt.”

He grinned at her, shifting his weight so he was leaning into her body. “If the bed’s tiny then we’ll just have to cuddle real close.”

“Do we do the group bird watching before or after that?”

He laughed. “Fine. No B and B’s. But do you want to go somewhere?”

“Yeah, that would be fun.”

“Then I’ll make a few calls.”

She raised her eyebrows. “That’s it? You’ll make a few calls?”

“Yep.”

“What are you, the Wolf of Wall Street?”

“I’ll have you know I’ve got connections lady.”

“Oh you do?”

“I do.”

“Care to share what these connections are?” She raised her eyebrows at him but he refused to bite.

“Not particularly.”

She hopped off the counter and stepped closer to him, running her hands over his chest. “Are you refusing to answer an officer’s question?”

He caught her hands, trapping them against his skin. “Yes ma’am.”

“Hmmm…well I’m not sure that can be tolerated.”

Despite her best efforts Sonny made plans and refused to tell her where they were going, only that she should bring a swimsuit. Or not, although that suggestion had gotten him a swat to the arm.

Late Friday evening they set out for their mystery destination. “So, where we going?” Lisa asked as they pulled onto the road.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he said.

“What is this a need-to-know mission? My clearance level not high enough?”

“That’s right.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to have to tell me eventually.”

“I’ll tell you what, you guess right and I’ll spill the beans.”

“The beach.”

He snapped his head around to look at her. “How did you…?”

“I am an Officer in the United States Navy. If you think you can pull a fast one on me you’ve got another thing coming. Also, maybe delete the history on your laptop once in a while.” She smirked as she dug in the snack bag for a Twizzler.

Sonny shook his head. “Davis, I’ve always said you were magic.”

“Don’t you forget it. But, you hate the beach. And I did not pack your shark repellent bracelet.”

“True. But you love the beach.”

The smile on her face was enough to give him the warm and fuzzies. Making her happy was his new favorite feeling, followed closely by drinking beers with his boys and blowing up bad guys.

They pulled into the condo in the early afternoon. “Not bad,” Lisa said as they walked in the door. She looked out onto the porch. “Hot tub?”

“I requested that specifically,” Sonny said, a wicked grin on his face.

“Yeah I’m sure you did.” She turned and looked at him. “Why are we doing this Sonny?”

“Because it’s fun?”

“We could have had all the same fun at home.”

“Nuh, uh. We do not have a hot tub at home.”

She looked at him expectantly. “Come on.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…wanted one weekend where I didn’t have to look around every corner because somebody we know might see us and wonder what’s going on.” He looked at her helplessly. “I just wanted two days where I could hold your hand without worrying it would cost us our jobs.”

She went up on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the lips. “You did good Sonny.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Now get yourself cleaned up. I’m taking you to dinner.”

“Oh you’re taking me?” he asked with smile.

“That’s right. You earned it.”

“So this is what it’s like being a kept man. I could get used to it.”

She smacked his shoulder.

They had dinner on the waterfront and true to his word Sonny held her hand, even going so far as to sit on the same side of the table as her which made her laugh and lean into his side in a way that made his heart just about fall to pieces. They shared dessert and kissed whenever they felt like it, much to the chagrin of their server. And when they got back to the condo they made excellent use of the hot tub. 

They woke up late the next morning, the sun high in the sky before they even thought about getting out of bed. Sonny almost regretted getting up at all when they got down to the beach and Lisa revealed her bikini. “Come on Frogman!” she called as she stood in the surf, waves crashing around her ankles. “I’ll keep the sharks away, I promise.”

“God damn it woman,” he said, eyeing the waves with trepidation. “I am not coming out there!”

“Your loss,” she said as she dove under, coming up seconds later with a grin on her face.

“Oh hell,” he huffed, stripping off his shirt and running into the waves, hopping a little as he tried not to touch any crabs or other sea life.

“Ooh, look at the brave Navy man coming into the ocean,” she teased, floating beyond the breakers. “Need me to call the lifeguard?”

“You’d better watch out,” he said as a wave nearly took him to his knees, “cuz when I get over there you’re going to be in trouble.”

“At the rate you’re going it’ll be midnight before you get out here,” she said.

“I am—“ whatever he was about to say was cut off as a waved hit him in the chest and pulled him under. He came up sputtering, Lisa laughing at his misfortune. “I do not understand the appeal of turning yourself into a pickle and getting eaten by sea critters,” he groused.

“Come on Sonny.” Lisa reached for his arm and pulled him out further with her into the calmer water. “See? This isn’t so bad.”

Sonny’s feet could barely brush the sandy floor. “If you let me drown out here I will never forgive you.”

“You’re not going to drown,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Just relax.”

“Relax? This feels like a bad day at the office. One where I forgot my SCUBA gear and the baddies threw me back to be shark bait.” He wasn’t lying. The water truly did make him nervous.

“Sonny.” She put her arms around his neck. “Relax. I’m right here.”

He jerked, nearly pulling them both under. “What was that?”

“My foot,” she said dryly. “Oh my god, you are ridiculous. Just, look at me. Let the water calm you down.”

“Only thing that’s gonna make me calm is getting back on dry land.”

She grabbed the back of his head and kissed him hard. Her lips tasted like salt and coffee and he kissed her back with enthusiasm. Her legs wrapped around him, both of their bodies weightless in the water. He didn’t even realize his fingers had begun toying with the ties on her top until she pulled back. “Whoa there sailor. We may be away from our friends but we’re still on a public beach.”

He grinned. “Whoops. Guess you did too good a job distracting me there.”

“You wanna do it again?”

“Yes ma’am.”

They spent a little longer in the water until a fish jumped up in front of Sonny, nearly hitting him in the face, and he declared himself officially “done.” Lisa didn’t feel like sitting yet so they went for a walk down the beach, fingers entwined as they looked for shells and other treasures between the waves. 

She reached down to pick up a shell, turning it over in her fingers before letting it drop back into the water. A crab scuttled in front of him and he jumped, trying not to step on it while she laughed at him. “Oh, you think that’s funny huh?”

He scooped her up in his arms as she shrieked and laughed, spinning her around a couple times before tossing her, gently, into the surf. She came up dripping wet, shoving limp strands of hair out of her face. “Where are your manners Sonny Quinn? Your mama would be ashamed.”

“Uh uh. You ain’t making me feel guilty about justified retribution,” he said, dodging her attempt to latch onto his ankle.

She got to her feet and put her hands on her hips. “So what you’re telling me is you don’t want allllllll of this in your bed tonight?”

He considered her for a moment. “You play dirty Davis.”

She wrapped her arms around him, getting him almost as wet at she was while she whispered in his ear, “And that’s just the way you like it.”

Hours later they lay on the beach, bodies warm from the sun. Sonny traced patterns on the bare skin of her back with his fingers. “What the hell are we going to do without you? Who the fuck is gonna watch my back?”

“You’re just going to have to watch your own back.” She pushed up on her elbow so she could really look at him. “You will right? Watch your own back?”

“Davis you know my self preservation instinct is incredibly high. In fact, I might be even safer without you around, yacking in my ear all the time.”

“Oh is that what I do?”

“Every second of every mission.”

“You’d better watch your mouth Sonny Quinn,” she warned. 

“Oh do I? Do I need to watch it?” He leaned over and kissed her. “How about now? Do I need to watch it now?” He rolled, pulling her top of him, arms going around her to hold her firmly against his chest, kissing her again while she laughed. “What about now? How’s it looking?”

She lifted her head and stared down at him in a way that made his heart thunder inside his chest. “Sonny.”

