#tiny-ass ball of murdering

[zevzevarainai]

earlier there was a power surge that turned off my computer and i took that as a sign from a higher power telling me to stop playing baldur's gate 3

[usernameforaboredcat]

Little Babies

It was just like any other day, how could it get so wrong and now your boyfriend is an itty bitty little kid. You still love him of course, how could you not when he looks so cute and tiny!?

I read @trafalgarvivi story and I couldn't help but love it and want to add to it. Hope you don't mind babes, if you want me to take this down I will just ask <3

~

~

Luffy

Luffy as a child wasn't any different from how he is as an adult. Still fun, cute and hyperactive as always. He'll probably be bouncing off the walls when he's in a nursing home.

You can't help but giggle and squeal at the sight of your tiny captain, who's just looking back up at you with big eyes. "What?". He asks. You squeal again as you drop down to his height, still being taller than him. "Awhahaaawww you're so adorable! Do you want anything to eat?". You ask the tiny boy. "YEAH!". He cheers, throwing his arms up in the air excitedly. You giggle as his energy and pick him up into your arms, taking him to the kitchen.

Sanji was already annoyed that you where feeding into his terrible eating habits and babying him so much. But he's just so cute! And Sanji couldn't not listen to you, even if you are taken he's still attracted to you.

You'd spend the whole day playing with him, doing what ever he wanted whenever he wanted. Luffy much preferred this side of you, you where less bossy and so much cooler like this.

~

Sanji

When I tell you you cried when you saw your sweet handsome as a kid, you where balling your eyes out. Not because he wasn't his tall fine ass self, but because he's just so God darn adorable in your eyes. Cuddling him close to your chest, cooing and giggling while calling him the most cutest and most beautiful boy in the world. Not like he minded it, he loved your undying attention.

He spent his time as a kid clinging to your side, resting on either your chest or lap while getting absolutely babied by you. He never realizes how much power he had until you saw his cute little self.

And oh the power he had over that Swordsman, Sanji could practically get away with murder and you'd back him up. He'd purposely piss Zoro off just to have him pick him up and yell at him, only for you to come to his rescue. "HOW DARE YOU YELL AT HIM! HE'S JUST A BOY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU YOU AWFUL MONSTER!". And Zoro would be left speechless, only eyeing the disgusting smirk across Sanjis face.

Him still being Sanji it didn't stop him from being a little pervert, only getting stopped when you'd have to push him away and remind him "You're still a baby, baby. If you want anything like that you'll have to wait till you're an adult again". Even if he did cry, that doesn't change the fact of hey you're still an adult and he's a little baby. But he waited, just so he can still enjoy the baby treatment.

~

Zoro

Zoro had always been a cheeky little fucker, easily getting into fights or starting some sort of commotion. You had to pick him up by the collar of his shirt and carry him away like a mother cat when Sanji picked a fight with him. He really didn't want to deal with being small and weak, so he just tried to sleep it off while he waited to get back to his tall strong self. He much preferred his older body anyway, he was strong and could protect you after all. He also knew that you really liked his muscles.

And he did try to just sleep it off, finding a little spot in the sun to sleep, eventually you coming over and using your lap as a pillow. He may be a tiny little mans, but he's still your boyfriend that you love to take care of.

Later that evening he'd awoken to his head on your lap, you sleeping while sitting upright. "Stupid woman". He mutter, getting off and walking to your shared bedroom. He'd grabbed your pillow and a blanket, dragging them out. He'd slowly pushed you to lay your head on the pillow and threw the blanket over you, crawling under next to you to get spooned by you.

The crew found this little soft side of Zoro cute, although he kinda always had a soft spot for you. I mean you two are dating after all, he wouldn't be dating you of he didn't have that soft spot.

~

Ace

He'd always been sorta glad that he grew out of his stinky attitude he had as a child, what his didn't know was that if he got turned back into a child his little goblin mode was activated. You'd be running all over the ship, picking him up and hugging him while he flailed around. Not only is he now kid Ace, but he's kid Ace with devil fruit powers.

You'd have to pinch him by the cheek, getting an annoyed look from your little boyfriend. "I know you're having fun, but please baby don't burn down the ship". You'd requested him. He'd just blush and nod. "Fine". He puffed out. "Thank you, darling! I promise that you'll be a good boy". You giggled. His face went more red. He was 50/50 about how you treated him. 1. He was being babied by you. 2. He was being babied by you.

He's a strong brave buff mans! He doesn't need to be babied by his girlfriend. But he did like you just taking care of him, also being a little fuckass. He was aware of the jealous on board, a few of the other pirates being jealous that he was dating you. He used this knowledge, cuddling comfortably into your chest.

When lunch time rolled around, he was sitting on your lap with his head against you chest, getting spoon fed by you. The other men looked at the now young Ace when angry glares. When you're not looking he'd flip them off and poke his tongue out.

~

Sabo

You'd be lying to yourself if you didn't think that Sabo is a very pretty man. You find him beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, you'd literally preach to the world about how your boyfriend was hand crafted and sculpted by Gods!...But...we hasn't exactly the most...cute...child.

He looks up at you compleatly lost as you're covering your mouth, loosing your shit laughing and crying. "What? What's wrong?". He asked, worried for your health. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but..." You looked at him with tears in your eyes. "You glowed up so much". You whimpered out, now back on the floor and rolling away. "ARE YOU CALLING ME UGLY?!". He yelps, you roll away faster. Then he started to cry, thinking that you didn't find him attractive anymore. Yes, you made your poor boyfriend cry.

You spent the rest of the day babying him and making it up to him, reassuring him that you find him so handsome as an adult. He tried to go to Koala for back up, but she ended up joining you in the crying and laughing. He's definity going to give you the silent treatment when he gets his old body back.

You just held him and hugged him for the rest of the day, him still being angry and grumpy at the fact you insulted him. "Don't worry Sabo, you're not ugly ugly, more like ugly cute! Like a kitten with the big sad depression eyes!". You tell him, but he pouts and turns away, crossing his arms. "Oh come on! You grew out of it! You're literally the pretties man I know". He looks up at you with tears in his eyes. "I am?". "Of course!".

~

Law

You just looked down at him with utter confusion. "Are you suuuur-". "THIS IS THE 7TH TIME YOU ASKED! YES IT'S ME LAW! TRAFALGAR D. WATER LAW!". "...But are you sure?". Little Law looks NOTHING like how he does as an adult, like who in the hell is this kid. Not only did Law have to deal with your stupid ass doubting that he was actually you're boyfriend, but also dealing with his crew laughing and cracking jokes.

He eventually convinced you that it was him by him telling you your birthday, your favourite snack, drink, crewmate that wasn't him (Bepo), book, the names and birthdays and zodiac signs of everyone in your family. The FINALLY did you back him up, yelling at his crewmates who where making fun of him for being young. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE JOKES AT HIM! HE'S A LITTLE SWEET BABY!". Meanwhile he's looking at his crew with empty dark eyes. Yeah...sweet.

It felt weird for him to ask you for help, especially when it comes to reaching for stuff. "(Y/n)". He yanked on your clothes. "Yes darling?". "Can you grab me a rice ball? I'm hungry and can't reach". You squealed and happily held the rice ball down to him. "Of course!".

He's the one who's supposed to help you, standing behind you and reaching for something on a high shelf, giving you a cheeky smirk as you'd puff out your cheeks and take it from him. But now you're giggling with stars in your eyes as you reach and hold things down for him. After lunch he's fixing this issue.

[celestiamour]

‧₊˚✧ ❛[ pocket powerhouse ]❜

━━━ .°˖✧ requested by @klerns-birdie ˚₊ ⊹

ft. logan howlett x f! reader x wade wilson — xmen, marvel

╰₊✧ entering the void with their tiny, mighty companion┊1.4k words

setting: deadpool & wolverine (2024) worst! logan contains: canon typical blood & violence (and murder lol), reader is described as short & cute, super strength mutation, reader is the one who kills sabertooth in this one, fourth-wall break

➤ author's note: this was funnier in my head

they had you surrounded on all fronts, some standing before you and others on armored vehicles, holding their weapons and fists up ready to strike at any moment. if they didn’t clearly have bad intentions, then you would have been flattered at this little welcome party gathering together after only a few minutes of being sent into the void. they probably heard the ruckus wade and logan were making since they simply couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.

meaning, they couldn’t stop beating each other up and using any means necessary to shed blood or break bones despite it all being healed within the span of seconds.

you find the only successful way to get them to stop trying to kill each other is by threatening to kill them first, throwing a punch into the ground to destroy it under you as a means to grab their attention while shouting that you’ll decapitate them if they continue.

they listen to you most of the time and drop the mini battles, not because they believe you would actually do it, but because they believe they are humoring you by doing so (and because they know to sit down and shut up when a pretty woman tells them to). with super-strength as your mutation, you could do it with ease, they know you can— it’s just so difficult to think that such a cute little thing who pouts when ignored and is frequently used as an armrest due to short stature would ever do anything of the sort. you still have yet to act on your warnings, only depending on bloodlust-filled glares to settle them down much like a teacher waiting for her noisy class to be quiet.

logan thinks you all bark and no bite, wade compares you to an angry bunny, it’s safe to say they take what you say with a grain of salt, exchanging amused looks and admiring how cute you are when yelling profanities and gory details of how you’re going to maim them. (blah, blah, blah, proper name, place name— backstory stuff)

the three of you cringed at the failure of johnny storm, grimacing when his balls probably got crushed on a metal pole and every time he hit his head before getting captured. his end goal was clearly to escape, but you didn’t quite know how he was planning to get there when he set himself alight and started flying.

“i know you!” a large man with flowing blonde hair jumped off the tank, landing with a heavy thud on the compacted sand.

“oh my god, that’s sabertooth, peanut’s brother,” wade explained.

“brother? they don’t really look anything alike aside from being… uh… feral?”

“well you see, apparently there are some discrepancies about that. the author isn’t sure about anything because her bitch-ass still hasn’t watched any of the x-men movies or done her research. something about ‘being too busy with real life,’ can you believe that?”

“okay, you lost me when you started talking about ‘an author,’ but lay off her!”

sabertooth growled at logan, “ready to die?” 

“hey, don’t threaten him! i don’t care if he’s your brother, he’s my friend!” you interrupted, walking up to him, acting nonchalantly like he was a teddy bear when he was truly a grizzly. he was much taller than you too, towering over you and leaving you in his shadow.

“get outta my way, girlie” he barked, extending his claws, prepared to sink them into your flesh. “you’re lucky you’re cute, or else i already would have killed you.”

“aww, thank you! but i can’t accept compliments from someone who wants to kill my friend, so to that, i say ‘fuck off!’”

before he could let out a roar about how you should know who you’re talking to or swipe his claws at your face, you lifted your hand and slapped him across the face. it was much like a dramatic slap from television shows where the girl finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her or something, except his head went flying off into the distance and sprayed blood everywhere. it happened so quickly that his body stood there for a second before flopping over.

“oh my god!” wade exclaimed, cupping his face in his hands from surprise before excitedly clapping them together, “oh my god, that’s my girl— that’s our girl! see, that’s what happens when you enlist a y/n on your team, i told you that it was a good idea to take her with us!” he picked up the decapitated head and waved his arms around, paying no mind to the dripping red iron spilling on his costume, “you bitches saw that? she’s cute ‘n tiny but mighty, and she’ll absolutely fuck you up!”

the victory was short-lived as they took advantage of logan’s adamantium skeleton and other large pieces to scrap to trap all of you to a magnet. normally, this would be a breeze for you to get yourself out of, but you got hit in the head and quickly fell unconscious for them to ship you all away to cassandra.

when you finally woke up, you’re tied back-to-back with johnny and find your two companions in a similar position. “are you guys okay?”

“they’re asleep, but i’m okay,” logan answered, voice uncharacteristically amiable. despite being just as annoying as deadpool, he liked you a whole lot more and never spoke to you as roughly as he did to him. you were sweeter, more empathetic and understanding that he needed his own space, and, he isn’t going to lie, very easy on the eyes. “and you?”

“i’m okay! my head really hurts though…” you winced and shook your head a few times, trying to get the pounding sensation out. “god, this place is crazy. first we get teleported to this junkyard and then—”

“did you really mean what you said back there?”

“what did i say?”

“well… you…” god, he felt stupid, he was about to back out and say ‘nevermind,’ but he knows that you wouldn’t have let him go so easily. “you said that i was your friend…”

“yeah! you are! i mean, i killed your brother for you even though you could have done it yourself, putting myself in danger just so that you didn’t have to— you better consider me a friend too!”

he should tell you that you shouldn’t call him that nor think of him that way since nothing good ever comes out associating with him, but he can’t bring himself to say the words he’s routinely told others to successfully push them away. something about the look in your eyes, the way they sparkled when you looked at him. something about your smile, toothy and full of hope for the future to make up for his lack of. something about you makes him keep his mouth shut.

instead, he looks away, muttering a quiet word of thanks.

you tilt your head in slight confusion, not understanding the depth of your statement yet and how it managed to pull a word of gratitude out of a man who was in a constant state of irritation, but it made you irrationally happy and giddy inside.

wade was murmuring a few unintelligible sentences before coming to, and despite wearing a mask that covered his entire face, you could envision the mild look of disgust behind the leather as clear as day. “ew, why are you smiling like that??” he took a glance at you and then back at him, repeating the process a few times. “what the fuck? you guys can’t have a love story and leave me out of it! i’m the reason you two even met—” he finally seemed to process the situation from the close proximity with logan, looking him in the eyes through the white fabric of his mask and trying to find a way to loosen it to no avail. “how long have i been asleep?”

“not all of you was asleep.”

johnny seemed to wake up as well, beginning to tell a whole bunch of exposition about this place you were trapped in, something about a monster that would swallow you up and a “her” who runs this entire place. he laughed at the notion of evading this woman’s grasp, but wade thought otherwise.

“nah, we can take her! i have a pocket powerhouse and the wolverine on my side, i’m not scared of anything!”

no one quite believes him, but it’s nice to see that your optimism has rubbed off on him.

[theirnamesarekiklo]

Cold

Tired and damp, the sweet sweet girl could only hold herself

pairing: !Twin Sister! Reader x Sully Family

a/n: this is kinda like at the end of the movies where the whole battle takes place also this was not corrected at all I literally js pulled this out of my ass 😭 (LITERALLY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LIKES I CANT BELIEVE THIS)

TRIGGER WARNINGS: a lil talk abt suicide, very faint injury desc

⋆★⋆★⋆

Deep pants all around, the only thing on their mind was that they were safe and together. But something deep and churning kept place in Lo’ak’s stomach.

The most common thing between twins in Na’vi culture was that they were more connected than most. They had this special bond that most siblings didn’t obtain. Ever since Lo’ak and his twin sister had been born under the same light, they could feel one-another. They felt each other’s losses, wins, and they especially felt eachother’s heart. So imagine how his heart dropped as soon as he felt alone.

So utterly alone and cold, he felt.

“Dad, where’s y/n?” and everyone’s breath hitched.

— ⋆⋆ —

Gasping for air, she had managed to drag herself on the rough rock, but she couldn’t care less now that she had bigger wounds to tend to. Wheezing out raspy breaths, her shaking hand rested softly on the edge of the blade, the same blade that had pierced her heart. The wound was the biggest one there, despite the bullet hole lodged into her skin.

She wasn’t sure how she felt exactly. Her legs were numb, one of them clearly in no condition to walk with, her face had been covered in dried gore that not even the water could wash off, and her arms were covered in several deep gashes, bruises, and burns. Swallowing the rising blood, she took one more deep breath before her hand gripped the knife, obviously not being enough as the removal was simply worse than the actual wound.

The gruesome scene was surely something, and she was sure that the other guy (who she hadn’t bothered to even learn the name of) had looked worse when she was done with him, but that didn’t stop her from meeting the same fate as he did.

Letting out a scream that truly screamed bloody murder, the girl could only sob and heave and clutch her torn skin that she was sure would get infected if she had even managed to get out of here. What would take her first? Dying of blood loss or dying of infection? Taking a peek at the sky, Her vision was already clouding over. Wincing as she tried getting just a tad bit comfortable on the rock, blood started pooling at the edges of her lips.

Was her older brother okay? She was sure the bullet only grazed him, she took the bullet for him before getting dragged back by the same guy she killed. Most importantly, was her twin brother okay? Was he breathing better than her? Did he carry the same feeling she did at this moment? At this moment, she could recall all the sweet memories she and him shared. They were born together, and she sure was hell glad they didn’t leave the same way, although she wished more than anything that they were right there with her.

Choking out a sob, the girl felt a chill of acceptance run through her. She wouldn’t make it out of this. Even though she was still young and hadn’t completed her Rite of Passage, she knew she was going to die. Curling up into a ball, she felt cold and as if all the thoughts in her head were simply vanishing, the only thing repeating itself were comforting nothings. Clutching at her chest, her slightly parted lips were releasing slow, tiny gasps. Taking one more look at the looming eclipse, she choked back a cry and whispered one last promise to ewya, leaving the world the same way she came into it.

— ⋆⋆ —

“No No No Y/N!”

As the wailing begun, Jake couldn’t help but want to simply shoot himself in the head right now.

Taking one look at her daughter once more, he turned around and crouched down. Taking some shaky gulps of air, he felt as if his world was suddenly closing in on himself. He’s been through this before, only he wasn’t experiencing it directly. Turning his head to take a look at Lo’ak, his heart broke into a million pieces right then and there.

Bringing her hand to his heart, his hands were already covered in her drying blood, trying to gain that silly warmth that everyone felt cover them if they had ever been around her. Whimpering tiny delusions to himself, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was some sick joke or some type of revenge for all the wrong doings he’s caused in his life. Meeting the eyes of his father, he could tell this was taking somewhat of the same toll on him too.

Trying to let out a few words, only a squeak could be heard before he ran his hand over his face and his his face away from the rest of the grieving children. He had let her die cold and alone.

He had let the sweetest person he had possibly ever met, the one who could do no bad, die stuck in her head and fighting. He wasn’t there to comfort her, caress her face as a distraction from the pain, nothing. If only he had been there sooner, if only he hadn’t betrayed Miles, if only he decided to follow the rules. His babygirl was gone, and the only thing he could do was cower and cry into his hand.

Kiri, who was simply sobbing to herself, truly not even there at the moment, held spider’s hand so tight that he was sure she would break it, but he wasn’t paying attention to that as he shed a wave of tears himself. She was one of the first people to truly accept him into their family and made him feel as if he belonged. Tuk, that poor child, tried laying her head on her older sister’s chest, trying to find a heartbeat, something, to prove that she wasnt really gone forever.

Neytiri, at this point blubbering thing to herself, only calmed down as she took in the peaceful expression on her daughter’s features. She had always been calm, but sometimes the way shadows hit her face showed nothing but a mask. Her eyebrows were always a little tense, but now they rested easily. Her baby, My baby, she thought, was gone. Bringing her face closer to hers, she laid her other hand right onto her cheek. They’ve held each-other like this many times, and to believe that this would be the last was a punch to the gut.

