#tiffany is again supplying us with the goods!

[milou-in-space]

Hyvää juhannusta 🇫🇮

Via Valtteri‘s Instagram (23.06.23)

[blushcoloreddreams]

The history of engagement rings and how diamonds became the norm

While today engagement rings represent a symbol of love and eternal commitment, historians believe the first engagement rings appeared in Ancient Rome - more as a symbol of a legal contract than love itself. But it’s only much later when we have the first introduction of diamonds for engagement rings.

The first diamond engagement ring known in history was given by Maximilian I, a Habsburg, in 1497. He traveled to meet his bride and brought her a diamond ring as a gift. This marked the beginning of the tradition of using diamonds in engagement rings. At that time, the only place to find diamonds was in India, making them extremely rare and expensive, something truly reserved for royalty.

As we move through history, we see a period when engagement rings fell out of fashion and were replaced by more elaborate, detailed wedding rings. Later, engagement rings came back into style. In 1840, with Queen Victoria's engagement, the tradition of the engagement ring became more consistent. However, the engagement ring she received is not the one that comes to mind today. Our imagination is filled with Tiffany's solitaire ring, often seen in movies. But Queen Victoria received a ring in the shape of a snake, as the snake was a symbol of eternal love. The main gemstone in the snake's head was an emerald, which is quite different from what we're used to. Why an emerald? It was the gemstone for her birth month, leading to another tradition: using colored gemstones in rings based on a person's birth month.

Returning to the subject of diamonds, we fast-forward to 1887 when diamonds were discovered in South Africa. This shifted the market away from India as the sole supplier, flooding the market with diamonds, and their prices dropped significantly. Something that had once been exclusive to royalty became accessible to the middle class, and diamonds became very popular.

In 1889, a company called De Beers emerged - which you may have heard of because celebrities often being seen wearing De Beers diamonds on red carpets - came to dominate the diamond market, controlling the supply. It established a monopoly in South Africa, and eventually, worldwide. To this day, only a few companies control the entire diamond trade, and diamonds remain so expensive not because they are extremely rare, but because the market is artificially controlled to prevent prices from dropping.

If you think in terms of rarity, for example, a Paraíba tourmaline is rarer than a diamond. Diamonds can be found in various countries, but Paraíba tourmalines are only found in specific regions of Brazil and a few locations in Africa. They are not as widespread. So, the high value of diamonds is not due to rarity. That’s not to say diamonds aren’t beautiful—they have many desirable characteristics, such as their hardness on the Mohs scale. Many marketing campaigns have been built around this.

In the 1930s, De Beers launched a campaign to have celebrities wear diamonds on the red carpet. This was during a time of war and the Great Depression when couples couldn't afford diamonds and were opting for other gemstones in their rings. By showcasing celebrities flaunting diamonds, they rekindled the desire and made it seem like a good investment for couples. The campaign worked very well, with sales increasing by 50% in the following years.

In the 1950s, De Beers launched another campaign, one we still repeat today: “Diamonds are forever,” drawing a connection between the diamond’s eternal nature and the commitment a person makes at that moment in their life. The campaign was a huge success, and we still repeat the phrase today, with sales soaring again. All of this solidified the diamond in our imagination as the perfect gemstone for engagement rings.

In 1953, the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes starring Marilyn Monroe included that iconic scene with the pink dress where she sings and dances about diamonds being a girl's best friend. These are ideas we still repeat today, showing the powerful influence this has on our imagination. Movies often reinforce this idea, but I’m here to tell you that the value of diamonds is heavily influenced by market control, which limits supply to keep prices high, and by decades of marketing campaigns designed to create desire. I’m not saying you should stop liking diamonds—they remain a wonderful, beautiful gemstone with incredible brilliance. I just want you to know that they’re not your only option. If you like a colored gemstone that represents you, you can use it in your engagement ring.

Even looking at royal engagement rings, not just Queen Victoria's with an emerald, but also Princess Eugenie’s with a pink sapphire, and of course, the most famous engagement ring in the world, which belonged to Lady Diana and was passed down to Kate Middleton. It features a blue sapphire as the main gemstone, surrounded by diamonds and set in white gold. But what defines that ring is the blue sapphire. So, if you like a colored gemstone, feel free to put it in your ring without shyness or do you think Princess Kate is wrong or being tacky?

[crackrodent]

Check out the rest of my Flufftober library!

Parts of a Sinner

Valentino was pissing you off today. You were glad most days to me a mid earner. Flying under his radar. Unfortunately, SpiderCunt pissed him off and now the lowest earners are on vacation respawning. So now you need to get some extra money fast to earn your keep under his care.

Some of the other actors helped set you up with one of the higher-paying clients they utilized when Val ran low on their personal poison and they had to pay on their own. It was days like this when you were glad your drug of choice was always in high supply with him. It didn’t help you now though. Still had to turn in the difference to match the rates everyone else brought in with just their videos. Lucky bastards.

You make your way to the apartment number Tiffany gave you, warning that she hadn't seen the guy in years. The door is covered in a translucent green crust. You sign before putting on your big-money smile and knocking. not the worst thing you've ever touched but hey, you haven’t seen him yet. Could still break records.

When he opened the door you were not surprised to see him in a trench coat. You were disappointed however to see his four arms. But they didn’t really hold your attention long either. His murky-greenish yellow skin reminded you of the color of early autumn leaves. It was your favorite time of year on earth.

“So, I heard someone here was looking for a good time?” You quote the same script you always do. Makes it go faster you think, having a system.

He stands off to the side and gestures for you to enter. You walk in and see a homey little studio apartment. The wooden floors creak with each step you take.

The living room, if you could call it that, was simple. A full-sized mattress pushed against the wall that was going to be a struggle to work with with a TV hung on the wall to the left of it. That was it. There wasn’t enough space left to even justify buying a rug.

You sit down on the bed and he takes off his coat and stands in front of you. You have seen worse but he makes the list. His parts looked alright but not exactly the kind one would look forward to touching.

“Can I call you Bertha?” He asks. You do not like that idea but business is business.

“You can call me whatever you want sugar,” You say as seductively as you can, while looking into his pink eyes hanging down near the top of his slug head. His eyes started to water as you finished your line.

“Sugar?” You had seen criers before but he did not meet the profile. “What’s wrong baby?” You reach out to touch his shoulder and he leans into your touch.

“I-” he sniffles “She used to call me sugar.” His four arms pull you into a standing hug as his eyes start pouring tears into your hair. “Before-” His breathing was getting shaky. You almost felt bad for him. He was a pitiful man.

“Before what sugar?” You say and cringe as the tears start soaking into your light t-shirt.

“He-” The slug took a deep breath, “He turned her against me.”

Oh shit. Tea? In this economy?

You start getting too curious for your own good again. You can already feel your feline ears twitch in anticipation for the rest of the story. “How about you tell me some more names? Start with yours maybe?”

“Barry. My name is Barry Trench-”

“Hold on!” You interrupt, like a bitch, “Like Tom Trench, yall related or something?” you almost laugh but you feel him nod into your shoulder. “Is he who-” You feel the nod again.

“He married Bertha. She was my childhood friend. But she was a couple of years older than me. She was ready for marriage and planned to wait for me but my brother convinced her father to make her marry him instead.” Berry was spilling all the gossip.

You wondered if this could be useful if you sold this info to Vox but the foam building up around the sinner’s eyes hurt to see. Gently you wipe his eyes.

“And she said yes?”

“It was the last decade of the 1800s, if her father said to do it, she was going to.” He let you go and together you sat back down on the bed. “I had a bad reputation in town. My brother and I were close as kids and he, uh, he had a habit of looking in windows of people.” You grab one of his lower arms and watch as a small smile forms on his face, “We looked pretty similar up on Earth. The first time he got caught he had been borrowing a book of mine and he left it behind in the chaos I guess.”

“Well, That’s pretty shitty of him to not fess up.”

“Yeah, it was the day our brotherhood died. We weren’t the same after that, Tom and I. It was when I met Bertha. My Pa didn’t like me being friends with the girls. Thought it would seem indecent. He knew the rumors weren’t true. Tom really didn’t like seeing me with Bertha.”

“The bastard took her just to piss you off then?” You were going to start getting your news from Instagram. Channel 666 News was not gonna profit off your views anymore, that's for sure.

He laughed at that and your heart felt a little lighter than it had been as of late. You feel a small laugh escape your lips too.

“Yeah. They only ever had one kid together. Looked just like her luckily.” Berry smiled at you, “I never married. She was the only one for me. I always hoped I would find her again when I made it to heaven, thought I did alright.”

Still holding onto your hand he leaned back on the bed monologuing. “She died before me. Started as a cough, and got worse. I was thinking about her while working six weeks later. Factories are not safe places to get distracted while working.”

You scoot over to look at him better. “You find her down here?”

“She did do alright. I just stumbled I guess. I wasn’t perfect then but I am much worse now.” He looked at you with a guilty look on his face, “ I flashed a random woman today, she was just singing!”

You bite your lip to hold back your laugh. “Who the fuck just goes around hell singing? Fucking Lilith wannabe, am I right?”

He starts laughing again. His laugh is a bit like a deep chuckle and a dying frog combined. Terrible in concept but it hit your ears just right.

Barry wasn't the best man, but you think he could hit the mid-list.

[catierambles]

Blood Moon Ch.20

Pete pulled him into a hug when he and the others arrived the next day.

“I’m good, Petey.” Sy said and Pete nodded, pulling away. “You tell the others?”

“Yeah.” Pete said and Sy looked at them as they stood in the entryway.

“It wasn’t real, Kyle.” Brian said, “We’re right here. Unharmed.”

“I know.” He said, “It’s just been a while since I had that nightmare and definitely not in that flavor. C’mon, Annie made wings.”

“Was wonderin’ what that smell was.” Jake said, pushing into the house, grabbing his shoulder on the way past, “Smells damn good.”

“Woman can’t eat real food without gettin’ sick,” Sy said, “But she’s one hell of a cook.”

“I also made pepperoni pizza rolls.” Annalisa said, coming out from the kitchen, “They’re in the oven, should be done in a few more minutes.”

“Woman, you spoil me.” Sy said as he moved past her, kissing her cheek.

“This house is awesome.” Mike said, looking around. “Real Addams Family vibe. I love it.”

“When’d you have it built, again?” Sy asked her as they moved into the living room, the guys sitting down while she stayed standing.

“When this city was just a dirt road and a few buildings.” She said, “The locals were...apprehensive when I moved here, but the builders I hired were from the area and they were grateful for the work, and the jobs I created when I started supplying funds to stabilize the economy.”

“Wait.” Brian said, “Holy shit, I thought you looked familiar. You’re Marybeth Caulfield. There’s a picture of you with the mayor at the time in the local museum.”

“A previous moniker, yes.” She said with a small smile.

“Hold up.” Sy said, “Marybeth Caulfield. We learned about her in school. This town was dyin’ a slow death and then she moves in and there was basically an industry boom. That was you?” She just nodded. “Holy fuck. Well thanks babe.”

“You’re welcome, now get comfy and I’ll bring out food.” She said with an amused smile, “The game will be on any minute now.”

Later that night, Sy sat in the security room of Pendulum, keeping an eye on the cameras and the VIP booths. It was a pretty slow night, activity wise. A couple assholes who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer before they were “encouraged” to leave, a guy selling weed out of the men’s bathroom, nothing horribly exciting. Someone familiar caught his eye and he leaned forward, turning the dial on the control panel to zoom in.

“Oh no fuckin’ shot.” He said and tapped the ear piece in his ear. “Hey, Annie?”

“Yeah?” She responded.

“Tiffany is here with her friends.” He said and there was a beat of silence.

“Understood.” She said, “I doubt she knows you’re working here now, but she knows I own the club. Leave her to her business for now, but if she tries to start trouble, let me know.”

“Got it.” He said, “Want me to stay in the hub?”

“For now, but use your best judgement and step in if need be.”

“Got it.” He said again and relaxed in his chair. While he didn’t focus on what she was doing, he did keep her in the corner of his eye as he kept watch on the other screens.

“Sy.” It was a member of security in his ear.

“Go.” He replied.

“Got some trouble at the bar.” He went to the screen for the camera behind the bar just in time to see Tiffany throw her drink in Ethans’ face.

“Call Annie, I’m on my way.” He said pushing up from his chair. He met her in the hallway and she did not looked pleased. Not that he blamed her, he wasn’t pleased himself.

“She always this charming at clubs?” She asked.

“Must be in a mood.” Sy said and they moved through the patrons towards the bar, Tiffany’s shrill complaints getting louder. “Tiffany!” He barked out when they got there and she actually jumped despite the volume of the music. “You wanna tell me why you assaulted my bartender?”

“What the fuck are you doing here, Kyle?” She asked indignantly.

“Head of Security, now answer the damn question.”

“He said they didn’t have extras, but I know he’s lying.”

“Extras?” Sy asked, looking at Ethan who was still wiping alcohol off his face with a towel.

“Party favors.” He said simply.

"Tiffany, I don't allow drugs in my establishments." Annalisa said simply. "But you knew that."

"Oh please." She said, rolling her eyes. "Every club has something."

"I don't tolerate drug use in my clubs," Annalisa said, "And you assaulted one of my staff. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I'm not leaving."

"Tiff, you can leave, or we can remove you." Sy said, "Your choice."

"If any of you touch me, I will scream and the cops will be here." She said and Annalisa sighed.

"Why don't you move somewhere else, instead?" She offered, "How about one of the back VIP rooms? You can bring your friends and your drinks will be comped."

"That's what I thought." Tiffany said, flicking her hair out of her face. "Lead the way." Sy and Annalisa led the group towards the back. "Told you this bitch was a pushover." That made Annalisa's jaw clench but she didn't say anything. They got to the VIP rooms and she turned to her.

"You and your friends can get the fuck out of my club, Tiffany." She said, "I didn't want to cause a scene out there, but I will remove you by force if I have to."

"Listen, bitch." Tiffany said, "One call to my father and I can get this dump closed down, you hear me? One. Call."

"So do it." She said and Tiffany blinked in surprise.

"W-what?" She asked, clearly not having expected that reaction.

"Your father is Judge Tobias Stanwick, yes? Call him. Right now." She didn't move, "I'm waiting."

"O-okay, it's your funeral." She dug her phone out of her bag, unlocking it and selecting a contact.

“Put it on speaker." Annalisa said and she did, the ringing getting louder.

"Tiffany, what happened?" Came the groggy male voice.

"Hi, daddy, I'm at--"

"Hey, Toby." Annalisa said with a smile in her voice and on her face, Tiffany looking at her with shock, "It's Annie. Sorry to bother you."

"Annie? What's going on?"

"In a minute. How's Janice?"

"She's good, was asking about you the other day. I think she may reach out for a get-together."

"It's been far too long, I miss you both."

"We miss you." Tobias said.

"Heard your youngest is going to Harvard Law."

"Yeah, Danny's taking after his old man." Tobias said, pride in his voice.

"It's not Cambridge, but I can forgive him." Annalisa said and he chuckled. "I have a law firm in Manhattan that does paid internships, I'll keep an eye on him. If he keeps his grades up, I'll put him on the short list."

"You don't have to do that, Annie."

"It's not a favor, Toby. He'll have to earn it."

"Thank you."

"Of course. If he's anything like his father in a court room, he'll be one to watch."

"Now, you want to tell me what's going on?"

"Your eldest tried to get illicit substances from my bartender. She threw a drink in his face when he said we don't do that here, and then threatened to have you close my club down when I told her to leave." Annalisa said and there was a moment before he sighed.

"Tiffany..." He said, his voice tight.

"She lying!" Tiffany said, "Also, Kyle is here and--"

"Kyle. The decorated Army Captain you cheated on and then tried to get arrested. You know how many favors I had to pull to keep you from getting arrested for filing a false police report on him?"

"Evenin', Sir." Sy said, figuring that was a good time to speak up.

"Evening, Captain." Tobias said, "You working for Annie?"

"I'm her new Head of Security." Sy said and, with a nod from Annalisa, "I'm also her fiance."

"No shit. Well, congratulations to you both." Tobias said, "I'll tell Janice, you know she'll be overjoyed. We always liked you, son."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Oh, Annie, while I have you on the phone. Did you get an invite to the Governors Ball this year?"

"With the amount I donated to his campaign? Of course I did."

"Yeah, you did get that man elected." Tobias said, “If you're going to attend, bring the Captain, it'd be nice to see the boy again."

"Only if he wants to."

"I'll think about it." Sy said.

"Well, I hope you do decide to come along." Tobias said, "Tiffany, you're leaving her club and you're never going there again. Either of them. Do you understand?"

"But daddy, she--"

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir." She said.

"Good. Annie, I'm sorry about this, she won't bother you or the Captain again." Tobias said.

"I know." Annalisa said, looking at Tiffany. "Good night, Toby."

"Good night, Annie." The call ended and Annalisa gave her a pointed look.

"Get the fuck out of my club."

[broken-clover]

15- Prizes

Trying my hand at writing Bugsnax again. This one has more of a plot but it was still fun to muck about with, having everyone playing games together.

Takes place after the second celebration event with the ghost stories, and after chandlo and snorpy return to Snaxburg. It's mostly Filbo-centric, but it has a little bit of everyone who's currently in town

-

The trouble had all begun when Filbo dragged out the plywood.