“Yeah?”

“I—“ She hesitated. “I’m going to miss you a lot.”

It seemed like she’d been about to say something else, but instead she just leaned forward and kissed him softly again.

Being with her was perfect and everything else seemed dark in comparison. He wanted to beg time to slow down so he could hold her just a little longer, stay here with her just a little longer, keep the future at bay just a little bit longer. “You ready to take this party back inside?” he asked, his voice low.

She nodded and they got to their feet, walking hand in hand back to the condo. They were living in a fantasy and for this weekend, it was all they wanted.

[dream-girls-evil]

She is Dancing Away

I have a new one-shot for you! It’s a sequel to Silent Moments of the Nighttime. You can read both parts on AO3 here. Hope you enjoy!

Cordelia traced idle patterns on Misty’s shoulder, deep in thought. She’d woken only minutes before, finding the swamp witch deep asleep and wrapped around her. She knew they ought to get up. The others were bound to be wondering where she was, and they had a plane to catch that afternoon, but Misty needed the rest. And—she had to face it—she simply did not want to move. She pressed a kiss to Misty’s temple and relaxed back against the pillows. She’d almost fallen back asleep herself when Myrtle knocked on the door.

“Cordelia, is our dear swamp witch—ah.” Myrtle swept into the room without waiting for Cordelia’s invitation, and the blonde motioned for her to be quiet, running a hand anxiously over Misty’s hair as she stirred. Myrtle raised an eyebrow at their entanglement, but Cordelia ignored her until the younger woman settled, burrowing deeper against the side of her neck. 

“I don’t want to wake her up before I have to,” she whispered lowly, “she had such a hard time falling asleep.” 

“The girls were concerned when she didn’t seem to have been to her room,” Myrtle murmured back, seating herself near the bedside, “but I suspected she might be with you.” The knowing look she gave Cordelia made her blush without knowing exactly why. “Have you told her yet?” Cordelia deflated, hugging Misty closer reflexively.   

“I just got her back, Myrtle. How can I send her away?” 

“Oh, baby bird, you know it’s for the best. The safest place for her to heal is with Stephanie, far away from all the worries of this coven.” Myrtle took a long drag from her vape, watching the pair carefully. “Especially now that Michael has seen you together.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Darling, you planned to ask him for Misty’s return the moment you suspected he could do it. The risk to you or the coven if he succeeded scarcely entered your mind.” She sighed, and Cordelia had the good grace to look ashamed. “And as much as I would like to be angry with your behavior, my poor, romantic heart cannot deny that I have never seen you more alight.” 

“Myrtle,” she warned. 

“You love that girl more than life, Cordelia, and Michael has seen it no matter what you deny.” Cordelia scoffed. She opened her mouth to reply, but her attention was stolen when Misty shifted against her. Her arm tightened reflexively around the Supreme’s waist, and the next moment she was gasping back into wakefulness. Cordelia sat them both up, brushing the wild curls away from her face as the swamp witch looked wildly around the room. 

“Shh, Misty, it’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe.” Misty’s breathing finally slowed, fingers wrapping around Cordelia’s wrist to hold her hand against her cheek. “Cordelia,” she sighed. “What—” she stiffened, twisting around to see Myrtle, who offered her a small smile. “Is it mornin’ already?” 

“Mhm.” The Supreme bit her lip around a smile. “Did you sleep alright?” Misty nodded. Behind her, Myrtle cleared her throat and stood. 

“Breakfast will be ready in half an hour, sparrows. I’ll leave you to get yourselves dressed.” Cordelia returned her smirk with a glare, but her gaze softened at Misty’s confused look.   

“How are you feeling?” Misty threw herself back into the mattress with a laugh, eyelids fluttering closed. 

“It still feels like a dream, but...less than yesterday.” She reaches out blindly, and Cordelia met her half way. The swamp witch grinned up at her. “Your eyes really are beautiful, Miss Supreme. Didn’t I tell ya you were an awesome leader?” The older woman giggled, blushing. Misty’s smile widened, and she bounced back up, sitting cross-legged in front of her friend. “I want to know everything about the coven, everythin’ you’ve done. Is the greenhouse still the same? I can’t wait to see it.” 

“Misty...we need to talk about that.” She ran the pads of her thumbs over the girl’s knuckles. Misty’s brow drew into a frown, head tilted in a way Cordelia would have found adorable in any other circumstance. “You’re going to go stay with Stevie for a while.” The hippie witch gasped, lighting up at the words. “Really?”   

“You need to heal and find yourself again. What better way could there be?” Misty had to cover her mouth to contain her squeal, but a moment later something dawned in her eyes. 

“But...what about the coven? And you, Michael’s makin’ you sick. I can’t—” Tears stung the corners of Cordelia’s eyes, but she swallowed them down. 

“I’ll be fine. We can handle Michael, don’t worry about that. The best thing you can do to help right now is get well.” 

“I don’t wanna leave you,” she whispered. “I’m scared.” Cordelia smiled sadly. “I don’t want you to leave either, Misty. Trust me, I don’t. But as much as I never want to let you out of my sight...” The swamp witch chuckled at that. “...I want much more to know you’re somewhere safe, and that place is not by my side. Not right now.” 

Misty almost knocked them both over when she hugged Cordelia. They held each other tightly for a long moment, just breathing. Cordelia could feel Misty’s hot tears in her bare shoulder but said nothing, and her eyes  were dry and determined when they parted. Their forearms remained clasped, neither woman having any desire to sever. 

“I’ll go as long as you promise to stay safe, too. Cuz I know you. I know you’d rather take this on alone than risk one girl’s life, but you need their strength. You gotta let them help, cuz this is not going to be the last time I see you.” Cordelia exhaled long and slow, resting their foreheads together. 

“You know I can only promise to do whatever it takes to ensure this coven’s future.” Misty’s lips pursed in a line, but she tucked a strand of hair behind Cordelia’s ear in silent encouragement. “But you’re right. I can not force anyone to fight, but I’ll let those that want to, learn. And I will do everything to be there when you come home.” 

“Thank you,” Misty whispered, eyes falling shut so she missed the wicked smirk that crossed Cordelia’s face and was taken by surprise when the older woman dove for her sides. She shrieked in laughter, jumping away from the tickling hands. 

“Come on,” Cordelia chuckled, “we only have fifteen minutes to get ready.” Misty shot her a playful glare, but she perked up at her next words: “Do you want to take a shower?” 

Ten minutes later, damp waves clinging to her neck, she was smiling to herself and slipping on a moss green dress while Cordelia washed her face in the bathroom. 

Breakfast was a lively affair despite the situation. With Stevie on one side of her and Cordelia on the other, Misty could almost ignore the feel of dark energy creeping up her spine. She even began to feel excited about the prospect of staying with Stevie, though her hand sought out Cordelia’s under the table. Misty listened with a growing smile as Queenie and Zoe told her all about how the academy had come out to the public and turned into a thriving school, shooting admiring glances as the headmistress. Even Madison offered a shy compliment about how much all the girls seemed to love their council. 

And then suddenly, it was time for her and Stevie to leave. Misty’s nervousness returned despite what she had promised Cordelia, hands shaking as she closed her luggage. The woman herself watched silently from the doorway, memorizing how Misty swayed to the tune of whatever Fleetwood Mac song was surely playing in her head. Only when the swamp witch stopped moving did she speak. 

“All ready?” Misty jumped, spinning around with a grin. 

“Jesus, Cordelia, don’t scare me like that.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“You are not.” 

“You’re right,” she hummed, coming to stand next to Misty. “Ready to go?” Misty bit her lip, fiddling with the tassels of her shawl. 

