#welcoming new people to the dumpster

[citrus-cactus]

Is anyone else back to getting a bunch of dubious-looking followers, or is it just me? :/

[luxaofhesperides]

Accidental Bride Sacrifice ; requested by @starlightcat04!

Danny has long since gotten used to the feel of summonings. They don’t happen often, but sometimes the right components are put together to force him into answering, and he’d have to go as the new Ghost King.

Which no one told him was a thing! He hadn’t protested too much about the whole Ghost King deal when they finally told him about it after he graduated high school. It gave him a good excuse to ditch life in the living realm and not worry about college or a career, and let him really embrace his ghost side. 

The summonings are a problem, though. They always feel staticky and bad, like a dumpster that just got struck by lightning. The taste of iron on his tongue, a clear sign of blood being spilled, lets him know that it would be one of end the world for us summonings, because some people can’t put in the effort to do it themselves, apparently. 

But this time, the summoning feels different.

Danny pauses, eyes going unfocused in the middle of his conversation with Jazz. He had been looking forward to spending the week with her, now that she’s on winter break, but his luck is as bad as always.

“I’m being summoned,” he tells her, cutting off her rant about a transphobic professor she had. 

“Oh, no. Do you need me to do anything? Should I go with you to beat up whoever it is that’s summoning you?”

Danny tilts his head to the side, considering. The taste of blood is noticeably absent. In fact, this summoning pull doesn’t make him feel sick at all. It makes him feel warm, as if he’s just been wrapped in a hug.

“No,” he says. “I think I’m good. This one feels different.”

“A good different?” Jazz asks, worry clear in her voice.

“Yeah. A good different. I’ll come back soon, okay?”

“Alright. Be careful, Danny.” Jazz pulls him into a quick hug, then steps back to watch as Danny stops fighting the pull of the summoning and disappears into a swirling white rings that flashes into existence behind him, blinding her for a moment, and is gone when she manages to blink the spots out of her vision. 

For a minute, Danny drifts in a void of stillness, traveling through the realms as the summoning draws him closer to the correct realm. And then he’s rising out of the ground in a dark building made of concrete, candles of green flame scattered all over the place.

“Great One!” someone in a hooded cloak cries, raising his arms in jubilation. “Our calls have been answered!”

“I’ll fucking kill you!” a mechanical voice yells from farther back. When Danny looks past the cultists’ heads, he spots a man in a red hood and leather jacket chained to a pole, along with a bunch of other people in strange costumes tied up, desperately trying to free themselves. 

“Silence!” The leader of the cult, or who Danny assumes is the leader, snaps at the hooded man and gestures to the people off to his left. They force another costumed person forward, this one in yellow armor. He can see the blood running down their face from beneath their helmet and from their nose, dark lines of blood cutting through their brown skin. 

The cultists throw the armored person forward, forcing them to kneel. Then they bow to Danny and step back.

“Great One,” the leader says, voice unpleasantly reverent and grating, “Welcome to the mortal realms. We offer you this sacrifice to feed your strength. He will make a fine general for your undead army in your crusade to rid this world of its filth.”

The people in the back begin shouting all together, panicked voices overlapping, and Danny is left staring down at the cultists in shock.

The summoning had felt so nice. What the hell was this? He did not sign up for another ‘end of days’ insane cult. He just wanted to be hugged. 

His silence makes the cultists nervous. They begin to shift uneasily, whispering to each other, and the leader clears his throat, then pulls a large crystal dagger out of his cloak. “We shall prove our devotion to you through an offering of a hero’s blood!”

And then he moves towards the sacrifice and Danny snaps out of his shock to yell, “Wait!”

The entire room freezes. Even the costumed people in the back go still. 

Danny winces, then tries to smother his power, make himself more palatable to the humans of this dimension. “Wait,” he says again, and he sounds closer to human now. If he could, he would drop his ghost form entirely, but he knows better than to endanger himself like that. “What, exactly, did you summon me here for?”

The cult leader stares at him for a moment. “To… To rid the world of filth and allow your loyal followers to spread word of your power. You will be worshiped again, Great One, and serve as a reminder to man that Death shall always prevail.”

“Okay, I get that, but I was talking more along the lines of the summoning. What ritual did you use? What specifically were the summoning requirements?”

Normally, he’d be able to figure it out himself, but these cultists didn’t use a summoning circle. So they did something else, something less visible and therefore harder to figure out, in order to bring him here.

A woman standing off to the side speaks up, stepping forward hesitantly. “I had pieced together a few summoning spells from this book to bring you here. You had to accept our chosen sacrifice to your side in order for the summoning to work.”

“Hold up that book for me, please?”

She does, and Danny flies down to grab it from her hands. “Point out which lines you used,” he says, already reading a few of the words written down. It’s definitely ghostspeak written down, which should be near impossible for living humans to translate without being skilled in magic.

“Ah, these ones.” She points to each line, reading them out for him, and Danny starts understand what, exactly, went wrong.

“Is there a problem, Great One?”

Danny returns the book then floats over to the sacrifice and picks him up. The costumed people make alarmed noises, but quietly quiet down again when all Danny does is move him away from the cultists.

“Okay,” he says, “So. The lines you used to summon me were not translated properly. What you interpreted as ‘accepted to stay by the king’s side in loyalty and strength’ is not meant to be, like, him being part of my undead army or whatever. It’s a royal marriage vow.”

“They married us?” the sacrifice shouts, disbelieving. The cult leader buries his face in his hands and sighs.

“My deepest apologies, Great One. We meant no offense. We simply wanted to aid in your destruction of this depraved world.”

Danny scrunches his nose and shakes his head. “Yeah, that’s not gonna fly with me. I do not do the biding of random people, especially those who are ready to murder innocent people for no reason. Frighty, if you would.” He snaps his fingers, calling up Fright Knight who always enjoys getting to torment the people who summon Danny for murderous reasons.

Fright Knight appears in a swirl of darkness and screams. Shadows swallow the room, and when they recede, no cultists remain.

“Thanks, Frighty. Have fun with them. I need to figure out all… this.”

Fright Knight bows to him, then disappears. Danny lets out a breath, then floats down lower to be eye level with the sacrifice. “Hey,” he says gently, with a smile, “I’m so sorry they did this to you. I’m Danny. What’s your name?”

“Du— Uh, Signal,” the sacrifice says, sounding rather dazed. 

“Signal,” Danny repeats. “Like… a traffic signal?”

“No. I mean, maybe? But it is Signal. That’s my hero name, not my real name.”

“Oh, you’re a hero!” His getup makes more sense now. Danny checks him over for any signs of injuries. So far, only his head and nose seem to be injured, but his wrists are tightly bound behind his back. Carefully, Danny calls upon his ice and shapes it into a sharp knife, then cuts through the zipties.

He helps Signal up to his feet, floating by his shoulder. “All good?”

“Yeah, man, all good. Let me just get the others free.”

“Oh, I can do it!” Danny flies over to the other costumed people, who must also be heroes. All it takes is one link in the chain being frozen and broken for the entire thing to go lax, allowing them to free themselves. Hooded guy spares Danny a single glance, then hurries over to Signal to check on him. The other three, a man with a blue bird across his chest, a blond girl with a yellow bat outline on her chest, and a guy with bandoliers and a golden bird emblem, all watch him warily as he floats back towards the center of the room.

“So,” the blue bird man says, “If they summoned you with a marriage vow, and you accepted, does that mean you’re planning to steal Signal away from us?” He’s smiling, but it’s not a nice smile.

“No! I had no idea they did this! I am so sorry you all got caught up in this. You most of all, Signal.”

Signal shrugs, nudging hood guy away from him. “Nah, man, it’s all good. This is definitely the better outcome.”

“I don’t know, being married off isn’t really a good thing.”

“Hey, at least they married me off to a decent guy.”

“You don’t know that,” Danny says, “What if I’m secretly evil?”

“If you were secretly evil, you’d be destroying the world right now. I think you’re fine.”

The blond girl waves at him, demanding his attention. “Quick question! They were calling you ‘Great One’. Are you a god or something?”

“Not really? I’m the Ghost King. So I’m a ghost who rules over other ghosts and also a majority of the Infinite Realms.”

She nods as if this is all totally normal for her, then shoots Signal a grin. “Congrats on bagging a king! Not the worst way to spend a night, right?”

“Can you break the marriage?” blue bird man asks, the lines of his shoulders tense.

Danny awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, not looking any of them in the eye. “I honestly don’t know. I can look for a way! But I genuinely have no clue. This was unexpected.”

“But you accepted.”

“I didn’t know what I expected! It just felt like a hug, and I wanted a hug! I thought I was being summoned for something nice for once!” Danny curls up, bringing his knees up to his chest, and hides his pout behind his hands. He knows he’s being childish, but he can’t help but be upset that he couldn’t have this one good experience from being Ghost King. 

It’s always responsibilities and death cult summonings and fighting ghosts who don’t think he should be king. Sure there have been some good things, but they’re comparatively few when looking at all the other stress and pain that comes with the crown. Sue him for wanting to have a nice night for once. Hell, at this point, he’d take being summoned to help with some kid’s homework, because at least then he could have a quiet night helping someone.

“Hey, man, can you come down here?” Signal asks. 

He wants to stay out of reach, hiding himself away for a bit longer, but Signal is his new, surprise, accidental husband, so Danny lowers himself to the ground and peeks through his fingers to look at him.

He tenses when Signal hugs him, soft and warm and comforting. It takes a moment for him to realize what’s going on, and then he’s melting into Signal’s embrace, dropping his hands to wrap them around Signal’s back.

Distantly, he can hear the other heroes talking quietly amongst themselves. He blocks out the sound as much as he can, determined to enjoy this hug while it lasts.

Which is… fairly long. Signal makes no moves to end the hug, so Danny closes his eyes to really savor the moment. 

“So,” Signal murmurs into his ear, “As newlyweds, how about we get to know each other a bit better before we start working on fixing all this?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Let’s ditch these guys and take some time to ourselves.”

“I promise I’ll get this fixed,” he says, just to make sure Signal knows. “Genuinely, I am so sorry to have married you through an old Realms vow when you had no say in it.”

“Hey, if it lands me a very nice, very attractive king, then I don’t mind at all. I could have done without the murderous cultists, though.”

Danny huffs out a small laugh. “Oh, for sure. Thanks for being so cool about this. Want me to fly us out of here?”

“Yes please,” Signal says. Danny smiles and tightens his grip on Signal, then lifts them both up. “I’ll see y’all later! Have fun with the rest of your patrols!” he calls out to the other heroes, who start shouting at him.

Danny flies them right out the roof before the other heroes figure out a way to kick his ass. The city they’re in is smoggy and dark, tall buildings rising up into the cloudy sky, and police sirens ring through the air. There’s no where that looks like a particularly nice spot to land for a conversation, so he asks Signal where he’d like to go and follows his directions from there.

They end up phasing through a building, then into the floor, which leaves them in what Signal calls The Hatch. 

Danny takes a quick moment to freak out over being in a hero’s secret hide out, the composes himself and finally pulls away from Signal.

“So,” he starts, looking around The Hatch and taking in the giant computer, the workstation, the motorcycle farther down the way, “What did you—Woah!” Danny spins around, slamming a hand over his eyes the instant he realizes that Signal is taking off his helmet, leaving his face bare.

It’s not like he’d know who Signal is anyways, being from a different dimension, but it’s the principle of the matter.

Signal laughs when he sees Danny’s attempt to keep from looking at him. A warm hand wraps around his wrist and gently pulls it away. “It’s okay, Danny, you can look,” he says. “It would be pretty weird if my own husband didn’t know my face.”

Slowly, giving Signal to change his mind, Danny opens his eyes. He moves his gaze up, going from Signal’s armor to his face, his very cute face and his warm brown eyes, and Danny stares for a moment. 

“Hi,” he whispers.

“Hi,” Signal says, fondness coloring his voice. “My name’s Duke. Are all Ghost Kings as cute as you?”

“Duke,” Danny repeats. “Hi. Um, no. The last one really sucked, actually, which is why I fought him. He was so bad the Infinite Realms didn’t want him anymore, so though I technically didn’t beat him in single combat, it was enough for the Infinite Realms to kick him out and get me on the throne.”

“Man, I can not wait to hear more of your stories. Think we got time for that while we search for a way to undo that marriage vow?”

Taking his chance, Danny says, “Sure! It’s a date.”

He’s awarded by Duke’s bright smile and idly wonders how long he can keep them married. Hopefully long enough for them to get into a real relationship where he can propose properly. And then he can get Jazz’s blessing too—

“Oh shit,” Danny realizes. 

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I need to tell my sister or she’s going to actually kill me.”

Duke winces. “And I should probably tell the others before Spoiler makes a mess of things… B is not going to be happy with me.”

They share a despairing look, already dreading the amount of scoldings they’re both going to get. He’s not looking forward to it.

“...Put it off until tomorrow?”

Duke nods. “Yeah. That’s a tomorrow problem. For now, how about a late dinner?”

“Sounds perfect.”

. . .

[send me a ghostlights prompt!]

[hazbinhazmeinachokehold]

The gang + powerful overlord reader who is trying to reform

A/n: Tbh I don't have the strongest grasp on what makes an overlord an overlord but I tried. Everything here is platonic!

Warning: Very slight alluding to suicide. It's in one sentence and not supposed to be about suicide but I just wanted to warn y'all in case.

(Not beta read!)

You honestly didn't want to be an overlord. But if you had some power maybe the citizens of hell would leave you alone. And you were admittedly powerful. Which wasn't by your own doing, just like in the living world everything was down to luck. And you won the lottery. So you decided to spend the money and became an overlord. Just to lower the chance of demons pestering you.

It worked. It worked too well. You took out a few overlords, it was dirty. You caught them off guard in the middle of going about their life. You don't keep up with politics. To your surprise, you took out two heavy hitters. Which did result in people not pestering you. But not just that it resulted in them outright avoiding you. You didn't feel good about killing them, you just killed as many as you thought would need to make you noteable. If you had just killed the two it would have removed more unnecessary deaths that you caused.

People would literally light themselves on fire rather than be near you. Out of fear of what gruesome way you would kill them. Not that you would kill them but rumors spread. It went from you just stabbing the overlords to torturing them in the most messed up way possible. You being this insanely powerful and sadistic being. That was the only way they could imagine you killing some of the most powerful creatures in hell.

So it was like that for years. As you were walking around the death and carnage you didn't mean to cause. Amidst all the screams you heard a TV playing. You check it out and it was some sort of ad. You recognized Angel from Val. Whenever Velvet was the one to show up at meetings she would always manage to bring up her and the other Vee's social media presence. Which with Val would involve his pornos. At least he's able to escape from that prick sometimes. Despite the glitch he was somehow causing and his face being hidden you also recognized Alastor.

You didn't know much about your colleague's personal lives. You barely showed up at the meeting but this piqued your interest. But it was quickly cut off by the news.

"Breaking news in hell today!" One of the broadcasters, Katie, spoke, "We have just received word from the Heaven embassy that the next extermination is happening sooner than ever before!"

Well fuck you guess. You were never worried about exterminations. Not only did you have a safe area then none of the angels seemed to visit, if they killed you you'd be out of this dumpster fire. Granted you could go to an even worse dumpster fire but you didn't know that for sure.

But you were interested in whatever that first ad was for. Granted everyone was panicking so it wasn't like you could ask anyone about it. However, the news cut right back to the ad.

"Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!" A woman with an x over her eye spoke.

It cut to Husk (Who you've only heard snippets about from Alastor.) and Angel.

"Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel." Husk's eyes lingered below him. Clearly reading a script. If his eyes didn't give it away his monotone voice certainly did. "Can I help you with anything?"

"I've been a bad boy. And I need a big strong daddy to put me in my place." Angel moaned. There was a slight sigh coming from behind the camera. Okay ew. You were not trying to see porn while going for a walk. Just as you were about to walk away Angel spoke up again, "On the path to redemption!"

Oh! That sounded... quite nice actually. You didn't exactly believe in the idea. But a chance to get away and even a chance to redeem yourself was a very nice idea.

You went to the hotel's door and racked against the door. Which was kind of stupid. Hotel doors don't need to be knocked on but it still felt like the right thing to do. The fucking princess of hell herself opened the door with a somewhat panicky smile plastered on her face.

"Hello-" She bit her lip "One second." She left but left the door open a creek, "Vaggie it happened again!" She yelled you could hear the rest of what she was saying but you saw a red glow approaching the door.

Before you knew what was happening your hand (and whole body was being shaken by the Radio demon himself, "Why hello y/n!" His staticky voice greeted, "Are you here to watch this wayward adventure fail as well? Or perhaps you aim to entertain it?" Alastor unnerved you. While you were the same on power level he was unpredicted any vengeful thoughts he had were hidden behind his smile.

He was gently pushed away by Charlie. "So sorry about the wait, just wasn't expecting another powerful overlord." She vaguely gestured to Alastor, "So do you want to check in?" Her voice was cautiously hopeful.

"Yep!"

Her eyes turned the size of saucers, "OK! Great so um sorry I'm just so excited! You can go choose your room! A few are already occupied by our guests and staff! But it's pretty easy to tell which rooms are taken." She rambled. As she guided you through the hotel the woman with an x over her eye pointed a spear at you as you passed by.