Tsireya, who was weeping right next to Lo’ak, couldn’t help but remember how sweet she was. She had a heart for many, even her brother, who had gone to extreme measures to simply make sure that they hadn’t felt welcome. She recalled the funny and heartwarming, sometimes sad memories that her twin had shared with her, and that only brought more tears to her eyes.

— ⋆⋆ —

The clan was silent.

Both y/n’s ilu and ikran had gone wild, suddenly scurrying off but not without a tiny fight with a few of the men, trying to keep them stable.

Ao’nung, who had seen the whole thing go down, was sure of his reason as to why these things were happening, but he didn’t want to believe himself. He was cruel, desperate to relive himself of these feelings he felt around the doe-eyed girl. Now, as he stood there, rigid and hardly breathing, let out a gasp as he could see a group in the distance.

As people started whispering, they were cut short as his mother let out a tiny noise at the sight of them. Peeking around a shoulder, he felt his heart drop down to his stomach. She was there, only not in the condition he hoped and prayed for. She was limp, pale, and completely rid of life as her father carried her in his arms, obviously not ready to accept the fact that she was dead.

Huffing out a “no”, he ran off, shoving people out of his way as his parents focused more on the sobbing daughter that was shown possibly the first heartbreak she had ever experienced. Her oldest brother didn’t know. How would he possibly react to the news that the girl he promised to protect since the moment she was born, was gone?

—…

[persephonesgarden30]

Car's Outside but i dont want to go tonight(A s6 Sterek Ficlet )

" Okay what is it with you?" Stiles quipped throwing his hands up in the air balancing himself by grabbing onto the chair next to him in the tiny motel room

" What do you mean what is it with me ?" Derek asked turning to face him

" You've been acting so strange ever since I saved your ass from the FBI" Stiles stated

" I'm not" Derek said walking over to the other side of the room where his bag was kept

" Yeah right, you haven't said one word to me since you came, not even a thank you! " Stiles called out annoyed

" Alright, Thank you" Derek said rummaging through his bag

Stiles scoffed before saying " Yeah real nice Derek. I end up saving your ass from the FBI and hurt my toe doing so , but you can't even stand to be in the same room as me "

Derek sighed rolling his eyes " I didn't ask you to save me "

" Yeah well that's too bad, I'm not the kind to just let people I care about be in trouble. I'm sorry if I didn't want you dead!" Stiles called out

Derek turned around clenching his jaw.

" What the fuck are you so pissy about huh? " Stiles said slowly walking up to him " Was it because, I a human saved your ass, not once but multiple times ? Or is it because I managed to find you even when you wanted nothing to do with me or Beacon Hills?"

" You don't get to throw your attitude at me big guy" Stiles took a step closer poking a finger in the middle of Derek's chest earning a glare from him

" If anyone " Stiles said his voice laced with anger " gets to be angry. It's me."

" You left." Stiles said looking up at Derek " You don't get to come here and throw your attitude at me when I'm the one who risked my fucking FBI Internship to come and save you " He said as Derek just looked at him with the same stoic expression he always had .

Derek walked an inch closer before looking down at Stiles's lips " I didn't ask you to. You did that on your own" he said looking back at the familiar brown eyes which were looking at him with anger

" Don't blame me or hold me responsible for decisions you make " Derek replied looking back down at his lips before looking at his eyes

Stiles grabbed the front of Derek's shit balling it in his fists " Listen here Derek because I'm not going to repeat myself. " He said looking between his eyes.

" I saved your ass and the least you can do is be a little fucking grateful." Stiles said raising his eyebrows

" So I suggest we stay civil until we part ways tomorrow, then you can go do whatever the fuck you want and becomes a mass murderer for real." Stiles said as Derek looked between his eyes and lips

" and I'm not ever going to make the mistake of helping you again " Stiles said letting go of his balled up shirt pushing him back before turning to walk away

Derek glared at Stiles watching him limp slowly to the bed before swallowing hard and walking up to him.

" And to think I knew you" Stiles scoffed grabbing his things and heading to the door.

" Where are you going?" Derek asked following him

" Wherever the fuck I want" Stiles quipped turning to face him as his back faced the door " What is it to you?"

Derek remained silent while Stiles rolled his eyes and turned to open the door when Derek's hand reached over stopping it.

" You can't go " Derek said as Stiles slowly turned around

" Why not? You need an alibi in case you decide to go on a murder spree?" He asked as Derek remained quiet .

Stiles scoffed trying to move Derek's hand from the door when Derek grabbed his wrist pinning it to the door when Stiles grabbed Derek's shirt with his free hand .

" What the fuck do you want now" Stiles called out

" I didn't ask for this ." Derek replied glaring at Stiles

" I've heard that twice already, which is why I'm leaving , I don't need to be around someone who isn't grateful that I saved their ass" Stiles quipped

" My cars outside, I'm leaving " Stiles said pulling Derek closer in an attempt to threaten him

" I didn't ask for this, I didn't ask you to help me, I didn't ask to be saved " Derek said looking between Stiles's eyes

" I know !" Stiles yelled getting angrier " You didn't ask for shit, you don't need anyone !"

" I need you!" Derek called out breathing hard as Stiles looked at him in surprise " I didn't ask for any of this . I didn't ask to have this feelings for you. I didn't ask for you to be the one to save me."

Stiles loosened his grip on Derek's shirt a little but not letting go looking at him curiously trying to make sense of what Derek was saying.

" I didn't " He said swallowing hard " I didn't want to bring you into this, have you risk your life. I ..I blame myself for you injuring yourself " He continued

" But I didn't." He paused " I didn't ask to have these feelings for you. To care about you. So deeply. That it scares me."

Stiles looked between Derek's eyes which now he's a hint of sadness as he continued " I can't lose you Stiles. "

" Derek." Stiles said pulling him closer " Don't push me away. I care about you a lot and that's why it drives me crazy everytime u push me away. Why do you do it ?"

" Because everyone around me gets hurt" Derek said looking at Stiles

" Bullshit" Stiles said " If you care about me, and trust me. You need to know that I can take care of myself "

Derek looked down at Stiles's lips before looking back up at his eyes as he closed the distance between them capturing his lips in a slow tender kiss as Stiles pulled him closer.

Stiles pulled away for a second looking at Derek .

"Stay with me " Derek said his thumb grazing Stiles's cheek

Stiles nodded and that was all it took before Derek grabbed his thighs carrying him earning a surprised noise from Stiles before carrying him to bed

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 409: Bro I’m Straight Up Having a Good Time

Previously on BnHA: AFO murdered his brother like the mischievous knave he is. Bruce was all, “hey Kudou don’t look now but I think Yoichi might have given you his secret quirk that we didn’t know he had.” Kudou was all, “damn that’s wild, it almost feels like this is a pivotal moment that will change all our destinies forever, you’d think Horikoshi would have spent just a little more time elaborating on this but I GUESS NOT.” Back in the present day, AFO was all, “I’m just going to use all my quirks at once because fuck this kid,” and Katsuki was all, “lol oh shit.”

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all, “okay, I know I should be hopelessly outclassed, but hear me out: what if I just win anyway. What if I just go ahead and blow his shit up, because this is the final battle, and this is what all of my character development has been building up to since day one. What if I just beat him, because I’m the guy who wins. Simple as that. What if I just kick his ass with my one quirk, and prove all the haters wrong.” Horikoshi is all, “okay, sure.” AFO is all, “wait, wha -- ”

oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my g

huh. well I wasn’t expecting to start tearing up less than two panels into this chapter but HERE WE ARE

I love that he’s screaming and crying with his balled up little fist right from the get go lol. he was born a pissed off baby

he’s so squishy

and so tiny!!!!?!?! !?!??!?!

and he was RAISED WITH LOVE. fucking thank you, lol. gonna print that out and frame it on my wall. turn it into a flashing neon sign to give me comfort any time I stumble across stray Mitsuki discourse lol

anyway. oh my goodness. if this is a sign of things to come, there’s a very strong possibility this chapter may destroy me. how exciting!!

yep. yep yep yep. this is for sure going to be the chapter that finally does me in. it’s been a great ride folks

you better not be thinking any thoughts about dying, young man. this had better be meant in the sense of “because I’ll be by your side supporting you instead”, as opposed to “because I will be a little pile of dust in about three seconds’ time oh shit”

(ETA: after finishing the rest of the chapter, I’m pretty sure it’s the former! the first flashback is a reference to his chapter 120 speech -- “even higher than you, Chosen One.” the second is a throwback to chapter 247, when he told Endeavor he only had his one quirk, but it was strong enough to do anything he wanted to do. and the third flashback is one he also had at Jakku when he sacrificed himself to push Izuku out of the way.

so to me, this reads like (1) a reminder of his determination to surpass Izuku and become the strongest hero; (2) foreshadowing for him defeating AFO with Explosion, the Little Quirk That Could; and (3) a reminder of his “origin.” that last one being important because nowadays it’s just as strong of a motivator as his original goal. back at the beginning of the series, all he cared about was being the strongest. now, though, he’s not just fighting for himself; he’s also fighting to atone, and he’s learned to put himself aside if necessary.

as for the dialogue, this reads like a continuation of his mental conversation with Izuku that he began in chapter 362 (“gotta win... right, Izuku?” “so, Izuku... can I still catch up to you?”), and then continued in chapter 406 (“for some reason, I feel like I could overtake you now”). so in that context, “I’ll no longer get in your way” basically means that he’s done chasing Izuku, and that he’s caught up now and can hold his own. his determination to get stronger hasn’t wavered. his confidence in his own quirk and his own skills hasn’t wavered. and his resolve to atone for everything he did to Izuku is as strong as ever. put those all together, and we have the recipe for quite a spectacular redemption fight. his follow-up to chapter 362.

because earlier when he fought Tomura/AFO, he was basically just trying to buy time. no one ever planned or expected him to have to face the Big Bad one-on-one; that was supposed to be Izuku’s job. he was only meant to be there as support. and in the end he wasn’t strong enough, and he nearly died. and rather than being able to support Izuku, he ended up being used against him.

but this time is different. he’s no longer the decoy, the distraction. he’s no longer the pebble. he won’t get in Izuku’s way, because this time he’s going to be strong enough to win the fight. he’s going to hold his own, and get the job done.

so yeah. “I won’t get in your way” = “you can depend on me”, basically. because he’s become that guy at last. the guy who shows up in the clutch and wins the day. the hero he always wanted to be. good stuff.)

OH MY GOD

once again, just really solid hero advice from All Might here. there’s a reason he’s the GOAT

lol but in all seriousness it does tug at my heart to see him shouting so desperately at this kid. especially knowing that he’s presumably feeling the same pride and awe that I am, but with a lot more heart-stopping terror mixed in because unlike me, All Might doesn’t know that Kacchan is actually going to live forever. he narrated chapter 285, All Might, have a little faith

AFO is the extra-est mfer to ever live. but also it really tickles me to think that Kacchan pissed him off THIS much. it’s kind of an honor in a way

of course his plan is to simply just blow AFO up. of fucking COURSE it is. maybe there will be brain cells later on in this chapter, but for now who even needs them lol

OH MY GOD?!?

DID THIS MOTHERFUCKER JUST BLOW THE FUCK UP FROM THE INSIDE?? am I seeing this right?? DID KACCHAN JUST SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST ALL FOR ONE WITH HIS MIND

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

(ETA: shoutout to AFO for being so analytical when I personally would have just been screaming, “OH MY GOD MY FUCKING EYEBALLS AHHHHHHHHHH.”)

THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING THOUGH!! HIS POWER WASN’T DONE AWAKENING YET, APPARENTLY??

oh no wait it’s even better. this isn’t Awakening at all, this is just Katsuki playing 5D chess

so he actually did have brain cells the whole time then! Katsuki I sincerely apologize. you somehow had the presence of mind to make a goddamn minefield even in the midst of all of this hullaballoo

AND HE’S HUMBLE TOO LMAO

it’s true!! I’m people!! please ignore the multitude of times I’ve previously called him a dumbass, including earlier in this very chapter lol

hahahahaha yesssssssss

this chapter is incredibly validating for a number of reasons. I’m going to attempt to remain calm about it. but I’m enjoying this a lot ngl

oh AFO

:D :D :D

(ETA: you know what, I actually do have more to say about this. because I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve debated with people about this very thing, lol. for a while there post-Jakku it was just constant pessimism about Kacchan’s future in the manga. all this stuff about how Katsuki doesn’t have a main villain. Katsuki isn’t important enough. Katsuki is being phased out. Katsuki isn’t strong enough. Katsuki’s done developing. Katsuki’s just a joke character now. Katsuki’s just the damsel in distress. Katsuki’s always going to be second fiddle to Izuku. etc. etc. etc.

and then this chapter -- this whole entire fight, really -- comes along, and it’s just nonstop rebuttals, lol. and it’s not just that he’s proving all the negativity wrong. it’s that he doesn’t even care about any of that. AFO is out here trying to goad him with that same “YOU’RE JUST A SIDE CHARACTER” bait, and in response Katsuki just hits him with a Howitzer and tells him to shut the fuck up. AFO thinks he can get to him by being petty, because AFO still sees him as the bratty kid from the Sports Festival. but the present day Katsuki has long since moved past all of that, and no longer gives a fuck whether or not he shares the spotlight. unlike AFO, who never lost his childish egotism, Katsuki has learned to see outside himself, and the resulting growth has made him a bigger badass than AFO could ever hope to be.)

(۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶

ouch

HAHAHAHAHA

bro I’m straight up having a good time. this recap is gonna suck this week because there’s absolutely no commentary I can think of to add other than “I’M REALLY ENJOYING THIS, THIS IS GREAT”

I want to take this entire chapter and get it tattooed on my face

sorry AFO. this must really suck for you

lmao. is that all Kacchan. tell him how you really feel

OH MY GOD NO WAY LOL

so, fun fact, I literally just read chapter 385 last night lmao. most fortunate timing I’ve ever had, holy shit

okay so lemme just add some more thoughts on this one really quick

Hawks deserves all the nice things in the world and I’m so sad I can’t give them to him, but at least he gets this. sweet sassy revenge

I am once again calling everyone’s attention to the fact that AFO continues to be his own undoing. congrats on screwing yourself over bucko

Kacchan’s sleeve ripping up Deku-style is once again making my Plus OFA Theory senses all tingly. it probably is just a coincidence and has nothing to do with OFA, but I can’t unassociate it now, so I’m just gonna sit here and read as much into it as possible

if I had a nickel for every time AFO’s eyes blew up in this chapter, I would have two nickels, and that is way too many fucking nickels jesus christ

ever since he came back from the dead, Kacchan’s been doing this thing where he is just really pretty at all times, even when he is being a gremlin. and honestly it’s taken some getting used to, although I’m not complaining

but like in this panel especially, it just really stands out to me how even his “GRYAHHH I’M GONNA KILL YA!!!” face somehow has this really cool, intense, piercing glare now and he no longer looks like a baby troll when he does this kind of thing lol

OH FUCK YEAH

୧༼✿ ͡◕ д ◕͡ ༽୨

“THERE’S NO WAY I COULD’VE WON THIS ALONE.” OMG. THAT KACCHAN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT JUST HITS DIFFERENT EVERY DAMN TIME, I SWEAR

he and Hawks basically pulled a “you hold him and I’ll punch” lol. thanks for the assist Hawks

Mitsuki and Masaru being all, “my little baby boy!!” and “HOLY SHIT”, respectively, sent me all the way to the moon lmao

HELLO THERE YOICHI? fancy running into you here. just chilling out over in this montage of people close to Bakugou who are watching him kick ass. did you take a wrong turn, mayhap. you’re not inside of AFO, we know that much. and Deku, much as I’m sure he’d love to have a front row seat to all this, seems to have his hands full dealing with Tomura right now, sadly

so all of that does seem to raise an interesting question, no? where did you come from just now, and why? and when Kacchan says he’s not alone, is there perhaps more truth to that statement than even he knows? or am I once again just reading way too much into this lmao

anyway so yeah! that sure was fun. and with the end of the year approaching and back-to-back two-week chapter breaks coming up, I have a chance to do the funniest thing of all time, and still not manage to catch up, lol. nah but I’m gonna try my best though. pretty sure I should be able to manage

[wonderful-rp-resources]

A Very out-of-context set of Sentence Starters from my Discord server.

Add names to blanks Change pronouns as necessary!

"Murder in marriage is normal and healthy."

"Oh haha, yeah lobotomize them."

"Metaphorically speaking, I cannot tell you if you serve cunt or not."

"The sins better be crawling up my back because if they do at the front they're going to have two massive obstacles"

"You're a really predictable person_ _ _ and it's really funny to me, I want to crush you under my arm <3"

"Clearly you've never had a premium rock roast and I'm so sorry for you."

"I dont know I haven't sniffed you."

"Cock and ball torture for anxiety and ocd hell yeah!"

"Bimbos are the larval form of milfs."

"I will slow down im just carbonated to meet you."

"They are homoerotic and homoirritating."

"The uggs do make my soul frown, I'll give credit to that."

"I dont have good or bad habits I just enter a state somewhere between a robot and a bad stand-up comedian and that's how the stuff happens."

"She went to evil hell college where you summon devils."

"I do nothing but put beasts in a situation that's why they call me the border collie."

"The lore exists. If I'm feeling particularly zesty and tased I'll drop two sentences."

"Hi _ _ _, I'm the devil on your shoulder and even I agree that you probably shouldn't pull up hot ass in a nice restaurant."

"Vagina so powerful it does what walruses do to clams."

"Yes, we established _ _ _ has the walrus mouth vagina."

"Never assume I can't be hornier."

"That is a man held together by crust and spite."

"I can't, I was assassinated so I wouldn't snitch about the squeaky toy noises."

"I WAS AGREEING THAT THEY LOOK LIKE CHICKEN NUGGETS YOU SOGGY SALAMI."

"_ _ _ is more likely to take you on a date killing homeless people."

"I won but it was embarrassing."

"He's just hanging loose like a tit that's escaped its harness."

"_ _ _ trying very hard not to bring up his girlfriend (the Cambrian period.)"

"Lick my boots but we stay silly."

"I keep thinking he's a weird god ascended form of Jerry Seinfeld."

"I dont think that's a good idea _ _ _ would become a stick of incense in 5 seconds flat for sneezing microaggressively."

"She has disabled the flap in my esophagus i choke on a gulp of tea instantly."

"We have from the left: Thembo, Himbo, tiny himbo, bimbo, And bitch."

"Keep your mouth open so I can shove my fist inside."

"I wanna enjoy dinner, not watch someone get snapped in half like a KitKat bar."

"My standards for a good partner are non-existent, if I raised the bar remotely, Not only would he TRIP, but he'd fall backward and break a hip."

"Good luck it's behind six layers of 4chan."

"It is fine. the conversation needed to end anyway. please continue your vegetation exultation."

"I have normal amounts of radiation for a horse."

"What does a planet have to do with a music genre?"

"Fear not, I will not be kissing misogynists any time soon."

"Pain is weakness leaving the body."

"You were born at an incredibly old age."