“As I’ll ever be.” Cordelia frowned, encircling the younger woman’s waist and tugging her close. Misty molded against her, holding tight. “I’ll miss you. I have missed you. There was no time for me to even think down there, to remember, but somehow I can still feel all those years of feelin’ I missed out on, and I know I missed you.”   

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered into Misty’s hair. “I hope it won’t be for long. But you’ll be having so much fun with Stevie, I bet you won’t even want to come back.” Misty laughed, squeezing her tight before letting go. 

“Okay, I’m ready.” Together, they made their way downstairs, where Stevie and the rest of the coven were waiting.   

“There they are!” Zoe spotted them first, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs and taking Misty’s bag from her.   

“Finally—ow!” Queenie elbowed Madison in the ribs before engulfing the swamp witch in a hug. 

“It’s great to have you back, girl. Have tons of fun.” She lowered her voice. “And don’t worry too much. We’ve got Cordelia’s back.” Misty nodded against her shoulder. “We’ll see you soon.” Misty’s eyes watered as she pulled back, mouthing ‘thank you’ to the voodoo witch.  

Madison rolled her eyes when Misty threw her arms around her, but she hugged back for a moment before squirming out of the embrace. “You’d better not die again, Swampy, cuz if anything happens to me, I’m calling in a favor.” 

“Too bad you already owe me one for that whole coffin thing, then,” Misty shot back teasingly. Myrtle was next, enfolding Misty with one arm and a kiss on the cheek. 

“Take care, little dove. A fourth chance at life—you have risen from the ashes once again, each time more fully realized. You are a phoenix, Misty Day, and this will not break you.” Misty sniffed. 

“Thank you, Miss Myrtle,” she whispered. “Take care a’ Cordelia for me. I know you will. Don’t let her do anythin’ stupid before I get back.” Myrtle chuckled, patting her cheek. 

“I can only promise to try.” Wiping the tears from her eyes, she finally reached Zoe, who didn’t even wait before flinging her arms around the taller witch. 

“I’m so glad you’re back.”   

“Me, too.” 

“Just wait, you’ll be back at the academy in no time. The girls will love you.” 

“Lookin’ forward to it.” The girls giggled, hugging for a moment longer, and then she was in front of Cordelia yet again. The Supreme’s eyes shone with tears, but she smiled and handed Misty her bag. Her fingers lingered, brushing over Misty’s ringed ones. 

“I promise.” Misty smiled. 

“See you soon.” Then Stevie took her hand, and together they disappeared down the corridor.

[aggresivelyfriendly]

Hi All! Back with Chapter Two this time. Once again- this chapter has a May-December romance budding, if this makes you uncomfortable, give it a pass! Or read on! Here’s to the lights of my life- @dirtystyles, @bleedinglove4h, and @nocontrolforlouis!

~Who Names The Colors~

December 2013

Do you ever stop worrying about your kids?

This was the question Jo asked herself as she laid in bed waiting to hear a key in the door. She knew that Ethan had his own place. Had lived on his own under his own power for a year and a half. Jo was also under no delusions that he stayed home all the time while he was there, far away from her. So far, he had shown enough responsibility. No calls from the university with issues, she sees the Uber charges when she puts money in his monthly play money. Ethan was doing better than she could hope. Jo just didn't know any better when he was at school. He went out and she only knew about it after the fact.

But tonight she was painfully aware that the boys were off to some party at a school friend's house. Ethan had been excited about seeing Alissa again. He'd nudged Harry while he thought Jo was too busy with her hands in soapy water to see his eyebrow raise. Jo wondered who was most excited about Alissa, was she a 'friend' of Harry's or Ethan's? Jo didn't remember her name from their time at college at all. Harry had not looked all that enthused about Alissa, but that could just be boys ribbing each other about not getting past the sniffing butts stage. She didn't imagine either of the young men in her kitchen had too much trouble. As long as they were respectful, which Ethan had better be.

If she had ever gotten a call about unsolicited dick pics, she may have wrung his neck. As a single woman, who had tried not a few dating apps and was reasonably attractive, she'd had her own unfortunate incidents. 'Really hot for a mum.' Pfffft, she was lovely full stop thank you very much.  And starting a conversation with, 'how old are you?' Or 'do you trade pics for pics?' was annoyingly common. No, no, nope. Jo had started sending 'I don't send nudes' as her second message before she deleted the apps altogether. This was all before Colin, almost four years ago. She couldn't imagine it had gotten any better. It had caused her to go on some rants. She was fairly sure that Harry had been there when she'd lectured Ethan on consent and the reality that dicks out of context are not sexy and do not in fact cause panties to drop.

"You have to engage her mind before you can expect her to be interested in that part of your body, Ethan!" Her son had just rolled his eyes. His sexual education had been an ongoing talk that started with anatomy at about 7, then covered feelings when he hit puberty, and focused on pleasure and how it and emotion intersected when he was old enough to process all of that. Boundaries and consent and how to act after a hook-up (not nonchalantly but honestly) were also covered. She'd foregone the talk tonight. She just hoped she had done her job well enough by now.  But Jo was sure she had not covered every temptation ever. She tried to keep up, and keep current, but she really didn't know what it was like to be so young and have so much information at your fingertips. Maybe they needed to have another talk about how porn sex was not like real sex, mostly not even good sex.

Jo'd been worrying about tonight since they showed up at the house. Her boy and his best friend. Best looking friend. Every time she saw Harry, he was getting more like a fever dream. Or maybe she was just aware of him in a new way. He'd been a sweet kid for so long, but that unbuttoned purple plaid he strolled in with showed way too much ink for her comfort. Maybe she should have a talk with herself about temptation.

Ethan and Harry had come in together around noon, two days before Christmas, and did that thing that teenagers and very new twenty somethings apparently still did: disappeared into a room and didn't surface until food was offered.

Zoe had asked for 'boys' multiple times before Jo gave in and sent her to the top of the stairs to knock.

There was a bang and shuffling and laughter before they opened the door and Jo wondered if they were smoking in there. She'd have to talk to Ethan about that too, more temptation. If they came down red eyed she'd let it pass, they weren't driving. If his pupils were blown out, that would be a different story. When he started going out, to parties and such he'd gotten the standard safety discussion about drugs. Party drugs especially. But the lengthy pause before he answered the door for Zoe indicated there was clean up going on there.

When her merry band made it to the kitchen finally, they looked fine, maybe a little disheveled but not high or coked out. Harry had a hold of Zoe, who was desperately trying to jump ship to her brother's arms. Ethan would be home longer than he usually was. He had taken several weeks off from his work study gig to spend the whole holiday at home. He was staying through New Years and Jo was floating. From the look of things, so was Zoe.

"No loyalty at all, this one! I'm supposed to be your favorite Z! Remember! The snake!" And Harry put his first two fingers up like fangs and got her belly where she was cuddled up against Ethan's chest.

"Face it man, I'm more handsome and babies like pretty people." Ethan smacked his lips at Harry and Jo nearly stood up for him, which was a strange reaction, because of course Ethan was the most handsome lad ever, if she did say so herself.

But Harry was pretty, too.

"Nah, it's nowt to do with that. It's because she knows you have those candies in your pockets, E!" Harry complained- striking Ethan's shoulder with his finger fangs. "Which you stole, might I add."

"Ow! Jeezus!"

"Language!" Jo sounded-semi playfully, she knew they were watching the f-bombs for her sake.