A short one-eyed girl scattered around. The exact opposite of how she was in the ad. She stabbed a bug with a whole knife getting dangerously close to Husk being at the end of her knife in the process.

Angel glanced at you and any color his already pure white face had drained. Uh oh.

"One minute." You said and walked over to the spider demon, "Fyi just to let you know I also want to kill Val. Just say the word and I might finally be able to go through with it." You said in a hushed voice. He was still tense but visibly relaxed.

You soon found a room and got somewhat set up. You'd have to bring some stuff from your house tomorrow. But today you decided to just collapse onto your bed. While your first impressions weren't of a super chill place, it did give the impression of a family. Maybe your life wouldn't be so much of a living hell here.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Someone New 4

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include angst, pining, romcom tropes, and some darker elements later in the series. Some triggers may not be specifically tagged. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This fic will contain explicit content. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You’ve had a crush on your best friend for years, but you’re slapped in the face with reality when he takes things to the next level with his girlfriend.

Characters: Steve Rogers, Thor

Note: I got like insanely sick suddenly and I still feel off.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

“Sam, that paradise punch was a bad idea,” you groan as you struggle to get your bag out of the trunk of the taxi. 

“Whatever,” Sam slurs as he comes around, “I tipped the driver extra. Bud, you think you can get this out for the lady?” 

The driver is all to helpful as he comes around you take the handle from you and swiftly plants the bag on its wheels. It’s everything you have that isn’t bundled up into storage or sacrificed to the dumpster. You thank the man and swallow a belch. 

“Have a safe trip, miss,” the driver nods and turns to slap Sam’s arm, “and you, sir.” 

Sam salutes the man and pushes away from the cab, your carry-on slung from his shoulder. The two of you clumsily lift the bag over the curb. You look up at the airport as the roar of jet engines cuts through the dusky air. 

“I feel like I’m drunker,” Sam snickers. 

“Uh huh, me too,” you murmur. Two hours on his couch was barely enough. If anything, it’s just set your vision askew. “They’re not gonna let me board if – hiccup—I'm blasted.” 

“Don’t worry, we can get water,” he blathers and yanks your bag onto its wheels, “off to the land of vikings! Skol!” 

“Skol?” You follow him in a clamour. 

“It’s what they say, isn’t it?” He chuckles, “I saw it on a show or whatever.” 

“I... yeah, usually while they drink, not stumbling drunk,” you rebuff. 

“Sound pretty sober to me with all that whining,” he rebukes. 

“Whatever,” you roll your eyes and follow him through the automatic doors. 

He veers off and you follow him in confusion, glancing back at the check-in counter. He stops before a bright vending machine and feels around in his pocket. He taps his card and focuses intently on pressing the button. 

“Waterrrrr,” he drones and leans on the machine to reach through the slot. 

He hands it over and you unscrew the cap. You chug half the bottle and let out an obnoxious belch. You cover your mouth in embarrassment and offer him the rest. He finishes it off and you linger by the machine as you let the cool flow settle in. 

“Feel any better?” He asks. 

“A little. I’ll have a coffee on the plane.” 

“Nah, you should sleep.” 

“Maybe,” you take out your phone and tap the side button. Nothing. 

“Anything from Mr. Carter?” Sam asks. 

“No,” you black the screen and shrug. “Come on, I gotta check my bag.” 

“You should check that boy,” he blathers as he stands straight and once more yanks the bag after you, “tell him what’s what.” 

“Sam, he’s busy--” 

“He’s your best friend! At least, he likes to say so then do nothing.” 

“Quit,” you beg him, “this is hard enough.” 

“This is what you need--” 

“I know!” You throw your hands up and face him as you come up before the counter. “I know. Okay. I’m stupid and---” you shake your head and let the truth sink back into the depths of your soul. You face the clerk and sigh, “I’m sorry, I’m here to check my bag.” 

You pull out your wallet and slide your passport across the counter. You show your boarding pass and pay for the extra weight. Your bid a safe journey and carry on with only the smaller bag still on Sam’s shoulder. 

Wordlessly, you sit in a row of seats. You look up at the clock. You’ll have to go to the boarding area sooner than later. He won’t be able to come with you. 

“Sam, I’m sorry. I just... is it that obvious?” You croak. 

He puts his hand on your back and rubs it gently. It’s soothing. The tension trickles down your sides and seeps out. It feels good to admit it aloud yet mortifying just the same. 

“No, I just sense these things. I know Steve, I know you, and I know he doesn’t deserve you. Even as just friends.” 

“Ugh,” you put your head in your hands, “I am so stupid.” 

“No, you’re not. You’re human. It stinks. Our brains, our hearts, they aren’t logical, as much as we like to pretend,” he huffs, “trust me. We’ve all been there and if we haven’t, we’ll get our turn.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” you sit up as your eyes glisten, “I just... he said he’d be here. I thought I’d at least get that--” 

Your name echoes through the airy space and you wince. Right on cue, just before you can collapse completely. You turn as Steve rushes toward you. He wears jeans and grey sweatshirt. He remembered! 

You stand as Sam sighs. You smile, only halfway before you see the figure trailing behind him. Peggy looks less than excited to be there. Her sleepy lashes flutter as her wave hair is pinned back in a messy chignon, still elegant despite the carelessness. She wears a dark green trench over a silver satin nightie. She must’ve rushed out with him. 

“Hey,” Steve nears, “sorry I couldn’t make it for drinks, but I couldn’t miss take-off.” 

“Mmm, they don’t have any afternoon flights,” Peggy mutters. 

“They do but landing doesn’t line up with the train,” you shrug and glance at her briefly. Her glare darts back at you. You wonder if that work dinner was so impromptu after all. 

“Are you excited?” Steve drops into the seat next to you. 

“Uh, yeah, nervous,” you smile as the weight lightens from your chest. He came. Maybe Sam is wrong. Maybe friends isn’t that bad. 

“It’s going to be great. You have to send me updates, oh, and I’ll be sure to send you all the wedding news!” He grins, “I still can’t believe you’re going to be so far away.” 

“It’s a good opportunity,” Peggy intones as she sits on his other side, resting her hand on his forearm, “in her line of work, I’m sure they don’t come often.” 

You press your lips tight and look down, “yeah, not really.” 

“She can get out. Make new friends. Some girl friends, maybe,” Peggy remarks. 

“I’m sure she’ll make all the friends,” Sam interjects, “I hear there isn’t much sunlight over there, she’ll be a breath of fresh air for those grumpy vikings.” 

“Mm, yes,” Peggy grumbles as she trails her hand down to Steve’s. “Too bad you won’t make the engagement party.” 

“Or the wedding,” Steve adds. 

“Well, we’ve a full wedding party as it is,” she shrugs. “There’ll be lots of pictures.” 

“Right, yeah, I’m sorry to miss it all,” you frown. “I...” you sit back and nearly choke, “I’m gonna hit the bathroom.” 

You stand as Sam puffs out heavily and to your surprise, Peggy swiftly gets to her feet, suddenly very awake. Your soberness is setting in along with a pulsing headache. You really don’t want to deal with her. If you knew he’d bring her, you’d have told Steve to stay home. 

“I’ll come with you. I’m splitting at the seams,” she trills. 

“Alright,” you agree with a tint of uncertainty. 

She twirls and you walk parallel to her towards the bathroom signs. You chalk it up to the feminine habit. It isn’t unusual to visit the toilets in pairs, even without much kinship between you. It does however spoil your attempt at respite. You less so want to empty your bladder than clear your mind. 

You don’t say a word as you enter the bathroom. You go into a stall and she does the same. Your mind clogs your biology and you have to sit and focus before you can get a flow going. By the time you’re trickling into the bowl, she’s done. A toilet flushes and you hear her unlatch the door and approach the sinks. 

She’s in heels, even at this hour. The sink sprays out water and you listen to her hum as she washes her hands. You finish up and flush, coming out meekly to use the sink next to her. You focus on the simple task as she watches you in the mirror. 

Sensing her gaze, you look up and pull your hands out from under the censor-activated faucet. You meet her eyes and nearly wince at the steely intensity. You stand straight and move past her to retrieve some paper towel. 

“This is a wise decision,” she says, “well-needed.” 

You look at her again as you dry your hands, “thanks.” 

“Oh, I’m not congratulating you. About time you got some sense,” she sneers. 

You wince and crumple up the towel. You drop it in the bin and cross your arms, “okay, well...” 

“It’s better you’re not here for any of it. He doesn’t need the distraction.” 

You chew the inside of your lip as venom drips from her voice. You’re still slightly tipsy and too tired to process this. You have no response. 

“The distance will help you get over it. Finally,” she snips, “you know, I thought it was almost endearing at first then it just became pathetic.” 

You swallow. You’re humiliated that even she could see right through you. You can hardly blame her for her spite. After all, she’s his fiancée, not you. 

“He thinks it’s silly. He laughs.” 

You flinch then. Hard. Your chest rents and your stomach boils. 

“He knows. It’s obvious. I mean, it’s convenient, isn’t it? You’ll do anything for him and really it was rather helpful. Took a lot off my plate and his but it’s time for all of us to grow up. I will be his wife and he doesn’t need some girl to measure out his laundry detergent or remind him to eat.” 

You blink and look away. You cross your arms and push your shoulders up, “got it.” 

“So why don’t you go ahead and just put him on mute now?” 

“Peggy,” you whisper. 

“We’re getting married. You know you can’t stop it, that’s why you’re running away. So end it.” 

“You don’t have to be cruel,” you mutter. 

“I could be horrid. I could have been for all these years. I believe I’ve had remarkable restraint with you,” she points a manicured nail at you, “you should be thanking me for having the grace to do this in private.” 

Your lip trembles and your cheeks tug painfully. You nod and turn away, “don’t worry, Peg, you won’t hear from me. He won’t either.” You make your way to the door, “I wish you both the best.” 

“Mm, I pray you find some clarity and perhaps some maturity along the way,” she retorts as she follows you, heels clicking loudly across the tile, “perhaps you might find someone too. Someone you deserve.” 

Her last words sting. The derision is pungent enough to make your nose crinkle. Someone you deserve... because you could never ever be good enough for Steve Rogers. 

💟

You don’t look back as you go through the gate. You can’t. It’s too painful. The tears have receded but the pain is only deeper. Peggy’s words reverberate in your head, nipping at your ears as your nape burns hotter and hotter. 

She’s right. Sam too. This is overdue. It’s exactly what you need to do. You know it. It’s the reason you chose this. That moment when you were faced with being the eternal wobbly third wheel, you made up your mind. It’s over. That part of your life is behind you, but you don’t know that you’ll ever stop feeling this way. 

It’s hard to settle in your seat, even knowing you have ten hours of flying ahead of you. Disembarking alone will be another hour at least, then finding the train station, another few hours... It’s a lot of time to think and you just can’t stop. 

You don’t take the book out of your bag or touch the screen in front of you. Instead, you sit, slumped down in your seat, eyes drifting back and forth, as you wallow in your self-pity. You stay like that through the flight. You decline the mid-flight meal and the snack cart. You don’t even get up to use the bathroom. 

You close your eyes and float away into memory. You can feel the scene around you. You can smell the stale air freshener forgotten on the shelf above the desk and hear the muffled thrum of music through the walls. You sit on the bed, your textbook open in your lap and your laptop open by your leg. Steve’s on the other end, phone in hand, texting as his golden hair flops forward over his head. 

He’s younger. That rosiness still kisses his cheeks as subtle freckles speckle his pale skin. Yet he’s just a well-built as ever. Broad shoulders, chiseled jaw, long legs. He’s the very picture that should appear next to ‘hunk’ in the dictionary. Every girl’s dream. Your dream. 

“Huh,” he chuckles and drops his phone, “this girl in my history class wants to meet up.” 

Your heart plucks and you force a smile, “a girl? Meet up?” 

“Oh, yeah, she lets me copy off her pop quiz every lecture. Guess I kinda owe her.” 

“Wow,” you utter, the only noise you can eke out. Owes her? Funny, you did his laundry last week and helped him print out his term paper... what do you get? 

“Yeah, so uh, do you think you could send me a copy of your notes?” He pushes himself to the edge of the bed. “I probably won’t be back tonight.” 

“Right,” you nod and hide your embarrassment at the insinuation. 

“You can crash here if you wanna. Long way across campus at night,” he shrugs casually as he grabs his varsity jacket. 

“No, I’ll... I’ll just go now,” you get off the bed and close up your books. 

“Probably a good idea. Just in case she wants to come back here,” he chuckles, “see ya in poli sci?” 

“Sure,” you keep your chin down. “See ya.” 

Your eyelids lift as you come out of the dazed memory.  

New York is gone. Steve is gone. You’re all alone. You’ve left it all behind but that home was never a home. It was all a farce you built on a childish hope. You’re done lying to yourself. It was never going to be. You didn’t miss any chance at all. You just wasted your own time. 

You just languish there in the airplane seat. It’s still hard to believe it’s all real. It isn’t until the wheels bounce and hit the tarmac that it fully sinks in. 

You’re not doing that again. You’re better off alone. You have to be, right? You don’t really know. You don’t even know yourself. You just know the girl who only wanted to be what he needed. 

But what do you need? What do you want? Can you figure it out? Is there anything in this land for you that you couldn’t find in New York? 

At least you’ll have lots of time to figure that out. Intimate hours with yourself to dwell and cringe and regret. Time to think, time to move on, time to cut him out. 

As you join the line to have your Visa stamped, you pull out your phone and turn off airplane mode. You swipe through to Steve’s last message. It was weeks ago. That makes it easier to hit that button; ‘mute’. It’s a start. Maybe in a few weeks, you’ll be ready to hit ‘block’. 

[nurse-floyd]

The Deli-Cats

For @vivwritesfics who inspired both reader bringing home every stray cat they find and baby ballsack <3 (this will make sense when you read the fic!)

Y/N finds a very pregnant sphinx cat on her way home and Max is more than happy to introduce her to their family.

Warnings: None. Unless you hate cats, then what is wrong with you?

If you liked this fic or moodboard please consider requesting or buying me a coffee?

You hadn’t meant to bring home another cat while Max was away. In fact, the thought never even crossed your mind until you heard a loud cry coming from behind a dumpster in an alleyway you crossed on the way home. You followed the noise, honestly thinking it was a baby at first. I mean…you were half right; it was a baby in your mind. There, huddling behind the trash cans when it heard you coming, was a beautiful, although very dirty, sphinx cat.

“Oh sweetheart…” you cooed softly as you bent down to seem less threatening. You held out your hand, showing the cat you meant no harm and let it sniff you before it started nuzzling against your hand, buzzing softly.

It was only when it came out of the shadows that you saw its belly. Her very round and very pregnant belly.

She continued to sniff around your crouched form for a little longer. When she climbed into your lap and snuggled into your soft hoodie, you knew the cat distribution system had chosen you. “Well…how are we going to explain this one to Max?” you sighed, already knowing this cat was definitely coming home with you.

With the cat safely in your arms, you stood up and made your way through the streets of Monaco back to your apartment. People shot you a few strange looks, but there are weirder things to see than a very round and naked cat being carried through the streets, right?

You knocked on the door, realizing you couldn’t get your keys from your pocket with your hands full. You sucked in a breath as the door opened, and Max’s face immediately went to the bundle in your arms.

“Surprise?”

Max led you in with a hand on the small of your back and closed the door behind you. You didn’t even need to explain any further as he reached forward and took the cat from your arms.

The cat nuzzled against his beard, and you could tell he was already as in love as you were. You took her to the bathroom and set her up with some blankets, food, and water to keep her away from a very curious Jimmy and Sassy. She immediately ate and then snuggled into the plush blanket you’d laid out for her.

“She looks like a rotisserie chicken.”

You burst out laughing at the comment that seemingly came out of nowhere and couldn’t help but agree; she kind of did with her round pot belly.

“Well. Welcome to the family, Chicken.”

After taking her to the vet the next morning for a thorough check-up, your suspicions (not that you thought anything different with her very round belly) were confirmed: you were going to be cat grandparents.

Later that night, after her clean bill of health, you decided to introduce her to Jimmy and Sassy. The pair had already been stalking her outside of the bathroom door and were very curious to meet the invader of their household.

Sassy was first; she looked at her and back to you and Max, and then walked away seemingly without a care in the world. Jimmy, however, was smitten. He cautiously walked up to her, and after a sniff, they were rubbing their heads on each other. From then on, your little family seemed to get along quite well, and you and Max couldn’t be happier.

You set up the Instagram account that evening and introduced the world to Chicken. Like the majority of the pets of the grid, she became very popular and everyone was excited for the arrival of the new additions. Danny teased Max about being a grandad, Alex had already claimed one of the kittens to add to the Albon zoo, and countless others were in love with her.

That happiness soon turned into anxiety as Max had to leave for another race week. It would have been okay if it was any other weekend, but this happened to be the very weekend your very round cat, who had gotten even rounder, was due to give birth to her kittens.

“Do you have to go?” you asked. It was a stupid question, yes. He did have to go, and you knew you could handle it yourself, but you just wanted backup in case.

