#unfortunately my hands gave out on me about halfway through making this so that's why the second one is the way it is

[its-captain-sir]

MUTANT MAYHEM SPOILERS

so those milk jokes huh

[bugs1nmybrain]

Mommy's Boy: Shigaraki x Fem!Reader~Mommy Kink~☆•°♡☆°●♡

As always, Minors do NOT interact!

I remember saying how I thought writing Shigaraki fucking you in front of Dabi was out of pocket, but I've pretty much thrown all humility out the window at this point. Upsidaisy.

Updated: Nov 26th, 2023

Traits about the reader: Medium to big boobs, curvy, thick thighs, implied to be either shigaraki's age (20 in this) or older, implied to be on birth control, bad at playing video games

Notes: NSFW/smut, mommy kink, sub/switch Shigaraki, fem reader, shy and moody Shigaraki???????, Shigaraki loves boobs, awkward reader and Shigaraki interactions, spanking (reader receiving), tit sucking, vulgar language, mutual masturbation, slight degrading, a sprinkle of praise, hair pulling (Tomura receiving), no condom, reader and Shigaraki play GTA 5 in the beginning, kinda cringe tbh, season 4 era Shigaraki

I know each of my fics always end right after sex I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to get better at some plot after sex because I feel like it's so cliché.

"You suck!"

Unfortunately for you and Shigaraki, there was only one controller for the PlayStation. He had wanted a gaming date but there wasn't much you two could do together, so you had compromised by taking turns on GTA (story mode by your request).

Tomura watched as you continued to knock into every car in your line of view. You'd back out of a car you had hit only to knock into another. When you finally made it to a mission that required shooting, you were doing halfway ok, but only because of the auto-aim mechanics to be completely honest. However, the cops just showed up, and now it was you (Trevor), Franklin, and Lamar against a shit load of police. Shigaraki hoped and prayed you'd start catching on, but you just kept on dying.

"GTA 5 is easy! How are you fucking up this bad?" Shigaraki ponders in a near-genuine tone.

"It's been a while! I haven't played for maybe over 6 months."

"It's not even hard whatsoever, I don't get this. Give me a turn."

"You played like 4 minutes ago."

"Yes, but you're bad at this and it's making my head hurt. Give me that stupid controller," Tomura, without your input, snatches the controller out of your hand and plows through the mission for you with ease. You slouch on his shoulder and mope, your feelings hurt by your own pathetic gaming abilities.

"Maybe we should do something that we could both do. Why do I want to just sit here and watch you play GTA all night?" You whine. Shiggy responds with an annoyed groan.

"Take it then! It's not my fault you're shit at this. Maybe try a strangers and freaks mission," Shigaraki drops the controller on your lap. You breathe in and set your waypoint to Vinewood Boulevard. Tomura observes you drive so cautiously that it's almost worse to watch you drive so slow than to smash into cars.

Tomura sighs in agitation and slumps his chest against your back, wrapping his arms around your soft tummy and burying his face in the crook of your neck. He hugs you tight as he watches you fuck up your game and turns his attention away from your awful playthrough to something that he'd consider you to take more pride in.

Tomura glances at the v-neck of your black shirt that looked like his, only short-sleeved. He allows himself to look at your tits while you're distracted. He's had some pretty good self-restraint today, he'd say, as the push-up you were wearing was driving him fucking crazy. They looked so hot and the complexion of your skin gave them a lovely glow. He felt like a pathetic little bitchboy, wanting nothing more than to touch them and bury his face in your tits. It was a good thing you were so distracted by GTA because he was scoping the terrain out to plot his next move.

He felt embarrassed. The two of you have had sex many times, but he still felt annoying to want to appreciate your tits. Would he seem like a little bitch with mommy issues or something? Oh well, you were his girlfriend, right? If you didn't like it then you'd need to find a better toy to play with, though the thought fueled his blood because Shigaraki hadn't ever found anyone that took interest in him like you did.

There was no helping it. He was already growing a boner and you were already feeling it press against your ass as you sat in his lap.

"Tomura?"

He felt a shock surge through him, knowing full well why you were calling his name. So he didn't answer.

"Tomura, are you okay?" You giggle teasingly.

Don't do this to him, he thought. This was supposed to be a simple gaming night. But who was he kidding? 9 times out of 10 your dates ended in kind of sex.

"What gives you the impression that I'm not?" He says in an embarrassed tone. Was he feeling flustered? Cutie.

"Because something's poking me."

"Haha."

You laugh, a little surprised that he's not trying to come back with some cocky monologue like he always does. You turn around to face him to see the cutest scowl on his face. He's clearly frustrated and the boner in his pants only makes it cuter. You take it upon yourself to straddle his lap, resting on his thin frame with your thick thighs. The outline of your crotch presses against his bulge and he grunts in response.

"What's wrong, Tomura?" You coo at him and begin stroking his hair tenderly. You're going to kill him, he swears. His gaze stays stuck on the TV screen as your player stands outside of the Los Santos hospital, but you turn his face to look at you instead. "Why are you being so moody?"

"Your tits have been distracting me all day," he pouts with a flustered face, his eyes now making their way toward your cleavage.

The immediate cackle you respond with almost softens Shiggy's cock all the way, feeling insulted.

"I'm serious," he says with a grumpy voice.

"Really? Is that all, baby?" You smirk with a nurturing voice.

"Pretty much."

Taking Tomura's neck, you kiss his nape gently. He cups your hips with his hands, leaving some fingers up so as to not harm the only person who has both shown him love as well as not piss him off to no end (well, for the most part). You begin grinding on his cock which creates heavy, frustrated sighs from him.

You continue to play with Tomura's hair, messaging his scalp in between your fingers. He tilts his head backwards with a drawn-out whine as if he hasn't been touched in his whole life. That notion wasn't entirely false, before you Tomura hadn't received physical affection like this from anyone and assumed he never would because of his quirk. You were such a lucky catch for him. Maybe it was why he was hesitant to say his needs, he was scared he'd weird you out and that you'd ditch him.

Damn, when did he start caring about how somebody else would feel about his actions?

"What's wrong?" You ask caringly.

"I told you what's wrong."

"Oh, right. What can I do to make it better?"

"Mm.." Shigaraki stares at your chest and back up to you, hoping that you would pick up on his desires without him having to say it. He felt so cringy right now, like a little subby boy begging for access to your tits.

He gives up on trying to be nice when you continue to play dumb. You were doing it on purpose, for sure. A part of you loved seeing Tomura shy and polite like this, as he was usually so abrasive. He tugs on the V of your shirt and whispers in your ear, "are you too numb to get the idea?"

"And what's that?" You banter.

"Bitch. What am I supposed to tell you? That I want to suck on your tits?"

"Is that what you want?"

"Shut up!!"

"It's okay," You laugh. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I know you've got mommy issues."

"What of it? Is that a problem for you?"

"No," you giggle. "Do you need me to spoil you, baby?"

"Ew."

"I'm trying."

Tomura cackles, his broody demeanor. He squeezes your love handles and buries his face in your neck again.

"It's not my fault that you've got the body of a MILF. How am I supposed to react?"

"Wow, what a compliment."

"It is a compliment," Shigaraki snickers as he begins kissing your neck and down your chest. His hands travel from your love handles up to your waist, gripping like his life depended on it. "So, are you going to let me indulge or what?"

You giggle are stroke his long hair as he hums in question, embarrassed by his request, but somehow honored.

"Knock yourself out."

"Mmm, thank you mommy.."

"Oh my god you didn't just say that."

"Just roll with it."

Shigaraki takes a finger and tugs at your V-neck, but is disappointed at your bra. He reaches underneath to unclasp the back and yanks it out from your shirt. His attention focuses back on your tits. Tomura pulls your collar down to reveal one. He wastes no time and begins sucking tenderly. You can feel his cock growing more inside his pants, so you start grinding on the fabric, causing him to grunt while your tit is in his mouth.

Tomura pulls the other breast out from your shirt, taking a moment to gawk at them before going for the other. He teases your other nipple with his fingers. You hadn't realized how sensitive your tits really were as his tongue was flickering against your nipple causing a dripping arousal to seep through your underwear. You whine at the pleasure.

"Is this making you feel good baby?" You ask sultrily to Tomura. He responds with an eager "Mhm" and continues sucking. After what seemed like forever he lifts his head up and pulls your face down to kiss him, his saliva-coated mouth being a lovely adhesive between your lips.

"Your tits are so cute, mommy.."

"When did I consent to this mommy treatment?" You giggle.

"You're literally the one who told me I have mommy issues! Don't make me feel like shit for this."

"I'm not!" you laugh. "I'm just teasing."

You kiss him and continue to tug at his hair, "Does my baby boy need mommy to take good care of him?"

"Yes please.."

"Please, who?"

"Please mommy.."

"Mm.." You lift off of his lap and take your leggings and shirt off, leaving your full figure out for him. He puts up a finger to signal "wait" and reaches over to his bag on the floor and pulls out his special gloves. Fuck what would he do without them? He needs his hand condoms if he's gonna thoroughly make love with you.

"You're so sexy," he says, trailing his fingers to your wet cunt as he begins stroking your clit. You whimper in excitement and begin to pull down his pants. His cute cock slips out, standing proud with pre-cum already leaking out from the tip. As he continues toying with your pussy, you stroke his sensitive cock which creates lovely scratchy moans from his throat.

"God..that's it...," Shigaraki his horny, pulsing cock out on your clit, rubbing circles on it rapidly. You moan out lightly, grinding your clit against his fingers to create more friction. You rub his dick in fast as he submissively cries out in pleasure. Your clit twitches in familiar waves of pleasure once he begins sucking on your tit again.

"Is mommy gonna cum?" Tomura teases, releasing his mouth from your breast to only go to the other.

"Mhm!"

The look on his face when you began falling onto him as you came was unlike him. Tomura snickers in pride, pulling you in for a kiss while you kept stroking his cock.

"I think you deserve some privileges," you coo at him, and you sit on his lap yet again.

"I do? Have I been a good boy?"

"Mhm. Very good boy."

You circle your groin around Tomura's leaking cock as he whines out in pleading.

"Please, mommy..."

"Please mommy what?"

"Fuck me. Fuck me mommy, pleaaaase...."

With a pleasant hum in your throat, you reach down to rub Tomura's cock, then inserting it inside of your dripping cunt. Tomura groans loudly at your gooey, wet walls and attempts to push his cock deeper into you, begging for you to fuck him. To his satisfaction, to begin to bounce on his cock in rhythm, and Tomura swears you're going to drive him insane.

"Mm..does my baby boy like this? Does he feel good?"

"Fuck, yes...," Shigaraki moans. He watches intently as your tits bounce while you fuck him. He smacks your ass in frustration, shocking you.

"I guess I'm a bad boy, then. Are you gonna punish me?" He chuckles maniacally.

"Tomura, that wasn't very nice of you," you squeal, pulling at his hair in response.

Without speaking you begin bouncing on him in a quicker pace than before. Shigaraki holds around your waist tight as he thrusts, trying to savor every inch of your pussy. You were so fucking tight, but so wet too. Your cunt always made him leak, but tonight it was driving him mad.

"..fuck me...fuck me harder, mommy!"

"MmmMM! Fuck! God, mommy, you're gonna milk me.."

You oblige, hopping on him while you clench your walls, purposely trying to milk him.

"That's it, baby. Cum for me. Cum inside of mommy's pussy."

You definitely didn't have to tell him twice. Tomura sufficates himself into your neck as he holds you tight, fucking you until he finally cums deep. His orgasm is intense and long, as he continues to pump you full of cum for many seconds.

Panting and sweating, Shigaraki kisses you once more before you lift your pussy off of his cock, cum oozing out onto his lap. He snuggles in your arms and you stroke his hair. He whines from his cock that's still throbbing after his orgasm.

"Did that feel good, baby?" You ask with a nurturing tone, kissing his scrunkly forehead.

"Uh-huh...I don't know if I've ever came that hard."

"Mommy told you she'd take good care of you."

"Okay stop it. That shit is over and done with," he laughs and flicks your forehead. You rest your head down on his chest while he holds you tight, breathing heavily as he pets your skin.

"I love you," Tomura says and kisses your head as he yawns, sleepy from his orgasm.

"I love you too, Tomura."

"Next time Daddy's gonna have to do something special for you."

[multi-fandom-of-madness]

Fly On The Wall

Pairings: Aether X Reader Type: Fluff Summary: Reader gives Aether a hard time about the new masks. Warnings: Minor cursing Word Count: 931 Notes: Read here on ao3. This isn’t edited because I simply could not be bothered, so if there are mistakes, no there aren’t <3

~

“You cannot be serious,” Aether growled, noting that his phone mysteriously went missing right before he had to go to mass. He knew exactly who took it, and he knew that he couldn’t be that upset. But whatever. He couldn’t be late.

He walked around his room, trying to get used to the new uniform. The cape was what threw him off clothing wise, but his main problem was the mask. He could not see how he could with the mask from Copia’s time as Cardinal or from his time with Terzo. It was bulkier too, and just all around inconvenient.

Typically, the ghouls could decide which of their uniforms they wanted to wear unless it was during Mass. Then their uniforms were chosen by whoever was presenting, and unfortunately, it was Copia’s turn to show off the new uniforms.

He grumbled, leaving the room without acknowledging his reflection, trying not to think about how silly the new mask looked.

The others were already standing in their places, and Aether silently cursed when he realized how late looking for his phone made him. He took his place, ignoring the confused glances from the others. He was never late.