"Sorry mum!" He looked at her still rubbing his shoulder and pouting. "Are you poking Zoe that hard?" He flicked Harry's shoulder. "Cuz, I'll tell you right now, if you are, that's why she wants me. Or, maybe cuz I'm her brother. Right bub!" He redirected to his sister, making faces while she laughed. "And it's not stealing when it falls out of the pocket of one of the two bloody plaid shirts you are wearing."

Jo looked at Harry then and realized he was indeed wearing a purple plaid over a red and black print. "Why are you wearing two button ups?"

Harry rolled his eyes and Ethan burst out laughing. "You'll love this infallible reasoning mum!"

Harry huffed in annoyance. "Listen! I need to do laundry and I left my good coat at the dorms. It's chilly, I needed warm layers, and I wasn't sure which one to wear. Wore em both, didn't I, to ask this dipshit," he pointed at Ethan and then caught Zoe snuggled up and said, "sorry," in Zoe's direction until she grabbed his finger. "Which would be better for the party."

"I tried to tell him that no one cares, especially not Lucy, who he's been trying it on with since college." Ethan looked at Jo for her to co-sign, but instead she was just confused. Why wouldn't Lucy like Harry? Also, now she was worrying about the party. She'd gone to the pub for his 18th, why was this so worrisome? At least he'd be coming home to her. Unlike however he stumbled home when he was away. She could supervise him post consumption and see if he was still in the get as drunk as possible phase, or if he had moved on to a more moderate pattern.

Jo decided to fish a little while the boys were bantering,  Harry insisting he wasn't trying to look any way for Lucy and Ethan was currently asking him if he was gonna seal the deal.

"Where is the party?" She started, then backtracked. "Seal the deal? She's a woman not a contract, so help me Ethan, this isn't a contest!" Jo was more upset than she expected about this.

"Sorry, mum! It's just how guys talk!" Ethan gave her a patented forgive me/I'm cute grin.

Jo stopped herself from mentioning that Harry wasn't objectifying the girl at all. "Listen, talk to the lady if you like her, even just the look, but don't do it to best your friend. It's cruel. To him" She threw a thumb in Harry's directions, "But especially to her if she is just a pawn in game, right?"  She looked at both boys, though she was admonishing her own and they nodded, Harry with a concentrated brow. "Now, where's the party and are you coming back here after? Do you have your keys?" Ethan'd had to fish out her back up set, had woke her up when he arrived late after a shift first night. But, it had been lovely. She'd made him a plate and tea and he'd told her about his shift before they had turned in. Some one on one time with her eldest.

"Party is at Alissa's!" At this Harry raised his eyebrows at Ethan quickly. "And I think the plan is to come back here. My sister is in town as well, so my house is a little crowded."

"Sure your mum is loving it!" Jo said wistfully. An empty nest sounded like a dream and a tomb. When she wasn't sleeping for days on end, she wished for Zoe to grow up, but then she thought of Ethan and held her tighter, even at 3 am.

Harry smiled at Jo and she couldn't fathom Lucy's indifference. "What's your food situation?" She got up to the fridge. "I can put something quick on. Tacos?" She had the things for that. Ethan had been raving about some Mexican one day and she had been amazed by the simplicity. It was an easy go to when he was home.

Ethan's tummy growled and she did an internal cheer.

The boys were digging in 20 minutes later when Jo took Zoe upstairs to bathe and nurse her to sleep. She had dropped down to nursing only the once a day and had decided to relish it. She had only eked out six months of breastfeeding with Ethan, and had been thankful for every minute of it, but she was going to do her best to hold on to this precious time with Zoe. It was one of the few times that her little girl was still and Jo was just able to stare at her. Her little blue eyes were blinking more frequently and there were long pauses between dreamland and eye contact with her mum. Jo found herself singing 'I want to hold your hand' softly and looking at the tiny fingernails. Miracles abounded.

A soft knock at the door caused Jo to look up and Ethan padded in on his tippy toes. "Hey mum," he smiled down at Zoe, whose eyes seemed to have closed for good and caressed her cheek. "I missed a lot."

"You're supposed to. You are away." Jo nodded. She doubted he'd come up to watch his sister sleep or because he was feeling guilty.

"Harry and I are gonna go get a few pre drinks at the pub. Not sure when we will be back." He gave her a significant look. "Don't wait up."

Jo bit her lip and nodded.

"Mum," he whined just a little and it went against his next line. "I'm a grown man. I promise I can take care of myself."

Jo slipped to the edge of her chair and planted her feet softly on the carpet before shifting around Ethan and laying Zoe down softly in her bed. She knew that, but bigger babies, bigger worries. Jo turned around and led him out the nursery and down to the foot of the stairs where she hugged him. When she pulled back, she decided not to lecture him, though she wanted to mention more about women, or drugs, or not getting in cars. Instead, she said, "Have fun. See you in the morning." Harry was over Ethan's shoulder watching them with a gleam in his eyes. She hoped she hadn't given him too much reason to tease Ethan, but she couldn't imagine there was much fodder in her two sentences.

Jo walked to Harry and tipped up to him and hugged him too. "Take care of my boy," she said by his ear and felt rather than saw him nod. Harry held her fast and she had to pull away first.

"I'm gonna-" and she pointed to her studio. Ethan nodded and Harry's chin came up and his eyes gleamed. He looked ready to follow her in there rather than go with Ethan to a party. She smiled to herself. He must still be painting, Jo was curious to see how he'd improved. It had been amazing once he put brush to canvas.

She'd missed Thursdays a lot when she started at the university. Until she fell for Colin, then she just focused on him, and then the wedding and pregnancy. She wondered how her protege was progressing.

Jo smiled at him and shook her head. "Another time, we can paint?" She suggested and he nodded before grabbing Ethan about the shoulders.

Jo was thinking about sunlight and how much white it requires to get the rays just right. If the white was milky, had a translucence, it was more useful, but a thin milky white, hard to get. She found herself painting a shape that suggested a box. Within it a yellow resembling,  well, nearing her idea of morning light. The opening of the day, the opening of the world.

Jo was in her studio, with the door closed, a bottle of wine, the baby monitor, and her current painting playlist. She was wondering if there would be a revealer, her very own Pandora, introducing day to the world, or if the escape of the light was inevitable and didn't need a catalyst, when she picked up her bottle and brought it to her mouth and realized it was empty. Jo checked the clock then and looked at the monitor. Zoe only nursed at night anymore, but Jo was thinking she needed to google how long her milk would be alcoholic before tomorrow evening. She was surprised she had emptied the bottle herself. She must have been engrossed. It had been a while since she'd gotten carried away in her studio. Over a year, oh god, she realized it had been nearly 18 months. Sorry excuse for a painter she was.

She still wasn't happy with that sunrise. Rusty, she was.

It would have to keep for tonight. Jo needed to sleep. It seemed, as it approached 3 AM, she had waited up for the boys by accident. She was making deals with herself about how if she was ready for bed, had combed her hair out of the bun, was in her sleeping clothes, had washed up and done skin care, and brushed her teeth, she would get in bed. Jo scoffed at herself over her extra long routine. She rarely did more than strip down and pull her hair out. Though, as she approached her 40's and careened into the wall of that decade, she was better about her skin care and brushing her teeth. Flossing, which she was doing now, was honestly usually only done in the mornings or when a dentist appointment was looming.

She was done, there was nothing else to do. Jo had a moment where she considered making tea, again, but forced herself to pull down the bedding and fold herself in like cream into a mousse. She was warm and safe. Unlike her son, who wasn't in either of his beds. Jo liked it better when he was at school. That was a lie.