He kissed you on the cheek and kissed Chicken, who by this point was so round she just about had the energy to waddle from her bed to the litter tray or her food bowl.

“I’ll be home before you know it. You’ll be fine; besides, she still has a little while to go.”

With a final kiss, you sent him off on his way. “Well guys, it’s just the four of us now,” you spoke to the three sets of eyes that were locked onto you.

Chicken slowly blinked at you, and Sassy couldn’t care less as she continued about her business grooming herself from atop her cat tower. At least Jimmy gave you some ounce of comfort as he nuzzled against your hand.

A few days later, after you’d watched qualifying with your three children (they were most definitely your children), Chicken began to get more grumpy and a lot more agitated.

“Shit.”

You set up the bathroom with lots of towels, newspaper, and fresh water and placed her in there. Then you phoned Max as your panic began to rise, but it kept going to voicemail. You didn’t even check the time difference or his schedule to see what he’d be doing; you didn’t care; you just needed him.

Relief flooded your veins as he finally answered and his face came on your screen.

“Hey…” His big smile faded as he saw the panicked look on your face and the tears starting to spill over.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Chicken…it’s time. The babies!”

To anyone else, the conversation would have sounded quite comical.

“Okay, breathe schatje. She’s got this,” he reassured. “She knows what to do, she’s got this.”

Max was able to calm you down enough for you to see sense. He sat with you for as long as he could until he had to go to bed and reassured you that she’d be okay.

Then you were alone.

It was a long night for the pair of you, but eventually, come morning, you had six very healthy kittens and one very happy but tired momma.

You called Max once more; he was already in his fireproofs, having just finished the last of his media duties before the race. “How is she?” He was practically buzzing with excitement.

His face lit up as you turned the camera and he saw six gorgeous wrinkly babies suckling from their mom. Chicken, as if she knew Max was on the phone, lifted her head up and slowly blinked.

“You did so good, momma!” Max cooed, his voice so soft and in awe.

He couldn’t stay much longer, but you wished him luck, and with the promise of seeing him later that night, you let him go.

Later that evening, when Max finally arrived home, you couldn’t wait to show him the new babies. You lifted the makeshift curtain you’d set up to give Chicken some privacy. She lifted up her head but placed it back down when she realized it was just you and Max.

“Chicken! Look at your babies,” Max said as he eyed the six babies that were suckling from her.

“She was a trooper!” you said, leaning into Max’s side, happy to both sit and watch the babies.

It was quiet until Max spoke. “They look like ballsacks,” he blurted out, not quite thinking about what he was saying until it came out. He looked at you with that cheeky grin that you loved.

You smacked him, “Don’t say that about our grandchildren!”

“Have you thought about names?”

“We are not naming one Ballsack, Max…” you deadpanned, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

Later that evening, you posted about your new additions and introduced the world to the deli-cats, the name you'd decided on wanting to keep on brand with rotisserie chicken. Bologna, Turkey Slice, Pastrami, Prosciutto, Salami, and much to your dismay, Ballsack (only because Max insisted and you couldn’t think of any more meat). Alex claimed prosciutto before you could even put your phone down, the text message on your phone coming through. Max was in love with Ballsack, being the runt of the litter and the cutest of the bunch, but he wasn’t biased, definitely not. The name would definitely be changing, though.

[aestheticaltcow]

Hi

I read some of your stuff and really liked it and I was wondering

If you could do like a carmy x English major fic?

Like maybe a book store opens somewhere near the bear and it’s Natalie’s babies first birthday and he figures that kids like books and stuffed animals and he’s been too busy to get anything for the party cuz he’s helping Natalie by catering so she doesn’t have to worry about it

So he goes in and he meets reader and she recommends him something (like stellaluna or where the wild things are, like a classic kids book that carmy has somehow never heard of)

But then he thinks she’s really cute so he just keeps finding excuses to go in and talk to her and she starts like regularly recommending him books and everyone’s like “when the fuck did he learn how to read?”

No pressure just thought I’d ask, tysm!

Written Romance

Carmy Berzatto x Reader

The Bear Masterlist

 “What do you even get a one-year-old?” Marcus queried as he looked down at the pastel-fruit-decorated birthday invitation. Michelle Witaske-Berzatto’s Berry's first birthday was this upcoming Sunday, and of course, the entire Bear staff was invited.

Carmy shrugged, “Last time I babysat, she played with a paper towel roll for 45 minutes.” he chuckled, remembering his niece squealing as she threw it in the air as much as her chubby little arms could. While he had become one of Natalie’s go-to babysitters, his apartment lacked baby-friendly activities. He’d busted out a couple of his old stuffed animals from Donna’s garage, and he had a couple of soft blankets for her to sit on, but aside from that- he was the awkward uncle who didn’t know what to talk about with a baby. He did like reading about French cuisine with her, but Sugar argued she preferred the story books Donna and their Nona used to read them when they were little. Carmy insisted she was actually a huge Julia Child fan, but his opinion was written off.

Carmy was taking out the trash when he noticed a new bookstore had opened a few storefronts down. He paused before throwing the bags in the dumpster; he’d have to check it out on his break.

~

It had been a slow day in the bookshop, granted days like this were nice since you were behind on homework. You were on a hot streak with your writing when the welcome bell rang, signaling you had a customer. After mentally cursing their existence, you closed your laptop and looked up to see a handsome man. Black Dickie work pants, crisp white t-shirt, and Birkenstock clogs with a reusable tote bag on his shoulder. You bit your cheek as you watched this mystery man approach the counter. “Hey, how can I help you?” your voice cracked subtly enough for him not to notice- or at least not indicate he heard it crack.

“Do you have any children’s section and recommendations?” he asked hopefully. “Well, that depends,” you started as you walked around the counter. “How old is the kiddo?” you asked as you walked toward the back of the shop, motioning him to follow you. 

“She’s one.” Carmy answered, following you through a narrow hallway made up of two overstuffed bookshelves. You nodded, “Well, my nephew loved Stellaluna when he was little- so that’s my go-to.” 

Carmy nodded, “Okay.. any others? It’s her birthday, so wanna get her somethin’ fun.” he explained as you handed him a copy of Stellaluna, “Is this about bats?” he asked as he held up the book to you. You laughed and nodded, “It’s charming- it’s about embracing differences and how different people can be friends.”

You directed Carmy through the children’s section for about an hour. Carmy held a pile of colorful picture books and a copy of a fairy series you’d recommended for when Michelle got older. “You’re really into this, aren’t you?” Carmy asked as he set the pile of books on the counter. You nodded as you began ringing up his purchase, “I’m getting my Master’s in English Lit.”

Carmy smiled, “That’s cool.” 

“Thanks… what about you? Are you passionate about your work?” you challenged as you put each book in a paper bag. “Passion is a subjective experience… I’m a chef- I actually own The Bear.” he laughed, gesturing toward the exit. “Is it nearby? Sorry, I don’t go out to eat often.” you grimaced, hoping you hadn’t offended him. Carmy nodded, “It’s across the street a few doors down.” 

“I’ll check it out sometime.” you smiled, handing him his bag. Carmy nodded, “Sure thing. I’m Carmy, by the way.” 

“Y/N. I hope the little one likes her books.”

“I’ll be her favorite uncle for sure.” 

~

It took a few weeks for Natalie to notice, Carmy was happier. When she went to pick Michelle up she noticed an ever growing stack of children’s books, coloring books, and his not ratty old stuffed animals from Donna’s garage. Something was goin’ on… she just didn’t know what. 

“Is Carmy dating someone?” she asked Syd one night when they were alone in the office. She shrugged, “Honestly, I don’t want to know about his love life.” she laughed at the end. The sheer obscurity of Carmy having a girlfriend after the Claire saga was something Syd didn’t want to wrap her head around. “He’s been going to that bookshop a lot- if he is seeing someone, she probably works there.” Syd thought aloud as Natalie hit print on the document she’d been working on. 

“Hm. Interesting…”. “Natalie trailed off as she exited the office with the paperwork and a pen. She walked into the dining room to get Richie to sign off on an order. She watched him squeeze the bridge of his nose at the host stand. “Stressed?” Natalie commented as she set the documents in front of Richie. Yeah… where’s Carmy? I need to ask him about the menu for next week.” 

Natalie shrugged, “Not sure. He said he had to run an errand?” 

Richie shook his head, “I swear that child is tryin’ to get with this girl- mother fucker learned how to read to impress her. Marcus saw him reading some philosophy book in the office last night.” 

“Hm. I guess I’ll just have to ask him about it.”

[cheerfulomelette]

Last night, after a week in which far-right reactionaries and literal Nazis tried to burn down buildings where migrant families were being housed - while the families and immigration staff were in the building - racists tried to organise further riots in over 100 cities across the UK.

Those cities turned out to tell the racsits, in no uncertain terms, that they are a tiny minority. 8,000 anti-racist counterprotesters turned out in Walthamstow. The rioters either did not show up or left early. 7,000 counter-protesters showed up in Bristol and 2,000 in Liverpool. The Telegraph and BBC (both right-wing mouthpieces that bear no small responsibility for this situation) said that similar numbers were seen in Brighton, Newcastle, and towns and cities across the country, with single or low-double digit would-be rioters being surrounded and hounded out of town by thousands of counter-protesters.

The far-right have wildly overestimated their influence and the British public's feeling about immigration. The will learn from this and they will try again, and we will turn out again and again until they get the message that migrants are welcome and racists are not.

British news outlets are responsible for whipping up anti-immigration rhetoric for decades, and British politics and politicians are a series of escalating racist, anti-immigration dumpster fires. But there are still decent people in this country, and there are so many, many more of us than them.

Walthamstow:

[toulousewayne]

🌿🍃Toxic Lover: Pt: II

Nightwing X male!reader with a former team who had become Poison Ivy like meta-human.

Summary:Your a former Titan teammate, you and Dick have unresolved feelings and you become infected with the same toxins and chemicals that turned Poison Ivy into a meta-human.

————-

“They Can Bury Us Deep, But We Always Grow.”

Batman sat perched on the rooftops of Gotham. It was a rainy night, much preferred these nights. Most of the crime was kept to the shadows it made it easier for him.

“Batman,we’ve got a problem,”Oracle’s voice filled his coms. “Fill me in.” He jumped off the building and glided north of his location.

——

A man walks outside of the Stacked Deck Bar, and takes a puff from his cigarette. He walks into the alleyway and takes a swig of his flask.

He rounds the corner to see a shadow figure standing before him.

“It’s the freakin’ bat,” he takes out his pistol but it’s knocked out of his grips my a WingDing. The next thing he knows he’s thrown against a nearby dumpster.

“You murderer.” Nightwing snarled at the man before his feet. He kicked him in the stomach, then picked him up and flung him to the other side of the alley.

“L-look I’m sorry about you friend—it’s wasn’t personal.” He’s met with a powerful shock to the gut.

“AHHH-pplease.”

“That’s enough, honey,”A thin cloud of pink and gold mist surrounded the two men, Y/n emerged be held by tree branches pink petals. “It’s good to see you,Nolan wasn’t it. however, the last time we meet you killed me along with your friends.” Y/n grinned. He sported a new pale green skin tone now, his normal (E/C) eyes were a deep emerald. Leaves and vines woven together to map pants and some wrapped around his forearms and torso.

He lowered himself and walked over to Nightwing placing a hand on his emblem. “You know I should really thing you, you allowed me to be a better version of myself,”

“You’re welcome-“Nightwing kicked him in the gut again.

Y/n crossed his arms across his chest. “Though I could have done without the new color. No matter it’s time you answer my questions.” He waved his hand and Nightwing backed away from the goon. Y/n crouched down and blow from his palm, more of the same pink dust engulfed him squared in the face and almost immediately his grimace morphed into a blank stare.

“Now what I want to know two things. What is the name of the scientist that gave you the order to kill me, and last where is Poison Ivy?”

———

The Batmobile came to a screeching haunt behind several police cruisers. He leaped out and walked past the small crowd held back by officers.

A officer lifted a yellow tape and he entered the crime scene. Gordon stood a foot away from two white sheets, Spoiler and Red Robin stood at the bodies scanning them before joining Batman and the Commissioner.

“They two of the best people on the force,” Gordon puffed after taking a drag from his Pipe.

“Any leads?” Batman turned to the two heroes. Red Robin hand him a zip lock bag with several deep green leaves.

“Posion Ivy, she’s been quiet.” Spoiler folded her arms.

Batman walked past them and removed the sheets to observe the bodies. It’s definitely something Ivy could have done but Batman isn’t so sure. He knows that’s she’s been MIA for months.

He rises his head and looks straight ahead. “Gotham Cemetery.” He mumbles. He stands up and walks towards it.

“Is he himself?” Gordon turns to the two who shrug.

��

Batman enters the cemetery and walks past the stone statues. He moves like a black phantom through out the grounds until he stops in front of what was supposed to be a fresh grave. Red Robin and Spoiler approach and stop themselves.

“What happened?” She questions. Vines and purple flowers grown from the grave and have consumed it. The casket is in the heart of the greenery and is split open. And no body inside.

Batman turned to the two, before worry took over his masked features. “Has anyone spoke to Nightwing tonight?”

“Not since the afternoon, he said he was patrolling the East End tonight.” Red Robin replied.

“You think Y/n did this?” Spoiler looked back at the grave and back to Batman who was practically running towards the entrance.

“Alfred I need to find Nightwing he’s not answering his com links.” The Batmobile came to a roaring stop at the cemetery gates and Batman hopped inside before racing down the street.

“I’m afraid I haven’t been able to locate him Sir. His tracker when down two hours ago.” He sighed.

Batman gripped the steering wheel.”Any last know location.”

“Allow me to check,”Alfred typed a few keys before giving him the last location,”Robinson Park Sir, the Botanical Gardens.” The Batmobile raced and roar onto Pioneer Bridge towards the other part of the city.

——

One man stumbles and falls down a few stairs and coughs. As he runs down a hallway into a warehouse.

“Please have Mercy!” He cries as he ducks behind a crate.

“Mercy,I’ll show you mercy.” A voice boomed in the dark room. The man cowered in fear before he flew back from his hiding spot and was carried up fifty feet in the air. He was wrapped in an oversized vine and was being constrained.

Y/n moved into his view ontop of an another vine and smirked. He had his arm resting on his knee and leaned forward towards the man’s face.

“So sad isn’t it. We take for granted the gifts Mother Nature can offer us,” he plucks a maroon flower from his vine that looks between a cross of a tulip and rose. He twirled the flower and looked back at the man. Before smirking.

“So tell me Wilson, where can I find the scientist?” Before the man could reply Y/n blow on the flower and black particles landed on his face. He started to cough and scream in pain.

“He’s meeting the Boss I don’t know who but he’s meeting him Chinatown. PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!” He screamed in terror before a massive coughing fit and his limbs go limp.

Y/n lowers himself down and allows the vines to drop the body with a loud crack. Nightwing stood a few feet from where the man landed. He stare at him for a while before Y/n came into his view.

“Where are we going?” Y/n placed a kiss to his cheek. Y/n took his leave with Dick in tow.

“To make one more stop.”

——

Batman crashed through the same skyline Nightwing had to find the place abandoned. He took a look around with a flashlight.

He came to a makeshift bed and found the same leaves Red Robin gave him.

He turned on his scanner and turned the leave over. “Alfred identify and breakdown these leaves basic components.”

“Right away Sir. These two leaves have the same trace amount of pheromones. The scanners indicate they are of a stronger concentration. The combination is similar to the lab where Nightwing and is team were a few nights ago.”

Batman turned and looked at the ground. He found a WingDing and a remnant of a sleep dart. The same Nightwing gauntlet. “Nightwing must of found Y/n and tried to stop him.”

Alfred hummed, “Do you think he killed Master Richard.”

Batman kneeled down a traced his finger to find them covered in a green dust. “Unlikely, what happened to him he still cares for Dick.” He stood up and grappled out of the greenhouse. He glides down to the street and gets back into the Batmobile.

“The attack on Y/n in the lab must of caused a biological shock and rewrite his DNA the same way it did Ivy. But what I can figure out is what’s motivate?” He began to drive before another call rang.

“It’s Ms Gordon I’ll patch her through.” Soon the ringing stopped and Barbara’s voice filled the car.

“Batman we found two bodies.”

“Where?”

“One at the Stacked Deck an hour ago Red Hood is on the scene with Bullock. And another at a warehouse at Dixon Docks,Batgirl is there with Robin now.”

“My word, Sir my analysis is completed. There is another drug mixed in that was scanned at the fire. It’s a drug called Tomgenalixe. It’s a substance used in modern day Hallucinogens and can be used to create mind altering effects.”

“Mind Control.” Batman and Oracle reply.

“So Y/n isn’t just killing people for fun, he’s been controlled too.” Oracle took a deep sigh.

Batman gripped the steering wheel.”We need to find them. Alfred can you track Y/n’s pheromones?”

Alfred typed at the Batcomputer. “Sir his tracking is leading to the Diamond District.”

Batman raced back towards the highway. “Oracle take the components of the drugs and chemicals and synthesize and antitoxin. Have someone bring it to me. Alfred, have Red Robin and Spoiler meet me at my location.”

“Working on it, I’ll have Red Hood and Batgirl pick up the antioxins as soon as it ready.” Oracle signed off.