After the last attempt at a party devolved into ghost stories and paranoia, he’d apparently decided he had to make up for it somehow with another little shindig. The others had amused him, partly out of pity and partly out of curiosity. Filbo might have been a lousy mayor, but he was at least creative when he wanted to be. Got the paint out and everything.

Still, nobody was quite prepared for whatever had been brewing in his brain until they were summoned to the nightly campfire.

“Um…”

“What the grump did you do,��Fil-Bro?”

Cyan paws awkwardly wound around each other. “I made some games for us to play!” He announced. “Uh, there’s cornhole, there’s horseshoes, and I found enough magnets to make a little fishing game!”

Everyone looked on in grotesque curiosity, like the way one would look at a small, ugly animal. The stalls were visibly handmade and crude, but had enough effort put in to hold together. Filbo had slapped together a tiny carnival, and nobody was quite sure what to do with that fact.

Beffica pointed to a nearby table, stacked high with, to an outsider’s eye, miscellaneous junk of no purpose. “What’s with the table?”

“That? Oh! That’s, uh-” Filbo turned sheepish. “I thought it’d be a little more motivating if I made prizes. A-a lot of it’s just some things I had in storage, but Buddy helped me get some supplies to make stuff!”

“Huh, was wonderin’ what you’d asked me about knitting for…” Gramble said, eyeing a slightly misshapen, knitted approximation of a bunger by the edge of the pile.

Despite his efforts, and enthusiastic grin, nobody seemed particularly enthused themselves. Tiffany, ever the polite one, stepped forward.

“Suppose we can play a coupla rounds, yah?” She glanced at her neighbors. “We’ve all been workin’ real hard lately, a lil’ game might be good fer us!”

“Dibs on the horseshoes!” Chandlo scrambled to the pile. “Tossing metal’s gotta be some great exercise, bro!” He picked up a horseshoe and spun it around on one finger. “C’mon, Snorp-dawg! Let’s work on those arms!”

“Wasting time on frivolities when the Grumpinati are on the move…I’d much rather spend the time with my diagrams, but if you so insist, Chandlo…” Snorpy trailed off after him, far less hesitant than his voice suggested.

“Th- that’s great, you guys!” Filbo perked up. “Beffica, you wanna play a game?”

“Eh.”

“O-oh…” He moved on to the next. “Wiggle, how about you?”

She thought it over for a moment. “Hmm…while not very glamorous, I’ve heard inspiration can come from odd places. As long as it doesn’t get my fur wet, fishing might be fun!”

Filbo handed her a homemade fishing rod. She felt the weight in her paws, and looked over at the prize table. “And besides, I could do with a new accessory. It’s hard to find anything fashionable here, but those hairclips might just give my look a new bit of flair!”

Beffica immediately snapped to attention. “Hey, hold on there, those clips are mine!”

“Oh, pssh! I can hear them caaaalling out to me, darling! It’s only natural.”

“You are on, Wigglebottom!” Beffica looked over to their host. “How do I win those things, squeeb?”

“Well, uh, I was gonna have whoever won pick whatever prize they wanted from the table, nothing really planned out. All the fish have numbers on the bottom, whichever of you catches the bigger number wins!”

“Wait a sec, it’s that easy?” Cromdo butted in.

“Uhh, yeah, why?”

He grinned, showing off his fangs. “Simple economics, Fiddlepie. If I win that little trinket, then I can make those two fight each other for the highest bid! It’s supply and demand! I supply, then demand a big payload for it!”

“I dunno if that’s-”

“Outta the way, ladies! Lemme show you how an expert fishes!” Cromdo rushed by, nearly butting the two head-on to make space for himself.

Despite that, Filbo had cheered up considerably. “They’re actually playing the games! Gramble, what about-

“Oh, blast it!”

Everyone ducked as a horseshoe narrowly sailed over their heads. Snorpy crossed his arms and scowled. “This accursed thing is clearly defective, most likely a grumpinati creation designed solely to deceive me! I cannot get it anywhere near the pegs!”

“Chill, Snorp-dawg, deep breaths. You’re letting go of ‘em too late.” Picking up another shoe, Chandlo stood behind the other grumpus and directed his arm. “You gotta focus on where it’s going. C’mon. Feel the horseshoe, be the horseshoe.”

“Maybe bein’ near those two ain’t a good idea…” Gramble doddered off towards the cornhole board. This looks simple enough, ah guess.” He picked up a homemade beanbag from the top of the pile.

“You get three beanbags! Just toss ‘em at the board, and wherever they land, that’s your score!” Said Filbo.

“Uh-huh. Jus’ toss ‘em,” after a few test swings, he tossed one gently at the board, as though he could injure it. The bag limply slid along the surface, stopping around halfway up. “Five points! Nicely done, if I do say so!”

Tiffany clapped her paws together. “Good job! Mind if I give it a go?”

Filbo winced at the sound of someone growling. Beffica waggled the fishing rod over the little pool of fake fish, but was struggling to catch any.

“Don’t look at me like that, squeeb! Your game’s broken!”

“Sheesh, Beff, c’mon. That’s not how ya hold a fishing rod!” Before he could attempt a reply, Cromdo stepped in, doing a quick flick of the wrist on both hands to toss the fishing line down. “Like that, see? Gotta use your wrists more.”

“...Wrists, huh?” She tried an experimental swing, copying the salesman.

Another beanbag thumped against the board. “Wa-ha! I got four points! But I’ll get better aim next time, Gramble, so don’t you go thinkin’ you’ve got this in the bag, yah?”

She gestured for her husband to join. “C’mon, Wamby, it’ll be fun!”

“No.”

“But look at that lil’ organizer right there! Weren’tcha sayin’ you wanted something like that for yer gardening supplies?”

His expression didn’t change, but there was a twinkle in his eyes. “Fine. If that’s what I gotta do to get it…”

Still, he stood back, unengaged. The two players gave another toss, with Triffany scoring a six, and Gramble’s bag skidding along until it settled right by the open hole by the top, scoring nine.

“Ha! Already gettin’ it right by the hole! I must be some kinda cornhole expert!”

A scoff came from behind them.

“Feh. Y’all ain’t foolin’ anyone, you wanna see a real cornhole expert do his thing?”

Triffany lit up with a pleased grin, tossing Wambus a bag. “Wanna put yer snaks where yer mouth is, eh?”

“With pleasure.” Without any warmup, without any practice swing, Wambus snapped his wrist and sent the bag soaring. It slid up the slick surface of the board, butting into Gramble’s last bag and falling neatly into the hole with a hollow thud.

“W-wha-” Gramble’s mouth dropped open.

“Wamby, I-” Tiffany was equally shocked, eyes wide. “I didn’t know ya had that kinda aim!”

Wambus blew on his knuckles and buffed them against his vest. “Cornhole. Showed up at every county fair I ever went to. Won my first trowel as a young’un beating the town record.”

“Gosh, whenever I think I’ve learned everything there is to know about ya, there’s still surprises!”

Filbo looked on in pride. Next door, Snorpy had finally gotten the hang of horseshoe-throwing thanks to Chandlo’s guidance, and the two were playfully bantering as they tried to outdo one another. Meanwhile, both Wiggle and Beffica were still attempting to copy Cromdo’s skilled line-casting, and Cromdo, who looked far cheerier than Filbo had seen him, probably ever, was soaking up the attention of playing teacher. Outside of friendly teasing, everyone was getting along. After last time, he hadn’t been expecting much success, but this was more a success than he could have imagined.

[marvelmaniac715]

Things Chucky Does To Annoy Nica In Their Shared Brain (Nica still has hands):

Recounts the plot of the latest South Park or Rick and Morty episode he’s watched (he watches a LOT of tv when he has the body, when he isn’t killing that is)

He pulls up the most embarrassing memories he can find in Nica’s subconscious and painstakingly analyses them like he’s writing an essay on that particular memory, he doesn’t stop until Nica begins to cry

Complains about various things that annoy him, loudly and obnoxiously until Nica is hitting herself in the head with a pillow to shut him up

Brags about his kids and brings up the fact that Nica will never see Alice again or have her own kids, this upsets her more than it annoys her, but Chucky takes great enjoyment from it

“Junior double triple whopper” basically the whole thing over and over again until Nica calls out to Tiffany so she can get a distraction from it

Tries to recall the plot of Peter Pan and tells the story to Nica, constantly interrupting himself to say that he really resonates with Peter yet can understand Captain Hook’s motivation, because kids are annoying and he too would kill them

Ranks his top ten favourite murders, either by him or by serial killers he admires in extreme detail

Delivers a monologue length autobiographical account of his life,  being sure to linger over the months he spent with Nica’s mother and sister because he knows it annoys her

Sings songs (badly) there’s a lot of Queen, and a lot of Meatloaf, he particularly enjoys Bat Out of Hell

Chucky: Like a bat out of hell I’ll be gone when the morning comes!-

   Nica: I wish you were!

   Chucky: Not happening!

Chucky believes heavily in conspiracy theories (you can’t tell me he doesn’t) so he explains to Nica (entirely seriously) about the dangers of the Illuminati and that aliens are going to invade, so tinfoil hats are humanity’s only defence

Rants about Andy Barclay, this isn’t specifically intended to annoy Nica, he just gets really angry whenever he thinks about Andy, and this inadvertently annoys Nica because he rants for a while

Tries to convince Nica to get into killing, because he knows she’ll never agree but he thinks it’s fun to watch her squirm

Chucky used to be good at art, and in the rare moments Nica draws or paints to pass the time (or when Tiffany gives her art supplies as something to do) he criticises everything she does, sometimes taking control of her hands to erase the lines she drew and start over

Recites memes that he learned when he had control of the body, specifically Family Guy and South Park quotes (he loves “Dancing, walking, rearranging furniture”)

Sometimes when he’s bored, he forces Nica to play I Spy, but the things he ‘spies’ are always obscure and random, like the tiniest speck of dirt on the floor at the other end of the room, and he won’t stop until she guesses, it can take hours

[inxthexshadowxofxdeath]

@crazedhatesoul

Cab felt bad for how quickly he'd left the Gray's when they'd first moved in. He didn't want to intrude, but didn't want them to feel like he wasn't invested in helping them with whatever they needed to get settled. He'd been particularly busy the past couple of weeks and it seemed the Gray's weren't church-going folk so Cab barely had the opportunity to check in.

Better late than never.

"Brother Gray." He offered a firm handshake, free hand patting Marcel's shoulder, "It's good to see you again... I wanted to apologize for not circlin' back with you and Sister Tiffany sooner. I do hope you found the kit useful." As was customary for every single new resident in town Cab made sure to put together some supplies and ration cards and a little card with the important addresses in town including the church, just in case they ever needed anything. "Are you enjoying the festivities? I'm sure being paired with anyone other than your wife wasn't exactly how you were planning on spending your Valentine's Day. You are allowed to mingle, don't worry."

[fardell24b]

Spider Quinn 02 With Great Power

02 With Great Power

Sandi Griffin was annoyed. Quinn was late to the Fashion Club meeting! Quinn then entered the house, breathing heavily. “You’re ten minutes late!”

“Sorry, something came up!”

“Meeting starts: 415,” Stacy said.

It was a usual Fashion Club meeting.

“Meeting concludes: 4:55,” Stacy said.

Stacy met Quinn downstairs. “Are you fine?” she asked with concern.

“Yes,” Quinn answered.

“You seem different.”

“I’m not any different. Same old Quinn.”

Stacy was uncertain. As Quinn left the house, she reflected on Quinn eating more than usual at Lunch.

Quinn closed the door and left the porch before looking around. ‘No one,’ she thought, before producing webbing and swinging up onto the Griffin’s roof. She noted that her stance was improving.

As she swung away from the Griffin’s place through the trees towards home, she thought on what her friends’ reactions to her new powers would be. ‘I don’t think telling Stacy would be a good idea. She would panic. Sandi would at least tell her mother, if not the entire school. Tiffany wouldn’t understand.’

Upon arriving at home and entering through one of her windows, Quinn looked in one of her mirrors. ‘What else can I use these powers for?’ she wondered.

The next day, Lawndale awoke to find that winter had come early, for there was significant snow on the ground. (But not significant enough for a ‘snow day’ school closure.)

“There’s something up with Quinn,” Daria said to Jane as they headed towards school.

“That isn’t news,” Jane responded.

“I mean it, Jane. Something is up with her. Something new.”

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“It’s a hunch,” Daria admitted.

Meanwhile, Quinn and Jake were having breakfast. Quinn was looking at the large amount of food on her plate as she started eating. ‘I suppose all that webbing has to come from somewhere.’ She thought about the swinging. ‘And I’m getting a lot of exercise.’

“I haven’t seen you eat so much, Quinn,” Jake said.

“Maybe my appetite has improved,” Quinn responded.

Jake wasn’t sure.

“Gotta go!” Quinn said as she left the house. She saw that her father was still in thought.

As she swung towards school, she found that the snow made it more difficult.

She arrived on the school roof just before the bell rung. “Just in time.”

At lunch time, Sandi noticed that Quinn was again eating a lot. “Gee, Quinn, a little hungry are you?”

Quinn glared back before saying; “I’m exercising a little more. That’s why my appetite is bigger.”

Sandi noticed Stacy giving a dubious look.

After school, Quinn was again on the roof. “What am I becoming? What would happen if others found out? I need some way to hide myself as I swing using the webs.”

Jane saw Quinn where she didn’t expect to see her, in a stationary supplies store. “What is she up to?” she wondered as she saw her buy a sketchbook. Was it something to do with Daria’s hunch from that morning?

As Quinn left the Mall, she heard a car radio say that there was a snowstorm approaching Lawndale. ‘I have to hurry,’ she thought.

Daria heard a sound from her room. She went and closed her door. ‘It’s not my business,’ she thought.

Quinn closed her window, to stop the snow coming in. She then opened the sketchbook and started work.

By the time she had finished her first sketch the storm had started. She looked out and saw that her father had just got home. ‘I’ll get the fabric tomorrow,’ she decided.

At dinner, both Daria and Helen noticed that Quinn was eating as much as the previous night.

Quinn buys a large amount of fabric after school the next day.

It would take her two evenings to complete the first version of the costume. She tries it on experimentally. ‘I know it needs more work, but it will do for now,’ she thought.

“A snowstorm warning has been announced for Lawndale and Oakwood.”

“I can get back in time,” Quinn said, looking at the clouds approaching the town. She then swung off the house towards downtown.

However, as she got caught in the snowstorm, Quinn realised that her powers didn’t work as well in the cold. “Great!”

She had to walk home, and got home late.

The next evening, she opened the sketchbook again. “I need more layers,” she said.

That night, Joey rang the Morgendorffers’ doorbell. He wanted to know if Quinn wanted to go on a date with him.

Her father opened the door. “Quinn! Your date is here!”

“Actually, Actually, I was asking Quinn if she would like a date,” Joey said.

Quinn came down the stairs, after hearing her father call out. She realised that she hadn’t been on a date since before the bite. “I’ll come, Joey!”

“Cool!” Joey said.

They went to one of the smaller restaurants. Joey didn’t notice that Quinn had ordered a large meal until hers came.

“Quinn, you’re going to eat all of that?” Joey asked.

“Yes,” Quinn answered.

“You usually eat less.”

“I’ve found that I have a bigger appetite since what happened,” Quinn explained.

“Oh,”

“Like, something might have changed. Or I just want more. I’,m not sure.”

“It’s fine. I was just curious.”

The rest of the date went well.

The next day, at lunch, Joey decided to tell Jeffy and Jamie about the date.

“How did it go?” Jeffy asked.

“It was the usual kind of date,” Joey answered.

“There’s something else,” Jamie said.

“She had a larger meal than usual, that’s all,” Joey responded.

“Oh,” Jamie said.

“So, she is better, after that Spider bite?” Jeffy asked.

“I think so,” Joey said.

“I’m still worried,” Jamie said.

“Then you can ask her on a date,” Jeffy said.

“I shall,” Jamie decided.

Jake Morgendorffer answered the door for the second night in a row. “Quinn! Your date is here!”

Quinn came downstairs. “Again?” she asked.

“As usual, I’m sure,” Jake said as he opened the door.

“Jamie?” Quinn asked.

“Hi, Quinn,” Jamie said. “You want to come out somewhere?”

“Of course,” Quinn said.

Quinn and Jamie went to a different restaurant than she went with Joey the previous night.

Once again it happened after their meals arrived.

“You’re eating more than usual,” Jamie said.

“Am I?” Quinn asked.

“Yes.”

“Joey said the same thing.”

“I’m concerned, Quinn,” Jamie said.

“I’m fine.”

Jamie then looked like he didn’t believe her.

The rest of the date went as usual.

When she got home, Quinn put the finishing touches on the costume. She looked at the clock. “10:13. It’s not too late.” She then put it on, and left via the side window.

As she swung through an older part of Lawndale, Quinn wondered what exactly she was going to use her powers for. ‘Like, I’m not sure.’ She then went down to the street level and saw some fliers. “What’s this?”

Lawndale Ultimate Wrestling.

Winner takes home $1000!

“I suppose that is one thing,”

There was more information on the reverse side, so she decided to take it home and read it.

The next day, she swung to the address listed on the flyer.

She decided to not take the costume off. She didn’t want anyone to find out it was her.