She was going to convince him to go to the new year's party that the whole family were invited to. Jo felt like a ninny, but really, her worry was heavy, an armoire pressed up against the door of her mind where sleep was trying to enter.

Jo picked up the book she'd been trying to read for ages. Two chapters later, she was starting to nod off when she heard their loud voices. Ethan fell through the door. Jo could tell from four things: the slip of the door on its hinges, the squishy thud of a body, Harry's explosive laugh-quickly muffled, and Ethan's groan.

She was up and out of bed before she could slow herself down. Didn't even pull on her robe. Jo was sure he was ok.  Course he was, he was just drunk.

When she came into the kitchen, to where they were coming in the back door, Harry was extending an arm to help Ethan up, though his other hand was still alternating between his mouth to stifle laughter and his stomach to hold it in. Ethan grabbed his other hand and pulled Harry down to the floor, half way on top of him.

They both raised startled faces when she said, "idiots!" Then they were both giggling and she was too. Jo walked into the kitchen and pulled her son up. Then she stepped up to Harry. She extended her hand and her laughter caught in her throat like a piece of jagged crisp when he didn't grab for it at first and she realized his eyes were crawling up her exposed thigh to her high cut cotton shorts. Jo could feel her nipples pebbling and though her mind told her to hunch and cover herself, her shoulders squared as his gaze skidded up and stopped at the midline of her chest. Jo's hand hung out between them. Harry sucked oxygen out of the air and her lungs and his stare levitated between them on her braless breasts.

Jo's chest was heaving and she had just realized that it was in rhythm with Harry's when the fridge slammed.

"Mum!" She shushed him reflexively.

"Zoe's asleep!"

"Sorry," now he was stage whispering and Jo pulled her feet from the cement they were in and left Harry to sort himself out. "Will you make me cheese toasties and tea, please?"

Ohhh the lip was out. She was going to say yes before he pulled out the big guns, but that sorted it.

Jo made her way to the box and fridge and grabbed the necessary articles, and got the kettle on. She was just about to tell Ethan to ask Harry if he was hungry when she noticed his head down and his eyes closed. She'd wake him when the tea was done, and go ask Harry herself.

Maybe she'd grab her robe while she waited for him to come out though. On her way, she heard a grown and muffled utterance that might be her name. How drunk was he? Ethan seemed worse, but maybe she'd misjudged. Jo knocked on the door to check and the poor latch opened it on a sight she'd never be able to unsee.

There was Harry. He'd shed one plaid and the other was unbuttoned all the way down. His eyes were closed and his lip was tucked into the white rows of his teeth. Her eyes plummeted down like scales with the weight of her curiosity. There was the large hand she had once shaped around a paint brush gripping a sizable cock head. His pants gaped around the split of his zipper and he extended away from the wiry hair there. His thumb skidded over the tip at the end of each stroke and and they moaned together at the end of the fourth cascade of his foreskin up over his glans to meet his caressing thumb. His eyes popped open then.

Instead of stopping, covering himself or apologizing, Harry preened under her observation, expanded even. His dick hardened, filling further in his hand, Jo saw it and gasped. She didn't hurry to excuse herself either but stayed to watch him stroke himself off.

Harry was emboldened by her gaze it seemed.  Almost like he'd been thinking about her anyways. Jo felt and saw his eyes stroll over the parts of her he had caught her off guard by staring at earlier. The fact that her toes curled under just from his gaze was shocking, and her skin rose up to meet the fire there in gooseflesh over her calf and lightly muscled thighs. She could almost feel it. Did when he got back to her nipples. Jo couldn't stop staring back at him and he grunted when he glanced his slit on that stroke.

Jo's eyes jerked up to his and it's then that he came. The feel of her eyes on his was the last bit of sensation needed.

It felt like when they were in the studio together and she helped him figure out what color to mix.

Jo stumbled away then. But not before she watched him paint his chest and firm belly with milky cream stripes. It's more than she had seen come out before, and some part of her wants to paint patterns into it, play there on his chest and make shapes of it. Or better yet, mix it into the yellow from earlier. It would make the exact right color for sunlight.

When Jo got to her bedroom and closed the door, she slipped her hand past the elastic waistband of her shorts and again got herself off to Harry, though a year or more separated the incidents. This time to the image burned onto the backs of her eyelids. When she felt the contractions and gush she brought her own taste to her mouth. She imagined their mingled flavor would taste of the dawn. If she lived on the sun.

[bijoumikhawal]

There’s a Thunder- Chapter One

Read on AO3!

Douglas Fernand Eiffel was supposed to be dead. He knew that, the people who had tried to kill him knew that, hell his own father knew it, but the man currently giving him CPR did not. Douglas Eiffel was, in fact, almost dead for a few minutes before said man had hauled his limp body into shore after unchaining him from a cinder block. That was something his father and the people that tried to kill him didn't know.

 Doug slid in and out of consciousness, dancing the line between blackness and sun, water spilling out of the corners of his mouth. It dribbled down his cheeks, barely leaving any sensation behind it other than movement. He faintly heard someone talking to him, trying to see if he was alright yet. Doug twitched his fingers as he started to cough.

 How the hell was he alive? He tried to lift his head a little, and groaned in pain. His senses were returning to him, and it was not a blessing. His throat and nose were a massive area of pain, and everything else felt like it wasn't quite his. His breath was ragged and desperate, and it hurt. The man had stopped giving him CPR when he’d moved, and was currently questioning him. Doug couldn't comprehend a single thing he was saying, and couldn't even remember how to speak himself. He grabbed the man's wrist weakly, trying to figure out how to tell him anything.

 “Are you alright?” Doug felt vaguely surprised as the words became understandable through the thick fog in his brain, but still struggled with them due to the speaker’s accent. He looked at his rescuer, his eyes not quite able to focus yet. “I said, are you alright? Do you want hospital?” the man asked again. Doug shook his head. “Do you remember who you are?” He nodded, his eyes starting to focus on the man in front of him. “Can you speak?”

 Doug took a deep, shaking breath. “M-my name is-” he had to take another breath. His voice sounded horrible- wet and sick, like he had a horrible, runny cold. It was so disgusting, he could barely believe that it was his own. “My name is Doug.” Hard breath. “Doug Eiffel.”

 The man nodded and pulled Doug upright into a sitting position. “Doug, do you remember what happened to you?”

 “I drowned.” he got out, his voice quiet. Well, I almost drowned. Doug leaned his head on the man's shoulder, tired. “Who are-?”

 “Dmitri.” the man said. “Do you think you can stand on your own?”

 “No.” Doug replied honestly. “I can barely sit up.” He started taking in his surroundings. He half expected a stereotypical beach setting- sand, sea, other people looking over in vague concern but not quite giving enough shits to see what was going on.

 What he got instead was the sight of a forest that lead itself into the sea, green and near completely isolated from anything made by hands. The only exception to this was a strange house that took cues from the trees, leading partially into the water. It was made of adobe, and had been shaped in soft, organic curves, perfectly reminding Doug of the shape of a beautiful house that seemed like it would have belonged a hundred years ago, both in style and placement.The adobe plaster had been made into different colors and arranged in patterns, making it almost sculptural despite the fact that it was faded in places.

 Dmitri noticed his long, spell bound stare and where it was directed. “My family’s house.”

 Doug started in surprise. “Your family?”

 Dmitri nodded, slightly flustered. “Was out for a swim when I saw you.” He noticed Doug’s blanched expression and quietly said, “Don’t worry, will not turn you in to whoever tried to kill you if they come by.”