"You seem like you would be an entry on the villains wiki."

"I don't bite strangers….that's an easy way to catch diseases, dumbass."

"...So his unhappiness is only half my fault."

"It's ok buddy, I've licked dirt too."

[asktheaslinredparents]

Sooo been away for a while, going to see if answering asks might help me out. At a treat: MAIN PAIRINGS MEET THEIR CHILD SELVES:

LAWLU

Law is very amused by the cuteness and determination of tiny!Luffy and has already assured him he's going to help him become Pirate King. Luffy promises tiny!Law they're going to kick Mingo's ass together. Tiny!Law is now in love.

SABOALA

Tiny!Koala is a bit of a mess due to her Tragic Backstory being more recent. Sabo has moved "murder some celestial dragons" up on his mental to do list. Koala finds tiny!Sabo adorable, which he likes since he thinks she's very pretty.

MARACE

Ace is so into how cute tiny!Marco is and keeps squishing his cheeks. Tiny!Ace kicks Marco in the shin and declares adults are stupid and he's never going to date one.

ZOSAN

Sanji likes hearing tiny!Zoro talk about how awesome Kunia was and how he's going to be the best swordsman ever over some rice balls. Zoro is trying to stop tiny!Sanji from trying to out-cook his older self...and failing.

NAMIVIVI

Vivi regales tiny!Nami of how big Nami escaped Arlong and went on to help save Alabasta. Nami may or may not have conned tiny!Vivi out of some jewelry as a life lesson.

FROBIN

Robin has tiny?Franky wrapped abound her little finger. Tiny!Robin just threw Franky overboard.

[kitthepurplepotato]

Chapter 12 - Shopping date

Summary: Katsuki and Y/N goes furniture shopping. Y/N gets a bit overwhelmed.

Warnings: Swear words, Katsuki makes a comment about his balls, almost NSFW at the end but there is a warning before it and it’s skippable!

First Chapter Master List

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

“Let’s… do something… together.” Katsuki mumbles while he enjoys his black coffee on the couch.

Well, seeing the stage of this bloody apartment after your fight, you kinda feel like this shouldn’t be a priority right now, but okay.

“I thought we are going shopping today?” You mumble back, still half asleep. Bro, it will be an absolute pain in the ass to get used to the early mornings again after this week. Katsuki is quite an early riser but thanks to your amazing talent in cuddling even he managed to stay in bed at least until 8 every day.

“They have food in the furniture store. There is also a park next to it with a pond. Koi fishes. And shit.” He mutters under his nose with red cheeks and ears. You make the most annoying sound in the whole world as the realization hits you.

“Are you trying to ask me on a date, Kats?” You wheeze. Your belly hurts. Oh damn, your boyfriend is the cutest fucking thing in the whole world.

Katsuki does not like to be ridiculed so needless to say you barely manage to dodge the explosion that comes towards you.

“You know what? Fuck you. Just fuck you.” He’s about to leave the sofa but you quickly tackle him.

“I want to go on a date with you.” You leave a tiny kiss on the grumpy blond’s lips. He only pouts at that and it’s absolutely fucking adorable. “Then I want to kiss you by your door and… well… maybe continue doing that for the rest of the night.”

You absolutely love how Katsuki becomes a putty under you. The tension leaves his body, his frown disappears, his murderous intentions long forgotten as he looks up at you in a silent plead to continue. It’s still early so Katsuki is still pliant; you wouldn’t be able to get away with this in the afternoon.

“Stop talking bullshit, you have a doctors appointment early in the morning tomorrow. I don’t want you to arrive all banged up thanks to me.” The blond smirks but his hand is soft and careful as he tugs a stray lock of hair behind your ears.

“Is that why you are restraining yourself all the time?” You leave kisses all over the his neck, absolutely loving the way he moves into it and makes you space to be able to continue further.

“No comment.” He sighs, his ears even more red than they were a second ago. Your lips slowly trail down to his naked torso, leaving small kisses all over his massive scar on his chest. “Now let me take a cold shower, otherwise we won’t make it to the store.” He retorts, suddenly angry. “And stop fucking teasing me, I’m quite sure my balls are blue at this point.”

Okay. That was… a bit too much information. You shuffle away with a red face. Not like you don’t have the same problem when it comes to the explosive blonde. The last few days were pure torture.

“Roger that.” You mumble as you make your way to your room to put on some decent clothing while you take a few deep breaths to not follow your hot ass boyfriend into the shower.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Katsuki is a fucking snob.

“I ain’t gonna get that no name shit!”

“I look at it and it’s already falling apart, fuck that. Where’s the branded stuff? … Oi, part-timer, where is the good stuff? Is this all you’ve got?”

You really want to explode his grumpy face right now.

“Katsuki, you can’t speak to him like that!” You retort but the sales adviser jumps into your words.

“Dynamight, sir, it’s a pleasure to have you here! Let me show you around!”

Oh, the guy has a little dynamight pin on his lanyard. That’s fucking sweet.

You guys end up in a secluded area full of fancy furniture; and by fancy, you mean FANCY. There are way too many zeroes on the price tags.

“These are made of high-end materials, super sturdy yet stunning! Those ones at the back are also fireproof. The golden lining is made out of actual 24K gold.” The boy is so proud of himself, it’s absolutely adorable.

“Katsuki…” You try to speak up but he’s not listening. Well, this is a shitty date.

“What about that black and magenta one at the back, the one this woman keeps staring at?” Katsuki asks the guy, who perks up at that; he’s probably thrilled to be able to spend more time with the hero.

You can’t believe Katsuki actually payed enough attention to you to see that you’ve found something you really like. You swear he didn’t even look your way for the last ten minutes.

“That one was made by Creati! It’s limited edition. Sadly, we don’t have a book shelf in that design, only that one dresser.”

That dresser is absolutely gorgeous. It looks all black from far away but when you get closer you can see some thin metallic dark pink lines on it, which makes it look like something out of a video game.

“I’ll take that. And the bookshelves with the golden lines.” Katsuki mutters and is about to make his way to the cash point but you stop him in his tracks.

“Katsuki, I don’t need that dresser. I have enough furniture at home.”

Katsuki looks at you like you are the stupidest fucking bitch the world has ever seen and maybe you are but…

“What?”

“Where the fuck do you think you’ll keep your stuff at my place?”

“In my bag?” You ask incredulously. The guy is staring at you two like he’s seen a ghost. Ahh, the public doesn’t know about you two so he’s probably trying his best to decipher what’s going on between you two.

“Yeah, of course just keep a fucking suitcase ready every day. Whatever…” Katsuki scoffs and you swear there is a glint of hurt in his eyes. You really want to hug him. Oh fuck, you really-really want to hug him. You swear he looks like he’s about to cry.

“No, let’s get it.” You mumble with a red face. “I’ll leave the stuff I have with me at yours then. You are right, it’s easier that way, sorry for being dumb.”

Okay, look.

You are not the type to lie to someone for their own sake, but… Katsuki looked so heartbroken you just couldn’t tell him you think it’s a bit too soon for this. Plus, it’s not technically a lie, you do think it’s a smart thing to do and you do plan to stay with him for as long as he lets you so eventually, that dresser will indeed be filled to the brim with your stuff. It’s just a bit too soon. But that’s fine. You’ll freak out about it later.

Apparently, you are not the only one freaking out; the boy with the Dynamight pin flicks his eyes between you two with a constipated face, probably trying his best not to ask all the hundred questions he has all at once. Katsuki looks at the poor boy and sighs dramatically.

“Yes, that’s my woman. Don’t go running your mouth to your buddies about it, I don’t want her face to be plastered all over the the news yet. She’s not just my woman, she’s the number one hero of her country and I want people to know her for her talent and not as the chick by Dynamight’s side. She’s fucking cool and shit. She kicked my ass in a spar before. She could probably break fucking Deku in half. No one can fuck with my woman.”

Is… Katsuki boasting about you right now? Did he actually think about this before you two got together? Oh my god, that’s so thoughtful of him! You have no idea what to say and how to react to this. You kinda want to tackle him on the nearest bed as a thank you, to be absolutely honest.

“You really love her, don’t you.” The boy gawks at the blond, bamboozled.

“Of course I fucking love her.” Katsuki looks back incredulously; he doesn’t understand the whole conversation. “What, am I not allowed to have a partner, or what?” Katsuki yells, but the boy doesn’t waver; he’s clearly used the hero’s outbursts thanks to the countless amount of interviews available on YouTube, so he doesn’t take offense at all.

“No, it’s quite the opposite, Dynamight-san.” He says confidently. “I always admired you but… I thought your view of life is a little bit sad so I was hoping you’ll find someone who’ll change your mind. I admire you even more now. I’m glad you don’t see love as a weakness anymore. I’m just happy to call you my favorite hero, that’s all.” The boy smiles with tears in his eyes. Katsuki has a slight blush on his face, clearly taken aback by all the feelings thrown in his face.

“You wanna have that lanyard signed, fanboy?” He mutters to the boy who yells “YES!” Really loudly and runs over to the till area for a sharpie. Katsuki rolls his eyes with a tiny smile on his face as he signs the lanyard for him and you two make your way to the till point to pay for all your stuff; or at least that’s what you thought the plan was but Katsuki ushers you towards the pet area.

“Oi, fanboy, do you have a big ass bird house in there?”

“A… bird house?”

“Yeah, for my stupid ass pigeon, Steven.” Katsuki yells back, like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

“Dynamight has a pretty girlfriend and a pigeon called Steven. Okay.” He mutters under his nose, clearly traumatized by all the new information.

“Yo, I will force you to sign an NDA if you don’t stop muttering!” Katsuki reprimands.

Ahh, shopping with Katsuki is really tiring but it’s also really fun.

~•💥•~

After a few hours, you stand in front of your new, fancy dresser. That’s all you do. You stand in front of it and stare at it like it has personally offended your mother. To be absolutely honest, you are not ready to actually fill it up with your clothing and make it officially yours.

There are so many thoughts swirling in your head right now; first of all, you still haven’t said thank you for Katsuki being considerate about your future as a hero by keeping your relationship quiet. You genuinely thought Katsuki just hated talking about his personal life and that’s why he haven’t made a single comment about not being single to the media or to anyone at the office. It was actually bothering you a bit, how he ignored you completely every time there was someone around.

You are really thankful for never making a comment about it, because there is a high possibility Katsuki would have just gotten into an argument with you instead of telling you the truth. He might have changed a lot in the last few months but his pride is still in the way when he needs to speak up about his feelings.

Well, he’s not perfect but you wouldn’t have him any other way.

“Will you put your shit in that or will you just keep staring at it for the rest of the night?” Katsuki urges but it’s too much too soon; you move away from the dresser to get yourself another coffee you definitely don’t need. “What the fuck?” Katsuki mutters but he leaves you to it… your heart thrashes in your chest for no reason, somehow overwhelmed by all the sudden changes. It’s so fucking stupid, really; you love him and he loves you, you both wanted this to be serious yet here you are, loosing your shit over a fucking dresser. The funniest thing is that you are actually overjoyed by how serious Katsuki is about you two; Katsuki stands by his words and wants this to be serious, he wants you here, in his space, he wants a constant reminder that you are his, even when you aren’t around and that makes you feel so-so giddy and loved… fuck, yes, it’s too soon and it’s so much to take in but you genuinely want the same things as him and now you just made him think you are not on the same wavelength and the fact that he didn’t even come out to see you means he took it to his fucking heart.

Oh fuck…

“Katsuki!” You barge back in into the bedroom after a few minutes just to see him lying in a fetal pose, hidden under the covers like a burrito that was dropped on the floor and got folded by the impact. Your stuff that was splayed out on the bed, ready to be sorted and put into the dresser is back in your bag, neatly folded. Your stomach churns from the sight. “Oh, baby…” You jump on the top of him; now that you are able to look at his face, it looks wet.

“Stop with the fucking pity. Fuck you.” The blond sniffs and hides his face into his pillow. He’s so fucking adorable.

“Katsuki, I love you so fucking much.” You admit sheepishly. “If you think I don’t want this, then you are stupid and don’t tell me that’s not what you are thinking right now because I know you. You are probably spiraling, thinking that I don’t want to fill that dresser because I don’t want you in my life but that’s bullshit.” You mumble into his ears, but Katsuki only tenses at that. “I just got a bit overwhelmed. I’ve never been in a serious relationship before and this is all new and exciting but sometimes all this new stuff just suffocates me but I only needed a few minutes to myself to realize how much I want to be with you and how lucky I am to be able to fill that dresser right now, knowing that I can come back to you any time and I’ll have everything, right there, I’m my second home. Thank you.” You leave a kiss on the blond’s cheek. Katsuki moves his face albeit reluctantly in a silent plea for an actual kiss and you are more than happy to oblige.

Warning: it gets suggestive here. Feel free to skip this last bit, it’s not important! 18+

“Call me baby one more time and I’ll kill you.” Katsuki mutters between two chaste kisses, and you can barely conceal your shit-eating grin.

“Baby.” You whisper into his ear and if the tremble of his body isn’t enough of a sign that he secretly loves it, the barely audible whimper is. “Baby, I love you.”

“Fuck.” Katsuki grumbles as he deepens the kiss, rolling to his back so you can straddle him. “I really hate it. So much. Fuck’s sake, Y/N.” He mutters but the tiny roll of his hips says it otherwise.

Damn, it got really hot in here. Oh, it’s just your ovaries that are on fire, no worries.

“Uhm, we should probably finish packing and go to sleep, my appointment is at 6AM.” You mumble, incapable of leaving your boyfriend’s mouth alone.

“Uhum.” That’s all you get as an answer, topped up with another hip-roll which makes you moan out loud this time. “Fuck’s sake, get off me before I do something stupid.” Katsuki pushes you out of the bed but you manage to manifest a levitation quirk just before your ass hits the floor. “Nice save.” Katsuki laughs, clearly happy that you are able to take a little bit of roughness.

“Anything for your amusement.” You wink at the hero whose mind certainly goes to the other things you might be capable of doing with a quirk. Cheeky.

“Shut up.”

… next chapter!

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Potato ramble:

- Yes, Katsuki got so excited about that bloody dresser that he completely forgot about the food and the park. Bad Katsuki. I’m surprised he didn’t forget about his own bookshelf to be honest. 😂😂😂😂

- So I was today years old when I realized that there is a difference between blonde and blond. So I’m really sorry for using the wrong one this whole time. You should’ve told me though! 😂

- There might be a bigger delay with the next chapter as my rota for next week is absolute fucked up + I have plans on my day offs as well but I’ll do my best.

- Also! The next chapter will probably end with NSFW but I think I’ll post it in a separate post and leave a link for it by the end of the SFW chapter. So if the chapter feels short it will be because some it is NSFW. Sorry about that and I hope this works for everyone who’s uncomfortable with that kind of content.

- I hope you guys are having a great day! I got a care package from home; my mom sent me my favorite handmade cookies and I’m so happy I could cry. Also got a training Katsuki funko 😭 I’m blessed.

TL:

@sixxze @iwannahaveaprettyaesthetic @hanatsuki-hime @cloroxisadelectabletreat @cheesenmax @coffeent @smolsleepybat @therealpotatobish @qardasngan @canarystwin @unofficialmuilover @nanamomo1 @mikestuffffs @p4ndawrites @yao-ai @porusuniverse

[rowretro]

𝕆𝕙 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕪 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕪

WARNINGS: Blood, violence, mentions of sexual things, like wyr games if ykwim

✧tag list✧: @strawbsj @nikipedia07 @enhypensccstarlight @nikisdubblchococake

✧CHAPTER 1✧

Y/n watched as the kids hugged their parents before running to the school bus, to go to their school. Sighing, she went downstairs, smiling as she heard her little pet bunny hop to the door part of the cage, wanting to be set free. "Suzi~" she cooed, opening the cage as she stroked the bunny's head, softly booping it's pink nose.

The girl lifted the bunny by it's ears and left it in the bigger cage that was in her backyard, not wanting to take the risk of letting the bunny in her house, knowing full well the tiny menace will chew threw the wires and get electrocuted. She glanced at the small greenhouse she kept just for her butterflies. Her late mother was a lepidopterist, since her murder, y/n was given this extremely expensive build in the back of her apartment.

Locking all the doors, she hopped onto her motorbike and rode to school. Upon arriving at the school, she didn't even bother entering the building, because there he was, getting into yet another fight. Riki harshly punched male in the same spot multiple times, the male striking back, aiming for Riki's face, but he ducked. She wore her earphones, and purposefully pushed past him. Riki glared at the girl, already pissed, Sungchan used this chance to finally punch Riki.

He pulled on Riki's hair and kneed him in his stomach before running off. "MOTHERFUCKER GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YOU PUSSY!" Riki yelled, running after him. God how bad he wanted to kill y/n. The girl smirked to herself as she slumped in her seat, in the back of the classroom, doodling on her notebook. She was only a few minutes late, her head down on the table, one earphone in, as she tried to nap.

It wasn't that easy to nap when she could hear Yeonjun and Taehyun, just a few rows in front of her, mention her name a few time, disgust evident on her face as she overheard them "Would you rather... be locked in an empty classroom with Mrs Lee, or... have sex with y/n?" Yeonjun asked with a grin as Taehyun snickerred. "Please, she's hot but she's our teacher, plus Y/n is kinda hot... Yeah Ima go with y/n" the male said.

The girl threw a paper ball in their direction, then pretended to be asleep. "Who tf was that?" Yeonjun asked, sounding like he meant business. "It was me." Y/n simply said, glaring holes into his head "w-well uh... Don't do it again!" he said sheepishly, trying to put on a tough act, before turning away and continuing his little immature game. The girl was suddenly yanked off of her seat, a painful tug at her hair.

"You fucking bitch look what you did!" Riki yelled, pointing t the small blood stain on his white shirt "I wouldn't have cared if it was his blood, BUT IT'S MINE, you think I'll let you get away with this?!" Riki asked glaring at her, as she looked back at him, unamused. Riki was never the type to hit women, but with y/n it's like something possesses him, and all he wants is to beat her until she begs for mercy. God he hated that dirty smirk on her lips.

"babyboy I'll count to three, and if you don't let go of my hair, then your pretty face will be met with a chair." she dared as Riki didn't let go "3...2... 2 and a half...1 bitch ur dead." She simply said, pulling onto the chair and swinging it at him, to his luck, a teacher stepped in, grabbing the chair from her. "NISHIMURA RIKI! KIM Y/N! TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE RIGHT NOW!" the women yelled as they both walked there.

The 2 were now stuck in a room, each writting the word "sorry" until 5 pages were full, beside them was Y/n's older brother, Sunoo who had to come off of work early to see his sister's hair a mess, and blood stains on his dear friend Riki. "How many times do I have to tell you? STOP GETTING ME CALLED INTO THIS OFFICE. Y/n, I replaced dad's contact details with mine for your wellbeing, NOT FOR YOU TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT AND HAVE ME COME IN EVERYTIME YOU TO SQUABBLE OVER SOMETHING STUPID!" He yelled as the girl groaned.