“Name?” the woman behind the counter asked.

Quinn saw that she was goth, wearing all black and pigtails. She found that it worked. “Amazing GirlSpider.”

“GirlSpider? Doesn’t sound that amazing.”

“I guess not,” Quinn responded. “SpiderGirl then.”

“SpiderGirl,” the goth responded and wrote it down without a space.

“You get a lot of costumed people?” SpiderGirl asked.

“Yes. Mostly luchadores, or those who are imitating such.”

“Right.”

Quinn then then headed home again. But she found that the webs didn’t work as well in the heavy snow. Then there was a strong reaction from her Spider Sense! ‘Uh oh!’

She changed direction. But a few minutes later, there was a gunshot. She saw a strip mall in the distance. She could lose them there.

After arriving at the strip mall and running amongst the people there, she lost the assailant.

She then headed home.

“Who was that?” she wondered after closing her window.

She wanted to prepare for the wrestling match, not whoever wanted to shoot a mysterious figure swinging through trees. “Maybe I’ll make the costume brighter.”

Over the next week, Quinn prepared for the wrestling match, although she did look out for the mysterious assailant.

Others were still concerned for her regarding her increased appetite…

She does do well enough in the Genetics test.

“Quinn!” her father called as she went to the door.

“Yes, Daddy?”

“We need to talk.”

“I have a date.”

“We haven’t really talked since you got sent home after that field trip.”

“Really?”

“So, I’ll take you to wherever the date is.”

“Chez Pierre,” Quinn responded. It was close to where she was going.

“I know things are changing for you,” her father said after they had turned off Glen Oaks Lane.

“Not this again! Mom told me!”

“Not the birds and the bees. Something else.”

“I see,” Quinn said.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you.”

Quinn looked away. He was as clueless as ever! But she did hear what he said next.

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

As she walked from Chez Pierre towards the wrestling arena, her father’s words were on her mind. What did they mean. However, she then focused on winning the prize money.

“And now, the Wimp Crusher against the Amazing SpiderGirl!”

The Amazing SpiderGirl had prepared. She had used the basement to practice when she was sure no one else was home. There was some damage down there, but nothing she couldn’t get any boys to fix. She had also had done ballet and gymnastics when she was younger, along with other physical culture practice, including aerobics. She had also started yoga classes with the Fashion Club. As such she was quite flexible and nimble. Certainly a lot more adept at moving about than the quite large so-called ‘Wimp Crusher.’

As such the audience was treated to something that was more like a chaotic dance production than the straight up crush-fest that they were used to. It helped that the Amazing SpiderGirl seemingly had a lot more energy than her opponent, who was tiring after each failed attempt at nailing her to the floor.

Thus the girl won, hardly getting a hit on her, due to the Spider Sense giving prewarning. Her hits on the opponent went to places where she knew pressure points were, thus avoiding any need for physical wrangling.

“Winner is ‘The Amazing SpiderGirl!’

She collected her cash. But shortly afterwards someone held up the cashier.

“Hey! SpiderGirl Help!”

“Not my problem! Got to go!” SpiderGirl said before leaving. But she did catch more than a glimpse of the assailant.

She arrived back at Chez Pierre and waited. However, after more than half an hour of waiting, her father still wasn’t there.

Suddenly her improved hearing picked up the sounds of police sirens nearby. She felt weird, as if the Spider Sense was acting up. She decided to go and investigate.

She turned a corner and her heart started beating rapidly. For she saw a familiar Lexus pulled over at the side of the road, surrounded in Police tape. She ran forwards.

Officer Xanthe Peterson saw the redhead approaching. “Woah, girl! This is a crime scene! Someone’s been shot!”

“Shot?”

“There was an attempted car jacking, and the driver was shot before the assailant ran off.”

“That’s my father’s car!” the girl cried.

“Father? Your last name’s Morgendorffer?”

“Quinn Morgendorffer.”

“Accompany me,” Peterson said as an ambulance pulled up.

The female officer lead Quinn up to the car, where her father was lying next to it on the road. “Daddy!” she cried.

Her  father stirred. “Quinn!”

“Daddy!” Quinn said, crying more.

“Remember, With great power… great responsibility.” He then became still. Too still. The paramedics moved in.

The next few minutes would be blurred in Quinn’s memory. The paramedics tried their best, but…

Quinn ran from the scene after Peterson gave her the dreadful news.

Jake Morgendorffer was dead.

[aggimaginary]

The Bad Guys: New Beginnings, New Normal chapter 7 (Vigilantes)

At night, the Bad Guys felt proud of themselves. Their bedrooms were done, and they cleaned up for the rest of the day throwing trash and debris.

When they were done, they put their cleaning supplies aside, and met up on the couch,

"Well done, fellas. I think this calls for a celebration!" Wolf announced as everyone cheered proudly for themselves and each other for all their hard work.

"What should we do? We'll get some cake?" Piranha asked.

"Going out to eat?" Shark suggested.

"Have a sleepover?!" Hornet squealed.

"Or maybe we should sit down, watch TV, and relax," Snake said as he took the TV remote.

Tarantula rolled her eyes, and admitted, "For once, I agree with your relaxing suggestion."

When everyone laughed in agreement, Snake turned the TV on, and, just in time, breaking news showed up on-screen.

"Whaddup! This is Tiffany Fluffit, Channel 6 action news!" The reporter, Tiffany, announced, "Breaking news! We inform anyone near the Woodsville Museum to stay clear of it. A group of terrorists has took over it and are holding the guests hostages!"

"Wait, what?" Wolf was shocked about this news as the rest of the crew were horrified. Usually, they like a good crime, but a dangerous kind was too much, even for them.

They continued to listen more as Tiffany added more information to the news, "We just received the message that they are threatening to detonate a bomb device if the government doesn't give up their position to them. The government are trying to solve the problem in the break-neck of time, but the bomb would not only destroy the entire museum. Police cops are already at the scene, but taking careful action to ensure none of the hostages get hurt."

The Bad Guys just stared at the TV with their horrified faces as they couldn't believe there are people who could hurt or kill innocent people, and caused destruction that can lead to suffering of others.

"There are innocent people inside!" Shark exclaimed in worry.

Wolf then got off the couch, and theorized more before walking towards the window, "And if the cops charge in there without thinking of a good plan, the building will explode, and everyone inside will be killed," he sighed then turned back to his friends, "We have to do something."

The rest of the Bad Guys didn't know what Wolf meant, until Shark, Piranha, Tarantula, and Hornet gasped loudly in realization.

"You mean..." Tarantula wanted to guess, but she was cut off when Snake slithered himself off the couch.

Snake approached Wolf, and reasoned with him, "Whoa, whoa, Wolf, I thought we agree we won't do this again. It's just one time, and we won't do it again."

"Snake, come on, we don't care for anyone before, but we won't let innocent people die," Wolf explained.

"Well, I was thinking about us too, Wolf. We'll put our lives at risk if we do something about that bomb threat. There are many possibilities if we go out there and save those people; we could be killed too, we could get discovered, we would get framed for a crime we didn't commit. Face it, Wolf. I don't want to cause more problems for all of us," Snake admitted with concern. Despite not being the nice one in the team, he still cared for his friends, and after everything they've been through a year ago, he didn't want anything bad to happen to his friends.

"Okay, okay, fine," Wolf sighed, I guess those terrorists are gonna be labeled as the new Bad Guys."

"Yes, yes, I think they'll—" Snake stopped, then swung around to look at his friend for clarification, "What? What did you say?"

"Oh, did I tell you about the consequences?" Wolf inquired casually, "If those gangsters succeeded with their evil plans, they will be titled as the new Bad Guys, and we will call ourselves as... well, either the 'Good Guys' or... just regular guys."

Shark gasped, "If we're not the Bad Guys, what should be our team's name?"

"I don't know! I don't have ideas!" Hornet yelled in panic.

When the 4 Bad Guys shouted in panic about their title, Snake felt that, even though he and his friends were turning a new leaf, he still couldn't let anyone steal their title. They were known as "The Bad Guys" for many years, and he still wanted to carry that title along with his friends. Being "The Good Guys" was a little too much for Snake, especially if there are fans or paparazzi going on around them. What else will they be called as a family if they are not "The Bad Guys"?

Wolf began to grin. Once again, he knew he had Snake right where he wanted him.

Snake growled, slapping his tail on his own face, "Aaargh! Okay, okay, fine! Fine. We'll save those people. But we have to make sure no one will see us or recognize us. And no innocent people or the cops should witness this."

Wolf laughed excitingly, "Now that's what I'm talking about! Alright, gang, suit up!" He grinned.

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The hostages could only whimper in fear as the men in black kept watch on them as hostages were blindfolded. Thankfully, they weren't using guns, but their tasers that seem to be sprouting electricity could kill a man easily. And that was just the least of their problems. The hostages started to mumble and whimper upon seeing the lead gangster placing down a BOMB on the table.

A freaking bomb.

Not the cartoon type, but the ones that come in a packed device and have a tablet that places down the countdown.

The leader gangster grinned sickly in glee as he pressed a few buttons on the bomb device. There were already police sirens from outside on the ground floor. No matter, let eyes see what they can see. This was all meant to show the city that they were not someone to be messed with. The sheep they have will be slaughtered to show what necessary sacrifice is required.

There was an utter cry from one of the hostages and one of the gangsters aggressively snarled. Like literally snarling at them. He waved his taser around threateningly, letting the sound of the taser buss, and ordering the poor hostages to shut up.

The leader just rolled his eyes and got the bomb into position.

5 minutes.

Should be enough.

The sound of beeping from the bomb echoed across the room.

And so did the clicking of the locks on the door.

Wait, that was strange.

It sounded like the first lock was being unlocked.

CLICK!

Now it sounded like the second lock being unlocked.

CLICK!

Now it sounded like the third lock being unlocked. The gangsters slowly turned to the door.

CLICK

Now it sounded like the fourth lock being unlocked.

BLAM!

And now that sounded like the door being thrown off by its hinges.

While the gangsters didn't know who the crew in the black bodysuits were, the Bad Guys sniggered to themselves with Snake rolling around his set of makeshift keys. The gangsters should have placed the locks on the INSIDE instead of the OUTSIDE, facing the hallway. Shark grinned underneath his mask, proud of ripping the door to let them in.

"D-Don't just stand there!" screamed the gangster leader, recovering from his shock. "KILL THEM!"

All five gangsters turned to face the Bad Guys and charged at them. Each member picked one to deal with to make a fair fight, but Tarantula quickly hopped off Wolf's shoulder and ran across the floor to get to the bomb device. Piranha was absolutely having the time of his life. The gangster he was up against took out a long black whip and attempted to whip it right at him. Though, Piranha was quick on his feet and kept jumping around, making silly faces as he dodged. At one point, he did a backwards somersault and did the 'Take The L' dance while simultaneously dodging. This agitated the gangster for him to let out a roar and charged at Piranha, pulling out a combat knife. With quick thinking, Piranha stepped to the side and the gangster ended up stabbing the wall. Quickly, Piranha jumped onto the wall to bounce off and landed onto the gangster's back. With a crazed laugh, he threw the combat knife away. Using all of his strength, he grabbed onto the gangster collar, and proceeded to throw him to the ground through a perfect 180-circle degree.

Shark ended up fighting the skinniest gangster, but this one proved to be more acrobatic as he proved to be too fast for Shark to catch up. While the gangster's punches and kicks don't have that much effect on Shark, it kept him distracted from trying to defend himself until the gangster hopped onto his back, repeatedly punching him on his head. Growling, Shark rushed to the wall and slammed the gangster right there to make him fall off. The gangster stumbled for a bit while Shark waited, but he quickly did a sneak attack by kicking Shark's legs. Though, as Shark went flying, he quickly grabbed the gangster's incoming fists, pulling him down as well. On his belly, Shark spun around and sent the gangster rolling across the floor.

Hornet found himself against a gangster who is using a fencing weapon out of all things. The two of them traded clashes with the latter's weapon and Hornet's stinger. The two kept clashing with each other before Hornet stopped at one point as he tried to think of a way to attack his opponent without being sliced into teriyaki pieces. The ganger grinned creepily as he pushed the weapon further on Hornet's stinger, trying to shove him off. Hornet grunted silently as he tried to use his strength. Peeking over, he could see Tarantula already onto the bomb device and opened a lid from the side to change the settings since the countdown couldn't be permanently changed. He growled a little before finally flying upwards and with enough strength, punched the fencing sword out of the gangster's hands. As the gangster gasped in shock, Hornet used this as the right time to speed up and headbutted him in the chest, sending the gangster sprawling onto the ground.

Snake ended up being one of the most aggressive and quickest from the group. With great reflex and slippery, he ended up tripping over the gangster he was fighting repeatedly. The gangster tried swinging his metal baseball bat at him, though he kept missing. Even if he did, it only served as minor inconveniences and Snake was able to move away before his opponent did more harm. At one point, Snake quickly wrapped himself around the gangster up until near the neck. Underneath his mask, he wished that he could reveal his smirk. Wasting no time, Snake proceeded to throw the gangster down to the ground in a wrestling-like tackle.

Wolf wasn't doing the most fighting out of the four, but was the least effective. As the gangster he was up against, the leader, was skilled in martial arts, Wolf found himself needing to keep blocking all of his attacks. It wasn't easy, but the training he received from Piranha helped him with knowing what to block and when to land a blow. But the truth is, Wolf wasn't sure which was the right weak spot to hit. Remembering that the gangsters were armed with tasers, Wolf quickly spun around to the other side as the gangster attempted to punch him. Then, the gangster spun around with a roundhouse kick, but Wolf quickly slid underneath in-between his legs and snatched the taser from the gangster's belt. As soon as he stood up, the gangster tried to punch him in the face.

Big mistake.

Turning the taser on, Wolf greeted the gangster with a shock of volts going through his body as his hand connected with the butt of the taser. The leader screeched as he was shocked before being sent flying back when Wolf tried out increasing the power.

Though, the leader ends up crashing into the table where the bomb device was.

"Whoa!" said Tarantula, nearly falling off. "Watch where you're throwing your enemies around!"

Looking up, the leader can see that Tarantula was having a hard time deactivating the bomb device. Through hacking into it and cutting the wires, it seemed as if the bomb has a mind of its own.

"Should have watch more of those videos in YouTube!" She groaned frustratingly in her mind.

Grinning, the leader shot up and attempted to slam his fist onto Tarantula. She quickly dodged to the side and that is when Wolf charged to the leader again, distracting him.

The two got into a punch and block exchange, but when Wolf bumped into the table, his grappling hook fell out from his back.

Tarantula gasped in surprise when it slid to her. She looked around wildly. There is a small window up through the ceiling. Throwing the bomb up might be the only way to make sure that nothing gets destroyed.

And it is nearly times up! 60 seconds left.

"Oh, screw it!" Tarantula murmured angrily.

The leader chuckled as he managed to subdue Wolf, and grabbed both hands with one hand. Tarantula quickly hid behind the bomb device as she tried to get the grappling gun working despite it being bigger than her. She didn't want the leader to see her yet, but she couldn't let the leader hurt Wolf like that. She had to do something.

"You got a lot of guts for a barely high-ranking urchin," monologized the leader proudly. "I have prey like you before. But your style of battling the upper-class is just...so..."

MUNCH!

The leader heard that sound as he looked down to see the little masked Tarantula biting his leg. The leader yelped as he tried to kick Tarantula off of him, but she managed to jump away and covered her face so she wouldn't be recognized.

While the leader was distracted, Wolf gave a surprise punch right across the leader's face. This elicited an utterly stunned reaction from the leader, staring back at him in total disbelief. Wolf's eyes just screamed 'do I need to hear THIS from you?'

With the leader stunned, this gave Tarantula the perfect opportunity to get back to the bomb device, and pulled her way up to throw the bomb device through the ceiling window. Attached to the ceiling, the hook brought her up as she carried the large bomb device in her other hand.

5...She was so close! She got to get there!

4...The bomb device might be why she wasn't going as fast as she hoped.

3...Here goes nothing.

2...Tarantula closed her eyes and threw the bomb device upwards. What followed was a large smash and glass shards harmlessly spraying all over her.

1...A large explosion rattled the sky as Tarantula fell down. She was gonna crash onto the table.

But then, Hornet swooped up, and caught Tarantula, "Gotcha, Webs!" Hornet then flew lower, letting Tarantula land safely back to the table.

Grinning, she could see the large ball of fire exploding harmlessly, a far way up from the building they were in. No civilian casualties and no property damage!

She didn't even know she would be THIS strong!

She turned around to find that Wolf had already subdued the gangster leader. As the latter squirmed around and shouted profane insults, Wolf, Piranha and Hornet got out ropes to tie the leader and the unconscious gangsters together for the police to arrest later. Meanwhile, Shark was aiding the hostages to check if they are alright and if the gangsters did any injuries on them.

Once the Bad Guys finished tying up the gangsters, the police cops arrived just in time to see that they were gone. And the hostages are already making their way out, harmless but wondering who are those guys who saved them.

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Back in the hideout, when the Bad Guys came home, and took off their black bodysuits with their regular clothes underneath, they already went to the couch to watch the news.

When Wolf turned the TV off, Shark, Piranha, Tarantula, and Hornet cheered victoriously for another vigilante success.