About halfway through Mass, he finally spotted you. You were paying attention closely, looking so engrossed in what Copia had to say. The glint in your eye when Copia cracked a joke almost made him forget his reason for being upset. But when you turned to him, and held up his phone, throwing a wink to him, he couldn’t help the way his lips twisted into a scowl.

Your shoulders shook with a slight giggle before you turned your attention back to Copia. Aether readjusted his stance, turning his head away from you.

After Mass, he caught you in a crowded hallway, so he grabbed your arm, pulling you into one of the small storage closets. Thankfully, there was a light, which he immediately clicked on.

“That wasn’t funny,” he frowned, glaring at you.

“What wasn’t funny?” You giggled in response, pretending to act innocent. 

“You took my phone, which made me late for mass. Thank Lucifer it was Copia presenting today. You know how much trouble I could get into for being late,” he said, trying his damn best to be serious, hoping you would realize why he was upset.

“Okay, calm down–” you started, suppressing a giggle when he shifted, the light glinting off his goggles in an odd way. Taking a breath, you started again. “I knew Copia was up today, and you need to not be so uptight. I wouldn’t have put you in harm's way.”

He gave you an odd look as he saw you pressing your lips into a thin line to stop from laughing. “Why are you laughing so much?”

��Nothing. It’s nothing. I swear,” you assured, trying so hard not to burst out laughing.

“Well if it’s nothing, then can you stop laughing? I’m trying to be serious here.”

“I’m sorry!” You said, sarcastic, but hoping he would continue.

“Whatever. Just give me my phone, okay? And maybe let's not play the ‘make Aether late’ prank.”

You sighed as you handed him his phone, keeping it face down. He put it in his pocket and sighed. “Fine.”

“Well, it’s not that fine. The whole pack’s going to poke fun at me for being late.”

“Big whoop.”

“It is a ‘big whoop.’ You know they don’t let anyone live things down,” he said, frowning again. The light reflected off his glasses, and his lips were pressed into a thin line to show how disappointed he was, and that’s when you lost it. “Lucifer almighty! What? What could possibly be so funny?” He asked, a little more irritated.

After taking a moment to catch your breath, you wiped your eyes as you looked at him. “I’m sorry. It’s just these new masks.”

He sighed, knowing that they looked stupid. “What about them?”

“You look like a fucking bug,” you cackled.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, opening the door to the closet. “I’m aware they look stupid. Just…let’s go. The other’s are probably wondering where I’m at.”

You nodded, still slightly laughing. “You may not want to check your phone yet,” you smiled, looking at him with a devious grin.

“What? Why not?” He asked, pausing, but you were already gone, meeting up with some of your friends across the room. You threw a wink at him and left.

—

When you two finally got back to his room, he flopped down on the bed, mask long discarded. He had been pulled left and right after mass due to something that Copia needed, then an emergency in the infirmary, and he just needed a break.

“You gonna be alright while I shower, love?” You asked, sitting on the bed and rubbing his back.

Slowly, he sat up. “Yeah, just tired. Been a long day.”

“I’m sure. I’m going to go shower. Let me know if you need anything,” you said, standing and kissing his forehead as you walked toward the shower.

He finally managed to get out of the rest of his uniform, then laid back down on the bed. The shower started up, and after a few minutes, he finally pulled his phone out. He turned on the screen, and there it was…a picture of a zoomed in fly to only show the eyes.

“Lucifer give me strength,” he groaned loudly, running his hands over his face. All he could hear was a cackle from the other side of the bathroom door.

[aetherdoesthings]

Can you write something, headcanons or short story or whatever you like , about Sanji taking care of/finding out that his partner has bad legs and a bad back, but still tries to go about their daily life like it’s nothing because that’s definitely not me lol

Thank you if you decide to write 💙

elo countesskaru! i hope you feel better/good/nice :(

forethoughts: apologies if it feels rushed and not read through, and if it's somewhat inaccurate. i tried to portray the best i could of what my interpretation of this would be. nevertheless, kinda feeling the urge to start playing hsr but idk. anyways enjoy!

notes: gn!reader

Being part of the Straw Hats meant everyone pulled their weight and contributed somehow. 

Unfortunately, you were neither good at fighting nor good at map-making, reading poneglyphs, medical knowledge, or anything that made you stand out. 

All you had was pain whenever you bent over. That meant you couldn’t fight like Luffy, Zoro or Sanji, help draw maps for Nami since you had to be hunched over, or help organize Robin’s books, and put away medicine for Chopper. You didn’t dare share your problem with the rest of the crew; if you couldn’t do anything, why would they need you anyways?

So you tried your best to hide your illness as best as possible, spending most of your time in Chopper’s office discreetly learning more about your illness and how to cure it. No one said anything or suspected you actually couldn’t bend over 180 degree both ways. 

“Hey, Y/N, can you come in here for a second?” You looked up from the book you borrowed from Robin, walking into the galley. Sanji was behind the counter, chopping up some vegetables for dinner tonight. 

“Yes?” You responded.

“Can you help unload the crate and put it into that lower cupboard?”

Your eyes found the wooden crate, which was up to your shoulder. Shoot. “Oh. Okay.”

This was fine. 

You barely had to bend down.

You approached the crate, reaching your hands to the open of the crate. Using your thighs, you crept down to grab the first few items, walking calmly to the cupboard Sanji intended the food to be in. Everything you did you used your thighs, your back erect as you unloaded the items one by one in a calm manner. You hoped Sanji didn’t notice how your back was as straight as a ruler, as you continued to unload the crate.

Once the crate was halfway empty, that was when things would start to go wrong. You couldn’t rely on your thighs to bend down; your arm wasn’t that long. 

Sanji noticed your sudden delay in your pace, and the knife stopped moving. “Is everything alright?”

“No, no, yeah, no. I-It’s alright. I’m alright. Everything’s alright.” You quickly exclaimed, hands holding the side of the crate to stabilize yourself. Even though you were solely relying on your thighs, your back was still experiencing the strain from moving up and down, left and right, causing your muscles to stiffen and ache.

“Are you certain?”

“Yeah.”

Sanji gave you that look that told you he didn’t believe you. “If you’re tired, you can take a break. It’s alright.”

“No, I got it, it’s-” You reached down to grab another can, the fact that your back was in pain flew out of your mind for the sake of proving to Sanji you were alright. You immediately dropped the can before it left the crate, letting out a groan as your back froze in the position you were in.

“Y/N!” Sanji rushed over to you, his hand on your back and shoulders as he helped you sit down. 

“Sanji, I’m fine-”

“No, you’re not. What’s wrong? Do you want me to take you to Chopper?”

“It’s fine-”

“No, it’s not. No one suddenly bends over and screams in pain.”

“I didn’t-”

Sanji glared at you, and you zipped your mouth shut.

The chef let out a sigh, his gaze softening. “How long?”

You looked down, away from his gaze. There was no hiding anymore. Sanji knew. Soon enough, everyone would. “...since last year.”

“...why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about me… or think I’m different and useless…”

“Y/N-chan… you’re not useless. You’re never useless. Don’t ever think that. I will never think you’re useless.”

“But I can’t even fight… o-or help around..”

“That doesn’t mean you’re useless.” Sanji smiled, his hand on your cheek, his thumb moving in small circles. “You’re far from useless. Don’t let something ruin your worth as a person. Your little… quirk doesn’t define who you are. Alright? I still see you as the same person I’ve always seen before I knew. A smart, talented person who never gives up and doesn’t let small things stop them. Come on. How about I make your favorite food and you take a little break lying down?”

“O-Okay. T-Thank you, Sanji.” A smile grew on your face, as you nodded your head. 

“Anytime. Remember, if you ever feel the urge to call yourself useless, just come to me, and I’ll give you a whole damn lecture on why you’re wrong.” Sanji smiled. You could feel the corners of your eyes starting to burn and well up, but you suppressed the urge to cry as Sanji laid you down on the couch, while he went back behind the counter, pulled some new ingredients out of the cupboards as he began to make your favorite snack.

[thesconesyard]

Don’t judge me harshly for my first ever Spock pov, please

Where the West Begins

18. Bandolier

“Spock,” Scotty called across the yard.

Spock stopped and turned, standing still as the Scotsman caught up to him.

“How’s Jim doing today?”

“Much better,” Spock replied, with a faint tightness around his mouth that could pass for a smile. “Though I do not understand why Dr. McCoy did not inform him he was being poisoned.”

Scotty appeared to sigh. “Aye, maybe we should have told ye, but we worried the lass may start to catch onto us or harm someone else.”

“I see.”

“And ye know the lad, he never wants to admit to being under the weather.”

“That is true, unfortunately.”

“But I’m sure if he’d gotten any worse Len would have stepped in. Ye know he was tearing himself up about it trying to fix it,” Scotty said.

“In hindsight his distress was clear. Is there something you needed, Scotty?”

“Aye!” The Scotsman perked up. “I was having some wee trouble with some calculations for that new out building, and was hoping ye could help me.”

“I’d be happy too,” Spock said. He followed quietly behind the other man.

His mind was eased some at Scotty’s explanations of the doctor’s actions. Yes, Jim could be stubborn about some things, especially concerning himself, but Spock had seen McCoy go head to head with the ranch owner many times and come out the winner. If the doctor had been stubborn this time, Jim would not have suffered as long as he had.

Though in the end Jim was healing and that woman was gone. She would be a reminder to them to be vigilant of those who came to them.

In the evening, after dinner, the others were helping wash up or take care of the evening chores, but Spock wandered to his room. From under his bed he drew out a small chest. It was long but not very wide, nor very deep.

He took a very slow, deep breath as he sat on the bed and undid the latches. The relics of a previous life lay inside. Spock had not looked at them since he had come to the ranch and shoved the chest underneath the bed.

The past months had drawn forth thoughts he’d not had for a very long time. Of family, long gone separate ways.

A photograph sat on top, old and faded. Spock lifted it and looked. His parents. So different from each other and so fiercely devoted to each other. He set the photograph aside, and turned to the next item. His fingers ran gently over the smooth handle of a small knife. Gingerly he lifted it and slid it an inch from the hilt. The sharp blade gleamed, though he knew what deeds had been done with it.

Spock closed his eyes for a moment and breathed slowly. He slid the knife back in the sheath and set it down. Soft leather was next.

Spock startled at a knock on the door.

“Spock, you in there?”

Jim.

Spock stared at the door, then glanced at the open chest in front of him. No one had seen these things since he had packed them away.

“Yes,” he finally answered.

“You alright?” Jim sounded concerned. That was wrong; Spock should be the one still concerned for Jim. He was still healing.

“I am fine.”

“Alright if I come in?” Jim called through the door, sounding amused.

Spock looked again at the open chest, and his breath grew tight. He let it out and made himself relax.

“Yes.”

The door opened and Jim stepped in wearing a bright smile.

“What’s all this?” he asked.

“The door please Jim.”

“Oh. Sure.” Jim turned back and closed the door before he crossed over to look at the items on the bed.

“Who’s this?” Jim asked, pointing at the photograph. “May I?” His hand reached halfway to it.

“My parents,” Spock said stiffly. “You may.”

Jim lifted the photo carefully and studied it. “You look like both of them,” he said with a smile.

“I wish that I didn’t.”

Jim looked over at him in confusion. Spock looked away towards the window.

“One parent from each side of the conflict does not make one very welcome afterwards in either place.”

“Oh. Spock—”

“They loved each other.” Spock gave his head a sad shake. “But I did not belong. I tried, on both sides. I fought.” Spock touched the knife again. “I killed. But neither side wanted me.”

From the chest he pulled a long leather belt, folded together.

“I was not enough for either, despite my skills.” He held the folded belt angled across his chest.

“What did you do?” Jim sat down on the bed with the chest between them.

“I left. I worked for who paid the most.”

“A mercenary?”

“Perhaps you would name what I did that.”

“What happened?”

“I received a letter saying my parents had been killed. They had tried to stop the next conflict. Each side blamed the other for their deaths.”

“I’m sorry.”

Spock shook his head. “I gave up that life. I wandered and I ended here.” He set the bandolier back in the chest, then laid the knife back on top. He reached over and took the photo from Jim. With it in the chest he closed the lid and did the latches again.

“Too many fight in this world. I choose not to anymore, but I will defend what is mine.” His dark eyes looked across at Jim with intensity.

Jim nodded slowly. “Thank you for telling me.”

Spock nodded in acknowledgment.

“Is there anything I can do?” Jim asked quietly.

“Keep being the good person you are in this terrible world.”

“It’s not all terrible Spock,” Jim grinned suddenly. “It brought you here to me didn’t it?”

Warmth crept up Spock’s face at Jim’s words and he fought to hide it.

“That is true,” he admitted softly.

[neuvistar]

MARYSE IM SONASORRY BUT MINOR SPOILERS IN THE BLUE LOCK MANGA !!

there was this one momeny where isagi was abt to be kicked by a particular guy and then he was kinda saved by chigiri, and bachira came n started cracking his knuckles n he was probs abt to beef w the dude cuzzz 😍😍 like he was like “if you wanna go, i’m down” LIKEEEE 😍😍😍 he’s soooo..

— 🍨

MINOR SPOILERS EVERYONE <33 oh my days. i’ve started the manga a few days ago n yk continued on from where i finished in the anime n now i’m very far into it LMFAO so so fast! i think i know what you mean, it was with shidou right?? I THINK I SAW THAT. I WAS FREAKING OUT HE WAS RLLY GETTIN READY LMFAOO <33 he’s so cute, he deserves a writing from me! here you go 🍨 anon, didnt even request for it but it’s fine i love my anons!

maryse from the future ^.^ — MY OTHER BELOVED ANONS I SQEAR ILL FINISH OTHER WORKS I SWEAR I APOLOGIZE

FOR YOU AND YOU ONLY.