 Doug noted that Dmitri seemed to pronounce his B’s a little oddly. “Good.” He leaned away from Dmitri and stretched hesitantly, trying to see if he could support himself yet. He didn’t immediately fall over, so he pushed himself up off the ground and stood up unsteadily. As he did, a woman climbed out of a large, rounded window, the breeze ruffling her small cloud of peroxide curls as she climbed down. Dmitri stood with Doug, staying close while he stood and got his bearings.

 The woman hopped down from a sub roof of the house with an unnerving amount of noise- that is to say, nearly none. “Что происходит?” she asked tiredly, running her hands through her hair.

 “О, не много. Просто потенциальное убийство избегало.” Dmitri replied in the same language, not even having to think especially hard about the switch.

 The woman rolled her eyes and muttered “Dramatic.” before turning her attention towards Doug. “Okay, what factually happened? Fall off a friend’s yacht?”

 Doug felt his face and neck heat up. “They weren't my friends and they pushed me off. It was a Solo and Vader situation, not Scar and Mufasa.” The woman raised her eyebrows at him, disbelieving.

 “Olga, they chained him to a cinderblock, and might have given him a concussion.” Dmitri sighed. “I know he looks like an idiot rich boy-” Doug made an undignified noise at that, “-but he's not, am fairly certain that his entire outfit cost him about thirty and his shoes are borrowed, so please reserve the voregeois attitude.”

 “Then why try to kill him? If he isn't rich there isn't much of a point, and is likely not a political adversary due to the not rich thing, so unless he-”

 “Maybe we- as in, you, you rude fuck- should ask him.” Dmitri said. After a moment of glaring, they both turned to him expectantly.

 “Well-” Doug wiped his hands on the sides of his pants, trying to think of how to explain himself. “Well, it was… sort of a political thing, yeah. I'm no Kennedy, but honestly I can't think of anything else someone would kill me over.”

 Olga's eyebrows were currently attempting to become astronauts. “I still don't believe you, but I would rather be doing anything else right now.” And with that, she turned on her heel and walked back into the house.

 “Well, she's... nice?” Doug said, combing his fingers through the curls at the back of his head.

 “She hasn't slept at all in two days. Or maybe three.” Dmitri said. He rubbed at his eyes, dislodging his glasses. “She was supposed to at least get a few hours this morning when I left, but she might not have.”

 “Oh, well then that's understandable.” Doug said as Dmitri started walking to the house. “Wait, where are you going?”

 Dmitri looked at him over his shoulder in a way that told Doug that he thought he was stupid. “Inside.”

 “What am I supposed to do?” Doug said, flinging his arms out at his sides and bending at his knees a little.  “I have no idea where-”

 Dmitri held up a hand to stop him. “I'm not going to expect you to find your way to town on your own, or right now.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Come inside, I’ll check to make sure a concussion and almost drowning are your only problems and get you to town.”

 “Which town is town? Cuz I have no idea where I am.”

 Dmitri huffed out a breath and may have rolled his eyes. Doug decided he probably hadn't. “Mertoncrest is the nearest one I think? But I'll likely drop you off in Nishkirk, you seem like you might live there.”

 “What makes you think I live in Nishkirk?” Doug asked as he followed Dmitri to the front steps of the house, which began in the water and had a small floating dock shaped like an L that was moored to it and led onto land.

 “You look like you live in the city, and act like it.” He fast walked over dock. “Dress like it too.” His long black hair was braided back, but even so it nearly brushed the dock as he walked. Doug found himself staring at it. It was weird to see anyone with hair that long, but it seemed especially weird on someone who lived in a place like this, yet at the same time seemed to fit in perfectly.

 “How do you dress like you live in the city? That doesn't even make any sense.” Doug picked up his pace and walked up the steps after him.

 “Wear shoes that are obviously a size too big, scuffed, and have several pieces of gum stuck on the underside, for one thing.” Dmitri replied, his grin almost… skeletal… somehow. Doug ignored the thought and walked across the threshold of the house. As he walked in, he immediately felt a few people stare at him, and he found himself staring at the house around him in return.

 The front area of the house was elevated from the actual floor, with a ramp leading down to it. To the said of the ramp were two room like areas, one being a living room covered in pillows and blankets that was currently occupied by four women, ranging from middle aged to their mid 30s. They'd been drawing designs on each others hands and feet with small tubes of paste, and they hid them from Doug’s sight, almost appearing guilty. Doug felt his face redden and heat up again, and he turned away. He instead studied the other one as he walked, it appearing to be a slightly more formal parlor like area, with several chairs arranged around it. It was also covered in dust.

 He kept walking after Dmitri down the main… pathway? It was like a hallway without hemming in with walls, so he supposed that was the most accurate description. He carefully edged away from a large pool cut into the floor that seemed to lead under a room he hadn’t seen yet and outside, and around a large, blocky structure with several openings and a chimney that resembled an oven. Olga was busying herself around it, checking on something inside even so often. She raised an eyebrow at Doug again and her gaze followed him, full of suspicion, but elected to ignore them in favor of her cooking. Now that she was closer, Doug could see the dark circles under her eyes that indicated a pretty bad lack of sleep. He heard the chatter in the front room return between the four women he'd seen earlier.

 Dmitri yanked out a stool and gestured for him to sit while pulling a first aid kit down from a shelf that had been shaped out of the wall. He pulled on a pair of medical gloves and grabbed a stethoscope. He looped the stethoscope over his shoulders for easy access and set about gently examining the spot on Doug’s head that had begun to swell from where he'd been hit on the yacht.

 He really should have known better than to trust that someone actually wanted to talk to him about what O.M.R. was doing and how they could help. He was an informant and a communications monkey, no more, no less. No one would talk to him about something so serious if they actually meant to, and what with other people in the information business going missing, it really should have set off some kind of warning bell in his head.

 As Doug mentally scolded himself for being stupid, Dmitri stopped examining his bump, satisfied that it was just bruising and swelling and not something worse, took note of the cut hidden partially in Doug’s hair, and started examining Doug’s wrists for injuries. He found none, but did stare at the small spots on Doug’s wrists that had appeared to crack apart and reveal magma underneath. Doug noticed him looking at it and sheepishly tucked his arm into his lap.

 “That, uh, that happens when I get nervous.” he said. There were similar points extending from the corners of his eyes to down and over his cheeks now, in addition to a small blush over his face. Olga looked at him over Dmitri's shoulder and waggled her eyebrows, making some kind of joke that Doug didn't quite get.

 Dmitri nodded slowly as he put the stethoscope in his ears and placed the cold metal on Doug’s chest. “You are part Lumarkos, I presume?”

 “Yeah.” Doug said, hanging his head. Dmitri nodded again, checking his back.

 “You need to go to the hospital.” Dmitri said quietly after a long pause as he started examining Doug’s ankles. No magma there, but some scrapes and bruising. “You might have had your core temperature dropped too low, or starved off your-”

 Doug sighed, raising his head and interrupting him. “Hospitals are for people with health insurance or money. Unfortunately, I'm not in rich supply of either.”

Olga mouthed ‘Eat the Rich’ to him and checked on her food again. Doug found himself smiling faintly at that.

 Dmitri looked up at him. “How do you not have health insurance?” He looked honestly confused and more than a little upset. It was kind of cute, seeing him mad at a tiny injustice like that, Doug thought. “That… that can't be legal.”

 “It is, that bill got vetoed. I don't have health insurance because my job is terrible and I'm bad at reading contracts.” Doug chose not to elaborate. “Anything else you need to do? ‘Cuz I'm itching to get back to my apartment and nap.”