"Oh yeah! We did it again, baby!" Shark exclaimed.

Hornet giggled, "That was so fun! I think this is much better than a thief stealing a purse."

But then, Tarantula felt guilty for herself, "I can't believe I didn't hack into the bomb device."

But Wolf patted her to comfort her that an unsuccessful hacking wasn't much of a failure," Hey, at least you threw away that bomb and no one got hurt."

"Did you see me beat that guy, chicos and chica?! I'm sure his bruises will last a week!" Piranha laughed hysterically as Shark gave him a hi-five.

Snake then started to speak since he was awfully quiet since they finished their mission tonight, "Um, I know I don't want to help people in secret anymore, but we did really good back there, and we saved innocent lives. I hate to admit this, but I think I kinda like fighting other bad guys who aren't us out there. Shouldn't we... do it again sometimes or something?"

This caused the rest of the Bad Guys to drop their jaws in shock as they never heard such motivation of fighting crime as vigilantes from Snake before. They heard at first that Snake didn't like it, and it only took just a second mission to change his mind. What a surprise!

Piranha suggested excitedly while jumping into Shark's head, "Yeah! We should make this a celebratory dinner for our new butt-kicking job!"

"All-you-can-eat..." Shark said.

"Free-form..." Piranha continued.

"Dinner explosion!" The big and small fishes shouted happily.

Snake started to regret what he just said as he groaned, "Sorry I asked."

Shark and Piranha then dragged Snake to the kitchen to prepare some dinner.

Before the rest can join the others, Wolf and Tarantula notice Hornet was sitting on the couch, frowning quietly.

"Hey, Hornet. Are you okay?" Wolf asked as he scooted himself besides Hornet.

Hornet snapped out of his thoughts, and looked up to Wolf, "Uh..."

"Yeah, you don't seem so happy," Tarantula pointed as she crawled to Hornet's other side, "In fact, you weren't so happy since a year ago. Aren't you happy we're doing good things? I mean, you feel that wag, and you did good things with us, but you don't look so happy."

"I am happy! Look at me, I'm smiling and laughing," Hornet showed his fake grin.

"But that is not your real usual smile. Is there something you wanna tell us?" Wolf asked in concern.

Hornet shook his head, trying to avoid a topic in his head, "No. No, not at all. It's nothing guys. All that matters to me is that I do good things with you guys."

Wolf and Tarantula were still concerned for Hornet. There was definitely something going with him. But they saw on Hornet's face that he didn't want to talk about it.

Wolf then stood up while fixing his tux, "Well, you better be hungry, because we should eat. It was a busy day for all of us."

Tarantula then jumped off the couch to follow Wolf. Hornet was now alone on the couch. There was something he never told his friends since he first came to the team, but that was already a long time ago, and if he'll try to forget about and do good deeds with his friends, it won't be a big deal. Hornet flew up from the couch, and went to the kitchen to eat.

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While the Bad Guys were eating dinner, Shark flipped the last burrito in the air, and caught it in his mouth, "So, what now?" he asked as he wiped the food off his face.

"I know we stopped Marmalade's heist last year, and we stopped the thief and those terrorists, but it's just the matter of time before some other criminals try to hurt innocent people," Wolf declared.

Tarantula nodded in agreement, "Right."

"We gotta clean this city from the inside-out," the leader muttered.

"Does he always talk like a charmer in the 80's movie, or is it just me?" Hornet asked.

"Hey, hey, I got my charm from someone... especially from movies."

"You gotta admit, guys. I mean, we were amazing there!" Tarantula cheered for themselves.

"Yeah!" Piranha screamed, extending his fist in the middle.

"Heck yeah!" Shark held his own fist to Piranha's. Wolf, Tarantula, and Hornet fist-bumped with Shark and Piranha.

"I agree completely. So I'll do that, as well," Snake held his tail to fist-bump with his friends.

"Thank you," Wolf smiled. "Right."

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

The next evening.

They said that criminals around in the city would just go out to make heists at any time, rain or shine. The Bad Guys were known to expose themselves with no shame when making their greatest robberies. But this one group chose to do night-time as a lot could be given away.

Parked in a dark empty street in front of a bank, a group of goons just finished raiding a bank. They chuckled amongst themselves as they loaded the truck with piles of money bags. There was already a driver in the truck, tapping his fingers on the wheel as he waited for his comrades.

"Did you hear about that street brawl that happened the last time?" said one goon quietly.

"Yeah, me too, man!" said the other goon, chuckling as she lifted the bag of money she was carrying over her shoulder. "It was so intense at that time. Was blood shed?"

"What? No. Definitely not. It's a total 'fair and square' fight."

"Well, you know what is not 'fair and square'?" teased the goon as they threw their bags of money onto the truck. "Someone trying to cower out of it. I mean, there was that one time years ago where I was faced with a gigantic shark, but he didn't try to fight back."

His companion was surprised. "Whoa! Really? Is he that much of a coward?"

"A bit of a scaredy cat, but he looks like he is holding back. For a giant with obvious muscles, he doesn't look like he can swat a fly."

"What happens if you get him mad?"

"Oh, I don't really know. He might explode I think, but he wouldn't dare to crush my bones. Perhaps I should find him again and go like..." He changed his voice to a whimpering, childish voice. "'Hey there, kiddy, kiddy'! Want a binkie?"

His companion laughed. "You're such a jerk, man." Then, she mimicked how the shark might be like. "FEE FI FO FUM! I'M THE BEST GIANT BUT I DON'T WANT TO TAKE A SOUL!"

"Hey, you two," snarled a third goon as he came out with the last bag of money. "Shut up, stay quiet and get your butts into the truck now.

Though, the two didn't listen to their third companion and it is already too late as their talking lets a shadowed group watching from the ceiling know that they are still around...

"Isn't that from that beanstalk movie?" lampshaded the first goon as he gets back into his conversation with his companion.

"Maybe," said the second goon.

"Well, the best thing in life when it comes to having bravery is that you never get to take it all back with no s-!"

Unfortunately, the third goon felt a finger poking his back and upon turning around, found his face struck upon by Wolf's fist. He dropped down to the ground, alerting the other goons. The fourth goon jumped out of the truck and gasped upon seeing the disguised Bad Guys.

As Wolf and Snake ran off to the other side of the truck, the three goons tried to fight back, but the rest of the Bad Guys finished them off.

Tarantula immediately hopped onto the second goon and wrapped her mouth with duct tape before Hornet came flying in and headbutted her in the stomach. The goon stumbled a bit before trying to swing around a wooden baseball bat. While Hornet faltered when he nearly got hit, Tarantula quickly finished the task by jumping onto the baseball bat and using her strength, actually whacked the goon in the face somehow.

The fourth goon immediately tackled Piranha, but Piranha took it as an advantage to bump against the goon's chin. So much that it nearly made him look like Mario using his head to bump into brick walls to earn coins. Except that Piranha was trying to earn the goon's defeat. With the goon distracted, Piranha leapt up and did a roundhouse kick to the goon right in the face.

The driver took a long time to see what was going on, but it was already too late when Wolf threw Snake inside. He screamed as Snake quickly wrapped himself around the goon's body and neck, strangling him. As the goon choked, he quickly reached in for a bug spray can and tried to spray it all over. Messily, but it nearly got into Snake's eyes.

Luckily, Wolf pushed the can away, only for it to end up into the goon's eyes. He let out a ladylike scream, but it is muffled by his gagging. He finally passed out with Snake panting from all that strangling.

"Man, this one is defective," he whispered to Wolf.

Meanwhile, the first goon is up against Shark...who recognized him as the same jerk who taunted him. Without holding back, Shark attempted to punch, but the goon ducked and rolled on the ground. He swung his legs around to try to trip Shark over, but this time, it didn't flip Shark over. He quickly kicked the goon in the stomach, sending him flying back.

However, the goon wasn't giving up as he spun around and got back onto his feet. He tried swinging his fist, but Shark countered it and threw it right at the goon's groin. Then, he kicked right underneath the middle of the goon's legs. The goon gasped and let out a high-pitched squeal as he held onto his crotch, squirming around. Underneath his mask, Shark smirks. To rub it in, he mimicked his spasming by holding onto his own groin and silently letting out a girly squeal.

Without warning, Piranha finished the goon off by spinning him around and throwing him up into the air. The right time for Hornet to swing the baseball bat right into the goon's chest, knocking him out as he landed onto the ground.

"Nobody mocks our good friend like that!" Hornet growled while patting Shark's side, "Nobody!"

"Good work, guys!" whispers Wolf. "Now, onto the last part."

There is a good thing that they came prepared with rope, tying all the goons together and throwing them at the back of the truck. With Wolf at the front wheel with Snake and Tarantula on his side while Shark, Piranha and Hornet stayed at the back to check on the goons through the window, they drove off calmly to the nearest police station they could find. It would be rather nice if they speed up a little, but since it was so dark during this time, they might get themselves into more trouble if they drove faster and accidentally crashed the truck.

They finally arrived and they all got out of the truck.

"Do you think they would find the goons before they wake up?" asked Tarantula.

Wolf chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll make sure of that."

Then, he pulled out a sticky lollipop he found in the truck. With a defiant throw, the lollipop ended up being glued against one of the police cars' front window which caused it to go ringing due to mistaking it as an intruder. All the lights in the police station switch on and the Bad Guys quickly ran off into the safety of the darkness.

The first few cops were surprised to see a white truck in their parking spot. Standing out to the rest of the cars like a sore thumb. Upon inspection, they were surprised that there was no one inside.

Then, they heard someone moaning somewhere.

One cop opened the back door to find a bunch of goons slowly waking up, tied up. Surrounded by a bag of money.

Watching from the top of a building, the Bad Guys hi-fived each other before running away.

It was another successful job.

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

This is the chapter where the Bad Guys decided to make their own vigilante business.

The scene where Shark and Piranha decide to have dinner explosion was referenced from Teen Titans. Plus, Wolf's "meeting scene" with his guys was referenced from The Birds of Prey (2020).

Special thanks to TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3 from Fanfiction.net for helping me make this chapter.

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[bibliophilea]

The End - Ch. 1

Happy Holiday Truce, @mystyrust! Sorry to make you wait - I wanted to do something big, but I forgot to take into account two things: I am a slow writer, and this story became too big to handle as a oneshot. I do have big ideas for where I want this story to go, but we'll see how the story builds itself as I write! Happy Holidays!

If elements of this story seem familiar, that’s because they are! This is based on @lexosaurus‘s tags on @dannys-phucking-dead‘s post! I hope you enjoy!

ffn | ao3

>1< 2 3 4 ...

"Listen. I've met a lot of great asteroids. Really fantastic asteroids. And they've all told me themselves — they said that I was a great president. All of them said that — all one hundred thousand asteroids. I was there."

The camera switches to Tiffany Snow, sitting at the anchor desk.

"This is what President Drumpf had to say yesterday regarding NASA's claims that an unforeseen asteroid is approximately 21 days from hitting the Earth, creating an extinction-level event on par with what took out the dinosaurs," Snow states with a cheerful smile. "Polls suggest that approximately 48.2% of the population believe NASA's claims to be a hoax; 29.5% believe it's the end of the world; and 22.3% is undecided. Lance, can you tell us a bit about Amity Park's response to NASA's claims?"

The camera switches to a street view outside of Amity Park's capitol building. People crowd the streets, many of them yelling and holding signs. Some signs read "THE END IS NIGH". Others say "ASTEROID SHMASTEROID". A few say "DEFUND NASA". One sign says "[citation needed]".

"Certainly, Tiffany," Lance Thunder replies, nearly shouting over the crowd. "As you can see here, tensions are high in Amity Park. Citizens gather to make their voices heard amidst NASA's claims of doom and gloom. Hey, Bob, what do you think of NASA's statement?"

Thunder turns to a middle aged man beside him wearing a bright red cap. The man bends to put his face by the microphone Thunder is brandishing.

"It's fake news, is what it is! I mean, come on! How does a freaking asteroid come out of nowhere? It's a China conspiracy, I tell you!"

Bob nods, and Thunder takes back the microphone. "Well, you heard it here, folks. Amity Park's citizens think NASA's claims are a ho—"

"THE END IS NIGH!"

A woman wearing a sign with the same message butts in, snatching the microphone from Thunder.

"The Disasteroid cometh for us all! Soon it will be Judgement Day and all of you Non Believers will be found Wanting!"

Thunder squawks. "Hey! That is APN property! Give that back!"

The camera turns to focus on Thunder and the woman as they fight over the microphone, their squabbling barely audible over the feedback. Then the feed cuts back to Tiffany Snow.

"Wow Lance, looks like no one can break Amity Park's spirit," Snow says with a grin. "In other news, Congress has voted to defund NASA—"

The TV clicks off.

Danny carefully puts down the remote before he allows himself to shake. His fists clench, and he hides them under folded arms, lest they be seen bursting into ectoplasmic flame. His face feels taut, teeth clenched, eyes abnormally dry. Toxic green edges his vision, and he clamps his eyes shut, lest they be seen glowing green with his anger.

And oh, he is angry.

NASA is a world leader in space aviation and exploration, and Congress is defunding them. And for what? Because they told the truth? Because there's a humongous asteroid about to hit the Earth? They should be funneling emergency money towards NASA, not taking money away! The world needs NASA, now more than ever! Danny has seen the images NASA shared — the images the media doesn't dare share, lest the wrath of one President Drumpf befall them. He doesn't know how everyone missed it — it's huge and it's glowing green and no stars glow green like that — but now that everyone knows about it, there should be some sort of plan to stop it, right? Wrong! The president says it's fake news, and Congress follows suit, and the biggest space programs in the world can't agree on what to do about it when half the world doesn't even think it's real and oh god we're gonna die like actually 100% die and it's not ghosts it's not Pariah Dark it's a big fucking SPACE ROCK that's going to do us in for good and there'll be no more habitable Earth and no more Ghost Zone and we're all going to DIE—

A hand touches Danny's knee, and he gasps, eyes flying open, cringing away from the contact.

Through the green haze in his vision he sees bright orange and immediately shuts his eyes again. They can't see, can't see him freak out, can't see his powers freak out with him—

The hand touches his knee again, and he freezes at the touch, body tense, teeth clenched, eyes shut tight. Another hand touches his arm and he takes in a breath, shuddering as the hand slowly moves to his shoulder, and then to his back, rubbing large, soothing circles. Danny tries to time his breathing to the circles, like Jazz had taught him to, and slowly the blood rushing in his ears (when had that happened?) quiets to a dull roar.

"There we go Danny, see, just breathe. You're okay. You're at home, and Mom and Dad are out, and you don't have to hide."

Danny uncurls slightly at the sound of his sister's voice. He opens his eyes a crack — just enough to see past the green haze — and really looks this time. The orange isn't the same shade as his dad's jumpsuit — it's a lighter, more natural color, and it surrounds a face with concerned, green eyes. Jazz. Jazz is here, and she has her hand on his knee, and she's rubbing circles into his back, and he's kind of sort of getting the hang of breathing with the rhythm of those circles. He leans into her, and she bundles him into a hug, still rubbing circles into his back.

The front door opens, and Danny and Jazz both freeze. Jazz said Mom and Dad are out, but what if they're back? They can't see him like this, they'll find out!

Danny has half a mind to just turn invisible when their voices hit his ears.

"Man, dude, did you see what Congress did to NASA? That's so unfair!"

"It's totally unfair! They're just telling the truth! This whole administration is the absolute worst!"

Tucker. Sam. Danny relaxes slightly at their voices, but he doesn't turn around — doesn't want them to see him like this, either.

But it's too late.

"Woah, dude, you okay?"

"Danny!"

He hears them rush over to him — feels their worry and the warmth of their bodies as they get close — and tenses up again. He should be better than this, stronger than this! He shouldn't be freaking out about some dumb news report.

Not just a dumb news report, his brain helpfully supplies. We're all going to die. And there's nothing you can do about it.

All of a sudden, Jazz's embrace feels too tight. To constraining. Trapping him where he is.

He slips intangible and flees from Jazz, flees from his friends — flees upwards, up through the ceiling and through the roof and through the Ops Center, flees until there's no more house to flee from. He lands hard on the roof of the Ops Center, scraping his knees but it doesn't matter, hands scorching the metal but who cares, it's just the end of the world—

He pulls his knees to his chest and buries his head in them, his face screwing as he tries to get a hold of himself, tries to rein himself in, it's just the end of the world, just the end of Mom and Dad and Jazz and Sam and Tucker and school and movies and parks and people and everything and everyone he'd ever tried to protect—

"Bite this."

Danny feels something cool touch his lips, and he bites down — then coughs and spits as bitter rind and sour citrus burst in his mouth.

He looks up to see Tucker triumphantly brandishing a whole lemon with a chunk bitten out of it. Sam and Jazz stand to either side of him, varying levels of worry and amusement fighting for dominance in their faces. Danny spits again, and stares at the bits of rind and lemon pulp that vacate his mouth.

"What the hell?"

"Told you it'd work!" Tucker crows.

"A lemon?" Danny splutters.

"It's an... unorthodox grounding technique," Jazz responds, "and it normally isn't administered like that—"

"Point is, it works," Sam interjects. "How're you feeling?"

Danny stares at the three of them for a moment. Then he sighs and chuckles darkly. "The worlds going to end because too many people don't believe NASA about an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, and Tucker made me bite into a lemon. How am I supposed to feel?"