“Sir, when you arrive what will you do?”

Batman didn’t answer as thunder crashed across the night sky.

“I’m going to save them.”

———-

“Where’s my cut?” The scientist hissed at the man in a chair turned away from him.

The man chuckled. “Your cut, you were supposed to bring me a new drug. You burned your research. I can’t get any of that funding back, and now Lex Luthor has questions about fire you caused.” The man stood before as Black Man rises from his seat and the scientist cowers.

“I’m—“ SMACK

“You little runt, you work for me and you’ll get paid when the fuck I say so.” He snarled. He grabbed a wad of cash from his pocket and threw it at him.

“Now get back and figure out the poison, you still have the plant woman in holding?”

“Yes, she’s secure downstairs.” He took the cash. But before he could leave he was kicked square in the jaw and crumbled to the floor.

Black Mask turns to see Nightwing giving his a death stare. “What brings you here?”

The doors burst open with three of his goons with green glowing eyes and Y/n strolling behind them.

“I’m here for a little payback.” Y/n smirked. He outstretched his arm and vines bursts from the floor and tied up Black Mask.

“You crazy bitch I’ll kill you.” Y/n yawned. “Boys take care of him,” he turned to the scientist. “I think you have someone who doesn’t belong to you, don’t worry I’ll kill you when this over just like I did you henchmen.”

“Boss!” The large man who had did most of the damage to Y/n emerged through another door. Nightwing sprang into action and brutal fought him. It didn’t take long before he hit the ground hard.

Y/n crossed the room and stood over the dazed man.

“Remember it’s nothing personal.” Y/n dropped seeds into his gapped open mouth and vines and flower rapidly grew from his mouth and stomach.

“That’s sick.” Black Mask gagged before getting punch by Nightwing.

Y/n nodded and then two armed guards took Black Mask away. The other waiting for them and Nightwing grabbed the Scientist.

“Let’s go.” He barked. Y/n and the other guard followed him. The arrived in a basement that was like a huge underground bunker.

They ventured until the came to a catwalk and bellow was a cell in center with Ivy unconscious.

“Well it seems you’ve severed your purpose.” Y/n turned to the man that uttered the order to kill him and before he could grab him a Batarang nearly took his hand off.

Batman leaped down and glared at the group.”That’s enough, you’ve taken to many lives tonight I won’t let you take more Y/n. This isn’t you.”

Y/n pursed his lips and brief a chuckle. “What do you know about Y/n?” Batman eyed down below and saw Ivy talking almost as a puppet.

“Ivy, you’ve been controlling him from the start.”

Ivy/Y/n chuckled. “I can’t take all the credit you seen when they turned Y/n into this new and improved version of himself. We form a connection, and the more his powers grew—“

“The greater your control became.” Batman finished. Ivy chuckled in her cell.

“He makes a fine successor, does need some weeding but no matter he’ll do fine to kill you.” Y/n caused two large vines to sprout beside Batman who leaped down and landed on his feet. He cartwheel out the way of a shock from Nightwing.

“I know you can hear me, don’t make me have to put down.” Nightwing smirked,”Come and try.” He lunged at Batman and the two attacked and blocked each others moves.

Red Robin and Spoiler crashed the room and took out the guard and Spoiler went after Y/n to jumped onto a moving vine.

“Y/n snap out of it you’re still in there.” She pleaded. Y/n formed another overgrown plant to seat her away like fly. He caused a giant Venus Flytrap to sprout and it held him in place.

“This will be your tomb.” He laughed wickedly.

——

Black Mask stood ontop of the building with rifles at his head.

“Jump.” One order. He moved his leg out to jump before he heard gunfire and the sounds of punches. He nervously turned to see Red Hood and Batgirl.

“I’m saved—“ he was lassoed by Batgirl who tied him to a pipe. Before following Red Hood into the building.

“Hell let me Go!”

—-

Nightwing kicked Batman in the chest sending him stumbling.

Red Robin back flipped out the way of a vine nearly crushing him.

“Give up.” Ivy hissed.

Red Hood and Batgirl arrived. Batgirl grabbed a vine and began to run up it to Y/n and Red Hood leaped down and fired a few rounds at Nightwing which distracted him long enough for Batman to land a punch.

He stagger and when to fight him some more giving Red Hood the chance to fire a dart the hit Nightwing in the neck. He growled before he slowly turned and fell into Batman’s arms going limp.

Batgirl managed to get a clear shot and injected Y/n with large dose. He felt tired fell onto the catwalk, Red Robin check on him before injecting an orange liquid into Y/n arm.

“This will break the connection to Ivy.”

Ivy screamed in pain like a part of her had been stabbed. “You’re going to Arkham.” Batman stood before her and she was about to shout before green mist filled her cell and she collapsed.

“Hey Oracle whip up something for her too.” Batgirl chimed in.

Batman grinned and turned to Nightwing and sighed.

———-

Y/n felt like everything that happened was a fever dream. Killing them men that assaulted him, rising from the dead like an uprooted carrot and his finale fight with the Batfamily.

He sat up with an instant migraine. He rubbed his temples from the bright lights and turned to the side to see a shadow.

“Where am I?” His voice was hoarse and scratchy.

“You’re in Arkham.” Batman sighed and came into the light of the cell.

Y/n took in his surroundings and it was in a cell in Arkham. He was also in hospital gown with a collar around his neck.

“So I’m in jail?” He raised a brow the Dark Knight. Batman took a stance at the foot of the bed.

“Not exactly, what do you remember?” His voice was full of concern and worry. Not the same voice typical of Batman.

Y/n rubbed his temples for a brief movement. “I remember the taxi driver…I vaguely remember two officers and then everything went black. Did I hurt them?”

“They’re dead. Poison Ivy took control over your mind after you transition into a meta-human.”

Y/n felt all the air suck of his lungs. “You’re here because I know you’ll be under careful observation,” he lifted his gaze to the ceiling and Y/n followed. Vents were overhead them.

“This cell is constantly being pumped with an antitoxin that helps with the more advanced powers. It won’t rid them completely but you’ll be in control.” He walked closer to the doors.

“You should be in for a few more days, once that finished I’ll come get you myself. Gordon has already dropped any charges and no one knows Y/n L/N was the new Poison Ivy.”

“Did I hurt him?”

“I don’t know what your—“

“Damnit yes you do. I know I didn’t just kill two people. I hope I can..live with that. But did I hurt him?” Tears formed in the young man’s eyes and streamed down his face.

“No.” Batman whispered.

“Oh.” He wiped his face. “Can I see him?”

“I can’t allow that, you didn’t hurt him but Ivy used your feelings for him to make into your mind-controlled bodyguard. You killed people Y/n…He’s still recovering in the cave. Y/n it may be best to give it time.” Batman exited the cell where Gordon was waiting and the two walked away into the Asylum.

Everything began to flash before Y/n and he flopped back on the uncomfortable cot. Before sleep took him back and he dozed off.

[ladykailitha]

A Love Connection Part 3

Hey, all! Welcome to first of two posts today.

I've really got to ask, are you guys seeing these posts? I dropped from 70-80 notes on a post at the beginning of the month to barely cracking 40-50 these days and then it slowly works up as more people see it, but it's taking weeks to get that when it used to take a day maybe two.

I did change my schedule but the people I'm tagging should be able to see them right? And the people that have me on notifications?

Also I've seen a sharp drop in people that used to comment and reblog all the time, from anywhere from not seeing them at all to them only liking a post.

I'm not trying to dog anyone, I'm just curious about the sudden change.

Any advice would be helpful.

This morning's chapter includes the cutest kitten (Sorry Nermal), a Robin apology, and Chrissy and Robin have a confession to make.

Part 1 Part 2

~

Steve pulled up to the apartment building and turned off his car. He put his head on the steering wheel with a heavy sigh. He was about to hit his head on the horn when he heard it. He lifted his head and tilted it.

There!

Steve scrambled to get out of the car. He rushed toward the sound. He skidded on the wet and icy pavement as he tried to come to a stop, nearly toppling over in the process. Near the dumpsters was a wet cardboard box, falling apart in the thick snow.

He scrambled toward it, trying to keep his feet under him. He knelt in the snow and peeled back as sagging corner of the box to reveal the sweetest thing he had ever seen. There, all alone in the destroyed box was a small cream colored kitten with dark brown ears. It looked up at Steve and mewled in the weakest, most plaintive meow imaginable.

He sank to his knees and with gentle hands scooped the wet creature into his arms. It clung to him as he stood shakily to his feet.

“Hey, little guy,” he murmured. “Don’t you know outside is no place to be at this time of year?”

It mewled again and clung a little harder to Steve’s coat. “There’s no place open for me to get you checked out, little one, but let’s get you inside and dried off at the very least, then I’ll see what I have that you can eat until I can get you some proper food. How does that sound?”

“Mew!”

Steve chuckled. “I figured you’d be down with that.”

He turned away from the now fully collapsed box, that once had read on the outside “KITTENS FREE TO GOOD HOME”

~

Before Steve even gotten the kitten dried and fed, he knew he was going to keep it. The poor little thing was as alone as he was feeling in that moment.

He looked up vet services and vowed to make a run to the pet store for supplies first thing in the morning.

He looked up everything he could; like how old the kitten was likely to be, what kind of nutrition the little thing needed, how to tell the sex of his new friend, what toys it would need, proper bedding.

He fell asleep reading how to tell how big a kitten was going to grow up to be, the kitten nestled under his chin.

Steve woke up to distressed mewling. He shot up when he realized it, no not it, he, was no longer on his chest. At first he couldn’t see him, but then he caught sight of the small little paw located near the distressed meows.

He peered over the sofa and burst out laughing. Somehow the kitten had gotten one of his claws caught in the afghan Joyce had given him his first year as a teacher. Something she did for all new teachers at her school regardless of their years being a teacher.

He reached over and gently untangled the little thing from the blanket. “There you go. What were you doing up there anyway?”

“Merrow!” he meowed.

Steve checked his watch and was pleased to note it was barely seven. Which meant he had plenty of time to get dressed, get the little tyke checked out and to stop by the pet store for supplies.

He set him down on the sofa and immediately the kitten tried to walk off the edge. “All all kittens this dumb or is it just you?”

“Meroh!” the kitten cried.

He laughed and scooped him up into his arms. He set the kitten in the middle of the bed so he could change his clothes. Steve laughed every time he had to stop what he was doing and rescue him from the edge, placing him in the center of the bed once again.

Finally he was ready to go. He placed the kitten in his coat to keep it from getting stuck under the car seat and for Steve’s own piece of mind.

He drove to the nearest vet and hoped it wouldn’t cost him an arm and a leg to get the little guy checked out.

~

The vet was quick and painless. On his wallet too. The nice lady at the desk got him set up with a vaccination schedule and the adoption papers.

“All right,” she said warmly, “all he needs is a name.”

Steve chewed on his lip for a moment before he wrote in big capital letters “ODIE”.

She raised her eyebrow but before she could comment the vet’s assistant came out with the little rascal. “That has got be the stupidest or the most fearless kitten I’ve ever met.”

The desk lady looked back at the vet’s assistant and then back at Steve who was trying very hard to hide his smile and failing miserably.

She sighed and helped put the kitten in a cardboard carrier. “There you go, Odie is all set.”

The vet’s assistant burst out laughing. “I like it.”

Steve was about to ask for her number when he noticed a ring on her left hand. Damn.

Oh well, he couldn’t win them all. He thanked them both and took his new friend out to his car.

“Come on, Odie,” he murmured, buckling the carrier into the passenger seat, “lets go get you everything you’ll need.”

~

Steve had just gotten into the car when his cell phone pinged. He opened it to reveal a text from Robin telling him to call her.

He dialed her number. “Hey, Bobbin.”

“So, um...my girlfriend is mad at me for ditching you,” she began nervously, “and making you watch the AV club when last night was supposed to be about hanging out with you before we left.”

Steve sighed. Which meant that Robin had lied to Chrissy about him joining them later and she only found out this morning that was never the plan. “How much hot water are you in?”

“A lot,” Robin admitted. “Like if this trip hadn’t been planned for months, I wouldn’t be going kind of hot water.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand and sighed. “Yeah, that’s pretty bad. Is she doing the thing with her bottom lip and watery eyes?”

“Yes!” she wailed. “Now I feel horrible!”

“About upsetting your girlfriend or for ditching me?” he asked because he felt it was a very important distinction she needed to make.

“Shit!” she hissed. “Of course I feel horrible about leaving you with seven little demons. I know I wasn’t last night when you were messaging me, but I filled with booze. When I got home I was filled with regret. I’m the one that told her about ditching you, she didn’t find out any other way. I promise. You know how get with pretty ladies. Chrissy had showed me what she planned to wear out last night, yesterday morning and that the only thought in my head all day. And when you kept messaging me, and Chrissy kept asking me when you were coming out, I just dug a hole for myself and just kept digging. I’m really sorry.”

She paused for a moment. “I probably should have led with that instead of the upset girlfriend, huh?”

Steve clicked his tongue. “Yeah, probably. So when are you two leaving?”

“In a few minutes,” she murmured. “We have everything packed up and ready to go, we just need to get to the airport and get checked in.”

“Are you sure you two don’t want me to take you?” Steve asked. “I could be there in five minutes. That way you don’t have to take an Uber or pay for long term parking.”

Suddenly there was BEEP, BEEP!

“Looks like our ride is here,” Robin said. “Chrissy got one of her friends to take us because they live closer. But you better pick us up, okay? I’ll miss your stupid face.”

“Your face is stupider,” Steve teased back. “You two ladies have a great trip and I’ll see you in a week.”

Robin sighed dramatically. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

“I can’t,” Steve said, “you’re taking all the stupid with you.”

“Hey!” she protested as he hung up on her. He chuckled at the immediate message he got after the call disconnected.

He looked over at the new cat carrier he bought. It was much bigger than Odie currently needed but Steve wanted to give him room to grow into. The kitten was currently asleep in it. Having passed out while Steve was shopping. This is didn’t count as doing something stupid while she was gone, he reasoned, because she was still here.

~

Once Steve got home, he setup the cat bed in the living room, the food and water dishes in the kitchen and the litterbox in the bathroom. He would need to be trained to use the litterbox, but the nice ladies at the vet said it was fairly easy because it was pretty much their instinct to want to bury their wastes.

Steve just had to be consistent. Which was perfect because he had the next two weeks off.

He put the pet toys in his room and settled Odie in. He had been fed and shown the litterbox where he promptly did his business. Steve turned on the latest season of “A Love Connection” and Odie immediately curled up on Steve’s chest right under his chin.

Yeah, this was going to work out just fine.

Over the next week Steve and Odie got used to each other and Steve learned that Odie was more fearless than stupid. He wouldn’t go anywhere he might actually get hurt, once he knew where the limits were. But he was always testing those limits.

Steve knew that he would probably have to find a bigger place once Odie had grown up because of all the jumping the little thing tried to do.

The kitten was aptly named in one sense though, he followed Steve around like a dog. Always at Steve’s heels.

He wasn’t sure how many times he almost stepped on Odie, but it was a lot. But he had good reflexes and he sure put them to the test.

~

A week later, Chrissy and Robin showed up at the apartment with a six pack of his favorite beer, a large bag of gummy worms, and of course his Christmas presents. But it was the guilty expressions that really sold it.

“So um...” Robin began looking at Chrissy for help. “In early November, ‘Love Connection’ posted online for a casting call for their all queer season of their show. I think it’s a little rude that it’ll be for the thirteenth season, but–”

Chrissy put her hand on Robin’s arm. “What Robin is trying to say is that we sent in your application as a joke. We didn’t think that they would pick it. It was one in a couple million shot, you know? Anyway, I think they must have recognized my email as the one attached to my Twitter account and well...”

Steve put his face in his hands. “You didn’t...come on, guys. I don’t want to go on a game show to find love. I’m not that desperate yet.”

“We brought you gummy bears and beer!” Robin said hold up her prizes like that would help the matter. At all.

Steve was ready to open his mouth to shut this down when he got the best idea. “I’ll do the show on one condition,” he said with a blinding smile.

Chrissy and Robin shared a shocked glance. They didn’t think he would agree so easily.

“Yeah, okay,” Chrissy said warily, not sure where this was going.

Steve dashed into the bedroom and came back holding the kitten Lion King style. “I get to keep Odie!”

~

Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Tag List: FIVE SLOTS LEFT

1-@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @cryptid-system

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @justforthedead89 @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @beelze-the-bubkiss

9- @dreamercec @wheneverfeasible @themoonagainstmers @garden-of-gay @little-birch-boy

[ohtobeleah]

This is kinda how I picture readers cafe in Ilya // Logan Howlett.

Logan sits on that yellow stool day in and day out, just driving you crazy. But its welcome company. You didn't always have that yellow stool. But as your relationship with Logan changed and progressed into something not bound by labels, you got it for him. From the dumpster behind Wades apartment complex.

Before you knew his name, or anything about the brooding man who would eventually hold your heart in the palm of his hand, he'd sit at the table closest to the door. Still admiring from afar.

The books behind the counter have all been left behind by previous owners. They found a new home in your cafe much like Logan dose. He often asks you to pick him out something to read while its quiet, or for when he knows he’ll be back at his place in his own bed.