— featuring . meguru bachira x fem!reader

— warnings / content warnings . sfw. cringe warning cringe warning waha!! bachira bein there for you how sweet of him, a lil bit of she/her pronouns, perhaps reader is hinted to be a lil shorter in height, hints of violence but i promise it’s not that bad ૮꒰⸝⸝´ᜊ ˋ⸝⸝꒱ა, um kinda ooc maybe?? IDK i gave up halfway and this may be a lil short n terrible but oh well it’s ALRIGHT i’m tired overall sfw content, not much warnings woohoo !! tell me if I should add / missed a few things ໒꒰՞ ܸ. .ܸ՞꒱ა

ੈ‧₊˚ “i’ll be willing to do anything to protect you”

✦ MEGURU . BACHIRA

frustrated. bachira was frustrated at the sound of chuckles and loud chattering from the men he was a few feet across from, gosh.. do they have to be this loud? it was just a few minutes after his game ended, he was exhausted and these two people weren’t helping at all, he grew more frustrated by the second. he glanced at the two for a good two minutes, cocking a brow. now hang on.. those were the guys that were speaking ill about you!

“the lady that gave him the bottled water? she’s his girlfriend?! quite the taste meguru bachira has.”

“nuh uh quit lying to yourself, she doesn’t look too pleasing. if anything, i’ve seen better looking women. see now, i don’t even know why bachira picked someone unattractive like her, i thought he’d have a better taste when it comes to women.”

“well it appears he doesn’t”

bachira’s heart dropped to his stomach, just what the hell were they on about? he bit the inside of his cheek, running his fingers through his hair before crossing his arms clearly upset at what the two guys had to say about you. he was getting even more and more frustrated by the second, who are they to tell him if his partner looks attractive or not, that isn’t their decision to make! fuck.. he couldn’t take it anymore. bachira stood up, making his way over to the two boys talking ill about you. “ahem.” the duo looked at each other then back at him, letting out a few laughs here and there. he’s basically told everyone around him about you, so much even people know about you both but these two guys don’t seem to get it. bachira knew how sensitive you were, he knew how quick you can take insults to heart, he wants to take matters in his own hands at times and protect you.

“to me, it seems as if you both seem to have the guts to talk ill about someone you don’t even know personally, thinking i wouldn’t hear what was running in your mouths.” he glared at the two, taking a step forward towards them.

“shit dude why are you so angry, can’t take a joke?”

“yeah, we were just joking. you’re getting all aggressive n defensive for nothing”

bachira’s body tensed, clenching his fists. did they really have to edge him on even longer? he was losing his patience, he wanted to tell these boys to scram already. unfortunately, the duo did not speak my further, attempting to walk out only to be stopped by bachira himself. “listen here, if i ever hear you both run your mouths about her once more, i’ll show you how aggressive and defensive i can get” “trying to sound all tough are ya? what are you going to do huh?” he smirked, cracking his knuckles. “guess we’ll have to find out.”

— buuuwwep !! ૮꒰ྀི >⸝⸝⸝< ꒱ྀིა

“meguru!” you ran up to your boyfriend, wrapping your arms around his neck as your nose picked up his scent, lips curving into a smile. “missed you so much, y’know that?” he grinned, hands resting on your hips, pressing a gentle kiss on your forehead. you’re too sweet.. even though his mood changed when he saw you, he still can’t help but repeat whatever those guys said about you in his head, he exhaled lowly and grabbed your hand, kissing it before holding it tightly against his own. tilting your head and looking up in curiosity, you couldn’t help but sense something unusual about your boyfriend, “something the matter, meguru?” bachira tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, leaning over to kiss your cheek.

“ah. . nono it’s nothing, how about we go cool down with some ice cream? it’s kinda hot, isn’t it?” “of course, let’s go” deep inside of his heart, he couldn’t help but feel upset for you. who do those people think they are? they think they can just walk in and talk ill about someone as sweet as you are? most people have no human decency, he thought. he cant let you know about anything, he was willing to block all kinds of negative things from you, protect you from anything that tries to harm you in any way.

“if i’m being honest i never expected her to even get together with bachira, she doesn’t really suit him.” a voice can be heard from the opposite direction from where you and him were walking, he sighed to himself. if only he could protect you from everything, but sometimes he can’t always be your knight in shining armour, and that’s frustrating to him. if only he was always there by your side, he wanted to be by your side, he wanted to always be there for you but he is aware he can’t always be there beside you, someday he knows that you’ll overhear something from others.. someday and somehow. but regardless of anything, bachira is willing to prevent you from hearing ill things about you, he is willing to do anything to protect you, for you and you only.

This is so rushed omg i’m so sorry it’s late at night i’m losing my mind ૮ ྀི◞͈ ˔ ◟͈ ྀིა — Maryse

[jacksdinonuggets]

Vaggie regressing even smoller than usual, making her unable to talk and getting frustrated because she can't communicate? Any caregiver.

Here you go!

Vaggie really needed to regress. All day she felt so small and she just needed a way to get these little feelings out. Unfortunately, Charlie was out getting groceries to restock the hotel and Carmilla was busy in an overlord meeting. She couldn’t go to her big brother Angel because he was at work. Husk always smelled like alcohol and it would mess with her senses too much. So she walked to Lucifer's room and knocked.

“Afternoon, Vaggie! What brings you around here?” He greeted her. He finally got her name right! He was proud of himself.

“I- um. I was wondering if you could watch over me while I’m little?” Vaggie asked. She was a little nervous since he’s only ever babysat with Charlie around. 

Lucifers face soften and he smiled.

“Of course I can, sweetie. You are my soon to be daughter-in-law, after all,” 

Vaggie’s lip smiled upwards a little, happy that he wasn’t awkward about it like the first time she regressed with him around. He must’ve gotten used to it since Charlie regressed with him often.

Lucifer followed vaggie to the little room they had. It was quite small since it was just for Charlie and Vaggie. 

“Alright, Vaggie waggie, want help getting changed?” He babytalked. She felt herself slip just through that. Usually she would need some regression videos, or watch a few kids shows to slip.

“Mhm,” She mumbled. Lucifer picked her up and placed her on the changing mat before grabbing a diaper from the cabinet. He quickly changed her into the comfy padding before putting her into a onesie. He set her down on the soft foam floor and got out some of her sensory toys. As she played, she felt herself slipping further and further. At first, she hadn’t realized it and just went with it. That was until she felt very different. She felt no more than a couple of months old. 

As she was playing with her sensory toys, she became bored and wanted snuggles from Lucifer. However, she when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She tried again, but her body just continued to refuse. She started to get frustrated. Why couldn’t she speak? That when she finally made a noise. A distressed cry.

“Aah!” she cried, hating this feeling of nonverbal-ness.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” Lucifer asked, kneeling down to her level on the floor.

“Ah! aAh!” she yelled, trying to tell him, but it wouldn’t work.

“Can you use your words, Vaggie?”

This pissed her off. She couldn’t use her words! She tried to get up to grab her communication cards but fell almost immediately, too little to walk. She let out an angry whimper before she started sobbing, kicking, and banging her fists on the floor. 

‘Oh shit’ Lucifer thought. This was his first meltdown he had witnessed from vaggie. He didn’t really know what to do. She wasn’t talking to him! Wait. Maybe she couldn’t talk. He realized that it might’ve caused some frustration. So the best way to get this meltdown to end was to wait it out. He learned that from Charlie’s tantrum/meltdowns when she was younger.

Finally, after what felt like a long time of crying, kicking, and screaming, she began to tire herself out. Since she was so small, she got very eepy easily.

“Hey, sweetheart, you getting sleepy?” Lucifer asked. She nodded and made grabby hands in the air. He assumed she wanted uppies.

“Alright, Up we go!” He lifted her up and held her. He bounced her on his hip for a while until she got completely calm. She clung to him during this. He smiled, awing at how cute the girl was being. With one hand holding her, he used the other to get out the naptime mat before laying her down on it. She was halfway asleep and didn’t even realize that she wasn’t being held anymore. He gave her a teddy bear to cling to while slept.

Lucifer just survived his first meltdown and to be honest, he was happy he didn’t completely fuck it up.

[johnandrasjaqobis]

Sooo I did say I needed to write up a summary of Joseph's ending (including screenshots for funsies and to break up the inevitable wall of text)

but of course to do that I need to set some Context (only the relevant parts, I swear) SO my idiot son, fresh off the Nautaloid, negative memories, +1 tadpole, and also somehow eldritch blast ??

(he was a fighter of some sort before, I think, I had been considering paladin for this run but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to have divine magic when you start out with Nothing, so I figured the desperation of that situation is the. perfect opportunity for some outside force to Help.)

and, of course, this will be long so UNDER A CUT IT GOES

He had zero idea what exactly was giving him the powers, but there was so much going on it wasn't really a priority to look into for the first good chunk of plot. Joseph just barreled his way through looking for literally anyone who would give him any fucking answers, and was legitimately kinda being dragged into being a halfway decent person with the party's influence (if there is one constant about this man, he is far easier to manipulate than he'd ever admit). Still used every tadpole they came across because there was the constant feeling of being so much weaker than he should be, and the tadpoles gave a not insignificant edge in combat. Thanks to the weird accidental connection to the zaith'isk, he was very good at it - and for a guy who feels like he's not very good at much of anything anymore, it was a lot.

(he also tried to pass the tadpole stuff off as warlock abilities, with marginal success, it did involve casting shatter centered on himself once and knocking himself out, that's not important)

all that to say when the Emperor offered the astral tadpole, there was some temptation; the main thing that made Joseph keep pushing back was the fact that Lae'zel hated the idea of it. but (and here is where I wave fondly to fully canon events as they pass by) good ol' Empy chose this time to try and press in on the fact that Joseph had already benefited so much from illithid powers. Moreso than he was fully aware, in fact. since the Emperor was technically his patron.

(sometimes you see this absolute feral little asshole of a man who, unfortunately, is a rather important part of your plan, and realize that he can't do shit anymore. so sometimes you gotta sigh heavily and give him a hand. or tentacle, perhaps.)

anyway when it came down to it the DC was 21, Lae'zel was pissed, and lo and behold

fast forward a bit. the Emperor is a bitch, they do not get along, but mostly mutual goals so whatever

and then we get to Baldur's Gate. Joseph has one (1) meeting with his ex, who is incidentally the first person who has actually given any actual answers, and every chance of some kind of redemption arc is immediately thrown out the window

because. yeah, remember that mention of being easy to manipulate? pre-tadpole Joseph wasn't much different in that regard. His loyalty is a character flaw at points, and his loyalty to Gortash was second only to Bhaal himself (and even that divide was being pushed at, which terrified him, obedient son that he was, forgive me father indeed)

he learned why every high ranking person in this dammed cult seemed to know him. Why the Absolute itself seemed to revere him. Why Stillmaker felt so familiar. And he fell right back into the old patterns and the old plan.

proceeded to lose multiple friends for it, too, there's only so long the whole "I'm just staying on his good side to get information" excuse is obviously, how you say, bullshit. Karlach and Wyll both left after they got Gale back from Orin. Shadowheart stuck around a little longer, but eventually having to help kill the little group of Gur after watching a ceremony that killed thousands just tipped things too far.

Joseph went into the finale with like. three friends: Astarion (freshly ascended), Minthara (delighted by the opportunity for power grabs), and Lae'zel (increasingly skeptical and disappointed by her idiot amnesiac boyfriend).

(and god the situation with Lae'zel hurt. Karlach definitely tried to warn her of how badly this was all going to go to shit before leaving. there was a moment with Shadowheart with the very weary "I do think he loves you. I just don't think that it's going to be enough." getting to watch as Joseph just fully clicked with this man he so obviously had history with. like give this girl a break.)

but again, that loyalty, which meant he definitely did get the Orphic hammer because he wasn't about to just turn his back on Lae'zel's whole mission, and also fuck the Emperor actually

however, speaking of the Emperor, that does require a bit of a backtrack because Joseph did have to kill his sister and then also said fuck you dad, it's your dream not mine, etc and was exsanguinated for his troubles. only to be pulled back again by the weird skeleton guy who refused to stop following them around.

See friends, I think there's something...a little extra, in being killed by a god, especially when it was the god who created you to begin with. Bhaal might have aimed a little poorly, only fully destroying the Urge side of things, but the god of murder murdering you holds weight. As does being pulled right back out of death by the now unemployed god of death.

That whole situation might have. Severed some connections. Formed some new ones.

Fast forward again.

Holy shit the brain is big.

but they had the plan, perhaps a little trickier now, but they'd get the brain back under control and split the stones again, Minthara can wield the third, Astarion can help run things with his own newfound powers, Lae'zel can use whatever resources from this plane she needs to go kill Vlaakith, there's a plan

and I mean. we all know how this part goes. Larian I just want to talk.

In a very fitting "dice telling a story" moment, after Gortash fell I rolled three consecutive 2's. (Minthara tried revivify immediately, of course she did, but maybe it was the splitting migraine they were all fighting through or maybe something the brain did, or maybe Bane himself wouldn't allow it, but nothing would take.) Joseph doesn't remember screaming, but by the time Empy yanked them into the prism, his throat was definitely damaged.

Joseph nearly passes out and does end up just staring at the body (because at least Empy was polite enough not to just leave Gortash there, god can you imagine) for. some amount of time.

of course he'd lose this, of course it's the one person who really knew him before, who was still perfectly willing to work with who he was now, who gave him a purpose that was more than just killing literally everyone, who appreciated the skills that came with said killing but appreciated the skills that had nothing to do with it, who Joseph trusted despite literally every bit of common sense

Fuck that, actually.