He sighs again, long, hard, and shuddering, and he lets himself fall backwards onto the warm metal of the Ops Center roof. Jazz lies down across from him, and Sam and Tucker lie to either side of him, all their heads nearly touching. The sky above them is bright blue, clear of clouds. Birds flit across Danny's vision, twittering as they chase each other before flying off to who knows where. Does it even matter? They'll all be dead in a few weeks.

"I don't want to die again."

The words slip from his mouth, and he feels his breath hitch, watches as his vision goes blurry. His hands begin to clench into fists — but then Sam and Tucker take his hands, massaging the tension from his fingers and palms, and Jazz runs her hand through his hair like she used to do when they were kids and he'd had a nightmare, and something in him breaks.

A sob wrenches itself from his throat, and he curls in on himself. His sister and friends move to hold him close, and he can't help but lean into their touch. They hold him as his eyes glow green, as his hands fist into the metal of the roof, as his sobs take on a ghostly tinge, nearly wailing his grief and his anger and his fear into the sky. He shudders as he cries, and feels as they shudder with him — feels as Sam and Tucker push their faces into his shirt, and as Jazz buries her face in his hair — feels as his shirt and his head where their faces lie become damp.

Crying. They're crying.

And it's his fault.

A wave of guilt washes over him, and he wants to pull away again, wants to force himself to stop crying, to be strong for them. But their grips on him tighten, and they speak to him, words warped by their own tears. "Just let it out," Tucker mutters into his back. "It's okay to cry," Sam whispers into his shoulder. "You don't have to hide," Jazz repeats into his hair.

But beneath their words, beneath their tight hold on him and the way they push their faces against him is a hidden plea: "Stay," they say.

Please stay.

So Danny stays.

Danny stays, and they cry together, and the sun shines down upon them from the clear blue sky.

*~*~*

Danny doesn't know how long it's been. Only that he's no longer crying, and that his friends and sister are no longer crying. They've melted into a cuddle pile of four, with Danny at the center, and the sun beats down on them from a different angle than before. Danny has wound up with his head in Jazz's lap, and she's playing with his hair. Sam and Tucker are on top of him, still holding his hands. Their weight is comforting.

Danny is exhausted. He just wants to fall asleep and deal with everything later. Crying in front of your friends and sister will do that, his brain helpfully supplies. So will the end of the world.

He sighs heavily and moves to sit up. Sam and Tucker get off him, still holding his hands, and Jazz helps him up, moving from playing with his hair to rubbing circles on his back. He smiles faintly at all of them.

"Thanks, guys," he whispers hoarsely. He really does have the best friends and best sister in the world.

Too bad they're all going to die in three weeks.

He frowns and sighs again, too tired to cry.

"It's heavy stuff, huh," Jazz says gently. Danny looks back at her, an eyebrow raised. She continues. "The thought of everything ending like that — it's really hard to think about. Hell, I'm having trouble processing it." She smiles gently at him. "It's okay to be scared and angry, and it's okay to be scared and angry in front of us. You don't have to hide."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Danny mutters. "No more running away."

"Good," Sam remarks. "Now, what are we going to do about everything?"

"What do you mean?" Danny asks.

"You know. The asteroid?" Sam raises an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah. That." Danny frowns down at the roof of the Ops Center. The metal is warped and singed where his hands had dug into it. "What are we supposed to do about that?" He looks back up at Sam. Her eyes bear into his, and her grip on his hand tightens.

"Look, I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me, too. But we can't just sit here and do nothing."

Danny frowns at her. He opens his mouth to respond, but Tucker gets there first.

"Look, I know we need to have this conversation, I really do. But can we have it inside? The metal's starting to get really hot." Tucker stands up, rubbing his free hand on his jeans from touching the roof.

Danny sighs and stands up, stretching the kinks from his back. Sam and Jazz stand up with him.

"On it," Danny says. "Everyone hold tight."

He feels Sam's and Tucker's grips tighten on his hands, and he feels Jazz grab his shoulder. With a poke at his core, he tugs them all intangible, slipping through the roof to the refreshingly cool interior of the Ops Center. He lets go of intangibility and lets gravity embrace them slowly, gently depositing them all on the floor of the Ops Center. Then he lets go of his friends' hands and steps forwards, turning so he's facing the three of them.

"So, what are we supposed to do, huh? Half the world thinks the asteroid's a hoax, and the other half either doesn't have the money to do anything, or is stuck in petty arguments about what to do and who's to blame and all that shit." Danny crosses his arms and frowns.

"Dude, you're the Ghost King," Tucker's quick to reply. "Doesn't that mean you can, like, do anything?"

Danny facepalms. "Oh my god, Tucker, I'm not the Ghost King. I told the Observants I don't want any part of it. And besides, even if I were, who's going to listen to me? Klemper? The Box Ghost? I'm sure they can convince the world to get its shit together!"

"Hey!" Sam interjects. "You can't just focus on what we can't do. We need to focus on what we can do, as a team."

"Oh, and what can we do, Sam? We're way out of our depth here! The four of us can't stop the asteroid from hitting Earth!"

"You're right, Danny," Jazz says. Sam and Tucker gape at her.

"But dude—"

"You can't just—"

"Hey, let me speak!" Jazz waits until Sam and Tucker close their mouths — Tucker with a perplexed look on his face, Sam with an expectant frown.

"We are out of our depth," Jazz states. "We don't have the resources or political pull here on Earth or in the Ghost Zone to make a significant difference." She pauses. "But we know someone who does."

It takes a moment, but Sam gets it first.

"Oh, ew, we are not asking him for help!"

"Wait." Tucker says. "Asking who for—" horror dawns on his face. "Oh, no. No no no. We can't! Why would you even think of that?"

"Think of what?" Danny asks, a little annoyed that he doesn't get it.

"Asking Vlad," Sam, Tucker, and Jazz reply.

"Oh, ew!" Danny says automatically.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "It's not like I want to talk to him either! I just think given the circumstances, we don't have much choice."

"There's always a choice, Jazz," Sam retorts. "He'll probably try and force Danny to stay with him in exchange for his help."

"Yeah, Jazz," Tucker adds. "He's a slimeball. Who knows how he'll try to play this to his advantage."

"But—"

"I think Jazz is right," Danny says.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz stare at Danny, flabbergasted. Danny blushes.

"Well, it's like Jazz said — I don't want to, but I don't think we have a choice. We need his help. And besides," he says with a smirk, "the man is way too narcissistic. He doesn't want to die because half the world doesn't believe what's right in front of their faces."

"And we can use that to our advantage," Jazz adds. "He knows he'll need help with whatever scheme he's plotting, and there isn't enough time for him to be picky."

"So, what? We go to him for help, and threaten to walk if he tries to pull anything?" Sam raises an eyebrow.

"Exactly." Jazz and Danny grin at each other.

Tucker sighs and pulls out his PDA. "Alright, fine. One meeting with one seriously messed up frootloop coming right up."

Danny stares. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Tucker looks up. "Um, scheduling a meeting with our evil mayor?"

Sam shakes her head. "He's probably booked. We'll have better luck if we just show up."

Jazz nods. "He's probably expecting us anyways."

Tucker sighs and puts away his PDA. "Alright, fine. But can we take a moment to clean up? I don't know about you guys, but my face is crusty."

Danny looks at his friends and sister. Their hair is a mess, and their eyes are still rimmed red. Sam's mascara has dried after running down her face, and Tucker's glasses and Jazz's headband are askew. Danny figures he doesn't look much better.

He nods. "Alright. But after that, we have a meeting with one seriously messed up frootloop!"

[theficplug]

Swipe Right

Tyler Lepley x Black Reader 

warnings : none, mostly fluff with just a tiny bit of smut if you can call it that at the end. i’m not too familiar with him but i tried ! to the cutie who requested, i hope you like it. alright enjoy x  Face mask on. Wine in hand. Impulsive 10$ Dark and Lovely hair dye bought at the beauty supply store already slathered in your hair. It was your time set aside out of the week for you and your best friend to complain. Although homegirl was on the other end of the phone getting ready for anniversary and was not relating to your rant of the night. 

 “Girl, I’m telling y’all right now if I get another unsolicited dick pic in my dms or another “You got the bill right? I’m just a lil in between jobs right now you know how it is right baby”? I’m joining a nunnery because I love love, but me and my bank account can NOT keep getting played like this.” you rant to your friends over a video call as you walk around your apartment tending to the foils in your hair. 

The series of failed dates and “talking stages” had left a sour taste in your mouth and put you off from dating altogether, but your best friend Layla is trying to convince you to give Tinder another go. 

“I don’t know Lala. I just don’t have another talking stage in me. I’m grown in the words of the iconic Miss New York Tiffany Pollard : I want eggs CRACKED AND SCRAMBBBLLEEDD” 

Layla’s husband Aaron’s laughter erupted from somewhere in the room on her end and you raise an eyebrow not knowing that he had been ear hustling the whole time. 

“Just give a little more time. You never know what can be right around the corner!  There has got to be at least a few foine men on Tinder. Give it one more try.” Layla encouraged before saying that she had to go because her man had the night planned for their anniversary dinner. 

You huffed and sat the phone aside as you waited for the copper coloured hair dye to process your curiosity got the better of you and you reached for your phone again.

As you thumbed through the profiles of folks “looking for a beautiful girl for me and my husband (:” and “if you a feminist, pay for our first date”. You were two seconds away from putting your phone to the side again before you noticed “Tyler Lepley” and his profile.

You nearly spit out the cheap bottle of Stella Rose on your carpet in disbelief. “No, this has got to be a whole ass catfish. Why would his fine ass be on Tinder of all places? Let’s humour him. Wait but he’s verified... At the very least this should be funny as hell.” you say to yourself before rolling your eyes. 

“Okay and I definitely got to make some single friends cause I’m really home on a Saturday night talking to myself. . . Whatever-” 

You swipe right on his profile and almost instantly your phone notified you that there was a match. 

‘Hey I just wanted to let you know I think you’re beautiful and if you’re ever in the area I’d like to take you out sometime. On me of course.’

“Oh he’s good.” you thought to yourself as you tried to think of a reply.

‘Sure, I’d love to. I’m actually driving up to Atlanta tomorrow for work. And if it’s really you. I want a Tika Sumpter autograph when we meet lol.’ you respond having a little fun with the troll at least before you log out for the evening. 

‘Oh, so you don’t think it’s me? I ain’t nobody big. Just tryna find the right one to bring home for the holidays so my nosey aunties can stop asking me when I’m gon get a wife lol.’

*attachment (1)*

“Pfft.. Anybody could’ve gotten that from Instagram or something.” you said to yourself. 

He’s good though. You’ll give him that much. 

‘Okay tattoos and lips! You’re handsome or whatever.That’s understandable. I’m looking for the same thing but I must be looking in all the wrong places cause if i run into one more dud that’s looking for a unicorn for them and their wife to “share”. Whew- it’s a lot lol.’

‘I get you. I haven’t matched with too many women on here myself. They either tryna see how they can get a job at the studio or they want me to be their sugar daddy. Which I ain't got no problem wining and dining my women btw. I’m just not looking for that kinda situationship. If you don’t mind I’d like to video call you cause looking as good as you look. I'm just tryna make sure you’re not a catfish.”

Hold up. This was just supposed to be a little fun and now this man is using the video call function on Tinder and you’re still sitting there with the dye on your head. 

‘Give me 25 minutes.’ you respond quickly before he replies with ‘take your time’.

The race was on as you began running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off as you wash out the dye quickly and inspect the colour. It was a really pretty natural ginger shade as you grab your hair diffuser and blow out your hair a little to dry it the best you could. 

After grabbing your makeup bag , you slap on the winged liner, a little highlighter, mascara, and a dark brown lipstick like you were back in school trying to get ready before class. 

You fluff and shake out your hair while looking at yourself in the mirror. With 5 minutes to spare you go to your closet and pull out a cozy warm brown cropped jumper that really stood out against your deep skin tone. 

“Alright, please don’t waste my time.” you whisper to yourself as you press the video call button and wait for him to come onto the screen. After about a minute and no answer you let out a heavy sigh feeling a little embarrassed and like a fool for actually believing that The Universe was about to hook you up like that. 

You put your phone on the table next to you and leaned back in the chair before hearing the notification go off again. 

After going back and forth about it for a few seconds you hesitantly answered the call and had to contain the array of emotions you were going through when you saw him actually on the phone, smiling at you with those pretty ass white teeth. 

You put the phone for a second before letting out a ‘thank you Jesus’.

“I should be saying the same thing about you! You are beautiful. God damn. When I first saw your profile I was like man aint no way. She gotta be some sort of catfish or something. I thought at the most it would be a funny cover story tomorrow on The Shade Room or something. ‘Tyler Lepley Catfished By Tinder Boo’. I apologize for not answering your call earlier. I just wrapped on set and I wanted to be able to hear you and give you my undivided attention. How are you this evening?” he says chuckling deeply and softly as he sits back in his trailer. 

“I was thinking the same thing. I’m like at least it’ll humour me, but I wasn’t really expecting you to want to talk. How are you? I was completely kidding about the whole Tika Sumpter thing by the way.” You say giggling nervously before fussing about with the window to try and get better lighting. 

“Oh really? Cause i got her to sign this shirt for you and everything. I can just do a giveaway with it or something else. I like your hair by the way...I’m doing good. It’s been a long day of pretending to get my ass kicked and running lines but I’m grateful to be in even better company with your pretty self. Even if it is through the screen for now. There’s something about a woman like you. I feel like I wanna know everything.” he compliments and flatters you and it’s taking your mind a while to process that this is not some extreme episode of Punk’d.

“YOU DID NOT! Of course I want the shirt. I was just fronting cause I didn’t wanna seem like that’s the only reason why I wanted to talk to you. Also, thank you. You just seem like someone who’s got his shit together and I really like that. At this stage in life people think I move too fast or that my standards are too high. I think it’s just because I know what I want. I want to be married, I want to be happy and comfortable. I eventually would really like to have kids. I want to have kids young so that I can have even more time loving them and my own little family..” you don’t like to waste time with the small talk. That’s nice too but you like to get straight to the point so that you’ll know if your views on life are aligned. 

And just like that you two begin to connect instantly . You talked and talked for hours from the time he left his trailer to drive home and halfway into the night.

You actually ended up falling asleep on the phone with him because neither one of you wanted to hang up. 

Scheduling conflicts prevented you from meeting up with him the next day but of course that didn’t stop either of you from constantly just wanting to hear from each other. 

4 weeks later after non stop talking and sending pictures and videos of your day when you couldn’t talk to each other. Both of your schedules lined up perfectly and you ended up meeting in Atlanta. 

You met him at a little cozy cafe and he held the prettiest bouquet of scarlet roses in one hand and a coffee for you in the other while standing with a huge smile etched across his face. 

“Hey handsome” you say to him before leaning in to hug him but was not expecting the peck to the lips. 

Even though you’ve discussed it and you’re both “if the vibe is right fun is not off the table” kind of people. 

You kiss his soft plump lips back and thank him for the flowers. Of course given the part of the city that you were in, he was recognized almost immediately by the barista.

“My mama and auntie love your show.They both got me into it too. We thought they were gonna kill you off this season! I was scared for you. If you don't mind, can i have a picture?’ The woman named Ericka asks as she moves from behind the desk .

“Hey Ericka, thank you. I appreciate it, of course.” He replied warmly to her before looking over at you to double check if you’re okay with everything. 

You awkwardly move to the side so that he can have his photo with the giggling fan already batting her eyelashes at him. 

He softly grabs your hand to keep you close to him and shakes his head. He’s lowkey clingy in the cutest way as he moves you behind him so that you aren’t in the photo and wraps your arms around his waist before flashing a smile at the fans phone.

“Thank you so much and you are so pretty!” She says to you before trying to quickly hustle back to work in the quiet slow moving coffee shop. 

“Me? Look at you and your pretty self ! I like your braids too!” You respond sweetly as Tyler beams with pride while watching you interact with the fan. 

“Sorry about all of that” he leans down to whisper in your ear before walking with you out of the coffee shop. 

“I don’t know about you but I ain't even gon’ lie I’m nervous as hell. I’ve been spending the last two weeks trying to figure out the best ways to spoil the hell outta you. I just think you’re incredible. From your story about all that you’ve been through to just like you. I ain’t ever had this before.” he admits and it throws you a little that he was the one nervous to meet you.  

“Nervous to meet me? Tyler, you meet about 50 different beautiful women a day. I’m not saying I’m not the shit cause I am. But no need for nervousness here. I think you’re probably the most down to Earth famous person I’ve met dude. A lot of them are real snotty when I style them and stuff. Just completely out of touch…You’re always busy doing something and I’m always working on something. How about we just do nothing? What’s your favourite way to do nothing?” I get all of my favourite foods and snacks and then I just watch all of my comfort movies and shows and forget about everything going wrong with the world even if just for a little bit.” you admit and he nods along before opening the car door for you.

The entire car ride there wasn’t an awkward moment or any tension hanging in the air. The conversation flowed smoothly all the way from the supermarket to the restaurants for to-go plates, and to his home there. 