Your cafe is a wayward sanctuary for mercenaries, avengers, vigilantes and well—criminals. But no matter what there's one golden rule everyone follows. No one disrespects you. It doesn't matter what side they found themselves on or what moral compass they held…if something ever happened to you? It would cause a war.

Logan hangs the lights for you one day when its raining. He's known for months that you've been wanting to hang them up but never put them high enough on your priority list.

There's more blood soaked into the hardwood flooring of your cafe than your convinced is in your body. Its a small price to pay when your customer base is the apparently the scum of the earth. However, You have a pretty good first-aid kit and have been on a first name basis with majority of the first responders in your neighbourhood.

Logan helps you around the cafe more than he'd care to admit. But he knows how much love you out into your business. He knows why you do what you do. You give people who don't have much a place to call home. Somewhere safe. That's one of the many reasons he loves you.

When your daughter, Ilya, is born. Logan makes it his primary purpose to keep that little girl safe and sound at all times. So as you work with her literally on your hip, Logan is there to make sure not a soul comes in to cause trouble. The rule was and always had been ‘No fighting, fucking or freaking out past the threshold’ But sometimes things happen.

Logan babyproofs the cafe top to bottom.

[thezombieprostitute]

Alpine

A/N: written for @targaryenvampireslayer's Blind Date writing challenge. The prompts are - Dialogue: “Are you holding back? Don’t.” - Trope: Soulmate. Reader has no descriptors or gender indicators.

Word Count: ~2.7k

Warnings: Implied animal abuse/neglect and kidnapping of a pet.

Not everyone gets a soulmate. It’s generally accepted that your odds of having a soulmate and meeting them aren’t great. For it to happen, an animal has to welcome themselves into your life. Take care of that animal and they will lead you, at some point, to your soulmate. Neglect that animal and it will leave you and you’ll never meet your soulmate. 

Well, that’s how it was supposed to happen. Naturally people tried to find ways to force an animal into their lives. Or force them to stay in their lives despite neglectful or abusive care. Other times humans would try to get rid of any distractions their animal had, hoping to force them to focus on finding them their soulmate. 

Which explains the box that Bucky found in the dumpster. If it weren’t for his super-soldier hearing he likely wouldn’t have heard the tiny, weak mewls. He had no interest in a soulmate but he wasn’t about to live down to his reputation as a monster by not helping. He found a tiny, white kitten. His heart broke for the poor thing, eyes not even open and already experiencing the worst. He held the dirty, white, mewling bean to his chest, under his jacket, trying to get it warm, as he searched for an emergency vet.

The kitten stopped shaking while he was on the way to the vet but the mewling continued. He was guessing it was hungry, especially with how its paws were so gently kneading his skin. He sped into the vet’s office, praying they’d have something. 

The veterinarian took excellent care of the little bean. She talked to Bucky while she was cleaning, examining and then feeding the kitten. “She’s very lucky you found her, Mr. Barnes. She definitely wouldn’t have lasted much longer.” When the kitten had fallen asleep the veterinarian asked, “are you planning on keeping her? We have some possible homes for her but what few shelters have space may not have the fosters needed to keep her fed and cared for.”

Bucky’s heart nearly broke at the thought of this tiny, helpless kitten getting lost in a system that didn’t care about her. “I’ll take her,” he whispered.

“And what would you like to name her?”

“Alpine. Her name is Alpine.”

The veterinarian smiled and nodded before talking him through all of the care and food guidelines and answering his questions.

Bucky managed to get the time off he needed. His therapist enthusiastically signed off on his taking care of Alpine. She said it can be very good therapy to be a caretaker. She also made mention of soulmate potential but Bucky brushed that off. He just wanted this kitten to survive and thrive, not bring new people into his life. 

Besides, how could he love anyone else when this kitten had stolen his heart? Everything she did, from wiggling her ears whenever she ate, to every developmental goal she reached, endeared him more and more. The first time she opened her eyes Bucky was overjoyed and made sure to smile so it would be the first image of him she saw. He wasn’t sure that’s how it worked, but he didn’t want to take the risk.

By the time Alpine was 6 weeks old and crawling around on her own Bucky was happily admitting to being a full-fledged cat dad. He bought her all of the toys and cat trees she could ever need. The first time she was able to sneak attack him (he heard her preparing to pounce and kept still for her) he gave her a bunch of treats, calling her a “powerful lioness”. 

Mindful of the fact that he would eventually have to go back to work he made sure to help Alpine be okay with him being out. If she developed separation anxiety he’d never be able to leave her. He started out simple, leaving her in the apartment while he quickly went to the corner store. Her little mewls at the closed door broke his heart so he’d always pick her up a special treat to give her on his return. He even paid a little extra on his rent so he could install a small catio for her in one of the apartment windows. Stark gave him a small holograph to make it look like an A/C unit so no one would try to steal Alpine.

After his first away mission he decided to celebrate with Alpine, bringing her the super expensive cat food she adored and getting himself some pricey Chinese takeout from C. W.'s. He was surprised at how she ignored her food and begged for his. He’d ordered out plenty of times and she never showed an interest but she definitely wanted the chicken from his lo-mien. He gave her a few pieces and hoped he wasn’t setting a precedent.

It’d been over a year since he rescued Alpine and they had settled into a nice, well, maybe not “routine” but they definitely had their version of “normal”. It was nice and comfortable for Bucky and he loved every minute of it. What few people he let into his life commented on how much better he seemed to be. Less stressed, less mopey, quicker to smile; he even laughed at one of Sam’s jokes before trying to cover it with a cough. 

Someone brought up the idea of a cat harness so he could take Alpine out for walks, maybe meet his soulmate, but Bucky shut that idea down right away. His life was good. It was comfortable. Why ruin that by potentially bringing in someone new? Besides, Alpine was perfectly content to be an indoor cat. 

Or so he thought. He was being forced to take some time off, something about “preventing burnout” and he figured he could just take the opportunity to play with Alpine. She was getting really good at responding to some commands and he was hoping to get her some real enrichment by teaching her some cat acrobatics he’d seen online. 

But as soon as he walked in the door, Alpine tried to run out through his legs. If it weren’t for his superhuman reflexes she’d have gotten away. 

“What are you doing, sweetheart?” He held Alpine by the nape of her neck as he closed the door. “You never go outside. At least you’ve never shown an interest before.”

He set her down and she immediately ran to her catio and started scratching at the windows. Bucky walked over to the window and looked out but couldn’t see anything that would get her interest. No birds, no pets in windows across the way, nothing.

“Alpine, are you okay? You’re going crazy over nothing.” Alpine eventually stopped and Bucky swears he heard her let out a small sigh. He tried to get her to play but she seemed disinterested in everything, even treats. “Well, this is a rough start to a vacation. Maybe you’ll feel better tomorrow, pretty girl.”

The next day did start out more like normal. Alpine was getting better at sneak attacks, especially around feeding time. Bucky was woken up by Alpine batting his face and running away several times as he grumbled, “I made a mistake when I started feeding you breakfast at 6 AM.”

After getting Alpine her food he saw to his own breakfast. He figured he’d start his vacation with a big breakfast, complete with some pancakes. Alpine climbed up to sit on his shoulder as he cooked, occasionally sitting on top of his head to watch him work. It was her favorite spot whenever he was home. Even when he wasn’t walking around, she enjoyed cuddling up close.

Around the time he finished breakfast he felt Alpine perk up and look around before running to her catio. She started scratching at the enclosure again, as if she were trying to break out. Bucky got up to look out the window and, again, saw nothing that might spark her interest. He shrugged his shoulders and started cleaning up his breakfast dishes when it hit him. 

“Alpine,” he asked, “is there someone out there that you’re trying to get to?” She stopped her clawing and looked at him with an earnestness usually reserved for hunting practice. “You…you want to go out to see someone?” She ran to the apartment door and started scratching at it while looking back at him with that same earnestness.

“No,” Bucky whispered. Alpine started meowing as she scratched at the door. “No,” Bucky repeated, more forcefully. “We’re not doing that. You’re not…you’re staying here where it’s safe. We’ve got a good thing, dammit.” Alpine didn’t relent. “Are you holding back? Don’t. Wear yourself out because you will not out-stubborn me on this!” Alpine responded with an indignant meow but Bucky went back to cleaning. 

The rest of the day proceeded without incident until the evening, around the time he’d come home last night, when Alpine again ran to the catio. Bucky refrained from looking out the window. Whoever it was that was getting Alpine all huffy was someone he wanted nothing to do with. No, his cat was not going to lead him to some promised soulmate. No, he was never going to meet a soulmate. He didn’t, couldn’t have one. He was keeping Alpine locked up for her own safety. Someone not as understanding of the lack of soulmates would definitely kidnap Alpine if she went out. He couldn’t let her be taken away. 

She ran to the door and kept meowing at him and giving him angry looks he’d never seen before. He genuinely felt bad but he had to look out for her. There were too many dangers and she barely survived the last time she was outside. True she was technically blind at the time, but it was still far too dangerous for his fluffy kitten. After a bit she finally gave up and seemed so despondent it broke his heart. 

“Tell you what,” he pleaded. “I’ll go get you some of that special cat food you love. Maybe even stop by C. W.’s and get that chicken lo-mien you won’t stop begging me for. Will that make it up to you?” Alpine huffed and sat in her tree, purposefully not looking at him. He quickly went out, making sure she didn’t follow him and brought back the promised food. She was feeling better enough to eat all the chicken from his meal and he hoped that meant she forgave him.

Sadly, the rest of his time off was spent in similar fashion. She was fine for all but two times during the day. It broke his heart every time but he didn’t relent. He was scared of her getting outside for so many reasons. He couldn’t risk letting her out. 

He was almost relieved when he was able to get back to work. He made sure to leave her extra food and it was only a one-day mission so he’d be back soon. Though he’d check the time to make sure he arrived after her evening begging to be let out. Maybe, just maybe, he’d look into a cat harness. Let her outside in small doses so she could see the dangers of going out. 

At least that was the plan. He got a phone call soon after arriving at the tower, the number indicating it was his building’s super.

“Barnes,” he greeted.

“Mr. Barnes, this is Mack, your building’s super.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“So, the apartment above yours was having some flooding problems and I needed to check if your apartment was getting any of the water. As soon as I opened the door your cat ran out. I tried to catch her, but she was way too fast for me.”

Bucky pulled the phone away and started cussing up a storm before telling Mack, “do what you need, I’m gonna come back and try to find her.” He hung up and told his team what happened. They asked if he wanted help finding her but he was worried they’d end up scaring her. He promised to ask for help if he couldn’t find her.

He started tracking just outside his apartment. He amped up his super-soldier senses as much as he could, trying to find any trace of her. A few hairs here and there led him to the elevator. Is Alpine that smart, he thought to himself. He took the elevator to the first floor and scoured for traces of her. 

He was so lost in focus he almost missed his phone ringing. It was an unknown number so he was tempted to let it go to voicemail but caught himself. It could be someone found Alpine. 

He answered the phone, “hello?”

“Um…hi,” you faltered. “Um, I’m so sorry to bother you but I found a cat with this number on their collar.”

“Alpine!”

“Yeah, that’s the name on the collar,” you affirm. “I hope you don’t mind, but she was begging for some of my chicken lo-mien and I did give her a few pieces because I didn’t know when she’d last eaten.”

“Are you at C.W.’s?”

“Yeah,” you hesitate. “How, um, how did you know?”

“The only time she ever begs for my food is when I order the chicken lo-mien from C.W.’s,” he assures. You cheerfully laugh at the information and for a second Bucky gets lost in how lovely your laugh sounds.

“Well, are you able to come and get her? I’ll make sure she stays here.”

“Thank you, so much! I’ll be right there!”

He nearly ran all the way to C.W.’s and was relieved to see Alpine with a patron at an outside table. He saw Alpine cuddled up against you, as you cooed and babied her, giving her some more of your chicken. She looked so comfortable with you and even nuzzled her head against yours.

“Alpine,” he exclaims as he gets nearer. You and Alpine both look his way and he almost freezes at your similar, wide-eyed expressions. “Alpine,” he repeats as he gets to your table. You hand Alpine over and he immediately grips her in a gentle but firm hug. He looks down at her, “don’t you ever do that again! You scared me! What were you thinking?” Alpine gives him those eyes she knows he can’t resist and gently licks his face. 

You coo at the image of this handsome, 6 foot plus tall, bulky, long-haired man holding a small cat. You’re tempted to take a picture but figure that would be rude. Instead you comment, “you two are so cute together!”

“Thank…thank you,” Bucky blushes. “Is there anything I can do to thank you?” 

“Nah,” you reply. “She was very good company.” There’s a beat of silence between you, like he wants to say something, but can’t. “I’ll just be on my way. It was very nice to meet you, Alpine.”

You get up to leave but Alpine immediately starts meowing at you. You and Bucky look at each other. You’re each aware of the soulmate implication in Alpine’s actions. He looks scared to say something but also scared to do nothing. You smile kindly at him, “um, look, um. I know this shows we’re…and if you’re not interested I’ll understand…but, you have my number, I have yours. If, and only if, you’re interested or want to even just start talking, you know how to reach me.” He nods and you turn to leave.

“Please,” he mumbled. “Please have lunch with me?”

“I have to get to work,” you smile. “But I’d love to meet you for a meal sometime. Alpine optional, but very much a bonus.” He smiles shyly back at you and nods. 

As you walk away he looks at Alpine, “okay, you were right.” Alpine meowed and nuzzled his cheek before he put her in his jacket and took her home. He texted you soon after to set up your first date.

[exceptionimagines]

Out with the Old, In with the New

(Not my gif)

- Everything was perfect when you and your boyfriend first moved in together. A new house, a good job, a partner you were convinced you were going to spend the rest of your life with. You were finally starting to feel like an actual grown up. ...It was just a shame you were the only one who seemed to stay that way....

- Your boyfriend was never a freeloader; he never made you pay more than your fair share, but it wasn't anything monetary that you ever had to worry about. It was everything else that seemed to fall apart the longer the two of you were together. The chores, the quality time, the romance: it all seemed to drain out of him the minute the two of you started living together and now, almost a year later, you just sort of feel stuck.

- You know you can leave; everyone knows that they can leave, but what happens if or when you do? You push aside any remaining feelings you have for the man that you've loved for years in the hopes that you'll find the perfect man in his absence? You uproot your entire life on the off chance that things could be better?

- No. No, you just can't do that. At the end of the day, you convince yourself that things are fine, that no relationship is perfect and that you're comfortable; that comfortable is a hell of a lot better than being single and regretful. You convince yourself that you're happy and that he's never treated you badly: if he had, you'd actually have a reason to leave. There are times you wish he had….

- You suppose you get your wish once Jerry Dandridge moves in next door....

- Your neighborhood is full of empty houses, so it's no surprise when you catch sight of a realtor pulling into the driveway next to yours. You watch out the window as they victoriously plaster a "sold" sticker onto the for sale sign which has occupied the manicured lawn for months on end. A multitude of cars, moving vans, and dumpsters follow in their wake as the weeks go by, entering and exiting your quiet suburb in preparation for the new arrival.

- Your boyfriend doesn't seem all that interested in the subject; always just distractedly humming in acknowledgement whenever you bring it up. Which is why you're a little taken aback when you see him talking to an unfamiliar stranger after getting home from work one day.

- The aforementioned stranger is introduced to you as your new neighbor, Jerry. The two of you shake hands and spark up a conversation about how long you've been in the area before your boyfriend abruptly interrupts, excusing you for dinner as you glance at him somewhat scoldingly. Yet, the rudeness of the interaction seems lost on Jerry as he simply smiles at you, welcoming you to come by if you ever need anything and watching as your boyfriend hurriedly ushers you towards your front door.

"You didn't notice anything weird about him?" Your boyfriend, Ben, questions once you get inside, goading you into agreeing with him as he watches you make dinner.

“Even if he was being a little weird, it’s probably just because he’s so new in town. It’s always awkward meeting new people, isn’t it?” You try to insist, wanting to give the man you’re going to be living next door to the benefit of the doubt.

“He doesn’t seem like the type of guy to be awkward.” Ben grumbles.

- Jealousy, you decide after hearing his petulant comment. Your boyfriend is jealous of your new, conventionally attractive neighbor and doesn’t want you spending too much time with him. Funny how that ugly little emotion is one of the few things that's stayed consistent about him over the years.

- Alas, against your better judgement, you decide to be a good girlfriend and agree to keep your distance, though you do warn him that you aren’t going to be rude and actively avoid him. You figure that you won’t be seeing much of Jerry anyway: he seems like a busy guy, and you’re a busy girl. Even if you’re neighbors, how often will you run into him long enough to hold an actual conversation?

- Unfortunately or fortunately for you; depending on how you look at it, Jerry seems intent on becoming your friend. He seems to always be outside whenever you return home from work, and since you refuse to treat your innocent neighbor like a registered sex offender, you return his hellos and stop to speak with him a little whenever he starts a conversation.