Yep, this was what everyday in a high school these two went to would be like. Sunoo sighed, using his hands to detangle the girl's hair, as he brushed it out for her, glaring at Riki "And you, Didn't I tell you not to motorbike race with those boys?! so fucking egoistic, do you need to prove every 5 seconds that you're better than them?! I told you so many times, don't mess with them they come from shitty backgrounds and the police won't dare to lock them away, you have sisters right? can't you behave for once?!" Sunoo lectured as he rolled his eyes.

"Ah- you're pulling too hard!" y/n whined as Sunoo flicked her forehead "I won't let you do my nails if you keep getting into trouble like this!" Sunoo added before aggressively, yet gently brushing her hair out. Riki just slept, his head on the blank papers as y/n pulled out her back up phone to scroll through.

✧𝕆𝕙 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕪 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕪✧

[thewulf]

What a Look on You || Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw

Summary: Y/N and Rooster are best friends. Two of the closest best friends you'll ever see. The squad tries to get them to admit their feelings, with no luck. Y/N's friend comes into town stirring the pot up a bit.

A/N: Well I'm kind of blown away by all the sweet comments you left on my first Top Gun FF. So I decided to crank another one out for you guys! This time featuring our lovely Bradley Bradshaw. I'll def write a part two to Who are You? Just give me some time :)

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Y/N

Word Count: 6400+

“Come on Gigs, he clearly likes you.” She paused looking you up and down, “Hell, he might be in love with you.” Natasha smirked after sinking yet another pool ball.

“Shut up, Phe. He doesn’t like me, and he certainly doesn’t love me.” You sighed grabbing the pool stick from her. You eyed the stripes, took a deep breath, and miserably missed.

You heard her laugh from behind you, “Too busy thinking about Rooster?”

You lightly shoved the pool stick into her side shaking your head, “No, I was thinking of ways to murder you.”

“You wish, I’d beat your ass. Don’t even try.” She threw a wink in your direction.

You nod silently, “Not disagreeing with that.” Natasha was just stronger than you. Not that you were tiny and weak but there was something so frightening about Natasha Trace that you wouldn’t even think of crossing her.

“So, you agree then?” She asked waiting on your answer patiently.

You groaned shaking your head, “No Phoenix, I do not agree with you. The man doesn’t have feelings for me. That’s it.”

“What man?” The annoying voice of Hangman spoke up from behind you.

“Rooster.” Natasha grinned making kissy faces in your direction.

“Oh no shit, that man is in love with you.” He nodded one hand with a beer the other in his pocket.

“Not you too.” You threw your head back in defeat, “He’s just my best friend. That’s all.” Truth be told you wish it was more. You’ve wished it would be more for years. He was everything to you. He was the man of your dreams really.

He was thoughtful. Oh, was he so thoughtful. He remembered the smallest details about you, making you feel like the most special person in the world. One of your favorite memories with him was when he invited the whole class to his place to watch some football. He had made pulled pork but remembered you didn’t really like pork. So, he pulled you aside and handed you a bowl of shredded chicken. Your heart nearly burst into pieces then, you had only known him a few months and just knew he was it.

He was also so incredibly sweet. One summer when the two of you were walking Virginia Beach, not too far off base, he noticed a little girl drop her ice cream near the vendor. He didn’t hesitate to try and calm the poor girl. He bought her a new cone and quickly gave it to her calming her meltdown. You couldn’t wipe the stupid cheesy grin that laced your face.

He was soft when you needed him to be but hard when he saw you hurt. He was protective of you, so protective of you. He couldn’t bear to see you hurt. He really did think the world of you. He never wanted to lose you. But you never thought to much of it, he just acted like a big brother would.

The two of you met in school. Rooster to be a pilot. You attempted to be one, but you were rather quite miserable at it. So, you tried your hand as a WSO and found your groove with that. Rooster always claimed he didn’t need a WSO but was always so happy to have you along when he was ‘commanded’ it. The pair of you clicked instantly. He always made you laugh. In fact, that’s how you got your callsign ‘Giggles’. He made you laugh when you were in drill, getting you in trouble way to often. You really didn’t mind though; you were so infatuated with the man.

Days turned into months turned into years. The two of you dated different people at different times never really finding the right time to get together. You settled on best friends who literally knew everything about one another. You really did want him but just like him, you couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

“Besides,” You looked at the two of them, “Carly is coming into town, and I need to worry about that. Not him.”

Jake smirked, “Is she that pretty one you post sometimes.”

Rolling your eyes you nodded, “Yes pig. She’s my pretty friend. She’s off limits for you Hangman.”

Laughing he eyed Phoenix suspiciously, “That’s not your decision sweetheart. It’s hers.”

“Why are you so annoying?” You wanted to punch him, but you restrained yourself knowing better than to crack open that can of worms.

“Relax. Has Carly ever met Rooster?” He questioned.

“No. She’s met nobody here. I went to college with her and really haven’t seen her since. But she lives close so we recently reconnected. Thus, why she’s on my Insta Hangman.” You admitted, way too much. You weren’t sure why you divulged all that information.

He nodded, “Speak of the devil.” His eyes flicked towards the door which your eyes followed looking to the man entering the bar. Your face broke out into a wide grin seeing Roos in his usual Hawaiian shirt, looking relaxed on this fine evening.

“I’d say she’s in love too.” Phoenix laughed.

“Shut up!”

“I can’t believe you get to look at these guys every day.” Carly whispered ogling nearly every aviator that walked by.

“Every damn day. They’re more like brothers than anything. God, they’re all so annoying.”

She nodded, “Could be worse. You could be looking at Phyllis all day every day.” She laughed which you joined in on. Carly was traditionally beautiful. She was tall, thin, blond, and athletic. Everything came natural for her. Things were just easier for her. You were always slightly jealous of the girl but tried your hardest to let it go, you did a good job at hiding it.

“That’s true. No Phyllis’s here.”

She grinned turning back to the front, a small commotion coming from the entryway. Of course, it was Rooster and Hangman arguing. The two of them were always bickering about something.

“Who are they?”

“Two idiots.” You laughed.

“Wow,” She finally tore her eyes from who you thought was Hangman, “He’s beautiful.”

“Which one?” You asked peaking your eyebrow up in curiosity.

“The brown-haired guy.” She grinned turning back around to eye him. The pair were still caught up in whatever argument they were in as they walked to the bar for some beer.

Your heart sped up a bit, surprised she wasn’t talking about Jake. They always went crazy for Jake, not her Rooster, “That’s Bradley. Rooster.”

“Oh wow, Y/N. That’s your best friend, right?” She looked at you wide eyed.

“Yep, that’s Roos.”

She nodded, “You didn’t tell me he was drop dead gorgeous Y/N. Is he single?”

“Yeah, he is a cutie and he’s single.” You nodded trying your best to sound less than enthused about the whole situation.

“You wouldn’t be mad if I went and talked to him then, would you?” Her eyes brightened as she looked back and forth between the two of you.

Why would she want to do that? You knew Rooster was a catch, it confused you as to why he wasn’t snatched up just yet. It didn’t seem to bother you that a stranger at any time could go up to him and win him over but Carly? That was too much for you. Way too much for you. “No, no I wouldn’t mind.” You lied again refusing to turn and face her. You were being incredibly weird, and you knew it.

“I’m surprised you’re not going for the blonde though, seems more your type?” You spoke up just before she started to walk away. Making any attempt to stop the girl from wooing over your Rooster.

“He’s cute. But there’s something about Rooster. I can’t place my finger on it.” She smiled brightly waiting anxiously for you to let her go talk to him.

Your stomach clenched but you ignored it nodding her on, why were you your own worst enemy? Why were you letting her do this? You knew the second you said it wasn’t okay that she would drop it. You didn’t know why you were being such a chicken shit about the whole thing. But ten years of friendship was hard to give up knowing just how good that friendship could be.

You sat on the high-top chair anxiously tapping your glass attempting to look anywhere other than the bar where Rooster, Hangman and Carly were chatting. Your leg bounced up and down slightly shaking the whole table in your attempts to look the other way.

“You okay Gigs?” A soft voice spoke breaking you out of your trance.

“Hmm, yeah totally fine.” You smiled seeing Bob appear at your side. Bob was always so sweet to you, always looked out for you. You had also known Bob from early on in your career. The two of you being the quietest WSO’s in your respective classes and always getting shit on for it. You tried your best to protect him, and he did the same for you.

He sat down opposite you following your line of sight right to the bar, “What’s the matter?” He asked again waiting for you to open to him. Truth be told you and Bob were close as well. Not as close as you and Rooster but you weren’t afraid to be honest with him. He really felt like a brother to you, a protective one at that.

“Nothing Bobby.” You looked back at him continuing to play with your glass.

“Bullshit Y/N.” He challenged you leaning forward.

“Uh oh, Bob breaking out the real name. I must be in trouble.”

He playfully rolled his eyes, “Somethings up, you looked like a maniac there for a second.”

“I just got distracted.”

“By what?”

You eyed him knowing what he was doing, “My thoughts.”

“Is that why you were staring at Rooster and the girl?”

You sighed, your shoulders slumping just a hair, enough so that Bob noticed, “I wasn’t staring Bobby.”

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes finding the right words to tell his friend, “You are a being a fucking idiot Y/N.”

“Bobby!”

He looked you dead in the eye, “Y/N, I’m being serious. You’re hurting yourself now. You’ve loved that man since I’ve known you. And I’ve known you for almost eight years Y/N.”

“I can’t Bobby. I can’t lose him. I can’t risk it.” You looked down at the empty glass coming to that full realization, you didn’t have it in you. The worst outcome is that Rooster would walk away and that was way worse to you than the slight chance he might like you back.

“Come on Y/N. He likes you too. You just don’t see it because you’re so used to it. Rooster would do anything for you.”

“There’s nothing there Bob. It’s been ten years, there would have been something. I’m his best friend. He’s mine. That’s it.”

He groaned, “Fucking idiots. Both of you.” He threw his head into his hands trying to get you to realize what was right in front of you.

���Jesus whose dog died?” The southern draw from the annoying blonde pilot spoke from behind you.

“What are you talking about Hangman.” You looked at him like an annoyed sister would. If looks could kill yours would.

“Bob here looks miserable. Guess that’s just you bringing out the best in people.” He winked setting his glass down between the sitting pair. You turned around seeing Rooster making his way over slowly with Carly. You held in your disappointment and channeled it to the second most annoying thing in the room.

“Charming as ever Jake.”

He decided to stop after seeing the sadness in your eyes. You thought you were great at hiding your emotions, turns out your damn facial expressions gave you away like a book. “You love my southern charm darling.” He gave you a side hug attempting to bring the snarky Y/N back out, not the mopey one.

“Yeah, yeah.” You nodded looking at Bob who was simply observing what was going on around him. You were sad. Hangman caught onto it and tried his best to cheer you up, Hangman style. Rooster seemed enamored with Carly and Carly seemed just as enamored as him as they walked up to the small high-top table. You looked like you were about to combust when you saw where his arm had landed, right on her hip drawing her closer to him. You flicked your eyes to Carly who was smiling at him. You then looked at Rooster who of course was staring right back at her, even when they got to the table.

“Roos, nice to see you.” You said all too bitterly before hoping off the chair refusing to look at him. “I’m getting another, anybody need anything?” You just looked at Bob, ignoring the rest of the group.

“Yeah, I’ll come with you.” He followed grabbing his empty glass. What you didn’t see was the hurt look that crossed Rooster’s face after the unfriendly greeting. He couldn’t recall a time when you had spoken to him that way, your voice was always so sweet and kind. Even when the two of you argued you never had sounded so upset before.

“You didn’t have to come, I just panicked.” You admitted once you got to the semi-crowded bar.

“Because you don’t like him.”

“Uhh, shush. You know I do. Just shut up about it.”

He grinned, “It’s nice to hear you finally admit it.”

“Shhh, Bobby, lower your voice. You know, you’ve known. You’re the only person I’d admit it too though.” You waved the bartender down for another round, not seeing Penny tonight.

“Y/N has a crush, Y/N has a crush!” He whisper shouted in your ear.

You wide eyed him, “Shut up Bobby, I will beat you up.”

He started full on laughing now, “Why do you always threaten violence, Y/N?”

Your mouth fell open in disbelief. Who was this Bob and where did hers go? “Bobby, you’re being a little shit right now.”

“I’m just excited you finally fucking admitted it Gigs.” He clapped your back.

Shaking your head, you picked up your beer and slowly made your way back to the trio that had taken over your high top. Rooster had backed off Carly a bit.

Rooster grinned when he saw you walking back over with Bob, “Giggles.” Still grinning with that big, beautiful smile he had.

“Roos.” You nodded your head sitting back in your seat next to him, returning the smile as best as you could.

That worried him, your half smile did. It was different. If there was anything he noticed in this world it was when you acted different. It was always so easy and normal between the two of you. He could pick up when something was off, he just knew something was off.

“Have a good day?” He asked you, just you. Looking right at you, the staring was almost too intense for you. You in turn also noticed things with Rooster. Like right now, him boring his eyes into the side of your head was certainly new.

You hummed, “Fine, except Cyclone was up our asses all day today.”

Bob nodded in agreement, “Some new wizzo training he’s getting us all on.”

“Seems like a bunch of bullshit to me.” You continued, “But can’t talk back to Cyclone. No siree, no.” You took a long drink from your beer. It was really hitting the spot today. You glanced up and Rooster was smiling at you. You nearly forgot about your poor friend Carly, standing there clueless.

“Sorry Carly,” You smiled at her, “Wizzo is WSO which is what Bob, and I are.”

“Right!” She laughed, “Weapons people, right?”

Hangman chuckled, “The best damn weapons people we got right here.”

“Aww, is Hangman being sweet?” You cooed at the tall blond.

“That’s what I have tell myself, since you are the only two left here.”

“You asshole.” Bob laughed smacking his arm.

“Not that you guys aren’t the most fun but there’s a pretty little thing over there that just walked in, so if you’ll excuse me.” Hangman winked over at Bob before sauntering off, surely turning up the charm, to the girl.

“Oh Hangman.” You laughed turning your attention back to the group, “And your day Roos?”

“Same old, same old.” He laughed running a hand through his hair. You attempted to hide your ogling eyes, why did he have to do this to you? It’s not like he hasn’t run his hand through his hair a thousand times before you. You willed your brain to just stop thinking of him as more than just a friend, but it might finally be rebelling against your wishes. You didn’t want to blame Carly for the green-eyed monster that was threatening to spill out, but she was the only difference in the group.

“Mav kick your ass yet again?” You smirked watching for his reaction.

“Hey now, Giggles. I’ll get him one of these days.”

Shaking your head, you eyed Bob who was having all too much fun watching the two of you go back and forth, “Statistics say you’ll have to beat him one of these days.”

He pointed his finger at you playfully smirking, “You just know exactly what to say.”

You shrugged looking back to Carly, “Roos can’t beat his instructor, Maverick. Bit of a running joke at this point.”

“Don’t poison her mind Y/N!” He gasped pulling her tight. Ouch, that hurt, you noticed. You noticed how easily they seemed to mesh, how Carly’s face lit up when she was pulled into his side, how he seemed more than pleased with himself holding onto her.

“You’re already doing that Rooster.” You force a laugh knowing just how unnatural it sounded.

“So, Y/N, Bradley was telling me about all the different places I should check out when I’m here.” She grinned looking up at him with her big brown doe eyes. You bit your lip forcing yourself to stay civil.

“Oh yeah? Like where?” You asked genuinely curious of what he had said to her.

“A few beaches, the museum, the base and didn’t you say something about a cliff?” She asked pulling on his arm getting him to look back to her. He obliged nodding his head like a little kid.

The cliff? Your cliff that only you and Rooster seemed to know about and made sure not to share with anybody? He mentioned your spot to her. It seemed as if the air had gotten knocked out of your lungs. You hadn’t defined that the cliff was your spot but neither of you brought it up to anybody else. It stung, it hurt, and you quite frankly didn’t know how to react. You fought the stupid hot tears that wanted to flood out of your eyes.

You set your halfway empty glass back down onto the table, harder than needed. Which of course caused both Carly and Rooster to look at you. You faked another smile and muttered, “Why doesn’t Rooster just show you?”

Bob sat back in his seat curiously watching the situation unfold before him. He noticed Carly light up at the suggestion again pulling on his arm, “That’s a great idea Y/N!”

You curled your lip fighting every damn emotion that wanted to spill out, “Chock full of them.”

Rooster laughed trying to ease the tension he could clearly see coming from you, “Are you sure Gigs? I don’t want to take time away from you and Carly.” He asked placing his hand on yours.

“Oh, I’m positive Bradley, go have so much fun.” The words came out just as bitterly as before. You were testing him, and he was failing you miserably. You knew it wasn’t exactly the fairest test. You weren’t communicating with him, you desperately wanted him to see what you were doing, but he didn’t see it.

“If you’re sure.” He tried to grab your hand again which you slid away just in time. You looked back up at Bob with the saddest eyes he’s sure seen. Again, you refused to look over at Rooster, you knew the waterworks would be out in full effect if you did.

“Mhmm.” You hummed chugging the rest of your beer, “I’m going to go.” You spoke more to Bob than to Carly and Rooster.

You quickly gathered your things and started walking to the door head full of every scenario imaginable. What if Rooster liked her? What if he decided to start dating her? You shuddered at the thought. Of course, it would be Carly to come swoop in and take him away from you. Carly was playing life on easy mode; she could get whoever she wanted whenever she wanted.

You made it about halfway to the door before realizing you drove Carly here. You sighed and turned around seeing Bob silently sitting there with his thoughts watching you while Rooster and Carly seemed very into whatever they were chatting about.

“Rooster.” You shouted not wanted to walk back over there and deal with it, “Bring Carly home. Or don’t, whatever.” You mumbled the last sentence, hoping he really didn’t hear what you had to say.

He gave you a thumbs up sending another kick to your stomach. Spinning around on your heel you beelined it for the door now. Once out of the bar the fresh air hit you like a ton of bricks, a few tears escaped. This really wasn’t how you thought this night would go. You thought Carly would be all over Hangman or one of the other pilots, not Rooster.

You hopped in your car mentally thanking yourself for parking on the opposite side of the bar, away from any windows. You sat there and let yourself cry it out. They were silent tears. You didn’t want to breakdown in the parking lot of the Hard Deck, but your emotions were simply getting the best of you now.  You had to wonder why you were feeling this bad now, you’ve seen Roos flirt with hundreds of girls and take them back to his place, why did Carly freak you out so much?

You don’t know how long you sat there but it was long enough for you to hear a knock on your window. You almost jumped out of your seat looking over to see Bob standing there with his hands in his pockets.

“Bobby?” You asked while sniffling.

“Let me drive you home.”

You shook your head, “No, I…”

“Y/N.” He just looked at you. You let your shoulders fall before unbuckling yourself. You got out and moved yourself to the passenger’s side, letting Bob take the driver’s seat.

“Bob, I can really do this myself. I’ve done it a thousand times.”

He rolled his eyes while starting your car up, “I called your name three times Gigs, you’re not fine.”