The Emperor snaps at him that they don't have this kind of time, Joseph snaps right back that they're in the fucking Astral Sea, time passes differently, they've got a moment.

He asks the others for a moment, just go regroup a bit, he'll catch up, and this has happened enough over their travels that they don't hesitate too much before leaving him alone

and then he starts calling for Withers. First just mentally, then out loud, then enough to make him taste a little blood again, because Jergal you fuck I know you can hear me

takes a moment, but. he does show up. just so casually stepping out from behind a rock, good ol' Peepaw, Withers, literally Jergal himself

and also Joseph's fairly recently self-appointed new patron

(he'd had suspicions for a bit, the fact that he and the Emperor had been at such odds recently, especially the fact that he could complete the whole "heist" from the House of Hope with absolutely no consequences, there was a pretty solid feeling. this just confirmed it.)

"Bring him back." "No."

but if warlocks are known for one thing, it's making deals. how invested are you in seeing this Absolute stopped, huh Jergal? In sticking it to the Dead Three? You've already yanked one of their Chosen back, what's one more?

"I could try -- do my godsdammed best -- to stop this thing for good. Just like you want. Or I could use these stones and burn down the fucking world."

and it's a good thing they're in the Astral Sea because the silence is long. but eventually there is. a very reluctant agreement.

after, of course. after the Absolute is destroyed (if you die in the process and it enacts the Grand Design, not much else will matter anyway, if you succumb to the temptation and take control, there's no bargain to be fulfilled).

So. Somehow, in fate's favorite sort of irony, the guy who pulled Joseph off of any sort of path toward redemption ended up being the reason that kind of forced his hand there anyway.

They destroy the brain. Astarion and Minthara are expectedly disappointed, but can kind of appreciate the impossible task that it would have been to control that thing indefinitely. The tadpoles are evaporated (Joseph is left with scarring because you can't tell me that level of change being stripped away so quickly leaves you without a mark). The city is saved.

And Enver Gortash gets to wake up, inexplicably, on the docks and go through seven stages of grief as he realizes what happened to his plan. (The plan got you fucking killed, you absolute dumbass.)

implications beyond that are mmmmmm many and complicated. but. hey, there's always the next plan.

[lenoraslament]

Lenora’s Love: A Tom Riddle Fanfiction

Chapter 8: Overprotective

Lenora is hungover with our dark lord

Lenora slept until past noon as did most of the house. She laid on her bed feeling still depleted when she awoke. If it wasn't for Lilith shoving a coffee and muffin in her face she probably would have laid in bed all day.

"Why are you so peppy?" She groaned,

Lilith smiled grabbing a small vial from her pocket, "well  not all of us dove halfway in the bottle last night".

Lenore gave her a sour face.

"I brought you a hangover elixir as well" Lilith said in a sing-songy voice.

"Who made it?" Lenore grumbled from underneath her pillow where she hid her head.

"Tom" Lilith said leafing through Lenora's dresses from her open closet, "he made you that coffee too"

"Throw it out" Lenora lifted her head up, "I'd rather suffer".

Lilith snorted, "well excuse me princess" she dumped it in her coffee anyway when Lenora looked away.

Lenora took a sip of the coffee, "you destroyed the elixir?" She asked.

"Obliterated" Lilith said with a smile.

Abraxas, she could forgive. Tom she refused to even look at. His eyes flicked over the newspaper as she came down the stairs.

She sat in the front room with the rest of the guys watching Lilith saddle next to Theo happily. Black looked out the window sullenly, he refused to meet her eye.

"Are you going to thank me for the coffee?" Tom asked as she sat in the only seat available. Unfortunately next to him.

He passed her a section the newspaper. Abraxas shot her a look and for a moment she felt defeated.

"Thank you Tom," she said quietly as she read.

They all sat for a while making conversation, remarking on articles in the paper. Abraxas got up and sat on the floor next to Lenora and they chatted about new music.

"Well" exclaimed Lilith loudly, "I only have two days here and tomorrow Theo and I have a date"

They all looked at her dumbly.

"So Nora and I are going shopping" she smiled at Lenora who raised her eyebrows. Even though she was surprisingly not hungover, she was not in the mood.

"Lovely!" She said standing up, suddenly relieved to be escaping.

They returned bags in hand. Theo sat on the porch waiting for them. He flicked his wand carrying the bags from their hands and floating them upstairs. Lilith and him embraced like two lovers separated for dynasties, making Nora look away shyly.

Wanting to give them their privacy, she began to walk backwards in the lawn.

"I'm going to go for a little walk guys" she called out.

"Are you sure?" Theo called out, "it's getting dark".

"Lumos" she said and her wand lit, "I'm fine".

She meandered to the back for the house, if she were anywhere else she may have felt frightened. Alone in the dark she walked the woods she had known even as a child. Over rocks and fallen branches until she heard the babbling of a small waterfall.

Even under the endlessness of night, her favorite spot was beautiful. Lenora found a rock and climbed onto it watching the quiet glimmers of the water

   She sat there for over an hour and began to walk along the bank. Her wand lit the area and she saw some small unusual flowers. Nora crouched and squinted, little white blooms that looked vaguely familiar.

Water hemlock she gasped. A very rare and unusual ingredient for very powerful potions.  Wasn't this just perfect? She conjured a small pouch and cut them carefully. She made certain not to touch the blooms, they were absolutely poisonous. She placed the pack in the pocket of her dress.

"Are you a fool?" The voice made her jump although she knew who it was.

"Are you my shadow?" She quipped back not in the mood.

"It's dangerous at night" Tom said, "hurry up"

He looked at her queerly sitting on the ground, "what are you doing? I didn't know you came here at night too."

Lenora have him a curious look, "how did you know I came here at all?"

Tom felt caught, for a moment he doubted his own abilities to Obliviate. He stared into Nora's eyes for a hint of the truth but there was nothing.

"Just hurry up" he said, "before I throw you in the creek".

She patted her pocket softly thinking about the possibilities it held inside.

  Tom held his arm for her and she begrudgingly took it. He held her tightly, it wasn't lost on her the change in his behavior. Why was Tom had been acting so overprotective? He always had been intertwined in her life but this new attitude was a bit much.

Read More Here:

[narratingvoice]

Do youuu have a favorite food or drink 🙄 if u can even process those (love u gang)

Apologies for the delay in my reply, dear anon, but I wanted to give your question the time and attention it deserves. It's true, I did not design my default model to be able to consume and digest food, but that would lead to a simple answer of "no" and that's not any fun, is it? That's not what people come to this ask box for. So I decided to conduct a little experiment. I figured, I've created a mostly-functioning human body before, surely I can do it again. And it took me a little longer than expected, because I decided to use the character creator in Starfield to make the base, and there are just so many options and details to go through. I could spend all day poring over the eyebrows alone. When it's a face I'm going to be wearing, everything needs to be absolutely perfect. A mirror to my true soul. Dashing, refined, with an air of wisdom. I need Stanley to see me as a kindly, avuncular authority figure, but also his best friend.

Anyway six days later Stanley knocked on my office door wondering where I'd been all this time. I realized I had completely let the passage of time slip away from me, so I settled for using what I had built up to that point. It's.... adequate for the job at hand, and comfortable enough to control. Creating the food was much easier; I just imported a bunch of free Unity assets (oh yes, I'll have to make another post to rant about the Unity situation). I let Stanley taste test everything with me to see how our palates differed, and Roman filed the data away wherever it is he puts all that stuff. Read on for the results of my first foray into gastronomy!

ITEM 1: Cheeseburger

The classic American favourite, which Stanley insisted I try first. He apparently loves them and devoured his in a few gigantic bites. I eschewed any condiments because I thought for my first ever experience with taste, I shouldn't have too many competing flavours. The experience was pleasant, a soft and chewy bun giving way to fatty acids. I think this is what they call "umami". The sensation immediately gave me confidence in the entire process of eating. If this is what most foods are like, no wonder humans spend so much time talking about and preparing them. What an intriguing benefit of being an organic lifeform.

ITEM 2: Cinnamon bun

Oh my god??? The blast of sugar upon sugar is totally overwhelming! How can anyone eat an entire one of these all at once? Well, I know the answer to that already, because I ate all of mine and then pounced on Stanley for the second half of his, despite his protests and screams. It was not my finest moment, but I was so intoxicated by sweetness that something primal took over, and I seized my prize from out of his feeble hands. I think I shall not have another, tempting as it may be, lest I lose my senses once again.

ITEM 3: Edamame

What a case of whiplash. After the dizzying highs of the cinnamon bun, these beans frankly disgusted me at first. Hard, fibrous, and bitter. That is, until Stanley kindly informed me that you're supposed to pop the seeds out and discard the shell. (Why couldn't he have done that before watching me bite into a dozen of them???) The result was much more palatable, although I still had the taste of the shells lingering on my tongue. I needed a drink to refresh my palate...

ITEM 4: Water

Cool, crisp, refreshing. Not much else to say about it. I can see why people drink it though. Other than needing it to survive, I mean.

ITEM 5: Vegetable lasagne

Now this is a more complex dish, but I felt I was up to the challenge by this point. There was perhaps a bit too much cheese, and the sauce got all over my hands as I picked it up, but the flavour profile was overall a lovely melange of starch and vegetable. At least I think that's what I tasted; I'll need more experience to compare. Unfortunately, about halfway through this dish I began to feel an overwhelming internal heaviness. I didn't realize that when humans say they are "full", they mean it quite literally. The act of taking another bite, no matter the food, became repulsive to me. I am still recovering from this sensation.

ITEM 6: Pomegranate

What the hell is this. I always pictured Persephone just biting into one of these like an apple, but there's no way you could bite through this rind. (Why do human teeth have to be so dull?) Neither Stanley nor I could figure out how to penetrate the fruit to get to the edible flesh. Alas, I did not create a set of kitchen knives. I don't trust Stanley with blades. Eventually he decided to throw it down the stairs to see what happens. What happened was it exploded into a pile of seeds that looked disturbingly gory. It reminded me of my second-least-favourite ending. I didn't dare try it.

In conclusion, so far my favourite is definitely the cinnamon bun. More research will be needed on sweets and baked goods to see if any of them hold up. Thanks for asking!

[gren-arlio]

Puyo Fans are in a drought. I'm here to give a bottle of water to them all. Or at least, I plan to.

All jokes aside, hello there. First time poster here, but I want to explain myself for that header. Currently, as a mere Puyo fan myself, we're going through a real bad drought, like we're rhinos who haven't seen rain in a decade. Besides alts from Quest, we really don't get much things nowadays when it comes to stuff, and a majority of the Madou Monogatari games are sadly not translated, besides Madou Saturn and maybe 2 other games I'm forgetting. Even the Puyo Nexus is running a little dry with that sort of stuff.

So why don't we change that?

I have a very specific game in mind: Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon. From my findings from both online and on this site, there doesn't seem to be a translation for the entire game. For small sections? Yeah, I've seen them, and I'm happy they're there, but we can do more than sections. How about...a majority of the main story?

...At least for Schezo's route.

For those unaware, the game has 3 stories, the protagonist varying, but it's the ARS Trio from COMPILE, Arle, Rulue, and Schezo.

AKA: These Guys.

And I plan to translate a good amount of Schezo's story for the time being. This is mostly for the main story, as mentioned before, and some stuff mentioned in the in-game Bulletin Board. If you wish to try to do the other two, by all means, go ahead, the more the merrier. I've done some bits already before even making this post, and some parts range from Schezo calling Rulue a bitch to him giving Serilly therapy (Trust me, it makes sense.) It's a chaotic ride and I'm all for it.

So how will I do this, you may ask.

Unfortunately, I have a severe case of I'm Broke As Hell and cannot afford a SEGA Saturn, let alone the game itself. Thankfully, I do have what other people gave back then, especially on more niche YouTube Videos, Niconico, list goes on. If someone has the game and is willing to help just a bit, please let me know! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is one of the videos in question. It's the opening to Schezo's story, probably the best story out of the main ARS Trio. It shows off a bit of the gameplay as well as bits of story. As of posting this, I'm only about halfway through the video itself (When you fight Skeleton-T) and trust me, doing this takes a lot of time.

I also just want to mention that Schezo swears. A lot, actually, no one is truly safe from his way of words. On one hand, if we want to stick to the kid friendly Puyo stuff we're mostly used to, I could edit them out...But on the other, he does so often that I just want to keep them to show how funny he is with this stuff.

A few more things before I conclude:

I do NOT speak fluent Japanese, at most I can do a few phrases. This is mostly being done with stuff like translators, context clues, and some help from friends.

Translating takes time. A lot of it. Please do not expect me to do full videos within a day or two. These can take as long as a few weeks, or about as short as three or so days. Also, I have school, so there's that. However, if you wish me to translate a few bits of lines to see what they mean, that's fine!

Some of the translations might not be correct, and if they don't seem correct, or flat out aren't, let me know! I won't take any offense to it and it'll help out a lot!

Credit is something that might get brought up. If someone uses this to make let's say...a English Patch, then yeah, I'd like to be noted for that. Otherwise, it's for everyone.

If you wish to do your own translation, or do another storyline, by all means, go ahead! I'd love to see what others see, and it'll make the workload a lot better for everyone.

With that, that'll be all. Thanks for reading!

[shelbeetaylor]

Chapter Twelve | Insult and Injury

-> story masterpost

-> previous chapter

Theo had waited patiently and silently as the court physician examined Cass’s leg while the physician’s apprentice kept a wary eye on Evie who was inclined to curiously peruse the selection of books on the balcony. When Galen finally pulled away from his examinations, the knight shifted a bit in anticipation.