- You find out that he works nights, which explains his seemingly odd sleeping schedule, and as much as you want to deny it, you also start to see how your boyfriend could find him a little strange. Jerry is intense, somewhat blunt and to the point yet also suggestive at the same time. He picks up on little things that most people wouldn’t notice or put two and two together on, giving off the impression that he knows things that he realistically shouldn’t. You still think your boyfriend is being a little dramatic when he insists that there’s “something off about him”, especially since Jerry has been nothing besides neighborly and sweet.

- You try to be a good girlfriend, but it’s getting increasingly difficult. Jerry is charming, and he’s helpful to boot, and you know what? You’re lonely! Your boyfriend is hardly ever home and, even when he is, he’s rarely spending time with you, and he’s certainly not helping around the house.

- You don’t go out of your way to invite Jerry into your home. You actively avoid it for as long as possible, even when he asks to borrow something and stands lingering in your doorway while you go to retrieve it. You reason to yourself that it’s crossing a line, that you shouldn’t be inviting a man into your home when your boyfriend isn’t around; especially one he doesn’t even like you talking to.

- But when he offers to fix something for you that your boyfriends been putting off dealing with for months, you just can’t help but accept his offer. It starts off with him fixing something in your car, then it’s the squeaky hinges on your door, your kitchen sink, your AC unit, your misaligned shelf, etc. It gets to the point where your boyfriend starts to notice that things have been remedied, and you’re forced to admit that Jerry was over.

- He doesn’t like it, but you insist that you’re not going to pay someone hundreds of dollars to fix something if your neighbor is willing to do it for a couple of beers. Ben insists that you should have told him to do it instead, and you simply inform him that you have. He doesn’t have much to say about it after that and neither do you: you’re tired, but when you go to bed that night, you find yourself struggling to sleep.

- Half of it is frustration and half of it is guilt. Frustration because your boyfriend is being completely irrational and has been so unreliable that you’re beginning to depend on your neighbor more than your actual partner. That you’ve become more like Bens' mother than his girlfriend, and that the only time when you’re being taken care of is when Jerry is over….

- And guilt because you’re allowing Jerry to take care of you. That you’re finding yourself wondering what it would be like to be with him instead. That you’re finding yourself being drawn to him, being attracted to him, being flustered by him. You know that you shouldn’t be having these types of feelings for anyone but Ben; anyone but your boyfriend, but you just can’t help it.

- But frustration always wins over all of your guilt because your boyfriend doesn’t know any of that. He has no idea about the depths of your feelings for the man, but he does know that you’ve struggled to make friends ever since you’ve moved here, and that you’re finally receiving said friendship in the form of your neighbor. When he insists that you should stay away from him, it’s simply because he’s being jealous and controlling. You can understand the fact that he’s jealous, he’s allowed to be, but he isn’t allowed to limit your friendships. He should trust you not to betray him by acting on them. He should know that you would never do that to him.

- Maybe that’s why you spitefully agree to finally come inside the next time Jerry invites you in. Why you find yourself sitting in his living room watching Desperate Housewives; of all things, while you nurse a cold beer, pushing your boyfriend and the usual time he gets home out of your mind. That you spend hours in that room, talking more and more, drinking more and more, until it’s late in the evening and your boyfriend texts you asking where you are.

- You text him “at Jerry’s” and in a matter of minutes he’s knocking on the door, ushering you out angrily as Jerry simply smiles and assures him nothing happened while helping you with your things. Your boyfriend ignores him, standing in the doorway and glaring at you as you thank Jerry for having you over, tipsily hugging him before your boyfriend physically pulls you out of the house.

- He’s hushed when he tells you that “this” is never happening again: that he’s not allowed in your house anymore, that you’re not talking to him anymore, that you’re not even gonna acknowledge him anymore; that he's dangerous and that you just have to trust him on this. Once you’re in the house, he orders you to go to bed, something you do without much of an argument, whining petulantly that nothing even happened as you drag your feet towards the bathroom. You settle into an empty bed once you’re finished getting ready and fall asleep in a matter of minutes.

- When you wake up the next morning, the bed is still empty. When you look out the window, your boyfriend's car is gone from the driveway, so you just figure that he’s gone off to work early and begin your usual day off routine, nursing a mild hangover in the process. It’s only when he doesn’t return home at his usual time that you finally start to worry. You try to text him, but you get no reply, so you figure that he's either out with some friends or staying late at work, something that isn't completely out of the ordinary. Because of this, you decide to wait until tomorrow before you take any drastic measures.

- Jerry meets you in your driveway the next day, somewhat jokingly apologizing for getting you in trouble with your boyfriend. You laugh a little and insist that it’s not his fault, but since he brought him up himself, you decide to ask if he saw Ben go anywhere the night you left his house. He tells you that he’s not sure but that he thinks he left again not too long after the two of you went inside. He asks if everything’s alright, and you confess that you aren’t sure, explaining everything that’s happened.

- He comforts you before the two of you say goodbye, assuring you that he’s sure everything will be fine, that Ben is probably just blowing off some steam somewhere. He tells you to have a good long talk with him once he comes back; not if, and that he shouldn’t just up and run away like that if he has a problem, that it isn’t right.

- You get a text later that night from Bens' phone, telling you that he’s at a friends and that he won’t be back, that he doesn’t know when he’ll be back. You ask him what’s wrong and question whether this whole thing is because you were with Jerry for a couple of hours, if it’s because you got a little drunk with someone you considered a friend. You insist that nothing happened, but you don’t receive an answer.

- As the days go by, Ben never comes home. The last text you receive from him is a short message that tells you he’s done, that you can do whatever you want with his things and that he doesn’t care. That he isn’t coming home and that he isn’t interested in talking things out. You furiously text him back trying to figure out what the hell is going on, but as the hours pass with no response, you simply come to terms with the fact that your boyfriend is not at all the person that you thought he was. You just count your lucky stars that you have a good enough job to afford a cheap house all on your own.

- The next time you see Jerry, you tell him what happened, but he doesn’t seem all that surprised. He asks if you’re going to be alright, and you insist that you are. He gives you a smile and an “attagirl”, insisting that if you ever need anything, anything at all, he’s still always happy to help. You simply smile at him.

- Now that your boyfriend is officially out of the picture, you start spending more and more time with Jerry, forgetting about all of the boundaries you previously put in place for the sake of your past relationship. It feels nice finally being able to relax and though you promised yourself that you were going to remain amicable about the entire thing, it isn't long before you start to reveal all of the things that went wrong during your time together; no longer protecting your ex's reputation in the eyes of your neighbor. It feels good getting it all off of your chest and Jerry is just so ...understanding, always letting you rant to him and reacting in a way that validates all of your feelings of frustration.

"You know, I hate to admit it, but I had a feeling things weren't as ...perfect as they seemed," He admits to you one night, his voice resembling something akin to a purr, his eyes locked intently on you; a sense of hunger in his gaze that you blame on the alcohol in your system. "No offense, but uh, I could sense it in him: that he wasn't ready for all of this. I didn't want to say anything, but he just seemed like more of a boy than a man, someone who didn't know how to handle a woman like you. There's a kind of neglect ...gives off a scent."

- It's later that night when he kisses you for the first time, in the middle of his kitchen as you go to wash off the sticky remnants of a dripping beer from your hands. You hear him enter the room, and you begin to say something before you feel him come up close behind you.

"You smell really good." He hums, leaning closer as you turn towards him, opening your mouth to innocently thank him before he covers your lips with his own, kissing you fiercely.

- Your eyes quickly widen, dripping wet hand making its way to his chest in order to hold him back, to stop him from devouring you whole. When you pull away, you swear that his eyes are blacker than ever before: dark and frightening and inhuman.

- You back away and hurriedly excuse yourself, claiming that you have to leave for one reason or another as he merely watches you go, eyes intently trained on you; their unwavering focus sending a chill down your spine. He says absolutely nothing as you leave out his front door, heart pounding as you try to forget how much he resembled a predator: not some kind of human creep but a wild animal, something that wanted to eat you alive.

- When you get inside your front door, you notice a message on your phone, one from Ben's mother asking if everything is alright, that she hasn't heard from him for a while and that she's worried about him. A part of you can't help but wonder if you'll be telling her the truth when you inform her that he's broken up with you....

- After that night, Jerry seems to have finally begun ditching his attempts at acting normal around you, his behavior growing increasingly unsettling and suspicious now that he senses that you're onto him. Though you try to avoid him; and though he's stuck to watching you from afar for the past few days, it's hard to completely evade him when you never seem to hear him coming; another trait of his that does nothing but unnerve you.

- You successfully steer clear of him for nearly a week, growing confident in your ability to avoid him until you go to take out the trash one night and are suddenly met face to face with the man.

"I'm sorry about the other night," he apologizes, acting as though he didn't just materialize from the shadows of your garden and scare you half to death. "I know I shouldn't have made a move on you like that, but I just couldn't help myself. Blame it on the alcohol, huh?"

- You force yourself to smile at his attempt at a joke, telling him to forget about it as sincerely as you can as you move to surpass him, wanting to exit out of your garden gate and go inside as quickly as possible.

"It's just, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I could have sworn that there was something...." He shakes his head, both trying to find the right words and trying to goad you into interrupting him with a response of your own, hoping that you'll agree with him as he tries to read your expression. "Something there, you know?"

- And though you want to deny it, you know that you can't. You're suddenly met with the realization that Jerry has known all along, that he's seen right through you the entire time and that all of his vague attempts to come onto you have, in fact, been attempts to come onto you. You suddenly feel a swell of guilt, guilt for your ex-boyfriend who you now realize wasn't as insecure or controlling as you thought.

"It's just too soon." You explain quietly, hoping he'll accept the excuse. He stares at you for a moment, scanning your face intently as he seemingly tries to read your expression.

"No problem," he replies after the brief silence, offering a smile that does little to ease the tension you feel. You hate that you still find it attractive. "I just don't want to ruin things between us, you know? I really enjoy your company."

"How about I come over tomorrow then?" You question quickly, offering him a hopefully convincing attempt at a sincere smile; hoping that he doesn't notice that you have ulterior motives in mind. He once again gazes at you for a long moment, far longer than what anyone would deem as a normal pause, looking you up and down as a smile begins to tug at his lips.

"Of course." He answers after a moment, and you contain your sigh of relief, feeling like he's actually fallen for it as he steps back and lets you pass him through the narrow gap of your backyards gate. You bid him goodbye, pausing briefly to smile and nod at him when he calls out a time, swallowing down your nerves as you continue to make your way inside and ignore the feeling of his eyes on your figure.

- And just like that, you find yourself sitting in his living room, nursing a beer and smiling at him when he puts on the show that you've both started watching together; "our show" as he would call it. You force yourself to act normal, even force yourself to move closer to him, silently allowing him to wrap an arm around your shoulders and pull you in, hand rubbing up and down your arm as the two of you sit and watch. You hate that it almost feels natural. You can only hope that it's enough to convince him that nothing is wrong, especially since it's only succeeding in confusing your feelings even more.

- You know that you don't have much time when you ask to use his bathroom, quickly taking your chance to snoop through the rooms that you've never entered, quickly finding one that's full of suspicious artifacts; exactly the sorts of things that you were hoping you wouldn't find. You pull out your phone to take a picture before you nearly drop it at the sound of a sudden voice.

"Seems you've discovered my secret." You jump at the interruption, quickly spinning around and locking your eyes on Jerry who's standing in the doorway, watching you as you scramble for an excuse, tilting his head.

"I was just looking for the bathroom."

"It's down the hall. ...Like every other house on this street," He responds, and you quickly realize that you've been caught, that he's not buying it one bit. He smiles reassuringly at you as he starts to speak again, his voice taking on an almost cooing tone. "It's okay. I'm not mad."

"You know, I was a little worried when you stopped coming by. I thought you didn't like me anymore," He jokes, watching as you glance around and try to find an opening in the room, somewhere that you can escape from. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Why not? You hurt Ben." You ask spitefully.

"As if you care about Ben," He answers sarcastically before he puts up his hands in surrender, smiling sheepishly at you. "That. ...I'm sorry. I know you cared. You were a very good girlfriend. It was him that was the problem. ...But that's besides the point. Why don't you just come downstairs and let me explain, hmm?"

You pause, scrambling to make a decision. "You're a vampire." You respond, not as much of a question as it is a statement. He simply smiles at you. "Right? That's why Ben didn't like you. Why he was so weird about everything."

"I imagine so," He replies as if you already know the answer, which you admittedly do. "Ben was a …he was a nuisance. See, I’m just trying to live like everyone else, keep to myself, survive. He was making that difficult, and worst of all he was mistreating you. It became increasingly obvious that he was only going to cause more trouble and more problems. So I was forced to ...deal with it, before it could become an issue."

"And I think I did you a favor by doing it too." He chuckles a little. You suck in a nervous breath. "Y/n, I'm not gonna hurt you."

"I find that a little hard to believe."

"Well, try to, because it's the truth. You're different, y/n. You're something special. I knew it from the moment I saw you. You weren't meant to be in some unfulfilling relationship with some little boy. You were meant for something more, something bigger. I think that, deep down, you know that too."

"What do you want from me?"

"I just want you to give me a chance." He smiles.

- And against your better judgement, you find yourself wanting to agree....

- You suppose you don't have much of a choice either way, you know that nobody would ever believe you if you decided to try and tell someone, and even though Jerry claims that he doesn't want to hurt you, all he has to do is sink his fangs into you and you're finished. So you hesitantly agree to hear him out, letting him lead you downstairs and back onto his new leather couch, smiling at you affectionately as he takes a seat in his armchair, thankfully giving you a bit of space instead of invading your personal bubble like earlier in the evening.

- He doesn't speak for a long moment, seemingly waiting for you to start the conversation, though you're so unsure of how to navigate a situation like this that you're momentarily at a loss for words. He starts the conversation instead.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I enjoy being what I am. You hear about ...my kind in movies and in books, and they're either one step above an animal or anguished," He chuckles at the description. "They go on and on about being cursed, but I don't think of it that way. Sure, it isn't easy, but you get used to it. You forget about the sun, forget about your past life. You change, and personally, I think it's for the better."

"So you can't go out in the sun?" You speak for the first time since getting downstairs.

He nods in response to your question, smirking slightly as he offers you a verbal answer. "I don't really work nights."

"And you drink human blood?"

"Of course."

"Did you drink Bens?" He looks at you for a moment, as if deciding if you really want him to answer it.

"It would be a waste not to."

"Do the people you bite turn into vampires too?"

"Your boyfriend isn't a vampire, if that's what you're asking. I wouldn't have had it in me to put up with him for the rest of eternity." He scoffs, seemingly more at the idea than at you.

"So you can bite people without turning them."

"Not quite," he responds. "Anything I bite turns into one of me, but it's up to me to decide whether they'll live long enough to see it come to fruition. Ben was ...gone, long before he turned."

"So whoever you bite has to become a vampire?" You confirm, trying to make heads and tails of it all.

"You seem interested," He replies, and your eyes widen at the comment, your mouth opening to deny the accusation. "There's a way for you to feel what it's like without fully turning. I just have to give you some of my blood and you'll get a taste of it. It's just like a dream."

- You quickly move on from the topic, ignoring the way that he smiles at you, at the thoughts that go racing through your brain as you try to envision what he means. You continue your little questionnaire for about an hour, bouncing back and forth between subjects as you try to get as much information as possible, hoping that he's telling you the truth whenever he answers you. He's incredibly nonchalant about the entire thing, and it only serves to unnerve you even further: the thought of him being so used to his little lifestyle that the concept of it no longer phases him in the slightest.

"I have work tomorrow," You finally say, feeling as though you're incapable of taking any more information in. "I have to get up early so I really better go."

- He doesn't seem worried about you leaving in the slightest, he simply rises from his seat and leads you to his front door, bidding you goodnight as though you've had a perfectly normal evening. It's like he knows you have nothing against him, like he knows you could never escape him or find a way to beat him. Like no matter what you do, you're still stuck in his control.

- But Jerry continues to stay true to his word, never actually harming you, even if he continues to occasionally scare you. A part of you starts to feel like he doesn't even do it on purpose, like its just a part of his nature and that he's simply no longer trying to hide it. Alarmingly, you begin to find some of these habits of his attractive....

- You were no stranger to finding Jerry handsome, but you were sort of hoping that these feelings of yours would fade away once you realized that he was a blood-thirsty monster who killed your ex-boyfriend for fun. Unfortunately for you, Jerry is still Jerry, and the feelings of fear that you recently began to harbor for him are beginning to mix into a confusing cocktail; one that has you wondering where your nervousness ends and your excitement begins.

- Emotions are strange like that. You try to reason with yourself, wanting to excuse the conflicting feelings you have for the man. But the more you see of him, the more you talk to him, the more you touch him: the less you can excuse. Jerry is just so ...raw: all muscle and power and masculine energy; the sort of intoxicating presence that's hard to stay away from even when you know that you should. A part of you wonders if that's part of his vampiric powers, but you're simply too stubborn and embarrassed to ask.

- While you tried keeping away from him for a little while, it did nothing to quell your nerves, and though he patiently allowed you to have some space and time to think, you knew that he wasn't very pleased. So when you find yourself struggling to open a jar, you deem it as good a time as any to allow him back into your life. And with little else to do, you begin to spend more time with him; the "man" that continues to be one of your only friends....