 “Not anything I can do at the moment.You might want to stay away from activities involving bright lights and heavy physical activity.” Dmitri looked at him, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head slightly. “If you come by the Micarloni Center tomorrow around 3, I can arrange for something more extensive.”

 “The what now?” Doug asked him, his brow furrowing in clear confusion.

 “The Micarloni Center. The place on the outskirts of Nishkirk, does a lot of charity work funded by the guilty and rich. I work there on Wednesdays.” Dmitri got to his feet, brushing off the knees of his loose pants, which Doug noticed gathered around his calves quite nicely. Doug wouldn't mind asking said calves out in a date.

 Nice to know I've recovered enough from almost dying to appreciate nice legs again, he thought to himself. “I can try to do that? No promises though, I have more work on my plate than Scrooge McDuck has money in his vaults.”

 Dmitri squinted at him as he put away his first aid kit. “Was not aware McDuck was a last name.”

 Doug laughed, thinking he was kidding when he noticed Olga slowly shaking her head and Dmitri still looking bewildered. “Do…” Doug trailed off. “Do you actually not know about Duck Tales?”

 Dmitri's still confused expression told him everything he needed to know.

 “How.” Doug quietly said, putting his head in his hands. “How do you… how do you honestly, actually not know what Duck Tales is? Or Scrooge McDuck?”

 “He avoids most TV like it's plague.” Olga piped up. “Is kind of funny really.” She chuckled to herself as Dmitri rolled his eyes and groaned.

 “Is no point to most television. Is all just bland, dramatic nonsense with some violence thrown in.” he grumbled.

 “I thought you liked Cutthroat Kitchen.” Olga said, grinning at him like the Cheshire Cat.

 “You can like garbage sometimes. Especially when that garbage is kind of garbage that should technically be recyclable.” Dmitri fired back, peeling off the medical gloves and throwing them in a wastebasket.

 Olga held up her hands in quiet surrender, still laughing a little. “All right, all right.” she said. “Don't get all worked up over it.”

 Dmitri huffed crankily at her. “I am borrowing the car.” He grabbed Doug’s arm and dragged him outside, briefly stopping to grab a key from a hook by the door and closing it behind them. Down and around the dock again. Around the house, with the sound of slightly wet debris crunching underfoot accompanying them.

 Dmitri unlocked the driver's side door first, then popped the lock for the passenger, gesturing for Doug to get in. Doug did, and Dmitri started the car, driving along a barely visible path that lead out of the woods.

 Dmitri fiddled with the dials on the radio for a second before finding a nonstatic station that was playing music in a language that Doug didn't know. It didn't sound like the one he'd spoken earlier, with his… sister? That was probably who she was, given the closeness and familiarity with which she acted. This language relied more on vowels, and had less hard sounds. It had an internal rhythm that reminded Doug of when he visited his mother's house in the winter and sat out on the porch, staring at the water in the distance and ice pricking at his bare fingers like needles. The nostalgia was painfully raw, and he felt tears prick his eyes.

 He felt a hand touch his shoulder, and looked over. Dmitri had dutifully kept his eyes on the road, but he'd apparently noticed Doug’s distress and had started rubbing gentle circles into Doug’s shoulder. Doug sighed and leaned against the window.

 “Thanks.” Doug said after a long silence between the two of them as they began to enter where the woods thinned and the road became clearer.

 “What for?” Dmitri asked.

 “Saving my stupid ass.”

 Dmitri stopped the car and looked over at him, his brows furrowing in confusion. “There is no need to thank me. Letting you drown is something a monster would do.”

 Doug smiled. “Ah, the irony.”

 Dmitri's face flushed and he looked away. “I… I didn't mean it like that.”

 “I know. I was making a joke.” Doug leaned against the window.

 “Ah.” Dmitri started driving again. They both sat in awkward silence as the road and trees passed by. Dmitri started singing to himself along with the radio. A few minutes later, Doug fell asleep in the car, the steady rhythm of movement and Dmitri's half audible molten-honey voice conspiring to lull him into sweet unconsciousness.

[ptw30]

I was looking at some art of Galra!Shiro and it got me wondering: What would the Blade and Kolivan do if Haggar and the druids had turned or started turning more Galra? Giving him the claws and ears? Making him able to smell scents 'properly'? Kolivan reacting to seeing his cub looking more like a cub.

Had a bit too much fun with this. Sorry but not sorry cuz…y’know, I’m not. 

Warning: Though there is nothing sexual in nature, this story does have “grooming” in it, as in cat grooming cuz y’know, the Galra are cats. 

Shiro enjoyed grooming Keith, and he took pride in being theonly one who could do it before joining the Blade of Marmora.

The ritual started back on Earth after Keith scratched theirfather during a bathing session his first year. The wound was deep enough todraw blood and demand an appointment at a nearby clinic. His stepmother hadstepped in, but her claws were too sharp for Keith’s blend of Galra fur andhuman skin at the cub’s young age. Over his father’s vocal protests, Shirotried.

He started by petting Keith in all the ways he rememberedone of his friend’s pets enjoyed. Fingers teased the nape of Keith’s neck, thecurve just above his tail, the fur just under his chin.

Shiro lifted his little brother into his lap, alternatinghis ministrations upon Keith’s claws and his favorite spots, while murmuringinto his ear about everything and nothing. The local sports teams, the recenteclipse, his love of hoverbikes. Shiro continued to massage Keith’s paws,lulling the young cub into a mellow state before pushing on each pad to extendthe claws.

Only then did he finally begin to trim, file, and shape thepotential daggers, making sure to never reach the quick.

A routine formed over the years that followed Shiro andKeith from Earth through the Faraway Systems, Drule Central, and eventually to theBlade of Marmora headquarters. As Keith grew, the procedure changed slightly.Keith couldn’t sit as comfortably in Shiro’s lap, and he squirmed and whinedthrough the first few minutes of ordeal until Shiro scratched behind his earsand gave him an umvy pop. Then he’d lick and purr as Shiro sat across from him onthe couch, clipping, buffing, and exfoliating until his claws shined.

He did so usually before Keith’s bath on the fifthquintaint, and he’d just finished Keith’s third claw when Kolivan and Ulazentered their quarters without preamble.

Shiro almost cut Keith’s claws to his paw when Kolivan’sfurious shriek rent the air. “What are you doing to him!”

Keith stopped in mid-suck, lollipop rounding his cheek,while Shiro blinked. “I’m…cutting his nails?”

Kolivan crossed the distance to the couch in less than threestrides, scooping up the shocked cub and holding out his paw to stare at each shortenedclaw. “You’ve…You’ve mutilated him.”

“Mutilate?” Panicsliced through Shiro’s usually stoic demeanor and shook his once calm voice. “I– I  just cut his nails, Kolivan. Iwasn’t – ”

“Takashi does it every other movement, Kolivan,” Keithinterjected, hand wiggling in Kolivan’s shuddering grip. “It doesn’t hurt – ”

“Every other – ”

“Shiro does not know, Kolivan,” Ulaz attempted to soothe,placing himself in between the still cross-legged Shiro and the fuming Kolivan.He sent the grooming tools on the couch a nasty sideways glance, however. “Heis still new to our world – do not scowl at me. It is our responsibility toteach him.”

Keith began to huff in Kolivan’s firm hold, letting out amix between a snarl and a shriek, and Ulaz bent over, wetting his fingerpadsbefore brushing them along Keith’s cheek and eyes. He continued with the cub’sears and hair, and little by little, Keith’s discomfort eased until he all but hunglimply in Kolivan’s arms.

“Claws,” Kolivan insisted. “They are claws, not nay-les.”