“I am fine, I was just…”

“Thinking?” He interrupted seemingly agitated with your responses.

“Yeah Bobby, just thinking.” You hummed looking out the window.

The ride back to your place was mostly silent, just the radio chatter buzzing away. You weren’t sure what to say. Bob sure as hell didn’t know what to say. He simply observed two adults who clearly have feelings for each other continually put both of themselves in pain watching the other. It didn’t make sense to him. He was sure Rooster had feelings for you, deep feelings, although he’s never directly confirmed it. He also knew that you liked him, having finally admitting it to him.

He pulled up to your place off base, he didn’t live to far from you. He was planning on walking home and finding a ride back to the bar tomorrow. He couldn’t let you drive seeing how zoned out you were, how distraught you really looked. He had to wonder if this was a regular occurrence for you. He didn’t really see the longing in your eyes before tonight.

You started to get up, he realized he needed to say something quick, “Y/N, I’m not the best at giving advice. But I think you need to tell him. You’re tearing yourself apart over this.”

You turned away from him thinking for a moment, “What if he leaves me Bobby? I don’t think I could go on. I really don’t.” A fresh set of tears started making their way down your red cheeks. You turned back to him shaking your head.

“Hey Y/N.” He frowned seeing you look so small and broken. He was never good at this, women crying, it always overwhelmed him, “He would never leave you. He loves you.” Bobby squeezed your hand softly trying you to get you to understand what he saw day in and day out.

“I’ll think about it.” You mumbled finally opening your eyes to him.

He nodded with a smile on his face, “Good, that’s a start Gigs.”

You used your cardigan to wipe the tears off your face, “Thank you Bobby, for everything. Really, thank you.”

He gave you his genuine Bob smile, “Anytime Giggles.”

You smiled back at him remembering when you were ‘officially’ assigned your callsign. Rooster stood diagonally in front of you in drill. Every time the Captain would turn away, he would make a remarkably stupid face which made you laugh, a little too loudly. Your poor ass caught the end of Captain Warmack’s really bad day. You started giggling trying to hide your face, but Warmack caught you. He stood right in front of you, squatted down and started berating you. You had to take it, in front of the whole class. You were sure your face was as red as a cherry tomato. At the end of his yelling he said, “And all you do is giggle, giggle, giggle.” Sparking the callsign in Rooster’s head. He profusely apologized when you were dismissed and you shrugged him off telling him, “It took everything in me not to laugh Roos.” And the pair of you were cracking up. Officially earning your callsign Giggles. You didn’t hate it, but you certainly didn’t love it, you were growing to love it. Over time it got shortened down to Gigs, which you embraced whole heartedly. You were worried that the name made you seem weak, but it did the opposite, people saw you as approachable which gave you many opportunities over the years to show how good of a WSO you really were.

“Night Bobby.” You said as the two of you exited the car, “You can drive my car home if you want.”

He shook his head, “It’s a ten-minute walk, I might need you to drop me off at the Hard Deck tomorrow though.” He sheepishly grinned.

“Anything for you Bob.” You waved while entering your home. It wasn’t really your home; you were renting it out from a couple while you were here. You weren’t sure how much longer you would really be here anyway. The mission was over, half the squad was already reassigned. You knew your time was ending and it terrified you that you would be shipped away from Rooster yet again. The two of you had managed to get deployed together often but not every time. Your stomach was always in knots whenever you were due for reassignment, just hoping you’d be close to him.

You looked at the clock frowning seeing it was only 8, you really did plan on being out for a while longer. You decided on pampering yourself tonight seeing as that was the only thing that could get your mind off Carly and Rooster. You turned your phone to silent and set it by your bedside not wanting any distractions. You picked up your favorite book deciding a nice long soak in the tub was exactly what you needed. After spending far too much time soaking you decided to just read and go to sleep. Your eyes closed around 10 that night, failing to turn your phone over since you had gotten home.

What you didn’t see were the frantic texts from Rooster making sure you were okay. He has probably texted you 15 times between the time you left the bar and when he was dropping Carly off. You were clearly upset trying to play the whole thing off as nothing. So, he decided to text you to make sure you were alright. An hour passed and the conversation with Carly was fine. She was a beautiful woman, but she didn’t hold a straw to you. After the first hour he sent a few more texts, just hoping for a response but to no avail. He distracted himself by taking Carly down to the beach showing her a few things. He wasn’t really going to take her to the cliff, it kind of just spilled out when he was talking to her earlier.

After another few hours of faking it with Carly he decided that he needed to check on you. It was nearing 10 and you still hadn’t texted him back which sent a little terror through him. Once he pulled in, he let Carly know he was just going to talk to you. He walked in enjoying the smell of your home. It always smelled like lavender, just like you did. Rooster was sure Carly picked up in his disinterest, he wasn’t trying to blow the girl off he just needed to make sure you were okay.

You were sound asleep when you heard a soft knocking on your door. Annoyed you rolled back over willing yourself back to sleep, but the knocking wouldn’t stop, “I’m sleeping Carly.” You spoke softly hoping she would just go away.

“Not Carly.” Rooster’s voice spoke through the door.

You internally groaned not ready for whatever this was, “Yeah Roos?”

“Can I come in?” He asked leaning his entire body on your door.

“Sure.” You spoke while still laying down, not feeling like moving.

He quickly opened the door taking a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He smiled seeing you laying there, looking so peaceful. You were still clearly trying to wake yourself up.

Yawning your stretched out while Rooster took a seat on the other side of the bed, “What’s up Roos?” You rolled over turning your body to him fluttering your eyes, trying to keep them open.

He looked sad, “You didn’t answer my texts.”

“I haven’t looked at my phone since I left the bar.” You admitted, almost whispering. Is that why he was here?

“Really?” He asked looking anywhere but you, “I texted you a lot.” He sighed looking down at his hands.

You bit your cheek to stop the stupid grin that was going to give you away, “I’m sorry Bradley, I was just tired and… yeah just tired.” You stopped yourself from spilling everything, just tired, that was all.

“Are you okay?” He asked leaning back into your bed turning himself to face you now, far too close for your poor little heart to handle.

You nodded, “I’m fine.”

“You just seemed so upset at me when you left the bar.” He stated in an almost whisper matching your nervousness.

“Did I?” You asked softly deciding to break the eye contact you two were making.

“Mhmm. Really upset and if was something I did…”

“No, it wasn’t you Roos. It’s me. I just…” You stopped this time feeling the emotions coming back stronger than ever. Your throat tightened up and you could feel your stupid eyes beginning to water. You quickly flipped around so you were facing him anymore to take a deep breath. Again, this was perhaps the last thing you expected to happen to you tonight.

“Hey, hey, hey, come back to me Y/N. You can tell me anything, you know that.” He placed his warm hand on your shoulder squeezing it tightly drawing you back into the room.

“If I tell you what I want to tell you it could ruin everything Rooster.” You whispered letting a few tears fall.

He could tell you were crying. It nearly broke his heart in two. He hated when you cried, he hated the boys that would fuck with you and break you down. He couldn’t stand it. It freaked him knowing that he was likely the source of your tears, “You could never ruin anything Y/N. I promise.” He cooed still holding your shoulder tightly in his hand, afraid you would vanish if he let go.

Here goes nothing, “Bradley I…” You took a deep breath before continuing, “I was jealous tonight.” You closed your eyes waiting for him to respond, so afraid of what his reaction might be.

He didn’t respond right away which sent your mind into a million directions all at once. You felt him get up from his spot on the bed, finally letting your shoulder go. This was it, he was walking out on you. How could you be so stupid? How could you ruin the one good thing you had, the best thing in the world?

“Y/N,” You felt him pushing the hair away from your face catching you by surprise, “Please open your eyes.” He stated.

You obliged, sucking in a breath when you saw just how dangerously close he was to you now. He was squatting down to the floor. His head was level with yours.

He grinned seeing your eyes snap open, “There you are.” He spoke so softly. Continuing to brush the hair out of your face putting you into overdrive. You weren’t sure how to deal with the utter intimacy. Sure, you and Rooster were close, but this was so different. He was looking at you like you really were the only thing that mattered. His palm felt so warm against your face you were sure you were about to combust.

“Here I am.” You looked away from him again. This was something. Any sort of courage you had was gone. This was your Rooster, yet you couldn’t even look him in the eyes for more than a second.

He cocked his head ever so slightly waiting for you to continue. You took another deep breath making sure to avoid his face when you exhaled, he was so close to you just waiting. Waiting on you to make the next move.

“I wanted to be her Roos.” You took a gulp ready to let it all spill now, “I was so jealous when you wouldn’t take your eyes off her. When you pulled her close. I was a stupid jealous girl who didn’t and still doesn’t know how to say this.” You groaned in frustration eyeing him to see his reaction. He looked happy, content, almost thrilled at the admission, so you continued, “I… I like you, Rooster. I like you way more than best friend should and uhm I…” You faltered.

He placed a finger over your mouth smiling as big as you’ve ever seen him smile, “My turn. I love you, Y/N. Not just as a friend, I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for as long as I’ve known you.” He looked right at you. You were struggling to process his admission to you. He loved you. He was in love with you. Your heart couldn’t keep up with your mind that was spinning in a thousand different directions.

“You do?” You managed to squeak out in the mess your mind currently was.

He nodded with his big goofy grin taking your head in both of his hands, “I’m so fucking in love with you Y/N it hurts and jealousy is quite the look on you.”

“Oh, wow.” Is all you said before you started cracking up. The relief that flooded through your system was twenty times stronger than any adrenaline rush the Navy gave you. The laughter was one of sheer bliss. Like you were floating through clouds, and you never had to land. You were sure your smile reached all the way up past your eyes. You placed your hands over top of his, which were still cocooning your face.

He joined in as well. The relief of knowing how the other felt about each other was nothing like anything the pair had experienced before. After a few minutes of Rooster making you laugh harder you finally came down from the high you were experiencing. He had yet to release your head from his hands. This time not afraid you would disappear but in euphoria that you admitted your feelings, he wanted to touch you for forever.

The laughter died down and two idiots were left looking at one another just smiling, finally admitting what had been building up for literally a decade.

You hummed rubbing your thumb along the back of his hand noticing the chills the rose when you did so, “I think I love you to.” You nodded your head, “No, I do love you. I don’t think I do. I love you, Bradley.”

That was all it took for him to let go of your head, gently of course. He scooped you like you didn’t weigh a pound from your laying position and brought you close to him, bridal style, “I thought I’d never hear those words coming from those beautiful lips.”

You turned your head into his chest to hide the insane blush that was inevitably covering your entire face, “No, no, no, don’t hide that face from me beautiful.” You could feel him laughing as he held you in his arms.

“That’s not fair.” You turned your head to take another good look at him. Your Rooster. Your beautiful Rooster. Who was holding you so gently in his arms. You hugged him tightly not wanting to let him go this time feeling like this was all too good to be true.

He pulled you closer to him in response, “Penny for your thoughts?” He asked in response to your actions.

You shook your head, “I just don’t want to let you go Bradley.” You smiled looking up to him. So happy. You were sure this is the happiest you’ve ever been in your life. Your Bradley. You were going to get to tell him you loved him for forever and you really couldn’t wait. You were going to get to wake up next to him, when you weren’t off on missions, every day and you really didn’t want to wait, “Stay with me tonight?”

He nodded rocking you back in forth gently in his arms, “I’ll stay whenever you ask, whenever you need me to.”

Your smile got even bigger if that were even possible, “Can you kiss me now Bradley?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

[rian1023]

Fatui Harbingers +Tsaritsa x Fairy Reader Brainrot. Feel free to use this in anyway tbh.

TW! Cussing, mentions of murder, yandere, guilt tripping, gaslighting, like omg.

Ok, so Childe finds a mysterious flower in the wild. Snezhnaya to be specific.

Boi would be confused like 'Why tf is there a flower in the snow and how is it alive??' just yanks it out, places it in his jacket and goes back to plant it.

Brings it everywhere since it gave him luck. Like, he surprisingly didn't get nagged by his mom when he visited, his workload was smol, and he def didn't get a punishment when he summoned Osial.

Brings the dang flower(aka you, but unborn) everywhere. EVEN TO HARBINGER MEETINGS.

So one day, the flower glows and blooms.

Yey, you're born now, everyone is in shock, when you spread your wings and smile.

You're so confused like 'who is you?' And 'where tf am I?'

The Tsaritsa is speechless, she loves cute and adorable things and there's you.

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

"I guess it's not just a flower..?" Childe smiles nervously. Looking at your confused, but happy face as you rub his finger on your head, nearly makes him go through a heart attack.

"What a lovely specimen!" Il Dottore, smiles creepily.

"What a lovely tune she makes!~" The sing song voice adds.

"Never in my life have I seen such an interesting creature such as this." Pierro says surprised by you.

"Let's keep an eye on the creature and see if anything happens." The Tsaritsa holds back on taking you for herself like she is making plans to have you already.

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

They spoil you like crazy.

Colombina buys you a big ass dollhouse, Pantalone buys custom miniature clothes, Dottore gives you miniature laboratory stuff, Childe gives you miniature utensils and stuff, Arlecchino is buying miniature weapons cuz why not?

They pet you 24/7, there is no stopping the petting especially when you lean your head to their finger.

Your wings help you fly around and about, sometimes you bring some things...

"Lil Fairy what the fuck?!"

You brought a goddamn knife.

Your just like(•;∆;•) 'Was I not good?' and a sad face that gives them heavy guilt on their hearts.

You tear up and all hell breaks loose. The Tsaritsa takes you and you get close to her.

You give them silent treatment if they do something you don't like.

For example, when Childe took the knife you had as he scolded you.

He never did it again, nor will he ever do it in the future.

A big ass ball arrives and the visitors see you, on the Tsaritsa' shoulder, happily munching on some (favourite food) and (favourite drink)

The shock is unmeasurable.

An assassin comes, sees you and changes his life goals. He decided to take you.

Oh boy was that messy...

Let's just say your 'guardians' aka Harbingers 'talked' to him about it.

La Siñora didn't go to Inazuma since Scaramouche took the dang electro gnosis and gave it to you. So we're the others but meh.

You play with the gnosis not knowing its value.

Dress up with the Female Harbingers is a definite YES.

One day in a meeting...

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

"Y-y/n!" You say, all eyes are on you now.

"What was that lil Fairy?" Pulcinella asks.

"My name is Y/n!" You exclaim loudly, they obviously don't know what happens.

"That's a lovely name... Y/n.." The Tsaritsa nods.

A bright ass light glows on their wrist, and a symbol appears.

"When a Fairy says their name, they are bound to those people and share their power and knowledge to those who know their name." You say it so casually.

"It also means that I trust you all very much to tell you my true name, so don't forget that!" You giggle and their hearts are basically in your smol tiny hands.

They all smile smirk as the thought of you staying with them forever and never leaving them like they would even let you.

"What an honour, what do these powers and knowledge do you mean?" Dottore asks curiously.

"Powers... uhh, immense luck, strength boost, speed boost, regeneration, Physical Damage is increased, Elemental Damage increased, Elemental Resistance is Increased, Physical Resistance is Increased. As for knowledge, basically anything I know in Teyvat whether past present or future. Forgot to mention I can grant 11 wishes." You say out of breath, like that's a lot.

"My goodness, what a blessing to have~" Pantalone smiles at you.

"But y/n, did you have other people that you were bound to in the past?" Arlecchino asks.

"Yeah, some good and some bad-"

"Who hurt you?" Scaramouche asks, seems like he has some pests to take care of.

"Hmn.. Well there's ______, ____...." You say the names of your previous masters, if they were still alive, they won't be for long lmao.

The Tsaritsa whispers something to the first Harbinger. "Kill the bitches."

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

Oh no, someone hurt you? Oops! My knife slipped and went through their arteries and they bled out and died a slow and painful death!

Who? They're already six feet underground buried alive! You don't know they're alive tho-

Really? Oh dear, was their successful business shut down?

So yeah, basically are your guardians, don't tell them about your love life tho-

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

"..Childe..?" You say flushed and embarrassed, you could actually grow in size, but you saved your strength and stayed smol and cute.

"Yes lil Fairy?" He asks, his nickname never left you.

"Uhh.. how do I confess-" here it comes-

"Are you that in love with someone that you want to leave us?"

They fucking guilt trip you.

"Oh..? Y/n, I thought you loved us very much..?" Pantalone drops his smile, oh shit.

"It's not like that at all!" Oh poor lil you, not knowing how happy they were...

"So why..?-"

"I wanted to know how to confess to someone and tell them I don't feel the same way romantically!" You blurt out.

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

You're never gonna even bring the topic up again. Ever.

Like dang they used all types of affection manipulation on you so you could stay with them forever.

PT 2 coming soon!

[sea-jello]

train of events + my constant thoughts of lego led to:

ninjago characters in a dodgeball game

of COURSE powers and spinjitzu are allowed. who do you think they are

except for cole. cole is not allowed to use his super strength to throw anything because it will put a hole through something or someone

that being said, tiny tiny earthquakes to throw someone off balance is not off the table

definitely targets jay

you already know kai and jay are competitive as fuck. both in the game and in screaming bloody murder the loudest

i think they would both use some elemental power to charge up the throw, like that short where they’re chopping bricks (i forgot the name lmao)

jay WHIPS the ball like no one else (cause lightning 😎) AND plus the lightning charge up?? bros out for blood

little bit of a sore loser but he forgets about it pretty quickly

kai is such a sore loser let’s be honest now

but if he wins he’s holding it above the others forever

i think he’s got shit aim lmao

in fights he’s so used to making a big ass blast of fire and shooting it in the general direction he doesn’t need to aim

that being said he definitely torches the dodgeballs midair

regardless of if they’re about to hit him or not

zane however has scarily accurate aim, being a nindroid and all

he always hits them on the shoulder

he’s not above freezing the floor and making them slip. you would think he is, but he’s not.

mfs got strategies and scenarios planned out and everything

he is here to WIN

lloyd “it’s just a game guys, lets just have fun” garmadon and lloyd “i will hold a grudge against the person who got me out for the rest of my life” garmadon are ideas that could and absolutely do coexist

i think he’s a bad thrower. like he CAN throw, he’s just not as good as the rest of them

gets people out by catching the ball more than actually hitting them (he’s got practice with catching HANDS)

nya absolutely decimates them

goes easy on jay and is out for kai’s head

jay SAYS he was going easy on her, and in return she nails him in the stomach with a ball

jay is no longer going easy on her

she’s just as much of a sore loser as kai is

wu and garmadon would play something like dodgeball when they were younger

it mostly involved chucking whatever they could find at each other at random times

garmadon called it training. wu called it being childish and petty

catch him throwing cans straight at garmadons head just to hear the hollow “tonk” sound (if they had cans back then lmao)

so there’s really no way to declare a winner

garmadon says he won though

if morro was alive and/or with the ninja he is here to WIN. nothing less.

if he’s still a ghost then he couldn’t really participate

he’s kinda salty about it cause he knows he would absolutely destroy them

at least that’s what he says

if he was alive tho

fucking jukes everyone. breaking ankles left and right

i like to think he’s agile and fast as hell cause wind and everything

contrary to popular belief he doesn’t use the wind to block anything thrown at him

the point of dodgeball is to dodge. if he gets hit, then it’s his failure and incompetence

THROWING with the wind however,, he’s only playing to his strengths, that’s all

he and lloyd definitely target each other. whoever wins, it’s a matter of pride on both sides

[sadsimp]

Johnny Hcs

Warnings: Talks of murder, cannibalism, kidnapping (it’s Johnny what were you expecting?), and describing his dick, let me know if I missed anything <3 

Have some more of Johnny 😈

*Body*

Stands at 6 ft and 2 inches and weighs 200 lbs (canon) and it’s all muscle. Muscular but not to the point where it’s too much I think. Helps him get peoples attention so he can lead/kidnap them back to the house and overpower people easily 

Shows off his muscles subtly and makes it look like he doesn’t mean to do it, it just 

happens(he does mean to) 

The only fat he has on him is his ass and thighs

I’m joking I’m joking (I’m not)

I’m surprised he’s not as tan as I would expect, he’s kinda pale?? Might be just my lighting but he’s not tan at all

Has scars all over his body. Got quite a few scars from fights whether from victims or when he was a kid. I hc that he wears the gloves because he burned both his hands pretty bad and I think it was because he was doing something stupid (like holding a firecracker and letting Sissy light it)

Speaking of hands, big. Nice long and semi thick fingers? Doesn’t like it when people look or touch them. I think it’ll take forever til he’ll let you and if you say something that he finds odd, you won’t ever touch them again. 