- Surprisingly, your life doesn't really change all that much. You'd think that befriending an immortal demon would have some effect on you, would make some catastrophic shift in your perception of life. But you still work a nine to five, and you still have house chores, and honestly, all that's changed is your willingness to believe in the supernatural. ...And maybe your love life.

- See, now that you're back in his life and Ben is completely out of the picture, Jerry has become increasingly obvious in his attempts to come onto you. And since you're beginning to grow more and more receptive towards him, there's very little stopping his flirtation. You typically brush him off or tell him to shut up, choosing to outwardly take his advances as little more than a joke. But he knows that you know he's that being serious, and your denial has become more like a game for him than an actual rejection; something he can work towards breaking down. It's a challenge, and boy does he like a good challenge....

- Jerry knows exactly what he's doing every time he provokes you. He knows that you ogle him whenever he's in his tank tops or that you can't help but watch the way that his back flexes whenever he wears a fitted shirt. He knows that your hands have a tendency to linger for a moment too long whenever you bump into him; i.e. when he makes you bump into him. He knows that your heart races whenever he effortlessly picks you up or moves you around, and he knows that it isn't from fear. He knows, and he loves it, and it becomes increasingly harder for him to contain himself whenever you're around and so close to letting him claim you.

- But he also knows that it's becoming increasingly harder for you as well. So he simply bides his time, smiling knowingly whenever you hurriedly change the subject or move away from him, loving the way that you grow flustered under his gaze. He simply hopes that it won't take much longer for you to make up your mind because he's beginning to grow impatient....

- There's one thing that's been on your mind ever since he first brought it up to you: the feeling of drinking his blood. He's vague in his description of it, but it still continues to entice you: the idea of getting to taste a fraction of what it's like to be supernatural. You're not sure that you're ever going to be willing to make the entire change; though you're sure that Jerry would happily turn you the minute you asked, but you don't see the harm in experiencing some form of it; just enough to quell your curiosity.

- So after a particularly taxing day, you find yourself over at Jerry's place, sitting quietly on his couch as the two of you watch television, deciding how to bring the subject up to him, or if you even should. He interrupts the silence that the two of you have formed, asking you what's you what's on your mind and giving you excuse to spill the beans. He's quiet as you ramble through your thought process, and just as quiet as you finish, sitting there silently as you stare at your feet in slight embarrassment.

- Finally, you happen a glance towards him, just in time to see him getting up from his chair, his eyes darkened as he makes his way over and seats himself beside you on the couch. He wastes no time in slicing his finger open, deep dark liquid pooling at the wound as he offers the digit out to you, pressing it to your lips as you move closer. His eyes never leave your face, pupils lost in the sunken pits of black as he hungrily watches you take in the taste and the unfamiliar sensation.

- You feel the urge to chase his hand after he pulls it away from you, but you don't have much time to focus on that thought before he's pulling you into him, covering your lips with his own and licking up the remnants of his own blood. This time, you don't have it in you to pull away from him, not that you even want to, kissing him back just as hungrily as he kisses you, his arms tightening around your figure as he lowers you further down onto his couch.

- You wake up the next morning feeling a little hazy, like the last remnants of sleep are still clinging to your mind and stopping you from facing reality. You register that Jerry's arms are wrapped tightly around you, that you're laying on his chest, and that you've spent the entire night with him.

- And you suddenly have the intense feeling that you're no longer a free woman, that after this, Jerry is never going to let you go. But the thing is, you're no longer sure if you want him to: especially not when you feel him begin to stir, his body pulling you ever so closer and his face burying itself in your hair....

- No, no you think you like the idea of never having him let you go....

[alicechess]

Yandere The Unknown x reader (part 1)

(Dead by daylight)

Note: don't question this

Also this is going to become a proper fanfic, I have no idea how long. I might connect it to my dbd fanfic.

Also I might edit it to make more sense, a lot of this has been written at 3am. Please ignore any errors they might be fixed at some point.

----

You found a new job a few weeks ago, working at a movie theatre. Honestly, you were kind of happy for it. Although the area was dirty and sticky, you were able to get a discount on the movies and snacks, which made it worth it for you. It isn't something you wanted for the rest of your life, but it was good enough for now. You moved to this new town a few months ago, and previously worked at a wreckers, but quickly moved on since the people working there were sketchy.

One of your old friends suggested to work here and of course you agreed. You got discounts and your friend everyday, she also helped you get the job. But not long after you started she disappeared. It was difficult, and you hoped every night she'd come back. The place hurt to be at sometimes, but maybe one day she'll walk in through the doors with that beautiful smile on her face.

You shook your head, you couldn't think about it now. You can't do anything to get her back. You just had to hope the police would take it seriously. But with the recent disappearances, you doubt they'd focus heavily on her. Within the past month there's been over 10 people who've gone missing. Maybe to them she's just a number. There's a few people who go missing every month. It's just... normal for this town. The police do what they can... I guess. But they never will focus for long on one person, because there's always another who goes within a few days or a week. There's just too many crimes happening that it's difficult to keep track. There's maybe a few thousand people who live there, and maybe two stations. So there needs to be more, but they probably won't bother. It's been the same two for maybe 20 years from what you'd heard.

You vacuumed the crumb covered floor, wiping down the chairs, trying to get it as clean as you could. You wanted to keep this job, at least till you could find something more stable. While mopping the linoleum floors, you listened to some music. You ignored the world around you. It was nice to have a distraction. Although cleaning wasn't a nightmare, you'd prefer not too. Some parts of the cinema was darker, your boss was always insistent on turning off the lights if you aren't in the room. It was a bit unnerving, but eventually you learnt to get used to it. It wasn't exactly welcoming, but it wasn't terrifying either.

Occasionally you'd take off your headphones for a few moments, as your ears started to get sore from the pressure. You wanted to get better ones, but you were in a somewhat small town, and there weren't a lot of electronic stores. It was annoying having the wire in the way, but you learnt how to deal with it. You decided to just let them sit on your shoulders, around your neck. Still hearing the music, although it was quieter. You hummed along, eventually sighing at peoples disgustingness. Was it so hard just to put their rubbish away?

Once the bin was full, you picked it up and went outside. The dumpster was almost overflowing, but it wasn't your job to empty that. You threw the bag on top, trying to prevent it from falling down. Once it was stable, you were about to walk inside when you heard someone voice from in the parking lot.

"Can... can you please help me? I'm stuck!" The voice sounded wrong, it's tone was off as it lacked any emotion behind the words he was saying.

You were about to walk over, but remembered all the disappearances. You felt a loud tinge of guilt. "I'm... I'm sorry I can't! I'll get the police to help." You yelled back.

"P-please I really need help!"

You gulped and stepped back, "I can't, I promise the police will come soon!"

You ran inside slamming the door, hearing the cries begging for help coming closer and closer. You were confused, if they were stuck how were they getting closer... Something wasn't right. The situation made your skin crawl. You ran to the phone which sat on the desk. You dialed the number for emergency services and asked for a police officer. You explained the situation, and made it sound more normal as you didn't want to be labelled crazy. You said it rather simply, that there was someone saying they were stuck but something seemed off and suspicious and you wanted the police to take care of it.

While you waited for the police, you sat on one of the chairs at the front desk, fidgeting while listening to music, trying to prevent yourself from panicking. You wanted to keep level-headed. You sang the song quietly, tapping your fingers on the desk. You laid your head back and closed your eyes. You kept one side of the headphone off your ear, so you could hear the police knocking and let them in.

Once they arrived, they checked the whole building and area surrounding it, eventually finding nothing. They also checked the security cameras which showed only you, nothing else. The footage showed no one in the parking lot or anywhere else.

This made you doubt yourself even more.

--

Eventually you went home and laid in bed. You struggled to fall asleep as all you could think about was what happened and the fear you felt. You kept replaying it over and over, analyzing any details you could remember. You remembered how off the voice was, how almost inhuman it was.

You brushed it off, maybe it was because of a lack of sleep. You weren't sure anymore. You tried to stop thinking of it because you really needed to sleep. But it kept squeezing through the cracks and coming back into your mind.

Your eyes slowly closed, and your breathing softened. You were so tired, so, so tired. You just wanted to rest.

Eventually, you started to hear light tapping against the window and low whispers of which sounded like it came from hundreds of people. You thought it was just because you were exhausted. It went away after a few minutes, leaving you to think you were right.

However, after tossing and turning for another 30 minutes, you were rustling in the bushes and voices near your bedroom. You shot out of bed, then peered slightly through the crack of the curtains.

You saw a head peeking out of the bushes, the main thing you noticed about the being was it's lifeless, black hole like eyes. It had no emotion and truly seemed inhuman regardless of its humanoid-like stature.

You felt your stomach drop and your heart stopped for a few moments. It twitched its head every few seconds, every time, it made your stomach twist more and more, the anxiety and fear filling you to the brim. You couldn't look away, it was almost hypnotic and left you in an awful trance with its horrifying appearance.

"Can you help me? I'm... Stuck." It said without its face moving. Your eyes widened in utter horror.

"I'm scared, please help me." It said with a loud snap of its neck, finally pulling you out of your trance. You fell onto the ground with a loud thud, you rubbed your back attempting to soothe the pain. After about a minute you got up, and went back to the curtain.

You watched as the legs of the creature disappeared from your line of sight. You weren't sure if you truly saw that, maybe you were truly going insane you couldn't tell anymore.

---

You awoke in a cold sweat to your alarm blaring into your ears. You groaned, turning it off. You didn't remember crawling back into bed, was it a nightmare? You shook it off. It was just because of the fear you felt last night, it just made you bring it into your dreams.

You stood up and got ready. You looked awful, but attempted to fix it with some makeup. You wore some more dramatic makeup, especially around the eyes. You wore some eyeliner, smudged it a little and combed your hair. You then applied some lip gloss and grabbed some random clothes from your closet.

You decided to call your boss. You knew it would be better to tell him yourself than someone else. You made it sound less bizarre and brushed it off. You didn't want to lose any shifts if he thought you needed a break.

After attempting to cover the tremble in your breath as you explained the situation, you walked to your car and headed to work. You've been taking longer shifts to earn more money. You would've left earlier yesterday if you could've but apparently that... Thing had to show up.

You stepped out of the car, the harsh winter wind making you shiver. You felt ill as you walked to the door. You had to go in though, you knew there was no other choice.

You took a deep breath and opened the door, you were swapping shifts with one of your coworkers. Your shifts often start from 6pm to 12am. The theatre often closes at 10pm, which then gives you a couple hours to do some cleaning. Sometimes you do have to stay overtime, however, which can be a bit frustrating.

As you stepped inside your coworker greeted you. Another one was working as the cashier, which you also did but in between movies you gave a quick clean to the theatre room. The other coworker leaves at 10pm, which then leaves you alone in the building.

You plopped down next to them at the register, asking how busy it was.

They sighed, scratching the back of their head. "Surprisingly, not many. A lot of people are too scared to come down this way."

"Huh? Why?"

"I'm surprised you don't know. Last night there was another disappearance nearby. The police are on high alert and people are freaking out."

"How'd they figure out they disappeared so quickly? Doesn't it normally take longer?"

"Well... It makes more sense when you know that there were screams at 2am coming from their house."

"I guess so... Sucks knowing I'm gonna be in this creepy place in the middle of the night." You grumbled, leaning back on the chair.

"Better you than me man, I'd rather quit than do that shit."

"Wow so comforting of you, thanks." You rolled your eyes, drawing on a random piece of paper to distract you.

"Yeah yeah, at least I'm being truthful! Honestly it's kinda shitty boss is still telling you to continue your shift.

"Ehh, it's fine. I need the money anyway, so the more hours the better."

"Your time not mine, just keep an eye out."

"Was planning on doing that. Also, do you think boss is going to be more of a tight ass? I hate having to have half the place pitch black while cleaning. Not the safest or efficient way to do it."

"I'm sure more people will come in the next few weeks, let's just hope the next disappearance is further away."

"I can pray, maybe god will damn help me this time." You murmur, tapping the pencil against the desk.

----

Very few people came in, only maybe 20 compared to the normal 100 or more. It meant you had less to clean, so maybe... You'll be able to leave earlier. And won't have to be in this uncomfortable place anymore. You can only pray.

As the shift passed, some people were on edge, but overall seemed fine. One child must've overheard about what happened recently, as they were scared, their eyes wide, they grabbed their mothers arm and attempted to pull them away from this place.

The mother rolled her eyes, saying they were safe since it was daylight.

"Monsters don't come out during the day, darling. You'll be fine. And there's other people here, they'll make sure to protect you." She leans down and pats her daughter on the head. "I promise you'll be okay sweetheart, it's just a movie theatre."

----

As night crept in, you started to slowly dread being there more and more. It started to slowly consume your thoughts, of what could potentially happen if you were left alone once more in this building. You hoped that since there wasn't as many people, you had more of a chance of being able to clean faster. And therefore, be able to leave earlier.

As your coworker left and put the closed sign up, you felt your stomach sink. You were sure that you were fucked. But what else could you do? You had to do your job. You had to do it regardless of what you wanted.

You went to the janitors closet, pulling the strings which turned the light on. It was rather claustrophobic. Dust had built up after what seemed like years of not being cleaned. You grabbed the vacuum and left the closet, and went over towards the front desk. You started there, and moved towards the movie room then upstairs. You were hyper aware of your surroundings, you couldn't help but feel on edge after last night. Every tap on the windows or hum of the electricity made you feel sick.

Once you were done vacuuming, out started to mop the floors. You wanted to listen to music, but you were afraid of not hearing if someone was lurking inside. You wanted to know what was happening around you.

After you did the basics, you sat down for a bit and wondered if you could get away with leaving the theatre like this. It's not like your boss comes in everyday.

You eventually decided to leave the place as is, you didn't feel safe being in there any longer. You instantly grabbed your handbag, but noticed your keys were missing and so was your phone... And wallet.

You felt bile instantly run up your throat. That awful feeling of knowing you were truly at another's mercy started to suffocate you. You panicked, looking under the desk, in the janitor's closet... Nothing. It was nowhere. You attempted to calm yourself down, saying you just misplaced it. That's all you did. There was nothing lurking around the corner watching your every move waiting to pounce and kill you.

You were fine. Just fine.

How the hell was everything missing? There's no way it all fell out when it was closed, and that it's been in the same spot since you got here.

You rushed around the building, searching everywhere for your stupid belongings. And in the middle of the already awful experience, you started to hear tapping on the windows. It was slow and intentional.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

You went over towards it, moving the curtains. Nothing was there, but the bushes did move slowly. Those same, dead eyes pearing at you. That's when you realised everything you've witnessed was real.

Something was after you.

And you had no idea what the fuck it was, it definitely wasn't human. No humans neck twists like that, no human has the void-like holes, where no ounce of light can go through.

It slowly crept out of the bush, it's mangled limbs moving in unnatural, inhuman positions as it came towards the window.

It has already came in before, why the fuck was it trying to come in again? It could come in before, what now? Was there more than one? What did it want? Did it just get off on scaring you?

You stepped back, feeling like how you did the night before.

"No... No no. No." You murmured, grabbing the phone that hung on the wall. You attempted to dial the emergency services, but the lines were down. You shook your head, you had to have something to defend yourself from that... Thing. All these awful thoughts came into your mind. Of what it could do, of what it wanted.... And what it's true form was.

You heard popping sounds from the other side of the window.

"Can... You help me?"

Those distorted voices sent a shiver down your spine. That unnatural, disgusting sound.

You slowly glanced over your shoulder at the monster. It had the most awful, disgusting grin which showed all its teeth. It's disfigured head and body contorted as it started to tap on the window again.

"I... Need your... Help."

It said as it cocked its head.

"I am... Scared." It's mouth twitched wider. Both it's hands were placed on the window. Its face squished against it.

"I'm so scared."

If the situation wasn't serious, you would've laughed at the irony.

"Stay away from me!"

You yelled, grabbing a pair of scissors from the drawer. You pointed it towards the creature, even though you knew it was futile.

"Stay away from me!"

It mimicked, the dread which formed was sickening. It... Said the same thing. The two voices at once made it even more horrifying. The distorted sound triggered you more. It said things which were already unnerving, but it mimicked you in your tone, just slightly distorted was utterly mortifying. The fear you felt that night here and at home could never compare to this.

You decided that you had to get far away from this thing. You couldn't sit there forever, even another second was enough to make you want to crawl into a hole and rot. A being like that shouldn't exist.

You ran up the stairs, you felt it's... Sockets following your figure, analysing every movement. You went into the bathrooms and slammed the door shut. You locked the door, then moved over to the window. You glanced outside, and saw that it was clear.

You heard fast, but light footsteps coming from outside. You knew it was toying with you. You knew it enjoyed the chase and it made you feel sick.

The tapping continued once more, but this time at the bathroom door.

"I'm scared... Why won't you help me?"

"What do you want from me?!" You screamed back, tears welling up in your eyes as you stared at the door.

"I'm stuck."

The more you listened to it, the more its voice sounded normal and close to human. You rapidly shook your had, murmuring to yourself.

"No, no this isn't happening."

It sounded so normal, its panic was so evident and felt real. Earlier it didn't, what was going on?!