There were plates of food of every kind of food you mention from pad thai to sushi, to indian food, mexican, and a plate of soul food cause you couldn’t visit Atlanta and not try some bomb ass soul food while you were there. Not to mention the snacks that you both also picked out. 

He had convinced you that you two should build a blanket fort and he broke out the candles setting the perfect atmosphere for the storm settling in. 

Something about the rain soothed you both as you fell over each laughing and talking about nothing and everything.  

“Okay so let me ask you would have rather been on Fear Factor or Supermarket Sweep? Because this is important. I’d have to go with Supermarket Sweep because I’d rather bust my ass on tv than be in a crate full of cockroaches or something like that. I would freak the fuck out. They was wylin in 2001” you say and Tyler ponders the question for a minute before letting out a pfft.. 

“Easyyyyyy. I will drink the cockroach milkshake over playing on Supermarket sweep. I don’t mess with grocery stores like that. That’s why I order all my stuff online now. I've spent two many of my Saturdays missing Saturday morning cartoons walking around with my grandma and mama while me and my dad trail behind trying to get them to hurry up. Besides skydiving is on my list to do at some point.” he explains and you pretend to gag as he says that he’d take the shake. 

“Good?” he asked with a little laugh as he noticed you had a whipped cream mustache from the caramel hot chocolate that he made for you. 

“Mhm” was the only response he got from you in between swigs of possibly the best caramel hot chocolate you’ve ever had. 

He leans in,  licking it off of your lips before kissing you sweetly and gently tugging on your bottom lip as his tongue runs across it again. 

“I bet you taste better though…” he says against your lips

His hands find your hips as he pulls you onto his lap. 

You learned that he was talented at several things outside of acting and being inside out beautiful and a good 8- . Anyways, something you couldn’t tell your girls about on Monday.

Leaving him was too difficult two days later because you’re both those types of people where if you know , you know that you’ve found your person and both agreed to try and meet each other twice a week. Once for sure so that you try not to miss each other too much. 

Maybe swiping right wasn’t so bad after all.

[unedited so if there’s a few typos i’m sorry i’ll edit them later! ]

[myveryownfanfiction]

AN: So the Billy Bibbit story is up for Monday. This is for Tuesday. I’m trying hard to get these out on time but damn I forgot the balance of school and this. Also I know this is out of character for Chucky but it’s insanely cute and I had to write it. I also apologize for the length. Got a little carried away. Enjoy though!

“This is Halloween. This is Halloween. Pumpkins scream in the dead of night.” I quietly sang as I lugged a pumpkin into the apartment I shared with my boyfriend. “Everybody make a scene.” I trailed off and hummed the rest of the song. My boyfriend appeared in the doorway from the bedroom, sleepily brushing his hair out of his face. “Morning Chucky!” I laughed, kissing his cheek as I passed him on the way back out to our car for the rest of the groceries. 

“Morning.” He mumbled, reaching past the pumpkin for his cup and filling it with coffee. When I walked back into the kitchen with another pumpkin, Chucky put down his cup and took it from me. He placed it next to the other one. “So I see you’re prepping for Halloween.” Chucky chuckled as he wrapped his arms around me. I giggled and nodded. 

“Of course!” Chucky kissed my neck before resting his chin on my shoulder. “And don’t worry, you get to carve one of those.” I reached behind me and tangled my fingers in Chucky’s long hair. He hummed happily before breaking away from me to get the supplies to carve the pumpkins while I put away the other groceries. 

“Damn bats.” I chuckled as Chucky walked into the bats I had hung in our living room. “Hang them shorter next ear.” He grumbled as he walked back into the kitchen with the necessary supplies. I nodded and we got to work designing our pumpkins. Out of all the Halloween traditions Chucky and I adhered to, carving pumpkins was the one we took the most serious. When we had finished, we showed each other. 

“Yours is going in the back window.” I laughed as Chucky turned his back to face him. 

“Come on! Some of the spoiled brats deserve to be frightened to death.” Chucky smiled at me before shrugging. “Come on Disney fan, let’s put them in the windows.” I nodded as Chucky took his to the back window before taking mine to the front window. 

“All that is left are our costumes for handing out candy.” I said. “Do you want to go to Spirit Halloween?” Chucky smirked at me. “What? What’s up?” He slowly shook his head and gently took my hand, leading me into our bedroom. 

“You know how I got trapped in that Good Guy doll and they made all those movies about it?” He asked, standing in front of the closet. 

“Yeah…” I trailed off. “And they replaced me with fucking Tiffany.” Chucky smirked before nodding. 

“Well I already went and got our costumes.” Chucky opened the closet and pulled out a set of Good Guy overalls with a colorful striped shirt. He handed them to me and I put them on the bed. I scowled as he pulled out an all white costume with a black leather jacket. 

“I hate you Charles.” I grumbled as I took the costume from him and put it on the bed next to his. “I can’t believe you are making me dress like Tiffany.” Chucky also produced a bag which he handed to me. 

“You get your payback.” He said as he pulled a bottle of hair dye out of the bag. I started laughing and hugged Chucky to keep my balance. “You get to temporarily dye my hair so I’m a ginger. It’ll wash out by the end of the week.” I leaned up and kissed him. 

“That’s the perfect payback.” I smiled at him before dragging him into the bathroom. I made him sit on the toilet seat before opening the hair dye and reading the instructions. Glancing at Chucky, I started to mix the dye. “You sure about this Chucky? It’s for a whole week.” He nodded up at me from his seat on the toilet. 

“I’m sure.” He smiled at me. “I need to look perfect for you.” I turned towards him, dye at the ready. 

“You look perfect the way you are Charles. You don’t need to become a ginger to be the perfect version of that damn doll.” I said putting a gloved hand on his cheek. Chucky leaned into it. 

“Yes I do.” He reiterated. “Now let’s get this done before I back out.” I laughed and applied the dye to his hair. Chucky sat still while I did it before putting his hands on my waist. “So are we taking turns handing out the candy or are we sitting out front like we normally do?” I finished putting the dye in his hair and shrugged. 

“Let’s sit out front.” I said. “That way everyone can see our costumes.” Chucky smiled at me before standing up. “Now we wait ten minutes and then you can wash that dye out.” 

“Set a timer doll.” Chucky smirked as I went into the kitchen to set the timer. It was starting to get dark out so I lit the candles in the pumpkins while I was there. “What time does trick or treating start?” I followed Chucky’s voice back to the bedroom. 

“It starts in two hours.” I called back. “Plenty of time for the dye to set and then for us to get changed.” I walked back into the bedroom and showed him the timer. Chucky nodded and kicked back his feet. The time went by slowly with the two of us talking about everything and nothing at the same time. The timer went off and Chucky went to take a shower to wash out the dye. I busied myself with getting the tags and things off of our costumes. 

“We’ll see how it looks.” Chucky said as he came out of the bathroom, towel around his waist and drying his hair with a towel. I looked over at him as he stood in front of a mirror and tossed the towel he used for his hair towards the bed. 

“Looks good Chuck.” I said with a smile. He caught my gaze in the mirror and smiled. 

“Let’s get dressed. It’s nice enough that we can sit outside for a while before the kids start coming.” He turned towards me with his head cocked and I nodded. We got changed into our costumes and I smiled wide when I saw Chucky in the Good Guy overalls. 

“Looking good there Chucky.” I smiled as I played with the straps over his shoulders. He chuckled at my antics. “Do you like to be hugged?” I giggled as I wrapped my arms around him. Chucky rolled his eyes as he returned my hug. 

“Only by you doll.” He admitted. I grinned into his shoulder as his hands slid down to my butt. “Only by you.” I jumped as he squeezed. 

“Charles!” I exclaimed as I pulled back and swatted at his chest. “Watch it buddy!” Chucky laughed as I moved away from him only to be pulled back against his chest. 

“I couldn’t resist.” He whispered in my ear. “You look so much better than she ever could. I’m going to have a hard time keeping my hands off of you tonight.” I sighed as I relaxed against him. 

“I look better?” I craned my neck to look at him. Chucky smiled as he nodded. He kissed my cheek before burying his head in the crook of my neck. I gently ran my fingers through his hair as I felt him press a kiss to my shoulder. 

“Insanely better.” He pulled me closer and gently swayed with me. 

“What’s gotten into you tonight Chucky?” I giggled as I moved with him. “You’re never like this.” I felt his smile against my neck before he pulled away.

“I’m just being sentimental tonight.” I chuckled as I pulled away completely from him. “You think I forgot what tonight is.” He said, disbelief easing into his tone. Opening the closet, I shook my head. 

“I know you would never forget it.” I admitted. “For two reasons. First is that it is also the day that you hate the most seeing as it is the night that you transferred your soul.” I pulled out a box from the closet and looked at Chucky from behind the door. “Second, and this one is the most important, it’s the day you asked me out for the first time.” Chucky smiled and made his way over to me. 

“So I will always remember dollface.” He closed the closet door and pinned me against it. I giggled as he kissed me before taking the box from my hands. “Now what is this?” he put it on the table before looking at me. 

“Just a little present for you.” I walked over and wrapped my arms around him from behind. “Go ahead and open it.” Chucky started tearing into the paper that was wrapped around the box. I looked over his shoulder as the paper went flying to the floor. 

“(Y/N)!” Chucky cried. He whirled around and pinned me against the table as I laughed like a maniac. “How dare you!” I picked the box back up and held it against my chest. 

“Come on Chucky!” I exclaimed. “He’s cute! And guess what?” Chucky gritted his teeth and stared me down. 

“What?” He growled. I took the doll out of the box and hugged him. 

“Hi! My name’s Chucky. Wanna play? Hidey ho! Ha ha ha!” the doll said. Chucky scowled at it. 

“Get rid of it.” He growled at me. I rolled my eyes. 

“Chill out Chucky.” I said as I set the doll on the table. “He’s going to work with me tomorrow and staying there. He’s just here for tonight.” I wrapped my arms around Chucky’s waist and kissed his cheek. “There’s only one Chucky for me.” I nuzzled his cheek as Chucky started to relax in my arms. 

“Only one?” He asked, putting his arms loosely around me. 

“Only one.” I reassured him. “And he’s right here in my arms right now.” I pulled back and looked at Chucky. He was biting his lip and looking at the doll. 

“Just tonight.” Chucky said as he put his finger in my face. “And then he goes to your office tomorrow and he never,” Chucky gently tapped my nose. “Never comes back here.” I squealed and pulled Chucky into a kiss. 

“I love you Chucky.” I whispered against his lips. 

“Good to know that’s all it takes to earn your love.” He laughed when we broke away. I rolled my eyes at him before he kissed me again. “I love you too (Y/N).” He hugged me close and picked up the doll by the arm. “Now how does he play into our plans for tonight?” I smiled at him. “I’m not transferring my soul back into one of these if that was your plan.” I shook my head. 

“Not what I had in mind at all.” I took the doll from him and hugged him gently. “He just has to sit in your lap while we hand out candy.” Chucky cocked his head. 

“I thought you were sitting in my lap.” He said. He looked so cute when he was confused. 

“Ok then he’ll sit in my lap.” I said as Chucky picked up the candy bowl. He looked at the doll for a second. 

“Ok.” He said before taking my hand and leading me outside. Sitting down, Chucky pulled me into his lap and helped me situate the doll so he wouldn’t fall over. Chucky pressed a kiss to the back of my head as the first of the trick or treaters came up to our steps. We handed out candy and many people commented on our costumes and the doll. There were a few teenagers that came to gawk at Chucky but he just indulged them by telling them a couple of things the movies got wrong. By the end of the night, we were running out of candy and when I had gotten up to get more from the kitchen, a little girl dressed up as Chucky in doll form had come up. 

“You’re the real Chucky?” I stood in the doorway and noticed the girl’s mother was starting to come up the walkway to stop her. I held up my hand to show the mom that everything was ok. Chucky smiled and nodded at her. 

“Yeah. I’m the real Chucky.” He said softly. The girl had climbed the stairs and was standing in front of Chucky. He still towered over her even though he was sitting down but she didn’t seem frightened by him. She took a step closer but nearly tripped on the step. Chucky’s hand shot out to catch her but she caught her balance at the last second. 

“Were you really a doll?” She asked him. Chucky nodded again. 

“Yep. A Good Guy doll in fact.” Chucky looked next to him and picked up the doll I had put down. “Just like him.” The little girl smiled at Chucky. 

“That had to be fun.” She said with a small giggle. Chucky smiled at her again. 

“Not really. But it’s more fun to dress up like one now.” The little girl looked back at her mother and she smiled at her daughter. I moved onto the porch a little and watched Chucky continue to interact with the little girl. 

“How did you get out?” The little girl was standing on the porch next to Chucky. They were eye level now. Chucky looked at the girl’s mother before looking back at her. 

“It’s a long story.” He muttered. “You have a lot of trick or treating to do tonight. You don’t want to hear me tell the story.” The mother shook her head. 

“It’s ok Mr. Ray.” She said, startling Chucky. “We live just around the corner. We’re almost done for the night.” Chucky looked at the mother in shock. 

“You’re sure?” he said, disbelief on the edge of his voice. I bit my lip, realizing that this was the first time someone was asking him out of pure curiosity rather than morbid delight. 

“She’s genuinely interested.” The mother said. “Besides she’s normally really shy around strangers. When she heard it was you that lived here and you were handing out candy, well she practically begged me to bring her here. Don’t ask me why, but she adores you.” Chucky looked at the little girl in shock and she nodded. He smiled shyly at her. He slowly held his hand out to her and she took it. 

“I’m Charles Lee Ray.” He gently shook her hand. “But my friends call me Chucky.” The little girl looked at him wide eyed. 

“Can I call you Chucky?” She whispered excitedly. Chucky nodded and laughed as the little girl nearly tackled him in a hug. He held her tightly and caught my gaze over the girl’s shoulder. He smiled at me before pulling back from the little girl. “I’m Beverly.” 

“I guess it’s story time then Beverly.” He chuckled. “Want to sit in my lap?” The little girl nodded enthusiastically. Chucky let her get settled in his lap before passing her the doll. “You can hold him.” Beverly clutched the doll with one arm while the other held Chucky’s arm tightly. He started to tell the story of how he got out of the doll, censoring parts of it for her. I smiled as I watched the two. When Chucky reached the part about me finding him and bringing him as a doll and bringing him back to the apartment, he turned towards me and made Beverly aware of my presence for the first time. 

“You’re really (Y/N/N)?” She exclaimed. I laughed as I sat down next to Chucky and put a hand on her back. 

“Yeah. I am.” I smiled at her and held out my hand for her. She shook my hand and looked between Chucky and I. “Nice to meet you Beverly.” She smiled and turned back to Chucky, giving him her full attention while he finished the story. By the end of it, Beverly had her head resting on Chucky’s chest and I was holding the doll. Chucky had his chin resting gently on the top of Beverly’s. I looked over at her mom and smiled. 

“(Y/N/N) is really the one who got me out. Not Tiffany. Even though (Y/N/N) is dressed like Tiffany tonight.” Chucky snickered. I gave him a dirty look but Beverly turned towards me and reached out for a hug. 

“Thank you for getting Chucky out.” She said as I wrapped my arms around her. I looked at Chucky in shock. No one acknowledged me for my part in anything Chucky did, even before he got trapped in the doll. My eyes welled up as Beverly pulled away. 

“It was easy.” I assured her. “Besides, we all need Chucky back in the real world even if some people disagree.” Beverly nodded eagerly. Beverly’s mom took another step towards us as Beverly layed back down on Chucky. I chuckled as Chucky hugged the little girl to him. 

“I know none of this has been conventional but would it be too much to ask if I can take a picture of you three?” Beverly’s mom asked. I looked at Chucky and smiled. He smiled back at me before turning towards Beverly’s mom. 

“Sure. She might as well have something to remember tonight with.” Chucky slowly moved so he didn’t disturb Beverly too much and I knelt behind him. I wrapped my arms around the two sitting in front of me and rested my chin on the top of Chucky’s head. The doll had gotten tossed back into our apartment. We smiled for the camera and Beverly’s mom took a picture. Then Beverly shocked everyone by kissing Chucky’s cheek. I could see from my vantage point that Chucky’s face had turned red and I could stop myself from laughing. The flash went off on Beverly’s mom’s camera and I just knew that I had to ask her for a copy of that picture. Beverly’s mom smiled at us all. 

“As much as I hate to break this up, we need to get you to bed Bevvy.” She said and held out her hand for Beverly to take. Beverly reluctantly got off of Chucky’s lap before making her way halfway down the stairs. She turned around and ran back up the stairs with Chucky leaning forward, ready to catch her in case she tripped. Beverly threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly again. 

“Thank you Chucky.” She said before turning away and running back down the stairs to her mother. Chucky abruptly stood up and made his way down the stairs. 

“I know how this is going to sound but can I walk her home with you?” Chucky nervously asked. Beverly’s mom looked at him shocked. She turned to look at me and I shrugged as I made the trip down the stairs as well. 

“I...I don’t see why not?” Beverly’s mom said as she looked at her daughter jumping up and down excitedly. I shared a look with Chucky and had to bite back my smile as he turned back towards Beverly. He held out his hand for her and she held up her arms. Chucky looked at her mother and she laughed. “That means she wants you to carry her.” Chucky nodded and bent down to pick up Beverly. I smiled as her mother got another picture and I walked up to the two. 