He probably won’t let you paint his nails 😭 it’ll take a lot of convincing to let him paint his nails and if he does?? Makes you do black only at first then maybe blue if he sees that if makes you super happy and he gets some sort of “payment” *wink wink hint hint nudge nudge* 

He pretty much takes care of any injuries he gets by himself. Just washes with water and bandages it up. Does okay with stitches if he needs them? But his hands shake a bit so it’s not really neat

I feel like his hair is greasy and thick. It’s only soft when he blow dries it, the softness only lasts for a day though. Doesn’t like when people touch it but he lets them to make them more comfortable and so he can bring them back home. It looks dark brown to me so that’s what I’m going with 

If he’s in a relationship with you? first of all how did you manage that?? And secondly, he  might let you play with his hair after a good while but I wouldn’t count on it and only if he’s serious about you

Kinda has good hygiene? Like, he showers and brushes his teeth because nobody wants stanky breath and BO but he’s not the cleanest 

Has a lovely arch nose <3 I can imagine the Reader pulling on it as a way to mess with him 😩

Has very pretty brown eyes <3 and very nice eyelashes if you ever seen the tcm petals

Dick talk (lmao)

I personally think this man is packing. A little over 7 inches, very thick and but not too veiny. Fills you up nicely but it does sting sometimes when he doesn’t prep you enough (or at all)

Curves a bit to the left <3 and I’m sorry but he has hairy balls (he has to, he has the energy) 

Has a big bush, man does not shave and will not. Might trim it a bit but doesn’t put any effort into it. 

Also doesn’t mind a bush or body hair on any partners either surprisingly, since they can’t really afford razors he’s used to everyone not shaving at all unless he or Sissy steals it for everyone 

Has a nice happy trail too😩 it’s not a lot but it’s noticeable. Goes a tiny bit about his bellybutton and it’s the same color as his hair. Hairy legs too but his arms aren’t really that hairy. He has a bit of a stubble too <3

*General*

I heard someone saying that he’s the youngest?? Normally Bubba is the youngest?? Johnny has to be old enough to go to bars so I’m going to say he’s about 25-26 

Motherfucker snores like a train. Sometimes he takes snoring if he hasn’t fallen asleep yet just to catch victims escaping 

Pet names I think he would use (if you surprisingly ended up with him) are: Sugar, Darling, Princess/Prince, Sweatpea, Sunshine, Baby Doll, and I really think he would also use Precious. 

“Ain’t you so precious.” Then mf bites you, slaps away and runs laughing like a manic

He tries to give you a hug when he comes in all sweaty from working outside (he smells don’t let him)

Definitely has a type (it’s you bestie, you’re his type)

Like with the tcm petals thing, he can’t sneak very well because of his keys(at least I think) He also sounds like he stomps everywhere he goes😭

Probably only wears jeans and t shirts. I can see him dressing up a bit for going out but nothing to fancy

I think someone in the family has to have some type of job, Johnny is the only one who works along with Cook. (Haven’t watched the movies but I plan too I just don’t wanna pay 😭)  I can’t really decide on what he would do though, maybe a mechanic? Plumber?

( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

I do think he likes to fix things, any problems with the house? He’s on it. A hole is in the roof? Just give him a couple of days, he’ll get it done

I’ve seen a few people say this, he’s favorite part is the thigh, and I completely agree

Does know how to cook but unfortunately it’s people💀

He does hunt/fish a lot too so he can definitely cook em up

I can imagine you’re trying to escape and you pass by the garage and he’s just skinning an animal that’s up on a hook and then notices you😟

Anyways-

I don’t really think he’s all the suave?? He’s kinda a meanie tbh😭  But I think it’s all just an act to get people more comfortable with him, he’s just doing what he’s seen on TV

I truly believe he’s a giant goofball. A big meanie goofball who’s also a narcissist and very manipulative 

I feel like he played pranks a lot as a kid but he’s pranks were setting something on fire or throwing a victim’s underwear in someone’s face instead of y’know, normal shit? 

He will bite you and draw blood just because he thinks it’s funny. I personally don’t think he’d use his knife on you though, that’s only for food

Very competitive and will come up with the stupidest “challenges” just so he can show he’s better. Poor Bubba is forced into them😭 

I can’t decide if Johnny is older, younger or around the same age as Bubba T^T

Probably does some woodworking too. Makes a bunch of different from birds to flowers to trying to make a replica of a persons face he likes 

That’s all I got for now😭 I’m sorry if I messed some info up but these are my hcs for our babygirl Johnny :3 Hope you enjoyed! <3

@dreamties <3

[paper-lilypie]

Cassidy from ball pit au 🤝 miss smiles from ccrt

Holding onto long ass grudges from being murdered in a pizza place

its the pigtails. they condense all their evil in their tiny little brains

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

A Strange Sort of Family

hi, resident evil fandom, i'd like to throw my hat in the ring

look, i don't even really go here, the fandom mold just got into my brain and would not fucking leave. this is my first time writing any of these characters so if they feel a bit rocky, please forgive me. my media analysis brain has been spinning nonstop since we started the resident evil brain rot and ho boy would I love to sink my teeth into a proper horror fic but! i don't know if i'm there yet so i figured i'd start a bit easier for me :)

also--we all know there's no way ethan's just gone from the franchise now, right? like, sure, he's dead, but he died like 30 minutes into re7 and that didn't fucking stop him

ALSO also big shoutout to @dragonsareaqueerthing and @greenninjagal-blog for the encouragement to actaully make the words go :) hopefully i'll be spending more time in this fandom now that I've got that ball rolling

Read on Ao3

Warnings: talk about events of shadows of rose dlc, nothing explicit, bullying

Pairings: implied ethan/mia/chris, but Ethan & Rose is the focus

Word Count: 10,919

You'd think after about 16 years of being treated like a child and the most powerful bioweapon the world has ever seen, you might get used to it.

Nope!

Not even slightly.

Sometimes a family is a molded bioweapon, a traumatized agent, a former bioterrorist, and a series of golden, sparkly words. Sometimes family is decorating your room with your mother, sometimes family is hugging a pillow because your dad isn't here anymore. Sometimes family is training too hard and going out for ice cream, sometimes family is a dinner where your parents won't stop teasing you.

Or, five times Ethan Winters was there for his daughter, and one time Rosemary Winters was there for her father.

1.

You'd think after about 16 years of being treated like a child and the most powerful bioweapon the world has ever seen, you might get used to it.

Nope!

Not even slightly.

Okay, well, maybe slightly, but only in the way she's able to shake off some of the lesser things that would've made her really upset before. She's no longer threatening the lives of the agents that call her Eveline, to her face or behind her back when they think she can't hear them. Even when she really, really wants to. Small victories.

But despite her best efforts, she still returns to the cell block of a room—Chris had been so insistent that it wasn't a cell, but it was all concrete walls and a tiny window and a camera that she knows is in the corner—and curls up on her bed, jamming her headphones in and refusing to engage with the outside world until she could summon up the resolve to impersonate a normal person again.

Today had been no exception.

Rose throws her backpack onto her desk chair and slings her hat over the hook, kicking her shoes off and collapsing face-first onto the bed with a groan. More tests today, always more fucking tests. Didn't they have every inch of her shitty, moldy body cataloged by now? She has half a mind to start making shit up when they ask her the same stupid questions. 'How are you feeling today, Rose?' Oh, you know, just getting stuck with more needles than a fucking porcupine, how do you fucking think I'm feeling? Yeah, no, no homicidal instincts yet, just had one murderous thought the other day when I was imagining mold eating the bitch who called me a charity case. Although I did go to the park after I snuck away from that asshole you have tailing me on Tuesdays to see if I could amass a mushroom army, how was your day?

A small laugh leaves her throat at the thought of the doctor's face if she actually did say that, but then she'd probably have two assholes tailing her until they deemed her 'no longer a risk.' God, they were supposed to be these super highly trained agents, then why the fuck do they suck ass at being subtle?

Turns out, even having mold superpowers means she still has to breathe like a normal person, so she drags her face up from the bed and doesn't even bother to fully get up to inchworm up to the pillows. She mashes her face against the slightly cold surface—honestly, the best part about this prison-cell-ass room was that the air conditioning was always on Arctic, so her pillows were always cold—and grabs her phone, squinting at the notifications.

One from school saying her group project deadline was coming up…something from some shopping website she'd logged onto out of pure boredom three weeks ago…and a text from Chris.

Rose sits up a little more and opens the text. "Overseas this week…sorry I'll miss the—you fucking dick!"

Of course Chris is working this weekend, of course he's not gonna be fucking here to take her to the cemetery—great, that means another two hours of bus rides until she can actually go see her dad. She swears he does this on purpose sometimes, how often does he actually need to go overseas for 'work?' And it's not like anyone else here would be able to take her, she's learned her fucking lesson about asking them for anything more than more fucking food. Not bothering to stifle her groan, she flops back onto the bed, only for her phone to clatter out of her hand and onto the floor.

Great. Now she has to move again to pick it up.

She decides that moving is actually not what she's going to do right now, letting one arm hang over the edge of the bed, her cheek scrunched awkwardly against the lip of the mattress. She tucks her face against the collar of her jacket and rubs her thumb against the ring on her finger.

"Sorry it's gonna take me longer," she mumbles, "I really wanted to spend longer with you this time."

Her eyes widen when gold sparkling words appear on the floor next to her phone.

it's okay

"What the—" she whips around to look at the door, closed tightly, and jerks back— "how—"

The words are still there. The words are still etched into the floor, right next to her phone. She should check if they're on the camera—no, they can fucking hack into her phone whenever they want, and she doesn't—she can't—if this really is—

Rose swallows the lump in her throat as the words shift and change.

you ok?

"I—what—how are—" she swallows again, camera in the corner of the room, "uh, M-Michael?"

A pause as the words reform: sure

"I mean, I—I know," she says quickly, "I know what—I know what this is, I…I remember, it's just…"

camera, I know

"How is this possible?" she whispers, not daring to move from her haphazard scramble up the bed, "I thought you were—I mean, at the end, when we, uh, did the thing, it seemed like you were…that you were going again."

The words sparkle again as she grips the sleeve of her jacket—his jacket.

apparently i'm bad at it

"Bad at what?"

staying dead

Another laugh chokes its way out of her throat and she reaches out without thinking about it, just to touch the words. They glow a little bit brighter as she touches them and the tips of her fingers glow. Almost as an afterthought, she grabs her phone and shoves it behind her, hopefully muffling the microphone and at the very least, getting its cameras away from her dad.

Her dad. Those are her dad's words, that's her dad, he's here, he's here.

"Are you—is this…are you really here?"

sort of, as the golden words swirl around, part of you

"What do you mean, 'part of me?'"

not a scientist

"You're the only other m—person like me I know, I'm sure it'll be fine." She can almost hear the little huff of laughter as the golden sparkles swirl again. It seems like it's the same as it was when she was in there, with her dad only able to say a few words at a time.

i'm part of the mold, just like you, we're sharing a part right now

"Are you always sharing a part with me?"

i wish i could, and she feels her chest hurt a little bit, takes energy

"I guess that makes sense." Her arm begins to ache from being so stretched out. "I really miss you."

i miss you too sweetie

Fuck, she's 16, she should not be getting this choked up over her dad calling her 'sweetie,' but fuck it, she's a mold person and her dad's dead, she's allowed to sniffle a little when those words glow warmly under her fingers. Some hysterical part of her wonders if he'd be able to give her a tissue or a hanky the way he gave her guns and chem fluid in there, but she scrubs at her nose with her sleeve and decides that it's enough right now that he's here, in her room, still calling her sweetie.

***

2.

She almost recognizes it the second time, a tug in her gut. Given that she's got her hands over her face and is currently doing a fabulous impression of an angry seal, it'd be harder for her to see it. Still, she can't help the dumb smile on her face when she rolls over.

bad day?

"Oh, you know," she mumbles, "just your average day of being a human guinea pig."

ew

She snorts, clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle it. "You know I get a look at their notes sometimes? That's what they call you, just your initials."

surprised they're still talking about me

"What do you mean? Of course they're still talking about you, you're the—" she cuts herself off. The golden sparkles swirl.

i'm the what?

"Never mind."

The floorboards wait expectantly, but she twists the ring around her finger, chewing on her lip. After another moment, new words appear.

can i help?

"With what? With the tests?"

with you

Another tug in her gut, this time at the fact that she can't actually remember the last time someone asked after her, not their biggest liability or their most dangerous weapon. She props herself up on the cold pillows—thank you, government AC—and sighs. "I'm just really tired."

i bet

"Like—are they bored? What do they get out of sticking me with the same needle fifty different times? And it's not like they talk to me about anything, they just look at each other and then fake-smile at me and they tell me 'you're doing great,' like I'm supposed to know what that means. And the other people aren't any better! They keep trying to train me how to do a thing but they're not—it's not like they tell me why we're doing something or what I'm supposed to be doing instead, they just tell me I'm wrong and that's it."

that sucks

She huffs. "You have no idea."

After a moment, though, she realizes that might not actually be true. From what little she's actually managed to get Chris to tell her, and what she can learn from Mom, they were both held in BSAA's quarantine for ages before they moved over to Romania. And if Mom knew about Dad's…not-aliveness way before he did, then they must've done some sort of tests on him too.

"Can I ask you something?"

anything

"Did they, um, did they test you too?"

The floorboards stay empty for a minute, but it feels more like he's thinking than it does him avoiding the question. Sure enough, after another moment, words start appearing again.

they did, they didn't tell me anything either, just that i was lucky

"Lucky how?"

to have made it, even when i didn't

"You did, though," she mumbles, fiddling with the ring again, "you—this part of you made it. Chris told me, Mom told me. You…even after you were…gone the first time, you…you came back. The important parts of you, they came back."

and i'm grateful for it, for you

"You're gonna make me cry," she mutters, scrunching up a little tighter.

i love you Rosie

"Shut up." It's empty and they both know it. A few extra sparkles swirl around and she could swear he's laughing. "I love you too."

Sunlight streams in through her tiny window and she finds herself looking at the way the leaves on the tree dapple the shadow across the floor. Part of her dad's words are still glowing. She looks at the nightstand, bare except for her charger and alarm clock, then over at the desk where her school stuff is, then at the dresser. She reaches out and touches the metal bedframe. It's cold underneath her fingers.

what's wrong?

"Nothing." The words remain and she sighs. "I'm just being mopey."

you're allowed to mope

"Someone at school said something today," she says before she can think better of it, and she winces at how young she sounds.

bullies?

"Not really, it wasn't even really about me, I just—it's stupid."

if you're upset it's not stupid

"They were just talking about this thing they got for their room, okay?" Embarrassment makes her curl her fingers into the loose fabric of her jacket. "It's this mirror thing that hooks up to your phone and lets you play music and stuff from there. They were just talking about it and I thought—see, I told you it was stupid."

There's another pause. The breeze rustles the leaves outside. The shadows dance over the walls.

do you want it?

"Not really…I don't like mirrors that much anyway. And it's not like they'd let me just have another thing that connects to the Internet in here." She glances at the alarm clock. "I barely got them to let me get a laptop for school stuff. I don't think they've got a 'Mold Bioweapon Allowance' in their budget."

The silence grows thoughtful. She turns her head to look at the floorboards again, watching the few sparkles there swirl around.

it's your room, they say finally, it should feel like it

Rose scoffs. "What am I supposed to do, walk up and ask them to sponsor a shopping trip?"

why not?

"They're not gonna do that. They're just gonna brush me off again or tell me they're busy."

you've tried?

"I told you, I barely managed to get a laptop, which is something I need to be able to do schoolwork or anything, even have a taste of what being normal is like. And even then I had to argue for like, ages, and I had to get one of my teachers to write an email saying that it's necessary." She swats the white pillowcase, bitterness seeping into her words. "Everything else isn't necessary. They're all about practicality, like I'm just some other expense they have to deal with."

what about Chris? or Mom?

"Chris isn't here. He's always off somewhere doing something or he's here glaring at me like I'm some stupid new recruit that he doesn't want to have to train. And Mom's…I don't want to bother her, you know? She's got her own life now."

she's your mom, come the words almost before she's done speaking, she'd want to know

Rose sighs, sitting up to lean against the headboard. She twists the ring around and around her finger, chewing on her lip. "I don't know. Sometimes it feels like she's…like she doesn't want to know."

Another pause. What her dad had said before, about them sharing a part of the mold—she can feel something in her chest. An emotion that isn't quite hers, something like a deep and exasperated sadness. It's faint, not quite enough to put words there, but she can tell when she needs to look back down at the floor.

she does love you, let her

"Okay. I'll try."

thank you

"Would you come shopping with me?" she asks, even when she knows the answer. "If you could?"

The room gets a little happier as the sparkles swirl around.

i'd spend all day with you

"What did you want to have in your room? When you were my age?"

telescope

"A telescope?" She laughs. "Did you want to be an astronaut?"

astronaut ew

She laughs again and the sunlight seems a little brighter.

***

3.

She meets Mom at a coffee shop near the big bookstore downtown. She's not wearing Dad's jacket—it still feels weird to do, even after Mom's said it's fine—but she has his ring on a necklace under her shirt. Mom waves her over to a table in the corner, nodding to the smoothie already waiting.

"Pineapple mango," she says as Rose sits down, "your favorite."

"Thanks, Mom." She takes a big drink, savoring the weird feeling the pineapple leaves on her tongue. "How're you?"

"I'm okay. Work's been getting busy again recently with the month's end rush." Mom swirls her straw around her coffee. "Did I tell you about this new thing our boss is trying to make us do?"