You felt dizzy, your vision started to become slightly blurry. You collapsed onto the ground, in front of one of the bathroom stalls.. Your head thumped, the pain made you groan. You knew you had to get out, that's the only thing you could do. You weren't sure what was going on anymore. You had to get out.

You slowly stood up, holding onto the edge of the stall. You moved towards the window, contemplating how you were going to get down. There were bushes underneath, but you knew you were screwed if you landed wrong. There were no other options unless you wanted to face that thing. You slowly opened the window, attempting to be quiet just in case the... Thing will hear. To your relief it made no noise. You slowly placed your legs over, holding onto the edge tightly. You took a deep breath then pushed yourself off.

You groaned as your body hit the floor hard, causing pain to radiate through you. you groaned, knowing your body was going to be covered in bruises. You hissed as you slowly sat up. You brushed the twigs off of your shirt, then used the brick wall to attempt to help yourself up. You moved around the outside of the building, attempting to be quiet.

You knew you couldn't use your car, you had no idea how to hotwire it. The only option you had was to walk home, well, better run.

You started to sprint away, ignoring every aching muscle and joint. You gritted your teeth as you forced your legs to move. You occasionally glanced over your shoulder, and to your relief, saw nothing there. You started to slow down when you felt safer since you were further away from that thing.

You leaned over, placing your hands on your knees as you took deep breaths. You felt dizzy, but knew you had to get home. After a minute, you started to walk again. As you walked down the street, occasionally you spotted cars driving by or the really odd person or two walking by. You always held the scissors tight, regardless of how much it dug into your skin.

Eventually, you got to your home. You searched your pockets for your keys, then remembered you lost them at the theatre. You hoped that thing wouldn't find them. You went to the backyard and grabbed them from under one of the pots. You unlocked the door, then went inside.

You placed some chairs behind the front and back door under the handle. You then slipped the latch so unlocking wouldn't work. You made sure you did everything you could to prevent the thing from coming inside.

You felt relieved once you glanced around knowing that you were safe.

So you could finally have a good sleep, you went to have a warm shower. You washed away all the dirt from your skin, watching as the dirt slowly went down the drain. You sat in the warmth, soaking up the comfort from it for as long as you can. You sat in the shower for a while till the hot water ran out, forcing you to go back into the cold. Reminding you of the bitter reality you'll have to face eventually.

You got dressed then went to the kitchen, grabbing a knife from the utensil drawer. You tapped the point, dragging your finger across the blade. You wanted to make sure it'd actually be useful if you needed to defend yourself.

You locked your bedroom door, making sure the latch would be strong enough to keep anything out. The hairs on your skin were constantly standing. Every shadow and movement puts you on edge. Your own home didn't make you feel safe, only the slightest bit safer than if you were to be outside.

You walked over to your bedside drawer, then placed the knife on top of it.. You left the lamp which sat beside you on. You pulled open one of the draws and grabbed one of your old alarms since your phone was lost.

You haven't used it for so long it took a while to figure it out. Once you set it, you laid down in bed. You stared at the ceiling, getting dragged into your thoughts. You occasionally focused on shadows that danced on your walls, wondering if one of them will ever be the creature which tortured your emotions hours before.

----

[sykosomatic]

Hey I’m new to your blog but so far I like most of what you write… I was wondering if I could make a request for a one shot? I can’t write for shit but I’ve always thought this would be really hot:

Billy Loomis as Ghostface x Sidney’s sibling!Reader. Reader is working the graveyard shift alone at a diner or something and is taking out the trash before locking up, Billy comes creeping up on them by the dumpsters dressed as Ghostface (reader never finds out who he actually is, but I’ve got a softer spot for Billy, sorry Stu…) and starts feeling them up… which leads to more. If you take kink requests I’d like to try this with clothed sex, a knife kink, them almost/actually getting caught, and anything else you want to include. Thank you in advance if you end up taking the request!

well thank u! welcome to my blog, i hope u enjoy the stay!! as for kink requests, yes i do take them!! <3 this sounds so hot!

(billy loomis) ghostface x (sidney’s sibling) reader! nsfw!!!

cw: gn reader, anal penetration (reader receiving fingers/cock), clothed sex, knife kink, public sex, semi-cnc, groping, reader is at work, dirty talk, submissive reader, ghostface cums inside reader, ghostface does not use protection (but this is fiction and you very much should irl lol)

you’d just finished wiping down all the diner tables, gathering up all the crumbs left on the last couples’ booth as they filed out, thanking you for your patience with them as they lost track of time and talked the night away. you didn’t mind. they’d been very nice and had tipped really well, and they were the only people left in there. you’d been able to get a lot done in the time they stayed, and you were just about done closing up for the night. you just had one last batch of trash to take down to the dumpster.

typically, tales of the boogeyman didn’t scare you on your journey to the dumpster. but tonight it felt a little farther away; and there were those rumors of a serial killer that came out at night. he wore a ghost-faced mask and a black robe, and you were sure that you wouldn’t be able to see him coming in the black darkness of the night. you shook it off, wishing your manager would be a little easier on not taking trash out late at night. but you knew if your coworker had to do it when they got there the next morning they wouldn’t appreciate it.

so, you took the trash out.

you got all the way to the large dumpster and threw all the trash away, thinking with a wave of relief that maybe ghostface would have grabbed you by now if he was going to… right?

your relief was dashed though, when you felt a hand on your back, pushing you against the side of the dumpster, making you cry out in surprise. another hand rose up and covered your mouth. you could feel the entire body of this person against your back as they spoke to you in a hushed tone, “you’d better be quiet if you don’t want this knife in your back.” you thought maybe you recognized the voice; it sounded familiar somehow. maybe you were just mistaken in your blind panic.

“mhm! mhm!” you said, nodding vigorously at his words, heart racing in your chest as your brain tried desperately to unscramble his voice.

“good, good,” he said, slowly moving his hand away from your mouth. your relief was short-lived because he immediately brought his hand back up, this time to your throat, accompanied by the blade of a knife. “now, i need you to behave for me. am i gonna have any trouble with you doing that?”

you shook your head ‘no,’ slowly, trying to make sure his knife didn’t cut you. you could feel yourself getting lightheaded as the blood rushed elsewhere. embarrassingly, you could feel yourself getting… aroused??? what the fuck? well, at least if you had to be in this situation you were somewhat enjoying yourself. the strange familiarity of his voice was helping in that regard, making you quite confused about how to feel.

ghostface left you little time to contemplate your internal crisis, the hand that wasn’t holding a knife to your throat going to start groping your ass, your hips, even going up your shirt and feeling up your chest. you sucked in a breath as you felt him brush over your nipple, a sensitive spot for you. there was a pause as he interpreted what kind of gasp it was, and you could swear you could hear your heartbeat in your chest.

“enjoying yourself?” ghostface teased, pressing the blade of the knife closer against your throat. you were worried it would draw blood if he pressed any further, but for some reason that wasn’t scary as much as it was… exciting. your arousal built between your legs so much so that there was no way to contain it. you whimpered as he teased you and he laughed, amused. “well, now, looks like you’re the perfect person for me to do this to—“

ghostface snaked his hand away from your chest, shoving you harder against the side of the dumpster. you felt him shift, his fingers diving into your mouth, swirling over your tongue. they invaded deeper in, making you gag and drool all over them. “good, watch those teeth… there you go…” he guided, pulling his fingers away as you gasped and sputtered. his slickened up fingers slipped down the back of your shorts, beneath your underwear. you shivered as you felt his wet fingertips brush your asshole, instinctively clenching but realizing that would make it worse. you tried to keep your breathing even, relax your muscles, and let his fingers in.

you didn’t currently have a partner, but you’d had a couple in the past, so needless to say, you were at least a bit prepared for what the feeling of his fingers going inside your hole felt like.

you moaned, muscles relaxing in pleasure as he slowly slipped two fingers into you, stopping where they met his hand. “wow…” he purred into your ear, curling his fingers up into you. you mewled out in pleasure, heat up to the tips of your ears. “you like this, don’t you? little sicko…” he teased, making you bite your lip.

he was soon fingering you with more force, pushing you against the dumpster in a slow but rough rhythm. the knife was loose against your throat as he worked you over, and you moaned out as he unraveled you. he added another finger after a little while, stretching you out, prepping you for what you presumed might be his cock.

you still weren’t ready for it as he slid your shorts down a bit and sheathed his cock inside of you. he was girthy, that was for sure. the shape and size of his cock felt like it was perfectly made for your asshole, somehow. it hit every perfect spot at once.

and then he started thrusting, and you could barely handle the pleasure coursing through your entire body. “oh.. oh fuck..” you whined, screwing your eyes shut in the darkness and holding yourself up against the dumpster. one arm, you rested your head on, and the other’s hand was splayed across the dumpster to keep you from rocking it too hard as he fucked into you.

one of his hands was on your hip now, the knife staying more or less near your throat, his arm snaked through yours to hold you tightly in that spot. “fuck. you feel good,” he told you, grunting between thrusts, fucking you rougher and with more power in each stroke as he got closer to climax. you could feel yourself getting closer, too, as he hit that spot over and over again. his thrusts slowed after a hit but kept their power, the small dumpster rocking with his thrusts as you moaned in its rhythm.

he finally stopped fucking into you, keeping himself sheathed fully inside you as he reached his hand around and gave you a handjob, making you cry out in pleasure. you came, clenching your ass around his cock and milking an orgasm out of him. he came inside your asshole, filling you to the brim before pulling his cock slowly out, presumably watching himself leak out of you. he tugged your shorts up roughly and turned you around, thrusting his knife in your face threateningly. “you’re lucky you’ve got such a nice ass… maybe i’ll have to find you again,” he told you, before stalking off into the night. you were so stunned with what had happened you stood there for a good long while before going back inside.

[leebrontide]

Back when I had an office that clients would actually come to I bought a secondhand little teal leather loveseat for my waiting room, from another small business that has been using it for the same.

Then I moved to all teletherapy so I shut down the office because why would I spend $600/mo and rising for an office? So I brought the loveseat home and stuck it in a corner where honestly it just collected junk.

Then we moved to a new house, and I figured I had no place for my sweet little loveseat, which honestly had accrued a fair bit of wear and tear from living with a toddler and cats. So I offered it to the people buying the house, and the were happy to have it.

Then the couple that bought the house broke up, and are having to sell the house. I spotted my little loveseat in the ally behind the old house, in one of those big dumpster bags.

Then we realized there’s a cute little alcove at the top of the stairs where it would fit PERFECTLY if we move the cat tree, which we’d been talking about anyways.

And so, once again, my little teal loveseat has found its way back to me, and I’m very pleased with myself. Welcome home, little loveseat.

[diagonal-queen]

Concept: Chuuya being the one who recruits you into the mafia and he gives you his choker when you join

Welcome Gift

♡ pairing: Chuuya Nakahara x gn!reader

♡ synopsis: "It's tradition in the Port Mafia that the person who recruits a new member is responsible for their wellbeing. To symbolise that, they hand down one of their belongings."

♡ wc: 1.25k

♡ cw: Swearing, and I made Chuuya and reader friends before reader joined the Mafia, hope that's okay ❤︎

note: You can't possibly expect me to see a prompt like this and NOT write it. Thanks anon ♡︵(ゝ。∂) sorry it took so long and apologies for spelling/grammar errors

To be honest, you assumed that your official induction to the Port Mafia would contain a plethora of trials and tribulations to determine your strength, resolve, and perhaps the darker aspects of your character. You'd had the idea that you might be asked to prove loyalty by committing a crime, whether that be killing someone or something equally heinous.

No. Absolutely none of that happened.

Apparently, when you're friends with a mafia executive, it's as simple as just asking them to work there. Such was your case, at least, being close with the infamous Port Mafia executive Chuuya Nakahara. 'Close', in theory, was supposed to be code for 'in a relationship', but the 'friends' aspect was certainly throwing a wrench into that plan. Perhaps by joining the mafia you could get closer to Chuuya? You always knew how important to him his work was.

To your luck, Chuuya was happy to take you in as one of his subordinates and act as your guide to organised crime. You'd initially wondered how he would be testing you to see if you were a good fit for the occupation, but that time never came. Instead, you were called and asked to meet with him to go over a few basic rules so he wouldn't 'find your ass in a dumpster on day one'. Those were his words, and you had initially scoffed at them.

"How do I get other people to respect me? I don't think I'm that scary," you asked. This was not the first question but rather one of many you'd been asking Chuuya during your slow evening wander around what you supposed was the wide expanse of the Port Mafia's turf. The size of the area you'd travelled so far led you to believe that perhaps you may have been biting off more than you could chew with this new job. Clearly, the Port Mafia didn't fuck around.

"Well, you're a mafia underling now, but more importantly you're my subordinate. People who know me are gonna respect the people I recruit. In fact, you'll probably eventually have troops of your own."

"Ooh, like henchmen?" You asked.

"No- this is the actual mafia, not a Saturday morning cartoon," he shook his head. "Listen. Being part of the Port Mafia is serious business. I know you're not stupid, but just try not to be too...friendly with people you don't know."

At that point you weren't really sure if there actually was anyone you didn't know in the Mafia. Of course, you'd never known anyone in real life aside from Chuuya, but he'd already gone through all the important ones. The other executives, Akutagawa, the Black Lizard, and even the boss himself whom you were still quite terrified of meeting.

"I'm gonna be fine. It's not like I won't have you to protect me anymore," you grinned, nudging his arm. He didn't return the smile. "Don't worry about me, Chuuya! I'm gonna be alright."

"You're too optimistic, Y/N," replied Chuuya who continued his stroll. You quickly shuffled to catch up with him.

"I'll do my best. I promise." You told him firmly. He let out a sigh. You continued to walk alongside the mafioso quietly, wondering what exactly was going through his head. You had thought that you were the only one who had your concerns with this job, as much as you tried to conceal them. Did he really care about you so much that he'd worry like that?

"Oh, right, I almost forgot about this." Chuuya stopped and turned to face you. "There's a tradition here, where the person who recruits you gives you something of theirs which represents that they're responsible for you. It's how I got this," he explained, jerking a lazy thumb towards his hat.

"...you weren't born with it?" You asked, and Chuuya rolled his eyes. "I was joking!"

"Very fuckin' funny, Y/N. Anyway, this means that I now give you something as a new member of the Port Mafia, which will be..."

You were about to say something but stopped as you eyed his next movements; that is, him removing his choker from his neck and presenting it to you. You stared at it, almost in awe.

"...your choker?"

"Your choker," he corrected, and you glanced up at him. He was giving you a reassuring smile. You shook your head.

"I can't take this- no, it's important to you."

"...that's why I'm giving it to you, Y/N," Chuuya replied, cocking an eyebrow. "That's kind of the point."

"Are you sure?" You hesitantly queried, reaching out and nervously taking the choker from his gloved hand. It felt warm. "Because you know, you look really cool with this thing..."

Chuuya let out a snicker as you examined the new accessory. "How flattering. But I'm sure." After hearing that, you eventually hummed in acknowledgement and began to put on the choker. Or, at least you tried to. It turns out that putting something on your neck without being able to see it is quite difficult.

"You need help?" Chuuya asked after a moment of silence.

"Well, yeah. I don't have a mirror, Chuuya. Or, are you like, Mr. Nakahara now that you're my boss?"

"Fuck no," he answered, and you laughed. Chuuya took the choker from you and began to fasten it around your neck. In your close proximity, you could almost feel his breath on you each time he exhaled. You were worried that perhaps if he focused hard enough he would be able to hear your rapidly beating heart.

"Not too tight?" He suddenly asked as he carefully adjusted the choker.

"Nope." Could he notice your nerves? If he could, he wasn't showing it.

"Right, there we go. You look great." Chuuya took a step back and examined you, now clad in his choker. Your hand travelled to your neck and brushed against the black choker.

"I do?"

"Yeah- it suits you." He smiled. You didn't know what to say, bashfully casting your eyes to the ground. "Are you blushing at me? C'mon, now."

"What? I'm not...!" Your hands flew up to your face, which was admittedly pretty hot, as Chuuya leaned forward and eyed you roguishly. "Oh, maybe I am..."

"Don't let anyone else see you do that, alright?" He warned you, though he was still giving you a cheeky smile. "You keep this between you and I."

"Y-yeah..." you nodded. You figured that he was right- getting embarrassed so easily wasn't very mafia-like. But it almost seemed as if he were purposely trying to tease you. "But you know, people are gonna see me wearing the choker."

"Again, that is kind of the point of it all, Y/N." He told you as he straightened.

"Yeah, but I'm probably gonna blush about it again if anyone asks!" You exclaimed. "It's essentially a piece of jewellery. People might start thinking we're a couple or something."

Chuuya bit his lip. Then he shrugged.

"And?"

You opened your mouth to say something but quickly closed it. Dumbstruck, you couldn't think of a way to answer him. You truly couldn't tell if he was joking, apathetic, or if that was actually supposed to be some sort of confession. Chuuya sighed in amusement, before patting you on the shoulder and continuing to stroll past you. You turned to see him walk a few feet further, before stopping.

"You know what? I think you're gonna do just fine with me." He turned his head and beamed at you. "Welcome to the Port Mafia, Y/N."

i love chuuya ( 〃▽〃)