“Beverly?” I said sweetly. She turned towards me and looked down at my hand. I held up the biggest candy bar we had. I originally planned on splitting it with Chucky but I was sure he’d agree with me that she deserved it more than we did. “Don’t forget your candy.” I put it in her little pumpkin bucket before handing the bucket to her mom. Beverly’s eyes went wide as she realized that it was for her. I smiled at Chucky when he saw what I had done. He smiled and nodded in agreement. 

“Ok. Now you gotta tell me how to get to your house. You think you can do that?” Chucky asked Beverly. She nodded and pointed Chucky in the direction of her house. I smiled and fell into step with Beverly’s mom. 

“I’m Sidney by the way.” Her mom held out her hand to me. I laughed and shook her hand.

“I’m (Y/N).” I said. “Everyone calls me (Y/N/N) though. And obviously that’s Charles Lee Ray carrying your daughter.” Sidney laughed and looked over at the two in front of us. 

“She really took to him didn’t she?” She said to me. I nodded. 

“Well he took to her too.” I told her. Sidney looked over at me. I nodded. “All night teenagers have been coming and basically laughing at him. He doesn’t show it but they get to him. He usually just threatens them and they run off scared.” I shrugged. “There’s something about your daughter that threw him tonight. I don’t know exactly what it is that has him so attached but if I had to guess, it’s how she was genuinely interested in him and not the novelty of him.” Sidney looked at her daughter laughing as she played with Chucky’s hair. 

“I’ll admit I felt bad about her running up to him and asking all those questions.” She said, never taking her eyes off the two. Chucky was laughing as he gently put one of the overall straps back on Beverly’s shoulder. “But looking at them now, I think it’s just what they both needed.” I nodded as I watched the two. “Her father died last week.” My eyes shifted back to Sidney. 

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I said quickly. I then looked at the two again. “You wouldn’t think it looking at her.” Sidney nodded. 

“Not right now.” She agreed. “But she didn’t even want to come out tonight. I made her anyway. Keep some sort of normalcy for her you know? Then she overheard some of the older kids mention Charles Lee Ray’s house and she nearly took off without me. She’s not going to forget this night for a long time.” I smiled. 

“I think that makes two of them.” Sidney smiled at me. “If it’s possible, could I get copies of those pictures you took?” I bit my lip. “I’m sure Chucky would love to remember this night too. He’s been through so much and after all of it I’m not sure how he’s going to come out on the other side. He still has one or two more trials and I know he’s going to have a hard time getting through them. This would keep his spirits up enough to at least continue fighting.” Sidney nodded and put her hand on my shoulder. 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you copies.” I let out a sigh of relief. “I think you’ll need them as much as him if you don’t mind me saying.” I nodded. “Tell you what. You and Chucky are free to visit anytime you want.” I smiled in gratitude. “And I’ll be sure to keep your number handy in case I ever need a babysitter.” 

“I think you’re right.” I took one last look at Chucky and Beverly. “Thank you. For everything. I know it means a lot to me but it also means a lot to Chucky even if he won’t say it.” Sidney patted my shoulder and walked up the steps to unlock her door. I watched as Beverly hugged Chucky tightly. He gently put her down and waved as she ran into her house. He stood there until the door closed. I smiled as he turned towards me with a smile on his face. “Have a fun time?” I asked as Chucky drew close. I put my arm around his waist as his fell across my shoulders. 

“Aside from the night I asked you out,” Chucky said as he kissed my temple. “Best Halloween ever.” I laughed as we walked home and I filled him in on what Sidney had told me. “Yeah. It was the best Halloween ever.” Chucky said later as we changed out of our costumes and got ready for bed. 

[yegarts]

“I Am YEG Arts” Series: Michelle Campos Castillo

Comics, design and illustration, sculpture, public art—Michelle Campos Castillo does it all, and with purpose. Born in El Salvador, Campos Castillo uses her art to create tributes to her culture and reclaim space by processing her experiences. In doing so, she’s been changing not only the physical landscape of the city, but the mindset of the community itself—and not alone. Along with other artists she looks up to, she’s carving out more inclusive spaces and opportunities she hopes will empower other racialized artists to tell their stories. Equal parts inspiring and inspired—this week’s “I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Michelle Campos Castillo.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home.

Edmonton was one of the cities in Canada taking in refugees in the 80s and 90s, so that’s how my family and I ended up here. We were displaced because of the civil war in El Salvador where we were born. It felt very random for a long time, but after travelling and living elsewhere, there’s no denying that it’s home. The river, the skies, and the people really make you fall in love, and they always seem to pull you back.

What’s the first thing you ever made that inspired your artistic path? Did you know then that you’d unlocked something?

I created a poster in 2007 for a project called looking for love in all the wrong places, curated by artist Anthea Black. It was the first time that I started to speak about my experiences of migration and queerness, and it really scared me honestly. It would take another 10 years or so before I started to speak about migration again; not necessarily out of fear, but because I didn’t have the space emotionally or financially to make personal art at the time.

Comics, design and illustration, sculpture, public art—is there a common thread that you bring to all the mediums you work in?

My life as a displaced person, as an immigrant, and Salvadoran influences everything I do. I’m creating tributes to my culture, one that I tried to dismiss in order to survive life in Edmonton as a new immigrant child.

What narratives are you drawn to as a storyteller?

Right now I’m just concerned with telling my story. I tried to hide anything that made me different growing up, and reclaiming that space has been a long journey. I’m really drawn to unique stories that are not white and male, and don’t focus on romance. I loved Hiromi Goto’s graphic novel, Shadow Life, about this badass senior who literally challenges death.

Terremoto at latitude 53, 2020. Photo supplied.

Tell us about the best advice you’ve ever received and the last time you called on it.

Vivek Shraya will always tell me to apply for every opportunity available to me, to silence the voices that tell you that you’re not good enough or don’t have enough experience. I always return to that.

What does community mean to you, and where do you find it?

Community to me means a group of people working towards the same goals. Right now I’m involved with the arts community to hopefully create more inclusive spaces as an artist and arts administrator. There’s also my Salvadoran and Latin American communities, as well as queer communities; sometimes they feel too separate, and I’m hoping we can work on uniting all these parts.

Who’s someone inspiring you right now?

I have so many personal heroes living in this city: Christina Battle, Tiffany Shaw, Becca Taylor, AJA Louden, Raneece Buddan, Kiona Ligtvoet and Making Space. They are all contributing so much to the city constantly with their talent—and creating inclusive opportunities too.

What’s your relationship like with pressure, and what tips have you learned for managing it?

I work best with deadlines, and I sort of hate it. I get very distracted easily, so I use whatever technology (phone reminders, calendar) to keep myself organized. I also still use notebooks a ton. It takes a village.

Describe your perfect day in Edmonton. How do you spend it?

I’m already dreaming of summer (best one ever) and just want to sit at Paul Kane Park with friends, watching all the cute dogs walk by. I’ll start my day off at Glass Bookshop, grab coffee at Grizzlar, lunch at Acajutla, dessert at Kind Ice Cream or Doughnut Party or Bloom Cookies. We are good at dessert in this city. Also checking out all the galleries in town is a must: Ociciwan, SNAP, Latitude 53, Mitchell Art Gallery, and AGA.

What are you currently working on or hoping to explore next?

I’m working on a graphic novel memoir based on my life in El Salvador before migrating to Canada. It was a time of civil war that is now in danger of being deliberately erased, and it feels really important to keep talking and remembering. It’s a project that’s been in the works for a long time and will also take a long time to complete. I also have a public art project collaboration with Becca Taylor, Tiffany Shaw, Christina Battle, and Shawn Tse going up at Stadium LRT this year, so look out for that.

How do you hope to help shape Edmonton’s arts community?

I hope that my presence can empower other racialized folks to make art and tell their stories. Edmonton is so incredibly diverse beyond the core, and I want the arts to reflect this.

Platanos at Belvedere Station. Photo supplied. 

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Michelle Campos Castillo and her work.

About Michelle Campos Castillo

Michelle Campos Castillo is a Salvadoran visual artist living in Edmonton. She has been the recipient of several public art commissions from the City of Edmonton, including Platanos, a set of three sculptures on permanent display at Belvedere Transit Centre, and is currently producing artwork for the LRT Valley Line in the west end of the city.

[dazzlingstarlight]

25 words for Jubal Valentine

Hi everyone, thanks for sending so many words! Thank you to the anon who asked for some Jubal sentences – all of these 25 words are for Jubal and I hope you like them!

1. Talents

Jubal is surprised when the new SAC asks about his team, and he tells her that Maggie and OA are great partners and Kristen is a highly talented analyst, and Dana stares at him thoughtfully for a long moment before she nods and says, “Okay then, let’s get to work.”

2. Experience

A year later, Jubal repeats the experience with another new SAC, but this time he tells Isobel that Maggie and OA are rock solid together, and while Kristen is green in the field, he has no doubt that she’ll learn fast from her new partner Scola.

3. Hug

It wasn’t an easy search, but it’s a happy reunion when Maggie and OA finally bring two missing children back to 26 Fed, and their parents squeeze them as tightly as they can through tears of joy and relief, and Jubal decides that maybe he should stop by and see his kids tonight and make sure to hug them tight.

4. Enough

There are two suspect photos posted on the screen in the JOC, and Jubal looks over Ian’s shoulder as he combs through their financials, and when he finds a series of simultaneous deposits into each one’s bank account, Jubal gives Ian an approving clap on the shoulder and tells him to call Maggie and OA because it’s enough to bring them in.

5. Secure

Ian is having trouble downloading some security footage and he’s a little surprised when Jubal asks if there’s a secure server with double firewalls and triple encryption, and then Jubal gives him a smug grin and says, “What, you think I don’t pick up any of this stuff from hanging around you guys in the JOC?”

6. Ring

Maggie and OA have been chasing a drug smuggling ring for a couple of weeks, and they think it might help to put someone on the inside, and Jubal tells them he knows a guy and when they ask where they can find him, Jubal says it’s one of his old aliases, so they’re already looking at him.

7. Please

Jubal adjusts the camera and the wire hidden in his shirt, and he hears Scola confirm that the audio and video are loud and clear, and OA asks if he’s ready for this, and Jubal scoffs a little and says, “Please, boys, let me show you once again why the ladies call me Mr. Valentine.”

8. Distraction

Jubal is calm and confident – and maybe even a bit cocky – as he strolls up to the front door, sporting an expensive designer suit with two beautiful women hanging attentively on each arm, and the two guards that block the door can’t take their eyes off Maggie and Kristen which creates just enough of a distraction to let OA and Scola knock them out from behind.

9. Longing

Sometimes when he and Sam are cheering on the bleachers at his son’s soccer games, Jubal thinks that they look like a normal, happy family – and then he thinks that maybe he’s longing for something that just isn’t there anymore.

10. Helpless

As FBI agents, they’re committed to helping people every day, but when it’s one of their own lying in a hospital bed, Jubal hates the way he feels so helpless, and he keeps snapping the elastic band around his hand again and again and again.

11. Affection

Jubal has had just about enough of the CIA agent chattering in his ear, telling him why he can’t send his field agents barging into a suspect’s home, and he finally faces the man and growls enough to make him back off a little: “Okay, sir, I realize there’s never been a whole lot of affection between the FBI and the CIA, but you’re on FBI turf now, and that means we do it our way.”

12. Bond

The elderly man sitting in interrogation has refused to talk for a good hour, and Jubal knows they’re losing valuable time, so he tries a new approach in a gentler tone: “Mr. Carson, I know you don’t want to betray your son because I have a son of my own and I know there’s a bond between a father and his son that shouldn’t ever be broken, but we need your help.”

13. Trust

Mr. Carson’s eyes are glistening with tears, and he shakes his head hopelessly, mumbling over and over that he just doesn’t want his son to get hurt, and Jubal kneels next to him and says, “Sir, I understand that, and that’s why you have to trust that we’ll do everything we can to get your son home safely.”

14. Pair

Whenever Jess LaCroix’s team rolls into town, Jess and Jubal always make an interesting pair as Jess follows his hunches and Jubal follows his facts and somehow they both manage to put the criminal behind bars and get the job done.

15. Reaction

Jubal isn’t sure how Scola is going to react to another partner – Tiffany is the third partner for him in less than a year, now that Kristen has moved on and Emily was only temporary – but he introduces her anyway and Scola is his usual self, shaking her hand and saying “looking forward to working with you” and then getting right back to work again.

16. Anger

It’s the alcohol that made him angry then, when he spent every night so wasted that he couldn’t even stand on his own two feet, and it’s still the alcohol that makes him angry now, for how much he hurt himself and his career and his family.

17. Sweat

When Jubal tries to remember his relationship – or rather, his affair – with Rina, he’s ashamed to admit that all he can remember is a few steamy, sweaty nights in bed – and the strong stench of alcohol.

18. Addiction

While Jubal has worked hard to overcome his addiction, he’s always wary of the little things that make it all too easy to remember the way he used to be, the cases that he should have worked harder on, the cases that he should have been sober for – and the cases where the victims struggled with their own substance abuse and he couldn’t do anything to help them.

19. Beginning

That’s why Jubal is proud to become a sponsor – to be there for someone else from the very beginning – because he’s been through it all and he knows how hard it is to explain to someone who hasn’t, and because he doesn’t want anyone else to make the same choices and he wants to give someone else a second chance.

20. Break

Isobel gives him a disapproving look, and Jubal knows the sting he’s proposing is risky, but he has faith in his field agents’ skill and his analysts’ intel, so when Isobel tells him that the ADIC will make their lives very difficult if things go wrong, Jubal just shakes his head and tells her that this team isn’t going to break.

21. Training

Jubal has been negotiating a hostage situation for hours and when it escalates to the point where there’s imminent danger to the civilians, he makes the hard call to take the shot, and he closes his eyes with a heavy sigh because no training can ever really prepare an agent for endings like this.

22. Bed

His daughter’s grip around his neck is cutting off his air supply, but Jubal can’t complain too much because she’s just so excited to see her father, and he sets her down and tells her to go put on her pajamas, and even though it feels awkward, Jubal still tells Sam thank you for letting him tuck his kids into bed that night.

23. Grief

When Jubal just happens to know a strip club on the East Side because he walks by it on his way to the subway, he doesn’t miss the smirk that Kelly and Elise share and he wonders how much grief they would give him if they knew he accidentally bumped into a woman on the street outside of the club and he’s thinking about asking her out for coffee…maybe.

24. Help

When OA tells Jubal that Maggie will be gone for a few days because she’s getting her sister settled in at the rehab center, Jubal is more than understanding and privately he wishes that someone like Maggie had gotten him that kind of help before it was too late for his own addiction.

25. Morning

Scola and Tiffany fall into the easy routine of bringing morning coffee and pastries to the JOC, and Jubal is grateful to them for fueling his crew because there’s always another new case, and he calls “eyes up!” so their focus is on the screen, and then it’s time to go to work again.

[babybatscreationsv2]

A King on a Leash ch5

Marvel | Starker

Tony Stark is a powerful man with a beautiful husband and a loyal crime  family, but it looks like he didn't keep his husband on a short enough  leash. After turning Peter lose on a Cuban gang leader, Peter's life is  in danger. The real trouble is that Tony now realizes that Peter is the  only thing in this world that he cares about and he never meant for that  to happen.

Sequel to A Doll on a String

Rating: Explicit

Full Fic

A Doll on a String

Warnings under the cut*

Warnings: murder mention

"We are officially married," Peter said. His skinny fingers traced patterns on Tony's arm. He'd taken to getting manicures, which he made Tony get as well, though he kept his nails quite short to avoid breaking them. His nails were shiny and beautiful. Tony supposed his must be, too, but he thought it suited the dainty quality of Peter's more slender hands.

"The last year didn't count?" Tony asked. He was so warm with Peter laying back against his chest. All he could smell was the natural oil of his hair. He could stay like that the rest of the day and he wouldn't complain.

"It did, but now it's officially official."

"Because why, exactly?"

"Because we had sex and no one even got off and it was still nice. Lazy, afternoon, love making, with no agenda is on the list of married people things."

Tony smiled. He'd like to make a habit of it. Stuffing himself into Peter's ass and then sleeping that way. "It's not too late for someone to get off."

"No, it is. I'm not horny anymore. I'm just happy."

"Me, too. Do we have to say our vows now or...?"

Peter laughed. "You can profess your love to me if you want. I don't mind."

Tony hugged him tighter to his chest and kissed the top of his. "Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark, I love you more than life, money, or power. I am completely whipped. Your slave in the bedroom and out-"

Peter turned around, laughing, and kissed him. "It's cute that you think you're joking."

Tony soaked in the sight of his smile and his shinning eyes. "I wouldn't lie about a thing like that."

Peter went to say something, but Tony's cell phone rang, cutting him off. Tony kissed his forehead. "Sorry, baby."

He picked it up from the nightstand. Happy.

"What's up, Hap?"

"I've got everything lined up for the weekend, but we've gotta talk about the security situation on your end. Do you really want to go in with only two guards?"

Tony sighed. How many times did they need to have this conversation? "You know we don't take men into the meeting, Hap. It doesn't matter how many people I have waiting outside the door."

Peter kissed his cheek. He slipped out of his arms and out of bed. Watching him walk away, Tony almost missed what Happy said. Fuck, that tiny little waist. Fucking perfect ass. He had a bruise on his hip that Tony could remember the exact moment he had held him hard enough to put it there.