"No, what?"

"Apparently some young CEO in the area made it big on corporate social media about 'team building exercises,'" and Rose is already groaning in sympathy, "so he sent out this survey this past week about what activity we'd rather do."

"What were the options?"

"This group painting class thing, where we all paint the same picture—"

"Like in kindergarten?"

"Like in kindergarten," Mom agrees, "there's a bar-arcade place that's just opened up on the West Side that does private events, and then there's a good old-fashioned work dinner."

Rose makes a face. "That's it? No, like, crazy obstacle courses, or escape rooms, or anything?"

"We barely had the budget for the normal year-end stuff."

"So what did you vote for?"

"I ended up voting for the painting, actually—"

"What? Mom, that's so lame."

"Hey!" She jokingly flicks a napkin at Rose. "Lamer than the most awkward dinner you can imagine or sitting and drinking for a whole evening?"

"Isn't that what adults do? You sit and drink and talk?"

Mom sighs, shaking her head as they both laugh. "Yeah, well, I figured it might be better if we tried to do something that wasn't just sitting and drinking."

"I guess."

"Besides, I'm still missing something for the bathroom upstairs. Maybe I'll hang up whatever I manage to make there," she adds, winking at Rose.

It's supposed to be a joke at how bad at art she is—really, even Chris looked at her stick figures and struggled to find something nice to say, and Mom just laughed it off—but Rose's smile fades and she shuffles a little in the chair. She drinks more of her smoothie. Dad's words turn over and over in her head.

"Hey, Mom?"

"Mm?"

"Would you…" She fights the urge to reach for the ring. "Would you help me decorate my room?"

Mom's brow furrows. "At my house?"

"N-no, my…my room at the compound. It's stupid, never mind."

"It's not stupid, Rose," Mom says, picking up her coffee, "I'm just—I guess I'm just surprised. Most teens don't really want their parents anywhere near their rooms."

"Yeah, well, forget it."

A car drives by. Despite herself, she reaches for the ring anyway. Something warm pulses in her chest.

"It's just," she manages, "I don't really have anything in there. It's just the military stuff."

Mom's coffee cup hits the table with a thud. "What do you mean you don't have anything in there?"

"I mean, there's just a dresser, a desk, and a bed. And my little side table thing. They didn't really give me any—"

"How much time do you have?"

Rose blinks. "Huh?"

"How much time before you have to get back?" Mom's already getting up and putting the lid back on her coffee. "We're not that far from the big stores and I have my car."

"I, uh, I think I have a few hours, so—" she scrambles up too, reaching to grab Mom's arm— "wait, you're really okay with doing this?"

Mom pauses for a moment, then reaches out and covers Rose's hand with hers. "You're my daughter, Rosie, I'd love to help you decorate your room."

A lump appears in her throat and she swallows it down. "Thank you."

"Come on," Mom grins, "what are you thinking you want?"

"Uh, I was thinking maybe like a whiteboard? That way I could write down stuff that I might forget? Or like—a magnetic one so I could stick stuff to it?" She gets into Mom's car and they start driving. "Or a corkboard—I've seen a lot of people pin like, pictures and stuff to a corkboard on their walls."

"What if you get both? A corkboard to put pictures and cute stuff and then a whiteboard to write on?"

"I also want a lamp. The normal lights just make my head hurt. And they buzz, you know?"

"Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's like the world's most annoying crickets, isn't it?"

"And there's no, like, in between! It's either no light at all or—"

"Or my eyes are being scorched out, that's right."

They pull into the parking lot of the store and get out, still bouncing ideas back and forth. Mom grabs a cart and they head straight for the stationary section and they spend about five minutes talking about the different corkboards and whiteboards. Then Rose decides she wants magnets so she can stick stuff to the whiteboard, then Mom spots a cute set of push pins, and then another mom and daughter walk by with one of those fancy photo printers that print out pictures from your phone like Polaroids, and they just have to get Rose one of those.

As they pick out lamps and wall decor and sheets that actually have some color, she's struck by how normal this is. She's with her mom. They're shopping for stuff for her room. They're freaking out over the pillows that have little penguins on them. She's actually smiling and laughing and she's excited. She can't wait to get back and put all this stuff in her room.

She just…wishes Dad could be here too.

"I think I'd prefer the yellow lampshade, but it's up to you." Mom looks up from the shelf to notice she's gone quiet. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing," she says quickly, wiping surreptitiously at her face, "…just…I kinda wish Dad was here too."

Mom's fingers stutter on the box and for a moment, she thinks she's going to see those walls go up again, the ones that always go up when she tries to talk about Dad, but then Mom puts the box down and rubs at her wedding ring. She still wears it sometimes. Rose reaches for Dad's, under her shirt.

"I wish he was here too, Rosie," Mom says quietly, "he'd be so proud of you."

Rose swallows, and her eyes catch on a tiny monkey LED lamp further down the shelf. She picks it up. "I think he'd vote for this one, don't you?"

A hint of fond exasperation comes to Mom's face. "God, did I ever tell you what happened when he found out that you loved that little monkey you got when you were still a baby? He tried to buy everything monkey-themed he could find because he thought you might like it."

"Wait, really?"

"I had to get Chris to help me talk him out of buying an entire monkey crib for you."

Rose puts the monkey lamp in the cart. Mom smiles and they keep walking. They end up spending way more than she thought they'd be and sheepishly tries to put some stuff back, but Mom won't hear a word of it and bags everything up.

"Chris can help cover the cost if he's so worried about it," she declares as they pull back up to the meeting spot where the car is supposed to take Rose back to the compound, "anyway, all of this should have been done years ago."

"Thanks, Mom," Rose says, "I had fun."

"We should definitely do it again. I'll help you decorate your college dorm too."

Rose smiles and gets out of the car. It fades a bit when she sees Paul again, leaning against the side of the van with his arms crossed. She turns her back deliberately on him and goes to help Mom get all the bags out of the trunk.

"You're late," Paul says, like he has any right to sound like a smug, condescending asshole.

"By like five minutes. Open the trunk."

"What's all that?"

"Stuff. For my room."

"Well, I—hey!" Paul finally moves when Mom just opens the trunk and starts putting the bags inside.

"You must be the agent Rose told me about," Mom says, her voice saccharine as she dusts off her hands, "is that right, honey?"

"Yeah," she mumbles, "that's him."

"Paul," he says, "Ms. Winters."

"Mia." Mom holds out her hand and he takes it, Rose peering at them from under the brim of her hat. Her eyes widen when Mom yanks Paul closer to her, her smile fading as she hisses in his ear. "Call my daughter Eveline again and I'll break your nose, are we clear?"

Paul jerks in surprise, before turning his head slightly. "Stand down, it's fine, I can handle it."

"You can't afford to make a scene in such a public place," Mom says, her voice still perfectly even, "and Chris won't risk harming me or Rose. So you can start treating my daughter like a person or I can break your nose right now and Chris can clean up your mess."

Rose can't stop her snort as Paul sheepishly walks back to the front of the car and gets in. Mom watches him go before she turns around and says, loud enough for him to hear, "Make sure you send me pictures when you get it the way you want it, okay?"

"I will."

"And if you decide you want anything else, we'll get it next time."

"Thanks, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Rosie." She glares once more in Paul's direction before she walks back to her car.

Rose doesn't stop smirking as Paul drives them back to the compound. He slinks off with his tail between his legs after helping her get all her stuff into her room. She can't cover up the camera—and let them know she knows about it—but she can play her music out loud as she decorates, hanging up the little plants they found and pinning a few photos to her new corkboard. It still strikes her how normal all of this is, dancing to her music and putting up all of her new things, finally collapsing onto her now-colorful blankets with a laugh.

She texts a few photos to Mom, who responds with gushing reviews and excited emojis, before she rolls onto her side to look at the floor.

"What do you think?"

The words only take a second to appear.

it's beautiful, sweetie

"You were right," she murmurs, "it was really nice to let Mom take care of me a bit."

i'm glad

"Oh! I forgot to show you the best part!" Rose jumps off the bed and goes over to the far wall, switching on the fairy lights she hung from the ceiling amidst a bunch of fake vines. "Now the camera will just think the glowing is from the lights!"

Golden sparkles swirl beneath the soft glow.

you're so smart

"I mean," she blusters, trying not to show how pleased she is, "I was just tired of lying down to talk to you all the time."

i see, still clever

"Thanks." After a moment, she reaches over and picks up the little monkey lamp and her stuffed monkey, safely hidden beneath her pillows. "Mom told me you wanted to buy a monkey crib for me."

it would go with the onesie

"You got me a monkey onesie?"

mom has pictures

"I'll have to ask her next time." She chews on her lip, running her fingers over the seams of the monkey's ear. "I wish you could've been there."

me too

"Mom threatened to break Paul's nose if he was rude to me again." The light swirls as Dad laughs and she laughs too. "I'd kick him in the nuts too."

that's my girl

***

4.

"Stupid fucking dickhead," she spits as she slams the door, throwing her backpack onto the chair so hard it scrapes across the floor. "Fucking asshole! I'll fucking rip his head off, the fucking bastard!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a tiny sparkle from the floorboards, and she stomps over to the lights, turning them on. Almost immediately, golden words swirl up.

what happened?

"Your buddy Chris fucking happened!" Rose throws herself onto the bed and punches the pillow. "He keeps treating me like I'm some—some fucking gun that only he knows how to fire and I'm fucking sick of it!"

It had been especially bad today, too. Chris apparently woke up and decided yeah, today's the day I'm gonna be a total fucking asshole for no goddamn reason. He started them out sparring, which he never does, he always has them warm up first because it's important not to strain yourself, except apparently not today when she was thrown against the fucking ground three times before she could even open her mouth long enough to say hi.

Or maybe ask what the hell crawled up his ass that morning.

And then he kept fucking looking at her like he was disappointed! Like it was her fault she wasn't expecting to be slammed up against the wall or pinned to the ground by a man fucking three times her size and then grunted at when she winced in pain because that fucking hurt, you asshole! And he kept on saying these stupid little comments that just made her angrier and angrier and then he had the gall to be like hey, you need to get a handle on your emotions like he wasn't pushing every single fucking button he knew she had!

You need to be sharper, he'd said like he had any right to try and be reasonable as he almost dislocated her fucking shoulder, emotions make you sloppy.

Yeah, well, he could try being sharper when he was being bullied for no fucking reason.

And when she'd finally screamed at him that she was done, that she didn't want to fucking do this anymore, he had the fucking audacity, the nerve to scoff and cross his arms and tell her that no, she wasn't done, she was only done when he said she was done. And yeah, she hadn't really made the decision to rush at him after that, her body did that on its own, but he literally just tossed her aside like a fucking doll and then said she wasn't leaving until she could do the fucking stupid thing he wanted her to.

She tried. She really fucking did.

But she couldn't do it.

And Chris kept refusing to help, saying he'd been training her for so long already, that he'd wash her out if she were any other recruit—to which she'd screamed that she wasn't, so why the fuck was he being like this? And he didn't fucking answer! He just told her to try it again and he kept making her angrier and angrier and she could tell Chris was getting angry too which just made hers worse because what fucking right did he have to be mad at her? What the fuck did she do to him?

It ended really badly. She'd gotten so mad she'd thrown herself at him again, not caring about proper technique or what was smart or anything, she just went for him. He grappled her, obviously, and that was supposed to be their tap-out, fight's-over thing, but she hadn't stopped. She'd scratched him and punched him and kicked him even when he growled at her to yield, and when that didn't work, she'd bit him.

Chris fucking wrenched her off of him and threw her across the room and she heard three guns click.

They'd glared at each other, Chris holding his arm like it was a fucking biohazard, and then he'd stalked off without a word while agents forcibly shoved her back to her room.

She's panting by the time she finishes, glaring a hole in the wall right below where the words normally appear. Her hands still tingle from where she'd hit the walls and the pillows. She looks up when she sees the familiar swirl.

you shouldn't have bitten him

The anger surges up her arms and she clenches her fists. "That's all you have to say? No 'I'm sorry he was such a dick, Rose?' 'You didn't deserve that?' You're fucking defending him?"

i didn't say that

"I just told you that your friend, the person you told to watch over me and keep me safe was fucking bullying me for no goddamn reason and the only thing you can say is that I shouldn't have defended myself?" Betrayal steeps vehemence into her words. Her nails bite into her palms. "I'm fucking glad I bit him!"

he's trying to help

"How in the fuck is he trying to help," she cries, "by being as bad as the bullies in school? By treating me like a freak that needs to be kept muzzled and on a leash?"

you did bite him

She picks up one of the pillows and hurls it at the wall. It hits with a pathetic thwap and falls limply to the floor. It only makes her angrier when she sees the words calm down when the lights stop shaking.

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down! You're supposed to be on my side!"

i am

She barks out a humorless laugh and picks up the pillow, throwing it back on the bed. "You're not on my side, you're on his. I don't need you lecturing me too. Just leave me alone."

More golden words swirl as she turns away, throwing herself onto the bed and curling up tightly around her stuffed monkey. She chokes around the lump in her throat and wills herself not to cry. She'd almost cried in front of Chris today already, she won't give either of them the satisfaction of seeing her cry now. She won't, she won't, she won't! It's not fucking fair that Chris did that. It's not fucking fair that he gets to act however the fuck he wants and then she's the only one punished for it. He gets to go all over the fucking world and only see her when it's convenient to him and he gets to be an asshole about it.

Dad's not even alive.

A sob chokes out before she can stop it, and then it's too late. She's blubbering like she's a stupid fucking baby again and she can hear the echoes of their voices in her ears. All alone, poor freak Rose, crying like a baby who doesn't get her way. She's so weird, she's so stupid, she can't do it. She's useless, she's not strong enough. Just go away. No one wants you here. No one wants you. No matter how hard she presses her hands to her ears, they won't fucking shut up!

Maybe she should've fucking kept the purifying crystal. Maybe she should've left with no powers and had a normal fucking life. Maybe she should've just left her dad to—

As soon as the thought threatens to cross her mind, she recoils from it. Guilt and anger war in her gut as she nearly grows sick. How could she fucking think that? After all he'd done to save her, protect her, how could she think about something like that, even if it was in a fit of rage?

A strangled noise escapes her throat and the bruises and injuries from her humiliating 'sparring session' abruptly make themselves known. Her body screams in pain; her shoulders ache, the bruise on her ribs throbs, and her jaw feels like it's about to explode. She has the hysterical impulse to bite herself and she wonders if it would hurt more than everything else. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpses a glow coming from the floorboards now and she curls up tighter, burying her face in the monkey's tummy. Fuck it, she's been called overly emotional and childish enough times already, she may as well throw her tantrum properly.

It's like falling into the Megamycete again; she has no idea how long she lies there, wallowing in her own emotional turmoil. Flashes of the bullies, of Chris's stupid fucking face, of watching herself get tossed around and left behind…even stranger things like massive castles filled with screams and horror, creepy old houses that just feel like tombs, deep water and clanking metal, all filled with whispers of freak, dangerous, stupid child, not good enough. Everything is too loud and too quiet and she just wants it to be over.

When she finally manages to rouse herself from whatever malaise she'd fallen into, the sun has long set. Her clock shows that it's close to 10—that would explain why her stomach is trying to dig a hole in her intestines. The anger fled unknown hours ago, leaving her weary and wrung out. In its absence, she no longer feels like the bioweapon that she's supposed to be, only the scared and lonely child. It's cold. She's hungry.

There's still a soft golden glow coming from over the side of the bed.

Her lip wobbles. She doesn't want to face the consequences of yelling at her dad and throwing a pillow at him, but she can't stop the blooming warmth that he didn't leave. She crawls to the edge of the bed and peeks over.

i'm sorry Rose

She sniffles and rubs her cheek on the sheets. "'M sorry too."

you were right, i should've been on your side

"You're always on my side," she mumbles, "I know you are."

still

She sniffles again and tucks the monkey under her chin. "Why was Chris so mean today? Did I do something wrong?"

i don't think so, sometimes he's just like that

"Why?" She's ignoring how much she sounds like a baby, thank you. "It's not fair."

no it's not sweetie

Rose closes her eyes, basking in the soft glow of her dad's comfort. "Was he ever mean to you when you were training?"

yeah

"What did you do?"

broke his nose once

It startles a laugh out of her. "You what? Wait, what happened?"

he was being an asshole, so i punched him

She giggles again, both at the image of Chris's surprised face with a broken nose and at the fact that her dad got so angry with Chris that he punched him hard enough. A few more golden sparkles surround the words before they change again.

you shouldn't try it though

"Aw," she complains, mostly for show, "but you did it."

do as i say not as i do

She's quiet. After a moment, she lets her arm hang down to touch the words again. They glow gently. "I don't like fighting with you."

me neither

"I'm sorry. I was being a brat."

The words swirl up quicker than she's ever seen.

you were upset at something unfair, not a being a brat

She sniffles again, reaching over to grab a hanky and blow her nose with a sharp honk. She throws it over to the laundry basket and lies back down. The words have changed.

if you need to hear it, i forgive you

"I forgive you too."

rest

She nestles up against the pillows. "Will you stay until I go to sleep?"

of course sweetie, i love you

***

5.

Mostly Rose doesn't dream. She'll close her eyes and open them again and it will be hours later and it's time to get up. Most of the time when she does dream, it's weird half-memories that aren't hers mixed with something she does actually remember. She has dreams of a house with a red chimney being taken apart by little robotic goats, or of a crocodile swimming through a swamp filled with dead crows, or of bugs crawling over test tubes and dirty flasks. Some of them make sense when she digs into the files she's not really supposed to have access to, some of them don't.

On rare, awful occasions, she has nightmares.

She's been curled up and unmoving for who knows how long, desperately trying to feign sleep. The mold in her keeps prickling like there's something else in the room, watching her, just waiting for a sign that she's awake to pounce. Her white-knuckled grip hasn't wavered either. She dares hardly breathe; even though her rational brain knows there's nothing there, there can't be anything there, her entire body is screaming. She can feel the milky sweat beginning to ooze from her palms.

Something creaks.

She goes stiff as a board.

A creak, a groan, a rumble as the air conditioning turns on and she forces herself to relax, cracking open one eye to see that yes, this is just her room, there's nothing to be afraid of here, she's fine.

Her eyes land on the switch to the fairy lights.

The small and whimpering part of her lunges for them, for the warm glow of the light, her dad's words, in lieu of running to her parents' bed to be comforted. The other part hisses that the second she moves, whatever's lurking in the dark will strike. The monkey wheezes as she tightens her grip, staring at the innocuous plastic box hanging against the wall.

With a sudden burst, she launches herself from the bed, slapping the button, and curling back up beneath the safety of the blankets.

Immediately, the soft warm light chases away the worst of the shadows and she can peek over her shoulder to assure herself that yes, nothing is there, she's safe in her room, everything's okay. Golden sparkles are already swirling, a quiet inquisitiveness filling that one empty part in her chest as she lies back down. He's rotated his words so she can read them easily.

what's the matter, sweetie?