“Lucky for you, you’ll be fine with a bit of rest,” the old man said. Theo breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t caused or exacerbated any injury. “I don’t think I need to tell you to be more careful with your dancing–” Galen looked back at Theo– “or with your pursuits.”

Theo nodded, still wrapping his arms around himself despite the good news. 

“I’ll be able to resume dance then?” Cass asked.

“Just to be safe, I’d take a week off. But a couple days of taking it easy wouldn’t hurt. That means no training.” Cass made a face. “I need to go fetch some ingredients for a draught for you.”

Both Cass and Theo nodded in response and waited until the door closed behind the physician. Terran suddenly appeared beside them, an intrigued look on his face.

“What in the hell happened?” Terran half-chuckled.

“Terran, we need your help,” Cass simply said.

The apprentice’s smile faltered a bit. “Why? What’s going on?”

“We found the intruders,” Theo explained, “and we have reason to believe they’re after the queen.”

Terran brushed a hand over his mouth as he processed Theo's words. “What makes you so sure?”

Cass flicked her eyes towards Theo and he stopped before he could even speak. He knew that look, she’d used it so many times during dinner and court and practically any situation with her mother. He knew what that look meant. “All the evidence points to it being the most likely scenario.”

“And why do you need me?”

Cass smiled a terrifying smirk, and the apprentice began beaming right back at her. 

Gena had almost finished putting away the laundry she was working on when the door to Cassandra’s chambers creaked opened.

There in the open doorway was her mistress being stabilized by Terran as she limped towards her bed. Gena's stomach immediately started turning, and she dropped the clothes she was holding to rush towards the two of them.

“My lady–!” Gena was abruptly stopped by Cassandra holding up a hand.

“I’m fine, just a little dance injury,” she replied with a half-hearted smile.

“More like a Theo injury,” Terran joked.

Gena looked between the two, confused and concerned, and Cassandra shrugged. “I can tell you about it later.” That didn’t make her feel any better about the situation.

“Uh, so here’s the medicine Galen wants you to take. The instructions are on the paper… and, yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Cassandra gave him a small smile, and Gena nodded a farewell. 

Her mistress let out a sigh through her nose and shook her head, but Gena just gazed at her. She looked so tired… deep bags beginning to form underneath her eyes, her movements more sluggish than usual, her eyes a bit bloodshot.

Gena half-heartedly listened to what Cassandra said. Something about a meeting the next night… she wasn’t sure. Cassandra realized halfway through her spiel that the maidservant was not quite hearing everything she was saying.

“Gena, are you listening?”

The maid fell out of her trance. “No, I’m sorry m’lady…” Cassandra pursed her lips, but didn’t say a word. “...Are you feeling alright?”

Cassandra seemed hesitant to answer, but she put on another one of her charming yet false smiles. “Yes, well, besides my newly acquired injury. Why do you ask?”

Gena was unsure if her face reflected how crestfallen she felt. “You just look tired, m’lady.”

“I assure you, I’m fine… though it has been an eventful day.”

The maid sighed through her nose and gave a half-hearted smile. It wasn’t a battle she wanted to fight, but she wasn’t thrilled to give it up either. 

“The recent loss of Wystwillow is not only unfortunate, but it is detrimental to our success in this ongoing war.”

Cassandra was barely paying attention to whatever bullshit speech Valseras was giving at the war council. The man was an idiot. Instead, her mind wandered to the night previous. Cassandra had been working on her translations of Meridian– which were going horribly– and trying out some more spells– which failed miserably. Learning magic was harder than she thought it would be.

“You don’t look too well, princess,” Valseras said, ripping Cassandra out of her foggy brain. “Is there some sickness keeping you from focusing on today’s council?”

The princess flicked her eyes over to the imbecilic general, her mouth gently twisting into a snarl, and replied, “Truthfully it’s your half-witted and dull monologue causing my chronic boredom.”

While the general clenched his jaw in defeat, the queen gave Cassandra a warning look despite the twinkle of agreeance in her eye. Cassandra just smirked in response to it all, though the world was titling a bit. The victory was worth it.

“As I was saying, “ Valseras began again, attempting to recover from his public humiliation… again, “the rebels now hold two major cities in the south of Nevernia.” Cassandra didn’t even try holding back her eyeroll. “With them being our two most important holds on the southern part of the kingdom, I believe it is safe to assume our control of the south has been lost with the fall of Wystwillow. And thus, the loss of the south is extremely harmful to our war efforts–”

“Get to the point, Valseras,” Cassandra's mother demanded.

Valseras, thrown off balance a bit, nodded before continuing. “I believe the rebels will focus their attacks on overtaking Bellbury next.”

Cassandra's eyes moved towards Theo, who was next to the dipshit general. The knight shifted uncomfortably at the mention of his home, yet he stayed silent. She knew no matter how much Theo hated his family, who governed Bellbury, he still loved that coastline city. The idea of what happened at Wystwillow befalling Bellbury had probably haunted the back of his mind ever since that messenger arrived to deliver the news.

Bellbury being the next target wasn’t a completely insane concept. The city was Nevernia’s largest port city, and losing it would seriously hurt their access to resources, especially since their main trading center would be destroyed. Protecting Bellbury would be essential to regaining control of the kingdom.

“After Bellbury, Vale Serine would be next. The rest of the kingdom would fall shortly after.”

Cassandra looked to the map on the table, the figurines laid out to illustrate the current status of every soldier, fort, and city involved in the war. In that moment, the princess could have sworn that some of the pieces were moving slightly. 

“What do you think we should do, general?” the queen asked.

Cassandra and Theo shared a glance across the table because they both knew whatever was about to come out of Valseras’s mouth would be a bunch of bullshit.

“I believe we should gather our army in Vale Serine and prepare to intercept the rebel army before they reach Vale Serine. It’s too treacherous to cross the Never Peaks, so they’d have to enter through the valley.” Valseras began pointing at the map, and Cassandra watched the spires of the castle figurine beneath his finger grow taller and taller. “They’d have to enter the valley from the west, and we’d intercept here.”

Theo shook his head, rolling his eyes as he scoffed quietly, but the general must have sensed the disapproval from the knight that was half his age. Cassandra could no more prevent the smile spreading across her face than stop Theo from completely dismantling Valseras’s entire plan.

“That is the most rubbish I’ve heard in a war council.” Starting off strong, apparently. “You would leave our only port city– the only place where we can receive reinforcements, resources, and weapons from allies– to fall to the rebels' hands?”

“Now, Sir Theodore,” Valseras interjected, “don’t let your personal feelings and ties to Bellbury cloud your judgment.”

“Personal feelings and ties don’t need to be involved, it’s a stupid fucking plan.”

Cassandra stifled a laugh, almost sounding like she was snorting. Another glare from her mother. She should’ve started a drinking game by now.

Valseras puffed out his chest and glowered at the two. “If you’re so smart, then tell the council your genius plan.”

Black spots began forming around the corners of Cassandra's vision, but that would hardly stop her from taking advantage of this perfect opportunity to prove Valseras’s idiocy to the council. A good public humiliation was always a joy.

Theo began his counter argument. “We cannot leave Bellbury on its own. It’s too important to us. I suggest we split our troops, with a heavier focus on Bellbury. As General Valseras said,” Theo gave him a classic Theo smile, “the rebel army would have to travel through the valley to reach Vale Serine, so we’d know where they were headed a long while before they arrived.”

Valseras scoffed much louder than Theo did. “What does that have to do with anything?”

The table rocked back and forth as though it was aboard a ship, yet Cassandra was ready with her comeback. “It means, general, that if the rebels were to overlook Bellbury completely and head straight for us, then we’d have plenty of time to call in reinforcements stationed at Bellbury, subsequently trapping the rebel army in the valley and decimating their ranks. If they decide to attack Bellbury as you predict, then we are prepared to send aid if the troops stationed there so require it.”

Valseras’s face twisted up into a mix of anger, jealousy, and defeat. Cassandra hadn’t realized she was white-knuckling the table until she had to look down for a moment as the rocking became too violent. There was a faint ringing in her ears as she tried blinking away the growing blackness.

“I believe I’ve come to a decision,” the queen said after an indeterminate amount of time. It was hard to tell what with everything in the world shifting around her.

“Maybe you should check with your children first to make sure they approve of your plan,” Valseras muttered. It was becoming hard to hear with the dull buzzing growing louder, but it was certainly loud enough for everyone in the council including Theo and the queen to hear.

“At least Her Majesty can make competent decisions, unlike you,” Theo replied almost immediately.

Valseras’s jaw clenched, but he turned to Cassandra and said, “And what does the beloved princess have to say about it? It seems you always have something…”

Cassandra couldn’t hear the end of Valseras’s sentence as it faded into the background behind the ringing and buzzing. She reached for anything within her grasp to stabilize her body as it went numb. Her vision that was previously plagued by a constantly morphing world was almost instantaneously overtaken by blackness that was so warm and inviting, and she couldn’t help but fall into its embrace. 

Watching his best friend crumple to the ground was one of the most horrifying things he had experienced, and he had seen a lot of horrible things in his young life. One moment she was being her usual self– throwing around witty comments and smirking every chance she got– and the next… The next she had grabbed onto the table violently in the middle of Valseras’s comeback as her eyes rolled back into her head, and her body went completely limp.

Theo literally dove underneath the table to try and catch Cass, though her head had hit the floor before he was beside her. Without thinking a second time, the knight lifted Cass onto his lap and held her while Galen too hobbled his aging body over to the princess as fast as he could. 

“What’s wrong with her, physician?” Queen Ginevra asked only mere moments after Galen began his examination. 

Theo looked up at the old man whose face seemed to show a mix of concern and disappointment, but he simply replied, “I cannot be sure, Your Majesty, but I think it best to return the princess to her chambers and examine her there.”

“We will resume the council after you take your leave, then.”

Theo hid his grimace as best he could, though the physician looked at him with his all-knowing eyes and pursed his lips. “I will need some help transporting her.”

“That’s fine,” the queen said a bit too casually for Theo's liking. “Whoever misses the rest of the council will be informed of the happenings.”

Bastien and Godfrey were immediately taken to Cass’s sides, and Galen returned to his feet with the help of the latter. Bastien knelt down next to Theo, a comforting hand on the other’s shoulder, and lifted Cass off of Theo's lap. Something in him hurt as he was freed from the princess’s weight, and he stood with numbness buzzing through his body.

“Typical. She can’t make it through a council– war or otherwise– without pulling some sort of dramatics.” Valseras was barely able to finish his thought before Theo leaned over the table and grabbed the general’s shirt.

“Do not say another word,” he breathed, inches away from Valseras’s face. “You have no right, and you have no idea what’s going on.”

Theo wasn’t even stopped by the queen for a reprimand as he let go of the general and walked out of the war room. 

By the time Theo had reached the princess’s chambers, Cass was already neatly laid onto her bed as if she had been there the whole time. Her dark waves were sprawled out on the pillow beneath her head, and she lay so still it was almost as if she was dead. It was the most peaceful Theo had ever seen her.

Genevieve stood at the foot of her bed looking over her mistress, hand over her mouth as Galen explained what had happened at council. Her lilac eyes were glossed over as if she wasn’t even listening to Galen’s words anymore, just lost in her concern for Cass. 

“Galen, have you any clue what’s wrong with her?” Theo asked.

“Yes, I believe I know exactly what it is,” the physician replied confidently. He walked over to the nearest nightstand and picked up a bottle filled with liquid. “And the untouched draught I made her confirms it.”

Theo didn’t need to be told what the draught was for. She’d been taking it on and off for years now. He simply shook his head, sighing loudly through his nose. If she weren’t so goddamn stubborn–

The door opened and in walked Terran, accompanied by Godfrey who went to fetch him. Terran gave a small smile as a quick greeting to everyone.

“I brought the medicine you asked for,” the apprentice announced. “And Godfrey told me what happened…”

Galen pursed his thin lips and nodded a thanks. “I’m sure everyone here has suspected it, but I’m afraid the princess simply collapsed from severe exhaustion and sleep deprivation.”

“Do you have any idea how many days she’s been awake for?” It was disheartening every time Theo had to ask this of Galen.

“I gave this draught to her three days ago.”

There were exclamations muttered by both Genevieve and Godfrey. Terran looked like he wanted to crawl inside a dark hole and not come out. Theo ran a hand down his face, unsure if he was more mad at Cass or at himself. 

There was a groan, and everyone’s heads snapped towards Cass. She had begun tossing and turning, whimpering a bit as her breathing became shallow. Genevieve rushed to her side, and Terran moved closer to Galen. Cass inhaled sharply as her eyes flew open, almost panting she was breathing so quickly. Genevieve began cooing soothing words to Cass as the princess looked around, unsure of her whereabouts. Theo had only ever heard Cass talk about her nightmares. It made him sick to see her experiencing them.

Once Cass had realized she was in the safety of her room, she looked about and noticed the four other people sitting there watching her awake. She sat up slowly, Genevieve’s hands still trying to comfort her, and she asked, “What happened?”

Galen was the only one brave enough to respond. “You fainted, my lady.”

“Fainted?” Cass’s eyebrows raised as if she believed she was incapable of such a thing.

“We brought you back here,” Theo explained, “to rest.”

“Rest–?” Cass turned on a dime. “You let me sleep!?”

“You are exhausted, my child,” Galen matched Cass’s anger with sternness just as terrifying. “You are making yourself sick by depriving yourself of sleep. I am prescribing heavy sleeping draughts that you will be taking until you are back in good health.”

The princess gave Galen a stare that would have made Theo submit from fear, yet the physician held her gaze in a way he would never have had the courage to. Cass clenched her jaw and flicked her eyes downward in defeat. 