At Ulaz’s request, Kolivan placed Keith in the crux ofShiro’s hips and walked him through the process of sculpting Keith’s clawsstep-by-step.

After that, the pack started to take care of Keith like theywould their own cub. More than once Shiro walked into their headquarters tohear Keith whine, “Thace! I’m fine. Kolivan groomed me last night!”

“He missed your hair,” Thace would insist, brushing alongKeith’s crown, and Shiro refused to fight the smile that crossed his features.All the pack members enjoyed taking care of – doting – on their youngest member. Thace, especially, liked to brushKeith’s fur since he missed the opportunity to groom the cub on a daily basis.

Shiro didn’t quite mind missing out on these particularrituals, but eventually, the pack included him. During a mission at a Galrabase, a Chazclap leaned over Shiro, trying to overwhelm him in a test ofstrength, and released a cloud of stinging green gas between them. Shiro growledand hacked, but ended the fight with a swift, powerful kick to the being’sgroin. A moment later, he lifted the bottom of his mask up to reveal his mouthand expel the remains of his lunch.

“It’s like being sprayed by a skunk,” Shiro complained lateron the Blades’ pod, during the trip back to the base. He tugged off his cloakto reveal the skin-tight undershirt, lifting it up to sniff twice. “Ugh. This stinks,too. Geez – you’d think – uk.”

Antok silenced Shiro with one sudden lick across his jaw.

“He covered your scent,” was the only rationale. “That isunacceptable.”

Antok bent down again, only to freeze. His arm jerked back,and Shiro glanced down to see Kolivan’s hand tight about the younger Galra’s wrist.

A reminder. A warning. An insistence.

“May I…re-claim you as a member of our pack?” Antokmuttered, not unabashed but certainly stumbling across the request.

Someone could be unclaimed…?

“It is a formality,” Kolivan explained, as if sensingShiro’s uneasiness. “You don’t smell like our pack, and that is disconcertingto those who have claimed you.”

Oh. Hm. Well, it was uncomfortable and quite embarrassing,but Shiro lifted his chin and advised Antok he could mark him once more. Ofcourse, that left a sticky film of salvia and other fluids upon his skin, whichhe promptly washed off the moment they returned to the base.

He avoided needing to be reclaimed as such in the future,but then the impossible occurred. Shiro knew the moment it happened, bonesaching in a supernatural way, body tired beyond belief, muscles worn butstrengthened. He crouched in the corner of his cell, the prison noises tooloud, the prisoners’ scents overwhelming. He kept his eyes tightly shut againstthe sights that assaulted him. Haggar eventually decided to test her newestpet, throwing Shiro into the arena, where his sharp claw tore throughopponents, his kicks broke bones, and his sobs never ended.

By the time Ulaz and Thace managed to free him, his newpurple fur had become matted and crusty. His nails, though sharp, were bloodiedand broken. His scent reeked of sweat and other fluids.

He feared to look in the mirror, unsure of the sight thatwould greet him, and when finally gathered enough courage to do so, he gaped athis unbelievable reflection.

Haggar had turned him completely Galra.

His buzz cut and long bangs remained the same, albeit withwhite accents, but where tanned skin once spread across his features, purplefur now resided. Violet patches covered his forehead and cheeks while lavendernavigated the curves of his nose and mouth, stretching to his chin. His earsflattened and reached back in dueling points, though his eyes remained theiroriginal stormy slate. He downright ignored the lively oblong object thatswished behind him like it had a mind of its own.

Perhaps the most shocking feature was the light scar that cutacross the bridge of his nose and into his plush cheeks.

Shiro let out a breathless, morose laugh. His new appearancewas almost a perfect blend of Kolivan’s and Keith’s fur pattern.

But any good nature he had died the moment the pod docked inthe hanger of the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters, and Shiro followed Ulaz andThace out. Keith raced toward him, then halted in mid-step, barely avoiding thehanger floor. He gazed at Shiro with a sense of uncertainty or perhapswonderment. His nose twitched in a cute, delightful manner, and Shiro’sreturned the gesture, his body losing some of its tension the moment Keith’sscent greeted him.

Lavender and pine, desert willow and musk. Pack.

Keith scowled at Shiro’s initial disgusting reek, but hisface brightened a second later. He jumped into Shiro’s awaiting arms, long legslatching onto his brother’s. Their tails wrapped together in a dance of reliefand glee, and Keith began to purr and rub his cheek vigorously against Shiro’sshoulder.

If anything, he seemed to accept and celebrate Shiro’s newfound Galra-ness.

When hard footfalls pounded the hanger floor, Keith slowlydisengaged from Shiro and backed away. Their leader, their father, Kolivanapproached in a measured stride, eyes scrutinizing every claw, every wound withhard eyes. Shiro’s ears drooped, though he refused to look away, his gaze uncertain.Weary.

Kolivan’s tense demeanor softened, his eyes shimmering withrelief or pity, Shiro couldn’t tell. His large claws lifted to take Shiro’scheeks in the curve of them, and he ducked his head, jaw dipping to caressShiro’s.

Shiro’s eyes fluttered shut, the reassuring scent of hispack seeping into his nose, and Kolivan continued his ministrations. Everyswipe, every scent unwound the tension from Shiro’s muscles, relaxing him intoa state of utter euphoria and comfort. Still, Kolivan continued, wetting thetips of his fingerpads and running them along Shiro’s cheeks and nose, abouthis eyes and into his hair. He brushed and cleaned the matted fur, washed awaythe blood and fluids, cleaned his elder son and reclaimed him as one of theirown.

As Shiro relaxed enough for the exhaustion to set into hisbones, Antok came to support him, massive arm swinging about Shiro’s waist tohold him up. Kolivan continued, his ministrations meticulous and thorough untilShiro was completely assimilated into their pack once more. Ulaz and Thace cameforward, each offering caresses and markings, while Keith came up behind Shiro,entwining their tails again.

None of them left Shiro’s side that night, creating a pilein the brothers’ quarters. They huddled upon the couch and on the floor,cradling Shiro within their still larger forms, though he rivaled them inheight and weight now.

Keith lay with his head in Shiro’s lap, tail wrapped aboutShiro’s knee, while Shiro propped up against Ulaz with his legs in Antok’s lap,his head resting upon Thace’s shoulder.

His tail was wrapped about Kolivan’s wrist, its end slidingup and down the sensitive inside. In response, Kolivan carded his claws throughShiro’s hair, eliciting deep, euphoric purrs from the newly-turned Galra.

Shiro guessed he should have felt something akin toembarrassment, but his soul refused. With the soothing scent of his packsurrounding him, their gentle breaths setting a calming rhythm, and theirreassuring warmth cradling him in the most intimate embrace he’d ever received,Shiro felt at total peace.  

There was no talk of further experiments, of trying toreverse Haggar’s work, and though Shiro wondered from time to time why thewitch would decide to give him this gift, he dismissed the train of thought.

Until after the war.

Until Zarkon came to live with Kolivan and the Blade.

“It was not for you,” Zarkon admitted, dipping in hisfingers into Shiro’s fur and scratching behind his ears. “Once she discoveredyou were Kolivan’s – and mine – she wanted to assimilate you fully into theempire. This would have given you the same rights as any full-blooded Galra and allowedyou to ascend to the throne.”

“I believe she was also curious as to who would win,”Kolivan added later. “Lotor or you? And she wanted to place you on equal footingto find out.”

Hm. There wasn’t a competition, really.

After all, he was the Champion. Lotor was simply the one-time emperor pro tem.

More from the Blade!Shiro series.