"Nightmare," she whispers, more into her pillow than anything else.

i'm sorry

She curls up tighter, trying to pull the blankets up almost over her head. The sweat's almost ruined her monkey—she's going to have to wash it again—and she wipes her hands on the sheet. The absence of it hits the cold air and she shivers, hunching tighter in the covers and sniffling. A sudden and sharp ache sears through her chest and she shudders, harder this time, only the top of her nose peeking out over the comforter. She's so cold. Not in the way where she can pile more blankets on and it'll go away—she could put the whole world on top of her and she would still be cold. This horrible, achy, exhausting cold that seeps into her bones and makes her want to cry.

what can i do?

"You said in your—in your letter," she hiccups, "that you'd hold me when I had nightmares, and—and sing to me until I went back to sleep."

But the words on her wall are just words and words can't hold anybody.

She wants a fucking hug, goddamnit. No one touches her anymore, not unless they're running some stupid test, or sparring, or escorting her roughly down the hallway like some—some prisoner. The last time someone touched her and it wasn't that it was Mom, telling her she'd help decorate her room and that was so long ago, everyone else just—just—

"I want to go home," she sobs and it lands like a dead weight in the still room.

what do you mean?

"I want to go home, I want to go back to that house you showed—showed me when I was in there, where you—where your memories are and I can actually h-hear you and it's warm an'—an' safe, and you love me," she cries, not caring that it's the middle of the night and she's talking to a wall, "no one here loves me. No one loves me, the doctors think I'm some—some experiment that's run too—too long and the agents all think I'm a l-liability and Mom's not here because she gave me up and Chris h-hates me."

he doesn't hate you sweetie

"He does! He does, he does, I can feel it." She hugs her monkey tightly to her chest. "He h-hates me for being the reason you're not—you're not here anymore and he hates me for reminding him that you're dead and he hates me for—for being like this and—and—and—!"

shh…shh…shh…

But he's not here and she can't hear him shushing her and she's all alone in her cold, dark room and she wants to go home.

don't cry, Rosie, it's gonna be okay sweetie

"It's not. 'S not okay."

The wall doesn't move for a moment, then it swirls again.

scoot back, i'm going to try something

Frowning, she does, shuffling awkwardly back until she's on the far side of the bed. The golden light swirls around for another second, before it writes itself on one of the pillows.

hug me

"D—Michael?"

i'm right here sweetie, i love you so much

With trembling fingers, she reaches for the pillow, touching the words with a soft gasp as they glow warmly against her still-slick palms. A sob of disbelief leaves her throat and she bundles it to her chest, burying her face in it. A soft scratching and buzzing fills her ears as more words write themselves across the pillow, but she doesn't pull her face away to read them. Not when this is the closest thing to hugging her dad she's been since she was in the deepest stratum of the Megamycete, crying over his dying body. Not when she's still so cold and the words are so, so warm. She tucks her face into the crook of the pillow's embrace and she cries.

The words don't stop writing themselves over and over and if she focuses hard enough, it almost sounds like her dad is humming.

She falls into a light sleep, not willing to miss a moment of actually being so close to her dad, soothed by his presence. Soon, light has begun to break through the window, the auto timer on the lights long since activated to switch them off. The pillow is all gross from a mixture of drool, snot, and tears, and she sheepishly tries to wipe it away when a small glow comes from underneath.

it's okay

"It's kinda gross."

my privilege, i'm your dad

"Still."

ew, remember?

A watery smile. "Thanks."

i love you so much, i'm so proud of you

"I love you too," she mumbles back, curling her arms around the pillow. Another set of words writes itself and she leans back.

do you really think Chris hates you?

"I don't know. He…he looks at me like he can't sometimes. Or like he's waiting for me to…I don't know, turn crazy or bad or like he's waiting for me to turn into you, almost." She rubs her fingers over the pillowcase. "He used to be nicer."

have you spoken since?

She doesn't need to ask what he's talking about. "No. He's been out of town again. He's supposed to be back, um…"

She leans over to check her phone, eyes widening when she sees the date.

"Uh, today. Shit, I actually think we're supposed to have a training thing today."

Before more words can write themselves, there's a knock on her door. She freezes, phone still in her hand, pillow clutched close.

"Rose?" Fuck. "It's Chris. Can I come in?"

be brave, says the last flutter of words before her dad vanishes, i love you

"…yeah."

Chris opens the door. Rose tugs on her dad's jacket over her pajamas and clutches the pillow in her lap. She doesn't look at him. He moves around a little in the doorway before he shuts it with a click. After a moment, the bed dips and groans under his weight and she sneaks a glance at his arm. Her bite mark is still there.

"Surprised they let you walk around before that healed."

"You didn't even break the skin."

It's probably meant to come off in a way that means she doesn't have to worry about it, but it stings anyway. She turns away again.

A car drives by outside.

"I owe you an apology," Chris says finally, his voice low and gruff, "I shouldn't have been so harsh. I'm sorry."

She doesn't reply, but she shifts to face the window instead of the wall.

"There's been talk of getting you moved to another squad," he continues, and her stomach drops—is Chris leaving too?— "and I thought…if I could prove that you were good with us, that we had it all under control, then they'd drop it. Leave you alone."

At the rustle as he shifts, she glances over at him. His jaw works and his hand twitches on his knee.

"I thought…" He trails off, then scoffs at himself, shaking his head. "I don't know what I thought."

He turns to meet her gaze and her gut clenches at the obvious guilt and remorse she can see there. She swallows.

"You were mean." Her voice comes out a lot smaller than she'd hoped. She swallows and tries again. "I thought you hated me."

"I don't hate you, Rose," he says in a rush, turning to face her, "please don't think that."

"So you're not trying to get rid of me?"

"Shit, Rose, no, I'm not trying to get rid of you. You're—I think Mia'd kill me if I tried, no, I'm just—" he takes a breath— "I'm just trying to keep you safe, okay?"

"Then you should've said something! I would've trained harder if I knew—we could've—I would've done something else, did I do something wrong?"

"No," he insists, shaking his head, "no, you didn't do anything wrong."

Relief begins to pool warily in her chest. Her grip on the pillow loosens and she scoots a little closer. "I'm sorry I bit you."

He shakes his head again. "It's fine. You, uh, you have good bite strength."

"Good bite strength?"

"Yeah. Your contact's really good." He gestures to the bite mark on his arm. "Got all of them in there too."

"Thanks," she says, laughing a little. Chris smiles and it's a bit easier to breathe. She gives herself a shake. "So, what's today? Weapons, sparring, how to punch boulders?"

"Actually, I, uh, thought we'd go get ice cream."

Rose pauses, looking up at him, blinking as if she'd heard wrong. "Ice cream?"

"Weather's gonna get cold soon, the good place around the corner's gonna close." He shrugs. "Been craving it."

"Yeah…yeah, ice cream sounds good."

"Great."

And before she can think too much of it, she throws herself at him and hugs him for all she's worth. She feels him stutter, not quite sure what to do, and then his arms slowly wrap around her, holding her just as tightly. And oh, she's on fire, Chris is big and warm and solid and he's holding her like she's something special and she's gonna fucking cry her eyes out if she stays here a moment longer and she's gonna die if she lets go. Chris lets out a noise of dismay when she sniffles and scoops her up, like she's a little kid again, holding her in his lap and now she's making a mess of his shoulder too.

She could swear she feels Dad smile.

***

+1.

"I'm telling you," Rose says as she lounges on her bed, "you're wrong about the cover. It's actually pretty good."

i like the classics

"Yeah, well, you're old and boring, so that makes sense."

:(

The sight of the old-fashioned emoticon frowny face makes her burst out laughing. "Oh my god, that's so lame. I don't think I've seen someone use that in years."

it's a classic!

"You gotta get with the times!"

totes dope fam

Rose winces at the immense amount of psychic damage those three words dealt, her neck protesting as she almost cringes it out of alignment. "No, D—Michael, just no."

lol

She tosses the pillow playfully at the wall again, laughing when another frowny face appears on both it and the wall. "Aww, okay, I'm sorry, here."

She picks it up and cuddles it and the frowny face turns to a smiley face. Lying back down, grin still on her face, she toys with his ring. It's gotten shinier from all the rubbing, except where she ties the cord around it so she can wear it as a necklace. She turns it this way and that, watching the sunlight glint off of it. As she does, she catches sight of the engraving on the inside.

Always and forever.

"Do you want me to tell Mom and Chris about you?"

The words swirl for a moment.

up to you

She pushes herself to sit up, propped on one elbow. The ring glistens as she slides it back onto her finger, turning it to and fro. "I don't know. It feels bad keeping something like this from them, but I want to be selfish about it too, you know? I kind of like having you all to myself."

it's not selfish

"And what if Chris thinks it's bad?" She twists the ring harder. "What if he tries to take you away from me?"

i won't let that happen

Her shoulders drop a little and she picks up the pillow again, cuddling into it. A few words write themselves across it just so she can feel their warmth and she rubs her cheek against it. "Don't you miss them?"

all the time

A melancholy that isn't hers hangs in her chest and she squeezes the pillow again. "Then should I? They miss you too, you know. I think they'd be happy to, you know, hear from you again."

The words fade and the wall glows again as he thinks. She lets him have his time, rubbing the ring back and forth, listening to the slight rattle it makes as it spins around her too-small finger. When she hears the familiar soft scratch again, she looks up.

they're happy now, i don't want to ruin that

"They're not happy," she can't help but say, "they still miss you."

content, then

"You wouldn't be ruining anything," she argues, "I thought—I thought I'd never get to see you again after I got out of there. The day I heard you again? That was the happiest moment of my life."

mine too sweetie, or my un-life i guess

The words glow brighter as her fingertips glow too. She gets up and lays her hand against the wall, smiling as their powers dance together. "I really think they'd be happy."

A pulse of warmth runs up her arm to her chest as the words shift once more.

when you think the time is right

"I'll tell you, I promise."

i'm so proud of you, Rose, i love you so much

"I love you too."

That time doesn't come on their terms, though, because that would be easy. No, instead it's when she and Chris are over at Mom's house for dinner and Chris asks a question out of nowhere that almost makes her spit all over the table.

"What?" Mom asks as Rose glares a hole in Chris's stupid forehead.

"I said," Chris says like an unrepentant asshole, "who's Michael?"

"Michael?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose mutters, staring down at her lap.

"I was coming to get you for training last week and you were talking to someone called Michael." Chris takes a bite of steak and talks with his mouth full, like an asshole. "So who is he?"

Mom elbows her, winking. "Someone you like?"

"What? Ew, gross, no!"

Chris and Mom just laugh and Mom elbows her again. "Don't worry, I was your age once too. That's how I reacted when my mom asked me about my crush."

"Michael isn't my crush!"

"Boyfriend, then?"

"No, he's not my—" she covers her face and sighs. "He's not my boyfriend, he's not my crush, he's not someone from school, happy?"

"So who is he?"

Well, fuck it, no time like the present. She pushes back from the table, muttering about using the bathroom. They wait until she's halfway up the stairs to start talking again, their voices low in that way where she knows they're still talking about her, but she pays them no mind as she goes into the bathroom and shuts the door. She braces her hands on either side of the sink and takes a deep breath.

"I'm guessing you heard all that."

The words swirl up right below the mirror.

yeah

"I mean, it's not like we'll get a better opportunity."

probably not

"Are you ready?"

are you?

She rubs at the chip in the linoleum and turns on the cold water, just to make sure there's no milky sweat on her hands. "I'm nervous."

me too

"No matter what happens," she says firmly, "no matter what they do or say, I'm here for you, okay? I've got your back. I love you."

i'm so proud of you, sweetie, i love you too

The words glow cheerfully against the weird tile pattern and she reaches out to touch them. They share a moment before the words fade and she takes a deep breath, squaring her shoulders in the mirror and nodding to herself. "Right. Let's do this."

She marches back downstairs and Mom and Chris do a horrible job of pretending not to be nosy and expectant. She sits back down and folds her hands in her lap.

"I'll tell you who Michael is," she begins, "but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

"I promise, honey," Mom says, miming zipping her lips shut.

"Chris, you promise too."

Chris looks at her for a moment like he's going to disagree, then he winces as Mom kicks him under the table. "I promise too."

"Good." She takes another breath and reaches for the ring around her neck. The second she brings it out from under her shirt, Chris's silverware clatters against the plate and Mom inhales sharply.

"Rose," she says shakily, "where did you get that?"

"Before I said yes to joining you," Rose says, "I met K outside the lab. He told me there might be a way to get rid of my powers for good."

Chris frowns. "K never said anything like that to me, what do you—"

"I'm getting there. He took me to the lab where there was a piece of the Megamycete, and said that—"

"He what?"

"Will you both just listen to me?" The two of them quiet down. "Thank you. So, like I was saying, he took me to see the piece of it and said that there was a purifying crystal that Miranda discovered that could take the mold out of someone. All I had to do was look through the Megamycete's index of consciousness to see if I could find it."

"That's incredibly dangerous, Rose," Mom says quietly, and Chris looks like he's trying to strangle his fork. "Please tell me you didn't—"

"I wanted them gone," she interrupts, looking at her Mom, "they were—I was just a freak with no friends. Someone offered me the chance to be normal, are you telling me you wouldn't have done the same thing if you were a teenager?"

Mom looks at her for a long moment, but she doesn't disagree. Rose squeezes the ring and keeps going.

"It wasn't that easy, obviously. It was…really hard. And really scary. I had to fight my way through these, like, twisted versions of the places in Miranda's village, like that big castle and the creepy doll house, and there were all these versions of me that kept getting killed and tortured, I fought a version of Eveline too—"

"Rose," Chris tries to say but she doesn't let him.

"—but I had help," she continues. "There was something helping me. It helped me figure out where to go, what to do, gave me a gun and taught me how to use it. There were these glowing words that would appear when I needed them most and it…it was like having a guardian angel."

"Michael," Chris says, and she nods.

"Yeah, I called him Michael. He—he kept trying to get me to leave, said that it wasn't safe, but I wanted to find the crystal and so he helped me. And then we found out K wasn't actually K and it was all a trap set by Miranda—"

"It was what?"

Chris is already getting up. "Is she still in there? Do we need to—"

"Sit down, Chris, it's fine, we beat her. She's dead now, like, really, actually dead. She crystalized and turned to dust, I saw it."

His face still looks like he ate a lemon, but Chris sits slowly back down. He exchanges a worried look with Mom and she puts her hand on Rose's shoulder. "You said 'we?'"

"Me and Michael." She looks down at the ring and turns it over in her hand. "Until I found out who he really was."

Mom gasps, a small and shuddery thing. She holds her hand over her mouth and stares at Rose. "Ethan."

Chris makes a noise too as Rose nods. "Yeah. It was him the whole time. He…he protected me. From Miranda, from Eveline, from everything."

"He loved you so much, honey," Mom whispers, her eyes growing wet, "he never stopped loving you."

"He showed me our house in Romania," and to her horror, she can feel her voice growing thick too, "with all his memories. I heard his voice, Mom, he—he wrote me a letter, did you know?"

"Yes," Mom says, trying not to sob, clutching her shoulder, "yeah, honey, I know. He cried so much while he was writing it, he wanted you to get old enough to read it with him, oh, Rose…"

She swipes a hand under her nose and turns to Chris, who's doing that big, tough, I'm-too-manly-for-my-emotions-right-now thing and reaches for him too. After a moment, his hand turns and covers hers. He's trembling. "He taught me how to fight, Chris. We—we fought together. He shot the monsters in the face with a shotgun and gave me his power so I could kill Miranda, once and for all."

Chris swallows heavily. "Your dad was…he was one of the best men I've ever known, Rosie. He would be so proud of you." He sniffs. "You said he shot them in the face with a shotgun?"

"Mhm."

"Yeah, that sounds like Ethan, alright." Mom laughs and it sort of sounds like a sob but she and Chris are smiling now, so it's okay. Chris looks back at her and nods a few times. "So you were talking to him, then?"

"Yeah. When you walked by on Tuesday, I think it was…yeah, we were arguing about whether the original Blade Runner was better than 2049." She wrinkles her nose. "He said the original was better but I like the remake."

Chris frowns. "What do you mean, he said—"

The words scrawl over Mom's dining table, illuminating their faces.

i like the classics, that's all

Rose would laugh at the way Chris almost falls out of his chair if his hand and Mom's weren't trembling. She looks at Mom, who stares at the glowing words, and at Chris, who looks like he's about to be sick.

Mom breaks the silence first. "…Ethan?"

The words move, now right next to her forgotten plate.

hi honey

"You're—you're—"

bad at staying dead?

Mom's breath leaves her like she's been punched in the gut. "Oh, Ethan, I—I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry—"

breathe, it's okay

She squeezes Mom's hand as she takes a few shaky breaths. "What—how is this possible?"

rose

"We're both part of the mold," Rose says when Mom looks to her, "he's…he's using my part right now, we're sort of sharing it."

told her i'm not a scientist, figured you'd get it :)

"No one uses those anymore," Mom mumbles and Rose whispers a quiet told you so! as the smiley turns to a frowny for a moment, before the words change again.

i know it's been hard, i'll always love you

"Oh, Ethan," Mom whispers, reaching out to touch the words. She gasps as a flicker of warmth pulses through them and Rose squeezes her hand again. "I miss you."

i miss you too

Another glow flickers up next to Chris, who startles and stares down at the words in shock.

you too

"E-Ethan, I—" he cuts himself off as the words swirl again.

thank you for taking care of my daughter

Chris swallows heavily. "She's incredible, Ethan. You should be proud of her."

always am

"I'm sorry," Chris whispers, and something in Rose's gut clenches at how close to tears he looks too, "if I'd been faster, we could've gotten you out of there, we could've…"

it's okay, Chris, we're all okay

"You're dead."

i died in 2017, doing pretty well considering

"He is really bad at staying dead," Rose adds, "Miranda said so too. You should've seen her, she was so mad at us."

Chris looks like he's having a hard time deciding whether he wants to laugh or cry. The sparkles swirl again.

she's a fighter, she gets that from you too

His free hand jerks and Rose squeezes the one in hers. "You can touch, Chris, he won't bite. That's my thing."

it won't hurt, promise

Chris takes a deep breath and slowly touches the words. His breath leaves him in a rush as they glow warmly under his fingers. Rose smiles as she feels the mold connect all of them there, in that moment, through her and Ethan. Some part of her clicks into place. As if he can feel it too, which he probably can, another set of words appears in front of her.

we're so proud of you, Rosie

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbles as she feels heat rush to her cheeks, "shut up."

no :)

Mom laughs. "We finally have all three of us together again and you want us to not tell you how proud we are of you?"

"They've got a point, Rosie."

"I'll break your nose!"

"No, no," Mom says as Chris squawks, even though she's still smiling, "no breaking Chris's nose."

even if he deserves it

"Hey!"

As they all laugh together, Ethan's words still glowing in the warm, quiet house, Rose sits back in her chair and twists her dad's ring around her finger. Sure, being a mold bioweapon teenager was weird, but if this is the family she gets to have because of it, it can't be all bad.