“Fine. I shall do as you say.”

“Good.”

What followed next was detailed instructions that Genevieve was to make sure Cass followed until the physician deemed her in good health again. Theo hardly paid attention, instead wondering what she saw in those horrific few moments before waking. Could it have been the same dream? Maybe it was a hint to finding the assassins? Or was it a completely different, yet just as terrifying future? He wouldn’t dare ask with Terran around. Cass had made it very clear he was not to know of her dreams. He’d simply inquire later. But still… he couldn’t stop pondering the vision she had just received.

-> next chapter

[drades-lair]

A Merry Strazmas

Fandom: HelluvaBoss

Rating: T

Pairing(s): Straz

Striker made it no secret he hated Envy, sure the beaches were amazing with sun, surf, sand, but the rest of the ring was a dreary, humid, mess that was often plagued by rain. Sighing heavily the imp trudged to the motel room he was sharing with Chaz who’d unfortunately lost his crappy bar back job because he refused to be a sex doll for several of the customers. Pushing the door open Striker dropped his duffle on the floor then closed the door behind himself only to be caught completely off guard upon turning around. Sitting on the small round table was a tiny, ratty tree with a single string of fairy lights on it that surprisingly lit up decently in the dingy motel room and Chaz was beaming as he held his hands out towards the small tree.

“Uh…what’s this fish cake?” Striker inquired, arching a brow in confused curiosity.

“It’s a Hellmas tree,” Chaz happily stated, tail thumping against the ground.

“I can see that, why though?” Striker asked.

“Well…it’s my first Hellmas with someone so I thought…” Chaz trailed off suddenly turning awkward, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ya want ta celebrate Hellmas,” Striker stated in surprise.  

“Nothing big, just maybe…some dinner with the little tree,” Chaz awkwardly explained clearly becoming embarrassed as he refused to make eye contact with Striker.  

“Look fish cakes, I’ve got no problem with it I just haven’t celebrated since I was young,” Striker clarified to ease some of Chaz’s obvious anxiety.

“That’s okay! We have the tree, and we’ll just get some special dinner tomorrow,” Chaz suggested, smile returning to his face.  

“Alright, I’m gonna take a shower,” Striker chuckled heading for the bathroom while Chaz went back to fussing over the tiny tree.

Hellmas day went by with out too much activity, Striker wanted to rest after his long job however once evening came the duo splurged on Chinese food for dinner then sat watching crappy Hellmas movies on TV. Halfway through one of the movies Striker leaned over the side of the bed to rifle around in his duffle before handing a small plain white box to Chaz who perked up immediately in curious confusion as he accepted it.

“You, you got me a gift?” Chaz questioned.

“Yeah, figured why not,” Striker answered with a casual shrug only to furrow his brow in confusion as Chaz’s eyes teared up.

“Uh…thanks…” Chaz trailed off, staring down at the box in his hands.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Striker asked in alarm suddenly sitting upright.

“Sorry, nothing…it’s just…I’ve never gotten a gift before,” Chaz retorted, rubbing his eyes with his forearm.

“Ya never gotten a Hellmus gift?” Striker retorted, in a bid for clarification as he furrowed his brow in concern.

“I’ve never gotten a gift in general…” Chaz trailed off with a sniffle, running a hand over the box in his lap.

“Never?” Striker asked, a little taken aback by the confession.

“Yeah…I didn’t have anyone who really cared about me enough to get me one and I wasn’t with Moxxie long enough for that to become a thing,” Chaz explained briefly.

“I…don’t know what ta say…” Striker admitted in a low sympathetic tone after all even he’d received gifts from his father when he was young.  

“It’s fine…I just…really appreciate this,” Chaz gave a wary smile as a couple tears rolled down his face.

“Well, whatchya waitin’ for? Open it,” Striker insisted giving the shark a warm smile, gesturing to the gift in Chaz’s lap.  

Chaz chuckled slightly then nodded in confirmation as he opened the box revealing a leather bikers’ jacket inside. Chaz gaped for a few moments at the garment before gingerly pulling it out to get a better look, it was plain black leather however it was great quality. After ogling his new jacket for a few minutes Chaz reached down beside the bed on his side and handed a box to Striker in turn.

“Huh? What’s this?” Striker wondered accepting the box from Chaz with a confused expression.

“I got you a little something too,” Chaz revealed.

“Seriously? Thanks fish cakes,” Striker smiled once the initial surprise wore off.

Striker opened the box with wide eyes as a pair of gorgeous hand-crafted black leather cowboy boots were revealed. Looking from Chaz to the boots then back Striker was in disbelief at the amazing gift he’d just received, pulling out one of the boots to look it over.

“I hope you like them,” Chaz admitted.

“Like ‘em, I love ‘em! Thanks Chaz,” Striker assured the shark who beamed as his tail wagged.

“I’m glad, I really like my gift too,” Chaz retorted.

“I hope it fits, now…come here,” Striker stated placing his boots to the side as he gently grabbed Chaz by the chin to pull him into a kiss. Chaz couldn’t have hoped for a better first Hellmas.   

[courtneygacha]

First Priority

Tw: Needles, deep wound, blood, sewing their own wound (detailed), ER visit

“Caretaker doesn’t have to know…” Whumpee shuddered when they held the needle closer to their wound. They sliced their hand open while making dinner for the two of them.

Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened… Whumpee was very accident prone. They were in a lot of pain, but they didn’t want to bother Caretaker. They were at work and couldn’t just drop everything and come help them. Whumpee had to be independent sometimes. Stitching their wound shut themselves was really the only way, especially since Whumpee couldn’t drive themselves to an Urgent Care while they were bleeding out their hand.

Whumpee winced loudly in pain when they finally got the courage to stick the needle into their skin. They closed their eyes shut but that didn’t make the pain go away.

We did this to ourselves, Whumpee thought as they pulled the thread back out. We’ve started, we might as well finish.

The next 30-ish minutes were ungodly painful, as Whumpee had no medical skills and therefore did not let their bleeding stop before trying to stitch their cut. Blood was all over themselves and the tile.

Whumpee was halfway through this process when their door alarm jingled letting them know Caretaker was home.

“I’m home!” They called out.

“J-Just a second!” Whumpee said before crying out in pain again.

They did a terrible job and missed their would several times because they couldn’t see through the blood and pain. The heard footsteps on the floor and knew Caretaker was coming. They weren’t done but they needed to clean this up and hide the evidence.

Whumpee was scrambling to clean it all up. The needle was still in their skin and the thread was dangling from their hand.

Caretaker knocked on the bathroom door, “Whumpee? You okay?”

Whumpee wrapped up the wound as quickly as they could and shoved everything into the cabinet. They couldn’t ignore the pain that the needle gave when it stabbed their hand. They swore and Caretaker heard them.

“Whumpee?” They asked again.

“I’m okay, just a… stomach ache.” Whumpee said through gritted teeth as they pulled the needle out from under their bandages. It tugged at their stitches and caused them a lot of pain. They cried out again and the bathroom door opened.

Of course, Whumpee forgot to lock it.

Caretaker was horrified. Whumpee didn’t blame them, the bathroom looked like a crime scene.

“Oh god, Whumpee what happened?!” Caretaker ushered themselves to Whumpee and they tried to hide their hand from Caretaker. It did not work. Caretaker saw their bleeding hand half-wrapped and begged Whumpee to let them look at it.

“Just… promise you won’t freak out?” They said.

Caretaker nodded, “I promise, but please let me see if you’re okay.”

Whumpee complied and gave them their hand. Caretaker turned pale seeing the massacre and the terrible job Whumpee did with sewing their hand shut. They used a sewing needle, for starters.

Caretaker didn’t say another word before they grabbed Whumpee and shoved them into their car.

“Where are we going?!” Whumpee panicked.

“To the ER.”

“W-Why not an Urgent Care?!”

“Urgent Care can’t fix that! It’s too deep!” Caretaker said as they started driving. They reached and opened the glove box, pulling out several napkins.

“Put pressure on it so the bleeding stops and you don’t die from blood loss.”

Whumpee took the bandages and scoffed, “I’m not gonna die from blood loss because of a cut…”

“If that doesn’t kill you infection might!” Caretaker said. “Or I will! Why didn’t you call me?”

Whumpee swallowed, “I didn’t want to bother you while you were at work. I thought I could handle it myself.”

“Whumpee, you are my first priority. If you get hurt I will stop what I’m doing to help you because I care about you.” Caretaker said.

Whumpee just stared at their bleeding hand.

“Please, will you call me next time you get hurt like this?”

Whumpee sighed, “Okay.”

They calmly walked into the ER and got their hand properly fixed. The stitching still hurt like hell, but it was a little easier to bear with Caretaker by their side. They got bandaged up and taken home.

“How did you hurt yourself in the first place?” Caretaker asked when they arrived back home.

“I-I tried to make soup for us because I know you like it…” Whumpee said. After the talk they had in the car, Whumpee thought it was stupid the way they handled that situation. They had no medical knowledge, what made them think they could sew their hand? They were a little embarrassed.

Caretaker took their un-injured hand and held it. “Do you want to just order something instead?”

“Yes please” Whumpee said.

Taglist: @whumpy-whump-fanfics @whatwhumpcomments @bookbutterfly9

[dyrewrites]

Pale Blood - panic in the pretty lights

Odea bounced. Up and down she bounced, squeaking like an excited mouse. She had kept quiet from the cab to the ticket booth, eyes firmly on the ground until they reached the synth that ran it. There she refused to let Delmas show his ID, shoving her own hand up to the screen and confirming him and Den as her ‘guests’.

Then she rushed into the cab in a flurry of giggles and started to bounce. Little bounces on the balls of her feet, as she hummed a familiar tune. And that tune bothered a sigh from Delmas, but delighted a smirk from Den.

“That big a fan?” Delmas asked her bounces.

The louder squeak was not an answer, but it’s what she gave him.

Den chimed in, fighting another smirk, “Isn’t there something we have to attend to before we meet Mr. Perfect?”

Odea did stop then, to grin up at Delmas, “You told him!”

“I told him,” he repeated, scooting away from the tiny woman’s glee–unfortunately, the cab did not allow him much wiggle room and so this resulted in smashing into the metal siding.

Giggles preceded Den’s remark, “It did take some work.”

“He is so closed off,” Odea told him.

And he nodded before stepping over, to face her, where he rested his chin on the back of his hand, “Like a vault.”

“Did you hear him trying to justify not telling you?” She returned, holding her own chin and nodding dramatically.

“I did,” Den answered, in an equally dramatic fashion.

“I tell ya,” Delmas cut through their gossiping tones, “on the list of things expected today, the two of you bondin’ over my want for privacy wasn’t on it.”

“Privacy,” Odea scoffed, all the playful drama puffing with it as the full extent of what she’d lost of him–and every whispered command–swelled, “Fangs who go digging around in other people’s minds and making them forget do not deserve privacy.”

Den shoved against Delmas’ chest, not moving him an inch, and all but shouted, “You did not!”

“No, I didn’t,” he assured them both before trying to recall what Odea was talking about. But nothing recent included mind games.

The dogs, the thought popped, and the image on Bosch’s screen flickered after, I saved her from the dogs…did I mess with her head then? And his own words played for him–though he hadn’t asked and had no memory of speaking them–‘tell Ron, Del says he's sorry for keeping me.’ But I can’t make anyone forget–correct, he couldn’t, but it was necessary at the time–And that was a week out, at least, why she mad about it now?

They were staring, both of them. He’d been quiet too long and they were staring. So he tried to explain, “I didn’t do it on purpose. I don’t even really remember doing it. I only know I was even there because of Bosch’s fucking cameras.”

Den checked out right about then, as he and Delmas already had the conversation that appeared to be repeating.

He had been to Upper Dolor fewer times than he had fingers and, despite all the hot air everyone blew about it, he didn’t mind much. He didn’t find it all that appealing. But the trip up, soaring straight up in a tight metal box with the whole city stretching out below him...that he enjoyed. And he marveled at the sight, as he had the few times he’d seen it before; picking out all the brightest lights in the rainbow of flashing–and quickly blurring–color that speckled the rough grays and shining blacks of the slums.

A single finger firm on the hardlight–which kept the harsh winds of the ludicrous speed they traveled from turning everyone inside into a spray of blood outside–he thought he had picked out the glaring neon sign that hung near Delmas’ apartment...when Odea groaned so loud he decided to care about the other passengers again.

 “You still went poking when you had no right to,” She tapped Delmas’ chest, hard and added, “so I don’t want to hear any of your faeshit about privacy.”

“Fine,” he had no room to throw his arms up, so they made it about halfway, “but you should know that I didn’t poke, I didn’t need to,” and, if he had looked at his more astute boyfriend just then, Delmas would not have said what he was about to say. But he did not, instead he leaned to Odea’s eye level–which shoved her up against the other side of the cab–and said, “you’re just loud.”

Den slapped himself on the forehead–despite a deep desire to slap Delmas–then shielded his ears from what he anticipated would be a shriek.

But no shriek came.

Even as the cab breeched the smog, pouring hotter, brighter sunlight through its tall windows, all Delmas received from Odea was a quiet, smoldering glare–which may have been weakened by her thick glasses, tinted as they had become in the brighter light.

The remainder of their trip–all fifteen minutes of it–came and went with naught but the soft grind of metal on wire and the drone of wind moving faster than it ought around the oblong surface of the cab.

“Number in party,” a smooth, mechanically sweetened voice sang as all of the wind stopped dead and the cab’s door slid open with a satisfying woosh–do not deny me my wooshes, one only gets so many.