"-heard some stuff about Toomes," Happy was saying as he tuned back in. "If I can't be there, I want more men watching your back."

"The more men I have on me, the more opportunities we have for betrayal. I'll take only the best, the ones you trust the most. I'm counting on you to look after Peter."

Happy sighed. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that. What about Rhodes?"

"It'll look suspicious if I bring a Capo with me. Now, I do have a real job for you."

"What's up boss?"

Tony looked toward the door. He couldn't be sure that Peter wasn't eavesdropping, though if he'd wanted to then he could have just stayed in the room. He didn't want to worry him.

"I need you to find out what you can about Suarez. Does he have family, partners, enemies? How many people did we piss off and who should be kissing our asses?"

"Should I be worried?"

"Just dig up what you can, but don't side line Peter's security this weekend. Suarez comes second."

"You got it, boss."

"Thanks, Hap."

Tony climbed out of bed. He followed the smell of garlic and basil downstairs to the kitchen. He rounded the corner and found his husband, dressed in one of Tony's band T's and nothing else. He stood at the stove, stirring a pot. When he heard Tony in the doorway, he turned and smiled.

"Spaghetti night!" he called.

"Sounds perfect, angel." He stood, watching him work, thoughts swirling around his head. How did he protect this life they had? What more could he do? Once Happy provided them more information he could come up with a plan. Natasha would be a vital asset in tearing down anyone who might be dangerous.

She was the only one of his Capos who focused less on the money, the schemes, and more on the artistry of it all. She liked to strategize, infiltrate. Tony provided her the opportunities. Aside from being an old friend, that was why she joined the family. And why she stayed. They worked hard to keep her identity a secret.

"I know the view is incredible, but I could use a hand you know," Peter said. He had this way of smirking that was far too playful to ever be cocky.

Tony joined him at the stove and gave him a kiss. Then he grabbed the supplies Peter had set out on the counter and started preparing the meat balls. Peter chatted to him about his day as they worked.

"There's been a lot of drama lately," he started. "We're doing Cinderella next and of course Gwen in Cinderella. She's been Cinderella since we were kids. Only Tiffany is determined that she should be Cinderella all of a sudden."

Tony couldn't care less about the backstage drama of ballet, but it mattered to Peter so he listened and he didn't miss a word.

"How does Gwen feel about the great Cinderella debate?"

"Honestly, I don't think it ever occurred to either one of us that anyone else would be Cinderella. It makes sense, I guess. Sometimes we ought to share the spotlight. Still, everyone has their roles. It makes preparing for a new performance a lot easier if we don't mix it up."

"Since when do you like things easy?"

Peter smiled at him, eyes a bit surprised. "You're right. We should switch it up. And ya know? I'll step down as the prince and Gwen and Tiffany can sort out who's gonna be who."

"Won't that be controversial with the donors," Tony chuckled.

Peter fake gasped. "Mr. Stark, are you homophobic?"

"Terribly. I won't have any homophones in this house."

"Am I pregnant? Because I think that was a dad joke." Peter wrinkled his nose.

"Should I be worried?"

"Better start painting the nursery," Peter teased.

They had talked about kids a while back and whether or not they might want one. Peter was certain that he didn't. Tony couldn't stand the idea of ending up like his father. Besides, he had enough to worry about when it came to Peter's safety. For sanity's sake, he was happy never having children.

"What did Happy call about?"

Tony didn't flinch, so used to lying. He avoided lying to Peter as much as possible, but this wasn’t something he needed to worry over.

"He was just double checking the security situation for this week. He wants me to take more guards in." He tucked the meatballs into the oven.

"And you won't, of course," Peter smiled fondly.

"Who wants to be the guy who brings an army to dinner?" Tony laughed, drying his clean hands with a towel.

Peter abandoned his noodles to put his hand on Tony's cheek. "I want you to be the guy who comes home to his husband." He turned away again with a sad smiled to drain the pasta.

"You don't have to worry about me, angel. It's only a meeting. Just an annual check up."

"They're still mad about Octavius," he said. Tony watched him pour the water out, sad little frown on his lips.

"Toomes doesn't want to let it go, but Fisk is on our side," he assured him. Peter turned away from, setting the pasta aside.

"And what kind of war will we be in if he convinces Martin Li to take his side?"

Tony wrapped his arms around him. "Are you scared, angel?"

Peter caught one his hands and pressed his fingers to his lips. "Not as long as you're here. I'm only scared when you're gone."

"I'm never gone, my angel. You and me, we're so entwined. You are the greatest extension of myself, the best part of me."

Peter turned in his arms and placed his hands around his neck. "How did we get so tangled up?"

"It was just meant to be, sweetheart."

Peter pressed up to give him a kiss. The heat of his mouth traveled through him and craved more. He pinned him back against the counter, held in his arms. Their lips moved together, the sharp smacking, sucking, sounds of their mouths louder than the sizzling in the oven. Tony kissed him until they couldn't breathe. Then he pressed his lips to Peter's neck. He moaned, pressing against him, as Tony sucked a deep mark into his skin.

"More," he breathed.

Tony held him tighter, fingers digging bruises into his skin. He sucked another mark into his throat, right in the front where there was no mistaking it. Peter sighed happily.

"Again," he giggled. Tony laughed, too, but his lips left his neck to reclaim his lips. He didn't let him go until the smell coming from the oven threatened them with burnt meatballs.

----------

Agony. It was dramatic and codependent, he knew, but that didn't make it any less painful as they parted ways. Technically speaking, they would only be an hour's drive apart, but it felt like so much more. He hoped it would be good for him in the long run. They needed some distance. They spent so much of their time wrapped up in each other. Tony couldn't afford to forget who he was.

The rules of their yearly meeting were that it had to be on neutral ground. Which was the only reason none of them had put any money into what was easily their favorite hotel. None of them owned a square inch of the place or any of the people inside it. So it was safe to assume that there wouldn't be any surprises.

Tony never made a reservation. He didn't want anyone to know which room he would be in until he was in it. Being Tony Stark, of course, they made sure he had one of their luxury suites whether or not there was one available. He didn't have to own the place to gain that kind of privilege. It was the sort of thing he took for granted and that Peter would have appreciated more.

The room wasn't much smaller than his old condo. It felt oddly empty. Tony made himself at home on the couch, trying to fill the space. Four guards joined him in the living space. A fifth walked the line of windows, checking rooftops. He killed time before the meeting by sharing an anecdote with his men. Their laughter helped him settled, helped him feel more in control. Then it was time to freshen up and meet the others in the meeting room.

Tony's suit was navy blue with a yellow and gray stripped tie that demanded attention. A tie Peter had picked out for him the last time they went shopping. He said he needed more than black in his wardrobe. Which is how the blue suit ended up in his closet. Not that Tony didn't own anything colored, but when he was in 'Boss' mode, it was black on black. This meeting was different from his normal work though, so it demanded different attire.

He wasn't the first person to enter the room. Fisk was there already waiting. Once upon a time, he'd believed in always being the last man at the meeting. Until Vanessa had asked him to change that. She said that while the last man may have style, he's also the last to know if there's danger. The first one in could lay a trap for the others.

"Wilson," Tony greeted. He received a smile that was more confidence than greeting.

"Tony," he answered. "I'm glad you're here before the others. I wanted to thank you."

Tony took his seat. His guards were left outside the door where they pretend to be indifferent to Fisk's own men. He knew they talked once the door was shut.

"There's no need. I can hope you would do the same for me."

Fisk nodded. Then he sighed. "Cherish him, Tony. There may come a time when these memories are all you have left."

"If Adrian has his way, that's exactly what will happen."

Fisk waved his hand. "Ever since you gave up the weapons trade, Toomes has been too big for his britches. His designs grow more complex, more dangerous. One day, he will blow himself up and we will be free of his temper." The man chuckled, Tony smiled.

"Hopefully soon," he said. That made Fisk laugh.

The door opened and in walked Martin Li. As always, his suit was white, but trimmed in black in a way that created an almost cartoonish effect.

"Fisk, Stark," he greeted. Tony noted how he made a point to meet both of their eyes. He wondered if Toomes was getting to him. Li had once been Fisk's apprentice. Once, that had meant a lot to him, but Tony wasn't sure it would be enough if Toomes brought up Octavius again.

Toomes arrived soon after. He greeted Fisk and Li, only acknowledging Tony once he had sat down.

"Now that we're all here-" Fisk started.

"Sure, all," Toomes sneered.

Fisk ignored him. "I want to cut to the chase. We have always been five strong. I don't believe it would be wise to change that now. Octavius trusted no one and so left no one to replace him, yet, there is one option we might consider."

Tony was surprised. It made sense to bring someone else in, but he'd been so focused on how to keep Toomes at bay that he hadn't considered a nomination.

"Harry Osborn," Fisk proclaimed.

"Osborn?" Li asked. Tony was pleased that he seemed as taken aback as he felt.

"I know he isn't one of us, but his father had made preparations to step into the circle should we allow it."

Tony scoffed. "You mean, if he and Octavius succeed in killing me and you needed a chair filled."

"Harry Osborn is not his father. He's eager to prove himself and he's prepared to play by the rules."

"I think it's a great idea," Toomes said.

"You mean you want someone else at this table who hates me."

"Now what reason would little Harry have to hate you?" glared the man with the hideous hooked nose.

"He is quite young now that you mention it," Li said. "Practically a child."

Fisk shrugged. "I think he's the best choice. Especially if we each took the time to train him, help him get his feet on the ground. We could give him a trial period and if it doesn't work out, we'll feed him to the wolves."

"Seems like a lot of effort just to have five at the table," Li said.

"New York is a big city," Fisk countered.

"He has a point," Tony said. "If Osborn takes over Octavius's territory, it keeps us from spreading too thin. Besides, we've been arguing for a year now over who gets which of Octavius's operations. Meanwhile his men run rampant doing as they please."

"Exactly," Fisk agreed.

"And how will we convince them to respect this privileged child who is nothing like them? We at least climbed our way to the top. They respect that we were once grunts ourselves," Li asked.

"He'll have to make his own way whether he establishes fear or respect," said Fisk.

Tony flinched. Harry and Peter had a history. If Harry became a boss, if he managed to successfully take over Octavius's territory... What would Peter think of Harry then? What would he think of Tony?

[bisexual-horror-fan]

M!Reader request: Human!Tiffany plays with her victim, Reader, to completion at least once before killing them.

Oh of course you can have that! Love this whole little mini-series of the AMAB! Reader with Tiffany! Appeciate the patience on this one, hope it is worth the wait and that you enjoy it. Honestly this is a fucking awesome prompt and I really vibed and got kinda wild at the end, so let’s get into it!

---

Rating. Explicit. Length. 1.6K. Tiffany Ray Valentine X AMAB! Reader. Warnings. Cheating. One Night Stand. Making Out. Hand Job. Light Choking. Knife Play. Dirty Talk. Mention Of Cunnlingus. Graphic Discriptions Of Murder. Blood Play. 

---

Spilling More Than Just Blood.

---

You were fucking cute.

That is what was on her mind when she saw you out at the bar that night. She had been having those particular cravings as of late once again. Charles had been off doing God knows what, and God knows where, had been gone for a while. He always came back and had been gone longer than this before but still a month had passed and she was getting antsy. It was a bad habit but when he was gone she would seek out things to help fill the void and that would remind her of him. They bonded so heavily over that shared ‘hobby’ of theirs, there had been so many wonderful nights shared between them over that, the amount of nights that ended with them in each other's arms nearly on top of some body they just finished draining the life out of. 

She was missing him and you were cute and alone and had been looking at her on and off for the past ten minutes but hadn’t made a move. She was used to that, she knew she could be very intimidating and a lot of times guys wouldn’t want to approach her first. 

Should she?

She wasn’t sure why she was trying to pretend, she had already made up her mind. She picked up her drink and slid off her stool and made her way over to you with purpose. 

You couldn’t believe that someone like her came up and approached you first, it wasn’t like you thought you were a bad looking guy or anything but she was totally fucking stunning, what could she possibly want with someone like you? 

Turns out she made what she wanted crystal fucking clear and you would be a total fucking idiot to pass up a one-night stand with her. 

She insisted on going back to your place and you didn’t exactly fight her on it. You were preoccupied with other things, like how soft her lips felt and how warm she was and the way her hair felt when it brushed your cheek when she pulled away. She took your hand and asked where you lived and when you confessed it was only a few blocks away she smiled said,

“Perfect.”

You reached your place so quickly and the second the door to your apartment was open she was on you again. Pushing you back against the door to your apartment and she was kissing you and her hands were pulling at your clothes and fuck you weren’t used to a woman like her taking charge in such a fashion but fuck it was hot. You didn’t want to fall short, you wanted to impress her, if there was a chance of seeing her again you wanted that, the possibility was small but even still you wanted her to have a good time. She certainly seemed to be enjoying herself thus far, your hands on her waist and you pulled her closer, the dress she had on was so tight, her body through the thin fabric felt incredible. You wanted to peel it off her and see all that she had to offer. She had broken that kiss, leaned in and whispered in your ear, 

“Make me a drink?”

That is how you found yourself in the kitchen with her doing just that. You were trying to make conversation as you recalled one of the only cocktails you knew how to make, working on cutting up fresh lemon, she was leaning against the kitchen counter watching you with vague interest. She moved then, hand meeting your wrist and dragging her nails up your exposed forearm as she slid behind you, one hand on your shoulder and her other hand sliding over your front, dragging over your stomach. You tensed under her touch, feeling her so close, her breasts pushed to your back as she watched you work. She watched you for a minute more before her hand drifted lower, starting to open your belt as she spoke low in your ear, 

“Relax.”

You tried to listen but it was easier said than done, her other hand drifted down to join the first and soon you felt her hand closing around your achingly hard cock and you inhaled sharply at the feeling. Here beginning to touch you like this fucking got to you and it made you slow what you were doing, how her grip tightened and the way her hand dragged over your heated and sensitive flesh was so good. You already wanted to buck forward into her grip, it had been far too long since the last time that you had been with someone and it didn’t help that she was so good at it. You made a move to put down your knife and suddenly one of her hands was on your throat, manicured nails almost biting into your flesh, she wasn’t close to cutting off your air supply but it was sudden and unexpected and so you gasped her name as she spoke in a tone harsher than you had heard her use yet, 

“Did I say you could stop?” 

A shake of your head and her grip tightened as she said, “Well c’mon then. I’m still thirsty.”  You tried to focus up and listen to her. Forcing your gaze down and you set to work, not trying to be slow but making sure your movements were purposeful, attempting to focus on the task at hand to distract how fucking good her hand felt as she stroked your throbbing cock. 

As it progressed so did you. It was so hard, you tried to last but with her leaning so close into you, whispering into your ear, kissing the side and back of your neck; the pleasant drag of her nails on your jaw and throat and how she worked your slick shaft and of course the special attention she paid to the head, God damn. It all meant that it didn’t matter how well you focused on measurements or muddling or ratios. You were already planning on how you would sit her up on your kitchen counter top and how you’d drop to your knees between her spread legs and how you would make it up to her with your own mouth until you’d be ready to fuck her properly, like she deserved. So fuck it, if you came now it would be fine, and you were sure that she was aware of it, she had to feel you pulsing in her grip and was aware of your end. 

The timing was perfect. You poured the finished cocktail into the sugar rimmed glass, dropped the twist of lemon peel into it and finally gave in and came, spilling over her fingers, head tipping back, hands flat on the counter top now that they were free of your task and basked in your well earned orgasm given by her hands.  Your breathing was labored and you were happy to have the counter right there for support as your knees felt significantly weaker. 

It couldn’t have worked out better honestly. The way you moved your head back, eyes closed, you exposed your throat perfectly to her and her hand left your neck and reached down and picked up the knife you had discarded on the cutting board. She released your spent self and with her cum covered hand she brought it up, hand on your forehead, holding your head in place and before you could think of reacting that knife came up and she slit your throat open. It wasn’t the first time she had done it and it wouldn’t be the last, she knew just how to go about it and had surprising strength as she plunged the knife in hard and reefed on it, pulling it through skin and cartilage with shocking ease. 

She made the right choice doing this while she was behind you. The amount of blood that poured out of you made such a terrible mess. You faded so fast, you had no chance, were no match for her, she felt you start to go slack and stepped to the side, letting you drop like the dead weight you now were to the kitchen tile below. The blood had half gotten in your sink and half on the counter, dripping down the cabinets along with the cum you had spilled moments before your death. She admired her work. Her desire having be sated for tonight, the healthy mix of sex and violence helping make those feelings of missing Charles significantly less. She dropped the knife into the sink and was about to get ready to leave, allowing herself to take in the scene again before departing when she noticed the drink you had made for here still on the counter. Seemed like it would be terrible to waste it. 

You had made it just for her and it was the last thing you ever did, she might as well enjoy it. She took the step needed and picked up the glass, some of your blood had found its way into the glass, not surprising with the mess you made. She eyed the way it mixed with the drink, the gradient effect it caused was pleasing to the eye and then she sauntered to the living room. Staring out the window, looking at the city lights, you had a nice view. She took her time as she enjoyed the cocktail you made her as your body in the next room grew as cold as the ice in her glass.