Odea hopped out of the skycab’s perfectly still cabin–held tight and sturdy on thick metal beams and hidden cables, the thing would not budge no matter how much one desired kicking it into the suns.

The synth that spoke with so smooth a voice waited just outside the door. Their artificially tanned skin glistened beneath a layer of perfumed dew–spritzed from above every skycab as they landed, to ensure no one fouled the air–but that was not what marked them synthetic. Nor was it the gold and white striped hair, or the matching uniform; an angular cut pantsuit of pristine white and gold, its starched pant-legs tucked into shin-high boots–the heels of which should have been registered as weapons.

No, the scream of their mechanical origins came from their eyes.

Their irises glared, shrinking, turning–and audibly whirring for the one with ears sharp enough to hear them–in glittering gold from the center of shining black eyeballs.

Their too-smooth voice sang again, without a hint of intonation, inflection, or warmth, “Number in party.”

“See, that, that’s what I don’t like about being up here,” Den said to no one as he kept behind Delmas and tried again to put his hands into his pockets.

Delmas slapped him away, smiling, “We’ve got synths below too.”

“Yeah, but ours are more...awake,” Den tried again. Pressing his chest against Delmas’ back–and a little around his side–he pulled the flaps of the big coat he wore out of the way and slipped his hands into the front pockets of Delmas’ jeans.

“Well, some of them maybe,” Delmas said, sighing at the hands wriggling around in his pockets. But, as they wouldn’t be moving anytime soon, he didn’t remove them.

“Three,” Odea said, shuffling from one leg to the other in front of the slim podium, her eyes twitching to every new face that flowed from neighboring skycabs.

“Purpose,” the synth said, not asked–those models did not have the ability to truly inquire, they could only relay and obey.

“Um,” She had something for that, but she was there for more than witch duties, I can’t say I’m here because of blood, shit, how do I phrase it?

“Someone forgot her title,” Den told Delmas’ side, adding louder, “you’re a blood-letter, remember...witch?”

“Two in one, not bad,” Delmas chuckled–more from the very warm hand tickling his thigh, but also the words, those were funny too, in a way.

“Right, right,” Odea closed her eyes, focusing on the why they were there and not the that. More skycabs were landing on either side of theirs–in a great big circle they could only see a fraction of–and visitors were filing out in numbers Odea was the opposite of comfortable with. “Uh, witching duties and...um, blood-le,” shooting a glare behind her she muttered, “damnit, Den,” before turning back to the ever-patient synth, “phlebotomist duties.”

Witch outranked phlebotomist and, though Odea had forgotten in the anxious bubble her breath had become, witches needed no reasons for witching.

“Coven and Designation please,” The synth intoned, and in their ever-so-slight change of tone, Den found himself curious.

“...that one male or female?” He asked Delmas.

“Neither,” He answered too quickly, voice hitching at the end.

Den giggled before asking, “How d’you know?”

Delmas pointed as he wiggled away from another gripping hand, “There’s a marker, on their temple, brands ‘em for customer service. And all customer service synths are andro.”

The last wriggle had pulled Den’s hands away and he pouted before snuggling in the offered coat, “Why do you know that and I don’t?”

“Ever work with synths,” it wasn’t a question–Delmas knew he hadn’t, well, he was pretty sure...and correct.

Den thought about it, came to the realization that he had only seen them in clubs, or cabs, or brothels and decided not to answer.

That earned him a grin and a tighter squeeze.

“Alright,” Odea said, rushing up a bit too close to them as all of the people began to jitter in her veins, “we’re good to go. So let’s go. Right now. Move.”

Though she was shorter than every other visitor crowding the station–barring a few gnomes and a wreck of faeries–Delmas and Den found it all too easy to follow Odea through the hot rush and murmur of the crowd. The bright auburn of her short-cropped hair, bouncing and snaking through all manner of brighter and duller colors, stood out like a beacon.

Neither were too certain how that worked, exactly, nor were they aware of how much focus it took Odea to do it.

Until they reached the gaping arches of the station–now, ‘gaping’ may not seem like the best word for a big door, but bear with me here...because it was a very big door–and Odea heaved her guts into a glittery gold trash bin.

Den froze before the arches, enduring the shove of bodies passing–which jostled him even as Delmas kept him safe in his arms.

He did not enjoy those arches, not in any capacity, but he especially disliked walking through them.

They yawned overhead, towering high above even the ogres that barreled past them. So high that one could only tell they were arches by the way they bent the light, and what light they bent; the yellows of Som’s bright shimmered on the golden metal of the arches–a gold that you may notice coats everything, there were few areas of Upper Dolor that did not glitter.

And those damnable arches brought his attention to the ceiling of the station, or lack thereof, as there were no ceilings. There were layers upon layers of wide bridges connecting the skycabs to the exits and a terrible endless chasm below. Every single bridge bore more bodies than he imagined them capable, and he didn’t care for that either.

Even on the lowest layer of Upper Dolor’s disc-like island structure, the station bore no flooring. Beneath the bridge Den stood on were metal beams, thick and webbed, holding the bridges and the outer walls of the station...but between those beams waited empty air and a haze of black smog far, far below.

And none of it sparkled like the dazzling lights and wonder that the slums did on the trip up. The view from that bridge was one of hollow terror, and the more he stared the further it seemed to stretch and the louder it seemed to whisper, jump.

He gripped Delmas’ coat tighter, whispering, “I hate this place,” but he managed to force his feet to move and they passed beneath the arches.

And Delmas groaned and dug out his sunglasses.

Upper Dolor always made him doubt his immunity to the suns; if not for the bright, then for the heat. But neither of those are what drew the muttered, “Shit,” from his lips.

That came from looking out into all that bright...and not seeing Odea.

[obscure-reference-girl]

Masks and Misunderstandings Chapter 4

Pairing: Pavel Chekov/Leonard McCoy

Warnings: Swearing (because it’s Bones), mild description of injury/medical procedure

Word Count: 4197

Summary: Leonard thought that a nightclub where you had to wear a mask was  idiotic, but he humored Jim and accompanied him to the club during shore  leave anyway. After Jim fucked off into the crowd of dancing bodies  without so much as a ‘never you mind’, Leonard went looking for him and  found something unexpected. Meet unexpected: sexy, young, blonde...and  if he reminded him a bit too much of a certain Russian navigator he  wasn't going to linger on that thought.

Chapter Summary: Leonard finally learns the identity of the man from the club (cue gasps of shock I’m sure).

Author’s note: If you have made it this far, I would love to hear what you think! Ideas? Things that you would like to see happen? Drop me a line! Comments always provide the best inspiration.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45899593/chapters/116373964#workskin

The day of his STI test Leonard was scheduled for a night shift and he had arranged with Christine to have his test run just before the start of his shift. This left plenty of time to work himself up over the fact that he had behaved like a crazed teenager. By the time that Leonard made his way to the medbay that evening, he had worked his mind into a perfect storm of self-loathing. When he entered medbay he wasted no time, gave Christine a meaningful look, and jerked his head towards his office. She followed him in, closing the door behind them. Before Leonard knew it, she had drawn his blood and it was being analyzed by a tricorder. Unfortunately this left him with Christine’s undivided and inconveniently observant attention.

“You sure you still don’t want to talk Len?” She asked.

“I’m sure,” He began. She gave him one of her signature ‘I wasn’t born yesterday’ looks and Len felt himself continuing against his better judgement, “Ah hell, I don’t know Chrissy…” He trailed off, not able to make himself complete the thought.

“You’ve been extra broody lately.” She said.

“Christine,” He exclaimed in offense, “I don’t brood.”

“Oh yes you do Leonard McCoy, you brood almost as badly as Mister Spock.”

“Now, there’s no need to be hateful.” That got a laugh out of her and he couldn’t help but smile himself. “I guess being alone is just getting to me. I just can’t get this guy out my head. It doesn’t help that Pavel-” he broke off, realizing what he had been about to say. Christine’s carefully shaped eyebrows shot halfway up her forehead.

“What exactly about Mr. Chekov,” She asked rather delicately.

“He reminds me of the guy, okay?” Leonard winced, unable to meet her eyes.

“And you’re sure he isn’t the guy?” She pressed.

“Of course I’m sure. There’s no way that he would ever do that with-with me.” He spluttered.

“Why are so sure about that Leonard?” She insisted.

“I just am.” He said with a stubborn jut of his chin. Christine raised her hands in defeat though she appeared unconvinced. The tricorder must have decided to take pity on him because it beeped at that very moment. Christine quickly assessed the read-out and gave him a smile.

“All clear Len,” she said.

He finally let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Thanks Chris-“

He would have to be satisfied that she knew how deeply he appreciated her because the comm blared overhead before he could give her a proper thank you.

“Engineering to medical!” Scotty’s voice came ringing through the room accompanied by the sound of an alarm and what sounded suspiciously like hissing steam. Leonard held down the button on the comm panel on his wall to respond.

“Medical here Mr. Scott.”

“We have one for emergency medical transfer.” Well at least that was sure to get his mind of off things.

“Standing by,” He replied and he and Christine ran out to the central medbay and started to scrub in.

***

Leonard had just finished scrubbing in when the transporter began to materialize a figure onto the designated biobed. And because the universe had one fucked up sense of humor, it was Chekov. He was even paler than normal and breathing with great focus like he was trying his damndest not to pass out. Len felt his heart plummet into his stomach.

“What’s the damage Mr. Chekov?” Len asked as he started to assess Pavel’s injuries. There were small pieces of shrapnel scattered up his left leg with a few larger pieces lodged in his abdomen. Leonard whipped out a tricorder and started locating the worst of it while Christine cut away Pavel’s pants leg.

“Chyort voz’mi, Len, I’m a navigator, not a doctor,” was his tight-lipped reply. Leonard laughed in spite of himself. He knew that Chekov was mocking him. He recognized the Russian version of Damnit.

“You know damn well what I mean. What happened?” Leonard groused.

“I got into a fight with an exploding conduit,” Pavel said with a small shrug that was followed by a grimace of pain.

“Let me guess, the conduit won,” Leonard replied dryly. The tricorder informed him that Pavel had been very lucky and the shrapnel hadn’t hit anything too major. It looked like the worst of the damage was a punctured spleen.

“You could say that,” Pavel winced as Christine removed a piece of shrapnel from his leg, quickly running a dermal regenerator behind it.

“If Jim isn’t the death of me, I think it’s going to be you.” Leonard said witheringly. “Experimental engineering,” he continued under his breath, “experimental limb removal is more accurate.” He raised his voice back to its normal level and looked up to give pavel a sympathetic smile. “I’m going to have to cut this shirt off of you.”

Pavel nodded sharply. His eyes were squeezed shut and his lips were a thin white line.

“Give him a hypo for the pain,” Len told Christine. He let her handle that while he sliced away Pavel’s uniform. “It looks like this is the worst of it.” He said, referencing the large piece of shrapnel in Pavel’s upper left side. “A punctured spleen, nothing I can’t handle. Gonna’ hurt like a bitch though.” Christine had given Pavel the hypo but it wouldn’t work fast enough to completely mask the feeling of a large piece of metal being removed from an internal organ. Pavel nodded again and braced himself.

“On three,” Leonard said. “Three, two-“He pulled out the shrapnel on “two” and quickly pressed down on the wound with a wad of sterile gauze while he ran a dermal regenerator around the site.

Chekov let loose a long string of Russian swearing. Despite being the youngest member of the crew Chekov was one of the most advanced in the field of creative swearing. He was proficient in the several languages he spoke including Vulcan and Standard, but he was particularly adept at stringing together phrases in Russian that could make even the captain blush (naturally, because he was a fucking genius, Jim happened to speak Russian-as he put it ‘enough to fuck or fight with’). Leonard, being only a simpleminded surgeon, did not speak Russian. However, he’d spent enough time around Chekov to pick out several of his favorite key words including ‘Sooka Sin’, and ‘Blyat’, which meant ‘Son of a bitch’, and an equivalent to ‘fuck’, respectively. He was also pretty sure he caught something that roughly translated to “train station whore”. Leonard couldn’t help but chuckle.

“It’s better if you don’t expect it,” He explained.

“You can’t really believe that,” Chekov said incredulously.

“Well yeah, it really doesn’t make a lick of difference, but it can’t hurt to try. That should be the worst of it though.” Leonard offered. Now that the only life threatening injury was dealt with, he could take a deeper look at the tricorder results. “It looks like you might have a few broken ribs from the explosive force, and a fractured talus from where you hit the wall.”

“I broke my foot?” Pavel asked.

“Technically you broke your ankle…and your elbow. You fractured your proximal radial head. You’ll have to stay overnight while they heal. But hey, think of it this way, it’s a hell of a lot better than a hundred and fifty years ago when you would have been in a sling for a month.” Leonard said. He felt strongly that the general population didn’t appreciate just how lucky they were to have modern medical science.

“You’ll have me back in engineering in no time doctor.” The pain killers were obviously kicking in and Pavel was relaxing back into the biobed. He was getting a bit of color back in his face and his voice wasn’t quite so tight.

“I have half a mind to tell Scotty not to let you back in.” Len scolded.

“Da,” Pavel replied, slipping temporarily into Russian, “but you know he wouldn’t listen to you. He likes me too much.”

Leonard shook his head, torn between exasperation and amusement. He turned to Pavel’s chest to work on removing the last few fragments and froze. He blinked quickly several times. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him because his memory was dredging up the same lean torso with those exact moles and just that smattering of freckles, glistening with sweat not from pain, but from exertion, strobe lights beating off of it.

“Is everything okay, doctor,” Pavel asked. He placed a hand on top of the one Leonard currently had resting on his chest. A hand with those slim, strong fingers that had- fuck.

“Of-of course lieutenant,” Leonard shakily replied. “I think Nurse Chapel can take it from here.” Len didn’t give him a chance to respond. He turned quickly and did his best to walk, not run, back to his office where he promptly threw up in the sink.

He rinsed out his mouth and collapsed into his desk chair, digging his fingers into his scalp. He didn’t even know where to start. He had had sex with Pavel Andreievich Chekov. No, no, he’d fucked Pavel Chekov. He had roughly fucked the youngest member of the crew the dark hallway of a nightclub. Pavel was only nineteen for fucks sake. To make matters worse, Leonard had also been fantasizing of, dreaming about, and masturbating to thoughts of said teenager for two fucking weeks.

He didn’t know what to feel. (Actually he did - he felt like a fucking dirty old pervert.) He didn’t know what to think. He should have recognized Chekov. He had noticed all of the similarities. Why hadn’t he listened to the part of his brain that had been functioning with common sense?

Ultimately it came down to the fact that he had picked Chekov up at a club and fucked him senseless.

Except he hadn’t picked up Pavel, had he? Pavel had picked up Leonard!

This, of course, begged the question: was this something Pavel did regularly? The thought made Leonard sick. And if that wasn’t just fucking hypocritical. It’s not like he had any room to judge. He had only been only too happy to take Pavel up on what he was offering. But the thought about Pavel doing that with other people…it made him feel nauseous. It wasn’t disgust…it was jealousy, he realized. Positively sickening jealousy. Leonard suddenly felt like all of the air had gone out of his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. Oh god, he was having a heart attack. Fuck, no, he was having a panic attack. He lurched forward and hung his head between his knees, trying to calm his breathing.

***

Leonard spent the next few hours buried in paperwork that he had been avoiding for weeks. If his personal trauma was good for nothing else, at least it was good for getting the brass off his back. There were several small injuries that came in over the course of the evening, but Pavel had been transferred to a private room by the time that the first had come in so Len hadn’t yet had to face him.

It was nearing midnight by the time he acknowledged the fact that he couldn’t avoid checking on Pavel any longer. The med bay was quiet and he had sent Christine home early. He could handle anything that came in until Dr. M’Benga joined him in a few hours.

“You can do this,” he told himself. He would just go in there, assess how Pavel’s bones were healing, and quickly make his retreat. He grabbed a tricorder, braced himself and pushed the button for entry to the room.

“Come in,” came the response. When he entered, Pavel was awake and intently reading something on a padd.

“That had better not be plans for conduit design,” Leonard said with a levity that he didn’t actually feel.

“No, it’s the design for the warp core emergency coolant system.” Pavel replied with a smirk that made Leonard’s heart lurch. He should have recognized that smirk when he saw it at the club. Len tried to school his expression and stay professional.

“I need to take a look at how your bones are coming along,” He explained.

“Sure thing doctor.” Pavel set the padd down on the table next to the biobed and flicked the blanket off to one side. He was wearing a pair of standard issue boxers and nothing else. Leonard resolutely looked down at the tricorder as he ran it over Pavel’s ankle. The tricorder beeped as an image of the bones in the area materialized on the screen.

“It’s looking good,” he said in an attempt to break the silence. It wasn’t much of a conversation starter and they lapsed back into awkward silence as he shifted to examining Pavel’s radius. When he moved onto the ribs he had a harder time keeping his thoughts strictly professional. He ran his fingers over Pavel’s side out of habit. It wasn’t strictly necessary given the tricorder, but he preferred to feel things for himself. He jerked his hand back like he had been burned at the soft moan that escaped Pavel’s lips. “Sorry.”

“You did not hurt me Len,” Pavel said. Len could feel his face heating up and tried to viciously stamp out any thoughts that were not purely medical in nature.

“Everything looks good kid,” Len said. He turned to leave before he could do anything stupid like offer to kiss everything better, but slim fingers wrapped around his wrist stopping his escape.

“Len,” Pavel began slowly. “About the other night…”

“What other night lieutenant? The chess tournament?” Leonard hoped to god that Pavel really was referring to the chess tournament in which he had beaten Jim, Scotty, and Spock and not what he thought Pavel was referring to.

“You know very well what I’m talking about.” Pavel said indignantly. “The night at the club. Last shore leave.”

           “Can we not do this now,” Leonard asked.

          “When do you plan to do it Leonard? I’ve waited two weeks, but it seems like your plan is just to never talk.” It was then that Leonard realized something that made his stomach churn and his heart feel like it was doing a line-dance. Pavel had known it was him that night at the club. He had known.

“You knew it was me! You had to have known,” Leonard exclaimed. He was trying very hard not to yell.

“What do you want me to say Leonard,” Pavel asked. Leonard could see something registering in Pavel’s expression. He looked like he had been punched in the gut.

“Just tell me the truth?” Len bit out.

“Yes, yes I knew, okay?” Pavel exclaimed. He hung his head.

“No! No it’s not okay!” Leonard tried to keep his voice from wavering. “Why would you do that to me?” He added without meaning to.

“I didn’t realize that I did anything to you.” Pavel scoffed. Leonard had to admit, that stung. “How was I supposed to know that you didn’t know it was me? You were standing there staring at me like you wanted to consume me. I was surprised sure, but I wasn’t going to fucking question it! I didn’t-” He went suddenly quiet. His voice sounding small in a way that Leonard has rarely heard. He hated it, hated that he was the cause of it. “I thought for the past two weeks that you’ve been avoiding me because you regretted it. I don’t know which is worse.”

Leonard tried to let this information sink in. Not only had Pavel known it was him, he had thought that Leonard knew who he was too.

“How could you think that I knew?” Leonard demanded. “I would never have done that if I had known.”

“Right, because you’re not attracted to me.” Pavel said scathingly.

Leonard didn’t even have it in him to try to deny it at that point.

“I think you know that’s not it.” He scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed. “Look kid, it would be entirely inappropriate.”

“I’m not a kid, Doctor.” Leonard didn’t fail to notice Pavel’s cool tone and the use of  his professional title. “I think you know that better than most.” Pavel might as well have slapped him across the face.

“I guess not,” Leonard scoffed, “If you make it a habit of having anonymous, unprotected sex in nightclubs. Actually, you know what, that’s even more juvenile. Pulling stupid stunts like that.” He would later have to admit that his response was largely informed by his hurt.

“You fucking hypocrite. You can honestly stand there and lecture me on unsafe sex? You were there just as much as I was.”

“I wasn’t the one with medical grade lubricant at the ready!”

“For fucks sake. I’m not a celibate recluse like you! But for your information-not that you deserve any sort of explanation of what I do or do not choose to do in my leisure time,” Pavel was positively shaking with indignation now, “it wasn’t even mine! Hikaru passed it to me when we got to club as a laugh.” When he stopped, he was breathing like a winded rhinoceros and Leonard realized that regardless of his personal feelings, he desperately needed to take a step back and remember his professional obligations.

“Look, I’m sorry, Kiii-Pavel,” He corrected himself at the last second. Pavel had a point. If nothing else, he did owe it to him to stop calling him Kid. It would be damn difficult though. “You need to be resting. That was completely unprofessional of me.” Pavel narrowed his eyes at him, so he continued with a sigh, “and just plain wrong. You don’t deserve to be spoken to like that.”

“Thank you,��� Pavel said. He paused before continuing emphatically, “I really don’t make a habit of doing that Leonard.” He looked almost sheepish and it made Leonard’s heart clench.

“Yeah, I know, I have the clean STI tests to prove it,” Len huffed. Pavel paled a bit.

“I’m sorry Leonard. I didn’t even think-“

“You mean you didn’t get yourself tested?” Leonard demanded.

“Well…no,” Pavel explained, “I knew it was you.”

           “That’s beside the point. You have to take care of yourself.” Leonard wanted to throttle the kid.

“You’re always taking care of me Leonard, I knew I could trust you,” Pavel responded sheepishly.

“I wouldn’t go that far Kid.” Leonard winced at the slip-up. “I wasn’t exactly responsible either.”

“You really had no idea that it was me?” Combined with the pained look on his face, the slight waver in Pavel’s voice staked Len right in the heart.

“No. I mean I may have noticed some similarities,” He admitted. “And don’t think I didn’t feel plenty guilty about that…but no.” Len took a deep breath and gathered up the courage to meet the kid’s eyes again. “You need rest,” He said.

“We will talk more later,” Pavel said.

“Yeah Pav, we’ll talk more later.” Leonard acquiesced before making his escape.

***

As soon as he was relieved by Doctor M’Benga, Leonard made a b-line for Jim’s quarters. Using his medical override, he ignored such social niceties as knocking and strode right in. Strictly speaking, this wasn’t the safest of moves as there was never a total guarantee that Jim would be alone, but he would take his chances.  He marched into Jim’s bedroom and dropped like a sack of potatoes, slumped down and head thrown back, into the armchair he knew Jim used for reading. Jim startled awake and did a double take.

           “Fuck! Bones! What are you doing here?” He asked as he scrambled into an upright position.

           “I need my fuck up of a best friend right now and not my captain.” Leonard said by way of explanation.

          “Okay,” Jim said, drawing out his response. “I can do that.” He had obviously gathered the gravity of the situation. Leonard wasn’t in the habit of bursting in unannounced. That was Jim’s specialty.

           Len resolutely stared at the ceiling as he choked out the reason for his visit. “It was Chekov?”

           “What was Chekov,” Jim asked.

           “The guy from the club. The one I had sex with. It was Pavel Chekov.” Leonard ground out.

          “Wait, bones…you fucked Chekov?” Jim asked. Leonard meant to reply with words, but all that came out was a beleaguered groan as he dropped his forehead down to his palms with a loud thwack.

           “You fucked Chekov?” Jim repeated in disbelief.

           “Don’t make me say it Jim.”

“Fuck,” Jim breathed. “Wow. Good for you Bones.”

“What,” Leonard exclaimed. “What do you mean ‘good for you’? Aren’t you even a little freaked out by this?”

“Why? You’re clearly freaked out enough for the both of us,” Jim replied as he scooted over to sit at the side of the bed.

“Come on Jim!” Len demanded. “Be serious! He’s the youngest member of the crew! He’s only nineteen for fucks sake!”

“Yes, Bones,” Jim said slowly like Leonard was a little slow on the uptake. “He’s a member of the crew of the federation flagship. He’s the chief navigator, not to mention a hell of an engineer. He’s a distinguished graduate of star fleet academy and a successful officer. He is not in your direct line of command so there aren’t any rules against it and he’s a perfectly legal adult.”

“Barely! Jim I’m old enough to be his father!” Leonard sighed, returning his head to his hands.

“I don’t seem to recall your having fathered children at the ripe old age of fourteen.” Jim said.

“Okay, maybe not reasonably old enough to be his father. But I’m definitely too old for him.” Len argued.

“I think that’s for him to decide Bones. He’s old enough to make his own decisions and he’s damn well smart enough to make good ones.” God, Leonard hated when he couldn’t fault Jim’s logic.

“That’s another thing!” Leonard exclaimed. “He knew it was me the whole time! Why the hell would he do it, Jim?  I’m a crotchety, thirty-three year old, divorced, father! Oh God, you don’t think it’s a-a daddy thing.” He asked, pulling a face like there was a particularly nasty taste in his mouth.

“Come on Bones, we both know that Chekov has a perfectly wonderful relationship with both of his parents. This isn’t a fetish.”

“Regardless, I’m well passed my prime.” Leonard insisted.

“You’re thirty-three Bones,” Jim said with a long-weary look. “You’re not exactly passed you’re expiration date. You aren’t even nearing middle-aged.”

“Well I have the damn mileage, that’s for sure.” Leonard groused. Jocelyn had made sure of that.

“Look Bones, I know you don’t see yourself very clearly, but as your best friend I like to think I know the good, bad, and ugly about you. And I happen to think that there are a lot of reasons why Chekov might want to be with you. Yes, you’re cynical, and surly, and aviophobic, and oblivious as hell sometimes-“

“Not exactly making a strong case here Jim.” Leonard said, but Jim continued as though Leonard hadn’t interrupted him.

“But you’re also highly intelligent, very attractive, and incredibly brave. You excel at your jobs as a doctor and as a commander. You’re loyal. You know damn well that you can be charming when you want to be. Not to mention that you’re damn well one the most caring people I’ve met in my entire life,” He said. “And don’t worry I won’t let anyone in on that last little secret,” He added when he saw Leonard’s scowl. “To be perfectly honest you’re one of the only people whose ass I wouldn’t kick for screwing around with Chekov.”

“I’m not ‘screwing around’ with him,” Leonard objected.

“Exactly! It was a one-night stand and it seems like no one got hurt.” That wasn’t exactly true. Len’s heart felt like it had been trampled by a herd of Rigelian Ox, but he didn’t bother correcting him. “If you’re so freaked out by it, you can leave it at that and no harm done…and well…if you decide to pursue it further, you know my thoughts on the matter. Now, it’s almost 2am and you have to be back in medbay in what-” he broke off to look at the clock, “six hours? Get out of my quarters and get some damn sleep.”

          ***

           Leonard tried to follow Jim’s advice. He really did. But he found himself still lying awake two hours later, glaring at his alarm clock that was mocking his dwindling time to rest. He couldn’t quite get over just how collected Jim had been about the whole thing. He seemed completely unaffected by Leonard’s tryst. It was easy for him though, he didn’t live in Leonard’s head (even if he often seemed to). He wasn’t party to Leonard’s guilt and shame. For him it was as simple as act on it or forget about it. The problem was that Leonard didn’t think he could bring himself to act on it…and at the same time he really couldn’t convince himself that he wanted to forget it.